‘Trump told Russians their ‘bad’ meddling is the same as ‘good’ meddling – WaPo’s fresh Russiagate resurrection attempt’, RT.com, 28 Sep, 2019
“With the US president facing a Ukraine-linked impeachment probe, the Washington Post has delivered a fresh ‘bombshell.’ Not only does Trump think nothing of Russian interference in 2016, he even said as much to the Russians!
The newspaper of record found a new way to flog the dead horse of collusion, treating (<WaPo link) its readers to outrageous details about a “now-infamous” meeting that Donald Trump had with the Russian foreign minister and ambassador to the US in May 2017. Trump told the Russian officials that he didn’t care much about alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election “because the United States did the same in other countries.” However, the White House allegedly tried to cover up his comments.
The WaPo’s ‘story’ handily includes this video:
“Customarily helpful unnamed former officials told the WaPo how “distressed” they were by the remarks, in which Trump apparently forgave “Russia for an attack that had been designed to help elect him” and conflated “Russia’s interference in the US elections with US efforts to promote democracy and good governance abroad.”
“He thought the whole interference thing was ridiculous. He never bought into it,” one of the sources told the newspaper.
This insight into the current administration is no big surprise to pretty much anybody who cared to pay attention. Trump never made it a secret that he saw the entire narrative that Russia somehow conducted an attack worse than Pearl Harbor and 9/11 against the US as bogus and a political ploy by his Democratic opponents to undermine his presidency.
And, of course, the well-documented American record of meddling in other nations goes far beyond the promotion of democracy and good governance, both in the past and now. People who subscribe to this notion say ‘Well, it’s for a good cause.’ But Trump’s “streak of moral equivalency,” as another former official called it, is seen as an abomination.
Robert Muller’s failure to find actual collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia was a major disappointment for the Russiagate crowd. But now, with the Democrats trying to get Trump over an alleged attempt to pressure Ukraine into producing dirt on Joe Biden, it seems the time has come to try and milk that cow again.”
@PalmerReport Donald Trump’s night so far:
– He told Russia that he didn’t mind election interference
– His people buried the evidence on the secret server
– Everything’s coming out now
– Kurt Volker resigns
– Bill Barr runs and hides
– Trump is going to prison
– It’s still only 9:45pm
7:45 PM – Sep 27, 2019
@MSNBC
WaPo: President Trump told Russian officials in 2017 he was unconcerned about Moscow’s interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election
7:23 PM – Sep 27, 2019
And in case you have any doubts that this story’s gaining traction, all one needs to do is check in with emptywheel, even though Marcy’s been on a road trip for a while now:
‘Hidden until Now: Trump Admitted 2016 Russian Interference in Lavrov-Kislyak Meeting’, September 27, 2019, emptywheel.net, Rayne Today
““President Trump told two senior Russian officials in a 2017 Oval Office meeting that he was unconcerned about Moscow’s interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election because the United States did the same in other countries, an assertion that prompted alarmed White House officials to limit access to the remarks to an unusually small number of people, according to three former officials with knowledge of the matter.
The comments, which have not been previously reported, were part of a now-infamous meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, in which Trump revealed highly classified information that exposed a source of intelligence on the Islamic State. He also said during the meeting that firing FBI Director James B. Comey the previous day had relieved “great pressure” on him.”
(Miz Wheeler weighs in by Tweet, nonetheless; recent posts on the right side-bar)
(cross-posted at caucus99percent.com)
davidly
Greyson Smythe
LeMoyne
juliania2
ohiobarbarian
stephenadavis1
wendyedavis
café babylon 
Reminds me of Claude Rains : “Shocking, absolutely shocking!!”
“…who are you, then?”
“I am part of that power which eternally wills evil and eternally works good.” [Goethe’s Mephistopheles conversation with Faust]
I think the minions of our surveillance state have lost their sense of humor. Can’t say I blame them!
Time for me to crack open again Bulgakov’s “The Master and Margarita.” Maybe a book review for the cafe?
Just a bit of background…When I last revisited the novel, I needed to purchase the latest translation, mine being out of date. So, off I trekked, with a visit to town mailboxes on the way to the bus. And there on our ‘freebies’ shelf was – a battered copy of the very same! (Cue twilight zone music.)
As I say, it was battered, very. I kept it, but continued on to the bookstore and purchased a new copy, after enjoying which I have since used it for a gift to one or another child at Christmas time. So, battered copy is all I now have. And I just opened to the remaining front page bio:
“Mikhail Bulgakov was born in Kiev in May 1891…”
Kiev.
