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Trump-Russia Inquiry: First Indictments Handed Down
Topic Started: Oct 30 2017, 10:01 AM (276 Views)
Webster
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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
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--Newt just called Mueller "a out of control prosecutor" on Hannity (Ben Jacobs, The Guardian - 30 Oct. 2017)
-Read more: https://twitter.com/newtgingrich/status/864998445244743684
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Webster
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--#FoxNews already attacking judge that arraigned #Manafort and #Gates earlier today. The judge is a black woman. (Bandit Aléatoire‏, 30 Oct. 2017)
-Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/10/30/paul-manafort-judge-who-is-deborah-robinson.html
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Webster
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--MD Attorney General is investigating Kushner business for poor maintenance and abusive debt collection practices. (Citizens For Responsible Ethics in Washington, 30 Oct. 2017)
-Read more: http://money.cnn.com/2017/10/29/news/kushner-companies-maryland-attorney-general/index.html
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Webster
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(The Guardian) Carter Page, a former foreign policy adviser to Donald Trump’s campaign, said Russia was the subject of emails from “from time to time” that were exchanged with George Papadopoulos, who has pleaded guilty to lying to investigators over his contacts with Moscow.

“It may have come up from time to time … there’s nothing major,” Page told MSNBC host Chris Hayes in an interview late Monday.

“There’s a lot of emails all over the place when you’re in the campaign,” he added.

Page didn’t say what specifically was discussed pertaining to Russia, but his comments come on the same day it was revealed that Papadopoulos, also a former foreign policy adviser to Trump’s campaign, pleaded guilty lying to the FBI about communications with Russians linked to the Kremlin.

Page told Hayes he “heard nothing” about Hillary Clinton’s emails or their hacking at the hands of Russians.

His decision to sit down for media interviews has confounded many, given the legal trouble he could find himself in based on his statements. In his interview, Page said Papadopoulos had been cooperating with federal investigators since July and said his own cooperation with the FBI began in March.

Page is poised to testify behind closed doors before the House intelligence committee on Thursday. The panel, which is investigating Russian meddling in the US election, said it would release a transcript of its interview three days later.

Page was separately issued a subpoena by the Senate intelligence committee, which is overseeing its own inquiry into Russia, earlier this month after he declined to turn over documents requested by the panel.
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Webster
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(The Guardian) Despite some tweets after the announcement of indictments against Manafort and Gates – “Sorry, but this is years ago, before Paul Manafort was part of the Trump campaign. But why aren’t Crooked Hillary & the Dems the focus????? ....Also, there is NO COLLUSION!” – Trump has been quiet (on social media at least) since the news broke of Papadopoulos’s guilty plea.

During the campaign, in April 2016, however, Trump’s account tweeted this picture of his national security meeting. Papadopoulos is third from the left, on the far side of the table, and four seats away from the now president.
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Webster
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(The Guardian) White House chief of staff John Kelly, interviewed for Fox News by Laura Ingraham, insists the administration is unperturbed: All of the activities, as I understand it, that they were indicted for was long before they ever met Donald Trump or had any association with the campaign. But I think the reaction of the administration is, let the legal justice system work. Everyone’s innocent till – or presumed innocent – and we’ll see where it goes.
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Webster
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(The Guardian) Kelly: 'distracting for president to be investigated'
Kelly tells Fox News: It is very distracting to the president, as it would be for any citizen, to be investigated for something.

The official White House line is, of course, that Trump is not himself under investigation.
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Webster
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--John Kelly: "The lack of ability to compromise caused the Civil War.” (Christina Wilkie, CNBC - 30 Oct. 2017)

--John Kelly on the Civil War: “Men and women of good faith on both sides made their stand where their conscience had them make their stand.” (Christina Wilkie, CNBC - 30 Oct. 2017)
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Webster
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Here's the Guardian live-feed if anyone wants to keep an eye on things overnight....
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Webster
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Another Twitter thread from former U.S. Attorney Renato Mariotti....


(1) THREAD: What does news that Papadopoulos supervisor and Trump co-chair Sam Clovis testified before the grand jury last week tell us?

(2) Today @nbcnews reported Clovis was interviewed by Mueller’s team and testified before the grand jury last week
-Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/top-trump-campaign-aide-clovis-spoke-mueller-team-grand-jury-n816106
(3) A lawyer for Clovis confirmed that he was the “supervisor” of Papadopoulos identified in the charging document.

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(4) Although Clovis testified, he is minimizing the role of Papadopoulos via his attorney and disputing some of what Papadopoulos said

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(5) There were some explosive emails in the charging document between Papadopoulos and Clovis

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(6) It is odd that Clovis would encourage Papadopoulos to meet with the Russian government. But now he minimizes that as well
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Webster
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..continued...


