Puppet MastersS


Binoculars

Putin just made an unexpected offer to the Mueller probe: Access to indicted intel officers, for Browder and associates

browder
© Robin van Lonkhuijsen / Reuters
In the July 16th joint press conference between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, the question arose of U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller's recent indictment of 12 Russian intelligence officials for allegedly having engineered the theft of computer files from the Democratic National Committee and from John Podesta, Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman.

Here is that part of the press conference, in a question that was addressed to both Presidents (and I boldface here the key end part of Putin's presentation, and then I proceed to link to two articles which link to the evidence - the actual documents - that Putin is referring to in his response):
REPORTER (Jeff Mason from Reuters): For President Putin if I could follow up as well. Why should Americans and why should President Trump believe your statement that Russia did not intervene in the 2016 election given the evidence that US Intelligence agencies have provided? Will you consider extraditing the 12 Russian officials that were indicted last week by a US Grand jury.

TRUMP: Well I'm going to let the president [meaning Putin] answer the second part of that question.

As you know, the concept of that came up perhaps a little before, but it came out as a reason why the Democrats lost an election, which frankly, they should have been able to win, because the electoral college is much more advantageous for Democrats, as you know, than it is to Republicans. [That allegation from Trump is unsupported, and could well be false.] We won the electoral college by a lot. 306 to 223, I believe. [It was actually 304 to 227.] That was a well-fought battle. We did a great job.

Frankly, I'm going to let the president speak to the second part of your question. But, just to say it one time again and I say it all the time, there was no collusion. I didn't know the president. There was nobody to collude with. There was no collusion with the campaign. Every time you hear all of these 12 and 14 - it's stuff that has nothing to do - and frankly, they admit, these are not people involved in the campaign. But to the average reader out there, they are saying, well maybe that does. It doesn't. Even the people involved, some perhaps told mis-stories. In one case the FBI said there was no lie. There was no lie. Somebody else said there was. We ran a brilliant campaign. And that's why I'm president. Thank you.

Comment: McFaul isn't the only one squirming after Putin's statement. Adam Schiff, ranking member of the House Intel Committee, also took to Twitter to denounce Trump's summit with Putin. He might have a lot to lose of these sorts of things were to be investigated:



As for the criminal loser himself, Bill Browder, he's paranoid Trump may have struck a secret deal with Putin to bring him to justice:
In posts on Twitter and an op-ed piece in Time magazine on July 17, Browder said Putin wanted access to him, and in exchange is willing to give U.S. law enforcement agencies access to the 12 Russian intelligence agents who were accused last week of hacking and leaking U.S. Democratic Party documents in an effort to bolster Trump's chances in the 2016 election campaign.

"Putin wants to swap 12 Russian GRU agents who hacked the U.S. election for me in his meeting with Trump in Helsinki," Browder said on Twitter. He said Trump appeared to agree with the idea at the summit on July 16 by nodding "approvingly" and later saying he considered it "an incredible offer."

"This is no idle threat. For the last ten years, I've been trying to avoid getting killed by Putin's regime," said Browder, who has been called "Putin's nemesis" for successfully pushing for so-called Magnitsky laws in a number of Western countries that authorize sanctions against human rights abusers in Russia and other countries.
Browder comes across as a drama queen. The Putin "regime" hasn't been trying to kill him. They've been trying to get the millions he owes them, or to put him in prison. Different things, Bill. But then again, to a criminal mind, that might be perceived as an existential threat.
Browder confirmed reports by TASS and other Russian news agencies that Russian prosecutors want to interview U.S. special agents Todd Hyman, Alexander Schwarzman, and Svetlana Angert, all of whom Browder said were involved in investigating a client of Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya for alleged money laundering.

Browder said the requests were "part of the Putin-Trump quid pro quo agreed in Helsinki."



MIB

Treacherous ex-CIA director John Brennan says intel community may "withhold vital intelligence" from Trump

Former CIA Director John Brennan
© Leah Millis / ReutersFormer CIA Director John Brennan arrives for a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on "Russian Activities and Intentions in Recent Elections" on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., May 16, 2018.


Former CIA Director, John Brennan continued to attack President Trump on Tuesday after calling his Putin summit performance "treasonous."


John Brennan, like every other hysterical leftist, is afraid of what President Trump may have discussed during his private meeting with Vladimir Putin.

In what sounded like a signal to Deep State operatives, Brennan warned the Intel community may begin to "withhold vital intelligence" from President Trump to protect information.

Comment: Trump the outsider and Brennan the deep-state spook have had an uneasy relationship, to say the least:


Brick Wall

Opinion: If we want to end the border crisis, it's time to give Trump the Wall

border wall mexico trump
© Mandel Ngan/Getty ImagesTrump inspects a border wall prototype in San Diego on March 13, 2018.
You could think of the last week as a solid victory for the Democrats and for basic human decency. An utterly indefensible and morally foul policy of separating children from their parents is over for now. Trump backed down amid a torrent of his usual lies and refusal to take responsibility for anything. We found a line even today's GOP would not cross (although we also found plenty who were indeed prepared to cross it).

