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The Trump-Russia File [updated]

william.scherk

Entry posted by william.scherk

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A weird story that will probably continue to simmer for the remaining months of the 2106 2016 Presidential election:  what are Donald J Trump's ties to Russian interests?  How can the purported ties be established in fact? Is there any record that can be examined?  Would Trump tax returns show something hinky or surprising in this regard?

The biggest headline is that experts named and un-named have found the fingerprints of the Russian state on the Wikileaked DNC emails.  That the supposedly "Romanian" 'Guccifer' was a Russian FSB agent. That is no surprise. What is surprising is how common-sense rational inquiry flies out the window, and how unusual are Mr Trump's policies in contrast to the bipartisan stance that views Russia as a non-democracy opposed to Western values.  

The Russian "Connection" with Trump takes three main forms:

  • Russian Investment in Trump's real-estate ventures (rumoured and real)
  • Russian Interests represented by Ash Carter Carter Page, a close Trump advisor on foreign policy/Paul Manafort's oligarchy-lobbying in DC
  • USA/Russian policy changes under a Trump promise (ie, most significantly on NATO).

A few things stick out in my mind: the very specific way Mr Trump denied he has investments in Russia (without the corollary "I have no Russian-money investment in any of my projects and plans")**;  the actual NATO/Russia policy changes Mr Trump has promised to put in action.  The common-sense understanding that this is a weakness for the Trump campaign, not a winner.  A slow drip kind of weakness.

A funny side-issue is Mr Trump's nomination for a Pulitzer Prize to the National Enquirer. Put that worthy news magazine's attention on Ted Cruz's father's involvement in the JFK assassination in perspective.  Today, multiple lines of evidence suggest a corruption in the Trump machine, a back-door 'understanding' with the Russian point of view.   It's the stuff of tabloids, and yet it could shake out true.  If the roles were reversed (a Russian 'nod' to a Democratic candidate, etc), the drips would be Front Page News. That a  Democrat refused to clear up the record by releasing tax returns would be scandalous, if not proof of the corruption of/meddling in American democracy by foreign interests.

[a CBS4 News 'exclusive' may not appear in all browsers. Here is the link to the breaking interview with Mr Trump: 

CBS4 News Exclusive: Trump Denies Ties To Russia
July 27, 2016 1:09 AM By Jim DeFede ]

____________

 

** '“Is that the theory? I haven’t heard that at all,” Trump told the Miami station. “I mean I haven’t heard that. But I have nothing to do with Russia, nothing to do, I never met Putin, I have nothing to do with Russia whatsoever.”

Trump went on to say he has no outstanding loans with Russian banks or Russian investors.

“Absolutely not,” he said. “It’s ridiculous.”'

I predict this issue will hang and hang and drip and drip and become a millstone about  The Candidate's Neck.   His suggestion today that the FSB continue to probe US computer networks is not the kind of thing we have heard before in an election campaign. 

I will of course revisit my prediction in the months to come.  I smell smoke. 

Is Trump a Russian Stooge?

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william.scherk
22 hours ago, william.scherk said:

But who knows what the President knows, or the gap between reality and what he believes?

Trump says he was joking when he thanked Vladimir Putin for booting U.S. diplomats out of Russia

President Trump said Friday he was just clowning around when he thanked Russian President Vladimir Putin for booting U.S. diplomats from his country.

“I want to thank him because we’re trying to cut down our payroll and as far as I’m concerned I’m very thankful that he let go of a large number of people because now we have a smaller payroll,” Trump told reporters Thursday from his vacation spot in Bedminster, N.J.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told NBC Trump was just being sarcastic, which the President confirmed to reporters at Bedminster Friday.

“Absolutely. I think you know that,” he said.

Absolutely. Absolutely clear about what Trump as president actually thinks about Russia's actions? Not so much.

Trump 'absolutely' joking about thanking Putin for expelling diplomats

President Donald Trump said Friday he was "absolutely" being sarcastic when he publicly thanked Russian President Vladimir Putin for expelling U.S. diplomats from Russia.

The president, who reportedly infuriated State Department officials Thursday when he thanked Putin for helping to reduce the U.S. payroll by removing diplomats from the country, was pressed on whether the comments had been made in earnest or in jest, as White House officials characterized them earlier Friday.

"In order to reduce our payroll? Absolutely," Trump said when asked by reporters in Bedminster, N.J., on Friday whether the comments he'd made to them the day before were sarcastic. "I think you know that."

Trump added that he had recently spoken to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson about devising an answer to Russia's decision to remove numerous diplomats from the country in response to congressional sanctions.

Edited by william.scherk
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william.scherk

russiatoon02.jpg?w=620

"Delayed retaliation."

