Category Archives: Donald Trump

Donald Trump's former personal lawyer Michael Cohen told Insider that Melania Trump didn't expect her husband to win the White House in 2016 Pool / Pool / Getty Images

Former First Lady Melania Trump never expected her husband to win the White House in 2016, former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen told Insider.

"Melania played a very limited role during the campaign not believing Donald would actually win," Cohen told Insider for its 2016 oral history of how Trump took over the Republican Party. "However, when directly asked for her opinion on a matter by Donald, she offered it readily."

Read more: The definitive oral history of how Trump took over the GOP, as told to us by Cruz, Rubio, and 20 more insiders

Cohen's comment echoes other reports that Melania Trump and many others close to the former president weren't expecting to win on Election Night in 2016. His niece Mary Jordan wrote in her 2020 book that Donald Trump was stunned when he won the election.

In 2018, New York journalist Michael Wolff reported that Melania Trump cried on Election Night in 2016 after realizing her husband had won. The Trump White House denied Wolff's report at the time. However, Wolff has struggled with credibility questions surrounding his books on Trump.

Former House Speaker John Boehner speculated in 2018 that Donald Trump promised Melania Trump they wouldn't win, and therefore wouldn't have to leave New York and move to Washington.

Just days after the 2016 election, the New York Post reported that Melania Trump and their son Barron Trump would stay in New York until the end of the school semester. They left New York for Washington in the middle of June 2017, according to a Politico report at the time.

Inside Trumpworld, the former first lady is viewed as one of Donald Trump's most influential advisors, rivaled only by the influence of his daughter Ivanka Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner.

Story continues

A spokeswoman for the former first lady did not immediately comment for this story.

In a separate anecdote from Insider's oral history project, Melania Trump concurred with her husband that John McCain "isn't a war hero," according to longtime Trump advisor Corey Lewandowski. Melania Trump's office denied she made the comment.

Read the original article on Business Insider

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Melania Trump told Donald Trump she did not think he would win in 2016, former lawyer Michael Cohen told Insider - Yahoo News

A spike in violent crimein the Atlanta area mayjeopardize one of the strongest investigations into former President Donald Trump's alleged misdeeds, as the local district attorney struggles to both probe the former commander-in-chief and tackle an "historic" backlog incases that grows by the day.

Fulton County DA Fani Willis has for months dedicated significant resources to investigating Trump for his pressure campaign on Georgia officials to overturn the state's 2020 election results. She is reportedly focusing her attention in particular onTrump'sinteractions with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who at one point was askedto "find" enoughvotes to overturn the former president'sloss in the state.

But just as that investigation heated up, a backlog of more workaday cases under Willis' jurisdictionhas grown to more than 12,000, according to a report from Insider, citing public comments and interviews with former associates of Willis. Much of this backlog stems from rising violent crime andstate-mandated court closures due to COVID-19.

Though some resources are incoming in the form ofrelief money,that cash comes with stringent restrictions leaving the future of her investigation into the former president in limbo.

"The problem she has is that she's in an elected position and the residents are getting tired of the crime," Michael Moore, aU.S. attorney for the Middle District of Georgia during Obama's presidency, told Insider. "So are you going to dump all your resources into this [Trump] case that may turn into nothing? Or are you going to do your job and represent the people who have voted you in?"

Earlier this month Willis asked the Fulton County Board of Supervisors for more than $7 million in new funding for her office, which could be used to hire additional staff and lessen the backlog in cases. Local reports suggest the board and itschairman, Rob Pitts, arewilling to consider the additional funding.

It certainly doesn't help matters that the investigation into Trump is a completely unprecedented case for a countydistrict attorney, an office that has significantly fewer resources than prosecutors at the state or federal level.

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"The DA's office has never handled anything like this before in its history," Clint Rucker, a former Fulton County assistant district attorney, told Insider. "You're talking about investigating a former president of the United States for some kind of impropriety as it relates to election fraud. Nothing like that has ever come through the DA's office before."

Though she faces a difficult task, a number of Willis' current and former associates all say she is doing a commendable job with the case, and that they trust her to carry the investigation to its conclusion whatever that may be.

"If anybody's qualified to take on an investigation of this magnitude, it's Fani," said Peter Odom, a former prosecutor who previously worked with Willis.

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Why the investigation into Trump's alleged misdeeds may be in trouble - Salon

WASHINGTON (AP) Former President Donald Trump insisted Thursday that he wouldnt have used the military to illegally seize control of the government after his election loss. But he suggested that if he had tried to carry out a coup, it wouldnt have been with his top military adviser.

In a lengthy statement, Trump responded to revelations in a new book detailing fears from Gen. Mark Milley that the outgoing president would stage a coup during his final weeks in office. Trump said hes not into coups and never threatened, or spoke about, to anyone, a coup of our Government. At the same time, Trump said that if I was going to do a coup, one of the last people I would want to do it with is Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The mere mention of a coup was a stunning remark from a former president, especially one who left office under the cloud of a violent insurrection he helped incite at the U.S. Capitol in January in an effort to impede the peaceful transfer of power to Democrat Joe Biden. Since then, the FBI has warned of a rapidly growing threat of homegrown violent extremism.

Despite such concerns, Trump is maintaining his grip on the Republican Party. He was meeting on Thursday with House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy and has stepped up his public schedule, holding a series of rallies for his supporters across the country in which he continues to spread the lie that last years election was stolen from him.

His comment about a coup was in response to new reporting from I Alone Can Fix It: Donald J. Trumps Catastrophic Final Year by Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post reporters Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker. The book reports that Milley was shaken by Trumps refusal to concede in the weeks after the election.

According to early excerpts published by CNN and the Post on Wednesday ahead of its release, Milley was so concerned that Trump or his allies might try to use the military to remain in power that he and other top officials strategized about how they might block him even hatching a plan to resign, one by one.

Milley also reportedly compared Trumps rhetoric to Adolf Hitlers during his rise to power.

