Tag: Russiagate

Did Trump just acknowledge (in a tweet, of course) that he told Comey to back off Michael Flynn?

The following article by Amber Phillips was posted on the Washington Post website June 9, 2017:

Update: President Trump gave the same maybe-I-did, maybe-I-didn’t statement in a press conference Friday. When asked by ABC’s Jonathan Karl whether he told Comey to back off the Flynn investigation, Trump said: “I didn’t say that. I will tell you I didn’t say that. And there’d be nothing wrong if I did say that, according to everything I read today.” The original post about why this doesn’t make sense follows. 

The president is tweeting, and perhaps tweeting himself into more trouble, about James B. Comey, the FBI director he fired in May.

In his second tweet before lunchtime Friday, President Trump potentially undermined his private lawyer’s statements denying key parts of Comey’s testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee the day before.

Here’s the tweet: Continue reading “Did Trump just acknowledge (in a tweet, of course) that he told Comey to back off Michael Flynn?”

There’s no indication Comey violated the law. Trump may be about to.

The following article by Philip Bump was posted n the Washington Post website June 9, 2017:

Former FBI director James B. Comey testified he used a third party to share the details of his private meetings with President Trump. When Sen. Blunt (R-Mo.) asked Comey why he didn’t share the memos himself, Comey said he worried the media was camping at the end of his driveway and he thought it would “be like feeding seagulls at the beach.” (Photo: Matt McClain / The Washington Post/Reuters)

This article has been updated.

President Trump’s declaration that the Thursday testimony of former FBI director James B. Comey was a “total and complete vindication” despite “so many false statements and lies” was the sort of brashly triumphant and loosely-grounded-in-reality statement we’ve come to expect from the commander in chief. It was news that came out a bit later, news about plans to file a complaint against Comey for a revelation he made during that Senate Intelligence Committee hearing meeting, that may end up being more damaging to the president. Continue reading “There’s no indication Comey violated the law. Trump may be about to.”

Trump thinks he got ‘total vindication’ from Comey. Except he didn’t.

The following article by Amber Phillips was posted on the Washington Post website June 9, 2016:

Donald J. Trump

✔@realDonaldTrump

Despite so many false statements and lies, total and complete vindication…and WOW, Comey is a leaker!

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As former FBI director James B. Comey tells it, the president pursued him with an almost singular focus to say one thing publicly: President Trump is not under investigation.

Trump finally got what he wanted Thursday, when Comey testified to the Senate Intelligence Committee. Here’s an excerpt of an exchange between Comey and Trump ally Sen. James E. Risch (R-Idaho): Continue reading “Trump thinks he got ‘total vindication’ from Comey. Except he didn’t.”

Report Suggests Russia Hackers Breached Voting Software Firm

The following article by Deb Reichmann and Russ Bynum was posted on the Associated Press website June 6, 2017:

WASHINGTON (AP) — Russian hackers attacked at least one U.S. voting software supplier days before last year’s presidential election, according to a government intelligence report leaked Monday that suggests election-related hacking penetrated further into U.S. voting systems than previously known.

Patrick Semansky FILE – In this June 6, 2013 file photo, the National Security Agency (NSA) campus in Fort Meade, Md. Russian hackers attacked at least one U.S. voting software supplier days before the 2016 presidential election, according to a classified NSA report leaked Monday, June 5, 2017, that suggests election-related hacking penetrated further into U.S. voting systems than previously known. The report, which was published online by The Intercept, does not say whether the hacking had any effect on election results. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
The classified National Security Agency report, which was published online by The Intercept, does not say whether the hacking had any effect on election results. But it says Russian military intelligence attacked a U.S. voting software company and sent spear-phishing emails to more than 100 local election officials at the end of October or beginning of November.

U.S. intelligence agencies declined to comment.

However, the Justice Department announced Monday it had charged a government contractor in Georgia with leaking a classified report containing “Top Secret level” information to an online news organization. The report the contractor allegedly leaked is dated May 5, the same date as the document The Intercept posted online.

