RUSSIA/РОССИЯ THREAD—ASSANGE CHRGD W/ SPYING—DJT IMPEACHED TWICE-US TREASURY SANCTS KILIMNIK AS RUSSIAN AGNT
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nytimes.com
House Democrats Subpoena a Who’s Who of Mueller Witnesses
By Nicholas Fandos
5-6 minutes
Image
Representative Jerrold Nadler, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, during a hearing on Thursday.CreditCreditAnna Moneymaker/The New York Times
WASHINGTON — The House Judiciary Committee on Thursday approved a dozen new subpoenas targeting a who’s who of witnesses cited in Robert S. Mueller III’s report as Democrats sought to elevate their showdown with President Trump over episodes of possible obstruction of justice documented by the special counsel.
The panel also approved a separate group of subpoenas seeking information about the Trump administration’s practice of separating children from their families at the border. And House Democratic leaders set Tuesday for a full House vote to hold Attorney General William P. Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in criminal contempt of Congress over their refusal to relinquish documents related to the administration’s efforts to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census.
“The House will not shirk from its oversight of this administration and its malign effort to silence the voices of millions in our democracy,” said Representative Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland, the majority leader, referring to fears that a citizenship question would dissuade immigrants from answering the census.
Among the prominent figures to be subpoenaed by the Democrats are Jeff Sessions, the former attorney general; Rod J. Rosenstein, his deputy who appointed Mr. Mueller, the special counsel; John F. Kelly, the former White House chief of staff; Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and senior adviser; and Corey Lewandowski, a former Trump campaign manager. Democrats also authorized a subpoena for David J. Pecker, who as head of American Media helped Mr. Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign buy the silence of a pornographic film actress and a former Playboy model, both of whom claimed to have had sexual relationships with him.
Despite rancorous Republican opposition, Democrats who control the committee were able to push the subpoena authorizations through along party lines — promising to jump-start two of their highest-priority oversight investigations of Mr. Trump and his presidency.
The first is an inquiry into whether Mr. Trump’s attempts to impede federal investigators studying his campaign’s ties to Russia constituted obstruction of justice or an abuse of power.
“The committee on the judiciary has a constitutional obligation to investigate credible allegations of misconduct,” Representative Jerrold Nadler, the chairman of the committee, said as he opened the hearing. “There is no substitute for primary evidence as the committee makes its decisions.”
Mr. Trump fumed about the new subpoenas on Twitter Thursday morning, urging Democrats to “go back to work” on policy issues rather than trying to take additional “bites at the apple” after the conclusion of Mr. Mueller’s 22-month investigation.
Representative Doug Collins of Georgia, the top Republican on the committee, protested what he called a “subpoena binge” that was designed to provoke political conflicts rather than find information.
“Today’s subpoena binge is an effort to change the narrative,” Mr. Collins said. “It is a show of force. It is a chance for the chairman to prove to his rank and file, and the rest of the Democratic caucus, he can be tough on the Trump administration after being pushed around for six months.”
In addition to Mr. Sessions and Mr. Rosenstein, the Mueller-related subpoenas target Michael T. Flynn, Mr. Trump’s former national security adviser; Jody Hunt, Mr. Sessions’s chief of staff; Rob Porter, a former top White House aide; and Rick A. Dearborn, another former White House official. Mr. Flynn has already been subpoenaed by the House Intelligence Committee.
The immigration-related subpoenas are part of a Judiciary Committee investigation of the Trump administration’s divisive policies at the border. They specifically authorize the committee to demand testimony and documents from current and former administration officials about its so-called zero tolerance policy at the border, the practice of separating migrant families and the standards of detention of migrants.
They are also seeking information about any talk of presidential pardons for Department of Homeland Security officials involved in carrying out the president’s immigration orders, despite the possibility that some might violate existing law.
Mr. Nadler said on Thursday that he was pursuing a compulsory process because the Justice Department had failed to meaningfully comply with voluntary requests for the same information; the Homeland Security and Health and Human Services departments, he added, had largely complied with similar requests.
“We have given the administration ample time to respond to these serious reports of egregious conduct,” Mr. Nadler said. “This committee cannot sit idly by. There must be oversight and accountability.”
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Senate Intelligence Committee summons mysterious British security consultant
Senate Intelligence Committee summons mysterious British security consultant
NATASHA BERTRAND06/05/2019 02:57 PM EDT
The Senate Intelligence Committee, headed by Richard Burr, has asked Walter Soriano for a voluntary, closed-door interview and documents with various Russia probe figures. | J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo
Senate investigators have added yet another name to the constantly evolving cast of characters in the Russia investigation.
