The Russian Connection 3: Mueller is Coming

[fraurosena]

25 minutes ago, GrumpyGran said:

I agree with your assessment of him but at some point he has to do something. I do think he'd love to draw this out as long as he can and he loves the chaos. But what does he want at the end of the day? Back into the fold, a return to July when he was in charge, before Kelly? Or to hijack Dump's base? To develop his own crazy crew? I can't see him back in the WH because he can't be trusted. And he's over-reached with all of the info he let out.

I think he thinks he's in a better position than he really is.

Who knows what that prince of chaos wants? Like you I think he might he want to hijack the presidunce's base. For what exactly, I have no idea. And I agree wholeheartedly that he believes himself to be in a better position than he really is and that he thinks he can defeat the system. 

[fraurosena]

They're following the money allright!

Prepare yourself for a long, in-depth article from Buzzfeed.

Investigators Are Scrutinizing Newly Uncovered Payments By The Russian Embassy

Quote

US authorities are poring over hundreds of newly uncovered payments from Russian diplomatic accounts. Among them are transactions by former ambassador Sergey Kislyak 10 days after the 2016 presidential election and a blocked $150,000 cash withdrawal five days after the inauguration.

Officials investigating the Kremlin’s interference in the 2016 US presidential election are scrutinizing newly uncovered financial transactions between the Russian government and people or businesses inside the United States.

Records exclusively reviewed by BuzzFeed News also show years of Russian financial activity within the US that bankers and federal law enforcement officials deemed suspicious, raising concerns about how the Kremlin’s diplomats operated here long before the 2016 election.

Special counsel Robert Mueller’s team, charged with investigating Russian election interference and possible collusion by the Trump campaign, is examining these transactions and others by Russian diplomatic personnel, according to a US official with knowledge of the inquiry. The special counsel has broad authority to investigate “any matters” that “may arise” from his investigation, and the official said Mueller’s probe is following leads on suspicious Russian financial activity that may range far beyond the election.

The transactions reveal:

• One of the people at the center of the investigation, the former Russian ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak, received $120,000 ten days after the election of Donald Trump. Bankers flagged it to the US government as suspicious in part because the transaction, marked payroll, didn’t fit prior pay patterns.
   
• Five days after Trump’s inauguration, someone attempted to withdraw $150,000 cash from the embassy’s account — but the embassy’s bank blocked it. Bank employees reported the attempted transaction to the US government because it was abnormal activity for that account.
• From March 8 to April 7, 2014, bankers flagged nearly 30 checks for a total of about $370,000 to embassy employees, who cashed the checks as soon as they received them, making it virtually impossible to trace where the money went. Bank officials noted that the employees had not received similar payments in the past, and that the transactions surrounded the date of a critical referendum on whether parts of Crimea should secede from Ukraine and join Russia — one of Vladimir Putin’s top foreign policy concerns and a flash point with the West.
• Over five years, the Russian Cultural Centre — an arm of the government that sponsors classes and performances and is based in Washington, DC — sent $325,000 in checks that banking officials flagged as suspicious. The amounts were not consistent with normal payroll checks and some of the transactions fell below the $10,000 threshold that triggers a notice to the US government.
• The Russian Embassy in Washington, DC, sent more than $2.4 million to small home-improvement companies controlled by a Russian immigrant living not far from there. Between 2013 and March 2017, that contractor’s various companies received about 600 such payments, earmarked for construction jobs at Russian diplomatic compounds. Bankers told the Treasury they did not think those transactions were related to the election but red-flagged them because the businesses seemed too small to have carried out major work on the embassy and because the money was cashed quickly or wired to other accounts.

Each of these transactions sparked a “suspicious activity report” sent to the US Treasury’s financial crimes unit by Citibank, which handles accounts of the Russian Embassy. By law, bankers must alert the government to transactions that bear hallmarks of money laundering or other financial misconduct. Such reports can support investigations and intelligence gathering — but by themselves they are not evidence of a crime, and many suspicious activity reports are filed on transactions that are perfectly legal. Intelligence and diplomatic sources who reviewed the transactions for BuzzFeed News said there could be justifiable uses for the money, such as travel, bonuses, or pension payouts.

The Treasury Department turned over the suspicious activity reports to the FBI after the bureau asked for records that might relate to the investigation into the election, according to three federal law enforcement officials with knowledge of the matter. The bureau did not respond to requests for comment on what, if anything, it has done to investigate the transactions.

The Senate Intelligence Committee, which is conducting its own investigation into the election, requested suspicious activity reports on former ambassador Kislyak as far back as August. It is unclear whether senators have received those documents yet. The top Republican and Democrat on the committee each declined to comment.

“All the transactions which have been carried out through the American financial system fully comply with the legislation of the United States,” said Nikolay Lakhonin, a spokesperson for the Russian Embassy. “We are not going to comment on any concrete names and figures mentioned in BuzzFeed articles.” He added, “We see such leaks by US authorities as another attempt to discredit Russian official missions.”

Kislyak, through a spokesperson, declined to comment. The home improvement contractor said all the payments he received were aboveboard for legitimate work.

A Citibank spokesperson said the bank would not comment or confirm any particular report because they are confidential. “Consistent with our commitment to protect the integrity of the financial system,” wrote Jennifer Lowney, the spokesperson, “Citi is diligent in filing Suspicious Activity Reports with the US Treasury Department when appropriate.”

An ambassador at the center of Washington

Former ambassador Kislyak left the US in 2017 and now serves in the legislature of the Republic of Mordovia, which is part of Russia. But his contacts with people in Trump’s inner circle have shaken the administration.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from the Russia investigation largely because he failed to mention a Kislyak meeting when he was confirmed.

Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law and adviser, drew criticism after he discussed setting up a secure communications channel at the Russian Embassy with Kislyak during the transition.

And Michael Flynn, the former national security adviser, pleaded guilty last year to lying to the FBI about multiple calls with Kislyak during the transition, one of which Kushner apparently asked him to make.

Now, according to the US official with knowledge of Mueller’s inquiry, the special counsel’s team is examining two financial transactions from Kislyak’s final weeks in the US.

The first occurred on Nov. 18, 10 days after Americans went to the polls. The Russian embassy sent $120,000 to Kislyak’s personal bank account, marked for “payroll.” Employees at Citibank raised an alarm about the transaction because it didn’t fit with prior payroll patterns and because he immediately split the money in half, sending it by two wire transfers to a separate account he maintained in Russia.

An ambassador at the center of Washington

Former ambassador Kislyak left the US in 2017 and now serves in the legislature of the Republic of Mordovia, which is part of Russia. But his contacts with people in Trump’s inner circle have shaken the administration.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from the Russia investigation largely because he failed to mention a Kislyak meeting when he was confirmed.

Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law and adviser, drew criticism after he discussed setting up a secure communications channel at the Russian Embassy with Kislyak during the transition.

And Michael Flynn, the former national security adviser, pleaded guilty last year to lying to the FBI about multiple calls with Kislyak during the transition, one of which Kushner apparently asked him to make.

Now, according to the US official with knowledge of Mueller’s inquiry, the special counsel’s team is examining two financial transactions from Kislyak’s final weeks in the US.

The first occurred on Nov. 18, 10 days after Americans went to the polls. The Russian embassy sent $120,000 to Kislyak’s personal bank account, marked for “payroll.” Employees at Citibank raised an alarm about the transaction because it didn’t fit with prior payroll patterns and because he immediately split the money in half, sending it by two wire transfers to a separate account he maintained in Russia.

As Russia annexes Crimea, checks get cashed

Now authorities appear to be digging into the entire Russian diplomatic corps operating in the US, with bank records dating back 10 years that show financial conduct flagged as suspicious. The official with knowledge of Mueller’s probe said it is examining a wide range of financial behavior by Russian diplomats.

One of Putin’s main strategic goals was the annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, key to controlling the Black Sea and home to a large Russian naval base. He accomplished the takeover on March 18, 2014, two days after a widely disputed Crimean referendum in favor of joining Russia.

Around that critical period, from March 8 to April 7, 2014, Citibank officials flagged nearly 30 checks totaling about $370,000 to Russian Embassy employees, including military attachés, living in Washington. The checks, which were for nearly identical amounts, were all cashed as soon as they were received.

Bank officials noted that the employees had not received similar payments in the past, and that the timing of the transactions matched that of the Crimean referendum.

The embassy would not say what the money was used for. Capt. Vyacheslav Khlestov, in charge of the Russian Office of the Defense, Military, Air, and Naval Attachés, did not return an email seeking comment. Even though the transfers were first noted by American officials in 2014, it is not clear whether the Treasury Department or the FBI took further action to investigate.

But it wouldn’t be the last time a diplomatic financial transaction raised alarms.

In August of that year, Alexey Voronov, an assistant air attaché, made a cash deposit of $44,000 in his account and then sent the money to an unknown individual. Voronov did not return emails seeking comment.

In the fall of 2015, bankers noted deposits into an account identified as “Russian Cultural Center in New York.” No such entity could be found in public filings, but the banking records show its address as 9 East 91st Street in New York, the same address where the Russian Consulate General is located. The phone number listed in banking records is disconnected. Bankers noted that the cash deposits appeared to be “structured,” which means they were separated into small amounts that seemed designed to stay under the $10,000 daily threshold that would trigger an alert to authorities. For example, in a single afternoon, someone made ATM cash deposits into the “Russian Cultural Center in New York” account of $5,000, $4,400, and $600.

Bank employees also raised alarms about payments to a home improvement contractor. They reported that his companies didn’t appear to have the capacity to perform large construction projects such as those at the embassy.

Bankers flagged to the Treasury Department’s financial crimes unit about 600 payments from the Russian Embassy to this contractor’s companies. The bankers found that those transactions did not appear connected to the presidential campaign but that they were suspicious for other reasons. For example, a company controlled by the contractor received multiple checks from the Russian Embassy for a total of about $320,000; he then withdrew cash in amounts below the level that would have triggered an alert to government watchdogs.

The Treasury, in turn, reported the transactions to the FBI, according to a law enforcement report shared with the bureau. The FBI declined to comment on what, if anything, it did with the information.

The contractor said the payments were normal for a small business like his and he had no idea why investigators would think the transactions were suspicious. He explained that he used multiple accounts at different banks to pay workers, vendors, and suppliers, and that he often deposited money in one account and immediately transferred it to another to make payments.

The contractor and his wife registered a computer company in the greater Washington, DC, area in June 2016. There is little else publicly available about this company, which was dissolved in late 2016. The contractor said the company sold computers to businesses and estimated the firm made only $400 in revenue during its brief life.

The Senate Intelligence Committee’s investigation

For the past five months, the bipartisan leadership of the Senate Intelligence Committee has been trying to get records on any financial transactions involving Kislyak that the Treasury Department may have. It is unknown if they have received them or not.

In August, the committee sent a letter to the Treasury’s financial crimes unit requesting any suspicious activity reports or other “derogatory notification” the Treasury might have received from financial institutions on the former ambassador, as well as more than 30 other people and entities. The August letter, signed by the committee’s top Republican and Democrat, also asked for any records that the Treasury may have provided to the FBI, the intelligence community, and the Office of the Special Counsel.

