quote:

Originally posted by a1abdj:
^^^ I once had the pleasure of being interviewed by the FBI, and that is exactly how I remember it. Two agents, one asking all the questions. I don't recall if the second one was writing anything down or not.

They also bought me dinner at Bob Evans. Don't know if that's standard protocol or not.

I remember it that way each occasion I was interviewed as well, although I did not have to find out what the note taker actually wrote or whether it varied from what we were saying.

I didn't get a free dinner, either.

quote:

Originally posted by JALLEN:

quote:

Originally posted by Fenris:

I was once told (by an agent) that it is not legal to record an FBI interview/interrogation. BSing me? Certainly possible.

I believe this is true, at least as to FBI policy outside of extraordinary circumstances.

If you are talking voluntarily, and you tell them you will tape it, they can either leave and talk to someone else, or remain, talk and be taped.

Exactly!
There is no law that I'm aware of that precludes you from doing what you can (legally) to protect your rights. Recording or having your lawyer witness the meeting is certainly within your rights. Otherwise, you can just refuse by taking the 5th.
What do you think all the negotiations about going before Congress are about (at least in part).

When I was on the ladder for a national organization we had training on just this subject. The course was taught by two PR firms, one in NYC and the other in Chicago where they came in all full of piss and vinegar and tried to dominate the interview by setting up all sorts of parameters to make you feel uncomfortable and put you in a compromising situation.
The ability to smile and politely refuse to agree to their BS was one of the most interesting things I have learned in business in almost 35 years.

January 16, 2018
The cabal that hid Uranium One scandal is now going after Trump
By Thomas Lifson

The sale of a substantial portion of US uranium reserves to a Russian company controlled by Vladimir Putin – who openly desires to control the world uranium market – never could have been approved by the Committee on Foreign Investments in the United States (CFIUS), including then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and then-AG Eric Holder, if the dimensions of the scandal being investigated by the FBI and Justice Department had been known. That the scandal was hidden from the public is itself scandalous.

Last Friday, an 11-count indictment was unsealed, naming:

…a former DoD intelligence analyst-turned uranium transportation executive who stands accused of a bribery and money laundering scheme involving a Russian nuclear official connected to the Uranium One deal.

The indictment corroborates a November report by The Hill that an FBI mole deeply embedded in the Russian uranium industry had gathered extensive evidence of the scheme.

Mark Lambert, 54, of Mount Airy, Maryland, was charged with one count of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and to commit wire fraud, seven counts of violating the FCPA, two counts of wire fraud and one count of international promotion money laundering.

The details of the case against Lambert are much less important than the cast of characters that kept the scandal under wraps while our uranium reserves were sold to Russia. Zero Hedge explains in a long and complicated post. The gist:

Robert Mueller's FBI had been investigating the scheme since at least 2008 - with retiring Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe assigned to the ongoing investigation which was hidden from the Committee on Foreign Investments in the Untid States (CFIUS). Had they known, the committee never would have approved the Uranium One deal with TENEX's parent company, Rosatom.

Four individuals were eventually prosecuted and given plea agreements after the Uranium One deal was approved. The prosecuting DOJ attorneys? Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and top Mueller investigator in the Trump-Russia probe, Andrew Weissman - who praised former acting Attorney General Sally Yates for defying Trump.

Unsurprisingly, all four indicted individuals were handed extremely light sentences, none of which made headlines.

The judge? Theodore Chuang - an Obama appointee who went to Harvard Law at the same time as Obama, advised Hillary Clinton as "Counselor on detail to the United States Department of State," and just so happened to strike down Trump's "Travel Ban" Executive Order. Chuang's wife, Jacinta Ma served as a senior policy advisor to Michelle Obama.

It is striking how the same cast of characters who minimized the scandal are now going after President Trump.



http://www.americanthinker.com...ing_after_trump.html

First Indictment in Uranium One Bribery Scandal:

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr...unts-related-foreign


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, January 12, 2018
Former President of Maryland-Based Transportation Company Indicted on 11 Counts Related to Foreign Bribery, Fraud and Money Laundering Scheme

Executive Allegedly Paid Bribes to a Russian Official So His Company Could Win Highly Sensitive Nuclear Fuel Transportation Contracts

An indictment against a former co-president of a Maryland-based transportation company that provides services for the transportation of nuclear materials to customers in the United States and abroad, was unsealed today for his alleged role in a scheme that involved the bribery of an official at a subsidiary of Russia’s State Atomic Energy Corporation.

