Bigger than Watergate

The United States will not make an exception for American companies, including oil major Exxon Mobil Corp, seeking to drill in areas prohibited by U.S. sanctions on Russia, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Friday.

The unusually direct statement served to clarify that the United States would maintain a tough stance on sanctions against Moscow.

See, I look at things like this differently.

I see Tillerson, as CEO of Exxon, doing what is best for that company. He was a hard worker and did anything necessary to see Exxon prosper. You know, like what a CEO is supposed to do.

Now, Tillerson is SoS. He is doing what is best for the US and is working hard to do anything necessary to see the US prosper. You know, like what a Secretary of State is supposed to do.

He is a hard working dude, dedicated to his job.

Susan Rice won't testify before Senate on Russia hacking, 'unmasking'

Susan Rice, Barack Obama's longtime national security adviser, declined Wednesday to testify before a Senate subcommittee about Russian activities during the 2016 election campaign.

Had she appeared, Rice would have likely faced questions about the so-called "unmasking" of American citizens caught up in conversations with foreign targets of surveillance by the intelligence community. The most prominent figure to be "unmasked" was retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, who resigned as Trump's national security adviser in February.

Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said he was "deeply disappointed" at Rice's refusal and added, "[This] makes it appear as though she’s hiding something. No investigation will be complete until her role is understood."

Your issue is that there is nothing Trump can, will or has done that you will approve of and that leaves very little to have a discussion with you about.

James Clapper, who served as director of national intelligence during the Obama administration, stood by past assertions that he had no evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government.

Clapper admitted he also was not initially aware of the FBI’s counterintelligence probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. But he said if there was any evidence of collusion, it “didn’t reach the evidentiary bar” needed for an intelligence assessment issued earlier this year.

Clapper, further, reiterated that his team could not corroborate the contents of an infamous anti-Trump dossier that was shared with officials earlier this year.

More broadly, Clapper stood by intelligence community findings that the Russian government “pursued a multi-faceted influence campaign in the run-up to the election” and sought to damage Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and help Trump.

Yates told the Senate Judiciary subcommittee on crime and terrorism that she first notified White House Counsel Don McGahn in late January about Flynn’s contacts with the Russian ambassador, at a time when he apparently was relaying information to the contrary to Vice President Pence.

She said they met in a secure facility, and she informed McGahn about Flynn’s contacts in a “fair amount of detail.” She said that conduct was “problematic” – in part because the Russians knew about those contacts, and knew he had misled Pence about them.

Clapper and Yates both answered affirmatively when asked if they ever reviewed classified documents where Trump, his associates, or congressional lawmakers were unmasked.

"Ask Sally Yates, under oath, if she knows how classified information got into the newspapers soon after she explained it to W.H. Council,” Trump wrote.

He was likely referring to the Jan. 26 exchange in which Yates told McGahn about Flynn’s contacts with Russia. That meeting quickly made its way into news accounts, fed to reporters by anonymous sources.

Susan Rice, Obama's national security adviser, declined an invitation to testify before the same panel Monday.

No one has ever been elected with such a high unpopularity rating before taking office.

And many voters disliked both candidates, held their noses, and voted anyway.

Which isn't democracy.

Which doesn't compute when you consider that he won the election.

The popular vote doesn't count for anything, under the electoral system in place in the US of A.

Did you have a point to make here?

Winning the popular vote means that more voters preferred that candidate. And while the electoral college determines who takes office, the popular vote isn't meaningless.

And the electoral system does not rely upon popularity.

Which doesn't compute when you consider that he won the election.

It "computes" very easily. It happened.

So the fact that Trump won shows that it is possible for a candidate with a high unpopularity rating to win an election.

I did mention that this doesn't represent democracy. It's a democratic republic. Do you live it?

“A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine.” (Thomas Jefferson)