The document said Russian military intelligence “executed cyber espionage operations against a named U.S. company in August 2016 evidently to obtain information on elections-related software and hardware solutions, according to information that became available in April 2017.” Continue reading “Report Suggests Russia Hackers Breached Voting Software Firm”

The Problem With Jared Kushner

The following commentary by the Editorial Board of the New York Times was posted June 2, 2017:

Image: World News

What are we supposed to make of the news that Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law and senior White House adviser, met with the Russian ambassador in December to discuss establishing a back channel between the incoming Trump administration and the Kremlin, using Russian diplomatic facilities?

Start with the reactions from America’s intelligence community, whose job it is to monitor foreign actors’ attempts to steal the nation’s most closely guarded secrets. Continue reading “The Problem With Jared Kushner”

Putin: ‘Patriotic’ Hackers May Have Targeted The West

The following article by Mirren Gidda of Newsweek was posted on the National Memo website June 2, 2017:

(Don Emmert/Agence France-Presse; Natalia Kolesnikova/Getty Images)

Russian President Vladimir Putin has weighed in on the furor surrounding alleged Russian hacking. After multiple claims from Western officials that Russia has interfered in national elections, Putin conceded that some “patriotic” people may have been pushed to “fight against those who speak badly about Russia.”

During a meeting Thursday with editors of international news agencies, Putin nevertheless rejected allegations that the Russian state had meddled in the U.S. or French elections. According to AP, the president also denied claims that Russia might try to shape the September 24 German federal election. “We never engaged in that on a state level, and have no intention of doing so,” Putin said. He added that he has a good relationship with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, despite her criticism of Moscow during a joint press conference early May. Continue reading “Putin: ‘Patriotic’ Hackers May Have Targeted The West”

As White House defends Jared Kushner, experts question his back-channel move

The following article by Abby Phillips and Max Ehrenfreund was posted on the Washington Post website May 28, 2017:

Donald Trump with son-in-law Jared Kushner and daughter Ivanka Trump on Nov. 9. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

The Trump administration argued over the weekend that back-channel communications are acceptable in building dialogue with foreign governments, part of an effort to minimize fallout over White House adviser Jared Kushner’s reported discussion about creating a secret conduit to the Kremlin at a Russian diplomatic compound.

But some former administration officials on Sunday criticized the use of such secret channels, especially during a presidential transition, saying they could send a confusing message and be manipulated by a foreign power. Continue reading “As White House defends Jared Kushner, experts question his back-channel move”

Sessions Was Advised Not to Disclose Russia Meetings on Security Forms

The following article by Rebecca R. Ruiz was posted on the New York Times website May 24, 2017:

Credit Doug Mills/The New York Times

WASHINGTON — Attorney General Jeff Sessions failed to disclose meetings with Russian officials when he applied for security clearance because he was told not to do so by advisers and the F.B.I., a Justice Department spokesman said Wednesday.

Mr. Sessions met with Sergey I. Kislyak, the Russian ambassador to the United States, at least twice in 2016. But asked on an official government form to note any contact he or family members had with foreign governments or their representatives over the past seven years, Mr. Sessions did not include his encounters with Mr. Kislyak. It is a federal crime to make false statements or withhold relevant information on the background check form. Continue reading “Sessions Was Advised Not to Disclose Russia Meetings on Security Forms”

A high-stakes gamble: How Jared Kushner reacted to previous crises

The following article by Michael Kranish and Jonathan O’Connell was posted on the Washington Post May 27, 2017:

Jared Kushner, senior advisor and son-in-law to President Trump, is arguably one of the most influential figures in the White House. Here’s how he used N.Y. real estate and the media to solidify his power. (Video: Alice Li/Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

NEW YORK — Jared Kushner had barely survived a fight to save his family’s real estate empire.

Taking charge of the business after his father went to prison, Kushner, 25 at the time, paid $1.8 billion in 2007 for the nation’s most expensive office building. Then the market went south, the debts piled up, and Kushner spent years pushing banks to renegotiate the loans. Continue reading “A high-stakes gamble: How Jared Kushner reacted to previous crises”