Tag: Donald Trump presidential campaign, 2016

(CNN)A federal judge expressed deep skepticism Friday of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation in the bank fraud case against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, at one point saying he believes that Mueller's motivation is to oust President Donald Trump from office. Although Mueller's authority has been tested in court before, Friday's hearing was notable for District Judge T.S. "That's what you're really interested in," Ellis said, citing how prosecutors regularly turn cooperators in drug cases. Manafort has asked the judge to review Mueller's authority to bring charges in an investigation that began well before the special counsel's appointment and focused on actions years before the campaign. Though he faces another criminal case in DC federal court, Manafort refused the prosecutors' earlier request to move these charges out of Ellis' district and combine them with the DC case. Though Ellis largely skewered the special counsel's office on Friday, he also acknowledged to Manafort's lawyer the Justice Department's internal oversight and the detailed August 2 memo commissioning Mueller to investigate Manafort for his Ukrainian ties, which the special counsel's office allege connect him to Russians. Manafort's charges in Virginia relate to bank fraud and other financial allegations from years ago. Mueller's prosecutors will have to turn over a full, unredacted version of the August 2 memo that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein used to describe the criminal allegations Mueller's team could investigate, Ellis ordered. The judge said he would like to see the full memo, which prosecutors submitted to the court in Virginia and in Washington with more than a page of redactions. Manafort is charged in Virginia with financial violations related to his lobbying work in Ukraine prior to joining Trump's 2016 campaign.

WASHINGTON — The grand jury investigating alleged collusion between Russia and Donald Trump's presidential campaign has sent a witness a subpoena seeking all documents involving the president and a host of his closest advisers, according to a copy of the subpoena reviewed by NBC News. According to the subpoena, which was sent to a witness by special counsel Robert Mueller, investigators want emails, text messages, work papers, telephone logs and other documents going back to Nov. 1, 2015, 4½ months after Trump launched his campaign. The witness shared details of the subpoena on condition of anonymity. The news site Axios reported Sunday that a subpoena was sent to a witness last month. NBC News reported last week that Mueller's team is asking pointed questions about whether Trump knew about hacked emails from Hillary Clinton's campaign before the public found out. The subpoena indicates that Mueller may be focused not just on what Trump campaign aides knew and when they knew it, but also on what Trump himself knew. In addition to the president, the subpoena seeks documents that have anything to do with these current and former Trump associates: Michael Cohen, a personal lawyer for Trump who testified before congressional investigators in October. Rick Gates, Trump's former deputy campaign manager, who pleaded guilty last month to conspiracy and lying to the FBI. Paul Manafort, a former Trump campaign manager and Gates' business partner, who pleaded not guilty to money laundering, conspiracy and making false statements last week. The article itself was correct.

President Trump’s reelection campaign on Saturday used an image of a survivor of the recent Florida school shooting in an email asking for donations from its supporters. The email led with an image of Trump and first lady Melania at the bedside of Madeleine Wilford, 17, who was injured in the shooting. The same photo had been shared on Trump’s official Instagram last week. "The nation has turned its attention to the senseless school shooting in Parkland, Florida," the email read. President Trump is taking steps towards banning gun bump stocks and strengthening background checks for gun purchasers,” the email continued. CNN first reported on the email. The Hill has reached out to the Trump campaign for comment. Trump and the first lady had visited survivors of the shooting in Florida last Friday. Seventeen people were killed after a gunman targeted Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. The president also met with student survivors during a meeting at the White House, where the students pushed for action to prevent further massacres.

The House Intelligence Committee on Saturday released a long-anticipated Democratic rebuttal that attempts to dismantle claims made in a GOP memo alleging the government used improper surveillance tactics during the 2016 presidential campaign. The rebuttal claims that officials at the FBI and Justice Department “did not abuse the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) process, omit material information, or subvert this vital tool to spy on the Trump campaign.” The Democratic rebuttal backed the FBI and DOJ in its pursuit of the FISA warrant, saying that the agencies “would have been remiss in their duty to protect the country had they not sought a FISA warrant and repeated renewals to conduct temporary surveillance of Carter Page, someone the FBI assessed to be an agent of the Russian government.” They added that the DOJ met the “rigor, transparency, and evidentiary basis” needed to meet FISA’s probable cause requirement. The GOP memo, released in early February, asserted that the FBI and DOJ relied on a Democrat-funded anti-Trump dossier to ask the FISA court for a warrant to monitor Page, a one-time adviser to President Donald Trump. President Trump tweeted following the rebuttal memo's release, calling it "a total political and legal BUST." — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 24, 2018 He added: "Dem Memo: FBI did no disclose who the client were - the Clinton Campaign and the DNC. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 24, 2018 Here are some other reactions to the memo: White House White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders calls the rebuttal a “politically driven document” which “fails to answer serious concerns raised by the Majority’s memorandum about the use of partisan opposition research from one candidate, loaded with uncorroborated allegations, as a basis to ask a court to approve surveillance of a former associate of another candidate, at the height of a presidential campaign.” Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif. https://t.co/G128SNicdn — Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) February 24, 2018 "Wrong again, Mr. President," Schiff said. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., tweeted that "the Schiff memo is a well-considered rebuttal to the misinformation in the Nunes memo," which she added, "shouldn't have seen the light of day." Sen. Mark Warner, D-VA Sen. Mark Warner, D-VA, called the FBI's actions "fully appropriate and entirely lawful" and said it was "deeply unfortunate that House Republicans decided to the release classified information in order to mislead the American people for partisan political purposes." — Mark Warner (@MarkWarner) February 24, 2018 "Now that the Nunes memo has been thoroughly debunked, the White House and its allies in Congress must put a stop to the dangerous partisan sideshows that jeopardize classified sources and methods and focus on Russia's unprecedented interference in our election."