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🔍 All things Mueller - What we know he has on Trump 'n Co

It’s possible we’re going to see some big news from Mueller in the next several weeks…sooner rather than later. :pray:

Thought it may be worthwhile to focus on what we know Mueller knows…Where do you see the evidence leading? What kinds of indictments or subpoenas could be next?

I found this link from a Ryan Goodman (@rgoodlaw - Former Special Counsel @DeptofDefense. Co-editor-in-chief @just_security. Chaired Professor NYU Law. Former Chaired Professor Harvard Law.) who seems to know his way around the law.

He created a larger Perjury file within the body of the link ( PDF form) below with fuller descriptions.

December 3, 2018

It is a federal offense to intentionally make false statements to Congress, the FBI, and other federal authorities. It is also a crime to encourage others to do so (that is, in technical terms, to “suborn perjury”). It is also a crime to engage in a conspiracy to lie to federal authorities. A conspiracy can involve a tacit or explicit agreement to commit the criminal activity.

Here is a summary of the 18-page Chart which is below (as a PDF document). It will be updated as new information becomes public. major updates will be announced on Twitter and Facebook.

  1. Jeff Sessions
    (1) probably lied to Congress about his communications with Russian government officials and (2) possibly lied to Congress about his knowledge of other campaign members’ contacts with Russian government officials (starting Jan. 2017)
  1. Jared Kushner (part 1)
    made material omissions on his security clearance forms (January-June 2017)
  1. Michael Flynn
    lied to the FBI about communications with the Russian ambassador (Jan. 24, 2017)
  1. George Papadopoulos
    lied to the FBI about his Russian contacts (Jan. 27, 2017)
  1. K.T. McFarland
    probably lied to Congress about knowledge of Flynn’s phone calls with the Russian ambassador (July 2017)
  1. Michael Caputo
    probably lied to Congress about his contacts with Russians (July 13, 2017)
  1. Jared Kushner (part 2)
    (1) probably lied to Congress about his knowledge of the reason for the June 9 Russia meeting in Trump Tower and (2) possibly made false statements about proposing a backchannel to Russia (July 24, 2017)
  1. Michael Cohen
    lied to Congress about the Moscow Trump Tower Project (Aug. 28, 2017)
  1. Donald Trump Jr.
    (1) probably lied to Congress about receiving offers of assistance from other foreign governments; (2) probably lied about candidate Trump’s advance knowledge of the June 9 Trump Tower meeting; (3) made a false statement about whether any of the Russian members of the June 9 meeting requested a follow-up; (4) possibly made false statements about the Trump Tower in Moscow deal (Sept. 7, 2017)
  1. Roger Stone
    (1) probably lied to Congress about how and when he learned of Wikileaks’ possession of Podesta’s emails; (2) probably lied in denying advanced knowledge of any content of Wikileaks’ documents on Hillary Clinton (3) probably lied about his communications with Wikileaks; (4) probably lied about his contacts with Russians; and (5) made false and misleading statements about his communications and relationship to the campaign (Sept. 26, 2017)
  1. Carter Page
    probably lied to Congress about his contacts with Russian officials (Nov. 2, 2017)
  1. Alex van der Zwaan
    lied to the FBI about his contacts with Rick Gates and a Ukrainian national with active ties to Russian intelligence (Nov. 3, 2017)
  1. Natalia Veselnitskaya
    (1) probably lied to Congress about her connections to Russia’s Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika and (2) probably lied about attempted follow-up to the Trump Tower meeting (Nov. 20, 2017)
  1. Paul Manafort
    lied to federal authorities about his ties to Kremlin-link Ukrainian political parties (starting Nov. 23, 2016, later dates include Feb. 10, 2017)
  1. Rick Gates
    lied to federal authorities about his ties to Kremlin-link Ukrainian political parties (starting Nov. 23, 2016, later dates include Feb. 10, 2017)
  1. Erik Prince
    (1) probably lied to Congress about his secret Seychelles meeting with a Russian and (2) probably lied about his relationship to the Trump campaign (Nov. 30, 2017)
  1. Robert Goldstone
    probably lied to Congress about his email to Donald Trump Jr. (Dec. 15, 2017)
  1. Jerome Corsi
    lied to the FBI about his efforts with Roger Stone to communicate with Wikileaks/Assange (Sept. 6, 2018)

PDF

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A lot of headlines pointing to this is a HUGE week for Mueller. He is going to be making his Manafort memo public*, ie, it will not be sealed.

