Scandal Watch II

Sept 14, 2013 - May 16, 2017 Comey/Trump timeline--with more to come, I'm afraid:

The Timeline of Clashes Between FBI Director Comey and President Trump
The Associated Press | 5/17/2017 7:35 AM ET
http://fortune.com/2017/05/17/james-comey-donald-trump-fbi-timeline/

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Only one person is enjoying this...hopefully the USA will give his people a demo of how a robust democracy triumphs over craven. corrupt leadership:

Putin offers to hand over records of Trump-Lavrov meeting
Cody Derespina | May 17, 2017
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/05/17/putin-offers-to-hand-over-records-tru...

Duplicate: This message has been deleted by its author.

Trump only reads things that contain his name?!

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2017/05/17/times_republican_columnist_com...

Robert Mueller, Former F.B.I. Director, Is Named Special Counsel for Russia Investigation
REBECCA R. RUIZ | MAY 17, 2017

The Justice Department has appointed Robert S. Mueller III, the former F.B.I. director, to serve as a special counsel to oversee its investigation into Russian meddling in the election, Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein announced on Wednesday.

...While a special counsel would remain ultimately answerable to Mr. Rosenstein — and by extension, the president — he would have greater autonomy to run an investigation than a United States attorney would. Mr. Mueller will be able to choose to what extent to consult with or inform the Justice Department about his investigation as it goes forward.

Mr. Mueller is viewed by members of both parties as one of the most credible law enforcement officials in the country...

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/17/us/politics/robert-mueller-special-counsel-ru...

Madison, Wisconsin, newspaper editorial says Paul Ryan needs to be replaced by an adult:

"Congressman Mark Pocan has summed up the relationship of House Speaker Paul Ryan to President Trump as that of a lapdog to his master. "This Paul Ryan we have now — he seems to roll over and want his belly rubbed by the president,” said the representative from Wisconsin's 2nd District, which borders Ryan’s neglected 1st District.

Pocan knows Ryan well. But we think the comparison is a bit unfair. From what we know of lapdogs, they serve many useful purposes. That cannot be said of the speaker of the House. At this point, Ryan is doing harm to his district, his state, his country and the world because, as Pocan said, the speaker is “complicit in letting Donald Trump be Donald Trump.”

http://host.madison.com/ct/opinion/editorial/editorial-house-speaker-paul-ryan-n...

Speaking of Paul Ryan: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/house-majority-leader-to-...

>6 sturlington: I was going to post that tidbit in the Humor from both sides of the aisle thread. Haha!

In case you can't keep up with all the damaging stories that have broken since last night, WaPo has a handy breakdown: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/05/18/the-white-houses-absol...

Vice President Pence has a growing credibility problem
Aaron Blake | May 18, 2017

Below are three big instances in which Pence said something that turned out to be highly misleading at best and clearly false at worst, starting with the newest one.

1) Michael Flynn's status as a foreign agent for Turkey

In early March, it was reported that former national security adviser Michael Flynn had filed as a foreign agent for Turkey after failing to do so when he should have. Asked about it by Fox News's Bret Baier on March 9, Pence said twice that it was the “first I heard of it”...

2) The explanation of James Comey's firing

While defending Trump's firing of FBI Director James B. Comey last week, Pence asserted that the president had acted upon the recommendation of the Justice Department and said the decision wasn't about the FBI's Russia investigation...

3) Jan. 15: Flynn talking about sanctions with Russia...Pence assured CBS's “Face the Nation” that Flynn hadn't discussed U.S. sanctions with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak — talks that could have run afoul of the law given that Flynn wasn't yet a White House official...

In all three instances, Pence said something to defend the administration that in retrospect looks very suspect. Precisely what's happening here is up for debate, but none of it is good for Pence's political future.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/05/18/vice-president-pence-h...

Quid pro quo smoke:

5/18/17
Was Trump team building a backchannel with Putin?
Reuters reports that Trump campaign advisers had at least 18 previously undisclosed calls and emails with Russians during the campaign and sought a back channel with Vladimir Putin. Ned Price and Steve Clemons join Lawrence O'Donnell. Duration: 7:20

http://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/watch/was-trump-team-building-a-backchannel-w...

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Flynn Delayed Anti-ISIS Plan That Turkey Opposed
Courtney Kube |

A former senior Obama official confirmed to NBC News that after months of disagreement, the Obama administration had decided to arm the Syrian Kurds — but in January incoming National Security Adviser Mike Flynn asked his counterpart, Obama National Security Adviser Susan Rice, not to do it.

McClatchy first reported that Flynn had blocked the plan to arm the Syrian Kurds for an attack on Raqqa, the ISIS capital in Syria, a move that was opposed by the Turkish government, which Flynn had been paid $500,000 to represent...

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/flynn-delayed-anti-isis-plan-turkey-opposed-...

ETA___________________________________________________________

Maggie Haberman‏ @maggieNYT 10h10 hours ago
Retweeted Josh Caplan‏ @joshdcaplan
New video shows Turkey's Erdogan watching members of his security detail attack Kurdish protesters outside of the Turkish embassy in D.C.

Erdogan appeared to feel emboldened on this visit >

(Oh great--now my DH, a Turkish-American of Polish heritage will NEVER go to Consulate to renounce his Turkish citizenship so we can visit that country some day. (Under Turkish law, can't have dual citizenship. Husband emigrated at 4YO. He already suspected that Chicago Consulate had a dungeon rather than basement... He isn't the only wary wouldbe traveler with dual citizenship. I'm beginning to understand the reticence...)

If it talks like a duck and its name is Donald....

NYT: Trump brags to Russians about firing 'nut job' Comey
Dan Merica | May 19, 2017

President Donald Trump bragged to two top Russian officials last week that firing "nut job" FBI Director James Comey eased "great pressure" on him, The New York Times reported Friday.

"I just fired the head of the FBI. He was crazy, a real nut job," Trump said, according to the Times. "I faced great pressure because of Russia. That's taken off."

Trump's Oval Office meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak came one day after Comey was fired...

http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/19/politics/trump-russians-nut-job-comey/

Russia probe reaches current White House official, people familiar with the case say
Devlin Barrett and Matt Zapotosky | May 19. 2017

The law enforcement investigation into possible coordination between Russia and the Trump campaign has identified a current White House official as a significant person of interest, showing that the probe is reaching into the highest levels of government, according to people familiar with the matter.

The senior White House adviser under scrutiny by investigators is someone close to the president, according to these people, who would not further identify the official.

The revelation comes as the investigation also appears to be entering a more overtly active phase, with investigators shifting from work that has remained largely hidden from the public to conducting interviews and using a grand jury to issue subpoenas. The intensity of the probe is expected to accelerate in the coming weeks, the people said...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/russia-probe-reaches-curr...

ETA______________________________________

NYT: Kuchner omitted meeting w Russians on security clearance forms (

First on CNN: Russian officials bragged they could use Flynn to influence Trump, sources say
Gloria Borger, Pamela Brown, Jim Sciutto, Marshall Cohen and Eric Lichtblau, CNN | May 19, 2017

Russian officials bragged in conversations during the presidential campaign that they had cultivated a strong relationship with former Trump adviser retired Gen. Michael Flynn and believed they could use him to influence Donald Trump and his team, sources told CNN.

The conversations deeply concerned US intelligence officials, some of whom acted on their own to limit how much sensitive information they shared with Flynn, who was tapped to become Trump's national security adviser, current and former governments officials said.

"This was a five-alarm fire from early on," one former Obama administration official said, "the way the Russians were talking about him." Another former administration official said Flynn was viewed as a potential national security problem.

The conversations picked up by US intelligence officials indicated the Russians regarded Flynn as an ally, sources said. That relationship developed throughout 2016, months before Flynn was caught on an intercepted call in December speaking with Russia's ambassador in Washington, Sergey Kislyak. That call, and Flynn's changing story about it, ultimately led to his firing as Trump's first national security adviser...

http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/19/politics/michael-flynn-donald-trump-russia-influen...

Smoking gun (obstruction of justice):

Report: Trump says firing ‘nut job’ Comey took off pressure
Erica Werner and Eileen Sullivan | AP May 20, 2017

...“I just fired the head of the FBI. He was crazy, a real nut job,” the Times reported that Trump said during the May 10 meeting. “I faced great pressure because of Russia. That’s taken off.”...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/report-trump-says-firing-nut-job-comey-t...

Especially having brought several people from his former law firm (which had several Trumpians--Kushner, Manafort--for clients), Mueller may not be free to follow evidence. Also, it may allow defense lawyers later to discount evidence against Trumpians in any legal proceeding. Unless cleared up a priori, Mueller--no matter how excellent he is--can't be allowed to foul up investigation with his past entanglements.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/white-house-ethics-russia_us_591f7b0ae4b094c...

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/17/mueller-clients-special-prosecutor-2385...

ETA http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-mueller-idUSKCN18F2KK?utm_source=twi...

ETA http://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-rob-rosenstein-robert-mueller-special-inves...

ETA_________________________________________

The Scope of the Mueller Probe: Will the Public Learn What Was Uncovered?
Andrew Kent | May 20, 2017

...The Mueller probe should be quite broad, covering Russian interference and any Trump connections, and extending not just to crimes committed but also to classic counterintelligence questions about the nature of the espionage threat. But it is correct that congressional investigations—either by standing committees, as is happening now, by a select committee, or by a special commission given delegated oversight power by statute—should be much broader still than the outer limits of Mueller’s remit.

As Benjamin Wittes and Susan Hennessey put it, writing about how congressional investigation of the Russia-Trump mess should be different and broader than a DOJ/FBI investigation: Congress is charged with ascertaining information related to legislative purposes—including the imposition of sanctions in response to the activity of a hostile foreign power, the discharging of its oversight function with regard to fraud, abuse, or corruption in the executive branch, and legislative measures that might be necessary to protect the American electoral system. It also has a duty to publicly address major questions the political system is struggling with now in a fashion the public can absorb and process: What is the President’s relationship with Russia? And is there reason to be concerned about it?

Regarding public disclosure of information collected by Mueller, I have offered four avenues by which Mueller could attempt to make a public report. (There may be others still.) All four options are uncertain, in that they require the buy-in of other actors, whether Congress, Rod Rosenstein, or a federal judge overseeing a grand jury. And, as I noted, the grand jury options would be unusual and thus potentially quite controversial.

The public may learn a lot more from the Mueller inquiry that some fear. But it still seems clear that a broad inquiry, broad public disclosure, and proportionately broad governmental response to all of the intertwined legal, diplomatic, national security, and political aspects of the Trump-Russia matter will need to come from Congress.

https://lawfareblog.com/scope-mueller-probe-will-public-learn-what-was-uncovered

Trump must be claiming executive privilege? Giuilani's is on record, though.

ACLU: Trump refused to turn over Giuliani travel ban memo by court-ordered deadline
By Nikita Vladimirov - 05/20/17
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/334414-aclu-trump-refused-to-tu...

Michael Flynn to take the Fifth Amendment and decline Senate subpoena
Matthew Mosk & Meghan Keneally | May 22, 2017
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/michael-flynn-amendment-decline-senate-subpoena/s...

Trump asked DNI, NSA (directors) to deny evidence of Russia collusion
Jim Sciutto and Eli Watkins | May 22, 2017

Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump called two top intelligence community figures to request that they deny in public any evidence of collusion between his campaign and the Russian government during the 2016 election, multiple current and former US officials with knowledge tell CNN.

Trump's requests to Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and National Security Agency Director Adm. Michael Rogers came after then-FBI Director James Comey publicly revealed before the House intelligence committee on March 20 that the FBI had an investigation into collusion to influence the 2016 election.

Both Coats and Rogers were uncomfortable with the nature of the President's request and refused to comply, the sources told CNN...

http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/22/politics/donald-trump-intelligence-community/

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Trump is practically begging to be accused of obstruction of justice right now (analysis)
Aaron Blake | May 22, 2017

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/05/19/trump-is-practically-b...

FEC member urges escalated Trump-Russia inquiry

The agency, already investigating a Trump complaint, is called on to consider reports that Russian agents bought Facebook ads.

Kenneth P. Vogel | 05/23/2017

...Weintraub’s interest was piqued by an article published last week by TIME magazine that revealed intelligence officials had evidence that Russian agents bought Facebook ads to disseminate election-themed stories. It also indicated that congressional investigators were examining whether Russian efforts to spread such content were boosted by two U.S. companies with deep ties to Trump — Breitbart News and Cambridge Analytica...

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/23/fec-trump-russia-facebook-238695

Pence...

The case for impeaching Trump — and fast
This is the exact situation impeachment was meant for. Let's hurry up.
Matthew Yglesias | May 22, 2017

...You don’t need to be a fan of Mike Pence on any level whatsoever to see that nobody thinks he’s in cahoots with the Russians or needs to cover for some kind of Paul Manafort money laundering scheme.

If Republicans would move quickly toward removing Trump from office, they could put a different, better-qualified man in his place. That wouldn’t settle all of Trump’s critics’ disagreements with his administration — but it would put them in the realm of ordinary politics where they belong.

...Pence. As of a week ago, his hands looked pretty much entirely clean in the whole Flynn situation. But we learned Thursday that the Trump transition project — which Pence was ostensibly heading — was in fact informed of ongoing investigations into Flynn’s secret lobbying for Turkey, at the very same time that Flynn, on behalf of the transition, was delaying a Pentagon plan to attack the ISIS capital of Raqqa that the Turkish government disliked. Given the totality of the situation and the tangential nature of Pence’s involvement, this seems forgivable enough to me.

But the longer Pence occupies a high-level role in an administration governed by gangster ethics, the more trouble he’s going to find himself in. Like a loyal soldier, Pence came out swinging with the argument that the Comey firing was all about Rosenstein’s memo, only to have Trump himself contradict him the next day. Credibility is an exhaustible resource, and with every passing day Pence has less of it...

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/5/22/15655296/impeach-trump

Will Donald Trump Be Impeached?
Nate Silver | May 22, 2017

...All that work … and I’m still not going to give you a precise number for how likely Trump is to lose his job. That’s because this is a thought experiment and not a mathematical model11. I do think I owe you a range, however. I’m pretty sure I’d sell Trump-leaves-office-early stock (whether because of removal from office or other reasons) at even money (50 percent), and I’m pretty sure I’d buy it at 3-to-1 against (25 percent). I could be convinced by almost any number within that range.

The easiest-to-imagine scenario for Trump being removed is if Republicans get clobbered in the midterms after two years of trying to defend Trump, the Republican agenda is in shambles, Democrats begin impeachment proceedings in early 2019, and just enough Republicans decide that Pence (or some fresh face with no ties to the Trump White House) gives them a better shot to avoid total annihilation in 2020.

In some sense, then, the most important indicators of Trump’s impeachment odds are the ones you’d always use to monitor the political environment: presidential approval ratings, the generic congressional ballot and (if taken with appropriate grains of salt) special election results. What makes this time a little different is that if Republicans think the ship is sinking, impeachment may give them an opportunity to throw their president overboard first.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/chance-donald-trump-impeached/

China detains at least one monitor who was investigating factory making Ivanka Trump shoes
Eva Dou and Te-Ping Chen | May 31, 2017

A labor-rights group says it was investigating factories where Ivanka Trump’s shoes are made

...The status of the other two investigators was unclear, Mr. Li (founder of New York-based China Labor Watch) said, after he lost touch with them over the weekend.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/china-detains-at-least-one-monitor-who-was-inve...

@RepAdamSchiff 11h11 hours ago

.@POTUS should not return properties Russians used for espionage that were shuttered after they interfered in our election. Why reward them?

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Trump administration moves to return Russian compounds in Maryland and New York
May 31, 2017

...The Russian compounds — a 14-acre estate on Long Island and several buildings on secluded acreage along the Corsica River on Maryland’s Eastern Shore — have been in Russian possession since the days of the Soviet Union. According to a Maryland deed in 1995, the former USSR transferred ownership of the Maryland property to the Russian Federation in 1995 for a payment of one dollar.

Russia said it used the facilities, both of which had diplomatic immunity, for rest and recreation for embassy and U.N. employees and to hold official events. But U.S. officials dating to the Reagan administration, based on aerial and other surveillance, had long believed they were also being used for intelligence purposes.

Last year, when Russian security services began harassing U.S. officials in Moscow — including slashed tires, home break-ins, and, at one point, tackling and throwing to the ground a U.S. embassy official entering through the front of the embassy — the Obama administration threatened to close the compounds, former Obama officials said.

In meetings to protest the treatment, the Obama administration said that it would do so unless the harassment stopped, and Moscow dropped its freeze on construction of a new consulate to replace the one in St. Petersburg, considered largely unusable because of Russian spying equipment installed there. Russia had earlier blocked U.S. use of a parcel of land and construction guarantees in the city when sanctions were imposed after its military intervention in Ukraine and annexation of Crimea.

The threat of closing the compounds was not pursued. In late December, after U.S. intelligence said there had been election meddling, and in response to the ongoing harassment in Moscow, Obama ordered the compounds closed and diplomats expelled. “We had no intention of ever giving them back,” a former senior Obama official said of the compounds.

...Flynn, in a phone conversation with Kislyak, had advised against retaliation and indicated that U.S. policy would change under the Trump administration.

The Kremlin made clear that the compound issue was at the top of its bilateral agenda. Russia repeatedly denounced what it called the “seizure” of the properties as an illegal violation of diplomatic treaties.

On May 8, the U.S. undersecretary of state for political affairs, Thomas Shannon, traveled to New York to meet with his Russian counterpart, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov on what the State Department described as “a range of bilateral issues” and what Russia called “irritants” and “grievances.”

Ryabkov brought up the compounds, while Shannon raised St. Petersburg and harassment, suggesting that they deal with the operation of their diplomats and facilities in each others’ countries separate from policy issues such as Syria and proposing that they clear the decks with a compromise.

Russia refused, saying that the compound issue was a hostile act that deserved no reciprocal action to resolve and had to be dealt with before other diplomatic problems could be addressed. In an interview with Tass, Ryabkov said Moscow was alarmed that Washington “carries on working out certain issues in its traditional manner, particularly concerning Russia’s diplomatic property in the states of Maryland and New York.”

Two days later in Washington, Tillerson told Lavrov that the United States would no longer link the compounds to the issue of St. Petersburg.

Immediately after their May 10 meeting at the State Department, Tillerson escorted Lavrov and Kislyak to the Oval Office. There, they held a private meeting with Trump.

