"No Collusion!" Yeah Collusion

CNN reported late yesterday that sources close to Trump's former lawyer/fixer Michael Cohen say he is ready to tell Special Counsel Robert Mueller that he witnessed Kremlin asset and pathological liar Donald "Rump" Trump give approval to his weaselly son Don, Jr., to meet with Kremlin representatives to get "dirt" on Hillary Clinton on June, 2016. Significantly, Cohen indicated that there were other witnesses to the conversation. Rump and Jr. have maintained that he only found out about the meeting more than a year later. 

If proven, Rump's approval and involvement could open himself up to charges of obstruction, conspiracy to defraud the U.S. and other felonies. Junior may also be in serious additional trouble for lying under oath to the Senate Judiciary Committee last year. Rump's foreknowledge of the Russian meeting in Trump Tower would also explain some actions around that time:

"Trump's critics have long doubted these denials. They point to a series of phone calls Trump Jr. made to a blocked phone number before and after the meeting. They also note that two days before the meeting, Trump mysteriously announced plans to give a 'major speech' about Clinton's scandals. Trump Jr. says he didn't get any dirt at the meeting -- and the speech never happened." (our emphasis)

If Mueller has sufficient phone records, e-mails, and other documentation specific to that meeting with the Russians, along with witnesses that are willing to back up Cohen's account, this would be the most significant development by far.

BONUS:  After attempting to hijack the news cycle with an atypical public statement about 2nd quarter economic news, Rump scurries away from reporters asking about Michael Cohen's bombshell:

Trove Of E-Mails Spell Trouble For Trump Team

The Associated Press is reporting that Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team is in possession of thousands of e-mails from the transition team of con artist and Putin loyalist Donald "Rump" Trump. The e-mails had not been obtained from Rump's transition organization, "Trump for Russia America," but were obtained from the General Services Administration, which was providing Federal IT services and other logistics for the transition group. The significance of this is that Rump transition officials were unaware of the e-mails' possession by Mueller and his FBI team, allowing the Special Counsel's team to question transition officials about situations and communications described in the e-mails without the Trumpers knowing that thousands of e-mail exchanges were already in the FBI's possession. It also suggests that the Special Counsel didn't trust the transition group to turn over all of their e-mails to the investigation.

Undoubtedly, the e-mails represent a trove of potentially incriminating evidence of conspiracy/collusion and potential attempts to obstruct or cover the trail of that collusion. Also, if Rump transition team officials -- potentially including Rump, Jr. and Jared "Mr. Ivanka Trump" Kushner -- lied about something that was in those e-mails, they would be subject to felony perjury. That would give the Mueller team leverage to get them to plea bargain in return for testimony against others higher up.

For the Trumpers now protesting the Special Counsel obtaining the e-mails from the GSA, there's this: the Rump transition team was told that, by using Federal computer resources, they should have no expectation of privacy regarding materials produced.

In Like Flynn Trouble (Jared Kushner, Too)

The Flynn boys, pere and fils, are back in the Russiagate news, and not in a good way (for them).

-- The alt- right spawn of disgraced former National Security Advisor Mike "Jack D. Ripper" Flynn is in Special Counsel Robert Mueller's sights:

Michael G. Flynn, the son of President Donald Trump's former national security adviser, is a subject of the federal investigation into Russian meddling in the presidential election and possible collusion between Moscow and the Trump campaign, according to four current and former government officials. 

The inquiry into Flynn is focused at least in part on his work with his father's lobbying firm, Flynn Intel Group, three of the officials said. It's unclear when the focus on Flynn began

-- Meanwhile, Daddy Flynn is facing more questions about his shady lobbying efforts for foreign governments:

House Democrats sent special counsel Robert Mueller what they say is evidence that former national security adviser Michael Flynn failed to disclose a trip he took to the Middle East to explore a business deal with the Saudi government and a Russian government agency. 

The Democrats allege the retired Army lieutenant general broke the law by omitting the trip, according to the letter they sent to Flynn's former business partners requesting more information about his overseas travels and contacts.

Pressure, leverage, plea bargaining -- all come to mind here, and the Flynns are fast running out of road.

