Carl Bernstein Smells a Cover Up

[DonViejo]

Source: Political Wire



February 16, 2017
By Taegan Goddard

Famed Watergate reporter Carl Bernstein told CNN the Trump administration is trying to cover up its ties to Russia.

Said Bernstein: “There has been a real attempt to stonewall the press, to stonewall the FBI to stonewall congressional investigators. That’s what we know so far from people around the Trump campaign, where this goes and the seriousness of it we don’t know in terms of the ultimate disposition and what all the facts are.”

He added: “In this instance what we are finding out is that there appears to be some attempt somewhere to cover up what has occurred and we are trying to penetrate that cover up. Whether or not the cover up involves those closest to the President of the United States, independent operators, former campaign aides, all of that will be determined.”

###

Read more: https://politicalwire.com/2017/02/16/carl-bernstein-smells-cover/

[yellowcanine]

1. Guiliani, Bannon, Roger Stone, Carter Page, Manafort, Trump

[Botany]

2. Just follow the money

[mitch96]

27. Classic

It worked for me when I did not understand why my bosses at work did this or that.. .
Following the money gave me most of the answers...
m

[SammyWinstonJack]

32. In this version, its All the pResident's Comrades

[Wounded Bear]

35. Exactly...

Let's see those tax returns, and while you're at it, Trump, let's look at all your financials.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

3. If Pence has any role in it, purge him first before impeaching Trump.

Ryan will not agree to be appointed per 25th Amendment, so don't worry about that.

Pence has begun making his play, saying he was out of the loop. He hopes to slip by and take the Presidency per 25th and Republican Congress will be only too glad to rubber stamp him.

[Cracklin Charlie]

7. Why wouldn't Ryan agree to be appointed?

[TexasBushwhacker]

12. He doesn't want to be tainted

He doesn't want to end up being Gerald Ford.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

13. Yes to TBw's reply #12. Ryan would rather be Reagan 80 than Ford 76. He's eyeing 2024. . nt

[TexasBushwhacker]

17. Well, Reagan was damn close to being the nominee in 76

Ford had a slight lead, but didn't have all the delegates necessary going into the convention.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

21. Yeah, Ryan would rather fight a tarred Pence in 2020 than defend his own tarred Presidency then.

But I think the Ford analogy is good. Ryan can afford to wait. The RepubliCON brand is in danger of being toxic in 2018 and 2020. Ryan may even lose the speakership in 2018 or 2020. Even if he does he can distance himself and try 2024.

But I would not be surprised if Ryan and McCONnell are complicit in the 2016 electoral theft.

[TexasBushwhacker]

24. Yeah, they have that religious fervor

The "end justfies the means" argument. They see themselves saving the US from the socialistic Democratic demons.

[2naSalit]

55. Actually,

I think he's going to be a "person of interest" in this and may well end up in trouble too.

[moonscape]

42. I dunno. If he didn't want to be tainted, he wouldn't

have signed up to be T's VP.

He went for his best chance of having an actual govt job, and he would be the same again. Being Gerald Ford would be an upgrade to any alternative he could get on his own.

[JI7]

66. They are talking about paul ryan as not wanting to be tainted

[tblue37]

50. He is also on his way to Europe to do a "Don't worry, we aren't ALL crazy" tour. nt

[Scarsdale]

4. Traitors

The gop should get on board, stop covering for THEIR guy, and expose the truth. tRump is a yuuuge failure already. The longer his reign goes on, the worse the gop is going to look. I am O.K. with that. Taxpayers are being bilked for yet another trip to Florida for a rally, plus golf no doubt.

[Zoider]

11. With Trump's falling approval ratings, they're missing a golden opportunity

to desert a sinking ship.

[BumRushDaShow]

5. "we are finding out is that there appears to be some attempt somewhere to cover up"

No shit Sherlock!

In this case, it is so literally in-your-face overt, from at least 2 of the 3 branches of government, that even those experienced with investigating "cover-ups" like Bernstein appear to be stuttering and stammering and blinking at the depth and breadth of it.

This is truly the definition of "gall" -

[font size="3"]gall[/font]
ɡôl/
noun
noun: gall

1.
bold, impudent behavior.
"the bank had the gall to demand a fee"
synonyms: effrontery, impudence, impertinence, cheek, cheekiness, insolence, audacity, temerity, presumption, cockiness, nerve, shamelessness, disrespect, bad manners;
informal face, chutzpah; sauce, sass
"she had the gall to ask for money"

[triron]

6. knr

[flying_wahini]

37. took the words right out of my mouth! LOL Well, Duh works too.

n/t

[VaBchTgerLily]

8. Go get him Carl!

[calimary]

15. Welcome to DU, VaBchTgerLily!

Definitely! If anybody would know the lay of this land, it would be Carl Bernstein.

[LiberalLovinLug]

9. I wonder when his pal Bob Woodward will be writing his Trump apologist book

Like he did for Dubya.

[Lifelong Protester]

10. Somehow it's always "Follow the Money"

I'm sure Russian ties are why we have not seen the tax returns.