This is a Reichstag moment, Milley reportedly told aides. The gospel of the Fhrer.

Milleys office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But Milley has previously spoken out against drawing the military into election politics, especially after coming under fire for joining Trump on a walk through Lafayette Square for a photo op at a church shortly after the square had been violently cleared of protesters.

Trump, in the statement, mocked Milleys response to that moment, saying it helped him realize that his top military adviser was certainly not the type of person I would be talking coup with.

The book is one of a long list being released in the coming weeks examining the chaotic final days of the Trump administration, the Jan. 6 insurrection and the outgoing presidents refusal to accept the elections outcome. Trump sat for hours of interviews with many of the authors, but has issued a flurry of statements in recent days disputing their reporting and criticizing former staff for participating.

There is no evidence that supports Trumps claims that the election was somehow stolen from him. State election officials, Trumps own attorney general and numerous judges, including many appointed by Trump, have rejected allegations of massive fraud. Trumps own Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency called the 2020 election the most secure in American history.

Trump remains a dominant force in Republican politics, as demonstrated by McCarthys visit on Thursday to the former presidents summer home in Bedminster, New Jersey.

Trump and McCarthy were expected to spend their meeting discussing upcoming special elections, Republicans record fundraising hauls and Democrats they see as vulnerable in the 2022 midterm elections, according to a person familiar with the agenda who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe a private meeting. McCarthy previously met with Trump in January at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida.

Meanwhile, Republicans who are eyeing White House bids of their own arent crossing Trump, who remains popular with many GOP voters.

GOP Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, a potential 2024 presidential contender, said no comment, when asked if he thought Trumps statement was appropriate for a former president. A member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and an Army veteran of two combat tours in Iraq, Cotton declined to comment again when asked if he wanted to criticize Trumps remark.

I think he has the right to say what he wants to say, said Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, when asked if he was comfortable with a former president even hypothetically entertaining the idea of a coup.

You know, Donald Trump speaks for himself and he always has, said Cruz, another potential White House candidate in 2024.

___

Associated Press writers Robert Burns and Alan Fram contributed to this report.

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Trump opines on coup while rejecting fears about his actions - Associated Press

Rudy Giuliani points to a map as he speaks to the press about various lawsuits related to the 2020 election on Nov. 19, 2020. He and other Trump lawyers are now under scrutiny for their roles in promoting false claims of election fraud. Drew Angerer/Getty Images hide caption

Rudy Giuliani points to a map as he speaks to the press about various lawsuits related to the 2020 election on Nov. 19, 2020. He and other Trump lawyers are now under scrutiny for their roles in promoting false claims of election fraud.

Six months after the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol, attorneys who promoted former President Donald Trump's false claims about election fraud are being forced to defend their actions in court.

But some experts say the abuses over the past four years compel the legal profession to perform some deeper soul-searching.

"I just think it's important, if we are to reset, that our profession is prepared to confront itself and make decisions about who we want to be, who we are and what it's going to require, which may be uncomfortable, to ensure that we hold our character," said Sherrilyn Ifill, president of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, at an event sponsored by New York University School of Law.

Ifill, who used to teach aspiring attorneys about their roles and responsibilities as "officers of the court," has been calling for an independent commission to produce a full accounting of how lawyers lost their way.

So far, there's little public sign of interest in that kind of self-examination. Instead, judges and attorney discipline panels are performing their own investigations, case by case, in a methodical fashion.

This week in Michigan, U.S. District Judge Linda Parker grilled lawyers close to Trump about the actions they took before filing a lawsuit that claimed irregularities in the 2020 election.

"What authority did this court have to decertify election results?" Parker asked.

The city of Detroit wants those attorneys to face sanctions. At the hearing, Detroit lawyer David Fink called their lawsuit sloppy, careless and "an embarrassment to the legal profession."

Preet Bharara, the former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, has been monitoring the election fallout with interest.

"You make a misstatement in court first of all, don't do that," Bharara said. "And if you do, correct it immediately. There's nothing worse."

But at the hearing in Michigan, some of the attorneys who are under scrutiny adopted a different approach.

One of them, attorney Lin Wood, said he didn't read the complaint before it was filed. Another lawyer with ties to Trump, Sidney Powell, said she took "full responsibility" for the paperwork. Powell told the judge she'd practiced law with the highest standards.

Former Trump attorney Sidney Powell leaves the Federal Court in Washington on June 24. Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP hide caption

Former Trump attorney Sidney Powell leaves the Federal Court in Washington on June 24.

Meanwhile, authorities in New York recently suspended the law license of Rudy Giuliani, Trump's former personal lawyer.

They said Giuliani had "communicated demonstrably false and misleading statements to courts, lawmakers and the public" while trying to overturn the results of the election.

Giuliani wants a hearing, where his lawyers John Leventhal and Barry Kamins said they think he'll be reinstated "as a valued member of the legal profession that he has served so well in his many capacities for so many years."

George Conway, a lawyer who regularly criticizes Trump and the attorneys who worked for him, said the rules are pretty straightforward.

"When you assert something, you have to be able to back it up," Conway said. "You can't make things up."

Conway famously turned down a top job in the Trump Justice Department, calling it "probably the best decision I ever made."

But Conway said many of those lawyers who did serve in the Trump years deserve thanks for refusing to advance phony theories about election fraud this year.

"The upper echelons of the Justice Department in the waning weeks of the administration basically refused to do what Trump wanted them to do and they entered into essentially a bureaucratic suicide pact" where they agreed to quit in protest if Trump tried to fire the head of the Justice Department over the election cases, said Conway.

Trump backed down.

Attorney Lin Wood, who served as a member of former President Donald Trump's legal team, speaks during a rally in December 2020 in Alpharetta, Ga. He is among the lawyers who now have to defend their actions around the 2020 presidential election. Ben Margot/AP hide caption

There are lawyers who think the legal profession needs to do a lot more to counter widespread violations of norms and rules misleading courts, lawmakers and the public.

