'The fuse is lit': Dan Rather says Trump-Russia scandal is about to go off like a bomb

[highplainsdem]

Source: Raw Story

Veteran CBS News anchor Dan Rather wrote on Facebook Thursday that the scandal over Pres. Donald Trump’s personal and political connections to the Russian government and those of his aides is like a bomb with a lit fuse.

“Every once in a while in Washington, the fuse is lit for what seems to be a big scandal,” said Rather. “Much more rarely does that fuse lead to an explosion of the magnitude we are seeing with Russia and the new Administration, and frankly the Republicans in Congress.”

-snip-

“Sessions is but the latest person close to President Trump who seems to be ensnared in a story that is more worthy of Hollywood melodrama than the reality of the governance of our country. Democrats are calling for Sessions to resign, and this story could move very quickly,” said Rather on Facebook.

He continued, “We are well past the time for any political niceties or benefits of the doubt. We need an independent and thorough investigation of Russia’s meddling in our democracy and its ties to the President and his allies. We don’t know what we don’t know.”

-snip-

Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/2017/03/the-fuse-is-lit-dan-rather-says-trump-russia-scandal-is-about-to-go-off-like-a-bomb/

---

Link to his Facebook post:

https://www.facebook.com/theDanRather/posts/10158283618660716

Final paragraph of that post from Rather:

The press is doing an admirable job. But there is only so much it can do without such things as subpoena powers. Let's just make this clear. This is about a foreign and hostile power trying to influence our election while being in contact with close aides to the presidential campaign that the Kremlin wanted to win. Furthermore, there are serious questions about Mr Trump's longstanding ties to Russian money and influence peddlers. We don't know where this might go, but it isn't going away.

[C_U_L8R]

1. Please

I'd love to skip to the end where the
orange blob resigns in tears of self-pity
on global teevee.

[lagomorph777]

4. Heck, I'll even let him slink off to Dump Tower in Marine One

...if he never comes out again. And we post guards to ensure it.

[trc]

57. He will resign...

but he will blame democrats and the rigged system that did not allow him to "do the job he was hired to do." He will do this while not acknowledging the Russian scandal. He will then say the whole Russian uproar was a conspiracy by both parties and the fake news MSM to prevent him from changing the "business as usual" mentality in DC. He will never accept fault for his administrations failures, he will only blame.

[Fantastic Anarchist]

62. Exactly what I was thinking.

He won't go down gracefully. It'll be scorched earth for him.

[King_Klonopin]

68. If he resigns before being impeached, will he be tried for treason ?

If he is, will he seek asylum in Russia ? I can see this happening.

And the list of possible conspirators keeps growing by the day...

[lapfog_1]

2. if true, trump better make friends with at least 35

republican senators. Good friends.

I think he can count out the gaggle of repukes he ran against in the primary.

[KingCharlemagne]

14. Can you even begin to imagine the moral calculus Cruz and

Little Marco are engaging in right about now? Holy shit.

[lapfog_1]

17. I wouldn't associate "moral" with Cruz or Rubio

but an immoral calculus is very likely happening.

There is no honor among thieves.

[KingCharlemagne]

18. LOL. Good point. I am so enjoying this right about now, although

I still feel very badly that Hillary was robbed.

[bigbrother05]

25. Heard Lil' Marco this am on NPR sounding all "measured" and stuff

He's reserving judgment and not commenting on current investigations. Definitely not covering for this administration or his "good friend" Jeff.

[Dustlawyer]

37. Cruz's biggest donor is a Trump supporter and he was told to make nice.

He had set himself up to be the man when Trump fell at the convention, but did a 180 not long after that. Then it was revealed that his billionaire backer told him to get on the Trump train.

We need to get the $$$$$ out of our politics!!! It should be our main focus after getting rid of the orange fungus we are infected with!

[KingCharlemagne]

47. That was then. But now the blood is in the water. You think

Cruz just forgot and forgave those insults to his WIFE????

[Dustlawyer]

54. No, but he must have clearence from his Mega-Donor if he is on the attack.

It probably hurts for Cruz to say anything nice about anyone!

[wordpix]

40. Traitor Ted Cruz on TV today saying nothing to see here

he must be in on it, too. Goes like this. DJT: "Ted, if you back me in this campaign, we'll forget all the name-calling and I'll make it worth your while. How's a million? No? How's 2 million?"

Of course Donny can get all he wants from Pooty and friends.

