Сделаем Америку снова великой! Trump - Russia megathread

[Skjellyfetti]

Trump's lawyer tries to blame the meeting on the Secret Service...

The U.S. Secret Service on Sunday denied a suggestion from President Donald Trump's personal lawyer that it had vetted a meeting between the president's son and Russian nationals during the 2016 campaign.

Donald Trump Jr. has acknowledged that he met in New York with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya after he was told she might have damaging information about his father's rival, Democrat Hillary Clinton.

"Well, I wonder why the Secret Service, if this was nefarious, why the Secret Service allowed these people in. The president had Secret Service protection at that point, and that raised a question with me," Jay Sekulow, a member of the president's legal team, said on Sunday on the ABC news program "This Week."

In an emailed response to questions about Sekulow's comments, Secret Service spokesman Mason Brayman said the younger Trump was not under Secret Service protection at the time of the meeting, which included Trump's son and two senior campaign officials.

"Donald Trump, Jr. was not a protectee of the USSS in June, 2016. Thus we would not have screened anyone he was meeting with at that time," the statement said.

According to emails released by Trump Jr. last week, he eagerly agreed to meet Veselnitskaya, who he was told was a Russian government lawyer. Veselnitskaya has said she is a private lawyer and denies having Kremlin ties.

On Friday, NBC News reported that a lobbyist who was once a Soviet counter-intelligence officer participated in the meeting, which was also attended by Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and the president's former campaign manager, Paul Manafort.

The meeting appears to be the most tangible evidence of a connection between Trump's election campaign and Russia, a subject that has prompted investigations by congressional committees and a federal special counsel.

Moscow has denied any interference and the president and Trump Jr. have denied any collusion.

Sekulow's comments about the Secret Service drew quick criticism, including from Frances Townsend, who advised former Republican President George W. Bush on homeland security.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa- ... SKBN1A10Q9

[Ivytalk]

Trump's lawyer tries to blame the meeting on the Secret Service...

The U.S. Secret Service on Sunday denied a suggestion from President Donald Trump's personal lawyer that it had vetted a meeting between the president's son and Russian nationals during the 2016 campaign.

Donald Trump Jr. has acknowledged that he met in New York with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya after he was told she might have damaging information about his father's rival, Democrat Hillary Clinton.

"Well, I wonder why the Secret Service, if this was nefarious, why the Secret Service allowed these people in. The president had Secret Service protection at that point, and that raised a question with me," Jay Sekulow, a member of the president's legal team, said on Sunday on the ABC news program "This Week."

In an emailed response to questions about Sekulow's comments, Secret Service spokesman Mason Brayman said the younger Trump was not under Secret Service protection at the time of the meeting, which included Trump's son and two senior campaign officials.

"Donald Trump, Jr. was not a protectee of the USSS in June, 2016. Thus we would not have screened anyone he was meeting with at that time," the statement said.

According to emails released by Trump Jr. last week, he eagerly agreed to meet Veselnitskaya, who he was told was a Russian government lawyer. Veselnitskaya has said she is a private lawyer and denies having Kremlin ties.

On Friday, NBC News reported that a lobbyist who was once a Soviet counter-intelligence officer participated in the meeting, which was also attended by Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and the president's former campaign manager, Paul Manafort.

The meeting appears to be the most tangible evidence of a connection between Trump's election campaign and Russia, a subject that has prompted investigations by congressional committees and a federal special counsel.

Moscow has denied any interference and the president and Trump Jr. have denied any collusion.

Sekulow's comments about the Secret Service drew quick criticism, including from Frances Townsend, who advised former Republican President George W. Bush on homeland security.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa- ... SKBN1A10Q9

How many "personal lawyers" does Drumpf have at this point? Suck-you-low (no homo), Ty Cobb, Kasowitz... I've lost count.

Hope they're getting paid.

[Skjellyfetti]

Kasowitz keeping it classy as well.

“I’m on you now. You are fucking with me now Let’s see who you are Watch your back , bitch.”

“Call me. Don’t be afraid, you piece of shit. Stand up. If you don’t call, you’re just afraid.”

