Tag: Russiagate

Trump campaign paid firm of lawyer representing Trump Jr. before emails were made public

The following article by Mark Berman and Matea Gold was posted on the Washington Post site July 15, 2017:

Donald Trump Jr. (Brian Snyder/Reuters)

President Trump’s campaign committee made a payment to the law firm of an attorney representing Donald Trump Jr. last month, nearly two weeks before it was announced that the same attorney would be representing the president’s son in Russia-related probes, according to a campaign finance report filed Saturday.

The committee reported in the filing to the Federal Election Commission that it paid $50,000 to the law firm of attorney Alan Futerfas on June 27. That payment was made 13 days before it was publicly revealed that Futerfas would represent Trump’s eldest son in the Russia investigations. Continue reading “Trump campaign paid firm of lawyer representing Trump Jr. before emails were made public”

‘Lie after lie after lie’: Fox News’s Shepard Smith has a Cronkite moment on Russia

The following article by Aaron Blake was posted on the Washington Post website July 14, 2017:

Leanne Naramore @LeanneNaramore

Shep Smith: “The deception, Chris, is mind-boggling…why are we getting told all these lies?”

Chris Wallace: “I don’t know what to say”

Twitter Ads info and privacy

Between its “Fox and Friends” morning show and Sean Hannity at night, Fox News has become a haven for those who think this whole Russia thing is nonsense. On Friday morning, Steve Doocy even declared that “the Russia story is starting to fall apart.” Continue reading “‘Lie after lie after lie’: Fox News’s Shepard Smith has a Cronkite moment on Russia”

Russian American lobbyist was present at Trump Jr.’s meeting with Kremlin-connected lawyer

The following article by Rosalind S Helderman and Tom Hamburger was posted on the Washington Post website July 14, 2017:

Credit: a katz / Shutterstock.com

A Russian American lobbyist and veteran of the Soviet military said Friday that he attended a June 2016 meeting between President Trump’s oldest son and a Kremlin-connected attorney.

The presence of Rinat Akhmetshin adds to the number of people in attendance at the Trump Tower gathering that emerged this week as the clearest evidence so far of interactions between Trump campaign officials and Russia.

In an interview with the Washington Post, Akhmetshin said he participated in the session with several others. His role in the meeting was first reported by NBC News and the Associated Press. Continue reading “Russian American lobbyist was present at Trump Jr.’s meeting with Kremlin-connected lawyer”

Trump’s Russia Lawyer Isn’t Seeking Security Clearance, And May Have Trouble Getting One C

The following article by Justin Elliott and Jesse Eisinger was posted on the ProPublica website July 11, 2017:

Marc Kasowitz speaks to the press on June 8, responding to the testimony of fired FBI Diector James Comey. Credit: Jim Watson, AFP, Getty Images

The ongoing investigations into alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia involve reams of classified material. Yet Marc Kasowitz, the New York lawyer whom President Donald Trump has hired to defend him in these inquiries, told ProPublica through a spokesman that he does not have a security clearance — the prerequisite for access to government secrets. Nor does he expect to seek one.

Several lawyers who have represented presidents and senior government officials said they could not imagine handling a case so suffused with sensitive material without a clearance. Continue reading “Trump’s Russia Lawyer Isn’t Seeking Security Clearance, And May Have Trouble Getting One C”

Trump Jr., Russian Collusion, And The Pro-Trump Media’s Bad-Faith Attack On The Press

The following article by Matt Gertz was posted on the Media Matters website July 12, 2017:

Credit: Sarah Wasko, Media Matters

Pro-Trump media outlets are attacking the mainstream press in response to the devastating news that the president’s son, Donald Trump Jr., met during the 2016 presidential campaign with a Kremlin-linked Russian lawyer after he was promised she would provide information that would damage Hillary Clinton as part of a pro-Trump effort by the Russian government. More than any other incident in recent memory, this eagerness to hide from reality within the comfort of anti-media rhetoric shows that the right-wing’s media critique is not offered in good faith, but instead is an effort to undermine journalists in the public eye in order to maintain political power.

