Tuesday, July 17th.
THE RUSSIAN INVESTIGATION
- Special counsel Robert Mueller asks for immunity for five potential witnesses in Manafort Case
- Special counsel Robert Mueller asks for immunity for five witnesses in Paul Manafort trial
- Mueller Asks Manafort Judge to Give Immunity to Five Witnesses
- Mueller Asks Manafort Judge to Immunize Five Witnesses
Five witnesses being offered immunity for their testimony. This is pretty interesting. This could be part of why the judge offered a delay in the previously scheduled hearing. (Daily Check-In 07/16/2018)
- Russia-NRA Arrest: This Is as Close as It Gets to Collusion
- Russia-NRA Spy Charges Touch Reps. Rohrabacher, Meeks
- Shannon Watts: Maria Butina posing with GOP officials, politicians, and NRA officers
- Alleged Russian Operative Maria Butina Hung Out with Conservative Sheriff David Clarke
- Butina not a flight risk, her lawyer says at first court appearance – CNNPolitics
- Report: GOP Rep. Rohrabacher referenced in Butina affidavit
- ‘Putin’s Favorite Congressman’ Now Engulfed in NRA Spy Case
- Oops! These prominent conservatives mocked reports about NRA’s ties to Russia
- U.S. adds second charge against Russian national linked to NRA
- Grand jury approves indictment of Russian national Maria Butina
A grand jury has formally indicted Russian national Maria Butina on two charges, conspiracy and acting as a foreign agent without prior notification of the attorney general. She is alleged to have tried to infiltrate U.S. political organizations on behalf of a high-ranking Russian official over several years. At one point during the presidential campaign, she and the official tried unsuccessfully to broker a meeting between Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The indictment states that the 29-year-old Butina, who was arrested Sunday, entered the U.S. in August 2016 on an F-1 student visa. On her visa application, Butina stated she had been previously employed as special assistant to a Russian official, Alexander Torshin, the deputy governor of Russia’s central bank, but her employment with him had ended on May 20, 2016. In April 2018, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned Torshin.
Acting as a foreign agent. That’s legalese for being a spy. This felony carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison.
- Russian hackers used U.S. servers, bitcoin financing: Mueller
- Cambridge Analytica’s Facebook data was accessed from Russia, MP says
HELSINKI FALLOUT
Previously, on Treason: The Series
- We just watched a U.S. president acting on behalf of a hostile power
- Ret. Lt. Colonel: Trump is ‘actively betraying our country’
- Trump Is Colluding With Russia Right in Front of Our Eyes
- Donald Trump Tosses Word-Salad, Ends His Presidency in Helsinki – Observer
When offered the opportunity to state, for the record, how he feels about the IC’s unanimous finding that Kremlin spies meddled in his election, Trump did not obfuscate, he did not meander: he made abundantly clear that he considers the word of the Kremlin boss, the man who meddled in our 2016 election, to be as valid as the assessment of our vast, highly informed, 16-agency Intelligence Community.
Trump showed the world that he is Putin’s bitch.
Walkback
- Trump reverses remarks made at Putin summit on Russia meddling
- Trump says he accepts U.S. intelligence on Russian interference in 2016 election but denies collusion
- Trump wrote “no collusion” with a black marker in his prepared remarks on Putin—and misspelled it
- If Trump really misspoke when he defended Putin, he forgot to tell Tucker Carlson
- ‘That Was Strange’: Lights Dim As Trump Says He Has ‘Full Faith’ In US Intel
- In his prepared remarks, Trump removed a line about bringing election hackers to justice
- The Washington Post: Growing number in GOP call for Trump to fix the damage from Helsinki news conference
- Trump’s Attempt to Mop Up His Disastrous Putin Press Conference Is Just Insulting
- Warner: I give Trump 24 hours before he sides with Putin again
Don’t buy this for a second. Trump has only apologized publicly once before, after the Billy Bush tape dropped. Trump read a prepared statement with the enthusiasm of a hostage video, then within days started attacking everyone related to the video. Within a few weeks, he claimed the video was “faked” and that it wasn’t him.
Senator Warner might be a little generous. I’d be sadly unsurprised if by Thursday he wasn’t tweeting attacks at journalists “twisting his words” into “fake news”, only to breathlessly slob on Putin’s nob once again.
