So what do you all make of the indictments? The reports of Russians supporting Trump I was prepared for.
The next question is, why were the Russians supporting Trump? What is it about Donald they liked more than Hillary?
OR, there was a bit in one of the links about Russian efforts supporting Bernie Sanders and being against the Republican candidates who opposed Trump. So what drew them towards Bernie and how were they for Bernie and Donald? Either one I can imagine reasons for but its a strange combination.
13 Russian nationals indicted for interfering in US elections
Mueller indicts 13 Russian nationals over 2016 election interference - CNNPolitics
Hopefully everyone won't reply like a paid Russian cheerleader or party/cult fanatic.
Jan 29 - State Dept and Treasury were in the process of coming up with new sanctions on Russia.
These latest revelations put pressure on Trump to sign off on things that will be very upsetting to some people over there. There's going to be a lot of scrutiny on the new sanctions.
Mueller wants Trump to think he's in the clear. "unwittingly"....that's another way of saying participated in without full knowledge, which opens the door to... "okay, we know you talked to these people, what did you think was happening...tell us what was in your head"...you play dumb, you look incompetent, Trump does not like that.
But like Bannon said, it always been about Money Laundering.
What's the point of coming up with new sanction's when Trump don't want to put in place sanction already signed into law last July?
Reading up on Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act - I think that's the one you mean, as of Jan 29 -- penalties went into effect for people doing business with Russian Oligarchs and arms sales and Treasury now has some power to levy sanctions independent of the President and is expected to do so. There was no timeline for how long they have. Mnuchin told Senate Finance this week the new sanctions are in the works.
Treasury was also required to assemble a more detailed list of Oligarchs, holdings, etc. The list they turned in by the deadline was similar to one published in Forbes. I guess when you're short staffed you make do.
State has said they need to make sure allies have weaned themselves off Russian arms contracts before the new sanctions go into effect. Something they should have already been doing.
The expectation was that all the work they say they're doing now would have been done and the new Sanctions would have gone into effect on the first day possible, Jan 29. By waiting, there will now be more scrutiny on the sanctions and the list of Oligarchs.