Posted on 03/25/2019 11:14:13 AM PDT by edwinland
It is bizarre, however, to spend two years insisting collusion is not a crime and then turn around and call the absence of crimes proof that there was no collusion. Of course Trump colluded with Russia. He literally went on camera and asked Russia to hack Hillary Clinton’s emails, promising that Russia would be rewarded by the American media, and Russia responded to this request by attempting a hack to steal Clinton’s emails that very day. Trump’s campaign aides repeatedly welcomed and sought out Russian assistance. His campaign manager passed on 75 pages of intricate polling data to a Russian operative during the campaign. And he did all this while secretly pursuing a lucrative business deal with Russia.
(Excerpt) Read more at nymag.com ...
Let's take Chait's core allegation that Trump asked the Russians to hack Hillary and they "responded" and walk it all the way back:
1. Chait: "He literally went on camera and asked Russia to hack Hillary Clinton’s emails, promising that Russia would be rewarded by the American media, and Russia responded to this request by attempting a hack to steal Clinton’s emails that very day"
2. To support this claim Chait makes the word "responded" a link to a New York Times article that expressly does not say whether the Russians "responded" to Trump's 'request', thus leaving open the possibility that the timing was just a coincidence.
NYT: “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing,” Mr. Trump said, referring to emails Mrs. Clinton had deleted from the private account she had used when she was secretary of state. “I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press.”
As it turns out, that same day, the Russians — whether they had tuned in or not — made their first effort to break into the servers used by Mrs. Clinton’s personal office, according to a sweeping 29-page indictment unsealed Friday by the special counsel’s office that charged 12 Russians with election hacking."
3. The NYT article links to another NYT article about the indictment of a variety of Russians for a variety of hacking allegations. That article links to the indictment itself, and there we find out that the NYT was exaggerating.
The Indictment: The Conspirators spearphished individuals affiliated with the Clinton Campaign throughout the summer of 2016. For example, on or about July 27, 2016, the Conspirators attempted after hours to spearphish for the first time email accounts at a domain hosted by a thirdparty provider and used by Clinton’s personal office. At or around the same time, they also targeted seventy-six email addresses at the domain for the Clinton Campaign.
So it wasn't necessarily "that same day". It might have been the day before.
4. But wait, did you notice anything unusual in that sentence from the indictment? Since when does an indictment specifically mention that a particular date was "the first time" you committed a crime. Imagine "The defendant then stole three items from the store for the first time". Like since, never.
In fact the indictment contains allegations of 75 different crimes by Russians throughout 2015 and 2016 and none of the other 74 are described as being committed "for the first time".
I wonder why that is?
Obviously, because Mueller was feeding them the germ of a talking point, which the reporters then watered and the Times then pruned and Chait then embellished. That's how it's done.
By the way, how much do you want to bet that if the Russian hackers were as busy hacking everyone around the DNC for over a year, they didn't wait until Trump's press conference to try to hack Hillary's server? That it wasn't their "first time"? And/or that it happened on or about the day before or even the week before July 27th? I'm taking odds.
The haters still looking for crumbs from the Mueller Report. ROTFL. Forget it jugheads! It’s over! Americans have been spared another scam.
Eh.....it’s The New York Magazine.
They think “exonerated” means an oil company is giving him an award.
The fact that there was NO collusion means there was NO crime..he was exonerated END OF STORY
The Left knows FULL WELL that this was a JOKE at a campaign rally, yet they persist in reporting it because, really, they pretty much don't have anything else.
At the time Trump made the joke about Russia turning over Hillary’s e-mails, her server had been off line for months.
They could not have hacked it at his suggestion, but they could have hacked it when it was online because it was unsecured.
Not Trump’s fault if the Russians do have them.
The DNC e-mails were leaked by Seth Rich and he was murdered for it.
Investigate THAT.
Yup! You got it.
I contend it DJT obstructed in any way it was just like Dr. Kimball in the Fugitive, and who can blame him.
Now they’re regurgitating failed lies that were pathetic the first time.
Hillary’s emails were hacked long before President Trump joked about it. The Chinese nabbed all of it. Asking Russia to give them back isn’t asking for a hack; it’s a master troll at work.
Idiots.
Oh please, stop with the nonsense.
Give it a rest guys. The charging authority for federal crimes is the DOJ. The Attorney General said not enough evidence to bring a charge of obstruction. Do you feel that there is any additional information that would get the DOJ to change their mind?
I’m surprised Henny Youngman never went to prison. Many times I heard him ask people to kidnap his wife. “Take my wife — please!” he’d say. And yet no charges were ever filed!
Hey, come on now - this guy’s unusually perceptive - he’s the only one who remembers when we bombed the hell out of Russia after Ronald Reagan said “the bombing of Russia begins in 5 minutes” during a mike test.
When Trump went on TV and made those statements it was sarcasm based in truth, the undeniable truth that Hillary had used a an unsecure server to conduct State Department business.
It would be a much shorter, truthful and readable article, if he just said, “Orange man bad.”, and left it at that.
it’s the song that never ends....it’s like the story about the boy who is cleaning out the stable who says, “Look at all the horseshit in here!! I can’t wait to reach the pony!!”
Trump-Hate and TDS is a religion.
If you are a believer the facts will never matter as they somehow can only support your emotionally-based, pre-established beliefs.
I don’t see things getting better, until after they have gotten far worse. The pendulum still has a ways to travel before it changes direction.
God have mercy on our country
“....Hillary’s emails were hacked long before President Trump joked about it. The Chinese nabbed all of it. ....”
I would imagine every intelligence service on the planet that had the money to buy a computer, get ISP service & browse the internet got copies!
No collusion or crime. How can there be obstruction? If I falsely accuse you of robbing a bank, how can you obstruct justice? What would be the motive?
Chait: "If Trump drowned puppies in the creek he should be indicted!"
Us: "Huh?"
Chait: "Well, can you prove that he didn't drown puppies in the creek?"
Us: "Uh...well, no."
Chait: "THEN HE'S GUILTY!"
Not even a nice try.
Superb!!
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