# 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:** 262
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2018, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/5225 "2018-12-05T13:37:46Z")
I can see he might not have expected to win. On the other hand his ego is so large you would think he could not see how he could lose. ---
**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 7, 2018, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/5226 "2018-12-07T12:21:45Z")
I just want to postulate (for later bragging rights) that the non-Russia matter that Flynn helped Mueller with was something to do with Trump cutting deals with the Saudis. E.g., the George Nader / Eric Prince affair. Mueller picked up Nader (though, apparently he fled the country and got away afterwards) and I don’t believe that there is any connection to Russia on that tangent, so that strongly implies that the Saudis also interfered in the election and that Rosenstein decided that “election meddling” in general should be brought into the SCO’s mandate, not just Russian, probably on the basis that it involves similar legal arguments. ---
**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 7, 2018, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/5227 "2018-12-07T21:25:05Z")
Interesting review of American foreign political influence campaigns and how that applies to the 2016 Russian interference. > **[History Suggests Proving Collusion Between the Trump Campaign and Russia May...](https://www.lawfareblog.com/history-suggests-proving-collusion-between-trump-campaign-and-russia-may-be-impossible)** > > When the Mueller investigation began in May 2017, many people hoped that it would shed light on what was perhaps the central question regarding Russia’s intervention in the 2016 U.S. election: whether the Trump campaign actively colluded with the... ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2018, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/5228 "2018-12-07T22:41:24Z")
Cohen probably going to do 4-5 years in prison. This is based on NY Federal charges along with Mueller investigation. > **[Prosecutors: Michael Cohen acted at Trump's direction when he broke the law |...](https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/07/politics/michael-cohen-robert-mueller-donald-trump/index.html)** > > Federal prosecutors said for the first time Friday that Michael Cohen acted at the direction of Donald Trump when the former fixer committed two election-related crimes during the 2016 presidential campaign, as special counsel Robert Mueller outlined... ---
**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 7, 2018, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/5229 "2018-12-07T23:27:46Z")
Nice quote from the SCO memo on Cohen: > [@](#): > > Second, Cohen provided the SCO with useful information concerning certain discrete > Russia-related matters core to its investigation that he obtained by virtue of his regular contact > with Company executives during the campaign. > Third, Cohen provided relevant and useful information concerning his contacts with > persons connected to the White House during the 2017–2018 time period. > Fourth, Cohen described the circumstances of preparing and circulating his response to the > congressional inquiries, while continuing to accept responsibility for the false statements contained > within it. ---
**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 8, 2018, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/5230 "2018-12-08T00:03:57Z")
Reading the Manafort memo, it looks like they’re calling him a liar based on a variety of things, but the details are mostly given about his interactions with Kilimnik and his various lobbying firms, none of which is particularly interesting to us (yet). It mentions that he was in contact with Administration Officials while they were in office, but doesn’t say more than that (not even redacting - it just doesn’t say more than that). Too vague for us to really say much about, beyond probably understanding that it means that he and Trump were in communication using some “secret” means that ended up not being so secret. ---
**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 8, 2018, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/5231 "2018-12-08T23:43:48Z")
Well here’s the transcript of James Comey being interviewed the other day by the House Intelligence Committee: > **[Document: Transcript of James Comey's Dec. 7 Interview With House Committees](https://www.lawfareblog.com/document-transcript-james-comeys-dec-7-interview-house-committees)** > > The transcript of former FBI Director James Comey's interview before the House judiciary committee and oversight committee is available here and below. I’m 30-something pages in and holy crap it’s dumb. Like, even if we accept that they’re bringing him in just to try and make him look bad, it’s clear that they have no particular strategy for doing so. And if we give them the benefit of the doubt that they actually want to get information relevant to _something_ I’ll be damned if I could figure out what that is from the questions asked. I can imagine that in many cases it would suck to be hauled in front of Congress to be grilled, but in this case I feel like - as James Comey - you can basically just sit back and feel comfortable in watching people prove to the world just how big a moron they are. It’s like being invited to a party by an asshole, and the asshole proceeds to spend the duration of the party punching himself in the nads. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2018, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/5232 "2018-12-09T04:15:57Z")
Watching a room full of Republican Congressgits stapling their scroti to their desks could get tiresome after a while. Hour or two. ---
**Author:** ![Dacien](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dacien/32/5663_2.png) [@Dacien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dacien)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2018, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/5233 "2018-12-09T05:33:26Z")
Somebody on Twitter enumerated all the times Comey said, “I don’t know,” “I don’t recall”, or “I don’t remember”, and it totaled something close to 300 times. ---
