Concealed details from meetings with Putin

[struggle4progress]

By Sophie Tatum
Updated 8:17 PM ET, Sat January 12, 2019

Washington (CNN)There are no detailed records of five personal meetings President Donald Trump has had with Russian President Vladimir Putin, The Washington Post reported Saturday, citing US officials.

The reason being, Trump has gone to what the Post described as "extraordinary lengths" to keep the specifics of his conversations with his Russian counterpart under wraps.

Current and former US officials told the paper that Trump's efforts include confiscating the notes from his interpreter and not allowing them to discuss the details of the meetings with other officials in his administration.

The Post notes that this behavior by Trump is not usual per past presidential standards ...

https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/12/politics/trump-putin-meetings-no-records/index.html

[struggle4progress]

1. Former CIA agent accuses Trump of being traitor

BY CHRISTINA ZHAO ON 1/12/19 AT 7:45 PM

A former CIA operations officer accused Donald Trump of being a “traitor” who “betrayed” America after the New York Times revealed that the FBI launched a secret probe into whether the president was working for the Kremlin.

In a series of tweets on Saturday, Evan McMullin, who ran as an independent candidate in the 2016 presidential election, pointed out the gravity of the report and asserted that Trump has "betrayed us."

“That the FBI had cause to investigate a sitting American president for possible collaboration with a foreign power against the nation should shock and awaken us to the gravity of our situation. Still, beyond the perception of many, Trump has betrayed us,” McMullin wrote on Twitter, alongside a link to the New York Times article ...

https://www.newsweek.com/former-cia-agent-calls-trump-traitor-who-betrayed-america-after-nyt-report-1289303

[struggle4progress]

2. Firing of Comey triggered FBI counterintelligence investigation

Jan. 12, 2019, 1:29 PM EST / Updated Jan. 12, 2019, 1:38 PM EST
By Chuck Rosenberg and Joyce Vance

The authority of the FBI to conduct criminal investigations and, with United States attorneys, to prosecute lawbreakers in our nation’s federal courts, is well known. Those cases, often reported in the press and dramatized by Hollywood, cover an enormous range of criminal behavior, from public corruption, to fraud, to crimes against children, to cyber intrusions, to the actions of violent gangs wielding guns and dealing drugs.

But the Russian investigation that has monopolized the news cycle for the past year has focused attention on another — lesser known — aspect of the FBI’s role: as the leading “counterintelligence” agency on U.S. soil. Of vital importance, that work often occurs outside the public eye, and is less well understood by citizens. This fact was reinforced over the weekend by shocking but not surprising reporting in The New York Times revealing that following President Donald Trump's controversial firing of former FBI director James Comey in May of 2017, "law enforcement officials became so concerned by the president’s behavior that they began investigating whether he had been working on behalf of Russia against American interests" ...

https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/trump-s-firing-comey-triggered-fbi-counterintelligence-investigation-here-s-ncna958001

[struggle4progress]

3. FBI investigation of Trump included a counterintelligence inquiry

By Devlin Barrett and Ellen Nakashima
January 12 at 10:03 AM

The FBI investigation into President Trump that was opened almost immediately after he fired then-Director James B. Comey also included a counterintelligence component to determine if the president was seeking to help Russia, and if so, why, according to people familiar with the matter.

The decision by then-acting FBI director Andrew McCabe to open an investigation of a sitting president was a momentous step, but it came after Trump had cited the ongoing investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election in his decision to fire Comey, these people said.

The counterintelligence component of the Trump investigation was first reported by the New York Times.

Trump responded Saturday morning on Twitter, blasting former FBI leaders, criticizing their handling of an earlier investigation into Hillary Clinton and ripping the ongoing Russia probe. Trump has repeatedly denounced the FBI and Justice Department in such harsh terms, underscoring the gulf between the White House and the nation’s top law enforcement agencies in his administration ...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/fbis-investigation-of-trump-included-a-counterintelligence-inquiry/2019/01/12/9b8adfb8-166d-11e9-90a8-136fa44b80ba_story.html?utm_term=.f97651965002

[Stuart G]

4. The single most important idea in this is Mr.Trump went go great lengths to conceal this.

........................ What was the reason for tying to conceal this?.

.That is the real question that everyone has. Why go to such great lengths to conceal conversations with Mr. Putin? What was in those conversation that they needed to be totally covered up?

[dawg day]

5. I doubt it's even legal-

Everything is supposed to be archived.

[Takket]

6. subpeona the interpreter

[Gothmog]

8. Trump swore interpreter to secrecy after Putin meeting and took away notes:

Link to tweet

[Gothmog]

7. trump is hiding something

Link to tweet

[Hermit-The-Prog]

9. k&r

How long will this nightmare last?
What have Trump, McConnell, and Ryan been hiding?