Some :boom: time!

A Flynn sentencing memo is due Tuesday, and memos about Manafort and Cohen are slated for Friday. All three documents are expected to yield significant new details on what cooperation the three of them provided to the Russia investigation.


There has been much speculation that Mueller might file his memo in Manafort’s case under seal in order to prevent public disclosure of the additional crimes his office believes Manafort committed when he allegedly lied to prosecutors and broke a plea deal after agreeing to cooperate.

But Peter Carr, spokesman for the special counsel, confirmed to Yahoo News on Monday that the Manafort memo “will be public,” although he added there could be some portions that are redacted or filed as a sealed addendum. The Manafort memo has been requested by the federal judge in his case so that prosecutors could, for the first time, spell out what matters they believe Manafort has lied to them about.

The fact that Mueller is planning a public filing about Manafort suggests he may no longer feel the need to withhold information about his case in order to bring additional indictments against others. That would be consistent with messages his prosecutors have given defense lawyers in recent weeks indicating that they are in the endgame of their investigation.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/mueller-preparing-end-game-russia-investigation-225720798.html

  • or a partial amount could be under seal. But it looks like it is being lined up for a big indictment - vis-a-vis Nick Akerman MSNBC comentator (former Watergate prosecutor)
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A bit of a shot off the bow…from T 'n Co.

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https://www-m.cnn.com/2018/12/03/opinions/mueller-is-about-to-have-his-say-honig/index.html?r=http%3A%2F%2Fm.facebook.com%2F

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What will Flynn’s sentencing memo look like when we see it today??

Why did Flynn get extra precautionary coddling from T, when it would become known that Flynn did have conversations with the Russian Ambassador - Kislyak?
What did Mark Smith and Flynn communicate about? (clue - payments that may have been election-intell-emails-related funds) Who benefits - is it solely financial for Flynn (probably some) but is it covering up allegiances to Russa?

Today is a big day for us to read up on some Flynn news…

Questions immediately arose over whether the incoming Trump administration was trying to undercut Obama’s new sanctions, perhaps in gratitude for Russia’s election meddling.

At the time, Flynn’s contacts with Kislyak were secret — but they didn’t remain secret for long. In mid-January 2017, news leaked that Flynn and Kislyak had been in contact on the day of the sanctions announcement. It later emerged that Kislyak was under surveillance, and Flynn’s contacts with him were picked up.

Key Trump advisers like incoming press secretary Sean Spicer and vice president-elect Mike Pence both insisted publicly that, according to Flynn, the topic of sanctions didn’t even come up between him and Kislyak. That’s where things stood when Trump was sworn in as president, and Flynn became national security adviser.

Just a few days later, though, two FBI agents (including Peter Strzok) paid Flynn a visit. They asked him about his talks with Kislyak, and he again denied talking about sanctions with the ambassador. He also denied lobbying Kislyak on the UN Security Council vote. Intelligence intercepts made clear that both those claims were false, and acting attorney general Sally Yates warned the White House that Flynn had lied.

Trump took no action against Flynn for 18 days after Yates’s warning. Only after a pair of Washington Post reports publicly revealed, first, that Flynn and Kislyak discuss sanctions, and second, the warning from Yates, did Trump finally fire Flynn (on the night of February 13). The White House claim was that Trump ousted Flynn because he had misled Pence.

