Sessions, who as an Alabama senator led a foreign policy advisory council for the Trump campaign, has been dogged since January by his evolving explanations about his own foreign contacts during the campaign and about how much he knew of communication between Trump associates and Russian government intermediaries.
Those questions have only deepened since the guilty plea last month of George Papadopoulos, a former Trump adviser who served on the council Sessions chaired and who proposed arranging a meeting between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. As well, another aide, Carter Page, told Congress in private statements that he had alerted Sessions about a meeting he planned in Russia during the campaign.
Sessions said he had no recollection of the conversation with Page. And he said that though he did not initially recall a March 2016 conversation with Papadopoulos, he now believes that he told Papadopoulos that he was not authorized to represent the Trump campaign with the Russian government or any other foreign government.
I gotta be honest here: I look great in my own reconstructed memories, too.
He protested a lot, too.
“In all of my testimony, I can only do my best to answer all of your questions as I understand them and to the best of my memory,” Sessions told the House Judiciary Committee. “But I will not accept, and reject, accusations that I have ever lied under oath. That is a lie.”
:dubious: Too much protesting, maybe?
Totally not unrelated Cracked video: Weird How Everyone President Trump Knows Does Crimes
JohnT
November 14, 2017, 6:51pm
2905
This is fine. :drinks coffee:
On Aug. 3 of last year, just as the US presidential election was entering its final, heated phase, the Russian foreign ministry sent nearly $30,000 to its embassy in Washington. The wire transfer, which came from a Kremlin-backed Russian bank, landed in one of the embassy’s Citibank accounts and contained a remarkable memo line: “to finance election campaign of 2016.”
That wire transfer is one of more than 60 now being scrutinized by the FBI and other federal agencies investigating Russian involvement in the US election. The transactions, which moved through Citibank accounts and totaled more than $380,000, each came from the Russian foreign ministry and most contained a memo line referencing the financing of the 2016 election.
I was ready to declare this the smoking gun to end all smoking guns. But the article also says:
The transactions, which moved through Citibank accounts and totaled more than $380,000, each came from the Russian foreign ministry and most contained a memo line referencing the financing of the 2016 election.
The money wound up at Russian embassies in almost 60 countries from Afghanistan to Nigeria between Aug. 3 and Sept. 20, 2016.
<snip>
Much as checks include a memo line, wire transfers often include a note that states what the money is for. The note on this set of transfers does not indicate what election the money was to be used for, or even the country. Seven nations had federal elections during the span when the funds were sent — including the Duma, Russia’s lower house of Parliament, on Sept. 18, 2016. Russian embassies and diplomatic compounds opened polling stations for voters living abroad.
FTR, I think Trump and his whole administration are up to their eyeballs in Russian money, influence, and possibly hooker urine. But, in the interest of being as fair-minded as possible, I could see this being an actual legitimate expense for handling polling for Russians living abroad, especially since the money went to almost 60 other countries. For now, I’m leaning toward this not being that significant a finding.
Smoking gun of what? That Russia interfered? That’s a given. That there was coordination between Russia and the Trump campaign? I’m not sure how that money proves anything. We don’t know what it was used for after it was received by the embassy, right?
*"The wire transfer, which came from a Kremlin-backed Russian bank, landed in one of the embassy’s Citibank accounts and contained a remarkable memo line: “to finance election campaign of 2016.”
If you were funneling illicit money into a campaign, would you really write this in the memo line?
Ludovic
November 15, 2017, 1:18pm
2910
They may have done that on purpose since their goal is to cause instability: the CFSG’s pro-Russian stance is secondary. So enraging people with such a blatantly obvious line might be exactly what they are looking for.
Looks like the Russian investment in the election is paying off.
Under a $2.8 million no-bid contract awarded by the Office of Acquisitions in Washington, security guards at the American Embassy in Moscow and at consulates in St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg and Vladivostok will be provided by Elite Security Holdings, a company closely linked to the former top K.G.B. figure, Viktor G. Budanov, a retired general who rose through the ranks to become head of Soviet counterintelligence.
What could go wrong? Having a hostile nation’s former spy chief in charge of security at your embassy, no risk there move right along.
“This is very good for us,” said Mikhail Lyubimov, a former K.G.B. spy who knew Mr. Budanov from their time together in the Soviet intelligence service. “If I were the chief there, I would never do this for a very clear reason,” he said, adding that the Russian Embassy in Washington would not put security in the hands of an American company known to have ties to the C.I.A.
Fiveyearlurker:
*"The wire transfer, which came from a Kremlin-backed Russian bank, landed in one of the embassy’s Citibank accounts and contained a remarkable memo line: “to finance election campaign of 2016.”
If you were funneling illicit money into a campaign, would you really write this in the memo line?
I’d rather look at the transfers with “adoption” in the memo line.
Rick_Kitchen:
Does Russia gaf?
True, but this is so brazen that one has to wonder if the point of it is to get caught.
Long, interesting Guardian article about Christopher Steele and the famous dossier:
jasg
November 15, 2017, 10:28pm
2915
Astounding. Thanks for the link.
dgrdfd
November 16, 2017, 3:22am
2916
Where’s our resident Legal Beagle and the other Trump apologists? They sure are quiet lately.
I found that to be a fascinating read. Thanks for posting it!
Chronos
November 16, 2017, 3:52am
2918
Russia’s fond of smoking guns that leave the barest fig leaf of deniability but which don’t leave any actual doubt. The whole point is to send a message. See also, for instance, the polonium assassinations: Why use polonium instead of something more mundane like cyanide? Because polonium makes it clear that it was done by a nuclear power, i.e., Russia.
In case it was missed, immediately after the abrupt ending of the article is an italicized blurb stating that the article was lifted from a book that Guardian Press is publishing this week . I ordered a copy and with shipping it came to about £19 (about $25).
He seems to suggest that the Russians tried to lure Il Douche with financial enticements but were consistently rebuffed. Gotta wonder why. Or maybe just “if”?
U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and close adviser, Jared Kushner, had at least three previously undisclosed contacts with the Russian ambassador to the United States during and after the 2016 presidential campaign, seven current and former...
So, this is what, the 15th time Kushner has lied about Russian contacts? The fact that he has a security clearance is a disgrace.
That’s dated May 26th, so it may just have been the 8th time.
jasg
November 18, 2017, 2:13am
2923
In today’s news, we have Jared communicating with another Russian, Alexander Torshin.
An email chain described Aleksander Torshin, a former senator and deputy head of Russia’s central bank who is close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, as wanting Trump to attend an event on the sidelines of a National Rifle Association convention in Louisville, Kentucky, in May 2016, the sources said. The email also suggests Torshin was seeking to meet with a high-level Trump campaign official during the convention, and that he may have had a message for Trump from Putin, the sources said.
At an NRA Convention???
Why do Russians attend? Are foreigners common at NRA events?