I swear, I can’t keep up. If I did nothing but post on the latest scandalous thing out of Washington, I couldn’t keep up.’
WaPo reporters Ellen Nakashima, Adam Entous and Greg Miller report that Jared Kushner tried to set up a secret communications backchannel between the Trump transition team and the Kremlin.
It appears that Kushner wanted to block any monitoring of Trump’s activities by U.S. intelligence. Russian intelligence monitoring was, however, okay.
Jared Kushner and Russia’s ambassador to Washington discussed the possibility of setting up a secret and secure communications channel between Trump’s transition team and the Kremlin, using Russian diplomatic facilities in an apparent move to shield their pre-inauguration discussions from monitoring, according to U.S. officials briefed on intelligence reports.
Ambassador Sergey Kislyak reported to his superiors in Moscow that Kushner, son-in-law and confidant to then-President-elect Trump, made the proposal during a meeting on Dec. 1 or 2 at Trump Tower, according to intercepts of Russian communications that were reviewed by U.S. officials. Kislyak said Kushner suggested using Russian diplomatic facilities in the United States for the communications.
The meeting also was attended by Michael Flynn, Trump’s first national security adviser.
Note that Reuters independently came up with the same story.
WaPo also quotes U.S. intelligence officials saying that Kushner’s request “seems extremely naive or absolutely crazy.†Dear little Jared is in way over his head, my dears, as is his father in law.
Intercepts of Russian communications show Ambassador Sergey Kislyak said Kushner suggested setting up the secure backchannel and even proposed using communications equipment in stateside Russian diplomatic facilities, according to the report, which cited anonymous U.S. officials briefed on the intercepts.
Kislyak was taken aback by Kushner’s proposal to use Russian equipment, according to the Washington Post, and reported it to his superiors in Moscow in intercepted communications that U.S. officials later reviewed.
I have disliked Jared Kushner ever since he bought the once-great New York Observer and turned it into a glorified shopper/gossip rag for the Upper East Side. Everything about him screams privilege. Like his father in law, he’s been sheltered from ever learning his own limits.
Amber Phillips writes for WaPo:
Secret back channels. Meeting with the Russians. Forgetting to disclose your meetings with the Russians. (Kushner is just one of several current and former Trump campaign officials who held meetings with the Russians, then forgot to share those meetings.)
If the Trump campaign did not work with Russia to try to influence the election, they certainly had a lot of interactions with the Russians that they didn’t want the U.S. government and/or the public to know about.
Which raises the question: What reason would Kushner have to keep talks secret from the U.S. government, when his father-in-law was a month away from being the head of the U.S. government?
Well, yeah, that sums it up pretty well. Matt Ford and Adam Serwer, in The Atlantic, add.
The potential security implications of Kushner’s reported proposal, experts said, are significant.
“Both Flynn and Kushner are extremely naive if they think a covert communications channel can be set up at Russian diplomatic facilities in the U.S. without the FBI finding out,” said David Gomez, a former FBI agent and a fellow at George Washington University’s Center for Cyber and Homeland Security.
“It is inconceivable that a White House official who had done this, not at the president’s direction, would continue to work there,” said Hennessey. “What happens to Kushner now will be incredibly revealing about the extent to which political accountability and the rule of law continue to apply in the White House.”
In other words, if Kushner isn’t suspended from his position over the weekend … well, I’d be really surprised if he is. The concepts of “integrity” or “honor” or even “covering your ass” seem unknown to Trump and his tribe.
The entitlement of Kushner Trump Erik Prince, Gianforte, the billionaire class that knows no bounds , no loyalty to anything on earth but their own greed and control. Integrity is unknown to these dipshits: Wilbur Ross who had the gall to brag about how great it is in Saudi Arabia because there are no protesters( mainly because protesters body parts hang from poles there).Wilbur Ross the Russian pick for Commerce. Tillerson the Russian pick for state. The Mercers who fund this garbage. On and on one after the other. All rotten corrupt and treasonous.
I have figured out (perhaps wrongly) that Trump learned about the U.S. having these intercepted Moscow communications at the time when “dum-dum” tweeted about Obama wiretapping Trump Tower. They jumped to conclusions that this information could have only come from tapping Trump Tower never thinking the U.S. got the info from intercepting Russian coms. What fools these guys are. And, I have been listening to some Republicans calling these faux pas (what is plural for faux pas?) rookie mistakes. The American people who voted for this dummy don’t realize that the one job where there should never be a rookie is POTUS?!!!
Welcome to the “WTF!?!?!?!?!” Presidency!
Where every day ending in a “y,” has at least one “WTF!?!?!?!?!?!: moment.
It starts with Mon”WTF!?!?!?!?!?!”day!
Then, Tues”WTF!?!?!?!?!”day!
Etc…
But often, there is more than one “WTF!?!?!?!?” moment on any give day.
I propose we have “WTF!?!?!?!”morning, “WTF!?!?!?!?afternoon, “WTF!?!?!?!”evening, and finally, “WTF!?!?!?!?”overnight!
