(UPDATE) WASHINGTON POST and MOTHER JONES articles confirm that Trump Jr. had *two* encounters with the Butina/Torshin team at the 2016 NRA conference in Louisville.
(UPDATE2) On May 19, 2016, Butina was a "last-minute" addition as a speaker at an offsite dinner, the Heroes for Freedom and Liberty Dinner—cocktails at 5PM, dinner at 7PM. She spoke for only 5 minutes—which is odd.
(UPDATE3) The reason that Maria Butina appearing for only 5 minutes at the May 19, 2016 offsite dinner is so odd is that it was this *very dinner* that Alexander Torshin had invited Donald Trump Sr. to (via two separate communications) two weeks earlier. nytimes.com/2017/11/17/us/…
(UPDATE4) Flight data for Trump Sr.'s plane, obtained via FOIA, confirms that Trump Sr. didn't arrive in Louisville until Friday, May 20, 2016, the day after his son dined with Torshin *onsite* (at the conference), i.e. Thursday, May 19. That same night, Butina spoke *offsite*.
(UPDATE5)
1) Butina didn't meet Jr. when Torshin did (onsite, May 19). 2) Torshin invited Jr. to an offsite event on May 19. 3) Butina appeared instead as a "last-minute" add. 4) The event began at 5. 5) Butina told Byrne she brought Jr. to a second site at 2PM the day they met.
(UPDATE6) There are many ways this could have played out, and one *is* that Butina met Jr. separately from Torshin, but only briefly.
But the timeline is also consistent with Butina bringing Jr. to an offsite location the afternoon of his *onsite* dinner meeting with Torshin.
(UPDATE7) So why, when they were mentor/mentee, would Torshin/Butina have met Jr. at different times and/or locations? Why not at the same time/location? Our assumption would be "same"; Butina told Byrne "different" and indeed events confirm Butina and Torshin split up on May 19.
(UPDATE8) So Byrne's story accords with the facts in a way that seems prescient and isn't what one would've assumed were one spitballing. Butina told Byrne she met Jr. offsite—and lo and behold, she went offsite "last-minute" and indeed did *not* meet Jr. when Torshin did onsite.
(UPDATE9) So Torshin invited the Trump campaign to send someone to meet him at a dinner he (Torshin) ultimately *skipped*. Instead, Torshin changed his plans and went to the dinner Jr. was at. How did he know to do that? Butina meeting Jr. that afternoon at 2PM would explain it.
(UPDATE10) It'd also explain Butina being a "last-minute" add to a dinner *she and Torshin had been planning to go to for weeks*. Once she got Jr. offsite at 2PM she wasn't sure—post-meet—which of the dinners she'd go to. Torshin sent her to the original one—as he met Jr. onsite.
(UPDATE11) I want to make sure everyone follows:
1/ Putin tells Torshin to meet Trump in Louisville. 2/ Torshin invites Trump to a specific dinner—twice. 3/ Torshin says he'll give Trump a gift for Melania at the dinner. 4/ Torshin skips the dinner. 5/ But ends up where Jr. is.
(UPDATE12)
6/ Butina tells Byrne she met Jr. in Louisville. 7/ Articles confirm. 8/ Torshin/Jr. say Butina wasn't at their meetup. 9/ Articles confirm a second (Butina-Jr.) meetup. 10/ Butina says she met Jr. offsite. 11/ Butina was offsite. 12/ But oddly unsure of her schedule.
(UPDATE13) Nearly every Trump-Russia suspect has had a lawyer lie for them. Butina's lawyer now says "no second meeting"—which if true (but it *isn't*), would mean either Butina was at the Torshin-Jr. meeting (and they lied) or she lied about meeting Jr. *and* the news lied, too.
(UPDATE14) When you consider that Butina is a convicted Kremlin agent, Torshin has fled the country, Jr. repeatedly lied to Congress, and Trump-Russia suspects' lawyers have lied front to back, we have to go by the news and things people said when they didn't know it'd be public.
(UPDATE15) *Well before* she knew she was going to get in trouble, Butina told her boyfriend she'd met Jr. offsite. Articles confirm she met Jr. and was offsite.
Torshin, Jr., and Butina's lawyers now say Butina never met Jr. and there was no second meeting.
Oh, who to believe!
(PS) There's nothing about Torshin/Butina in the Mueller Report. Mueller sent the case to another prosecutor—which kept it from being shut down if he was fired—and referred all counterintelligence info (which includes all info he got on Butina/Torshin) to FBI counterintelligence.
