The Russian Connection 2

[GreyhoundFan]

1 hour ago, AmazonGrace said:

Somehow you expect the attorney general of the United States to be a halfway competent lawyer but I gotta say that Sessions looks pretty amateur right now. 

Before November 8, 2016, it would have been reasonable to expect that the AG be a halfway competent lawyer. Sadly, competence is not required or desired by Agent Orange.

[AmazonGrace]

Yeah  maybe he feels threatened by people who know what they're talking about  because they'd know he's full of shit. Clovis would have been perfect but it looks like he got the boot because of his testimony to Mueller. 

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/358537-wh-was-not-aware-clovis-testified-before-grand-jury-report

White House was not aware Clovis testified before grand jury: report

By Max Greenwood - 11/02/17 05:50 PM EDT

 

Also,  Ike Kavelaz and Carter Page testified in the House today. 

http://thehill.com/policy/cybersecurity/358540-former-trump-adviser-grilled-by-house-committee-behind-closed-doors

[GreyhoundFan]

I don't think I've seen this Vanity Fair article published. It's a good one, describing the finger-pointing: "“You Can’t Go Any Lower”: Inside the West Wing, Trump Is Apoplectic as Allies Fear Impeachment"

Spoiler

Until now, Robert Mueller has haunted Donald Trump’s White House as a hovering, mostly unseen menace. But by securing indictments of Paul Manafort and Rick Gates, and a surprise guilty plea from foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos, Mueller announced loudly that the Russia investigation poses an existential threat to the president. “Here’s what Manafort’s indictment tells me: Mueller is going to go over every financial dealing of Jared Kushner and the Trump Organization,” said former Trump campaign aide Sam Nunberg. “Trump is at 33 percent in Gallup. You can’t go any lower. He’s fucked.”

The first charges in the Mueller probe have kindled talk of what the endgame for Trump looks like, according to conversations with a half-dozen advisers and friends of the president. For the first time since the investigation began, the prospect of impeachment is being considered as a realistic outcome and not just a liberal fever dream. According to a source, advisers in the West Wing are on edge and doing whatever they can not to be ensnared. One person close to Dina Powell and Gary Cohn said they’re making sure to leave rooms if the subject of Russia comes up.

The consensus among the advisers I spoke to is that Trump faces few good options to thwart Mueller. For one, firing Mueller would cross a red line, analogous to Nixon’s firing of Archibald Cox during Watergate, pushing establishment Republicans to entertain the possibility of impeachment. “His options are limited, and his instinct is to come out swinging, which won’t help things,” said a prominent Republican close to the White House.

Trump, meanwhile, has reacted to the deteriorating situation by lashing out on Twitter and venting in private to friends. He’s frustrated that the investigation seems to have no end in sight. “Trump wants to be critical of Mueller,” one person who’s been briefed on Trump’s thinking says. “He thinks it’s unfair criticism. Clinton hasn’t gotten anything like this. And what about Tony Podesta? Trump is like, When is that going to end?” According to two sources, Trump has complained to advisers about his legal team for letting the Mueller probe progress this far. Speaking to Steve Bannon on Tuesday, Trump blamed Jared Kushner for his role in decisions, specifically the firings of Mike Flynn and James Comey, that led to Mueller’s appointment, according to a source briefed on the call. When Roger Stone recently told Trump that Kushner was giving him bad political advice, Trump agreed, according to someone familiar with the conversation. “Jared is the worst political adviser in the White House in modern history,” Nunberg said. “I’m only saying publicly what everyone says behind the scenes at Fox News, in conservative media, and the Senate and Congress.” (The White House didn’t respond to a request for comment by deadline.)

As Mueller moves to interview West Wing aides in the coming days, advisers are lobbying for Trump to consider a range of stratagems to neutralize Mueller, from conciliation to a declaration of all-out war. One Republican explained Trump’s best chance for survival is to get his poll numbers up. Trump’s lawyer Ty Cobb has been advocating the view that playing ball will lead to a quick resolution (Cobb did not respond to a request for comment). But these soft-power approaches are being criticized by Trump allies including Steve Bannon and Roger Stone, who both believe establishment Republicans are waiting for a chance to impeach Trump. “The establishment has proven time and time again they will fuck Trump over,” a Bannon ally told me.

In a series of phone calls with Trump on Monday and Tuesday, Bannon told the president to shake up the legal team by installing an aggressive lawyer above Cobb, according to two sources briefed on the call. Bannon has also discussed ways to pressure Congress to defund Mueller’s investigation or limit its scope. “Mueller shouldn’t be allowed to be a clean shot on goal,” a Bannon confidant told me. “He must be contested and checked. Right now he has unchecked power.”

Bannon’s sense of urgency is being fueled by his belief that Trump’s hold on power is slipping. The collapse of Obamacare repeal, and the dimming chances that tax reform will pass soon—many Trump allies are deeply pessimistic about its prospects—have created the political climate for establishment Republicans to turn on Trump. Two weeks ago, according to a source, Bannon did a spitball analysis of the Cabinet to see which members would remain loyal to Trump in the event the 25th Amendment were invoked, thereby triggering a vote to remove the president from office. Bannon recently told people he’s not sure if Trump would survive such a vote. “One thing Steve wants Trump to do is take this more seriously,” the Bannon confidant told me. “Stop joking around. Stop tweeting.”

Roger Stone believes defunding Mueller isn’t enough. Instead, Stone wants Trump to call for a special prosecutor to investigate Hillary Clinton’s role in approving the controversial Uranium One deal that’s been a locus of rightwing hysteria (the transaction involved a Russian state-owned energy firm acquiring a Canadian mining company that controlled a large subset of the uranium in the United States). It’s a bit of a bank shot, but as Stone described it, a special prosecutor looking into Uranium One would also have to investigate the F.B.I.’s role in approving the deal, thereby making Mueller—who was in charge of the bureau at the time—a target. Stone’s choice for a special prosecutor: Rudy Giuliani law colleague Marc Mukasey or Fox News pundit Andrew Napolitano. “You would immediately have to inform Mueller, Comey, and [Deputy Attorney General] Rod Rosenstein that they are under federal investigation,” Stone said. “Trump can’t afford to fire Mueller politically. But this pushes him aside.”

I'm sure the screaming is going on non-stop in the west wing.

[onekidanddone]

37 minutes ago, GreyhoundFan said:

I'm sure the screaming is going on non-stop in the west wing.

I'm obsessing over the tax bill going through the House right now. I'm freaking out that it might pass as Paul soulless Ryan wants.  I'm not seeing good news.  I was hoping there would be more in fighting.

[Howl]

So one the one hand, Trump has Jared advising him.....and on the other Bannon and Stone.  

On the one hand, a callow, upper class twit whose expertise in real estate resulted in massively overpaying for a high rise and on the other hand, the alt-right Antichrist himself + a person referred to as "the cockroach of American politics".  What could possibly go wrong? 

Will Jared be shown the door before he's achieved peace in the Middle East or completely reorganized the Federal government?  Stay tuned! 

[Botkinetti]

I can't even imagine the chaos in the White House right now. Everyone desperately trying to remember every conversation they had. Every email they ever wrote. Trying to decide on a lawyer. Worrying about paying that lawyer. Lack of sleep leads to odd decisions. Every low level employee must be worried about being made a scapegoat.

How  could anything productive be occurring.

[GreyhoundFan]

Oh, for pity sake: "Conservative Republicans demand Mueller recuse himself over uranium deal"

Spoiler

Three conservative House Republicans are expected to file a resolution Friday calling on special counsel Robert S. Mueller III to recuse himself from his probe of Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, accusing him of conflicts of interest.

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), who wrote the resolution, accuses Mueller of having a conflict of interest because he was serving as FBI chief when the Obama administration approved a deal allowing a Russian company to purchase a Canada-based mining group with uranium operations in the United States, according to a draft obtained by The Washington Post.

President Trump has often brought up the Uranium One deal in 2010 as a way to accuse Hillary Clinton of potential corruption and foreign collusion, despite scant evidence she was directly involved in the decision to allow it to proceed. Nine government agencies make up the government committee that reviews such deals, along with five other observer agencies; the FBI is not one of them.

