The Russian Connection

[GreyhoundFan]

This is an interesting op-ed by two former CIA chiefs: "Oh, Wait. Maybe It Was Collusion.'

Spoiler

Did the Trump campaign collude with Russian agents trying to manipulate the course of the 2016 election? Some analysts have argued that the media has made too much of the collusion narrative; that Jared Kushner and Donald Trump Jr.’s meeting with Kremlin-linked Russians last year was probably innocent (if ill-advised); or that Russian operatives probably meant for the meeting to be discovered because they were not trying to recruit Mr. Kushner and Mr. Trump as agents, but mainly trying to undermine the American political system.

We disagree with these arguments. We like to think of ourselves as fair-minded and knowledgeable, having between us many years of experience with the C.I.A. dealing with Russian intelligence services. It is our view not only that the Russian government was running some sort of intelligence operation involving the Trump campaign, but also that it is impossible to rule out the possibility of collusion between the two.

The original plan drawn up by the Russian intelligence services was probably multilayered. They could have begun an operation intended to disrupt the presidential campaign, as well as an effort to recruit insiders to help them over time — the two are not mutually exclusive. It is the nature of Russian covert actions (or as the Russians would call them, “active measures”) to adapt over time, providing opportunities for other actions that extend beyond the original intent.

It is entirely plausible, for example, that the original Russian hack of the Democratic National Committee’s computer servers was an effort simply to collect intelligence and get an idea of the plans of the Democratic Party and its presidential candidate. Once derogatory information emerged from that operation, the Russians might then have seen an opportunity for a campaign to influence or disrupt the election. When Donald Trump Jr. responded “I love it” to proffers from a Kremlin-linked intermediary to provide derogatory information obtained by Russia on Hillary Clinton, the Russians might well have thought that they had found an inside source, an ally, a potential agent of influence on the election.

The goal of the Russian spy game is to nudge a person to step over the line into an increasingly conspiratorial relationship. First, for a Russian intelligence recruitment operation to work, they would have had some sense that Donald Trump Jr. was a promising target. Next, as the Russians often do, they made a “soft” approach, setting the bait for their target via the June email sent by Rob Goldstone, a British publicist, on behalf of a Russian pop star, Emin Agalarov.

They then employed a cover story — adoptions — to make it believable to the outside world that there was nothing amiss with the proposed meetings. They bolstered this idea by using cutouts, nonofficial Russians, for the actual meeting, enabling the Trump team to claim — truthfully — that there were no Russian government employees at the meeting and that it was just former business contacts of the Trump empire who were present.

When the Trump associates failed to do the right thing by informing the F.B.I., the Russians probably understood that they could take the next step toward a more conspiratorial relationship. They knew what bait to use and had a plan to reel in the fish once it bit.

While we don’t know for sure whether the email solicitation was part of an intelligence ploy, there are some clues. A month after the June meeting at Trump Tower, WikiLeaks, a veritable Russian front, released a dump of stolen D.N.C. emails. The candidate and campaign surrogates increasingly mouthed talking points that seemed taken directly from Russian propaganda outlets, such as that there had been a terrorist attack on a Turkish military base, when no such attack had occurred. Also, at this time United States intelligence reportedly received indications from European intelligence counterparts about odd meetings between Russians and Trump campaign representatives overseas.

Of course, to determine whether collusion occurred, we would have to know whether the Trump campaign continued to meet with Russian representatives subsequent to the June meeting. The early “courting” stage is almost always somewhat open and discoverable. Only after the Russian intelligence officer develops a level of control can the relationship be moved out of the public eye. John Brennan, the former director of the C.I.A., recently testified, “Frequently, people who go along a treasonous path do not know they are on a treasonous path until it is too late.”

Even intelligence professionals who respect one another and who understand the Russians can and often do disagree. On the Trump collusion question, the difference of opinion comes down to this: Would the Russians use someone like Mr. Goldstone to approach the Trump campaign? Our friend and former colleague Daniel Hoffman argued in this paper that this is unlikely — that the Russians would have relied on trained agents. We respectfully disagree. We believe that the Russians might well have used Mr. Goldstone. We also believe the Russians would have seen very little downside to trying to recruit someone on the Trump team — a big fish. If the fish bit and they were able to reel it in, the email from Mr. Goldstone could remain hidden and, since it was from an acquaintance, would be deniable if found. (Exactly what the Trump team is doing now.)

If the fish didn’t take the bait, the Russians would always have had the option to weaponize the information later to embarrass the Trump team. In addition, if the Russians’ first objective was chaos and disruption, the best way to accomplish that would have been to have someone on the inside helping. It is unlikely that the Russians would not use all the traditional espionage tools available to them.

However, perhaps the most telling piece of information may be the most obvious. Donald Trump himself made numerous statements in support of Russia, Russian intelligence and WikiLeaks during the campaign. At the same time, Mr. Trump and his team have gone out of their way to hide contacts with Russians and lied to the public about it. Likewise, Mr. Trump has attacked those people and institutions that could get to the bottom of the affair. He fired his F.B.I. director James Comey, criticized and bullied his attorney general and deputy attorney general, denigrated the F.B.I. and the C.I.A., and assails the news media, labeling anything he dislikes “fake news.” Innocent people don’t tend to behave this way.

The overall Russian intent is clear: disruption of the United States political system and society, a goal that in the Russian view was best served by a Trump presidency. What remains to be determined is whether the Russians also attempted to suborn members of the Trump team in an effort to gain their cooperation. This is why the investigation by the special counsel, Robert Mueller, is so important. It is why the F.B.I. counterintelligence investigation, also quietly progressing in the background, is critical. Because while a Russian disruption operation is certainly plausible, it is not inconsistent with a much darker Russian goal: gaining an insider ally at the highest levels of the United States government.

In short, and regrettably, collusion is not off the table.

"Innocent people don't tend to behave this way." -- that says it all.

[GrumpyGran]

5 hours ago, Howl said:

 They are running a tight ship; there are no leaks.  Because there are no leaks, Trump can't monitor/contain the damage until it's too late.

Don't you know Mr. "All of these illegal leakers" wishes so bad that someone on Mueller's team would leak?

[fraurosena]

Oh yes, my fellow FJ'ers, things are ramping up!

Special Counsel Mueller Impanels Washington Grand Jury in Russia Probe

Spoiler

Special Counsel Robert Mueller has impaneled a grand jury in Washington to investigate Russia’s interference in the 2016 elections, a sign that his inquiry is growing in intensity and entering a new phase, according to two people familiar with the matter.

The grand jury, which began its work in recent weeks, is a sign that Mr. Mueller’s inquiry is ramping up and that it will likely continue for months. Mr. Mueller is investigating Russia’s efforts to influence the 2016 election and whether President Donald Trump’s campaign or associates colluded with the Kremlin as part of that effort.

A spokesman for Mr. Mueller, Joshua Stueve, declined to comment. Moscow has denied seeking to influence the election, and Mr. Trump has vigorously disputed allegations of collusion. The president has called Mr. Mueller’s inquiry a “witch hunt.”

Ty Cobb, special counsel to the president, said he wasn’t aware that Mr. Mueller had started using a new grand jury. “Grand jury matters are typically secret,” Mr. Cobb said. “The White House favors anything that accelerates the conclusion of his work fairly.…The White House is committed to fully cooperating with Mr. Mueller.”

