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newssplashy · 6 years ago

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Robert Mueller has charged a total of four Americans, 25 Russians, and 3 Russian companies.

Paul Manafort, former chairman of the Trump campaign, was found guilty on eight federal charges of bank and tax fraud in a Virginia court on Tuesday. The jury failed to reach unanimous verdicts on 10 other charges. The judge in the case declared a mistrial on those.

This ends the first of two trials Manafort is facing as part of the special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election.

Since taking over the investigation last May, Mueller's team has charged four Americans once affiliated with Trump's campaign or administration, 13 Russian nationals, 12 Russian intelligence officers, three Russian companies, and two other people.

Here's everyone who's been charged in the Mueller probe so far:

Paul Manafort, former Trump campaign chairman

Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort was found guilty on eight federal counts of bank and tax fraud on Tuesday. Manafort was convicted on five counts of tax fraud, two counts of bank fraud, and one count of failure to report foreign bank accounts.

He was facing a total of 18 counts, but the jury failed to reach unanimous verdicts on 10 of them. The judge in the case declared a mistrial on those 10 counts. Manafort could face years in prison when he's sentenced.

Manafort surrendered to federal authorities on October 30, 2017, after he was indicted, along with his business associate Rick Gates, on 12 counts, including conspiracy against the US and money laundering.

He was forced to step down as Trump's campaign chairman in May 2016 after coming under fire for his connections to Russian oligarchs and his past lobbying efforts abroad.

Manafort was also associated with at least 15 bank accounts and 10 companies in Cyprus, dating back to 2007, NBC News reported in March, and the FBI has issued grand-jury subpoenas to several banks for Manafort's records.

Trump's former campaign chairman is accused of committing crimes while working as an unregistered lobbyist in the US for the Ukrainian government and pro-Russia interests beginning in 2006.

His second trial begins in Washington on September 17.

Rick Gates, one of Manafort's business partners

In October 2017, Gates was indicted along with Manafort on 12 counts, including conspiracy against the US, making false statements, and failing to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts. He at first pleaded not guilty on all counts.

Gates joined Trump election efforts in the spring of 2016, working as Manafort's deputy. He traveled with Trump and grew close with many top campaign officials.

After Manafort was ousted as Trump's campaign chief in August 2016, Gates continued working on behalf of the soon-to-be president, helping fundraise $25 million for the pro-Trump nonprofit America First Policies and working on Trump's inaugural committee. As Mueller's probe intensified in the early months of the Trump administration, Gates left the nonprofit altogether.

But as recently as June 2017, The Daily Beast reported that Gates was still visiting the White House and working under Tom Barrack, who has remained one of Trump's most trusted advisers.

Gates opted to take a plea deal in late February, pleading guilty to one charge of lying to investigators and one charge of conspiracy in exchange for becoming a cooperating witness in the Mueller probe. He testified against Manafort as the prosecution's star witness in its case in Virginia.

Gates confessed to committing crimes with Manafort, and also stealing millions of dollars from his longtime business partner to finance an extramartial affair.

Defense attorneys sought to paint Gates as the mastermind of his and Manafort's tax and bank fraud.

George Papadopoulos, a former Trump campaign adviser

On the same day Mueller's office announced the indictments of Manafort and Gates, it was revealed that George Papadopoulos, a 30-year-old former Trump adviser, had pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russia.

According to documents that were unsealed by the Mueller investigation, Papadopoulos had made at least six attempts to set up a meeting between the Trump campaign and Russian representatives throughout the course of the 2016 presidential campaign, using a London-based professor named Joseph Mifsud and a female Russian national as conduits.

He was arrested October 5, 2017, and subsequently cooperated with Mueller's team.

Trump has described Papadopoulos as a low-level volunteer.

"Few people knew the young, low level volunteer named George, who has already proven to be a liar," Trump tweeted following news of the guilty plea. "Check the DEMS!"

Special counsel Robert Mueller last week recommended that Papadopoulos be sentenced to as many as six months in prison.

Michael Flynn, Trump's former national security adviser

Flynn, who has reportedly been at the center of Mueller's investigation for months, is perhaps the most high-profile person to be indicted to date.

On December 1, 2017, he pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his conversations last December with Russia's ambassador to the US at the time, Sergey Kislyak.

An indictment filed by Mueller's office said Flynn "falsely stated" on December 29, 2016 that he did not ask Kislyak "to refrain from escalating the situation in response to sanctions that the United States had imposed against Russia that same day," and that Flynn did not recall Kislyak "subsequently telling him that Russia had chosen to moderate its response to those sanctions as a result of his request."

Trump fired Flynn in February 2016, citing an "evolving and eroding level of trust" after the former national security adviser lied to Vice President Mike Pence about his interactions with Kislyak.

The firing was "not based on a legal issue, but based on a trust issue," Sean Spicer, who was then the White House press secretary, said at the time.

Flynn had been on the job for just 25 days.

13 Russian nationals and three Russian companies

On February 16, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein announced the indictments of 13 Russian citizens and three companies allegedly involved in meddling in the US political system.

"The defendants allegedly conducted what they called 'information warfare against the United States' with the stated goal of spreading distrust towards the candidates and the political system in general," Rosenstein said.

