Tornado Alley (PROG)

[fuagf]

Part 132, some of Russian meddling, and related, material from F6 big ones. These from Monday, 01/29/18,
headed, Remarks by Vice President Mike Pence and President Reuven Rivlin of Israel Before Bilateral Meeting
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=138070081

This triple begins in the first quarter

Trump rattled by explosive FBI resignation report

The Beat with Ari Melber
1/23/18
In the midst of an obstruction probe, Trump is under fire for an attempted FBI purge. FBI Director Christopher
Wray reportedly threatened to resign over Trump’s partisan attempts to fire deputy director McCabe.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/the-beat-with-ari-melber/watch/trump-rattled-by-explosive-fbi-resignation-report-1144119363684 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gzPGxRdnM0 [with comments]

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White House braces for Trump face-to-face with Mueller
The Beat with Ari Melber
1/23/18
The White House is negotiating terms for Mueller to put Trump under oath. The
Washington Post reports Mueller wants to question Trump on Comey, Flynn firings.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/the-beat-with-ari-melber/watch/white-house-braces-for-trump-face-to-face-with-mueller-1144120899751

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Revealed: Comey, Sessions speak to Mueller investigators
The Beat with Ari Melber
1/23/18
Two bombshell interviews with Mueller leak on the same day. AG Sessions and the
FBI director Trump fired spoke with Mueller investigators as the probe eyes Trump.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/the-beat-with-ari-melber/watch/revealed-comey-sessions-speak-to-mueller-investigators-1144122947754

Skip one to

What did Jeff Sessions tell the Russia investigation?

All In with Chris Hayes
1/23/18
President Trump said he's 'not worried' about Sessions' questioning last week by Special Counsel Mueller, but he may have reason to be.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/what-did-jeff-sessions-tell-the-russia-investigation-1144114755932 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ml-TtYz0KQ [with comments]

Into the second third with this pair

GOP tries to save Trump, attacks FBI, intel

The Rachel Maddow Show
1/23/18
Rachel Maddow looks at how Republicans are enacting a strategy of undercutting the elements of U.S.
intelligence and the FBI that are the underpinnings of the investigation into Donald Trump.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/gop-tries-to-save-trump-attacks-fbi-u-s-intelligence-1144200771667 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWM2Lb7hQtE [with comments]

Lemme slide some supplement in here

Sessions discussed Trump campaign-related matters with Russian ambassador, U.S. intelligence intercepts show
By Adam Entous, Ellen Nakashima and Greg Miller July 21, 2017
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/sessions-discussed-trump-campaign-related-matters-with-russian-ambassador-us-intelligence-intercepts-show/2017/07/21/3e704692-6e44-11e7-9c15-177740635e83_story.html?utm_term=.4a931215c227

Some of what Comey knew relating to Sessions, and which he said in his June 8 2016 testimony he could not discuss in open session. Comey and fellow FBI heads decided not to tell Sessions that Trump had pressured Comey to ease off Flynn because they felt he would have to recuse himself. They knew he had chatted to Kislyak, and, according to Kislyak, about campaign matters.

Trump's reaction? Attack, complain, accuse.

Trump attacks Post over report Sessions discussed campaign with ambassador
[...]
The president did not defend Sessions, whom earlier this week he criticised strongly for his recusal from the Russia investigation. Instead, Trump complained about “illegal leaks” and demanded: “Why isn’t the AG or Special Council [sic] looking at the many Hillary Clinton or Comey crimes. 33,000 e-mails deleted?”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jul/21/jeff-sessions-meeting-russian-ambassador-trump-campaign

Sooo, Flynn, Papadopoulos, Sessions and Kushner all caught lying thanks to intelligence surveillance on foreign figures.

GOP reaction? Attack, accuse, complain.

Republicans Claim Surveillance Power Abuses in Russia Inquiry
By CHARLIE SAVAGE and SHARON LaFRANIEREJAN. 19, 2018
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/19/us/politics/republicans-surveillance-trump-russia-inquiry.html

End extra.

