Holy Shit.... Anyone else watching Rachel?

[eniwetok]

Trump's Russian Connection is being fleshed out...

[femmocrat]

1. Yes... Chris Hayes discussed it too.

I am having a hard time wrapping my brain around all these new developments. I need lots of repetition.

[Amaryllis]

34. You're not alone. It's incredibly complex.

[muntrv]

2. I am. Dmitry Firtash is the guy in Austria the US is trying to extradite.

Former Ukrainian oligarch.

[triron]

73. so now he is in custody of Spanish police?

last I heard.

[eniwetok]

3. sorry... it's too complex for me to sum up....

Mannafort's criminal buddy held at FBI request in Austria, but they won't extradite...
Trump's personal lawyer delivering a plan to Flynn on getting rid of sanctions, giving Russian the annexed Crimea, and part of occupied Ukraine... etc etc

[oasis]

60. REPLAY@9 pm Pacific time.

[chowder66]

4. Yep. That was great! nt

[chowder66]

5. Rachel said to watch what the Justice Dept. does on Firtash. It's a test for Sessions. nt

[riversedge]

67. +1 And she is right

[gwheezie]

6. Finally hitting cable news

This has been blowing up every day by investigative reporters doing amazing work

[ButSeeYa]

7. Yes, but I feel sick

that the buck ends with Sessions. Who oversees the Justice Dept. when the Head may be complicit of high crimes? I'm so confused.

[mindfulNJ]

17. Same here

I've been feeling hopeful that something could happen with all these revelations lately,but after watching Rachel tonight I realize that with Sessions at the helm the Trumpies hold all the cards. Depressing as hell. I am going to start looking towards getting the Congress back in 2018. Thinking that something is going to sink Trump before that is a pipe dream.

[zentrum]

44. Agree with you.

They put Sessions in place exactly to be there for this cover-up job.

Apart from his racist mind-set.

[Blue_true]

46. Another thing that the Stein and Johnson voters can pat themselves

on the back for. They may allow major traitors to avoid punishment. What losers those people are, but in their minds, they are pure.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

9. I have been re-reading "All The President's Men."

And I am seeing some similarities to the current situation, the most notable of which is how the reporters followed the money. The Watergate scandal was much more complex than we might remember, involving many people and many different threads. Woodward and Bernstein and others followed the threads back to Nixon mainly by tracing the tracks of the money that changed hands many times, and some of which was laundered through Mexico. I think the exact nature of Russian connections to Trump will eventually be found out, and the way it will happen is because investigators followed the money.

The most worrisome thing is the fact that Jeff Sessions is the head of the Justice Department. The fox will be guarding the henhouse.

[eniwetok]

12. but I don't see the money involved here

None of this makes sense because of money alone... not to say no money is involved. The question is why would anyone think they should involve the Trump Junta with a deal to give Putin everything he wants... when there are already so many questions about Trump's bromance with Putin UNLESS it might be true that Trump IS open to blackmail. But then this means Putin may blow his leverage over Trump if all this raises so many suspicions about Trump that he's forced out of office... but but but... ahhhh!

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

14. Money is at the heart of it.

The Russian oligarchs/mob are almost certainly heavily invested in Trump. Donald Jr. bragged several years ago about the amount of money coming to the Trump Organization from Russia. Trump will do what Putin wants to be sure the Russians don't start demanding to be repaid; he doesn't want a couple of guys named Yuri and Igor to come to his NYC apartments and say something like, "Nice fake Baroque whorehouse you have here, comrade. Be shame if something happened to it."

[eniwetok]

39. money might be at stake.... but it might be the golden shower is true... n/t

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

43. That's just embarrassing. Trump cares about a whole lot more about money

than the exposure of weird sexual shenanigans.

[JoeOtterbein]

48. Embarrassing is what voters (& GOP reps) will feel despite what Trump cares about

the yellow stain will color others, and then they will leave Trump in his own waste.

[eniwetok]

49. sorry... I suspect Trump would NEVER want....

If Trump is the perv the "dossier" suggests... and it's not just being a perv but all the racist disrespect the golden shower, if true, represents... he has to know not even the most loyal GOPer in Congress would want him out. But Trump's pathological narcissism and ego are so invested into proving he, alone, was "chosen" to be president... he'll be another Nixon... holding out until his head is on the chopping block.

[Orangepeel]

51. Nah. Trump would just say the tape was fake

He really believes (and is probably right for once) that he could shoot somebody in broad daylight and it wouldn't affect his support. Embarrassing tapes wouldn't faze him.

[bdamomma]

18. I thought

that trump would get 19% of Rosneft profits. If you want me to include a link I have to find it?

[Glimmer of Hope]

52. Oh my. I am off to Google that.

[WheelWalker]

19. A little money, a lot of money... it's just a matter of scale. What's a lot of money to you?

The big money is complicated and the system is set up to hide where it goes and where it is. But the little guys have to get paid, too. That's usually in cash, in envelopes, in drop boxes. Follow the money.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

24. A billion here, a billion there, pretty soon you are talkin' real money

Rosneft, Putin's favorite oil company (Exxon is second), sold 19.5% of itself to a mystery buyer for $11 billion. Are we talking real money yet? That stake could be parceled out as payment for services. Russian oligarchs? Russian mafia? Russian tools?

