October 30, 2017


News and Views


PART 1 -- A BREAK IN THE LOGJAM


“.... WHY AREN'T CROOKED HILLARY & THE DEMS THE FOCUS?????” TRUMP IS HIMSELF IN YET ANOTHER SCRAPE WITH THE LAW, AND “WHINING!”

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/30/us/politics/rick-gates-russia.html?action=click&contentCollection=Politics&module=RelatedCoverage®ion=EndOfArticle&pgtype=article
POLITICS
Rick Gates, a Protégé of Paul Manafort, Is Indicted Alongside Him
By EILEEN SULLIVAN OCT. 30, 2017

WASHINGTON — Rick Gates followed Paul Manafort to Eastern Europe, Africa, the Trump presidential campaign, and now a federal building where he surrendered on Monday to the F.B.I.

Mr. Gates, 45, is a former business associate of Mr. Manafort, the ousted chairman of Mr. Trump’s presidential campaign who also turned himself in to the F.B.I. on Monday. The men are charged with money laundering and violations of tax and foreign lobbying laws. They are the first to be charged in a special counsel investigation that has dogged Mr. Trump’s first year in office.

Mr. Manafort has been charged with laundering more than $18 million to buy properties and services. Mr. Gates has been accused of transferring more than $3 million from offshore accounts. Both men are charged with making false statements.

The indictments are the first in the long-running investigation of Mr. Trump’s associates and possible ties to Russian interference in the 2016 election. Mr. Trump has railed against the special counsel investigation. On Monday morning, Mr. Trump said in a Twitter post that the charges had nothing to do with the Trump campaign, adding “there is NO COLLUSION!”

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Donald J. Trump ✔@realDonaldTrump
Sorry, but this is years ago, before Paul Manafort was part of the Trump campaign. But why aren't Crooked Hillary & the Dems the focus?????
10:25 AM - Oct 30, 2017
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Donald J. Trump ✔@realDonaldTrump
....Also, there is NO COLLUSION!
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Separately, an early foreign policy adviser to Mr. Trump’s presidential campaign, George Papadopoulos, pleaded guilty on Monday to lying to the F.B.I. about a contact with a Russian professor with ties to Kremlin officials, prosecutors said.

A protégé of Mr. Manafort, Mr. Gates survived the Manafort exodus from the campaign and went on to have a central role in Mr. Trump’s inaugural committee and a lobbying group that was formed to advance the president’s agenda. Mr. Gates was forced out of that lobbying group in April amid questions about Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election.

“As part of the scheme, Manafort and Gates repeatedly provided false information to financial bookkeepers, tax accountants and legal counsel, among others,” the indictment said.

Attempts to reach Mr. Gates on Monday were unsuccessful.

Mr. Manafort had been under federal investigation on suspicion of violating tax law, laundering money and whether he appropriately disclosed his foreign lobbying work. As Mr. Manafort’s business associate, Mr. Gates’s name is listed on documents that are linked to companies Mr. Manafort’s firm established in Cyprus for payments from politicians and businesspeople in Eastern Europe, according to records reviewed by The New York Times.

When the business partners worked in Ukraine, Mr. Gates flew to Moscow for meetings with associates of a Russian oligarch, Oleg Deripaska.

Mr. Gates and Mr. Manafort met years ago when Mr. Gates was interning at Mr. Manafort’s Washington consulting firm, Black, Manafort, Stone, Kelly. The firm was known for running Republican political campaigns and then lobbying the politicians after they won their elections.

In Washington, Mr. Manafort was known for representing dictators and strongmen, such as Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines. Mr. Manafort also represented the Trump Organization to lobby the Treasury Department regarding casino transaction rules.

Mr. Gates would later follow Mr. Manafort to a new firm, Davis Manafort, which worked on the campaign of Viktor F. Yanukovych, the pro-Russia former Ukranian president. This work connected the men with Mr. Deripaska, an aluminum magnate and ally of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. Mr. Deripaska has been denied a visa to travel to the United States because of allegations that he is linked to organized crime operations, charges Mr. Deripaska has denied.

In 2008, Mr. Gates took over the firm’s duties in Eastern Europe, where he worked on business development and contract negotiations.

[DOCUMENT
Read the Charges Against Paul Manafort and Rick Gates – GO TO NYT WEBSITE --
Paul Manafort, President Trump's former campaign chairman, was indicted on charges including conspiracy, money laundering and other charges. Mr. Manafort's business associate, Rick Gates, was also charged.]

. . . . FOR THE REMAINDER OF THIS ARTICLE, GO TO NYT.


LOOK AT THE SHEER AMOUNT OF MONEY THAT WAS LAUNDERED BY MANAFORT

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/30/us/politics/paul-manafort-indicted.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fpolitics&action=click&contentCollection=politics®ion=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront
POLITICS
Paul Manafort, Ex-Chairman of Trump Campaign, and Associate Plead Not Guilty to Money Laundering
By ADAM GOLDMAN and NICHOLAS FANDOS OCT. 30, 2017

WASHINGTON — President Trump’s campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, was indicted Monday on charges that he funneled millions of dollars through overseas shell companies and used the money to buy luxury cars, real estate, antiques and expensive suits.