On 8/1/2017 at 4:36 PM, william.scherk said:

Putin's decree last month that the US reduce its embassy and consulate staff by over seven hundred positions (some of which would likely be Russian citizens) is delayed retaliation for the December 2016 Obama expulsions.  So ...

So ... the White House may think that they can forestall reprisals by the way they handle the pending actions.

Nope. Nope. The White House (or more pertinently, the State Department) has just moved against the Russian expulsion order:

The US announced Thursday it will shutter the Russian consulate in San Francisco, as well as annexes in Washington and New York, in response to mandated staff cuts at the US mission in Russia.

The move comes one day before Moscow's deadline for US personnel to leave their positions and will take effect Saturday.

"The United States has fully implemented the decision by the Government of the Russian Federation to reduce the size of our mission in Russia," State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement announcing the decision. "We believe this action was unwarranted and detrimental to the overall relationship between our countries."

"In the spirit of parity invoked by the Russians," she continued, "we are requiring the Russian government to close its Consulate General in San Francisco, a chancery annex in Washington, DC, and a consular annex in New York City."

[...]

The move is the latest in a series of escalating diplomatic penalties between the United States and Russia that began in the aftermath of last year's US presidential election.

In July, the Russian Foreign Ministry ordered the United States cut its diplomatic staff in Russia by nearly half and announced it would seize two US diplomatic properties in response to expanded sanctions passed by Congress.

In late 2016, former President Barack Obama ordered the expulsion of 35 Russian diplomats, and the seizure of two Russian government compounds in response to alleged Russian meddling in the US presidential election. At the time, the Kremlin announced it would not retaliate immediately, but rather, consider further action "based on the policies of the Trump administration."

Tit, say hello to Tat.

On 8/1/2017 at 4:36 PM, william.scherk said:

The bitter root here is that softening punishment and easing US-Russia relations may be the policy of the President, but this legislation ties his hands. Add that to the Magnitsky sanctions from the Obama era ('adoptions') which bite hard, and the post-Crimea sanctions made in concert with the EU and other nations (like Canada). They suck for Russia. They close off business opportunities, international lending, investment, and they target a raft of supposedly corrupt or human-rights-abusing persons and organizations official and not.

-- in other news, the special counsel investigating 2016 Russia influence operations ticks on, relatively leak-free, gossipy and lightly-sourced media stories notwithstanding ...

From Memeorandum:

Quote
share.png Josh Dawsey / Politico:
Mueller teams up with New York attorney general in Manafort probe  —  Special counsel Robert Mueller's team is working with New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman on its investigation into Paul Manafort and his financial transactions, according to several people familiar with the matter.
Discussion:
RELATED:
i136.jpgshare.png Katrina Manson / Financial Times:
Russian lobbyist testifies to Mueller grand jury  —  Rinat Akhmetshin, the lobbyist and former Soviet army officer who met senior Trump campaign aides at a controversial meeting last year, has given evidence before a grand jury investigation, according to two people familiar with the matter.
RELATED:

5-jim-morin-miami-herald.jpg

Deeeeeeeeep state, amirite?

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william.scherk

The Fall Snooze just keeps on coming. This is from Gizmodo, relying upon reports in the New York Times.

Reports of Russia's Election Hack Keep Getting Scarier

Quote

A New York Times investigation offered some unnerving news on Friday. Not only was the hacking of electoral systems during last year’s election “more extensive than previously disclosed,” the paper reports, multiple sources say that nobody’s really examining the the attacks on a state or local level. The reasons why are as complex as they are alarming.

One thing is clear: A lot of registered voters in North Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, and Arizona didn’t get to vote on election day last year, because their names weren’t in the electronic poll books. We’ve known for a while that Russian hackers had infiltrated the servers of VR Systems, a company that provides the software for polling equipment. However, anonymous sources from the intelligence community told the Times that at least two other election software companies had been hacked as well.

How much damage did they do? We don’t know. We might never know. From the Times:

Government officials said that they intentionally did not address the security of the back-end election systems, whose disruption could prevent voters from even casting ballots.

That’s partly because states control elections; they have fewer resources than the federal government but have long been loath to allow even cursory federal intrusions into the voting process.

And it’s not just those concerns that are hampering an investigation either:

That, along with legal constraints on intelligence agencies’ involvement in domestic issues, has hobbled any broad examination of Russian efforts to compromise American election systems. Those attempts include combing through voter databases, scanning for vulnerabilities or seeking to alter data, which have been identified in multiple states. Current congressional inquiries and the special counsel’s Russia investigation have not focused on the matter.

