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Roger Stone’s story just changed on Russia — again
Read the Emails: The Trump Campaign and Roger Stone
Kushner's FBI background check identified questions about his family's business, his foreign contacts, his foreign travel and meetings he had during the campaign, the sources said, declining to be more specific.
“This is your fault,” Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) told Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) at one point, according to two Republicans who attended the lunch and witnessed the exchange.
" Russia, Russia , Russia "
Longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone indicted by special counsel in Russia investigation
To: FederalWorker53@us.govFrom: BestPresidentEver45@whitehouse.govSubject: A Letter to Furloughed Federal Workers From Your COMPASSIONATE Friends in the Trump Administration!Dear volunteer:First off, thank you for your continued loyalty to our Great President and your total and complete support of his decision to shut down the government until Congress takes our border security seriously and funds a big, large, Beautiful Wall (or big, large, Beautiful Steel-Slat Fence/Wall)!We hope your yard sales and patriotic food-rationing are going well. As a true Man of the People who promised to help the Forgotten Men and Women of America, President Trump understands the financial hardships some of you might be facing during what we’re now calling the Dirty Democrats Government Shutdown. And the President wants you to know that this administration is ON YOUR SIDE!
Following the Warriors 2017 title, the team's invitation to the White House was rescinded by President Donald Trump in the midst of Trump's comments about black NFL players kneeling during the National Anthem.During media day for the 2017-18 season, Warriors star Stephen Curry said that he wouldn't want to visit the White House with Trump as president. And this season, the Warriors again didn't do that.
With no White House invitation, NBA champion Warriors meet with Barack Obama insteadQuoteFollowing the Warriors 2017 title, the team's invitation to the White House was rescinded by President Donald Trump in the midst of Trump's comments about black NFL players kneeling during the National Anthem.During media day for the 2017-18 season, Warriors star Stephen Curry said that he wouldn't want to visit the White House with Trump as president. And this season, the Warriors again didn't do that.#Resist
It is by now hackneyed to point out that Trump’s repeated insistence that the probe by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III is a “witch hunt” has been undercut substantially by the investigation’s productivity. But it’s probably worth noting the breadth of those charges and the number of individuals swept up in both that probe and a related one undertaken by the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.Here is each charge, its status and how it relates to the campaign. “SCO” refers to the special counsel’s office; “SDNY” to the U.S. attorney for the Southern District.
Trump campaign staffThe individuals who faced the most charges were Trump’s former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, and his longtime business partner and deputy campaign chairman, Rick Gates. A number of charges originally filed by the special counsel against them were later dropped after guilty pleas were made to fewer counts. (“FARA” is the Foreign Agents Registration Act.)
NAME ROLE CHARGES BY COUNTS DISPOSITIONPaul Manafort Campaign chairman Conspiracy against the U.S. SCO 1 Pleaded guiltyConspiracy to commit witness tampering SCO 1 Pleaded guiltyBank fraud SCO 2 ConvictedFailure to report foreign bank accounts SCO 1 ConvictedFalse tax returns SCO 5 ConvictedConspiracy to obstruct justice SCO 1 DroppedConspiracy to launder money SCO 1 DroppedObstruction of justice SCO 1 DroppedMaking false statements SCO 1 DroppedFiling false FARA statements SCO 1 DroppedUnregistered agent of a foreign principal SCO 1 DroppedBank fraud conspiracy SCO 5 DroppedRick Gates Deputy campaign chairman Conspiracy against the U.S. SCO 1 Pleaded guiltyMaking false statements SCO 1 Pleaded guiltyBank fraud SCO 4 DroppedBank fraud conspiracy SCO 5 DroppedFailure to report foreign bank accounts SCO 3 DroppedFalse tax returns SCO 5 DroppedAssisting in preparation of false tax documents SCO 5 DroppedFalse amended tax returns SCO 1 DroppedMichael Flynn National security adviser Making false statements SCO 1 Pleaded guiltyGeorge Papadopoulos Campaign adviser Making false statements SCO 1 Pleaded guilty
Trump advisers and alliesBoth Stone and Trump’s longtime attorney Michael Cohen were only indirectly connected to the campaign.
