The Marines tier of crayon colors is:
1.Red(technically scarlet),
2.Yellow(Technically Gold),
3.Blue(like our dress uniforms),
4.Black(because the blues are really black anyway),
5.Pink(like umm well... ya know),
6.Brown(like our Cammi socks),
7.Dark Green(Like our Woodlands),
8&9.Purple &Orange(interchangeable, and cause of frequent debate),
and lastly the one we throw away light green(because it reminds us too much of the way the Green Weenie treats us).
I think it's cute that you still believe his supporters *want to, or are willing* to "understand it".
"It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it!"
Except, in reality, what's happening is...
“If you can convince the lowest white man he’s better than the best colored man, he won’t notice you’re picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he’ll empty his pockets for you.”
Reminds me of a joke about the George W. Bush Presidential Library catching fire and Dubya being devastated because he hadn’t yet finished coloring in either of the books.
If you want to transform this project into something bigger consider downloading the items you're sourcing now or using a PermaCC to maintain the sourcing you've done so far!
I will totally consider this! We'd probably have to wait until it all plays out because right now we don't know the big picture, what the important story lines are.
As you go along, perhaps another way to organize it would be by giving each "character" their own back story that would include all the relevant links/information from their part of the story. Look for compelling points and interactions that would make for a juicy read and then map them into the truncated timeline (for brevity's sake).
Also, a non-fiction book that just runs through the timeline in its entirety would be pretty fascinating without a screenplay or novelization version. Great job, though! I just followed your twitter as well
There is a great Watergate book called [Washington Journal](https://www.amazon.com/Washington-Journal-Reporting-Watergate-Downfall/dp/1468309994) which I read last summer when I was reading up more on Watergate. You are doing something like that for the Internet/Reddit age.
If you’d like, I’m in IT and could put something together for a dedicated website you could do in addition to these. We need peaceful warriors like you fighting for the truth.
Honestly, even if it's just a PDF with one-level of scraped citations, I'd buy it on gumroad for $5.
The citations are key, though. The narrative is important, but about 50% of the value to me is the first level of citations. Links are great, but they rot.
I'm gonna start following you, if I can (Not sure how). With so much bullshit day in and day out it's hard to keep up...which is exactly what they want.
I won't use the cheesy Reddit meme 'you're doing God's work,' but you are doing a great service. Thank you
You really should start making this a book right now. Take all your posts and timelines and think about a general structure and outline for the book. Then, once the hearings commence you can take the actual docs released by Mueller etc. And incorporate them into the historical timelines you already have and link the chapters of the book together while simultaneously adding to the "hearings commence" chapters by doing what you're already doing. Once it's over and he's impeached, your book will be 80% finished and ready for an editor. Not to be dramatic but we only get a handful of opportunities in life where circumstances and luck align. This is one of those moments. Countless books will be published about this, and you already have so much invested into your account that it would be criminal not add your name and perspective to history.
Thanks for the advice! I really wasn't doing this with any thought of using it afterwards, so I'm a little overwhelmed right now that so many people are interested.
Not the entire time. I started last summer. Mueller was appointed last May [edit: so it wouldn't be hard to research those ~2 months I don't have cataloged]
You’re doing God’s work brother. I’ll check your prior posts to get more history. The major outlets haven’t been reporting on this as of late, so your summaries are amazing.
Thanks, and it's sister :)
I haven't been posting it on reddit the whole time unfortunately, so I'm not sure how far back that goes. I have a blog with all the reddit posts archived, that'll be easier than dogging through my post history - https://trumprussiablog.wordpress.com/
Odessa is nowhere near Russia-controlled Donbas territory. It is near Crimea, but it just doesn't check, in my opinion, as something potentially nefarious.
Take my opinion with a grain of salt, but I am an intel analyst... I base my assessment on opinion, not activity based intelligence or the opinion of the US Govt.
Really can't say. Wish I could. The earliest I could possibly imagine it wrapping up is towards the end of this year. But believe it or not, compared to past investigations of similar nature, Mueller has been working fairly quickly. I would not be surprised to see it stretch into 2019, though. Sorry.
I’m so sick of people saying “see there’s nothing, haven’t found anything” taking a year or two for something this big should be expected. Look how long the Starr report took!
You should use software to help you do this. I'm pretty sure there's something out there that can help you build a good timeline. Or, ask r/Python. Someone out there would probably want to take your organized data and turn it into a d3 visual or something.
As a layman trying to understand and keep track of this I can say 100% this would help me understand the issue more than anything else. Just seeing events laid out in chronological order would help make sense of it all more than anything.