Meanwhile, the intelligence community said back in January that Russian hackers didn’t alter the vote count. But that assurance skirts around the idea that attackers could have tinkered with the back-end of the election software in such a way that voters in key counties of swing states couldn’t vote at all. The notion that any foreign power could have taken this clever and dreadfully powerful tack is sickening to say the least.

We already know that the Russian hacking was bad. However, the takeaway from this latest investigation—and you should read the Times report in full to understand the broader context—is that, nearly a year after the fact, we still don’t know profoundly Russian hacking affected voting on election day. We might never know, since the investigation is fractured on federal, state, and local levels. On top of all that, it remains unclear if the issues that kept people from going to the polls were caused by Russian hacking, interference from another foreign power, or simply software glitches.

That not knowing is the really scary thing about the 2016 election. Without finding clarity on what went wrong last year, the American people are bound to feel skeptical about how the midterm elections will go next time around. Inevitably, the lack of confidence in the election process could simply stop people from going to the polls, which is never a good thing in a democracy.

There’s still time. The midterm elections are 14 months away, and a lot of things could change before then. No matter what, though, go ahead and plan on voting, regardless of what you might fear will happen. Voting is the most important thing you can do as a citizen of this beleaguered nation. You can’t get turned away at the polls if you don’t show up.

Russia Russia Russia!

616b6448603c10a1e51f424bd301a5b8---elect

Edited by william.scherk
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william.scherk

Not that anyone really cares, but here's a story from Politico:

How to Read Bob Mueller’s Hand
Based on what we know so far, here’s a former federal prosecutor’s expert read on where the Russian investigation is heading.
By RENATO MARIOTTI September 18, 2017

Quote

What is Robert Mueller up to?

Although the scope of the special counsel’s investigation is vast, public reporting of his activities indicate the direction his investigation is taking and gives us a good sense of the types of charges that could result. But most of the breathless speculation about what he will ultimately do is likely wrong—the result of a misunderstanding of how the law works, a misreading of the public evidence we’ve seen so far or wishful thinking by those who would either like to see the president driven from office or see everyone on his team exonerated.

Mariotti briefly updates on the Flynn and Manafort pickings, then ...

Quote

Although the scope of the special counsel’s investigation is vast, public reporting of his activities indicate the direction his investigation is taking and gives us a good sense of the types of charges that could result. But most of the breathless speculation about what he will ultimately do is likely wrong—the result of a misunderstanding of how the law works, a misreading of the public evidence we’ve seen so far or wishful thinking by those who would either like to see the president driven from office or see everyone on his team exonerated.

The other aspect of Mueller’s investigation that appears to be fairly advanced is his obstruction investigation. We know Mueller is looking at obstruction related to the firing of James Comey for many reasons—most recently, the Justice Department refused to permit a Senate committee to interview two FBI officials who were witnesses on this issue, and when asked about the matter, referred questions to Mueller. This indicates that Mueller believes the FBI officials are potential witnesses. (If Mueller thinks he might use their testimony later, he would want to reduce the risk that potential defendants and their counsel can learn about it in advance. He also doesn’t want to generate inconsistent accounts from witnesses that can be used to undermine them at trial.)

Mueller also has set up interviews with White House officials who were reportedly involved in the decision to fire Comey, and Trump lawyers reportedly sent a memo to Mueller making legal arguments about obstruction and claiming that Comey is not a credible witness. This suggests Trump’s legal team believes Mueller is focused on obstruction. They wouldn’t waste their time otherwise.

The strength of the obstruction case against the president is still an open question, however. On the day Comey testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee, I told the New York Times that “a prudent prosecutor would want more facts before bringing this case against a president.” Since then, many more facts have been disclosed, including Thursday’s revelation that the president erupted at Attorney General Jeff Sessions when he learned of Mueller’s appointment, calling him an “idiot” and demanding his resignation.

The intensity of Trump’s reaction to the appointment is unusual and will prompt questions about why he cared so deeply about losing control over the Russia investigation. Moreover, former White House aides Steve Bannon, Reince Priebus and Vice President Mike Pence will likely be questioned about what they told the president to convince him not to fire Sessions, and what he said in response. The president’s words could be used by Mueller as evidence of his “corrupt” intent, which he would need to prove obstruction of justice.

The most significant testimony could come from White House Counsel Don McGahn, who reportedly looked at a letter justifying Comey’s firing that was drafted by White House aide Stephen Miller at Trump’s direction. McGahn made numerous deletions and comments in the draft and also discussed his concerns verbally, according to the New York Times, but it was never published. Mueller has that letter, the Justice Department has confirmed.

