Thread by @moscow_project

The House Intelligence Committee's first open hearing on the (redacted) Mueller report is starting now. Watch it live here: c-span.org/video/?461556-…

Chairman @RepAdamSchiff gets straight to the point: The Trump campaign knew before anyone else that Russia was interfering in the 2016 election. Read our full breakdown of what the Trump campaign knew, and when they knew it: themoscowproject.org/dispatch/what-…

@RepAdamSchiff .@RepAdamSchiff highlights the hundreds of contacts between the Trump campaign and Russia. We found at least 272, including 38 meetings. Read the full list here: themoscowproject.org/explainers/tru…

@RepAdamSchiff "It may not be a crime to build a Trump Tower in Moscow, or seek the Kremlin's help to do so. It may not be a crime to enrich yourself with foreign business deals while running for president, or lie about it to the American people. But it is deeply compromising."
-@RepAdamSchiff

@RepAdamSchiff Nunes argues that opening a counterintelligence investigation into a presidential campaign is unprecedented.
That's in part because there's never been a presidential campaign that actively sought to benefit from a hostile foreign power's attack on American democracy.

@RepAdamSchiff .@RepDevinNunes falsely claims that the Trump campaign never received an intelligence briefing.
They did, and they were specifically instructed to alert the intelligence community if they were approached by Russians seeking to infiltrate their campaign. nbcnews.com/news/us-news/f…

@RepAdamSchiff @RepDevinNunes "The Mueller report is very careful about how Mifsud is decscribed."
Here's what it says about his ties to the Kremlin and its interference campaign:

Trump's campaign chairman and his deputy shared internal polling data and campaign strategy with Konstantin Kilimnik, a man believed to be a Russian agent.
@jahimes doesn't mince words: "That is not what campaigns do."
themoscowproject.org/dispatch/yes-m…

Stephanie Douglas: Manafort sharing polling data "illustrates his willingness to provide information to someone he knows he's beholden to financially. He is willing to provide internal campaign information to a foreign government, and a person closely tied to the Kremlin."

Robert Anderson: "It troubles me that no one communicated this type of information to any government agency."
The Trump campaign knew about Russian hacking. Instead of alerting authorities, they hid their knowledge—and sought to benefit from it.
themoscowproject.org/explainers/aid…

Robert Anderson: The Russians sought to "sew the web of disinformation so broad and so wide that it's hard to look at who got that information, how they got that information, and why. That is done absolutely on purpose."

.@RepMikeQuigley: "However else you feel about the report, do you think somebody should have called the FBI?"
@AndrewCMcCarthy: "Yes."

@RepMikeQuigley @AndrewCMcCarthy .@RepRatcliffe again falsely claimes the Obama administration didn't warn the Trump campaign about Russian interference.
They did. The Trump campaign chose to keep engaging with Russia. There's no innocent explanation for that.
themoscowproject.org/explainers/aid…

@RepMikeQuigley @AndrewCMcCarthy @RepRatcliffe .@RepDennyHeck points out that Trump has not only repeatedly attacked the FBI and the Mueller investigation, he has actively sided with Putin over his own intelligence community—and has still never condemned Russia for its attack on American democracy.
theatlantic.com/international/…

"When it comes to Russia, and many other nation-states, they didn't start in 2014. They didn't go away. They're still here, looking at the next presidential election and looking at how they can attack it any way they can."
-Robert Anderson

.@RepBradWenstrup says that, two years ago, the Intel committee stopped being bipartisan. That's around the time Devin Nunes went all-in on protecting Trump by cooking up stunts to undermine the Russia investigation. themoscowproject.org/explainers/the…

@RepBradWenstrup "Trump was 'briefed and warned' at the session about potential espionage threats from Russia, two former law enforcement officials familiar with the sessions told NBC News."
nbcnews.com/news/us-news/f…

Robert Anderson highlights the importance of "tasking" in Russia's efforts to cultivate assets.
The Mueller report lists at least 11 times Papadopoulos told his campaign superiors about Mifsud and his acquaintances' invitations for Trump to visit Moscow.
justice.gov/storage/report…

.@RepChrisStewart falsely claims the FISA warrant on Carter Page was based on the Steele Dossier. Here's our thread from last week debunking that and other myths about that application:

https://twitter.com/moscow_project/status/1135954758865498112

@RepChrisStewart Stephanie Douglas: Flynn's phone calls with Kislyak "immediately put the existing administration in a horribly conflicted position ... and probably assured the Russians that they were going to get a more favored treatment by the incoming administration."

@RepChrisStewart "It was very apparent that the Russians were in communication with a number of Trump associates, trying to establish these relationships"—19, to be exact, plus another 13 who knew about at least one contact. themoscowproject.org/explainers/tru…

.@RepSeanMaloney notes that the Trump campaign could easily have "inoculated them[selves] against the charge that they were playing footsie with a foreign intelligence service" by simply alerting the FBI—which they repeatedly chose not to do. themoscowproject.org/explainers/aid…

.@PeterWelch outlines Erik Prince's efforts to establish a backchannel between the Trump team and Russia.
Congress has made a criminal referral for Prince for lying to Congress about those efforts. politico.com/story/2019/04/…

@PeterWelch "By taking the [June 9] meeting, you've made yourself beholden to Putin for however he wants to characterize it down the road"—especially when Trump and his team did everything they could to conceal it from the public. That's compromising. themoscowproject.org/explainers/col…

Robert Anderson: "One of the biggest things about this is the acceleration of the normal process, because [Russians] were able to get so high so quick"—they reached the president, his son, his campaign chairman, his deputy campaign chairman, his national security adviser ...

Stephanie Douglas: "If you can be compromised based on your dishonesty about something, that's something a foreign intelligence agency can take advantage of."
The Trump team has done nothing but lie about its contacts with Russia.
themoscowproject.org/explainers/tru…

.@RepAdamSchiff debunks the FISA conspiracy theories: "It is certainly relevant if you are making an accusation of spying on the Trump campaign that a FISA application of Carter Page didn't begin until after Carter Page was no longer a part of that campaign."

.@RepAdamSchiff highlights the ways Trump has helped Putin's interests. Read our full report on how Trump has advanced Putin's foreign policy agenda here: themoscowproject.org/reports/putins…

.@RepAdamSchiff: "Do you have any quarrel with the Special Counsel's conclusion ... that Putin was attempting to help the Trump campaign?"
Douglas: "I think that was clear from the very beginning."
It was certainly clear to Trump's team.
themoscowproject.org/explainers/aid…

@RepAdamSchiff "Does the existence of a financial relationship in itself create compromise?"
It certainly does when they're as corrupt as Trump's relationships with Russian oligarchs appear to be.
americanprogress.org/issues/democra…

@RepAdamSchiff Stephanie Douglas: "The key here is the deception. The deception makes a person vulnerable. The fact that somebody has multi-million-dollar business in Russia does not compromise them. The fact that they're trying to hide it makes them vulnerable."
americanprogress.org/issues/democra…

@RepAdamSchiff .@DevinNunes says the question of when the Russia investigation started is an "open question."
It's not. Mueller answered it on literally the first page of his report.
justice.gov/storage/report…