http://www.salon.com/2017/04/04/another-donald-trump-russia-contact-eric-prince-met-with-russian-sources-just-before-inauguration/
>Two more individuals connected to Donald Trump have been revealed to have connections to Russia.
>Erik Prince, the brother of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and founder of the private security firm Blackwater (whose project manager once threatened to kill a government investigator), is reported to have attended a secret meeting in January with a Russian close to Vladimir Putin.
>The meeting took place in the Seychelles islands and was set up by the United Arab Emirates as a back-channel line of communication between the incoming Trump administration and the Russian government, according to a report by The Washington Post. It is believed that at least one goal of the meeting — which took place nine days before Trump’s inauguration — was to discuss Russia’s relationship with Iran, including in the ongoing Syrian war.
>While Prince did not work for either Trump’s campaign or transition team, the officials leaking the story say that Prince claimed he was acting unofficially on Trump’s behalf to the Emiratis who set up the meeting. Prince had contributed $250,000 to Trump’s campaign, the Republican Party, and a pro-Trump super PAC after the Republican convention.
>salon
Jeez, Anon, you could have posted a source that wouldn't trigger the /pol/tards.
Do any of the gorillion articles about this subject give an explanation as to why it matters that people related to the president spoke to Russians?
>>128441
http://www.npr.org/2017/02/16/515624391/nobody-that-i-know-of-trump-denies-campaign-contacts-with-russia
>Asked at the news conference about reports that members of the Trump staff were in contact with Russia during the campaign, Trump said, "Nobody that I know of." The source has told Carrie that authorities continue to investigate those alleged connections.
>"Russia is a ruse," Trump said. "I know you have to get up and ask a question. It's so important." He reiterated, "Russia is a ruse. I have nothing to do with Russia. Haven't made a phone call to Russia in years. Don't speak to people from Russia. Not that I wouldn't. I just have nobody to speak to. I spoke to Putin twice. He called me on the election. I told you this. And he called me on the inauguration, a few days ago."
>>128443
Still doesn't answer my question. Is diplomacy illegal now or something?
>>128430
> Salon
Jeez, this sure boogles my noodles
>>128446
Actually it did answer your question, you are being purposely obtuse. Figure it out, genius
>>128441
>Do any of the gorillion articles about this subject give an explanation as to why it matters that people related to the president spoke to Russians?
Because the Russian narrative is currently going up in flames (as predicted). However this fits the bill of sounding dubious enough to your typical mainstream news consumer, and conveniently time enough to help distract people from the revelation that Obama administration rolled back constraints on the surveillance state and then disseminated/leaked incidental surveillance of the Trump team to the press and the Clinton campaign.
>>128499
>lol your distraction story fell apart
Seychelles and the constant digging up of anything sounding remotley Russian to see what sticks would be the distraction friend. Nice try though.
"muh Russian interference in the election two months after the election"
Also, check the sticky, blogs aren't news. Have fun watching Obama cry in court.
>>128500
Okay, vlad, whatever you say.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_interference_in_the_2016_United_States_elections
>>128534
>If I post a wiki article last edited on 4 April 2017, today, at 3:37pm, that means I'm right!
>hundreds of citation from anonymous sources and speculative news articles
I can't wait until the Wikihammer comes down on that page for obvious propaganda/political advertising.
>>128538
You're just mad because you can't prove the allegations wrong.
>>128540
>You're just mad because you can't prove the allegations wrong.
That's not how allegations or the burden of proof work.
Pro-tip: anonymous sources, third party hearsay, and unsubstantiated speculation =/= evidence. Still.
>>128544
That isn't how hearsay and unsubstantiated speculation works. Each source on that page is cited and verified.
But if you like hearsay, there is plenty to go around. THIS is hearsay, not that I expect you to be your usual Trump apologist self about it:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Trump%E2%80%93Russia_dossier
>>128550
>That isn't how hearsay and unsubstantiated speculation works. Each source on that page is cited and verified.
Cited and verified sources, citing anonymous reports and third party hearsay. That's how that works.
>bringing up pissgate meme again
>if you're still disagreeing with me you're still a Trump apologist
You guys are fucking panicked today. They giving you bathroom breaks?
>>128553
>You guys are fucking panicked today.
