Friday, October 27, 2017

Hillary Clinton, Obama Administration, and Democratic Party Scandals Resurfacing in October 2017

Summary of scandals involving Hillary Clinton, officials of the Obama administration and the Democratic Party:

Uranium One

  • The Obama administration allowed a Russian company to purchase a firm that mined Uranium in the US despite an on going FBI investigation into illegal activities by the Russian company. FBI and Obama administration officials including James Comey, Robert Mueller, Hillary Clinton, Eric Holder, Rod Rosenstein, and Andrew McCabe are implicated in allowing the sale despite the investigation and failing to inform other government officials about the investigation. At the same time large sums of money from Russia were paid to the Clinton Foundation. Allowing the sale of a company mining uranium in the US to Russia is contrary to the national security of the US, and doing so when it is known that the Russian firm was engaged in illegal activities is hard to explain except as a service in return for the payments to the Clinton Foundation made while Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State.
  • FBI officials implicated in covering up the Uranium One scandal are now supervising the investigation into Russian influence in the Trump presidential campaign. There are obvious conflicts of interest and they should be removed from the investigation.
  • Despite promises to the contrary, uranium was exported from the United States.[Solomon]
  • "... there was a series of decisions made by the Obama administration time and time again, between 2010 and 2012 that are incredibly favorable to Russia’s ROSATOM, the state owned nuclear energy industry, time and again these decisions are being made while the FBI knowns that there criminality going on by that company’s executives"[Solomon]

Fake Russian Dossier on Donald Trump

  • : Foreign agents were paid by the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic party for false information which if true would be embarrassing for Donald Trump. This was done to influence the 2016 election in Hillary Clinton's favor. The false information supposedly about Trump was provided by Russian officials. This is the type of collusion with Russia to influence the election that Trump is accused of but for which there is no actual evidence. All the collusion with Russians to influence the election is by the Democratic Party and the Hillary Clinton Campaign for the purpose of helping Clinton win.
  • FBI director James Comey knowingly used the fake Dossier to argue for a special prosecutor to investigate the Trump campaign.
  • The Fake Russian Dossier was used as evidence by the FBI to obtain warrants for electronic surveillance on the Trump campaign.[BattleSwarmBlog]

Other Scandals

  • Hillary Clinton private email server.
  • Hillary Clinton took control of the Democratic Party before she won the primary, which allowed her to steal the primary from Bernie Sanders.[Brazile] According to Greg Jarrett of Fox News, and BattleSwarmBlog Clinton may have broken laws that limit donations to a political campaign and laws against money laundering.

FBI uncovered Russian bribery plot before Obama administration approved controversial nuclear deal with Moscow By John Solomon and Alison Spann - 10/17/17
http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/355749-fbi-uncovered-russian-bribery-plot-before-obama-administration

Before the Obama administration approved a controversial deal in 2010 giving Moscow control of a large swath of American uranium, the FBI had gathered substantial evidence that Russian nuclear industry officials were engaged in bribery, kickbacks, extortion and money laundering designed to grow Vladimir Putin’s atomic energy business inside the United States, according to government documents and interviews.

...

Russian nuclear officials had routed millions of dollars to the U.S. designed to benefit former President Bill Clinton’s charitable foundation during the time Secretary of State Hillary Clinton served on a government body that provided a favorable decision to Moscow, sources told The Hill.

...

Rather than bring immediate charges in 2010, however, the Department of Justice (DOJ) continued investigating the matter for nearly four more years, essentially leaving the American public and Congress in the dark about Russian nuclear corruption on U.S. soil during a period when the Obama administration made two major decisions benefiting Putin’s commercial nuclear ambitions.

...

Then-Attorney General Eric Holder was among the Obama administration officials joining Hillary Clinton on the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States at the time the Uranium One deal was approved.

...

The investigation was ultimately supervised by then-U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein, an Obama appointee who now serves as President Trump’s deputy attorney general, and then-Assistant FBI Director Andrew McCabe, now the deputy FBI director under Trump, Justice Department documents show.

Both men now play a key role in the current investigation into possible, but still unproven, collusion between Russia and Donald Trump’s campaign during the 2016 election cycle. The Mikerin probe began in 2009 when Robert Mueller, now the special counsel in charge of the Trump case, was still FBI director. And it ended in late 2015 under the direction of then-FBI Director James Comey, whom Trump fired earlier this year.

...

