The Russian Connection 2

[fraurosena]

50 minutes ago, GreyhoundFan said:

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

  Hide contents

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.

 

Wow. It’s uncanny how accurate this is...

[GreyhoundFan]

 

"Trump’s CIA director keeps doing controversial — and suspiciously pro-Trump — things"

Spoiler

The Intercept just broke a pretty big story: CIA Director Mike Pompeo reportedly met with the purveyor of a disputed theory about the internal Democratic National Committee emails that were released last year — a theory that runs counter to the intelligence community's own long-standing conclusions about the matter.

It's not the first example of Pompeo doing something that has been put under microscope. But there is a common thread running through just about every example: Pompeo doing and saying questionable things involving Russia — and those questionable things tend to lean in a pro-Trump direction.

The most recent example is Pompeo's meeting with William Binney, a former intelligence official who argues that the DNC hack wasn't a hack at all, but rather a leak from within.

Binney, of course, isn't the only one who has cast doubt on the intelligence community's conclusions; so too has Trump, who has at times suggested the very idea that Russia interfered in the 2016 election was “fake news.”

And the kicker in the Intercept's story is that Trump, according to Binney and another source, just so happens to be the one who suggested the meeting:

In an interview with The Intercept, Binney said Pompeo told him that President Donald Trump had urged the CIA director to meet with Binney to discuss his assessment that the DNC data theft was an inside job. During their hour-long meeting at CIA headquarters, Pompeo said Trump told him that if Pompeo “want[ed] to know the facts, he should talk to me,” Binney said.

The meeting was confirmed by two other sources, while the CIA has declined to comment on Pompeo's schedule, as it generally does.

Dean Boyd, a spokesman in the CIA's office of public affairs, told The Post: "The director stands by and has always stood by the January 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment..." Pompeo has said in public hearings that he believes Russia was behind the hacking.

The implications here are pretty big: a U.S. president telling his CIA director to meet with someone pitching what the intelligence community basically regards as a conspiracy theory. The intelligence community's report on Russian interference, from way back in January, is clear that it believes this was a hack:

In July 2015, Russian intelligence gained access to Democratic National Committee (DNC) networks and maintained that access until at least June 2016.

The [Russian foreign intelligence service, or GRU] probably began cyber operations aimed at the US election by March 2016. We assess that the GRU operations resulted in the compromise of the personal email accounts of Democratic Party officials and political figures. By May, the GRU had exfiltrated large volumes of data from the DNC.

Binney is a former official at the National Security Agency (NSA) who later became a whistleblower and now belongs to Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, a group of former intelligence officials who are skeptical of the intelligence community's conclusions. He has occasionally been a guest on Fox News, where it seems Trump may have seen him, and where host Sean Hannity once seized upon the inside-job theory and tied it — dubiously — to the murder of DNC staffer Seth Rich. The appeal of Binney's theory to Trump is clear: It suggests Russia's interference wasn't nearly so broad or influential as the intelligence community contends.

And that's where it ties in nicely with Pompeo's other recent controversies.

At an event three weeks ago, Pompeo made a highly curious remark, saying that “the intelligence community’s assessment is that the Russian meddling that took place did not affect the outcome of the election.” This mirrored a talking point previously offered by Trump and the White House, but that talking point is categorically false. The intelligence report said clearly that it wouldn't weigh in on how much impact Russia may have had, not that it didn't have an impact.

... < tweet from twitler >

That might be a slip of the tongue from an amateur. But how the CIA director, of all people, could get something of such importance — something that for him should be completely basic knowledge — so wrong sure seemed odd.

Separately, Pompeo has also drawn scrutiny for making an agency unit deeply involved in investigating possible Trump campaign collusion with Russia — the Counterintelligence Mission Center — report directly to him, as the The Post's Greg Miller reported. And previously, Axios reported that he was among the Trump administration officials who had been enlisted by the White House to beat back a New York Times story about the Trump campaign contacts with Russia.

All along, intelligence officials have expressed concern about the possible politicization of Pompeo's job. Pompeo's use of a Trump talking point last month, and now his meeting with a high-profile skeptic of the intel community's conclusions at Trump's own request, sure won't tamp down those concerns.

What a surprise (NOT), Pompeo is another sycophant.

[GreyhoundFan]

"Flynn worries about son in special counsel probe"

Spoiler

Washington (CNN)Former White House national security adviser Michael Flynn has expressed concern about the potential legal exposure of his son, Michael Flynn Jr., who, like his father, is under scrutiny by special counsel Robert Mueller, multiple sources familiar with the matter tell CNN.

Flynn's concern could factor into decisions about how to respond to Mueller's ongoing investigation. The special counsel is looking into Russian meddling in the 2016 campaign as well as the business dealings of key campaign advisers to President Donald Trump.

Flynn's wife, Lori, shares his concerns about their son's possible legal exposure, according to a person who knows the family.

Interviews conducted by special counsel investigators have included questions about the business dealings of Flynn and his son such as their firm's reporting of income from work overseas, two witnesses interviewed by the team told CNN. The Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) requires people acting as agents of foreign entities to publicly disclose their relationship with foreign countries or businesses and financial compensation for such work.

Flynn Jr., who served as his father's chief of staff and top aide, was actively involved in his father's consulting and lobbying work at their firm, Flynn Intel Group. That included joining his father on overseas trips, such as Moscow in December 2015. During that trip, Flynn dined with Russian President Vladimir Putin at a black-tie gala for the RT television network, which US intelligence views as a Russian propaganda outlet.

Flynn's business dealings have been the subject of federal investigation since November 2016, prior to Mueller's appointment in May. Flynn is also under legal scrutiny by Mueller's team for undisclosed lobbying that he did during the presidential campaign on behalf of the Turkish government, according to sources familiar with the matter. It's against the law to lobby in the United States on behalf of a foreign government without informing the Justice Department.

Another area of interest to Mueller's team is Flynn's alleged participation in discussions about the idea of removing a Turkish cleric who has been living in exile in Pennsylvania, sources said. In the past, a spokesman for Flynn has denied that such discussions occurred.

It is not clear that either of the Flynns will face charges once the investigation is complete.

Flynn's attorney did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Flynn Jr.'s lawyer declined to comment.

"The disappointment on your faces when I don't go to jail will be worth all your harassment," Flynn Jr. tweeted on Sunday, responding to his online critics.

Investigators have asked witnesses about the Flynns' social media posts and retweets, though this did not appear to be a significant focus of the investigation, according to one person interviewed by investigators.

During the campaign, Flynn and his son both followed and shared material from Twitter accounts that were recently revealed to be controlled by Russian trolls. The House intelligence committee last week released a list of Twitter handles associated with Russia's election-meddling efforts.

Flynn's troubles extend to Congress, where his activities have attracted the attention of the House oversight committee. The panel's top Republican and Democrat made a stunning announcement in April after their own inquiry: Flynn likely broke federal law by taking a paid speaking engagement in Russia without US government approval, and he hid the payments from FBI investigators reviewing the security clearance he is afforded as a retired lieutenant general.

After that announcement, Flynn's attorney told CNN that Flynn wasn't hiding anything and that he had briefed the Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency "both before and after" the trip to Moscow.

FBI investigators also have scrutinized a series of phone calls during the Trump transition between Flynn and the Russian ambassador to the US at the time, Sergey Kislyak. The conversations centered on US sanctions against Russia and whether they would remain in place during the Trump administration.

When Trump took office in January 2017, Flynn served as his national security adviser, but he resigned after one month amid questions about the Kislyak calls and his other links to Russia.

The Logan Act, passed in 1799, bans private citizens from negotiating with foreign governments, but it is hardly ever used in practice. More pressing for Flynn might be what he told the FBI about the calls.

CNN reported that Flynn initially told investigators sanctions weren't discussed but changed his answer to say he didn't remember. Mueller could use this to charge Flynn with making false statements -- the same charge that former Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to last month.

The former general's consulting firm, Flynn Intel Group, took $530,000 from a company based in the Netherlands that has extensive ties to the Turkish government.

Flynn retroactively registered as a foreign agent in March, which his lawyers said was done "to eliminate any potential doubt," though they also said their previous filings should have been sufficient.

Former Trump campaign officials Paul Manafort and Rick Gates already face charges relating to their undisclosed foreign lobbying, for Ukraine. They were indicted by Mueller's grand jury last month. Both have pleaded not guilty.

Here's a thought, if you are worried about your son, keep him out of your shady dealings.

[apple1]

11 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

"Flynn worries about son in special counsel probe"

  Hide contents

... "The disappointment on your faces when I don't go to jail will be worth all your harassment," Flynn Jr. tweeted on Sunday, responding to his online critics...

Here's a thought, if you are worried about your son, keep him out of your shady dealings.

Here's another thought: Maybe stop with the tweeting, Jr?

[Howl]

2 hours ago, apple1 said:

Here's another thought: Maybe stop with the tweeting, Jr?

Junior was tweeting incredibly obnoxious,  InfoWars-ish, dick-ish tweets.  No mercy. 

[GreyhoundFan]

"How Robert Mueller can play hardball with Michael Flynn"

Spoiler

Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III and his team are no strangers to the practice of prosecutorial hardball. That skill may be coming into play once again if, as news reports indicate, the special counsel is turning his attention to former national security adviser Michael T. Flynn and Flynn’s son Michael G. Flynn, who worked with his father’s lobbying firm and was also involved in the Trump transition. The elder Flynn has long been thought to be in Mueller’s sights, and CNN reported Wednesday that Flynn and his wife are worried about their son’s legal exposure as well.

If in fact prosecutors have built cases against both men, they now have a huge, juicy carrot to dangle in front of the elder Flynn: Plead guilty and testify against others, and we’ll go easy on your son. Given the former national security adviser’s prior positions with the Trump campaign and administration, that prospect has to make other potential targets of Mueller’s inquiry extremely uneasy.