The charges against Mr. Manafort and his longtime associate Rick Gates represent a significant escalation in a special counsel investigation that has cast a shadow over Mr. Trump’s first year in office.

The two men appeared in the Federal District Court in Washington on Monday afternoon and pleaded not guilty to all charges.

SLIDE SHOW -- *Read the Charges Against Paul Manafort and Rick Gates

Separately, one of the early foreign policy advisers to Mr. Trump’s presidential campaign, George Papadopoulos, pleaded guilty to lying to the F.B.I. about a contact with a professor with ties to Kremlin officials, prosecutors said on Monday.

The special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, was assigned in May to investigate whether anyone close to Mr. Trump participated in a Russian government effort to influence last year’s presidential election. Monday’s indictments indicate that Mr. Mueller has taken an expansive view of his mandate.

The indictment of Mr. Manafort and Mr. Gates makes no mention of Mr. Trump or election meddling. Instead, it describes in granular detail Mr. Manafort’s lobbying work in Ukraine and what prosecutors said was a scheme to hide that money from tax collectors and the public. The authorities said Mr. Manafort laundered more than $18 million.

“Manafort used his hidden overseas wealth to enjoy a lavish lifestyle in the United States without paying taxes on that income,” the indictment reads.

Photo

George Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to lying to the F.B.I. about a contact with a Russian professor with ties to Kremlin officials.
SEE NYT FOR MORE


PAPADOPOULOS AND THE PROFESSOR APRIL 2016

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/30/us/politics/george-papadopoulos-russia.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fpolitics&action=click&contentCollection=politics®ion=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront
POLITICS
Trump Campaign Adviser Met With Russian to Discuss ‘Dirt’ on Clinton
By MATT APUZZO and MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT OCT. 30, 2017

Photograph -- George Papadopoulos, a former advisor to Donald J. Trump’s presidential campaign, plead guilty to lying to the F.B.I.

WASHINGTON — A professor with close ties to the Russian government told an adviser to Donald J. Trump’s presidential campaign in April 2016 that Moscow had “dirt” on Hillary Clinton in the form of “thousands of emails,” according to court documents unsealed Monday.

The adviser, George Papadopoulos, has pleaded guilty to lying to the F.B.I. about that conversation. The plea represents the most explicit evidence that the Trump campaign was aware that the Russian government was trying to help Mr. Trump and that the campaign was eager to accept that help.

As part of that effort, the Russian government hacked Democratic accounts and released a trove of embarrassing emails related to Mrs. Clinton’s campaign. The Trump campaign has repeatedly denied any inside knowledge about that.

“They have dirt on her,” the professor told Mr. Papadopoulos, according to the documents. “They have thousands of emails.”

SLIDE SHOW -- Read the Statement of Offense Against George Papadopoulos

Mr. Papadopoulos was quietly arrested at Washington Dulles Airport on July 27 and has since been cooperating with the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, records show. Mr. Papadopoulos’s conversation in April raises more questions about a subsequent meeting in June at Trump Tower, where Mr. Trump’s eldest son and senior advisers met with Russians who were similarly promising damaging information on Mrs. Clinton.

The documents released on Monday said that several senior campaign officials knew about some of Mr. Papadopoulos’s interactions with the Russians. The documents do not say whether he mentioned the Clinton emails to anyone.

The professor, who was not identified in court documents, introduced Mr. Papadopoulos to others, including someone connected to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a woman who he believed was a relative of the Russian president, Vladimir V. Putin. Mr. Papadopoulos repeatedly tried to arrange a meeting between the Trump campaign and Russian government officials, court records show.

“We are all very excited by the possibility of a good relationship with Mr. Trump,” the woman, who was not identified, told Mr. Papadopoulos in an email. She was not actually a relative of Mr. Putin, according to court documents.

Mr. Papadopoulos told the F.B.I. in January that the professor was “a nothing.” But Mr. Papadopoulos now acknowledges that he knew the professor had “substantial connections to Russian government officials.” Attempts to reach Mr. Papadopoulos on Monday were not successful.

Mr. Papadopoulos was one of a small group of foreign policy advisers that Mr. Trump announced in March 2016. Another of the advisers, Carter Page, has met with the F.B.I. about his own meetings with Russians.

The plea was unsealed on the same day that Paul Manafort, the former Trump campaign chairman, and his longtime associate, Rick Gates, were indicted on charges of money laundering and conspiracy.

Mr. Papadopoulos was first interviewed by the F.B.I. in January, as the bureau was investigating connections between the Trump campaign and Russia. In that interview, Mr. Papadopoulos said that he began communicating with the professor and the Russian woman before he became a foreign policy adviser to the campaign. He has since acknowledged that is untrue.
. . . . FOR THE REMAINDER OF THIS ARTICLE, GO TO NYT.



THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS DETAIL OF EACH INVOLVED TRUMP ASSOCIATE AND MORE. PAPADOPOULOS IS ONE OF THE EARLY KEY PLAYERS, AND “ALERTED THE CAMPAIGN” OF THE STRATEGIC VALUE FOR TRUMP. THIS FACT MAKES IT APPEAR TO ME TO BE TOO CLEAR A LINK FOR TRUMP TO GO UNINDICTED IN THE END. OF COURSE, WE WON’T KNOW UNTIL MUELLER IS FINISHED.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/06/07/us/politics/trump-russia-flynn-kushner.html
POLITICS
How Key Trump Associates Have Been Linked to Russia
By JASMINE C. LEE, ALICIA PARLAPIANO and KAREN YOURISH UPDATED OCT. 30, 2017

One Trump campaign adviser pleaded guilty for lying about his Russian contacts and several others are under scrutiny.

George Papadopoulos – Campaign adviser -- Pleaded guilty -- Met with professor with ties to the Russian government who said Moscow had “dirt” on Hillary Clinton. -- Pleaded guilty to lying to the F.B.I.

Jared Kushner -- Son-in-law and senior adviser -- Discussed secret back channel with Russian ambassador. Met with head of state-owned bank. -- Did not immediately report contacts when getting security clearance.

Jeff Sessions – Attorney general -- Spoke twice with ambassador and discussed Ukraine. -- Did not report conversations during his confirmation hearing.

Michael T. Flynn – Former national security adviser – Resigned -- Discussed sanctions with ambassador; paid $45,000 by state-owned media for speech. -- Misled the F.B.I. and and the vice president; omitted payments in financial disclosure.

Donald Trump Jr. -- Eldest son -- Met with a Russian lawyer he believed would offer him damaging information about Hillary Clinton.

Michael D. Cohen -- Trump’s personal lawyer -- Has personal and business ties to Ukraine; proposed a peace plan between the country and Russia.

Paul Manafort – Former campaign manager -- Worked for pro-Russian Ukrainians and with a Russian billionaire.

“The professor only took interest in defendant Papadopoulos because of his status with the campaign; and the professor told defendant Papadopoulos about the ‘thousands of emails’ on or about April 26, 2016, when defendant Papadopoulos had been a foreign policy adviser to the campaign for over a month,” according to the documents.

In February, Mr. Papadopoulos deleted his Facebook account, which included his communications with the Russians. Later that month, he began using a new cellphone number.

The documents say that Mr. Papadopoulos knew that the professor had met with senior officials in Moscow to discuss Mrs. Clinton’s email.

Mr. Papadopoulos alerted his supervisor and several members of the foreign policy team about his contacts, referring to his “good friend” the professor and a woman he called Mr. Putin’s niece. The campaign supervisor — who was not identified in the documents — said in response that he would “work it through the campaign” and added “Great work.”

The Justice Department said that Mr. Papadopoulos had hurt their investigation.

“Through his false statements and omissions, defendant Papadopoulos impeded the F.B.I.’s ongoing investigation into the existence of any links or coordination between individuals associated with the Campaign and the Russian government’s efforts to interfere with the 2016 presidential election,” the documents said.

. . . .


"THESE ARE INCREDIBLY SERIOUS CHARGES, AND SUGGEST A LONGSTANDING AND PERVASIVE PATTERN OF RECKLESS ILLEGALITY ON THE PART OF SOMEONE WHO WAS INSTRUMENTAL IN THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN, AND WHO SHOULD'VE KNOWN BETTER, ...."

http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/30/politics/manafort-gates-indictment-explained/index.html
What you need to know about the Manafort, Gates indictment
By Joan Biskupic and Kara Scannell, CNN
Updated 1:55 PM ET, Mon October 30, 2017

Washington (CNN)The 31-page, 12-count indictment against Paul Manafort and Richard Gates focuses on their years as political consultants and lobbyists working with Ukraine.

It alleges that they received tens of millions of dollars for their Ukraine work, and to hide that income, they laundered the money through "scores of United States and foreign corporations, partnerships, and bank accounts."

READ: Federal grand jury indictment against Manafort, Gates

It includes details about their lavish lifestyle, that they used money from offshore accounts to pay for mortgages, children's tuition and home decorating. The indictment says more than $75 million flowed through the offshore accounts, specifically that Manafort laundered more than $18 million and Gates transferred more than $3 million from the offshore accounts.

Signed by Robert Mueller, who was named special prosecutor May 17, the indictment focuses on an entity first created by Manafort in 2005 for political consulting, called Davis Manafort Partners. In 2011, Manafort created DMP International (DMI) and began consulting, lobbying and public relations for Ukraine.

Gates worked for both firms and according to the indictment "served as Manafort's right-hand man." A focus was advancement of the pro-Russia political party in the Ukraine, the Party of Regions," and candidacy of Viktor Yanukovych for president. He was elected in 2010 (and fled to Russia four years later).

Because Manafort and Gates were directing a campaign to lobby the US on behalf of the government of Ukraine and officials there, the indictment says, they were required to report the work and income. They didn't and when asked by the Justice Department about it, they lied about it.

Manafort and Gates used an entity called the European Centre for Modern Ukraine (the Centre) allegedly to conceal their activities. Mueller said the Centre was set up in 2012 "as a mouth piece for Yanukovych and the Party of Regions." (The Centre ceased operations in 2014 when Yanukovych fled to Russia). Mueller alleges that Manafort and Gates developed a false "cover story" using the Centre to distance themselves from Ukraine.

