https://www.washingtontimes.co...s-trump-russia-prob/

Special counsel Robert Mueller’s office is warning that “many” news articles on the Trump-Russia probe have been wrong.

The statement from a spokesperson did not single out particular stories.

But the warning did come after media inquiries about a McClatchy News story on Friday that said Mr. Mueller has evidence that President Trump’s personal attorney, Michael Cohen, did in fact travel to Prague in 2016 as alleged by the Christopher Steele dossier.

“What I have been telling all reporters is that many stories about our investigation have been inaccurate,” the Mueller spokesperson said. “Be very cautious about any source that claims to have knowledge about our investigation and dig deep into what they claim before reporting on it. If another outlet reports something, don’t run with it unless you have your own sourcing to back it up .”

For his part, Mr. Cohen has repeatedly denied under oath, and thus under the penalty of perjury, that he traveled to Prague. If he did in fact go there, he would be unlikely to lie under oath to Congress since the FBI’s investigative powers would be able to track his movements.

After the McClatchy story, Mr. Cohen tweeted on Saturday, “Bad reporting, bad information and bad story by same reporter Peter Stone @McClatchyDC. No matter how many times or ways they write it, I have never been to Prague. I was in LA with my son. Proven!”

The supposed Cohen Prague trip has been pushed to reporters and government investigators by Glenn Simpson, co-founder of Fusion GPS, which paid Mr. Steele. Fusion has long-standing relationships with Washington’s powerful news outlets such as CNN, the Washington Post and the New York Times.

Mr. Simpson still believes Mr. Cohen went to Prague. He told the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence that Mr. Cohen may have traveled by yacht and a Russian’s plane.

Mr. Cohen has sued Fusion for libel.

The same McClatchy reporters in January authored another disputed story. It said the FBI is investigating whether millions of dollars in illegal Russian funds ended up in the National Rifle Associations’ political action committee (PAC). The NRA flatly denies this happened.

Mr. Simpson is also pushing the NRA-Russia narrative, telling the House committee that the Kremlin has “infiltrated” the gun rights group.

The McClatchy sources for both the Cohen and NRA stories are vaguely described as people familiar with the matter.

***************

Just as Cohen will pay a price if he lied about Prague, McClatchy should pay a high price if their story is totally bogus. The McClatchy story about proof of Cohen in Prague ran like wildfire throughout print and news broadcast media.

It is past the time to start suspecting that journalists may make up a story, attributed to anonymous sources, and let it fly to see how it plays.

Lyndon Johnson told one of his aides to circulate the rumor that one of his opponents was having sex with a pig. “We have no information that that is so,” the aide said.

“I know that,” said Johnson. “I just want to see him deny it.”

unfortunate news

Mueller and his rabid dogs pursuing a crusade of impeachment, have overwhelmed Michael Cohen w legal problems and costs.

https://www.politico.com/story...usion-lawsuit-537327

Embattled attorney Michael Cohen has dropped a pair of much-touted libel suits against BuzzFeed and the private investigation firm Fusion GPS over publication of the so-called dossier detailing alleged ties between President Donald Trump and Russia.

Cohen abandoned the suits late Wednesday as he continues to fight to recover documents and electronic files seized from his home, office and hotel room last week by federal authorities as part of what appears to be a broad criminal investigation into his conduct.

"The decision to voluntarily discontinue these cases was a difficult one," Cohen's attorney David Schwartz said. "We believe the defendants defamed my client, and vindicating Mr. Cohen’s rights was — and still remains — important. But given the events that have unfolded, and the time, attention, and resources needed to prosecute these matters, we have dismissed the matters, despite their merits."

Dropping the suits could help Cohen avoid being questioned by lawyers from Fusion GPS or having to turn over evidence related to the case — both steps that could undercut his defense in the criminal probe.

The move could also bolster Cohen's effort to delay a suit brought in Los Angeles by porn star Stormy Daniels, who claims to have had a sexual encounter with Trump about a decade ago. It could have been difficult for Cohen to convince that judge to put Daniels' case on hold while Cohen continued to press civil suits in other federal courts.

quote:

Originally posted by sdy:
unfortunate news

Mueller and his rabid dogs pursuing a crusade of impeachment, have overwhelmed Michael Cohen w legal problems and costs.

https://www.politico.com/story...usion-lawsuit-537327

Embattled attorney Michael Cohen has dropped a pair of much-touted libel suits against BuzzFeed and the private investigation firm Fusion GPS over publication of the so-called dossier detailing alleged ties between President Donald Trump and Russia.