Members of Mueller’s team are very familiar with — and have not been shy about employing — the tactic of persuading a witness to cooperate in exchange for leniency toward a family member. His chief deputy is Andrew Weissmann, a career prosecutor with a reputation for aggressiveness. More than a decade ago, Weissmann served on and ultimately headed the Enron task force, the team of prosecutors charged with investigating the financial collapse of the huge energy corporation. Weissmann and the other Enron prosecutors wanted the cooperation of Andrew Fastow, Enron’s former chief financial officer, whom they had indicted on dozens of federal charges. When prosecutors later added additional charges against Fastow, they also indicted a new defendant: Lea Fastow, Andrew’s wife, who had also worked at Enron. With the felony charges pending against Lea Fastow, the couple faced the prospect of spending years in prison while their two young sons were raised by others.

Andrew Fastow ultimately agreed to plead guilty to two conspiracy charges, serve 10 years in prison and cooperate in the investigation. Prosecutors allowed Lea Fastow to plead guilty to a single misdemeanor tax charge. She also was allowed to complete her one-year sentence before her husband was sent to prison, thus allowing the couple to avoid overlapping jail time and care for their children.

Both Fastow plea deals were announced on Jan. 14, 2004, by none other than then-Deputy Attorney General James B. Comey and then-FBI Director Mueller. The plea agreements were linked, so if Andrew Fastow didn’t follow through on pleading guilty and cooperating, Lea Fastow’s deal could be revoked. Andrew Fastow went on to be the government’s star witness at the trial of former Enron top executives Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling, whose convictions became the biggest feathers in the task force’s hat.

If anyone had any lingering doubts, the Fastow story is further evidence that these prosecutors don’t play around. Hardball doesn’t get much harder than showing a guy you’re willing to jail his wife and effectively orphan his kids if he doesn’t cooperate. Even the most hardened prosecutor might feel a slight twinge in the gut at the prospect of using a defendant’s young children as leverage against him. But there is little doubt that Mueller’s team will deploy whatever weapons it has to persuade the inquiry’s targets to play ball.

Of course, the younger Flynn is an adult, not a child. Almost any prosecutor would likely agree that using legitimate charges against him as leverage against his father is fair game. And almost any parent would likely agree that the chance to protect your offspring — even if they are adults — provides an enormous incentive to cooperate. If given that option, the elder Flynn may find it difficult to resist.

As Mueller’s investigation proceeds, this tactic could face a unique twist. If prosecutors continue to close in on President Trump’s inner circle, his own family members, including his son Donald Trump Jr. and son-in-law Jared Kushner, could be implicated. Potential charges against Trump’s family would give prosecutors tremendous leverage over the president himself. But in this particular game of hardball, the target would have some leverage of his own: the pardon power and the ability to fire the prosecutor.

When it comes to protecting his family, Trump has options that Andrew Fastow never had. If the time comes, whether and how he chooses to exercise those options could have profound implications, not just for this investigation but also for the rule of law and the entire country.

I have a solution -- lock them both up.

[GreyhoundFan]

Oh, for pity sake: "Putin says Olympic disqualifications are sign of U.S. meddling in Russia’s elections "

Spoiler

MOSCOW — Russian President Vladi­mir Putin on Thursday accused the United States of trying to interfere with Russia’s presidential campaign in retaliation for what the Kremlin dismisses as unfounded U.S. allegations that Moscow interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential vote.

On the eve of a possible meeting with President Trump at an economic forum in Vietnam, Putin suggested that the United States is pressing for the disqualification of Russian athletes at the 2018 Winter Olympics as a way of creating discontent with his tenure as president. 

The International Olympic Committee recently banned six Russian cross-country skiers, including two 2014 Olympic medalists, from future competition in an ongoing doping investigation based on a damning 2016 report. With fewer than 100 days before the beginning of the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea, the IOC has still not made a decision about whether to let the country that hosted the 2014 Games participate.

“What worries me is that the Olympic Games are due to start in February, and when is our presidential election? In March,” Putin told workers at a Ural Mountains factory, according to Russian news agencies. “There are very strong suspicions that all that is done because someone needs to create an atmosphere of discontent among sports fans and athletes over the state’s alleged involvement in violations and responsibility for it.”

The United States, he said, “wants to create problems in the Russian presidential election in response to our alleged interference in theirs.” 

In September, after the World Anti-Doping Agency dismissed 95 cases of suspected Russian doping citing lack of evidence, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency and 16 other national anti-doping organizations demanded Russia still be banned from next year’s Winter Olympics.

“The IOC needs to stop kicking the can down the road and immediately issue meaningful consequences,” the 17 organizations said in a joint statement.

Russia’s reputation as an Olympic power was sundered in 2016 with the release of the McLaren report, which alleged Russia ran a widespread, state-sponsored doping program from at least 2011 until 2016. 

The report alleges the “institutional conspiracy” included more than 1,000 athletes in more than 30 sports, and led to an IOC investigation to re-examine athletes’ samples andthe containers that held those samples for evidence of tampering. To date, 15 Russian athletes from the 2012 and 2014 Olympics have been stripped of medals because of doping. More disqualifications could still come as the IOC aims to make a decision about Russia’s participation in PyeongChang in December. 

In his remarks Thursday, Putin implied that the United States held undue leverage over the IOC through sponsorships, broadcasting rights and advertising.

“It is a large body of ties and dependencies,” the Russian president said. “And the controlling interest is in the United States, because major companies contracting and paying for television broadcasting rights, major sponsors, major advertisers are there.”

Trump’s election inspired hopes in Russia of improved relations with Washington, but with an investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Moscow producing its first indictments, Russian observers expect little progress if the two presidents meet at an Asian economic summit in Danang, Vietnam, on Friday. A Kremlin spokesman on Thursday said the details of a possible meeting were still being worked out.

Russia’s strong showing in Sochi in 2014 was seen “as a symbol of national revival and return to a great power status, healing the wounds of the U.S.S.R.’s collapse,” said Alexander Gabuev, a senior fellow at Carnegie Moscow Center. “Since the victory was fake, many people turn their anger on a government that couldn’t build up a sport system that would produce champions, and instead created a system of cheating.” 

By turning the blame on Russia’s enemies in the West, he said, Putin hopes he can deflect that anger — and inspire Russians to vote in force for him next March.

“If the Americans want to interfere in the Russian elections, as Putin’s narrative suggests, then going to the polls is an act of patriotic war against the aggressor,” Gabuev said. “If the Americans want to steal the elections, true Russians should organize and go vote for Putin — this seems to be the hidden message of the accusations.”

 

[GrumpyGran]

2 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

"How Robert Mueller can play hardball with Michael Flynn"

  Reveal hidden contents

Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III and his team are no strangers to the practice of prosecutorial hardball. That skill may be coming into play once again if, as news reports indicate, the special counsel is turning his attention to former national security adviser Michael T. Flynn and Flynn’s son Michael G. Flynn, who worked with his father’s lobbying firm and was also involved in the Trump transition. The elder Flynn has long been thought to be in Mueller’s sights, and CNN reported Wednesday that Flynn and his wife are worried about their son’s legal exposure as well.

If in fact prosecutors have built cases against both men, they now have a huge, juicy carrot to dangle in front of the elder Flynn: Plead guilty and testify against others, and we’ll go easy on your son. Given the former national security adviser’s prior positions with the Trump campaign and administration, that prospect has to make other potential targets of Mueller’s inquiry extremely uneasy.

Members of Mueller’s team are very familiar with — and have not been shy about employing — the tactic of persuading a witness to cooperate in exchange for leniency toward a family member. His chief deputy is Andrew Weissmann, a career prosecutor with a reputation for aggressiveness. More than a decade ago, Weissmann served on and ultimately headed the Enron task force, the team of prosecutors charged with investigating the financial collapse of the huge energy corporation. Weissmann and the other Enron prosecutors wanted the cooperation of Andrew Fastow, Enron’s former chief financial officer, whom they had indicted on dozens of federal charges. When prosecutors later added additional charges against Fastow, they also indicted a new defendant: Lea Fastow, Andrew’s wife, who had also worked at Enron. With the felony charges pending against Lea Fastow, the couple faced the prospect of spending years in prison while their two young sons were raised by others.

Andrew Fastow ultimately agreed to plead guilty to two conspiracy charges, serve 10 years in prison and cooperate in the investigation. Prosecutors allowed Lea Fastow to plead guilty to a single misdemeanor tax charge. She also was allowed to complete her one-year sentence before her husband was sent to prison, thus allowing the couple to avoid overlapping jail time and care for their children.

Both Fastow plea deals were announced on Jan. 14, 2004, by none other than then-Deputy Attorney General James B. Comey and then-FBI Director Mueller. The plea agreements were linked, so if Andrew Fastow didn’t follow through on pleading guilty and cooperating, Lea Fastow’s deal could be revoked. Andrew Fastow went on to be the government’s star witness at the trial of former Enron top executives Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling, whose convictions became the biggest feathers in the task force’s hat.

If anyone had any lingering doubts, the Fastow story is further evidence that these prosecutors don’t play around. Hardball doesn’t get much harder than showing a guy you’re willing to jail his wife and effectively orphan his kids if he doesn’t cooperate. Even the most hardened prosecutor might feel a slight twinge in the gut at the prospect of using a defendant’s young children as leverage against him. But there is little doubt that Mueller’s team will deploy whatever weapons it has to persuade the inquiry’s targets to play ball.

Of course, the younger Flynn is an adult, not a child. Almost any prosecutor would likely agree that using legitimate charges against him as leverage against his father is fair game. And almost any parent would likely agree that the chance to protect your offspring — even if they are adults — provides an enormous incentive to cooperate. If given that option, the elder Flynn may find it difficult to resist.

As Mueller’s investigation proceeds, this tactic could face a unique twist. If prosecutors continue to close in on President Trump’s inner circle, his own family members, including his son Donald Trump Jr. and son-in-law Jared Kushner, could be implicated. Potential charges against Trump’s family would give prosecutors tremendous leverage over the president himself. But in this particular game of hardball, the target would have some leverage of his own: the pardon power and the ability to fire the prosecutor.

