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

stumbler · Dec 9, 2018

Comey: FBI probe of Russia initially looked at 4 Americans

WASHINGTON — The FBI’s counterintelligence investigation into potential ties between the Trump campaign and Russia initially focused on four Americans and whether they were connected to Russian efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election, former FBI Director James Comey told lawmakers during hours of closed-door questioning.

Comey did not identify the Americans but said President Donald Trump, then the Republican candidate, was not among them.

He also told the House Judiciary Committee that, contrary to Trump’s claims, he was “not friends in any social sense” with special counsel Robert Mueller, who is now leading the Russia investigation. Trump has repeatedly portrayed the men as exceptionally close as part of a long-running effort to undermine the investigation and paint the lead figures in the probe as united against him.

“I admire the heck out of the man, but I don’t know his phone number, I’ve never been to his house, I don’t know his children’s names,” said Comey, who added that he had “never hugged or kissed the man” despite the president’s insistence otherwise.

“A relief to my wife,” he deadpanned.

The committee released a transcript of the interview on Saturday, just 24 hours after privately grilling the fired FBI chief about investigative decisions related to Hillary Clinton’s email server and Trump’s campaign and potential ties to Russia. Comey largely dodged questions connected to the current Mueller-led probe, including whether his May 2017 firing by Trump constituted obstruction of justice.

The Republican-led committee interviewed Comey as part of its investigation into FBI actions in 2016, a year when the bureau — in the heat of the presidential campaign — recommended against charges for Clinton and opened an investigation into Russian interference in the election

The questioning largely centered on well-covered territory from a Justice Department inspector general report, Comey’s own book and interviews and hours of public testimony on Capitol Hill. But the former FBI chief also used the occasion to take aim at Trump’s frequent barbs at the criminal justice system, saying “we have become numb to lying and attacks on the rule of law by the president,” as well as Trump’s contention that it should be a crime for subjects to “flip” and cooperate with investigators.

“It’s a shocking suggestion coming from any senior official, no less the president. It’s a critical and legitimate part of the entire justice system in the United States,” Comey said.

In offering some details of the investigation’s origins, Comey said it started in July 2016 with a look at “four Americans who had some connection to Mr. Trump” during that summer and whether they were tied to “the Russian interference effort.” The campaign itself, he said, was not investigation at that time.

He did not identify the Americans, though Mueller’s investigation has made clear that by that time, there had already been outreach from Russian intermediaries to Trump associates — including a 2015 encounter revealed for the first time in a court filing Friday. Also by that time Democratic email accounts had been hacked by Russian intelligence and a Trump campaign foreign policy adviser, George Papadopoulos, had been told that Russians had “dirt” on Clinton in the form of stolen emails.

That October, the FBI obtained a secret search warrant to monitor the communications of a Trump campaign adviser, Carter Page, on suspicions he was acting as a foreign agent — something he has denied.

Multiple Trump associates, including Papadopoulos, former national security adviser Michael Flynn and Trump’s former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, have pleaded guilty to lying about their interactions with Russians during the campaign and presidential transition period. Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort’s foreign dealings, including to an associate the U.S. says has ties to Russian intelligence, has also attracted law enforcement scrutiny.

Comey reiterated to lawmakers that it was the 2016 Papadopoulos encounter with a Russian intermediary in London that ignited the Russia investigation, rather than — as some Republicans have maintained — Democratic-funded opposition research compiled by a former British spy.

“It was weeks or months later that the so-called Steele dossier came to our attention,” Comey said.

He said that by the time of his firing, the FBI had not come to a conclusion about whether the Trump campaign coordinated with Russia’s efforts to sway the election.

And he insisted that the FBI would recover from the president’s attacks on the bureau.

“The FBI will be fine. It will snap back, as will the rest of our institutions,” Comey said. “There will be short-term damage, which worries me a great deal, but in the long run, no politician, no president can, in a lasting way, damage those institutions.”