...In a news conference at the Russian Embassy after his meetings with Tillerson and Trump, Lavrov said of the compound closures, “Everyone, in particular the Trump administration, is aware that those actions were illegal.”

“The dialogue between Russia and the U.S. is now free from the ideology that characterized it under the Barack Obama administration,” he said.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-administration-move...

White House Details Ethics Waivers for Ex-Lobbyists and Corporate Lawyers
ERIC LIPTON and STEVE EDER | MAY 31, 2017

WASHINGTON — President Trump has given at least 16 White House staff members dispensation to work on policy matters they handled while employed as lobbyists or to interact with their former colleagues in private-sector jobs, according to records released late Wednesday.

The details on these so-called ethics waivers — more than five times the number granted in the first four months of the Obama administration — were made public after an intense dispute between the White House and the Office of Government Ethics, which had been pushing the Trump administration to stop granting such waivers in secret...

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/31/us/politics/lobbyist-ethics-waivers-trump-adm...

Nigel Farage is 'person of interest' in FBI investigation into Trump and Russia

Two little pigs went to market,
One of them fell down,
and one of them ran-away.
How many got to town?

None.



Farage is ready for his apple; Trump looks already stuffed.

23 contd. (Russian compounds)

Interesting how quickly Trump Administration caves to Russia--even in face of feeding collusion suspicion--when he brings all of his NY real estate negotiating instincts when dealing with allies, most recently, Paris Agreement:

3 Negotiating Tactics You Need to Watch For
December 16, 2011 by Kelley Robertson

The Nibble
The Vise
Take it or leave it

https://www.futuresimple.com/blog/3-negotiating-tactics-you-need-to-watch-for/

Exclusive: Special counsel Mueller to probe ex-Trump aide Flynn's Turkey ties
Nathan Layne, Mark Hosenball and Julia Edwards Ainsley | June 2, 2017

Robert Mueller, the special counsel investigating possible ties between the Trump election campaign and Russia, is expanding his probe to assume control of a grand jury investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn, three sources told Reuters.

The move means Mueller’s politically charged inquiry will now look into Flynn’s paid work as a lobbyist for a Turkish businessman in 2016, in addition to contacts between Russian officials and Flynn and other Trump associates during and after the Nov. 8 presidential election.

Federal prosecutors in Virginia are investigating a deal between Flynn and Turkish businessman Ekim Alptekin as part of a grand jury criminal probe, according to a subpoena seen by Reuters.

...Some members of Congress have asked the Justice Department to define the scope of Mueller’s inquiry...

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-flynn-turkey-exclusive-idUSKBN18T276

Follow the money: German-bank smoke?

Deutsche Bank asks for more time for U.S. query on Trump, Russia: source
Tom Sims | June 5, 2017

Germany's largest bank has asked for more time to respond to a request from Democrats on a U.S. House of Representatives panel for details about U.S. President Donald Trump's possible ties to Russia

..."Congress remains in the dark on whether loans Deutsche Bank made to President Trump were guaranteed by the Russian government, or were in any way connected to Russia," the Democrats wrote in their request to Deutsche Bank.

"It is critical that you provide this committee with the information necessary to assess the scope, findings and conclusions of your internal reviews," they said.

The Democrats cannot compel Deutsche Bank to hand over the information. The House committee has the power to subpoena the documents, but Republican committee members - who make up the majority of the panel - would have to cooperate.

No Republicans have signed the document request.

The congressional inquiry is also seeking information about a Russian "mirror trading" scheme that allowed $10 billion to flow out of Russia.

In January, Deutsche Bank agreed to pay $630 million in fines for organizing the scheme that could have been used to launder money out of Russia.

The trades involved, for example, buying Russian stocks in roubles for a client and selling the identical value of a security for U.S. dollars for a related customer.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-deutsche-bank-trump-idUSKBN18W19T?il=0

Russian-bank smoke: follow the money

Was Kushner Seeking a Russian Bailout for Manhattan Building? Congress Will Ask

Ken Dilanian, Leigh Ann Caldwell and Corky Siemaszko | June 5, 2017

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/was-kushner-seeking-russian-bailout-manhatta...

ETA____________________________

Bank at Center of U.S. Inquiry Projects Russian ‘Soft Power’

BEN PROTESS, ANDREW E. KRAMER and MIKE McINTIRE | JUNE 4, 2017

...The White House has said that Mr. Kislyak requested the meeting and that “Mr. Kushner was acting in his capacity as a transition official.” But VEB said Mr. Gorkov had met with Mr. Kushner, who was still running his family’s real estate company, to discuss business. The statement said VEB’s management had met with “a number of representatives of the largest banks and business circles of the U.S.,” a claim supported by the Times’s reporting about Mr. Gorkov’s meetings with banks in New York.

VEB has not disclosed specifics of the conversation with Mr. Kushner, which is of keen interest to investigators.

Mr. Kushner’s hunt for overseas investors for his company’s financially troubled Manhattan office tower on Fifth Avenue has been documented by The Times. While such an investment would not fit the profile of VEB’s past lending, it would have been possible for Mr. Gorkov to relay such information to other Russian banks. It is not known, however, whether the subject was raised in the meeting.

...This Is Not a Bank’

VEB and Mr. Putin are inextricably linked.

The bank stepped up lending after 2008 when Mr. Putin, then prime minister, became chairman of the board. And during the oil boom, VEB was seen as embodying Russia’s new financial might.

Under a 2007 law, VEB’s mandate was to lend to important but underfinanced sectors of the Russian economy, including infrastructure and businesses that help diversify the economy beyond oil dependence.

There are other government-controlled banks in Russia, Sberbank and VTB, but they are primarily retail banks. VEB serves a very different role, lending mostly to large borrowers, many of them politically connected.

To that end, VEB over the last decade has lent freely in ways that dovetail with government priorities and make it a tool of Russian soft power. The purse strings opened for two influential groups in particular: oligarchs building Olympic sites in Sochi and companies in Russian-speaking eastern Ukraine.

“This is not a bank,” said Karen Vartapetov, a public finance analyst at Standard & Poor’s. “We should rather treat this bank as a government agency. It is used by the government as a tool to invest in politically and socially important but not always financially viable projects.”..

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/04/business/vnesheconombank-veb-bank-russia-trum...

'This is huge': National-security experts were floored by the leaked NSA document on Russia's election hack
Sonam Sheth | June 5, 2017

A leaked NSA document which found that hackers connected to Russian military intelligence tried to breach US voting systems days before the 2016 election has national-security experts and former intelligence officials reeling.

Russian military intelligence, according to the document, launched an attack on at least one US voting software supplier and sent spear-phishing emails to at least 100 local election officials shortly before the election.

In addition to being the strongest indication so far that Russia interfered in the US election, the document also indicates that Russian hackers may have "penetrated further into US voting systems than was previously understood," The Intercept, which first published the document, reported....

http://www.businessinsider.com/nsa-leaker-arrested-russia-document-trump-nationa...

Tillerson Says Trump Wants Him to Rebuild Relations with Moscow Despite the Russia Probe
Nick Perry / Jun 05, 2017

(WELLINGTON, New Zealand) — ...Tillerson said relations with Russia are at a low point and deteriorating, and Trump asked him to try to stabilize the relationship and rebuild trust.

...couldn't comment on the details of the Russia investigations or whether they could bring down the administration because "I have no direct knowledge."

Trump has told him he should not allow the uproar to impede him from working on the relationship.

"He's been quite clear with me to proceed at whatever pace and in the areas I think we might make progress," Tillerson said. "I really am not involved in any of these other issues."...

http://time.com/4806809/rex-tillerson-donald-trump-russia/

>30 margd: Interesting (though inconclusive). Too bad about the source, though.

http://blog.erratasec.com/2017/06/how-intercept-outed-reality-winner.html#.WTbLl...
http://www.moonofalabama.org/2017/06/do-not-trust-the-intercept-or-how-to-burn-a...

Sloppiness all around (and stupidity by all parties), but this really is textbook-scenario stupid.
-----------------------------------------------------

Note also: recent leaks aimed at damaging Trump have very destructive implications.

http://turcopolier.typepad.com/sic_semper_tyrannis/2017/06/the-washington-post-a...

But, pilgrims, none of that is important when compared to the massive intelligence defeat suffered by the US in that the GRU now know that US SIGINT has been reading their internal communications traffic for years. Given this revelation and the earlier CNN "scoop" given to Dana Bash by US spies concerning US penetration of Russian diplomatic communications I would think it likely that the Russian government will conclude that ALL their communications are compromised. Having reached that conclusion they will set out to build completely new systems for the whole Russian government.

It will take billions of dollars and years of work to break into these new systems, Until that is achieved US intelligence will be rather close to blind. Some of you will rejoice in that, but you should not. The insight provided by SIGINT into potentially hostile acts and motives have often kept the world from nuclear war. pl

cf. this exchange:

http://turcopolier.typepad.com/sic_semper_tyrannis/2017/05/httpswwwwashingtonpos...

Sam Peralta said...

Col. Lang

This leak that we can decrypt Russian secure diplomatic communications proves that those intent on bringing down Trump, hate him more than the purported enemy Russia.

It seems rather apparent that the memes of "Russia brazenly interfered in our pure American democracy" and "Trump team meeting with Russian officials had sinister motives" are just cynical sticks to beat Trump with. Actors within our federal government are quite happy destroying our SIGINT advantage if that means they can take down Trump.

Isn't it revealing that the WaPo, Times, CNN, NBC hysteria is all about the request for private communication channels between Trump transition and the Russians and not about the leak that the NSA broke Russian secure communications?
Reply 27 May 2017 at 01:36 PM
...
turcopolier said...

Sam Peralta

At last! someone who understands the level of intelligence disaster involved in this. pl
Reply 27 May 2017 at 01:40 PM

(And once again, pl's bio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Patrick_Lang )

Yeah, I wondered if leak would alert Russians, allowing them to better conceal misbehaviours and undercut investigation. Ultimate misbehavior would be a Manchurian Candidate, though?

Tacky/stingy for a billionaire-dad, though not illegal(?)

How Donald Trump Shifted Kids-Cancer Charity Money Into His Business
Dan Alexander | June 29, 2017

https://www.forbes.com/sites/danalexander/2017/06/06/how-donald-trump-shifted-ki...

Obstruction of justice:

Coats told associates Trump asked him if he could intervene with Comey on Russia probe
Adam Entous | June 6, 2017

...On March 22, less than a week after being confirmed by the Senate, Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats attended a briefing at the White House together with officials from several government agencies. As the briefing was wrapping up, Trump asked everyone to leave the room except for Coats and CIA Director Mike Pompeo.

The president then started complaining about the FBI investigation and Comey's handling of it, said officials familiar with the account Coats gave to associates. Two days earlier, Comey had confirmed in a congressional hearing that the bureau was probing whether Trump's campaign coordinated with Russia during the 2016 race.

After the encounter, Coats discussed the conversation with other officials and decided that intervening with Comey as Trump had suggested would be inappropriate, according to officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive internal matters.

The events involving Coats show the president went further than just asking intelligence officials to deny publicly the existence of any evidence showing collusion during the 2016 election, as The Washington Post reported in May. The interaction with Coats indicates that Trump aimed to enlist top officials to have Comey curtail the bureau's probe.

Coats will testify on Wednesday before the Senate Intelligence Committee.

...A day or two after the March 22 meeting, the president followed up with a phone call to Coats, according to officials familiar with the discussions. In the call, Trump asked the DNI to issue a public statement denying the existence of any evidence of coordination between the Russian government and the Trump campaign. Again, Coats decided not to act on the request.

Trump similarly approached Adm. Mike Rogers, the director of the National Security Agency, to ask him to publicly deny the existence of any evidence of coordination between the Russians and the Trump campaign, as the Post previously reported, according to current and former officials. Like Coats, Rogers refused to comply with the president's request...

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/politics/ct-coats-trump-comey-rus...

DC and MD will sue Trump over accepting money from foreign governments and favoring one state over another in his business:

D.C. and Maryland to sue President Trump, alleging breach of constitutional oath
Aaron C. Davis | June 12, 2017

Attorneys general for the District of Columbia and the state of Maryland say they will sue President Trump on Monday, alleging that he has violated anti-corruption clauses in the Constitution by accepting millions in payments and benefits from foreign governments since moving into the White House.

The lawsuit, the first of its kind brought by government entities, centers on the fact that Trump chose to retain ownership of his company when he became president. Trump said in January that he was shifting his business assets into a trust managed by his sons to eliminate potential conflicts of interests.

(AGs) say Trump has broken many promises to keep separate his public duties and private business interests. For one, his son Eric Trump has said the president would continue to receive regular updates about his company’s financial health.

...The constitutional question D.C. and Maryland will put before a federal judge is whether Trump’s business ownership amount to violations of parts of the Constitution known as the foreign and domestic emoluments clauses.

To guard against foreign countries gaining sway over the new republic’s ambassadors in the late 1700s, drafters of the Constitution prohibited any “Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust” from accepting “any present, Emolument, Office or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.”

In another part of the Constitution, framers sought to prevent a president from favoring one state over another, forbidding him from receiving any gift or emolument from a state and instead, only the compensation approved by Congress...

Courts will consider who, if anyone, has standing to challenge Trump's foreign (and interstate) business dealings--hotel competitors? states? members of Congress?

Democrats in Congress to Sue Trump Over Foreign Business Dealings
SHARON LaFRANIERE | JUNE 14, 2017

Nearly 200 Democratic members of Congress are expected to file a federal lawsuit on Wednesday accusing President Trump of violating the Constitution by profiting from business dealings with foreign governments.

The plaintiffs — believed to be the most members of Congress to ever sue a sitting president — contend that Mr. Trump has ignored a constitutional clause that prohibits federal officials from accepting gifts, or emoluments, from foreign powers without congressional approval.

...Like the previous two federal lawsuits, this one, to be filed in federal court in Washington, accuses Mr. Trump of illegally profiteering from his businesses in a variety of ways, including collecting payments from foreign diplomats who stay in his hotels and accepting trademark approvals from foreign governments for his company’s goods and services.

But it creates a new group of plaintiffs who claim the president’s actions have damaged them: Democratic members of the House and Senate who say they have been wrongly deprived of their constitutional right to rule on whether Mr. Trump can accept such economic benefits from foreign governments, according to Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, who led the effort with Representative John Conyers Jr. of Michigan.

...each new set of plaintiffs makes it harder for the Justice Department to defend the president on the grounds that his opponents have no legal standing to sue him, Mr. Trump’s critics said. “It puts the government in the position of saying that nobody can address this — not hotel competitors, not states, not members of Congress,” said Norman Eisen, the chairman of CREW, which started the legal efforts...

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/14/us/politics/democrats-in-congress-to-sue-trum...

Intimidation almost as good as elimination, except to (70YO) highly regarded former FBI Director?

Trump Stews, Staff Steps In, and Mueller Is Safe for Now
GLENN THRUSH, MAGGIE HABERMAN and JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS | June 13, 2017

...The president was pleased by the ambiguity of his position on Mr. Mueller, and thinks the possibility of being fired will focus the veteran prosecutor on delivering what the president desires most: a blanket public exoneration...

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/06/13/us/politics/robert-mueller-special-counsel...

Special Counsel Mueller is hiring Watergate, Enron, and mafia investigators--incl Deeben who has argued 100 cases to Supreme Court--and apparently is now investigating obstruction of justice by Trump himself (leak, perhaps by interviewees), who has contemplated firing him (Trump friend).

Given his history, I can't imagine Trump not acting eventually to remove Mueller. For Nixon, the firing of Special Counsel investigating HIM led to impeachment and resignation in disgrace before Senate removed him from office. Wonder how today's Congress would react to firing of Mueller (and probably his supervisor, Deputy AG Rosenstein).

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/special-counsel-is-invest...
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/06/06/mueller-russia-probe-trump-239163
http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/13/opinions/what-would-happen-if-trump-tried-to-fire-...

ETA: @AriMelber: The obstruction inquiry means Rod Rosenstein is more likely to be a witness, and thus may meet standard for recusing himself.

(Some wag asked if mail clerk will be "last-man-standing" at DOJ.)

97-2, Senate lets Congress block President Trump from easing or ending penalties against Moscow. The deal adds new sanctions against Russia's defense and military-intelligence sectors while codifying existing sanctions into law. Some question whether House will pass and President will sign... Predictably, Russia is not amused by the Senate's action: http://tass.com/politics/951384.

Senate overwhelmingly passes Russia sanctions deal with new limits on Trump
The move marks the most significant GOP-imposed restriction on the White House to date.
Elana Schor | 06/14/2017

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/06/14/senate-passes-russia-sanctions-trump-li...

Bob Mueller has a Bronze Star with Valor, two Navy medals, a Purple Heart, and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry

-Blake Hounshell, Politico editor

The hell that Trump is foisting onto the GOP is the hell the GOP had planned to
shower onto HRC if she had won last November!!!

Hmm...
Tillerson said something about lifting sanctions depending on Russia's helping out in Syria.
US Senate moves to limit Trump's ability to lift sanctions.
Russia may have killed ISIS leader.

So-o, if Trump doesn't fire Rothenstein, it's likely that the Dep AG will have to recuse himself anyway from overseeing Special Counsel obstruction of justice investigation? (Rothenstein was witness to Trump firing of Comey.) That would leave recently confirmed Associate AG Rachel Brand to supervise?

Former Bush official Rachel Brand takes over No. 3 position at Justice Dept.
Sari Horwitz May 28
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/former-bush-official-rach...

Elsewhere:

Cyber Threats To Canada's Democratic Process
Cdn Govt: Communications Security Establishment
38 p

Table of Contents
About CSE
Executive Summary
About This Document
Introduction
Canada's Democratic Process
Overview Of Cyber Threats
Why Target Canada's Democratic Process?
How The Democratic Process Is Targeted
Target: Elections
Target: Political Parties And Politicians
Target: The Media
Explaining Cyber Threat Activity
The Cyber Toolbox
Cyber Capabilities: Sophisticated Uses
Case Study: Swaying Public Opinion Against A Candidate
Case Study: Cyberespionage Against A Candidate
Global Trends And The Threat To Canada
Global Baseline Of Known Events
Canadian Context
Conclusion
Annex A
Endnotes

https://www.cse-cst.gc.ca/sites/default/files/cse-cyber-threat-assessment-e.pdf

Trump owes lenders at least $315 million, disclosure shows
Eric Beech, Mohammad Zargham and Andy Sullivan | June 16, 2017

(incl $50M to German bank)

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-ethics-idUSKBN1972XM
________________________________________

Office Government Ethics (Trump's 2017 disclosure 98 p)

https://extapps2.oge.gov/201/Presiden.nsf/PAS+Index/12DAC79CC95F8490852581420027..., Donald J. final278.pdf

_________________________________________

Also, on the financial disclosure front, EPA Director Scott Pruitt reported to have met with ~50 fossil fuel reps in Trump's DC hotel...

