Tag: Russia investigation

Trump hits Russia probe, Amazon in tweet barrage

The following article by Max Greenwood was posted on the Hill website July 23, 2018:

Credit: Getty Images / Diana Ofosu

President Trump launched a barrage of tweets on Monday morning, taking aim at a series of familiar targets ranging from the news media to Amazon to the special counsel investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

In the string of tweets, Trump first targeted special counsel Robert Mueller‘s probe into Russia’s election meddling, claiming that recently released documents related to a surveillance warrant on Carter Page, a former campaign adviser to Trump, proved that FBI officials acted improperly during the 2016 presidential race.

He called Mueller’s investigation “totally conflicted and discredited” and demanded the probe be brought to an end immediately.

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For the cost of Trump’s military parade, we could get eight months of Mueller’s probe

The following article by Philip Bump was posted on the Washington Post website July 19, 2018:

President Trump and first lady Melania Trump attend the Bastille Day military parade in Paris last year. Credit: Chesnot, Getty Images

Reporting from CNN finally puts a price tag on President Trump’s long-sought “military parade” emulating the one he enjoyed in France last July. But before we get to that number, let’s contextualize it with some other costs largely unique to Trump’s administration.

We will start with a vacation in Scotland.

For you or me, a trip to Scotland would cost a few thousand dollars, maybe, depending on how fancy we got. When the president of the United States goes on a trip, though, he brings a substantially larger entourage than you do. His trip to Scotland last week, therefore, cost almost $70,000, money paid to the lucky proprietor of the hotel where he stayed. (It was a Trump Organization property; the proprietor was, indirectly, Trump.)

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Trump and Russia

People walk on Red Square past the Kremlin in December. Credit: Yuri Kadobnov, AFP/Getty Images)

Despite the fallout from their last meeting, Trump has invited Putin to visit the United States this fall. Putin set fire to our democracy in 2016, and now Trump is inviting the arsonist into the White House.

Trump continues to deny that Russia interfered in our elections and threatens our democracy:

  • In a press conference with Putin, Trump said he didn’t see any reason why Russia would be responsible for interfering in our election.

  • The next day, Trump questioned our intelligence community’s finding that Russia interfered in our election, saying it could have been someone else.

  • Trump was asked if Russia continues its efforts to interfere in our elections, and he responded, “no.”

  • Trump tweeted that Russia’s interference in our election was a “big hoax.”

Continue reading “Trump and Russia”

Trump accuses Obama of rigging Russia investigation

The following article by Frank Dale was posted on the ThinkProgress website July 16, 2018:

The president also praised Putin and told Hannity that the Mueller probe is hurting U.S.-Russia relations.

Pres. Trump during a Sean Hannity interview. Credit: Fox News screengrab

President Trump accused his predecessor, President Obama, of rigging the ongoing Russia investigation against him and instructing an FBI agent to carry out the task, during an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity Monday night.

FBI agent Peter Strzok, a former member of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation team, has long been a target of conservatives, who claim his previous anti-Trump texts to a colleague with whom he was having an affair prove the Russia investigation is nothing more than a political witch-hunt. Trump has repeatedly echoed those claims, suggesting Strzok wanted to prevent him from winning the presidency and that the investigation is baseless, despite the numerous indictments Mueller’s team has handed down over the past year.

On Monday night, following his diplomatic summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, Finland, Trump took things a step further by implying his predecessor had directly ordered Strzok to rig the investigation against him.

View the complete post on the Think Progress website here.

Peter Strzok just gave a hard-to-rebut defense of the objectivity of the Russia investigation’s origins

The following article by Philip Bump was posted on the Washington Post website July 12, 2018:

Peter Strzok Credit: Jack Gruber, USA Today Network

To hear President Trump tell it, FBI agent Peter Strzok was hopelessly biased against him and his candidacy. Trump has tweeted criticisms of Strzok repeatedly, often in personally disparaging terms, and on at least two occasions has suggested that Strzok’s involvement in the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election had a specific goal: preventing him from becoming president.

Strzok was a central player in the dueling investigations during the 2016 campaign. He was involved in the initial investigation into former secretary of state Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server and opened the investigation into possible connections between Trump’s campaign and the Russian effort to influence the election’s outcome. He was subsequently involved in special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s continuation of that investigation until Mueller learned of texts Strzok sent to Lisa Page, another FBI employee with whom the agent was engaged in an extramarital relationship. Those texts included some disparaging Trump in stark terms, prompting Mueller to remove him from the effort last July.

