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May 17, 2018 26 tweets 14 min read Twitter logo Read on Twitter
When it rains it pours. ⛈️

Wednesday was an outrageously busy day in #TrumpRussia news & revelations, so we did our best to summarize for you.

This THREAD is formatted as:

🔹A) What happened?
🔹B) Why is it important?

In conclusion, we remind you what YOU can do to help.
1A) The Senate Judiciary Committee released all transcripts/documents (some redactions) from its investigation into Russian interference and potential Trump campaign coordination. judiciary.senate.gov/press/releases…
1B) The release of 1000s of pages casts light on the Trump Tower mtg, including coordination of stories by attendees, inconsistencies in Don Jr.'s testimony & hints of Trump's knowledge of the mtg & involvement in the false story Don Jr. initially put out. nytimes.com/2018/05/16/us/…
2A) Senate Judiciary Democrats released an Interim Report on the #TrumpRussia investigation. feinstein.senate.gov/public/_cache/…
2B) The minority report lays out inconsistencies in details & testimony re: the Trump Tower meeting & areas that need more investigation.

Its intriguing that it says there are docs suggesting Russia funneled money to the Trump campaign through the @NRA. thehill.com/homenews/admin…
3A) @SenatorBurr & @MarkWarner announced the Senate Intel Committee has completed the first part of its investigation , which deals with Russian interference in our election, & have written a report to be released after it's cleared by the intel community. warner.senate.gov/public/index.c…
3B) The bipartisan Senate Intel report will, contrary to the Republican House Intel report, confirm that Russia interfered on behalf of Trump and that U.S. intel agencies did an excellent assessment in January 2017. washingtonpost.com/powerpost/russ…
4A) @NewYorker reported that a law enforcement whistleblower gave the Michael Cohen SAR (suspicious activity report) to @MichaelAvenatti. newyorker.com/news/news-desk…
4B) The whistleblower leaked the SAR because two previous SARs it referenced had disappeared from the FinCEN database and he/she feared they were being suppressed by the Trump administration. cbsnews.com/news/michael-c…
4C) Closely related, @RepMaxineWaters said on @MSNBC that she wrote to Treasury Secretary Steve Mnunchin in January to inquire if he was ever asked to destroy records related to Trump or his associates.

She never got an answer.
5A) Rudy Giuliani asserted that #Mueller's team had told him they will not indict Trump while he is president. nbcnews.com/politics/donal…
5B) This is not surprising because #Mueller is subject to DOJ rules & they provide that a sitting president cannot be indicted.

However, it does suggest Mueller has moved beyond "was a crime committed?" to "can I indict Trump?"

6A) The former head of Qatar's Investment Authority, Ahmed al Rumaihi, (who attended a 12/12/16 Trump Tower meeting) said Michael Cohen asked him for a $1 million payment for access to administration/infrastructure projects. nymag.com/daily/intellig…
6B) This is the same al-Ramaihi who is said in a sworn court affidavit in the "Ice Cube" lawsuit to have told a Bannon friend that Qatar wanted to offer funding to Bannon after the WH fired him, & when rebuffed, offered that Flynn had taken Qatar's money. motherjones.com/politics/2018/…
7A) Trump filed his annual financial disclosure, and it disclosed the loan from Michael Cohen (now repaid) to fund the $130k #StormyDaniels payment.

Trump had previously denied knowledge of the payment, both directly & via his attorneys. usatoday.com/story/news/pol…
7B) @OfficeGovEthics referred the #StormyDaniels payment matter to #Mueller as potentially relating to one of his investigations.

The filing should have been made last year and various disclosure/FEC laws were likely broken.
8A) It was reported that #Mueller has subpoenaed Roger Stone's social media consultant, Jason Sullivan, who worked on the Trump campaign.
reuters.com/article/us-usa…
8B) #Mueller's subpoena of Sullivan suggests Stone may be a target of his investigation and that Mueller is looking into his possible coordination with Wikileaks and/or hackers.
9A) @nytimes had a major story assessing what was going on at the FBI during the months before the election, and how it affected the Times' coverage. nytimes.com/2018/05/16/us/…
9B) The FBI assumed HRC would win & was paranoid that Trump would paint it as partisan.

Thus, the FBI threw cold water on the story a week before the election, resulting in the headline "Investigating Donald Trump, FBI finds no clear link to Russia."
10A) @chrisinsilico, the #CambridgeAnalytica whistleblower, testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee. c-span.org/video/?445621-…
10B) Wylie testified that Steve Bannon was extremely interested in using psychographic data to suppress voting, especially among minorities more likely to vote for Democrats. thehill.com/policy/technol…
11A) Michael Cohen was working on a Trump Tower Moscow deal until very close to Trump's nomination. yahoo.com/news/michael-c…
11B) Cohen previously claimed the Trump Moscow Tower project was dropped in January 2016, but texts & emails between Cohen and Felix Sater show it continued into the 2nd half of 2016.

Trump at the time was claiming he had no ties to Russia.
12) So now you're caught up on the double digit #TrumpRussia developments from Wed.

Next question is, "What can YOU do to help?"

Step 1 - Sign up at TrumpIsNotAboveTheLaw.org for 'rapid response.'

Volume of sign-ups (now 350k+) is a deterrent to Trump crossing our red lines.
13) Step 2 - Call your senators & express your concerns.

Say you've been following the news & demand they push for a floor vote to #ProtectMueller & #ProtectRosenstein.

