# Trump associates may have coordinated with Russians, according to US officials **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [March 23, 2017, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799 "2017-03-23T00:28:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![skdo23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@skdo23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/skdo23)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2017, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/1 "2017-03-23T00:28:10Z")
So do we get to say “go back to Russia” to conservatives now? > **[US officials: Info suggests Trump associates may have coordinated with...](https://www.cnn.com/2017/03/22/politics/us-officials-info-suggests-trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians/index.html)** > > The FBI has information that indicates associates of President Donald Trump communicated with suspected Russian operatives to possibly coordinate the release of information damaging to Hillary Clinton's campaign, US officials told CNN. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2017, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/2 "2017-03-23T00:32:35Z")
> [@skdo23](#): > > So do we get to say “go back to Russia” to conservatives now? > > [http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/22/politics/us-officials-info-suggests-trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians/index.html](http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/22/politics/us-officials-info-suggests-trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians/index.html) Not that simple. Conservatives come in many distinct groups, as do liberals. Try to phrase your point more closely. ---
**Author:** ![skdo23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@skdo23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/skdo23)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2017, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/3 "2017-03-23T00:37:19Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > Not that simple. Conservatives come in many distinct groups, as do liberals. Try to phrase your point more closely. Fair enough, I’m just tired of hearing it from the people who by and large elected Trump whenever I say that people shouldn’t starve to death or be denied healthcare just because they’re poor. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2017, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/4 "2017-03-23T00:53:06Z")
So 9 months after Trump’s campaign chair resigned over his ties to Russia, 6 months after another advisor bragged about knowing in advance when Russian anti-Hillary info dumps were coming, a month after his National Security Director resigned over the same and a few weeks after his AG recused himself from the investigation for lying about a meeting with the Russian Ambassador during the campaign: “Trump Associates may have colluded with Russians” seems like kind of a weird headline. And the article itself relies on unnamed FBI sources, but than just goes on to repeat a bunch of stuff that’s already been stated by named officials in public. I wish the media was more resistant to this kind of baiting from Anonymous sources. Its pretty obvious someone at the FBI just wants to bump this story. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2017, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/5 "2017-03-23T22:25:58Z")
> [@skdo23](#): > > So do we get to say “go back to Russia” to conservatives now? > > [http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/22/politics/us-officials-info-suggests-trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians/index.html](http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/22/politics/us-officials-info-suggests-trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians/index.html) No. From your cite: > [@](#): > > The FBI cannot yet prove that collusion took place, ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2017, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/6 "2017-03-24T14:29:21Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > No. From your cite: I don’t get your point. That’s what grand juries are for. This is early in the process isn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![Chisquirrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6bbea6/32.png) [@Chisquirrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chisquirrel)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2017, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/7 "2017-03-24T14:58:02Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > No. From your cite: Sure didn’t stop “LOCK HER UP!”, “GUILTY!”, or “You’d be in jail.” Back to Russia. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2017, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/8 "2017-03-24T15:02:24Z")
Manafort is offering to [testify](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/paul-manafort-testify-russia_us_58d52fa4e4b02a2eaab2f665). ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2017, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/9 "2017-03-24T15:02:50Z")
> [@Chisquirrel](#): > > Sure didn’t stop “LOCK HER UP!”, “GUILTY!”, or “You’d be in jail.” That’s because Clinton _was_ guilty. Because she’s a Socialist. Also, because she’s Clinton. _Obviously_, she’s guilty! Trump and his team are Not-Clinton, therefore they are innocent. And even if they’re not, whatever they do is OK because they’re Not-Clinton, and _certainly_ Not-Obama! ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2017, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/10 "2017-03-24T15:34:50Z")
> [@drad\_dog](#): > > I don’t get your point. That’s what grand juries are for. This is early in the process isn’t it? The depressing part is we went through all this before with the Reagan administration and Iran. The final result was that it was found that laws had been broken and crimes had been committed and a few low-level officials were convicted. But the process dragged out for years in arguments over minutae. There were plea bargains, immunity deals, classification of evidence, appeals, and presidential pardons and all the big fish got away. I’m predicting the same thing is going to happen again. People in the Trump administration colluded with Russia. And we’re going to spend the next few years arguing over it. And while we’re arguing over what laws were broken and who broke them, Trump will be able to complete his term, get re-elected, and Pence will get elected to secede him. Eventually the people who were committing crimes in 2016 will leave office and then nobody will care anymore. ---
