,
Dec 16, 2016
Mueller charges 13 Russians with interfering in US election to help Trump
DoJ indictment alleges Russian operatives ‘communicated with unwitting individuals associated with the Trump campaign’
·
Ten key takeaways from the Mueller indictment
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/feb/16/robert-mueller-russians-charged-election
Eventhorizon, Feb 14, 2018
Dec 29, 2017
Jun 26, 2017
Although he is free to deny that it happened, Trump has
no standing to assert that collusion has been ruled out. The special counsel’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election and Russian contacts with Trump’s team is continuing and it’s premature to say “everyone found” there was nothing.
The probe has not publicly established that Moscow and the Trump team colluded — or that they didn’t. The same is true of other potential misdeeds, like obstruction of justice. Trump has often stated that even Democratic leaders have stated there was no collusion. In fact, they have only said that proof has not yet emerged.
http://ktar.com/story/1894826/ap-fact-check-trump-says-collusion-is-disproved-its-not/?show=comments
Exactly how much Mr. Papadopoulos said that night at the Kensington Wine Rooms with the Australian, Alexander Downer, is unclear. But two months later,
when leaked Democratic emails began appearing online, Australian officials passed the information about Mr. Papadopoulos to their American counterparts, according to four current and former American and foreign officials with direct knowledge of the Australians’ role.
The hacking and the revelation that a member of the Trump campaign may have had inside information about it were driving factors that led the F.B.I. to open an investigation in July 2016 into Russia’s attempts to disrupt the election and whether any of President Trump’s associates conspired.Together with more information about the Trump/Russia connection from the British and Dutch governments, plus a suspicious trip to Moscow by Trump adviser Carter Page, the FBI decided it had enough to open an investigation, which it kept quiet throughout the election
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/12/report-papadopoulos-sparked-russia-investigation.html
the Orbis report [the Steele Dossie] identified multiple elements of the Russian operation including a
cyber campaign,
leaked documents related to Hillary Clinton, and
meetings with Paul Manafort and other Trump affiliates to discuss the receipt of stolen documents. Mr. Steele could not have known that the Russians stole information on Hillary Clinton, or that they were considering means to weaponize them in the U.S. election, all of which
turned out to be stunningly accurate. ........... How could Steele and Orbis have known about the Russian overtures to the Trump Team involving derogatory information on Clinton?..... The Orbis documents refer repeatedly to Paul Manafort’s “off-the-books” payments from ousted Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych’s pro-Russian party, and Russian concerns that it may be a vulnerability that could jeopardize the effort. According to the Orbis report, the Russians were concerned about “
further scandals involving Manafort’s commercial and political role in Russia/Ukraine.” And, indeed, there have been further scandals since the Orbis reports were written..... Further, the Trump Administration’s effort lift sanctions on Russia immediately following the inauguration seems to mirror Orbis reporting related to Mr. Cohen’s promises to Russia, as reported in the Orbis documents.
https://www.justsecurity.org/44697/steele-dossier-knowing/
, Dec 8, 2017
a 2011 U.S. District Court ruling based on the 2002 law.
The judges said that the law bans foreign nationals "from making expenditures to expressly advocate the election or defeat of a political candidate."
Another election law specialist, John Coates at Harvard University Law School, said if Russians aimed to shape the outcome of the presidential election, that would meet the definition of an expenditure.
"The related funds could also be viewed as an illegal contribution to any candidate who coordinates (colludes) with the foreign speaker," Coates said.
http://www.politifact.com/punditfac...ws-hosts-wrong-no-law-forbids-russia-trump-c/
Dec 10, 2016
....a group of intelligence chiefs, including the director of National Intelligence, Dan Coats; the F.B.I. director, Christopher Wray; and the C.I.A. director, Mike Pompeo—all Trump Administration appointees—told a Senate panel that they were in accord with the findings of January, 2017, when the intelligence community asserted that
Russia had meddled in the 2016 elections and did so to the detriment of Hillary Clinton’s campaign.
[the Mueller ]indictment bluntly states that the intent of the Russian operation was to damage the Democratic candidate.
“Defendants’ operations included supporting the presidential campaign of then-candidate Donald J. Trump (‘Trump campaign’) and disparaging Hillary Clinton,”
https://www.newyorker.com/sections/news/muellers-indictments-end-trumps-myth-of-the-russia-hoax
·
Dec 18, 2016
POLITICS AUGUST 11, 2016 / 6:10 PM / 2 YEARS AGO
Exclusive: Congressional leaders were briefed a year ago on hacking of Democrats - sources
Mark Hosenball,
John Walcott
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...on-hacking-of-democrats-sources-idUSKCN10N00D
It's the summer of 2014. A hacker from the Dutch intelligence agency AIVD has penetrated the computer network of a university building next to the Red Square in Moscow, oblivious to the implications. One year later, from the AIVD headquarters in Zoetermeer,
he and his colleagues witness Russian hackers launching an attack on the Democratic Party in the United States. The AIVD hackers had not infiltrated just any building; they were in the computer network of the infamous Russian hacker group Cozy Bear. And unbeknownst to the Russians, they could see everything.
The Dutch
access provides crucial evidence of the Russian involvement in the hacking of the Democratic Party, according to six American and Dutch sources who are familiar with the material, but wish to remain anonymous. It's also grounds for the FBI to start an investigation into the influence of the Russian interference on the election race between the Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and the Republican candidate Donald Trump.
https://www.volkskrant.nl/media/dut...ssia-s-interference-in-us-elections~a4561913/
From late 2015 until the summer of 2016, during routine surveillance of Russians, several countries discovered interactions between the Trump campaign and Moscow. The UK, Germany, Estonia, Poland, and Australia (and possibly the Netherlands and France) relayed their discoveries to the U.S.[110]
According to The Guardian because the materials were highly sensitive, Robert Hannigan, then the director of the UK's GCHQ, contacted
CIA director John O. Brennan to give him information directly.[110] Concerned, Brennan gave classified briefings to U.S. Congress' "Gang of Eight" during late August and September 2016.[111] Referring only to intelligence allies and not to specific sources, Brennan told the Gang of Eight that he had received evidence that Russia might be trying to help Trump win the U.S. election.[110] It was later revealed that the CIA had obtained intelligence from "sources inside the Russian government" that stated that Putin gave direct orders to disparage Clinton and help Trump.[112]
https://www.revolvy.com/main/index.php?s=2016 United States election interference by Russia&item_type=topic
