5712

Unless they wanted to be caught for some reason?

5713

I’m kind of astonished the embassy had a Citi account at all, unless it was for trolling purposes.

5714

The allegations are extremely grave, but may be harder to take seriously given the “irrefutable proof” offered in the form of photographic accompaniment. None of the five photographs attached to the post were what the Russians claimed them to be, said online sleuths, with one photograph apparently a screenshot from the promo for a mobile phone game called AC-130 Gunship Simulator: Special Ops Squadron.

Conflict Intelligence Team, a group of Russian online investigators who factcheck claims by the Russian military, said that the other four of the five photographs appear to be taken from 2016 footage released by Iraq’s ministry of defence, depicting the Iraqi air force bombing Isis targets near Falluja.

Soon after people noted the dubious origin of the photographs, the defence ministry deleted its tweets, and removed the photographs from the corresponding Facebook posts. However, a cached version of the post is available that shows the post with the photographs.

I thought Russia was our friend?

5715

5716

Guardian feature on Christopher Steele:

5717

Jim Jordan made a complete fool of himself, as he habitually does. I went to High School with him (he’s two years older), and he lives less than two miles down the road from my Mom’s house. Heck of a wrestler. I can say as a political thinker, he’s a heck of a wrestler. Hilarious to me that this guy became a sort of mover and shaker of the braindead ‘Liberty Wing’.

5718

Former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser Carter Page on Thursday dropped off a bundle of documents under subpoena to both the House and Senate Intelligence Committees, in a brief appearance on Capitol Hill that drew a swarm of public attention.

Page, wearing a red bucket hat, entered the Hart Senate Office Building alone as a massive scrum of reporters gathered outside of the nearby office of Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.), who earlier that morning was accused of groping a woman.
[…]
“It’s more witch-hunt style on this side, whereas they act more professional on the House side,” Page said outside of the Senate office building that is home to the Intelligence committee’s secure spaces.


5719

He’s just blatantly going for a psych defense, right?

5720

He’s just trying to create a market for the MAGA bucket hat.

5721

Who knew Paddington Bear was part of the Swamp?

5722

  • Jared Kushner has evidently failed to produce documents to lawmakers that “are known to exist” about “a Russian backdoor overture and dinner invite” and communications with a Belarusan-American businessman named Sergei Millian.

  • It had not been previously reported that “a Russian backdoor overture” was discussed in emails that Kushner “forwarded,” or that anyone on the campaign had communicated with Millian.

  • Reports emerged earlier this year claiming that Millian was “Source E” in the dossier alleging ties between President Donald Trump and Russia.
5723

FTA:

“There are several documents that are known to exist but were not included in your production,” Senators Chuck Grassley and Dianne Feinstein wrote to Kushner.

They continued:

“For example, other parties have produced September 2016 email communications toMr. Kushner concerning WikiLeaks, which Mr. Kushner then forwarded to another campaign official. Such documents should have been produced in response to the third request but were not. Likewise, other parties have produced documents concerning a ‘Russian backdoor overture and dinner invite’ which Mr. Kushner also forwarded. And still others have produced communications with Sergei Millian, copied to Mr. Kushner. Again, these do not appear in Mr. Kushner’s production despite being responsive to the second request.”

5724

Oh wait, nothing matters anymore?

5725

Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak said on Wednesday that it would take him more than 20 minutes to name all of the Trump officials he’s met with or spoken to on the phone.

“First, I’m never going to do that,” he said. “And second, the list is so long that I’m not going to be able to go through it in 20 minutes.”

5726

https://www.wsj.com/articles/special-counsel-mueller-issued-subpoena-for-russia-related-documents-from-trump-campaign-officials-1510875492

5727

Um…

5728

Wouldn’t withholding evidence be considered obstruction of justice?

5729

In the real world? Yes. But this is just congress.

5730

(1/6): 1/ Mueller has asked the Justice Department for documents relating to the firing of Comey and the recusal of Sessions: https://t.co/6BfzNl9CA2

(2/6): 2/ As @abcnews correctly concludes, this is further evidence that Mueller is investigating whether Trump obstructed justice when he fired James Comey: https://t.co/6vXCtJJ0sF

(3/6): 3/ The request for documents relating to Sessions’ recusal is interesting. Earlier reports indicated that Trump exploded when he found out about his recusal. That could be evidence of his state of mind because it is a highly unusual reaction to a recusal decision.

(4/6): 4/ Mueller is looking for communications between the White House and the DOJ about the recusal, which could reveal further evidence of Trump’s intent. Proving that Trump had “corrupt” intent when he fired Comey is the big hurdle that Mueller must clear.

(5/6): 5/ This adds to the already overwhelming evidence that Trump IS under investigation, despite White House claims to the contrary. Journalists should not print their assertion that Trump isn’t under investigation without providing this context, which highly suggests otherwise.

(6/6): 6/ Subjects of federal criminal investigations are typically not notified that they’re under investigation. /end

5731

This is one of those times when the legal definition of a thing and the “here on Earth” definition of a thing are at odds.