It also later emerged that, the day after Flynn’s firing, Trump asked all other officials to leave a meeting so he could speak with then-FBI Director James Comey alone. Per Comey, Trump told him, “I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go.”

The whole thing seemed deeply strange. Why had Flynn lied? Why did Trump take so long to fire him? Why did the president want to the FBI director about his case in private? Was all this suggestive of a larger Trump-Russia scandal?

Once special counsel Robert Mueller was appointed in May 2017, his team further investigated Flynn — not just for his false statements to the FBI, but also for other shady-looking business and foreign dealings.

In the end, though, Flynn cut a deal. He admitted lying to the FBI about his conversations with Kislyak — and he agreed to cooperate with Mueller’s probe. Toward what end, we don’t yet know.

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Yes @Keaton_James , these threads (Flynn being paid Foreign Agent to Turkey) * Pence’s possible/likely complicity with all of it; Flynn’s conversations with Kislyak; (his role with wikileaks? Why T wanted to protect Flynn?) are very important.

The complicity question - that the Transition head, Pence, should have known everything about all staff, and Pence would probably have been involved in certain meetings) has been left up in the air. Many people feel (albeit the MSNBC’s and liberal media) think that Pence was involved, but can’t really state it. The thought that Flynn was acting as a Foreign Agent, even perhaps Double Agent is something that we need to know why the brakes weren’t put on Flynn sooner. It wreaks of complicity…too hot to not hide. Certainly Sally Yates, former Acting DA thought that Flynn was ‘dirty.’ and so did Obama. (he asked T not to hire him)
see **

Yes, can not wait to hear what might be in that sentencing memo…

Pundits are saying…Flynn involved w/

Collusion side…with Kislyak, and mtg w/ Jared Kushner and Kislyak on setting up a secret back channel with Russia.

Obstruction - Flynn lied to investigators, and when did Flynn tell T about when he spoke about the discussions on no sanctions with Kislyak, and systemic amount of lying regarding Russia (Sessions…etc.)

WASHINGTON—Special Counsel Robert Mueller is investigating former White House national security adviser Mike Flynn’s alleged role in a plan to forcibly remove a Muslim cleric living in the U.S. and deliver him to Turkey in return for millions of dollars, according to people familiar with the investigation.

Under the alleged proposal, Mr. Flynn and his son, Michael Flynn Jr., were to be paid as much as $15 million for delivering Fethullah Gulen to the Turkish government, according to people with knowledge of discussions

**

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This is a big week for us to see what Mueller may be up to…as today (Dec 4th) we get the sentencing Memo for Mike Flynn. And on Friday, Dec 7th, we get more sentencing information for Michael Cohen and Paul Manafort.

The documents this week could, most importantly, offer an infusion of new information about Donald Trump, his campaign, his White House, and its relationship with Russia. In the process, they’ll likely produce far more clarity about what his lieutenants knew, what they told Mueller, and how their differing strategies worked.

Michael Cohen

Cohen was a holdover from the Trump Organization. A Trump acolyte since 2006, he’d worked on various deals, and though he presented himself as Trump’s attorney, seemed to work more like a fixer. He emerged as an early cheerleader for Trump to jump into politics, and served some campaign functions—including some truly baffling exchanges with reporters—though as his plea deal last week made clear, he also continued to work on a prospective deal to build a Trump building in Moscow. Cohen reportedly wanted a White House job but didn’t get one, and began to leverage his Trump connection for profit as a lawyer.

When it started to become clear, in early 2018, how serious Cohen’s legal jeopardy was, he initially took a defiant stance. Trump publicly boasted that Cohen would never flip on him (raising the question of what exactly there was to flip about), and Cohen told Donny Deutsch he’d sooner jump off a building than betray Trump. He eventually came around. In August, Cohen pleaded guilty in federal court in New York to eight felony counts, including bank fraud, tax fraud, and violating campaign-finance laws—a charge on which he implicated the president in a crime.