The committee’s letter does not indicate that any financial institution has actually issued reports or other notifications to the Treasury about any of the people or entities named in the letter, or that the Treasury actually has records about them.

The senators made it clear they wanted the Treasury to turn over whatever records it might have to the committee before handing them over to special counsel Mueller.

“It is our expectation that these documents will be provided directly to the Committee, without pre-review by any outside entities, including the Office of Special Counsel,” said the letters, marked “committee sensitive,” meaning they are not intended to be made public. “Treasury is free to provide a copy of any documents provided to the Committee to the Office of Special Counsel for review in parallel to production to the Committee, but these documents should not be provided to the Office of Special Counsel prior to receipt by the Committee.”

In a follow-up letter sent in December, the committee leaders asked again for any records, as well as information that the Treasury might have on still more people. “We trust that your staff is working to provide those documents as soon as possible,” Sen. Richard Burr, a Republican and the committee’s chair, and Sen. Mark Warner, the ranking Democrat, wrote.

It is not clear why the Treasury had not fulfilled the original request for almost four months. “We generally refrain from providing specifics on requests related to committee investigations,” a spokesperson for the department said.

But the committee’s letters — not previously made public — raise a curtain on its secret investigation.

The senators requested financial information that the Treasury may have on a total of 45 people or entities. While most of the names in the Senate letters have been mentioned publicly in connection with the Trump–Russia investigation, at least three have not.

The committee also asked for financial information, if the Treasury has any, on Ivan Tavrin, a Putin ally who is the chief executive at telecom giant MegaFon and has a stake in the Russian social media site VKontakte. And the senators sought any records the Treasury might have on Bob Foresman, who once ran the Russia desk at Barclays bank and was in charge of Renaissance Capital, a Moscow-based investment firm. No suspicious activity reports on Tavrin or Foresman have been located, according to two law enforcement officials.

The senators also requested any records on Alisher Usmanov, one of the richest men in Russia and a close ally of President Putin. He has majority control of the Russian social media site VKontakte and was an investor in Facebook.

It is not known why the committee is seeking records on these individuals, and they did not return messages asking for comment.

In its December letter, the committee also asked for documents “connected in any way to funds, sent from Russia or Russian banks, that are designated to ‘finance election campaign of 2016.’”

That request came after BuzzFeed News reported in November that the FBI had been investigating those transactions. Almost 60 such transfers were flagged as suspicious after they were sent by the Russian foreign ministry to embassies across the globe, including nearly $30,000 to the compound in Washington.

Russian officials labeled the BuzzFeed News story “propaganda” and said the money, which totaled almost $380,000, was used to help Russian nationals living overseas vote in their country’s parliamentary election held last year. ●

 

[fraurosena]

Things just got even stranger in the Bannon the loose Cannon saga:

Trump's ex-aide Bannon strikes deal to avoid grand jury testimony: CNN

Quote

Former White House strategist Steve Bannon has struck a deal to be interviewed by U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team rather than appearing before a grand jury, CNN reported on Wednesday, citing sources close to Bannon.

Bannon had been subpoenaed to testify before a grand jury in Mueller’s probe of alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and any ties with President Donald Trump’s campaign, according to a person familiar with the matter.

A spokesman for Mueller declined to comment on the CNN report. A lawyer who represented Bannon in an appearance before the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee on Tuesday could not be immediately reached.

An interview with prosecutors would allow Bannon to have an attorney present during his appearance, as lawyers are not permitted in grand jury rooms.

Bannon was a close adviser during Trump’s campaign and in his first months in office, but he was fired from his White House job in August as the president sought to bring more order to his staff operations.

Earlier this month, Trump attacked Bannon for comments he made to Michael Wolff, the author of a book highly critical of the president and his family. They included scathing remarks about Donald Trump Jr., the president’s eldest son, for meeting during the campaign with a Russian lawyer who was said to have damaging information on Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.

Mueller is investigating allegations that Russia interfered in the 2016 campaign to try to tip the vote in Trump’s favor, as well as any potential collusion by Trump’s campaign with Moscow.

Russia denies any attempt to interfere and Trump has denied any collusion.

According to a person familiar with the arrangement, the attorney who represented Bannon for Tuesday’s House appearance, William Burck, is not representing him in connection with Mueller’s investigation. The person did not believe Bannon had hired a counsel for that yet.

Two other Trump associates, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Rick Dearborn, and former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, were due to appear before the House panel behind closed doors on Wednesday, congressional sources said.

Committee aides were not immediately available to comment.

The House Intelligence Committee is conducting one of the two main congressional investigations of the Russia issue, separate from Mueller’s probe.

 

[nvmbr02]

@fraurosena  I was just coming to post the same link. I am interested to see how the Bannon thing works out now that he and the white have have parted ways. I hope he sings like a bird. 

[GrumpyGran]

5 minutes ago, nvmbr02 said:

@fraurosena  I was just coming to post the same link. I am interested to see how the Bannon thing works out now that he and the white have have parted ways. I hope he sings like a bird. 

Well, he has to be giving them something. I'm going to assume that Mueller has already heard enough to know if Bannon is lying. And my feeling on this is that Bannon was afraid of the actual presence of that many people, assuming that eventually some or all of them would talk. With this he can probably just blend in with all of the other people who will or have told Mueller things. This way he has a better chance of Trump never knowing what specific things he tells Mueller.

[AmazonGrace]

 

[AmazonGrace]

 

[fraurosena]

Wow, @AmazonGrace that's really a bombshell article.

The article states that Bannon made a conspicuous slip up during his testimony yesterday.

