Natalia V. Veselnitskaya arrived at a meeting at Trump Tower in June 2016 hoping to interest top Trump campaign officials in the contents of a memo she believed contained information damaging to the Democratic Party and, by extension, Hillary Clinton. The material was the fruit of her research as a private lawyer, she has repeatedly said, and any suggestion that she was acting at the Kremlin’s behest that day is anti-Russia “hysteria.”
But interviews and records show that in the months before the meeting, Ms. Veselnitskaya had discussed the allegations with one of Russia’s most powerful officials, the prosecutor general, Yuri Y. Chaika. And the memo she brought with her closely followed a document that Mr. Chaika’s office had given to an American congressman two months earlier, incorporating some paragraphs verbatim.
The coordination between the Trump Tower visitor and the Russian prosecutor general undercuts Ms. Veselnitskaya’s account that she was a purely independent actor when she sat down with Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, and Paul J. Manafort, then the Trump campaign chairman.
It also suggests that emails from an intermediary to the younger Mr. Trump promising that Ms. Veselnitskaya would arrive with information from Russian prosecutors were rooted at least partly in fact — not mere “puffery,” as the president’s son later said.
This almost gt lost in all of the talk about the Mueller investigation indictments yesterday, but it is a very important piece of the puzzle and deserves attention.
Not only does this indicate that Veselnitskaya lied, which is to be expected, but that Don. Jr. also lied, which come to think of it should be expected as well I suppose.
However if Junior lied to investigators while under oath, this could be a very big deal indeed.
Now the question to ask is exactly WHAT did this Russian lawyer bring to Junior's attention, and why was it not used in the campaign? Or was it?
Strangely enough, Drumpf is golfing again today. I read this story yesterday and am shocked that it didn't receive more attention.
ReplyDeleteTrump finds golf isn't the way to Congress' heart
Deletehttps://www.politico.com/story/2017/10/28/trump-golf-congress-244266
You want shocking? Here’s a horror story for you...someone stole Bristol’s LV backpack from Dakota’s car last night! Welcome to the Real World, Meyers.
ReplyDeleteGosh why wasn't dumbkota protecting the car with his ak47?
DeleteOops, the backpack was never in the car. Bristol couldn't find it in the mess on her bedroom floor. The cleaning lady picked up Bristol's clothes and there was the LV backpack, along with half eaten take out food. But the idea of theft brings drama.
DeleteOT?
ReplyDeletehttp://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/russias-rt-twitter-pushed-ads-election-50755510
White House Crumbling As 71 Percent Of Americans Call Trump A ‘Dangerous Low Point’ For U.S.
ReplyDeleteNot only do 71 percent of Americans believe politics has reached a new low under Trump, but 70 percent say the administration itself is “dysfunctional.”
The poll also found that a majority of the country – 51 percent – say Trump alone, not either major political party, is to blame for the dysfunction. Only 25 percent of respondents blame former President Barack Obama for the escalating political divisions, despite the president’s repeated efforts to attack his predecessor.
Overall, 68 percent of voters believe the 45th president is doing a “bad job representing the concerns of ordinary citizens,” and his approval rating stands at a dismal 38 percent.
http://www.politicususa.com/2017/10/28/white-house-crumbling-71-percent-americans-call-trump-dangerous-point-u-s.html
GOP tax bill shrouded in secrecy
ReplyDeleteRank-and-file House Republicans are increasingly alarmed by the secrecy shrouding the massive tax bill their party leaders plan to ram through Congress next month.
Just days ahead of the legislation’s release, GOP members of the House Ways and Means Committee are still in the dark on numerous details being ironed out by the powerful tax-writing committee’s chairman, Kevin Brady (R-Texas), and his staff. And they’re blaming the panel’s top-down approach for the uncertainty.
“There are a lot of open issues,” said Rep. Jim Renacci (R-Ohio), echoing comments made by several of his colleagues on the committee.
Heading into the weekend, question marks remained on at least two high-profile proposals to offset the cost of slashing individual and business tax rates: curbing federal deductions for state and local taxes and business interest as well as potential changes to taxing retirement savings.
The uneasy feeling among members extends to their tax aides, who’ve been excluded from a recent series of hours-long member meetings with Brady and his tax counsels.
Several personal office tax staffers to committee Republicans indicated that they’re grappling with how to brace their bosses for the coming lobbyist wave. Well-funded special interests are ready to pounce on the tax bill when Brady brings it out Nov. 1; aides are worried about the onslaught, particularly over any surprises in the legislation.
