Connecting the Dots

Mueller Widens His Probe:  Special Counsel Mueller is widening the scope of his investigation beyond Russia.  He is taking over the investigation into the payments that former national security adviser Mike Flynn received for representing Turkey’s interests.  The Flynn investigation which was being handled by a different team of espionage investigators and is in front of a Maryland grand jury is further along than the Russian investigation. By consolidating the cases, Mueller obtains a powerful bargaining chip to use against Flynn.  Mueller is also taking over the ongoing criminal investigation into the millions of dollars that former campaign chairman Paul Manafort is alleged to have received from Russian allied Ukrainians.  Presumably the FBI agents and espionage investigators working on the Manafort and Flynn teams will now report to Mueller, increasing resources for his Russian investigation.  When AG Sessions recused himself from the Russia investigation, he did not explicitly state that he was also taking himself off the Manafort probe, but with Mueller consolidating responsibilities, Sessions is now definitively off the Manafort case. Together with Deputy AG Rosenstein, Sessions may also be a subject of Mueller’s probe.  Mueller is considering looking into the role both played in former FBI Director Comey’s dismissal.  Obstruction of justice, perjury,  illegal foreign payments.  The list grows.  

Putin Trolls:  Megyn Kelly makes her debut on NBC with a great get, a Putin interview.  She’s spent the past few days hanging out with the Kremlin King.  Though her full interview won’t be shown until Sunday night, NBC has been teasing viewers with selective Putin pronouncements.  Moving off his earlier statement that little green Russian patriots were the DNC hackers, Putin is now saying that the little green men were American toddlers and that in any case the email leaks were inconsequential.  Both Putin and Trump agree, Hillary’s loss was due to her failings and Trump’s superiority.    

Connecting the Kushner Dots:  In 2007 Kushner sold a chunk of his family’s boring but lucrative New Jersey multi-family properties, combining sales proceeds with a substantial amount of debt in order to buy his way into the NY “big boys” club with the $1.7 billion purchase of his flagship 666 Fifth Avenue building.  In 2008 the real estate market tanked and 666 Fifth Avenue has been bleeding cash ever since.  Last November, with his debt load growing and  loans coming due Kushner came close to securing an investment from Anbang Insurance Group, a huge Chinese insurance company.  In January, when the suspiciously generous terms of the proposed Anbang financing came to light, Anbang pulled out.  In December, following one of his meetings with Russian Ambassador Kislylak, Kushner met with Sergey Gorkov, the head of VneshEconomBank (VEB) bank, a bank which is sometimes called Putin’s slush fund.  Kushner said it was a diplomatic meeting, Gorkov, Putin’s crony and a onetime KGB agent, said it was to discuss business.  Because of Kushner’s financing needs and Putin’s desire to get sanctions lifted, the Gorkov meeting is under the microscope, another focus of the Mueller probe.          

Comey Talks on Thursday:  Former FBI Comey is scheduled to testify in front of the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday.  There have been some suggestions that Trump will claim executive branch privilege in an effort to stop Comey’s testimony.  Kellyanne Conway and Sean Spicer both declined to answer any questions about Trump’s intentions.  However, it’s unlikely that Trump would succeed.  Court precedent is against him, the fired Comey is no longer a government employee and Trump may have given away his executive privilege argument by tweet smacking Comey.  Comey’s testimony, if it takes place, is expected to be very revealing.  During the course of his career he has earned a reputation for dropping a bombshell or two during prior appearances.  Hold on to your seats, it’s going to be a bumpy ride.

Unmasking Hypocrisy:  Trump acolyte Representative Nunes made waves during the week by single handedly issuing subpoenas for the unmasking requests of former security adviser Susan Rice, former UN Ambassador Samantha Powers and former CIA head Brennan.  Sticking with Trump’s narrative that unmasking rather than Russia is the real story, Nunes has been attacking outgoing Obama officials for excessive unmasking of US citizens caught up in conversations with foreign authorities.  Nunes didn’t realize that when the unmasking activity list was released it would also include the number of times that his committee made unmasking requests.  It turns out that under his signature the committee requested five or six unmaskings, putting him at the top of the list.  In contrast, during the same time, the Republican’s favorite villain, Susan Rice, requested just one.  Be careful what you ask for!       

Bad Science:  Speculation is running rampant over why Trump pulled the US out of the Paris Climate Agreement.  It’s been suggested that he succumbed to strategist and shadow president Steve Bannon’s influence, that he was seeking to consolidate his shrinking base, that he was just rebelling against the elites, especially those French and German smarty pants or all of the above.  It may just be that his long term view that climate science is just a hoax was the real key factor.  Yesterday neither Spicer nor EPA head Pruitt would answer any questions about Trump’s underlying beliefs. Former Secretary of State Kerry undiplomatically said Trump just “doesn’t know what he is talking about” and that the “decision was ignorant and dangerous.”