RussiaProbe
RussiaProbe
Any of the various official investigations into the connection between Russia and the Trump campaign or administration.
Wednesday 15 May 2019
Among them: The Justice Department has acknowledged Congress’s “investigatory powers” as a remedy for not being able to indict a sitting president.
...accusing the Democratically-controlled committee of seeking to recreate the special counsel investigation to harass the President.
Judge Amit Mehta said there isn’t a case since 1880 where the Supreme Court or an appeals court found that Congress overstepped in issuing a subpoena.
Tuesday 14 May 2019
The line of inquiry stems from claims made by the president’s former personal lawyer and fixer, Michael D. Cohen, who told Congress earlier this year that the lawyers in question helped edit false testimony that he provided to Congress in 2017
Tuesday 2 April 2019
Monday 1 April 2019
One might say that the judge may have been injudicious in his tone or choice of words, but one cannot say that his comments were so discourteous, uncivil, or “bullying” as to “transcend … the expected rough-and-tumble of litigation.”
Democratic lawmakers are also pushing to obtain all the grand jury information contained in the report.
Sunday 31 March 2019
...federal prosecutors are pursuing a slew of criminal inquiries that grew out of the investigation.
Friday 29 March 2019
Tuesday 26 March 2019
In a private meeting with House Democrats, Pelosi said lawmakers “cannot make a judgment on the basis of an interpretation by a man who was hired for his job because he believes the president is above the law.”
Whether Trump and his enablers have broken any laws, they are clearly committed to using law to subvert the basic tenets of our social contract: the will of the people, the good of the whole and equal justice under the law.
Monday 25 March 2019
The resolution was passed unanimously in the House, and President Trump himself said earlier Monday that it "wouldn't bother [him] at all" if the full report was released.
Attorney General Barr's summary of the Mueller probe is silent about whether investigators found Trump or any associate was influenced by Russia.
An unnamed foreign government-owned corporation will have to turn over information that was related to the special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation to federal prosecutors or continue to accrue escalating fines
The attorney general’s personal history and his reasoning make this fraught.
Sunday 24 March 2019
Yet in one notable instance where Mueller reached no conclusion after years of investigation—about whether the president obstructed justice—Barr rushed to reach a conclusion in just two days.
Nearly a year before his letter Sunday telling lawmakers he did not believe President Donald Trump committed obstruction of justice, Attorney General William Barr authored a memo saying he thought the obstruction investigation was "fatally misconceived."
"While this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him"
“I can certainly understand why the lawyers like [Trump attorney Rudy] Giuliani were fighting this because the president is someone who seems pathologically incapable of telling the truth for long periods of time,” Schiff (D-Calif.) said.
Saturday 23 March 2019
...and urged him to release the full report to lawmakers so their committees could proceed with their “independent work.”
Now, one of the inquiry’s most intriguing unanswered questions is why Trump Jr. remained largely untouched by Mueller despite his participation in the meeting and questions about whether he tried to cover it up.
Friday 22 March 2019
The attorney general, William P. Barr, will determine how much of the special counsel’s Russia report will be shared with Congress or the public.
...bringing to a close an investigation that has consumed the nation and cast a shadow over President Trump for nearly two years.
They want you to believe it began with the Steele dossier. It didn’t.
"I had the greatest electoral victory -- one of them -- in the history of our country. Tremendous success. Tens of millions of voters. And now somebody is going to write a report who never got a vote."
To protect those secrets from prying ears, the whole of the office suite in southwest Washington has been designated a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF), U.S. spy speak for an area that has restrictions to ensure secret information stays secure.
Thursday 21 March 2019
A hotly-debated McClatchy story from December reported that four sources said a cell phone traced back to Cohen sent signals that ricocheted off cell towers in the Prague area in late summer 2016
Tuesday 19 March 2019
Mueller’s office asked a court for an 11-day extension on a filing deadline Tuesday — claiming that, for the time being, key attorneys on their team were too busy with “the press of other work.”
The records show that Mr. Cohen’s business dealings had already been the subject of an extensive investigation by the time F.B.I. agents conducted a highly public raid on his home and office last April.
Monday 18 March 2019
“the Moscow Project was a lucrative business opportunity that sought, and likely required, the assistance of the Russian government.”
Saturday 16 March 2019
Friday 15 March 2019
Thursday 14 March 2019
Though the resolution is nonbinding, Democrats who put it on the House floor are trying to build public pressure on Attorney General William P. Barr before the investigation’s anticipated conclusion.
Wednesday 13 March 2019
“Liar! That’s not what she said!”
Friday 1 March 2019
Monday 25 February 2019
The data was referenced in an email with Manafort’s associate, Rick Gates, and in emails sent by Kilimnik
Sunday 24 February 2019
Saturday 23 February 2019
...as a hardened, remorseless criminal who “repeatedly and brazenly” violated a host of laws over more than a decade and did not deserve any breaks when he is sentenced in coming weeks.
Thursday 21 February 2019
The steps McCabe took to open an investigation after Trump fired Comey were immediately relayed to the White House by Nunes.
Wednesday 20 February 2019
...one of the most pressing questions Barr will face in the coming weeks is the extent to which Mueller's findings should be disclosed to Congress.
Tuesday 19 February 2019
They include statements made on Twitter, in official speeches, at rallies and during news media interviews and other press events.
The goal was to ensure that the information collected under the investigations, which included probes of Trump associates and possible coordination between Russia and the Trump campaign, would survive the firings or reassignments of top law enforcement officials.
The company -- which, in more recent court filings, considers itself interchangeable with the unnamed country that owns it -- lost its challenge before the trial court and a federal court of appeals in Washington to avoid turning over the information.
House Democrats are now pursuing a formal deposition of Whitaker as they scrutinize whether he committed perjury.
President Trump’s efforts have exposed him to accusations of obstruction of justice as Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel, finishes his work.
In the latest of a string of revelations from the former acting FBI director, he says leading Republicans didn’t object to the counterintelligence probe into Trump.
Monday 18 February 2019
The No. 2 official at the department has become one of the highest profile figures in the Trump administration given his oversight of the Russia investigation and the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller in 2017.
Sunday 17 February 2019
Friday 15 February 2019
"the government obtained and executed dozens of search warrants on various accounts used to facilitate the transfer of stolen documents for release, as well as to discuss the timing and promotion of their release"
Prosecutors made a clear reference to Manafort’s time atop Trump’s 2016 campaign, noting his 'repeated misrepresentations to financial institutions were brazen' during that time.
Thursday 14 February 2019
Tyler McGaughey’s work will “intersect” with the Russia investigation.
...handing oversight of the Justice Department — and its investigation into links between Russia’s interference in the 2016 election and the Trump campaign — to a seasoned Republican legal hand known for his expansive view of presidential power.
Wednesday 13 February 2019
Other Trump aides have admitted to lying in Mueller’s investigation, too, but not involving specific contacts with Russians.
“You repeatedly refused to offer clear responses regarding your communications with the White House, and you were inconsistent in your application of the department’s policy related to the discussion of ongoing investigations”
Concord Management and Consulting LLC [...] lost its bid for additional discovery to bolster its claim that it has been unfairly targeted simply for being from Russia.
After one 2017 meeting with Putin, Trump reportedly asked his State Department interpreter for her notes and instructed her not to discuss the meeting with other administration officials.
Sunday 10 February 2019
Whitaker has faced intense scrutiny for his coziness with the White House, as well as his public criticisms of the special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation, which he now oversees.
Friday 8 February 2019
The acting attorney general appeared before the House Judiciary Committee. Democrats asked about the Russia investigation and his oversight of it.
Thursday 7 February 2019
Wednesday 6 February 2019
What's personally good for a president facing a corruption probe isn't automatically what's best for the country.
Monday 4 February 2019
More questions have been raised about how Mr Trump funded his spending spree in Scotland, after reports that Deutsche Bank had turned him down for a loan
Sunday 3 February 2019
...adding that it was time to “get rid” of the inquiry.
Friday 1 February 2019
Filings unsealed by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals named Atlanta-based Alston and Bird as the firm that has been battling with federal prosecutor
Thursday 31 January 2019
Sunday 27 January 2019
Republicans are delaying assigning members to a House committee that would help Robert Mueller
Corsi has been identified as "Person 1" in the 24-page federal indictment filed by special counsel Robert Mueller against Stone
Saturday 26 January 2019
Trump and at least 17 campaign officials and advisers had contacts with Russian nationals and WikiLeaks, or their intermediaries
Friday 25 January 2019
Government Shutdown Day 35
In an indictment unsealed Friday, the special counsel disclosed evidence that a top campaign official in 2016 dispatched Roger J. Stone [...] to get information from WikiLeaks about the thousands of hacked Democratic emails.
The no-nonsense judge assigned Stone’s case has already demonstrated that she’s got little patience for defendants who misbehave.
The longtime Trump adviser has been in Mueller’s crosshairs for some time.
The longtime Trump associate faces allegations he lied to and obstructed the House Intelligence Committee's Russia investigation.
Wednesday 23 January 2019
Government Shutdown Day 33
Manafort appears to be doing something to curry favor with President Donald Trump [...] Manafort is out here helping the president by causing problems for Mueller
Tuesday 22 January 2019
Government Shutdown Day 32
During much, if not all, of Trump's campaign he sought to enrich himself by pursuing a luxury hotel-condominium-office deal in Russia known as Trump Tower Moscow.
It told the story of a 2016 yachting excursion ... [that] ... revealed that Russian Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Prikhodko was also on board and that he and Deripaska had discussed the U.S. election campaign.
Monday 21 January 2019
Government Shutdown Day 31
...and not intended to convey facts.
But I can tell you, from the moment I read the story, I knew the story was false.
Because?
Because I have been through all the tapes, [...]
Wait, what tapes have you gone through?
I shouldn’t have said tapes. [...]
So, there were no tapes you listened to, though?
No tapes. Well, I have listened to tapes, but none of them concern this.
Friday 18 January 2019
Government Shutdown Day 28
“BuzzFeed’s description of specific statements to the special counsel’s office, and characterization of documents and testimony obtained by this office, regarding Michael Cohen’s congressional testimony are not accurate”
Thursday 17 January 2019
Government Shutdown Day 27
Trump received 10 personal updates from Michael Cohen and encouraged a planned meeting with Vladimir Putin.
Tuesday 15 January 2019
Government Shutdown Day 25
Mueller's team released a small mountain of evidence supporting their claim that Manafort lied to them on numerous occasions. The document dump, which is heavily redacted, adds up to almost 200 pages in total, which, investigators wanted Manafort to know, “does not contain all of the evidence compiled by the FBI on these issues.”
Monday 14 January 2019
Government Shutdown Day 24
"On my watch, Bob will be allowed to complete his work," Barr intends to say to Congress at the start of his Senate hearing Tuesday
Sunday 13 January 2019
Government Shutdown Day 23
The FBI can neutralize a counterintelligence threat several ways.
Unfortunately, none of these is a feasible option if the national security threat is the president of the United States.
Saturday 12 January 2019
Government Shutdown Day 22
Friday 11 January 2019
Government Shutdown Day 21
Agents and senior F.B.I. officials had grown suspicious of Mr. Trump’s ties to Russia during the 2016 campaign but held off on opening an investigation into him, the people said, in part because they were uncertain how to proceed with an inquiry of such sensitivity and magnitude.
Wednesday 9 January 2019
Government Shutdown Day 19
Rosenstein is planning to stay on for a time after the new attorney general, William Barr, is expected to be confirmed.
Tuesday 8 January 2019
Government Shutdown Day 18
The court’s order Tuesday offered no explanation for its decision and no justice publicly signaled any dissent.
The accusations came to light in a document filed by Mr. Manafort’s defense lawyers that was supposed to be partly blacked out but contained a formatting error that accidentally revealed the information.
Veselnitskaya [...] gave a false declaration to the federal court in New York about the Russian government's investigative findings in that case,
Monday 7 January 2019
Government Shutdown Day 17
...accusing the firm’s attorneys of submitting unprofessional and inappropriate court filings attacking Mueller’s office and of unwisely peppering legal briefs with jarring quotes taken from movies like Animal House.
Sunday 6 January 2019
Government Shutdown Day 16
He said certain people might have felt like they had “some kind of immunity” when Republicans were in control of the committee, with lawmakers intervening to tell witnesses they don’t have to answer certain questions or appear at all.
Friday 4 January 2019
Government Shutdown Day 14
The grand jury's initial 18-month term was set to expire over the weekend.
Saturday 29 December 2018
Government Shutdown Day 8
...the chief justice blocked the District Court’s order requiring the foreign corporation to comply with the grand jury subpoena, until the government’s lawyers could respond to the Corporation’s briefings.
The inspector general of the president’s own Justice Department concluded the texts were missing due to technological glitches; 20,000 were recovered.
Friday 28 December 2018
Government Shutdown Day 7
...three days ahead of the Monday deadline set by the court.
Thursday 27 December 2018
Government Shutdown Day 6
In all, Mueller has between 1.5 and 2 terabytes of data about the Russian troll farm gathered from several hundred sources.
The phone and surveillance data [...] lend new credence to a key part of a former British spy’s dossier of Kremlin intelligence describing purported coordination between Trump’s campaign and Russia’s election meddling operation.
Russian state media seems to be preparing the public for upcoming revelations of a sexual nature
Sunday 23 December 2018
Government Shutdown Day 2
The pause lasts until the court has time to review a response from the government due on or before December 31.
Saturday 22 December 2018
Government Shutdown Day 1
An unnamed, foreign government-owned company in a mystery court case is asking the Supreme Court to pause a grand jury subpoena it received related to special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation.
Thursday 20 December 2018
The move has generated speculation that Mueller is closing in on an indictment of Stone for lying to Congress.
The Justice Department has concluded that Acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker had no reason to recuse
Wednesday 19 December 2018
...when the case reached the appellate level, Judge Gregory Katsas recused himself [...] and he had previously said he’d recuse himself on Russia investigation-related matters.
...despite the president’s lawyer insisting no such signature existed.
Tuesday 18 December 2018
The ruling offers the intriguing detail that the entity fighting the Mueller subpoena is a foreign-owned company, not a specific individual, as many had speculated.
Flynn is scheduled to be sentenced Tuesday for lying to the FBI about a conversation with Kislyak during the transition.
Monday 17 December 2018
Indeed, it’s no longer accurate to sum up the president’s legal troubles under the banner of “the Russia investigation.” The bulk of the federal investigatory firepower aimed at his inner circle is now coming from outside Mueller’s control, widening the risk to the president himself.
(That total does not count any congressional inquiries, nor does it include any other inquiries into other administration officials unrelated to Russia.)
Sunday 16 December 2018
Saturday 15 December 2018
From the clues that have emerged, it appears that the dispute is about whether a witness can be forced to answer investigators’ questions.
"Over my dead body. But, you know, I could be dead."
Friday 14 December 2018
The FBI memos make clear that top Justice Department and bureau officials knew that Flynn's public story about his calls with Kislyak differed from what he actually said to the ambassador on the phone during the presidential transition
The Special Counsel’s Office released new an expenditure report Friday which revealed that the six months between the beginning of April through September cost about $4.5 million.
But this Friday, court officials went to extreme measures to ensure it was as difficult as possible to figure out what Mueller's team was doing
Flynn's allies have claimed that Flynn was essentially set up by FBI agents wanting to take down the president.
The documents – some of which are heavily redacted -- were released in response to U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan ordering prosecutors to hand over the government's files and "memoranda" related to the FBI’s questioning of Flynn
The case – known officially as “In re: Grand Jury Subpoena” – has been sealed in its entirety when it comes to public records, as it moved from the district court to the appeals court level in recent months.
