Axios gets its hands on Robert Mueller's hit list, and it's a doozy.

Yep, I'm still coming.

Courtesy of Axios:  

What Mueller is asking for: Mueller is subpoenaing all communications — meaning emails, texts, handwritten notes, etc. — that this witness sent and received regarding the following people: 

1. Carter Page 
2. Corey Lewandowski 
3. Donald J. Trump 
4. Hope Hicks 
5. Keith Schiller 
6. Michael Cohen 
7. Paul Manafort 
8. Rick Gates 
9. Roger Stone 
10. Steve Bannon 

The subpoena asks for all communications from November 1, 2015, to the present. Notably, Trump announced his campaign for president five months earlier — on June 16, 2015.

Ga-damn! Mueller is definitely not fooling around.

Take a look at how many of those on this list are no longer workign in the White House, and how many never even made it that far.

And you KNOW that Mueller has already gained access to these records from Rick Gates, Steve Bannon, and Carter Page.

I heard on cable new this morning that it appears Mueller is approaching this much the same way he did while investigating organized crime families.

Seems appropriate.

By the way it is clearly getting to Trump, who tweeted this out this morning.

Why did the Obama Administration start an investigation into the Trump Campaign (with zero proof of wrongdoing) long before the Election in November? Wanted to discredit so Crooked H would win. Unprecedented. Bigger than Watergate! Plus, Obama did NOTHING about Russian meddling.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 5, 2018

Not only is that completely inaccurate but it also indicates that Trump is freaking the hell out.

To start your day here is Carter Page, while working on the Trump campaign, in Moscow undermining America's foreign policy while praising Putin's.

NEW: I just found this video of Carter Page in Moscow, Russia speaking in support of Vladimir Putin, while working on the Trump campaign. He calls the American international affairs strategy "hostile," then goes on to talk about the "failure of US analysts & leaders" #TrumpRussia pic.twitter.com/LE2T6mMrcC

— Scott Dworkin (@funder) February 5, 2018

Yeah I have no idea why the federal courts authorized all of those FISA warrants, do you?

Believe it or not it may be retiring Congressman Trey Gowdy who put the final nail in the "secret memo" coffin.

When Trey Gowdy says Trump's vindication claim is garbage, Republicans are cooked. pic.twitter.com/zesgMvMKNN

— Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) February 4, 2018

Courtesy of The Hill: 

CBS's Margaret Brennan pressed Gowdy on whether he believes the memo has "no impact on the Russia probe." 

"Not to me, it doesn't — and I was pretty integrally involved in the drafting of it," Gowdy, who recently announced he will not seek reelection, said. 

"There is a Russia investigation without a dossier. So to the extent the memo deals with the dossier and the [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act] process, the dossier has nothing to do with the meeting at Trump Tower. The dossier has nothing to do with an email sent by Cambridge Analytica." 

He added that the dossier has "nothing to do with George Papadopoulos's meeting in Great Britain." 

"It also doesn't have anything to do with obstruction of justice. So there's going to be a Russia probe, even without a dossier," he said.

And that my friends, is that. 

Also keep in mind that Gowdy was the one that Nunes sent to read the actual documentation behind those FISA applications.

He then brought his notes to Nunes and his staff, and that is where this memo originated.

So if Gowdy is stating emphatically that the memo has "no impact on the Russia probe" THAT is game over.

Back in 2013 Carter Page was bragging that he was an adviser to the Kremlin.

Oh you found that letter did you? Damn!

Courtesy of Time: 

Former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page bragged that he was an adviser to the Kremlin in a letter obtained by TIME that raises new questions about the extent of Page’s contacts with the Russian government over the years. 

The letter, dated Aug. 25, 2013, was sent by Page to an academic press during a dispute over edits to an unpublished manuscript he had submitted for publication, according to an editor who worked with Page. 

“Over the past half year, I have had the privilege to serve as an informal advisor to the staff of the Kremlin in preparation for their Presidency of the G-20 Summit next month, where energy issues will be a prominent point on the agenda,” the letter reads.

But wait, I thought the whole point of the Devin Nunes "secret memo" was that there was no legitimate reason to issue a FISA warrant against Page, and that the ONLY reason the FBI obtained one was due to that Christopher Steele dossier?

Do you hear that sound?

That is the sound of little right wing heads exploding in frustration.

