Washington (CNN)Former national security adviser Susan Rice privately told House investigators that she unmasked the identities of senior Trump officials to understand why the crown prince of the United Arab Emirates was in New York late last year, multiple sources told CNN.
The New York meeting preceded a separate effort by the UAE to facilitate a back-channel communication between Russia and the incoming Trump White House.
The crown prince, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, arrived in New York last December in the transition period before Trump was sworn into office for a meeting with several top Trump officials, including Michael Flynn, the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and his top strategist Steve Bannon, sources said.
The Senate Judiciary Committee will meet with Donald Trump Jr. on Thursday to discuss the Trump campaign’s contacts with Russia, according to three Democratic members of the committee.
The meeting, which is expected to be comprehensive, is the first opportunity that members of the committee will have to grill someone from President Trump’s inner circle about the campaign’s alleged attempts to engage with Kremlin surrogates, during a period when the intelligence community believes Russia was taking steps to influence the 2016 presidential election in favor of Trump’s candidacy.
[…]
The Judiciary Committee’s Thursday meeting with Trump Jr. is technically an interview with staff, but several members are planning on attending the meeting to ask their own questions directly.
Blumenthal said that for him, “it’s all about following the money . . . financial dealings and how that entangled the Trump Organization.”
Sen. Christopher A. Coons (D-Del.), who is also planning to attend, said that the interview will be “a good opportunity to better understand what was going on in that meeting . . . and to better understand the thinking of core members of the president’s team.”
Both the Senate Judiciary and Intelligence committees are trying to better establish the mind-set of the Trump campaign representatives who participated in that June 2016 meeting.
I’m curious to see how the “America first” types react to the secret meeting with the UAE crown prince. They sure fell in love with the KGB fast. Maybe tomorrow they’ll be telling us that the Arabs are our friends and they’re just misunderstood.
OWhatever gives the “True Enemy” (Democrats, Liberals) fits, right?
Actually, it reminds me of that scene in Life of Brian where the two anti-Roman guerrilla groups meet by accident in Pilate’s palace at night and start fighting each other, and when Brian exhorts them not to but rather to unite against the common enemy, they all say “The Judean People’s Front!?”
Russia also has a joint nuclear plant deal in progress in Turkey. I’m surprised this and his payments through a Turkish company have not been linked into the cobweb yet.
(MEGA-THREAD) TRUMP has been in a business arrangement with PUTIN since 2013; publicly available information PROVES it. Please read & share. https://twitter.com/SethAbramson/status/908428204398039040/photo/1
(1) On the day of the 2013 Miss Universe pageant, Donald Trump and Aras Agalarov announced (via RT) plans to build a Trump Tower in Moscow.
(2) Agalarov is Putin’s personal real estate developer. He has told RIA Novosti that he builds on Putin’s orders and without making tenders.
(3) Agalarov can’t build in Moscow without Putin’s permission—which can be retracted at will. But his deal with Trump got Putin’s blessing.
(4) We know this because Don told investors in '08 that you can’t build in Moscow without permits—and one needs Kremlin friends to get them.
(5) Lack of proper permits—synonymous with a lack of Kremlin friends—doomed Trump Tower Moscow in both '87 and '96. https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/09/why-didnt-trump-build-anything-in-russia/539274/
(6) When Trump invited Putin to Miss Universe '13, Putin didn’t go—sending his property chief (permits man) instead. http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/09/trump-russian-mobster-tokhtakhounov-miss-universe-moscow/
(7) Putin’s real estate developer and permits man got a deal done—in a day—Trump hadn’t been able to do in 25 years. https://www.rt.com/business/trump-plan-skyscraper-russia-479/
(8) But a Russian real estate developer and a Kremlin permits man are only 2/3rds of the Holy Trinity needed to get a tower built in Moscow.
(9) That’s why Putin also sent his banker—head of Sberbank—to meet with Trump the day of the Miss Universe pageant. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-07-13/trump-s-two-nights-of-parties-in-moscow-reverberate-years-later
(10) With Putin’s real estate developer, permits man and banker at a table with Trump in November 2013, a deal got completed near-instantly.
(11) About a week later, Sberbank made the announcement that it was funding the Trump-Agalarov—Trump-Putin—project. https://themoscowtimes.com/articles/sberbank-funds-24-billion-construction-at-crocus-city-29740
(12) It’s preposterous—and deeply misunderstands the Moscow real estate market—to call this deal a “Trump-Agalarov,” not “Trump-Putin” deal.
