45th President of the United States, Donald Trump (Vol. 12)

[Byker28i]

Erm, because trump kept and keeps saying it?


“How on earth can I offer up evidence for something where there is no evidence?” she said, her voice rising in anger during the brief, unscheduled conversation. “I don’t know how the world has come to this, constantly pouring filth on an innocent scientist,” she wrote in a text message.

In a rare interview over email, she denounced the suspicions as baseless, including the allegations that several of her colleagues may have been ill before the outbreak emerged.

The speculation boils down to one central question: Did Dr. Shi’s lab hold any source of the new coronavirus before the pandemic erupted? Dr. Shi’s answer is an emphatic no.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/14/world/asia/chin...


Trump released a statement Saturday listing things he was supposedly “right about.” On the list was the theory that “the Virus came from a Chinese lab.” He included this despite it still being far from proved.

Trump’s former secretary of state Mike Pompeo, after spending weeks playing up just how right he and Trump supposedly were, submitted to some tough questioning about it Sunday. Fox News’s Chris Wallace brought up an extremely valid question, which we’ve been emphasizing in this space: If this theory truly had lots of evidence behind it, as both Trump and Pompeo claimed, why did they never produce it? And, to the extent this was a valid theory, why didn’t they push harder?

“President Trump and his team, including you, had almost a year after covid-19 first came on the scene to really press Beijing on what the origins were, when the evidence was much fresher,” Wallace said. He noted the White House pulled out of the World Health Organization, which was criticized for being soft on China, but it wasn’t at all clear what else it did to apply pressure.

“What did President Trump and his administration, including the secretary of state, do to press China harder to get the evidence on where the covid-19 virus came from?” Wallace asked.

Pompeo didn’t offer much of anything. He disputed the premise of the question and said “we got very close to being able to make a laydown case for what actually happened.” But he didn’t say how.

“There’s an enormous amount of evidence that there was a leak from the Wuhan Institute of Virology,” Pompeo said. “There’s a pile of evidence a hundred feet high. I have — I have high confidence that that’s the case.”

The problem? The evidence the Trump team had for that claim was never produced, even as the Trump team could have produced it whenever it wanted.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/06/14...

[Al Gorithum]

Byker28i said:

Why not? We've seen people on this thread think trump can do no wrong because he's on the GOP ticket... ignoring that trump cares about noone but himself.

I could be wrong but I get the impression that those folk are in the Deluded category, but are there any others who knowingly support criminality?

[Byker28i]

An hour before President Trump announced in December that Bill Barr would step down as attorney general, Trump began pressuring Barr's eventual replacement to have the Justice Department take up his false claims of election fraud.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/15/us/politics/tru...


New emails show how Trump and his allies pressured Justice Department to try to challenge 2020 election results


New emails from Justice Department and White House officials show how President Donald Trump's allies pressured then-acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen to consider false and outlandish allegations that the 2020 election had been stolen at the same time that Rosen was being elevated to lead the Justice Department in December 2020 and sought to get the Justice Department to formally back up the false claims.

The emails show how Trump's White House assistant, chief of staff and other allies pressured the Justice Department to investigate claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election -- and how Trump directed allies to push Rosen to join the legal effort to challenge the election result, according to a batch of emails released by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee on Tuesday.

The documents also offer a window into how Rosen dealt with the political pressure coming from the White House.
Trump's campaign to pressure the Justice Department was occurring as he was replacing Attorney General William Barr -- who had publicly said there wasn't evidence of widespread voter fraud -- with Rosen, the emails show.
https://us.cnn.com/2021/06/15/politics/trump-allie...

When Meadows sought to have Rosen arrange an FBI meeting with a Giuliani ally pushing a conspiracy theory that Italy was using military technology and satellites to somehow change votes to Joe Biden, Rosen said he would not help Giuliani.

Edited by Byker28i on Tuesday 15th June 14:27

[Byker28i]

In light of the new docs showing Trump's efforts to undermine the 2020 election, House Oversight wants transcribed interviews with:

Ex-WH Chief of Staff Mark Meadows
Ex-Acting Deputy AG Richard Donoghue
Ex-Assistant AG Jeffrey Clark
Ex-U.S. Attorney in Georgia Byung Jin Pak

All Senate Judiciary Democrats are calling on the Department of Justice to produce materials relating to the Trump DOJ subpoenas and urging Attorney General Garland to provide the Committee with an immediate briefing on the matter.