Besides the questioning on Russia, Republicans lawmakers pressed Comey on the FBI’s handling of an investigation into whether Clinton mishandled classified information on her private email server. Comey’s July 2016 announcement that Clinton and her aides had been “extremely careless” but did not deserve criminal charges infuriated Republicans who contended that someone less powerful and well-connected would have faced prosecution.

Under questioning from Rep. Trey Gowdy, a South Carolina Republican, Comey reiterated that the FBI and Justice Department didn’t have a prosecutable case against Clinton because they couldn’t prove she willfully violated the law by setting up the server.
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...9718a256cbd_story.html?utm_term=.a20b8c4e2d5b

JimmyCrackPorn · Dec 9, 2018

ace's n 8's said: ↑

It';s more than painfully obvious you haven't read the Comey transcripts;

''Trump was not one of the 4 Americans that were under investigation'' that lead to this political witch hunt.

But keep going, who am I to stop you with your emotionally hysterical assumptions.
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Now, now. Ya gotta remember.

(From the archives, but still a good representation of most anti-Trumpers.)

ace's n 8's · Dec 9, 2018

JimmyCrackPorn said: ↑

Now, now. Ya gotta remember.

(From the archives, but still a good representation of most anti-Trumpers.)

View attachment
Click to expand...

Seems more than reasonable.

stumbler · Dec 9, 2018

Bad Guys, sleaze and Trump: The extent of Trump-Kremlin conspiracy is becoming much clearer now

Throw all the prosecutorial sentencing reports together that emerged yesterday about Michael Cohen and Paul Manafort, stir gently, and what do we have? The commentary was so quick to get to the details, that it is useful to pull back and see the whole picture:

These are two bad guys who committed crimes small and large, and they will get real jail time. Cohen will get a bit of relief in his sentence for cooperating partially, but not a magic wand dismissal of prison time. Manafort is facing up to 15 years for crimes so far—after he blew his chances for leniency by lying to the special counsel’s office to whom he had promised cooperation.

President Trump committed felonies for hush-money payoffs to women for sex in violation of campaign finance laws, according to the U.S. government. That would sink anyone who isn’t the President of the United States, but Trump will hold himself above the law, by saying the president cannot be indicted.
What happens next is anyone’s guess or more the business of politics than of law. From Trump himself, there was a tweet, of course, saying these filings cleared him of any wrongdoing—despite the words in the document. We need to start hearing from Republican leaders, but with Democrats taking over the House, these documents will prompt endless hearings and necessary discussions about Trump’s involvement, up to the impeachment discussions that many Democrats are trying to avoid. And with a new attorney general nominee, we will go through more questions about letting the special counsel finish his work.

We now know that prosecutors are proving Russian efforts at leverage in the Trump campaign and in the U.S. elections.

The talking heads are going nuts, of course. There were three highly anticipated sentencing filings that pundits hoped might offer more information about where the investigation by Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III is headed. We did not get that, exactly, but in two separate filings on Cohen and one on Manafort, we learned several new things.

About Manafort, the one-time head of the Trump campaign, a heavily redacted sentencing guidance from Mueller’s team said he should go to jail for a long time. The redactions kept a lot of reasons secret, but Mueller’s team said Manafort lied about his interactions with Konstantin Kilimnik, a Russian associate who Mueller has said has ties to the Russian military intelligence unit accused of hacking Democrats, and how they may have worked together to tamper with witnesses following Manafort’s arrest last year. Manafort also lied about a particular wire transfer, about an unrelated case, and about maintaining a continuing relationship with the president’s legal team. Most of the details were filed under seal with the court.

About Cohen, there were separate sentencing recommendations from the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York on financial crimes and the cases involving the hush-money payments to Stormy Daniels, the adult-film actress whose name is Stephanie Clifford, and Karen McDougal, a former Playboy model to conceal affairs they said they had with Trump. The document cited evidence to show that Trump had directed the payments in violation of campaign finance laws. But the prosecutors rejected Cohen’s request to avoid a prison term and saying that he had “repeatedly used his power and influence for deceptive ends” and had not cooperated all that much with them.

