For all the "witch hunt" enthusiasts: How do you get to the bottom of Russian interference in the election excluding a close look at Trump?

I guess,if you have access, you can look through the Russian evidence on their side…

Russian interference in the election is one thing, and doing it in collusion with Trump’s campaign is another. Evidence says the first happened, whether the second did or not. Failing to establish collusion would not mean the Russians were innocent. We have to keep the two ideas separate until and unless a connection is established and verified.

I do think, though, that there’s plenty of basis for investigating possible connections between Trump’s guys and Putin’s, and it seems obvious that Trump is desperate to hide something. Since he appears to have no sense of shame or decency and no respect for law or custom, it’s hard to imagine what that could be.

Waterboard the Drumpf clan until they confess.

The extent to which Russia, and other countries, interfere in US elections is an important question that has to be thoroughly investigated, last year’s campaigning included. Trump’s talk of ‘witch hunts’ and pardons and his attempts to shut down, discredit or hinder the investigations are highly suspicious because if he had nothing to hide why would he not welcome an inquiry?

@Jeruba has a good point, interference and collusion are, and should be considered, two different animals. My gut feeling is that it is part of the WH strategy to make sure the two are viewed as one in order to keep their Rep. colleagues in Congress acting as a buffer between them and the population.

Finding a direct Trump/Putin connection will be very difficult; Putin is a lot more skilled in subterfuge and obfuscation than Trump could ever dream of being, I believe the odds are good that they will find a Trump/Russian minions and shell corporation connections but getting to the top of the Russian echelon will not happen.

The question is will this connection ever become public? I think the odds on this are a lot smaller.
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Here’s an article in today’s New York Times that makes a point of the distinction while also arguing that the Russians’ meeting with Kushner was deliberately exposed in order to have just the destabilizing effect it has.

For information purposes, and not to debate—

(1) Comey leaked the information (a felony in itself) in order to get the ‘Special Council’ —and Mueller, a long-time close friend and associate of Comey, was appointed (by Rosenstien) to head the council.

(2) The original purpose of the council is no longer the focus. The agenda was originally to investigate Russian meddling in the election, but shifted to Trump’s ‘obstruction’—

(3) When Trump suggested there may be a recording, Comey backed down fast from his allegations. Trump had no such recording. But his backing down implies Comey was going to hold to a story that Trump intimidated and bullied him. It can therefore be established that Comey was trying to fabricate an obstruction accusation.

(4) The focus of the Special Counsel has been all over the place, as long as its focus is to dig up anything on Trump. Every week there is some new discovery that becomes a national hysteria, even though it has been revealed that the democrats have actually DONE the things Trump is only accused of.

(5) Mueller has appointed Hillary Clinton’s personal retainer and several other well-known Hillary, Clinton Foundation, and Obama attourneys—to go after Trump. There is no balance on the ‘special counsel’—only anti-Trump activist attorneys,

(6) Intelligence should be investigating the many leaks, felonies, and anti-American activities of the previous administration and the predicted Hillary campaign,

(7) The Russians wanted Hillary to win,. They have uneasy but cordial and productive relations with Obama and Hillary. Trump is unpredictable and touts ‘America First.”

Many of you believe Trump owes something to Russia and the elections were hacked somehow. I fail to see any real evidence for this outside of a few people in the Trump campaign having relatively minor conversations and meeting with people from Russia. But it is very clear to me that the Special Council is made up of anti-Trump activists who are given free reign to dig up whatever they want.

This is the reason the pro-Trumpers are saying what they are.

> For information purposes, and not to debate ^^^

Jaruba — Flutherother and several others do not understand why Trump is defensive if he has nothing to hide.

Comey’s best friend / long-time associate (Mueller) is in charge of the investigation and Comey is also the chief witness. Could there be a more glaring and illegal conflict of interest?
Only Long-term attorneys for Hillary and Obama are hired in the investigation. That’s who will be determining.

I’m not debating. I’m explaining why Trump supporters are calling foul.

@Yellowdog The real problem Trump has with special counsel (sic) Robert Mueller is that he is a man of integrity who has shown himself in the past to be prepared to stand up to the president on matters of principle.

@Yellowdog Trump is always defensive, and belligerently so. Nothing is ever his fault. He never makes a mistake. If his approval rating is at 30%, the lying media is suppressing the truth.

Can not even admit a typo.

It seems to be a common practice on Fluther to ask a question and then bash people who answer it, as you asked. It is called “poisoning the well.”

I’m not bashing YOU. I’m saying Trump is not a man capable of recognizing his mistakes, and would actually settle for impeachment in preference to admitting ANY of them. Tell the truth. Can you tell us that it never crossed your mind that there might be serious misalignments or missing items among the gears and switches in Trump’s wheel house?

Donald Trump is a great role model for anyone who wants to put his opinions and half-baked notions out there as facts, without evidence, and declare them exempt from debate.

What has crossed my mind about Donald Trump is that he has no political experience but lots of business sense. He is vulgar and unlikable and far too impulsive. But he has surrounded himself with counsel who can get the job done and may be just the person to do that.

We are living (seriously) in times more turbulent than the Vietnam era. Trump has a way to get through this. Others have different ideas, but it doesn’t matter because one way or another we WILL get through this.

^Well. The people Trump surrounded himself with are going through a revolving door. He has a higher turnover rate than a McDonald’s… Maybe his “business sense” can kick in soon. It’s pretty common knowledge that businesses with high turnover rates aren’t usually run well from the top… Trump had touted his subordinates as the best. Now, after only 6 months, I guess they weren’t…

Hacking voter registration information is not good, whether Russians did it or anyone else, but I think a bigger issue on the table is whether anyone hacked our vote counting, aggregating, and the final totals reporting systems.
Could some of this voter-fraud ‘investigation’ tiptoe into election-fraud snooping, please?

All of the few white-hat teams who have had access to electronic vote counting systems found multiple vulnerabilities that would allow someone to alter votes.
Most electronic voting machines have been certified by no-one but the people who sell/lease them to states.