# 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:** 207
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2018, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/4124 "2018-04-10T09:43:32Z")
_I’m in the mood to loathe Simply because you’re near me…_ ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2018, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/4125 "2018-04-10T10:05:36Z")
nm ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2018, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/4126 "2018-04-10T15:01:48Z")
> [@TimeWinder](#): > > That’s not saying a whole lot, since these days the Onion seems to be supernaturally prescient. Is there a term for when reality mocks satire? ---
**Author:** ![MikeF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MikeF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeF)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2018, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/4127 "2018-04-10T19:34:17Z")
From CNN: President Donald Trump “believes he has the power to” fire special counsel Robert Mueller, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said Tuesday. “He certainly believes he has the power to do so,” Is no one in his administration correcting him on that? Sounds vaguely familiar. “That’s what he believes”. As if that makes it so. ---
**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:** [April 10, 2018, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/4128 "2018-04-10T19:40:26Z")
> [@MikeF](#): > > From CNN: President Donald Trump “believes he has the power to” fire special counsel Robert Mueller, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said Tuesday. “He certainly believes he has the power to do so,” Is no one in his administration correcting him on that? Sounds vaguely familiar. “That’s what he believes”. As if that makes it so. He probably does, effectively. Congress, at least this Congress, isn’t going to hold him accountable. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2018, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/4129 "2018-04-10T19:59:28Z")
> [@Bayard](#): > > He probably does, effectively. Congress, at least this Congress, isn’t going to hold him accountable. Hopefully (though I don’t know that I should hold my breath), we’ll see congress being held accountable. ---
**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:** [April 10, 2018, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/4130 "2018-04-10T20:17:34Z")
He also believes he’s doing a good job as president, and that he’s fooling anyone with that orange whip on his head. ---
**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:** [April 10, 2018, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/4131 "2018-04-10T20:33:45Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > He also believes he’s doing a good job as president, and that he’s fooling anyone with that orange whip on his head. This probably deserves its own thread, somewhere, but: yes, Trump obviously believes that he successfully fools people with the cover-up stories and the hair and the bluster (‘we have so many job applicants to be my lawyer/work in the White House’) and all the rest of it. And this is because, his entire life as a born-rich kid who everyone knew would inherit millions, _ **no one ever called him on his bullshit** _. Ever. So he genuinely believes that people are fooled. He has no experience whatsoever of anyone saying to him, ‘you’re kidding, right?!?!!??’ He has only the experience of people saying ‘yes, sir, whatever you say, sir.’ Donald Trump himself is the world’s best argument against inherited wealth. ---
**Author:** ![pdhenry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pdhenry/32/5561_2.png) [@pdhenry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pdhenry)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2018, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/4132 "2018-04-10T21:36:57Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > Hopefully (though I don’t know that I should hold my breath), we’ll see congress being held accountable. It’s not that it would be inadvisable for Trump to fire Mueller (and it would be), it’s that he doesn’t have the _ **power** _ to fire him. cf: Nixon and Archibald Cox. And like Eliot Richardson, Jeff Sessions is currently of no inclination to fire Mueller at this stage of the game. ---
**Author:** ![pdhenry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pdhenry/32/5561_2.png) [@pdhenry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pdhenry)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2018, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/4133 "2018-04-10T21:42:53Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > … > And this is because, his entire life as a born-rich kid who everyone knew would inherit millions, _ **no one ever called him on his bullshit** _. Ever. > … People have tried, but Trump’s response has invariably been a threat of a crippling lawsuit and/or bankrupting the company in question. He’ll have trouble trying to do either of these as President. ---
**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:** [April 10, 2018, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/4134 "2018-04-10T21:53:54Z")
> [@pdhenry](#): > > People have tried, but Trump’s response has invariably been a threat of a crippling lawsuit and/or bankrupting the company in question. He’ll have trouble trying to do either of these as President. Exactly: as an entitled rich kid he learned a couple ways of dealing with problems and just expects those ways to always work. Because thinking is _hard_. …I’m not saying there are no people born to wealth who are of good character. Obviously, there are some such people. But for the many rich kids who were raised to expect everyone they met to defer to them and flatter them and cater to them–as Trump obviously was–the results are just not good. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Ace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/6bbea6/32.png) [@Johnny\_Ace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Ace)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2018, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/4135 "2018-04-11T00:54:03Z")
