Trump-Russia Connections

This page is a compilation of Fark threads related to the dumpster fire of the 45th President of the United States of America trying to play mobster with the Russians

''This page is for the current month,  '' To view previous months, check out the archive

To view the other crap Vladimir Cheeto is up to click here and here =Background=

=Trump 2016 Campaign Principles=

Morgan, Lewis, Bockius, LLP
Sheri A. Dillon and William F. Nelson, tax partners

Sheri Dillon
attorney, Morgan, Lewis, Bockius, LLP

Marc E. Kasowitz
long-time Donald Trump attorney

Donald J. Trump, Jr.

 * Executive VP of Development and Acquisitions, Trump Organization
 * "We see a lot of money pouring in from Russia"

Trump SoHo
hotel in New York City owned by the Trump Organization

Heather Rinkus
staff, Winter White House; wife of Anthony Donald "Ari" Rinkus; previously worked for the Amway Hotel Corporation

Anthony Donald "Ari" Rinkus
staff, Winter White House; husband of Heather Rinkus

Significant Person of Interest
current (May, 2017) White House official identified as such in the law enforcement investigation

Ivanka's Assets
no, not those

Kushner Companies
Kushner family real estate firm; received funding from Steinmetz for downpayments on $190 million in purchases in NYC in 2012

BFPS Ventures
unspecified "real estate in New York" owned by Jared Kushner
 * to avoid inproprieties, Kushner sold off individual assets within the company that might pose a conflict instead if divesting completely
 * valued at least $50 million (Kushner's single most valuable asset)
 * does not appear in any city property-record searches

Westminster Management
Kushner Companies' property-management arm

Other Kushner Assets
the assets of members of the Kushner family, including Kushner Companies and Jared Kushner

Real Estate

 * what Jared owns:
 * stakes in limited liability companies that often have no employees, offices or websites
 * some are owned through generic registered-agent offices in Dover, Delaware
 * function as holding companies for other assets
 * 124 real estate assets
 * some of the real estate properties that Kushner still owns often fall under the purview of regulatory agencies over which he might now enjoy considerable influence (like his Baltimore-area apartment complexes that rely on federal housing assistance)

Meetings with Russians
between Jared Kushner and assorted Russians

April, 2016 Meetings

 * Who was present at Mayflower Hotel Highlight: same day as an event held by then-candidate Trump who promised in a speech to seek better relations with Russia It is unclear whether Kushner and Kislyak interacted there
 * Kushner
 * Sergey Kislyak, Russian ambassador to the US
 * Attorney General Jeff Sessions

December 1 or 2, 2016, Trump Tower

 * Attendees
 * Kushner
 * Kislyak
 * Flynn
 * Topics
 * setting up a communications channel using existing Russian diplomatic channels
 * arranging a meeting between a Trump representative and a "Russian contact" in third country

Other December, 2016 Meetings

 * Attendees
 * Kushner
 * Sergey Gorkov, head of Vnesheconombank

Jamie Gorelick
one of Jared Kushner's lawyers

Michael Flynn
joined Trump campaign in February, 2016 as an advisor
 * was in frequent contact with Sergey Kislyak throughout transition period
 * suspected of establishing a one-to-one line of communication (back channel) with Putin
 * dismissive of the threat Russia posed to the US
 * didn't seem to fully understand Kislyak's rumored ties to Russian intelligence agencies

Flynn Intel Group
business Flynn set up after being forced out as chief of the Defense Intelligence Agency

Flynn Subpoena
signed by Dana J. Boente; demands all "records, research, contracts, bank records, communications" and other documents related to work with Flynn and the Flynn Intel Group; also asks for similar records about Ekim Alptekin; instructs the recipient to direct any questions about its contents to Brandon Van Grack

Robert K. Kelner
Flynn's lawyer; informed Trump transition lawyers about Flynn being under federal investigation for secretly working as a paid lobbyist for Turkey on January 6, 2017

Ekim Alptekin
helped coordinate Turkish lobbying in Washington with Zaikin

Inovo BV
Dutch company owned by Ekim Alptekin

Dmitri "David" Zaikin
Soviet-born, former executive in Russian energy and mining companies who helped coordinate Turkish lobbying in Washington with Alptekin

