# 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:** 8
**Author:** ![Evil\_Economist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c89c15/32.png) [@Evil\_Economist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Economist)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2017, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leaked-report-of-russian-blackmail-of-trump/776846/141 "2017-01-11T13:34:17Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > If more leaks keep dribbling out, Trump won’t be able to contain the flow of his anger. These leaks might hurt his status as the golden boy of the Republican party. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2017, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leaked-report-of-russian-blackmail-of-trump/776846/142 "2017-01-11T13:37:11Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > Judging by his current twitter tantrum, he’s not taking this calmly at all > > The next President of the United States of America, there. In a couple of week is he going to be posting from the official POTUS twitter? For some reason it will then become real in final in a weird way. What is he even getting at with the Nazi Germany thing? Is he just using that because other people use it towards him? ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2017, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leaked-report-of-russian-blackmail-of-trump/776846/143 "2017-01-11T13:37:46Z")
> [@Crybaby\_Boobie](#): > > What’s the difference between a lentil and a chickpea? > > Trump wouldn’t pay $1000 to have a lentil on his face. > > This is the true benefit of the story. More low hanging fruit for us internet comics. > > Also, our new response to the “democrat party” is now the GOPee. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2017, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leaked-report-of-russian-blackmail-of-trump/776846/144 "2017-01-11T13:44:47Z")
> [@Evil\_Economist](#): > > These leaks might hurt his status as the golden boy of the Republican party. I expect a steady drip, drip, drip from scandals like these for the next few years. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2017, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leaked-report-of-russian-blackmail-of-trump/776846/145 "2017-01-11T13:58:03Z")
> [@Grim\_Render](#): > > Are you somehow assuming that when an American billionaire visits Russia for business dealings, they won’t routinely try to archive dirt on him? Or maybe that they will make an exception for one who is politically connected? > > Well, I mean its not like the Russians have any kind of huge system set up for that sort of thing… oh, wait. > > Well at least its not something Putting would have done, its not like he has a KGB background… oh wait. Do you want that strawman in the front yard or back? It’s awfully windy today. Jus sayin. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2017, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leaked-report-of-russian-blackmail-of-trump/776846/146 "2017-01-11T14:06:15Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > I expect a steady drip, drip, drip from scandals like these for the next few years. It all Depends. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2017, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leaked-report-of-russian-blackmail-of-trump/776846/147 "2017-01-11T14:16:23Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > The next President of the United States of America, there. That’s “Pissident” to you, bucko. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2017, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leaked-report-of-russian-blackmail-of-trump/776846/148 "2017-01-11T14:17:36Z")
Not to worry, everyone – the Kremlin has [chimed in](https://twitter.com/markberman/status/819158009821663232), saying “The Kremlin does not engage in gathering compromising material”. This is very comforting, since it’s a very believable and not at all laughable statement. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2017, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leaked-report-of-russian-blackmail-of-trump/776846/149 "2017-01-11T14:19:28Z")
> [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > That’s some SPECTRE-level tin hat stuff there. Seems a long shot since in 90% of all other alternate realities, Clinton won\*. Hell, in 50% of them, Trump doesn’t even get nominated. I’d have to agree. If Russia was going to groom someone to be a Manchurian Candidate, they’d have picked a lot of people five years ago before they picked Trump. But it’s perfectly plausible - hell, likely - that Trump IS a Russian project in the sense of having an influential and famous American businessman beholden to them through debt. That he won a fluke Presidential election is basically a lottery win for them. People have already said it but it bears repeating; the peeing hookers story is a distraction from the real problem that we’ve known about for months, which is that Trump is heavily in debt to Russian banks and/or mobsters and/or the Russian government. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; Donald Trump is a traitor. He has already sold his country out, or is preparing to do so. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2017, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leaked-report-of-russian-blackmail-of-trump/776846/150 "2017-01-11T14:21:34Z")
