# Leaked report of Russian blackmail of Trump **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [January 10, 2017, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leaked-report-of-russian-blackmail-of-trump/776846 "2017-01-10T23:59:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 36
**Author:** ![Okrahoma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90db22/32.png) [@Okrahoma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Okrahoma)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2017, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leaked-report-of-russian-blackmail-of-trump/776846/701 "2017-03-02T20:16:43Z")
[QUOTE=steronz] There’s no evidence that either meeting was inappropriate. [/QUOTE] Clinton/Lynch meeting definitely was. Lynch was in charge of an investigation involving Bill’s wife. There was nothing inappropriate in Sessions’ meeting with the Russian ambassador. > [@steronz](#): > > Neither Clinton was a public official at the time, and there was no rule against the meeting between Clinton and Lynch. ? Sessions was a public (well, elected) official at the time and there was no rule against his meeting with the Russian ambassador. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2017, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leaked-report-of-russian-blackmail-of-trump/776846/702 "2017-03-02T20:27:59Z")
> [@Okrahoma](#): > > Clinton/Lynch meeting definitely was. Lynch was in charge of an investigation involving Bill’s wife. There was nothing inappropriate in Sessions’ meeting with the Russian ambassador. > ? Sessions was a public (well, elected) official at the time and there was no rule against his meeting with the Russian ambassador. The Clintons are so last year. The Current Question: Why did Sessions lie under oath? ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2017, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leaked-report-of-russian-blackmail-of-trump/776846/703 "2017-03-02T20:50:55Z")
Tu quoque arguments are usually pointless, but even more so when the thing you are citing is something you thought was absolutely horrible at the time. If you think the Clinton stuff was bad, then you should think this Russia stuff is bad. If not, then we know it’s just political bias. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2017, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leaked-report-of-russian-blackmail-of-trump/776846/704 "2017-03-02T20:56:10Z")
Sessions to hold surprise presser @ 4pm (EST) today. ---
**Author:** ![Airbeck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/airbeck/32/6574_2.png) [@Airbeck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airbeck)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2017, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leaked-report-of-russian-blackmail-of-trump/776846/705 "2017-03-02T21:00:14Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > If you think the Clinton stuff was bad, then you should think this Russia stuff is bad. If not, then we know it’s just political bias. Bingo. I mean he flat out admitted that’s what it is already. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2017, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leaked-report-of-russian-blackmail-of-trump/776846/706 "2017-03-02T22:44:55Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Sessions to hold surprise presser @ 4pm (EST) today. I hope he did some arm and wrist warmups in advance of all the handwaving he’s going to try. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2017, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leaked-report-of-russian-blackmail-of-trump/776846/707 "2017-03-02T22:55:02Z")
> [@garygnu](#): > > I hope he did some arm and wrist warmups in advance of all the handwaving he’s going to try. In today’s press conference, Sessions recused himself from the FBI investigation into Russian involvement in the election, while saying that his comments during his confirmation hearing were “honest and correct as I understood it at the time”. > **[US Attorney General Jeff Sessions quits Russia probe](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-39148114)** > > America's top prosecutor Jeff Sessions insists his confirmation testimony was "honest and correct". ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2017, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leaked-report-of-russian-blackmail-of-trump/776846/708 "2017-03-02T22:59:11Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > In today’s press conference, Sessions recused himself from the FBI investigation into Russian involvement in the election, while saying that his comments during his confirmation hearing were “honest and correct as I understood it at the time”. “My heart and my best intentions still tell me that’s true, but the facts and the evidence tell me it is not,” has a nicer ring to it. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2017, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leaked-report-of-russian-blackmail-of-trump/776846/709 "2017-03-02T23:32:02Z")
> [@Bayard](#): > > “My heart and my best intentions still tell me that’s true, but the facts and the evidence tell me it is not,” has a nicer ring to it. “My previous statement is now inoperative” “My remark was not intended to be a factual statement” “I was merely using alternative facts” ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2017, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leaked-report-of-russian-blackmail-of-trump/776846/710 "2017-03-02T23:52:11Z")