Cohen abandoned the suits late Wednesday as he continues to fight to recover documents and electronic files seized from his home, office and hotel room last week by federal authorities as part of what appears to be a broad criminal investigation into his conduct.

"The decision to voluntarily discontinue these cases was a difficult one," Cohen's attorney David Schwartz said. "We believe the defendants defamed my client, and vindicating Mr. Cohen’s rights was — and still remains — important. But given the events that have unfolded, and the time, attention, and resources needed to prosecute these matters, we have dismissed the matters, despite their merits."

Dropping the suits could help Cohen avoid being questioned by lawyers from Fusion GPS or having to turn over evidence related to the case — both steps that could undercut his defense in the criminal probe.

The move could also bolster Cohen's effort to delay a suit brought in Los Angeles by porn star Stormy Daniels, who claims to have had a sexual encounter with Trump about a decade ago. It could have been difficult for Cohen to convince that judge to put Daniels' case on hold while Cohen continued to press civil suits in other federal courts.

Another way to read this is that Cohen went to Prague and lots of the stuff is true and he didn’t want to be u derp oath in a deposition. He uses lawsuits as an intimidation tool and it backfired. Cohen is fucked about 100 ways to Sunday.

"Another way to read this"

possible, time will tell

Still thinking that the Prague story is false.

Haven't seen anyone other than McClatchy w "sources" that Mueller has Prague proof. (All others referenced McClatchy)

Same McClatchy authors said Russia bought influence thru NRA.

Mueller spokesman advised get your own sources before reporting, right after this came out.

If Mueller had Prague evidence on Cohen, that hasn't been leaked yet. (beyond unnamed sources to McClatchy)

I have my strong biases about how I want this story to end, but I will follow the facts as they are proven.

The lawsuits are very revealing. Steele's lawyers say the dossier was never meant to be public. Steele is "horrified" the dossier came out because it is "raw" and unverified. A bit different than how Comey talks about the dossier.

quote:

Originally posted by ilikefirearms:
Another way to read this is that Cohen went to Prague and lots of the stuff is true and he didn’t want to be u derp oath in a deposition...

Highly unlikely. Cohen has already testified under oath that he didn't travel to Prague. Backing off from these suits wouldn't help him if he lied under oath, which is also highly unlikely.



.

quote:

Originally posted by sdy:
"Another way to read this"

possible, time will tell

Still thinking that the Prague story is false.

Haven't seen anyone other than McClatchy w "sources" that Mueller has Prague proof. (All others referenced McClatchy)

Same McClatchy authors said Russia bought influence thru NRA.

Mueller spokesman advised get your own sources before reporting, right after this came out.

If Mueller had Prague evidence on Cohen, that hasn't been leaked yet. (beyond unnamed sources to McClatchy)

I have my strong biases about how I want this story to end, but I will follow the facts as they are proven.

The lawsuits are very revealing. Steele's lawyers say the dossier was never meant to be public. Steele is "horrified" the dossier came out because it is "raw" and unverified. A bit different than how Comey talks about the dossier.

“Never meant to be public.” I shouldn’t wonder!

I’m inclined to think the dossier was cut from the fervent imagination of someone who should be a writer for Walt Disney, like one of these docu-dramas, but with real names, completely fabricated to appear plausible, although to me it isn’t.

above quote from the Gubarev lawsuit

US Defendants = Buzzfeed

I was less interested in Michael Cohen winning big $ in his lawsuits, than in the public testimony that would come out of such a lawsuit.

Comey talks about the dossier as being credible because he says Steele is credible.

But Steele repeatedly has said the dossier was not verified.

So "unthinkable" that Steele himself briefed NYT, WaPo, Yahoo News, CNN, New Yorker Magazine, ... on the dossier.

A very frustrating aspect of this is that the DoJ and FBI know a lot now about the dossier. They have Steele testimony. They have Bruce Ohr (and maybe his wife). They have Strzok and Page (who know how the dossier was used). They have Bill Priestap (who w the others should know about the FISA warrant against Carter Page)

And yet the FBI and DoJ allow President Trump to be continually pounded by the Mueller "Russia" investigation and a media dedicated to impeachment.

“raw intelligence” is a statecraft expression meaning “we just made this shit up to fool others. Some of it might be true, but not necessarily.”

In an interview w Jake Tapper, Comey discussed what parts of the dossier he talked about w President Trump on 6 January 2017.