Now Cohen spoke of a different loyalty: “My wife, my daughter, and my son have my first loyalty and always will,” Cohen told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos. “I put family and country first.” (Since then, he’s taken more shots at Trump, calling for people to vote Democrat, accusing the president of using racial slurs, and more.) Curiously, he did not strike a deal to cooperate with prosecutors at the time, yet he ended up cooperating at length, including testifying for a reported 70 hours to Mueller.

It was only November 28 that Cohen finally signed a plea deal with Mueller’s team, acknowledging he lied to Congress about the Moscow project during testimony. The plea once again is damaging for Trump, especially because Cohen says in court filings he told the lies while in contact with Trump’s legal team, and in order to bolster Trump’s messaging. Now Cohen has asked to be sentenced only to time served for his crimes, citing his cooperation with prosecutors in both New York and D.C. This is an unorthodox approach—cooperating without any deal, then asking for leniency after—and it remains to be seen how well it will work for Cohen. The answer might hinge on just how big the import of his testimony to Mueller is.

Michael Flynn

Flynn seemed like the opposite of Trump: He spent a decorated career as an Army intelligence officer, with all the discipline that entails, while Trump was a flamboyant businessman who avoided military service. But the two men found common cause during the 2016 campaign, united by fascination with Russia, hatred of Islam, and shared animosity toward Obama, who had forced Flynn out of a job leading the Defense Intelligence Agency. Flynn became a leading surrogate, lending much needed heft to the Trump campaign and speaking at the Republican National Convention.

Days after the election, Flynn was rewarded with an appointment as national-security adviser. He conducted conversations with the Russian ambassador in that capacity and then, several days after entering the White House, lied to the FBI about those talks. He also lied to Vice President Pence about them. When his lies were revealed by The Washington Post in February 2017, he was fired. Since Flynn had already been under FBI investigation, Mueller took over that probe when he was appointed in May 2017. In November 2017, Flynn cut off communication with the Trump legal team, and the following month, he pleaded guilty to making false statements to the FBI, and also acknowledged false statements in Foreign Agent Registration Act filings.

In other words, Flynn decided to fess up quickly, take the pain up-front, and try to get back to a normal life as soon as possible. Flynn has a wide range of possible knowledge about Trump, but it’s not clear what he has told Mueller or how that might shape the general conversation. His cooperation is expected to buy him a relatively light sentence, though.

Paul Manafort

Finally, and most strangely, there’s Manafort. An old-school establishment Republican, he was not particularly ideologically simpatico with Trump, nor was he just a hired gun—the role he long played for unsavory leaders around the globe—because he was working as a volunteer. As my colleague Franklin Foer has reported, Manafort seems to have hoped to leverage the Trump work into rekindling his business and, most importantly, getting right with an old associate, Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska.

Manafort’s time at the campaign was short—by late summer 2016, he was too scandal-plagued even for Trump—but in the meantime he was part of an infamous June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower. He was also present when the GOP platform was edited to soften a critique of Russian meddling in Ukraine.

As it turns out, Manafort was involved in a host of crimes. Mueller produced indictments that laid out money-laundering and other financial crimes in great detail, all outside the auspices of the Trump campaign. This was widely seen as a show of strength to convince Manafort to cooperate, but it didn’t work, even after his former partner and protege Rick Gates pleaded guilty to making false statements. He not only insisted on a jury trial, but insisted that he have separate trials in Virginia and D.C., rather than combining them.

The Virginia trial didn’t go well for Manafort. Though the judge tangled with Mueller’s prosecutors and the jury didn’t reach a verdict on every count, Manafort still came out a convicted felon—and with the Washington trial looming. He finally agreed to cooperate and plead guilty in September. But last week, Mueller said in a court filing that Manafort had broken the plea deal by again lying to investigators. Manafort denied lying but agreed with Mueller’s request that his case go straight to sentencing.

