The Trump-Russia Scandal Continues To Belch Smoke

The smoke continues to billow around the connection between the government of Russian autocrat Vladimir "Vlad the Invader" Putin and his asset Donald "Rump" Trump. The New York Times and CNN are reporting that the FBI is continuing its counterintelligence investigation and, specifically, the curious connection between Rump, his campaign and a certain Russian bank. It's getting hot in here.

New York Times

President Trump’s weekend Twitter message asserting that former President Barack Obama had tapped his phones forced the White House into ever more verbal contortions on Thursday as aides struggled to defend the president’s charge. 

In the latest iteration, the Justice Department declined to comment on whether Mr. Trump is — or is not — the subject of an investigation. “No comment,” a department official said. [snip] 

Thursday’s verbal gymnastics actually started on Wednesday when Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, insisted to reporters that the president is not the target of a counterintelligence investigation involving contacts with Russia. He said, flatly, that “there is no reason to believe there is any type of investigation with respect to the Department of Justice.” 

That prompted Thursday’s comments from a Justice Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case. The official said that Mr. Spicer had not relied on any information from the department in denying the existence of an investigation targeting the president.

CNN:

Federal investigators and computer scientists continue to examine whether there was a computer server connection between the Trump Organization and a Russian bank, sources close to the investigation tell CNN. 

Questions about the possible connection were widely dismissed four months ago. But the FBI's investigation remains open, the sources said, and is in the hands of the FBI's counterintelligence team -- the same one looking into Russia's suspected interference in the 2016 election.

A malignant, narcissistic sociopath like Rump staffed and operated his campaign just as he has his various cons- cum- businesses: shady operators cutting shady "deals" with no regard to ethics or consequences other than to transfer as much wealth from the marks into the pocket of Donald J. Trump. But we have yet to get the answer to the biggest question: what does Putin have on Rump? We believe the beginning of the answer to that can be found in Rump's tax returns, and that they will eventually come out.

Tax Day's Coming. Remind You Of Something?

In one of the several outrages over the weekend, piranha-human hybrid and Orwellian liar-for-hire Kellyanne "Alternative Facts" Conway declared that sociopath and Putin puppet Donald "Rump" Trump wouldn't be releasing his tax returns, as every President has for decades.  Recall that during the primary campaign and general elections, Rump made a point of saying that he'd release his Federal income tax returns, but that they were being audited (a claim that's never been verified -- the only comment from the IRS was that they were not stopping Rump from releasing his tax returns).

Speculation that Rump was hiding something (a "bombshell" per "Mittens" Romney) ranged from dealings with Russian financiers/banks and organized crime connections, to that he pays no income tax, to the more mundane possibility that his income was far lower that he's boasted. It could be a combination of all three. Whatever it is, his inner circle considers it damaging enough to resist releasing it, despite overwhelming public opinion (74%) saying that he should (contrary to Alternative Facts Conway's patent lie that the people "don't care"). One would think our intrepid "journalists" would see this as an investigative challenge to them, given the highly suspicious resistance by Rump and Co. We'll see, but we're not optimistic when it comes to the majority of the access-addicted Fourth Estate. Perhaps more nationwide marches or other forms of protest will be in order around April 15. Or perhaps hackers will do the job.

With taxpayers struggling to balance their expenses and doing their best to pay taxes owed, it's almost certain that he's been paying no Federal income taxes for at least 20 years, taxes that pay for everything from our national security to food safety and disease control. Whatever he's hiding must be so perilous to him that he's willing to try to ride out public disapproval. We can't let him get away with it.