 U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin met Monday in Helsinki Finland. Their meeting, attended only by the two leaders and their translators, lasted more than 2 hours. After their meeting the two held a joint press conference. CNN’s film of the entire press conference can be seen here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwxqOoIyWm0 The transcript of their remarks can be found here. https://www.npr.org/2018/07/16/629462401/transcript-president-trump-and-russian-president-putins-joint-press-conference An unusual exchange took place between Associated Press reporter Jonathan Lemire and Putin. Lemire asked a set of questions: “Two questions for you, sir. Can you tell me what President Trump may have indicated to you about officially recognizing Crimea as part of Russia? And then secondly, sir, do you, does the Russian government have any compromising material on President Trump or his family?” Putin did not directly answer the second question. (chuckles) “The posture of President Trump on Crimea is well known and he stands firmly by it, he continues to maintain that it was illegal to annex it. We - our viewpoint is different. We held a referendum in strict compliance with the UN Charter and international legislation. “For us, this issue, we put unintelligible to this issue. “And now to the compromising material. “Yeah, I did heard these rumors that we allegedly collected compromising material on Mr. Trump when he was visiting Moscow. “Our distinguished colleague, let me tell you this. “When President Trump visited Moscow back then I didn't even know that he was in Moscow. I treat President Trump with utmost respect. But back then, when he was a private individual, a businessman, nobody informed me that he was in Moscow. “But let's take St. Petersburg economic forum, for instance. There were over 500 American businessmen - the high ranking, the high level ones, I don't even remember the last names of each and every one of them. “Do you think that we tried to collect compromising material on each and every single one of them? Well, it's difficult to imagine an utter nonsense of a bigger scale than this. “Well, please just disregard these issues and don't think about this anymore again.” President Trump immediately added: “And I have to say if they had it, it would have been out long ago and if anybody watched Peter Strzok testify over the last couple of days and I was in Brussels watching it, it was a disgrace to the FBI, it was a disgrace to our country. And you would say that was a total witch hunt. Thank you very much everybody. Thank you.” When Trump visited Moscow with the Miss Universe Pageant in December 2013, he was visited by Dmitri Peskov, Kremlin press secretary, who explained that Putin was unable to come. The Washington Post, in June of 2016, reported that Trump associate Aras Agalarov said in an interview that Trump received a gift from Putin before he left Moscow: "Putin canceled at the last minute, but he sent a decorative lacquered box, a traditional Russian gift, and a warm note, according to Aras Agalarov." https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/inside-trumps-financial-ties-to-russia-and-his-unusual-flattery-of-vladimir-putin/2016/06/17/dbdcaac8-31a6-11e6-8ff7-7b6c1998b7a0_story.html?utm_term=.b2fc6f182f51 http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2018/jul/16/vladimir-putin-didnt-know-trump-was-moscow-2013/
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 Russian gun-rights activist Mariia Butina was arrested Sunday in Washington, D.C. She has been charged with acting as an agent of the Russian Federation.
