Trump team met with Russian lawyer during campaign

[Toppy]

The thing is, if the NYT had posted it, they could have denied it and stated they were fake (which is what they would have done).

By jr. himself posting it, they have no defense.

[Felya]

But...why? These things are toxic. Wouldn't a blatant denial be the way to go? Or not dignifying them? Or...anything?

Unless they cannot deny it. Like I said a page earlier. FBI knows that the meeting took place and knew enough about it, to know sanctions were discussed. He cannot deny it, what he can do is try to downplay it, by claiming this is normal and pointing at his transparency.

I know people are suggesting Don Jr. is taking the fall but isn't this exactly the collusion they've been denying?

I think it's still 'he said, she said' type deal as far as collusion, but it shows jr wasn't completely transparent about knowing Russian government was involved. It's why him beating NYT in releasing them, had a note about transparency. It gives the_donald a deflection from lacking transparency in the disclosure and following excuses, by pointing at his transparency with emails.

He is not a fall guy and this is not him admitting or surrendering.

[Travis B]

The thing is, if the NYT had posted it, they could have denied it and stated they were fake (which is what they would have done).

By jr. himself posting it, they have no defense.

They still have one defense at this point: "My Twitter account was hacked by the fake news media in order to spread their propaganda in their continuing attempts to prevent my father from making America great again. The email chain that was posted is completely fake."

Sadly, most of his supporters would actually believe it.

[NYC17]

In not-so-other news, Fox has seemed to dropped any pretense of "this is all Democrat/mainstream media bullshit" and moved on to "this is bad but we don't know everything yet", which is pretty good indication of how fucked this is...

But they still have to get in their "but Clinton" defense too.

[Shadowmelded]

The thing is, if the NYT had posted it, they could have denied it and stated they were fake (which is what they would have done).

By jr. himself posting it, they have no defense.

"Approaching foreign Governments for information is commonplace. The Dems did it with Ukraine" is their angle. Hence the show about being "transparent". "I wouldn't admit to doing something illegal, ergo since I admitted it, it must not be illegal".

[Felya]

The thing is, if the NYT had posted it, they could have denied it and stated they were fake (which is what they would have done).

By jr. himself posting it, they have no defense.

Unless they cannot. Unless the reason the email made it to NYT, isn't a hack... but, a person that was in the email chain. His lack of denial, should highlight how difficult it is to deny this. Their defense is that they are transparent...

- - - Updated - - -

In not-so-other news, Fox has seemed to dropped any pretense of "this is all Democrat/mainstream media bullshit" and moved on to "this is bad but we don't know everything yet", which is pretty good indication of how fucked this is...

But they still have to get in their "but Clinton" defense too.

As people are pointing out about the seemingly strange lack of denial, this has a different feeling than everything else up to this point. We have a meeting that Trump campaign failed to disclose, that was set up by Russian government and discussed sanctions. This is exactly FBI was saying, without being able to speak specifically. This seems like at least part of the top secret info, that Trump support has been calling fake news, because we don't know the secret.

[Breccia]

by claiming this is normal and pointing at his transparency.

Posting them now is not transparency. It would have been transparent if he said so at the time, but no, everyone in the admin lied about there being contact of exactly this nature.

This is stupid enough that I need to crack out the good stuff. I'll be back later, maybe the world will make more sense or I'll be too drunk to care.

[Draco-Onis]

By posting emails that say Russias government is supporting Trump?

His current version of events is that he is the only one who knew about this Manafort and Kushner were dragged into this without knowing what was going on. Also that his farther never had any clue in this either, I am starting to think that explosive dossier that we all dismissed as just tabloid may not be as far fetched as we thought.

[Belize]

His current version of events is that he is the only one who knew about this Manafort and Kushner were dragged into this without knowing what was going on. Also that his farther never had any clue in this either, I am starting to think that explosive dossier that we all dismissed as just tabloid may not be as far fetched as we thought.

It's a ridiculous excuse when you think about.

Kushner and Manaford were dragged to a secret meeting they knew nothing at all, in Trump Tower? Yeah ok.

[Shadowmelded]

It's a ridiculous excuse when you think about.

Kushner and Manaford were dragged to a secret meeting they knew nothing at all, in Trump Tower? Yeah ok.

They were CC'd in. They knew.

[DarkTZeratul]

His current version of events is that he is the only one who knew about this Manafort and Kushner were dragged into this without knowing what was going on. Also that his farther never had any clue in this either, I am starting to think that explosive dossier that we all dismissed as just tabloid may not be as far fetched as we thought.

Quite a lot of that dossier has already been confirmed. About the only thing that still looks outlandish is the whole golden showers thing, but even that starts to look less obviously fake the more the rest of it is verified as true.

[Belize]

They were CC'd in. They knew.

Even if they weren't it'd still be absurd.

[Shalcker]

His current version of events is that he is the only one who knew about this Manafort and Kushner were dragged into this without knowing what was going on. Also that his farther never had any clue in this either, I am starting to think that explosive dossier that we all dismissed as just tabloid may not be as far fetched as we thought.

"Russian lawyer" involved dealt with same firm that did "Trump dossier".

[Casterbridge]

Even if they weren't it'd still be absurd.

This whole thing is absurd, I can't even begin to guess what is going on behind closed doors at the moment.

[Toppy]

This whole thing is absurd, I can't even begin to guess what is going on behind closed doors at the moment.

A lot of yelling and soon to be made announcements of more of the Trump team leaving.

[Belize]

This whole thing is absurd, I can't even begin to guess what is going on behind closed doors at the moment.

More than likely Trump screaming at the TV. Or someone. But screaming.

[Draco-Onis]

More than likely Trump screaming at the TV. Or someone. But screaming.

Trump's incoming twitter meltdown on this is going to be legendary even better if he does a news conference.

[Belize]

Trump's incoming twitter meltdown on this is going to be legendary even better if he does a news conference.

They've probably hidden his phone. And then gone into hiding themselves.

[Edge-]

They've probably hidden his phone. And then gone into hiding themselves.

They put it in the one place they know he'll never find it.

A book.

Unless he happens to throw the book they've hidden it in at the TV (again)...then they're fucked.

[Felya]

They put it in the one place they know he'll never find it.

A book.

Unless he happens to throw the book they've hidden it in at the TV (again)...then they're fucked.

They used Trump's face as the phone's lock screen. He cannot get passed it, just keeps staring at him self with a grin.