Michael Avenatti has some of the Cohen receipts as we all run back to our various timelines for 2016
@MICHAELAVENATTI: If you’re out there and you have stuff related to your relationships with #MichaelCohen that you’re concerned are going to come out you should be concerned because they are going to come out... that’s a stern warning….
Sunday 11 December 2016, Trump on Fox News. Remember how Trump demurs by going to “nobody knows” and “fine people on both sides” when he doesn’t want to answer something factual.
CHRIS WALLACE, HOST: According to the Washington Post, the CIA has concluded that Russia intervened in the election to help you win the presidency. Your reaction.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT-ELECT: I think it's ridiculous. I think it's just another excuse. I don't believe it. I don't know why and I think it's just -- you know, they talked about all sorts of things. Every week it's another excuse. We had a massive landslide victory, as you know, in the Electoral College. I guess the final numbers are now at 306—da-- and she -- you know, down to a very low number. No I don't believe that at all.
WALLACE: You say you don't know why. Do you think that the CIA is trying to overturn the results (CROSSTALK) of the election?
TRUMP: No, I don't think they're saying anything.
WALLACE: Or somehow to weaken you in office?
TRUMP: Well, if you look at the story and you take a look at what they said, there's great confusion. Nobody really knows, and hacking is very interesting. Once they hack if you don't catch them in the act you're not going to catch them. They have no idea if it's Russia or China or somebody. It could be somebody sitting in a bed some place. I mean, they have no idea.
WALLACE: So, why would the CIA put out the story that the Russians wanted you to win.
TRUMP: Well I'm not sure they put it out. I think the Democrats are putting it out because they suffered one of the greatest defeats in the history of politics in this country. And frankly, I think they're putting it out. And it's ridiculous. We ought to get back to making America great again, which is what we're going to do. And we've already started the process.
WALLACE: You’ve said repeatedly you don't believe the intelligence community's analysis, that the Russians were involved.
TRUMP: They're not sure. They're fighting among themselves. They're not sure.
WALLACE: But the question is, these are the folks you're going to have to rely on --
TRUMP: Sure.
WALLACE: -- to know what's going on in the world.
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: Of course, I've made changes, you know, at the top. I mean, we're going to have different people coming in, because we have our people. They have their people, and I have great respect for them. But if you read the stories -- the various stories, there’s disputing -- I mean, they're disputing. And certain groups don't necessarily agree. Personally,it could be Russia. It -- I don't really think it is, but who knows? I don't know either. They don't know and I don't know.
[...]
WALLACE: President Obama just ordered a full review of Russia's involvement -- hacking in the election. And Democrats are now calling for hearings. Do you think this is part of an effort to undercut you?
TRUMP: Well, it could be. I think President Obama has been terrific. He's been, you know, very respectful of the process and everything else. So, I saw that. But – and--and I want it, too. I think it's great. I think -- well, I don't want anyone hacking us, and I'm not only talking about countries. I'm talking about anyone, period. But if you’re gonna to do that, I think you should not just say "Russia." You should say other countries also, and maybe other individuals. It's not necessarily just –
www.washingtonpost.com/...
Monday, 12 December 2016
Dec. 12, 2016: Former Trump Campaign Surrogate Discusses Sanctions With Russian Businessmen
Although (Jack) Kingston traveled as a private individual, the former Georgia congressman's bio on the website of the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia didn't hide his connections to the stars of Team Trump such as Vice President-elect Mike Pence and campaign manager Kellyanne Conway.
"I was an active soldier in the foxhole, but not a general deploying troops," Kingston said about his role in the Trump campaign.
By chance, Kingston's Moscow trip coincided with the visit of another Trump disciple, Carter Page, who once claimed to advise the Republican candidate on energy and Russia policy. The Trump campaign later distanced itself from Page after he came under scrutiny for his ties to Russia.
Page lamented the "Cold War mindset" in the U.S. and sang the praises of Rex Tillerson, the Exxon Mobil CEO who expanded his company's footprint in Russia and whom Trump now wants to be his secretary of state.
www.npr.org/...
Bag of dirt … dirtbags … meeting on Tuesday 13 December 2016 between Kushner and Sergei Gorkov. The fateful June 2016 meeting in Trump Tower is also mentioned here.
Gorkov and VEB, or Vnesheconombank, came to the world’s attention earlier this year when it was reported that Gorkov had met for just under half an hour with Kushner, the son-in-law and senior advisor to President Donald Trump, not long after Trump secured the presidency. That December meeting is now under scrutiny from both Congress and the Justice Department, as part of their investigations into the Trump campaign’s links to Russian officials.
The White House and VEB have different versions of what went down in the meeting. In the testimony presented this week, Kushner said he’d taken the meeting because he was told Gorkov was someone “with a direct line to the Russian president who could give insight into how Putin was viewing the new administration and best ways to work together”; Kushner said specific policies were not discussed. VEB, meanwhile, has described the meeting as part and parcel of its own development strategy. The bank was hit with U.S. economic sanctions as a result of Russia’s role in the Ukraine crisis and its 2014 annexation of Crimea and is keen to see them lifted. It remains unclear what was actually discussed for those 20-25 minutes, the time frame later given by Kushner, that day. VEB declined to respond to questions and said Gorkov did not have time in his schedule for an interview.
[...]
But the Gorkov meeting was almost certainly different.
Gorkov runs a major state entity that is nearly a century old and effectively serves as a slush fund for the Kremlin’s pet projects.
Its loans are often wielded as political tools: In the Soviet era, the bank used to operate as Moscow’s credit guarantor to fellow communist countries, propping up programs in Cuba, Vietnam, and Eastern Europe; in recent years, it has given the state money for the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics and offered loans to Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov to build an industrial park. Any decision to send Gorkov to serve as an intermediary with the Trump transition team would have been considered deliberately at the highest levels.
foreignpolicy.com/...