Corey Lewandowski
former Trump campaign manager, former lobbyist

Avenue Strategies
lobbying firm founded by two former Trump aides: Corey Lewandowski and Barry Bennett

Washington East West Political Strategies
short-lived off-shoot of Avenue Strategies created for prospective Eastern European clients; partners included an Azerbaijani oil executive and an American political consultant who works extensively in Russia

Paul Manafort
former Trump campaign manager

Summerbreeze LLC
holding company that took out a $3.5 million loan on Manafort's Bridgehampton home

Strategic Campaign Group
campaign consulting firm, Annapolis, Maryland
 * pioneered the use of technology in political campaigns
 * represents GOP candidates nationwide, including the Tea Party and the Conservative Majority Fund
 * FBI raided Main St. offices May 11, 2017 with a search warrant
 * questioned by the FEC concerning money raised by a political action committee

Formation

 * an unnamed White House official made sure the Washington Post understod Stephen Miller, also a key campaign staffer at the time, had no role in the formation
 * campaign staff desparately signed up the few interested parties in summer, 2016

Known Members

 * Jeff Sessions
 * George Papadopoulos
 * on list of foreign policy advisers circulated by Ben Carson presidential campaign
 * offered positive comments about Putin to foreign audiences while touting his position as a Trump adviser
 * Carter Page
 * attended TCNST meetings including one attended by Sessions
 * submitted policy memos for the campaign's review

Meetings

 * few meetings, attendees or members were made public
 * one with Sessions was announced, although no other members of the panel were named publicly
 * a picture of attendees around a table was sent out on social media by Trump announcing that he was "meeting with my national security team"
 * took place in a conference room at Trump's not-yet-opened hotel in Washington; the photo shows Trump at the head of the table and Sessions at the opposite end; Papadopoulos was there, Page was not

Prior to Joining Trump Campaign

 * spent three years working in Moscow
 * has stock in Gazprom one of the sanctioned Russian companies
 * his name also appeared in the Steele dossier
 * in 2013 had contact with Evgeny Buryakov who was later convicted of being a Russian spy; FBI recordings included discussions among Russian operatives about their attempts to recruit Page

Joining Trump Campaign

 * his company Global Energy Capital LLC close to Trump Tower
 * Ed Cox conveyed Page's interest to the campaign; Page confirmed that Cox had connected him to the Trump campaign

As Trump Campaign Advisor

 * described his relationship with the campaign as "unpaid" and "informal"; various Trump aides and assorted officials are adamant that Page never met Trump during his five-month stint as an adviser, and Page left the campaign in August 2016
 * attended meetings of the Trump Campaign National Security Team (TCNST) and submitted policy memos for the campaign's review
 * witnesses say that when he was with the Trump campaign, he spoke critically about Obama and US policy, while praising Putin and promising improved US-Russian relations if Trump were elected
 * Page denies this

Global Energy Capital LLC
Carter Page energy company with offices located a block from Trump Tower; shares an atrium with Trump Tower

Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III
Attorney, I say, Attorney General

George Papadopoulos
member of TCNST

Stephen Miller
an unnamed White House official made sure the Washington Post understod Stephen Miller, also a key campaign staffer at the time, had no role in the formation of TCNST

Sam Clovis
worked on Russian-related issues when he worked at the Pentagon in the 1980s and when he ran for Senate in 2014; has spoken critically about US sanctions against Russia

Ed Cox
chairman, New York state Republican Party; conveyed Page's interest to the campaign; Page confirmed that Cox had connected him to the Trump campaign

Erik Prince
founder, Blackwater (a private security firm renamed "Academi"); informal adviser to the Trump transition team
 * nine days before inauguration day (Jan. 11, 2017) Prince met in the Seychelles with a representative of Putin

Sheriff David Clarke
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
 * 1) Nominated
 * 1) Nominated
 * 1) Nominated
 * 1) Nominated
 * 1) Nominated

Roger Stone
''Top. Advisor. star of the Netflix documentary, "Get Me Roger Stone"''

Aaron Nevins
Florida GOP consultant

Governor Scott Walker (R WI)

