So is the female Russian national (described at first as Putin's niece) that Papadopoulos met with Natalia Veselnitskaya?
This crossed my mind but I don’t think so. Veselnitskaya already had an “in” with Trump and his top people via the Agalarovs, she didn’t need to go through Papa.
Things that don't add up for me - It looks like the Trumps were desperately trying to contact the Russian government/set up meetings. The Russians were trying to help Trump win the election (or at lease sow a lot of chaos). So why is there no evidence of direct meetings? I mean, they're so incompetent that something should have shown up by now. Are the FBI/Mueller really keeping it on a lockdown?
Mueller schedules interview with Hope Hicks The White House communications director is due to speak with prosecutors in the Russia probe after Trump returns from his Asia trip.
Things that don't add up for me - It looks like the Trumps were desperately trying to contact the Russian government/set up meetings. The Russians were trying to help Trump win the election (or at lease sow a lot of chaos). So why is there no evidence of direct meetings? I mean, they're so incompetent that something should have shown up by now. Are the FBI/Mueller really keeping it on a lockdown?
I think a lot of it is on lockdown. But there is lots of evidence of meetings. Jr met with those people in Trump tower. Sessions met with the Soviet ambassador a few times. Kushner met with a whole bunch of Russians. Flynn and Carter Page have some trips to Moscow.
Also remember that there's a ton of people working on this campaign and lots of unknown names. And guys like Papadopolous and Clovis are not really household names, so stories about them, like the one from the WaPo in August, don't really get stuck in our consciousness like the story about Jr in Trump tower and it means they probably weren't key targets of journalists.
I also don't know if there really were tons of meetings. I think a lot of stuff was passed through intermediaries, like Roger Stone, the Mercers, etc.
Things that don't add up for me - It looks like the Trumps were desperately trying to contact the Russian government/set up meetings. The Russians were trying to help Trump win the election (or at lease sow a lot of chaos). So why is there no evidence of direct meetings? I mean, they're so incompetent that something should have shown up by now. Are the FBI/Mueller really keeping it on a lockdown?
But there have been. The Don Jr. mtg. Kislyak meetings at the RNC. And I would guess anything else is being kept under wraps.
Things that don't add up for me - It looks like the Trumps were desperately trying to contact the Russian government/set up meetings. The Russians were trying to help Trump win the election (or at lease sow a lot of chaos). So why is there no evidence of direct meetings? I mean, they're so incompetent that something should have shown up by now. Are the FBI/Mueller really keeping it on a lockdown?
I just read this opinion piece which reminded me of what you might be getting at...everyone is lying, how do you even figure out what actually happened?
The article is vague and I wasn't sure what's new about it other than a half dozen people tweeting it all at once. Per the comments on this twitter thread, there's apparently a July 2016 email that confirms that the meeting Papadopolous was seeking was confirmed by top campaign officials.
ETA if this is how Clint Watts reacts, I'm gonna say this is pretty huge.
ESF maybe because the eliminates any pretense of not knowing from the top officials? But does that mean the meeting actually took place or it was on the calendar or he was just given the official go ahead to set it up?
It really looks to me like they kept Papadopolous's cooperation under wraps until they got Clovis. He's probably shitting his pants right about now. Oh and his confirmation hearing next week is going to be the most watched confirmation hearing for a USDA job ever.
One of my friends posted something similar, but it was a cartoon and said "Democrats!"
But I responded, "Actually, I DID take half of my kids' candy at a nursing home TOT last night. We had a lot, and the residents in the memory care unit were running out of candy to give to other kids. They were worried/upset they didn't have enough to give and the kids waiting would be really excited to receive it. He understood and happily agreed. Why? We have taught him that those who have extra should be happy to share with those who don't have enough."