Tag: special counsel

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Trump Adviser, Roger Stone, Arrested On 7 Counts

Roger Stone, a longtime close adviser to Donald Trump, was arrested shortly after 6am this morning at his home in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on multiple charges stemming from the ongoing investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
Roger Stone

Roger Stone, a longtime close adviser to Donald Trump, was arrested shortly after 6am this morning at his home in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on multiple charges stemming from the ongoing investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

From The New York Times:

In an indictment unsealed on Friday, the special counsel disclosed evidence that a top campaign official in 2016 dispatched Roger J. Stone, a longtime adviser to President Trump, to get information from WikiLeaks about the thousands of hacked Democratic emails. The effort began well after it was widely reported that Russian intelligence operatives were behind the theft, which was part of Moscow’s broad campaign to sabotage the 2016 president election.

The indictment makes no mention of whether Mr. Trump played a role in the coordination, though Mr. Mueller did leave a curious clue about how high in the campaign the effort reached.: A senior campaign official “was directed” by an unnamed person to contact Mr. Stone about additional WikiLeaks releases that might damage the Clinton campaign, according to the court document.

Mr. Stone was charged with seven counts, including obstruction of an official proceeding, making false statements and witness tampering.

You can read the full indictment here.

A reporter from CNN, David Shortell, had been staking out Stone’s house due to recent activity by the Special Counsel investigation.

According to neighbors, CNN has had a truck out in front of Stone’s house Thursday-Saturday since the midterm elections.

And last week, the investigation was negotiating an appearance by Jerome Corsi’s stepson. His legal team was told to pick a day for grand jury testimony “just not Friday.”

Donald Trump took to Twitter angry that CNN was there to capture the early morning arrest. The Trumpster alleged the Special Counsel’s office had tipped off the media so they could embarrass Stone.

As Stone left his indictment hearing, he struck a Nixon-like pose. Reminding the American people of a disgraced president who lied would seem to be an ‘interesting’ strategy.

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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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Federal Judge Denies Paul Manafort’s Request To Dismiss Charges Against Him

Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort

CNN reports that a federal judge has denied former Donald Trump campaign chairman’s request to invalidate the criminal case again him brought by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

Manafort’s legal team argued that the Special Counsel’s orders were too broad and that Mueller had overstepped his legal authority.

But federal Judge Amy Berman Jackson ruled that Mueller’s investigation and his prosecution of Manafort are legal.

Manafort maintains his innocence to charges related to his work as a lobbyist for Ukrainian politicians.

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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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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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CNN: First Charges Approved By Grand Jury In Special Counsel Robert Mueller Investigation

Donald Trump

And so, it begins.

The first charges have been approved by a federal grand jury in the investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller.

From CNN:

The charges are still sealed under orders from a federal judge. Plans were prepared Friday for anyone charged to be taken into custody as soon as Monday, the sources said. It is unclear what the charges are.

A spokesman for the special counsel’s office declined to comment.

Mueller was appointed in May to lead the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

Under the regulations governing special counsel investigations, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who has oversight over the Russia investigation, would have been made aware of any charges before they were taken before the grand jury for approval, according to people familiar with the matter.

Just speculation, but three particular Donald Trump former associates – campaign chairman Paul Manafort, former national security adviser Michael Flynn, and campaign adviser Carter Page – are widely viewed as potential targets of the investigation.

Just this morning, Donald Trump tweeted, “It is now commonly agreed, after many months of COSTLY looking, that there was NO collusion between Russia and Trump.”

A little quick on the Twitter finger there, Donny?

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Washington Post: Special Counsel Mueller Looking At Possible Obstruction Of Justice By Trump

Robert Mueller

I’m guessing this is why Daniel Coats, current director of national intelligence, and Adm. Mike Rogers, head of the National Security Agency, refused to answer so many questions last week when speaking to the Senate Intelligence Committee.

The Washington Post dropped a bombshell tonight reporting that the special counsel looking into Russian interference in last year’s election, Robert Mueller, is now looking into possible obstruction of justice by President Trump.

The special counsel overseeing the investigation into Russia’s role in the 2016 election is interviewing senior intelligence officials as part of a widening probe that now includes an examination of whether President Trump attempted to obstruct justice, officials said.

The move by Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III to investigate Trump’s own conduct marks a major turning point in the nearly year-old FBI investigation, which until recently focused on Russian meddling during the presidential campaign and on whether there was any coordination between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin. Investigators have also been looking for any evidence of possible financial crimes among Trump associates, officials said.

Trump had received private assurances from former FBI Director James B. Comey starting in January that he was not personally under investigation. Officials say that changed shortly after Comey’s firing.

The WaPo piece goes on to detail an encounter between Coats and Trump, as well as phone calls between Trump, Coats and Rogers.

Coats was attending a briefing at the White House together with officials from several other government agencies. When the briefing ended, as The Post previously reported, Trump asked everyone to leave the room except for Coats and CIA Director Mike Pompeo.

Coats told associates that Trump had asked him if he could intervene with Comey to get the bureau to back off its focus on former national security adviser Michael Flynn in its Russia probe, according to officials. Coats later told lawmakers that he never felt pressured to intervene.

A day or two after the March 22 meeting, Trump telephoned Coats and Rogers to separately ask them to issue public statements denying the existence of any evidence of coordination between his campaign and the Russian government.

Coats and Rogers refused to comply with the president’s requests, officials said.

And there’s documentation: recently departed National Security Agency Deputy Richard Ledgett penned an internal NSA memo documenting the president’s phone call with his boss, Adm. Mike Rogers, according to officials.

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Newt Gingrich Flip Flops On Russian Investigation Special Counsel

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich went all “flip/flop” on the special counsel appointed to look into the Russian interference in the 2016 election this past Sunday.

Gingrich told Chris Wallace of Fox News that since former FBI Director James Comey admitted that he shared his personal memos with the world regarding conversations with President Trump in hopes that a special counsel would be appointed, the special counsel should be dismissed.

Gingrich also says that the special counsel, Robert Mueller, is one of James Comey’s best friends, and that also is grounds for dismissal.

Except – James Comey didn’t pick the special counsel, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointed Mueller to the position. And, at the time, Gingrich was all thumbs up.

Let’s take a trip on the way-back machine less than one month ago:

Watch Gingrich below on Fox News:

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Trump: Special Counsel Investigating Russian Interference In Election “Hurts The Country”

President Trump

Yesterday, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein announced he had appointed former FBI Director Robert Mueller as special counsel, taking over the investigation into Russia’s alleged meddling in the 2016 election.

The White House issued this statement last night on the president’s behalf:

“As I have stated many times, a thorough investigation will confirm what we already know — there was no collusion between my campaign and any foreign entity. I look forward to this matter concluding quickly. In the meantime, I will never stop fighting for the people and the issues that matter most to the future of our country.”

Very adult sounding, no?

Well, in a lunch meeting with network news anchors and reporters today, President Trump struck a very different tone saying the special counsel investigation “hurts the country!”

Via CNBC:

“I believe it hurts our country terribly, because it shows we’re a divided, mixed-up, not-unified country,” Trump said. “And we have very important things to be doing right now, whether it’s trade deals, whether it’s military, whether it’s stopping nuclear — all of the things that we discussed today. And I think this shows a very divided country.”

“It also happens to be a pure excuse for the Democrats having lost an election that they should have easily won because of the Electoral College being slanted so much in their way. That’s all this is. I think it shows division, and it shows that we’re not together as a country. And I think it’s a very, very negative thing. And hopefully, this can go quickly, because we have to show unity if we’re going to do great things with respect to the rest of the world.”