Mueller Investigation & Cohen Investigation

[SteveMDFP]

I EXPECT that Tillerson won't say much of anything.  He is still HOPING that Trump might give him a pardon for Tillerson's part in lying about Mobile's effect on global warming over the past few decades.   

Of course, pardons only apply to criminal offenses.  They're of no use in defense against civil lawsuits.  I suspect Tillerson may be quiet because he's simply embarrassed about having been misled, used, and abused.

Edit:  Much as Colin Powell stayed silent after leaving the Bush Jr administration, having been persuaded to give a UN presentation that was later ridiculed.  Misled, used, abused, and thus certainly embarrassed.

[AbruptSLR]

While Team Trump is fully entitled to challenge the Mueller investigation in a court of law, but as they are currently not in a court of law, almost all of Trump's challenges to the Mueller investigation constitutes obstruction of justice:

Title: "Dem rep hits Trump on Mueller probe: You can’t shut it down, you’re not a king"

http://thehill.com/homenews/house/386483-dem-rep-hits-trump-for-attacking-mueller-probe-you-cant-shut-it-down-youre-not

Extract: "“Getting competent lawyers to represent you has been a challenge, but there must be someone who can explain to you what 'obstruction of justice' means,” Beyer tweeted at Trump.

“You don’t get to suspend the rule of law or shut down investigations into your potential crimes,” he continued. “You are not a king.”"

[AbruptSLR]

If the DOJ (either FBI or Mueller) can demonstrate that the conservative House Representatives cited in the two linked articles are coordinating with the WH (as agents), then they can also be brought up on obstruction of justice charges:

Title: "Nunes, in spat with Justice Department, threatens Sessions with contempt over Russia materials"

https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/06/politics/devin-nunes-sessions-contempt/index.html

Extract: "House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes warned Sunday that he plans to urge lawmakers "this week" to hold Attorney General Jeff Sessions in contempt of Congress for failing to hand over classified materials related to the Russia investigation."

&

Title: "Trump’s GOP ‘warriors’ lead charge against Mueller"

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/05/07/trump-mueller-republican-warriors-congress-571562

Extract: "Trump has hailed a quartet of aggressive House Republicans who Democrats say are trying to 'sabotage' the Russia probe."

[AbruptSLR]

The chances of Team Trump agreeing to any reasonable terms for a Trump interview with Mueller are almost nonexistent.  Thus sometime after May 17 Mueller will either need to issue a subpoena to Trump or he will need to decide to file charges (at least for obstruction of justice) without first questioning Trump.

Title: "Trump Lawyers Aim to Decide by May 17 Whether President Testifies in Mueller Probe"

https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-lawyers-aim-to-decide-by-may-17-whether-president-testifies-in-mueller-probe-1525727774

Title: "Lawyers advising President Donald Trump in the Russia investigation hope to decide whether he should testify by May 17, the one-year anniversary of the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller, Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani said Monday."

[jai mitchell]

or he will need to decide to file charges (at least for obstruction of justice) without first questioning Trump.

pretty sure you are not allowed to indict a sitting president. . .
I guess he could submit his findings to congress and have them decide whether or not to begin impeachment proceedings. . .

[TerryM]

Mueller seems to be running into obstacles whenever he gets in front of a judge. First with Flynn, then with Manafort.
Terry

[AbruptSLR]

or he will need to decide to file charges (at least for obstruction of justice) without first questioning Trump.

pretty sure you are not allowed to indict a sitting president. . .
I guess he could submit his findings to congress and have them decide whether or not to begin impeachment proceedings. . .

jai,
While you may be correct (or not, as the Supreme Court has not ruled on this matter yet), at least Erick Holder believes that Mueller is authorized to charge Trump with obstruction of justice:

Title: "Eric Holder: Mueller Will Charge Trump With Obstruction of Justice"

https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/eric-holder-mueller-will-charge-trump-with-obstruction-of-justice/

Extract: "Former Attorney General Eric Holder says he believes special counsel Robert Mueller will eventually charge President Donald Trump with obstruction of justice."