Will Daddy cut a deal if it means keeping Sonny out of the clinker? Could these developments, with the potential for flipping a Flynn, be a "big deal?" Well, as Lawfare's Benjamin Wittes, of "tick tick boom" fame, puts it today,

Boom!https://t.co/d0ekopEmBX pic.twitter.com/udJfIISrTS

— Benjamin Wittes (@benjaminwittes) September 13, 2017

BONUS:  In other Russiagate news, Mueller is focusing on whether the Rump campaign colluded with Russia to use social media to manipulate voters (spoiler alert:  they did!):

Officials familiar with the investigation say that Special Counsel Bob Mueller’s probe into whether President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign colluded with Russia is zeroing in on Russia’s manipulation of voters via social media with a “red hot focus.” 

Chris Strohm of Bloomberg News said Wednesday that the Mueller team will be seeking evidence from social media platforms Facebook and Twitter in an effort to determine who aided Russian groups in their targeting of U.S. voters.

Who might be implicated in this, you ask?

How the Russians knew to target the tiny voting blocs in individual districts is believed to be attributable to one or more individuals inside the Trump campaign and administration. Jared Kushner — director of Trump 2016’s digital operation — has been mentioned as a possible connection between Russian intelligence and the Trump organization.

Let us do it this time: "Tick tick boom!"

Drip, Drip, Drip

Significant pieces of information have arisen in the past 36 hours concerning collusion between the Trump campaign, or intermediaries, and Russia.  Since we're limited by a paywall at the Wall Street Journal, the source of the initial scoop, we're relying on an intermediary ourselves to provide the gist and the import of these new developments.

Here's TPM's Josh Marshall outlining the Journal's reporting, with added information/ corroboration from British cybersecurity expert Matt Tait (which we're excerpting - please go to the TPM link for the full article):

As you may have heard, this evening The Wall Street Journal published a major follow-up to its story from Thursday which described the work of a GOP money man and oppo research guy, the late Peter W. Smith, who was trying to get hacked emails from Russia and held himself out to be in contact with disgraced Trump advisor Michael Flynn. On its face, the big new break in this follow-up story is a new document from Smith. The document is from what is described as a package of recruiting materials Smith was using to enlist cybersecurity talent in his operation. The document listed key officials in the Trump campaign. These were apparently people Smith claimed he was in touch with or working with, though precisely how or why they were mentioned is not entirely clear. 

Here’s the key passage from the Journal article …

Officials identified in the document include Steve Bannon, now chief strategist for President Donald Trump; Kellyanne Conway, former campaign manager and now White House counselor; Sam Clovis, a policy adviser to the Trump campaign and now a senior adviser at the Agriculture Department; and retired Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn, who was a campaign adviser and briefly was national security adviser in the Trump administration.

[snip] 

What is also clear in the Journal article is that the source of the new information was almost certainly a British national and cybersecurity expert named Matt Tait. I would go through why this seems clear. But about an hour after the Journal article was published, Tait himself followed up with what I would say is the big piece of the night in the Lawfare blog. 

Tait provides a much more detailed first-person account of his dealings with Smith. You’ll want to read it yourself. But the gist is that he’s a cybersecurity expert, he got press attention with some online analysis he did about the DNC hacking. He later got contacted by Smith – apparently because Smith was looking for someone to authenticate purported, hacked Clinton emails he’d been offered. Tait didn’t at first know just what Smith was after or who he was. But once he got into a conversation with Smith and found out someone was offering him the Clinton emails, he wanted to know more. 

One critical part of the story is that Tait never saw the purported emails, genuine or not. So he is not in a position to say what they were or who was offering them to Smith. 

The critical points Tait reveals are these. 1) That in his conversations with Smith and his associates it was clear that they did not care if the sources of the emails were Russian intelligence officers or if the emails had been hacked by Russian intelligence. They were entirely indifferent to this reality. They didn’t care. 2) Smith discussed what seemed to be highly detailed and confidential information about the inner workings of the Trump campaign, details that made Tait think that Smith wasn’t just some name dropper freelancing but actually had deep ties into the campaign and especially with Mike Flynn.  (our emphasis)

Marshall's article contains a number of revealing quotes from Tait; we would encourage you to go to Tait's Lawfare article here to get the full flavor of his account.

Also, while the octogenarian Smith died hours after the Journal spoke to him (hmmm), Smith's associate John Szobocsan is -- at the moment -- alive and is presumably on Robert Mueller's radar, if not under some form of protection.