 * 1) met Torshin and Butina at 2015 NRA Convention

Greg Gianforte
candidate for Montana's at-large district
 * owns shares in two index funds that are invested in Rosneft and Gazprom, two Russian companies sanctioned by the US
 * tech millionaire, with sn estimated wealth between $65m and $315m

=Trump Administration=

Steve Bannon
Advisor to the President

Trump's Transition Team

 * copied and removed highly sensitive documents from SCIF at Trump transition's Washington HQ

Donald F. McGahn II
Trump transition team's chief lawyer; knew that Flynn was under federal investigation on January 4, 2017

Reince Priebus
Trump Chief of Staff

Rex Tillerson
Secretary of State, former Exxon-Mobile executive

Wilbur Ross
former chairman, Bank of Cyprus, current US Secretary of Commerce

Steve Mnuchin
US Treasury Secretary

Gary Cohn
economic advisor to the President; director of the National Economic Council

Michael Cohen
President's personal lawyer

Ezra Cohen-Watnick
senior director for intelligence at the NSC, one of Nunes' leakers

John Eisenberg
top lawyer for the National Security Council, reports to White House counsel Donald McGahn, was informed of the Nunes docs

Michael Ellis
former counsel for House Intelligence Committee; Deputy National Security Council Legal Advisor reports to Eisenberg and White House counsel Donald McGahn, one of Nunes' leakers

=Other US Principles=

US Strategic Petroleum Reserve
world’s largest stockpile of emergency crude oil
 * established in December 1975 in the wake of the oil embargo imposed on the US by Arab members of OPEC
 * located near the largest US refineries and pipeline networks
 * in four large salt caverns in Louisiana and Texas

CFIUS
Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States
 * approves acquisitions of US assets by foreign companies
 * chair is Treasury Secretary

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R CA 33rd)
"Russia is no longer the Soviet Union"

Brian Brown
president, National Organization for Marriage; believes Russians and US conservatives are "uniting together under the values we share"
 * 1) testified before the Duma in 2013 as Russia adopted a series of anti-gay laws

Alan Gottlieb
founder of the Second Amendment Foundation
 * 1) Torshin and Butina took him and his wife out for dinner and gave them gifts

Franklin Graham
North Carolina-based evangelist; son of Billy Graham
 * 1) believed Putin to be a potential friend after Putin offered to hold an upcoming conference on the persecution of Christians in Moscow; instead, a Russian delegation will attend the conference in Washington in May, 2017

National Prayer Breakfast
hosted delegation of prominent Russians for 2017 Breakfast

=US Allies=

NATO
North Atlantic Treaty Organization

=In-betweener= citizen or resident of the United States with a background in Russia or US citizen now living or working in Russia

Len Blavatnik
businessman, born in Ukraine, raised in Russia, naturalized U.S. citizen
 * president, Access Industries Holdings Inc. (parent company of Access Entertainment)
 * made his fortune after the fall of the Soviet Union
 * has investments in chemicals, real estate, technology and entertainment

Access Industries, Inc.
privately held American holding company, founded in 1986 by Leonard Blavatnik, who is also its chairman; owner of Warner Music Group
 * industrial focus is in three areas:
 * natural resources and chemicals
 * media and telecommunications
 * and real estate

Louis Marinelli
Leader of the "Cal-exit" movement

Lee Stranahan
former Breitbart investigative reporter

Wikileaks
in no way affiliated with Russia

Julian Assange


=Russian Principles= (in alphabetical order, except Putin)



Andrey Artemenko

 * attempted to lift sanctions against Russia with Trump lawyer Michael Cohen
 * also linked to Manafort through connections in Ukraine
 * jailed in Kiev on embezzlement charges

David Bogatin

 * Trump Tower tenant, Mogilevich lieutenant

Maria Butina
former aide to Alexander Torshin, founded a group called the Right to Bear Arms
 * 1) she and Torshin invited then NRA president, David Keene, to RtBA 2013 meeting in Moscow

Oleg Deripaska
Russian aluminum magnate, close Putin ally

Alexander Dugin
the Steve Bannon of Russia

Mikhail Fradkov
director, Russian Institute for Strategic Studies

Gazprom
government owned energy company
 * Trump campaign official, Carter Page, owns shares