Effectively reneging on a plea deal is unusual and risky—it draws the ire of prosecutors and of courts. Beyond that, it emerged that Manafort had been passing information about Mueller to Trump’s legal team for months. That’s not illegal, but it’s highly unusual for a cooperating witness, and again could draw Mueller’s ire. As my colleague Natasha Bertrand reports, some observers believe that Manafort is angling for a presidential pardon. Trump has conspicuously not ruled that out, and has complained publicly that Manafort has been mistreated.

It’s not clear what Manafort told Trump, and whether any of that was useful to the investigation. If public, the Manafort memo should lay some of that out, as well as showing what the blowback of Manafort’s decision to renege on the deal is. He seems to be waiting on a pardon from Trump, but it’s noteworthy that Cohen and Flynn, both of whom were personally closer to Trump, decided they were better off turning on the president and cooperating with prosecutors than expecting a show of reciprocal loyalty.

Mueller could give new details on Russia probe in sentencing memo for Trump’s ex-national security advisor Michael Flynn

Special counsel Robert Mueller on Tuesday will submit a recommended sentence for former national security advisor Michael Flynn, who pleaded guilty last year on a charge of lying to the FBI.

The sentencing memo is also expected to shed light on how the special counsel evaluated Flynn’s cooperation in its ongoing probe of Russia interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Mueller could potentially ask a federal judge to reduce Flynn’s sentence.

Flynn was a fiery advocate for then-candidate Donald Trump on the campaign trail, famously leading a “lock her up” chant at the Republican National Convention, referring to Hillary Clinton.

…

Flynn’s sentencing, and the documents to be filed from both parties that anticipate it, have been scheduled since September. After the special counsel submits its sentencing memo, Flynn will have a week to file his own version, followed by a reply from the government three days later on Dec. 14. The sentencing hearing itself is scheduled for the morning of Tuesday, Dec. 18, before Judge Emmet Sullivan in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.

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Memo out…a LOT redacted!!!

No prison time is recommended.

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To quote Ben Wittes, “Boom.”
Full docs below👇

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And there at least three big investigations ongoing, and too much of it is too sensitive to release.

However, Rosenstein probably will be overseeing it, but that does not mean Whitaker can not take a look and pass on information. You wonder how detailed this is…and how locked down it is.

More to come…

WASHINGTON — Michael T. Flynn, President Trump’s first national security adviser, helped substantially with the special counsel’s investigation and should receive little to no prison time for lying to federal investigators, according to court documents filed on Tuesday.

Prosecutors for the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, described Mr. Flynn as a key cooperator who helped the Justice Department with several investigations, sitting for 19 interviews with Mr. Mueller’s office and other prosecutors and handing over documents and communications.

“His early cooperation was particularly valuable because he was one of the few people with long-term and firsthand insight” into the subject of Mr. Mueller’s investigation — Russia’s election interference and whether any Trump associates conspired, prosecutors wrote in a sentencing recommendation memorandum and an addendum that was heavily blacked out.

In particular, they wrote, he may have prompted others to cooperate with the inquiry. “The defendant’s decision to plead guilty and cooperate likely affected the decisions of related firsthand witnesses to be forthcoming,” prosecutors said.

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More intriguing revelations…where Kushner and KT McFarland were drawn into this senrencing memo. Their names are only referred to as Senior Officials.

Hmmmmmm…tell me more.

Mueller seeks no prison time for former national security adviser Michael Flynn, citing his ‘substantial assistance’ - The Washington Post

During the presidential transition, Flynn had several contacts with Kislyak. In early December 2016, he attended a meeting at Trump Tower in New York, during which Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner proposed to the Russian ambassador setting up a secret communications channel with the Kremlin, according to people briefed on intelligence reports.

Later in the month, Flynn spoke with Kislyak about U.S. sanctions on Russia and other topics, Flynn admitted in his plea last year. Flynn also told prosecutors that he was in touch with senior Trump transition officials before and after his communications with the ambassador.