(PS2) So if you're wondering, "Why haven't we heard more about May '16?" the answer is that a) it was addressed in another case, b) even in that case, any information about Trump campaign-Russian collusion *not attached to a criminal statute* would've gone to counterintelligence.
(PS3) You'll note I haven't called a secret Butina-Jr. meeting illegal. I've said what would be illegal would be Jr. thereafter lying about a meeting—as he's lied about other items—under circumstances in which lying is a crime. That no one will investigate it doesn't change that.
(PS4) That said, if Jr. did at the meeting what his conduct thereafter almost guarantees he would've done—asked for Russian aid, which is a crime—*then* you'd have a crime (as well as the necessary evidence of "concealment" from authorities that suggests a criminal mens rea).
(PS5) As ever, this feed is a public cri de coeur for Congress to launch a full Trump-Russia investigation and for FBI Counterintelligence to release the report it's still withholding—to a large extent—even from Congress. But there's little here I/we can say we "know" for *sure*.
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Agents of Trump business and political partners MBS, MBZ and el-Sisi were secretly in the White House as Trump agreed to go to war with their enemy Iran?
How is this not the big news right now? How is this not bigger than every other story media is covering?
This is beyond journalistic malpractice.
We're talking about matters of war and peace—historic lies told by a POTUS to push America to war—and CNN is burying the lede that the attack was a byproduct of secret negotiations with those who support Trump financially and politically?
And should it not also be noted that the man representing Trump in these hours of secret negotiations inside the White House—assuming Trump wasn't there himself, which I suspect he was for part of the time—is a man (Witkoff) with financial ties to parties he was negotiating with?
(🚨) BREAKING: Exactly as happened in 2020 after Trump illegally assassinated the second-most-popular Iranian—and therefore as Trump could easily have predicted, and as media should already have forecast for Americans—Iran has just launched missiles at multiple US military bases.
CNN:
It is certainly possible that, as in 2020, this response is gestural rather than serious. But it might not be, and Trump might deliberately pretend that it is not, and either way there could still be some Americans injured, so who knows what is going to happen now.
2018: Gen. Kurilla—“Israel’s favorite general”—is made CENTCOM Chief of Staff
2018: CENTCOM urges Trump to add Israel to CENTCOM’s Area of Responsibility
2021: 4 days before leaving office, Trump adds Israel to CENTCOM AOR
2021: Process making Kurilla CENTCOM commander begins
(🚨) MAJOR BREAKING NEWS: Trump Tells America He Planned His Iran Policy—Including Unprovoked Major Military Strikes—“A Long Time Ago” and As a “Team” With Israeli War Criminal Netanyahu, Confirming the Entirety of the Proof Trilogy and Proof Project in Stunning Public Confession
(PS) Am watching CNN and there is no acknowledgment whatsoever that Trump said this. It was far and away the only significant thing he said in his two-minute, somewhat mumbling declaration.
(PS2) Jake Tapper is now on-air telling America that this war is not inconsistent with Trump’s pledge of peace.
He then indicated that he trusts Israeli intelligence over American intelligence.
(🚨) I’ve never—in 30 years in journalism—published a report like this: one that could really bring *hope*. I spent 15 hours curating/labeling photos from hundreds of No Kings Day protests. It’s the largest archive of its kind (+ lots of Easter eggs).
1/ I almost don’t know where to start in talking about the last 15 hours. They were emotional. I have renewed hope for my country. I also feel renewed awe at its size and scope.
2/ This archive is truly massive. It takes viewers all over the United States—including to some way-off-the-beaten-path corners.
(🧵) THREAD: Selected comments from the (highly conservative) NEW YORK POST chat during the 2025 Trump Micropenis Parade:
🔻 "I've seen more people at a kindergarten parade"
🔻 "What an epic fail"
🔻 "The UFC is sponsoring federal events now?"
🔻 "Okay this is getting sad now"
More:
🔻 "Criiiiiinge"
🔻 "There is no one there"
🔻 "This is such a boring parade"
🔻 "This parade blows"
🔻 "Live band would've been better"
🔻 "Where are the people?"
🔻 "This is a national embarrassment"
🔻 "Chat is more entertaining than the parade"
More (and yes, these are all real comments):
🔻 "This is kinda boring"
🔻 "SO boring I'm out"
🔻 "This is a hot mess"
🔻 "They're not even marching in sync"
🔻 "This music is horrible"
🔻 "The crowd is so small"
🔻 "They playing the Kidz Bop versions of famous songs"