# 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:** 14
**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:** [May 17, 2017, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/262 "2017-05-17T17:36:34Z")
> **[Why did a Russian pay $95M to buy Trump’s Palm Beach mansion?](https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/why-did-a-russian-pay-95m-to-buy-trumps-palm-beach-mansion/)** > > PALM BEACH, Fla. — Why did a Russian oligarch pay now-President Donald Trump $95 million for his Palm Beach mansion? Almost a decade later, the answer is less clear than it was at the time of the sale, the highest... Bought for $40 million, sold for $95 million during the housing crash of 2008. Stupid Commies! Don’t even know how to price a home! ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2017, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/263 "2017-05-17T17:38:20Z")
> [@Okrahoma](#): > > Manafort. Still a pathetic try. On par with “one-time-Trump-business-partner” crap you tried to pull above. Great. So, we’re on the same page that there have since been more subpoenas. I’ll keep my goalpost in the same place even after the win on the question the first time: > [@Fiveyearlurker](#): > > Wanna bet there are more subpoenas coming? ---
**Author:** ![Okrahoma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90db22/32.png) [@Okrahoma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Okrahoma)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2017, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/264 "2017-05-17T17:41:37Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > [http://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/why-did-a-russian-pay-95m-to-buy-trumps-palm-beach-mansion/](http://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/why-did-a-russian-pay-95m-to-buy-trumps-palm-beach-mansion/) > > Bought for $40 million, sold for $95 million during the housing crash of 2008. Stupid Commies! Don’t even know how to price a home! The new owner divided the property into three lots and just sold one for $34.5M. Apparently it was at least worth the $95M. ---
**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:** [May 17, 2017, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/265 "2017-05-17T17:45:58Z")
But not in 2008. Regardless, that’s a horrible return on a 9 year investment. $5m on $95m spent? Somebody oughtta get fired. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2017, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/266 "2017-05-17T18:19:25Z")
> [@Okrahoma](#): > > This is pathetic. One-time-Trump-partner finances something with a Russian bank. Exactly how is Trump involved? Did you happen to notice that the “something” being financed was a Trump International Hotel and Tower? If investigators dig deep enough, I think it might turn out that Trump was involved. ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2017, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/267 "2017-05-17T18:22:23Z")
Trump doesn’t have a financial stake in that hotel. It’s just a name-licensing deal. ---
**Author:** ![Okrahoma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90db22/32.png) [@Okrahoma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Okrahoma)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2017, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/268 "2017-05-17T18:27:33Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Did you happen to notice that the “something” being financed was a Trump International Hotel and Tower? If investigators dig deep enough, I think it might turn out that Trump was involved. Let me spell it out for you: 1. Trump’s one-time-business-partner SELLS something to the Russian bank (as in “a separate asset sale”). 2. That one-time-business-partner then uses the money to build Trump International tower in Toronto 3. Trump has no financial stake in that building. He licenses his name to it. This is not even “thrice removed”. That is un-connected. You (plural) are grasping at straws. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2017, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/269 "2017-05-17T18:35:02Z")
> [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > That’s the problem with these types of allegations. If you’re treating a business deal involving a “onetime partner” as a Trump contact with the Russians, then there’s no limit. > > Trump must have had hundreds of partners in his various business deals over the years, and each of these “onetime partners” has any number of other business ventures. It’s inevitable that you can find this type of link to Russian banks (or German, British, French etc. banks). > > This is all nothing. > > But hey, do you know how many people linked to the Clintons mysteriously turned up dead? Heck, almost every single person my grandma ever knew is dead.:eek: and Carter Page really is the Kato Kaelin of this fiasco. ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2017, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/270 "2017-05-17T22:11:15Z")
Rosenstein just appointed a Special Counsel - to run the Russia investigation. Robert Mueller, former FBI Director. ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2017, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/271 "2017-05-17T22:33:03Z")
You know who also thinks that Trump is on Putin’s payroll? Apparently, [House Majority leader, Kevin McCarthy.](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/house-majority-leader-to-colleagues-in-2016-i-think-putin-pays-trump/2017/05/17/515f6f8a-3aff-11e7-8854-21f359183e8c_story.html?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_transcript-6pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.4a08a7ca462f) \*A month before Donald Trump clinched the Republican nomination, one of his closest allies in Congress — House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy — made a politically explosive assertion in a private conversation on Capitol Hill with his fellow GOP leaders: that Trump could be the beneficiary of payments from Russian President Vladimir Putin. “There’s two people I think Putin pays: Rohrabacher and Trump,” McCarthy (R-Calif.) said, according to a recording of the June 15, 2016 exchange, which was listened to and verified by The Washington Post. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher is a Californian Republican known in Congress as a fervent defender of Putin and Russia.\* ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2017, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/272 "2017-05-17T22:41:38Z")
