Mega-Thread: Mueller investigation

[NYC17]

It actually was very compelling. Very detailed analysis I've come to expect from McCarthy, I'm not being funny here. I do think he is correct when he used that phrase above, he lays out the timeline quite well, but that's far from what that article was all about.

Nothing contained within the article could be used to claim the end of the Mueller investigation, but it was very informative.

Again with this...

It's "compelling" and "very detailed analysis" to you because you're his target market; people who don't know better, nor desire to. Remember when Emmet Sullivan taking over the case was because Mueller had supposedly fucked up royally, and McCarthy and York were the only ones to crack the case? Remember how it was just a procedural thing due to outdated paperwork, yet they showed it to you at just the right angle so it looked like Flynn would withdraw his plea deal, as if that was a thing that could happen? Remember how they corrected the record to show how wrong they were and how easily duped you were?

That's what McCarthy does, and it's why he's the worst kind of asshole. He preys on people like you. People who want to be shown things that aren't the full account, so they can claim they have a deeper understanding, and sometimes, sadly, claim that they "do a ton of research". McCarthy's a special kind of asshole because he knows better, and he knows he's taking advantage of people who don't. As I told you before, it is a great disservice to you to put so much stock in his "compelling and detailed" things that never come to fruition. Now he's trying to sell you on the idea that the Rosenstein memo is so devastating to the Mueller investigation by concluding things that he has no knowledge of but outright guesses about. The problem isn't his guessing though, it's that he guesses and draws conclusions and presents them as factual information when they are far from that standard. But again, he does it because he knows you're reading. He knows you need the bullshit he's selling. It's basically all in this...

https://sidebarsblog.com/andrew-mcca...-trump-russia/


I doubt you'll read it all so I'll just provide you the summary:

Throughout his columns, McCarthy frequently claims to know what is going on in the FBI and Mueller investigation. For example, he knows there was no legitimate basis to appoint a special counsel. He knows that no evidence of collusion has been uncovered. He knows there was no legitimate reason to interview Flynn. He knows that Flynn’s guilty plea to false statements means there is no evidence of a larger conspiracy. And so on.

The truth is that these are all speculations, not facts. All of us, including McCarthy, probably know less than ten percent of what Mueller and the FBI know about the Russia investigation. But McCarthy routinely asserts as truths things that are merely his personal beliefs. He’s entitled to his theories, of course, but too often he fails to acknowledge that that’s what they are.

McCarthy is a prominent voice on a well-known platform. It’s unfortunate that so much of what he puts out about the Mueller investigation is incorrect. Although many readers will believe him when writes that Mueller is flouting DOJ policies and making up illegitimate charges, it’s really — if you’ll forgive me — fake news.


Tighten up Dacien. This is embarrassing for you now.

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Threatening legal fight, Nunes demands document that kicked off FBI Trump-Russia investigation



This has been a theme that has long been known, most memorably suspicions about the request by the DOJ to review the Nunes memo before release, i.e, request a thing, proceed to drag feet on said thing.

At least in that case there was power to hand-wave them off.

Nunes isn't worth a shit.


Next.

[Orbitus]

Threatening legal fight, Nunes demands document that kicked off FBI Trump-Russia investigation



This has been a theme that has long been known, most memorably suspicions about the request by the DOJ to review the Nunes memo before release, i.e, request a thing, proceed to drag feet on said thing.

At least in that case there was power to hand-wave them off.

If I were the FBI, I would also tell him to go kindly fuck himself. We already know what started it off. So does he. We already know that drunk Papadopolous was one of the main reasons.

[Breccia]

Recent developments suggest Mueller believes Russia sent cash donations to Trump's campaign and/or inauguration funds.

Pretty sure that first one's illegal.

[Dontrike]

Recent developments suggest Mueller believes Russia sent cash donations to Trump's campaign and/or inauguration funds.

Pretty sure that first one's illegal.