We now have details as to how the indicted former campaign manager worked with the president to undermine federal law enforcement.
Thursday 13 December 2018
Butina admitted to acting "under direction of" a Russian official whom CNN has identified as Alexander Torshin
Tuesday 11 December 2018
But a 30-minute hearing in the case Tuesday largely centered around scheduling matters and wasn't conclusive.
Monday 10 December 2018
What the president claims was no big deal, say critics, was actually a very clear campaign violation and at least one member of Congress says they "certainly" could be "impeachable offenses"
Trump on Monday sought to downplay the felony his former personal attorney Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to this month
Sunday 9 December 2018
The Russian ambassador. A deputy prime minister. A pop star, a weightlifter, a lawyer, a Soviet army veteran with alleged intelligence ties.
...they have continued to scrutinize what other executives in the president’s family business may have known about those crimes
Saturday 8 December 2018
Trump told reporters he has not read the court filings, which detail alleged lies Cohen and Manafort told publicly and to investigators.
b/c these are goddamned felonies
The president said on Twitter that Friday’s news “totally clears the President. Thank you!” It does not. Manafort and Cohen are in trouble, and so is Trump.
Friday 7 December 2018
A number of people who, at one time or another, were close to Trump not only had ties to the Russians but went out of their way -- sometimes risking severe criminal penalties -- to lie about the nature of those contacts.
The special counsel is connecting the dots and it doesn’t paint a pretty picture for the president.
In a heavily redacted document, Mueller also said Manafort lied about his interactions with Konstantin Kilimnik.
...but asked that a judge consider his cooperation with the special counsel's Russia probe and other investigations in his sentencing.
It’s unclear who made the requests...
But the records’ existence shows, for the first time, that questions about Whitaker’s potential control over an investigation that implicates President Trump are a point of discussion within the Justice Department.
The Mueller questions to Kelly centered on a narrow set of issues in the investigation of potential obstruction of justice
Thursday 6 December 2018
Wednesday 5 December 2018
"The defendant deserves credit for accepting responsibility in a timely fashion and substantially assisting the government."
Tuesday 4 December 2018
Other Watergate lawyers also went to jail for conspiring in Nixon’s efforts to obstruct justice.
Flynn provided "substantial assistance" in special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation, according to court papers filed Tuesday.
What does this all mean? It means people higher up than Flynn are in deep trouble.
Longtime Trump ally Roger Stone is under scrutiny in special counsel Robert Mueller's ongoing probe of Russian interference in the 2016 election.
In the court filing due by midnight Tuesday, Mueller's team could also nod toward the next criminal indictments in its sights.
No other news organization has been able to corroborate the Guardian’s reporting to substantiate its central claim of a meeting.
Monday 3 December 2018
In at least two meetings with Mr. Manafort, Mr. Moreno and his aides discussed their desire to rid themselves of Mr. Assange [...] in exchange for concessions like debt relief from the United States
“Federal law makes it a crime to do anything to dissuade, try to postpone or delay someone’s testimony”
The president praised Roger Stone for refusing to testify against him and bashed Michael Cohen for cooperating
...alleging prosecutors tried to coerce him to give false testimony.
"I have nothing to do with Russia. Haven’t made a phone call to Russia in years. Don’t speak to people from Russia. I have nothing to do with Russia. To the best of my knowledge, no person that I deal with does.”
Sunday 2 December 2018
Comey will appear voluntarily Friday before the House Judiciary Committee, which has agreed to withdraw a subpoena
Comey would be free to speak to reporters after his Hill appearance and to release a transcript, something that is typically available within a day.
Saturday 1 December 2018
If the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, has proved anything in his 18-month-long investigation [...] it is that Mr. Trump surrounded himself throughout 2016 and early 2017 with people to whom lying seemed to be second nature.
“Michael regrets that his vigor in promoting Client-1’s interests in the heat of political battle led him to abandon good judgment and cross legal lines”
Friday 30 November 2018
Trump Jr. told the Senate Judiciary Committee in September 2017 that although there had been negotiations surrounding a prospective Trump Tower in Moscow, they concluded without result "at the end" of 2014.
For the first time, the special counsel's narrative has suddenly come alive with pre-presidential actions and entanglements by Trump himself.
Thursday 29 November 2018
One of the chief questions in the Trump-Russia scandal has been whether Vladimir Putin has leverage over the president of the United States, and, if so, what that leverage looks like.
“Buddy,” Mr. Sater wrote, “our boy can become President of the USA and we can engineer it.”
Trump apparently did not know or did not care that the special counsel had released email evidence bolstering Mr. Cohen’s current position.
“Everybody knew about it, it was written about in newspapers, it was a well-known project,” Trump claimed, falsely, about his company’s covert effort,
The revelation that representatives of the Trump Organization planned to forge direct financial links with the leader of a hostile nation at the height of the campaign raises fresh questions about President Trump's relationship with the Kremlin.
Importantly, though, the regulations do not require the attorney general to approve such steps.
Corsi claims God, not Assange, provided him with foreknowledge of WikiLeaks’ plans. Seriously.
"Trump's long and winding history with Deutsche Bank could now be at the center of Robert Mueller's investigation."
Trump once again signaled that he is determined to preserve for himself the ability to flagrantly abuse his powers to protect himself from accountability
According to court documents, Cohen admitted that he made the misstatements about the “Moscow Project” – the Trump Organization’s efforts to “pursue a branded property in Moscow” in an August 2017 letter to the House and Senate intelligence committees
Wednesday 28 November 2018
“It was never discussed, but I wouldn’t take it off the table. Why would I take it off the table?”
McConnell said the bill was "a solution in search of a problem."
Tuesday 27 November 2018
Giuliani, one of the president’s personal lawyers, acknowledged the arrangement on Tuesday and defended it as a source of valuable insights into the special counsel’s inquiry
The handling of sensitive U.S. government information has long been a sticking point in the case.
Monday 26 November 2018
The filing did not mention what Manafort is specifically alleged to have lied about.
Jerome Corsi, an associate of Trump confidant Roger Stone, says he’s been offered a plea deal on one perjury count—but won’t take it.
Sunday 25 November 2018
Late last week, his new lawyers asked Moss to allow him to delay the start of his prison term until a constitutional challenge to the appointment of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III advanced in a separate case in Washington is resolved.
Moss resoundingly rejected what he termed the “11th hour” request
Friday 23 November 2018
Although Mr. Corsi apparently had no direct connection to the Trump campaign, he was in touch with Mr. Stone, a former campaign adviser who communicated with senior campaign officials through the election.
...there are situations where collusion in the form of even legal acts could still result in a criminal charge. Specifically, it’s the statute of Conspiracy to Defraud the United States.
Thursday 22 November 2018
A "speaking indictment" is a document that criminally charges one or more defendants in a given jurisdiction and includes much more detailed information about the crimes than is required by law.
The date for the meeting had been set for January 27, 2018
Trump has still not spoken to Mueller’s team regarding its investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.
Tuesday 20 November 2018
The special counsel may have to subpoena the president to get answers about his time in office.
Monday 19 November 2018
Whitaker's appointment as the special counsel's boss 'neither alters the special counsel’s authority to represent the United States nor raises any jurisdictional issue.'
Friday 16 November 2018
The president told reporters on Friday that he wrote the answers, not his lawyers, and that he did so "very easily."
Senate Republicans hope replacing Matthew Whitaker will calm the firestorm over Trump’s attacks on the special counsel.
Thursday 15 November 2018
Trump did not detail his complaints, even as he described Mueller's team as "a disgrace to our Nation."
Wednesday 14 November 2018
Flake’s warning will likely force Republicans [...] to rely on Vice President Pence to confirm any of the 32 judicial nominees pending before the full Senate
It’s just happening in slow motion.
The effort by Flake and Coons comes a week after Trump set off alarm bells among Democrats and some Republicans by forcing the resignation of Attorney General Jeff Sessions
Monday 12 November 2018
“He’s obviously not going to recuse himself. He should recuse himself because he’s prejudged the issue”
Friday 9 November 2018
...they have until Nov. 19 to turn in briefs that sift through Wednesday’s firing of Attorney General Jeff Sessions and the legal reaction it may have created.
Thursday 8 November 2018
...who added they do not believe he would approve any subpoena of President Trump as part of that investigation.
Wednesday 7 November 2018
A stealthy way to kill the inquiry.
The investigation was being managed by Rosenstein because Sessions had recused himself.
But if Trump Jr. did lie under oath, the obvious question is why. He had a lawyer, who presumably informed him of the dangers of perjury.
Monday 5 November 2018
In the run-up to the election, Rudy Giuliani was made to shut up. But now, with Trump making excuses for possibly losing the House, officials are bracing for a legal assault.
Wednesday 31 October 2018
The special counsel appears to be locked in a legal battle with a mysterious Russia probe target who is fighting a subpoena.
Wednesday 17 October 2018
The charges reflect the latest move in the Trump administration’s effort to punish leakers within the government.
Mueller is expected to issue findings on core aspects of his Russia probe soon after the November midterm elections as he faces intensifying pressure to produce more indictments or shut down his investigation
Thursday 11 October 2018
Wednesday 10 October 2018
...after he pleaded guilty to a felony identity fraud charge tied to Russian troll activity that rocked the 2016 presidential campaign.
Monday 1 October 2018
Stone, a longtime Trump adviser, has said Credico was his intermediary to Assange and WikiLeaks.
...as part of his cooperation agreement in the special counsel’s investigation into Russia interference in the 2016 presidential election.
Friday 28 September 2018
The lead Russia prosecutor made the historical references [...] in a legal brief to a federal appeals court considering the case of a reluctant witness [...] who is seeking to have Mueller’s appointment thrown out on constitutional grounds.
Thursday 27 September 2018
The proposal would force Republicans to decide whether to consider the Mueller-protection proposal or sideline it.
Among the 53 witnesses are Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Jared Kushner, Donald Trump, Jr., and Hope Hicks
"They do not want to do anything to interfere with the hearing."
Wednesday 26 September 2018
...arguing that House Republicans should stay out their dispute between the two men for now
Monday 24 September 2018
One Justice Department official said Rosenstein was on his way to the White House on Monday and was preparing to be fired. But the official said Rosenstein is not resigning.
Friday 21 September 2018
...initially trying to divert money from the White House legal defense fund and later soliciting donors and pledging $25,000 of his own.
...citing a "perceived negative impact" on the probe and concerns raised by "key allies" about dumping the materials.
Thursday 20 September 2018
The special counsel’s questioning of Cohen [...] has focused primarily on all aspects of Trump's dealings with Russia
Wednesday 19 September 2018
“It’s a sign that, perhaps, Flynn may not be critical to other pieces of Mueller’s investigation”
Tuesday 18 September 2018
Monday 17 September 2018
The President also ordered the Justice Department to release all text messages related to the Russia investigation from former FBI Director James Comey, former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, former FBI agent Peter Strzok, former FBI lawyer Lisa Page and Bruce Ohr
Sunday 16 September 2018
Friday 14 September 2018
Manafort's decision to cooperate with Mueller comes just weeks after President Donald Trump called Manafort a "brave man" who would not "make up stories in order to get a 'deal'" after he was convicted in a separate trial in Virginia.
Thursday 13 September 2018
...it remains unclear whether Manafort has agreed to cooperate with prosecutors or is simply conceding to a guilty plea
Prosecutors also said they expect to take 10 to 12 days to make their case in the second trial.
Wednesday 12 September 2018
The discussions [...] come ahead of Manafort’s second trial, which is slated to begin later this month
Investigators are focused on two bursts of banking activity — one shortly after the June 2016 meeting, the other immediately after the presidential election.
Tuesday 11 September 2018
Monday 10 September 2018
...fearing that publicly attacking the attorney general could give President Donald Trump a new reason to fire him
Sunday 9 September 2018
That explosive allegation, prosecutors now say, was based on a misreading of a series of text messages between Butina and an unnamed man.
Pence said that he's "fully cooperated" with Mueller's team over the past year and would be "more than willing to continue to provide any and all support" to aid the investigation.
Friday 7 September 2018
“We have to get it over with. It’s really bad for the country. It’s really unfair for our midterms. Really, really unfair for the midterms”
...for lying to the F.B.I. about his contacts with Russian intermediaries during the 2016 presidential race
Papadopoulos, 31, who was also sentenced to one year of supervised release
Thursday 6 September 2018
The Justice Department's internal watchdog referred McCabe to the U.S. attorney's office to determine whether he should face criminal charges in addition to having lost his job.
...a judge in Florida ruled Grassley would have to follow normal court procedures to get Steele’s testimony.
Tuesday 4 September 2018
Mueller will accept written answers from Mr. Trump on questions about whether his campaign conspired with Russia’s election interference
The special prosecutor quietly and subtly played the president, who even now has no real clue what Mueller and his zipped-lipped crew are up to.
Monday 3 September 2018
Saturday 1 September 2018
The systematic effort to win the cooperation of the oligarchs, which has not previously been revealed, does not appear to have scored any successes.
But the fallout from the efforts [...] has helped fuel Mr. Trump’s campaign to discredit the investigation into whether he coordinated with Russia in its interference in the election.
Among the things Ohr said he learned from Steele during the breakfast was that an unnamed former Russian intelligence official had communicated that Russian intelligence believed “they had Trump over a barrel”
Friday 31 August 2018
Carr said that neither Dickey nor Richardson left the office because of political allegations, the appearance of bias or any other wrongdoing.
As part of a plea agreement under which he pledged to cooperate with federal prosecutors, the lobbyist, Sam Patten, pleaded guilty to failing to register as a foreign agent
Thursday 30 August 2018
But the bigger picture is that a week after Cohen pleaded guilty to tax, bank fraud, and campaign finance charges — and implicated Trump in the latter of those — Cohen’s role in the larger Trump-Russia saga remains a question mark.
Wednesday 29 August 2018
Attorney-client privilege doesn’t apply when the client enlists a lawyer’s help to commit a crime — and that’s what Mueller’s team is arguing that Manafort did.
That employee ultimately did not receive immunity after prosecutors in the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York decided against granting such protection.
One likely candidate to replace McGahn is Emmet Flood, who joined the president's legal team in May to focus on the Justice Department's Russia investigation.
Tuesday 28 August 2018
In recent days, one of Michael Cohen's lawyers has repeatedly changed his account of what Cohen knew about President Donald Trump's involvement in a controversial meeting during the 2016 campaign.
Giuliani isn’t just saying that the investigation is illegitimate — as he has many times before — or that he’s preparing for the after-action. He’s admitting that job No. 1 is to undermine the man in charge of it.
Monday 27 August 2018
It might even keep the special counsel from sending a report to Congress, shaking Democrats’ hopes that such a document could provide the impetus for impeachment proceedings.
Saturday 25 August 2018
Friday 24 August 2018
“Think of something!!” he replied. “Sex with you does not interest me.”
Tuesday 21 August 2018
By convincing a jury that he has uncovered criminal behavior, the special counsel has likely insulated his larger probe from political threats.
Monday 20 August 2018
Trump’s accusation that the probe could have an impact on the fall elections comes as his lawyers and Mueller’s team continue a lengthy back-and-forth over whether Trump will sit down for an interview with the special counsel’s team.
Sunday 19 August 2018
The inquiry has entered the final stage and prosecutors are considering filing charges by the end of August
After Donald F. McGahn II, the White House counsel, was initially interviewed by the special counsel’s office in November, President Trump’s lawyers never asked for a complete description of what Mr. McGahn had said.Credit
Saturday 18 August 2018
Because he fears Trump may be setting him up to take the fall on potential obstruction of justice and that he’d then wind up like John Dean, former White House counsel to President Richard Nixon who eventually flipped: in prison.
