The Muscovite Candidate

[Econoline]

• • 

ETA:

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[rubato]

From Frank Bruni's column in today's NYT:

There’s no proof that Donald Trump Sr. knew of the meeting with the Russian lawyer, though there’s this: In the week between its scheduling and its occurrence back in June 2016, he made public remarks in which he said he’d be delivering a special speech about Clinton’s wrongdoing that was set — oh so interestingly, in retrospect — for a few days after the meeting. But that meeting, we’re now told, was a bust, with no great trove of Clinton-wounding revelations, and the speech didn’t happen as promised.

Oh yes I remember that, and nothing materialized. Could it be that little Donny 2 led Sr. to believe that there was treasure at the end of the Russian rainbow? Enquiring minds want to know.

Ahhh but there was treasure for someone.

http://www.businessinsider.com/why-was- ... ems-2017-7+

sessions Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Jonathan Ernst/Reuters

Democratic members of the House Judiciary Committee sent a letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Wednesday asking why the Department of Justice settled a major money-laundering case involving a real-estate company owned by the son of a powerful Russian government official whose lawyer met with Donald Trump Jr. last year.

Trump Jr., the president's eldest son, on Tuesday tweeted an email chain from June 2016 in which he entertained accepting damaging information from a "Russian government attorney" about Hillary Clinton as part of the Kremlin's support for his father's campaign.

That attorney, Natalia Veselnitskaya, represents the family of Pyotr Katsyv, the former vice governor of the Moscow region, whose son, Denis, owns the real-estate company Prevezon. The DOJ had been investigating whether Prevezon laundered millions of dollars through New York City real estate when the case was unexpectedly settled two days before going to trial in May.

"Last summer, Donald Trump Jr. met with a Kremlin-connected attorney in an attempt to obtain information 'that would incriminate Hillary,'" the Democrats wrote, citing the emails he published. "Earlier this year, on May 12, 2017, the Department of Justice made an abrupt decision to settle a money laundering case being handled by that same attorney in the Southern District of New York.

"We write with some concern that the two events may be connected — and that the Department may have settled the case at a loss for the United States in order to obscure the underlying facts."

The Prevezon case garnered high-profile attention, given its ties to a $230 million Russian tax-fraud scheme and the Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, whose suspicious death aroused international media attention and spurred the passage of the Magnitsky Act in 2012. Denis Katsyv and Veselnitskaya have become the face of Moscow's lobbying efforts against the Magnitsky Act in recent years.

Democrats now want to know whether Veselnitskaya was "involved at any point in the settlement negotiations," and they have asked Sessions to provide the committee "with the prosecution files and any other explanatory materials related to the settlement."

They also want to know whether there was "any contact between President Trump, White House personnel, the Trump family, or the Trump campaign with the Department of Justice" regarding Prevezon, and whether Sessions discussed the case "with anyone associated with the transition team," or with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, while he was being considered for attorney general. ... "

the multiple corruptions of Trump, Trump Jr., Manafort, Kushner and Sessions will make for interesting history.

yrs,
rubato

[ex-khobar Andy]

And the $230 million fraud case was settled for $6 million. Where can I get some of that?

[rubato]

DJT Jr shows us what a real email scandal looks like.

yrs,
rubato

[Scooter]

Charles Krauthammer was one of Trump's staunchest defenders in this mess - not so much anymore:

Fox News Pundit Charles Krauthammer Tears Donald Trump, Jr. Apart, ” Incompetence Is NOT A Good Defense”

Conservative commentator Charles Krauthammer blasted Republicans defending Donald Trump’s eldest son on Fox News Tuesday night, comparing Trump Jr.’s meeting with a Russian lawyer to attempting to receive stolen goods.

“They were saying for six months, we didn’t do it, there’s no evidence that we did it … Now they’re saying, yeah we did it, but it wasn’t so bad and we were incompetent at it. That’s not a very good defense,” Krauthammer, a Fox News contributor, said on the network.