[WheelWalker]

30. I totally agree.

I'm just saying that it's the smaller stakes that are often taken for granted that end up betraying the game. They should never be overlooked.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

57. Yup. When following the money, source & destination usually more important than the amount. . . . nt

[eniwetok]

71. as I wrote...

As I wrote: "None of this makes sense because of money alone... not to say no money is involved."

I wrote that because we simply do not have hard evidence of Trump's financial deals with Russia. Why don't we? BECAUSE TRUMP IS HIDING HIS TAXES.

That's all I meant.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

26. Gobs of money, pots of money, pools of money,

* Trump casinos lost money while the industry was booming. It is alleged that they laundered Russian oligarch / mafia money

* Rosneft Russian oil company sold 19.5% stake to a mystery buyer.

* Sater made millions bilking investors in the failed Trump Tower in Ft. Lauderdale while being an FBI pigeon against the mafia.

* Sater had an office two floors below Trump. Sater and Cohen and Trump seem to have links to Russian mafia via Safir and his father.

* Manafort made something like $4 million or had a $4 million slush fund working with the democratically ousted Ukraine President.

* Putin is worth billions. He controls it by a complicated set of shell companies. Plus he can put Russian government money wherever he wants.

* FISA warrants were issued for surveillance on some Russian bank transactions a couple of weeks before the election.

* Trump's cabinet is worth about $9 billion.

* Trump and the RepubliCONs are going to repeal Dodd-Frank that regulates banking after the 2008 crash.

* Republicons want to privatize Social Security, Medicare, and Obamacare. Trump or Pence will sign it.

* Trump is making huge tax cuts for the rich.

* Trump is going to blow up the budget to double the size of the US military and he is projecting historically high unrealist growth rates (3.5%) to push it through.

That's all I can think of from memory, quickly.

Got money?

[zentrum]

47. Giving the Ukraine

....to Putin allows him to run a pipeline and do other oil deals of which there are so many I can't remember them all---but the result is billions and billions, much of which is Putin's personal fortune.

I read somewhere that if all the deals worked out as planned it could net trillions.

Watergate with its mere suitcases of visible money was for amateurs. Nobody cares about a million dollars any more. It's now amounts that are more than the GNP's of many countries.

Billions for Putin motivates him very much to keep Orange on a short leash---and given their history in real estate, bankruptcy bailouts etc., there's lots that Orange is indebted for.

The money involved here is all carefully laundered and invisible---in nice foreign banks.

[dixiegrrrrl]

64. The money has to so with the oil Putin wants to sell, along with Exxon

That's where Tillerson, ofExxon corp., fits in.

Obama put sanctions on Russia, which made it very difficult for Putin to sell Russia oil.

the whole Ukraine/Crimea is about oil and pipelines.
Lifting the sanctions would allow Putin and the Russian national oil/gas company to be able to transport and sell the oil.
the whole oil is enormous, with other players, the biggest is Exxon.

trump's money will come from all the hotels and etc. he stick his name on in Russia.

Putin knew Hillary would not lift sanctions, and that Dolt 45 could be talked into it.
That is why this whole spy/dossier thing was about sanctions, and Trump's camp sending Putin a message the sanctions would be lifted, which Trump did almost as soon as he got the key to the White House.

For funnsies, google oil pipeline, oil ports in Ukraine, follow the dotted lines. you will end up in the Black sea, which provides
a shipping route thru the Mediterranean and out to the Atlantic.

The oil routes and ports are what is behind the whole Middle East battles, as any map shows.
Follow the oil, in this case, it is same as money.
Huge investments will be lost, HUGE amounts of money, enough so that paying for a war is cheap compared to what can be gained.

[Tatiana]

68. During the campaign, how do you think Trump stayed in the race?

He was broke.

Republican donors (namely the Koch brothers) refused to open their pocketbooks.

He said he would fund himself, but he lied. He didn't have the $$$. So where did the money come from?

One way Russia was able to support Trump was through the PACs of other Republicans such as Rubio, McConnell, and Scott Walker.

Another thing we need to do is to take a closer look at the real estate and other business deals Trump has made with foreign entities.

Political candidates cannot receive campaign donations from foreign nationals (foreign governments, political parties, corporations, associations, partnerships, persons with foreign citizenship, and non-permanent resident immigrants).

[Jim Beard]

22. Attorney General, John Mitchell

John Newton Mitchell (September 15, 1913 – November 9, 1988) was the Attorney General of the United States (1969–72) under President Richard Nixon. Prior to that, he had been a municipal bond lawyer, director of Nixon's 1968 presidential campaign, and one of Nixon's closest personal friends. After his tenure as Attorney General, he served as director of Nixon's 1972 presidential campaign. Due to his involvement in the Watergate affair, Mitchell was sentenced to prison in 1977 and served 19 months. As Attorney General, he was noted for personifying the "law-and-order" positions of the Nixon administration, amid several high-profile anti-war demonstrations.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

23. And may Jeff Sessions follow in his footsteps...

[Staph]

33. But at the time

there was Democratic control of both the House and Senate. It will take irrefutable evidence to get Ryan and Mitchell to get off their fat asses and do anything.

