:FuturamaFry:
RUSSIA/РОССИЯ THREAD—ASSANGE CHRGD W/ SPYING—DJT IMPEACHED TWICE-US TREASURY SANCTS KILIMNIK AS RUSSIAN AGNT
- Thread starter ☑︎#VoteDemocrat
- Start date
:FuturamaFry:
Been away for a week, fairly rural part of Hawaii, and just checked out for the whole time, I did see Rosenstein is leaving, and I am up to date on the William Barr confirm, but other than that, what are the biggest takeaways in last week?
#PayAttention!!!
:ALERTRED:
The disturbing timeline of events surrounding the first Trump-Putin meeting
The disturbing timeline of events surrounding the first Trump-Putin meeting
Donald Trump’s secretive meetings with Vladimir Putin are raising new questions about the American president’s ties with Russia in light of two reports issued over the weekend.
The New York Times said on Friday (Jan. 11) that the Federal Bureau of Investigation opened an inquiry in May 2017 to determine whether Trump was actively working for Russia. Meanwhile, the Washington Post reported on Sunday (Jan. 13) that Trump has repeatedly tried to hide the content of his conversations with Putin, including by admonishing his translator not to disclose what was said during a conversation with the Russian president.
The new information sheds light on Trump’s first encounters with Putin. Here’s a look at them, based on a timeline released Monday (Jan. 14) by Andrew Weiss, an expert in American-Russian relations at the Carnegie Endowment think tank.
July 7, 2017 — First meeting
Trump received some disturbing news on the morning of July 7, when the New York Times reached out to the White House seeking comment on a bombastic story. The Times had learned that Trump’s son, Don Jr., together with Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, and then campaign chairman Paul Manafort, had met with Natalia Veselnitskaya, a Russian lawyer. The meeting took place at Trump Tower, in the midst of the presidential campaign in June 2016.
(Last week, prosecutors charged Veselnitskaya with obstruction of justice in the context of a money laundering probe. The case is unrelated to the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, but helped confirm Veselnitskaya’s ties to the Russian government.)
Later that day, Trump and Putin met in personfor the first time. Their encounter, which was scheduled as part of the G20 summit in Hamburg, lasted more than two hours, and was surrounded by secrecy. The only people present were Trump and Putin’s translators, and the American and Russian foreign ministers. Afterwards, both presidents gave reporters vague descriptions of what was discussed.
Trump reportedly ensured the content of the meeting was kept secret by keeping his translator’s notes, and demanding that she not brief anyone on what was discussed, according to the Post.
Secret chat
Then, on the evening of July 7, during a formal dinner in Hamburg, Trump walked up to Putin, and the two talked “privately and animatedly” for almost an hour, Ian Bremmer, the head of political risk consultancy Eurasia, said at the time, citing world leaders who had been present at the dinner.
The content of that conversation, which was kept secret for days, is even more opaque than what was said during the scheduled meeting. Besides the two presidents, the only other person present was Putin’s translator.
“Put another way,” Weiss said Monday, “shortly after the New York Times reached out to the White House to ask about a secret meeting with the Russians, Trump himself sought a secret meeting with the Russians.”
July 8 — Statement to the Times
While flying back to Washington from the Hamburg summit, the president dictated a statement to aides regarding the Trump Tower meeting. He claimed attendees discussed an adoption program of Russian children by American families, and that the presidential campaign didn’t come up, an assertion that was later repeated by Veselnitskaya. Trump’s statement was sent to the Times, signed by Don Jr.
Later it was revealed that the meeting was scheduled because the Russian lawyer wanted to provide the Trump campaign with dirt on Hillary Clinton, as part of Kremlin-backed efforts to help Trump win the election.
Open questions
Weiss notes that the sequence of events poses some prickly questions: “Why did [Trump and Putin] huddle together by themselves within hours of the White House learning that the at-that-point-still-secret Trump Tower meeting between [Don Jr.] and the Russians was about to become public?” he tweeted on Monday.
