Tag: Russiagate

Citing Recusal, Trump Says He Wouldn’t Have Hired Sessions

The following article by Peter Baker, Michael S. Schmidt and Maggie Haberman was posted on the New York Times website July 19, 2017:

WASHINGTON — President Trump said on Wednesday that he never would have appointed Attorney General Jeff Sessions had he known Mr. Sessions would recuse himself from overseeing the Russia investigation that has dogged his presidency, calling the decision “very unfair to the president.”

[Read excerpts of The Times’s interview with President Trump.]

In a remarkable public break with one of his earliest political supporters, Mr. Trump complained that Mr. Sessions’s decision ultimately led to the appointment of a special counsel that should not have happened. “Sessions should have never recused himself, and if he was going to recuse himself, he should have told me before he took the job and I would have picked somebody else,” Mr. Trump said.

Continue reading “Citing Recusal, Trump Says He Wouldn’t Have Hired Sessions”

Trump shows disdain for rule of law with new attacks on Sessions, Rosenstein, Mueller

The following article by James Hohmann with Breanne Deppisch and Joanie Greve was posted on the Washington Post website July 20, 2017:

THE BIG IDEA: President Trump laced into the attorney general, deputy attorney general, acting FBI director, former FBI director and the special counsel in an interview yesterday with the New York Times that, even by Trump standards, is remarkable.

Donald Trump listens during a roundtable at the White House. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

The transcript of the 50-minute session in the Oval Office oozes with brooding grievance and reflects the degree to which he has adopted a bunker mentality. It also underscores how much Robert Mueller’s escalating investigation bothers and preoccupies the president six months into his term.

Perhaps most importantly, Trump’s comments raise a host of new questions about his respect for the independence of the Justice Department, FBI and special counsel.

The president asserted his prerogative to order an FBI director to end any investigation for any reason at any time. He denied telling James Comey that he “hoped” the FBI could lay off its investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn. “I didn’t say anything,” Trump said. “But … even if I did, that’s not — other people go a step further. I could have ended that whole thing just by saying — they say it can’t be obstruction because you can say: ‘It’s ended. It’s over. Period.’” (He didn’t specify who he meant by “they.”) Continue reading “Trump shows disdain for rule of law with new attacks on Sessions, Rosenstein, Mueller”

Trump ends covert CIA program to arm anti-Assad rebels in Syria, a move sought by Moscow

The following article by Greg Jaffe and Adam Entous was posted on the Washington Post website July 19, 2017:

President Trump has decided to end the CIA’s covert program to arm and train moderate Syrian rebels battling the government of Bashar al-Assad, a move long sought by Russia, according to U.S. officials.

The program was a central plank of a policy begun by the Obama administration in 2013 to put pressure on Assad to step aside, but even its backers have questioned its efficacy since Russia deployed forces in Syria two years later. Continue reading “Trump ends covert CIA program to arm anti-Assad rebels in Syria, a move sought by Moscow”

Trump had undisclosed hour-long meeting with Putin at G-20 summit

The following article by Karen DeYoung and Philip Rucker was posted on the Washington Post website July 18, 2017:

After his much-publicized two-and-a-quarter-hour meeting early this month with Russian President Vladi­mir Putin at the Group of 20 summit in Germany, President Trump chatted informally with the Russian leader for up to an additional hour later the same day.

The second meeting, undisclosed at the time, took place at a dinner for G-20 leaders, a senior administration official said. At some point during the meal, Trump left his own seat to occupy a chair next to Putin. Trump approached alone, and Putin was attended only by his official interpreter. Continue reading “Trump had undisclosed hour-long meeting with Putin at G-20 summit”

Was President at Trump Tower When Son Met Russian Lawyer?

The following article by John T. Bennett was posted on the rollcall.com website July 14, 2017:

Legal expert: Mueller will probe whether Trump knew of meeting in June 2016

Trump Tower was the site of a meeting between a Russian lawyer and President Donald Trump’s eldest son, his son-in-law and his then-campaign chairman in June 2016. (Courtesy Epicgenius/Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 4.0)

Updated at 5:43 p.m. | A review of open-source data indicates then-candidate Donald Trump was inside Trump Tower last year when his eldest son and at least two other top aides huddled with a Russian lawyer they believed had Kremlin-supplied information that could hurt presidential rival Hillary Clinton.

White House and Trump campaign officials, along with the president’s private legal team, have not disputed as of publication time that he was at his Manhattan steel-and-glass haven. That means Trump was nearby — though likely on a different floor — when his son and associates believed they were about to receive information from the Kremlin intended to ding another candidate for the country’s highest office.

“Mr. Mueller will almost certainly want answers, under oath, clarifying whether President Trump was made aware at the time of the existence of the meeting in general, to say nothing of the specific details of the meeting,” said Bradley Moss, a national security lawyer, referring to Justice Department special counsel Robert S. Mueller. “He will also want to know whether President Trump was debriefed about the meeting at any time in the aftermath.” Continue reading “Was President at Trump Tower When Son Met Russian Lawyer?”