As DOJ was investigating whether Manafort, Gates and DMI were acting as agents of a foreign country without registering (a violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act), Manafort, Gates and DMI continued their cover story, the indictment alleges. Letters "approved by Manafort and Gates" insisted that DMI's efforts did not include work on behalf of the Party of Regions within the US. They said they had merely served to introduce Company A and Company B to the Centre.

In fact, Mueller alleges, Manafort and Gates had selected the two companies to undertake the lobbying on behalf of Yanukovych and the two men then engaged in weekly calls and emails to direct the steps to be taken. They paid the lobbying firms more than $2 million from their offshore accounts, according to the indictment.

The document says that the July 2017 search of Manafort's Virginia home revealed numerous documents related to this lobbying. (Manafort had apparently told investigators that DMI did not keep communications beyond 30 days; the indictment says that numerous older documents related to the lobbying were found.)

An 'appetizer' to future charges?

"These are incredibly serious charges, and suggest a longstanding and pervasive pattern of reckless illegality on the part of someone who was instrumental in the Trump campaign, and who should've known better," said Steve Vladeck, CNN legal contributor and professor at the University of Texas Law School.

"Taken together, it seems to me that this is a very important interim development in the Mueller investigation, but only as an appetizer," Vladeck said. "And like most meals, if all we get is an appetizer, I think folks on all sides of the political spectrum will find the denouement rather unsatisfying. It's a tantalizing step, but only if it's the first—and not the last."

Where'd the money go?

Manafort paid $3 million in cash for a brownstone in Brooklyn and then took out a $5 million loan "after promising the bank that approximately $1.4 million" of the loan would be used "solely for construction of the Union Street property." According to the indictment, before the loan was made Manafort told his tax preparer the construction loan would allow him to pay off a different mortgage in full. He also allegedly used other loan proceeds for a down payment on a California property, according to the indictment.

In 2012, Manafort allegedly wired $2.85 million in Cyprus accounts to purchase a Manhattan condo that he used as an income-generating property by renting it out on Airbnb. Four years later when Manafort was applying for a mortgage he falsely represented that his daughter and son-in-law to get a better interest rate on the loan, according to the indictment. As a result, the bank provided Manafort with a $3.18 million loan.

Under the alleged scheme from 2008 to 2014, Manafort wired $12 million from offshore accounts in Cyprus, Grenadines, and the United Kingdom to buy luxury cars, clothing and art and to fund renovations and home improvements relating to his Hamptons, New York, property.

Among the payments:

$5.4 million to vendors for home repairs for his properties in the Hamptons
$1.3 million to a Florida home automation, lighting and entertainment company
$934,350 to an antique rug store in Alexandria, Virginia.
$849,215 to a New York mens clothing store
$655,500 to a Hamptons landscaper
$623,910 to a New York antique dealer
$520,000 to a Beverly Hills clothing store
$500,000 to an investment company
$432,487 to a Florida contractor
$164,740 to a different Hamptons landscaper
$163,705 in payments for three Range Rovers
$125,650 for a Virginia contractor
$112,825 for home entertainment vendor in the Hamptons
$62,750 for a Mercedes
$47,000 for a Range Rover
$46,000 for a property management company in South Carolina
$31,900 to a Florida art gallery
$20,000 on housekeeping in New York



"THE INTEGRITY OF THIS CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT IS AT STAKE."

https://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2017/10/30/trumps-texas-allies-mum-indictments-democrats-claim-vindication
POLITICS AT 10 MIN AGO (
No link to Trump? Press secretary's 'outright lies' on indictments prompt call to resign from Texas Rep. Castro
Todd J. Gillman Katie Leslie
October 30, 2016

Updated at 4:15 p.m. with Cornyn and Cruz declining to defend Trump, after Castro called for Sarah Sanders' resignation.

WASHINGTON -- Texas Republicans kept a distance Monday after President Donald Trump's campaign chairman and two other former aides were hit with felony charges -- forcing the administration to cope with the fallout on its own.

Texas Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz both declined to defend Trump or raise doubts about the merits of the charges, while across the aisle, Texas Democrats viewed the indictments as vindication.

One accused the White House press secretary of peddling "outright lies" by denying any link to the president, and demanded she resign.

The sharply varied reactions underscored the high stakes of special counsel Robert Mueller's probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 election. Republicans are wary of sharing in any taint that might befall Trump. Democrats are itching for a breakthrough to hobble the president.

Fort Worth Rep. Marc Veasey, a Democrat, predicted new and creative deflection from the White House, now that Mueller secured a confession proving that at least one Trump campaign aide did, in fact, engage in collusion with Russia.

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Rep. Marc Veasey ✔@RepVeasey
What new twitter war will @POTUS create today to deflect from #TrumpRussia investigation & answers for #Niger ambush?
8:48 AM - Oct 30, 2017
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"What new twitter war will @POTUS create today to deflect from #TrumpRussia investigation," Veasey wondered.

Hours after the indictments were handed up, Cornyn, the majority whip, abruptly ending a GOP news conference on judicial nominees when journalists insisted on asking about the charges. But he said, "I don't see how the indictment changes the president's ability to do his job."

Cruz -- whose presidential ambitions Trump quashed -- told The Dallas Morning News the indictments "are undoubtedly serious" and he wants to see the "strength of the factual predicate behind them."