In at least three voluntary interviews with investigators that totaled 30 hours over the past nine months, Mr. McGahn described the president’s fury toward the Russia investigation and the ways in which he urged Mr. McGahn to respond to it.
The secrets they have aren’t secrets anymore. They’re evidence
Friday 17 August 2018
"The defendant's crime was serious and caused damage to the government's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election"
Thursday 16 August 2018
Trump’s decision to declassify competing congressional memos about the validity of the so-called Steele dossier means the FBI has lost its authority to rebuff Freedom of Information Act requests
The other questions suggested that the jury was trying to grapple with some of the complexities of the financial laws that Mr. Manafort [...] is accused of breaking.
It was not the commander in chief, however, but one James Trump (no relation), an assistant U.S. attorney there for a supervised release hearing in an unrelated case.
Wednesday 15 August 2018
Tuesday 14 August 2018
Manafort is letting the case go to the jury because he and his lawyers “do not believe that the government has met its burden of proof”
Monday 13 August 2018
"If his office calls again ... anything they want I’ll share"
The prosecution rested its case in chief, and the defense will argue its motion to acquit on Tuesday
With the odd firing of Peter Strzok, the president has cleansed the bureau of the men who started the Russia investigation. This is not normal.
Saturday 11 August 2018
Friday 10 August 2018
Manafort's role managing the Trump campaign helped him win millions of dollars in loans at a time he was badly short on cash.
Wednesday 8 August 2018
Former Manafort partner Rick Gates wrapped up his testimony as defense lawyers hinted that he had had four adulterous affairs.
Tuesday 7 August 2018
What’s the most worrisome foreign intrusion into the United States—unauthorized immigrants, Chinese imports, or interference in our democracy?
For Trump, it’s immigrants and imports. He doesn’t care much about the third.
Monday 6 August 2018
Sunday 5 August 2018
Whom to believe — the accused liar, or the admitted one?
The President’s Sunday-morning tweet should be seen as a turning point. It doesn’t teach us anything new [...] But it ends any possibility of an alternative explanation.
At rare moments of introspection for the famously self-centered president, Trump has also expressed to confidants lingering unease about how some in his orbit — including his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr. — are ensnared in the Russia probe
Friday 3 August 2018
One Manafort accountant, Cindy Laporta, said she went along with falsifying his tax records because she feared confronting her longtime client.
Thursday 2 August 2018
The son of a Russian oligarch helped set up the now infamous 2016 Trump Tower meeting.
In her lengthy ruling, Howell said that the “witness raises legitimate questions, but his concerns are not legally sustainable.”
Wednesday 1 August 2018
The latest proposal by the special counsel comes as Trump has stepped up his attacks on his investigation and Mueller personally.
She denied that Trump was obstructing the probe. “He’s fighting back,” she said.
Tuesday 31 July 2018
Giuliani essentially conceded that he was saying things not necessarily because they were correct but because he was being strategic.
Monday 30 July 2018
“To say he wasn’t there implies that it happened and he wasn’t there.”
“I have been sitting here looking in the federal code trying to find collusion as a crime,” Giuliani said on “Fox & Friends.”
Trump is giving Americans a glimpse of the fury raging inside him as a pivotal moment nears for special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation
Sunday 29 July 2018
Saturday 28 July 2018
First, they insisted the Trump Tower meeting never happened. Then they conceded the meeting did happen, but it was not about the presidential election. Now that there is concrete evidence that the Trump campaign was aware of Russian meddling, the state of play is to ask: "So what?"
Friday 27 July 2018
Jurors are expected to hear from a slew of bankers, accountants and luxury-good vendors.
Thursday 26 July 2018
...in which Russians were expected to offer his campaign dirt on Hillary Clinton
Wednesday 25 July 2018
The move by two top Trump allies came as the House is set to depart for a five-week recess and is unlikely to pass.
Tuesday 24 July 2018
Monday 23 July 2018
Trump would agree to an interview with Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigators if it’s limited to questions on whether his presidential campaign colluded with Russia in the 2016 electio
Sunday 22 July 2018
With the release on Friday of a redacted copy of both the initial warrant application targeting Page in October 2016 and the three 90-day extensions of the warrant, we can get a better sense of just how far from the mark the Nunes memo actually was.
How the effort to discredit special counsel Archibald Cox backfired in 1973.
“The great irony here is that no one’s actually disputing the core allegation in the application,” [...] “which is that there was at least probable cause to believe Carter Page was working as an agent of a foreign power.”
Saturday 21 July 2018
...documents related to the wiretapping of Carter Page, the onetime Trump campaign adviser who was at the center of highly contentious accusations by Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee that the F.B.I. had abused its surveillance powers.
The special master had designated the recording as privileged, according to two sources familiar with the process, but Trump's lawyers subsequently waived their right to maintain that designation.
Butina is just a minor figure in what appears to be a broader ongoing inquiry into the relationships between Russia, conservative American organizations like the National Rifle Association, and Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.
Friday 20 July 2018
Known variously as Fancy Bear, Sofacy, Pawn Storm, Strontium, Tsar Team, Sednit, and APT28, the Russian hackers that did the intrusions for the Kremlin’s election interference campaign have been active for 12 years
Kavanaugh suggested several years ago that the unanimous high court ruling in 1974 that forced President Richard Nixon to turn over the Watergate tapes, leading to the end of his presidency, may have been wrongly decided.
The caution is a notable change in tone from just before the summit
Last week’s events have nullified my previous skepticism.
Thursday 19 July 2018
“This is an extraordinary remedy, I realize, but then it’s extraordinary for the president of the United States to ask all of his senior staff essentials to leave the room and have a conversation with an adversary”
Wednesday 18 July 2018
The above information was originally reported in May of this year but is receiving revived interest across social media because Torshin is said to have been the handler of alleged Russian agent Mariia “Maria” Butina.
They described a double life in which the woman, Maria Butina, studied at American University and dated a Republican operative from South Dakota, but secretly stayed in contact with a high-ranking official in Moscow and took part in the romance simply as part of the job.
Lawyers for Andrew Miller, a former Roger Stone aide who is fighting a grand jury subpoena in special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe, as well as at least five attorneys from Mueller’s team spent nearly an hour and a half Wednesday in the D.C. courtroom of Chief U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell.
Tuesday 17 July 2018
Mueller’s prosecutors did not identify the potential witnesses publicly,
Monday 16 July 2018
...anyone he talks to about the meeting, as well as the translator who was in the room with him and Putin would be called before Mueller’s team, and possible even the grand jury.
The charges were filed under seal on Saturday [...] They were unsealed just hours after Mr. Trump stood beside Mr. Putin and said he saw no reason the Russian leader would try to influence the presidential election.
Sunday 15 July 2018
“Well, I might,” Mr. Trump said during the interview, [...] “But I certainly, I’ll be asking about it.”
Saturday 14 July 2018
According to the indictment, the accounts were used as false personas to release tens of thousands of stolen emails and documents.
Whether it is Russia’s interference in the election, its annexation of Crimea or its intervention in Syria, Mr. Trump’s statements either undercut, or flatly contradict, those of his lieutenants.
Friday 13 July 2018
The Russians used Guccifer 2.0’s Twitter account to send multiple messages to “a person who was in regular contact with senior members” of Trump’s campaign
The fact this has been treated as anything less than a profound national emergency ... is something that should appall anyone who has even the slightest concern for U.S. national security.
So how long before Mueller fills in the blanks with familiar names like Stone or Assange?
In the end, the hearing did more to harm Congress and the FBI than it did to expose wrongdoing.
“if you have anything hillary related we want it in the next tweo [sic] days prefable [sic] because the DNC is approaching and she will solidify bernie supporters behind her after.”
The 12 were members of Russian military intelligence, known as the GRU
“this indictment now makes it clear that the spearphishing that the Russians utilized in order to obtain DNC and other e-mails would appear as an inside job because the Russians directly had access to employee accounts.”
Thursday 12 July 2018
Whether you believe Mr. Strzok’s account of what he was thinking, the fact is that the FBI said little about Russian meddling before Election Day 2016. There simply was no effectuated plot to harm Mr. Trump’s electoral chances.
They want us to believe there was an FBI conspiracy to prevent Trump from being elected president, and what did that conspiracy do? First, it mounted a cautious investigation [...] But then it kept that investigation completely secret from the public, lest news of it affect the outcome of the investigation in any way.
The contempt threat; Strzok's angry retort: 'It is deeply destructive'; An perjury accusation -- and a very personal attack; The transcript threat; Making him read his own texts; The visual aids
“I will not, based on direction of the FBI … answer that question, because it goes to matters which are related to the ongoing investigations being undertaken by the special counsel’s office”
Wednesday 11 July 2018
According to telephone calls being monitored by special counsel Robert Mueller’s team, Manafort has recently told people he’s being treated like a “VIP” at the Virginia prison
Tuesday 10 July 2018
Monday 9 July 2018
Saturday 7 July 2018
...according to the president’s lead attorney on the matter, Rudy Giuliani.
"A President under investigation for colluding with a foreign nation to interfere with an election should not be allowed to appoint someone to the Supreme Court"
Friday 6 July 2018
Peter Strzok will testify next Thursday at a joint session of the House oversight and judiciary committees.
Trump’s lawyers set new conditions on Friday on an interview with the special counsel and said that the chances that the president would be voluntarily questioned were growing increasingly unlikely.
Thursday 5 July 2018
Trump’s inaugural committee raised a truly astonishing $106.7 million, double the previous record set by Barack Obama’s 2009 inaugural. But what they did with it isn’t so clear.
...he’s making more use of career prosecutors from the offices of U.S. attorneys and from Justice Department headquarters, as well as FBI agents -- a sign that he may be laying the groundwork to hand off parts of his investigation eventually
Tuesday 3 July 2018
In yet another contradiction to Trump allies claims, the Senate panel also found that a piece of Democratic-funded opposition research known as the Steele dossier did not "in any way inform the analysis in the ICA — including the key findings."
Monday 2 July 2018
“When he talked about loyalty to his family, what he seemed to be saying was he wants to limit his exposure and potential jail time. That’s cooperation.”
The NRA’s nonprofit status allows it to shield those donors’ names from the public, but not the IRS.
Thursday 28 June 2018
Their efforts to simultaneously cultivate ties to Russian officials and Trump’s campaign have captured the interest of investigators in the United Kingdom and the United States
The unsealed search warrant, however, reveals further details about Manafort’s business dealings with Deripaska, whom the U.S. government sanctioned in April.
These powerful businessmen ... were ushered into events typically reserved for top donors and close political allies and were given unprecedented access to Trump’s inner circle.
The aide, Andrew Miller, has not been mentioned before publicly in the investigation by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III.
Tuesday 26 June 2018
"Given the investigation’s focus on President Trump’s campaign, even a blind person can see that the true target of the Special Counsel’s investigation is President Trump, not defendant, and that defendant’s prosecution is part of that larger plan," the judge wrote.
Monday 25 June 2018
Prince, America’s most famous private military contractor, acknowledged last week that he “cooperated” with Mueller’s investigation
Saturday 23 June 2018
Friday 22 June 2018
If the hearing goes forward as scheduled, Papadopoulos could become the second defendant sentenced in Mueller’s investigation
Thursday 21 June 2018
Stone, however, pushed back that he is "concerned" about being charged, noting that would suggest culpability.
Wednesday 20 June 2018
Cohen just withdrew as a deputy finance chairman of the Republican National Committee.
Tuesday 19 June 2018
...was escorted from the FBI building Friday as a disciplinary process plays out
Giuliani told Politico he made the comments simply because “That’s what I’m supposed to do.” “What am I supposed to say? That they should investigate him forever? Sorry, I’m not a sucker”
Prince, a billionaire and the brother of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, has also lobbied for a massive overhaul of the way the Afghanistan War is being prosecuted
Monday 18 June 2018
Sunday 17 June 2018
Stone and Caputo’s interactions with Greenberg mean that at least 11 Trump associates or campaign officials have acknowledged interactions with a Russian during the election season or presidential transition.
Friday 15 June 2018
“Approximately 731 pages of messages, including call logs,” were found on those apps and were turned over to Cohen’s lawyers on Friday to be reviewed for potentially privileged materials like attorney-client communications, as well as “highly personal” information
Thursday 14 June 2018
Cohen has expressed anger with the treatment he has gotten from the President, who has minimized his relationship with Cohen
Cohen's split from Stephen Ryan and co-counsel Todd Harrison could signal a change in legal strategy but does not necessarily indicate that Cohen has decided to cut a deal with federal prosecutors.
The apparent plan is to discredit Cohen by arguing that whatever compromising information he might share about Trump is a lie, concocted to please Mueller's band of witch hunters and save his own skin.
The individuals are Alan Friedman and Eckart Sager, both former journalists based in Europe.
Wednesday 13 June 2018
For his part, the Trump attorney has been frustrated by the lack of outreach by the president, whom Cohen has vowed to defend, according to people with knowledge of the situation.
Tuesday 12 June 2018
"Manafort’s own words establish the falsity of his representation that the Hapsburg group was 'European-focused'"
Rosenstein has butted heads with House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes for months over a subpoena for documents related to the Russia investigation, but the battle spilled out into public view Tuesday after Fox News reported staff on the committee felt "personally attacked" at a meeting with Rosenstein in January.
Mueller warned that Russian intelligence services still have active “interference operations” into U.S. elections and that handing over certain evidence in a criminal case could imperil ongoing investigations.
Monday 11 June 2018
...following a third superseding indictment against him by Special Counsel Robert Mueller that lodged additional charges on accusations of witness tampering.
Friday 8 June 2018
The indictment filed in U.S. District Court in Washington marked the first such charges for Manafort’s associate, Konstantin Kilimnik, who is believed to be in Moscow
Tuesday 5 June 2018
Judge Amy Berman Jackson ordered Manafort, prosecutors, witnesses and others to be prepared to appear and to testify on June 15
Monday 4 June 2018
So. In less than a year, we have gone from a) the President was aware of "nothing" about the statement to b) he "weighed in" like any father would to c) he dictated the entire statement.
By invoking the specter of a self-pardon, the president and his defenders are implicitly suggesting that only Congress can constrain an executive's lawless behavior.
A court appointed watchdog ... released an initial report Monday which found that relatively few documents in an initial tranche of documents that were seized from Cohen in a raid met the standard of being subject to attorney client privilege.
Mueller ... asked the judge overseeing the case in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to revoke or revise an order releasing Manafort ahead of his trial.
Sunday 3 June 2018
Saturday 2 June 2018
The Times obtained copies of a confidential letter sent by President Trump’s lawyers to the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III. Reporters added context in annotations.
Friday 1 June 2018
Thursday 31 May 2018
Wednesday 30 May 2018
What has Trump done to obstruct this investigation? The answer to that question is that he has done an extraordinary amount.
Prosecutors explained, however, that they would need two to three more weeks to finish reconstructing what was in the shredder
It was the latest evidence of Trump's ongoing pre-occupation with the probe led by special counsel Robert Mueller.
Tuesday 29 May 2018
Sunday 27 May 2018
“It is for public opinion,” the former New York mayor admitted ... “Because eventually the decision here is going to be impeach or not impeach.”
Saturday 26 May 2018
Friday 25 May 2018
Thursday 24 May 2018
That raised some suspicion, as the matter being discussed concerned an ongoing criminal investigation involving the Trump campaign.