The GOP also launched two congressional probes into the matter last month, questioning whether the FBI and Justice Department were looking into Russia’s attempts to influence the U.S. uranium market.

Gaetz wants the deal to be investigated by a special counsel, and he doesn’t think Mueller is the guy to do it.

“Someone who was involved in a deal cannot reasonably be trusted to scrutinize that probe,” Gaetz said in an interview.

Gaetz added that he doesn’t trust Mueller because of his “close personal relationship” with former FBI Director James B. Comey. Similar complaints have been raised by other Republicans, though there is considerable dispute over whether the Comey-Mueller relationship was primarily professional.

Republicans, including Gaetz, have also called on the Justice Department to better investigate Comey’s conduct in the FBI investigation into Clinton’s emails, a matter several congressional committees are also probing.

As of late Thursday, Reps. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) and Louis Gohmert (R-Texas), both members of the House’s conservative Freedom Caucus, had signed on to Gaetz’s effort. A spokeswoman for Gaetz said they expect to pick up more support from the Freedom Caucus, the bulk of whose members signed onto an earlier Gaetz bill calling on the attorney general to appoint a special counsel to look into Comey’s actions.

But Gaetz may struggle to build wider support.

He admitted Thursday that he does not expect any Democrats to support his Mueller resolution. And many Republicans who have questions about Clinton’s role in the 2010 uranium deal still support Mueller’s right to do his job free from political interference.

There have been no reports that Mueller is including the uranium deal in his investigation. Earlier this week, Mueller announced the first charges of his probe against three members of Trump’s campaign: former campaign manager Paul Manafort, his business partner Rick Gates, and campaign foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos.

Gaetz said that he spoke to Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Sept. 28 and asked him to appoint another special counsel to look into the uranium deal, but that Sessions claimed his own recusal from all matters related to the 2016 campaign prevented him from weighing in on the matter. Staffers for deputy attorney general Rod J. Rosenstein, Gaetz added, would not commit to making a decision on his request.

The "...but Hillary..." crap was old 25 years ago, it's beyond old now.

[fraurosena]

8 hours ago, Botkinetti said:

I can't even imagine the chaos in the White House right now. Everyone desperately trying to remember every conversation they had. Every email they ever wrote. Trying to decide on a lawyer. Worrying about paying that lawyer. Lack of sleep leads to odd decisions. Every low level employee must be worried about being made a scapegoat.

How  could anything productive be occurring.

Well, let's be honest. The chaos entered the WH on 1/20/2017, and since then they haven't been productive at all. So maybe except for them being really scared now, nothing will really change at all.

[GreyhoundFan]

Hmmmm: "Lawmakers: Carter Page withholding documents from their Russia probe"

Spoiler

Former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser Carter Page invoked his Fifth Amendment rights Thursday when asked by House Intelligence Committee members why he hadn’t turned over documents for their probe into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, lawmakers said.

“I’m helping to the greatest extent I can,” Page told reporters after exiting his interview, which was held in a secure Capitol hearing room. The committee is slated to release a transcript of his testimony in three days at Page’s request.

Page, who appeared without a lawyer, was in the hearing room for nearly seven hours, but he declined to offer details to reporters about the direction of lawmakers’ questions.

Lawmakers said after the session that Page did not hand over documents they subpoenaed, though it was not clear what material they requested. It was not immediately apparent what steps they would take to obtain the documents. The Senate intelligence panel has also issued him a subpoena.

Emerging from the hearing room, some committee members indicated that despite his lengthy testimony, only portions of it seemed to have value.

“No atomic bombs” was the way Rep. Tom Rooney (R-Fla.) described it.

In his brief comments to reporters, Page largely skirted the details of his back-and-forth with committee members but focused on his anger that he was included in the disputed dossier that purports to catalog President Donald Trump’s ties to prominent figures in Russia. The dossier, which was compiled by former British intelligence agent Christopher Steele and which Trump says is fake, described Page as an emissary for the campaign to the Kremlin.

“Now that the truth is getting out there and the domestic propaganda which related to this has been resolved, the truth is now in the process of becoming known, and brighter days are ahead,” Page said.

Page has raised eyebrows in Washington for his repeated TV appearances discussing his role in the campaign, despite his decision to forgo the advice of attorneys. He emerged from the lengthy hearing with an upbeat assessment of how it went.

“It was great to have this discussion and have the opportunity to testify,” he said.

Though Page has largely been viewed as a marginal figure in the Trump campaign, his role has taken on renewed significance after it was revealed Monday that fellow campaign foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russian officials. Page and Papadopoulos were part of a small team of foreign policy advisers cobbled together in the spring of 2016 just as Trump was tightening his grip on the GOP presidential nomination.

Papadopoulos, in his plea agreement, described making repeated attempts to connect Trump campaign officials with influential Russians and suggested he was told that the Russians possessed “dirt” on Trump rival Hillary Clinton as early as April 2016.

Asked about his relationship with Papadopoulos, Page said, “I had nothing to do with any of that.”

 

[Rachel333]

I don't know what's going on with Carter Page. Why is he talking so much? He was interviewed by Jake Tapper today and he sure makes it sound like he has met with Mueller's team. (That part starts around 10:40)

 

[GreyhoundFan]

"Longtime Trump bodyguard to face questions about 2013 Moscow trip"

Spoiler

One of President Trump’s most trusted confidants, a security chief who served as his sounding board for nearly two decades, will face questions from congressional investigators next week about Trump’s 2013 trip to Moscow, according to people familiar with their plans.

The excursion is at the center of some of the most salacious allegations in a now-famous dossier, which contains unverified charges that Trump has vehemently disputed.

The House Intelligence Committee has called former longtime bodyguard Keith Schiller to appear for an interview Tuesday as part of its probe of Russian meddling in the 2016 election. Investigators plan to press Schiller about allegations in the 35-page dossier that Russian officials obtained compromising information about Trump’s personal behavior when he visited Moscow for the 2013 Miss Universe pageant, according to people familiar with the investigation.

The document, produced by a former British spy working for a firm hired by Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s campaign, is a compilation of claims about coordination between Russian nationals and the Trump campaign amid a Kremlin-directed effort to tip the election in Trump’s favor.

Among them is the assertion that Russian officials had obtained “kompromat” to hold over Trump — including evidence that Trump hired prostitutes at the Moscow Ritz-Carlton.

Trump has called the allegations a “disgrace” and said the dossier is “totally fake and made up — it’s like a novel.” He and his allies have pounced on the recent revelation that Clinton’s campaign helped finance the research, saying it proves the document is a partisan attack.

The president has indicated that Schiller will say that the Moscow allegations are false. “Keith was there,” the president told the New York Times in July. “He said, ‘What kind of crap is this?’ I went there for one day for the Miss Universe contest, I turned around, I went back.”

Ty Cobb, the White House lawyer overseeing Russia matters, said Friday that “the White House is delighted that Mr. Schiller will have an opportunity to shed some light on these scandalous allegations, and we are sure that his testimony will be of great interest to all fair-minded people.”

Schiller will likely be questioned about the specifics in the dossier, as well as whether he or Trump came into contact with any Russian individuals that might have given the Russian government potentially compromising information about the future president.

“He can expect to be asked about any interaction with Russians, with or without Trump” during that 2013 excursion and throughout his tenure with the Trump Organization, according to a U.S. official familiar with the inquiry who requested anonymity to discuss the investigation.

Stuart Sears, Schiller’s attorney, declined Friday to comment on Schiller’s pending appearance.

Schiller’s long and close relationship with Trump makes him a potentially valuable witness to investigators and of keen interest to Democrats.

For years, he served as Trump’s “body man,” spending more time with the real estate and hotel executive than perhaps anyone outside the president’s immediate family.

“He’s not going to come in and start spilling,” the U.S. official said.

Schiller, who began serving as Trump’s director of security at the Trump Organization in 2005, shadowed Trump on the road as he campaigned for the Republican nomination and the presidency. He has long been considered one of Trump’s most loyal aides, and when Trump won the presidential election in November, he asked Schiller to join him in the White House as director of Oval Office Operations.

