On Rachel: Dossier is a roadmap

[Bradshaw3]

Talking now about Glenn Simpson's testimony to Congress about the trump dossier. For those who haven't read it I would recommend doing so because when I did, my thought was exactly the same: this is a blueprint for the whole Russia/collusion/cultivation of trump by Putin story.

[oasis]

1. Overt COLLUSION between Kremlin and Trump campaign.

It's out.

[FakeNoose]

47. Yes - it's called the Steele Dossier if you want to google it

Steele, not "Trump" dossier.

It was published on Gawker or Buzzfeed last fall, because I remember reading it BEFORE the election.
Since then it's been published on many news websites.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

50. David Corn had it first just like 4 years earlier with 47% video.

[BigmanPigman]

2. Did she just say they released the transcripts and all of it IS true?

I downloaded it back in Jan but not all of it was confirmed before, but now she said all is confirmed to be true and the guy did not take the 5th as they said he would.

[Bradshaw3]

4. She is saying they stand by their report

She added that so far some of it has been verified but nothing has been disproven from it. Rick Wilson on now saying that GPS Fusuin is wellrespected, as is Christopher Steels as an intelligence officer with many ties in Russia.
Also, his lawyer said they are fine with releasing the transcripts of his testimony.

[sandensea]

44. They need to release them - and should have done so before Election Day, really.

Until they do, half the voters in this country and most of our news media (MSNBC excluded) will continue to give him the benefit of the doubt.

We have to make it impossible - or at least laughably incongruous - for them to continue doing so.

[Satch59]

3. Rachel is giddy...

This will be awesome...love how she claimed the questioner at Grassley's town hall her new boyfriend...

Roadmap for investigation...says it all...

[Bradshaw3]

7. The guy was great in questioning Grassley in a respectful but persistent way

And Grassley said he would probably be fine with releasing the transcripts of the interview.

[Satch59]

10. And my understanding is that this interview

Was conducted by judiciary staff, not by the senate members? Can we get a leak please from a staffer??

[Honeycombe8]

52. He doesn't have to release that. I can't imagine he will. If he does...

I think that's an indication that the Senate has turned against Trump and see him as a sinking ship.

But they want the tax reform bill passed, and they need Trump to sign it.

[Mr. Ected]

55. Correction. They need a Republican to sign it.

The GOP is not necessarily tethered to Trump alone in this regard.

Even if Mueller brings all of them down, there will still be a Republican in the Oval Office when the smoke clears, and the tax cut bill is presented for signature.

[Honeycombe8]

58. There's not time for that. They're stuck w/Trump for the near foreseeable future. nt

[BSdetect]

61. Grassley looked like he swallowed a warm turd re releasing the transcript

[kentuck]

71. Is he trying to cover for Trump?

Are the transcripts damaging to Trump, you think?

[shraby]

5. Boom!

I knew trump was going ape for a reason. He can't survive this.

[FakeNoose]

48. Yes, well, Trump's known about this all along

It's the rest of us who are catching up, some slower than others.

Trump has known all along he's going down, isn't it obvious?
So do Ryan, McConnell, Kushner, Pence, and at least half of Trump's staff.
They all knew about the Steele Dossier.

[oberliner]

6. She is getting a little too "boy who cried wolf"

There have been quite a few "this will change everything" moments that have not ended up as much.

[Bradshaw3]

8. I think it is a big deal

If this dossier is found to be credible then drumpf is done because it also goes into his finaical ties to Russia and that he has been cultivated by Russia for five years. Hard to minimize that.

[oberliner]

11. Perhaps it will be

But it seems like she has had "bombshells" on more than a few of her recent programs that were supposed to change everything and here we still are.

[FreepFryer]

16. LOL, empty attempts to dilute support w out specifics aren't gonna discourage anyone!

To any debate worth having, best to bring facts and snacks.

[Bradshaw3]

17. I don't think one moment like this will "change everything"

That's not how it works and she isn't saying that either. In Watergate it took more than a year for the damning tape to come out and were it not for that, Nixon would not have bene impeached. I think the charges against drumpf are much more serious, go back years and involve financial crimes as well as being a (probably unintenional given his stupidity) agent of Russia.

[oberliner]

20. She said this was 'the whole ballgame'

Or something like that.

[Bradshaw3]

23. Again I say that if the dossier is found credible it is the whole ballgame

It is that damning. Repubs are looking for a reason to get rid of him. The dossier will give them many reasons, if not put him in jail. Just wondering, have you read it?