ASLR

[jai mitchell]

yes, apparently one can charge, just not prosecute, without impeachment.  at least, not until the term was over (and as long as statute of limitations did not expire).

[sidd]

Wheeler on Concord maneuvers:

" Concord is entirely within its right to begin demanding such evidence. That’s the risk of using our criminal justice system, affording due process, in charging a Russian corporate person who can challenge any charges without risking their freedom. I imagine Mueller’s team didn’t sufficiently account for this possibility when charging it this way. And if there are any other known Russian corporations involved in this operation (or fronts, such as the one Joseph Mifsud worked behind), I would imagine Mueller’s team is rethinking their approach to including those fronts. This could be problematic to the extent that proving any “collusion” between Trump’s people and Russians would most easily be demonstrated via conspiracy charges involving Russian entities."

"And to a large degree, it’s quite likely to work."


https://www.emptywheel.net/2018/05/07/with-the-concord-consulting-not-guilty-plea-russians-continue-to-win-the-lawfare-hockey-title/


sidd

[TerryM]

sidd
I thought Joseph Mifsud, (The Professor), was a free range Maltese Con Artist working his own fronts. What a let down.
 
Terry

[sidd]

Giuliani wants the Clinton treatment. Not Bill, Hilary :
(This ain't from America's Finest News Source. But it very well could be.)

"But Hillary Clinton treatment is what I'm looking for. And that is no under oath, only a Q&A, and then we get the questions in advance, and they write the report two weeks before,"

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2018/05/06/rudy_giuliani_trump_wants_the_hillary_clinton_treatment_from_robert_mueller.html

sidd

[AbruptSLR]

The evidence against Cohen is mounting:

Title: "Stormy Daniels' lawyer: Cohen was paid $500K by Putin-tied company after election"

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/386802-stormy-daniels-lawyer-cohen-may-have-used-money-from-putin-tied

Extract: "Stormy Daniels’s attorney Michael Avenatti said Tuesday that President Trump’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen received $500,000 in the months after the 2016 election from a company run by a Russian oligarch with ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Avenatti said that the funding may have been used to reimburse the $130,000 payment Cohen made to Daniels to stay quiet about her alleged affair with Trump."

[TerryM]

And a damn generous tip!


Happy World Smile Day

[Buddy]

TICK .... TICK ..... TICK ..... Donnie Boy.  The clock is ticking, and your life is about to change in a BIGLY way. 😘

[sidd]

No surprise: Mueller  no  to written interview :

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/05/08/trump-mueller-written-questions-573262

sidd

[sidd]

What ? Cohen taking money from shady deals to leak info on the white house ?

Nothing to see here, citizen. Go about your business. This is a true-blue, red blooded American Corporation.

http://thehill.com/policy/technology/386826-att-confirms-it-paid-michael-cohen-for-insights-on-trump-admin

sidd

[Rob Dekker]

Looks like the attorney for Prigozhin's company Concord charged in Robert Mueller's Russian troll farm indictment is attempting to use whataboutism as an actual legal argument :



source:
https://www.politico.com/f/?id=00000163-2d3b-d9b5-af73-ffff51b70001

[Buddy]

If anyone thinks that Michael Cohen received money from Russian oligarchs OR large US corporations without Donnie getting a LARGE slice of the pie ...... I have a TROLL BRIDGE (not toll bridge) to sell you in Canada. 

[AbruptSLR]

"… Russia-linked hackers were in a position to “alter or delete voter registration data” in a small number of states before the 2016 vote."

Title: "Senate Intel: Russia waged ‘unprecedented’ cyber campaign on U.S. voting systems"

http://thehill.com/policy/cybersecurity/386833-senate-intel-report-says-russia-waged-unprecedented-cyber-campaign

Extract: "The Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday released the unclassified version of its investigation into Russian cyberattacks on digital U.S. voting systems ahead of the 2016 presidential election.

The report finds that Moscow conducted an “unprecedented, coordinated cyber campaign” against the nation’s voting infrastructure. Through its investigation, the committee found that Russia-linked hackers were in a position to “alter or delete voter registration data” in a small number of states before the 2016 vote."