Only the best donations. I hear that Putin said they didn't meddle in the election and that we should definitely believe them.

[Felya]

Only the best donations. I hear that Putin said they didn't meddle in the election and that we should definitely believe them.

Like in any relationship... Putin earned Trump’s trust...

[Dacien]

@NYC17

I'm on my phone before work, so I cant respond as fully as I'd like, but I'll definitely read that article. Thank you for posting it.

But here's where I think you err. You ascribe bad motives onto McCarthy, when he's more than willing to spar on the issue with detractors. Remember that Orrin Kerr article you linked?

He also knows you won't actively seek information that counters his narrative.

https://lawfareblog.com/andrew-mccar...zling-argument

He presents the "counters" to his arguments and addresses them. This is a direct response to your link. Did you seek this out? I don't know that he'll write lengthy responses to each and every critical piece, but I think you err when you assume he must simply be a nefarious shyster. I think in a way that probably blinds you to his arguments about the law or about special counsel procedure. Which let's be honest here, these are complicated issues.

Which is why I appreciate your link. But I'm not going to go into it thinking, "This guy is just preying on those Trump-Russia adherents."

[Ripster42]

Didn't Nunes recuse himself? Because that doesn't look like recusing himself.

https://www.politico.com/story/2017/...n-nunes-287125

The ethics committee cleared him... with zero filed report.

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@NYC17
But here's where I think you err. You ascribe bad motives onto McCarthy, when he's more than willing to spar on the issue with detractors. Remember that Orrin Kerr article you linked?

Being willing to debate someone doesn't mean you aren't a bad person.

Your dipshit is a shill. Here's him from his garbage:

I think he is wrong on this narrow point because the guideline he cites, which applies to non-prosecution agreements for potentially culpable witnesses when time is of the essence, is not pertinent to the situation I was discussing: viz., the plea deal of Richard Gates, who faced two indictments alleging financial-fraud felonies involving over $100 million in the aggregate, but was permitted to plead guilty to minor charges.

He doesn't believe the possibility of having a manchurian candidate president to be important enough to make time of the essence because they have an (R) in from of their name. It doesn't matter if he thinks trump is guilty or not. If he's being honest, and he can't understand why that type of investigation would be under time constraints, he's too stupid to talk. But he talks and says shit like this. So "being honest" and "talking" are mutually exclusive for him in this case.

[NYC17]

@NYC17

I'm on my phone before work, so I cant respond as fully as I'd like, but I'll definitely read that article. Thank you for posting it.

But here's where I think you err. You ascribe bad motives onto McCarthy, when he's more than willing to spar on the issue with detractors. Remember that Orrin Kerr article you linked?



He presents the "counters" to his arguments and addresses them. This is a direct response to your link. Did you seek this out? I don't know that he'll write lengthy responses to each and every critical piece, but I think you err when you assume he must simply be a nefarious shyster. I think in a way that probably blinds you to his arguments about the law or about special counsel procedure. Which let's be honest here, these are complicated issues.

Which is why I appreciate your link. But I'm not going to go into it thinking, "This guy is just preying on those Trump-Russia adherents."

How is being willing to argue indicative of motive? That's not even circular logic...it's not even logic.

His counters are based, once again, on things he "thinks", but presents as factual. Accusing Mueller of violating "discretion"? What do you think that means? Duty bound? According to McCarthy? As the summary I quoted for you earlier states; McCarthy presents what he thinks, as factual. He leaves no obvious chasm between the two. He conflates them, because he needs you to believe he's not just an opposing voice; he's the authority. His whole critique is a "well, this is the way I'd do it" routine. Correct me if I'm wrong, but there wasn't a time that McCarthy was ever appointed Special Counsel, was there?

McCarthy sees the "extraordinary" supposed leniency of Mueller as a violation of "discretion" and something nefarious. If he considers that the information the cooperating witnesses are providing may be serious enough to warrant such a "violation" of discretion, he never presents that as a viable alternative. It's almost as if he is pursuing a specific narrative that makes Mueller look incompetent, and makes himself look amazingly erudite. How convenient.


