April 27, 2018: The Russian Lady Who Met with Don Jr., Jared, and Paul Manafort Skips Out

 

4/27/18: President Twitter Thumbs is so excited he can’t wait to tap out the news! The Russian investigation is over. He’s cleared! 

According to the House Intelligence Committee, Trump never saw a Russian stroll into the Oval Office, never talked to Vladimir Putin about anything except the Cubs winning the World Series, and never had an inkling Russians were offering his son and son-in-law dirt to damage Hillary Clinton. 

The Republican-controlled House Intelligence Committee has released its final report, which, to be honest, they could have written on an Etch-a-Sketch without doing any investigating whatsoever.

 

Trump tweets: 

Just Out: House Intelligence Committee Report released. “No evidence” that the Trump Campaign “colluded, coordinated or conspired with Russia.” Clinton Campaign paid for Opposition Research obtained from Russia- Wow! A total Witch Hunt! MUST END NOW!”

 

Sadly, for Trump, the free press continues to do what the free press does. Reporters keep digging.

 

____________________ 

“I am a lawyer. I am an informant. Since 2013, I have been actively communicating with the office of the Russian prosecutor general.” 

Natalia Veselnitskaya

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New emails show that Natalia Veselnitskaya, the Russian lawyer who met with Trump’s son, Trump’s son-in-law, and Trump’s campaign manager, promising to provide dirt to damage Hillary Clinton, was not just at the June 2016 meeting to talk about adoption. In an interview with Richard Engel of NBC News, she admits she has not been entirely truthful when she says that she “wasn’t an agent for anyone” when she showed up at Trump Tower two years ago. 

“I am a lawyer, and I am an informant,” she says. “Since 2013, I have been actively communicating with the office of the Russian prosecutor general.” That makes her an informant for the Russian equivalent of our Attorney General. 

Hearing this news, the president immediately explains to a crowd at a rally in Michigan, as he preps to run again in 2020 by ignoring the job in 2018, that this proves he’s innocent of colluding with Russia! 

Here’s an actual sample of Trumpian logic. “I guarantee you, I’m tougher on Russia,” he tells cheering fans. 

In fact, have you heard about the lawyer? For a year, a woman lawyer, she was like, ‘Oh, I know nothing.’ ...Now all of a sudden she supposedly is involved with government. You know why? If she did that, because Putin and the groups said, ‘you know this Trump is killing us. Why don’t you say that you’re involved with government so that we could go and make their life in the United States even more chaotic.’ Look at what’s happened. Look at how these politicians have fallen for this junk. Russian collusion. Give me a break.”

 

This is interesting, because Trump helped draft a misleading statement in July 2017 about that meeting – after the “Fake News” folks revealed the meeting had been held. In that statement he claimed participants “primarily discussed a program about the adoption of Russian children.” Now the Russian lawyer involved admits direct ties to Russia’s top law enforcement officer, meaning Russia’s government may have had a keen interest in doing damage to the Clinton campaign. 

This may come as a shock to many who love Donald J. Trump with a love beyond reason. It was always clear the “woman lawyer” in question was working for the Russian government. 

It’s just that for two years everybody in the Trump administration refused to admit it. 

(See: 7/10/17, for email exchange between Rob Goldstone and Don Jr, regarding Russian willingness to help Trump campaign.)

BLOGGER’S NOTE (June 2022): When last seen in these parts, Ms. Veselnitskaya was hopping aboard a plane bound for Moscow, once step ahead of arrest. She’s not coming back to this country ever. Unless maybe Donald Trump runs for election again.

Veselnitskaya was indicted, but skipped out before her arrest.

April 19, 2019: Anyone Who Thinks the Mueller Report Exonerated the President Is a Fool, or Didn't Read It

 

4/19/19: There is nothing President Trump hates more than “Fake News,” and no source of “Fake News” he hates so profoundly as The New York Times. Trump keeps insisting that the Mueller report totally exonerates him. “NO COLLUSION. NO OBSTRUCTION,” he loves to tweet.

 

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The president’s efforts to influence the investigation were mostly unsuccessful, but that is largely because the persons who surrounded the president declined to carry out orders or accede to his requests. 

Mueller Report

____________________

 

 

Meanwhile, the Times keeps putting out “Fake News” stories. On Friday, the “enemies of the people” strike again, after reporters read the report and publish actual quotes. Here are a few gems. 

From Page 9, Volume I of the Mueller Report: 

The investigation established that several individuals affiliated with the Trump Campaign lied to the office, and to Congress, about their interactions with Russian-affiliated individuals and related matters. Those lies materially impaired the investigation [emphasis added, unless otherwise noted] of Russian election interference.

 

Page 78, Volume II: 

“When Sessions told the president that a special counsel had been appointed, the president slumped back in his chair and said, ‘Oh, my God. This is terrible. This is the end of my presidency. I’m fucked.’”

 

Did the Mueller Report clear the president of obstruction? 

Page 182, Volume II: 

“If we had confidence after a thorough investigation of the facts that the president clearly did not commit obstruction of justice, we would so state. Based on the facts and the applicable legal standards, however, we are unable to reach that judgment.”

 

Did Trump try to obstruct? 

Page 158, Volume II: 

The president’s efforts to influence the investigation were mostly unsuccessful, but that is largely because the persons who surrounded the president declined to carry out orders or accede to his requests.

 

…The incidents were often carried out through one-on-one meetings in which the president sought to use his official power outside of usual channels. These actions ranged from efforts to remove the special counsel and to reverse the effect of the attorney general’s recusal; to the attempted use of official power to limit the scope of the investigation; to direct and indirect contacts with witnesses with the potential to influence their testimony. Viewing the acts collectively can help to illuminate their significance.

 

Allow me to “illuminate” the significance of Trump’s “direct and indirect contacts with witnesses.” 

Here’s what he told reporters last November, regarding Paul Manafort, a witness who had potentially devastating testimony to offer:

 

 

Finally, did Trump cooperate fully with the investigation, as Attorney General Barr has suggested? 

Appendix C, Page 1: 

We received the President’s written responses [to questions prosecutors had asked] in late November 2018. In December 2018, we informed counsel of the insufficiency of those responses in several respects. We noted, among other things, that the President stated on more than 30 occasions that he “does not recall” or “remember” or have an “independent recollection” of information called for by the questions. Other answers were “incomplete or imprecise.”

 

Did Team Trump have questionable contacts with Russians? (At this point, you might think no sane individual would question that fact.) (Sadly, see: 4/21/19.) 

Page 173, Volume I: 

The investigation established multiple links between Trump Campaign officials and individuals tied to the Russian government. Those links included Russian offers of assistance to the campaign…Ultimately, the investigation did not establish that the campaign coordinated or conspired with the Russian government in its election-interference activities.

 

So, multiple links. 

Bumbling attempts to obstruct justice. 

Lies that materially impaired the investigation. 

Trump’s incomplete written answers, written because he refused to be deposed and answer under oath.

 

That might not be enough to determine legally that Trump and the Russians conspired; but it’s certainly not total exoneration. 

Finally, Mueller is clear on the role Congress might still play. 

Page 8, Volume II: 

____________________ 

“The conclusion that Congress may apply the obstruction laws to the president’s corrupt exercise of the powers of office accords with our constitutional system of checks and balances and the principle that no person is above the law.”

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BLOGGER’S NOTE: For additional evidence, see Sean Hannity’s text messages to Paul Manafort, and efforts to assure him, if he kept his mouth clamped, that he had “a friend in the White House, 6/22/19.