Or we need to have an overwhelming Democratic turnout in 2018. I don't want to wait that long!

[Doreen]

10. I think that almost his entire cabinet is involved.

I very much think his Goldman Sachs picks are very much part of it.

[Crash2Parties]

38. ...and the top layer of the GOP, plus the head of the FBI...

[Doreen]

42. Yup.

[DURHAM D]

11. Sort of weird.

She laid out all that the Russians get in the deal they delivered to Trump but she made no mention of what Trump might get. Odd not to even mention how one sided it is.

[rzemanfl]

15. I suspect this won't be over until the hookers pee on screen in a closed committee room. n/t

[pkdu]

16. She did...she said "Win, Win , Win"...

"Putin, Putin , Putin"

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

20. The oligarchs won't call Trump's loans as long as he cooperates with Putin.

That's what I think Trump is getting out of it, anyhow.

[Merlot]

32. That was always how I saw it.

I still think he ran for president becasue the loans were coming do. It was a hail mary pass.

[Crash2Parties]

41. By some counts / estimates he owed at least as much as he claimed he was worth.

and that was only based on what was known within a range.

[uponit7771]

53. +1

[eniwetok]

28. SURE SHE DID...

She went out of her way to say it was a Win, Win, Win for Putin.

That is... if the story holds up.

[LenaBaby61]

13. Unfortunately....

Nothing will come of this with old Foghorn Leghorn as AG, and with tRmputin as Illegitimate-In-Chief and with his DOJ in charge.

SMDH.

[eniwetok]

27. We have to remember John Mitchell as AG was convicted during Watergate

The powers that be will try and protect the king... but Watergate proves the system does sometimes work.

Too bad it took 2 years.

[triron]

21. yes she did an excellent job.

Helped me connect a lot of stuff I had read last nite on DU.

[ecstatic]

25. Yes,

I have post election stress disorder and as much as Rachel's reporting is freaking me out, what's more troubling is how little attention other media outlets are giving these developments. I hope at least one GOP senator watches her show.

[JudyKlass]

29. Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen's role in all this

Whenever he comes up, (slipping info to Flynn about how to make Russia happy, just before Flynn was fired, etc), I think about him saying "you can't rape your spouse" -- as recently as 2015. He said it in relation to Ivana's Trump's allegations about Trump violently assaulting her not long before their divorce.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/07/27/ex-wife-donald-trump-made-feel-violated-during-sex.html

[SunSeeker]

45. Micheal Cohen, the same guy who said men can rape their wives.

He is a stupid scumbag.

[Amaryllis]

31. Link:

Last edited Tue Feb 21, 2017, 12:07 AM - Edit history (1)

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/pursuit-of-shady-oligarch-a-test-of-doj-integrity-under-trump-881324611851

[joet67]

35. Thank you. I will catch the replay of the show tonight.

[northoftheborder]

36. What's being said on O'Donnell's show tonight? I don't have the TV on.

Should I go turn it on?

[Wounded Bear]

37. Just finished a good segment on the 25th Amendment...

you know, the one that describes how to remove a sitting president without impeachment.

[Amaryllis]

40. More stuff on Firtash here:

http://citizenslant.com/understanding-trump-russia-web/

[Kath2]

50. Wow!

It is worse than I thought.

[triron]

54. kick for visibility

[triron]

55. knr

[Gothmog]

56. WOW

Rachel had some good stuff on the Ukrainian Oligarch

[triron]

58. She's the best I've seen at 'connecting the dots'

[oasis]

59. REPLAY AT 9 PM Pacific time. MSNBC

[bora13]

61. WW1 v2.0?

I get this sinking feeling that an incident not
unlike the start of WW1 (Archduke Franz Ferdinand) will or has begun.

The recent death of the Russian ambassador to the UN for instance.
Perhaps other recent events as well could be a catalyst.

sad.

[oasis]

62. Kick

[oberliner]

63. When will Fox News cover this?

Because if they don't, it's not real for many people.

[Greybnk48]

65. Fox is busy with the Swedish terrorist attacks,

and other fairy tales.

[burrowowl]

66. K&R!!!!!!

[colsohlibgal]

69. Wow

This is just unbelievable and seriously wronging so many levels.

Faux News will avoid this story like the plague. But you might think this may rankle more republicans than McCain.....at some point you have to think they might try to cut their losses. Pence can deliver all their fondest wingnut wishes without the Putin loving clown horror show.

[oasis]

70. "Pence is going to be Trump's worst nightmare" says MSNBC's

Lawrence O'Donnell on his show immediately fallowing Rachel. He went into great detail about the 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

You are right on your assumptions.

[triron]

72. knr

[triron]

74. kick again