Tornado Alley (PROG)

[fuagf]

Part 211, some of Russian meddling, and related, material from F6 big ones. These
from Friday, 05/25/18, covering April 13, 2018, and headed, Weakly Address: 4/13/2018
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=141072136

The fifteenth and sixteenth items

Bombshell: Why James Comey’s “pee tape” claim matters to Bob Mueller

The Beat with Ari Melber
4/13/18
James Comey says it’s “possible” a tape of Russian "Prostitutes Peeing on Each Other" is real. Christina Greer, a fellow at NYU`s McSilver Institute, Nicholas
Kristof, a Pulitzer Prize winning columnist for The New York Times and former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul join "The Beat with Ari Melber."
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/the-beat-with-ari-melber/watch/bombshell-why-james-comey-s-pee-tape-claim-matters-to-bob-mueller-1210680899590 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDWCgOUqq8c [with comments]

*

Why Trump is Terrified: New FBI plan to expose Trump’s secret talks with his lawyer

The Beat with Ari Melber
4/13/18
Stormy Daniels’ lawyer, Michael Avenatti, joins Ari Melber right after attending Michael Cohen’s court hearing where the FBI accused Cohen of misconduct in a
scathing new court filing. Avenatti says there is a “high likelihood” that not all communications between Cohen and President Trump are attorney-client privileged.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/the-beat-with-ari-melber/watch/why-trump-is-terrified-new-fbi-plan-to-expose-trump-s-secret-talks-with-his-lawyer-1210662979635 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNCn4fdisaM [with comments]

Twenty, twenty-one and two

Trump is 'desperate and flailing about'

All In with Chris Hayes
4/13/18
President Trump is "desperate and flailing," says Rep. Jerry Nadler, who adds that a strike on Syria would be "illegal" at this point.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/trump-is-desperate-and-flailing-about-1210685507566 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9EhrRoSOw0 [with comments]

*

Mueller has evidence confirming part of the dossier: Report
All In with Chris Hayes
4/13/18
Special Counsel Robert Mueller has evidence that President Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen
was in Prague in 2016 - which Cohen denied - confirming part of the infamous dossier.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/mueller-has-evidence-confirming-part-of-the-dossier-report-1210692675821

Remember Cohen vehemently denied ever being in Prague when the dossier alleged he was.
Well, reportedly Mueller might have evidence Cohen was in Prague at the time. In 2016.

*

If Michael Cohen goes down, does Trump go with him?
All In with Chris Hayes
4/13/18
The president's longtime personal lawyer knows the president's secrets - and his problems just keep getting worse.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/if-michael-cohen-goes-down-does-trump-go-with-him-1210688067761

Trump and Cohen have a word template for NDAs Trump says he knows
nothing about. Michael, Donald, Jr., and Ivanka, Hi there. Beware.

The thirty-seventh

RWW News: Alex Jones Screams "F-ck Trump"

Published on Apr 16, 2018 by RWW Blog
Right Wing Watch reports on the extreme rhetoric and activities of key right-wing figures and organizations by showing their views in their own words. In
this clip, Alex Jones screams a succint message to Trump after he announced the U.S. would carry out airstrikes in response to a gas attack: "Fuck him."
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/alex-jones-had-a-weekend-meltdown-after-trump-announced-syria-airstrikes/

[from April 13, 2018 (the three YouTubes just above together include at least nearly complete coverage of that Alex Jones special, which then led into his official special broadcast for the evening, next YouTube below)]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36PS-bVKpPQ [with comments]
LOLOL, poor suffering Alex Jones.

Forty-four

Rosenberg on Comey: 'Jim tells the truth'
The 11th Hour with Brian Williams
4/14/18
Former U.S. Attorney Chuck Rosenberg reacts to President Trump's tweets about the Department
of Justice and comments made by former FBI Director James Comey in his new book.
©2018 NBCNews.com
[originally aired April 13, 2018]
http://www.msnbc.com/brian-williams/watch/rosenberg-on-comey-jim-tells-the-truth-1210790467969