Before Mr. Mueller was tapped in May to be special counsel, federal prosecutors had been using at least one other grand jury, located in Alexandria, Va., to assist in their criminal investigation of Michael Flynn, a former national security adviser. That probe, which has been taken over by Mr. Mueller’s team, focuses on Mr. Flynn’s work in the private sector on behalf of foreign interests.

Grand juries are powerful investigative tools that allow prosecutors to subpoena documents, put witnesses under oath and seek indictments, if there is evidence of a crime. Legal experts said that the decision by Mr. Mueller to impanel a grand jury suggests he believes he will need to subpoena records and take testimony from witnesses.

A grand jury in Washington is also more convenient for Mr. Mueller and his 16 attorneys—they work just a few blocks from the U.S. federal courthouse where grand juries meet—than one that is 10 traffic-clogged miles away in Virginia.

“This is yet a further sign that there is a long-term, large-scale series of prosecutions being contemplated and being pursued by the special counsel,” said Stephen I. Vladeck, a law professor at the University of Texas. “If there was already a grand jury in Alexandria looking at Flynn, there would be no need to reinvent the wheel for the same guy. This suggests that the investigation is bigger and wider than Flynn, perhaps substantially so.”

Thomas Zeno, a federal prosecutor for 29 years before becoming a lawyer at the Squire Patton Boggs law firm, said the grand jury is “confirmation that this is a very vigorous investigation going on.”

“This doesn’t mean he is going to bring charges,” Mr. Zeno cautioned. “But it shows he is very serious. He wouldn’t do this if it were winding down.”

Another sign the investigation is ramping up: Greg Andres, a top partner in a powerhouse New York law firm, Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP, has joined Mr. Mueller’s team.

Mr. Andres, a former top Justice Department official who also oversaw the criminal division of the U.S. attorney’s office in Brooklyn, wouldn’t leave his private-sector job for a low-level investigation, Mr. Zeno said.

“People like Greg Andres don’t leave private practice willy-nilly,” Mr. Zeno said. “The fact he is being added after couple of months shows how serious this is and that it could last a long time.”

Mr. Andres couldn't be reached for comment.

The developments unfolded amid a new sign of concern by Congress that Mr. Mueller’s independence needs to be protected. Sens. Thom Tillis (R., N.C.) and Chris Coons (D., Del.) introduced legislation Thursday making it harder for Mr. Trump to fire Mr. Mueller. Under the legislation, a special counsel could challenge his or her removal, with a three-judge panel ruling within 14 days on whether the firing was justified.

If the panel found no good cause for the firing, the special counsel would immediately be reinstated. The legislation follows a similar effort from Sens. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) and Cory Booker (D., N.J.)

“The introduction of two bills with two different bipartisan pairs strengthens the message that there is broad concern about this,” said Mr. Coons, who said that Mr. Tillis approached him on the Senate floor about teaming up on legislation.

According to a January report from the U.S. intelligence community, the highest levels of the Russian government were involved in directing the electoral interference. Its tactics included hacking state election systems; infiltrating and leaking information from party committees and political strategists; and disseminating through social media and other outlets negative stories about Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and positive ones about Mr. Trump, the report said.

It is unclear how long Mr. Mueller’s investigation will last, and there is no deadline for its completion. The probe is complicated by the classified nature of much of the information Mr. Mueller’s team is reviewing. Evidence of its sensitivity came in June when Mr. Mueller moved from his temporary offices to a nearby secure facility that his representatives have declined to identify.

While working closely with Federal Bureau of Investigation agents, Mr. Mueller has assembled a team of accomplished prosecutors and lawyers specializing in criminal and national security law. Twelve attorneys are on temporary assignment to the special counsel’s office from the Justice Department or FBI, and three came from Mr. Mueller’s firm of WilmerHale. Mr. Andres is the most recent addition.

Mr. Trump has questioned the neutrality of Mr. Mueller’s office, telling Fox News he is concerned that Mr. Mueller’s prosecutors are “Hillary Clinton supporters” and that Messrs. Mueller and Comey are friends. Mr. Comey was a top Justice official in the George W. Bush administration when Mr. Mueller was the FBI director; both are Republicans.

Those who know both men said they aren’t social friends, though they respect each other and had a solid relationship in government.

At least eight members of Mr. Mueller’s team have given to Democratic candidates, including the presidential campaigns of Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton, according to Federal Election Commission records. At least one—James Quarles, a member of the Watergate Special Prosecution Force—has donated to politicians in both parties.

Mr. Andres in March supported a Democratic lawmaker, donating $2,700 to Kirsten Gillibrand, a U.S. senator representing New York, according federal campaign disclosure records.

Mr. Mueller made two contributions in 1996 to Republican William Weld, then a candidate for a U.S. senate seat in Massachusetts, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks money in politics.

I am very pleased to see that two partisan bills have been introduced that are meant to protect Mueller from being fired. 

[fraurosena]

More info and background in a loooooong article.

One year into the FBI's Russia investigation, Mueller is on the Trump money trail

Spoiler

Federal investigators exploring whether Donald Trump's campaign colluded with Russian spies have seized on Trump and his associates' financial ties to Russia as one of the most fertile avenues for moving their probe forward, according to people familiar with the investigation.

The web of financial ties could offer a more concrete path toward potential prosecution than the broader and murkier questions of collusion in the 2016 campaign, these sources said.

One year after the FBI opened an investigation, the probe is now managed by special counsel Robert Mueller. Sources described an investigation that has widened to focus on possible financial crimes, some unconnected to the 2016 elections, alongside the ongoing scrutiny of possible illegal coordination with Russian spy agencies and alleged attempts by President Donald Trump and others to obstruct the FBI investigation. Even investigative leads that have nothing to do with Russia but involve Trump associates are being referred to the special counsel to encourage subjects of the investigation to cooperate, according to two law enforcement sources.

The increased financial focus hasn't gone unnoticed by Trump, who warned Mueller, via an interview with The New York Times, that his financial dealings were a red line that investigators shouldn't cross. But the order establishing the special counsel makes clearMueller is authorized to investigate any matters that "arose or may arise directly from the investigation."

In response to this CNN story, the President's attorney, Jay Sekulow, said, "President's outside counsel has not received any requests for documentation or information about this. Any inquiry from the special counsel that goes beyond the mandate specified in the appointment we would object to."

In 2015, the FBI began investigating cyber breaches targeting US political organizations, including the Democratic National Committee.

In the summer of 2016, US intelligence agencies noticed a spate of curious contacts between Trump campaign associates and suspected Russian intelligence, according to current and former US officials briefed on the investigation. James Comey, in his Senate testimony, said the FBI opened an investigation into Trump campaign-Russia connections in July 2016. The strands of the two investigations began to merge.

In the months that followed, investigators turned up intercepted communications appearing to show efforts by Russian operatives to coordinate with Trump associates on damaging Hillary Clinton's election prospects, officials said. CNN has learned those communications included references to campaign chairman Paul Manafort.

A year later, the FBI is reviewing financial records related to the Trump Organization, as well as Trump, his family members, including Donald Trump Jr., and campaign associates. They've combed through the list of shell companies and buyers of Trump-branded real estate properties and scrutinized the roster of tenants at Trump Tower reaching back more than a half-dozen years. They've looked at the backgrounds of Russian business associates connected to Trump surrounding the 2013 Miss Universe pageant. CNN could not determine whether the review has included his tax returns.