Yeah sure boss, that's why there have been so many Susan Rice distraction threads about literally nothing in the last 12 hours to slide the Eric Prince stories off 1st page continuously when combined with the usual /pol/bait stories.
>>128555
feel free to bump your thread when you want friend this board moves slow enough your thread about trump is not in danger of being lost
>>128555
>>128555
>that's why there have been so many Susan Rice distraction threads about literally nothing in the last 12 hours to slide the Eric Prince stories off 1st page continuously when combined with the usual /pol/bait stories.
Considering the Susan Rice story has been infinitely and independently verified to be true by everyone except the MSM outlets who straight up told their viewers to "just ignore it", and the Eric prince story is still the same "vaguely dubious sounding according to anonymous officials unconfirmed if actually true" nonsense it usually is, I'm wondering how much longer you'll be able to project that hard without violating an EPA regulation for heat output.
Not to worry though, when the Susan Rice scandal is still blowing up and the Seychelles meme proves to be as non force-able as the rest of the Russian witch hunt nonsense (that Rice/Obama are most likely responsible for starting in the first place), remember these spots, especially all the effort you spent and how it was for naught.
>>128555
Get a load of this guy.
I wish I could post a reaction image in this board just to laugh at your stupidity.
>>128561
you can but you need to link it from another board or site
>>128560
>Considering the Susan Rice story has been infinitely and independently verified to be true by everyone except the MSM outlet
What exactly do you think it was that was verified to be true? The only thing that has been verified is that she made requests and the requests were denied. Everything else, including the leaks and the supposed database, is 100% total speculation, and totally partisan speculation at that.
Not to worry though, when the next Russian connection comes out tomorrow everyone will forget about this and go on to the next damage control OP by your side. What will it be this time? Maybe Hillary is in league with aliens or something.
>>128561
>hurr durr you're stupid because I can't prove you wrong
Does this actually work for an argument on the board you are from?
>>128570
> Trying to distract from a Salon speculation on Eric Trump on which no major sources are reporting
> With a empirical report on Susan rice unmasking on which all the major sources are reporting
>>128567
>The only thing that has been verified is that she made requests and the requests were denied.
And that while waiting for the requests she was ordered to make, she still had access to all of the information.
And this information was somehow leaked by someone, when only a handful of people had access to it or even knew it existed/was being collected.
And the fact that these requests were made and this information was leaked during a highly contentious Presidential election season, during the tenure of an administration that was both responsible for rolling back protections on the collection/distribution of said information, and campaigning for the adversary of the individual who was "incidentally" spied on and stood to be "unmasked".
>when the next Russian connection
See, here's the issue.
We've gone from "Putin's Puppet" to "Russian interference in election. (Please turn in your "it's not rigged, you're just loosing t-shirts btw)" to "Russian connection".
The scope of this supposed investigation, instead of providing a few clear cut examples of supposedly illegal interference or collusion, has instead expanded to the point where anything sounding vaguely 'juicy' gets thrown at the wall to see what sticks. This Seychelles meme for example, obviously cannot be about election interference because it happened two months after the election. And yet there's absolutely no explanation of how it's relevant, other than that if it happened it somehow automatically means "collusion/interference".
It's the exact same baseless shit that has been flowing since the MSM outright accused Russia of hacking the election. This is why no one is buying this shit.
>>128573
>no other major sources are reporting
Holy shit, really?
http://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/04/04/new-questions-notorious-mercenary-erik-prince-re-emerges-trump-storyline
http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a54292/erik-prince-russia-seychelles/
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/erik-prince-create-secret-trump-russia-dialogue-report-article-1.3018024
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/blackwater-founder-repped-trump-secret-meeting-overseas-sources-n742266
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/trump-russia/
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4377426/Did-Trump-Russia-connection-run-Seychelles.html
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/04/03/washington-post-report-erik-prince-back-channel-trump-putin/100003832/
http://heavy.com/news/2017/04/erik-prince-betsy-devos-brother-sister-related-family-father-parents-trump-seychelles-putin-blackwater/
http://www.snopes.com/2017/04/03/former-blackwater-founder-devos-brother/
http://www.gq.com/story/trump-seychelles-russia-report
http://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ians/blackwater-founder-held-secret-meeting-with-putin-official-on-trump-s-behalf-report-117040400542_1.html
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2017/04/03/Reports-Trump-supporter-met-with-Kremlin-envoy-to-set-up-US-Russia-back-channel/9311491260813/
http://www.inquisitr.com/4117565/erik-prince-link-between-trump-and-putin/http://www.inquisitr.com/4117565/erik-prince-link-between-trump-and-putin/
>>128575
The part you're leaving out on purpose is that if she ever got approval to unmask anyone from either the justice department or the NSC then there was a FISA warrant and a legitimate reason like there is real evidence of Russian collusion.
