Secret CIA assessment says Russia intervened in election to help Trump win

tenguy · Apr 30, 2018

It must really suck to be a progressive in here, they only have old debunked news to cling to.

It's the Russians!! It's the NRA!! It's a vast right wing conspiracy!! It's Trump's insanity!!

69magpie · Apr 30, 2018

tenguy said: ↑

It must really suck to be a progressive in here, they only have old debunked news to cling to.

It's the Russians!! It's the NRA!! It's a vast right wing conspiracy!! It's Trump's insanity!!
Click to expand...

While the righties in the US only need one crutch to cling to....

It's all fake news from a corrupt media.

anon_de_plume · Apr 30, 2018

tenguy said: ↑

It must really suck to be a progressive in here, they only have old debunked news to cling to.

It's the Russians!! It's the NRA!! It's a vast right wing conspiracy!! It's Trump's insanity!!
Click to expand...

So, as a supporter, what achievements make you proud to have voted for Trump?

stumbler · Apr 30, 2018

69magpie said: ↑

While the righties in the US only need one crutch to cling to....

It's all fake news from a corrupt media.
Click to expand...

Well some of them might need a lot more than just a crutch. Its stunning that some can't tell the difference between "old news" and new developments. It indicates a real detachment from reality and current events. Kind of reminds me of my crazy old aunt Helen who would make pronouncements about stuff she didn't even know.

At least we know PR hacks will try to spin lies like Trump being cleared of any collusion with the Russians by the House Intelligence committee. That is their job. We can expect that. But not being able to tell the difference between past and present is something different.

But speaking of the Republican whitewash they can't even get all the Republicans on the committee to agree.

Trey Gowdy says House Intel report doesn't fully vindicate Trump on Russian collusion

While defending a report from Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee that found "no evidence" of collusion between Russia and members of President Trump's campaign, Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy cautioned that the executive branch is better suited to investigate the matter.

On Sunday, fired FBI Director James Comey called the report a "wreck," which prompted Gowdy to say that the criticism is unfair.

"I have more confidence in executive branch investigations than I do congressional," Gowdy told CBS News' Margaret Brennan on "Face the Nation" on Sunday. "I wouldn't say it's a wreck. *The witnesses we talked to -- no one said that they had any evidence of collusion. And I participated in almost every one of those interviews and I'm the one who asked the questions. So from the standpoint of where these matters are best investigated, I don't think it's in Congress right now for myriad reasons."

Gowdy also faulted Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the committee, for how he handled the investigation.

"[W]hen you start with a conclusion, which Adam Schiff did in March of 2017, you have evidence of collusion and then you never ever share it with anyone," Gowdy said. "That investigation is not likely to turn out well."

According to Gowdy, Schiff does not have any specific evidence of collusion. "He doesn't have it, so he can't give me what he doesn't have. Adam, before we ever started, said he had evidence of collusion," Gowdy said. "And this is exactly what he said -- more than circumstantial but not direct. Let's lay aside the fact that there is no such thing as more than circumstantial but not direct. There's only two kinds of evidence."

Gowdy, who sits on the House Intelligence Committee, said that special counsel Robert Mueller's team is better equipped to investigate any potential collusion, which he noted is not technically a crime. The real crime, Gowdy said, is conspiracy, and while the House Intelligence committee had not found any evidence of that, it's possible that there is evidence that they had not seen.

"[T]he best we can do is say what we've learned," Gowdy said. "I can't say what's in the universe of witnesses we have not talked to. And I have always maintained I am awaiting the Mueller investigation. They get to use a grand jury. They have investigative tools that we don't have. Executive branch investigations are just better than congressional ones. So we found no evidence of collusion whether or not it exists or not, I can't speak to because I haven't interviewed the full panoply of witnesses."

Gowdy also pushed back on the idea that Congress should investigate Comey for allegedly leaking classified documents, but that it would be appropriate for the Judiciary Committee to ask questions of the FBI.

"Congress is not well-equipped to investigate crime," Gowdy said. "I have complete confidence in Michael Horowitz, who's the inspector general -- that's who investigated Andy McCabe, and then he made a referral to the Department of Justice. I trust Mr. Horowitz to investigate. I've never accused Jim Comey of committing a crime. I've accused him of doing somethings that I don't agree with. But in terms of accusing someone of a crime, a member of Congress should not do that."

As for Scott Pruitt, the embattled EPA administrator, Gowdy said that he would gather evidence before coming to a conclusion.

"We got documents Friday," Gowdy said. "We are scheduling witness interviews. The natural chronology of investigations to me is gather the documents, schedule the witness interviews and then draw your conclusions at the end. What usually happens with Congress is we draw our conclusions on the front end and then we go in search of whatever evidence we want to validate that previously held wrong conclusion.

"We're going to do it the way I'm used to doing it. Gather the documents. Interview the witnesses and then share it at the appropriate time."
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*And now let's look at the witnesses the Republicans refused to call which does not even include their refusal to subpoena phone and bank records that could have proven if witnesses were lying during their testimony. Including Don Jr's phone records that would reveal who he was calling on a blocked phone before, during and immediately after the Trump Tower meeting with the Russian Lawyer/informant.

House probe overlooked most Trump-Russia contacts, report claims
Democratic-aligned group claims Intelligence Committee failed to follow majority of connections.

WASHINGTON — Even though the final report from the Republican-led House Intelligence Committee will find no evidence of collusion between the Trump presidential campaign and Russia, a new study by a Democratic-aligned advocacy group suggests the committee didn’t look very hard.

According to the Center for American Progress’s Moscow Project, the House committee charged with investigating Russian involvement in the 2016 election obtained either no or incomplete information about 81 percent of the known contacts between Trump officials and Russians, or groups and individuals with strong Russia ties like Wikileaks.

Those officials include former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who has pled guilty to lying to the FBI, and former campaign manager Paul Manafort, who has been indicted on an array of tax, financial, and bank fraud crimes and has worked on behalf on foreign entities aligned with Russia.

Another key finding, according to CAP’s examination: At least 22 high-ranking Trump campaign officials knew about the contacts during the 2016 campaign and the transition.

