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| Trump-Russia Inquiry: First Indictments Handed Down | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Oct 30 2017, 10:01 AM (280 Views) | |
| Webster | Oct 30 2017, 10:01 AM Post #1 |
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Wasatch Storyteller & Resident Forum Curmudgeon
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![]() (The Guardian) Good morning and welcome to the start of a momentous week in Washington. The capital is on edge as the first charges are filed in the investigation into Russian meddling in the US presidential election and possible collusion between Donald Trump’s campaign associates in that effort. Paul Manafort, former Trump campaign manager, and his former business associate Rick Gates have surrendered to federal authorities. Shortly before news of the indictments was reported, Donald Trump tweeted another blast at Democrats over the firm that produced the now infamous “dossier” on him, this time bringing in the name of Barack Obama. He has not tweeted since. The president issued a barrage of angry tweets on Sunday, as expectation mounted. |
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| Webster | Oct 30 2017, 11:34 AM Post #16 |
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Wasatch Storyteller & Resident Forum Curmudgeon
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(The Guardian) Paul Ryan has told a local Wisconsin radio station WTAQ that he has nothing to add to this morning’s news and struck a note of confidence that the acceleration of Mueller’s investigation “is going to derail what we’re doing in Congress”. |
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| Webster | Oct 30 2017, 11:38 AM Post #17 |
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Wasatch Storyteller & Resident Forum Curmudgeon
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(The Guardian) Meanwhile Donald Trump is about to step into a meeting with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson before joining Vice President Mike Pence and Attorney General Jeff Sessions for lunch. Sessions recused himself from the Russia investigation after it was revealed he had not disclosed a meeting with then Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak while serving as surrogate for Trump’s campaign. Later in the afternoon, Trump will meet with his secretary of Defense James Mattis. Mattis and Tillerson are due to testify before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee tonight. |
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| Webster | Oct 30 2017, 11:55 AM Post #18 |
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Wasatch Storyteller & Resident Forum Curmudgeon
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(The Guardian) George Papadopoulos, the former campaign aide to Donald Trump, pleaded guilty to lying to federal agents working for special counsel Robert Mueller as part of his investigation into possible coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia. Here are the key takeaways from the “statement of offense”: --Papadopoulos joined the campaign as a foreign policy advisor around March 21, 2016. He met with the professor on or about March 24, 2016 in London. --Papadopoulos initially told investigators that he befriended an unnamed London-based “professor” with “substantial connections” to Russian government officials before he became an adviser to the campaign. Papadopoulos later corrected his story and told investigators that the professor only became interested in him after learning that he worked for the Trump campaign. --In late April – more than a month after Papadopoulos joined the Trump campaign – the “professor” told him that the Russians had “dirt” on then candidate Clinton in the form of “thousands of emails” . He had initially told investigators that those communications occured prior to joining the campaign. --“On or about March 31, 2016,” Papadopoulos attended a national security meeting with Trump and other advisers, at which Papadopoulos stated that he “could help arrange a meeting between then-candidate Trump and President Putin”. --The professor also introduced the Trump adviser to an unnamed female Russian national who Papadopoulos believed was Putin’s niece. --Following the meeting with the professor and female Russian national, Papadopoulos emailed members of the campaign to tell them that he had just met with a “good friend” the professor and they discussed arranging a “meeting between us and the Russian leadership to discuss US-Russia ties under President Trump”. A campaign supervisor replied: “Great work.” --During a meeting in Washington DC, Papadopoulos stated he had connection to arrange a meeting between Trump and Putin. He then worked with the professor and female Russian national to arrange a meeting between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. |
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| Webster | Oct 30 2017, 12:34 PM Post #19 |
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Wasatch Storyteller & Resident Forum Curmudgeon
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(The Guardian) During a national security meeting in Washington DC on 31 March 2016, Papadopoulos “introduced himself to the group” and stated “in sum and substance, that he had connections that could help arrange a meeting between then-candidate Trump and President Putin,” according to a “statement of the offense” unsealed on Monday. |
