Tag: Russia

Acts of an Adversary

The following article by Max Bergmann and Carolyn Kenney was posted on the Center for American Progress website December 5, 2017:

Russia’s Ongoing Hostilities Toward the United States and Its Allies

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks on the phone. Credit: AP/POOL SPUTNIK KREMLIN

Overview

Russia is pursuing a concerted strategy to undermine American democracy and U.S. national interests. These are the actions of an adversary not an ally.

Introduction and summary

Russia’s efforts to attack and undermine American democracy did not begin or end with the 2016 election. Russia’s vast espionage and cybercapabilities continue to target the United States government, its citizens, as well as America’s democratic allies around the world.

This report outlines Russia’s continuing hostile actions toward the United States and its allies. It finds that the election of Donald Trump has not resulted in the Kremlin changing course or reducing its hostile actions toward the United States. Russia continues to: Continue reading “Acts of an Adversary”

Operative Offered Trump Campaign ‘Kremlin Connection’ Using N.R.A. Ties

The following article by Nicholas Fandos was posted on the New York Times website December 3, 2017:

Donald J. Trump, then the Republican presidential nominee, speaking at the National Rifle Association convention in Louisville, Ky., in May 2016. Credit Ty Wright for The New York Times

WASHINGTON — A conservative operative trumpeting his close ties to the National Rifle Association and Russia told a Trump campaign adviser last year that he could arrange a back-channel meeting between Donald J. Trump and Vladimir V. Putin, the Russian president, according to an email sent to the Trump campaign.

A May 2016 email to the campaign adviser, Rick Dearborn, bore the subject line “Kremlin Connection.” In it, the N.R.A. member said he wanted the advice of Mr. Dearborn and Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama, then a foreign policy adviser to Mr. Trump and Mr. Dearborn’s longtime boss, about how to proceed in connecting the two leaders.

Russia, he wrote, was “quietly but actively seeking a dialogue with the U.S.” and would attempt to use the N.R.A.’s annual convention in Louisville, Ky., to make “ ‘first contact.’ ” The email, which was among a trove of campaign-related documents turned over to investigators on Capitol Hill, was described in detail to The New York Times. Continue reading “Operative Offered Trump Campaign ‘Kremlin Connection’ Using N.R.A. Ties”

Wrenched From Scandal to Success, Trump Looks Ahead, and Over His Shoulder

The following article by Peter Baker was posted on the New York Times website December 2, 2017:

“What has been shown is no collusion, no collusion,” President Trump told reporters as he left the White House for a day trip to New York on Saturday. Credit Tom Brenner/The New York Times

WASHINGTON — The highs and lows of a presidency rarely come in such quick succession. But within hours, President Trump watched as one of his closest former aides pleaded guilty and promised to help prosecutors seek out more targets, then stayed up late to cheer on the Senate as it broke through months of gridlock to pass the largest tax cuts in years.

Scandal and success in short order left the White House whipsawed and searching for a path forward that would generate more of the latter while knowing that the former is not going away anytime soon. Michael T. Flynn, the former national security adviser who pleaded guilty to a felony on Friday, was the fourth person near Mr. Trump to be charged and few in Washington expect him to be the last.

No president in modern times has faced such a major investigation so early in his term even as he was still seeking to establish his political footing, much less one with as little popular support in polls as Mr. Trump has. The challenge for Mr. Trump in the weeks to come will be how to press forward on his agenda without letting the ominous drumbeat of indictments and court hearings consume his presidency. Continue reading “Wrenched From Scandal to Success, Trump Looks Ahead, and Over His Shoulder”

This is why Flynn’s guilty plea should terrify Trump

The following article by Casey Michel was posted on the ThinkProgress website December 1, 2017:

Michael Flynn has plead guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russian officials. Credit: AP/Ssusan Walsh

From the earliest days of the Donald Trump administration, one question has hung in the background: Who directed Michael Flynn, Trump’s disgraced former national security adviser, to discuss Russia sanctions with then-Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak during the final days of Barack Obama’s presidency?

We still don’t know the answer. But we might be about to find out.

On Friday, Flynn pleaded guilty for lying to the FBI about the content of his December 29, 2016, phone call with Kislyak. As the Washington Post noted, Flynn’s guilty plea shows that “he is cooperating in the ongoing probe of possible coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia.”