After nine months, he left the White House in September, frustrated by a newly arrived Chief of Staff John F. Kelly and strict limits he set on access to the president, according to several White House aides.

The House panel also plans to ask Schiller about another episode that is a central focus in the investigations by congressional committees and special counsel Robert S. Mueller III: the firing of former FBI Director James B. Comey.

Trump tasked Schiller with hand-delivering to the FBI the president’s letter terminating Comey. Investigators are examining whether Trump was attempting to obstruct the criminal investigation into Russian meddling by firing Comey.

Schiller, a former New York police detective, has been a controversial figure, bringing a rough-and-tough approach to security during last year’s campaign rallies.

“I’m no stranger to putting my hands on people,” Schiller said in a 2015 videotaped Facebook interview.

“Come on, Keith. Go. Get ’em out,” Trump called from the podium when protesters got rowdy at one of his rallies.

Aspects of the dossier that contain the allegations about the 2013 Moscow trip have been rejected as untrue by the president and his allies, including claims that certain Trump associates traveled on specific dates to countries that they say they never visited.

But a broader theme of the document — that there were extensive efforts by Russians to connect with Trump campaign officials — has been subsequently borne out in intelligence reports, investigations by the media and recent court documents filed by Mueller’s team.

The material in the dossier was assembled by a former British intelligence officer, Christopher Steele, whose security and investigations firm was hired to assist a political research firm in Washington that was initially working for Trump’s opponents in the Republican primaries but later offered its services to Clinton’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee.

I don't have a lot of faith that he'll turn on the TT.

[fraurosena]

Oh boy, if this turns out to be true... 

 

[GrumpyGran]

15 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

"Longtime Trump bodyguard to face questions about 2013 Moscow trip"

  Reveal hidden contents

One of President Trump’s most trusted confidants, a security chief who served as his sounding board for nearly two decades, will face questions from congressional investigators next week about Trump’s 2013 trip to Moscow, according to people familiar with their plans.

The excursion is at the center of some of the most salacious allegations in a now-famous dossier, which contains unverified charges that Trump has vehemently disputed.

The House Intelligence Committee has called former longtime bodyguard Keith Schiller to appear for an interview Tuesday as part of its probe of Russian meddling in the 2016 election. Investigators plan to press Schiller about allegations in the 35-page dossier that Russian officials obtained compromising information about Trump’s personal behavior when he visited Moscow for the 2013 Miss Universe pageant, according to people familiar with the investigation.

The document, produced by a former British spy working for a firm hired by Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s campaign, is a compilation of claims about coordination between Russian nationals and the Trump campaign amid a Kremlin-directed effort to tip the election in Trump’s favor.

Among them is the assertion that Russian officials had obtained “kompromat” to hold over Trump — including evidence that Trump hired prostitutes at the Moscow Ritz-Carlton.

Trump has called the allegations a “disgrace” and said the dossier is “totally fake and made up — it’s like a novel.” He and his allies have pounced on the recent revelation that Clinton’s campaign helped finance the research, saying it proves the document is a partisan attack.

The president has indicated that Schiller will say that the Moscow allegations are false. “Keith was there,” the president told the New York Times in July. “He said, ‘What kind of crap is this?’ I went there for one day for the Miss Universe contest, I turned around, I went back.”

Ty Cobb, the White House lawyer overseeing Russia matters, said Friday that “the White House is delighted that Mr. Schiller will have an opportunity to shed some light on these scandalous allegations, and we are sure that his testimony will be of great interest to all fair-minded people.”

Schiller will likely be questioned about the specifics in the dossier, as well as whether he or Trump came into contact with any Russian individuals that might have given the Russian government potentially compromising information about the future president.

“He can expect to be asked about any interaction with Russians, with or without Trump” during that 2013 excursion and throughout his tenure with the Trump Organization, according to a U.S. official familiar with the inquiry who requested anonymity to discuss the investigation.

Stuart Sears, Schiller’s attorney, declined Friday to comment on Schiller’s pending appearance.

Schiller’s long and close relationship with Trump makes him a potentially valuable witness to investigators and of keen interest to Democrats.

For years, he served as Trump’s “body man,” spending more time with the real estate and hotel executive than perhaps anyone outside the president’s immediate family.

“He’s not going to come in and start spilling,” the U.S. official said.

Schiller, who began serving as Trump’s director of security at the Trump Organization in 2005, shadowed Trump on the road as he campaigned for the Republican nomination and the presidency. He has long been considered one of Trump’s most loyal aides, and when Trump won the presidential election in November, he asked Schiller to join him in the White House as director of Oval Office Operations.

After nine months, he left the White House in September, frustrated by a newly arrived Chief of Staff John F. Kelly and strict limits he set on access to the president, according to several White House aides.

The House panel also plans to ask Schiller about another episode that is a central focus in the investigations by congressional committees and special counsel Robert S. Mueller III: the firing of former FBI Director James B. Comey.

Trump tasked Schiller with hand-delivering to the FBI the president’s letter terminating Comey. Investigators are examining whether Trump was attempting to obstruct the criminal investigation into Russian meddling by firing Comey.

Schiller, a former New York police detective, has been a controversial figure, bringing a rough-and-tough approach to security during last year’s campaign rallies.

“I’m no stranger to putting my hands on people,” Schiller said in a 2015 videotaped Facebook interview.

“Come on, Keith. Go. Get ’em out,” Trump called from the podium when protesters got rowdy at one of his rallies.

Aspects of the dossier that contain the allegations about the 2013 Moscow trip have been rejected as untrue by the president and his allies, including claims that certain Trump associates traveled on specific dates to countries that they say they never visited.

But a broader theme of the document — that there were extensive efforts by Russians to connect with Trump campaign officials — has been subsequently borne out in intelligence reports, investigations by the media and recent court documents filed by Mueller’s team.

The material in the dossier was assembled by a former British intelligence officer, Christopher Steele, whose security and investigations firm was hired to assist a political research firm in Washington that was initially working for Trump’s opponents in the Republican primaries but later offered its services to Clinton’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee.

I don't have a lot of faith that he'll turn on the TT.

Interesting. I'm sure he had to sign a non-disclosure. So he knows Dumpy would eventually sue him, or try to. Is he protected because this is questioning by Congress? There wasn't a subpoena, was there?

OTOH I wonder if he isn't a little miffed that Dumpy didn't protect him from Kelly.

[GreyhoundFan]

Hmmmm: "Mueller Has Enough Evidence to Bring Charges in Flynn Investigation"

Spoiler

WASHINGTON — Federal investigators have gathered enough evidence to bring charges in their investigation of President Donald Trump's former national security adviser and his son as part of the probe into Russia's intervention in the 2016 election, according to multiple sources familiar with the investigation.

Michael T. Flynn, who was fired after just 24 days on the job, was one of the first Trump associates to come under scrutiny in the federal probe now led by Special Counsel Robert Mueller into possible collusion between Moscow and the Trump campaign.

... < video >

Mueller is applying renewed pressure on Flynn following his indictment of Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, three sources familiar with the investigation told NBC News.

The investigators are speaking to multiple witnesses in coming days to gain more information surrounding Flynn's lobbying work, including whether he laundered money or lied to federal agents about his overseas contacts, according to three sources familiar with the investigation.

Mueller's team is also examining whether Flynn attempted to orchestrate the removal of a chief rival of Turkish President Recep Erdogan from the U.S. to Turkey in exchange for millions of dollars, two officials said.

A spokesperson for the special counsel had no comment.

Flynn's son, Michael G. Flynn, who worked closely with his father, accompanied him during the campaign and briefly worked on the presidential transition, could be indicted separately or at the same time as his father, according to three sources familiar with the investigation.

If the elder Flynn is willing to cooperate with investigators in order to help his son, two of the sources said, it could also change his own fate, potentially limiting any legal consequences.

The pressure on Flynn is the latest signal that Mueller is moving at a rapid, and steady, pace in his investigation. Last week, investigators unsealed indictments of Manafort and Manafort's business partner Rick Gates. They pleaded not guilty.

Investigators also revealed Monday that former Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos had pleaded guilty to lying to federal officials and had been cooperating with Mueller's investigation.

