Tag: Russia

Most Americans believe Russia has ‘kompromat’ on Trump

Credit: Mikhail Klimentyev AFP/Getty Images

Trust in the administration is quite low.

A new Politico/Morning Consult poll finds that 52 percent of voters believe Russia has compromising information on President Donald Trump. The finding comes as his administration insists at every turn that Attorney General William Barr’s letter about the Mueller report exonerates Trump, even though it says the exact opposite.

According to the poll, 30 percent believe it’s very likely that Russia has compromising information, with another 22 percent adding that it’s somewhat likely and 14 percent saying they don’t know. Even among those who identified as Republicans, some 22 percent believed it’s likely. Only 35 percent of all voters believed to some degree that it’s not likely.

The poll also found that a 47 percent plurality of voters believe Trump “tried to impede or obstruct the investigation into whether his campaign had ties to Russia.” A 49 percent plurality also said they’re most likely to accept Robert Mueller’s Version of the investigation, with only 27 percent saying they’d trust Trump’s. Most voters believe the full Mueller report should be made public (82 percent).

View the complete March 27 article by Zack Ford on the ThinkProgress website here.

Russia responds to Mueller report: Moscow wins, Putin is stronger than Trump and US is a ‘pain in the a – -’

“A mountain has given birth to a mouse. The ‘Russian affair’ falls to pieces before our eyes.”

So pronounced the Russian news site Gazeta.ru, as word of the completed Mueller report swept around the world.

Thus far, official Russian response to the Mueller findings has been scornful. Leaders are taking the conclusions of U.S. Attorney General Robert Barr – that the report shows no collusion between the Kremlin and U.S. President Donald Trump – as a chance to dismiss all claims of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

View the complete March 26 article by Cynthia Hooper, Associate Professor of History, College of the Holy Cross, on the Conversation website here.

At the center of Mueller’s inquiry, a campaign that appeared to welcome Russia’s help

Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III has concluded his investigation without charging any Americans with conspiring with Russia to interfere in the 2016 campaign and help elect Donald Trump.

But hundreds of pages of legal filings and independent reporting since Mueller was appointed nearly two years ago have painted a striking portrayal of a presidential campaign that appeared untroubled by a foreign adversary’s attack on the U.S. political system — and eager to accept the help.

When Trump’s eldest son was offered dirt about Hillary Clinton that he was told was part of a Russian government effort to help his father, he responded, “I love it.”

View the complete March 23 article by Rosalind S. Helderman and Tom Hamburger on The Washington Post website here.

‘If you took it all in in one day, it would kill you’: What Mueller’s investigation has already revealed

He pulled back the curtain on a sophisticated Kremlin hacking operation — identifying by name the 12 Russian military officers who he said sought to sway a U.S. election.

He exposed a Russian online influence campaign — bringing criminal charges against the 13 members of a Russian troll farm now accused of trying to manipulate U.S. voters and sow division through fake social media personae.

And he revealed how those closest to President Trump defrauded banks, cheated on their taxes and, time and time again, lied to deflect inquiries into their ties with Russia.

View the complete March 22 article by Matt Zapotosky and Rosalind S. Helderman on The Washignton Post website here.

Mueller says Flynn’s cooperation ‘complete’

Michael Flynn’s cooperation in Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation is complete, lawyers for the special counsel said in a Tuesday night report to a federal judge presiding over the former Trump national security adviser’s case.

In the same joint status report, Flynn’s lawyers asked for a 90-day delay in their client’s sentencing so he could continue to cooperate with the government in his former business partner’s upcoming trial in Alexandria, Va. Flynn expects to testify in the mid-July trial against Bijan Rafiekian, who faces charges of conspiracy and acting as an unregistered foreign government agent for Turkey.

“At this time, the defendant continues to request a continuance since the case in EDVA has not been resolved, and there may be additional cooperation for the defendant to provide pursuant to the plea agreement in this matter,” Flynn’s attorneys said in the report to U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan, referring to the Eastern District of Virginia.

View the complete March 12 article by Darren Samuelsohn on the Politico website here.

