449

As he  stood in a joint press conference with Angela Merkel yesterday morning he went into his usual ‘no collusion’ spiel. 

“We were honored. It was a great report, no collusion, which I knew anyway, no coordination, no nothing. It’s a witch hunt, that’s all it is. There was no collusion with Russia, you can believe this one. She (Merkel) probably can’t believe it, who can? But the report was very powerful, very strong, there was no collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian people. Cause I’ve said many times before, I’ve always said there was no collusion, but I’ve also said there has been nobody tougher on Russia than me. With that all being said, if we can get along with Russia, that’s a good thing, not a bad thing, but there has been nobody tougher on Russia than me.”

“Trump’s answer runs 121 words. It’s eight sentences long. He uses the phrase “no collusion” four separate times — not to mention references to “no coordination” and “no nothing. And there’s a “witch hunt” thrown in for good measure!”

Not to digress but this ‘nobody has been tougher on Russia than me’ is another alternative fact-the Congress has been tough on Russia but Trump has been slow to implement the extra sanctions.

UPDATE: Add to this the fact that Trump seems to be running Putin’s foreign policy in Nato, in Syria, in Crimea, and perhaps the Korean Peninsula-how else do you explain the way he’s been roiled by Kim Jong un? Andy McCabe related how Trump believed Putin over his intel community on NK and now he’s saying he’s dismissing the IC’s concerns over Kim Jong’s missile test. 

Adam Schiff has continued to emphasize that a crucially important question is if Trump is compromised and making foreign policy not in American but foreign interests-Russia, the Saudis, UAE, etc.

And what has Trump gotten for defending Kim Jong un? The end of testing? No-but the dictator is willing to join Herr Trump in making fun of Joe Biden a bridge too far even for Peter King.

Good to see that at least some of Trump’s GOP co-conspirators still have a limit.

End of UPDATE

But the idea that the GOP report exonerated him of collusion is yet another alternative fact. Indeed, the GOP report actually raises yet more troubling questions.

It shows that Jeff Sessions was told about Russian active measures in August, 2016-weeks before he met with Russian Ambassador Kisylak where they discussed sanctions. 

As for Sessions’ claim that he met Kisylak in his capacity as a US Senator on the Armed Services Committee-no other Senator on the committee met with Kisylak that year.

There is also what the GOP report reveals about Papadopoulos: that he had an interview with Trump before joining the campaign and that he was already on the team by March 14 which if true is problematic for Trump:

Trump exhibited ‘no surprise’ after learning about Papadopoulos’ meeting with Mifsud on March 31.

That Trump didn’t remove Papadopoulos after hearing of his contact with Mifsud-to the contrary he was promoted-was also likely a sign to the Russians Trump was willing to deal with them. Papadopoulos’ promotion put him on the editing team for Trump’s first foreign policy speech at the Mayflower Hotel-where Trump offered Russia ‘a good deal’ on sanctions.

As for Papadopoulos’ meeting with Mifsud in Italy there’s reason to suspect this was not a chance meeting:

UPDATE: The idea that Papadopoulos spoke one on one with Trump is yet another question for Mueller.

See also the Coffee Boy’s recently released transcripts before the lame duck GOP Congress. 

End of UPDATE

 

Thanks to the HSPCI report we also know that Kushner planned on using his Russian ‘back channel’ to negotiate with Russia in December 2016-so much for one President at a time.

Indeed, the House GOP is currently looking at repealing the Logan Act-in order to retroactively protect Trump-who clearly violated it after the election.

UPDATE 2.0: Of course GOP logic sees this as no contradiction with defending Trump accusing John Kerry of-violating the Logan Act.

Then there is a true bombshell: Russian nationals including Natalia  Veselnitskaya-continued working with the Trump team after the election phase during the transition.

? verify that Mike.

As for quid pro quo:

The etymology of Papadopoulos’ Russian outreach begins to emerge:

The true first member of Trump’s NatSec team was: Michael Flynn.

Looking at the GOP report itself we get the usual ‘peripheral figures candard’-yes Papadopoulos and Carter Page had worrisome contacts but they were merely ‘peripheral figures.’

“The Republican report adds that the Russians found “willing interlocutors” in Carter Page and George Papadopoulos, two previously unknown aides named to the campaign because Trump had trouble recruiting from the Republican national security establishment. But the report asserts that the two were “peripheral figures” and neither was “in a position to influence Trump or his campaign.”