Former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), who chaired the House Intelligence Committee during the time the FBI probe was being conducted, told The Hill that he had never been told anything about the Russian nuclear corruption case even though many fellow lawmakers had serious concerns about the Obama administration’s approval of the Uranium One deal.

“Not providing information on a corruption scheme before the Russian uranium deal was approved by U.S. regulators and engage appropriate congressional committees has served to undermine U.S. national security interests by the very people charged with protecting them,” he said. “The Russian efforts to manipulate our American political enterprise is breathtaking.”

A Russian nuclear firm under FBI investigation was allowed to purchase US uranium supply By Sara A. Carter 27 October 17, 2017
https://www.circa.com/story/2017/10/17/national-security/the-fbi-uncovered-russian-nuclear-kickback-scheme-months-before-the-obama-administration-passed-uranium-one-deal-with-moscow

Fifteen months before the 13 members of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, known as CFIUS, approved the sale of the Canadian company Uranium One to Russia’s nuclear arm giant Rosatom, the FBI began investigating persons who were connected to the Russian state corporation. The FBI said in court documents and in interviews conducted by Circa that by 2010 they had gathered enough evidence to prove that Rosatom-connected officials were engaged in a global bribery scheme that included kickbacks and money laundering. FBI officials said the investigation could have prevented the sale of Uranium One, which controlled 20 percent of U.S. uranium supply under U.S. law.

The deal which required approval by CFIUS, an inter-agency committee who reviews transactions that leads to a change of control of a U.S. business to a foreign person or entity that may have an impact on the national security of the United States. At the time of the Uranium One deal the panel was chaired by then-Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and included then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and then-Attorney General Eric Holder.

...

In a 2015 affidavit, FBI officials said Mikerin, “with the consent of higher level officials at Tenex and Rosatom (both Russian state-owned entities), would offer no-bid contracts to U.S. businesses in exchange for kickbacks in the form of money...” made to offshore accounts, stated the affidavit in support of a search warrant. Mikerin pled guilty to the allegations.

The Justice Department didn’t move forward an indictment with prosecution of bribery by people tied to Rosatom, through subsidies and other entities, until 2014 after CFIUS approved the sale of Uranium One, leaving the American public without knowledge of the Russian company’s allegedly illegal actives as it went to procure one-fifth of U.S. uranium supply.

...

The case being built against Mikerin in 2010 was under the supervision of Maryland U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein, then an Obama appointee who now serves as President Trump’s deputy attorney general. According to court documents, the case was also handled by then Assistant FBI Director Andrew McCabe, who is currently the deputy FBI director under Trump.

Clinton campaign, DNC paid for research that led to Russia dossier By Adam Entous, Devlin Barrett and Rosalind S. Helderman October 24
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/clinton-campaign-dnc-paid-for-research-that-led-to-russia-dossier/2017/10/24/226fabf0-b8e4-11e7-a908-a3470754bbb9_story.html

Mueller Now Investigating Democratic Lobbyist Tony Podesta by TOM WINTER and JULIA AINSLEY, OCT 24 2017
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/mueller-now-investigating-democratic-lobbyist-tony-podesta-n812776

WASHINGTON — Tony Podesta and the Podesta Group are now the subjects of a federal investigation being led by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, three sources with knowledge of the matter told NBC News.

10/24/17

Tucker Carlson: Last night on this show we told you about how the Podesta Group, a lobbying firm co founded by Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman John Podesta and his brother Tony had been sucked into independent counsul Robert Mueller's investigation of alleged Russian interference in American politics. Before last night's show was even over we got an e-mail from a man with direct personal knowledge of that story. The man who's name we can't reveal for the time being is a former senior employee of the Podesta Group. He worked there for years. He said he was motivated to contact us by the disgust he felt watching media coverage of the Russia story. Not only were most reporters getting it wrong he said they were getting it backwards. The Russians were in fact deeply involved in American politics but the real story had almost nothing to do with the 2016 presidential campaign.

...

Now the source we spoke to has been interviewed extesnsively by Robert Muller's independent investigators. In press accounts Muller's investigation is still framed as a hunt for collusion between Donald Trump's presidential campaign and the government of Russia. Our source says investigators are in fact very interested in Manaforts behavior while he ran the Trump campaign but otherwise that discription is mostly bogus. The investigation has broadened now to determine which people and which organizations in Washington have spent years working secretly as de facto operatives on behalf of Russian government and business interests. The Podesta group is chief among these. Quote they are more focused on facilitators of influence in this country says our source than they are on election collusion. The Podesta group he says quote is in their crosshairs.