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Mueller wants to talk Comey firing with Trump
The Rachel Maddow Show
1/23/18
Carol Leonnig, national reporter for The Washington Post, talks with Rachel Maddow about special counsel Robert
Mueller's interest in interviewing Donald Trump, particularly the firings of James Comey and Michael Flynn.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/mueller-wants-to-talk-flynn-comey-firings-with-trump-1144204355767

Skip one to these three

Trump ally: Mueller interview may be a 'perjury trap'

The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell
1/23/18
Special Counsel Robert Mueller is reportedly ready to interview Donald Trump in the coming weeks. Lawrence O'Donnell looks at the blunt
assessment of longtime Trump confidant Roger Stone who says that would be a "suicide mission" & "perjury trap" for the president.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/watch/trump-ally-mueller-interview-may-be-a-perjury-trap-1144210499907 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmUufrh6rfE [with comments]

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Ex-DOJ official: Mueller coming at Trump 'like a freight train'
The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell
1/23/18
Fmr. Deputy Asst. Atty. Gen. Harry Litman says Mueller interviewing of Jeff Sessions and James Comey is a sign the probe is ramping up—and that one of the biggest
targets is Trump and his potential obstruction of justice. Matt Miller also joins Lawrence O'Donnell.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/watch/ex-doj-official-mueller-coming-at-trump-like-a-freight-train-1144215107868

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Report: Trump asked Acting FBI Director who he voted for in 2016

The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell
1/23/18
The Washington Post reports President Trump asked acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe who he voted for after firing FBI director
James Comey. Lawrence O'Donnell talks to Betsy Woodruff and Matt Miller about the Trump administration's pressure on the FBI.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/watch/report-trump-asked-acting-fbi-director-who-he-voted-for-in-2016-1144218179803 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WW1sMiytGRs [with comments]

These four straddle halfway

Mueller team has now interviewed both Sessions & Comey
The 11th Hour with Brian Williams
1/24/18
NBC News has confirmed reports that Special Counsel Mueller's investigators have interviewed both Atty. General
Jeff Sessions & fired FBI Director James Comey. What does that mean for the Trump White House? Our panel reacts.
©2018 NBCNews.com
[originally aired January 23, 2018]
http://www.msnbc.com/brian-williams/watch/mueller-team-has-now-interviewed-both-sessions-comey-1144246339843

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Mueller is reportedly ready to talk to Trump within weeks

The 11th Hour with Brian Williams
1/24/18
The Washington Post reports Mueller wants to talk to Pres. Trump within weeks and Trump's
legal team is working on a strategy for how to deal with that. Our panel reacts.
©2018 NBCNews.com
[originally aired January 23, 2018]
http://www.msnbc.com/brian-williams/watch/mueller-is-reportedly-ready-to-talk-to-trump-within-weeks-1144255555515 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ihPnvVtUSI [with comments]

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Trump: Not at all concerned what Sessions told Mueller
The 11th Hour with Brian Williams
1/24/18
As Trump tells the press he's not at all worried about what Atty. General Sessions may have
told Mueller's investigators, we look back at Trump's evolving relationship with Sessions.
©2018 NBCNews.com
[originally aired January 23, 2018]
http://www.msnbc.com/brian-williams/watch/trump-not-at-all-concerned-what-sessions-told-mueller-1144256579849

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Biden: 'Constant battle' in 2016 on how to handle Russia

The 11th Hour with Brian Williams
1/24/18
Former Vice Pres. Joe Biden says in 2016 he and Pres. Obama would routinely ask one another,
'What the hell are we going to do' about Russia? Fmr. Ambassador Michael McFaul reacts.
©2018 NBCNews.com
[originally aired January 23, 2018]
http://www.msnbc.com/brian-williams/watch/biden-constant-battle-in-2016-on-how-to-handle-russia-1144262211898 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDxKy0SC0KY [with comments]

To "stashed January 23, 2018:"

Jeff Sessions Is Questioned for Hours in Russia Inquiry
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/23/us/politics/jeff-sessions-special-counsel-russia.html

Sessions interviewed by special counsel probing possible Trump campaign ties with Russia
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/attorney-general-interviewed-by-special-counsel-investigating-russian-interference-in-2016/2018/01/23/4f3cf45c-004d-11e8-8acf-ad2991367d9d_story.html

Intel Committee Releases Glenn Simpson Testimony Transcripts
https://intelligence.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=850
11-8-17 http://docs.house.gov/meetings/IG/IG00/20180118/106796/HMTG-115-IG00-20180118-SD001.pdf
11-14-17 http://docs.house.gov/meetings/IG/IG00/20180118/106796/HMTG-115-IG00-20180118-SD002.pdf