Donald Trump tweets that the Nunes' memo "totally vindicates Trump."

This memo totally vindicates “Trump” in probe. But the Russian Witch Hunt goes on and on. Their was no Collusion and there was no Obstruction (the word now used because, after one year of looking endlessly and finding NOTHING, collusion is dead). This is an American disgrace!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 3, 2018

Courtesy of Politico:  

President Donald Trump said Saturday that the controversial memo written by Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) and other GOP lawmakers "totally vindicates" him — a judgment shared by few but his staunchest defenders. 

"This memo totally vindicates “Trump” in probe. But the Russian Witch Hunt goes on and on," the president wrote on Twitter. "Their [sic] was no Collusion and there was no Obstruction (the word now used because, after one year of looking endlessly and finding NOTHING, collusion is dead)." 

Democrats and some conservatives said the memo did nothing to delegitimize Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation; if anything, some of them said it confirmed that the probe was not predicated on the anti-Trump dossier that the president and his allies have attacked.

It is becoming increasingly clear that Trump does not simply enjoy hearing misinformation that comforts him into believing that his presidency is going better than it is, but that he absolutely believes it to be true.

I read the memo yesterday, and if you read the memo yesterday, you know as well as I do that it did nothing to "vindicate" Donald Trump.

In fact it proved that the allegation the investigation was based on false evidence, completely false.

The initial investigation was the result of good intelligence, and the continued reevaluation of the FISA case against Carter Page demonstrated that there was increasing information that he was still clearly working with the Russians.

Oh, and just in case somebody fixes that tweet before this is published, yes Trump used the wrong "their" on his official Twitter page.

It appears that the Republicans may be using the "secret memo" as an excuse to attack Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.

Courtesy of the New York Times:  

A secret, highly contentious Republican memo reveals that Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein approved an application to extend surveillance of a former Trump campaign associate shortly after taking office last spring, according to three people familiar with it. 

The renewal shows that the Justice Department under President Trump saw reason to believe that the associate, Carter Page, was acting as a Russian agent. But the reference to Mr. Rosenstein’s actions in the memo — a much-disputed document that paints the investigation into Russian election meddling as tainted from the start — indicates that Republicans may be moving to seize on his role as they seek to undermine the inquiry. 

The memo’s primary contention is that F.B.I. and Justice Department officials failed to adequately explain to an intelligence court judge in initially seeking a warrant for surveillance of Mr. Page that they were relying in part on research by an investigator, Christopher Steele, that had been financed by the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. 

Democrats who have read the document say Republicans have cherry-picked facts to create a misleading and dangerous narrative. But in their efforts to discredit the inquiry, Republicans could potentially use Mr. Rosenstein’s decision to approve the renewal to suggest that he failed to properly vet a highly sensitive application for a warrant to spy on Mr. Page, who served as a Trump foreign policy adviser until September 2016.

Of course if the Republicans manage to undermine Rosenstein's reasoning behind his Carter Page warrant, they can then move on to attacking his judgement in appointing Robert Mueller and can start working to further undermine the investigation.

Obviously this is an attempt to accomplish what Trump wanted when he tried and failed to fire Robert Mueller, and do it in a way that the Republicans feel offers some protection from accusations of obstructionism.

But of course it does no such thing, because it is only the most recent in a long line of attempts to obstruct this investigation. 

Which we saw more of today with the firing of Andrew McCabe. 

Bill Moyers has updated his Russia/Trump timeline. You might want to take a look at it.

Courtesy of Bill Moyers.com:

When it comes to Donald Trump, his campaign and their dealings with Russia past and present, sometimes it’s hard to keep track of all the players without a scorecard. We have one of sorts — a deeply comprehensive timeline detailing what actually happened and what’s still happening in the ever-changing story of the president, his inner circle and a web of Russian oligarchs, hackers and government officials. 

Since first launched in February 2017, the Trump-Russia Timeline has grown to more than 600 entries — and we will continue to add updates regularly. What have reporters and investigators already uncovered and made public? 

What are the connections and patterns? Review the timeline to see.

The new information about George Papadopoulos is now included, as well as the revelations from Carter Page which came out during his testimony and his many bizarre cable news appearances.

Simply put once you scroll through it there is no longer any way to doubt that there was absolutely collusion between the Trump campaign and Kremlin operatives. 

