Thursday, March 23, 2017

Trump Associates May Have Coordinated with Russians


Disturbing information on possible Trump/Pence campaign officials colluding with Russian hackers and Russian intelligence continues to leak and suggest that contrary to Der Trumpenführer's denials collusion and treason may have well occurred.  Just as disturbing are the actions of GOP co-hair of the House Intelligence Committee, Devin Nunes (who served on Trump's transition committee), in running to the White House to share information with the target of his committee's investigation. Anyone who believes that a thorough and honest investigation will be undertaken with Nunes involved is delusional.   Even John McCain has stated that we need a select committee to get the job done and done properly.  The irony in Nunes' behavior, of course, is that on Monday Nunes bitched and whined about the problem of "leaks" even as he ran to the White House and released classified information to those being investigated.  The Hill states as follows concerning allegations that evidence of Trump?Putin collusion is "more than circumstantial:
The top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee said Wednesday that there is "more than circumstantial" evidence pointing to collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.
In an interview with "Meet the Press" host Chuck Todd, Rep. Adam Schiff(D-Calif.) said evidence suggesting that members of President Trump's campaign conspired with the Kremlin to influence the presidential election in Trump's favor was "more than circumstantial," and needed to be thoroughly probed.
"I can tell you that the case is more than that," Schiff said. "And I can't go into the particulars, but there is more than circumstantial evidence now."
"I don't want to go into specifics, but I will say that there is evidence that is not circumstantial and is very much worthy of investigation. So that is what we ought to do."

CNN has more details that in my view, ought to make obvious to patriotic Americans that it is essential that an independent prosecutor be appointed to thoroughly investigate collusion/treason by Trump and his minions.  Here are are excerpts:
The FBI has information that indicates associates of President Donald Trump communicated with suspected Russian operatives to possibly coordinate the release of information damaging to Hillary Clinton's campaign, US officials told CNN.
This is partly what FBI Director James Comey was referring to when he made a bombshell announcement Monday before Congress that the FBI is investigating the Trump campaign's ties to Russia, according to one source.
The FBI is now reviewing that information, which includes human intelligence, travel, business and phone records and accounts of in-person meetings, according to those U.S. officials. The information is raising the suspicions of FBI counterintelligence investigators that the coordination may have taken place, though officials cautioned that the information was not conclusive and that the investigation is ongoing.
One law enforcement official said the information in hand suggests "people connected to the campaign were in contact and it appeared they were giving the thumbs up to release information when it was ready." But other U.S. officials who spoke to CNN say it's premature to draw that inference from the information gathered so far since it's largely circumstantial.
The FBI cannot yet prove that collusion took place, but the information suggesting collusion is now a large focus of the investigation, the officials said.
The FBI has already been investigating four former Trump campaign associates -- Michael Flynn, Paul Manafort, Roger Stone and Carter Page -- for contacts with Russians known to US intelligence. All four have denied improper contacts and CNN has not confirmed any of them are the subjects of the information the FBI is reviewing.
One of the obstacles the sources say the FBI now faces in finding conclusive intelligence is that communications between Trump's associates and Russians have ceased in recent months given the public focus on Russia's alleged ties to the Trump campaign. Some Russian officials have also changed their methods of communications, making monitoring more difficult, the officials said.
Investigators continue to analyze the material and information from multiple sources for any possible indications of coordination, according to US officials. Director Comey in Monday's hearing refused to reveal what specifically the FBI was looking for or who they're focusing on.
US officials said the information was not drawn from the leaked dossier of unverified information compiled by a former British intelligence official compiled for Trump's political opponents, though the dossier also suggested coordination between Trump campaign associates and Russian operatives.

  

No comments: