TAKE THE POLL: HOW LONG BEFORE TRUMP GETS IMPEACHED

[syscom3]

Lying? That means 535 congressman and senators would also be subject to the same charge. And five former presidents. Come on Mac, you can do better than that.

The evidence so far is the FBI interfered in the election. And Illegally obtained search warrents by the DOJ. And generally nothing so far points to the POTUS.

Facts to ponder. Collusion is not a crime. Firing the FBI director for any reason is a right a president has.

 

[WhiteOutNow]

Unfortunately, the Congress decides whether to impeach, specifically the House of Representatives, and this current bunch of Repubs are much too cowardly and sycophantic to ever prefer articles of impeachment, no matter what he has done or is doing, so the only way Trumpenstein will ever be impeached is if Congress is flipped over to Democratic control.

 

[subhub174014]

Mueller probe outgrows its ‘witch hunt’ phase

Steve Bannon’s eyes lit up. Several months before he left his job as a senior White House adviser last August, Bannon was talking to President Trump about the brewing political storm over the Justice Department investigation into his campaign’s alleged ties to the Kremlin. Suddenly, Trump had an inspiration. He looked straight at Bannon, jabbed at him with his finger and uttered the phrase that would become the slogan of the White House pushback against the Russia probe: “Witch hunt!”
Brilliant, thought Bannon, as he later related the exchange to colleagues.
Ever since, it is a phrase Trump has returned to time and again — and repackaged with typical Trumpian hyperbole. “This is the single greatest witch hunt of a politician in American history!” Trump tweeted last May after ex-FBI director Robert Mueller was appointed as Justice Department special counsel to oversee the probe.

But now, as Trump prepares to end his first year in office, the witch hunt narrative may have outlived its usefulness. Mueller’s investigation has expanded and gained serious traction: The president’s former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, and Manafort’s chief deputy, Rick Gates, have been indicted. His former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, has pleaded guilty and is now a cooperating witness. So too is a former foreign policy adviser, George Papadopoulos, who has admitted lying to the FBI about repeated contacts with alleged Russian cutouts who had offered the Trump campaign “dirt” on Hillary Clinton in the form of “thousands of emails.”

As described by sources familiar with various aspects of the investigation, the Mueller probe is fast approaching a critical crossroads. The president’s lawyers, Ty Cobb and John Dowd, are pressing Mueller to wind down the investigation and exonerate their client, which they have assured the president will happen by early next year.
But the sources familiar with the probe say that such a rapid conclusion is — as one put it — “fanciful.” Mueller and his team, they say, are pursuing new leads, interrogating new witnesses and collecting a mountain of new evidence, including subpoenaed bank records and thousands of emails from the campaign and the Trump transition.
In just the last few weeks, his prosecutors have begun questioning Republican National Committee staffers about the party digital operation that worked with the Trump campaign to target voters in key swing states. They are seeking to determine if the joint effort was related to the activities of Russian trolls and bots aimed at influencing the American electorate, according to two of the sources.

In what is potentially another ominous sign for the White House, the lawyer for Jared Kushner, the president’s ******* in law and senior adviser who was in charge of the campaign’s digital operation, recently began searching for a crisis public relations firm to handle press inquiries — a step frequently taken by people who believe they may be facing criminal charges. (Kushner has denied all wrongdoing, and his lawyer, Abbe Lowell, has said he is cooperating with the Mueller investigation.)

Even if the new lines of inquiry don’t result in additional indictments — something unknowable at this point — the new material all but guarantees the Mueller investigation will stretch on for months, if not years, likely provoking Trump to revisit his decision not to fire the special counsel.
And if the president does take that step, many lawmakers and legal veterans say, it will cause a political explosion unlike any the capital has seen in decades. “It will be cataclysmic,” said Richard Ben-Veniste, a former Watergate prosecutor who lived through the so-called Saturday night massacre when President Richard Nixon fired special prosecutor Archibald Cox. “It will create a constitutional crisis.”

In the meantime, the president’s allies are mounting a ferocious attack on Mueller’s team — pointing to tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions to Hillary Clinton and other Democrats by the special counsel’s prosecutors, and to text messages disparaging Trump by FBI agent Peter Strzok, whom Mueller has since moved off the investigation. They are also gunning for top FBI officials, especially deputy director Andrew McCabe, who they believe began a counterintelligence investigation of the Trump campaign’s links to the Russians last year based in part on the controversial dossier prepared by a former British spy and funded as “opposition research” by the Clinton campaign.
“Everything points to the fact that there was an orchestrated plan to try to prevent Donald Trump from being the next president of the United States,” said Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, a member of the House Judiciary Committee, in a recent television interview in which he vowed to subpoena senior FBI agents about the origins of the probe.

But for Democrats, the attacks on Mueller and the FBI are a distraction tactic meant to obscure how much has already been uncovered about the Trump team’s contacts with the Russians. Back in January, when the issue first starting getting political traction, the president and his top aides denied that he and his campaign had any connections to Moscow. “I have nothing to do with Russia,” Trump tweeted at the time.
Since then, Mueller’s team and congressional investigators have detailed numerous contacts, meetings and email exchanges between Trump’s campaign and Russian-connected operatives and officials that were unknown to the public when voters went to the polls in November 2016. Jeff Sessions, the Trump campaign’s chief national security adviser, met with the Russian ambassador at a hotel reception and later in his Senate office. Papadopoulos met with a Russia-connected professor and a woman introduced as “Putin’s niece” in an effort to set up a summit between Trump and the Russian president. And most famously, Donald Trump Jr., Kushner and Manafort all met in Trump Tower with a delegation of Russians who they believed had derogatory information on Hillary Clinton — including “official documents” — that came straight from the highest levels of the Kremlin.

Just from what’s been made public, it’s pretty clear the Trump campaign and family were willing and eager to work with the Russians,” said Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., a member of the House Intelligence Committee. “They showed almost no restraint in engaging with the Russians to see what they had to offer on their opponent. It was a ‘whatever it takes’ mentality.”

Whether all this adds up to “collusion” — the sensational charge of active collaboration between the Trump campaign and Moscow that was first laid out in the controversial dossier commissioned by the Clinton campaign — is far from clear. But for Swalwell and quite a few others, it is already clear that the Russian probe has been far more than a witch hunt.

 

[subhub174014]

Mueller Investigation: Did Trump, Kushner and RNC Help Russia Use Big Data to Target U.S. Voters?
Cristina Maza,Newsweek

Special counsel Robert Mueller is questioning Republican National Committee (RNC) staffers about whether the Trump campaign’s digital operations team worked with Russia to target U.S. voters, Yahoo News reported on Wednesday.
The Mueller team, which is investigating whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia to influence the outcome of the 2016 election, is now focusing on whether Trump’s team helped Russia target voters in key swing states through online ads, according to the report.
Russia used social media and political advertising to target voters and foment social discord during the 2016 campaign. Russian online posts masqueraded as American far-right and far-left political entities and even attempted to ignite racial tensions. Russian trolls and bots also targeted social media users across the U.S. in the lead-up to the election.

Two sources told Yahoo News that Mueller is investigating whether the Russian trolls and bots gained assistance from a joint RNC and Trump campaign data operation, which was managed by Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s *******-in-law and adviser.

Kushner is reportedly cooperating with the special counsel’s investigation (his representatives declined to comment). The FBI already was investigating Kushner’s activities during his time working on the Trump campaign, and Kushner’s legal team is now looking into hiring an emergency public relations company to deal with high-profile clients.

Voter data played a large role in the Trump campaign’s efforts in 2016, and investigators have been looking into whether Trump collaborated with Russia to influence voters. The RNC provided the Trump campaign with useful demographic data about voters, information that was used by the campaign to target voters with political messaging that would appeal to them. Many experts have marveled at the high level of sophistication of Russia’s online campaigns to target voters in swing states, and some have suggested they may have received help from inside the U.S.
Members of the House Intelligence Committee questioned social media giants Facebook, Twitter and Google last month about whether there was any coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia to create online ads. The companies said they would provide additional information.
Investigators also have been looking into whether Russia provided the Trump campaign with voter information stolen by Russian hackers.

Meanwhile, the Trump campaign paid the data company Cambridge Analytica $5.9 million to buy television ads and help with other campaign efforts. The RNC reportedly worked closely with the company on Trump campaign business.
It was later revealed that the data company’s CEO approached WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to gain access to private emails allegedly stolen from Hillary Clinton, copies of which WikiLeaks had allegedly obtained from Russian hackers.
WikiLeaks, which leaks classified information, is believed to have ties to the Russian government. During the presidential primaries last year, the organization released private emails stolen from members of the Democratic National Committee just in time for the committee’s convention, allegedly in an attempt to hurt Hillary Clinton.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/mueller-investigation-did-trump-kushner-204849645.html

 

[BigBlackBull76]

Ive been hella busy and just no time to post much anything on this site much less this thread. I find it interesting people are still debating whether Trump and his cabal are innocent or have any dirt on their fingers whatsoever. Hasn't 4 indictments against people in his cabinet on dealings with Russia and lying to the FBI told you anything yet? Where there is smoke, there is fire.

Stop falling for the okey-doke and lies by the Trump campaign - Kushner had back-channels to Russia to help them target American's through FB. There is so much INFO and facts out there but you people want to only listen to the right-wing propaganda machine which keeps trying to spin and twist the winds of fire blowing against them back toward investigating Hillary and whatever B.S. she may have did which Congress has already investigated and shut-down.

THE URANIUM ONE DEAL IS A FALSE NARRATIVE AND FALSE FLAG. I swear forget 95% of the people not knowing what the Bell Curve is, you fools still believing Trump is innocent is way worse than being ignorant of what the Bell Curve is which doesn't make a dam difference in your life unless your a statistician anyway. But what Trump and his merry cabal have done and now are doing with looting America is way worse. Open up your dam eyes and stop being sheep and lulled into a false state of sleep already!!!!!





President Donald Trump has reportedly called the Russia scandal a “cloud” hanging over his presidency. And throughout his first year in office, the weather has been very cloudy indeed.

Again and again, news about the investigations into the Trump team’s ties to Russia dominated headlines this year. And with two Trump campaign advisers indicted and set to face trial, two others flipping to become cooperating witnesses, and the president himself under scrutiny for potential obstruction of justice, there will surely be more to come next year as well.

Yet as 2017 winds down, there is still no clear answer to the central question at the heart of the probe: Did Trump’s team collude with the Russian government during the 2016 campaign?

Several Trump advisers have now acknowledged having contacts with people tied to the Russian government during the campaign. And, we now know, at least two of those conversations involved discussion of “dirt” the Russian government claimed to have on Hillary Clinton.

But we still don’t yet know whether these actually led to anything — actual coordination, say, or a secret deal of some kind between Trump’s team and the Russians. That question remains a mystery — one that special counsel Robert Mueller’s team is now working to answer, one way or the other.

What people mean when they talk about “collusion”

....Also, there is NO COLLUSION!​

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 30, 2017​

​

It was clear during the campaign that Trump had idiosyncratically pro-Russian policy positions. (He tended to criticize NATO and to praise Putin personally as a strong leader.)

And late last year, the US intelligence community concluded that the Russian government tried to interfere with the campaign to help Trump get elected. “Putin and the Russian Government developed a clear preference for President-elect Trump,” their report, released in January, reads.

The Russian effort entailed the hacking and leaks of prominent Democrats’ emails, as well as spreading pro-Trump, and anti-Clinton, messages and fake news articles on social media. (Trump himself has alternated between begrudgingly accepting the assessment that Russia was responsible and disputing it.)

The question at the heart of the scandal now is whether the Trump campaign in some way worked in concert with Moscow on these efforts. The catchall term that has ended up being used to describe this is “collusion,” which is rather broad and vague. It also, notably, isn’t a criminal term — some forms of so-called collusion could well be legal.

But in trying to make sense of the various theories about just what that collusion might entail, I find it useful to split what investigators are reportedly looking at into two categories.

First, there’s the question of whether Trump’s team secretly worked with the Russians to interfere with the campaign somehow. If this happened and it involved Democrats’ hacked emails, there could be serious legal risk for whoever was involved, since the hacking itself was illegal. Investigators are also reportedly looking at whether the Trump team helped the Russians figure out which voters to target with their propaganda efforts.

Second, there are the darker possibilities of the sort alleged in the salacious and mostly uncorroborated Steele dossier. These include secret exchanges of money or valuable information, the Russians blackmailing or having “kompromat” on Trump, or policy promises offered by Trump’s team to Russia specifically in exchange for their assistance during the campaign (such as, perhaps, a promise to lift the sanctions President Barack Obama imposed on Russia in 2014). Obviously, any of this would be enormously scandalous if true.

What we learned about potential Trump-Russia collusion in 2017

For a while, there was very little hard evidence to support the idea that the Trump campaign could have secretly worked with the Russian government to try to swing the presidential race.

But back in March, then-FBI Director James Comey confirmed in congressional testimony that the bureau was indeed investigating “the nature of any links between individuals associated with the Trump campaign and the Russian government and whether there was any coordination between the campaign and Russia’s efforts.”

And then in July, we learned that during the campaign, Donald Trump Jr. was offered incriminating information on Hillary Clinton that a contact of his openly described as “part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump” — and that Trump Jr. emailed back, “If it’s what you say I love it.”

He proceeded to set up a meeting in Trump Tower with Jared Kushner, Paul Manafort, a Russian lawyer with ties to the Kremlin, a Russian-American lobbyist with links to Russian intelligence, and a Russian-American businessman who was once investigated for money laundering. (When news of all this broke in July, Trump Jr.’s story about what happened shifted three times in a matter of days.)

And then in late October, we learned that Trump campaign foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos had gotten a tip that the Russian government had “dirt” in Hillary Clinton in the form of “thousands of emails.” (The revelation came in a court document that revealed Papadopoulos had pleaded guilty to making false statements to the FBI and had begun cooperating with Mueller’s team.)

Those are this year’s revelations that relate most directly to the Trump team and Russian interference with the election.

Getting further afield, we also learned, among other things, that then-National Security Adviser Michael Flynn had given a false story about his calls with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak during the transition, that Kushner had tried to set up a secret communications channel with Kislyak, that Jeff Sessions failed to disclose a meeting with Kislyak, that Manafort had discussed offering private briefings to a Russian billionaire while working on Trump’s campaign, and that Trump’s company exploredbuilding a Trump Tower in Moscow during the campaign.

And of course there’s Trump’s own apparent attempts to obstruct the investigation — by pressuring then-FBI Director Comey to end the Flynn probe and then firing Comey when he refused. In other words, there’s whole a lot of smoke. And Mueller is looking to see whether there’s fire.

The Trump team’s defense: these were isolated incidents that resulted in nothing of substance

Still, from what we know so far, it is at least possible to construe the Trump team’s various contacts with Russia as shady-looking but limited and inconclusive — because it isn’t clear what they actually led to.

For instance, all parties involved in the infamous Trump Tower meeting are publicly claiming that it was a brief and inconsequential one-off. Trump Jr. has stated that in the meeting, the Russian lawyer proved to have no useful information and quickly changed the subject to discuss US-Russia adoption policy. He’s also said there was no follow-up afterward. So far, no evidence has yet emerged that disproves this.

Meanwhile, Trump’s team has claimed that Papadopoulos was a low-level adviser with little influence on the campaign. And while Papadopoulos now admits to getting a tip that the Russians had email-related “dirt” on Clinton, we’ve heard nothing about whether he did anything with that information — say, whether he passed it on to other Trump advisers.

BBB76 Insert: (OH PAPDOPOULOS - PASSED THAT INFO ON TO TRUMP ADVISERS - LIKE KUSHNER, THAT BOMBSHELL LINK TO COLLUSION INFO IS COMING!!!!)

Trump Jr.’s DMs with WikiLeaks, meanwhile, could even be construed as exculpatory. One of them makes him seem clueless about WikiLeaks’ planned dump of John Podesta’s emails four days before it began. (“What’s behind this Wednesday leak I keep reading about?” he asked.)

Indeed, if this is in fact the sum total of what happened regarding collusion — one meeting, one tip, and a few DMs, none of which have been shown as consequential — it’s something that would look sleazy but ineffective, and not all that much like a consequential plot to swing the election.

But what else is there?

And yet it’s important to keep in mind that we didn’t know any of the above information before this year.

In 2017, what we learned essentially advanced the idea that the Trump campaign could have colluded with Russia from groundless speculation to something that’s far more plausible. (After all, the Trump Jr. emails alone are enough to make clear that people in the campaign were willing to collude with Russia.)

None of the charges Mueller’s team has filed so far are specifically about collusion, and their court documents give little indication of what they’ve found on that topic. (Flynn and Papadopoulos were charged for lying to the FBI about their contacts with Russians, while Manafort and Rick Gates were charged for financial and false statements offenses that had nothing to do with the campaign.)

And again, it is not entirely clear whether, if there was more substantial collusion between Trump’s campaigns and Russians, it would even be illegal. Coordination on something like the hacked emails could lead to criminal charges, since the hacking itself was a crime. It’s much less clear whether coordination over, say, targeting voters to spreading fake news would be illegal.

That means it’s possible that, like many scandal investigations of the past, the Mueller probe will in the end be more concerned with other, easier-to-prove crimes, like perjury, making false statements, or obstruction of justice. A focus on matters like that could prove enormously consequential for Trump’s presidency, but it wouldn’t necessarily clear up what exactly happened in 2016.

Then again, Mueller’s team has spent months subpoenaing documents, reviewing intelligence, and deposing Trump campaign and White House staffers. And Flynn and Papadopoulos are cooperating and giving investigators yet more information.

We don’t yet know where all this will lead. Perhaps 2018 will provide some sort of answer on the collusion question. This could happen through new information coming to light, or perhaps even through Mueller’s team stating that they haven’t found enough evidence on the matter to justify charges.

Or perhaps we’ll never get a clear answer. And if we don’t, the cloud Trump spoke of will never be entirely dispelled.

ref: https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/12/28/16735412/trump-russia-news-investigation-2017

 

[BigBlackBull76]

* * FACTS * *​

White House Senior Advisor to the President Jared Kushner arrives to address Congressional interns at the U.S. Capitol Visitors Center July 31, 2017 in Washington, DC.

• Special counsel Robert Mueller has reportedly begun to question Republican National Committee staffers about the party's digital work with the Trump campaign last year.
• The report indicates that Mueller may be homing in on yet another facet of Russia's election interference — its social media influence campaign and targeted political advertising.
• Trump's *******-in-law Jared Kushner managed the Trump campaign's data operation and recently hired a crisis public relations firm to handle all press inquiries.

Special counsel Robert Mueller has begun to question Republican National Committee staffers about the party's 2016 campaign data operation, which helped President Donald Trump's campaign team target voters in critical swing states.

Two sources told Yahoo News that Mueller's team is examining whether the joint RNC-Trump campaign data operation — which was directed on Trump's side by Brad Parscale and managed by Trump's *******-in-law Jared Kushner — "was related to the activities of Russian trolls and bots aimed at influencing the American electorate."

The FBI has beenscrutinizing Kushner's contacts in December 2016 with the Russian ambassador to the US and the CEO of a sanctioned Russian bank.