[oberliner]

36. Yes - "golden showers" and prostitutes

Does not have the ring of truth to it to me.

I would be happy to be proven wrong.

[Bradshaw3]

43. Neither she nor other investigators feature that part. Why do you?

You didn't say whether you have read it? Are you just going by headlines?

[oberliner]

56. I read whatever was published by BuzzFeed

Is there more than that?

[Bradshaw3]

62. No but it's strange you focus on the salacious parts

Rachel, other journalists and I in my comments focused on the financial and cultivation of trump as an agent aspects. Yet you focus on the salacious parts for some reason, which aren't what will get him in trouble, while ignoring the criminal and/or other charges that could very well get him impeached. You seem to also think that this doesn't mean anything because he hasn't been removed from office and put in jail yet. I would recommend reading a history of Watergate.

[oberliner]

64. The salacious parts are what make it sound suspicious to me

That was why I was focusing on them.

It just seems hard to believe that he would pay prostitutes to urinate on one another on a bed that he believed the Obamas had once slept in.

Maybe I'm naive, though, and that sort of thing actually happens.

[Bradshaw3]

69. I worked as a bellhop while in college. It happens

More than that happens and more people than you would know, especially the wealthier and more powerful they are. But I don't care about that part. I would focus on who provides the reports - Steele, a well-respected veteran of the spy world, and the context behind them. Putin is a 3-D chess player schooled in the Cold War days as a KGB agent. To me this is a classical case of recruitment, and sexually compromising information has always been a pillar of that kind of spycraft. But the focus should be on the financial ties and collusion. Putin has clear motives for recruiting trump and for interferring in our democracy. It's in the report.

[alcibiades_mystery]

53. ROFL

[oberliner]

57. The Mets have really tanked it this year

It's a shame - they seemed like they had such promise at the beginning of the year with the pitching staff.

[alcibiades_mystery]

59. Hahaha!

Not your best stuff.

[oberliner]

63. Seeing that Mets logo makes me sad

I really had high hopes this year.

[LanternWaste]

66. I read your posts with that very same sentiment.

I read your posts with that very same sentiment. You had such potential.

Thank goodness neither of us are insulting anything or anyone... just giving opinions that are irrelevant to anything in the thread for our own reasons. Nice job!

[oberliner]

68. Thanks

I always appreciate your responses - you invariably give me a lot to think about.

[Bradshaw3]

72. Yes the contributions to the thread were tremendous

[oasis]

21. I'm in no hurry to see Pence take over. Let it simmer for a bit.

Meanwhile, Trump will be left to twist in the wind. That goes for Junior, Ivanca, Sarah Hucksterbee, Kellyanne and HANNITY.

[Bradshaw3]

33. Unfortunately so will the country

I am not thrilled about Pence and can see why some may want this to be drawn out but I think drumpf is more dangerous to our democracy, country and the world.

[flibbitygiblets]

41. Agreed. Odious as the Rumpster is, he is a useful idiot when it comes to advancing the R agenda

or not advancing it, which is not what would happen if Pence were in office. I realize that lots of damage is being done in the meantime, but so far health care repeal disaster has been avoided and tax cuts for the rich aren't looking so likely either.

I'm praying that Mueller not only starts handing out indictments soon, but can get some of that disgusting Trump stank on Pence as well.

[Mira]

49. Well said

And correct IMO

[Volaris]

35. It's all connected.

That she see the lines between the dots faster and before the rest of her colleagues has always been her gift.
It's there, even if she's the first to sense it.

[oberliner]

37. I like her show a lot

And she makes some great points and digs deeply into these things.

However, here we still are.

[Volaris]

40. Oh, I agree. She's the first one there, doesn't mean she has the actual power to do anything WITH it

Congress WILL impeach him, WHEN enough info gets out.
=)

[Lil Missy]

30. Yet. n/t

[Kingofalldems]

34. Mmmmm--nope. Not this time.

[alcibiades_mystery]

54. Probe...probe...alert

[LanternWaste]

65. Precisely how many "this will change everything" moments do you alleg

Precisely how many "this will change everything" moments do you allege she is guilty of? Or will it be simply guesswork on your part? Maybe just a vague sentiment on your part lacking any real numbers?

[oberliner]

67. I feel like there have been a bunch

Pretty much just a vague sentiment, though, as you say, lacking any real numbers.

Do you have a sense of about how many there have been?

[OliverQ]

9. Apparently they're providing guidance on the transgender ban soon

Freakin stupid administration.

