SENATOR MARK WARNER (D) Feb 8, 2018
NOT INTERESTED IN A PAPER TRAIL
Trump lawyer slams Mark Warner over Russia texts
Following President Donald Trump's lead, his lawyer Jay Sekulow lit into Warner for trying to communicate with the author of a controversial dossier— even as other top Republicans defended the Democratic senator.
Sen. Mark Warner and the intelligence committee's top Republican, Sen. Richard Burr, have for months publicly described efforts to contact Christopher Steele, whose dossier President Donald Trump calls false and defamatory. | Mark Wilson/Getty Images
A lawyer for President Donald Trump criticized Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee Friday, over leaked text messages that show Warner attempted to contact the author of a 2016 dossier alleging illicit ties between Trump and the Kremlin.
The comments by Jay Sekulow, a personal attorney to Trump, marked the latest stage in an ongoing conservative assault on congressional and law enforcement officials investigating possible Kremlin influence over Trump’s presidential campaign.
They followed a Thursday Fox News report revealing Warner’s texts with Washington lawyer Adam Waldman, who has ties to Christopher Steele, a former British intelligence agent who produced the controversial Trump-Russia dossier. Waldman also represents one of Russia’s top oligarchs, Oleg Deripaska, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"Why would the majority ranking member of the Senate Intelligence Committee be doing this?" Sekulow said on his daily radio show Friday. He implied that the messages revealed bias on Warner’s part that should give potential committee witnesses pause.
Sekulow is one of Trump’s three primary lawyers in the Russia investigation, alongside John Dowd, who like Sekulow is a personal Trump attorney, and Ty Cobb, the top White House lawyer handling the Russia probe.
A longtime fixture on Fox News and talk radio, he has taken a combative stance toward officials investigating Trump. In December, Sekulow called for a formal investigation into alleged anti-Trump bias on the staff of special counsel Robert Mueller.
Many other conservatives, including Trump himself, have pounced on the Fox report about Warner — although they have been unclear about what exactly they believe Warner might have done wrong, and two key Senate Republicans have defended their Democratic colleague.
On Friday afternoon, the lead headline at the conservative news site Breitbart proclaimed Warner’s interactions with Waldman an example of “More Democrat-Russian Collusion.”
“Wow! -Senator Mark Warner got caught having extensive contact with a lobbyist for a Russian oligarch," Trump tweeted Thursday night. "Warner did not want a 'paper trail' on a 'private' meeting (in London) he requested with Steele of fraudulent Dossier fame. All tied into Crooked Hillary.”
Warner and the committee's top Republican, Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), have for months publicly described efforts to contact Steele, whose dossier Trump calls false and defamatory. The FBI, which trusted Steele from previous investigations, incorporated his findings into an October 2016 application to surveil former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page as part of its investigation into the campaign's contacts with Russia.
Conservatives note that the dossier was funded by a top Democratic lawyer, and call its findings politically motivated and therefore untrustworthy.
According to the messages obtained by Fox from what the network called "a Republican source," Warner texted back and forth with Waldman in March and April 2017 attempting to broker a call with Steele. The efforts proved unsuccessful.
Steele, according to Waldman, wanted Warner and Burr to issue a bipartisan letter before he engaged the committee while Warner pushed for an initial call first. By late April, Waldman indicated Steele had soured on talking to the committee — fearful of "cost, time sucj [sic] and reputation." "I encouraged him again to engage with you for the sake of the truth and of vindication of the dossier," Waldman wrote. Warner's office decliner to comment on the exchanges.
Burr aides also told Fox News that he was aware of Warner's outreach to Waldman, the nature of whose connection to Steele is unclear. The committee revealed Warner had informed colleagues about the text messages in October. The full exchanges were turned over to the panel by Waldman in September, Fox reported.
It is not clear why it would be improper for Warner to seek the testimony of a key figure in the Trump-Russia saga with the knowledge of his GOP counterpart, and at least one other Republican leapt to Warner's defense.