Acting Assistant Attorney General John P. Cronan of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, Acting U.S. Attorney Stephen M. Schenning of the District of Maryland, Principal Deputy Inspector General April G. Stephenson of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Inspector General (DOE-OIG) and Assistant Director in Charge Andew W. Vale of the FBI’s Washington, D.C. Field Office made the announcement.

Mark Lambert, 54, of Mount Airy, Maryland, was charged in an 11-count indictment with one count of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and to commit wire fraud, seven counts of violating the FCPA, two counts of wire fraud and one count of international promotion money laundering. The charges stem from an alleged scheme to bribe Vadim Mikerin, a Russian official at JSC Techsnabexport (TENEX), a subsidiary of Russia’s State Atomic Energy Corporation and the sole supplier and exporter of Russian Federation uranium and uranium enrichment services to nuclear power companies worldwide, in order to secure contracts with TENEX.

The case against Lambert is assigned to U.S. District Court Judge Theodore D. Chuang of the District of Maryland.

According to the indictment, beginning at least as early as 2009 and continuing until October 2014, Lambert conspired with others at “Transportation Corporation A” to make corrupt and fraudulent bribery and kickback payments to offshore bank accounts associated with shell companies, at the direction of, and for the benefit of, a Russian official, Vadim Mikerin, in order to secure improper business advantages and obtain and retain business with TENEX. In order to effectuate and conceal the corrupt and fraudulent bribe payments, Lambert and others allegedly caused fake invoices to be prepared, purportedly from TENEX to Transportation Corporation A, that described services that were never provided, and then Lambert and others caused Transportation Corporation A to wire the corrupt payments for those purported services to shell companies in Latvia, Cyprus and Switzerland. Lambert and others also allegedly used code words like “lucky figures,” “LF,” “lucky numbers,” and “cake” to describe the payments in emails to the Russian official at his personal email account. The indictment also alleges that Lambert and others caused Transportation Corporation A to overbill TENEX by building the cost of the corrupt payments into their invoices, and TENEX thus overpaid for Transportation Corporation A’s services.

In June 2015, Lambert’s former co-president, Daren Condrey, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate the FCPA and commit wire fraud, and Vadim Mikerin pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering involving violations of the FCPA. Mikerin is currently serving a sentence of 48 months in prison and Condrey is awaiting sentencing. The indictment includes allegations against Lambert based on his role in effectuating the criminal scheme with Condrey, Mikerin, and others.

The charges in the indictment are merely allegations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

The case is being investigated by DOE-OIG and the FBI. Assistant Chiefs Ephraim Wernick and Christopher J. Cestaro and Trial Attorney Derek J. Ettinger of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section, as well as Assistant U.S. Attorneys David I. Salem and Michael T. Packard of the District of Maryland, are prosecuting the case.

The Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs has provided significant assistance in this matter. The Department also thanks its law enforcement colleagues in Switzerland, Latvia and Cyprus for providing valuable assistance with the investigation and prosecution of the case.

The Criminal Division’s Fraud Section is responsible for investigating and prosecuting all FCPA matters. Additional information about the Justice Department’s FCPA enforcement efforts can be found at www.justice.gov/criminal/fraud/fcpa.



.

REPORT: Former Trump Aide To Plead Guilty, Testify Against Paul Manafort

"Rick Gates is going to change his plea to guilty,'' said a person who has direct knowledge of the situation but is not allowed to speak on the record since the judge has issued a gag order on the case. According to the source, Gates will change his plea "within the next few days.''

https://www.dailywire.com/news...estify-ryan-saavedra

Paul Manafort is surely wishing he never got involved with the Trump campaign.