Over a four-day period, The New York Times’ journalists painstakingly reported out the story. While their initialstories piecing together the meeting and how it came about were based on anonymous sources, yesterday the reporters produced the actual email chain between Trump Jr. and a Kremlin-linked associate. The messages confirmed the accuracy of their previous reports, as well as Trump Jr.’s eagerness to collude with the Russian government in order to influence the election. Continue reading “Trump Jr., Russian Collusion, And The Pro-Trump Media’s Bad-Faith Attack On The Press”

Even Bush’s Ethics Lawyer Is Ready to Use the T-Word About the Trump Administration

The following article by Alexandra Rosenmann was posted on the AlterNet website July 10, 2017:

Richard Painter sounds off on Donald Jr.’s meeting with a Kremlin-connected lawyer.

The Russian collusion saga continues apace. On Saturday, the New York Times reported that Donald Trump Jr. agreed to meet with Kremlin-connected lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya after he was promised compromising information on Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential campaign. Paul J. Manafort and Jared Kushner also attended the meeting.

According to Richard Painter, former ethics lawyer to Pres. George W. Bush, the Trump campaign staff meeting “borders on treason if it’s not treason itself.” Continue reading “Even Bush’s Ethics Lawyer Is Ready to Use the T-Word About the Trump Administration”

Donald Trump Jr. Hires Crime Mob Lawyer for Russia Investigation

The following article by Celisa Calacal was posted on the AlterNet website July 10, 2017:

Credit: A Katz / Shutterstock.com

Donald Trump Jr. has hired New York lawyer Alan Futerfas to represent him in ongoing investigations regarding his father Donald Trump and his potential ties to Russia, according to Reuters. Futerfas, a criminal defense lawyer, has had experience in the past representing members of organized crime mobs, particularly the Gambino, Genovese, and Colombo families.

The hiring of Futerfas comes on the heels of a New York Times investigation revealing that Trump Jr. had met with a Russian lawyer in the midst of the 2016 presidential election who offered to hand over potentially damaging information about Hillary Clinton.

Futerfas has a history of representing members of organized crime rings. In 1993, Futerfas represented a member of the infamous Genovese crime family, Salvatore “Sally Dogs” Lombardi from Staten Island. Lombardi and a number of other defendants from the family were facing trial for attempting to illegally expand gambling operations into Atlantic City. A jury ultimately found Lombardi guilty of racketeering, extortion and illegal gambling. Continue reading “Donald Trump Jr. Hires Crime Mob Lawyer for Russia Investigation”

Even in the take-no-prisoners world of opposition research, Trump Jr.’s meeting was highly unusual

The following article by David A. Fahrenthold was posted on the Washington Post website July 11, 2017:

Donald Trump Jr. has defended his meeting with a Russian lawyer and said he did nothing wrong. (Richard Drew/AP)

Donald Trump Jr. said Tuesday that he agreed to a meeting with a Russian lawyer during last year’s campaign because he believed that the individual had information about Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.

“I thought [the information] was Political Opposition Research,” Trump Jr. wrote on Twitter, in a statement explaining why he’d agreed to meet the lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya.

At the same time, Trump Jr. released emails showing that he was told Veselnitskaya was a “Russian government attorney” whose information about Clinton was part of “Russia and its government’s support” for his father. Continue reading “Even in the take-no-prisoners world of opposition research, Trump Jr.’s meeting was highly unusual”

A revelation unlike any other in the Russia investigation

The following article by Dan Balz was posted on the Washington Post website July 11, 2017:

There have been other moments in the lengthy investigation of Russian government interference in the 2016 presidential election that have registered on the legal and political Richter scales, but none with the power and explosiveness of the email chain involving Donald Trump Jr. that became public Tuesday.

The emails between President Trump’s oldest son and an intermediary for the Russians provide the clearest indication to date that Trump campaign officials and family members were at least prepared to do business with a foreign adversary in the mutual goal of taking down Hillary Clinton. Continue reading “A revelation unlike any other in the Russia investigation”

‘Category 5 hurricane’: White House under siege by Trump Jr.’s Russia revelations

The following article by Philip Rucker and Ashley Parker was posted on the Washington Post site July 11, 2017:

The White House has been thrust into chaos after days of ever-worsening revelations about a meeting between Donald Trump Jr. and a lawyer characterized as representing the Russian government, as the president fumes against his enemies and senior aides circle each other with suspicion, according to top White House officials and outside advisers.

President Trump — who has been hidden from public view since returning last weekend from a divisive international summit — is enraged that the Russia cloud still hangs over his presidency and is exasperated that his eldest son and namesake has become engulfed by it, said people who have spoken with him this week. Continue reading “‘Category 5 hurricane’: White House under siege by Trump Jr.’s Russia revelations”