“I already know where you live, I’m on you. You might as well call me. You will see me. I promise. Bro.”

https://www.propublica.org/article/marc ... ils-maddow

Must be stressful these days.

[89Hen]

So no help here?

I don't follow what you're getting at.

The part in bold is key - which of Trump's opponents are getting dirt on him from the Russian government?

And, seems the ones doing the most digging on the Russia story are (1) the investigations (Senate, House, Mueller's Justice League) and (2) the Lamestream Media. Both of which have a lot more latitude than a political campaign.

So your objection is that it was the Russian government volunteering the info. What if it were the British gov or the Polish gov?

[89Hen]

Not here. I'm still trying to figure out how why a certain normally rabidly anti-communist demographic thinks it's a good thing that our biggest adversary got the President they wanted.

This ^ is actually pretty funny

It would be funny if true.

[Skjellyfetti]

So your objection is that it was the Russian government volunteering the info. What if it were the British gov or the Polish gov?

A campaign coordinating with a foreign government or foreign national is against federal law. So, yes - if it were the British or the Polish government or individuals it would be the same.

As I posted earlier - normalizing this creates a scenario in 2020 where the Democrats are supported by foreign intelligence from the Five Eyes and other agencies hostile to the Trump administration and want to see a new President and Trump is supported by foreign intelligence from Russia. Our elections would turn into intelligence wars.

Do you think the whole basis of the Mueller investigation is bunk?

any links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/201 ... .html?_r=0

And, why are y'all defending this now? Why not defend this from the beginning? It's amazing how in-step all of the talking points evolve.

[89Hen]

So, yes - if it were the British or the Polish government it would be the same.

Do you think a majority of folks in the US agree? I don't.

[89Hen]

Our elections would turn into intelligence wars.

BTW, I know what you're saying, but that line struck me as funny because it sure seems our elections are about the furthest thing from intelligent now.

[Skjellyfetti]

So, yes - if it were the British or the Polish government it would be the same.

Do you think a majority of folks in the US agree? I don't.

For purposes of impeachment, I suppose it does matter what a majority of folks in the US think. Impeachment is purely political and we're no closer to that now than we've been previously.

The law doesn't give a shit what a majority of folks in the US think. If the Trump campaign overstepped any law... they now have a Special Counsel that will be more than willing to drop the hammer.

[CID1990]

So your objection is that it was the Russian government volunteering the info. What if it were the British gov or the Polish gov?

A campaign coordinating with a foreign government or foreign national is against federal law. So, yes - if it were the British or the Polish government or individuals it would be the same.

As I posted earlier - normalizing this creates a scenario in 2020 where the Democrats are supported by foreign intelligence from the Five Eyes and other agencies hostile to the Trump administration and want to see a new President and Trump is supported by foreign intelligence from Russia. Our elections would turn into intelligence wars.

Do you think the whole basis of the Mueller investigation is bunk?

any links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/201 ... .html?_r=0

And, why are y'all defending this now? Why not defend this from the beginning? It's amazing how in-step all of the talking points evolve.

I agree with the reasoning behind this

But I also think that if we weren't nominating candidates who weren't sleazy as fvck then it wouldn't matter... or wouldn't be necessary

Imagine getting a foreign intel service to provide their oppo research on a Schiff or a Trey Gowdy... boring

There ARE honest people out there who don't have scads of shady dealings in their pasts


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Skjellyfetti]

I agree.

Hillary was also a sleazeball and we were in the unique position of having two candidates under criminal investigation during the general election... which is why we're in this predicament.

Hillary Democrats ceded their moral highground by nominating her.

But, I think we've rehashed 2016 plenty. Trump is President.

[houndawg]

I agree.

Hillary was also a sleazeball and we were in the unique position of having two candidates under criminal investigation during the general election... which is why we're in this predicament.

Hillary Democrats ceded their moral highground by nominating her.

But, I think we've rehashed 2016 plenty. Trump is President.

I say keep him regardless, national politics has never been this entertaining before.

[Ibanez]

I agree.