ETA_______________________________________

Why we still really need to see Donald Trump's tax returns
Chris Cillizza | June 16, 2017

http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/16/politics/trump-finances/index.html

Emoluments file:

Russia Renewed Unused Trump Trademarks in 2016
MIKE McINTIRE |JUNE 18, 2017

...Last year, while hacking Democrats’ emails and working to undermine the American presidential election, the Russian government also granted extensions to six trademarks for Mr. Trump that had been set to expire. The Trump trademarks, originally obtained between 1996 and 2007 for hotels and branding deals that never materialized, each had terms that were coming to an end in 2016.

Despite their inactivity, the Trump Organization sought extensions for the trademarks from Rospatent, the Russian government agency in charge of intellectual property. In a series of approvals starting in April 2016 and ending in December, Rospatent granted new 10-year terms for the trademarks, the agency’s records show....

...“I HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH RUSSIA — NO DEALS, NO LOANS, NO NOTHING!” He told NBC News in May that he has “no investments in Russia, none whatsoever.” And on Thursday, he expressed frustration on Twitter over scrutiny of his “non-dealings” in Russia...

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/18/us/politics/russia-trump-trademarks.html

Lawsuit Accuses Private Prison Company of Illegally Funding a Trump Super-PAC
Did it influence Trump’s pro-private prison policy?
Samantha Michaels | Jun. 15, 2017

It’s no secret that President Donald Trump has been very good for private prison executives. After the Justice Department announced earlier this year that it would continue using private lockups—a reversal of an Obama policy announced in 2016—prison companies’ stock prices soared. Now, a campaign finance watchdog is suing to figure out whether one of these prison companies influenced the Trump administration’s policy reversal by donating large sums to a pro-Trump super-PAC during the 2016 presidential campaign...

...federal law...prohibits government contractors from making political contributions...

...After Trump’s inauguration, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that the Justice Department would continue its relationship with private prisons. The following month, GEO won a $110 million contract to build a federal immigrant detention center in Texas.

In its lawsuit, the Campaign Legal Center is asking the Justice Department to turn over documents related to the administration’s decision to keep working with private prisons. In particular, the nonprofit watchdog is seeking records that might shed light on whether the administration’s decision was influenced by GEO contributions to the pro-Trump super-PAC. The Campaign Legal Center filed a Freedom of Information Act request for these records more than three months ago. But the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel has delayed the fulfillment of the request, according to the lawsuit, which seeks to speed up the disclosure process...

http://www.motherjones.com/crime-justice/2017/06/lawsuit-accuses-private-prison-...

House Dems seek info on General Flynn's travel re Saudi Arabia & Russia. They had questions, e.g., one hotel doesn't exist(?)

https://democrats-oversight.house.gov/sites/democrats.oversight.house.gov/files/...

__________________________________
He's in such legal jeopardy, General Flynn must be target for witness-flippers now on Mueller team:

Mueller team lawyer brings witness-flipping expertise to Trump probes
Jun 19, 2017

A veteran federal prosecutor recruited onto special counsel Robert Mueller's team is known for a skill that may come in handy in the investigation of potential ties between Russia and U.S. President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign team: persuading witnesses to turn on friends, colleagues and superiors.

Andrew Weissmann, who headed the U.S. Justice Department's criminal fraud section before joining Mueller's team last month, is best known for two assignments - the investigation of now-defunct energy company Enron and organized crime cases in Brooklyn, New York - that depended heavily on gaining witness cooperation...

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-russia-lawyers-idUSKBN19A1CM

___________________________________
Investigators will need to offer witnesses protection to secure Flynn et al cooperation?

The Man Who Knew Too Much
His nuclear research helped a judge determine that former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko had been assassinated – likely on Putin’s orders. Just months after the verdict, the scientist himself was found stabbed to death with two knives. Police deemed it a suicide, but US intelligence officials suspect it was murder.
Jane Bradley, Jason Leopold, Richard Holmes, Tom Warren, Heidi Blake, Alex Campbell | June 19, 2017

(See Web of Death graphic of 14 suspicious deaths.)

https://www.buzzfeed.com/janebradley/scientist-who-helped-connect-litvinenkos-mu...

____________________________________
No wonder that

Former MI6 officer Christopher Steele, who produced Donald Trump Russian dossier, 'terrified for his safety' and went to ground before name released
Gordon Rayner, Patrick Sawer, Ruth Sherlock, Robert Midgley | 12 January 2017
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/01/11/former-mi6-officer-produced-donald-tr...

Trump’s Business Ties in the Gulf Raise Questions About His Allegiances
DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK | JUNE 17, 2017

President Trump has done business with royals from Saudi Arabia for at least 20 years, since he sold the Plaza Hotel to a partnership formed by a Saudi prince. Mr. Trump has earned millions of dollars from the United Arab Emirates for putting his name on a golf course, with a second soon to open.

He has never entered the booming market in neighboring Qatar, however, despite years of trying.

Now a feud has broken out among these three crucial American allies, and Mr. Trump has thrown his weight firmly behind the two countries where he has business ties, raising new concerns about the appearance of a conflict between his public role and his financial incentives...

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/17/world/middleeast/trumps-business-ties-in-pers...

>52 margd: Worth circling this one in red.

Democrats believe Michael Flynn could be cooperating with FBI
Eugene Scott | June 20, 2017

...Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse told CNN's Wolf Blitzer Monday that Flynn appears to have been responsive.

"All of the signals are suggesting that he's already cooperating with the FBI and may have been for some time," the Rhode Island lawmaker said on "The Situation Room." "One of the more talkative people in 'Trumpland' has gone absolutely dead silent and that's what prosecutors strongly encourage cooperating witnesses to do."

During the 2016 presidential campaign, Flynn was one of Trump's more vocal surrogates -- especially when it came to criticizing Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

"It could be a huge deal, because who knows what Trump has said to him, both during the campaign and during the early days of the presidency," Whitehouse added. "Apparently Trump has been in touch with him after his firing from the White House to tell him to stay strong, which, in some circumstances, could be looked at as manipulation of a witness or obstruction of justice."...

http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/20/politics/michael-flynn-cooperating-democrats/index...

Smoke (prior business deals):

Trump, Russia and a Shadowy Business Partnership
An insider describes the Bayrock Group, its links to the Trump family and its mysterious access to funds. It isn't pretty.
Timothy L. O'Brien | June 21, 2017

...The New York Times ... say(s) ... that Mueller is looking at whether Trump associates laundered financial payoffs from Russian officials by channeling them through offshore accounts.

Trump has repeatedly labeled Comey's and Mueller's investigations "witch hunts," and his lawyers have said that the last decade of his tax returns (which the president has declined to release) would show that he had no income or loans from Russian sources. In May, Trump told NBC that he has no property or investments in Russia. "I am not involved in Russia," he said.

But that doesn't address national security and other problems that might arise for the president if Russia is involved in Trump, either through potentially compromising U.S. business relationships or through funds that flowed into his wallet years ago. In that context, a troubling history of Trump's dealings with Russians exists outside of Russia: in a dormant real-estate development firm, the Bayrock Group, which once operated just two floors beneath the president's own office in Trump Tower.

...One of Bayrock's principals was a career criminal named Felix Sater who had ties to Russian and American organized crime groups. Before linking up with the company and with Trump, he had worked as a mob informant for the U.S. government, fled to Moscow to avoid criminal charges while boasting of his KGB and Kremlin contacts there, and had gone to prison for slashing apart another man’s face with a broken cocktail glass.

...It's unclear whether Sater and Bayrock are part of Mueller's investigation. But Mueller has populated his investigative team with veteran prosecutors expert in white-collar fraud and Russian-organized-crime probes. One of them, Andrew Weissmann, once led an FBI team that examined financial fraud leading to the demise of Enron. Before that, Weissmann was a prosecutor with the U.S. attorney's office in Brooklyn and part of a team that prosecuted Sater and mob associates for investment scams in the late 1990s.

However the Mueller probe unfolds, a tour of Trump's partnership with Bayrock exposes a number of uncomfortable truths about the president's business history, his judgment, and the possible vulnerabilities that his past as a freewheeling dealmaker — and his involvement with figures like Sater — have visited upon his present as the nation's chief executive....

https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-06-21/trump-russia-and-those-shadow...

Election Hackers Altered Voter Rolls, Stole Private Data, Officials Say
Massimo Calabresi | 6/22/2017

The hacking of state and local election databases in 2016 was more extensive than previously reported, including at least one successful attempt to alter voter information, and the theft of thousands of voter records that contain private information like partial Social Security numbers, current and former officials tell TIME.

In one case, investigators found there had been a manipulation of voter data in a county database but the alterations were discovered and rectified, two sources familiar with the matter tell TIME. Investigators have not identified whether the hackers in that case were Russian agents.

The fact that private data was stolen from states is separately providing investigators a previously unreported line of inquiry in the probes into Russian attempts to influence the election. In Illinois, more than 90% of the nearly 90,000 records stolen by Russian state actors contained drivers license numbers, and a quarter contained the last four digits of voters’ Social Security numbers, according to Ken Menzel, the General Counsel of the State Board of Elections.

Congressional investigators are probing whether any of this stolen private information made its way to the Trump campaign, two sources familiar with the investigations tell TIME....

http://time.com/4828306/russian-hacking-election-widespread-private-data/

Oops, meant to post in ACA thread.

CIA Director briefed Flynn in spite of Russia concerns, concerns he didn't discuss with Trump.
D Congressman, and now R&D leadership of Senate Judiciary Committee, ask for info on Jared Kushner security clearance, given (undisclosed) Russian ties:

The Rachel Maddow Show 6/23/17

Senate Judiciary questions Jared Kushner security clearance
Rachel Maddow reports that the bipartisan leadership of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary has sent a letter to the FBI and the White House questioning Jared Kushner's security clearance and Donald Trump's role in his clearance process. Duration: 8:11

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/senate-judiciary-questions-kushner-clea...

Senate Judiciary bipartisan letter:
https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/2017-06-22%20CG%20DF%20LG%20SW%20...

House Oversight Dems' letter re security clearance Flyn, Kushner, etc.:
https://democrats-oversight.house.gov/sites/democrats.oversight.house.gov/files/...

Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort files as foreign agent for Ukraine
Tom Hamburger and Rosalind S. Helderman | June 27, 2017

A consulting firm led by Paul Manafort, who chaired Donald Trump's presidential campaign for several months last year, retroactively filed forms Tuesday showing that his firm received $17.1 million over two years (2012-2014) from a political party that dominated Ukraine before its leader fled to Russia in 2014.

...Manafort resigned from the campaign in August 2016, following reports by the New York Times that his name had appeared in a ledger found in Kiev detailing millions of dollars in under-the-table payments from the Party of Regions...

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/politics/ct-paul-manafort-foreign...

HRC's e-mails: Trump + Flynn + GOP operative + Russia-linked hackers + wWkileaks?

Michael Flynn Ally Sought Hacked Hillary Clinton Emails, Says Report
Graham Lanktree | 6/30/17

A GOP operative (Peter W Smith) who claimed to be working with President Donald Trump’s former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn embarked on an extensive online search for Hillary Clinton’s emails before the 2016 election, suspecting they were hacked by Russia.

...During his campaign, Trump said he hoped Russia could obtain the deleted emails. “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing,” Trump said during a July press conference.

...In an interview with WSJ , Smith said he didn’t know if emails that hackers eventually sent to him claiming they were from Clinton’s server were authentic. Smith said he told the hackers the emails should be sent on to Wikileaks.

“We knew the people who had these were probably around the Russian government,” Smith told the newspaper. Smith died at the age of 81 in mid-May shortly after speaking with the WSJ. No such hacked emails have emerged.

...Investigators in the Russia probe have examined intelligence agency reports that show hackers planned to get emails from Clinton’s private server to Flynn through a middleman...

http://www.newsweek.com/republican-michael-flynn-ally-sought-hacked-hillary-clin...

ETA________________________________________________

The Lawfare Podcast, Special Edition: Shane Harris on The Wall Street Journal's Collusion Story
Benjamin Wittes | June 29, 2017

Today, the Wall Street Journal published a remarkable story that for the first time offers concrete evidence—not conclusive evidence, to be sure—of attempts at collusion between people connected to the Trump campaign and Russian operatives...

(Coordination, if not collusion)

(33-minute interview with reporter Shane Harris)

https://www.lawfareblog.com/lawfare-podcast-special-edition-shane-harris-wall-st...

Nine to seventeen minutes into program, Rachel Maddow reviews story, then interviews WSJ reporter Shane Harris:

The Rachel Maddow Show 6/29/17
GOP operative sought Russian hacker help against Clinton: WSJ

Shane Harris, national security reporter for the Wall Street Journal, talks with Rachel Maddow about his new reporting about Peter Smith, a Republican activist who sought the help of Russian hackers who may have found Hillary Clinton's e-mails, and implied he was working with Donald Trump aide Mike Flynn.

Duration: 22:44

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/gop-operative-sought-russian-hacker-hel...

Did Trump Break the Law Over Alleged 'Morning Joe,' 'National Enquirer' Blackmail Threats?
Jason Le Miere | 6/30/17

...New York defense attorney Matthew Galluzzo, Trump's actions, if proven, could violate New York state law on coercion.

“If you compel somebody to abstain from conduct that you have a right to engage in and if you don’t do what they demand you will then expose a secret or publicize a fact intending to subject the person to contempt or ridicule, that can be a crime,” Galluzzo, a former prosecutor told Newsweek.

...The (National Enquirer) story that did publish earlier this month was headlined “Joe & Mika: TV Couple’s Sleazy Cheating Scandal.”

But, added Galluzzo, it would have to be proven that the National Enquirer was “working at the behest of Trump.”

Laurence Tribe, a constitutional law professor at Harvard Law School, has said that there is also a federal statute under which Trump's alleged conduct could fall.

“If Wh told @morningmika & @JoeNBC the Nat'l Enquirer wd smear them unless they laid off T on their show, that wd be a crime per 18 USC 872,” he tweeted. The statute contains a possible punishment of up to three years in prison.

It is, however, unlikely that Trump will be indicted by a federal prosecutor anytime soon, even if his tweets are continuing to raise questions about his potential breaking of the law.

...Peter Zeidenberg, a former federal prosecutor. "But it is a great example of how his tweets expose himself to potential legal jeopardy.”

And, Zeidenberg added, while a sitting president will not be indicted for a crime, it could be more political ammunition for a future impeachment charge. "This conduct could easily be viewed as an abuse of his office," he said. "I could see this being added to other attacks on the press as part of a more general push to build an abuse of his office charge. But that would be a political question, not strictly legal or criminal."...

http://www.newsweek.com/trump-morning-joe-blackmail-enquirer-630536

Overview of emoluments, lease, etc. conflicts of interest:

Trump Family’s Endless Conflicts of Interest: Chapter and Verse
Kate Brannen | 7/3/17
http://www.newsweek.com/trump-familys-endless-conflicts-interest-chapter-and-ver...

Abuse of power?

The Network Against the Leader of the Free World (CNN v Trump)
MICHAEL M. GRYNBAUM | July 5, 2017

...White House advisers have discussed a potential point of leverage over their adversary, a senior administration official said: a pending merger between CNN’s parent company, Time Warner, and AT&T. Mr. Trump’s Justice Department will decide whether to approve the merger, and while analysts say there is little to stop the deal from moving forward, the president’s animus toward CNN remains a wild card...

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/07/05/business/media/jeffrey-zucker-cnn-trump.ht...

____________________________________________________

Russia, having interfered with Ukraine electrical grid, now appears to be messing with ours, and it's unclear whether Trump will say anything to Putin??!!

Russians Are Said to Be Suspects in Nuclear Site Hackings
Michael Riley, Jennifer A Dlouhy, and Bryan Gruley | July 6, 2017

Attacks could pave way to disrupt U.S. electric grid
Kansas site is among those trying to eject intruders

...The possibility of a Russia connection is particularly worrisome, former and current officials say, because Russian hackers have previously taken down parts of the electrical grid in Ukraine and appear to be testing increasingly advanced tools to disrupt power supplies.

...It was unclear whether President Donald Trump was planning to address the cyberattacks at his meeting on Friday with Russian President Vladimir Putin. In an earlier speech in Warsaw, Trump called out Russia’s “destabilizing activities” and urged the country to join “the community of responsible nations.”

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-07-07/russians-are-said-to-be-suspe...
____________________________________________________

Investigation development could illuminate Trump's past business links to Russia..."organized crime". :-(

Russia-born dealmaker linked to Trump assists laundering probe
Felix Sater, who worked on Trump Soho, turns against Kazakh former business partners
Tom Burgis | July 6, 2017
https://www.ft.com/content/159eb2d8-6162-11e7-8814-0ac7eb84e5f1

We'll see how the hacking allegations pan out. It's not that the Russians (and, less "helpfully," everybody else as well -- especially us) aren't hacking the living hell out of everything, but we're pretty hysterical about the Russians in particular at the moment. Here's a bit of helpful context:

http://www.moonofalabama.org/2017/07/the-undeniable-pattern-of-russian-hacking.h...

ETA: See also Amb. Murray's recent piece:
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2017/07/stink-without-secret/

And as an addendum, a Parry piece addressing the "17 agencies" canard and the NYT's retraction thereof.
https://consortiumnews.com/2017/07/06/msm-still-living-in-propaganda-ville/

Ethics watchdog sues GSA over Trump International Hotel lease records
Laura Jarrett and Miranda Green | July 7, 2017

...Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed a complaint Thursday night under the Freedom of Information Act challenging GSA's failure to release the records (related to the lease of the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C.), which the organization requested several months ago.

...CREW's complaint says it submitted two FOIA requests in February seeking copies of all communications sent to or from the current and previous acting GSA administrators between January 20 and 24, but was told the request was too broad in scope.

The group also filed requests for notes and other materials from meetings between GSA and Trump company representatives about the hotel, but did not receive them...

http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/07/politics/ethics-group-sues-gsa-over-trump-hotel/in...