[still_one]

3. I hope there is follow through as Dan suggests

[lagomorph777]

7. Dan knows this story. He wrote it, first time around.

[dixiegrrrrl]

22. ACLU just chimed in:

Link to tweet

[still_one]

23. Unless the republicans agree though, it won't happen

Someone posted this yesterday which said that Sessions could literally get away with perjury:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=8732856

However, even if that is accurate, there would seem to be even more serious things he could be implicated in

[wordpix]

41. YAY, now I'll think about supporting them

[Mountain Mule]

49. Treason now playing at the Kabuki Theater!

From your link:

If senators of both parties allow an attorney general nominee to plainly lie under oath with no repercussions, they will render our government’s cabinet confirmation process no more than kabuki theater. This matter must not and cannot be seen as a partisan issue, as it goes to the heart of the credibility of our democracy. The American people deserve a full investigation into whether Sessions perjured himself and if he is indeed fit to serve as our nation’s highest law enforcement official. No one is above the law — certainly not those sworn to uphold it.”

This can no longer be allowed to unfold on party lines. This is a matter of high treason in the highest office of the land. If we do nothing about this, we may as well barricade all our borders and have our very own cultural revolution, complete with Chairman Доналд Трамп's very own "Little Red Book."

[rpannier]

67. It'll be the new cover in trials

Yes, my client lied his ass off on the witness stand, but sonce the highest law official in the law, the AH can do it, why not my client?

[madokie]

5. We know one place its going

and that ain't AWAY

Thank you Mr. Rather

[Nitram]

6. Yes it is. This train is now unstoppable.

Brings back memories of Watergate when I was a college student. We were all watching it on TV every chance we got. In many ways, though, this is a great deal more serious because it involves a hostile foreign country. Nixon was just guilty of lies, ordering break-ins of his political opponents and getting the FBI to do his dirty work.

[lagomorph777]

10. I was in high school, and it is still seared in my memory.

But this is going so much faster, and the scope is so much more huge and dangerous.

[Nitram]

13. Absolutely.

The harder they come, the harder they fall. One and all.

[KingCharlemagne]

16. I remember seeing Charles Colson on TV as a young pre-teen and thinking

he just looked and sounded like a shifty-eyed crook (just like his boss).

A couple of the Watergate conspirators have alleged that Tricky Dick personally ordered the break-ins, although AFAIK it has never been definitively established. Nixon never copped to ordering the break-ins, but he did cop (in his interview with David Frost) to the cover up, i.e., obstruction of justice. Still, there is that little matter of the missing 17 minutes of tape!

[calimary]

29. No kidding! Sure does with me, too. It's one big fat deja vu all over again.

Last edited Thu Mar 2, 2017, 02:26 PM - Edit history (1)

I was in college by then. Just starting to wake up, in full, about this stuff. We were all glued to the TV, and this was all that many of us were talking about.

You make a VERY good point, though, Nitram. This is not just dirty tricks and trying to screw political opponents. This involves a HOSTILE FOREIGN POWER, getting involved, deliberately and in a calculated way, intervening from OUTSIDE the system and OUTSIDE our country.

No Russians had any involvement in Watergate. Nobody from any other country did. There were NO external influences or involvements. It was all internal to US politics, and the US government. Not so here. Not at all. External meddling and intervention and intrusion into our election is not just relevant here, it's freakin' EVERYTHING here!

[wordpix]

42. national security demands getting rid of security risks in WH NOW

You're 100%

[2naSalit]

31. Ah yes... back in the days of

JEdgar, the spiteful, ruthlessly power hungry fuck Original FBI guy. He had a love/hate relationship with every president, I think Comey idolizes him and tries to emulate.

Dan Rather was there then, I'm glad that he and Bill Moyers are still with us to help us understand all this.

I think the corn producers have little to worry about as far as sales this year...

[lanlady]

64. Spot on, Nitram

These are not benign relations with an allied foreign government. They are multiple, sustained, secretive contacts with the intelligence service of a hostile power. We need to be screaming from the rafters that RUSSIA IS A HOSTILE POWER and has been so for the better part of 100 years. They are NOT our friends. People are stripped of their security clearances for far less! Sessions, in particular, ought to be denied access to any classified information pending a full investigation (which would render him useless in his current job). And that's just for starters. WHy do we even have a counterintelligence service at FBI if not just for situations like this?

[world wide wally]

8. Just hope there is a lot of collateral damage

[lagomorph777]

11. Yes, the Reputin party needs to be soundly thrashed and made small enough to

drown in a bathtub.

[JPK]

9. When will America wake up?

The republican party from top to bottom is a clear and present danger to our country. It's not just Trump. The whole party is involved in the destruction of our democracy and wanting to replace it with a Putin-esque corporate oligarchy.

[INdemo]

12. I believe Dan is thinking as if this is another

Nixon type scandal...and it is probably worse. However we have a Republican Majority in both houses and they will work like hell to deflect any notion of wrong doing by this administration.