Hillary was also a sleazeball and we were in the unique position of having two candidates under criminal investigation during the general election... which is why we're in this predicament.

Hillary Democrats ceded their moral highground by nominating her.

But, I think we've rehashed 2016 plenty. Trump is President.

There was a Democratic Representative on MSNBC this morning going on and on how Trump and his cohorts will not be held accountable b/c he's rich. He then, surprisingly, brought up Hillary. Saying she's done the same thing that other people..i.e poor and not powerful...are currently doing time for. He called out the double standard.


He's probably getting reamed by Pelosi as we speak.

[89Hen]

I agree.

Hillary was also a sleazeball and we were in the unique position of having two candidates under criminal investigation during the general election... which is why we're in this predicament.

Hillary Democrats ceded their moral highground by nominating her.

But, I think we've rehashed 2016 plenty. Trump is President.

I say keep him regardless, national politics has never been this entertaining before.

Sure they were. During the W years it was very similar.

[Skjellyfetti]

8th person in meeting identified - Ike Kaveladze. Vice President of Agalarov's Crocus Group.

An American-based employee of a Russian real estate company took part in a June 2016 Trump Tower meeting between a Russian lawyer and Donald Trump Jr., bringing to eight the number of known participants at the session that has emerged as a key focus of the investigation of the Trump campaign’s interactions with Russian.

Ike Kaveladze’s presence was confirmed by Scott Balber, an attorney for Emin and Aras Agalarov, the Russian developers who hosted the Trump-owned Miss Universe pageant in 2013. Balber said Kaveladze works for the Agalarovs’ company and attended as their representative.

Balber said Tuesday that he received a phone call from a representative of Special Counsel Robert Mueller over the weekend requesting the identity of the Agalarov representative , which he said he provided. The request is the first public indication that Mueller’s team is investigating the meeting.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics ... 5242f04043

[CAA Flagship]

Come on, Skjelly. Where are you when you are needed?

Trump had second face to face meeting with Putin at G-20.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/18/worl ... eting.html

[Skjellyfetti]

Ooops. Just posted to the G-20 thread.

[Skjellyfetti]

June 15, 2016:
McCarthy: There's two people I think Putin pays: Rohrabacher and Trump... swear to God.
Ryan: This is off the record... NO LEAKS... alright? This is how we know we're a real family here.

GOP Lawmaker Got Direction From Moscow, Took It Back to D.C.

After being given a secret document by officials in Moscow, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher sought to alter sanctions legislation and tried to set up a virtual show trial on Capitol Hill.

Members of the team of Russians who secured a June 2016 Trump Tower meeting with Donald Trump Jr. and Jared Kushner also attempted to stage a show trial of anti-Putin campaigner Bill Browder on Capitol Hill.

The trial, which would have come in the form of a congressional hearing, was scheduled for mid-June 2016 by Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), a long-standing Russia ally who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Europe. During the hearing, Rohrabacher had planned to confront Browder with a feature-length pro-Kremlin propaganda movie that viciously attacks him—as well as at least two witnesses linked to the Russian authorities, including lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya.

Ultimately, the hearing was canceled when senior Republicans intervened and agreed to allow a hearing on Russia at the full committee level with a Moscow-sympathetic witness, according to multiple congressional aides.

An email reviewed by The Daily Beast shows that before that June 14 hearing, Rohrabacher’s staff received pro-Kremlin briefings against Browder, once Russia’s biggest foreign investor, and his tax attorney Sergei Magnitsky from a lawyer who was working with Veselnitskaya.

Although House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Ed Royce (R-CA) had prohibited Rohrabacher from showing the Russian propaganda film in Congress, Rohrabacher’s Capitol Hill office still actively promoted a screening of the movie that was held at the Newseum in Washington, D.C., on June 13, 2016. Veselnitskaya was one of those handling the movie’s worldwide promotion.

Invitations to attend the movie screening were sent from the subcommittee office by Catharine O’Neill, a Republican intern on Rohrabacher’s committee. Her email promised that the movie would convince viewers that Magnitsky, who was murdered in a Russian prison cell, was no hero.