On that note Seth Abramson is also convinced that recent information provided by Papadopoulos proves collusion as well:

You will likely have to actually visit the site if you want to read that on your phone or I-Pad.

So have we proven collusion yet?

Yeah, I think we have. 

Carter Page's testimony before the House Intelligence Committee is....enlightening.

Courtesy of NBC News: 

Former Trump campaign volunteer Carter Page, who has come under scrutiny in the investigation of Russian election interference, told a House committee that he sought permission for a July 2016 trip to Moscow from senior Trump campaign officials, and reported to other Trump officials about the trip when he returned. 

It’s long been known that Page traveled to Moscow in July 2016, but he has said it was in his private capacity, unrelated to his role with the Trump campaign. 

Page, whose sworn testimony was released Monday night, told the House Intelligence Committee last week that he sought permission to make the trip from campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, and also notified Hope Hicks, who is now the White House communications director. 

Lewandowski told Page he was clear to go on the trip as long as the travel was not associated with his work on the campaign, Page told the committee.

However as it turns out Page was kind of representing the campaign to some degree on the trip, and he DEFINITELY talked with Russian government officials about the campaign.  So that sort makes it feel that it WAS associated with his work on the campaign.

Reporter Natasha Bertrand also points out that some of Page's testimony reinforces the documentation in the Christopher Steele Russian dossier.

Steele dossier panning out: Page met w/ both the head of investor relations for Rosneft AND members of Russia’s PA while in Moscow last July pic.twitter.com/k2mCTLIGUP

— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) November 7, 2017

Courtesy of Business Insider: 

Page revealed during his testimony that he met with both members of Russia's presidential administration and with the head of investor relations at the state-owned Russian oil giant Rosneft during his trip to Moscow last July. 

He also congratulated members of the Trump campaign's foreign policy team on July 14 for their "excellent work" on the "Ukraine amendment" — a reference to the Trump campaign's decision to "intervene" to water down a proposed amendment to the GOP's Ukraine platform. 

The original amendment proposed that the GOP commit to sending "lethal weapons" to the Ukrainian army to fend off Russian aggression. But it was ultimately altered to say "provide appropriate assistance" before it was included in the party's official platform. The dossier alleges that the campaign "agreed to sideline" the issue of Russia's invasion of Crimea and interference in eastern Ukraine in exchange for dirt on Hillary Clinton. 

Apparently Page was a confounding witness who attempted to plead with Fifth in response to some questions and then became quite chatty in response to others. 

Adam Schiff Asking Carter Page Whether He's Invoking The Fifth Amendment Is Something Else. pic.twitter.com/aNchV7MnTG

— Chris Geidner (@chrisgeidner) November 7, 2017

He also provided testimony which often seemed to contradict itself, and he probably perjured himself on several occasions.

Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff confronted Page with an email he wrote on July 8 from Moscow to Trump campaign adviser J.D. Gordon saying that he had received "incredible insights and outreach from a few Russian legislators and senior members of the presidential administration here." 

Former British spy Christopher Steele wrote in the dossier that an "official close to Presidential Administration Head, S. IVANOV, confided in a compatriot that a senior colleague in the Internal Political Department of the PA, DIVYEKIN (nfd) also had met secretly with PAGE on his recent visit." 

According to that official in the dossier, Diveykin told Page that the Kremlin had a dossier of kompromat on Hillary Clinton that they wanted to give to the Trump campaign. 

In his congressional testimony, Page denied meeting with Diveykin and said the "senior members of the presidential administration" that he had referred to in his email was actually just "a brief, less-than-10-second chat with [deputy Prime Minister] Arkadiy Dvorkovich." 

He said his mention of "legislators" was a reference to "a few people who were shaking hands" with him in passing. 

Like I said, "enlightening." 

Former Trump foreign policy adviser Carter Page admits that he totally went to Russia in 2016 to meet government officials.

What else do you want to know? Want the password to my wifi? How about my social security number?

Courtesy of the New York Times:  

Carter Page, a foreign policy adviser to the Trump presidential campaign, met Russian government officials during a July 2016 trip he took to Moscow, according to testimony he gave on Thursday to the House Intelligence Committee. 

Shortly after the trip, Mr. Page sent an email to at least one Trump campaign aide describing insights he had after conversations with government officials, legislators and business executives during his time in Moscow, according to one person familiar with the contents of the message. The email was read aloud during the closed-door testimony. 

