FAQ: The Comey Hearing

Posted on March 22, 2017 by Greg Olear

I’VE SPENT THE LAST TWO DAYS responding to questions about the revelations in yesterday’s historic hearing on Capitol Hill.[1. Thanks to Craig for getting this started.] Here are my answers:

The FBI has been investigating the Trump people since the summer?!? WTF? Comey clearly didn’t like Clinton, so the motives behind his actions are questionable. Why didn’t he divulge anything about FBI investigations into Trump during the campaign?

There are several reasons. First, the FBI’s New York field office, notoriously pro-Trump and allegedly honeycombed with Putin sympathizers, initiated the Weiner laptop investigation, told Rudy Giuliani about it, and were threatening to leak it to the press if Comey did nothing. So he was in a tight spot. If he wrote the letter and the Hillary lost, he’d be accused of helping her; if he didn’t, the opposite…and this was a cause of concern, because he’d already pronounced her innocent, back in July, to the consternation of the GOP. He weighed his options and went with it.

(The letter itself, incidentally, was leaked almost immediately by Jason Chaffetz, who has been especially partisan and derelict of duty throughout this Trump mess.)

As for the Russia piece, that’s simple: as a highly classified, on-going counterintelligence investigation with enormous national security implications, he is legally bound not to discuss it at all. As Louise Mensch explained on 17 January, and I expounded upon a week later, all Comey can legally say about it is “I can neither confirm nor deny”—the GLOMAR defense.

 

What’s worse, letting a Manchurian Candidate become President or divulging counter-intelligence capabilities?

The former, surely, and Comey must realize that by now, if he didn’t at the time.

 

Is it possible that Comey wanted to confirm the existence of the Russia investigation before now?

Sure. It is notable that in Monday’s hearing, he acknowledged the investigation with permission from the Justice Department. This means that he asked for, and was granted, permission to say so now. It also might mean that he asked for, and was denied, permission to do the same prior to the election.

 

Wait, so OBAMA might have told him not to say something?

It’s not that outlandish a theory. Remember, Obama was deeply concerned about the integrity of the actual election. He might have concluded that such a revelation would play into the Russians’ hands and sully the perception of the results. Obama was also very sensitive about appearing too partisan; Comey announcing that Trump’s team was under investigation certainly would have come off that way. And remember, Hillary was supposed to win handily, and she did earn 2.8 million more votes. Yes, it’s certainly possible that remaining silent was not Comey’s preference.

 

Is Comey having buyer’s remorse? Fearing for his legacy? Playing some 3D chess long game against Russia?

Maybe all of the above. One thing’s for sure: no one can accuse Jim Comey, author of the “Comey letter,” of being an anti-Trump agent. He is uniquely qualified to prosecute the case. And whatever your feelings about him, he’s very good at his job and cannot be bought: exactly the sort of person Trump most fears.

 

Now what happens?

It appears that former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort—the guy who was in charge when the campaign surged into the lead—was involved in some highly shady and illegal activity. Mike Flynn is already in hot water. Roger Stone was clearly communicating with the Russians, which was obvious to anyone paying attention at the time. And Carter Page, a key figure in the Steele dossier, is likely also under investigation. Oh, and I almost forgot about Jeff Sessions, who perjured himself rather than admitting he met with the Russian ambassador. That’s five people Comey can indict right now, and five opportunities for plea deals involving testimony against other bad actors. Even if this ends with just Manafort, Stone, and Flynn in jail, and Sessions having to resign in disgrace, that would be enough to torpedo the Trump presidency. Trump will never wash the stink off him.

But who really thinks it ends there?

 

What’s the timeline?

Comey said there is no timeline, and will not be giving updates. But I’m sure he’s keen on getting this done as quickly as possible. Now that the media is finally reporting this stuff the way it should have in July—to wit: my boss, who has no inside knowledge save for being a smart guy and an avid reader of many newspapers, told me the day Manafort was hired that he was a gun for hire for dictator types and shady characters; this is not exactly news—more information will emerge. Investigators like Louise Mensch have been pushing this boulder up the hill for months, and on Monday, Comey pushed said boulder over the hump. Already the Wall Street Journal has turned on Trump. I’ve seen op-ed pieces suggesting he should resign, and soon, before the house of cards comes crashing down.

Mensch predicts it will take a year to 18 months. Eric Garland, on the other side of the spectrum, thinks it will be a matter of weeks before Pence takes the oath of office. Let’s just hope this happens before Trump blunders us into a war with North Korea, or does any more damage to American democracy.

But we have to stay vigilant. We have to demand that the investigations continue. We have to spread the word about Trump’s complicity. We have to make demands of our representatives in Congress. As I wrote in January, “All it will take is sufficient political cover for enough Republicans (21 in the House, 18 in the Senate) to feel safe enough to join the Democrats in dropping the gavel” and he will be gone.[2. I also wrote, in that same January 13 article, “If his dealings with Putin and the Russians are deeper than we think—spoiler alert: they are; they also reek of urine—Trump may well be gone sooner than William Henry Harrison, our ninth president, who lasted all of 32 days in office.” We are 30 days past that, but my spoiler alert was dead-on] His approval rating is already at a historic low. A few points lower, and the Republicans will make like Billy Zane to abandon the Trump-tanic.

As it states in that Two Corinthians book: Jim Comey giveth, and Jim Comey taketh away.

Don’t mess around with Jim.

 

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Postcards from the Resistance: Political Action for Introverts, Vol. 3

Posted on March 17, 2017 by Helen Gutfreund

  

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The Comey Conundrum: When Will the Hammer Fall?

Posted on March 17, 2017 by Greg Olear

ON MONDAY, James Comey, the Director of the FBI, is expected to appear at a public hearing as part of the House Intelligence Committee’s probe into Russian interference in the US election. This is a day those of us following the Trump/Russia Story have circled on our calendars, hopeful that the hearing will serve as the perfect forum for Comey to drop the hammer on our compromised president.

That there is a hammer, and that it will ultimately be dropped, is something we are taking on faith right now: faith in our sources and in the available evidence. The US Intelligence Community (IC) seems pretty convinced that the Russians meddled in the election, that they did so to install Donald Trump and torpedo Hillary Clinton, and that they did so at the personal behest of Vladimir Putin. Whatever evidence the IC may have to support this idea is classified, of course, but I’m inclined to believe the “17 agencies” over the Breitbart notion of a “deep state” coup attempt masterminded by Barack Obama—the same Obama who couldn’t stop Trump from happening while he was president. John Schindler, who covers national security for the Observer, has maintained the IC consensus opinion unwaveringly. Posts at The Cipher Brief take it as a given that the Russians interfered. Indeed, at a salon at Georgetown University last week, former CIA Acting Director Michael Morell said: “I think that the Russian interference in the election is a much bigger issue than the attention it has gotten—the attention it has gotten from the media, the attention it has gotten from Congress, the attention it got from the Obama White House, and obviously, the attention it is getting from this White House.” And:

He said the CIA placed “high confidence” that Russia did three things during the election: hacked the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and then subsequently leaked materials damaging to Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton; used social media to “create and amplify fake news;” and attempted – but failed – to access American voting machines.

“This is a huge deal,” Morell said. “Somebody tampering with our democracy. Somebody tampering with our very way of life.”

And while mainstream publications have been (frustratingly) slow to accept Louise Mensch as a credible source, the so-called “Conspiracy Queen” broke the story for Heat St. the day before the election that the FBI was granted a FISA warrant to investigate the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia. I wrote about this on these pages in January, citing that initial report and her subsequent take on the situation. Mensch’s account, like that of Christopher Steele, author of the notorious intelligence reports documenting Team Trump’s Kremlin complicity, gains credibility with each passing day. Sean Spicer mentioned Mensch at yesterday’s press briefing, which can only mean the White House seeks to discredit her. Why bother, unless she’s onto something?

