FBI is Investigating a Sitting President

Discussion in 'The Red Room' started by Aurora, Mar 20, 2017.

  1. Dinner

    Dinner 2012 & 2014 Master Prognosticator

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    That is pretty much my take. Trump will have a slow drip of scandalish news for a year or two but nothing meaningful will happen certainly not until 2019 and only then if Dems take over Congress. They have a shot at the Senate but the house is gerrymandered to hell and back.
  2. Aurora

    Aurora Vincerò!

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    'course Pence won't go down with Trump. But it would pose an interesting constitutional problem if he did.

    On the one hand there's a clear line of succession down to Kiefer Sutherland the Secretary of Outhouses.

    On the other hand, dethroning both of them at once could be interpreted as a clear case of the people having the right to vote again even thought it's not a constitutional right but a moral one.
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  3. Zombie

    Zombie dead and loving it

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    There is only a line of succession for the President. This is not difficult to understand. In the event we lose both positions a new President will choose a new Vice-President.

    No it wouldn't.

    There is no right to vote again.

    Not only would sacking them both probably lead to bloodshed but if you think even the ones who want Trump gone are going to stand by and do a re-vote and possible get Hillary you're naively stupid.

    The country would go to the brink of Civil War.
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  4. Rimjob Bob

    Rimjob Bob Sue Collini always gets the weenie

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    Meh. I'll get my hopes up when he's actually impeached.

    It is ironic, though. I remember an article published by Newt Gingrich, partisan toolbox, just before the election. It argued that a Clinton administration would be rendered inert by endless scandals and investigations. He argued this while completely ignoring that it was even more likely of his own preferred candidate.
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  5. Aurora

    Aurora Vincerò!

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    Yes? I know how the line of succession works :shrug:

    And as I said, constitutional vs moral obligation.
  6. Zombie

    Zombie dead and loving it

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    There is no moral obligation. Only constitutional ones.

    There would never be a re-vote. Ever.
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  7. Dayton Kitchens

    Dayton Kitchens Banned

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    No "moral obligation" has legal or constitutional authority.

    If the country is going to this extent to replace President Trump then we might as well go "full parliamentary".

    Have the U.S. Senate nominate some candidates and the U.S. House choose one for president and the runner up for Vice.
  8. Amaris

    Amaris Guest

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    And more likely of himself as well.
  9. Dayton Kitchens

    Dayton Kitchens Banned

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    You do know that from a constitutional standpoint, conspiring with the Russians and stealing the 2016 election would NOT be an impeachable offense.

    If for no other reason that it happened before he was president.
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  10. Sean the Puritan

    Sean the Puritan Endut! Hoch Hech!

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    Only wishful thinking.
  11. Ebeneezer Goode

    Ebeneezer Goode Gobshite

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    You missed the wiggle room - most. Obviously Kellyanne and the rest of Stockholm Syndromers will point at that.
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  12. K.

    K. Sober

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    Nailed it. Kudos.
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  13. Ebeneezer Goode

    Ebeneezer Goode Gobshite

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    I can't help but think if there is enough evidence then it'll never see a court.

    It's one thing for it to be publically known that Russia stuck a pawn in the White House, quite another for it to be officially recognised.

    The various powers that be would find an alternative method of removal. Conspiracy theories are more politically palatable, and deniable, than historical fact.
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  14. Rimjob Bob

    Rimjob Bob Sue Collini always gets the weenie

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    I don't see why Congress can't remove anyone they want for any reason, as long as they have the votes.
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  15. Dayton Kitchens

    Dayton Kitchens Banned

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    To remove Trump would require dozens of Republican members of Congress to agree to do so from states and districts that President Trump won overwhelmingly.

    And remember due to the vagarities of the electoral college there are far, far more members of Congress from pro Trump districts and states than from anti Trump areas.

    From a practical matter it just won't happen.
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  16. Rimjob Bob

    Rimjob Bob Sue Collini always gets the weenie

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    How "pro-Trump" do you think they'll all be if the FBI finds decisive evidence of collusion with the Russians?

    @Dayton3
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  17. Diacanu

    Diacanu Comicmike. Writer

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    This. Trump has more lives than Jason Vorhees.
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  18. Diacanu

    Diacanu Comicmike. Writer

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    He was dipping his wick in secretaries while waving his finger over the Lewinsky scandal, so he has no fucking credibility at all.
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  19. Zombie

    Zombie dead and loving it

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    Evidence?

    You guys do realize this bullshit has been going on since before the election right?

    If there was any real evidence it would have been leaked long ago.

    They've leaked all sorts of stuff so why would those holding this evidence not already leak it?
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  20. Paladin

    Paladin Overjoyed Man of Liberty

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    We'll see what the FBI produces, but my guess is not much.