“If you get in a car to go to a certain place in the middle of the night to pick up stolen goods, and it turns out the stolen goods don’t show up but the cops show up, I think you’re going to have a very weak story saying ‘I got swindled here,'” he said.

“Look, this is incompetence, they got swindled and he admits ‘If I had known, I wouldn’t have done this,'” Krauthammer added. “But to say ‘I love it,’ to be informed that the Russians are working on their behalf, contradicts six months of stories.”

Krauthammer indicated that newly revealed correspondence showing Trump Jr. setting up a meeting with a Russian lawyer changed his view of Trump’s team amid probes into possible ties between his campaign and Russia.

“I defended them, because up until today there was no ‘there’ there,” he said.

“Well now there is a ‘there.'”

“The denial of collusion is very weak right now because it looks as if Don Jr. was receptive to receiving this information,” he concluded.

They didn't quote the tail end of the video clip, which was probably Krauthammer's best line in that piece:

When you get information that the Russians want to dig dirt on your opponent and give it to you, and support you in your election, you go to the FBI, you don't go to the meeting.

Spot on, Mr. Krauthammer.

wes, anything to say?

Didn't think so.

[Scooter]

Footage emerges of Trump dining with key figures involved in son's Russian email scandal

Video has emerged showing Donald Trump attending a dinner with the key figures involved in the email scandal that has engulfed his White House over the last week.

The video, reportedly shot in Las Vegas in 2013, shows Mr Trump sitting down with members of the Azerbaijani-Russian family who would later offer up information on his election opponent, Hillary Clinton.

Also present is the family’s publicist, Rob Goldstone, who first reached out to the Trump family about the information.

In emails released by Mr Trump’s son this week, Mr Goldstone promises Donald Trump Jr "official documents and information that would incriminate Hillary [Clinton] and her dealings with Russia" as part of a larger Russian government effort to aid the Trump campaign.

"If it's what you say I love it especially later in the summer,” Mr Trump Jr responds.

The newly released video, obtained by CNN, reveals the extent of the connection between Mr Trump, Mr Goldstone, and the family who would claim to have information on former Secretary of State Clinton.

The business relationship between Mr Trump and the Agalarov family started in 2013, when Mr Trump signed a deal with Aras and Emin Agalarov to bring the Miss Universe pageant to Moscow.

The video shows Mr Trump and the Agalarov's dining and socialising shortly before the announcement of their business deal.

"The women now are beautiful," Mr Trump brags of the Miss Universe contestants at one point. "When you see Miss Universe you won't even believe it."

At another point, when the younger Mr Agalarov introduces his mother and sister to Mr Trump, the future President exclaims: "What a beautiful mother you have! Well, you produce good looking stuff, right? Beautiful stuff."

The news of Mr Trump Jr's meeting with an associate of the Agalarov's, Natalia Veselnitskaya, has renewed allegations of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government – allegations the White House vehemently denies.

Mr Trump Jr has dismissed the younger Mr Agalarov "an acquaintance," and claims to have met him on the golf course, not at the Miss Universe Pageant. He says he agreed to the meeting with Ms Veselnitskaya "as a courtesy" to Mr Goldstone, who also worked on the pageant.

Mr Trump, meanwhile, has defended his son as "open, transparent, and innocent". He maintains that allegations of collusion with Russia are a "witch hunt".

In the CNN video, Mr Trump can be heard heaping praise on Russia at the 2013 Miss USA awards show.

"It really is a great country," he says. "It's a very powerful country that we have a relationship with, but I would say not a great relationship, and I would say this can certainly help that relationship. I think it's very important."

Of the Agalarov family, he brags: "These are the most powerful people in all of Russia, the richest men in Russia."

[RayThom]

I beseech thee, Oh Lord, humbly allow us, your unworthy sinners, the opportunity to view our president's Russian "pee-pee" video. You owe us.

[Bicycle Bill]

"Call him #PEEOTUS!"

I still prefer SCROTUS — 'So-Called Ruler of the United States'.

-"BB"-

[Lord Jim]

The House Judiciary Committee will please come to order...

