Happy Anniversary, Mr. Mueller
If you missed yesterday, you missed a lot.
Yesterday the President of the United States filed a required financial disclosure statement. Buried on page forty-four was a footnote that noted that between $100001 and $200000 was spent to pay a debt to Michael Cohen. It was the Stormy Daniels payment, reported a year late.
It demonstrated that the President directly lied to the American people, over and over again. He lied about his affair with Stormy Daniels, and he lied about his paying her hush money. And he lied on last year’s statement, which if intentional, is a federal crime.
Last week, Michael Avenotti, the lawyer for Stormy Daniels, released a report on the banking income of Trump lawyer Michael Cohen. The report was taken from bank warnings to the Treasury Department that Cohen was making suspicious transactions (SAR’s for Suspicious Activity Reports.) It showed over $4 million in income from sources ranging from AT&T to Novartis to a Russian oligarch owned American company. It also showed the expenditure for the payment of $130000 to Stormy Daniels. It opened an entirely new investigation into the actions of Trump associates.
Yesterday, in a New Yorker article by Ronan Farrow, we found out that this information was leaked by a law enforcement official, who found that it was one of three Cohen reports on the SARS system used to track finances. The official leaked it because the other two reports on SARS were missing, an unprecedented situation. The official doesn’t know what happened to the missing two, but was concerned that the third would go missing too.
To be fair, it could be that the Mueller Investigation, or the Southern District of New York US Attorney, may have restricted access to those documents as part of their investigation. But the “whistleblower’s” distrust of the Treasury Department, controlled by Trump appointees, is a sign of our times. Whoever the whistleblower is, he/she faces felony charges, fines, and jail.
It also came out yesterday, that Cohen asked a Qatari financier for $1 million payment as a conduit to Trump.
Yesterday, the New York Times reported that the FBI was investigating the Trump campaign for Russian connections throughout the summer of 2016. The investigation, codenamed “Crossfire Hurricane,” was focused on four connections to the Russian government: national security advisor Michael Flynn, campaign manager Paul Manafort, and foreign policy advisors George Papadoupolos and Carter Page. The investigation, unlike the Clinton email investigation, was kept closely secret, with only five Justice Department officials briefed.
It was serious enough that the FBI sent two agents to London to interview the Australian Ambassador, a complex diplomatic arrangement. They wanted to know about Papadoupolos bragging about the hacked Clinton emails, before they were released or even before it was known they’d been hacked. The investigation was so serious that the FBI used National Security subpoenas rather than traditional subpoenas, so they could keep the investigation secret.
Prior to the election, the FBI had evidence that the Trump campaign was cooperating with Russian intelligence. No wonder the “infamous” FBI investigator Peter Strozk, who texted Justice Department lawyer Lisa Page, was concerned about a possible Trump victory in November. The investigation itself was kept silent, unlike the Clinton investigation, so much so that the New York Times reported in October 2016 that the FBI didn’t know of Russian connections to the Trump campaign (whoops.)
Yesterday the Senate Judiciary Committee released 2500 pages of testimony by Donald Trump Jr. While the phrase made famous by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, “I don’t recall,” permeated the testimony, there was one “known – unknown.” After the famous meeting in Trump Tower with Don Jr, Manafort, Kushner, Goldstone and four Russians; Don Jr. had a four-minute call from a blocked phone number. Junior denied knowing who he talked to or whether his father had a blocked number (though it is known that he did.) Blocked numbers are “known-knowns:” the Mueller team knows who Don Jr. talked to.
Today is the first anniversary of the appointment of Robert Mueller as Special Counsel. It’s been a busy year, with nineteen indictments and clearly more on the way. The Trump legal team, led by former New York Mayor Rudy Guiliani, is trying to make this week about, “…ending the investigation, after $10 million spent there is no evidence of collusion…”
Yesterday there was more evidence of collusion, and evidence of Presidential deception, and evidence that the Justice Department has known it for a while. While it’s completely understandable that the Trump Administration wants the investigation wrapped up, Robert Mueller is going to do this in his own time; the results likely will not be good for the President. Happy anniversary Mr. Mueller!