If the senior Flynn is charged, he would be the first current or former Trump administration official formally accused of criminal wrongdoing by the Mueller team.

So far, the probe has only ensnared campaign officials, and the White House has argued that the connection to the president is minimal. An indictment of the president's former national security adviser and his son would scramble that dynamic.

A former senior law enforcement official said that in the weeks after Trump's inauguration the FBI was asked to conduct a new review of Turkey's 2016 request to extradite Fethullah Gulen, an elderly Muslim cleric living in the U.S. whom President Erdogan blames for orchestrating a coup to overthrow him.

The FBI pushed back on the request because Turkey had supplied no additional information that could incriminate Gulen since a review of the case during the Obama administration, the official said. It is unclear whether the request to investigate Gulen came from Flynn or through the typical diplomatic channels at the State Department.

The FBI is also investigating former CIA Director Jim Woolsey's account to the Wall Street Journal — which he confirmed to MSNBC — that Flynn and Turkish officials discussed a potential plan to forcibly remove Gulen from the country in September 2016, according to sources close to Woolsey, who say the former director has spoken to FBI agents working for Mueller about the matter.

Flynn was fired in February following public revelations that he had lied to Vice President Pence about his dealings with the Russian ambassador to the U.S., Sergey Kislyak.

Flynn's lawyer, Robert Kelner, declined to comment.

The younger Flynn's lawyer, Barry Coburn, declined to comment.

Both Flynns have for months been subjects of the Mueller investigation.

The elder Flynn, an Army lieutenant general, was pushed out as head of the Defense Intelligence Agency in 2014 and retired from the military. He then founded a lobbying firm, Flynn Intel Group, where his son worked closely with him. The younger Flynn was involved in the daily operations of his father's firm and functioned as his chief of staff. He often attended meetings with his father and would communicate with prospective clients.

The elder Flynn was paid $530,000 last year for work the Justice Department says benefited the government of Turkey. The elder Flynn did not register as a foreign lobbyist at the time, but did so retroactively this year. The issue has been part of Mueller's probe.

His lawyer later said Flynn didn't need to register because his client was a Turkish businessman and not a government official, but had opted to do so retroactively.

According to Flynn's Justice Department filing, the Flynn Intel Group was hired to gather information about Gulen, and to produce a short film about its findings.

During the contract, which ended the day after Trump won the election, Flynn had at least one meeting, in September 2016, with Turkish officials, according to officials. Woolsey says that it included a discussion about kidnapping Gulen and flying him to Turkey.

Flynn also was paid some $35,000 in 2015 by Russian state television for a speech in Moscow at a gala where he sat next to Russian President Vladimir Putin. The younger Flynn accompanied him on that trip. The trip raised concerns among federal officials.

NBC News has reported that others under scrutiny by Mueller include Carter Page, a Trump campaign ally; Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law and senior White House adviser; and the president's son, Donald Trump Jr. They have denied any collusion with Russia.

President Trump has denied any collusion with Russia during the campaign and has called the investigation a politically motivated witch hunt.

Kelner has declined to comment when asked if Flynn denies colluding with the Russian election interference effort.

Turkey has long demanded the U.S. extradite Gulen, saying he is considered a terrorist. Erdogan forcefully renewed that request after the attempted coup against him in July 2016. U.S. officials have said the Justice Department has not found sufficient evidence linking Gulen to the coup attempt despite the boxes of documents Turkey has submitted to the U.S. that Ankara says back up its claim.

Extradition requests are processed through the U.S. justice system and are not determined by the White House or other agencies.

Any quid-pro-quo deal such as the alleged agreement between Flynn and Turkey would be illegal, officials said.

I'm imagining the twitterstorm from the TT when Flynn is perp-walked.

[GreyhoundFan]

"What did Donald Trump Jr. ask for at that meeting? The Russian lawyer just spoke out."

Spoiler

Bloomberg Politics has just published a remarkable interview with the Russian lawyer who famously met with President Trump’s son, son-in-law and campaign chairman at Trump Tower in June 2016. There are a number of lingering questions about the account, and healthy skepticism about the messenger and her message is certainly warranted.

However, this is a notable moment, because it would appear to constitute a direct allegation that Donald Trump Jr. actively requested Russian assistance in harming Hillary Clinton, as opposed to having been merely receptive to such assistance.

The Bloomberg reporters interviewed the Russian lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, in Moscow for 2½ hours. She claims that Donald Trump Jr. — who attended the meeting with Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort — said that if Trump won, he’d be open to pushing for changes to a U.S. law that targets Russian officials. That is interesting, because it alleges that Donald Trump Jr. offered to be more friendly with Russia in exchange for potential assistance with the campaign. But there’s also this:

Veselnitskaya also said Trump Jr. requested financial documents showing that money that allegedly evaded U.S. taxes had gone to Clinton’s campaign. She didn’t have any and described the 20-minute meeting as a failure.

Donald Trump Jr.’s lawyer did not deny the claims, instead declining to comment. Now, Veselnitskaya is not a particularly trustworthy character, and it should be stressed that by her account, she did not furnish any such documents. But in the email chain that leaked in July, Donald Trump Jr. was offered “official documents and information that would incriminate” Hillary Clinton and would be “very useful to your father,” as part of the Russian “government’s support for Mr. Trump.” Donald Trump Jr. expressed an eagerness to access this information. It’s not clear why the information was promised but then did not materialize, and this, too, is grounds for caution about her account. But it is at least potentially significant that Veselnitskaya is now claiming that at this meeting, Donald Trump Jr. actively requested the information.

It should also be noted that Veselnitskaya has claimed she was not acting in concert with the Russian government. But the New York Times has reported that she appeared to be operating off a set of talking points very similar to those of a senior Russian official, undercutting the idea that she was operating independently.

Let’s also put this new interview in its larger context. As part of his plea agreement with special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos has said that he was informed in April 2016 that the Russians had collected “dirt” on Clinton in the form of “thousands of emails,” and tried to set up a meeting between Russian officials and Trump campaign higher-ups. It is not yet known whether Papadopoulos explicitly told his superiors about the existence of this Russian “dirt.” But he is cooperating with investigators, so he may be in a position to shed more light on just how much they knew about it.

We know now as a matter of fact, however, that the June 2016 meeting was held for the explicit purpose of getting a dump-truck’s worth of Russian “dirt” on Clinton — Donald Trump Jr.’s email chain confirms it. And let’s not forget, as The Post has reported, that Trump himself helped dictate an initial statement from Donald Trump Jr. that misleadingly claimed the meeting was “primarily” about Russian adoptions. This was later proven false, which means Trump himself has been directly implicated in an effort to mislead the country about his own top campaign officials’ eagerness to benefit from help from the Russian government. Whatever legal conclusions Mueller ends up reaching, we now know that Trump’s top campaign officials were eager to collude with Russia to help him win the election and that Trump himself helped to cover that up.

Mueller is also reportedly looking hard at the process leading up to the issuing of that misleading statement, though it’s also unclear what legal relevance that might end up having. Veselnitskaya told Bloomberg she’s prepared to meet with Mueller, which will presumably happen. Again, we should approach anything Veselnitskaya says with caution. But any light shed on that meeting may help explain why the president and his son initially wanted to cover up what happened at it.

...

I hope all this will end up biting junior in the backside.

[fraurosena]

59 minutes ago, GreyhoundFan said:

"What did Donald Trump Jr. ask for at that meeting? The Russian lawyer just spoke out."

  Hide contents

Bloomberg Politics has just published a remarkable interview with the Russian lawyer who famously met with President Trump’s son, son-in-law and campaign chairman at Trump Tower in June 2016. There are a number of lingering questions about the account, and healthy skepticism about the messenger and her message is certainly warranted.

However, this is a notable moment, because it would appear to constitute a direct allegation that Donald Trump Jr. actively requested Russian assistance in harming Hillary Clinton, as opposed to having been merely receptive to such assistance.