In recent weeks, investigators have also started looking into the June 2016 meeting in Trump Tower and how the White House responded to news of that meeting. The session included Trump Jr., Manafort, Trump's senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner, and a Russian attorney.

Trump has denied any collusion and maintains that his business empire has "no involvement with Russia" and that he has "no loans, no nothing" from Russia. His lawyers have detailed a few exceptions, including the Miss Universe pageant he held in Moscow and the Florida mansion he sold to a Russian oligarch in 2008. Trump earned more than $100 million from those deals, according to his lawyers.

"This is like any investigation," says one person briefed on the probe. "You start at the core and then move to the periphery. You have to explore the finances. Where this is going is no different from any investigation."

The Mueller Team

Since his appointment in May, Mueller has quietly has gathered a team of more than three dozen attorneys, investigators and other staff in a nondescript office in Washington. Officials familiar with the probe describe it as akin to a small US attorney's office, with FBI agents and prosecutors assigned to separate groups looking into various aspects of the investigation.

These include groups of investigators and lawyers focused separately on Russian collusion and obstruction of justice, as well as the investigations focused on Manafort and former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, according to a US official briefed on the investigation. Some of the investigators have been pulled from field offices across the country to join the Mueller team in Washington. Others left high-paying jobs at law firms. Many of the investigators have backgrounds in investigating fraud and financial crimes. There are 16 attorneys assigned to the probe, according to a spokesman for Mueller.

The appointment of Mueller as special counsel has drawn the ire of Trump and his loyalists, who claim that the team has conflicts of interest. Trump has tweetedabout the "witch hunt" more than a dozen times since Mueller was appointed. Some members of the team previously contributed to Democratic campaigns.

Mueller reports to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, but there's a measure of separation from Justice Department headquarters to keep the probe independent.

CNN has learned some of the investigators involved in the probe are buying liability insurance out of concern they could become targets of lawsuits from those who are being investigated, according to one of the people familiar with the probe. The Justice Department covers legal fees for employees sued in the course of their duties, but some of the lawyers want extra protection.

The Justice Department and special counsel's office both declined to comment on the liability concerns.

Bait and Switch

The possible financial ties between Trump and Russia were part of the concerns for US intelligence and law enforcement officials from the beginning, according to one current law enforcement official and one former US intelligence official.

Over the decades, the Trump real estate business and its financial dealings have come under scrutiny by the FBI and the Justice Department multiple times.

In some cases, the FBI was pursuing others who did business with the Trump organization, including alleged mobsters who controlled key contractors used by many real estate developers in New York during the 1980s. The flow of Russian money in real estate -- and concerns that some buyers were making the purchases to illegally launder money -- had also drawn some attention by US authorities to the Trump business.

The international real estate business is a part of the global economy where foreigners can still use cash with fewer questions asked about the sources of money. Terrorism financing concerns long ago put more stringent rules on banking and other businesses. But the rules are looser in the business of buying and selling high-end real estate, US officials say.

Investigators are looking both at whether financial laws were broken and whether there are any dealings that could put the President or his associates in a compromising position.

"There's always been a concern about his exposure to blackmail in his financial dealings," says the person briefed on the investigation.

Trump has repeatedly insisted that he has no enduring financial ties to Russian interests.

But some of the people who are now under scrutiny by Mueller see a bait and switch. Instead of collusion, many believe the Mueller probe will instead end up being about past financial troubles.

"They launch an investigation into collusion in the election," says one person whose client is among those being scrutinized by the Mueller investigators. "Then they go after people because of old business matters that have nothing to do with collusion."

Missing Links

Even at the FBI, there's a measure of frustration over the investigation.

After a highly contentious year investigating Hillary Clinton's private email servers and being accused of swinging the election against her, the FBI finds itself again where officials tried not to be: amid a politically treacherous investigation that has hobbled a new President.

Worse yet, some FBI officials fear the question of whether there was any criminal coordination or collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia may never be answered.

One challenge is that tantalizing pieces of intelligence are missing key links because they did not develop long enough for investigators to determine their significance. These include intercepts monitored by US intelligence that showed suggestions of illegal coordination but nothing overt.

Those missing links mean that the FBI and Mueller's prosecution team may not have enough evidence to bring charges related to possible illegal coordination with a foreign intelligence service. Instead, prosecutors could pursue financial crime charges unrelated to the election.

Investigators also face a big hurdle: those participating in the intercepted communications were foreigners, outside the reach of the FBI, who may be exaggerating or lying about events.

Some FBI officials also blame media coverage dating back to last summer for prompting some communications to cease, and making it more difficult for investigators to monitor the interactions of Russians and campaign associates.

Scrambling to react

By last July when Russian intelligence began releasing troves of stolen emails from the Democratic National Committee, the FBI had been aware of the DNC intrusion about a year.

Until the stolen emails were weaponized in their release via WikiLeaks and the Russian intelligence's own site DCLeaks, intelligence and law enforcement officials believed the cyber-intrusion was an intelligence-gathering effort, like many of those that occurred before past elections.

Over the next four months, the Obama administration officials and law enforcement and intelligence agencies debated how to respond.

"You had an administration that didn't want to look heavy-handed" in favor of Hillary Clinton, one senior former US official involved in investigation said.

At the White House, Obama officials scrambled last summer for a strategy on how to respond to what they already knew were Russian actions, well before the administration was willing to point the finger publicly.

Michael Daniel, the White House cyber-security coordinator, ordered staff in August to draw up a list of possible retaliatory measures, according to a former administration official briefed on the matter. These included planting malware in Russian infrastructure that could be activated if the Russian actions escalated, according to the former official.

But shortly after Daniel gave the order, White House officials raised other concerns. Top officials including Susan Rice, national security adviser, and Lisa Monaco, homeland security adviser, led efforts by the White House to make sure the government could prevent any move by Russian intelligence to tamper with the voting infrastructure and sow chaos on Election Day.

Daniel, in an interview, declined to discuss specifics about measures considered in response, because much of the information remains classified. But he said one top concern for White House officials was "it not appear we were trying to be partisan in what we were doing."

The partisan concerns were exacerbated by interactions between the White House and congressional leaders. Monaco traveled to Capitol Hill to try to get top leaders of both parties to send a letter to state governors to urge shoring up of their defenses of election infrastructure. But they were rebuffed by Republican leaders, who viewed the request as partisan, according to current and former officials briefed on the discussions.

Daniel told CNN he and his cyber-response group worked quietly, reducing the number of people allowed in meetings to avoid leaks. "We didn't need to do the Russians work for them," Daniel said. "We needed to develop diplomatic options first, and we [put] the other options on the back-burner."

After the election, the Obama administration unveiled a series of measures, including expulsion of diplomats and seizure of Russian diplomatic compounds allegedly used for espionage. The technical staff also released a trove of information on Russian cyber-intrusion techniques and malware that current and former officials say forced the Russians to spend time and money coming up with new methods.

Four Targets

Even before Mueller was appointed, FBI investigators focused on four Trump associates: Paul Manafort, former campaign chairman, Michael Flynn, former national security adviser, Carter Page, cited by Trump as a national security adviser, and Roger Stone, a Trump friend and supporter who openly engaged with hackers calling themselves Guccifer 2.0, which US intelligence says was an online persona created as a cover for Russian intelligence agents.

