Tag: Trump campaign

What you need to know about Christopher Steele, the FBI and the Trump ‘dossier’

The following article by Glenn Kessler was posted on the Washington Post website January 9, 2019:

The Russia probe got its start with a drunken conversation, an ex-spy, WikiLeaks and a distracted FBI. (Meg Kelly/The Washington Post)

“Mr. Steele was on the payroll of Fusion GPS, who was being paid by the Democratic Party to do opposition research on Donald Trump. That while he was working with the FBI, he was shopping this dossier all over the world. That’s not what an informant should do.”
— Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Jan. 7, 2018

Graham and Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), chairman of the Judiciary Committee, on Jan. 5 referredChristopher Steele, the author of the “dossier” alleging ties between President Trump and Russia, for a criminal investigation by the Justice Department. The move is an unexpected twist in the saga over the document, which was gossiped about in journalistic circles during the 2016 presidential election until a version was published by BuzzFeed shortly before Trump’s inauguration. Continue reading “What you need to know about Christopher Steele, the FBI and the Trump ‘dossier’”

Mueller indicates he is likely to seek interview with Trump

The following article by Carol D. Leonnig was posted on the Washing Post website January 8, 2018:

With indications that special counsel Robert Mueller is seeking an interview with President Trump, here are some burning questions his team will want to ask. (Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post)

Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III has told President Trump’s legal team that his office is likely to seek an interview with the president, triggering a discussion among his attorneys about how to avoid a sit-down encounter or set limits on such a session, according to two people familiar with the talks.

Mueller raised the issue of interviewing Trump during a late-December meeting with the president’s lawyers John Dowd and Jay Sekulow. Mueller deputy James Quarles, who oversees the White House portion of the special counsel investigation, also attended. Continue reading “Mueller indicates he is likely to seek interview with Trump”

Read the full transcript of Glenn Simpson’s Senate testimony

Earlier today, Sen. Diane Feinstein released the transcript of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s 10-hour testimony Mr. Simpson of Fusion GPS regarding their Russia dossier.

The New York Times has posted that testimony.  Here’s a link to it if you’d like to read it.

Papadopoulos’s fiancée says she interviewed with Mueller’s team

The following article by John Bowden was posted on the Hill website January 6, 2018:

© Instagram/realdonaldtrump

The fiancée of a former Trump campaign aide who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI last year revealed in a new interview that she spoke with investigators on Robert Mueller‘s special counsel team.

George Papadopoulos‘s fiancée, Simona Mangiante, told Business Insiderthat she interviewed with Mueller’s team for two hours following a subpoena last year. Continue reading “Papadopoulos’s fiancée says she interviewed with Mueller’s team”

Trump says he’s been ‘100 percent proper” with Russia probe

The following article by Jill Colvin was posted on the Associated Press website January 6, 2018:

Credit: AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File

THURMONT, Md. (AP) — President Donald Trump said Saturday that “everything I’ve done is 100 percent proper” regarding the special counsel’s investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election and he insisted that his campaign didn’t collude with Moscow or commit any crime.

His team has been “open” with special counsel Robert Mueller and “done nothing wrong,” Trump told reporters at Camp David, where he was meeting with Republican congressional leaders and Cabinet members to discuss legislative strategy in the new year.

He bemoaned the unrelenting focus on alleged Russia ties, saying the probe is “very, very bad for our country. It’s making our country look foolish and this is a country that I don’t want looking foolish, and it’s not going to look foolish as long as I’m here.” Continue reading “Trump says he’s been ‘100 percent proper” with Russia probe”

Donald Trump Didn’t Want to Be President

The following article by Michael Wolff was posted on the New York Magazine website January 3, 2018. Illustrations By :

One year ago: the plan to lose, and the administration’s shocked first days.

Election Night: It “looked as if he had seen a ghost.”

On the afternoon of November 8, 2016, Kellyanne Conway settled into her glass office at Trump Tower. Right up until the last weeks of the race, the campaign headquarters had remained a listless place. All that seemed to distinguish it from a corporate back office were a few posters with right-wing slogans.

Conway, the campaign’s manager, was in a remarkably buoyant mood, considering she was about to experience a resounding, if not cataclysmic, defeat. Donald Trump would lose the election — of this she was sure — but he would quite possibly hold the defeat to under six points. That was a substantial victory. As for the looming defeat itself, she shrugged it off: It was Reince Priebus’s fault, not hers. Continue reading “Donald Trump Didn’t Want to Be President”

Ex-Trump campaign chairman Manafort challenges his indictment in Russia probe by filing lawsuit against Mueller

The following article by Spencer S. Hsu and Matt Zapotosky was posted on the Washington Post website January 3, 2018:

Trump’s former campaign head Paul Manafort, Manafort’s former business partner Rick Gates and Trump’s campaign adviser George Papadopoulos have been charged. (Video: Jenny Starrs/Photo: Bill O’Leary/The Washington Post)

President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager, Paul J. Manafort, asked a federal court Wednesday to void the Justice Department’s appointment of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III and charges Mueller’s office filed against him, elevating Trump supporters’ attempts to discredit the probe into Russian interference in last year’s election.

Manafort’s attorneys argued in a 17-page lawsuit in federal court in Washington that the department exceeded its legal authority when, in May, acting attorney general Rod J. Rosenstein ordered Mueller to investigate “links and/or coordination” between the Russian government and Trump campaign, as well as “any matters that arose or may arise directly from” that investigation. Continue reading “Ex-Trump campaign chairman Manafort challenges his indictment in Russia probe by filing lawsuit against Mueller”

Fusion GPS to Congress: Release our testimony

The following article by the Politico staff was posted on their website January 3, 2018:

The U.S. flag flies in front of the Capitol Dome, May 2017. Credit: AP/Susan Walsh.

The founders of Fusion GPS took to the pages of The New York Times to push back against Republicans who have attacked the firm over a dossier related to the Trump Russia investigation — and to urge that their testimony be released.

“We are happy to correct the record. In fact, we already have,” wrote Glenn R. Simpson and Peter Fritsch in an op-ed published Tuesday under the headline “The Republicans’ Fake Investigations.” Continue reading “Fusion GPS to Congress: Release our testimony”

The Republicans’ Fake Investigations

The following op-ed commentary by Glenn R. Simpson and Peter Fritsch was posted on the New York Times website January 2, 2018:

Credit: Credit Harry Campbell

A generation ago, Republicans sought to protect President Richard Nixon by urging the Senate Watergate committee to look at supposed wrongdoing by Democrats in previous elections. The committee chairman, Sam Ervin, a Democrat, said that would be “as foolish as the man who went bear hunting and stopped to chase rabbits.”

Today, amid a growing criminal inquiry into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, congressional Republicans are again chasing rabbits. We know because we’re their favorite quarry. Continue reading “The Republicans’ Fake Investigations”