The new details of the trip present a different picture than the account Mr. Page has given during numerous appearances in the news media in recent months and are yet another example of a Trump adviser meeting with Russians officials during the 2016 campaign. In multiple interviews with The New York Times, he had either denied meeting with any Russian government officials during the July 2016 visit or sidestepped the question, saying he met with “mostly scholars.” 

Mr. Page confirmed the meetings in an interview on Friday evening, but played down their significance. 

“I had a very brief hello to a couple of people. That was it,” he said. He said one of the people he met was a “senior person,” but would not confirm the person’s identity.

So not only did Page go to Russia while actively working with the Trump campaign, but he emailed folks in the campaign to give them a status report.

Maybe it's just me but that does not sound like the official talking points from the campaign.

By the way for Carter Page to openly admit that he made his trip and told Trump campaign personnel about it, but then be unwilling to identify who he met with, kind of makes it seem super important to find out who he met with.

Oh and while he was at it Page went ahead and confirmed that ole George Papadopoulos was telling the truth as well.

Courtesy of TPM:  

Carter Page acknowledged Friday that he was copied on an email chain in which fellow Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos suggested hooking the Trump team up with Russian government officials. 

“I was one of many people on that email chain,” the perpetually chatty Page told CNN’s Jake Tapper in an on-air interview.

Robert Mueller must love this guy.

Boys and girls I think Jeff Sessions might be fucked.

Courtesy of CNN: 

Attorney General Jeff Sessions is once again under scrutiny on Capitol Hill regarding his candor about Russia and the Trump campaign amid revelations that he rejected a suggestion to convene a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump last year. 

According to court filings unsealed this week, Trump campaign foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos suggested at a March 2016 meeting that he could use his connections to set up a meeting between Putin and Trump with the then-GOP candidate's national security team. An Instagram picture on Trump's account shows Sessions attended the meeting at which Papadopoulos made the suggestion.

After Trump declined to rule out the idea, Sessions weighed in and rejected the proposed meeting, according to a person who attended. 

But Sessions, who was a top surrogate for Trump during the campaign, did not disclose these discussions despite a persistent set of questions from Democrats and some Republicans about Russia during multiple hearings on Capitol Hill. The new information is renewing attention to how forthcoming Sessions has been with Congress.

That put Al Franken on Jeff Session's trail like an angry bloodhound.

Courtesy of TPM:

“Once again, developments in the ongoing investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election have brought to light evidence that you failed to tell the truth about your interactions with Russian operatives during the campaign, as well as your awareness of Russian contacts by other members of the Trump campaign team,” Franken wrote. 

He called it “another example in an alarming pattern” in which Sessions “apparently failed to tell the truth, under oath, about the Trump team’s contacts with agents of Russia—a hostile foreign power that interfered in the 2016 election.” 

“We must get to the bottom of what happened so that we can prevent it from happening again,” Franken wrote. “I am deeply troubled that this newest revelation strongly suggests that the Senate—and the American public—cannot trust your word.”

Yeah, shit meet fan.

That apparently jogged the Keebler Elf's memory.

JUST IN: Sessions now recalls rejecting Russia trip for Papadopoulos, sources tell NBC News https://t.co/VjYd3CGUpY

— MSNBC (@MSNBC) November 2, 2017

Oh, THAT meeting!

But, believe it or not, things got even worse.

Also courtesy of CNN:

Former Trump foreign policy adviser Carter Page privately testified Thursday that he mentioned to Jeff Sessions he was traveling to Russia during the 2016 presidential campaign — as new questions emerge about the attorney general's comments to Congress about Russia and the Trump campaign. 

During more than six hours of closed-door testimony, Page said that he informed Sessions about his coming July 2016 trip to Russia, which Page told CNN was unconnected to his campaign role. Page described the conversation to CNN after he finished talking to the House intelligence committee. 

Sessions' discussion with Page will fuel further scrutiny about what the attorney general knew about connections between the Trump campaign and Russia — and communications about Russia that he did not disclose despite a persistent line of questioning in three separate hearings this year.

Yes I think "fucked" is really the only description that adequately sums up Jeff Sessions' situation right now. 

If past is prologue this means that Sessions days with his administration are numbered, but that could introduce an entirely new problem because with Sessions gone Trump will be allowed to pick his successor, and that successor may have no qualms about trying to shut down the Mueller investigation.