    Did Russia prefer Trump over Clinton? Yes. Did Russia attempt to exert influence in that direction? Probably. Was this influence decisive? Probably not. Was there any criminal involvement with Trump's campaign? Doubtful.

    But we'll see.
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  21. steve2^4

    steve2^4 Aged Meat

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    There already was criminal involvement by Flynn when he lied about not having spoken to the Russian ambassador. He fell on his sword.

    It was a little more than a one sided bromance (Trump thought Putin liked him, but he didn't call Trump "brilliant" just "colorful"). The Russians hacked the DNC's email creating a constant stream of noise. They sponsored websites to publish propaganda. Was this influence decisive? It may have been. I think Comey's last minute Weiner exhibition was more disruptive.

    What really won Trump the election was 8 years of black folks in the White House. Archie Bunker voted.
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  22. Paladin

    Paladin Overjoyed Man of Liberty

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    It's unclear if Flynn broke any law, but, in any event, he isn't Trump.
    Archie Bunker apparently includes lots of people who voted for those black folks before...
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  23. Zombie

    Zombie dead and loving it

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    He broke no law. Again the people who leaked that the call took place also have the transcript. If there was a shred of evidence why hasn't that transcript been leaked yet?

    The real FBI investigation is looking into why his name wasn't redacted like it was supposed to be and who leaked it.

    They were apparently watching the Russian Ambassador and are required to redact the names of Americans unless an obvious crime is taking place.

    Flynn was stupid in that he misled Pence but he broke no laws.
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  24. mburtonk

    mburtonk mburtonkulous

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    I figured he'd quit before two years. Is there a pool going?
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  25. steve2^4

    steve2^4 Aged Meat

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    I'll let you play the Bill Clinton perjury card if you'll let me play the Flynn card.

    Why should his name have been redacted from the leak? It was a leak, not an official press release.

    The topic came up again after Mr. Trump and his team moved into the White House. At his first full briefing on Jan. 23, Mr. Spicer said that Mr. Flynn’s conversation had touched on only four subjects, none of them sanctions. That caught the attention of the F.B.I. and the Justice Department.

    Sally Q. Yates, an Obama appointee held over as acting attorney general until Mr. Trump’s choice was confirmed, concluded that the disparity between what was said on the call and what Mr. Flynn had evidently told the vice president and others about it might make the new national security adviser vulnerable to blackmail. When foreign governments hold information that could prove embarrassing, it is considered a potential leverage point.

    Soon after the Jan. 23 briefing, James B. Comey, the F.B.I. director, sent agents to interview Mr. Flynn. If he told the agents what he said publicly for more than a week after that interview — that his conversations with the ambassador had been innocuous and did not involve sanctions — then he could face legal trouble. If the authorities concluded that he knowingly lied to the F.B.I., it could expose him to a felony charge.

    NY Times source
    Would they have made the charge stick? Probably not. Flynn had already demonstrated his mental feebleness making the "I forgot" plea plausible.
  26. Zombie

    Zombie dead and loving it

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    His name should be redacted by the team listening in on the Russian Ambassador.

    It wasn't or it was. The question is now what was it? If it wasn't redacted than why? If it was redacted than who ordered it to be unmasked and spread among intelligence services where someone leaked it to the media?
  27. Bickendan

    Bickendan Custom Title Administrator Faceless Mook Writer

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    No :bailey:
  28. steve2^4

    steve2^4 Aged Meat

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    mmm I blame Reagan (Flynn was in the Dominican Republic at the time of the intercept):

    Executive Order 12333 contains no such protections for U.S. persons if the collection occurs outside U.S. borders. Issued by President Ronald Reagan in 1981 to authorize foreign intelligence investigations, 12333 is not a statute and has never been subject to meaningful oversight from Congress or any court. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, has said that the committee has not been able to “sufficiently” oversee activities conducted under 12333.

    Unlike Section 215, the executive order authorizes collection of the content of communications, not just metadata, even for U.S. persons. Such persons cannot be individually targeted under 12333 without a court order. However, if the contents of a U.S. person’s communications are “incidentally” collected (an NSA term of art) in the course of a lawful overseas foreign intelligence investigation, then Section 2.3(c) of the executive order explicitly authorizes their retention. It does not require that the affected U.S. persons be suspected of wrongdoing and places no limits on the volume of communications by U.S. persons that may be collected and retained.

    WAPO
  29. Mrs. Albert

    Mrs. Albert demented estrogen monster

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    I got $20 on Halloween.
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  30. Dayton Kitchens

    Dayton Kitchens Banned

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    I thought the CIA was legally free to conduct electronic surveillance of foreign embassies, consulates, and any other foreign diplomatic grounds on U.S. soil because legally those are foreign territory not American territory.