This is wrongheaded on-at least-two levels. For one thing so-called ‘peripheral figures’ often have a central role in these sorts of conspiracies-Don Segretti was also easy to dismiss as a peripheral figure but he had a central role at CREEP-and went to prison for it.

Often someone with an informal role is wrongly called peripheral though the two are quite different.

In any case regarding the Trump campaign this whole ‘peripheral role’ thing-he was there a day and got someone coffee-doesn’t even pass the laugh test at this point. Everyone who works for Trump is later dismissed as a peripheral guy who was there a couple of weeks who Trump couldn’t pick out of a lineup.

Trump has said this of Paul Manafort who was his campaign manager for 5 months-during the critical time of collecting delegates to nail down the nomination and the GOP convention.

As for Carter Page and George Papadopulos, they were Trump’s first two official members of his NatSec team:

So these peripheral figures begun as Trump’s entire NatSec apparatus. And they had longevity-Page didn’t officially leave the Trump campaign until October, 2016 shortly before the news broke that the FBI had obtained a FISA warrant against him; Papadopoulos was still part of the Trump team-and meeting with foreign dignitaries on its behalf-through to the Inauguration.

So how did these two  come to occupy such high ranking places in the Trump NatSec team? The most charitable explanation for the TrumpWorld is that it was just purely random bad luck-ie, a terrible job of vetting. For the most part this has been the basis for those skeptical of collusion-the Trump campaign is so incompetent and corrupt that it acts in ways that make it look like it could have colluded-but really it didn’t.

They had all these Russian connected staffers but it was all just really bad luck.

So these figures were not ‘peripheral’ and the fact that the GOP didn’t even interview Papadopoulos just shows how ‘peripheral’ their entire report is.

 

UPDATE 3.0

Here is the full GOP report

“The Committee collected facts related to the FB1’s investigation through May 2017, until the appointment of Special Counsel Robert Mueller. The Committee dld not examine events that occurred thereafter in order to avoid interfering with Special Counsel Mueller’s ongoing investigation. While this chapter addresses the FBl’s investigation, facts identified by the Committee relating to Russia contacts with Trump campaign associates, including the individuals under FBI investigation, are addressed in Chapter 4.

Pg. 39

https://docs.house.gov/meetings/IG/IG00/20180322/108023/HRPT-115-1.pdf

Let’s look at the  Nunes’ Memo’s last paragraph:

Of course, this GOP counternarrative focuses more on Strozk and Lisa Page than Carter Page and Papadopoulos-as if the FBI really was ClintonWorld rather than TrumpWorld during 2016.

Regarding the claim there is no evidence of ‘any cooperation or conspiracy between Page and Papadopoulos’ this isn’t true. I mean there’s at least some evidence that can be inferred.

Let’s look for a moment at Papadopoulos’ indictment memo:

21. From mid-June through mid-August 2016, PAPADOPOULOS pursued an “off the record” meeting between one or more Carnpaign representatives and “members of president putin’s office and the mfa.”

a. For example,-on or about June 19, 2016, after several email and Skype exchanges with the Russian MFA Connection, defendant PAPADOPOULOS emailed the HighRanking Campaign Official, with the subject line “New message from Russia”: “The Russian ministry of foreign affairs messaged and said that if Mr. Trump is unable to make it to Russia, if a campaign rep (me or someone else) can make it for meetings? I am willing to make the trip off the record if it’s in the interest ofMr. Trump and the campaign to meet specific people.”

b. After several weeks of further communications regarding a potential “off the record” meeting with Russian officials, on or about August 15, 2016, the Campaign Supervisor told defendant PAPADOPOULOS that “I would encourage you” and another foreign policy advisor to the Campaign to “make the trip{], if it is feasible.”

c. The trip proposed by defendant PAPADOPOULOS did not take place.

Pg. 9

UPDATE:

5/30/2019

But it seems to me that this trip did take place just that the Glorified Coffee Boy didn’t take it-Carter Page did, a trip for which  the Mueller Report says a lot is still unknown. By the way while Ari Melber seems to think that Bill Barr’s fake Exoneration Letter of Trump also means Carter Page-and Papadoloulos(!)-is exonerated-the MR seems to suggest that Page certainly could have been charged  as a foreign agent. 