For her part, Ifill said elite institutions, including the American Law Institute and the American Bar Association, mostly didn't rise up when that happened over the past few years.

"What happens when lawyers, particularly in position of responsibility like government lawyers or I would even say law firm partners, take on positions ... or run so close to the edge of the rules that they potentially reset the rules in ways that undermine the core of what the profession is supposed to be about?" she asked.

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Trump Lawyers Who Spread False Election Claims Are Now Defending Themselves In Court - NPR

Earlier this week, the lead item of my newsletter was about three books looking at the final year and days of Donald Trumps presidency. In fact, Ive written many times about Trump since he left the White House.

After my recent newsletter about Trump, I received several emails from Poynter Report readers just like I do every time I mention Trump.

Enough! one reader wrote to me.

Will you please stop writing about Trump? Hes not the president any longer, another one said.

And another wrote: No more Trump! Im begging you.

The pushback is valid, or at least worth considering. Many see his false claims about the 2020 election and his combative rhetoric to be dangerous to the country.

Why give his words and ideas oxygen? After all, its true, he is not the president.

But that doesnt mean he no longer has power.

He still has millions of devoted supporters. He still wields clout over those serving in the House and Senate, including some of the countrys most powerful lawmakers. He remains the most influential figure in the Republican Party. He will have a heavy hand over the 2022 midterm elections.

And, most of all, he could run again for president in 2024.

His past behavior as president needs to be dissected. His current commentary on politics needs to be scrutinized. His future role needs to be considered.

Maybe much of what he says and much of who he is might, indeed, be dangerous. But ignoring him might even be more dangerous.

Many ignored Trump or didnt take him seriously before the 2016 election. Many dismissed the idea that he might become president. Many believed that he would never gain the support needed to actually win the election.

And what happened?

It would seem that using the same tactic this time around ignoring him, dismissing him, not taking him seriously might produce the same results as 2016. And he clearly has not gone away.

But covering Trump does come with a caveat: It needs to be newsworthy. It cant be the same old repeated and untrue complaints of a stolen election and revisionist history about COVID-19 and Jan. 6 and so forth.

PolitiFacts Miriam Valverde has a new piece out: Suspended from social media, Donald Trump turns to traditional media avenues to push falsehoods.

Trump has been kicked off Twitter, Facebook and other social media platforms, mostly because of the events of Jan. 6. Valverde writes, Since his exit from the White House, Trump has headlined political conferences, hosted rallies, held a press conference, given media interviews, made appearances with political allies, and issued written statements (often several a day).

So, how should Trump be covered? Well, it all comes down to news value.

Aly Coln, a media ethics professor at Washington and Lee University and a former Poynter faculty member, told PolitiFacts Valverde, If there is not a news value, they see no reason to be a megaphone for someone who may not be advancing anything or advancing things that are not accurate, possibly untrue.

When covering Trump, its critical that the media calls out Trump when he lies.

Jane E. Kirtley, a professor of media ethics and law at the University of Minnesota, told Valverde, Being complicit in lies is not the proper role of the news media, and journalists should push back against falsehoods and unsubstantiated statements.

This isnt to suggest that every Trump rally be broadcast, or that everything he says gets amplified. But the media cant just act as if the past four years didnt happen and that Trump is gone for good just because he lost in 2020.

These new books are important history lessons on Trumps presidency, and perhaps insight into what the future might hold. Keeping tabs on what Trump is saying now and how its impacting his supporters, his party and conservative lawmakers is essential.

TV networks, newspapers, websites and all other forms of media should not just hand Trump a megaphone. But they shouldnt completely turn their back on him either. The answer is somewhere in between.

Noah Shachtman, the top editor at The Daily Beast, is moving over to Rolling Stone to become its editor-in-chief. Shachtman told The New York Times Marc Tracy that hes going to bring his approach from The Daily Beast (news and emphasis on the web) to his new job at Rolling Stone.

Its got to be faster, louder, harder, he told Tracy. Weve got to be out getting scoops, taking people backstage, showing them parts of the world they dont get to see every day.

Shachtman will start his new job in September. He takes over for Jason Fine, who is now overseeing Rolling Stones podcasts and documentaries after being editor-in-chief for five years. Shachtman has been The Daily Beasts top editor since 2018.

Tracy reported that Tracy Connor, The Daily Beasts executive editor, will be interim editor-in-chief after Shachtman departs next month.

On Twitter, Shachtman wrote, Rolling Stone changed my life. Its music journalism helped push me to play in bands for real. Its conflict reporting gave me a north star to aim for when I was a national security reporter. I cant (expletive) wait to help this incredible team write its next chapter.

He added, Yall know how much I love The Beast. Ive never had a job so fulfilling, so fun, and that delivered such an impact. Ive never had colleagues more dedicated to their mission. Tracy Connor is the best journalist I know. Shes going to do an amazing job with this crew.

CBSs The Talk has finally replaced Sharon Osbourne and her replacement is a bit of a surprise. Actor Jerry OConnell has permanently joined the show, becoming the first male co-host in the shows 11-year history.

Then again, it shouldnt be too much of a surprise. OConnell has been guest hosting for the past few months.

OConnell told his fellow panelists, First of all, I want to say, you ladies have been so welcoming to me. I mean, I came here as a guest months ago, and just from the moment I walked in, youre just gracious, youre kind, youre fun, and it worked. And here we are. Were going to have a lot of fun, we really are.

Osbourne left the show in March after an on-air spat with co-host Sheryl Underwood and subsequent reports that Osbourne had made other insensitive, racist and homophobic comments in the past. The exchange with Underwood started when Osbourne defended British TV host Piers Morgan, who was critical of Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex. Especially Meghan.

OConnell first became widely known as a child actor when he played Vern Tessio in the 1986 film Stand by Me. He went to play roles in movies such as Jerry Maguire and Kangaroo Jack, as well as the TV show Crossing Jordan.