[AbruptSLR]

The linked Bloomberg article provides a convenient (and conservative) summary of legal threats to Donald J. Trump, including whether Cohen was involved in the 2016 campaign and why $4.4 million in transactions passed through Cohen's company named Essential Consultants just before the 2016 election.

Title: "From Collusion to Cohen, Tallying Trump's Legal Risks"

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-05-09/from-collusion-to-cohen-tallying-trump-s-legal-risks-quicktake

[TerryM]

Through its investigation, the committee found that Russia-linked hackers were in a position to “alter or delete voter registration data” in a small number of states before the 2016 vote."

The fact that they didn't use this unique opportunity must weigh heavily in Putin's favor.


Seriously, after Snowdon and Assange's revelations of the NSA's ability to mimic anyone's computer's signature, revelations that a particular group did this or that on the internet just aren't credible.


Doesn't the United States Senate have anything better to do?
Terry

[Buddy]

The trolls are going to be out in force in coming weeks and months.  As more and more people begin to see just how widespread and DEEP the Russia involvement is with the Trump campaign staff ...... and how involved MANY of those in Congress are with the COVER UP of those issues.

This is going to be quit the spectacle in coming weeks and months.

Mitch McConnell is going to have his "day in the barrel" as well as Paul Ryan, Nunes, Chaffetz, Guiliani, the whole Trump campaign staff..... and the whole Trump family.

And now that Vladi has ENGINEERED his latest 6 stint as the lead corrupter of Russia (and ripping off the Russian people) ..... things could heat up at home for him in the coming year or two.  I sure would hate to see a despicable person like Vladi be taken down by his own people.   

But for NOW..... the spotlight is on Traitor Trump and his corrupt and inept band of clowns.

[AbruptSLR]

In addition to AT&T and a Russian oligarch payments, now a Swiss pharmaceutical company (Novartis) admits to funneling $1 million to Michael Cohen's Essential Consultants, LLC, in an attempt to influence US healthcare policies:

Title: "Swiss Pharmaceutical Giant Admits $1 Million in Cohen Payments—Mueller Is Scrutinizing Them"

https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/swiss-pharmaceutical-giant-admits-1-million-cohen-payments-mueller-scrutinizing

Extract: "This story keeps getting worse for the president's embattled fixer.
…
After the initial meeting in March 2017, Novartis said it quickly “determined that Michael Cohen and Essential Consultants would be unable to provide the services that Novartis had anticipated related to US healthcare policy matters” and decided not to further engage with him. But they said they were already locked into a one-year term."

[TerryM]

Buddy
How's that $40/bbl oil prediction going?
$77.19 is what I'm showing.


I think you will get your $40 oil well before "Vladi is "taken down by his own people"
Where do you get such strange ideas?
Terry

[TerryM]

Treasury apparently is opening an investigation into how Avenatti, Stormy's lawyer, came into possession of Cohen's bank records. Not the FBI, but Treasury.

Mueller had access, but to leak that information to another would be a criminal matter.

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-05-09/treasury-launches-probe-how-cohens-bank-records-were-leaked-avenatti
Terry

[AbruptSLR]

It seems most likely to me that Avenatti came into possession of Cohn's financial records through the discovery process of the civil lawsuit that he is leading on behalf of Stormy Daniels; and that it is perfectly legal for Avenatti to make public such information.

[TerryM]

It seems most likely to me that Avenatti came into possession of Cohn's financial records through the discovery process of the civil lawsuit that he is leading on behalf of Stormy Daniels; and that it is perfectly legal for Avenatti to make public such information.

The Treasury Department apparently disagrees. 
Terry

[AbruptSLR]

The linked Think Progress article clearly links the $500K paid to Michael Cohen back to a subsidiary owned by the Vekselberg company that is controlled by a Russian oligarch:

Title: "This is the website the Russian-linked company that paid Michael Cohen $500K didn’t want you to see"

https://thinkprogress.org/this-is-the-website-the-russian-linked-company-who-paid-michael-cohen-500k-didnt-want-you-to-see-93c5f39eeb66/amp/?__twitter_impression=true

Extract: "A company that paid Michael Cohen $500,000 says it is not controlled by a Russian oligarch. An archived version of that Russian’s website indicates otherwise.
…
But an archived version of the site from January 2017, the time the payments began, shows that Columbus Nova was listed as part of the “Renova group structure” alongside other subsidiary companies of Renova Group.

