Tag: Robert Mueller

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Axios: “We Now Know…”

Donald Trump

In light of this week’s sentencing recommendations from Special Counsel Robert Mueller, plus new details from former FBI Director James Comey at congressional hearings, Axios comes up with this list of “what we know” regarding the ongoing investigation:

We now know several Russian officials reached out to a half dozen Republicans very close to Trump and his campaign, including his eldest son, his closest adviser, his lawyer, and his campaign manager. We now know they took the meetings, often enthusiastically, during and after the campaign.

We now know Russia offered in those chats campaign assistance — “synergy,” they called it. We know now of no one around Trump who alerted the FBI of this effort to subvert our elections.

We now know that 12 Russian intelligence officers were indicted for hacking the DNC and systematically releasing material for the purpose of hurting the Clinton campaign via WikiLeaks.

We know that Trump associates Roger Stone and Jerome Corsi attempted — successfully, in some instances — to get in touch with WikiLeaks and that they are under investigation for whether they had advance knowledge about the email dumps.

We now know Donald Trump, Jr and others took a meeting with Russians promising dirt on Hillary Clinton. We now know Don, Jr., when approached with the promise of dirt, wrote: “If it’s what you say I love it especially later in the summer.”

We now know Trump was negotiating a Trump property in Moscow during the presidential campaign — and hid this from the public and lied about it. We now know Mueller believes, based on his court filing, the “Moscow Project was a lucrative business opportunity that sought, and likely required, the assistance of the Russian government.”

We now know every arm of the US intelligence community concluded Russia sought to systematically influence the election outcome. We now know this was an unanimous conclusion, save one dissent: Trump.

We now know Trump officials continued talking with the Russians during the post-election transition. We now know Jared Kushner and Jeff Sessions failed to initially disclose any contacts with Russians on their government forms.

We now know Jared Kushner suggested a secret backchannel with the Russians, which had it happened, would have been free of US eavesdropping.

We now know Trump soured on FBI director James Comey, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, and White House counsel Don McGahn in part over their handling of the probe.

We now know Paul Manafort, who ran the Trump campaign in the summer of 2016, lied about his Russia contacts, was indicted, and is going to jail.

We now know Flynn lied about his Russian contacts, was fired and pleaded guilty, after agreeing to become a key witness in the investigation.

We now know Cohen lied about his Russian contacts, was indicted, and then flipped to become a key witness against Trump.

Axios’ final note – Robert Mueller knows a lot more than just the above.

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Special Counsel Has Emails Between Trump Allies Discussing WikiLeaks Emails Before They Happened

Special Counsel Robert Mueller apparently has email correspondence between Trump ally Roger Stone and InfoWars' Jerome Corsi discussing the release of DNC emails by WikiLeaks before it happened.
Donald Trump

Special Counsel Robert Mueller apparently has email correspondence between Trump ally Roger Stone and InfoWars’ Jerome Corsi discussing the release of DNC emails by WikiLeaks before it happened.

From NBC News:

Two months before WikiLeaks released emails stolen from the Clinton campaign, right-wing conspiracy theorist Jerome Corsi sent an email to former Trump campaign adviser Roger Stone anticipating the document dump, according to draft court papers obtained by NBC News.

“Word is friend in embassy plans 2 more dumps,” Corsi wrote on Aug. 2, 2016, referring to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, according to the draft court papers. “One shortly after I’m back. 2nd in Oct. Impact planned to be very damaging.”

The email was revealed in a draft court document, known as a statement of the offense, sent to Corsi by special counsel Robert Mueller’s office. Mueller also sent Corsi a draft plea agreement stipulating that the special counsel would not oppose Corsi requesting a sentence of probation if he agreed to plead guilty to one count of lying to federal investigators.

As NBC News reported on Monday, Corsi said he has rejected the deal. He has described Mueller’s team as “thugs” and insisted that he did not “intentionally lie” about his communications related to WikiLeaks.

NBC News goes on to note that Corsi SCRUBBED his computer between Jan. 13, 2017, and March 1, 2017, deleting all email correspondence that predated Oct. 11, 2016, including the messages from Stone about WikiLeaks.

Corsi denies all of this saying it was all an educated guess.

“Why did I think they were coming out in October? Because I said to myself if I had these emails I’d use them as the October surprise,” Corsi told NBC News on Tuesday. “And why did I think they would come out serially, drip by drip? Because Assange is very strategic. He understands the news cycle.”

Earlier today, The Guardian reported that former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort met with WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London right before he took over the Trump campaign.