Today's comedy special. Welcome to Old White Acres

A Retirement Home For Retiring Republicans Only

Published on Apr 14, 2018 by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMtFAi84ehTSYSE9XoHefig , https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMtFAi84ehTSYSE9XoHefig/videos ]
The higher-than-usual number of retiring GOP elected officials are all headed to one place in 2019: Old White Acres.
[originally aired April 13, 2018]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mXA6Bm9tj4 [with comments]

To "stashed April 13, 2018:"

Michael Cohen Asks Judge to Shield Trump Files From Prosecutors
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/13/us/politics/lawyers-for-trumps-personal-attorney-set-for-friday-court-appearance.html

Cohen seeks to stop federal investigators from reviewing evidence seized in raids
https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/13/politics/michael-cohen-hearing-fbi-raid/index.html

more: https://news.google.com/news/story/d_IOF414zuSqeeMeI2rkw_whDpY1M?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en

Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein tells confidants he is prepared to be fired
Under fire, the deputy attorney general has invoked a Martin Luther quote ["Here I stand"] to say he stands by his actions.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/deputy-ag-rod-rosenstein-tells-confidantes-he-prepared-be-fired-n865596

EXCLUSIVE: Rosenstein consulted with ethics adviser at DOJ on Russia probe
https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/13/politics/rod-rosenstein-ethics-recusal/index.html

Dem lawmaker [Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.)]: I'll introduce impeachment article if Trump fires Rosenstein
http://thehill.com/homenews/house/383054-dem-lawmaker-ill-introduce-impeachment-article-if-trump-fires-rosenstein

Mass Protests Planned If Trump Fires Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein
A coalition of advocacy groups has planned rallies in hundreds of cities in the event Trump fires Rod Rosenstein.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/mass-protests-planned-if-trump-fires-rosenstein-click-click-c_us_5ad0d867e4b077c89ce83272

more: https://news.google.com/news/story/duwXFRLzFAdjDXMNh-7wWdK_x4ViM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en

Joe Wilson Reacts To Scooter Libby Pardon: ‘Trump Is A Vile And Despicable Individual’
The former ambassador and his wife, former CIA agent Valerie Plame, were at the center of the Libby case. She says Trump’s basis for the pardon is “simply false.”
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/joe-wilson-trump-scooter-libby_us_5ad0eda4e4b0edca2cb980ed

Trump's pardon of Scooter Libby: It doesn't get any more obnoxious, self-serving and hypocritical than this
http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/trump-obnoxious-hypocritical-pardon-scooter-libby-article-1.3932396

Trump Lawyer Michael Cohen Negotiated $1.6 Million Settlement for Top Republican Fundraiser [Elliott Broidy]
The 2017 deal was on behalf of Elliott Broidy, a businessman who faced allegations he impregnated a former Playboy model, and resembles one Mr. Cohen arranged with Stormy Daniels
https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-lawyer-michael-cohen-negotiated-1-6-million-settlement-for-top-republican-fundraiser-1523638726

Criminal investigation into Trump lawyer [Michael D. Cohen]’s business dealings began months ago - further to https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=140033646
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-lawyer-seeks-court-order-limiting-prosecutors-after-search-of-his-office/2018/04/13/e422ad4e-3f24-11e8-974f-aacd97698cef_story.html

Trump Attorney Cohen Is Subject Of Months-Long Federal Criminal Investigation
https://www.npr.org/2018/04/13/602278477/trump-attorney-cohen-is-subject-of-months-long-federal-criminal-investigation

NY prosecutors blast Cohen request on seized evidence
http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/383071-ny-prosecutors-blast-cohen-request-on-seized-evidence

more: https://news.google.com/news/story/djOyqJR5jU0xr5MO6HCV6PFs9np6M?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en

DOJ inspector general releases scathing report on fired FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe
The Department of Justice's inspector general released the findings of an internal investigation into Andrew McCabe, the former FBI deputy director.
The Office of the Inspector General found at least four instances in which McCabe "lacked candor" when discussing his decision to authorize disclosures to the media about the FBI's investigation into the Clinton Foundation.
The report concluded that "McCabe's decision to confirm the existence of the [Clinton Foundation] Investigation through an anonymously sourced quote ... was clearly not within the public interest exception."
http://www.businessinsider.com/andrew-mccabe-doj-inspector-general-report-2018-4

more: https://news.google.com/news/story/dfPiRiV3lkPEgZMgy_H_uhb8nRe_M?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en

