Yorkie Mom
Yorkie Mom's JournalDana Boente, who Sessions maybe forced out, to replace Jim Baker at FBI.
FBI Director Christopher A. Wray, who has been under political pressure to remove top officials at the bureau, is filling two senior positions previously held by people who served under former director James B. Comey.
Dana Boente, the U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia who is acting head of the Justice Department’s national security division, has been selected to be the FBI’s next general counsel, according to three people familiar with the matter. He replaces James Baker, who was reassigned late last year.
Boente is a veteran federal prosecutor who has led multiple U.S. attorneys offices around the country and has risen to prominence in a variety of acting roles in the Trump administration. When President Trump fired Acting Attorney General Sally Yates over her refusal to defend his travel ban, Boente took over and said he would defend the measure.
... snip
Boente’s move to the FBI is notable because some might view him as a Trump loyalist who has shown himself willing to go along with the president’s controversial agenda. Because he is a political appointee, he will have to clear some hurdles before taking a career position. Boente, though, is a respected law enforcement figure who has not been overtly political. He was appointed as a U.S. attorney under President Obama.
More: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/fbi-director-under-pressure-to-make-changes-is-replacing-comey-aides/2018/01/23/e606d382-006e-11e8-8acf-ad2991367d9d_story.html?utm_term=.0ebc2f1d731e
Killer, suicide mission, death wish, perjury trip - Roger Stone descriptions of Trump doing a Muller
interview.
... snip
People close to Trump have tried to warn him for months that Mueller is a “killer,” in the words of one associate, noting that the special counsel has shown interest in the president’s actions.
Roger Stone, a longtime informal adviser to Trump, said he should try to avoid an interview at all costs, saying agreeing to such a session would be a “suicide mission.”
“I find it to be a death wish. Why would you walk into a perjury trap?” Stone said. “The president would be very poorly advised to give Mueller an interview.”
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?hpid=hp_no-name_no-name%3Apage%2Fbreaking-news-bar&tidr=a_breakingnews&utm_term=.65024b517b2f
Biden says that when McConnell refused to join bipartisan statement condemning Russian interference
https://twitter.com/IsaacDovere/status/955863706054873089
1. Biden says when the intel reports about Russian interference were coming in during summer of 2016, they worried about going public: “The president and I would sit there literally after the PDB, after everyone had left the room, and say, ‘What the hell are we going to do?’”
2. Biden says that when McConnell refused to join bipartisan statement condemning Russian interference ahead of the election, they decided Obama couldn't speak out -- "the die had been cast ... this was all about the political play"
3. "Can you imagine if the president called a press conference,"on Russian hacking during campaign, "What do you think would have happened?Would things have gotten better, or would it further look like we were trying to delegitimize the electoral process, because of our opponent?"
4. Biden says re Russian interference in the 2016 campaign, more intel came in right after election day: "Had we known what we knew three weeks later, we may have done something more."
https://twitter.com/IsaacDovere/status/955856793963548672
Oh!
https://twitter.com/CREWcrew/status/955827857221193728
Feinstein & Schiff sent a letter to Zuckerberg and @jack urging investigation into #releasethememo
https://twitter.com/NatashaBertrand/status/955845324429504513
Article here: http://www.businessinsider.com/release-the-memo-campaign-russia-linked-twitter-accounts-2018-1
NEW: Mueller interviewed Sessions for hours last week
https://twitter.com/amyfiscus/status/955812840090357760WASHINGTON — Attorney General Jeff Sessions was questioned for several hours last week by the special counsel’s office as part of the investigation into Russia’s meddling in the election and whether the president obstructed justice since taking office, according to a Justice Department spokeswoman.
The meeting marked the first time that investigators for the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, are known to have interviewed a member of Mr. Trump’s cabinet.
The spokeswoman, Sarah Isgur Flores, confirmed that the interview occurred in response to questions from The New York Times.
Mr. Sessions announced in March that he had recused himself from all matters related to the 2016 election, including the Russia inquiry. The disclosure came after it was revealed that Mr. Sessions had not told Congress that he met twice with the Russian ambassador to the United States at the time, Sergey I. Kislyak, during the campaign. Mr. Sessions was an early supporter of Mr. Trump’s presidential run.
More: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/23/us/politics/jeff-sessions-special-counsel-russia.html?smid=tw-share
https://twitter.com/benjaminwittes/status/955815448884506624
FBI director threatens to resign to get the attorney general and the president's lawyer to stop pres
https://twitter.com/ericgeller/status/955606011913515008
Attorney General Jeff Sessions — at the public urging of President Donald Trump — has been pressuring FBI Director Christopher Wray to fire Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, but Wray threatened to resign if McCabe was removed, according to three sources with direct knowledge.
*Wray's resignation under those circumstances would have created a media firestorm. The White House — understandably gun-shy after the Comey debacle — didn’t want that scene, so McCabe remains.
*Sessions told White House Counsel Don McGahn about how upset Wray was about the pressure on him to fire McCabe, and McGahn told Sessions this issue wasn’t worth losing the FBI Director over, according to a source familiar with the situation.