The invite, reviewed by The Daily Beast, claimed that the film “explodes the common view that Mr. Magnitsky was a whistleblower” and lavishes praise on the “rebel director” Andrei Nekrasov.

“That invitation was not from our office. O’Neill was an unpaid intern on the committee staff. Paul denies asking her to send the invitations,” said Ken Grubbs, Rohrabacher’s press secretary, referring to the congressman’s staff director, Paul Behrends.

O’Neill went on to secure a job on the Trump transition team and then in the State Department’s Office of the Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights. She did not return a call for comment.
Rohrabacher’s office was given the film by the Prosecutor General’s office in Moscow, which is run by Yuri Chaika, a close associate of President Vladimir Putin who is accused of widespread corruption, and Viktor Grin, the deputy general prosecutor who has been sanctioned by the United States as part of the Magnitsky Act.
That same Prosecutor General’s office also was listed as being behind the “very high level and sensitive information” that was offered to Donald Trump Jr. in an email prior to his now infamous meeting with Russian officials at Trump Tower on June 9—just days before the congressional hearing. Veselnitskaya attended that meeting with Trump Jr. She also happens to have worked as a prosecutor in the Moscow region and is a close personal friend of Chaika.

The Daily Beast reviewed a copy of a document that was passed to Rohrabacher in Moscow in April 2016. The document, marked “confidential,” was given to Rohrabacher and Behrends. It lays out an alternate reality in which the U.S.—and the rest of the world—has been duped by a fake $230 million scandal that resulted in sanctions being imposed on 44 Russians linked to murder, corruption, or cover-ups.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/gop-lawmak ... back-to-dc

[Ivytalk]

June 15, 2016:
McCarthy: There's two people I think Putin pays: Rohrabacher and Trump... swear to God.
Ryan: This is off the record... NO LEAKS... alright? This is how we know we're a real family here.

GOP Lawmaker Got Direction From Moscow, Took It Back to D.C.

After being given a secret document by officials in Moscow, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher sought to alter sanctions legislation and tried to set up a virtual show trial on Capitol Hill.

Members of the team of Russians who secured a June 2016 Trump Tower meeting with Donald Trump Jr. and Jared Kushner also attempted to stage a show trial of anti-Putin campaigner Bill Browder on Capitol Hill.

The trial, which would have come in the form of a congressional hearing, was scheduled for mid-June 2016 by Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), a long-standing Russia ally who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Europe. During the hearing, Rohrabacher had planned to confront Browder with a feature-length pro-Kremlin propaganda movie that viciously attacks him—as well as at least two witnesses linked to the Russian authorities, including lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya.

Ultimately, the hearing was canceled when senior Republicans intervened and agreed to allow a hearing on Russia at the full committee level with a Moscow-sympathetic witness, according to multiple congressional aides.

An email reviewed by The Daily Beast shows that before that June 14 hearing, Rohrabacher’s staff received pro-Kremlin briefings against Browder, once Russia’s biggest foreign investor, and his tax attorney Sergei Magnitsky from a lawyer who was working with Veselnitskaya.

Although House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Ed Royce (R-CA) had prohibited Rohrabacher from showing the Russian propaganda film in Congress, Rohrabacher’s Capitol Hill office still actively promoted a screening of the movie that was held at the Newseum in Washington, D.C., on June 13, 2016. Veselnitskaya was one of those handling the movie’s worldwide promotion.

Invitations to attend the movie screening were sent from the subcommittee office by Catharine O’Neill, a Republican intern on Rohrabacher’s committee. Her email promised that the movie would convince viewers that Magnitsky, who was murdered in a Russian prison cell, was no hero.

The invite, reviewed by The Daily Beast, claimed that the film “explodes the common view that Mr. Magnitsky was a whistleblower” and lavishes praise on the “rebel director” Andrei Nekrasov.

“That invitation was not from our office. O’Neill was an unpaid intern on the committee staff. Paul denies asking her to send the invitations,” said Ken Grubbs, Rohrabacher’s press secretary, referring to the congressman’s staff director, Paul Behrends.

