The Trump Presidency

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The big news, via Associated Press↱:

President Donald Trump abruptly fired FBI Director James Comey Tuesday, saying it was necessary to restore “public trust and confidence” in the nation's top law enforcement agency following several tumultuous months.

“The FBI is one of our nation's most cherished and respected institutions, and today will mark a new beginning for our crown jewel of law enforcement,” Trump said in a statement.

The White House said the search for a new FBI director was beginning immediately.

The White House made the stunning announcement shortly after the FBI corrected a sentence in Comey's sworn testimony on Capitol Hill last week. Comey told lawmakers that Huma Abedin, a top aide to Hillary Clinton, had sent “hundreds and thousands” of emails to her husband's laptop, including some with classified information.

I'm sorry, did that just happen?
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Notes:

Associated Press. "Trump fires FBI Director James Comey". 9 May 2017. APNews.com. 9 May 2017. http://apne.ws/2pwKoWu
Unfortunately it did. The irony here is that Trump fired Come for the very act he celebrated just a few months ago.

It's very odd Trump only now, after the FBI investigation of Trump's Russian business connections was disclosed, did Trump act to terminate Comey. And the March toward fascism continues. This could be the end of an independent FBI, and the beginning of a politicalized system of justice.
 
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Trumps hatred for anything Obama shows no bounds...it is as if he has this obsession to eradicate or diminish any mention of Obama... and not just for political reasons.
(Comey was appointed FBI Director by Obama in 2013)
 
Trumps hatred for anything Obama shows no bounds...it is as if he has this obsession to eradicate or diminish any mention of Obama... and not just for political reasons.
(Comey was appointed FBI Director by Obama in 2013)
This isn't about any hatred for Obama. This is Trump attempting to protect his butt. It's a continuing pattern of behavior. Trump has gone to extraordinary lengths to avoid an investigation of his campaign's Russian connections.

Trump first tried to derail the investigation by compromising the House chairman leading the investigation, and he succeeded. He tried to stop the congressional testimony of former Acting Attorney General Yates, and now he has fired the FBI director who is investigating his campaign and his associates.

This is all about a criminal cover-up. Trump has fired the man in charge of investigating him, and he will appoint the man who will be in charge of the investigation. That's a problem. We haven't seen anything like this since Richard Nixon. But this is much worse than anything Nixon did. This is Nixon on steroids.
 
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Holly fuck! Just out of the blue might be because trump is so fucking impulsive.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/09/...-live.html?smid=tw-nytpolitics&smtyp=cur&_r=0
 
#PutiTrump | #WhatTheyVotedFor


Katy Tur↱ noted today, following the daily press briefing: "President Trump has hired a private lawyer to respond Lindsey Graham's questions about his Russia biz dealings."
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Notes:

Tur, Katy. "President Trump has hired a private lawyer to respond Lindsey Graham's questions about his Russia biz dealings". Twitter. 9 May 2017. Twitter.com. 9 May 2017. http://bit.ly/2pxnRbZ
 
Well I guess the world shall find out how important it is for law enforcement/investigation to be separate from the executive.
We shall see if the citizens of the USA will stand for it or not...
My guess is that they will...
 
The big question is "Will Trump get a pardon, that Nixon got, from the next president?
It's too premature for that. But my bet is if it comes down to that, he will. Pence is next in line, and the pardon will be the carrot to entice Trump to leave as it was for Nixon. If he fails to take it, he could wind up in jail. For Trump and his phobias, that would be a horror. No gilded anything, I don't know if Trump could survive. Trump won't go easily. But the prospect of avoiding a jail cell could go a long way toward prying him out of office. He's the deal maker, the master negotiator, and the king of debt, remember?

I expect his cronies will fall first. That's probably why he so concerned about an investigation of them. The question now is, does Trump issue a pardon to his cronies beginning with Flynn? I wouldn't be at all surprised if Trump issued blanket pardons to his partners in crime.
 
This isn't about any hatred for Obama. This is Trump attempting to protect his butt. It's a continuing pattern of behavior. Trump has gone to extraordinary lengths to avoid an investigation of his campaign's Russian connections.

