XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, alt.survival, alt.atheism   
   XPost: talk.politics.guns, talk.politics.misc   
   From: nowomr@protonmail.com   
      
   There was Trump-Russia collusion and Defendant Trump pardoned the colluder   
      
   It’s official: The Trump campaign colluded with Russia.   
      
   In an explosive development, the Biden administration confirmed that a   
   Russian government agent with close connections to Donald Trump’s top 2016   
   campaign official “provided the Russian Intelligence Services with   
   sensitive information on polling and [Trump] campaign strategy.”   
      
   This revelation demolishes, once and for all, Trump’s ceaseless claims   
   that he was the victim of the “greatest witch hunt in the history of our   
   country.” (Recall that a Trump appointee directed Robert Mueller to   
   investigate “any links and/or coordination between the Russian government   
   and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump.”)   
      
   But just how valuable was the polling and campaign strategy data that Paul   
   Manafort, Trump’s campaign chairman, gave to a Russian agent?   
      
   According to Brad Parscale, Trump’s election data guru, the information   
   that Manafort handed directly to Russian intelligence was of critical   
   importance, determining “98 percent” of the campaign’s resource   
   allocations (such as spending on TV, radio and social media ads, rallies,   
   field operations, and so on).   
      
   Indeed, the data was so important that Parscale kept a visualization of   
   the information on his iPad at all times, allowing him to tell   
   then-candidate Trump where to conduct his next rally at a moment’s notice.   
      
   According to the then-Republican-led Senate Select Committee on   
   Intelligence, the ultrasensitive campaign information that Manafort passed   
   to a Russian spy “identified voter bases in blue-collar,   
   democratic-leaning states which Trump could swing,” including in   
   “Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Minnesota.”   
      
   Moreover, the Russian intelligence officer who received the information   
   “was capable of comprehending the complex polling data.”   
      
   That leaves a lot of unanswered questions as to what Russia’s spies did   
   with the information.   
      
   Perhaps worse, Trump ultimately pardoned Manafort. Trump’s potential   
   political rivals would be wise to remember that he handed the ultimate   
   political favor to the man who colluded with Russia amid Moscow’s campaign   
   to undermine American democracy.   
      
   But Manafort’s malfeasance fits a broader pattern.   
      
   As former Trump adviser Steve Bannon — indicted on fraud charges — aptly   
   noted, top Trump officials engaged in a “treasonous” meeting with a former   
   Russian counterintelligence officer and a woman with “extensive and   
   concerning” links to Russian intelligence services.   
      
   At the same time, the then-GOP-led Senate committee made clear that Trump   
   knew of and discussed the release of tens of thousands of Russian-hacked   
   documents and emails pilfered from the Democratic National Committee.   
      
   Indeed, Trump may have instructed a close confidant, Roger Stone, to   
   orchestrate the leak of Russian-stolen documents as a political   
   distraction at a make-or-break moment during the 2016 campaign.   
      
   But it gets worse. According to former Deputy Attorney General Sally   
   Yates, in surreptitious conversations with a top Russian official, Trump’s   
   soon-to-be national security adviser Michael Flynn was “neutering”   
   American sanctions designed to punish Moscow for interfering in the 2016   
   election on Trump’s behalf.   
      
   At the time, Flynn’s previous links to Russia made him the target of a   
   counterintelligence probe, thoroughly justifying the FBI’s investigation   
   into his collusive calls with a senior Russian government official.   
      
   Perhaps worst of all, Trump’s political allies released sensitive document   
   after sensitive document in a desperate — and ill-fated — bid to score   
   cheap political points for their boss.   
      
   Among other damaging revelations, these selective, politically driven   
   leaks of once highly classified information gave America’s adversaries an   
   intimate look into how America’s secretive spy catchers conduct their   
   work. The long-term damage to national security and to America’s   
   counterintelligence efforts will be debated for years to come. Republicans   
   can’t win in 2024 unless they embrace early voting A lawsuit waiting to   
   happen: ESG violates fiduciary duty   
      
   Ultimately, it took five years to finally learn that the Trump campaign   
   colluded with Russia.   
      
   While the Republicans and conservative media outlets that peddled   
   falsehood after falsehood are dealt a decisive blow, one must wonder what   
   other revelations will come to light in the months and years to come.   
      
      
   https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/548794-there-was-trump-russia-   
   collusion-and-trump-pardoned-the-colluder/   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)