Paul Manafort will be the only significant "catch" for this fishing expedition led by Mueller. Manafort may have significantly hid and under reported income, long before his involvement with the Trump campaign. It really has nothing to do with the reasons given by Rosenstein for the appointment of a special prosecutor but Mueller will try to save face by saying he found something. Manafort will likely serve some jail time.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/p...-07-31-live-updates/

The long-awaited trial of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort began Tuesday in a federal court in Alexandria, Virginia. Manafort is being charged with tax evasion and bank fraud in the first trial stemming from special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

In the noon hour, U.S. District Judge T. S. Ellis III said jury selection was nearly complete — a surprise, given that it was expected to take all of Tuesday and perhaps into Wednesday. Twelve jurors will be selected out of 65 potential jurors, 32 men and 33 women, the vast majority of the pool being white, CBS News' Clare Hymes and Kristine Guillaume note. During potential juror questioning, Judge Ellis asked if any in the pool had affiliations with the Justice Department. Nine out of the 65 said they did, but they all said that this affiliation would not cause bias for them.

Before Manafort attorney Kevin Downing entered the courtroom Tuesday morning, he told CBS News' Paula Reid that there is "no chance" Manafort will cooperate with prosecutors or enter a plea deal. White House counselor Kellyanne Conway told reporters Tuesday morning that there has been no discussion of a potential pardon by President Trump of Manafort

Prosecutors say the word "Russia" isn't likely to come up in this trial, which will center on Manafort's Ukrainian consulting work and only briefly touch on his involvement with the president's campaign.

Prosecutors have lined up 35 witnesses and over 500 pieces of evidence they say will show how Manafort earned more than $60 million from his Ukrainian work and then concealed a "significant percentage" of that money from the IRS. Prosecutors will also argue that Manafort fraudulently obtained millions more in bank loans, including during his time on the campaign.

quote:

Originally posted by sdy:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/p...-07-31-live-updates/

The long-awaited trial of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort began Tuesday in a federal court in Alexandria, Virginia. Manafort is being charged with tax evasion and bank fraud in the first trial stemming from special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

And what the F*CK does that have to do with Russia in 2016?

This goddamn Mueller is out of control and I've given up any hope of this worthless granny Jeffey Sessions doing a damn thing to rein him in.

WTF!

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:


This goddamn Mueller is out of control and I've given up any hope of this worthless granny Jeffey Sessions doing a damn thing to rein him in.

WTF!

ICYMI, Sessions recused himself from participation in any matters or investigation involving the Trump campaign interaction with Russia in the 2016 election.

quote:

Prosecutors have lined up 35 witnesses and over 500 pieces of evidence they say will show how Manafort earned more than $60 million from his Ukrainian work and then concealed a "significant percentage" of that money from the IRS. Prosecutors will also argue that Manafort fraudulently obtained millions more in bank loans, including during his time on the campaign.

isn't that what every red blooded American attempt to do when filing his or her taxes??

quote:

Originally posted by JALLEN:

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:


This goddamn Mueller is out of control and I've given up any hope of this worthless granny Jeffey Sessions doing a damn thing to rein him in.

WTF!

ICYMI, Sessions recused himself from participation in any matters or investigation involving the Trump campaign interaction with Russia in the 2016 election.

Yes, I get it. You don't think Session's poop stinks.

However, what does THIS TRIAL have to do with Russia and why isn't Sessions having a meeting with Mueller to tell him to stick to the scope of his witchhunt...err I mean investigation?

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:

quote:

Originally posted by JALLEN:

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:


This goddamn Mueller is out of control and I've given up any hope of this worthless granny Jeffey Sessions doing a damn thing to rein him in.

WTF!

ICYMI, Sessions recused himself from participation in any matters or investigation involving the Trump campaign interaction with Russia in the 2016 election.

Yes, I get it. You don't think Session's poop stinks.

However, what does THIS TRIAL have to do with Russia and why isn't Sessions having a meeting with Mueller to tell him to stick to the scope of his witchhunt...err I mean investigation?

The Special Counsel has the same power to prosecute federal crimes uncovered in the course of his investigation as any other US Attorney. Apparently, as a matter of choice, SC can handle it or lay it off to the locals as is being done in NY.

Sessions cannot be involved with any of this under the recusal.

If the US Attorney in Eastern Virginia had initiated these charges, Sessions could supervise it, but why would he do anything differently? Prosecution of federal crimes is what they do.