Trump first tried to derail the investigation by compromising the House chairman leading the investigation, and he succeeded. He tried to stop the congressional testimony of former Acting Attorney General Yates, and now he has fired the FBI director who is investigating his campaign and his associates.

This is all about a criminal cover-up. Trump has fired the man in charge of investigating him, and he will appoint the man who will be in charge of the investigation. That's a problem. We haven't seen anything like this since Richard Nixon. But this is much worse than anything Nixon did. This is Nixon on steroids.

Exactly. This has zero to do with Obama and zero to do with Hillary. And everything to do with shutting down the investigation and anyone over there at DOJ that even thinks about crossing him. It doesn't get much worse than this without the tanks rolling down Pennsylvania Avenue enforcing martial law.
 
The timing of this is telling..

Federal prosecutors have issued grand jury subpoenas to associates of former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn seeking business records, as part of the ongoing probe of Russian meddling in last year's election, according to people familiar with the matter. CNN learned of the subpoenas hours before President Donald Trump fired FBI director James Comey.

The subpoenas represent the first sign of a significant escalation of activity in the FBI's broader investigation begun last July into possible ties between Trump campaign associates and Russia.

[CNN]​

Coupled with the fact that the termination letter contained recommendations from Sessions, who had to recuse himself from 'investigating' the Russia links to the Trump campaign.

Comey was leading the investigation into those ties. This is clearly an attempt to shut down the investigation and at its worst, attempt to derail it by appointing someone that Trump wants into that position, for obvious reasons.

While Trump's White House has attempted to portray this as being about his refusal to charge Clinton and those connected to her campaign for the "emails", his comments in the letter about the Russia investigation points that this is about something else entirely.

"While I greatly appreciate you informing me, on three separate occasions, that I am not under investigation, I nevertheless concur with the judgment of the Department of Justice that you are not able to effectively lead the bureau.”


And it seems that not only was Comey not informed of this before it was released to the media, but the GOP was not informed of this decision earlier either, nor were they informed of why this occurred. And several have come out and said they cannot explain or understand the reason or rationale behind the dismissal and several more have expressed concerns about just how badly this looks.

This is political interference in its worst form.

And I think the NYT hit the nail on the head:

Mr. Trump had nothing but praise for Mr. Comey when, in the final days of the presidential campaign, he informed Congress that the bureau was reopening the investigation into Mrs. Clinton’s emails. “He brought back his reputation,” Mr. Trump said at the time. “It took a lot of guts.”

Of course, if Mr. Trump truly believed, as he said in his letter of dismissal, that Mr. Comey had undermined “public trust and confidence” in the agency, he could just as well have fired him on his first day in office.

Mr. Comey was fired because he was leading an active investigation that could bring down a president. Though compromised by his own poor judgment, Mr. Comey’s agency has been pursuing ties between the Russian government and Mr. Trump and his associates, with potentially ruinous consequences for the administration.

With congressional Republicans continuing to resist any serious investigation, Mr. Comey’s inquiry was the only aggressive effort to get to the bottom of Russia’s ties to the Trump campaign. So far, the scandal has engulfed Paul Manafort, one of Mr. Trump’s campaign managers; Roger Stone, a longtime confidant; Carter Page, one of the campaign’s early foreign-policy advisers; Michael Flynn, who was forced out as national security adviser; and Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who recused himself in March from the Russia inquiry after failing to disclose during his confirmation hearings that he had met twice during the campaign with the Russian ambassador to the United States.

We have said that Mr. Comey’s atrocious handling of the Clinton email investigation, which arguably tipped the election to Mr. Trump, proved that he could not be trusted to be neutral, and that the only credible course of action would be the appointment of a special prosecutor. Given all that has happened — the firing of the F.B.I. director, on top of Mr. Trump’s firing of the acting attorney general, Sally Yates, and his dismissal of nearly all United States attorneys — the need for such a prosecutor is plainer than ever. Because Mr. Sessions is recused, the decision to name a special prosecutor falls to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, whose memo, along with a separate one by Mr. Sessions, provided Mr. Trump with the pretense to fire Mr. Comey.

