Mueller closing in on Trump in Russian probe

Rick Gates is reportedly about to plead guilty to Robert Mueller

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/18/ric...-about-to-plead-guilty-to-robert-mueller.html

Special counsel Robert Mueller may be about to get a guilty plea from another former Trump staffer. The individual in question: Rick Gates.

According to a report from the Los Angeles Times on Sunday, Gates, Paul Manafort's longtime junior business partner, will plead guilty to fraud-related charges in the coming days. He has also made clear to prosecutors that he is willing to testify against Manafort, the former chairman of Trump's 2016 campaign. In October, Mueller indicted Gates and Manafort on a combined 12 counts that mostly focused on alleged money laundering, failure to disclose financial assets, and false statements regarding their work for the government of Ukraine and a Russia-affiliated Ukrainian political party. At the time both pleaded not guilty. CNN reported earlier this week that Gates was "finalizing" a revised plea deal in which he would cooperate with the Mueller investigation — according to the LA Times, it's expected to land in a federal court in Washington "within the next few days."

 

Chris Cillizzi writes, "From the campaign he ran to get to the White House to how he he acted since arriving there 395 days ago, Trump seems to take pride in dashing expectations of how a president should act, speak or tweet. He views his election as a middle finger from the Average Joe or Jane to the "elites" -- political, media, etc. -- and seems to take as his guiding light a healthy disrespect for even the idea of being "presidential.'"

Donald J. Trump ✔ @realDonaldTrump

Just watched a very insecure Oprah Winfrey, who at one point I knew very well, interview a panel of people on 60 Minutes. The questions were biased and slanted, the facts incorrect. Hope Oprah runs so she can be exposed and defeated just like all of the others!

8:28 PM - Feb 18, 2018

Donald J. Trump ✔ @realDonaldTrump
If it was the GOAL of Russia to create discord, disruption and chaos within the U.S. then, with all of the Committee Hearings, Investigations and Party hatred, they have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. They are laughing their asses off in Moscow. Get smart America!

5:11 AM - Feb 18, 2018

“Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing,” Mr. Trump said during a news conference here in an apparent reference to Mrs. Clinton’s deleted emails. “I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press.”

Sixteen months later Trump is still talking about the election and Hillary Clinton, who retired from public life sixteen months ago!

Donald J. Trump ✔ @realDonaldTrump

Now that Adam Schiff is starting to blame President Obama for Russian meddling in the election, he is probably doing so as yet another excuse that the Democrats, lead by their fearless leader, Crooked Hillary Clinton, lost the 2016 election. But wasn’t I a great candidate?

4:43 AM - Feb 18, 2018

Donald J. Trump ✔ @realDonaldTrump
I never said Russia did not meddle in the election, I said “it may be Russia, or China or another country or group, or it may be a 400 pound genius sitting in bed and playing with his computer.” The Russian “hoax” was that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia - it never did!

4:33 AM - Feb 18, 2018

Donald J. Trump ✔ @realDonaldTrump
Finally, Liddle’ Adam Schiff, the leakin’ monster of no control, is now blaming the Obama Administration for Russian meddling in the 2016 Election. He is finally right about something. Obama was President, knew of the threat, and did nothing. Thank you Adam!

4:22 AM - Feb 18, 2018

Donald J. Trump ✔ @realDonaldTrump
General McMaster forgot to say that the results of the 2016 election were not impacted or changed by the Russians and that the only Collusion was between Russia and Crooked H, the DNC and the Dems. Remember the Dirty Dossier, Uranium, Speeches, Emails and the Podesta Company!

8:22 PM - Feb 17, 2018

Last, but not least, the sickest of all.

Donald J. Trump ✔ @realDonaldTrump

Very sad that the FBI missed all of the many signals sent out by the Florida school shooter. This is not acceptable. They are spending too much time trying to prove Russian collusion with the Trump campaign - there is no collusion. Get back to the basics and make us all proud!

8:08 PM - Feb 17, 2018

This guy has a very serious mental problem. The leadership of the Republican Party needs to grow some and impose Section Four of the 25th Amendment, the occasion when a President is unable to perform his duties.

 

Yeah, I know. Thank you.

I wonder, whatever happened to the Trump interview? Boy, that could be something. Mueller will eat him up.

 

His continued lashing out in itself is giving him away.

He protests far too much for a man with nothing to worry about.

 

There is another one with ties to Russia. Rick Gates is an indicted former senior advisor on the Trump campaign. His lawyer pleaded guilty to lying to Mueller. Alex van der Zwaan, a 33-year-old Dutch citizen, pleaded guilty Tuesday to lying to investigators in Robert Mueller's special counsel investigation, after he covered up his discussions with former Trump campaign aide Rick Gates and a business associate based in Ukraine in September 2016, while the Trump campaign operation was in full swing.

