By Dan Peak
The Commoner Call (6/1/17)
Dear Fellow Readers,
BREAKING NEWS May 31, 2017: Comey Will Testify – Trump Pressured To End Russia Investigation
Former FBI Director James Comey has agreed to testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee and will confirm that Trump pressured him to end his investigation into Trump associate ties to Russia. Comey will not testify about any details regarding Trump campaign collusion with Russia.
MORE Persons Of Interest: Trump Personal Lawyer and Boris Epshteyn
The growing list of persons of interest includes Michael Flynn, Paul Manafort, Michael Caputo, Roger Stone, Carter Page, Jared Kushner and now Michael Cohen and Boris Epshteyn.
Michael Cohen is a longtime associate of Donald Trump and also his personal attorney. Cohen has declined a request to be interviewed and turn over documents; it’s not clear which House or Senate committee made the request.
“I declined the invitation to participate as the request was poorly phrased, overly broad and not capable of being answered,” Cohen told POLITICO via text message. He did not specify which House or Senate panels had sought him out as part of their investigations.
You will notice Politico mentions Boris Epshteyn who received a request from the House Intelligence Committee. Epshteyn has been mentioned here a number of times, he recently left the White House as a special assistant to join Sinclair Broadcasting (a budding Fox News wanna-be) and has also been thought to be a subject of the FISA warrants issued earlier this summer.
Cohen has Russian connections and even shared Trump-Russia connections. I know, shocking! According to Talking Points Memo (TPM) Cohen and Trump first met through purchases of Trump apartments including two units for his Ukrainian in-laws at Trump Grande and Trump World Tower in Sunny Isles, Florida (see the article in my last column). Cohen, his in-laws and business partner bought a total of eleven units.
End of story?
Not a chance…
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Cohen originally told The New York Times that he took a copy of the “peace plan” in a sealed envelope and passed it on to Trump’s National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, days before Flynn resigned in disgrace.
A day later Cohen denied doing so.
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Devastating Rundown: MSNBC
Ho Hum, you say! Let’s change gears and get you fired up – a quick rundown of the last month. As Mika Brzezinski says, “one blockbuster after another”.
Only the last month! The drip-drip goes on and just like your bathroom faucet, the longer you wait to replace the washer, the faster the drip. Watch the 4-Minute Video, HERE.
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Talking Points Memo reports Russian’s Pushing Back On Lack of Quid Pro Quo Progress?
You might think the Russians would sit back and quietly wait out the noise. Nope – a deal is a deal – we were going to give you financing for Trump and family and you were going to lift the sanctions. Patience? Oh no, Trump and Putin are now saying the same thing:
“Russian President Vladimir Putin echoed President Donald Trump’s argument against the investigation into his country’s possible collusion with Trump’s campaign and associates, calling it Democrats’ excuse for losing the presidential election.
“In an exemplary tweet Tuesday morning, Trump wrote that the federal and congressional Russia investigations were “a lame excuse for why the Dems lost the election.”
This is like, “We did what we said, now YOU do what you said”!
Let’s look at this from Putin’s point of view:
How did Kushner not get this – giving the Russians leverage over you will not turn out well. All the apologists, including Homeland Secretary John Kelly know they are defending the indefensible praising the White House efforts to set up a back channel without commenting on the use of a Russian facility. By comparison, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) flatly stated, “I don’t like it”.
“I know that some administration officials are saying ‘well, that’s standard procedure.’ I don’t think it’s standard procedure prior to the inauguration of the president of the United States by someone who is not in an appointed position. And I think that (former FBI Director James) Comey we now know took action that he did in regards to then-candidate (Hillary) Clinton because of some false news that was being put out by the Russians. I mean, this becomes more and more bizarre. In fact, you can’t make it up.”
Putin is not the only Russian complaining. Comments like this in the Financial Times (blocked by pay wall) are directed at Trump as warnings.
A top Russian banker and associate of President Vladimir Putin has accused the “American elite” of waging a political witch hunt against Donald Trump, the US president, that leaves the two nuclear-armed powers in a “very dangerous” situation.
