Proof of Collusion

by Seth Abramson

  CHAPTER SEVEN: THE BACK CHANNELS

  1. Andrew Prokop, “The Michael Cohen, CNN, and Trump-Russia Controversy, Explained,” Vox, August 30, 2018, https://www.vox.com/2018/8/30/17795674/michael-cohen-trump-russia-mueller-cnn-lanny-davis.

  2. Ibid.

  3. Jim Sciutto, Carl Bernstein, and Marshall Cohen, “Cohen claims Trump knew in advance of 2016 Trump Tower meeting,” CNN, July 26, 2019, updated July 27, 2018, https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/26/politics/michael-cohen-donald-trump-june-2016-meeting-knowledge/index.html; Jim Sciutto and Carl Bernstein, “Attorney for Michael Cohen keeps changing his story on Trump Tower meeting,” CNN, August 28, 2018, https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/28/politics/lanny-davis-trump-tower-michael-cohen/index.html.

  4. “George Papadopoulos and the Secret Visit to Athens,” To Vima (in Greek), November 13, 2016, http://www.tovima.gr/politics/article/?aid=843919; Linley Sanders, “Trump Knew Papadopoulos Would Meet with Foreigners, Ex-Aide Claims,” Newsweek, November 17, 2017, https://www.newsweek.com/papadopoulos-says-trump-authorized-him-meet-foreign-leaders-714644; Bill Whitaker, “When Russian Hackers Targeted the U.S. Election Infrastructure,” CBS News, July 17, 2018, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/when-russian-hackers-targeted-the-u-s-election-infrastructure/; Sarah D. Wire, “House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy in 2016: ‘There’s two people I think Putin pays: Rohrabacher and Trump,’ ” Los Angeles Times, May 17, 2017, http://www.latimes.com/politics/essential/la-pol-ca-essential-politics-updates-year-old-mccarthy-comment-that-trump-1495063901-htmlstory.html; Sharon LaFraniere et al., “How the Russia Inquiry Began: A Campaign Aide, Drinks and Talk of Political Dirt,” New York Times, December 30, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/30/us/politics/how-fbi-russia-investigation-began-george-papadopoulos.html; Aaron Blake, “Rod Rosenstein and Robert Mueller officially repudiate a major Trump conspiracy theory,” Washington Post, July 13, 2018, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2018/07/13/rod-j-rosenstein-and-robert-s-mueller-iii-officially-rebuke-a-major-trump-conspiracy-theory/?utm_term=.25be2a757e46.

  5. Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson), “BREAKING NEWS: Deripaska Mistress Nastya Rybka Was in Athens on the Same Day as George Papadopoulos and Vladimir Putin (Papadopoulos was there on a secret, as-yet unexplained trip for the Trump campaign, and Putin was there to talk sanctions with men we know Papadopoulos met)” {Post includes screenshot of Nastya Rybka Instagram account, Twitter, March 6, 2018, https://twitter.com/sethabramson/status/971205101846188032; Mike Eckel, “The Deputy PM, the Oligarch, and His Lover: New Navalny Exposé Highlights Tycoon’s Ties to Kremlin Bigwig,” Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, February 8, 2018, https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-deripaska-prikhodko-rybka-nuland-yacht/29028148.html.

  6. Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson), Twitter, March 6, 2018; Mark Mazzetti et al., “Trump Jr. and Other Aides Met With Gulf Emissary Offering Help to Win Election,” New York Times, May 19, 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/19/us/politics/trump-jr-saudi-uae-nader-prince-zamel.html.

  7. Adam Entous, “House majority leader to colleagues in 2016: ‘I think Putin pays’ Trump,” Washington Post, May 17, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/house-majority-leader-to-colleagues-in-2016-i-think-putin-pays-trump/2017/05/17/515f6f8a-3aff-11e7-8854-21f359183e8c_story.html?utm_term=.57efe14abdbf.

