# 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:** 165
**Author:** ![Lance\_Turbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lance_turbo/32/6156_2.png) [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2017, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/3284 "2017-12-13T19:59:42Z")
“I personally think [Trump] owes us a thank you. Have you noticed you are not hearing too much about Russia?" - Kayla Moore She said it a month ago, but it’s even more true today. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2017, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/3285 "2017-12-13T21:06:36Z")
My favorite conspiracy theory among the ones I’ve heard lately: If Moore had won, the Senate would have refused to seat him, allowing the AL Governor to appoint Sessions to the seat, which would save the seat \*and \*allow Trump to nominate a new AG who hadn’t recused himself from the Russia investigation and would fire Mueller. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2017, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/3286 "2017-12-13T21:10:36Z")
I don’t understand this whole “refused to seat him” thing. Since when can the Senate refuse to seat a duly-elected Senator? If such a thing were possible, why don’t McConnell and the Republicans just refuse to seat Jones and have the governor appoint Sessions (or Strange or whatever)? ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2017, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/3287 "2017-12-13T21:19:11Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > The Republicans are at it again, increasingly showing signs of distress and trying a full court press in shutting down the Mueller investigation. Today it’s Rod Rosenstein’s turn in the barrel. I find their complaints rather strange. This is a liberal witch hunt! - Rosenstein (R) chose Mueller (R) after talking with Richard Burr (R). Weissman is a Democrat! - Why would you expect the person investigating someone to be favorable towards them? Isn’t that the reverse of what you want? ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2017, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/3288 "2017-12-13T21:35:54Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > The Republicans are at it again, increasingly showing signs of distress and trying a full court press in shutting down the Mueller investigation. Today it’s Rod Rosenstein’s turn in the barrel. I watched a good bit of that. Between the Republicans trying to get Rosenstein to say that Mueller’s team was full of Trump-hating liberals, and the Democrats trying to get Rosenstein to say that Trump had made improper requests of him (to stop Mueller or to start investigating Hillary), the poor guy was barely keeping his exasperation in check. He was really clear on the point that he’d fire Mueller only for misconduct, though. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2017, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/3289 "2017-12-13T21:38:19Z")
> [@sleestak](#): > > What Trump said wasn’t an invitation to hack Clintons emails but rather a joke that they _already_ had and Russia had more access to Clintons emails than the U.S. government did. If one only looks at the text of what Trump said – essentially, “Hey Russia, how about letting me benefit from your espionage!” – I would tend to agree that it _could_ be a joke. It’s an outrageous statement, and sometimes it is hard to distinguish between an outrageous statement and a fanciful joke. However, now that we know that senior members of the Trump campaign and his own family met with Russians, and were in contact with Wikileaks, to exploit for political gain the DNC emails, which we know were obtained by espionage, then it undercuts the idea that the outrageous statement was a mere humorous flight of fancy. We have to now see that statement as an indication of what was actually going on at the time, as we have gained a better understanding of the Trump campaign’s strategy to obtain and use any stolen emails to discredit his opponent. Now that we can understand Trump’s outrageous comment in that context, it cannot be viewed as a joke – it’s an unbelievably candid statement of what the Trump campaign was actually trying to do behind the scenes. ---
**Author:** ![ricksummon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ricksummon/32/3333_2.png) [@ricksummon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricksummon)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2017, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/3290 "2017-12-13T22:05:12Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > I don’t understand this whole “refused to seat him” thing. Since when can the Senate refuse to seat a duly-elected Senator? If such a thing were possible, why don’t McConnell and the Republicans just refuse to seat Jones and have the governor appoint Sessions (or Strange or whatever)? I don’t think they could have refused to seat him outright, but the Senate can expel a sitting member by a 2/3 vote. Every Democrat would have voted to expel Moore (and none would vote to expel Jones.) If 19 Republicans had gone along with it, Moore could have been expelled shortly after being seated. ---
**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:** [December 13, 2017, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/3291 "2017-12-13T22:12:47Z")
Apparently dt thought that coming up with the phrase “witch hunt” and using it was the magic bullet to fix this problem. Is this narcissistic or delusional enough? Yes he needs to be out of office at the earliest possible second. ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2017, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/3292 "2017-12-13T22:14:24Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > [Rosenstein] was really clear on the point that he’d fire Mueller only for misconduct, though. He was also really clear that he hasn’t seen any sign of misconduct. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2017, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/3293 "2017-12-13T22:35:57Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > I find their complaints rather strange. > > This is a liberal witch hunt! - Rosenstein (R) chose Mueller (R) after talking with Richard Burr (R). > > Weissman is a Democrat! - Why would you expect the person investigating someone to be favorable towards them? Isn’t that the reverse of what you want? To be fair, the (R) after their name doesn’t mean much, because there are a lot of virulently anti-Trump Republicans in Washington. All that matters are the facts. And it is certainly a fact that there seem to be a lot of Clinton supporters on Mueller’s team. On the other hand, I’m guessing that the number of Trump supporters among legal professionals in Washington DC approaches zero, so we shouldn’t be surprised that the career bureaucrats working on the team are Hillary supporters. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2017, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/3294 "2017-12-13T23:40:33Z")