The second sentencing document was from Mueller’s team, in which the special counsel said that Cohen did cooperate and should get no additional prison time beyond whatever penalty, probably four years imprisonment, arise from the New York charges. This document gave more information about Cohen leading prosecutors through months’ worth of contacts with Russians over a lucrative proposed Trump Tower Moscow project, several other attempts (plural) with other Russian nationals to reach out to the Trump campaign during 2015 to offer “political synergy,” and lots of testimony about the “preparation and circulation” of Cohen’s testimony to Congress. Former prosecutors went on TV to say this last point represents apparent evidence of obstruction of justice by the Trump White House.

About Trump. None of the documents were about the president directly, of course, but Individual 1, the president, was omnipresent in the sleazy businesses at hand. Only Trump, Rudy Giuliani or his most ardent supporters could read these documents and not come away with a certain solemnness about the degree of criminal scheming involving Trump, his business and his campaign.

At the minimum, we now know that Cohen has offered information that is leading prosecutors to prove Russian efforts at leverage in the Trump campaign and in the U.S. elections, the heart of all the talk of “collusion.” At worst, these documents were prompting political talking heads to talk about Trump by using references as a possible Russian-version “Manchurian candidate.”

My job in this column is not to sanctify the evidence or to assign blame. But it is to note that we have entered into the very serious business part of the special counsel investigation and about what we are learning to be factual.

What is clear is that we need to stop talking about witch hunts and start talking about the word evidence.
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https://www.rawstory.com/2018/12/ba...kremlin-conspiracy-becoming-much-clearer-now/

ace's n 8's · Dec 9, 2018

stumbler said: ↑

Bad Guys, sleaze and Trump: The extent of Trump-Kremlin conspiracy is becoming much clearer now

https://www.rawstory.com/2018/12/ba...kremlin-conspiracy-becoming-much-clearer-now/
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stumbler said: ↑
OH JUST FUCKING ROFLCOPTERS

There is a tape recording of Trump and Cohen discussing the payoffs.
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ace's n 8's said: ↑
Ok....what was said?
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anon_de_plume · Dec 9, 2018

ace's n 8's said: ↑

No indictments are related to the Russian investigation
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Wow, evenafter being shown Mueller's authorisation letter and that he is allowed to investigate any crime that he finds in the process of looking at the Russians... And it isn't about collusion...

Never mind, you refuse to understand.

anon_de_plume · Dec 9, 2018

shootersa said: ↑

Shooter has now read the comey transcript.
As usual the general is delusional when he says a trump supporter would not post the transcript once they read it.
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And your only comment about the transcript is about someone on this board...

Guess there can't be much to argue about with what Comey said...

anon_de_plume · Dec 9, 2018

ace's n 8's said: ↑

It';s more than painfully obvious you haven't read the Comey transcripts;

''Trump was not one of the 4 Americans that were under investigation'' that lead to this political witch hunt.

But keep going, who am I to stop you with your emotionally hysterical assumptions.
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You just don't get it, do you? The investigation is not snot Trump, himself. It is about the campaign he ran. I know that's a subtle difference, but maybe you can get mommy to come down and explain it to you...

stumbler · Dec 10, 2018

@shootersa

shootersa said:

*snickers- no, rolls on the floor laughing till he pees in his pants a bit.....

JESUS!!
The general hasn't read the fucking thing himself!
Oh what tangled webs he weaves, when first he practices to deceive!

Cmon genius, you had to think someone was going to read it and realize not one new thing was revealed, just a chance for comey to declare his patriotic service again, evade hard questions about the Clinton investigation, and defend his sellout to the DNC.

Oh fuck general, thank you for a good belly laugh to start the day!