"That's why we have a judicial process," he said. "We'll have to see if the facts back up the charges."

Paul Manafort, the Trump campaign's chairman for several months in 2016, was indicted on 12 counts of tax evasion and money laundering, along with his deputy, Rick Gates. Both pleaded not guilty.

Mueller also obtained a guilty plea on Oct. 5 -- unsealed Monday, with the other two indictments -- from George Papadopoulos, a member of the campaign's foreign policy team. Papadopoulos confessed to interacting with Russians promising "dirt" on Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, then lying to the FBI about the contacts.

Houston Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, a Democrat, called the guilty plea the "most serious suggestion of alleged Russian collusion" with the Trump campaign.

"The dam now seems to be broken and the Congressional investigations should be expanded and intensified," she said in a statement. "The integrity of this constitutional government is at stake."

The Trump team has long sought to downplay Manafort's ties to the president -- a stance belied by his service as the campaign's chairman, a high visibility post that included daily briefings for the news media at the GOP nominating convention.

"We've been saying from Day 1 that there's been no evidence of Trump-Russia collusion" and the indictments don't change that, insisted White House press secretary Sarah Sanders. "Today's announcement has nothing to do with the president and nothing to do with the president's campaign."

That prompted Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, to demand Sanders' resignation, on grounds that "she lacks any credibility."

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Joaquin Castro ✔@JoaquinCastrotx
Sarah Huckabee Sanders should resign as @PressSec. She lacks any credibility, outright lies to the American people. https://twitter.com/sahilkapur/status/925055133901258752 …
2:09 PM - Oct 30, 2017
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ABC News Politics ✔@ABCPolitics
In March, Sean Spicer said Paul Manafort had "played a very limited role for a very limited amount of time" in Trump's campaign.
12:03 PM - Oct 30, 2017
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Trump himself on Monday tried to distance himself from Manafort and the others, ignoring the Papadopoulos confession, which refutes his long-standing insistence that no one on his campaign worked with Russians to help him defeat Clinton.

A Trump tweet from March 31, 2016, showed him meeting with a dozen advisers, including Papadopolous and Sen. Jeff Sessions -- now the attorney general. The future president called it a "national security meeting." Papadopolous is two seats to Sessions' left in the photo.

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Donald J. Trump ✔@realDonaldTrump
#MakeAmericaGreatAgain #Trump2016https://instagram.com/p/BDo-7SimhUn/
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Despite the connections, Trump and his aides insisted there are none -- a claim that Texas Democrats rejected.

Cruz, however, called it premature to draw conclusions from Papadopoulos' guilty plea, despite the admission that he'd lied to authorities about his contacts with Russians.

"At this point we have allegations, but not nearly sufficient detail to know what precisely occurred," Cruz said. "...That's why there are multiple congressional investigations that are ongoing and why the special counsel was appointed in the first place. I hope both Congress and the public will have the facts fully developed. That's a process that will take time and is ongoing."

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Donald J. Trump ✔@realDonaldTrump
Sorry, but this is years ago, before Paul Manafort was part of the Trump campaign. But why aren't Crooked Hillary & the Dems the focus?????
10:25 AM - Oct 30, 2017
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Donald J. Trump ✔@realDonaldTrump
....Also, there is NO COLLUSION!
10:28 AM - Oct 30, 2017
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Rep. Al Green, a Houston Democrat who has called for Trump's impeachment and removal from office, pointed to the indictments as progress. "THIS is how you drain the swamp!" he tweeted, borrowing Trump's language.

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Congressman Al Green ✔@RepAlGreen
Manafort and Gates have been indicted. Papadopoulos plead guilty. THIS is how you drain the swamp! #IndictmentDay #ImpeachTrump
11:29 AM - Oct 30, 2017
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Austin Rep. Lloyd Doggett, a senior Democrat, lauded the indictments and said that "while we lack the full story of any Trump collusion, one advisor has now plead guilty to lying about his Russian contact," suggesting the revelations have only begun.

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Lloyd Doggett ✔@RepLloydDoggett
My full statement on the indictments issued by Special Counsel Mueller:
11:35 AM - Oct 30, 2017
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"Unquestionably, the Russians attacked our democracy in a successful effort to elect their preferred candidate," Doggett said. The "sweeping charges" against Manafort "underscore the importance of not sweeping any of this investigation under the rug."

He urged Republican colleagues to send this "strong, public" message to Trump: "Any interference with this investigation is at your peril."

A federal magistrate ordered house arrest for Manafort and Gates, with bonds of $10 million and $5 million respectively.

"Donald Trump's top campaign associates have been charged with conspiracy against the United States, money laundering, and making false statements. One campaign advisor has already pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI. Americans should be alarmed at the lawlessness in the highest ranks of the Republican Party," said Texas Democratic Party chair Gilberto Hinojosa. "These indictments underscore the need for a thorough, complete and honest investigation into how far Trump's White House is compromised. This is not the end of the Trump-Russia scandal."

The U.S. House wasn't in session on Monday, but lawmakers in both parties were active on social media. Only the Democrats, however, were addressing the indictments.