Sergey Gorkov
chairman, Vnesheconombank
 * met with Kushner in December, 2016

Vyacheslav Ivankov

 * Trump Tower tenant, Mogilevich lieutenant

Mikhail Kalugin
director, Russian Embassy's economics section

Konstantin Kilimnik
Manafort's protégé, Russian collaborator

Sergey Kislyak
Russian ambassador to the 2016 U.S. Presidential election and Anything Else Putin Wants
 * was in frequent contact with Michael Flynn throughout transition period

Sergei Lavrov
Russian Foreign Minister

Viktor Medvedchuk
Ukrainian politician, lawyer, and business oligarch
 * current chairman of the pro-Russian political organization Ukrainian Choice
 * opposes Ukraine joining the European Union
 * Putin is godfather to Medvedchuk's daughter

Semion Mogilevich
the "Brainy Don"
 * pioneered money laundering through high-end real estate in US

National Morning Prayer Foundation
founded by Peter Sautov and Alexander Torshin; Russia's version of National Prayer Breakfast that, with US Christians, hopes to "rebuild the relationship between the two countries that has degraded under the administration of President Obama"
 * 1) Putin sends an annual greeting

Victor Ozerov
chair Russian Federation Council's defense committee

Dmitry Peskov
Vladimir Putin's press secretary

Dmitry Petrov
Putin spokesman

Victor Podobnyy
Russian intelligence operative

Lyudmila Putina
née Lyudmila Alexandrovna Shkrebnyova; Putin's ex-wife (1983-2013); sister of Olga Alexandrovna Tsomayeva
 * created CDIC with Tatiana Shestakova
 * was a "trustee" of CDIC since at least September 2006

Artur Ocheretny
Shkrebnyova's new husband since 2015
 * chairman of the management board of the CDIC
 * owns a villa in Biarritz, France

Leonid Reshetnikov
former director, Russian Institute for Strategic Studies when 2016 POTUS election interference papers were written
 * at his retirement ceremony, Reshetnikov told Putin, "[t]he policy of Russia and the policy of the President of Russia have been the cornerstone of our operation.?

Dmitry Rogozin
Deputy Prime Minister of Russia
 * 1) among the officials sanctioned by Obama's White House following Russia's invasion of Ukraine

Rosneft
will receive 49.9 percent of Citgo's shares if PDVSA defaults on the December, 2016 loan



RT
formerly Russia Today, Russian international television network funded by the Russian government
 * paid Flynn $45,000 to give a speech in Moscow, where he also attended the network's anniversary dinner and was photographed sitting next to Putin

Russian Institute for Strategic Studies
Kremlin's in-house foreign policy think tank run by retired senior Russian foreign intelligence officials appointed by Putin?s office

Dmitry Rybolovlev
The Fertilizer King

Felix H. Sater

 * attempted to lift sanctions against Russia with Trump lawyer Michael Cohen
 * convicted of stock manipulation

Peter Sautov
organizer and chairman, National Morning Prayer Foundation (Russia's version of National Prayer Breakfast)

Igor Sechin
owner, Roseneft

Kirill Shamalov
son of Nikolay Shamalov, co-owner of Rossiya Bank
 * married Putin and Shkrebnyova's daughter, Katerina Vladimirovna Tikhonova (aka Yekaterina Putina)
 * made billions after acquiring a large stake in a leading Russian gas and petrochemicals company
 * purchased property in Biarritz, France, from a close associate of Putin

Tatiana Shestakova
former wife of Vasily Shestakov an old friend and judo sparring partner of Putin
 * owns 1% of Meridian
 * created CDIC with Lyudmila Putina

Sputnik
a news agency, consisting of websites, radio broadcast service (among others) established by the Russian government-controlled news agency Rossiya Segodnya

SVR
Sluzhba vneshney razvedki (Russian Foreign Intelligence Service)

Aleksander Torshin

 * deputy governor of the Bank of Russia, close ally of Putin
 * Spanish police investigate his involvement in money laundering with Taganskaya, a Russian organized crime syndicate
 * alleged February, 2017 White House meeting with Trump canceled
 * 1) leader in Russian movement to align Kremlin more closely with the Orthodox church, attended the 2017 National Prayer Breakfast with a delegation of prominent Russians

