Manafort has nothing to tell about the Russian's interference in the 2016 Presidential elections...

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Special counsel Robert Mueller is close to issuing key findings in his probe of Russian interference in the presidential election, and is expected to present them soon after the midterm elections, according to a report Wednesday.

The findings will cover whether President Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia, and whether Trump obstructed justice, an anonymous US official told Bloomberg.

The findings won’t necessarily be released publicly — Mueller will present them only to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who has a say in what Congress sees and what is shared with the rest of the country.

Rosenstein has let Mueller know he wants the investigation wrapped up quickly, and a plea deal cut with former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort in September may have sped up inquiries into possible collusion, former federal prosecutors told Bloomberg.

Manafort — who agreed to cooperate with Mueller after pleading guilty to bank and tax fraud charges — could answer questions about whether the campaign coordinated the release of hacked Democratic emails with Moscow, and what happened at the 2016 Trump Tower meeting between Donald Trump Jr. and a group of Russians, a former prosecutor said.

Mueller may still have plenty more work ahead of him even after issuing some findings — as he only just submitted questions to Trump’s lawyers about possible collusion.

The president has insisted his campaign did nothing wrong and has publicly railed against the probe as a “witch hunt,” but said recently he has no intention of shutting it down.

“I don’t pledge anything. But I will tell you, I have no intention of doing that. I think it’s a very unfair investigation because there was no collusion of any kind,” Trump told CBS’ “60 Minutes” in an interview that aired Sunday.

Read more:

https://nypost.com/2018/10/17/mueller-reportedly-close-to-delivering-fin...

Unfortunately, Trump is correct...

Russian national Yelena Khusyaynova says she is “proud” that a “simple Russian accountant” can decide who becomes a US president.

Khusyaynova has commented on US Department of Justice allegations about her involvement in the 2016 US presidential election.

"My name is Yelena Khusyaynova, I am an accountant of Russian new website ‘Federalnoye Agentstvo Novostey' [Federal News Agency, FAN]," she says in Russian in the video, initially published by Russian news website the Daily Storm.

"US officials claim it was me who elected [US President] Donald Trump for the Americans. They also say I will elect American lawmakers in November 2018," she added.

According to Khusyaynova's statement, she is a "simple Russian woman" who has worked her entire life.

"I know accounting. I know how to manage a fishing kolkhoz [collective farm], how to grow and bring up children, but sadly, I don't know English," Khusyaynova said.

She added that she was shocked that a simple accountant could determine the outcomes of elections for US presidents and lawmakers.

"But then, my heart filled with pride: turns out, a simple Russian accountant can choose US presidents, should she only wish so," she said.

Commenting on the allegations, Khusyaynova called on the citizens "of the entire world" to together "help American people to elect politicians that will act on this Earth humanely, that will lead our planet to peace and kindness."

Read more:

https://sputniknews.com/russia/201810221069117037-yelena-khusyaynova-meddling-reaction/

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Is Mueller running out of culprits?

by Kit Knightly

The “Resistance” – the loose affiliation of liberals, progressives and neo-conservatives dedicated to opposing Donald Trump – is NOT a grass-roots movement. They don’t speak for the everyman or the poor or the oppressed. They are a distraction, nothing more. A parlor game. The face to Trump’s heel.

The Resistance is the voice of the Deep State – Pro-war, pro-globalisation, pro-Imperialism. It just hides its true face behind a mask of “progressive values”. They prove this with their own actions – opposing Trump’s moves toward peace with North Korea and finding common ground with Russia.

In fact, though the resistance lives to criticize the Trump administration, they have been notably quiet – even in favour of – three key issues: The bombing of Syria, the tearing up of the INF treaty and the prosecution of Julian Assange.

They tell us, in clear voices, who they are and what they want and millions of people refuse to listen. So totally brain-washed by the “Orange Man Bad” hysteria, that they will side with anyone hitting the same talking points, spouting the right buzzwords, using the same hashtags.

This process has contrived to turn hard-line, inveterate warmongers into a pantheon of “liberal” heroes. John “bomb bomb Iran” McCain was mourned across the media as if he were a champion of civil rights, while Bill Kristol and his ilk are suddenly regular guests on notionally “liberal” channels.

…and Robert Mueller receives a glowing write-up in the Guardian, being praised as “America’s straightest arrow”.

The painful prose paints a blurry picture of Mueller. Slapping ounces of vaseline onto the lens of reality. It praises his hair and his clothes and his 35 dollar watch. It declares him a soldier “forged in combat”, regaling us with tales of the bravery of Mueller’s marine regiment – “The Magnificent Bastards”.

