Republican Senator Rips Democratic Colleagues On Russian Collusion Chatter: Where's The Evidence?

[ConservativeGranny]

That same evidence exists for all elections.

So why investigate trump?

Are they investigating Trump? Did Mueller say so or did Trump? I'm confused now as didn't his attorney just come out and "clarify" that for us? He said Trump wasn't being investigated. I will look for official statement from the investigation itself that says that. If you can save me some time researching post the link please.

They are investigating RUSSIAN INTERFERENCE IN US ELECTIONS. If other issues and evidence comes to light during the investigation it will be looked into. Just like a murder investigation or a robbery with a victim who is found to be a drug dealer or connected to organized crime. It will be looked into. Trump has had several people now who worked on his campaign and were part of his administration having meetings with Russians during the campaign and lied about it and failed to report some of those meetings as was required. Thus it led to investigation of those meetings. Whose fault is that? Mueller's or those staff members? Whose fault is it that there are now questions as to Trump's motives in firing Comey? Is that Mueller's fault or Trump's own statements? Should Mueller's job be to look the other way because these people have an "R" after their names? Hasn't that been one of our major complaints about the other side? So we should do it too? I do not understand situational ethics.

I do not accept your statement that this type of Russian interference has gone on in every election. Not on this scale. I'm not sure what you want. Should we just look the other way now until there is a democrat POTUS or just look the other way because it has "always been going on"? I don't understand your endgame. Can't follow the logic.

You know this works both ways. Just because Trump is calling this a "witch hunt" or is saying there is not a shred of evidence does not mean that is what this is. Does he have proof of this? Where is the evidence of Mueller's corruption? These are serious charges.

[Cripplecreek]

They are investigating RUSSIAN INTERFERENCE IN US ELECTIONS. If other issues and evidence comes to light during the investigation it will be looked into. Just like a murder investigation or a robbery with a victim who is found to be a drug dealer or connected to organized crime. It will be looked into. Trump has had several people now who worked on his campaign and were part of his administration having meetings with Russians during the campaign and lied about it and failed to report some of those meetings as was required. Thus it led to investigation of those meetings. Whose fault is that? Mueller's or those staff members? Whose fault is it that there are now questions as to Trump's motives in firing Comey? Is that Mueller's fault or Trump's own statements? Should Mueller's job be to look the other way because these people have an "R" after their names? Hasn't that been one of our major complaints about the other side? So we should do it too? I do not understand situational ethics.

I do not accept your statement that this type of Russian interference has gone on in every election. Not on this scale. I'm not sure what you want. Should we just look the other way now until there is a democrat POTUS or just look the other way because it has "always been going on"? I don't understand your endgame. Can't follow the logic.

The simple fact is that manipulation of our elections is an act of aggression and most definitely the act of a cold war enemy. Sure we have manipulated foreign elections but I frankly don't care that we've helped 3rd world dictators out of power where freedom might result. And yes Obama went over the line in attempting to manipulate Israel's election. They are an ally and we should never treat an ally like that. However Obama failed and it still doesn't make it right.

Claiming its OK because we've done it to others is exactly the same as liberals excusing terrorism because we terrorize others when we bomb them.

[endicom]

Well said. At this point the only way to get this off the table is by doing the investigation and releasing what was found. It won't go away any other way. There are very legitimate concerns about special councils though - just look at what happened with Scooter Libby and the whole Valerie Plame thing... Plame didn't even have protected status under the law but that didn't matter...

It won't go away and Trump keeping quiet would just leave him as their doormat. They will be after Trump any which way and until it becomes evident that the crap they throw is sticking to them.

[Mesaclone]

Are they investigating Trump? Did Mueller say so or did Trump? I'm confused now as didn't his attorney just come out and "clarify" that for us? He said Trump wasn't being investigated. I will look for official statement from the investigation itself that says that. If you can save me some time researching post the link please.