Justice Department and intelligence officials briefed top Republican and Democratic lawmakers ... attempting to defuse a partisan conflict over use of the source and the FBI’s reluctance to reveal information about the matter.
Wednesday 23 May 2018
This is what Trump wants. It feeds his “witch hunt” narrative.
Tuesday 22 May 2018
...to a Thursday briefing to facilitate access for lawmakers to information about an FBI informant involved in the investigation of Russian contacts with President Donald Trump's campaign.
For months, a small group of lawmakers close to Mr. Trump have been in a pitched fight with the Justice Department over access to some of its most delicate case files, including documents detailing the scope of the Russia investigation
Monday 21 May 2018
“If anyone did infiltrate or surveil participants in a presidential campaign for inappropriate purposes, we need to know about it and take appropriate action,” Rosenstein said in a statement.
Trump can now credibly say the Justice Department is looking into political bias in the Russia investigation, which risks furthering his goal of undermining the entire investigation.
...Giuliani’s claim was “entirely made-up” and “another apparent effort to pressure the special counsel to hasten the end of his work.”
Sunday 20 May 2018
Saturday 19 May 2018
...as a process to separate items subject to attorney-client privilege appears to be meeting a judge’s demand that it occur speedily and efficiently.
Friday 18 May 2018
At the heart of the new twist in the fight is a confidential government informant who, according to current and former officials, met several times with two of Mr. Trump’s campaign aides.
Thursday 17 May 2018
Wednesday 16 May 2018
Panel’s support for intelligence agencies’ findings breaks with earlier House report
“I believe you have some information for us,” Trump Jr. said to a Russian lawyer visiting from Moscow
Wednesday 9 May 2018
Novartis said Wednesday that it had spoken to lawyers for the special counsel ... about its payments to a shell company controlled by Michael D. Cohen,
Monday 7 May 2018
In an informal, four-hour practice session, Mr. Trump’s lawyers were only able to walk him through two questions, given the frequent interruptions on national-security matters along with Mr. Trump’s loquaciousness, one person familiar with the matter said.
Saturday 5 May 2018
Barrack was interviewed “months ago” and was asked a few questions about Gates’ work on Trump’s inaugural committee, which Barrack chaired
Friday 4 May 2018
U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III sharply questioned whether Mueller exceeded his authority in filing tax and bank fraud charges against Trump’s former campaign manager, Paul Manafort.
Wednesday 2 May 2018
But Ukraine’s chief prosecutor has now halted the investigation, ostensibly to remain on Trump’s good side.
Former Trump attorney John Dowd had been the team’s leader and the only one with the necessary clearance needed to discuss certain issues with Mueller’s office. Since Dowd left, however, none of the president’s lawyers currently have clearance
Tuesday 1 May 2018
Without a resolution on the interview, the standoff could turn into a historic confrontation before the Supreme Court over a presidential subpoena.
The special counsel seems to be leaving the president's children for last.
“We’re going to do what’s required by the rule of law, and any kind of threats that anybody makes are not going to affect the way we do our job.”
These questions were not leaked when they were first communicated to Trump’s team in March, but only now, after Giuliani has come on board.
Monday 30 April 2018
The special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, recently provided President Trump’s lawyers a list of questions he wants answered in an interview.
Sunday 29 April 2018
“It wrecked the committee, and it damaged relationships with the FISA Court, the intelligence communities."
Saturday 28 April 2018
From Mueller’s perspective, the benefits of a Trump interview must be weighed against the prospect that questioning the president may not benefit his case much in the long haul.
Friday 27 April 2018
"The Committee also found the Trump campaign's periodic praise for and communications with WikiLeaks — a hostile foreign organization — to be highly objectionable and inconsistent with U.S. national security interests"
The Republican report also urges Congress to consider rescinding the Logan Act, the law that prohibits American citizens from undercutting the U.S. government by engaging in unauthorized negotiations with foreign leaders.
—John O. Brennan, former Director of the CIA
Tuesday 24 April 2018
“Stupid question,” Trump shot back Tuesday when ABC News's Jonathan Karl asked the president whether a pardon was on the table. According to the pool report, the president “glared” at Karl for having the gall to ask it.
Friday 20 April 2018
The attorney general said would consider resigning over such a move
Thursday 19 April 2018
Judge Amy Berman Jackson questioned whether Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein’s directive appointing Mueller granted him more authority than Justice Department regulations appear to permit.
...the goal isn't necessarily to pass a measure with the hope of forcing Trump to decide between signing the bill or issuing a veto. The real goal, he said, is to send the president a message.
Wednesday 18 April 2018
Monday 16 April 2018
“The same people who would criticize me for filing this bill would be absolutely angry if I wasn’t pounding the table for this bill if we were dealing with Hillary Clinton,” he argued. “So spare me your righteous indignation.”
Friday 13 April 2018
Confirmation of the trip would lend credence to a retired British spy’s report that Cohen strategized there with a powerful Kremlin figure about Russian meddling in the U.S. election.
Critics are speculating that the president is trying to send a message to key figures in Mueller's Russia probe.
“I don’t know Mr. Libby,” Trump said in a statement, adding, “but for years I have heard that he has been treated unfairly. Hopefully, this full pardon will help rectify a very sad portion of his life.”
Thursday 12 April 2018
Efforts to undermine Rosenstein in the media come as the President is weighing whether to fire the top official overseeing the Russia investigation.
Wednesday 11 April 2018
The first step, these people say, would be for Trump to fire Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein, who oversees the work of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III and in recent days signed off on a search warrant of Trump’s longtime personal lawyer, Michael D. Cohen.
...legislation ... that would allow special counsels like Robert S. Mueller III to appeal their firing to a panel of judges and possibly be reinstated.
The proposed legislation, though, appears to leave open significant ways in which Trump could still derail the special counsel’s work — if it were even signed into law.
Tuesday 10 April 2018
Monday 9 April 2018
Trump on Monday renewed his criticism of Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ recusal from the Justice Department probe of Russian election meddling in the 2016 election, calling it a “terrible decision” and again suggesting he would not have picked Sessions had he known about his plans.
The special counsel is investigating a payment made to President Trump’s foundation by a Ukrainian steel magnate for a talk during the campaign
However, the court gives the former Trump campaign chair a list of assets that could secure his release from house arrest.
Saturday 7 April 2018
Lawyers for former Trump campaign chairman say FBI illegally accessed the locker, then returned with warrant.
Friday 6 April 2018
The measures take aim not only at Russians directly connected to the Kremlin but also several with links to President Trump’s campaign or his associates who have been scrutinized in special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation.
Thursday 5 April 2018
Mueller's office moved to seize bank accounts at three different financial institutions last year just one day before former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort was indicted
Wednesday 4 April 2018
This could be a significant moment, suggesting Mueller views criminal charges against Trump as being off-limits.
Tuesday 3 April 2018
The president has privately expressed relief at the description of his legal status, which has increased his determination to agree to a special counsel interview
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein explicitly authorized the Justice Department’s special counsel to investigate allegations that President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman colluded with the Russian government
Friday 30 March 2018
Malloch also said the agents served him a subpoena from Mueller's team that had been issued that day, March 28, and that he later arranged with the Special Counsel's Office to appear for questioning on April 13.
Thursday 29 March 2018
The thing of value in bribery law is not limited to envelopes stuffed with cash. ... A promise not to cooperate in special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s probe could readily serve as the quid in this quid pro quo.
Wednesday 28 March 2018
In a court filing Tuesday night special counsel Robert Mueller alleges Rick Gates ... knew the two were working with a former Russian intelligence officer during the 2016 election.
Tuesday 27 March 2018
"The defendant was expressly warned by the government that it is a crime to lie to the Special Counsel’s Office, that lying could constitute a federal crime, and that such conduct would carry with it the possibility of going to jail if he were convicted. van der Zwaan stated that he understood. He thereafter deliberately and repeatedly lied"
Monday 26 March 2018
This signals the president's uphill battle to secure top notched legal talent to represent him.
His work defending the White House from questions about Russian meddling in U.S. elections has made Nunes a vulnerable target in the midterms
Sunday 25 March 2018
One reason Mr. Dowd quit was that, against his advice, Mr. Trump was insistent that he wanted to answer questions under oath from Mr. Mueller, believing that it would help clear him.
Saturday 24 March 2018
"Not in my worst nightmares did I ever dream my FBI career would end this way"
Friday 23 March 2018
Emails ... show Papadopoulos had more extensive contact with key Trump campaign and presidential transition officials than has been publicly acknowledged.
Thursday 22 March 2018
Guccifer 2.0, the “lone hacker” who took credit for providing WikiLeaks with stolen emails from the Democratic National Committee, was in fact an officer of Russia’s military intelligence directorate (GRU)
But on one occasion ... Guccifer failed to activate the VPN client before logging on. As a result, he left a real, Moscow-based Internet Protocol address in the server logs of an American social media company
Here’s a simple guide to the various lawyers representing President Trump.
Mr. Dowd’s departure comes as the president has made clear he is seeking a more aggressive response to Mr. Mueller’s investigation.
Wednesday 21 March 2018
Now-fired former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe oversaw a federal criminal investigation into whether Attorney General Jeff Sessions lacked candor when testifying before Congress last year about his contacts with Russian officials
Monday 19 March 2018
The question is whether Trump's attempt to discredit Mueller (and his findings) has any effect outside of the core Trump base.
Adam Schiff says Republicans are doing Trump’s dirty work on the Russia investigation.
Sunday 18 March 2018
The president’s tweets alarmed some Republicans, who spoke out on Sunday morning talk shows.
Robert S. Mueller III, who heads the team, is a longtime registered Republican. He was appointed by another Republican, Rod J. Rosenstein
The morning missive also marks an increasingly direct tact against Mueller, whom until yesterday the president had not personally named or attacked on Twitter.
Saturday 17 March 2018
Lukoil was interested in how data was used to target American voters
McCabe kept memos of his conversations with Mr. Trump and what happened during Comey's firing and Mueller is in the possession of the memos.
GRASSLEY: To be very clear, you intend to recuse yourself from both the Clinton e-mail investigation and any matters involving the Clinton Foundation, if there are any?
SESSIONS: Yes.
“I pray that Acting Attorney General Rosenstein will follow the brilliant and courageous example of the FBI Office of Professional Responsibility and Attorney General Jeff Sessions and bring an end to alleged Russia Collusion investigation manufactured by McCabe’s boss James Comey based upon a fraudulent and corrupt Dossier”
Friday 16 March 2018
“They have every reason to believe that I could end up being a significant witness in whatever the special counsel comes up with, and so they are trying to create this counter-narrative that I am not someone who can be believed or trusted”
Newly unsealed court documents show that an adviser to the United Arab Emirates now cooperating with the special counsel’s investigation was convicted of transporting child pornography 27 years ago
Thursday 15 March 2018
Trump’s private company scrambled Thursday to show it has long been cooperating with special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigators in response to a media report that it had gotten a new subpoena for documents tied to the Russia probe.
The preparations reflect an understanding that negotiations with the lead Russia investigator, which have been ongoing since January, will eventually culminate in a sit-down meeting between Mueller with the president.
Tuesday 13 March 2018
"Given the nature of the charges against the defendant and the apparent weight of the evidence against him, defendant faces the very real possibility of spending the rest of his life in prison"
Monday 12 March 2018
—Adam Schiff, Ranking Member of the House Intelligence Committee.
The House Republicans also said that a 150-page report they prepared — without consulting their Democratic colleagues — contradicts the U.S. intelligence community's firm conclusion that the goal of the Russian government effort was to boost Trump's campaign.
Friday 9 March 2018
Thursday 8 March 2018
A Virginia probation officer explained to the judge that because of limits to the technology, she couldn't access the data from the DC bracelet, hence the need for two.
...he is accused of hiding foreign bank accounts, falsifying his income taxes and failing to report foreign bank accounts.
Wednesday 7 March 2018
A witness cooperating with Mueller has told investigators the meeting was set up in advance so that a representative of the Trump transition could meet with an emissary from Moscow to discuss future relations between the countries
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.
Her assertion of a hack raises the questions of who might have compromised her account, as well as when, why and what information could have been obtained. But there was no indication from any of the sources that those questions were pursued by the committee
Tuesday 6 March 2018
Mr. Mueller appears to be examining the influence of foreign money on Mr. Trump’s political activities and has asked witnesses about the possibility that the adviser, George Nader, funneled money from the Emirates to the president’s political efforts.
Flynn's 13-year-old, three-bedroom townhouse in Old Town Alexandria outside Washington ... was listed for sale in December with an asking price of $895,000 — money he will use to pay his high legal defense debts
Monday 5 March 2018
"Do you think I would ever talk to that moron?"
"Screw that! Why do I have to go? Why? For what?"
"Trump may have very well done something during the election with the Russians."
"I'm not cooperating. Arrest me."
"Do you think I would communicate with Carter Page? He's a scumbag."
CORRECTION: This story initially misidentified the person Nunberg referred to as a "moron."
How the ex-spy tried to warn the world about Trump’s ties to Russia.
Sunday 4 March 2018
The investigators have also asked about Mr. Nader’s role in White House policymaking, those people said, suggesting that the special counsel investigation has broadened beyond Russian election meddling to include Emirati influence on the Trump administration.
Saturday 3 March 2018
Putin said ... that he cannot know whether Russian law was violated and would need to "first see what they've done."
Thursday 1 March 2018
“Every defense lawyer will advise his client don’t talk to people about the facts of the case. But when you work for the president and the president is not only constantly talking, but tweeting, I’m sure that’s doubly difficult”
Normally, details like those disclosed in the 37-page indictment would be classified, not released to the public.
Wednesday 28 February 2018
The decision from U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson would put Manafort on trial at the height of the midterm campaign season, a potentially unwelcome distraction for Republicans as they try to maintain majorities in Congress.
The charges in the US District Court for the District of Columbia include allegations of money laundering, conspiracy and making false statements about his foreign lobbying.
Tuesday 27 February 2018
Kushner ... is unlikely to obtain the full clearance as long as the special counsel's probe is ongoing
She also pointedly and repeatedly declined to answer questions about the presidential transition or her time in the White House ... telling investigators that she had been asked by the White House to discuss only her time on the campaign.
But she refused to answer any questions about events and conversations that occurred since Trump took office
Hicks is a pivotal witness in the examination of whether any Trump campaign associates aided the Russian effort to interfere in the election. She’s been a confidante of President Donald Trump's for years and was by his side during moments in the campaign and early months in the White House that have become of interest to investigators
Friday 23 February 2018
Former Trump campaign adviser Rick Gates has agreed to cooperate with investigators in their prosecution of Gates’ longtime mentor Paul Manafort.
So here’s the essence of what went wrong for Manafort and Gates, according to Mueller’s investigation: Manafort allegedly wanted to falsify his company’s income, but he couldn’t figure out how to edit the PDF. He therefore had Gates turn it into a Microsoft Word document for him, which led the two to bounce the documents back-and-forth over email.
A former top adviser to Donald J. Trump’s presidential campaign indicted by the special counsel was expected to plead guilty as soon as Friday afternoon ..., a move that signals he is cooperating with the investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election.
Thursday 22 February 2018
Even as he was managing Donald J. Trump’s campaign for president, Paul Manafort lied to banks to secure millions of dollars in cash loans as part of a decade-long money laundering scheme, according to charges unsealed by the special counsel on Thursday.
Wednesday 21 February 2018
New charges have been filed in Special Counsel Robert Mueller's criminal case against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and aide Rick Gates, but the charges were put under seal by the court, obscuring the nature and import of the development.