CNN reports, "Van der Zwaan becomes the fourth guilty plea in the Mueller investigation after Trump campaign aide George Papadopoulos and former national security adviser Michael Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to investigators last year, and an online supplier of fake usernames pleaded guilty to identity fraud last week. Mueller has also indicted 13 Russians for their work to influence the 2016 presidential election through online social media."

Now get this, van der Zwaan is the son-in-law of Russian billionaire German Khan, who is one of the most prominent businessmen in Russia. Khan co-founded Alfa Group, a large financial conglomerate, and was recently named in the Treasury Department's list of Russian oligarchs close to Putin.

That is an awful lot of Russians.

 

If Mueller finds even one voter who was tricked out of Voting for Hillary Clinton by the Russians, there's going to be hell to pay. Until then, no harm, no foul.

We simply cannot nullify an election because someone tried to have an effect on it and failed.

 

What are you talking about? You don't say. Do you even know?

 

Our iintell agencies concluded in October 2016 that Russian hackers broke into the DNC and Podesta computers. They also have concluded that Russia was working on behalf of Trump and they turned that data over to WikiLeaks.

You are overlooking the WikiLeaks campaign. It was a four-month daily barrage of negative material concerning the Clinton campaign and was a direct aid to the Trump campaign. So much so that Trump himself cheered on Russia and WikiLeaks with campaign statements.

The campaign began in July and continued on up to Election Day. The leaks were plentiful, numerous, and extremely damaging to Clinton. There is hardly any doubt that the campaign had an effect. Trump sure thought so. However, the impact is empirical, meaning impossible to measure.

 

Actually, jimv writes quite clearly. You should go back and read his posts. I'm confident that you can get caught up.

 

To proceed from where your post leaves off and assume that everything you say is correct,
there are some questions that need to be answered.

1.To what effect?

2. Are those who were tricked out of voting for Hillary Clinton, by the Russians, even aware that they were tricked by the Russians?

3. Where are all, or even one, of the voters who were tricked out of voting for Clinton by the Russians?

Robert Mueller, and his legal team, have spent millions of dollars, and even they have been unable to find even one voter who even claims to have been tricked out of voting for Hillary Clinton by the Russians.

 

And yet, oddly enough, Mueller has done 0 investigating about the Podesta hack.

 

How could he when the democrats destroyed all evidence of the hacks?

 

He could interview Assange or other Wikileaks personnel. He hasn't even tried.

 

That certainly has more relevance to his original charter than Manafort and Gates money laundering and tax evasion from years before Trump became.a candidate.

 

I would think so. And it certainly has more relevance the the "crime" of disparaging Hillary Clinton while being Russian.

 

When the truth comes out and American...including trump supporter, understand they have elected a professional criminal, either the GOP controlled House impeaches him or they will lose 80 seats in November. Then he will be impeached.

That is why so many Republicans are retiring. They see the landslide coming.

 

Baseless accusations from the violent alt left are not good enough to impeach a president.

 

Agreed...Mueller will rely on facts. Question for you...

Why is Trump so frantic about the investigation if he is innocent of any illegal activity?

 

Probably because its used as a way to prevent him from governing, the job that he was elected to do.


Now you tell me, why is the left so violent towards the right? We have had 2 confirmed cases of the alt left attacking congressmen since Trump was elected. In both cases it was laughed off by the left. Why should we allow this violent and oppressive ideology to presist in this country?

 

Violence of any kind is never justified.

Trump is refusing to live up to his sworn duties. He has allowed Russia to continue to attack this country through social media and is now refusing to implement sanctions that were passed to deter Putin from future similar ventures. As a result, he has invited Putin to repeat the 2016 hacking.

Rather than admit we have been attacked...he has, in turn, attacked the media, the judicial system, congress, and anyone who disagrees with him.

His first duty as president is to protect the citizens in this country. He failed, not in error or misjudgment....but through deliberate disregard of his responsibilties.

Rather than diligently search for the truth...he has blocked efforts to find the truth. The only person hampering the man's ability to govern is the man, himself

 

I looked, I didnt find your post saying the same thing about Obama. Can you link to that? Or is this just a partisan bullet point for you?


Sanctions do very little to sway countries, especially when most of the world doesnt abide by them.

There is nothing Obama could do, or Trump can do, to stop Russians from posting on facebook and twitter. We know they are doing it. If Michael Moore wants to go to Russian sponsored events, who am I to stop him?

I do wonder why the media isnt reporting about the Chinese and N. Koreans doing the exact same things though.

 

I am afraid his 'investigation' has lost so much credibility that nothing found will bee considered real by a lot of us, though I am sure the fringe left will believe anything.

 

Perhaps JimV can speak for himself. You go back and check his posts.