Shooter thought, even as delusional as the general is, he wouldn't be arrogant enough to pull a stunt this ignorant.

You go, general!
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Let me call your bluff and all the PR hacks and Trump supporters who have claimed to have read the transcript in the process. If you have who was the most consequential and in many ways the most revealing person in that hearing?

And since none of you can answer that I will later and prove it.

shootersa · Dec 10, 2018

... you mean after you get around to reading it?

stumbler · Dec 10, 2018

‘That’s a lot of Russians!’ Reporter lays out stunning evidence linking Trump campaign to Kremlin

Journalist Garrett Graff appeared on CNN Monday to offer a big-picture summary of what we know about the Trump campaign’s contacts with Russian agents — and it does not look good for the president.

During an interview with CNN’s John Berman, Graff said that we now know that Russians directly talked with 14 different Trump campaign officials or Trump associates during the 2016 presidential election, including Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner.

“That’s a lot of Russians!” Graff remarked. “I think that really bears emphasis: There are not that many Russians you encounter normally in U.S. politics. This isn’t a country that is actively involved day-to-day in the swirl of politics in Washington. To have that many people with that many ties to the Kremlin approaching that many different Trump officials… it really is striking how much the Trump campaign opened their arms to these contacts.”

Graff went on to explain how striking it was that none of the Trump associates who met with Russian officials ever turned down meetings or offers of help, which he said could give the Kremlin leverage over multiple Trump officials.

“That’s information the Trump campaign has been lying about for effectively two years now,” Graff said. “And for two years the Russian government has known the Trump administration is lying about something. That, again, is about the worst-case scenario for the United States from a counter-intelligence perspective.”
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https://www.rawstory.com/2018/12/th...ning-evidence-linking-trump-campaign-kremlin/

stumbler · Dec 10, 2018

stumbler said: ↑

@shootersa

Let me call your bluff and all the PR hacks and Trump supporters who have claimed to have read the transcript in the process. If you have who was the most consequential and in many ways the most revealing person in that hearing?

And since none of you can answer that I will later and prove it.
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As I said the Trump supporters and PR hacks are lying about reading the transcript of James Comey's testimony because they can't really tell us anything about it. And who was the most consequential and revealing person in the hearing. And the truly laughable claim nothing new came out of the hearing.

Such as Cecilia Bessee, FBI..

Ms. Bessee. If the agent is not at the SES level and above, you probably cannot state the name.

Ms. Bessee. An FBI policy and a DOJ policy prohibition.

Ms. Bessee. Based on my direction from the FBI Director and from the Deputy Attorney General's Office, that is our 18 direction. We can go back and ask the question if we can reveal the name.

Ms. Bessee. Mr. Chairman, my understanding, this is an unclassified setting, and also anything that goes to the special counsel's ongoing investigation would be off limits for this witness to be able to respond to if they are individuals that are currently being looked at or investigated as part of the Russian investigation, the ongoing Russian investigation.

Ms. Bessee. That is correct.

Ms. Bessee. Mr. Chairman, to the extent that question goes--again, goes to the special counsel's investigation into obstruction, the witness will not be able to answer.

Ms. Bessee. He is entitled to his opinion, but to the extent -- because he also stated that he is also a witness in
the investigation.

Ms. Bessee. To the special counsel. He said he is a potential witness.

Ms. Bessee. I believe there is an investigation that the special counsel is looking into.

Ms. Bessee. Mr. Chairman, can you rephrase the question,32 please?

Ms. Bessee. Can you rephrase the question for the witness?

Ms. Bessee. Congressman, to the extent it goes into the purview of the special counsel, the witness will not be able to answer that question.

Ms. Bessee. Mr. Chairman, to the extent that it goes -- your line of questioning goes beyond Christopher Steele in particular and into other sources that may impact special 117 counsel's investigation, I will have to instruct the witness not to answer the questions.

Ms. Bessee.I know you have not, Mr. Chairman.