I have wondered about this a lot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mc5SrXU0k-o

Comey says he just briefed President Trump about the sex part, nothing else in the dossier .

Tapper asked why just that part ?

Comey: " Because that was the part that the leaders of the intelligence community agreed he needed to be told about "

So weasel Comey didn't tell then President elect Trump about all the claims that Trump and his staff were working with Russia to "collude".

Obviously then Comey didn't mention the FISA warrant on Carter Page.

What an act of back stabbing, and one more example of Comey setting up Donald Trump.

I think it must be that Comey truly believes his own PR. You know, that stuff all the talking heads were giving us in early 2016, about James Comey being "the most ethical man in all of Washington". He doesn't think he's doing anything illegal or unethical because hey, he's the most ethical man in all of Washington.

quote:

Originally posted by sdy:
In an interview w Jake Tapper, Comey discussed what parts of the dossier he talked about w President Trump on 6 January 2017.

I have wondered about this a lot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mc5SrXU0k-o

Comey says he just briefed President Trump about the sex part, nothing else in the dossier .

Tapper asked why just that part ?

Comey: " Because that was the part that the leaders of the intelligence community agreed he needed to be told about "

So weasel Comey didn't tell then President elect Trump about all the claims that Trump and his staff were working with Russia to "collude".

Obviously then Comey didn't mention the FISA warrant on Carter Page.

What an act of back stabbing, and one more example of Comey setting up Donald Trump.

That is exactly what I think it was about, as described in Mollie Hemingway’s article a day or so ago which I posted in another thread.

quote:

Newly released memos written by former FBI director James Comey indicate that an early 2017 briefing for then-President-elect Donald Trump about the contents of an infamous dossier was held so it could be leaked to media outlets eager to report on the dossier’s allegations. In multiple memos, Comey specifically mentioned that CNN had the dossier and wanted a “news hook” that would enable the network to report on its most salacious allegations even though they had not been verified.

It was leaked a few days thereafter.

DT Jr met with a Russian lawyer in June 2016. He had been told she had dirt on Clinton. But when the mtg occurred, she only wanted to talk about a case she was involved in where a Russian company was being sued. When DT Jr realized there was no info related to Clinton, he left. It was a short mtg.

The DEMs and the media have had a field day w this mtg which took place in Trump Tower in NY.

Some odd things about the mtg. It was never mentioned in the dossier.

Glenn Simpson of Fusion GPS was working with this Russian lawyer (Veselnitskaya) on the case of the Russian company. Simpson met w her the day before the mtg w DT Jr, the day of the DT Jr mtg, and the day after the DT Jr mtg.

Yet Simpson testified she never mentioned talking to DT Jr.

https://apnews.com/b9657a2a411...ons-why-Mueller-hasn't-contacted-her

A Russian lawyer who discussed sanctions with Donald Trump Jr. in New York during his father’s 2016 campaign for the U.S. presidency said Sunday that special counsel Robert Mueller has not contacted her yet.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Natalia Veselnitskaya also detailed her recent meeting in Berlin with investigators from the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee. Like Mueller, the committee is investigating allegations of Russian interference in the U.S. presidential election.

Veselnitskaya is a well-connected Moscow lawyer who has worked with a company called Prevezon Holdings Ltd. The company’s owner is the son of a former Russian government official and a fierce advocate for rolling back U.S. sanctions on Russia.

At the time of her 2016 meeting at Trump Tower, she was defending Prevezon against charges it had engaged in money laundering from a $230 million Russian tax fraud scheme.

Trump Jr. and others in attendance have downplayed the meeting, saying nothing came of it. Trump has denied that he or his campaign coordinated with any Russian attempts to interfere in the election.

The Senate Intelligence Committee has expressed interest in determining whether Veselnitskaya’s appointment with Trump Jr., Kushner and Manafort was part of a Russian government effort to help President Donald Trump’s campaign for the White House. It was described that way in emails to Trump Jr. before it took place.

Sen Mark Warner (D) is leading Sen Burr (R) around like a dog handler. Burr is the chair of the Senate Intel Comm. About time he starts acting like it

The Senate Intelligence Committee approached Veselnitskaya earlier this year, but she refused to go the United States, saying she feared for her safety. The lawyer and the committee’s investigators instead met in a Berlin hotel on March 26 and talked for three hours.

The investigators mainly wanted to know about Trump Tower meeting, she said. Veselnitskaya said she repeated her previous statements about it, insisting that she was not linked to the Russian government and merely wanted to discuss sanctions against Russia.

