NRA Heavyweight Wanted Access to Putin: Leaked Email

“Impressing the NRA’s Russian hosts is the quickest way to secure a private interview with President Putin,” an organizer of the NRA’s infamous 2015 trip to Moscow wrote.

A former NRA president hoped to win access to Vladimir Putin on a trip to Moscow, according to an email from one of the trip’s organizers. That organizer, Republican operative Paul Erickson, also said the trip could have “enormous diplomatic consequences.” The email, sent in November 2015 and reviewed by The Daily Beast, came just months before the Kremlin’s election meddling went into full gear.

In the email, Erickson wrote that an official with the Russian Central Bank had made a tantalizing, though tentative, offer to former NRA president David Keene: an interview for his newspaper with Russian President Vladimir Putin. At the time, Keene was the opinion editor for The Washington Times, a conservative newspaper. He had previously helmed the NRA, and he maintained close ties with its top officials. And he was one of the small group of people on the trip.

“Impressing the NRA’s Russian hosts is also the quickest way to secure a private interview with President Putin on behalf of David Keene and the Washington Times – a plum that was dangled in front of Keene by Torshin himself visit to Washington, DC,” Erickson wrote. “High stakes all around.”

The NRA’s Russian hosts were a powerful group. Alexander Torshin, who Erickson said had tentatively offered Keene a Putin interview, was a deputy governor at Russia’s powerful central bank at the time. Justice Department prosecutors later alluded to him when they charged Erickson’s girlfriend, Russian gun rights activist Maria Butina, with conspiring to act as an unregistered foreign agent in the U.S. Butina pleaded guilty to the charge last month. Her organization, called The Right to Bear Arms, had helped organize the trip Keene went on.

More: https://www.thedailybeast.com/nra-heavyweight-wanted-access-to-putin-leaked-email

BREAKING: Justice Department's inspector general wants authority to investigate a decade-old plea deal in which Acosta allegedly helped an accused sex offender skirt harsh punishment for crimes against teens
https://twitter.com/blaw/status/1090366147806011393

Labor Secretary’s Role in Epstein Plea Deal Under DOJ Scrutiny

The Justice Department’s inspector general wants lawmakers to give him the authority to investigate a decade-old plea deal in which Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta allegedly helped an accused sex offender skirt the harshest punishment for crimes against teens.

“Your letter raises important questions about the resolution of this case by department attorneys,” DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz said in a Jan. 29 letter to lawmakers. “However, the OIG does not currently have jurisdiction over matters involving allegations of misconduct relating...

Link: https://news.bloomberglaw.com/daily-labor-report/doj-watchdog-wants-to-probe-labor-secretarys-role-in-abuse-deal?utm_campaign=2019-01-29T21%3A48%3A42&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=lawdesk

NEW: The billionaire donor LEN BLAVATNIK stands to make $$$$$ from @USTreasury’s move on Sunday to lift sanctions on OLEG DERIPASKA’s @UC_RUSAL. * In 2017, Blavatnik announced an investment in a film company that was owned partly by … STEVE MNUCHIN.
https://twitter.com/kenvogel/status/1090348664424484866

.@USTreasury says MNUCHIN did not recuse from DERIPASKA sanctions, or request ethics guidance on his relationship with BLAVATNIK, because the two didn't do direct biz. Mnuchin did, however, attend a party on Blavatnik’s $100M yacht, Odessa, pictured here.
https://twitter.com/kenvogel/status/1090348664424484866

GOP campaigns took $7.35 million from oligarch linked to Russia

Donald Trump and the political action committees for Mitch McConnell, Marco Rubio, Scott Walker, Lindsey Graham, John Kasich and John McCain accepted $7.35 million in contributions from a Ukrainian-born oligarch who is the business partner of two of Russian president Vladimir Putin's favorite oligarchs and a Russian government bank.