CAP's Moscow Project is a research initiative aimed at documenting Trump’s Russia ties.

The report, provided to NBC News, comes as the committee is due to vote Thursday on its final report and effectively end its investigation. Committee Democrats disagree with its conclusions and have accused Republicans of prematurely shuttering the probe.

Based on news reports, public statements, witness lists and indictments related to special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, the CAP report documents at least 70 contacts between the Trump team and Russia-linked operatives, from January 2016 through 2017 as Trump took the oath of office. They include 22 meetings, including Skype calls.

While many news organizations, including NBC, have documented the timeline and large volume of contacts between Trump officials and the Russians, the CAP report is particularly comprehensive, making some connections that have not been widely reported and taking an exhaustive view of how many Trump officials were aware of the regular interactions.

And the 12-page study claims that the committee failed to interview key witnesses involved in 60 percent of the cases.

In addition to Manafort and Flynn, these include George Papadopoulos, the Trump campaign foreign policy aide whose boast about Russia having “political dirt” on Hillary Clinton sparked an FBI probe; and Anthony Scaramucci, the onetime White House communications director who criticized U.S. sanctions on Russia after a January meeting in Davos, Switzerland, with Kirill Dmitriev, a Kremlin ally and the head of a sanctioned Russian investment fund.

A spokeswoman for Rep. Mike Conaway, R-Texas, who presided over the investigation, said the committee could no longer call Manafort and Flynn after they were charged or pleaded guilty in the special counsel’s investigation.

Conaway has said that dozens of interviews and a review of intelligence agencies' findings suggests the Russian goal was more to sow confusion and discord than it was to help Trump. That is at odds with the U.S. intelligence community, which said the Kremlin was clearly trying to help Trump.

The House probe is shutting down as new information is coming to light about Cambridge Analytica, the data firm with ties to Trump’s campaign, that could weigh in a collusion investigation.

“For months we urged the majority to bring in other witnesses from Cambridge Analytica and the Trump campaign digital media operation, but they were unwilling to do so,” said Rep. Adam Schiff of California, the committee’s top Democrat. "We now see the severe consequences of their failure to do so."

Alexander Nix, Cambridge Analytica’s CEO, was suspended this week after he was secretly recorded talking about deceptive methods employed by the company, including bribery, blackmail and misinformation campaigns.

“The American people cannot rely solely on the investigative work of journalists,” Schiff said in a statement.

CAP also found that in another 21 percent of the known contacts with specific individuals, pleas from House Democrats to call back witnesses, including those who refused to answer questions, were rejected.

These include longtime Trump personal attorney Michael Cohen; Attorney General Jeff Sessions; Trump son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner; Donald Trump Jr.; and Erik Prince, a Trump supporter and founder of the Blackwater security firm.

Democrats say the committee’s refusal to dig more thoroughly into Trump associates’ dealings with Russia has emboldened the president to take a more aggressive posture toward Mueller's investigation of Trump’s Russia ties. Over the weekend, Trump began to target Mueller by name on Twitter.

According to a recent status report by Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee, more than 30 key witnesses have not been interviewed. These include personnel and contractors from the campaign’s digital operations, including Cambridge Analytica.

Particularly glaring oversights, according to the CAP report, include not asking Trump attorney Cohen for documents about a proposed 2016 Trump Tower deal in Moscow and not calling Kushner back for more information about a June 9 meeting at Trump Tower in New York with Russians, including attorney Natalia Veselnitskaya and a former Soviet counterintelligence officer and lobbyist. An email showed Trump Jr. eager to attend that meeting, where he hoped to receive information that could incriminate Hillary Clinton.

Committee Democrats also wanted to hear from Sessions on his conversations with Trump about the Russia investigations. They say Prince and another longtime Trump friend, Roger Stone, may have lied to the committee about their interactions with Russians in the Seychelles and with Wikileaks, respectively.

Days after the House Intelligence Committee announced its findings, The New York Times reported on a secret meeting in the Seychelles between Prince and a Russian close to President Vladimir Putin as part of an apparent effort to establish a back channel to the Kremlin.

While Democrats say they wanted more information from several witnesses as part of the committee probe, it is impossible to say for certain what information the committee did and did not obtain, given that there is no public access to the transcripts themselves.

While many of the individual meetings have been exhaustively covered by news organizations, the CAP report shows the interactions were regular (often with little more than days separating them) and it highlights some actors such as Ivan Timofeev, who claimed connections to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The interactions documented in the report begin with a January 2016 email from Trump’s personal lawyer Cohen to Putin’s top spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, about a stalled attempt to build a Trump Tower project in Moscow.

In March there were meetings between Papadopoulos, whose actions prompted the start of an FBI probe, and both Joseph Mifsud, a Maltese academic alleged to have high-level connections to the Kremlin, and a female Russian national believed to be Putin’s relative.

The report also highlights that, following the now infamous Trump Tower meeting in June 2016, Papadopoulos had “several email and Skype exchanges” with Timofeev, who suggested a campaign official come to Russia for a meeting.

A month later, in July, Carter Page, a Trump campaign foreign policy adviser, traveled to Moscow to give a speech. There he met with Andrey Baranov, head of investor relations at Rosneft, and spoke to Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich.

In August, Stone was in touch with Guccifer 2.0, which worked with Wikileaks to release thousands of stolen Clinton campaign emails during the election, and Manafort was corresponding with Konstantin Kilimnik, a Russian-Ukrainian political operative and former member of Russian intelligence.

By late September, Wikileaks was in touch via Twitter with Trump Jr., who agreed to its requests to push a story about Hillary Clinton and to urge his father to tweet Wikileaks links. Wikileaks contacted Trump Jr. several other times, but he stopped replying to the messages.

On Oct. 7, within hours after a lewd “Access Hollywood” tape of Trump bragging about grabbing women by their genitals surfaced, Wikileaks started dropping emails stolen from Clinton campaign chair John Podesta.

With the House investigation wrapping up, it now falls to the Senate Intelligence Committee and special counsel Mueller to fill in the blanks.