Tuesday 20 February 2018
Alex van der Zwaan admitted making false or misleading statements regarding email communications with Richard Gates.
He is accused of making false statements regarding communications he had with Rick Gates, the former Trump campaign aide, about work done in Ukraine
Monday 19 February 2018
The special counsel just made it harder for the president to fire him. Maybe that helps explain this weekend’s fusillade of angry tweets from Mar-a-Lago.
Mueller's interest in Jared Kushner has expanded beyond his contacts with Russia and now includes his efforts to secure financing for his company from foreign investors during the presidential transition
Sunday 18 February 2018
...sending off a stream of tweets attacking the FBI, CNN, the Democratic Party, his own national security adviser, former President Barack Obama and the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee.
He did not criticize Russia, or voice concern over Vladimir Putin's attempts to undermine U.S. elections.
Saturday 17 February 2018
Operating from St. Petersburg, they churned out falsehoods on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. They promoted Donald J. Trump and denigrated Hillary Clinton. They stole the identities of American citizens. They organized political rallies in several states, and hired a Clinton impersonator for one event, in West Palm Beach, Fla.
Friday 16 February 2018
The indictment ... only compounds fears in the White House that Trump will attack the FBI in the wake of a school shooting in Florida that left 17 dead, and revelations that the bureau mishandled a tip about the alleged shooter it received in January. Senior staffers are actively urging Trump to avoid attacking the FBI
Mueller’s office has told a federal judge it has found evidence that Paul Manafort ... committed bank fraud not addressed by the indictment last October in which he was charged with money laundering and failure to register as a foreign agent.
The indictment, in fact, says nothing about whether there was collusion, nor did Rosenstein rule it out during a news conference.
Rosenstein said that there was “no allegation in the indictment of any effect on the outcome of the election,” but he did not say there was definitively no impact.
According to the indictment, Mr. Prigozhin, 56, controlled the entity that financed the troll factory, known as the Internet Research Agency, which waged “information warfare against the United States” by creating fictitious social-media personas, spreading falsehoods and promoting messages supportive of Donald J. Trump and critical of Hillary Clinton.
The hackers, he suggested, may have been Chinese. Or some 400-pound guy sitting on his bed. Again and again, he insisted, Russian interference was a hoax — a fiction created by Democrats as an excuse for losing an election they should have won.
—John O. Brennan, CIA Director during 2016 election
The indictment charges that the foreigners falsely posed as American citizens, stole identities and otherwise engaged in fraud and deceit in an effort to influence the U.S. political process, including the 2016 presidential race.
Thursday 15 February 2018
The judge criticized both sides Wednesday for failing to set a trial date in special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s prosecution of the two co-defendants.
Former Trump campaign adviser Rick Gates is finalizing a plea deal with special counsel Robert Mueller's office, indicating he's poised to cooperate in the investigation
Bannon spent a total of some 20 hours in conversations with the team led by Mueller
Monday 12 February 2018
"From a national security perspective, however, President Obama said he wants to be sure that, as we engage with the incoming [Trump] team, we are mindful to ascertain if there is any reason that we cannot share information fully as it relates to Russia."
Thursday 8 February 2018
The workers will be erecting a physical barrier to separate the cubicles of aides who serve Republican members of the committee from those who serve Democrats.
Any pretense that committee members will come together to get to the bottom of that matter — or any other — has disappeared.
“There’s pretty clear evidence that the Russians meddled. Whether they affected the outcome is another question,” the 43rd president said at a summit in Abu Dhabi on Thursday. He added: “It’s problematic that a foreign nation is involved in our election system. Our democracy is only as good as people trust the results.”
In other words, the latest “bombshell” is that the Democratic president wanted information about the Russian attack while it was happening, which is neither new nor surprising.
Wednesday 7 February 2018
Top Republicans may end up shielding the president’s son and son-in-law from facing tough questions on-camera from Democrats eager to press them over their contacts with Russians during the 2016 campaign.
Monday 5 February 2018
Former top diplomat Victoria Nuland tells the story of how she pushed the Obama administration to do more to stop Russian hacking.
Saturday 3 February 2018
"There is a Russia investigation without a dossier. So to the extent the memo deals with the dossier and the FISA process, the dossier has nothing to do with the meeting at Trump Tower."
Friday 2 February 2018
The remark came on the heels of Trump’s latest verbal attack on the Department of Justice and the FBI, with the president using an early-morning tweet to accuse them of politicizing their inquiries.
Wednesday 31 January 2018
Starting an investigation at the FBI is a formal process, requiring agents to demonstrate evidence of a criminal predicate to move to what’s known as a “full field” investigation, and, similarly, closing an investigation requires a formal decision to “decline” charges.
The aim of the campaign against the Mueller investigation and the FBI is clear: Obstructing justice.
In an Oval Office meeting after Mueller's appointment, Trump told Sessions he should resign, prompting the attorney general to submit a letter of resignation... But Trump ultimately rejected the resignation after advisers warned against it in the wake of Comey’s firing.
Tuesday 30 January 2018
The second memo was written by Cody Shearer, a controversial political activist and former journalist who was close to the Clinton White House in the 1990s.
Unlike Steele, Shearer does not have a background in espionage, and his memo was initially viewed with scepticism, not least because he had shared it with select media organisations before the election.
Monday 29 January 2018
Sunday 28 January 2018
A secret, highly contentious Republican memo reveals that Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein approved an application to extend surveillance of a former Trump campaign associate shortly after taking office last spring
Saturday 27 January 2018
Trump’s directive was at odds with his own Justice Department, which had warned that releasing the classified memo written by congressional Republicans would be “extraordinarily reckless” without an official review. Nevertheless, White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly relayed the president’s view to Attorney General Jeff Sessions — although the decision to release the document ultimately lies with Congress.
Friday 26 January 2018
Thursday’s bombshell news points toward one conclusion: The special counsel has the goods on the president.
Thursday 25 January 2018
Trump's meaning seems to be clear: What people see as obstruction of justice is, to him, just fighting back. And that fits with his brand as a fighter and a counterpuncher and all that.
Up until recently, Trump and his closest allies have really been the only ones in Washington arguing that the Russia investigation is a politically motivated hoax.
Ty Cobb said Mr Trump “spoke hurriedly” and only intended to say that he would be willing to meet with special counsel.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller is moving at a far faster pace than previously known and appears to be wrapping up at least one key part of his investigation -- whether President Donald Trump obstructed justice
Wednesday 24 January 2018
Mueller's request to question Trump, and news that his team has already interviewed fired FBI Director James Comey and Attorney General Jeff Sessions, indicate that the special counsel has a clear picture of where he is headed in what could turn into an obstruction of justice case
Tuesday 23 January 2018
Attorney General Jeff Sessions was questioned for several hours last week as part of the special counsel investigation, the Justice Department confirmed Tuesday, making him the first member of President Trump’s cabinet to be interviewed in the inquiry.
Friday 19 January 2017
We’re far from understanding what role, if any, the N.R.A. played in helping Russia help Trump. But a scandal that encompasses both the Trump campaign and the right’s most powerful lobby would be bigger than most people imagined before Thursday.
Thursday 18 January 2018
...the NRA reported spending a record $55 million on the 2016 elections, including $30 million to support Trump – triple what the group devoted to backing Republican Mitt Romney in the 2012 presidential race. Most of that was money was spent by an arm of the NRA that is not required to disclose its donors.
Wednesday 17 January 2018
Bannon ... will be interviewed by investigators working for the special counsel in the Russia investigation instead of testifying before a grand jury ... a sign that Mr. Bannon is cooperating with the inquiry.
Among them are transactions by former ambassador Sergey Kislyak 10 days after the 2016 presidential election and a blocked $150,000 cash withdrawal five days after the inauguration.
In an ominous development for Republicans, a federal judge overseeing the upcoming trial of former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort and his deputy Rick Gates rejected Mueller’s request to begin in May and instead outlined a scheduled start as soon as September or October — peak election season.
Tuesday 16 January 2018
The move marked the first time Mr. Mueller is known to have used a grand jury subpoena to seek information from a member of Mr. Trump’s inner circle.
Friday 12 January 2018
...they want the trial to begin on May 14.
Wednesday 10 January 2018
"...there has been no collusion ... No collusion. ...they all say there's no collusion. And there is no collusion. ...there was absolutely no collusion. ...there is no collusion... ...when they have no collusion and nobody's found any collusion..."
Dickey’s addition is particularly notable because he is the first publicly known member of the team specializing solely in cyber issues.
Even if there were evidence of Trump personally plotting with Russia — and it may well be, squirreled away in Mueller’s files — it’s not clear whether this would constitute a crime. “Collusion” is not a legal term; Mueller would have to figure out which specific law Trump’s actions violated, which according to legal experts could be trickier than it might seem.
Tuesday 9 January 2018
What stands out most from an initial perusal of the transcript is the professionalism and seriousness of Fusion GPS and Steele.
The FBI was already investigating potential links between Donald Trump’s campaign and the Russian government before they heard anything about Christopher Steele’s famous dossier on the matter.
Monday 8 January 2018
Anticipating that Special Counsel Robert Mueller will ask to interview President Donald Trump, the president's legal team is discussing a range of potential options for the format, including written responses to questions in lieu of a formal sit-down
Thursday 4 January 2018
Public pressure was building for Mr. Sessions, who had been a senior member of the Trump campaign, to step aside. But the White House counsel, Donald F. McGahn II, carried out the president’s orders and lobbied Mr. Sessions to remain in charge of the inquiry
Mr. McGahn was unsuccessful, and the president erupted in anger in front of numerous White House officials, saying he needed his attorney general to protect him.
Wednesday 3 January 2018
Rosenstein was spotted entering Ryan's office, and a spokesman for the speaker confirmed that Rosenstein and Wray had requested the meeting. A second person familiar with the meeting said it was related to a document request issued over the summer by House intelligence committee chairman Devin Nunes.
Mr. Manafort’s strategy is a clever legal maneuver that attempts to force prosecutors to reveal details about the scope of the investigation. By filing a separate lawsuit, Mr. Manafort’s lawyer, Kevin Downing, also creates the possibility of a protracted fight over Mr. Mueller’s authority.
Tuesday 2 January 2018
Three congressional committees have heard over 21 hours of testimony from our firm, Fusion GPS. In those sessions, we toppled the far right’s conspiracy theories and explained how The Washington Free Beacon and the Clinton campaign — the Republican and Democratic funders of our Trump research — separately came to hire us in the first place.
We don’t believe the Steele dossier was the trigger for the F.B.I.’s investigation into Russian meddling. As we told the Senate Judiciary Committee in August, our sources said the dossier was taken so seriously because it corroborated reports the bureau had received from other sources, including one inside the Trump camp.
Congress should release transcripts of our firm’s testimony, so that the American people can learn the truth about our work and most important, what happened to our democracy.
Sunday 31 December 2017
But Nunes’s moves coincide with what Democrats say is a coordinated GOP effort to shutter the House Intelligence Committee’s Russia probe, publicly absolve President Trump of the most serious allegations against him, and refocus the House’s resources against the law enforcement officials, such as Mueller, who continue to investigate Trump.
Saturday 30 December 2017
During a night of heavy drinking at an upscale London bar in May 2016, George Papadopoulos, a young foreign policy adviser to the Trump campaign, made a startling revelation to Australia’s top diplomat in Britain: Russia had political dirt on Hillary Clinton.
Thursday 28 December 2017
Mueller’s team is trying to determine if members of the Trump campaign and Republican National Committee, who worked together on the digital arm of Trump’s campaign, provided assistance to Russian trolls attempting to influence voters.
Wednesday 27 December 2017
The approach would mark a sharp break from Trump’s previously sympathetic posture toward Flynn, whom he called a “wonderful man” when Flynn was ousted from the White House in February.
Sunday 24 December 2017
Trump, while vowing to cooperate with the special counsel, has also encouraged attacks on Mueller’s credibility, tweeting that the investigation is “the greatest Witch Hunt in U.S. political history.”
Sunday 17 December 2017
A lawyer for Trump’s transition team contends that Mueller should not have been able to obtain a trove of emails from the period between Trump’s 2016 election victory and his Jan. 20 inauguration without the consent of transition officials.
Tuesday 12 December 2017
It’s unclear if Mueller will seek follow-up interviews or seek to question additional people beyond the initial batch of witnesses
Friday 8 December 2017
Hicks was named communications director in September. She has been a member of Trump's inner circle since joining the presidential campaign in 2015 and serving as a spokeswoman.
Prosecutors said that, by Monday, Manafort’s defense attorneys will have electronic copies of “400,000 items,” such as emails, bank and tax records, and documents from vendors Manafort allegedly paid with some of the money, and images of 36 electronic devices such as laptops, phones and thumb drives.
“Given the volume of discovery in this case, the government also produced to defendants certain documents that it identified as ‘hot,’” prosecutors said, with about 2,000 records in that category.
Trump Jr. told investigators he had no recollection of the September email.
Wednesday 6 December 2017
"Today, I am writing to inform you about a whistleblower who has come forward wth evidence that Lt. General Michael Flynn—within minutes of Donald Trump being sworn in as President—was communicating directly with his former business colleagues about their plan to work with Russia to build nuclear reactors in the Middle East."
Though neither Trump Jr. nor the president is an attorney, Trump Jr. told the House Intelligence Committee that there was a lawyer in the room during the discussion
Trump Jr. told the committee that he had not informed his father about his meeting with the Russian lawyer at the time it took place. He also said he had not told Trump that he exchanged private messages with the WikiLeaks Twitter account, according to the people.
Tuesday 5 December 2017
Germany’s largest bank received a subpoena from Mueller several weeks ago to provide information on certain money and credit transactions, the person said, without giving details, adding key documents had been handed over in the meantime.
Monday 4 December 2017
According to a new court filing from Mr Mueller’s team, the legal cloud hanging over Mr Manafort has not prevented him from helping to pen an opinion piece about his Ukraine-related work.
You know you have a problem when you’ve been president for less than 11 months and you’re already relying on Richard Nixon’s definition of what’s legal.
The brazen assertion Monday by one of President Trump’s lawyers that a president cannot be found guilty of obstruction of justice signaled a controversial defense strategy in the wide-ranging Russia probe, as Trump’s political advisers are increasingly concerned about the legal advice he is receiving.
Tucked inside last week’s 10-page plea deal Flynn struck with government prosecutors is an agreement that the former White House national security adviser could avoid a potential lengthy jail term in part by “participating in covert law enforcement activities.”
Sunday 3 December 2017
John Dowd, President Trump's personal lawyer, tells me that a Trump tweet that caused an eruption yesterday was "my mistake," made in a tweet he had drafted and passed to White House social media director Dan Scavino.
Saturday 2 December 2017
Once inside, most witnesses are seated in a windowless conference room where two- and three-person teams of FBI agents and prosecutors rotate in and out, pressing them for answers. ... Often listening in is the special counsel himself, a sphinx-like presence who sits quietly along the wall for portions of key interviews.
Brian Ross ... has been suspended for four weeks without pay after incorrectly reporting that Michael T. Flynn ... would testify that President Trump had directed him to make contact with Russian officials while Mr. Trump was still a candidate
Knowing that someone had committed a crime (by lying to the FBI) but encouraging agents to stop investigating is tantamount to obstruction of justice
The special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, removed a top F.B.I. agent this summer from his investigation into Russian election meddling after the Justice Department’s inspector general began examining whether the agent had sent text messages that expressed anti-Trump political views
While Mr. Trump has disparaged as a Democratic “hoax” any claims that he or his aides had unusual interactions with Russian officials, the records suggest that the Trump transition team was intensely focused on improving relations with Moscow and was willing to intervene to pursue that goal
On Dec. 29, a transition adviser to Mr. Trump, K. T. McFarland, wrote in an email to a colleague that sanctions ... could also make it much harder for Mr. Trump to ease tensions with Russia, “which has just thrown the U.S.A. election to him”
When asked by reporters if he was worried about what Flynn might say, Trump said, "No, I'm not. And what has been shown is no collusion, no collusion. There has been absolutely no collusion. So we're very happy."