It's actually a good thing for Trump that the story proves she never got that approval. It shows he wasn't the subject of the investigation, only his campaign transition people were.
>>128576
> major sources
> liberal media
Ummmm...
>>128583
> Mainstream sources
Literally the only one "credible" source you posted there was Washington post, and they are biased garbage. I'm surprised you didn't include Buzzfeed and Jezebel in there.
>>128578
>It's actually a good thing for Trump that the story proves she never got that approval. It shows he wasn't the subject of the investigation, only his campaign transition people were.
Not if they were the ones who had to be unmasked, because the masking is done to protect the identities of people who are not under direct investigation but wind up being spied on "incidentally".
And then this "incidental" information was somehow leaked conveniently for his political opposition to use in a campaign. Nice!
>>128590
I tried to be as bipartisan as possible and you still have to criticize. Hilarious. Why don't you google it yourself so you can see the other 500+ different versions of the story.
>>128576
The most reputable source in that heavily biased cluster of nonsense (common dreams, really? your aggregator is shit) is NBC news: And guess what?
>The meeting was first reported by the Washington Post, which said that Prince met with an unnamed Russian emissary close to Vladimir Putin. The Post said the meeting was an effort to convince Russia to stop backing Iran.
>One U.S. intelligence official confirmed the Post's account to NBC News, saying the meeting was with a Russian envoy. According to intelligence reports filed at the time, no Trump transition people were directly involved and it is unclear if the meeting was undertaken on behalf of Trump's people or was a UAE initiative, the official said.
>A second source said he believed the meeting was not about Russia. That source, a former intelligence official with close ties to Prince and the UAE, said the subject of the meeting was Middle East policy, to cover Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Iran.
Then you have Snopes:
>Though Prince had no formal role with the Trump campaign or transition team, he presented himself as an unofficial envoy for Trump to high-ranking Emiratis involved in setting up his meeting with the Putin confidant, according to the officials, who did not identify the Russian.
Who are also conveniently not identified at all.
>A statement provided to the Post by a spokesman for Prince acknowledged that the meeting took place, but said the meeting had “nothing to do” with President Trump, adding: "Why is the so-called under-resourced intelligence community messing around with surveillance of American citizens when they should be hunting terrorists?"
Try actually proof reading your sources to make sure they say what you want them to buddy.
>>128592
Oh jesus christ kid, go look up what the function of the NSC is. That's literally their job to round up all relevant materials on whatever subject from all the intelligence agencies.
That's why Rice didn't have access herself when she worked there, and why Ezra Cohen Watnick is the one in the current Trump NSC who leaked this shit in the first place.
>>128595
What does the sand in the ground where your head is taste like? Like I said, google it yourself and find another source you like in the 500+ out there.
>>128598
>That's why Rice didn't have access herself when she worked there
Every report on the matter has stated she did during the period of time while she was waiting for the request.
> and why Ezra Cohen Watnick is the one in the current Trump NSC who leaked this shit in the first place.
Except no, he wasn't the one who leaked the information, especially not to Nunes.
Nunes was briefed on Rice's request for unmasking within a few days if not hours of it going down by McMaster.
You know, as reported in the sources about RiceGate (just flows off the tongue, doesn't it?) you keep ignoring and claiming are distractions.
>>128599
>What does the sand in the ground where your head is taste like?
Like empiricism.
>google it yourself and find another source you like in the 500+ out there.
Oh boy, progressivesmustkilltrump.news.eu sure must be an unbiased source.
>>128601
>Except no, he wasn't the one who leaked the information, especially not to Nunes.
Again, your lack of googlefu is both obvious and very telling.
Here's a source you're sure to approve of:
http://www.haaretz.com/us-news/1.780795