If it’s actually relevant, then we could probably expect to not hear anything more about it for a while.
This is interesting information. I would just point out that the person saying the raid has noting to do with the Russia clusterfuck is presumably one of the people under the investigation that sparked the raid. The guy running the firm that was raided is saying, “Nope! Nothing to do with Russia here! This is the fallout of allegations made four years ago during a civil case and the FBI is just now getting around to raiding me because… they’re busy people, I guess?”
I withhold judgement on whether this is related to the Russia clusterfuck. I have no idea, really. I just don’t share your confident “No go” based on statements made by the guy who was just rousted by the Feds.
The thing is that there’s zero reason to think it had anything to do with Russia. It’s not like it looks Russia-related and the guy being raided is saying “Nope! Nothing to do with Russia here! …”, as you suggest. The only people bringing up Russia are in this thread. (The guy being raided is probably not a poster to this MB :)).
Even aside from that, I don’t know that the guy would have much incentive to attribute the raid to one cause versus another. Especially as the truth will come out anyway.
In general, the FBI frequently takes a very long time before they get to the point of raiding things. And in this case, you would need to date the timing from when the allegations were made in the lawsuit, not from the date of the election.
The Obama administration did vet Flynn, and chose not to remove/downgrade Flynn’s security clearance. The Obama administration was then nice enough to warn the Trump campaign that Flynn shouldn’t/couldn’t be trusted. It would have been even nicer if the Obama administration had simply removed Flynn’s security rating.
The Obama admin gently encouraged Flynn to expand his horizons and seek opportunity outside the confines of the military and the security apparatus. Flynn heeded this advice, and resigned from such positions as might require a security clearance. Hence, no such clearance was required.
Trump supporter logic: Flynn was fired from a very important and highly sensitive job. If someone else was stupid enough to hire him for another very important and highly sensitive job even after being warned not to by the first person, then it must be the fault of the first person who fired him.
Not a single word of warning.
Do you know what SCI is?
While Flynn may have been unsuitable for National Security Advisor, effectively granting him access to all compartments, there may have been compartments he could be allowed to access in the right contexts. Or at least the decision would be made on a compartment-by-compartment basis and he may never again have been allowed access to any compartments, which would effectively have been removing his clearance without officially needing to do so.
In any case, while Flynn was under investigation, I always thought the warning not to hire him had less to do with his questionable ties to Russia than the fact that he was a first-class asshole who should never be put in charge of anyone/anything.
There’s a loose connection to Paul Manafort - one news story reports “The firm’s website said one of its principles was formerly associated with a firm operated by Paul Manafort, who is the former Trump campaign manager whose business dealings with Russia are under intense scrutiny” - but that’s hardly a smoking gun at this point.
Still, the timing is very odd. Maybe this is the FBI firing a warning shot across the Republicans’ bow, saying effectively “If you continue to mess with the FBI we will mess with you in ways you won’t see coming and will not enjoy. Bigly.”
Since I presume that one needs a warrant to go raiding one of the nation’s largest political parties, and those probably take more than a couple hours to get when you consider all of the evidence you need to collect and send in as part of the request, I think it’s safe to rule out retaliation for Comey’s firing.
From the Washington Post
I suppose if this is true, people will just say “oh well, there’s no recourse so whatever” and 45 will just keep trucking along with his unstable so-called leadership.
I believe the current line of bullshit from the Trump Protectors is to deny, deny, deny that Trump every did or said stuff that the Washington Post never said he did.
“Nope nope, Trump never revealed the exact name of the source”. (protip: The WP never said that he did. However Trump did reveal enough classified details so that the Russians could easily deduce more.)
Is pack of lies made up by Moose and Squirrel!
Um, from what I have read, that story has been contradicted by just about everyone in the room.
This is what happens when you abandon journalistic standards and start running stories based on singular, anonymous leaks. You become a tool for anyone who wants to smear someone else.
Also, whoever leaked that to thepress committed a felony. So far as I know, the only provable crimes that have been committed to date have been the felonies committed by the people leaking all this to the press.
From the same article, but buried under the lede:
I think Trump is an ass, but McMaster has a sterling reputation for telling the truth. And other people who were there back him up completely. I will believe him over an anonymous source and a salivating press any day of the week.
I swear, the media is its own worst enemy. The constant hysteria over every little thing Trump does is wearing out their credibility with the people, and by the time they actually have real dirt on Trump no one will pay attention to them.
Really Sam? Respected media outlets are fake news reporting and the administration has covered itself in its sterling reputation? That’s what your going with?
Forget it, Biggirl. It’s Russiatown.
Whitehouse toadies (McMaster) are denying that Trump directly talked about sources or methods:
Small problem Sam Stone: The original story NEVER CLAIMED that Trump discussed sources or methods. McMaster just denied something that nobody ever said happened.
Trump blabbed. He blabbed too much. He said stuff he should not have. He said enough that the Russians will be able to gain a lot of information.
And yet here you are, again carrying Trump’s water, making excuses for him.
The GOP does use the color Red.