*UNVERIFIED* Russians Blackmailing Trump with video of him with Sex Workers Engaging in Golden Showers

[TGHusker]

He's given his detractors reams of material to use against him. Trump is his own worst enemy. Let's just hope we can minimize the damage he does to America before it's over.

The bold - does anyone think there may be impeachment action as a result? Yes, I know not enough details yet but I was thinking of your 'gut reaction'. And that may be a rhetorical question in which the safe answer is that the ruling party isn't going to unseat its own president regardless of how bad it may get. They may try to keep as much under wraps until at least the midterms and persuade Trump (impossible task perhaps) to not run in 2020. My gut reaction is that this is going very badly (sounds like a Trump phrase) and we won't see Trump in 2020 and the repubs will just try to sneak by 4 years of dysfunction with just enough accomplishment to get by (that may mean passing a water down 'repeal and replace' ACA).

 

This whole this is really troubling - all the way back to July. First he, Comey, exonerates Hillary in July (wrongfully in my view - but that doesn't matter now), then the 11th hour letter just before the election (wrongfully done at that point), then now we hear the FBI was investigating Trump at about the same time Hillary was exonerated in July. Trump originally praised Comey when they met in the WH. Now, Comey is the target of Trump's negative tweets.

Too much political pressure/interference is hindering the FBI and their work. The timing in all of this is terrible. Knowing these things take time to investigate and knowing that some of it was playing out, right up to the election created a situation where the facts could not be presented to the voting public prior to the election. If ever there was a time for a good 3rd party candidate, this was the time - if the results of both investigations had been fairly presented. But that is one of those 'what if' situations that we weren't able to live out. Now we got a mess and I think this will get messier. Couple this wt the health care issue that the repubs are not handling well, we have a very, very poor start of this administration.

[Red Five]

https://twitter.com/sarahkendzior/status/843874321386954752

So that isn't just a TV trope...

[NM11046]

 

He's given his detractors reams of material to use against him. Trump is his own worst enemy. Let's just hope we can minimize the damage he does to America before it's over.

The bold - does anyone think there may be impeachment action as a result? Yes, I know not enough details yet but I was thinking of your 'gut reaction'. And that may be a rhetorical question in which the safe answer is that the ruling party isn't going to unseat its own president regardless of how bad it may get. They may try to keep as much under wraps until at least the midterms and persuade Trump (impossible task perhaps) to not run in 2020. My gut reaction is that this is going very badly (sounds like a Trump phrase) and we won't see Trump in 2020 and the repubs will just try to sneak by 4 years of dysfunction with just enough accomplishment to get by (that may mean passing a water down 'repeal and replace' ACA).

 

This whole this is really troubling - all the way back to July. First he, Comey, exonerates Hillary in July (wrongfully in my view - but that doesn't matter now), then the 11th hour letter just before the election (wrongfully done at that point), then now we hear the FBI was investigating Trump at about the same time Hillary was exonerated in July. Trump originally praised Comey when they met in the WH. Notiny thinw, Comey is the target of Trump's negative tweets.

Too much political pressure/interference is hindering the FBI and their work. The timing in all of this is terrible. Knowing these things take time to investigate and knowing that some of it was playing out, right up to the election created a situation where the facts could not be presented to the voting public prior to the election. If ever there was a time for a good 3rd party candidate, this was the time - if the results of both investigations had been fairly presented. But that is one of those 'what if' situations that we weren't able to live out. Now we got a mess and I think this will get messier. Couple this wt the health care issue that the repubs are not handling well, we have a very, very poor start of this administration.

 

From your lips to gods' ears - impeachment better be on the table.

 

From what I saw in bits and pieces today I think they're actively going to throw Flynn & Manafort under the bus to try and keep it from barreling after the tiny, orange, thin skinned man (I think I may start referring to him as a our clementine) but I honestly don't see how impeachment isn't in his future. I also don't think our friend Pence is as innocent and unaware of things as we might assume, so now we're looking at Paul Ryan to step in? He has started irritating the crap out of me with this last week or two of GOP healthcare smirking.

[RedDenver]

As much smoke as there is about this, there's still no evidence to link Trump to the Russians. The bar for impeaching a president is very high, so even if there is evidence it would have to be very damning. Possibility of censure, and strong possibility Flynn and others take the fall, but very unlikely Trump gets removed.

[mrandyk]

As much smoke as there is about this, there's still no evidence to link Trump to the Russians. The bar for impeaching a president is very high, so even if there is evidence it would have to be very damning. Possibility of censure, and strong possibility Flynn and others take the fall, but very unlikely Trump gets removed.

Is it though? I was a child when the Clinton impeachment happened, and haven't researched the history of it, but from what I can tell he was impeached for trying to cover up an affair. He lied under oath, but if Trump were to ever have to make a testimony under oath I have no doubt in my mind that he would be just as guilty.