The charges focused on the Internet Research Agency (IRA), a notorious Russian "troll factory" that focused on sowing political discord during the 2016 US election by using internet bots to spread fake news and pro-Trump propaganda on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, a prominent businessman and associate of President Vladimir Putin who helped fund the IRA, was charged along with two of his businesses.

The defendants included 12 other Russian citizens, all of whom were identified as former IRA employees who played a role in Russian influence operations before, during, and after the 2016 election.

They are: Mikhail Bystrov, Mikhail Burchik, Aleksandra Krylova, Sergey Polozov, Anna Bogacheva, Maria Bovda, Robert Bovda, Dzheykhun Aslanov, Vadim Podkopaev, Gleb Vasilchenko, Irina Kaverzina, and Vladimir Venkov.

California businessman Richard Pinedo

California resident Richard Pinedo pleaded guilty to one count of identity fraud on February 12, according to court documents.

The plea deal's release came immediately after Mueller's office announced charges against 13 Russian nationals and three Russian entities accused of interfering in the 2016 US election by mounting an elaborate and multi-faceted social media influence operation meant to sow political discord during and after the race.

According to the statement of offense, Pinedo ran a company called "Auction Essistance," which offered services meant to get around the security requirements set by online payment companies like eBay, PayPal, and Amazon. Auction Essistance was shut down in December.

To help customers circumvent the security protocols set up by online payment websites, Pinedo created bank accounts on the internet using fraudulent identities and then sold those account numbers to Auction Essistance customers, the statement of offense said.

It added that although Pinedo was not directly involved in registering the accounts while using fake identities, "he willfully and intentionally avoided learning about the use of stolen identities."

Alex van der Zwaan, a Dutch lawyer tied to Manafort and Gates

Alex van der Zwaan pleaded guilty on February 20 to one count of making false statements to federal investigators.

Van der Zwaan represents the interests of numerous Russian oligarchs. He is also the son-in-law of German Khan, the Ukrainian-Russian billionaire who controls Russia's Alfa Bank.

The institution attracted scrutiny last year, when a dossier published by former British spy Christopher Steele alleged that Alfa Bank had played a role in meddling in the 2016 US election.

Van der Zwaan was charged with "willfully and knowingly" making "false, fictitious, and fraudulent statements and representations" to federal investigators about his work for the law firm Skadden, Arps, Meagher, & Flom LLP and Affiliates in 2012.

He was also accused of misleading federal investigators about his communications with Gates.

12 Russian intelligence officers

On July 13, Rosenstein announced the indictment of 12 Russian intelligence officers for the hacking of the Democratic National Committee before the 2016 US presidential election.

All 12 indicted are members of the GRU, Russia's military intelligence unit. The accusations against them include conspiring to interfere with the election by hacking computers, stealing documents, and releasing those documents with intent to interfere.

In early 2017, US intelligence identified the hacking of the DNC and the spreading of emails intended to hurt Democrats and the party's 2016 presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton, as the main pillar of Russia's election interference campaign.

These charges represented the first time Mueller's office directly pointed a finger at the Russian government for interfering in the election.

Announced three days before Trump met with Putin in Helsinki, the indictments were a main point of contention between the press, lawmakers, and Trump, who did not directly confront Putin over the charges.

Originally stating that he didn't "see any reason why" Russia would be responsible for the election meddling, Trump corrected himself a day later, adding he has "full faith" in US intelligence.

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ethelbertpaul444-blog · 6 years ago

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What Robert Mueller Knowsand 9 Areas He’ll Pursue Next