"Sen. Warner fully disclosed this to the committee four months ago,” Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) tweeted Thursday. "Has had zero impact on our work."
Sekulow rebuked Burr and Rubio, describing their response to the Fox story as "really weak."
"It may have zero impact on his work,” Sekulow said of Rubio’s tweet. "I’m not so sure it has zero impact on the United States."
"Republicans are covering for him,” he added. Sekulow's comments are significant in part because the Senate Intelligence Committee has conducted its probe into Russian election meddling in relative bipartisan harmony — a sharp contrast to the House Intelligence Committee's investigation, which has been wracked by partisan acrimony.
"This is an institutional issue going on right now in the United States Senate," Sekulow said. "If I had a client going up... I’d have real serious questions about whether I wanted my client to do that."
Fox reported that the texts also show Warner discussed with Waldman having Deripaska testify before his committee. Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, whom Mueller indicted this fall, worked for Deripaska several years ago before the men had a falling out over a failed business deal in Ukraine. Deripaska is now suing Manafort.
There is no sign that Warner or his colleagues remain in touch with Steele or his representatives. By October, Burr and Warner indicated their attempts to contact Steele had failed.
"Unfortunately, the committee has hit a wall," Burr told reporters in an October news conference with Warner.
"We have on several occasions made attempts to contact Mr. Steele, to meet with Mr. Steele, to include personally the vice chairman and myself as two individuals making that connection," he said. "Those offers have gone unaccepted."
Burr added that he still hoped Steele would change his mind, “so that we can hear his side of it versus for us to depict in our findings what his intent or what his actions were.”
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ReplyDeleteWind Pissers Pissing Into the Wind - Again
Don't you guys ever get tired of offering up nothingburgers?
The actual article makes the same point in place after place; yet, you still throw it up trying to convince yourself there is something there.
The comments by Jay Sekulow, a personal attorney to Trump, marked the latest stage in an ongoing conservative assault on congressional and law enforcement officials investigating possible Kremlin influence over Trump’s presidential campaign.
Of course, it did.
That says it all. Everything we've seen since Inspector Gadget took back the lead as Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee is a pile of fabricated bullshit that attacks everyone in (and out) of government in an attempt to discredit anyone even peripherally associated with any investigations of whether the Trump team was implicated in the Russian efforts to sway the 2016 election. They knock the FBI, DOJ, CIA, the media, Obama, Hillary, the Dems, members of the GOP leadership, the Senate Intelligence Committee that is investigating the same things Nunes is and not coming up with the same claims, anyone and everyone in an effort to manufacture the idea of a massive conspiracy against Trump by most in the government and half the people outside of it led by a cabal of insiders most of whom have been appointed to their jobs by Trump himself. And what do they offer? A lot of innuendo and suggestions of wrongdoing, a lot of 'wink wink, nudge nudge’and 'well there you have it, a lot of 'sure looks suspicious to me'. What you don't have is any proof of a crime. Oh, there are people running around with their hair on fires shouting, 'lies,' 'perjury', and god forbid, 'personal bias'. You hear talk of new investigations, of new special counsels, of indictments for perjury and contempt of Congress. What you get is nothing but a concerted effort by the White House and Inspector Gadget to muddy the water by offering up a steady stream of nothingburgers and making certain that only one side of the story is heard, theirs. What you don’t see are grand juries or special counsels set up to investigate the charges. Why?
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"Why would the majority ranking member of the Senate Intelligence Committee be doing this?" Sekulow said on his daily radio show Friday. He implied that the messages revealed bias on Warner’s part that should give potential committee witnesses pause.
Well, gee, I don’t know. Why don’t you ask him instead of broadcasting an open ended question you really don't want to know the answer to?
Sekulow is one of Trump’s three primary lawyers in the Russia investigation, alongside John Dowd, who like Sekulow is a personal Trump attorney, and Ty Cobb, the top White House lawyer handling the Russia probe.