Fact-checking Mark Zuckerberg’s testimony on Facebook and data collection
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2018/04/13/fact-checking-mark-zuckerbergs-testimony-on-facebook-and-data-collection/

Isolated and Unnerved, Trump Sees Inquiry Into His Lawyer as Greater Threat Than Mueller
President Trump’s advisers have concluded that a wide-ranging corruption investigation in New York poses a greater and more imminent threat to the president than even the special counsel’s investigation, according to several people close to Mr. Trump.
As his lawyers went to court on Friday to try to block prosecutors from reading files that were seized from his longtime personal lawyer and fixer this week, Mr. Trump found himself increasingly isolated in mounting a response. He continued to struggle to hire a new criminal lawyer, and some of his own aides were reluctant to advise him about a response for fear of being dragged into a criminal investigation themselves.
The raids on Mr. Trump’s lawyer, Michael D. Cohen, came as part of a monthslong federal investigation based in New York, court records show, and were sweeping in their breadth. In addition to searching his home, office and hotel room, F.B.I. agents seized material from Mr. Cohen’s cellphones, tablet, laptop and safe deposit box, according to people briefed on the warrants. Prosecutors revealed in court documents that they had already secretly obtained many of Mr. Cohen’s emails.
Mr. Trump called Mr. Cohen on Friday to “check in,” according to two people briefed on the call. Depending on what else was discussed, the call could be problematic, as lawyers typically advise their clients against discussing investigations.
Mr. Cohen has publicly declared that he would defend the president to the end, but court documents show that prosecutors are building a significant case that could put pressure on him to cooperate and tell investigators what he knows.
The documents seized by prosecutors could shed light on the president’s relationship with a lawyer who has helped navigate some of Mr. Trump’s thorniest personal and business dilemmas. Mr. Cohen served for more than a decade as a trusted fixer and, during the campaign, helped tamp down brewing scandals about women who claimed to have carried on affairs with Mr. Trump.
Mr. Trump, Mr. Cohen and their teams were still scrambling on Friday to assess the damage from the raid early Monday morning. They remained unsure what had been taken, an uncertainty that has heightened the unease around Mr. Trump.
Although his lawyers had projected confidence in their dealings with the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, they were caught flat-footed by the New York raids. The lawyers fear that Mr. Cohen will not be forthcoming with them about what was in his files, leaving them girding for the unknown.
Mr. Cohen and Mr. Trump, through their lawyers, argued in federal court on Friday that many of the seized records were protected by attorney-client privilege. They asked for an order temporarily prohibiting prosecutors from reading the documents until the matter could be litigated. Mr. Cohen argued that he or an independent lawyer should be allowed to review the documents first.
“Those searches have been executed, and the evidence is locked down,” Joanna C. Hendon, a lawyer for Mr. Trump, said in court. “I’m not trying to delay. I’m just trying to ensure that it’s done scrupulously.”
Prosecutors argued that the previously seized emails revealed that Mr. Cohen was “performing little to no legal work, and that zero emails were exchanged with President Trump.” They said their investigation was focused on Mr. Cohen’s business dealings, not his work as a lawyer.
But it is difficult to extract Mr. Cohen from his work for Mr. Trump. For more than a decade, Mr. Trump has unleashed Mr. Cohen on his foes — investigative journalists, business rivals and potential litigants. And the New York search warrant makes clear that the authorities are interested in his unofficial role in the campaign.
Prosecutors demanded all communication with the campaign — and in particular two advisers, Corey Lewandowski and Hope Hicks, according to two people briefed on the warrants.
Prosecutors also seized recordings of conversations that Mr. Cohen had secretly made, but he told people in recent days that he did not tape his conversations with Mr. Trump. Mr. Cohen frequently taped conservations with adversaries and opposing lawyers, according to the two people briefed.
The raids on Mr. Cohen surprised and angered the president, who has been frustrated with the special counsel investigation into Russia’s 2016 election interference, the Kremlin’s possible coordination with Trump associates and whether the president has tried to obstruct those inquiries.
In response to the raids, Mr. Trump has considered firing Mr. Mueller, Attorney General Jeff Sessions and the deputy attorney general, Rod J. Rosenstein.
Mr. Cohen’s lawyers have called the raids of his offices and hotel room an overreach of the law. Prosecutors said on Friday that they had used a search warrant, rather than a subpoena, because they had evidence that Mr. Cohen’s files might be permanently deleted — by whom, the documents did not say. Many details in the documents were redacted, but prosecutors said they had found evidence of fraud and a “lack of truthfulness” on his part.
Mr. Cohen wants his lawyers to be able to review the files and withhold privileged material before prosecutors can see them. As an alternative, he asked that an independent lawyer be allowed to review the files first. A judge scheduled a follow-up hearing for Monday and ordered Mr. Cohen to attend. The judge, Kimba M. Wood, was upset that he was not in court Friday.
Federal agents seized documents that dated back years, some of which are related to payments to two women who have said they had affairs with Mr. Trump. Other documents seized included information about the role of The National Enquirer in silencing one of the women, people briefed on the investigation have said.
Communications between lawyers and their clients are normally off limits to prosecutors, but there are exceptions, including when the materials are considered part of a continuing crime.
Mr. Trump has viewed any investigation of his business and private life to be off limits to prosecutors, but the search warrants make clear that investigators consider those topics part of their case.
Agents sought information about Karen McDougal, a former Playboy model who claims she had a nearly yearlong affair with Mr. Trump shortly after the birth of his youngest son in 2006. American Media Inc., which owns The Enquirer, paid Ms. McDougal $150,000. The company’s chief executive is a friend of Mr. Trump’s.
Agents also demanded information related to Stephanie Clifford, better known as Stormy Daniels, a pornographic film actress. Ms. Clifford has said she had sex with Mr. Trump while he was married. Mr. Cohen has acknowledged paying Ms. Clifford $130,000 as part of a nondisclosure agreement to secure her silence days before Election Day.
Mr. Trump recently told reporters he knew nothing about the agreement.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/13/us/politics/lawyers-for-trumps-personal-attorney-set-for-friday-court-appearance.html