Meanwhile, the reporting in mainstream outlets like the New York Times, the Washington Post, and CNN do little to throw water on the Russia Story. Mike Flynn’s shady dealings appear more egregious every week. The Russian ambassador seems to have held meetings with just about every Trump campaign insider prior to Inauguration, and even shook hands with Trump himself. Roger Stone exchanged billets-doux via Twitter with the notorious Russian hacker Guccifer 2.0. Paul Manafort, Carter Page, and Jeff Sessions were up their eyeballs in the goings-on, as was Jared Kushner. The timeline for the Russia Story is compelling without any need for speculation or editorializing. In addition, the denials from the Trump team (and, it must be said, from Moscow!) have grown louder and more desperate of late, as opportunistic scolds like Snowden BFF Glenn Greenwald suggest that the notion of Trump/Russia collusion is “a claim for which absolutely no evidence has thus far been presented,” despite a preponderance of circumstantial evidence that is, frankly, damning. (In Greenwald’s view, I am an “online charlatan” who is “personally benefiting from feeding the base increasingly unhinged, fact-free conspiracies”—as if sites like The Weeklings were veritable cash cows, or I couldn’t benefit more by ignoring Trumpromat completely and writing another novel, or if, for that matter, my timeline was as fictive as Trump’s claims of Obama tapping his phones.)

So who’s right?

At the end of the day, none of us have any special insight into what went on. We can only go by the sources available to us, and healthy skepticism is what separates us from Alex Jones.

Is it conspiracy theory to connect the dots? Or is it just good detective work?

~

Comey is the linchpin in all of this. In Scandal parlance, and pace Mensch, he’s the White Hat who will come to our collective rescue, while Hillary hides in the woods and Obama repairs to the remote Pacific [1. To avoid nuclear fallout from the looming altercation with North Korea?]. He’s been holding top secret meetings with members of Congress, presumably about Trump/Russia, and said members of Congress have left those meetings distraught. This week, it was Judiciary’s turn, with Dianne Feinstein and Chuck Grassley leaving the meeting looking like they’d watched Hostel twice in a row:

So what can we expect of Comey on Monday? There are three possibilities:

First, he can say that they did an investigation, and that the findings were not enough to indict Trump or his campaign. This would in fact echo what others have suggested, namely former DNI James Clapper, as well as Morell himself, at the same Georgetown salon mentioned earlier, as Greenwald so delightedly reports. Comey’s abandonment of the case would effectively cast the whole enterprise into the realm of 9/11 Trutherism and the Grassy Knoll. But it’s important to note that the FBI, unlike the CIA, is in the business of criminal investigation, and Comey almost certainly knows more than Clapper and Morell. Furthermore, if this were the case, why wouldn’t he have said so already?

Second, Comey can GLOMAR. Because a Trump/Russia on-going investigation is a national security issue, it is as classified as it gets, and legally, the only response Comey can give to any question related to it is, “I can neither confirm nor deny”—a “GLOMAR” defense. This is the most likely scenario for Monday:

GLOMAR, however, only applies to the specific natsec investigation, so Comey may well inveigh against Trump’s preposterous claim of Obama wiretapping his eponymous Tower.

Third, Comey may begin to present the case against Trump. This is what we’re all waiting for, pro- and anti-Trumpers alike. Is, for example, this assertion by a former White House staffer true?

If so, Comey must move with careful deliberation. This is no trifle. A crime of this magnitude could tear the country apart, and may well bring on another civil war. However dismal Trump’s approval ratings, a vast segment of the country—and the one most heavily armed—believes every word the man says. Will they believe the “fake news” of Trump’s Kremlin complicity?

Happily, Comey, whose infamous letter provided Trump with an October Surprise and, probably, the White House, is uniquely qualified to present the case. No one can plausibly say he’s anti-Trump. Even Trump thinks, idiotically, that Comey likes him. Still, the evidence must be “incontrovertible,” and the case airtight, or all hell will break loose.

If there exists a recording, say, of Donald Trump speaking to the Russian ambassador about lifting the sanctions in, say, September, what would the president do? Deny it? Call it a fake? Would he fight? Would be pull a Nixon and resign, hoping that Pence pardons him? Or would he perpetuate a world crisis, to throw us off the scent? Rex Tillerson is right now in Asia, with only one notably feckless member of the press in tow, rattling ominous sabers with the North Koreans. The stakes could not be higher; real life has proved more outrageous than anything encountered by Olivia Pope, Frank Underwood, or Carrie Mathison.

As Emerson said, if you’re going to shoot at a king, you must kill him. Comey has one shot to do this, and he has to get it right. The fate of the nation may well hinge on it.

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Meet the Collaborators: A Rogue’s Gallery of Trumpromat

Posted on March 13, 2017 by Greg Olear

WE KNOW the Russians meddled in our election.

We know they meddled in order to tilt the scales for Donald Trump.

We know an unusually high percentage of Trump Administration insiders have deep ties to Russia.

We know that these insiders deny and obfuscate and throw out conflicting stories whenever the subject is brought up—they’d soon perjure themselves than admit they met with the Russian ambassador—and seem determined to torpedo any serious investigation (this includes the President himself, whose attacks on “fake news” have generally escalated after the media reports a new development in the Russia Story).

Where there’s smoke there’s fire, and this fire reeks of borscht and caviar and Vladimir Putin’s aftershave.

As I wrote prior to the election, this is not, or at any rate should not be, a partisan issue. An inveterate adversary engaged in cyber warfare against the United States in order to get its preferred candidate elected…and succeeded! This is something every patriotic American should be appalled by.

Here is a rogue’s gallery of Trump/Russia collaborators, whom history will not remember kindly:

Congressional Lackeys

Richard Burr (R-NC)
Senator. Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. Participated in the famed three-hour meeting with FBI Director James Comey on February 17, at which the Trump/Russia ties were laid out, and seemed in favor of a full investigation. Has since demurred, and was one of the politicians solicited by White House press secretary Sean Spicer to disavow the Russia Story to the New York Times and other news outlets.

Devin Nunes (R-Calif.)
Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. Head of the House investigation into Russia. Member of Trump transition team. Has doubled down on Trump. Could not throw more water on the Russian investigation if he were the Wonder Twin who could only form of water. Very likely to be removed from office in ’18.

Paul Ryan (R-Wis.)
Speaker of the House. Alleged intellectual. Alleged policy wonk. Ayn Rand enthusiast. Has the power to file articles of impeachment. Has not exercised it. Looks the other way so much he’s like Linda Blair in The Exorcist. Collaborated with Trump to enact his glorious healthcare plan, which mostly involves depriving millions of people of healthcare to save some coin for his wealthy benefactors. Worse, he seems to genuinely believe his healthcare plan is good, which, to paraphrase A Fish Called Wanda, makes him either hopelessly naive or irretrievably stupid.

Jason “iPhone” Chaffetz (R-Utah)
Congressman. Chairman of House Oversight Committee. A veritable Javert in his pursuit of Hillary Clinton’s role in the Benghazi tragedy, but now that an inveterate enemy of the United States has meddled in our election, an operation that may well constitute an act of war, in order to elect Donald Trump? Crikketz. WaPo‘s Dana Milbank sums it up nicely:

Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), chairman of the House Oversight Committee, has offered a bevy of excuses: He doesn’t need to probe the Flynn affair because “it’s taking care of itself”; other panels could better protect “sources and methods”; he didn’t want to pry into the “private systems of a political party”; and he won’t “personally target the president.” As for Russian hacking, Chaffetz echoed a Chris Farley skit on “Saturday Night Live”: “It could be everything from a guy in a van down by the river down to a nation-state.

Chaffetz took the stage in one of the first town halls at which angry constituents turned up in droves to demand answers, chanting DO YOUR JOB, and he wrote off the evening as the work of paid protesters not in his district, which he certainly knows is a lie. Some have suggested that Chaffetz is being straight-up blackmailed to scuttle any investigation; he certainly acts like a guilty man on whom the FSB have damning kompromat.

Jason Chaffetz saw his shadow — six more weeks of the Trump Presidency.