The approach to the Manafort and Flynn probes may offer a template for how investigators' focus on possible financial crimes could help gain leverage and cooperation in the investigation.

CNN has learned that investigators became more suspicious when they turned up intercepted communications that US intelligence agencies collected among suspected Russian operatives discussing their efforts to work with Manafort, who served as campaign chairman for three months, to coordinate information that could damage Hillary Clinton's election prospects, the US officials say. The suspected operatives relayed what they claimed were conversations with Manafort, encouraging help from the Russians.

Manafort faces potential real troubles in the probe, according to current and former officials. Decades of doing business with foreign regimes with reputations for corruption, from the Philippines to Ukraine, had led to messy finances.

The focus now for investigators is whether Manafort was involved in money laundering or tax violations in his business dealings with pro-Russia parties in Ukraine. He's also been drawn into a related investigation of his son-in-law's real estate business dealings, some of which he invested in.

Manafort has not been accused of any wrongdoing.

In response to questions about CNN's reporting, his spokesman, Jason Maloni, says it "is becoming increasingly apparent that there was no collusion between the campaign and the Russian government."

Flynn drew suspicions in late 2016 when US spy agencies collecting the communications of Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak found Flynn, the incoming national security adviser, discussing the subject of US sanctions on Russia. That appeared to contradict White House claims that Flynn had not discussed sanctions in his talks with Kislyak.

On January 24, Andrew McCabe, then the deputy FBI director, called Flynn at his White House office. He told the retired lieutenant general that he was sending a couple of FBI agents to discuss a matter with him, according to people familiar with what unfolded. Flynn spoke to McCabe without his lawyer present.

At the FBI, the decision to approach Flynn was debated at the highest levels, including by Comey, according to sources familiar with those discussions. FBI officials considered the visit by agents a "duty to warn" matter, a not-uncommon effort by the FBI to warn a US official that foreign spies may be trying to target them.

The agents asked Flynn about the Kislyak calls, in part out of concern that Flynn could be vulnerable to blackmail over the content of the conversations. Flynn gave a wobbly explanation of events. He initially denied the sanctions discussions, then later claimed he couldn't remember.

Despite the conflicting accounts, FBI investigators have leaned against seeking charges over the Kislyak discussions. The investigators don't consider Flynn's answers to be intentionally dishonest.

Flynn's lawyers have criticized media reports about his connection to the Russia investigation as peddling "unfounded allegations" and "outrageous claims."

More troublesome for Flynn, investigators have focused on his lobbying work for the Turkish government, which the former Defense Intelligence Agency chief didn't initially disclose as required by law. Flynn's lawyers have since retroactively registered his lobbying.

Page had been the subject of a secret intelligence surveillance warrant since 2014, earlier than had been previously reported, US officials briefed on the probe told CNN.

When information emerged last summer suggesting that the Russians were attempting to cultivate Page as a way to gain an entrée into the Trump campaign, the FBI renewed its interest in him. Initially, FBI counterintelligence investigators saw the campaign as possible victims being targeted by Russian intelligence.

Page denies working with any Russians as part of the Kremlin's election meddling, though he admits interacting with some Russians during the campaign.

Stone denies collusion and says his conversations with Guccifer 2.0, which he since posted online, were innocuous.

Despite it's length this is well worth the read. 

 

Oh! Every time I refresh my twitterfeed, additional news on the Mueller investigation pops up!

 

[AmazonGrace]

This is a great time for Trump to go AWOL. 

[GreyhoundFan]

"Senators unveil two proposals to protect Mueller’s Russia probe"

Spoiler

Two bipartisan pairs of senators unveiled legislation Thursday to prevent President Trump from firing special counsel Robert S. Mueller III without cause — or at least a reason good enough to convince a panel of federal judges.

Senators have raised concerns that the president might try to rearrange his administration to get rid of Mueller, who is spearheading a probe of Russia’s alleged interference in the presidential election and any possible collusion between the Kremlin and members of the Trump campaign and transition teams.

While Trump cannot fire Mueller directly, many have raised concerns in recent weeks that he might seek to replace Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who recused himself from all campaign-related matters, including the Russia probe. Sessions’s deputy, Rod J. Rosenstein, said he would not fire Mueller without cause — but a new attorney general could supersede his authority.

The blowback from Congress to Trump’s recent public criticism of Sessions was sharp and substantial, and his allies in the GOP told the president to back off. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) even indicated that he would not make time in the Senate schedule to consider a new attorney general nominee.

This week, there have been reports that new White House chief of staff John F. Kelly told Sessions he would not have to worry about losing his job.

But that has not quieted the concerns of the Democrats and Republicans behind the latest efforts to safeguard Mueller — and, by extension, his Russia probe — from presidential interference.

“The Mueller situation really gave rise to our thinking about how we can address this, address the current situation,” said Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), the co-author of one of the proposals. He called the effort “a great opportunity, in perpetuity, for us to be able to communicate to the American people that actions were appropriate — or if not, then not,” if an administration ever attempts to terminate a special counsel’s term.

The two proposals — one from Tillis and Sen. Christopher A. Coons (D-Del.) and the other from Sens. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.) — each seek to check the executive branch’s ability to fire a special counsel, by putting the question to a three-judge panel from the federal courts. They differ in when that panel gets to weigh in on the decision.

Graham and Booker’s proposal, which also has backing from Judiciary Committee Democrats Sheldon Whitehouse (R.I.) and Richard Blumenthal (Conn.), would require the judges panel to review any attorney general’s decision to fire a special counsel before that firing could take effect. Tillis and Coons’ proposal would let the firing proceed according to current regulations, which they codify in the bill — but the fired special counsel would have the right to contest the administration’s decision in court. In that scenario, the judges panel would have two weeks from the day the special counsel’s case is filed to complete their review and determine whether the termination was acceptable.

Tillis and Coons, who pulled their bill together over the past two days, explained the difference as one to ensure that the legislation does not run afoul of constitutional separation of powers. Both senators, as well as Graham, said they expect they may merge their efforts after lawmakers return to Washington in September.

“I think we maybe can have a meeting of the minds. I really appreciate them doing it,” Graham said Thursday of Tillis and Coons’s bill. “I just have a different way of doing it.”

In either guise, the bill effectively would limit the president’s authority to hire and fire special counsels — a privilege that fell more squarely under the executive’s purview after Congress let an independent-counsel law established in the wake of the Watergate scandal expire in 1999, following Kenneth Starr’s investigation of President Bill Clinton.

The lawmakers are not expecting that the president will like or support either proposal to protect the special counsel from being fired without cause. But they say they are convinced that there is enough support to pass such a law, even over Trump’s objections, because of the number of Republicans and Democrats speaking out in defense of Mueller and his probe.

Coons identified “a broader bipartisan concern that the president may take inappropriate action to interfere with the ongoing, important work of Bob Mueller,” he said, and guessed that “if the president were to fire the special counsel, the Senate might promptly take action to reappoint him.”

“This is the first step to put a speed bump in place against his improvident firing,” he said of his bill with Tillis.

I'm expecting a major twitter storm.

[GrumpyGran]

15 minutes ago, AmazonGrace said:

This is a great time for Trump to go AWOL. 

Maybe that vacation won't be at Bedminster(?) after all.

[AmazonGrace]

 

[Howl]

58 minutes ago, AmazonGrace said:

This is a great time for Trump to go AWOL. 

He doesn't need to.  He's going on vacation at his golf resort in New Jersey. 

