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kpete
kpete's Journal
kpete's Journal
?1533068167
July 31, 2018
A $45,000 payment to an undisclosed law firm. A cash withdrawal for $14,000. Almost $90,000 sent to or from a Russian bank. These and other bank transactions totaling nearly $300,000, none of which have been made public, offer the first detailed look at how an accused foreign agent and a Republican operative financed what prosecutors say was a Russian campaign to influence American politics.
Anti-fraud investigators at Wells Fargo flagged the transactions — by Paul Erickson, a conservative consultant from South Dakota, and Maria Butina, who is in jail awaiting trial on charges of secretly acting as a Russian agent — as “suspicious,” noting in some cases that they could find no “apparent economic, business, or lawful purpose” to explain them. Now counterintelligence officers say the duo’s banking activity could provide a road map of back channels to powerful American entities such as the National Rifle Association, and information about the Kremlin’s attempt to sway the 2016 US presidential election.
Cash withdrawals, most of them from Erickson’s personal and business accounts, make up $107,000 of the financial transactions now being investigated. The largest of those withdrawals — $14,000 — occurred in December 2015, when Erickson reportedly traveled to Moscow as part of an NRA delegation. The visit was sponsored by a Russian gun rights organization started by Butina, federal authorities say.
The duo also deposited about $90,000 in cash in their accounts, which has made it difficult for investigators to determine the source or purpose of the funds.
Bank documents indicate Wells Fargo’s anti–money laundering team began checking Butina’s and Erickson’s bank activity in early 2017, after receiving a referral from the FBI. In a report the bank prepared and shared with the bureau and the US Department of the Treasury's financial crimes division, Wells Fargo officials expressed suspicion about the “significant control” Erickson had over Butina’s account. He had access, Wells Fargo found, to her personal checking account, which she opened in 2014. He frequently made payments on her behalf; the recipients have not been identified. He sometimes appeared to write checks that Butina signed. The bank closed the duo’s personal and business accounts in late 2017.
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/amphtml/jasonleopold/maria-butina-paul-erickson-suspicious-bank-money-russia
$300K in suspicious transactions between 2014 & 2017--much of it cash-- involving Butina & Erickson
$300K in suspicious transactions between 2014 & 2017--much of it cash-- involving Maria Butina & Paul Erickson flagged for FBI by Wells Fargo,A $45,000 payment to an undisclosed law firm. A cash withdrawal for $14,000. Almost $90,000 sent to or from a Russian bank. These and other bank transactions totaling nearly $300,000, none of which have been made public, offer the first detailed look at how an accused foreign agent and a Republican operative financed what prosecutors say was a Russian campaign to influence American politics.
Anti-fraud investigators at Wells Fargo flagged the transactions — by Paul Erickson, a conservative consultant from South Dakota, and Maria Butina, who is in jail awaiting trial on charges of secretly acting as a Russian agent — as “suspicious,” noting in some cases that they could find no “apparent economic, business, or lawful purpose” to explain them. Now counterintelligence officers say the duo’s banking activity could provide a road map of back channels to powerful American entities such as the National Rifle Association, and information about the Kremlin’s attempt to sway the 2016 US presidential election.
Cash withdrawals, most of them from Erickson’s personal and business accounts, make up $107,000 of the financial transactions now being investigated. The largest of those withdrawals — $14,000 — occurred in December 2015, when Erickson reportedly traveled to Moscow as part of an NRA delegation. The visit was sponsored by a Russian gun rights organization started by Butina, federal authorities say.
The duo also deposited about $90,000 in cash in their accounts, which has made it difficult for investigators to determine the source or purpose of the funds.
Bank documents indicate Wells Fargo’s anti–money laundering team began checking Butina’s and Erickson’s bank activity in early 2017, after receiving a referral from the FBI. In a report the bank prepared and shared with the bureau and the US Department of the Treasury's financial crimes division, Wells Fargo officials expressed suspicion about the “significant control” Erickson had over Butina’s account. He had access, Wells Fargo found, to her personal checking account, which she opened in 2014. He frequently made payments on her behalf; the recipients have not been identified. He sometimes appeared to write checks that Butina signed. The bank closed the duo’s personal and business accounts in late 2017.
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/amphtml/jasonleopold/maria-butina-paul-erickson-suspicious-bank-money-russia
July 31, 2018
Asked by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) “who here thinks zero-tolerance has been a success,” five witnesses at the Senate Judiciary Committee’s hearing on immigration enforcement and family reunification efforts sat on their hands.
The witnesses included the acting chief of U.S. Border Patrol, the head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s deportation unit, the director of the Department of Justice’s office for immigration review, and the coordinating official of Department of Health and Human Services’ family reunification efforts. They also declined to raise their hands when asked “who thinks that the family separation policy has been a success.”