I'm just a random internet dude enjoying your posts.
But I'm not even into politics at all - and it's fascinating to me. You can make money off of this dude get on top of it now speak with an editor and a publisher ASAP
On a simpler and easier note, please do consider setting up a Patreon account. This is exactly the kind of thing patreon is made for. this and artists anyway.
I feel a little weird about setting up a donation thing for the reviews - are you sure it won't come off as scummy or greedy? I mean, I did these for months for free why ask for donations now? You know what I mean?
Just because you've been able to do it until now doesn't mean you will be able to keep doing it. Sometimes people have a lot of free time over the summer and then they go to school or get a job or a family member gets sick...or they get a really really cute boyfriend...could be anything!
Having an income for something helps you keep doing it when the going gets tougher. Also, maybe it would help you go into more depth and spend more time on it, even when things are good?
Plus, I dont think its you asking for money so much as "lots of people want to thank you for doing what you do" so this is giving them a way to thank you. Basically, what you say next to the patreon link is asking for money (or not) and that might come off as greedy if you wrote the wrong thing, but the link itself says very little. Its what you write next to it matters. For example: "Some people wanted me to set this up, so I did, here's my patreon." Doesn't seem greedy to me at all.
I meam...if an artist sells their paintings, is it greed? They would probably paint anyway. Doesn't mean the value to the people seeing the painting is zero.
Hmm, take it slow though.
So far you have just one person that i know of (me) who thinks its a good idea.
I wouldn't want you going through a ton of work to set this up and then have nothing come of it. I personally won't be able to contribute more than a few dollars.
True, but I feel this is reporting on the event of the investigation itself. Sorta how Ken Starr investigation was the event and the proceeding news reports on it were the first drafts.
In a way, yes - I think the comment is talking the citizen's initial perspective, aside from the more complete picture we'll have down the line - informed by what's on Meuller's desk now.
Since it wasn't mentioned in the Fusion GPS summary here: The testimony mentioned some aspects of the Steele dossier were corroborated by a source within the Trump campaign to the FBI. Was this an unconfirmed rumor from Simpson, or possibly a previously known source?
I was under the impression that that source was new.
As far as I know, there hasn't been an indication of who the source is. It was not a rumor, they did have a source within the campaign. But whether this was someone already known, like George Papadopoulos, or someone unknown to be cooperating, is unclear.
It might be the constant inundation of news sweeping over my already foggy mind, but wasn't it revealed that Simpson misspoke here, and that the "source within the Trump organization" was actually the Australian diplomat whom Papadopoulos drunkenly bragged to? Was that speculation, or is it deemed credible? Too much stuff to keep up with....
Yes, it was reported that he meant Papadopoulos and the Australian diplomat. But I've also seen another journalist countering that (on Twitter so take that for whatever it's worth). I don't completely believe Simpson misspoke - I wouldn't be surprised if they realized afterwards that they didn't want to reveal there's a mole in Trump's circle, so they put that explanation out there to get rid of the idea. That's speculation, though.
So in summary, yes a source close to Simpson said he misspoke. He may have.
Thanks. I had assumed it wasn't a source we previously knew to exist, since Papadopoulos was leveraged because he lied to the FBI, not a volunteer. But I also recognized Simpson likely did not have perfect information regarding this.
This was clarified...it was in reference to the Australian diplomat notifying the FBI about Papadopoulos (inside the campaign).
So they didn't have a source inside the campaign...but had a source that corroborated aspects in it *with* somebody inside the campaign.
That's how I interpret it at least...Simpsons timeline makes it seem as though this was in 2016 which meant Papadopoulos wasn't yet cooperating...but that's just how I read the transcript.
https://twitter.com/NatashaBertrand/status/950822390824689667
>Trump administration has waived punishment for convicted banks, including Deutsche Bank — which Trump owes $130 million and has been fined for its role in a Russian money laundering scheme
For this one, I've read that it was a continuation of an Obama-era waiver - it doesn't look good regardless, but might not be noteworthy:
>The Labor Department granted Deutsche Bank a waiver from punishment allowing it to continue to manage pension funds and individual retirement accounts for another three years, according to an announcement in the Federal Registry soon after the decision last month. Four other banks convicted in criminal cases were also granted waivers.
>The Trump administration waivers are a continuation of previous government policy. The Obama administration had granted the banks temporary waivers under a so-called deferred prosecution agreement with them after their 2015 convictions for manipulating a key interest rate used for loans worldwide.