When the history books are written, Rod Rosenstein might just be the most interesting figure of the Russia investigation–the beleaguered lieutenant attorney general whose memo in his first days on the job was used to justify the firing of James Comey. After that he quickly gave Robert Mueller as the special lawyer and invested the following year supervising his investigation while under immense pressure from President Trump and congressional wolves seeking to undermine his credibility, even impeach him. As congressional Republicans have sought to undermine the Justice Department’s integrity and sovereignty, Rosenstein has reached several short-term, tactical agrees to his connoisseurs, deflecting traditional rules and handing over documents to Congress about confidential sources and ongoing investigations–compromises that previous administrations would never have made. Why would anyone been put forward with the abuse, vitriol, and daily haranguing from the president’s Twitter account that Rosenstein has braved? Why would Rosenstein seemingly rectified precedents that threaten the core principles of the Justice Department, an institution that he’s dedicated practically his part vocation to performing? I have a simple theory: In a macrocosm of hedgehogs and foxes, Rosenstein today is the ultimate hedgehog. Rosenstein knows one extremely big, monumental, history-shaping thing–how Trump’s presidency will end–and he’s gambled that if he can hang on long enough, right will be done and the good guys, in his eyes, will win. His early actions, around Comey’s firing, will be vindicated by history when pictured by the light of his mettle and personal relinquish and refusal to be bullied into quitting, a move that would almost surely lead to Mueller’s investigation being shut down or circumscribed by whichever Trump appointee makes over supervising it next. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein knows what he’s protecting by staying in his task and campaigning every day to preserve Mueller’s investigation Alex Wong/ Getty Images Remember, Mueller is keeping Rosenstein informed and has returned back to him regularly for instructs, to ask for permission to expand police investigations in key methods, and to hand off parts of the investigation to other Justice Department legions. Which is all to say: Rosenstein knows how the next dominoes fall. Which planneds Rosenstein knows what he’s protecting by staying in his profession and defending each day to preserve Robert Mueller’s investigation–and to ensure it has the time to come to a public denouement that he surely already knows. Rosenstein is fighting a guerilla war against Republicans on Capitol Hill and Donald Trump, knowing that he can lose lots of small debates because eventually he “re going to win” the war. The reason that Rosenstein has abode on appeared to be on full expose Friday, as he–and he alone–announced the historic indictment of 12 Russian military intelligence officers responsible for the 2016 strikes on the presidential election. It was simply the second time Rosenstein has personally problem the special counsel’s arraignments, the other being February’s similarly monumental accusation of the Russians have been engaged in the Internet Research Agency’s social information campaign during the election. It was hard not to examine Friday’s press conference as a succes sip of sortings by Rosenstein, as he announced that the US government had proof beyond a acceptable suspense that the Russian armed criticized American democracy–an announcement he made precisely one day after a marathon, 12 -hour Republican congressional pigpile on the FBI agent, Peter Stzok, who helped launch that extremely investigation and execute it in secret throughout the fall 2016 campaign. The highly detailed, 29 -page indictment of 12 Russian armed intelligence officers reminded participants, extremely, of the breathtaking grade of detail known by Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team. The sheer volume of what Robert Mueller knows is staggering. Perusing his numerous tribunal filings since last-place September makes clear he knew private individuals changes Paul Manafort formed in a specific Microsoft Word document; he knew that Dutch lawyer Alex van der Zwaan was lying about what he did on behalf of Manafort and Gates; he knew the specific times Russia military intelligence officers were examining specific utterances way back in 2016; he knew the specific cryptocurrency transactions used to register the Russian intelligence agency accountings; he is well known the hired trolls at the Internet Research Agency were writing in emails to their family members in 2017; he knew the messages Manafort was referring on encrypted messaging services. Former Trump Campaign Chairman Paul Manafort faces a series of indictments put forward by the special adviser for money cleaning and is scheduled for trial next month. Zach Gibson/ Bloomberg/ Getty Images Even those who make they know turn out to be surprised by the scale and specificity of what Mueller knows. Last-place month, the senior Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Mark Warner, joked to sponsors, “If you get me one more glass of wine, I’ll tell you stuff exclusively Bob Mueller and I know. If you think you’ve seen wild stuff so far, buckle up. It’s going to be a wild couple of months.” But after Friday’s indictment, Warner said–impressed–that the “vast quantity of information” in Mueller’s recent papers were new to him and the Senate Intelligence Committee. Mueller’s four buckets of indictments–stretching from the IRA’s information procedures to the Russian intelligence active cyber attempts to the Kremlin-backed business deals of Paul Manafort to the 2016 Trump campaign contacts of George Papadopoulos and Michael Flynn–appear to outline the probable four recess of a scheme that elongates from the Kremlin to Trump Tower, one that involves Putin-friendly oligarchs, the Russian military, and senior tier safarus and transition officials whose motives weren’t necessarily “America first.” What lies in between those four angles is presumably what Mueller and Rosenstein know–and we can expect that the next round of indictments to begin to connect those flecks, particularly in regard to the role of Americans which was attended, wittingly or unwittingly, in the attacks. Rosenstein has been prudent to point out that neither the accusations is targeted at the GRU–Russian’s main intelligence arm–nor the IRA allege the involvement of Americans, more those words seem carefully have been selected to fend off President Trump’s immediate rage while preserving the possibility that future arraignments will very much target Americans. Examining the public bread shreds of Mueller’s investigation, though, renders some manifestation about what’s left that we don’t know–the active and ongoing investigative work that Mueller’s team is pursuing that hasn’t seen the light of day. In broad containers, there are at least nine substantial areas of the investigation yet to be penciled in by Mueller. Spoiler alert: Nearly all of these open streets involve is not simply Americans, but sometimes even elderly expedition, modulation, and White House aide-de-camps to Donald Trump. While it’s entirely possible that some investigate avenues for Mueller’s team won’t pan out into criminal charges, we do know that he and the FBI have had preserved, sometimes even years-long interest in the following lines of