Why he wasn’t is yet another interesting question for Mueller when the Dems interview Mueller-despite what Mueller said yesterday about the report speaking for itself and the suggestion that if he testifies he’s basically going to read the same exact statement all over again it seems likely the Dems will end up hearing from him at some point-though I sure hope they have some urgency about all this as the quickly running clock is Trump’s best friend.

Emptywheel has her theory why he wasn’t charged based on her suspicions about the Steele Dossier.

Unfortunately MSMers like Ari Melber have wrongly extrapolated that from Bill Barr’s fake EXONERATION letter that Carter Page too was EXONERATED-as well as Papadopoulos(!)

How a lawyer like him doesn’t get that not being charged doesn’t necessarily mean innocent I just don’t get.

And as there are 20 open investigations and spinoffs from Mueller it’s certainly possible another court may charge Carter Page.

UPDATE 4.0: Mueller is going to speak in a few minutes this morning.

Indeed add to this the fact that Barr already apparently knows exactly what he will say

UPDATE 5.0: While at first glance I worried that this was a whitewash-Mueller really said nothing new and vowed to say nothing new in the future and even went out of his way to say he didn’t question Barr’s veracity it turns out Mueller’s very careful, terse performance hit its mark.

End of UPDATE 5.0

And full Dem report:

Witnesses: The Majority refused to seek testimony from dozens of witnesses proposed by the Minority, as described above. The Majority also failed to call in a significant number of current and former U.S. government officials, as well as outside experts, who could have shed light on Russia’s active measures campaign, the U.S. government’s response under the Obama and Trump administrations, and policy and legislative recommendations to protect the United States and our elections infrastructure moving forward. This includes numerous Intelligence Community personnel with unique insight who were or are currently in sensitive positions and are engaged in pertinent operational activity, such as the FBI’s new Foreign Influence Task Force. The Majority also made no effort to engage the Special Counsel about interviewing central witnesses in this probe: Michael Flynn, Paul Manafort, Rick Gates, George Papadopoulos, and George Nader. To ensure a credible investigation, particularly on the issues of collusion, financial leverage and money laundering, and obstruction of justice, the Committee must interview these individuals. All but Manafort have entered into cooperation agreements with the Special Counsel, and the Committee should have engaged with his office to determine when interviews could proceed without impairing his work. The Minority made a motion to do so at the time the Majority sought adoption of its report, but the Majority voted against pursuing interviews of these key witnesses. The transcript of the March 22, 2018 Committee business meeting is incorporated in Chapter VI.”

“The Majority’s refusal to seek testimony from George Papadopoulos exemplifies its efforts to impair the investigation. Without interviewing Papadopoulos and seeking relevant records to determine whom on the campaign he would have reported this overture to and assess whether any follow-up occurred, the Committee was unable to examine the precise facts regarding Russia’s approach to Papadopoulos, during which they informed him they possessed stolen Clinton-related emails and, crucially, previewed their later dissemination of this information. Only weeks later, the President’s son, Donald Trump, Jr., would take a meeting in Trump Tower with other Russian emissaries offering dirt on Clinton. This yawning gap in the investigative record, and many others, fundamentally undermines the credibility of the Majority’s findings.

https://docs.house.gov/meetings/IG/IG00/20180322/108023/HRPT-115-2.pdf

 

Abramson’s analysis:

The key player in the Trump Tower Russia meeting was NOT Don Jr-or Kushner-but: Manafort.

UPDATE 6.0:

Since the release of the redacted Mueller Report Manafort’s central role in Russian collusion has only become more and more clear. Rick Gates told Mueller about how jazzed Manafort was about the release of the DNC emails-remember he was the campaign manager at the time and on the very day-August 2, 2016-that Jerome Corsi told Roger Stone about both the content of Assange’s latest hacked emails-Podesta-and the time period-about October-Manafort was dining with GRU operative Konstanin Kilimnik-who admitted they discussed among other things, the DNC hacks-though ‘informally’-along with Manafort handing over 75 detailed pages of campaign polling data.

All of this makes it even more plausible that Seth Abramson is right and that Manafort was the directed senior campaign official mentioned in Mueller’s indictment memo of Roger Stone-directed by Trump himself?