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Report: Mueller Says Paul Manafort Violated Plea Deal, Lied To Investigators

Major media outlets are reporting that former chair of Donald Trump's presidential campaign has lied Special Counsel Robert Mueller thus voiding his plea agreement for leniency in sentencing.
Paul Manafort

Major media outlets are reporting that former chair of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign has lied Special Counsel Robert Mueller thus voiding his plea agreement for leniency in sentencing.

From The New York Times:

Mr. Manafort’s “crimes and lies” during a series of interviews with prosecutors working for the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, and the F.B.I. relieve them of all promises they made to him in the plea agreement reached in mid-September, investigators wrote in the filing.

A jury in Northern Virginia convicted Mr. Manafort, 69, of eight counts of financial fraud in August stemming from his work as a political consultant in Ukraine. Faced with a second trial in the District of Columbia on related charges in September, he pleaded guilty to two conspiracy counts and to an open-ended arrangement requiring him to answer “fully, truthfully, completely and forthrightly” questions about “any and all matters” of interest to the government.

Without a motion from prosecutors asking for leniency, Mr. Manafort is expected to face a prison term of at least 10 years for his crimes. He is scheduled to be sentenced in the Northern Virginia case on Feb. 8.

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Thousands Protest Across The Country To Keep Trump From Terminating Mueller Investigation

MoveOn.org organized protests all over the country tonight warning Donald Trump of the political dangers that await him if he were to order the termination of the investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller in the wake of Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ ouster.

Check out photos from tonight in Times Square, courtesy of my buddy Larry from TheOUTfront, where prominent activists, politicians, and celebrities gathered before marching down to Union Square for speeches.

According to Larry, there was a very dense crowd of over 10K packed for blocks and blocks around Times Square.

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Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein Might Have Just Resigned

Deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein

There are mixed signals coming out of Washington this morning as Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein has reportedly offered to resign in the wake of a New York Times story last week that alleged he offered to ‘secretly record’ Donald Trump in the White House in an effort to reveal the chaotic nature of the Trump administration.

Axios’ Jonathan Swan tweets that Rosenstein has already ‘verbally’ resigned.

But The New York Times isn’t so sure what the current status is:

It was not immediately clear whether he expected to be fired by Mr. Trump or whether he planned to resign.

Justice Department officials said on Monday morning that he was on his way to the White House expecting to be fired.

But over the weekend, Mr. Rosenstein called a White House official and said he was considering quitting, and a person close to the White House said he was resigning.

It was also unclear whether Mr. Trump would accept a resignation that would likely thrust the administration into further turmoil just weeks before November’s midterm elections.

NBC’s Pete Williams says Rosenstein WON’T resign but will force Trump to fire him to get rid of him.

Apparently, it makes a big difference in how the position would be filled depending on if Rosenstein is fired or quits.

If a resignation occurs, Trump can choose whoever he likes to fill Rosenstein’s job.

But if he is fired, Trump will need to appoint an already-Senate-approved candidate.

The big question many are asking is who would oversee the current investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller with Rosenstein gone. The answer seems to be solicitor general, Noel Francisco.

This is all, clearly, a developing story.

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Trump: Special Counsel Investigation Ordered By Trump Dept Of Justice “Not Allowed Under The Law!”

Donald Trump took to Twitter this morning to repeat his claims of "witch hunt" about the investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller which now includes guilty pleas from 5 former Trump associates.
Donald Trump

Donald Trump took to Twitter this morning to repeat his claims of “witch hunt” about the investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller which now includes guilty pleas from 5 former Trump associates.

“The illegal Mueller Witch Hunt continues in search of a crime,” Trump whined Sunday morning. “There was never Collusion with Russia, except by the Clinton campaign, so the 17 Angry Democrats are looking at anything they can find.”

“ALSO, not allowed under the LAW!” Trump added, which is perplexing since the investigation was ordered by Trump’s Department of Justice.

Folks continue to speculate that the Trumpster may pardon former campaign chair Paul Manafort or fire Attorney General Jeff Sessions or Special Counsel Robert Mueller in an attempt to end the scandal.

Of course, doing so would only exacerbate the issue.

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Special Counsel Again Requests To Interview Trump On Obstruction Of Justice

Donald Trump

According to ABC News, Special Counsel Robert Mueller has requested to interview Donald Trump regarding issues pertaining to obstruction of justice.

ABC News reports:

According to sources, the president learned within the last day that the special counsel will limit the scope of questioning and would like to ask questions both orally and written for the President to respond to.

According to sources familiar with the President’s reaction Wednesday morning, that was the genesis for his early morning tweet storm. Negotiations over a potential presidential interview have gone on for months, through several different iterations of the Trump legal team.

You’ll note Trump now says Manafort “worked for me for a very short time.”

When he won the election, he hailed Manafort’s great work.