inquiry–none of which have hitherto performed publicly in field TAGEND 1. How do Erik Prince, the Seychelles, and the induction fit in ? strong> The Blackwater mercenary founder( and friend to education secretary Betsy DeVos) traveled to the remote islands in the Indian Ocean just before Trump’s inauguration to have a secret meeting with a Kremlin official. He’s affirmed the fit had anything to do with Trump–saying it was a routine business meeting for himself–but the FBI met him at Dulles to question him, and Mueller has reportedly accumulated Prince’s telephone records. Similarly, Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who–oddly–attended Trump’s kickoff just days after meeting with Trump lawyer Michael Cohen at Trump Tower and was at the infamous RT TV dinner in Moscow in 2015 with Putin, Michael Flynn, and Jill Stein, was surprised on the tarmac at a US airport by FBI agents from Mueller’s team when he inspected the US. 2. How do the UAE, Qatar, and Jared Kushner fit in ? strong> While we’ve primarily talked about Mueller’s probe as focusing on Russia, there are clearly some adjacent questions about other foreign affect in Washington involving Republican donor Elliott Broidy, amongst other. A key Middle East go-between, Lebanese-American businessman George Nader, is both cooperating with Mueller’s investigation and has certified before his splendid jury–indicating a line of inquiry that hasn’t resulted in any public prices but is somehow primary to Mueller’s underlying investigation. Qatar itself evidently met information about the UAE’s campaign to influence Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner but opted against handing it over to Mueller. The special counselor-at-law has also been looking into Kushner’s friend Rick Gerson, in part over another , separate engagement in the Seychelles in 2017. Unlike the investigated by Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, Mueller hasn’t handed this weave of the investigation off to another place, which appears to indicate that, in ways not yet clear to the general public, the UAE and Qatari questions are related to the underlying Russia examination. This open line of inquiry could be related to why Kushner has still not been able to receive the highest level of security clearance for his work on the White House. 3. What persona did Sergey Kislyak, the GOP convention, and the finances of the Russian Embassy play ? strong> The former Russian ambassador to the US( who was replaced in September by Anatoly Antonov) has been a puzzling figure over the nearly 18 months since police investigations began. It was his meetings with now attorney general Jeff Sessions, on the sidelines of the Republican National Convention–a convention that visit still unexplained attempts to manufacture the scaffold more pro-Russia–that led to Rosenstein taking charge of police investigations. And ongoing revealings about meets with Sessions and Jared Kushner and dial calls with Michael Flynn have given him a shadowy Rasputin-like presence in the entire affair. As the full scope of the Russian effort becomes clear, it’s all but certain that such a high-level, arranged strike would have never been attempted against the US without Kislyak’s knowledge; he was–and is–a well-wired, savvy, steadfast, longtime mediator, a native Ukrainian who chose to remain Russian when the Soviet Union broke apart and whose term as diplomat coincided with increased espionage tries against the US( at least one of which involved attempting to recruit future Trump aide Carter Page ). Add to all of that the bulletin from Buzzfeed that Mueller is scrutinizing innumerable suspicious pays and money retirements from the delegation, as well as reminders about how Russians like Alexander Torshin might have sought to cultivate the National Rifle Association and Mueller’s apparent interest in the NRA’s funding, and it seems like the special counselor-at-law is zeroing in on the way Russian money might have flowed through the American campaign illegally. Definitely, Torshin appears to be a central figure in a new criminal complaint, filed Monday, blaming 29 -year-old Russian gun claims advocate Maria Butina with acting as an unregistered foreign agent, as part of a scheme to acquire ties and influence the NRA and the GOP. 4. How do Roger Stone, WikiLeaks, and other Americans and Brits fit into the GRU indictment ? strong> As Rosenstein memorandum, the GRU indictment stopped short of charges against anyone who interacted with the Russian hackers who masqueraded as “Guccifer 2.0, ” but there are lots of bread slivers about those interactions in the allegation that could, with additional facts, be floors for probable criminal charges. A US congressional campaign lobbied and received enters on its opponent from Russia. Guccifer 2.0 interacted with “another entity, ” surely WikiLeaks, about seeping the theft Democratic folders and the best timing to do so. And longtime Trump aide-de-camp Roger Stone told me that he foresees his interactions with Guccifer 2.0 are mentioned in the accusation too–perhaps not extraordinary, since Stone notably tweeted in August 2016 that it will soon be “Podesta’s time in the barrel, ” months after the GRU had plagiarized Podesta’s emails but months before they were exhausted publicly. There are numerous previous indications that Mueller is keenly focused on WikiLeaks and Stone. At least seven Stone affiliates have been questioned by Mueller’s team, including Stone’s social media aide last-place month and the sometimes-twitchy Trump adviser Sam Nunberg back in March. FBI agents that same month intercepted another informal consultant at international airports in Boston to ask about WikiLeaks and Stone. Stone himself has even acquired the quirky testimony that he’s “prepared” to be indicted. Stone associate Michael Caputo, another Trump campaign aide, told ABC back in March after being interviewed by Mueller’s team that the questions be submitted to him were focused on Stone: “In universal they &# x27; re talking about, you are familiar, Guccifer and DCLeaks and WikiLeaks. They’re talking about the timing of some things that happened at the campaign and at the convention.” Beyond exactly Stone, there are numerous open questions about WikiLeaks, identified only as “Organization 1” in Friday’s indictments. Relatedly, Mueller appears to have zeroed in on British politician Nigel Farage and other self-described “Bad Boys of Brexit, ” including businessman Aaron Banks, who fulfill repeatedly with the Russian ambassador in the UK as the Brexit campaign unfolded. 5. What did Mueller learn from George Papadopoulos, Rick Gates, and Michael Flynn ? strong> Perhaps the most notable unanswered question in the Trump investigation so far is what Papadopoulos( whose loose cheeks knocked off the part original FBI probe ), onetime Manafort business partner Rick Gates, and onetime National Security Adviser Michael Flynn all traded for mildnes in their own guilty requests. Mueller has handed out roughly 200 criminal charges so far against dozens of targets. And yet–by all appearances–not a single one of those commissions have stemmed from information provided by his cooperating witness. What did they devote Mueller? At the same time, the special lawyer appears to be moving toward sentencing Papadopoulos, means that his persona in the investigation might be nearing an resolve, while Flynn’s role will apparently continue into the fall. At the same time, though, it seems clear that Flynn is under the impression that he will off scot-free: His team announced this past week, prematurely it sees, that he plans to join a new DC consulting firm–not exactly the behavior of someone who thinks he’s heading to federal prison. 