This is a tense and uncertain time in the nation’s history. The president of the United States, who is no more above the law than any other citizen, has now decisively crippled the F.B.I.’s ability to carry out an investigation of him and his associates. There is no guarantee that Mr. Comey’s replacement, who will be chosen by Mr. Trump, will continue that investigation; in fact, there are already hints to the contrary
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#betrayal | #WhatTheyVotedFor


The full measure of what James Comey has done has yet to settle with people.

With congressional Republicans continuing to resist any serious investigation, Mr. Comey's inquiry was the only aggressive effort to get to the bottom of Russia's ties to the Trump campaign. So far, the scandal has engulfed Paul Manafort, one of Mr. Trump's campaign managers; Roger Stone, a longtime confidant; Carter Page, one of the campaign's early foreign-policy advisers; Michael Flynn, who was forced out as national security adviser; and Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who recused himself in March from the Russia inquiry after failing to disclose during his confirmation hearings that he had met twice during the campaign with the Russian ambassador to the United States.

We have said that Mr. Comey's atrocious handling of the Clinton email investigation, which arguably tipped the election to Mr. Trump, proved that he could not be trusted to be neutral, and that the only credible course of action would be the appointment of a special prosecutor. Given all that has happened—the firing of the F.B.I. director, on top of Mr. Trump's firing of the acting attorney general, Sally Yates, and his dismissal of nearly all United States attorneys—the need for such a prosecutor is plainer than ever. Because Mr. Sessions is recused, the decision to name a special prosecutor falls to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, whose memo, along with a separate one by Mr. Sessions, provided Mr. Trump with the pretense to fire Mr. Comey.


(New York Times)

Still, though, those paragraphs ought to be devastating. And, yeah, you know what, this is #WhatTheyVotedFor. Remember, this is the "government doesn't work" argument. This mess is what Republican voters wanted. This treasonous betrayal is what Republicans do.

I mean ... think about it for just a moment; trying to close all the loops is impossible:

• President Trump fired FBI Director Comey, ostensibly for botching the Clinton email issue. The corrected testimony is Mr. Comey's explanation of why he was compelled to undertake so extraordinarily deviant a course in the closing days of the election as to attack a presidential candidate. Perhaps it made him feel nauseous to consider the possibility of his action having tipped the election, but his deviancy was necessary because ... right. And that is what he lied about. His reason for attacking Hillary Clinton in late October was bogus. James Comey betrayed his country. And, you know, the results of his action just happen to have the appearance of coinciding with and possibly advancing a hostile foreign operation against the U.S. Think of what it takes to put us in this position. Donald Trump is firing the head of an agency investigating his administration because that individual undertook scurrilous action to deliver Donald Trump the presidency. And, you know, I can't even work in the bit about the Attorney General with exposure taking part in the firing of the agency head investigating administration exposure. No, seriously, Republicans. Such lovely human beings, eh? I keep telling people, that bit about government not working is a threat.​
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Notes:

Editorial Board. "Donald Trump’s Firing of James Comey". The New York Times. 9 May 2017. NYTimes.com. 10 May 2017. http://nyti.ms/2piINqU
 
Just thoughts..
If the whole thing was orchestrated ( planned) then it "would make the sense as planned" and the necessary punch lines would be immediately forthcoming. It doesn't and they aren't IMO
 
Exactly. This has zero to do with Obama and zero to do with Hillary. And everything to do with shutting down the investigation and anyone over there at DOJ that even thinks about crossing him. It doesn't get much worse than this without the tanks rolling down Pennsylvania Avenue enforcing martial law.

James Comey was FBI director under the Obama administration. Just like other Democrat loyalists, he was trying to undermine the Trump Administration. The Democrats have been accusing Trump of a Russian connection for six months and they still have no smoking gun. If they did the Democrats would have used it to impeach Trump. All this is a witch hunt, to create undermining doubt.

The Hillary server problem, on the other hand, was summarized in a couple of weeks, with the FBI director playing the role of prosecutor who gave her a pass. Notice the discrepancy in time spent investigating before a conclusion. Trump gave Comey plenty of opportunity to come straight, but he is a loyalists to others. The New FBI director will reopen the Clinton files. This is where the real scandal will be revealed. Trump was made a distraction. Trump also gave the Democrats a chance to tell the truth , but they opted for the lie. Now it is truth time.