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| Webster | Oct 30 2017, 12:35 PM Post #20 |
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Wasatch Storyteller & Resident Forum Curmudgeon
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(The Guardian) Who is Rick Gates, Manafort’s “right-hand man”? Gates joined the Trump campaign at the same time as Manafort in March 2016 and served as a top political aide, eventually being promoted to deputy campaign manager. However, Gates was linked to internal turmoil during the campaign. Most notoriously, according to a campaign source, the Trump aide signed off on and edited the plagiarized speech given by Melania Trump at the Republican national convention, when she was quickly revealed to have copied chunks of a speech by Michelle Obama. After the campaign, Gates worked at a pro-Trump fundraising Super Pac through to March this year and then stepped down as speculation swirled about both his and Manafort’s ties to Russia. Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/oct/30/rick-gates-paul-manafort-donald-trump |
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| Webster | Oct 30 2017, 12:38 PM Post #21 |
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Wasatch Storyteller & Resident Forum Curmudgeon
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![]() (The Guardian) Corey Lewandowski, Trump’s first campaign manager who was proceeded by Manafort, said the indictment has “absolutely nothing to do with the campaign” and questioned the actions of the FBI, in an interview on FOX Business Network’s Varney & Co... If the public reports are true, and there was a time where Paul Manafort was under a FISA [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978] warrant before coming to the Trump campaign, why is it the FBI never reached out to me as the campaign manager, never reached out to Donald Trump and said “look, you might want to pause for a second and take a look before you bring this guy on board as a volunteer to hunt delegates for you.” They never did that. He was under a FISA warrant, supposedly, both before and after his tenure at the campaign and the FBI never notified the leading presidential candidate for a major Republican Party race? Never notified him of a potential problem? This is a problem with the FBI if you ask me. |
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| Webster | Oct 30 2017, 12:40 PM Post #22 |
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Wasatch Storyteller & Resident Forum Curmudgeon
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| Webster | Oct 30 2017, 12:54 PM Post #23 |
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Wasatch Storyteller & Resident Forum Curmudgeon
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Newsweek's Kurt Eichenwald has a few thoughts on the Papadopoulos matter vis-a-vis Manafort and Company.... (1) Trump supporters: I understand u are committed to him. But w/ Papadopoulus plea, u must accept, his campaign staff worked w/ Putin. They... (2) ...did this and sent messages from the Kremlin to Trump about direct meetings. They communicated many diff ways they wanted to work w/... (3) ...Putin, and Putin wanted to work with them. Russia is not an ally. It is a hostile foreign power. It has acted to undermine democracy.... (4) ...through the same hacking/disinformation tactics in Britain, the Netherlands, Sweden, France, Germany, Estonia and others. They were... (5) ...not going to stop their strategy (for the purpose of weakening NATO) when the USA elections came along. Trump staff - and possibly.... (6) ...Trump himself -- played along with Putin, who had launched attacks on other democracies many times before that. Papadoupolus is going... (7) ...to possibly go to jail based on his admission of lying about this. His emails and current statements make it undeniable that there was.. (8) ...collusion between the campaign and Russia. The extent and meaning of that collusion is still being investigated. But these ppl chose... (9) ...to work with the enemies of our democracy. They chose to undermine US foreign policy - policy GOP said wasn't tough ENOUGH -- for.... (10) ...their own personal and political benefit. At this point, the conclusions about Trump himself are still open, but the evidence looks... (11) ..very bad from the Pap'dop plea. As Americans, we cannot be driven apart over whether it is acceptable to conspire with a hostile.... (12) ...foreign power in the course of an election. If Trump came out and said "This is horrifying, this must be investigated to the end and... (13) ...anyone in my campaign who was involved in this must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law" this would all be less suspicious.. (14) ...but he doesn't say that. He tweet screams "DO SOMETHING!!" about stopping investigation. He rages against Mueller. With every tweet... (15) ...attacking the investigation, he could well be racking up charges of obstruction.. This is not the behavior of an innocent man..... (16) ...perhaps he is that foolish and impulsive. Perhaps he was complicit. But the reality is, we MUST know if the President knew his staff... (17) ...was working for the benefit of the Kremlin, as Pap'dop guilty plea charges show. We cannot be democrats or Republicans here. We.... (18) ...must be Americans, aligned together against a foreign power who sought to undermine democracy. Our country is more important than any.. (19) ...since President. If he did nothing, he needs to let the investigation finish and stay quiet. If he did something, he must resign..... (20) ...I dont claim to know the answer to that. What we DO know is his staff colluded w/ Russia, & he hasn't expressed any horror about that. |