The special counsel's office declined to comment on its ongoing investigation. Multiple requests to various current and former RNC officials on Wednesday went unanswered. A source close to one of the Trump campaign's data firms said they were "unaware of anyone being questioned."

It is not surprising that federal investigators have begun to examine the possibility that Russia and the Trump campaign helped each other during the election. Investigators have been looking into whether Russia provided the campaign with voter information stolen by Russian hackers from election databases in several states, and whether the Trump campaign helped Russia target its political ads to specific demographics and voting precincts.

The general counsels for Facebook, Twitter, and Google gave enigmatic replies when asked by the House Intelligence Committee last month whether they had investigated "who was mimicking who" when it came to online ads promoted by both the Trump campaign and Russia during the election.

Facebook said in September that about 25% of the ads purchased by Russians during the election "were geographically targeted," though many analysts have said they find it difficult to believe that foreign entities would have had the kind of granular knowledge of American politics necessary to target specific demographics and voting precincts.

Facebook's general counsel Colin Stretch paused before indicating that the committee had access to intelligence that could better contextualize the information Facebook had turned over.

"We've provided all relevant information to the committee, and we do think it's an important function of this committee, because you have access to a broader set of information than any single company will," Stretch said.

"I agree with that," said Kent Walker, Google's counsel and senior vice president.

"Same for Twitter," Twitter general counsel Sean Edgett said.
'We brought in Cambridge Analytica'

Brad Parscale. Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Investigators have long wondered whether the data-mining and analysis firm Cambridge Analytica served as a link between the campaign's data operation and Russia.

That scrutiny intensified following revelations that Cambridge CEO Alexander Nix reached out to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in June 2016 asking for access to Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton's "stolen" emails.

It is still unclear how much Cambridge Analytica actually did for the campaign. Trump campaign aides and even current and former Cambridge employees have consistently tried to downplay its role.

Parscale was asked about Cambridge during his interview with the House Intelligence Committee in October. The ranking members of the House Oversight and Judiciary committees sent him a separate letter that month asking whether his firm received "information from a foreign government or foreign actor" at any point during the election.

The letter was also sent to Nix and the heads of Deep Root Analytics, TargetPoint Consulting, and The Data Trust — firms hired by the Republican National Committee last year to bolster the Trump campaign's data operation.

Deep Root accidentally leaked the sensitive personal details of roughly 198 million citizens in June, as its database was left exposed on the open web for nearly two weeks. The firm had stored details of about 61% of the US population on an Amazon cloud server without password protection.

Whereas Deep Root, TargetPoint, and The Data Trust responded to the documents request, Nix did not.

Parscale's letter, meanwhile, mirrored those written by the RNC data firms and used virtually the same language — with one notable exception.

Whereas the firms' letters included a line denying that they had had contact with any "foreign government or foreign actor," Parscale's did not.

In a postelection interview, Kushner told Forbes that he had been keenly interested in Facebook's "micro-targeting" capabilities from early on.

"I called somebody who works for one of the technology companies that I work with, and I had them give me a tutorial on how to use Facebook micro-targeting," Kushner said.

"We brought in Cambridge Analytica," he continued. "I called some of my friends from Silicon Valley who were some of the best digital marketers in the world. And I asked them how to scale this stuff ... We basically had to build a $400 million operation with 1,500 people operating in 50 states, in five months to then be taken apart. We started really from scratch."

ref: http://www.businessinsider.com/mueller-questions-rnc-digital-operation-trump-campaign-russia-2017-12

FUCK CORRUPT/COLLUDING CHUMP!

STILL MY COUNTRY AND THE 52% MAJORITY OF AMERICANS WHO DIDN'T VOTE FOR THE ASSHOLE

​

 

[BigBlackBull76]

* * FACTS * *

 

[subhub174014]

You have to wonder just how far these republicans will let him go before they say anything....and it looks like right now they are going to back him in anything he wants.....even obstructing justice!

Trump Says He Has An 'Absolute Right' To Control The Justice Department
Nick Visser,

President Donald Trump on Thursday said he believes he holds ultimate authority to direct the Department of Justice as he sees fit, while noting the ongoing inquiry into Russian intervention in the 2016 presidential election has made the country “look very bad.”
Trump, speaking in an impromptu interview with The New York Times from his golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida, said more than a dozen times that no collusion had been uncovered during the sweeping probe by special counsel Robert Mueller. While he noted that the sooner the inquiry was completed, “the better it is for the country,” Trump also broke with his most ardent supporters and said he believed Mueller would treat him fairly.
“I have absolute right to do what I want to do with the Justice Department,” he told the Times. “But for purposes of hopefully thinking I’m going to be treated fairly, I’ve stayed uninvolved with this particular matter.”
The president’s comments, made without any aides present, once again appear to undermine the DOJ’s ability to operate as an entity independent of the political whims of the White House.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-says-apos-absolute-apos-045330870.html

 

[subhub174014]

 

[BigBlackBull76]

Oh this aint over M.F.s - Nah its still on and its only getting better.

Already 70% of the Fusion GPS Trump Dossier was proven to be factual and now in light of the INFO coming out about Trump's infidelity with the Porn Star (s) - bet there are a few more with what Bannon said that Trump Lawyers paid off at least 19 women oh and even Trump's security guard with him in Russia said there were periods where he couldn't account for Trump's where-abouts I'd put some of the salacious allegations more credible now moving that Dossier (which I read back in May of last year) now at about 85% factual.

That's why Trump and his Ministry of Falsehoods is out in droves on the news media networks fighting so hard to spin the narrative to try and discredit the report lest American's with an actual brain who know what drivels out of Trump's mouth is a bunch of B.S. would start to see just how much Trump's cabal colluded with the Russians and then committed obstruction of Justice to cover it up.

This man is going down like the Hidenburg and its only a matter of time now. What was once hidden in the dark will see the light and the truth burried under a mountain of lies will eventually surface to the top once again.

I M P E A C H T H E P R E S I D E N T
​

• The House Intelligence Committee released the transcript of its interview with Glenn Simpson, the cofounder of the opposition research firm Fusion GPS.
• The transcript left a massive pile of breadcrumbs for Trump-Russia investigators to sift through as they pursue their probe into Russia's election interference and whether the Trump campaign colluded with Moscow.

The House Intelligence Committee on Thursday released the transcript of the panel's November interview with Glenn Simpson, the cofounder of the opposition research firm Fusion GPS.

The House investigators' line of questioning touched upon subjects that the Senate Judiciary Committee did not delve into, largely due to a shift in focus spearheaded by the committee's top Democrat, Adam Schiff.

Rather than home in on the nature of Simpson's relationship with Christopher Steele — the former British intelligence officer hired by Fusion to research Trump's Russia ties — Schiff and his Democratic colleagues asked Simpson pointed questions about Russian money laundering, Russian organized crime, and whether Trump could be susceptible to Russian blackmail.

The result was a long trail of breacrumbs for investigators probing Trump's relationship with Russia.

"You mentioned that you'd done a lot of work as a journalist in terms of Russian organized crime, financial crimes, organized crime more generally," Schiff said. "What can you tell us about how the Russians launder their money and whether that was an issue of concern during the first phase of your work for Free Beacon?"

Fusion GPS was first hired by the conservative Washington Free Beacon in late 2015 to conduct opposition research on Trump. The research was later funded by the DNC via the law firm Perkins Coie.

"I guess the general thing I would say is that, you know, the Russians are far more sophisticated in their criminal organized crime activities than the Italians, and they're a lot more global," Simpson replied. "They understand finance a lot better. And so they tend to use quite elaborate methods to move money...I mean, if you can think of a way to launder money, the Russians are pretty good at it."

Glenn Simpson. Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP


Simpson explained that "real estate deals" were a common Russian method of hiding and moving money. Asked whether Fusion had found "evidence" of corruption and illicit finance related to the purchase of Trump properties, Simpson replied that his firm had seen "patterns of buying and selling that we thought were suggestive of money laundering."

Schiff pounced: "What facts came to your attention that concerned you that the buying and selling of properties - the buying and selling of Trump properties might indicate money laundering?" he asked.

"There was -- well, for one thing, there was various criminals were buying the properties," Simpson replied. "So there was a gangster -- a Russian gangster living in Trump Tower."

The gangster went by Taiwanchik, and he'd been running a "high-stakes gambling ring" out of Trump Tower, Simpson said. The gangster also "rigged the skating competition at the Salt Lake Olympics" and sat in the VIP section of the Miss Universe Pageant in 2013 along with Trump "and lots of other Kremlin biggies," Simpson said.

Panama, Toronto, Scotland and Ireland

Asked whether the Russian government would have been aware of the Russian mafia's efforts to move or hide money in Trump properties, Simpson replied: "The Russian mafia is essentially under the dominion of the Russian Government and Russian Intelligence Services."

"And many of the oligarchs are also mafia figures," he continued. "And the oligarchs, during this period of consolidation of power by Vladimir Putin, when I was living in Brussels and doing all this work, was about him essentially taking control over both the oligarchs and the mafia groups. And so basically everyone in Russia works for Putin now.”

Other concerning patterns, Simpson said, included "fast turnover deals and deals where there seemed to have been efforts to disguise the identity of the buyer."

Specifically, he said, "a project in Panama, the one in Toronto. Those both got a lot of fraud associated with them, a lot of fraud allegations, a lot of activity that I would say smacks of fraud, and a lot of Russia mafia figures listed as buyers who may or may not have actually put money into it.”

NBC News reported in November that Trump's Panama hotel had organized crime ties.

Donald Trump (2nd L) poses with his children Donald Jr. (L), Ivanka and Eric (R) during a news conference to mark the opening of the Trump International Hotel & Tower in Toronto April 16, 2012. Mike Cassese/Reuters

A Russian state-owned bank under US sanctions, whose CEO met with Trump's *******-in-law Jared Kushner in December 2016, helped financethe construction of the president's 65-story Trump International Hotel and Tower in Toronto.


The bank, Vnesheconombank, or VEB, bought $850 million of stock in a Ukrainian steelmaker from the billionaire Russian-Canadian developer Alexander Shnaider, who was constructing the hotel at the time. Democratic Rep. Jackie Speier asked Simpson about Schnaider during the interview.

"Schnaider had no previous hotel or condo development experience," she said. "His most apparent qualification seemed to be that he made a lot of money quickly."

Simpson called Schnaider among "the most interesting" of the Trump-Russia characters, noting that his *******-in-law was a "very important figure in the history of the KGB-Mafia alliance."

"I think that there is a lot of information to be had from Canadian law enforcement and from Belgian law enforcement about some of these characters," Simpson said.

Simpson said Trump's golf courses in Scotland and Ireland were also "concerning" because financial statements obtained by Fusion showed "enormous amounts of capital flowing into these projects from unknown sources."

"At least on paper it says it's from The Trump Organization, but it's hundreds of millions of dollars," Simpson said.
"And these golf course are just, you know, they're sinks. They don't actually make any money."

GOP Rep. Tom Rooney said "the story about [Trump] financing Doonbeg in Ireland through money that we can't really trace but has sort of the fingerprints of Russian mobsters" was "fascinating."

Doonbeg is the home of Trump's hotel and golf course in Ireland.

"If we knew that Donald Trump was working with the Russian mafia to fund Doonbeg in Ireland, then there's no way he would be President," Rooney said. "So, I mean, that's why it's so fascinating."

Roger Stone, Julian Assange, and Nigel Farage

Schiff asked Simpson later whether he uncovered "any information regarding a connection between Trump or those around him and Wikileaks" — the self-described radical transparency organization founded by Julian Assange that published emails Russia had stolen from the Democratic National Committee.

"Roger Stone bragged about having his contact," Simpson replied, referring to Stone's public comments about having an intermediary with Assange. "We tried to figure out who the contact was."

We started going into who Stone was and who his relationships were with, and essentially the trail led to sort of international far right. And, you know, Brexit happened, and Nigel Farage became someone that we were very interested in, and I still think it's very interesting."

Farage is a British politican who headed the far-right UK Independence Party (UKIP) from 2006-2009 and again from 2010-2016. Farage spearheaded the Brexit movement.

"So I have formed my own opinions that went through - that there was a somewhat unacknowledged relationship between the Trump people and the UKIP people and that the path to Wikileaks ran through that," Simpson said. "And I still think that today."

Donald Trump and Nigel Farage. Nigel Farage/Twitter

Schiff then asked whether the data company Cambridge Analytica, whose parent company is based in the UK, was the link between the Trump campaign and the Brexit campaign.

Simpson replied that the billionaire Mercer family, which has been credited with paving the way to Trump's victory, were "signficant" — moreso than Cambridge Analytica, which he said may have been "selling snake oil."

Simpson also mentioned a "Bannon Stone associate" named Theodore Roosevelt Malloch, an American associated with UKIP who he believed was "a significant figure in this."

"Were you able to find any factual links between the Mercers and Assange or Wikileaks or Farage?" Schiff asked.

Simpson pointed to Farage's trips to New York, and said he had been told, but had not confirmed, that "Nigel Farage had additional trips to the Ecuadoran Embassy...and that he provided data to Julian Assange."

"What kind of data?" Schiff asked.

"A thumb drive," Simpson replied.

'It appears the Russians...infiltrated the NRA'

Speier went on to ask Simpson why Russia seemed so interested in the National Rifle Association.

A McClatchy article published on Thursday morning revealed that the FBI is investigating whether Russian money flowed into the NRA via a Kremlin-linked banker named Alexander Torshin, which was then donated to the Trump campaign.

"It appears the Russians, you know, infiltrated the NRA," Simpson said. "And there is more than one explanation for why. But I would say broadly speaking, it appears that the Russian operation was designed to infiltrate conservative organizations."

Simpson said Fusion spent "a lot of time investigating Mr. Torshin," who is "well known to Spanish law enforcement for money laundering activity."

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump addresses members of the National Rifle Association during their NRA-ILA Leadership Forum at their annual meeting in Louisville, Kentucky, May 20, 2016. Reuters/John Sommers II

"He is one of the more important figures, but, you know, another woman with whom he was working, Maria Butina, also was a big Trump fan in Russia, and then suddenly showed up here and started hanging around the Trump transition after the election and rented an apartment and enrolled herself at AU, which I assume gets you a visa," Simpson said.

Maria Butina has attempted to build a pro-gun movement in Russia, where gun laws are strict and there is little interest by Russian citizens — and Russian President Vladimir Putin — to loosen them.

Butina was a former assistant to Torshin and reportedly claimed at a post-Election Day party that she had been a part of the Trump campaign's communications with Russia, according to The Daily Beast.

The Agalarovs, Kaveladze, and Crocus Group

Schiff asked Simpson what he knew about Trump's relationship with Aras Agalarov, the Russian-Azerbaijani billionaire who helped bring Trump's Miss Universe pageant to Moscow in 2013.

Simpson replied that the Agalarovs started operating in the US "around the time of the fall of the Soviet Union and are associated with people who are connected to previous episodes of money laundering that are serious."

"Knowing what you do about the Agalarovs, what do you think is the significance of the fact that the – that Aras Agalarov was responsible, at least according to these public emails, for setting up the meeting at Trump Tower?" Schiff asked, referring to the June 9 meeting at Trump Tower between top Trump campaign officials and several Russian nationals.

"I think it's a reasonable interpretation that that was a Russian Government-directed operation of some sort, based on what I know now," Simpson replied.

Russian real estate developer Aras Agalarov (L) talks with his *******, singer Emin Agalarov, during a news conference following the 2013 Miss USA pageant at the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada June 16, 2013. Thomson Reuters

He left another clue: "I think this tax court case involving the Agalarovs is an important document. I think that there’s – I guess going back to your subpoena question, I also – you know, the Crocus Group has a much longer history in the United States than people realize, and I think there’s all kind of good documents.”

The Crocus Group is Agalarov's development company.

Simpson said that Irakly Kaveladze, a representative of Aras Agalarov and his *******, Emin, is another important player.

"I think that there is a lot to find out about Kaveladze," Simpson said. " But I have a little bit of knowledge of Kaveladze and a little bit of knowledge of the Agalarovs. Kaveladze surfaced in a previous money laundering investigation. I think there is more information about that money laundering investigation in the possession of the government than just the GAO report."

Kaveladze was implicated in a Russian money-laundering scheme in 2000, during which investigators found that several Russians and Eastern Europeans had formed shell companies and used them to move money through American banks.

Kaveladze has long served a far more important role than just a translator for the Agalarovs. He is the vice president of Crocus Group, and he met with Trump in 2013 during the Miss Universe pageant (Kaveladze can be seen standing behind Emin Agalarov as he speaks with Trump in a video taken in Moscow in 2013.)

Simpson also suggested that the committee examine the travel histories of Trump's children, Don Jr. and Ivanka, " and whether they had other meetings with Russians."

"And specifically, the connections between the Abramovichs and Ivanka and Jared is something that requires looking into, if it hasn’t been," Simpson said, referring to Roman Abramovich and Jared Kushner.

Dmitry Rybolovlev and Igor Sechin

Steele told a reporter in December that investigators examining Trump's Russia connections needed "to look at the contracts for the hotel deals and land deals" that Trump had pursued with Russian nationals.

"Check their values against the money Trump secured via loans," Steele told The Guardian's Luke Harding. "The difference is what's important."

Steele did not go into further detail, Harding said, but seemed to be referring to a 2008 home sale to the Russian oligarch Dmitry Rybolovlev that has come under scrutiny by the special counsel Robert Mueller.

Simpson emphasized the suspicion surrounding that home sale during his interview.

"When we first heard about it, it didn’t fit with my timeline of when Trump seemed to have gotten deeply involved with the Russians," Simpson said. "Later, as I understood more, I began to realize that I actually was in the sort of first trimester of the Trump-Russia relationship, in that it actually fit in pretty well with some of the early things that had happened."

Dmitri Rybolovlev of Russia, President of AS Monaco Football Club attends Monaco's Ligue 1 soccer match against Paris St Germain at Louis II stadium in Monaco March 1, 2015. Reuters/Eric Gaillard

Rybolovlev, a multibillionaire who was an early investor in one of the world's most lucrative fertilizer companies, bought a Palm Beach property from Trump for $95 million in 2008, two years after Trump put it on the market for $125 million; Trump had purchased it for $41 million in 2004.


Rybolovlev has never lived in the mansion and has since torn it down, but an adviser, Sergey Chernitsyn, told Business Insider last year that there was "every prospect that this investment will turn out to be profitable."

Rybolovlev's cash infusion into Trump's bank account is believed to be the most expensive home sale in US history. According to PolitiFact, 2008 was the year Trump Entertainment Resorts missed a $53.1 million bond interest payment and later filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to reorganize.

Richard Dearlove, who headed the UK foreign-intelligence unit MI6 between 1999 and 2004, told Prospect Magazine in April that Trump borrowed money from Russia for his business during the 2008 financial crisis.

"What lingers for Trump may be what deals — on what terms — he did after the financial crisis of 2008 to borrow Russian money" when other banks would not loan to him, Dearlove said.

Simpson said his view of Rybolvlev's importance changed as he began to learn more about him.

"In particular, I didn’t know in the early period that he was closely linked to Igor Sechin, and that, in fact, he was accused of essentially destroying an entire city environmentally with his potash mining operations," Simpson said.

