Lindsey Graham got pranked. A Russian, who may have connections to the Kremlin, called Graham and presented himself as the Turkish Minister of Defense. Through two calls, Graham fell for it.
Some odds and ends from the call:
Graham labeled the Kurds a “threat” to Turkey in the call, seemingly contradicting what he has said publicly in recent days.
Graham also mentions Trump’s personal interest in a “Turkish bank case” in the call that appears to refer to a U.S. case involving Reza Zarrab, an Iranian-Turkish gold trader and client of Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani. Bloomberg reported on Wednesday that Trump had asked then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in 2017 to help persuade the Justice Department to drop the Zarrab case.
“I told President Trump that Obama made a huge mistake in relying on the YPG Kurds,” Graham continued. “Everything I worried about has come true, and now we have to make sure Turkey is protected from this threat in Syria. I’m sympathetic to the YPG problem, and so is the president, quite frankly.”
In the hoax call, Graham suggested that the president would try to help Erdogan regarding that case [the Zarrab case] as best he could. “I like President Erdogan,” Graham told the pranksters. “I think President Trump likes President Erdogan. I think he’s a strong man and we need to deal with strong people.”
And there’s more!
Open Thread!
Geoboy
There are no words adequate to describe how stupid and despicable this cabal is.
misterpuff
Spineless Lindsey lost his spine or his public face. Does it matter?
misterpuff
@Geoboy: This is good news for John McCain.
Marcopolo
Then there is this reporting:
Remember when McCarthy said this:
Jeffro
I can’t even.
Actually, I can: even SC voters deserve better than this.
zhena gogolia
I’m so glad we were so worried about national security and secure communications when Clinton was running for President.
Millard Filmore
I am confused. Why would a Russian with connections to the Kremlin spill the contents of this call?
May FSM permit me to live a long enough healthy life to know.
Yarrow
From the article:
So Russian intelligence, no doubt directed by Putin, pranked Lindsey Graham. Seems like a pretty big warning to him. Why else would they pick him? They’ve definitely got dirt on him.
Emerald
Gawd. I really hope President Harris will get her AG, Preet Bharara, to prosecute every one of these criminal traitors. I want ’em in JAIL. I want every one of ’em in JAIL.
Ruckus
He’s not real bright.
First, he’s a rethuglican.
Second, his wallet doesn’t have any brains.
Third, neither does it have any concept of country.
And considering how brilliant he isn’t, his chances of finding and understanding a clue are damn little.
Yarrow
@Marcopolo: And remember how Paul Ryan shut him up right quick? Tick tock, Paulie blue eyes.
Emerald
@Ruckus: Sad thing is, Graham actually is bright. He’s just sold his soul, if he ever had one.
low-tech cyclist
@Millard Filmore:
Wondering the same – how do they gain by pantsing Lindsey Graham like this? I don’t get it.
germy
Here’s a tweet from seven years ago:
PaulWartenberg
@Millard Filmore:
Someone in the loop probably felt Graham was crossing a line in his public defense of the Kurds, so they aired this prank call to show the Senator’s hypocrisy and to alienate the Kurds further from any U.S. support still here.
MattF
@Yarrow: Hmm. A pretty clear ‘You’re on our shit list’ to Lindsey.
LuciaMia
And they keep on coming.
Millard Filmore
@Yarrow:
A clear suggestion that Graham needs to back off the criticism of Turkey’s invasion.
Ruckus
@Millard Filmore:
To keep him in line.
He pretty obviously been bought and his purchaser is pissed that he’s not toeing the company line.
NotMax
Surprising he’s by now not permanently wearing a whiplash collar.
Ruckus
@Emerald:
Selling that, to a cut rate thief makes him not all that bright
Yarrow
@low-tech cyclist: @Millard Filmore: It’s a warning by Putin to Lindsey Graham about his Turkey comments. That’s how Russia warns. That’s how the mob warns. “Nice Senate job you got there, Lindsey. Shame if something were to happen to it.”
