James Clapper: democratic institutions are 'under assault' by Trump

[malaise]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/may/14/james-clapper-donald-trump-russia-james-comey-firing
<snip>
Former director of national intelligence James Clapper has accused Donald Trump of placing American democratic institutions “under assault” following the sacking of James Comey and cautioned that the former FBI director’s removal is “another victory” for Russia.

The forceful criticism comes as the justice department began screening candidates for Comey’s replacement and Democrats renewed calls for a special prosecutor to oversee an investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election.

“I think in many ways our institutions are under assault,” Clapper told CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday. “Both externally, and that’s the big news here, is Russian interference in our election system. And I think as well our institutions are under assault internally.”
Donald Trump admits 'this Russia thing' part of reasoning for firing Comey
Read more

When asked to clarify if the internal assault came from the president directly, the former spy chief added: “Exactly.”

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Move away from the fan peeps - this is getting real serious

[katmondoo]

1. Trumps many ties to mobsters the world over is also frightening

[malaise]

2. Yep

This is a mess

[Eliot Rosewater]

3. Indictments on that are coming, he is being indicted but nothing happens

until he is impeached and the GOP are not patriots, not so far anyway

[red dog 1]

4. + 1

[underpants]

6. Follow the....

It's gonna come down to money laundering.


Remember that in 2002 actor Don Johnson was in a car with a briefcase ($8B) with basically as much as Trump claims he's worth. Nothing against Don but there is a LOT of money out there that could use some cleaning.

http://uproxx.com/webculture/the-story-behind-don-johnsons-mysterious-8-billion-briefcase/2/

[diva77]

7. that reminds me of the $9 billion that went missing when $12 billion were delivered to Iraq

Billions over Baghdad

by Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele

October 1, 2007 12:00 am

http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2007/10/iraq-billions200710

snip...That transfer of cash to Iraq was the largest one-day shipment of currency in the history of the New York Fed. It was not, however, the first such shipment of cash to Iraq. Beginning soon after the invasion and continuing for more than a year, $12 billion in U.S. currency was airlifted to Baghdad, ostensibly as a stopgap measure to help run the Iraqi government and pay for basic services until a new Iraqi currency could be put into people's hands. In effect, the entire nation of Iraq needed walking-around money, and Washington mobilized to provide it. What Washington did not do was mobilize to keep track of it. By all accounts, the New York Fed and the Treasury Department exercised strict surveillance and control over all of this money while it was on American soil. But after the money was delivered to Iraq, oversight and control evaporated. Of the $12 billion in U.S. banknotes delivered to Iraq in 2003 and 2004, at least $9 billion cannot be accounted for. A portion of that money may have been spent wisely and honestly; much of it probably wasn't. Some of it was stolen. Once the money arrived in Iraq it entered a free-for-all environment where virtually anyone with fingers could take some of it. Moreover, the company that was hired to keep tabs on the outflow of money existed mainly on paper. Based in a private home in San Diego, it was a shell corporation with no certified public accountants. Its address of record is a post-office box in the Bahamas, where it is legally incorporated. That post-office box has been associated with shadowy offshore activities...snip

[red dog 1]

5. K&R