NAME ROLE CHARGES BY COUNTS DISPOSITIONRoger Stone Adviser Obstruction of proceeding SCO 1 IndictedMaking false statements SCO 5 IndictedWitness tampering SCO 1 IndictedMichael Cohen Personal attorney Making false statements SCO 1 Pleaded guiltyMaking false statements SDNY 1 Pleaded guiltyTax evasion SDNY 5 Pleaded guiltyCampaign finance violations SDNY 2 Pleaded guilty
OthersA few individuals tangentially related to campaign staff or to other accused individuals have face charges obtained by Mueller’s team.
NAME ROLE CHARGES BY COUNTS DISPOSITIONKonstantin Kilimnik Business partner of Manafort and Gates Conspiracy to obstruct justice SCO 1 IndictedAlex van der Zwaan Attorney who worked with Manafort and Gates Making false statements SCO 1 Pleaded guiltyRichard Pinedo Facilitated transactions related to Russian efforts Identity fraud SCO 1 Pleaded guilty
Van der Zwaan served a brief prison sentence and was subsequently deported.
Russian individuals and organizationsThe bulk of the charges brought by Mueller’s team involve Russian nationals and organizations accused of facilitating a social-media influence effort during the campaign and the hacking of Democratic Party and campaign email accounts and networks. The hacking is alleged to have been conducted by the Russian Main Intelligence Directorate, generally referred to as GRU.
NAME ROLE CHARGES BY COUNTS DISPOSITIONViktor Netyksho Alleged GRU agent Conspiracy to commit an offense against the U.S. SCO 1 IndictedConspiracy to launder money SCO 1 IndictedAggravated identity theft SCO 8 IndictedBoris Antonov Alleged GRU agent Conspiracy to commit an offense against the U.S. SCO 1 IndictedConspiracy to launder money SCO 1 IndictedAggravated identity theft SCO 8 IndictedDmitriy Badin Alleged GRU agent Conspiracy to commit an offense against the U.S. SCO 1 IndictedConspiracy to launder money SCO IndictedAggravated identity theft SCO 8 IndictedIvan Yermakov Alleged GRU agent Conspiracy to commit an offense against the U.S. SCO 1 IndictedConspiracy to launder money SCO 1 IndictedAggravated identity theft SCO 8 IndictedAleksey Lukashev Alleged GRU agent Conspiracy to commit an offense against the U.S. SCO 1 IndictedConspiracy to launder money SCO 1 IndictedAggravated identity theft SCO 8 IndictedSergey Mogachev Alleged GRU agent Conspiracy to commit an offense against the U.S. SCO 1 IndictedConspiracy to launder money SCO 1 IndictedAggravated identity theft SCO 8 IndictedNikolay Kozachek Alleged GRU agent Conspiracy to commit an offense against the U.S. SCO 1 IndictedConspiracy to launder money SCO 1 IndictedAggravated identity theft SCO 8 IndictedPavel Yershov Alleged GRU agent Conspiracy to commit an offense against the U.S. SCO 1 IndictedConspiracy to launder money SCO 1 IndictedAggravated identity theft SCO 8 IndictedArtem Malyshev Alleged GRU agent Conspiracy to commit an offense against the U.S. SCO 1 IndictedConspiracy to launder money SCO 1 IndictedAggravated identity theft SCO 8 IndictedAleksandr Osadchuk Alleged GRU agent Conspiracy to commit an offense against the U.S. SCO 1 IndictedConspiracy to launder money SCO 1 IndictedAggravated identity theft SCO 8 IndictedAleksey Potemkin Alleged GRU agent Conspiracy to commit an offense against the U.S. SCO 1 IndictedConspiracy to launder money SCO 1 IndictedAggravated identity theft SCO 8 IndictedAnatoliy Kovalev Alleged GRU agent Conspiracy to commit an offense against the U.S. SCO 1 IndictedInternet Research Agency Organization that led social media effort Conspiracy to defraud the U.S. SCO 1 IndictedConcord Management Company accused of funding effort Conspiracy to defraud the U.S. SCO 1 IndictedConcord Catering Company accused of funding effort Conspiracy to defraud the U.S. SCO 1 IndictedYevgeniy Prigozhin Alleged IRA employee Conspiracy to defraud the U.S. SCO 1 IndictedMikhail Bystrov Alleged IRA employee Conspiracy to defraud the U.S. SCO 1 IndictedMikhail Burchik Alleged IRA employee Conspiracy to defraud the U.S. SCO 1 IndictedAleksandra Krylova Alleged IRA employee Conspiracy to defraud the U.S. SCO 1 IndictedAnna Bogacheva Alleged IRA employee Conspiracy to defraud the U.S. SCO 1 IndictedSergey Polozov Alleged IRA employee Conspiracy to defraud the U.S. SCO 1 IndictedMaria Bovda Alleged IRA employee Conspiracy to defraud the U.S. SCO 1 IndictedRobert Bovda Alleged IRA employee Conspiracy to defraud the U.S. SCO 1 IndictedVadim Podkopaev Alleged IRA employee Conspiracy to defraud the U.S. SCO 1 IndictedDzheykhun Aslanov Alleged IRA employee Conspiracy to defraud the U.S. SCO 1 IndictedConspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud SCO 1 IndictedAggravated identity theft SCO 6 IndictedGleb Vasilchenko Alleged IRA employee Conspiracy to defraud the U.S. SCO 1 IndictedConspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud SCO 1 IndictedAggravated identity theft SCO 6 IndictedIrina Kaverzina Alleged IRA employee Conspiracy to defraud the U.S. SCO 1 IndictedAggravated identity theft SCO 6 IndictedVladimir Venkov Alleged IRA employee Conspiracy to defraud the U.S. SCO 1 IndictedAggravated identity theft SCO 6 Indicted
