The Daily Populous Monday November 4th, 2024 night edition
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SuperSpecialAwesome- on November 3rd, 2024 at 11:28 UTC »

In a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, former President Donald Trump allegedly stated, "I just fired the head of the F.B.I. He was crazy, a real nut job. I faced great pressure because of Russia. That's taken off." This came amid a series of controversial interactions between members of Trump's 2016 presidential campaign and Russian officials. On June 9, 2016, senior campaign advisors Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort reportedly met with Russian representatives at Trump Tower to discuss potential interference in the 2016 election, in exchange for a future easing of U.S. sanctions on Russia. The FBI was aware of this meeting, which became publicly known only after Trump assumed office.

During his presidency, Trump reportedly sought assurances of loyalty from then-FBI Director James Comey and asked him to end the investigation into Michael Flynn, who was serving as National Security Advisor at the time. Comey declined both requests and continued the investigation into the Trump campaign's possible Russian connections. Shortly thereafter, it emerged that Roger Stone, a long-time Trump ally, was collaborating with hackers known as Guccifer 2.0, who were implicated in the hacking of Democratic National Committee (DNC) emails. Although both DNC and Republican National Committee (RNC) servers were breached, only the DNC emails were leaked to WikiLeaks. Trump controversially dismissed Comey one day before a meeting with Lavrov, during which he reportedly shared classified Israeli intelligence, potentially endangering Israeli agents.

Comey’s dismissal led to the appointment of Robert Mueller as Special Counsel to continue investigating Trump’s alleged ties to Russia. Despite attempts by Trump to dismiss Mueller, he faced resistance and ultimately did not proceed. Subsequently, evidence surfaced that Russia had targeted election infrastructure in all 50 states during the 2016 election. Reality Winner, a former intelligence specialist, leaked a classified document confirming Russian interference. Although Mueller cited significant links between Trump’s campaign and Russian interests, including the sharing of polling data, and detailed four counts of obstruction that Trump could potentially face, the investigation faced substantial resistance from then-Attorney General Bill Barr. Mueller’s findings, including indictments of several high-profile individuals like Paul Manafort, Michael Flynn, and George Papadopoulos, recommended that Congress handle cases involving Trump’s inner circle. However, with partisan gridlock, the statute of limitations expired on many of these cases.

Later, Trump faced allegations of attempting to extort Ukraine by withholding military aid to pressure Ukraine into announcing an investigation into his political opponent, Joe Biden, during the 2020 election cycle. This act led to Trump's first impeachment, although he later dismissed witnesses who had testified against him, including Alexander Vindman and Gordon Sondland, and terminated Vindman’s brother in apparent retaliation.

At the 2018 Helsinki Summit, Trump met privately with Russian President Vladimir Putin, controversially siding with Russia over U.S. intelligence agencies regarding election interference claims. Without other U.S. officials present, the meeting left Americans with no record of what was discussed. Reports surfaced that Kushner attempted to establish private communication channels with Russian officials, despite facing issues obtaining security clearance.

While much remains unverified regarding Trump’s ties to Russia, there is speculation about potential foreign influence on his policies. Many believe that, if re-elected, Trump may adopt a stance more favorable to Russian interests, potentially at the cost of U.S. alliances and democratic values.

Edit: Forgot to include the mysterious Alfa-Bank/Trump Organization server and that Russians were funding the NRA.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trump_Tower_meeting

https://www.cnn.com/2017/05/12/politics/james-comey-donald-trump-loyalty-pledge/index.html

https://www.npr.org/2017/06/07/531927032/comey-trump-asked-for-loyalty-wanted-him-to-let-flynn-investigation-go

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guccifer_2.0

https://www.cnn.com/2017/01/10/politics/comey-republicans-hacked-russia/index.html

https://www.timesofisrael.com/horrified-israeli-intel-officials-were-shouting-at-us-counterparts-over-trump-leak/

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/25/us/politics/trump-mueller-special-counsel-russia.html

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/senate-report-all-50-states-were-targeted-by-russian-interference-ahead-of-2016-elections

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jul/25/reality-winner-leaked-file-on-russia-election-hacking-because-public-was-being-lied-to

https://time.com/5610317/mueller-report-myths-breakdown/

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/breakdown-indictments-cases-muellers-probe/story?id=61219489

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/1/24/2076471/-5-year-statute-of-limitations-is-expiring-on-Trump-s-crimes-Too-little-too-late-AG-Garland

https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/publications/report-select-committee-intelligence-united-states-senate-russian-active-measures

https://democrats-intelligence.house.gov/russiainvestigation/

https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/07/politics/alex-vindman-donald-trump-impeachment/index.html

https://www.militarytimes.com/news/pentagon-congress/2022/05/18/trump-improperly-punished-brother-of-impeachment-witness-military-watchdog-finds/

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-44852812

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/interpreter-marina-gross-notes-trumps-putin-meeting/story?id=60374126

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/01/17/house-rebukes-trump-russia-sanctions-1108939

https://www.npr.org/2017/05/26/530297344/report-kushner-discussed-setting-up-secret-communications-with-russia

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/officials-rejected-jared-kushner-top-secret-security-clearance-were-overruled-n962221

https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-contested-afterlife-of-the-trump-alfa-bank-story

https://www.npr.org/2019/09/27/764879242/nra-was-foreign-asset-to-russia-ahead-of-2016-new-senate-report-reveals

DFGBagain1 on November 3rd, 2024 at 12:13 UTC »

That shit-eating grin on Lavrov's face tells you everything you need to know...dude just got the President of the United States to lick his boot.

Hungry_Bat_2230 on November 3rd, 2024 at 13:19 UTC »

It should be noted that this photo was taken by a Russian State media photographer who failed to disclose his employment at TASS.

Independent U.S. press members. were denied access to the meeting. The Russian gov photographer & all their equipment however were allowed into the Oval office.

> a senior administration official acknowledged that the White House had been misled about the role of the Russian photographer, who was actually employed by a state-run news agency.

> [...] White House officials were surprised when photos depicting an apparently jovial moment between Trump and the two Russian officials appeared online a short time after Wednesday’s meeting [...] The American media, however, never caught a glimpse of either Russian inside the White House. When the press pool was allowed into the Oval Office at the meeting’s conclusion, both Lavrov and Kislyak were gone