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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsTrey Gowdy: "It's not unusual for Russians to contact campaigns."
I wonder what happened to the ethics complaint filed last year by the Democratic Coalition against Trey Gowdy. Anybody know?
I want this sudden decision to be about Gowdy leaving in disgrace. But another alternative is he's setting himself up to be Sessions's replacement, with another Republican safely in his seat (the filing date is 6 weeks from now.)
Link to tweet
Manu Raju, Senior Congressional Correspondent, @CNN.
Trey Gowdy, senior GOP member of House Intel, downplayed Brennan's testimony, telling me it's not unusual for Russians to contact campaigns
12:03 PM - 23 May 2017
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/09/trey-gowdys-war-on-the-steele-dossier
A fresh sign of the dossiers explanatory force is that, increasingly, it has become a target itself. Congressional Republicans appear to be trying to discredit Steeles work as a way of undermining special counsel Robert Muellers investigation.
The House Intelligence Committees Republican majority has suddenly been firing subpoenas at the F.B.I. and its director, Chris Wray, plus the Department of Justice and Attorney General Jeff Sessions, demanding documents relevant to the F.B.I.s relationship with Christopher Steele and to the bureaus attempts to verify the information in Steeles Trump-Russia dossier, which was originally compiled as oppo research for one of Trumps Republican primary rivals.
Trey Gowdy, a South Carolina Republican, has claimed the subpoenas were necessary because the F.B.I. and D.O.J. havent cooperated with the committees less-formal requests. Some of his colleagues, however, believe they see a darker motive. Its an attempt to both delegitimize the dossier and delegitimize the F.B.I., particularly the work that was done under James Comey, says Jim Himes, a Connecticut congressman who is the committees second-ranking Democrat. If Gowdy, who was in the running to be named U.S. attorney general by Trump, and his allies can tar the F.B.I.s efforts as being founded in a political attack on Trump, it could help muddy the integrity of Muellers conclusions if the special counsel draws from the same pool of sources. (Gowdy could not be reached for comment.) This is the latest installment of dont look there, look over here! Himes says.
SNIP
PearliePoo2
(7,768 posts)Including YOU Trey?
Wwcd
(6,288 posts)"It's not unusual for Russians to contact campaigns."
Mueller heard that! 😐
The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,900 posts)after having been contacted is something else entirely. Like, for example, agreeing to meet with a Russian in order to get dirt on an opponent.
marylandblue
(12,344 posts)It's probably not unusual for Russians to contact campaign. What IS unusual is for the campaign to respond by selling them The Statue of Liberty for one billion rubles.
lapfog_1
(29,228 posts)this is all part and parcel of Nunes memo...
Follow me here for a second. Nunes writes a memo that details some of the sources and methods the FBI has been using to listen in to both Russian spies and their collaborators. The intention was to claim that the supporting documentation used to get the FISA warrants was flawed so, therefore, the entire Mueller investigation is flawed ( fruit from the poisonous tree is the legal theory here ) .
However...
I don't think that the FISA warrants stoped with Carter Paige.
There were other important people caught up in this ( either directly in the sense that they had their conversations recorded OR that there were simply mentioned in crosstalk between Russians ) .
The more aware ( and possibly the more guilty ) of those caught up in this counter-intelligence operation are scuttling out of town in the hopes that resignation or not running for Congress is enough "punishment" for their collaborative actions.
Gowdy might be one of those so compromised.
Yonnie3
(17,500 posts)It is hard to tell which are trying to hold on to power versus who are trying to say out of jail in my speculation.
Some may be in so deep that they aren't resigning. Their only option is to fight. I think no easy plea deals for them.
I also speculate that they don't know exactly what the FBI knows. They are trying their damnedest to find out under the guise of investigations because they know if it all comes out they are toast.
lsewpershad
(2,620 posts)Because maybe the Russians comtacted him.
tanyev
(42,636 posts)DetroitLegalBeagle
(1,927 posts)Other world powers absolutely contact campaigns to get a feel for them. There is nothing wrong with that. Same with meeting them, having dinner, etc. The problem comes when you actively try to enlist their help to undermine your opponent and promise things in return if you win.
pnwmom
(109,009 posts)absolutely contacting campaigns. Makes me wonder where you got your info.
Link to tweet
Replying to @mkraju
Never happened to me in 2000 or 2004, never happened to Begala in 1992 and 1996, never happened to Schmidt in 2004 and 2008.
12:46 PM - 23 May 2017
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Replying to @matthewjdowd @mkraju
Involved in presidential politics since 1984, never heard of it until Trump world.
7:23 AM - 24 May 2017
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Replying to @matthewjdowd @mkraju
Axelrod, Podesta & McFaul all say no as well
5:56 PM - 23 May 2017
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Replying to @matthewjdowd @JohnJHarwood @mkraju
Shit, they never even reached out to me when I was running Edwards - and I even *speak* a little Russian. (очень плохо
1:08 PM - 23 May 2017
Link to tweet
Replying to @matthewjdowd @mkraju
@stuartpstevens also says it never happened to him in 5 campaigns.
2:44 PM - 23 May 2017
gratuitous
(82,849 posts)Is because the people running those campaigns would have gone straight to the FBI. The Russians did contact that one campaign*, and instead of being reported to the FBI, the people running that campaign responded quite enthusiastically.
*Trump. I'm talking about Trump.
DetroitLegalBeagle
(1,927 posts)President Obama, then candidate Obama, flew overseas specifically to meet world leaders. How do I know this? I was in Iraq when he visited there. This was mid summer 08, before he was officially nominee. World leaders and Presidential candidates speak with each other. Anyone denying this is out for cheap political points over the Russian situation. It makes sense for world leaders and candidates to meet or speak to each other in some way in order for the outside leader to assess what type of person they will have to deal with, and it helps the candidates with their foreign relations cred. None of this is a problem. It's a problem when a candidate tries to leverage a foreign power against their rival, as it appears trump did.
PatSeg
(47,649 posts)say numerous times that she has never knowingly spoken with a Russian. She worked for the Bush White House and later the McCain presidential campaign............not one friggin' Russian! Other Republicans have said the same thing. All of a sudden, Russians are the new normal.
procon
(15,805 posts)and when the communist state fell, Russia and its client states became our arch foe as well. It's only been since Trump came along that he, and his Republican enablers, offered Russia a seat at the table.
kentuck
(111,110 posts)"Russia, if you're listening..."