A good question to investigate is how many Democrat party member names were revealed while surveilling the Russian Ambassador? Many Democrats also spoke with the Russian ambassador at various functions. We know people connected to the Trump administration were revealed. If there is a difference in proportions, the new FBI director will name names. If the Democrats want an investigation of the Russian connection, it needs to be complete.

For example, remember during Obama's second campaign, he was caught on open microphone telling the Russian Ambassador that he will have more flexibility after the election. That was signal to get the Russians to tamper. Trump is not on record saying anything as betraying to the national interests. They may need to look into this Russian connection. If you see the Democrats strategy changing, take that as a sign that the real crooks are becoming defensive because the word is out. Hopefully the naive base will wake up.
 
If this was to end the russia probe we will probably never know as any results of that most likely now will never be heard as the new directly will quitely stop that investigation eventually regardless of the results.

Was this on the other hand a means to blaming Comey for Hillary not being arrested and thus now Trump is off hook for having to "lock her up", probably, any complaint that she is not locked up can be address to Comey having cover for her somehow, which makes so very little sense considering his investigations was a big part of why Hillary lost.

I would like to know though what spark this firing now.
 
James Comey was FBI director under the Obama administration. Just like other Democrat loyalists, he was trying to undermine the Trump Administration.
He was appointed as the assistant AG under Bush. Not to mention he is a Republican. Nor does that even cover what he did days prior to the election that caused damage to the Clinton campaign and saw Trump singing his praises for days.

So I think the accusation that he is some sort of Obama flunky that is trying to undermine the Trump administration is a bit of a joke and a waste of oxygen at this point. So stop stealing our air with this pathetic excuse.

The Democrats have been accusing Trump of a Russian connection for six months and they still have no smoking gun. If they did the Democrats would have used it to impeach Trump. All this is a witch hunt, to create undermining doubt.
Right.. The Democrats.. Too bad the Republicans on the various senate committees also admit that something is off and are pushing for an investigation and just toooo bad that the grand jury saw that there was enough to issue subpoenas to various people connected to Flynn and the campaign. Again, stop stealing our oxygen with a moronic argument.

The Hillary server problem, on the other hand, was summarized in a couple of weeks, with the FBI director playing the role of prosecutor who gave her a pass.
A few weeks? She went through months and months of investigations. Literally. Again, you are stealing people's oxygen with a moronic argument.

Notice the discrepancy in time spent investigating before a conclusion. Trump gave Comey plenty of opportunity to come straight, but he is a loyalists to others. The New FBI director will reopen the Clinton files. This is where the real scandal will be revealed. Trump was made a distraction. Trump also gave the Democrats a chance to tell the truth , but they opted for the lie. Now it is truth time.
Trump wants the Russia probe to go away. Given that this letter of termination occurred a few hours after people connected to his campaign were issued with subpoenas by a grand jury and given the fact that the AG, who had to recuse himself from the investigation for failing to disclose contact with the Russians during the campaign, was the one to issue the recommendation for termination.. Really, the shit is smeared on the wall with this one. And yes, it is truth time and Trumps actions in the last 24 hours have shown just how corrupt he is and the extent he is willing to go to cover his fat arse.

Again, stop stealing our oxygen with idiocy.

A good question to investigate is how many Democrat party member names were revealed while surveilling the Russian Ambassador? Many Democrats also spoke with the Russian ambassador at various functions. We know people connected to the Trump administration were revealed. If there is a difference in proportions, the new FBI director will name names. If the Democrats want an investigation of the Russian connection, it needs to be complete.
A good question is why are so many people directly involved with Trump's campaign hiding contact and foreign payments from foreign Governments? A good question is why oh why, did Trump refuse to act on Flynn, despite being given months of warning from Obama and others about his connections and why did he and the White House lie, when they had been advised that Flynn had given the incorrect information to Pence and they failed to act on it until the story broke a long while later? Why is Trump firing the head of the person who is investigating his people's connections with Russia, mid investigation, without any warning to the various Senate committees who are involved and who oversee the intelligence agencies and these investigations? Why oh why did he go public with firing the man, even releasing the letter to the public, without having informed Comey first of his dismissal, leaving him and the rest of those involved with the investigation to find out while watching TV.

