Wanderlust

Tag: Carter Page

  • Trump ‘cites Russia probe’ after finishing ex-CIA head’s security access

    Image shows Former CIA director John Brennan being sworn in to testify in Congress Symbol copyright Reuters Image caption Mr Trump revoked ex-CIA leader John Brennan’s safety clearance on Wednesday

    US President Donald Trump says his frustrations with the investigation into alleged Russian election meddling forced him to revoke the safety clearance of ex-CIA chief John Brennan.

    “It Is a sham,” he informed the Wall Side Road Journal. Revoking Mr Brennan’s clearance “needed to be done”.

    The White Area had in advance said Mr Brennan’s get entry to used to be revoked on account of “erratic behavior”.

    The vocal critic of the president can not get entry to sensitive data.

    In response, Mr Brennan mentioned the move used to be a part of President Trump’s broader effort to “suppress freedom of speech and punish critics”.

    Symbol Copyright @JohnBrennan @JohnBrennan Image copyright Getty Photographs Image caption Mr Trump is reviewing get entry to for a couple of other former top-score US officials

    Some Republicans praised the move, including Senator Rand Paul who said he “instructed the president to do this.”

    “Mr Brennan’s behaviour in government and out of it display why he will not be allowed close to categorized information,” he said in a statement.

    Louisiana Senator John Kennedy mentioned Mr Brennan had “been totally political” and had “given the nationwide intelligence group a foul name.”

    “i do not see why he would need a safety clearance, i actually don’t,” he informed CNN.

    Changing the topic

    Analysis via BBC’s North America Editor Jon Sopel

    John Brennan has been an outspoken critic of the president.

    He called Donald Trump treasonous over his assembly with the Russian chief in Helsinki, he has also referred to as him imbecilic and a danger to the US.

    Now Donald Trump has had his revenge, revoking the former CIA chief’s security clearance – and dangerous a number of different nationwide intelligence officials, all of whom have one thing in common: they have got also been important of the president.

    However in justifying this move there is been no recommendation that Mr Brennan both leaked categorised material or sought to generate profits from it.

    The timing could also be noteworthy. The White Area has been buffeted for days via claims from a disaffected former adviser to the president.

    Last arguments within the trial of Donald Trump’s former marketing campaign supervisor, Paul Manafort, are also being heard.

    The White Space briefing the place this used to be introduced hadn’t been scheduled. It looks like a concerted effort to change the topic.

    (more…)

  • Former Trump adviser Carter Page has a story that doesn’t always add up

    Carter Page speaks after testifying to a US House of Representatives committee Image copyright Getty Pictures

    Carter Page, a FORTY SIX-12 months-vintage energy business consultant with longstanding ties to Russia, has develop into one of the quirkier figures to emerge from the ongoing investigations into conceivable ties between Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and the Russian govt.

    Web Page says he first reached out to the Trump marketing campaign in 2015 through Ed Cox, the chair of the new York Republican Birthday Celebration and son-in-law of former US President Richard Nixon.

    Web Page met with Mr Trump’s then-marketing campaign supervisor Corey Lewandowski in January 2016. Through March 2016, Mr Trump recognized Page as one in all a handful campaign international policy advisers, together with George Papadopoulos (who has on the grounds that pleaded in charge to mendacity to the FBI approximately his contacts with Russia and is recently co-running with Robert Mueller’s independent recommend investigation).

    Web Page won public notoriety when he used to be mentioned within the so-referred to as Trump file, a collection of intelligence stories assembled through former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele. The dossier subject material, which was bankrolled first through a deep-pocketed conservative donor after which through Democrats, alleges that Page served as an intermediary among Russian officers and the Trump marketing campaign as they labored to increase Mr Trump’s presidential efforts.

    That is an assertion Web Page adamantly denies.

    Image copyright Getty Pictures Image caption Congressman Adam Schiff is the top Democrat at the Area intelligence committee

    Page additionally emailed 3 Trump marketing campaign officers – manager Lewandowski, communications director Hope Hicks and national safety director JD Gordon – in case they had issues.

    “If you would like to go for your own, now not affiliated with the campaign, you know, that is high-quality,” Page says Lewandowski replied.

    Meanwhile, Gordon recently told CNN he discouraged the visit “as it was once a foul idea” – but that Page bypassed him.

    So why did Web Page make a decision to go to Moscow, even supposing a few within the campaign had issues that his go back and forth might be viewed negatively by means of Mr Trump’s critics?

    “Because I Am looking to reside my life,” Web Page instructed the congressional committee.

    A best Russian official praised Mr Trump whilst privately talking to Page

    All The Way Through his congressional testimony, Page mentioned that in his July 2016 Moscow visit he attended a speech by Russian Deputy Top Minister Arkady Dvorkovich and due to this fact exchanged pleasantries.

    Was it a private meeting, asked California Congressman Schiff.