In his plea agreement, Flynn said he contacted the Russian ambassador on Dec. 22, 2016, about the incoming administration’s opposition to a U.N. resolution condemning Israeli settlements as illegal and requested that Russia vote against or delay it. Kislyak called back a day later to say that Russia would not vote against the resolution, court records show.

In another conversation, on Dec. 29, Flynn called Kislyak to suggest the incoming president was not a fan of the sanctions imposed by the Obama administration and asked Russia not to escalate the ongoing feud, according to filings.

Russian President Vladi­mir Putin issued a statement Dec. 30 saying Russia would not retaliate against the U.S. sanctions at that time.

The following day, the ambassador called Flynn to inform him of Russia’s decision to honor Flynn’s request, according to the records.

Flynn admitted he had lied to FBI agents about his interactions with the ambassador when they interviewed him just four days after the inauguration, but also asserted that others in Trump’s transition team knew about his talks with Kislyak, according to court filings.

Flynn told prosecutors that a “very senior member of the Presidential Transition Team” had directed him to contact officials from foreign governments, including Russia, about the U.N. resolution on Israel.

That official is also not named, but people familiar with the matter have said it refers to Kushner. According to one transition team official, Trump’s son-in-law told Flynn that blocking the resolution was a top priority of the president-elect.

Flynn also admitted that before speaking with the ambassador on Dec. 29, he called a senior transition official at the Mar-a-Lago resort, where Trump was staying, “to discuss what, if anything, to communicate to the Russian ambassador about the U.S. Sanctions.” Flynn learned that transition members did not want Russia to escalate the situation, according to court papers.

The senior transition official is not identified in records, but people familiar with the matter identified the official as K.T. McFarland, a onetime Flynn deputy.

McFarland, who initially denied to FBI agents ever talking to Flynn about sanctions in the call, subsequently revised her statement and told investigators they may have discussed sanctions, The Washington Post previously reported.

Two major questions were left unanswered by Flynn’s 2017 guilty plea: whether Trump instructed Flynn to call the ambassador and why Flynn lied about the contacts in the first place.
When Flynn pleaded guilty, then-White House lawyer Ty Cobb said the national security adviser’s lies had nothing to do with the president.

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Interesting article from The Atlantic which devises a metaphor for Mueller’s investigation as if it was a real siege upon a fortress and how Mueller’s takedown is occurring.

Take a read…interesting.

Mueller’s forces also include a major encampment focused on obstruction of justice. This force has so far not done anything the public can see, but it may be getting ready to launch some kind of report against the castle. And this report, whenever it materializes, may prove devastating. But note that the day such a report is completed will also not be the “big one”—the cataclysmic event that causes the house of cards to collapse. After all, any report would likely have to undergo a lengthy approval process, either from within the Justice Department or by the courts, or both. It might have to be approved by Matthew Whitaker, the acting attorney general, before being released. It may have significant classified components. Even if the findings in this report are of bombshell proportions, given that it is unlikely Mueller will reject Office of Legal Counsel guidelines against the indictment of a sitting president, the damage that bombshell will inflict will ultimately be determined by Congress, and its detonation would likely be substantially delayed.

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More details emerging…see what the Flynn sentencing Memo may have revealed.

Important scoop👇🏼

  1. Erickson lobbied Trump team to name McFarland adviser to Flynn

  2. McFarland’s unusual Dec. 2016 email to fellow transition team officials: "Russia, which has just
    thrown U.S.A. election to” Trump

  3. McFarland lied to Congress about Flynn contact w Russia https://twitter.com/woodruffbets/status/1070304319470223361

Feds Target Butina’s GOP Boyfriend as Foreign Agent

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Worth re-reading this article from nov 2017 which links Nunes to Flynn and Turkey (and Dana Rorahbacher) They are speaking with the Ambassador to Turkey, Mr. Cavusoglu. It is the time frame where Nunes starts wanting to unmask names from Susan Rice memos, and where Nunes starts acting like a go-between the WH and the House Intell Committee he chairs.