When it comes to protecting his family, Trump has options that Andrew Fastow never had. If the time comes, whether and how he chooses to exercise those options could have profound implications, not just for this investigation but also for the rule of law and the entire country.

I have a solution -- lock them both up.

See, I don't think this would work with anyone in this administration. I don't think they care about their children. Except where Ivanka is concerned.

1 hour ago, GreyhoundFan said:

Oh, for pity sake: "Putin says Olympic disqualifications are sign of U.S. meddling in Russia’s elections "

  Reveal hidden contents

MOSCOW — Russian President Vladi­mir Putin on Thursday accused the United States of trying to interfere with Russia’s presidential campaign in retaliation for what the Kremlin dismisses as unfounded U.S. allegations that Moscow interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential vote.

On the eve of a possible meeting with President Trump at an economic forum in Vietnam, Putin suggested that the United States is pressing for the disqualification of Russian athletes at the 2018 Winter Olympics as a way of creating discontent with his tenure as president. 

The International Olympic Committee recently banned six Russian cross-country skiers, including two 2014 Olympic medalists, from future competition in an ongoing doping investigation based on a damning 2016 report. With fewer than 100 days before the beginning of the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea, the IOC has still not made a decision about whether to let the country that hosted the 2014 Games participate.

“What worries me is that the Olympic Games are due to start in February, and when is our presidential election? In March,” Putin told workers at a Ural Mountains factory, according to Russian news agencies. “There are very strong suspicions that all that is done because someone needs to create an atmosphere of discontent among sports fans and athletes over the state’s alleged involvement in violations and responsibility for it.”

The United States, he said, “wants to create problems in the Russian presidential election in response to our alleged interference in theirs.” 

In September, after the World Anti-Doping Agency dismissed 95 cases of suspected Russian doping citing lack of evidence, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency and 16 other national anti-doping organizations demanded Russia still be banned from next year’s Winter Olympics.

“The IOC needs to stop kicking the can down the road and immediately issue meaningful consequences,” the 17 organizations said in a joint statement.

Russia’s reputation as an Olympic power was sundered in 2016 with the release of the McLaren report, which alleged Russia ran a widespread, state-sponsored doping program from at least 2011 until 2016. 

The report alleges the “institutional conspiracy” included more than 1,000 athletes in more than 30 sports, and led to an IOC investigation to re-examine athletes’ samples andthe containers that held those samples for evidence of tampering. To date, 15 Russian athletes from the 2012 and 2014 Olympics have been stripped of medals because of doping. More disqualifications could still come as the IOC aims to make a decision about Russia’s participation in PyeongChang in December. 

In his remarks Thursday, Putin implied that the United States held undue leverage over the IOC through sponsorships, broadcasting rights and advertising.

“It is a large body of ties and dependencies,” the Russian president said. “And the controlling interest is in the United States, because major companies contracting and paying for television broadcasting rights, major sponsors, major advertisers are there.”

Trump’s election inspired hopes in Russia of improved relations with Washington, but with an investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Moscow producing its first indictments, Russian observers expect little progress if the two presidents meet at an Asian economic summit in Danang, Vietnam, on Friday. A Kremlin spokesman on Thursday said the details of a possible meeting were still being worked out.

Russia’s strong showing in Sochi in 2014 was seen “as a symbol of national revival and return to a great power status, healing the wounds of the U.S.S.R.’s collapse,” said Alexander Gabuev, a senior fellow at Carnegie Moscow Center. “Since the victory was fake, many people turn their anger on a government that couldn’t build up a sport system that would produce champions, and instead created a system of cheating.” 

By turning the blame on Russia’s enemies in the West, he said, Putin hopes he can deflect that anger — and inspire Russians to vote in force for him next March.

“If the Americans want to interfere in the Russian elections, as Putin’s narrative suggests, then going to the polls is an act of patriotic war against the aggressor,” Gabuev said. “If the Americans want to steal the elections, true Russians should organize and go vote for Putin — this seems to be the hidden message of the accusations.”

 

So I guess those athletes won't be disqualified after all. A little meeting to remind someone who's in charge? Oh, and keep delaying those sanctions too, 'kay?

[AmazonGrace]

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/mueller-probing-pre-election-flynn-meeting-pro-russia-congressman-n819676

Mueller Probing Pre-Election Flynn Meeting with Pro-Russia Congressman

Spoiler

 

WASHINGTON — Investigators for Special Counsel Robert Mueller are questioning witnesses about an alleged September 2016 meeting between Mike Flynn, who later briefly served as President Donald Trump’s national security adviser, and Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, a staunch advocate of policies that would help Russia, two sources with knowledge of the investigation told NBC News.

The meeting allegedly took place in Washington the evening of Sept. 20, while Flynn was working as an adviser to Trump’s presidential campaign. It was arranged by his lobbying firm, the Flynn Intel Group. Also in attendance were Flynn’s business partners, Bijan Kian and Brian McCauley, and Flynn’s son, Michael G. Flynn, who worked closely with his father, the sources said.

Mueller is reviewing emails sent from Flynn Intel Group to Rohrabacher’s congressional staff thanking them for the meeting, according to one of the sources, as part of his probe into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.

U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher speaks at a news conference in Moscow on June 2, 2013. Maxim Shemetov / Reuters

Rohrabacher, a California Republican, has pushed for better relations with Russia, traveled to Moscow to meet with officials and advocated to overturn the Magnitsky Act, the 2012 bill that froze assets of Russian investigators and prosecutors. The sources could not confirm whether Rohrabacher and Flynn discussed U.S. policy towards Russia in the alleged meeting.

Mueller’s interest in the nature of Flynn and Rohrabacher’s discussion marks the first known time a member of Congress could be wrapped into the investigation.

Most of what has been reported about Mueller’s questioning of Flynn’s lobbying work has concerned his efforts on behalf of Turkey. Less is known about his lobbying ties to Russia, though he was paid $45,000 plus expenses for attending a gala in Moscow in December 2015 and being interviewed by RT, the Kremlin-financed cable TV news channel.

Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn (ret.), national security adviser, designate speaks during a conference on the transition of the presidency from Barack Obama to Donald Trump at the U.S. Institute Of Peace on January 10, 2017 in Washington. Chris Kleponis / AFP - Getty Images file

Flynn was fired after just 24 days as Trump’s national security adviser over misleading Vice President Mike Pence about his conversations with Russia’s ambassador to the U.S., Sergey Kislyak.

Multiple sources have told NBC News that Mueller has gathered enough evidence to lead to an indictment in the investigation into Flynn and his son.

Federal investigators have been probing Flynn’s lobbying efforts on behalf of Turkey, including an alleged meeting with senior Turkish officials in December 2016 where he was offered millions of dollars to secure the return of the Turkish president’s chief rival to Turkey and see that a U.S. case against a Turkish national was dismissed.

A grand jury impaneled by Mueller is continuing to interview witnesses with knowledge of Flynn's business activities over the next week, the two sources said. 

 

Please, please, let Rohrabacher be in trouble. 

[onekidanddone]

2 hours ago, AmazonGrace said:

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/mueller-probing-pre-election-flynn-meeting-pro-russia-congressman-n819676

Mueller Probing Pre-Election Flynn Meeting with Pro-Russia Congressman

  Reveal hidden contents

 

WASHINGTON — Investigators for Special Counsel Robert Mueller are questioning witnesses about an alleged September 2016 meeting between Mike Flynn, who later briefly served as President Donald Trump’s national security adviser, and Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, a staunch advocate of policies that would help Russia, two sources with knowledge of the investigation told NBC News.

The meeting allegedly took place in Washington the evening of Sept. 20, while Flynn was working as an adviser to Trump’s presidential campaign. It was arranged by his lobbying firm, the Flynn Intel Group. Also in attendance were Flynn’s business partners, Bijan Kian and Brian McCauley, and Flynn’s son, Michael G. Flynn, who worked closely with his father, the sources said.

Mueller is reviewing emails sent from Flynn Intel Group to Rohrabacher’s congressional staff thanking them for the meeting, according to one of the sources, as part of his probe into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.

U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher speaks at a news conference in Moscow on June 2, 2013. Maxim Shemetov / Reuters

Rohrabacher, a California Republican, has pushed for better relations with Russia, traveled to Moscow to meet with officials and advocated to overturn the Magnitsky Act, the 2012 bill that froze assets of Russian investigators and prosecutors. The sources could not confirm whether Rohrabacher and Flynn discussed U.S. policy towards Russia in the alleged meeting.

Mueller’s interest in the nature of Flynn and Rohrabacher’s discussion marks the first known time a member of Congress could be wrapped into the investigation.

Most of what has been reported about Mueller’s questioning of Flynn’s lobbying work has concerned his efforts on behalf of Turkey. Less is known about his lobbying ties to Russia, though he was paid $45,000 plus expenses for attending a gala in Moscow in December 2015 and being interviewed by RT, the Kremlin-financed cable TV news channel.

Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn (ret.), national security adviser, designate speaks during a conference on the transition of the presidency from Barack Obama to Donald Trump at the U.S. Institute Of Peace on January 10, 2017 in Washington. Chris Kleponis / AFP - Getty Images file

Flynn was fired after just 24 days as Trump’s national security adviser over misleading Vice President Mike Pence about his conversations with Russia’s ambassador to the U.S., Sergey Kislyak.

Multiple sources have told NBC News that Mueller has gathered enough evidence to lead to an indictment in the investigation into Flynn and his son.

Federal investigators have been probing Flynn’s lobbying efforts on behalf of Turkey, including an alleged meeting with senior Turkish officials in December 2016 where he was offered millions of dollars to secure the return of the Turkish president’s chief rival to Turkey and see that a U.S. case against a Turkish national was dismissed.

A grand jury impaneled by Mueller is continuing to interview witnesses with knowledge of Flynn's business activities over the next week, the two sources said. 

 

Please, please, let Rohrabacher be in trouble. 

Seems quite likely, but a part of me wants it to be Ryan.

[WiseGirl]

2 hours ago, onekidanddone said:

Seems quite likely, but a part of me wants it to be Ryan.

