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Trump Russia Tag

Posted by William A. Jacobson on June 07, 2017 21 Comments
The official statement (pdf.) from James Comey, to be read during the hearing tomorrow, has bombshells -- but they are helpful to Donald Trump. The statement is embedded in full at the bottom of this post. Comey confirms -- contrary to media reports -- that he told Trump that Trump was not personally under investigation. That's a pretty big concession considering speculation that Trump himself was under investigation. Comey also paints a picture of Trump trying to put in a good word for Michael Flynn, but there is no suggestion that anything rising to the level of obstruction of justice was said. Also, Comey made clear that those comments did not relate to the general investigation of Russian interference in the election. We will have additional analysis shortly.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on June 06, 2017 28 Comments
On Thursday James Comey will testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee. It will be the Greatest Show on Earth that day, broadcast live by every major network:
“The Young and the Restless” will be preempted by a different soap opera on Thursday. The star will be former FBI director James B. Comey. In a rare move, CBS is scrapping its daytime lineup to carry live coverage of Comey's testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee, and NBC and ABC are doing the same. This is a big deal that places the Comey session on a shortlist of congressional hearings deemed worthy of live airings on broadcast television — a list that includes the Army-McCarthy hearings in 1954, Watergate hearings in 1973, Iran-contra hearings in 1987, Anita Hill-Clarence Thomas hearings in 1991 and President Bill Clinton impeachment hearings in 1998.

Posted by Mary Chastain on June 06, 2017 63 Comments
NSA contractor Reality Leigh Winner faces charges for mailing classified information to a media outlet. Winner gave a report to The Intercept that shows "Russian military intelligence executed a cyberattack on at least one U.S. voting software supplier and sent spear-phishing emails to more than 100 local election officials just days before last November’s presidential election." The FBI arrested Winner on June 3 at her home in Georgia. She went to court on Monday afternoon.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on June 01, 2017 39 Comments
I was a guest today on Newsmax TV - America Talks Live with Bill Tucker. The main topic was James Comey's upcoming testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee. I was able to clear up a common misconception about Comey's May 3, 2017, testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Many people -- on Twitter and in the punditry -- believe that Comey stated on May 3 there had been no attempts to stop his investigation. If Comey gave such testimony before the Senate, it would be consistent with the testimony of Rod Rosenstein, the Deputy Attorney General, on May 19 that there had been no "political interference" in the investigation (emphasis added):

Posted by Mary Chastain on May 24, 2017 13 Comments
On Monday, former national security adviser Michael Flynn refused to honor a subpoena from the Senate Intelligence Committee for documents connected to the investigation into its Russian probe. He invoked his Fifth Amendment right. The committee has tried another way to receive the documents by issuing two subpoenas for two of Flynn's former businesses. From Reuters:
"While we disagree with General Flynn's lawyers' interpretation of taking the Fifth ... it's even more clear that a business does not have a right to take the Fifth," the panel's vice chairman, Democratic Senator Mark Warner, told reporters, referring to Flynn's decision to invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on May 22, 2017 26 Comments
The MSM is hating President Trump's foreign trip. Why? Because it takes the spotlight off what they'd much rather be covering: the investigations back home into Russian involvement in the election. Yesterday, we witnessed a CNN host fretting that President Trump's successful speech in Saudi Arabia might be "normalizing" him. Now it's Mika Brzezinski's turn to insist that she won't let Morning Joe be distracted by the foreign trip. On today's show, when HuffPo's Sam Stein said that despite the investigations, people are "going about our business," Mika jumped on him.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 20, 2017 40 Comments
I'm so old, I remember when the breaking news was that James Comey was fired because he sought additional resources from the Department of Justice for the Russia investigation. The New York Times broke the story on May 10, 2017, Days Before Firing, Comey Asked for More Resources for Russia Inquiry:
Days before he was fired as F.B.I. director, James B. Comey asked the Justice Department for more prosecutors and other personnel to accelerate the bureau’s investigation into Russia’s interference in the presidential election. It was the first clear-cut evidence that Mr. Comey believed the bureau needed more resources to handle a sprawling and highly politicized counterintelligence investigation.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 19, 2017 38 Comments
Another day, another series of NY Times and WaPo stories based on leaks. The NY Times reports that Trump told the Russian Foreign Minister and Ambassador that Comey was a "nut job" who had politicized the investigation, and that his firing relieved "great pressure". The report was based on someone reading a memo about the meeting to the Times reporter. Here is the White House's response, issued in Sean Spicer's name:

Posted by Mike LaChance on May 18, 2017 30 Comments
George Washington University Law Professor Jonathan Turley is often a voice of reason in a sea of media hysteria. Last night he spoke with Martha MacCallum of FOX News about the appointment of Robert Mueller as special counsel in the FBI Russia investigation. Turley suggested this could work out well for Trump. From the FOX News Insider:
Prof. Turley: Special Counsel Mueller 'Healthy Dose of Tylenol' For US Turley said that until Muller was named, President Trump could not fully clear his name in the face of ongoing leaks and allegations.

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on May 18, 2017 19 Comments
What a difference a day makes. Yesterday, DC was deep in the throes of impeachment fever. Today, the collective political temperature has plummeted all because of deputy AG Rod Rosenstein's appointment of the highly-respected Robert Mueller as special counsel to oversee the investigation of possible Russian involvement in the presidential election. As a marker of just how dramatically the mood has changed, consider these statements about Rosenstein on today's Morning Joe. The Washington Post's David Ignatius said that Rosenstein "went from the seeming fall guy to the defender of our republic." Joe Scarborough seconded the notion: "it sounds melodramatic; it's not. Rod Rosenstein: defender of our republic, ensurer of our system of checks and balances." John Heilemann similarly credited Rosenstein with "saving the constitutional republic."

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 17, 2017 33 Comments
I can't recall a media feeding frenzy quite like has been directed at Donald Trump. What's remarkable about this frenzy is that it takes place in the absence -- as of now -- of any actual evidence of Trump wrongdoing, much less illegality. More on that later in the post. Sometimes I think it resembles how the media swarmed all over Mitt Romney after Benghazi in September 2012, accusing him of politicizing the deaths of four Americans. The media purpose plainly was to help Obama escape political damage by making the story about Romney. I wrote about it at the time, Dead Ambassador dragged through streets, MSM furious at Romney criticism of Obama:

Posted by Mary Chastain on May 17, 2017 30 Comments
The Department of Justice has appointed former FBI Director Robert Mueller III as special counsel to its investigation into possible Russian interference in our presidential election. The Wall Street Journal reported:
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein announced the appointment because Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from any investigation related to the 2016 race. Mr. Rosenstein said in a statement that “I determined that it is in the public interest for me to exercise my authority and appoint a Special Counsel to assume responsibility of this matter.”

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on May 16, 2017 35 Comments
How are Dems playing their reaction to the news that President Trump shared intelligence information with the Russians during a White House visit? Judging by the statement from former Obama special assistant Ned Price, they've turned it up to 11. Appearing on today's Morning Joe, Price said:

"Last week we had this hearing of all national security officials on worldwide threats. And of course, they covered ISIL, they covered Syria, North Korea. I think we have to start asking ourselves: at what point does this administration itself become a threat we have to be concerned about?"

Posted by Mary Chastain on May 16, 2017 39 Comments
Yesterday, The Washington Post caused mass hysteria when it released a report that President Donald Trump provided highly classified information to the Russian Foreign Minister and Ambassador. Of course the publication used anonymous sources. National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster denied the story through a written statement and in front of the press. Then today he went before the press again and told reporters that Trump did not compromise any sources or methods to the Russians. He described the discussion as "wholly appropriate."

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 15, 2017 79 Comments
The Washington Post ran a story late this afternoon claiming Donald Trump, in his meeting with Russian Foreign Minister and Ambassador, disclosed highly classified information, including information that could reveal sources and methods. Despite the length of the story, the allegations of substance are all in this single paragraph:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 04, 2017 17 Comments
Unless there are more facts that come out, the charges that the Trump campaign colluded with the Russians during the campaign should go down as one of the most preposterous and dangerous conspiracy theories in recent political history. It is a theory pushed relentlessly in the media and by Democrats to try to undermine our political institutions, including the Electoral College. It is the foam coming out of the mouths of Democrats and #NeverTrump Republicans. It is spread with reckless abandon by Twitter and social media personalities you never heard of until they started shouting that Trump and his cohorts had committed treason; now they have hundreds of thousands of followers who retweet by the thousands every innuendo. I wrote about this back in February, The fact-free Intelligence Community-Media trial of Trump by innuendo. Yet what evidence is there even now to support the conspiracy theory? As of this moment, apparently none.
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