Tag: Russiagate

Commerce Secretary’s Offshore Ties to Putin ‘Cronies’

The following article by Mike McIntire, Sasha Chavkin and Martha M. Hamilton was posted on the New York Times website November 5, 2017:

Wilbur Ross, the commerce secretary, retained investments in a shipping firm with business ties to Russian President Vladimir V. Putin’s inner circle.

A Navigator ship chartered to Sibur, a Russian energy company whose owners include President Vladimir V. Putin’s son-in-law. The United States commerce secretary, Wilbur L. Ross Jr., retained an investment in Navigator after taking office. Credit Ola Westerberg and Adam Ihse, TT News Agency

After becoming commerce secretary, Wilbur L. Ross Jr. retained investments in a shipping firm he once controlled that has significant business ties to a Russian oligarch subject to American sanctions and President Vladimir V. Putin’s son-in-law, according to newly disclosed documents.

The shipper, Navigator Holdings, earns millions of dollars a year transporting gas for one of its top clients, a giant Russian energy company called Sibur, whose owners include the oligarch and Mr. Putin’s family member. Despite selling off numerous other holdings to join the Trump administration and spearhead its “America first” trade policy, Mr. Ross kept an investment in Navigator, which increased its business dealings with Sibur even as the West sought to punish Russia’s energy sector over Mr. Putin’s incursions into Ukraine. Continue reading “Commerce Secretary’s Offshore Ties to Putin ‘Cronies’”

Longtime Trump bodyguard to face questions about 2013 Moscow trip

The following article by Carol D. Leonnig and Greg Miller was posted on the Washington Post website November 3, 2017:

President Trump walks with aide Keith Schiller to the Oval Office of the White House in May 2017. (Evan Vucci/Associated Press)

One of President Trump’s most trusted confidants, a security chief who served as his sounding board for nearly two decades, will face questions from congressional investigators next week about Trump’s 2013 trip to Moscow, according to people familiar with their plans.

The excursion is at the center of some of the most salacious allegations in a now-famous dossier, which contains unverified charges that Trump has vehemently disputed.

The House Intelligence Committee has called former longtime bodyguard Keith Schiller to appear for an interview Tuesday as part of its probe of Russian meddling in the 2016 election. Investigators plan to press Schiller about allegations in the 35-page dossier that Russian officials obtained compromising information about Trump’s personal behavior when he visited Moscow for the 2013 Miss Universe pageant, according to people familiar with the investigation. Continue reading “Longtime Trump bodyguard to face questions about 2013 Moscow trip”

Ex-Trump aide told House Intel members Sessions knew about his trip to Russia

The following article by Brandon Carter was posted on the Hill website November 2, 2017:

© Getty Images

Carter Page, a former foreign policy adviser to President Trump’s campaign, told House investigators that he informed Attorney General Jeff Sessions about his trip to Russia during the campaign, according to a new report.

CNN reports that Page testified that he told Sessions, then an Alabama senator and Trump campaign adviser, about his trip to Russia, which happened in July 2016.

“Back in June 2016, I mentioned in passing that I happened to be planning to give a speech at a university in Moscow,” Page told CNN. “Completely unrelated to my limited volunteer role with the campaign and as I’ve done dozens of times throughout my life. “ Continue reading “Ex-Trump aide told House Intel members Sessions knew about his trip to Russia”

Post-ABC poll: Most Americans approve of Trump-Russia probe, and nearly half think Trump committed a crime

The following article by Emily Guskin and Matt Zapotosky was posted on the Washington Post website November 2, 2017:

More than twice as many Americans approve as disapprove of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of possible coordination between Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign and the Russian government, a new Washington Post-ABC News pollfinds, indicating that the conservative effort to discredit the probe has fallen flat as the case has progressed toward its first public charges.

A 58 percent majority say they approve of Mueller’s handling of the investigation, while 28 percent say they disapprove, the Post-ABC poll finds. People’s views depend in large part on their political leanings, but overall, Americans are generally inclined to trust Mueller and the case he has made so far.

Meanwhile, fewer than 4 in 10 Americans say they believe Trump is cooperating with Mueller’s investigation, while about half believe he is not. Continue reading “Post-ABC poll: Most Americans approve of Trump-Russia probe, and nearly half think Trump committed a crime”

Upstairs at home, with the TV on, Trump fumes over Russia indictments

The following article by Robert Costa, Philip Rucker and Ashley Parker was posted on the Washington Post website October 30, 2017:

Credit: Getty/Jessica Kourkounis/Chip Somodevilla/Mireia Triguero Roura

President Trump woke before dawn on Monday and burrowed in at the White House residence to wait for the Russia bombshell he knew was coming.

Separated from most of his West Wing staff — who fretted over why he was late getting to the Oval Office — Trump clicked on the television and spent the morning playing fuming media critic, legal analyst and crisis communications strategist, according to several people close to him.

