Tag: paul manafort

_____________________ Jamal Khashoggi is dead, said Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia’s government said on Friday that Jamal Khashoggi, the missing Saudi dissident who was a columnist for the Washington Post, was strangled during a fistfight with its agents inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. President Trump appeared to accept Saudi Arabia’s explanation on Friday. [Read the story] American intelligence officials, however, are increasingly convinced that Mr. Khashoggi was the victim of a planned killing and that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is culpable. [Read the story] Additional Reading • Khashoggi Disappearance May Disrupt Trump Administration’s Plans to Squeeze Iran • News Analysis: In Trump’s Saudi Bargain, the Bottom Line Proudly Wins Out • Khashoggi’s Disappearance Puts Kushner’s Bet on Saudi Crown Prince at Risk The Justice Department accused Russians of meddling in the midterms. [Read the story] Mr. Trump praised an assault on a reporter during a rally on Thursday and railed against immigration during another on Friday. Democratic candidates in key congressional races are outpacing their Republican opponents in fund-raising, according to an analysis of reports filed Monday with the Federal Election Commission. But huge checks from conservative donors are assuring that their side stays competitive. [Read the story] Additional Reading • As Other Republican Candidates Struggle Financially, Trump Stockpiles Cash • Who Raised More Money? He is seen as the G.O.P.’s best opportunity to flip a Democratic seat in November.

During an address to an annual charity dinner in New York on Thursday night, outgoing U.N. She also took jabs at Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Sens. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and convicted Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort. Haley, who served as governor of South Carolina before joining the Trump administration, also recalled her upbringing as a minority in the Palmetto State. Actually, we both were.” She made note of another no-show at the dinner. The president says it’s going to be the best Halloween ever — nothing like it ever before, huge!” Speaking of her job, which she plans to leave in January, Haley noted that many of the U.N. member nations are often angry with the United States. Amid the jokes, Haley, who still might have a political future ahead of her, also relayed a sobering message about the riled state of politics in the United States — which some interpreted as criticism of Trump. “In our toxic political environment, I’ve heard some people in both parties describe their opponents as enemies or evil,” Haley said. “We have some serious political differences here at home. But our opponents are not evil.

The sentencing date for former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort has been set for February 2019 as he entered court in a wheelchair raising concerns from his legal team about his health behind bars. » Subscribe to MSNBC: http://on.msnbc.com/SubscribeTomsnbc About:…

A Russian participant in the notorious meeting held by Donald Trump’s son at Trump Tower last year had business ties to a man who was believed by US authorities in a 2000 US government report to have links to former Soviet intelligence officials. Irakly Kaveladze was identified this week as the eighth attendee of the June 2016 meeting, which has become central to questions over Russian interference in last year’s presidential election. Eighth person at Trump Jr meeting was accused of money laundering Read more Trump’s son, Donald Jr, agreed to the meeting after being told by email that he would be given damaging information about Hillary Clinton, their Democratic opponent, as part of an effort by the Russian government to support Trump. Kaveladze, a 52-year-old executive at a Moscow-based property firm with ties to Trump, was found in a 2000 US Government Accountability Office report to have created hundreds of shell companies for a $1.4bn scheme that US investigators suspected was used to launder Russian money through American banks. In a telephone interview this week, Goldstein, 53, denied having ties to intelligence agencies in Russia or the former Soviet Union. They were joined by Rinat Akhmetshin, a Russian American political operative and former military officer. Kaveladze’s attorney, Scott Balber, did not respond to questions about the $1.4bn money transfer system involving Russian funds. Goldstein says that Johansons did not work with the bank he founded or during any time that Goldstein had an interest in the merged bank and that he had never met nor spoken with Johansons. In 1996, according to the GAO investigators, Goldstein’s company signed a contract with a company owned by Kaveladze for Kaveladze to introduce potential banking customers to Goldstein’s company, and then open bank accounts for them at Commercial Bank, where Goldstein was director of private banking and international banking. The GAO passed their findings to law enforcement agencies but no charges were ever brought.