Vadim Trincher
model tenant, Trump Tower

Olga Alexandrovna Tsomayeva
former general director, Intererversis; Lyudmila Putina's sister

Vnesheconombank
Russian government-owned development bank under sanctions by U.S. and others

Viktor Yanukovych
disgraced Ukranian president-Russian puppet, leader of the "Party of Regions"

Party of Regions
pro-Putin political party in Ukraine

Maria Zakharova
Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman

=Dead Russians=

Nikolay Andruschenko
co-founder Novy Peterburg newspaper; known for investigative reporting on local crime, corruption, and police brutality

Sergei Magnitsky
whistleblowing tax attorney

Vadim Tyulpanov
former Federation Council representative, Nenets Autonomous Region
 * fell in gym, found dead

=Russian Military Aggression=

=Russian-US "Business" Arrangements=

Morgan, Lewis, Bockius, LLP
Sheri A. Dillon and William F. Nelson, tax partners

Sheri Dillon
attorney, Morgan, Lewis, Bockius, LLP

Spruce Capital
co-founded by Joshua Crane, who has partnered with Donald Trump on real estate deals
 * partially funded by Alexander Rovt

S C 3
subsidiary of Spruce Capital, behind $3.5 million loan on Manafort's Bridgehampton home

Alexander Rovt
Ukrainian-American real-estate magnate, partially funds Spruce Capital
 * tried to donate $10,000 to Trump's presidential campaign on Election Day but had all but the legal maximum of $2,700 returned

Gazprom
government owned energy company

RatPac-Dune
entertainment group whose investors include: Steve Mnuchin and Len Blavatnik

Beny Steinmetz
co-founder, Hermitage Capital, a Russian hedge fund firm
 * currently under investigation in the US, Guinea, Israel and Switzerland for different briberies
 * provided funding to Kushner Companies for downpayments on $190 million in purchases in NYC in 2012

Kushner Companies
Kushner family real estate firm; received funding from Steinmetz for downpayments on $190 million in purchases in NYC in 2012

G. Kline Preston IV
lawyer from Nashville, has done business in Russia for many years
 * 1) introduced David Keene, then the NRA's president, to Alexander Torshin in 2011

PDVSA
Petróleos de Venezuela, Venezuela's national oil company; took out a loan from Rosneft in December, offering as collateral 49.9 percent of Citgo's shares

CITGO Petroleum
subsidiary of PDVSA, Venezuela's national oil company; operates three large refineries, three major pipelines and dozens of fuel terminals in the US; 49.9% of its shares were offered as collateral on a loan from Roseneft

Volkonsky House
9 Vozdvizhenka Street, Moscow; tenants pay rent to Meridian; has 5,288 square metres of floor space available for rent
 * named for former owner General Nikolai Volkonsky, grandfather of author Leo Tolstoy
 * projected annual revenue of $3.18 million (current market rate of $600 per square metre per year gor all available space)
 * current tenants include:
 * VTB, a Russian bank
 * Sberbank, a state lender
 * the Severstroygroup, a construction company (has won defense ministry contracts)
 * a travel agency
 * a sushi restaurant
 * a Burger King

Volkonsky House Previous Owners

 * General Nikolai Volkonsky, grandfather of author Leo Tolstoy
 * 1992 Russian Foreign Ministry by presidential decree signed by Putin's predecessor, Boris Yeltsin
 * 2005 Centre for the Development of the Russian Language (later changed its name to the Centre for the Development of Inter-personal Communications)

2005 Volkonsky House Renovation

 * Kremlin property department supervised
 * Konstantinovsky Foundation provided financial help

Natalia Samover
historian, campaigned against the Volkonsky Renovation
 * "The building has lost its historical appearance. We no longer have the Volkonsky House, we have an eyesore half a kilometre from the Kremlin"

