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So, in a really, really delayed reaction, the US ordered Russia out of three consulates today.

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US diplomats have until this Friday to leave Russia - a day before the US closures of the Russian consulate and two annexes must be completed.

But although the state department said the US actions were “in the spirit of parity” and in response to the “unwarranted and detrimental” reduction in the US mission in Russia, it also suggested it wanted an end to the current spat.

“While there will continue to be a disparity in the number of diplomatic and consular annexes, we have chosen to allow the Russian Government to maintain some of its annexes in an effort to arrest the downward spiral in our relationship,” the state department said in its statement on Thursday.

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Expecting to see a bunch more stories today on this one.

WASHINGTON — Paul Manafort’s notes from a controversial Trump Tower meeting with Russians during the 2016 presidential campaign included the word “donations,” near a reference to the Republican National Committee, two sources briefed on the evidence told NBC News.

The references, which have not been previously disclosed, elevated the significance of the June 2016 meeting for congressional investigators, who are focused on determining whether it included any discussion of donations from Russian sources to either the Trump campaign or the Republican Party.

It is illegal for foreigners to donate to American elections. The meeting happened just as Trump had secured the Republican nomination for president, and he was considered a longshot to win. Manafort was the campaign chairman at the time.

Manafort’s notes, typed on a smart phone and described by one briefed source as cryptic, were turned over to the House and Senate intelligence committees and to Special Counsel Robert Mueller. They contained the words “donations,” and “RNC” in close proximity, the sources said.

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Nothing major in this one. Wittes “boomed” it but I think he’s just impatient, as we all are.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-attorneys-lay-out-arguments-against-obstruction-of-justice-probe-to-mueller-1504207495

Edit: For anyone who can’t get around the paywall: http://archive.is/XQvnq

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Response to the WSJ story:

(1) This is highly unusual unless you have a good sense that the prosecutors are moving against your client. https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-attorneys-lay-out-arguments-against-obstruction-of-justice-probe-to-mueller-1504207495 … via @WSJ
(2) Which is why these types of submissions usually come closer to the end rather than the beginning of an investigation.
(3) And they are usually done when the facts are fairly well developed and you are trying to move prosecutors on the law instead.
(4) In the context of what else in publicly known, this is the biggest, most significant development thus far.
(5) And, going after Comey’s credibility seems particularly desperate and almost certain to fail.

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I think the best way to sum up the response to the WSJ is, “This would be highly significant development if you thought there really was nothing to the obstruction of justice charges. But since no one thinks that, everyone is just saying, ‘Well, of course.’”

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To be fair, trying to mislead Hannity may do some weird wrap-around to acceptability.

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Special counsel Bob Mueller has teamed up with the IRS. According to sources familiar with his investigation into alleged Russian election interference, his probe has enlisted the help of agents from the IRS’ Criminal Investigations unit.

This unit—known as CI—is one of the federal government’s most tight-knit, specialized, and secretive investigative entities. Its 2,500 agents focus exclusively on financial crime, including tax evasion and money laundering. A former colleague of Mueller’s said he always liked working with IRS’ special agents, especially when he was a U.S. Attorney.
[…]
One former Tax Division prosecutor told The Daily Beast that this could cause trouble for Trump.

“The fact that there is not a senate-confirmed Assistant Attorney General for the Tax Division, and that the Trump people have disregarded it despite warnings as far back as December that they needed to fill the AAG’s spot… shows what a self-created mess the Trump administration has found itself in,” said the former prosecutor, who requested anonymity to speak candidly. “They have no one to keep Mueller and his Brooklyn team honest. They should be concerned about that.”

The former prosecutor said it could have benefitted Trump if he had an appointee in the division as these proceedings unfold—and that he’s now missed that opportunity.

“They have picked any two people in the world,” he added, “and they picked nobody.”

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Whoah. I know this isn’t directly connected to the Mueller investigation, but.

Task & Purpose : Trump Aide Connected To 2006 Overseas Attack On US Marines

Today, more than a decade after the siege on the Marines at Feodosia, evidence is gathering that an American citizen was being paid millions to by the protest’s organizers to advise them on their political strategy. But he’s no ordinary American citizen: He’s Paul Manafort, longtime political money man, Trump Tower resident, and former manager of Donald Trump’s successful campaign for president.
[…]
As I reported last year, American officials remain convinced that the attacks on Marines in Feodosia were organized by the mob-connected, Kremlin-friendly Party of Regions, which was then trying to restore its influence in the region with Paul Manafort’s help.

In short: An American citizen who helped elect a conservative president with a strong patriotic, pro-military message was on the payroll of a foreign group that the U.S. government believes directly threatened its military personnel and undermined its foreign policy. Ukrainian officials and some former U.S. diplomats I’ve spoken to are convinced that Manafort knew about, and possibly helped plan, the anti-American protests.

