Tag: Robert Mueller

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Special Counsel Confirms Trump Is A Subject Of Investigation

Donald Trump’s attorneys were informed last month that Trump is, indeed, a subject of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, but does not at this time consider The Donald a “criminal target.”

From The Washington Post:

In private negotiations in early March about a possible presidential interview, Mueller described Trump as a subject of his investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election. Prosecutors view someone as a subject when that person has engaged in conduct that is under investigation but there is not sufficient evidence to bring charges.

The special counsel also told Trump’s lawyers that he is preparing a report about the president’s actions while in office and potential obstruction of justice, according to two people with knowledge of the conversations.

Mueller reiterated the need to interview Trump — both to understand whether he had any corrupt intent to thwart the Russia investigation and to complete this portion of his probe, the people said.

Apparently, the Trumpster took this as “good news” that he had been vindicated.

Not quite.

As many legal experts have now pointed out, folks can go from “subject” to “target” quickly depending on new information gleaned from incoming evidence.

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First Person Sentenced In Connection To Special Counsel’s Probe

Alex van der Zwaan

From CNN:

A Dutch lawyer tied to former Trump deputy campaign chairman Rick Gates who admitted to lying to special counsel Robert Mueller’s team was sentenced Tuesday to 30 days in prison and ordered to pay a $20,000 fine.

Alex van der Zwaan is the first person to be sentenced in Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
He pleaded guilty to lying to Mueller’s team in February and faced up to six months in prison.

Earlier Tuesday, Van der Zwaan’s attorneys begged for no jail time for their client, who mostly sat with pursed lips, slouched at the defense table.

He did say a few sentences of contrition that he read from a paper.

“What I did was wrong,” he uttered. He also apologized.

Van der Zwaan covered up his discussions with Gates and a business associate based in Ukraine in September 2016, while the Trump campaign operation was in full swing. He also admitted to lying to investigators about his failure to turn over email communications to the special counsel’s office and to his law firm as it cooperated with Mueller on its investigation of Gates’ and former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort’s foreign lobbying.

NBC News is reporting that Robert Mueller does not need Dutch Lawyer Alex van der Zwaan to cooperate as its believed van der Zwaan has nothing to tell the Special Counsel.

As Pete Williams of NBC News says, “This was a punitive sentence to send the message that you can’t lie to the special counsel.”

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Special Counsel Subpoenas Trump Organization For All Documents Related To Russia

Get ready for Donald Trump’s head to explode as The New York Times has just reported Special Counsel Robert Mueller has subpoenaed all Russian related documents from the Trump Organization.

The special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, has subpoenaed the Trump Organization to turn over documents, including some related to Russia, according to two people briefed on the matter. The order is the first known time that the special counsel demanded documents directly related to President Trump’s businesses, bringing the investigation closer to the president.

The breadth of the subpoena was not clear, nor was it clear why Mr. Mueller issued it instead of simply asking for the documents from the company, an umbrella organization that oversees Mr. Trump’s business ventures. In the subpoena, delivered in recent weeks, Mr. Mueller ordered the Trump Organization to hand over all documents related to Russia and other topics he is investigating, the people said.

The subpoena is the latest indication that the investigation, which Mr. Trump’s lawyers once regularly assured him would be completed by now, will drag on for at least several more months. Word of the subpoena comes as Mr. Mueller appears to be broadening his investigation to examine the role foreign money may have played in funding Mr. Trump’s political activities. In recent weeks, Mr. Mueller’s investigators have questioned witnesses, including an adviser to the United Arab Emirates, about the flow of Emirati money into the United States.

Trump has previously said that a Mueller investigation into his businesses would cross a “red line.”

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NYT: Trump Has Asked Russian Probe Witnesses What Was Discussed With Special Counsel Investigators


 The New York Times is reporting that Donald Trump has spoken to witnesses who have been questioned by Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigators.

In one episode, the president told an aide that the White House counsel, Donald F. McGahn II, should issue a statement denying a New York Times article in January. The article said Mr. McGahn told investigators that the president once asked him to fire the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III. Mr. McGahn never released a statement and later had to remind the president that he had indeed asked Mr. McGahn to see that Mr. Mueller was dismissed, the people said.

In the other episode, Mr. Trump asked his former chief of staff, Reince Priebus, how his interview had gone with the special counsel’s investigators and whether they had been “nice,” according to two people familiar with the discussion.

