Russiagate update: Mueller has hit the pedal, and the stories are pouring out
The Russiagate scandal has kicked into high gear.
- “CBS News has confirmed that Donald Trump Jr. met with Alexander Torshin – a man with close ties to the Kremlin — at an NRA event in May 2016.”
- Trump “low level” [not] campaign adviser Carter Page held high-level meetings with Hungarian officials in Budapest. The trips “are being closely examined by congressional investigators, given the increasingly close ties between Hungary and Russia and the role of the country as a hub for Russian intelligence activity. The Hungarian prime minister was the first foreign leader to endorse Donald Trump’s candidacy.”
- US intelligence agencies flagged Russian software developer Kaspersky’s software as a potential threat — as early as 2004!
- More money laundering? Bloomberg News has a fascinating article on the enormous payments made by Paul Manafort to various home improvement companies that came to over five times the estimate.
- Jonathan Chait’s new piece at New York magazine will cheer you up (especially when one encounters sentences like, “When you read histories of the more successful presidential administrations in American history, a phrase you don’t usually come across is ‘Gambino-style roll-up.’”)
- Speaking of Gambino-style roll-ups, Bloomberg is reporting that Special Counsel Bob Mueller has asked a judge whether an attorney for Rick Gates Attorney has a conflict of interest.
- They’re The Most Powerful Name in See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil®! “A former Fox News employee said the network blocked her from going to Moscow to investigate President Donald Trump’s links with Russia, one of several claims of news bias at 21st Century Fox Inc. made by former and current workers opposing its takeover of Sky Plc.”
I know – you’re just as shocked as I!
Akiko Nojima is an American-born media producer, artist and tour manager, political activist, and lifestyle dominatrix. She splits her time between Berlin (Bergmannkiez) and Brooklyn (Park Slope).