Tag: Russia

Russia investigation charges complicate Trump’s Asia trip, ability to sell tax cuts

The following article by John Wagner and David Nakamura was posted on the Washington Post website October 31, 2017:

President Trump speaks, with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin by his side, during a meeting on tax policy with business leaders at the White House on Tuesday. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

The first criminal charges stemming from the Russia investigation landed this week at a perilous point in Donald Trump’s presidency, threatening his standing with foreign leaders ahead of an important trip to Asia on Friday and his effectiveness in selling the Republican tax plan set to be released this week.

Aides insisted the twin challenges at home and abroad would not be undermined by the indictments, but the frustration of the president — whose job approval ratings hit a new low this week in Gallup polling — was evident Tuesday. He started the day with a spate of tweets in which he lashed out at the media and “Crooked Dems” and urged a focus instead on the “Massive Tax Cuts” he has promised to deliver by Christmas.

In a bid to show he remains focused on the tasks at hand, Trump later in the day allowed reporters to witness the start of a White House meeting with business leaders at which he boasted that the December signing of the yet-to-be-unveiled GOP tax bill would be “the biggest tax event in the history of our country.” Continue reading “Russia investigation charges complicate Trump’s Asia trip, ability to sell tax cuts”

Top campaign officials knew of Trump adviser’s outreach to Russia

The following article by Rosalind S. Helderman and Tom Hamburger was posted on the Washington Post website October 30, 2017:

When President Trump met with The Washington Post editorial board he listed the members of his foreign policy team, calling Papadopoulos “an excellent guy.” (The Washington Post)

Several weeks after Donald Trump secured the Republican presidential nomination, his national campaign co-chairman urged a foreign policy adviser to meet with Russian officials to foster ties with that country’s government.

“Make the trip, if it is feasible,” Sam Clovis wrote in an August email to George Papadopoulos. Continue reading “Top campaign officials knew of Trump adviser’s outreach to Russia”

The repeated, incorrect claim that Russia obtained ‘20 percent of our uranium’

The following article by Glenn Kessler was posted on the Washington Post website October 31, 2017:

The United States lost nowhere near 20 percent of its uranium supply as a result of the Rostom-Uranium One deal. (Meg Kelly/The Washington Post)

“How is it that our government could approve a sale of 20 percent of our uranium at the same time that there was an open FBI investigation?”
— Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), interview with Fox News’s Neil Cavuto, Oct. 26, 2017

“Knowing what you know about Russia, was it really a good idea for the Obama administration and the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to approve a deal giving the Russians control of 20 percent of our uranium supply? . . . Why did Hillary’s office and the Obama administration sign off on giving the Russians a fifth of our uranium? . . . Why is that a good idea to give a hostile power 20 percent of our uranium supplies? It’s insane though. . . . How would Hillary Clinton not know if a Russian company was getting 20 percent of our uranium supply? What was she doing?”
— Tucker Carlson, on Fox’s “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” Oct. 23 Continue reading “The repeated, incorrect claim that Russia obtained ‘20 percent of our uranium’”

Trump Campaign Got Early Word Russia Had Democrats’ Emails

The following article was posted on the New York Times website October 30, 2017:

Journalists wait for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at an Election Night event last year in Manhattan. Credit Damon Winter/The New York Times

WASHINGTON — The guilty plea of a 30-year-old campaign aide — so green that he listed Model United Nations in his qualifications — shifted the narrative on Monday of the Trump campaign’s interactions with Russia: Court documents revealed that Russian officials alerted the campaign, through an intermediary in April 2016, that they possessed thousands of Democratic emails and other “dirt” on Hillary Clinton.

That was two months before the Russian hacking of the Democratic National Committee was publicly revealed and the stolen emails began to appear online. The new court filings provided the first clear evidence that Trump campaign aides had early knowledge that Russia had stolen confidential documents on Mrs. Clinton and the committee, a tempting trove in a close presidential contest. Continue reading “Trump Campaign Got Early Word Russia Had Democrats’ Emails”

Mueller’s moves send message to other potential targets: Beware, I’m coming

The following article by Devlin Barrett, Sari Horwitz and Ellen Nakashima was posted on the Washington Post website October 30, 2017:

President Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, Manafort’s former business associate Rick Gates and Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos have all been charged in the special counsel’s investigation into Russian election interference. (Video: Jenny Starrs/Photo: Bill O’Leary/The Washington Post)

With the guilty plea of one Trump campaign official and a 31-page indictment of two others, special counsel Robert S. Mueller III spoke volumes more about the Russia probe than months of heated public debate. Without uttering a word, Mueller’s message was clear, according to veteran lawyers: He isn’t bluffing, and witnesses are talking.

The double-barreled court filings ratchet up the pressure on everyone under scrutiny in the investigation, lawyers said, in part because they show that a former Trump campaign adviser began cooperating with the FBI three months ago. Continue reading “Mueller’s moves send message to other potential targets: Beware, I’m coming”

What’s in the Indictment Against Manafort?