In an interview Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Conaway misspoke about whether the committee was even tasked with examining collusion and acknowledged not having talked to a key witness, Papadopoulos.

“He got outside the opportunity for us to interview him when he was charged and got caught up in the Mueller investigation,” Conaway said. “We're trying to stay away from the Mueller investigation and not confuse that or hurt it one way or the other.”
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stumbler · May 1, 2018

So hey guys if Trump wants to conclude the Meuller investigation he can sit down for an interview and answer 48 questions can't he?

ace's n 8's · May 1, 2018

stumbler said: ↑

So hey guys if Trump wants to conclude the Meuller investigation he can sit down for an interview and answer 48 questions can't he?
Click to expand...

What's the purpose for the sit down?....

Talk about their grandchildren?

stumbler · May 1, 2018

Man, the good ol' New York Times. What a story. And you guys can give up on trying to blame Mueller's team for the leak. It is not in their handwriting. Meaning the questions are not in the proper format they would have used and they have the same kind of grammatical errors common in the Trump White House. These are the notes taken by Trump's legal team when they met with Mueller. And that is where they came from.

But here are the questions and they are almost as damning as the answers would be. So now let's see the PR hacks and Trump supporters claim Trump is actually above all laws and if he has to be our dictator so be it.

Read the questions yourself. Complements of the New York Times.

Questions related to Michael T. Flynn, the former national security adviser

• What did you know about phone calls that Mr. Flynn made with the Russian ambassador, Sergey I. Kislyak, in late December 2016?
These questions revolve around whether Mr. Trump tried to obstruct justice to protect Mr. Flynn from prosecution. His phone calls with Mr. Kislyak are at the heart of that inquiry.

During the calls, Mr. Flynn urged Russia not to overreact to sanctions just announced by the Obama administration. But Mr. Trump’s aides publicly denied that sanctions were discussed and, when questioned by the F.B.I., Mr. Flynn denied it, as well. Mr. Mueller wants to know whether Mr. Flynn was operating on Mr. Trump’s behalf. Prosecutors may already know the answer: Mr. Flynn has pleaded guilty to lying and is cooperating with investigators.

• What was your reaction to news reports on Jan. 12, 2017, and Feb. 8-9, 2017?

In January, the Washington Post columnist David Ignatius revealed Mr. Flynn’s phone calls with Mr. Kislyak. Mr. Ignatius questioned whether those conversations had violated a law prohibiting private citizens from attempting to undermine American policies. In February, The Washington Post revealed the true nature of Mr. Flynn’s conversations with Mr. Kislyak.

In January, the Washington Post columnist David Ignatius revealed Mr. Flynn’s phone calls with Mr. Kislyak. Mr. Ignatius questioned whether those conversations had violated a law prohibiting private citizens from attempting to undermine American policies. In February, The Washington Post revealed the true nature of Mr. Flynn’s conversations with Mr. Kislyak.

Mr. Mueller wants to know, among other things, whether Mr. Trump feared that his national security adviser had broken the law and then tried to shield him from consequences.

• What did you know about Sally Yates’s meetings about Mr. Flynn?
Ms. Yates, the acting attorney general for the first weeks of the Trump administration, twice warned the White House that Mr. Flynn was lying, and those lies made him vulnerable to Russian blackmail. No one from the White House has ever said how much Mr. Trump knew about those warnings.

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• How was the decision made to fire Mr. Flynn on Feb. 13, 2017?
Eighteen days after Ms. Yates’s warning, Mr. Flynn was asked to resign. The White House said that Mr. Trump lost confidence in Mr. Flynn because he had lied. But the White House has never fully explained why, after learning about the lie, officials waited so long to act.

• After the resignations, what efforts were made to reach out to Mr. Flynn about seeking immunity or possible pardon?
The Times recently revealed that, when Mr. Flynn began considering cooperating with the F.B.I., Mr. Trump’s lawyers floated the idea of a pardon. Mr. Mueller wants to know why.

Questions related to James B. Comey, the former F.B.I. director
• What was your opinion of Mr. Comey during the transition?
The questions about Mr. Comey relate to whether Mr. Trump fired Mr. Comey last year to shield Mr. Flynn, or anyone else, from prosecution. Mr. Trump has denied that, saying he fired Mr. Comey because of his mishandling of the F.B.I.’s investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server.

This question is important because, if Mr. Trump truly was upset about the Clinton investigation, he would have shown an early distaste for Mr. Comey.

• What did you think about Mr. Comey’s intelligence briefing on Jan. 6, 2017, about Russian election interference?
The briefing revealed that American intelligence agencies had concluded that Russian operatives meddled in the election to hurt Mrs. Clinton and to boost Mr. Trump. Mr. Trump has repeatedly cast doubt on these conclusions and said he believes the Russian president, Vladimir V. Putin, who denies any interference.

• What was your reaction to Mr. Comey’s briefing that day about other intelligence matters?
This question addresses documents written by a retired British spy, Christopher Steele, who said that Russia had gathered compromising information on Mr. Trump. The documents, which became known as the Steele Dossier, also claim that the Trump campaign had ties to the Russian government. Mr. Comey privately briefed Mr. Trump about these documents.

• What was the purpose of your Jan. 27, 2017, dinner with Mr. Comey, and what was said?
A few weeks after his briefing, Mr. Comey was called to the White House for a private dinner. Mr. Comey’s notes say that Mr. Trump raised concerns about the Steele Dossier and said he needed loyalty from his F.B.I. director. This question touches on Mr. Trump’s true motivation for firing Mr. Comey: Was he dismissed because he was not loyal and would not shut down an F.B.I. investigation?

• What was the purpose of your Feb. 14, 2017, meeting with Mr. Comey, and what was said?
That was a key moment. Mr. Comey testified that the president told him, “I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go.” Mr. Trump has denied this.

• What did you know about the F.B.I.’s investigation into Mr. Flynn and Russia in the days leading up to Mr. Comey’s testimony on March 20, 2017?
Mr. Comey’s testimony publicly confirmed that the F.B.I. was investigating members of the Trump campaign for possible coordination with Russia. Mr. Mueller wants to know what role that revelation played in Mr. Comey’s firing.