OConnell said on air, Its something new, you know, I dont want to say its scary, but its new so its a change. And change is good. You have to do things that scare you, that shake it up a bit, and this is definitely shaking it up.

Tucker Carlson. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

Another day, another Tucker Carlson piece. Time Magazines Charlotte Alter has Talking With Tucker Carlson, the Most Powerful Conservative in America.

Some of Carlsons comments:

Theres plenty more if youre interested. Alter writes, he sanitizes and legitimizes right-wing conspiratorial thinking, dodges when you try to nail him down on the specifics, then wraps it all in an argument about censorship and free speech. He has a way of talking about culture and politics that is rooted in defiance: defiance of elites, defiance of the federal government, defiance of scientific consensus. And it has won him the loyalty of millions of Americans who are already suspicious of everything he questions.

For this item, I turn it over to my Poynter colleague Angela Fu.

Starting today, stories and photos produced by union members at The Buffalo News will run without bylines. Workers are participating in this open-ended byline strike to protest the companys attempts to outsource jobs and eliminate layoff protections.

The journalists union, the Buffalo Newspaper Guild, has been bargaining its first contract with Lee Enterprises since February. Lee bought the paper from Berkshire Hathaway in January 2020, along with BH Media Groups publications.

At stake are three key contract proposals that the union says will hurt workers. The first aims to outsource work done by page designers, copy editors, customer service representatives and members of the accounting department to out-of-state Lee hubs. The second makes it easier for the company to lay off workers. The third gives Lee the right to freeze union members pension plans.

In addition to launching a byline strike a method journalists sometimes use to signal to readers dissatisfaction with their managements conduct the union is circulating a petition, which has already garnered more than 1,100 signatures.

We are united in our voice to the company and to this community that were going to stand up for whats right, Buffalo Newspaper Guild president Sandra Tan said at a Thursday press conference. And if it takes removing our bylines from the print paper so that people dont see our names even though we take our names as a personal source of pride for everything that we produce then thats what were going to do.

Lee Enterprises spokesperson Charles Arms declined to comment.

Chrissy Teigen. (Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

Have feedback or a tip? Email Poynter senior media writer Tom Jones at tjones@poynter.org.

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Opinion: Why we still pay attention to Donald Trump - Poynter

Vladimir Putin personally authorised a secret spy agency operation to support a mentally unstable Donald Trump in the 2016 US presidential election during a closed session of Russias national security council, according to what are assessed to be leaked Kremlin documents.

The key meeting took place on 22 January 2016, the papers suggest, with the Russian president, his spy chiefs and senior ministers all present.

They agreed a Trump White House would help secure Moscows strategic objectives, among them social turmoil in the US and a weakening of the American presidents negotiating position.

Russias three spy agencies were ordered to find practical ways to support Trump, in a decree appearing to bear Putins signature.

By this point Trump was the frontrunner in the Republican partys nomination race. A report prepared by Putins expert department recommended Moscow use all possible force to ensure a Trump victory.

Western intelligence agencies are understood to have been aware of the documents for some months and to have carefully examined them. The papers, seen by the Guardian, seem to represent a serious and highly unusual leak from within the Kremlin.

The Guardian has shown the documents to independent experts who say they appear to be genuine. Incidental details come across as accurate. The overall tone and thrust is said to be consistent with Kremlin security thinking.

The Kremlin responded dismissively. Putins spokesman Dmitri Peskov said the idea that Russian leaders had met and agreed to support Trump in at the meeting in early 2016 was a great pulp fiction when contacted by the Guardian on Thursday morning.

The report No 32-04 vd is classified as secret. It says Trump is the most promising candidate from the Kremlins point of view. The word in Russian is perspektivny.

There is a brief psychological assessment of Trump, who is described as an impulsive, mentally unstable and unbalanced individual who suffers from an inferiority complex.

There is also apparent confirmation that the Kremlin possesses kompromat, or potentially compromising material, on the future president, collected the document says from Trumps earlier non-official visits to Russian Federation territory.

The paper refers to certain events that happened during Trumps trips to Moscow. Security council members are invited to find details in appendix five, at paragraph five, the document states. It is unclear what the appendix contains.

It is acutely necessary to use all possible force to facilitate his [Trumps] election to the post of US president, the paper says.

This would help bring about Russias favoured theoretical political scenario. A Trump win will definitely lead to the destabilisation of the USs sociopolitical system and see hidden discontent burst into the open, it predicts.

There is no doubt that the meeting in January 2016 took place and that it was convened inside the Kremlin.

An official photo of the occasion shows Putin at the head of the table, seated beneath a Russian Federation flag and a two-headed golden eagle. Russias then prime minister, Dmitry Medvedev, attended, together with the veteran foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov.

Also present were Sergei Shoigu, the defence minister in charge of the GRU, Russias military intelligence agency; Mikhail Fradkov, the then chief of Russias SVR foreign intelligence service; and Alexander Bortnikov, the boss of the FSB spy agency.Nikolai Patrushev, the FSBs former director, attended too as security council secretary.

According to a press release, the discussion covered the economy and Moldova.

The document seen by the Guardian suggests the security councils real, covert purpose was to discuss the confidential proposals drawn up by the presidents analytical service in response to US sanctions against Moscow.

The author appears to be Vladimir Symonenko, the senior official in charge of the Kremlins expert department which provides Putin with analytical material and reports, some of them based on foreign intelligence.

The papers indicate that on 14 January 2016 Symonenko circulated a three-page executive summary of his teams conclusions and recommendations.

In a signed order two days later, Putin instructed the then chief of his foreign policy directorate, Alexander Manzhosin, to convene a closed briefing of the national security council.

Its purpose was to further study the document, the order says. Manzhosin was given a deadline of five days to make arrangements.

What was said inside the second-floor Kremlin senate building room is unknown. But the president and his intelligence officials appear to have signed off on a multi-agency plan to interfere in US democracy, framed in terms of justified self-defence.