[Skittles]

13. red meat for his sickening racist, homo/trans-phobic base

[gristy]

12. I suspect I should know this, but what is "the trump dossier"?

[Bradshaw3]

15. That's fine. I have a link

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3259984-Trump-Intelligence-Allegations.html

It was prepared originally as oppo research by GPS and a British spy for Republicans against Trump then for Dems and eventually made its way to McCain who gave it to FBI. Like I said it's worth reading for the blueprint of how this thing came about.

[Not Ruth]

25. Jeb has denied that it was prepared for him

Has Hillary said whether or not it was prepared for her?

[Bradshaw3]

27. It was originally prepared for anti-Trump republicans

It was not prepared for Hillary.

[Volaris]

39. And likely, jeb C/O the BFEE were the only ones with the connections or the cash to afford it.

It came from jeb, and when he dropped out it was transfered to Mccain as the 'old man' of the party, would be my guess. Even Bill and Hillary like Trump more than Old Man Bush and Barbara do...they consider him obnoxious, new money uncouth ( and uneducated and undeserving) swine.

[pnwmom]

76. Hillary and Bill don't "like" Trump -- in the present tense -- more than the Bushes.

Yes, they had social connections in the past. But those days of "liking" Trump are long gone.

[sarcasmo]

60. I'm betting the Mercers paid for the research.

[pnwmom]

46. But he can't speak for the PACS that were working on his behalf. He wasn't allowed by law

to coordinate with them.

So the question is still open.

[Hortensis]

73. Lol? He can make a deal to talk and may well have already.

So much better to be a witness than a subject of an investigation.

[Abu Pepe]

14. Just sent e-mails to Cruz and Cornyn, who are my Senators

and Grassley who is not my Senator but is chairman of the Judiciary committee. I have never communicated with any of those people. I was very polite. So some staff member will read it and it will be tallied with other e-mail subjects and may be meaningless. But shit, I just petitioned my government for a redress of grievances while I still can.

I asked that they vote to release Glenn Simpson's 10 hours of testimony.

[BigmanPigman]

19. GOOD FOR YOU! We all should do it. I will tomorrow. RESIST!

[Abu Pepe]

24. here are the members and links to send messages

https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/about/members

[BigmanPigman]

32. Thanks. I had already looked them up and started getting info

from Zillow so I can be considered a constituent in case the staffer asks for validation. I have called them a zillion time already since Nov. so I am familiar with how they work, etc. I'll call all of them.

[Abu Pepe]

38. yeah I am going to call Cruz and Cornyn tomorrow

If they check my primary voting record its a mixed bag. I was the Demo precinct chair but quit that to vote in Repub primaries for local courthouse races so, despite the fact I voted a straight Democratic ticket I probably look like a demo leaning swing voter on paper.

[oasis]

18. Malcolm Nance called the the dossier "an explosive, damning document".

Rachel's show tonight is a must see.

[Not Ruth]

22. The 40,000 pages is what matters, not the dossier

The dossier is bullet points. The 40,000 pages contain the actual story.

[Bradshaw3]

26. I would say the dossier is a nice summary and blueprint

Hard to digest 40,000 docs but they are there to back up the claims; senators aren't going to read them all but if the intelligence agencies and investigators verify them then they will read the dossier.

[Not Ruth]

28. A Special Counsel is going to read the 40,000

This is impeachment, not a DWI.

[Bradshaw3]

31. Don't know what argument you're trying to make but read my earlier response

Of course investigators will look at the documents - said that in my earlier post. And I know very well this isnt a DWI. That's why i keep saying this is a big deal in several posts.

[Hortensis]

74. Senate staff will not just read them but have them

data mined by sophisticated computer programs for patterns and items of interest. These aren't the good old days for criminals when staff busily poring over 40,000 pages might miss something.

[longship]

29. Fucking Rachel. Ignore what they say. Pay attention to what they do!

That's all that matters.

Love her!

[Achilleaze]

42. Republicans betraying and selling out The USA

Republican betrayal of America will live in infamy.

[benld74]

45. I knew it was true the SECOND

tRump denied it was true


Him AND his entire Administration
Cabinet
Moles
Agency teams
All the rats

OUT NOW!!!

[cilla4progress]

51. Oh yeah,

Baby!

Collusion!

[kentuck]

70. This sounds like some heavy-duty spy novel...

What's the next step?

Does Mueller request the transcripts from Grassley and the Senate Judiciary Committee?

[Hortensis]

75. So true. As for "next," the hunters are way ahead of us.

Next is just what we will be allowed to become aware of.