Speaking of subpoenas here are the others also being asked to testify in the Russia investigations.

JUST IN: Mueller interviewed cybersecurity expert who claimed he was recruited to collude with Russia: report https://t.co/2xaHUS0X6T pic.twitter.com/PuzcneKAYV

— The Hill (@thehill) October 17, 2017

 Courtesy of The Hill: 

Special counsel Robert Mueller has interviewed a cybersecurity expert who claims he was "recruited to collude with the Russians" in the 2016 election, Business Insider reported Tuesday. 

Matt Tait, a former information security specialist for Britain's Government Communications Headquarters was interviewed weeks ago by Mueller, according to a source familiar with the investigation. 

Tait claimed that he was recruited by a longtime GOP operative tied to the Trump campaign, Peter W. Smith, to obtain emails deleted from Hillary Clinton's private email server that they believed were hacked by the Russians. 

Smith reportedly told people during his investigation that he was affiliated with President Trump's former national security adviser, Michael Flynn.

Actually Mueller and his team have been quite busy.

Courtesy of Politico: 

President Donald Trump’s former press secretary Sean Spicer met with special counsel Robert Mueller's team on Monday for an interview that lasted much of the day, according to multiple people familiar with the meeting. 

During his sitdown, Spicer was grilled about the firing of former FBI director James Comey and his statements regarding the firing, as well as about Trump’s meetings with Russians officials including one with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in the Oval Office, one person familiar with the meeting said.

Spicer was essentially that "fly on the wall" that we talk about who overhears everything, even things he should not be hearing.

And considering how he was treated there is no reason to think he is not perfectly willing to share all that he knows. 

And speaking of flies on the wall let's not forget that Mueller has already interviewed Reince Priebus.

Former adviser Carter Page has also been subpoenaed by the Senate Intelligence Committee. He of course has already spilled his guts to the FBI.

Yep things are most definitely heating up.

Is it any wonder that Trump is trying to get the whole thing shut down?

Donald Trump rushes to defend Carter Page who claims that he can prove James Comey and John Brennan lied under oath.

So now it is reported that the Democrats, who have excoriated Carter Page about Russia, don't want him to testify. He blows away their....

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 31, 2017

...case against him & now wants to clear his name by showing "the false or misleading testimony by James Comey, John Brennan..." Witch Hunt!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 31, 2017

Courtesy of Salon: 

Citing a letter Page wrote to the House Intelligence Committee on Monday, Trump announced to the country that Page could prove that former FBI Director James Comey and former CIA Director John Brennan had lied under oath.

Trump also tweeted that Democrats in Congress were actively trying to stall Page’s testimony. His claim appears to be based on a “Fox and Friends” segment. Minutes before Trump’s tweet, “Fox and Friends” reported on the letter in which Page seemed to suggest, without basis, that members of the intelligence committee were preventing his testimony. 

“I have learned from your Committee staff on this Memorial Day holiday that I might not be immediately afforded the opportunity to address the false or misleading testimony by James Comey, John Brennan, et al, as per our previously scheduled appointment for next week,” Page wrote in the letter, obtained by Business Insider. “In the interest of finally providing the American people with some accurate information at long last, I hope that we can proceed with this straight dialogue soon.” 

The president appears mighty confident that Page is being truthful when he says that he has “accurate information” that could exonerate him.

Which based on page's past performances is risky to say the least.

I would assume that Trump is betting that the intelligence agencies will be unwilling to produce the classified information it would take to refute Page's testimony, but I cannot believe that he has not considered what a shit show it would be for his side to have Page cross examined by the Democrats in Congress.

And this comes after Sean Spicer tried to cover for Trump by saying that Page “is an individual who the president-elect does not know and was put on notice months ago by the campaign.”

Well it certainly sounds like he knows him now.

And he better have a damn good story to tell since apparently James Comey is ready to testify again as well.

Courtesy of CNN:

Fired FBI director James Comey plans to testify publicly in the Senate as early as next week to confirm bombshell accusations that President Donald Trump pressured him to end his investigation into a top Trump aide's ties to Russia, a source close to the issue said Wednesday. 

Damn, shit just got real. 

Personally I am all for Carter Page testifying, hell he could not even keep it together while being questioned by MSNBC's Chris Hayes, I can only imagine how fucked he will be once the Intelligence Committee sinks their teeth into him.