Funny how fast he goes from “I never spoke to the Russians” to “I don’t remember that” to laying out the variety of topics they talked about. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2017, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leaked-report-of-russian-blackmail-of-trump/776846/711 "2017-03-03T00:17:09Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > “My previous statement is now inoperative” > > “My remark was not intended to be a factual statement” > > “I was merely using alternative facts” I’m a Canadian and need some recreational outrage. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2017, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leaked-report-of-russian-blackmail-of-trump/776846/712 "2017-03-03T00:41:51Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > In today’s press conference, Sessions recused himself from the FBI investigation into Russian involvement in the election, while saying that his comments during his confirmation hearing were “honest and correct as I understood it at the time”. > > [US Attorney General Jeff Sessions quits Russia probe - BBC News](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-39148114) Ohhh! I had only caught a few snips about this while I was at work today. I thought he had recused himself from an investigation about himself. Was wondering how that would work. Of course you can’t investigate yourself. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2017, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leaked-report-of-russian-blackmail-of-trump/776846/713 "2017-03-03T01:48:24Z")
> [@Okrahoma](#): > > Claire McCaskill, today: > > _“I’ve been on the Armed Services Com for 10 years.No call or meeting w/Russian ambassador. Ever. Ambassadors call members of Foreign Rel Com.”_ > > Claire McCaskill, Aug 6, 2015: > > _“Today calls with British, Russian, and German Ambassadors re: Iran deal. #doingmyhomework”_ > > Claire McCaskill, Jan 30, 2013: > > _“Off to meeting w/Russian Ambassador. Upset about the arbitrary/cruel decision to end all US adoptions,even those in process.”_ > > It’s nice to know Trump doesn’t have a monopoly on making himself look stupid on Twitter. 😉 > > Maybe she forgot about those meetings? > [@steronz](#): > > People in the IC or otherwise who have security clearances are taught to disclose contact with foreign nationals, because it’s much better to get in front of something that ends up being nothing than to try to explain to an investigator why you didn’t disclose something. I’m assuming Sen Sessions had a security clearance, he should have known this… Elected officials, like members of Congress, don’t have formal security clearances. By virtue of their offices they don’t need them (thought they’re still subject to the need to know rule). Their staffers on hand to need to get vetted for security clearances. ---
**Author:** ![galen\_ubal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/galen_ubal/32/4440_2.png) [@galen\_ubal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/galen_ubal)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2017, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leaked-report-of-russian-blackmail-of-trump/776846/714 "2017-03-03T04:14:50Z")
Not only did he meet with the Russian ambassador, it was paid for [out of campaign funds](https://www.wsj.com/articles/jeff-sessions-used-political-funds-for-republican-convention-expenses-1488509301), according to the Wall Street Journal. Talked about the campaign - doesn’t sound like he was acting as a Senator, does it? Of course, it’s probably a lie - the WSJ is a notorious bastion of the radical Left. 😃 > [@](#): > > The Trump administration says Attorney General Jeff Sessions was acting as a then-U.S. senator when he talked to Russia’s ambassador at an event during last year’s Republican National Convention in Cleveland, but Mr. Sessions paid for convention travel expenses out of his own political funds and he spoke about Donald Trump’s campaign at the event, according to a person at the event and campaign-finance records. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2017, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leaked-report-of-russian-blackmail-of-trump/776846/715 "2017-03-03T04:40:41Z")
> [@Snarky\_Kong](#): > > Funny how fast he goes from “I never spoke to the Russians” to “I don’t remember that” to laying out the variety of topics they talked about. All the while, forgetting the THIRD conversation he had, in an incomplete Trump building, with Trump and Kislyak together: > > > Jim Acosta @Acosta > > > Jim Acosta @Acosta ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2017, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leaked-report-of-russian-blackmail-of-trump/776846/716 "2017-03-03T05:44:22Z")
Woops, I misread that. Gordon was talking about a meeting without Kislyak, but about the Ukraine. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2017, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leaked-report-of-russian-blackmail-of-trump/776846/717 "2017-03-03T05:46:57Z")
How many Trump cronies were getting all cozy with the Russians? I have lost track. And what about what happened at the GOP convention, when there was a motion to censure Russia for it’s invasion of the Crimea, but Trump’s lads softened it up. That was just a coincidence though, right? ---