These drips are getting bigger and closer together all the time.

Quote Of The Day

Digby writes:

The simple truth is that the Republicans welcomed a foreign government interfering in the election on their behalf. They knew and they were happy about it and they are now doing everything in their power to cover it up. There is no other way to look at it. 

Republican leaders were so hungry to kill people on Medicaid, bankrupt the middle class and give tax cuts to their millionaire friends that they knowingly allowed a foreign government to help that corrupt, incompetent imbecile into the White House. Think about that.

I feel sick. 

 Us, too.

Trump Goes After Deputy AG Rosenstein (UPDATED)

Demonstrating again this morning that he's consumed by fear and guilt and unable to control his impulses, un- indicted co- conspirator Donald "Rump" Trump is now attacking (one has to assume) Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein for his part in the Justice Department's obstruction of justice investigation. As we noted yesterday, his previous rumblings about firing Special Counsel Robert Mueller amounted to a dimwitted ploy that assumed Mueller would be pressured to exonerate Rump. Perhaps this is in the same category of delusional bullying, or perhaps he's just laying the groundwork to begin firing people that are getting too close to blowing the Russiagate and linked investigations wide open. You judge:

I am being investigated for firing the FBI Director by the man who told me to fire the FBI Director! Witch Hunt

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 16, 2017

By the way, thanks for confirming the Washington Post report that you are, indeed, under investigation, you corrupt dolt.

UPDATE: ABC News is reporting this about Rosenstein --

The senior Justice Department official with ultimate authority over the special counsel's probe of Russia's alleged meddling in the 2016 election has privately acknowledged to colleagues that he may have to recuse himself from the matter, which he took charge of only after Attorney General Jeff Sessions' own recusal, sources tell ABC News. 

Those private remarks from Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein are significant because they reflect the widening nature of the federal probe, which now includes a preliminary inquiry into whether President Donald Trump attempted to obstruct justice when he allegedly tried to curtail the probe and then fired James Comey as FBI director.

We'll see if this pans out as an accurate story, and if and how it fits with the Rump tweet above.

Trump Begins Meltdown Over Obstruction Investigation

So, what do you think the odds are now that Putin puppet and un- indicted co- conspirator Donald "Rump" Trump (against sound advice) is going to try to kill the Russiagate investigation by getting rid of Special Counsel Robert Mueller?

They made up a phony collusion with the Russians story, found zero proof, so now they go for obstruction of justice on the phony story. Nice

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 15, 2017

You are witnessing the single greatest WITCH HUNT in American political history - led by some very bad and conflicted people!  #MAGA

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 15, 2017

So Rump says the FBI and Special Counsel Mueller are now "very bad and conflicted people?" Can you say "projection?"

This is someone with no respect for the legal system or accepted norms and conventions. As he infamously said (to paraphrase), he could shoot someone in the middle of 5th Avenue and his base wouldn't care.

We may be about to find out how far this shitgibbon is prepared to go to save his hide.

Trump Under Investigation For Obstruction Of Justice

Breaking news from the Washington Post:

The special counsel overseeing the investigation into Russia’s role in the 2016 election is interviewing senior intelligence officials as part of a widening probe that now includes an examination of whether President Trump attempted to obstruct justice, officials said. 

The move by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III to investigate Trump’s conduct marks a major turning point in the nearly year-old FBI investigation, which until recently focused on Russian meddling during the presidential campaign and on whether there was any coordination between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin. Investigators have also been looking for any evidence of possible financial crimes among Trump associates, officials said. 

Trump had received private assurances from then-FBI Director James B. Comey starting in January that he was not personally under investigation. Officials say that changed shortly after Comey’s firing.

It would have been news had Mueller not been looking into Rump's interference, given the obvious evidence. But this opens yet another avenue into what Rump's motivation for obstructing might have been, and obviously raises the stakes even higher as obstruction would be an impeachable offense.

How much more pressure will an undisciplined, paranoid Rump tolerate before he blows a gasket and tries to fire Mueller?

