The following article by Max Greenwood was posted on The Hill website May 24, 2017:
Attorney General Jeff Sessions did not disclose on security clearance forms that he met twice last year with Russia’s ambassador, CNN reported Wednesday.
The form, SF-86, asks applicants to disclose any contacts with a foreign government or its representatives over the past seven years. Continue reading “Sessions did not disclose Russian meetings on security clearance application: report”
The following article by Greg Miller was posted on the Washington Post website May 23, 2017:
The CIA alerted the FBI to a troubling pattern of contacts between Russian officials and associates of the Trump campaign last year, former agency director John Brennan testified on Tuesday, shedding new light on the origin of a criminal probe that now reaches into the White House.
In testimony before the House Intelligence Committee, Brennan said he became increasingly concerned that Trump associates were being manipulated by Russian intelligence services as part of a broader covert influence campaign that sought to disrupt the election and deliver the presidency to Trump. Continue reading “CIA director alerted FBI to pattern of contacts between Russian officials and Trump campaign associates”
The following article by James Hohmann with Breanne Deppisch was posted on the Washington Post website May 23, 2017:
THE BIG IDEA: James Comey was not alone. Even Donald Trump’s own pick for director of national intelligence, former Republican Sen. Dan Coats, refused to comply with a request by the president to push back against the FBI investigation into possible coordination between his campaign and the Russian government.
Trump also reached out to Adm. Mike Rogers, the director of the National Security Agency. He pressed both men to publicly deny the existence of any evidence of collusion during the 2016 election. Each saw the president’s entreaty as inappropriate. Continue reading “Comey was not the only official to resist Trump entreaties”
The following article by Amber Phillips was posted on the Washington Post website May 22, 2017:
Over the past week or so, the world has glimpsed some of the president’s private conversations about the Russia probe, and what we’ve seen has one common theme: A president appearing to veer across the double-yellow DO NOT CROSS lines that separate the investigative section of the federal government and his White House.
The latest must-read revelation comes Monday from The Washington Post’s Adam Entous and Ellen Nakashima. Continue reading “The three most damaging paragraphs from the revelation about Trump pushing back against the FBI”
The following article by Adam Entous and Ellen Nakashima was posted on the Washington Post website May 22, 2017:
President Trump asked two of the nation’s top intelligence officials in March to help him push back against an FBI investigation into possible coordination between his campaign and the Russian government, according to current and former officials.
Trump made separate appeals to the director of national intelligence, Daniel Coats, and to Adm. Michael S. Rogers, the director of the National Security Agency, urging them to publicly deny the existence of any evidence of collusion during the 2016 election. Continue reading “Trump asked intelligence chiefs to push back against FBI collusion probe after Comey revealed its existence”
The following article by Greg Sargent was posted on the Washington Post website May 22, 2017:
THE MORNING PLUM:
The question of whether President Trump obstructed justice leads inevitably back to his true rationale for firing former FBI director James B. Comey — and to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein’s apparent participation (witting or not) in the creation of a justification for that abrupt action.
The New York Times has some new reporting today on Rosenstein’s involvement in the Comey firing that brings this critical moment into much sharper focus — and raises further questions that, if answered, would lend a great deal to our understanding of what really drove Trump’s hatcheting of the man overseeing the probe into his campaign’s possible collusion with Russian meddling in the election. Continue reading “Did Trump obstruct justice? Rod Rosenstein may have just provided another clue.”
The following article by Philip Rucker was posted on the Washington Post website May 22, 2017:
JERUSALEM — President Trump said Monday that he never told Russian diplomats during a May 10 Oval Office meeting that the classified information about the Islamic State he was sharing with them had come from Israel — something he has not been accused of doing.
Trump veered off the script of his heavily choreographed visit to Israel during a brief media appearance alongside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem to address the issue. Both men responded to a shouted question asking Netanyahu whether he had any concerns about intelligence cooperation with the United States. Continue reading “s Trump says he never told the Russians classified intelligence came from Israel”
The following article by Karoun Demirjian was posted on the Washington Post website May 22, 2017:
Retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, the former national security adviser under President Trump, will not comply with a Senate Intelligence Committee subpoena for documents related to the panel’s probe of Russian meddling in the 2016 elections, invoking the Fifth Amendment and his right against self-incrimination.
“The context in which the Committee has called for General Flynn’s testimonial production of documents makes it clear that he has more than a reasonable apprehension that any testimony he provides could be used against him,” Flynn’s attorneys wrote in a letter they sent to the committee’s chairman, Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), and Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-Va.), its top Democrat, on Monday. Continue reading “Flynn takes the Fifth, declines to comply with Senate Intelligence Committee subpoena”
The following article by Callum Borchers was posted on the Washington Post website May 19, 2017:
A current, senior White House adviser — not merely another former campaign aide or distant associate of President Trump — has been identified by federal investigators as a significant person of interest in a probe aimed at determining whether Trump’s political team colluded with Russia to meddle in the 2016 election.
Let that sink in. Continue reading “Trump’s media firewall is collapsing as the Russia probe gets closer”
The following commentary from the Star Tribune Editorial Board was posted on their website May 20, 2017:
The U.S. Justice Department appointment of former FBI Director Robert Mueller to lead a criminal investigation into possible collusion between President Trump’s campaign and the Russia government is a welcome and overdue move to bring integrity and seriousness of purpose to the daily revelations that threaten to overwhelm Washington.
But more is needed. An old-school, by-the-book prosecutor, Mueller is expected to undertake a meticulously thorough examination and has the sweeping powers necessary to do so. He will be focused on whether the president, his campaign associates or members of his administration have or had illegal ties to an adversarial nation. If laws were broken, he will determine which ones and to what extent. Mueller also remains bound by Justice Department rules and supervision. His decisions, actions and budget can be reined in at any time. And a criminal probe, no matter how thorough, will not address the larger issues that confront this nation about how to ensure that U.S. elections and governments are protected against foreign interference. Continue reading “More than Mueller probe needed to assess Russian meddling”