We Need an Investigation of the Entire Justice Department Now BY ROGER L SIMON OCTOBER 25, 2017
https://pjmedia.com/rogerlsimon/need-investigation-entire-justice-department-now/

Bravo, Charles Grassley! The Iowa senator has turned into something of an aging Mr. Smith taking on corruption in the Obama administration (and its Justice Department) and calling for a special investigator for the metastasizing Uranium One Scandal.

...

Or should we now call this the Podesta, Podesta & Manafort Scandal, because an ongoing and related report on Tucker Carlson's cable show is unmasking a series of connections that make the most paranoid conspiracy theorist seem rational?

...

Meanwhile, over at the also related (phony) Trump Dossier Scandal:...

...

More disturbingly, indications are that the FBI itself relied on this execrable pack of nauseating lies to jump-start the Trump-Russia collusion investigation. They may even have made additional payments to Fusion GPS themselves.

...

... we also have the unanswered questions about Deborah Wasserman Schultz and her Pakistani computer expert who had access to the data of dozens of congressional Democrats, not to mention the unsolved mystery of the murder of Seth Rich and the hacking of the DNC server

...

And then's there's the Unmasking Scandal with its attendant mysteries. Who was ordering Samantha Powers to do hundreds of unprecedented unmaskings of U.S. citizens in foreign intelligence surveillances?

...

We have a systemic problem within the DOJ and FBI that has been going on for some years and has grown to the extent these organizations act like mini-states, impervious to supervision by anyone, especially the very people they are supposed to serve -- you and me. They are the Deep State taken to the tenth power.

...

The time has come for a thorough airing to renew the trust of the citizenry. That means a special investigator, but one with a wide berth to look into the entire DOJ and FBI, its patterns and practices, and, let's be honest, our intelligence agencies as well. We're living in a bureaucratic nightmare. As Mark Steyn put it so succinctly on Tucker Carlson's show Wednesday night, "Everyone is colluding with Russia except Trump!"

Hannity: 10/24/17

Tucker Carlson: 10/25/17

Hannity: 10/25/17

Hannity: 10/26/17

1:45 - Clips of prominent Democrats saying there is no actual evidence of the Trump campaign colluding with Russia to influence the election. (Hannity pointed out that the mainstream media gave a huge amount of coverage despite there being no evidence of it.)

16:05

Laws Potentially Broken in Uranium One Deal (According to Gregg Jarrett)

  • 18 USC 201-B: Federal Bribery Statute
  • 18 USC 201-C: Federal Gratuity Statute
  • 18 USC 1341: Mail Fraud Statute
  • 18 USC 1343: Wire Fraud Statute
  • 18 USC 666: Program Bribery Statute
  • 18 USC 1952: Travel Act
  • 18 USC 1961-1968: Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (Clinton Foundation)

Laws Potentially Broken in Dossier Scandal (According to Gregg Jarrett. Criminal penalties apply)

  • 52 USC 30101 Et Seq.: Federal Election Campaign Act: Filing a false or milseading campaign report.
  • 52 USC 30121: Federal election Campaign Act: Prohibits foreign nationals & governments in U.S. campaigns.

Laws Potentially Broken in Clinton EMail Scandal (According to Gregg Jarrett)

  • 18 USC 798: Espionage Act: Knowingly and willfully mishandling classified information.
  • 18 USC 793(f): Espinoge Act:Mishandling classified information through gross negligence.
  • 18 USC 1924: Public Officers Law: Unauthorized removal and retention of classified material.
  • 18 USC 2017: Federal Records Act: Removal and destruction of government records.

33:16
Sean Hannity: Everything that they tried to say about Donald Trump and his campaign, they're guilt of, I'll add on steroids... That they sold out America's security in this case.

34:18

Sebastian Gorka: There's the Uranium One deal. That's treasonous.... There's the dodgy Dossier which is about Russian disinformation being used to slander Donald Trump. ... There's James Comey using that disinformation to create a special prosecutor to trigger that is used to investigate the president. ... There's Fusion GPS. How many stories are out there that are fake that came from Moscow and are peddled by Fusion GPS into the left wing media?

Sean Hannity: The Russians lied to impact the election. The Russians infiltrated our national security to corner the uranium market.

Inside Hillary Clinton’s Secret Takeover of the DNC: When I was asked to run the Democratic Party after the Russians hacked our emails, I stumbled onto a shocking truth about the Clinton campaign. By DONNA BRAZILE | November 02, 2017
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/11/02/clinton-brazile-hacks-2016-215774

...