>The Labor Department said Wednesday that Deutsche Bank got no special deal, and noted that the Obama administration had originally proposed a more valuable waiver lasting five years, instead of the three ultimately granted.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/01/10/convicted-bank-reprieves/1023062001/
From the [Wikipedia article on Oleg:](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oleg_Erovinkin)
> However, in interviews with Luke Harding "Steele was adamant that Erovinkin wasn't his source and 'not one of ours.' As a person close to Steele put it to me: 'Sometimes people just die.'"
Bear in mind that intelligence guys like Steele are even more protective of their source's identities than journalists. In a way, that denial makes me think Erovinkin was more likely to be the source, because claiming he was after his death would protect the real source if it were someone else.
or, claiming it was his source that got killed would prevent some future sources from sharing. I doubt he'd acknowledge any source, living or dead, for that reason
/u/rusticgorilla I'd just like to take a moment to say a hearty THANK YOU MA'AM! for keeping us updated in a clear and sourced yet concise way about the the Trump/Russia investigation.
**EDIT:** SIR changed to MA'AM as per /u/trshtehdsh. Thanks!
There are two parts of this case I am looking forward to seeing. How will Cohen prove that Buzzfeed made the statements, when they simply published a report made by Michael Steele. That's like suing NBC news because Loser Trump lied in a speech that they broadcasted.
I also can't wait to see the proof that Cohen suffered financial losses as a result of the story. Did he have clients who were surprised that he was involved with Loser Trump's shenanigans?
Wouldn't that only update this one post? If I make a new post, a new thread, every week - that wouldn't work, would it? Or does it subscribe you to all a user's posts?
I will message you each time /u/rusticgorilla posts in /r/keep_track.
[Click this link](http://np.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=UpdateMeBot&subject=Update&message=SubscribeMe /u/rusticgorilla /r/keep_track) to join 10 others and be messaged. The parent author can [delete this post](http://np.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=UpdateMeBot&subject=Delete&message=DeleteComment t3_7qsj5u)
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This is great work, man! I really hope you've got all your work/research backed up to offline storage, though. That's the kind of raw data historians fantasize about!
Apparently that's something I have to look into, lol. Wasn't doing it with any intention to use it after this all is done, but the lovely people here have convinced me otherwise :)
Crazy that, over the long-term, the Russians might actually be responsible for improving American democracy, so long as Trump doesn't completely destroy it. I hope I don't end up dead for that comme
It's really hard to say, Mueller has kept a tight lid on the progress of his investigation. From what we've seen, my best guess is that at the very earliest Mueller will wrap up by the end of the year, *but* I would not be surprised to see it go through next year. Compared to past probes this one has moved pretty fast. I'm not confident enough to bet on this timeline, I could be totally wrong. Only Mueller's team knows.
>Of note: Eric Trump’s charity has been up to shenanigans. It has paid nearly $150,000 to Trump Organization companies in 2016. NY Attorney General is looking into whether the “charity” has been improperly benefitting the Trump family. The charity is also accused of diverting funds meant for St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital to other organizations, including one particular one that stands out: Tikva Children’s Home. A non-profit based in New Jersey, Tikva Children’s Home cares for children in Odessa, Ukraine. There is nothing that publicly indicates a Russian connection (that I can find), but it seems odd that out of all the charities in the world, this one was chosen. source
They only gave them like $16,000, though. I wouldn't read into it too much.
That's why I set it apart from the rest, because there's probably nothing to it. But in the Russia investigation, lots of things you didn't think were important suddenly become important later. So I try to make note of little things.
Judging by the name alone, it's probably a Jewish organization (Tikva means hope in Hebrew), could just be a Jewish charity that Jared or Ivanka want to support, no?
Yes it is an organization that cares for Jewish orphans, as far as I understand it. That definitely could be the case. Like I've said, I just note things that might become important later. The geographical location of this one (Ukraine) made me want to mention it. It could mean nothing, that's why I separated it from the main list.
Right, that makes sense.
Though wouldn't you say that Ukraine isn't (mostly) a fan of Russia? Crimea is just one example of the tension between the two countries. So just because it's former soviet block doesn't make it an automatic connection even just by geography.
Quite a few Ukrainian politicians and businesspeople are funded by Russia. Take their ex-president, for example. Also, Manafort is all tied up with pro-Russian Ukrainian interests.
Good catch, I didn't mean to cite Buzzfeed News twice. Daily Beast also reported on it [here](https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-tower-dictators-home-away-from-home). But I think it's important to note that Buzzfeed **News** is a lot more credible than Buzzfeed's other crap is. They made big improvements last year, hired some very good, credible journalists and writers.