The Bloomberg reporters interviewed the Russian lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, in Moscow for 2½ hours. She claims that Donald Trump Jr. — who attended the meeting with Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort — said that if Trump won, he’d be open to pushing for changes to a U.S. law that targets Russian officials. That is interesting, because it alleges that Donald Trump Jr. offered to be more friendly with Russia in exchange for potential assistance with the campaign. But there’s also this:

Veselnitskaya also said Trump Jr. requested financial documents showing that money that allegedly evaded U.S. taxes had gone to Clinton’s campaign. She didn’t have any and described the 20-minute meeting as a failure.

Donald Trump Jr.’s lawyer did not deny the claims, instead declining to comment. Now, Veselnitskaya is not a particularly trustworthy character, and it should be stressed that by her account, she did not furnish any such documents. But in the email chain that leaked in July, Donald Trump Jr. was offered “official documents and information that would incriminate” Hillary Clinton and would be “very useful to your father,” as part of the Russian “government’s support for Mr. Trump.” Donald Trump Jr. expressed an eagerness to access this information. It’s not clear why the information was promised but then did not materialize, and this, too, is grounds for caution about her account. But it is at least potentially significant that Veselnitskaya is now claiming that at this meeting, Donald Trump Jr. actively requested the information.

It should also be noted that Veselnitskaya has claimed she was not acting in concert with the Russian government. But the New York Times has reported that she appeared to be operating off a set of talking points very similar to those of a senior Russian official, undercutting the idea that she was operating independently.

Let’s also put this new interview in its larger context. As part of his plea agreement with special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos has said that he was informed in April 2016 that the Russians had collected “dirt” on Clinton in the form of “thousands of emails,” and tried to set up a meeting between Russian officials and Trump campaign higher-ups. It is not yet known whether Papadopoulos explicitly told his superiors about the existence of this Russian “dirt.” But he is cooperating with investigators, so he may be in a position to shed more light on just how much they knew about it.

We know now as a matter of fact, however, that the June 2016 meeting was held for the explicit purpose of getting a dump-truck’s worth of Russian “dirt” on Clinton — Donald Trump Jr.’s email chain confirms it. And let’s not forget, as The Post has reported, that Trump himself helped dictate an initial statement from Donald Trump Jr. that misleadingly claimed the meeting was “primarily” about Russian adoptions. This was later proven false, which means Trump himself has been directly implicated in an effort to mislead the country about his own top campaign officials’ eagerness to benefit from help from the Russian government. Whatever legal conclusions Mueller ends up reaching, we now know that Trump’s top campaign officials were eager to collude with Russia to help him win the election and that Trump himself helped to cover that up.

Mueller is also reportedly looking hard at the process leading up to the issuing of that misleading statement, though it’s also unclear what legal relevance that might end up having. Veselnitskaya told Bloomberg she’s prepared to meet with Mueller, which will presumably happen. Again, we should approach anything Veselnitskaya says with caution. But any light shed on that meeting may help explain why the president and his son initially wanted to cover up what happened at it.

...

I hope all this will end up biting junior in the backside.

Not only junior, I hope! Senior needs those sharp pointy teeth sunk into his ample backside even more. 

[GrumpyGran]

37 minutes ago, fraurosena said:

Not only junior, I hope! Senior needs those sharp pointy teeth sunk into his ample backside even more. 

Yeah, we definitely need to get Dumpy out but right now I've had more than enough of Dumb Donnie Junior's bullshit. He's a moron, I've decided he couldn't cut it as a bartender and that's why he had to return to the fold.

[Rachel333]

Poor Manafort isn't enjoying house arrest and especially dislikes his ankle bracelet.

Quote

But, as one source put it upon reviewing the court filing, “he really, really, really wants to be released from having to wear a GPS monitor.”

Mueller says, however, that Manafort can only be released (still with restrictions) if he can give a full account of his finances.

[GreyhoundFan]

From Jennifer Rubin: "The Trump administration is up to its neck in Russians"

Spoiler

The number of Russian connections to President Trump’s campaign and to his administration should stun and worry even the most credulous Republicans. We have never seen such a multiplicity of connections to a hostile foreign power and lack of transparency in a presidential campaign or administration — nor have we ever had a campaign in which Russians interfered in such a widespread and deliberate manner.

Newly leaked international documents reveal even more of the Trump team’s Russian ties, according to NBC News: “Through offshore investments, [Commerce Secretary Wilbur] Ross held a stake in Navigator Holdings, which had a close relationship with the Russian firm. Ross did not disclose that connection during his confirmation process on Capitol Hill.” NBC’s report also states:

Top White House adviser Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, is also implicated. The documents reveal that Kremlin-connected interests invested in social media giants Facebook and Twitter through one of Kushner’s business associates. Russian tech leader Yuri Milner, who funneled the money to Facebook and Twitter, has a stake in a company partly owned by Kushner.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) was livid. “Secretary Ross’ financial disclosures are like a Russian nesting doll, with blatant conflicts of interest carefully hidden within seemingly innocuous holding companies,” he said. “The Commerce Department’s Inspector General must open an inquiry immediately. Only after a thorough investigation can the American people be sure that Secretary Ross really has their best interests at heart — and that he hasn’t prioritized his own personal profits or those of Vladimir Putin or his Russian business partners.”

Detailed reports suggests that while Ross’s ties to Navigator Holdings were known, its connection to Russians was not. According to the group of investigative journalists looking into the documents:

Among Navigator’s largest customers, contributing more than $68 million in revenue since 2014, is the Moscow-based gas and petrochemicals company Sibur. Two of its key owners are Kirill Shamalov, who is married to Putin’s youngest daughter, and Gennady Timchenko, the sanctioned oligarch whose activities in the energy sector, the Treasury Department said, were “directly linked to Putin.”

Another powerful owner is Sibur’s largest shareholder, Leonid Mikhelson, who controls an energy company that was also sanctioned by the Treasury Department for propping up Putin’s rule.

Ross seems to have cloaked his holdings in a web of offshore companies. “The leaked files showed a chain of companies and partnerships in the Cayman Islands through which Ross has retained his financial stake in Navigator,” the report says. “The fact that Ross’ Cayman Islands companies benefit from a firm controlled by Putin proxies raises serious potential conflicts of interest, experts say.” The report continues: “As commerce secretary, Ross has the power to influence U.S. trade, sanctions and other matters that could affect Sibur’s owners. Likewise, Sibur’s owners, and through them, Putin himself, could have the ability to increase or decrease Sibur’s business with Navigator even as Ross helps steer U.S. policy.” It would have been hard if not impossible to divine the Russia connection from Ross’s disclosure forms. (“The complexity of the offshore structures adds legal and reputational distance and obscures the full extent of Ross’s business relationships even as it allows him to profit from them, according to tax and ethics experts.”)

Former State Department official and Russia expert Max Bergmann, now with the progressive Center for American Progress, tells me, “Ross must be investigated and should almost certainly resign. How does the Secretary of Commerce divest in some companies but not divest in a sanctioned Russian energy giant with direct ties to Putin’s family?” Bergmann argues, “He didn’t forget, his lawyers didn’t forget. This is an intentional omission. Given this was a sanctioned company, was Ross going to personally benefit if sanctions were lifted?”

As for Kushner, recall this isn’t the first time his ties with Russia have become an issue. Kushner met during the transition with head of a sanctioned Russian bank and discussed a back channel to Moscow using Russian communication lines. He has had to amend his disclosure forms several times to account for foreign connections. During the campaign, he sat in on a June 2016 Trump Tower meeting with Russian officials who were offering dirt on Clinton. He later reportedly urged Trump to fire then-FBI Director James B. Comey, who was investigating campaign ties to Russia. “The additional revelations about Kushner’s ties to Russian financing appears to contradict his public statement in July,” Bergmann says. “If anyone else got caught doing what Kushner did, leaving out essential information on the security clearance form, they would have had their clearance revoked immediately, would be out of a job, and possible criminally investigated.”

Then there is former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, who has been indicted on tax fraud and money laundering charges stemming from his work for Russia’s man in Ukraine, former president Viktor Yanukovych. Manafort also has a connection to a Russian mob figure. (“[H]e used a company called Lucicle Consultants Limited to wire millions of dollars into the United States. The Cyprus-based Lucicle Consultants Limited, in turn, reportedly received millions of dollars from a businessman and Ukrainian parliamentarian named Ivan Fursin, who is closely linked to one of Russia’s most notorious criminals: Semion Mogilevich.”) While Manafort was campaign chairman, the Republican platform was changed to remove a commitment to providing arms to Ukraine to repel Russian forces.

