81. Ibid.
82. Kyle Swenson, “Rebekah Mercer, the billionaire backer of Bannon and Trump, chooses sides,” Washington Post, January 5, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2018/01/05/rebekah-mercer-the-billionaire-backer-of-bannon-and-trump-chooses-sides/?utm_term=.8f950711f69f; Curt Devine et al., “How Steve Bannon Used Cambridge Analytica to Further His Alt-right Vision for America,” CNN, March 2018, https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/30/politics/bannon-cambridge-analytica/index.html.
83. Carole Cadwalladr and Peter Jukes, “Arron Banks ‘met Russian officials multiple times before Brexit vote,’ ” Guardian, June 9, 2018, https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/jun/09/arron-banks-russia-brexit-meeting.
84. Ibid.
85. William Booth and Karla Adam, “Arron Banks: The brash British millionaire who backed Brexit, befriended the Russian ambassador and loves Trump,” Washington Post, June 30, 2018, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/arron-banks-the-brash-british-millionaire-who-backed-brexit-befriended-the-russian-ambassador-and-loves-trump/2018/06/30/077d7204-78bb-11e8-ac4e-421ef7165923_story.html?utm_term=.ca1d3ffc679e.
86. Cadwalladr and Jukes, “Arron Banks.”
87. Joey Millar, “ ‘We STUFFED the establishment!’ Farage receives OVATION as Trump fans praise ‘Mr. Brexit,’ ” Express, February 24, 2018, https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/923263/donald-trump-cpac-nigel-farage-speech-brexit-referendum.
88. Stephanie Kirchgaessner, “Trump-Russia Inquiry is told Nigel Farage may have given Julian Assange data,” Guardian, January 19, 2018, https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/jan/19/trump-russia-inquiry-is-told-nigel-farage-may-have-given-julian-assange-data.
89. Lydia O’Connor, “Nigel Farrage Just Made a Very Bizarre Visit to the Ecuadorian Embassy,” Huffington Post, March 9, 2017, https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/nigel-farage-julian-assange_us_58c1a73ae4b0d1078ca50e2e.
90. Jon Stone, “Brexit: Nigel Farage is a ‘fifth columnist’ Putin cheerleader, says Guy Verhofstadt,” Independent, June 13, 2018, https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brexit-nigel-farage-putin-cheerleader-eu-russia-guy-verhofstadt-erdogan-a8396476.html.
91. Robert Midgley, “Watch: How Nigel Farage became friends with Donald Trump,” Telegraph, November 22, 2016, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/11/16/watch-how-nigel-farage-became-friends-with-donald-trump/.
92. “Farage flattered by Trump’s call for him to be US ambassador—video,” Guardian, November 22, 2016, https://www.theguardian.com/politics/video/2016/nov/22/farage-flattered-trump-call-us-ambassador-video; Christopher Hope, “Donald Trump must not meet Nigel Farage: Downing St. accused of laying down red line ahead of UK visit,” Telegraph, July 3, 2018, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2018/07/03/donald-trump-must-not-meet-nigel-farage-downing-st-accused-laying/.
93. Rosalind S. Helderman, “Who’s Who in the George Papadapoulos Court Documents,” Washington Post, November 2, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/whos-who-in-the-george-papadopoulos-court-documents/2017/10/30/e131158c-bdb3-11e7-97d9-bdab5a0ab381_story.html?utm_term=.acf4ac75004d.
94. Ibid.
95. Papachelas, “The Ambitious George Papadopoulos.”
96. Ibid.
97. Ibid.
98. Ibid.
99. “Greek Government Mulls Repercussions of Trump Election,” Kathimerini, November 9, 2016, http://www.ekathimerini.com/213560/article/ekathimerini/news/greek-government-mulls-repercussions-of-trump-election.
100. Mark Mazzetti, “Excerpts From the New York Times Interview With George Papadopoulos,” New York Times, September 7, 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/07/us/politics/george-papadopoulos-interview-trump.html.
101. Papachelas, “The Ambitious George Papadopoulos.”
102. Margot Cleveland, “Here’s What We Can Glean from What George Papadopoulos’s Wife Is Telling Media,” Federalist, June 13, 2018, http://thefederalist.com/2018/06/13/heres-can-glean-george-papadopouloss-wife-telling-media; Jake Tapper, “The Mysterious Case of George Papadopoulos; George Papadopoulos Ignited the Russia Conspiracy Investigation,” CNN Transcripts, aired September 7, 2018, http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1809/07/csr.01.html.
103. Quinta Jurecic, “Document: George Papadopoulos’s Sentencing Memo,” Lawfare, August 17, 2018, https://www.lawfareblog.com/document-george-papadopoulos-sentencing-memo.