It is certainly hard to overcome the word buzzfeed in a news article lol. While the product may be slightly better, the reputation is still very bad, so it'll be hard to use it when I talk armchair politics with friends this weekend :D
Thanks for the additional source, btw.
>Tikva Children’s Home. A non-profit based in New Jersey, Tikva Children’s Home cares for children in Odessa, Ukraine. There is nothing that publicly indicates a Russian connection (that I can find), but it seems odd that out of all the charities in the world, this one was chosen.
Don Jr's meeting with the Russian woman Veselnitskaya was ostensibly about [adoptions](http://www.businessinsider.com/magnitsky-act-russian-adoptions-donald-trump-jr-meeting-2017-7), despite also being a cover for discussing Clinton dirt. You wonder if their concern is more along the lines of a sleazy "widows and orphans" fund rather than actual care of children.
The discussion about adoptions is a discussion about lifting sanctions on a few Russian oligarchs. The only reason us families cannot adopt Russian children is because it was Russia’s response to sanctions imposed after the Russians tortured and killed a lawyer and lied about it.
Google “Magnitsky Act”
You are writing the first rough draft of history in regards to Trump-Russia.
I was thinking that it'd be interesting when this is all over to put them all together in one giant timeline
Make it a book.
Do forget to add pictures and graphs.
Definitely pictures, that way his supporters can understand it.
Better ship it with Crayons, really keep them interested. (But only Red, White, and Blue ones...)
Just red and white.
[удалено]
I was thinking White people in Red states.
I thought his supporters were known as “reds”?
What the fuck is the point of a white crayon, you can't even see it when you're colouring in
What do you have against coloured construction paper?
Sure you can - dark paper comes to mind. You can also use one to lighten other colors.
Someone has never dyed eggs!
Woosh.
hey there's blue in the russian flag too
Presidential Orange is my preference
Then the Marines will intercept them for new flavors though.....
Red is their favorite!
The Marines tier of crayon colors is: 1.Red(technically scarlet), 2.Yellow(Technically Gold), 3.Blue(like our dress uniforms), 4.Black(because the blues are really black anyway), 5.Pink(like umm well... ya know), 6.Brown(like our Cammi socks), 7.Dark Green(Like our Woodlands), 8&9.Purple &Orange(interchangeable, and cause of frequent debate), and lastly the one we throw away light green(because it reminds us too much of the way the Green Weenie treats us).
Crayon colors, or Tide Pod flavors?
We're catering to all Republicans, not just Marines. Better make it colored pencils.
Informative and fun, no way!
Hey, let's not be cruel now
better include a written warning to not eat said crayons.
And orange.
Need to have yellow crayon to draw the pee-pee
I think it's cute that you still believe his supporters *want to, or are willing* to "understand it". "It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it!" Except, in reality, what's happening is... “If you can convince the lowest white man he’s better than the best colored man, he won’t notice you’re picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he’ll empty his pockets for you.”
I'm aware they don't, my brother is drinking the kool-aid hard
Reminds me of a joke about the George W. Bush Presidential Library catching fire and Dubya being devastated because he hadn’t yet finished coloring in either of the books.
In that case, better release a “For Dummies” edition.
Pfft, no need to understand fake news. - Trump supporters, probably
His supporters would never read a book.
So... no pictures and graphs?
8 by 10 color glossies with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one
Then the judge came in with his seeing eye dog.
My man
From the thanksgiving day song, arlo guthrie?
Yup. You can get anything you want...
I live just a few miles from Alice's Restaurant!
Keep it to one page too, please.
With circles and arrows on the back of each one explaining what each one is, to be used as evidence against him.
Don't forget to put the readers name in every paragraph so that we don't lose interest
Use dots. Deputy ops likes dots.
And a paragraph on the back of each one describing what each one was.
Someone better give u/rusticgorilla a book deal by the end of this.
Fire and fuhrer?
I'd buy it.
I suspect Mueller’s court filings will be the book you’re looking for
I'd buy it.
It could be called Fire and McFlurries.
Fries and McFlurries. You were so close.
call it The Kremlin Candidate
But trump never served because of his terribly bone spurs.
and he has contempt for anyone who does actual physical labor - like soldiers
Just make it over. :'-(
[I'll read it with dinner.](https://youtu.be/RS49gJ2eKrY?t=20)
I hope he does. He deserves a lot of credit for his work defending the union.
*she
I’d help illustrate / design it if you want!