Here’s What Happens When Robert Mueller Is Done

Will Mueller’s report be made public? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

WASHINGTON — This is not a story about when special counsel Robert Mueller will finish his investigation, or when he’ll submit his final report. Speculation has floated for weeks that he’s close to finishing, but no one knows for sure. This is about what will happen once he’s done and what happens after Mueller and his team of prosecutors disband.

The big picture: When the investigation is over, Mueller will submit a report to Attorney General Bill Barr, and Barr will submit a report of his own to Congress. Neither report must be public, but both can be. Pending prosecutions and investigations, such as the criminal case against longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone, will continue; Mueller’s office has been partnering with other federal prosecutors who can take over. Mueller will no longer be the most watched man in America, and he could return to the lucrative job he left in private practice — or at least go to an Apple Store or the airport without having his picture taken. Continue reading “Here’s What Happens When Robert Mueller Is Done”

Roger Stone’s lawyers tell judge: We didn’t try to hide anything

Lawyers for longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone told a federal judge Monday that they were not trying to hide anything from the court at a gag-order-related hearing last month where they failed to mention that Stone was in the midst of releasing a book trashing special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.

In a submission ordered by U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson, Stone attorney Bruce Rogow said it did not occur to him until after the Feb. 21 hearing that the newly crafted introduction for a paperback edition of Stone’s book on the 2016 campaign might land him in hot water.

“Reading for the first time the New Introduction, while waiting for a plane back to Fort Lauderdale, brought the issue home and led to the Motion to Clarify,” wrote Rogow and other lawyers defending Stone against false-statement and witness-tampering charge.

View the complete March 11 article by Josh Gerstein on the Politico website here.

President Trump stretches others’ comments to claim ‘no collusion’

“I feel very badly for Paul Manafort. . . . But if you notice, both his lawyer — a highly respected man — and a very highly respected judge, the judge said there was no collusion with Russia. It’s had nothing to do with collusion. There was no collusion. It’s a collusion hoax. It’s a collusion witch-hoax. I don’t collude with Russia. So, I just want to tell you that his lawyer went out of his way, actually, to make a statement last night: no collusion with Russia. There was absolutely none. The judge, I mean, for whatever reason — I was very honored by it — also made the statement that this had nothing to do with collusion with Russia.”

— President Trump, in remarks to reporters at the White House, March 8, 2019

Michael Cohen “said no collusion. And I said, it’s funny, he lied about so many things, and yet he could have said — he might as well lie about that one, too. But he said no collusion. And everybody said no collusion. Richard Burr, Senator Burr, said no collusion. Senate Intelligence. The House has come up, as you know, the committee, Devin Nunes and all, they said no collusion.”

— Trump, in an interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News, Feb. 28, 2019

Don’t take it from me, Trump says. Look at all these other people saying there was no collusion with Russia. Continue reading “President Trump stretches others’ comments to claim ‘no collusion’”

For years, Republicans failed to investigate the red flags around Russia. Dems now have a backlog.

Intelligence briefings as far as back 2015 should have prompted members to investigate further. Here are the times Republicans sat on their hands instead.

Republicans have been steadily attacking House Democrats’ sweeping investigations into President Donald Trump’s alleged misconduct, claiming the congressional inquiries are a purely partisan overreach.

But when Democrats ramped up their scrutiny of the president after retaking the House majority in the 2018 midterm elections, they encountered a sprawling backlog of missed oversight opportunities. During the first two years of the Trump presidency, the GOP-dominated Congress ignored serious red flags about Russian election meddling and Trump’s ties to Russia, any one of which should have triggered a congressional investigation.

Still, Republicans took no action. Even when confronted with intelligence briefings (as far back as 2015) about Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign, GOP leaders in the House and Senate declined to assume oversight responsibilities or launch serious investigations.

View the complete March 8 article by Danielle Mclean and Casey Michel on the ThinkProgress website here.

Russia says US asked for advice on dealing with North Korea

Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov on Monday said that the U.S. asked for Moscow’s advice in approaching this week’s summit between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

The Associated Press reported that Russian state media revealed comments from Lavrov in which he said Moscow believes the U.S. should offer “security guarantees” to Pyongyang in exchange for a deal to abandon its nuclear arsenal.

Lavrov said the U.S. “is even asking our advice, our views on this or that scenario” ahead of the summit.

View the complete February 25 article by Brett Samuels on The Hill website here.