• What did you do in reaction to the March 20 testimony? Describe your contacts with intelligence officials.
In the aftermath, The Post reported, Mr. Trump asked the United States’ top intelligence official, Daniel Coats, to pressure Mr. Comey to back off his investigation. Mr. Mueller wants to ask Mr. Trump about his contacts with Mr. Coats as well as the C.I.A.’s director at the time, Mike Pompeo, and the National Security Agency’s director, Michael S. Rogers. The conversations could reflect Mr. Trump’s growing frustration with Mr. Comey — not about the Clinton case, but about his refusal to shut down the Russia inquiry.

• What did you think and do in reaction to the news that the special counsel was speaking to Mr. Rogers, Mr. Pompeo and Mr. Coats?
It is not clear whether Mr. Mueller knows something specific about Mr. Trump’s reaction to these interviews, but the question shows that Mr. Mueller is keenly interested in how Mr. Trump responded to each step of his investigation.

• What was the purpose of your calls to Mr. Comey on March 30 and April 11, 2017?
Mr. Comey said that Mr. Trump called twice to ask him to say publicly that he was not under F.B.I. investigation. In the second call, Mr. Comey said, the president added: “I have been very loyal to you, very loyal. We had that thing, you know.”

• What was the purpose of your April 11, 2017, statement to Maria Bartiromo?
While the White House ultimately said Mr. Comey was fired for breaking with Justice Department policy and discussing the Clinton investigation, Mr. Trump expressed no such qualms in an interview with Ms. Bartiromo of Fox Business Network. “Director Comey was very, very good to Hillary Clinton, that I can tell you,” he said. “If he weren’t, she would be, right now, going to trial.”

• What did you think and do about Mr. Comey’s May 3, 2017, testimony?
In this Senate appearance, Mr. Comey described his handling of the Clinton investigation in detail. Mr. Comey was fired soon after. Mr. Mueller’s question suggests he wants to know why Mr. Trump soured.

• Regarding the decision to fire Mr. Comey: When was it made? Why? Who played a role?
Over the past several months, Mr. Mueller has asked White House officials for the back story, and whether the public justification was accurate. He will be able to compare Mr. Trump’s answers to what he has learned elsewhere.

• What did you mean when you told Russian diplomats on May 10, 2017, that firing Mr. Comey had taken the pressure off?
The day after Mr. Comey’s firing, Mr. Trump met with Russian officials in the Oval Office. There, The Times revealed, Mr. Trump suggested he had fired Mr. Comey because of the pressure from the Russia investigation.

“I just fired the head of the F.B.I. He was crazy, a real nut job,” Mr. Trump said. “I faced great pressure because of Russia. That’s taken off.”

• What did you mean in your interview with Lester Holt about Mr. Comey and Russia?
Shortly after firing Mr. Comey, Mr. Trump undercut his own argument when he told NBC News that he had been thinking about the Russia investigation when he fired Mr. Comey.

“I was going to fire Comey knowing there was no good time to do it. And in fact, when I decided to just do it, I said to myself — I said, you know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made-up story. It's an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election that they should've won.”

• What was the purpose of your May 12, 2017, tweet?
After The Times revealed the president’s private dinner with Mr. Comey, Mr. Trump responded on Twitter.

Mr. Comey appeared unworried. “Lordy, I hope there are tapes,” Mr. Comey said. The White House ultimately said that, no, there were no tapes.

• What did you think about Mr. Comey’s June 8, 2017, testimony regarding Mr. Flynn, and what did you do about it?
After he was fired, Mr. Comey testified about his conversations with Mr. Trump and described him as preoccupied with the F.B.I.’s investigation into Russia. After the testimony, Mr. Trump called him a liar.

• What was the purpose of the September and October 2017 statements, including tweets, regarding an investigation of Mr. Comey?
Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, said that Mr. Comey had testified falsely to Congress and suggested that the Justice Department might investigate. Mr. Trump followed up with tweets suggesting that he should be investigated for rigging an inquiry into Mrs. Clinton. Such comments reinforced criticism that Mr. Trump views the Justice Department as a sword to use against his political rivals.

• What is the reason for your continued criticism of Mr. Comey and his former deputy, Andrew G. McCabe?
Mr. Comey and Mr. McCabe are among Mr. Trump’s favorite targets. Mr. McCabe is a lifelong Republican, but Mr. Trump has criticized him as a Clinton loyalist because Mr. McCabe’s wife, a Democrat, ran unsuccessfully for office in Virginia and received donations from a Clinton ally. This question suggests that Mr. Mueller wants to know whether Mr. Trump’s criticism is an effort to damage the F.B.I. while it investigates the president’s associates.

Questions related to Attorney General Jeff Sessions

• What did you think and do regarding the recusal of Mr. Sessions?
Mr. Trump has criticized Mr. Sessions’s recusal from the Russia investigation. The Times reported that Mr. Trump humiliated him in an Oval Office meeting and accused him of being disloyal. Mr. Sessions ultimately submitted his resignation, though Mr. Trump did not accept it. Along with the next two questions, this inquiry looks at whether Mr. Trump views law enforcement officials as protectors.

• What efforts did you make to try to get him to change his mind?
The Times has reported that Mr. Trump told his White House counsel, Donald F. McGahn II, to stop Mr. Sessions from recusing himself. Mr. McGahn was unsuccessful, and Mr. Trump erupted, saying he needed an attorney general who would protect him.

• Did you discuss whether Mr. Sessions would protect you, and reference past attorneys general?
Mr. Trump has spoken affectionately about past attorneys general who he said were loyal to their presidents. He cited Robert F. Kennedy and Eric H. Holder Jr. as examples. “Holder protected the president,” he said in a Times interview in December. “And I have great respect for that.”

• What did you think and what did you do in reaction to the news of the appointment of the special counsel?
In a twist, Mr. Mueller’s very appointment has become part of his investigation. Mr. Trump has repeatedly denounced the inquiry as a “witch hunt.” Mr. Trump blames the appointment on Mr. Sessions’s recusal.