End UPDATE 6.0

The GOP admits the meeting ‘poor judgment’ but then dismisses the importance of the Trump Tower meeting because ‘nothing came of it’-at least not as far as we know. But this is NOT exculpatory-to the contrary it establishes intent:

Meanwhile. Papadopoulos was so ‘peripheral’ to the campaign he was asked to meet with a Russian MFA official in August 2016.

As Greg Sargent documents, the Dem response actually raises questions about wether Donald Jr spoke to  his father immediately following his setting up the specifics of the Trump Tower meeting of June, 2016. 

“According to the Democratic response, right after Trump Jr. set up the specifics of the meeting, he had two calls with a number in Russia belonging to Emin Agalarov. Between those two calls, the Democratic response recounts, Trump Jr. received a third call from a blocked number. Who might it have been?

Democrats wanted to find out, but Republicans blocked it from happening, according to the Democrats’ response.

“We sought to determine whether that number belonged to the president, because we also ascertained that then-candidate Trump used a blocked number,” Schiff said during our interview. “That would tell us whether Don Jr. sought his father’s permission to take the meeting, and [whether] that was the purpose of that call.”

So how do you determine if this was actually in fact Trump’s number? The obvious way would be to subpoena the phone records but the GOP didn’t want to do that. They claim there’s no evidence of collusion but the clear pattern in their fake investigation was not to look too hard for such evidence:

Schiff added that Democrats asked Republicans to subpoena phone records to determine whose number it was, but Republicans “refused,” Schiff said. “They didn’t want to know whether he had informed his father and sought his permission to take that meeting with the Russians.”

“Trump has denied he knew or heard about the meeting. So naturally, any investigator would want to find out if Trump Jr. spoke to his father at the very moment he was arranging the meeting.”

Any real investigator who wasn’t committed to a predetermined judgment that ‘there was absolutely no collusion.’

Because if Don Jr did speak to him in between calls with Emin Agalarov it would be, as Sargent notes, ‘absolutely explosive news’-as it would show both that Trump lied when he claimed not have known about the meeting at the time and it would have also made him a participant even though he was not in the room.

This is just another case of the GOP claiming no collusion but in fact not wanting to know. Indeed, to claim there is no evidence of it doesn’t even pass the laugh test seeing as they didn’t even interview Papadopoulos.

They used Mueller as an excuse not to interview many of the the most important witnesses regarding the question of wether or not here was collusion. But then, at best, all they would be able to say was that they were not able to review some of the most important evidence and then can’t say wether there is enough evidence or not. They certainly can’t say definitively that there was not evidence of collusion as they themselves admit to not seeking it out.

To be sure, Mueller was just an excuse-Watergate had both the Independent Counsel Leon Jaworski and a Congressional Select Committee. There is a vitally important role for Congress to play in an investigation as important as this one. The GOP has abdicated its role here.

Truly the Party of Treason P.O.T.

UPDATE 7.0:

Regarding the blocked number according to Senate GOPer Richard Burr-who it must be said is a Trump loyalist who the Mueller Report shows leaked information to Trump about the FBI investigation the call wasn’t from Trump. 

The big picture: Trump Jr. made phone calls to two blocked numbers the same day he spoke with Russian pop star Emin Agalarov, who helped set up a meeting three days later with a Kremlin-linked lawyer claiming to have dirt on Hillary Clinton. He made another phone call to a private number several hours after the meeting. There has long been speculation that the calls were to his father, and that then-candidate Trump had advanced knowledge of the meeting — an allegation he has denied.

  • Three sources familiar with the calls tell ABC News that the blocked numbers belong to NASCAR CEO Brian France and real estate developer Howard Lorber, longtime Trump family friends who supported the president during the 2016 campaign. Lorber has extensive business dealings in Russia and brought Trump to Moscow in 1996 to explore real estate options, according to the Washington Post.

What we don’t know: It’s unclear why Trump Jr. made the phone calls and what was discussed during the three conversations, which lasted 11 minutes, 4 minutes and 3 minutes, respectively. It’s also not known whether special counsel Robert Mueller has obtained the phone records.

So it might not have been Trump Sr. but Lorber himself also has Russia ties.

Michael Cohen testified to his belief based in part on a phone call he overheard that Donald Jr told Sr about the meeting beforehand. 

 

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