CDIC
Centre for the Development of Inter-personal Communications
 * non-commercial foundation created by Lyudmila Putina and Tatiana Shestakova in 2002
 * formerly known as "Centre for the Development of the Russian Language"
 * currently owns Volkonsky House
 * 2015 expenditures were 262,317,000 roubles ($4.53 million)
 * 2015 income from all sources was 343,350,000 roubles ($5.93 million); It was not clear what all those sources were
 * Justice Ministry issued a warning to CDIC for failing to make its annual reports on its activities (as opposed to its financial accounts) publicly available as required by law

Meridian
Intererservis owns 99% of Meridian, Tatiana Shestakova owns the other 1%
 * collects rents from Volkonsky House tenants:
 * VTB, a Russian bank
 * Sberbank, a state lender
 * the Severstroygroup, a construction company (has won defense ministry contracts)
 * a travel agency
 * a sushi restaurant
 * a Burger King

Intererservis
wholly owned since 2014 by a woman called Lyudmila Alexandrovna Shkrebnyova
 * 2015 reported revenues 2.4 million roubles ($41,478)
 * 2015 net profit of 1.76 million roubles ($30,417)

VTB
Russian bank
 * rents 3,011 square metres of Volkonsky House
 * pays more than $2 million in annual rent there

Properties in Biarritz, France
where Kirill Shamalov and Artur Ocheretny both own separate properties

Kaspersky Lab
Moscow-based cybersecurity firm

Yevgeny "Eugene" Kaspersky
Russian cybersecurity expert and the CEO of Kaspersky Lab

=Useful Russian Government Agency=

Justice Ministry
issued a warning to CDIC for failing to make its annual reports on its activities (as opposed to its financial accounts) publicly available as required by law

Kremlin property department
supervised renovation work on the Volkonsky House
 * head of department during renovation, Vladimir Kozhin
 * Yelena Krylova, a spokeswoman for the Kremlin property department
 * no information about the department having been involved in the renovation

Vladimir Kozhin
former head of the Kremlin property department, 2000-2014; Konstaninovsky Foundation board member since at least 2005; currently Putin presidential aide

Konstantinovsky Foundation
created to restore Konstantinovsky Palace near St Petersburg, Putin's hometown

Leonid Levin
chairman, Duma Committee on Information Policy, Information Technology and Communications (Комитет Государственной Думы по информационной политике, информационным технологиям и связи (Komitet po informatsionnoy politike, informatsionnym tekhnologiyam i kommunikatsiyam))

Rosimushchestvo
Russian government agency that handles state property

Russian Institute for Strategic Studies
Kremlin's in-house foreign policy think tank run by retired senior Russian foreign intelligence officials appointed by Putin?s office

Kosmos-2491, Kosmos-2499 and Kosmos-2504


=US Sanctions Against Russia=

Exemptions to Sanctions
=Distractions, Red Herrings and Scapegoats=

Obama White House

 * restricted documents Trump's team viewed at the White House
 * worried Trump's team would tip off Moscow, delayed telling them:
 * about plans to punish Russia for its election meddling
 * about plans to levy sanctions and oust Russians living in the in the US

=Kahn Sheikhoun Chemical Weapons Attack=

=Russian Response to Shayrat Air Strike=

=Possible Russian Interference in 2016 POTUS Election=

=Russian Spying=

Evgeny Buryakov
New York-based Deputy Representative, Vnesheconombank, arrested for spying on the United States for the SVR January 26, 2015

Miscellaneous Unnamed Russian Spies
=Russian Hackers=

Arrested, Tried, Convicted
Yahoo hackers March 15, 2017 announcement that a grand jury indicted the defendants for computer hacking, economic espionage and other criminal offenses in connection with a conspiracy to access Yahoo's network and accounts
 * Dmitry Aleksandrovich Dokuchaev, 33, Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) officer, Russian national and resident
 * Igor Anatolyevich Sushchin, 43, Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) officer, Russian national and resident
 * Alexsey Alexseyevich Belan, aka "Magg," 29, a Russian national and resident
 * Karim Baratov, aka "Kay," "Karim Taloverov"
 * "Karim Akehmet Tokbergenov," 22, a Canadian national and a resident of Canada