“IN THE PALE MOONLIGHT”-pg.67-INT. (Cardassian office seen on holodeck) Weyoun: “…do you wish to question the Founders?” Damar: “No, of course not. I serve the Founders.” Weyoun: “As do we all. Meeting adjourned.” (Weyoun begins to pee on Damar. Damar pees on Weyoun. Both pee on Sisko’s desk.) Sisko: (To Garak) “Uhm…” Garak: “I know what you’re going to say! Really, it’s the last part that sells it.” ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2017, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leaked-report-of-russian-blackmail-of-trump/776846/151 "2017-01-11T14:22:46Z")
Deep Throat, not the movie or the Woodward/Bernstein source but the X-Files character, once said " a lie, Mr. Mulder, is most convincingly hidden between two truths." Conversely, the best way to discredit the truth is to package it with an easily exposed lie. This may what happened to Dan Rather with the document on Bush Jr’s military service record. Rather, following journalistic instinct, sought to verify the information on the document rather than question the authenticity of the document itself. Then it comes out that the document contains a “superscript” as part of a date, a feature not present on typewriters at the time of the document’s supposed origin. This may be what’s happening here. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2017, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leaked-report-of-russian-blackmail-of-trump/776846/152 "2017-01-11T14:28:51Z")
From the [Washington Post](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-cites-kremlin-statement-to-deny-reports-of-russia-ties-asks-if-we-are-living-in-nazi-germany/2017/01/11/a710f2b4-d777-11e6-b8b2-cb5164beba6b_story.html) > [@](#): > > The officials said that U.S. intelligence agencies have not corroborated those allegations but believed the sources involved in the reporting were credible enough to warrant inclusion of their claims in the highly classified report on Russian interference in the presidential campaign. Uncorroborated reports. That is the bottom line. A neutral observer clear of partisan prejudice might easily conclude that someone high up in the intelligence community is getting a few last kicks in at Trump. And they’d be right. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2017, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leaked-report-of-russian-blackmail-of-trump/776846/153 "2017-01-11T14:31:29Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > From the [Washington Post](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-cites-kremlin-statement-to-deny-reports-of-russia-ties-asks-if-we-are-living-in-nazi-germany/2017/01/11/a710f2b4-d777-11e6-b8b2-cb5164beba6b_story.html) > > Uncorroborated reports. That is the bottom line. A neutral observer clear of partisan prejudice might easily conclude that someone high up in the intelligence community is getting a few last kicks in at Trump. And they’d be right. They might be right, but they might not. I’m skeptical, but I’m also skeptical of anyone certain that it’s false. No one except Trump himself (and maybe some Kremlin folks/Trump’s inner circle) knows with any certainty what’s true and what isn’t in this report. ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2017, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leaked-report-of-russian-blackmail-of-trump/776846/154 "2017-01-11T14:34:56Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > From the [Washington Post](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-cites-kremlin-statement-to-deny-reports-of-russia-ties-asks-if-we-are-living-in-nazi-germany/2017/01/11/a710f2b4-d777-11e6-b8b2-cb5164beba6b_story.html) > > Uncorroborated reports. That is the bottom line. A neutral observer clear of partisan prejudice might easily conclude that someone high up in the intelligence community is getting a few last kicks in at Trump. And they’d be right. I’m not 100% sure that this isn’t true. Trump is openly warring with the intelligence community, and they might be out to get him. The problem is that even if none of this is true, I’m also 100% sure that Trump has been involved in some form of shady shit over the past few decades, and he has given the intelligence community a huge incentive for digging it up. He’s living in a huge glass house, and he picked a fight with some guys with enormous stones. Picking a war with the intelligence community was both dumb and entirely avoidable. A grown up response to the Russian story would have been “It is unfortunate that a foreign entity has apparently involved itself in our election, and while there is no evidence that it affected the vote this time, I would like to assure the American people that we will make sure that this does not repeat in the future.” ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2017, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leaked-report-of-russian-blackmail-of-trump/776846/155 "2017-01-11T14:41:42Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > They might be right, but they might not. I’m skeptical, but I’m also skeptical of anyone certain that it’s false. No one except Trump himself (and maybe some Kremlin folks/Trump’s inner circle) knows with any certainty what’s true and what isn’t in this report. Wee The People can only guess. ---
