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Seth Abramson @SethAbramson
, 9 tweets, 2 min read Read on Twitter
Still trying to process today's news that the attorney for Paul Manafort's ex-boss (Putin pal Oleg Deripaska) went to Trump asking for a deal for Julian Assange—whose crimes gave Trump the election—and Trump said yes. Then Comey intervened, and then Trump fired Comey.

Oh my god.
2/ If we had any evidence Trump was interested in national security, I'd say, "Well—maybe Trump thought Assange holding off on disclosing CIA capabilities was worth it?" But we know that had nothing to do with Trump's decision—this looks like a quid pro quo for a stolen election.
SOURCE/ thehill.com/opinion/white-…
PS/ Were there career FBI/DOJ professionals who wanted to do this deal with Assange? Probably. But Assange sought it because Trump was in power and his chosen lawyer had the right ties—cf. Deripaska, but also other ties. It's clear Obama *wouldn't* have dealt with this criminal.
PS2/ And I'll go further: at a time it was known Assange had helped Trump steal a presidential election, whether with or without coordination, there is no way anyone in government should've been willing to deal with him. And clearly *he* knew Obama wouldn't have—only Trump would.
PS3/ Moreover, we know *part* of Assange's offer (however informal a part) was what Trump *really* wanted—Assange would give Trump evidence that the Russians didn't hack the DNC, which Trump was willing to risk national security and deal with a known enemy of the U.S. to "prove."
PS4/ This effort was even more detailed than is now discussed, as in September 2017 we found out members of Congress had been enlisted in the effort to pardon Assange in exchange for "exculpatory" evidence clearing Russia of having committed the DNC hack. marketwatch.com/story/gop-cong…
PS5/ In other words, if the Trump administration-Assange negotiations were happening only because Assange thought Trump—unlike Obama—would go for it, and then the DOJ pulled out of the negotiations in April 2017, why was a Trump pal in Congress still pushing it in September 2017?
PS6/ What this suggests to me—and I'm sure others—is that members of the Trump administration were signaling to Trump allies in Congress in contact with Assange in September 2017 that Trump was still willing to deal, *even though the CIA declared Assange "hostile" in April 2017*.
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More from @SethAbramson see all

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(THREAD) Yesterday's NBC reporting about Rod Rosenstein's impending departure from DOJ, and what it may mean for the Mueller investigation, already seems to be coming apart at the seams. In this thread I take a look at why yesterday's breaking news was neither breaking nor news.
1/ First, here's the NBC News report from Pete Williams—a talented journalist. (What he's not—as far as I know—is an attorney or an expert on the Trump-Russia probe, and, like many journalists, has been using dubious sources to get info on Mueller's work.) nbcnews.com/politics/justi…
2/ Williams' lede: "Rosenstein plans to step down after Mueller finishes his work." But in the fourth graf, he obliterates that lede: "But others familiar with his thinking said there’s no firm timeline and Rosenstein would work out a departure plan once the new AG is confirmed."
Read 29 tweets
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Per CNN reporting just now, William Barr before today told the White House that he would be bringing in his own Deputy Attorney General if confirmed, so the news that Rosenstein will step down if Barr if confirmed should not have led to *any* of the hysteria it seems like it has.
2/ Rosenstein previously said he'd serve two years—so his departure around now isn't surprising anyway, and (in fact) will make it easier for him to coordinate with Mueller as a witness rather than a supervisor. Too many people are reading way too much into his pending departure.
3/ I'll go further: Rosenstein is friendly with Barr, used to work with him, and recommended him for the Attorney General spot—all of which indicates that his comfort level with Barr taking over the Mueller probe has *nothing* to do with an assessment of when that probe will end.
Read 14 tweets
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*ONE WEEK IN 2016*

July 27, 2016: Trump asks for Kremlin help
August 2, 2016: Manafort meets Deripaska agent Kilimnik in NYC
August 3, 2016: Trump Jr. meets Deripaska agent Zamel in NYC

NOTE: Deripaska calls himself "one with the State [Kremlin]."