[bucolic_frolic]

15. Other than ignoring the whole thing

I just don't see how Republicans can make it go away. So much in our history
involves fierce defense of our nation's political sovereignty, from the
XYZ Affair and Citizen Benet to the Red Scare and Alger Hiss and on into the
spies of the last 25 years who are locked away.

Jeff Sessions pushed for Clinton's impeachment on perjury charges. Ironic, or
karma, depending on how one sees it.

[dchill]

38. It's both: Ironic Karma.

[FakeNoose]

45. +1

We can't let them wiggle their way out of this.
It's not just perjury, it's possible treason you know.

[DK504]

19. Making this akin to an Entertainment script

is sellling this crisis short.

This isn't a TV show, this is treason, perjury and a natioal security disaster.

[Mountain Mule]

51. I cry TREASON!

You are right. I remember this country going through the Cold War era when I was child. The Russians will NEVER be our friends. I'm seeing red in more ways than one.

[Hortensis]

20. Hubris doesn't begin to describe the...virtual insanity

of the Republican Party leadership and congressional caucuses, as well as the 45th administration.

While all this was simmering, BOTH branches continued to install people with highly questionable connections to Russia in top national offices. Sessions is only one of several of them whose presence both turns up the heat and stirs the pot.

I'm always pointing out that extremists are intrinsically incompetent and prone to self destruction and that the GOP has been taken over by extremists, but...my god! Who could ever have imagined this?

[myrna minx]

21. K&R

[NCjack]

24. We need a few more to become ensnared. Then, they can

compete vigorously for who gets the deal to testify for the Govt.

[C_U_L8R]

26. Someone somewhere is going to crack.

I mean... Is defending Trump really worth spending ten years in jail??
Granted, Putin's spooks might get ya with a poison dart... but at least
you won't be rotting in an eight foot cell.

[wordpix]

44. $10B laundered thru Deutsche Bank tied to Wilbur Ross, while Trump

real estate was laundering $ for Russian oligarchs. Point is a lot of ppl involved and maybe bribes to say certain things. So far in #Trumprussia these identified:

Trump
Wilbur Ross
Flynn
Manafort
Sessions
Trump lawyer who gave proposal for Russia to take over Ukraine to Trump, then said he didn't
Sater

Where is Bannon in all this? Probably just spinning it's all Obama's fault.

Suspect:

Priebus (knew nothing about Trumprussia? really?)
Chaffetz (dragging feet on indy investig)
McCONnell ditto
Other Repug "leaders" Hatch, Cornyn
Nunes ---has Russia biz ties
Burr - reluctant to move quickly on his intel comm. invest
Anyone else who obfuscates and gets little investigation done is suspect - either bribed, blackmailed or had Russian contacts

[FakeNoose]

48. Where's Bannon in all of this?

He's still trying to figure out how to get rich off of Trump. Some of those Trump $$$ will end up in Bannon's bank account when this is finally over. But he's biding his time and helping out anywhere he can for now.

[Fritz Walter]

50. At this moment

He's either hatching a plot for a monstrous distraction to shift the news cycle away from this story, or crawling into a 1.5 liter bottle of Stoly.

Neither one is going to have the lasting effect he so desperately desires.

[Eyeball_Kid]

27. TAX RETURNS, people. The entire Trumpy crime syndicate goes down with TAX RETURNS.

[C_U_L8R]

28. There's got to be a video montage

off Trump swearing he'd hand over his
tax returns (when the phantom audit was done).

[calimary]

30. Yep. We. NEED. To. See. Those. Tax. Returns.

If there's nothing there, then why are they still hiding it - and with such an iron grip?

[llmart]

33. OK, I'm going to ask the stupid question here...

and maybe I'm just not thinking clearly with all this info swirling around, but just what sort of information do you think we'd derive from his tax returns? I'm serious here. What is it we'd be looking for? And my more pressing question is how do we know his tax returns are legitimate, meaning, filed and reported correctly? Isn't he just the sort of person who would lie/cheat/pay the people filing his tax returns to lie/cheat?

Help me out here!

[BumRushDaShow]

34. I feel the same way

Whoever does his taxes would use every trick in the book although there might be references to some business entities, perhaps normally considered benign, but now suspect given the hacking and influence-peddling scandals.

[FakeNoose]

46. We don't even know where his properties are

If Trump owns properties in the former USSR, he's probably paying bribes to Putin (or accepting them.)
That also means Trump could be blackmailed by Russian oligarchs (Putin's buddies) in one way or another.

However Trump has been cagey about releasing any info concerning his properties, and you already know the story about this tax returns. His "empire" is privately owned so the the US government doesn't require public disclosure of his finances, unlike corporate entities. Previous Presidential candidates (even the very wealthy ones) have always disclosed financial info just to dispel any appearance of funny business. Until Trump that is, and we're getting more concerned by the minute.