Butina, according to the indictment, acted as a front for a Russian gun advocacy group called The Right to Bear Arms - which is a bit of a joke, since there are no rights to bear arms in Russia. Butina has been attending graduate school in international relations at American University, and recently received a graduate degree. The Department of Justice press release explains the charges: “ … [F]rom as early as 2015 and continuing through at least February 2017, Butina worked at the direction of a high-level official in the Russian government who was previously a member of the legislature of the Russian Federation and later became a top official at the Russian Central Bank. This Russian official was sanctioned by the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control in April 2018. “The court filings detail the Russian official’s and Butina’s efforts for Butina to act as an agent of Russia inside the United States by developing relationships with U.S. persons and infiltrating organizations having influence in American politics, for the purpose of advancing the interests of the Russian Federation. The filings also describe certain actions taken by Butina to further this effort during multiple visits from Russia and, later, when she entered and resided in the United States on a student visa. The filings allege that she undertook her activities without officially disclosing the fact that she was acting as an agent of Russian government, as required by law.” Butina was a very active proponent of gun rights in the U.S., attending numerous events sponsored by the National Rifle Association. She has been a longtime associate of Aleksandr Torshin, former chairman of the Russian Federation Council. Torshin met with Donald Trump Jr. at a private dinner during the May 2016 N.R.A. convention in Louisville, Kentucky. Torshin may be the “official of the Russian Federation” mentioned in the indictment. The indictment mentions that Butina attempted to exploit relationships with “U.S. persons having influence in American politics in an effort to advance the interests of the Russian Federation.” One of those persons may be Paul Erickson, a GOP operative who has bragged about advising Trump. Butina and Torshin met with officials of the NRA and Republican politicians, included many who have been vocally supportive of Donald Trump. Tim Mak profiled Butina for The Daily Beast in February 2017. https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-kremlin-and-gop-have-a-new-friendand-boy-does-she-love-guns Denise Clifton and Mark Follman, in the May/June 2018 edition of Mother Jones, about Butina and her ties to the Trump campaign and the Trump administration. https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/03/trump-russia-nra-connection-maria-butina-alexander-torshin-guns/ Talking Points Memo has gathered photos of NRA officials and Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin posing with Butina and Torshin. Both Butina and Torshin are life members of the NRA. https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/maria-butina-photos-nra-leaders-gop The Department of Justice press release can be read here. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/russian-national-charged-conspiracy-act-agent-russian-federation-within-united-states The indictment can be read here. https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1080761/download An affadavit from FBI special agent Kevin Helson can be read here. https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1080766/download  Today Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein announced indictments against 12 Russian citizens. The accused, all members of Russian military intelligence (GRU) acting in official capacities, are accused of a “sustained effort” to break into Democratic National Committee computers and other Democratic computer networks to steal emails and other data.
U.S. intelligence agencies have previously announced that the sophisticated operation undertaken by representatives of the Russian government was designed to help elect Donald Trump president. According to the indictment, the hacking targeted the Hilary Clinton campaign, Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. They then released that “information on the internet under the names DCLeaks and Guccifer 2.0 and through another entity." At a news conference announcing the indictments, Rosenstein said: "There is no allegation in this indictment that any American citizen committed a crime. There is no allegation that the conspiracy altered the vote count or changed any election result." The defendants "corresponded with several Americans during the course of the conspiracy through the Internet." The indictment can be read in its entirety here. http://cdn.cnn.com/cnn/2018/images/07/13/gru.indictment.pdf According to the indictment, hackers used a technique known as spearphishing - sending emails that seem to be from a trusted source and encourages users to click on a link that compromises the account. The conspirators targeted the Clinton campaign throughout the summer of 2016, and successfully gained access to thousands of emails. Campaign chairman John Podesta’s 50,000 hacked emails were among those stolen. (His risotto recipe became famous as a result of the publication of these stolen emails.) Intelligence officers also allegedly implanted malware on the DNC and DCCC networks, which enabled them to monitor individual employees’ computer activity, steal passwords, and maintain access. The hackers used false identities “DC Leaks” and “Guccifer 2.0” to gain access to records from 2,000 donors. The hackers used cryptocurrency to finance their activities. While this indictment does not name any Americans, some of the Americans who may be named in future indictments are mentioned. 1. On Aug. 15, 2016, the hackers, under the personal Guccifer 2.0, “wrote to a person who was in regular contact with senior members of the presidential campaign for Donald J. Trump.” In August 2017, Roger Stone, Trump campaign advisor, wrote an opinion article published in Breitbart News telling Clinton to stop blaming Russia for the data hack. 2. An American reporter received stolen data from Guccifer 2.0, and went on to publish that material. “It doesn’t seem to be the Russians that hacked the DNC, but instead a hacker who goes by the name of Guccifer 2.0,” he wrote. In fact, Guccifer 2.0 was a Russian intelligence persona. Both Lee Stranahan, who currently works for Sputnik, and Cassandra Fairbanks, who has worked for Breitbart, Sputnik, and Big League Politics, have bragged that they were in contact with Guccifer 2.0 during the campaign. Stranahan stated in a Tweet today: “I’m one of a relatively small number of journalists who communicated with Guccifer 2.0. I’ve discussed this publicly a number of times for over year.” A CNN report on the indictments can be found here. https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/13/politics/russia-investigation-indictments/index.html A PBS report can be found here. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/5-things-we-learned-from-muellers-new-russia-indictment Scott Pruitt’s resignation letter was published by multiple outlets today. https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/05/politics/scott-pruitt-resignation-letter/index.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/read-epa-administrator-scott-pruitts-resignation-letter/2018/07/05/33a320b6-8092-11e8-b0ef-fffcabeff946_story.html?utm_term=.9533450efe05 https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2018/07/05/scott-pruitt-resignation-letter/761174002/   Scott Pruitt, EPA Administrator, has resigned. According to the New York Times, there were 13 federal inquiries into his behavior as EPA chief, including an investigation into reports that he retaliated against employees of the agency who questioned him.