Campaign surrogates & apparatchiks

Rudy Giuliani
Former mayor of New York. Trump surrogate. Bile spewer. Nosferatu lookalike. Bragged about an “October surprise” that turned out to be the Comey letter. Later boasted that his contacts at the FBI’s New York field office told him the letter was coming. (The FBI’s New York field office is alleged to be honeycombed with Russian moles.) Was in the running to be Secretary of State, despite no qualifications, and suddenly withdrew from consideration and has been quiet since. I wonder why?

Roger Stone
Youngest member of Richard Nixon’s “ratfuckers.” Inveterate provocateur. Communicated with Guccifer 2.0 during campaign concerning the latter’s hack of the DNC servers; Guccifer 2.0 is believed to be a fake account maintained by Russian intelligence. Is presumably a focus of (one of) the FBI investigation(s). In a tweet attack on Caroline O., @RVAWonk, a behavioral scientist with an extensive Twitter following, spewed misogyny I’d prefer not to quote here. Proponent of the debunked “Deep State” conspiracy.

Michael Cohen
Donald Trump’s personal attorney and longtime associate. Key figure in the Steele dossier, and presumably a focus of (one of) the FBI investigation(s). Steele has him in Prague this past August, which Cohen has denied in a variety of ways, including claiming he has never been to Prague, although this is not true. Held a meeting with Trump lackey and (alleged) Russian organized crime figure Felix Sater and pro-Putin Ukrainian politician Andrei Artemenko in late January 2017 concerning the lifting of sanctions on Russia. Delivered written proposal to Mike Flynn, then the national security adviser. His wife is from Ukraine.

Felix Sater
Convicted felon. Real estate dealmaker. Senior adviser to Donald Trump. Son of Russian mob figure. Has deep and undeniable ties to Russia. Held a meeting with pro-Putin Ukrainian politician Andrei Artemenko and Trump attorney Michael Cohen in late January 2017 concerning the lifting of sanctions on Russia.

Paul Manafort
Former campaign chairman for both Donald Trump and the pro-Putin former president of Ukraine, although not concurrently. Beneficiary of millions of under-the-table dollars for his work with the latter. Allegedly involved with the mass murder of various anti-Putin figures in Ukraine. His daughters are ashamed of him.

Ivanka Trump
Failing clothing line owner. Daughter of the president and object of his desire. Prime mover behind buttplug-shaped hotel in Baku, Azerbaijan, that was allegedly financed in part by an Azeri money lauderer with ties to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. BFF with a socialite who may or may not have been Putin’s paramour. Betrayer of women everywhere.

The presumed royal family.

The Inner Circle

Mike Flynn
Disgraced former national security adviser. Conspiracy theorist. Former Kremlin employee. Former Turkish agent. First domino to fall. Sat in on natsec meetings while in the employ of a foreign government (Turkey),and had questionable if not illegal contact with another (Russia). Certainly the subject of numerous investigations. Most likely Trumpkin to go to prison.

Jared Kushner
Son of rich guy who went to jail. Husband to Ivanka Trump. The Forrest Gump of the Trump campaign, Kushner too met with the Russian ambassador (in secret; Kislyak was whisked through the back door of Trump Tower to avoid the press). Has huge investments in a medical tech company that depends on the ACA not being repealed. Was allegedly in hock to Russian creditors. Is known as both Trump’s brain and his conscience, both of which are troubling, as he’s both heartless and dumb. He’s the evidence Trump likes to cite to rebut his, Trump’s, often-blatant anti-Semitism.

Carter Page
Former foreign policy adviser to Donald Trump. Pro-Russian businessman. Less international man of mystery than bullshit artist. Key figure in the Steele dossier, and presumably a focus of (one of) the FBI investigation(s). Steele has him as the intermediary between Trump team and Rosneft, the Russian oil company that recently divested 19% of the company to private investors whose identity remains murky. Page’s habit of changing his tune makes him a veritable karaoke machine of prevarication. Most likely fall guy in Trumpromat.

Reince Preibus
Former RNC chair. White House Chief of Staff. Whipping boy. Guy behind Kellyanne Conway in the infamous couch photograph who looks like he’s desperately trying not to run his grubby fingers through her split ends. The Russians hacked the DNC and the RNC, but only released the emails of the former. Why do you think that is? Could it be that they want something to hold over the Republicans that could be used at a later date? Do you think Preibus might have an embarrassing thing or three in those emails?

Wilbur Ross
Billionaire. Secretary of Commerce. Part owner of Bank of Cyprus. Cyprus is where Russian organized crime figures send their money to be laundered; it’s what Switzerland was to the Nazis in the 1940s. Ross surely is aware of this, as it’s pretty much common knowledge. Subject of hard-hitting expose by Rachel Maddow. If there really are lizard people, is one.

Jeff Sessions
Attorney General. Former Senator from Alabama. Inveterate racist. Perjurer. Asked twice during the confirmation about his ties with Russia; denied having any contact during campaign; actually had contact with the Russian ambassador thrice, which is unusual for a Senator. Timing of these meetings coincides with policy shifts on Russia. Recruited Carter Page and Stephen Miller, the Norman Bates-like communications guy, for the team. Most likely cabinet member to resign in disgrace.

Rex Tillerson
Former CEO of ExxonMobil. Secretary of State. Recipient of Russian Order of Freedom medal. Putin pal. Current whereabouts unknown. ExxonMobil stands to gain billions of dollars’ worth of crude if the Russian sanctions are lifted. Has been MIA as the State Department has been gutted, which should be of enormous concern. Unlike Trump, divested his assets before serving, but that probably doesn’t matter. Name sounds like supervillain’s secret identity in old-time comic book.

Mike Pence
Vice President and likely our 46th President. Former governor of Indiana, where he is now loathed. Hater of the LGBTQ community. User of personal emails for government business, despite not liking it when Hillary did that. User of AOL. Used campaign funds to pay his mortgage. Might have been insulated from the Russians to give him plausible deniability, although this gets increasingly unlikely as the facts come out.

Donald Trump
Former reality TV star. Failed businessman. Proud sexual predator. Racist. Bigot. Non-payer of debts and taxes. President of the United States. Could not be more of a Russian puppet if Putin’s fist were up his ass.

Donald Trump sits with U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) at Trump Tower in Manhattan, New York, U.S., October 7, 2016. REUTERS/Mike Segar/File Photo

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Postcards from the Resistance: Political Action for Introverts, Vol. 2

Posted on March 10, 2017 by Helen Gutfreund

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An Excerpt from Pax Americana

Posted on March 9, 2017 by Kurt Baumeister

Kurt Baumeister’s debut novel, a satirical thriller entitled Pax Americana, will be released on March 15th by Stalking Horse Press. Early notices have been strong including praise from Weeklings Founding Editor Sean Beaudoin and bestselling authors Darin Strauss and Caroline Leavitt. From the jacket copy:

2034: Evangelical secret agents, fast food moguls, the voice of God in computer software, violence in the Bermuda Triangle! George W. Bush’s foreign policy vindicated by a quick victory in Iraq, lucrative invasions of Egypt and Syria followed, bringing unparalleled prosperity to America and setting off thirty years of right-wing rule. But when a war in Iran goes bad–and the resulting cover-up goes worse–the democrats reclaim the presidency. This is the time of Pax Americana and its zealous anti-hero, government agent Tuck Squires.

Reading the ironic silences between the lines of the thriller, and roaring like a jet engine, Pax Americana is a sacrilegious, conspiratorial monster; like a literary dogfight between Ian Fleming and Robert Anton Wilson, loaded with prophecy, Baumeister’s debut is an exorcism and an antidote for our era.

Praise for Pax Americana:

“Ambitious, fearless, and frequently brilliant, Pax Americana is a speedball of religion and politics delivered in a steel syringe of adrenalin.”

– Chuck Greaves, author of Hard Twisted and Tom & Lucky

“Kurt Baumeister has more fun with language than any novelist since Money-era Martin Amis. I haven’t read such marvelously obsessive prose in years.”