They are investigating RUSSIAN INTERFERENCE IN US ELECTIONS. If other issues and evidence comes to light during the investigation it will be looked into. Just like a murder investigation or a robbery with a victim who is found to be a drug dealer or connected to organized crime. It will be looked into. Trump has had several people now who worked on his campaign and were part of his administration having meetings with Russians during the campaign and lied about it and failed to report some of those meetings as was required. Thus it led to investigation of those meetings. Whose fault is that? Mueller's or those staff members? Whose fault is it that there are now questions as to Trump's motives in firing Comey? Is that Mueller's fault or Trump's own statements? Should Mueller's job be to look the other way because these people have an "R" after their names? Hasn't that been one of our major complaints about the other side? So we should do it too? I do not understand situational ethics.

I do not accept your statement that this type of Russian interference has gone on in every election. Not on this scale. I'm not sure what you want. Should we just look the other way now until there is a democrat POTUS or just look the other way because it has "always been going on"? I don't understand your endgame. Can't follow the logic.

You know this works both ways. Just because Trump is calling this a "witch hunt" or is saying there is not a shred of evidence does not mean that is what this is. Does he have proof of this? Where is the evidence of Mueller's corruption? These are serious charges.

How does one provide proof that there is "no evidence"?  That's ludicrous, there is no burden to prove a negative. If there is no evidence presented, than that stands as proof that there is none until demonstrated otherwise.

As there clearly IS no evidence....unless you know of some the rest of us do not....its rather simple to conclude this is a witch hunt, as the President asserts. And lets be clear, what I'm referring to is evidence that the president colluded or obstructed...or directed others to do so. Because let's be crystal clear, this is not about trying to see if the Russians tampered with voting machines or hoped to influence voters by releasing information...we KNOW that the Russians and Chinese ALWAYS attempt to do these things.

To be fair, we do the same with foreign elections...Obama went to great lengths to effect the last Israeli election, for example. No, this is about a witch hunt, just as the President has asserted...its an effort to distract from legislation and governance for the duration of a GOP president's term...in other words, its a political strategy. A very corrupt and disgusting one...one that in fact impacts the very structure of our democracy.

The nation is not endangered because a hacker released truthful information....whether that hacker be independent, Chinese, or Russian backed. The Republic won't fall because the truth about internal political corruption slipped out to the public...regardless of the nefarious nature of the source of such information. No, it is endangered when our governance is disrupted from within by grotesque political obstruction, absurd lies, and outright witch hunting...the very tactics being undertaken against our President. So quit pretending this is just some sort of neutral "looking into" Russian tampering...that ship sailed  months ago. That kind of garbage fools no one, and if you believe it you are truly deluded.

As for evidence of Mueller's corruption...its too early to make a strong case against him, and I'm willing to give him some leeway at this stage. That said....if you want evidence that his investigation is biased and/or corrupt, you could start a decent case just by looking at who he has hired (Clinton lackeys)...and by looking at his private meeting and close personal relationship with Comey, a man we know was corrupt in failing to prosecute Clinton's email scandal.

[bilo]

I think there is more than a smidgen of evidence of Russian interference in our election. You can find that information in multiple forms on the web. The link I included is one of them. And it seems the US Senate agreed with the 16 US agencies that determined the same otherwise there would have been more than 2 dissenting votes for Russian sanctions.

So what.

We try to influence other countries elections. The point is the machines tabulating the vote were not altered. Vote fraud is a much bigger issue than the Russians supposedly getting a hold of emails and releasing them. BTW, the content of the emails was not denied. Pres. Trump is right it is a witch hunt.

[bilo]

Trump didn't exactly do himself any favors by hiring people with close ties to Russia like Paul Manafort, Michael Flynn, Carter Page etc.

We warned of this for months.

Fair enough, but the leadership not stopping this nonsense dead in it's tracks is just one more example of why they will blow this once in a generation opportunity to implement the principals they claim to believe in.

