He was part of a team that won a Pulitzer Prize in 2018 for National Reporting, for coverage of Russian interference in the U.S. election. Despite his uncertainty regarding the Flynn investigation, Barnett did believe there were grounds to investigate several other subjects of the Crossfire Hurricane probe, the DOJ documents read. The offer of “political synergy,” a synonym that sounds a lot like “collusion” or “conspiracy,” makes it much harder to imagine a naive acceptance of the Russian help come June 2016.
A University of Oregon graduate, Erin has conducted research in data journalism and contributed to various publications as a writer and editor. Alex Wong / Getty Images Former special counsel Robert Mueller testifies before the House Intelligence Committee about his report on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election on July 24, 2019, in Washington, D.C. (Alex Wong / Getty Images) Para saber mais sobre nossa política de cookies, acesse link. TRENDING: With Only Days To Go Until Debate, Pelosi Gives Biden an Out: 'Why Bother?'. An hour before Trump officially fired James Comey as FBI director on May 9, 2017, an FBI agent told Mueller’s office, One witness said the Trump campaign had almost. How to Get Started with Encrypted Messaging. That’s its DNA, and why federal investigations take so long; they work step-by-step, from the bottom up, to dismantle the whole enterprise. Weissmann is convinced that Manafort never came on board because Trump kept dangling the possibility of a pardon, and because, Weissmann hypothesizes, Manafort was afraid to admit that he skimmed pro-Trump money for his own ends (Manafort has not been charged with doing so). That was the point of the special counsel all along.”. If Mueller had done what Weissmann wanted — fought for a subpoena, accused the president of obstruction, sought Trump’s tax records — is there really much reason to think the legislative and judicial branches would have backed such moves? After Michael Cohen's sentencing, plenty more people and entities in Trump's orbit potentially sit in the special counsel's crosshairs. Bachelor of Arts in Journalism, University of Oregon, Contributor for Data Journalism: Past, Present and Future. We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. The campaign, which the person called “unorthodox,” had no donor lists and was not actively raising money as late as May 2016, when he became the Republican party’s presumptive nominee for president. Mekhennet had queried Barrett about a story she had been working on and she was seeking confirmation "as well as guidance on if there were reasons she should not publish the story.". Similarly, in the one instance he has been forced to go to trial, Mueller prevailed handily, winning convictions against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort in every category of charges he brought. At 4:51 p.m. on May 9, 2017, an hour before Trump fired James Comey, the White House was getting impatient. It’s so obvious.". Here are the reasons you should be concerned if you’re: Former national security adviser Michael Flynn’s original plea deal made clear that he called Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak at the direction of a “very senior” transition official, which media reports have identified as presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner. Barrett was interviewed by FBI agents in the Washington field office on Nov. 29, 2017. A devoted Mueller deputy long before the special counsel days, Weissmann treads lightly when it comes to the Great Man himself, noting that his boss’s “diffidence” worked well at the FBI but was “not ideal” for a special counsel.
Overconfidence can be its own form of incompetence. After all, there’s historical precedent for this: Part of the Watergate articles of impeachment charged Richard Nixon with “making or causing to be made false or misleading public statements for the purpose of deceiving the people of the United States.”. Given the option of classified or unclassified, the reply was, “it doesn’t matter, just give us his email address.” Four minutes later, according to the version of events provided by the FBI agent to Mueller’s team, the bureau’s command center was notified that White House aide and longtime Trump associate Keith Schiller was at the FBI headquarters building with a letter for Comey. He is a 2018 Pulitzer finalist for international reporting, recipient of the IRE 2016 FOI award and a 2016 Newseum Institute National Freedom of Information Hall of Fame inductee. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement (updated 1/1/20) and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement (updated 1/1/20) and Your California Privacy Rights. “The president was abusing his power, obstructing our investigation, and corroding the rule of law,” he writes. Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images.