they may have been CC'ed on the emails. As well as whatever aides or assistants they may have had. Probably someone leaked it.

I would even go as far as to say, since both Kushner and Manafort have a lot of heat on them, maybe one of them specifically leaked it to take some of the heat off.

about over a year ago. IMO the leaks are coming from the investigation side not the conspiracy side. Time will tell I guess.

Cui bono? That's always the question to ask.

So many denials, then he says, "I knew this a year ago." He'd need a thick firewall.

I do know that if Trump goes, he gets to be President. Ask yourself if you're hearing much from him these days about any of this. I'm not hearing much.

Pence is maintaining a low-key position. He's biding his time. When everything becomes completely untenable for Trump and he finally resigns, Pence will be right there, ready to step in.

Frankly, he is the only person in the Fake Trump administration who stands to benefit from this whole scandal. There are leaks from within the administration. They're coming from somewhere, so I'm looking to the cui bono question to understand those leaks.

I could be wrong, but I doubt it.

he is trying to cover that up.

As far as I know, he's not the subject of any investigation right now. There are much juicier peaches on the lower branches of that tree.

Link to tweet

Zero.

us facts that are supported by multiple sources there are always some that want to go to the wishing well and dream up stories.

You do realize that Mensch (who works for Rupert Murdoch) and Taylor who hasn't ever had any significant security related employment are giving Fox news fodder for their "fake news" platform because they can stir the pot with unsubstantiated reports from completely unreliable sources to try and undermine actual reports from professional sources with actual documentation.

One, Indiana DUers assure us that Pence is a high functioning moron. He might, much like Trump, be playing this game entirely accidentally.

Two, I swear to God that Sean Spicer is the main leaker. I have little rational basis for this except that, when he was still in the public eye, he was the one shrieking the loudest about leakers, going so far as to check staffers phones.

And for the third of my two points, I'd like to suggest that it's possible, though unlikely, that there are a few actual patriots employed by the administration. Probably on accident. But statistically, out of a couple hundred staffers, at least a few of them have to realize how fucked up all of this is.

Pence and his staff isn't beholden to Trump's and are independent. But no doubt still work with Trump's staff. It's a good bet some Trump staffers know their jobs are in peril (particularly since Trump no doubt fosters an environment of "you can be replaced&quot and want to earn some credit with a very likely new administration.

Maybe Junior cc'd the entire leadership of the campaign. Trump would not have known, because he does not use email. The cc list is almost as interesting as the email.

But absolutely he knew.

The expression "plausibly deniable" was first used publicly by Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director Allen Dulles. The idea, on the other hand, is considerably older. For example, in the 19th century, Charles Babbage described the importance of having "a few simply honest men" on a committee who could be temporarily removed from the deliberations when "a peculiarly delicate question arises" so that one of them could "declare truly, if necessary, that he never was present at any meeting at which even a questionable course had been proposed."

Church Committee
A U.S. Senate committee, the Church Committee, in 1974–1975 conducted an investigation of the intelligence agencies. In the course of the investigation, it was revealed that the CIA, going back to the Kennedy administration, had plotted the assassination of a number of foreign leaders, including Cuba's Fidel Castro. But the president himself, who clearly was in favor of such actions, was not to be directly involved, so that he could deny knowledge of it. This was given the term 'plausible denial'.

Non-attribution to the United States for covert operations was the original and principal purpose of the so-called doctrine of "plausible denial." Evidence before the Committee clearly demonstrates that this concept, designed to protect the United States and its operatives from the consequences of disclosures, has been expanded to mask decisions of the president and his senior staff members.

—?Church Committee
Plausible denial involves the creation of power structures and chains of command loose and informal enough to be denied if necessary. The idea was that the CIA (and, later, other bodies) could be given controversial instructions by powerful figures—up to and including the President himself—but that the existence and true source of those instructions could be denied if necessary; if, for example, an operation went disastrously wrong and it was necessary for the administration to disclaim responsibility.

they could have been proud of what they were doing.