Tag: Russia investigation

‘Knock it off!’: Judge tears into Mueller-charged firm with a fiery exchange in open court

Judge Dabney Friedrich sparked a tense back-and-forth with the American lawyer for a firm charged in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation during a status conference on Monday.

Defense attorney Eric Dubelier, representing the firm Concord Management & Consulting, which is charged for it involvement in Russia’s troll farm activities aimed at influencing the 2016 election, had filed a harshly critical attack on Mueller as a part of his work for the client. Friedrich was not impressed.

“Judge slams defense lawyers for Russian firm charged by Mueller as ‘unprofessional, inappropriate & ineffective. ‘Knock it off!’ she added,” reported Politico’s Josh Gerstein, in an account matched by several other reporters in attendance.

View the complete January 7 article by Cody Fenwick on the AlterNet.org website here.

A Memo and a Recusal Decision Underscore Potential Threats to the Mueller Inquiry

Credit: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images

WASHINGTON — Matthew G. Whitaker, who was installed last month as acting attorney general by President Trump, has cleared himself to supervise the special counsel’s investigation, rejecting the recommendation of career Justice Department ethics specialists that he recuse himself, according to a letter the department sent to Senate leaders on Thursday night.

[Read the letter.]

The development came soon after the disclosure that the president’s nominee for attorney general, William P. Barr, had written a memo this spring in which he strongly criticized one of the main lines of inquiry by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III — whether Mr. Trump had committed obstruction of justice. Disclosure of the memo raised questions about whether Mr. Barr would order Mr. Mueller to shut down that component of the inquiry if the Senate confirmed him.

Together, the developments underscored the potential threats to Mr. Mueller’s ability to complete his work without interference at a time when his inquiry appears to be drawing closer to the White House and the president’s most trusted associates.

View the complete December 20 article by Charlie Savage and Katie Benner on The New York Times website here.

Trump’s AG Pick Sent Memo to Justice Department Criticizing Mueller Probe: Report

Credit: Time Warner via AP

Donald Trump’s choice for attorney general, William Barr, sent an unsolicited, 20-page memo to the Justice Department this year denouncing special counsel Robert Mueller’s inquiry into potential obstruction of justice by the president, The Wall Street Journal reports. Barr—who was nominated by Trump to take over for Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker and would oversee Mueller’s investigation if confirmed—reportedly said the inquiry was based on a “fatally misconceived” theory that would damage the presidency. Barr reportedly sent the document, dated June 8, to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, writing that he thought his “views may be useful.”According to the Journal, Barr said he was concerned about the parts of the investigation examining whether Trump obstructed justice in requesting then-FBI Director James Comey to drop an investigation into former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, and by later firing Comey, because he believed the president had acted within his authority.

View the December 19 article on the Daily Beast website here.

Judge Unexpectedly Delays Michael Flynn Sentencing

Michael Flynn, former national security adviser, leaves the E. Barrett Prettyman Courthouse after a federal judge delayed his sentencing Tuesday. Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russia. Credit: Tom Williams, CQ Roll Call)

Judge signals he’s prepared to send former national security adviser to jail despite agreement with prosecutors

Former Trump national security and campaign adviser Michael Flynn will not be sentenced for lying to the FBI until March.

A federal judge agreed to delay the sentencing of the former Trump official after signaling to Flynn and his attorneys that he was prepared to send Flynn to prison unless he learned more about his cooperation with special counsel Robert S. Mueller III.

Flynn admitted to Judge Emmet Sullivan in a Washington courtroom on Tuesday that he knew it was a crime when he lied to the FBI in January 2017.

View the complete December 18 article by Griffin Connolly on The Roll Call website here.

Russian disinformation teams targeted Robert S. Mueller III, says report prepared for Senate

Credit: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images

Months after President Trump took office, Russia’s disinformation teams trained their sights on a new target: special counsel Robert S. Mueller III. Having worked to help get Trump into the White House, they now worked to neutralize the biggest threat to his staying there.

The Russian operatives unloaded on Mueller through fake accounts on Facebook, Twitter and beyond, falsely claiming that the former FBI director was corrupt and that the allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 election were crackpot conspiracies. One post on Instagram — which emerged as an especially potent weapon in the Russian social media arsenal — claimed that Mueller had worked in the past with “radical Islamic groups.”

