McClatchy News has the goods: Aleksandr Burman, a Ukrainian who engaged in a health care scheme that cost the federal government $26 million and was sentenced to a decade in prison, paid $725,000 cash for a condo at a Trump Tower I in Sunny Isles Beach, Fla. in 2009. Leonid Zeldovich, who has reportedly done extensive business in the Russian-annexed area … Read More
Breaking: Paul Manafort Order To Jail
CNN: Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort will await his trial for foreign lobbying crimes from jail. Two weeks after Robert Mueller’s prosecutors dropped new accusations of witness tampering on him, a federal judge Friday revoked Manafort’s current bail, which allowed him out on house arrest. Judge Amy Berman Jackson’s order marks an end to months of attempts from Manafort … Read More
Takeaways From The IG Report
In a light most favorable to Trump, one key takeaway from the IG Report was that Comey, while well-meaning, was not only “insubordinate” (to quote the report) but also incompetent. Trump allies will use this to justify Comey’s firing, but we all know why Comey was fired — because of what Trump said: he fired Comey because of the Russia investigation. … Read More
The Inspector General’s Report Is Due Today
Right wing media and Trump have a lot riding on the IG Report today. They are hoping that it will expose the Deep State and the bias in the Mueller investigation. Fat chance. The IG Report basically says that Comey screwed up by having press conferences about the Clinton emails so close to the election. Ya THINK?!? That said, Trump … Read More
Cohen Will Probably Flip
The man who once boasted that he would never turn on Trump seems likely to turn on Trump. Lawyers representing Michael Cohen in a federal criminal investigation into his financial dealings may soon jump ship, ABC News reported Wednesday. “A source representing this matter” told ABC that Stephen Ryan and Todd Harrison of McDermott, Will & Emery LLP are expected to end … Read More
Russia And The NRA
McClatchy: Several prominent Russians, some in President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle or high in the Russian Orthodox Church, now have been identified as having contact with National Rifle Association officials during the 2016 U.S. election campaign, according to photographs and an NRA source. The contacts have emerged amid a deepening Justice Department investigation into whether Russian banker and lifetime NRA member … Read More
Breaking: Mueller Hands Down More Indictments And Adds Charges To Manafort
In the so-called witch hunt, this press release from Special Counsel Bob Mueller: Mueller is seeking forfeiture of Manafort’s real estate and bank accounts too pic.twitter.com/w7AXRdlTNy — ryan teague beckwith (@ryanbeckwith) June 8, 2018 You really have to wonder about a guy who engages in witness tampering while in home confinement. Stupid and arrogant. He’s so guilty and so compromised … Read More
Manafort May Have Bail Revoked And Sit In Jail
Late last night, federal prosecutors accused President Trump’s former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, of attempting to tamper with witnesses in his federal tax and money laundering case. In court documents, prosecutors working for the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, said that violated the terms of Mr. Manafort’s release while he awaits trial. They asked a federal judge to revise … Read More
Did Putin Weigh Into Crafting The Response To The Don Jr. Trump Tower Meeting?
Last week, we learned that President Trump personally dictated the press release relating to Don Jr’s infamous Trump Tower meeting with the Russians. The press release, which offered lies about what the meeting was about (as well as lies of omission as to how it came about), was dictated by Trump on an Air Force One flight home from the G20 … Read More
Giuliani: Trump Can “Probably” Pardon Himself
In an interview this morning with ABC News Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos on “This Week,” Rudy Giuliani discussed special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of whether the president may have tried to obstruct justice in the probe of Russian efforts to interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. When Stephanopoulos asked if the president has the power to pardon himself, Giuliani … Read More
Letter From Trump’s Lawyers To Mueller Reveals Much
The New York Times has possession of a 20-page confidential letter send to the Special Counsel relating to the attempt to interview Trump. The Times printed it, with annotations. The letter/memo is dated January 29 2018. The letter was written by Trump lawyers John Dowd (who has since left) and Jay Sekulow. Here are some revelations: In a brash assertion … Read More
EVERYONE Is Expendable In Trump World
Trump allies gang up on Trey Gowdy: Rep. Trey Gowdy has been a pitbull investigator for Republicans for years. Now, he’s in President Donald Trump’s doghouse for daring to challenge the president’s unsupported claim that Democrats and their sympathizers in the FBI embedded a spy in his 2016 campaign. Trump allies have been pummeling Gowdy in recent days, branding him … Read More
Trump Has Been Pressuring Jeff Sessions To Obstruct Justice For Him
Axios: President Trump pressured Attorney General Jeff Sessions to reclaim control of the Russia investigation on at least four separate occasions, three times in person and once over the phone, according to sources familiar with the conversations. Why it matters: The fact that there were multiple conversations shows that Trump’s pressure on Sessions to stop recusing himself was heavier than previously … Read More
David Frum Has Questions
Good ones, too: I’ve compiled a short—and by no means exhaustive—list of the open questions about matters potentially involving criminal law swirling around the president, his campaign, his company, and his family. Trump campaign aides and associates met with Russian agents in advance of the Russian hacks and releases of Democratic internal communications. Did these meetings lead to any form … Read More
The Charges So Far
In an attachment to a court filing (in a case in D.C. federal court where the press wants access to certain government records), the DOJ filed a brief which conveniently had, as an attachment, a summary of all the criminal charges filed to date in the Mueller investigation. 56% of Americans, according to recent poll, think Mueller has not found … Read More