• Why did you hold Mr. Sessions’s resignation until May 31, 2017, and with whom did you discuss it?
Mr. Trump rejected Mr. Sessions’s resignation after aides argued that it would only create more problems. The details of those discussions remain unclear, but Mr. Trump’s advisers have already given Mr. Mueller their accounts of the conversations.

• What discussions did you have with Reince Priebus in July 2017 about obtaining the Sessions resignation? With whom did you discuss it?
Mr. Priebus, who was Mr. Trump’s chief of staff, has said he raced out of the White House after Mr. Sessions and implored him not to resign. Mr. Mueller has interviewed Mr. Priebus and would be able to compare his answers with those of Mr. Trump.

• What discussions did you have regarding terminating the special counsel, and what did you do when that consideration was reported in January 2018?
Again, Mr. Mueller’s investigation intersects with its own existence. The Times reported that, in June 2017, Mr. Trump ordered Mr. McGahn to fire Mr. Mueller. Mr. McGahn refused. Though Mr. Trump’s own advisers informed Mr. Mueller about that effort, Mr. Trump denied it: “Fake news,” he said. “A typical New York Times fake story.”

• What was the purpose of your July 2017 criticism of Mr. Sessions?
Mr. Trump unleashed a series of attacks on Mr. Sessions in July.

Campaign Coordination With Russia

• When did you become aware of the Trump Tower meeting?
This and other questions relate to a June 9, 2016, meeting at Trump Tower with a Russian lawyer who offered political dirt about Mrs. Clinton. Mr. Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., arranged the meeting. He said he did not tell his father about it when it happened.

• What involvement did you have in the communication strategy, including the release of Donald Trump Jr.’s emails?
When The Times found out about the meeting, Mr. Trump helped draft a misleading statement in his son’s name, omitting the true purpose of the meeting. After The Times obtained the younger Mr. Trump’s emails, he published them on Twitter.

• During a 2013 trip to Russia, what communication and relationships did you have with the Agalarovs and Russian government officials?
The Trump Tower meeting was arranged through the Russian singer Emin Agalarov, his billionaire father, Aras Agalarov, and a music promoter. Mr. Mueller is scrutinizing the nature of connections between the Agalarovs, Mr. Trump and Russian officials.

• What communication did you have with Michael D. Cohen, Felix Sater and others, including foreign nationals, about Russian real estate developments during the campaign?

Mr. Mueller is referring to a failed effort to build a Trump Tower in Moscow. Mr. Sater, a business associate, proposed the idea to Mr. Cohen, the longtime personal lawyer to Mr. Trump. Emails show that Mr. Sater believed that the project would showcase Mr. Trump’s deal-making acumen and propel him into the presidency.

• What discussions did you have during the campaign regarding any meeting with Mr. Putin? Did you discuss it with others?
Journalists and lawmakers have uncovered several examples of Russian officials trying, through intermediaries, to arrange a meeting between Mr. Trump and Mr. Putin. Senior campaign officials rejected some overtures, but Mr. Trump’s involvement has been a mystery.

• What discussions did you have during the campaign regarding Russian sanctions?
Even as the Obama administration stepped up sanctions on Russia, Mr. Trump struck a laudatory tone toward Mr. Putin.

• What involvement did you have concerning platform changes regarding arming Ukraine?
A portion of the Republican platform was changed in a way more favorable to Russia.

• During the campaign, what did you know about Russian hacking, use of social media or other acts aimed at the campaign?
This is a key question. Mr. Trump praised the release of hacked Democratic emails and called on Russia to find others. Mr. Mueller’s investigation has unearthed evidence that at least one member of Mr. Trump’s campaign — George Papadopoulos — was told that Russia had obtained compromising emails about Mrs. Clinton. But Mr. Trump has repeatedly said there was “no collusion” with the Russian government.

*• What knowledge did you have of any outreach by your campaign, including by Paul Manafort, to Russia about potential assistance to the campaign?
This is one of the most intriguing questions on the list. It is not clear whether Mr. Mueller knows something new, but there is no publicly available information linking Mr. Manafort, the former campaign chairman, to such outreach. So his inclusion here is significant. Mr. Manafort’s longtime colleague, Rick Gates, is cooperating with Mr. Mueller.

• What did you know about communication between Roger Stone, his associates, Julian Assange or WikiLeaks?
Mr. Stone, a longtime adviser, claimed to have inside information from WikiLeaks, which published hacked Democratic emails. He appeared to predict future releases, and was in touch with a Twitter account used by Russian intelligence. This question, along with the next two, show that Mr. Mueller is still investigating possible campaign cooperation with Russia.

• What did you know during the transition about an attempt to establish back-channel communication to Russia, and Jared Kushner’s efforts?
Mr. Kushner, Mr. Trump’s son-in-law, has testified that the Russian ambassador proposed getting Mr. Flynn in contact with Russian officials to discuss Syria. In response, Mr. Kushner said, he proposed using secure phones inside the Russian Embassy — a highly unusual suggestion that was not accepted.

• What do you know about a 2017 meeting in Seychelles involving Erik Prince?
The meeting was convened by Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan of the United Arab Emirates. It brought Mr. Prince, an informal adviser to Mr. Trump’s team, together with a Russian investor close to Mr. Putin.

• What do you know about a Ukrainian peace proposal provided to Mr. Cohen in 2017?
Mr. Cohen, the lawyer, hand-delivered to the White House a peace proposal for Ukraine and Russia. This unusual bit of backdoor diplomacy is of interest because it involved a Ukrainian lawmaker who said he was being encouraged by Mr. Putin’s aides. Mr. Cohen has said he did not discuss the proposal with Mr. Trump.

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*And for those easily confused by past and present I highlighted the brand new news.

And if you want a really good laugh read Trump's insane tweet saying there are no questions on collusion when there are several direct questions on collusion. Oh wait I bet you guys aren't laughing this morning.

tenguy · May 1, 2018

So, will we wait for the answers? Or will we keep jumping to conclusions which support our agenda?

stumbler · May 1, 2018

See all these names connected to specific questions? Those are a lot of names of people Mueller has already interviewed. Which means since lawyers don't ask questions they don't already have the answer to. most all those have already cooperated with Mueller. And not just the ones we already know about.

