Rather than avoid addressing the investigation via Twitter, particularly after White House aides suggested that the president might have lawyers vet his tweets, Trump is again seeking to use Twitter to divert attention from the investigation. It’s a sign Trump cannot be restrained from his impulsive Twitter use, and that he’s going to rely on it to draw attention to coverage he considers (somehow) favorable.
.. It is probably not an accident that Trump suddenly tweeted about Page early this morning. That’s because yesterday brought a barrage of negative Russia-related news: CNN reported that U.S. intelligence intercepted Russian communications with Russians saying that had “derogatory” financial information that could give them leverage over Trump and his inner circle.
.. The closer the investigation gets to the full story, the more Trump retreats into the Breitbart-Fox-and-Friends bubble. Inside this bubble, it is a truism that there is a “deep state” conspiracy theory
.. he’s really trying to blind himself, and his followers, from the scandal engulfing him.
Russia probe reaches current White House official, people familiar with the case say
The senior White House adviser under scrutiny by investigators is someone close to the president, according to these people, who would not further identify the official.
.. the investigative work now being done by the FBI also includes determining whether any financial crimes were committed by people close to the president.
.. The Flynn Intel Group was paid for research on Fethullah Gulen, a cleric who Turkey’s current president believes was responsible for a coup attempt last summer.
.. Flynn is being investigated by the Pentagon’s top watchdog for his foreign payments. Flynn also received $45,000 to appear in 2015 with Russian President Vladimir Putin at a dinner for RT
.. The White House also has acknowledged that Kushner met with Kislyak, the Russian ambassador to the United States, in late November. Kushner also has acknowledged that he met with the head of a Russian development bank, Vnesheconombank, which has been under U.S. sanctions since July 2014. The president’s son-in-law initially omitted contacts with foreign leaders from a national security questionnaire,
.. in early 2015, a man purporting to be one of its New York-based employees was arrested and accused of being an unregistered spy.
.. Evgeny Buryakov — ultimately pleaded guilty and was eventually deported. He had been in contact with former Trump adviser Carter
On the Comey Firing, a Race to the Bottom
Yet, the manner of the firing was ham-handed: The president’s bodyguard was dispatched to deliver the termination documents to what turned out to be an empty office, the White House having failed to check on the director’s whereabouts (he was on FBI business in California). And, as has become ever clearer over the last few days, the justifications for the action from the White House have been deceptive.
.. In a nutshell, Trump wanted to be rid of Comey but deflect responsibility for removing an FBI director less than four years into a ten-year term. So he directed Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Rosenstein to prepare a memo explaining the grounds of termination. Then, his team spun the firing as if it were the Justice Department’s idea, occurring now only because Rosenstein just started on the job. (Sessions has recused himself from aspects of the Russia inquiry, though the scope of the recusal is uncertain.) The White House tried to make it appear as if the president were merely concurring in the decision. Only when Rosenstein reportedly protested did Trump own up.
.. He also, disturbingly, said that he was thinking of Russia when he made the decision, contradicting everyone in the White House who said that had nothing to do with it.
.. It is understandable that Democrats are screaming bloody murder about events of the last few days — certainly Republicans would be doing the same if a Democrat were in the White House and axed an FBI director the way Trump has. But the analogies to Watergate — ubiquitous in the media — are overwrought
.. The objective of a foreign counterintelligence investigation is not to gather evidence of a specific violation of law in order to build a prosecutable criminal case against a suspect. It is to determine the actions and intentions of foreign powers to the extent they bear on American interests.
.. There have been reports that the FBI has been scrutinizing business dealings former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort had with Kremlin-connected Ukrainian politicians between 2005 and 2014, and business conducted in Russia by Carter Page, whose connection to the Trump campaign — which listed him as an adviser — appears remote. Trump’s shady longtime crony Roger Stone has boasted of a relationship with WikiLeaks chief Julian Assange, and there are suspicions he may have had prior knowledge that WikiLeaks would publish e-mails hacked from Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta
.. In short, it may be that this investigation really does have nothing to do with Donald Trump directly. That makes his petulant and self-destructive response to it all the more mystifying — except against the backdrop of his entire adult life, which has involved bullying and blustering his way to fame and fortune.
.. The more he complains and lashes out, the more the opposition turns up the heat. The race to the bottom may have just begun.
Flynn One of Many With Russian Ties Surrounding Trump
MIKE FLYNN
In December 2015, he visited Moscow to participate in a 10-year anniversary gala for RT, the Russian state-sponsored English-language network. In an interview last year with the Washington Post, Mr. Flynn said the network paid him through a speaking-engagement agent to attend the event.
PAUL MANAFORT
Advised pro-Russia Party of Regions in Ukraine.
CARTER PAGE
.. Mr. Page has stated that he “had the longest close relations with senior Russians amongst known supporters of the Trump campaign.”
RICK GATES
.. Deputy to Paul Manafort in advising pro-Russian Party of Regions in Ukraine.