Oh, a big, big part of me wants it to be Ryan. (But I'll take Rohrabacher too.)

[onekidanddone]

1 minute ago, WiseGirl said:

Oh, a big, big part of me wants it to be Ryan. (But I'll take Rohrabacher too.)

Yes, at this point any of them would be good.  Looking forward, wit Rufus's blessing, for the entire house of cards to tumble.

[fraurosena]

Yonatan Zunger has a comprehensive and enlightening summary of exactly what kind of shit Flynn (senior) probably is in right now with Mueller. 

 

 

[fraurosena]

Wowsers. NYT names Stephen Miller as the "senior policiy advisor" from the Papadopoulos plea. 

A London Meeting of an Unlikely Group: How a Trump Adviser Came to Learn of Clinton ‘Dirt’

Quote

At midday on March 24, 2016, an improbable group gathered in a London cafe to discuss setting up a meeting between Donald J. Trump, then a candidate, and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.

There was George Papadopoulos, a 28-year-old from Chicago with an inflated résumé who just days earlier had been publicly named as a foreign policy adviser to Mr. Trump’s campaign. There was Joseph Mifsud, a Maltese academic in his mid-50s with a faltering career who boasted of having high-level contacts in the Russian government.

And, perhaps most mysteriously, there was Olga Polonskaya, a 30-year-old Russian from St. Petersburg and the former manager of a wine distribution company. Mr. Mifsud introduced her to Mr. Papadopoulos as Mr. Putin’s niece, according to court papers. Mr. Putin has no niece.

The interactions between the three players and a fourth man with contacts inside Russia’s Foreign Ministry have become a central part of the inquiry by the special prosecutor, Robert S. Mueller III, into the Kremlin’s efforts to interfere with the presidential election. Recently released court documents suggest that the F.B.I. suspected that some of the people who showed interest in Mr. Papadopoulos were participants in a Russian intelligence operation.

The March 2016 meeting was followed by a breakfast the next month at a London hotel during which Mr. Mifsud revealed to Mr. Papadopoulos that the Russians had “dirt” on Hillary Clinton in the form of “thousands of emails.” That was months before the theft of a trove of emails from the Democratic National Committee by Russian-sponsored hackers became public.

Mr. Mueller’s investigators are seeking to determine who — if anyone — in the Trump campaign Mr. Papadopoulos told about the stolen emails. Although there is no evidence that Mr. Papadopoulos emailed that information to the campaign, Mr. Papadopoulos was in regular contact that spring with top campaign officials, including Stephen Miller, now a senior adviser to President Trump, according to interviews and campaign documents reviewed by The New York Times.

The revelations about Mr. Papadopoulos’s activities are part of a series of disclosures in the past two weeks about communications between Trump campaign advisers and Russian officials or self-described intermediaries for the Russian government. Taken together, they show not only that the contacts were more extensive than previously known, but also that senior campaign officials were aware of them.

Last week, Carter Page, another former foreign policy adviser to the campaign, acknowledged to the House Intelligence Committee that he also had a private conversation with a Russian deputy prime minister on a trip to Moscow in July 2016. Mr. Page, who had previously denied meeting any Russian officials during the trip, said that he had informed at least four campaign officials about his trip beforehand and notified the campaign afterward that the Russian minister had pledged “strong support for Mr. Trump.”

Publicly, Mr. Trump and former campaign officials have tried to distance themselves from Mr. Papadopoulos. Although he once praised him as an “excellent guy,” Mr. Trump posted on Twitter that “few people knew the young, low level volunteer named George, who has already proven to be a liar.” Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House spokeswoman, said his involvement in the campaign was “extremely limited.”

But records and interviews show that in spring 2016, Mr. Papadopoulos was welcomed into the thinly-staffed campaign as a “surrogate” who could articulate the candidate’s views. He even helped edit a major foreign policy speech that Mr. Trump gave in Washington in late April, records indicate.

The day before he learned about the hacked emails, Mr. Papadopoulos emailed Mr. Miller, then a senior policy adviser to the campaign, saying Mr. Trump had an “open invitation” from Mr. Putin to visit Russia. The day after, he wrote Mr. Miller that he had “some interesting messages coming in from Moscow about a trip when the time is right.”

Those emails were described in court papers unsealed Oct. 30 disclosing that Mr. Papadopoulos had pleaded guilty to lying about his contacts to the F.B.I. But the documents did not identify Mr. Miller by name, citing only a “senior policy adviser.” Neither he nor his lawyer responded on Friday to requests for comment.

During interviews with Mr. Mueller’s investigators, former campaign officials now working at the White House have denied having advance knowledge of the stolen emails, according to an official familiar with those discussions. Mr. Miller was among those recently interviewed.

Mr. Mifsud’s interest in Mr. Papadopoulos began only after Mr. Papadopoulos had joined the Trump campaign, according to documents released by Mr. Mueller. Mr. Papadopoulos was living in London at the time, hoping to land a full-time job with the campaign, and possibly in a future Trump administration.

Stocky and with a receding hairline, Mr. Mifsud boasted of his Russian connections to Mr. Papadopoulos and others. But in interviews, numerous Russia scholars in London and elsewhere said they had never heard of him, and his career had been rocky for years. He had served as the director of two different European institutions with grandiose names but no accreditation, and he had left two jobs dogged by suggestions of financial impropriety.

“I remember him as a snake-oil salesman,” recalled Manuel Delia, a former Maltese government official who first encountered him in the late 1990s when Mr. Mifsud was administering a scholarship program. Later, Mr. Mifsud styled himself as an expert in international relations, landing a job in 2012 as director of the London Academy of Diplomacy, a for-profit continuing education program. By early 2016, that academy had shut down.

He did not exhibit any special interest or expertise in Russia until 2014, when his academy was beginning to stumble financially. It was at that time a 24-year-old Russian intern, Natalia Kutepova-Jamrom, turned up in his office with an improbably impressive résumé.

Fluent in Russian, English, German and Chinese, Ms. Kutepova-Jamrom had worked in the Russian government as a legislative aide and would move on to a Russian state newspaper. Both Mr. Mifsud’s lawyer and Ms. Kutepova-Jamrom declined to comment. Mr. Mifsud did not respond to messages.

Ms. Kutepova-Jamrom introduced Mr. Mifsud to senior Russian officials, diplomats and scholars. Despite Mr. Mifsud’s lack of qualifications, she managed to arrange an invitation for him to join the prestigious Valdai Discussion Club, an elite gathering of Western and Russian academics that meets each year with Mr. Putin.

Mr. Mifsud’s inclusion in the group was “very, very strange,” said James Sherr, the former head of the Russian studies program at Chatham House in London and a member of Valdai for nearly a decade. It “might suggest he does have connections,” Mr. Sherr said.

Mr. Mifsud suddenly became a popular pundit with state-run news outlets in Russia, praising the country and Mr. Putin. At his first Valdai conference in 2014, he argued against Western sanctions that punished Russia for its annexation of Crimea that year.

“Global security and economy needs partners, and who is better in this than the Russian Federation,” he said.

Among Mr. Mifsud’s most important new contacts was Ivan Timofeev, a graduate of the elite Moscow State Institute of International Relations and a program director for the Valdai conference. Mr. Mifsud would eventually introduce Mr. Timofeev to Mr. Papadopoulos by email in April 2016, and the two men communicated for months about possible meetings between the Trump campaign and Russian government officials.

During those exchanges, Mr. Timofeev referred repeatedly to his contacts in Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, court records show.

Reached by phone, Mr. Timofeev declined to comment on his relationships with Mr. Mifsud or Mr. Papadopoulos. But in an interview with the online news website Gazeta.ru in August, he acknowledged corresponding with Mr. Papadopoulos.

“At some point, he started asking whether it would be possible to set up a meeting between Trump and Putin or some other high-ranking Russian politicians,” Mr. Timofeev said at the time. “Our conversations made it clear that George was not well acquainted with the Russian foreign political landscape. You obviously can’t just go and set up a meeting with the president, for instance. Things just aren’t done that way.”

Exactly how Mr. Mifsud first met Ms. Polonskaya, the Russian woman who attended the London cafe meeting in March 2016, is unclear.

In a recent interview with the Italian newspaper La Repubblica, Mr. Mifsud said the Russian woman who met Mr. Papadopoulos was “a simple student, very beautiful.” He suggested Mr. Papadopoulos hoped for a romantic involvement, adding, “Putin had nothing to do with it, a lovely invention.”

Mr. Mifsud did not reveal her name in that interview — and court records do not identify her — but The Times identified her through emails, interviews and other records.

Ms. Polonskaya did not respond to emails from The Times this week. After Politico identified her on Thursday by her maiden name, Vinogradova, her brother, Sergei Vinogradov, spoke to The Times on her behalf.

He said she was in London discussing a possible internship with Mr. Mifsud, a friend of hers, the morning before the meeting with Mr. Papadopoulos. He insisted that she had no connections to the Russian government and never portrayed herself as Mr. Putin’s niece, despite the court records unsealed by Mr. Mueller.

He said that she only exchanged pleasantries with Mr. Papadopoulos, and that she understood only about half of the discussion between Mr. Mifsud and Mr. Papadopoulos. He shared a text message from her in which she explained to him the reason: “Because my English was bad,” it read.

“It’s totally ridiculous,” Mr. Vinogradov said. “She’s not interested in politics. She can barely tell the difference between Lenin and Stalin.”

 

[GreyhoundFan]

Too bad the TT won't believe our intelligence organizations: "Former U.S. intelligence officials: Trump being ‘played’ by Putin"

Spoiler

Two top former U.S. intelligence officials said Sunday that President Trump is being “played” by President Vladi­mir Putin on Russia’s interference in the 2016 election and accused him of being susceptible to foreign leaders who stroke his ego.

“By not confronting the issue directly and not acknowledging to Putin that we know you’re responsible for this, I think he’s giving Putin a pass,” former CIA director John Brennan said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “I think it demonstrates to Mr. Putin that Donald Trump can be played by foreign leaders who are going to appeal to his ego and try to play upon his insecurities, which is very, very worrisome from a national security standpoint.”