The timeline begs another question: Did Russia in any way inform the statement Trump produced on board Air Force One on his return flight from Hamburg
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:ALERTRED:
When Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker accepted the role of overseeing the Mueller investigation, he failed to disclose to Department of Justice ethics officers that, as head of a conservative watchdog group, he had cooperated with senior White House aides of President Trump in finding ways to attack the work of the special counsel—in one case by filing a Federal Election Commission complaint against a critic of Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign manager who was under scrutiny by Mueller.
If Whitaker had revealed these directions from the White House and his actions on Trump’s behalf, Justice ethics officers would almost certainly have advised him that his continued oversight of the special counsel would violate ethics rules. According to a senior Justice official with knowledge of the matter, Whitaker may face investigation by the department’s inspector general over his omission.
As the confirmation hearing for Whitaker’s permanent replacement as attorney general begins, senators will want to know from President Trump’s nominee, William Barr, what action he will take to prevent similar efforts by the White House to interfere in and frustrate the special counsel’s investigation.
If Whitaker had revealed these directions from the White House and his actions on Trump’s behalf, Justice ethics officers would almost certainly have advised him that his continued oversight of the special counsel would violate ethics rules. According to a senior Justice official with knowledge of the matter, Whitaker may face investigation by the department’s inspector general over his omission.
As the confirmation hearing for Whitaker’s permanent replacement as attorney general begins, senators will want to know from President Trump’s nominee, William Barr, what action he will take to prevent similar efforts by the White House to interfere in and frustrate the special counsel’s investigation.
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ExodusNirvana
Change is inevitable...
-Mueller is almost done (allegedly)
-Cohen will be testifying in February
-Whitaker is testifying right around when Cohen is
-FBI started an investigation of Trump right after or around the time of Comey getting fired
-Subpoenas are coming
-Turtleneck still refusing to sign the bills
-Cheeto served the Clemson football team cold McDonalds
Hood Critic
The Power Circle
:ALERTRED:
Mueller confirms Kilimnik a focus of grand jury investigation
By Katelyn Polantz, CNN
Updated 5:38 PM ET, Tue January 15, 2019
Barr: Mueller is not on a witch hunt 01:02
Washington (CNN)Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort spoke to a federal grand jury last fall about his communications with Konstantin Kilimnik, including regarding an in-person meeting with the Russian associate and an email with him, special counsel Robert Mueller revealed Tuesday.
The special counsel kept more details about the meeting secret in its court filing, such as what the in-person meeting was about and when it took place.
But the acknowledgment Tuesday is the first confirmation from prosecutors that Kilimnik is still connected to the investigation before the federal grand jury.
Based on recent filings from Mueller's team, Kilimnik appears to be at the heart of pieces of Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
Mueller's team has been redacting information in its recent court filings to protect other individuals and to keep secret its ongoing investigations, of which there are multiple still in the works. But the special counsel has not redacted Kilimnik's name.
Mueller also revealed Tuesday that Manafort communicated with Kilimnik beginning on August 2, 2016.
Manafort left the Trump campaign later that month. Prosecutors previously accused him of sharing polling data related to the 2016 presidential campaign with Kilimnik, according to a Manafort filing last week.
Earlier Tuesday, Mueller's team and defense attorneys for former Trump campaign official Rick Gates said that once again the special counsel is not ready for Gates to be sentenced.
Gates was Trump's deputy campaign chairman at a time when the campaign had several suspicious communications with Russians or about Russia, including then-campaign chairman Manafort sharing polling data with Kilimnik, the Trump Tower meeting in June 2016 and the party's decision to change its platform regarding Russian intervention in Ukraine.
At the same time, the Russians' military intelligence hacked Democratic targets and facilitated the public release of stolen emails to damage Trump's opponents. Russians backed by a powerful oligarch also at that time allegedly ran a propaganda campaign on American social media sites to influence voters in a way that would help Trump. Mueller's investigation focuses on Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election.
This story is breaking and will be updated.
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Mueller is still pursuing Kilimnik? :rockwtfusay:
Guess who Kilimnik worked with in Ukraine besides Manafort
TAD DEVINE
Guess who Kilimnik worked with in Ukraine besides Manafort
TAD DEVINE