> [@pdhenry](#): > > It’s not that it would be inadvisable for Trump to fire Mueller (and it would be), it’s that he doesn’t have the _ **power** _ to fire him. cf: Nixon and Archibald Cox. And like Eliot Richardson, Jeff Sessions is currently of no inclination to fire Mueller at this stage of the game. So he fires people until he finds someone with their nose stuck far enough up his ass that they’ll fire Mueller. And the people who care about democracy will be trumped (pun intended) by Republican members of Congress. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2018, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/4136 "2018-04-11T02:10:19Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > Donald Trump himself is the world’s best argument against inherited wealth. Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump are a close second and third. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2018, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/4137 "2018-04-11T02:34:49Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > Is there a term for when reality mocks satire? “Covfefe” ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2018, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/4138 "2018-04-11T03:02:16Z")
> [@Johnny\_Ace](#): > > So he fires people until he finds someone with their nose stuck far enough up his ass that they’ll fire Mueller. And the people who care about democracy will be trumped (pun intended) by Republican members of Congress. Not necessarily. As I understand it, Mueller has to be fired “for good cause” with a justification provided by the DOJ, and he can appeal his firing to the federal courts. [Here’s a blog comment](http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2018/4/10/12154/8967#36) from Booman Tribune laying it all out in great detail. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2018, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/4139 "2018-04-11T04:32:30Z")
So, he fires Mueller but legally can’t. But sure as shit, somebody legal somewhere is willing to argue that it is! Right there in the Constitution, plain as day. Then there are two sides to the question, gotta go to court, get it settled. Might take a while to get there, lots of billable hours between here and wherever. And whatever it is, whenever it is, someone will appeal it. So, the Supremes. And I guess we finally find out just what Mr Roberts is made of… ---
**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:** [April 11, 2018, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/4140 "2018-04-11T22:49:42Z")
> [@Railer13](#): > > Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump are a close second and third. Inarguable. The research on ‘entitlement’ is fascinating, by the way. A recent study available with no paywall is at [https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/a19c/6d01005708852ad098386445330d9d66a332.pdf](https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/a19c/6d01005708852ad098386445330d9d66a332.pdf) Lots more are listed at: [https://scholar.google.com/scholar?as\_ylo=2014&q=entitlement&hl=en&as\_sdt=0,10](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?as_ylo=2014&q=entitlement&hl=en&as_sdt=0,10) ---
**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:** [April 11, 2018, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/4141 "2018-04-11T23:42:27Z")
Unrelated to the current discussion, but I thought that it should be noted that it took three months from the point at which Manafort’s home was raided to indictments being issued. It seems likely that the Manafort case was already quite mature at that point and one can assume that the Cohen case is as well (I would be willing to bet that Preet Bharara was already investigating him back when he was fired), so I don’t think we can reasonably expect a faster process than that, unless somehow the South New York department is generally faster than Mueller’s team. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2018, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/4142 "2018-04-12T11:50:54Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > Unrelated to the current discussion, but I thought that it should be noted that it took three months from the point at which Manafort’s home was raided to indictments being issued. It seems likely that the Manafort case was already quite mature at that point and one can assume that the Cohen case is as well (I would be willing to bet that Preet Bharara was already investigating him back when he was fired), so I don’t think we can reasonably expect a faster process than that, unless somehow the South New York department is generally faster than Mueller’s team. I suspect the difference is that Mueller’s team have a wide, wide range of targets to investigate and have to consider cross-investigation issues. If NY is focussing on Cohen alone it may be able to take a more streamlined approach. But as always I’d rather have the investigation done properly than quickly. ---
**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:** [April 13, 2018, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/4143 "2018-04-13T13:35:58Z")
Looks like, if we wondered whether there was anything worth finding in Cohen’s belongings, that the answer is almost certainly, “Yes.” [http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/382988-trump-lawyer-seeks-temporary-restraining-order-over-records-seized-in](http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/382988-trump-lawyer-seeks-temporary-restraining-order-over-records-seized-in) > [@Gyrate](#): > > I suspect the difference is that Mueller’s team have a wide, wide range of targets to investigate and have to consider cross-investigation issues. If NY is focussing on Cohen alone it may be able to take a more streamlined approach. But as always I’d rather have the investigation done properly than quickly. The privilege check might double the length of time, though. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799.md?page=206) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799.md?page=208)