[Big RR]

Let them collect the evidence and publicize it first so a good portion of the public will be calling for removal (like with Nixon)--maybe he'd even resign; the last thing I want to see is another impeachment trial like there was with Clinton, where the vote split pretty much along party lines and could have been easily predicted befo0re the trial started. Surviving such a trial could make Trump even more insufferable, as unbelievable as that sounds.

[Scooter]

Jared Kushner updated his security form, suddenly remembered more than 100 foreign contacts

Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law, has had top secret security clearance since January when Trump took office. In order to get top secret clearance, he had to list all meetings with foreign contacts over the last seven years. In early April it was discovered Jared Kushner left that portion of his background form blank. From CNN in April:

Kushner, whom the President has given an expanded portfolio that includes high-level foreign policy matters, is required to complete a lengthy form with specifics about all of his foreign contacts and connections over the last seven years. Kushner's initial form was submitted in error, according to his attorney.

When Kushner first submitted his forms to the FBI, he left the section about foreign contacts blank -- despite the fact that he had met with a large number of foreign emissaries and leaders once Donald Trump became the president-elect and he became the point man for international contacts for the incoming Trump administration.

His attorney, Jamie Gorelick, said the "premature draft" was "mistakenly submitted" on January 18 without the proper review.

How does one leave the section intentionally blank, call it a “draft” document and still somehow get cleared for top secret security for seven full months now? In April, Democrats sent a letter to then FBI Director James Comey asking for Kushner's security clearance to be suspended pending an investigation and noted lying on the SF-86 form is a “felony, punishable by up to five years in prison.”

Three and a half months later, Kushner has updated his SF-86 form, not once, not twice, but three times. He’s suddenly recalled more than 100 foreign contacts:

Also under scrutiny is how forthcoming Mr. Kushner was with his father-in-law about the nature of the June meeting. He met with Mr. Trump to discuss the issue, according to advisers to the White House, around the time he updated his federal disclosure form to include Ms. Veselnitskaya’s name on a list of foreign contacts that Mr. Kushner was required to submit to the F.B.I. to obtain a security clearance.

Mr. Kushner supplemented the list of foreign contacts three times, adding more than 100 names, people close to him said.

It is perplexing he was granted top secret clearance at all given how incomplete the initial form was when he submitted it. And now we know he privately, covertly met with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya and Rinat Akhmetshin, who Sen. Chuck Grassley described as ”a former Russian military intelligence officer who acts as an “unregistered agent for Russian interests and apparently has ties to Russian intelligence.”

When you add it all up, it is extremely troubling Jared Kushner still has top secret clearance. There is a growing effort to have his clearance pulled. On Wednesday, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) did not pull any punches when it came to Kushner and security clearance. He wants Kushner’s clearance yanked:

wes, any thoughts?

Didn't think so.

[Sue U]

How fucking stupid is Team Trump? Or is it hubris? Or sheer contempt for the institutions of U.S. democracy?

Russians? What Russians? Oh, those Russians!

From Russia with Love
Ex-Soviet Spy Confirms He Also Met with Trump Jr.
The Donnygate saga just took another remarkable turn.

by Abigail Tracy

July 14, 2017 10:12 am

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump applauded his son’s “transparency” after he confirmed details of his meeting with a Kremlin-connected lawyer in hopes of obtaining damaging information about Hillary Clinton from the Russian government. But it seems that Donald Trump Jr. was hardly transparent at all when he published his e-mail exchange with Rob Goldstone, the music publicist who helped arrange the now-infamous June 9 meeting at Trump Tower between Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, Paul Manafort, and Russian attorney Natalia Veselnitskaya.

According to an explosive new NBC report, there was also at least one other person in the room that day: a Russian-American lobbyist and former Soviet counterintelligence officer who is suspected of having ties to the Kremlin. (In an earlier interview with NBC News, Veselnitskaya denied ties to the Russian government or ever having promised opposition research on Clinton. She acknowledged that she was accompanied by at least one man, but she did not identify him.)