Sechin is the CEO of Russia's state oil company, Rosneft,

Rybolvlev "managed to get out of it and walk out of Russia with billions of dollars with the apparent assistance of Sechin and Sechin’s people," he continued. "And subsequently, received a report from a Russian émigré who is familiar with these events that...there were political or corruption aspects to that.”

Additionally, Simpson said, he was "intrigued" by Rybolovelv's travel in August 2016 and the extent to which it coincided with Kushner and Ivanka Trump's travel around the same time.

"Cohen and Ivanka and Jared and Trump, and I can’t remember whether Manafort’s in this mix too, are all in the Hamptons area in August, and Dmitry Rybolovlev’s plane is somewhere nearby, and flies to Nice," Simpson said, referring to the Trump Organization's lawyer Michael Cohen and former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort.

"And then most of these guys sort of fall off the radar and then, you know, I think it’s the 12th of August, Rybolovlev’s plane lands in Dubrovnik, and Jared and Ivanka surface in Dubrovnik," he said. "And I don’t know how they got there or whether they got there on his plane."

Sergei Millian and Michael Cohen

Simpson mentioned in his testimony that Fusion GPS had begun to scrutinize another trip Trump Organization representatives took to Moscow to promote a vodka brand. That trip was organized by Sergei Millian, the Belarus-born businessman who was reportedly a key source in the explosive dossier alleging ties between Trump and Russia.

"When we looked at him, we found that he ran a sort of shadowy kind of trade group called the Russian-American Chamber of Commerce, which is -- Russians are known to use chambers of commerce and trade groups for intelligence operations," Simpson said.

Sergei Millian at an event following Trump's inauguration on January 20th. Screenshot/Facebook

Millian, who changed his name when he arrived in the US from Siarhei Kukuts to Sergei Millian, founded the Russian-American Chamber of Commerce in 2006 and has described himself as an exclusive broker for the Trump Organization with respect to the company's potential real-estate dealings in Russia.

He attended several black-tie events at Trump's inauguration, and told the Russian news agency RIA that he had been in touch with the Trump Organization as late as April 2016. He was also photographed at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in June 2016 with the Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, a longtime business associate of Trump's campaign chairman Paul Manafort.

It was around that time that Millian's organization, the Russian-American Chamber of Commerce, was looking for "delegates" to attend the Russian Oil & Gas Forum in Moscow.

But Millian appears to have begun downplaying his ties to the Trump Organization after Western reporters started digging into Trump's Russia ties last summer.

Contrary to what he told RIA, Millian told Business Insider in an email earlier this year that the last time he worked on a Trump-brand project was "in Florida around 2008." He did not respond to a request to clarify the discrepancy.

Millian had two different resumes, according to Simpson: "In one resume he said he was from Belarus and he went to Minsk State, and then in another he was from Moscow and went to Moscow State," Simpson said. "In one he said he worked for the Belarussian Foreign Ministry; in the other, he said he worked for the Russian Foreign Ministry."

Additionally, Millian "was connected to" Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen.

Stephanie Keith/Reuters

"Michael Cohen was very adamant that he didn't actually have a connection to Sergie, even though he was one of only like 100 people who followed Sergi on Twitter," Simpson said. "And they -- we had Twitter messages back and forth between the two of them just - we just pulled them off of Twitter."

Cohen acknowledged to Business Insider earlier this year that Millian emailed him during the campaign. But he said he rarely if ever responded to the emails and stopped communicating with Millian in November 2016.

Simpson said Fusion came to understand more about Cohen as they continued their research.

"We gradually began to understand more about ·Michael Cohen, the President's lawyer, and his background, and that he had a lot of connections to the former Soviet Union, and that he seemed to have associations with organized crime figures in New York and Florida, Russian organized crime figures," Simpson said.

The Center for National Interest and trips to Hungary

Schiff asked Simpson whether there were other issues that came to his attention that were not contained in the Steele dossier "that you think we ought to be aware of that you either were able to substantiate in part, or you were not able to fully investigate."

Simpon brought up the Center for the National Interest and its president and CEO, Dimitri Simes — a Russian expat described by Simpson as "a suspected Russian agent" known to the FBI.

A biography of Simes on the Center's website says he was selected to lead the Center by former President Richard Nixon, "to whom he served as an informal foreign policy advisor and with whom he traveled regularly to Russia and other former Soviet states, as well as Western and Central Europe."

"There are a number of Russian defectors who, I think, maybe could speak to that," Simpson said, referring to Simes and the Center for the National Interest.

"I think there are some records around that might reflect some of that," he continued. "And I think that is — given their fundamental role in creating the Trump foreign policy, I think that is a really important area."

Simpson also pointed to "a lot of unexplained travel by various people" associated with Trump to Hungary, whose president Viktor Orban "is essentially a Putin puppet," Simpson said.

Orban has ushered in a new era of anti-migrant, pro-Russia policies since taking office in 2010.

Russia's military intelligence service, the GRU, "has a big station" in Hungary, too, Simpson said.

Among the Trump associates who traveled to Hungary: Sebastian Gorka, "about three times," Simpson noted. Gorka was reportedly wanted by Hungarian police on gun-related charges, BuzzFeed reported on Thursday.

Trump campaign advisers Carter Page and JD Gordon also traveled to Hungary in 2016.

"I guess this is transitioning into another area, if you are interested in looking at things, is, you know, the European travel of certain people. And I would include Jared and lvanka in that," Simpson said.

REF: http://www.businessinsider.com/read...view-with-house-intelligence-committee-2018-1

Read the whole unclassified testimony for yourself here:

FUCK CORRUPT/COLLUDING CHUMP!

STILL MY COUNTRY AND THE 52% MAJORITY OF AMERICANS WHO DIDN'T VOTE FOR THE ASSHOLE

 

[WhiteOutNow]

Democrats, liberals, progressives, whatever we call ourselves, we better fucking HOPE Trump does not get impeached and removed from office. Come on, do we want Mike Pence, the evangelical nut case as the President? Do we want Paul Ryan, Mr. gut Social Security and every other government program that helps anyone as President? With Trump in the White House, the Repub agenda has been very anemic, with Trump's "accomplishments" being as long a read as The Wit and Wisdom of George W. Bush. The Republican-controlled congress would find much smoother sailing if Trump was out and one or the other of those assholes in. Trump's stupidity, ignorance, hostility, narcissism and radical incompetence have been an obstacle and a distraction to a lot of things that a less controversial (and more competent) politician would have already gotten passed into law. I say, keep the bloated orange moron there until he is voted out.

 

[subhub174014]

I say, keep the bloated orange moron there until he is voted out.

not sure I agree there....hopefully the dems take over at midterms...impeach trump And his sidekick,,,Ryan will be the MINORITY leader then and dem takes over...nice plan anyway...at the very least the dems tie pences hands so he can keep his religious views to himself
Trump needs to pay for all the ******* he has done and pulled...he has completely changed this country in corruption and taken us back a hundred years

 

[WhiteOutNow]

not sure I agree there....hopefully the dems take over at midterms...impeach trump And his sidekick,,,Ryan will be the MINORITY leader then and dem takes over...nice plan anyway...at the very least the dems tie pences hands so he can keep his religious views to himself
Trump needs to pay for all the ******* he has done and pulled...he has completely changed this country in corruption and taken us back a hundred years

Certainly agree with that IF control of both houses flips, as then the Democrats can stymie Pence to a large extent, and yes Trump must pay the piper for his heinous "reign" as the worst president in history. And the world will still dislike us under Pence, but maybe not quite as much.

 

[subhub174014]

 

[subhub174014]

 

[BigBlackBull76]

TUCK FRUMP!!!!! - HIS RUMP IS ALMOST COOKED.

I WAS 100% RIGHT ON MY CALL FROM DAY-ONE AND ALWAYS HAVE BEEN - THE NON-BELIEVERS ARE LATE AND SLOW TO WAKE-UP.

WHAT MUELLER DID TODAY WAS ABSOLUTE GENIUS.

NOW THAT HE HAS INDICTED RUSSIANS AS COMMITTING A CRIME IN MEDDLING IN THE US ELECTIONS AND BETTER YET THE WHITE-HOUSE ATTORNEY MADE THE ANNOUNCEMENT - TRUMP NOR ANY OF HIS SUPPORTERS CAN NO-LONGER BE IN DENIAL AND SAY THAT ITS JUST 'FAKE NEWS'. BUT THATS NOT THE BEST PART.

THE BEST PART IS THAT ANY AMERICAN'S WHO KNEW OR AIDED THE RUSSIANS HERE ARE NOW ALSO ACCESSORIES TO A CRIME. YOU SEE WHERE THIS IS GOING. GET READY EVERYONE, THIS IS WATERGATE WE ARE WATCHING ALL IN THE MAKING - CONNECTIONS TO FLYNN-MANAFORT-PAPADOPULOUS-GATES-KUSHNER TO RUSSIA, COMEY INVESTIGATING, TRUMP FIRING TO OBSTRUCT JUSTICE FROM BEING ADMINISTERED !!!!!

THREE MEN ALREADY CLOSE TO TRUMP'S CIRCLE HAVE ALREADY FLIPPED TO MUELLER, MANAFORT IS NEXT!!!!!!

I LOVE IT!!!!!!!


