Mueller lists the actions that prompted his decision “that there was a sufficient factual and legal basis to further investigate potential obstruction-of-justice issues involving the President.”
Everything was made even more complicated for us when Attorney General William Barr and his deputy AG Rod Rosenstein decided to jump the gun and mischaracterize the report while keeping from Congress and the public the most easily understood sections of Mueller’s finding: the summaries.
Let’s start with the fact, and praise be to the Times for finally using the right word, that there are too many people using the wrong word: “collusion.” The president and his odd PR attorney Rudy Giuliani insist there is no proof of capital “C” collusion.
Unger makes several startling claims: Trump was but one of dozens of U.S. politicians and businesspeople targeted over more than 20 years who became indebted to Russia.
I found reading “Fear” to be especially painful. There were times I had to force myself to read more. It was much like watching a most terrifying movie, knowing the maniac is poised to strike at any moment. He could be behind the bathroom door or the living room couch with an axe or a chainsaw. Escape seems impossible.
Thanks to special counsel Mueller’s July 13, 2018, indictment of 12 Russian military intelligence officers, we’ve learned in excruciating detail about the extensive hacking of the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and cyberattacks on the boards of elections of various states, and companies that supply software and other technology related to the administration of U.S. elections.
We are used to the images of war: bombs and bullets and blood. But Nance knows what many Americans are unwilling to recognize: We are at war and this war is being fought on our land.
Last month, the board of trustees of the town's libraries endorsed the idea of putting a statue of the scholar, civil rights leader and Great Barrington native in front of the Mason Library on Main Street in the center of town. The project can only move forward if sufficient funds are raised and the Historic District Commission and the selectboard approve.
Since we’re working our smoke-signal way through the supporting cast the president has surrounded himself with, it’s probably a good time to get to know the president’s private attorney. And because of the recent raid on his offices and the seizure of a massive amount of documents and some recordings, Michael Cohen’s importance in the Russian Affair and the Neverending Obstruction looms even larger.
Isikoff and Corn try to answer an essential question: Why is Trump so enamored of Putin? So willing to turn a blind eye to Russia’s efforts to sabotage American democracy, so unwilling to strike back when he continually brags about his commitment to answer every blow with 10?
As you continue to read, I want you to imagine an iceberg. Both Forbes and the New York Times thought they were being told, and telling us, the true story of Cambridge Analytica. But they and we saw only a small portion of what Cambridge Analytica wanted us to see.
With all the talk about the varied skills of Corey Lewandoski, Paul Manafort and Steve Bannon, who took turns steering the Trump campaign, many were surprised by the title of the Nov. 22, 2016, Forbes article: “How Jared Kushner Won Trump the White House.”
Like many of our protagonists, Carter Page's story keeps changing. He didn’t meet with Russians. He did meet with Russians. Nothing happened. Or maybe something did happen.
General Flynn is inextricably woven into the story of Donald Trump and Russia. And nothing reveals the important role he has played more clearly than the efforts President Trump made to convince FBI Director James Comey not to dig too deeply into what Flynn might have done.
I’m not going to be the one to tell you Russia picked Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton. But the combined intelligence services of our government will.