Such tactics exemplified how Russian teams ranged nimbly across social media platforms in a shrewd online influence operation aimed squarely at American voters. The effort started earlier than commonly understood and lasted longer while relying on the strengths of different sites to manipulate distinct slices of the electorate, according to a pair of comprehensive new reports prepared for the Senate Intelligence Committee and released Monday.

View the complete December 17 article by Craig Timberg, Tony Romm and Elizabeth Dwoskin on The Washington Post website here.

Mueller rebukes Flynn, who ‘chose’ to make false statements to FBI

Special counsel Robert Mueller on Friday rebuked former national security adviser Michael Flynn for suggesting that FBI agents had duped him into lying about his contacts with the Russian ambassador.

“Nothing about the way the interview was arranged or conducted caused the defendant to make false statements to the FBI on January 24,” Mueller wrote in a filing Friday afternoon, asking a federal judge to reject Flynn’s attempt to “minimize the seriousness of those false statements to the FBI.”

“The defendant chose to make false statements about his communications with the Russian ambassador weeks before the FBI interview, when he lied about that topic to the media, the incoming Vice President, and other members of the Presidential Transition Team,” Mueller wrote.

View the complete December 14 article by Morgan Chalfant on The Hill website here.

Mueller says Manafort lied about contacts with Trump officials

Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort lied to prosecutors about his contacts with the White House and an associate with suspected ties to Russian intelligence, special counsel Robert Mueller‘s office said in a filing Friday.

The heavily redacted report filed in the criminal case against Manafort in Washington, D.C., comes more than a week after prosecutors accused the one-time Trump campaign chief of “committing federal crimes by lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the special counsel’s office on a variety of subject matters” in breach of his plea agreement.

The report released Friday detailing those claims had been highly anticipated for its potential to shed light on Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and possible collusion with the Trump campaign, an investigation that has been kept tightly under wraps.

View the complete December 7 article by Lydia Wheeler and Morgan Chalfant on The Hill website here.

White House Lied About Having No Contacts With Russia

Trump and his White House repeatedly denied that there were any contacts between members of the Trump campaign and Russia. They were lying — now we know Russians interacted with at least 16 Trump associates during the campaign and transition.

Trump denied any campaign contact with Russia, “with a firm ‘no.’”

Jim Acosta: “Fortunately ABC’s Cecilia Vega asked my question about whether any Trump associates contacted Russians. Trump said no.”

Cecilia Vega: “?? @DavidGroff you must have missed the part of my reporting that said trump came back and answered my first question with a firm ‘no.’”

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Prosecutors recommend ‘substantial’ prison time for ex-Trump lawyer Cohen

Federal prosecutors in New York on Friday recommended that Michael Cohen, President Trump’s former personal attorney, receive “substantial” prison time for several federal crimes, despite his cooperation with ongoing law enforcement investigations, including special counsel Robert Mueller‘s Russia probe.

In a filing late Friday afternoon, prosecutors with the U.S. attorney’s office in the Southern District of New York recognized Cohen’s cooperation with law enforcement in “ongoing matters” but argued the seriousness of his crimes warrant a “substantial term of imprisonment.”

The filing also cites Cohen’s decision not to become a traditional cooperating witness with federal authorities in New York, despite offering assistance in numerous ongoing investigations.

View the complete December 7 article by Morgan Chalfant on The Hill website here.

Key Takeaways from the Manafort Filing

Here are key takeaways from Mueller’s Manafort filing tonight:

REMAINED IN CONTACT WITH SENIOR TRUMP OFFICIALS: Manafort lied about not having contact with anyone in the Trump administration, and actually remained in contact with at least one “senior” official into this year.

Mueller: “For instance, in a text exchange from May 26, 2018, Manafort authorized a person to speak with an Administration official on Manafort’s behalf. Separately, according to another Manafort colleague, Manafort said in February 2018 that Manafort had been in communication with a senior Administration official up through February 2018. A review of documents recovered from a search of Manafort’s electronic documents demonstrates additional contacts with Administration officials.”

Continue reading “Key Takeaways from the Manafort Filing”