Trump Jr. says he, Kushner and Manafort met with lawyer tied to Kremlin
Tom Hamburger and Rosalind S. Helderman | July 8, 2017

The president’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., acknowledged attending a June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower with a Russian lawyer tied to the Kremlin, one of the first confirmed encounters between President Trump’s inner circle and a Russian national during the presidential campaign.

...(Russian lawyer Natalya) Veselnitskaya is well known to advocates of sanctions against Russia, particularly the Magnitsky Act, which prohibits U.S. interaction with Russians alleged to have committed human rights violations. Congress’s passage of the law in 2012 angered Putin and led him to retaliate by halting American adoptions of Russian children.

The adoption issue is frequently used as a talking point by opponents of the Magnitsky Act, said William Browder, an American financier who worked in Russia and lobbied for the sanctions, which are named after an auditor Browder employed, Sergei L. Magnitsky. Magnitsky died in a Russian prison under mysterious circumstances in 2009 after exposing a corruption scandal...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-jr-says-he-kushner-and-manafort-me...

ETA___________________________________

...Veselnitskaya, the Russian lawyer who met with Kushner, Trump Jr., and Manafort, is one of the country’s most prominent litigators. Her clients have included state-owned businesses, as well as a Russian holding company that was, at the time of the meeting, under investigation for laundering stolen Russian taxpayer money through American banks and Manhattan real estate.

The holding company in question, Prevezon Holdings Ltd., was a Cyprus-registered company accused by then-U.S. District Attorney Preet Bharara—since fired by President Trump—of laundering $14 million of allegedly ill-gotten money through accounts in Bank of America accounts and Midtown condominiums. Such laundering would have been a violation of the Magnitsky Act, a 2012 law intended to punish Russian officials allegedly responsible for the death of Russian national Sergei Magnitsky.

A tax attorney by trade, Magnitsky uncovered a $230 million tax scam involving Russian officials. Magnitsky was later arrested on the pretext that he was the perpetrator of a separate tax fraud himself, and died under mysterious circumstances.

It was the passage of the Magnitsky Act that prompted Russian President Vladimir Putin to halt the adoption of Russian orphans by American parents—the putative reason behind the Trump Tower meeting. Discussing the opening up of Russian orphanages to would-be U.S. adoptive parents, then, is inextricably linked with the ceasing of sanctions against Russian individuals and businesses linked with Magnitsky’s murder...

http://www.thedailybeast.com/team-trump-kushner-and-don-jrs-meeting-with-a-russi...

Difficult to believe that Manafort and Kushner would take time in a very busy campaign to attend a meeting without knowing the purpose... Any such data would have come from spying, since not public? Trump has threatened and fired people over Russian issues--what will he do to protect his oldest son, if investigated?

Trump’s Son Met With Russian Lawyer After Being Promised Damaging Information on Clinton
JO BECKER, MATT APUZZO and ADAM GOLDMAN | JULY 9, 2017

President Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., was promised damaging information about Hillary Clinton before agreeing to meet with a Kremlin-connected Russian lawyer during the 2016 campaign, according to three advisers to the White House briefed on the meeting and two others with knowledge of it.

...The meeting — at Trump Tower on June 9, 2016, two weeks after Donald J. Trump clinched the Republican nomination — points to the central question in federal investigations of the Kremlin’s meddling in the presidential election: whether the Trump campaign colluded with the Russians. The accounts of the meeting represent the first public indication that at least some in the campaign were willing to accept Russian help.

...American intelligence agencies have concluded that Russian hackers and propagandists worked to tip the election toward Donald J. Trump, in part by stealing and then providing to WikiLeaks internal Democratic Party and Clinton campaign emails that were embarrassing to Mrs. Clinton. WikiLeaks began releasing the material on July 22.

... In his statement, Donald Trump Jr. said he asked Mr. Manafort and Mr. Kushner to attend, but did not tell them what the meeting was about.

...Donald Trump Jr. and his brother Eric have assumed day-to-day control of their father’s real estate empire. Because he does not serve in the administration and does not have a security clearance, Donald Trump Jr. was not required to disclose his foreign contacts.

...Mark Corallo, a spokesman for the president’s lawyer, said on Sunday that “the president was not aware of and did not attend the meeting.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/09/us/politics/trump-russia-kushner-manafort.htm...

__________________________________

Putin: We didn't meddle, ask Trump.
Reporter: But WH hasn't released any info.
Putin laughs: We'll talk to the WH and tell them to fix that.
- 8 July 2017 https://twitter.com/Neubadah/status/883713662187433984

Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump:

I strongly pressed President Putin twice about Russian meddling in our election. He vehemently denied it. I've already given my opinion.....
7:31 AM - 9 Jul 2017

Putin & I discussed forming an impenetrable Cyber Security unit so that election hacking, & many other negative things, will be guarded..
7:50 AM - 9 Jul 2017

Sanctions were not discussed at my meeting with President Putin. Nothing will be done until the Ukrainian & Syrian problems are solved!
8:31 AM - 9 Jul 2017

(After Republican protests over joint cybersecurity unit.)
The fact that President Putin and I discussed a Cyber Security unit doesn't mean I think it can happen. It can't-but a ceasefire can,& did!
5:45 PM - 9 Jul 2017

__________________________________

1 big thing: Trump's other Russian dilemma
Jonathan Swan | July 9, 2017

The White House is racing to stop Congress from sending a Russia sanctions bill to the President's desk that would tie his hands in his negotiations with Putin, and potentially create the biggest political humiliation of his presidency.

In meetings in secure rooms, administration officials are quietly making the case to Republican members that the sanctions bill they rushed through the Senate on a 97-2 vote needs waivers to give Trump the flexibility to negotiate with Putin....

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/trump-says-its-time-to-move-forward-w...
__________________________________

The Truth Behind Donald Trump, Jr.,’s Meeting with a Russian Lawyer
David Remnick | July 9, 2017

...it is wrong to get ahead of the reporting. But the myriad implications of a hacked Presidential election, while too much to bear for the President—his ego seems to implode at any suggestion that his victory was possibly more complicated than the unambiguous “landslide” he imagines it to be—demands the answers that journalists, law enforcement, and Congress are pursuing. Part of that process is admitting error, as CNN did, quickly and responsibly recently after an errant story. Part of that process is having the patience to see what the truth, as it emerges over time, turns out to be. For now, we live in a moment when the President of the United States is, without shame, trying to intimidate the people whose business it is to come to an honest reckoning. He tries to intimidate the press. He has fired an F.B.I. director and considered going further. It’s reasonable to wonder why. Without assuming too much, too soon.

http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-truth-behind-donald-trump-jrs-meetin...

68 contd. The VERY DAY (June 9, 2016) that Donald Jr, Manafort, and Kushner met with Russian lawyer who promised damaging info on Hillary Clinton--a meeting that "the president was not aware of and did not attend"--he tweeted HRC "where are your 33,000 emails that you deleted?"(!!)

Putting the Trump-Russia Timeline Into Perspective
Chuck Todd, Mark Murray and Carrie Dann | July 10, 2017
http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/first-read/putting-trump-russia-timeline-perspec...

Conflict of interest? Abuse of power?

Jared Kushner Tried and Failed to Get a Half-Billion-Dollar Bailout From Qatar
Ben Walsh, Ryan Grim, Clayton Swisher | July 10 2017

...Qatar is facing an ongoing blockade led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates and joined by Egypt and Bahrain, which President Trump has taken credit for sparking. Kushner, meanwhile, has reportedly played a key behind-the-scenes role in hardening the U.S. posture toward the embattled nation.

That hard line comes in the wake of the previously unreported half-billion-dollar deal that was never consummated. Throughout 2015 and 2016, Jared Kushner and his father, Charles, negotiated directly with a major investor in Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani, known as HBJ for short, in an effort to refinance the property on Fifth Avenue, the sources said.

Trump himself has unsuccessfully sought financing in recent years from the Qataris, but it is difficult to overstate just how important the investment at 666 Fifth Avenue is for Kushner, his company, and his family’s legacy in real estate. Without some outside intervention or unforeseen turnaround in the market, the investment could become an embarrassing half-billion-dollar loss. It’s unclear precisely how much peril such a loss would put Jared’s or his family’s finances in, given the opacity of their private holdings.

...The revelation of the half-billion-dollar deal raises thorny and unprecedented ethical questions. If the deal is not entirely dead, that means Jared Kushner is on the one hand pushing to use the power of American diplomacy to pummel a small nation, while on the other his firm is hoping to extract an extraordinary amount of capital from there for a failing investment. If, however, the deal is entirely dead, the pummeling may be seen as intimidating to other investors on the end of a Kushner Companies pitch...

https://theintercept.com/2017/07/10/jared-kushner-tried-and-failed-to-get-a-half...

!

NYT: Email to Trump Jr. cites Russian government effort to help Trump campaign
Eli Watkins | July 11, 2017

Washington (CNN)An email sent to Donald Trump Jr. last year stated that a Russian lawyer had "compromising" information about Hillary Clinton as "part of a Russian government effort" to help the Trump campaign, The New York Times reported Monday.

Citing three people with knowledge of the email, the Times reported that Rob Goldstone, who connected Trump Jr. with the Russian lawyer, sent the email to Trump Jr. pointing to the Russian government as a source of potential information that could damage Clinton.

The story that Trump Jr. was offered potential information from the Russian government to aide his father's campaign came after months of staunch denials from President Donald Trump that his campaign had a connection to Russia...

http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/10/politics/donald-trump-jr-natalia-veselnitskaya/ind...

ETA____________________________________

CFR › Title 11 › Chapter I › Subchapter A › Part 110 › Section 110.20

§ 110.20 Prohibition on contributions, donations, expenditures, independent expenditures, and disbursements by foreign nationals (52 U.S.C. 30121, 36 U.S.C. 510).

...

(g)Solicitation, acceptance, or receipt of contributions and donations from foreign nationals. No person shall knowingly solicit, accept, or receive from a foreign national any contribution or donation prohibited by paragraphs (b) through (d) of this section.

(h)Providing substantial assistance.

(1) No person shall knowingly provide substantial assistance in the solicitation, making, acceptance, or receipt of a contribution or donation prohibited by paragraphs (b) through (d), and (g) of this section.

(2) No person shall knowingly provide substantial assistance in the making of an expenditure, independent expenditure, or disbursement prohibited by paragraphs (e) and (f) of this section.

...

https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/11/110.20

Dwight D Eisenhower (Jan 17, 1961): "In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the militaryindustrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist." http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/eisenhower001.asp

Trump Aides Recruited Businessmen to Devise Options for Afghanistan
MARK LANDLER, ERIC SCHMITT and MICHAEL R. GORDON | JULY 10, 2017

...Erik D. Prince, a founder of the private security firm Blackwater Worldwide, and Stephen A. Feinberg, a billionaire financier who owns the giant military contractor DynCorp International, have developed proposals to rely on contractors instead of American troops in Afghanistan at the behest of Stephen K. Bannon, Mr. Trump’s chief strategist, and Jared Kushner, his senior adviser and son-in-law, according to people briefed on the conversations.

On Saturday morning, Mr. Bannon sought out Defense Secretary Jim Mattis at the Pentagon to try to get a hearing for their ideas, an American official said. Mr. Mattis listened politely but declined to include the outside strategies in a review of Afghanistan policy that he is leading along with the national security adviser, Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster.

...“The conflict of interest in this is transparent,” said Sean McFate, a professor at Georgetown University who wrote a book about the growth of private armies, “The Modern Mercenary.” “Most of these contractors are not even American, so there is also a lot of moral hazard.”

...Mr. Feinberg, another official said, puts more emphasis than Mr. Prince on working with Afghanistan’s central government. But his strategy would also give the C.I.A. control over operations in Afghanistan, which would be carried out by paramilitary units and hence subject to less oversight than the military, according to a person briefed on it...

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/10/world/asia/trump-afghanistan-policy-erik-prin...

>71 margd: As a matter of fact-checking, I fail to see how that law applies. Dangling a juicy tip in order to get face-time with a presidential candidate's son to discuss a pet issue does not equal a monetary contribution.

See also (from a journo who apparently has a history of vociferous attacks against Trump, though I'm unfamiliar with him and haven't verified this):
https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-07-11/trump-s-low-level-russian-con...

>70 margd: This one should be circled in red.

>72 margd: Again, this one should be circled in red.

If Trump Jr. was the son of a Dem president, the word 'treason' would be coming out of the mouth of most GOP members in DC!!!

>74 Molly3028: You may be right. All the same: lobbyists gonna lobby -- this to include foreign lobbyists. And those to include the gargantuan corps of out-of-office U.S. politicians who have registered -- and occasionally failed to register -- as extremely well-compensated foreign agents.

I don't think you read the Bloomberg piece. You should. It's written by someone who knows what he's talking about and is not inclined to go down with the ideological ship on this particular question.

68 contd. Difficult to believe that Manafort and Kushner would take time in a very busy campaign to attend a meeting without knowing the purpose...

...Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort are both copied in Trump Jr.’s last email in the chain. The document appears to be a single email chain; if this is the case, then Kushner and Manafort were sent substantive information about the content of the meeting, contradicting Trump Jr.’s statement on Sunday that Kushner and Manafort were told “nothing of the substance” of the scheduled discussion.

https://www.lawfareblog.com/wall-begins-crumble-notes-collusion

Trump has fired Grifter Jr as his #1 son.

>76 margd: Good points in that one. All the same, the CYA paragraph is important.

It’s important to be careful about what we don’t know in both stories. With respect to the Wall Street Journal and Tait story, three questions stand out: First, what was Flynn’s actual involvement in Smith’s email operation? Was Smith really acting with Flynn’s knowledge and involvement or was he just blowing smoke and puffing himself up—and if Flynn was involved, to what extent was he involved in his Trump campaign capacity? Second, were the interlocutors on the other end of Smith’s attempted transactions really Russian operatives or were they just fraudsters trying to take an old man for a ride? In other words, was Smith colluding with the Russians or colluding with pretend Russians? Third, were there any actual emails at issue or was the entire matter a fantasy on the part of Smith and whomever he was working with in Trump’s world? Without knowing the answers to these questions, it’s hard to know how deep the problem goes—that is, whether we’re dealing with one guy on the periphery of the campaign pursuing a delusional fantasy or whether we’re dealing with the campaign, through a cut-out, negotiating with Putin’s hackers.

While we're at it... who's accusing Clinton's camp of treason? (Well, as >74 Molly3028: notes: the Republicans would be, perhaps, if the shoe were on the other foot.)

Forgetting the ‘Dirty Dossier’ on Trump
Exclusive: The new Russia-gate furor is over Donald Trump Jr. meeting a Russian who claimed to have dirt on Hillary Clinton, but the Clinton team’s Russian cash-for-trash search against Trump Sr. is all but forgotten, writes Robert Parry.

Yes, I realize that the editors of The New York Times long ago cast aside any journalistic professionalism to become charter members of the #Resistance against Donald Trump. But the latest frenzy over a meeting between Donald Trump Jr. and a Russian lawyer who was dangling the possibility of information about the Democrats receiving money from Russians represents one of the more remarkable moments of the entire Russia-gate hysteria.

Essentially, Trump’s oldest son is being accused of taking a meeting with a foreign national who claimed to have knowledge of potentially illegal activities by Trump’s Democratic rivals, although the promised information apparently turned out to be a dud.

Yet, on Monday, the Times led its newspaper with a story about this meeting – and commentators on MSNBC and elsewhere are labeling Trump Jr. a criminal if not a traitor for hearing out this lawyer.

Yet, no one seems to remember that Hillary Clinton supporters paid large sums of money, reportedly about $1 million, to have ex-British spy Christopher Steele use his Russian connections to dig up dirt on Trump inside Russia, resulting in a salacious dossier that Clinton backers eagerly hawked to the news media.

Also, the two events – Trump Jr.’s meeting with the Russian lawyer and the Clinton camp’s commissioning of Steele’s Russia dossier – both occurred in June 2016, so you might have thought it would be a journalistic imperative to incorporate a reference or two to the dossier.

But the closest the Times came to that was noting: “Political campaigns collect opposition research from many quarters but rarely from sources linked to foreign governments.” That would have been an opportune point to slide in a paragraph about the Steele dossier, but nothing.

The Times doesn’t seem to have much historical memory either. There actually have been a number of cases in which American presidential campaigns have ventured overseas to seek out “opposition research” about rivals.
...
As I wrote on March 29, “An irony of the escalating hysteria about the Trump camp’s contacts with Russians is that one presidential campaign in 2016 did exploit political dirt that supposedly came from the Kremlin and other Russian sources. Friends of that political campaign paid for this anonymous hearsay material, shared it with American journalists and urged them to publish it to gain an electoral advantage. But this campaign was not Donald Trump’s; it was Hillary Clinton’s.

“And, awareness of this activity doesn’t require you to spin conspiracy theories about what may or may not have been said during some seemingly innocuous conversation. In this case, you have open admissions about how these Russian/Kremlin claims were used.
...

----------------------------------

ETA: Marcy Wheeler did an interview on this today which I'm listening to now.
http://therealnews.com/t2/story:19532:Do-Trump-Jr.%27s-Russia-Emails-Live-Up-to-...
ETA: I disagree in a number of places. Really, I'm closer to the interviewer's position and his objections. I'd also object mildly regarding the characterization of the Podesta hack (though admittedly it's not too far from a recent critique on Lang's blog), strongly to the inference Wheeler makes that this somehow "proves" there was no "Obama wiretapping" -- a notion which is itself massive strawman, though admittedly one that Trump directly saddled himself with -- and to her final point which reads too much into Trump Jr.'s response -- or rather, I'd argue, misreads it). For all that, it's still worth listening to -- or reading.

See also Col. Lang's take on the original NYT piece, which speaks directly -- and in contradictory terms -- to the misnomer "wiretapping" question : http://turcopolier.typepad.com/sic_semper_tyrannis/2017/07/httpswwwnytimescom201...

Because this was an e-mail message between two US residents, it must IMO have been collected under a FISA court warrant. What the given justification to the court would have been, I cannot imagine, but I feel certain that the real purpose of the intercept was to surveil the Trump camp for whatever might be useful.
...
This disclosure ... is IMO a felony. pl

And see here "Publius Tacitus" from tonight clearly illustrating the extreme tendentiousness of Wheeler's final point by demonstrating that an opposite reading is at least as plausible.
http://turcopolier.typepad.com/sic_semper_tyrannis/2017/07/trump-jr-emails-prove...