(13) Make no mistake about it: the latest that Putin knew Trump was looking at a presidential run was May of 2013. http://pagesix.com/2013/05/27/trump-researching-2016-run/
(13) Putin decided—just 6 months after learning Trump was likely to run for POTUS—to give him his real estate man, permits man, and banker.
(14) By late May, Trump’s attorney Cohen was saying this: “We did not spend $1 million on this research for it just to sit on my bookshelf.”
(15) The message from the famously frugal Trump—delivered by his then-closest advisor Cohen—was clear: Trump was running for real this time.
(16) That’s why it took Putin just two weeks to dispatch his real estate man— Agalarov—to the Miss America pageant. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miss_America_2013
(17) On June 12, 2013, Trump hung out with Aras in Vegas. By June 18, he announced his pageant was headed to Moscow. http://www.politico.com/story/2016/05/donald-trump-russia-moscow-miss-universe-223173
(18) Seventeen nations were then vying for the 2013 Miss Universe pageant. Aras—and Putin—leapt over all of them in less than a week’s time.
(19) Putin had cleared Aras to deal with Trump in June '13—otherwise the deal couldn’t have been announced the day Trump arrived in Moscow.
(20) Miss Universe went to Russia—Putin—in 2013 because Putin dangled Donald Trump’s 25-year dream, Trump Tower Moscow, in front of Trump.
(21) And Putin then delivered on that implicit promise by sending his real estate developer, permits man and banker to Miss Universe 2013.
(22) But as Don Jr. said in 2008, the entire project could be withdrawn on Putin’s say-so—meaning Trump had to give Putin value in return.
(23) But once the U.S. sanctioned Sberbank in mid-September of 2014, it’s not clear that that Putin-set financing was available any longer.
(24) So to get the tower he’d desired for 25 years, Trump had to (a) keep Putin happy, (b) get sanctions lifted, (c) hand the deal to Don.
(25) It’s clear Trump has aimed to please Putin since 2013; his plan to unilaterally drop sanctions on Russia in January is also well known.
(26) But American media has been falsely reporting, lately, that the Trump-Agalarov-Putin deal “fell apart” in 2014—with no evidence at all.
(27) NYT, The Atlantic and others claim sanctions—or Russia’s bad ‘14 economy—
killed the deal. They never offer proof. No links, no quotes.
(28) The Atlantic claimed, today, that an unrelated scandal in Kyrgyzstan involving Aras—not Trump—killed the deal. https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/09/why-didnt-trump-build-anything-in-russia/539274/
(29) The problem is this: none of the principals involved in the Trump-Agalarov-Putin deal seem to agree with allegations it died in 2013.
(30) Aras claims the deal only died after Trump’s inauguration and—moreover—confirmation Trump couldn’t do deals. http://russianconstruction.com/news-1/26505-russians-abandon-plans-for-trump-tower-construction-in-moscow-region.html
(31) And we have lots of extraneous proof that Aras is telling the truth—and again, no proof the NYT and The Atlantic are right on this.
(32) First, let’s make sure you’ve seen what Aras said to Russian media in February 2017 about his deal with Trump having just died—and why: https://twitter.com/SethAbramson/status/908438940755128321/photo/1
(33) And this July, Aras’ lawyer conceded to RIA Novosti that Trump and Agalarov met to talk business a “number of times” from '13 to '17: https://twitter.com/SethAbramson/status/908439745121972226/photo/1
(34) This contention is confirmed by the fact that we know Trump—and Don—have stayed in close contact with Aras and his son since 2013.
(35) And Emin Agalarov—who’s the one who first introduced Trump to his father—is another principal who says the deal did not die in 2013: https://twitter.com/SethAbramson/status/908440512843087872/photo/1
(36) Asked by Forbes if the 2013 Trump-Agalarov-Putin deal would be picked up with Don now that Trump “couldn’t do deals,” Emin said “Yeah.”
(37) This is confirmed by public reports that say Emin and Don speak on the phone “regularly” and Emin sees Trump Sr. several times a year.
(38) It’s further confirmed by the ease with which Aras and Emin set up that infamous Trump Tower Meeting with Don Jr. on June 9, 2016.
(39) Don Jr.'s emails about that meeting confirm that—years after the 2013 allegedly “died”—he was in regular contact with the Agalarovs.
(40) The Trump-Agalarov business relationship—connected to Putin and very alive in 2016—also confirms Trump would’ve known of the meeting.
(41) And Emin clearly confirmed to Forbes that the Trump-Agalarov-Putin deal was alive following Trump announcing for POTUS in June 2015: https://twitter.com/SethAbramson/status/908442270256570368/photo/1
(42) Note the language: “Considering Mr. Trump ran for president [starting in June 2015], we just thought that building a Trump Tower…”
(43) In what world does Emin Agalarov’s language suggest that—by June '15—the Trump-Agalarov-Putin deal had been dead for many, many months?