Mr. Rogers, Mr. Pompeo and Mr. Coats?

Mr. Flynn

Mr. Sessions

Reince Priebus

Michael D. Cohen, Felix Sater

Paul Manafort

Roger Stone

Jared Kushner

Erik Prince

All of which reminds me of the old convict rule. If you pull off a crime by yourself you will probably get away with it. If you pull off a crime with someone else you will probably get caught. And if you pull off a crime with two or more people you are going to get caught. Because someone always talks.

tenguy · May 1, 2018

anon_de_plume said: ↑

So, as a supporter, what achievements make you proud to have voted for Trump?
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@anon_de_plume Your silly games are boring guess you don’t know how to play any other way.

So you might find fewer willing to stroke your overdeveloped ego.

anon_de_plume · May 2, 2018

tenguy said: ↑

@anon_de_plume Your silly games are boring guess you don’t know how to play any other way.

So you might find fewer willing to stroke your overdeveloped ego.
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It's a simple question. You create threads to mock Hillary all because there really is nothing you can point to that Trump has actually accomplished.

Live with that.

stumbler · May 2, 2018

Yeah push is coming to shove mighty quick here and it appears Mueller has put up with all of Trump's shit he is going to.

Mueller warned of a presidential subpoena if Trump refuses voluntary interview: ‘This isn’t a game’

Special counsel Robert Mueller warned President Donald Trump’s legal team that he was prepared to subpoena the commander-in-chief for testimony, The Washington Post reported Tuesday.

At the March 5 meeting, then-Trump attorney John Dowd was angered by the veiled threat.

“This isn’t some game,” Dowd reportedly argued. “You are screwing with the work of the president of the United States.”
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stumbler · May 3, 2018

‘The question is Russian collusion’: Trump aide interviewed by Mueller warns he ‘knows more about the campaign than anyone’

A former communications adviser to the Trump campaign met with special counsel Robert Mueller on Wednesday — and told CNN the investigation into Russian collusion is going full force.

Mueller’s investigators “know more about the Trump campaign than anyone who ever worked there,” former Trump aide Michael Caputo told CNN over the phone after his interview with the special counsel’s team.

CNN’s Manu Raju noted that Caputo also derided the Senate and House investigations into Russia and said they were “net fishing” in comparison to the special counsel’s more accurate “spearfishing” tactics.

“[Mueller’s team] know what they are aiming at and are deadly accurate,” the former Trump aide said.
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stumbler · May 6, 2018

If memory serves this is the third Russian that has been intercepted by Mueller's team upon arriving in the US and had their phones and other electronic divices searched and questioned.

Viktor Vekselberg, Russian Billionaire, Was Questioned by Mueller’s Investigators

WASHINGTON — When the United States sought to punish Russia last month for its election interference and other aggressions, it targeted some of Russia’s wealthiest men, imposing sanctions on those viewed as enriching themselves off President Vladimir V. Putin’s government.

Now it turns out that one of the men, Viktor F. Vekselberg, was also singled out in another of the efforts to confront Russia’s election interference: the investigation led by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III.

Federal agents working with Mr. Mueller stopped Mr. Vekselberg, a billionaire businessman, at a New York-area airport this year, searched his electronic devices and questioned him, according to people familiar with the matter. They confronted him after he stepped off a private plane about two months ago, according to one of the people.

There is no indication that Mr. Mueller suspects Mr. Vekselberg of wrongdoing. But Mr. Vekselberg attended the presidential inauguration last year, and the interest in him suggests that the special counsel has intensified his focus on potential connections between Russian oligarchs and the Trump campaign and inaugural committee.

Though it is unclear what prompted Mr. Mueller’s investigators to approach Mr. Vekselberg, his widespread corporate interests and attendance at Mr. Trump’s inauguration are among the potential avenues for examination. Mr. Vekselberg also attended a December 2015 dinner in Russia where Michael T. Flynn, Mr. Trump’s first national security adviser, was also among the guests and sat beside Mr. Putin. The dinner was hosted by RT, the English-language television news network financed by the Kremlin.

Mr. Flynn was ousted weeks after the inauguration amid revelations that he misled the vice president and others about his conversations with the Russian ambassador to the United States at the time. Mr. Flynn pleaded guilty in December to lying to the F.B.I. and is cooperating with the special counsel.

Another potential area of interest for Mr. Mueller is Mr. Vekselberg’s business in Cyprus, the Mediterranean nation considered a magnet for Russian money. Mr. Vekselberg has controlled a company that has been the largest single shareholder in the Bank of Cyprus. Around the same time that Mr. Vekselberg was investing in the bank, Mr. Trump’s future commerce secretary, Wilbur L. Ross, was its vice chairman.

Mr. Mueller’s interest in Mr. Vekselberg has not been previously reported. CNN has reported that investigators for the special counsel stopped an unnamed Russian oligarch at a New York-area airport.

A spokesman for Mr. Mueller declined to comment; a lawyer and a spokesman for Mr. Vekselberg did not respond to requests for comment. Previously, the spokesman confirmed that Mr. Vekselberg attended Mr. Trump’s swearing-in as president.

Mr. Vekselberg’s ticket to the inauguration came from his cousin and business associate, Andrew Intrater. Mr. Intrater, an American who lives in New York, donated $250,000 to Mr. Trump’s inauguration, campaign finance records show.

Mr. Mueller’s investigators have questioned Mr. Intrater, according to a person briefed on the matter, though there is no indication that he is suspected of wrongdoing. A person close to Mr. Intrater said that he was encouraged to attend the inauguration by an American friend, and that he had wanted to use the trip as an opportunity to meet with business associates in Washington. Documents the person provided indicated that Mr. Intrater intended to hold business meetings during the weekend of the inauguration.

Mr. Intrater is the chief executive of Columbus Nova, an investment management firm whose biggest client is the Renova Group, Mr. Vekselberg’s sprawling conglomerate that operates in the energy sector and elsewhere.