Sources: Mueller has evidence Cohen was in Prague in 2016, confirming part of dossier
[photo caption] Special Counsel Robert Mueller has evidence that Donald Trump’s attorney Michael Cohen made a late-summer trip to Prague during the 2016 presidential campaign, around the time a British spy says Cohen met with a Kremlin official there to discuss Russian interference in the U.S. election, sources have told McClatchy. Cohen, pictured on April 11, 2018, has vehemently denied ever visiting Prague.
WASHINGTON - The Justice Department special counsel has evidence that Donald Trump’s personal lawyer and confidant, Michael Cohen, secretly made a late-summer trip to Prague during the 2016 presidential campaign, according to two sources familiar with the matter.
Confirmation of the trip would lend credence to a retired British spy’s report that Cohen strategized there with a powerful Kremlin figure about Russian meddling in the U.S. election.
It would also be one of the most significant developments thus far in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of whether the Trump campaign and the Kremlin worked together to help Trump win the White House. Undercutting Trump’s repeated pronouncements that “there is no evidence of collusion,” it also could ratchet up the stakes if the president tries, as he has intimated he might for months, to order Mueller’s firing.
Trump’s threats to fire Mueller or the deputy attorney general overseeing the investigation, Rod Rosenstein, grew louder this week when the FBI raided Cohen’s home, hotel room and office on Monday. The raid was unrelated to the Trump-Russia collusion probe, but instead focused on payments made to women who have said they had sexual relationships with Trump.
Cohen has vehemently denied for months that he ever has been in Prague or colluded with Russia during the campaign. Neither he nor his lawyer responded to requests for comment for this story.
It’s unclear whether Mueller’s investigators also have evidence that Cohen actually met with a prominent Russian – purportedly Konstantin Kosachev, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin — in the Czech capital. Kosachev, who chairs the Foreign Affairs Committee of a body of the Russian legislature, the Federation Council, also has denied visiting Prague during 2016. Earlier this month, Kosachev was among 24 high-profile Russians hit with stiff U.S. sanctions in retaliation for Russia’s meddling.
But investigators have traced evidence that Cohen entered the Czech Republic through Germany, apparently during August or early September of 2016 as the ex-spy reported, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is confidential. He wouldn’t have needed a passport for such a trip, because both countries are in the so-called Schengen Area in which 26 nations operate with open borders. The disclosure still left a puzzle: The sources did not say whether Cohen took a commercial flight or private jet to Europe, and gave no explanation as to why no record of such a trip has surfaced.
Peter Carr, a spokesman for Mueller’s office, declined comment.
Unconfirmed reports of a clandestine Prague meeting came to public attention in January 2017, with the publication of a dossier purporting to detail the Trump campaign’s interactions with Russia – a series of reports that former British MI6 officer Christopher Steele gathered from Kremlin sources for Trump’s political opponents, including Democrat Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee. Cohen’s alleged communications with the Russians were mentioned multiple times in Steele’s reports, which he ultimately shared with the FBI.
When the news site Buzzfeed published the entire dossier on Jan. 11, Trump denounced the news organization as “a failing pile of garbage” and said the document was “false and fake.” Cohen tweeted, “I have never been to Prague in my life. #fakenews.”
In the ensuing months, he allowed Buzzfeed to inspect his passport and tweeted: “The #Russian dossier is WRONG!”
Last August, an attorney for Cohen, Stephen Ryan, delivered to Congress a point-by-point rebuttal of the dossier’s allegations, stating: “Mr. Cohen is not aware of any ‘secret TRUMP campaign/Kremlin relationship.’”
However, Democratic investigators for the House and Senate Intelligence Committees, which are conducting parallel inquiries into Russia’s election interference, also are skeptical about whether Cohen was truthful about his 2016 travels to Europe when he was interviewed by the panels last October, two people familiar with those probes told McClatchy this week. Cohen has publicly acknowledged making three trips to Europe that year – to Italy in July, England in early October and a third after Trump’s November election. The investigators intend to press Cohen for more information, said the sources, who lacked authorization to speak for the record.
One of the sources said congressional investigators have “a high level of interest” in Cohen’s European travel, with their doubts fueled by what they deem to be weak documentation Cohen has provided about his whereabouts around the time the Prague meeting was supposed to have occurred.