Quote

Steve Bannon made one conspicuous slip up in his closed-door hearing on Tuesday with the House Intelligence Committee, according to four sources with direct knowledge of the confidential proceedings. Bannon admitted that he'd had conversations with Reince Priebus, Sean Spicer and legal spokesman Mark Corallo about Don Junior's infamous meeting with the Russians in Trump Tower in June 2016.

Quote

Bannon's lawyer, Bill Burck, told the committee in his opening remarks that Bannon wouldn't answer any questions that relate to his time inside the White House or during the presidential transition. The committee caught him in the slip-up inside the first 90 minutes.

I do not believe for one second that it really was a slip up. This was Bannon's way of signalling to the WH what he knows, and what he will testify to with Mueller. If he does, he will in all probability corroborate what Priebus, Spicer and Corallo have already told Mueller. 

[GrumpyGran]

Mueller's about my age. I'm wondering if he goes home at night with the song I'm hearing right now in his head.

Sheryl Crow- "Every day is a winding road, I get a little bit closer..." Who knows what the next line is?  

[Local Gorilla]

...Maybe it's just me, but Ive developed a serious lady-boner for Mueller.

  Here is a banana because there is no eggplant emojii... Forgive me, Rufus!

Is it because I have stared at this very photo of his face - everyday - for many, many months, now? Yes, yes it is. It accompanies almost half of the many Washington Post articles I read. Never mind the age-gap, Ive grown too fond!!

I mean, is it wrong to fantasize about a night on the town with Mueller, laughing at Trump in a dark, discrete corner over cocktails, giddy with mad, passionate anticipation of his downfall. Oh the power! Oh the intellect!! Oh, the eyebrows!!!

And to think he's a Republican?! Well aren't I living dangerously! Tho I suppose I am also living dangerously by passing this post off as "politics". ...Dirty politics! Hey-o! 

 

[AmazonGrace]

 

[AmazonGrace]

Spoiler

 

President Trump's attorney Ty Cobb says the president is "very eager" to speak to special counsel Robert Mueller for his Russia investigation. In an interview with CBS News' chief White House correspondent Major Garrett on this week's "The Takeout" podcast, Cobb said Mr. Trump wants to put the matter to rest, and he told Garrett there are "active discussions" about a special counsel interview, but no formal request has yet been made.  

It is Cobb's belief that the Mueller investigation will ultimately be immaterial to Mr. Trump and his presidency. Cobb said he expects it to be wrapped up in 4-6 weeks.  

"There's a big difference between a shooting star and a planet," Cobb told Garrett, referring to the big headlines for the legal issues of Papadopoulos, Manafort and Flynn.  Cobb said he believes these pleas and indictment will not impact the president. 

"I think it's more than appropriate for the Mueller people to explore anything they're interested in," Cobb said. Cobb said he is focused on "getting the facts out." 

But despite this, he said he considers the investigation to be a drag on the presidency. "It's very difficult for him to do anything other than to fight for his place in history," Cobb said. 

Cobb said if Mueller did interview Mr. Trump, it could be a perjury trap -- that is, a situation in which his story does not match the evidence -- something Cobb said "foolish" was not to consider. But Cobb said he has known Mueller for a long time, and doesn't believe that is his aim.

As for former White House strategist Steve Bannon, Cobb dismissed Bannon's comments about Donald Trump Jr. being "treasonous." That comment appeared in "Fire and Fury," Michael Wolff's book about the first year of the Trump presidency.

"I don't think you should take anything from the Michael Wolff book seriously," Cobb said.

Bannon has made a deal to talk with the special counsel's office, after FBI agents visited Bannon's house to serve him with a grand jury subpoena. The deal means that he will not have to appear before the grand jury.     

Cobb speculated that his hostile treatment of the agents led to the subpoena. The subpoena has since been withdrawn, and Bannon has committed to an interview with Mueller. 

Bannon is the most recent Trump associate to be questioned as part of the ongoing Russia investigation.

 

No worries mate, a perjury trap isn't going to harm you if you don't lie under oath, and Donald Trump never lies.

[fraurosena]

Interesting... I thought they wouldn't release it, as there are 13 Repugs to 9 Dems in the committee. This means a couple of Repugs voted for releasing the transcript.

Can't wait to read it!

 

[fraurosena]

Hungarian Police Have A Warrant Out For Former Trump Adviser Sebastian Gorka

Quote

Former Trump White House staffer Sebastian Gorka has an active warrant out for his arrest in Hungary, according to the Hungarian police's website.

Gorka, whose exact role in the White House while serving as a deputy assistant to the president was never entirely clear, apparently is in trouble with the law over a charge of "firearm or ammunition abuse." The warrant, first reported in Hungarian online outlet 444, was issued on Sept. 17, 2016, prior to Trump's election.

That means that during the entire seven months Gorka spent in the White House, including when meeting with Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó in Washington last March, an arrest warrant was pending overseas.

Details about the reasoning behind the warrant are sparse: The Hungarian police's website only notes the date it was issued, the charge, and that it was filed with the Budaörs police station in Budapest. 444 noted that the charge could have resulted from an incident as far back as 2009. The police station did not immediately respond to BuzzFeed News' request for comment.

Gorka declined to comment. "Don't waste your time," he said when reached by phone. "I don't talk to BuzzFeed, thank you." After this story's publication, Gorka noted on Twitter that he moved to the US in 2008 while not denying that the warrant exists.

Gorka's affinity for guns is well-known. He told Recoil magazine in November that he packs a pistol — along with a knife and tourniquet — every day. In February 2016, he had a gun confiscated after attempting to bring it through Washington's Reagan National Airport.

BuzzFeed News previously reported on Gorka's history (link) in Hungary.

