Thread by @jedshug

Bombshell @nytimes report by @SangerNYT: “Two weeks before his inauguration, @realDonaldTrump was shown highly classified intelligence indicating Putin had personally ordered complex cyberattacks to sway the election.” 1/
nytimes.com/2018/07/18/wor…

2/ “The evidence included texts and emails from Russian military officers and information gleaned from a top-secret source close to Mr. Putin, who had described to CIA how the Kremlin decided to execute its...hacking and disinformation.” @Comey and @JohnBrennan were there Jan 6.

3/ @realDonaldTrump “sounded grudgingly convinced, according to several people who attended the briefing. But ever since, Trump has tried to cloud the very clear findings that he received on Jan.6 ‘17, which his own intelligence leaders unanimously endorsed.”
Obstruction much?

4/ @nbc interview w/Lester Holt, @realDonaldTrump:
“And in fact when I decided to just do it [fire Comey] I said to myself, ‘You know, this Russia thing with Trump/Russia is a made up story, it’s an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election that they should’ve won.’”

5/ From the official transcript of @realDonaldTrump’s Oval Office meeting with Kislyak and Lavrov: “I just fired the head of the F.B.I. He was crazy, a real nut job… I faced great pressure because of Russia. That’s taken off.”
Obstruction of justice:
shugerblog.com/2017/06/07/obs…

6/ Jan. 6, 2017 Trump Tower. @realDonaldTrump was “briefed by @JohnBrennan, C.I.A. director; James R. Clapper Jr., director of national intelligence; and Adm. Michael Rogers, director NSA. @Comey told him about Steele dossier...According to nearly a dozen people.”

7/ “*Several human sources* had confirmed Mr. Putin’s own role.
That included one particularly valuable source, who was considered so sensitive that Mr. Brennan had declined to refer to it in any way in PresDailyBrief...“

Apparently they had Hercules Mulligan in Moscow. Damn.

8/ Nixon’s articles of impeachment approved by House committee: Lying to public as part of cover-up is a high crime and misdemeanor.

High crimes are not limited to crimes in the statutes. They include abuses of the office and the public trust.

But of course, obstruction, too.

9/ @FrankFigliuzzi1: Accessory after the fact:
“One who assists another 1)who committed felony, 2)after person committed the felony, 3) w/knowledge person committed felony, & 4)with intent to help person avoid arrest or punishment. Accessory may be held liable for,eg,obstruction”

10/ My question: Was @VP @mike_pence also briefed on this Putin hard evidence? What did Pence know?
He participated in editing the letter firing Comey.
Obstruction, conspiracy to obstruct, aiding and abetting, misprision of a felony?
slate.com/news-and-polit…

11/ Significant: Insiders are going to the media now to tell damning details. The Helsinki Betrayal was a breaking point for insiders to blow whistles.
Is this a turning point for other insiders? More inside White House? This story will trigger finger-pointing and more leaks.

12/ In Oct. 2016, @BarackObama went to @SenMajLdr McConnell with some of this info, because the ONLY way to go public was to do it bipartisan. Otherwise, it would backfire as partisan meddling, ironically. So how much did McConnell know then? If the evidence was this clear, damn.

13/ I was wondering: Did this @nytimes report risk the life of that Kremlin inside source for this Jan 2017 briefing?
Well, it seems fair to think that Hercules Mulligan was already dead by the end of 2017...

https://twitter.com/davidfrum/status/1019795609836871680