Appearing on the same program, former director of national intelligence James R. Clapper Jr. said he agrees with that assessment.

“He seems very susceptible to rolling out the red carpet and honor guards and all the trappings and pomp and circumstance that come with the office, and I think that appeals to him, and I think it plays to his insecurities,” Clapper said.

Trump told reporters traveling with him in Asia that Putin had assured him at a conference in Danang, Vietnam, on Saturday that Russia did not interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign, and he indicated that he believed Putin was sincere.

Later, in a news conference Sunday in Hanoi with Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang, Trump appeared to be trying to parse his earlier remarks, saying, “What I said is that I believe [Putin] believes that.”

In his earlier remarks to reporters, Trump also referred to Brennan and Clapper as “political hacks.” Brennan said Sunday that he considers Trump’s characterization “a badge of honor.”

Both men were highly critical of Trump for not saying more definitively that Putin was behind the Russian interference in the U.S. election, a conclusion strongly endorsed by the U.S. intelligence community.

“I don’t know why the ambiguity about this,” Brennan said. “Putin is committed to undermining our system, our democracy and our whole process. And to try paint it in any other way is, I think, astounding, and, in fact, poses a peril to this country.”

Clapper said, “It’s very clear that the Russians interfered in the election, and it’s still puzzling as to why Mr. Trump does not acknowledge that and embrace it and also push hard against Mr. Putin.”

Appearing later on CNN, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin came to Trump’s defense, brushing aside the comments of Brennan and Clapper.

“Those were the most ridiculous statements,” Mnuchin said. “President Trump is not getting played by anybody.”

Mnuchin said Trump wants to focus on thorny issues posed by North Korea and Syria and is trying to get Russia on board with the U.S. strategy.

“I think the country is ready to move on off of this and focus on important issues,” he said.

Marc Short, Trump’s director of legislative affairs, said Sunday that the president does concur with a January 2017 assessment by the intelligence community about Russian meddling.

“But let’s be careful and be straight about what it is the president believes right now,” Short said during an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

“He believes that after a year of investigations of tens of millions of taxpayer dollars, there is zero evidence of any ballot being impacted by Russian interference,” Short said. “What the president is trying to do right now is recognize the gravest threat that America faces is North Korea developing nuclear weapons. And nuclear weapons in North Korea is a greater threat than Russia buying Facebook ads in America.”

 

[GreyhoundFan]

Another good one from Jennifer Rubin: "Russia’s mark: A dangerous fool for a president"

Spoiler

President Trump’s authoritarianism, narcissism and racism threaten our democracy, but his gullibility threatens our national security. A man so uneducated and incurious about the world is willing, like his followers, to buy any crackpot conspiracy theory that makes its way to him via the Infowars-“Fox & Friends” pipeline. On the world stage, that makes him a sitting duck for slick manipulators and experienced flatterers.

All that was much in evidence on Saturday. CNN reports:

“He said he didn’t meddle. He said he didn’t meddle. I asked him again. You can only ask so many times,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One as he flew from Da Nang to Hanoi in Vietnam. Trump spoke to Putin three times on the sidelines of summit here, where the Russia meddling issue arose. “Every time he sees me, he says, ‘I didn’t do that,'” Trump said. “And I believe, I really believe, that when he tells me that, he means it.” “I think he is very insulted by it,” Trump added.

Could Trump actually believe that the ex-KGB operative is insulted by the accusation he pulled off a masterful plot, at very little cost, to tip the scales in an American presidential election and get the candidate of his choice? Certainly, Trump is not only gullible but also running scared as special counsel Robert S. Mueller III breathes down his neck.

The strands connecting  Russia and the Trump campaign — via Michael Flynn, Carter Page, Paul Manafort, George Papadopoulos, Jared Kushner and Donald Trump Jr. — are numerous and robust. The evidence of a sophisticated social media plan to sway American voters has come to light. What do Trump allies do about the mountain of evidence of Russian meddling in favor of the presidential candidate who invited Russian hacking and who fixated on the WikiLeaks email dump in the final days of the campaign? What to do about the unanimous verdict of the intelligence community? Just wish it away, I suppose. And Trump shows how. “There was no collusion. Everybody knows there was no collusion,” Trump declared. “I think it’s a shame that something like that could destroy a very important potential relationship between two countries that are really important countries.”

Trump is very much like the devoted Fox viewer who sits mesmerized in front of the screen, searching for evidence to support his prejudices, baseless suspicions and grievances against elites. See, there’s another crime by an immigrant. See, they’re all murderers. See, Sean Hannity found someone to say the Democrats hacked themselves! See, the Russia investigation is a hoax. Soaking up the brew of innuendo, hoaxes, lies and paranoia, Trump and his followers come to believe it all — and disbelieve the facts under their noses.

Trump and his followers are willing to believe anything because they want to believe anything that confirms their counterfactual world. Anyone who sides with their alternative universe (Sebastian Gorka, Vladimir Putin, Bill O’Reilly, Roy Moore) is a hero and a victim of those pro-immigrant, globalist, anti-Christian elites. Anyone who presents cold, hard facts (the mainstream media, scientists, allied governments, Democrats, #NeverTrumpers) that explode their dearly held myths is an enemy of the people.Yes, that’s the mental universe in which Trump and his ilk reside. It renders Trump susceptible — eager, even — to believe our enemies, even — especially! — at the expense of American values, security and interests. He’s putty in the hands of wily autocrats. He’s therefore the type of target that counterintelligence operatives dream of — an arrogant fool. Clinton Watts, a former FBI special agent on the Joint Terrorism Task Force, earlier this year explained:

Russian influence of Trump most likely falls into the category of what Madeleine Albright called a “Useful Idiot” – a “useful fool” – an enthusiast for Putin supportive of any issue or stance that feeds his ego and brings victory. Russian intelligence for decades identified and promoted key individuals around the world ripe for manipulation and serving their interests. Trump, similar to emerging alternative right European politicians, spouts populist themes of xenophobia, anti-immigration, and white nationalist pride that naturally bring about a retrenchment of U.S. global influence. By spotting this early, Russia could encourage Trump’s ascension and shape his views via three parallel tracks. First, Russia led a never before seen hacking and influence campaign to degrade support for Hilary Clinton and promote Trump among a disenfranchised American populace. As a “useful idiot,” Trump not only benefited from this influence effort, but he urged Russia to find Hilary Clinton’s missing emails – a public call a “Manchurian Candidate” would not likely make. Trump even fell for false Russian news stories citing a bogus Sputnik news story at a presidential rally – a glaring and open mistake that would reveal a true “Manchurian Candidate.”

What’s more, the Kremlin now has useful idiots in the persons of Fox News hosts, right-wing American bloggers, talk show hosts and Stephen K. Bannon (who is out recruiting like-minded Senate candidates) to buck up their pet U.S. president. Most of all, the Kremlin can count on the Republican tribalists in Congress who will explain away evidence and savage the president’s accusers to protect the GOP tribe and its leader — who just so happens to be an easy mark for our most formidable international foe.

RE: the final paragraph -- calling that group of sacks of crap that waste our oxygen idiots is being unkind to idiots.

[WiseGirl]

"I think the country is ready to move on off of this and focus on important issues,” he said.

Hey dumbass, perhaps that TT won't believe our intelligence community and is being played by Putin, are important issues. You just wish the country was ready to move on.

[GreyhoundFan]

"All the known times the Trump campaign met with Russians"

Spoiler

Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III filed the first charges in his investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 election on Oct. 30. Mueller brought charges against three former Trump campaign officials — Paul Manafort, Rick Gates and George Papadopoulos. Manafort and Gates have both pleaded not guilty. Papadopoulos accepted a plea bargain, which detailed extensive contact between himself and various individuals claiming they had connections to the Kremlin.

Despite denials from the campaign and the White House, it’s now clear that members of the Trump campaign corresponded or met with Russians at least 30 times throughout the campaign. Knowledge of these communications went to the highest levels of Donald Trump’s operation — both Corey Lewandowski and Paul Manafort, two of the campaign’s three managers, were aware of it.

Since the information about members of the Trump campaign’s contacts with Russians has come out in dribs and drabs, as a public service, we compiled a comprehensive timeline of what we now know from media reports and court documents detailing which members of the campaign met with Russians during the campaign as well as internal discussions about those meetings. We will update this timeline as necessary.

Here is who you need to know

• Jeff Sessions: Then-senator from Alabama, Sessions was one of Trump’s earliest supporters. He led the national security advisory committee for the campaign, was often a surrogate for the candidate on the campaign trail. He now serves as attorney general.
• Carter Page: Page served as a member of a volunteer committee advising the campaign on matters of national security. Trump has said Page was a “very low-level member” of a committee and that he’d never spoken to him.
• George Papadopoulos: Papadopoulos served on the same volunteer committee as Page. Trump has called him a “low-level volunteer,” but Trump and Papadopoulos were both present at a small March 2016 campaign meeting on policy discussion. Papadopoulos accepted a plea agreement in lieu of indictment.
• Paul Manafort: Manafort is a longtime GOP operative. For the last decade, he has been involved with lobbying efforts and elections overseas. He initially joined the campaign to manage the convention and was eventually promoted to campaign manager and chairman. Manafort left the campaign under scrutiny after reports about his business dealings in Ukraine surfaced. Manafort was indicted.
• Donald Trump Jr.: The president’s eldest son who was involved with the campaign. Together with his younger brother, Eric, he now runs the Trump Organization.
• J.D. Gordon: Gordon, a longtime foreign-policy aide and spokesman for Republicans, served as the leader of the committee on which Page and Papadopoulos served.
• Sam Clovis: The Trump campaign’s national co-chairman who oversaw Papadopoulos. He recently withdrew from consideration for a post at the Department of Agriculture after his name surfaced in connection to the Russia probe.

February 2016

By the end of the month, Trump had won three of the first four Republican primaries.  On the campaign trail, Trump says he had “no relationship” with Vladimir Putin “other than he called me a genius.” He says he would be “crazy” to disavow the Russian leader’s praise.