[Byker28i]

Here's the whole repository of the house documents released so far

https://oversight.house.gov/sites/democrats.oversi...


Edit: the docs show just how chaoctic it was in trumps final days and opens up many, many people who need to be questioned.

Edited by Byker28i on Tuesday 15th June 17:13

[Byker28i]

“Illustrious Mr. President: ...” and 'the conservative part of the Italian Secret Service'

The typos in the Italian city names really give it the authenticity

Did Giuliani dictate this or trump?



I know a Nigerian prince who needs to get money out the country, maybe I should have them contact team trump

[tangerine_sedge]

Byker28i said:

“Illustrious Mr. President: ...” and 'the conservative part of the Italian Secret Service'

The typos in the Italian city names really give it the authenticity

Did Giuliani dictate this or trump?



I know a Nigerian prince who needs to get money out the country, maybe I should have them contact team trump

So amateurish, and yet idiots still believe this crap. It would be laughable if it wasn't so serious.

[HM-2]

"The Italian secret service".

One presumes they said this because the history of the Italian intelligence agencies is very confusing and they couldn't work out whether Agenzia Informazioni e Sicurezza Interna (AISI) or Agenzia Informazioni e Sicurezza Esterna (AISE) would be the one to have responsibility.

I'd totally forgotten about that "letter". How hilariously farcical.

[paulguitar]

Byker28i said:

“Illustrious Mr. President: ...” and 'the conservative part of the Italian Secret Service'

The typos in the Italian city names really give it the authenticity

Did Giuliani dictate this or trump?



I know a Nigerian prince who needs to get money out the country, maybe I should have them contact team trump

I remember seeing this at the time (it might even have been posted here by Limslip or similar) and thinking it almost beyond belief they hadn't tried harder to make it appear believable.

[Tartan Pixie]

Al Gorithum said:

Will there be people who think that the Trump Criminal Enterprises are OK? Not talking about those who are deluded, but those who understand what's gone on and support his attempted coup, Putin subservience and multiple scams?

I've been wondering a similar question but more in terms of psychology because I don't think it's got much to do with rationality.

<><><> Once someone starts to believe that 'both sides are the same' then Trump's crimes don't matter because the dems are going to eat your babies and that's even worse! Add in some culture war rubbish about woke, lefties and immigrants and can't you see how different these democrats are to you? You wouldn't want to vote for them would you? <><><>

Up until the capitol insurrection this strategy worked because I'm sot sure many Trump supporters understood the extent to which he was undermining democracy, however the way Trump has pushed the big lie about election fraud and stimulated the GQP faction in the party it has got to be laying the truth bare for many republican voters that their party has become an anti-democratic movement that has an end goal of authoritarianism.

My gut feeling is that Trump is going to be increasingly toxic to the GOP brand, not because of any specific wrongdoing but because he has failed by the metrics he set for himself - He is now a loser. The more he leans in to conspiracies and attempts to undermine democracy the more of a loser he appears. IMO Trump's hit the law of diminishing returns with his previous strategy but lacks the guile to reinvent himself.

Would be interested to hear what others think especially if you're in the states as I've unfortunately not been out there since before covid.

Edited by Tartan Pixie on Tuesday 15th June 20:55

[mikef]

Al Gorithum said:

I could be wrong but I get the impression that those folk are in the Deluded category, but are there any others who knowingly support criminality?

Hell yes

For sh!ts and giggles I am on both Parler and Gab. There is a rich mix of demagogues, loudmouths and grifters as well as a huge constituency of well-meaning simpletons, religious nuts and, well, conservatives who follow them and will support whatever they are told to by the above

Coming to GB News any day now

[Tartan Pixie]

HM-2 said:

"The Italian secret service".

One presumes they said this because the history of the Italian intelligence agencies is very confusing and they couldn't work out whether Agenzia Informazioni e Sicurezza Interna (AISI) or Agenzia Informazioni e Sicurezza Esterna (AISE) would be the one to have responsibility.

I'd totally forgotten about that "letter". How hilariously farcical.

Excuse my cynicism here but I suspect that whoever The Director Carlo Goria is they had no intention of making the contents verifiable or traceable.

[HM-2]

Tartan Pixie said:

HM-2 said:

"The Italian secret service".

One presumes they said this because the history of the Italian intelligence agencies is very confusing and they couldn't work out whether Agenzia Informazioni e Sicurezza Interna (AISI) or Agenzia Informazioni e Sicurezza Esterna (AISE) would be the one to have responsibility.