6. What’s in those 291,000 Michael Cohen papers ? strong> The investigation into Trump lawyer and consigliere Cohen was spun off to New York federal prosecutors and appears to be moving quickly–a federal gues placed Stormy Daniels’ lawsuit against Cohen on hold because of the likelihood he will soon be indicted. We know that attorneys impounded uphill of 291,000 items from Cohen and that Cohen has been steadily dropping indicates in recent days that he’s preparing to cooperate with counsels, including changing his Twitter bio to reflect he’s no longer Trump’s lawyer. What crimes will Michael Cohen be charged with–and what can he tell attorneys in exchange for leniency? 7. What’s up with that Trump Tower fill ? strong> The email to Donald Trump Jr. from Rob Goldstone that knocked off the now infamous Trump Tower meeting in June 2016 has always appeared as if “its been” picking up on a previous conference. Goldstone wrote, in part, “This is obviously very high level and sensitive information but is part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump, ” a term that seems to indicate that he knows Don Jr. is already aware that Russia is supporting his father. Why was it termed that way? And what happened at the meeting with Kremlin-connected Russian lawyer Natalia V. Veselnitskaya–and after? Nearly every Trump campaign figure of consequence was in the room–Manafort, Kushner, and Don Jr.–and we now know the meeting went just as Russia ramped up its efforts with the IRA and GRU to hurt Hillary and facilitate Trump. The fallout from that rally, as it became public last summer, looks just like a center part of Mueller’s investigation into obstruction of right. If Mueller’s probe can be thought of as five definite inquiries, this final obstruction question is no other one he has left uncharged–for now. 8. How relevant is Cambridge Analytica and was there a coordinated effort by the Trump campaign or accompanies to gather intelligence or unfortunate opposition research on Hillary Clinton ? strong> We know that Mueller has been examining the notorious–and now defunct–data conglomerate behind Trump’s victory that was funded by transcend GOP donor Robert Mercer, including interviewing onetime employees and the banks that worked with it. Investigators have patently told those one-time hires that their focus is on the firm and “associated US parties, ” a motto that seems to imply interest in as-yet-unknown Americans coordinating with the British firm. But that’s time one part of a pile of liberate strands regarding the tech efforts of the Trump campaign in 2016, including a series of Wall Street Journal interviews with longtime Republican operative Peter Smith( just days before he killed himself last spring) in which he delineated how he’d assembled a team to find Hillary’s stolen emails in the summer of 2016. Smith said at the time he was working with Flynn, but there are more unanswered questions than answers about the part effort. Focusing on the same timeframe, Mueller’s GRU indictment seems to go out of its mode to connect Trump’s prominent July 2016 “Russia if you’re listening” statements to the fact that the GRU intruders began to attack Clinton’s personal email accountings after business hours that same day . Given that federal summons are carefully written and edited mercilessly, it seems hopeless to imagine that that terming was included by happenstance. 9. Do parties like Carter Page and Felix Sater matter ? strong> It’s hard to keep track of the numerous people who float in and out of the Trump-Mueller-Russia investigation orbit; some, like Michael Caputo, may not end up mattering at all in the final outcome. Yet there are others, like Carter Page–who was a target of a federal counterintelligence surveillance warrant through much of 2016–and Felix Sater, a one-time intelligence asset himself, who may be bit players in the entire matter or may end up proving to be consequential figures. These nine definite areas of open questions are hardly encyclopedic–this list doesn’t even tally unanswered questions about, for instance, the role of the Russian intelligence service FSB in its own attacks on Democratic targets( an operation known as Cozy Bear) or loose ends from previous arraignments, like the activities of DC superlobbyists Tony Podesta and Vin Weber. And it doesn’t count the numerous salacious questions still unproven in the Steele dossier, like what exactly happened at the Moscow Ritz. Potentially most consequentially of all, these nine questions are separate from one of the central questions of the Mueller probe: Is Bob Mueller done with Paul Manafort? The former Trump campaign chairwoman is moving toward trial later this month on fees related to a money cleaning strategy apparently unrelated to the Trump campaign–and he’s in jail pending ordeal after allegedly attempting to tamper with bystanders while out on bail–but that doesn’t mean that Mueller won’t bring additional charges or that Manafort won’t decide to cooperate with Mueller in exchange for leniency. Manafort is in his late sixties, facing hundreds of years in prison, and, if imprisoned on an even a few blames in what professionals say is a particularly strong lawsuit by Mueller, might never stroll free again–unless, that is, he has something large-hearted to offer the special counsel. Does he? That’s a question Rosenstein himself may not yet know the answer to, but you can be sure that the agent attorney general knows most of the answers to the rest of these questions already. After all, the signature reading of Mueller’s inquiry at every turn has been that his investigators knows far, far, far more than anyone in the public believed. Really ask the GRU armed intelligence officers who are sitting in their department thinking how Mueller knew that on June 15, 2016, between 4:19 pm and 4:56 pm Moscow local go, they probed the web for the English phrase “company’s competence” hours before it are represented in the inaugural blog affix by “Guccifer 2.0 ”? Editor &# x27; s indicate, 1:39 pm PDT, July 16, 2018: This article has been updated to reflect the indictment of Maria Butina. Garrett M. Graff( @vermontgmg) is a contributing journalist for WIRED and the author of The Threat Matrix: Inside Robert Mueller &# x27; s FBI. He can be reached at garrett.graff @gmail. com . em> More Great WIRED Stories The ultimate carbon-saving tip? Travel by merchandise ship Laser-shooting airplanes uncover the horror of WWI The Pentagon &# x27; s reverie team of tech-savvy soldiers PHOTO ESSAY: The annual super-celebration in Superman &# x27; s real-world home It’s time you learned about quantum computing Get even more of our inside scoops with our weekly Backchannel newsletter Related Video Security Legal Win Opens Pandora’s Box for DIY Weapons Defense Distributed, the anarchist firearm radical known for its 3D engraved and milled “ghost shoots, ” has ended a event with the federal government allowing it to upload technological data on nearly any commercially available firearm. Read more: https :// www.wired.com/ tale/ what-robert-mueller-knowsand-9-areas-hell-pursue-next / http://dailybuzznetwork.com/index.php/2018/08/06/what-robert-mueller-knowsand-9-areas-hell-pursue-next/

