dagblog - Comments for "The Real Bombshell: Papadopoulos' Guilty Plea"

White House was unaware top

artappraiser — Fri, 03 Nov 2017 06:43:58 +0000

White House was unaware top adviser (Clovis) testified before grand jury

By John Santucci & James Meek @ ABCNews.com, Nov 2, 2017, 5:07 PM ET

Note the last line of my excerpt:

The White House first learned one of its senior staffers met with the grand jury hearing the case presented by the special counsel into alleged Russian meddling into the 2016 election not from the staffer but from media reports, sources with knowledge of the investigation tell ABC News.

Former Trump campaign co-chairman Sam Clovis recently testified before that grand jury into his role on President Donald Trump’s campaign. Clovis currently serves as the senior White House adviser to the Department of Agriculture.

Clovis’ testimony comes on the heels of another Trump campaign adviser, George Papadopoulos, pleading guilty to lying to federal authorities. As part of Papadopoulos’ admission of guilt, details of emails were disclosed that showed him describing to top Trump campaign officials communications he had with contacts in Russia.

The correspondence between Papadopoulos and a group of foreign nationals detail that within weeks of being described by Trump as an important part of his national security team, Papadopoulos was in London meeting with people who said they could deliver “dirt” on rival candidate Hillary Clinton, including “thousands of emails.”

The emails indicate multiple top level campaign officials that Papadopoulos communicated with including one listed as a “campaign supervisor”.

Sources familiar with the emails tell ABC News the “campaign supervisor” was Sam Clovis.

Clovis appeared to encourage Papadopoulos to engage with Russian contacts; in one instance Clovis responded directly to Papadopoulos, hailing him for his “great work” and saying “I would encourage you” to “make the trip, if it is feasible”, referring to a trip the young campaign adviser pitched to go abroad.

An attorney for Clovis confirmed his role in the communications to ABC News, adding that he has not spoken to Papadopoulos since the 2016 election and any trip he would have taken would not have been authorized by the campaign and would have been done on his own personal time and money.

A White House source familiar with the investigation tells ABC News “the White House was surprised to learn Mr. Clovis had been contacted by the Special Counsel’s office as part of their separate probe of Mr. Papadopoulos’ activities.”

Clovis’ lawyer, Victoria Toensing, told ABC News he is not under investigation [.....]

Geez, just noticed in above,

artappraiser — Thu, 02 Nov 2017 18:02:45 +0000

In reply to Clovis out:

Geez, just noticed in above, creepy name from impeachments past:

Clovis’s attorney, Victoria Toensing, told The Washington Post on Monday that her client “always vigorously opposed any Russian trip for Donald Trump and/or the campaign.” She described his responses to Papadopoulos as a courtesy by “a polite gentleman from Iowa.”

It's probably just a case of all the good lawyers already taken!

Clovis out:

artappraiser — Thu, 02 Nov 2017 17:59:48 +0000

In reply to The Real Bombshell: Papadopoulos' Guilty Plea

Clovis out:

Sam Clovis withdraws his nomination for USDA’s top scientist post after being linked to Russia probe

@ WaPo, 11:08 am

I think you can take that

PeraclesPlease — Wed, 01 Nov 2017 22:47:59 +0000

In reply to I wonder if Weissman will be

I think you can take that surmise to the bank.

I wonder if Weissman will be

moat — Wed, 01 Nov 2017 22:29:45 +0000

In reply to Weissman is a former top mob

I wonder if Weissman will be involved with inquiries of the Trump outfit itself as discussed in the New Yorker article: Business of Corruption
He certainly has the resume for the job.

Knives out for Jared; whether

artappraiser — Wed, 01 Nov 2017 22:05:37 +0000

In reply to The Real Bombshell: Papadopoulos' Guilty Plea

Knives out for Jared; whether the whole of this article is accurate or mostly gossip, the meme of make Jared the sacrifice is clearly being pushed in the following excerpt:

[....] Trump is like, When is that going to end?” According to two sources, Trump has complained to advisers about his legal team for letting the Mueller probe progress this far. Speaking to Steve Bannon on Tuesday, Trump blamed Jared Kushner for his role in decisions, specifically the firings of Mike Flynn and James Comey, that led to Mueller’s appointment, according to a source briefed on the call. When Roger Stone recently told Trump that Kushner was giving him bad political advice, Trump agreed, according to someone familiar with the conversation. “Jared is the worst political adviser in the White House in modern history,” Nunberg said. “I’m only saying publicly what everyone says behind the scenes at Fox News, in conservative media, and the Senate and Congress.” (The White House didn’t respond to a request for comment by deadline.) [....]

from

“You Can’t Go Any Lower”: Inside the West Wing, Trump Is Apoplectic as Allies Fear Impeachment

By Gabriel Sherman @ The Hive @ Vanity Fair.com, Nov. 1

After Monday’s indictments, the president blamed Jared Kushner in a call to Steve Bannon, while others are urging him to take off the gloves with Robert Mueller.

Weissman is a former top mob

artappraiser — Wed, 01 Nov 2017 18:20:36 +0000

In reply to The Real Bombshell: Papadopoulos' Guilty Plea

Weissman is a former top mob prosecutor, experienced at turning people state's evidence:

Andrew Weissmann, Legal Pit Bull, Is Unleashed in Inquiry

By MATT FLEGENHEIMER @ NYTimes.com, Nov. 1

Mr. Weissmann brings decades of experience prosecuting Mafia heads and white-collar crime to Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation

[....] He is a top lieutenant to Robert S. Mueller III on the special counsel investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links to the Trump campaign. Significantly, Mr. Weissmann is an expert in converting defendants into collaborators — with either tactical brilliance or overzealousness, depending on one’s perspective. [....]

CNN has that Mueller's office

artappraiser — Tue, 31 Oct 2017 04:00:53 +0000

In reply to The Real Bombshell: Papadopoulos' Guilty Plea

CNN has that Mueller's office most definitely feared the Papadopoulos agreement being made public before today would hurt their investigation; they argued for the sealing, wanted more time:

Special counsel's office: Papadopoulos 'small part' of 'large scale investigation'

By Katelyn Polantz, CNN Updated 6:22 PM ET, Mon October 30, 2017

[....] "The criminal justice interest being vindicated here is there's a large-scale ongoing investigation of which this case is a small part," Aaron Zelinsky of the special counsel's office said during Papadopoulos' October 5 plea agreement hearing, records of which were unsealed Monday.

The special counsel's office sought to keep Papadopoulos' plea agreement confidential because it didn't want to dissuade witnesses and persons of interest from sharing information with investigators.

"Although the government is moving expeditiously to interview individuals of immediate interest to the investigation, news that the defendant has been charged with and pleaded guilty to lying to federal agents may make those individuals reluctant to speak with investigators," the special counsel's office wrote on October 3.

Papadopoulos' court proceedings were unsealed Monday [....]

Any surprise "Lock her up"

PeraclesPlease — Tue, 31 Oct 2017 00:09:00 +0000

In reply to Yes, Kristof sees this:

Any surprise "Lock her up" campaign was run by the guy who helped lock up Yulia Timoschenko on fake charges? Funny how Ukrainian misogyny and ols dschool patruiarchy travels - you'd almost think this was a universal trait. (just in case anyone feels sorry for Manafort)

good point. and synchs with

artappraiser — Mon, 30 Oct 2017 23:21:47 +0000

In reply to The Politico article is

good point. and synchs with the idea that today's events are a threat to cooperate asap.