CliosFanBoy
@NotMax: only on weekends, in private, and if he’s been a good boy all week.
germy
Frankensteinbeck
@low-tech cyclist:
Simplest explanation is that it fulfills Putin’s known objective of increasing chaos in the American government. I believe Adam has suggested that the left hand does not always know what the right hand is doing in Russia, as well.
SFAW
@Millard Filmore:
Well, I knew it was possible to hate Graham more than I already did, but I didn’t think it would happen this quickly.
That spineless fuck. I hope whoever runs against him keeps talking about any kompromat that Putin’s doggie has on him. Even if there isn’t any — although that seems unlikely, given his about-face supposedly contemporaneous with his golf course meeting with the Traitor-in-Chief — it will make put him on the defensive, and maybe a Fahrenthold-like investigator will shake something loose.
ETA: But I gotta ask: is this story legit? Only place I see it is a Google hit for Politico.
Yarrow
@MattF: It’s a warning. They have dirt on him. He admitted his campaign email was hacked. Who knows what else they’ve got. They own Lindsey. This is a warning that he’s stepped out of line.
satby
I keep thinking whatever they have on Graham is big time, throw in the slammer illegal. Not just his purported orientation, because even in South Carolina people have gotten more accepting of gays.
I’m starting to wonder if the guy is a murderer or pedophile or something, and the Russians have video.
rikyrah
For the tinfoil section:
Rudy as patsy???
https://twitter.com/BroderWriter/status/1182330871228985345
Millard Filmore
@Yarrow:
And none of the Republican leadership will speak up about this behavior, of Graham or Russia. The entire GOP party at the national level is compromised. The USA will not survive another 4 years of GOP control. Even survival with a Democratic President that wants to work “across the isle” is looking very iffy.
PPCLI
@Millard Filmore: Maybe it’s a shot across the bow because Lindsey is showing resistance. If this is the warning shot, it tells you how bad the truly damaging stuff is.
Yarrow
@satby: Well, there was this a week ago or so:
Frankensteinbeck
I don’t think this is a mob-style warning. I don’t see how it would be useful as one. He’s making it clear in private that he has no opposition to Trump and is just making meaningless cover statements in public. At most it’s a general statement that if you are too loud Russia will embarrass you.
PJ
I don’t know how anyone who has ever heard a Russian speak English (or even an American actor or comedian fake a Russian accent) could think the person playing the Turkish Defense Minister was Turkish. And certainly not if they’d ever heard a Turk speaking English. Can anybody with a funny accent just call a Senator’s office and pretend to be a foreign minister?
rikyrah
@satby:
I hear you
germy
@Frankensteinbeck: According to the article linked, the pranksters also called Schiff, who promptly smelled a rat.
Ella in New Mexico
@Yarrow:
Oh, yeah.
There is NO other reason for them to do this then hand the tapes of the call over to a journo unless this is a big fucking shot over Lindsey Graham’s bow from Vlad to stay in line.
Expect to see LG come out harder and wronger then ever about Impeachment
Cacti
Breaking:
Rudy’s Ukrainian pals Lev and Igor had lunch with him at the Trump International just hours before they were picked up at Dulles, trying to flee the country.
CarolDuhart2
Lindsey Graham has an opponent.
Yarrow
@Millard Filmore:
Yep.
Miss Bianca
@PJ: In this administration, apparently yes. Or at least, a Republican one.
@germy: QED
mrmoshpotato
@Yarrow:
FTFY and FTFNYT.
Frankensteinbeck
@germy:
Which further reduces the possibility this is a mob type warning. It’s just one little Russian office needling the American system again. A lot of things in life happen for petty reasons.
Emerald
@Ruckus: A fair point.
rikyrah
@Marcopolo:
probably hundreds of thousands
Gravenstone
Are any of these people not craven, yet blithering idiots?