It’s not clear whether any of the above identified individuals will face trial for the charges they face. Concord Management has been battling Mueller’s team in court.Mueller’s probe has been underway for about 20 months. In that time, the probe has obtained indictments against 26 Russians and six individuals who worked for or closely with Trump’s 2016 campaign, sent two people to prison and possibly recovered enough in damages to pay for itself.It’s also very unlikely that Stone’s arrest is the culmination of that work.
Things continue until they don’t. The senseless, cruel government shutdown ended on Friday. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) had vowed she would not give anything until the government reopened. President Trump had promised he wouldn’t reopen the government without funding for his border wall. Now, Pelosi is getting what she wants. Trump has lost. The deal would reopen the government for three weeks to allow a conference committee to discuss border security measures — but not a wall.Trump announced in the Rose Garden that he was “proud” to announce a real had been reached, although the deal was nothing more than a capitulation. Trump agreed to reopen the government for three weeks, making a vague (and now, more than ever, empty) threat to declare an emergency if money for the wall was not reached. He then launched into an harangue of the type that has not in many speeches shifted public opinion. "We really have no choice but to build a powerful wall or steel barrier,” Mr. Trump insisted. He rambled on, reciting yet again some story about women smuggled in cars with their mouths taped shuts. (His own advisers and border agents have not idea what he is referring to.) His mini-tirade about the wall reminded anyone who cared that he is not getting it.You cannot get thumped any worse than Trump did on this encounter with Pelosi. Each step along the way, the president stumbled. He told Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) “I will be the one to shut it down.” He’d be proud to do it! He wouldn’t blame them! He was then ready to sign a clean continuing resolution — until he listed to Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh and provoked a shutdown anyway.In the iconic video from December, Schumer can barely contain his laughter. Inside, surely he was jumping up and down, delighting in Trump’s political malpractice.Since then, Team Trump has shown a total lack of compassion for the 800,000 government workers going unpaid. (Perhaps contributing to the president’s collapse, 14,000 IRS workers did not show up for work, and New York’s LaGuardia Airport was forced to temporarily suspend flights because of staffing issues.) Why would they need to go to a food bank? Can’t they suffer a little for all of us? The remarkable Marie Antoinette moments won’t easily be forgotten.Trump never was able to sell the public on the existence of an emergency at the border, perhaps because there isn’t one. Nor could he convince a majority that the wall was needed, perhaps because it isn’t. In trying to come up with a face-saving compromise, Trump (or perhaps Stephen Miller, who seems to be in charge when immigration comes up) slipped in one too many poison pills (e.g., denying a slew of asylum claims). Trump’s own staff, in essence, blocked his retreat.As for the disastrous Senate vote on Thursday, it is far from clear whether Trump knew it would fail or whether he was deluded, convinced that Republicans — who had been grumbling and warning him all along that this was a disastrous mistake — would simply go along.Ultimately, what may have convinced Trump to give up were all those polls he insisted that he was discounting. As Trump throws in the towel, a new Post/ABC poll underscores just how unpopular Trump has become during the