As I'm sure many of you have heard, there has been quite a lot of speculation and reporting about possible collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government during the 2016 presidential election. The story, which began during the campaign and intensified after Trump's historic and shocking victory, has gained more attention of late. The short version of the story goes something like this...
President Trump and his campaign staff have been accused of working cooperatively with the Russian government to win the 2016 presidential election. This cooperation includes Russian hackers hacking the Democratic National Committee's email servers to find "dirt" on the Clinton campaign and publishing emails on Wikileaks, as well as propagating "fake" news (not the kind President Trump tweets about) on social media websites like Facebook in order to sway voters to vote for Trump. This cooperation also includes Trump campaign staffers Paul Manafort (former campaign manager), Jared Kushner (Trump's son-in-law and White House adviser with top level security clearance), Mike Flynn (Trump's former National Security Adviser), Jeff Sessions (Trump's Attorney General), and Donald Trump Jr. meeting with and having conversations with Russian ambassadors and official government lawyers about campaign strategy and US sanctions on Russia.
All of the above are facts that are indisputable and accepted by both Trump's supporters and opponents. The real question behind all of this is, did Trump or his campaign staff collude with the Russian government to win the election?
If the answer is yes, then it is unprecedented in American history and very illegal. It would mean the current president of the United States worked with a foreign government (one of our biggest enemies) in order to win a democratic election in this country. The repercussions for the president and the country would be historic and would most likely end with impeachment. So...obviously this is an incredibly big story and one that had a lot of smoke (reporting that speculated about wrongdoing) and little fire (actual wrongdoing)...until now.
Enter Donald Trump Jr.
Yesterday the president's son decided to tweet out an email chain between himself and a high profile Russian intermediary about setting up a meeting with a lawyer for the Russian government in order to obtain documents that had information that would hurt the Clinton campaign. He did this in before the New York Times was about to publish a story about the emails as a way to preempt the story. Based on the content of the emails, it doesn't look for the Trumps...it may be the first sign of the coming fire.
I'm sure to many of you this sounds complicated and maybe even a big "nothing burger" (as some Trump supporters have said), so I have posted some links below that hopefully will help explain the story, it's accusations, and it's implications.
Links on the Russia Scandal:
The Russia Scandal Timeline - from The Washington Post
Russian Dirt on Clinton? ‘I Love It,’ Donald Trump Jr. Said - from The New York Times (this is the NYT article discussed above)
Read the Emails on Donald Trump Jr.’s Russia Meeting - from The New York Times
Links on the Russia Scandal's Implications for the President and the Country:
What Is Collusion? Is It Even a Crime? - from Politico
If Donald Trump Jr. Sinks, Who Goes Down With Him? - from Politico
What Happens If The Election Was A Fraud? The Constitution Doesn’t Say. - from FiveThirtyEight.com
Imagining President Pence - from FiveThirtyEight.com
Republicans Matter Most, And They Don’t Seem To Care Much About Trump Jr. - from FiveThirtyEight.com
Will Donald Trump Be Impeached? - from FiveThirtyEight.com
Questions for Discussion:
- Based on the Russian Scandal timeline, did the Trump campaign collude with Russia?
- Is the Donald Trump Jr email chain evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia?
- Is there enough evidence to impeach President Trump? Explain.
- Should President Trump be impeached?
- Is this story a "big nothing burger" as some Trump supporters have said?
- Is the media spending too much time on this story or is it the most important political story right now?
When writing your response don't feel like you need to answer all of these questions. Instead, focus on the ones you are most interested in writing about and respond to those. If you are confused please feel free to email me, or to ask questions to each other in your posts!
Based on the Russian scandal timeline and the rumors surrounding it is very likey that Trump could have been colluding with russian officials and hackers.This collusin would seem much more likely if it weren't for the difficulty of their goal and how the rumors seemed to only become mainstream until after the election results.
ReplyDeleteDonald Trump Jr.'s email chain does vey much seem like a form of collusion between his administration and Russia. despite all of this supposed evidence and the high likelyhood of there having been collusion there is not enough solid undeniable evidence availible to impeach Trump. As far as war and foreign affairs go with Trump he seems not to be very fit for the job. However the lesser media coverage of his economic work could possibly make up for his seeming incopetence in other countries.
Despit the lack of hard evidence for Trump's supposed collusion the whole story is not one big nothing burger. it could hold truth with further and more substantial research and evidence.
Politics is always an important pert of keeping a government together and despite the many other stories that the media could be covering a good percentage of them involve politics. It is justified.
I strongly agree with Griffin on this topic. I believe it is very probable that Trump had been working with either Russian hackers, officials or maybe both. However on the other hand I disagree with the statement "This collusion would seem much more likely if it weren't for the difficulty of their goal". Russia is our greatest rival and one of the two superpowers in the world at the time, and although it would not be an easy task, I feel Russia does have the ability to alter the results of the election. In a short article listed at the bottom of this comment, The Guardian states, "The report went on to say that technical experts speculated the hackers were Russian or Chinese". This shows even in 2008, Russian Hackers were suspected to be the ones to delete files before evidence showing that was found. It was later shown that the acts were most likely done from somewhere in China showing that Russia is suspected to be behind acts like this because of their power and ability to do such things.
ReplyDeleteEven with this said, Trump should not be impeached. There is simply not enough evidence to do so, because like in 2008, even if there are strong suspicions, it is not necessarily true. If we were to impeach President Trump at this point, and these claims of his collusion were found to be false, it would be an even stronger argument over whether to give him the title of president again or to leave him after he was impeached.
The media is not however spending too much time on this issue. This could possibly lead to a new president being elected and that is as big of news as it can get in my opinion. I feel the media should continue to follow this story just as it is now because of the effects these claims can cause.
https://www.theguardian.com/global/2008/nov/07/obama-white-house-usa
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ReplyDeleteCollusion describes “a secret or illegal conspiracy to cheat or deceive others,” and is a term often used by the media to portray the actions of the Trump presidential campaign. However, ‘collusion’ cannot be simply or legally defined, as it involves an array of actions. According to Politico’s article, “What is collusion?”, collusion itself is not a federal crime and does not always translate to criminality. However, the author states that “the alleged cooperation between the Trump campaign and Russia is still of criminal interest.”
ReplyDeleteBy releasing his emails with Robert Goldstone, an American with connections to the Kremlin, Donald Trump Jr. has likely incriminated himself and can be charged with conspiring to violate election laws, which prohibit foreign nationals from providing “anything of value” to political campaigns. Even though Donald Jr. claims that he and Jared Kushner did not obtain any ‘dirt’ about Hillary Clinton or her campaign, his agreement to meet with a Russian lawyer proves that he was interested in doing so. In my opinion, ‘dirt’ on one’s opponent is something of value to a campaign and can definitely help decide an election. So, these connections probably violate our country’s election laws.
