Mod: A roundup of some of the latest Treasongate news. Let's start with some insightful new revelations about a Russian asset known as the National Rifle Association.
NRA Was 'Foreign Asset' To Russia Ahead of 2016, New Senate Report Reveals (
NPR link): Drawing on contemporaneous emails and private interviews, an 18-month probe by the
Senate Finance Committee's Democratic staff found that the
NRA underwrote political access for
Russian nationals
Maria Butina and
Alexander Torshin more than previously known — even though the two had declared their ties to the
Kremlin.
The report, available here, also describes how closely the gun rights group was involved with organizing a 2015 visit by some of its leaders to
Moscow.
Then-
NRA vice president
Pete Brownell, who would later become
NRA president, was enticed to visit
Russia with the promise of personal business opportunities — and the
NRA covered a portion of the trip's costs. The conclusions of the
Senate investigation could have legal implications for the
NRA,
Wyden says.
Tax-exempt organizations are barred from using funds for the personal benefit of its officials or for actions significantly outside their stated missions. The revelations in the
Senate report raise questions about whether the
NRA could face civil penalties or lose its tax-exempt status.
Mod: This next story led to an immediate public outcry, and Mad Rudy was forced to cancel the trip. But that he would even consider such a thing is news enough.
Giuliani set to make paid appearance next week at Kremlin-backed conference that includes Putin (
Washington Post link):
Rudolph W. Giuliani, whose actions as President
Trump’s personal lawyer have helped set in motion an impeachment inquiry, is set to appear as a paid speaker at a
Kremlin-backed conference in
Armenia on Tuesday — an event expected to include the participation of
Russian President Vladimir Putin and other top
Russian officials.
Giuliani confirmed to
The Washington Post on Friday that he plans to take part in a panel at the conference sponsored by
Russia and the
Moscow-based
Eurasian Economic Union, a trade alliance launched by
Putin in 2014 as a counterweight to the
European Union.
According to an agenda for the event posted online,
Giuliani is set to participate in a panel led by
Sergey Glazyev, a longtime
Putin adviser who has been under
U.S. sanctions since
Russia’s invasion of
Ukraine five years ago.
Giuliani’s decision to take part in the conference astounded national security experts. His scheduled appearance comes days after the release of a whistleblower complaint accusing
Trump and
Giuliani of pressuring
Ukrainian officials for damaging information about
Democrats.
Mod: More uncomfortable news for the Traitor In Chief.
Trump told Russian officials in 2017 he wasn't concerned about Moscow's interference in U.S. election (
Washington Post link):
President Trump told two senior
Russian officials in a 2017
Oval Office meeting that he was unconcerned about
Moscow's interference in the
U.S. election because the
United States did the same in other countries, an assertion that prompted alarmed
White House officials to limit access to the remarks to an unusually small number of people, according to three former officials with knowledge of the matter.
The comments, which have not been previously reported, were part of a now-infamous meeting with
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and
Russian ambassador
Sergey Kislyak, in which
Trump revealed highly classified information that exposed a source of intelligence on the
Islamic State. He also said during the meeting that firing
FBI Director James B. Comey the day before had relieved "great pressure" on him.
A memorandum summarizing the meeting was limited to all but a few officials with the highest security clearances in an attempt to keep the president's comments from being disclosed publicly, according to the former officials, who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.
The
White House's classification of records about
Trump's communications with foreign officials is now a central part of the impeachment inquiry launched this week by
House Democrats. An intelligence community whistleblower has alleged that the
White House placed a record of
Trump's July 25 phone call with
Ukraine's president, in which he offered
U.S. assistance investigating his political opponents, into a code-word classified system reserved for the most sensitive intelligence information. The
White House did not provide a comment Friday.
White House restricted access to Trump's calls with Putin and Saudi crown prince (
CNN link):
White House efforts to limit access to
President Donald Trump's conversations with foreign leaders extended to phone calls with
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and
Russian leader
Vladimir Putin, according to people familiar with the matter. Those calls -- both with leaders who maintain controversial relationships with
Trump -- were among the presidential conversations that aides took remarkable steps to keep from becoming public.
In the case of
Trump's call with
Prince Mohammed, officials who ordinarily would have been given access to a rough transcript of the conversation never saw one, according to one of the sources. Instead, a transcript was never circulated at all, which the source said was highly unusual, particularly after a high-profile conversation. The call - which the person said contained no especially sensitive national security secrets -- came as the
White House was confronting the murder of journalist Jamal
Khashoggi, which
US intelligence assessments said came at the hand of the Saudi government.
Mod: Do you think Trump will do all he can to obey the following Kremlin request?
Kremlin says it hopes U.S. won't release details of Putin-Trump calls (
MSN.com link):
The Kremlin said on Friday that it hoped that Washington would not release confidential details of phone calls between President Vladimir Putin and his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov made the comment when asked about the White House's release of a reconstruction of Trump's July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy that has set off a U.S. domestic political storm.
Peskov said it was not normal diplomatic practice to release confidential details of such calls and that he hoped the bad state of ties with Washington would not lead to a similar situation arising in Russia's case.
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