Feb. 28: Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) formally endorses Trump. He is the first senator to do so.

Feb. 29: Paul Manafort writes a series of memos pitching his services to the Trump campaign.
The New York Times later wrote that Manafort “cast himself as a onetime insider who turned his back on the establishment.” He touted his experience running campaigns around the world, as well as his apartment in Trump Tower. According to longtime Trump friend and ally Tom Barrack, Manafort asked him for an introduction earlier in the month after the two men met saying, “I really need to get to” Trump.

March 2016

Russian military intelligence begins a second cyber operation targeting U.S. political organizations using “FANCY BEAR”; “COZY BEAR” had already entered the Democratic National Committee’s (DNC) system in July 2015. On the campaign trail, Trump critiques NATO frequently, saying the organization is “obsolete.” He continues to point out that “Putin says very nice things about [him].” Trump announces his national security advisers. 

Early March: George Papadopoulos accepts an unpaid advisory role on the Trump campaign. On March 6, Papadopoulos learns his primary focus would be on an improving the U.S. relationship with Russia.

March 14: Papadopoulos meets Joseph Mifsud, the director of the London Academy of Diplomacy, while traveling in Italy. Mifsud “only took interest” in Papadopoulos after learning of his role with the Trump campaign. He claimed to have “substantial connections to Russian officials,” which Papadopoulos hoped “could increase his importance as a policy adviser,” according to court documents.

March 19: Russian intelligence hacks Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta’s email.

March 21:  Trump mentions Carter Page and Papadopoulos as foreign policy advisers in an interview with The Washington Post editorial board.

Post Publisher Fred Ryan: “We’ve heard you’re going to be announcing your foreign policy team shortly… Any you can share with us?”

Trump: “Well, I hadn’t thought of doing it, but if you want I can give you some of the names… Walid Phares, who you probably know, PhD, adviser to the House of Representatives caucus, and counterterrorism expert; Carter Page, PhD; George Papadopoulos, he’s an energy and oil consultant, excellent guy; the Honorable Joe Schmitz, [former] inspector general at the Department of Defense; [retired] Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg; and I have quite a few more. But that’s a group of some of the people that we are dealing with. We have many other people in different aspects of what we do, but that’s a representative group.”

Although Page first met with then-campaign manager Corey Lewandowski in January to discuss working with the campaign, this interview was the first time he learned that he would be affiliated with the campaign.

March 24: Papadopoulos meets with Mifsud and a “female Russian national” in London. Papadopoulos later identified the woman as “Putin’s niece” in an email to Sam Clovis, the Trump campaign’s national co-chairman, and members of the campaign’s foreign policy team. He said they discussed arranging “a meeting between [the Trump campaign] and the Russian leadership to discuss U.S.-Russia ties under President Trump.” Clovis responded, “Great work” and that he would “work it through the campaign.” The New York Times later reported the Russian woman was named Olga Polonskaya.

When other advisers expressed concern, Clovis wrote, “We thought we probably should not go forward with any meeting with the Russians until we have had occasion to sit with our NATO allies.”

March 26-29: Trump says “NATO is obsolete” in interviews with the New York Times Editorial Board (March 26) and Fox News (March 28). In both interviews, he suggested that NATO is antiquated, telling Fox, “We’re dealing with NATO from the days of the Soviet Union, which no longer exists.” He again criticized the multilateral organization at a CNN town hall (March 29) saying, “We’re paying too much.”

March 29: Trump announces Manafort as the campaign’s convention manager.

March 31: Trump tweets a photo of a national security meeting that includes Papadopoulos , J.D. Gordon and Sessions. At the meeting, Papadopoulos says he “had connections that could help arrange a meeting between then-candidate Trump and President [Vladimir] Putin,” according to court documents. The New York Times later reported several people, including Sessions, are concerned about the wisdom of such a meeting, given that the United States had imposed sanctions on Russia. According to CNN, Trump does not “say yes and he didn’t say no.”

April 2016

Trump delivers his first foreign policy address. Page is invited to speak in Russia. Manafort communicated with a Russian employee and assumes “operational control” of the campaign. Papadopoulos continues to work toward a Trump-Russia meeting and learns the Russians have “dirt” on Hillary Clinton. 

April: Shlomo Weber, the rector of the New Economic School in Moscow, invites Page to speak at the university. Page knew Weber through his son, Yuval Wever, who Page referred to as a “colleague.” Weber was aware of Page’s affiliation with the Trump campaign, according to his testimony before the House Intelligence Committee. However, Page did not believe that to be the primary reason he was invited. He did, however, acknowledge that may have “indirectly been part of it.”

April: Manafort corresponds with longtime Kiev-based employee, Konstantin Kilimnik, “How do we use to get whole?,” referring to his recent press coverage from the Trump campaign. Kilimnik, a Russian army veteran, matches the description of the “long-standing employee” outlined in court papers released on Oct. 31. This person worked with Manafort to shift money around the globe. The filing also noted Manafort’s company had “connections to Ukrainian and Russian oligarchs.”

Manafort instructs Hope Hicks to disregard The Washington Post’s questions about his business relationships with the Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska and a Ukrainian businessman.

April 3: Papadopoulos emails seven campaign officials about “meeting with Russian leadership — including Putin.” According to The Post, Papadopoulos offers to set up “a meeting between [the Trump campaign] and the Russian leadership to discuss U.S.-Russia ties under President Trump,” saying his Russian contacts welcomed the idea. Carter Page corroborated this email, adding that Papadopoulos mentioned Mifsud by name in his congressional testimony.

April 7: Manafort assumes over “operational control” of the campaign. Corey Lewandowski later told the Associated Press this on the day he was fired as Trump’s campaign manager. However, no changes to the campaign management were publicly announced for over a month.

April 10-April 22: Papadopoulos continues to work toward a Trump-Russia meeting; Mifsud introduced Papadopoulos to Ivan Timofeev, who claims to have connections at the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

• April 11: Olga Polonskaya, the female Russian national, responds to an email from Papadopoulos, saying she “would be very pleased to support your initiatives between our two countries”; she adds Mifsud to the email chain to discuss “a potential foreign policy trip to Russia.” Mifsud mentions his upcoming travel to Moscow and planned meetings with the Russian government. Polonskaya then responds, saying she’d reached out to her contacts “per [Papadopoulos’] request” and that “the Russian Federation would love to welcome [Mr. Trump] once his candidature would be officially announced.”
• April 18: Mifsud introduces Papadopoulos to an individual in Moscow, Ivan Timofeev. Timofeev told Papadopoulos he had connections to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
• April 22: Timofeev thanks Papadopoulos for the “extensive talk” and proposes to meet. Papadopoulos agrees and suggests “we set up [a meeting] here in London with the ambassador as well to discuss a process moving forward.” They continue to talk for the next several weeks via Skype and email about “setting ‘the groundwork’ for a ‘potential’ meeting between the campaign and Russian government officials.”

April 25: Papadopoulos emails Clovis, saying “The Russian government has an open invitation by Putin for Mr. Trump to meet when he is ready. The advantage of being in London is that these governments tend to speak a bit more openly in ‘neutral’ cities.” It is not clear from the court documents if Clovis responded. Papadopoulus also emailed Stephen Miller, then a senior campaign aide and now senior adviser to Trump, that Trump had an “open invitation” from Mr. Putin to visit Russia, according to the New York Times.

April 26: Mifsud tells Papadopoulos that on a recent trip to Russia, he learned the Russians had “dirt” on Clinton, that they “had emails of Clinton” and “they have thousands of emails.”

April 27: Trump delivers his first major foreign policy speech at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington; Sessionsand Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner meet with Russian ambassador; Papadopoulos, who records show helped edit the speech, follows up about a Trump campaign-Russia meeting.

• In the speech, Trump promises to improve relations with Russia by collaborating on shared interests. The Russian ambassador, Sergey Kislyak, is seated in the front row at the event and briefly greets Trump.
• Sessions meets with the ambassador at a reception before the speech. Kislyak later told his superiors that he and Sessions discussed campaign-related matters including policy issues important to Moscow. Sessions denied this. However, U.S. intelligence officials told The Washington Post that the two had “substantive” conversations.
• Kushner also briefly meets Kislyak at a reception where he was introduced to several ambassadors.
• Papadopoulos emails then-campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, saying he had received “a lot of calls over the past month” about arranging a Russia meeting and that “Putin wants to host the Trump team when the time is right.” He also emailed Miller that he had “some interesting messages coming in from Moscow about a trip when the time is right,” according to The New York Times.

May 2016

Donald Trump secures the GOP nomination for president. Papadopoulos reaches out to senior campaign officials about a Trump campaign-Russia meeting. Page suggests Trump go to Moscow. Donald Trump Jr. interacts with a Russian banking official. Manafort meets with a longtime Russian employee and is promoted.

Early May: Manafortmeets Kilimnik in person.

May 3: Trump becomes the presumptive nominee for the Republican Party after Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) and Ohio Gov. John Kaisch, Trump’s two remaining challengers, withdraw from the contest.

May 4-5: Papadopoulos forwards senior campaign officials an email from Timofeev saying the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) is “open for cooperation.” Papadopoulos and Mifsud receive an email from Timofeev saying “[he] talked to [his] colleagues from the MFA . They are open for cooperation. One option is to make a meeting for you at the North America Desk, if you are in Moscow.” Papadopoulos says he was “glad the MFA is interested,” and forwards the note to Lewandowski, asking, “Is this something we want to move forward with?” Papadopoulos then forwards the email toClovis after the two spoke by phone. Clovis responds to the invitation by noting: “There are legal issues we need to mitigate, meeting with foreign officials as a private citizen.” The email chain does not show a response from Lewandowski.

May 13-16: Papadopoulos continues to push for a Trump campaign-Russia meeting; Page suggests Trump go to Moscow.