Trump has highlighted those texts as evidence that the investigation into him is biased for months. The president retweeted a particularly significant one last month.

View the complete article on the Washington Post website here.

Shifting Strategy, Trump’s Lawyers Set New Conditions for Mueller Interview

The following article by Michael S. Schmidt and Maggie Haberman was posted on the New York Times website July 6, 2018:

Rudolph W. Giuliani, the president’s lead lawyer in the special counsel investigation, has adopted an aggressive strategy in combating the inquiry. Credit: Doug Mills, The New York Times

WASHINGTON — President Trump’s lawyers set new conditions on Friday on an interview with the special counsel and said that the chances that the president would be voluntarily questioned were growing increasingly unlikely.

The special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, needs to prove before Mr. Trump would agree to an interview that he has evidence that Mr. Trump committed a crime and that his testimony is essential to completing the investigation, said Rudolph W. Giuliani, the president’s lead lawyer in the case.

His declaration was the latest sign that the president’s lawyers, who long cooperated quietly with the inquiry even as their client attacked it, have shifted to an openly combative stance.

View the full article on the New York Times website here.

DNC on Indictments Related to Russian Hack

People walk on Red Square past the Kremlin in December. Credit: Yuri Kadobnov, AFP/Getty Images)

DNC Chair Tom Perez released the following statement after Special Counsel Robert Mueller issued an indictment against Russian government officials responsible for cyber-attacks on the Democratic National Committee and other political and election-related organizations during the 2016 U.S. elections:

“The Russian government attacked our democracy in 2016 and the Democratic National Committee was a primary target of this attack. Those are the facts.

“Today’s indictment makes clear just how vast this operation was, adding details such as Russian intelligence officers’ intrusion into the website of a state election board and theft of information related to approximately 500,000 voters. Continue reading “DNC on Indictments Related to Russian Hack”

Roger Stone’s and Michael Caputo’s damningly false denials of contact with Russians

The following article by Aaron Blake was posted on the Washington Post website June 18, 2018:

If Roger Stone and Michael Caputo told investigators what they said publicly, they could have real problems.

The Washington Post’s Manuel Roig-Franzia and Rosalind S. Helderman broke a significant story Sunday that added to the list of undisclosed meetings between Russians and President Trump’s confidants. This one involves informal Trump adviser Stone meeting in May 2016 with a Russian who — you guessed it — was offering dirt on Hillary Clinton. The meeting was arranged by Caputo, an official member of Trump’s campaign who had previously worked in Russia. Continue reading “Roger Stone’s and Michael Caputo’s damningly false denials of contact with Russians”

Paul Manafort ordered to jail after witness-tampering charges

The following article by Spencer S. Hsu, Ellen Nakashima and Devlin Barrett was posted on the Washington Post website June 15, 2018:

A federal judge ordered Paul Manafort to jail Friday over charges he tampered with witnesses while out on bail — a major blow for President Trump’s former campaign chairman as he awaits trial on federal conspiracy and money-laundering charges next month.

“You have abused the trust placed in you six months ago,” U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson told Manafort. “The government motion will be granted, and the defendant will be detained.” Continue reading “Paul Manafort ordered to jail after witness-tampering charges”

Special counsel Mueller indicts Paul Manafort, Russian associate on obstruction charges

The following article by Devlin Barrett, Spencer S. Hsu and Rosalind S. Helderman was posted on the Washington Post website June 8, 2018:

Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his longtime business associate Konstantin Kilimnik were indicted on June 8, on obstruction of justice charges. (Jenny Starrs /The Washington Post)

Paul Manafort and his longtime business associate were indicted Friday on new charges that they conspired to obstruct justice — ratcheting up the pressure on President Trump’s former campaign chairman as he tries to stay out of jail while awaiting trial.

The indictment filed in U.S. District Court in Washington marked the first such charges for Manafort’s associate, Konstantin Kilimnik, who is believed to be in Moscow — and therefore probably safe from arrest because Russia does not extradite its citizens. Prosecutors have previously said Kilimnik has ties to Russian intelligence, which he denies. Continue reading “Special counsel Mueller indicts Paul Manafort, Russian associate on obstruction charges”