ABC News further reports that Flynn appears willing to cooperate with Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team in its ongoing investigation into potential collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign. Per ABC, Flynn is “prepared to testify that that [then-candidate Trump] ordered him to make contact with the Russians, which contradicts all that Donald Trump has said at this point.” Continue reading “This is why Flynn’s guilty plea should terrify Trump”

From ‘Access Hollywood’ to Russia, Trump seeks to paint the rosiest picture

The following article by Josh Dawsey, Ashley Parker and Philip Rucker was posted on the Washington Post website November 28, 2017:

President Trump talks to reporters as he departs from the White House with his family for the Thanksgiving holiday last week. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

President Trump has expressed certainty that the special-counsel probe into his campaign’s possible collusion with Russia will be finished by the end of the year, complete with an exoneration from Robert S. Mueller III, according to several friends who have spoken with him in recent days.

Trump has dismissed his historically low approval ratings as “fake” and boasted about what he calls the unprecedented achievements of his presidency, even while chatting behind the scenes, saying no president since Harry Truman has accomplished as much at this point. Continue reading “From ‘Access Hollywood’ to Russia, Trump seeks to paint the rosiest picture”

Bharara: Trump should be ‘very worried’ about Flynn if he has ‘done bad things’

The following article by Mallory Shelbourne was posted on the Hill website November 26, 2017:

© Getty Images

Former U.S. attorney Preet Bharara said Sunday that President Trump should “be very worried” about his former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, potentially cooperating with the special counsel’s investigation if Trump has “done bad things.”

“It depends on what the president has done and what the president’s conversations with Michael Flynn and others have been,” Bharara told CNN’s “State of the Union” when asked if Trump should be concerned. 

“But if you’ve done bad things, then you should be very worried,” he added. Continue reading “Bharara: Trump should be ‘very worried’ about Flynn if he has ‘done bad things’”

Russian TV Editor Says Kremlin Ordered Clinton Takedown

The following article by Graham Lanktree of Newsweek was posted on the National Memo website November 25, 2017:

U.S. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton arrives at Burke Lakefront airport in Cleveland, Ohio U.S., October 21, 2016. Credit:  REUTERS/Carlos Barria

A former television news editor for Russian state media outlet Rossiya says that the Kremlin used to call and give instructions about how to cover Hillary Clinton during the 2016 U.S. election.

“Sometimes it was a phone call. Sometimes it was a conversation,” Dimitri Skorobutov told The New Yorker Thursday. “If Donald Trump has a successful press conference, we broadcast it for sure. And if something goes wrong with Clinton, we underline it.”

“Me and my colleagues, we were given a clear instruction: to show Donald Trump in a positive way, and his opponent, Hillary Clinton, in a negative way,” Skorobutov said at a recent speech at a journalism conference in Maastricht in the Netherlands. Continue reading “Russian TV Editor Says Kremlin Ordered Clinton Takedown”

A Split From Trump Indicates That Flynn Is Moving to Cooperate With Mueller

The following article by Michael S. Schmidt, Matt Apuzzo and Maggie Haberman was possed on the New York Times website November 23, 2017:

WASHINGTON — Lawyers for Michael T. Flynn, President Trump’s former national security adviser, notified the president’s legal team in recent days that they could no longer discuss the special counsel’s investigation, according to four people involved in the case — an indication that Mr. Flynn is cooperating with prosecutors or negotiating a deal.

Mr. Flynn’s lawyers had been sharing information with Mr. Trump’s lawyers about the investigation by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, who is examining whether anyone around Mr. Trump was involved in Russian efforts to undermine Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. Continue reading “A Split From Trump Indicates That Flynn Is Moving to Cooperate With Mueller”

‘Keep coming at me guys!!!’: Donald Trump Jr. meets Russia scrutiny with defiance

The following article by Drew Harwell was posted on the Washington Post website November 23, 2017:

President Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr. communicated with WikiLeaks during the 2016 presidential campaign. Here’s what the messages say. (Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post)

Donald Trump Jr. had just posted a batch of private mes­sages he exchanged with Wiki­Leaks during last year’s campaign, confirming reports that he communicated with the website that published stolen Democratic emails obtained by Russian military intelligence.

“More nothing burgers from the media and others desperately trying to create a false narrative,” the president’s oldest son wrote on Instagram. “Keep coming at me guys!!!” Continue reading “‘Keep coming at me guys!!!’: Donald Trump Jr. meets Russia scrutiny with defiance”

Mueller investigating Kushner’s communication with foreign leaders: report

The following article by Brandon Carter was posted on the Hill website November 21, 2017:

Special counsel Robert Mueller’s team of investigators are looking into White House senior adviser and President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and his contact with foreign leaders, according to a new report.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Mueller’s team is probing Kushner’s involvement in the controversy surrounding a United Nations resolution passed in December 2016 that condemned Israeli settlement construction. Continue reading “Mueller investigating Kushner’s communication with foreign leaders: report”