11 minutes ago, AmazonGrace said:

 

Can this get any juicier?  Yes, yes it can. 

[AmazonGrace]

 

[onekidanddone]

3 hours ago, fraurosena said:

Oh! Every time I refresh my twitterfeed, additional news on the Mueller investigation pops up!

I'm always refreshing the WoPo or NYT.  This administration really has upped my OCD.  Really no joking.

5 hours ago, GrumpyGran said:

Don't you know Mr. "All of these illegal leakers" wishes so bad that someone on Mueller's team would leak?

It would be interesting, but I'm thinking no. We don't want anything that would jeopardize the investigation. 

[GreyhoundFan]

"Why Mueller’s use of a grand jury confirms what we already knew"

Spoiler

Breathless tweets and breaking-news banners notwithstanding, reports that special counsel Robert S. Mueller III has empaneled a grand jury in the ongoing investigation of the Trump campaign and potential Russian collusion are entirely unsurprising. This development isn’t a nothing-burger, but it doesn’t suggest anything we didn’t already know.

Grand juries are how federal prosecutors conduct their investigations. The grand jury has the subpoena power that prosecutors need to compel reluctant witnesses to testify under oath. Grand jury subpoenas are also how prosecutors gather documents such as bank records, emails and corporate papers from entities or people who might not produce them voluntarily.

If a preliminary inquiry suggests there is nothing to a case, prosecutors might never empanel a grand jury. They and the FBI might conduct voluntary interviews, examine readily available documents and determine that no more formal inquiry is warranted.

That quick-look, let’s-move-on scenario was never likely here. It’s been clear for months that the allegations are sufficiently serious to merit a full investigation. And in the world of federal prosecutors, that means using a grand jury.

In fact, prosecutors in this probe have been using a grand jury for some time. Grand jury proceedings take place in secret, so there is often not a lot of news about what is happening in the room.

But someone who receives a subpoena to testify or produce documents is not bound by those secrecy rules. They are free to disclose — to the media or to anyone else — that they received a grand jury subpoena or testified in the grand jury. It may be that someone who just received a subpoena contacted a reporter and that has resulted in the “breaking news” stories.

The reality is that any investigation serious enough to warrant the appointment of a special counsel was always likely to involve a grand jury. It was always going to drag on for months. In a case this complex, it takes a long time to investigate the various allegations, subpoena and review relevant documents, and put relevant witnesses before the grand jury. If there are grants of immunity or plea deals to be negotiated, that takes time as well.

Mueller has already hired more than a dozen prosecutors to staff his investigation. Anyone who thought this was going to be over quickly was kidding themselves. The “news” confirms what we already knew.

Finally, it’s important to remember that the existence of a grand jury investigation does not mean criminal charges will necessarily result. Especially in white-collar cases, it’s not unusual for grand jury investigations to close with no charges being filed. The grand jury is the investigative tool that prosecutors use to determine whether charges are warranted – and sometimes the answer is no.

In the past weeks, there have been a number of startling and significant developments in the Russia probe. News that the special counsel is using a grand jury is not one of them.

I know the author is correct, it's just good to see something visible happening.

[fraurosena]

It's turning out to be a big news night. WaPo just posted this juicy info on Micha Flynn. 

 

[AmazonGrace]

Old Asshat is feeling the heat.

 

[GreyhoundFan]

@AmazonGrace -- Assange needs an express ride to the deserted island where we want to send all the people in the TT's orbit. It should go without saying that said island should be completely free of communication devices, which would, in turn, free the rest of the world from Assange, the TT, and the rest of their ilk.

[sawasdee]

Just watched a 'Vice' documentary on climate change - and guess which country actually benefits from global warming? Yes, Russia. Several very enthusiastic spokesmen explained how it would help the Russian economy.

So I suppose we now know part of the reason for withdrawal from the Paris Accords. Russia itself withdrawing would be a tad obvious....

[GreyhoundFan]

"The Russia investigation is getting serious — and President Trump is feeling the heat"

Spoiler

When President Trump is feeling put-upon, he retreats to his happy place: standing before a crowd of enthusiastic supporters who will cheer wildly for him and allow him to feel as though it’s still the 2016 campaign. So last night he went to West Virginia so that he could feel the love and be able to dismiss the widening and deepening investigation as nothing more than a witch hunt. But if it’s a witch hunt, there are an awful lot of people around the president who just happen to be wearing pointy hats.

Let’s run down everything that we’ve learned just in the last day about where the Russia investigation is going:

• “Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III began using a grand jury in federal court in Washington several weeks ago as part of his investigation of possible coordination between the Kremlin and the Trump campaign,” which allows him to subpoena testimony and documents. While this is not a surprise (that’s how special counsels work), if nothing else it shows that the initial phase of the investigation produced enough evidence to keep going.
• The grand jury “has issued subpoenas in connection with a June 2016 meeting that included President Donald Trump’s son, his son-in-law and a Russian lawyer, two sources told Reuters on Thursday, signaling an investigation is gathering pace into suspected Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election.”
• The grand jury has also subpoenaed documents related to former national security adviser Michael Flynn’s business dealings, and Flynn “filed an amended federal financial disclosure report late Thursday providing new details about his contracts with the Trump presidential transition, a company connected to an Iranian American businessman, and the parent company of a data science firm that worked for the Trump campaign.” Funny how people like Flynn and Jared Kushner keep remembering things they forgot to include on their disclosure forms.
• According to CNN, FBI “investigators turned up intercepted communications appearing to show efforts by Russian operatives to coordinate with Trump associates on damaging Hillary Clinton’s election prospects, officials said. CNN has learned those communications included references to campaign chairman Paul Manafort.”
• Vox reports: “Shortly after the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller in May, acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe told several of the highest-ranking managers of the bureau they should consider themselves possible witnesses in any investigation into whether President Donald Trump engaged in obstruction of justice, according to two senior federal law enforcement officials.” As one senior law enforcement official described it to Vox, “This has never been the word of Trump against what [James Comey] has had to say. This is more like the Federal Bureau of Investigation versus Donald Trump.”
• “Two bipartisan pairs of senators unveiled legislation Thursday to prevent President Trump from firing special counsel Robert S. Mueller III without cause — or at least a reason good enough to convince a panel of federal judges.” Although it may be hard to imagine Trump signing such a bill, it’s a clear signal that even some in his own party want him to understand that firing Mueller would probably set off a constitutional crisis.

What we have here are three separate tracks of investigation, any one of which could produce evidence of acts that are politically scandalous at a minimum, but could even be criminal. The first is the original justification for the probe: the possibility of collusion between the Russian government and the Trump campaign. What we know for certain so far is that Russia engaged in an effort to help Trump get elected and that those closest to Trump were at the very least interested in obtaining Russia’s help (the now-infamous meeting Donald Trump Jr., Kushner and Manafort took with a group of shady Russians because they believed they would be provided with dirt on Hillary Clinton).

The second track is the question of whether the president himself obstructed justice in his efforts to shut down the Russia probe. What we know so far may or may not constitute obstruction, but it’s certainly damning. The president admitted on national television that he fired Comey in order to stop the investigation into Russia. He also tried to enlist the Director of National Intelligence and the head of the National Security Agency to discredit the probe. We don’t know what else he may have done or whose help he got.