Cohen has said he was only in New York and briefly in Los Angeles during August, when the meeting may have occurred, though the sources said it also could have been held in early September.
Evidence that Cohen was in Prague “certainly helps undermine his credibility,” said Jill Wine-Banks, a former Watergate prosecutor who lives in Chicago. “It doesn’t matter who he met with. His denial was that I was never in Prague. Having proof that he was is, for most people, going to be more than enough to say I don’t believe anything else he says.”
“I think that, given the relationship between Michael Cohen and the president,” Wine-Banks said, “it’s not believable that Michael Cohen did not tell him about his trip to Prague.”
The dossier alleges that Cohen, two Russians and several Eastern European hackers met at the Prague office of a Russian government-backed social and cultural organization, Rossotrudnichestvo. The location was selected to provide an alternative explanation in case the rendezvous was exposed, according to Steele’s Kremlin sources, cultivated during 20 years of spying on Russia. It said that Oleg Solodukhin, the deputy chief of Rossotrudnichestvo’s operation in the Czech Republic, attended the meeting, too.
Further, it alleges that Cohen, Kosachev and other attendees discussed “how deniable cash payments were to be made to hackers in Europe who had worked under Kremlin direction against the Clinton campaign.”
U.S. intelligence agencies and cyber experts say Kremlin-backed hackers pirated copies of thousands of emails from the Democratic National Committee and Clinton campaign chief John Podesta during 2015 and 2016, some politically damaging, including messages showing that the DNC was biased toward Clinton in the party’s nomination battle pitting her against Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. Mueller’s investigators have sought to learn who passed the emails to WikiLeaks, a London-based transparency group, which published them in July and October, causing embarrassment to Clinton and her backers.
Citing information from an unnamed “Kremlin insider,” Steele’s dossier says the Prague meeting agenda also included discussion “in cryptic language for security reasons,” of ways to “sweep it all under the carpet and make sure no connection could be fully established or proven.” Romanians were among the hackers present, it says, and the discussion touched on using Bulgaria as a location where they could “lie low.”
It is a felony for anyone to hack email accounts. Other laws forbid foreigners from contributing cash or in-kind services to U.S. political campaigns.
If Cohen met with Russians and hackers in Prague as described in the dossier, it would provide perhaps the most compelling evidence to date that the Russians and Trump campaign aides were collaborating. Mueller’s office also has focused on two meetings in the spring of 2016 when Russians offered to provide Trump campaign aides with “dirt” on Clinton – thousands of emails in one of the offers.
Cohen is already in the spotlight because of the FBI raids on his offices and home in New York. Various news outlets have reported that investigators principally sought evidence on non-Russia matters, including a covert, $130,000 payment Cohen made days before the 2016 election to porn star Stormy Daniels to silence her about an alleged affair with Trump. The FBI raids also scooped up some of Cohen's computers and cell phones among other evidence, according to these reports.
CNN, which reported Friday that Cohen’s business dealings have been a subject of a separate months-long investigation by prosecutors in the Southern District of New York, also quoted sources as saying that Cohen often taped phone conversations and those tapes also could be in the FBI’s possession.
If the raids turned up evidence that would be useful to Mueller’s investigation, rather than the one being done in New York, it would be shared with Mueller’s team, unless a court imposes conditions regarding the transfer of evidence, said former seniorJustice Department official Michael Zeldin. “Given the sensitivities in this case, I expect evidentiary sharing decisions will be mediated by main DOJ and FBI headquarters,” Zeldin said.
Prior to Trump’s election, Cohen spent almost a decade in high-profile positions in Trump’s real estate company and grew a reputation as Trump’s “fixer.” During 2016, he was an informal adviser to the Trump campaign, proving to be one of Trump’s fiercest defenders in television interviews.
When Trump took office, Cohen became Trump’s personal attorney.
He also formed a law firm, Michael D. Cohen & Associates, which in April forged a strategic alliance with the powerful Washington lobbying firm Squire Patton Boggs. With headlines blaring about Cohen’s role in providing hush money to Daniels, the two firms disclosed this week they had parted company.