McGahn’s comments could be extremely important. If McGahn counseled Trump that firing Comey for the reasons he originally stated could create legal liability for the president, that could be powerful evidence for Mueller. Alternatively, if McGahn’s concerns were focused solely on the tone or language used by Miller, Trump would have an “advice of counsel” defense—he could say that the fact that his lawyer did not raise these concerns led him to believe there was no legal jeopardy associated with firing Comey.

The story wraps up with words of caution for anyone expecting a quick end to the investigation ...

Quote

Mueller’s investigation appears to be proceeding at a rapid pace, but we should not expect it to conclude this year. When it does, any charges that Mueller brings will likely be narrower and more targeted than many observers expect, although the recent Facebook search warrant could result in explosive charges involving cooperation with Russian operatives.

Regardless of what charges are ultimately brought, you can expect them to be carefully considered and limited to what Mueller can readily prove. Proving criminal charges beyond a reasonable doubt to a jury is a weighty burden, and a veteran prosecutor like Mueller will not bring charges unless he is confident he can prove them.

 

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william.scherk
55 minutes ago, william.scherk said:

Mariotti briefly updates on the Flynn and Manafort pickings

Also today, Politico reports that Flynn's family has set up a fund to help defray his legal costs:

Quote

Legal defense fund set up for Michael Flynn

The family of former White House national security adviser Michael Flynn has set up a legal defense fund for him, soliciting donations to ease the “tremendous financial burden” from the ongoing investigations into his actions and the 2016 presidential campaign.

“The enormous expense of attorneys' fees and other related expenses far exceed their ability to pay,” Flynn’s brother and sister said in a statement emailed to reporters early Monday. “To help ensure that he can defend himself, we have set up a legal defense fund, and we are asking Mike's supporters, veterans, and all people of goodwill to contribute whatever amount they can to this fund.”

The fund will not accept donations from foreign governments, nor will it accept money from the Trump campaign or the Trump Organization.

Unrelated: 

6-michael-ramirez-creators.jpg

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william.scherk

A variation of Russia Russia Russia, or a new-old twist, is highlighted elsewhere by MSK, (latest) -- and also here on the blog, but this thread felt lonely and neglected. First, reaction to Dossier Dodgy Dossier, including a declaration by the President. Collusion Uranium Foundation! 

If not charge her, book her & Lock Her Up by Judeo-Christmas, the scandal is of a hopeful, open-ended kind.

First, MSK's explandum, then gleanings from Memeorandum.com.

Spoiler

 

RELATED:
i38.jpgshare.png Brian Beutler / Crooked Media:
THE MAKINGS OF A GOP PSEUDO-SCANDAL  —  This week, House Republicans launched two joint investigations, spanning three congressional committees, aimed at sowing confusion about the nature of Russian influence over last year's election.  —  This isn't liberal gloss on a series of news developments …

 

 
-- the other, less-is-more Russia, rushier, rushiest inquiry plods on with minor hoopla ...
 
Spoiler

share.png New York Times:

Talking Points Brought to Trump Tower Meeting Were Shared With Kremlin  —  Natalia V. Veselnitskaya arrived at a meeting at Trump Tower in June 2016 hoping to interest top Trump campaign officials in the contents of a memo she believed contained information damaging to the Democratic Party and, by extension, Hillary Clinton.

Finally, the art of the screenshot -- the Bigger TV network mobile headlines:

Spoiler

2017-10-27 17_35_10-ABC.png

 

GoogleNews2.png

 

2017-10-27 17_24_06-Fox News.png

 

nbc.png

 

17_22_32-CNN.png

2017-10-27 17_30_49-CBS.png

 

DRUDGE.png

 

 

 

Edited by william.scherk
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william.scherk

I subscribe to the Youtube channel of AMTV (Alternative Media Television) for a couple of reasons: a) it interprets 'breaking' news through a unique perspective; b) it can get very zany, spooky, righteous, triumphant and 'woke.'

While the regular, legacy, Illuminati and Luciferian media giants can provide details for the folks at AMTV, their interpretations come to the point. For example, here is a trimmed-down video from yesterday: The REAL Reason Obama Sold 20% Of US Uranium To Russia ...

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william.scherk

Russia Russia Russia scandal-mongering may not yet be at its peak, but there is certainly some new-old laundry being hung. I heard someone say, "Mueller's hand has been in the cookie jar** with Clinton." So, there you go. 

Meanwhile, two people have just been charged by the FBI with various offences -- Paul Manafort and Rick Gates -- and former campaign foreign policy aide George Papadopoulos has pleaded guilty to making false statements to the FBI. FoxNews legal analyst Andrew Napolitano explains the indictments:

Hoopla!