On April 5, just 2 weeks after Special Counsel Robert Mueller submitted his final report on Russia’s election interference, the Senate Intelligence Committee sent a letter to a British security consultant named Walter Soriano asking for a voluntary, closed-door interview and documents with various Russia probe figures dating back to June 2015.
The letter, obtained by Politico, offers yet another window into the panel’s secretive — but largely bipartisan — two-year-old investigation, and reveals the investigators’ interest in what, if any, role Israel may have played in attempts to manipulate the 2016 election.
The panel’s interest in Soriano is not a mere fishing expedition, according to a source familiar with the investigators’ internal deliberations who requested anonymity to discuss them freely.
“They’re surprised by how connected he seems to several people of interest,” this person said, including the Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska — a former business associate of Trump’s campaign chairman Paul Manafort, who offered Deripaska private briefings about the campaign in 2016. Deripaska is believed to have worked with Soriano on corporate intelligence matters, this person said.
On April 5, the committee sent a bipartisan request to Soriano at the London address for his security firm, USG Security Limited. The letter asked for “all communications or records of communications” with some characters who have by now become household names, like Manafort and Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn.
The committee also requested Soriano’s communications with three Israeli private intelligence firms: Psy Group, Wikistrat, and Black Cube, as well as any communications he may have had with Orbis Business Intelligence, a firm co-founded by the former British spy Christopher Steele.
A committee spokeswoman declined to comment. A lawyer for Soriano did not return a request for comment. It's not clear whether, or how, Soriano responded to the committee's letter.
Soriano is virtually a ghost online, aside from publicly available corporate recordslisting him as the director of a London-based security firm called USG Security. He has been accused in the Israeli press of spying on police officers involved in the corruption probe of Israeli prime minister Bibi Netanyahu—an allegation he’s staunchly denied. Soriano also produced a documentary about Netanyahu’s late brother, Yoni Netanyahu, who died leading Israel’s raid on Entebbe Airport in Uganda in 1976.
It isn’t clear why the Senate committee believes Soriano may have a connection to the private Israeli firms — one of which, Psy Group, was enlisted by Trump’s deputy campaign chairman Rick Gates in 2016 to use social media manipulation to help Trump beat his Republican primary opponents and Hillary Clinton. Psy Group’s founder Joel Zamel also owns WikiStrat, which reportedly gamed out how to successfully interfere in an election as early as 2015. Black Cube is one of Zamel’s main rivals, according to the Wall Street Journal. Steele has worked with Deripaska in the past, but a source close to Orbis told POLITICO that they’d never heard of Soriano.
The Senate Intelligence Committee has been investigating Russia’s election interference and a potential conspiracy between Trump’s campaign and Moscow for more than 2 years. It’s not clear when the probe will end, but one Democratic Senate Intelligence Committee aide said in February that the investigation was “closer to the end than to the beginning."
A spokesperson for Black Cube said in a statement that “neither they nor anyone acting on their behalf has ever had any communication or collaboration with Walter Soriano or anyone on his behalf."
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Sir Kim Darroch said Christopher Steele 'was "absolutely legit"' in leaked emails | Daily Mail Online
Sir Kim Darroch vouched for British ex-spy Christopher Steele who put together the Dirty Dossier on Trump and told US officials he 'was "absolutely legit"'
Britain's former ambassador to the U.S. vouched for the credibility of Christopher Steele, the author of the explosive dossier detailing Donald Trump's alleged ties to Russia.
Sir Kim Darroch, who quit his post after leaked diplomatic cables revealed his outspoken criticism of President Trump's administration and personality, backed the former MI6 spy when asked by a U.S. official.
Mr Steele's so-called 'dodgy dossier' had alleged that Donald Trump colluded with Russia to fix the 2016 election and that he paid prostitutes to urinate on him in a Moscow hotel room.
Britain's former ambassador to the U.S., Sir Kim Darroch, vouched for the credibility of Christopher Steele, the author of the explosive dossier detailing Donald Trump's alleged ties to Russia
And the same leaked diplomatic cables which revealed Sir Kim's damaging comments about President Trump, in which he called his administration 'inept', also showed that Sir Kim backed Mr Steele's dossier, the Sunday Telegraph reported.
Asked if Mr Steel, was 'legit', Sir Kim had replied: 'Absolutely'.
Steele, who runs a private intelligence firm, had supplied the dossier to an outside company used by Hillary Clinton's election committee.