[bilo]

Something that may have  been missed in this discussion is that the subject of this article, Sen. Cotton was NOT one of the two Senators who voted against Russian sanctions on Thurs.  Bernie Sanders and Rand Paul were the only dissenting votes. So apparently Sen. Cotton agrees that there was Russian interference in our election which is what started these investigations.

While Senator Cotton may not be convinced that there was collusion on the part of the Trump campaign this is part of Mueller's job to investigate any information that may come to light during the investigation as is explained in one of the previous links I provided.

You go on and on about how "terrible the Russian interference in our elections was" did they alter any vote tabulations? If you don't know the answer is no!

If the Russians hacked hillary's emails and released them (there is a lot of evidence that it was a DNC staffer who did this) why is that so terrible? If a media outlet did it we would say it's good reporting. Also, why would the Russians want Pres. Trump. It's hillary who sold them the uranium. It's hillary who is bought and paid for.

The Russian "hacking" nonsense is the Rat's tool to create a crime where none exists and to tranish the Trump admn.

[ConservativeGranny]

You go on and on about how "terrible the Russian interference in our elections was" did they alter any vote tabulations? If you don't know the answer is no!

If the Russians hacked hillary's emails and released them (there is a lot of evidence that it was a DNC staffer who did this) why is that so terrible? If a media outlet did it we would say it's good reporting. Also, why would the Russians want Pres. Trump. It's hillary who sold them the uranium. It's hillary who is bought and paid for.

The Russian "hacking" nonsense is the Rat's tool to create a crime where none exists and to tranish the Trump admn.

IF they did not affect the results it certainly wasn't for the lack of trying. And perhaps that wasn't the intent of their efforts. There is speculation that perhaps the end game was to shake the confidence of the American people in the election system which could be much more effective to their attempt to undermine our Republic and in other free election countries as we know they have tried the same overseas.

The difference between a media person hacking and another country hacking should be obvious. The later could be considered an act of war. It is the attempt to cause instability. And this was done by a country who is not our friend and in whom we cannot trust. This is not someone from the NYT. This is much more serious than Watergate.

The Russian interference is much more than just hacking into Hillary's emails. For example investigators found that in IL voter data was accessed and attempts made to alter it and perhaps delete it altoghether. A campaign data base was hacked in another state. Software to be used by poll workers. The concern isn't just for this last election. The integrity of future elections is under threat and I for one would like these security holes plugged. It is estimated that there was at least 39 states involved in this. This time they may or may not have been successful but in their attempts they have gained considerable knowledge about our election system and how it works. This may prove to be a primer for the next election. It would be irresponsible and foolish for us to overlook it because we think it didn't actually affect the results. This time. Or because "we do it too" or "it happens all the time".  Each time this type of thing is ignored the Russians learn more and get better at it. Such sloppiness and laziness  on our part could indeed shatter the integrity of our election process and could we say that we didn't deserve it for our laissez faire attitude?

I know that if this had occurred 4 years ago when Obama was re-elected there would be a howling from the right that would be heard from here to Mars. This is serious and it should not be ignored. If the POTUS was concerned about election integrity and the stability of our Republic he would be wanting to get to the bottom of this as well.

[bilo]

IF they did not affect the results it certainly wasn't for the lack of trying. And perhaps that wasn't the intent of their efforts. There is speculation that perhaps the end game was to shake the confidence of the American people in the election system which could be much more effective to their attempt to undermine our Republic and in other free election countries as we know they have tried the same overseas.

The difference between a media person hacking and another country hacking should be obvious. The later could be considered an act of war. It is the attempt to cause instability. And this was done by a country who is not our friend and in whom we cannot trust. This is not someone from the NYT. This is much more serious than Watergate.