Various measures are cited that the Kremlin might adopt in response to what it sees as hostile acts from Washington. The paper lays out several American weaknesses. These include a deepening political gulf between left and right, the USs media-information space, and an anti-establishment mood under President Barack Obama.

The paper does not name Hillary Clinton, Trumps 2016 rival. It does suggest employing media resources to undermine leading US political figures.

There are paragraphs on how Russia might insert media viruses into American public life, which could become self-sustaining and self-replicating. These would alter mass consciousness, especially in certain groups, it says.

After the meeting, according to a separate leaked document, Putin issued a decree setting up a new and secret interdepartmental commission. Its urgent task was to realise the goals set out in the special part of document No 32-04 vd.

Members of the new working body were stated to include Shoigu, Fradkov and Bortnikov. Shoigu was named commission chair. The decree ukaz in Russian said the group should take practical steps against the US as soon as possible. These were justified on national security grounds and in accordance with a 2010 federal law, 390-FZ, which allows the council to formulate state policy on security matters.

According to the document, each spy agency was given a role. The defence minister was instructed to coordinate the work of subdivisions and services. Shoigu was also responsible for collecting and systematising necessary information and for preparing measures to act on the information environment of the object a command, it seems, to hack sensitive American cyber-targets identified by the SVR.

The SVR was told to gather additional information to support the commissions activities. The FSB was assigned counter-intelligence. Putin approved the apparent document, dated 22 January 2016, which his chancellery stamped.

The measures were effective immediately on Putins signature, the decree says. The spy chiefs were given just over a week to come back with concrete ideas, to be submitted by 1 February.

Written in bureaucratic language, the papers appear to offer an unprecedented glimpse into the usually hidden world of Russian government decision-making.

Putin has repeatedly denied accusations of interfering in western democracy. The documents seem to contradict this claim. They suggest the president, his spy officers and senior ministers were all intimately involved in one of the most important and audacious espionage operations of the 21st century: a plot to help put the mentally unstable Trump in the White House.

The papers appear to set out a route map for what actually happened in 2016.

A matter of weeks after the security council meeting, GRU hackers raided the servers of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and subsequently released thousands of private emails in an attempt to hurt Clintons election campaign.

The report seen by the Guardian features details redolent of Russian intelligence work, diplomatic sources say. The thumbnail sketch of Trumps personality is characteristic of Kremlin spy agency analysis, which places great emphasis on building up a profile of individuals using both real and cod psychology.

Moscow would gain most from a Republican victory, the paper states. This could lead to a social explosion that would in turn weaken the US president, it says. There were international benefits from a Trump win, it stresses. Putin would be able in clandestine fashion to dominate any US-Russia bilateral talks, to deconstruct the White Houses negotiating position, and to pursue bold foreign policy initiatives on Russias behalf, it says.

Other parts of the multi-page report deal with non-Trump themes. It says sanctions imposed by the US after Russias 2014 annexation of Crimea have contributed to domestic tensions. The Kremlin should seek alternative ways of attracting liquidity into the Russian economy, it concludes.

The document recommends the reorientation of trade and hydrocarbon exports towards China. Moscows focus should be to influence the US and its satellite countries, it says, so they drop sanctions altogether or soften them.

Andrei Soldatov, an expert on Russias spy agencies and author of The Red Web, said the leaked material reflects reality. Its consistent with the procedures of the security services and the security council, he said. Decisions are always made like that, with advisers providing information to the president and a chain of command.

He added: The Kremlin micromanages most of these operations. Putin has made it clear to his spies since at least 2015 that nothing can be done independently from him. There is no room for independent action. Putin decided to release stolen DNC emails following a security council meeting in April 2016, Soldatov said, citing his own sources.

Sir Andrew Wood, the UKs former ambassador in Moscow and an associate fellow at the Chatham House thinktank, described the documents as spell-binding. They reflect the sort of discussion and recommendations you would expect. There is a complete misunderstanding of the US and China. They are written for a person [Putin] who cant believe he got anything wrong.

Wood added: There is no sense Russia might have made a mistake by invading Ukraine. The report is fully in line with the sort of thing I would expect in 2016, and even more so now. There is a good deal of paranoia. They believe the US is responsible for everything. This view is deeply dug into the soul of Russias leaders.

Trump did not initially respond to a request for comment.

Later, Liz Harrington, his spokesperson, issued a statement on his behalf.

This is disgusting. Its fake news, just like RUSSIA, RUSSIA, RUSSIA was fake news. Its just the Radical Left crazies doing whatever they can to demean everybody on the right.

Its fiction, and nobody was tougher on Russia than me, including on the pipeline, and sanctions. At the same time we got along with Russia. Russia respected us, China respected us, Iran respected us, North Korea respected us.

And the world was a much safer place than it is now with mentally unstable leadership.

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Kremlin papers appear to show Putins plot to put Trump in White House - The Guardian

Bill McSwain, the former top federal prosecutor in Philadelphia, has found himself in an uncomfortable spot thanks to a letter he wrote to former President Donald Trump.

In the letter, McSwain sought Trumps support ahead of a possible run to become Pennsylvanias next governor. But he also claimed he had been blocked from going public about allegations of 2020 election problems in Pennsylvania in the letter, which the former president posted online.

Heres everything you need to know about McSwain, the letter, and the response it has received from Republicans and Democrats:

McSwain, a Republican, is the former U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Appointed by Trump, McSwain served a three-year term that began in 2018 and ended in January, when he stepped down to make way for a successor who will be appointed by President Joe Biden.

Prior to that, McSwain served as an assistant U.S. attorney in the district, which is based in Philadelphia and covers nine counties.

McSwain wrote a letter to Trump dated June 9 seeking an endorsement for an expected campaign for governor in Pennsylvania in the 2022 election.

In the two-page letter, which Trump revealed Monday night, McSwain suggested he had heard about widespread issues in Pennsylvania, which Biden won. McSwain did not offer any specific examples or issues but called the administration of Pennsylvanias 2020 election a partisan disgrace.