Blumenthal’s headcount was one shocking moment of many in the committee’s hearings on the administration’s enactment of a largely disastrous policy of separating children from immigrant parents detained at America’s southern border, as well as the bungled court-mandated attempts to reunite those families.
VIDEO HERE:
https://twitter.com/thedailybeast/status/1024363294277206021
and HERE:
https://www.thedailybeast.com/watch-top-trump-officials-refuse-to-raise-hands-to-defend-family-separation?via=twitter_page
DEAFENING SILENCE - Watch: Top Trump Officials Refuse to Raise Hands to Defend Family Separation
In a shocking moment, no one said ‘zero tolerance’ was a success and one official said he warned of ‘traumatic injury’ to immigrant children.
Top Trump administration officials were asked in a Senate hearing on Tuesday to raise their hands if they thought that the “zero tolerance” immigration and family separation policies were good ideas.
Not a single one raised their hand.
Asked by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) “who here thinks zero-tolerance has been a success,” five witnesses at the Senate Judiciary Committee’s hearing on immigration enforcement and family reunification efforts sat on their hands.
The witnesses included the acting chief of U.S. Border Patrol, the head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s deportation unit, the director of the Department of Justice’s office for immigration review, and the coordinating official of Department of Health and Human Services’ family reunification efforts. They also declined to raise their hands when asked “who thinks that the family separation policy has been a success.”
Blumenthal’s headcount was one shocking moment of many in the committee’s hearings on the administration’s enactment of a largely disastrous policy of separating children from immigrant parents detained at America’s southern border, as well as the bungled court-mandated attempts to reunite those families.
VIDEO HERE:
https://twitter.com/thedailybeast/status/1024363294277206021
and HERE:
https://www.thedailybeast.com/watch-top-trump-officials-refuse-to-raise-hands-to-defend-family-separation?via=twitter_page
July 31, 2018
Feinstein: "Not an exaggeration to say Trump/Sessions essentially orphan 100s of immigrant children"
Crime against humanity:
“It’s not an exaggeration to say that the policies of President Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions may have essentially orphan hundreds of immigrant children,” said Democratic California Sen. Dianne Feinstein during opening remarks at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. “Even worse are the stories we heard about that bad separations and the bad conditions in which they were held.”
http://spectrumlocalnews.com/tx/austin/news/2018/07/31/senate-panel-scrutinizes-trump-officials-over-family-separation-
July 31, 2018
https://twitter.com/emptywheel/status/1024363402620268544
Justifiably testy response from Mueller re: Manafort's request to delay things in DC case
https://twitter.com/emptywheel/status/1024363402620268544
July 31, 2018
“You would send your child to these centers?” the bad-ass from Hawaii asked Trump officials who were testifying about the administration’s barbaric “zero tolerance” policy kidnapping children from parents at the border. “Yes? No?”
“I—I—it’s—that’s a—that’s a difficult question to answer,” stammered Jennifer Higgins of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), who instead tried to blame parents for their children getting kidnapped, saying that “it’s difficult to put myself in the position of an individual who takes a dangerous journey in which their children would be harmed.”
“Mr. Albence,” Hirono said, moving on to Mr. Summer Camp himself, “would you send your child to [family residential centers]?”
”Again, I think we’re—we’re missing the point,” he replied, taking the baton from Higgins to accuse families fleeing violence of putting themselves into this position.
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/7/31/1784869/-Watch-Trump-officials-refuse-to-answer-if-they-d-put-their-own-kids-in-migrant-family-jails
Trump officials refuse to answer whether they'd put their own kids in migrant family jails
“You would send your child to these centers?” the bad-ass from Hawaii asked Trump officials who were testifying about the administration’s barbaric “zero tolerance” policy kidnapping children from parents at the border. “Yes? No?”
“I—I—it’s—that’s a—that’s a difficult question to answer,” stammered Jennifer Higgins of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), who instead tried to blame parents for their children getting kidnapped, saying that “it’s difficult to put myself in the position of an individual who takes a dangerous journey in which their children would be harmed.”
“Mr. Albence,” Hirono said, moving on to Mr. Summer Camp himself, “would you send your child to [family residential centers]?”
”Again, I think we’re—we’re missing the point,” he replied, taking the baton from Higgins to accuse families fleeing violence of putting themselves into this position.