The charges against Pruitt are detailed in a New York Times article here. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/18/climate/scott-pruitt-epa-investigations-guide.html Glenn Fleishman in Fortune magazine listed the following separate investigations, which are currently being investigated by the EPA Inspector General or the General Accounting Office. 1. Pruitt fired an aide after she refused to alter items on his calendar. 2. Pruitt asked staff to find his wife a job with a salary of at least $200,000. 3. Pruitt used official channels to try to get his wife a Chick-Fil-A franchise. 4. Pruitt used a secret email address instead of an official one to conduct government business. (This is the same thing Clinton was accused of doing, which led to chants of “Lock her up!” at Trump rallies and the Republican National Convention.) 5. Pruitt used a loophole to award raises to staff without White House knowledge, after being told he could not. 6. Pruitt got a huge discount from a lobbyist for an apartment he rented for $50 a month in Washington, D.C. 7. Pruitt chartered flights and flew first class, generating excessive travel bills. 8. Pruitt had a $43,000 secure compartmentalized information facility (SCIF) installed in his office. 9. Pruitt maintained a large security detail, far larger than any previous Cabinet secretary. 10. Pruitt appeared in a video for a lobbying group, opposing a clean-water rule put into effect under the Obama Administration. 11. Pruitt dismissed scientists from advisory boards and used political appointees to help select new members. 12. A former EPA policy administrator drew a salary for parts of three months during which she wasn’t working. 13. Pruitt hired lobbyists in apparent violation of a Trump order regarding ethics and recent lobbying. 14. Pruitt gave a Superfund job to a banker who had provided loans to Pruitt and whose bank had failed. The staffer resigned abruptly in May 2018. The Fortune article can be found here. http://fortune.com/2018/07/05/scott-pruitt-epa-trump-resigns-scandal/ In April 2018, Mother Jones detailed the many reasons that Pruitt’s many ethical issues were not a surprise to the Trump administration, based on his past behavior. https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2018/04/scott-pruitt-was-always-an-ethical-nightmare/  In April of 2017, Shane Goldmacher reported in Politico noted that Justice Anthony Kennedy and President Trump had a conversation after Trump’s first speech to Congress that was picked up by boom microphones.
Here is the conversation they had, as quoted in Politico: “Say hello to your boy,” Trump said, “Special guy.” “Your kids have been very nice to him,” Kennedy replied. “Well,” Trump said, “they love him, and they love him in New York.” Kennedy’s son Gregory Kennedy worked at NASA in the early days of the Trump administration, as one of the political appointees the president chose to serve as his eyes and ears at major federal agencies. (That group of appointees was described by ProPublica in March 2017 and revised in August of the same year. ProPublica reported that Gregory Kennedy was appointed January 20, Inauguration Day.) Gregory Kennedy attended Stanford law School with Trump technology advisor Peter Thiel, and his company, Disruptive Technology Advisors, has worked with Thiel’s company, Palantir. Justin Kennedy is an associate of Donald Trump, Jr., through New York real estate. He has worked for Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank. Financial Times reported in August 2017: “Justin Kennedy, a trader who arrived from Goldman to become one of Mr Trump’s most trusted associates over a 12-year spell at Deutsche, is the son of a Supreme Court justice.” While Justin Kennedy was a co-owner of LNR Properties, the company came to the rescue of Kushner’s troubled property at 666 5th Avenue, which he bought at the top of the market and has since scrambled to hold onto. The Real Deal New York described the bail-out in 2011. https://therealdeal.com/2011/07/07/jared-kushner-reaches-tentative-deal-with-lnr-property-to-save-666-fifth-avenue/ It seems that there are a number of family-financial connections between the Trump and Kennedy families. Perhaps Justice Kennedy should have recused himself from Supreme Court cases involving the Trump administration. Tuesday Justice Kennedy wrote a concurrence for the Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision to uphold Trump’s travel ban on people from seven countries (Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Syria, Venezuela, and Yemen). Wednesday, he announced that he will retire from the Court at the end of July. Perhaps in his less-than-two-page concurrence he left a clue to his reasons for retirement. (His concurrence begins on page 45.) https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/17pdf/17-965_h315.pdf NBC News reports that a video game developed by a Russian company simulates the experience