I had promised Bernie when I took the helm of the Democratic National Committee after the convention that I would get to the bottom of whether Hillary Clinton’s team had rigged the nomination process...

...

I had to keep my promise to Bernie. I was in agony as I dialed him. Keeping this secret was against everything that I stood for, all that I valued as a woman and as a public servant.

“Hello, senator. I’ve completed my review of the DNC and I did find the cancer,” I said. “But I will not kill the patient.”

I discussed the fundraising agreement that each of the candidates had signed. Bernie was familiar with it, but he and his staff ignored it. They had their own way of raising money through small donations. I described how Hillary’s campaign had taken it another step.

I told Bernie I had found Hillary’s Joint Fundraising Agreement. I explained that the cancer was that she had exerted this control of the party long before she became its nominee. Had I known this, I never would have accepted the interim chair position, but here we were with only weeks before the election.

...

The agreement—signed by Amy Dacey, the former CEO of the DNC, and Robby Mook with a copy to Marc Elias—specified that in exchange for raising money and investing in the DNC, Hillary would control the party’s finances, strategy, and all the money raised. Her campaign had the right of refusal of who would be the party communications director, and it would make final decisions on all the other staff. The DNC also was required to consult with the campaign about all other staffing, budgeting, data, analytics, and mailings.

HANNITY’S “TICK TOCK” REVEALED: Obama Ensured Uranium Exportation — Ignored Glaring National Security Fears (VIDEO) November 2, 2017 by Joshua Caplan
http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2017/11/hannitys-tick-tock-revealed-obama-ensured-uranium-export-approval-ignored-glaring-national-security-fears-video/

HANNITY: “Barack Obama purposely manipulated the process to allow this trucking company to be the conduit by which they got the uranium out of the country. Tell us what you found.”

SOLOMON: “Yeah, there wasn’t just one decision, we look at Uranium One and say we let them buy the mine and 20% of the ore that was being mined at that time under there control. But there was a series of decisions made by the Obama administration time and time again, between 2010 and 2012 that are incredibly favorable to Russia’s ROSATOM, the state owned nuclear energy industry, time and again these decisions are being made while the FBI knowns that there criminality going on by that company’s executives”

HANNITY: “The bribery, exhortation, money laundering, the racketeering, and so on.”

SOLOMON: “Yeah, Kickbacks. And theres a second thing that i’m just starting to report on now. There we concerns in the Obama administration that where very specific concerns that Russia was engaged in a Uranium scheme that it was going to get enough control of uranium, dump it on the market, drive all the prices down –“

HANNITY: “Wow!

SOLOMON: “And put all the other people out of business. Those are two legitimate national security concerns that don’t seem to have had an effect on all these give aways.”

Uranium One deal led to some exports to Europe, memos show BY JOHN SOLOMON AND ALISON SPANN - 11/02/17
http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/358339-uranium-one-deal-led-to-some-exports-to-europe-memos-show

Clinton Corruption Update For November 12, 2017 BattleSwarmBlog
http://www.battleswarmblog.com/?p=34162

  • The Wall Street Journal thinks Mueller is too compromised and should step down.

    ...

  • And remember: The FBI used the Fusion GPS Steele dossier to get a FISA warrant for Trump’s campaign.

    ...

  • “Clinton Emails, Trump Dossier, Russian Nukes: All Point To Corruption In Obama’s Justice Department.” Including Uranium One and the unmasking scandal.

    ...

  • For all Brazile’s “not illegal” blather, there’s a good chance Hillary’s team broke campaign finance laws paying for the Fusion GPS dossier and listing the line item as “legal fees.”

  • You know what else broke the law? The Clinton campaign shoving its hand into the puppet DNC to bypass campaign contribution limits:

    ...

  • Former FBI Director: Hillary Clinton’s crimes 20 times worse than Watergate.”

  • “New Documents Show FBI Deputy Director McCabe Did Not Recuse Himself from the Clinton Email Scandal Investigation until Week Before Presidential Election.” Despite the fact his wife’s campaign received $700,000 from Clinton “friends.”

    • Attorney General Jeff Sessions: Why we've made restoring the rule of law our top priority By Jeff Sessions 11/13/17
    http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2017/11/13/attorney-general-jeff-sessions-why-weve-made-restoring-rule-law-our-top-priority.html

    The rule of law is the foundation of our system of government. In the vision of our Founders, we have “a government of laws—and not of men.”