“You could potentially see some bombs in there,” one aide said.
Days ahead of the plan’s release, even rank-and-file Republicans are alarmed that they’re being kept in the dark.
So the party of fiscal conservatives *should* vote no.
DeleteBut they won’t.
They’ll all vote yes like the loyal sheep they are.
This piece of shit is going to pass with Pence casting the deciding vote.
Because Flake, McCain and Corker are all talk and no action.
Billionaire GOP donor trashes ‘awful’ Trump: ‘He’s a threat to democracy’
ReplyDeleteIn a speech documented by New York magazine, billionaire hedge fund manager Seth Klarman — CEO of the Baupost Group — told assembled attendees that Trump is a “threat to democracy.”
“The president is a threat to democracy. He has attacked journalists and he’s threatening to take away NBC’s license,” Klarman can be heard saying in audio recorded at the Robin Hood Investment Conference. “He’s attacking judges. He’s violating all sorts of democratic norms, from the emoluments clause to questioning the election and threatening to lock up his opponent. People don’t focus on this but Nazi Germany had a constitution before Hitler came to power and at the end of the war they had the exact same constitution. It lasted all the way through, but democracy didn’t.”
“The country is getting divided, whether it’s immigrants, whether it’s transgender people, whether it’s blacks, whether it’s Mexicans. It’s awful,” he lamented.
Klarman wasn’t the only billionaire speaker who is not a fan of Trump.
https://www.rawstory.com/2017/10/billionaire-gop-donor-trashes-awful-trump-hes-a-threat-to-democracy/
Just on MSNBC: NBC News confirms Mueller's office will serve up an indictment on Monday in connection with the Russia probe, per official.
ReplyDeletehttps://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/924311849440595968
Mueller Bombs Trump's 'Big' Week
ReplyDelete...A new Trump strategem now surfacing holds that the investigations are not just a waste of time but a waste of money. On Friday morning, he tweeted, “It is now commonly agreed, after many months of COSTLY looking, that there was NO collusion between Russia and Trump. Was collusion with HC!” To begin with, it’s not commonly agreed (outside the White House at least) that there was no collusion, and nobody but Trump loyalists could know that until Mueller finishes his work. As for the cost of Mueller’s investigation, everybody knows these things don’t come cheap. The Iran-Contra investigation swallowed $47 million, which is about $104 million in today’s dollars. Even at $200 million, the Mueller investigation will be a bargain if it uncovers obstruction of justice, money laundering, and tax fraud by the president or his associates.
By week’s end, the New York Times moved a story that helped restore battlefield vigor—if not to Mueller himself then to Trump’s doubters. Citing interviews and record, the Times asserted that Natalia Veselnitskaya, the Russian attorney who set up the infamous meeting at Trump Tower in June 2016 with the design of peddling information damaging to the Democrats and Clinton, was working from an established playbook. The memo she brought to Trump town “closely followed” a document that Russia’s prosecutor general had given to an American congressman two months earlier.
The Times story demolishes Veselnitskaya’s claim that she was an independent actor in the Trump Tower saga, and makes a persuasive case that she was part of an official “synchronized information campaign.” Sort of smells like collusion when you nose your way around the entire story.
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/10/28/swamp-diary-jack-shafer-mueller-probe-215757
It amuses that are asking for proof. Um, hi. Hours after the Russia meeting, trump mentioned how they were going to release Hillary's email -- and, to add to the obvious collusion, he said they were going to release the emails from hrc's server which is what the Russians promised but not what got released. Wrong info was given and he passed it along. That's like detective story proof 101.
ReplyDeleteHow hard can it be to prove Junior perjured himself? It’s like taking candy from a baby (that doesn’t have a weight problem.)
ReplyDeleteWho was the "American Congressman" who received the document from the Russian Prosecutor General's office prior to the meeting-?!?!?!?!?!?
ReplyDeleteWild Tortoise
Rep Dana Rohrabacher (R-Moscow)
DeleteHe should be jailed on treason charges, then shot by firing squad.
OT?
ReplyDelete"Melber: Have you seen the Chaika memo?
Bertrand: I have.
Melber: What does it tell you?
Bertrand: It is essentially verbatim give or take a few lines here and there that Natalia Veselnitskaya brought with her to trump tower. When I noticed the similarity a few weeks ago, I asked Bill Browder about it. He said this is strongest evidence that we have to date."
http://crooksandliars.com/2017/10/ari-melber-connects-more-dots-latest-trump