Trump shutdown. “Public disapproval of President Trump has swelled five points to 58 percent over three months as a majority of Americans continue to hold him and congressional Republicans most responsible for the partial federal government shutdown.” Pelosi has fared much better. (“53 percent blame Trump and congressional Republicans while 34 percent blame Pelosi”). Meanwhile, independents critical to both midterm and presidential elections have fled in droves. Among independents, disapproval has soared from 53 percent in November to 63 percent now, while 54 percent say "Trump and Republicans are more responsible for [the shutdown] while 29 percent blame Pelosi and Democrats.”We will see whether Trump’s collapse costs him with his base. If so, the bottom will fall out of his ratings. We are left with two final questions: Will there be serious primary challengers to Trump, who’s managed to prove his total incompetence? We’ll see. And will Pelosi get tired of winning? I think not.
For two years now we’ve heard, “No collusion!” and “Witch hunt!” Such disparagement of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s work was never viable (e.g. we knew about the Trump Tower meeting in June 2016 for well over a year); now it’s simply wrong. Perhaps the new phrase, albeit not original, should be: What did President Trump know, and when did he know it?The indictment and arrest of Roger Stone were not unexpected, but the allegations should shake Republicans out of their slumber. We learn from the indictment:After the July 22, 2016, release of stolen [Democratic National Committee] emails by Organization 1 [WikiLeaks], a senior Trump Campaign official was directed to contact STONE about any additional releases and what other damaging information Organization 1 had regarding the Clinton Campaign. STONE thereafter told the Trump Campaign about potential future releases of damaging material by Organization 1,A senior official was allegedly directed to inquire about stolen emails. Who directed him, and if not Trump himself, did Trump know what was being done on his behalf?Likewise, Mueller alleges:During the summer of 2016, STONE spoke to senior Trump Campaign officials about Organization 1 and information it might have had that would be damaging to the Clinton Campaign. STONE was contacted by senior Trump Campaign officials to inquire about future releases by Organization 1And then there is this:On or about October 7, 2016, Organization 1 released the first set of emails stolen from the Clinton Campaign chairman. Shortly after Organization 1’s release, an associate of the high-ranking Trump Campaign official sent a text message to STONE that read ‘well done.’ In subsequent conversations with senior Trump Campaign officials, STONE claimed credit for having correctly predicted the October 7, 2016 release.In short, Mueller has evidence suggesting that the highest levels of the Trump campaign were using Stone to intercede with WikiLeaks, with its known collaborations with Russia, to assist in release of dirt on the campaign’s opponents.If Trump was directing campaign aides to intercede with Stone, and by extension, WikiLeaks, that “would plainly constitute another piece — a big one — in the mosaic of evidence showing that Trump was committing campaign-related crimes in coordination with Russia to rig the presidential election in his favor by knowingly weaponizing stolen information against his opponent,” says constitutional scholar Laurence Tribe. “That mosaic could certainly establish a high crime warranting Impeachment. But I still believe that an intense and public fact-finding process by the House, starting now, needs to precede any formal decision on impeachment, without which the essential public consensus favoring Trump’s removal won’t emerge.”Mueller indicted Stone on multiple counts of lying to the House Intelligence Committee and also a count of witness-tampering. “It is a damning indictment that shows Stone tried to obstruct the investigation every step of the way to keep the truth from coming out,” remarks former Justice Department spokesman Matthew Miller. “The question now is are there even bigger secrets he is protecting, and if so, how far is he willing to go to protect them?”Max Bergmann of the Moscow Project points out, "According to Trump himself, campaign staff, and embedded political reporters, the campaign was the Trump show. He was his own strategist and made every decision.” He concludes, “It