UPDATE: Trump denies Russia is targeting U.S. at Cabinet meeting . Really? He can’t stay on script not even one fucking day?! Time to start day drinking.
Kompromat
- Does Putin have kompromat on Trump? Suddenly, it’s no longer such a taboo question — thanks to Trump.
- Sen. Merkley says it’s “likely” that Russians have dirt on Trump
- Trump is behaving more and more like a ‘controlled spy’
- John Brennan says Russia likely recorded Trump’s conversation with Putin and will use it against him
Remember when talks about the Pee Pee tape were considered the realm of jokes and conspiracy theorists?
Welcome to the party.
Congress
- Democrats want Trump’s interpreter to testify before Congress
- Schumer demands hearings ‘immediately’ with Trump officials — including Pompeo
- Pompeo to testify in Senate after criticism of Trump-Putin summit
- Mike Pompeo to testify on Russia next week: Senate panel chair
- Mitch McConnell refutes Trump’s summit statements: The EU “is our friend, the Russians are not”
- Senate should not move forward with the ill-considered nomination of Brett Kavanaugh
- A New Reason for Trump to Release His Tax Returns: Helsinki
- House GOP blocks measure to condemn Trump
1:50 p.m.
House Republicans have used a party-line vote to block a Democratic measure aimed at condemning President Donald Trump’s stunning comments in Helsinki, Finland, about Russia. It was the first vote testing how Congress will react to Trump’s remarks.
On Monday, Trump stood beside Russian President Vladimir Putin and challenged American intelligence agencies’ findings that Moscow had interfered in the 2016 U.S. elections. He seemed to accept Putin’s insistence that his government had done nothing.
By 230-183, the House rejected a Democratic measure endorsing Speaker Paul Ryan’s remarks criticizing Russia. The Wisconsin Republican said “there is no question” Russia interfered in the elections and said there is “no moral equivalence” between the two countries.
The two-page Democratic proposal summarized Ryan’s points and said the House “expresses its agreement” with them.
In case anyone is wondering why the GOP would vote down a statement criticizing Russia, check out the list of people Maria Butina’s been in contact with.
Bill Browder
- Bill Browder: BREAKING: The Russian authorities want to question former US Ambassador @McFaul along with officers of DHS and the DOJ who were investigating the Magnitsky case as part of the Putin/Trump Helsinki quid pro quo over me and the 12 Russian GRU agents
- Bill Browder: Russian General Prosecutor wants to “interview” agents who investigated Magnitsky case
- I’m Bill Browder. Here’s the Biggest Mistake Putin Made When Trying to Get Access to Me Through Trump
In addition, the Global Magnitsky Justice Campaign has investigated and found the $230 million that Sergei Magnitsky exposed and was killed over. There are now a number of live law-enforcement investigations around the world determining just who benefited from this crime. These have resulted in tens of millions of dollars of frozen assets. Furthermore, these investigations don’t only put at risk the beneficiaries of this crime, but the benificiaries of many other similar crimes. These people are ready to kill to keep their money. Losing it would be devastating.
Putin’s latest allegation that I donated $400 million to Hillary Clinton is so ludicrous and untrue that it falls into delusion. I’ve never made a political donation to Hillary Clinton or any other political candidate. It’s in the same category as other Russian government allegations against me: they accused me of being a serial killer; they accused me of being a CIA/MI6 agent determined to destroy the Russian government; and they accused me of somehow stealing $4.8 billion of IMF money back in the 1990s that was destined for the Russian Treasury. These guys have seriously lost their cool and are beginning to make mistakes.
The biggest mistake that Putin made in his offer today to effectively swap me for the 12 Russian agents is that he went to the wrong head of state. Although I was born in America, I emigrated to the United Kingdom 29 years ago and am a British citizen. If he really wants me, he better go talk to Theresa May, who might have a few choice words for him after Russian agents spread the military-grade nerve agent Novichok across the cathedral town of Salisbury, England.
Bill’s a Brit now, not a Yankee.
Protests
- Widespread protests on tap after Trump show of servility to Putin
- Protests erupt outside of White House as Trump returns from Putin summit
- Avenatti calls Trump a ‘Manchurian candidate’ in front of the White House
- Trump Baby Balloon to come to USA
- Trump’s face is the now first result when you Google ‘idiot’
Protests aren’t just physical, they can take place anywhere on the internet, too.