But it is emphatically not the end of this story, not simply because there are more than 2,000 children still apart from their families, with very little hope of ever finding their parents again, but because none of the underlying reasons for this atrocity in the first place have been addressed. Nor are they likely to be addressed in the Congress today, as one of the latest GOP immigration bills staggers toward failure. Nor do the Democrats seem able, willing, or united enough to tackle the problem at its source, by finding a legislative compromise with the GOP and president, on both legal and illegal immigration. That means families in cages multiplying in the future; it means more endangered children; it means an even deeper coarsening of our moral values; it means more and more people in limbo; it means genuine refugees losing asylum and being deported back to their nightmares; and it portends even greater polarization ahead.


Quenelle

Russian prosecutor general: Russia wants to question Chris Steele, Michael McFaul, top politicians for aiding criminal Bill Browder - UPDATE

browder
© ReutersBill Browder in the US Senate
Russia's prosecutor general will demand interviews with American congressmen, security services staff, and other high-profile individuals as it seeks to involve the US in its investigation into convicted financier Bill Browder.

Moscow accuses Browder of illegally taking $1.5 billion out of Russia and fabricating evidence that led to the passing of the sanctions-imposing Magnitsky Act. As part of the investigation, the prosecutor general wants to speak to ex-MI6 agent Christopher Steele, author of the notorious Trump dossier, and former ambassador to Moscow Michael McFaul, who campaigned on behalf of Browder.

Other persons of interest on what Russia said was an incomplete list included David Kramer, former Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor and president of think tank Freedom House, and the billionaire Ziff brothers, who are described as "Browder's long-standing partners in crime."

This was announced by Aleksandr Kurennoy, the head of the mass media department of the prosecutor general's office in Moscow, who said that Russia was ready to share its findings with US law enforcement agencies "on even terms."

The announcement follows hot on the heels of a proposal made by Vladimir Putin during his press conference with Donald Trump in Helsinki on Monday, in which he offered to "meet US authorities half-way" and allow the Mueller investigation into Moscow's election meddling to interview suspects in Russia, "on the condition" that Russian investigators could speak to suspects in the Browder investigation.

Comment: For the low-down on Browder, Alex Krainer's book has the full story: Grand Deception: Truth About Bill Browder, the Magnitsky Act and Anti-Russian Sanctions. See also: Update (Jul. 18): Looks like McFaul has something to hide. Either that, or he's just deranged. He's been all over Twitter after the news that he's wanted for questioning by the Russian authorities:








As RT points out, "But McFaul is getting ahead of himself here, as prosecutors didn't say anything about arresting him, only that they would like him to answer some questions about Browder. The frantic tweeting does, however, betray some degree of nervousness."


RT again: "The ex-ambassador is, in fact, not entirely detached from the businessman. In 2017 when Browder - a British citizen - was briefly denied a US visa due to an outstanding arrest warrant issued by Russia, he called on Trump and the State Department to "fix this." He later called on Russia to be expelled from Interpol over the arrest of Browder in Spain."


Eggs Fried

Treacherous Paul Ryan confronts Trump: "Russia is not our ally" and it "interfered" in US election

Paul Ryan
© Toya Sarno Jordan/Getty Images
Outgoing House Speaker Paul Ryan reacted to the news conference between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, reminding the president that Russia was not a friend to the United States.

"The president must appreciate that Russia is not our ally," Paul Ryan said in a statement to reporters. "There is no moral equivalence between the United States and Russia, which remains hostile to our most basic values and ideals."

Comment: Is Paul Ryan lying or has he been infected with the hysteria bug currently sweeping America? Is it possible that out of all public figures in the US it is The Donald who actually understands that it is in everyone's best interest to have a dialogue with Russia?


Pumpkin 2

Best of the Web: The mounting hysteria over the Trump-Putin summit

Putin Trump summit hysteria media
Yesterday, Trump and Putin met for a summit in Helsinki. The resulting hysteria, all throughout the mainstream media and in the minds of neocon and (self-described) "liberals" alike.

Just to be clear - it is not unusual for heads of state to meet. It is not unusual for leaders with different values or interests to discuss international politics. It's the entire point of diplomacy.

The media at large appear to have forgotten this - giving thousands of column inches to insane ramblings employing words such as "traitor", "treason", "puppet" and "surrender". Words which are rapidly losing their meaning.

Politico Magazine described the alleged Russian hacking as "our Pearl Harbor", and demanded America "respond accordingly". The author - a retired General in the US Army - is delightfully vague about what exactly that would entail.