We’re not nearly done. Next is Carter Page, another campaign foreign policy aide, who reportedly went to Russia during the campaign and told now-Attorney General Jeff Sessions about it. He is also linked to a Russian spy recruiter.

Sessions has had twice testified inaccurately about his contacts and knowledge of Russian contacts during the campaign. He also assisted in firing Comey, whom Trump said was let go at a time Russia was on his mind.

We move on to fired national security adviser Michael T. Flynn, who was paid for a speech in Russia and was a regular guest on RT, Russia’s TV propaganda station. Then-acting attorney general Sally Yates reported to the White House that Flynn was lying to the vice president about Flynn’s contacts with Russians during the transition. NBC reports that “federal investigators have gathered enough evidence to bring charges in their investigation of President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser and his son as part of the probe into Russia’s intervention in the 2016 election, according to multiple sources familiar with the investigation. … The investigators are speaking to multiple witnesses in coming days to gain more information surrounding Flynn’s lobbying work, including whether he laundered money or lied to federal agents about his overseas contacts, according to three sources familiar with the investigation.” (Flynn has also been under fire for work as a unregistered agent on behalf of Turkey.)

Then we arrive at the president. Trump has insisted he had no contact and no deals with Russia. However, he did host the Miss Universe pageant in Russia and during the campaign pursued a deal for a Trump Tower in Russia. He publicly invited Russia to find Hillary Clinton’s lost emails during the campaign. In the final days of the campaign, he referred to WikiLeaks documents dozens of times. He has disputed that Russia meddled in the campaign, which members of both parties and our intelligence community definitively say occurred.

The blizzard of Russia connections between members of Trump’s team, including his son Donald Trump Jr. (who attended the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting and received an ample speaking fee from French allies of the Russian government) and son-in-law, top members of his administration (the attorney general, former national security adviser Flynn) and his campaign (Manafort, George Papadopoulos, Page), coupled with the utter lack of candor about such ties, all take place in the context of an election in which Russia executed a sophisticated plan to interfere in our democracy. Trump tried to stop Comey from investigating Flynn and then fired Comey, who was investigating the Russia connection.

At best, Trump might claim he was surrounded by Russian dupes with bad memories. Rather than hire “the best people,” it seems he hired a band of misfits in bed with a foreign power. Even then, his obsession with shutting down Comey and discrediting Mueller makes no sense if this was all innocent conduct unrelated to him and the election.

“The constant deception and lying from this administration when it comes to Russia makes it abundantly clear that they have something to hide,” says Bergmann. “It also raises real questions about whose interests they are actually representing — theirs? The Russians’? It certainly seems the American people come last in that order.”

And with all this, we still don’t know the truth about Trump’s own direct financial ties, if any, to Russia because he will not disclose his tax returns or provide a full accounting of his businesses. Is there any doubt why Trump’s business deals should be investigated? If he’s actually free from Russian connections, he might be unique in this administration.

I'd say more than neck-deep.

[GrumpyGran]

2 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

From Jennifer Rubin: "The Trump administration is up to its neck in Russians"

  Reveal hidden contents

The number of Russian connections to President Trump’s campaign and to his administration should stun and worry even the most credulous Republicans. We have never seen such a multiplicity of connections to a hostile foreign power and lack of transparency in a presidential campaign or administration — nor have we ever had a campaign in which Russians interfered in such a widespread and deliberate manner.

Newly leaked international documents reveal even more of the Trump team’s Russian ties, according to NBC News: “Through offshore investments, [Commerce Secretary Wilbur] Ross held a stake in Navigator Holdings, which had a close relationship with the Russian firm. Ross did not disclose that connection during his confirmation process on Capitol Hill.” NBC’s report also states:

Top White House adviser Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, is also implicated. The documents reveal that Kremlin-connected interests invested in social media giants Facebook and Twitter through one of Kushner’s business associates. Russian tech leader Yuri Milner, who funneled the money to Facebook and Twitter, has a stake in a company partly owned by Kushner.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) was livid. “Secretary Ross’ financial disclosures are like a Russian nesting doll, with blatant conflicts of interest carefully hidden within seemingly innocuous holding companies,” he said. “The Commerce Department’s Inspector General must open an inquiry immediately. Only after a thorough investigation can the American people be sure that Secretary Ross really has their best interests at heart — and that he hasn’t prioritized his own personal profits or those of Vladimir Putin or his Russian business partners.”

Detailed reports suggests that while Ross’s ties to Navigator Holdings were known, its connection to Russians was not. According to the group of investigative journalists looking into the documents:

Among Navigator’s largest customers, contributing more than $68 million in revenue since 2014, is the Moscow-based gas and petrochemicals company Sibur. Two of its key owners are Kirill Shamalov, who is married to Putin’s youngest daughter, and Gennady Timchenko, the sanctioned oligarch whose activities in the energy sector, the Treasury Department said, were “directly linked to Putin.”

Another powerful owner is Sibur’s largest shareholder, Leonid Mikhelson, who controls an energy company that was also sanctioned by the Treasury Department for propping up Putin’s rule.

Ross seems to have cloaked his holdings in a web of offshore companies. “The leaked files showed a chain of companies and partnerships in the Cayman Islands through which Ross has retained his financial stake in Navigator,” the report says. “The fact that Ross’ Cayman Islands companies benefit from a firm controlled by Putin proxies raises serious potential conflicts of interest, experts say.” The report continues: “As commerce secretary, Ross has the power to influence U.S. trade, sanctions and other matters that could affect Sibur’s owners. Likewise, Sibur’s owners, and through them, Putin himself, could have the ability to increase or decrease Sibur’s business with Navigator even as Ross helps steer U.S. policy.” It would have been hard if not impossible to divine the Russia connection from Ross’s disclosure forms. (“The complexity of the offshore structures adds legal and reputational distance and obscures the full extent of Ross’s business relationships even as it allows him to profit from them, according to tax and ethics experts.”)

Former State Department official and Russia expert Max Bergmann, now with the progressive Center for American Progress, tells me, “Ross must be investigated and should almost certainly resign. How does the Secretary of Commerce divest in some companies but not divest in a sanctioned Russian energy giant with direct ties to Putin’s family?” Bergmann argues, “He didn’t forget, his lawyers didn’t forget. This is an intentional omission. Given this was a sanctioned company, was Ross going to personally benefit if sanctions were lifted?”

As for Kushner, recall this isn’t the first time his ties with Russia have become an issue. Kushner met during the transition with head of a sanctioned Russian bank and discussed a back channel to Moscow using Russian communication lines. He has had to amend his disclosure forms several times to account for foreign connections. During the campaign, he sat in on a June 2016 Trump Tower meeting with Russian officials who were offering dirt on Clinton. He later reportedly urged Trump to fire then-FBI Director James B. Comey, who was investigating campaign ties to Russia. “The additional revelations about Kushner’s ties to Russian financing appears to contradict his public statement in July,” Bergmann says. “If anyone else got caught doing what Kushner did, leaving out essential information on the security clearance form, they would have had their clearance revoked immediately, would be out of a job, and possible criminally investigated.”

Then there is former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, who has been indicted on tax fraud and money laundering charges stemming from his work for Russia’s man in Ukraine, former president Viktor Yanukovych. Manafort also has a connection to a Russian mob figure. (“[H]e used a company called Lucicle Consultants Limited to wire millions of dollars into the United States. The Cyprus-based Lucicle Consultants Limited, in turn, reportedly received millions of dollars from a businessman and Ukrainian parliamentarian named Ivan Fursin, who is closely linked to one of Russia’s most notorious criminals: Semion Mogilevich.”) While Manafort was campaign chairman, the Republican platform was changed to remove a commitment to providing arms to Ukraine to repel Russian forces.

We’re not nearly done. Next is Carter Page, another campaign foreign policy aide, who reportedly went to Russia during the campaign and told now-Attorney General Jeff Sessions about it. He is also linked to a Russian spy recruiter.

