Trump had a four point plan to protect himself from the Russia scandal. That plan is collapsing.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

In hindsight, it’s becoming fairly clear how Donald Trump used the transition period and his earliest days in office to set things up so that he would be insulated from his Russia scandal. He put his co-conspirators in key positions so they could protect him. He groomed and recruited others who were already locked into key positions. He thought he’d walled off the inevitable investigation in at least four different ways. And yet now that’s mostly collapsing in on him.

This month’s meltdown of Congressman Devin Nunes appeared to have come out of nowhere. But looking back, Donald Trump and his strategists had been playing Nunes like a fiddle for months. They knew that, as Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, he’d end up being in charge of one of the two congressional investigations into Trump-Russia. So they added the bumbling Nunes to the White House transition team just to make him feel special.

Then they recruited Michael Ellis as White House counselor, who had previously worked for Nunes (link). From that point they sat back and waited, until they needed to activate their asset. Once it became clear to Trump and his team that the Democrats on the House Intel Committee were able to make noise on Trump-Russia despite being in the minority, they used Ellis to trick Nunes into setting himself on fire so the flames would engulf the entire investigation. But because Nunes was so bumbling about it, the whole thing backfired and has made the Trump-Russia controversy bigger, not smaller.

But Nunes is far from the only firewall which Donald Trump thought he had in place. Trump appeared to have had the same plan in mind for Senate Intel Committee Chairman Richard Burr. But after the White House conned Burr into misleading a few reporters early on, and the scandal became public, Burr then decided to being playing things straight. Moreover, Trump wasn’t counting on Republican Senator Susan Collins siding with the Democrats to give them a majority on the committee, forcing a serious investigation to proceed. Burr couldn’t sabotage it now even if he wanted to, because unlike Nunes, he’s outnumbered. So that’s two assets down.

http://www.palmerreport.com/opinion/five-point-donald-trump-russia-freefall/2122/

[Phoenix61]

1. Can't forget him appointing Sessions

Who ended up having to recuse himself for the investigation.

[Achilleaze]

2. + 1000

Republican liar sessions needs to be disbarred and driven from office and into ignominy, which he and his Republican cronies so richly deserve

[notdarkyet]

13. He also met with the Russians a couple of times which is why he had to go back and

Amend his confirmation hearing testimony. He had forgotten (until evidence came out). He was also the first aboard the trump train and has been on board ever since. He should have been impeached for lying, at the very least not allowed to be ag. I see Alabama? Is trying to take away his law license for this above offense.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/sessions-spoke-twice-with-russian-ambassador-during-trumps-presidential-campaign-justice-officials-say/2017/03/01/77205eda-feac-11e6-99b4-9e613afeb09f_story.html?utm_term=.b12f05551c14

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10141743366

[sharedvalues]

3. Huh. This makes me feel optimistic. Also America owes Susan Collins a high-five

[thesquanderer]

4. I have a hard time believing that Trump put that much effort into strategy. (nt)

[Rural_Progressive]

6. Certainly he did not

but vain, petty, narcissistic, not awfully bright people are very easy to manipulate. My guess we're looking at the efforts of Bannon in conjunction with some very shrewd and amoral help from the Boris and Natasha crowd.

[groundloop]

7. Agreed. IF there was that much though put into this it was by Russian Intelligence

[Bradical79]

10. I assume it was Bannon

or a couple other close advisors telling him what to do, or just making the calls themselves. Even if it was a smart politician in office, I figure this sort of maneuvering is the efforts of a small team.

[uponit7771]

16. +1

[George II]

5. Like a four-legged table, one leg collapses and the table falls over. Simple!

[delisen]

8. I think Ivanka Trump must be very aware of the Russian Connections and possibly

an active participant.

[peggysue2]

9. I Agree

I think the children, Ivanka included, are well aware of the Russian ties. Donald Jr is on record stating, rather boastfully, that a great deal of the money flowing into Trump Inc. came from Russian investors. Eric's wife slyly said that the campaign 'had another card up its sleeve' just prior to the election. We now know that with a little help from friends, voter rolls were scanned and micro targeted for maximum effect in very particular states.

Even more, Trump's general mental health, his unhinged nature would be absolutely known to his family members. Yet no one stopped him. In fact, they openly encouraged his behavior. Why? To improve the brand? To get their clutches on the Nation's resources, parlay heaps of money to shore up the family business, gain global influence? And then there's Kushner whose own father was not afraid to use hinky methods to turn a buck. He landed in jail.

The fruit never falls far from the tree. May they all be cursed.

[AwakeAtLast]

11. He didn't count on the woman.

What a surprise...

[briv1016]

12. No prosecutor equals no charges.

We could have a video of Donald and Putin talking in person about committing election fraud and it wouldn't matter. As long as Republicans are in control of the House, Senate and DOJ no one will bring charges.

[notdarkyet]

14. I don't know. He's doing a pretty good job at alienating a lot of them.

[briv1016]

15. Any Republican that votes for prosecution is committing political suicide.

[uponit7771]

17. +1