# 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:** 244
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2018, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/4865 "2018-07-31T00:17:16Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > Nixon always believed that everyone else was dirty, too. Is there some sort of term for it, where one assumes that everyone else is as criminal as you are, so it’s just being stupid to not act faster and firmer in criminal ways to keep ahead of them? Projection. The whole right wing has more of it than a multiplex theater. ---
**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:** [July 31, 2018, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/4866 "2018-07-31T07:40:43Z")
Giuliani talks about a claim by Cohen that there was a planning meeting for the Veselnitskaya meeting: > **[Giuliani rejects purported Cohen claim of second Trump Tower meeting](https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/399526-giuliani-rejects-purported-cohen-claim-of-second-trump-tower-meeting/)** > > Rudy Giuliani on Monday rejected purported claims by President Trump’s former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, that at least five Trump aides participated in a planning session days bef… Obviously, it never happened. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2018, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/4867 "2018-07-31T14:12:04Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > Giuliani talks about a claim by Cohen that there was a planning meeting for the Veselnitskaya meeting: > > [http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/399526-giuliani-rejects-purported-cohen-claim-of-second-trump-tower-meeting](http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/399526-giuliani-rejects-purported-cohen-claim-of-second-trump-tower-meeting) > > Obviously, it never happened. I think I’m hearing Giuliani describe an _alleged_ meeting. He describes in detail the purpose, attendees, and dates. Then he says it didn’t happen. That’s a curiously detailed description of a thing that didn’t happen. ---
**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:** [July 31, 2018, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/4868 "2018-07-31T14:23:28Z")
Anyone got Batman’s number? I think Rudolph Cobblepot needs some time back in Arkham. ---
**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:** [July 31, 2018, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/4869 "2018-07-31T14:38:34Z")
This will not be news to anyone in this thread, but it’s a good, short video explaining how Russian interference was enough to put Trump in the White House. It’s Max Boot, summarizing a paywalled column of his that appeared in _The Washington Post_ a couple days ago. It’s only a little over 3 minutes long and worth a watch. Boot argues that the disinformation campaign, the altering of voter rolls, and the timed release of hacked DNC emails were enough to put Trump over the top in an election that was swayed by, in Boot’s estimation, 80,000 votes in three states. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/qFyQWLXyiZo/maxresdefault.jpg "Opinion | Here's why Trump wouldn't have won without Russia") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFyQWLXyiZo) ---
**Author:** ![Chisquirrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6bbea6/32.png) [@Chisquirrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chisquirrel)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2018, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/4870 "2018-08-05T16:25:59Z")
[There was no collusion!](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1026084333315153924) Derpity derp… ---
**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:** [August 5, 2018, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/4871 "2018-08-05T16:38:29Z")
“… well, my son colluded. BUT I DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT IT! AND IT WAS TOTALLY LEGAL ANYWAY, BUT JUST PUTTING IT OUT THERE THAT _I_ DIDN’T DO IT. IT WAS JUNIOR!” ---
**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:** [August 5, 2018, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/4872 "2018-08-05T16:39:32Z")
I think we can now amend this thread title to “Don Jr colluded with Russians, according to his Dad.” ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2018, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/4873 "2018-08-05T16:40:16Z")
Trump’s tweeting fingers are his own worst enemy. ---
**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:** [August 5, 2018, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/4874 "2018-08-05T16:43:32Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > Trump’s tweeting fingers are his own worst enemy. Fake Fingers! Lying Digits! Crooked Claws! Maybe it’s like the movie where the guy gets the evil hand that keeps trying to kill people, except instead, it’s an evil guy with a good hand that is trying to warn everyone. ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2018, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/4875 "2018-08-05T16:45:59Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > “… well, my son colluded. BUT I DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT IT! AND IT WAS TOTALLY LEGAL ANYWAY, BUT JUST PUTTING IT OUT THERE THAT _I_ DIDN’T DO IT. IT WAS JUNIOR!” It was legal, yet we lied about it because… ---
**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:** [August 5, 2018, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/4876 "2018-08-05T16:56:10Z")
> [@Fiveyearlurker](#): > > It was legal, yet we lied about it because… To be fair, “We lied out of habit.” is not actually an unreasonable defense for them. ---
**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:** [August 5, 2018, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/4877 "2018-08-05T17:03:39Z")
Covfefe! ---
**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:** [August 5, 2018, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/4878 "2018-08-05T17:36:30Z")
“Really, Don Jr was a nobody. He may have fetched covfefe for some of the staff. Or so I was told. I never met him. He had no official role in my campaign.” ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2018, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/4879 "2018-08-06T12:19:15Z")
Josh Marshall from TPM makes the point that since Trump and his team have lied about every aspect of the Trump Tower meeting with Russian agents so far, there’s no reason to believe they’re telling the truth when they say that the meeting produced nothing of value. Even if they didn’t hand over a dossier in that meeting, they easily could have coordinated future leaks or the timing of other damaging Clinton information: [https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/assume-nothing](https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/assume-nothing) ---
**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:** [August 6, 2018, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/4880 "2018-08-06T13:01:37Z")
Once again, Trump’s explaination of his actions reminds me of this: [I thought the cop was a prostitute - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnttBhGVytc) What’s amazing is that some people can hear a statement like that, and walk away that the matter has been totally addressed. ---