According to the Washington Post’s chronology of the election, Donald Trump, in July of 2016, praised the hacking of the DNC’s servers and “urged Russia to hack Hillary Clinton,” to find the 30,000 emails he believes her campaign deleted. Under the American Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, it is illegal to access a computer or server without the owner’s authorization. While Trump did not access it himself, the Russians (who he was presumably working with) did. An independent Romanian hacker identified as “Guccifer 2.0” claimed responsibility for several DNC breaches, but many members of both the Obama administration and investigative bureaus determined that Russians were actually at fault.
Jeff Sessions, the first senator to endorse the Trump campaign and the current Attorney General, may have also committed crimes with the Russians. Despite meeting Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak twice (once at Trump’s speech to improve ties with Russia and again at the Republican National Convention,) Sessions claims he ‘doesn’t recall’ ever meeting him. If actions that violated the American election laws occurred at these meetings, Sessions could potentially be charged with misprision of a felony. This means that Sessions deliberately concealed his knowledge of a treasonable act or felony. If he did not commit a crime during these meetings, it is possible that Jared Kushner or Carter Page did, as these advisors to Trump also attended, meaning he may still be charged.
One’s opinions on these events has much to do with their existing beliefs about Donald Trump himself. Someone who supported his campaign may see the actions of his advisors, such as Jeff Sessions forgetting that he spoke to someone twice, as ‘silly mistakes.’ One may also argue that a member of the Clinton campaign would act in the same way as Donald Jr. if presented with insider information about the opposition, which is probably true.
I don’t think enough information is known to impeach Trump or charge his advisors with any crimes, since the only tangible form of evidence that exists now is the knowledge of a single conversation.
I believe that the events detailed by the timeline likely point towards a conspiracy that can definitely be proved only if other evidence is presented. Our perception of this event is, of course, influenced by the media we consume. While I dream of the day that Trump is removed from office, I think the liberal media is far too focused on this issue considering the lack of solid evidence and should report on other things (like healthcare!) while the investigation of ‘collusion’ continues. I disagree with Mike’s comment that the media should continue to discuss this at the same rate, since I believe the coverage prematurely damages Americans’ confidence in our government.
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DeleteIn this interview, Sen. Chris Murphy discusses why we cannot yet definitively say that the Trump campaign committed conspiracy or a similar crime. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIEhGFoeXXU
DeleteI do not believe that Trump necessarily colluded with Russian officials simply because of the difficulty to keep it secret and also convince the Russians to help him, even if they favored him. Besides, find it strange that the accusations of hackers have just started to become an actual argument.
ReplyDeleteThen, in response to the idea that Trump Jr's meeting is grounds for impeachment, I do not understand why it should be. After all, it was Tum Jr, not Trump, so the president might not even be involved. besides, it will do nothing to help the Trump campaign because Trump has already beaten Clinton. It is still wrong, but the fact that people are already dragging president Trump into the abyss of blame where hi so resides, despite the fat that our legal system is "Innocent until proven guilty". and Trump has not been proven guilty yet. In my pinion, people are just being stubborn, and want Trump out, unwilling to give him a true chance.
Based on the information so far, it would seem that the Trump Campaign did indeed collude with Russia. I do believe that Donald Trump Jr's email chain is enough proof that the Trump Campaign did collude with Russia, because obviously Trump himself wouldn't do it because these activities could easily be monitored, so having Trump Jr act as the link so to speak between Trump and Russia would be a perfect solution to this problem. I do think that Trump should be impeached, this is not democracy this is indefensible, although I do say this there isn't enough evidence to do so, because it wasn't Trump himself that actually conversed with Russia . This is indeed an important story unlike Trump's words. We've already seen how devastating it is for a high-ranking politician to be involved in these kind of scandals, as demonstrated with former Secretary of State Hilary Clinton. The media (by reporting this) are opening up the floodgates for people to voice their own opinions, however the people do deserve a right to know when events like these happen.
ReplyDeleteAlthough there is no solid evidence that the Trump’s colluded with the Russians, it can be concluded that they did based on their comments and tweets. Donald Trump Jr.’s emails to Rob Goldstone discuss the idea of meeting to share “ultra sensitive” information about Hillary Clinton from Goldstone’s friend, Emin Agalarov. Donald Junior welcomed the information without hesitation, and even said he would “love it”. According to Politico Magazine’s: What Is Collusion? Is It Even a Crime? “If Donald Trump Jr. sought “dirt” on Hillary Clinton from the Russians, he might be charged with conspiring to violate the election laws of the United States, which prohibit foreign nationals from contributing any ’thing of value’ to an electoral campaign. The opposition dirt is at least plausibly a thing of value.” According to the emails, Donald Trump Junior did not request the information. If he did request this information, then it wasn’t provided in the email snippets he posted. Since this case is a hot topic and is still being investigated, there could be more news to come that could make him guilty of conspiring to violate the election laws of the United States. After looking a little deeper, the emails appear to be grammatically informal on Donald’s end, which shows that he was taking the transactions casually. If this were a formal, legal documentation, then he would have taken more time to professionally write his responses. It is also suspicious that Emin could not speak to Trump Junior directly from the start. If their conversations were completely legal, then they wouldn’t need a middleman (Rob Goldstone, Emin’s Publicist) to communicate between them.