The website clearly indicates that, at the time the payments were made to Cohen, Columbus Nova was considered a subsidiary of Renova Group, the Vekselberg company."

[TerryM]

From the above quoted article:

"Columbus Nova is correct that as a formal legal matter, the company is “owned by Americans.” The current CEO is Andrew Intrater, an American citizen who, according to SEC filings, is Vekselberg’s cousin."

I'd think looking up the ownership of Columbus Nova through it's licensing might be easier, but whatever ices their cake.

Is anyone looking into the possibility that any of these oligarchs might have given money to charities controlled by Donalds opposition in the last race?
If not, why would that be?
Terry

Terry

[AbruptSLR]

Cohen never registered as a lobbyist yet he was marketing access to Trump.  Hopefully, Mueller can show that bot Cohen, & Kushner, were breaking lobbyist laws:

Title: "To ‘Cash In’ on Trump’s Presidency, Michael Cohen Sold Clients on Secrecy and Access"

https://www.thedailybeast.com/to-cash-in-on-trumps-presidency-michael-cohen-sold-clients-on-secrecy-and-access?ref=home

Extract: "He never registered as a federal lobbyist. He made more than they did."

&

Title: "Cohen referred client with Kushner ties to lobbying firm"

http://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/business-a-lobbying/387032-cohen-referred-client-with-kushner-ties-to-lobbying

Extract: "One of the clients Michael Cohen referred to law and lobbying firm Squire Patton Boggs during a “strategic partnership” is a company with ties to Kushner Cos., according to The Wall Street Journal."

[AbruptSLR]

Ryan is provide Nunes with political cover that is allowing Nunes to obstruct justice in the Mueller investigation.  This highlights the importance of flipping control of the House in November.

Title: ”Ryan backs Nunes in his latest pursuit of classified DOJ documents"

http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/387124-ryan-backs-nunes-in-his-latest-pursuit-of-classified-russia

Extract: "Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) is backing the latest efforts of House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) to obtain classified documents from the Department of Justice (DOJ) as it relates to the federal investigation into Russian election meddling.

"I think this request is wholly appropriate and is completely within the scope of the investigation that has been ongoing for awhile with respect to [the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act]," Ryan said Thursday during his weekly press conference."

[TerryM]

Stormy's lawyer may be in trouble with California, with past business associates, and with the IRS,

38 pages of California Attorney Complaint forms from back in March.
$5M from one operation and $1.5M from another owed to the IRS
Pleading the 5th over releasing Cohen's bank records.
Releasing the wrong Michael Cohen's records, twice?

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-05-10/avenatti-exposed-stormys-lawyer-may-face-disbarrment-legal-action-past-catches

I could have torn out each allegation and posted them separately, but in the interest of clarity decided to link the Zerohedge article

What an attorney - for now. On the other hand who else would you expect to be representing Stormy Daniels?
Terry

[AbruptSLR]

I posted the following in 'The Trump Presidency' thread on February 22 2017

"The linked article is entitled: “Deeper and darker: Trump’s unknown financial connections to Russia may hold the key to the widening scandal”.  We will see how deep this hole goes:

http://www.salon.com/2017/02/21/deeper-and-darker-trumps-unknown-financial-connections-to-russia-may-hold-the-key-to-the-widening-scandal/

Extract: “Deeper and deeper: Congress wakes up as Trump's ties to Russia look more tangled and troubling than ever.
…
Over the weekend, a startling new report appeared in The New York Times:

A week before Michael T. Flynn resigned as national security adviser, a sealed proposal was hand-delivered to his office, outlining a way for President Trump to lift sanctions against Russia. Mr. Flynn is gone, having been caught lying about his own discussion of sanctions with the Russian ambassador. But the proposal, a peace plan for Ukraine and Russia, remains, along with those pushing it: Michael D. Cohen, the president’s personal lawyer, who delivered the document; Felix H. Sater, a business associate who helped Mr. Trump scout deals in Russia; and a Ukrainian lawmaker trying to rise in a political opposition movement shaped in part by Mr. Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort.”"