This is so simple and so obvious that I am surprised many folks are overlooking the evidence that is right in front of us. The emails provided by Donald Trump Jr. show conclusively that the so-called Steele Dossier (you know, the "Golden Shower Russian Hooker Show) is a total fraud. How so?

According to the dossier, regular exchanges between Mr Trump surrogates and the Kremlin actually dates back five years
....
If all this true then why does Donald Trump Jr. need to take a meeting, which is arranged by a tabloid journalist, with an unknown Russian lawyer who claims to have dirt on Hillary? If the dossier is true then the Trump folks/surrogates already had that info. Why take info from an unknown source when, per the Democrat narrative, the Trumps have a direct pipeline to Putin and have been colluding with him for years?

The Trump Jr. emails expose "junior", Kushner and Manafort as terribly naive and totally ignorant of the alleged massive Russian intelligence effort to meddle in the U.S. election and install Putin's puppet, Donald Trump Sr., as President. The emails prove conclusively that Trump Jr., Kushner and Manafort had no idea about the alleged five year relationship with the dastardly Russians, who were busy collecting and funneling dirt on Hillary to team Trump. The fact that the Democrats (and apparently the Trump team as well) have not grasped this simple fact exposes the lot as not thinking clearly about the matter.

Reading this, and re-reading >78 davidgn:, and harking back to Bershidsky's Bloomberg piece at >73 davidgn: which explains this lawyer's background: the totality leaves me with the distinct suspicion that Bershidsky did well to distance himself from this particular issue. Jr. is a horse's ass and a dupe, and it seems hard to argue that, if the Kremlin had actually offered him a quid pro quo, he would not at least have heard them out. At the end of the day, though, I'm still not convinced there's more to it than an asshole falling for a lawyer's mendacious ruse to get some face time with a prospectively powerful figure on the behalf of one of her clients.

To put it another way: it looks like the Kremlin would have found Jr. (and, by extension, the other Trump campaign members cc-ed in the email chain) a willing partner in any number of hypothetical schemes. This speaks volumes about their character (if that was ever in any doubt). The question, though, is did they?
I'll quote Bershidsky's conclusion:

It's entirely possible that a Kremlin effort to help Trump beat Hillary Clinton reached to lower levels because that's where it was easiest to establish contact with Trump's family. But it's more likely that Veselnitskaya, the tenacious and ambitious lawyer who could pull every string in the Moscow Region (i.e. the area surrounding but excluding Moscow --dgn), did so to get her pet issue -- the repeal of the Magnitsky Act, which was getting her major client in trouble -- in front of some important Americans. That kind of effort would have been on the right level.

Even if that meeting didn't help, Veselnitskaya has every reason to be happy Trump won. He fired U.S. Attorney Bharara in March, and in May, the case in which Denis Katsyv was involved ended in a surprise $6 million settlement, agreed by Bharara's successor Joon Kim. Katsyv escaped with just the payment, without admitting any guilt. No lawyer in Veselnitskaya's situation could have asked for more.

Even parts of Fox News are shaken by the Trump Jr. emails:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/07/11/trump-jr-burns-gop-defenders.html

At the very least, Kushner should lose his security clearance for failing to report such meetings.

You can't make this stuff up...

Was Donald Trump Jr.’s Russian Connect in U.S. Illegally?
Prosecutors gave Natalia Veselnitskaya permission to come to NYC, but it expired months before she went to Trump Tower. The State Department won’t say if she got a visa, either.
Katie Zavadski | 07.12.17

http://www.thedailybeast.com/was-russian-lawyer-natalia-veselnitskaya-in-the-us-...

As duplicitous as Trump is, he's remarkably transparent. (Follow the money, but also what he says!)
I am astonished that feds haven't yanked Kushner's security clearance--does the process mean nothing at his level??

All Roads Now Lead to Kushner
Nicholas Kristof | JULY 13, 2017

...In 1960, the Kremlin made a similar offer to support the candidacy of John F. Kennedy against Richard Nixon, but the Kennedy campaign rebuffed it. Likewise, when the Al Gore campaign in 2000 received confidential materials relating to the George W. Bush campaign, it called the F.B.I.

Trump Jr. didn’t call the F.B.I.; instead, he responded, “I love it.” He apparently arranged a phone call to discuss the material (we don’t know that the call happened or, if it did, its content), and then set up a meeting for him, Kushner and campaign chairman Paul Manafort to meet with a person described in the emails as a “Russian government attorney.”

...The Trumps insist that the president himself was unaware of the Russian offer. Yet the day after Trump Jr. received the first email and presumably had his phone conversation about the supposedly incriminating material, his father promised to give “a major speech” in which “we’re going to be discussing all of the things that have taken place with the Clintons. I think you’re going to find it very informative and very, very interesting.”

That speech targeting Hillary Clinton didn’t take place. But on June 15, the first leak of stolen Democratic materials did.

Then there’s Kushner. Trump Jr. forwarded the emails to Kushner, whose response was to attend the meeting, although he apparently left within 10 minutes. Kushner later neglected to report the meeting and others with Russians on his SF-86 forms to receive national security clearance (intentional omission is a felony).

The meeting gave the Kremlin potential blackmail material against the Trumps, and thus possibly leverage over them.

In addition, McClatchy reports that investigators in Congress and the Justice Department are exploring whether the Trump campaign digital operation — supervised by Kushner — helped guide Russia’s remarkably sophisticated efforts to use internet bots to target voters with fake news attacking Hillary Clinton.

...he sought a secret channel to communicate with the Kremlin.

...Take away Jared Kushner’s security clearance immediately.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/13/opinion/kushner-donald-trump-jr-emails.html

ETA______________________________________________

Cracks in the wall?

Scoop: Trump lawyers want wall between Kushner, president
Jonathan Swan | July 12, 2017

President Trump's outside legal team wants to wall off Jared Kushner from discussing the Russia investigation with his father-in-law...Nothing personal...just wants to protect the president because his son-in-law is so wrapped up in the investigation...Members of Trump's legal team are frustrated that Kushner has been discussing the investigation with the president...

The mechanics of the wall are unclear, but it apparently would constitute an agreement by Kushner not to discuss anything about the Russia probes with the president...

https://www.axios.com/trump-lawyers-demand-wall-between-kushner-president-245814...

Wow...the truth will out, hopefully with minimum of damage to the country and our democracy.

FBI probing whether Trump aides helped Russian intel in early 2016
Jeff Pegues | Mar 31, 2017

Now, one year after the Russian operation began, sources say the FBI's investigation is nowhere near over. It involves dozens of agents in Washington, New York and London. The NSA and CIA are also gathering intelligence from inside Russia.

Despite his denials, investigators believe the operation was authorized by Russian President Vladimir Putin himself and it involved both cyberattacks and information warfare.

...15,000 operatives worldwide participated in spreading false news stories and conspiracy theories online. Those activities are also part of the FBI's investigation - including who paid for them.

Law enforcement sources say one theory is that Trump associates could have been motivated by money. But sources tell us the FBI wants to get the investigation absolutely right so that the public will trust the result, whatever that turns out to be.

http://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/fbi-probing-whether-trump-aides-helped-russian-i...

House Judiciary Committee Dems to AG Jeff Sessions: "We write with some concern that...the (DOJ) may have settled the case at a loss to the U.S. to obscure the underlying facts." Never mind quid pro quo, Russians were in a position to blackmail Kushner and Donald, Jr.?

House Democrats want to know why a major Russian money-laundering case was abruptly settled
Natasha Bertrand | July 12, 2017

...attorney, Natalia Veselnitskaya (who met with Trump Jr, Kushner, Manafort), represents the family of Pyotr Katsyv, the former vice governor of the Moscow region, whose son, Denis, owns the real-estate company Prevezon. The DOJ had been investigating whether Prevezon laundered millions of dollars through New York City real estate when the case was unexpectedly settled two days before going to trial in May.

The Prevezon case garnered high-profile attention, given its ties to a $230 million Russian tax-fraud scheme and the Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, whose suspicious death aroused international media attention and spurred the passage of the Magnitsky Act in 2012... (margd: Putin stopped adoptions, etc. in response.)

Democrats now want to know whether Veselnitskaya was "involved at any point in the settlement negotiations," and they have asked Sessions to provide the committee "with the prosecution files and any other explanatory materials related to the settlement."

They also want to know whether there was "any contact between President Trump, White House personnel, the Trump family, or the Trump campaign with the Department of Justice" regarding Prevezon, and whether Sessions discussed the case "with anyone associated with the transition team," or with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, while he was being considered for attorney general...

Letter posted at
http://www.businessinsider.com/why-was-russian-money-laundering-case-dismissed-h...

Never forget: when Obama leaned toward disclosing Russian meddling pre-election, it was McConnell who told him doing so would be partisan.

Alec MacGillis‏ @AlecMacGillis 22h22 hours ago
(Propublica author | July 12, 2017)

>86 margd: I'm not finding that posting. Can you give the link, please?

As I noted in #83, Trump can be remarkably transparent. Like a three-year old!!

Trump Teased ‘Major’ News On Clinton Hours After Don Jr. Set Meeting On Russian Dirt
"I think you’re going to find it very informative and very, very interesting.”
Nick Visser | 07/11/2017

...Donald Trump promised a “major speech” attacking campaign rival Hillary Clinton last June, just hours after his son, Donald Trump Jr., set up a meeting with a Russian lawyer he was told had compromising information on the Democratic candidate.

In a speech on June 7, 2016 (a Tuesday)...then-candidate Trump promised vaguely to discuss “all the things that have taken place with the Clintons.”

“I am going to give a major speech on probably Monday of next week, and we’re going to be discussing all of the things that have taken place with the Clintons,” Trump said at the time. “I think you’re going to find it very informative and very, very interesting. I wonder if the press will want to attend. Who knows?”

...Trump Jr. said he did not tell his father about the meeting.

Donald Trump failed to follow through on his campaign promise to reveal dirt on Clinton. He instead focused a June 13 event in New Hampshire on national security issues. The Post noted he pledged to reveal damning information on Clinton at a later date...

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/trump-clinton-don-jr-russia_us_596562fee4b09b...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2017/07/12/sorry-democrats...

Sorry, Democrats. The holy grail of a Trump crime is still missing.
By Ed Rogers July 12

What has really happened since Donald Trump Jr. released his email chain setting up a meeting last June with a Russian lawyer? Are Democrats and their allies in the media any closer to having their high crime or misdemeanor?

Answer: No.

As Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz stated yesterday, “it is unlikely that attendance at the meeting violated any criminal statute.” Well said, Mr. Dershowitz.

And yet, the media would have you believe that the meeting Trump Jr. described as “literally just a wasted 20 minutes” is a smoking gun that will inevitably take President Trump, his administration and his entire family down forever.

In reality, Trump Jr.’s emails show he has nothing to hide.

Further to this point, Trump Jr. went on “Hannity” last night to speak specifically about his actions. Granted, Sean Hannity is not always interested in giving a complete, unvarnished account of what happens in Trump World and his questions are softballs, but Trump Jr. made some important points nonetheless — namely, the fact that there was no subsequent follow-up or contact with the Russian lawyer and “nothing to tell” then-candidate Trump. Therefore, unless you decide to believe he is lying, there was no “collusion.” The holy grail is still missing.

I don’t think Trump Jr. went on national television last night and told a bunch of lies. Undoubtedly, the president’s enemies will believe that they are justified in feeling otherwise. But Trump Jr. has little incentive to do anything but tell the truth at this point.

Even if we suppose there was follow-up from the campaign with the Russian lawyer, it is hard to say that more conversations or meetings would have amounted to a crime. And yes, something can be wrong but not illegal. However, that is not the argument Democrats and their allies in the media want to make. They want this to crack the foundation of the Trump presidency. They want it to crumble.

Blinded by disdain for the president, liberals and the media pack are mostly trying to create credibility for accusations of criminal violations and impeachable offenses. They embellish everything just so that they can keep the story moving. Maybe they will get a break and someone will stumble into a crime during the investigation into the non-crimes from the fall campaign.

In their search for a nonexistent smoking gun, Trump’s opponents appear at least partially satisfied by the constant hounding of the White House and the president’s family.

In politics, being innocent is just an advantage. It is not determinative. And although the facts do not support the left’s pursuit of criminal wrongdoing on the part of the Trump clan, Trump Jr. is sure to face a lot of harassment and he may make more mistakes. But that is far from being in the crosshairs of an American law enforcement investigation that could bring down a president. Sorry to the Trump haters for being such a buzz-kill.

If Trump Jr. is guilty of anything, it is letting someone so lacking in credibility (like music publicist Rob Goldstone) have unfettered access to his schedule. Danger. You usually see your enemies coming, but it is your friends who will blindside you and get you in trouble.

Anyway, Trump’s enemies are desperate for something impeachable. But remember, there is no such thing as the crime of collusion. It’s not even a misdemeanor. And unless the Russian lawyer provided an illegal contribution, stolen property, etc., to the Trump campaign, there is no crime that will take this story where the media want it to go. But that doesn’t mean they will quit trying.

Donald Trump Jr. was within his rights to meet with Russian lawyer
James Robbins, Opinion columnist Published 5:02 p.m. ET July 11, 20The saying in the Watergate days was that “it’s not the crime but the cover-up.” These days, you don’t need a crime or a cover-up to trigger outsized political outrage, just a heavy dose of bad optics.

The latest hyperventilating from the anti-Trump crowd is over a chain of emails from June 3-8, 2016 between Donald Trump Jr. and music producer Rob Goldstone. Goldstone was acting as an intermediary to set up a meeting between Trump and Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya. According to Goldstone, the purpose of the meeting would be to pass along “very high level and sensitive information” that “would incriminate Hillary and her dealings with Russia.” Goldstone opined that this was “part of Russia and its government's support for Mr. Trump.”

Russia intelligence leaks aim at Donald Trump, but wound America

Goldstone said he was told “she has information about illegal campaign contributions to the D.N.C.” It would also have been reasonable to have assumed that the promised information had to do with the shady 2013 “Uranium One” deal, in which a Russian company with close ties to the Kremlin was allowed to assume control of one-fifth of all uranium production in the United States, while at the same time millions of dollars were flowing from interested parties in Russia to the Clinton Foundation and to Bill Clinton personally. The idea that Veselnitskaya was peddling information from hacked DNC servers would not have been obvious, since that story came out later, on June 14 — and even then it was reported that the hackers stole opposition research on Donald Trump.

However, when the meeting happened on June 9, no anti-Hillary information was forthcoming. Veselnitskaya only wanted to discuss a sanctions law called the Magnitsky Act, and claims she “never had any damaging or sensitive information about Hillary Clinton.” Goldstone, who apparently had been misled, called it “the most inane nonsense I’ve ever heard.”

This story is hardly as inane as the collective furor that has been generated around the Russia issue writ large. Although four (or, according to the Clinton camp, 17) intelligence agencies concluded the Russian government attempted to influence the 2016 election, there is no evidence that any of these attempts succeeded. Donald Trump won fair and square, unless you want to assert that somehow Russia hacked Michigan’s paper ballot system.

But those who are dead-set on invalidating the election results by other means still persisted. Lacking evidence of actual crimes, they have been forced to drum up narratives around more nebulous, subjective offenses like “obstruction,” “misleading conduct,” and of course “collusion,” which this email chain supposedly points to. However, the case is pathetically weak. Veselnitskaya was not connected to the Kremlin and Don Trump Jr. said she had no anti-Hillary material to offer. She comes off more as someone who wormed her way onto Trump Jr.’s schedule by dangling a vague promise of tantalizing information, then denied she ever promised anything.

The situation became even murkier when it was revealed that Veselnitskaya had hired an investigator from Fusion GPS, the Democratic opposition research firm that was behind the notorious Trump-Russia dossier, a collection of unsubstantiated and in some cases demonstrably false links between Donald Trump’s campaign and Russia. Could the real purpose of the meeting have been simply to get direct contact between a Russian and a member of the Trump family on the record? Fusion GPS says that any claim that it “arranged or facilitated” the meeting is “false.” Mark Corallo, a spokesman for President Trump’s lawyer, has implied the whole thing was a setup.

Trump's admiration for Putin is constant. Everything else is gibberish.

Those who are desperately concerned about the influence of foreign entities on U.S. elections should focus their attentions on the firm evidence of actual collusion between the Clinton campaign and Ukraine, particularly targeting one-time Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort. It is a solid case. As for Donald Trump Jr., he was perfectly in his rights to follow up a lead on possible damaging information regarding Hilary Clinton in the heat of a political campaign. What if it had been true? Any journalist in that position would invoke the public’s right to know.17

Like Kushner, AG Sessions also misinforms (LIES) in security clearance process. My experience with government audits, etc. is that one over-reports rather than be caught in what could be perceived as an evasion. One would think that people in most senior positions--esp JUSTICE Dept--would be held to highest standards in such matters.

Justice Department Releases Sessions' Disclosure Form, A Day Late
Mark Katkov & James Doubek | July 13, 2017

...In a filing Thursday morning with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the Justice Department released that part of Sessions' form which poses the question:

"Have you or any of your immediate family in the past seven (7) years bold font in original had any contact with a foreign government, its establishment (such as embassy, consulate, agency, military service, intelligence or security service, etc.) or its representatives, whether inside or outside the U.S.?"

Sessions checked "No."

..."Jeff Sessions is our nation's top law enforcement officer, and it is shocking one of his first acts after being named Attorney General was to mislead his own agency about a matter of national security,"... executive director (of ethics watchdog group called American Oversight), Austin Evers, said in a statement.

The Standard Form 86, more commonly called SF86, is a detailed form required to obtain security clearance for certain government positions. It's the same form presidential adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner has recently had to revise after omitting meetings with Russian officials.

...Sessions has admitted to speaking with Russia's ambassador to the U.S., Sergey Kislyak, at least twice in 2016, which he did not disclose at his confirmation hearing...

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/07/13/536982193/justice-department-d...

>89 barney67: & >90 barney67:

You wrote:

"I'd like to see the group a little less fanatical about posting articles and long excerpts from articles. It's only necessary to post the URL.

Sometimes I post a pertinent paragraph or two or three, if they are short.

If what you post looks like a copy-paste info dump, I scroll past it. I wonder if you have even read it or merely posted it hastily.

