Section: TPM (USA)
Trump Refugee Policy Leaves Thousands Stranded Outside US
WASHINGTON (AP) — Death threats drove Hadi Mohammed out of Iraq and to a small apartment in Nebraska, where he and his two young sons managed to settle as refugees. But the danger hasn’t been enough to allow his wife to join them. Mohammed, who worked as a security guard for the U.S. military in Baghdad, says he was initially told his wife...
Was Trump Alone Employing the Tools of Cyber Warfare?
Here’s a question I’d like your help with. Some questions are so sprawling and broad there’s no better way to get started than to canvass TPM Readers. So here goes. One of Trump supporters’ zanier pushbacks has been this argument: In 2008 when Barack Obama was way ahead of the curve using the Internet to run a political...
Putting the New Cohen Revelations into the Early 2017 Timeline
We’ve now had reports from The New York Times that Michael Cohen had three meetings with Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg in the weeks just before and after President Trump’s inauguration. This occurred the US investment affiliate of Vekselberg’s holding company, which is run by his cousin, was in the process of hiring Cohen...
Federal Judge Deals Manafort Another Setback In DC Criminal Case
The federal judge presiding over Paul Manafort’s case in Washington, D.C. dealt him another legal setback Friday by declining to throw out charges brought against him that Manafort alleged were “multiplicitous.” U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson had previously dismissed two seperate legal challenges brought by Manafort alleging that...
This Week: ‘Spygate’ Sham Escalates, A Cohen Ally Cooperates With The Gov’t
The White House and conservative media went into overdrive this week with claims that the FBI planted spies in the Trump campaign. We now know there was an informant, Cambridge University professor Stefan Halper, working with the bureau, but there is no indication that he was “embedded” in the campaign as a “spy” for “political” purposes....
Michael Caputo’s Legal Defense Fund Touts $300K In Donations
A legal defense fund set up for Trump campaign advisor Michael Caputo has raised more than $300,000, a press release from the fund touted Friday, and is now prepared to pay the legal fees of other Trump associates, including J.D. Gordon, another veteran of the Trump campaign. Caputo’s cooperation with congressional investigators, according...
Investigators: Russian Missile Brought Down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17
BUNNIK, Netherlands (AP) — Detailed analysis of video and photos has unequivocally established that the Buk missile that brought down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over eastern Ukraine nearly four years ago came from a Russia-based military unit, an international team of investigators said Thursday. It is the clearest link yet published by the team...
Judge Weighs Whether To Toss Key Evidence In Mueller’s Case Against Manafort
A federal judge in Washington, D.C. grappled Wednesday with whether key evidence obtained by the FBI against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort should be admitted at his trial. Judge Amy Berman Jackson spent the bulk of the hearing discussing the FBI search of Manafort’s storage unit. The main issue is whether an employee of...
BBC: Cohen Got Hefty Secret Payment To Arrange Trump-Ukraine Meeting
Sources in Ukraine told the BBC that Michael Cohen received a hefty secret payment to set up talks between the Ukrainian president and President Trump last year. Cohen denies it. According to the BBC’s Wednesday report, intermediaries for Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko arranged the payment to Cohen for his help in establishing a back...
Mueller Team Hints At Still-Unrevealed PR Firms Involved In Manafort Case
Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team suggested Wednesday that there were other yet-to-be-revealed public relations firms involved in Paul Manafort’s Ukraine lobbying scheme beyond those already referenced specifically in the indictment. The hint came in a hearing in front of a federal judge in Washington D.C. concerning...