The third track, which will likely wind up being the most complicated one, is whether there is any other wrongdoing — particularly financial — that is uncovered in the course of investigating the first two tracks. If the special counsel finds evidence suggesting that some crimes have been committed, even if they don’t relate directly to the original purpose of the investigation, he has an obligation to pursue them and find out whether there’s anything there.

No one who has even a passing familiarity with Trump’s business dealings and history believes that once you turn over that rock there won’t be lots of slimy creatures squirming about. Some of that may have to do with Russia, since the country’s oligarchs and mobsters seem to have been unusually eager to buy Trump properties and invest in Trump projects over the years. But there may also be questionable or criminal dealings that have nothing to do with Russia, and if Mueller comes across them, we can assume he’ll pursue them.

And it isn’t just Trump himself. Others like Flynn and Manafort have some rather interesting finances, and once Mueller starts pulling on those strings, who knows where they’ll lead. Manafort in particular could wind up being the key to the whole scandal, given that his firm has received millions of dollars from interests tied to Russia, and he turned up in those intelligence intercepts.

At that West Virginia rally last night, Trump told his supporters, “The Russia story is a total fabrication. It’s just an excuse for the greatest loss in the history of American politics.” He then said, “What the prosecutors should be looking at are Hillary Clinton’s 33,000 deleted emails,” at which the crowd erupted in a positively orgasmic cheer that then turned into chants of “Lock her up!” It was as if they were transported back a year, when they could feel the adrenaline rush of pure hatred flowing through them and everything was simple. But after it was over, the president flew back to Washington, where nothing is simple and the noose is tightening around him.

I bet the noose is feeling tighter and tighter.

[fraurosena]

Seth Abramson explains why pleading the 5th before the grand jury will only make things worse.

short recap:

If they do plead the 5th, it will have to be because they would otherwise incriminate themselves in a criminal activity (they cannot plead the 5th for possibly incriminating someone else). And if they were to plead the 5th, you can bet Mueller will be all over it and digging up just exactly that criminal activity was.

 

[GreyhoundFan]

Some good tweets about the grand jury:

[GreyhoundFan]

More about Flynn from the NYT: "Mueller Seeks White House Documents on Flynn"

Spoiler

WASHINGTON — Investigators working for the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, recently asked the White House for documents related to former national security adviser Michael T. Flynn, and have questioned witnesses about whether he was secretly paid by the Turkish government during the final months of the presidential campaign, according to people close to the investigation.

Though not a formal subpoena, the document request is the first known instance of Mr. Mueller’s team asking the White House to hand over records.

In interviews with potential witnesses in recent weeks, prosecutors and F.B.I. agents have spent hours poring over the details of Mr. Flynn’s business dealings with a Turkish-American businessman who worked last year with Mr. Flynn and his consulting business, the Flynn Intel Group.

The company was paid $530,000 to run a campaign to discredit an opponent of the Turkish government who has been accused of orchestrating last year’s failed coup in the country.

Investigators want to know if the Turkish government was behind those payments — and if the Flynn Intel Group made kickbacks to the businessman, Ekim Alptekin, for helping conceal the source of the money.

The line of questioning shows that Mr. Mueller’s inquiry has expanded into a full-fledged examination of Mr. Flynn’s financial dealings, beyond the relatively narrow question of whether he failed to register as a foreign agent or lied about his conversations and business arrangements with Russian officials.

Mr. Flynn lasted only 24 days as national security adviser, but his legal troubles now lie at the center of a political storm that has engulfed the Trump administration. For months, prosecutors have used multiple grand juries to issue subpoenas for documents related to Mr. Flynn.

President Trump has publicly said Mr. Mueller should confine his investigation to the narrow issue of Russia’s attempts to disrupt last year’s presidential campaign, not conduct an expansive inquiry into the finances of Mr. Trump or his associates.

Mr. Flynn declined to comment. Ty Cobb, special counsel to Mr. Trump, said, “We’ve said before we’re collaborating with the special counsel on an ongoing basis.”

“It’s full cooperation mode as far as we are concerned,” he said.

After Mr. Flynn’s dismissal, Mr. Trump tried to get James B. Comey, the F.B.I. director, to drop the investigation, Mr. Comey said.

Mr. Mueller is investigating whether Mr. Trump committed obstruction of justice in pressing for an end to the Flynn inquiry. The president fired Mr. Comey on May 9.

Investigators are also examining the flow of money into and out of the Flynn Intel Group — a consulting firm Mr. Flynn founded after being forced out as the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency — according to several potential witnesses who have been interviewed by prosecutors and F.B.I. agents.

Taking money from Turkey or any foreign government is not illegal. But failing to register as a foreign agent is a felony, and trying to hide the source of the money by routing it through a private company or some other entity, and then paying kickbacks to the middleman, could lead to numerous criminal charges, including fraud.

Prosecutors have also asked during interviews about Mr. Flynn’s speaking engagements for Russian companies, for which he was paid more than $65,000 in 2015, and about his company’s clients — including work it may have done with the Japanese government.

They have also asked about the White Canvas Group, a data-mining company that was reportedly paid $200,000 by the Trump campaign for unspecified services. The Flynn Intel Group shared office space with White Canvas Group, which was founded by a former special operations officer who was a friend of Mr. Flynn’s.

Mr. Flynn has now had to file three versions of his financial-disclosure forms. His first version did not disclose payments from Russia-linked companies. He added those payments to an amended version of the forms he submitted in March. This week he filed a new version, adding that he briefly had a contract with SCL Group, the parent company of Cambridge Analytica, a data-mining firm that worked with the Trump campaign.

The new forms list at least $1.8 million in income, up from roughly the $1.4 million he had previously reported. It is unclear how much of that money was related to work Mr. Flynn did on Turkey issues.

Mr. Flynn’s campaign to discredit the opponent of the Turkish government, Fethullah Gulen, began on Aug. 9 when his firm signed a $600,000 deal with Inovo BV, a Dutch company owned by Mr. Alptekin, a Turkish-American businessman.

Mr. Gulen, a reclusive cleric, lives in rural Pennsylvania.

The contract with Mr. Alptekin was brought in by Bijan R. Kian, an Iranian-American businessman who was one Mr. Flynn’s business partners. Mr. Kian, who served until 2011 as a director of the Export-Import Bank, a United States federal agency, is also under scrutiny, according to witnesses questioned by Mr. Mueller’s investigators. A lawyer for Mr. Kian declined to comment.

Inovo ultimately paid the Flynn Intel Group only $530,000 and received little more than slapdash research and a comically inept attempt to make an anti-Gulen video, which was never completed. The entire enterprise would probably have gone unnoticed if Mr. Flynn had not written an opinion piece advocating improved relations between Turkey and the United States and calling Mr. Gulen “a shady Islamic mullah.”

The opinion piece appeared on Election Day. Soon after, The Daily Caller revealed that the Flynn Intel Group had a contract with Inovo, prompting the Justice Department look into Mr. Flynn’s relationship with Mr. Alptekin.

The authorities quickly determined that Mr. Flynn had not registered as a foreign agent, as required by law. In March, he retroactively registered with the Justice Department.

Mr. Mueller’s investigators have asked repeatedly about two payments of $40,000 each that the Flynn Intel Group made to Inovo, said witnesses who have been interviewed in the case.

The investigators have indicated that they suspect that the payments were kickbacks, and in one interview pointed to the suspicious timing of the transfers. The first payment back to Inovo was made on Sept. 13, four days after the Dutch company made it first payout under the contract, sending $200,000 to the Flynn Intel Group.