Friday 1 December 2017
"The FBI has clearly defined policies and procedures regarding appropriate employee conduct, including communications. When the FBI first learned of the allegations, the employees involved were immediately reassigned, consistent with practices involving employee matters."
One person close to the White House described the mood this way: “What they’re freaked out about is that there are no leaks. Papadopoulos didn’t leak. Flynn didn’t leak. They feel like they can’t trust anyone. Their own counsel didn’t know.”
Retired Lt. Gen Michael Flynn has promised “full cooperation” in the special counsel’s Russia investigation and, according to a confidant, is prepared to testify that Donald Trump directed him to make contact with the Russians, initially as a way to work together to fight ISIS in Syria.
There's one reason — one criminal charge, actually — that lets us safely assume Michael Flynn switched sides: He pleaded guilty to one charge of lying to the FBI, when there's so much more the special counsel could have potentially nabbed him for.
“The best explanation for why Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III would agree to it is that Flynn has something very valuable to offer in exchange: damaging testimony on someone else.”
The charge brings the criminal case into the Trump White House and raises questions about who else in the administration Mueller could be eyeing.
Monday 27 November 2017
A Grassley spokesman confirmed by email that the committee didn't expect to receive the materials on Monday. "However, Mr. Kushner’s attorney is cooperating with the committee and we are in ongoing discussions to address the committee’s requests," the spokesman said.
Thursday 23 November 2017
Lawyers for Michael T. Flynn ... notified the president’s legal team in recent days that they could no longer discuss the special counsel’s investigation, according to four people involved in the case — an indication that Mr. Flynn is cooperating with prosecutors or negotiating a deal.
Monday 20 November 2017
One of the goals of this effort, it appears, is to prevent Trump from flying into a rage and firing Mueller, as several of his allies have suggested he do if it appears Mueller is expanding the scope of his investigation into the president’s finances.
Saturday 18 November 2017
Trump has also established a legal fund that pays for staffers who are also involved in the investigation... There is no law that bars the president from giving gifts and money to his staffers, but in the face of a tricky investigation, this case raises questions of whether Trump’s financial help will influence staffer’s testimonies
Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, failed to disclose what lawmakers called a "Russian backdoor overture and dinner invite" involving a banker who has been accused of links to Russian organized crime
Friday 17 November 2017
Thursday 16 November 2017
Mueller’s decision to request an interview with Hicks ... also indicates he’s reached a critical point in the overall investigation... Typically, conversations with such senior-level aides are saved for near the end of a probe.
Tuesday 14 November 2017
Sessions said Tuesday he never lied under oath about Moscow's interference in the 2016 election and said he didn't recall conversations with Trump campaign aides about their Russia-linked contacts until he saw news reports about them.
“I cannot accept, and reject, accusations that I have lied. That is a lie,” the attorney general said. “Let me be clear: I have at all times conducted myself honorably and in a manner consistent with the high standards and responsibilities of the Office of Attorney General, which I revere…My story has never changed. I’ve always told the truth.”
Saturday 11 November 2017
Thursday 9 November 2017
Trump's long-time confidant Keith Schiller privately testified that he rejected a Russian offer to send five women to then private-citizen Trump's hotel room during their 2013 trip to Moscow for the Miss Universe pageant
Wednesday 8 November 2017
...ordering all parties, including potential witnesses, not to make statements that might prejudice jurors.
"All I was clear about was if you're going to travel, please do not portend to be a part of the campaign and say that you part of the campaign because you are not," he said.
Monday 6 November 2017
He also congratulated members of the Trump campaign's foreign policy team on July 14 for their "excellent work" on the "Ukraine amendment" — a reference to the Trump campaign's decision to "intervene" to water down a proposed amendment to the GOP's Ukraine platform.
Sunday 5 November 2017
Documents released last week as part of Papadopoulos’s guilty plea show that Mueller’s team is deeply interested in the Trump campaign’s operations, including possible links to Moscow, at even the lowest levels.
The pressure on Flynn is the latest signal that Mueller is moving at a rapid, and steady, pace in his investigation.
Saturday 4 November 2017
In order for a gag order to be imposed on the president, Mueller would have to have the request signed off by a federal judge who agreed that the president’s public statements risked prejudicing the case. The federal judge overseeing the criminal trial ... said she is inclined to impose a gag order in the case.
Thursday 2 November 2017
Sessions' discussion with Page will fuel further scrutiny about what the attorney general knew about connections between the Trump campaign and Russia
Their questions about Kushner signal that Mueller's investigators are reaching the President's inner circle and have extended beyond the 2016 campaign to actions taken at the White House by high-level officials.
Sessions now remembers the March 31, 2016, meeting in which George Papadopoulos, a former foreign policy adviser to President Donald Trump's campaign, announced that he could set up a meeting between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The U.S. Justice Department has gathered enough evidence to charge six members of the Russian government in the hacking of Democratic National Committee computers before the 2016 U.S. presidential election
Wednesday 1 November 2017
Tuesday 31 October 2017
Trump’s longtime aide and current communications director, Hope Hicks, is scheduled to speak with special counsel Robert Mueller’s team in mid-November, following the president’s trip to Asia
Monday 30 October 2017
The unusual move is an indication of the aggressiveness of special counsel Robert Mueller's prosecution team as they prepared to indict Manafort and Gates on charges of money laundering and failing to register as foreign agents.
Trump is also increasingly agitated by the expansion of Mueller’s probe into financial issues beyond the 2016 campaign and about the potential damage to him and his family.
A court document outlining the guilty plea of George Papadopoulos provides a new timeline for when the Trump campaign knew Russia had Clinton emails.
The president of the United States had as his campaign chairman a man who had allegedly served for years as an unregistered foreign agent for a puppet government of Vladimir Putin
A member of President Trump’s campaign team admits that he was working with people he knew to be tied to the Russian government to “arrange a meeting between the Campaign and the Russian government officials” and to obtain “dirt” on Hillary Clinton
Good advice. Will he follow it?
—Preet Bharara, former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York (until fired by Trump)
In court records unsealed on Monday, the FBI said George Papadopoulos "falsely described his interactions with a certain foreign contact who discussed 'dirt' related to emails" concerning Hillary Clinton.
Manafort and Gates acted as "unregistered agents" from at least 2006 to 2015
Charges include "conspiracy against the United States"
Manafort and Gates gave false statements and sought to conceal their activity
Mr. Manafort, the president’s former campaign chairman, and his longtime associate Rick Gates, surrendered to the FBI on Monday. The special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, said Mr. Manafort laundered more than $18 million to buy properties and services.
Sunday 29 October 2017
The FBI's investigation ... includes a keen focus on a series of suspicious wire transfers in which offshore companies linked to Manafort moved more than $3 million all over the globe between 2012 and 2013.
Saturday 28 October 2017
Caught off guard by reports of criminal charges in the Russia probe, Trump advisers sought to keep up their political attacks and divert attention from allegations of Russian collusion.
In a statement, the Free Beacon emphatically denied targeting the real estate developer exclusively, and distanced itself from Michael Steele, a shadowy British former spy who was later paid by the Democratic National Committee, the campaign of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and the Federal Bureau of Investigations.
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.
Friday 27 October 2017
Republican lawmakers say they’re approaching the end of their investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election even though the most politically explosive issue — whether associates of President Donald Trump colluded with the Kremlin — remains unresolved.
Tuesday 24 October 2017
Elias and his law firm, Perkins Coie, retained the company in April 2016 on behalf of the Clinton campaign and the DNC. Before that agreement, Fusion GPS’s research into Trump was funded by an unknown Republican client during the GOP primary.
Thursday 19 October 2017
Tuesday 17 October 2017
Spicer was grilled about the firing of former FBI director James Comey and his statements regarding the firing, as well as about Trump’s meetings with Russian officials
Monday 16 October 2017
Why House investigators think this company might have helped Russia spread fake news.
Friday 13 October 2017
“Mr. Priebus was voluntarily interviewed by Special Counsel Mueller’s team today. He was happy to answer all of their questions"
Saturday 7 October 2017
Whether the strategy will work is another matter. The plan rests on the premise that Mr. Trump has done nothing wrong
Thursday 28 September 2017
Tuesday 26 September 2017
Monday 25 September 2017
“I do not engage in any illegal activities on behalf of my clients or the causes in which I support,” Mr. Stone said in prepared remarks to the House Intelligence Committee... “There is one ‘trick’ that is not in my bag, and that is treason.”
Friday 22 September 2017
Thursday 21 September 2017
Former colleagues of Sean Spicer tell Axios that he filled "notebook after notebook" during meetings at the Republican National Committee, later at the Trump campaign, and then at the White House.
Tuesday 19 September 2017
This news is a big deal primarily because of what it takes to obtain such a wiretap order. The warrant reportedly was issued under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. A FISA warrant requires investigators to demonstrate to the FISA court that there is probable cause to believe the target may be acting as an unlawful foreign agent.
Cohen arrived for the interview with his attorney Tuesday morning, but left the closed door session after about an hour, informing reporters waiting outside that committee staff had suddenly informed him they did not wish the interview to go forward.
Monday 18 September 2017
“They seem to be pursuing this more aggressively, taking a much harder line, than you’d expect to see in a typical white-collar case,” ... “This is more consistent with how you’d go after an organized crime syndicate.”
Sunday 17 September 2017
At the heart of the clash is an issue that has challenged multiple presidents during high-stakes Washington investigations: how to handle the demands of investigators without surrendering the institutional prerogatives of the office of the presidency.
The uncertainty has grown to the point that White House officials privately express fear that colleagues may be wearing a wire to surreptitiously record conversations for Mr. Mueller.
Wednesday 13 September 2017
The younger Flynn worked closely with his father, whose connections to foreign governments, including Russia and Turkey, have been a subject of federal and congressional investigations.
Friday 8 September 2017
In addition to Priebus, Spicer and Hicks, Mueller has notified the White House he will probably seek to question White House counsel Don McGahn and one of his deputies, James Burnham.
Thursday 7 September 2017
“To the extent they had information concerning the fitness, character or qualifications of a presidential candidate, I believed that I should at least hear them out”
Wednesday 6 September 2017
In the case of the dossier, Orbis was not saying that everything that it reported was accurate, but that it had made a good-faith effort to pass along faithfully what its identified insiders said was accurate. This is routine in the intelligence business.
All that said, one large portion of the dossier is crystal clear, certain, consistent and corroborated. Russia’s goal all along has been to do damage to America and our leadership role in the world.
On Thursday ... the Judiciary Committee meets with Donald Trump Jr., the first of the president’s inner-circle campaign surrogates the panel hopes to interview as part of its investigation into Russian interference in the election — including allegations of coordination between the president’s team and the Kremlin.
Tuesday 5 September 2017
Trump Jr. will be the first Trump campaign member who participated in a June 2016 meeting with a Russian lawyer to speak with the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Monday 4 September 2017
The congressional Russia investigations are entering a new and more serious phase as lawmakers return from the August recess amid fresh revelations about contacts between the Trump campaign and Russia.
Thursday 31 August 2017
His “power to grant reprieves and pardons” only covers “offenses against the United States,” according to Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution.
Wednesday 30 August 2017
The cooperation is the latest indication that the federal probe into President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman is intensifying.
Peskov said it was one of many emails the Kremlin press office gets — since its email address is available online — and that the Kremlin did not reply to it.
Monday 28 August 2017
“Our boy can become president of the USA and we can engineer it,” Mr. Sater wrote in an email. “I will get all of Putins team to buy in on this, I will manage this process.”
They're interested in learning what Trump knew about the meeting and whether he tried to hide its purpose.
Friday 25 August 2017
The requests suggest that Mueller’s investigators are looking closely at Manafort and Flynn
Thursday 24 August 2017
...shortly after Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) introduced a bill that would let Mueller appeal his firing in court, Trump called up Tillis, signaled he was “unhappy” with the bill and said he didn’t want it to pass.
While many details around the Dearborn email are unclear, its existence suggests the Russians may have been looking for another entry point into the Trump campaign
Monday 14 August 2017
The adviser, George Papadopoulos, offered to set up “a meeting between us and the Russian leadership to discuss US-Russia ties under President Trump,” telling them his Russian contacts welcomed the opportunity
Thursday 10 August 2017
Part of the reason Manafort is getting intense early scrutiny is that Mueller is drawing on investigations that were well underway, including one by federal prosecutors in Manhattan, when he was appointed in May.
Wednesday 9 August 2017
Federal agents appeared at Paul Manafort’s home without advance warning in the predawn hours of July 26
Monday 7 August 2017
He is both faulting the media for allegedly downplaying the size and intensity of support from his base and accusing them of trying to deliberately weaken that support for him.
Sunday 6 August 2017
“The special counsel is subject to the rules and regulations of the Department of Justice, and we don’t engage in fishing expeditions”
Friday 4 August 2017
Though not a formal subpoena, the document request is the first known instance of Mr. Mueller’s team asking the White House to hand over records.
Two Republican House Intelligence Committee staffers traveled to London earlier this summer to track down the former British intelligence operative who compiled a controversial dossier on President Donald Trump and Russia
The London trip has also angered Democrats in both chambers of Congress, who were not consulted by their colleagues before the investigators knocked on Steele’s door.
Thursday 3 August 2017
Competing bipartisan Senate bills introduced Thursday put President Donald Trump on further notice that any move to fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller wouldn’t go down without a serious fight.
It means Mueller believes that there is sufficient evidence that a crime was committed to warrant a criminal investigation.
Merely impaneling a grand jury does not mean that Mueller will ultimately seek an indictment, although most grand jury investigations do result in someone being indicted.
Tuesday 1 August 2017
Greg Andres started on Tuesday, becoming the 16th lawyer on the team
First, it describes an organized effort to mislead the public... Second, it implicates the president himself.
Because they apparently can't prevail upon him in person and they think he simply doesn't get what kind of jeopardy he is putting himself in.
Monday 31 July 2017
Trump personally dictated a statement in which Trump Jr. said that he and the Russian lawyer had “primarily discussed a program about the adoption of Russian children”
The claims were later shown to be misleading.
“Now someone can claim he’s the one who attempted to mislead. Somebody can argue the president is saying he doesn’t want you to say the whole truth.”
Saturday 29 July 2017
“It's very clear the president doesn't want me, at least, talking about the investigation. But I don't think his interests are necessarily the same as the public interest.”
Thursday 27 July 2017
Graham said his bill ... would mandate that any special counsel established to investigate either a president or his staff can't be fired “unless you have judicial review of the firing.”
Wednesday 26 July 2017
...the committee’s top Democrat, Rep. Adam Schiff of California, reportedly swiped at Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) for what he said was protecting Kushner.
Tuesday 25 July 2017
Before the Magnitsky Act, Putin could guarantee them impunity and this system of illegal wealth accumulation worked smoothly.
The Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday rescinded subpoenas for two key witnesses in the Russia imbroglio ... as part of agreements in which they'd agree to talk with the committee behind closed doors.