  8. Steve Reilly, “Timeline: The many times George Papadopoulos tried to connect the Trump campaign with Russia,” USA Today, November 2, 2017, https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2017/11/02/timeline-many-times-george-papadopoulos-tried-connect-trump-campaign-russia/820951001/; Association of Accredited Public Policy Advocates to the European Union, “Russian Sanctions and EU Member States Stance,” November 9, 2017, http://www.aalep.eu/russian-sanctions-and-eu-member-states-stance; “Russian President Meets with Greek Leaders on First Trip to EU This Year,” RadioFreeEurope, by Interfax, Reuters, AFP, and AP, May 27, 2016, https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-putin-visit-greece/27761430.html.

  9. Kalyeena Makortoff, “Putin courts Athens ahead of vote on sanctions extension,” CNBC, May 2016, https://www.cnbc.com/2016/05/27/putin-courts-athens-ahead-of-vote-on-sanctions-extension.html.

  10. Alexis Papachelas, “The Ambitious George Papadopoulos,” Kathimerini, November 6, 2017, http://www.ekathimerini.com/222996/article/ekathimerini/news/the-ambitious-george-papadopoulos.

  11. “George Papadopoulos,” To Vima; Daniel Halper, “National Security Leaders to Congress: ‘Stop Sequestration Now,” Weekly Standard, February 11, 2013, https://www.weeklystandard.com/daniel-halper/national-security-leaders-to-congress-stop-sequestration-now; Michael Warren, “Foreign Policy Experts to Congressional Leaders: Enforce Iranian Compliance With Nuclear Deal,” Weekly Standard, January 9, 2014, https://www.weeklystandard.com/michael-warren/foreign-policy-experts-to-congressional-leaders-enforce-iranian-compliance-with-nuclear-deal; Daniel Halper, “ ‘Secure Ukraine, Isolate Russia, and Strengthen NATO,’ ” Weekly Standard, March 21, 2014, https://www.weeklystandard.com/daniel-halper/secure-ukraine-isolate-russia-and-strengthen-nato.

  12. “George Papadopoulos,” To Vima.

  13. Meghan Clyne, “Reagan Aides Try To Remember KT McFarland,” New York Sun, March 7, 2006, https://www.nysun.com/national/reagan-aides-try-to-remember-kt-mcfarland/28643/; Adam Entous, “The Agonizingly Slow Downfall of K. T. McFarland,” New Yorker, January 29, 2018, https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-agonizingly-slow-downfall-of-k-t-mcfarland; “Seth Cropsey, Director, Center for American Seapower,” Hudson Institute, https://www.hudson.org/experts/530-seth-cropsey.

  14. Marianna Kakaounaki, “Trump’s Pre-Election Trip to Greece That Never Happened,” Kathimerini, November 6, 2017, http://www.ekathimerini.com/222995/article/ekathimerini/news/trumps-pre-election-trip-to-greece-that-never-happened.

  15. Ibid.

  16. Griff Witte, “For Trump adviser at center of Russia probe, a rapid rise and dramatic fall in his ancestral land,” Washington Post, December 10, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/for-trump-adviser-at-center-of-russia-probe-a-rapid-rise-and-dramatic-fall-in-his-ancestral-land/2017/12/10/91bb696a-d390-11e7-9ad9-ca0619edfa05_story.html?utm_term=.7de3b3cfe36b.

  17. “Russian President Meets with Greek Leaders on First Trip to EU This Year.”

  18. Witte, “For Trump adviser at center of Russia probe.”

  19. Sanders, “Trump Knew Papadopoulos Would Meet with Foreigners, Ex-Aide Claims.”

  20. Ibid.

  21. Tom Dreisbach and Kelly McEvers, “Former Trump Campaign Adviser Was More than a Coffee Boy, Fiancée Says,” NPR, February 12, 2018, https://www.npr.org/2018/02/12/584855759/former-trump-campaign-adviser-was-more-than-a-coffee-boy-fiancee-says.

  22. Witte, “For Trump adviser at center of Russia probe.”

  23. Kakaounaki, “Trump’s Pre-Election Trip to Greece.”

  24. Ibid.

  25. “Kammenos ‘Confident of Close Cooperation’ with Trump Administration,” Kathimerini, January 20, 2017, http://www.ekathimerini.com/215454/article/ekathimerini/news/kammenos-confident-of-close-cooperation-with-trump-administration.