[StPaulHusker]

 

https://twitter.com/sarahkendzior/status/843874321386954752

So that isn't just a TV trope...

 

It was not an unprompted answer.

[QMany]

 

Imagine...

[schriznoeder]

Probably a little too early to start throwing around the 'I' word, but I like her spirit...

 

[QMany]

TRUMP: We need a government that can work and work well from day one for the American people. That will be impossible with Hillary Clinton, the prime suspect in a massive, far-reaching criminal investigation. Her current scandals and controversies will continue throughout her presidency and will make it virtually impossible for her to govern or lead our country.

 

TRUMP: It is very likely that FBI Director Comey, and the great special agents of the FBI, will be able to collect more than enough evidence to garner indictments against Hillary Clinton and her inner circle – despite her efforts to disparage and discredit them. If she were to win, it would create an unprecedented constitutional crisis. In that situation, we could very well have a sitting President under felony indictment and, ultimately, a criminal trial. It would grind government to a halt.

 

He seems to have been projecting.

 

Video included: http://shareblue.com/trump-a-president-under-investigation-cant-govern-or-lead/

[RedDenver]

 

As much smoke as there is about this, there's still no evidence to link Trump to the Russians. The bar for impeaching a president is very high, so even if there is evidence it would have to be very damning. Possibility of censure, and strong possibility Flynn and others take the fall, but very unlikely Trump gets removed.

Is it though? I was a child when the Clinton impeachment happened, and haven't researched the history of it, but from what I can tell he was impeached for trying to cover up an affair. He lied under oath, but if Trump were to ever have to make a testimony under oath I have no doubt in my mind that he would be just as guilty.

 

Clinton was technically impeached, but that only means the House voted to have a trial. So he was impeached by the House but acquitted by the Senate. From Wikipedia:

The impeachment of Bill Clinton was initiated by the House of Representatives on December 19, 1998, against Bill Clinton, the 42nd President of the United States, on two charges, one of perjury and one of obstruction of justice. These charges stemmed from Clinton's extramarital affair with former White House Intern Monica Lewinsky and his testimony about the affair during a sexual harassment lawsuit filed against him by Paula Jones. Clinton was subsequently acquitted of these charges by the Senate on February 12, 1999. Two other impeachment articles – a second perjury charge and a charge of abuse of power – failed in the House.

 

Here's another Wikipedia article with an explanation about how impeachment and conviction are different:

Impeachment in the United States is an enumerated power of the legislature that allows formal charges to be brought against a civil officer of government for crimes alleged to have been committed. Most impeachments have concerned alleged crimes committed while in office, though there have been a few cases in which Congress has impeached and convicted officials partly for prior crimes. The actual trial on such charges, and subsequent removal of an official upon conviction, is separate from the act of impeachment itself. Impeachment proceedings have been initiated against several presidents of the United States. Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton are the only two presidents to have been successfully impeached by the House of Representatives, and both were later acquitted by the Senate. The impeachment process against Richard Nixon was technically unsuccessful, as Nixon resigned his office before the vote of the full House for impeachment, but successful in the broader sense of leading to Nixon's departure. To date, no U.S. President has been removed from office by impeachment and conviction.

 

So only two presidents have ever been impeached and none have been convicted.

[Danny Bateman]

 

TRUMP: We need a government that can work and work well from day one for the American people. That will be impossible with Hillary Clinton, the prime suspect in a massive, far-reaching criminal investigation. Her current scandals and controversies will continue throughout her presidency and will make it virtually impossible for her to govern or lead our country.

TRUMP: It is very likely that FBI Director Comey, and the great special agents of the FBI, will be able to collect more than enough evidence to garner indictments against Hillary Clinton and her inner circle despite her efforts to disparage and discredit them. If she were to win, it would create an unprecedented constitutional crisis. In that situation, we could very well have a sitting President under felony indictment and, ultimately, a criminal trial.

It would grind government to a halt.

He seems to have been projecting.

 

Video included: http://shareblue.com/trump-a-president-under-investigation-cant-govern-or-lead/

He's not wrong, in that had she won, Republicans would do what they do best, moving from one contrived scandal to the next in a nonstop mud-flinging fest.

 

Not to absolve Clinton of making mistakes. But the strictly partisan nature of rule-enforcement in Washington is absolutely ridiculous. The message is "You can get away with essentially anything as long as your team is in charge. All bets are off if they're not."

 

We should absolutely demand to send people to Washington who ascribe to a higher standard than that.

[knapplc]

Clinton would have the kind of scandals that appear to benefit her or her cronies.

 

Trump's scandals all appear to benefit him or foreign powers or agents.

 

Of the two, I'll take the garden-variety domestic corruption we already know how to deal with instead of this new animal.

[zoogs]

What's a little treason when you have other people being paid to give speeches by Goldman Sachs, after all.

[NM11046]

Treason is for winners.

[QMany]