Here’s the Twitter rant referenced in the ABC News report.

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News Round-Up: June 8, 2018

Kevin Carnell (image via Instagram)

Some news items you might have missed:

• Participating in the AIDS/Life Cycle, InstaHunk Kevin Carnell (above) has raised over $15K! Just another of many obvious reasons to follow him on Instagram. #Woof

• Family Research Council president Tony Perkins is furious that a Crossfit exec was fired for being anti-LGBT.

• There’s going to be a calendar for America’s hottest gingers – you know you want to take a look 🙂

• Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller brought new obstruction charges on Friday against President Trump’s former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, and added allegations against a close associate, who prosecutors suspect has ties to Russian intelligence. Manafort could have his current bail revoked as Mueller’s team caught Manafort contacting possible witnesses in his case which is seen as attempting to influence their testimony.

• Remember convicted gay basher Kathryn Knott who went to jail for leading an attack on a gay couple in Philly’s Center City neighborhood? Bucks County Commissioners approved a settlement agreement of more than $52K with a Norristown woman who claimed the county District Attorney’s Office retaliated against her because of disparaging comments she made about Knott on social media.

• Check out new music from Zach Adam Feat. Adam Joseph “Gravity,” from new LGBTQ music label, Magic Town Media.

The track is a gorgeous pop track about yearning to overcome addiction and depression. I like the track muchly.

If you are considering suicide please call and reach out – The Trevor Lifeline is a 24/7 crisis intervention and suicide prevention phone service available at 1-866-488-7386.

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Trump Twitter Rant: “13 Angry Democrats (Plus)”

Donald Trump

Donald Trump on Thursday railed yet again today on Twitter regarding special counsel Robert Mueller’s team saying the investigations have shown bias against him.

None of that has been proven. This is called deflection. And those folks who are too weak or lazy to actually read real news believe it.

Trump called for a list of the group’s “many conflicts of interest” to be publicized. Mueller himself is a life-long Republican. He also revived his calls for “the server” which folks guess refers to Hillary Clinton’s email server that was turned over to authorities years ago.

Trump continues to push the theory that the FBI implanted a spy in his campaign even though Republican lawmakers who saw classified material on the FBI informant said they did not see evidence to support Trump’s claims.

But here’s the best tweet today about Donald Trump and his veep, Mike Pence:

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Donald Trump Rants About “Young And Beautiful Lives” Destroyed By “Phony Witch Hunt”

Donald Trump has continued his wild and wacky Twitter rant all weekend long about the ongoing investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

From Politico:

“Who’s going to give back the young and beautiful lives (and others) that have been devastated and destroyed by the phony Russia Collusion Witch Hunt? They journeyed down to Washington, D.C., with stars in their eyes and wanting to help our nation. … They went back home in tatters,” the president wrote on Twitter.

Trump has repeatedly called special counsel Mueller’s probe a “witch hunt,” a charge that in recent weeks has been coupled with renewed calls from his allies to end the probe soon. Some House lawmakers have gone even further, arguing that reports stating a confidential FBI informant met with Trump campaign officials means the investigation is irrevocably tainted.

“With Spies, or “Informants” as the Democrats like to call them because it sounds less sinister (but it’s not), all over my campaign,” Trump wrote on Twitter on Saturday, “even from a very early date, why didn’t the crooked highest levels of the FBI or “Justice” contact me to tell me of the phony Russia problem?”

It’s unclear who Trump is referring to when he says individuals have “went back home in tatters.” A score of former campaign aides have reportedly met with Mueller’s team along with congressional investigators — racking up significant legal bills in the process.

It’s not exactly clear who the “young and beautiful” folks are that Trump is referring to.

The investigation isn’t exactly a “witch hunt” in that there have been at least five guilty pleas, including from former national security adviser Michael Flynn, former campaign adviser George Papadopoulos, and former campaign aide Rick Gates.

It was Papadopoulos’ conversation with an Australian diplomat regarding “dirt” on Hillary Clinton during the 2016 campaign that began the FBI’s original investigation into the president’s campaign that has become the Mueller probe.

And just for good measure, the Trumpster threw out some more deflection on Hillary Clinton:

Yesterday, Trump got angry that a New York Times report referenced “a senior White House official” as a source for a report. Trump wants his followers to believe that journalists make these things up, so he simply announced the “official” didn’t exist.

Except, the official does exist. And dozens of reporters were introduced to White House official Dan Pottinger who gave the briefing Trump references. The irony is that the White House press office insisted that briefing which hundreds of reporters heard be on background.

Reporter Yashar Ali tweeted the official’s name even though the briefing was done “on background” because Ali isn’t a White House reporter and not on the actual briefing conference call.