And in today’s news: Trump asked DNI, NSA to deny evidence of Russia collusion:
If proven, this is very serious. This was one of the allegations made against Nixon: that he tried to get the CIA to stop the FBI investigation into the Watergate burglary. It formed part of the basis for the first Article of Impeachment passed by the House committee, alleging obstruction of the investigation.
Those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it, etc.
If proven, this would be very serious if Republicans had any morals, a sense of shame, patriotism, etc.
We’re gonna need a bigger forum…
ISTM that you cite (& similar cites that I’ve seen) does not support your claim.
The reporting here is not that Trump said to these agencies “stop the FBI from investigating”, which is the title of this thread. The reporting says that Trump wanted these people to communicate to the public that there was no evidence of collusion.
These are not remotely the same thing. I’m surprised that you would conflate the two.
Rein in.
Well, maybe Trump DID try and get the NSA and DNI to rule them all, or at least in the FBI’s investigation. 
Trump seems to be the master of inserting foot into mouth. At this point, the last thing he needs to do is to be seen trying to apply pressure to government agencies or directors to assert that there is nothing going on behind the curtain, move along, move along. What an idiot! :smack:
What Trump DID was inappropriate and very stupid, but it’s a million miles from asking the CIA to actively interfere.
Trump does stupid and inappropriate things every week. It will start getting significant when there is solid evidence he did something illegal.
Not a Trump fan, but my understanding is that Coates in the broadcast today, implied this was not correct. I didn’t see it myself (watching Brennan), though, only others commenting on it. Nor do I know anything about Coates.
The original WaPo story contained this:
*"In addition to the requests to Coats and Rogers, senior White House officials sounded out top intelligence officials about the possibility of intervening directly with Comey to encourage the FBI to drop its probe of Michael Flynn, Trump’s former national security adviser, according to people familiar with the matter. The officials said the White House appeared uncertain about its power to influence the FBI.
“Can we ask him to shut down the investigation? Are you able to assist in this matter?” one official said of the line of questioning from the White House.*
It all comes back to whether or not there was actual collusion. If there wasn’t, then asking the CIA or NSA to say something to the effect of “We intercepted no evidence of collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign” is wholly appropriate. If there was collusion, then this is not kosher.
Even if there is zero collusion and Trump et al are pure as the driven snow (:dubious:) it’s a stupid thing to do at this time and place. It LOOKS like he’s trying to hide and cover up. It’s simply more stupid if there isn’t any collusion than if there is, but either way, we are into pretty epic stupidity levels at this point.
To add to this why would someone even ask for this?
If there is no collusion and you know there is no collusion and the investigating agencies have found no collusion there is no need to ask them to say there is no collusion. They will do that on their own in the normal course of events.
But that is not asking the CIA for help shutting it down. That’s merely some behind the scenes lead up to the already reported private chat Trump and Comey had.
Because it takes a long time for these investigations to run their course, and meanwhile you’re twisting in the wind, and having your agenda opposed and your political opponents strengthened and your allies weakened. And if your name happens to be Trump, your ego being threatened is also a yuuuugge part of the equation.
So if you’re convinced that it’s much ado about nothing, driven by your political opponents, and you also happen to be ignorant about politics, then you think to yourself “these intelligence guys know it’s all baloney, why don’t they just say so and tamp down some of this hysteria?”, and then you ask them this very question.
I dunno, from here it sure looks like he’s trying to reign. 
Trump is stupid, and the only thing he knows anything about is self promotion. He’s in way, way, way over his head.
The sort of user-car-salesman self promotion and denials and blather he’s engaging in works at one thousandth the scale of the Presidency, I guess. And that’s about a good estimation of the ratio. Trump’s fame has always been much greater than his fortune.
The nuances and rules of governance, still like “don’t ask a law enforcement agency to do things to your advantage,” are things that every other President knew because every other President we’ve ever seen was a governor, or a senator, or a vice president, or what have you, and they weren’t stupid and had learned that a conflict of interest is bad even if it just LOOKS bad.
Maybe not Trump directly but we have this:
This may not be exactly the same as “asking the CIA to actively interfere” but it’s not a million miles away either.
Agreed.
Is there some point where enough inappropriate and stupid actions amount to something illegal or reasonably impeachable?
Maybe I’m interpreting it incorrectly but I think they actually were asking intelligence officials to help. It’s worded oddly, “sounded out” could mean the white house staff spitballed the possibility amongst themselves, but I believe “sounded out intelligence officials [about intervening]” means they ran the idea by intelligence officials. I believe the word “official” from there on refers to intelligence officials.