Sessions has had twice testified inaccurately about his contacts and knowledge of Russian contacts during the campaign. He also assisted in firing Comey, whom Trump said was let go at a time Russia was on his mind.

We move on to fired national security adviser Michael T. Flynn, who was paid for a speech in Russia and was a regular guest on RT, Russia’s TV propaganda station. Then-acting attorney general Sally Yates reported to the White House that Flynn was lying to the vice president about Flynn’s contacts with Russians during the transition. NBC reports that “federal investigators have gathered enough evidence to bring charges in their investigation of President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser and his son as part of the probe into Russia’s intervention in the 2016 election, according to multiple sources familiar with the investigation. … The investigators are speaking to multiple witnesses in coming days to gain more information surrounding Flynn’s lobbying work, including whether he laundered money or lied to federal agents about his overseas contacts, according to three sources familiar with the investigation.” (Flynn has also been under fire for work as a unregistered agent on behalf of Turkey.)

Then we arrive at the president. Trump has insisted he had no contact and no deals with Russia. However, he did host the Miss Universe pageant in Russia and during the campaign pursued a deal for a Trump Tower in Russia. He publicly invited Russia to find Hillary Clinton’s lost emails during the campaign. In the final days of the campaign, he referred to WikiLeaks documents dozens of times. He has disputed that Russia meddled in the campaign, which members of both parties and our intelligence community definitively say occurred.

The blizzard of Russia connections between members of Trump’s team, including his son Donald Trump Jr. (who attended the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting and received an ample speaking fee from French allies of the Russian government) and son-in-law, top members of his administration (the attorney general, former national security adviser Flynn) and his campaign (Manafort, George Papadopoulos, Page), coupled with the utter lack of candor about such ties, all take place in the context of an election in which Russia executed a sophisticated plan to interfere in our democracy. Trump tried to stop Comey from investigating Flynn and then fired Comey, who was investigating the Russia connection.

At best, Trump might claim he was surrounded by Russian dupes with bad memories. Rather than hire “the best people,” it seems he hired a band of misfits in bed with a foreign power. Even then, his obsession with shutting down Comey and discrediting Mueller makes no sense if this was all innocent conduct unrelated to him and the election.

“The constant deception and lying from this administration when it comes to Russia makes it abundantly clear that they have something to hide,” says Bergmann. “It also raises real questions about whose interests they are actually representing — theirs? The Russians’? It certainly seems the American people come last in that order.”

And with all this, we still don’t know the truth about Trump’s own direct financial ties, if any, to Russia because he will not disclose his tax returns or provide a full accounting of his businesses. Is there any doubt why Trump’s business deals should be investigated? If he’s actually free from Russian connections, he might be unique in this administration.

I'd say more than neck-deep.

It's like the political version of Ancestry.com. "I found out I'm 100% Russian!"

[fraurosena]

Seth Abramson’s take-down of Carter Page’s testimony:

 

[fraurosena]

In case anyone is interested in reading the complete transcript of Carter Page's testimony, you can find it here.

I have attempted to read his initial written statement. I could not. And it's not because of any deficiency in my reading comprehension. Rather, his rambling statements and confusing attempts at 'but Hillary' deflections make deciphering any meaning from it well nigh impossible. So I skimmed most of it and read paragraphs here and there. From those bits and pieces, this part stood out for me:

Quote

In summary, the problems that have unfortunately been created in U.S.-Russia relations over the course of many decades and across presidential administrations form both parties have severely limited the ability of me as well as many Americans to be a positive force for change thus far.

It is my hope that a logical conclusion to your current process based on actual facts, including the reality that I have never done anything wrong in Russia or with any Russian person might help to turn this increasingly dangerous tide between our two countries. This has been a primary personal objective since my first trip to Moscow as a U.S. Naval Academy Midshipman in June 1991. It remains one of my primary objectives today, even though I have been completely demonized and indeed slandered literally around the world by the Clinton campaign due to my voicing highly benign yet realistic political and policy views.

(bolding and underscoring his, not mine)

What I read here, is that Carter Page first went to Moscow in 1991, and ever since then he has been working towards changing the relationship between Russia and the US, even though official political and policy views of different US administrations were directly contradictory to what he proposed. (Hence his complaint of being severely limited by them). Which to me means he is working towards changes in US policy towards Russia to benefit Russia, not the US. Now why would he do this? The only logical explanation is that something happened during that first 1991 visit that turned him into an agent for Russia. 

Next, I read his written biography, which, in stark contrast to the first written statement that I refer to above, is quite well-written and comprehensible (although he speaks of himself in the third person). From it, it becomes quite clear that he is right royally pissed about that FISA warrant that allowed the FBI to wiretap him. It also becomes clear that he is not stupid, or unintelligent by any means. One does not complete academic studies nor work succesfully in the academic field nor give academic lectures if one is mentally deficient or incompetent. I am beginning to think that with this testimony, in which he makes weird, contradictory and disjointed statements, he is attempting to discredit himself, and therefore his testimony, as the ramblings of a bumbling idiot. If you have seen the footage of him leaving the building after giving his testimony, with a floppy hat on his head, grinning like a fool and almost skipping across the sidewalk, you will be reminded of Vincente Gigante, that gangster boss who tried to fool everyone into thinking he was senile by - among many other things - walking in the street in in pj's, grinning like a fool. 

... a couple of hours later ....

Phew, it took me a looooooong time to read the whole thing, and I admit to skipping over the rambling parts of Carter Page's answers. However, nothing in that testimony has led me to revise my above assessment of Page's intentions. In his answers he is intentionally using (well-known debate) tactics to divert the topic to things he wants to talk about or what he wants to deflect to. Occasionally he seems to be caught accidentally saying something he didn't want to, but that could well be his intent. Or maybe he overestimated his abilities to dominate and steer the conversation and really did get caught, I can't truly say. Overall though, I have the impression that he is intentionally painting himself out to be a fool, so that what he has stated in his testimony will be discredited in some way. This could also be the reason why he himself requested that a transcript of the closed hearing be made public, why he gave his testimony without legal representation, why he did those idiotic interviews with MSNBC and CNN(?) last week, and why he was acting so silly after he left the building, knowing full well he was being filmed while doing it. It'll make everyone believe he is an idiot.

Or maybe I'm wrong, and he really is an idiot. Time will tell.

[GrumpyGran]

1 hour ago, fraurosena said:

he really is an idiot

Hmmm. Speaking as an American, I think he will have a hard time convincing investigators that he's an idiot, seeing as how he graduated from a military academy. Maybe an lunatic, or a drug addict.

What really hit me in this is that he went to Moscow when he was a cadet. How did this happen? If this was sanctioned, good lord! To me that's like waving bloody meat at a shark. These are young people who will obviously have access to classified information in the future. Very risky.

[AmazonGrace]

Sessions will get a chance to lie some more: 

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-russia-sessions/attorney-general-jeff-sessions-to-face-house-judiciary-panel-november-14-idUSKBN1D728H?utm_campaign=trueAnthem:+Trending+Content&utm_content=5a01f95304d3011f4b1668c1&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=twitter

[GreyhoundFan]

Alexandra Petri's wonderful take on Carter Page: "The paranoid Carter Page transcript: What in God’s name did I just read?"

Spoiler

Carter Page’s testimony before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, the transcript of which was released Monday night, was like trying to read a magic eye painting. It is the sort of thing a lawyer — or, really, any person concerned with your welfare — would tell you not to say to a congressional committee. Yet, here we are. For anyone who doesn’t want to curl up with 243 pages of testimony and footnoted letters, here is pretty much how the thing went, severely condensed.

Carter Page: Hello. I am a doctor and a scholar, and I am here about the world premiere of the dodgy dossier that inexplicably made all kinds of charges against me, an innocent man who has never met anyone directly in my life! I have been illegally wiretapped by the FBI, CIA and other U.S. propaganda agencies, and my life has been ruined. I must be continually on the move, like a shark. I have done nothing wrong, but I will answer none of the questions put to me, because I have been studying the law. I am, as I said, a scholar. Here is a letter. I know it looks like a scrawl in red crayon, but trust me — it is a letter about the CIA’s illegal dossier.