It contained unverified information that Trump was vulnerable to blackmail from Russia and had engaged in 'golden showers' with prostitutes during a 2013 trip to Moscow for the Miss Universe pageant.
Leaked details of the dossier were seized upon by Trump's detractors as evidence that Russia's President Vladamir Putin had interfered in the election.
As well as supplying the dossier to the Clinton campaign Steele also handed it over to American and British intelligence agencies as he was worried about the national security implications.
Mr Steele's so-called 'dodgy dossier' had alleged that Donald Trump colluded with Russia to fix the 2016 election and that he paid prostitutes to urinate on him in a Moscow hotel room
However, Mr Trump has since been cleared by special counsel Robert Mueller whose long-anticipated report had looked into allegations of Russian collusion.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller exonerated Trump of conspiring with the Russians to win the Presidency.
Since being named as the author of the dossier, Steele kept a low profile and was not seen in public until he was tracked down by MailOnline to a Surrey railway station in March
Looking shocked that his cover was blown, he ran towards a car driven by his wife that just two minutes earlier had dropped him off at the station for his commute to his London office.
He stared rigidly ahead as his wife Katherine drove him the short distance back to his home.
After a career with MI6 that included working at the British Embassy in Moscow Steele left in 2009 to set up his own company Orbis Business Inteligence with another former spy.
It was this company that was hired to write the dossier into alleged Trump-Russia activities.
In the latest tranche of leaked cables, Sir Kim wrote in a memo to Downing Street that Donald Trump's decision to abandon the Iran nuclear deal was an act of 'diplomatic vandalism' to spite his predecessor Barack Obama.
Mr Steele was last seen at a Surrey railway station after being tracked down by MailOnline. When approached, he ran towards his wife's car and was then driven away
Sir Kim Darroch resigns as ambassador to the US
The leaked cables and briefing notes led to Sir Kim’s resignation last week after President Trump hit back furiously at Sir Kim's comments, branding the ambassador a 'very stupid guy'.
He said on Twitter: 'The wacky Ambassador that the U.K. foisted upon the United States is not someone we are thrilled with, a very stupid guy.
'He should speak to his country, and Prime Minister May, about their failed Brexit negotiation, and not be upset with my criticism of how badly it was handled.
The leaked cables and briefing notes led to Sir Kim’s resignation last week after President Trump hit back furiously at Sir Kim's comments, branding the ambassador a 'very stupid guy'
'I told how to do that deal, but she went her own foolish way-was unable to get it done.
'A disaster!
'I don't know the Ambassador but have been told he is a pompous fool.
'Tell him the USA now has the best economy and military anywhere in the world, by far.'
President Trump: The UK ambassador is 'a very stupid guy'
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Sir Kim Darroch said Christopher Steele 'was "absolutely legit"' in leaked emails | Daily Mail Online
Sir Kim Darroch vouched for British ex-spy Christopher Steele who put together the Dirty Dossier on Trump and told US officials he 'was "absolutely legit"'
Britain's former ambassador to the U.S. vouched for the credibility of Christopher Steele, the author of the explosive dossier detailing Donald Trump's alleged ties to Russia.
Sir Kim Darroch, who quit his post after leaked diplomatic cables revealed his outspoken criticism of President Trump's administration and personality, backed the former MI6 spy when asked by a U.S. official.
Mr Steele's so-called 'dodgy dossier' had alleged that Donald Trump colluded with Russia to fix the 2016 election and that he paid prostitutes to urinate on him in a Moscow hotel room.
Britain's former ambassador to the U.S., Sir Kim Darroch, vouched for the credibility of Christopher Steele, the author of the explosive dossier detailing Donald Trump's alleged ties to Russia
And the same leaked diplomatic cables which revealed Sir Kim's damaging comments about President Trump, in which he called his administration 'inept', also showed that Sir Kim backed Mr Steele's dossier, the Sunday Telegraph reported.
Asked if Mr Steel, was 'legit', Sir Kim had replied: 'Absolutely'.
Steele, who runs a private intelligence firm, had supplied the dossier to an outside company used by Hillary Clinton's election committee.
It contained unverified information that Trump was vulnerable to blackmail from Russia and had engaged in 'golden showers' with prostitutes during a 2013 trip to Moscow for the Miss Universe pageant.
Leaked details of the dossier were seized upon by Trump's detractors as evidence that Russia's President Vladamir Putin had interfered in the election.
