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Lesson From Putin Summit: Democrats and GOP Equally Hate President Trump

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By CNN. After President Donald Trump’s stunning news conference Monday next to Russian President Vladimir Putin, members of Congress — including some powerful Republicans — were quick to rebuke Trump’s performance on the world stage and Trump’s refusal to call Putin out for interfering in the US election.

House Speaker Paul Ryan contradicted several comments Trump made during his Helsinki news conference, most notably backing the US intelligence community assessment that Russia meddled with the US 2016 presidential election. . .

Sen. John McCain, an Arizona Republican who has consistently criticized the President, said Trump’s comments were “one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president in memory.”

Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Corker said the President “made us look like a pushover” and that Putin was probably eating caviar on the plane home. (Read more from “Lesson From Putin Summit: Democrats and GOP Equally Hate President Trump” HERE)

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Trump-Putin Summit: U.S. Leader Hails ‘Good Start’ in Helsinki

By BBC. US President Donald Trump says his face-to-face meeting in Helsinki with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin was “a good start”.

After two hours of closed-door talks the two leaders went into a working lunch with their senior advisers.

Speaking earlier, Mr Putin said it was time to discuss “difficult multi-national issues”.

Relations between Russia and the West were severely strained by Moscow’s annexation of Crimea in 2014.

Russia is also accused of meddling in the 2016 US election, a claim it strongly denies. (Read more from “Trump-Putin Summit: U.S. Leader Hails ‘Good Start’ in Helsinki” HERE)

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Trump Makes This Prediction Prior to Russia Meeting

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President Donald J. Trump is scheduled to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin tomorrow in Helsinki, Finland, but the commander-in-chief predicts that ‘no matter how well [he does]’ at the summit, that America’s mainstream media will still criticize him.

President asserted that he could be “given the great city of Moscow as retribution for all of the sins and evils committed by Russia” but then would return to “criticism that it wasn’t good enough – that I should have gotten Saint Petersburg in addition!”

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These tweets today come after numerous messages from the president pondering why President Obama was not receiving more criticism for his previous actions with Russia. Yesterday, President Trump questioned why President Obama did not do more to stop the 12 Russian nationals indicted on Friday from interfering in the 2016 presidential election. He also added that the Fake New Media would not report the truth on the subject. (Read more from “Trump Makes This Prediction Prior to Russia Meeting” HERE)

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So, Did a Trump Joke Prompt Russia to Hack Hillary Clinton?

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By Daily Wire. On Friday, the Mueller investigation handed down 12 indictments against members of the Russian government for hacking Hillary Clinton’s emails, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and the Democratic National Committee, among other crimes. There wasn’t much regarding Trump campaign involvement with these Russian agents. The strongest material linked the agents to Roger Stone, a Trump campaign ally who may not have been aware that they were Russian agents at all: he repeatedly tweeted out his support for Guccifer 2.0, who turned out to be a front for the Russians.

With that said, one specific allegation has inflamed the imaginations of those in the media and on the Left: the supposed linkage between then-candidate Donald Trump’s July 27 campaign comments, and the GRU’s attempts to hack Hillary Clinton’s personal email address. . .

It seems clear from the language used in the indictment that the DOJ is trying to connect Trump’s comments with the Russian interference in this case – “after hours” and “for the first time” suggest that something prompted this action. But even if Trump openly called for Russia to hack Hillary and she was hacked, that’s not collusion in any real sense – it’s just nasty, inexcusable jabbering followed by Russian criminality. For there to be collusion, there would have to be planning or a quid pro quo, and there’s no evidence of any of that right now. (Read more from “So, Did Trump Prompt Russia to Hack Hillary Clinton?” HERE)

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White House: Trump-Putin Summit ‘Is on’ After Hacking Indictment

By BBC. A summit between US President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin will go ahead as planned despite tension over Moscow’s alleged election meddling, the White House says.

The pair will meet for talks in the Finnish capital, Helsinki, on Monday.

“It’s on,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters.

But there are calls for the meeting to be cancelled after the US charged 12 Russian intelligence officers with election interference on Friday.

For its part, Russia said it was looking forward to the meeting. (Read more from “White House: Trump-Putin Summit ‘Is on’ After Hacking Indictment” HERE)

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12 People Were Just Arrested for Hacking DNC

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Twelve Russian military intelligence officers hacked into the Clinton presidential campaign and the Democratic Party and released tens of thousands of private communications in a sweeping conspiracy by the Kremlin to meddle in the 2016 U.S. election, according to an indictment announced days before President Donald Trump’s summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The indictment represents special counsel Robert Mueller’s first charges against Russian government officials for interfering in American politics, an effort U.S. intelligence agencies say was aimed at helping the Trump campaign and harming his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton. The case follows a separate indictment that accused Russians of using social media to sow discord among American voters.

