I think the real problem here is that there is a leak.
Hillary had leaks in her campaign as well, so everyone deals with it.
My pure speculation is that Hillary would have tried to cover it up, for sake of it not getting out and the media running with it.
Trump didn’t cover this up, he actually tackled it head on and did the right thing.
Obviously there should be an investigation to see what was spoken about and who was spoken to.
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I suppose the question is whether he would have resigned or not were it not for the leak. This has been reported and speculated about since early January. The only thing really new being reported is that a transcript of the actual discussion exists, which seems to have ramped things back up again.
I don’t agree with that…yet. If someone is leaking hand picked/out of context information with the intent of discrediting the current administration, that’s not okay. But I try to view it from the side of the person leaking the information as well. They may feel that something illegal is happening that is putting the US at risk and wants it to come to light. We owe people like that a lot as citizens. They risk their livelihood and freedom to pull shit like this so I don’t take it lightly. (Again, that’s a big IF. We don’t know yet.)
I wasn’t trying to speculate what Hilldawg would do if it happened to her. (Although, I agree with you there.) I’m just trying to push for some more leveled scrutiny.
I hope that’s the case, but…
Agreed. The guy had his hands in a lot over the past 6 months. Could he have been doing it all without Trump being aware of any of it?
I appreciate the more civil discussion. I’m not trying to be a prick about this but I disagree about so many things being left vs right issues. It just makes for more detailed and productive discussion to leave left/right shit by the wayside while talking about it. I am an equal opportunity hater when it comes to republican and democrat politicians. 
Right, which is why there should be an investigation. Unless that investigation actually turns up something to show Trump was behind Flynn’s conversation though this is being grossly overblown by the media. If he broke any laws on his own it’s he can face the consequences.
Speaking of Flynn, who else saw Pelosi and Cummings quote the New York Times, who quoted a fake Flynn tweet today? lol
As soon as the Times realized it had published a fake account — which it hadn’t sought to verify beforehand — it corrected its story.
“[B]ecause of an editing error, an earlier version quoted three posts from an unverified Twitter account purporting to be Mr. Flynn‘s, responding to the resignation,” the correction said.
But it was too late — the paper of record had already done damage.
Mr. Cummings used the report in a press conference Tuesday to further spread untruths about Mr. Flynn that was aired live on CBS and CNN, among other networks.
I wonder if other outlets saw it, did their due diligence to see it was fake, and just muttered ‘idiots’ as they ignored it.
You’d think there would have been enough attention on fake news for them to verify sources. What the fuck.
The more this shit happens, the less serious people will take MSM, less than they already do.
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The MSM is in such a frenzy to be the first to print anything negative they can about this administration they’re doing a great job earning their fake news titles.
According to the timeline Spicer laid out, Trump has known about this for weeks, didn’t inform Pence until last week.
They cite “eroding trust”, but it seems to me as though they would have tried to sweep this under the rug, were it not for the leak.
Everyone should stop pretending that the Trump Administration wouldn’t have swept it under the rug if given the chance. They’ve been hit with so much negative PR throughout the course of the campaign and transition to presidency, that they would do anything they could to draw attention away.
It’s also naive to automatically assume that Trump had no idea about it. For all we know, he WAS speaking on behalf of Trump. I doubt any of that can be proven though, so I wouldn’t count on hearing much more about it.
This Russia crap has me really concerned. Everyone should be concerned. The stakes are high here.
Reading CNN the Russia thing had me really concerned.
Reading Fox the Russia thing isn’t even a story. The real story is the leaks! (sound familiar, like getting caught rigging a primary then blaming wikileaks for telling on you).
Then I went over and read the same story on reuters and npr without all the spin and hype and I’m a lot less concerned. Don’t get me wrong, it still needs to be investigated, but CNN is definitely adding a lot of anti-Trump hype to it when you read the story from less biased sources. Same thing goes for Fox claiming there’s nothing here worth looking at. There’s potential here this could be really bad for Trump but it’s just as likely nothing comes of it. An investigation is needed to see which of those happens.
I think it’s less “sweeping under the rug” and more “someone inside our Government is actively working against us, better keep quite for now and try to sort through things.”
There was nothing illegal about what Flynn did, nothing out of the ordinary either. I highly doubt Flynn was some super secret Russian emissary for Trump’s election campaign (as implied my most of the media right now). Everyone seems to forget that he’s a Democrat who Obama made Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency. Is someone who’s worked in that position, with the intelligence knowledge that position implies, so stupid as to implicate himself in any conversation?
My impression is that he was an asshole when he worked in Intelligence in the Obama administration and someone had it out for him. Conveniently fits the Democrat’s “Muh Russia” narrative too.
The Bolton confirmation thing is interesting.
I think the one thing Lake ignores in the paragraph related to Bolton, is that there was an active intelligence investigation into the lack of response from Russia to the sanctions. When they uncovered the call, they shared it with DOJ, who shared it with the White House.
Calling it “widely distributed” seems to be a bit of an exaggeration. Even Pence reportedly didn’t know about it for weeks after Trump was reportedly briefed.
EDIT: The ensuing leaks to the press should be of concern, but at the same time I don’t have much of a problem with whistleblowers.
Someone in the intelligence department who brakes the law to target a private individual without a warrant isn’t a whistle blower.
I wouldn’t expect you to think so.
Mostly correct. Is that was happening here, though? National Security Adviser isn’t really a ‘private individual’.
It’s a weird gray area. If someone is putting lives or the well being of the US at risk I think that someone breaking the law to expose them is absolutely warranted. That’s not to say that these leaks were for those reasons, just stating how I see the idea of whistle blowing in general.
He wasn’t in government when the conversations happened.
The information wasn’t leaked until after he was the NSA. Or are you suggesting the government’s practice of surveilling foreign ambassadors is improper?