> Rep. Devin Nunes, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, attended a breakfast meeting at which Michael Flynn and Turkey’s foreign minister were also present.
> The breakfast took place just before President Donald Trump’s inauguration in January.
> A Wall Street Journal report published Friday indicated the special counsel Robert Mueller was scrutinizing Flynn’s dealings with the Turkish government.

Chairman Nunes was a speaker at that event, but it was a large breakfast event, not a small, private meeting as described in that article," the spokesman, Jack Langer, told the fact-checking website Snopes.

He continued:

“Mr. Cavusoglu was one of about 40 attendees at the event, which included 20-30 ambassadors to the U.S. and about 10 other foreign dignitaries and officials. The attendees heard some remarks from Flynn, Chairman Nunes, and other representatives on national security issues — the discussion topic was not Turkey or any other single country … if [Nunes did speak to Cavusoglu], it would’ve been among all the other ambassadors and officials at the event. There was no separate, private meeting.”

Nunes’ attendance at the event is newly relevant amid revelations that the special counsel Robert Mueller is investigating a meeting that another congressman, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, took with Flynn in September 2016. Flynn had begun lobbying on behalf of Turkish government interests one month earlier.

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And some questionable hires by Nunes after Flynn leaves. (dated 09.11.17) from The Daily Beast. It’s a bit too close for comfort in terms of these allegiances. Harvey like Flynn is very pro Iran…and not sure on the Russia question, but these guys are now interchangeable, right?!

Derek Harvey, ousted as NSC Mideast Chief, is returning to the staff of his former boss, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Nunes.

A controversial White House aide has gone back to work on Capitol Hill for the chairman of the House intelligence committee, which is currently investigating connections between Donald Trump’s allies and Russia.

The Daily Beast has confirmed that Derek Harvey, the former Mideast chief for the National Security Council (NSC), is once again working for Devin Nunes, the California Republican. Both men are considered Iran hawks, pushing for a more aggressive stance with Tehran. It’s an outlook they share with retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, who was fired after serving as Trump’s national security adviser for 23 days for his involvement in the growing Russian influence scandal.

…

Nunes in May visited the CIA to review intelligence on Russia, rankling committee Democrats who questioned whether Nunes had in fact recused himself at all. The next month, he unilaterally subpoenaed intelligence agencies for information on the alleged improper unmasking. And last month, Nunes issued more subpoenas, this time to the Justice Department and FBI for information related to ex-MI6 agent Christopher Steele’s salacious and unverified “dossier” of rumors that Russia has compromising information on Trump.

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As we are highly anticipating, two sentencing memos are due on Friday, Dec 7th for both Manafort and Michael Cohen. How much will they reveal or will they look similar to the Flynn sentencing memo with heavy redactions???

All we know is that they are due by 5P EST…so that gives the West Coast an alert by 2p that they will be in. Or that is what I am hearing.

:man_dancing::pray::statue_of_liberty:

Cohen pleaded guilty to a series of campaign finance law offenses as part of a plea agreement in August with federal prosecutors in New York. He reached a separate deal with Mueller’s team last week in which he pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about plans for a Trump Tower project in Moscow.

The sentencing documents will probably reveal the scope of Cohen’s cooperation in both cases, which has included allegations about Trump’s hush money payments to two women alleging extramarital affairs with him and the president’s efforts to conceal plans for a Moscow tower project even as Trump denied any Russian business interests during the 2016 campaign.

“Given his proximity and centrality to Trump’s operation before and after the election, it would be difficult to find any better cooperating witness than Michael Cohen,” former Miami federal prosecutor Kendall Coffey said. "If (prosecutors) are looking for information about Trump’s business dealings and how they may tie in to Russia, Cohen is likely to know that, and all of us may get an idea of where Mueller is headed in these new filings.