of opening fire on students in classrooms, and that people are outraged. "A new video game that simulates school shootings is facing colossal backlash and demands that it be pulled amid a spate of school massacres across the United States." It seems likely that outrage was the goal. The developer of the game, "Ata Berdiyev," lists the Russian Federation as his home. He was removed last fall from Steam, the video game platform from which this game would have launched, when he was operating as "[bc]Interactive" and "Elusive Team," according to Valve, Steam's parent company. "Ata is a troll, with a history of customer abuse, publishing copyrighted material, and user review manipulation. His subsequent return under new business names was a fact that came to light as we investigated the controversy around his upcoming title. We are not going to do business with people who act like this towards our customers or Valve." Since operatives from the Russian Federation have been using psychological tools on Americans, through the Internet Research Agency and other companies, it is not surprising that a Russian video game company would attempt to stir up outrage and division in the United States by creating a video game that trivializes and glamorizes the tragedy of school shootings. Both Acid and Revived Games, the publisher and developer for Active Shooter, have also been removed from the platform. More information can be found in these articles. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/active-shooter-video-game-prompts-outrage-amid-spate-school-shootings-n878156 http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/school-shooting-video-game-met-widespread-backlash-article-1.4013716 http://variety.com/2018/gaming/news/active-shooter-removed-steam-1202824801/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/education/wp/2018/05/29/what-parkland-parents-think-of-a-new-video-game-that-lets-people-shoot-up-a-school/?utm_term=.810fec2013bd https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/28/us/active-shooter-video-game-steam-valve-trnd/ https://www.pcmag.com/news/361447/parents-urge-steam-to-pull-active-shooter-game-set-in-scho  Attorney Peter Gleason has submitted a letter to the judge overseeing the handling of materials seized from the residence, office, and hotel room of Trump personal lawyer Michael Cohen. In the letter Gleason, who is not a party in the case, requests that the judge place a protective order on any materials pertaining to Gleason’s conversations with Cohen about allegations made by two women against former Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. The judge, U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood has appointed a special master to sort through documents seized by the FBI, to protect documents that may fall under attorney-client privilege.
Gleason states in the letter that he encouraged the women not to go to the Manhattan District Attorney with their allegations because he had found that Manattan prosecutors had ignored previous corruption claims he had brought forward. Gleason told the New York Times that Cohen suggested to him that if Trump ran for New York governor, he would make public the allegations against Schneiderman. Here is an excerpt from Gleason’s letter. (Note: Schneiderman’s name is misspelled two different ways in the document. I have left the spelling intact.) “My office was contacted some years ago by two unrelated women who at two separate times (approximately 1 year apart) claimed that Mr. Scheiderman was sexually inappropriate with them. “After the first consultation with one of Scheinderman's victims I explained to her how invariably the very entities that were established to protect her would ultimately turn on her to protect the power elite that includes Scheinderman. “Approximately one year later, sometime in 2013, another woman contacted my office with an almost identical story on how she too was victimized by Scheinderman. At first glance the logical recommendation would have been to report this matter to the Manhattan District Attorney. Unfortunately, I had to advise this woman against reporting the incident to the Manhattan District Attorney Office based on my past experience in reporting prima facie political corruption that was ignored by the office, some of which were ultimately prosecuted elsewhere. “At a minimum, I wanted these women to realize that somebody believed them, and that their horrific experiences at the hands of Scheinderman would not be brushed under the rug. “I discussed the matter with a retired journalist by the name of Stephen Dunleavy who suggested and offered to discuss the matter with Donald Trump. Mr. Dunleavy did indeed discuss this very matter with Mr. Trump as evidenced by a phone call I received from Attorney Michael Cohen. “During my communications with Mr. Cohen I shared with him certain details of Scheinderman's vile attacks on these two women.” The entire letter can be read here. https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4457945-Order-on-Letter-Motion.html An article in Talking Points Memo gives more detail. https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/gleason-schneiderman-cohen The article in the New York Times can be read here. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/11/nyregion/eric-schneiderman-michael-cohen.html This is a developing story. Photo Source: Drew Angerer/Getty Images  Michael Avenatti, attorney for adult film actor Stephanie Clifford (known professionally as Stormy Daniels), released a document today with information about financial transactions of Michael Cohen’s company Essential Consultants, LLC. Cohen established this company in October of 2016, with the admitted purpose (after several denials) of paying $130,000 to Clifford as hush money to keep her quiet about an affair with Donald Trump. According to the document released by Avenatti’s law firm, a number of American and foreign companies paid Michael Cohen’s company (which had no employees other than Cohen) for reasons that remain unclear. AT&T paid Cohen $50,000 a month for more than a year, for “an understanding of the inner workings of Trump,” as CNBC reported today. Pharmaceutical company Novartis paid Michael Cohen’s company $1.2 million. A statement explaining their payments can be found on their company website. In their latest statement, the company spokesman admitted that this arrangement was “a mistake.” Cohen was also paid $500,000 from a company controlled by Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg and his American cousin, Andrew Intrater. The company, Columbus Nova, reportedly paid Cohen’s company $500,000. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/daniels-lawyer-cohen-got-500k-russian-oligarch-viktor-vekselberg-n872481 According to the document released by Avenatti, a total of $4.4 million flowed to Essential Consultants between October 2016 and January 2018. Novartis was involved in bribing government officials in China several years ago. An article about the settlement can be found here. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-03-24/novartis-agrees-to-settle-sec-china-bribe-case-for-25-million This story is still developing. The document can be accessed by clicking the link in the first line of the story above, or can be downloaded as a file below. 
 A gun rights group rallied today on the South steps of the Capitol. According to The Sacramento Bee this was designed to be one of 50 rallies held nationwide: "The nationwide gatherings were promoted through social media by a group called the National Constitutional Coalition of Patriotic Americans. The rallies, which organizers intended to be held at all 50 state capitol buildings, were dubbed 'Americans for America.'" An Internet search for the group identified a website belonging to the group, www.nccpa.com. A domain name search found that the group registered the domain in March 2018, in Toronto, Ontario. This seems unusual for a group of patriotic Americans. it is a pattern revealed before in groups that appear to be grassroots, but are in fact organized and financed from outside the country. The address of the domain registration company, Tucows, is 96 Farley Mowat Drive. This is a 20-minute drive from the offices of Rebel Media, an alt-right publication begun in 2013. Rebel Media is known for stunts promoting Donald Trump and attempting to discredit those opposed to his presidency. Below are some examples of the kinds of things Rebel Media does. Rebel Media personality Jack Posobiec held up a “Rape Melania” sign outside the White House in an attempt to discredit protesters. https://www.buzzfeed.com/amberjamieson/trumps-weird-day-in-tweets-includes-rting-a-man-who-made?utm_term=.jsl505dvl#.cvNoDoLpP Posobiec has since left Rebel Media. https://www.buzzfeed.com/janelytvynenko/jack-posobiec-out-at-the-rebel?utm_term=.cj0VaVQEX#.ybQ8b8omP Jack Posobiec and Laura Loomer rushed the stage at a performance of “Julius Caesar” in Central Park. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/wp/2017/06/17/pro-trump-protester-arrested-after-rushing-stage-at-controversial-julius-caesar-play-in-new-york/?utm_term=.d620fb5e1124 https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-domain-troll-behind-pro-trump-stunts Laura Loomer no longer works for Rebel Media. https://forward.com/fast-forward/383780/laura-loomer-quit-rebel-media-because-they-told-her-to-stop-tweeting-about/ Rebel Media did not necessarily organize or finance the rally at the California State Capitol Saturday. A credible news outlet might want to check the group out before presenting them as a grassroots movement, as The Sacramento Bee did here. http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article208924109.html#emlnl=Breaking_Newsletter  Photo: Hector Amezcua/Sacramento Bee
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