Putin’s Comin’

Ken AshfordL'Affaire Russe, Trump & AdministrationLeave a Comment

President Trump has asked his national security adviser John Bolton to invite Russian President Vladimir Putin to Washington for a second summit. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced that plans are underway for a second summit after Trump floated the news in an earlier tweet today. Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats informed on stage at Aspen Security Forum … Read More

Trump Was Briefed About Russian Interference Two Weeks Before He Became President

Ken AshfordCybersecurity, L'Affaire Russe, Trump & AdministrationLeave a Comment

NY Times: Two weeks before his inauguration, Donald J. Trump was shown highly classified intelligence indicating that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia had personally ordered complex cyberattacks to sway the 2016 American election. The evidence included texts and emails from Russian military officers and information gleaned from a top-secret source close to Mr. Putin, who had described to the … Read More

More Cleanup On Aisle Trump

Ken AshfordCybersecurity, L'Affaire Russe, Russia, Trump & AdministrationLeave a Comment

Yesterday, the day after Trump’s unconvincing walkback of believing Putin over the US intelligence community, this happened at a press pool spray: The exact exchange that just occurred in the White House 👇 REPORTER: Is Russia still targeting the US, Mr. President? TRUMP: Thank you very much. No. (Shakes head) REPORTER: No? You don’t believe that to be the case? … Read More

The Spy Who Loved Me

Ken AshfordCybersecurity, Gun Control, L'Affaire Russe, Trump & AdministrationLeave a Comment

This is some serious Cold War movie stuff: A Russian woman charged this week with serving as a foreign agent has been in regular contact with Russian intelligence, the Justice Department says, and she attempted to offer sex in exchange for a position with an organization she targeted. Prosecutors included that information in court documents as part of their request … Read More

Treason Summit Fallout

Ken AshfordElection 2016, L'Affaire Russe, Russia, Trump & AdministrationLeave a Comment

It’s been compared to Pearl Harbor and 9/11. These comparisons, to me, aren’t apt.  For one thing, people died.  More importantly, those tragedies weren’t self-inflicted. But the gravity of what Trump did has even surpassed his “both sides” comment of Charlottesville. Virtually every politician and pundit has condemned the disastrous press conference.  “Treason” and “traitor” are on many lips, while … Read More

In Other News, The OTHER Trump-Russia Connection

Ken AshfordBreaking News, Campaign Finance Reform, Gun Control, L'Affaire Russe, Trump & AdministrationLeave a Comment

This is getting almost no coverage (update: okay NOW it is), but there is breaking news on another front. The DOJ just announced the arrest of an unregistered Russian agent, Maria Butina. Right now, the only charge is that Ms. Butina was an unregistered foreign agent, but the FBI was investigating her on the belief that she worked at the … Read More

Treason Summit

Ken AshfordL'Affaire Russe, Russia, Trump & AdministrationLeave a Comment

On the heels of the NATO summit, where President Trump dissed our strongest allies, Trump is now visiting Vladimir Putin in Russia. Just moments ago, he and Putin ended their special two-hours-and-10-minutes one-on-one meeting with no advisers and no witnesses and no note-takers. One official, according to CNN, said it was because he doesn’t want his aides interrupting or undercutting … Read More

Strzok To Testify

Ken AshfordL'Affaire Russe, Republicans, Trump & AdministrationLeave a Comment

Peter Strzok, a former FBI official who was removed from the special counsel’s investigation of Russian involvement in the 2016 U.S. elections, testifies before a public joint hearing of two House committees responsible for FBI and Justice Department oversight. Strzok is the right wing whipping boy — to listen to Fox, you would think he single-handedly masterminded the Trump-Russia investigation. … Read More

Breaking: Senate Confirms Benczkowski to Justice Department And He Could Decide Fate Of Russia Investigation

Ken AshfordBreaking News, Congress, Courts/Law, L'Affaire Russe, Trump & AdministrationLeave a Comment

On purely partisan lines (Manchin broke Dem ranks; McCain unable to vote), the Senate has just confirmed a top Justice Department official who could help oversee the Trump-Russia investigation, despite his own troubling connections to Russia and his close ties to Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Brian Benczkowski, a former Senate aide to Sessions, will now lead the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, a job … Read More

A Clarification

Ken AshfordDemocrats, L'Affaire Russe, Trump & AdministrationLeave a Comment

Just won lawsuit filed by the DNC and a bunch of Democrat crazies trying to claim the Trump Campaign (and others), colluded with Russia. They haven’t figured out that this was an excuse for them losing the election! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 6, 2018 It would be a full time job trying to correct this asshole, but I … Read More

The Origins Of “Collusion”

Ken AshfordL'Affaire Russe, Trump & AdministrationLeave a Comment

Collusion is not a crime. It is not even a legal concept. Yet, when people speculate about mis-doings between the Trump campaign and Russia, that is the noun used — “collusion”.  And, of course, it is Trump’s go-to tweet word.  But how did the word “collusion” get introduced into the public lexicon? And who is initially responsible for introducing it? … Read More

Mueller Gets Erik Prince’s Phones

Ken AshfordL'Affaire Russe, Trump & AdministrationLeave a Comment

ABC: [Erik] Prince, America’s most famous private military contractor, acknowledged last week that he “cooperated” with Mueller’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election after falling under scrutiny amid questions about an alleged effort to establish a backchannel between the Trump administration and the Kremlin, something Prince has vehemently denied. ABC News has since learned that Mueller is … Read More

Probably Nothing But Still….

Ken AshfordL'Affaire Russe, Stormy Daniels & Karen McDougal Affairs, Trump & AdministrationLeave a Comment

Who knows? Maybe it takes a C-list celebrity to get rid of a C-list celebrity president. If so, Tom Arnold is on the job: Tom Arnold—the actor and comedian who’s said he’s on a mission to find incriminating video of President Trump—tweeted a photo of himself with Michael Cohen late Thursday, saying “this dude has all the tapes.” Trump’s longtime … Read More

Breaking: Michael Cohen Resigns From RNC Committee Post

Ken AshfordBreaking News, L'Affaire Russe, Stormy Daniels & Karen McDougal Affairs, Trump & AdministrationLeave a Comment

Surprised this didn’t happen long ago: Michael Cohen, President Trump’s longtime confidant and former personal attorney, has resigned from his post as deputy finance chair of the Republican National Committee’s Finance Committee, sources close to the RNC told ABC News. In his resignation letter to Ronna McDaniel, the RNC chair, Cohen cited the ongoing special counsel investigation as one reason … Read More