Seven key takeaways from the Russian indictments

Anthony Zurcher North America reporter @awzurcher on Twitter

• 16 February 2018

Special Counsel Robert Mueller has dropped another Friday blockbuster with his sweeping indictment of three organisations and 13 Russian nationals for meddling in the 2016 US presidential election.
For the first time the special counsel's team has taken dead aim at its central mandate in the investigation and laid bare the scope of what it alleges was a multi-million-dollar Russian operation to sow discord in American politics as far back as 2014.
Here's a look at some of the key passages of the 37-page indictment and what they mean.
No knowledge, no collusion
"Some defendants, posing as US persons and without revealing their Russian association, communicated with unwitting individuals associated with the Trump campaign and with other political activists to seek to co-ordinate political activities."
This is the key passage for the White House's effort to downplay the threat this indictment poses to Donald Trump and his presidency.

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, in announcing the indictments, added that there was "no allegation in this indictment that any American had knowledge" of Russian activity.
Critics will highlight the "in this indictment" portion of that statement. While Mr Mueller's document asserts no Trump-connected individuals knew they were dealing with Russians, this isn't the end of the investigation.
Skip Twitter post by @realDonaldTrump

Russia started their anti-US campaign in 2014, long before I announced that I would run for President. The results of the election were not impacted. The Trump campaign did nothing wrong - no collusion!​

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 16, 2018​

Report

End of Twitter post by @realDonaldTrump
The president, via Twitter and in a White House statement, insists this is proof that there was no collusion. It's better to say that there's no collusion alleged here. That certainly bolsters the White House's principal argument, but it doesn't cover any possible indictments to come. What this indictment, if it is substantiated, does do is devastate Mr Trump's past insistence that allegations of Russian meddling were a hoax.

• The Trump-Russia saga in 200 words
• Full text of the Russia indictment

It wasn't just Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton
"They engaged in operations primarily intended to communicate derogatory information about Hillary Clinton, to denigrate other candidates such as Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, and to support Bernie Sanders and then-candidate Donald Trump."
The indictment paints a picture of a multi-year, multi-prong effort to "sow discord" in the US political process dating back to 2014, before Mr Trump entered the presidential race.
The Russians, according to Mr Mueller's team, familiarised themselves with the US political process and then took action to support - or undermine - a variety of political candidates. They allegedly attacked several of Mr Trump's rivals in the Republican primary and backed Bernie Sanders, who mounted a populist challenge to Mrs Clinton for the Democratic nomination.

They also used social media, investigators say, to rally support for Green Party candidate Jill Stein in the general election, including an Instagram account that told black liberal activists to "choose peace and vote for Jill Stein" and that it wasn't "a wasted vote".
In several key Mid-western states, the number of Stein votes was greater than Mr Trump's margin of victory over Mrs Clinton.
A cloak and dagger operation
"Krylova and Bogacheva, together with other Defendants and co-conspirators, planned travel itineraries, purchased equipment (such as cameras, SIM cards and drop phones) and discussed security measures (including "evacuation scenarios") for Defendants who travelled to the United States."
One of the more breathtaking revelations of the indictment was that Russian attempts to influence the US presidential election went well beyond "virtual" efforts on social media. It included actual Russian nationals entering the US under false pretences and posing as Americans to conduct clandestine activities, according to the document.
It's the kind of espionage activity that harkens back to the Cold War and an indication of the seriousness and sophistication behind the Russian efforts.
Crimes were committed
"Defendants, together with others known and unknown to the grand jury, knowingly and intentionally conspired to defraud the United States by impairing, obstructing and defeating the lawful functions of the Federal Election Commission, the US Department of Justice and the US Department of State in administering federal requirements for disclosure of foreign involvement in certain domestic activities."
There had been a line of argument from some Donald Trump supporters that Russian meddling efforts, even if proven, wouldn't constitute a criminal offence and a connection between Russia and the Trump campaign, if established, wouldn't be a fatal blow.

• The tactics of a Russian troll farm
• Trump Russia affair: Key questions answered
• Who's who in Russia scandal?

Mr Mueller's indictment lays out a number of ways in which what Russia is alleged to have done constitutes actual violations of criminal statutes - including wire fraud, identity theft and violations of election law.
It seems unlikely in the extreme that any of the individuals named in this indictment will end up facing any trial in the US. The Russian government has already said that the allegations are "absurd". That is probably not the point. This all matters because it establishes that any Americans who had knowledge of the Russian activity participated in a criminal endeavour and consequently could be vulnerable to prosecution.
No Americans have been named, of course, the investigation isn't over yet.
A targeted effort
"Defendants and their co-conspirators, posing as US persons, communicated with a real US person affiliated with a Texas-based grassroots organisation. Defendants and their co-conspirators learned from the real US person that they should focus their activities on "purple states like Colorado, Virginia & Florida."
This is another of the more remarkable revelations of the extent to which Russian nationals tried to gather information about US electoral process and strategy as part of their alleged attempts to influence the US presidential race.
They contacted actual US political experts, who directed them to target key states in the Electoral College - including Virginia, Colorado and Florida.
It appears, from the indictment, that the Russians paid particular attention to Florida, which Mr Trump would eventually win by a 1.2% margin (Mrs Clinton carried the other two states mentioned).
Real people, real rallies
"Defendants and their co-conspirators updated an internal organization list of over 100 real US persons contacted through organization-controlled false US persona accounts and tracked to monitor recruitment efforts and requests."
Up until now, much of the attention on Russian election meddling had been focused on their social media efforts - fake Twitter accounts, Facebook adverts and the like. The indictment, however, details much more.

Hundreds of Americans were allegedly contacted and recruited to support pro-Trump efforts. Individuals were paid to attend Trump events, including one who went to several dressed like Mrs Clinton in prison garb, investigators say. They even allegedly ordered the construction of a mock cage for the Clinton impersonator that could be transported on the back of a flatbed truck.
Rallies themselves were organised and promoted. A Florida-based grassroots activist was allegedly wired money to purchase materials for a Miami event.
All in all, Russian operatives were effectively engaging in - and funding - traditional on-the-ground campaign activities. Mr Trump has asserted that the "results of the election were not impacted".
While it's impossible to tell whether Russia's alleged multi-million-dollar effort tipped the balance to the Republican, it's much more difficult to say it had no effect whatsoever.
It didn't end on election day
"After the election of Donald Trump in or around November 2016, Defendants and their co-conspirators used false US personas to organise and co-ordinate US political rallies in support of then president-elect Trump, while simultaneously using other false U.S. personas to organise and co-ordinate US political rallies protesting the results of the 2016 US presidential election."
If the real point of the alleged Russian meddling was to "sow discord" in the US political system, those efforts wouldn't conclude upon Mr Trump's election - and, according to the indictment, they didn't.

In the days after the election, Russians were playing both sides against each other - encouraging rallies both for and against Mr Trump.
The president's supporters have cited this as evidence that the Russians were as interested in undermining their man as much as helping him - although that's undermined by actual communications Mr Mueller cites in the indictment, in which "specialists" were told the organisation supported Mr Trump and Mr Sanders.
What the post-election rallies demonstrate, however, is that the Russian efforts haven't ended. US intelligence officials, in testimony before Congress earlier this week said essentially the same thing - that the Russians, undeterred, will seek to continue to foment chaos in the days ahead, including during the 2018 US congressional midterm elections.
The question, then, is what the US does - or does not do - to prepare and respond.

ref: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-43093260

NAH - NAH - NAH - NAH - HEY HEY HEY - GOOD-BYE SUCKAZ!!!!!

 

[BigBlackBull76]

View attachment 1710354
View attachment 1710355
TUCK FRUMP!!!!!

I WAS 100% RIGHT ON MY CALL FROM DAY-ONE AND ALWAYS HAVE BEEN - THE NON-BELIEVERS ARE LATE AND SLOW TO WAKE-UP.

WHAT MUELLER DID TODAY WAS ABSOLUTE GENIUS.

NOW THAT HE HAS INDICTED RUSSIANS AS COMMITTING A CRIME IN MEDDLING IN THE US ELECTIONS - TRUMP NOR ANY OF HIS SUPPORTERS CAN DENY THAT ITS JUST 'FAKE NEWS'. BUT THATS NOT THE BEST PART.

THE BEST PART IS THAT ANY AMERICAN'S WHO KNEW OR AIDED THE RUSSIANS ARE NOW ALSO ACCESSORIES TO A CRIME. YOU SEE WHERE THIS IS GOING. GET READY EVERYONE, THIS IS WATERGATE WE ARE WATCHING ALL IN THE MAKING!!!!!

I LOVE IT!!!!!!!

View attachment 1710358
Seven key takeaways from the Russian indictments

Anthony Zurcher North America reporter @awzurcher on Twitter

• 16 February 2018

Special Counsel Robert Mueller has dropped another Friday blockbuster with his sweeping indictment of three organisations and 13 Russian nationals for meddling in the 2016 US presidential election.
For the first time the special counsel's team has taken dead aim at its central mandate in the investigation and laid bare the scope of what it alleges was a multi-million-dollar Russian operation to sow discord in American politics as far back as 2014.
Here's a look at some of the key passages of the 37-page indictment and what they mean.
No knowledge, no collusion
"Some defendants, posing as US persons and without revealing their Russian association, communicated with unwitting individuals associated with the Trump campaign and with other political activists to seek to co-ordinate political activities."
This is the key passage for the White House's effort to downplay the threat this indictment poses to Donald Trump and his presidency.

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, in announcing the indictments, added that there was "no allegation in this indictment that any American had knowledge" of Russian activity.
Critics will highlight the "in this indictment" portion of that statement. While Mr Mueller's document asserts no Trump-connected individuals knew they were dealing with Russians, this isn't the end of the investigation.
Skip Twitter post by @realDonaldTrump

Russia started their anti-US campaign in 2014, long before I announced that I would run for President. The results of the election were not impacted. The Trump campaign did nothing wrong - no collusion!​

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 16, 2018​

Report

End of Twitter post by @realDonaldTrump
The president, via Twitter and in a White House statement, insists this is proof that there was no collusion. It's better to say that there's no collusion alleged here. That certainly bolsters the White House's principal argument, but it doesn't cover any possible indictments to come. What this indictment, if it is substantiated, does do is devastate Mr Trump's past insistence that allegations of Russian meddling were a hoax.