Veselnitskaya’s said the Berlin interview also focused on information in memos compiled by a former British spy whose work was funded by the Democratic National Committee and Clinton’s campaign.

Veselnitskaya dismissed the dossier as “absolute nonsense.” She insisted that Glenn Simpson, whose firm Fusion GPS was hired to compile the dossier and who was questioned by the House Intelligence Committee in January, had been “framed.”

framed ??

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I wouldn't trust anything Veselnitskaya says. The mtg in Trump Tower sounds like it was a set up from the start.

an article by Byron York that accurately hits the media dirty game with the dossier

https://www.washingtonexaminer...ndard-in-trump-probe

When a political figure is accused of wrongdoing, a conversation begins among journalists, commentators, and public officials. Are the charges true? Can the accusers prove it?

But in the case of the Trump dossier, the question is: Can the accused prove the charges false?

Increasingly, the president's critics argue that the dossier is legitimate because it has not been proven untrue.

"Not a single revelation in the Steele dossier has been refuted," noted Sen. Dianne Feinstein, top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee

Chuck Todd, moderator of NBC's "Meet the Press," asked former CIA Director John Brennan, "So far with this dossier, nothing yet has been proven untrue. How significant is that?"

"As Jim Comey has said, I think very famously, these were salacious and unverified allegations," Brennan responded. "Just because they were unverified does not mean they were not true."

What is still unclear is how much effort the FBI and U.S. intelligence agencies put into trying to prove the dossier's allegations. Fired FBI Director James Comey noted in his January 28, 2017 memo that Trump asked that the FBI investigate the dossier's so-called "golden showers" allegation – the charge that Trump watched as prostitutes performed a kinky sex show in a Moscow hotel room in 2013. Comey, by his own account, demurred.

For his part, Comey – who, as John Brennan noted, once called the dossier "salacious and unverified" – still won't vouch for its truthfulness. Instead, Comey makes a much softer claim, saying that the "core" of the dossier – the big-picture conclusion that Russia tried to interfere with the 2016 presidential election – is "consistent with the other information we'd gathered during the intelligence investigation."

By the way, when it comes to the most spectacular allegation in the dossier – the sex story – even the dossier's author doesn't have much faith in its veracity.

In the new book Russian Roulette, authors Michael Isikoff and David Corn note that Christopher Steele, the former British spy who wrote the dossier, once said there was perhaps a 50-50 chance of the Moscow sex episode being true.

Glenn Simpson, head of the opposition research company Fusion GPS, which commissioned the dossier, reportedly considered the Russian source for the story a "big talker" who might have made it up to impress Steele.

some leading lights in the political conversation defend the dossier by arguing that it has not been proven untrue – as if that, instead of proof of truth, were the standard to apply to such consequential allegations.


"Setting aside the absurd and patently unfair 'guilty until proven innocent' standard that thinking requires, it also ignores the fact that the FBI has never tried to disprove it," Republican Rep. John Ratcliffe, a former federal prosecutor who now serves on the House Judiciary Committee


*****************

diff topic:

For all the Mueller charges so far:

https://www.justice.gov/sco

quote:

Originally posted by sdy:
an article by Byron York that accurately hits the media dirty game with the dossier

https://www.washingtonexaminer...ndard-in-trump-probe

When a political figure is accused of wrongdoing, a conversation begins among journalists, commentators, and public officials. Are the charges true? Can the accusers prove it?

But in the case of the Trump dossier, the question is: Can the accused prove the charges false?

Increasingly, the president's critics argue that the dossier is legitimate because it has not been proven untrue.

"Not a single revelation in the Steele dossier has been refuted," noted Sen. Dianne Feinstein, top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee

I thought Michael Cohen had never been to Prague.

CONFIRMED: Former Feinstein Staffer Raised $50 Million, Hired Fusion GPS And Christopher Steele After 2016 Election

A declassified congressional report confirms that Daniel Jones, a former intelligence committee staffer for Sen. Dianne Feinstein, hired Fusion GPS and Christopher Steele to push the Russian collusion narrative against Donald Trump.

A declassified congressional report confirms prior reporting by The Federalist that Daniel Jones, a former staffer for Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), hired Fusion GPS and Christopher Steele after the 2016 election to push the anti-Trump Russian collusion narrative.

According to the report, Jones, who runs an investigative outfit called the Penn Quarter Group (PQG), told the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in March of 2017 that he had retained the services of Fusion GPS and Christopher Steele to “continue exposing Russian interference” in the 2016 election. Steele is the former British spy who authored the infamous unverified dossier of allegations against President Donald Trump.

