posted July 28, 2017 05:08 AM            

quote:

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Originally posted by juniperb:
Gasp, the Trumpster diss`ed Sessions to the NYT.

Is he next of the hit list??

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The short answer is yes.

Recent revelations make me wonder who wants him gone more... The Kremlin, NSA/CIA, or Trump.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/sessions-discussed-trump-campaign-related-matters-with-russian-ambassador-us-intelligence-intercepts-show/2017/07/21/3e7]
In his interview w/ NYT, Trump didn't just gripe
about Sessions recusing himself. He also said [without being asked]
that Sessions had provided some 'bad answers' to the Senate during his confirmation hearings.

Odd that is coming out now!? Considering the article above link.
It's possible that Trump

• knew about the intel.
• knew it was going to be leaked soon
• was deliberately distancing himself from Sessions before it happened

Who wants Sessions gone the most. A little alarming that this stuff is just now seeing the light.

quote:

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Russia’s ambassador to Washington told his superiors in Moscow that he discussed campaign-related matters, including policy issues important to Moscow, with Jeff Sessions during the 2016 presidential race, contrary to public assertions by the embattled attorney general, according to current and former U.S. officials.

Ambassador Sergey Kislyak’s accounts of two conversations with Sessions — then a top foreign policy adviser to Republican candidate Donald Trump — were intercepted by U.S. spy agencies, which monitor the communications of senior Russian officials in the United States and in Russia. Sessions initially failed to disclose his contacts with Kislyak and then said that the meetings were not about the Trump campaign.

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quote:

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Russian and other foreign diplomats in Washington and elsewhere have been known, at times, to report false or misleading information to bolster their standing with their superiors or to confuse U.S. intelligence agencies.

But U.S. officials with regular access to Russian intelligence reports say Kislyak — whose tenure as ambassador to the United States ended recently — was known for accurately relaying details about his interactions with officials in Washington.

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posted July 28, 2017 05:46 AM            

The legislation all but dashes Trump's hopes for warmer ties with Moscow as his administration is dogged by congressional and special counsel investigations into Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election to sway it in Trump's favor.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has repeatedly denied the conclusions of U.S. intelligence agencies that Moscow interfered using cyber warfare methods, has threatened retaliation against the legislation.

The Senate backed the bill, which also imposes sanctions on Iran and North Korea, by a margin of 98-2 with strong support from Trump's fellow Republicans as well as Democrats.

The bill, which includes a provision that allows Congress to stop any effort by Trump to ease existing sanctions on Russia, will now be sent to the White House for Trump to sign into law or veto.

It is the first major foreign policy legislation approved by Congress under Trump, who has struggled to advance his domestic agenda despite Republicans controlling the Senate and House of Representatives. The strong bipartisan support for the bill was a sharp contrast to the bitter partisan rancor during debate over how to overhaul the U.S. healthcare system.

If Trump chooses to veto it, the bill is expected to garner enough support in both chambers to override his veto and pass it into law. The sanctions measure has already passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 419-3.

Republicans and Democrats have pushed for more sanctions partly as a response to the election allegations. Trump denies any collusion between his campaign and Moscow.

posted July 28, 2017 05:48 AM            

Just what would that entail?

posted July 28, 2017 06:00 AM            

said Putin. "And now these sanctions - they are also absolutely unlawful from the point of view of international law."

Calling the proposed sanctions "extremely cynical," Putin said the demarche looked like an attempt by Washington to use its "geopolitical advantages ... to safeguard its economic interests at the expense of its allies".

He dismissed Congressional investigations into Russia's alleged meddling in last year's U.S. presidential election, calling them a symptom of growing anti-Russian hysteria in the United States and a result of U.S. domestic politics.

"It's very sad that U.S.-Russian relations are being sacrificed to resolve internal policy issues in the U.S," said Putin. "It's a pity, because acting together we could be solving jointly the most acute problems that worry the peoples of Russia and the United States much more efficiently."

However, Putin said that Moscow had "many friends" in the United States and hoped that one day the situation would right itself.

posted November 03, 2017 10:37 AM            

Being in shouting distance from a Russian is not perjury when it's not recalled.

Meeting with a Russian in a US Senate office as part of Senatorial duties is not "meeting with Russians to discuss campaign matters".