Mosaic theory of intelligence gathering
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosaic_theory_of_intelligence_gathering

Will Special Counsel Robert Mueller interview President Trump soon — or ever?
Mueller told Trump’s lawyers that he would probably want to question the president. But that doesn't mean it will happen.
https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/will-special-counsel-robert-mueller-interview-president-trump-soon-or-ncna840196

It’s looking more and more like Jeff Sessions is doing Trump’s political dirty work
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2018/01/23/its-looking-more-and-more-like-jeff-sessions-is-doing-trumps-political-dirty-work/
.. more: https://news.google.com/news/story/dy7Ex6wCOHUvnnMvIDXJxpJIhZT-M?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en

Trump and Russia Both Seek to Exacerbate the Same Political Divisions
A country is in a precarious place when its foreign adversaries and its president are both trying to increase its political polarization along the same lines.
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/01/trump-russia-twitter/551093/

Comey and Sessions Are Questioned for Hours in Russia Inquiry
WASHINGTON — Attorney General Jeff Sessions was questioned for several hours last week as part of the special counsel investigation, a Justice Department spokeswoman said on Tuesday, and the former F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, was interviewed by the office last year, according to two people briefed on the matter.
The meeting with Mr. Sessions marked the first time that investigators for the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, are known to have interviewed a member of President Trump’s cabinet.
The interview with Mr. Comey focused on a series of memos he wrote about his interactions with Mr. Trump that unnerved Mr. Comey. In one memo, Mr. Comey said that Mr. Trump had asked him to end the F.B.I.’s investigation into the former national security adviser, Michael T. Flynn.
After the president’s request was disclosed, the deputy attorney general, Rod J. Rosenstein, appointed Mr. Mueller as the special counsel to lead the Russia investigation and examine whether the president obstructed justice.
The disclosure about Mr. Comey’s interview came hours after the Justice Department spokeswoman, Sarah Isgur Flores, confirmed that the interview with Mr. Sessions occurred. Mr. Sessions was accompanied by the longtime Washington lawyer Chuck Cooper to the interview.
[...]
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/23/us/politics/jeff-sessions-special-counsel-russia.html
.. more: https://news.google.com/news/story/dy7Ex6wCOHUvnnMxsI86rld77KsxM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en

Mueller seeks to question Trump about Flynn and Comey departures
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/mueller-seeks-to-question-trump-about-flynn-and-comey-departures/2018/01/23/e6652db6-0068-11e8-9d31-d72cf78dbeee_story.html

more: https://www.google.com/search?q=mueller+trump

Democrats Seek Intelligence Behind GOP Memo on Russia Probes
House panel rejects FBI’s request to review the document’s contests
https://www.wsj.com/articles/democrats-seek-intelligence-behind-gop-memo-on-russia-probes-1516738631

Republicans launch extraordinary new tactics to protect Trump on Russia
Republicans may be on the verge of publicly releasing a secret memo compiled by Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), one of President Trump’s most devoted bodyguards against accountability on Capitol Hill, that purports to show serious misconduct by the FBI and Justice Department toward the Trump campaign. The memo is the latest effort to build an alt-narrative that casts the FBI’s Russia probe — which became special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s probe — as a Deep State Coup to remove Trump from power.
Byron York reports that around 200 House Republicans have privately read the Nunes memo, and GOP leaders may release it in one or two weeks. This comes after Trump’s allies — including his son — have called for the memo’s release.
In an interview with me this morning, Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) — who is Nunes’s Democratic counterpart on the House Intelligence Committee — pushed back hard, alleging that the memo presents a profoundly doctored picture of what the classified information actually shows.
“It’s highly distorted spin by Nunes,” Schiff told me. “The Nunes spin memo distorts the underlying materials and has presented Members with a very misleading impression of what those materials show.”
Schiff also made a striking claim: He said that in allowing the memo to be accessed in a classified setting by House Republicans, Nunes has violated an agreement with the FBI and the Justice Department. Schiff added that its public release would also violate that agreement. The GOP leaders on the intel committee have allowed members of Congress to access the document, but Democrats charge this is merely an effort to arm them with misleading talking points to attack the FBI on Trump’s behalf.
“The release of the materials by the chairman violated an agreement he entered into with the FBI and the Department of Justice,” Schiff told me, in a reference to the release of the memo to the membership of the House for reading. “The agreement was because of the sensitivity of the materials to limit their distribution,” Schiff also said. “There were certain conditions attached to the viewing of the materials which have been violated.”
Asked if it would violate the agreement if the memo were to be released publicly, Schiff said: “Of course.” He added that this was revealing that there may be “no limit” to “how far Nunes and the majority are willing to go to protect the president from the Russia investigation.”
Schiff declined to go into more detail. But he also told me that he’d offered a motion on the committee that would delay the release of the memo until all its members could get access to the underlying material, but Republicans voted it down on party lines.
[...]
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2018/01/23/republicans-launch-extraordinary-new-tactics-to-protect-trump-on-russia/
.. more: https://news.google.com/news/story/d_0xiqlVBhxdPsMmQwOqwivRkrZQM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en