At one point, Renova donated $50,000 to $100,000 to the Clinton Foundation.

Mr. Vekselberg, who has a net worth estimated at more than $13 billion by Forbes, has primarily made his fortune in oil and metals. And as his wealth has risen, he appears to have maintained strong ties to the Kremlin.

Mr. Vekselberg is among the select Russian oligarchs who made their fortunes in the early post-Soviet period and managed to retain wealth under Mr. Putin while others went to prison or into exile. In 2010, Dmitri A. Medvedev, the Russian president at the time, appointed Mr. Vekselberg to help lead a technology-business project near Moscow.

Mr. Vekselberg, who is believed to have a favorable relationship with Mr. Putin, was one of seven Kremlin-linked oligarchs hit with sanctions in April by the Trump administration.

The Trump administration’s decision to target Mr. Vekselberg and the Renova Group with sanctions underscored his perceived closeness to the Kremlin. The sanctions — against seven of Russia’s richest men and their companies as well as 17 top government officials — were aimed at penalizing those seen as enriching themselves from Mr. Putin’s government.

And yet, Mr. Vekselberg, a native of Ukraine, has long-running business ties to the United States. He founded Renova in 1990 as a Russian-American joint venture, according to an archived version of the company’s website .

And during a thaw in United States-Russian relations — the so-called reset orchestrated by Hillary Clinton when she was secretary of state — Mr. Vekselberg was appointed to help attract Silicon Valley investors to the technology park outside Moscow, known as Skolkovo.

“The whole country needs some sort of breakthrough,” he told The New York Times in a 2010 interview about the effort.

Mr. Vekselberg also donated to Fort Ross, a state park in California that is the site of a 19th-century Russian settlement, to keep it open during the state’s financial crunch in the recession.

After making his fortune in aluminum and oil in Siberia in the 1990s, Mr. Vekselberg, together with partners, closed in 2003 what was at the time the largest private transaction in Russian history by forming a joint oil-pumping venture with the British company BP, called TNK-BP.

But soon, BP executives came to suspect the Russian partners had close ties to the F.S.B., the main successor intelligence agency to the K.G.B., and other Russian security services. The F.S.B. classified oil field maps and closely tailed British employees. Once, during a business dispute with the Russians, BP’s office in Moscow was raided by police officers armed with assault rifles.

Amid this conflict with BP, one of Mr. Vekselberg’s partners, German Khan, turned up for a dinner with a BP executive at a remote hunting lodge in Russia with a chrome-plated pistol, according to a State Department cable published by WikiLeaks. Mr. Khan confided to the executive that he considered the 1972 film “The Godfather” a “manual for life.”

Mr. Khan, too, has crossed paths with the special counsel investigation: Alex van der Zwaan, the Dutch lawyer sentenced to 30 days in jail for lying to the F.B.I., is his son-in-law.
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stumbler · May 6, 2018

Donald Trump’s best friend has been grilled by Mueller probe: report

Tom Barrack is one name you haven’t heard pop up in the Mueller probe—until now.

The New York real estate developer is Donald Trump’s best friend—the two men have partied together, and according to Michael Wolff’s tell-all book Fire and Fury, Trump begged Barrack to join him as Chief of Staff only to be turned down because Barrack didn’t want to untangle his business dealings. “I’m just too rich,” Barrack reportedly said.

Barrack is a close confidant of the president, talking with him frequently on the phone. Barrack is also a believer in Trump’s better angels, having said that we would see “a softer, kinder” Trump after the election.

“He’s one of the kindest, and actually most humble, friends that I’ve had,” Barrack once said. “I have so much respect for him because at this point in his career, wandering into the milieu was not easy, and he’s changed the dialogue of the debate.”

Now, the Associated Press is reporting that the Mueller probe has interviewed Barrack.

“Barrack has rare access and insight into Trump going back decades,” the report says. “Barrack played an integral role in the 2016 campaign as a top fundraiser at a time when many other Republicans were shunning the upstart candidate. Barrack later directed Trump’s inauguration.”

It wasn’t clear what Barrack was asked about.
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ace's n 8's · May 7, 2018

stumbler said: ↑

So hey guys if Trump wants to conclude the Meuller investigation he can sit down for an interview and answer 48 questions can't he?
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REVEALED: The 44 Questions Mueller Has Handed To Trump’s Lawyers

1. When did you become aware of the June 9, 2016 Trump Tower meeting between Don Trump Jr and a Russian lawyer offering dirt on Hillary Clinton?

2. What involvement did you have in the communication strategy, including the release of Donald Trump Jr’s emails about the meeting?

3. During a 2013 trip to Russia, what communication and relationships did you have with the Agalarovs, who set up the Trump Tower meeting, and with Russian government officials?

4. What communication did you have with Michael D. Cohen, Felix Sater, and others, including foreign nationals, about Russian real estate developments during the campaign? (Refers to a failed effort to build a Trump Tower in Moscow)

5. What discussions did you have during the campaign regarding any meeting with Putin? Did you discuss it with others?

6. What discussions did you have during the campaign regarding Russian sanctions?

7. What involvement did you have concerning Republican party platform changes regarding arming Ukraine?

8. During the campaign, what did you know about Russian hacking, use of social media or other acts aimed at the campaign?

9. What knowledge did you have of any outreach by your campaign, including by Paul Manafort, to Russia about potential assistance to the campaign?

10. What did you know about communication between Roger Stone, his associates, Julian Assange or WikiLeaks?

11. What did you know during the transition about an attempt to establish back-channel communication to Russia, and Jared Kushner’s efforts?

12. What do you know about a 2017 meeting in Seychelles involving Blackwater founder Erik Prince and a Russian close to Putin?

13. What do you know about a Ukrainian peace proposal provided to Cohen in 2017?

14. What did you know about phone calls that Mike Flynn made with the Russian ambassador, Sergey I. Kislyak, in late December 2016?

15. What was your reaction to news reports on January 12, 2017, and February 8-9, 2017, revealing Flynn had urged Russia not to overreact to Obama sanctions in the calls?

