Breaking: F.B.I. Opened Inquiry Into Whether Trump Was Secretly Working on Behalf of Russia

By artappraiser on Fri, 01/11/2019 - 8:33pm |

By Adam Goldman, Michael S. Schmidt & Nicholas Fandos @ NYTimes.com, Jan. 11, 25 min. ago

WASHINGTON — In the days after President Trump fired James B. Comey as F.B.I. director, law enforcement officials became so concerned by the president’s behavior that they began investigating whether he had been working on behalf of Russia against American interests, according to former law enforcement officials and others familiar with the investigation.

The inquiry carried explosive implications. Counterintelligence investigators had to consider whether the president’s own actions constituted a possible threat to national security. Agents also sought to determine whether Mr. Trump was knowingly working for Russia or had unwittingly fallen under Moscow’s influence. The investigation the F.B.I. opened into Mr. Trump also had a criminal aspect, which has long been publicly known: whether his firing of Mr. Comey constituted obstruction of justice.

Agents and senior F.B.I. officials had grown suspicious of Mr. Trump’s ties to Russia during the 2016 campaign but held off on opening an investigation into him, the people said, in part because they were uncertain how to proceed with an inquiry of such sensitivity and magnitude. But the president’s activities before and after Mr. Comey’s firing in May 2017, particularly two instances in which Mr. Trump tied the Comey dismissal to the Russia investigation, helped prompt the counterintelligence aspect of the inquiry, the people said [....]

URL:

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/11/us/politics/fbi-trump-russia-inquiry.html

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I’m not trying to be a jerk but the Times still owes its readers an explanation about what the f*** was going on with this vector of its reporting in 2016. pic.twitter.com/YKGzEvyK8g
— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) January 12, 2019

by artappraiser on Fri, 01/11/2019 - 8:39pm

Stepping back for a minute: If no other reporting existed on Trump/Russia, the fact that the FBI started a CI investigation to determine whether or not the sitting president of the US was either comprised by or an agent of Russia, it would be the biggest political story...ever. https://t.co/RRenfxbgmH
— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) January 12, 2019

The headline is stunning, and does not at all overstate the story https://t.co/Tl24jU94gw
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) January 12, 2019

The NYT report highlights the fact that many assume Trump has only ever been officially under investigation for obstruction of justice. The new takeaway (though probably already assumed by most) is that Trump himself was also an individual subject of a counterintel investigation.
— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) January 12, 2019

by artappraiser on Fri, 01/11/2019 - 9:13pm

Bertrand is pointing to the factor that shows all discussion about obstruction of justice are beside the point.

If this level of influence is not germane to the discussion of what produces outcomes, then just say anything about anything. Everything is possible.

by moat on Fri, 01/11/2019 - 10:20pm

Finished reading tonight’s @nytimes bombshell? Now read @benjaminwittes @lawfareblog breakdown of what it means: https://t.co/Gz5YG88Ex3
— Tamara Cofman Wittes (@tcwittes) January 12, 2019

by artappraiser on Fri, 01/11/2019 - 9:14pm

The Times' cover for its print edition Saturday:

Tomorrow’s @nytimes tonoght: FBI investigated if ⁦@realDonaldTrump⁩ worked for Russians #NYTimes pic.twitter.com/fOk0RBIAZ9
— Tom Jolly (@TomJolly) January 12, 2019

by artappraiser on Fri, 01/11/2019 - 9:34pm

The White House response to the NYT story is extraordinarily lame. Just need to think of two data points:

1. Trump told the Russians in the Oval Office why he really fired Comey (to take the pressure off)

2. Trump’s capitulation to Putin, in front of the world, in Helsinki https://t.co/hxXXNGQ0QV
— Ryan Goodman (@rgoodlaw) January 12, 2019

by artappraiser on Fri, 01/11/2019 - 9:38pm

Adam Goldman's reaction on CNN: "I'm not sure that response has anything to do with my reporting. The facts are what they are." https://t.co/hQImK27Ws4
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) January 12, 2019

by artappraiser on Fri, 01/11/2019 - 10:40pm

A gotcha for Sarah Sanders:

Tweet from November 3, 2016. https://t.co/Htoaxtjg5O
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) January 12, 2019

by artappraiser on Fri, 01/11/2019 - 11:14pm

Former FBI special agent:

In light of NYT bombshell: I wrote this piece immediately after Comey’s firing and his testimony to Congress. It was obvious then that POTUS posed a nat sec threat https://t.co/wiEGcUwTg5
— Asha Rangappa (@AshaRangappa_) January 12, 2019

by artappraiser on Fri, 01/11/2019 - 11:01pm

Maddow Blog with former former FBI counterintel assistant director Figliuzzi:

When we hear that a case was opened *on the president* there's more than just Trump's crazy public behavior to this. - Frank Figliuzzi, former assistant director of the FBI's counterintelligence department pic.twitter.com/rICvPdgvkh
— Maddow Blog (@MaddowBlog) January 12, 2019

by artappraiser on Fri, 01/11/2019 - 11:07pm

Former CIA officers specializing in Russia told me months ago that Trump is a classic agent of influence, someone easily manipulated without being “run”: https://t.co/8FZblAcHuv
— Michael Weiss (@michaeldweiss) January 12, 2019

by artappraiser on Fri, 01/11/2019 - 11:21pm

"Sure I sold my country to get a prime hotel location. A guy's gotta do what a guy's gotta do.What's it to you?"

by Flavius on Sat, 01/12/2019 - 7:54am

As one of the few stable geniuses in the world, he thought it a real long shot that he would be elected. And any help they promised was just b.s. and he was going to use the opportunity to make a great deal for when the election kabuki show was over. Leaving him with: not just another fabulous hotel but a nightly show as an anti-Hillary pundit on Fox News, with a yuge fan base.

Edit to add: the main recurring meme of the Fox News show was going to be how crooked HIllary stole the election, it would be yuge.

by artappraiser on Sat, 01/12/2019 - 3:57pm

Comey tweets FDR quote after latest Trump attack: “I ask you to judge me by the enemies I have made.” — FDR

@ TheHIll.com, 01/12/19 11:48 AM EST

by artappraiser on Sat, 01/12/2019 - 3:34pm

It'd be lovely if Comey had a "Come to Jesus" talk with himself. He was suckered bad and swallowed a whole lot of horseshit. We're actually lucky Trump fired him, as Mueller seems a lot more urgent, thorough and professional. Comey let his ego and emotions get in the waylast.

(though he seems to have done a good job keeping intel from Trump's team during the transition:

https://www.emptywheel.net/2018/02/12/graham-and-grassley-are-seeing-chr...

by PeraclesPlease on Sat, 01/12/2019 - 5:00pm

Why the FBI’s Investigation Into the President Was Unavoidable

By David Kris @ Lawfare blog, Jan. 12, 7:05 pm

David Kris is a founder of Culper Partners LLC. He previously served as assistant attorney general for national security, associate deputy attorney general, trial attorney at the Department of Justice, general counsel at Intellectual Ventures, and deputy general counsel and chief ethics and compliance officer at Time Warner. He is the author or co-author of several works on national security, including the treatise National Security Investigations and Prosecutions, and has taught at Georgetown University and the University of Washington.

by artappraiser on Sat, 01/12/2019 - 7:13pm

"I'm not putting my name on this garbage. I have children. I want a life after this. Just say a White House spokesman said..." The reality is there is no White House. Just him– and people who work in the building. No one can speak for him. No one wants to, even those paid to. https://t.co/ulsRUiSlW5
— Jay Rosen (@jayrosen_nyu) January 13, 2019

by artappraiser on Sat, 01/12/2019 - 7:42pm

My god. “Trump has gone to extraordinary lengths to conceal details of his conversations with Putin, including on at least one occasion taking possession of his interpreter’s notes and instructing him not to discuss what had transpired w/other officials” https://t.co/8WsxEJ3U7u
— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) January 12, 2019

by artappraiser on Sat, 01/12/2019 - 8:28pm

A little Russian-style humor for a break:

Has no one told Trump that he has the right to remain silent?
— Garry Kasparov (@Kasparov63) January 12, 2019

by artappraiser on Sat, 01/12/2019 - 9:03pm

Exclusive:Mueller Probes an Event With Nunes, Flynn, and Foreign Officials at Trump’s D.C. Hotel

Devin Nunes has been a pitbull for the president, growling at the prosecutors investigating Trumpworld. Now an event that Nunes himself attended is under Mueller’s microscope.

By Erin Banco, Asawin Suebsaeng, Betsy Woodruff & Spencer Ackerman @ DailyBeast.com, 01.14.19 8:02 PM ET

(blows dust off year-old tweet)https://t.co/aNRChovIOs
— Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) January 15, 2019

by artappraiser on Mon, 01/14/2019 - 9:39pm

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