The details of Gorka's leaving the White House still remain murky: He claims to have resigned, but reports at the time indicated that he was fired and the Secret Service ordered not to let him into the building. Whether or not Gorka possessed a security clearance during his months in the Trump administration is also at question, with reports suggesting he had none. A background check prior to the issuance of a clearance likely would have turned up Gorka's warrant.

I've put this here because Budapest is the European HQ for Russian Intelligence, and because multiple people from the Trump campaign (Gordon, Page, Schmitz) went there during the campaign. 

 

[fraurosena]

Yay, the GPS transcript has been released.

I'm trying to find a link for you guys that works, but as of right now it's ten to midnight over here, so I'm afraid you'll have to wait until my tomorrow...

 

Ha, on my last try I found one that works. It's slow (of course, everyone is downloading it) but it works!

http://docs.house.gov/meetings/IG/IG00/20180118/106796/HMTG-115-IG00-20180118-SD002.pdf

 

 

[47of74]

6 hours ago, fraurosena said:

Hungarian Police Have A Warrant Out For Former Trump Adviser Sebastian Gorka

I've put this here because Budapest is the European HQ for Russian Intelligence, and because multiple people from the Trump campaign (Gordon, Page, Schmitz) went there during the campaign. 

 

Yeah, Dan Pfeiffer - a former advisor to President Obama - noted how all sorts of fucked up that was.  Especially given the security check process there.

That or fuck face knew about Gorka's "issues" and overrode the people in charge of security at the White House.

[onekidanddone]

16 hours ago, Local Gorilla said:

...Maybe it's just me, but Ive developed a serious lady-boner for Mueller.

Yea, he is 50 shades of hot.

[AmazonGrace]

Not sure it would have mattered. We read about Trump's mob ties before the election and here we are.

Rybolvlev, Rybolovlev, Rybolovelv?

[AmazonGrace]

 

[fraurosena]

Oh my deer Rufus mounted high, please let this be true! 

Omarosa may have secretly taped White House conversations: report

Quote

Former Trump staffer Omarosa Manigault Newman might have secretly recorded private conversations in the White House as she feared special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe, The New York Daily News reported Friday.

Sources told the Daily News that Manigault Newman, who abruptly resigned from the White House late last year, “loves” to record meetings. Her official last day in the administration is Saturday.

“Everyone knows Omarosa loves to record people and meetings using the voice notes app on her iPhone,” one source said. “Don’t be surprised if she has secret audio files on everyone in that White House, past and present staffers included.”

The White House’s recent ban on staffers having their personal cell phones was tied to Manigault-Newman’s habit of recording her conversations, the source told the Daily News.

Manigault Newman is also reportedly seeking meetings with lawyers as she is concerned that she will become part of Mueller’s probe into possible collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign.

She has met with top attorneys like Lisa Bloom and Monique Pressley, according to the Daily News.

A White House insider said that it was unlikely Manigault Newman had any inside information that could be relevant to Mueller’s probe, according to the Daily News.

Omarosa Manigault Newman was reportedly escorted out of the White House in December after being told she was fired by White House chief of staff John Kelly. The White House said that Manigault Newman had resigned and would leave on Jan. 20.

Manigault Newman rose to national stardom as a reality TV star and contestant on season 1 of "The Apprentice," the NBC reality show formerly hosted by Trump. Because of her celebrity status, she is often referred to only by her first name, Omarosa.

The White House and Manigault Newman did not return the Daily News’ requests for comment.

The very fact that a WH insider says it's unlikely Omarosa had any inside information relevant to Mueller's probe makes me believe the very opposite.

[AmazonGrace]

Lordy I hope there are subpoenas

[GrumpyGran]

4 hours ago, fraurosena said:

Oh my deer Rufus mounted high, please let this be true! 

Omarosa may have secretly taped White House conversations: report

The very fact that a WH insider says it's unlikely Omarosa had any inside information relevant to Mueller's probe makes me believe the very opposite.

I wonder if that was why she wanted to see Dumpy so bad when she was being "Resigned". To tell him she had recorded dirt in an attempt to get him to save her. So is she trying to get back in the door by leaking this information now?

[Howl]

On 1/18/2018 at 12:22 PM, fraurosena said:

I've put this here because Budapest is the European HQ for Russian Intelligence, and because multiple people from the Trump campaign (Gordon, Page, Schmitz) went there during the campaign. 

Thanks, @fraurosena!  Gorka is a major Breitbart scumbag.  This is slightly off topic, but I find it fascinating that both Gorka and Page have extremely iffy doctorates, but each has an extremely high opinion about his own intellectual prowess, which I suspect makes them both extremely vulnerable to Russian flattery.  

  Gorka's degree is  from an obscure university and the 3-person panel that approved his dissertation includes two people who do not have advanced degrees and the third is a reich-wing Hungarian parliamentarian, rampant Islamophobe and (not surprising) close  family friend.  A US political science professor who read a copy of the dissertation had this to say on the Website fastforward: 

Quote

“Gorka is… a snake-oil salesman whose supposed Ph.D dissertation would have never passed muster in America or Britain,” writes Andrew Reynolds, a University of North Carolina political scientist...Reynolds says Gorka’s dissertation is more like an extended Islamophobic rant with precious little academic research to back it up...