The Russian interference is much more than just hacking into Hillary's emails. For example investigators found that in IL voter data was accessed and attempts made to alter it and perhaps delete it altoghether. A campaign data base was hacked in another state. Software to be used by poll workers. The concern isn't just for this last election. The integrity of future elections is under threat and I for one would like these security holes plugged. It is estimated that there was at least 39 states involved in this. This time they may or may not have been successful but in their attempts they have gained considerable knowledge about our election system and how it works. This may prove to be a primer for the next election. It would be irresponsible and foolish for us to overlook it because we think it didn't actually affect the results. This time. Or because "we do it too" or "it happens all the time".  Each time this type of thing is ignored the Russians learn more and get better at it. Such sloppiness and laziness  on our part could indeed shatter the integrity of our election process and could we say that we didn't deserve it for our laissez faire attitude?

I know that if this had occurred 4 years ago when Obama was re-elected there would be a howling from the right that would be heard from here to Mars. This is serious and it should not be ignored. If the POTUS was concerned about election integrity and the stability of our Republic he would be wanting to get to the bottom of this as well.

What a bunch of nonsense.

They didn't and couldn't change the vote tabulations. The real crime was the vote fraud that was done with illegals voting and phony ballots being counted during early voting.

As far as the outrage over leaked emails you should ask the more relevant question, which is were they accurate.

All the folks going along with the "this must be investigated" mantra are being manipulated by the corrupt intelligence services, Rats, media and useful idiots in the Pub party. I didn't vote for Pres. Trump but I can see a setup from a mile away. Comey even admitted (under oath) that he leaked his memo so a special prosecutor would be appointed. The "reputable" prosecutor then began hiring former clinton attorneys and maxed out Rat donators. It's clear he's not going to pursue any clinton, lynch, or obama illegalities but he sure is going to go find some "process" crimes among the Trump admn people.

It's a witch hunt. Sessions should never have recussed himself or let a career govt employee appoint a special prosecutor who is so obviously in the tank for the Rats.

[Emjay]

Townhall
Matt Vespa
June 18, 2017

Attorney General Jeff Sessions testified this week before the Senate Intelligence Committee to discuss the Russian meddling during the 2016 election. Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) noticed something glaring about the questions asked by his Democratic colleagues:

More... https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2017/06/18/republican-senator-rips-democratic-colleagues-on-russian-collusion-chatter-where-n2340914

I don't think Russia interfered with the election but they are sure dominating U.S. politics at the moment.

Make it stop.

[Emjay]

How does one provide proof that there is "no evidence"?  That's ludicrous, there is no burden to prove a negative. If there is no evidence presented, than that stands as proof that there is none until demonstrated otherwise.

As there clearly IS no evidence....unless you know of some the rest of us do not....its rather simple to conclude this is a witch hunt, as the President asserts. And lets be clear, what I'm referring to is evidence that the president colluded or obstructed...or directed others to do so. Because let's be crystal clear, this is not about trying to see if the Russians tampered with voting machines or hoped to influence voters by releasing information...we KNOW that the Russians and Chinese ALWAYS attempt to do these things.

To be fair, we do the same with foreign elections...Obama went to great lengths to effect the last Israeli election, for example. No, this is about a witch hunt, just as the President has asserted...its an effort to distract from legislation and governance for the duration of a GOP president's term...in other words, its a political strategy. A very corrupt and disgusting one...one that in fact impacts the very structure of our democracy.

The nation is not endangered because a hacker released truthful information....whether that hacker be independent, Chinese, or Russian backed. The Republic won't fall because the truth about internal political corruption slipped out to the public...regardless of the nefarious nature of the source of such information. No, it is endangered when our governance is disrupted from within by grotesque political obstruction, absurd lies, and outright witch hunting...the very tactics being undertaken against our President. So quit pretending this is just some sort of neutral "looking into" Russian tampering...that ship sailed  months ago. That kind of garbage fools no one, and if you believe it you are truly deluded.

As for evidence of Mueller's corruption...its too early to make a strong case against him, and I'm willing to give him some leeway at this stage. That said....if you want evidence that his investigation is biased and/or corrupt, you could start a decent case just by looking at who he has hired (Clinton lackeys)...and by looking at his private meeting and close personal relationship with Comey, a man we know was corrupt in failing to prosecute Clinton's email scandal.