    Under President Trump’s strong leadership, the Department of Justice has made restoring the rule of law our top priority. Everything we do is guided by this principle.

    Sessions directs prosecutors to 'evaluate certain issues' involving Uranium One and Clinton, leaves door open on special counsel By Brooke Singman 11/13/17
    http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/11/13/justice-dept-won-t-rule-out-another-special-counsel-to-investigate-uranium-one-and-clinton.html

    Attorney General Jeff Sessions directed senior federal prosecutors to evaluate “certain issues” requested by congressional Republicans, involving the sale of Uranium One and alleged unlawful dealings related to the Clinton Foundation, leaving the door open for an appointment of another special counsel.

    ...

    The Justice Department’s letter specifically said that some of the topics requested by Goodlatte and other committee members were already being investigated by the department’s Inspector General’s office.

    I hope there will be an impartial investigation but many people are afraid that officials in the Justice Department who remain loyal to Democrats will whitewash these "matters" the way James Comey whitewashed the Clinton E-mail scandal.

    I am not endorsing or denying Imperator's conclusions and inferences. I am referencing the facts he cites because they are relevant to the topic of this post.

    Imperator_Rex‏ @Imperator_Rex3
    Replying to @Imperator_Rex3 @CharlesOrtel Imperator_Rex Retweeted Imperator_Rex

    28. You'll recall my thread noting the appointment of Christopher Wray, the new FBI Director. He's been appointed by Trump to lead a massive anti-corruption drive.

    29. The new IRS Director is David Kautter. He was nominated by Trump on May 10 & designated as acting Commissioner on 26 October, effectively removing Obama prateorian & hack John Koskinen.

    30. Kautter's a tax (avoidance) expert. It's highly probable that Wray knows Kautter and may well have worked with him professionally. There's a fair chance Kautter was engaged by Wray as an expert witness in the many white collar crime cases he ran as an attorney.

    31. In June, 2017, Don Fort was appointed as the new head of the IRS Criminal Investigation Division. The CI is massive, employing some 3,100 employees across the world with a budget of $500 million. Speciality? Fraud, tax evasion & money laundering.

    32. Hey, guess who came knocking on Don Fort's door just weeks after he was appointed? Why, Robert Mueller, SC, apparently. That's odd, given we're supposed to believe he's taking down the evil Drumpf (he's not):

    Five new revelations in the Russian uranium case BY JOHN SOLOMON - 11/20/17
    http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/361290-five-new-revelations-in-the-russian-uranium-case

    The FBI did have evidence that Rosatom officials were engaged in criminality well before the Obama administration approved Rosatom's purchase of Uranium One.

    ...

    Russia saw its purchase of Uranium One as part of a strategy to dominate global uranium markets, including making the United States more dependent on Moscow's nuclear fuel.

    ...

    Uranium One did export some of its U.S. uranium ore.

    Congressional referrals sparked DOJ investigations like Uranium One and Clinton Foundation Sara A Carter 11/14/17
    https://saraacarter.com/2017/11/14/congressional-referrals-sparked-doj-investigations-like-uranium-one-and-clinton-foundation/

    The Department of Justice (DOJ) has confirmed it has received multiple congressional referrals for investigations over the past year regarding the sale of twenty percent of the American uranium supply to Russia’s nuclear arm, as well as calls for investigations into allegations of pay-for-play regarding the Clinton Foundation, Circa has learned.

    Multiple sources, including congressional officials, tell Circa that the requests sent to the Department of Justice over the past year have led to ongoing investigations, which they say also include investigations into the alleged leaking of classified information to the media and the improper unmasking of Americans.

    The article below, critical of Robert Mueller, comes from a surprising source: the LA Times. Is it possible that Democrats are turning against Mueller because his indictment of Paul Manafort implicated the Podesta Group and now Democrats are afraid Mueller may indict Democrats in his investigation into Russian influence in the 2016 presidential election? Democrats have been praising Mueller for many months hoping his investigation will result in the removal from office of President Trump. They would have a hard time denying wrongdoing by Democrats indicted by Mueller after heaping such high praise on him for so long a time.
    http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-mueller-record-20171122-story.html

    As he investigates Trump's aides, Robert Mueller's record shows surprising flaws

    What the Flynn Plea Means by ANDREW C. MCCARTHY December 1, 2017
    http://www.nationalreview.com/article/454269/michael-flynn-plea-no-breakthrough-russia-investigation

    Nevertheless, as I explained in connection with George Papadopoulos (who also pled guilty in Mueller’s investigation for lying to the FBI), when a prosecutor has a cooperator who was an accomplice in a major criminal scheme, the cooperator is made to plead guilty to the scheme. This is critical because it proves the existence of the scheme. In his guilty-plea allocution (the part of a plea proceeding in which the defendant admits what he did that makes him guilty), the accomplice explains the scheme and the actions taken by himself and his co-conspirators to carry it out. This goes a long way toward proving the case against all of the subjects of the investigation.