Kraux Pas
Do Graham is insincere about his support for the Kurds? Well, I’m flabbbergasted
Kattails
@SFAW: Quick read on Politico mentions being provided a tape. So… probably…but you are quite right to remain cautious with damn near everything nowadays. “It’s 6 AM, the sun is rising.” “You sure? I’d better check that. 6 AM where? Do we have corroborating witnesses?”
My thinking lately is that the witches who worked at putting a binding spell on Trump went after the wrong guy, they need to re-convene and try taking down the puppet master, not the puppet.
MattF
@Cacti: This seems to me to be a big deal. ‘They never mentioned the fact that they were packed and on their way to Dulles airport.’ ‘One way tickets to Frankfurt. Really?’
germy
The Graham call would make a good episode for Crank Yankers.
mrmoshpotato
@PJ:
Can you put on a funny accent and dial your Senator’s office?
Then yes! ?
I really want to see these idiots get pranked by….hmmmm….an Australian pretending to be the king of Denmark. Oh they’d fall for it.
Chris
In re all the “what’s the point” questions; publicly outing a senior American politician as a worthless clown is an ends in itself.
Ryan
So it’s not just trump. it’s any authority figure that passes Graham where he turns into a trembling pile of pudding?
Kattails
@Yarrow: Well ain’t that just tantalizing. I would be ever so nice for Mr. Winslow and friend to further enlighten us, but I guess we’ll just have to keep reading for the next plot twist.
NotMax
@mrmoshpotato
Wonder no longer about who sent funds to that Nigerian prince.
;)
guachi
Econ/YouGov has done a weekly primary poll for months.
Latest Econ/YouGov poll has the top three:
Warren – 29
Biden – 24
Sanders – 14
White voters:
Warren – 34
Biden – 20
Sanders – 14
Black voters:
Biden – 42
Warren – 15
Sanders – 9
Would consider voting:
Warren – 58
Biden – 48
Sanders – 40
Harris – 32
Buttigieg – 29
White voters consider:
Warren – 65
Biden – 45
Sanders – 41
Buttigieg – 39
Harris – 33
Black voters consider:
Biden – 59
Warren – 48
Sanders – 38
Harris – 36
Booker – 14
Disappointed if nominee: (only listing Biden/Sanders/Warren)
Biden – 20
Sanders – 18
Warren – 8 (lowest of all candidates)
White disappointed if nominee:
Biden – 26
Sanders – 21
Warren – 9 (lowest of all candidates)
Black disappointed if nominee:
Sanders – 13
Biden – 7
Warren – 5 (tied with O’Rourke for lowest)
mrmoshpotato
@NotMax: Lindsay will be madder than he was at Blackout Drunk College Rapist’s confirmation hearing.
Miss Bianca
@guachi: Interesting! Thanks for sharing!
Chyron HR
There’s no space in “strongman” when you’re using it in that context, Linds.
Chyron HR
@guachi:
NO NO NO!
WARREN HAS A BLACK PROBLEM!
THE BLACKS WILL RIOT IF SHE GETS THE NOMINATION!
NOTED AFRICAN-AMERICAN JOE BIDEN SAYS SO!
Cacti
@MattF:
And apparently, Barr has known about the SDNY investigation since February.
Millard Filmore
@Cacti:
While I am pleased that Barr did not shut this down, is there something he should have done differently?
Cacti
@Millard Filmore:
Not had Rudy tip them off that indictments were coming and to get out of town.
Millard Filmore
@Cacti: I see now, thanks.
JaySinWA
@low-tech cyclist: I think they’re trying to diffuse the Graham tirade against the Trump Kurd betrayal.
Or what he said @PaulWartenberg:
laura
I can smell trump’s ass all over Lindsey Graham’s face all the way over here on the west coast. His comments to pranksters are very revealing that he would not be surprised or.concerned to have received such a call.
All of them are compromised. ALL. OF. THEM. The entire republican party is compromised by a foreign hostile nation.
Treason is not an over reach. They are traitors to our nation.
kindness
Graham deserves to be paddled in the woodshed. Except he’d probably like it.
