Some facts now exist with very little doubt as #TrumpRussia marches on.
- We now know every arm of the U.S. intelligence community concluded Russia sought to systematically influence the election outcome.
- We now know Trump officials continued talking with the Russians during the post-election transition.
- We now know Jared Kushner suggested a secret backchannel with the Russians, which had it happened, would have been free of U.S. eavesdropping.
- We now know Trump soured on FBI director James Comey, Attorney General Jeff Sessions and White House counsel Don McGahn in part over their handling of the probe.
- We now know Paul Manafort, who ran the Trump campaign in the summer of 2016, lied about his Russia contacts, was indicted and is going to jail.
- We now know Flynn lied about his Russian contacts, was fired and pleaded guilty, after agreeing to become a key witness in the investigation.
- We now know Cohen lied about his Russian contacts, was indicted and then flipped to become a key witness against Trump.
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And now we know more about the money that came into the inaugural, especially since it was overcharging much like the excess amounts that occur when money gets laundered in real estate. Emoluments aren’t a kind of gratuity.
After months of reporting, we have an answer:
some of the money went to the Trump Organization. Ivanka Trump personally connected inauguration planners with her family’s DC hotel. We know, because we have emails.
One of the lead planners wrote back that the quoted price was still too high . “Please take into consideration that when this is audited it will become public knowledge,” she wrote. /3
But wait. There’s more. Rick Gates was involved. You remember him: former campaign aide who later pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI and conspiracy /4
Our sources say Gates asked some vendors to the inauguration whether they’d be willing to be paid by individuals directly, rather than by the inauguration committee. We don’t know what it means, but it seems weird/ 5
The Justice Department is appealing that judge's ruling to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which gives Trump’s lawyers wiggle room to ask for a pause in the evidence collection, CNN noted.
Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh (D) slammed the lawyers’ request.
“I think they may have violated Lewis Carroll's copyright on ‘Alice in Wonderland,’’” he told CNN, adding that the argument that the president is immune from the Constitution’s emoluments clause is “absurd.”