Spoiler

memeorandum

 TOP ITEMS: 
RELATED:
i19.jpgshare.png CNN:
Manafort to turn himself in to Mueller, source says  —  Source: Manafort to turn himself in to Mueller  —  STORY HIGHLIGHTS  — Manafort is the first person in Trump's orbit charged in connection with the special counsel investigation  —  Washington (CNN)Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort …
share.png New York Times:
How the Russia Investigation Entangled a Manafort Protégé  —  Nearly everywhere Paul Manafort went, it seemed, Rick Gates followed, his protégé and junior partner.  Election campaigns in Eastern Europe and Africa.  Business ventures with a Russian tycoon.
share.png Washington Post:
Manafort and former business partner asked to surrender in connection with special counsel probe  —  Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his former business partner Rick Gates will turn themselves in on charges stemming from Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III's investigation …
i13.jpgshare.png Garrett M. Graff / Wired:
How to Interpret Robert Mueller's New Charges  —  WITH THE FIRST public criminal charges expected to come out Monday, this year's biggest political story—the former FBI director Robert Mueller's investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election—will enter an important new phase …
Discussion: Washington Post, The Week and Power Line
i20.jpgshare.png Dave Lawler / Axios:
How the Russia probe closed in on Paul Manafort  —  Paul Manafort was in the room when Donald Trump Jr. met with a Russian lawyer hoping for dirt on Hilary Clinton.  One month later, he reportedly sent an email to a Russian billionaire offering private briefings on the campaign.
i40.jpgshare.png Tom Kludt / CNNMoney:15 minutes ago
How Fox News is covering the toughest day of the Trump presidency  —  Indictment against Manafort, Gates unsealed  —  The news that Donald Trump's former campaign head had turned himself over to the FBI was just minutes old on Monday morning when “Fox & Friends” co-host Brian Kilmeade posed …

** Here's a neat week-old bit from OffendedAmerica.com -- it looks like the circle has been squared and we have a royal flush.

In conclusion 

Mueller’s involvement in transporting highly enriched uranium to Russia as head of the FBI, as well as his current investments in Russia and co-investments with anti-Trump financier George Soros raise serious doubts over whether he can conduct an impartial investigation. Like Jim Comey, Mueller is quickly losing the confidence of the public.

 

Edited by william.scherk
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william.scherk

"Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest/special counsel?"

From Associated Press: Inside story: How Russians hacked the Democrats’ emails

Quote

An Associated Press investigation into the digital break-ins that disrupted the U.S. presidential contest has sketched out an anatomy of the hack that led to months of damaging disclosures about the Democratic Party’s nominee. It wasn’t just a few aides that the hackers went after; it was an all-out blitz across the Democratic Party. They tried to compromise Clinton’s inner circle and more than 130 party employees, supporters and contractors.

While U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Russia was behind the email thefts, the AP drew on forensic data to report Thursday that the hackers known as Fancy Bear were closely aligned with the interests of the Russian government.

The AP’s reconstruction— based on a database of 19,000 malicious links recently shared by cybersecurity firm Secureworks — shows how the hackers worked their way around the Clinton campaign’s top-of-the-line digital security to steal chairman John Podesta’s emails in March 2016.

It also helps explain how a Russian-linked intermediary could boast to a Trump policy adviser, a month later, that the Kremlin had “thousands of emails” worth of dirt on Clinton.

[...]

By early April Fancy Bear was getting increasingly aggressive, the AP found. More than 60 bogus emails were prepared for Clinton campaign and DNC staffers on April 6 alone, and the hackers began hunting for Democrats beyond New York and Washington, targeting the digital communications director for Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf and a deputy director in the office of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

The group’s hackers seemed particularly interested in Democratic officials working on voter registration issues: Pratt Wiley, the DNC’s then-director of voter protection, had been targeted as far back as October 2015 and the hackers tried to pry open his inbox as many as 15 times over six months.

[...]

The Trump campaign had gotten a whiff of Clinton email hacking, too. According to recently unsealed court documents, former Trump foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos said that it was at an April 26 meeting at a London hotel that he was told by a professor closely connected to the Russian government that the Kremlin had obtained compromising information about Clinton.

“They have dirt on her,” Papadopoulos said he was told. “They have thousands of emails.”

A few days later, Amy Dacey, then the DNC chief executive, got an urgent call.

There’d been a serious breach at the DNC.

 

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william.scherk

Open secrets ... James Comey in Clinton Sex Video!

COMEY Twitter!

I haven't explicitly named James Comey in a wee bit, so I went to find what my official position was at the outset -- back when Wolf had set a topic about his firing. At this point in the discussion, Comey had testified in Congress and we were reviewing the 'Hoopla.' Michael suspected I was doing a double-irony horse-ride around the topic, and suggested 'Serenity' ...