PJ
@Cacti: The indictments had already been prepared (and maybe filed under seal?), and it was their one-way tickets which triggered filing or unsealing so that they could be arrested, but apparently the FBI was still gathering evidence (and, knowing Trump, that evidence was accumulating from day to day.)
rikyrah
@laura:
no lie told
hells littlest angel
@Yarrow: Maybe they were trying to get Lindsey to talk about just how much he likes big strong Erdogan
Ocotillo
@guachi: If the Warren can start to sell the black community, this thing will be over fast.
Yarrow
“China, if you’re listening…”
guachi
@Ocotillo: It will be. Warren is pulling support from basically everywhere. She’s up about 8 points in the last month since her surge started and she’s taking it from most other candidates, it looks like.
Biden down 1.9, Sanders down 1.8, Harris 0.9, Booker 1.4, etc. And most of those other candidates have no support to lose. I can see everyone but the top three being wiped out after whatever the 4th contest is (Nevada? SC?) and most being gone after the first two.
MomSense
The stupidity, perfidy and cruelty of these fucking people.
rikyrah
did they do this during the crack era?
Meet Elmo’s friend Karli, kids: New Sesame Street puppet lives in foster care while her mother battles opioid addiction
Sesame Workshop is exploring the backstory of Karli, a friend of Elmo
Viewers will hear her explain to others that her mom has ‘a grown-up problem’
Initiative is part of the Sesame Street in Communities resources available online
5.7 million children under 11 live with a parent with substance use disorder
Karli had already been introduced as a puppet in foster care earlier this year but viewers now will understand why her mother had to go away for a while
The segments will feature Salia Woodbury, 10, whose parents are in recovery
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
PUBLISHED: 19:02 EDT, 9 October 2019 | UPDATED: 12:56 EDT, 10 October 2019
Mike in NC
Here’s hoping the FBI can get these Putin stooges to sing and name names (starting with Crazy Rudy and Moscow Mitch). They’re all on the Kremlin payroll.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Emerald:
Miss Pittypat genuinely needs to sit at a table with a bottle of whiskey and a laptop. He can detail the blackmail, the participants, everything he knows, attaching any documents he can reach.
Once he hits “send” to about two dozen news orgs, he can do the right thing.
MCA1
@Frankensteinbeck: I think I’m more on board with your take here. If the Russians have serious, criminal justice level kompromat on Graham, there’s no way he would have spoken up so publicly and stridently in opposition to a Putin/Erdogan military objective like this, out of fear that he’d piss them off and they’d burn him. He’d continue cowering. Likewise if Trump had something that bad about Graham in his pocket.
I think he’s trying, poorly, to have his cake and eat it, too. On the one hand, acting all mavericky in public, like his dearly departed idol and mentor, to establish his independent bona fides and fight the narrative that he’s become a blind, deranged Mango Nero sycophant. And on the other hand, continuing to be a toady behind the scenes, sucking up to Erdogan’s supposed minister and helping solidify the alliance between Trump and that particular autocrat. Maybe that’s all kabuki pre-approved by puppetmasters, but I tend to think it’s a hamhanded, cynical move executed badly, since it involves such wildly contradictory postures that he looks demented and/or compromised.
RedDirtGirl
@Emerald: Come sit by me!
Viva BrisVegas
@mrmoshpotato:
An Australian will be the next Queen of Denmark.
NotMax
@guachi
As it stands now (some dates remain subject to change), the early D contests:
Feb. 3 – Iowa caucus
Feb. 11 – New Hampshire primary
Feb. 22 – Nevada caucus
Feb. 29 – South Carolina primary
March 3:
Alabama primary
American Samoa caucus
Arkansas primary
California primary
Colorado primary
Democrats Abroad primary
Massachusetts primary
Minnesota primary
North Carolina primary
Oklahoma primary
Tennessee primary
Texas primary
Utah primary
Vermont primary
Virginia primary
Zelma
I just saw a story that the woman who denied Biden’s request to take down the lying Facebook ads is a long time Republican campaign worker. Also that Zuckerberg got big Russian investment money in 2009. And that Guilliani’s pals gave money to other Republican pols.