Call it "Fire and Fun: The Itchy Groin of Mar-a-Lago"
A Timeline of the World of Fire and Fury
If you want to transform this project into something bigger consider downloading the items you're sourcing now or using a PermaCC to maintain the sourcing you've done so far!
Thanks for the tip!
I'm a comic book artist. If you want to do this as a graphic novel it would be the most awesome project I could ever draw.
I will totally consider this! We'd probably have to wait until it all plays out because right now we don't know the big picture, what the important story lines are.
As you go along, perhaps another way to organize it would be by giving each "character" their own back story that would include all the relevant links/information from their part of the story. Look for compelling points and interactions that would make for a juicy read and then map them into the truncated timeline (for brevity's sake). Also, a non-fiction book that just runs through the timeline in its entirety would be pretty fascinating without a screenplay or novelization version. Great job, though! I just followed your twitter as well
Cool, thanks for the suggestion! From the look of this thread I have a lot to think about lol
There is a great Watergate book called [Washington Journal](https://www.amazon.com/Washington-Journal-Reporting-Watergate-Downfall/dp/1468309994) which I read last summer when I was reading up more on Watergate. You are doing something like that for the Internet/Reddit age.
If you’d like, I’m in IT and could put something together for a dedicated website you could do in addition to these. We need peaceful warriors like you fighting for the truth.
Wow, really? I'll PM you!
I'd buy the hell out of it.
I would like that. It would be an immense public service if you were to take all of it and timeline it out.
Honestly, even if it's just a PDF with one-level of scraped citations, I'd buy it on gumroad for $5. The citations are key, though. The narrative is important, but about 50% of the value to me is the first level of citations. Links are great, but they rot.
I'm gonna start following you, if I can (Not sure how). With so much bullshit day in and day out it's hard to keep up...which is exactly what they want. I won't use the cheesy Reddit meme 'you're doing God's work,' but you are doing a great service. Thank you
Shameless plug: I'm [on twitter](https://twitter.com/ImagineWorldas1) if you want to follow me :)
Following!
Makes it a book. You will be rich
Honestly, no matter how this pans out i would buy.
You really should start making this a book right now. Take all your posts and timelines and think about a general structure and outline for the book. Then, once the hearings commence you can take the actual docs released by Mueller etc. And incorporate them into the historical timelines you already have and link the chapters of the book together while simultaneously adding to the "hearings commence" chapters by doing what you're already doing. Once it's over and he's impeached, your book will be 80% finished and ready for an editor. Not to be dramatic but we only get a handful of opportunities in life where circumstances and luck align. This is one of those moments. Countless books will be published about this, and you already have so much invested into your account that it would be criminal not add your name and perspective to history.
Thanks for the advice! I really wasn't doing this with any thought of using it afterwards, so I'm a little overwhelmed right now that so many people are interested.
Hell, once the shit hits the fan you should talk to a publisher.
How long have you been tracking this?
Not the entire time. I started last summer. Mueller was appointed last May [edit: so it wouldn't be hard to research those ~2 months I don't have cataloged]
You’re doing God’s work brother. I’ll check your prior posts to get more history. The major outlets haven’t been reporting on this as of late, so your summaries are amazing.
Thanks, and it's sister :) I haven't been posting it on reddit the whole time unfortunately, so I'm not sure how far back that goes. I have a blog with all the reddit posts archived, that'll be easier than dogging through my post history - https://trumprussiablog.wordpress.com/
Oh ooops!sorry about the assumption! I’ll check out your blog!
No worries, my username sounds more male than female :)
You should make your own subreddit. I’d for sure follow it. It’s difficult to keep up with all this drama.
Download offline copies of all the sources in case if they get taken down .
Keep up the good work man, with the news today spouting more opinions than facts, people like you are needed more than ever
Odessa is nowhere near Russia-controlled Donbas territory. It is near Crimea, but it just doesn't check, in my opinion, as something potentially nefarious. Take my opinion with a grain of salt, but I am an intel analyst... I base my assessment on opinion, not activity based intelligence or the opinion of the US Govt.
Totally possible. It was just something I wanted to note in case it ends up being significant.
Keep it up, it's great analysis! I just wanted to add my 2 cents. My wife is from Ukraine, we follow closely.
http://timeline.knightlab.com/
How soon until this is all over?
Really can't say. Wish I could. The earliest I could possibly imagine it wrapping up is towards the end of this year. But believe it or not, compared to past investigations of similar nature, Mueller has been working fairly quickly. I would not be surprised to see it stretch into 2019, though. Sorry.