As well as supplying the dossier to the Clinton campaign Steele also handed it over to American and British intelligence agencies as he was worried about the national security implications.
Mr Steele's so-called 'dodgy dossier' had alleged that Donald Trump colluded with Russia to fix the 2016 election and that he paid prostitutes to urinate on him in a Moscow hotel room
However, Mr Trump has since been cleared by special counsel Robert Mueller whose long-anticipated report had looked into allegations of Russian collusion.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller exonerated Trump of conspiring with the Russians to win the Presidency.
Since being named as the author of the dossier, Steele kept a low profile and was not seen in public until he was tracked down by MailOnline to a Surrey railway station in March
Looking shocked that his cover was blown, he ran towards a car driven by his wife that just two minutes earlier had dropped him off at the station for his commute to his London office.
He stared rigidly ahead as his wife Katherine drove him the short distance back to his home.
After a career with MI6 that included working at the British Embassy in Moscow Steele left in 2009 to set up his own company Orbis Business Inteligence with another former spy.
It was this company that was hired to write the dossier into alleged Trump-Russia activities.
In the latest tranche of leaked cables, Sir Kim wrote in a memo to Downing Street that Donald Trump's decision to abandon the Iran nuclear deal was an act of 'diplomatic vandalism' to spite his predecessor Barack Obama.
Mr Steele was last seen at a Surrey railway station after being tracked down by MailOnline. When approached, he ran towards his wife's car and was then driven away
Sir Kim Darroch resigns as ambassador to the US
The leaked cables and briefing notes led to Sir Kim’s resignation last week after President Trump hit back furiously at Sir Kim's comments, branding the ambassador a 'very stupid guy'.
He said on Twitter: 'The wacky Ambassador that the U.K. foisted upon the United States is not someone we are thrilled with, a very stupid guy.
'He should speak to his country, and Prime Minister May, about their failed Brexit negotiation, and not be upset with my criticism of how badly it was handled.
The leaked cables and briefing notes led to Sir Kim’s resignation last week after President Trump hit back furiously at Sir Kim's comments, branding the ambassador a 'very stupid guy'
'I told how to do that deal, but she went her own foolish way-was unable to get it done.
'A disaster!
'I don't know the Ambassador but have been told he is a pompous fool.
'Tell him the USA now has the best economy and military anywhere in the world, by far.'
President Trump: The UK ambassador is 'a very stupid guy'
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washingtonexaminer.com
Ousted UK ambassador leaked US intelligence
by Tom Rogan | July 15, 2019 04:10 PM
4-5 minutes
Leaked U.K. diplomatic cables critical of President Trump have led Britain’s ambassador, Sir Kim Darroch, to announce his departure from Washington earlier than expected. But the story is not yet concluded.
According to one current and one former U.S. government official speaking on the condition of anonymity, Darroch repeatedly leaked classified U.S. intelligence information, including highly classified information, to a journalist for a U.S.-based media outlet. The sources are consolidated by the reaction my related inquiries have received from other government officials.
These leaks are unrelated to the diplomatic cables which sparked Trump's anger and Darroch's departure.
Still, one source says that the U.S. government was so alarmed by Darroch's leaks that it launched an official investigation to find the source of the information. That source described the leaked intelligence as “very sensitive,” and suggested that exigent U.S. security concerns motivated the investigation. That source says that non-U.S. government derived records showed the ambassador and journalist exchanging messages on a continuing basis. The source emphasized that these communications were not derived from U.S. government actions.
A second source, a career government official, described the leaks as "unprecedented."
The Washington Examiner has been unable to confirm how long any investigation continued or whether it has since been suspended. But concern inside the U.S. government over the leaks was significant.
One of the sources said that the ambassador repeatedly transmitted highly classified U.S. originator-control intelligence information to the journalist. ORCON intelligence, as it's called in the intelligence world, is closely held and carefully distributed. At least some of this information was classified at the "Five Eyes" alliance classification level, meaning it was distributed by the U.S. only to Australia, Britain, Canada, and New Zealand. Some intelligence may also have been classified at the U.S.-U.K. only level. Such intelligence is transmitted only on the condition of established protocols and the assumption it will be closely held.
The implications here are thus significant for two reasons.
While there is no indication that Ambassador Darroch was targeted as an investigative subject, even if incidental to Darroch, any investigative attention towards a British ambassador will raise eyebrows. Five Eyes protocols prohibit intelligence monitoring of allies. While this rule is occasionally bent, its malleability is tempered by the need to sustain shared trust.