  26. Ibid.

  27. “Kammenos Congratulates Trump on Twitter,” Kathimerini, November 9, 2016, http://www.ekathimerini.com/213536/article/ekathimerini/news/kammenos-congratulates-trump-on-twitter.

  28. Paul Owen, “Full Text of the Emails Between Donald Trump Jr. and Rob Goldstone,” Guardian, July 11, 2017, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jul/11/donald-trump-jr-emails-full-text-russia-rob-goldstone.

  29. Max Seddon, “Did Russia’s Top Prosecutor Yuri Chaika Want to help Donald Trump?” Financial Times, July 12, 2017, https://www.ft.com/content/3b7146fc-6706-11e7-8526-7b38dcaef614.

  30. 52 U.S. Code § 30121, “a provision of the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA), 52 U.S.C. 30121(a)(2), which prohibits any person from soliciting a contribution or donation from a foreign national (as defined),” http://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=(title:52%20section:30121%20edition:prelim).

  31. Ibid.

  32. Zack Beau
champ, “Donald Trump Jr. is digging himself a big legal hole,” Vox, July 10, 2017, https://www.vox.com/world/2017/7/10/15948078/donald-trump-jr-russia-illegal.

  33. Owen, “Full Text of the Emails.”

  34. Ibid.

  35. Ibid.

  36. Allan Smith, “ ‘You’re going to find it very, very interesting’: Donald Trump announces he will make ‘major’ speech about the Clintons,” Business Insider, June 7, 2016, https://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-announced-speech-hillary-bill-clinton-2016-6.

  37. Ibid.

  38. Owen, “Full Text of the Emails.”

  39. Dan Merica, “Recreating June 9: A Very Consequential Day in the 2016 Campaign,” CNN, July 12, 2017, https://www.cnn.com/2017/07/11/politics/trump-campaign-june-9/index.html.

  40. Ibid.

  41. Ibid.

  42. Eli Stokols, “Trump Prepares Charge Sheet Against Clinton,” Politico, June 9, 2016, https://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-attacks-224094.

  43. Ibid.

  44. Ibid.

  45. Rosalind S. Helderman and Tom Hamburger, “Eighth Person in Trump Tower Meeting Is Identified,” Washington Post, July 18, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/eighth-person-in-trump-tower-meeting-is-identified/2017/07/18/e971234a-6bce-11e7-9c15-177740635e83_story.html?utm_term=.10f33976fb8c; Andrew Higgins and Andrew E. Kramer, “Soviet Veteran Who Met With Trump Jr. Is a Master of the Dark Arts,” New York Times, July 15, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/15/world/europe/rinat-akhmetshin-donald-trump-jr-natalia-veselnitskaya.html; Sonam Sheth, “Trump may have let something slip about the Russian lawyer from the Trump Tower meeting,” Business Insider, April 2018, https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-rally-natalia-veselnitskaya-putin-trump-tower-meeting-2018-4; Keir Simmons, “Russian Lawyer Veselnitskaya Says She Didn’t Give Trump Jr. Info on Clinton,” NBC News, July 11, 2017, https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/russian-lawyer-who-met-trump-jr-i-didn-t-have-n781631; Ken Dilanian and Natasha Ledeveda, “Donald Trump Jr. Asked Russian Lawyer for Info on Clinton Foundation,” NBC News, December 5, 2017, https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/donald-trump-jr-asked-russian-lawyer-info-clinton-foundation-n826711; Emily Stewart, “Read: Donald Trump Jr.’s Congressional Testimony About the Trump Tower Meeting,” Vox, May 16, 2018, https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/5/16/17360484/donald-trump-jr-transcript-senate-judiciary-committee; Sonam Sheth and Ellen Cranley, “The Russian lawyer who met with Trump campaign says she is a Kremlin ‘informant,’ ” Business Insider, April 27, 2018, https://www.businessinsider.com/natalia-veselnitskaya-russia-informant-trump-tower-meeting-2018-4.