Roman Valeryevich Seleznev
Russian citizen from Vladivostok, son of Russian parliament member Valery Seleznev
 * a prominent carder (traded stolen payment card data) under online aliases "Track2", "2pac" and "nCuX"
 * found guilty in August, 2016
 * 10 counts of wire fraud
 * 8 counts of intentional damage to a protected computer
 * 9 counts of obtaining information from a protected computer
 * 9 counts of possession of 15 or more unauthorized access devices
 * 2 counts of aggravated identity theft
 * sentenced in the Western District of Washington to 27 years in prison

Guccifer 2.0
distributed and publicized material stolen during hacks of the DNC, the DCCC, prominent Democratic operatives' emails

Pyotr Levashov
hacker

Pawn Storm
=Russian News=

Leonid Bershidsky
Bloomberg View columnist; founding editor, Vedomosti, the Russian business daily; founded opinion website Slon.ru

Izvestia
pro-Kremlin newspaper

Dmitry Kiselyov
anchor of Rossiya 1 channel's "Vesti Nedeli"
 * on Donald Trump and Kim Jong-Un:
 * "[b]oth are dangerous, but who is more dangerous? Trump is."
 * "both have [l]imited international experience, unpredictability, and a readiness to go to war."

RT
formerly Russia Today, Russian international television network funded by the Russian government

Unnamed Photographer


=Investigators and Reporters=

Preventing Investigators from Doing Their Jobs
See also section below

Special Counsel Robert Mueller
lead special counsel, investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 campaign

Christopher Steele
former MI6 agent

Several US Allies
including Australia, the Netherlands, Estonia, Germany, Poland, the UK (Government Communications Headquarters or GCHQ) and France (General Directorate for External Security or DGSE) all passed electronic intelligence (sigint) to the US as part of a routine exchange of information

Marshall Billingslea
member of Donald Trump's transition team, worked under Flynn; former Pentagon and NATO official
 * would have been nominated for assistant secretary for terrorist financing at the Treasury Department
 * requested only one leadership profile from Obama White House: Kislyak's
 * on his boss, Flynn, who didn't seem to fully understand Kislyak's rumored ties to Russian intelligence agencies

Public Citizen
government-ethics watchdog group wrote letter to DoJ and Congressional lobbying oversight offices requesting investigations into Lewandowski's lobbying status

GAO
General Accountability Office

FEC
Federal Election Commission charged exclusively with monitoring and enforcing the Federal Election Campaign Act
 * can be sued
 * if complainants are unhappy with the results of an investigation
 * believe an investigation is taking too long

Federal Election Campaign Act

 * bars foreign nationals, companies or governments from
 * donating to US campaign committees
 * making expenditures "for the purpose of influencing" an election
 * prohibits campaigns from
 * coordinating with foreign entities

Ellen Weintraub
FEC Commissioner, Democratic appointee
 * wants an FEC into investigate Russian involvement in Facebook ads spread during the 2016 POTUS campaign, based on a Time magazine article''

FEC staff investigative report
any report generated by the staff at the FEC FEC staff investigative reports
 * are used by commissioners to assess civil penalties
 * referred to Justice Department for criminal investigation or penalties
 * would become public regardless of the commissioners' votes

Preet Bharara
former US Attorney

Department of Justice National Security Division (NSD)
responsible for counterintelligence and counterterrorism investigations
 * probe into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election
 * Yahoo hackers

Dana J. Boente
US attorney, Eastern District of Virginia; appointed by Sessions to be Acting Assistant Attorney General, National Security Division, Department of Justice

Brandon Van Grack
national security prosecutor, Justice Department HQ, Washington; specializes in espionage
 * leading a grand jury inquiry in Northern Virginia
 * scrutinizing Flynn's foreign lobbying
 * issuing subpoenas to businesses that worked with Flynn and his associates

FBI
Federal Bureau of Investigation
 * been investigating this mess since at least June, 2016
 * had been investigating Trump associates' possible ties to Russia, particularly focused on Flynn

former FBI Director
James Comey
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Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network
tracks global money laundering

DIA
Defense Intelligence Agency
 * 1) Director, DIA

NGA
National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency
 * 1) Director, NGA

CIA
Central Intelligence Agency
 * compiles classified "leadership profile" of foreign officials, which include:
 * biographical information
 * US intelligence assessments