• May 13: Papadopoulos updates Mifsud, saying “We will continue to liaise through you with the Russian counterparts in terms of what is needed for a high level meeting of Mr. Trump with the Russian Federation.”
• May 14:  Papadopoulos  follows up with Lewandowski, saying the “Russian government has also relayed to me that they are interested in hosting Mr. Trump.”
• May 16: While emailing about his upcoming Moscow trip with other campaign aides, Page suggests that Trump take his place on his upcoming trip to Moscow “to raise the temperature a little bit.”

May 19: Manafort formally becomes Trump’s campaign chairman and chief strategist.

May 21: Donald Trump Jr. dines with Russian banking official; Papadopoulos forwards the May 4 offer from Timofeev to Manafort.

• A former Russian senator from Putin’s party who now is a senior official at Russia’s central bank, Alexander Torshin, told Bloomberg News he dined with Donald Trump Jr. at the National Rifle Association of America’s annual convention. A White House official confirmed the two interacted but denied that they dined together.
• Papadopoulos forwards the May 4 email exchange with Timofeev to newly minted-campaign chairmanManafort, saying “Russia has been eager to meet Mr. Trump for quite sometime and have been reaching out to me to discuss.” Manafort then forwards this email to his deputy, Rick Gates, writing “We need someone to communicate that DT is not doing these trips.” Gates agreed and passed the exchange along to “the person responding to all mail of non-importance,” aiming to avoid a response from a senior official.

May 26: Trump officially secures the Republican nomination for president

June 2016

Trump Jr., Manafort and Kushner meet with a Russian lawyer with the promise that she had information that could “incriminate Hillary.” News breaks that the Democratic National Committee has been hacked likely by Russia. Papadopolous offers to meet with MFA on behalf of the campaign. Page requested permission to travel to Russia. Lewandowski is fired and Manafort replaces him. Papadopolous and Page interact with Sessions.

June 1: Papadopoulos again follows up with Manafort, who refers him to Clovis, saying that he is “running point.” Papadopoulos then writes, “I have the Russian MFA asking me if Mr. Trump is interested in visiting Russia at some point. Wanted to pass this info along to you for you to decide what’s best to do with it and what message I should send (or to ignore.)”

June 3: Rob Goldstone, a music publicist, emails Trump Jr. offering “very high level and sensitive information” that could “incriminate Hillary” and is part of “Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump.” Goldstone represents Emin Agalarov, whose father is a major real estate developer close to Putin. Agalarov asks Goldstone to pass this along for his father, who was offered the information by the “Crown prosecutor of Russia.” Trump Jr. promptly responds: “If it’s what you say I love it especially later in the summer.”

June 7: Trump promises a “major speech about Hillary Clinton’s crimes”

June 9:  Trump Jr., Manafort and Kushner meet with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya and others at Trump Tower. Veselnitskaya told Bloomberg News she aimed to show the Trump campaign that major Democratic donors had evaded U.S. taxes as well as to lobby against the Magnitsky Act. (The law blocks Russians that are suspected of human rights abuses by freezing assets, real estate and banning entry to the United States. In retaliation for passing the Magnitsky Act, Putin banned U.S. adoptions of Russian children.)

According to Veselnitskaya, when asked about the law, Trump Jr. responds: “Looking ahead, if we come to power, we can return to [the Magnitsky Act] and think what to do about it.’’ He adds, “I understand our side may have messed up, but it’ll take a long time to get to the bottom of it.” He also asks for financial documents showing showing improper actions by the Clinton campaign. Trump Jr. later said adoptions were the main topic of the meeting.

At least eight people attend this meeting, including two other Russian associates. Since the meeting was first reported, reports have surfaced that Veselnitskaya may have been working on behalf of the Kremlin at that time.

June 14-15: The Washington Post reveals the DNC had been hacked; the DNC and Crowdstrike point to Russian involvement and Trump dismissed the reports.

• June 14: The Post reveals the DNC had been hacked
• June 15: The DNC and CrowdStrike, the firm hired by the DNC to investigate the hack, said, “two separate Russian intelligence-affiliated adversaries present in the DNC network in May 2016.” Trump then releases a statement: “We believe it was the DNC that did the ‘hacking’ as a way to distract from the many issues facing their deeply flawed candidate and failed party leader. Too bad the DNC doesn’t hack Hillary Clinton’s 33,000 missing emails.”

June 19: Papadopoulos offers to go to MFA meetings in Russia on behalf of the campaign; Page requests permission to travel to Russia.

• Papadopoulos emails  Manafort : “The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs messaged and said that if Mr. Trump is unable to make it to Russia, if a campaign rep. (me or someone else) can make it for the meetings? I am willing to make the trip off the record if it’s in the interest of Mr. Trump and the campaign to meet specific people.” He continued to pursue an “off the record” meeting between MFA and the Trump campaign through mid-August.
• Pageemails “Corey Lewandowski and [he believes] Hope Hicks andJ.D. Gordon” asking permission to go to Russia. Gordon said he “discouraged” the trip, but that Page “went around me directly to campaign leadership.” Page told CNN, Lewandowski replied “if you’d like to go on your own, not affiliated with the campaign, you know, that’s fine.” Page testified he “probably” toldClovis before the trip, but that he definitely did upon his return. He has repeatedly said his trip was not connected to the campaign.

June 20: Manafortbecomes campaign manager after Trump fires Lewandowski.

June 30: Papadopoulos, Page,Gordonand Sessions, along with several other national security advisers attend a dinner at the Capitol Hill Club. The dinner was organized by Sessions and according to Page, Gordon, who had been acting as a kind of leader for the group, convened the meeting. Papadopoulos is seated to Sessions’s left. Page mentions he was going to Russia to Sessions as they were “walking out the door.” He said it was in context of sharing his travel schedule.

July 2016

July: Trump officially becomes the Republican nominee. WikiLeaks releases DNC emails. Manafort offers to give briefings to a Russian oligarch. Page goes to Moscow where he met a Russian official and businessman. Sessions, Page and Gordon all meet with the Russian ambassador. Trump campaign staffers influence RNC platform change on Ukraine.

July 7: Manafort offers to give briefings on the presidential race to Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska. “If [Deripaska] needs private briefings we can accommodate,” Manafort writes in an email to an intermediary. A spokeswoman for Deripaska said he never got the message and no briefings happened. Deripaska has deep ties to the Kremlin and Manafort had done business with the oligarch in the past.

The Washington Post reports that people familiar with Kilimnik’s (Manafort’s longtime employee) work in Ukraine for Manafort said his assignments included meeting with powerful Ukrainian politicians and serving as a liaison to Deripaska.

July 7-8: Page travels to Moscow

• Page passed his speech around to various campaign officials before traveling with an email saying, “Please let me know if you have any reservations or thoughts on how you’d prefer me to focus these remarks.”
• Page’s speech was critical of U.S.-Russia foreign policy. After delivering it at the New Economic School in Moscow, he “briefly said hello” to Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich.
• He also meets Andrey Baranov, the head of investor relations at Rosneft, a Russian state owned oil company. Page testified Baranov is an old friend. He said he “may have” talked to Baranov in advance of his trip, but he couldn’t remember who set up the meeting. With regard to discussing sanctions, he said “I can say beyond a shadow of a doubt, there was never any negotiations or any quid pro quo or any offer or any request, even if any way related to sanctions.” However he conceded, he “may have” discussed sanctions with Baranov, just as anyone talks about politics. Page said Baranov “may have mentioned [the sale of part of Rosneft]” to him but he had “no discussions.”
• The dossier produced by MI-6 agent Christopher Steele claimed Page met with Igor Sechin, chief executive of Rosneft. Some of the information in the dossier has been verified by U.S. intelligence agencies, but Page firmly denied this meeting in his testimony.

July 8: Page emails campaign officials about “incredible insights” from his trip. In an email, Page writes, “In a private conversation, Dvorkovich expressed strong support for Mr. Trump and a desire to work together toward devising better solutions in response to a vast range of current international problems.” He later testified this statement was based on Dvorkovich’s speech at the New Economic School.

In a separate email to Tera Dahl andGordon, Page wrote “On a related front, I’ll send you guys a readout soon regarding some incredible insights and outreach I’ve received from a few Russian legislators and senior members of the Presidential administration.” In his testimony, Page said this was based on what he’d heard at the conference and read in the Russian press — not specific meetings.

July 11-12: Trump campaign officials get involved in the Republican National Committee platform’s language on Ukraine. GOP Delegate Diana Denman, a platform committee member from Texas, proposes an amendment to the party platform that would commit to “maintaining or increasing sanctions” and providing “lethal weapons” to support the Ukrainian army in warding off Russian aggression. She said she met resistance from “two gentlemen” who were part of the Trump campaign.

Trump adviser Gordon initially denied intervening, but later said he asked the co-chair to “consider tabling” the amendment “until the end” and said he “also consulted with colleagues on the phone to give them a heads up and chance to intervene, if they wanted to.” He calls Rick Dearborn and John Mashburn, who now serve as the White House’s deputy chief of staff and deputy Cabinet secretary, respectively. (CNN has reported Dearborn forwarded an email to top campaign officials in June of 2016 about a request from an individual seeking to connect top Trump officials with Russian President Vladmir Putin.)

The platform is ultimately changed to say the United States would “provide assistance” rather than specifically weapons. At the time, Manafort, then-campaign manager, vehemently denied the campaign’s involvement.

July 14: Page emails Gordon, along with other members of the committee saying “As for the Ukraine amendment, excellent work.”

July 18: Sessions speaks with the Russian ambassador at a panel hosted by the Heritage Foundation at the Republican National Convention.

July 20: Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak speak with Page and Gordon following a panel at the Republican National Convention. Gordon has described the interaction as brief, noting their interaction was at an event that many diplomats attended. Page, however, said that the subject of sanctions on Russia “may have briefly come up.” Page said he saw Sessions speaking to Kislyak after his speech at the RNC.

July 21: Trump officially becomes the Republican nominee for president.

July 22: WikiLeaks releases nearly 20,000 DNC emails obtained through Russian hacking operations. U.S. officials have said Russian intelligence used intermediaries to give the email cache to Wikileaks.