Attack on the United States
- Putin’s Attack on the U.S. Is Our Pearl Harbor
- Watergate prosecutor: Trump-Putin summit ‘will live in infamy as much as the Pearl Harbor attack or Kristallnacht’
- Opinion | Stop calling it ‘meddling.’ It’s actually information warfare.
I prefer the phrase “Act of War.”
Republicans
- Trump’s Defense of Putin Proves Too Much for Some Republicans
- Conservative magazine calls on GOP Congress to censure Trump
It’s nice to see that some of them are still Country of Party types.
Impeachment
- President Trump’s Summit with Vladimir Putin Shows We’re in a Crisis with One Constitutional Solution
- It’s time for impeachment, says Beto O’Rourke, after Donald Trump summit with Russia’s Putin
- America has no choice but to impeach Trump now
- Calls for Trump Impeachment Grow as ‘Bizarre’ Helsinki Performance Draws Epic Backlash
- Trump must be removed for ‘treasonous conduct’ with Putin, says former White House ethics chief
Remember, Impeachment starts in the House, and is not removal from office. That second part is done by the Senate. GTKYG-Presidential Removal Processes.
Staffers Caught By Surprise
- “This Was the Nightmare Scenario”: The West Wing Revolts After Trump Embraces Putin
- The Washington Post: ‘Very much counter to the plan’: Trump defies advisers in embrace of Putin
- Russia Ambassador Jon Huntsman Urged to Resign Immediately in Newspaper Owned by His Own Family
MH17
- Ed Hardy: Anniversary of MH17 being shot down by a Russian missile
- Donald Trump says Russia isn’t to blame for MH17 downing – CNNPolitics
Players Speak
- Former U.S. President Barack Obama in high-profile speech calls today’s times ‘strange and uncertain’
- Hillary Clinton was exactly right about Trump being Putin’s puppet
- Longtime Republican James Comey Tells ‘All Who Care’ To Vote Democrat In November
- Obama: Those in power are trying to ‘undermine every institution or norm that gives democracy meaning’
Obama’s been quiet for a long time, he doesn’t speak unless something big is going on.
COLD WAR 2.0
- US and UK intelligence agencies concerned Russia is readying to ramp up aggression after World Cup lull – CNNPolitics
- Trump fundamentally undermines NATO, suggests ‘aggressive’ Montenegro may attack Russia to start World War III
- Trump now says no ‘time limit’ to denuclearize North Korea, notes ‘Putin is going to be involved’
- U.S. Jerusalem Embassy to Cost 100 Times More Than Trump Claimed
- Queen Elizabeth wore brooch from Obamas on the day Trump arrived in the UK
IMMIGRATION
- How Michael Avenatti Joined Forces With a Border-Town Lawyer to Fight for Immigrant Kids
- Alt Immigration: Sec Neilsen’s Daily Happy Hour Trips
- Hillary Clinton’s view of America under Trump: “organized cruelty”
#NEVERAGAIN
THE PROPAGANDA MACHINE: DEFENDING TREASON EDITION
- Sean Hannity interview with Donald Trump after the Russia summit was just embarrassing
- Jeanine Pirro defends Trump: Was he supposed to shoot Putin? | TheHill
- Hannity Trashes ‘Weak, Pathetic, Visionless, Feckless, Spineless Republicans’ for Criticizing Trump
- Hannity wins as Trump’s lone defender
- If Trump really misspoke when he defended Putin, he forgot to tell Tucker Carlson
- Trump on Hannity: We Know There’s No Russia Collusion, Because Putin Said So
- Rand Paul Blasts ‘Ridiculous’ Calls for Hearings Following Trump-Putin Summit
WHITE HOUSE CHAOS
- I.R.S. Will No Longer Force Kochs and Other Groups to Disclose Donors
- NRA will no longer need to identify their donors to the IRS
GOP: THE PARTY OF LINCOLN IS DEAD
- The Republican Party Is Now the Blame America Party
- Republicans have decided to follow Trump off a cliff of treachery
- Wherein Rand Paul Pretends To Be A Libertarian Before Folding Like A Cheap Chair: Brett Kavanaugh Edition
- 15 Times Jeff Flake Criticized Trump, Then Nothing Happened
- Elon Musk Has Donated Nearly 7 Times As Much To Republicans This Cycle | HuffPost
CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
- Jury convicts ex-N.Y. state senate leader of soliciting bribes
- Jury Convicts Texas Man of Hate Crime in the Burning of Victoria, Texas, Mosque
ELECTION 2018
- Longtime Republican James Comey Tells ‘All Who Care’ To Vote Democrat In November
- Comey urges Americans to vote for Democrats in midterms
- NSA and Cyber Command to coordinate actions to counter Russian election interference in 2018 amid absence of White House guidance
- Mueller Indictment Adds Urgency to Securing 2018 Midterm Elections – WSJ
- Poll: Corruption message gaining traction against GOP
- Poll: Dem challenger narrowly leads 30-year incumbent Rohrabacher
- Amidst Reports of Russian Election Hacking, Governor Cuomo Unveils Comprehensive Initiative to Strengthen State’s Election Cyber Security Infrastructure and Protect Against Foreign Interference
- Voting Machine Vendor Changes Story, Admits They Put Remote-Access Software on Machines for Years
- Voting-Machine Vendor Put Remote-Access Software on Systems Sold to U.S.