Still waiting on that Emmet Sullivan revelation by the way. You're pretty quiet about that. I'll assume since McCarthy has had nothing further to say about it either, your shared silence is just a coincidence.

[Antiganon]

https://www.politico.com/story/2017/...n-nunes-287125

The ethics committee cleared him... with zero filed report.

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Being willing to debate someone doesn't mean you aren't a bad person.

Your dipshit is a shill. Here's him from his garbage:



He doesn't believe the possibility of having a manchurian candidate president to be important enough to make time of the essence because they have an (R) in from of their name. It doesn't matter if he thinks trump is guilty or not. If he's being honest, and he can't understand why that type of investigation would be under time constraints, he's too stupid to talk. But he talks and says shit like this. So "being honest" and "talking" are mutually exclusive for him in this case.

No you don't understand, McCarthy is a conservative, and he says things like "culpable" "pertinent" and "vis-a-vis", so you can instantly tell he's a smart dude and we should all listen.

[Dacien]

Still waiting on that Emmet Sullivan revelation by the way. You're pretty quiet about that. I'll assume since McCarthy has had nothing further to say about it either, your shared silence is just a coincidence.

We're going to be waiting at least another month; Flynn's sentencing was postponed until May. We'll know more then.

And beside that, it was a postulation by York and McCarthy, they weren't making any claims.

"We do not know at this point."

[Breccia]

Reports are starting to trickle in that Mueller is now looking at Trump's business partners. These reports are light so far, but something to keep an eye on if they intensify.

EDIT: While we wait, here's a story from a month ago about how Cohen brought a letter of intent back from a Russian hotel business opportunity.

"That was before the campaign."

Not this one. This was in Oct 2015. Trump announced before that.

There were also leaked emails on the subject, from the Russian in question.

[NYC17]

We're going to be waiting at least another month; Flynn's sentencing was postponed until May. We'll know more then.

And beside that, it was a postulation by York and McCarthy, they weren't making any claims.

"We do not know at this point."

No Dacien. No.

"We do not know at this point" sums up every McCarthy and York assertion. McCarthy's trick is presenting what he doesn't know as something he does actually know, somehow, and just by virtue of him knowing, it makes it factual.

So no. They were completely wrong about Sullivan's appointment and order. There's nothing to wait for. The matter is settled. It was basically a paperwork correction which they masqueraded as nefarious doings because they need you to read their bullshit.

They absolutely made claims. Claims you and others decided to parrot. You were all wrong. The lion's share of the blame is on them because they absolutely know better. You? You should know the game they're playing by now. You apparently just enjoy being played.

[Breccia]

BusinessInsider points out a story that I'm pretty sure we missed, but to be fair, it's been kind of a busy month. A lot of this shit is running together.

The special counsel Robert Mueller obtained a new search warrant against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort less than a month ago, according to court documents filed on Thursday.

Mueller's office made the revelation in an opposition it filed to Manafort's recent motion to compel the government to turn over un-redacted versions of search and seizure warrants it had obtained against him. Mueller's office said that after Manafort first raised the issue, the US government gave the defense copies of six affidavits — three of them had no redactions, and the other three had minimal redactions.

Per the court filing, the special counsel also obtained a new search warrant in the Manafort case less than one month ago, on March 9. It turned over a redacted copy of the warrant to the defense on Wednesday.

But Mueller's office also made another notable disclosure.

Four out of the seven affidavits that have been produced for the defense were redacted because they contained information regarding "ongoing investigations that are not the subject of the current prosecutions involving Manafort." The most recent warrant has more "substantial redactions" than the other three.

I'm going to pause here while you re-read that.