(44) But look at the rest of that quote: before his father shut him down, Emin accidentally revealed a confidentiality agreement AND an LoI.
(45) So Trump and Aras (a) wanted the mere fact of a deal kept secret, (b) signed a Letter of Intent, (c) tried to keep Emin from saying so.
(46) The NYT/Atlantic not only have no evidence the deal died—beyond speculation—they have no evidence the Letter of Intent was rescinded.
(47) And Emin telling Forbes the deal can be picked up with Don now that his father is in the White House suggests the LoI WASN’T rescinded.
(48) And since—as we know—Trump continues to draw income from the Trump Org in the same way he always has, he gains big in such a deal.
(49) Is there evidence Trump is a) trying to keep Putin happy, b) trying to end sanctions, so his deal can one day go forward with Don? Yes.
(50) The NYT said in July it didn’t know if Trump and Agalarov are in a business relationship—but failed to offer all the evidence they ARE. https://twitter.com/SethAbramson/status/908445795896176643/photo/1
(51) But unless the '13 Letter of Intent has been rescinded—and all evidence points the other way—Trump is in business with Aras. And Putin.
(52) Fact: the still-extant 2013 deal requires Putin’s real estate developer, permits man, banker, sanctions policy, and—above all—say-so.
(53) Trump and Agalarov may have made a land deal, but that land deal is in all respects predicated upon Trump’s deal with Putin for more.
(54) Sater—a Russian mobster—and Mike Cohen, who says he’d never do anything to hurt Trump, can claim the '13 deal died. There’s no proof.
(55) Sanctions can delay a real estate deal, but if you’re the president, control sanctions policy and plan to end sanctions—new ballgame.
(56) Instead of wildly speculating that, surely, the '13 deal MUST have died, the media should get proof the Letter of Intent was rescinded.
(57) It should harangue Emin until it has a credible explanation for why the Agalarovs are publicly discussing executing the LoI with Don.
(58) It should explain why, if sanctions delayed the LoI, that somehow means they killed the LoI: which isn’t how business deals work.
(59) It should ask what “business” Trump/Aras discussed “a number of times” from '13 to '17—and why Emin says the deal was on post-June '15.
(60) It should inquire as to why Putin sent as his replacement to the 2013 Miss Universe pageant—of all people!—the Kremlin’s permits man.
(61) It should investigate whether the sanctions actually do prevent Don from receiving financing—a loan—from Sberbank, as they may not.
(62) And it should consider that, even if the deal was delayed as of fall 2014, within a matter of months Sater was back working the phones.
(63) Somehow Trump was still lying about knowing Sater—and Sater still believing Trump was active in Russia—in 2015. https://www.thenation.com/article/who-is-felix-sater-and-why-is-donald-trump-so-afraid-of-him/
(64) Sater may have been working on financing for the Agalarov deal—as there’s no reason sanctions would cost Trump his developer/permits.
(65) That’s why U.S. media reports not only lack evidence on the '13 deal but make no sense: why would Trump lose his developer and permits?
(66) As of September 2014, all Trump needed to get his tower back was to end sanctions—and it’s clear he’s done all he can to achieve that.
(67) If Sater—who wasn’t at all involved in the Trump-Agalarov-Putin deal in 2013—was looking for Russia deals for Trump in 2015, who cares?
(68) In other words, what does Sater working the phones in Russia in 2015 have to do with whether the Trump-Agalarov-Putin deal was active?
(69) And how does Cohen sending a halfhearted email to a general Kremlin email account in '15 prove he didn’t think the '13 deal was active?
(70) CONCLUSION: All signs point to Trump, Agalarov and Putin being in a confidential LoI agreement over Trump Tower Moscow RIGHT NOW. {end}
(PS) I understand the title of this thread seems beyond belief. But read the reports—all public, major-media reports—and tell me I’m wrong.
when she stepped into Trump Tower, Veselnitskaya was also representing a client ensnared in a long-running U.S. investigation into an alleged web of Russian money-laundering. That criminal inquiry, opened by federal prosecutors in New York in 2013 and previously unreported, is still active, according to people familiar with the probe. There was no mention of an ongoing criminal inquiry when the U.S. settled a related civil lawsuit against Veselnitskaya’s client in May…
…The origins of the meeting and what happened make a lot more sense now,” said Seva Gunitsky, a professor of political science at the University of Toronto and an authority on Russian foreign policy. For the Russian side, he said, the meeting was likely less about the presidential campaign than it was about advancing core national financial interests. “If you’re looking for potential evidence for a quid pro quo, this would be exactly that type of thing.”