O’Neill went on to secure a job on the Trump transition team and then in the State Department’s Office of the Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights. She did not return a call for comment.
Rohrabacher’s office was given the film by the Prosecutor General’s office in Moscow, which is run by Yuri Chaika, a close associate of President Vladimir Putin who is accused of widespread corruption, and VIKTOR GRIN, the deputy general prosecutor who has been sanctioned by the United States as part of the Magnitsky Act.
That same Prosecutor General’s office also was listed as being behind the “very high level and sensitive information” that was offered to Donald Trump Jr. in an email prior to his now infamous meeting with Russian officials at Trump Tower on June 9—just days before the congressional hearing. Veselnitskaya attended that meeting with Trump Jr. She also happens to have worked as a prosecutor in the Moscow region and is a close personal friend of Chaika.

The Daily Beast reviewed a copy of a document that was passed to Rohrabacher in Moscow in April 2016. The document, marked “confidential,” was given to Rohrabacher and Behrends. It lays out an alternate reality in which the U.S.—and the rest of the world—has been duped by a fake $230 million scandal that resulted in sanctions being imposed on 44 Russians linked to murder, corruption, or cover-ups.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/gop-lawmak ... back-to-dc

You rang?

[Skjellyfetti]

Quite the lineup for next Wednesday - Senate Judiciary Committee public hearing on Foreign Agents Registration Act and Attempts to Influence U.S. Elections.

Wonder how many of these guys (except Browder) cancel?





And, Kushner will testify on Monday... but, it's closed.

[Skjellyfetti]

Definitely the best string to pull.

And, clear this is the main thrust of the investigation based on who he hired.

Mueller Expands Probe to Trump Business Transactions

The U.S. special counsel investigating possible ties between the Donald Trump campaign and Russia in last year’s election is examining a broad range of transactions involving Trump’s businesses as well as those of his associates, according to a person familiar with the probe.

The president told the New York Times on Wednesday that any digging into matters beyond Russia would be out of bounds. Trump’s businesses have involved Russians for years, making the boundaries fuzzy so Special Counsel Robert Mueller appears to be taking a wide-angle approach to his two-month-old probe.

FBI investigators and others are looking at Russian purchases of apartments in Trump buildings, Trump’s involvement in a controversial SoHo development with Russian associates, the 2013 Miss Universe pageant in Moscow and Trump’s sale of a Florida mansion to a Russian oligarch in 2008, the person said.

Agents are also interested in dealings with the Bank of Cyprus, where Wilbur Ross served as vice chairman before he became commerce secretary, as well as the efforts of Jared Kushner, the President’s son-in-law and White House aide, to secure financing for some of his family’s real estate properties. The information was provided by someone familiar with the developing inquiry but not authorized to speak publicly.

The roots of Mueller’s follow-the-money investigation lie in a wide-ranging money laundering probe launched by then-Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara last year, according to the person.

FBI agents had already been gathering information about Trump’s former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, according to two people with knowledge of that probe. Prosecutors hadn’t yet begun presenting evidence to a grand jury. Trump fired Bharara in March.

The Bharara probe was consolidated into Mueller’s inquiry, showing that the special counsel is taking an overarching approach to his mandated investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Altogether, the various financial examinations constitute one thread of Mueller’s inquiry, which encompasses computer hacking and the dissemination of stolen campaign and voter information as well as the actions of former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.

Joshua Stueve, Mueller’s spokesman, declined to comment, as did Abbe Lowell, a lawyer for Kushner and a Manafort spokesman.

Spokesmen for the White House, Trump Organization and Ross didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Mueller’s team is looking at the Trump SoHo hotel condominium development, which was a licensing deal with Bayrock Capital LLC. In 2010, the former finance director of Bayrock filed a lawsuit claiming the firm structured transactions in fraudulent ways to evade taxes. Bayrock was a key source of capital for Trump development projects, including Trump SoHo.