So we have a political party and an economic elite who are in hock to our primary adversary and the foreign corrupting influence has reached unparalleled heights. We have truly become a “banana republic,” in the most traditional sense of the term. Because, after all, the original “banana republics” were countries where foreign economic interests corrupted the political and economic elites who then cheerfully pocketed the money and sold out the people.
How far the mighty USA has fallen,
NotMax
@NotMax
DC, MT, NJ, NM, SD, VI and PR get the short end of the stick this time, holding caucus or primary during early June (as currently scheduled).
Mike in DC
@NotMax: That’s one third of the contests within a month of Iowa. We should be down to 2 or 3 candidates after that.
Miss Bianca
@NotMax: Wow, so many primaries on March 3, ours (CO) among them! Now if we could just get rid of this stupid “first we caucus, but ONLY for state-level positions, then we have the primary vote!” bullshit. Honestly, not sure what the hell is up with that.
NotMax
@Miss Bianca
Be interesting to see which news outlets, if any, hold off reporting “called” results on March 3rd until polls in California have closed.
Yutsano
@Viva BrisVegas: Well aren’t we all fancy! The Crown Prince met him an Aussie I take it?
On topic: So now Lyndsey has no credibility left. None. He’s willing to say anything to anyone as long as it advances his interests. He can’t be a snake because snakes are more noble than he is.
sdhays
@satby: I’m pretty late to the “Lindsey Graham is compromised” club – I thought that his cozying up to Dump was probably just standard Lindsey election year shuffling. But there’s no way he thinks he needs to be this shamelessly servile for that. I wondered if maybe what he wants is to be the President’s buddy who goes to the White House and tells the Preznit the news that he’s not going to survive a Senate trial and should resign before getting convicted. But even that doesn’t require what we’re seeing from him.
Like you said, it must be really, really bad.
John Revolta
@Mike in NC: These guys to me have the look of professionals, and if that’s true, and they’re working for Russian interests, they ain’t singing shit.
Cameron
@NotMax: Wow. It’ll be over before we get a shot here in FL on St. Patrick’s Day.
chopper
@Millard Filmore:
because graham is outwardly opposing trump’s decision to fuck the kurds over.
p.a.
@PJ: Magnets and caller i.d.- what’s up with that?
Marcopolo
@NotMax: late to probably a dead thread but CA results won’t be called for weeks. They do vote by mail and postmarked ballots in the system will be counted whenever they arrive at the counting locations. Just remember how long it took to wrap up the 2018 election results there.
Anyways, while there will be a massive number of delegates awards from CA is won’t be a fast process.
p.a.
Good band name.
Also invites a George Takei “Oh my!” take…
Miss Bianca
My God, what’s next? “Senator Graham, is your refrigerator running? Do you have Prince Albert in a can?”
NotMax
@Miss Bianca
Well, it is possible he does have a Prince Albert.
:)
(Inquiring minds do NOT want to know.)
SRW1
Lindsey is not the brightest flashlight in the cupboard, is he?
Bobby Thomson
Someone cryptically suggested the reporter broke an agreement to report this story.
Anyway, ole Crocodile Tears Lindsay appears to have been the original architect of this genocide – or else he was carrying water for someone who was.
jonas
As several posters have already pointed out, these are the guys who called Schiff’s Intelligence Committee posing as a Ukranian official saying they had some dirt on something or other (iirc) relating to the Trump-Biden-Ukraine affair. Schiff’s staffers told them if they were serious to take it to the FBI and that was that (no “if it’s what you say it is, I love it!” etc.). They’re openly pro-Putin and their M.O. seems to be just trying to make American politicians look like idiots. They didn’t really succeed in Schiff’s case, but boy, did they nail Graham. He’s an utter fucking craven hypocrite.