Despite this wealth of what he insists in the complaint is unwanted public attention, Page has spoken frequently with the press. He agreed to a 30-minute interview with TPM this summer in a Starbucks in Penn Station, and also claimed to be shopping around a book deal on his experience navigating the Russia investigation.
Asked Friday for comment on the suit and why he chose to represent himself, Page sent TPM a lengthy statement quoting George Washington and citing the Constitution. He said he has “done a tremendous amount of legal work” during his career, including as legal officer on his Navy ship and as general counsel for his energy consulting firm.
“Although I may have been dissed amidst the dystopia seen last year,” Page said in an email, “I have full faith that the true administration of justice will indeed be restored in due course.”
THREAD: Why news that Mueller obtained a search warrant for Facebook content may be the biggest news in the case since the Manafort raid.
1/ Last night, the reported that Mueller obtained info from Facebook via search warrant: https://www.wsj.com/amp/articles/facebook-gave-special-counsel-robert-mueller-more-details-on-russian-ad-buys-than-congress-1505514552
2/ The talks about some of the info Mueller obtained (see below). Mueller could not obtain content of an account without a warrant. https://twitter.com/renato_mariotti/status/909047808644263936/photo/1
3/ I was initially wary about discussing implications of this story because I worried may have presumed a warrant that didn’t exist.
4/ But has confirmed that Mueller obtained content via search warrant, including ads, acct details, targeting. http://money.cnn.com/2017/09/15/media/facebook-mueller-ads/index.html
5/ That is huge news. It means that Mueller has concluded that specific foreign individuals committed a crime by making a “contribution”
6/ in connection with an election. It also means that he has evidence of that crime that convinced a federal magistrate judge of two things.
7/ First, that there was good reason to believe that the foreign individual committed the crime. Second, that evidence of the crime existed
8/ on Facebook. Why is that big news? Until now, Mueller’s efforts to obtain information about Russian interference in the election could
9/ be seen as an effort to gain counterintelligence or to investigate a matter unlikely to result in charges. Now we know he believes that
10/ he’s close to charging specific foreign people with a crime. Can he do that? Yes, if they committed a crime in the U.S.
11/ For example, my former boss indicted Osama Bin Laden for the first World Trade Center bombing.
12/ So what does this mean for Trump and his associates? This news also has large implications for them.
13/ It is a crime to know that a crime is taking place and to help it succeed. That’s aiding and abetting. If any Trump associate knew about
14/ the foreign contributions that Mueller’s search warrant focused on and helped that effort in a tangible way, they could be charged.
15/ In addition, anyone who agreed to be part of this effort in any way could be charged with criminal conspiracy. They wouldn’t need to
16/ be involved in the whole operation or know everyone involved but they would have to agree to be part of some piece of it.
17/ One thing I should note is that this particular violation of the law preventing foreign contributions in connection with an election
18/ is far stronger than earlier speculation that Donald Trump Jr. violated the same law by accepting information from the Russian attorney.
19/ One hurdle is that to violate the statute criminally, you have to do so knowingly and willfully. Here, Mueller has evidence that the
20/ foreigner(s) had that intent, and it is far more difficult for an American to claim that he/she didn’t know that a massive Russian
21/ influence operation was against the law than it would be to claim that about hearing talk at a meeting. Jurors would be inclined to
22/ convict anyone who was part of or aided a Russian effort to subvert our election.
23/ If I represented someone who was caught up in this part of the investigation, I’d be very worried. /end
ADDENDUM: In case you’re curious, here’s the statute I discuss in this thread: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/52/30121
An attorney working on the Justice Department’s highest-profile money laundering case recently transferred off that assignment in order to join the staff of the special prosecutor investigating the Trump campaign’s potential ties to Russia, POLITICO has learned.
Attorney Kyle Freeny was among the prosecutors on hand Friday as a spokesman for former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, Jason Maloni, testified before a grand jury at federal court in Washington.
Freeny, whose assignment to Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s staff has not been previously reported, is the 16th lawyer known to be working with the former FBI chief on the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. She departed from the courthouse Friday with two other members of Mueller’s squad: former Criminal Division chief and Enron prosecutor Andrew Weissman and Civil Division appellate attorney Adam Jed, a former clerk to Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens.
Before being detailed to Mueller’s team, Freeny was shepherding the Justice Department’s headline-grabbing effort to seize the profits from the film “The Wolf of Wall Street” on grounds that the film was financed with assets looted from the Malaysian government.