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malenipshadows · 7 years ago

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*** Van der Zwaan’s connection to the Russia probe runs through Rick Gates, former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort’s deputy. Mueller indicted Gates in October, along with Manafort, on charges of money laundering and illegal lobbying. Former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn and former Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos were both also charged with lying to investigators, and pleaded guilty. Manafort is the only figure tied to the Trump campaign and charged by Mueller who hasn’t struck a plea deal. Van der Zwaan’s story is convoluted and involves a Ukrainian internal political dispute from a decade ago. ***

#Alex van der Zwaan #Van der Zwaan attorney fired by Skadden Arps law firm #Van der Zwaan a son-in-law to Russian oligarch #Robert Mueller investigating Trump-Russia ties #Mueller the special prosecutor investigating Russian interference w-US elections #Mueller the special prosecutor investigating possible T-rump campaign collusion with Russians #Mueller leads obstruction of justice investigation #Mueller leads probe into potential ties b/w T-rump and Russia #Russians weaponized social media to manipulate U.S. elections #Russians hack 2016 U.S. presidential election #T-rump linked to Russian oligarchs #FBI investigating Russian hacks of U.S. elections #District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson #Paul Manafort fired T-rump campaign chairman #Rick Gates aide to Manafort #Rick Gates T-rump ex-campaign co-chairman #Rick Gates T-rump presidential transition official #Rick Gates pleads guilty to felonies #Manafort & Gates charged in Russia probe #Manafort & Gates facing trials in Russia probe #yulia tymoshenko #Ukrainian-Russian billionaire German Khan

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theconservativebrief · 6 years ago

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According to a recent poll, most Americans don’t think special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation has uncovered any crimes.

But the truth is that Mueller’s team has either indicted or gotten guilty pleas from 20 people and three companies — that we know of.

That group is composed of four former Trump advisers, 14 Russian nationals, three Russian companies, one California man, and one London-based lawyer. Five of these people (including three former Trump aides) have already pleaded guilty.

None of the charges against Americans or Trump advisers so far have directly alleged that they worked with Russia to interfere with the campaign.

Michael Flynn and George Papadopoulos have pleaded guilty to making false statements about their contacts with Russians to investigators. Paul Manafort and Rick Gates were hit with tax, money laundering and other charges that relate to their work for the government of Ukraine and a Russia-affiliated Ukrainian political party.

Other reported focuses of Mueller’s investigation — such as the hacking and leaking of prominent Democrats’ emails and potential obstruction of justice by the Trump administration — have not resulted in any indictments yet.

Also, it’s possible that there are more charges we don’t know about — Papadopoulos’s arrest last July was kept secret for three months after it happened. Here, though, are the indictments and plea deals that are public.

1) George Papadopoulos, former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser, pleaded guilty in October to making false statements to the FBI.

2) Michael Flynn, Trump’s former national security adviser, pleaded guilty in December to making false statements to the FBI.

3) Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign chair, was indicted in October in Washington, DC on charges of conspiracy, money laundering, and false statements — all related to his work for Ukrainian politicians before he joined the Trump campaign. He’s pleaded not guilty on all counts. Then, in February, Mueller filed a new case against him in Virginia, with tax, financial, and bank fraud charges.