[Loud twilight zone music]
“He studied and briefly practised medicine and, after indigent wanderings through revolutionary Russia and the Caucasus, he settled in Moscow in 1921…”
[Full orchestral cacaphony]
Ah yes; Russia did it.
this ‘new’ russiagate dreck is unbelievable, but of course that’s the point, isn’t it? get enough people to believe it, lying incognito, and it becomes The Truth. the line from the wapo about DT’s aids were so embarrassed ‘they tried to cover up his comments.
if you’re referring to casa blanca and ‘shocking to find that gambling’s going on here’…i might need a hint as to why. but i will say a lotta folks had a hella lotta fun with this one over yonder at c99&, and some great additions.
sure a book review would be great; you can look at my update on how to write a diary here on the right sidebar, as wordpress keeps changing stuff, annoyingly. or just use that ‘Write’ thingie in the upper right-hand corner on the black bar. i must have read that book a hundred years ago, so it;ll all be new to me.
come to think of it, you could do another post on the notes you took on lavrov’s presser. the israel portion…might be fascinating. i looked again yesterday, and the election for PM in israel is getting uglier, longer, and might be settled by President reuven rivlin in the end, kinda like a king or queen in a constitutional monarchy might do. arrgh.
but hell yeah: cue the twilight zone music twice!
hope you watched a little of the video i brought from the wapo psyop: paranoia x 10 as ‘the truth’.
The reference was to the claim there was ‘good’ meddling and ‘bad’ meddling – that is to Trump’s original reported comment that the US does it all the time. My conclusion (which caused me to laugh myself silly) was that in all of the malarky the ‘russiagate’ advocates may be (unforseen by them) reinforcing the never-to-be-admitted suggestion that Ukraine IS Russia – hence the Mephistopholean quote.
Sorry to have fun at the expense of a very excellent post here – no, haven’t watched the video though I do appreciate it is part of the entire unbelievable scenario. It’s my own fault; I can’t take too much reality I guess! You’re a better man than I am, Gunga Din Wendy.
please, no apologies! as i said, there was a hella lot of fun to be had over yonder on the thread, given the utter absurdity of it all. but the title of the video says it, and it’s only a few minutes long. but thanks for explaining both references.
looks like increased threats of US war against iran, but i’m still trying to track down a few things, especially what the EU thinks the fuck they’re playing at. should the original creators ot the JCPOA be such a wild card?
It’s late and I’m a bit lazy here, but as no one seemed to notice this over at MoA, I thought you would appreciate it. Saker just posted a brief a while ago on the Ukraine pres. signing on to this – he didn’t explain what it was, but when I looked it up this was the explanation:
According to the Saker site, Zelensky has just signed this (from inforussia.com):
Steinmeier formula
In late 2015, then German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier put forward a plan that later became known as the « Steinmeier formula ». The plan stipulates that a special status be granted to Donbass in accordance with the Minsk Agreements. In particular, the document envisages that Ukraine’s special law on local self-governance will take effect in certain areas of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions on a temporary basis on the day of local elections, becoming permanent after the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) issues a report on the vote’s results. The idea was endorsed at the Normandy Four meeting in Paris on October 2, 2015, and has been known as the Steinmeier formula since.
It is, as I understand it, what the Minsk group has been promoting for the areas of conflict in Ukraine.
Posted by: juliania | Oct 1 2019 20:35 utc | 131
Now, to me this is quite a positive step as we were wondering what the furor about the phone call was doing for Zelensky (I remember in it he remarked that he had the parliament pretty well behind him.) If it brings peace and status to Donesk and Lugansk I as an onlooker will be most happy indeed.
My (I thought) attention to poster Gruff’s statement that art is propaganda seemed to go off in a weird direction on the penultimate thread at MoA – ah well. I’m a weird bird myself, no two ways about it ;)
I’ll go check out Saker, then bed.
lol; i gotta agree w/ gruff (i assume) that many caveats of the steinmeier agreement amount to a nothingburger, a feel good psyop, i.e.:like the deal of the century I/P kushner agreement. but different strokes, and as i often say, your glass is two-thirds full, mine i almost empty of hope.
Lost a further bit on the Ukraine situation, wendye – it’s here somewhere!
g’night.
i did find it after looking at 135 comments in spam, then 45 of 215 in trash. i’ve restored it and will read it later, but i’m sure you’ll understand that i haven’t the time, nor the inclination to trace down your comments at other sites.
just now i’m working on a new war threats on iran diary.
If you can’t find it – it’s a post I put on the latest Saker headline article on Ukraine. Zelensky has signed on to a protocol for the Donbass region. Saker rightly predicted outbursts from the neo-nazis. I have a new post going in the comments there also.
Thanks wendye, I’ll just add there’s plenty of confusion as to all of this, so no need to pursue it here. Strength to you! And take a moment to enjoy the lovely fall weather; leaves are turning…
i’ll ad that the original 2015 agreement seems to bear little agreement to what zilnskiy’s signed off on (at the point of a metaphorical gun?) who can say at this point.
i’d add that while it’s all very-berry confusing gruff had been responding to you in a whole different sphere, but yes, some of the saker’s updates (3rd or 4th?) seem to indicate he’s fighting for his political life not to get putsched by any of the sides, but the separatists don’t like it either. putin/moscow signing off on it.. i dunno how or why that might be, save perhaps as a political ploy to demonstrate that russia has never been involved save for by way humanitarian aid.
‘interesting times’, yes?