And Reynolds was quoted in a Rolling Stone article:  "Gorka's thesis is about as legitimate as if he had been awarded it by Trump University."  And more worrisome, this is what Gorka advocated in his dissertation: 

Quote

Perhaps even more worrisome, Gorka's thesis proposed a dramatic restructuring of the national-security apparatus to create a police state. He suggests a radical reform of "internal barriers between the police force, the army and various intelligence services." This could also be seen as the start of a Gestapo-like, all-powerful national system of repression. "That's about as Nazi Germany- or Soviet Union-like a proposal as I've ever heard," says Patrick Eddington of the conservative Cato Institute. "The net effect would be to suspend the Bill of Rights, if his proposal ever saw the light of day."  Rolling Stone, Sebastian Gorka, the West Wing's Phony Foreign-Policy Guru August 10, 2017

Page also had a rocky road to his doctorate, failed his dissertation defense twice, and both of his advisers quit.  It is not known who eventually passed his dissertation.  This is what one of the original advisers had to say:

Quote

Page “knew next to nothing” about social science and seemed “unfamiliar with basic concepts like Marxism or state capitalism,” the professor said... “Page seemed to think that if he talked enough, people would think he was well-informed. In fact it was the reverse,” Andrusz said. He added that Page was “dumbfounded” when the examiners told him he had failed.

Their subsequent report was withering. It said Page’s thesis was “characterised by considerable repetition, verbosity and vagueness of expression”, failed to meet the criteria required for a PhD, and needed “substantial revision”.  The Guardian  Ex-Trump Adviser Carter Page accused academics who twice failed his PhD of Bias Dec. 22, 2017

Both of these losers ended up in the White House but happily got shown the door. It's thought that Gorka never received a security clearance.  But probably not surprising  these guys ended up there, because in this administration, ALL ROAD LEAD TO RUSSIA.

On that note, Bro. Vlad  took a shirtless(!) icy dip yesterday to celebrate  Epiphany (Jan.19th on the Gregorian calendar) and invited the press! The water was 21 degrees (!) and I'll bet his testicles won't descend again for a month, but of course, he maintained a stoic facial expression, because Russia! and elections in March. 

  WaPo had this scathing remark that pretty much sums up all things Putin:  

Quote

The devotional moment represented another bare-chested media day for Putin, a leader who oversees a corrupt political system, imprisonment and torture of gays, ongoing harassment of and violence against journalists and apparent involvement in U.S. election meddling, but also a public relations operation to sustain the mythos of his machismo.

Putin is 65 and -- Hello, Donald? -- that's what you look like when you work out all the time.   

[fraurosena]

Even though the presidunce may think his shithole shutdown will be a bigly distraction from the Mueller investigation, all those Russian connections just keep on being unveiled regardless.

Very interesting thread. In it Scott Stedman points to a lot of Russian connections we haven't heard of before. The interconnections are astounding... 

 

[GreyhoundFan]

"In the crowd at Trump’s inauguration, members of Russia’s elite anticipated a thaw between Moscow and Washington"

Spoiler

In the days before Donald Trump’s inauguration, a wealthy Russian pharmaceutical executive named Alexey Repik arrived in Washington, expressing excitement about the new administration.

He posted a photo on Facebook of a clutch of inauguration credentials arranged next to a white “Make America Great Again” hat, writing in Russian: “I believe that President Donald Trump will open a new page in American history.”

Throughout his trip, Repik had prime access. He wrote on Facebook that he got close enough to the president-elect at a pre-inaugural event to “check the handshake strength of Donald Trump.” He and his wife, Polina Repik, witnessed Trump’s swearing-in from ticketed seats in front of the U.S. Capitol. And he posed for a photo shoulder-to-shoulder with Mike Pompeo, the president’s nominee to head the CIA, although Repik later said he was not aware of Pompeo’s intended role at the time.

The attendance of members of Russia’s elite at Trump’s inauguration was evidence of the high anticipation in Moscow for a thaw in U.S.-Russia relations following a campaign in which Trump stunned U.S. foreign-policy experts by repeatedly praising Russian President Vladi­mir Putin.

As questions about Russia’s interference in the 2016 election were beginning to percolate publicly, prominent business leaders and activists from the country attended inaugural festivities, mingling at balls and receptions — at times in proximity to key U.S. political officials.

Their presence caught the attention of counterintelligence officials at the FBI, according to former U.S. officials, although it is not clear which attendees drew U.S. government interest. FBI officials were concerned at the time because some of the figures had surfaced in the agency’s investigation of the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia, the officials said.

An FBI spokesman declined to comment on security concerns related to the inauguration. White House officials did not respond to requests for comment.

The Washington Post identified at least half a dozen politically connected Russians who were in Washington on Inauguration Day — including some whose presence has not been previously reported. Among them was Viktor Vekselberg, a tycoon who is closely aligned with Putin’s government.

Another was Natalia Veselnitskaya , the Russian lawyer whose June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower with Donald Trump Jr. has become a focus of the Russia investigation. She attended a black-tie inaugural party hosted by the campaign committee of Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.), according to an associate who accompanied her.

Other Russian inaugural guests included Boris Titov, a politician and business advocate who is running for president of Russia with the Kremlin’s blessing.

Like other VIPs in town that weekend, many flocked to the lobby of the Trump International Hotel, where some encountered fellow Russian associates with surprise.

“It was a great, amazing experience,” Alexey Repik recalled in one of several interviews with The Post. Repik said he also was in Washington for President Barack Obama’s 2013 inauguration but did not attend any events that year.

Michael McFaul, who served as ambassador to Russia under Obama, said he did not recall prominent Russian visitors at Obama’s 2009 events. “It’s strange,” McFaul, the director of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford, said of the number of influential Russians in attendance last year.

Some Russian guests at Trump’s inauguration said they got tickets through U.S. political contacts.

One venue for credentials was the Presidential Inaugural Committee, which provided a slew of perks — such as tickets to events with Cabinet appointees, congressional leaders, the vice president-elect and Trump — to donors who gave at least $25,000.