The 29-page indictment lays out how, months before Americans went to the polls, Russians schemed to break into key Democratic email accounts, including those belonging to Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta, the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Stolen emails, many politically damaging for Clinton, appeared on WikiLeaks in the campaign’s final stretch. (Read more from “12 People Were Just Arrested for Hacking DNC” HERE)

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Investigation Into ‘Dossier’ Against Trump Gets Big Break

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The longer the investigation into alleged Russia collusion with the Trump campaign goes on, the more information seems to surface tied to Hillary Clinton’s campaign, it seems.

The latest development comes from District Judge Reggie Walton, who ordered the Justice Department to begin to immediately hand over the communications records of Nellie Ohr, the wife of DOJ official Bruce Ohr.

She worked for Fusion GPS, the company funded by the Hillary Clinton campaign that created the “salacious and unverified” anti-Trump “dossier,” which helped fuel the launch of the Russia probe.

The FBI already is neck deep in scandal over its handling of the Clinton and Russia investigations. This week, Congress members rebuked officials in hearings for refusing to provide requested documents. And the recent inspector general report produced more evidence of bias by key FBI officials and investigators, including Peter Strzok, the lead investigator in the Clinton and Russia probes. . .

Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said he’s pleased another court rejected the Justice Department’s “inexcusable stonewalling on documents of intense public interest – Obama DOJ collusion with the Clinton campaign vendor Fusion GPS to target then-candidate Donald Trump.” (Read more from “Investigation Into ‘Dossier’ Against Trump Gets Big Break” HERE)

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Moscow and Washington Strike Deal to Hold Putin-Trump Summit

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By Reuters. Moscow and Washington have struck a deal to hold a summit soon between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump, Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters on Wednesday.

Ushakov said the summit would take place in a mutually-convenient third country and that several more weeks were needed for preparations. (Read more from “Moscow and Washington Strike Deal to Hold Putin-Trump Summit” HERE)

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India Among Top Five Friends, Beijing Moscow’s Top Ally: Russia Poll

By Times of India. Despite a significant cooling between traditional strategic partners Russia and India, India can still count itself as one of the top five “friends” of Russia. And for all the talk about Russia moving towards Pakistan, an annual opinion poll by one of Moscow’s most respected think tanks shows Pakistan does not yet cross Russian consciousness.

The Levada Centre, the only non-governmental pollster in Russia, and labelled a “foreign agent” by the Kremlin in 2016 is distinguished by the comprehensive Russian opinion polls they publish. In their latest 2017 poll, which came out in 2018, Russians identified Belarus as their country’s top ally, followed by China, Kazakhstan, Syria and India.

While Indians may feel reassured that the “druzhba-dosti” relationship remains intact, it is more important to note that China is seen as Russia’s top ally. At the government level, Russia in China’s embrace is a common sight, this poll makes it clear that this embrace has percolated to the popular level too. The declining ties between India and Russia received a fresh lease of life after an informal summit between Modi and Putin several weeks ago, where the two leaders spent a lot of quality time together to reaffirm strategic convergences.

Identifying the top enemies of Russia, the poll picks on the US, specifically Donald Trump for top spot, with Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania and Germany occupying the big ‘foes’ spaces. Afghanistan remains a designated enemy, though the Russian system is now reputed to be working closely with the Taliban. Interestingly, the average Russian identified radical Islamism and Islamic extremism as an important threat/enemy. They consider Trump, Ukraine, Europe, ISIS and radical Islam and corruption to be the greatest threats to Russia. (Read more from “India Among Top Five Friends, Beijing Moscow’s Top Ally: Russia Poll” HERE)

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Collusion: Twitter CEO Found Sharing Russian Propaganda

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. . .Now, you can add “The Emperor’s New Clothes” to the list of cautionary tales that Twitter is emulating. Even after the company claimed to be on a crusade against so-called “trolls” and inaccurate news sources, it’s CEO was just revealed to be spreading the same “fake news” he pretends to be against.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey shared over a dozen tweets around the time of the presidential election which originated from an account that investigators now know to be part of a Russian trolling operation.

Dorsey “between late 2016 and mid-2017 shared at least 17 tweets from a Russian troll who went by Crystal1Johnson on Twitter, the Journal’s analysis found,” the respected newspaper stated.

“The tweets from the Russian account that Mr. Dorsey shared touched on topics including Bob Marley’s son converting a prison into a place to grow marijuana and former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who first sparked the anthem controversy to make a statement on the treatment of African-Americans in the U.S.,” The Wall Street Journal continued.