– Darin Strauss, Bestselling Author of The Real McCoy and Half a Life, Winner National Book Critics Circle Award

“If there is to be an American peace, it’s certainly not going to come on the pages of this lit match of a novel. Kurt Baumeister has fashioned exactly the old school pre-and-post Bond techno X-travaganza everyone bored with explorations of the Louvre has been waiting for. Pax Americana is both dark satire and deeply satisfying, an adrenaline rush that runs through suspect politics, spirituality software, and the sacredly profane. It’s a blast. Buy it now.”

– Sean Beaudoin, author of Welcome Thieves

“Like an episode of Archer written by Kurt Vonnegut, Baumeister takes us into a hilarious and high-velocity world of espionage and global politics in this send-up of God, country, and the possibility of doing good in a world gone bad. It’s fast-paced fun, watch out for paper cuts as the pages fly by.”

– Shya Scanlon, author Forecast, Border Run, and The Guild of Saint Cooper

“Filled with lush imagery, lyricism, and absurdity, Pax Americana brings into relief the subtext of political power. Kurt Baumeister has an eerily prescient grasp of entitlement in this century and is fearless about imagining the consequences when pushed to its logical conclusion. A daringly imaginative book.”

– Thaisa Frank, author of Heidegger’s Glasses and Enchantment

“Hang on tight, because the thriller’s been reinvented, smartened up, and rendered blazingly funny in Kurt Baumeister’s wild, raucous ride of a novel. Spiritual, sly, and so fast-paced you could get whiplash. Truly, Pax Americana is hilarity with heart.”

– Caroline Leavitt, author of Cruel Beautiful World and New York Times Bestselling author of Is This Tomorrow and Pictures of You

Chapter 7

KidsFunZone

 

By the third term of the Bush Presidency, America was practically floating on all the cheap oil Saddam’s defeat had brought in. Afghanistan and Bin Laden ten years gone, the War in Syria only in its planning stages, the country was anxious to celebrate victory, peace, and most of all itself. America was ready to revel in its very Americana.

“And what’s more American,” asked President Bush in his 2009 State of the Union, “What better way is there to celebrate victory than by convocalating the very traits that made this great success for democracicity plausible? What I’m talking about here is heroishness and valor, honorability and glorifiction. But I’m also talking about the other things that make America great. I mean our faith. The fact that we have core principles, unshakeable beliefs in things greater than ourselves. That’s our beliefs in God, democracy, and the blessed alchemy of free, unfettered markets.”

Over the next several months, a broad legislative agenda was rolled out, its centerpiece The Homeward, Heroes! Mainstreaming Act. Initially, the HHMA was about giving tax breaks, health and education benefits, and other incentives to combat troops returning from overseas. It was lauded as a G.I. Bill for the twenty-first century.

As the HHMA built steam, though, rapidly moving towards passage in the House and Senate, enterprising politicians began attaching additional legislation to it, amendments covering everything from Mardi Gras—too long—and lightbulbs—too dim—to otters—to be protected— and bears—to be shot from hot air balloons.

Buried amongst these amendments was The Faith Protection Act of 2009, a bill to recognize the special place Christianity held in the hearts of Americans, most notably the incredibly popular, President Bush, or the Dubya as he’d come to be known.

Championed jointly by Minnesota’s Congresswoman Backlash and Senator Pyle of North Carolina, the FPA represented the beginning of a process that would ultimately result in the codification of Christian Consumerism in America, an impulse that had, after all, been around since the country’s inception.

Righteous Burger Corporation had been in its infancy when the FPA went into effect. But even with only four restaurants—two of them drive-thrus—the company was still well placed to benefit from the new legislation. With the push the new legislation provided for Christians to buy and sell primarily with other Christians, four restaurants soon became eight, eight sixteen, and on and on. Nor did it hurt that a few years later, while campaigning for his fourth term, President Dubya became a big Righteous Burger fan.

The President had been touring the Gulf Coast, shoring up support in advance of the coming general against former President Clinton. The Democrats were pulling out all the stops by that point, hoping that Slick Willie would be able to succeed where his wife—’08—and the Kenyan—’12—had failed. Since Clinton was a son of the south himself, newly devout, and from neighboring Arkansas, the Dubya wasn’t taking any chances. The Righteous Burger event had been arranged to give him a chance to show-off his down-home cred, but also to try RB’s famed Heavenly Halfstone, a burger Ravelton Parlay knew more than lived up to its name.

Operating in a state of near-exponential growth, RB was doing fantastically, Parlay wealthier than he’d ever dreamed. That didn’t mean he was satisfied. The great thing about money—and Parlay had known this from his earliest days as a lemonade entrepreneur back in Vermont—was that there was always more of it to be had.

Though this wasn’t true in a physical sense. There was in fact a definite, determinable amount of scrip in actual, verifiable existence. But wealth had a way of bobbing and weaving of its own volition, keeping the game interesting by turning itself into a constantly moving target.

Take the impact of the FPA for example. By that point, the courts had interpreted the FPA as exempting individual earnings of all types—wages, bonuses, stock options, investment income, passive activities, etc.—from taxation if they were derived primarily from religious operations.

In line with the ruling, Parlay had been ordained a minister just after the FPA passed—his title Doctor, Reverend, Reverend Doctor, or just plain Rev as the occasion demanded. Since he was primarily concerned with RB’s marketing and since that marketing was so concerned with Christianity— there was Scripture everywhere from wallpaper to burger wrappers—never mind the obvious spiritual devotion that had gone into creating a character like Timmy, the case that his earnings were derived primarily from his faith was an easy one to make. In line with this, Parlay’s personal tax bill had plummeted to nearly nothing by 2012. One problem remained: Righteous Burger’s massive, and growing, corporate earnings. Of course, Parlay wasn’t the only Christian Capitalist with this sort of problem.

The two great men met at Righteous Burger #22, a full-service store located just outside Baton Rouge. By that point Parlay had thirty-two restaurants sprinkled along the Gulf Coast, from Pensacola to East Texas.

“Mr. President, I can’t tell you what a big fan I am of yours. This…this is just incredible, meeting you and all,” Parlay gushed, greeting the Dubya beneath the inflatable Timmy that dangled from the ceiling like a vertical, seven-foot piñata.

“Speak nothing of it, Reverend, the Dubya always has time to break bread with a man of God. Now, why don’t we see if we can get us a couple of them Heavenly Halfstones, maybe a side of catfish poppers?”

“Absolutely Mr. President, if you’ll just have a seat in one of our booths, I’ll have that brought over to you directly.”

“I was thinking we might break bread together, Reverend.”

“Really, sir? I’m flattered.”

“I understand you’ve made some sizable contributions to our reelection campaign.”

“You’re doing the Lord’s work, Mr. President. The least I can do is help.”

“Mighty selfless of you, Parlay. Mighty selfless.”

Parlay had made a surprise appearance at RB #22 early that morning. He knew he needed to terrify the staff in advance, to make sure there were no muck ups when it came to the President’s chow. To the relief of all, lunch service went smoothly. Both men ordered the same thing: Super-sized Heavenly Half Stone with cheese meals, Super-sized Turbo-Coke to drink, and sides of catfish poppers and Cajun hushpuppies.

“Can I get you anything else, sir?” Parlay said.

“No, Reverend, the real question is what I, the Dubya, can do for thee?”

“Sir?”

“I’ve heard a lot from religious business leaders about expanding the FPA, maybe finding a way to tie it into corporate earnings. How would you feel about that? You think maybe that would be taking it too far, injecting too much business into religion?”

“No…What?”

By 2014, the Christian Commerce Encouragement and Protection Act passed Congress. In addition to offering subsidies for disadvantaged Christians looking to start Christian businesses, the CCEPA reduced the tax rate on “Christian Corporations” to 8%.

 

 

Righteous Burger’s celebrity spokescreature Timmy the Lamb was Parlay’s grand invention, a genius advertising stunt that had turned into much more. A little bit Jesus, a little bit Lassie’s boy, a little bit of an homage to the consumer-industrial complex, Timmy was the closest thing Parlay had to a son. And at the age of eighty-nine, the closest thing he ever would have.