Ms. Bessee. If the source relies on other information, because this is all part of an ongoing investigation, it may impact
--

Ms. Bessee. Why don't we have the witness-- if it impacts the investigation, because the witness has knowledge as to whether it would or not, he may not be able to answer the question. So I will have the witness
--

Ms. Bessee. Mr. Chairman, again, the number or the how many sources or subsources would go to things involved in the special counsel investigation. So the witness will not be able to answer that.

Ms. Bessee. Could we have a minute to talk to the witness?

Ms. Bessee. Congressman, he can only respond to information that's not classified or that's been put out there
122 in the public. If there is something that he can look at,because, as you know, part of that -parts of that application is classified.

Ms. Bessee. Congressman?

Ms. Bessee. Congressman, to the extent it goes to any -- any investigative activity that the FBI may be
investigating, the witness will not be able to answer to either confirm or deny. Do you want to ask that question in general? I don't know how you ask that hypothetically, but --

Ms. Bessee. Okay. I was going to say the same thing the witness said. To the extent, because he's also a potential witness for an ongoing investigation, he may be limited to what -- or he may not be able to answer the question.

Ms. Bessee. To the extent that he has knowledge of them based on his -- because he's a potential witness
-- it depends on the question, so maybe if you ask the question we can assess --

https://oversight.house.gov/wp-cont...y-interview-transcript-12-7-18_Redacted-1.pdf

shootersa · Dec 10, 2018

Yep, nothing new in any of that.
Glad you finally got around to at least opening your own link.
But you carry on, general

ace's n 8's · Dec 11, 2018

stumbler said: ↑

As I said the Trump supporters and PR hacks are lying about reading the transcript of James Comey's testimony because they can't really tell us anything about it. And who was the most consequential and revealing person in the hearing. And the truly laughable claim nothing new came out of the hearing.

Such as Cecilia Bessee, FBI..

Ms. Bessee. If the agent is not at the SES level and above, you probably cannot state the name.

Ms. Bessee. An FBI policy and a DOJ policy prohibition.

Ms. Bessee. Based on my direction from the FBI Director and from the Deputy Attorney General's Office, that is our 18 direction. We can go back and ask the question if we can reveal the name.

Ms. Bessee. Mr. Chairman, my understanding, this is an unclassified setting, and also anything that goes to the special counsel's ongoing investigation would be off limits for this witness to be able to respond to if they are individuals that are currently being looked at or investigated as part of the Russian investigation, the ongoing Russian investigation.

Ms. Bessee. That is correct.

Ms. Bessee. Mr. Chairman, to the extent that question goes--again, goes to the special counsel's investigation into obstruction, the witness will not be able to answer.

Ms. Bessee. He is entitled to his opinion, but to the extent -- because he also stated that he is also a witness in
the investigation.

Ms. Bessee. To the special counsel. He said he is a potential witness.

Ms. Bessee. I believe there is an investigation that the special counsel is looking into.

Ms. Bessee. Mr. Chairman, can you rephrase the question,32 please?

Ms. Bessee. Can you rephrase the question for the witness?

Ms. Bessee. Congressman, to the extent it goes into the purview of the special counsel, the witness will not be able to answer that question.

Ms. Bessee. Mr. Chairman, to the extent that it goes -- your line of questioning goes beyond Christopher Steele in particular and into other sources that may impact special 117 counsel's investigation, I will have to instruct the witness not to answer the questions.

Ms. Bessee.I know you have not, Mr. Chairman.

Ms. Bessee. If the source relies on other information, because this is all part of an ongoing investigation, it may impact
--

Ms. Bessee. Why don't we have the witness-- if it impacts the investigation, because the witness has knowledge as to whether it would or not, he may not be able to answer the question. So I will have the witness
--

Ms. Bessee. Mr. Chairman, again, the number or the how many sources or subsources would go to things involved in the special counsel investigation. So the witness will not be able to answer that.