It's OK to think for yourself sometimes. Don't let other people always do your thinking for you. If all you read is editorials, you're not going to know anything about what's going on, assuming that's what you want. At least try to read the news once in a while. I hope you realize that one of the purposes of editorials is to stir people up so that they will keep reading and subscribe. It's more about advertising than intellect or truth.

Posting an editorial by a liberal isn't going to persuade me, especially if it is the entire article or most of it or a large part of it. Let me decided whether I want to read it.

Posting an editorial by a liberal for people who already agree with you doesn't accomplish much either, except, I guess, misery loves company, birds of a feather, high-fives in the clubhouse, and so forth. Just because you found someone you can agree with doesn't mean you are right." https://www.librarything.com/topic/257477#6051139

>92 theoria: That's fucking hilarious.

ETA: I mean, of course, funny how coincidences happen.

>93 RickHarsch: A classic case of "do as I say, not as I do!"

91 contd. After mulling it over for months, AG Sessions cites "personal privacy" for not revealing Russian meetings in his security clearance application--why didn't I think of that?? (!) DOJ spokesman said otherwise: the reason for not disclosing meetings was because Sessions was Senator at the time. However, he was traveling with campaign funds and was overheard discussing Trump campaign with the Russian Ambassador.

Ordered by court to disclose his Russia contacts, Sessions releases blank sheet of paper
What’s he hiding?
Aaron Rupar | July 13, 2017

...the DOJ disclos(ed) a single page document that is almost totally redacted. The one exception is a box checked ‘No,’ indicating Sessions has not had contact with a foreign government in the last seven years.

...a DOJ spokesman,...the former senator from Alabama is intentionally omitting meetings he had with Russian officials, including Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak. ("Per DOJ spox, Kislyak not listed b/c Sessions "was instructed not to list meetings" he had as Senator with foreign dignitaries & their staff")

But it is not clear Sessions was acting in his official capacity when he met with Kislyak during the campaign. As the Wall Street Journal has reported, one of Sessions’ meetings with Kislyak happened at the Republican National Convention — an event Sessions traveled to and from using campaign funds. What’s more, a person who was at the RNC told the Journal that Sessions and Kislyak discussed the Trump campaign.

In the margin of the single-page disclosure released on Thursday, Sessions cites two statutory justifications for not disclosing information about his meetings with Russians. Both of them claim disclosure “would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.”...

https://thinkprogress.org/jeff-sessions-blank-sheet-of-paper-russia-contacts-9f9...

I guess I was wrong. So...

>96 barney67: Please do go on, dear...

ETA: I'm not sure 'wrong' is the word you're looking for.

All Roads Now Lead to Kushner

Look, this is a murky, complicated issue. But this much we know: Kushner attended a secret meeting whose stated purpose was to advance a Kremlin effort to interfere in the U.S. election, he then failed to report it, and finally he sought a secret channel to communicate with the Kremlin.

One next step is clear: Take away Jared Kushner’s security clearance immediately.

>98 2wonderY: No objections here. (The Israelis won't be pleased, of course...)

>87 2wonderY: It's https://twitter.com/AlecMacGillis/status/885145158316175363--or search for Alec MacGillis at twitter.com. Right now, it's the first tweet on his site.

Wish I could find an article with more detail--but Alec MacGillis has some cred, even in a tweet? Maybe McConnell like everyone else thought HRC would win? Maybe McConnell wasn't necessarily being partisan? I mean, who would have believed all this back then?

I don't get where was all this hullaballoo when The Rump, large as King Kong's behind, called out to Russia in public to pleasure him with dirt on Hillary. He was a freaking PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE. The shenanigans of his little clowns don't come close to what HE did. All this claptrap about did they, did they want to, did they mean to, to collude--fucking PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE YELLED IN PUBLIC HIS WILLINGNESS NAY DESIRE TO COLLUDE...! On the CAMPAIGN TRAIL! And... got elected. What the HELL.

(Btw, best remark about The Rumpspawn brothers yet--they always look as if they just buried a dead hooker. Ahahahahaha! So true.)

>101 LolaWalser: There was certainly a lot more Republican outrage about HRC's e-mail server and Benghazi than there is about all the rot in the Trump campaign and White House, that's for sure! But to impeach and remove in a R Congress, Trumps' base will need to lose faith, so Rs no longer fear primary challenges, etc. At the end, Nixon will look like a gentleman in comparison, I'm afraid... So drip, drip, drip continues, e.g.,

White House aides in crafting a response to e-mails re Russian lawyer. Aides are not protected by attorney-client privilege, which means they are now potential witnesses re the Russian-lawyer meeting, perjury, and/or cover-up:

WH aides exposed to scrutiny over Russia meeting response
Evan Perez and Sara Murray | July 14, 2017

...Some of the President's closest aides, who were traveling with him back from Europe, then helped strategize about a response for Trump Jr., according to people briefed on the matter. The Times first reported on the crafting of the statement.

A sensitive legal matter such as this would normally have been handled by the attorneys, given that it was about the Russia investigation.

But the President's lawyer, Marc Kasowitz, who is designated to handle personal legal issues, was not traveling with the President and was largely uninvolved, according to the people familiar with the matter. The Times reported Wednesday that the President himself approved the statement, raising the possibility the President may have opened himself up to new legal issues not covered by attorney-client privilege. Jay Sekulow, the President's attorney, denied that Trump was involved.

...Kasowitz's hiring was specifically intended to help shield White House aides from having to become witnesses in the ongoing investigation. As government employees, they aren't supposed to be involved in the President's personal matters.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/13/politics/white-house-donald-trump-jr-scrutiny/inde...

Trump pardons and mass amnesia...

Top Democrat on Senate Intelligence Committee fears Trump will pardon anyone who colluded
A one-on-one interview with Sen. Mark Warner.
Alex Ward | Jul 13, 2017

...There’s a real chance Trump might pardon anyone Mueller helps convict:

I asked Attorney General Sessions what I thought would be the ultimate softball when he testified. I said — I may not have said it this way — at least you got to tell us that there has been no discussion of pardons at this point. And he did not answer.

...It’s hard to believe Trump aides simply forget so many Russian meetings:

...If it is all coincidence, and all forgetful memory — I don't know what the statistical chance of having that much coincidence and that much forgetful memory is...

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/7/13/15966866/donald-trump-jr-russi...

Suspected Russian agent was at meeting--with at least seven other people...

Trump Tower Russia meeting: At least eight people in the room
CNN | July 14, 2017

Washington (CNN)The June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower with Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort included at least eight people.

The revelation of additional participants comes as The Associated Press first reported Friday that a Russian-American lobbyist named Rinat Akhmetshin said he also attended the June 2016 meeting with Donald Trump Jr. CNN has reached out to Akhmetshin for comment.

So far acknowledged in attendance: Trump Jr., Kushner, Manafort, Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and publicist Rob Goldstone, who helped set up the meeting. A source familiar with the circumstances told CNN there were at least two other people in the room as well, a translator and a representative of the Russian family who had asked Goldstone to set up the meeting. The source did not provide the names...

...Sen. Charles Grassley...describ(ed) Akhmetshin as "a Russian immigrant to the United States who has been accused of acting as an unregistered agent for Russian interests and apparently has ties to Russian intelligence."

...Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, who has been lobbied by Akhmetshin, told CNN earlier this year that the lobbyist is someone with "an ulterior motive" who is "involved with people who've got an agenda" and has "international connections to different groups in Russia." When asked if he thought Akhmetshin was connected to the Russian security services, Rohrabacher said: "I would certainly not rule that out."...

http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/14/politics/donald-trump-jr-meeting/index.html

After the meeting with Trump Jr, spouse of Trump's FL campaign committee saves seat at Congressional hearing for Russian lawyer. Probably a nothing-burger, but geez, Russians have ties with at least a few Republicans at federal AND state level--not R Rep Edward Royce, at least. Story alludes to Russian use of adoptees as pawns to repeal sanctions on Russians officials accused of tax fraud. SAD!

Russian American lobbyist was present at Trump Jr.’s meeting with Kremlin-connected lawyer
Rosalind S. Helderman and Tom Hamburger | July 14, 2017

...House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Edward R. Royce (R-Calif.) rejected an attempt by the Russian team and its allies to screen a ­Russian-made documentary designed to undermine the arguments for a 2012 sanctions law, according to GOP congressional staffers who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The Russians argued that the Magnitsky Act, named for a lawyer who died at age 37 in a Moscow prison after accusing Russian officials of a massive tax fraud, was based on a false story.

In retaliation for the passage of the law, Russia had halted the adoption of Russian children by American families. Veselnitskaya and her lobbying team would present their efforts in Congress and at Trump Tower as an emotionally powerful effort to end the prohibition on adoptions and help children.

They found an ally in Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.), who has in recent years become an advocate for warmer U.S.-Russia relations. Rohrabacher attempted to organize a hearing featuring critics of the sanctions — an effort that was also thwarted by Royce, according to the congressional staffers.

...While (Natalia) Veselnitskaya was not allowed to testify in Congress, she did secure a prime, front-row seat for a June 14 hearing in the House on Russia-related issues.

...In fact, her seat had been reserved for her by a Republican consultant with close ties to the Trump campaign.

Lanny Wiles, whose wife, Susie, was then chairing the Trump campaign in Florida, said in an interview that he came early to scout out the seat and was there at the request of (Rinat) Akhmetshin, with whom he was working as a consultant on the sanctions-related adoption issue.

Lanny and Susie Wiles both said she was unaware of his role in the lobbying effort. Lanny Wiles said he was unaware that the Russian lawyer whose seat he was saving had just days earlier met with Trump Jr.

“I wasn’t part of it,” Susie Wiles said.

If the meeting Trump Jr. attended had been an FBI sting operation,
he would have been cuffed and hauled off to jail.

Rather than a parallel with Nixon administration wherein pretty much everyone got their comeuppance, this is beginning to look more like the Reagan administration scenario with its many illegal and unethical doings.

E.g., many of the underlings, some at the very top, got indicted, convicted, sent to jail, or at least disgraced and ousted from their political positions - except for President Reagan, who escaped all justice and went on to serve eight full years.

This could happen here. If so, I hope no heads explode. It's called life. Shit happens. Forget politics and find a new hobby if all your hopes and dreams dissolve into liquid shit.

If there is no nuclear war in the next eight years then count yourself lucky and move on.

>107 JGL53: 'Rather than a parallel with Nixon administration wherein pretty much everyone got their comeuppance, this is beginning to look more like the Reagan administration scenario with its many illegal and unethical doings.'

I think that's true in more ways than one. Particularly in the unique lunacy ahead of its time aspect.

How Trump’s latest Russia spin contradicts his claims during the campaign

Who cares if he actually accomplishes anything on policy or makes anyone’s life better? As one Republican voter tells the Des Moines Register, “I just want him to annoy the hell out of everybody, and he’s done that.”

>109 2wonderY: If you didn't read it before in the Blame Thread...
http://exiledonline.com/we-the-spiteful/

> 110

RE: http://exiledonline.com/we-the-spiteful/

I think this guy has it right. The spiteful voter does what he or she does unconsciously, or instinctively, of course.

I think the best in-a-nutshell analysis of most of U.S. voters is the following from one of the comments on that article:

"....the US two party system consists of appealing to one of two sets of useful idiots: the ones who think the Republicans give a shit about God, and the ones who think the Democrats give a shit about the people."

lol.

8th person at Trump Jr meeting identified--besides Trump Jr, Kushner, and Manafort (...), there was manager for Russian pop star, Russian oligarchs' lawyer, her Russian translator, Russian lobbyist / former agent, and Russian money launderer. WTH??

Donald Trump Jr. Met Russian Accused of Laundering $1.4 Billion
Ike Kaveladze, who works for the oligarch who arranged the June 2016 in Trump Tower, he was found by the feds using shell companies to move money in the the ‘90s for Russians.
Kelly Weill Katie Zavadski | 07.18.17

...Irakly Kaveladze was a guest of Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya when she visited Trump and other campaign members in Trump Tower last year, Trump’s lawyer told CNN. The meeting was proposed by billionaire Russian real-estate developer Aras Agalarov. The billionaire is friendly with President Donald Trump, having hosted his Miss Universe 2013 pageant in Moscow and discussed real-estate deals with Trump.

...The eight visitors included Rob Goldstone, the manager of Agalarov’s pop-star son who reached out to Trump; Veselnitskaya, the lawyer with ties to Russian officials who lobbied the U.S. on behalf of Kremlin interests; her translator, Anatoli Samochornov; Veselnitskaya’s D.C.-based lobbyist, Rinat Akhmetshin, who was once accused of an international hacking conspiracy; and Kaveladze...

http://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-jr-met-russian-accused-of-laundering-1...

Irakly Kaveladze? That's got to be a Georgian name.
I'll read this sometime today.
----------------------------
OK, read it. Scott Olson's assessment at the end should be noted. These are some shady motherfuckers, but the Trump family has always swum in an ocean of shady motherfuckers.

It's like Wilkerson said:

Lawrence Wilkerson: Trump admin. 'like a mafia family'
‘That’s essentially the way I view President Trump now – as a godfather,’ says the colonel and former chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell.
http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/lawrence-wilkerson-trump-admin-like-a-mafia-fa...

Maybe Trump likes the negative attention.

Why did Trump meet with Putin again? Here are three possibilities.

1. There is something nefarious going on
2. Trump is oblivious to how this might be perceived
3. Trump is simply addicted to causing controversy and/or sees it as a GOP base play

4. Putin snapped his fingers?

It looks like Beauregard Sessions will have to surrender.

>114 2wonderY: >115 margd: Or, y'know, because he needed to discuss this and doesn't trust any of his staff not to leak:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-ends-covert-cia-pro...

cf. https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/breaking-trump-orders-cia-halt-financial-mi...

Like I said, Putin snapped his fingers... :-)

Great if lives are saved, horrible if monster Assad stays in power, bad precedent for willingness of wouldbe allies to work with US. Are Kurds included? (No?) Erdogan would be happy to see US abandon them.

Jonathan Chait's opinion piece on Mr. Trump's NYT interview is worth a look:

Donald Trump: L’état, C’est Moi

>118 margd: If by "Putin" you mean "reality," then I'm completely with you. I've covered the al-Tanf situation elsewhere, including the (possibly premature) rumor that this course of action was afoot a few weeks back. Short of starting WWIII, there was no other real option. I hear that Macron was a major figure in brokering this deal as well, though I haven't confirmed that.

As for the precedent of abandoning allies, we've got plenty of those. The Fall of Saigon comes to mind as a particularly ignominious example. In any case, as Jack Murphy revealed many months back, these particular characters are not the most sympathetic in the world. (His take? https://twitter.com/JackMurphyRGR/status/887780899294760960 & https://twitter.com/JackMurphyRGR/status/887784819547136008 )

And no, this deal doesn't include the Kurds, but the Turks are not thrilled with the notion of a strategic pivot to Rojava and they're making it known in no uncertain terms:

Second, our "ally" Turkey has ratted out the location of US secret military bases in Syria and Iraq:

In a move that has angered the U.S. for obvious reason, Turkey’s state-run news agency, Anadolu Agency, has leaked the precise locations of U.S. bases in northern Syria. The move - which exposes the exact locations of American soldiers on the front lines in the war-torn nation has sent the ongoing feud between the two NATO allies to new lows. As Bloomberg details, in reports published in both Turkish and English on Tuesday, Anadolu provided detailed information about 10 U.S. bases in northern Syria, including troop counts and a map of the U.S. force presence in the Turkish version.

Without citing specific sources, the state-run news agency unveiled the ten US outposts located in areas controlled by “terrorist” Kurdish militias in the provinces of Aleppo, Hasakah and Raqqa. The reports said that the military outposts are “usually hidden for security reasons, making it hard to be detected.” It said they were located “in the terrorist PKK/PYD-held Syrian territories,” a reference to Kurdish groups that Turkey’s government considers terrorist organizations.

http://turcopolier.typepad.com/sic_semper_tyrannis/2017/07/did-trump-get-it-righ...

Meanwhile, the Israelis have finally stepped back for a moment to take stock, realized that in the big picture things are not going their way at all -- at all!, and are throwing a tantrum of their own.

....the Amman negotiators’ intent from the outset had been to halt the Syrian army and its partner forces – on a roll, taking back swathes of its sovereign territory, as insurgent forces melted away – from getting too close to the Golan armistice line. American negotiators at the talks were plain enough: the US had only two objectives in the talks – to protect Israel, and to defeat ISIS. And these aims were fully reflected in the provisional agreement that froze the conflict, and imposed a "no foreign fighters” cordon of 20 kms on the Syrian side of the Golan armistice line and the Syrian-Jordanian border (that would exclude Iranian, Lebanese and Iraqi militia) for a defined period of time. Furthermore, this entire zone would be monitored and enforced by Russian police forces.

On the face of it, the US negotiators did the job that they had set out to do. So, why is Israel backtracking, and escalating – post hoc – its demands ? It now says that it will not tolerate a permament Iranian or Hizbullah presence in Syria - at all. The former head of the Israeli NSC has said explicity that Israel may use military force to halt any bases being established.

Plainly, Netanyahu is disappointed and angry. His hopes for a Saudi-led, “Sunni" coalition that would confront, contain and roll-back Iranian influence - have imploded with the mess that constitutes the present intra-GCC fratricide. Equally, his hopes for a logistics corridor and buffer - running along the north of the Syrian-Iraqi border and extending to the Euphrates river - collapsed when the Iraqi government, angered by President Trump’s launch of an explicit anti-Shi’a alliance in Riyadh (when he bundled PMU militia and Hizbullah as principal actors in the terrorist problem), tipped the balance. The Iraqi government gave the PMU the green light to open the Iraqi-Syrian border from both sides.

I would guess that Netanyahu scents that Israel’s part in the Syrian conflict is inching towards an endgame – and that the future no longer portends a weak Syria, riven with Israeli-friendly jihadi forces, balkanising the territory, as expected. But rather, a Syria fully connected with Hizballah, Iran, and now, with an increasingly pro-active, if inchoate, Iraqi PMU constellation.

http://turcopolier.typepad.com/sic_semper_tyrannis/2017/07/a-syrian-cordon-sanit...

All of which would seem to place the U.S. in a quandary with respect to its allies' mutually-contradictory interests (as becomes clearer if you read on to Crooke's conclusion, which seems correct).

Fire, discredit Mueller. Pardon family, aides, himself. The stink is getting stronger?

Russia collusion probe: Donald Trump's team finding ways to grant presidential pardons to family, aides
WorldPTI | Jul, 21 2017

...Trump has asked his advisers about his power to pardon aides, family members and even himself in connection with the probe...