  46. Ibid., Trump Jr. transcript, pp. 19 and 46.

  47. Ibid.

  48. Ibid., p. 43.

  49. Ibid.

  50. Stephan Dinan, “Trump Jr. Says He Never Told His Father About Russia Meeting,” Washington Times, May 16, 2018, https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/may/16/trump-jr-says-he-never-told-father-russia-meeting/; Marshall Cohen, “20 times Trump and his allies denied he knew of the 2016 Trump Tower meeting,” CNN, July 27, 2018, https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/27/politics/trump-denials-trump-tower-2016-meeting/index.html; Jeremy Herb and Marshall Cohen, “The Trump Tower Meeting: A Timeline,” CNN, July 31, 2018, https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/31/politics/trump-tower-meeting-timeline/index.html.

  51. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump), “How long did it take your staff of 823 people to think that up—and where are your 33,000 emails that you deleted?” Twitter, June 9, 2016, 4:40 p.m., http://www.trumptwitterarchive.com/archive.

  52. Tom Hamburger et al., “Trump maintains not knowing in advance about meeting with Russians, disputing Cohen claim,” Washington Post, July 27, 2018 (updated August 26, 2018), https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-maintains-not-knowing-in-advance-about-meeting-with-russians-disputing-cohen-claim/2018/07/27/5e18f57a-9143-11e8-bcd5-9d911c784c38_story.html?utm_term=.66cc6be6f19d; Joe Tacopino, “Cohen Willing to Testify That Trump Approved 2016 Meeting with Russians,” New York Post, July 26, 2018, https://nypost.com/2018/07/26/cohen-trump-approved-2016-trump-tower-meeting-with-russians/.

  53. David Cloud, “Mueller calls back at least one participant in key meeting with Russians at Trump Tower,” Los Angeles Times, January 6, 2018, http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-trump-probe-20180106-story.html#.

  54. Michael Wolff, Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House (New York: Henry Holt, 2018).

  55. Ibid.

  56. Josh Dawsey, “Spokesman for Trump’s legal team resigns just two months after starting,” Politico, July 20, 2017, https://www.politico.com/story/2017/07/20/spokesman-for-trumps-legal-team-resigns-just-two-months-after-starting-240783.

  57. Rosalind S. Helderman et al., “Russian social media executive sought to help Trump campaign in 2016, emails show,” Washington Post, December 7, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/russian-social-media-executive-sought-to-help-trump-campaign-in-2016-emails-show/2017/12/07/31ec8d90-db9a-11e7-b859-fb0995360725_story.html?utm_term=.066f1fc3efcd.

  58. Stewart, Trump Jr. transcript, pp. 47–48.

  59. Ibid., p. 48.

  60. Philip Bump, “Timeline: How a Trump adviser tried to work with the Russian government,” Washington Post, October 30, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2017/10/30/timeline-how-a-trump-adviser-tried-to-work-with-the-russian-government/?utm_term=.b869dfa4de32; Jenna Johnson, “Veteran Strategist Paul Manafort Becomes Trump’s Campaign Chairman,” Washington Post, May 19, 2016, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/05/19/veteran-strategist-paul-manafort-becomes-trumps-campaign-chairman/?utm_term=.fd49375b16f8.

  61. Brian Whitaker, “The George Papadopoulos File: A Timeline,” Medium, November 19, 2017, https://medium.com/@Brian_Whit/the-george-papadopoulos-file-a-timeline-5c699c3aae4b.

  62. Ibid.; John Sweeney and Innes Bowen, “Joseph Mifsud: The mystery professor behind Trump Russia inquiry,” BBC, March 21, 2018, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-43488581.

  63. Witte, “For Trump adviser at center of Russia probe.”

  64. Tim Dickinson, “Was Jeff Sessions Aware of a Proposed Trump-Putin Back Channel?” Rolling Stone, April 27, 2018, https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/was-jeff-sessions-aware-of-a-proposed-trump-putin-back-channel-628043/; Nicholas Fandos, “Operative Offered Trump Campaign ‘Kremlin Connection’ Using N.R.A. Ties,” New York Times, December 3,2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/03/us/politics/trump-putin-russia-nra-campaign.html.