On Oct. 11, Inovo paid the Flynn Intel Group an additional $185,000. Then, six days later, Flynn Intel Group sent $40,000 to Inovo.

Mr. Alptekin said that both payments were refunds for work that the Flynn Intel Group had not completed.

“Ekim maintains that all payments and refunds were for unfulfilled work, and that they were legal, ethical and above board,” said Molly Toomey, a spokeswoman for Mr. Alptekin. She described the reimbursements as “a business decision.”

Another focus for investigators is the repeatedly changing explanation Mr. Alptekin has offered for why he hired Mr. Flynn. In March, he told a reporter that Mr. Flynn had been hired “to produce geopolitical analysis on Turkey and the region” for an Israeli energy company. But in an interview with The New York Times in June, he said he wanted a credible American firm to help discredit Mr. Gulen, whom the President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey has blamed for the coup attempt.

“Like many Americans rolling up their sleeves in 9/11 to do something, I decided to do something,” Mr. Alptekin said.

He scoffed at the suggestion that he was a front for the Turkish government. Inovo, he noted, was registered in the Netherlands, where it is difficult to mask the ownership of a company. A clear paper trail linked the payments between his company and the Flynn Intel Group, he said.

“If we were trying to hide,” he said, “you’d think we’d be good at it.”

Okay, is the fact that Ty Cobb used the term collaborating instead of cooperating when talking about the investigation, a Freudian slip?

[AmazonGrace]

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/04/us/politics/robert-mueller-michael-flynn-turkey.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur

Mueller Seeks White House Documents on Flynn

By MATTHEW ROSENBERG, MATT APUZZO and MICHAEL S. SCHMIDTAUG. 4, 2017

Spoiler

 

WASHINGTON — Investigators working for the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, recently asked the White House for documents related to the former national security adviser Michael T. Flynn, and have questioned witnesses about whether he was secretly paid by the Turkish government during the final months of the presidential campaign, according to people close to the investigation.

Though not a formal subpoena, the document request is the first known instance of Mr. Mueller’s team asking the White House to hand over records.

In interviews with potential witnesses in recent weeks, prosecutors and F.B.I. agents have spent hours poring over the details of Mr. Flynn’s business dealings with a Turkish-American businessman who worked last year with Mr. Flynn and his consulting business, the Flynn Intel Group.

The company was paid $530,000 to run a campaign to discredit an opponent of the Turkish government who has been accused of orchestrating last year’s failed coup in the country.

Investigators want to know if the Turkish government was behind those payments — and if the Flynn Intel Group made kickbacks to the businessman, Ekim Alptekin, for helping conceal the source of the money.

 

The line of questioning shows that Mr. Mueller’s inquiry has expanded into a full-fledged examination of Mr. Flynn’s financial dealings, beyond the relatively narrow question of whether he failed to register as a foreign agent or lied about his conversations and business arrangements with Russian officials.

Mr. Flynn lasted only 24 days as national security adviser, but his legal troubles now lie at the center of a political storm that has engulfed the Trump administration. For months, prosecutors have used multiple grand juries to issue subpoenas for documents related to Mr. Flynn.

President Trump has publicly said Mr. Mueller should confine his investigation to the narrow issue of Russia’s attempts to disrupt last year’s presidential campaign, not conduct an expansive inquiry into the finances of Mr. Trump or his associates.

Mr. Flynn declined to comment. Ty Cobb, special counsel to Mr. Trump, said, “We’ve said before we’re collaborating with the special counsel on an ongoing basis.”

“It’s full cooperation mode as far as we are concerned,” he said.

After Mr. Flynn’s dismissal, Mr. Trump tried to get James B. Comey, the F.B.I. director, to drop the investigation, Mr. Comey said.

Mr. Mueller is investigating whether Mr. Trump committed obstruction of justice in pressing for an end to the Flynn inquiry. The president fired Mr. Comey on May 9.

Investigators are also examining the flow of money into and out of the Flynn Intel Group — a consulting firm Mr. Flynn founded after being forced out as the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency — according to several potential witnesses who have been interviewed by prosecutors and F.B.I. agents.

Taking money from Turkey or any foreign government is not illegal. But failing to register as a foreign agent is a felony, and trying to hide the source of the money by routing it through a private company or some other entity, and then paying kickbacks to the middleman, could lead to numerous criminal charges, including fraud.

Prosecutors have also asked during interviews about Mr. Flynn’s speaking engagements for Russian companies, for which he was paid more than $65,000 in 2015, and about his company’s clients — including work it may have done with the Japanese government.

They have also asked about the White Canvas Group, a data-mining company that was reportedly paid $200,000 by the Trump campaign for unspecified services. The Flynn Intel Group shared office space with the White Canvas Group, which was founded by a former Special Operations officer who was a friend of Mr. Flynn’s.

 

Mr. Flynn has now had to file three versions of his financial-disclosure forms. His first version did not disclose payments from Russia-linked companies. He added those payments to an amended version of the forms he submitted in March. This week he filed a new version, adding that he briefly had a contract with SCL Group, the parent company of Cambridge Analytica, a data-mining firm that worked with the Trump campaign.

The new forms list at least $1.8 million in income, up from roughly the $1.4 million he had previously reported. It is unclear how much of that money was related to work Mr. Flynn did on Turkey issues.

Mr. Flynn’s campaign to discredit the opponent of the Turkish government, Fethullah Gulen, began on Aug. 9 when his firm signed a $600,000 deal with Inovo BV, a Dutch company owned by Mr. Alptekin, the Turkish-American businessman.

Mr. Gulen, a reclusive cleric, lives in rural Pennsylvania.

The contract with Mr. Alptekin was brought in by Bijan R. Kian, an Iranian-American businessman who was one of Mr. Flynn’s business partners. Mr. Kian, who served until 2011 as a director of the Export-Import Bank, a United States federal agency, is also under scrutiny, according to witnesses questioned by Mr. Mueller’s investigators. A lawyer for Mr. Kian declined to comment.

Inovo ultimately paid the Flynn Intel Group only $530,000 and received little more than slapdash research and a comically ineptattempt to make an anti-Gulen video, which was never completed. The entire enterprise would probably have gone unnoticed if Mr. Flynn had not written an opinion piece advocating improved relations between Turkey and the United States and calling Mr. Gulen “a shady Islamic mullah.”

The opinion piece appeared on Election Day. Soon after, The Daily Caller revealed that the Flynn Intel Group had a contract with Inovo, prompting the Justice Department look into Mr. Flynn’s relationship with Mr. Alptekin.

The authorities quickly determined that Mr. Flynn had not registered as a foreign agent, as required by law. In March, he retroactively registeredwith the Justice Department.

Mr. Mueller’s investigators have asked repeatedly about two payments of $40,000 each that the Flynn Intel Group made to Inovo, said witnesses who have been interviewed in the case.

The investigators have indicated that they suspect that the payments were kickbacks, and in one interview pointed to the suspicious timing of the transfers. The first payment back to Inovo was made on Sept. 13, four days after the Dutch company made its first payout under the contract, sending $200,000 to the Flynn Intel Group.

On Oct. 11, Inovo paid the Flynn Intel Group an additional $185,000. Then, six days later, the Flynn Intel Group sent $40,000 to Inovo.