Manafort gave the investigators notes he had taken during the meeting
The meeting came as another panel, the Senate Judiciary Committee, announced that it issued a subpoena for Mr. Manafort to appear at a hearing on Wednesday.
Monday 24 July 2017
Replacing Sessions is viewed by some Trump associates as potentially being part of a strategy to fire special counsel Robert S. Mueller III and end his investigation of whether the Trump campaign coordinated with the Kremlin to influence the 2016 election
Also note the exceptional care that went into Kushner’s characterization of the meeting. He claims he arrived just late enough to miss the incriminating part of the meeting.
Kushner said he did not read an email forwarded by the younger Mr. Trump saying that the Russian government was providing dirt about Mrs. Clinton as part of its effort to help the Trump campaign.
Sunday 23 July 2017
Kushner is scheduled to meet behind closed doors with the Senate Intelligence Committee on Monday, then be questioned — again in private — by the House Intelligence Committee the following day.
"The truth of the matter is that the president isn't going to have to pardon anybody because the Russia thing is a nonsensical thing," Scaramucci continued.
Saturday 22 July 2017
“Both Donald Trump Jr. and Paul Manafort, through their attorneys, have agreed to negotiate to provide the committee with documents and be interviewed by committee members and staff prior to a public hearing”
“Therefore, we will not issue subpoenas for them tonight requiring their presence at Wednesday’s hearing but reserve the right to do so in the future.”
Friday 21 July 2017
Russia’s ambassador to Washington told his superiors in Moscow that he discussed campaign-related matters, including policy issues important to Moscow, with Jeff Sessions during the 2016 presidential race
Trump’s longtime personal lawyer Marc Kasowitz will no longer lead the legal team responding to the ongoing Russian investigations and has taken a reduced role
The news comes a day after Trump’s legal team spokesman, Mark Corallo, resigned.
Trump has asked his advisers about his power to pardon aides, family members and even himself in connection with the probe
Thursday 20 July 2017
FBI investigators and others are looking at Russian purchases of apartments in Trump buildings, Trump’s involvement in a controversial SoHo development in New York with Russian associates, the 2013 Miss Universe pageant in Moscow and Trump’s sale of a Florida mansion to a Russian oligarch in 2008
It is no surprise, but it is still a shock, to see how little President Trump understands about the independence of the Justice Department and the importance of the rule of law.
Wednesday 19 July 2017
Tuesday 18 July 2017
Mr. Kaveladze’s attendance also deepens questions about the apparent failure of Trump campaign officials to vet the backgrounds of the participants.
Monday 17 July 2017
Sunday 16 July 2017
Friday 14 July 2017
Given the pattern of the last few days, it is hard to see why anyone would assume that the public has received a full and honest reckoning of the June 9 meeting—or why anyone would give Trump Jr. and the White House the benefit of the doubt.
It bears all the hallmarks of a professionally planned, carefully orchestrated intelligence soft pitch designed to gauge receptivity, while leaving room for plausible deniability in case the approach is rejected.
"The deception, Chris, is mind-boggling. And there are still people who are out there who believe we’re making it up. And one day they’re gonna realize we’re not and look around and go, Where are we, and why are we getting told all these lies?"
Akhmetshin has been reported to have ties to Russian intelligence agencies, though he denies those links.
“I mean, we were promised systemic, hard evidence of systemic, sustained, furtive collusion that not only interfered with our election process but indeed dictated the electoral outcome,” Conway said
Thursday 13 July 2017
Once you’ve said “I’m in,” it makes no difference that the meeting was a bust, that the intermediary brought no such goods. What matters is what Donald Jr. thought going into the meeting
It basically boiled down to this: Trump Jr. is a “young man” who was taken advantage of by a Russian lawyer who wouldn't even have been in this country if it weren't for the Obama administration.
During the 2016 campaign, Simpson’s firm hired the British spy Christopher Steele, who ultimately produced the infamous dossier, which suggests Trump took part in an intricate Kremlin-backed plot to ascend to the White House.
On June 12, a judge had ordered the agency to provide the information within 30 days, a deadline that passed on Wednesday.
Wednesday 12 July 2017
But even as the White House labors to present a business-as-usual facade, there is evidence that Mr. Trump’s family will be drawn deeper into the investigation.
...examining whether the Trump campaign’s digital operation – overseen by Jared Kushner – helped guide Russia’s sophisticated voter targeting and fake news attacks on Hillary Clinton in 2016.
Tuesday 11 July 2017
While Donald Trump Jr. has been the main focus of the controversy because he set up the meeting, Mr. Kushner faces potential trouble because he currently works in the White House and neglected to mention the encounter on forms he filled out for a background check to obtain a security clearance.
A handful of Republican operatives close to the White House are scrambling to Trump Jr.’s defense and have begun what could be an extensive campaign to try to discredit some of the journalists who have been reporting on the matter.
“This is obviously very high level and sensitive information but is part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump.”
“If it’s what you say I love it especially later in the summer.”
The Russian lawyer who met with Donald Trump Jr. during the presidential campaign denied ... that she had any connection to the Kremlin and insisted she met with President Donald Trump’s son in 2016 to discuss sanctions between Russia and the U.S.
“It is quite possible that maybe they were longing for such an information. They wanted it so badly that they could only hear the thought that they wanted.”
Monday 10 July 2017
...from the Russian perspective, whether the younger Mr. Trump and his associates knew it at the time or not, the issues of adoptions and sanctions are so inextricably linked as to be practically synonymous.
...the first indication that someone from President Trump's inner circle met with Russians during the campaign.
It is not true, though, that each memo contained classified information — or, at least, it’s not true that each memo was marked as being classified.
Comey made clear that the memo he gave to his friend to leak, documenting a meeting on Feb. 14 of this year, was not one that included classified material.
Saturday 8 July 2017
“We primarily discussed a program about the adoption of Russian children that was active and popular with American families years ago and was since ended by the Russian government, but it was not a campaign issue at that time and there was no follow-up,” Trump Jr. said
Friday 7 July 2017
...a friendly encounter that ended in confusion over whether Trump had agreed to absolve the Kremlin of any wrongdoing.
Trump reportedly told Russia’s Vladimir Putin ... that allegations Russia had interfered in the 2016 election were being “exaggerated.”
Thursday 6 July 2017
The reason the views of only those four intelligence agencies, not all 17, were included in the assessment is simple: They were the ones tracking and analyzing the Russian campaign. The rest were doing other work.
Trump’s attempt to soften the accusation against Russia — whatever the motivation — is helped by the fact that the government agencies involved in the probes relied largely on classified information to find the Russians culpable of meddling. With that in mind, we’ve cobbled together the publicly available information to demonstrate why a layperson might have reasonable confidence that Russia was behind the election hacks
He later said that "nobody really knows for sure"
Tuesday 4 July 2017
Now nearly six months into his presidency, Trump is set to finally meet Putin at a summit this week in Hamburg
Saturday 1 July 2017
The comments were curious because a March 2 memo from Sessions' chief of staff, Jody Hunt, said the attorney general's decision to recuse himself from all investigations related to the 2016 presidential race extended to media inquiries on that topic.
Friday 30 June 2017
They appeared to be convinced of the need to obtain Clinton’s private emails and make them public, and they had a reckless lack of interest in whether the emails came from a Russian cut-out. Indeed, they made it quite clear to me that it made no difference to them who hacked the emails or why they did so, only that the emails be found and made public before the election.
Thursday 29 June 2017
...hackers wanted to get emails from Clinton’s server to an intermediary and then to Mike Flynn
Wednesday 28 June 2017
The 32-year-old O'Keefe founded Project Veritas in 2010 and has produced a number of controversial undercover videos. He has at times been criticized for releasing content that was selectively edited to portray people in a negative light.
Monday 26 June 2017
Saturday 24 June 2017
When U.S. officials entered shuttered Russian compounds in Maryland and New York last December, they found damaged materials that could have been used in intelligence gathering
Friday 23 June 2017
The emphasis on their ties, besides being aimed at undermining Mueller’s credibility and the legitimacy of his investigation, could also be an attempt by Trump to make the case for an eventual Mueller dismissal on conflict of interest grounds.
“No. 1: It’s in the jurisdiction of Bob Mueller. And secondarily, I would think Judiciary has jurisdiction over the Department of Justice and the FBI”
EARHARDT: Big news today, you didn't have — you said you didn't tape James Comey. Do you want to explain that? TRUMP: ... But when he found out that I, you know, that there may be tapes out there, whether it's governmental tapes or anything else, and who knows, I think his story may have changed.
EARHARDT: Robert Mueller, do you think he should recuse himself from the investigation? TRUMP: Well, he's very, very good friends with Comey, which is very bothersome.
President Trump has a new morning ritual. Around 6:30 a.m. on many days ... he gets on the phone with a member of his outside legal team to chew over all things Russia.
Thursday 22 June 2017
“This lie increases Trump's legal exposure for obstruction and witness intimidation—more evidence of corrupt intent”
And in the end, it wasn't just another bluff from Trump; it was another bluff that was called and that continued to chip away at Trump's honesty and credibility, for no discernible benefit.
But even with a subpoena, the panel stands little chance of actually compelling Trump to turn over anything he doesn’t voluntarily want to produce
Tuesday 20 June 2017
Trump entrusted him with the nation’s secrets despite knowing that he faced a Justice Department investigation over his undisclosed foreign lobbying.
Monday 19 June 2017
Jay Sekulow, 61, is, however, a fixture on conservative talk radio and a celebrity among conservative organizations for his high-profile First Amendment court battles over religious rights.
...the previously unreported dinner was one of two meetings he had with Manafort on visits to the United States during Manafort’s five months working for Trump.
Friday 16 June 2017
...assuming Rosenstein does recuse, the spotlight now shifts to the recently confirmed Associate Attorney General Rachel Brand, who would become the Acting Attorney General for the Russia investigation.
...privately acknowledged to colleagues that he may have to recuse himself from the matter, which he took charge of only after Attorney General Jeff Sessions' own recusal
In the past ... the order of succession is no more than an academic exercise — a chain of command applicable only in the event of an attack or crisis when government officials are killed and it is not clear who should be in charge.
...the latest indication that the Russia probe overseen by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III is intensifying and could end up focusing on a number of Trump associates
Thursday 15 June 2017
FBI agents and federal prosecutors have also been examining the financial dealings of other Trump associates, including former national security adviser Michael Flynn, former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and Carter Page
Pence’s move to hire an outside attorney could set off a scramble among other West Wing aides — many of whom are already bracing for subpoenas — to do the same
Wednesday 14 June 2017
One key point is that Mueller did not start this obstruction investigation. According to the Post, that probe began “days after Comey was fired on May 9”
Tuesday 13 June 2017
Sounding by turns defiant and wounded, Mr. Sessions ... often infused his testimony with more emotion than specifics.
I never received any information about the campaign. I thought there was a problem with me being able to serve as attorney general over this issue and I felt I would have to recuse myself
I don't recall that, senator. Certainly I can assure you nothing improper if I had a conversation with him.
Senator Wyden, I am not stonewalling. I am following the historic policies of the Department of Justice.
I cannot answer that because it was a communication by the president or if any such occurred it would be a communication that he has not waived.
Rosenstein ... said only he could fire Mueller, and only if he found good cause to do so.
Asked what he would do if the president ordered him to fire Mueller, Rosenstein said, “I’m not going to follow any orders unless I believe those are lawful and appropriate orders.”
...including incursions into voter databases and software systems in almost twice as many states as previously reported.
Monday 12 June 2017
Firing Mr. Mueller would be a politically explosive move that would raise new questions about Mr. Trump
Sunday 11 June 2017
It was unclear on Sunday whether the committee planned to question the attorney general on Tuesday in an open or closed session.
“I'm not going to speculate on what he will, or will not, do.”
Saturday 10 June 2017
Comey ... testified that the Russians had not only intervened in last year’s election, but would try to do it again.
“In light of reports regarding Mr. Comey’s recent testimony before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, it is important that I have an opportunity to address these matters in the appropriate forum,” Sessions wrote. “The Senate Intelligence Committee is the most appropriate forum for such matters, as it has been conducting an investigation and has access to relevant, classified information.”
Mueller has been quietly and methodically building the equivalent of a small US attorney's office -- a team of formidable legal minds who've worked on everything from Watergate to Enron, unlikely to leave any stone unturned.
Friday 9 June 2017
The House requested Comey and the White House provide the records, including tapes if they exist, by June 23.
He declined, for example, to answer a question in open session about Vnesheconombank (VEB), a Russian government-owned development bank linked to President Vladimir Putin. Trump’s adviser and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, met last year with VEB executives.
Comey was also reticent about his interactions with Attorney General Jeff Sessions
“Twitter helped make Donald Trump president. It may also lead to his impeachment.”
“The President, they seem to argue, acted without knowledge of the law because he simply doesn’t know how to do his job. Trump’s actions may be criminal, but they are excusable because he’s a well-meaning idiot.”
“Underneath all the grotesquery, this is a drama that concerns the whole world.”
Thursday 8 June 2017
Mr. Comey did not say exactly what he believed was incorrect about the article, which was based on information from four current and former American officials, all of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity because the information was classified.
Wednesday 7 June 2017
"I've never seen hatred like this, and to me they're not even people. It's so, so sad, I mean morality is just gone, morals have flown out the window we deserve so much better than this as a country."
One by one this winter, then-FBI Director James B. Comey pulled aside three of the bureau’s top officials for private chats.
Tuesday 6 June 2017
...the attorney general offered to resign out of a sense of obligation because he was aware of how angered Trump was about his decision to recuse from the Russia investigations
Monday 5 June 2017
Reality Leigh Winner, 25, a contractor with Pluribus International Corporation in Georgia, is accused of "removing classified material from a government facility and mailing it to a news outlet"
The report indicates that Russian hacking may have penetrated further into U.S. voting systems than was previously understood.
Sunday 4 June 2017
Vnesheconombank, or VEB, is no normal bank. It is wholly owned by the Russian state. It is intertwined with Russian intelligence. And the Russian prime minister is, by law, the chairman of its supervisory board.
“Do you think we’re gathering compromising information on all of them right now or something? Are you all — have you all lost your senses over there?”
Friday 2 June 2017
The declaration amounts to a new level of partisanship in Washington
The bank maintained this week that the session was held as part of a new business strategy and was conducted with Kushner in his role as the head of his family’s real estate business.
The White House says the meeting was unrelated to business and was one of many diplomatic encounters the soon-to-be presidential adviser was holding ahead of Donald Trump’s inauguration.
Thursday 1 June 2017
On Wednesday, the California Republican appeared to dive back into that inquiry, exercising his authority as chairman to unilaterally issue subpoenas to the intelligence community for information on the alleged improper “unmasking” of Trump campaign officials
...a Republican aide suggested to CNN that Nunes had never formally recused himself from the investigation.
Final details are still being worked out and no official date for his testimony has been set.
Wednesday 31 May 2017
Putting the highly anticipated hearing on the calendar would force Mr. Trump to decide whether to invoke executive privilege and try to prevent Mr. Comey from testifying.
Tuesday 30 May 2017
One of President Donald Trump’s closest confidants, his personal lawyer Michael Cohen, has now become a focus of the expanding congressional investigation
Sunday 28 May 2017
...such a request of the Russians would be inappropriate unless carefully coordinated with the Obama administration, which was in office at the time.
Saturday 27 May 2017
Beleaguered White House aides ... had hoped the trip would offer a much-needed change of subject. And to some degree, it did, if only because the White House engineered the itinerary to keep Mr. Trump far away from reporters who could ask him questions.
