Thread by @NatashaBertrand

JUST OUT: Volume 5 of the Senate Intelligence Committee's Russia report, focused on counterintelligence threats and vulnerabilities. It's 966 pages long. intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/…

Here's a summary of a document about that Michael Flynn sent to KT McFarland in January 2017 that "originated with a close associate of a Kremlin insider," per the committee, and that the WH counsel's office wanted to withhold, citing executive privilege.

"As this experience illustrated, White House intervention significantly hampered and prolonged the Committee's investigative effort," report says. "Most importantly, some witnesses were directed by the White House not to tum over potentially privileged information..."

Wow--SSCI goes further than Mueller did in describing Konstantin Kilimnik's relationship with Russian intelligence. "Kilimnik is a Russian intelligence officer," the report says. kilimnik was Manafort's longtime business associate. (pg 28)

🚨 "Some evidence suggests Kilimnik may be connected to the GRU hack-and-leak operation related to the 2016 U.S. election. This assessment is based on a body of fragmentary information." (pg. 85)

...“Two pieces of information, however, raise the possibility of Manafort’s potential connection to the hack-and-leak operations." Rest is redacted. (Pg 89)

The report says Kilimnik, who SSCI identified as a Russian intelligence officer, "almost certainly helped arrange some of the first public messaging that Ukraine had interfered in the U.S. election." (pg. 108)

The report confirms my reporting from December that the panel found scant if any evidence of Ukrainian interference. "The Committee identified no reliable evidence that the Ukrainian government interfered in the 2016 election," it says (pg 108)

My story: politico.com/news/2019/12/0…

"In August 2016, following the Campaign's tasking, Stone obtained information indicating that John Podesta would be a target of an upcoming release, prior to WikiLeaks
releasing Podesta's emails on October 7. Stone then communicated this information to Trump..." (173)

WikiLeaks/Assange has long maintained Russia was not the source of the hacked Democratic materials. But the committee says it "found significant evidence to suggest that, in the summer of 2016, WikiLeaks
was knowingly collaborating with Russian government officials.” (208)

Umm...why was Roger Stone drafting pro-Russia tweets for Trump in July 2016, as he was teasing more WikiLeaks dumps?
"Many of the draft tweets ... mentioned a new
peace deal with Putin, such as "I want a new detente with Russia under Putin."

Some details about the day of the Access Hollywood tape/Podesta emails release: Trump campaign team heard about the tape an hour before its release. Stone told Corsi to get Assange to "drop the Podesta emails immediately." WikiLeaks did so 30 min after tape published. (249)

Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya, of Trump Tower meeting fame, "has significant and concerning connections to Russian government and·intel officials, and has not been forthcoming about those relationships," the report alleges. Next 4 pages are redacted. (337)

.@MichaelCohen212 said that after he was indicted in SDNY, "he discussed a potential pardon for himself with Jay Sekulow ‘more than half a dozen times.’ Cohen further stated that he understood the pardon discussions had come from Trump through Sekulow.” (463)

SSCI says it "did not establish that the Russian government collected kompromat on Trump" or try to blackmail him (638)
Separately, committee says "during the 2016 U.S. presidential election cycle, Donald Trump and the Trump
Organization pursued a business deal in Russia." (407)

Pausing here because this guy needs a walk

A memo written to Steve Bannon in December 2016 by Bob Foresman, a banker w/deep ties to Russia who is discussed in the Mueller report, "offered advice for structuring the National Security Council so that Russia was a main focus of the council." (741)

Per the report, after submitting that memo, Foresman met with Flynn. Foresman then met w/Russian banker Sergey Gorkov, who relayed Trump team's message to Putin about a desire for better relations. Recall Gorkov held a secret meeting w/Kushner in Dec 2016. washingtonpost.com/politics/expla…

Fun detail--Kilimnik apparently tweets under the name Petro Baranenko, @PBaranenko, per the report (h/t @kyledcheney)