4) Rick Gates, a former Trump campaign aide and Manafort’s longtime junior business partner, was indicted on similar charges to Manafort. But in February he agreed to a plea deal with Mueller’s team, pleading guilty to just one false statements charge and one conspiracy charge.

5-20) 13 Russian nationals and three Russian companies were indicted on conspiracy charges, with some also being accused of identity theft. The charges related to a Russian propaganda effort designed to interfere with the 2016 campaign. The companies involved are the Internet Research Agency, often described as a “Russian troll farm,” and two other companies that helped finance it. The Russian nationals indicted include 12 of the agency’s employees and its alleged financier, Yevgeny Prigozhin.

21) Richard Pinedo: This California man pleaded guilty to an identity theft charge in connection with the Russian indictments, and has agreed to cooperate with Mueller.

22) Alex van der Zwaan: This London lawyer pleaded guilty to making false statements to the FBI about his contacts with Rick Gates and another unnamed person based in Ukraine.

23) Konstantin Kilimnik: This longtime business associate of Manafort and Gates, who’s currently based in Russia, was charged alongside Manafort with attempting to obstruct justice by tampering with witnesses in Manafort’s pending case this year.

Michael Flynn Mario Tama/Getty

So far, no Trump associates have been specifically charged with any crimes relating to helping Russia interfere with the 2016 election.

The closest we’ve come to that is that both Papadopoulos and Flynn both now admit that they lied to the FBI about their contacts with people connected to the Russian government. (Papadopoulos’s contacts took place before the election, and Flynn’s after it.)

Papadopoulos: Back in April 2016, Papadopoulos got a tip from a foreign professor he understood to have Russian government connections that the Russians had “dirt” on Clinton in the form of “thousands of emails.” He then proceeded to have extensive contacts with the professor and a Russian woman, during which he tried to plan a Trump campaign trip to Russia.

But when the FBI interviewed Papadopoulos about all this in January 2017, he repeatedly lied about what happened, he now admits. So he was arrested in July, and later agreed to plead guilty to a false statements charge and start cooperating with Mueller’s probe.

Flynn: In December 2016, during the transition, Flynn spoke to Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak about sanctions that President Barack Obama had just placed on Russia, and about a planned United Nations Security Council vote condemning Israeli settlements.

But when FBI agents interviewed him about all this in January 2017, Flynn lied to them about what his talks with Kislyak entailed, he now admits. In December 2017, Flynn pleaded guilty to a false statements charge and began cooperating with Mueller’s investigation.

Both Papadopoulos and Flynn may now be providing Mueller’s team with information that could incriminate others in Trump’s orbit. But we haven’t seen the fruits of their cooperation just yet.

Then, this February, Mueller’s team indicted 13 Russian nationals and three Russian companies in connection with alleged interference with the 2016 campaign.

The indictments’ main emphasis is on the propaganda efforts of one Russian group in particular: the Internet Research Agency. That group’s operations — which included social media posts, online ads, and organization of rallies in the US — were, the indictment alleges, often (but not exclusively) aimed at denigrating Hillary Clinton’s presidential candidacy and supporting Donald Trump’s.

Specifically indicted were:

The Internet Research Agency itself

Two shell companies involved in financing the agency (Concord Management and Concord Catering)

The alleged financier of the agency, Yevgeny Prigozhin.

Twelve people who allegedly worked for the agency (Mikhail Bystrov, Mikhail Burchik, Aleksandra Krylova, Anna Bogacheva, Sergey Polozov, Maria Bovda, Robert Bovda, Dzheykhun Ogly, Vadim Podkopaev, Gleb Vasilchenko, Irina Kaverzina, and Vladimir Venkov)

The specific charges in the case include one broad “conspiracy to defraud the United States” count, but the rest are far narrower �� one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud, and six counts of identity theft. It is highly unlikely that the indicted Russian individuals will ever come to the US to face trial, but one company involved, Concord Catering, is fighting back in court.

No Americans have been charged with being witting participants in this Russian election interference effort. However, one American, Richard Pinedo of California, pleaded guilty to an identity fraud charge, seemingly because he sold bank account numbers created with stolen identities to the Russians. Pinedo agreed to cooperate with the probe as part of his plea deal.

Paul Manafort outside a Washington, Dc courthouse in January 2018. Chip Somodevilla/Getty

Then there are former Trump campaign aides Paul Manafort and Rick Gates. The pair were indicted by Mueller’s team indicted last October in Washington, and Mueller piled on yet more charges against them in Virginia this February.

The charges against the pair related to nearly a decade of foreign work they did for the Ukrainian government and Ukrainian politicians before they joined Trump’s campaign.

Manafort and Gates allegedly “acted as unregistered agents” for the Ukrainians, generating “tens of millions of dollars in income,” which they then “laundered” through “scores of United States and foreign corporations, partnerships, and bank accounts,” per their indictment. They were also accused of failing to appropriately disclose their foreign work and foreign assets, and of committing tax, financial, and bank fraud crimes, some of which took place as recently as last year.