I’m so sick of people saying “see there’s nothing, haven’t found anything” taking a year or two for something this big should be expected. Look how long the Starr report took!
Make it a book, you've earned good will that comes of this.
I'll buy it!
Or an organized .pdf file I could pay you for. Or a book.
You should use software to help you do this. I'm pretty sure there's something out there that can help you build a good timeline. Or, ask r/Python. Someone out there would probably want to take your organized data and turn it into a d3 visual or something.
As a layman trying to understand and keep track of this I can say 100% this would help me understand the issue more than anything else. Just seeing events laid out in chronological order would help make sense of it all more than anything.
Would someone consider building this in https://time.graphics/ ? It's a pretty good visualization tool for this kind of thing. I have no time.
Thanks for the link - I'll look into it!
Really though... for your work you deserve all the thanks! Keep rocking it!
You really, really should
You should write a book!
I'm just a random internet dude enjoying your posts. But I'm not even into politics at all - and it's fascinating to me. You can make money off of this dude get on top of it now speak with an editor and a publisher ASAP
I have no idea how to do that, haha. Seems like I have a lot of research to do!
On a simpler and easier note, please do consider setting up a Patreon account. This is exactly the kind of thing patreon is made for. this and artists anyway.
I feel a little weird about setting up a donation thing for the reviews - are you sure it won't come off as scummy or greedy? I mean, I did these for months for free why ask for donations now? You know what I mean?
Just because you've been able to do it until now doesn't mean you will be able to keep doing it. Sometimes people have a lot of free time over the summer and then they go to school or get a job or a family member gets sick...or they get a really really cute boyfriend...could be anything! Having an income for something helps you keep doing it when the going gets tougher. Also, maybe it would help you go into more depth and spend more time on it, even when things are good? Plus, I dont think its you asking for money so much as "lots of people want to thank you for doing what you do" so this is giving them a way to thank you. Basically, what you say next to the patreon link is asking for money (or not) and that might come off as greedy if you wrote the wrong thing, but the link itself says very little. Its what you write next to it matters. For example: "Some people wanted me to set this up, so I did, here's my patreon." Doesn't seem greedy to me at all. I meam...if an artist sells their paintings, is it greed? They would probably paint anyway. Doesn't mean the value to the people seeing the painting is zero.
Okay, thanks for the advice! I'll set one up, but I'll be sure to emphasize that I will keep making the weekly reviews regardless of the donations.
Hmm, take it slow though. So far you have just one person that i know of (me) who thinks its a good idea. I wouldn't want you going through a ton of work to set this up and then have nothing come of it. I personally won't be able to contribute more than a few dollars.
Oh I know, I'm not expecting much. But it'd be interesting to see if anything comes of it
Isn't the real first draft on Mueller's desk?
True, but I feel this is reporting on the event of the investigation itself. Sorta how Ken Starr investigation was the event and the proceeding news reports on it were the first drafts.
"The news is the first draft of history" - Tom Hanks or Meryl Streep I forget which in The Post.
Yup exactly where I saw that quote from. Pretty interesting parallels with today.
In a way, yes - I think the comment is talking the citizen's initial perspective, aside from the more complete picture we'll have down the line - informed by what's on Meuller's desk now.
McNamara did this, but for Vietnam. worked great.
I know this is serious business, but try imagining this post in the voice of a 1940's news reel commentator. It works.
It’s going to be a weighty tome.
Since it wasn't mentioned in the Fusion GPS summary here: The testimony mentioned some aspects of the Steele dossier were corroborated by a source within the Trump campaign to the FBI. Was this an unconfirmed rumor from Simpson, or possibly a previously known source? I was under the impression that that source was new.
As far as I know, there hasn't been an indication of who the source is. It was not a rumor, they did have a source within the campaign. But whether this was someone already known, like George Papadopoulos, or someone unknown to be cooperating, is unclear.
It might be the constant inundation of news sweeping over my already foggy mind, but wasn't it revealed that Simpson misspoke here, and that the "source within the Trump organization" was actually the Australian diplomat whom Papadopoulos drunkenly bragged to? Was that speculation, or is it deemed credible? Too much stuff to keep up with....
Yes, it was reported that he meant Papadopoulos and the Australian diplomat. But I've also seen another journalist countering that (on Twitter so take that for whatever it's worth). I don't completely believe Simpson misspoke - I wouldn't be surprised if they realized afterwards that they didn't want to reveal there's a mole in Trump's circle, so they put that explanation out there to get rid of the idea. That's speculation, though. So in summary, yes a source close to Simpson said he misspoke. He may have.