“In Manafort’s case,” Coffey said, "we are likely to learn of what may have pushed him to commit legal suicide."

The filings are scheduled days after Mueller cited the “substantial” cooperation provided by former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn. Investigators recommended that he serve no prison time after pleading guilty last year to lying to the FBI in part about his pre-inaugural contacts with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.
…

Prosecutors to outline Manafort misdeeds

Manafort, 69, a former lobbyist and political operative, reached a plea agreement in September in U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia. He admitted leading a long-running conspiracy involving his work on behalf of a pro-Russian faction in Ukraine led by the country’s former president Viktor Yanukovych. He pleaded guilty to obstructing Mueller’s investigation.

Manafort was convicted in August in federal court in Virginia for bank and tax charges related to the work in Ukraine. He faces sentencing Feb. 8 on those eight counts. The combined punishments could become a life sentence.

Manafort was not convicted in either Virginia or D.C. of participating in election interference. But his oversight of the Trump campaign and his participation in key meetings made him a potentially valuable witness to Mueller’s team.

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T 'n Co getting out in front…hoping to put out a “major Counter Report.”

What will that look like…hmmm?

Example -
-T is a victim of witch hunt
-T believes Mueller’s investigators are partisan hacks.
-T discounts all testimony from Michael Cohen, Flynn…all his inside loyalists
-T says it is not true. “I SAY IT IS NOT TRUE, THEREFORE NOT TRUE. - I did not steal the election”
-T calls it motivated by the left and a Hillary cabal
-T has Executive Privilege and pardon power so naaa naaa naaa

Excerpt

President Trump said Friday that his lawyers are preparing a “major Counter Report” in response to expected findings from special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation into possible coordination between Russia and Trump’s 2016 campaign.

Trump confirmed the plan in a spate of angry morning tweets in which also took fresh aim at Mueller and his legal team, accusing them of conflicts of interest and overzealous prosecutions that have “wrongly destroyed people’s lives.”

“We will be doing a major Counter Report to the Mueller Report,” Trump said. “This should never again be allowed to happen to a future President of the United States!”

…

By the end of the day Friday, Mueller is expected to spell out in detail why prosecutors accused Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign chairman, of lying to them and breaking a cooperation agreement. Separately, the special counsel’s office and federal prosecutors in New York are expected to recommend a sentence for Michael Cohen, Trump’s former loyalist and lawyer, in filings that could detail the extent of his cooperation against Trump in multiple investigations.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-unleashes-fresh-tirade-against-mueller-ahead-of-key-court-filings-expected-friday/2018/12/07/4ba2d57c-fa12-11e8-863c-9e2f864d47e7_story.html?utm_term=.5325c1b9a00f

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https://www-m.cnn.com/2018/12/07/politics/robert-mueller-john-kelly-obstruction-investigation/index.html?r=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnn.com%2F

White House chief of staff John Kelly was interviewed by special counsel Robert Mueller’s team in recent months, three people with knowledge of the matter told CNN.

Kelly responded to a narrow set of questions from special counsel investigators after White House lawyers initially objected to Mueller’s request to do the interview earlier this summer, the sources said. Kelly is widely expected to leave his position in the coming days and is no longer on speaking terms with President Donald Trump, CNN reported earlier Friday.

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:anguished:

Yup…hmmm, wonder what that might have been?

I STILL believe that Kelly was the NYT’s leaker…he was just standing in for the past few months…

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@dragonfly9 My guess is obstruction. I do wonder if it has anything to do with McCabe launching an FBI obstruction probe after Comey was fired?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/rosenstein-mccabe-feud-dates-back-to-angry-standoff-in-front-of-mueller/2018/10/10/8a7e99fe-ccac-11e8-a3e6-44daa3d35ede_story.html?utm_term=.d6b908113b5f

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