**Author:** ![ZebraShaSha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/eada6e/32.png) [@ZebraShaSha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZebraShaSha)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2017, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leaked-report-of-russian-blackmail-of-trump/776846/718 "2017-03-03T05:53:57Z")
> [@Okrahoma](#): > > It is clear that there was no “colluding” whatsoever between Russians and Trump campaign. Not that you’ll care, but, among dots being connected as we speak… In January Deutsche Bank was fined “$630m (£506m) for failing to prevent $10bn of Russian money laundering and exposing the UK financial system to the risk of financial crime.” This involved Deutsche Bank offices in New York, Moscow, and… Cyprus. Involved in this scheme were close relatives and longtime friends of Putins. [[1]](https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/jan/31/deutsche-bank-fined-630m-over-russia-money-laundering-claims) When the Deutsche Bank CEO during this scandal, Josef Ackermann, was forced out, he landed as the new chairman of the Bank of Cyprus. Among the major investors in the Bank of Cyprus are “Viktor Vekselberg, a longtime ally of the Russian president, and Vladimir Strzhalkovsky, the former vice-chairman of Bank of Cyprus who is also a former KGB agent with a close relationship to Putin.” [[2]](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/feb/27/commerce-nominee-wilbur-ross-bank-of-cyprus-putin) (It should be noted that Cyprus is considered the Cayman Islands of Russian oligarchs.) Another of the major shareholders in the bank is Dmitry Rybolovlev, aka “The King of Fertilizer,” one of the richest men in Russia and known world wide for having maybe the most expensive divorce in modern history. During the divorce he was accused by his wife of “secreting and transferring assets in order to avoid his obligations.” Basically, he bought a bunch of stuff – real estate, mostly – but in ways that his wife couldn’t claim them in the divorce. One of these properties was the most expensive condos in New York, an $88m 10 room apartment overlooking Central Park, which he bought under his daughters name, who was a college student at the time. But another property he bought? A mansion in Florida, “The House of Friendship,” from our President Donald Trump in 2008. This mansion was built in 2001 by a crazy billionaire, who went bankrupt in 2004. Trump bought it at auction for $40 million in 2006. It sat empty for two years, rotting. Nobody wanted it, it wasn’t desirable, etc. In 2008, Rybolovlev, during his divorce, needing somewhere to park his money so his wife couldn’t get access to it, bought this mansion from Trump for $100 million. In cash. That’s two and a half times what Trump bought it for, with no improvements to the structure. Reporters suggest Rybolovlev has never set foot on the property since the sale. Also, both he and Trump have both claimed, many times, that they never met, and only worked through intermediaries. This was the largest price paid for a single American house, ever, during the financial meltdown, and they never met, once, to discuss the details? How did they meet? Why did the “King of Fertilizer” basically give Trump $60 million? Who were the intermediaries? Remember the Bank of Cyprus, where Rybolovlev is a major shareholder? The vice-chairman of this bank, who otherwise has almost no background in international finance, is none other than longtime friend of Donald Trump AND our new Commerce Secretary, Wilbur Ross. So Donald Trump makes almost $60 million, for doing almost nothing, by selling to a Russian shareholder of a bank run by friends of Putin’s and stuffed with the ill-gotten fortunes of Russian oligarchs, where his longtime friend happens to be a vice-chairman. And that vice-chairman is now our Commerce Secretary. Oh, also, Deutsche Bank – the one that just paid a $630 million fine for laundering Russian money – is, somehow, the largest creditor to the Trump organization. This is so far beyond smoke that if you can’t see it, you aren’t getting enough oxygen to your brain. When this shit blows up – and it will – it has the makings of the largest scandal in American political history. ---
**Author:** ![galen\_ubal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/galen_ubal/32/4440_2.png) [@galen\_ubal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/galen_ubal)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2017, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leaked-report-of-russian-blackmail-of-trump/776846/719 "2017-03-03T06:08:10Z")
Small point of interest, there’s no indication that Kisylak attended the Democratic National Convention - just the Republican one. ---
**Author:** ![ZebraShaSha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/eada6e/32.png) [@ZebraShaSha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZebraShaSha)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2017, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leaked-report-of-russian-blackmail-of-trump/776846/720 "2017-03-03T06:20:55Z")
> [@ZebraShaSha](#): > > Not that you’ll care, but, among dots being connected as we speak… > > … Forgot to mention the best part. When Trump got this $60 million windfall from an Russian investor he never met he was struggling to pay back $40 million in loans to… Deutsche bank. Neat timing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leaked-report-of-russian-blackmail-of-trump/776846.md?page=35) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leaked-report-of-russian-blackmail-of-trump/776846.md?page=37)