Ms. Bessee. Could we have a minute to talk to the witness?

Ms. Bessee. Congressman, he can only respond to information that's not classified or that's been put out there
122 in the public. If there is something that he can look at,because, as you know, part of that -parts of that application is classified.

Ms. Bessee. Congressman?

Ms. Bessee. Congressman, to the extent it goes to any -- any investigative activity that the FBI may be
investigating, the witness will not be able to answer to either confirm or deny. Do you want to ask that question in general? I don't know how you ask that hypothetically, but --

Ms. Bessee. Okay. I was going to say the same thing the witness said. To the extent, because he's also a potential witness for an ongoing investigation, he may be limited to what -- or he may not be able to answer the question.

Ms. Bessee. To the extent that he has knowledge of them based on his -- because he's a potential witness
-- it depends on the question, so maybe if you ask the question we can assess --

https://oversight.house.gov/wp-cont...y-interview-transcript-12-7-18_Redacted-1.pdf
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stumbler · Dec 11, 2018

Accused Russian spy Maria Butina cooperating with federal prosecutors as part of plea deal

Washington (CNN)Maria Butina, an accused Russian spy who nuzzled up to the National Rifle Association before the 2016 election, has begun cooperating with federal prosecutors after agreeing to a plea deal in recent days, according to a source familiar with the matter.

News that Butina had seemed to reach a deal with federal prosecutors first broke earlier Monday when her attorneys and prosecutors filed a two-page request on Monday for a "change of plea" hearing before a federal judge. "The parties have resolved this matter," the filing in DC federal court said Monday morning. Butina's case was brought by federal prosecutors in DC and not by Robert Mueller's team in the special counsel's office.

Her cooperation will mainly focus on telling investigators about the role of her boyfriend Paul Erickson and her interactions with her Russian handlers. A spokesman for the US Attorney's office in DC declined to comment. Butina's lawyer declined to comment for the story. A lawyer for Erickson also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

According to the agreement, revealed to CNN, Butina "agreed and conspired, with a Russian government official ('Russian Official') and at least one other person, for Butina to act in the United States under the direction of Russian Official without prior notification to the Attorney General."

ABC News was first to report Butina agreed to cooperate.

A plea hearing has been set for 3:15 p.m. Wednesday where a judge will need to sign off on the deal. The developments on Monday come after several weeks of hints that Butina might negotiate an end to her case -- and after bumps in the case where federal prosecutors, at the height of attention on Russia's influence in American politics, accused the former graduate student of infiltrating Republican organizations in order to advance Russian interests.

Until now, Butina, 30, maintained her innocence and insisted she was simply a foreign student interested in bettering relations between the US and Russia. Butina previously pleaded not guilty to one count of conspiracy and a second count of acting as an agent of a foreign government when she was arrested in July.

Plea deal detailed
The draft filing of the plea deal notes that Butina relied on assistance from Erickson and took direction from her handler -- former Russian banker Alexander Torshin -- as she "sought to establish unofficial lines of communication with Americans having power and influence over US politics. Butina sought to use those unofficial lines of communication for the benefit of the Russia Federation."

Neither Erickson or Torshin is identified by name in the draft but their details make them identifiable based on previously known information.

Butina kept Torshin apprised of her activities and her "assessment of the political landscape in the United States in advance of the 2016 election," according to the draft filing.

At one point, Torshin asked her to provide a note justifying his attendance at the 2016 NRA national meeting. Butina "did as he directed, encouraging his attendance partly because of the opportunity to meet political candidates," according to the document.

Even though the draft court filing takes pains to outline her efforts to make inroads in conservative political circles, it also waters down other allegations prosecutors made in court.

After previously casting her studies at American University as little more than a cover, the draft statement of offense notes: "All available evidence indicates that Butina had interest in a graduate school education."
There's no mention of the sex-for-access allegations prosecutors once laid out in court filings -- only to them walk back later.