I'd totally forgotten about that "letter". How hilariously farcical.

Excuse my cynicism here but I suspect that whoever The Director Carlo Goria is they had no intention of making the contents verifiable or traceable.

Apparently he's the Italian manager of USAerospace Partners, who aren't mentioned at all.

[Tartan Pixie]

HM-2 said:

Apparently he's the Italian manager of USAerospace Partners, who aren't mentioned at all.

Yeah, I searched the name before posting and ended up reading conspiracy trash. Can't imagine that it's done any good for USAerospace Partners, unless they're hoping to get contracts with Aeroflot?

[HM-2]

Tartan Pixie said:

HM-2 said:

Apparently he's the Italian manager of USAerospace Partners, who aren't mentioned at all.

Yeah, I searched the name before posting and ended up reading conspiracy trash. Can't imagine that it's done any good for USAerospace Partners, unless they're hoping to get contracts with Aeroflot?

As far as I can tell they're financiers, wet leasing providers and cargo handlers for a few tiny airlines flying from Europe to the US like WOW. Ironically, they're also a US domicile company with literally no links to Italy.

[Tartan Pixie]

HM-2 said:

As far as I can tell they're financiers, wet leasing providers and cargo handlers for a few tiny airlines flying from Europe to the US like WOW. Ironically, they're also a US domicile company with literally no links to Italy.

Exactly the people I expect to have a deep understanding of global issues and be able to provide reliable information regarding international cooperation among intelligence agencies, presumably after having been to one of Berlusconi's bunga bunga parties that they never quite recovered from.

[Byker28i]

Tartan Pixie said:

Would be interested to hear what others think especially if you're in the states as I've unfortunately not been out there since before covid.

I've talked to friends there, stayed away, mostly been traveling elsewhere for work. Florida as a trump hotspot still seems to have it's trump supporters, although that support is dying based on the number of yard signs pulled. The diehards are still the same except now pushing that trump won, but the republican voters who were diehard aren't as ardent, gleefully victorious now as they were and generally politics isn't discussed again...

NY seems to have been mostly anti trump and that hasn't changed

[Byker28i]

More bad news for Weisselberg

The Manhattan district attorney's office appears to have entered the final stages of a criminal tax investigation into Trump's chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, setting up the possibility he could face charges this summer.

"Prosecutors have obtained Mr. Weisselberg's personal tax returns, the people said, providing the fullest picture yet of his finances."
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/15/nyregion/trump-...

https://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/watch/trump-cf...

[Byker28i]

Democrats and their allies are mounting a major effort to educate Georgia voters on sweeping new voting restrictions passed by the state’s Republican-led legislature ahead of next year’s crucial U.S. Senate and congressional races.

Volunteers are alerting Georgians to stiffened rules for mail ballots, urging early in-person voting instead. They're handing out leaflets, sending texts and speaking in churches to warn of vanishing drop boxes and reduced voting hours. They are knocking on doors, visiting high schools and meeting with parole officers to register new voters, including young people and ex-offenders.

The push is focused heavily on minorities, particularly Black voters, who were key to Democrat Joe Biden's narrow win in Georgia and victories for two Democratic U.S. Senators in run-off contests in January. Voting-rights advocates say Black voters are most likely to be impeded by the new law.
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/democrats-battle-...

[Byker28i]

At which point does Qanon get declared a domestic terrorist organisation?


A new federal intelligence report warns that adherents of QAnon, the conspiracy theory embraced by some in the mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol, could target Democrats and other political opponents for more violence as the movement’s false prophecies increasingly fail to come true.

Many QAnon followers believe former President Donald Trump was fighting enemies within the so-called deep state to expose a cabal of Satan-worshipping cannibals operating a child sex trafficking ring. Trump’s loss to President Joe Biden disillusioned some believers in “The Storm,” a supposed reckoning in which Trump’s enemies would be tried and executed. Some adherents have now pivoted into believing that Trump is the “shadow president” or that Biden’s victory was a sham.

The report was compiled by the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security and released Monday by Sen. Martin Heinrich, a New Mexico Democrat. It predicts that while some QAnon adherents will pull back, others “likely will begin to believe they can no longer ‘trust the plan’ referenced in QAnon posts and that they have an obligation to change from serving as ‘digital soldiers’ towards engaging in real world violence.”
https://apnews.com/article/government-and-politics...