A Timeline: Russia and President Trump Through July 17, 2017

NOTE:  This is an article you can direction your “crazy Republican uncle” to when he tells you that any looking into Russia is a witch hunt attacking Donald Trump.

The following article by Steven Harper was posted on the billmoyers.com website, and is continuing to be updated, July 17, 2017:

This timeline was originally published on Feb. 15, 2017 and was last updated on July 17, 2017 at 10:08 p.m. ET. We update the timeline each week.

Continue reading “A Timeline: Russia and President Trump Through July 17, 2017”

Trump had undisclosed hour-long meeting with Putin at G-20 summit

The following article by Karen DeYoung and Philip Rucker was posted on the Washington Post website July 18, 2017:

Credit:  Don Emmert/Agence France-Presse; Natalia Kolesnikova/Getty Images

After his much-publicized, two-and a quarter-hour meeting early this month with Russian President Vladi­mir Putin at the Group of 20 summit in Germany, President Trump met informally with the Russian leader for an additional hour later the same day.

The second meeting, unreported at the time, took place at a dinner for G-20 leaders, a senior administration official said. Halfway through the meal, Trump left his own seat to occupy a chair next to Putin. Trump was alone, and Putin was attended only by his official interpreter.

The encounter underscores the extent to which Trump was eager throughout the summit to cultivate a friendship with Putin. During last year’s campaign, Trump spoke admiringly of Putin and at times seemed captivated by him. Continue reading “Trump had undisclosed hour-long meeting with Putin at G-20 summit”

Eighth person in Trump Tower meeting is identified

The following article by Rosalind S. Helderman and Tom Hamberger was posted on the Washington Post website July 18, 2017:

Donald Trump Jr. is interviewed by host Sean Hannity last Tuesday. (Richard Drew/AP)

An American-based employee of a Russian real estate company took part in a June 2016 Trump Tower meeting between a Russian lawyer and Donald Trump Jr., bringing to eight the number of known participants at the session that has emerged as a key focus of the investigation of the Trump campaign’s interactions with Russians.

Ike Kaveladze’s presence was confirmed by Scott Balber, an attorney for Emin and Aras Agalarov, the Russian developers who hosted the Trump-owned Miss Universe pageant in 2013. Balber said Kaveladze works for the Agalarovs’ company and attended as their representative.

Balber said Tuesday that he received a phone call from a representative of Special Counsel Robert Mueller over the weekend asking if Kaveladze would agree to be interviewed. Balber said his client would cooperate. The request is the first public indication that Mueller’s team is investigating the meeting. Continue reading “Eighth person in Trump Tower meeting is identified”

Democrats say Donald Trump Jr.’s meeting takes Russia inquiry to a ‘new level’

The following article by Laura King was posted on the Los Angeles Times website July 16, 2017:

President Trump leaves the U.S. Women’s Open on Saturday at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J. (Getty Images)

During what would normally be a time of summer doldrums in Washington, President Trump — following a pomp-filled visit to Paris and a weekend getaway to his New Jersey golf property — returns to a capital roiled by the burgeoning Russia investigation, a faltering GOP healthcare plan and sinking opinion polls.

Trump goes back to work after a four-day absence and another news cycle dominated by disclosures stemming from last summer’s meeting of his eldest son, a Kremlin-linked lawyer and at least one other controversial Russian figure.

Included in that maelstrom were more tweets Sunday by the president renewing his defense of Donald Trump Jr. in connection to that June 2016 meeting in Trump Tower. In a series of tweets, Trump returned to familiar twin themes of attacking former opponent Hillary Clinton and castigating the news media over its coverage of Russia-related matters. Continue reading “Democrats say Donald Trump Jr.’s meeting takes Russia inquiry to a ‘new level’”

Huge Manafort Payment Reflects Murky Ukraine Politics

The following article by Andrew E. Kramer was posted on the New York Times website July 15, 2017:

KIEV, Ukraine — Paul J. Manafort, President Trump’s former campaign chairman, recently filed financial reports with the Justice Department showing that his lobbying firm earned nearly $17 million for two years of work for a Ukrainian political party with links to the Kremlin.

Curiously, that was more than the party itself reported spending in the same period for its entire operation — the national political organization’s expenses, salaries, printing outlays and other incidentals.

The discrepancies show a lot about how Mr. Manafort’s clients — former President Viktor F. Yanukovych of Ukraine and his Party of Regions — operated.

And in a broader sense, they underscore the dangers that lurk for foreigners who, tempted by potentially rich payoffs, cast their lot with politicians in countries that at best have different laws about money in politics, and at worst are, like Ukraine in those years, irredeemably corrupt. Continue reading “Huge Manafort Payment Reflects Murky Ukraine Politics”