Confirmation that this entire scheme is a Russian mob disinformation campaign

@VeraMBergen

NEW: In their effort to discredit Trump’s perceived enemies, the president's close allies received key documents and information from a Ukrainian oligarch wanted in the US on corruption charges, five people directly involved tell TIME https://time.com/5699201/exclusive-how-a-ukrainian-oligarch-wanted-by-u-s-authorities-helped-giuliani-attack-biden/ … via @shustry

https://twitter.com/ScottMStedman/status/1184262836572180481
https://time.com/5699201/exclusive-how-a-ukrainian-oligarch-wanted-by-u-s-authorities-helped-giuliani-attack-biden/


Over the last two months, a TIME investigation has traced some of Giuliani’s claims about Biden and Mueller to a troubling relationship, one in which a foreigner wanted by the U.S. government on corruption charges has taken steps, as part of his own legal strategy, that are helping the American President attack his most prominent critics.

The information came from the legal team of Dmitry Firtash, a wealthy industrialist with assets across Europe, who has spent the last five years in Vienna fighting extradition to the U.S. on bribery and racketeering charges. The U.S. Department of Justice said in 2017 he was among the “upper echelon associates of Russian organized crime”—something Firtash vigorously denies, along with all charges against him.

As part of his legal defense, Firtash’s lawyers have gathered documents that make controversial allegations against former special counsel Robert Mueller and former Vice President Joe Biden. Firtash’s lawyers have passed these documents and other information to associates of Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani.

In his frequent appearances on cable news, Giuliani has presented some of these documents to the American public as evidence for his claims of wrongdoing by Mueller and Biden. The key document is an affidavit from a former Ukrainian prosecutor who accuses Biden of corruption. “The witness I’m relying on,” Giuliani told Fox News on Oct. 6, was the prosecutor Viktor Shokin. “That’s the affidavit I put out,” Giuliani added. He did not mention that the affidavit was obtained by the Firtash legal team. At the beginning of the document, Shokin writes that he is making the statement “at the request of lawyers acting for Dmitry Firtash.”

Pelosi on Trump as House investigates: "all roads lead to Putin"

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said late Tuesday the U.S. House is holding off on a vote to move forward with opening an impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump.

Pelosi said Trump as the House investigates: “all roads lead to Putin.”

“We are already doing an impeachment investigation,” said congressman Eric Swalwell on MSNBC shortly after the House speaker's press conference, referring to ongoing interviews on Capitol Hill of a host of individuals sought for information about the Trump administration's political “dirty tricks” efforts in Ukraine.


https://boingboing.net/2019/10/15/impeachment-all-roads-lead.html

Sources tell Fox-There was a bombshell in the testimony" today

🚨 “bombshell” in Congressional testimony today

@ChadPergram
Source tells Fox Dep Sec State Kent “added to the depth to which Giuliani was involved with the Ukrainians. There was a bombshell in the testimony” during his deposition today


https://twitter.com/ScottMStedman/status/1184236640375427072

Erdogan: "We can no longer follow Trump's tweets. We cannot track them."

Erdogan complains that he cannot understand what Trump really wants anymore:

“We can no longer follow Trump’s tweets. We cannot track them. There is a stark change in his stance compared to last night”


https://twitter.com/ragipsoylu/status/1184233803725836288

Stunning: VP & Sec of State on route to Turkey as Erdogan negotiates with Russia

BREAKING — Putin, Erdogan discuss the need to prevent armed clashes between Turkey and Syrian regime in a phone call: Kremlin

• Putin invited Erdogan for a working visit in coming days. Erdogan accepted it

https://twitter.com/ragipsoylu/status/1184201731233722370
https://twitter.com/KeirSimmons/status/1184213454854541312

Turkish state bank Halkbank has been indicted on fraud, money laundering scheme (Rudy's Client)

BREAKING: SDNY charges Turkish state-run bank Halkbank in sanctions violations in connection with the record-breaking money-laundering scheme to Iran executed by gold trader Reza Zarrab.

Zarrab was the client whose release Giuliani pushed for between Trump and Erdogan.



https://twitter.com/KlasfeldReports/status/1184209719218581506


The Turkish state bank Halkbank has been indicted on fraud, money laundering and sanctions offenses by federal prosecutors in Manhattan. U.S. says Halkbank "willfully engaged in deceptive activities designed to evade U.S. sanctions on Iran."
https://twitter.com/BenWeiserNYT/status/1184209768610746370

BOMBASTIC, Turkey and US had been negotiating a deal for more than a year to prevent this court case.
https://twitter.com/ragipsoylu/status/1184211832040579074

https://twitter.com/KlasfeldReports/status/1184212156797063168
https://twitter.com/lrozen/status/1184216471804747777

https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/press-release/file/1210401/download

4th Circuit US Appeals court will reconsider argument that Trump is violating Constitution

4th Circuit US Appeals Court *says it will reconsider argument* that Trump is violating Constitution's ban on gifts from foreign states.



https://twitter.com/MikeScarcella/status/1184207294155890694

IT WAS THE OMB DIRECTOR, MISAPPROPRIATING FUNDS, IN THE NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR'S OFFICE

Finally, Hill puts Mick Mulvaney at the scene of the crime.

As I’ve said before, one part of this scandal that has gotten far too little attention is that, to extort Ukraine, Trump withheld funds appropriated by Congress, funds about which there was bipartisan agreement.

Last week, CNN and WSJ reported that to do this, OMB changed the way the funds were distributed, putting a political flunkie in charge, also a detail that has gotten far too little attention.

Not only does that raise the Constitutional stakes of the Executive’s refusal to spend the funds Congress had duly appropriated, but it shows consciousness of guilt.

And per Hill’s testimony Mick Mulvaney, serving in the dual role of OMB chief and Chief of Staff, knew that those funds were being withheld for a quid pro quo or (as John Bolton described it) a drug deal.

Senate Republicans might not ever convict Trump for demanding foreign countries invent propaganda on his political allies. They might feel differently once it becomes clear that the crime involves refusing to do what Congress, with its power of the purse, told him to, without even telling Congress he was doing so (or why). They may not care about Trump pressing for any political advantage for their party, but they may care about Trump neutering their most important authority.


https://www.emptywheel.net/2019/10/15/the-significance-of-fiona-hills-testimony-whatever-drug-deal-sondland-and-mulvaney-are-cooking-up/


Now OMB says it does not plan to turn over the documents that impeachment committees subpoenaed. The deadline was today.

Note, these documents will show that the White House decided to ignore the will of Congress to carry out his extortion.

Trump angrily tweets, 'Impeach the Pres.' Sure, if you say so

Just out: MEDIAN HOUSEHOLD INCOME IS AT THE HIGHEST POINT EVER, EVER, EVER! How about saying it this way, IN THE HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY! Also, MORE PEOPLE WORKING TODAY IN THE USA THAN AT ANY TIME IN HISTORY! Tough numbers for the Radical Left Democrats to beat! Impeach the Pres.


https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1184129825231069184

Everything we are doing in Syria is a hand-over to the Russians.

Everything Trump does is a hand-over to the Russians. This is not political rhetoric or hyperbole. Trump foreign policy has helped and is helping Russia far far more than it is helping the US. That's just fact.

Amichai Stein
✔
@AmichaiStein1
#BREAKING: senior Pentagon official tells @Newsweek: US forces assisting Russians to enter #Manbij, calling it a "Handover" https://twitter.com/ragipsoylu/status/1184021483166883846 …

https://twitter.com/djrothkopf/status/1184121846024884225