Thomas Rooney: Okay. Who are you? Did you work for the Trump campaign?

Page: The Washington Post says I did.

Rooney: Were you on the foreign policy committee?

Page: I may have been. It was very informal. I was a volunteer who had nothing to do with the campaign.

Rooney: Did you ever meet Mr. Trump?

Page: No. Never. I’ve met him in my heart. Never in my life, except on the television. And at rallies. I think he is beautiful and has a lot to teach all of us.

Trey Gowdy: So, you were a volunteer, unpaid, informal, unofficial. What was your role, exactly?

Page: Sometimes I would stand outside the glass window of the Trump campaign and look in admiringly, but I never ventured to set foot inside. I was not involved in any way, except I did sign a non-disclosure agreement, it will turn out, and met repeatedly with Sam Clovis. Honestly, no one wants me to be involved, ever. All my emails to them were unwelcome and went unreturned. I never went to Trump Tower, except for the fly-swatter incident. Whenever I showed up at Trump Tower, they would shoo me away with a big fly-swatter. One or two times or maybe eight. Ninety times. I never spoke directly to Donald Trump.

Gowdy: Why do you keep saying “directly”? How else would you speak to a person?

Page: Listen, Trey, we can speak as one lawyer to another. I am an expert in the law after taking a mail-order course in what I believe is known as the Law of the Sea, and I know a man must choose his words wisely.

Gowdy: What?

Page: I never lie. Not unlike Daniel Patrick Moyni —

Gowdy: Have you ever had any interactions with the Russian government —

Page: I’ve never at any point in my life spoken to another human being. Also let me point out that there is a great difference between meeting with someone and meeting them, as in, a greeting, per se. I for instance have never had a meeting with anyone, because they have always been trying to make a tactful exit, but I have greeted many people in passing, sometimes running along the sidewalk for blocks shouting their name.

Gowdy: Did you interact with anyone from the Trump campaign?

Page: I may have run past the office shouting vague pleasantries at one point, but it is a blur.

Adam Schiff: Why did you travel to Moscow in 2016?

Page: Listen, I am a scholar. I have written a 500-page thesis, and I make speeches often —

Schiff: On what?

Page: I do not recall.

Schiff: What was your speech about?

Page: Honestly, I cannot say. I did not speak directly with it.

Schiff: Wait, I’m confused. Are you pleading the Fifth, or aren’t you?

Page: Listen, the CIA has already got everything, so —

Schiff: Is that a yes or no?

Page: I don’t have the resources of the CIA.

Schiff: So tell me about when you went to Russia.

Page: I did not go to Russia on behalf of the campaign, and I sent them several emails to make that clear.

Schiff: Why would you go to Russian given the things people were already starting to say about the campaign and Russia?

Page: Listen, you have to live your life. I went to a gathering of scholars at the New Economic School, and everyone I met there was a scholar, although it would be fairer to say that I greeted them than that I met them. I don’t remember who any of them were. Some were lifelong friends.

Schiff: What is a scholar? You keep describing yourself as a scholar, but I am not sure that word means what you think it means.

Page: I would define scholar very loosely to include the Russian deputy prime minister, several senior officers of Russian energy companies, and also myself, but really I only spoke to the man on the street.

Schiff: The man on the street.

Page: The television, mostly, and I went to some speeches. And I did greet that man in passing who I would later discover to my horror was the deputy prime minister. For three seconds, tops. But mostly the television.

Schiff: Just to be perfectly clear, when you sent an email to the Trump campaign, saying “I’ll send you guys a readout soon regarding some incredible insights and outreach I received from a few Russian legislators and senior members of the presidential administration here,” what you meant was that you wanted to tell them about some feelings you had from watching the television in Russia.

Page: Again, this is why my emails were always so unwelcome.

Schiff: And the chat with the senior member of the administration —

Page: Was just me running into this poor man Arkady for maybe 10 seconds, tops, during which sanctions may or may not have come up, in passing, as anyone would talk about tax reform, in this town, my fellow colleagues, but it definitely was only 10 seconds. In fact, maybe it was five.

Schiff: The email sounded very official.

Page: I was in the Navy, and I tend to default to Navy format.

Gowdy: Did you tell anyone on the Trump campaign you were going to Russia?

Page: Definitely not.

Gowdy: No?

Page: Not directly.

Gowdy: Not directly?

Page: Well, except for the email, and Jeff Sessions.

Gowdy: Excuse me.

Page: We were at a lunch, it was my first time meeting him, ever, and after the meal, just in passing, I said, it is great that I got to meet you for a first and only time, Jeff Sessions, because I am about to go to Russia for something that has nothing to do with the Trump campaign.

Gowdy: Why would you say that?

Page: It just, sort of, you know, in passing — it slipped out.

Gowdy: Why would you say that to Jeff Sessions then, and why would you say that to any human being, ever?

Page: Just a normal interaction, like you have. Anyway, I am pleading the Fifth on the grounds that the CIA already has access to everything that it could possibly want because it has been wiretapping me.

Gowdy: Did you discuss sanctions?

Page: Maybe in passing, as anyone here might discuss tax reform.

Gowdy: Did you ever have any conversations that weren’t in passing?

Page: Not that I can recall. I move very quickly like a shark, and I stop for no man. To the best of my knowledge, I have never had a conversation with anyone because to me a conversation is when you really say something deep that makes the other person think, and I haven’t done that. No. I take it back. Never. Except – well, you know.

Gowdy: Know what?

Page: Once I think I had a deep conversation with a good friend who now works for a state-owned oil company.

Schiff: What? Was it about the sale of Rosneft?

Page: Look, I can’t definitively say it wasn’t.

Schiff: Uh.

Page: It is possible that while we were watching soccer, just a moment after Ronaldo had made a goal, he looked over at me and said something on that exact subject, but — I do not remember anything, least of all the reflection on his face from the television as he told me this information, or the shouting all around us because of the goal at the time.

Jackie Speier: How did you get involved with the campaign?

Page: The thing you have to understand is that Corey Lewandowski is a very busy and important man, and he may not even have noticed I was involved. Trump Tower was quite full of people that day, and he was yelling into three different phones, and I am almost certain he did not even see me, but yes, we met, if you can call that a meeting.

Speier: So you met Corey Lewandowski. Who else?

Page: No one else. Well, not no one.

Speier: No?

Page: Sam Clovis, but, again, we never met. Except for the times when we met. Once in a hotel, we had breakfast. That was it, though.

Speier: Does your company have any U.S. clients?

Page: We may not.

Speier: “We?” By “we,” what exactly do you mean?

Page: Oh, I mean me. We have no employees. It’s just me, really. It is like being a lawyer, which you, my distinguished colleagues, naturally understand.

Mike Conaway: We are going to rush out to vote, and also to get out of this room, where nothing makes any sense, but do you have anything further to say?

Page: Thank you, yes. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, the WMDs in Iraq, the state-run propaganda network that is the Broadcasting Board of Governors, and I did not go to Brussels.he Trump campaign?

Page: I doubt it. I think it was because of my personality, and because I am a scholar.

Schiff: You went to Brussels?

Page: No, I didn’t go to Budapest. I think. Oh, wait, no, I’m sorry, you have just reminded me, I definitely went to Budapest.

Schiff: What?

Page: To do business with the ambassador, whose name I forget and they wanted me to do something unclear, and I thought, you only live once — how do I want to spend this Labor Day weekend? And then I was like, LABOR DAY WEEKEND IN BUDAPEST. But what I really want to tell you about is Madeleine Albright.

Schiff: Wait, I’m sorry, you went to Budapest on Labor Day weekend to talk business with the Hungarian ambassador, whom you’d met at the Republican convention — this was because you were involved with t

Schiff: Is there anything else you did that you are just remembering now?

Page: Listen, I’ve signed hundreds of NDAs, so… no. But this is all ancient history. It’s so remote in time that I scarcely can understand the runes that would describe it.

Conaway: Thank you. This has been very confusing for everyone.

Page: I am glad we could clear my name. If you want suggestions for how we can become more like RT and Sputnik, I am here. Whatever else you may say about me, I am a big fan of Russia.