# 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:** 145
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2017, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/2884 "2017-11-13T01:06:28Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > Maybe an IQ/critical thinking test for voters. This is what comes of a relentless assault on public education for 40 years. Heard a jury note came out of the Bob Menendez jury deliberations: “What’s a Senator?” :smack: ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2017, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/2885 "2017-11-13T04:45:32Z")
“Twenty bucks, same as downtown.” ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Duality](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.duality/32/4098_2.png) [@Mr.Duality](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Duality)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2017, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/2886 "2017-11-13T14:59:59Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > “Twenty bucks, same as downtown.” Made me laugh, which _ain’t_ an easy thing to do. ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2017, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/2887 "2017-11-13T21:29:03Z")
Trump Jr. [was actively working with Wikileaks](https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/11/the-secret-correspondence-between-donald-trump-jr-and-wikileaks/545738/). ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2017, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/2888 "2017-11-13T21:34:55Z")
_“According to a source familiar with the congressional investigations into Russian interference with the 2016 campaign, who requested anonymity because the investigation is ongoing, on the same day that Trump Jr. received the first message from Wikileaks, he emailed other senior officials with the Trump campaign, including Steve Bannon, Kellyanne Conway, Brad Parscale, and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner, telling them Wikileaks had made contact. Kushner then forwarded the email to campaign communications staffer Hope Hicks. At no point during the 10-month correspondence does Trump, Jr. rebuff Wikileaks, which had published stolen documents and was already observed to be releasing information that benefited Russian interests.”_ ---
**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:** [November 13, 2017, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/2889 "2017-11-13T21:36:20Z")
> [@Fiveyearlurker](#): > > Trump Jr. [was actively working with Wikileaks](https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/11/the-secret-correspondence-between-donald-trump-jr-and-wikileaks/545738/). Fucking nuts. Lets see if it matters. A lot of it is deniable. WikiLeaks suggests something, Jr. can claim he was going to do it anyway. Interesting to see if there’s info on the Trump campaign sending WikiLeaks tax info. ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2017, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/2890 "2017-11-13T21:41:10Z")
> [@Snarky\_Kong](#): > > Fucking nuts. Lets see if it matters. > > A lot of it is deniable. WikiLeaks suggests something, Jr. can claim he was going to do it anyway. Interesting to see if there’s info on the Trump campaign sending WikiLeaks tax info. Yeah, in this article, Wikileaks is quoted as suggesting that they be the one to leak Trump’s tax returns because “if we publish them it will dramatically improve the perception of our impartiality.” Kinda hard to pretend that Wikileaks is impartial now. ---
**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:** [November 13, 2017, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/2891 "2017-11-13T21:43:21Z")
WikiLeaks didn’t publish any of Trump’s tax info, right? If they did, ignore this, but if they didn’t, they might still have received it. If they did, and it was intercepted, that’s pretty damning. Or, if he accessed that anti-Trump PAC with the guessed (how stupid…) password. ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2017, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/2892 "2017-11-13T21:45:18Z")
> [@Snarky\_Kong](#): > > WikiLeaks didn’t publish any of Trump’s tax info, right? If they did, ignore this, but if they didn’t, they might still have received it. If they did, and it was intercepted, that’s pretty damning. Not that we know of (though that one favorable tax return did miraculously appear), but the fact that wikileaks is suggesting that they leak it just because they want to appear impartial means that wikileaks can’t pretend to just be some innocent middle man. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2017, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/2893 "2017-11-13T22:27:08Z")
Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeiiiiit > [@](#): > > According to a source familiar with the congressional investigations into Russian interference with the 2016 campaign, who requested anonymity because the investigation is ongoing, on the same day that Trump Jr. received the first message from WikiLeaks, he emailed other senior officials with the Trump campaign, **including Steve Bannon, Kellyanne Conway, Brad Parscale, and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner** , telling them WikiLeaks had made contact. **Kushner then forwarded the email to campaign communications staffer Hope Hicks.** At no point during the 10-month correspondence does Trump Jr. rebuff WikiLeaks, which had published stolen documents and was already observed to be releasing information that benefited Russian interests. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2017, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/2894 "2017-11-13T22:30:39Z")
> > [@](#): > > We’ve now updated the story with @ByronTau’s great catch: @realDonaldTrump tweeted about the release of Podesta’s emails _15 minutes_ after @Wikileaks wrote to @DonaldJTrumpJr about it. ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2017, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/2895 "2017-11-13T22:34:01Z")
> [@GrandWino](#): > > [x.com](https://twitter.com/juliaioffe/status/930197548651999232) C’mon Republicans, are we STILL gonna pretend this didn’t happen? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2017, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/2896 "2017-11-13T22:35:59Z")
> [@Fiveyearlurker](#): > > C’mon Republicans, are we STILL gonna pretend this didn’t happen? > [@Stupid Republican idea of the day](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/35645): > > Something something something LIBTARD TEARS LOL. That about sums it up. ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2017, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/2897 "2017-11-13T23:55:16Z")
Subsequent to these email exchanges, Trump praised wikileaks publicly a handful of times. By a handful, I mean, [over 160 times](http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2017/apr/21/jackie-speier/did-trump-really-mention-wikileaks-over-160-times-/). ---
**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:** [November 14, 2017, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/2898 "2017-11-14T01:01:56Z")
They updated the article to note that Trump praised them 15 minutes after Jr. was contacted by them. ---
**Author:** ![Randolph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Randolph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Randolph)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2017, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/2899 "2017-11-14T13:10:50Z")
This whole thing is just slow-motion fun. ---
**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:** [November 14, 2017, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/2900 "2017-11-14T13:41:38Z")
First reply I saw on facebook was “It’s not illegal to talk to wikileaks”. ---
**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:** [November 14, 2017, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/2901 "2017-11-14T15:53:35Z")
> [@Fiveyearlurker](#): > > Trump “[clarified](http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-trump-putin-denies-election-meddling-20171111-story.html)” his statements where he denied that the Russians were involved in the 2016 election: > > _“I believe that he feels that he and Russia did not meddle in the election. As to whether or not I believe it or not, I’m with our agencies.”_ > > The only way to square that circle is to say that Trump now believes that the Russian government meddled in the election but that Putin has no idea about it to this day. Is there anyone in the world who believes that this is actually possibly true? Not to mention that he threw Clapper, Brennan and Comey specifically under the bus yesterday for stating that Russia meddled in the election, which he now claims to believe a day later. The first statement was him speaking off the cuff. The second statement was him repeating a damage control formulation fed to him by his people. In general, Trump’s grasp of reality and facts tends to be weak, and he is far more driven by his insecurities and hang-ups. He sees the whole Trump-Russia thing as undermining his election victory and presidency, so his visceral reaction is to reject it to the greatest extent possible. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2017, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/2902 "2017-11-14T16:04:14Z")
A stunning new insight! Perhaps as events unfold, we can see if this novel and ingenious suggestion holds up! ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2017, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/2903 "2017-11-14T16:58:23Z")
> [@Crybaby\_Boobie](#): > > First reply I saw on facebook was “It’s not illegal to talk to wikileaks”. Maybe not but it’s certainly questionable. I have a security clearance. Simply getting caught visiting the Wikileaks website can get me fired. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799.md?page=144) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799.md?page=146)