Butina's plea offer indicates she will plead guilty to one count of conspiracy, according to a copy of the document obtained by CNN.

Prosecutors estimated a sentence between zero and six months. Butina has already been incarcerated for five months, so the judge could decide to sentence her to time already served.

Her cooperation agreement calls for her to turn over any evidence of crimes she is aware of, submit a full accounting of her financial assets, sit for interviews with law enforcement (and waive right to counsel during those interviews) and testify before grand juries or in trials in DC or elsewhere.

It also notes that, due to her plea, she will likely be deported.

A politically charged case

Her case first became public amid a furor of US-Russia developments. She was arrested two days after the Justice Department separately indicted Russian military intelligence for hacking the Democratic Party, and her case became public the same day President Donald Trump met with President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, Finland, and declined to endorse US intelligence findings that Russia interfered in the 2016 election.

Butina's case at first appeared to allege she attempted to do just that -- with prosecutors suggesting she offered sex to gain political access and sought out Trump campaign officials. But prosecutors later admitted they made an error in interpreting the text messages they used as evidence to support their claim that she was trading sex for access, drawing a rebuke from the judge overseeing the case.

At a bail hearing in July, in which a judge determined she should be jailed to avoid her fleeing to Russia with the help of Russian diplomats, her attorney argued that her case shouldn't be a proxy fight for US-Russian relations.

It is still unclear if Butina fits into a broader picture of investigations into Russian infiltration in US politics, however, or if she will agree to cooperate in other federal investigations as part of her plea deal.

Prior to her arrest, Butina signaled she would be willing to cooperate with investigators on other probes, such as a fraud investigation in South Dakota into Erickson, who is an American conservative activist. Immediately after her arrest, she became unwilling to help.

Prosecutors in their criminal complaint accused Butina of ingratiating herself with politically powerful Americans and groups, including the NRA, and exploiting those connections to try to advance Russian interests. They alleged she was in regular contact with her Russian backers, including Torshin, a Kremlin-linked banker who has been sanctioned by the US Treasury and that she made contact with Russian intelligence. At one court hearing, prosecutors showed a photo of her dining with a Russian diplomat just north of the embassy just before that man, a suspected intelligence officer, left the US amid a purge of Russian agents.

Prosecutors said Torshin compared her to Anna Chapman, another accused Russian spy who was deported from the US in a prisoner swap in 2010, and that she tried to establish "back channel" lines of communications with American politicians and met Republican leaders as "a representative of informal diplomacy" before the 2016 election.

The contacts with Americans involved in politics lasted throughout her tenure as a graduate student at American University, according to prosecutors. They had cast her studies as little more than a cover for her spy work.

By changing her plea, Butina will likely be forced to return to Russia upon release from jail. She is currently being held in solitary confinement in a northern Virginia jail. She and her lawyer have repeatedly, and unsuccessfully, argued that she should be released on house arrest or at least moved out of solitary confinement.

Even under scrutiny from federal investigators, Erickson has continued to visit Butina in jail. He has not been charged with a crime.
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https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/10/politics/maria-butina-plea/index.html

stumbler · Dec 11, 2018

Comey points to GOP leaders’ ‘everlasting shame’ over 2016 inaction

Former FBI Director James Comey sat down for a long, rather candid interview with MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace on Sunday night, and the two covered quite a bit of ground. The Twitter thread from NBC News’ Mike Memoli is well worth your time if you missed the event.

That said, there was one exchange in particular that stood out for me.

Speaking about the period before the 2016 election, Comey was unsparing of Republican congressional leaders who he said opposed making public intelligence community concerns over Russian interference.

“To their everlasting shame, the leaders – (Senate Majority Leader Mitch) McConnell, (House Speaker Paul) Ryan – refused,” Comey said. “I think they’re going to have a hard time explaining that to history.”

I’m glad this comes up from time to time, because the GOP leaders’ role in this fiasco is too often overlooked.