- Top Voting Machine Vendor Admits It Installed Remote-Access Software on Systems Sold to States
The nation’s top voting machine maker has admitted in a letter to a federal lawmaker that the company installed remote-access software on election-management systems it sold over a period of six years, raising questions about the security of those systems and the integrity of elections that were conducted with them.
In a letter sent to Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) in April and obtained recently by Motherboard, Election Systems and Software acknowledged that it had “provided pcAnywhere remote connection software … to a small number of customers between 2000 and 2006,” which was installed on the election-management system ES&S sold them.
The statement contradicts what the company told me and fact checkers for a story I wrote for the New York Times in February. At that time, a spokesperson said ES&S had never installed pcAnywhere on any election system it sold. “None of the employees, … including long-tenured employees, has any knowledge that our voting systems have ever been sold with remote-access software,” the spokesperson said.
ES&S did not respond on Monday to questions from Motherboard, and it’s not clear why the company changed its response between February and April. Lawmakers, however, have subpoena powers that can compel a company to hand over documents or provide sworn testimony on a matter lawmakers are investigating, and a statement made to lawmakers that is later proven false can have greater consequence for a company than one made to reporters.
…
In May 2006 in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, ES&S technicians used the pcAnywhere software installed on that county’s election-management system for hours trying to reconcile vote discrepancies in a local election, according to a reportfiled at the time. And in a contract with Michigan, which covered 2006 to 2009, ES&S discussed its use of pcAnywhere and modems for this purpose.
…
The presence of such software makes a system more vulnerable to attack from hackers, especially if the remote-access software itself contains security vulnerabilities. If an attacker can gain remote access to an election-management system through the modem and take control of it using the pcAnywhere software installed on it, he can introduce malicious code that gets passed to voting machines to disrupt an election or alter results.
Wyden told Motherboard that installing remote-access software and modems on election equipment “is the worst decision for security short of leaving ballot boxes on a Moscow street corner.”
By the way, those are the same machines used in Allegheny county to this day. We need paper ballots yesterday.
DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISM
- We Can Pay For Free College The Same Way We Paid For A Pointless $5.6 Trillion War
- Mayor issues directive on climate change
- Fed chief lays out risks of trade war
- Federal Reserve chair calls decline in workers’ share of profits ‘very troubling’
RUMOR MILL
- Spicy Mic on Butina’s Arrest
- Spicy Mic on Butina’s Lawyer
- Louise Neufy: All Aboard The Treason Train
- Louise Neufy: Butina took a lot of pics with people
- Lincoln’s Bible: Russian Mob
- Alt Immigration: Sec Neilsen’s Daily Happy Hour Trips
- Donald Trump Tosses Word-Salad, Ends His Presidency in Helsinki – Observer
- Counterchekist: Things are just getting started
That’s it for Tuesday. Things are starting to come together, the threads are meshing together. The American Project included several vectors of attack, and we’re seeing more of them converge. We’ve already seen Michael Cohen’s shady business deals tie in with the Russians, now it’s the NRA’s turn. As more comes out, the weirder this will get.
In the meantime, I’m adding Maria Butina to The Indicted. She may not be charged by Mueller, but she’s involved. She’ll go in the other section.
Thank you, and have a good one.
“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”
– Katy Tur
None of this is Normal 
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