Is The Mueller Investigation Over?

Ken AshfordL'Affaire RusseLeave a Comment

From CNN: Attorney General Bill Barr is preparing to announce as early as next week the completion of Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, with plans for Barr to submit to Congress soon after a summary of Mueller’s confidential report, according to people familiar with the plans. The preparations are the clearest indication yet that Mueller is nearly done with his almost … Read More

Trump Meddled Again With DOJ Investigation

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

Just out from the NY Times: As federal prosecutors in Manhattan gathered evidence late last year about President Trump’s role in silencing women with hush payments during the 2016 campaign, Mr. Trump called Matthew G. Whitaker, his newly installed attorney general, with a question. He asked whether Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States attorney for the Southern District of New … Read More

McCabe Told Gang of Eight About Counterintelligence Investigation Into Trump

Ken AshfordCongress, Constitution, L'Affaire Russe, Trump & AdministrationLeave a Comment

I haven’t written much, if anything about former FBI director Andrew McCabe’s series interviews promoting his upcoming new book, but the big reveal from it all is that McCabe ordered a counterintelligence investigation into Trump early in the presidency. Not surprising in one sense, given Trump’s firing of James Comey, etc. But there was an interesting wrinkle to the story. … Read More

Trump Lies About Whether He Was Cleared Of Collusion

Ken AshfordL'Affaire Russe, Trump & AdministrationLeave a Comment

On Sunday, President Trump began boasting that he’d been cleared by the Senate Intelligence Committee of any wrongdoing in the 2016 election. “Senator Richard Burr, The Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, just announced that after almost two years, more than two hundred interviews, and thousands of documents, they have found NO COLLUSION BETWEEN TRUMP AND RUSSIA!” Trump tweeted Sunday. “Is anybody … Read More

Trump’s NYT Interview

Ken AshfordChina, Election 2020, Emoluments Violation, L'Affaire Russe, Trump & AdministrationLeave a Comment

A very interesting and Trumpian interview that Trump gave with the New York Times last night. Some highlights: Twice, Trump lies to Maggie Halberman of the NY Times, and she corrects him, and then he just admits he was wrong. This happens a lot: when he’s challenged, he just concedes. Trump makes a new claim about Trump Tower Moscow: he … Read More

Don Jr Didn’t Talk To Dad Before The Trump Tower Meeting

Ken AshfordL'Affaire Russe, Trump & AdministrationLeave a Comment

Breaking on CNN: Senate investigators have obtained new information showing Donald Trump Jr.’s mysterious phone calls ahead of the 2016 Trump Tower meeting were not with his father, three sources with knowledge of the matter told CNN. Records provided to the Senate Intelligence Committee show the calls were between Trump Jr. and two of his business associates, the sources said, … Read More

Boom: Stone Indicted, Arrested

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

AP: Roger Stone, a confidant of President Donald Trump, was arrested in the special counsel’s Russia investigation in a pre-dawn raid at his Florida home on Friday and was charged with lying to Congress and obstructing the probe. The seven-count indictment against Stone, a self-proclaimed “dirty trickster,” is the first criminal case in months from special counsel Robert Mueller. It provides … Read More

Breaking: Witness Tampering Successful

Ken AshfordCourts/Law, L'Affaire Russe, Trump & AdministrationLeave a Comment

pic.twitter.com/YGSjuaXenv — Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) January 23, 2019 Recall that the president told @JudgeJeanine last weekend that media and prosecutors ought to be looking into Cohen's family, suggesting a look at private citizens. One in a series of suggestions that Cohen family be pursued that POTUS has made. — Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) January 23, 2019 Reporting by @KatyTurNBC just on … Read More

Trump May Be At His Wit’s End With Rudy

Ken AshfordL'Affaire Russe, Trump & AdministrationLeave a Comment

Gabriel Sherman in Vanity Fair: Every time Rudy Giuliani opens his mouth in front of a reporter, something bad seems to happen. Donald Trump’s beleaguered lawyer has, over the past few weeks, given one  disastrous interview after another. The latest fiasco came Monday, when Giuliani participated in a rambling Q&A with The New Yorker’s Isaac Chotiner. After telling Chotiner he only had a moment before he took a shower, Giuliani unspooled a … Read More

Nothing Is Real (And Nothing To Get Hung About)

Ken AshfordFake News, L'Affaire RusseLeave a Comment

This weekend saw the entire country come to terms with the new media, social media, and what is real. It started off with a bombshell to quelch a previous bombshell. Friday evening, special counsel spokesman Peter Carr issued a rare statement rejecting the central claim in a BuzzFeed article, that Mueller has corroborating evidence (including testimony from Cohen) indicating Trump directed Cohen … Read More

“If You Lie, If You Lie Even A Little…”

Ken AshfordL'Affaire Russe, Trump & AdministrationLeave a Comment

Thoughts on last night’s Buzzfeed bombshell (1) “Cautiously optimistic” is the optimal response. No other news outlet has confirmed it through their own sources. On the other hand, the Buzzfeed reporters (Anthony Cormier and Jason Leopold) have had Trump-Russia scoops before which panned out as true, way before other news organizations. “I am rock solid. My sourcing on this goes … Read More

Breaking: Trump Suborned Perjury According To Buzzfeed Report

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

A bombshell from Buzzfeed, which, if true, is grounds for impeachment: President Donald Trump directed his longtime attorney Michael Cohen to lie to Congress about negotiations to build a Trump Tower in Moscow, according to two federal law enforcement officials involved in an investigation of the matter. Trump also supported a plan, set up by Cohen, to visit Russia during … Read More