[triron]

14. For sure

[Hortensis]

20. Yes. Last year the "money" was Bernstein's own book sales,

so he was earning his way onto talk shows--and cluing a few generations in on who he is--by continually comparing Hillary's use of her husband's server to the various Watergate felonies.

If he hasn't started invoking Watergate so far, maybe he feels he needs to allow a little more distance from his own contributions to fake news.

[muntrv]

22. Would that be Exxon Mobil money?

[crosinski]

45. Ha! With as many twists and turns as the Pelican Brief, but I think you called it! n/t

[lagomorph777]

25. We need our talking heads to say it over and over and over:

"The absence of tax returns is proof that Trump has been compromised by Putin."

[ymetca]

16. Watching T-rump presser right now

and he says he did not tell Flynn to talk to Russians about lifting sanctions, but if Flynn did he'd have been okay with it. Says reason he "fired" Flynn was because he lied to Pence. So why fire Flynn if he is okay with lifting sanctions? And why did Flynn lie to Pence? And not tell his boss ANYTHING about what he was doing? Especially since talk of lifting sanctions was perfectly fine.

Remember, multiple calls from multiple campaign officials to the Russians throughout the campaign.

If this man really has no problem lifting sanctions on Russia, then why not just come out an say it, instead of dancing around the issue?

It all comes back to those tax documents he'll never in a million years release.

[lagomorph777]

26. Absence of tax returns PROVES Trump is a traitor.

Say it over and over until it sinks in. Make him show otherwise.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

29. Putin's tax shelter

[Kimchijeon]

46. i agree, let's see those tax returns

[Bernardo de La Paz]

33. You put your finger on tRump's complicity

Trump fired Flynn 17 days after being informed of his lying and only after the press made an issue of it.

That means tRump was OK with Flynn lying to Pence. Okay with it because firing Flynn two weeks earlier would have exposed the issue.

Since tRump was OK with Flynn's ex-officio deal-making, as he says, then why didn't he tell Pence he had been lied to. Pence claims tRump didn't tell him so he was out of the loop. I'm not sure we can believe Pence.

Perhaps there is an exact detailed timeline out there.

1st) Flynn talks to Russia Dec. 2016; tRump claims he didn't know or authorize (attempt at "plausible deniability&quot .

[font color = "gray"]2nd) Trump is informed in daily briefing late 2016 or early 2017 of Flynn's conversations.[/font] (I'm not sure about this. Help me?)

3rd) Jan. 27 Yates tells tRump counsel and another person about Flynn lying to Pence. Surely this is important enough for it to be discussed at the highest circles around and inside the Oval Office. Thus Trump is informed of Flynn lying. Certainly at this point tRump knows. (Would like some precision on this.)

tRump sits on this, probably petrified by ramifications even he can dimly perceive but perceive nonetheless.

Possible cases:

A) Trump authorized Flynn and Pence is in the loop.
B) Trump authorized Flynn and let Pence be shat on (peed on?) by keeping him out.
C) Trump didn't authorize Flynn and told Pence when he found out. Pence lied.
D) Trump didn't authorize Flynn but found out and let Pence remain lied to for 17 days.

In all the cases, tRump did not fire Flynn.

If tRump was not complicit, not in deep shit, an ordinary CEO/Pres. would have fired Flynn Jan. 28 if not in late December, and told Pence and moved on. If there was nothing to see it would be done and dusted and they truly would have moved on.

Therefore, the only conclusion is that there is something big that they are hiding.

I think Flynn is the tip of the iceberg.

[ymetca]

38. I think it is 'B'

Because he kept Flynn in a close position, which didn't require congressional approval, and he sure as sh*t didn't give a rat's arse for Pence, who was just "throwing a bone" to shore up his evangelical support.

Where he f*cked up was when he went to the CIA with his entourage of cheering sycophants, stood in front of that wall of stars, and proceeded to perform ego self-fellatio in front of them. If we could have had blood pressure cuffs on those folks I am sure most of them would have exploded.

His primary problem, like all Republicans, is that he's still blaming Iraq on "bad intelligence". That nincompoopery led to Manning and Snowden. When you beat the dogs they tend to bark...

[moonscape]

43. Trump knew, of course, but in his world and way of thinking,

it was no big deal. He's not used to being held accountable by anyone but his lenders, and sometimes not even them.

This is a new world for him, and he's outraged that concepts like ethics and laws, courts and press, are trying to put a brake on his unbridled modus operandi.

[zentrum]

18. You bet.

[NewJeffCT]

19. This time, though

it's not the cover-up, it's the crime.

With Nixon, he used the CIA (I think) to obstruct the FBI investigation into the Watergate break-in and tried to cover it up. The obstruction crimes were big, obviously, but not life threatening.

With this, they're trying to cover up potentially treasonous activities that may have already caused the deaths of US intelligence persons in Russia.

[Tikki]

23. Someone(s) is/are going to be hero/heroes from the journalist community...

Let's make sure those journalist/TV personalities that actively worked to keep the crime hidden or ongoing
are censored or punished.




Tikki

[Wounded Bear]

36. Watergate was internal...

This has international fingers in the pie. Russia's all up in our shit.

We need to weed this out.

