If you read the thread you'll find that the vast majority of my posts were factual news stories and fair-minded opinions. I remained skeptical throughout. But I think we've established you aren't a fan of reading anything. Either way, here's some examples of your objective, intellectually stimulating Russiagate posts:



















So basically for 2+ years PaRD had a discussion on the facts of the investigation while you and some other cultists stood to the side rambling incoherently.

To give them leverage. Likely they could justify it to themselves as a means to pressure their way into Trump's circle and flip someone. I mean holy hell, did they not go after manafort on fara violations? That was already twisting the law to use a unprecedented and defunct statute. And they wiretapped and entrapped flynn for similar purposes. The facts are already in confirming that the operation to go after Flynn was absolutely targeted, whether you want to call it technically entrapment or not- it was 100% a setup. Now similarly, it can be argued whether an effort to entrap papadopulous was a zealous maneuver to protect our national security against a perceived foreign influence campaign, or whether it had nefarious political designs, or some shade between the two.

What we do know for sure is that Flynn was set up by these same people, that they were absolutely willing to torture the law and overstep their authority to get results (Weissmann's entire career, long before Trump), that they held rampant anti-Trump grudges and were foaming at the bit to go after Trump even if the evidence wasn't solid and the entire conspiracy theory itself turned out to be false. And we have plenty of evidence to suggest something was very fishy with Papadopulous. The circumstances of his being detained at customs, the fact we know he was targeted by spies, that weissmann was talking to the fbi about cyprus money laundering at the same time, the very absurdity of anyone pushing $10,000 at him so suspiciously- that doesn't prove it like we have with flynn, but it sure smells like a setup.

I don't see why there has to be any pursuit against papa beyond the leverage of criminal charges. The 'false statements' rap was weak. It made headlines, it gave Trump a black eye in the press, but only put people in jail for what, 2 weeks? They went after Manafort and Cohen hard on a dubious basis, and even the judge was calling them out as being obviously only interested in leverage.

I missed this last night.

Weismann was the point man for the prosecution of Manafort in DC. The most reasonable explanation is that him looking into Cyprus money laundering had to do with Manafort.

The connection of the dots in this article is weak. Where is the FARA violation? How does bringing 10,000 back with you from overseas result in a money laundering charge? What solid evidence is there that Tawil is an FBI informant? What about Tawil's objection to it, and the email he posted of Papadopoulos still trying to do business with him after George got back? Papa was freaked out and suspicious of the guy, but he continued to engage with him?

Also, why would the FBI and Mueller orchestrate this elaborate plan before they had everything nailed down? Weissman has to figure out Cyprus money laundering laws after the setup already happened?

This post was edited by IceMage on May 15 2019 07:28am

FARA is a reasonable statute, especially in the aftermath of a vast foreign influence campaign. It made good sense for Mueller(with Rosenstein not objecting) to move the Department towards taking foreign influence seriously.

Nobody entrapped Flynn... he tried to meddle with current US foreign policy as a transition member, and he lied to the FBI about it. It's nonsensical to pretend he had to lie to the FBI. It wasn't a setup.... it was investigators talking to a subject. Flynn could've ended the conversation anytime he wanted... or talked to his lawyer... or just told the truth about his improper behavior. He chose the worst option, and this(along with his Turkish lobbying as a campaign and transition member) is why he deserved what he got.

Some on Mueller's team donated to Democrats... and Weissman praised Yates for refusing to enforce what she saw as an unconstitutional law. Big whoop. Unless Mueller and FBI sources are lying about the beginning of the investigation, it was absolutely solid. No rational observer can deny that.

What was fishy about his detention at customs? Subjects of counter-intelligence investigations are targeted by the FBI. Using informants and agents to try to determine whether he's working against the interests of the United States is entirely proper. I just don't get the objection... if the FBI opened the investigation with a proper predicate, why are using investigative techniques against the subjects improper? Please explain it to me.

Yes, a grumpy old judge made some improper statements. Then he went on to uphold the investigation and sentence Manafort to prison.