Although Jones’ name is redacted in the report, the biographical details plus previous reporting on the matter make clear that he is the individual referenced. The report also revealed that Jones told federal investigators that he had raised $50 million from “7 to 10 wealthy donors located primarily in New York and California.”

As The Federalist first reported in February, Jones previously worked as a senior intelligence staffer for Feinstein, who currently serves as the ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is currently investigating Fusion GPS. In that capacity, she violated committee precedent by unilaterally releasing a transcript of the testimony of Fusion GPS founder Glenn Simpson without disclosing that a top former staffer of hers was directing the firm’s efforts during the Judiciary committee’s investigation.

The congressional report stated that Jones “planned to share the information he obtained with policymakers on Capitol Hill and with the press, and also offered to provide PQG’s entire holdings to the FBI.” That information was gleaned from an FBI interview document called an FD-302, which was prepared on March 28, 2017. Feinstein’s office did not respond to multiple requests for comment about her interactions with Jones during the course of her committee’s investigation of Fusion GPS prior to the publication of this article.

The former Feinstein staffer’s involvement with Fusion GPS’s and Steele’s post-election dossier efforts was first publicly hinted at in January in several inquiry letters from Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) to various Democratic party leaders who were likely responsible for funding Fusion GPS’s 2016 dossier work. That letter named Jones in a lengthy footnote listing a host of characters involved with the dossier and its financing, creation, and dissemination.

His name also came up in leaked texts between Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Adam Waldman, a registered foreign agent for Russian Oligarch Oleg Deripaska:

“Chris Steele asked me to call you,” Waldman wrote to Warner on March 16, 2017. That text touched off a back-and-forth conversation about how Warner could get access to Steele, a key witness in an ongoing congressional investigation. According to Waldman, Steele demanded a bipartisan letter from Warner and Burr requesting that he present himself for questioning.

“I spoke w Steele,” Waldman wrote on April 25, 2017. “He repeated the same position which is that he wants to be helpful but is fearful of the triumvirate of cost, time suck and reputation.”

“He asked me what your concern was about a letter first and I explained it but he would still like as a first protective step from you and [Sen. Richard] Burr asking him and his partner to assist w the investigation by answering questions,” Waldman added. “He said he will also speak w Dan Jones whom he says is talking to you.”

“I pointed out there is no privilege in that discussion although Dan [Jones] is a good guy and very trustworthy guy. I encouraged him again to engage with you for the sake of the truth and of vindication of the dossier,” he wrote.

It is not known how many members of Congress Jones worked with during the course of multiple congressional investigations into Fusion GPS’s involvement in the 2016 election and its simultaneous work on behalf of a Kremlin-linked company previously charged by U.S. authorities for money laundering and evading U.S. sanctions against Russia.

Jones did not respond to a request for comment on the nature of his work with Fusion GPS and Christopher prior to publication of this article.

Link

This message has been edited. Last edited by: JALLEN,

so Daniel Jones (who is former FBI) was paid $50 million by people from NY and California to hire Steele and Fusion GPS to continue to expose Russian interference in the 2016 election (this was post election funding to Fusion and Steele).

$50 million

The House report also nails Clapper.

Clapper had denied talking to reporters until after he retired. But in testimony Clapper admitted he talked to Jake Tapper in early January 2017 and "may have" talked to other reporters also.

This is important. Comey briefed Donald Trump on 6 Jan 2017 (only on the sex parts of the dossier claims, ie bullshit), and Jake Tapper reported about the dossier 4 days later.

Sounds like Clapper was the leaker (or one of the leakers if there were multiple leakers).

quote:

Originally posted by sdy:
so Daniel Jones (who is former FBI) was paid $50 million by people from NY and California to hire Steele and Fusion GPS to continue to expose Russian interference in the 2016 election (this was post election funding to Fusion and Steele).

$50 million

I’m not so sure he was paid $50 million to hire Steele etc. It says he “raised $50 million.”

If the Dems spent anything like that, even 1% of that on Steele, they are dumber than they look.

quote from the report:



Granted, the report does not say all $50 mil went to Fusion and Steele, but here is what we do know:

Jones set up Penn Quarter Group and got Wash DC business license in early summer 2016

Report says PQG works to expose foreign influence in Western elections

PDQ got $50 mil from donors from NY and California

Jones did hire Fusion and Steele

so we can all guess how much went to Fusion and Steele, and how much went to others to do similar attacks on President Trump.