**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 24, 2017, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/11 "2017-03-24T16:17:14Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Eventually the people who were committing crimes in 2016 will leave office and then nobody will care anymore. I’m always impressed with how easily and quickly the talking heads can segue between: “It’s early in the investigation, so we don’t know everything yet - stop asking questions” To: “It’s all ancient history now, it’s all in the past, nobody cares - stop asking questions.” ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2017, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/12 "2017-03-24T17:20:03Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > I’m always impressed with how easily and quickly the talking heads can segue between: > > “It’s early in the investigation, so we don’t know everything yet - stop asking questions” > > To: > > “It’s all ancient history now, it’s all in the past, nobody cares - stop asking questions.” The important thing to take away is to stop asking questions. After all, isn’t ignorance bliss? ---
**Author:** ![Crybaby\_Boobie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crybaby_boobie/32/545_2.png) [@Crybaby\_Boobie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crybaby_Boobie)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2017, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/13 "2017-03-24T17:46:59Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I’m predicting the same thing is going to happen again. People in the Trump administration colluded with Russia. And we’re going to spend the next few years arguing over it. And while we’re arguing over what laws were broken and who broke them, Trump will be able to complete his term, get re-elected, and Pence will get elected to secede him. Eventually the people who were committing crimes in 2016 will leave office and then nobody will care anymore. I’m pretty sure I’m going to secede if that comes to pass. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2017, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/14 "2017-03-24T17:54:28Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > The depressing part is we went through all this before with the Reagan administration and Iran. The final result was that it was found that laws had been broken and crimes had been committed and a few low-level officials were convicted. But the process dragged out for years in arguments over minutae. Eh, Iran Contra investigations didn’t start till late '86, so there’s a lot more runway for the Trump investigation to have to run out. Plus, frankly, a lot of the people in this seem like they’d flip pretty fast for a deal, rather than take the risk of drawing things out. Carter Page hardly seems like the top to fall on his sword. (plus, there seems to be some reason to think Flynn’s already flipped). Plus you’d think that at some point Republicans would figure they’d be better off just ripping off the bandage now, rather than let it draw out into the midterm election season. That said, this stuff seems like it would be pretty hard to prosecute even if the gov’t wasn’t largely controlled by people studiously trying not to find out the details. Unless there’s tape of someone making an explicit quid-pro-quo with the Russians, I’m not sure the investigation is going to get super far regardless of how much time they have. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2017, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/15 "2017-03-24T18:14:18Z")
I don’t need prosecutions, don’t need some Republicans learning macrame at Club Fed. I need the truth. That will do nicely, thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2017, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/16 "2017-03-24T18:32:26Z")
Everyone is volunteering to testify all of a sudden. Everyone except Michael Flynn. Possible that he has already testified? ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2017, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/17 "2017-03-25T21:00:04Z")
A CNN correspondent and Harvard professor, Juliette Kayyem, is saying this on twitter: > [@](#): > > From my sources and what has been openly reported, it increasingly looks like #Flynn may have a deal with the FBI. #trumprussia I look forward to hearing more. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2017, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/18 "2017-03-25T21:14:04Z")
> [@drad\_dog](#): > > I don’t get your point. That’s what grand juries are for. This is early in the process isn’t it? What’s so confusing? You say it’s early in the process. Wouldn’t “go back to Russia” best something one would say at the end of the process (assuming the process produces a guilty verdict)? > [@Chisquirrel](#): > > Sure didn’t stop “LOCK HER UP!”, “GUILTY!”, or “You’d be in jail.” > > Back to Russia. And those people were roundly called stupid here, for such actions. Is it your goal to be jus like them? ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2017, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/19 "2017-03-25T22:50:06Z")
> [@Sunny\_Daze](#): > > A CNN correspondent and Harvard professor, Juliette Kayyem, is saying this on twitter: > > I look forward to hearing more. There were four tweets sent by the same person immediately after that, ALL OF WHICH are interesting: > [@](#): > > (1) First, as an attorney I want to make clear that, if this @CNN analyst’s sources are correct, the #Russiagate scandal is blown wide open. > > (2) The FBI flips witnesses, turning them into cooperating individuals, _only_ when they can help secure conviction of a bigger “target.” > > (3) Michael Flynn was the National Security Adviser for the President of the United States. The only _bigger_ target is Donald J. Trump. > > (4) But Flynn also held a clandestine meeting with Russian ambassador/spy Sergey Kislyak and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner in December '16. There’s a little bit here for [everybody](https://www.thepopcornfactory.com/flavorguide?flws_rd=1). 😃 ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2017, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/20 "2017-03-26T07:30:12Z")
Somebody in the Trump camp? Yeah, sure, but not him. Gonna have to see a lot of evidence to get over my conviction that nobody would be dumb enough to tell him a secret that fucking big. I doubt trust is something Putin has a lot of. Saw a lot of stuff that I think was Russian stuff, but it was mostly centered on infuriating the Bernie camp against Hillary. Breathless headlines from orgs i never heard of and couldn’t find anything about. Now, there were some that were legit, from real Bernie people who really did hate the horse she rode in upon, but others just suddenly appeared out of nowhere. If the Russians had any major impact, that was it. So, it might boil down to: did they fan enough Hillary hate amongst the Dems that about a hundred thousand of them didn’t go vote for her, in those five crucial states? Hundred thousand or so isn’t that many out of millions, so, yeah, maybe. And if they did, then the Russians actually _did_ screw our election. It may actually have happened. Jesus Marimba, what a friggin’ mess! Tom Clancy meets Steven King. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799.md?page=2)