Vietnam is reduced to a movie set – nothing but a backdrop for Mueller’s courage under fire. He won a bronze star, you know. Apparently while “The Magnificent Bastards” strode around the Vietnamese jungle, burning villages down and watching the napalm fall from the sky, a couple of angry farmers shot back and Mueller was wounded.

Taking a bullet in the leg from a terrified peasant who just wants you to sod off out of his country will always win you medals, but it shouldn’t.

Voluntarily signing on to enforce Imperial foreign policy in a war of conquest will always have the media paint you as a hero, but it shouldn’t.

What flaws the author does ascribe to Mueller are those we all happily admit to having ourselves. He’s a “micromanager” and he’s “too tough”.

Yes, and I’m sure he works himself too hard and doesn’t suffer fools gladly and always speaks his mind as well.

Read the column if you want, but I’d suggest not eating for a few hours first. A more nauseating panegyric I have not witnessed, at least since Barack Obama left office.

Far more telling than what it does say…is what it does not say. It mentions Mueller’s role as head of the FBI during the launch of the “war on terror”, but doesn’t go into any of the abuse of human rights that accompanied (and still accompanies) the increasingly authoritarian powers granted to US intelligence agencies by the Patriot Act.

Let’s be clear: Mueller’s FBI was complicit in rendition, torture, Gitmo. All of it.

Given that, it’s rather unsurprising that the article doesn’t mention the word “Iraq” once. A breath-taking omission, considering Mueller’s testimony in front of congress played a key role in spreading the lie of Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction”.

...

It doesn’t matter how many Vietnamese peasants took pot-shots at him, it doesn’t matter how tidy his hair is, or how cheap his watch. It doesn’t matter if he looks like Cooper or speaks like Eastwood or walks like Wayne. He is a proven liar – a man culpable in the greatest crime of the 21st century. He is, and always will be, a servant of the Deep State.

A proven liar. A proven killer. An Imperialist. A criminal.

Is this the stuff of which political heroes should be made?

Only in “the Resistance”.

Obviously, Trump’s administration is dangerous – it still stokes warlike approaches to Iran and Russia. It has directly threatened Venezuela and Cuba. But you can’t fight the right-hand of the Deep State by clasping the left. They all join in the middle. They’re the same monster.

Anti-Trumpers, all over the world, need to take a good look at WHO they’re fighting alongside, and ask themselves WHAT they are fighting for.

Read more:

https://off-guardian.org/2018/11/24/the-rehabilitation-of-robert-mueller/

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“Indeed, there were requests from [Michael] Cohen, where he said that the company was seeking to erect a building in Moscow and struggles to establish the business contacts it needed. They asked to organize a meeting with the then-head of the President’s administration – [Sergey] Ivanov, or with me,” Peskov told reporters at the sidelines of the G20 summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Cohen pleaded guilty on Thursday to making false statements to Congress, related to a 2016 plan by then-candidate Trump to build a Trump Tower property in Moscow. The plan was eventually shelved, but Cohen initially said it had been axed several months before it actually was.

The plea does not implicate Trump in any crime, nor does it reveal any collusion with Russia to rig the 2016 election. Yet the mainstream media and the anti-Trump #Resistance greeted the news with glee, predicting it would become the “end of Trump.”

Confronted by over-ecstatic journalists, Peskov patiently reiterated what he already told CNN in August 2017, and this time even read that notorious email that was sent to the address for public requests listed on Kremlin’s official website.

Dear Mr. Peskov, 

Over the past few months, I’ve been working with a company based in Russia, regarding the development of the Trump Tower Moscow project in Moscow city. Without getting into specifics, the communication between our two [parties] stalled. As this project is too important, I’m hereby requesting your assistance. I respectably request someone, preferably you, to contact me, so I might discuss the specifics as well as arranging meetings with the appropriate individuals.

The Kremlin receives “dozens of requests” from businessmen and citizens every day, and many of them are out the administration’s competence, as was Cohen’s request. The plea was left unanswered, but an administration official contacted Cohen’s team, wondering if they were aware the Kremlin has better things to do.

“They were told that the Presidential administration was not into construction although, if they were eager to invest, they were welcome to the Economic forum in St. Petersburg,” Peskov said.

The solicitants, however, had vanished and never showed up at that forum. So, could the big news be that Trump never really wanted that Tower in Moscow? And as far as Cohen’s confessions are concerned, Peskov believes they should rather be commented on by a priest.

Read more:

https://www.rt.com/news/445367-cohen-kremlin-trump-tower/

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The Russian ambassador. A deputy prime minister. A pop star, a weightlifter, a lawyer, a Soviet army veteran with alleged intelligence ties.