The 2013 Miss Universe pageant is of interest because a prominent Moscow developer, Aras Agalarov, paid $20 million to bring the beauty spectacle there. About a third of that sum went to Trump in the form of a licensing fee, according to Forbes magazine. At the event, Trump met Herman Gref, chief executive of Russia’s biggest bank, Sberbank PJSC. Agalarov’s son Emin helped broker a meeting last year between Trump’s son and a Russian lawyer who was said to have damaging information about Hillary Clinton and her campaign.

Another significant financial transaction involved a Palm Beach, Florida estate that Trump purchased in 2004 for $41 million, after its previous owner lost it in bankruptcy. In March of 2008, after the real estate bubble had begun losing air, Russian fertilizer magnate Dmitry Rybolovlev bought the property for $95 million.

As part of their investigation, Mueller’s team has issued subpoenas to banks and filed requests for bank records to foreign lenders under mutual legal assistance treaties, according to two of the people familiar with the matter.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... ansactions

[Ivytalk]

Of course Mueller is taking a "wide-angled" and "overarching" approach to this investigation. These things seem to take on a life of their own, notwithstanding the purportedly limited scope of the original charge. Remember Patrick Fitzgerald?

[Skjellyfetti]

Of course Mueller is taking a "wide-angled" and "overarching" approach to this investigation. These things seem to take on a life of their own, notwithstanding the purportedly limited scope of the original charge. Remember Patrick Fitzgerald?

Are you talking about Patrick Fitzgerald re: the Plame Affair? Seemed he stayed pretty close to the initial inquiry. How did he go out of bounds?

Ken Starr was all over the place, imo.

I don't think Mueller is going out of bounds here. You gotta look at the financials to understand what was going on between Russia and Trump & Co.

[Skjellyfetti]

Financial records filed last year in the secretive tax haven of Cyprus, where Paul J. Manafort kept bank accounts during his years working in Ukraine and investing with a Russian oligarch, indicate that he had been in debt to pro-Russia interests by as much as $17 million before he joined Donald J. Trump’s presidential campaign in March 2016.

The money appears to have been owed by shell companies connected to Mr. Manafort’s business activities in Ukraine when he worked as a consultant to the pro-Russia Party of Regions. The Cyprus documents obtained by The New York Times include audited financial statements for the companies, which were part of a complex web of more than a dozen entities that transferred millions of dollars among them in the form of loans, payments and fees.

The records, which include details for numerous loans, were certified as accurate by an accounting firm as of December 2015, several months before Mr. Manafort joined the Trump campaign, and were filed with Cyprus government authorities in 2016. The notion of indebtedness on the part of Mr. Manafort also aligns with assertions made in a court complaint filed in Virginia in 2015 by the Russian oligarch, Oleg V. Deripaska, who claimed Mr. Manafort and his partners owed him $19 million related to a failed investment in a Ukrainian cable television business.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/19/us/p ... .html?_r=0

[Ivytalk]

Financial records filed last year in the secretive tax haven of Cyprus, where Paul J. Manafort kept bank accounts during his years working in Ukraine and investing with a Russian oligarch, indicate that he had been in debt to pro-Russia interests by as much as $17 million before he joined Donald J. Trump’s presidential campaign in March 2016.

The money appears to have been owed by shell companies connected to Mr. Manafort’s business activities in Ukraine when he worked as a consultant to the pro-Russia Party of Regions. The Cyprus documents obtained by The New York Times include audited financial statements for the companies, which were part of a complex web of more than a dozen entities that transferred millions of dollars among them in the form of loans, payments and fees.

The records, which include details for numerous loans, were certified as accurate by an accounting firm as of December 2015, several months before Mr. Manafort joined the Trump campaign, and were filed with Cyprus government authorities in 2016. The notion of indebtedness on the part of Mr. Manafort also aligns with assertions made in a court complaint filed in Virginia in 2015 by the Russian oligarch, Oleg V. Deripaska, who claimed Mr. Manafort and his partners owed him $19 million related to a failed investment in a Ukrainian cable television business.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/19/us/p ... .html?_r=0

OK, OK, we all know Manafort is a sleaze.