On 3/20/2017 at 11:22 AM, william.scherk said:

Hoopla is not serene, so the best place not to have hoopla is within the White House.  Hoopla outside the White House is a given, not least since traditional news media found themselves cast as adversaries.

Grand Hoopla is for me a function of the intensity of interest among the fourth estate -- itself a gargantuan monster of self-interest -- on top of the now normalized enemy operations. It is when headlines scream for days on the same ugly rumour or fact, fed by stone-walling and tergiversations at the top.  

The thing I take out of the kerfuffle since the ''Tapp" tweets ... is that those tweets were consequential.

The tweets were the subject of sworn testimony by administration officials today. But they have also been rocks and gravel in the White House spin machine since they first appeared. These are second-order effects of having to defend the tweets, leading to questions about headlines caused by the second-order effects -- like the Napolitano hearsay quote blunder.  The consequences of all the effects should go back to source, the angry and uninformed tweeter himself.  He put this ball on the field on March the freaking 4th.

If either you or I could peel back the hoopla, and peer directly into the White House, its meetings and memos and conversations, we could see if the words "Comey" and "rat bastard" and similar were uttered today, we could get a feel for how the administration 'feels' about the weeks wasted trying to put out its own fire.  

America's hoopla machine is still talking about an overblown accusation that hasn't yet found any support in the real world, with high officers of the state explaining what they can explain, to a White House that takes no corrections (pause).  Live-paused on CBC. Of interest to all nations with interests in the USA. 

Is that an own-goal, or a cunning design, or something else?  I am sure/unsure Spicer can empty the gravel from the spinner and put this side-scandal to bed.]

Long way of arriving at James Comey's official Twitter debut.  He had been said (reportedly) to have long been lurking and liking under the since-retired pseudonym of Reinhold Niebuhr ... confirmed a week or so ago. Now he is just another named person posting on the social media platform with a book  near its Walmart day!

 

 

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william.scherk

LEAK: In like Flynn, out like Flynn.

Former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn is in the news again ... last we heard, his legal expenses were mounting.

On 9/18/2017 at 11:10 AM, william.scherk said:

Legal defense fund set up for Michael Flynn

The family of former White House national security adviser Michael Flynn has set up a legal defense fund for him, soliciting donations to ease the “tremendous financial burden” from the ongoing investigations into his actions and the 2016 presidential campaign.

Today, even outlets as reliable as Gateway Pundit are taking the bait: 

LEAK: Gen. Michael Flynn Splits With Trump’s Lawyers — Is He Being Squeezed to Negotiate With Mueller?

Quote

 

Attorneys for retired Lieutenant General Michael Flynn have cut ties with President Trump’s legal team, raising questions if the former national security adviser is ‘cooperating with prosecutors or negotiating a deal’ with Robert Mueller in the Special Counsel’s Russia collusion investigation. To date, no concrete evidence has emerged linking Trump officials to Russia with the purpose of colluding.

After earlier reports saying Mueller has enough evidence to charge Flynn, one must ask the question if the Special Counsel is squeezing the former national security adviser to negotiate?

[...]

 

With six you get eggroll; Grand Hoopla!

Spoiler
share.png New York Times:
A Split From Trump Indicates That Flynn Is Moving to Cooperate With Mueller  —  WASHINGTON — Lawyers for Michael T. Flynn, President Trump's former national security adviser, notified the president's legal team in recent days that they could no longer discuss the special counsel's investigation …
–
Discussion:
RELATED:

 

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william.scherk

In case you were wondering which way the wind is blowing with regard to Flynn and the White House ... a Fox News panel discussed his presumed-till-now loyalty to truth and to Donald Trump. Prepare the parachutes!   Or, in Fox-ese ...

(apparently, Flynn is a dirty liar, and so he may be trying to 'turn on Trump' by making up a narrative about obstruction of justice.)

 

 

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william.scherk
On 11/24/2017 at 11:15 AM, william.scherk said:

In case you were wondering which way the wind is blowing with regard to Flynn and the White House ... a Fox News panel discussed his presumed-till-now loyalty to truth and to Donald Trump. Prepare the parachutes!   Or, in Fox-ese ...

(apparently, Flynn is a dirty liar, and so he may be trying to 'turn on Trump' by making up a narrative about obstruction of justice.)

Re Flynn: what is being said, in the places that matter? As usual, a fever of speculation breaks out over the implications of a tiny piece of information. What does Trump think? What do Trump's staff think he thinks? What does Joe Average think Trump's staff thinks he thinks Trump thinks ?

Duelling Walls of Sound and Fury! Prime Rib. Salad bar. Pony rides. Witch hunts.

Michael Flynn's lawyer reportedly met with Mueller's team
Has Mike Flynn Flipped On Trump?