The president digested the news of the first indictments in special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s probe with exasperation and disgust, these people said. He called his lawyers repeatedly. He listened intently to cable news commentary. And, with rising irritation, he watched live footage of his onetime campaign adviser and confidant, Paul Manafort, turning himself in to the FBI. Continue reading “Upstairs at home, with the TV on, Trump fumes over Russia indictments”

Mueller’s moves send message to other potential targets: Beware, I’m coming

The following article by Devlin Barrett, Sari Horwitz and Ellen Nakashima was posted on the Washington Post website October 30, 2017:

President Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, Manafort’s former business associate Rick Gates and Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos have all been charged in the special counsel’s investigation into Russian election interference. (Video: Jenny Starrs/Photo: Bill O’Leary/The Washington Post)

With the guilty plea of one Trump campaign official and a 31-page indictment of two others, special counsel Robert S. Mueller III spoke volumes more about the Russia probe than months of heated public debate. Without uttering a word, Mueller’s message was clear, according to veteran lawyers: He isn’t bluffing, and witnesses are talking.

The double-barreled court filings ratchet up the pressure on everyone under scrutiny in the investigation, lawyers said, in part because they show that a former Trump campaign adviser began cooperating with the FBI three months ago. Continue reading “Mueller’s moves send message to other potential targets: Beware, I’m coming”

Top campaign officials knew of Trump adviser’s outreach to Russia

The following article by Rosalind S. Helderman and Tom Hamburger was posted on the Washington Post website October 30, 2017:

George Papadopoulos pleaded guilty in early October to lying to federal officials about his contacts with Russian nationals. He is one of three former Trump campaign officials facing criminal charges. (Elyse Samuels/The Washington Post)

Several weeks after Donald Trump secured the Republican presidential nomination, his national campaign co-chairman urged a foreign policy adviser to meet with Russian officials to foster ties with that country’s government.

“Make the trip, if it is feasible,” Sam Clovis wrote in an August email to George Papadopoulos.

The email, included in court papers unsealed Monday, shows how an otherwise low-profile adviser has become a focus of the federal probe into possible coordination between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin. Continue reading “Top campaign officials knew of Trump adviser’s outreach to Russia”

With money laundering charges against Paul Manafort, Trump’s ‘fake news’ claim is harder to defend

The following article by Amber Phillips was posted on the Washington Post website October 30, 2017:

President Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, Manafort’s former business associate Rick Gates and Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos have all been charged in the special counsel’s investigation into Russian election interference. (Video: Jenny Starrs/Photo: Bill O’Leary/The Washington Post)

This post has been updated. 

The independent investigation into Trump-Russia collusion just made its most serious move since it began in May. Three former campaign officials have been charged with crimes; one has pleaded guilty. President Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his former business partner Rick Gates have been charged with 12 counts of financial crimes related to their work in Ukraine over the past decade.

And the special counsel announced that Trump’s foreign policy adviser, George Papadopoulos, pleaded guilty earlier this month to giving false statements to the FBI about his ties to a Russian-connected professor who promised “dirt” on Hillary Clinton.

Nothing to see here, Trump said of the news: Continue reading “With money laundering charges against Paul Manafort, Trump’s ‘fake news’ claim is harder to defend”

Analysis: An Odd Sequence of Russia-Related Events

The following article by John T. Bennett was posted on the Roll Call website October 30, 2017:

There were signs aplenty that something was coming in the Russia inquiry

Credit: J. Scott Applewhite/AP

The puzzle pieces were strewn about the board late last week, several small fragments waiting to be put together. There were signs aplenty something was coming in the congressional and federal probes into Russia’s 2016 election meddling, but in isolation, each piece failed to reveal much.

A relatively quiet day at the White House was upended Friday evening by a CNN report that Justice Department special counsel Robert S. Mueller III is poised to reveal formal charges against individuals who once had ties to or remain close to President Donald Trump. Other major media outlets matched the report, which came after several brow-furrowing developments that suggested increased activity in the federal inquiry.

The signs began to emerge Thursday afternoon. Richard M. Burr, the North Carolina Republican leading the Senate’s Russia probe, had a light but noteworthy encounter with reporters. Continue reading “Analysis: An Odd Sequence of Russia-Related Events”

White House lawyer: Trump tweets not a reaction to Mueller probe

The following article by Brett Samuels was posted on the Hill website October 29, 2017:

Ty Cobb Credit: Hogan Lovells

White House lawyer Ty Cobb said Sunday the president’s tweets calling an inquiry into his ties with Russia a “witch hunt” and calling for an investigation into Hillary Clinton are not a reaction to special counsel Robert Mueller’s ongoing probe.

“His tweets today are not, as some have asked, a reaction to anything involving the special counsel with whom the White House continues to cooperate,” Cobb told NBC News.

Trump lashed out Sunday morning in a series of tweets, calling allegations that he colluded with Russia “phony.” He then called for Congress to “DO SOMETHING” about, among other things, Clinton’s ties to a dossier of unverified allegations about Trump.

Soon after, he suggested talk of the investigation into Russian interference in the election was timed intentionally to overshadow Republican efforts to push for tax reform. Continue reading “White House lawyer: Trump tweets not a reaction to Mueller probe”