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| Webster | Oct 30 2017, 01:07 PM Post #24 |
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Wasatch Storyteller & Resident Forum Curmudgeon
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![]() --Senate Intel RM Mark Warner calls on Congress to "take action now to protect the independence of the Special Counsel". (Kyle Griffin, MSNBC - 30 Oct. 2017) |
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| Webster | Oct 30 2017, 01:09 PM Post #25 |
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Wasatch Storyteller & Resident Forum Curmudgeon
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![]() --Special Counsel Mueller already has one criminal conviction. And this plea portends more charges to come. (Preet Bharara, Fmr. U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York - 30 Oct. 2017) |
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| Webster | Oct 30 2017, 01:10 PM Post #26 |
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Wasatch Storyteller & Resident Forum Curmudgeon
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![]() --Remember that on March 21, 2016 Trump praised George Papadopoulos when discussing his campaign's foreign policy team. (Kyle Griffin, MSNBC - 30 Oct. 2017) |
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| Webster | Oct 30 2017, 01:13 PM Post #27 |
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Wasatch Storyteller & Resident Forum Curmudgeon
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(The Guardian) Politico is reporting that Democratic lobbyist Tony Podesta, will be stepping doing from his eponymous lobbying firm, the Podesta Group. It was reported last week that Podesta and his lobbying firm were under scrutiny by Mueller’s investigative team after an inquiry into Manafort’s finances, according to NBC.As special counsel, Mueller has been tasked with investigating possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. Tony Podesta is the brother of John Podesta, the former campaign chairman for Hillary Clinton, whose emails were leaked during the election. --BREAKING in Playbook PM — Dem super lobbyist TONY PODESTA is stepping down from the Podesta Group. Has come under scrutiny of feds. (Jake Sherman, Politico - 30 Oct. 2017) |
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| Webster | Oct 30 2017, 01:16 PM Post #28 |
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Wasatch Storyteller & Resident Forum Curmudgeon
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(The Guardian) 1:15pm Summary --Paul Manafort, the former Trump campaign chairman, and his associate, Rick Gates, surrendered on Monday morning after being indicted by special counsel Robert Mueller, who is leading the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and alleged collusion by Trump aides. --Manafort was indicted on 12 counts, including charges of funneling millions of dollars through overseas shell companies and using the money to finance a “lavish lifestyle”. --George Papadopoulos, who acted as a foreign policy adviser to the Trump campaign, pleaded guilty to lying to federal investigators about his contacts with an influential Russian on 5 October, according to the indictment unveiled on Monday. --Papadopoulos was told in April 2016 – a month after joining the campaign – that Russia had “dirt” on Hillary Clinton in the form of “thousands of emails”. --Papadopoulos has agreed to provide information in the criminal investigation, according to the indictment. --Email exchange detailed in the indictment suggest the Trump campaign was considering accepting a Russian invitation to travel to Russia. A footnote included in the document says an email between campaign officials said: “We need someone to communicate that DT [Donald Trump] is not doing these trips. It should be someone low level in the campaign so as not to send any signal.” --The White House has so far been silent in response to the twin revelations save for a pair of tweets from Trump claiming: “NO COLLUSION”. --Manafort and Gates are due to appear at the DC federal courthouse at 1.30pm on Monday. |
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| Webster | Oct 30 2017, 01:19 PM Post #29 |
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Wasatch Storyteller & Resident Forum Curmudgeon
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(The Guardian) We’re awaiting the White House press briefing and Manafort’s initial court appearance. For updates on both follow Guardian reporters @Bencjacobs, who is standing by at the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room and @SmithinAmerica, who is waiting with crush of reporters outside of courtroom 4. |
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| Webster | Oct 30 2017, 01:22 PM Post #30 |
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Wasatch Storyteller & Resident Forum Curmudgeon
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--Wow Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow has so few good talking points even Wolf Blitzer is dunking on him (Adam Weinstein, Task & Purpose - 30 Oct. 2017) |
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