  65. Denise Clifton and Mark Follman, “The Very Strange Case of Two Russian Gun Lovers, the NRA, and Donald Trump,” Mother Jones, March 2018, https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/03/trump-russia-nra-connection-maria-butina-alexander-torshin-guns/.

  66. Ken Dilanian and Carol E. Lee, “Kushner failed to disclose outreach from Putin ally to Trump campaign,” NBC News, November 2017, https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/kushner-failed-disclose-outreach-putin-ally-trump-campaign-n822021.

  67. Fandos, “Operative Offered Trump Campaign ‘Kremlin Connection.”

  68. Peter Stone and Greg Gordon, “FBI Investigating Whether Russian Money Went to NRA to Help Trump,” McClatchy, January 18, 2018, https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/article195231139.html.

  69. Steven Mufson and Tom Hamburger, “Trump’s adviser’s public comments, ties to Moscow stir unease in both parties,” Washington Post, August 5, 2016, https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/trump-advisers-public-comments-ties-to-moscow-stir-unease-in-both-parties/2016/08/05/2e8722fa-5815-11e6-9aee-8075993d73a2_story.html?utm_term=.12a1f7b2c91b.

  70. Ibid.

  71. Michael S. Schmidt, “Major Takeaways from Carter Page’s Congressional Interview on Russian Election Meddling,” New York Times, November 7, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/07/us/politics/trump-adviser-carter-page-transcript-meeting-2016-campaign-russia.html.

  72. Ibid.

  73. Manu Raju and Jeremy Herb, “Exclusive: Carter Page Testifies He Told Sess
ions About Russia Trip,” CNN, November 3, 2017, https://www.cnn.com/2017/11/02/politics/carter-page-testimony-russia-trip/index.html; Manu Raju et al., “Sessions Under Renewed Scrutiny on Capitol Hill,” CNN, November 2, 2017, https://www.cnn.com/2017/11/02/politics/jeff-sessions-congress-russia-trump-campaign/index.html.

  74. Ben Schreckinger and Julia Ioffe, “Lobbyist Advised Trump Campaign While Promoting Russian Pipeline,” Politico, October 7, 2016, https://www.politico.com/story/2016/10/donald-trump-campaign-lobbyist-russian-pipeline-229264.

  75. Ibid.; Nicholas Fandos, “Hope Hicks Acknowledges She Sometimes Tells White Lies for Trump,” New York Times, February 27, 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/27/us/politics/hope-hicks-house-intelligence-committee-testimony.html.

  76. Sean Illing, “Cambridge Analytica, the shady data firm that might be a key Trump-Russia link, explained,” Vox, April 4, 2018, https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/10/16/15657512/cambridge-analytica-facebook-alexander-nix-christopher-wylie.

  77. Ibid.

  78. Ibid.

  79. Associated Press, “Michael Flynn to Disclose Advisory Role Linked to Cambridge Analytica,” August 4, 2017, Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/aug/04/michael-flynn-cambridge-analytica-disclosure; Illing, “Cambridge Analytica”; Donie O’Sullivan, “Cambridge Analytica’s Facebook Data Was Accessed from Russia, MP Says,” CNN, July 17, 2018, https://money.cnn.com/2018/07/17/technology/cambridge-analytica-data-facebook-russia/index.html; Eli Watkins and Carol Jordan, “Cambridge Analytica Suspends CEO Alexander Nix After Undercover Recordings air,” CNN, March 20, 2018, https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/20/politics/alexander-nix-cambridge-analytica/index.html.

  80. Philip Bump, “A new undercover video raises significant questions about Cambridge Analytica’s elections work,” Washington Post, March 20, 2018, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2018/03/20/a-new-undercover-video-raises-significant-questions-about-cambridge-analyticas-elections-work/?utm_term=.e00c341101c6; Sheth and Cranley, “The Russian lawyer who met with Trump campaign says she is a Kremlin ‘informant.’ ” Insider, April 27, 2018, https://www.businessinsider.com/natalia-veselnitskaya-russia-informant-trump-tower-meeting-2018-4.