McSwain also claimed he had been blocked from going public about allegations of election problems by then-Attorney General Bill Barr. Trump repeated McSwains claim during a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Dallas.

You can read the full letter here.

As U.S. Attorney Bill McSwain prosecuted election fraud in Philadelphia in the past, McSwain spokesperson Peter Towey said in an email after Trump released the letter. He was prepared to investigate allegations of election fraud in 2020 but was asked by his superiors to refer cases to the state.

READ MORE: Trump is putting Bill McSwain in the hot seat with his election lies. And he just turned up the heat.

Barr sharply denied the claim that he ordered McSwain the highest-ranking federal prosecutor in Philadelphia at the time not to investigate allegations of 2020 election fraud. Barr said McSwain is only making the claim now to gain favor with Trump to help his expected gubernatorial bid.

He told me that he had to do this because he was under pressure from Trump and for him to have a viable candidacy he couldnt have Trump attacking him, Barr said of McSwain, telling The Inquirer he confronted the former U.S. attorney about the letter after it was released.

Barr said McSwain wrote the letter in a very deceptive way to give the impression he was being held back from looking into voter fraud.

When I called him I said: It was just the opposite. I put in writing to you and the other U.S. attorneys that you had the discretion to look into any specific, credible allegations of major fraud, Barr said.

Barr said his office instructed McSwain to share information involving any serious allegations of voter fraud with Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro.

READ MORE: Bill Barr says Bill McSwain wanted to just flap his gums, not investigate 2020 election fraud

Shapiro, widely seen as the early Democratic front-runner in the 2022 governors race, said McSwain didnt report any of the supposed fraud allegations.

We received and sent multiple referrals to local, state and federal law enforcement, but received no direct referrals from Mr. McSwains office, Shapiro spokesperson Jacklin Rhoads said. This personal note to President Trump, sent seven months after the election, is the first our office has heard of Mr. McSwains concerns.

McSwain has not responded to interview requests from The Inquirer but told the Washington Post that despite Barrs denials, he stood by what he wrote.

If Attorney General Barr is claiming that I was not told to make referrals to the state attorney generals office, I assume he is simply not remembering what happened or that he wasnt always involved in the details, McSwain told the Post. As a prosecutor, all I wanted was the freedom to follow the evidence where it leads.

While McSwain complained about Barrs directive, his letter made no specific allegations of fraud. He again refused to go into specifics in an interview on Talk Radio 1210-WPHTs conservative Dom Giordano Show.

Im not making any judgments about what I would or would not have found, McSwain said. But what I didnt like was that I wasnt free to follow the evidence wherever it leads.

McSwain is just one of a group of Republicans referencing false election claims in hope of garnering Trumps support for a 2022 run for governor.

State Sen. Doug Mastriano (R., Franklin), a likely gubernatorial candidate and a leading election denier in Pennsylvania, has threatened to subpoena Philadelphia and two other counties if they dont agree to turn over election-related equipment as part of a partisan, Arizona-style review.

Lou Barletta, a former congressman and gubernatorial hopeful who has refused to acknowledge Bidens victory, was an early and outspoken supporter of Trump who has repeatedly called for an investigation of Pennsylvanias election results.

READ MORE: Supporting Trumps election lies is becoming a litmus test for Pennsylvania Republicans seeking higher office

There is no evidence to support the conspiracy theory that widespread voter fraud affected the 2020 election in Pennsylvania or across the country. Even Trumps own Department of Homeland Security declared the 2020 election the most secure in American history.

In Pennsylvania, Biden defeated Trump by 80,555 votes, a margin greater than Trumps victory over Hillary Clinton in 2016 (44,292 votes). Nationally, Biden won the Electoral College, 306-232, and received more than seven million more votes overall than Trump.

The big lie is just that: a big lie, Biden said in Philadelphia during a speech on voting rights Tuesday. You dont call facts fake and then try to bring down the American experiment just because youre unhappy. Thats not statesmanship, thats selfishness. Thats not democracy, thats the denial of the right to vote. It suppresses. It subjugates.

READ MORE: Fact-checking false claims about Pennsylvanias presidential election by Trump and his allies

Staff writers Chris Brennan, Jeremy Roebuck, and Jonathan Tamari contributed to this article.

See the original post here:

What you need to know about Bill McSwains letter to Donald Trump on Pa. voter fraud - The Philadelphia Inquirer

Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley was reportedly worried that Donald Trump might declare war on Iran as part of a last-ditch attempt to overturn his election loss, according to a New Yorker report on Thursday.

Miley was "engaged in an alarmed effort to ensure that Trump did not embark on a military conflict with Iran as part of his quixotic campaign to overturn the results of the 2020 election and remain in power," journalist Susan B. Glasser wrote. "Trump had a circle of Iran hawks around him and was close with the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu," she continued, "who was also urging the Administration to act against Iran after it was clear that Trump had lost the election."

The report stems from a forthcoming book by Glasser and her husband, New York Times reporter Peter Baker. It echoes bombshell allegationsinanother forthcoming book bytwo Washington Post reporters.

According to Glasser, the former president had floated the idea of engaging militarily with Iran on a number of occasions during his final months in the presidency. His proposals, the book's authors wrote, reflected Trump's seeming willingness "to do anything to stay in power."

During one meeting in which the president was not present, Milley pressed former Vice President Mike Pence on "why they were so intent on attacking [Iran]."

Pence reportedly answered: "Because they are evil."

In another episode, after weeks of the former president "pushing for a missile strike in response to various provocations against U.S. interests in the region" following his election loss, Milley told Trump point-blank: "If you do this, you're gonna have a f---ing war."

By early January, it appeared, Trump had been successfully subdued when former National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo both told the former president in a White House meeting that they were against military action. Walking Trump through the potential pros and cons of a military engagement, Pompeo and O'Brien told the former president that "too late to hit them."