ReplyDeleteOnce they decided on a meeting at Trump Tower, the time of the meeting had been moved, and Trump invited Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort to join him for the new time. Russian Government Attorney, Natalia Veselnitskaya met them at Trump Tower the next day. When contacted by The Times on Saturday about the meeting, Donald Trump Jr. said “It was a short introductory meeting. I asked Jared and Paul to stop by. We primarily discussed a program about the adoption of Russian children that was active and popular with American families years ago and was since ended by the Russian government, but it was not a campaign issue at the time and there was no follow-up” (New York Times: Russian Dirt on Clinton? ‘I Love It,’ Donald Trump Jr. Said). That was his opening statement. When The Times said that they were going to post an article about how the meeting also discussed compromising material about Hillary Clinton, Trump Jr. said “I was asked to have a meeting by an acquaintance I knew from the 2013 Miss Universe pageant with an individual who I was told might have information helpful to the campaign .... Her statements were vague, ambiguous and made no sense. No details or supporting information was provided or even offered. It quickly became clear that she had no meaningful information. She then changed subjects and began discussing the adoption of Russian children and mentioned the Magnitsky Act” (New York Times). How did he completely forget to mention that the subject of the meeting was to get “dirt” on Hillary in his opening statement? He made the Russian children adoption sound like the subject of the meeting in his opening statement, but when confronted by The Times, he made the Russian children sound like an afterthought when the information on Hillary went nowhere. The emails sent by Goldstone and Trump clearly state that the meeting was about gaining damaging information about Hillary. I agree with Taylor when she says that although Donald Trump Jr. did not obtain any useful information about Hillary, he agreed to the meeting with hopes to gather “dirt” on her. Why would Trump Jr. leave that crucial detail out if his meeting was legal? Or was it legal? A great video to explain the email scandal with Donald Trump Jr. is:
http://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2017/07/10/jake-tapper-trump-jr-russia-meeting-monologue-lead.cnn
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ReplyDeleteWhen The Times was going to post the chain of emails about the meeting, Donald posted them on Twitter as photos in a mixed-up order first. His disorganization shows that he felt rushed and did not want the emails to get out before he told everybody himself. If The Times reported before him, then it would look like he was trying to keep the emails a secret. He also posted a Twitter comment that said he posted the emails “in order to be totally transparent” (Politico Magazine). Donald Trump responded, “My son is a high quality person, and I applaud his transparency” (Politico magazine). They use the word transparency loosely since Donald Trump Jr. did not intend on sharing the emails until they were going to be used against him. I would describe Donald Trump Jr. as more translucent because he is only honest some of the time and doesn't share everything he knows with the American people until he is confronted about it, as seen in his opening statement to The Times. When other Republican’s had the opportunity to react to Trump Jr., they simply didn’t say much. When they made comments, they lightly showed disapproval for the meeting, but then Florida’s Ted Yoho said he “probably would have done the same thing”, and that it is “opposition research”. Lee Zeldin, a House Republican from New York, said it is a “big no-no,” but “I voted for @POTUS last Nov. & want him & USA to succeed.” Their quiet reactions show that they will stick by the president and his family through their problems, even though they may not agree with them now. However, the Republican’s do not have to stay by Trump as more problems are unearthed.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of problems, Trump has had many since he was sworn into office. One problem is that he fired FBI Director, James Comey, after he continued to investigate Michael Flynn (Trump’s associate) and his ties to Russia. Trump told him to stop the investigation in a private meeting. This can be called an obstruction of justice. Since the President can not be prosecuted while in office, the only way to get him to be prosecuted would be to impeach him first. Richard Nixon was going to be impeached for “interfering or endeavoring to interfere with the conduct of investigations by the Department of Justice of the United States [and] the Federal Bureau of Investigation” (Lawfare). He resigned during the impeachment process. After all of Trump’s conflicts with Russia and the firing of James Comey, there is speculation that he should be impeached. According to Lawfare, there are six factors that determine if a president will be impeached: the seriousness of his offense, the partisanship of pivotal votes in Congress, the president’s popularity, the president's relationship with Congress, the party in control of Congress, and the line of succession. Trump’s offenses include the obstruction of justice by firing James Comey and releasing highly classified information to Russia. In Congress, the average Republican sides with Trump 97 percent of the time, while the average Democrat sides with him 15 percent of the time. Trump’s approval rating is 39 percent, and his strong approval rating is 20-25 percent. However, that number is decreasing. Trump’s relationship with Congress is currently steady although it hasn’t always been. The Congress liked James Comey, and Trump fired him. It can also be imagined that Trump would take to Twitter when he has a disagreement with Congressmen. The Republicans are currently in charge of the House. If Trump were to be impeached, then Mike Pence would become the next president. Based on Pence’s past, his time in office would have “cuts to the federal budget along with a deeply socially conservative agenda” (FiveThirtyEight: Imagining President Pence). As of now, impeachment is just a thought for Trump. It will take ⅔ of the Senate to want Trump impeached in order for it to happen. Personally, I don’t think that Trump will be impeached because that would cause tremendous instability in the government. That would make us an easy target for terrorists and other aggressors like North Korea. The news covers a lot about Trump, and they should continue to keep the Americans posted as this is a hot issue.
ReplyDeleteWith the articles provided, I would have to say there is not enough evidence to impeach Trump. Surely, if there was, he would have been impeached a long time ago. With all the lying he's been doing I don't believe he is totally innocence but maybe lying is just a part of being a politician. In time, if there is dirt to dig up on President Trump, it will be found. On the other hand, there are many articles on Trump repeatedly lying and stalling but this could all be a stunt used to make the public hate him more than they already do. With that being said, these accusations could be taken way out of proportion. Trump is a new and unusual face in American politics. People didn't expect such a bold personality to be president, and are a bit outraged with that in mind. So, I think the majority of society is a bit skeptical that he made it as far as president with all American votes without him knowing. Although it is true that Russia did hack the system he can still be president under the circumstances. We won't know if he will be impeached until the proof is evident.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteAlthough it was never directly stated, based off the evidence I analyzed I believe that the Trump administration was colluding with Russia to influence the 2016 presidential election.
Politico’s article, What Is Collusion? Is It Even a Crime?, mentions that “collusion is not a federal crime (except in the unique case of antitrust law).” Therefore, the Trump administration cannot be charged, unless they were intending to conspire with Russia to put “dirt” on Hillary Clinton. For example, if Donald Trump Jr., President Trump’s eldest son, was guilty of meeting with Russian officials for the purpose of ruining Hillary’s chance as president, he would be violating the election laws of the United States, which prohibit foreign nationals from contributing “anything of value” to an electoral campaign.
The Russia Scandal Timeline discusses that on June 3, Rob Goldstone, one of President Trump’s former Russian business partners, offered to provide “dirt” on Hillary Clinton from Emin A. (a Russian pop singer) to the Trump administration. The email to Donald Trump Jr. read that the documents shared would “would incriminate Hillary and her dealings with Russia and would be very useful to your father.” Goldstone also added that, “This is obviously very high level and sensitive information, but is part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump.” Trump's son did not question the legal content of the documents and quickly replied back, “If it’s what you say I love it especially later in the summer.” Donald Trump Jr. seemed to relish the opportunity, and his response shows his acknowledgement of the previous email which is about providing information that could “be very useful to [his] father.” Although he did not inquire about the information in the first place, his response alone can prove that the Trump administration was willing to collude with Russia to trash Hillary. Trump Jr. even goes on to say “I love it…” (referencing the idea).
On June 9th, Donald Trump Jr. agreed to meet with Kremlin-associated attorney Natalia Veselnitskaya in Trump Tower. The purpose of the meeting, as stated in emails to Junior from Rob Goldstone, was to discuss “some official documents and information that would incriminate Hillary and her dealings with Russia.” Trump Jr. said that Trump's campaign manager, Paul Manafort, and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner would also be present at the meeting with the Russian attorney. After the meeting, Trump Jr. tweeted, “Obviously I’m the first person on a campaign to ever take a meeting to hear info about an opponent… went nowhere but had to listen.” Like Taylor said, although he and Jared Kushner claim they did not hear any damaging information about Clinton, their agreement to have the meeting in the first place reveals that they were hoping to accomplish that goal. The article, “Donald Trump Jr. May Have Crossed the Legal Line on Collusion,” states that “A month after the June 2016 meeting, thousands of emails from the Democratic National Committee were leaked on the eve of Democrats' convention” … “ Members of Congress with access to intelligence said Russians had already hacked into those emails by the time Trump Jr. met with the Russian lawyer.” These documents were posted to wikileaks by "Guccifer 2.0," which is a self identified Romanian hacker that claimed responsibility for the breech. The government believes that this account is from the Russian government. Do you think it was coincidental that the emails were leaked by the Russians after the meeting at Trump tower, or did the Trump administration give it the go?
