Senate Report Details Links Between Trump Campaign and Russia

The Republican-led Senate Select Committee on Intelligence has released the fifth and final volume of its report on foreign interference in the 2016 election, detailing Russia’s support of the 2016 Trump campaign, and how the Kremlin took advantage of the Trump transition team’s inexperience to gain access to sensitive information, endangering U.S. security.

“… the report showed extensive evidence of contacts between Trump campaign advisers and people tied to the Kremlin — including a longstanding associate of the onetime Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, Konstantin V. Kilimnik, whom the report identified as a ‘Russian intelligence officer.

The Senate report was the first time the government has identified Mr. Kilimnik as an intelligence officer — Mr. Mueller’s report had labeled him as someone with ties to Russian intelligence. Most of the details about his intelligence background were blacked out in the Senate report.”

— “G.O.P.-Led Senate Panel Details Ties Between 2016 Trump Campaign and Russia,” Mark Mazzetti, New York Times

The bipartisan report also details Russian support of the Trump Campaign through Putin-ordered hacking of DNC computers and data releases thorugh Wikileaks, and possible compromising information the Russians may have on Mr. Trump and women he may have … interacted with during Moscow trips.

Meanwhile, U.S. intellience agencies report that Russia is trying to help Mr. Trump win re-election in 2020.

Rudy Giuliani’s Expert Consultant on Ukrainian Corruption

If you want expert advice on Ukrainian corruption, check with convicted felon Paul Manafort, former consultant to Viktor Yanukovych, the Ukrainian president removed from office for rampant corruption. That’s what Rudy Giuliani, Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, did in an attempt to corroberate yet another conspracy theory about the Mueller Investigation. That probe caught Mr. Manafort with secret foreign bank accounts stuffed with Ukrainian cash and sent him to the slammer. Before he began serving time, Paul Manafort served as Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign chairman and chief strategist.

More:

“Who Would Be the Worst Possible Person to Help You Avoid Ukraine-Related Crimes?” Ryan Bort, Rolling Stone

“Giuliani consulted on Ukraine with imprisoned Paul Manafort via a lawyer,” Josh Dawsey, Tom Hamburger, Paul Sonne, and Rosalind S. Helderman, Washington Post

“Five fantasies Trump is pushing about the Ukraine scandal – and the truth,” Ed Pilkington, The Guardian

Related:

“Trump Removed Ambassador to Ukraine After Giuliani Insisted: Report,” Julia Arciga, Daily Beast

“Giuliani Claims The State Department Warned Him Not To Meet With A Top Ukrainian Official,” Hayes Brown, BuzzFeed News

“Judge Andrew Napolitano: Trump’s call with Ukraine president manifests criminal and impeachable behavior,” Fox News

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Manafort: Guilty. Now for the next trial. Oh, and Michael Cohen.

Paul Manafort’s new LinkedIn photo.

Former Trump Campaign Manager Paul Manafort has been found guilty of filing false income tax returns, failing to report his foreign bank accounts, and bank fraud, 8 counts in all, carrying a combined maximum penalty of 80 years in prison. The jury could not reach unanimity on the remaining 10 counts, and Judge T.S. Ellis declared mistrials on those, meaning prosecutors may ask for a new trial on those counts. Mr. Manafort’s next federal trial begins on September 17th in Washington DC on charges alleging he acted as an unregistered foreign agent and additional fraud charges. Paul Manafort is the fourth former Trump aide to be convicted of crimes charged by special counsel Robert Mueller.

In unrelated GOP crime news, Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s longtime personal lawyer, pleaded guilty today to income tax evasion, making an unlawful corporate campaign contribution, bank fraud, and making an excessive campaign contribution, 8 counts in all. While combined penalties could  total as much as 65 years imprisonment, this plea deal means Mr. Cohen probably faces up to 5 years in prison. The plea agreement does not preclude him from providing information to special counsel Mueller, a deal that would involve sentence reduction. In his plea, Mr. Cohen said he made the illegal campaign payments – hush money – at the direction of a presidential candidate. Sentencing is scheduled for December 12th.

More:

“Michael Cohen says he worked to silence two women ‘in coordination’ with Trump to influence 2016 election,” Devlin Barrett, Carol D. Leonnig, and Renae Merle, Washington Post

“Why Donald Trump can’t distance himself from Paul Manafort and Michael Cohen, in one tweet,” Dara Lind, Vox

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Manafort Trial Begins

Paul Manafort’s new LinkedIn photo.