The episodes demonstrate that even as the special counsel investigation appears to be intensifying, the president has ignored his lawyers’ advice to avoid doing anything publicly or privately that could create the appearance of interfering with it.

Legal experts said Mr. Trump’s contact with the men most likely did not rise to the level of witnesses tampering. But witnesses and lawyers who learned about the conversations viewed them as potentially a problem and shared them with Mr. Mueller.

When you’re being investigated and it’s revealed you’re asking what was discussed in testimony, it can appear that folks are trying to “get their stories straight.”

Geez, you’d think by now he’d know how to be a better criminal…

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Rick Gates, Former Trump Aide, Will Plead Guilty To Fraud And Testify Against Paul Manafort

Former Trump aide Rick Gates has agreed to plead guilty to fraud-related charges and will testify against former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort according to The LA Times:

The change of heart by Trump’s former deputy campaign manager, Richard W. Gates III, who had pleaded not guilty after being indicted in October on charges similar to Manafort’s, was described in interviews by people familiar with the case.

“Rick Gates is going to change his plea to guilty,” said a person with direct knowledge of the new developments, adding that the revised plea will be presented in federal court in Washington “within the next few days.”

Mueller is heading the prosecutions of Gates and Manafort as part of the wide-ranging investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election and whether Trump or his aides committed crimes before, during or since the campaign.

The imminent change of Gates’ plea follows negotiations over the last several weeks between Green and two of Mueller’s prosecutors – senior assistant special counsels Andrew Weissmann and Greg D. Andres.

According to a person familiar with those talks, Gates, a longtime political consultant, can expect “a substantial reduction in his sentence” if he fully cooperates with the investigation. He said that Gates is apt to serve about 18 months in prison.

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Special Counsel Robert Mueller Indicts 13 Russian Nationals For Interfering In 2016 Presidential Election

At a press conference this morning, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein announced Special Counsel Robert Mueller has indicted 13 Russian nationals and three Russian entities with “the stated goal of “spread[ing] distrust towards the candidates and the political system in general.”

The indictment says that the aim of the defendants was “supporting the presidential campaign of then-candidate Donald J. Trump and disparaging Hillary Clinton.”

Operating under the name Internet Research Agency LLC, the defendants “sought, in part, to conduct what it called ‘information warfare against the United States of America’ through fictitious U.S. personas on social media platforms and other Internet-based media.”

The indictment lists, for example, Instagram accounts named “Woke Blacks,” “Blacktivists,” and “United Muslims of America” to discourage minorities from voting for Hillary Clinton or even voting at all.

More from Bloomberg:

In a Feb. 10, 2016, planning memo, the Russians were instructed to “use any opportunity to criticize Hillary and the rest (except Sanders and Trump — we support them).”

The operations also denigrated candidates including Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, Trump’s rivals in the 2016 Republican primary, the indictment said.

The efforts included contact with “unwitting” Trump campaign officials, with the goal of “impairing, obstructing, and defeating the lawful government functions” including the election.

The group bought advertisements on U.S. social media, created numerous Twitter accounts designed to appear as if they were U.S. groups or people, according to the indictment. One fake account, @TEN_GOP account, attracted more than 100,000 online followers.

The Russians tracked the metrics of their effort in reports and budgeted for their efforts. Some traveled to the U.S. to gather intelligence for the surreptitious campaign, according to the indictment. They used stolen U.S. identities, including fake driver’s licenses, and contacted news media outlets to promote their activities.

In September 2016, the group ordered one worker to “intensify criticizing Hillary Clinton” after a review found insufficient anti-Clinton activity.

Donald Trump, who has called the investigation into Russian meddling a hoax, was briefed on the indictments this morning.

You can read the full indictment here. I suggest you take a minute and do so. This is not a hoax.

Here’s Rosenstein announcing the indictments this morning.

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AG Jeff Sessions Questioned Regarding Russian Investigation

Attorney General Jeff Sessions

Last week, Attorney General Jeff Sessions became the first cabinet member of Donald Trump’s administration to be questioned by Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team looking into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

Additionally, former FBI director, James Comey, has been interviewed by the special counsel’s team.

From The New York Times:

The interview with Mr. Comey focused on a series of memos he wrote about his interactions with Mr. Trump that unnerved Mr. Comey. In one memo, Mr. Comey said that Mr. Trump had asked him to end the F.B.I.’s investigation into the former national security adviser, Michael T. Flynn.

After the president’s request was disclosed, the deputy attorney general, Rod J. Rosenstein, appointed Mr. Mueller as the special counsel to lead the Russia investigation and examine whether the president obstructed justice.