That's right: not only are these completely new crimes, unrelated to the Ukraine business that Trump's rabid fanbase likes to handwave (I still love that argument, "Manafort was already good and corrupt and a criminal before Trump hired him", it's just so...so...Trump), and that they involve information too valuable to share with the public.

Let that sink in.

Manafort has been charged with dozens of counts related to financial crimes and conspiracy against the US. The charges against Manafort so far deal primarily with his lobbying work for pro-Russia interests in Ukraine and former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych. Based on Thursday's court filing, Mueller has found evidence of wrongdoing in the Manafort case that is not limited to his consulting work in Ukraine.

According to a recently released memo deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein sent Mueller last year, the special counsel is authorized to investigate at least two threads as it relates to Manafort: allegations of criminal activity arising from his work in Ukraine, and allegations that he colluded with Russian officials as Russia was trying to meddle in the 2016 US election.

The rest of the Rosenstein memo was redacted, and legal experts have suggested it's possible Mueller was authorized to investigate additional allegations against Manafort outside of the collusion inquiry and his Ukraine lobbying.

The special counsel's office disclosed a partial list of its warrants against Manafort thus far in Thursday's court filing. In addition to searching Manafort's home, bank accounts, email, and hard drive, prosecutors also secured permission to search "information associated with five telephone numbers controlled by AT&T."

News that Mueller is broadening his focus with respect to Manafort is bolstered by recent reports that prosecutors told Manafort's longtime deputy Rick Gates they didn't need his cooperation against Manafort. Instead, they are reportedly interested in learning more from him about the Trump campaign's contacts with Russians during the 2016 US election.

Granted, this could still be Manafort doing a bunch of illegal shit on his own. That's possible. But with increasing OH SHIT Mueller just seized three of Manafort's bank accounts. And a storage locker of some note.

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The New York Times reports on who they believe the Person A in Manafort's many indictments is. I hate quoting the whole thing, but the NYTimes has a paywall and I don't want to leave anyone unable to see details.

The man sat at a restaurant table, grasping a glass of white wine. His sandy hair was close cropped, he wore a cardigan sweater and in the afternoon bustle he looked like just another office worker at lunch.

While seated, the most notable element of his appearance was hardly noticeable; only when he stood to introduce himself did it become clear that he is short, almost childlike, in stature, a characteristic that earned him the nickname “the midget.”

He spoke flawless English, with only a touch of an accent, was gregarious, and casually brushed aside the main question in this rare interview in Kiev, the Ukrainian capital, a year or so ago, saying that of course he was not a Russian spy.

Yet in Washington these days, the man, Konstantin V. Kilimnik, has turned up in multiple court filings by the special prosecutor, Robert S. Mueller III, who identifies him as Person A. Just this week, for example, a Dutch lawyer was sentenced to a month in prison for lying to the F.B.I. about, among other things, his communications with Person A.

And last week, Mr. Mueller turned over a card in the investigation into the Trump campaign’s possible collusion with Russia by asserting in a court document that this person “has ties to a Russian intelligence service” and was in contact with a senior member of the campaign, Rick Gates, during the 2016 election.

“The Federal Bureau of Investigation special agents assisting the Special Counsel’s Office assess that Person A has ties to a Russian intelligence service and had such ties in 2016,” the filing said.

As Person A, Mr. Kilimnik, a 47-year-old former Russian military interpreter, has appeared now in multiple court filings by the special prosecutor, which suggests that he could become a pivotal figure in the investigation. For about a decade, he worked as an office manager in Kiev for the political consulting business of Mr. Manafort, acting as a go-between and fixer for the American and the Russian-leaning politicians who were its clients.

The Russian government has denied meddling in the 2016 election and President Trump has denied collusion by members of his campaign staff. But during the years that Mr. Manafort worked in Ukraine, the country was deeply penetrated by Russian intelligence agents. While Mr. Kilimnik continues to deny that he was a Russian agent, it would have been perfectly normal for Moscow to plant someone in the Manafort operation.