Last month, the New York Times revealed that in early 2020 Netanyahu had given the former president a "hit list" of Iranian targets for him to consider. One of these targets, a suspected nuclear production plant, was in fact the very factory that the U.S. attacked with a drone strike in June.

U.S. tensions with Iran already simmering under former President Obama were significantly exacerbated during the Trump administration. On top of withdrawing from the Iranian nuclear deal back in 2018, Trump applied severe sanctions on the country, which have proven to be crippling to Iran's economy. In January of 2020, Trump also ordered the assassination of Iran's top general, Qassem Soleimani a move that nearly engaged the U.S. in a full-fledged war.

Read more:

Mike Pence and Benjamin Netanyahu pushed Donald Trump to bomb Iran after losing the election: rpt - Salon

According to"Landslide,"Michael Wolff's new book about the final days of the Trump administration, former President Trump is verydisappointed in his handpicked Supreme Court justices, particularly Brett Kavanaugh. As Axios reports:

There were so many others I could have appointed, and everyone wanted me to. Where wouldhe be without me?I saved his life. He wouldn't even be in a law firm. Who would have had him? Nobody. Totally disgraced. Only I saved him.

He did? Kavanaugh had a lifetime appointment on the D.C. Court of Appeals when Trump nominated him and would have sailed through the nomination process for the Supreme Court if Christine Blasey Ford hadn't stepped forward with her accusations of sexual assault when they were high school students. Trump has reportedly claimedthat Republican senators begged him to pull the nomination saying,"Cut him loose, sir, cut him loose. He's killing us, Kavanaugh." Trump supposedly responded, "I can't do that," telling Wolff,"I went through that thing and fought like hell for Kavanaugh and I saved his life, and I saved his career. At great expense to myself ... okay? I fought for that guy and kept him."

Yes, this sounds so much like Trump. Everyone knows his word is his bond and he's loyal as the day is long. Wolff also quotes Trump as saying:

I don't want anything... but I am very disappointed in him, in his ruling. I can'tbelieve what's happening. I'm very disappointed in Kavanaugh. I just told you something I haven't told a lot of people. In retrospect, he just hasn't had the courage you need to be a great justice. I'm basing this on more than just the election.

Since the election seems to literally be the only thing Trumpcan thinkabout it's hard to know what else he might be referring to. It's likely that there has been some grumbling, among those who have made pilgrimages to kiss the ring,that Kavanaugh has not voted with the far-right justices in every case, as they appointed him to do. Trump doesn't care about that unless it affects him personally, of course, but he considers "his justices" to have been placed on the court to do what they're told and he doesn't like it when they are perceived to have deviated from their orders.

But let's face it, his carping is really about the election. Back in September, Trump made his expectations clear:

His rationalefor pushing through Amy Coney Barrett so close to the election was to ensure there were enough votes to decide the contestfor him, as he made even clearer a few days later:

I think this [election] will end up in the Supreme Court. And I think it's very important that we have nine justices. This scam that the Democrats are pulling it's a scam the scam will be before the United States Supreme Court. And I think having a 4-4 situation is not a good situation, if you get that. I don't know that you'd get that. I think it should be 8-0 or 9-0. But just in case it would be more political than it should be, I think it's very important to have a ninth justice.

He assumed "his justices" would take up any election case and would naturally vote in his favor, regardless of the facts or the circumstances. They owed him.

None of Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani's post-election lawsuits made it up the ladder to the court, because they were all garbage. But before the electionKavanaugh was notably amenableto Trump's arguments about mail-in votes being counted after the election, in a Wisconsin case in which the court affirmed a lower court ruling that the state Supreme Court could not extend the deadline. He also looked favorably on an ideapercolating in right-wing legal circles for some time about who gets to decide election cases. Slate's Mark Joseph Sternraised the alarmabout a footnote in Kavanaugh's concurrence, in which he endorsed a notoriously extreme argument from theBush v.Gore case:

William Rehnquist, joined by Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas tried to overturn the Florida Supreme Court's interpretation of the state's own election law. As a rule, state Supreme Courts get final say over the meaning of their own state laws. But Rehnquist, Scalia, and Thomas argued that SCOTUS must review their decisions to ensure they comply with the "intent of the legislature." In other words, the Supreme Courtgets to be a Supreme Board of Electionsthat substitutes state courts' interpretation of state law with its own subjective view of a legislature's "intent."

Anthony Kennedy and Sandra Day O'Connor refused to sign on to that at the time, andChief Justice John Robertsdidn't go along with itthis time around either. But it's fair to ask if the new Trump majority of Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh and Barrett would. Considering Roberts' hardline views on voting rights, he might, in the end, throw his lot in with them on this too.

There was alot of chatter around the election about whether or not stateelection officers and courts have the authority to administer elections. We've recently seen state legislatures take action against the secretaries of state and nonpartisan election officials. If the Supreme Court sees fit to make itself the final arbiter of the states' election laws, it's entirely possible that this court would be open to letting GOP legislatures capriciously change the laws to their advantage or even overturn elections. It's almost certain that any new voting rights laws passed in this Congress will find a hostile majority when cases make their way through the court. It wouldnot be surprising if this SupremeCourt was very good for Trump and his movementover the next few years.

Not that it matters, as far as the right-wing justices and their backersare concerned. They wouldn't actually be doing it for Donald Trump, even if he might benefit from it and even though he inspired all this drastic action based upon the Big Lie in the first place. The Republican legal community always saw the big opportunity ithad in Trump, and ruthlessly exploited it. Former White House counsel Don McGahn, Leonard Leo of the Federalist Society and their most cynical ally, Sen.Mitch McConnell, recognized that they could remake the federal courts and use them to secure power, even as a declining electoralminority. Little did they know that Trump's loss and the Big Lie that followed would supercharge that plan the way it has.

Trump may be unhappy with "his justices," but that's because he never understood that he wasn't using them.They were using him, and they are perfectly happywith how it's turned out so far.