Andrei Kostin, chief executive of VTB, the state-controlled bank that is Russia’s second largest, said the “madhouse” in Washington was thwarting any chance of improvement in east-west relations for the foreseeable future.
Trump to his dis-credit is trying. Talking Points Memo reports Flynn’s missteps closed Trump’s easiest window of opportunity to remove sanctions once in the White House. Lately Trump threw his weight behind far right Marie Le Pen’s failed election bid in France. Trump is doing his best to undo NATO and undo U.S.-European relationships and trust including sharing of intelligence.
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Go To The Mattresses You Flaming Turds
So the persons of interest list of Trump associates continues to grow, the Russians are not happy, anything else? Yes, as Raw Story reports, the White House will welcome back Corey Lewandowski to ‘go to the mattresses’. This is how you ruthlessly go to war – no restraints, but will it work?
“The War Room with Corey et al will likely cause more news than it manages,” Wilson wrote. “They’ll start big fights that absorb more of the WH’s already limited bandwidth & political capital. War Room + Rallies + 100% Attack Mode is a pure base play, which should tell you a lot.”
Here’s the prediction of Charles Pierce writing for Esquire:
“The pushback is going to be long and hard and extraordinarily dirty. Lewandowski is a hired button man, and Bossie is a career ratfcker from whom not even critically ill and bereaved parents, to say nothing of innocent produce, are safe. If these guys are operating under the direction of Steve Bannon, then there is going to be blood on the floor as the investigations continue, and it doesn’t matter how many anonymous aides or young in-laws the administration throws overboard. It has been determined that this will be a streetfight, and that every constitutional institution is as vulnerable to collateral damage as those cities in the Transformers movies are.”
It will get ugly! In a short period of time we’ll fondly remember the days when the flying turds were just “witch hunt” and “covfefe”.
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Until Proven – Not Guilty the First Step is: INVESTIGATE
The apologists love to ask for PROOF. You don’t demonstrate the case for criminal guilt in public and then charge the criminal – there would be no such thing as a fair trial.
So! Anyone Investigating?
Why, as a matter of fact, yes! As The Blaze reports: there is Robert Mueller as Special Counsel, Senate Intelligence committee, Senate Judiciary committee, House Intelligence committee, House Oversight committee, the FBI and the NSA. There are also 1-to-3 Grand Juries convened; as an example, the US Attorney’s Office in Alexandria, VA issued subpoenas to Michael Flynn just hours before Trump fired Comey.
And there are possibly one or two more grand juries looking into matters.
Here’s an example of a line of questioning by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) at a Judiciary Committee hearing pushing Comey about a possible RICO investigation (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act):
With the help of a Washington Post article I’ve summarized the investigative mission of Special Counsel and each of the committees:
Special counsel
- The Trump campaign’s ties to Russia
- Trump allies’ efforts to impede that investigation
- Mueller has his own budget, access to FBI intelligence
- Focus is violations of federal law
- Key persons: Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, Special Counsel Robert Mueller
Senate Intelligence
- Russia’s interference in the election
- Collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia
- Access to classified intelligence in Congress, power to subpoena
- Key persons: Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.)
Senate Judiciary
- The circumstances that led to national security adviser Michael Flynn’s dismissal
- Leaks to the media
- Less access to classified information, power to subpoena
- Key persons: Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Ia.)
House Intelligence
- Russia’s interference in our election
- Collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia
- Leaks to the media
- Access to classified intelligence in Congress, power to subpoena
- Key persons: Rep. Michael Conway (R-Tex.), Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Ca.)
House Oversight
- Flynn’s contacts with Russian officials, including payments
- Less access to classified information, power to subpoena
- Key persons: Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), replaced by Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.)
And that’s just the beginning, folks!
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If there is space in my next column I will review another set of Trump-Russia persons and ties. This one will link Oleg Deripaska (offered to testify for immunity; Russian oligarch), Sberbank/Gorkov (sanctioned Russian state owned bank; Kushner Trump tower December meeting with Russian spy), Mark Kasowitz (named as Trump’s lawyer; linked to all), Trump Tower apartments and Paul Manafort (Trump’s former campaign manager).