> [@Merneith](#): > > He was also really clear that he hasn’t seen any sign of misconduct. Yes, and that alone will (I hope) be a blow to the Fox News campaign to smear Mueller as The Evil That Must Be Stopped. (Okay, those who believe everything Fox tells them won’t care what Rosenstein said, but those on the fence about it all, may.) ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2017, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/3295 "2017-12-13T23:49:46Z")
For what it’s worth, Trump Jr is now entering hour nine of questioning by the Senate Intel committee. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2017, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/3296 "2017-12-14T00:59:12Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > To be fair, the (R) after their name doesn’t mean much, because there are a lot of virulently anti-Trump Republicans in Washington. I’m pretty sure that still doesn’t make it a “Liberal” witch hunt. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2017, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/3297 "2017-12-14T01:39:03Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > I find their complaints rather strange. > > This is a liberal witch hunt! - Rosenstein (R) chose Mueller (R) after talking with Richard Burr (R). > > Weissman is a Democrat! - Why would you expect the person investigating someone to be favorable towards them? Isn’t that the reverse of what you want? It’s easy. The Mueller investigation is closing in and this bothers the cheerleaders, so the cheerleaders want it stopped. What reason could there be to stop it? Why, the investigators are working in bad faith. Why would they do that? They’re partisan! It’s not about logical consistency, it’s about helping Trump. The things those (R)'s are doing are not helping Trump, so they must be purged. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2017, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/3298 "2017-12-14T03:17:29Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > I’m pretty sure that still doesn’t make it a “Liberal” witch hunt. The only person who called it a liberal witch hunt was you. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2017, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/3299 "2017-12-14T05:40:43Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > The only person who called it a liberal witch hunt was you. [http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/article136145388.html](http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/article136145388.html) > **[Today in Conservative Media: “A Liberal, Anti-Trump Witch Hunt”](https://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2017/02/15/the_conservative_media_accused_liberals_of_an_anti_trump_witch_hunt_today.html)** > > A daily roundup of the biggest stories in right-wing media. On Tuesday evening, the New York Times published an article titled, “Trump Campaign Aides H ... Feel free to tell me how many conservative sources you want calling it a liberal witch hunt and I’ll post that many links. ---
**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:** [December 14, 2017, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/3300 "2017-12-14T12:53:55Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > All that matters are the facts. And it is certainly a fact that there seem to be a lot of Clinton supporters on Mueller’s team. If you’re dealing in facts, it might help to know the number of people on Mueller’s team and how they happen to break down politically. I don’t believe either is known. So a few happen to exchange texts to discuss political events. Big deal. They have a right to express their opinions to each other as long as it doesn’t interfere with their work. If you listen to Republicans, the only people fit to investigate Donald are those that voted for him and continue to support him. ---
**Author:** ![Randolph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Randolph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Randolph)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2017, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/3301 "2017-12-14T13:09:29Z")
[Doubting the intelligence, Trump pursues Putin and leaves a Russian threat unchecked](https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2017/world/national-security/donald-trump-pursues-vladimir-putin-russian-election-hacking/). > [@The Washington Post](#): > > _This report on how President Trump has responded to intelligence findings that Russia intervened in the 2016 election follows an earlier examination of the Obama administration’s actions as the Kremlin’s campaign unfolded_. > > In the final days before Donald Trump was sworn in as president, members of his inner circle pleaded with him to acknowledge publicly what U.S. intelligence agencies had already concluded — that Russia’s interference in the 2016 election was real. > > … ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2017, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/3302 "2017-12-14T13:51:14Z")
> [@Randolph](#): > > [Doubting the intelligence, Trump pursues Putin and leaves a Russian threat unchecked](https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2017/world/national-security/donald-trump-pursues-vladimir-putin-russian-election-hacking/). Putin is using Trump as leverage in his foreign policy, most likely because he knows he has very real leverage on Trump - possibly in the form of financial debt, and also possibly in terms of blackmail material. The speed at which Putin is taking action to change the dynamics of power globally is breathtaking. He’s already increasing Russian political strength in the Middle East, at the expense of an increasingly displaced America. But Eastern Europe is what to keep our eyes on. Putin’s game is to end what he feels is encirclement of the Russian state. ---
**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:** [December 14, 2017, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/3303 "2017-12-14T15:57:57Z")
> [@Randolph](#): > > [Doubting the intelligence, Trump pursues Putin and leaves a Russian threat unchecked](https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2017/world/national-security/donald-trump-pursues-vladimir-putin-russian-election-hacking/). If you ask me, what’s a much bigger deal is this: [Trump daily intel updates structured to avoid upsetting him](http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/364844-trump-daily-intel-updates-structured-to-avoid-upsetting-him-report) I don’t think Trump colluded with Russians to hack the election, but this man does not have the mental or tempermental capacity to be president. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799.md?page=164) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799.md?page=166)