The revelation that the president’s son, son-in-law, and campaign manager all met with an ex-spy—and that the White House failed to disclose his presence even after acknowledging that the June 9 meeting took place—represents a significant new development in the federal investigation into alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. While Trump surrogates have dismissed the meeting as a “nothing-burger,” Trump Jr.’s disclosure on Tuesday sent Washington into a tailspin and incited a contentious legal debate over whether the eldest Trump son broke the law when he gleefully responded “I love it” to an e-mail from Goldstone promising dirt on his father’s political rival as “part of Russia and its government's support for Mr. Trump” and later met with Veselnitskaya. The president’s son has argued that the meeting does not constitute collusion because Veselnitskaya did not offer any “meaningful” information.

Online, speculation immediately swirled that the unidentified fifth person was Rinat Akhmetshin, a lobbyist for a group that Veselnitskaya founded to seek the repeal of the Magnitsky Act—a retaliatory measure the U.S. leveled against Moscow, blacklisting suspected human-rights abusers. “I wasn't there, so I’m just relying on the NBC report, but there is only one person who fits that profile,” Hermitage Capital founder Bill Browder, who spearheaded the Magnitsky Act, told Business Insider on Friday. “In the world of Russian intelligence, there is no such thing as a ‘former intelligence officer,’ ” he continued. “So in my opinion, you had a member of Putin’s secret police directly meeting with the son of the future next president of the United States asking to change U.S. sanctions policy crucial to Putin.”

Hours later, Akhmetshin confirmed that he had met with Trump Jr., Kushner, and Manafort last year. “I never thought this would be such a big deal, to be honest,” he told the Associated Press, describing the meeting as “not substantive.” According to the AP, Trump Jr. asked Veselnitskaya “for evidence of illicit money flowing to the Democratic National Committee.” When the Russian attorney said she didn’t have such information, Akhmetshin said, “They couldn’t wait for the meeting to end.” He added that Veselnitskaya brought a folder full of documents to the meeting but said he was unaware of their contents or whether she provided them to Trump Jr., Kushner, or Manafort. (Akhmetshin was previously accused of hacking two computer systems by International Mineral Resources in a November 2015 court filing, allegedly as part of a broader smear campaign against the Russian mining company. According to the Daily Beast, Akhmetshin denied the hacking allegations, which IMR dropped last year.)

There may also have been a sixth person at the meeting. After NBC’s initial report was published, Alan Futerfas, Trump Jr.'s personal lawyer, called NBC to clarify that there was also a third person in the room, in addition to the three Trump associates. In an earlier statement, Futerfas said of the individual who attended the Trump Tower meeting, “He is a U.S. citizen. He told me specifically he was not working for the Russian government, and in fact laughed when I asked him that question.” He added that while the names of the attendees were reviewed, Trump Jr. was unaware of the individual’s background, but he had “absolutely no concerns about what was said in that meeting.” It is unclear whether he was referring to Akhmetshin or the other, still unidentified sixth individual. (Spokespersons for Kushner and Manafort did not immediately respond to requests for comment.)

Akhmetshin has long been on the radar of U.S. intelligence. In a March letter to acting Deputy Attorney General Dana Boente, Senator Chuck Grassley characterized him as “a Russian immigrant to the U.S. who has admitted having been a ‘Soviet counterintelligence officer.’ . . . In fact, it has been reported that he worked for the G.R.U. and allegedly specializes in ‘active measures campaigns,’ i.e., subversive political influence operations often involving disinformation and propaganda.” Grassley identified Akhmetshin as a pro-Russian lobbyist working on behalf of Prevezon Holdings, which until recently was under investigation by the U.S. Justice Department over allegations that it had laundered $230 million stolen in a tax-fraud scheme. The Magnitsky Act is named after the Russian attorney who uncovered the scheme, Sergei Magnitsky, who later died under mysterious circumstances in a Russian prison.