At the Senate, Republicans weren't eager to talk about the case. Cornyn emphasized that lawmakers continue to investigate Russian meddling, including a probe by the Senate Intelligence Committee that he sits on.

"The special counsel's got his lane and we have our lane. We're focused on making sure the Russian active measures investigation continues," Cornyn told reporters before the news conference on judicial nominees.

Asked if he's concerned about the indictments, he said there's been "a lot of work done both in the House and in the Senate, but the special counsel has got his own responsibilities and it doesn't involve us."



MORE ON THE GUILTY PLEA AND ANOTHER LINK TO THE CAMPAIGN

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/trump-campaign-adviser-george-papadopoulos-pleads-guilty-lying-n815596
DEVELOPING NEWS OCT 30 2017, 4:00 PM ET
Ex-Trump Adviser George Papadopoulos Pleads Guilty in Mueller’s Russia Probe
by TOM WINTER, TRACY CONNOR, KEN DILANIAN and JULIA AINSLEY

A former Trump campaign adviser struck a cooperation agreement with Special Counsel Robert Mueller, secretly pleading guilty three weeks ago to lying to federal agents about his contacts with Kremlin-connected Russians.

The bombshell announcement about George Papadopoulos, 30, came shortly after indictments against former campaign chair Paul Manafort and Manafort associate Rick Gates were unsealed, alleging financial crimes that predated Trump's candidacy.

Fmr. Trump Adviser Papadopoulos Pleads Guilty to Making False Statements to FBI Play Facebook Twitter Embed
Fmr. Trump Adviser Papadopoulos Pleads Guilty to Making False Statements to FBI 2:26

Court documents unsealed Monday in the Papadopoulos case refer to unnamed campaign officials who were aware he was trying to set up a meeting between Trump and the Russians. Two sources familiar with the charges said one of the officials is Manafort, who authored a key email about Papadopoulos' efforts.

"We need someone to communicate that DT is not doing these trips," the email said, according to the documents. "It should be someone low level in the campaign so as not to send any signal."

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said Monday that Papadopoulos had an "extremely limited" role with the campaign. "It was a volunteer position and again, no activity was ever done in an official capacity on behalf of the campaign in that regard," she said at a briefing.

However, the court papers reveal that a Trump campaign supervisor, who was not named, encouraged Papadopoulos to make a trip to Russia for an off-the-record meeting with Russian officials "if it is feasible."

READ: Special Counsel’s office documents on George Papadopoulos

The documents suggest that foreign nationals with ties to the Russian government were seeking to establish a relationship with at least one campaign official, offering "dirt" on Hillary Clinton. And the documents outline how Papadopoulos, when questioned about those associations, lied.

"Through his false statements and omissions, defendant ... impeded the FBI's ongoing investigation into the existence of any links or coordination between individuals associated with the Campaign and the Russian government's efforts to interfere with the 2016 presidential election," Mueller's team wrote.

White House: Papadopoulos Was a 'Volunteer' on Campaign
Play -- White House: Papadopoulos Was a 'Volunteer' on Campaign 1:03

In his first interview with the FBI, Papadopoulos claimed that he made the contacts before Trump named him as a member of his campaign foreign policy team in March 2016 and called him an "excellent guy." He actually began communicating with them after he joined the campaign as an energy expert.

Days later, while attending what was billed as a "national security meeting" with Trump, Papadopoulos told the group he had connections that could lead to a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the court papers say.

During the FBI interview, Papadopoulos downplayed the importance of the communications, saying that a professor living in London was "a nothing," while a Russian woman had been emailing him just to say, "Hi, how are you?"

In reality, the professor, identified by the Washington Post as Joseph Mifsud of the London Academy of Diplomacy, had told Papadopoulos that Russians had "dirt" on Hillary Clinton.

"They have thousands of emails," the professor said, according to the documents — well before it was widely understood that Russia had hacked the Democrats.

Image: George Papadopoulos, third from left, meets with then-presidential candidate Donald Trump on March 31, 2016 at a "National Security Meeting" in Washington.

George Papadopoulos, third from left, meets with then-presidential candidate Donald Trump on March 31, 2016. @reaDonaldTrump / Instagram

The professor introduced Papadopoulos to a Russian who said he was close to officials at the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. That contact, identified by the Washington Post as Ivan Timofeev of the Russian International Affairs Council, then spoke with Papadopoulos over Skype about laying the groundwork for a meeting between the campaign and officials in Moscow, prosecutors said.

A former Trump campaign adviser struck a cooperation agreement with Special Counsel Robert Mueller, secretly pleading guilty three weeks ago to lying to federal agents about his contacts with Kremlin-connected Russians.

The bombshell announcement about George Papadopoulos, 30, came shortly after indictments against former campaign chair Paul Manafort and Manafort associate Rick Gates were unsealed, alleging financial crimes that predated Trump's candidacy.

Fmr. Trump Adviser Papadopoulos Pleads Guilty to Making False Statements to FBI Play Facebook Twitter Embed
Fmr. Trump Adviser Papadopoulos Pleads Guilty to Making False Statements to FBI 2:26

Court documents unsealed Monday in the Papadopoulos case refer to unnamed campaign officials who were aware he was trying to set up a meeting between Trump and the Russians. Two sources familiar with the charges said one of the officials is Manafort, who authored a key email about Papadopoulos' efforts.