(h/t @ZevShalev/@TheAtlantic)
@ZevShalev @TheAtlantic *ANOTHER WEEK IN 2016*

August 17, 2016: CIA tells Trump Kremlin is attacking US
August 19, 2016: Trump fires Manafort

NOTE: In January 2018, NBC reports Trump is privately telling friends Mueller can't get him *because* Manafort won't "flip" (he already knew Trump Jr. wouldn't)
@ZevShalev @TheAtlantic 3/ A reasonable conclusion: after he and Flynn left the room the CIA briefed them in on August 17, 2016, Trump realized that it was entirely possible Manafort's contacts with the Russians had been picked up by American intelligence, and he could therefore no longer work with him.
Read 4 tweets

Related threads

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#Deripaska: Thread. Deripaska "cedes control" of his companies-->Trump lifts sanctions off these companies. + Overlooked details. #manafort reuters.com/article/us-usa…
1. The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has notified Congress of its intention to terminate the sanctions imposed on Oleg Deripaska's companies
2. Deripaska is the CEO of Rusal, the biggest aluminum company in Russia. Ivan Glasenberg, CEO of Glencore, is a nominal control shareholder; sits on the Rusal board. Glencore owns 8.75% in Rusal. Glencore participated in Rosneft privatization in Dec 2016.
Read 30 tweets
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1/ Let’s talk about Trump and his history with casinos, shall we?

This thread will be completed over a period of time and will be sourced only with publicly available information.

Non-public information known to me will not be included herein.
2/ Before going back historically, let’s review a few more recent events:

In 2015, Trump casino officials admitted to “willful and repeated” violations of the Bank Secrecy Act and were fined $10 million.

wnycstudios.org/story/money-la…
3/ (May 2017): Trump's casino was a money laundering concern shortly after it opened (Taj Mahal)

cnn.com/2017/05/22/pol…
Read 76 tweets
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#Manafort charging document for today's guilty plea includes details of his planting disinformation in US press to smear political rivals of his pro-Russia clients in Ukraine. Eg "Plant some stink on Tymo"—painting a female rival as a criminal who paid for murder. Sound familiar?
Manafort had used the same propaganda smear tactics in Ukraine that Trump rolled out in his campaign for president in 2016. Manafort not only had Tymo soliciting murder. He pushed tribal divisions, using "Obama Jews" & anti-Semitism to tarnish her. assets.documentcloud.org/documents/4883…
#Manafort manipulated the media with disinformation and then used those planted news stories to manipulate US govt: "I have someone pushing it on the NY Post. Bada bing bada boom…The Jewish community will take this out on Obama on election day if he does nothing.”
Read 13 tweets
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1/ Thread with more details on top of LB's thread.

So, why were Paul Manafort & Tad Devine planning the "Next Wave of Television and Radio Ads" in Ukraine for pro-Kremlin politician Viktor Yanukovych in Jan. 2006? That was their job. How could it be related to Bernie in 2016?
2/ ICYMI: Special Counsel Robert Mueller released a list of more than 500 pieces of evidence against Manafort.

Here's what @LincolnsBible shared.

Paul Manafort and Tad Devine. January 3, 2006.

Why could that be a piece of evidence used against Manafort?
scribd.com/document/38421…
3/ Well, maybe the two of them were working on new messaging b/c Manafort, Devine & Yanukovych knew what was about to happen.

Ukraine and Russia were locked in a natural gas dispute that started in March 2005. It came to a head on January 1, 2006. Why? Russia turned off the gas.
Read 25 tweets
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💣BOOM💣

THREAD: FBI says an associate of Trump’s campaign chair Paul Manafort had *ongoing* Russian🇷🇺intelligence ties *during the campaign* when Manafort & deputy campaign chair, Rick Gates, were in contact w/the associate‼️1/

#TrumpRussia

washingtonpost.com/politics/manaf…
This BOMBSHELL — that not only were Trump’s *top* campaign staff (Manafort and Gates) in contact with #Russian🇷🇺intelligence, but THEY KNEW this person was “former” GRU — came from a court filing for indicted lawyer, Alex van der Zwaan‼️2/

#Collusion

Team🇺🇸Mueller filed a “Sentencing Memorandum” in the van der Zwaan case👉🏼states that Gates had said he knew “Person A” was a “former” officer w/#Russian🇷🇺military intelligence (GRU).🤨

As Putin said: “there are no FORMER chekists.”🙄 3/
Read 9 tweets
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*** THREAD ***

Let me explain how Paul Manafort's #TrumpRussia indictments are rolling rapidly from election inference into a replay of the Jack Abramoff scandal, but on STEROIDS, involving the secretive sale of American foreign policy for dark money.

washingtonpress.com/2018/02/23/mue…
Manafort and Gates lobbied in the US for Kremlin-linked oligarchs & political parties for a decade, but before their scorched earth, divisive GOP politics inflamed a regional war, they went on a secret diplomatic offensive on behalf of their client, kleptocrat Victor Yanukovych.
Manafort founded the European Center for a Modern Ukraine to be a secret western lobbying front group for Yanukovych.

For obvious reasons, his kleptocratic client had a perception problem, i.e. reality.

Yanukovych is Putin's vassal.

Manafort hid his involvement for years.
Read 32 tweets

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