*Why it matters: Trump started his presidency by pressuring one FBI Director (before canning him), and then began pressuring another (this time wanting his deputy canned). This much meddling with the FBI for this long is not normal.
McGahn has been informed about these ongoing conversations, though he has not spoken with Wray about FBI personnel, according to an administration source briefed on the situation. Trump nominated Wray, previously George W. Bush's Deputy Attorney General, last June to replace James Comey as director.
Trump has also tweeted negatively about other senior FBI officials who are allies of Comey, including the former top FBI lawyer James A. Baker who was recently “reassigned” after pressure from Sessions.
White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shah said of Wray: “As we’ve said, the president has enormous respect for the thousands of rank and file FBI agents who make up the world’s most professional and talented law enforcement agency. He believes politically-motivated senior leaders including former Director Comey and others he empowered have tainted the agency’s reputation for unbiased pursuit of justice. The president appointed Chris Wray because he is a man of true character and integrity and the right choice to clean up the misconduct at the highest levels of the FBI and give the rank and file confidence in their leadership.”
Read more: https://www.axios.com/scoop-1516661397-877adb3e-5f8d-44a1-8a2f-d4f0894ca6a7.html
Scoop: FBI director threatened to resign amid Trump, Sessions pressure
Source: Axios
Attorney General Jeff Sessions — at the public urging of President Donald Trump — has been pressuring FBI Director Christopher Wray to fire Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, but Wray threatened to resign if McCabe was removed, according to three sources with direct knowledge.
*Wray's resignation under those circumstances would have created a media firestorm. The White House — understandably gun-shy after the Comey debacle — didn’t want that scene, so McCabe remains.
*Sessions told White House Counsel Don McGahn about how upset Wray was about the pressure on him to fire McCabe, and McGahn told Sessions this issue wasn’t worth losing the FBI Director over, according to a source familiar with the situation.
*Why it matters: Trump started his presidency by pressuring one FBI Director (before canning him), and then began pressuring another (this time wanting his deputy canned). This much meddling with the FBI for this long is not normal.
McGahn has been informed about these ongoing conversations, though he has not spoken with Wray about FBI personnel, according to an administration source briefed on the situation. Trump nominated Wray, previously George W. Bush's Deputy Attorney General, last June to replace James Comey as director.
Trump has also tweeted negatively about other senior FBI officials who are allies of Comey, including the former top FBI lawyer James A. Baker who was recently “reassigned” after pressure from Sessions.
White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shah said of Wray: “As we’ve said, the president has enormous respect for the thousands of rank and file FBI agents who make up the world’s most professional and talented law enforcement agency. He believes politically-motivated senior leaders including former Director Comey and others he empowered have tainted the agency’s reputation for unbiased pursuit of justice. The president appointed Chris Wray because he is a man of true character and integrity and the right choice to clean up the misconduct at the highest levels of the FBI and give the rank and file confidence in their leadership.”
Read more: https://www.axios.com/scoop-1516661397-877adb3e-5f8d-44a1-8a2f-d4f0894ca6a7.html
Ted Lieu: Story of Link Between Kremlin And NRA Could Get Bigger
“Follow the money,” Rep. Ted Lieu said of the National Rifle Association’s pro-Trump efforts.
Last Thursday, investigative reporters Peter Stone and Greg Gordon of McClatchy DC Bureau reported what could be another bombshell in the Russia probe: that the FBI is investigating whether a Kremlin-linked banker illegally channeled funds to the National Rifle Association to aid Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.
On Friday, Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), who sits on the House Judiciary Committee, told me on SiriusXM Progress that the word on Capitol Hill is that the story of a Russia-NRA-Trump link is going to grow.
“FBI counterintelligence investigators have focused on the activities of Alexander Torshin, the deputy governor of Russia’s central bank who is known for his close relationships with both Russian President Vladimir Putin and the NRA,” Stone and Gordon reported being told by two sources familiar with the matter.
More: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ted-lieu-russia-nra_us_5a64f350e4b0dc592a09dfab?ncid=engmodushpmg00000004
George Papadopoulos is the John Dean of the Russia investigation, his fiancee says
Source: Washington Post
He has been mocked by President Trump as a “low level volunteer” and “proven to be a liar.”
But the fiancee of George Papadopoulos, the former Trump campaign adviser who pleaded guilty in October to lying to the FBI about his Russia contacts and is cooperating with special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, says he is being miscast.
“I believe history will remember him like John Dean,” said Italian-born Simona Mangiante, referring to the former White House counsel who pleaded guilty to his role in the Watergate coverup and then became a key witness against other aides to President Richard Nixon.
... snip
“There’s a lot to come,” she said. “He was the first one to break a hole on all of this.”
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/george-papadopoulos-is-the-john-dean-of-the-russia-investigation-his-fiancee-says/2018/01/22/8e47b016-ff4d-11e7-9d31-d72cf78dbeee_story.html?tid=ss_tw&utm_term=.8bf1c310a17a
https://twitter.com/ericgarland/status/955571948670595072
Profile Information
Member since: Mon Nov 8, 2004, 09:21 PMNumber of posts: 16,420