It could be, but it would be quite the coincidence given the timing. Manafort wasn't raided for another month, and the ledger had come out 9 months earlier.
The article purports a FARA angle based on being a paid Israeli agent, but they're wrong about it being necessary for the money laundering charges. Its a crime to enter the US with $10000+ in cash without declaring it, and punishable by half a million in fines and 5 years in prison. That's all the leverage they need right there. They are speculating about Tawil being an agent based on the rest of the evidence. Given his well connected position and dual citizenship, he'd make an ideal asset, so that's not a stretch. But they're not just throwing out wild theories connecting the dots of random symbols. We already know Papa was targeted in a previous setup by FBI spies, that's confirmed. And its incredibly irrational for someone to insistently shove $10000 at him in exchange for nothing, get no guarantees and let him keep it. And perfectly rational for Papa to get over his suspicions and try to tap that gravy train. Its very coincidental that $10000 is the magic number for money laundering and that Weissmann was talking to the FBI about that same subject for that country at that same time. And if an operation was ongoing, having Weissmann looped in to provide legal advice would be expected. They'd want input on him to keep their operation 'legal' so it would stick in court, and he'd be the guy to talk to. And the way he was conspicuously arrested at customs at the airport, in confused fashion- is consistent with the FBI expecting to nab him on money laundering, and being stymied.



We've been over this. If Flynn wasn't targeted in a blatant setup, then the word has lost all meaning and there's no such thing as a 'setup'
Flynn was obviously authorized by Trump to conduct diplomacy during the transition and lock horns with Obama on the UN vote and Russian sanctions, trying to pacify world leaders as Obama chucked stink bombs on his way out the door. These were clearly Trump's preferred policies and its nothing but liability ass covering for Trump not to take responsibility. It would open up a whole legal can of worms for Trump to say that he was conducting official diplomacy during the transition, but we were all watching it in real time.
And the FBI was just as aware of this as everyone else. McCabe specifically sent FBI agents to meet with Flynn for the purpose of questioning him about whether he talked to Kisylak, something he had denied in public and was no doubt sworn to do covertly. Its already been acknowledged that they exploited the collegiate relationship and Flynn's assumption of interdepartmental cooperation to get him with his guard down. Flynn could have walked away, or gotten a lawyer- things he should never ever need to do in a functional government where department heads aren't trying to stab one another in the back. I've talked in the past about how incredibly damaging this must be to our intelligence community. Flynn could have felt safe in the knowledge that his phone calls were private and couldn't possibly be exposed by anything short of FISA wiretaps having their masking firewall violated and jeopardizing decades of the IC being insulated from political machinations. Well shit sailor, look how that turned out.

I could understand if you were to split hairs over whether Flynn was entrapped. Its a legal term infamously misused all the time, and it would be a very hard case to say Flynn was forced to lie. He was certainly maneuvered into lying by agents who intentionally set out to get him on the record on a subject they knew he couldn't possibly tell them the truth about. But if you're going to deny it was a setup, then that's just silly. We already know they went there with this planned out.

I don't see how it's that much of a coincidence. It might make more sense if Weissmann wasn't the lead point man for the Manafort prosecution, but he was. This was exactly in his wheelhouse.

The false statement charge carries the same 5 years in prison penalty. I'm not discounting the possibility entirely, but it seems like a sloppy, unnecessary ruse just to lay another relatively minor charge on Papa.

Where is the money laundering aspect? And what does Cyprus have to do with it? I don't see the angle here.



Yes, we've been over it. You are wrong on this, as well as many other things involving Russiagate.

You can rationalize Flynn's behavior all you want. He shouldn't have been meddling in the affairs of US foreign policy before he took office. It was perfectly reasonable for the Obama administration to sanction the Russians for interfering in our election. And given Trump's stance towards Putin and the Russian's interference, it would've been negligent for Obama to let the new administration deal with it.

The FBI agents made clear what they were there to ask about. They were cordial and non-combative because that's what any good FBI agent would do when interviewing a person involved in an investigation. Also, the FBI wasn't asking whether he talked to Kisylak, they were asking what he talked to Kislyak about. Because they were investigating Russia's interference in the election, and the sanctions issue was relevant to that investigation.

Your spin just doesn't hold up to scrutiny. It never has.

This post was edited by IceMage on May 15 2019 09:01am

Uh oh, looks like the real investigations are on the way. Time to listen to the white noise machine running interference for a few months before a bunch of dem aligned cronies end up in prison. The sweet sweet irony of everything.

This post was edited by LA-Leviathan on May 15 2019 06:22pm

I sat on the sideline and made fun of you while you spent two years sharing half-truths and fantasizing a person you've been told to hate was guilty of something you and obsessed individuals like you wanted to be true. It doesn't matter that the day to day details that you've shared might have had been true, what matters is the mosaic these details painted was bullshit.

you sure never hesitate to double and triple down on the cringey lack of self awareness in your posts