Communications outlined in court documents between Papadopoulos and various figures he believed to be connected to the Russian government abruptly stop. However, they do note his efforts for a meeting continue into August. It’s possible not all communications were released with his plea agreement.

July 24-25: Trump campaign officials deny any connections to Russia, despite ongoing meetings and communications.

• “Are there any ties between Mr. Trump, you or your campaign and Putin and his regime?” ABC News’ “This Week,” George Stephanopoulos asked Manafort. “No, there are not,” Manafort says. “It’s absurd and there’s no basis to it.”
• In an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Jake Tapper asked Trump Jr. about the suggestion that Russians had hacked the DNC network to help Trump and hurt Clinton. Trump Jr. calls the claims “lies.”
• Trump responds: “The new joke in town is that Russia leaked the disastrous DNC e-mails, which should never have been written (stupid), because Putin likes me.”

July 25: FBI confirms an investigation into the DNC hack was opened in 2015. By mid-summer 2016 the FBI had also opened an investigation into whether Russia specifically was trying to influence the 2016 election and as then-FBI Director James B. Comey later testified, the “nature of any links between individuals associated with the Trump campaign and the Russian government and whether there was any coordination between the campaign and Russia’s efforts.”

July 27-28: In a news conference, Trump says, “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing.” Less than 24 hours later, he took the statement back, saying he was being “sarcastic.”

July 29: Kilimnik emails Manafort with an update; they agree to meet in New York. The Washington Post reported:

“[Kilimnik] had met that day with the person “who gave you the biggest black caviar jar several years ago,” according to the people familiar with the exchange. [He] said it would take some time to discuss the “long caviar story,” and the two agreed to meet in New York. Investigators believe that the reference to the pricey Russian luxury item may have been a reference to Manafort’s past lucrative relationship with Deripaska, according to people familiar with the probe. Others familiar with the exchange say it may be a reference to Ukrainian business titans with whom Manafort had done business.”

August 2016

Manafort again meets with Kilimnik in New York City. Manafort is forced out as campaign chairman after his business dealings in Ukraine came under scrutiny.

Early August: Manafort meets Kilimnik again at the Grand Havana Room in New York City. In a statement to The Washington Post, Kilimnik said the two discussed “unpaid bills,” “Ukraine” and “current news,” including the U.S. presidential campaign. But he said their meetings were “private visits” that were “in no way related to politics or the presidential campaign in the U.S.” This meeting is now being examined by investigators.

Aug. 14-19: Press reports emerge about Manafort’s business in Ukraine; Clovis urges Papadopoulos to meet with Russian officials; Manafort resigns under pressure

• Aug. 14: The Times reports Manafort received millions in secret cash payments from Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych’s party.
• Aug. 15: Cloviswrites to Papadopoulos that he “would encourage [him]” to “make the trip, if it is feasible” with fellow advisor Wahlid Phares. Clovis’ lawyer later said he was “being polite.”
• Aug. 18: The Associated Press reports  Manafort’s firm lobbied on behalf of Yanukovych’s party in the U.S., but had failed to disclose their work as a foreign agent, which is required by law.
• Aug. 19: Manafort resigns at Trump’s request. Gates, Manafort’s longtime business associate and deputy, remained with the campaign.

Aug. 21: Roger Stone, a longtime Trump ally who claimed to be in touch with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange tweets, “Trust me, it will soon be Podesta’s time in the barrel,” referring to Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta. Wikileaks had not yet released Podesta’s emails.

September 2016

Sessions meets privately with the Russian ambassador. Papadopoulos speaks to Russian media. Page leaves the campaign after reports of his meetings in Russia emerged; Trump disputes reports that Russia hacked the DNC.  

September:  Papadopoulos speaks to the Russian media and makes more Trump-Russia connections.

• The Washington Post reported Papadopoulos told the Russian news agency Interfax:
• Trump “has been open about his willingness to usher in a new chapter” in U.S.-Russia relations, depending on “Russia acting as a responsible stakeholder in the international system.” He also questioned the effectiveness of U.S. sanctions on Russia. The Post also noted he forwarded the article to “a Russian woman with whom he had been corresponding during the campaign.”

Emails described to The Washington Post said Papadopoulos wrote he wanted to connect another Trump aide, Boris Epshteyn, with Sergei Millian of the Russian American Chamber of Commerce. Millian was later identified as a major source for Christopher Steele, the author of the Trump dossier. Millian has denied this claim.

Sept. 8:  Sessions meets privately with the Russian ambassador in his Senate office; Trump tells RT , a media company headquartered in Moscow, it is “pretty unlikely” that the Russian government was behind the DNC hacks

Sept. 26: Page leaves the campaign; Trump discounts reports that Russia was behind the DNC hack at the first presidential debate

•  Page leaves the campaign after a Yahoo News article alleges he met privately with Igor Sechin, the head of state-owned Russian oil giant Rosneft, and other Russian officials during his visit to Moscow. He denies meeting “any of those guys” and called the accusations “complete garbage.” After investigators determined Page was no longer part of the campaign, they obtain a FISA warrant targeting his communications. In order to do this, the FBI and the Justice Department convince a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court judge that there was probable cause to believe Page was acting as an agent of a foreign power. Any FISA application has to be approved at the highest levels of the Justice Department and the FBI.
• Trump publicly disregards reports of Russian involvement with the DNC hack during the first presidential debate: “I don’t think anybody knows it was Russia that broke into the DNC. She’s saying Russia, Russia, Russia, but I don’t — maybe it was. I mean, it could be Russia, but it could also be China. It could also be lots of other people. It also could be somebody sitting on their bed that weighs 400 pounds, okay?”

October 2016

The U.S. intelligence officially accuses Russia of the DNC hack. Trump Jr. speaks to a think tank that supports Russian positions. WikiLeaks releases Podesta’s emails. 

Oct. 7: The Washington Post at 4 p.m. publishes the “Access Hollywood” video tape, in which Trump brags in vulgar terms about kissing, groping and trying to have sex with women. Just half an hour later, WikiLeaks begins releasing emails from the personal email account of Clinton’s campaign chairman, John Podesta, starting weeks of drip-drip revelations.

Meanwhile, the U.S. intelligence community officially accuses Russia of attempting to interfere in the U.S. election by hacking “political organizations.” But the news gets buried by the “Access Hollywood” tape.

Oct. 11: Trump Jr. delivers a paid speech to a think tank that advocates for the Russian position on some foreign policy issues. According to ABC News, Randa Kassis, an organizer of the event — which was held at the Center of Political and Foreign Affairs in Paris — said “she went to Moscow shortly after the election to brief Mikhail Bogdanov, the Russian deputy foreign minister, about the event.”

Nov. 8, 2016: Trump wins the presidential election

It's really amazing to read it all spelled out.

[Howl]

Monday morning levity from The Borowitz Report: 

Mueller Immediately Closes Investigation After Hearing Putin Proclaim His Innocence

Spoiler

 

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—The special counsel Robert Mueller announced on Saturday that he was closing the Justice Department’s Russia investigation, “effective immediately,” after hearing that President Vladimir Putin, of Russia, said he was innocent of any election meddling.

Moments after learning about Putin’s assertion, Mueller hastily assembled his staff of investigators to inform them that, now that Putin had fully exonerated himself, there was no point in continuing the probe.

“Vladimir Putin says he did nothing,” Mueller told his staff. “That’s good enough for me.”

Speaking later to reporters, Mueller said that, by disbanding his investigation, he was following the time-honored law-enforcement tradition of taking a suspect’s word for it.

“For the past several months, we’ve assembled tax records, cell-phone recordings, bank transfers, and e-mail communications that indicated Russia was involved in the election,” a visibly shaken Mueller said. “Somehow, we got it wrong—very, very wrong.”

As for his future plans, Mueller said that his first order of business was to write a heartfelt letter of apology to Putin.

“I feel terrible knowing that I’ve spent all this time investigating a person who did absolutely nothing wrong,” he said. “Hindsight is 20/20, but I really should have called him first and asked him what really happened.”

 

 

[AmazonGrace]

This sounds like a way to bribe a material witness: 

 

[onekidanddone]

5 hours ago, AmazonGrace said:

This sounds like a way to bribe a material witness: 

 

Muller must have known ahead of time. Why wasn't this blasted to the headlines before now? What is he going to do now? How many examples of obstruction of justice do we need?

[Rachel333]

Wow

The Secret Correspondence Between Donald Trump Jr. and Wikileaks

Quote

“Hey Don. We have an unusual idea,” Wikileaks wrote on October 21, 2016. “Leak us one or more of your father’s tax returns.” Wikileaks then laid out three reasons why this would benefit both the Trumps and Wikileaks. One, The New York Times had already published a fragment of Trump’s tax returns on October 1; two, the rest could come out any time “through the most biased source (e.g. NYT/MSNBC).”

It is the third reason, though, Wikileaks wrote, that “is the real kicker.” “If we publish them it will dramatically improve the perception of our impartiality,” Wikileaks explained. “That means that the vast amount of stuff that we are publishing on Clinton will have much higher impact, because it won’t be perceived as coming from a ‘pro-Trump’ ‘pro-Russia’ source.” It then provided an email address and link where the Trump campaign could send the tax returns, and adds, “The same for any other negative stuff (documents, recordings) that you think has a decent chance of coming out. Let us put it out.”

 

[fraurosena]

LOL... 

And now I'm off to see if I can find someplace I can follow his testimony over here too.

[onekidanddone]

Oh boy!  Get ready for the Orange Wall Tidal Wave of Sludge to smack Sessions upside the head.

What kind of game are they playing anyway? The will investigate Clinton; They won't: They will; They won't. 

I'm getting sea sick watching this.

[fraurosena]

21 minutes ago, onekidanddone said:

Oh boy!  Get ready for the Orange Wall Tidal Wave of Sludge to smack Sessions upside the head.

What kind of game are they playing anyway? The will investigate Clinton; They won't: They will; They won't. 

I'm getting sea sick watching this.

But that Ted Lieu though... loved watching him! "Either you lied on your form, or you lied here under oath, which is it?"