Again and again and again, over the course of Donald Trump’s 18-month campaign for the presidency, Russian citizens made contact with his closest family and friends, as well as figures on the periphery of his orbit.

Some offered to help his campaign and his real estate business. Some offered dirt on his Democratic opponent. Repeatedly, Russian nationals suggested Trump should hold a peacemaking sit-down with Vladi­mir Putin — and offered to broker such a summit.

In all, Russians interacted with at least 14 Trump associates during the campaign and presidential transition, public records and interviews show.

“It is extremely unusual,” said Michael McFaul, who served as ambassador to Russia under President Barack Obama. “Both the number of contacts and the nature of the contacts are extraordinary.”

Read more:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/russians-interacted-with-at-least-14-trump-associates-during-the-campaign-and-transition/2018/12/09/

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Does this mean that the Russians interfered with the 2016 US Presidential election? NUPE! NO! NADA! Zilch! Did the Hillary team meet with other country ambassadors? Israel? Has Uncle Rupe got his own "ambassador" in the USA or does he do his own work himself?

US President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman Paul Manafort has been sentenced to 47 months in jail and ordered to pay more than $US24 million ($34.2 million) in restitution for fraud and failing to disclose foreign bank accounts.

• Manafort hid millions of dollars earned in Ukraine from the IRS and inflated his income on bank loan applications
• The jail sentence was even lighter than that sought by defence lawyers
• Donald Trump has not ruled out granting a presidential pardon to Manafort

The 69-year-old was found guilty by a jury last August of five counts of tax fraud, two counts of bank fraud and one count of failing to disclose foreign bank accounts.

On top of the jail sentence and restitution, he was also fined $US50,000 by US District Court Judge T.S. Ellis.

Manafort hid millions of dollars he had earned in Ukraine as a consultant for its former pro-Russia government.

He later inflated his income on bank loan applications and he lied to borrow money to maintain an opulent lifestyle that included luxurious homes, designer suits and even a $US15,000 ostrich-skin jacket.

While prosecutors had not recommended a specific sentence for Manafort, they cited federal sentencing guidelines that called for up to 24 years in prison.

Read more:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-08/paul-manafort-sentenced-to-jail-f...

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Special counsel Robert Mueller has turned over his long-awaited final report on the contentious Russia investigation that has cast a dark shadow over Donald Trump's presidency.

• The report will now be reviewed by the Attorney-General, who could release his account to Congress in a matter of days
• It is largely up to him as to what to make public from Mr Mueller's report
• The investigation has ensnared key figures including Mr Trump's former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, former personal lawyer Michael Cohen and national security adviser Michael Flynn

The report, still confidential, marks the end of Mr Mueller's probe but sets the stage for big public fights to come.

The next steps are up to Mr Trump's Attorney-General, to Congress and, in all likelihood, federal courts.

The Justice Department said Mr Mueller delivered his final report to Attorney-General William Barr and officially concluded his probe of Russian election interference and possible coordination with Trump associates.

The report will now be reviewed by Mr Barr, who has said he will write his own account communicating Mr Mueller's findings to Congress and the American public.

Mr Barr said he could release his account to Congress as soon as this weekend.

"The next steps are up to Attorney-General Barr, and we look forward to the process taking its course. The White House has not received or been briefed on the special counsel's report," White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said.

Under the regulations governing special counsel investigations, the Attorney-General must share an outline of Mr Mueller's report with Democratic and Republican leaders of the judiciary committees in Congress.

Read more:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-23/mueller-submits-report-on-donald-...

Read from top. Would there be some real bad stuff against Trump in this report, it would have leaked. The only leaks we've had so far are incidental misdeeds around the case.

“WikiLeaks has always been confident that this investigation would vindicate our groundbreaking publishing of the 2016 materials, which it has. We disapprove of the large redactions which permit conspiracy theories to abound. Full transparency please,” WikiLeaks tweeted on Thursday.

Some observers wondered whether WikiLeaks disputes Mueller’s claim – expounded in the report – that ‘Russian hackers’ had stolen Democratic National Convention emails in 2016. Large chunks of text concerning the supposed hacking operation are left blank in Mueller’s report, to protect the investigative techniques used.

Moreover, Mueller’s report never established precisely how the hackers – supposedly affiliated with Russia’s GRU intelligence agency – actually transferred the information to WikiLeaks. Wikileaks founder Julian Assange repeatedly denied that the emails had come from Russia, and had reportedly told a US congressman that the DNC breach was an “inside job.”

Read more:

https://www.rt.com/news/456955-wikileaks-assange-mueller-report/

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