It sounds outrageous, and amid 2016’s outrageous election cycle, the story didn’t get much play — especially since Manafort officially resigned from Trump’s campaign last summer, amid a flurry of negative stories about his Ukraine and Russia connections. But as Mueller’s investigation ramps up and focuses on Manafort’s financials, new reports lend additional credence to the possibility that Manafort was at least partly culpable in the targeting of U.S. Marines.

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Ari Melber and Kathryn Ruemmler walk us through some of it (video). (Try to ignore the hyperbolic headline, which wasn’t even what Ruemmler said.)

(She said “recent history”.)

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I don’t know, we might need more investigation into email server management.
/s

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Financial Times: Russian lobbyist Rinat Akhmetshin on that notorious meeting at Trump Tower

Before we meet for lunch, the former Soviet army officer turned DC lobbyist is described to me variously as a sharp political operator, dirty trickster, influence-peddler, hacker, loyal drinking buddy, charismatic opera-lover and Kremlin spy. Akhmetshin himself suggests he is something altogether simpler: someone who will do almost anything for money.

“In my line of work I really try to tell the best story I can and I will never say something which is not true,” he says.

One fact is not in dispute: in July he was unveiled as the mysterious attendee at a controversial meeting at Trump Tower in June 2016 between senior aides of Donald Trump, including his son Donald Trump Jr and son-in-law Jared Kushner, and a Russian lawyer. The encounter, which took place in the hurly-burly of last year’s presidential election campaign, is at the centre of the roiling scandal that has spawned counter-intelligence investigations that have damaged US-Russia relations and risk the remote possibility of the downfall of President Trump, as well as Akhmetshin himself.
[…]
In Akhmetshin’s telling, he may be a mercenary but he knows his limits. “I will never f**k with Russian state,” he says in idiosyncratic English spoken with a light Russian accent. “I will never do things against Russian government. It’s stupid,” he tells me. “Simply, the stakes are too high.”

The more urgent question for now, however, is whether he will do things for the Russian government, and whether he can testify that Team Trump has lied about that fateful meeting. Akhmetshin was among a Russian group that, according to the British publicist who set up the meeting, promised information to Trump Jr as part of Russian government support that would “incriminate” his father’s rival for the presidency, Hillary Clinton. The group, Akhmetshin’s detractors claim, was also seeking to repeal a 2012 US law, the Magnitsky Act, that had so incensed Moscow it promised retaliation.

The heat is rising. I’ve been tipped-off that Akhmetshin has already testified before the secret grand jury that former FBI head Robert Mueller has convened to probe allegations of Russian influence during the election campaign (his reply: “I don’t know what you’re talking about”, though he swiftly follows up with a promise of “full co-operation” with any investigation). He’s also likely to face subpoenas to be grilled in a slew of congressional hearings.

(The Google full title search trick should get you around the Financial Times paywall, but another trick is to add “twitter” to your search parameters, click on a tweet and then click on article link in the tweet.)

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Mueller Has Early Draft of Trump Letter Giving Reasons for Firing Comey

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The reporting is…interesting.

We know Mueller has a letter drafted by Trump and Stephen Miller that was written in parallel with the Sessions + Rosenstein. We know that Trump’s attorney didn’t want Trump to use he letter, so he didn’t. We have no idea what’s in the letter, and if it’s at all meaningful. This is like a story waiting for a story, when we can find out if it’s actually something incriminating or somehow interesting.

The contents of the original letter appear to provide the clearest rationale that Mr. Trump had for firing Mr. Comey. The Times has not seen a copy of the letter and it is unclear how much of Mr. Trump’s rationale focuses on the Russia investigation.

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The implications here are pretty interesting.




MOSCOW (Reuters) - The U.S. special services have said they will carry out a search of Russia’s consulate building in San Francisco, soon to be closed in retaliation for a similar measure by Russia, a Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman said on Friday.

The closure by Sept. 2 of the consulate and buildings in Washington and New York that house Russian trade missions is the latest in tit-for-tat actions by the two countries that have helped push relations to a new post-Cold War low.

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They ran their spies on the west coast out of that building throughout the entire Cold War. There must be decades worth of stuff to burn.

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Russian spies or not, best not mess with Bay Area Air Quality Management District, y’all.

And despite any remaining diplomatic ties, Gioia said the consulate is subject to fines from his regulatory agency.

“This consulate is closing Saturday, for all we know they may be burning documents or something else,” he said.

Added to the backdrop of allegations of Russian meddling in the election and the ongoing probe, Gioia said Friday’s chimney smoke only “adds fuel to the fire.”

“We already know the Russians messed with our election, now they are messing with our air quality,” the Contra Costa supervisor said.