President Trump and his legal team “have taken issue with some of the questions from special counsel Robert Mueller that cover the transition period after the 2016 election, believing it could be off limits under executive privilege as they pertain to the presidency,” CNN reports.
“The source would not explicitly say whether the President answered those questions other than to say that there are ‘responses’ to all of the questions that were asked.”
A federal judge upheld a federal indictment against the Russian troll farm accused of meddling in the 2016 election, handing a victory to special counsel Robert Mueller, CNN reports.
It was the second time that Judge Dabney Friedrich, a Trump appointee, sided with Mueller and let the case proceed.
Six days before WikiLeaks began releasing Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta’s emails, Roger Stone had a text message conversation with a friend about WikiLeaks, according to phone records obtained by NBC News.
In the texts, Randy Credico told Stone he had insights into Julian Assange’s plans through a longtime friend, who was also Assange’s lawyer.
“Special counsel Robert Mueller’s office is exploring whether longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone tried to intimidate and discredit a witness who is contradicting Mr. Stone’s version of events about his contacts with WikiLeaks,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“In grand jury sessions and interviews, prosecutors have repeatedly asked about emails, text messages and online posts involving Mr. Stone and his former friend, New York radio personality Randy Credico… Mr. Stone has asserted that Mr. Credico was his backchannel to WikiLeaks, a controversial transparency group, an assertion Mr. Credico denies.”
“Roger Stone claimed on several occasions during the 2016 presidential race that he was in communication with Donald Trump and his campaign, including declaring that he on average spoke with Trump weekly,” CNN reports.
“The nature of that communication is now part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the election. Stone is facing scrutiny for his claims to have had a backchannel to WikiLeaks during the campaign. Particularly, investigators are looking into whether Stone shared information that he believed was from WikiLeaks with members of Trump’s presidential campaign,”
Hillary Clinton said that Stacey Abrams (D) would already have won Georgia’s governor race if there had been a fair election, the Austin American-Statesman reports.
Said Clinton: “If she had a fair election, she already would have won.”
Although it was a federal holiday today, CNN reports that at least eight prosecutors working for special counsel Robert Mueller were in the office today.
Law and Crime: “So while federal courts may be closed and there’s ‘no reason to believe; a grand jury is meeting, it’s still within the realm of possibility that Michael Cohen in D.C. + numerous Mueller prosecutors work = the precursor to something bigger.”
For members: More Mueller Indictments Coming?
Jerome Corsi, a conspiracy theorist linked to Roger Stone and who was subpoenaed to testify in Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, told ABC News that he’s expecting an indictment from the special counsel soon.
Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) told CNN that if President Trump is found to have violated campaign finance laws with hush payments to women then it “might very well be an impeachable offense.”
Said Nadler: “Well, it may be an impeachable offense if it goes to the question of the President procuring his office through corrupt means. And that could be impeachable.”
Talks between Special Counsel Robert Mueller and former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort “have grown increasingly tense over Manafort’s apparent lack of cooperation with the investigation,” ABC News reports.
“Prosecutors from Mueller’s office have been asking Manafort about a wide range of topics in nearly a dozen meetings since Manafort agreed to cooperate in September, sources said, but the Mueller team is ‘not getting what they want.'”
“The consequences of failing to fully cooperate could be dire when it comes time for Manafort to be sentenced.”
First Read: “We guess it’s only fitting — and expected — that Election Day 2018 is far from over, with drama and controversies over new vote counts and/or upcoming recounts in Arizona, Florida and Georgia.”
“But what is taking place in Florida is now war – after Republican Rick Scott’s lead in the Senate contest was reduced to just 15,000 votes. Scott, the state’s current governor, filed a lawsuit accusing Democrats of fraud and trying to steal the election. President Trump weighed in, tweeting: ‘Law Enforcement is looking into another big corruption scandal having to do with Election Fraud in #Broward and Palm Beach. Florida voted for Rick Scott!'”
“What happens when you have a 2000-like recount in our current Trump Era – not only in Florida, but also in Arizona and Georgia? Well, we’re about to find out. The following weeks in Florida could very well define the state over the next two years, and it’s likely to produce a result where half of the state won’t believe it’s legitimate.”
The Guardian: “A Russian man who is said to have ties to Moscow’s intelligence services will be receiving renewed scrutiny from special counsel Robert Mueller’s inquiry into Russian 2016 election interference.”
“Mueller is investigating Konstantin Kilimnik with assistance from three Kilimnik associates, including Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, who mentored Kilimnik as a political operative for pro-Kremlin figures in Ukraine.”
“A year-and-a-half before he took responsibility for overseeing the investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election, Matthew Whitaker, now the acting attorney general, had already reached a conclusion,” the Daily Beast reports.
Said Whitaker, on the Willow Majority show: “The truth is there was no collusion with the Russians and the Trump campaign. There was interference by the Russians into the election, but that was not collusion with the campaign. That’s where the left seems to be combining those two issues.”
He added: “The last thing they want right now is for the truth to come out, and for the fact that there’s not a single piece of evidence that demonstrates that the Trump campaign had any illegal or any improper relationships with the Russians. It’s that simple.”
“The president has said on multiple occasions the Mueller investigation should be completed. He wishes it would happen sooner. But I don’t think there’s any chance that the Mueller investigation will not be allowed to finish.”
— Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), quoted by CBS News.
President Trump and his attorneys “are planning to meet next week to decide whether to submit any of their written responses to special counsel Robert Mueller about what Trump might have known about Russian hacking during the 2016 campaign,” Politico reports.
Vanity Fair: “Trump’s move against Sessions today arrives at a moment when Trump allies are increasingly concerned about Donald Trump Jr.’s legal exposure. In recent days, according to three sources, Don Jr. has been telling friends he is worried about being indicted as early as this week.”
“One person close to Don Jr. speculated that Mueller could indict him for making false statements to Congress and the F.B.I. about whether he had told his father about the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting with Russians to gather ‘dirt’ on Hillary Clinton. This source had heard that the case could revolve around Trump’s former deputy campaign chairman, Rick Gates, who’s cooperating with Mueller and who was deeply involved in the campaign at the time of the meeting. Trump, this person continued, is ‘very upset’ about the risks Don Jr. faces.”
Said the source: “The president is very depressed.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Wonk Wire, Political Job Hunt and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
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