16. What did you know about Sally Yates’s meetings with White House staff to warn that Flynn lied about the content of the calls?

17. How was the decision made to fire Flynn on February 13, 2017?

18. What efforts were made to reach out to Flynn about seeking immunity or possible pardon?

19. What did you think and do regarding the recusal of Attorney General Jeff Sessions from the investigation into Russian election interference?

20. What efforts did you make to try to get him to change his mind?

21. Did you discuss whether Sessions would protect you, and reference past attorneys general who had protected presidents?

22. What did you think and what did you do in reaction to the news of the appointment of Special Counsel Robert Mueller?

23. Why did you hold Sessions’ resignation until May 31, 2017, before rejecting it, and with whom did you discuss it?

24. What discussions did you have with Reince Priebus in July 2017 about obtaining the Sessions resignation? With whom did you discuss it?

25. What discussions did you have regarding firing Robert Mueller, and what did you do when that consideration was reported in January 2018?

26. What was the purpose of your July 2017 criticism of Sessions, including that he had ‘taken a VERY weak position on Hillary Clinton crimes’?

27. What was your opinion of FBI Director James Comey during the transition?

28. What did you think about Comey’s intelligence briefing on January 6, 2017, about Russian election interference?

29. What was your reaction to Comey’s briefing that day about other intelligence matters, including the allegations in the Steele dossier?

30. What was the purpose of your January 27, 2017, dinner with Comey, and what was said?

31. What was the purpose of your February 14, 2017, meeting with Comey, and what was said?

32. What did you know about the FBI’s investigation into Flynn and Russia in the days leading up to Comey’s testimony on March 20, 2017?

33. What did you do in reaction to the March 20 testimony confirming the FBI was investigating members of the Trump campaign? Describe your contacts with intelligence officials.

34. What did you think and do in reaction to the news that the Mueller probe was speaking to then-CIA Director Mike Pompeo, NSA Director Michael S. Rogers and Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats?

35. What was the purpose of your calls to Comey on March 30 and April 11, 2017?

36. What was the purpose of your April 11, 2017, statement to Fox Business Network, including ‘Director Comey was very, very good to Hillary Clinton, that I can tell you’?

37. What did you think and do about Comey’s May 3, 2017, testimony about his handling of the Clinton email investigation?

38. Regarding the decision to fire Comey on May 9, 2017: When was it made? Why? Who played a role?

39. What did you mean when you told Russian diplomats on May 10, 2017, that firing Comey had taken the pressure off?

40. What did you mean in your interview with Lester Holt about Comey and Russia? (Trump said: ‘I was going to fire Comey knowing there was no good time to do it. And in fact, when I decided to just do it, I said to myself — I said, you know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made-up story. It’s an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election that they should’ve won.)

41. What was the purpose of your May 12, 2017, tweet stating ‘James Comey better hope that there are no “tapes” of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!’?

42. What did you think about Comey’s June 8, 2017, testimony regarding Flynn, and what did you do about it?

43. What was the purpose of the September and October 2017 statements, including tweets, suggesting an investigation of Comey for giving false testimony to Congress?

44. What is the reason for your continued criticism of Comey and his former deputy, Andrew G. McCabe?

These have got to be the most ridiculous questions ever offered by a ''lawyer''

ace's n 8's · May 7, 2018

Disgraced FBI Lawyers Resigns Just Before IG Report Comes Out

Jim Baker and Lisa Page, both of whom were demoted over their actions during the Russian collusion investigation, both resigned on Friday just before the DOJ IG report is due to be released. Page was involved with FBI agent Peter Strzok and she was very vocal in text messages between the two about her bias for Hillary and against Trump.

James Baker is suspected of leaking information from the Hillary dossier. It looks a might suspicious that they both resigned on the same day and before the report is released. Do they figure prominently in the report? Certainly Page does. And did the fact that FBI employees can be forced to take a lie detector test have anything to do with it?

From Fox News

Page, who was previously a member of Robert Mueller’s special counsel team, came under fire for allegedly sending “anti-Trump” text messages to a colleague.

She was one of Comey’s advisers in 2016 when the former director announced the bureau would not pursue criminal charges against Hillary Clinton for her handling of classified emails.

Comey acknowledged Baker’s departure in a tweet, commending his former colleague’s “integrity” and “commitment to the rule of law.”

Baker had been the subject of a Justice Department investigation on suspicion of leaking classified information about the so-called “Trump dossier” – a document that supposedly contained evidence about the Trump campaign’s connection to Russia.

“A great public servant retired from the FBI today. Jim Baker’s integrity and commitment to the rule of law have benefitted our country through 5 presidents, of both parties. We are fortunate he and so many others choose to devote their lives to justice.”

The swamp has now been reduced by two. Only 44,000 or 45,000 to go.

stumbler · May 10, 2018

‘Exactly what the Christopher Steele dossier said’: Ex-Watergate prosecutor follows the Michael Cohen money

Former Watergate assistant special prosecutor Nick Akerman explained how the latest news reports on Michael Cohen show the exact behavior former MI6 spy Christopher Steele warned of in his infamous dossier, during a Wednesday interview with MSNBC’s Ali Velshi.

The MSNBC host began the segment by documenting all of the reported links between Donald Trump’s campaign and Russians.

“It’s absolutely dynamite,” Akerman observed. “What you have here — when you put it in context of all the evidence — is evidence of a conspiracy between the Trump campaign and the Russians.”

“I mean, all you have to do is look at the Christopher Steele investigative reports,” the former assistant U.S. Attorney suggested. “All you have to do is substitute Stormy Daniels in there for Russia.”

Akerman also explained the fallout from these revelations on Capitol Hill.

“What these allegations and what this evidence is going to do is totally undercut Congressman Nunes’ (R-CA) whole attack on Christopher Steele and the dossier he put together,” he continued. “It’s going to provide evidence of conspiracy between the Trump campaign and the Russians and the break-in to the Democratic National Committee headquarters and the hacking of all of those emails and the use of those emails to get Trump elected.”

“I mean, all of this starts to fit together,” Akerman concluded.
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Secret CIA assessment says Russia intervened in election to help Trump win

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