Perhaps this is a good time for a refresher. As regular readers know, the Obama White House, swayed by the evidence compiled by U.S. intelligence agencies, wanted bipartisan support to push back against Russian intrusion, and in mid-September 2016, the then-president dispatched counterterrorism adviser Lisa Monaco, then-FBI Director James Comey, and then-Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson to brief top members of Congress.

Obama didn’t want to be seen as using intelligence for partisan or electoral ends, so he sought a “show of solidarity and bipartisan unity” against foreign manipulation of our democracy.

That didn’t happen – because McConnel refused.

As the Washington Post previously reported, when national security officials told congressional leaders about Russia’s interference, it was McConnell who not only didn’t want to alert the public, he also questioned the validity of the intelligence.

Brian Beutler put it this way: “McConnell ran interference for Trump during the campaign to stop Obama from warning the country about things Trump was lying publicly about.”

By way of a defense, McConnell’s office points to the September 2016 letter, signed by congressional leaders from both parties, which was sent to the president of the National Association of State Election Directors. It warned state officials about possible hacking efforts.

But this wasn’t the statement American intelligence officials wanted elected leaders to endorse, and the letter made no reference to Russia’s attack, which Republicans were briefed on at the time.

Denis McDonough told NBC News’ Chuck Todd in March that this statement was “dramatically watered down” at McConnell’s insistence – and he has no idea why.

Around that time, the Senate majority leader told reporters he’s “perfectly comfortable with the steps that were taken back then.” As Comey reminded us over the weekend, he shouldn’t be.
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http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-...-leaders-everlasting-shame-over-2016-inaction

ace's n 8's · Dec 11, 2018

stumbler said: ↑

Comey points to GOP leaders’ ‘everlasting shame’ over 2016 inaction

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-...-leaders-everlasting-shame-over-2016-inaction
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Comey says Dems 'have to win' in 2020 'exposing his partisan stance'

James Comey's recent comments that he's hopeful Democrats will win the 2020 presidential election as evidence that the former FBI director "is and has been a Democrat."

"James Comey just totally exposed his partisan stance by urging his fellow Democrats to take back the White House in 2020," Trump wrote on Twitter. "In other words, he is and has been a Democrat.

"Comey had no right heading the FBI at any time, but especially after his mind exploded!" Trump added.

Comey reiterated his position that while he considered Trump to be unsuitable for office, impeaching him “would let the country off the hook.”

Anything less than a “landslide” election to oust Trump from office, he suggested, could leave what he estimated to be a third of the country believing they had witnessed a coup.

anon_de_plume · Dec 12, 2018

ace's n 8's said: ↑

Comey says Dems 'have to win' in 2020 'exposing his partisan stance'

James Comey's recent comments that he's hopeful Democrats will win the 2020 presidential election as evidence that the former FBI director "is and has been a Democrat."

"James Comey just totally exposed his partisan stance by urging his fellow Democrats to take back the White House in 2020," Trump wrote on Twitter. "In other words, he is and has been a Democrat.

"Comey had no right heading the FBI at any time, but especially after his mind exploded!" Trump added.

Comey reiterated his position that while he considered Trump to be unsuitable for office, impeaching him “would let the country off the hook.”

Anything less than a “landslide” election to oust Trump from office, he suggested, could leave what he estimated to be a third of the country believing they had witnessed a coup.
Click to expand...

"Wah... Wah... He likes democrats more. He can't be trusted!"

stumbler · Dec 12, 2018

anon_de_plume said: ↑

"Wah... Wah... He likes democrats more. He can't be trusted!"
Click to expand...

What Comey was actually saying is that voting for Democrats is the only to stop a criminal traitorous president.

ace's n 8's · Dec 12, 2018

stumbler said: ↑

What Comey was actually saying is that voting for Democrats is the only to stop a criminal traitorous president.
Click to expand...

That certainly is one way to look at this....if you're a leftists.

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

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