ReplyDeleteRecently, Trump has fired James Comey, leader of the FBI. He lead an investigation into the alleged Russian election meddling and potential collusion by the Trump campaign. This has raised suspicion, and Brad Sherman (D-Calif.) believes that Trump’s conversations with and firing of James Comey constitute an obstruction of justice. Along with Al Green (D-Texas), the two democratic lawmakers wrote an article of impeachment against president Trump yesterday. This article lists many of President Trumps wrong-doings and mentions the impulsive firing of James Comey. The article states,”... Donald John Trump sought to use his authority to hinder and cause the termination of such investigations including threatening, and then terminating, James Comey, who was until such termination the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.” Here is the link to the full article: http://sherman.house.gov/sites/sherman.house.gov/files/FINAL%20Article%20of%20Impeachment.pdf
Personally, I believe that Trump should not be impeached because there is not enough concrete evidence to prove that his administration gathered information from Russia (although it is very probable). Also, most of this scandal involves his eldest son and son-in-law. He did not organize the meeting with the Russian official, in fact “the White House says the president wasn't aware of this meeting.” Although circumstances are not looking too good for him now, I believe that this one issue (even though it is NOT a big nothing burger) should not cause his impeachment because he did not have full involvement, and there is still a lot of evidence that must be presented.
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ReplyDeletePersonally, I am not a big fan of Trump but from reading the timeline, I do not think Trump colluded with Russian hackers or officals (like dan said) because of how hard it would be to keep that a secret. Over 33.7 million people follow Trump's twitter and know what he is doing because he is posting it. The pressure from a secret that big would usually cause someone to crack or have the truth slip out on accident. Also, Russia is one of the US biggest enimies and uts highly unlikely that they would help an American become president. To add to this, I also don't think that there is enough evidence to impeach Trump without it being fair or just. After all, the evidence shows that it was Trump Jr. not Trump.
ReplyDeleteMost of the time the media likes to say what people want to hear instead of the truth. With everything that is already happening or has happened to Trump, the media just wants to keep going for recognition and profit. I think this topic might seem very big and important but in the long run, I don't think anything will come of it or will be proven against Trump.
According to the article, "What Is Collusion? Is It Even a Crime?" from Politico, collusion is not a crime, and it is incorrect to say that Trump working with Russia is a federal crime. I feel that If there is enough evidence to prove that he has been colluding with Russia, then he should be tried for impeachment. However, his chances of getting impeached are low because of the fact that 67 of a total of 100 votes are needed for him to get impeached. There is simply not enough evidence to prove that the Trump administration has been colluding with the Russian Government, but there is some evidence that might make others suspicious. Trump fired the head of the FBI, James Comey, who was leading the investigation about Trump's ties with the Russia. This could imply that he did not want him investigate any further so he fired him. There is also a small chance that Trump really did have no connections, but that is highly unlikely. This a topic that should be furthered investigated so that more evidence can be used to use against Trump, but at the moment there is simply not enough evidence to prove anything.
ReplyDeleteAccording to the New York Times article with all of the emails released to the public, it can be seen that the term "collusion" may not be entirely accurate to the situation as Trump Jr. may not have even been involved in any sort of information involving Clinton. Although Rob Goldstone was the man setting up this meeting, even Goldstone seems to not know too much on what exactly is involved in this supposed information as the Russian attorney only spoke of foreign policy rather than spilling news on the Democratic presidential candidate. Due to the lack of knowledge of the information Goldstone had, it would be hard to even place charges on Trump Jr. as unless he aided the Russians in acquiring or concealing any leaked information he technically did not break any laws. Of course tons of information of Hillary Clinton has been leaked on Wiki Leaks and the US has many suspicions that the Russians were involved in this due to their favoritism towards Trump, unless the Trump campaign helped the Russians in their efforts to hack into email servers and expose any findings to the public, it would be unfair to call anyone in the Trump Organization criminals conspiring against the election process. Although this email chain is the closest to proof the public has to even remotely involve Trump with any leaked information, there is no proof any information was exchanged it would be impossible to use this as evidence in a conspiracy case between Trump and the Russian government versus Hillary. Personally I like Trump and feel that at this point it is very clear that there just isn't enough evidence to point that there was direct involvement with the Trump team to release information. It is just as likely that at this point it is less about proving the election as fraud, but is rather another attempt by democrats to dig up evidence on Trump in order to have him impeached. During the election campaign, both sides were pulling new information on each candidate such as leaked tapes of Trump and his tax evasion and his failed businesses as well as Hillary and her continued troubles with the email scandal, all leading to the public to choose Trump as president and now that he has won, many continue to search for possible ways to ruin him as now they believe that this so called "collusion" with the Russian government could somehow take Trump out of office, but as said in "What Happens If The Election Was A Fraud? The Constitution Doesn’t Say." by Julia Azari, it is not clear even if some evidence involving Trump's team involving themselves with some dirt on Hillary, the Constitution has no section dealing with any election fraud and once the Electoral College chooses a candidate it seems any evidence would not end in a Trump impeachment. Instead of fighting Trump, these people should stop looking for ways to distract and destroy Trump's presidency, but rather allow him to focus on real issues in hopes he does the right thing. If Trump is weighted down fighting accusations from his time during the campaign, how can Americans expect him to be able to accomplish good things during his long term? If Democrats really want to find ways to impeach Trump, it is best to wait until he is able to make a handful for decisions as his term is in its beginning stages, and if he 1, commits a serious crime while president, 2, Congress is so against him to they him out of office, or 3, his approval rating plummets, the American people should not look for impeachment and rather wish Trump well and hope he makes the right choices and betters America as a whole.
ReplyDeleteI do not believe that Trump colluded with the Russian government for the simple reason that he would have totally been caught already because that is way too big of a secret for anyone to keep. To add to this, there is no legitimate reason for Russia to keep this secret. No one ever knows what Vladmir Putin could do. He has no one to look to or answer to, therefore he could do what he pleases. Furthermore, I don't believe the email from Trump jr. is enough to impeach President Trump. If the email was actually sent by the President, then by all means Trump should be impeached. But, because Trump is such an outgoing personality that is rarely shown in politics, everyone wants him out, and they will jump at the littlest things to try to impeach him.