What astonishes me is why someone with Manafort’s exposure would knowingly crawl into the cross hairs of the remorseless scrutiny of a Presidential campaign.

quote:

tell him to stick to the scope of his witchhunt...err I mean investigation?

Not a dam thing. And Mueller is going to continue to do as he pleases and no one will stop him. We have a morally bankrupt coward as an AG and a tyrannical leftist as a deputy AG. Neither of them give a hoot about the law. The coward just wanted to see his name on the rolls of US Attorneys General and the tyrant will stop at nothing to ruin a democratically elected president.

The "Just-Us" Department is a wholly owned subsidiary of the left and will not lift a finger against their own.

quote:

Originally posted by JALLEN:


Sessions cannot be involved with any of this under the recusal.

And he can UN-RECUSE himself at any point, yes?

That he has refused to do thus far as Mueller gets more and more out of bounds is very telling to me.

JALLEN:
“What astonishes me is why someone with Manafort’s exposure would knowingly crawl into the cross hairs of the remorseless scrutiny of a Presidential campaign.”

I’d bet that Manafort is wondering that same thing now.

quote:

Originally posted by MikeinNC:

quote:

Prosecutors have lined up 35 witnesses and over 500 pieces of evidence they say will show how Manafort earned more than $60 million from his Ukrainian work and then concealed a "significant percentage" of that money from the IRS. Prosecutors will also argue that Manafort fraudulently obtained millions more in bank loans, including during his time on the campaign.

isn't that what every red blooded American attempt to do when filing his or her taxes??

And at least it has a lot to do with the 2016 Presidential Campaign and Russian interference!

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:
And what the F*CK does that have to do with Russia in 2016?

EXACTLY the question I was going to ask. I'm trying to solve for 'X'...

Tax Evasion + Bank Fraud + X = 2016 Russian Presidential Election Collusion

Not even using Common Core mathematical idiocy can I draw the line in this inane, moronic Mueller logic.

quote:

Originally posted by erj_pilot:

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:
And what the F*CK does that have to do with Russia in 2016?

EXACTLY the question I was going to ask. I'm trying to solve for 'X'...

Tax Evasion + Bank Fraud + X = 2016 Russian Presidential Election Collusion

Not even using Common Core mathematical idiocy can I draw the line in this inane, moronic Mueller logic.

I'm sure Mueller tried to get Manafort to flip on Trump, but maybe the truth is Manafort has nothing to offer?

quote:

Originally posted by RHINOWSO:
I'm sure Mueller tried to get Manafort to flip on Trump, but maybe the truth is Manafort has nothing to offer?

That's about what it smells like.

The judge in the case has the answers

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/0...fort-case-judge.html

“You don’t really care about Mr. Manafort’s bank fraud,” Judge T. S. Ellis III said during a court hearing in Alexandria.

“You really care about getting information that Mr. Manafort can give you that would reflect on Mr. Trump and lead to his prosecution or impeachment or whatever.”

He said that the crimes described in the indictment “manifestly don’t have anything to do with the campaign or with Russian collusion.” Some of the allegations, he noted, date to 2005 or 2007.

“I don’t see what relation this indictment has with anything the special counsel is authorized to investigate,”

“What we don’t want in this country is we don’t want anyone with unfettered power.”

prosecutors often hope to turn defendants into witnesses who can give evidence against more important targets. “The vernacular is ‘to sing,’” he said, or “tighten the screws.” He added, “I’m not saying it’s illegitimate.”

but after Judge Ellis read the super secret 2 Aug 2017 letter from Rosenstein to Mueller, he allowed the case to proceed.


still the operative basis:

“You really care about getting information that Mr. Manafort can give you that would reflect on Mr. Trump and lead to his prosecution or impeachment or whatever.”

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:

quote:

Originally posted by JALLEN:


Sessions cannot be involved with any of this under the recusal.

And he can UN-RECUSE himself at any point, yes?

That he has refused to do thus far as Mueller gets more and more out of bounds is very telling to me.

Not usually. I suppose it is not impossible for someone to “unrecuse” after a legitimate and good fsith recusal, but it would be very unusual.

The reason for recusal, some bias or interest or involvement in the matter to be resolved, or the appearance of such, doesn’t evaporate or diminish with time, etc.