Courtesy of the
New York Times:
In the Obama administration’s last days, some White House officials scrambled to spread information about Russian efforts to undermine the presidential election — and about possible contacts between associates of President-elect Donald J. Trump and Russians — across the government. Former American officials say they had two aims: to ensure that such meddling isn’t duplicated in future American or European elections, and to leave a clear trail of intelligence for government investigators.
American allies, including the British and the Dutch, had provided information describing meetings in European cities between Russian officials — and others close to Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin — and associates of President-elect Trump, according to three former American officials who requested anonymity in discussing classified intelligence.
Separately, American intelligence agencies had intercepted communications of Russian officials, some of them within the Kremlin, discussing contacts with Trump associates.
Apparently the Obama administration also made sure to spread the information throughout the intelligence agencies and to politicians on both sides of the aisle "to ensure that as many people as possible inside government could see it, even if people without security clearances could not."
The concern of course was that members of the Trump Administration would be compromised by the Russians and that the investigation would be swept under the rug.
And it appears that they had reason for concern.
Courtesy of the
Washington Post:
Then-Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) spoke twice last year with Russia’s ambassador to the United States, Justice Department officials said, encounters he did not disclose when asked about possible contacts between members of President Trump’s campaign and representatives of Moscow during Sessions’s confirmation hearing to become attorney general.
One of the meetings was a private conversation between Sessions and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak that took place in September in the senator’s office, at the height of what U.S. intelligence officials say was a Russian cyber campaign to upend the U.S. presidential race.
At this point you might be saying to yourself, "Well this sounds bad, but how bad is it?"
It's this bad.
Now of course today Jeff Sessions is denying ever talking to anybody in Russia, knowing how to find Russia on a map, or ever having put Russian dressing on a salad, but he is now with the Trump Administration so what did you expect?
However despite denials, the noose is clearly getting tighter.
Courtesy of the
AP:
White House staffers have been told to preserve any materials related to Russian intervention in the 2016 presidential election, according to The Associated Press.
The White House counsel’s office handed down the order on Tuesday in a memo to aides, the news wire reported.
The move comes after Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee asked the White House and law enforcement agencies to keep materials related to Trump associates’ alleged ties to Russia.
Separately, the Senate Intelligence Committee last month asked federal agencies to keep materials that tie into its investigation into Russian cyber hacking and other efforts to disrupt the election.
Paul Manafort, Carter Page, Mike Flynn, Roger Stone, Rex Tillerson, Jeff Sessions, is there anybody associated with the Trump Administration or campaign NOT compromised by the Russians?
And should we trust ANYBODY that Trump appoints to any cabinet position or opening in the Supreme Court?
Oh I think you know my answer.