ReplyDeleteI also think that the media spends too much time on Trump in general. He can do the littlest thing and the whole world has to know about it. From what I was exposed to (prove me wrong if I am) the media didn't have this much coverage on former President Obama. I agree there should be some coverage on the president, but the amount they are spending is a little too much.
DeleteI think that there is no way that President Trump colluded with the Russian hackers. As a candidate running for the president you have everyone watching your every move. If Trump was working with hackers, like Kailyn said he would have simply been caught already. There were so many people observing his behavior and so many people watching him, that in my opinion someone would have to be so careless to even think of cheating or working with foreign hackers. In many of Trumps speeches, he accuses Hillary Clinton of being a liar and a thief. For example in an article written by Katie Forester and published on www.independent.co.uk, it states, "Donald Trump called Hillary Clinton a “liar” during the final presidential debate – after she brought up comments he made on television in April." it also says, " Mr Trump shook his head and called the claims “just another lie” at the debate on Wednesday, the third and last stand-off before the US election on 8 November.'Look, she’s been proven to be a liar in so many different ways. This is just another lie,' he said". If Trump lied to the entire the country about being fair and winning because he deserves it, instead of working with Russian hackers, he would not only be in a lot of trouble, he would be severely criticized. Yes, I do think that the press spends to much time on this story, because if people really thought that this was true it would be a bigger deal to more people. Until exact proof comes out on this issue, i feel we should not accuse people for something that may not have even happened.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Sydney and Kailyn that President Trump did not collude with Russian Government. The presidential candidates had the eyes of the government and media on them during the whole process, it would be almost impossible not to be caught. If he has contact with the Putin (our greatest rival) wouldn't someone have found out? Secrets aren't easy to cover, especially when they are on line. While it is possible that he did collude with the Russians there is no solid proof that it is true. The emails weren't sent by the president, if the government had legitimate evidence that he was in direct contact with Russia he already would have been impeached. I also believe that there are too many accusations made about President Trump. The media is always looking for a story and right now Trump is the easiest topic to gossip about.
ReplyDeleteOverall, there is not enough evidence to impeach Trump. Like Ari said, if there was, he would have been impeached already. However, this is not just a "big nothing burger" because there is enouh evidence to have some speculation. The emails between Trump Jr and Rob Goldstone show that there was obviously some talk about the opposing candidate Clinton. This can easily raise suspicion but since President Trump was not directly involved in it, there is no proof of collusion. With all of this, I think the media is definitely doing a great job of keeping the public updated, even though there is the possibility of "fake" news. This is a very important topic for the future of our government and I think that there should be more investigation on the idea of collusion between the campaign and Russia, because again like Ari said, if there is anything against Trump out there, it will be found in time.
ReplyDeleteEven though I personally do not like the president, I also agree that President Trump did NOT collude with Russia. Like Kailyn and Sydney said, Trump would've been caught by now if he did consult with the Russian hackers since so many had been watching him during the election. First off, it was the president's son who had met with people to get information, not Trump. These people were not even government officials like many articles may make them sound. This makes Donald Trump Jr free of any wrongdoing. Even if he had met with officials, it wouldn't matter because it was not Trump who had gotten this information, therefore proving why he should not be impeached because there is truly not enough evidence as of now. Also, as you all very well know, the media can turn any piece of evidece they find into something their own views support. They'll leave in that one detail that can help their side of the arguement and then forget about the "what if"s and counter arguements. I am almost positive that if you sat down and turned on CNN (yes this will probably sound bias) you could watch for about an hour and think, "Yes! Trump should be impeached!" That may be because CNN's anchors can talk all they want about their opinions, without backing it up with facts. FOX on the other hand,they are less about opinion and more about giving you the facts so you ca make your own decision. Like my dad says, you need to make your own opinion of things, not just listen to the opinions of other people's without some research. Now, I'm not saying that FOX has no opinion at all, but to me it seems signifigantly less than some other networks.All in all, I believe the media can make Donald Trump sound as though he needs to be impeached, but the evidence is so scarce that he does not need to be. Like Ari and Matt said, maybe in time there will be further evidence for impeachment but for now nothing should be done.
ReplyDeleteOops, I just fixed my profile so my last name is there now. Haha sorry!
DeleteIn my opinion, there is not yet enough evidence to impeach President Donald Trump. Although there are many allegations that many are almost certain are true, there is not enough evidence to actually prove these wrongdoings true. According to the United States Constitution (Article II Section IV), in order for a President to be impeached, there must be some evidence of bribery, treason, or a high crime or significant misdemeanor. There is not enough evidence against President Trump to prove any of the preceding circumstances, therefore it would not get very far in court. It is crucial that there be a sufficient amount of evidence before impeaching a president, this is true for many reasons. For one, when a president is impeached it is likely to cause an uprising, or an excessive amount of conflict in the country. Also, an impeachment does not only affect the president of the country, but the Vice President and all civil Officers would be removed from office. As a result, America would be in despair as new leadership was sought out.
ReplyDeleteSo, although there is currently not enough evidence to begin the process of an impeachment, if new evidence came to light I believe it would indeed be extremely possible for it to occur.
As far as my personal opinion, I believe Trump should be impeached. Although it would be a long and tough process, I do not think he belongs in the White House whatsoever. President Trump has very clearly been involved in multiple conspiracies and acts of wrongdoing. He allegedly conspired with Russians to alter the election so that he would win, and Hillary Clinton would lose. Trump is a crooked man who lies, manipulates, discriminates, and bends the rules to fit his preferences and needs. He certainly is not fit for office.
The term “impeachment” goes back centuries ago in England, where it was said to be “a device for prosecuting great lords and high officials who were beyond the reach of the law courts,” as David O. Stewart wrote Impeached, a book about President Andrew Johnson’s trial. The Constitution set up the impeachment process so Congress can remove the president from power for a certain reason. The Constitution specifies only two specific crimes that a president could be impeached for: treason and bribery. In addition to that, it mentions a broader category of “other high crimes and misdemeanors.” However going through the articles provided I don't think there is enough information to impeach Donald Trump yet. Yes in the future investigators will dig up more dirt on him but as of now nothing is really clear on what's going. I believe that we still don't know the truth behind the “hacking”. Russia has repeatedly denied involvement in any attempts to influence November's US Presidential election. President Vladimir Putin, described these allegations as "fictional, illusory, provocations and lies." This whole situation is a mess and leads the people of America baffled. It’s an unhealthy situation and as Trump and his supporters have said a “big nothing burger” because people don't know what to believe anymore. Nothing is clear and there is many false accusations.