...Last month reports emerged that Trump was considering firing Mueller, drawing criticism from both Democrat and Republican lawmakers.

...Trump's lawyers have been discussing the president's pardoning powers among themselves.

(Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi:)
"Tomorrow, in response to a report that President Trump is considering pardoning his aides, or his relatives, or even himself to avoid potential criminal charges, I will be formally calling upon the White House Counsel to publicly disclose all presidential pardons."

"Our founders established a presidential power to pardon to protect the American people from their government, not for a president to protect himself or his associates from justice," he said.

"If President Trump were to pardon himself or his associates — especially in secret before any charges have even been brought — that would sabotage a federal investigation. We need full transparency of the president's exercise of pardon power now."

Senator Mark Warner, vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said such a move by Trump would be considered as crossing a fundamental line. "The possibility that the president is considering pardons at this early stage in these ongoing investigations is extremely disturbing."

"Pardoning any individuals who may have been involved would be crossing a fundamental line."...

http://www.firstpost.com/world/russia-collusion-probe-donald-trumps-team-finding...

>120 davidgn: This would be one clear example of why the Turks issued the U.S. this recent "fuck you."
http://www.militarytimes.com/articles/mrap-matv-syria-raqqa-ypg-kurds

One commenter makes an interesting stab in the dark here about the endgame, though I suspect (and hope) he's got it wrong.
http://turcopolier.typepad.com/sic_semper_tyrannis/2017/07/did-trump-get-it-righ...

Something in line with Crooke's assessment in >120 davidgn: seems more likely (to occur, though not necessarily to succeed). To wit:

PM Netanyahu probably is trying to salvage what he can of his anti-Iran campaign. On Tuesday, the White House issued a statement pushing Congress to authorise new ‘temporary' intermediate staging facilities in Iraq and Syria ‘as a part of the US-led campaign against the Islamic State’ (details on existing US bases have just been released by Turkey). But, as Corri Zoli, director of research at Syracuse University’s Institute for National Security and Counterterrorism told Al-Monitor.

“It looks to me like what they’re trying to do is get a little more maneuverability to create some infrastructure for deepening the fight beyond Raqqa and Syria … It’s kind of an attempt to create a lily-pad structure in the Levant to go after (IS) and their entrepreneurial efforts to start miniature caliphates in the region.” Defense Secretary James Mattis, Zoli added, “is thinking a couple steps ahead. He wants to win the peace, stabilize the region and militarily pressure Iran. If he can do it with logistics all the better.”

So Netanyahu, playing the ‘angry-mad routine,’ may be more about pressuring the US Administration to implement a substitute plan of a lily-pad ‘wedge’ of US ‘temporary facilities’ ranging down from northern Syria into Iraq, designed to sever Iranian contiguity with Syria. In brief, Netanyahu feigns anger about the shortcomings of the SW Syria ceasefire plan precisely in order to press for an American quid pro quo of lily-pad containment of Iran....

http://turcopolier.typepad.com/sic_semper_tyrannis/2017/07/a-syrian-cordon-sanit...

Wow...Sessions might be holding off Trump?

The Rachel Maddow Show 7/20/17
If Trump wants to fire Mueller, he'll have to fire Sessions first
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show

Not posted yet, but today's update is worth a watch!

Wow, just wow.

The Rachel Maddow Show 7/20/17
If Trump wants to fire Mueller, he'll have to fire Sessions first

Rachel Maddow looks at some of the background of former Donald Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort that is being looked at in the Trump Russia investigation and notes that if Trump is afraid the investigation is getting to close, he'll have to fire Jeff Sessions

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show

This is really getting interesting.

I hate trump's guts, just like all patriotic Americans do, and have done so from the beginning - but what good does the hate do - I mean, really?

At this point I think we all and our beloved country need be taken to the very brink before salvation can come at some future date (at this point we all can only pray and hope that Satan and Jesus, twin brothers and god's sons, will agree to end their bet soon and let us out of this Jobesque nightmare drama that has been consuming our spleens and viscera and very brains for the last two years.

I hope now that trump will - in the next few months - prove to everyone's satisfaction that abject narcissism and ultimate political power must NEVER be allowed to coexist in the same blue suit - EVER again.

Here's the possible - likely? - scenario for the next few months or years:

1. trump proceeds to have Mueller fired and then fires all government appointees (he legally can) if and when they do not exhibit 100 per cent loyalty (sycophancy) to the donald.

2. trump calls a news conference and tells both the republicans and democrats in congress to go fuck themselves - with elephant/donkey dicks respectively.

3. trump issues pardons to himself and all his underlings and relatives under investigation - then resigns.

4. What would be the legal options at that point to, so to speak, "make him pay" for his misdeeds? I can think of no legal ones.

5. He could then move to Russia, after transmitting to them all top secret classified intel, including the nuclear launch codes.

6. He would then live in Russia, in a mansion the rest of his life, be a national hero to them, and then maybe host a Russian reality show - just for fun - which would be the most watched and thus highest rated TV program in Russia, Syria, China, Cuba, North Korea, and all muslim-majority countries - plus the U.S. probably, being watched by the millions of trump supporters who have STILL not given up on him, lol.

7. After he eventually dies - at a really old age - in bed surrounded by his "loved ones", he would have the following epithet carved in day glo orange on his alabaster tombstone: "FUCK THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND ALL WHO DWELL IN HER. I WIN."

We're finally starting to get some meat at this point, it seems. Those are very large red flags.

Simultaneously: I've taken it as a given from day one that Trump has no shortage of skeletons in his closet with respect to his personal financial dealings (independent of the "Russia question") that could be used to hang him, given the political will. This sudden threat of going after them -- whether bluff or genuine -- seems calculated to cause Trump to panic and react in a manner (e.g. scandalous firings and pardonings) that will decisively damn him in the eyes of public opinion. Probably an effective strategy, as strategies go.

Sen. McCain tweeted 'must-read':

Trump’s breathtaking surrender to Russia
Michael Gerson Opinion writer | July 20

...President Trump — after extended personal contact with Vladimir Putin and the complete surrender to Russian interests in Syria — acts precisely as though he has been bought and sold by a strategic rival. The ignoble cutoff of aid to American proxies means that “Putin won in Syria,” as an administration official was quoted by The Post. Concessions without reciprocation, made against the better judgment of foreign policy advisers, smack more of payoff than outreach. If this is what Trump’s version of “winning” looks like, what might further victory entail? The re- creation of the Warsaw Pact? The reversion of Alaska to Russian control?

There is nothing normal about an American president’s subservience to Russia’s interests and worldview. It is not the result of some bold, secret, Nixonian foreign policy stratagem — the most laughable possible explanation. Does it come from Trump’s bad case of authoritarianism envy? A fundamental sympathy with European right-wing, anti-democratic populism? An exposure to pressure from his checkered financial history? There are no benign explanations, and the worst ones seem the most plausible...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trumps-breathtaking-surrender-to-russia/...

>127 margd: He would. (Again, >120 davidgn: is where it's at. And this, among others in the same thread).

Here's another 'must-read':
https://www.thenation.com/article/mccains-kremlin-ties/

------------------------------------
ETA: For those following since late last year back on the Blame Threads(s): Deir Ez-zor is finally on the verge of being relieved after its long, long siege by Da'esh. I refuse to see this as anything but a victory.

http://turcopolier.typepad.com/sic_semper_tyrannis/2017/07/syrian-army-on-the-ve...

Intercepts show AG Sessions discussed Trump positions on Russian concernsw Russian Ambassador, contrary to claims

...Ambassador Sergey Kislyak’s accounts of two conversations with Sessions — then a top foreign policy adviser to Republican candidate Donald Trump — were intercepted by U.S. spy agencies, which monitor the communications of senior Russian officials both in the United States and in Russia. Sessions initially failed to disclose his contacts with Kislyak and then said that the meetings were not about the Trump campaign.

One U.S. official said that Sessions — who testified that he has no recollection of an April encounter — has provided “misleading” statements that are “contradicted by other evidence.” A former official said that the intelligence indicates that Sessions and Kislyak had “substantive” discussions on matters including Trump’s positions on Russia-related issues and prospects for U.S.-Russia relations in a Trump administration....

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/sessions-discussed-trump-...

>129 margd: Good think he recused himself, eh?

In any case, there's this perspective from Lang:

The present or former official (or officials) who read these intercepts because of his or her clearance for hyper-sensitive compartmented information and have discussed them with the Washington Post have in IMO committed a felony for which they should be prosecuted.

I know a lot of you are uninterested in protection of US SIGINT products but IMO that is an altogether irresponsible position. pl

http://turcopolier.typepad.com/sic_semper_tyrannis/2017/07/httpswwwwashingtonpos...

A complex question, but it does seem we've seen a pattern of major intelligence compromises in pursuit of minor (and factional) political benefits.

As Michael McFaul tweeted...

Clearly WH or Russia leaked story to take Sessions out as AG. This intel is TS crown jewels, Holy Grail, gold plated platinum if true.

ETA--Others note that story is proof of collusion?

Nunes, WaPo had info--WaPo sitting on it since June, I assume because it reveals US surveillance methods?

>131 margd: That was Malcolm Nance. https://twitter.com/MalcolmNance/status/888562505265688582
Amb. Michael McFaul, while perhaps not the sharpest knife in the drawer, is far too smart to allege something so stupid.
"Wait... doesn't that mean the Russians are colluding with the WaPo now? My God: they really are everywhere!"

Nance's name doesn't ring a bell, but my 30-second credibility assessment hands him a 3.5/10, and that's giving the benefit of the doubt on a lot of things..

Now, the possibility of someone in the White House being behind the leak is not out of crazytown, but if it is from the WH, it could just as easily be the work of someone undercutting Trump as of someone factionally aligned with him. To suggest Trump or his supporters leaked this is an interesting counterintuitive thought, but I'm not quite buying it. At least, not yet.

I'm feeling better about my analysis in >126 davidgn: by the hour.

https://www.rawstory.com/2017/07/this-is-the-last-call-well-have-trumps-new-lawy...

“We have no evidence that any of these (Trump business) entities are under investigation,” Dowd told Maddow’s producer. “I’m beginning to think it’s not true. I’m beginning to wonder where the hell it came from.”

He then finished the call by telling the producer, “this is the last call we’ll ever have.”

For better or worse, it looks like there may be a bluff involved here, and the Trump camp may be calling it. The attempted attribution of this last leak (>132 davidgn:) to the Trump camp, making it appear that they are trying to undermine Sessions (in order to oust him, as the media have been telling us must necessarily be the first step for getting rid of Mueller), may be a response to this failure by Trump camp's to take the bait. In this scenario, the Trump camp would be made to appear as if it is trying to get rid of Sessions, whether it is or not. A perfect double-bind. If I'm right that this is what's going on, I have to give someone credit for being very clever.

ETA:

bks said...
It is widely assumed that Trump released this intelligence himself to get rid of Sessions. If my boss publicly ripped me, I would have quit already.

Reply 22 July 2017 at 08:57 AM

turcopolier said...
bks

It is widely assumed by whom, your fellow leftists? you have no proof for that at all. According to the Post former officials gave them this information. Now who would that be? pl

Reply 22 July 2017 at 09:09 AM

http://turcopolier.typepad.com/sic_semper_tyrannis/2017/07/httpswwwwashingtonpos...

-------------------
>131 margd: And now I see your edit. Listening to AC360 from last night (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1oOF7Z58HY -- around 49:00) and yes, looks like the WaPo had been sitting on this for whatever reasons, then decided it was time to release because of the NYT interview. (Basically, they say that they were fearful of losing their scoop.) So the notion that the Trump WH suddenly releases this leak to kill Sessions holds no water. Of course, it does make a lot of political sense for certain factions to make people believe otherwise.

Agreement on Russian sanctions and Congressional oversight:

House and Senate negotiators announced an agreement was reached Saturday morning for a bill that would include new sanctions against Russia, Iran, and North Korea.

Despite the White House lobbying for changes to the measure, the legislation will give Congress a new ability to block the administration from easing sanctions on Moscow. Democrats and some Republicans have expressed concerns that Trump is considering giving Russia back two compounds in Maryland and New York that were seized by the Obama administration in December.

"Given the many transgressions of Russia, and President Trump's seeming inability to deal with them, a strong sanctions bill such as the one Democrats and Republicans have just agreed to is essential," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement. "I expect the House and Senate will act on this legislation promptly, on a broad bipartisan basis and send the bill to the President's desk."...

http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/22/politics/congress-deal-russia-sanctions/index.html

Can Trump pardon himself? Article II, Section II of the Constitution provides that the president "shall have Power to Grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.":

...15 legal experts...asked...if the president has the constitutional authority to pardon himself. As it turns out, this is something of a legal gray area. The overwhelming consensus was that Trump could make a plausible legal argument that his pardoning powers extend to himself, mostly because the Constitution isn’t clear about this — and, frankly, because this is just not a situation the framers expected.

All the experts agreed about one other fact: Even if Trump does pardon himself, that would not shield him from impeachment hearings. And most believe if he did make a move like this, it would be both an admission of guilt and a potential constitutional crisis...

(Only federally prosecuted crimes, not states', can be pardoned?)

(The 15 opinions are interesting read.)

...this is a gray area, but the Constitution's commitment to checks and balances and more generally to the rule of law strongly argue against self-pardoning.

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/7/21/16007934/donald-trump-mueller-...

ETA______________________

...First, might Trump pardon himself? It is far too early to speculate about him facing criminal liability, but he certainly acts like someone who wouldn’t hesitate to deliver himself such a plum.

Second, if Trump did it, what would happen? This question is easier to answer. If he weren’t already on his way out of office, a self-pardon would bring nearer that day. Any prosecutor who was already pursuing him would not roll over and assume that the self-pardon was valid. Instead, the prosecutor would press forward and force the courts — and surely the Supreme Court, eventually — to decide the issue. The court could potentially rule either way. But one would hope it would rule in favor of justice and the rule of law and not in favor of unaccountable presidential plunder.

http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/05/19/what-would-happen-if-trump-pardoned-himself-...

Talk about a loose cannon!! In spite of Department of Defense Directive 1344.10 (DoDD 1344.10), Political Activities by Members of the Armed Forces:

...(Trump) decried the budget compromise known as sequestration, which requires mandatory and corresponding military and domestic cuts.

Trump promised to try to restore higher levels of military funding but also urged the crowd of about 6,500 — many in uniform — to help him push this year’s budget, in which he said he will seek an additional $54 billion in defense spending, through Congress.

“I don’t mind getting a little hand, so call that congressman and call that senator and make sure you get it,” he said, to applause. “And by the way, you can also call those senators to make sure you get health care.”

But Trump’s brief appeal created a potentially awkward tableau at a commissioning event intended to be ceremonial — a commander in chief offering political remarks, and what could even be construed as an order, to the naval officers he commands...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/07/22/trump-denounces-...

Here's a good (if cautious) round-up on the Syria situation from Sam Heller at the Century Foundation.

America Had Already Lost Its Covert War in Syria—Now It’s Official
https://tcf.org/content/commentary/america-already-lost-covert-war-syria-now-off...

And here's the usual turned-up-to-11 version from our old German tank commander (which, in fairness, altered me to the above).
http://www.moonofalabama.org/2017/07/syria-summary-the-trump-putin-agreement.htm...
ETA: Whoops. This one. http://www.moonofalabama.org/2017/07/syria-summary-consolidating-the-west-marchi...

Trump is correct ~ because of him and his cult followers the swamp is now a sewer!!!

Kushner's back channel

http://www.businessinsider.com/jared-kushner-russia-back-channel-testimony-2017-...

I'm glad to finally see this analysis. I looked for it when the story first came to light, but must have missed it then.

>139 2wonderY: That looks interesting. I'll take a look.

(remainder moved to nominees thread)

ETA: That fuckin' amateur.

I heard some muffled kerfluffling when this new forensic work on the DNC hack first came out a week or two back, but I wasn't in a position to evaluate the methodology or the credibility of the authors. Now with many subject experts on board, including no less a figure than Bill Binney , I feel entirely confident spreading this far and wide. And VIPS, as usual, have stepped up to the plate with one of their open memos.

https://consortiumnews.com/2017/07/24/intel-vets-challenge-russia-hack-evidence/

Intel Vets Challenge ‘Russia Hack’ Evidence
In a memo to President Trump, a group of former U.S. intelligence officers, including NSA specialists, cite new forensic studies to challenge the claim of the key Jan. 6 “assessment” that Russia “hacked” Democratic emails last year.

MEMORANDUM FOR: The President

FROM: Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS)

SUBJECT: Was the “Russian Hack” an Inside Job?

Executive Summary

Forensic studies of “Russian hacking” into Democratic National Committee computers last year reveal that on July 5, 2016, data was leaked (not hacked) by a person with physical access to DNC computers, and then doctored to incriminate Russia.

After examining metadata from the “Guccifer 2.0” July 5, 2016 intrusion into the DNC server, independent cyber investigators have concluded that an insider copied DNC data onto an external storage device, and that “telltale signs” implicating Russia were then inserted.

Key among the findings of the independent forensic investigations is the conclusion that the DNC data was copied onto a storage device at a speed that far exceeds an Internet capability for a remote hack. Of equal importance, the forensics show that the copying and doctoring were performed on the East coast of the U.S. Thus far, mainstream media have ignored the findings of these independent studies see here and here.

Independent analyst Skip Folden, a retired IBM Program Manager for Information Technology US, who examined the recent forensic findings, is a co-author of this Memorandum. He has drafted a more detailed technical report titled “Cyber-Forensic Investigation of ‘Russian Hack’ and Missing Intelligence Community Disclaimers,” and sent it to the offices of the Special Counsel and the Attorney General. VIPS member William Binney, a former Technical Director at the National Security Agency, and other senior NSA “alumni” in VIPS attest to the professionalism of the independent forensic findings.

The recent forensic studies fill in a critical gap. Why the FBI neglected to perform any independent forensics on the original “Guccifer 2.0” material remains a mystery – as does the lack of any sign that the “hand-picked analysts” from the FBI, CIA, and NSA, who wrote the “Intelligence Community Assessment” dated January 6, 2017, gave any attention to forensics.