Sure, Parlay’d had his sperm frozen. What scheming billionaire doesn’t? But saving his jizz for a rainy day had nothing to do with raising a kid himself. Problems with Kelly Anne aside, if the storm came, Parlay was sure it would be after he was gone, his seed nothing more than an insurance policy that his genes would survive. But as far as a testament to his life on earth, a record of the way Ravelton Parlay saw the world, Timmy the Lamb was it.

As a result, every half- or full-spot, every print ad, every voice-over, special-run toy, or in-store mock-up—basically, anything involving Timmy or his image—had to be approved personally by Parlay. Even during something as important as Virtual Jerusalem there were no exceptions. Which was why, later that afternoon, Parlay was back in his Inner Sanctum, staring at the video screen recessed into his desktop, watching Timmy’s latest adventures.

“What troubles you, little ones?” Timmy asked the flock of crying children, his face grown suddenly grave. Kneeling for their response, he listened, ears quivering with the effort, his crimson cape scraping the sun-soaked earth.

“Them,” whined the kids, accusatory forefingers darting in the direction of the Righteous Burger across the way.

There, in the RB KidsFunZone, sat six Muslim clerics. Wearing robes, beards, and sunglasses, the imams howled and cackled, jabbering at each other in an odd, throaty tongue, devouring their ill-gotten Righteous Burgers as they did.

Timmy turned to survey the evil-doers, his expression one of concern, even confusion. Timmy was too good for this world, it was true. An ovine man-child innocent to his core, one as virtuous as Timmy always had a hard time understanding evil.

As Timmy focused on the imams, a little blond girl, the smallest of the children, began to cry. The camera cut to big, salty tears streaming down her chubby cheeks, the tears that would make everything clear to Timmy.

“I wamff my Righteous Burger,” she said in an endearing lisp.

Timmy stood. Bringing his palms together—Timmy’s front legs ended in hands, not hooves he cracked his knuckles. He knew what he had to do. So did Parlay. He signed with his LightPen and hit send, returning to the other matters at hand: Virtual Jerusalem and a late lunch.

“What about my cross-licensing agreement?” he shouted towards the TeleView, as he claimed his spoon, made ready to dip it into the dish of velvety, copper-colored gator étouffée house boy, Wilhelm, had just dropped off.

“We have discussed nothing of the kind,” responded the person at the other end of the red phone, France’s UN Ambassador, Jean-Francois Arnaut.

Parlay dropped his spoon. It hit the desk top with a shrill tink, far less impressive than he’d imagined. It would have to do, though. He waited.

“What was that noise?”

“I could ask you the same thing, Arnaut. You know full well we’ve discussed the cross-licensing. The Angel’s been clear with me, and I’ve been very clear with you. There’ll be no deal without it, six hundred billion or not.”

“Clear about what, Presence? I still don’t understand what you’re asking.” This was a lie. But like any other heathen, Arnaut played his little games.

Parlay responded, “The Angel wants to use the technology in America without any outside interference.”

“That’s four hundred million customers worth of interference you’re talking about,” Arnaut replied.

“Which still leaves you with nine billion, Arnaut. Four hundred million seems a small price to pay.”

“True.” Parlay could hear it in Arnaut’s voice. He thought he retained some sort of control over the situation. Parlay was going to leave him that illusion for now. “I will take this to the President,” Arnaut continued. “He should have no problem with it. Assuming, that is, you’re ready to give us your identity.”

Parlay hated the French, especially now that they were mobbed up with all those other crazy Catholics in their loony little Southern European Union. They were all horrible—the Italians, the Spanish, the Portuguese—but the French were, without a doubt, the worst. So pompous, so effeminate, always making their pipsqueaky demands, trying to force the rest of the world to go along.

“Listen, Arnaut, I’ve told you a thousand times. You’re not getting my name.”

“Not even when we’ve come to an agreement?”

“Not even. All you’ll ever know about me is that I’m American and my sole interest, like yours, is in spreading the true faith.”

“Neo-Catholicism, you mean?”

Parlay winced. “Of course, brother, the Lord willing.”

“The meeting is going well then?”

“The final adjustments are being prepared as we speak. Soon, the Angel will approve distribution.”

This wasn’t true, not by a long shot. Besides the fact that Parlay was the one who would ultimately approve delivery, Scorsi had been too tough-minded for the dosages of biostatin they’d used. The toxicity possibilities on higher ones too great—they needed her mind to remain intact—the entire process had come to a halt. But Parlay had learned long ago never to let the facts get in the way of negotiations.

He’d also learned not to let agreements get in the way of success. True, the numbers were astronomical even for someone as rich as Parlay. But the most important thing was getting Diana Scorsi and Symmetra to do what he wanted, getting them to serve God. The money was secondary. Well, sort of. That part was complicated. “I hope you can also see that it’s time for the French government to put its very best offer on the table.”

“I thought I just did.”

“What was that?”

“Six hundred billion and the cross-licensing agreement.”

“Six hundred and the cross-licensing? Right, right, now I remember—that’s where we were. But there’s some trouble with that.”

“What? What is the trouble?”

“I’m not sure how to break this to you, brother, but the Angel has decided he wants more.”

“Sounds like you just decided that, Presence. I’m beginning to wonder whether there even is an Angel.”

“Oh, there’s an Angel, Arnaut. I’d bet your last croissant on that one.”

Parlay could almost hear Arnaut scowling on the other end. “And the cross-licensing?” he continued.

“That, too.”

“Well, Presence, I’ll see what I can do. The President will not be pleased with this.”

Parlay knew he had him. Time to sink in the hook. “Did I mention, Mr. Ambassador, how pleased the Angel has been with your work on this?”

“No, I don’t think you have.”

“Well, he most certainly is. He sees you as a real warrior for Christ.”

“Thank you, Presence.”

“That’s why he’s authorized me to negotiate a special payment to you, a sort of finder’s fee. Five hundred million.”

“That doesn’t seem like much compared to six hundred billion.”

“The amount is negotiable, Mr. Ambassador, assuming you can convince President Mirrage to do what’s right.”

“It will be the President’s decision of course.”

“Of course.”

“But I will see what I can do, Presence.”

“Excellent. May the peace of Christ be with you always, brother.”

“And also with you.”

Parlay hung up the red phone. He glared at the bowl of étouffée, touched the side hoping for warmth. But all he found was a tepid smoothness that reminded him of how much he disliked the French.

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The Complete Trump/Russia Timeline

Posted on March 4, 2017 by Greg Olear

This comprehensive timeline concerns the connections between President Donald Trump and his team’s contacts with Vladimir Putin’s Russia before, during, and after the election. It was compiled by me, with help from Derek B. Fox. For analysis on the events in the timeline, read these pieces.

Updated: 10 March 2017.

2013: The Curious Case of Edward Snowden

Snowden and Assange are influenced by the Russians. Weiner is compromised. Trump is in Moscow for Miss Universe.

March/April 2013
Edward Snowden begins work as a contractor for Booz Allen, based in Hawaii. He takes the job to steal files from the NSA headquarters there.

March/April 2013
Using the pseudonym Carlos Danger, disgraced former Congressman Anthony Weiner sends lewd photos of himself to a 22-year-old Formspring user, later revealed as Sydney Leathers.

Spring, 2013
Michael Flynn, then director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, travels to Moscow, where he becomes the second DIA director to be invited into the headquarters of Russia’s military intelligence directorate, known as the GRU, although he will later boast that he was the first. “‘Flynn thought he developed some rapport with the GRU chief,’ a former senior U.S. military official said.”

March/April, 2013
Russian hacker Yevgeniy Aleksandrovich Nikulin hacks into “accessed computers belonging to LinkedIn, Dropbox and Formspring,” obtaining information from the computers and causing “damage to computers belonging to a LinkedIn employee and to Formspring by transmitting a program, information, code, or command.” Too, Nikulin “used the credentials of LinkedIn and Formspring employees in connection with the computer intrusions” and “engaged in a conspiracy with unnamed co-conspirators to traffic stolen Formspring user credentials,” per the US DOJ.