Conversely, were the ambassador of America’s closest ally found to have leaked highly classified U.S. intelligence, it would undercut the trusting relationship of the two closest allies.
Yet it must be said that this risk is not new.
While U.S. and Britain retain the closest and most successful intelligence relationship of any two nations (near-symbiotic between the U.S. National Security Agency and its British counterpart, Government Communications Headquarters), sensitive leaks in media have occurred repeatedly in both directions across the Atlantic.
Following the May 2017 suicide bombing of a concert in Manchester, England, U.S. media leaks of British intelligence led Britain to temporarily suspend the sharing of certain intelligence material with the U.S. government. At the time, Trump described those leaks as "deeply troubling" and said that Prime Minister Theresa May was "very angry." In 2006, British intelligence officials were similarly enraged by U.S. action against al Qaeda operations officer, Rashid Rauf, at the culmination of an investigation into a plot against transatlantic passenger aircraft departing Britain.
Still, for both nations there is perhaps some solace here. Darroch has announced he will leave his post once a successor is appointed.
The White House and Justice Department declined to comment. As of publication the British Embassy did not respond to a request for comment.
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washingtonexaminer.com
Ousted UK ambassador leaked US intelligence
by Tom Rogan | July 15, 2019 04:10 PM
4-5 minutes
Leaked U.K. diplomatic cables critical of President Trump have led Britain’s ambassador, Sir Kim Darroch, to announce his departure from Washington earlier than expected. But the story is not yet concluded.
According to one current and one former U.S. government official speaking on the condition of anonymity, Darroch repeatedly leaked classified U.S. intelligence information, including highly classified information, to a journalist for a U.S.-based media outlet. The sources are consolidated by the reaction my related inquiries have received from other government officials.
These leaks are unrelated to the diplomatic cables which sparked Trump's anger and Darroch's departure.
Still, one source says that the U.S. government was so alarmed by Darroch's leaks that it launched an official investigation to find the source of the information. That source described the leaked intelligence as “very sensitive,” and suggested that exigent U.S. security concerns motivated the investigation. That source says that non-U.S. government derived records showed the ambassador and journalist exchanging messages on a continuing basis. The source emphasized that these communications were not derived from U.S. government actions.
A second source, a career government official, described the leaks as "unprecedented."
The Washington Examiner has been unable to confirm how long any investigation continued or whether it has since been suspended. But concern inside the U.S. government over the leaks was significant.
One of the sources said that the ambassador repeatedly transmitted highly classified U.S. originator-control intelligence information to the journalist. ORCON intelligence, as it's called in the intelligence world, is closely held and carefully distributed. At least some of this information was classified at the "Five Eyes" alliance classification level, meaning it was distributed by the U.S. only to Australia, Britain, Canada, and New Zealand. Some intelligence may also have been classified at the U.S.-U.K. only level. Such intelligence is transmitted only on the condition of established protocols and the assumption it will be closely held.
The implications here are thus significant for two reasons.
While there is no indication that Ambassador Darroch was targeted as an investigative subject, even if incidental to Darroch, any investigative attention towards a British ambassador will raise eyebrows. Five Eyes protocols prohibit intelligence monitoring of allies. While this rule is occasionally bent, its malleability is tempered by the need to sustain shared trust.
Conversely, were the ambassador of America’s closest ally found to have leaked highly classified U.S. intelligence, it would undercut the trusting relationship of the two closest allies.
Yet it must be said that this risk is not new.
While U.S. and Britain retain the closest and most successful intelligence relationship of any two nations (near-symbiotic between the U.S. National Security Agency and its British counterpart, Government Communications Headquarters), sensitive leaks in media have occurred repeatedly in both directions across the Atlantic.
Following the May 2017 suicide bombing of a concert in Manchester, England, U.S. media leaks of British intelligence led Britain to temporarily suspend the sharing of certain intelligence material with the U.S. government. At the time, Trump described those leaks as "deeply troubling" and said that Prime Minister Theresa May was "very angry." In 2006, British intelligence officials were similarly enraged by U.S. action against al Qaeda operations officer, Rashid Rauf, at the culmination of an investigation into a plot against transatlantic passenger aircraft departing Britain.
Still, for both nations there is perhaps some solace here. Darroch has announced he will leave his post once a successor is appointed.
The White House and Justice Department declined to comment. As of publication the British Embassy did not respond to a request for comment.
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Remember...I WAS TELLING YALL FOR YEARS
ASSANGE IS A DE FACTO RUSSIAN OPERATIVE!
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