FBI Texts Reveal Major Flaw In GOP Theory Of ‘Deep State’ Plot To Defeat Trump
Messages between two FBI employees show they recoiled at the idea of using government power against anti-Clinton forces.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/fbi-texts-trump-clinton-deep-state_us_5a615538e4b01d91b25449c9

Newly released texts between former Mueller probe members reveal skepticism about the case
https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/newly-released-texts-between-former-mueller-probe-members-reveal-skepticism-about-the-case/2018/01/23/662aaefa-0090-11e8-bb03-722769454f82_story.html

Sen Ron Johnson drops a bombshell on The Jay Weber Show - audio
BIG BREAKING NEWS ON WISN: Sen Ron Johnson tells me he's discovered a text from Peter Strzok 2 days after the Mueller investigation in which he questions whether he wants to be part of it because he believes 'there's nothing there'. No collusion.
https://www.iheart.com/podcast/477-WISN-Clips-28429450/episode/sen-ron-johnson-drops-a-bombshell-28860177/

more: https://news.google.com/news/story/dzok-9Zex5O-DIMNz8gl90_vtJ0RM?ned=us&hl=en&gl=US

Sessions Is Questioned as Russia Inquiry Focuses on Obstruction
[updated story]
WASHINGTON — Attorney General Jeff Sessions was questioned for several hours last week as part of the special counsel investigation, the Justice Department confirmed Tuesday, making him the first member of President Trump’s cabinet to be interviewed in the inquiry.
The special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, is increasingly focused on Mr. Trump’s conduct in office and on whether he obstructed the investigation itself.
Mr. Mueller has also told the president’s lawyers that he will most likely want to interview Mr. Trump, and one person familiar with the discussions has said that the special counsel appeared most interested in asking questions about the firing of the F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, and about the former national security adviser, Michael T. Flynn. Those topics show Mr. Mueller has an interest in whether the president tried to obstruct justice.
Mr. Mueller’s investigators have asked current and former Trump administration officials about what Mr. Trump cited as reasons for Mr. Comey’s firing, and why Mr. Trump was so concerned about having someone loyal to him oversee the Russia investigation, people familiar with the interviews said.
For Mr. Sessions, the interview was the latest in a balancing act that has lasted nearly a year. He has sought to get back in Mr. Trump’s good graces by pursuing investigations into issues like leaks to the news media and relaying Mr. Trump’s displeasure about senior F.B.I. leadership to the bureau’s current director, Christopher A. Wray.
But Mr. Sessions has also tried to present a veneer of independence in congressional testimony and now has met with investigators in Mr. Mueller’s inquiry, which has for months cast a shadow over the Trump White House.
News of the interview set off a day of revelations that highlighted Mr. Trump’s charged relationship with his top law enforcement officials.
Mr. Comey was said on Tuesday to have met last year with Mr. Mueller’s investigators to answer questions about memos he wrote detailing interactions with the president that had unnerved him. Mr. Trump also said he was not troubled that Mr. Sessions met with the special counsel and denied a report that Mr. Wray had threatened to resign.
“He didn’t at all,” Mr. Trump said of Mr. Wray, adding: “He did not even a little bit. Nope. He’s going to do a good job.”
[...]
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/23/us/politics/jeff-sessions-special-counsel-russia.html
.. more: https://www.google.com/search?q=trump+erupted+in+anger+sessions