Special Counsel Robert Mueller was secretly given the go-ahead to investigate allegations former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort worked with Russia to interfere in the 2016 election and also committed financial crimes.
In a memo dated August 2, 2017, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein wrote Mueller was free to go after Manafort on allegations he worked with the Kremlin to interfere in the election “in violation of United States law.”
www.newsweek.com/mueller-reveals-secret-authorization-go-after-paul-manafort-869510
First sentencing today in mueller witch hunt
Attorney Alex van der Zwaan could face up to 5 years for lying.
Alex van der Zwaan, who has no known ties to the Trump campaign, entered a guilty plea in February on charges that he lied to federal agents and will be sentenced Tuesday in federal court in Washington, ABC News reported.
Van der Zwaan, 33, lied to Mueller’s prosecutors about his work in Ukraine with former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his business associate Rick Gates.
nypost.com/2018/04/03/dutch-lawyer-will-be-first-sentenced-in-russia-probe/
The redacted, previously classified document leaves space for other specific tasks for the Mueller investigation and was drawn up as an addition to the public authorization of the special counsel’s broad remit to investigate Russian election interference last May.
“The May 17, 2017 order was worded categorically in order to permit its public release without confirming specific investigations involving specific individuals,” Rosenstein’s memo states.
The revelation of the August 2 memo comes amid a broader court filing from Mueller’s prosecutors that offers a full-throated defense of their investigative powers and indictments thus far. In the filing, the special counsel’s office argues that a federal judge should not throw out Manafort’s case.
Manafort has sought to have the case dismissed, arguing that the charges against him are outside of Mueller’s authority.
The filing Monday night crystallizes the extent to which Rosenstein, who has come under fire by President Donald Trump and others, has backed the investigation’s actions. (Rosenstein oversees Mueller’s investigation following Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ recusal.)
www.cnn.com/2018/04/03/politics/mueller-manafort-rosenstein-memo/index.html
The memo, attached to Monday night’s court argument and not previously disclosed even to Manafort, describes how Rosenstein’s public order that appointed Mueller in May left out some details so it didn’t confirm “specific investigations involving specific individuals.”
Most of the investigations and individuals that Rosenstein named in that memo are now redacted — amounting to almost a full page of withheld information.
www.cnn.com/2018/04/03/politics/mueller-manafort-rosenstein-memo/index.html
Dutch national Alex van der Zwaan is expected to become the first person sentenced in special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation on Tuesday in federal court in Washington, having pleaded guilty to lying to federal agents.
He has no known ties to the Trump campaign. But in sentencing discussions filed with the court, Mueller alleged that van der Zwaan and Gates held discussions with a business associate who was a former Russian intelligence officer during the final months of the 2016 campaign.
abcnews.go.com/Politics/court-poised-hand-1st-sentence-mueller-probe/story?id=54190424
He came recommended by his former business partner Roger Stone, an occasional adviser to Trump.
www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/10/how-did-these-guys-get-hired/544358/
But probe a little deeper and none of the sources familiar with the details can quite agree anymore how Trump came to decide hiring Manafort was a good idea.
At least three differing and at-times-contradictory versions are offered by sources in Trump’s orbit.
In the first version of these facts, Trump son-in-law and current White House senior adviser Jared Kushner proposed a re-introduction to Manafort
The second version of how Manafort came to the center of Trump’s campaign lies with Nixon-era operative Roger Stone, a Trump adviser.
The third version of these stories comes from those close to Lewandowski: Manafort convinced the Trump family of his value for a limited role, got inside and and then pushed out the campaign manager.
time.com/5003298/paul-manafort-indictment-donald-trump/
Alex van der Zwaan, a former attorney at a prestigious law firm, is scheduled to be sentenced in Washington on Tuesday for lying to federal investigators in the Russia probe, making him the first defendant in the sprawling criminal case to face sentencing.
Van der Zwaan pleaded guilty in February to lying about his conversations with Rick Gates, who was Donald Trump’s deputy campaign manager in 2016, and an unnamed person who prosecutors say has ties to Russian intelligence.
www.chicagotribune.com/la-na-pol-russia-sentencing-lawyer-20180402-story.html
Sounds just like what Hillary did…..
When asked by investigators about his contacts with Gates and another unnamed person, Van der Zwaan withheld information about communications in the months lea
www.chicagotribune.com/la-na-pol-russia-sentencing-lawyer-20180402-story.html
Mueller prepares indictments on DNC and Podesta hacking
www.msnbc.com/mtp-daily/watch/mueller-prepares-indictments-on-dnc-and-podesta-hacking-1174466115518
Such BS
Robert Mueller readying charges against Russian hackers over DNC, Podesta breaches: Report
Special counsel Robert Mueller is building a criminal case against Russians accused of hacking U.S. targets during the 2016 U.S. presidential race and leaking stolen information damaging to Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, NBC News reported Thursday.
www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/mar/2/robert-mueller-readying-charges-against-russian-ha/
h/t kpm