EDIT: nevermind. ninja’d by Fiveyearlurker ---
**Author:** ![SaharaTea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@SaharaTea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SaharaTea)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2017, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/273 "2017-05-17T23:23:04Z")
> [@Fiveyearlurker](#): > > You know who also thinks that Trump is on Putin’s payroll? Apparently, [House Majority leader, Kevin McCarthy.](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/house-majority-leader-to-colleagues-in-2016-i-think-putin-pays-trump/2017/05/17/515f6f8a-3aff-11e7-8854-21f359183e8c_story.html?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_transcript-6pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.4a08a7ca462f) But it was just a joke! Paul Ryan often swears people to secrecy after they tell a joke! The GOP has officially become the Corleone Family. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2017, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/274 "2017-05-18T00:15:53Z")
> [@SaharaTea](#): > > But it was just a joke! Paul Ryan often swears people to secrecy after they tell a joke! > > The GOP has officially become the Corleone Family. That’s what I love: he makes it very clear to his colleagues that when their nation may face a threat, their loyalty must be to their party. NO LEAKS! ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2017, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/275 "2017-05-18T00:55:57Z")
I also love, that the Republicans were asked to comment on the story, and they were quick to yell “Fake news!” until they learned that it was on tape, and then, “It was a joke!” ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2017, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/276 "2017-05-18T01:58:43Z")
Turns out, the Trump team know Flynn was under investigation for being a secret lobbyist for Turkey back [in November](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/17/us/politics/michael-flynn-donald-trump-national-security-adviser.html?_r=0). :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2017, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/277 "2017-05-18T02:02:38Z")
Doesn’t that throw the Pence timeline into serious question? Can I make the bold prediction that our next president is Orrin Hatch? ---
**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:** [May 18, 2017, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/278 "2017-05-18T02:08:38Z")
> [@Fubaya](#): > > Turns out, the Trump team know Flynn was under investigation for being a secret lobbyist for Turkey back [in November](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/17/us/politics/michael-flynn-donald-trump-national-security-adviser.html?_r=0). > > :smack: I long ago gave up hope of keeping all the players straight in my mind. So, apologies for what’s probably a dumb question. Did we know Flynn was working for the Turks too, or is this a new twist? I get that the part about him telling the admin that he was under investigation, and them choosing him anyway, is rather a sticky wicket. But the fact that he was a lobbyist for the Turks to begin with – I don’t think I knew that. ---
**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:** [May 18, 2017, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/279 "2017-05-18T02:15:27Z")
> [@Fiveyearlurker](#): > > Doesn’t that throw the Pence timeline into serious question? Can I make the bold prediction that our next president is Orrin Hatch? Consider it made. Want to put a date on that? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![lazybratsche](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ba8739/32.png) [@lazybratsche](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lazybratsche)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2017, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/280 "2017-05-18T02:21:28Z")
> [@Bayard](#): > > I long ago gave up hope of keeping all the players straight in my mind. So, apologies for what’s probably a dumb question. Did we know Flynn was working for the Turks too, or is this a new twist? I get that the part about him telling the admin that he was under investigation, and them choosing him anyway, is rather a sticky wicket. But the fact that he was a lobbyist for the Turks to begin with – I don’t think I knew that. That nugget of insanity came out last month: [https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/10/us/politics/michael-flynn-turkey.html](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/10/us/politics/michael-flynn-turkey.html) Which is an eternity ago in the Wapo/NYT dumpster-fire-reporting badminton match. ---
**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:** [May 18, 2017, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/281 "2017-05-18T02:35:06Z")
> [@lazybratsche](#): > > That nugget of insanity came out last month: > > [https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/10/us/politics/michael-flynn-turkey.html](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/10/us/politics/michael-flynn-turkey.html) > > Which is an eternity ago in the Wapo/NYT dumpster-fire-reporting badminton match. Ah, thanks. I fondly remember those halcyon days of March, when things seemed so much simpler. Life seemed slower then. I can’t figure out how to share it, but just a bit ago, Pro Publica’s Facebook page posted a picture of the “I Love Lucy” candy factory episode with the caption (paraphrasing): “Live shot from the NYT and Washington Post news rooms.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799.md?page=13) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799.md?page=15)