We now know that Cohen's shell company (Essential Consultants) received Russian-linked payments (from Russian oligarch Vekselberg' company), and that he met with Trump in the Oval Office, and hand-delivered proposal for lifting sanctions. The Russian payment to Cohen happened in Jan. 2017 and was followed by his visit to Flynn on Feb. 6.

This quid pro quo string of events apparently ties Donald Trump to bribery charges w.r.t. to Russian payments.

[AbruptSLR]

Mueller continues to follow the money trail:

Title: "Mueller Asking Witnesses About Millions of Dollars to Trump's Inauguration From Donors With Ties to Russia"

https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/mueller-asking-witnesses-about-millions-dollars-trumps-inauguration-donors-ties

Extract: "The special counsel's team appears to be following the money."

[AbruptSLR]

Team Trump are already calling for the Mueller and Cohen investigations to conclude soon, but in reality they are only getting started:

Title: "Michael Avenatti Warns Michael Cohen: I Still Have More Documents To Release"

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/michael-avenatti-michael-cohen_us_5af50185e4b032b10bf90a16

Extract: "“We haven’t even scratched the surface with this email today and the information that we released earlier in the week,” Avenatti said on CNN on Thursday. “We’ve got emails, we’ve got text messages, we’ve got other financial information, and people better be very careful in the representations that they make.”"

[AbruptSLR]

Mr. Vice President: 'What did you know, and when did you know it?'

Title: "Why Is Mike Pence Calling for an End to the Mueller Probe?"

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/05/mike-pence-calls-for-an-end-to-the-mueller-probe-what-is-he-afraid-of.html

Extract: " The timing of Pence’s call for an end to the Mueller investigation coincided with the news that the subsidiary investment arm of a firm owned by a Russian oligarch, Viktor Vekselberg, had paid Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, $500,000. This news was accompanied by a series of damaging confirmations of payments to Cohen by AT&T, Novartis, and Korean Aerospace as well as news that Vekselberg’s subsidiary investment firm had purchased alt-right domain names.

Given what we know about the investigation and Pence’s role in it, the vice president is likely being considered a witness at the very least and has the high potential to be considered a subject, or even a target. Given the facts, Pence’s call for an end to the investigation should be read as a callous political ploy and perhaps as a self-interested effort to ensure that evidence of his own potentially criminal role in this scandal does not see the light of day."

[TerryM]

ASLR
Do you think Avenatti will have the right Michael Cohen's files - this time?
You don't think that Mueller could have given Cohen's banking records to Avenatti do you?


Anyone who still owes a $160.000 for coffee needs to calm down and get some sleep.
That's enough to give anyone the jitters.
Terry

[TerryM]

Extract: "The special counsel's team appears to be following the money."

Is anyone looking into the $50.000.000 that Soros and 7 to 10 other donors have dumped into this "investigation"?
$50.000.000 sounds like the kind of money that you'd spend to keep something quiet, rather than the kind of money usually spent trying to learn something.

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-04-28/secret-trump-russia-investigation-continues-50-million-group-mystery-wealthy-donors
Terry

[AbruptSLR]

Loser Trump doesn't even know how to respond to Avenatti:

Title: "Trump Has No Plan to Counterpunch Michael Avenatti"

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-has-no-plan-for-michael-avenatti

Extract: "Avenatti emphatically denied that any “political party or PAC” was “funding this effort.” And, as mostly happens these days, the news cycle moved on.

But the fact that he was only then being asked those questions exposed something totally out of place about the Trump-world scandal du jour.