I think he knows that Comey has enough to bring him down and effective immediately? Leaving such an important investigation without anyone to lead it? It is telling. It reeks. And frankly, this is the worst Constitutional crisis your country has faced since Nixon and this goes way beyond bad and even worse, in my opinion, than Nixon.

This is as dirty as it can get.

For example, remember during Obama's second campaign, he was caught on open microphone telling the Russian Ambassador that he will have more flexibility after the election. That was signal to get the Russians to tamper. Trump is not on record saying anything as betraying to the national interests. They may need to look into this Russian connection. If you see the Democrats strategy changing, take that as a sign that the real crooks are becoming defensive because the word is out. Hopefully the naive base will wake up.
Again with the oxygen wasting.

He was talking about the missile defense system. Not about payments to and from the campaign, not about the millions of dollars the Russians payed his campaign staff, nor was it about hacking incidents with the specific aim of affecting an election result. That, WW, was Trump.

You want to know why this is so dirty?

Comey is the third person Trump has suddenly fired who was reportedly investigating him, after former acting attorney general Sally Yates and U.S. attorney Preet Bharara.

So those who investigate dodgy dealings are fired, and journalists who ask questions about their policies, are arrested.

At this point, you might as well take your constitution, urinate on it and then set fire to it. Its remains will be as valid and valuable as it is currently, because that is how your President is treating it.
 
James Comey was FBI director under the Obama administration. Just like other Democrat loyalists, he was trying to undermine the Trump Administration. The Democrats have been accusing Trump of a Russian connection for six months and they still have no smoking gun. f they did the Democrats would have used it to impeach Trump. All this is a witch hunt, to create undermining doubt.

And James Comey was deputy attorney general under George Bush II. Last time I checked, George II was a Republican. As Bell's pointed out Comey is a Republican and has been a Republican for a very long time.

Furthermore, there is plenty of smoke. There is plenty of evidence, and the investigation is in its very early stages. For some perspective, it took more than 2 years before the Watergate investigation found the "smoking gun". Your assertion, as is your custom, is just not consistent with the facts.

Additionally, the Watergate investigation was well staffed with more than a 130 congressional staffers, and a special prosecutor had been assigned to the investigation. Thus far only 9 congressional staffers have been assigned to the investigation, and no special prosecutor has been assigned to this investigation.

One more point, and you should know this, Democrats cannot impeach Trump, because Republicans control both houses of congress. In order for Trump to be impeached, Republicans will need to impeach him. What do you think the odds of that happening are? Republicans won't even adequately staff the investigation of Trump.

The Hillary server problem, on the other hand, was summarized in a couple of weeks, with the FBI director playing the role of prosecutor who gave her a pass. Notice the discrepancy in time spent investigating before a conclusion. Trump gave Comey plenty of opportunity to come straight, but he is a loyalists to others. The New FBI director will reopen the Clinton files. This is where the real scandal will be revealed. Trump was made a distraction. Trump also gave the Democrats a chance to tell the truth , but they opted for the lie. Now it is truth time.

Hillary's server problems began in March 2015 and ended in November 2016. That's more than just a few weeks. That's more than a year, and Comey didn't give her a pass. He is widely credited for Hillary's loss of the 2016 election. Moreover, Comey and his actions were cheered and celebrated by the same Donald Trump who has now fired Comey for those very same actions Trump once celebrated.

A good question to investigate is how many Democrat party member names were revealed while surveilling the Russian Ambassador? Many Democrats also spoke with the Russian ambassador at various functions. We know people connected to the Trump administration were revealed. If there is a difference in proportions, the new FBI director will name names. If the Democrats want an investigation of the Russian connection, it needs to be complete.