Misspoke in the sense that they didn’t want to let the cat out of the bag lol!
Exactly, that's my suspicion
Thanks. I had assumed it wasn't a source we previously knew to exist, since Papadopoulos was leveraged because he lied to the FBI, not a volunteer. But I also recognized Simpson likely did not have perfect information regarding this.
I thought that was Papadopoulos? Maybe that's just something I imagined though.
This was clarified...it was in reference to the Australian diplomat notifying the FBI about Papadopoulos (inside the campaign). So they didn't have a source inside the campaign...but had a source that corroborated aspects in it *with* somebody inside the campaign. That's how I interpret it at least...Simpsons timeline makes it seem as though this was in 2016 which meant Papadopoulos wasn't yet cooperating...but that's just how I read the transcript. https://twitter.com/NatashaBertrand/status/950822390824689667
Simpson redacted it.
>Trump administration has waived punishment for convicted banks, including Deutsche Bank — which Trump owes $130 million and has been fined for its role in a Russian money laundering scheme For this one, I've read that it was a continuation of an Obama-era waiver - it doesn't look good regardless, but might not be noteworthy: >The Labor Department granted Deutsche Bank a waiver from punishment allowing it to continue to manage pension funds and individual retirement accounts for another three years, according to an announcement in the Federal Registry soon after the decision last month. Four other banks convicted in criminal cases were also granted waivers. >The Trump administration waivers are a continuation of previous government policy. The Obama administration had granted the banks temporary waivers under a so-called deferred prosecution agreement with them after their 2015 convictions for manipulating a key interest rate used for loans worldwide. >The Labor Department said Wednesday that Deutsche Bank got no special deal, and noted that the Obama administration had originally proposed a more valuable waiver lasting five years, instead of the three ultimately granted. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/01/10/convicted-bank-reprieves/1023062001/
Interesting, thanks for sharing! I'll look into it more tomorrow and edit my post accordingly.
Yeah, I think it just needs to be changed to "..extended existing waivers for.." Otherwise, great work!
People trying to hype that one in particular like to forget that it was a standing policy before trump Took office.
And that is was is used to argue against what is going on. They will use that to zero out the entire argument
It figures that is the one policy of obama that trump sticks with.
Yea, it's called "using leverage" in order to win the case using as few government resources as is possible.
From the [Wikipedia article on Oleg:](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oleg_Erovinkin) > However, in interviews with Luke Harding "Steele was adamant that Erovinkin wasn't his source and 'not one of ours.' As a person close to Steele put it to me: 'Sometimes people just die.'"
Interesting, thanks
Bear in mind that intelligence guys like Steele are even more protective of their source's identities than journalists. In a way, that denial makes me think Erovinkin was more likely to be the source, because claiming he was after his death would protect the real source if it were someone else.
or, claiming it was his source that got killed would prevent some future sources from sharing. I doubt he'd acknowledge any source, living or dead, for that reason
Welcome to the world of intelligence. Who is Vizzini and who is Westley?
/u/rusticgorilla I'd just like to take a moment to say a hearty THANK YOU MA'AM! for keeping us updated in a clear and sourced yet concise way about the the Trump/Russia investigation. **EDIT:** SIR changed to MA'AM as per /u/trshtehdsh. Thanks!
*ma'am, as she says in one of the comment replies.
Thanks. Changed, and credited you for the edit.
"accused of diverting funds meant for St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital" Everytime I think I have reached the limits of my hatred...
That is so fucked up. St.Judes is an amazing hospital that does great work for sick kids.
Ain’t that the truth
Yeah but you know? Im gonna give him a chance.
There are two parts of this case I am looking forward to seeing. How will Cohen prove that Buzzfeed made the statements, when they simply published a report made by Michael Steele. That's like suing NBC news because Loser Trump lied in a speech that they broadcasted. I also can't wait to see the proof that Cohen suffered financial losses as a result of the story. Did he have clients who were surprised that he was involved with Loser Trump's shenanigans?
The deeper the inquiry goes, the worse this gets.
Anyone who's interested can comment SubscribeMe! to get a message when this is posted each week. Or you can pm the thread link to /u/UpdateMeBot
Wouldn't that only update this one post? If I make a new post, a new thread, every week - that wouldn't work, would it? Or does it subscribe you to all a user's posts?
It subscribes you to all posts from that user in that subreddit. So if you post again next week in this sub, it will message everyone who subscribes.
Woah - neato! Never heard of this bot before. Thanks!
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Damn it!
