Trump met with Putin on the sidelines of the Asia Summit, during a period of time when U.S. reporters were banned from covering him. Later, aboard Air Force One, Trump told reporters that Putin denied accusations of Russian interference in the election. Trump continued that he not only believed him, but that he thinks the leaders of U.S. intelligence agencies are “political hacks”. Source
Mueller is on a roll:
- He interviewed top White House aide Stephen Miller, the highest-level aide still working at the White House known to have talked to investigators. source
- It is reported that he has enough evidence to indict Michael Flynn. Source. This also indicates possible progress on obstruction of justice charges against Trump, related to the firing of Comey. Source
- He’s looking into a pre-election meeting between Flynn and Pro-Russia Congressman Dana Rohrabacher. The meeting is documented in emails from Flynn to Rohrabacher’s staff. source
- He is also investigating Flynn’s role in plan to kidnap Cleric Fethullah Gulen from the U.S. and deliver him to Turkish custody. Flynn and his son, Michael Flynn Jr., were to be paid as much as $15 million. Source
Devin Nunes, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, attended a breakfast with Flynn and Turkish foreign minister just before the inauguration. Source
Keith Schiller, Trump’s longtime bodyguard, testified to the House Intelligence Committee that a Russian offered to “send five women” to Donald Trump’s hotel room in Moscow before the Miss Universe Pageant in 2013. He claims Trump turned the offer down, but the scenario matches that of the pee pee tape in the dossier, including the timing of the alleged event. source
The Paradise Papers revealed that Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross owns stakes in Russian companies under sanctions, despite promising to divest himself of all such holdings. Source. Additionally, Wilbur Ross’s aide maintained position on board of Kremlin-linked company while working in Trump administration in a clear conflict of interest. source
The Paradise Papers also revealed that Russia funded Facebook and Twitter investments through Kushner investor, Yuri Milner. Milner also contributed the Russian money to Kushner’s startup, Cadre. Coincidentally, Kushner initially “failed to disclose” his own holding in the company when he joined the White House. source
The Russian lawyer from the Trump Tower meeting, Natalia Veselnitskaya, stated that Trump Jr. hinted at reversing sanctions in return for written evidence that illegal proceeds went to Hillary Clinton’s campaign. Source
Papadopoulos represented Trump campaign at meetings with British officials & Israeli settlers. source
Carter Page got permission from the Trump campaign to go to Russia in June 2016 and meet Russian officials. Emails between Page and Lewandowski, Trump’s campaign manager, document this fact. Lewandowski claims he “forgot” that he had give permission. Source
Emails from 2016 also document that Page wanted to send Trump to Russia to meet with officials in his place. source
A full transcript of Page’s testimony to the House was released. Source
Russia’s social media operation:
- Russian agents disguised as Americans on Twitter deflected bad news from Trump, turning the discussion back to criticism of Hillary Clinton. Source
- Russian trolls used the Texas Church Massacre to push more propaganda on twitter, falsely claiming the shooter was a member of antifa. Source
- Russian support for Trump began immediately after he announced his candidacy. Source
Additional Comments:
Mark your calendars: Sessions scheduled to testify before the House Judiciary Committee Tuesday Nov. 14. Subject matter is expected to include why he has been misleading congressional committees on the campaign’s interactions with Russia and clarifying what that interaction actually was. Source
One of the best investigations into the Russian interference in the election was conducted by AP, and the results were released this week. It not only proves definitively, once and for all, that Russia hacked the DNC, but also exactly how they did it. Very convincing. Source