That's easy, none. Russian intelligence officers didn't visit the DNC convention. Democrats didn't hold secret meetings with Russian intelligence officers as Republicans did, and they didn't lie about meetings as Trump and his associates did. Furthermore, none of them have extensive Russian financial relationships as is the case with Trump and his associates.

For example, remember during Obama's second campaign, he was caught on open microphone telling the Russian Ambassador that he will have more flexibility after the election. That was signal to get the Russians to tamper. Trump is not on record saying anything as betraying to the national interests. They may need to look into this Russian connection. If you see the Democrats strategy changing, take that as a sign that the real crooks are becoming defensive because the word is out. Hopefully the naive base will wake up.

As Bells explained to you, Obama's comment was specifically about a missile system. There is nothing nefarious about Obama's comment. There is nothing on record showing Obama or Hillary betrayed the national interest. On the other hand, there is plenty of evidence to show Trump has and remains actively working to subvert the national interest, and you don't have to look far to find it.

The last time we saw a justice official dismissed while conducting an investigation of the sitting president was during Nixon's second term in office. What we face today is similar but an even a greater threat to our democracy and rule of law. When you see a president dismissing the justice officials investigating their administration, that's sign the "real crooks" are becoming defensive and concerned the "word" will get out. When you see Trump lawyer up as he has done, you know Trump is worried about his miserable ass.
 
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James Comey was FBI director under the Obama administration. Just like other Democrat loyalists, he was trying to undermine the Trump Administration. The Democrats have been accusing Trump of a Russian connection for six months and they still have no smoking gun. If they did the Democrats would have used it to impeach Trump. All this is a witch hunt, to create undermining doubt.

The Hillary server problem, on the other hand, was summarized in a couple of weeks, with the FBI director playing the role of prosecutor who gave her a pass. Notice the discrepancy in time spent investigating before a conclusion. Trump gave Comey plenty of opportunity to come straight, but he is a loyalists to others. The New FBI director will reopen the Clinton files. This is where the real scandal will be revealed. Trump was made a distraction. Trump also gave the Democrats a chance to tell the truth , but they opted for the lie. Now it is truth time.

A good question to investigate is how many Democrat party member names were revealed while surveilling the Russian Ambassador? Many Democrats also spoke with the Russian ambassador at various functions. We know people connected to the Trump administration were revealed. If there is a difference in proportions, the new FBI director will name names. If the Democrats want an investigation of the Russian connection, it needs to be complete.

For example, remember during Obama's second campaign, he was caught on open microphone telling the Russian Ambassador that he will have more flexibility after the election. That was signal to get the Russians to tamper. Trump is not on record saying anything as betraying to the national interests. They may need to look into this Russian connection. If you see the Democrats strategy changing, take that as a sign that the real crooks are becoming defensive because the word is out. Hopefully the naive base will wake up.

Whitch hunt you say like the 30 year witchhunt conservatives have done on the Clintons and after he phony Benghazi witchunt which went no where they decised to start another fake sandal on her emails?

The questions swirling around Comey’s firing will envelop the administration and Washington for the foreseeable future. Here is just an initial list of issues:

  • If Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from the Russia investigation, how and why did he make the recommendation to fire Comey?
  • Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein laid out a convincing case as to why Comey acted improperly and unfairly to Clinton last July. However, Trump thought Comey should have prosecuted her, so why would Trump now object that Comey had been unfair to his nemesis?
  • How is Trump to select the person who will be investigating whether his campaign colluded with Russia during the campaign without invalidating the entire process?
  • When was the decision to fire Comey made: before or after this week’s testimony?
  • Will Comey be able to preserve evidence he collected so as to defuse suspicion this is a giant coverup?
  • Will Comey testify about the status of his investigation as of Tuesday?
  • Will the demands for a special prosecutor now become too loud to ignore?
  • Will Comey, once fired, feel free to reveal information about the Russia investigation? If so, why would Trump risk firing him now?
  • Will Republicans snap out of their partisan stupor to demand answers about Comey and insist on a replacement who is above reproach?
  • Will the administration — which has now fired a national security adviser and an FBI chief and has been plagued by conflicts of interest and infighting — take on the aura of complete chaos and instability, impairing the GOP’s agenda and America’s international standing?
 
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