Former Trump adviser Carter Page is no longer cooperating with the Senate Intelligence Committee. Surprise, surprise, surprise.

Courtesy of The Independent:  

Former Trump adviser Carter Page has declined to provide records of his communications with Russians to the Senate intelligence committee, saying that anything of note has already been recorded by former President Barack Obama’s administration. 

“I suspect the physical reaction of the Clinton/Obama regime perpetrators will be more along the lines of severe vomiting when all the facts are eventually exposed regarding the steps taken by the US Government to influence the 2016 election,” Mr Page wrote in response to an April letter he received from the Senate committee.

What Page is arguing here is that he was under surveillance by the Justice Department so they already have access to any of his communications with the Russians.

However by not cooperating Page is presenting a completely different version of himself than the one who appeared on every cable news outlet that would have him proclaiming that he did nothing wrong.

Which is something that the Senate Committee noticed as well:

A joint statement from the top senators on the intelligence committee, chairman Richard Burr and ranking member Mark Warner, said that they will continue to investigate Russia’s influence in the 2016 election whether Mr Page cooperates or not. 

“Three days ago, Carter Page told Fox News he was cooperating with the committee’s investigation into Russian activities surrounding the 2016 Election,” the statement said. “Today we have learned that may not be the case.”

The two senators continued to say that Mr Page had previously indicated to the committee that he wanted to cooperate with the investigation and that doing so would only help to resolve claims that he colluded with Russians. Federal investigators believe that he was knowingly or unknowingly being cultivated as a Russian asset by Russian spies. Mr Page denies all these allegations.

So are we taking bets as to whether Michael Flynn, Paul Manafort, and Roger Stone will follow Page's example.

My money says that Page will not be the only one to try and obstruct with investigation.

Former Trump adviser Carter Page claims “I have been the victim of one of the most horrendous civil rights violations in recent U.S. election history.” Yeah, that's what happened.

Carter Page to @CNN's @ChrisCuomo: "I've been the victim of one of the most horrendous civil rights violations..." https://t.co/3FeN6FEzWh

— New Day (@NewDay) April 27, 2017

Courtesy of The Hill:

A former campaign adviser to Donald Trump said Thursday he was “the victim of one of the most horrendous civil rights violations” during the 2016 presidential election. 

“I have been the victim of one of the most horrendous civil rights violations in recent U.S. election history,” Carter Page told co-host Chris Cuomo on CNN’s “New Day.” 

Page’s comments came after Cuomo pushed him to disclose how he became involved in Trump’s campaign, first claiming that it is confidential and then saying he doesn’t want to create issues for other people. 

Page denied the allegations against him, saying they have caused “a complete firestorm based on this completely false narrative.”

Later Cuomo offered Page the opportunity to clear up any misunderstandings, this was his response.  

.@ChrisCuomo to fmr Trump aid Carter Page "Sometimes I scratch my head and wonder why you're doing" these interviews https://t.co/pBm6kNqPve

— New Day (@NewDay) April 27, 2017

Yeah any problems that Carter page is now facing are the direct result of his own actions and his own statements to the press.

And I have a feeling that those problems are really just beginning. 

CNN reports that the Russians used Trump advisers to attempt to infiltrate campaign. I'm sorry, "attempt?"

Courtesy of CNN: 

The FBI gathered intelligence last summer that suggests Russian operatives tried to use Trump advisers, including Carter Page, to infiltrate the Trump campaign, according to US officials. 

The new information adds to the emerging picture of how the Russians tried to influence the 2016 election, not only through email hacks and propaganda but also by trying to infiltrate the Trump orbit. The intelligence led to an investigation into the coordination of Trump's campaign associates and the Russians. 

These officials made clear they don't know whether Page was aware the Russians may have been using him. Because of the way Russian spy services operate, Page could have unknowingly talked with Russian agents.

I have seen a few interviews with this Page guy and it seems likely that he is either a gifted actor able to lie right to your face without raising suspicions, or a complete idiot easily manipulated by just about anybody who spends five minutes talking to the guy.

I would however point out that the report specifically says "advisers" which leads me to think that Page was not their only "useful idiot."

That could mean that Paul Manafort, Michael Flynn, Roger Stone, and perhaps a few others could also have been compromised.