• The Trump-Russia saga in 200 words
• Full text of the Russia indictment

It wasn't just Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton
"They engaged in operations primarily intended to communicate derogatory information about Hillary Clinton, to denigrate other candidates such as Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, and to support Bernie Sanders and then-candidate Donald Trump."
The indictment paints a picture of a multi-year, multi-prong effort to "sow discord" in the US political process dating back to 2014, before Mr Trump entered the presidential race.
The Russians, according to Mr Mueller's team, familiarised themselves with the US political process and then took action to support - or undermine - a variety of political candidates. They allegedly attacked several of Mr Trump's rivals in the Republican primary and backed Bernie Sanders, who mounted a populist challenge to Mrs Clinton for the Democratic nomination.

They also used social media, investigators say, to rally support for Green Party candidate Jill Stein in the general election, including an Instagram account that told black liberal activists to "choose peace and vote for Jill Stein" and that it wasn't "a wasted vote".
In several key Mid-western states, the number of Stein votes was greater than Mr Trump's margin of victory over Mrs Clinton.
A cloak and dagger operation
"Krylova and Bogacheva, together with other Defendants and co-conspirators, planned travel itineraries, purchased equipment (such as cameras, SIM cards and drop phones) and discussed security measures (including "evacuation scenarios") for Defendants who travelled to the United States."
One of the more breathtaking revelations of the indictment was that Russian attempts to influence the US presidential election went well beyond "virtual" efforts on social media. It included actual Russian nationals entering the US under false pretences and posing as Americans to conduct clandestine activities, according to the document.
It's the kind of espionage activity that harkens back to the Cold War and an indication of the seriousness and sophistication behind the Russian efforts.
Crimes were committed
"Defendants, together with others known and unknown to the grand jury, knowingly and intentionally conspired to defraud the United States by impairing, obstructing and defeating the lawful functions of the Federal Election Commission, the US Department of Justice and the US Department of State in administering federal requirements for disclosure of foreign involvement in certain domestic activities."
There had been a line of argument from some Donald Trump supporters that Russian meddling efforts, even if proven, wouldn't constitute a criminal offence and a connection between Russia and the Trump campaign, if established, wouldn't be a fatal blow.

• The tactics of a Russian troll farm
• Trump Russia affair: Key questions answered
• Who's who in Russia scandal?

Mr Mueller's indictment lays out a number of ways in which what Russia is alleged to have done constitutes actual violations of criminal statutes - including wire fraud, identity theft and violations of election law.
It seems unlikely in the extreme that any of the individuals named in this indictment will end up facing any trial in the US. The Russian government has already said that the allegations are "absurd". That is probably not the point. This all matters because it establishes that any Americans who had knowledge of the Russian activity participated in a criminal endeavour and consequently could be vulnerable to prosecution.
No Americans have been named, of course, the investigation isn't over yet.
A targeted effort
"Defendants and their co-conspirators, posing as US persons, communicated with a real US person affiliated with a Texas-based grassroots organisation. Defendants and their co-conspirators learned from the real US person that they should focus their activities on "purple states like Colorado, Virginia & Florida."
This is another of the more remarkable revelations of the extent to which Russian nationals tried to gather information about US electoral process and strategy as part of their alleged attempts to influence the US presidential race.
They contacted actual US political experts, who directed them to target key states in the Electoral College - including Virginia, Colorado and Florida.
It appears, from the indictment, that the Russians paid particular attention to Florida, which Mr Trump would eventually win by a 1.2% margin (Mrs Clinton carried the other two states mentioned).
Real people, real rallies
"Defendants and their co-conspirators updated an internal organization list of over 100 real US persons contacted through organization-controlled false US persona accounts and tracked to monitor recruitment efforts and requests."
Up until now, much of the attention on Russian election meddling had been focused on their social media efforts - fake Twitter accounts, Facebook adverts and the like. The indictment, however, details much more.

Hundreds of Americans were allegedly contacted and recruited to support pro-Trump efforts. Individuals were paid to attend Trump events, including one who went to several dressed like Mrs Clinton in prison garb, investigators say. They even allegedly ordered the construction of a mock cage for the Clinton impersonator that could be transported on the back of a flatbed truck.
Rallies themselves were organised and promoted. A Florida-based grassroots activist was allegedly wired money to purchase materials for a Miami event.
All in all, Russian operatives were effectively engaging in - and funding - traditional on-the-ground campaign activities. Mr Trump has asserted that the "results of the election were not impacted".
While it's impossible to tell whether Russia's alleged multi-million-dollar effort tipped the balance to the Republican, it's much more difficult to say it had no effect whatsoever.
It didn't end on election day
"After the election of Donald Trump in or around November 2016, Defendants and their co-conspirators used false US personas to organise and co-ordinate US political rallies in support of then president-elect Trump, while simultaneously using other false U.S. personas to organise and co-ordinate US political rallies protesting the results of the 2016 US presidential election."
If the real point of the alleged Russian meddling was to "sow discord" in the US political system, those efforts wouldn't conclude upon Mr Trump's election - and, according to the indictment, they didn't.

In the days after the election, Russians were playing both sides against each other - encouraging rallies both for and against Mr Trump.
The president's supporters have cited this as evidence that the Russians were as interested in undermining their man as much as helping him - although that's undermined by actual communications Mr Mueller cites in the indictment, in which "specialists" were told the organisation supported Mr Trump and Mr Sanders.
What the post-election rallies demonstrate, however, is that the Russian efforts haven't ended. US intelligence officials, in testimony before Congress earlier this week said essentially the same thing - that the Russians, undeterred, will seek to continue to foment chaos in the days ahead, including during the 2018 US congressional midterm elections.
The question, then, is what the US does - or does not do - to prepare and respond.

NAH - NAH - NAH - NAH - HEY HEY HEY - GOOD-BYE SUCKAZ!!!!!

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AND BEFORE ANY OF YOU TRUMP-SUPPORTING IDIOTS CAN SAY ANYTHING - HERE IS THE PROOF ON BEING ACCESSORY TO THE CRIME:

• A California man has pleaded guilty to unwittingly selling bank accounts to Russian agents meddling in the 2016 US election.
• Richard "Ricky" Pinedo admits he has "made mistakes," his lawyer said.
• On Friday, Special counsel Robert Mueller charged 13 Russians over interference in the election.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A California man who pleaded guilty earlier this month to unwittingly selling bank accounts to Russians meddling in U.S. elections made a mistake and is coming to terms with his role in the matter, his attorney told The Associated Press on Friday.
Richard "Ricky" Pinedo pleaded guilty to using stolen identities to set up bank accounts that were then used by the Russians. The U.S. government acknowledged that Pinedo did not know that he was dealing with Russians.
Pinedo's guilty plea is the third stemming from special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation. Former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn and former Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos have pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI.

On Friday, Robert Mueller's office charged 13 Russians, including a businessman close to Vladimir Putin, in an elaborate plot to interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. The federal indictment was the most direct allegation to date of illegal Russian meddling during the campaign.
Pinedo's attorney, Jeremy Lessem, said his client "was shocked to find out that what he was doing had any relationship whatsoever" to the Mueller investigation.
"This is something that is way beyond anything he could have possibly imagined he could be involved in," Lessem said.
He said Pinedo "has made mistakes, he's taken responsibility for those mistakes, he pled guilty, and he will be punished for those mistakes he made. But he had nothing to do with assisting any type of foreign national at all."
Pinedo thought he was helping people fraudulently open online bank accounts, but not Russians, Lessem said. He said his client would not make any public statements.
Pinedo, of Santa Paula, California, could face up to 15 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. He has no criminal history, according to his plea agreement, which he signed as "Ricky" on Feb. 2 during a court hearing in Washington, D.C. A sentencing date has not been scheduled.
Lessem declined to say what sentence he would request for his client.
Pinedo is listed on a LinkedIn page as a marketing strategist who graduated from Ventura College with a degree in computer science in 2009.
"Being able to come up with creative ideas, strategies and coming up with solutions to problems is always a big plus for me," according to the profile.
Between 2014 and last year, Pinedo operated an online service called Auction Essistance, selling bank account numbers either by registering accounts in his own name or often using stolen identities, according to court documents.
"Although Pinedo was not directly involved in the registration of these accounts using stolen identities, he willfully and intentionally avoided learning about the use of stolen identities," the documents said.
Prosecutors say the scheme netted Pinedo tens of thousands of dollars.

ref: http://www.businessinsider.com/california-man-in-russia-probe-has-made-mistakes-lawyer-says-2018-2

 

[BigBlackBull76]

Here is ANOTHER "HUGE" To Quote Muppet Head HEADLINE THAT GOT BURRIED IN THE OTHER BIG NEWS HEADLINES SPLASHES THAT ALSO MOVE UP THE IMPEACHMENT CLOCK ON MANAFORT AND TRUMP. Dam Mueller is good in circling from the outside and working his way toward the center of the target!

THE DEVELOPMENTS ARE JUST GETTING BETTER AND BETTER AND I WILL RUB THIS IN ALL OF YOUR FACES OVER AND OVER SAYING I TOLD YOU SO - I TOLD YOU SO! IMPEACH THE PORN-STAR'S' PAY-OFF (O'BANNON ALREADY LET THE CAT OUT THE BAG SAYING THERE WERE SEVERAL WOMEN PAID OFF) IDIOT ALREADY.