**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:** [August 6, 2018, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/4881 "2018-08-06T13:03:48Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Josh Marshall from TPM makes the point that since Trump and his team have lied about every aspect of the Trump Tower meeting with Russian agents so far, there’s no reason to believe they’re telling the truth when they say that the meeting produced nothing of value. Even if they didn’t hand over a dossier in that meeting, they easily could have coordinated future leaks or the timing of other damaging Clinton information: > > [Assume Nothing - TPM – Talking Points Memo](https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/assume-nothing) While there are some curious points in Manafort’s notes on the meeting, that could be worrisome, it seems reasonable to assume that he made the notes in a chronological order as the meeting went on. Based on that, they clearly started by talking about Browder and ended by talking about sanctions - which is to say, they started and ended talking about the Magnitsky Act. While we might not understand those middle points, it seems more likely that those are things we don’t understand about the Act than that they are something on some other topic. Personally, I think that Veselnitskaya was operating independently of the GRU and Yevgeny Prigozhin’s troll farm. Her job was to work on bringing an end to Magnitsky and that’s what she was trying to do. Her other job, in the US, was after all to try and use our court system to get Bill Browder as we know from Glenn Simpson. She suckered Trump’s team, and got a chance to lobby them using a bit of fluff that she’d been able to get her hands on. This doesn’t absolve Junior of making an attempt to use the Russian intelligence apparatus to win an election, since that’s what he was almost certainly trying to do and is, in essence, treason. It’s just happenstance that he ended up entrapping himself via a random group of Russians rather than through a string operation. But the Trump Tower meeting is not the only matter of likely coordination between the campaign and Russia. It seems likely that they were receiving money through the NRA, arranged by Gates and Manafort (even after he left the campaign). This explains their friendly relationship with Butina, including a variety of emails between her and JD Gordon, and the presence of some Trump people at her inauguration party. It also explains the presence of Russian oligarchs at Trump’s VIP-only inauguration party. It’s certain that the Russians were comfortable communicating with Roger Stone, asking him what he thought about some data they posted - which he then spent enough time looking through to reply, “[p]retty standard”. It seems likely that there’s more there between them. And then there’s Papadopoulos’ whole back and forth with Russia and the possibility that he arranged something with them while he was in Greece. And, similarly, Carter Page’s mission to Moscow, where he met with a bunch of bigwigs. And then there’s Eric Prince’s meeting on the Seychelles… And Kushner’s four meetings… ---
**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:** [August 10, 2018, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/4882 "2018-08-10T01:18:13Z")
Back when the Nunes memo was making rounds, I had noted that the timing seemed rather stupid. They really want to wait until the midterms before dumping on the FBI. Those who are smarter than Nunes have now headed basic logic and are now striking: > **[GOP chairman readies Steele dossier subpoenas](https://thehill.com/homenews/house/401193-gop-chairman-set-to-issue-steele-dossier-subpoenas/)** > > The Republican chairman of the House Judiciary Committee is readying subpoenas for people connected to the controversial “Steele” dossier, sources tell The Hill.Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) is pr… > **[The handwritten notes exposing what Fusion GPS told DOJ about Trump](https://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/401185-the-handwritten-notes-exposing-what-fusion-gps-told-doj-about-trump/)** > > By John SolomonOpinion ContributorA memory stick quietly exchanged in a coffee shop.An admission of a “Hail Mary” leak.An unmistakable effort to push the Russia investigation closer to Donald Trump… > **[What would the intelligence community’s ‘insurance policy’ against Trump look...](https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/401116-what-would-the-intelligence-communitys-insurance-policy-against-trump/)** > > What if powerful, connected people in the intelligence community and in politics worried that a Trump presidency might expose them? The general idea is to point out that Bruce Ohr was acting as an intermediary between Steele & Simpson and the FBI, despite not being on the case. Obviously, they are using a lot of scary words to make this sound like nefarious behavior, where Steele and Simpson would probably categorize it as, “We were trying to report our findings about possible crimes to the FBI and we knew someone who was friendly enough to help us do so.” Do we know when the DNC stopped paying Simpson (if ever)? ---
**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:** [August 10, 2018, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/4883 "2018-08-10T02:11:36Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > “Really, Don Jr was a nobody. He may have fetched covfefe for some of the staff. Or so I was told. I never met him. He had no official role in my campaign.” He wasn’t even my son for very long. A couple months, tops. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2018, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/4884 "2018-08-10T04:31:43Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > Giuliani talks about a claim by Cohen that there was a planning meeting for the Veselnitskaya meeting: > > [http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/399526-giuliani-rejects-purported-cohen-claim-of-second-trump-tower-meeting](http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/399526-giuliani-rejects-purported-cohen-claim-of-second-trump-tower-meeting) > > Obviously, it never happened. > [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > I think I’m hearing Giuliani describe an _alleged_ meeting. He describes in detail the purpose, attendees, and dates. Then he says it didn’t happen. That’s a curiously detailed description of a thing that didn’t happen. Best part of that article: > [@](#): > > “We checked with their lawyers — the ones we could check with — for four of the six,” he continued. “That meeting never, ever happened. It didn’t happen. It’s a figment of his imagination or is lying.” So these people are still colluding to obstruct justice, perhaps, by coordinating their stories through Trump’s legal team, eh? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799.md?page=243) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799.md?page=245)