Konstantin Viktorovich Kilimnik was born in eastern Ukraine in the Soviet period. He studied at the Military Institute of the Ministry of Defense in Moscow, and after the Soviet breakup took Russian citizenship, he said in the interview. The institute trains interpreters for the Russian military intelligence agency, formerly known as the G.R.U. and now called the Main Dictatorate.

Whoops, typo, my bad! Lemme try that again...

the Main Directorate.

He worked for a time in Sweden as an interpreter for a Russian company that exported arms, and later in the Moscow office of the International Republican Institute, a Washington-based nonprofit, where former employees said they suspected he was informing on them to the Russian authorities.

He parted ways with the organization, a former employee of the Moscow office said, after the chief of the F.S.B., the successor agency to the K.G.B., talked in a speech about the private meetings of the institute’s officials.

They didn’t have evidence, but suspected Mr. Kilimnik had been the source, said the former official, who could not be cited publicly discussing personnel issues.

In the interview, Mr. Kilimnik said he had been dismissed for having taken work on the side as an interpreter for Mr. Manafort in Ukraine in the early 2000s.

It is not known whether Mr. Manafort, a longtime consultant to Republican politicians, was aware of the suspicions of the institute’s managers when he hired Mr. Kilimnik in 2005. Mr. Manafort’s business in Ukraine was registered in Mr. Kilimnik’s name.

Mr. Manafort’s former client President Viktor F. Yanukovych was deposed in 2014, and Mr. Kilimnik said he stopped working for Mr. Manafort that year.

In August of 2016, Mr. Kilimnik was formally investigated in Ukraine on suspicion of ties to Russian spy agencies, according to documents from Parliament and the Prosecutor General’s Office, but no charges were filed.

A Ukrainian lawmaker, Volodymyr I. Ariev, who requested the investigation, said Mr. Kilimnik’s background in military intelligence deserved scrutiny.

“He was a student of a military school in Russia,” Mr. Ariev said. “Everybody in the former Soviet Union knows what that means. They produce professional spies.”

In person, though, Mr. Kilimnik has been surprisingly nonchalant about the suspicions swirling around his past and role in the 2016 campaign.

He said he was never contacted by investigators in Ukraine and called the probe politically motivated. “If there were any truth to me talking to any security service in the world, they would arrest me,” he said, speaking of Ukrainian law enforcement.

Before the United States election, Mr. Kilimnik said, he and Mr. Manafort had spoken “every couple of months,” at a time when Mr. Manafort served as chairman of the Trump campaign, but he said there was nothing to hide in the calls and meetings. The two mostly discussed Ukrainian politics, not the election, he said: “I was briefing him on Ukraine.”

The filing last week by the special counsel’s office asserted that Mr. Kilimnik had communicated with Mr. Gates late during the 2016 campaign, and that Mr. Gates was aware of Mr. Kilimnik’s background in Russian intelligence.

The filing was notable for touching on Mr. Gates’s activities during the campaign. He has pleaded guilty to lying to the F.B.I. and conspiring to defraud the United States for activities related to his work in Ukraine mostly before joining the Trump campaign, and agreed to cooperate with the investigation.

Mr. Gates’s communications with Mr. Kilimnik were revealed in the sentencing documents of a former lawyer for with the law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, Alex van der Zwaan, who pleaded guilty to lying to the F.B.I. about his interactions with Mr. Kilimnik and with Mr. Gates.

Mr. Kilimnik also played a role in a reported effort by Mr. Manafort to contact a Russian oligarch, Oleg V. Deripaska, during the campaign.

Mr. Manafort and Mr. Kilimnik had cooperated on an ultimately unsuccessful business venture financed by Mr. Deripaska, known as the Pericles investment fund.