Read the rest here:

Donald Trump's angry at Brett Kavanaugh but this court is a huge win for the far right - Salon

As a New York criminal investigation continues after bringing tax fraud charges against Donald Trumps business and a top executive, other prosecutors in Georgia, Washington DC and New York have inquiries under way that could also yield serious charges against Trump and his company, according to former prosecutors and public records.

For example, a Georgia district attorney is leading a wide ranging criminal probe into Trumps infamous call on 2 January to Georgias secretary of state beseeching him to find 11,780 votes to block Joe Bidens presidential election win there.

Meanwhile, separate prosecutors in New York and Washington DC are scrutinizing whether Trumps businesses benefited illegally during his 2017 inauguration. The Washington attorney general has sued the inaugural committee, the Trump International Hotel in DC and the Trump Organization alleging they schemed to make exorbitant and unlawful payments of over $1 million to Trumps DC hotel which hosted some inaugural events.

Further, Trump could be ensnared in a federal criminal investigation of his former personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, who Trump tapped to dig up dirt on Biden in Ukraine during the campaign. Giuliani is being investigated reportedly for possible violations of foreign lobbying laws that require registration, and for his role in Trumps firing of the US ambassador there in 2019.

On yet another legal front, Trump is facing several civil lawsuits, including one from writer E Jean Carroll, whose 2019 memoir alleged Trump once raped her. After Trump accused her of lying to sell books, Carroll filed a defamation lawsuit.

Former justice department prosecutors say these inquiries and lawsuits increase legal pressures on Trump, even as Manhattan district attorney Cyrus Vance and New York attorney general Letitia James investigates more allegations of illegal acts by Trumps business besides the June tax fraud charges against the Trump organization and its chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg, a scheme that allegedly gave him free cars, rent and other perks for years.

Trump denounced the New York charges as a political ploy by Democrats, and has attacked the others as witch-hunts. Weisselberg and the Trump Organization on July 1 both pled not guilty to the tax fraud charges.

But this cast of wide-ranging inquiries and lawsuits pose huge legal headaches for Trump and look far more serious than many others Trump has dodged over decades, say former prosecutors.

The current threats are more numerous and more serious than ever before and its hard to imagine that his good luck will continue, Michael Bromwich, an ex- prosecutor and former inspector general at the Justice Department, said in an interview.

Trump hates playing defense, which explains his baseless suit earlier this week against the major tech companies. We are very likely to see many more shoes dropping over the foreseeable future and Trump knows it. He has never more desperately needed top legal talent, and thats not who he has representing him.

Other justice department veterans foresee multiple legal travails for Trump.

Donald Trump is now facing more than a dozen separate civil lawsuits and criminal investigations, with more matters likely to follow, said Phillip Halpern, a former California prosecutor who spent three decades focused on corruption cases.

Halpern added that the criminal inquiries in Georgia, New York and Washington have the potential to drastically impact Trumps historical legacy, and result in his or various family members, associates, and attorneys spending considerable time in jail.

Halpern stressed that the civil lawsuits and the New York investigation by Vance and James carry the potential for sizable personal monetary penalties, and could subject Trumps companies to massive penalties.

These legal threats vary in risk to Trump, but the inquiry into Trumps call pressuring Georgia secretary of state Brad Raffensperger to reverse Bidens win, bears watching.

The district attorney leading that inquiry, Fani Willis, has written that prosecutors are examining potential violations of Georgia law prohibiting the solicitation of election fraud, the making of false statements to state and local governmental bodies, conspiracy, racketeering, violation of oath of office and any involvement in violence or threats related to the elections administration.

Cathy Cox, a former Georgia secretary of state and Dean of Mercer University School of Law, said that the Fulton county inquiry is nothing to take lightly.

Cox stressed that Willis is experienced with Georgias expansive Rico [Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act] law, she has a record of using it successfully in high-profile cases, and shes engaged the states undisputed Rico expert, attorney John Floyd, to assist her. Those factors ramp this case up even further in terms of its potential for serious criminal charges.

Moreover, Trumps business faces legal jeopardy from inquiries into spending by his inaugural committee that were separately launched by federal prosecutors in New York and by Washington attorney general Karl Racine. Racine has deposed Donald Trump Jr and Ivanka Trump, which could create other problems for the Trump family if they didnt answer truthfully.

In a court filing, Racines office stated that Trump Jrs testimony raised further questions about the nature of an invoice related to the inauguration and revealed evidence that defendants had not yet produced to the district.

More legal headaches for Trump may arise from the expanding inquiry into Giuliani, whose New York home and office were raided in April by federal agents who seized 10 electronic devices including cell phones and computers.

The inquiry is reportedly focused on Giulianis role in Trumps firing of US ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch in May 2019, a move pushed by Giuliani and two Soviet-born associates indicted earlier on charges of campaign finance violations and a central issue in Trumps first impeachment.

Giuliani is under investigation to determine if he broke the Foreign Agents Registration Act requiring those who lobby the US government on behalf of foreign officials to register with the DoJ.

Giuliani has denied doing anything unlawful.

Looking ahead, ex-DoJ officials say that the detailed charges now brought against the Trump Organization and its chief financial officer could presage more legal problems for Trumps business.

The thoroughness and highly factual nature of the indictments give a lot of information about the deeply inappropriate practices of Trumps business, said Donald Ayer, a former deputy attorney general at the justice department in the George HW Bush administration. There is no particular reason to think that such inappropriate practices were confined to dealings with Allen Weisselberg.

Yet some former prosecutors predict that as his legal problems mount, Trump and his supporters will milk the inquiries for political gain.

Trump uses his legal problems to reinforce his image as an outsider (and) to fire up his base, said Barbara McQuade, a professor from practice at the University of Michigan Law School and ex-US attorney for the eastern district of Michigan.

She added: But for those who care about the rule of law, it is important to hold accountable individuals who engage in illegal activity, even former presidents.

See more here:

Legal threats to Donald Trump more serious than ever before, experts say - The Guardian