(THREAD--21 TWEETS). I have emphasized in numerous tweets and threads the importance of Felix Sater and Michael D. Cohen in the RussiaGate narrative.
1/ It is worth pointing out that the further back in time the 2016 Trump campaign narrative is pushed, the more likely it becomes that Cohen and Sater are critical figures in Mueller’s national security investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.
2/ This was one important but unnoticed implication of the reporting in April of this year that GCHQ (British intel) first became aware *IN LATE 2015* of “suspicious interactions” between figures connected to Trump and known or suspected Russian agents. tinyurl.com/mz3zsxm
3/ The Guardian also reported (in the same article) that a number of western agencies shared further information on contacts between Trump’s inner circle and Russians “over the next six months, until summer 2016.”
4/ May I remind you just how early “late 2015” is in l’affaire Trump-Russia? Here are some dates for some important individuals figuring in the story:
5/ Aug 21, 2015. Jeff Sessions’ first campaign appearance with Trump in Mobile, AL.
6/ Feb. 26 *2016*--Reuters reports that Flynn “has been informally advising Trump” on foreign policy during the presidential campaign (earliest report on this I can find; Reuters doesn’t state when he started).
7/ Late March, early April *2016*. Paul Manafort joins the Trump campaign (his first position is as “delegate hunter”).
8/ March 21, *2016*. Trump lists Carter Page as a member of his team of foreign policy advisers.
9/ March 31, *2016*. George Papadopoulos’ name appears as a member of Trump’s national security team.
10/ April *2016*. First announcement by Rudy Giuliani that he supports Donald Trump’s presidential candidacy (though he does not say he will campaign for him).
11/ None of the individuals mentioned above clearly became “figures connected to Trump” until well AFTER late 2015--except for Sessions. But I believe Sessions can be ruled out as one of the individuals picked up by friendly foreign intelligence agencies at this very early date.
12/ Until his appointment as chair of the natsec and foreign policy advisory committees in late March of 2016, Sessions’ support for Trump appears to have been based on their similar views on immigration and law enforcement issues, not Russia.
13/ Honestly, I cannot think of any individuals close to Trump (apart from family members) who fit this billing except: MICHAEL D. COHEN and FELIX SATER.
14/ Cohen’s ties, as Trump’s personal lawyer, are particularly close, going back many, many years. (In 2012, Trump started a very short-lived, exploratory campaign for the Republican presidential nomination; Cohen served as the campaign manager until it was aborted.)
15/ Besides Cohen, no one--NO ONE--has been as close to Trump (on and off) as Sater.
16/ And we DO know Mueller has in his possession a letter dated Nov *2015* from Sater to his buddy Cohen: 
17/ “Buddy our boy can become president of the USA and we can engineer it,” Sater wrote in an e-mail. “I will get all of Putins team to buy in on this, I will manage this process.”
18/ Cohen has claimed that this was just sales puffery on the part of his long-time friend, and that nothing came of the letter.
19/ But what do the foreign intel committees know and think? What does our intelligence community know and think? And, most pertinently, what does MUELLER now know and think?
20/ Stay tuned. (And BTW: throw in the names of Sergei Millian--Source D of the dossier--and Javanka, Don Jr. and Eric Trump as well.)
21/ In any case, “late 2015” undoubtedly points to a very, very small circle of “figures connected to Trump” who might have had “suspicious contacts with known or suspected Russian agents” that got picked up by friendly foreign intelligence services. END