Beauregard Raises More Questions Than Answers

We won't waste time in a lengthy recap of evil elf and Confederate States Attorney General Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III's appearance before the Senate Intelligence Committee. It was expected that he'd duck questions that are at the heart of the investigation, answer questions that weren't asked, and avoid answering directly by claiming "confidentiality" of conversations with narcissistic demagogue Donald "Rump" Trump, and he did all of those things. He got his little rooster neck up in faux outrage about being accused of colluding with Russian officials, when no one had leveled that charge. His recollection of his interactions with Russian officials was fuzzy, and in particular he declined to answer many questions about his involvement with the firing of former FBI Director James Comey. Asked whether he had had discussions with Rump over the rationale for firing Comey before Rump directed that a memo be written to base the firing on, Beauregard claimed confidentiality with Rump, despite repeatedly acknowledging that executive privilege had not been asserted by the White (Supremacist) House. Beauregard kept referring to long-standing policies in the Justice Department to decline to answer, and was asked to produce any written policies to that effect.

Observing Beauregard, he shifted uncomfortably as Dems asked their questions, reaching for a glass of water and fiddling with his papers and eyeglasses. When friendly Rethuglicans pitched soft ball questions to him (Roy Blunt of Missouri, and the hateful Tom Cotton of Arkansas were the worst), he grinned and thanked them. In his five minutes, Cotton listed a number of "leaks" that had embarrassed Rump, failing to list the leak of highly classified information that Rump himself had made to the Russian Foreign Minister and Russian Ambassador in the Oval Office. The hearing brought out the fact that neither Beauregard nor Rump seemed interested in the Russian attack, not once asking to be briefed on it. The often befuddled Sen. John "Grampypants" McCain managed to suggest in his questioning that Beauregard and his boss weren't taking Russian active measures seriously, and had no strategy to counter them. That begs the question of how can they, when the Russians have something -- something apparently very important -- on the current occupant of the Oval Office.

Will Trump Fire Special Counsel Mueller?

As the noose tightens (and the less we see and hear about what's going on in Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation, the more serious it's nature), it appears some moves are being considered by un-indicted co- conspirator Donald "Rump" Trump.

Here's Rump confidante and Newsmax sleazeball CEO Chris Ruddy:

Chris Ruddy to @JudyWoodruff: President Trump is considering firing special counsel Robert Mueller, who he considered for another position. pic.twitter.com/X4IIHlh8at

— PBS NewsHour (@NewsHour) June 12, 2017

As MSNBC's Kyle Griffin notes, there's a pattern quickly developing in the Trump swamp:

In last 36 hours:
•Trump lawyer: Won't speculate on Mueller firing
•Gingrich: Rethink Mueller
•Ruddy: Trump considering terminating Mueller pic.twitter.com/o5pySNbaHN

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) June 12, 2017

We wouldn't put anything past this existential threat to American democracy. Rump firing James Comey didn't stop the investigation, but simply added to the growing impression that he's furiously trying to hide his criminality and/ or treasonous behavior.

We hope Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) has an accurate read on the mood of Congress (but we're skeptical):

If President fired Bob Mueller, Congress would immediately re-establish independent counsel and appoint Bob Mueller. Don't waste our time.

— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) June 12, 2017

Call it a "tell," or "consciousness of guilt," or just plain "obstruction of justice," for Rump to do this would be in the same category (though with far greater implications for national security and democratic governance) than the "Saturday Night Massacre" that ultimately led to Richard Nixon's resignation before certain impeachment.

BONUS:  Republican strategist Rick Wilson has an epic tweetstorm about the Rump enablers and "fanboys."

Monday Reading

Noah Rothman on why the desperate party- before- country Republican defense of Putin puppet Donald "Rump" Trump won't wash:

To the extent they are interested in protecting the President from his critics, Republicans have settled on a defense for Donald Trump: He has no idea what he's doing. 

That was, at least, how House Speaker Paul Ryan attempted to save Trump from himself. "The President's new at this. He's new at government," Ryan said. "He's not steeped in the long-running protocols that establish the relationships between DOJ, FBI and White Houses." [snip]

The sequence of events that Comey recounted in testimony does not paint a portrait of a naive American President, buffeted by events beyond either his control or ability to comprehend. Comey's assertions crafted the image of a President who was eager to see the investigation into his campaign's conduct speedily concluded on favorable terms, and this directive was reinforced through punitive measures. (our emphasis)

Rump's obsession with protecting former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn is a tell to Paul Waldman (and us):

It may be that Trump believes Flynn is the keystone of the Russia scandal, and if he goes down then the scandal will accelerate until it reaches the Oval Office. It may have something to do with some piece of information or relationship we know nothing about. But what's obvious is that Trump is trying very hard to keep Flynn out of harm's way, or to keep him happy. If we can figure out why, we may understand this whole scandal a great deal better. 