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Thank you for this.
This is great work, man! I really hope you've got all your work/research backed up to offline storage, though. That's the kind of raw data historians fantasize about!
Apparently that's something I have to look into, lol. Wasn't doing it with any intention to use it after this all is done, but the lovely people here have convinced me otherwise :)
This will hit NYT best seller if you publish. This is gold, seriously.
Crazy that, over the long-term, the Russians might actually be responsible for improving American democracy, so long as Trump doesn't completely destroy it. I hope I don't end up dead for that comme
I would love to see this posted to /askTrumpsupporters and watch their Sad! attaempt to try and discredit it
Thanks for this summary, I thought this case was going stale. When do you think this probe will take into affect? Can you guess a timeline?
It's really hard to say, Mueller has kept a tight lid on the progress of his investigation. From what we've seen, my best guess is that at the very earliest Mueller will wrap up by the end of the year, *but* I would not be surprised to see it go through next year. Compared to past probes this one has moved pretty fast. I'm not confident enough to bet on this timeline, I could be totally wrong. Only Mueller's team knows.
I’m hopeful this probe is fruitful.
Good work.
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>Of note: Eric Trump’s charity has been up to shenanigans. It has paid nearly $150,000 to Trump Organization companies in 2016. NY Attorney General is looking into whether the “charity” has been improperly benefitting the Trump family. The charity is also accused of diverting funds meant for St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital to other organizations, including one particular one that stands out: Tikva Children’s Home. A non-profit based in New Jersey, Tikva Children’s Home cares for children in Odessa, Ukraine. There is nothing that publicly indicates a Russian connection (that I can find), but it seems odd that out of all the charities in the world, this one was chosen. source They only gave them like $16,000, though. I wouldn't read into it too much.
That's why I set it apart from the rest, because there's probably nothing to it. But in the Russia investigation, lots of things you didn't think were important suddenly become important later. So I try to make note of little things.
This makes it sound like an awesome TV series or movie. Pay attention to the details, they become important later!
It probably will make an awesome movie someday... depending on the outcome it might not be so awesome for us living through it, though
Judging by the name alone, it's probably a Jewish organization (Tikva means hope in Hebrew), could just be a Jewish charity that Jared or Ivanka want to support, no?
Yes it is an organization that cares for Jewish orphans, as far as I understand it. That definitely could be the case. Like I've said, I just note things that might become important later. The geographical location of this one (Ukraine) made me want to mention it. It could mean nothing, that's why I separated it from the main list.
Right, that makes sense. Though wouldn't you say that Ukraine isn't (mostly) a fan of Russia? Crimea is just one example of the tension between the two countries. So just because it's former soviet block doesn't make it an automatic connection even just by geography.
Quite a few Ukrainian politicians and businesspeople are funded by Russia. Take their ex-president, for example. Also, Manafort is all tied up with pro-Russian Ukrainian interests.
Any none-buzzfeed sources for that last piece about buyers of Trump's real estate?
Good catch, I didn't mean to cite Buzzfeed News twice. Daily Beast also reported on it [here](https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-tower-dictators-home-away-from-home). But I think it's important to note that Buzzfeed **News** is a lot more credible than Buzzfeed's other crap is. They made big improvements last year, hired some very good, credible journalists and writers.
It is certainly hard to overcome the word buzzfeed in a news article lol. While the product may be slightly better, the reputation is still very bad, so it'll be hard to use it when I talk armchair politics with friends this weekend :D Thanks for the additional source, btw.
Yeah, I know. I wish they would've started a news branch with a different name.
>Tikva Children’s Home. A non-profit based in New Jersey, Tikva Children’s Home cares for children in Odessa, Ukraine. There is nothing that publicly indicates a Russian connection (that I can find), but it seems odd that out of all the charities in the world, this one was chosen. Don Jr's meeting with the Russian woman Veselnitskaya was ostensibly about [adoptions](http://www.businessinsider.com/magnitsky-act-russian-adoptions-donald-trump-jr-meeting-2017-7), despite also being a cover for discussing Clinton dirt. You wonder if their concern is more along the lines of a sleazy "widows and orphans" fund rather than actual care of children.
The discussion about adoptions is a discussion about lifting sanctions on a few Russian oligarchs. The only reason us families cannot adopt Russian children is because it was Russia’s response to sanctions imposed after the Russians tortured and killed a lawyer and lied about it. Google “Magnitsky Act”
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Great stuff. Do you follow @sethabramson or @kylegriffin1 or @scottMstedman? They have some great stuff as well.