Mr. Alptekin said that both payments were refunds for work that the Flynn Intel Group had not completed.

“Ekim maintains that all payments and refunds were for unfulfilled work, and that they were legal, ethical and above board,” said Molly Toomey, a spokeswoman for Mr. Alptekin. She described the reimbursements as “a business decision.”

Another focus for investigators is the repeatedly changing explanation Mr. Alptekin has offered for why he hired Mr. Flynn. In March, he told a reporter that Mr. Flynn had been hired “to produce geopolitical analysis on Turkey and the region” for an Israeli energy company. But in an interview with The New York Times in June, he said he wanted a credible American firm to help discredit Mr. Gulen, whom President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey has blamed for the coup attempt.

“Like many Americans rolling up their sleeves in 9/11 to do something, I decided to do something,” Mr. Alptekin said.

 

He scoffed at the suggestion that he was a front for the Turkish government. Inovo, he noted, was registered in the Netherlands, where it is difficult to mask the ownership of a company. A clear paper trail linked the payments between his company and the Flynn Intel Group, he said.

“If we were trying to hide,” he said, “you’d think we’d be good at it.”

Follow Matthew Rosenberg on Twitter @AllMattNYT

 

 

Dershowitz complaining that there are black people in DC: 

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/345397-dershowitz-dc-area-grand-jury-gives-mueller-tactical-advantage

I mean, maybe don't commit crimes in DC if you don't want a DC grand jury? Just a thought. 

[fraurosena]

5 hours ago, AmazonGrace said:

Dershowitz complaining that there are black people in DC: 

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/345397-dershowitz-dc-area-grand-jury-gives-mueller-tactical-advantage

I mean, maybe don't commit crimes in DC if you don't want a DC grand jury? Just a thought. 

John Schindler had this to say about that:

 

[GrumpyGran]

2 hours ago, fraurosena said:

John Schindler had this to say about that:

 

To be fair, all the rich old white guys in DC are on the dole. Part of that is avoiding jury duty at all costs. It cuts into martini lunch, golf, mistress time, second mistress time and schmoozing big money donors. So I guess you could say he picked the wrong friends?

[AmazonGrace]

Our favorite shirtless fisher is not happy with his little Trumpy:

 

[GreyhoundFan]

Oh, I bet twitler is going to have a major hissy. I wonder if Rosenstein's days are numbered: "Rosenstein: Special counsel Mueller can investigate any crimes he uncovers in Russia probe"

Spoiler

Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein said Sunday that the expanding investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election is continuing apace, even as President Trump dismissed the probe as “a total fabrication.”

Rosenstein said special counsel Robert S. Mueller III can investigate any crimes that he might discover within the scope of his probe, but the deputy attorney general would not discuss which individuals are the subject of their inquiry. The interview comes days after Trump said he believes it would be inappropriate for Mueller to dig into Trump family finances.

“The special counsel is subject to the rules and regulations of the Department of Justice, and we don’t engage in fishing expeditions,” Rosenstein said when asked about the probe in an interview on “Fox News Sunday.”

Rosenstein declined to comment on reports that Mueller is using a grand jury in a court in Washington to aid in his investigation but he said that such a step is a routine part of “many investigations.”

“It’s an appropriate way to gather documents, sometimes to bring witnesses in, to make sure that you get their full testimony,” Rosenstein said. “It’s just a tool that we use like any other tool in the course of our investigations. “

Trump and his inner circle have repeatedly dismissed the investigation amid frequent reports that Mueller and his team are digging into broader details on the financial dealings of members of Trump’s campaign team. Senior White House counselor Kellyanne Conway called the probe a “fabrication” in an interview on ABC’s “This Week.” Trump called it “the totally made-up Russia story” in a campaign-style speech he delivered Thursday in West Virginia.

The attacks have raised concerns among Democrats and some Republicans that Trump may be looking for ways to undermine the investigation. Those fears led Sens. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and Christopher A. Coons (D-Del.) to propose legislation that would give a judge the ability to review any decision by the president to fire Muller.

Tillis said Sunday that he does not agree that the investigation is a witch hunt and said the bill is intended to bolster the independence of the Justice Department.

“We’ll let the facts lead us to whether or not it was a hoax or a distraction,” Tillis said during a “This Week” interview. “But we are where we are, and I want to see this investigation concluded so that we can get on to doing the good work the president has already started with regulatory reform, health care and tax reform.”

Rep. Adam B. Schiff (Calif.), the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, called Mueller’s impaneling of a D.C. grand jury “a significant development,” noting that it has been more than a year since former FBI director James B. Comey launched a counterintelligence investigation into Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election.

“That means one year later, rather than turning that investigation off, rather than concluding ‘We’ve looked at this for a year; there’s really nothing to see here,’ as the president would claim, instead . . . it’s moving into a new phase,” Schiff said during an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “That wouldn’t be taking place if there was really no evidence, no evidentiary basis to move forward.”

He said an additional reason to continue investigating was the disclosure of the June 2016 meeting of Donald Trump Jr., campaign officials and a Russian lawyer, which was set up with the advertised purpose of sharing damaging information on Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.

“And now you add on the layer of the president, if these allegations are true, helping to fabricate a false statement about what that meeting was about,” Schiff said, referring to the White House’s acknowledgment that Trump weighed in on an initial statement issued by Trump Jr. about the meeting that did not mention its pretext.

Schiff also said the House Intelligence Committee and Mueller are looking at some of the same issues related to former national security adviser Michael Flynn, including payments Flynn allegedly received from Turkey during the final months of the presidential campaign and from RT, a Russian government-backed television network.

“If General Flynn was shown to have violated the law in other ways, it would be an incentive for him to cooperate more broadly with the Mueller investigation,” Schiff said.

During an appearance on the same CNN program, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R), an ally of the Trump administration, downplayed the significance of a D.C. grand jury being impaneled by Mueller.

“That’s a typical thing to be done in any investigation,” said Christie, a former federal prosecutor.

Asked about Trump’s concerns that Mueller’s probe could expand into financial dealings of Trump unrelated to Russia, Christie said that some sometimes special counsels feel “the need to produce something in return for their appointment.”

But he called Mueller “a good man” and said he trusts he will not go on a “fishing expedition.”

Christie also called Trump Jr.’s meeting with the Russian lawyer “ill-advised.” The meeting was also attended by Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and now senior adviser, and Paul Manafort, then Trump’s campaign chairman.

“This is not something that should have happened,” Christie said. “Everybody in retrospect knows that this is a bad idea.”

But Christie said it remains unclear whether Trump was aware of the email to Trump Jr. ahead of the meeting that said it would be related to Russian information on Clinton.

“We don’t know that the president knew about those emails or about the content of those emails,” Christie said. “And so we don’t know what his own son told him about that meeting.”

On ABC, Conway said Trump “had no knowledge of that meeting.”

“I was never informed of that meeting,” she said. “I found out about it when you found out about it, when the rest of the public did.”

Conway also referenced Kushner’s contention that he left the meeting a few minutes in when it became clear the Russian lawyer wanted to talk about adoption policy. Kushner has said he had an aide pull him out.

“If you’re getting dirt on your political opponent, if you’re getting the silver bullet and the secret sauce on how to win the election, you don’t ask your aide to pull you out of the meeting,” Conway said. “You say please order lunch. Let’s just stay.”

Oh, Kellyanne, I'm thinking the only two people who believe your spin are you and the TT.