Daniel Coats
Director of National Intelligence

Adm. Michael Rogers
director, National Security Agency

DHS
Department of Homeland Security

Full Committee, May 23, 2017

 * House Intelligence Committee hearing: "Open and Closed Hearings for Russia Investigation Task Force"
 * full committee
 * May 23, 2017
 * Witness
 * John Brennan, former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency

Chairman Chaffetz
Rep. Jason "Foot out the door" Chaffetz (R UT 3rd)

Closed Hearing, May 11, 2017
Senate Intelligence Committee closed hearing, May 11, 2017

Worldwide Threats Hearing, May 11, 2017
"Open Hearing: Worldwide Threats Hearing"
 * May 11, 2017
 * Witnesses
 * Dan Coats Director of National Intelligence
 * Michael Pompeo Director of the Central Intelligence Agency
 * Admiral Michael Rogers Director of the National Security Agency
 * Andrew McCabe Acting Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
 * Lieutenant General Vincent Stewart Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency
 * Robert Cardillo Director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency

Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism

 * Russian Interference in the 2016 United States Election
 * Monday, May 8, 2017
 * Witnesses
 * Sally Yates former Acting Attorney General
 * James Clapper former Director of National Intelligence
 * James Clapper former Director of National Intelligence

Senate Intel Cmte on Carter Page

 * asking Page for records of ...
 * all his contacts with Russians during the campaign
 * all financial interactions he had with Russia
 * all communications he had with Trump campaign staff

Six Senators
wrote letter to Treasury Secretary Mnuchin asking him, as chair of CFIUS, for a "thorough, conflict-free and expedient review" in the event that PDVSA defaults and Roseneft gains control of CITGO
 * Senators Bob Menendez (D NJ), John Cornyn (R TX), Ted Cruz (R TX), Marco Rubio (R FL), Bill Cassidy (R LA) and Dick Durbin (D IL)''

Senators Patty Murray, Maria Cantwell and 9 other Senators to DoJ IG Horowitz
to Michael E. Horowitz, Inspector General, US Department of Justice
 * also signed:
 * Senator Martin Heinrich (D NM)
 * Senator Elizabeth Warren (D MA)
 * Senator Richard Blumenthal (D CT)
 * Senator Ron Wyden (D OR)
 * Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D NY)
 * Senator Jack Reed (D RI)
 * Senator Tammy Duckworth (D IL)
 * Senator Edward Markey (D MA)
 * Senator Tom Udall (D NM)

Gang of Eight
a group of eight Congress people who are notified in classified briefings of any change or developments in Trump-Russia investigation

Gloria Borger, Pamela Brown, Jim Sciutto, Marshall Cohen and Eric Lichtblau
Borger is chief political analyst; Brown is Justice Correspondent; Sciutto is Chief National Security Correspondent; Cohen is a researcher and producer; Lichtblau is a veteran investigative reporter

Malcolm Nance
Counterterrorism expert

Shepard Smith
poor, poor Shepard Smith

Matthew Rosenberg, Adam Goldman and Matt Apuzzo
Rosenberg covers intelligence and national security; Goldman is a national security reporter; Apuzzo reports on law enforcement and security matters

Kenneth P. Vogel
tracks confluence of money, politics and influence, Politico.com

Michelle Goldberg
columnist, Slate

Massimo Calabresi
senior correspondent covering domestic and foreign policy

Alexandra Berzon
in the investigations group, Wall Street Journal

Rosalind S. Helderman
political enterprise and investigations reporter, Washington Post

Tom Hamburger
covers the intersection of money and politics, Washington Post

Adam Entous, Ellen Nakashima
Entous writes about national security, foreign policy and intelligence; Nakashima is a national security reporter

Karoun Demirjian and Devlin Barrett
Demirjian reports on defense and foreign policy, previously a correspondent based in Moscow bureau; Barrett is a national security, homeland security and counterterrorism reporter

Ellen Nakashima, Adam Entous, Greg Miller
Nakashima is a national security reporter; Entous writes about national security, foreign policy and intelligence; Miller is a national security correspondent

Anonymous Letter Writer
sent letter to Washington Post mid-December, 2017 about Kushner's and Flynn's meeting with Kislyak at Trump Tower, Dec. 1 or 2, 2017

Palmer Report


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