For weeks, Avenatti has been a thorn in the president’s side. In seemingly endless and continuous string of cable news hits, he has called into question the veracity of Trump’s insistence that there was no affair with Daniels. He has pursued legal challenges to a non-disclosure agreement between Daniels and the president’s top fixer, Michael Cohen. He has vexed the president’s own legal team, getting them to haphazardly admit that Trump knew about hush money payments. And he has exposed a secretive network of finances that allowed Cohen to both pay off Daniels (and, potentially, other women) as well as recruit business for a shadow-lobbying operation during the Trump administration.

Avenatti has done it all with little, if any, coordinated pushback from the president or his allies.
…
For Avenatti, however, the absence of pushback from Trumpland is not indicative of a well-thought out game plan but, rather, of the absence of a gameplan at all."

[AbruptSLR]

Muhammad Ali would be proud of the 'rope a dope' tactics that Avenatti is using on Loser Trump:

Title: "Joe Scarborough Defends Stormy Daniels Attorney Michael Avenatti: 'He's doing what Trump Always Does'"

http://www.newsweek.com/joe-scarborough-defends-michael-avenatti-stormy-daniels-lawyer-cohen-trump-921720

Extract: "Joe Scarborough came to the defense of Stormy Daniels's attorney Michael Avenatti during Morning Joe on Friday, telling a guest on his show that the lawyer's myriad media appearances may actually be helping his case. He noted that Avenatti appears to be taking a page out of President Donald Trump's own playbook by saturating himself in the press.
…
Scarborough then noted that Avenatti has been largely successful, reasoning that his appearances are likely part of a larger strategy."

[Buddy]

Avenatti is on Trump like bees on honey.  He continues to pressure Trump and toy with him.  The intertwined Trump issues continue to unwind.  If I were Mitch McConnel ... I would start to worry.

[AbruptSLR]

This information could link payments by Vekselberg's foundation to Cohen back to Putin:

Title: "Oligarch linked to Cohen payment was flagged by FBI for possible ties to Russian intelligence"

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/387276-fbi-warned-of-russian-intelligence-links-to-oligarch-in-cohen

Extract: "The FBI cautioned four years ago that a foundation controlled by Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg might be a conduit for Russian espionage, NPR reports."

[AbruptSLR]

If Team Trump was being objective, why would they call for the Mueller Investigation to end while the Senate Intelligence Committee is still actively investigating Russigate, and its associate matters (like obstruction of justice)?  Obviously, because they only know how to behave in a self-serving manner, rather than in a manner that serves the nation:

Title: "Senate panel invites Comey, former officials to briefing in Russia probe"

http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/387346-senate-intel-invites-comey-former-officials-to-closed-briefing-in

Extract: "The Senate Intelligence Committee is expressing an interest in hearing from former FBI Director James Comey again as part of its investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

The committee announced in a notice issued Friday afternoon that it has invited Comey and three other former top intelligence officials to a closed-door hearing next week."

[AbruptSLR]

The publically available information paints a damning picture of the Trump-Russia conspiracy, so just image how much more information Mueller already has, and he is still investigating:

Title: "The public case against Trump"

https://www.axios.com/trump-russia-mueller-investigation-michael-cohen-paul-manafort-bcfe40c6-7592-4347-a6be-20ff562058f0.html

Extract: " One thing is true of all major political scandals: What we know in the moment is but a tiny, obscured, partial view of the full story later revealed by investigators.

Why it matters: That’s what makes the Trump-Russia drama all the more remarkable. Forget all we don’t know. The known facts that even Trump’s closest friends don’t deny tell a damning tale that would sink most leaders."

[AbruptSLR]

The linked article confirms that Cohen not only a fixer but also a shakedown artist:

Title: "WSJ: Mueller asked Ford for records of conversation with Michael Cohen"

https://www.axios.com/wsj-mueller-asked-ford-for-records-of-conversation-with-michael-cohen-8530fbdb-1793-445f-a757-d86dea3e8cc3.html?utm_source=sidebar

Extract: "The Wall Street Journal is reporting that special counsel Robert Mueller has requested records from Ford Motor Company about a conversation the company had with Michael Cohen in January 2017 during which Cohen offered his consulting services — which the automaker swiftly rejected."