The first federal trial of former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort begins today. This is his trial for money laundering, bank fraud, and related charges resulting from Mr. Manafort’s unregistered lobbying and consulting for Russia-backed candidate Viktor Yanukovych in Ukraine’s 2010 presidential election.

In this trial, with one exception, we don’t expect to hear any references to the defendant’s role in Donald Trump’s 2016 election campaign, or his presence at the now-infamous Trump Tower meeting with Russian operatives, but there are certain to be juicy details about the lavish lifestyle funded by Paul Manafort’s questionable gains.

Paul Manafort Is In the Gray Bar Hotel

Paul Manafort’s new LinkedIn photo.

Paul Manafort has homes in Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Hamptons, Florida, and Virginia, but he’ll spend the summer in federal jail. His bail was revoked after he was caught tampering with witnesses in one of his two federal trials, resulting in new charges of Obstruction of Justice and Conspiracy. He’s due in federal court in Virginia on July 25th. His second trial in DC is slated for September 17th.

More:

“Paul Manafort is in the klink. It’s OK to be pleased,” Virginia Heffernan, Los Angeles Times

“Judge Orders Paul Manafort Jailed Before Trial, Citing New Obstruction Charges,” Sharon LaFraniere, New York Times

“From ‘the Count’ to inmate: The fall of former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort,” Tom Hamburger, Washington Post

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Donald Trump Jr. Met With a Russian to Get Dirt on Hillary Clinton

Donald Trump Jr., promised damaging information about Hillary Clinton, met with Kremlin-connected Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya during the 2016 campaign, reports the New York Times. Brother-in-law Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort, then Trump campaign manager, also attended the Trump Tower meeting on June 9, 2016, soon after Donald Trump clinched the GOP presidential nomination.

Junior has replied that the meeting with Ms. Veselnitskaya was about something else. And besides, he added, her campaign dirt on Hillary wasn’t any good.

More:

“Trump’s Son Met With Russian Lawyer After Being Promised Damaging Information on Clinton,” Jo Becker, Matt Apuzzo, and Adam Goldman, New York Times

“Donald Trump Jr.’s Two Different Explanations for Russian Meeting,” Liam Stack, New York Times

“If There Was No Collusion, It Wasn’t for Lack of Trying,” David A. Graham, The Atlantic

“Donald Trump Jr.’s ‘Denials’ of Russian Collusion Are Actually Confessions,” Jonathan Chait, New York Magazine

“Donald Trump Jr. is digging himself a deep legal hole” Zack Beauchamp, Vox

“Trump Jr. Hires Criminal Defense Attorney Alan Futerfas For Russia Probe,” Matt Shuman, TPM LiveWire

“Donald Trump Jr.’s lawyer is a Juilliard-trained trombonist who plays in a symphony and defends mobsters,” Derek Hawkins, Washington Post

 

Updates:

“Russian Dirt on Clinton? ‘I Love It,’ Donald Trump Jr. Said,” Jo Becker, Matt Apuzzo, and Adam Goldman, New York Times

“Read the Emails on Donald Trump Jr.’s Russia Meeting,” New York Times

“Was President at Trump Tower When Son Met Russian Lawyer?” John T. Bennett, Roll Call

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Even a Lobbyist for Tyrants Couldn’t Make Trump Look Good

When Paul Manafort took the helm of the Trump presidential campaign, Republican Party pros were relieved. Here was a guy whose lobbying firm made torturers and tyrants look warm and fuzzy, or at least nearly human. He had done it for Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines. For Jonas Savimbi of Angola. Even Mobutu Sese Seko. Surely he could make Donald Trump look … almost normal.

But Mr. Trump isn’t Nigeria’s Sani Abacha, Somalia’s Siad Barre, or Ukraine’s Viktor Yanukovych. He’s Donald Trump, and doesn’t want a makeover. He likes being Donald Trump, whose outrageous, erratic behavior made him the terror of the GOP playground and won him the nomination. He thinks he can win the presidency the same way, so he doesn’t want to change. Or maybe he just can’t change. In any case he yanked Paul Manafort from the campaign’s driver’s seat and installed Breitbart bad boy Stephen Bannon as his campaign’s CEO, someone as irresponsible as he is. Mr. Bannon will applaud and double-down on every bizarre Trump statement and conspiracy theory. The Trump-Bannon campaign should complete the meltdown of the Republican Party.

More:

“Trump shakes up campaign, demotes top adviser,” Robert Costa, Jose A. DelReal and Jenna Johnson, Washington Post

Update:

Paul Manafort resigned from the Trump campaign Monday morning in order to spend more time with his family lawyers.

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