    That is not happening in Flynn’s situation. Instead, like Papadopoulos, he is being permitted to plead guilty to a mere process crime. A breaking report from ABC News indicates that Flynn is prepared to testify that Trump directed him to make contact with the Russians — initially to lay the groundwork for mutual efforts against ISIS in Syria. That, however, is exactly the sort of thing the incoming national-security adviser is supposed to do in a transition phase between administrations. If it were part of the basis for a “collusion” case arising out of Russia’s election meddling, then Flynn would not be pleading guilty to a process crime — he’d be pleading guilty to an espionage conspiracy.

    The Flynn Plea: A Quick and Dirty Analysis By Susan Hennessey, Matthew Kahn, Vanessa Sauter, Shannon Togawa Mercer, Benjamin Wittes Friday, December 1, 2017
    https://lawfareblog.com/flynn-plea-quick-and-dirty-analysis

    In early February, the Washington Post broke the story that, contrary to the White House’s multiple assertions, Flynn had discussed sanctions in calls with Kislyak. Not only that, but the contents of the communications had been picked up in intelligence intercepts (presumably targeting Kislyak) and the substance of the conversations was sufficiently concerning that Flynn was the subject of a counterintelligence investigation.

    National security adviser Flynn discussed sanctions with Russian ambassador, despite denials, officials say By Greg Miller, Adam Entous and Ellen Nakashima February 9, 2017
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/national-security-adviser-flynn-discussed-sanctions-with-russian-ambassador-despite-denials-officials-say/2017/02/09/f85b29d6-ee11-11e6-b4ff-ac2cf509efe5_story.html

    FBI reviewed Flynn’s calls with Russian ambassador but found nothing illicit By Ellen Nakashima and Greg Miller January 23, 2017
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/fbi-reviewed-flynns-calls-with-russian-ambassador-but-found-nothing-illicit/2017/01/23/aa83879a-e1ae-11e6-a547-5fb9411d332c_story.html

    The FBI in late December reviewed intercepts of communications between the Russian ambassador to the United States and retired Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn — national security adviser to then-President-elect Trump — but has not found any evidence of wrongdoing or illicit ties to the Russian government, U.S. officials said.

    The calls were picked up as part of routine electronic surveillance of Russian officials and agents in the United States, which is one of the FBI’s responsibilities, according to the U.S. officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss counterintelligence operations.

    CNN: White House claims Obama admin approved Flynn calls with Russian ambassador BY MAX GREENWOOD - 12/01/17
    http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/362856-cnn-white-house-claims-obama-admin-approved-flynn-calls-with-russian

    The White House said on Friday that it was the Obama administration that authorized former national security adviser Michael Flynn's contacts with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak during President Trump's transition, according to CNN.

    ...

    According to court documents, Flynn lied to investigators when he told them that he did not ask Kislyak to refrain from retaliating against U.S. sanctions imposed by the Obama administration in response to the Russian meddling.

    Flynn also lied when he told the FBI that he did not lobby Kislyak to oppose or delay a United Nations Security Council vote condemning Israeli settlements, a resolution strongly condemned by Trump.

    See the Charges: U.S. v. Michael T. Flynn DEC. 1, 2017
    https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/12/01/us/document-Flynn-FBI-Russia.html

    State Department has 'no problem' with Trump team's Russia contacts by Joel Gehrke Jan 13, 2017
    http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/state-department-has-no-problem-with-trump-teams-russia-contacts/article/2611810

    Catherine Herridge: The FBI had concluded Michael Flynn was NOT lying to them… DEC. 1, 2017
    http://therightscoop.com/catherine-herridge-the-fbi-had-concluded-michael-flynn-was-not-lying-to-them/

    Bret Baier received some information earlier today from a source who has knowledge of FBI Director Comey’s testimony to Congress earlier this year, that his agents felt that Flynn hadn’t deliberately mislead them, but that he was somehow mistaken in his conversations.
    at
    Labels: , , , ,