5732

At odds in what way? If Mueller can provide sufficient evidence for obstruction, his case becomes that much stronger. That’s the only point there. The tweet isn’t about whether or not Mueller will triumph in court.

5733
5734

Oh, come on, like you know everything that goes on in your house. Your kids could be secretly setting up lobbying organizations and you’d have no idea.

5735

Days before the infamous Trump Tower meeting in June 2016, a low-profile real estate figure with ties to powerful Russians alerted a meeting participant that the topic of “dirt” on Hillary Clinton could come up, The Daily Beast has learned.

That figure, Roman Beniaminov, didn’t attend the meeting himself. But he had close ties to several figures in and around it, including Emin Agalarov, the Azeri-Russian pop star who helped set up that Trump Tower confab and whose father is an ally of Vladimir Putin.
[…]
In all of the discussion about the infamous Trump Tower meeting, Beniaminov’s name has rarely, if ever, come up. So his alleged role in informing Kaveladze about the plans suggests he may be yet another important player who could have relevant information for the various, ongoing investigations.

5736

Travels by Trump campaign adviser Carter Page to meet with senior officials in Hungary during the 2016 presidential election are being closely examined by congressional investigators, given the increasingly close ties between Hungary and Russia and the role of the country as a hub for Russian intelligence activity. The Hungarian prime minister was the first foreign leader to endorse Donald Trump’s candidacy.

Though characterized as a low-level volunteer, Page held high-level foreign policy meetings with Hungarian officials before the 2016 presidential election, ABC News has learned.

The meetings included a 45-minute session in September 2016 with Jeno Megyesy, who is a close adviser to the Hungarian prime minister and focuses on relations with the United States, at his office in Budapest, where Page presented himself as a member of then-candidate Donald Trump’s foreign policy team.

Megyesy confirmed to ABC News in an interview Friday that he met with Page at the request of Reka Szemerkenyi, the Hungarian ambassador to the U.S. Megyesy said he did most of the talking at the meeting because Page did not appear to be well versed on the issues facing the region.

“I had the impression he didn’t deal with these issues on a regular basis,” Megyesy said.

5737

Click bait headline, but Hungary sounds pretty bad right now. For the party inpower, the great enemy are muslims … and liberals.

5738

I’ve been tracking hate speech against Roma communities in Hungary for years. Sadly, what’s happening there with regards to xenophobia, racism, nationalism, and right-wing politics has been going on for a long time.

5739

Is it possible Hicks was unaware of all this activity? She did know about Page’s trip to Moscow; she commented on it publicly. And she was directly informed that Trump Jr. had been in contact with WikiLeaks. According to The Atlantic, after Trump Jr. received the first message from WikiLeaks, he emailed other senior campaign aides, including Kushner, Steve Bannon, Kellyanne Conway, and Brad Parscale to tell them WikiLeaks had reached out to him. Kushner forwarded this email to Hicks.

Hicks has been by Trump’s side since 2014, when she went to work for the Trump Organization. (Prior to that she was at a New York public relations firm contracted by Ivanka Trump.) She was with Trump when he decided to fire FBI chief James Comey. She was on Air Force One when Trump reportedly got involved in drafting a misleading White House statement regarding the meeting between Trump Jr., Kushner, Manafort and the Russian emissary. Mueller and his crew have much to talk about with Hicks. But she is not just any witness. She is part of the cover-up.

5740

This is the stupidest conspiracy ever. It’s like they had a policy that everyone involved needs to be given proof in writing of every illegal thing they do.

5741

I think they all thought that once they were in charge it wouldn’t matter anyway. They could just change the rules and never pay for the crimes.

They may be right…

5742

I have a suspicion this is how Trump handled things before ascending to office; essentially, it was all blackmail material to force them to be more compliant and maintain a business relationship when they might otherwise leave.

5743

https://www.wsj.com/articles/special-counsel-mueller-probes-jared-kushners-contact-with-foreign-leaders-1511306515

WASHINGTON—Robert Mueller’s investigators are asking questions about Jared Kushner’s interactions with foreign leaders during the presidential transition, including his involvement in a dispute at the United Nations in December, in a sign of the expansive nature of the special counsel’s probe of Russia’s meddling in the election, according to people familiar with the matter.

The investigators have asked witnesses questions about the involvement of Mr. Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and a senior White House adviser, in a controversy over a U.N. resolution passed Dec. 23 that condemned Israel’s construction of settlements in disputed territories, these people said.

5744
5745

FOIA request for Trump’s portal results incoming…

5746

I wonder what the portal will make of ‘Shares from your Aunt.’ (For those not familiar it’s a parody account mocking the awful conservative memes your racist relatives share.)

5747

Mueller’s team is interested in Kian’s role in the Inovo contract as well as foreign lobbying efforts that the Flynn Intel Group may have yet to disclose, according to the sources familiar with the investigation. Emails subpoenaed by the Special Counsel’s Office revealed a September 20, 2016, meeting between Kian, Flynn and pro-Russia Congressman Dana Rohrabacher.

5748

Really good (but long) read.

5749
5750

A Split From Trump Indicates That Flynn Is Moving to Cooperate With Mueller

5751

Popcorn. So much popcorn.