While Dorsey did not originate the “fake news” tweets, he willingly shared them, despite the fact that they were from unconfirmed news sources known to be connected to the Internet Research Agency, a Russian propaganda effort. (Read more from “Twitter CEO Found Sharing Russian Propaganda” HERE)

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Russian Journalist and Putin Critic Who Was ‘Shot and Killed’ in Ukraine Turns up Very Much Alive

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A Russian journalist who was “shot and killed” in Ukraine Tuesday turned up very much alive at a press conference Wednesday.

Ukrainian authorities reportedly faked his death in an effort to catch the murderers sent to kill him, Vasily Gritsak, head of the Ukrainian Security Service, introduced at the press briefing. The operation was apparently a success, according to Anton Gerashchenko, a Ukrainian politician with close ties to security services.

Arkady Babchenko, a Russian journalist and Kremlin critic, was gunned down in his apartment in Kiev, local police revealed Tuesday. His wife reportedly found him bleeding out at their home in the Ukrainian capital, and he died on the way to the hospital. . .

“We know that many people are dying, many journalists are dying, journalists are thrown into prison for doing journalist work. We consider this unacceptable, we believe that this should be the topic for a very tough international reaction that will encourage the Ukrainian authorities to take effective measures to rectify the situation,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday.

Babchenko, a renowned reporter who fled Russia last year after receiving threats for his writings critical of the Russian government, is definitely not dead. (Read more from “Russian Journalist and Putin Critic Who Was ‘Shot and Killed’ in Ukraine Turns up Very Much Alive” HERE)

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James Clapper Struggles to Explain Why Trump Campaign Wasn’t Warned of Russian Threat

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By The Daily Caller. . .During an interview with Dana Bash on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Clapper seemed to argue that the Russian threat “had [not] reached the point” where the FBI would alert the campaign, but apparently had reached the point where the FBI would send in an informant.

“The first thing is just to determine what was going on,” Clapper said. “If there wasn’t a concern about the Russians…perhaps no reason to do that. You know, the FBI has rules and protocols for when they decide to do something like that and I don’t think that at that point it had reached the point where it would be appropriate to engage the head of the campaign or the nominee.” (Read more from “James Clapper Struggles to Explain Why Trump Campaign Wasn’t Warned of Russian Threat” HERE)

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Trump: Lives Have Been ‘Devastated and Destroyed’ by Russia Probe

By Politico. President Donald Trump tweeted Sunday that the Russia probe has “devastated and destroyed” the reputations of people, continuing his weekend Twitter assault against the Robert Mueller investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

“Who’s going to give back the young and beautiful lives (and others) that have been devastated and destroyed by the phony Russia Collusion Witch Hunt? They journeyed down to Washington, D.C., with stars in their eyes and wanting to help our nation. … They went back home in tatters,” the president wrote on Twitter.

Trump has repeatedly called special counsel Mueller’s probe a “witch hunt,” a charge that in recent weeks has been coupled with renewed calls from his allies to end the probe soon. Some House lawmakers have gone even further, arguing that reports stating a confidential FBI informant met with Trump campaign officials means the investigation is irrevocably tainted.

“With Spies, or ‘Informants’ as the Democrats like to call them because it sounds less sinister (but it’s not), all over my campaign,” Trump wrote on Twitter on Saturday, “even from a very early date, why didn’t the crooked highest levels of the FBI or ‘Justice‘ contact me to tell me of the phony Russia problem?” (Read more from “Trump: Lives Have Been ‘Devastated and Destroyed’ by Russia Probe” HERE)

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Russian Business Entity Rips Mueller’s Charges as ‘Make-Believe’

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Lawyers for a business entity charged in the special counsel’s investigation of Russian interference in the presidential election on Monday derided the alleged crime as “make-believe” and said the prosecution has “absolutely nothing to do” with probing any coordination between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin.

The Russian business entity, Concord Management and Consulting LLC, represented by a Washington-area team from Reed Smith, suggested in a court filing that Special Counsel Robert Mueller III had overstepped his authority to investigate any conspiracy between Donald Trump’s campaign and Russian actors who meddled in the presidential race. Concord Management and other Russian entities and individuals were charged in February in Washington federal district court for alleged roles in “sowing discord” in the presidential campaign.

Mueller’s team alleged Concord Management funded the Internet Research Agency, a Russian outfit also charged in the indictment. Prosecutors in charging documents identified the Internet Research Agency as the “organization.”

The reason for bringing the case, Reed Smith partners Eric Dubelier and Katherine Seikaly said in a court filing Monday, “is obvious, and is political: to justify his own existence the Special Counsel has to indict a Russian—any Russian.” The two lawyers describe Mueller’s case as based on allegations that Concord Management “engaged in the make-believe crime of conspiring to ‘interfere’ in a United States election.” . . .

Concord Management’s attorneys asked U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich to review the legal instructions prosecutors provided to the grand jury that charged the Internet Research Agency, Concord Management and other Russian entities and individuals.

(Story appeared at Yahoo.com but read more about it HERE)

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