[llmart]

55. I understand about how his so-called empire is privately owned...

but what I don't understand is what makes you think he would actually disclose that he owns properties in the USSR? In other words, what on his tax return hasn't already been scrubbed/manipulated by whomever completed them for him? He's a con man and a compulsive liar and a narcissist and those sorts of people have no problem covering everything up.

Remember W.'s National Guard record? Once it was finally released a good portion of it was redacted. These people have no morals or scruples.

I'm more of the mind that yes, seeing his tax returns would shed some light and maybe there would be some piece of the puzzle as evidence, but I think we're going to need more than that, such as one or more (preferably) people coming forward with corroborating info. If Putin and his henchmen decide trump is a liability to them or at the very least no longer useful, then they may start squealing like a stuck pig.

[calimary]

53. Yeah, but evidently he hasn't whitewashed it enough.

Otherwise, what would be such a big problem about releasing his tax returns like EVERY OTHER CANDIDATE has, since this particular activity began, back with Gerry Ford?

Clearly he's of the opinion that any "cleansing" hasn't been thorough enough to pass muster. Which, then, tells us that his financial dealings are almost murderously complicated.

Having a candidate's tax returns open and available to examine basically answers the question: "who's yer daddy?" Who are you beholden to? Who owns you, since they've given you money, bankrolled your business(es), bailed you out of bankruptcy, covered your ass, or covered your tracks?

We now know, per Rachel Maddow's extensive report this past Monday, that our new Commerce Secretary is also second in command at the Bank of Cypress, which is well-established as the go-to bank for money-laundering for Russian fat cats and high-rollers looking to cover THEIR tracks. Is trump in there somewhere? Shouldn't we know? Shouldn't WE as Americans - whom the President serves - KNOW who's pulling his strings, and whose hand is up his back? Shouldn't we know to whom he's beholden, and how much of his ass other people own? And indeed, if so, to whom is he most loyal? To whom could we expect him to be most loyal?

We already know he turned to other banks, specifically Russian banks, for big loans after he'd had so many bankruptcies that American banks didn't want to lend any more money to him. THEY evidently regarded him as a bad risk. Why shouldn't we? And why shouldn't we know the full extent of that? In whose mercenary grip are his balls? And where does that put us as American citizens, when it's OUR interests he should be looking out for, first? Do his financial benefactors and "bail bondsmen" outrank us? Do THEIR interests come first?Do they and their best interests - pardon the pun - trump OUR best interests?

Remember - Putin isn't maneuvering on trump's behalf because he likes the guy. He has an agenda. He involves himself where he thinks it's in HIS best interests, and what HIS agenda is for Russia. Putin isn't in it for what might be OUR best interests. He couldn't give a rat's ass about OUR best interests.

And now I'm wondering - what does Putin do when an asset turns out not to be such an asset? Richard Engel was on MSNBC last night, talking about the widespread sense of buyer's remorse about trump, all over Moscow, starting from the upper echelons.

[WhoWoodaKnew]

59. That's a great question. What, specifically, would his tax returns show...

that would crush him? I've been wondering the same thing for almost a year.

[iluvtennis]

32. That's what I think as well. nt

[vi5]

35. Yeah, I'll have to be forgiven for not holding my breath waiting for this one...

.....like all the rest of these scandals I'm afraid it's all going to get lost in the weeds and nothing is going to come of this despite much hyperventilating.

[Hekate]

36. Kick

[dchill]

39. K&R.

[Javaman]

43. I will commence with the holding of the breath...

until something happens, only then I will believe it.

trump and his room full of dopes are as slippery as shit.

[MFM008]

52. my reaction to this repuke treason! (beside outrage)

[Skittles]

56. thanking Mr. Rather

for staying in the game and fighting the good fight

[mpcamb]

58. Those of us with a 5 or 6 decade view of American politics understand

what this elderly forebearer is telling us.
Our chance and our hopes for a better world is to make it about law and lies and malfeasance.
We need that and an honorable judge.
Where the hell is John Sirica or an equivalent today?

[Kimchijeon]

61. Good , keep it up and don't back down

[red dog 1]

63. "Me don't know where this might go, but it isn't going away."

Thank you, Dan Rather!

K&R

[Cha]

65. I Hope So!

[colsohlibgal]

66. Let It Happen Soon

This nightmare needs to end ASAP....though it has created a surge in business for the psychologists and psychiatrists for those traumatized by this idiot being....installed.

[IronLionZion]

69. Just do it already!

Enough teasing us. Dropping these teasing hints also causes the perps to hide evidence and take action to thwart it.

We've heard this type of stuff many times before just to be disappointed. Preet Bharara promised us some bankers would go to prison for crashing our economy too.

[AgadorSparticus]

70. My fingers and toes are crossed. Please please please make this happen.