During the 2015-2016 election season, Ukrainian-born billionaire Leonard "Len" Blavatnik contributed $6.35 million to leading Republican candidates and incumbent senators. Mitch McConnell was the top recipient of Blavatnik's donations, collecting $2.5 million for his GOP Senate Leadership Fund under the names of two of Blavatnik's holding companies, Access Industries and AI Altep Holdings, according to Federal Election Commission documents and OpenSecrets.org.

Marco Rubio's Conservative Solutions PAC and his Florida First Project received $1.5 million through Blavatnik's two holding companies. Other high dollar recipients of funding from Blavatnik were PACS representing Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker at $1.1 million, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham at $800,000, Ohio Governor John Kasich at $250,000 and Arizona Senator John McCain at $200,000.

In January, Quartz reported that Blavatnik donated another $1 million to Trump's Inaugural Committee. Ironically, the shared address of Blavatnik's companies is directly across the street from Trump Tower on 5th Avenue in New York.

More: https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/2017/08/03/tangled-web-connects-russian-oligarch-money-gop-campaigns

Roger Stone met with Trump associates hours before raid — and the FBI probably caught it all: CNN’s April Ryan

CNN political analyst April Ryan on Monday dropped some tantalizing hints about Roger Stone’s arrest last week, reluctantly offering a few details about a meeting Stone had held the night before at his house.

“Just hours prior to the raid, Roger Stone had a gathering at his home with very influential people,” Ryan said.

“‘Influential people’? Are you going to leave it at that?” asked host Brianna Keilar. “What kinds of people?”

“I had to fight just to get that one,” replied Ryan before dishing. “Close to the president. He had a gathering at his home hours prior to, and a source that was — one of the sources said, ‘you know, it’s interesting, the FBI was probably watching us when we were in that home.'”

https://twitter.com/RawStory/status/1089957248976207878

NEWS: More on the mystery Mueller grand jury subpoena. Solicitor General Noel Francisco filed a motion/memo to SCOTUS dropping its objection to releasing redacted versions of its filings, noting it can be done "w/o compromising grand jury secrecy."
https://twitter.com/dsamuelsohn/status/1088914108097941506

This is a scandal. The article - @RudyGiuliani Donor Linked to Russian Mobs (#Mogilevich and Chernoy) just disapeared from the website of @MoscowTimes Guess what, I did snapshots from google cash and I will remain
https://twitter.com/anastasiaki/status/1088804606145187840

NEW: Elijah Cummings announces "in-depth investigation" of the WH and Trump transition team security clearance processes, citing breaches at the highest levels of government, including with Michael Flynn. Cummings sends letter to WH asking for an array of documents.

Letter seeks documents about Flynn, Flynn Jr., McFarland, Bolton, Kushner, Rob Porter, Townley, McEntee, Gorka
https://twitter.com/mkraju/status/1088105225230131200

House Democrats probe how Jared Kushner got security clearance

The probe was launched "in response to grave breaches of national security at the highest levels of the Trump Administration," said Rep. Elijah Cummings.

The House Oversight Committee is launching an investigation into the White House security clearance process, an inquiry that promises to put a spotlight on how President Donald Trump's senior adviser and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, overcame concerns to gain access to highly classified information.

"The Committee on Oversight and Reform is launching an in-depth investigation of the security clearance process at the White House and Transition Team in response to grave breaches of national security at the highest levels of the Trump Administration," Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, the Chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, said in a letter to the White House obtained by NBC News.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Last February, NBC News reported that more than 130 political appointees working in the Executive Office of the President did not have permanent security clearances as of November 2017, including the president's daughter, son-in-law and his top legal counsel. Son-in-law Jared Kushner has since obtained a clearance, according to his lawyer, despite reports that he has been targeted for manipulation by foreign governments.

More: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/house-democrats-probe-how-jared-kushner-got-security-clearance-n961721

This is always how Rudy gets ahead of news. He goes on cable tv, does a wild interview, and shares stuff that appears to be gaffe when it’s not. He did the same thing with the Stormy Daniels payments last year. It’s all intentional.
https://twitter.com/yashar/status/1085722355421241344