Earlier this month, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) issued a pair of letters demanding information on any financial links between the NRA and Moscow, or between the NRA and Russian nationals. The questions came after McClatchy reported: January 18, 2018 05:00 AM WASHINGTON — The FBI is investigating whether a top Russian banker with ties to the Kremlin illegally funneled money to the National Rifle … Read More
Belated Post: Oh Look — The Democratic Response To The Nunes Memo
A few weeks after the Nunes memo, the Democrats on the House Intel have finally been allowed to release their response memo. It eviscerates the Nunes memo of course, and is heavily sourced, although much of the sources lie in classified documents. It also questions, as it should, the motives of Devin Nunes. Here is the memo: The President was … Read More
Superseding Manafort/Gates Indictment
Mueller’s team just dropped, literally minutes ago, its superseding indictment on Manafort and Gates. You can just look at the cover page to see who is indicted for what. 32 counts, mostly dealing with financial transactions and bank fraud and tax fraud (money laundering, basically) all before Manafort was Trump campaign manager. I did a search for “Trump” — his … Read More
Mueller Prosecutor List
I discovered this at emptywheel and I’m, well, I’m stealing it. With each development in the Mueller investigation, Marcy Wheeler* at emptywheel has been tracking which of Mueller’s 17 prosecutors show up on which dockets, as a way of understanding how little we know about the case. This information is accurate as of 2/17/2018 Manafort docket: Andrew Weismann (1) Greg … Read More
Trump Attacks His Own AG In Russia Tweet This Morning
Say what? (In a now-deleted tweet, he misspelled “Sessions”, and wrote “Session”) It looks like Trump is reviving his offensive on Mr. Sessions, whom he once called “beleaguered,” and continued his days-long Twitter comments on the ongoing special counsel’s investigation into Russian meddling. The idea that Obama didn’t do something about meddling is, once again, ridiculous. While some former Obama administration officials have said they could … Read More
Sarah Sanders Press Conference – 2/20/2018
Her first press conference since the shooting — Sarah Sanders is reading her statement about the Parkland massacre like it’s a book report she really doesn’t want to deliver. — Matt Novak (@paleofuture) February 20, 2018 “It’s very clear that Russia meddled in the election. It’s also very clear it didn’t have an impact in the election,” Sarah Sanders says … Read More
Trump’s Behavior Continues To Offend And Baffle
In the days following the mass shooting at a high school in Parkland Florida, and with Mueller clearly breathing down Trump’s neck, his behavior has been frenzied and offensive. Here’s how Time described it: The weekend began with what many considered a victory of the smallest order. The typically chatty President bypassed the reporters to board his waiting helicopter without … Read More
Another Mueller Indictment
Special Counsel Robert Mueller has charged Dutch lawyer Alex Van Der Zwaan with making false statements to FBI investigators. Van Der Zwaan, who was officially charged on Feb. 16 in a federal court in Washington, has a plea hearing scheduled for Tuesday at 2:30 p.m. EST. According to the indictment, the false statements came when Mueller’s team probed Van Der … Read More
Grand Jury In Mueller Probe Hands Down Indictment Against 13 Russian Nationals And Three Russian Entities
13 Russian nationals and three Russian entities are accused of violating U.S. criminal laws in order to interfere with U.S. elections and political processes. “The indictment charges all of the defendants with conspiracy to defraud the United States, three defendants with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud, and five defendants with aggravated identity theft,” Mueller says. The indictment … Read More
Knives Are Out For Chief Of Staff John Kelly, They Say
The media seems to be in a frenzy about the Rob Porter-wife beating scandal, as the White House enters Day 7 of being unable to explain the timeline of events about Porter’s firing, and why he was allowed to stay on as the right-hand man to President Trump even though he couldn’t get a security clearance. To recap….. Rob Porter, … Read More
Rachel Brand Out At DOJ
Associate Attorney General Rachel Brand was the third most powerful person in law enforcement, right behind Attorney General Jeff Session and Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein. And since Sessions had recused himself from any actions related to the Trump-Russia investigation, Brand was much more high profile, especially since reports were being floated that Trump was seeking to remove Rosenstein. That all … Read More
Will Trump Allow The Release Of The Dem Memo?
I know it is old in terms of Trump scandal cycle — like a week or so — but not too long ago, Devin Nunes (R-Ca) wrote a self-serving and ultimately incorrect — memo (he had to admit its central tenet was wrong) regarding how the FISA warrant application against Carter Page was conducted. Nunes said, among other things, that … Read More
The New NEW Russia Probe Pushback
Moments ago, Trump tweeted this: NEW FBI TEXTS ARE BOMBSHELLS! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 7, 2018 Oh, Lord. What is Fox feeding him now? Newly revealed text messages between FBI paramours Peter Strzok and Lisa Page include an exchange about preparing talking points for then-FBI Director James Comey to give to President Obama, who wanted “to know everything we’re doing.” … Read More
Republican Support Of Failed Nunes Memo Shows Their Cowardice
Sure, Nunes loved his memo. And Trump loved it because Nunes was doing his bidding. But where were the principled Republicans? Nowhere. Michael Gersen: With the blessing of Republican leaders, the lickspittle wing of the GOP is now firmly in charge. The existence of reckless partisans such as Nunes is hardly surprising. The nearly uniform cowardice among elected Republicans is … Read More
Trump’s Lawyers Think Trump Shouldn’t Submit To Mueller Interview
Yes, well… I don’t think you need a legal degree to come to this conclusion. Trump, who wouldn’t know the truth if it landed in his pants, would perjure himself. Greg Sargeant points out the real fear: President Trump’s lawyers are urging him to avoid an interview with special counsel Robert S. Mueller III because he is a pathological liar … Read More