Only U.S. citizens and permanent residents are legally permitted to contribute to an inaugural committee. Several U.S. business executives with ties to Russia together donated $2.4 million to the inaugural committee, campaign finance records show.

Inaugural organizers said that the committee kept proper records of contributors but that it was impossible to track who ultimately used all of the tens of thousands of tickets that went to donors. In a statement, the committee said that it followed Secret Service protocol and that all attendees received required physical screening at checkpoints when they arrived at events.

“The Presidential Inaugural Committee for President Trump, administratively speaking, was conducted in similar, if not identical fashion to previous inaugurations,” the committee said.

However, Steve Kerrigan, who served as chief of staff to Obama’s 2009 inaugural committee and as president of the committee in 2013, said donors then were required to submit lists of their guests for any gathering the president or vice president or their families were scheduled to attend, with the exception of large outdoor events. 

Secret Service spokeswoman Catherine Milhoan said the agency followed all of its normal security procedures at the 2017 inauguration. She declined to elaborate.

The service often requires that the names of guests be submitted ahead of time for events at which attendees will have close access to the president.

On other occasions, when the president or president-elect makes a brief stop at an event and stays largely behind a rope line — as Trump did at a pre-inaugural Library of Congress reception Repik attended — the agency instead relies on physically screening most guests, according to people familiar with the security procedures.

Awaiting a ‘new stage’ in U.S.-Russia relations

Trump’s inauguration was celebrated jubilantly in Moscow, where Putin supporter Konstantin Rykov hosted an all-night party. Champagne flowed as an interpreter narrated the new U.S. president’s speech.

In Washington, the Russian Embassy tweeted, “Happy #InaugurationDay2017!” with a photo of people gathered in front of the Lincoln Memorial.

The optimism was part of a larger embrace by Russia of Trump’s “America First” outlook, which emphasizes U.S. business interests and national security over promoting freedom and democracy abroad, said Ilya Zaslavskiy, a researcher who has worked with the Hudson Institute’s Kleptocracy Initiative.

Amid a busy schedule in Washington, Titov — who was appointed by Putin to serve as a business ombudsman — told a Russian television station that new investment was likely to flow to Russia once U.S. sanctions were lifted.

Businesses “are waiting for this signal, and they believe it will soon come,” he said.

A year later, the sanctions are still in place, and the thrill of Trump’s election has faded amid an intensifying federal investigation of possible coordination between Russia and the Trump campaign.

“We hoped that a lot of things would change, that the relations would be built on equal terms, that we would be able to start a new stage in the relations between countries,” Titov said in an interview. “But unfortunately, this is not happening.”

Titov, like several of the Russian elites who attended Trump’s inauguration, declined to say how he obtained his tickets, only that they came “via our friends — entrepreneurs in the Republican Party.”

While in Washington, he attended several receptions and met with U.S. lawmakers and business leaders, including a staff member at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Titov said. A Chamber spokeswoman said the organization “routinely meets with individuals representing the business community from countries around the world.”

Titov said he also went to a ball, adding: “I don’t remember what it was called. People danced. Trump danced.”

... < interesting graphic >

Vekselberg heads of one of Russia’s most powerful conglomerates, the Renova Group, which has investments in energy, telecom and mining. He attended Trump’s inauguration as a guest of “one of his closest American business partners,” said spokesman Andrey Shtorkh, who declined to name Vekselberg’s host.

Shtorkh said that Vekselberg had met the past three U.S. presidents as part of his efforts to expand Russia’s international economic relations but that this was the first time the magnate attended a presidential inauguration.

Vekselberg regularly participates in gatherings of Russian business leaders with Putin and sometimes meets one on one with the Russian president, according to news accounts and people familiar with his role. In March, the two sat down to discuss infrastructure projects, according to Russian state news reports. Vekselberg funds several critically important Russian prestige projects, including Skolkovo, the business incubator touted as Russia’s answer to Silicon Valley.

Two of Vekselberg’s U.S. business associates donated significant sums to the inaugural committee, federal filings show.

Andrew Intrater, a New York businessman who is president of the U.S. affiliate of Vekselberg’s company, gave $250,000. Intrater did not respond to requests for comment.

Access Industries, a company founded by Leonard Blavatnik — a Soviet-born American British billionaire who is a longtime friend and business associate of Vekselberg — contributed $1 million to the committee. Blavatnik, through a spokesman, declined to comment.

Another Russian American who has had business dealings in Russia, IMG Artists chief executive Alexander Shustorovich, also gave $1 million, records show. IMG Artists’ chief operating officer, John Evans, said Shustorovich, a U.S. citizen who immigrated to the country as a child, attended the inauguration with his parents. Evans said Shustorovich was a longtime Republican supporter who also attended the presidential inaugurations of George W. Bush.

Some of the Russian attendees at inaugural events already had interacted with people in Trump’s orbit during the 2016 campaign.

Among them: Maria Butina, a Russian gun rights activist and assistant to Alexander Torshin, a former Russian senator who had brokered ties with top National Rifle Association officials.

More than a year before Trump’s victory, Butina had found her way to a microphone at a July 2015 town hall meeting to ask candidate Trump how he would approach Russia if elected.

“I know Putin, and I’ll tell you what, we get along with Putin,” Trump responded. (Trump later said that he had not met Putin before his election but told voters that he was confident they would get along.)

Butina was also part of a group that unsuccessfully sought a meeting with the campaign in May 2016 to discuss the persecution of Christians around the world, according to an American involved in the effort.

... < another interesting graphic >

During Trump’s inauguration, Butina made an appearance at one of the balls, according to a person familiar with her attendance. She did not respond to requests for comment.