The Prevezon case was originally filed in 2013 by Preet Bharara, who was then the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. Prosecutors alleged that 11 Russian companies were involved in the tax scheme, which involved laundering a portion of the stolen $230 million through New York real estate. “As alleged, a Russian criminal enterprise sought to launder some of its billions in ill-gotten rubles through the purchase of pricey Manhattan real estate,” Bharara said of the case.

On March 11, Bharara was unexpectedly fired by Donald Trump. Several weeks later, Prevezon settled the lawsuit for $6 million, far short of the $230 million that had originally been sought, with no admission of wrongdoing. Veselnitskaya, who was representing the Russian companies in the case, reportedly told one Russian news outlet that she viewed the generous settlement as “an apology from the government,” according to Foreign Policy.

After news of Veselnitskaya’s meeting with Trump Jr., Kushner, and Manafort broke, a number of Democratic senators on the House Judiciary Committee wrote a letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions requesting information about the settlement. “We write with some concern that the two events may be connected—and that the Department may have settled the case at a loss for the United States in order to obscure the underlying facts,” the letter reads.

Representative Dana Rohrabacher of California, who has been a consistent advocate for warmer relations with Moscow, previously told CNN that he had met with Akhmetshin in Berlin in April, at which time he said the two discussed the Prevezon money-laundering case. Rohrabacher characterized the former Soviet intelligence officer as “having an ulterior motive” and involved with people who've got an agenda.” When asked whether he believed Akhmetshin maintained ties to Russian intelligence, the congressman said, “I would certainly not rule that out.”

Source: Vanity Fair

[Burning Petard]

"How fucking stupid is Team Trump? Or is it hubris? Or sheer contempt for the institutions of U.S. democracy?"

It is none of the above. The Trump team is outside any of these qualities. It is like asking one who has been blind from birth why they prefer the color work of Gaugin, Miro, or Rembrandt.

I refer you to the recent observations of David Brooks:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/14/opin ... ef=opinion

snailgate

[Scooter]

It would be funny to watch the squirming on this if the stakes were not so high.

So we've gone from:

The meetings never happened

to

The meetings were about adoptions

to


The meetings were about dirt on Hillary, but who cares, everyone does it.

And now, based on comments made on a piece by Charles Krauthammer, the newest defence will be, wait for it:

The lawyer whom Junior met with entered the United States with a visa authorized by the Obama administration. The entire thing was a plot orchestrated by Loretta Lynch to set up Donald Trump.

It was not many days ago that I predicted that the Trump camp would find a way to blame all this on Obama and/or Clinton. I really should take myself more seriously when I say I should play the ponies.

This is what it has come to, folks. This is the level to which Trump supporters are willing to debase themselves to defend the "honour" of their annointed Messiah. (I put the word in quotes because, obviously, he has none.)

Funny how none of the folks here who voted for Trump have had anything to say about how this farce has played out over the past several weeks. Perhaps it is a sign that they are ashamed. They should be.

[Joe Guy]

And here's the smoking gun...

[Big RR]

[Lord Jim]

It's now becoming pretty clear why Il Boobce was willing to be so reckless and blatant in his attempts to obstruct justice by trying to derail the FBI investigation...

I suspect the refrain will soon shift from "There was no collusion" to "We didn't collude, but even if we had, collusion isn't a crime"...

[Econoline]

From the linked piece by Charles Krauthammer:

• “What Donald Jr.—and Kushner and Manafort—did may not be criminal. But it is not merely stupid. It is also deeply wrong, a fundamental violation of any code of civic honour.”

This is of course 100% true (I never thought I'd ever say that about anything Krauthammer wrote! )...but what it leaves out is that Papa Trump's attempts to stop the investigation into this is clearly obstruction of justice—which is not only stupid, and not only wrong, but is also definitely, absolutely criminal.

[rubato]

Meanwhile nearly every Republican in the House and Senate refuses to criticize him.



yrs,
rubato

[Scooter]

I wouldn't say "every", but "almost all" is certainly true at this point.

But then, that was probably true at this stage in the Watergate investigations, and that didn't take very long, considering, to turn around.