The following article by John T. Bennett was posted on the Roll Call website October 30, 2017:

Trump, on the floor of the Republican National Convention in July in Cleveland. He was indicted for unrelated work on Monday. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Trump breaks silence, says probe should focus on Hillary Clinton

The federal government’s case against former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort and a longtime business associate is, for now, focused solely on their activities before going to work for Donald Trump.

The counts include conspiracy against the United States, money laundering and other ones related to their private business dealings. They are the first individuals charged in the Justice Department’s investigation into Russia’s meddling in the 2016 U.S. election.

But those expecting special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, a former FBI director, to file initial charges alleging Manafort and right-hand man Rick Gates colluded with the Kremlin during the 2016 campaign will find nothing of the sort in the indictment that was unsealed and released as Manafort was turning himself in at a FBI office in Washington. Continue reading “What’s in the Indictment Against Manafort?”

Analysis: An Odd Sequence of Russia-Related Events

The following article by John T. Bennett was posted on the Roll Call website October 30, 2017:

There were signs aplenty that something was coming in the Russia inquiry

Credit: J. Scott Applewhite/AP

The puzzle pieces were strewn about the board late last week, several small fragments waiting to be put together. There were signs aplenty something was coming in the congressional and federal probes into Russia’s 2016 election meddling, but in isolation, each piece failed to reveal much.

A relatively quiet day at the White House was upended Friday evening by a CNN report that Justice Department special counsel Robert S. Mueller III is poised to reveal formal charges against individuals who once had ties to or remain close to President Donald Trump. Other major media outlets matched the report, which came after several brow-furrowing developments that suggested increased activity in the federal inquiry.

The signs began to emerge Thursday afternoon. Richard M. Burr, the North Carolina Republican leading the Senate’s Russia probe, had a light but noteworthy encounter with reporters. Continue reading “Analysis: An Odd Sequence of Russia-Related Events”

Trump Tries to Shift Focus as First Charges Reportedly Loom in Russia Case

The following article by Julie Herschfeld Davis was posted on the New York Times website October 29, 2017:

President Trump, in a series of Sunday morning tweets, attacked Hillary Clinton, saying Republicans were pushing back against the Russia allegations by looking into her. Credit Doug Mills/The New York Times

WASHINGTON — Pushing back against the accelerating criminal investigation into his campaign’s ties to Russia, President Trump argued on Sunday that its focus should instead be on his 2016 rival, Hillary Clinton, even as the special counsel’s inquiry was reportedly poised to produce its first indictment.

In a series of tweets, Mr. Trump said Republicans were now fighting the Russia allegations by looking into Mrs. Clinton, apparently referring to new House investigations into her email practices and an Obama-era uranium deal with Russia. But the president made it clear he believed that Mrs. Clinton should be pursued more forcefully, writing, “DO SOMETHING!”

He did not say who should take action or what it should be, though critics have accused him of trying to sway the congressional and special counsel inquiries into Russian ties. Still, the outburst suggested that Mr. Trump, increasingly angry and frustrated about the investigations, is waging a concerted campaign to shift the focus to Mrs. Clinton and other Democrats. Continue reading “Trump Tries to Shift Focus as First Charges Reportedly Loom in Russia Case”

Scrutiny mounts for Trump digital operation

The following article by Morgan Chalfant was posted on the Hill website October 27, 2017:

Credit: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images

Scrutiny on the digital side of President Trump’s 2016 campaign is mounting after revelations that the head of Cambridge Analytica, a data mining and analysis firm that worked for the campaign, contacted WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange about Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s emails.

The Daily Beast reported Wednesday that Alexander Nix, Cambridge Analytica’s CEO, told a third party that he reached out to the WikiLeaks founder last year about the emails that Clinton deleted from the server she used while secretary of State.

The Trump campaign paid Cambridge Analytica millions during the 2016 presidential race. In the aftermath of the Assange revelations, aides have raced to distance the campaign from the firm.

Continue reading “Scrutiny mounts for Trump digital operation”

Trump campaign data firm ‘approached WikiLeaks during US election for Hillary Clinton’s deleted emails’

The following article by Jeremy B. White was posted on the Independent website October 25, 2017:

Julian Assange in May at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. Mr. Assange confirmed on Twitter that he had been approached before the 2016 election by the chief executive of Cambridge Analytica. Credit Peter Nicholls/Reuters

A political data firm employed by the Trump campaign sought to work with WikiLeaks, publisher Julian Assange has said.

The proposed partnership was first uncovered by the Daily Beast, which reported that Cambridge Analytica approached the anti-secrecy organisation in an effort to locate the 33,000 emails deleted from Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s private email server.

The Trump campaign effectively found an ally in WikiLeaks during the campaign when the organisation published thousands of internal emails from Democratic Party operatives, moving Donald Trump to proclaim “I love WikiLeaks” in response to one disclosure. Continue reading “Trump campaign data firm ‘approached WikiLeaks during US election for Hillary Clinton’s deleted emails’”