A longtime fixture on Fox News and talk radio, he has taken a combative stance toward officials investigating Trump. In December, Sekulow called for a formal investigation into alleged anti-Trump bias on the staff of special counsel Robert Mueller.
Oh. Never mind.
Many other conservatives, including Trump himself, have pounced on the Fox report about Warner — although they have been unclear about what exactly they believe Warner might have done wrong, and two key Senate Republicans have defended their Democratic colleague.
Of course.
On Friday afternoon, the lead headline at the conservative news site Breitbart proclaimed Warner’s interactions with Waldman an example of “More Democrat-Russian Collusion.”
Speculation. Provocative headline. No evidence whatsoever.
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“Wow! -Senator Mark Warner got caught having extensive contact with a lobbyist for a Russian oligarch," Trump tweeted Thursday night. "Warner did not want a 'paper trail' on a 'private' meeting (in London) he requested with Steele of fraudulent Dossier fame. All tied into Crooked Hillary.”
More fake news from the ‘Fake News’ President if we are to believe the rest of the story.
Warner and the committee's top Republican, Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), have for months publicly described efforts to contact Steele, whose dossier Trump calls false and defamatory.
Devin Nunes/Trump: “Ignore the man behind the curtain.”
It is not clear why it would be improper for Warner to seek the testimony of a key figure in the Trump-Russia saga with the knowledge of his GOP counterpart, and at least one other Republican leapt to Warner's defense.
"Sen. Warner fully disclosed this to the committee four months ago,” Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) tweeted Thursday. "Has had zero impact on our work."
Hmmm. Little Marco, what could you expect.
Sekulow rebuked Burr and Rubio, describing their response to the Fox story as "really weak."
:o)
Jump on the Trump train or get run over, boys.
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"It may have zero impact on his work,” Sekulow said of Rubio’s tweet. "I’m not so sure it has zero impact on the United States."
What the fuck does that even mean?
(But in the background the Trumpkins start waving their flags, kissing their mon’s on the cheek, and eating another piece of apple pie.)
Fox reported that the texts also show Warner discussed with Waldman having Deripaska testify before his committee. Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, whom Mueller indicted this fall, worked for Deripaska several years ago before the men had a falling out over a failed business deal in Ukraine. Deripaska is now suing Manafort.
On the House side, Schiff has been complaining for months that Inspector Gadget determined the list of witnesses for the House committee and refused to allow a number of witnesses the Dems wanted to interview.
If you want a cabal with bias, look at the incestuous relationship between Nunes and the White House, a relationship so incestuous Nunes was given a time out and forced to sit in the corner on his own committee for 8 months for lies, and leaks, and partisanship (some might call it bias).
"We have on several occasions made attempts to contact Mr. Steele, to meet with Mr. Steele, to include personally the vice chairman and myself as two individuals making that connection," he said. "Those offers have gone unaccepted."
Another nothingburger but is does its job, another distraction, another bright light for the Trumpkins to chase around the room, one more day of winks and nudges and conspiracy theories. One more day out of the way in the lead up to the November election.
And the Trumpkins say (those that don’t yell it), “See, I knew it.”
Pitiful.
.
Nunes is not Sekulow.
ReplyDeleteJust because you can copy and paste "nothingburger" does not mean there is no there there:
Do you still contend you see no evidence of corruption at the DOJ and FBI?
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ReplyDeleteDemocrats also thought the release of the memo was so urgent that THEY DID NOT EVEN MEET this weekend to rewrite their tripe.
ReplyDelete("Shouting" quietly copied and pasted.)
Mark Meadows: Democrats keep complaining about their counter-memo not being released. But if it was so critical, why have 75% of House Dems not even read their own memo?
ReplyDeletePerhaps even they know: this memo was written in panic as a misdirection from the disturbing information we already know.