- Maybe Russia plays both ends to disrupt and to hedge — A possible nexus of analysis by a Trump champion and never-Trumper ,
- Even the most prominent liberal lawyers are critical of hyperbolic accusations from the liberal media and Democrat political operatives (yes that is redundant)
- Our estimation of the matter of Russian involvement in the 2016 election, not that they would not want to be instrumental as that is what powers do all the time, when administrations think they can have a useful effect.
Reading this collection of articles from the ardent Trump defender Gateway Pundit, and never-Trumper Eric Erickson (formerly of Red State now of The Resurgent), they sort of seem to be in agreement. THE MEETING that Donald Trump Jr and two other campaign officials had with a Russian lawyer lobbyist (s), the latter using a tease about having dirt regarding the Hillary campaign provides seems Byzantine. But that would not be out of character for Russia. We are not so sure it is that complicated, only that the Democrats accusations are all wet and likely transference as out illustrious senior editor has opined.
Right now the matter is still murky enough or possessed of enough rabbit holes that one might conclude a score of different things regarding THE MEETING: maybe the Russians were probing to figure out what the Trumps knew or thought they knew, and to ~ go from there; or maybe the Russians were hedging by ingratiating rivals to them (Russians had already been most gracious with payments to Clinton. Or maybe a different sort of hedge, instead, sullying both with your association thus preventing scrutiny of you as both camps avoid letting scrutiny get too deep; or maybe the Russian’s figured serving as a whipping boy for both is a good life, as long as you have the goods on both; or maybe the wisdom of having something in your back pocket with whomever you play with.
Or maybe more likely, Occam’s razor, just a lobbyist using intertwined connections doing what they do – gaining access with suggestions of favors. Or for all we really know, THE MEETING was inscrutable Boris and Natasha stuff (with Donald Jr being a bit of a Bullwinkle).
One thing is certain, it now involves the Democrats trying to shift scrutiny and accuse others of what they are hip deep in — collusion activities of one sort or another.
Cristina Laila articles at Gateway Pundit
THE PLOT THICKENS=> Russian Lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya May Have Been in US Illegally
Leaked Documents Show Democrats Plotted to Blame Russia For Hacking
As TGP reported earlier, the pro-Russian hacker site “Cyber Berkut” published links between the Ukrainian government and the Hillary Clinton Campaign Thursday.
According to Cyber Berkut the Ukrainian foundation transferred 10 to 25 million dollars to the Clinton Foundation.
A whistleblower provided a very damaging email showing that the Democrats were plotting to ‘manufacture false evidence of the Russian security services’ involvement in cyber attacks during the U.S. presidential elections 2016′.
GPS Fusion Founder Behind Debunked Dossier Was on Payroll of Russian Lawyer Who Met With Donald Jr
GPS Fusion founder, Glenn Simpson, among other Democrats were on the payroll of the Russian lawyer who met with Donald Trump Jr. in June of 2016.
GPS Fusion is the company that reportedly commissioned the garbage dossier compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele which was subsequently published by Buzzfeed. The debunked dossier was a hit piece on Trump with outrageous stories about his encounters with Russian prostitutes.
The Daily Caller reported:
A national outcry has erupted in the establishment media about Trump Jr.’s meeting with Veselnitskaya. But there has been little focus on the Democrats who willingly served for years on her payroll helping to wage a Russian-led lobby campaign against the law. Congress passed the legislation, the Magnitsky Act, in response to the murder of Sergei Magnistky, a Russian lawyer who alleged corruption and human rights violations against numerous Russian officials.
Radical left-wing icon former California Democratic Rep. Ron Dellums was a hired lobbyist for Natalia Veselnitskaya, the Russian lawyer who met with Donald Trump Jr. June 9, 2016.
The former congressman is only one of a notable team of partisan Democrats Veselnitskaya hired to defeat the Magnitsky Act.
Glenn Simpson, founder of Fusion GPS, also joined the Russian lawyer and “worked with her on a legal case for years,” according to The Washington Post.