    “Absolutely no longer,” Web Page replied.

    Then Mr Schiff learn from an electronic mail Page sent to the Trump marketing campaign in which he wrote: “In an individual dialog, Dvorkovich expressed robust strengthen for Mr Trump and a interact towards devising higher solutions in response to an unlimited range of present global issues”.

    When asked to explain the obvious discrepancy, Web Page mentioned he based totally that e-mail on what he heard from Dvorkovich’s speech.

    Page received ‘insights and outreach’ from other Russian officers

    In another email Page sent to marketing campaign officers all the way through his Moscow travel, he wrote that he had gained “a few unbelievable insights and outreach” from “a few Russian legislators and senior contributors of the presidential administration here”.

    Image copyright Getty Photographs Image caption Page writes that Russian Deputy Top Minister Arkady Dvorkovich “expressed robust make stronger for Mr Trump”

    Page denied that he had met every other Russian govt officials, alternatively, and asserts that the insights he defined were the result of observations in “public forums” and by way of reading the newspaper. As for outreach, he mentioned that “if I had began my non-public legal training prior to now, I most likely could have used a special phrase”.

    Mr Schiff did not seem to be shopping for that, then again.

    Web Page additionally says that he met Andrey Baranov, a prime-level legitimate from the state-run Russian energy company Rosneft, however the conversation used to be no longer substantive and didn’t care for repealing US sanctions on Russia or anything else associated with the Trump marketing campaign.

    “Past a shadow of a doubt, there was by no means any negotiations, or any quid pro quo, or any offer, or any request even, in any method related to sanctions,” Page stated.

    Web Page applauded a pro-Russian amendment to the Republican Birthday Celebration platform

    In the week before the Republican Nationwide Convention in July, the party’s platform committee discarded proposed language calling for the united states to provide weapons to the Ukrainian executive to help in its struggle towards Russian-backed separatists. partly because of at the back of-the-scenes lobbying efforts by the Trump campaign, that provision was once dropped from the platform. The transfer has been cited by way of some critics as proof of the Trump team’s professional-Russian sentiments.

    On 14 July, Web Page emailed Trump marketing campaign advisers – together with national security adviser Gordon – to tell them they did “excellent work” in killing the Ukrainian language.

    When asked about this email via congressional investigators, Web Page says he was once just expressing his non-public opinion.

    The FBI has spoken to Web Page – a lot

    According to Page, he has spoken to the FBI in connection to its Russia investigations “4 or five times” in 2017.

    He mentioned he was once not sure whether or not he had met FBI retailers in 2016, however, prompting a wry reaction from Republican Gowdy.

    Media playback is unsupported on your device

    Media captionWhite Area: “State-Of-The-Art assertion has not anything to do with the president”

    “it is not difficult for me to bear in mind the selection of occasions that the FBI has interviewed me in 2016 for the reason that answer could be 0,” the South Carolina congressman stated.

    Page also says he has been “in contact” with Mr Mueller’s impartial counsel research, even though he says he has not been informed that he’s in any criminal jeopardy.

    Web Page has an unconventional view of Fifth Amendment protections

    In certainly one of the more odd portions of the interview, Congressman Schiff asks Web Page whether or not he is exercising his proper to avoid self-incrimination as set forth in the 5Th Modification to the u.s. Constitution.

    Web Page stated sure – and no. He stated he has withheld a few files that can be misinterpreted by way of investigators or, if they change into public, could open him to “extrajudicial punishment” – which appears to be a connection with demise threats and harassment he says he is received when you consider that his title become associated with the Trump file.

    Among the emails Web Page did not turn over to investigators were the ones he wrote to the campaign throughout his Moscow commute. They were acquired through the us govt as a result of the FBI surveillance – “illegally hacked from my computer systems”, Page said.

    Mr Schiff, a Harvard educated prosecutor, responded with incredulity.

    “Is it your place that you simply have a Fifth Amendment proper to supply nonincriminating emails or files to the committee but withhold incriminating documents from the committee and selectively conform to the subpoena?” he asked.

    Page mentioned that none of the guidelines he has is incriminating – in an effort to make his case for withholding it from the committee according to Fifth Amendment protections a hard one to make.

    (more…)

  • Obama aide started Christopher Steele-FBI Alliance

    A senior Obama State Department official gave the green light to an FBI agent in 2016 to meet with dossier writer Christopher Steele, a new book says.

    A senior Obama State Department official gave the green light to an FBI agent in 2016 to meet with dossier writer Christopher Steele, a new book says.

    The two met at Mr. Steele’s London office, touching off a relationship that would fuel the ongoing investigation into possible Donald Trump-Russia election collusion that shows no sign of ending.