4 April, 2013
Colonel Alexander Kazalupov, the Cuba bureau chief of the FSB (Russian intelligence), flies to Quito to meet with agents of SENAIN, the Ecuadorian intelligence agency, most likely about Snowden.

5 April, 2013
Snowden writes his only legal email to the NSA, asking about Executive Orders.

April, 2013
Snowden steals tranche of classified documents from NSA.

May, 2013
Snowden travels to Hong Kong, where he hands stolen data to Glenn Greenwald and Laura Poitras.

8 May, 2013
Formspring shuts down.

4 June, 2013
The stolen NSA documents are published.

9 June, 2013
Snowden reveals his identity as the NSA whistleblower.

18 June, 2013
Trump announces, via Twitter, that Miss Universe will be held in Moscow. “Do you think Putin will be going to The Miss Universe Pageant,” he tweets. “[I]f so, will he become my new best friend?”

June, 2013
Trump claims to have a relationship with Putin, in an interview with NBC. “I do have a relationship and I can tell you that he’s very interested in what we’re doing here today.”

21 June, 2013
The United States formally charges Snowden with espionage.

22 June, 2013
The United States revokes Snowden‘s passport. Julian Assange, holed up at the Ecuadorian embassy in London to avoid a sexual assault charge, arranges Ecuadorian travel papers so that Snowden can fly to Moscow.

23 June, 2013
Snowden flies to Moscow, spends 40 days trapped at the airport.

23 July, 2013
Anthony Weiner‘s Carlos Danger “sexting” scandal becomes public.

1 August, 2013
Snowden is granted asylum in Russia.

28 August, 2013
Anthony Weiner’s wife, longtime Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin, announces that the two have separated.

9 November, 2013
Trump is in Moscow for the Miss Universe beauty pageant.

2014: The Crimea Sanction

Russia, Exxon, and aggression in Ukraine.

18 March, 2014
Russia annexes the Crimea.

March/April 2014
The US imposes economic sanctions on Russia as a consequence of its invasion of Ukraine. The sanctions are brutally effective on the Russian economy.

10 October 2014
Sanctions scuttle a deal between Russia and Exxon that would have netted Putin an estimated $500 billion. Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson signed a deal with Russia to drill in the Arctic; for this, he received the Order of Friendship by Vladimir Putin in 2013. The Arctic project is scuttled on October 10, 2014, after the sanctions imposed on Russia by the U.S. government. At the time, Exxon has discovered a new field with an estimated 750 million barrels of oil.

2015-16: Gettin’ Cozy

In which the Russians hack the election, Flynn and Stein are in Moscow, Sessions endorses Trump.

June, 2015
“Cozy Bear” or “APT 29,” hackers working at the behest of the main security service of the Russian government (FSB), successfully hack the servers of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), stealing the party’s opposition research on Donald Trump.

September, 2015
Fusion GPS, an American research firm, is hired by an unknown Republican to do opposition research on Trump. The group collects info about his business and entertainment activities.

September/October, 2015
The FBI notifies the DNC that they have been hacked, but offers no specifics.

10 December 2015
Disgraced former general Michael Flynn gives a talk at a gala for RT, the Russian state-owned network, and is paid by the Kremlin. He sits next to Putin at the dinner, at the same table with Green Party candidate Jill Stein.

28 February, 2016
Alabama’s Jeff Sessions becomes the first senator to endorse Donald Trump.

3 March, 2016
Trump announces that Sessions will lead his National Security Advisory (NSA) Committee.

March, 2016
Paul Manafort receives final illegal payment from his pro-Putin client Yanukovych in Ukraine.

March, 2016
The DNC hires the cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike to help secure its servers.

March, 2016
The hackers “Fancy Bear,” or “APT 28” — working at the behest of the GRU, Russia’s military intelligence service — target the DNC as well as Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, including the e-mail account of campaign chairman John Podesta.

Spring/Summer 2016: Quid Pro Quo

Page, Sessions, Flynn, Steele, Millian, Manafort, Wikileaks, and the rots of Trump’s Faustian bargain.

21 March, 2016
In an interview with the Washington Post, Donald Trump lists among his foreign policy team “Carter Page, PhD.” Page was recommended by Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions, who is also indicated. Notably, Trump does not list Michael Flynn among his advisers.

22 March, 2016
The New York Times runs a story on Trump’s no-name foreign adviser team, explaining that Carter Page is “a managing partner at Global Energy Capital, who will be advising Mr. Trump on energy policy and Russia.” Another managing partner is Sergei Millian, founder of the Russian-American Chamber of Commerce, who claimed to be the exclusive broker for Trump real estate ventures in Russia. Millian is reported to be “Source E” in the Steele dossier.

30 March, 2016
Carter Page gives an interview to Bloomberg, which reports: “In Russia, Page developed relationships with executives at Gazprom, the former Soviet gas ministry that was partially privatized in the 1990s. By the time Page arrived, Putin was consolidating his grip on the country’s economy, and in 2005 the government boosted its stake so that it again owned a majority of the stock. Page says he advised Gazprom on its largest deals during this period, such as buying of a stake in the Sakhalin oil and gas field in the Sea of Okhotsk. He also helped the company court Western investors, assisting in setting up the first regular meetings with shareholders in New York and London. Before he moved back to New York in 2007, he says, many of its top officials showed up at his going-away party, at a restaurant near the Kremlin.”

April, 2016
Manafort is named chairman of the Trump campaign.

27 April, 2016
Trump meets the Russian ambassador at an event at the Mayflower hotel. He will later deny ever meeting him.

May/June 2016
Michael Flynn‘s name is bandied about as a possible “Dark Horse” choice for Trump’s VP.

May 2016
Trump becomes presumptive GOP nominee. Republican donor who’d been paying for opposition research via Fusion GPS withdraws, and contract is taken over by unidentified Democratic client.

June, 2016
CrowdStrike releases evidence of Fancy/Cozy Bear’s involvement in the DNC hacks. A shadowy figure called Guccifer 2.0 begins releasing the emails, and claims responsibility for the hacks. It is widely believed Guccifer 2.0 is an online persona and not a real person.

June, 2016
Fusion GPS hires Orbis Business Intelligence, a private British firm, to look into Russian connections of hacking. The investigation is undertaken by co-founder Christopher Steele, a retired MI6 agent. He delivers a series of intelligence reports known here as the “Steele dossier.”

18-21 July, 2016
RNC Convention in Cleveland.

Sessions meets with the Russian ambassador, Kislyak. The meeting and trip are financed using campaign funds, although Sessions claimed he was meeting Kislyak as a senator and not as a Trump surrogate.

Trump adviser Jeff D. Gordon, following a direct request from Trump, advocates for the GOP platform to include language against arming Ukraine against pro-Russian rebels at a national security subcommittee meeting. He and his associates manage to convince delegate Diana Denman to soften the GOP’s position.

Walid Phares, Carter Page, and Gordon, all foreign advisers to Trump, meet with Russian ambassador Kislyak.

19 July, 2016
In his intelligence report, Christopher Steele reports on a meeting between Donald Trump foreign affairs adviser Carter Page and the head of Russian state oil company Rosneft Igor Sechin, a “Putin close associate and US-sanctioned individual”—that is, someone personally blacklisted by the U.S. government. Sechin “raised with Page the issues of future bilateral energy cooperation and prospects for an associated move to lift Ukraine-related Western sanctions against Russia.” Page reacted positively to the discussions, Steele reports. (Steele dossier, p. 9).

21 July, 2016
RNC Convention ends.

22 July, 2016
WikiLeaks, i.e. Julian Assange, posts 20,000 stolen DNC emails.

28 July, 2016
Donald Trump calls on Russia to help locate 30,000 Hillary Clinton emails that he believes had been deleted.

31 July, 2016
Manafort says on “Meet the Press” that the effort to keep the [GOP] platform from supporting arms for Ukraine “absolutely did not come from the Trump campaign.” Chuck Todd replies, “So nobody from the Trump Campaign wanted that change in the platform?” Manafort responds, “No one, zero.”