• Former Trump campaign adviser Rick Gates is reportedly close to finalizing a plea deal with special counsel Robert Mueller.
• Gates and former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort were charged last October with 12 counts related to money laundering, tax fraud, and conspiracy against the US.
• A Gates plea deal could spell trouble for Manafort, whom he has been associated with for nearly 30 years.

Rick Gates, a former adviser to President Donald Trump's campaign, is set to finalize a plea deal with special counsel Robert Mueller, CNN reported on Thursday.
Gates and former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort were charged last October with 12 counts related to money laundering, tax fraud, conspiracy against the US, and failure to register as foreign agents. If Gates agrees to a plea deal, he would be the third individual known to be cooperating with Mueller.
Former national security adviser Michael Flynn and former campaign foreign-policy adviser George Papadopoulos each pleaded guilty last year to one count of making false statements to federal investigators. Both are cooperating witnesses in the Russia probe.
The first sign of a potential plea deal came earlier this month, when it was reported that Gates' defense lawyers had pulled out of representing him against Mueller.
Gates' former lawyers filed the request on February 1, according to a court document. The reason for their withdrawal was not immediately known, but the document cited information that is currently the subject of a motion which remains under court seal.
A Gates plea deal, however, could spell trouble for Manafort, who has pleaded not guilty to the charges brought against him. Indeed, CNN reported that Gates has already had what's known as a "Queen for a Day" interview with the special counsel, which involves answering any questions from investigators, including those asked about his own case and other possible criminal activity he may have witnessed.
Gates met Manafort nearly three decades ago while he was an intern at Black, Manafort, Stone, Kelly — one of the most powerful lobbying firms in DC. Manafort left the firm the same year Gates joined, but they reunited in 2006 at Manafort's new consulting company, Davis Manafort.
Two years later, Gates took over the company's affairs in Eastern Europe, flying to London, Paris, and Moscow, where he met with potential business partners to develop deals and negotiate contracts, according to The New York Times.
Gates' Russia trips frequently included meetings with associates of Oleg Deripaska, a wealthy Russian-Ukrainian oligarch closely allied with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Paul Manafort. AP Photo/Matt Rourke

Gates joined the Trump campaign in early 2016, when Manafort became the campaign chairman, and worked under him as his deputy. Manafort was ****** to step down as Trump's campaign chairman in August 2016, but Gates stayed and worked on Trump's transition team. He was ousted from a pro-Trump lobbying group last April amid questions about Russia's election interference, but he continued to visit the White House as late as June, according to The Daily Beast.
Meanwhile, Manafort's murky business dealings and ties to Russian interests have long made him a focus of Mueller's investigation into whether Trump's presidential campaign colluded with Moscow before the 2016 election.
NBC News reported last March that Manafort was associated with at least 15 bank accounts and 10 companies in Cyprus. And The New York Times discovered in August 2016 that Ukraine's pro-Russia Party of Regions designated nearly $13 million in undisclosed cash payments in Manafort's name.
The Atlantic also published several emails that appeared to show Manafort using his elevated role in the Trump campaign to resolve a financial dispute with Deripaska. Manafort reportedly wrote an email to his associate, Russian-Ukrainian operative Konstantin Kilimnik, offering to give Deripaska "private briefings" about the campaign to "get whole." Former intelligence officials said the emails bore all the hallmarks of a quid pro quo operation.
Manafort was also one of three top Trump campaign officials who attended a June 2016 Trump Tower meeting with two Russian lobbyists who offered the campaign dirt on then-Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.
Brennan Weiss contributed reporting.

REF: http://www.businessinsider.com/rick-gates-lawyers-russia-investigation-paul-manafort-2018-2

 

[BigBlackBull76]

ITS NOT TOO LATE FOR THE ONES WHO FOOLISHLY VOTED TO NOT IMPEACH CHUMP TO CHANGE THEIR VOTES. IMPEACHMENT OR RESIGNATION IS COMING - HE DEFINITELY WONT BE ELECTED A 2ND TERM & HE WILL GO DOWN AS THE ABSOLUTE UNEQUIVOCALLY WORSE PRESIDENT EVER.

NOTE: *I PUT TEXT IN UPPERCASE & RED CAUSE I'M SHOUTING FIRE TO DRAW ATTENTION AS I KNOW PEOPLE DON'T READ SO IT HAS TO BE BLOWN UP FOR PEOPLE TO PAY ATTENTION.*

MORE PROOF DROPPING HERE OF COLLUSION:

• Wealthy Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska filed a lawsuit against President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, and his associate, Rick Gates, alleging that they defrauded Deripaska's company.
• The lawsuit relied, in part, on details included in special counsel Robert Mueller's indictment against the two men.
• Manafort came under renewed scrutiny last year after The Atlantic published emails that appeared to show him using his elevated role in the Trump campaign to resolve the dispute with Deripaska.

Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska filed a lawsuit Wednesday against President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, alleging that Manafort and his associate, Rick Gates, "vanished" $18.9 million that Deripaska's company gave to them to invest in a failed Ukrainian TV venture, called the "Black Sea Cable," in 2008.
The complaint was filed in a New York state court and is not the first time Deripaska has sued Manafort. His representatives also made similar claims in legal complaints filed in the Cayman Islands in 2014 and Virginia in 2015.
Per the lawsuit, Deripaska's company, Surf Horizon Ltd., gave Manafort and Gates nearly $19 million to purchase Black Sea Cable. As the economy dipped into a recession in the late 2000s, Surf recommended that Manafort and Gates sell Black Sea Cable, which they agreed to.
However, the complaint said, Manafort and Gates "took no steps to find a buyer for Black Sea Cable." After Surf repeatedly asked about the status of the investment, Gates said in an email that "efforts to sell Black Sea Cable were still underway."
Later, Deripaska learned that Surf did not own Black Sea Cable through the joint venture with Manafort and Gates, and "Surf had no knowledge that Black Sea Cable had been sold or transferred to another party."
The lawsuit relied, in part, on allegations that were outlined in special counsel Robert Mueller's office's indictment against Manafort and Gates, which was unsealed in late October.
Manafort and Gates pleaded not guilty to 12 counts including money laundering, tax fraud, failure to register as foreign agents, and conspiracy against the US.
The indictment, Deripaska's lawsuit said, "provides detail regarding movement of funds from bank accounts in Cyprus to accounts in the United States controlled by Manafort and Gates."
"The dealings of Manafort and Gates with Surf mirror the pattern of corporate dealings alleged in the indictment," it continued.
Deripaska's company is seeking over $25 million in damages.
Last October, The Atlantic published several emails that appeared to show Manafort using his elevated role in the Trump campaign to resolve the dispute with Deripaska.
Manafort reportedly wrote an email to his associate, Russian-Ukrainian operative Konstantin Kilimnik, offering to give Deripaska "private briefings" about the campaign.
"I assume you have shown our friends my media coverage, right?" Manafort reportedly wrote to Kilimnik, who has suspected ties to Russian intelligence.
"Absolutely," replied Kilimnik. "Every article."
"How do we use to get whole," Manafort responded. "Has OVD operation seen?"
Former intelligence officials told Business Insider last year that Manafort was likely trying to repay his debt to Deripaska. Investigators have concluded that "OVD" was a reference to his full name: Oleg Vladimirovich Deripaska.
Kilimnik reportedly told Manafort in a later email that he had been "sending everything to Victor, who has been forwarding the coverage directly to OVD." Victor was a senior aide to Deripaska, according to The Atlantic.
Deripaska and Manafort worked together in 2006 as well, when Deripaska signed a $10 million annual contract with Manafort for a lobbying project in the US that Manafort said would "greatly benefit the [Vladimir] P utin Government."

ref: http://www.businessinsider.com/oleg...rt-rick-gates-using-mueller-indictment-2018-1

SCRATCH 2017 AND MARK-IN 2018 WHICH WAS THE YEAR I ORIGINALLY VOTED FOR IMPEACHMENT AS I KNEW IT WOULD TAKE A WHILE.

 

[BigBlackBull76]

Democrats, liberals, progressives, whatever we call ourselves, we better fucking HOPE Trump does not get impeached and removed from office. Come on, do we want Mike Pence, the evangelical nut case as the President? Do we want Paul Ryan, Mr. gut Social Security and every other government program that helps anyone as President? With Trump in the White House, the Repub agenda has been very anemic, with Trump's "accomplishments" being as long a read as The Wit and Wisdom of George W. Bush. The Republican-controlled congress would find much smoother sailing if Trump was out and one or the other of those assholes in. Trump's stupidity, ignorance, hostility, narcissism and radical incompetence have been an obstacle and a distraction to a lot of things that a less controversial (and more competent) politician would have already gotten passed into law. I say, keep the bloated orange moron there until he is voted out.

@WhiteOutNow I agree we don't want Pence either but I hope they are all taken out and removed. But History repeats itself and so it will be with Pence similar to another Republican V.P. who took office after his President fell - see Gerald Ford:



America’s 38th president, Gerald Ford (1913-2006) took office on August 9, 1974, following the resignation of President Richard Nixon (1913-1994), who left the White House in disgrace over the Watergate scandal. Ford became the first unelected president in the nation’s history. A longtime Republican congressman from Michigan, Ford had been appointed vice president less than a year earlier by President Nixon. He is credited with helping to restore public confidence in government after the disillusionment of the Watergate era.

Ford understood that his decision to pardon Nixon could have political consequences, and it probably cost him the presidency in 1976. That year, he lost a close election to Democrat Jimmy Carter (1924-). Ford took the loss in stride, however, telling friends that he had planned to retire from Congress that year anyway. He viewed his brief tenure in the Oval Office as an unexpected bonus at the end of a long career in politics. Ford often said that he was pleased to have had the opportunity to help the nation emerge from the shadow of Watergate.

ref: http://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/gerald-r-ford