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/7/31/1784869/-Watch-Trump-officials-refuse-to-answer-if-they-d-put-their-own-kids-in-migrant-family-jails
July 31, 2018
NEWS: Facebook is seeing signs that Russia-backed actors -- or someone else mimicking their 2016 strategy -- are mounting an ongoing political influence campaign in the U.S.
https://twitter.com/kyledcheney/status/1024334515987259395
https://twitter.com/kyledcheney/status/1024335549715361793
SEN WARNER dispenses w- Facebook hedging that it might NOT be Russia-Pins it directly on the Kremlin
SEN. WARNER dispenses with the Facebook hedging that it might not be Russia, pins it directly on the Kremlin:NEWS: Facebook is seeing signs that Russia-backed actors -- or someone else mimicking their 2016 strategy -- are mounting an ongoing political influence campaign in the U.S.
https://twitter.com/kyledcheney/status/1024334515987259395
https://twitter.com/kyledcheney/status/1024335549715361793
July 31, 2018
"Crossing the Swamp"
new painting – “Crossing the Swamp”
“Never give up. Never lower your light.
Never stop till the swamp is dry.” – Jon McNaughton
For a list of figures in the boat:
https://twitter.com/McNaughtonArt/status/1024292558845833216
GREAT PHOTOSHOP LOL:
https://twitter.com/darth/status/1024310623591526400
July 31, 2018
https://twitter.com/nybooks/status/1024274697566003200
In fact, sources who have reviewed the evidence now think it is “all but inevitable” that Mueller will deliver a report to the United States Department of Justice that will make a case that the president broke the law.
The central piece of evidence regards former FBI Director James Comey’s claim that Trump had asked him to drop the FBI’s case into former national security adviser Michael Flynn, whom Trump had fired in early 2017 after he lied to the FBI about his conversations with then-Russian ambassador to the United States Sergey Kislyak during the presidential transition period after the 2016 election.
Trump’s attorneys have tried to argue that Trump believed that Flynn was already in the clear when he asked Comey to drop the case — however, Waas’ sources say that “previously undisclosed evidence indicates just the opposite — that President Trump was fully informed that Flynn was the target of prosecutors.”
Specifically, Waas writes that a “a confidential White House memorandum” written shortly before Trump made his request to Comey indicates that then-chief of staff Reince Priebus and White House counsel Don McGahn both directly told the president that Flynn was under criminal investigation.
MORE:
https://www.rawstory.com/2018/07/bombshell-new-evidence-offers-strongest-evidence-date-implicating-trump-obstruction-report/
WAAS: "All but inevitable" Mueller will deliver report that will make case that Trump broke the law.
Trump knew that Michael Flynn was under criminal investigation when he asked James Comey to “see your way clear to letting this go.” Murray Waas has seen the White House memo, which implicates the president in an obstruction of justice
https://twitter.com/nybooks/status/1024274697566003200
In fact, sources who have reviewed the evidence now think it is “all but inevitable” that Mueller will deliver a report to the United States Department of Justice that will make a case that the president broke the law.
The central piece of evidence regards former FBI Director James Comey’s claim that Trump had asked him to drop the FBI’s case into former national security adviser Michael Flynn, whom Trump had fired in early 2017 after he lied to the FBI about his conversations with then-Russian ambassador to the United States Sergey Kislyak during the presidential transition period after the 2016 election.
Trump’s attorneys have tried to argue that Trump believed that Flynn was already in the clear when he asked Comey to drop the case — however, Waas’ sources say that “previously undisclosed evidence indicates just the opposite — that President Trump was fully informed that Flynn was the target of prosecutors.”
Specifically, Waas writes that a “a confidential White House memorandum” written shortly before Trump made his request to Comey indicates that then-chief of staff Reince Priebus and White House counsel Don McGahn both directly told the president that Flynn was under criminal investigation.
MORE:
https://www.rawstory.com/2018/07/bombshell-new-evidence-offers-strongest-evidence-date-implicating-trump-obstruction-report/
Previously undisclosed evidence in the possession of Special Counsel Robert Mueller—including highly confidential White House records and testimony by some of President Trump’s own top aides—provides some of the strongest evidence to date implicating the president of the United States in an obstruction of justice. Several people who have reviewed a portion of this evidence say that, based on what they know, they believe it is now all but inevitable that the special counsel will complete a confidential report presenting evidence that President Trump violated the law. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who oversees the special counsel’s work, would then decide on turning over that report to Congress for the House of Representatives to consider whether to instigate impeachment proceedings.
The central incident in the case that the president obstructed justice was provided by former FBI Director James B. Comey, who testified that Trump pressed Comey, in a private Oval Office meeting on February 14, 2017, to shut down an FBI criminal investigation of Trump’s former national security adviser, Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn. “I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go,” Comey has testified the president told him.
THE REST:
https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2018/07/31/what-trump-knew-and-when-he-knew-it/
The central incident in the case that the president obstructed justice was provided by former FBI Director James B. Comey, who testified that Trump pressed Comey, in a private Oval Office meeting on February 14, 2017, to shut down an FBI criminal investigation of Trump’s former national security adviser, Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn. “I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go,” Comey has testified the president told him.
THE REST:
https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2018/07/31/what-trump-knew-and-when-he-knew-it/
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