Soon after Trump took office, Cohen became embroiled in controversy when The New York Times reported he was involved in promoting a secret “peace plan” for Ukraine and Russia that was the brainchild of a little-known Ukrainian legislator, Andrii Artemenko. The plan would have ended U.S. sanctions against Moscow and allowed Russia, if it pulled back militants invading Ukraine, to keep control of Crimea under a 50- to 100-year lease, if voters approved.
In February 2017, he told the newspaper, he left it on the desk of Trump’s national security adviser, Michael Flynn, who resigned days later and later pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about contacts with the Russian ambassador. But in subsequent interviews, Cohen denied ever delivering the plan to the White House.
Knowledge that Cohen may indeed have traveled to Prague during the campaign could heighten Trump’s risk of being prosecuted for obstruction of justice if news reports are accurate that he is considering firing Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who oversees the Mueller investigation, or Mueller.
“This kind of knowledge impacts his state of mind in taking any action in firing anyone from the Justice Department or Mueller’s office,” Wine-Banks said, because it would be easier for prosecutors to build a criminal case showing he did so to impede Mueller’s investigation.
If the Prague meeting actually occurred, Kosachev’s possible involvement would be especially significant given his close ties to Putin and other roles he has played in covert Moscow efforts to destabilize other countries, Russia experts said.
“While not a member of Putin's innermost circle, (Kosachev) is one of the most influential Russian voices on foreign affairs,” said Michael Carpenter, a former senior Pentagon official. “When Kosachev speaks, everyone knows he's speaking for the Kremlin.”
Kosachev appears to have been a booster of Trump over Clinton in early June of 2016, according to a post on his Facebook page at the time.
“Trump looks slightly more promising,” Kosachev wrote. “At least, he is capable of giving a shake to Washington. He is certainly a pragmatist and not a missionary like his main opponent [Hillary] Clinton.”
The Prague meeting would have occurred during a period when Trump advisers had become jittery about publicity swirling around the campaign’s Russian connections and seemingly friendly posture toward Moscow, according to the dossier and a source familiar with the federal investigation.
Campaign chairman Paul Manafort resigned abruptly on Aug. 19, shortly after the revelation that he had received $12.7 million in secret consulting fees over five years from the pro-Russia Party of Regions in Ukraine. Manafort was instrumental in the 2010 election of pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych, who was ousted in early 2014 and fled to Moscow.
Another flap stemmed from a secretive maneuver at the Republican National Convention in July. Party officials weakened language in the 2016 Republican platform calling for a boost in U.S. military aid to support Ukraine’s fight with Russian-backed separatists who invaded Eastern Ukraine and Crimea.
The dossier cited multiple sources as reporting that Kremlin officials also had grown edgy about the possible exposure of their secret “active measures” effort to defeat Clinton and help Trump. According to the dossier, Russian diplomat Mikhail Kalugin was brought home from Russia’s embassy in Washington last August because he had played a key role in coordinating the cyber offensive. McClatchy quoted several Russia experts on Feb. 15 as saying they suspected Kalugin was an intelligence operative. Kalugin has denied any espionage activities.
Cohen’s attendance at a Prague meeting like the one described in the dossier would have been a logical assignment for him; Trump had long used him to solve business and legal headaches, three Republican operatives who were close to the campaign said.
One source with close ties to the campaign said Cohen “wanted a bigger and more formal role [in the campaign], but there were a lot of long knives out for him within the campaign and the larger GOP infrastructure in part because he was a Democrat and treated people horribly.”
Cohen was best known during the 2016 campaign for his testy interviews defending Trump. In one case, when an interviewer cited poor polling numbers for Trump. Cohen kept aggressively asking, “Says who?”
Beginning last year, he took a hand in fundraising for the Republican National Committee and Trump’s re-election campaign. Cohen was one of four co-chairs of a big fundraiser at the Trump International hotel in mid-2017 that raised about $10 million for the two committees. In April 2017, Cohen was named a national deputy finance chairman at the RNC, not long after his March announcement that he had officially registered as a Republican.
A millionaire with his own New York real estate holdings, Cohen has long had family and business ties to Ukraine. His wife is Ukrainian, and he has had ties to Ukrainian ethanol company. He also once ran a thriving taxi business.
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/white-house/article208870264.html