At the end of the article was also this rather interesting nugget: 

Intelligence analysts and FBI investigators who analyzed various strands of intelligence from human sources to electronic and financial records have found signs of possible collusion between the campaign and Russian officials. But there is not enough evidence to show that crimes were committed, US officials say. 

Part of the problem for investigators has been that they lost their opportunity to conduct the investigation in secret after several leaks last year revealed FBI was looking at people close to the Trump campaign. After those reports, people that the US was monitoring changed their behavior, which made it more difficult for US officials to monitor them.

So that means that there likely IS evidence of some collusion between some in the Trump campaign and the Russians, but because those under investigation were made aware that they were under investigation that they may have destroyed data needed to charge them with actual crimes.

That kind of sounds to me as if the FBI knows that the Russians were actually successful in infiltrating the Trump campaign, but just can't prove it yet.  

Of course if the FBI can prove they destroyed evidence after being notified of an investigation that is enough on its own to charge them with a crime.

So fingers crossed.

The FBI used that infamous Russian dossier as part of their justification for requesting a FISA court order to monitor former adviser Carter Page.

Source

Courtesy of CNN:

The FBI last year used a dossier of allegations of Russian ties to Donald Trump's campaign as part of the justification to win approval to secretly monitor a Trump associate, according to US officials briefed on the investigation. 

The dossier has also been cited by FBI Director James Comey in some of his briefings to members of Congress in recent weeks, as one of the sources of information the bureau has used to bolster its investigation, according to US officials briefed on the probe. 

This includes approval from the secret court that oversees the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to monitor the communications of Carter Page, two of the officials said. Last year, Page was identified by the Trump campaign as an adviser on national security. 

Officials familiar with the process say even if the application to monitor Page included information from the dossier, it would only be after the FBI had corroborated the information through its own investigation. The officials would not say what or how much was corroborated.

Well ti appears that the Russian dossier compiled by former MI-6 agent Christopher Steele was not so uncorroborated after all.

Carter Page of course continues to protest his innocence, but bear this in mind:

To obtain court permission to target Page, the FBI and Justice Department would have to present probable cause that he was acting as an agent of a foreign power, including possibly engaging in clandestine intelligence gathering for a foreign government. Comey and other top Justice Department officials would have to sign off on the application, which government officials say involves a rigorous review process.

Yes they do not simply hand out FISA court orders like candy on Halloween.

Which of course brings us back to that post from Louise Mensch:

Sources with links to the intelligence community say it is believed that Carter Page went to Moscow in early July carrying with him a pre-recorded tape of Donald Trump offering to change American policy if he were to be elected, to make it more favorable to Putin. In exchange, Page was authorized directly by Trump to request the help of the Russian government in hacking the election.

Simply put, the threads are starting to come together in a way that makes the Trump presidency feel a little temporary. 

Don'tcha think?

So it turns out that the FBI was actually pretty sure that one of Trump's campaign advisers was secretly working as a Russian spy. Update!

Spy? Do I look like a spy to you?

Courtesy of WaPo: 

The FBI obtained a secret court order last summer to monitor the communications of an adviser to presidential candidate Donald Trump, part of an investigation into possible links between Russia and the campaign, law enforcement and other U.S. officials said. 

The FBI and the Justice Department obtained the warrant targeting Carter Page’s communications after convincing a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court judge that there was probable cause to believe Page was acting as an agent of a foreign power, in this case Russia, according to the officials. 

This is the clearest evidence so far that the FBI had reason to believe during the 2016 presidential campaign that a Trump campaign adviser was in touch with Russian agents. Such contacts are now at the center of an investigation into whether the campaign coordinated with the Russian government to swing the election in Trump’s favor.

The article goes on to say that currently Page is not officially accused of a crime, nor is there any certainty that he will be in the future.


This by the way is NOT the "incidental collection" of data which Devon Nunes spoke of last month.

This is a full blown investigation into somebody that the FBI was able to convince a federal judge poses a serious threat.

Here's more:

The government’s application for the surveillance order targeting Page included a lengthy declaration that laid out investigators’ basis for believing that Page was an agent of the Russian government and knowingly engaged in clandestine intelligence activities on behalf of Moscow, officials said. 

Among other things, the application cited contacts that he had with a Russian intelligence operative in New York City in 2013, officials said. Those contacts had earlier surfaced in a federal espionage case brought by the Justice Department against the intelligence operative and two other Russian agents. In addition, the application said Page had other contacts with Russian operatives that have not been publicly disclosed, officials said.