Less than 6 months to midterms. We've got this.

Graphics h/t @frontera_julie

/END
theloyalopposition.net/daily-ctas/dem…

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More from @ActOnDemocracy

Oct 1, 2018
REALLY BIG DEAL:

The FBI may be finished with its probe of #Kavanaugh by MONDAY MORNING!!!

That's tomorrow.

The White House & accomplices in the Senate, including Grassley & McConnell, want to pretend they've done a real probe.

We need calls now... nytimes.com/2018/09/30/us/…
#CallToAction:

We have a democracy, w/independent institutions, norms & importantly, checks/balances.

But this is the kind of sham probe that occurs in de facto 1-party autocracies (like Russia.)

Call & demand a real probe ASAP. Race against the clock.

theloyalopposition.net/daily-ctas/imm…
Graphics h/t @frontera_julie.
Read 4 tweets
Aug 23, 2018
The story of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election is a complex one with many moving parts. Russian oligarchs & operatives work together using their wealth, influence & connections to advance Putin’s agenda.

Here are 5 key figures you should be aware of.

THREAD
Aras Agalarov is “Russia’s Trump”—a real estate mogul close to Putin.

Agalarov hosted Trump’s 2013 Miss Universe pageant in Moscow, where his pop star son, Emin performed. They have introduced Trump to many Russian oligarchs & have carried messages between Trump & Putin.
For more background on Agalarov:

themoscowproject.org/players/arasag…
Read 13 tweets
Aug 13, 2018
#ManafortTrial Day 9 (sorry for delay)

✅Prosecution filing asks Judge Ellis to correct improper statement.

✅Docs & testimony suggest Federal Savings Bank chairman approved $16M in loans to secure a job in Trump admin.

✅D.C. filing confirms Gates’ ongoing cooperation.

1/5
#ManafortTrial Day 9 cont.

Fed. Savings Bank Senior VP Raico’s testimony:

✅Loan process was unusually fast.

✅Bank chairman Steve Calk’s involvement unlike any other loan.

✅Loans granted on Manafort’s terms, even after bank’s president suggested ending negotiations.

2/5
#ManafortTrial Day 9 cont.

Raico’s testimony:

✅Calk let Manafort know he wanted Trump admin role & Manafort asked for Calk’s resume.

✅11/11/2016- call from Calk: “[I’m possibly] up for some role in [Trump admin. Can you ask Manafort?]”

✅11/16/2016- $9.5M loan closed.

3/5
Read 5 tweets
Aug 9, 2018
#ManafortTrial Day 7:

Summary:

✅Gates testimony ends.

✅Testimony from FBI accountant -CPA & Certified Fraud Examiner M. Magionos

✅Testimony from IRS agent M. Welch (admitted as expert witness)

✅Judge Ellis: "Judges should be patient...I'm not.”

✅8 witnesses left.

1/4
#ManafortTrial Day 7 cont.

Gates testimony:

✅In 2014 FBI interview about Yankovych, he disclosed offshore accounts but not hidden ones.

✅Manafort asked him to meet w/Lyovochkin (pro-Russia politician) re: payments.

✅"No doubt at all [no plea agreement if he lies]."

2/4
#ManafortTrial Day 7 cont.

FBI accountant Magionos:

✅31 foreign accounts owned by Manafort, Gates or Kilimnik (pro-Russia politician).

✅Emails from Manafort re: international wire xfers.

✅Paid >$60M via foreign accounts.

✅FARA filing inconsistent w/tax returns.

3/4
Read 4 tweets
Aug 8, 2018
#ManafortTrial Day 6:

Gates testimony:

✅Pro-Russian Party of Regions politicians (Kolesnikov & Lovochkin) paid Manafort millions via disguised Cypriot accounts.

✅Documentary evidence suggests Manafort controlled foreign accounts.

✅Repeatedly directed to defraud banks.

1/5
#ManafortTrial Day 6 cont.

Gates testified:

✅At Manafort's direction, he fabricated invoices due to offshore banking rule requiring the invoice to have the Manafort-controlled entity name instead of Manafort's.

✅Directed to hide international wire xfers from bookkeeper.

2/5
#ManafortTrial Day 6 cont.

Gates testified:

✅Manafort's prepared agendas suggest Manafort had key role on tax & bill strategy.

✅2016 emails from Manafort show he altered P&L statement received from bookkeeper by “about $4.2 M” to secure loan from Federal Savings Bank.

3/5
Read 5 tweets
Aug 7, 2018
#ManafortTrial Day 5:

Summary:

✅Manafort’s attorneys attempted to show that complicated finances resulted in unintentional errors & Gates was the criminal mastermind.

✅Testimony from senior special agent w/FINCEN, at Treasury.

✅Gates testified.

✅New clashes w/Judge.

1/6
#ManafortTrial Day 5 cont.

Laporta (CPA) testified:

✅Didn't go to Manafort re: Gates suspicions because: “it was [usually] clear Manafort was aware of what was going on.”

✅Knowing that income can’t be disguised as a loan doesn’t require expertise nor is it complicated.

2/6
#ManafortTrial Day 5 cont.

Paula Liss, certified fraud examiner/money laundering specialist testimony:

✅Judge limited scope to questions agreed to during sidebar.

✅Though required by law, neither Manafort nor his wife filed reports of foreign bank accounts from '11-'14.

3/6
Read 6 tweets

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