 

Spoiler
RELATED:
i78.jpgshare.png Natasha Bertrand / Business Insider:
A key witness in the Russia probe had a ‘lengthy conversation’ with Trump at Mar-a-Lago  — James Woolsey, the former CIA director who has been cooperating with the special counsel Robert Mueller, had a “lengthy conversation” with President Donald Trump over dinner last weekend at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort.


 

 

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william.scherk

Michael Flynn is charged with one count of lying to the FBI (apparently about the content of discussions with Russia's then-ambassador Kislyak).

DP93W4fX4AAJYKj.jpg

-- Associated Press is running with a story that Flynn will plead guilty later today. More details from Fox News.

Confirmed: Flynn pleads guilty. Chance of grand hoopla: 90%. Kinda makes me wonder if Flynn traded something for admitting to this lie. Initial hoopla suggests "I'm not the only one noticing this" ... 

Judge Nap on Flynn's Guilty Plea: 'Monumental' Reduction of Charges Doesn't Come for Free

Napolitano said the potential penalty on a charge of lying to the FBI is minimal compared to the 60 or so years Flynn could have faced on other allegations. 

"With his guilty plea, he's reduced that to somewhere between six and 12 months. That is an enormous, gargantuan, monumental reduction. That doesn't come easily and it doesn't come for free,

The judge said it raises the "tantalizing" question of what information Flynn has given to Mueller.
 

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Edited by william.scherk
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william.scherk

But wait! There's more. Senior Transition official K T McFarland's "Russia" email gets some scrutiny ...

2017-12-02%2014_28_33-KT-McFarland-email

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I don't know if anyone reporting has seen the purported December 29 2016 email, but it has been quoted: “If there is a tit-for-tat escalation Trump will have difficulty improving relations with Russia, which has just thrown U.S.A. election to him.”

Edited by william.scherk
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william.scherk

Trump flashback: "I've got a crook running my campaign."

Corey Lewandowski and David Bossie have a new book coming out tomorrow. For some reason they made an advance copy available to the Washington Post. The book is called "Let Trump Be Trump: The Inside Story of His Rise to the Presidency" (Amazon link).  The Post saw fit to excerpt portions chronicling the President's titanic rages ... and his diet of fast-food. Ho hum.

Of more interest to OLers following the scandal/hoax/NWO-Deaps-Tait hoopla around the campaign -- and the fate of such as Manafort, Flynn, Gates and Papadopoulos -- there is some material that covers the hiring and firing of Paul Manafort (who is now under house arrest).

According to Talking Points Memo's Matt Shuham -- piggy-backing on a report from Politico -- the book says this kind of thing ...

Quote

Manafort, who took Lewandowski’s title as campaign manager and deputy campaign manager, respectively — Manafort’s start on the campaign was marked by turmoil, after press secretary Hope Hicks turned down all Sunday show interview requests one weekend at his suggestion. Lewandowski recorded what he said was Trump’s response in two phone calls:

“Did you say I shouldn’t be on TV on Sunday??” Manafort could barely hear him because of the helicopter motor. But Trump said, “I’ll go on TV anytime I goddamn fucking want and you won’t say another fucking word about me! Tone it down? I wanna turn it up! I don’t wanna tone anything down! I played along with your delegate charts, but I have had enough.”

[…]

“You’re a political pro? Let me tell you something. I’m a pro at life. I’ve been around a time or two. I know guys like you, with your hair and your skin…”

Manafort, who took Lewandowski’s title as campaign manager in June 2016 after serving as an adviser to Trump, ultimately left the campaign after reports of his financial relationship with the political party of the pro-Russian Ukrainian leader Viktor Yanukovych. He and his deputy, Rick Gates, pleaded not guilty on Oct. 30 to several charges, including money laundering and unregistered lobbying, as part of Robert Mueller’s probe of Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

[...]

The second excerpt shared with Politico details Manafort’s departure from the campaign, which occurred after two stories of his deep ties to Ukrainian political clients: First, that a secret ledger from Yanukovych’s political party showed $12.7 million in payments to Manafort, and then, a separate report that Manafort and Gates had done unregistered lobbying work for the same party.

Lewandowski and Bossie recorded two telling reactions from Manafort to the news of the secret ledger payments.

“It’s all lies,” Manafort told Steve Bannon shortly before the New York Times published its reporting, according to the book. “My lawyers are fighting it.”

He also reportedly said: “It was a long time ago […] I had expenses.”

After the story of unregistered lobbying work broke, according to the excerpt, Trump said: “Tell Jared to fire him.” Manafort protested, according to Lewandowski and Bossie — “It will make me look guilty” — but, according to the new book, “Jared told him there wasn’t much that could be done. A press release was going out in 60 seconds.” 