In an interview with George Stephanopoulos on ABC regarding the GOP’s platform on the Ukraine, Trump says: “They softened it, I heard, but I was not involved.”

July, 2016
Christopher Steele begins to share his reports with the FBI. The FBI subsequently announces that it has begin investigating the DNC hacking.

10 August, 2016
Roger Stone either resigns or is fired from the Trump campaign.

18 August, 2016
Manafort resigns as chairman of the Trump campaign after the Ukrainian government’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau claimed to have found handwritten records that show $12.7 million in off-the-books cash payments designated for Manafort, who was adviser to Viktor Yanukovych. The pro-Putin Yanukovych was removed from power in February of 2014, is currently in exile in Russia, and is wanted by Ukraine for high treason.

Late Summer, 2016: The Russians Are Coming!

Sanctions, Sessions, Kislyak, DNC Emails.

21 August, 2016
Roger Stone tweets: “Trust me, it will soon [be] Podesta’s time in the barrel. #Crooked Hillary,” suggesting advance knowledge of the DNC hack and the Wikileaks plan to release the Podesta emails.

August, 2016
Mikhail Kalugin, a Russian diplomat stationed at the US embassy in Washington, leaves the country. Christopher Steele explains that Kalugin was “withdrawn from Washington at short notice because Moscow feared his heavy involvement in the US presidential election operation . . . would be exposed in the media,” and that Kalugin was involved in moving “tens of thousands of dollars” to cyber hackers and other operatives through a system that distributes pension benefits to Russian military veterans living in the United States.

1 September, 2016
The US imposes a new round of sanctions targeting 37 individuals and companies involved in the Ukraine aggression.

4-5 September, 2016
Presidents Obama and Putin meet at the G20 Summit in China, where the new sanctions are discussed.

7 September, 2016
Director of National Intelligence James Clapper publicly suggests that Russia is behind the DNC hack. This is the first public statement indicating Russian complicity.

8 September, 2016
Sessions meets with the Russian ambassador Kislyak again, this time in his Senate office. In interview with Russian media, Trump says it’s “probably unlikely” the Russians hacked the election. In an interview with Larry King, Trump blames the Russian hacking story on the Democrats. In other interviews, Trump and Pence praise Putin. RASS suggests that the relationship with the US will improve after the election. (See @RAWonk’s thread for full breakdown of this remarkable day).

13 September, 2016
Sessions and the Russian ambassador Kislyak reportedly speak via phone.

14 September, 2016
A second batch of hacked DNC emails is released.

Fall, 2016: October Surprise

The events leading to the Comey letter and the election upset.

21 September, 2016
The British tabloid The Daily Mail reports that Anthony Weiner had engaged in a months-long sexting with a 15-year-old girl, and that devices owned by Weiner were seized as part of an investigation into this incident.

23 September, 2016
Writing for Politico Magazine, Julia Ioffe, a reporter with long experience covering Russia, reports that none of her sources had ever heard of Carter Page, including Bill Browder. “(“I can poll any number of people involved in energy in Russia about Carter Page and they’ll say, ‘Carter who? You mean Jimmy Carter?’” says one veteran Western investor in Russian energy.)” Her conclusion is that Page is less a legit adviser than a nebbish who wound up on a list of potential advisers by accident and sought to capitalize on the mistake.

October, 2016
Christopher Steele agrees to continue his intelligence reports for the FBI, for a fee. At this point, the FBI’s counterintelligence division has full knowledge of the reports in the dossier.

3 October, 2016
The NYPD, acting on a tip from the FBI’s New York field office, seizes Weiner’s laptop.

5 October, 2016
The Russian hacker Nikulin is arrested in Prague. The FBI had issued a “red notice” for his apprehension and calls for his extradition to the U.S. to face charges.

7 October, 2016
The Washington Post releases the Donald Trump/Billy Bush/Access Hollywood video, in which Trump claims he can “grab” women “by the pussy.” This is widely thought to be the “October surprise” that will sink Trump’s already-faltering campaign.

Department of Homeland Security and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence release a joint statement blaming the Russian government for hacking the DNC.

10 October, 2016
At the second presidential debate between Trump and Hillary Clinton, Trump says regarding Russian hacking: “I notice, any time anything wrong happens, they like to say the Russians. Well, [Clinton] doesn’t know if it’s the Russians doing the hacking. Maybe there is no hacking.”

11 October, 2016
Donald Trump, Jr. attends a conference in Paris hosted by the Centre of Political and Foreign Affairs, where he meets with pro-Kremlin Randa Kassis about potential US/Russia cooperation in Syria.

15 October, 2016
The US secret intelligence court issues a warrant to investigate two Russian banks.

17 October, 2016
Obama officially accuses Russia of meddling in the election.

18 October, 2016
In his intelligence report, Steele reveals more information about the summer rendezvous between Trump foreign affairs advisor Carter Page and Igor Sechin, a Putin ally on the US sanctions list. “[T]he Rosneft company president was so keen to lift personal and corporate [W]estern sanctions imposed on the company that he offered PAGE/TRUMP’s associates the brokerage of up to a 19 percent (privatized) stake in Rosneft in return. PAGE had expressed interest and confirmed that were TRUMP elected US president, then sanctions on Russia would be lifted.” (Steele dossier, p. 30)

18 October, 2016
At the third and final presidential debate, the candidates share this exchange:

Trump: [Clinton] has no idea whether it is Russia, China or anybody else.
Clinton: I am not quoting myself.
Trump: You have no idea.
Clinton: I am quoting seventeen, seventeen [US intelligence agencies.] Do you doubt…
Trump: Our country has no idea.

26 October, 2016
Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York and a prominent Trump surrogate, boasted on TV about an October surprise coming that would mortally wound Hillary Clinton’s campaign.

28 October, 2016
FBI director James Comey sends a letter to Congress, revealing the Weiner latop and the possible re-opening of the Hillary/email investigation.

31 October, 2016
The Steele dossier is made available to David Corn, the Washington correspondent for Mother Jones.

31 October, 2016
Two weeks after the FBI receives the FISA warrant to investigate two Russian banks, Franklin Foer publishes in Slate his story about computer servers linking the Trump Organization and Russia’s Alfa Bank.

31 October, 2016
The Washington Post and The Intercept publish pieces “debunking” the “communicating servers” report.

31 October, 2016
The New York Times runs a story with the headline “Investigating Donald Trump, FBI Sees No Clear Link to Russia.” The story is misleading.

4 November, 2016
Giuliani says that his friends at the FBI told him about the October surprise.

8 November, 2016
Donald Trump wins the election.

Donald Trump sits with U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) at Trump Tower in Manhattan, New York, U.S., October 7, 2016. REUTERS/Mike Segar/File Photo

Post-Election, 2016-2017: The Shit Hits the Fan

Leak leak leak, drip drip drip.

8 November, 2016
Sergei Krivov, a Russian cyber security officer, is found dead at the Russian consulate in New York. There is discrepancy regarding how he died – head wound vs. internal bleeding from brain tumor vs. heart attack. The NYPD closes the case without specifying cause of death. Russian officials claim Krivov suffered a heart attack that made him fall and hit his head.

18 November, 2016
Flynn is appointed National Security Adviser.

7 December, 2016
Putin and Igor Sechin, head of Russian oil giant Rosneft, announce a plan to privatize 19.5% of the company. The price is 10.2 billion euros. The brokerage commission of the sale is, conservatively, a hundred million euros. (This sale was known to Steele and cited in the Steele dossier months earlier).

8 December, 2017
Carter Page meets with Rosneft senior executives in Moscow.

12 December, 2017
Carter Page gives a controversial lecture in Moscow. Ivan Nechepurenko, a correspondent for the New York Times, tweets: “U.S. government might have deliberately orchestrated cyberattacks to make it look as though they were coming from Russia, Carter Page says.”

Ex-Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson is nominated to be Secretary of State.