ReplyDeleteWhether Russia colluded with any of the presidential candidates in 2016 seems to be a very confusing concept. Some official articles say that Hillary Clinton could have had ties with Russia, or that the other side did. I believe the answer is that Trump definitely had support from Russia, and it became pretty obvious from the email saying that they could provide information that could have hurt Hillary's campaign. I'm not entirely sure if this would be considered collusion though. If the information that the Russians gave Trump about Hillary was correct and credible, then it wouldn't be fraud, the Russians would only be telling Trump about what really happened. Furthermore, impeaching Donald Trump wouldn't really make sense on either side because one controversial sounding email wouldn't be enough, and the email doesn't really show any fraud and cooperation. Even though this could be the case there definitely needs to be more investigation that goes on. The one suspicious thing that got me about the whole thing is the fact that Trump tried to pull FBI director James Comey out of investigating ties with Russia. If Trump is trying to cover something bigger about the case up, there needs to be more investigation. I think this is a big situation for America, and people should really be talking about it.
ReplyDeleteI believe Donald Trump did not collude with Russia. Like Kailyn Lawlor said, he would have gotten caught already and he is constantly on the media, so people would have figured it out by now. He should not be impeached because first off there is not enough evidence and second of all both him and Hillary Clinton threw dirt on each other's campaigns, and in the Politico article it says throwing dirt on another canidates campaign isn't a crime. That is a normal thing for politicians to do, especially when they have very different views. I also personally believe that this scandal keeps being brought up for attention, because again there still is not enough evidence and even if there was evidence it would be classified, but it would only be released if someone was committing a crime. So therefore I believe Trump would have gotten caught already and he should not be impeached for this.
ReplyDeleteTo my understanding there is not enough data provided to impeach Trump. The media tends to put out false information based on their belief. As Kelsey said, CNN can talk about their opinions all day without backing it up with facts. People will use the smallest evidence they have and totally pervert it, so people will believe them, based on their persuasive argument. Yes, there may have been some dirt on Clinton discussed between Goldstone and Donald Trump Jr. aren't official evidence that those are even real emails or online conversation between the two. The only things that were confirmed were the meetings as said in the article, " Russian Dirt on Clinton? ' I Love It,' Donald Trump Jr. said. As Elisja said,.. "in the future, investigators will dig up more dirt on him, but as of now nothing is really happening." There is really no hardcore evidence used to back up all these claims. Between President Trump, President Vladimir Putin, and others totally denying this situation, there is mass confusion and chaos that followed. Trump didn't even end up meeting up with some of the officials, it was Donald Trump Jr. The emails let alone weren't sent to the president. Therefore, I don't think Trump should get impeached based on the lack of adequate evidence to support this claim.
ReplyDeleteOut of forty five presidents, there have only been two presidents who have been impeached and accused of high crimes and misdemeanors. Andrew Johnson, the 17th President of the United States, was impeached because of the accusation that he had violated the Tenure of Office Act. Bill Clinton, the 42nd president of the United States, was impeached due to the fact that he had allegedly mislead a grand jury about his extramarital affair with Monica Lewinsky in the White House, and then persuading others to lie about it, too. Of course, there were also several other presidents who could have potentially been impeached.
ReplyDeleteIf Congress really wanted to impeach Donald Trump, it would be pretty simple. Based on hard data and facts, Trump could possibly be guilty of using foreign powers to win a democratic election (our enemies!). Donald Trump has made several comments that have created suspicion that he is violating the “emolument clause” (to prevent the president from being bribed by foreign powers). One comment he has made previously includes, He said that his Washington, D.C., hotel is “probably a more valuable asset than it was before”. This comment allows people to assume he is using the hotel to almost bribe foreign diplomats to favor him.
Not only has he made suspicious remarks but, at a later date, Donald Trump responded to these suspicions by saying “The law’s totally on my side, the president can’t have a conflict of interest.” There is a similar echo of Richard Nixon’s infamous comment, “When the president does it, that means it's not illegal.” However, impeachment is a political process, not a legal one. With all of the comments Trump has made referring to the emolument clause, it is quite possible that impeachment would be a simple task. This is only one small reason on top of several other reasons why Trump could possibly be impeached.
So, several questions remain; Should Donald Trump be impeached? Is there enough evidence to impeach President Donald Trump?
On a political standpoint, whether or not Donald Trump gets impeached is only based on Congress. However, with intense partisan loyalty of Republicans there might not be a difference between right and wrong. I agree with Kathryn’s point on the subject. Although Donald Trump's approval rate is dropping, it is unlikely he will be impeached. Historically speaking, even the most controversial scandals did not change partisanship. This holds true for president Nixon, Clinton and Reagan. These presidents include the three biggest scandals in modern American history, yet party loyalty had stayed strong almost all the way until the end.
In my opinion, it would be unlikely for Donald Trump to be impeached from office. Although there is an escalating pattern of misconduct, there hasn’t been a reason for Trump supporters to change sides. Again, even if Trump did in fact break the law, party loyalty may still stand strong, and without votes, Trump cannot be impeached.
I don’t believe that Trump colluded with the Russian Government. First off, Russia is one of our biggest enemies, and I don’t see why they would help Trump win the election, even if he convinced them. There’s not enough evidence to prove it and if it did happen, it would have been noticed by now. He would have been impeached a while ago. Also, this situation is considered to be a big secret, but if it were that big, it would've slipped out towards the beginning of his presidency (possibly on accident). Now his chances of getting impeached aren't very high/ According to FiveThirtyEight, “The Senate than holds an impeachment trial and essentially acts as the jury….it takes a two-thirds majority (67-100 votes) to do so.”
ReplyDeleteOne more thing I want to point out: I believe the media is going a little too crazy on this.There are so many articles out there: biased or not, true or false,etc. The point is not everything on the internet/in the media is true. Majority of the time, the media posts things that people want to hear. Agreeing with Kailyn, I believe the media likes to focus their attention on Trump a little too much. He can do the smallest thing and everyone has to know about it. Majority of the time people respond with disrespectful comments, protests, etc.
In conclusion, this topic should be further investigated, but the media needs to calm down. Many people will do anything to get him out of office. Like I said, at the moment there is not enough evidence to impeach Trump.
Based on recent events, I do believe President Trump should be impeached. Matt Ruegg and Ari Nanfito both disagree with this proposal, but let's be honest, Trump has not even been in office for a year and there have already been multiple complications. I think the speculation with him cheating to win the election should be enough not to trust him or the people that surround him. Donald Trump Jr. releasing those messages only makes the situation more complicated. And if that is not evidence, I did some research and found an article on the drastic decisions Trump has made as President ( http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/06/every-terrifying-thing-that-donald-trump-has-done.html ). One thing that really catches my eye is how Trump not only fired the FBI director, but also threatened him on Twitter. He has insulted/offended multiple world leaders. He's gone as far as to even praise the Phillippine president Rodrigo Duterte for killings thousands of people only because they were suspected of being drug dealers and users. Donald Trump cannot be trusted by his own country because of all the speculation that floats around him.