is simply impossible to believe that when it came to the most important campaign decision of all — whether or not to collude with Russia — Trump wasn’t involved.”In addition to the extent of Trump’s personal involvement and the identity of the Trump Organization’s contacts with Stone (a New York Times report earlier in the year suggested former Trump adviser Stephen K. Bannon was one contact), further questions abound. Former FBI special agent Clint Watts asks: “Why did Stone, after seeing the Mueller investigation start, make false statements to HSPI when it was highly likely his communications with Organization 1 would be discovered?" (Watts also wonders: "Will they charge WikiLeaks or not? That is one link for collusion if they are to pursue that.”)There are plenty of juicy and ludicrous tidbits in the indictment, such as Stone’s alleged mob-like threats to others including a reference to “The Godfather: Part II.” You cannot make something like this up:You are a rat. A stoolie. You backstab your friends-run your mouth my lawyers are dying Rip you to shreds," Stone told the person in an April 9 email. He also threatened to “take that dog away from you,” and said, “I am so ready. Let’s get it on. Prepare to die (expletive).”Regardless of the luridness, no one — including Trump’s dead-enders in the right-wing media — should fail to recognize how serious this is. We have collusion between Stone and WikiLeaks about a crime, stealing emails, and between Stone and a Trump campaign senior official about that activity. We will see which characters, if any, committed which crimes. But the president is a hair’s breadth from being implicated in collusion (or knowledge of collusion). His efforts and all these associates' lies now make more sense.
Meanwhile, Trump’s “no collusion” refrain was eviscerated by the indictment charging Roger Stone with obstruction and witness tampering. How many Republicans have repeated ad nauseum that they see no evidence of collusion? They should look again. From the text of the indictment: “A senior Trump Campaign official was directed to contact STONE about any additional releases and what other damaging information [WikiLeaks] had regarding the [Hillary] Clinton campaign.” If Trump is anywhere in that chain of “A told B to find out C,” the president was conspiring with others after the campaign had been warned about Russian infiltration attempts — and after the hack of the Democratic National Committee was known.Trump, in late July 2016, publicly called on Russia to go find Clinton’s emails. That very day, Russians attempted to hack into Clinton’s emails. Soon after, a cache of DNC emails gets dumped. Days after that, now-former Trump strategist Stephen K. Bannon (identified in a prior New York Times report) was told (by whom?) to reach out to Stone and find out what else WikiLeaks had. Within hours of the Access Hollywood recording’s release on Oct. 7, WikiLeaks began dumping Clinton’s emails. Bannon, that day, texted his praise to Stone for the WikiLeaks email release. If that isn’t collusion, the word has no meaning. The only question is how much Trump knew and what actions he specifically directed.In sum, the Republicans' assumption that there was never really any collusion has now been undermined. The assumption that Trump had some clue how to govern and would not put the Senate at risk was blown up, as well. If so many assumptions about the Senate and the evidence in the Russia investigation turned out to be faulty, maybe we should rethink three other assumptions: 1. The Senate will never vote to remove Trump; 2. He’s so popular with the GOP base that any primary challenge would be fruitless; 3. His nomination in 2020 is certain.If the special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s report is truly damning (and every filing has surprises, new facts and story lines previously unknown), maybe the Senate will be happy to run Trump out of town — especially if he is polling in the low 30s. If Trump’s presidency has been derailed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), the wall never gets built, and Trump continues to make everyone look foolish, it’s not too far a leap to think donors, operatives and other pols will try to find a 2020 alternative. And if the Senate looks like it just might vote to remove him, and/or a credible challenger (or more than one) pops up, I could imagine Trump stomping off — with a pardon in hand from VP Mike Pence.