The Russian lawyer, Veselnitskaya, had met Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and his campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, during a private June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower in New York. Trump Jr. had agreed to the gathering after he was told Veselnitskaya would provide damaging information about Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton as part of a Russian effort to assist his father’s campaign.

Joining Veselnitskaya at the meeting was Rinat Akhmetshin, a Russian American lobbyist and Soviet army veteran.

Seven months later, they were together again in Washington at an inauguration night black-tie party at the Library of Congress sponsored by the campaign committee of Rohrabacher, a GOP congressman who has long advocated that the United States have a better relationship with Putin’s Russia. In a photo from the event posted by the campaign committee, Veselnitskaya and Akhmetshin pose with slight smiles, holding wine glasses.

In a statement, Veselnitskaya told The Post that she attended a private event in Washington that night at Akhmetshin’s invitation. She added that she did not go to the inauguration and was in the area because she was meeting the next day with an American woman frustrated by the Russian ban on adoptions by U.S. citizens.

Michael Tremonte, a lawyer for Akhmetshin, said his client recalls that he was given tickets by a person involved in organizing the event and that he invited Veselnitskaya to join him because he knew she was in town. Tremonte said Akhmetshin did not attend any official inaugural events.

Kenneth Grubbs, a spokesman for Rohrabacher’s congressional office, said the campaign has no record of Akhmetshin’s invitation to the party or of tickets purchased by him or Veselnitskaya.

‘It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience’

Repik began his weekend in Washington by posting a photo of himself wearing official credentials in front a stage bearing a sign that declared “The Inauguration of Donald J. Trump.”

In interviews with The Post, Repik said he and his wife obtained their tickets through an American technology executive named Timothy Kasbe, who at the time was working for the Russia-based retailer Gloria Jeans. Kasbe, who now works for a company in New Zealand, donated $150,000 to Trump’s inaugural committee, records show.

Repik said they had met months earlier during a tour of Silicon Valley companies for Russian business executives that Kasbe helped host on behalf of a headhunting firm. The two became friendly and agreed to meet in Washington for the Trump festivities.

In a statement, Kasbe confirmed that he celebrated the inauguration with Repik and his wife, whom he called “family friends from California.”

Repik, whose family often stays in a home in a posh San Francisco neighborhood, founded the large Russian pharmaceutical company R-Pharm, which has contracts with numerous Russian hospitals, including state-owned facilities.

Repik also heads an advocacy group called Business Russia, as well as another business council that encourages economic ties between Russia and Japan.

In those roles, Repik said, he has met several times with Putin at public events to discuss the business climate and foreign relations. They had a one-on-one meeting publicized by the Kremlin in June 2016 and met again when Putin made an appearance at an October 2016 conference hosted by Repik’s advocacy group.

In 2011, the Russian business publication Vedomosti asked Repik about rumors that he had ties to the FSB, the Russian intelligence service that succeeded the KGB. Repik replied, “It’s nice to feel like a simpleton who has the FSB behind him.”

Repik told The Post that such comments were “jokes” and that he has “zero” relationship with Russia’s security and intelligence services.

Before Trump’s inauguration, Repik established a business tie with Texas venture capitalist Darren Blanton, who served as an informal adviser to the Trump transition team.

In the fall of 2016, a venture fund backed by Repik’s R-Pharm and the Russian government negotiated to become a large investor in a California biotechnology start-up called Bonti, a deal that closed Jan. 4, 2017, according to corporate filings and people familiar with the investment. Colt Ventures, an investment company founded by Blanton, also invested in Bonti, filings show.

At some point, Blanton and Repik met in San Francisco with other investors to discuss the company, Repik said.

Repik said the Texas investor was also among the people he ran into at the Trump hotel in Washington, where he and his wife stayed for the inauguration.

Blanton did not respond to requests for comment.

Polina Repik, a former model with a sizable social media following, recorded the exclusive access she and her husband had during the inauguration, posting videos about the trip on her YouTube channel. “I’m really far from politics,” she said in an interview. “It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”

At the inaugural parade, the couple were perched in a grandstand just next to the one reserved for Trump and his family. They danced the night away at the Liberty Ball, where Polina Repik filmed a chance encounter with Caitlyn Jenner.

Polina Repik also toured The Washington Post’s newsroom with Kasbe, who arranged the visit through a former colleague who is a Post executive.

A video from the tour that Polina Repik posted on YouTube features footage of the newsroom. The Post public-relations manager who led the tour said that visitors are generally not allowed to film throughout the newsroom and that she did not recall seeing any filming. In an interview, Polina Repik said that she was not trying to film surreptitiously and that she was sorry if she broke any rules.

Alexey Repik also documented his up-close access at inaugural events, posting photos on Facebook of the president-elect, son Eric Trump, incoming vice president Mike Pence and incoming Trump chief of staff Reince Priebus. At one event, Repik told The Post, he met incoming secretary of state Rex Tillerson and encountered Pompeo, whom he described on Facebook as “a good neighbor at the table [who] turned out to be a very charming person.” 

Repik said he was actually seated at a table nearby and was not aware at the time of Pompeo’s role as the soon-to-be CIA director. Repik added that he had not met Pompeo before that event or seen him since.

In a statement, a CIA spokesman said that Pompeo “does not know this individual or recall meeting him,” adding that “people frequently ask public figures, like Mr. Pompeo, for photographs, and efforts to cast the photo as anything else are ridiculous.”

Repik said it wasn’t politics that drew him to Washington but the prospect of fostering better business relations between Russia and the United States.

“To me, it’s pretty clear that we can do better together,” he said. “I don’t care about the political. But I’m very concerned about the business part of this.”

Sigh.