**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 9, 2018, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/5234 "2018-12-09T05:46:22Z")
> [@Dacien](#): > > Somebody on Twitter enumerated all the times Comey said, “I don’t know,” “I don’t recall”, or “I don’t remember”, and it totaled something close to 300 times. Your average person on the streets wants to try and answer everything and will feel bad about failing to do so. This is a big reason that eye witness testimony is so unreliable. People want to give an answer, so they grasp at mental straws and if they have a gut feeling like the person was wearing mauve, then they’ll say that the person was wearing mauve, even though they had no clear memory of it. But then they’ll remember answering that it was mauve, and it will go back into their memory as truth. We remember very little of our average day. Being honest and simply admitting that is more useful for a real investigator, because it doesn’t send others off on a wild goose chase. It’s also far less likely to get you into legal jeopardy, since you can’t be in conflict with the physical evidence or others if you explicitly don’t remember. ---
**Author:** ![Chisquirrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6bbea6/32.png) [@Chisquirrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chisquirrel)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2018, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/5235 "2018-12-09T05:48:54Z")
> [@Dacien](#): > > Somebody on Twitter enumerated all the times Comey said, “I don’t know,” “I don’t recall”, or “I don’t remember”, and it totaled something close to 300 times. A dirty quick search of the text revealed just under 250 times. Given that almost a dozen of those were in response to Gowdy asking the same question over and over, and others were in reply to questioning about Mueller’s investigation, whether certain FBI agents can be named in the hearing according to DOJ regulations, and other inanities, I’m not surprised the number is that high. But if you’re trying to imply something about James Comey, come out and say it. Have faith in your convictions and that they will triumph in truth rather than being petty bullshit. ---
**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:** [December 9, 2018, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/5236 "2018-12-09T16:38:31Z")
> [@Dacien](#): > > Somebody on Twitter enumerated all the times Comey said, “I don’t know,” “I don’t recall”, or “I don’t remember”, and it totaled something close to 300 times. Please tell me, on December 8th, 2016, what did you have for breakfast? Remember, you are under oath and penalties of perjury. ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2018, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/5237 "2018-12-09T16:49:42Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > Please tell me, on December 8th, 2016, what did you have for breakfast? Remember, you are under oath and penalties of perjury. Also remember, if we’re asking, we probably know the answer. ---
**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:** [December 9, 2018, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/5238 "2018-12-09T16:55:49Z")
> [@Dacien](#): > > Somebody on Twitter … Cool. ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2018, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/5239 "2018-12-09T17:04:50Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > Well here’s the transcript of James Comey being interviewed the other day by the House Intelligence Committee: > > [https://www.lawfareblog.com/document-transcript-james-comeys-dec-7-interview-house-committees](https://www.lawfareblog.com/document-transcript-james-comeys-dec-7-interview-house-committees) Well I’ve read the whole thing now and nearest I can tell they’re beating 2 drums. One, the Russia investigation is invalid because the Carter Page FISA application relied on the discredited Steele dossier. And two, Hillary Clinton is guilty, Guilty, GUILTY! No new information on either of those fronts, of course, so I can only assume this was an attempt to keep both items in the news and to try and trip up Comey to discredit him as an obstruction witness. ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2018, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/5240 "2018-12-09T17:06:39Z")
And yes, he says “I don’t remember” a bunch but if you actually read the transcript you’ll see that the reason that’s the only conservative talking point to come out of this is because nothing else he said was flattering to Trump. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2018, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/5241 "2018-12-09T17:44:41Z")
Jesus Christ, Hamilton Burger could win the case against Trump. ---
**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:** [December 9, 2018, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/5242 "2018-12-09T17:50:20Z")
> [@Dacien](#): > > Somebody on Twitter enumerated all the times Comey said, “I don’t know,” “I don’t recall”, or “I don’t remember”, and it totaled something close to 300 times. That’s an awesome source: “somebody on Twitter”! I’ll have to remember to use them for all my future posts! ---
**Author:** ![Dacien](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dacien/32/5663_2.png) [@Dacien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dacien)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2018, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/5243 "2018-12-09T17:56:58Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > Please tell me, on December 8th, 2016, what did you have for breakfast? Remember, you are under oath and penalties of perjury. If you told me what day of the week that was, I could probably answer that. Much easier to just say, “I don’t know,” though. Not helpful, but easier. ---
**Author:** ![Randolph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Randolph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Randolph)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2018, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799/5244 "2018-12-09T18:59:14Z")
Why don’t you just come out and say what you mean? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799.md?page=261) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-associates-may-have-coordinated-with-russians-according-to-us-officials/782799.md?page=263)