The specific charges Manafort is currently facing are:

7 counts in Washington, DC: One count each of conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to launder money, acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign principal, making false and misleading Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA) statements, a false statements charge in connection with FARA, obstruction of justice, and conspiracy to obstruct justice.

18 counts in Virginia: 5 counts of filing false income tax returns, 4 counts of failing to report foreign bank and financial accounts, and 9 counts of bank fraud or bank conspiracy

Manafort did his foreign work for Ukraine’s pro-Russia political faction, but so far, it is not clear if these charges have any connection to the topic of Russian interference with the 2016 campaign. He has pleaded not guilty on all counts.

Gates, meanwhile, has since agreed to a plea deal in which he’ll cooperate with Mueller’s team. Accordingly, the many charges originally brought against him were dropped, except for two he pleaded guilty to — one conspiracy to defraud the United States charge, and a false statements charge. (With the latter, Gates admitted lying to Mueller’s team during a meeting this February.)

Screenshot of van der Zwaan’s page on Skadden Arps circa mid-2017 Skadden Arps/Wayback Machine

Finally, the probe into Manafort and Gates’s Ukrainian work has ensnared one other person so far: Alex van der Zwaan.

Van der Zwaan was a lawyer for the London office of the New York law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. The son-in-law of a Russian oligarch, he worked with Manafort and Gates on behalf of Ukraine’s government in 2012, to write a report defending the government’s prosecution of a former prime minister.

In November 2017, Mueller’s investigators interviewed van der Zwaan about his Ukrainian work. But according to the charging document, van der Zwaan:

Lied about when his last communications with Gates and another unnamed person took place

Lied about deleting and not providing relevant emails to the special counsel’s team

On February 20, 2018, van der Zwaan pleaded guilty to a false statements charge. He has since served a brief prison sentence and been deported.

Finally, Konstantin Kilimnik — who worked with Manafort in Ukraine and is now based in Russia — was charged alongside Manafort with obstruction of justice and conspiracy to obstruct justice, in June.

Mueller argues that, earlier in 2018, Manafort and Kilimnik worked together to contact potential witnesses against Manafort and encourage them to give false testimony. He argues that this is attempted witness tampering, and qualifies as obstruction of justice.

The alleged tampering relates to the “Hapsburg group”— a group of former senior European politicians Manafort paid to advocate for Ukraine’s interests.

Both Manafort and Kilimnik tried to contact witnesses to get them to claim the Hapsburg group only operated in Europe (where US foreign lobbying laws don’t apply). But Mueller says there’s ample evidence that the group did work in the US too, and the witnesses thought Manafort and Kilimnik were trying to get them to commit perjury.

Original Source -> All of Robert Mueller’s indictments and plea deals in the Russia investigation so far

via The Conservative Brief

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party-hard-or-die · 7 years ago

Text

Democrats urge Trump to withdraw Justice Department nominee tied to…

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A group of U.S. Senate Democrats on Wednesday said they would oppose President Donald Trump’s nominee to head the Justice Department’s criminal division over his ties to a Russian bank allied with the Kremlin.

In a letter to Trump from the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Democratic members, the lawmakers urged Trump to withdraw the nomination of Brian Benczkowski, a partner at the law firm of Kirkland & Ellis LLP who previously represented Russian commercial bank Alfa Bank.

“With new information about Russia’s election interference continuing to come to light and with a federal criminal investigation ongoing, it is imperative that we have a head of the criminal division who is free and clear from Russian connections,” they wrote.

In his work for the bank, Benczkowski supervised a 2017 investigation in which digital forensics firm Stroz Friedberg probed suspicious cyber activities at Alfa Bank to determine if it had any communications with the Trump Organization.

The firm found no evidence of communications between Trump’s company and the bank.

In their letter, Democrats alleged he demonstrated “poor judgment” by representing the bank “while he was seeking employment in the Justice Department” and said they were “troubled by Mr. Benczkowski’s refusal to commit to recuse himself from Russia-related matters.”

Alfa Bank is owned by Russian oligarchs including German Khan, whose son-in-law Alex van der Zwaan pleaded guilty earlier this year to lying to investigators for Special Counsel Robert Mueller. Mueller is probing Russian interference in the 2016 election and whether Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia.

Benczkowski’s nomination is one of many high-level Justice Department positions waiting to be confirmed by the full Senate.

In addition to the criminal division, Trump’s nominees to head the Justice Department’s civil rights, civil and environment and natural resources divisions await confirmation.

U.S. Republican Senator Cory Gardner of Colorado temporarily held many of them due to his concerns over the Justice Department’s marijuana policy.

However, Democrats have also raised concerns about a number of the Justice Department nominees, complicating matters.

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, in a speech in New York on Wednesday, lamented the delays and said Benczkowski and the other nominees have solid resumes.

“Each nominee meets or exceeds the qualifications normally required for those important jobs,” he said.

Although some lawyers on Mueller’s team are from the criminal division, Rosenstein – and not the head of the criminal division – oversees the special counsel’s probe.

Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by Cynthia Osterman

The post Democrats urge Trump to withdraw Justice Department nominee tied to… appeared first on World The News.

from World The News https://ift.tt/2rwdbxm via Breaking News

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dani-qrt · 7 years ago