Current Events > Random thought: what exactly is Mueller investigating and what prompted it?

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Why is Stormy payments being talked about? Isn't it about Russia? It really does seem like a witch hunt when the focus is "anything anyone associated with Trump and maybe Russia"

On it's face it seems unconstitutional. Like if the FBI came to your door and said "we're going to see if we can uncover any crime you may have committed"

Where is the probable cause??
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Exactly TC. It is unconstitutional and its a nothing burger
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The FBI headed by republicans is actively trying to ruin confidence in a sitting republican president for shits and giggles.
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I bet he's uncovered a lot that doesn't fall under the current investigation
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Trump has committed many, many crimes. Stands to reason law enforcement would want to investigate.
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SterlingM posted...

Where is the probable cause??

Multiple meetings with Russian officials, Trump publicly asking Russia to hack into the DNC, the DNC getting hacked into and the info being given over to the Trump campaign. Russia directly interfering in our election on top of that, working through channels provided by people associated with the Trump campaign.

The main questions are basically whether it can be tied to Trump and whether it constitutes as treason.
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SterlingM posted...

Why is Stormy payments being talked about? Isn't it about Russia? It really does seem like a witch hunt when the focus is "anything anyone associated with Trump and maybe Russia"

On it's face it seems unconstitutional. Like if the FBI came to your door and said "we're going to see if we can uncover any crime you may have committed"

Where is the probable cause??

You know the patriot act let's them skip that right?
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The investigation is primarily focused on Russia's interference in the 2016 elections. Russia has already admitted to leaking that Hillary stuff during the elections. But sited a law designed in the 90's between the u.s and russia that makes that leak legal supposedly.

Trumps involvement, etc, is all secondary.
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The FBI already investigated Russia did they not? How else would they know they did it.
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lmfao @ this dude talking about probable cause tho

here's the actual official wording

https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/967231/download

the answer is just, they left it open-ended in case he found something. I guess that sounds illegal if you're doing illegal things
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Lol the 4th amendment
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SterlingM posted...

The FBI already investigated Russia did they not? How else would they know they did it.

If you watch the first trump, Putin meeting, question sessions. Putin says people under him leaked the information. He didn't identify who. Though he didn't say it was illegal because of a law/agreement that exists made between the u.s and Russia created sometime in the 90s? He sited some example of how the u.s has once utilized that agreement once recently. He stated that technically Hillary was doing something illegal so he was within his rights to aid the u.s by leaking that information.

Honestly, I'm sure that's just the tip of the iceberg
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The whole point of a fishing expedition is to find something -- anything -- to hang somebody with.
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fishing expedition is a bad metaphor because fish in a lake aren't hurting anyone. but the president breaking the law hurts us all. it's more like looking for termites after you've seen termite damage
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A 25 million dollar fishing trip that has yielded nothing but miscellaneous crimes that has nothing to do with Russia.
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rikasa posted...

here's the actual official wording

https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/967231/download

the answer is just, they left it open-ended in case he found something. I guess that sounds illegal if you're doing illegal things

Exactly. All that Trump's whining about a "witch hunt" is doing is making it look like he has something to worry about.
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Kolibri X posted...

A 25 million dollar fishing trip that has yielded nothing but miscellaneous crimes that has nothing to do with Russia.

A 25 million dollar fishing trip that has yielded nothing but a bucket full of bass and a lockbox containing 48 million dollars.
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this all started when Trump decided to do the 500iq move of firing the FBI director who refused to pledge loyalty.
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DiScOrD tHe LuNaTiC posted...

rikasa posted...

here's the actual official wording

https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/967231/download

the answer is just, they left it open-ended in case he found something. I guess that sounds illegal if you're doing illegal things

Exactly. All that Trump's whining about a "witch hunt" is doing is making it look like he has something to worry about.

So the question is what prompted it, by all accounts Russia has been doing this with or without Trump.

Trump didn't order Facebook to let Russia use a bunch of bots.

Russia did this independently, so should anyone with ties to Russia be investigated?
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Random thought: what prompted Trump to change the RNC platform on Ukraine?
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I really wish there was some physical requirement to actually knowing the definition of legal terms of art before one's brain allowed itself to use them, lest that person's brain implode on itself.
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The moment the Stormy Daniels thing became part of it was when to me it became no longer about the Russia drama and 100% 'Let's find anything we can on him' and started reeking of being politically motivated.
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Trump was seen as fairly friendly with the Russians, what with him having nothing but nice things to say about Putin. We now know that he was in talks to develop a Russian Trump Tower well into his campaign, and he and his family have repeatedly lied about business meetings taking place at Trump Tower with Russian businessmen.

With the DNC being backed by Russian spies, that didn't sit well.

I mean this feels somewhat like an audit, you're taking stock of someone's promises and running their word against whatever concrete fact that you can wring out of them to make sure that they're not lying. I would expect any public servant to be under the same level of scrutiny. If any illegal shit pops up, then it's on Donald Trump for being a disingenuous fuck-ass.

I think it's good for a nation's people to know that their leader isn't lying through their teeth, and has their well-being in mind. Donald Trump has lied multiple times about engaging in unethical activities, or deliberately obfuscated the truth to protect his own financial interests - just brazenly lied about it to reap all the rewards that he can while dodging any legal checks and balances that serve to keep things above board and well-documented. If this was a witch hunt, then Donald Trump would have gone through the wringer for alleged crimes that are patently false - but the probe has uncovered tangible crimes that he's committed since his election run, including a felony by verbally instructing his lawyer to engage in unlawful behavior on his behalf.

The term "witch hunt" here seems to imply that there are people who are just as corrupt if not worse running the show against him, and I do think that politics is a fucking slimeball profession full of this shit - but it implies that the "victim" here has no history of wrongdoing, which the probe is increasingly disproving in the case of Donald Trump.
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Kolibri X posted...

A 25 million dollar fishing trip that has yielded nothing but miscellaneous crimes that has nothing to do with Russia.

https://www.npr.org/2018/12/13/676406084/maria-butina-guilty-in-foreign-agent-case-admits-clandestine-influence-scheme


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S.E. Cupp does a good job of breaking down the basics in this quick video.

https://www.mediaite.com/tv/s-e-cupp-breaks-down-multiple-investigations-trumps-facing-the-president-of-the-united-states-is-in-serious-trouble/
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Maximum Trumpanzee cope all up in here.
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Also this:

(ii) any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Counsel_investigation_(2017present)
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