"We need someone to communicate that DT is not doing these trips," the email said, according to the documents. "It should be someone low level in the campaign so as not to send any signal."

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said Monday that Papadopoulos had an "extremely limited" role with the campaign. "It was a volunteer position and again, no activity was ever done in an official capacity on behalf of the campaign in that regard," she said at a briefing.

However, the court papers reveal that a Trump campaign supervisor, who was not named, encouraged Papadopoulos to make a trip to Russia for an off-the-record meeting with Russian officials "if it is feasible."

READ: Special Counsel’s office documents on George Papadopoulos

The documents suggest that foreign nationals with ties to the Russian government were seeking to establish a relationship with at least one campaign official, offering "dirt" on Hillary Clinton. And the documents outline how Papadopoulos, when questioned about those associations, lied.

"Through his false statements and omissions, defendant ... impeded the FBI's ongoing investigation into the existence of any links or coordination between individuals associated with the Campaign and the Russian government's efforts to interfere with the 2016 presidential election," Mueller's team wrote.

White House: Papadopoulos Was a 'Volunteer' on Campaign Play Facebook Twitter Embed
White House: Papadopoulos Was a 'Volunteer' on Campaign 1:03

In his first interview with the FBI, Papadopoulos claimed that he made the contacts before Trump named him as a member of his campaign foreign policy team in March 2016 and called him an "excellent guy." He actually began communicating with them after he joined the campaign as an energy expert.

Days later, while attending what was billed as a "national security meeting" with Trump, Papadopoulos told the group he had connections that could lead to a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the court papers say.

During the FBI interview, Papadopoulos downplayed the importance of the communications, saying that a professor living in London was "a nothing," while a Russian woman had been emailing him just to say, "Hi, how are you?"

In reality, the professor, identified by the Washington Post as Joseph Mifsud of the London Academy of Diplomacy, had told Papadopoulos that Russians had "dirt" on Hillary Clinton.

"They have thousands of emails," the professor said, according to the documents — well before it was widely understood that Russia had hacked the Democrats.

Image: George Papadopoulos, third from left, meets with then-presidential candidate Donald Trump on March 31, 2016 at a "National Security Meeting" in Washington.

George Papadopoulos, third from left, meets with then-presidential candidate Donald Trump on March 31, 2016. @reaDonaldTrump / Instagram

The professor introduced Papadopoulos to a Russian who said he was close to officials at the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. That contact, identified by the Washington Post as Ivan Timofeev of the Russian International Affairs Council, then spoke with Papadopoulos over Skype about laying the groundwork for a meeting between the campaign and officials in Moscow, prosecutors said.

The Russian woman — whom Papadopoulos mistakenly described in an email as the niece of Russian President Vladimir Putin — also tried to arrange a meeting between the Trump campaign and Russian government officials, the documents say.

Frank Figliuzzi, a former head of counterintelligence at the FBI, said on MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell Reports that the Papadopoulos complaint portrays an effort by people likely connected to Russian intelligence to infiltrate the Trump campaign.

"He may not have actually understood who he was dealing with, but this has the fingerprints of Russian intelligence all over it," Figliuzzi said.

Video--Sanders: Manafort's Indictment 'Has Nothing To Do With The President' 0:41

Papadopoulos communicated with a "campaign supervisor" about his attempts to broker a meeting with the Russians to discuss U.S.-Russia ties during a Trump presidency, the court papers say.

"Great work," the supervisor, who was not named in the documents, told him in an email.

After he was first questioned by the FBI, Papadopoulos deactivated a Facebook account that had information about his communications with the foreign nationals, and he also got a new cellphone number, prosecutors said.

Papadopoulos, who spent 11 months on the Trump campaign after working for Ben Carson's campaign, was arrested in July 2017 when he got off a plane in Washington. The DePaul University graduate pleaded guilty on Oct. 5.

His plea agreement says the government will inform the sentencing judge of his "efforts to cooperate with the Government, on the condition that your client continues to respond and provide information regarding any and all matters as to which the Government deems relevant."

Papadopoulos' attorneys said in a statement that they would have no comment.

"We will have the opportunity to comment on George’s involvement when called upon by the Court at a later date," the statement said. "We look forward to presenting all the facts that led to the events that resulted in this charge."

Mifsud, the London-based professor, did respond to inquiries from NBC News. He had previously told the Washington Post that he had "absolutely no contact" with the Russian government. Timofeev also could not be reached for comment. In an earlier interview with a Russian news outlet, he said Papadopoulos initiated contact and that he asked for an official letter of request for a meeting.

"We did not take the proposal itself too seriously," he said. "Besides, hardly any of our colleagues or even any of us expected Trump to win."



NOBODY TODAY IS MENTIONING THIS TRUMP/RUSSIA MEETING AT THE WHITE HOUSE

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/05/10/527755991/trump-meets-with-russias-lavrov-at-the-white-house-today
Trump Hosts Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov And Ambassador Kislyak At White House
May 10, 201710:13 AM ET
BILL CHAPPELL

Photograph -- President Trump gestures to Russia's ambassador to the U.S., Sergey Kislyak, as he speaks to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in the Oval Office on Wednesday. Alexander Shcherbak/TASS/Getty Images

President Trump hosted Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at the White House on Wednesday, one day after firing the man whose agency is investigating Russia's meddling in the 2016 election that brought Trump to power.