One final point:
How dumb a fuck can you be, to suggest setting-up back-channel communications with The Kremlin?!?!?!?!?!
I mean, WWWWWWTTTTTTFFFFF!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
I don’t believe in Zombies.
I don’t believe in life after death.
But, I also don’t believe that you tempt the fates…
I know there’s NO chance, but…
How can t-RUMPLE-thin-sKKKin, and his posse of dumb-assses – especially, Jared Kushy-life – be sure that all of the old, long-dead, “Cold Warriors,” won’t spin in their graves so hard, that they break out of their graves, and, in search of brains for this mis/mal-administration, walk among us as the “Ungrateful Dead Zombies?!?!?!”
Before I exit, I want to with everyone a ‘Happy Memorial”WTF!?!?!?!day” weekend!
PS: It’s odd, to me, to wish people a “happy” 3-day weekend, when we’re all supposed to be thinking of, and commemorating, all of the people who died to make this country what it once was, before the Conservatives/Republicans/”Christian” right, went “WTF!?!?!?!?!” NUTS!?!?!?!?!?!
WHY???!!! There seem to be two explanations. Trump might have believed there is a money-making opportunity (something you or I would consider treason) where Trump would do favors for Russia and they do favors in return. Swiss Bank Accounts.
If Trump wanted to conduct secret negotiation that were not linked to a quid-pro-quo then Trump might have set up communications through the State Department. But Trump didn’t do it that way – he didn’t want his communications to be monitored by ANY US agencies. The communications might have been recorded by State as a matter of policy.
Trump might have conducted courier negotiations – a Trump puppet might have been sent with the famous briefcase handcuffed to his wrist containing Trump proposals to Putin, that only Trump and Putin would see, with replies equally secret. BUT those trips could be tracked and content inferred by political actions & timing.
I ask the question seriously. What negotiations might Trump have conducted – honest negotiations – that would have been soooo secret, not even the State Department could have a record. I can’t think of anything either.
Last thought – the proposal for a secret channel to the Russians happened BEFORE the first leaks by the Intell community (about Flynn). Trump wasn’t trying to hide anything from the media – he was hiding what he was doing from the government.
Makes the “it’s all a distraction” Left look like head-in-the-sand idiots. Can anyone imagine the massive convulsions we’do be seeing on sites like Counterpunch if this were someone in the Clinton orbit? Oh, and just imagine the rage-gasums on FOX or by the Limbaugh clones. Hell, this is what the Republicans wanted to find in Whitewater and Bengahzi.
The mind boggles.
Too much scandal, gaucheness, incompetence, and just plain ignorance for anyone to follow for sure, but this topic to me is a fine thread deserving priority. For those with a strong stomach and a tolerance for an article much longer than twitter feed, this is some background on back channel Kushner and associated ilk.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/23/magazine/jared-kushners-other-real-estate-empire.html?action=click&contentCollection=Opinion&module=RelatedCoverage®ion=EndOfArticle&pgtype=article
There’s really no explanation for the Trumpanzees wanting a secret back channel to Moscow, other than to evade scrutiny by law enforcement and intelligence agencies. And there would be no reason for that unless you knew that what may be discussed is either illegal or furtherance of an existing scheme that may be illegal.
They’ve gotten away with so much in the real estate world and being masters of that universe, they assumed they cold do the same in government, i.e. running government like a business, but his is just another example why its really not the same.
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I have a much simpler explanation. Trump is a narcissist. He wants to be adored, to be seen as the best, most impressive president ever. He thinks Putin likes/admires him so he believes he can make a deal with Putin to be “friends”. Therefore he can be viewed as the great peacemaker. However, he likes to be unpredictable and so he cannot do this in the open. He would prefer to make a big announcement someday when he has his deal and has “won”. The so-called advisers he has around him are naive and inexperienced but also power hungry so they convince themselves this can work. There is also the excitement of keeping secrets. Of course, this is not going to work because Putin does not want to be friends and he is much more cagey than Trump. Trump can be manipulated by Putin. Of course, money may be involved somehow. Trump also believes winning means having lots of money. In spite of everything, I do have faith in our government getting to the bottom of this and the swamp will be drained of more creepy critters.
I know my armchair diagnosis sounds crazy so we will just have to see how this plays out. Things seem to be moving rapidly which is good cause I do not want this to evolve into a war because of some stupid action by a person bent on revenge.
Dear Amb Kislyak, Can you open a phone line for me so I can get my pay off money for doing what Putin directs? I don,t want the pesky nsa or cia listening in.
And Ryan says that he and the other republicans talking about putin paying trump were just kidding, guess that is why Ryan swore them all to secrecy as “we’re all family here’. ma familia
traitorous scum every one
grannyeagle.
Your armchair diagnosis isn’t crazy.
Actually – imo – it’s the sanest thing I’ve read about t-RUMPLE-thin-sKKKin in a long time.