[AbruptSLR]

It is no surprise that the majority of the 2016 Russian Facebook ads were about race, as Trump's dog whistle message to his base is that Trump would help to continue the suppression of minorities:

Title: "Russian ads focused overwhelmingly on race"

https://www.axios.com/facebook-russian-ads-focused-overwhelmingly-on-race-1526131445-a6bb9c64-fd14-4607-8ee4-fceae5461142.html?utm_source=sidebar

Extract: ""We read every one of the 3,517 Facebook ads bought by Russians. Their dominant strategy: Sowing racial discord," report USA Today's Nick Penzenstadler, Brad Heath and Jessica Guynn.

The big picture: "Of the roughly 3,500 ads published this week [by the House Intelligence Committee], more than half — about 1,950 — made express references to race. Those accounted for 25 million ad impressions — a measure of how many times the spot was pulled from a server for transmission to a device.""

[Buddy]

SEAN HANNITY ........

Why are you avoiding Michael Avenatti?

Why don't you strap on a pair and interview him on your show?  What are you afraid of?  What are you trying to hide?

https://twitter.com/MichaelAvenatti/status/994387426956234752

[AbruptSLR]

Nunes' behavior has become so much that of a desperate man that Paul Ryan had to assign Trey Gowdy as his babysitter during last week's meeting with the DOJ:

Title: "House Speaker Ryan ordered Trey Gowdy to babysit Devin Nunes when he met with DOJ officials: report"

https://www.rawstory.com/2018/05/house-speaker-ryan-ordered-trey-gowdy-babysit-devin-nunes-met-doj-officials-report/

Extract: "“The relationship between the Justice Department and Mr. Nunes has so eroded that when he trekked down Pennsylvania Avenue on Thursday from the Capitol to the department to discuss his latest request, Representative Trey Gowdy of South Carolina, a Republican colleague and former federal prosecutor, tagged along at the encouragement of the House speaker to help keep the meeting civil,” The Times reported."

[sidd]

Cohen knew about Schneiderman's sexual habits since 2013 ... when Trump tweeted that Schneiderman might b next to go.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/11/nyregion/eric-schneiderman-michael-cohen.html

https://static01.nyt.com/files/2018/nyregion/cohen-schneiderman-letter.pdf

sidd

[AbruptSLR]

Steele's dossier says Putin gave Trump a brokerage fee from the sale of 19% of Rosneft. Avenatti said a top agent of Qatar Investment Authority (QIA); which bought the Rosneft stock, was secretly at Trump Tower 48 hours after the sale.

Title: "Michael Avenatti Posts Photos Of Cohen With Qatari Investor Accused Of Bribery"

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/avenatti-posts-photos-of-cohen-kelly_us_5af8bfa4e4b00d7e4c1bb77e

Extract: "Stormy Daniels’ attorney Michael Avenatti posted photos Sunday on Twitter showing Donald Trump’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen getting into an elevator at Trump Tower with a man appearing to be a Qatari banker accused in a lawsuit affidavit of boasting that he bribed Washington politicians.

Avenatti said Cohen was in the building shortly after the presidential election meeting with a group of Qataris, including Ahmed al-Rumaihi, an official of  Qatar’s national wealth fund.

The photos of Cohen appear to be screengrabs of a video posted on C-Span from the “Trump Tower Cam” dated December 12, 2016. A group of men — including the man who appears to be al-Rumaihi — can be seen getting into an elevator with Cohen. Cohen pats one of the men on the back as the group enters the elevator."

Per the linked article on December 7, the oil company sold 19.5% of shares, worth roughly $11 billion, to the multinational commodity trader Glencore Plc and Qatar's state-owned wealth fund (QIA). Page  was back in Moscow on December 8, one day after the deal was signed, to "meet with some of the top managers" of Rosneft, he told reporters at the time.

Title: "Russia signs Rosneft deal with Qatar, Glencore"

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-rosneft-privatisation-idUSKBN13Z0QB

Extract: "Russian state holding company Rosneftegaz on Saturday signed a deal with the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) and commodities trader Glencore (GLEN.L) to sell a 19.5 percent stake in state-owned oil major Rosneft (ROSN.MM), Rosneft said."