For his part Carter Page said this:  

“This confirms all of my suspicions about unjustified, politically motivated government surveillance,” Page said in an interview Tuesday. “I have nothing to hide.” He compared surveillance of him to the eavesdropping that the FBI and Justice Department conducted against civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.

Oh yeah, Carter Page is JUST like MLK.

Let's not forget that even the Russians who recruited him thought Carter Page was "an idiot."

I will go out on a limb and suggest that there may be a few more of these FISA court orders for other members of Trump's campaign, and current administration, that we just have not heard about yet.

Update: Like I said. 

Source: Carter Page isn't the only Trump campaign ally who was the subject of a FISA warrant. A second target was recorded also. Tick tock..

— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) April 12, 2017

Brother of Donald Trump's Secretary of Education met with Putin ally to establish a communication back channel for the future president.

Courtesy of WaPo: 

The United Arab Emirates arranged a secret meeting in January between Blackwater founder Erik Prince and a Russian close to President Vladi­mir Putin as part of an apparent effort to establish a back-channel line of communication between Moscow and President-elect Donald Trump, according to U.S., European and Arab officials. 

The meeting took place around Jan. 11 — nine days before Trump’s inauguration — in the Seychelles islands in the Indian Ocean, officials said. Though the full agenda remains unclear, the UAE agreed to broker the meeting in part to explore whether Russia could be persuaded to curtail its relationship with Iran, including in Syria, a Trump administration objective that would be likely to require major concessions to Moscow on U.S. sanctions. 

Though Prince had no formal role with the Trump campaign or transition team, he presented himself as an unofficial envoy for Trump to high-ranking Emiratis involved in setting up his meeting with the Putin confidant, according to the officials, who did not identify the Russian.

Wait, what?

The article goes on to point out that Erik Prince is the brother of Secretary of Education Betsy Devos and that he donated a quarter of a million dollars to Trump's campaign.

This is how a spokesman for Prince responded to this story:

“Erik had no role on the transition team. This is a complete fabrication. The meeting had nothing to do with President Trump. Why is the so-called under-resourced intelligence community messing around with surveillance of American citizens when they should be hunting terrorists?”

Actually you know this seems to be potentially a hell of a lot more concerning than a simple terrorist plot. So I am good with the intelligence community pursuing this.

Here is a little something else to keep in mind from a report early last month: 

An alleged computer server connection between the Trump Organization and Alfa Bank, an influential financial institution in Russia with connections to both the Russian and Ukrainian elite, is still being investigated by the FBI, according to a new report by CNN. 

The FBI’s counterintelligence team, which is also looking into Russia’s suspected hacking of Democratic National Committee servers and the email account of her campaign chairman, is investigating why a computer server owned by Alfa Bank repeatedly looked up a computer server owned by the Trump Organization in Lititz, Pennsylvania. Eighty percent of the attempts to look up that Trump computer server were performed by Alfa Bank — 2,820 in total — with almost all of the rest being conducted by Spectrum Health, a medical facility chain for which Dick DeVos, the husband of Trump’s education secretary, Betsy DeVos, serves as chairman of the board.

Paul Vixie, who designed the DNS system used by the modern internet, previously told Slate that the most likely explanation for the interactivity between the Alfa Bank and Trump Organization servers is that they “were communicating in a secretive fashion.” 

The explanation offered by Alfa Bank is that this was all probably due to spam, but it was discounted because it was only happening between these entities and was not widespread.

And just to add a little more fuel to the fire here, yesterday we also learned that two years ago Trump's former campaign adviser, Carter Page, had been recruited by Russian spies:

Two years before joining the Trump campaign as a foreign policy adviser, New York business consultant Carter Page was targeted for recruitment as an intelligence source by Russian spies promising favors for business opportunities in Russia, according to a sealed FBI complaint. 

Page confirmed to ABC News that he is the individual identified as "Male-1" in a 2015 court document submitted in a case involving the Russian spies. 

Page told ABC News he cooperated in the case, and felt the Feds "unmasked" him by describing him in January 2015 in a manner that would be known to energy insiders. 

"I didn't want to be a spy," he said in an interview early Monday afternoon. "I'm not a spy."

Okay can we just go ahead and state for the record that Donald Trump, and his team, were colluding with the Russians?

Or are we still not sure?