    Mr. Steele’s sensational charge that prompted an FBI wiretap on Trump volunteer Carter Page was sourced to the girlfriend of an unidentified Kremlin figure, according to the book. Republicans have roundly criticized the bureau for relying on the unverified, Democratic Party-financed dossier to ask a judge to approve a year of surveillance in 2016 and 2017.

    John O. Brennan, Mr. Obama’s CIA director, worked behind the scenes before the election to get his suspicions about Trump and Russia into the news media.

    These disclosures, including that Victoria Nuland, then at State, started the FBI-Steele marriage is contained in “Russian Roulette.” The book, which was released Tuesday, was authored by two longtime Washington media figures: Yahoo News reporter Michael Isikoff and Mother Jones magazine’s David Corn.

    Two committees, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the Senate Judiciary Committee, are investigating how Obama officials promoted Mr. Steele’s 35-page dossier, which in essence is raw opposition research designed to destroy the Trump candidacy.

    Mr. Steele makes a series of criminal charges against Mr. Trump and his associates, contending there was an “extensive conspiracy” between them and the Kremlin. This supposed collusion has not been substantiated publicly. House intelligence committee Republicans on Monday said their 14-month investigation found no collusion and had ended.

    “Russian Roulette” shows Obama people played a role in promoting the collusion theory and getting law enforcement involved.

    Mr. Steele was excited over his findings about Mr. Trump’s supposed dalliance with Russian prostitutes and purported collusion with the Kremlin. He pressed his handler, Glenn Simpson of Fusion GPS, to let him go to the FBI.

    Mr. Simpson agreed. Mr. Steele telephoned Michael Gaeta, an FBI agent with whom he worked on soccer league corruption who was then stationed at the U.S. Embassy in Rome.

    “I can’t discuss it over the phone. You have to come here. Believe me, Mike, you have to come to London,” Mr. Steele told him that summer.

    Says “Russian Roulette,” “There were a few hoops Gaeta had to jump through. He was assigned to the U.S. embassy in Rome. The FBI checked with Victoria Nuland’s office at the State Department: Do you support this meeting? Nuland, having found Steele’s reports on Ukraine to have been generally credible, gave the green light.”

    “Within a few days, on July 5, Gaeta arrived and headed to Steele’s office near Victoria station. Steele handed him a copy of the report. Gaeta, a seasoned FBI agent, started to read. He turned white. For a while, Gaeta said nothing. Then he remarked, ‘I have to report this to headquarters.’”

    Ms. Nuland’s name surfaced in January as Senate investigators under Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, Iowa Republican, turned up evidence that Mr. Steele met with another Obama State Department official, Jonathan Winer.

    He worked as a middleman to bring Mr. Steele together with Sidney Blumenthal, a fierce Hillary Clinton defender. Mr. Winer spoke with Ms. Nuland, who gave a heads-up to Secretary of State John F. Kerry.

    At the time, Ms. Nuland, a career diplomat, was assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs.

    She is now chief executive at the Center for a New American Security. A message to the press office was not returned.

    In the Page affair, Mr. Steele accused the energy investor of meeting with two Kremlin figures while in Moscow to deliver a public speech in July 2016. Mr. Steele said the three discussed bribes for sanctions relief.

    Mr. Page has testified under oath that he never met the two men or discussed bribes.

    Ms. Nuland was not the only Obama appointee working against the Trump candidate.

    Isikoff-Corn report that Mr. Brennan, who in retirement is one of Mr. Trump’s hardest critics, telephoned Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat, in August 2016. He alerted him that Russia had hacked Democrat Party computers and suggested that the Trump campaign was in on the plot. This charge has not been substantiated more than a year later.

    Mr. Brennan’s call was to prompt Mr. Reid to expose the news publicly, which he did. His open letter referred, without name, to the Page trip, something right out of the dossier, which had not yet become public.

    The authors say the information likely came from the Clinton campaign, which had been briefed on Mr. Steele’s allegations. Mr. Steele was paid by Fusion with money from the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton campaign. Republicans have called this collusion — using bought smut from Russian sources to inject into the campaign.

    “Russian Roulette” picks up many Democratic Party talking points.

    ⦁ Democrats are portrayed as truth-seekers while Trump people are awash in Russian contacts.

    ⦁ Mr. Steele’s sensational charges are repeated with not much skepticism.

    ⦁ Mr. Steele is possibly the most respected spy in recent British history.

    ⦁ The Trump transition team may have been violating the obscure 1799 Logan Act by conducting diplomacy. This charge was spun to reporters from the Obama Justice Department.

    As the Nov. 8 election lay days away, Mr. Simpson, who was desperate to get Steele’s anti-Trump narratives into the media, met with Mr. Corn over the former spy’s latest anti-Trump memo.

    ” ‘This stuff is almost unbelievable,’ Simpson said,” according to the book.

    Republicans today say Mr. Steele’s collusion allegations remain unbelievable. “Russian Roulette” neither confirms nor rebuts them.