Our guesses?  Flynn was operating under Rump's direction in his back- door dealings with Russia and, through his contacts with Russian intelligence, has something on Rump that Rump's very eager to keep hidden =cough= make or break financial leverage =cough= money laundering =cough=.

The Center for American Progress tells us the emerging Republican Obamacare repeal bill in the Senate is a killer:

Recent reports indicate that the emerging Senate version of the American Health Care Act (AHCA) may not include the House version’s provision permitting states to waive the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) community rating provision, which prevents insurers from charging sick people higher premiums than healthy people. 

Even without community rating waivers, the Senate bill would still critically weaken protections for people with pre-existing conditions. By allowing states to waive the ACA’s essential health benefits (EHB) requirements, it would enable insurers to effectively screen out sick people by excluding certain services. 

As a result, people with pre-existing conditions in waiver states would face significantly higher costs and find it much harder to find insurance plans that actually covered treatment for even relatively common conditions such as mental health problems or diabetes. (our emphasis)

Not surprising that this bill is being "crafted" behind closed doors by 13 white male Republican Senators.  It kind of fits a pattern of subterfuge that allowed them to gut internet privacy regulations earlier this year:

Congressional Republicans knew their plan was potentially explosive. They wanted to kill landmark privacy regulations that would soon ban Internet providers, such as Comcast and AT&T, from storing and selling customers’ browsing histories without their express consent. 

So after weeks of closed-door debates on Capitol Hill over who would take up the issue first — the House or the Senate — Republican members settled on a secret strategy, according to Hill staff and lobbyists involved in the battle. While the nation was distracted by the House’s pending vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Senate Republicans would schedule a vote to wipe out the new privacy protections. 

On March 23, the measure passed on a straight party-line vote, 50 to 48. Five days later, a majority of House Republicans voted in favor of it, sending it to the White House, where President Trump signed the bill in early April without ceremony or public comment. (our emphasis)

That moment when you find your browsing history has been used to target you, thank a Republican. These are truly the mole people.

Finally, on a broader scale, Infidel has another great link round- up -- something for (almost?) everyone. It's worth your time.

Morning After Comey Reading

Among the many post- mortems of James Comey's testimony yesterday, we noticed several which pointed to the phenomenon  known as "normalization," related to the abnormal behavior of Donald "Rump" Trump and how we're in danger of accepting the Rump miasma of corruption and illegality as business as usual.

Amy Zegart at The Atlantic notes how this is infusing all aspects of Russiagate:

The Trump era has brought the normalization of deviance to politics. In four short months, this administration’s national-security advisor has had to resign in disgrace for lying about his contacts with Russians and now faces possible criminal charges. The attorney general is so tainted by his own Russian-related activities that he has had to recuse himself from the bureau’s investigation of Russian-related activities. And the FBI director, who by law serves a 10-year term precisely to ensure independence from the president, was fired by the president because he was independent. This is bizarro world. Any one of these events would in normal times be enough to bring down a president. And yet senators today were talking about whether President Trump’s exact words to Jim Comey constituted a hope, a wish, an order, a directive, a threat, or as one senator characterized it, simply a “light touch” approach.

Joan Walsh at The Nation offers an examples in the forms of New Jersey bridge controller Gov. Chris "Krispycreme" Christie and Sneaker of the House Paul "Lyin'" Ryan:

... New Jersey Governor Chris Christie tried to reassure MSNBC: “What you’re seeing is a president who is now very publicly learning about the way people react to what he considers to be normal New York City conversation.” Normal New York City conversation? For mobsters, maybe. Mafia dons expect loyalty; presidents know the FBI director operates independently from the White House. [snip] 

...[T]his process is likely to move slowly, as long as GOP leaders, such as House Speaker Paul Ryan, defend Trump’s Comey coercion as the actions of a neophyte who “was new at this” FBI-independence stuff. They’ll defend him until he hurts them more than he helps, and who knows when they’ll decide that will be?