(7) The story also indicates that Clovis does not intend to withdraw himself from consideration for Undersecretary of Agriculture.
(8) His nomination was already controversial because of his scant qualifications for the job and his denial of the science of climate change.
(9) Senator Roberts, Chairman of the Committee, described him as “cooperative” and still supports his nomination.

(10) All of this tells me a few things. First, the lawyer for Clovis thinks that he does not have significant criminal liability.
(11) If she did, she would have him withdraw himself from consideration. She’d also tell him not to testify or be interviewed.
(12) He’s also not “cooperating” with Mueller in the way a prosecutor would use that term. A flipper wouldn’t publicly minimize his conduct.
(13) He also wouldn’t publicly contradict the government’s other witness. So while Clovis is certainly someone Mueller is looking at closely,
(14) he doesn’t have the goods on Clovis at this time, and his lawyer (who knows more than we do) doesn’t think he ever will.

(15) If she was very worried about the downside for Clovis, she would pursue a much more cautious approach.
(16) It’s certainly possible that Clovis and his lawyer are acting irrationally, but I wouldn’t bet on it.
(17) Regardless, there can be no serious question that Mueller hasn’t flipped Clovis at this time.
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Webster
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Dept. of Justice: Office of Special Counsel Robert Mueller
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On May 17, 2017, Robert S. Mueller III was appointed by acting Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein to serve as Special Counsel by the order below.

DOJ Order 3915-2017


--U.S. v. Paul J. Manafort, Jr., and Richard W. Gates III (1:17-cr-201, District of Columbia)
Paul J. Manafort, Jr., of Alexandria, Va., and Richard W. Gates III, of Richmond, Va., have been indicted by a federal grand jury on Oct. 27, 2017, in the District of Columbia. The indictment contains 12 counts: conspiracy against the United States, conspiracy to launder money, unregistered agent of a foreign principal, false and misleading FARA statements, false statements, and seven counts of failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts. The case was unsealed on Oct. 30, 2017, after the defendants were permitted to surrender themselves to the custody of the FBI. (Indictment)

--U.S. v. George Papadopoulos (1:17-cr-182, District of Columbia)
George Papadopoulos, of Chicago, Illinois, pleaded guilty on Oct. 5, 2017, to making false statements to FBI agents, in violation of 18 U.S.C. 1001. The case was unsealed on Oct. 30, 2017. (Criminal Information), (Plea Agreement)(Statement of the Offense)
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Webster
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The Guardian: Manafort Had Multiple Passports And Ties To Russian Oligharchs, Prosecutors Say

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Paul Manafort, the former campaign manager for Donald Trump, had three US passports, millions in assets and ties to Russian oligarchs, according to federal court documents related to his indictment on tax fraud and money laundering charges.

Manafort and associate Rick Gates pose a significant flight risk because of the serious nature of the charges, the strong evidence of guilt, their wealth and “their history of deceptive and misleading conduct”, federal prosecutors said in a filing on Tuesday in US district court for the District of Columbia.

Manafort, 68, and Gates, who also worked on Trump’s campaign, pleaded not guilty on Monday in a 12-count indictment, ranging from money laundering to acting as unregistered agents of Ukraine’s former pro-Russian government.

The charges came as part of federal special counsel Robert Mueller’s five-month-old investigation into alleged Russian efforts to tilt the 2016 presidential election in Trump’s favor and potential collusion by campaign aides.

The allegations are not related to campaign activities but reveal close ties to Russia and include activities from 2006 to 2017, which overlaps with the men’s work on Trump’s campaign.

The two men are under house arrest and have relinquished their US passports, with a $10m bond set for Manafort and a $5m bond for Gates. “Both defendants have substantial ties abroad, including in Ukraine, where both have spent time and have served as agents of its government,” according to the government’s memorandum in support of the conditions of release. “And both Manafort and Gates have connections to Ukrainian and Russian oligarchs, who have provided millions of dollars to Manafort and Gates.“

Manafort was a longtime US Republican operative before turning his attention to political consulting overseas.

Manafort submitted 10 passport application in the last decade and currently holds three US passports, the memo said.

Asked about the information in the memo, Manafort lawyer Jason Maloni told Reuters on Wednesday his client “looks forward to having these allegations tried before a judge and jury”.

The memo said Manafort’s financial assets were substantial but difficult to quantify because he listed figures on loan applications and other financial documents since 2012 that ranged from from $19m to $136m.

Manafort and Gates owned or controlled entities and accounts worldwide including in Cyprus, Grenadines, Seychelles and England, it said.
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