[Edit note:  I should have just led with the excerpts at Politico ...]

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Edited by william.scherk
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william.scherk

The candidate said, "I've got a crook running my campaign," according to the Lewandowski/Bossie book. No one will ever know what exact level of vetting Paul Manafort received before being brought on. I expect it was not "extreme vetting."  If Trump had taken advice he probably wouldn't have installed Manafort or Flynn ... 

Here's an uncute Bloomberg headline from last week that I missed at the time: Manafort Pal Still Profiting From Mostly Silent Pro-Trump Group.

Quote

One of the biggest super political action committees backing Donald Trump’s campaign has done little since the election other than pay a sizable salary to its top official, a longtime friend and business associate of the president’s former campaign manager, Paul Manafort.

Laurance Gay, the godfather to one of Manafort’s daughters, has been paid about $830,000 since the creation of Rebuilding America Now in June 2016. That’s far more than the bosses of other pro-Trump groups, including those that have actively promoted the president’s agenda.

[...]

Trump himself has taken note. "People get very rich running PACs, but we’re going to try and get that straightened out because it’s crazy," he said at a Washington dinner a couple days before his inauguration.

Drain that swamp!

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william.scherk

Don't dump the whole box of fish food in the tank at one time, fam.

Quote
 TOP ITEMS: 
i6.jpgshare.png Mark Di Stefano / BuzzFeed:
Australia Says It's “Ready To Confirm” A Key Meeting That Led To The Investigation Into Trump's Russia Links  —  Heavily-redacted documents released to BuzzFeed News show Australia's former high commissioner wrote a three-page cable to the United States about his London meeting with a Trump campaign adviser.
RELATED:
i26.jpgshare.png U.S. Department of Justice:
Attorney General William P. Barr Delivers Remarkson the Release of the Report on the Investigation into Russian Interference in the 2016 Presidential Election  —  Good Morning.  Thank you all for being here today.  —  On March 22, 2019, Special Counsel Robert Mueller concluded his investigation …
Discussion:
Hart Williams / The Moderate Voice:   Branded: Barr-None
Mark Joseph Stern / Slate:   William Barr Has Failed America
Chris Cillizza / CNN:   7 takeaways on Mueller Report Day
i33.jpgshare.png Washington Post:
Live updates: Trump, when told of appointment of special counsel Mueller, said: ‘This is the end of my presidency,’ report says  —  President Trump, upon first learning of the appointment of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, cursed and declared, “this is the end of my presidency,” …
Discussion:
Justin Rohrlich / Quartz:   Read the full Mueller report
i28.jpgshare.png Bloomberg:
Mueller Spells Out Trump's ‘Multiple Acts’ to Undermine Russia Probe  — Congress has authority to act on obstruction, Mueller says  — Special counsel didn't find ‘underlying crime’ on collusion  —  Robert Mueller delivered an exhaustive account of President Donald Trump's efforts …
i23.jpgshare.png Peter Baker / New York Times:
Mueller Report Is Released: Live Updates  —  The Justice Department has released a redacted version of the report by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, who investigated Russian election interference, any ties to the Trump campaign and possible presidential obstruction.
i38.jpgshare.png Sean Davis / The Federalist:
THE FULL MUELLER REPORT WAS JUST RELEASED.  READ IT HERE  —  The report from special counsel Robert Mueller detailing his nearly 2-year investigation of whether Donald Trump treasonously colluded with Russia to steal the election from Hillary Clinton has finally been released.
i117.jpgshare.png New York Times:
White House and Justice Dept. Officials Discussed Mueller Report Before Release  —  WASHINGTON — Robert S. Mueller III's findings will be public on Thursday, but some of them will not be news to President Trump.  —  Justice Department officials have had numerous conversations …
Discussion:
David A. Graham / The Atlantic:   Barr's Narrative of Victimhood
i10.jpgshare.png Jonathan Swan / Axios:
Mueller report: What witnesses expect ahead of its release  —  Mueller witnesses and their lawyers say that they expect the special counsel's report to include a mass of detailed scenes in which President Trump lashed out about Mueller, Jeff Sessions, Rod Rosenstein and the FBI.
i37.jpgshare.png Zack Beauchamp / Vox:
The attorney general just pre-spun the Mueller report for Trump  —  Barr spun everything in Trump's favor — and literally walked offstage when he was called on it.  —  Attorney General William Barr's Thursday morning press conference on special counsel Robert Mueller's Trump-Russia report was a whitewash.
share.png Pelosi Press / Speaker Nancy Pelosi: 
Pelosi, Schumer Call For Special Counsel Mueller to Provide Public Testimony In House And Senate
Discussion:
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