[ymetca]

40. Sort of...

Recently released FOIA documents indicate Nixon was terrified that his scuttling of Johnson's Vietnam peace deal would come out and ruin him. Instead of peace we got the bombing of Cambodia.

It appalls me how those most obsessed with power choose mass murder to cover up their own pitiable insecurities.

[Kimchijeon]

47. Right, it's actually much worse than Watergate overall.

And boggles the mind that it is so blatant, the average layperson can just figure it out. And yet they are still entrenched. Crazy.

[Eliot Rosewater]

28. Glad he is on it because the Republican Party is part of the cover up, the entire party

is now in cahoots with the Russian government.

This is a coup and we better get fucking serious and quick. Maybe time to stop talking and time to start doing, we need millions in DC screaming at someone that this better fucking stop.

Too bad most of us cant possibly afford to take time off work and fly to DC and so on. Sure could use a benefactor about now.

[Turbineguy]

30. And he has the nose

that knows!

[C Moon]

31. Not only Trump: McConnell and Ryan are helping out, as well.

[msanthrope]

34. No shit, Sherlock. nt

[keithbvadu2]

39. They are trying to cover up/insulate Pence's involvement.

They are trying to cover up/insulate Pence's involvement.

[we can do it]

61. Agree. Not too convincing, either.

[keithbvadu2]

62. It does not have to be convincing.

It just needs to be a lie that they can stick with.

[Cognitive_Resonance]

41. No $#!T Sherlock! nt

[red dog 1]

44. K&R

http://go.turnoutpac.org/page/s/Trump-Impeached

"There appears to be some attempt somewhere to cover up what has occurred and we are trying to penetrate that cover up."

In Watergate, It wasn't the burglary itself that brought Nixon down; it was the cover up, and subsequent charges of obstruction of justice.

Trump is "obstructing justice" by covering up the truth about his involvement in the Russian hacking of the DNC, the Russian hacking of the Clinton campaign, and the Russian hacking into the election itself; so he deserves to be impeached.

[tavalon]

48. His sniffer has gotten old if he didn't smell it even before the election

I'd like someone to look into that strange server that only went from Trump Tower and some bank in Russia.

[Lil Missy]

49. So where has your sense of smell been up until now??

[gopiscrap]

51. I do too

[MFM008]

52. glad we have an expert

to tell us this........................

[Guilded Lilly]

53. Stating the obvious...

Why is it that the masses of "uneducated" public have readily KNOWN this for months and these "revelations" by astute journalists and insiders are just now making it into print?

Duh.
DUH.


(I am still obviously infuriated at the members of the media past and present for enabling this freakish, ugliest of Americans, country destroying OAF)

[chillfactor]

54. Not to do with this article but..

I hope some brave soul down the line leaks the orange one's tax returns.

[dalton99a]

63. It will happen.

[regnaD kciN]

56. P'shaw! What would this guy Bernstein know about White House cover-ups, anyway?

[Kablooie]

57. It'd sure be a coup for him if he uncovered a second presidential scandal.

[mdbl]

64. it would be an even bigger coup if he could find a congress that will prosecute him

don't see it happening, party over country you know.

[cstanleytech]

58. The other possibility is that the Repugnants in Congress are behind it and are simply using

Trump as a convenient patsy since he showed himself to be pro Putin months ago.
It could also be the reason that Ryan and Mitch have been stonewalling any investigation into Russia meddling in the elections because if they were in on it then they sure as hell dont want it to come out as they know they would probably be heading to prison for it eventually as treason is not a minor crime.

[DeminPennswoods]

59. Bernstein's part of the new CNN investigative unit

I agree that following the money is key. There are a number of journalists digging into Trump's finances. CNN's new investigative unit is being lead by the guy who ran CNNMoney, not a political/news person.

There are others digging into Trump's business like David Cay Johnson, Kurt Eichenwald and TPM in addition to the WaPo, NYT and WSJ.

I believe the next big break to move the Russia story forward will come from a financial reporter.

[mdbl]

60. Gee Carl, did someone hit you over the head with it?

It's been going on since before the election.

[Amaryllis]

65. Where is our Deep Throat?

[Tatiana]

67. It's not just the Trump campaign. It's the REPUBLICAN PARTY.

And that is why you see the stonewalling. McConnell, Priebus, Rubio, Giuliani, etc.... they are in on it. Ryan has tried to keep his distance for plausible deniability, but I'm not sure that works.

No one this crazy and incompetent would be allowed to continue as a head of state. I think you see a tentative willingness to investigate on the part of non-compromised Republicans who don't want to go down with the (soon to be) sinking ship.

[Nitram]

68. If Karl Bernstein thinks so, I believe it. He is a great reporter and a real mensch.

Woodward, not so much.

[EarthFirst]

69. The cast of characters are currently being eliminated in Russia...

Won't be much of a coverup for long.

[Sunlei]

70. no kidding??!! Republicans are great at dragging out stuff. Putin helps too!

[mr_lebowski]

71. Ooops, forgot to add "Sad!" at the end ... drat ... (n/t)

[mr_lebowski]

72. Moar #FakeNews ...