Steve Benen at The Maddow Blog picks up on Republicans normalizing Rump's behavior as that of an inexperienced CEO:

... It’s as if some on the right want Americans to believe we elected an ignorant television personality to lead the executive branch of a global superpower, and if he started ignoring the rule of law shortly after taking office, it’s only because he’s a fool, not a criminal. 

And that’s supposed to be the defense of the president. 

By any fair measure, it’s not a good one. Trump spent a year and a half on the campaign trail, telling the electorate and the world he was ready to be president, giving himself ample time to learn about the position he was seeking. There was also the post-election transition period, where Trump had an opportunity to learn basic details such as, “Don’t pressure the FBI director about an ongoing investigation into one of the president’s pals.”

None of this is normal, Rump is far from normal, and anyone and anything that suggests otherwise needs to be challenged forcefully and often.

BONUS:  Steve M. at No More Mister Nice Blog casts a light on Rump's drooling base to show "what normalization looks like."

Trump's Interference In Russiagate Investigation, Cont. (UPDATED)

Amid the anticipation surrounding former FBI Director James Comey's testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday, the Washington Post has a blockbuster report that fits a pattern of, if not outright obstruction, consciousness of guilt by Putin puppet Donald "Rump" Trump. It makes today's Senate Intelligence Committee hearing potentially as damaging to Rump as what could be in store for him on Thursday:

The nation’s top intelligence official told associates in March that President Trump asked him if he could intervene with then-FBI Director James B. Comey to get the bureau to back off its focus on former national security adviser Michael Flynn in its Russia probe, according to officials. 

On March 22, less than a week after being confirmed by the Senate, Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats attended a briefing at the White House together with officials from several government agencies. As the briefing was wrapping up, Trump asked everyone to leave the room except for Coats and CIA Director Mike Pompeo. 

The president then started complaining about the FBI investigation and Comey’s handling of it, said officials familiar with the account Coats gave to associates. Two days earlier, Comey had confirmed in a congressional hearing that the bureau was probing whether Trump’s campaign coordinated with Russia during the 2016 race. 

After the encounter, Coats discussed the conversation with other officials and decided that intervening with Comey as Trump had suggested would be inappropriate, according to officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive internal matters. [snip] 

Coats will testify on Wednesday before the Senate Intelligence Committee. Lawmakers on the panel said they would press him for information about his interactions with the president regarding the FBI investigation.

 Coats, as well as Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, and National Security Agency Director Adm. Mike Rogers, are slated to testify today starting at 10 a.m. EDT on various aspects of the investigation into Russian meddling into the 2016 election which, according to a leaked NSA document, was far more widespread and specific than previously revealed. Keep an eye on how Republicans on the committee deal with the testimony today and tomorrow (spoiler alert: running interference for Rump will be their top priority). The other issue at play that would determine how much is or is not revealed during the testimony today and tomorrow is to what extent Special Counsel Robert Mueller has provided legal parameters to the witnesses in order to safeguard the integrity of his expanding investigation.

Regardless, it's hard to escape the feeling that the walls are closing in on Rump and his regime.

UPDATE: While executive privilege wasn't invoked by Coats or Rogers, they declined to answer the simple question of whether they even had a conversation with Rump concerning the FBI investigation, saying that they couldn't discuss it in open session. Dem Senators pressed them on their rationale for not responding but didn't receive a satisfactory response from either. Independent Maine Sen. Angus King had a testy exchange with Rogers over the refusal to answer the key question:

Rogers: "I don't mean that in a contentious way" @SenAngusKing: "Well, I do mean it in a contentious way" pic.twitter.com/7fhN1Bho01

— POLITICO (@politico) June 7, 2017

McCabe and Rosenstein fell back on the "ongoing Special Counsel" investigation tact to skirt those type of questions. The Dems finally got an agreement from Coats, Rogers, et al to answer the questions in a closed session at 2 p.m. today. So much for transparency.

Weaponizing and Colluding Quote of the Day

“The Russians, in my opinion ... could not have known how best to weaponize that information unless they have been guided ... by Americans. I think it’s fair to ask, how did that actually influence the campaign, and how did they know what messages to deliver? Who told them? Who were they coordinating with, and colluding with?" (emphasis added)  -- Hillary Clinton, interviewed at the Code Conference in California on May 31. Good points: the pilfered e-mails, the fake news stories, and social media attacks were the "weapons," while the strategy and targeting was provided by Trump and his associates.