20 December, 2017
Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and consiglieri, meets with Flynn and the Russian ambassador Kislyak at Trump Tower.

26 December 2016
Oleg Erovinkin, a former Russian intelligence agent and aid to former deputy prime minister Igor Sechin, and intermediate between Sechin and Putin, is found dead in the back of his car in Moscow. Erovinkin allegedly is one of the sources for the Steele dossier. The death is labelled “mysterious.”

29 December 2016
The Intelligence Community releases its report on Russian hacking. President Obama imposes still more sanctions against Russia, as retribution for its attempts to undermine the US election. Michael Flynn, the in-coming national security adviser, continues his on-going conversations conversations with the Russian ambassador. Flynn denies sanctions were ever discussed, as does Vice President-Elect Mike Pence. Trump downplays the allegations: “It’s time for our country to move on to bigger and better things.”

29 December 2016
In a phone call with Russian ambassador Kislyak, Flynn discusses sanctions. Later he denies doing so, then says he couldn’t remember what was discussed, then admits it.

30 December 2017
Putin responds to the new round of sanctions by trolling Obama on social media, and inviting the families of American diplomats to his holiday party. He says he will delay any further response. Trump tweets his approval: “Great move on delay (by V. Putin) – I always knew he was very smart!”

6 January, 2017
Trump is briefed by NSA, FBI, CIA, and the Director of National Intelligence. He then issues a statement: “While Russia, China, other countries, other groups and people are constantly trying to break through the cyber infrastructure of our government institutions, businesses and organizations including the Democratic National Committee, there was no effect on the outcome of the election including the fact that there was no tampering whatsoever with voting machines.” No intelligence official had claimed that hackers had tampered with voting machines.

9 January, 2017
Trump and Obama are both briefed on the Steele dossier.

10 January, 2017
After a CNN report alludes to the Steele report, Buzzfeed publishes the Steele dossier in its entirety.

11 January, 2017
Trump says that the Steele dossier is “all fake news . . . It’s phony stuff. It didn’t happen.” The media focuses almost entirely on the “golden shower” detail. Spokesman Sean Spicer says of Carter Page, who is mentioned by name in the dossier: “Carter Page is an individual who[m] the president-elect does not know and was put on notice months ago by the campaign.”

13 January, 2017
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Trump suggests that Russian sanctions could be lifted if Russia proves an ally.

20 January, 2017
Donald Trump is inaugurated president of the United States. The New York Times reports that the FBI, CIA, National Security Agency and the Treasury Department are investigating possible links between Russian officials and Trump campaign associates, namely Paul Manafort, Carter Page, Michael Flynn, and Roger Stone, a longtime Trump adviser.

The New York Times‘ public editor explains the inaccuracies and bad reporting in the October 31 article “Investigating Donald Trump, FBI Sees No Clear Link to Russia.” The Times knew more than it was willing to print.

25 January, 2017
Reuters reports that a month after the Rosneft deal, it is still not clear who exactly purchased the 19.5% stake in the Russian state oil company.

26 January, 2017
Acting Attorney General Sally Yates informs White House counsel Donald McGahn that Flynn has lied about contacts with Kislyak.

27 January, 2017
In advance of the planned called between President Trump and President Putin, which the latter announced on Russian TV, Kellyanne Conway confirms that the lifting of the Russian sanctions is a possibility. “All of that is under consideration,” she says.

Business Insider reports that the Rosneft “privatization deal was funded by Gazprombank, whose parent company is the state-owned Russian energy giant Gazprom.”

28 January, 2017
President Trump and President Putin speak on the phone for the first time. Neither mention that sanctions are explicitly discussed, although the subject is hinted at. (The rumor that recording devices are turned off for part of the call are later confirmed as untrue).

1 February, 2017
Russian troops begin to shell eastern Ukraine, escalating the Crimea conflict. Trump makes no comment on this.

Early February, 2017
Andrii V. Artemenko, a Ukranian lawmaker, meets with Michael Cohen and Felix Sater (Trump’s personal attorney and longtime business associate, respectively) in New York regarding a potential “peace plan” for Trump to consider in Ukraine which would relax pressure on Russia. Moscow also supposedly holds kompromat on current Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko and suggests ways that info could be used.

2 February, 2017
Trump begins to lift sanctions on Russia, starting with the FSB/intelligence service—the very arm of the Russian government thought to have perpetrated the election hacks.

9 February 2017
The Washington Post reports that nine (nine!) current and former US officials claim that Michael Flynn did, in fact, discuss sanctions with the Russian ambassador in a series of conversations in November and December.

10 February, 2017
News outlets report that the Steele dossier is “gaining credibility with law enforcement.”

11 February, 2017
Putin floats the idea of returning Edward Snowden to the US to “curry favor” with Trump.

13 February, 2017
After the revelation that he’d “misled” the president and vice president in the nature of his pre-inauguration talks with the Russian ambassador, Mike Flynn resigns as national security adviser. No one in the US defends him, but his ouster is marked by impassioned defenses from Russian lawmakers.

14 February, 2017
The New York Times reports that members of Trump’s campaign had repeated contacts with Russian intelligence officials in the year before the election.

14 February, 2017
Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), a member of Trump’s transition team and chairman of the House intelligence committee, responds to Flynn’s firing, saying he is concerned that Flynn’s rights were violated in the interception of his conversations with the Russian ambassador. “I’m just shocked that nobody’s covering the real crime here,” Nunes says. “You have an American citizen who had his phone call recorded and then leaked to the media.”

Manafort is asked by TIME about his contacts with Russia. “I have never knowingly spoken to Russian intelligence officers and I have never been involved with anything to do with the Russian government or the Putin administration or any other issues under investigation today,” Manafort says, despite ample evidence to the contrary.

15 February, 2017
FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe meets with Chief of Staff Reince Preibus unofficially to tell him the NYT story was overreaching. Priebus asks McCabe and Comey to dispute media reporting the opposite. The FBI declines. Preibus then asks Rep. Nunes and Sen. Burr (chairs of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees, respectively) to make calls to the media to throw cold water on Russian stories; both do.

15 February, 2017
FBI Director Comey briefs the Senate Intelligence Committee for three hours. The senators are more tight-lipped than usual after the meeting. Rubio tweets that he now expects a full investigation.

20 February, 2017
Vitaly Churkin, the Russian ambassador to the United Nations, dies of “heart failure.” The New York City Medical Exmainer’s office states that further study is needed, indicating possibility of a toxicology test suggesting poisoning. Churkin was the first to invite Trump to the USSR, in 1986.

27 February, 2017
Rachel Maddow reports on the shady connections between Trump, Russian organized crime figures, and the new Secretary of Commerce, billionaire Wilbur Ross. Ross owns a huge stake in a Cypriot bank known to be a haven for dirty Russian money.

2 March, 2017
Alex Oronov, a 69-year-old Ukrainian-American, dies of mysterious circumstances. He’s the one who arranged the secret rendezvous between Michael Cohen, Trump’s personal attorney, Trump associate Felix Sater, and Russian/Ukrainian officials, to discuss peace in the Crimea.

3 March, 2017
Under pressure from a Washington Post story confirming that he met with the Russian ambassador Kislyak several times, contrary to his statements under oath at his confirmation hearing, Sessions recuses himself from any future hearings regarding Russia.

 

3 March, 2017
Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.) tells Andrea Mitchell: “There are transcripts that provide very helpful, very critical insights into whether or not Russian intelligence and senior Russian political leaders, including Vladimir Putin, were cooperating, were colluding with the Trump campaign at the highest levels to influence the outcome of our election. And if that information is stonewalled or hidden away and if we are not able to get that on the Senate intelligence committee, House intelligence committee then I think that has real consequences for our democracy.”

4 March, 2017
In a fiery series of tweets, Trump confirms that his phones had been wiretapped, suggesting that transcripts of conversations indicated by Coons do exist.

6 March, 2017
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Ia.) sends a letter to FBI director Comey insisting on answers to a range of Trump/Russia questions, to be delivered by 20 March.

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