Kudos, another good post.

[Mesaclone]

IF they did not affect the results it certainly wasn't for the lack of trying. And perhaps that wasn't the intent of their efforts. There is speculation that perhaps the end game was to shake the confidence of the American people in the election system which could be much more effective to their attempt to undermine our Republic and in other free election countries as we know they have tried the same overseas.

The difference between a media person hacking and another country hacking should be obvious. The later could be considered an act of war. It is the attempt to cause instability. And this was done by a country who is not our friend and in whom we cannot trust. This is not someone from the NYT. This is much more serious than Watergate.

The Russian interference is much more than just hacking into Hillary's emails. For example investigators found that in IL voter data was accessed and attempts made to alter it and perhaps delete it altoghether. A campaign data base was hacked in another state. Software to be used by poll workers. The concern isn't just for this last election. The integrity of future elections is under threat and I for one would like these security holes plugged. It is estimated that there was at least 39 states involved in this. This time they may or may not have been successful but in their attempts they have gained considerable knowledge about our election system and how it works. This may prove to be a primer for the next election. It would be irresponsible and foolish for us to overlook it because we think it didn't actually affect the results. This time. Or because "we do it too" or "it happens all the time".  Each time this type of thing is ignored the Russians learn more and get better at it. Such sloppiness and laziness  on our part could indeed shatter the integrity of our election process and could we say that we didn't deserve it for our laissez faire attitude?

I know that if this had occurred 4 years ago when Obama was re-elected there would be a howling from the right that would be heard from here to Mars. This is serious and it should not be ignored. If the POTUS was concerned about election integrity and the stability of our Republic he would be wanting to get to the bottom of this as well.

That's quite the long winded exposition of Dem talking points regarding the investigation. I especially liked the crap about their being evidence of Russian interference....and yes, that is crap. Sure, there WAS Russian interference. And sure, that interference must be investigated. But the investigation includes looking at links BETWEEN that interference and members of the Trump administration....and there exists ABSOLUTELY ZERO evidence of such links.

This is why your assertion of "evidence" is crap....because you are conflating evidence of Russian interference with evidence of collusion....the first exists, the second does not. Saying evidence of the first justified investigation of the second...is the big lie. And you are furthering that lie, which...quite honestly...is disgustingly disingenuous. You really should be ashamed...as what you've written is just an echo of the Schumer-Clinton-Pelosi cabal's smear campaign. Have you no decency?

[ConservativeGranny]

I don't think Russia interfered with the election but they are sure dominating U.S. politics at the moment.

Make it stop.

So do you think that 16 different US intelligence agencies conspired together to lie about this? How many people do you think would have to be involved in a conspiracy of that type? The Senate certainly believes it and are so sure of it they want sanctions on Russia. It can't be wished away at this point.

[ConservativeGranny]

That's quite the long winded exposition of Dem talking points regarding the investigation. I especially liked the crap about their being evidence of Russian interference....and yes, that is crap. Sure, there WAS Russian interference. And sure, that interference must be investigated. But the investigation includes looking at links BETWEEN that interference and members of the Trump administration....and there exists ABSOLUTELY ZERO evidence of such links.

This is why your assertion of "evidence" is crap....because you are conflating evidence of Russian interference with evidence of collusion....the first exists, the second does not. Saying evidence of the first justified investigation of the second...is the big lie. And you are furthering that lie, which...quite honestly...is disgustingly disingenuous. You really should be ashamed...as what you've written is just an echo of the Schumer-Clinton-Pelosi cabal's smear campaign. Have you no decency?

Calm down and Trump on!

[Emjay]

So do you think that 16 different US intelligence agencies conspired together to lie about this? How many people do you think would have to be involved in a conspiracy of that type? The Senate certainly believes it and are so sure of it they want sanctions on Russia. It can't be wished away at this point.

Please read @Mesaclone posts.  He understands and articulates this situation very well.

[Frank Cannon]

This thread is a bore.....


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EQZ_JAvdzs