The attorney general announced in March that he had recused himself from all matters related to the 2016 election, including the Russia inquiry. The disclosure came after it was revealed that Mr. Sessions had not told Congress that he met twice with the Russian ambassador to the United States at the time, Sergey I. Kislyak, during the campaign.

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Former Trump Adviser Steve Bannon Gets Hit With TWO Subpoenas

Donald Trump (L), Steve Bannon (R)

After telling the House Intelligence committee he would not answer questions about his time in the White House, former Trump adviser Steve Bannon got slapped with a subpoena in an effort to force his testimony.

From Politico:

Bannon appeared before the committee as part of its investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, speaking just weeks after a falling-out with Trump over comments he made in an explosive new book.

Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) confirmed Tuesday that he issued a subpoena for Bannon.

“Of course I authorized the subpoena,” he told reporters. “That’s how the rules work.”

According to the person familiar with the interview, Bannon’s attorney told the committee he wouldn’t discuss anything about his time in the White House or during the transition after the 2016 election. During that period, Trump allegedly sought a pledge of loyalty from then-FBI Director James Comey and later fired him.

The source said Republicans lawmakers — including Rep. Mike Conaway (R-Texas) and former federal prosecutor Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) — were frustrated that Bannon was not more forthcoming. Bannon did not invoke executive privilege, the source said.

Bannon was quoted extensively in the explosive new book, Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, which was none too kind to the Trump administration.

Some feel Bannon’s performance today was an attempt to curry favor again with the Trumpster by demonstrating his loyalty.

In addition to the House subpoena, The New York Times reported today that Bannon was hit with a subpoena from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation last week calling him to testify before a grand jury.

That subpoena marks the first time Mr. Mueller has subpoenaed a member of the Trump inner circle in his investigation into Russian intervention in the 2016 presidential election.

Basically, from here on out, Bannon will be testifying under oath. #DangerWillRobinson

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Donald Trump Denies Any Plan To Fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller

Last week, Democratic Reps. Jackie Spier and Adam Schiff both shared the “rumor on the Hill” that Donald Trump was planning to fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller next week when Congress is gone for the holidays.

Last night, the Donald denied any such plans.

From The Washington Post:

Returning to the White House from Camp David, Trump was asked Sunday whether he intended to fire Mueller. “No, I’m not,” he told journalists, insisting that there was “no collusion whatsoever” between his campaign and Russia.

The outcry over Mueller’s investigation into Russia’s 2016 election interference grew louder over the weekend among Trump loyalists and conservative media figures. Although Trump has publicly and privately criticized the Department of Justice and the FBI and voiced displeasure with his appointees there, the president’s advisers insisted he is not aiming his ire at Mueller.

Trump’s lawyer, Ty Cobb, also shot down the rumor yesterday saying, “As the White House has repeatedly and emphatically said for months, there is no consideration about firing or replacing the special counsel with whom the White House has fully cooperated in order to permit a fully vetted yet prompt conclusion.”

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Federal Investigators Have The Evidence Needed To Charge Former Trump Adviser Michael Flynn

Michael T. Flynn

NBC News is reporting today that special counsel Robert Mueller has all the evidence he needs to bring charges against from National Security Adviser Michael T. Flynn and his son.

Michael T. Flynn, who was fired after just 24 days on the job, was one of the first Trump associates to come under scrutiny in the federal probe now led by Special Counsel Robert Mueller into possible collusion between Moscow and the Trump campaign.

Mueller is applying renewed pressure on Flynn following his indictment of Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, three sources familiar with the investigation told NBC News.

The investigators are speaking to multiple witnesses in coming days to gain more information surrounding Flynn’s lobbying work, including whether he laundered money or lied to federal agents about his overseas contacts, according to three sources familiar with the investigation.

Mueller’s team is also examining whether Flynn attempted to orchestrate the removal of a chief rival of Turkish President Recep Erdogan from the U.S. to Turkey in exchange for millions of dollars, two officials said.

Flynn’s son, Michael G. Flynn, who worked closely with his father, accompanied him during the campaign and briefly worked on the presidential transition, could be indicted separately or at the same time as his father, according to three sources familiar with the investigation.

If the elder Flynn is willing to cooperate with investigators in order to help his son, two of the sources said, it could also change his own fate, potentially limiting any legal consequences.

Watch more from NBC News below:

Should this all actually happen, it would pretty much be the definition of irony, no?