Trump fired now-former FBI Director James Comey, who told Congress earlier this year that his agency has been investigating Russia's actions — and possible ties to anyone associated with the Trump campaign — since July. As NPR's Domenico Montanaro reports, the firing of Comey with more than six years left on his term in office has prompted a flurry of questions about the president's motives — and about what's next.

President Trump Fires FBI Director James Comey
POLITICS
President Trump Fires FBI Director James Comey

Lavrov's meeting with the president was scheduled for 10:30 a.m. ET, and it was declared closed to the press. Russian agencies tweeted photos from the Oval Office showing that in addition to Lavrov, Trump shook hands with Russia's ambassador to America, Sergey Kislyak — a key figure in the investigation into Trump's ousted national security adviser, Michael Flynn.

After the Lavrov session had concluded, members of the U.S. media were allowed into the Oval Office, where they found the president sitting with Henry Kissinger, who served as President Richard Nixon's secretary of state. The meeting hadn't been listed on the president's official schedule.

Trump said he and Kissinger had met to talk "about Russia and various other matters," according to the pool report.

From Archibald Cox To Ken Starr: 'Independent' Russia Probe Could Take Many Forms
POLITICS
After Comey Firing, Calls For Independent Probe Come In Lots Of Flavors

. . . .


NO, NOT A MEETING. JUST A CEREMONY.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/white-house-denies-antonov-trump-meeting-reports
TPM LIVEWIRE
WH: There Was ‘Not A Meeting’ Between Trump And New Russian Ambassador
By ALLEGRA KIRKLAND
Published SEPTEMBER 8, 2017 6:01 PM

The White House late Friday swatted down claims made by Russia’s new ambassador to the U.S. that he had held a “warm and friendly” introductory meeting with President Donald Trump earlier in the day.

“There was not a meeting,” White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in an email to TPM. “He was here for a credentialing ceremony with 12 other new ambassadors and their spouses.”

Anatoly Antonov was far more loquacious in his comments to the Russian press, characterizing the initial meeting as chummy.

“The atmosphere was good, constructive and friendly,” Antonov said, as quoted by TASS. “President Trump met me cordially. We agree with his staff members to continue our contacts.”

This initial face-to-face comes at a moment of escalating tensions in U.S.-Russia relations. Just last week, the Trump administration ordered the closure of Russian trade missions in Washington and New York, as well as the Russian consulate in San Francisco, where the fire department found staff burning unidentified items in the fireplace on an unseasonably warm August day. This move follows Russia’s expulsion of hundreds of U.S. diplomatic staff earlier in the summer.

In his remarks to Russian press, Antonov, the country’s former deputy defense minister, said he hoped to see a thawing in relations between the two nations.

Antonov assumed his post in late August, taking over for Sergei Kislyak, who served a nine-year term. Kislyak’s election-year meetings with several current and former members of Trump’s administration are part of the ongoing congressional and federal investigations into Russia’s interference in the 2016 campaign.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Photograph -- Allegra Kirkland is a New York-based reporter for Talking Points Memo. She previously worked on The Nation’s web team and as the associate managing editor for AlterNet. Follow her on Twitter @allegrakirkland.



RUSSIA AND FACEBOOK, AGAIN.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/facebook-says-126-million-americans-220129865.html?soc_trk=gcm&soc_src=ceafb8ea-13ba-326e-8577-780d7df5b520&.tsrc=notification-brknews
Facebook says 126 million Americans may have seen Russia-linked political posts
Reuters October 30, 2017
By David Ingram

Image -- A 3D-printed Facebook like button is seen in front of the Facebook logo, in this illustration taken October 25, 2017. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Facebook Inc (FB.O) said on Monday that Russia-based operatives published about 80,000 posts on the social network over a two year period in an effort to sway U.S. politics, and that about 126 million Americans may have seen the posts during that time.

Facebook gave the details about the reach of Russian posts in written testimony the company provided to U.S. lawmakers which was seen by Reuters.

Executives from Facebook, Twitter Inc (TWTR.N) and Alphabet Inc's (GOOGL.O) Google are scheduled to appear before three congressional committees this week on alleged Russian attempts to spread misinformation in the months before and after the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

The Russian government has denied any attempts to sway the election, in which President Donald Trump, a Republican, defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Facebook General Counsel Colin Stretch said in the written testimony that the 80,000 posts from Russia's Internet Research Agency were a tiny fraction of content on Facebook, equal to 1 out of 23,000 posts.

The posts though violated Facebook's terms of service and any amount of such activity using fake accounts is too much, Stretch wrote.

"These actions run counter to Facebook's mission of building community and everything we stand for. And we are determined to do everything we can to address this new threat," he wrote.

The 80,000 posts were published between June 2015 and August 2017 and most of them focused on divisive social and political messages such as race relations and gun rights, Facebook said.


STORIES ABOUT THIS HISTORIC CASE ARE STILL BREAKING. I WILL CATCH THE REST TOMORROW. POSTED 8:53 PM, 10/30/17.