**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:** [January 11, 2017, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leaked-report-of-russian-blackmail-of-trump/776846/156 "2017-01-11T14:45:00Z")
> [@CatandMouse](#): > > I think we should call this “pee-zagate”. I prefer PeekiLeaks myself… ---
**Author:** ![Grim\_Render](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a87d85/32.png) [@Grim\_Render](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grim_Render)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2017, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leaked-report-of-russian-blackmail-of-trump/776846/157 "2017-01-11T14:47:52Z")
It is surprising to realize that to people who grew up after the cold war ended, the fact that the Russians gather compromising information on anyone of interest who visits Moscow as a matter of course, is no longer common knowledge. This does not require the Russians to have cultivated Trump or predicted that he would become important. It simply requires that when they saw that he had a chance of political power, they’d dive into the archives and see what this one got up to when in Moscow. I am reminded of Kurt Waldheim. Everything I’ve seen of Trumps tweets suggests that he’s someone who’d get up to compromising stuff and never realize the potential danger. Anyway, [CNN has an article on this](http://edition.cnn.com/2017/01/10/politics/donald-trump-intelligence-report-russia/index.html). They write _“At this point, CNN is not reporting on details of the memos, as it has not independently corroborated the specific allegations. But, in preparing this story, CNN has spoken to multiple high ranking intelligence, administration, congressional and law enforcement officials, as well as foreign officials and others in the private sector with direct knowledge of the memos.”_ ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2017, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leaked-report-of-russian-blackmail-of-trump/776846/158 "2017-01-11T14:51:41Z")
I’d love for the story to be true since it would pretty much kill his administration in the crib. I think it’s quite likely that every notable foreign visitor who stays in a Russian hotel is going to have his room bugged and very likely there will be a video camera in his room. If you do something stupid, they will see it and they will record it and they will hang onto it for blackmail. It won’t do him in unless the sex tape comes out, but it will make him the object of ridicule in any event. It does make sense in his fondness for things of gold: golden fixtures in the bathroom, golden showers- it all makes sense. Would repeated exposure to urine make your face turn orange? Maybe not, but it’s fun to speculate. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2017, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leaked-report-of-russian-blackmail-of-trump/776846/159 "2017-01-11T15:01:17Z")
> [@Grim\_Render](#): > > It is surprising to realize that to people who grew up after the cold war ended, the fact that the Russians gather compromising information on anyone of interest who visits Moscow as a matter of course, is no longer common knowledge. > > This does not require the Russians to have cultivated Trump or predicted that he would become important. It simply requires that when they saw that he had a chance of political power, they’d dive into the archives and see what this one got up to when in Moscow. I am reminded of Kurt Waldheim. That’s not how the document reads. it reads as if this was “Plan AAA cultivated for years with direct micromanagement from Putin with heads rolling at the slightest wavering.” Personally i find the most telling of falsity is in the tiny details. As Wikileaks says, “the style is wrong”. The exposition for confused readers. “They peed on Obamas bed (Who Trump hated)” “Hilary Clinton (Who Putin hated AND FEARED).” My caps cause i find the idea that Putin feared Clinton to be the most ludicrous part. IMHO. I’m sure someone will tell me otherwise. And no one has said The Kremlin doesnt gather info. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2017, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leaked-report-of-russian-blackmail-of-trump/776846/160 "2017-01-11T15:03:42Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > I’d love for the story to be true since it would pretty much kill his administration in the crib. _How??_ I was thinking last night that if this were 1974, the truth of this story would be the proverbial ‘smoking gun,’ and Republicans would join with Democrats to push Trump out of office, preferably before he took office. But I don’t think we’re in 1974 anymore, Toto. The GOP holds all the cards, and AFAICT there’s nothing short of criminal indictments nearly certain to result in Trump’s being convicted of felonies that would cause them to bail on Trump at this point. And that might not even do it. And while I intellectually agree with the notion that the whole pissing thing is a distraction from the _real_ crimes here, his real crimes haven’t exactly undermined his support. At this point, ridiculing Trump with piss jokes seems to be a more effective weapon against him than anything else we’ve got. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leaked-report-of-russian-blackmail-of-trump/776846.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leaked-report-of-russian-blackmail-of-trump/776846.md?page=9)