Trump and his advisers ... are considering a retooling of his senior staff and the creation of a “war room” within the White House
Now that Trump’s current and former aides and allies officially know a probe exists, they’re responsible for preserving all available information that might be relevant.
Friday 26 May 2017
...but lawmakers are unwilling to accept his conditions
...but he feared that if it became public it would undermine the probe and the Justice Department itself
Kislyak reported to his superiors in Moscow that Kushner ... made the proposal during a meeting on Dec. 1 or 2 at Trump Tower
Thursday 25 May 2017
...the bureau can’t provide the memo until it consults with Robert Mueller
Investigators are focusing on a series of meetings held by Jared Kushner ... as part of their probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 election
...the first direct evidence of so-called collusion.
Wednesday 24 May 2017
Sessions failed to disclose meetings with Russian officials when he applied for security clearance because he was told not to do so by advisers and the F.B.I.
The Russian document cited a supposed email describing how then-Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch had privately assured someone in the Clinton campaign that the email investigation would not push too deeply into the matter.
Tuesday 23 May 2017
The appointment of a private attorney may indicate that Trump is seriously considering the impact the federal investigation could have on him personally
(9) What this means is, it's UNBELIEVABLY EARLY in the federal criminal investigation into the Trump campaign's Russian ties. *SUPER* EARLY.
(10) This is why the White House, GOP Congressmen, and far-right trolls like Louise Mensch want you to think it's LATE in the investigation.
(13) To this end, right-wing trolls undermine the anti-Trump movement with stories they know are BS about how indictments are "coming soon."
Friday 19 May 2017
The senior White House adviser under scrutiny by investigators is someone close to the president
Thursday 18 May 2017
“What I have determined is that based upon the unique circumstances the public interest requires me to place this investigation under the authority of a person who exercises a degree of independence from the normal chain of command,”
Wednesday 17 May 2017
Tuesday 16 May 2017
"There are other memos about his meetings too. He wrote down every word Trump said to him as soon as he could."
“I hope you can let this go,” the president told Mr. Comey
Conservative media and pro-Trump zealots have begun flooding the internet with a conspiracy theory tied to the July 2016 murder of a Democratic National Committee staffer
Monday 15 May 2017
"At no time were any intelligence sources or methods discussed and no military operations were disclosed that were not already known publicly."
Anyone with even a remedial understanding of politics and public relations understands that Trump is bungling the White House reaction to the ongoing investigation
Over the past week, Trump stretched a variety of facts on trade, taxes and economic theory. But his firing of FBI Director James Comey was far and away the source of the most tumult.
Sunday 14 May 2017
...the new FBI director must be apolitical and sensitive to the law-enforcement mission, not someone with a long record of reflexive partisanship or commentary on the very investigative issues that will come before the bureau.
Saturday 13 May 2017
If it doesn’t seem that way, that’s got more to do with the insatiable appetites of social media and cable news than with reality.
Friday 12 May 2017
Thursday 11 May 2017
“In fact, when I decided to just do it, I said to myself, I said, ‘You know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made up story, it’s an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election that they should have won.’”
“Simply put,” he said, “you cannot stop the men and women of the F.B.I. from doing the right thing.”
...the panel decided to issue the subpoena after Flynn, through his lawyer, declined to cooperate with an April 28 request to turn over the documents.
Wednesday 10 May 2017
His appeal ... was made to Rod J. Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general, whose memo was used to justify Mr. Comey’s abrupt dismissal on Tuesday.
Trump doesn’t grasp it yet, but firing Comey will only lead to more, and louder, questions about Russia
Trump received letters from Rod Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general, and Jeff Sessions, the attorney general, calling for Comey's dismissal
But several other people familiar with the events said Trump had talked about the firing for over a week, and the letters were written to give him rationale to fire Comey.
Tuesday 9 May 2017
The FBI director had been cooperating with the intelligence committee investigation, talking with lawmakers and sharing material.
The subpoenas represent the first sign of a significant escalation of activity in the FBI's broader investigation
Monday 8 May 2017
Moreover, she took the opportunity to drop the news bomb that the administration ordered the Office of Legal Counsel to not even tell the acting attorney general the ban was in the works.
...detailing how she had informed Trump administration officials that then-national security adviser Michael Flynn was susceptible to blackmail from Russia, only to watch President Donald Trump take 18 days to fire him.
Sunday 7 May 2017
"The Senate is starting from scratch. We're going to draft our own bill. And I'm convinced that we're going to take the time to do it right.”
"He said, 'Well, we don't rely on American banks. We have all the funding we need out of Russia.' I said, 'Really?' And he said, 'Oh, yeah. We've got some guys that really, really love golf, and they're really invested in our programs. We just go there all the time.'"
Thursday 27 April 2017
When the parties are intensely polarized, congressional majorities investigate only when the White House is held by the other party
Tuesday 25 April 2017
Tuesday 18 April 2017
Also at the head table ... two-time U.S. Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein, the only American besides Flynn at the head table.
(Stein did well enough to help Russia achieve its aims. Her vote totals in the crucial states of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan were all greater than Clinton's margin of defeat, and arguably denied Clinton an Electoral College victory.)
Wednesday 12 April 2017
Mr. Manafort’s ties to Ukraine and Russia have come under scrutiny as federal officials investigate Russian meddling in the American presidential election.
Tuesday 11 April 2017
The FBI and the Justice Department obtained the warrant ... after convincing a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court judge that there was probable cause to believe Page was acting as an agent of a foreign power, in this case Russia
Monday 10 April 2017
A "legal source" also told the AFP news agency that Mr Levashov was the subject of an extradition request by the US.
Thursday 6 April 2017
The C.I.A. told senior lawmakers in classified briefings last summer that it had information indicating that Russia was working to help elect Donald J. Trump president
Nunes said he would "continue to fulfill all my other responsibilities as Committee Chairman"
Monday 3 April 2017
Though Prince had no formal role with the Trump campaign or transition team, he presented himself as an unofficial envoy for Trump to high-ranking Emiratis involved in setting up his meeting with the Putin confidant
Sunday 2 April 2017
McCain blamed House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes on Sunday for destroying the bipartisan nature of the committee's investigation
Saturday 1 April 2017
But Flynn appears to have been doing exactly what he said he wasn’t doing.
Friday 31 March 2017
Trump's White House is facing allegations that it funneled secret intelligence reports to a top Republican investigating his campaign's possible ties to Russian officials
...current and former officials say that, once Nunes admitted he visited a secure room in the White House — as he did earlier this week — it became clear that White House officials played a role in providing him information.
“It’s not unusual for anybody who’s the subject of a federal investigation to want immunity before speaking to federal authorities”
Thursday 30 March 2017
He has made the offer to the FBI and the House and Senate intelligence committees through his lawyer but has so far found no takers
The revelation on Thursday that White House officials disclosed the reports ... is likely to fuel criticism that the intelligence chairman has been too eager to do the bidding of the Trump administration
Wednesday 29 March 2017
But on this vitally important point - Kalugin's status as a "spy under diplomatic cover" - people who saw the intelligence agree with the dossier, adding weight to Steele's other claims.
“The bottom line is, it seems like the Senate is moving in a good way,” Dent said. “They have a much greater likelihood of providing a report than the House does at this point.”
Comey attempted to go public as early as the summer of 2016 with information on Russia’s campaign to influence the U.S. presidential election, but Obama administration officials blocked him from doing so
Spicer angrily dismissed inquiries about the matter Tuesday, declaring that "every single person who's been briefed on this, as I've said ad nauseam from this podium ... have been very clear that there is no connection between the president or the staff here and anyone doing anything with Russia."
Tuesday 28 March 2017
Nunes said on Tuesday he will not divulge - even to other members of his panel - who gave him intelligence reports that indicated President Donald Trump and his associates may have been ensnared in incidental intelligence collection.
“Since Monday, I’m sorry to say, the chairman has ceased to be the chairman of an investigative committee and has been running interference for the Trump White House, cancelling hearings.”
...the Justice Department notified Yates earlier this month that the administration considers a great deal of her possible testimony to be barred from discussion in a congressional hearing because the topics are covered by the presidential communication privilege.
Yates and another witness at the planned hearing, former CIA director John Brennan, had made clear to government officials by Thursday that their testimony to the committee probably would contradict some statements that White House officials had made
The full committee meetings were cancelled over an increasingly tense back-and-forth that intensified over Mr Nunes' decision to cancel a public hearing set for Tuesday
Monday 27 March 2017
...the Senate Intelligence Committee ... wanted to question Mr. Kushner about meetings he arranged with the Russian ambassador, Sergey I. Kislyak
Sunday 26 March 2017
Saturday 25 March 2017
In the past week, there have been several startling revelations about the investigations into Donald Trump, his closest allies, and their ties to Russia.
...the evident desire of the chairman of that committee to protect President Trump may only be increasing Trump’s problems.
Thursday 23 March 2017
...the information in hand suggests "people connected to the campaign were in contact and it appeared they were giving the thumbs up to release information when it was ready."
Russia revelations. Health bill woes. Wiretap wars. And that Supreme Court seat.
Wednesday 22 March 2017
“The chairman will need to decide whether he is the chairman of an independent investigation into conduct which includes allegations of potential coordination between the Trump campaign and the Russians, or he is going to act as a surrogate of the White House, because he cannot do both”
“And I can’t go into the particulars, but there is more than circumstantial evidence now.”
Tuesday 21 March 2017
The new documents may revive questions about the ties between the Trump aide, Paul Manafort, and the party of the former president of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych
Monday 20 March 2017
This is just the barrage of disasters, which is something that’s not very familiar to those of us who are trying to report the Putin story.
That’s definitely not the—what we’re experiencing here, and that gives me a little bit of hope, right, because certainly we’re in no danger of losing our sense of outrage at what’s going on.
The president’s tweets throughout the day were misleading, inaccurate or simply false.
“This will also include an assessment of whether any crimes were committed”
Democrats were quick to jump on Comey's remarks to hike pressure on Trump over his allegations, arguing that the President's conduct had "severely damaged" his credibility.
Friday 17 March 2017
Flynn was paid more than $67,000 by Russian companies before the presidential election
Sunday 12 March 2017
“This whole issue of the relationship with the Russians and who communicated with them and under what circumstances clearly cries out for an investigation”
Friday 10 March 2017
Questions about the possible connection were widely dismissed four months ago. But the FBI's investigation remains open
Tuesday 7 March 2017
Page ... was told by Lewandowski that he could make the trip, but not as an official representative of the campaign
Saturday 4 March 2017
Sessions will submit written answers to the Democratic lawmakers on Monday
It appears that the crux of the argument comes from reporting that U.S. officials secretly monitored a computer server in Trump Tower to determine if there were links to Russian banks.
Friday 3 March 2017
Thursday 2 March 2017
...the newly-revealed communications further contradict months of repeated denials by Trump officials that his campaign had contact with officials representing the Russian government.
The latest disclosures — and the Trump administration’s contradictory accounts of them — have deepened the questions about Russia’s role in the election and its aftermath.
"It gives me some pause that he wasn't more clear about the meeting,"
Wednesday 1 March 2017
Mr. Trump’s statements stoked fears among some that intelligence could be covered up or destroyed — or its sources exposed — once power changed hands.
Sunday 26 February 2017
Republicans are increasingly divided over the issue of whether members of Donald Trump's presidential campaign made illegal contact with Russia and if a special prosecutor should be appointed
"Having Jeff Sessions oversee such an investigation, it's really unfair to any foxes across America to say that would be the fox guarding the henhouse."
Friday 24 February 2017
The efforts of the White House to preempt the FBI investigation of contacts closely mirrors some of the conduct described in the Articles of Impeachment against Richard Nixon in the Watergate scandal.
Thursday 23 February 2017
White House officials had sought the help of the bureau and other agencies investigating the Russia matter to say that the reports were wrong and that there had been no contacts
Saturday 18 February 2017
"I am now very confident Senate Intel Comm I serve on will conduct thorough bipartisan investigation of #Putin interference and influence."
Friday 17 February 2017
The Pentagon has a rule requiring retired officers to report income from foreign states.
Thursday 16 February 2017
The Jan. 24 interview potentially puts Flynn in legal jeopardy. Lying to the FBI is a felony offense.
...resolutely resisting any investigation into President Trump’s breached hotel lease, his conflicts of interest, his ties with Russia and his recent receipt of a trademark from China — just after reaffirming the One China policy — which is indisputably an “emolument” from a foreign government.
The press has become so dishonest that if we don't talk about, we are doing a tremendous disservice to the American people. Tremendous disservice.
As you know, our administration inherited many problems across government and across the economy. To be honest, I inherited a mess. It's a mess.
I just want to let you know, I inherited a mess.
They've spread like cancer. ISIS has spread like cancer - another mess I inherited.
I'm here following through on what I pledged to do. That's all I'm doing. I put it out before the American people, got 306 electoral college votes. I wasn't supposed to get 222. They said there's no way to get 222, 230's impossible. 270 which you need, that was laughable. We got 306 because people came out and voted like they've never seen before so that's the way it goes.
This administration is running like a fine-tuned machine, despite the fact that I can't get my Cabinet approved.
So we've begun preparing to repeal and replace Obamacare, and are deep in the midst of negotiations on a very historic tax reform to bring our jobs back, to bring our jobs back to this country. Big league.
Russia is fake news. Russia -- this is fake news put out by the media.
Well the leaks are real. You're the one that wrote about them and reported them, I mean the leaks are real. You know what they said, you saw it and the leaks are absolutely real. The news is fake because so much of the news is fake.
"There is very little doubt that they have either interfered or attempted to interfere in a number of elections in democracies," Mattis said
Wednesday 15 February 2017
Now we know that when Comey spoke up about Clinton while remaining silent about allegations of contact between Trump’s team and the Russian government, not only were there mere allegations but also concrete evidence that such contact was frequent and ongoing.
The Western European intelligence operations began in August, after the British government obtained information that people acting on behalf of Russia were in contact with members of the Trump campaign.
Mr. Trump angrily told Mrs. Clinton [...] that if elected, he would instruct his attorney general “to get a special prosecutor to look into your situation because there has never been so many lies, so much deception.”
The consensus among lawmakers came at a tense moment, when congressional Republicans were already finding it difficult to defend Trump as the tempestuous start to his term has stoked frustration, fatigue and fear on Capitol Hill.
Tuesday 14 February 2017
The officials said the intercepted communications were not limited to Trump campaign officials, and included other associates of Mr. Trump.
"And I want to know, 'Did General Flynn do this by himself or was he directed by somebody to do it?'"
Saturday 11 February 2017
The White House has dismissed the dossier as fiction, and some of the facts and assertions it includes have indeed been proven wrong. Other allegations in the dossier, however, are still being investigated.
Friday 10 February 2017
Reached for comment this afternoon, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said, "We continue to be disgusted by CNN's fake news reporting."
The talks were part of a series of contacts between Flynn and Kislyak that began before the Nov. 8 election and continued during the transition
Thursday 9 February 2017
“All of this demands investigation, and of course they’ve refused. This resolution will force them to confront the issue.”
Since Trump entered office, there has been far more back-and-forth between reporters and Press Secretary Sean Spicer on the inauguration crowd size, Trump's bathrobe, and Melissa McCarthy than the Russia scandal.
Sunday 5 February 2017
"I think we have to have an investigation by the FBI into his financial, personal and political connections to Russia, and we want to see his tax returns, so we can have truth in the relationship between Putin, whom he admires, and Donald Trump."
Sunday 22 January 2017
Michael Flynn, President Donald Trump's national security adviser, has been the subject of U.S. counterintelligence investigations over his past communications with Russia's ambassador to the U.S.