Michael Cohen: Trump’s fix-it guy and FBI raid subject, explained
Cohen is much more than just Trump’s lawyer. Here’s why the FBI’s raid of him is so consequential.
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/4/11/17218010/michael-cohen-raid-fbi-trump-mueller-explained

more: https://www.google.com/search?q=michael+cohen+prague

Exclusive: FBI seized recordings between Trump's lawyer and Stormy Daniels' former lawyer
https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/13/politics/fbi-phone-recordings-cohen-daniels-mcdougal/index.html

more: https://news.google.com/news/story/dR8oVSxw0Ndd7YMblNPBszqjOdhWM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en

Comey Memoir: Hiding Clinton Email News Would’ve Made Her Presidency ‘Illegitimate’
The former FBI director writes that he assumed Trump would lose and that his wife and daughters voted for Clinton and participated in the Women’s March.
WASHINGTON - Former FBI Director James Comey ? whom Hillary Clinton blames for her 2016 Electoral College loss ? writes in his upcoming book that he thought the former secretary of state would defeat Donald Trump and concedes that assumption might have affected the way he handled the Clinton email probe.
HuffPost obtained a chapter of the book, A Higher Loyalty, which is set to be released Tuesday, that focuses on Comey’s handling of the Clinton email probe. In the book, Comey writes that he’s replayed the way he handled the Clinton email investigation in his mind “hundreds of times” and that he understands Democrats were “baffled” and “outraged” at the actions he took.
[...]
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/james-comey-memoir-hillary-clinton-emails-donald-trump_us_5ad0ba6ee4b077c89ce7f4a6

Forget Russia, It’s These Women Who Could Ultimately Bring Down Trump
It is starting to look like Stormy Daniels and former Playmate Karen McDougal have a clear shot at toppling Trump.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/stormy-daniels-karen-mcdougal-trump_us_5ad100efe4b0edca2cb9a8de

Cohen ordered to disclose client list by Monday
Trump's longtime personal attorney went to federal court to stop prosecutors from looking at materials seized in a recent FBI raid.
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/04/13/michael-cohen-hearing-fbi-raid-522053

more: https://news.google.com/news/story/dM6igPU2ak79NsMs-_YByCPmDfTUM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en