Comment: Hysteria, indeed. See also:


Stop

Stupid things establishment insiders say: 10 attack quotes about Trump-Putin summit

Trump gets football from Putin
Donald Trump's summit meeting with Vladimir Putin in Helsinki has unleashed a torrent of criticism that is unlike anything that we have ever seen. U.S. and Russian leaders have been getting together for decades, but this particular gathering was labeled the #TreasonSummit on social media before it even began. In the end, nothing that Trump could have possibly done would have pleased his critics, and the joint press conference at the end of the summit was enough to push some of them completely over the edge. Here are 10 attack quotes from establishment insiders about the Trump-Putin summit that will make your skin crawl...

#1 CNN's Anderson Cooper: "You have been watching perhaps one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president at a summit in front of a Russian leader certainly that I've ever seen."

#2 U.S. Representative Steve Cohen: "Where are our military folks? The Commander in Chief is in the hands of our enemy!"

Comment: It turns out the $400,000,000 figure was the result of a mis-translation. The actual figure Putin quoted was $400,000.

See also:


Display

Best of the Web: Trump on Tucker Carlson: 'I'm not pro-Russia,' slams ex-CIA chief Brennan for calling Putin news conference 'treasonous'

tucker trump
President Trump denied he was "pro-Russia" and slammed former CIA Director John Brennan in a Fox News interview airing Tuesday night, after the ex-intelligence chief described Trump's news conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin as "treasonous."

"I think Brennan is a very bad guy and if you look at it a lot of things happened under his watch," Trump told Fox News' Tucker Carlson on Monday. "I think he's a very bad person."

The "Tucker Carlson Tonight" interview was recorded in Helsinki following the Trump-Putin news conference, at which Trump appeared to dismiss the U.S. intelligence community's conclusion that Russia meddled in the 2016 election. Trump backtracked on Tuesday, claiming he meant to say he didn't see why Russia "wouldn't" be responsible for the meddling.


Comment: It seems that Tucker Carlson is one of the few sane voices left in the American media, so it's nice to see a rational, if brief, discussion with Trump on these issues. It's also interesting that both Trump and Putin gave interviews to Fox News after their meeting in Helsinki. Even that media outlet, however, is permitting crazies to bash the two leaders for not toeing the globalist line.

See also:


Briefcase

Grandstanding: Mueller's politicized indictment of twelve 'Russian intelligence officers"

rosenstein
© Leah Millis/ReutersDeputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein pauses while announcing grand jury indictments of 12 Russian intelligence officers in special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation, during a news conference at the Justice Department in Washington, July 13, 2018.
So, is Russia now presumed innocent of hacking the 2016 election?

If not, it is difficult to understand any proper purpose served by Special Counsel Robert Mueller's indictment of twelve military officers in the Kremlin's intelligence services for doing what everybody in America already knew that they did, and has known since before Donald Trump took office - indeed, since before the 2016 election.

Make no mistake: This is nakedly politicized law enforcement. There is absolutely no chance any of the Russian officials charged will ever see the inside of an American courtroom. The indictment is a strictly political document by which the special counsel seeks to justify the existence of his superfluous investigation.

Comment: The author makes many good points about the real goal of the Mueller farce, though he errs in his contention that Russia "interfered" in the election. If one wants to see real interference, look no further than the activities of AIPAC, who pours millions of dollars of bribes donations into congressional and presidential races.

Still, President Putin turned the tables on the Mueller gambit, offering him full access to the GRU officers, under an agreement that has been in place for decades, in exchange for questioning William Browder and others in a Russian tax evasion case. He further dropped a bombshell in averring that the stolen funds were laundered as a $400,000 campaign donation to the Democratic Party (mistranslated as $400 million in the original transcript). Wouldn't some law enforcement department be interested in pursuing that?


Light Sabers

Best of the Web: The coup against Trump

Trump
© REUTERS / Jonathan Ernst
The American backlash against President Trump over his summit with Russian leader Vladimir Putin has been as ferocious as it was predictable.

Every possible vilification has been thrown at him. But it is the slur of Trump as "traitor" that puts this president in grave danger.

Democrats, Republicans, state intelligence pundits, hawkish media, liberal media - all have launched a torrent of attacks on Donald Trump for daring to meet with Putin in Helsinki this week.

The Washington Post accused Trump of "openly colluding with the criminal leader of a hostile power". Let those extreme words sink in for a moment. The implication is as serious as it can get.

As with other politicians and media outlets, the Post said the president had "betrayed" American intelligence services by siding with President Putin in denying that Russia had interfered in US elections.

Former CIA chief John Brennan denounced Trump as a "traitor" who had "committed high crimes" in holding a friendly summit with Putin.

It can't get more seditious than that. Trump is being denigrated by almost the entire political and media establishment in the US as a "treasonous" enemy of the state.

Comment: For those who have eyes to see, that's basically what it comes down to. See also: And if you missed the conference: Post-summit Trump-Putin press conference (full text): First step toward renewing US-Russian friendship?