Tag: Trump transition

Russia wanted Trump to win in 2016, Mueller testifies — challenging Barr

AG has directed agents to investigate CIA’s conclusion that Putin wanted Trump to win

Russia perpetrated a sweeping influence campaign during the 2016 U.S. presidential elections and wanted President Donald Trump to prevail over Democrat Hillary Clinton, special counsel Robert S. Mueller III testified on Wednesday.

Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a senior Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, asked Mueller at his hearing on Wednesday if the Russian government “perceived it would benefit from one of the candidates winning.”

Mueller confirmed that they did.

View the complete July 24 article by Griffin Connolly on The Roll Call website here.

Comey: Mueller findings show Trump lied about FBI, his attempt to destroy the agency failed

The former FBI director spoke to NBC News in his first on TV interview since the special counsel ended his investigation.

Former FBI Director James Comey, in his first television interview since special counsel Robert Mueller concluded his investigation, said the principal findings of the probe show President Donald Trump’s blistering criticism of the FBI were lies and his attempt to destroy the agency had failed.

Comey, in an exclusive interview with NBC News, told “Nightly News” anchor Lester Holt that the release of Attorney General William Barr’s summary of Mueller’s investigation“establishes, I hope, to all people no matter where they are on the spectrum, that the FBI is not corrupt, not a nest of vipers, of spies, but an honest group of people trying to find out what is true.”

Responding to Holt’s question about whether the “damage to the reputation of the justice system, FBI in particular, been worth it,” Comey replied that “on balance” it had.

View the complete March 27 article along with video of the interview on the NBC News website here.

‘If you took it all in in one day, it would kill you’: What Mueller’s investigation has already revealed

He pulled back the curtain on a sophisticated Kremlin hacking operation — identifying by name the 12 Russian military officers who he said sought to sway a U.S. election.

He exposed a Russian online influence campaign — bringing criminal charges against the 13 members of a Russian troll farm now accused of trying to manipulate U.S. voters and sow division through fake social media personae.

And he revealed how those closest to President Trump defrauded banks, cheated on their taxes and, time and time again, lied to deflect inquiries into their ties with Russia.

View the complete March 22 article by Matt Zapotosky and Rosalind S. Helderman on The Washignton Post website here.

Do Americans think Mueller’s probe is a witch hunt? Depends on how you ask.

Dissecting why a new poll finds more skepticism about the probe than others

On Monday, President Trump tweeted about a new survey finding released earlier in the day. He said that a poll found that “50% of Americans AGREE that Robert Mueller’s investigation is a Witch Hunt.” That claim is in line with the USA Today report. But a close look at the survey and other recent polling suggests it may overstate the public’s skepticism of the Mueller probe.

Donald J. Trump

✔@realDonaldTrump

Wow! A Suffolk/USA Today Poll, just out, states, “50% of Americans AGREE that Robert Mueller’s investigation is a Witch Hunt.” @MSNBC Very few think it is legit! We will soon find out?

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Here’s how the question was asked: “President Trump has called the Special Counsel’s investigation a ‘witch hunt’ and said he’s been subjected to more investigations than previous presidents because of politics. Do you agree?”

There are a lot of ways to ask a question such as this, and it’s useful to measure whether Americans share Trump’s skepticism of the Mueller investigation. But this question and its interpretation skirt a couple of best practices for opinion-poll question wording, as highlighted by Monmouth University Polling Institute director Patrick Murray in several tweets.

View the complete March 18 article by Emily Guskin and Scott Clement on The Washington Post website here.

Mueller focus shifts to Rick Gates

The focus of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation is about to shift to Richard Gates.

Gates, Paul Manafort’s ex-business partner and President Trump’s former deputy campaign chairman, has been quietly cooperating with federal prosecutors for over a year on Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

He’s also a cooperating witness to other undisclosed federal probes.

View the complete March 14 article by Morgan Chalfant on The Hill website here.

House votes for Mueller report to be made public

The House passed a resolution Thursday calling on Justice Department (DOJ) officials to release special counsel Robert Mueller’s highly anticipated report about his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Lawmakers unanimously passed the nonbinding resolution in a 420-0 vote.