NOTE: There has been so much conflation of charges about hacking that we wish to make very clear the primary focus of this Memorandum. We focus specifically on the July 5, 2016 alleged Guccifer 2.0 “hack” of the DNC server. In earlier VIPS memoranda we addressed the lack of any evidence connecting the Guccifer 2.0 alleged hacks and WikiLeaks, and we asked President Obama specifically to disclose any evidence that WikiLeaks received DNC data from the Russians (see here and here).

Addressing this point at his last press conference (January 18), he described “the conclusions of the intelligence community” as “not conclusive,” even though the Intelligence Community Assessment of January 6 expressed “high confidence” that Russian intelligence “relayed material it acquired from the DNC … to WikiLeaks.”

Obama’s admission came as no surprise to us. It has long been clear to us that the reason the U.S. government lacks conclusive evidence of a transfer of a “Russian hack” to WikiLeaks is because there was no such transfer. Based mostly on the cumulatively unique technical experience of our ex-NSA colleagues, we have been saying for almost a year that the DNC data reached WikiLeaks via a copy/leak by a DNC insider (but almost certainly not the same person who copied DNC data on July 5, 2016).

From the information available, we conclude that the same inside-DNC, copy/leak process was used at two different times, by two different entities, for two distinctly different purposes:

-(1) an inside leak to WikiLeaks before Julian Assange announced on June 12, 2016, that he had DNC documents and planned to publish them (which he did on July 22) – the presumed objective being to expose strong DNC bias toward the Clinton candidacy; and

-(2) a separate leak on July 5, 2016, to pre-emptively taint anything WikiLeaks might later publish by “showing” it came from a “Russian hack.”

================================================================

The actual letter to Trump begins as follows:

This is our first VIPS Memorandum for you, but we have a history of letting U.S. Presidents know when we think our former intelligence colleagues have gotten something important wrong, and why. For example, our first such memorandum, a same-day commentary for President George W. Bush on Colin Powell’s U.N. speech on February 5, 2003, warned that the “unintended consequences were likely to be catastrophic,” should the U.S. attack Iraq and “justfy” the war on intelligence that we retired intelligence officers could readily see as fraudulent and driven by a war agenda.

Secretary of State Colin Powell addressed the United Nations on Feb. 5. 2003, citing satellite photos which supposedly proved that Iraq had WMD, but the evidence proved bogus.

The January 6 “Intelligence Community Assessment” by “hand-picked” analysts from the FBI, CIA, and NSA seems to fit into the same agenda-driven category. It is largely based on an “assessment,” not supported by any apparent evidence, that a shadowy entity with the moniker “Guccifer 2.0” hacked the DNC on behalf of Russian intelligence and gave DNC emails to WikiLeaks.

The recent forensic findings mentioned above have put a huge dent in that assessment and cast serious doubt on the underpinnings of the extraordinarily successful campaign to blame the Russian government for hacking. The pundits and politicians who have led the charge against Russian “meddling” in the U.S. election can be expected to try to cast doubt on the forensic findings, if they ever do bubble up into the mainstream media. But the principles of physics don’t lie; and the technical limitations of today’s Internet are widely understood. We are prepared to answer any substantive challenges on their merits....

No, Pence Will Not Be “Worse Than Trump”
"Having Mike Pence as President will feel like we lost an election. Having Donald Trump as President feels, every day, like we’re losing America."
Jennifer Wright | Jul 20, 2017

...Everything terrible you can imagine happening under Pence is already happening.

...I don’t believe Mike Pence will behave like a dictator.

That doesn’t mean I like him.

...I think Mike Pence will support legislation I despise. I will protest all of it. And I do not think he will ever try to dismiss my right to protest. I don’t think he’s going to try to shut down the free press. I don’t think he will publicly deride American citizens on Twitter. I think he respects the institutions that make America—if not great—at least recognizably America.

I also think it’s insane that we’re in a position where this is a quality we have to hope for from the leader of the country.

I do not like Mike Pence’s values. I think they are wicked. They are not mine. But, to borrow from Alexander Hamilton, I think he has values. And it has become clear that the only thing Donald Trump values is Donald Trump...

http://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/politics/a10322699/mike-pence-better-donald...

> 142

I agree, as I would hope any reasonable person would. Good post.

But it all puts me in mind of the election back in November. Most people at that time only knew Trump was an arrogant sumbitch - as most very rich and/or powerful people tend to be. They knew he was a potty mouth and as far from politically correct as it is possible for an U.S. citizen to be. Too many "liberals" were living in a dream world at the time and could not understand they were asking too many voters to swallow the vomit in their mouths and vote for HRC. Those "liberal" fucks actually thought HRC was a great choice.

But too many other people knew too much about HRC and were thoroughly disgusted by her very essence. It wasn't just the outrageous blatant lies over the decades, flying in the face of video tape proving she was a liar. It wasn't just the DNC conspiracies against poor old Bernie. It wasn't the prevarication about the 30,000 missing emails. And it had nothing to do with Benghazi.

It was about her undeniable obvious greed and her egocentric desire to be President mainly as the cherry on her resume ice cream sundae, i.e., to glory in her place in history as the first female President. Greed is not good these days for many people. When asked why she agreed to every half million dollar fee for every 45 minutes speech which huge corporations offered her, her only reply was "Well, they offered it to me". None of the half million dollar speeches were ever made public, sort of like with trump's close-to-the-vest taxes and finances.

The republican party has obviously sold out to Satan for some time now. It was up to the Democrats to offer a decent alternative for President and they utterly blew it.

As trump goes about his daily task of destroying all that is good about the U.S. of A. - as commissioned by the Dark Overlord, I myself will forever blame - not republicans, not teaparty dupes, not evangelical hypocrites - but Democratic primary voters and the DNC - in short the Democratic Party.

If the U.S. and the world are still here in 2020 will the Democrats have learned their lesson and find a way to patch the hole in the Titanic?

I remain pessimistic.

Maybe Republicans are finally getting to a place where they can impeach Trump, if indicated. For example, in the skinny repeal vote, Sen Murkowski shrugged off Interior threats against Alaska energy projects and indeed apparently responded by slowing nominations process for the agency.

The Daily 202: Trump’s hardball tactics backfire as ‘skinny repeal’ goes down
James Hohmann | July 28, 2017

...On the Hill, this week has felt like it might be a turning point of sorts. “Republican lawmakers have openly defied President Trump in meaningful ways this week amid growing frustration on Capitol Hill with his surprise tweets, erratic behavior and willingness to trample on governing norms,” Mike DeBonis reports. “They passed legislation to stop him from lifting sanctions on Russia. They recoiled at his snap decision to ban transgender Americans from the military. And they warned him in no uncertain terms not to fire the attorney general or the special counsel investigating the president and his aides.”

...Trump has made several other enemies in the Senate.

... a $1 million campaign of attack ads against Sen. Dean Heller last month after he announced opposition to an earlier health-care bill because of its cuts to Medicaid. The group backed off after Senate leaders told the White House to cut it out.

Meanwhile, Trump and White House officials have been actively trying to recruit a primary challenger to Jeff Flake next year. The animus grew out of the senator calling on Trump to drop out after the 2005 “Access Hollywood” tape emerged last October.

Both guys voted for skinny repeal, but does the president really think Heller and Flake are going to have his back down the road when stuff really hits the fan?

...The bottom line is that Trump’s short-sightedness and penchant for taking everything personally causes him to constantly make myopic decisions that may ultimately undermine his presidency. He’s so focused on trying to win the day that he is perennially unable to play the long game...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/daily-202/2017/07/28/daily-...

>143 JGL53: Huh! I fully agree with your post.

Trump administration threatens retribution against Alaska over Murkowski health votes

Two takes on this
1- Admiration for Murkowski "We're here to govern. We're here to legislate. We're here to represent the people who sent us here. And so every day shouldn't be about campaigning. Every day shouldn't be about winning elections. How about just doing a little bit of governing around here? That's what I'm here for," she said.

2- Trump Administration 'may be investigated' after threatening the whole of Alaska.

Russia probe could reveal Trump's closest-held secrets
Nick Penzenstadler and Steve Reilly | July 27, 2017

...A USA TODAY investigation last month revealed that 70% of Trump real estate sales since he won the GOP nomination were to secretive shell companies, compared to 4% in the two years before that. The clear shift to those kinds of purchases, which help obscure the identities of the buyers, raise questions about the source of profits that ultimately flow to the President because he has not fully divested from his companies.

...John Tobon, a deputy special agent for the Department of Homeland Security in Miami, said luxury real estate sellers who don’t screen their buyers closely enough can be charged in conspiracy cases.

“The law of conspiracy reaches pretty far and every person in the conspiracy doesn’t necessarily have to be clued in to all the details,” said Tobon, speaking about money-laundering in general and not specific transactions involving any specific companies. “So legally you’re exposed in these transactions if you don’t take that extra step of asking who is the person behind 123 LLC.”...

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2017/07/27/russia-investigation-delves-into-...

I am a democrat, but honestly, I'd hate to see Trump get impeached unless it is absolutely unavoidable. He was democratically elected and I fear that it would make a bad situation worse, if he were actually removed from office. I hope that reasonable people can provide checks and balances to his worst impulses, and maybe we can elect a non-idiot in 2020.

Trump wants to be entertained ~ he is organizing White House cock fights now.

> 148

- With one of the cocks publicly accusing another of the cocks of having oral relations with his own cock.

It's a cock-up, for sure.

An Exhaustive List Of What Happens After Trump Pardons Himself
8 Most Likely Results Of A Trump Self-Pardon, In Order.
Elie Mystal | Jul 21, 2017

1. Charges are never filed, nothing happens.
2. Charges are filed, everybody ignores the self-pardon.
3. Charges are filed, courts rule on the pardoning power.
4. Impeachment… in 2018 perhaps.
5. Charges are filed after Trump leaves office, the new president decides whether or not to pardon him.
6. Military Takeover.
7. Trump resigns.
8. Bloody Revolution.

http://abovethelaw.com/2017/07/an-exhaustive-list-of-what-happens-after-trump-pa...

ETA_________________________________

Trump's Pardoning Himself Would Trash Constitution
A king might be above the law, but the president is not. This isn't even worth debating.
Noah Feldman | July 21, 201

(Noah Feldman is ... a professor of constitutional and international law at Harvard University and was a clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice David Souter. His seven books include “The Three Lives of James Madison: Genius, Partisan, President” and “Cool War: The Future of Global Competition.” )

https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-07-28/trump-s-biggest-obstacle-to-g...

That was quick!

Trump ousts Scaramucci as communications director

on the recommendation of new chief of staff, John Kelly.

eta

The Apprentice, White House Edition: Does Donald Trump genuinely think he is supposed to eliminate someone each week?

>151 2wonderY:
(from a comment on a news story about John Kelly)

AND the best part is this buffoon (mooch) was revealed for what he is for all the world to see, a low-class phony bs artist. I bet he'll have some uncomfortable party conversations in his circle of "friends." He's gone from slick wall street guy to a punch line to a bad joke in 24 hours.

"Hey Mooch, tells us again how you got sh 1 t canned after threatenin' to sh 1 t can everybody? Dat was great!"

(and another)

Man, he wasn't there long enough for them to write even one skit.

(twitter post)

It is sobering statistic that 7 out of 10 Americans will serve as Donald Trump’s White House Communications Director.

>145 2wonderY:

Interior Department watchdog to investigate threat to Alaska senator on healthcare
Reuters Staff | Aug 4, 2017

The Interior Department's inspector general said it would investigate a reported threat by the agency's head, Ryan Zinke, against Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski's state of Alaska last week over her opposition to her party's efforts to repeal Obamacare.

Zinke called Murkowski and Alaska's other U.S. senator, Republican Dan Sullivan, on July 26, the day after Murkowski's crucial vote against a motion to begin debate on the healthcare overhaul, the Alaska Dispatch News reported.

The interior secretary warned the two senators that Murkowski's vote could have negative consequences for energy and land use in Alaska, the newspaper said. Murkowski spokeswoman Karina Peterson confirmed that Zinke had called the senator.

The Interior Department deals with policies crucial to the state's economy such as drilling and mining on federal and tribal land and control of wildlife areas...

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-interior-idUSKBN1AK20Z

FOIA request: Did Secretary accompanied by wife use government plane to be in path of eclipse's totality?

...On August 21, 2017, Secretary Mnuchin and his wife Louise Linton travelled to Lexington, Kentucky, purportedly for the Secretary to present remarks along with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell at a luncheon sponsored by the Louisville chamber of commerce, Greater Louisville Inc. Afterward, Secretary Mnuchin and his wife “headed to Fort Kno(x)…to tour the bullion reserve at the Army post and view the eclipse.”

The requested records would shed light on the justification for Secretary Mnuchin’s use of a government plane, rather than a commercial flight, for a trip that seems to have been planned around the solar eclipse and to enable the Secretary to secure a viewpoint in the path of the eclipse’s totality. At a time of expected deep cuts to the federal budget, the taxpayers have a significant interest in learning the extent to which Secretary Mnuchin has used government planes for travel in lieu of commercial planes, and the justification for that use...

https://www.citizensforethics.org/foia/august-23-2017-u-s-department-treasury-mn...
https://s3.amazonaws.com/storage.citizensforethics.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/0...

How Mueller Can Publish His Russia Connection Evidence
Ryan Goodman | Alex Whiting On 8/19/17

...Presentment.

Grand juries have historically had the power not only to indict but also to issue presentments, which were more like reports of wrongdoing without a criminal charge.

The Fifth Amendment of the Constitution contemplates this practice in its opening words:

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury.

Watergate special prosecutor Leon Jaworski’s legal team strongly recommended that if he thought it was either unconstitutional or imprudent to indict or prosecute a sitting president, he could nevertheless seek a presentment by the grand jury...

http://www.newsweek.com/how-mueller-can-publish-his-russia-connection-evidence-6...

___________________________________________________________

How Mueller Can Make the Grand Jury Report Public or Hand it to Congress
By Ryan Goodman and Alex Whiting
Monday, August 14, 2017

...There are three possible options which have received little or no attention despite the flurry of commentary about Mueller’s investigation, including: (1) a public/confidential disclosure of evidence to Congress via a congressional subpoena; and (2) a public report out of the grand jury using a special procedural device. We will discuss a third option in a piece later this week, which goes beyond reporting and toward a possible greater vindication of the public interest in criminal justice...

Check back later this week for a second piece in this series by Goodman and Whiting. The authors discuss a third “untold” option for Mueller that could vindicate the interests of criminal justice if there is sufficient evidence of wrongdoing.

https://www.justsecurity.org/44191/mueller-grand-jury-report-public-hand-congres...

Rick Dearborn, Jeff Sessions, Russians...

Exclusive: Top Trump aide's email draws new scrutiny in Russia inquiry
Manu Raju and Marshall Cohen | August 23, 2017

Congressional investigators have unearthed an email from a top Trump aide that referenced a previously unreported effort to arrange a meeting last year between Trump campaign officials and Russian President Vladimir Putin

The aide, Rick Dearborn, who is now President Donald Trump's deputy chief of staff, sent a brief email to campaign officials last year relaying information about an individual who was seeking to connect top Trump officials with Putin

...The person was only identified in the email as being from "WV"

...the email occurred in June 2016 around the time of the recently revealed Trump Tower meeting where Russians with Kremlin ties met with the president's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., his son-in-law Jared Kushner as well as then-campaign chairman, Paul Manafort.

...Russians may have been looking for another entry point into the Trump campaign

Dearborn's name has not been mentioned much as part of the Russia probe. But he served as then-Sen. Jeff Sessions' chief of staff, as well as a top policy aide on the campaign. And investigators have questions about whether he played a role in potentially arranging two meetings that occurred between the then-Russia ambassador to the US, Sergey Kislyak, and Sessions, who has downplayed the significance of those encounters.

Dearborn was involved in helping to arrange an April 2016 event at the Mayflower Hotel where Trump delivered a major foreign policy address, sources said. Kislyak attended the event and a reception beforehand, but it's unclear whether he interacted with Sessions there.

...the request made by the unidentified West Virginian fits a pattern of Russians trying to gather human intelligence and seek unwilling -- and sometimes unwitting partners -- as part of their covert operations.

...Steve Hall, a retired CIA chief of Russia operations...it would be unusual to set up a meeting with Putin himself before meeting with operatives tied to the Kremlin.

The Russian "active measures" campaign to influence the US election was fully underway when Dearborn sent his email. This included cyberattacks against the Democratic National Committee and Clinton's senior staffers, as well as pro-Trump messaging by Kremlin-backed propaganda outlets, according to a report declassified by the US intelligence community in January.

And Dearborn wasn't the only person within the Trump campaign emailing about potential Russia meetings. Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos sent an email to top campaign officials in March 2016 about arranging meetings with Russians, sources said. The subject line was "Meeting with Russian Leadership -- Including Putin," according to the source.

...his idea was brushed aside, Papadopoulos continued his emails about arranging meetings with Russians to other Trump campaign officials for months, The Washington Post reported

"Putin wants to host the Trump team when the time is right," Papadopoulos wrote in an email on April 27 to then-campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, according to the Post. On that same day, Trump delivered his foreign policy speech at the Mayflower Hotel.

Sessions led the campaign's foreign policy team, which included Page and Papadopoulos...met at least twice during the campaign with Kislyak, and congressional investigators want to question whether Dearborn was involved in arranging those meetings, which took place in July and September 2016...congressional investigators were examining whether Sessions attended a third private meeting with Kislyak, at the Mayflower event that Dearborn apparently helped plan.

During the (Mayflower Hotel) speech, Trump said that "an easing of tensions and improved relations with Russia, from a position of strength, is possible." Kislyak watched from his seat in the front row.

Dearborn spent nearly two decades working for Sessions in the Senate, eventually rising to chief of staff, a position he held for 12 years, including throughout the 2016 campaign...played dual roles last year. He ran Sessions' Senate office and also led the Trump campaign's Virginia-based policy shop, handling congressional relations and crafting policy proposals.

...Shortly after Trump's victory, Dearborn emerged as executive director of the Trump transition.

Dearborn was later appointed Trump's deputy chief of staff for legislative, intergovernmental affairs and implementation, cementing his position in the White House as a senior policy aide. He is among the handful of Sessions aides who landed plum jobs in the administration.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/23/politics/donald-trump-rick-dearborn-email-russia-i...

If by "Putin" you mean "reality," then I'm completely with you

The person was only identified in the email as being from "WV"

organizing White House cock fights

An Exhaustive List Of What Happens After Trump Pardons Himself

Trump is correct ~ because of him and his cult followers

Irakly Kaveladze? That's got to be a Georgian name!