ReplyDeleteBut this leads to an important question. What will happen if Donald Trump is impeached? This is where vice president Mike Pence enters the picture. In my eyes, this is where things can take a turn for the worse. I find it to be terrifying because of the danger that comes along with it. While Pence has experience as a politician, his views are quite different from most. Pence has proven to be anti-abortion and anti-LGBT. He brings religion into his political views, and proposed $500 billion in cuts to federal programs in order to rebuild after Hurricane Katrina. If he does get the chance to be President, he has the ability to repeal the executive order which protects federal workers from discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation. Doing this would lead to a huge set back that many people have fought for over the decades.
Overall, I believe America is under fire when it comes to our political leaders, and it must be taken care of immediately
killing* not killings
DeleteAlthough I'm not a fan of his, there is not enough evidence to impeach President Donald Trump. A few emails can not back up such a serious crime; there has to be more information and facts. This is all likely just a theory, as if it were true, media would have figured it out by now and it'd be all over the news, regardless of the channel. Trump should not be impreached, especially at this point in time, since there is no factual evidence backing up the fact that Russia was involved in the 2016 election. If they were in fact involved, though, the right thing to do would be to impeach Donald Trump since that's very illegal. This would, of course, be despite the fact that the alternative is Mike Pence, who is also widely disliked for his views on the LGBTQ+ community.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I do believe that it is extremely likely that Donald Trump and his campaign colluded with Russian hackers, there is not enough solid evidence to prove it. Throughout Trump’s time as president, many events have occurred that have sparked a huge wave of doubt and suspicion in the American citizen’s minds. This includes Donald Trump Jr’s email chain. At the height of the Trump campaign, Donald Trump Jr admitted to meeting a Russian lawyer who claimed to have damaging information on Hillary Clinton. The most unbelievable part of Donald Trump Jr’s statement was that he said Jared Kushner and Paul Ryan knew nothing about this meeting, but still chose to attend. He claimed that without knowing who they were going to have a meeting with and not knowing what the meeting would be about, they decided to drop their busy schedules and attend. This is a pitiful, ridiculous and unbelievable attempt to keep Jared and Paul out of the scandal. This is exactly what is making the American people lose hope in their president. Not only that, but it makes the possibility of a Trump-Russia collusion more real than ever before. I feel that in Politico’s article “White House Aids Feeling Helpless as Trump Jr’s Scandal Explodes” they state the current situation of the Trump campaign extremely well. “What the core issue will be going forward, the Trump adviser said, is that the "Russia story will get worse and worse, and you can't just really say anymore, 'fake news.'” More and more evidence keeps coming out supporting the idea of a possible collusion with Russian hackers that is hard to deny. There are several “coincidences” that point to the clear manipulation of the election. Unfortunately, that is all they could be called at this point-just coincidences. I personally detest the Trump campaign for the most part. They have managed to make me consistently lose faith in the legitimacy of our government and that any good will come out of this presidency. However, I do not think the most important question is whether or not I believe Trump should be impeached. I think the better question would be that if Donald Trump is impeached will that fix our situation or just send us in another downward spiral? Let’s remember that there is indeed a line of succession in the government. If Donald trump is impeached, Mike Pence is next in line. He is a Christian, Conservative, and a Republican (in that order). Pence in known for his discrimination of the LGBTQ+ community (lead efforts to defund Planned Parenthood, believes of having a federal constitutional amendment defining marriage between a man and woman, etc.). This possibility strikes fear into the hearts of many LGBTQ members across America. Unlike Donald Trump who tries to stay mostly neutral with this topic, Pence is someone who would avidly take on the discrimination of gay citizens. This situation is tricky for Americans to decide. Do we keep Trump for the rest of his presidency or replace him with the conservative Mike Pence who threatens America’s image of freedom and equal rights for everyone? I admit that I have no conclusive opinion on this topic but I am leaning towards the side of keeping Trump as president. As for the media coverage on Donald Trump, I do not agree with Kailyn Lawlor. I believe that the media is spending a good amount on Trump because as soon as one scandal is over, another one even bigger pops up. We should be updated on what is going on in the government because what Trump proposes could potentially be our future. It’s imperative we take his election seriously more than ever. However, on the flip side of things I do also agree with Kailyn because over the course of the Trump campaign every stupid tweet of his has made it into the news when it has nothing to do with politics (the covfefe tweet for example).
ReplyDeleteI think that the Trump Presidential Campaign did, in fact, collude with Russia. Collusion means a secret or illegal cooperation or conspiracy, especially in order to cheat or deceive others. This is exactly what happened during Trumps campaign. According to the article "Russian Dirt on Clinton? ‘I Love It,’ Donald Trump Jr. Said - from The New York Times", Robert Goldstone emailed Donald Trump Jr. saying he had information that “would incriminate Hillary and her dealings with Russia and would be very useful to your father.” Donald Trump Jr. replied to this by saying "I love it." He knew what he was doing wrong and could have declined Goldstone's offer, but instead he set up a meeting with a Russian government lawyer which got him into this scandal. This proves that Donald Trump's election had ties with the Russian government. Despite all this, I would say that the emails are not enough evidence to impeach Trump. Although Trump is tied to all of this, he didn't directly send those emails. However, I think that the media should keep the people alert with new information. I think that this scandal can turn into something much larger and the American population and the rest of the world has a right to know.
ReplyDeleteThe question people are asking is should Trump be impeached. While many believe that he conversed with Russia to help him win the election, there is no hard evidence of this. This really a theory that was created by protesters and anti-Trump communities. Even though he would most likely be impeached if evidence of this were found, it is most likely a rumor rather than an actual event. Also, if Trump were to be impeached, vice president Mike Pence would be put in office. While everyone is entitled to their own opinions, most Americans would disagree with his way of "dealing with the lgbtq community". Most people dislike the idea of conversion therapy since it is a free country and people are entitled to their own likings. In conclusion, Trump should not be impeached.
ReplyDeleteIn the email timeline events, many hints to this being a not important issue are appearing. In my honest opinion, Russia would not have been helping Trump win, rather looking upon him and laughing. Especially spreading a false statement that Putin called him a "genius". I very much dislike Trump, he is not a very good leader to have in office at the moment to get involved in worldwide issues. Should he be impeached? Perhaps. But his replacement wouldn't be so swell either.
ReplyDeleteIn the email timeline events, many hints to this being a not important issue are appearing. In my honest opinion, Russia would not have been helping Trump win, rather looking upon him and laughing. Especially spreading a false statement that Putin called him a "genius". I very much dislike Trump, he is not a very good leader to have in office at the moment to get involved in worldwide issues. Should he be impeached? Perhaps. But his replacement wouldn't be so swell either.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I personally do not believe that Donald Trump is worthy of being the President of the United States, there is not enough evidence to impeach him. The emails sent by Donald Trump Jr. do not prove that Donald Trump colluded with the Russian government during the 2016 presidential election. But, if evidence is found to prove Donald Trump guilty I do believe that he should be impeached, even though his replacement, Vice President Mike Pence, is unpopular because of his views and opinions on the LGBTQ+ Community.