Special Counsel Bob Mueller is racing ahead with the Mueller probe. Politico’s Josh Gerstein joins Ari Melber to discuss his new reporting that Paul Manafort’s plea deal was designed to be “Trump-proof” and Watergate Prosecutor, Nick Akerman, breaks down why…

President Trump’s former chairman Paul Manafort has a lot of cash, property, and expensive clothes. Stephanie Ruhle and Ali Velshi break down the fortunes he will lose in his plea deal with Robert Mueller. Weighing in: NBC’s Ken Dilanian. »…

Paul Manafort: Trump's ex-campaign chair agrees to cooperate with Mueller Read more “I think these people know everything already,” said Credico, who was there to answer questions about his old friend Roger Stone, a sometime adviser to Donald Trump. “They have all the information.” “All the information” grew significantly on Friday, as Mueller announced that the former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort had entered into a cooperation agreement with prosecutors requiring him to testify indefinitely about any matter of interest to investigators, potentially including the inner workings of the campaign, its contacts with Russia, Trump family business dealings in Russia or his own contacts with Russia. His central mission is to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 election and alleged cooperation by the Trump presidential campaign. Will Roger Stone be indicted? Roger Stone says he may soon be indicted in Trump-Russia investigation Read more Following the money Federal prosecutors are investigating suspect money flows during and after the election, although it is unclear how much of that investigation is in Mueller’s purview versus how much is being run, for example, out of the US attorney’s office for the southern district of New York. Prosecutors are investigating large overseas money flows following the June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower between campaign officials and Russian operatives, and also following the November 2016 election, BuzzFeed reported on Wednesday. Money flows originally tipped prosecutors off to the crimes of the former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, who pleaded guilty last month to fraud charges and campaign finance violations in a prosecution referred by Mueller. Trump and obstruction of justice Mueller is also believed to be investigating Trump, who denies all wrongdoing, for alleged obstruction of justice. The president’s legal team, led by Rudy Giuliani, appears to be in negotiations with Mueller. He has contradicted himself, saying last week that Trump would refuse to answer any questions about obstruction of justice, and then saying “we’re not closing it off 100%”.

But even a deadly storm doesn't entirely distract from the political turbulence in and around the White House this week. That's where NPR's Scott Horsley comes in. Ordinarily, the press staff would invite cameras into his briefings so the public could see for themselves that the president's on top of the situation. Now a lot of those deaths did not take place directly during the storm. SIMON: And turning to the political news of the week, which is important. Do sources in the White House believe Paul Manafort has a lot to dish about on Donald Trump and/or the Trump campaign? HORSLEY: Publicly, the White House is stressing that Paul Manafort's guilty pleas have nothing to do with his work on the Trump campaign. If you read the information, it's not about the time that Manafort spent on the campaign. HORSLEY: According to The New Yorker, a woman who knew Kavanaugh in high school notified her congresswoman, and also Senator Dianne Feinstein, that at a party back in the early '80s, Kavanaugh had held her down and tried to force himself on her. SIMON: NPR's Scott Horsley, thanks so much.

Glenn Kirschner tells Lawrence O'Donnell why the plea agreement struck by Paul Manafort leads him to conclude that Manafort has "blockbuster information" to share with Robert Mueller in his investigation of Pres. Trump's campaign and Russia. » Subscribe to MSNBC:…

Image Good Friday morning. Here are some of the stories making news in Washington and politics today: • Paul Manafort, President Trump’s former campaign chairman, is close to a plea deal with federal prosecutors, people familiar with the case said. [Read the story] • Safiya Wazir, 27, who fled the Taliban in Afghanistan with her family in 1997, won an upset victory in a Democratic primary for New Hampshire state representative. [Read the story] • Dianne Feinstein, the senior Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said she had referred an unspecified matter involving Judge Brett Kavanaugh to federal investigators. [Read the story] • Brock Long, the FEMA chief, has been forced to divert attention amid Hurricane Florence preparations to personal damage control over an investigation into his possible misuse of agency vehicles. [Read the story] • The National Labor Relations Board is set to publish a proposed rule redefining a company’s responsibility for workers engaged at arm’s length, such as those hired by contractors or franchisees. [Read the story] • Economists say relatively modest gains over the last few years are endangered by the Trump administration’s policies and are vulnerable to a downturn. [Read the story] • Mark Zuckerberg published a roughly 3,300-word blog post cataloging steps that Facebook has taken to prevent election interference. [Read the story] • Companies and business groups are mounting a last-ditch effort to convince Mr. Trump that his trade policies are hurting his base. [Read the story] Today’s On Politics briefing was compiled by Emily Baumgaertner in Washington.