Four Republicans — Reps. Paul Gosar (Ariz.), Matt Gaetz (Fla.), Thomas Massie (Ky.), and Justin Amash (Mich.) — voted present.

View the complete March 14 article by Juliegrace Brufke and Morgan Chalfant on The Hill website here.

Mueller says Flynn’s cooperation ‘complete’

Michael Flynn’s cooperation in Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation is complete, lawyers for the special counsel said in a Tuesday night report to a federal judge presiding over the former Trump national security adviser’s case.

In the same joint status report, Flynn’s lawyers asked for a 90-day delay in their client’s sentencing so he could continue to cooperate with the government in his former business partner’s upcoming trial in Alexandria, Va. Flynn expects to testify in the mid-July trial against Bijan Rafiekian, who faces charges of conspiracy and acting as an unregistered foreign government agent for Turkey.

“At this time, the defendant continues to request a continuance since the case in EDVA has not been resolved, and there may be additional cooperation for the defendant to provide pursuant to the plea agreement in this matter,” Flynn’s attorneys said in the report to U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan, referring to the Eastern District of Virginia.

View the complete March 12 article by Darren Samuelsohn on the Politico website here.

Here’s What Happens When Robert Mueller Is Done

Will Mueller’s report be made public? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

WASHINGTON — This is not a story about when special counsel Robert Mueller will finish his investigation, or when he’ll submit his final report. Speculation has floated for weeks that he’s close to finishing, but no one knows for sure. This is about what will happen once he’s done and what happens after Mueller and his team of prosecutors disband.

The big picture: When the investigation is over, Mueller will submit a report to Attorney General Bill Barr, and Barr will submit a report of his own to Congress. Neither report must be public, but both can be. Pending prosecutions and investigations, such as the criminal case against longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone, will continue; Mueller’s office has been partnering with other federal prosecutors who can take over. Mueller will no longer be the most watched man in America, and he could return to the lucrative job he left in private practice — or at least go to an Apple Store or the airport without having his picture taken. Continue reading “Here’s What Happens When Robert Mueller Is Done”

Demolishing Erik Prince: One TV interview shows exactly how to deal with Trump’s allies

Mehdi Hasan of Al Jazeera English took Trump pal Erik Prince apart in two minutes. American media: Watch and learn.

“He can’t keep getting away with it!” was one of the lines from “Breaking Bad” in which Aaron Paul’s award-winning acting talents were on full soul-crushing display. In the climactic scene from season five, episode 12, Paul’s Jesse Pinkman cries out in mid-nervous breakdown over the fact that Bryan Cranston’s Walter White indeed keeps getting away with one murderously bad decision after another.

Somehow, Donald Trump and his crew of mostly incompetent co-conspirators seemingly keep getting away with it — flooding the zone with one trespass after another, against the rule of law or against democratic norms or against common decency. To varying extents, we’re all Jesse Pinkman these days, raging for justice and fighting against the slowly metastasizing normalization of Trumpism.

With the exception of a few fearless White House reporters, the press has mostly been hectored into submission when directly challenging the Trump team. Credit where credit is due: Playboy’s Brian Karem and CNN’s Jim Acosta have each risked their posts by refusing to be silenced mid-question by Trump’s stumpy-fingered bullying. Likewise, Rachel Maddow and Lawrence O’Donnell have been particularly relentless in their coverage of the Trump crisis. The print press has provided volumes of reporting along these lines too, but too many White House journalists continue to lose their nerve when battered by Trump’s cowardly aggression against what he calls “the enemies of the people.” (Everything he says and does telegraphs his guilt.)

Manafort sentenced to nearly 4 years in prison

A federal judge on Thursday sentenced former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort to 47 months in prison, well below the amount recommended by the sentencing guidelines.

The sentence imposed by Judge T.S. Ellis III, a Reagan appointee, was significantly less than the 19 1/2 to 24 years Manafort could have received under the advisory recommendations.

In remarks from the bench, Ellis described Manafort’s crimes as “very serious” but said the guideline range was “not at all appropriate.” He pointed to significantly more-lenient sentences handed down in similar cases.

View the complete March 7 article by Lydia Wheeler, Morgan Chalfant and Tal Axelrod on The Hill website here.