According to a report by the Washington Post, Fusion GPS admits to working with Veselnitskaya for more than two years, but had no involvement in the meeting…right…
Erick Erickson writing at The Resurgent
The Russians and the Democrats
Because of leftwing outrage and media obsession, the nation has focused on whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russians to influence the American election. In the hype and hysteria, we have been distracted from an obvious issue. If, as the Obama Administration claimed, the Russians merely wanted to undermine American trust in the democratic process, would not they work both sides against each other? It is looking more and more like that may be the case.
This will not get nearly as much coverage as Donald Trump, Jr. meeting with Natalia Veselnitskaya, but it does raise the issue of whether Democrats and Russians were as collaborative as the Democrats claim the Trump team was. There is a remarkably small degree of separation between Natalia Veselnitskaya and Fusion GPS, the Democrat opposition research firm that came up with the Trump dossier.
Liberal lawyers/ law profs — there is no illegality or collusion in Donald Jr meeting with Russians
OPINION | Don Jr.’s Russia meeting wasn’t collusion — just amateur hour
By Jonathan Turley
Alan Dershowitz: Donald Trump Jr.’s conduct likely covered by First Amendment
Prominent Harvard law professor and liberal author Alan Dershowitz says Donald Trump Jr.’s controversial meeting last year with a Russian lawyer is likely protected under the First Amendment.
“There’s a big difference between the act of stealing, or the act of hacking, and the act of using it,” Mr. Dershowitz told Fox Business host Neil Cavuto in an appearance Wednesday.
“And there’s really no difference under the First Amendment between a campaigner using information he obtained from somebody who obtained it illegally and a newspaper doing it,” he continued. “So I think this is conduct that would be covered by the First Amendment. It is also not prohibited by law. And there’s been so much overwrought claim. There are people are talking about treason. I can’t believe The New York Times had an op-ed yesterday in which treason was mentioned.”
Our estimation:
The DNC e-mail leak was an inside job and there was no effectual Russian involvement in the election process to hurt Hillary or help Trump. There are a plethora of analysis offering that summation about the source of the leaks, just do a Web search “DNC e-mail inside job”. Strangely even Google does not seem responsible for quashing the links on that score or keeping the Democrat narrative alive by giving prominence to their rebuttals, as is common for them.
Further, as we have pointed out before, Russia unilaterally helping Trump defeat Hillary would be “against interests”
Gary Bauer writing at Campaign for Working Families summarized those reasons again this week:
President Trump sat down with Pat Robertson for an interview on CBN that aired today. They discussed several issues, including the media’s current obsession with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
President Trump put it plainly when he said, “Well he wants what’s good for Russia, and I want what’s good for the United States. . . Sometimes you’re not going to get along on things and sometimes you will.”
President Trump also mocked the notion that Putin somehow preferred him over Hillary Clinton. Here’s what he said:
“I’m a big military person. . . if Hillary had won, our military would be decimated. Our energy would be much more expensive. That’s what Putin doesn’t like about me. And that’s why I say, why would he want me? Because from day one I wanted a strong military, he doesn’t want to see that. . .
“We’re going to be exporting energy — he doesn’t want that. He would like Hillary where she wants to have windmills. He would much rather have that because energy prices would go up and Russia, as you know, relies very much on energy.
“So there are many things that I do that are the exact opposite of what he would want. So what I keep hearing that he would have rather had Trump, I think ‘Probably not.'”
The president is absolutely right.
He is making the point I have repeatedly emphasized and, frankly, it is the point every Republican official should be making in every interview when Russian collusion comes up.
Hillary Clinton would have continued Obama’s policies. She served with the president who wanted to apologize for America again and again. Trump’s slogan was “Make America Great Again.”
Hillary Clinton and the left reject American exceptionalism and want to “fundamentally transform” America. Trump’s theme was restoring American confidence.
As Trump pointed out in the interview, he wants to unleash America’s domestic energy production, which drives down prices and guts Russia’s budget. The left wants to shackle America’s domestic energy industry.
Under Obama and Hillary, we did virtually nothing to help Ukraine. We withdrew from the Middle East and invited Russia into Syria. We cut a nuclear deal with Iran, Russia’s ally, while we isolated Israel.
It just doesn’t pass the straight face test that Clinton’s left-wing policies would have been tougher on Russia.
R Mall