ReplyDeleteAmerica, smoke on the water or fire in the fields? Based on current evidence we are in a period of political espionage and wrong doing. I believe that during the 2016 election the trump campaign partook in what is known as collusion. The Donald Trump jr email chain is evidence of collusion between the trump campaign and Russia. This was the beginning of multiple meetings and conversations between campaign affiliates, Russian lawyers and officials. All of these, while maybe not directly connected, have in some way affected the election and current presidency. Even though trump sucks sometimes he shouldn't be impeached with this little evidence. Although there has been connections between party affiliates and Russian officials there hasn't been direct connections between the president and the actions of his campaign members. This whole story is very impactful on the current outlook of our country so i wouldn't say this is just a big nothing burger as some have said. As this is impactful, i believe the media is rushing stories, opinions and "facts" in order to get views. What they should do is hold off on being the first to report everything and collect info as it comes in to develop legitimate stories and truthful news. Until this happens, or a major leak within the Trump administration takes place,we wont know truly how involved the two parties are.
ReplyDeleteAlthough at this point it is certain that the Trump campaign met with Russian officials, there is no conclusive evidence that the meetings amounted to collusion. The Donald Trump Jr. email chain does show that the Trump campaign may have attempted to use these meetings with Russian officials as a way of gaining some sort of advantage over Hillary Clinton, but it is unclear whether this was actual collusion or simply a means of obtaining information that might be detrimental to the Clinton campaign. The latter scenario would indicate that the meetings may not have been a conspiracy to undermine the opposing candidate, but rather were used as a source of additional information. This is supported by the lack of evidence that it was Russia who hacked the DNC. In fact, it has been shown that John Podesta, the former head of the Clinton campaign, merely fell victim to a phishing scam, with no indication as to who orchestrated it. As such, there is not yet enough evidence to begin the process of impeachment, although further evidence to suggest direct collusion could very well allow the process to begin. Due to this lingering uncertainty, there is not enough information available for a definitive opinion on whether or not Donald Trump should be impeached. Furthermore, the lack of information makes it difficult to determine how important this story really is. As of right now, it certainly seems important enough to merit media attention, although the overwhelming amount of attention it is getting may detract somewhat from the attention given to other important stories, such as the proposed healthcare overhaul currently being debated in the Senate.
ReplyDeleteThere are many theories and beliefs that Trump worked with the Russians to win this election. Personally, I do not believe this is true. Donald Trump Jr's emails do not prove a conspiracy behind the election with Russian officials. There is not enough evidence to impeach Trump, but if the evidence that confirms there was a scandal with him and the Russians helping him win the presidential election, then he should be impeached, as any other president would be. I wouldn't say that this story is a "nothing burger," it does raise a few eyebrows, because Trump's campaign staffers did meet with Russian ambassadors and officials. I believe the media is spending way too much time on this story, there really isn't a lot of evidence to prove that Trump gained an advantage in the election from the Russians.
ReplyDeleteIn the article “Trump and Russia: Is the smoke turning into fire? This current event has been in the news and social media for a while but the big question is should we the people of the United States impeach our president? My opinion is to not trust the news/social media because this email chain was old news and the people don’t have enough information to impeach Trump. Some connections between the Russian officials and party affiliates had occurred but never direct connection with Donald Trump. So, in conclusion the president should not be impeached because not a lot of evidence show a connection. The trump supporters have said this story is a “big nothing burger” but in my opinion, I disagree because the US needs to make sure what is really happening and exposing him is a smart idea. But in the other side a big nothing burger is because no information/evidence are found against him so the society should focus on bigger issues in the America.I am not a republican but still agree with Trumps supporters because in reality this is a big nothing burger or in another word nothing to really worry about because the evidence don’t prove a good point so the president is safe. The social media is spending too much time on this story because nothing terrible had shown against the president. Also, I strongly believe now days social media is trying to gain population and just more news that are not important to show. It could have been the most important political story right now if the evidence with connections were with the president but also the emails but all in his social media. Finally, this is an irrelevant topic because just by the title this could start drama and major issues because any ways not a lot of countries around the world like the president actions and the way he expresses everything on twitter and more. Lastly social media is trying to gain more views but also if people start paying attention that almost once a week people talk about trump tweets but why don’t we talk about isis, the educational cuts, and terrors attack. So, in conclusion the president should not get impeached because not a lot of evidence are against him, also social media is making a big deal about this topic to discuss about something that could cause a mess but also in my opinion this ends to be known as “big nothing burger.”
ReplyDeleteBased on the Russian scandal timeline the Trump campaign colluded with Russia. Donald Trump Jr.’s email chains back and forth with the Russian government show that senior members of the Trump Campaign tried (unsuccessfully) to facilitate Russian government efforts to defeat Hillary Clinton. On July 8, Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kusher, and Paul Manafort had a private, undisclosed meeting with a Russian lawyer that was said to be about an adoption program. However, they failed to mention the lawyer they met with was alleged to have connections to the Kremlin. The New York Times later found new evidence suggesting Donald Trump Jr. went to the meeting due to the fact that he was going to be promised damaging information on Hillary Clinton and that it had nothing to due with an adoption program. On July, 10 the Times gained new information saying that Donald Trump Jr. received an e-mail beforehand making it clear that the lawyer was acting as part of the Russian government effort to aid his father’s candidacy. Donald Trump even made a very public statement that if Russia had anything on Hillary Clinton and her campaign to leak it to wikileaks, and that they did. When he chose to make this statement he was behind Hillary in the poles. However, he later surprisingly won despite always being behind Hillary. I find it hard to believe that Donald Trump did not know the true reason behind the meeting with Russia that included his son and senior members from his campaign. All this evidence proves that Trump’s campaign members were conspiring with Russia but it is not proof that Trump was directly communicating with Russia or knew his advisers were. As of right now there is not any proof to show Trump’s direct involvement in this scandal, so we can not impeach him. I would not take this story lightly because the media may find more dirt and damaging information the Trump family and his campaign do not want to come forth with. The amount of time the media is spending on this story seems to be controversial. Although, they are spending a little too much time on the story the media is doing a great job of uncovering the truth.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nationalreview.com/article/449376/donald-trump-jr-e-mails-proof-trump-campaign-attempted-collusion-russia
There are a lot of theories and beliefs that Donald Trump was working with the Russians to win the election. In reality, there really wasn't that much proof that he was. I don't personally think that this is completely true. Though when he met with the Russian ambassador, it did kind of make you raise an eyebrow as to what business he has meeting with him. It made me think that maybe he is working with the Russians. If there does end up being proof, i do think that he should be impeached ,because tampering with votes is illegal. In the end, there really isn't that much proof to say that he was working with the Russians. I think the media should leave the topic alone until there is concrete evidence to back it up.
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