In July, 2016, while Mr. Manafort was chairman of the Trump campaign, Mr. Manafort emailed Mr. Kilimnik asking him to offer Mr. Deripaska “private briefings” about the campaign in exchange for resolving a multimillion dollar financial dispute related to the business, according to the Washington Post. Mr. Deripaska has said he never received the offer. Mr. Kilimnik, reached by email, declined to comment on this matter and the special counsel’s court filings.

Mr. Kilimnik has surfaced as a fringe figure in other aspects of the Russian investigation.

Rinat Akhmetshin, a Russian-American lobbyist who attended a Trump Tower meeting with Donald Trump Jr. in June of 2016 where a Russian lawyer had promised to provide negative information on Hillary Clinton, had also worked in Ukraine with Mr. Kilimnik closely enough to know his nickname among Russian-leaning political operatives in Kiev.

At the time, about eight years ago, Mr. Akhmetshin was trying to persuade political advisers of Mr. Yanukovych to buy the rights to a book that cast a domestic political opponent in a negative light, and attended meetings with Mr. Kilimnik.

In the interview last year, Mr. Kilimnik said he divided his time between Kiev, where he worked, and Moscow, where his wife and two daughters lived in the suburb of Khimki.

In a court filing last year, Mr. Mueller asserted that Mr. Kilimnik was now based in Russia. In email exchanges over the past year, Mr. Kilimnik has declined to say where he is.

“I do not want to be part of the U.S. political games and I am not,” Mr. Kilimnik wrote in an email last year. “I am simply a random casualty because of my proximity to Paul,” he said, referring to Mr. Manafort.

Asked in the interview about the allegation of ties to Russian intelligence agencies, Mr. Kilimnik said, “I vehemently deny it.”

Bolded for emphasis. So much emphasis.

[solinari6]

Bolded for emphasis. So much emphasis.

Damn, that's a lot of emphasis. Can you boil it down to something like:

[Breccia]

Hey remember when Blackwater bigshot Erik Prince claims he stumbled into a meeting with a close Putin ally by accident?

Mueller ain't buying it.

And, supposedly, Nader ratted him out.

[NYC17]

Hey remember when Blackwater bigshot Erik Prince claims he stumbled into a meeting with a close Putin ally by accident?

Mueller ain't buying it.

And, supposedly, Nader ratted him out.

No honor among dipshits, naturally.

[Deleted]

No honor among dipshits, naturally.

you'd of thought the pizzagaters would be all over Nader, an actual convicted child molester knocking about the halls of power.

Erik Prince is a stain on humanity. Mercenaries are really the worst human beings on the planet. But is a powerful man especially when the USA has been privatising violence abroad and domestically. (and his sis is a big player in the Trump squad)

[Ripster42]

Mueller ain't buying it.

I really feel like the point that he is related to devos' should be stressed here as a likely illegal kickback, especially given her actions so far.

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(and his sis is a big player in the Trump squad)

You beat me to it.
Also, it's you'd've not you'd of. I don't say this to be a dick or anything, I just like doubly contracted words.

[NYC17]

you'd of thought the pizzagaters would be all over Nader, an actual convicted child molester knocking about the halls of power.

Erik Prince is a stain on humanity. Mercenaries are really the worst human beings on the planet. But is a powerful man especially when the USA has been privatising violence abroad and domestically. (and his sis is a big player in the Trump squad)

And of course, she's a big player most likely because of what Prince did/has done for Trump since his campaign began.

[cubby]

Hey remember when Blackwater bigshot Erik Prince claims he stumbled into a meeting with a close Putin ally by accident?

Mueller ain't buying it.

And, supposedly, Nader ratted him out.

I'm surprised that someone like Erik Prince isn't better at hiding this shit. He runs a multinational assassination security company for the love of god. You would think trade-craft would be part of the job description. Not even good trade-craft, just basics.

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I really feel like the point that he is related to devos' should be stressed here as a likely illegal kickback, especially given her actions so far.

Agreed. The backscratching and nepotism know no bounds in this "administration".