104. “ND demands answers over Saudi defense deal,” Kathimerini, November 6, 2017, http://www.ekathimerini.com/222984/article/ekathimerini/news/nd-demands-answers-over-saudi-defense-deal.
105. Tara Palmeri, “Need to Reach Trump? Call Rhona,” Politico (Europe), March 26, 2017, https://www.politico.eu/article/need-to-reach-donald-trump-call-rhona-graff-assistant/.
106. Ibid.
107. Stewart, Trump Jr. transcript, p. 83.
108. Palmeri, “Need to Reach Trump? Call Rhona.”
109. Ibid.
110. Helderman, “Who’s Who in the George Papadopoulos Court Documents.” Reilly, “Timeline.”
111. Ibid.
112. William Saletan, “Blurred Line: The Papadapoulos plea deal in the Russian meddling probe suggests both collusion and cover-up,” Slate, October 30, 2017, http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2017/10/papadopoulos_plea_blurs_the_line_between_collusion_and_cover_up.html.
CHAPTER EIGHT: THE REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION
1. Andrew Prokop, “Carter Page, the Star of the Nunes Memo, Explained,” Vox, February 2, 2018, https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/2/2/16956014/nunes-memo-carter-page.
2. Ibid.
3. Donald Trump (@realDonaldTrump), “In politics, and in life, ignorance is not a virtue. This is a primary reason that President Obama is the worst president in U.S. history!” Twitter, May 16, 2016, 6:08 p.m., https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/732377163505225728.
4. Prokop, “Carter Page, the Star of the Nunes Memo, Explained.”
5. Washington Post, October 30, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/10/30/7-big-questions-about-the-russia-probe-from-trump-aide-george-papadopouloss-plea-deal/?utm_term=.4ec80211257d.
6. Ibid.
7. Franklin Foer, “The Astonishing Tale of the Man Mueller Just Indicted,” Atlantic, June 6, 2018, https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/06/the-astonishing-tale-of-the-man-mueller-calls-person-a/562217/.
8. Ibid.
9. Cristiano Lima, “Lewandowski: ‘My Memory Has Been Refreshed’ on Carter Page Moscow Trip,” Politico, November 8, 2017, https://www.politico.com/story/2017/11/08/corey-lewandowski-carter-page-email-244689.
10. Ken Meyer, “Lewandowski Fiercely Denied Russia Trip Knowledge; Carter Page Testimony Says Otherwise,” Mediaite, November 7, 2017, https://www.mediaite.com/online/lewandowski-vehemently-denied-knowledge-of-russia-trips-carter-page-testimony-says-otherwise/.
11. Lima, “Lewandowski: ‘My Memory Has Been Refreshed.’ ”
12. Natasha Bertrand, “Trump Campaing Adviser: Carter Page ‘Went Around Me’ to Get Permission for Moscow Trip,” Business Insider, November 7, 2017, https://www.businessinsider.com/jd-gordon-carter-page-trump-russia-moscow-trip-2017-11.
13. Ibid.
14. Ryan Lucas, “Carter Page Tells House Intel Panel He Spoke to Sessions About Russia Contacts,” NPR, November 7, 2017, https://www.npr.org/2017/11/07/562537269/inquiry-widens-following-disclosure-of-trump-aides-told-about-russia-contacts.
15. John Kelly and Steve Reilly, “Trump Team Issued at Least 20 Denials of Contacts with Russia,” USA Today, March 2, 2017, https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/03/02/trump-teams-many-many-denials-contacts-russia/98625780/; Artin Afkhami, “A Timeline of Carter Page’s Contacts With Russia,” Slate, November 11, 2017, http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2017/11/a_timeline_of_carter_page_s_contacts_with_russia.html.
16. Ruptly.tv, Russia’s propaganda station, RT, “Live: Former Trump Adviser Carter Page Holds Presentation in Moscow,” Streamed live on December 12, 2016, h
ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEmg4DNVFSE.
17. Benjamin Segal et al., “After months of public denials, Carter Page admits he told public officials about meeting with Russia,” ABC News, November 7, 2017, https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/carter-page-told-trump-campaign-officials-moscow-trip/story?id=50977310.
18. Mark Mazzetti and Adam Goldman, “Trump Campaign Adviser Met with Russian Officials in 2016,” New York Times, November 3, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/03/us/politics/trump-campaign-page-russian.html.
19. “The Steele Dossier,” OilPrice.com, May 31 2017, https://oilprice.com/Geopolitics/International/The-Mysterious-Rosneft-Deal-And-Its-Consequences.html; Steele Dossier, Moscow Project, https://themoscowproject.org/dossier/.
20. Lucas, “Carter Page Tells House Intel Panel He Spoke to Sessions About Russia Contacts.”
21. Ibid.
22. Ibid.
23. David Corn, “Top Hill Democrat Says Mueller Should Consider Perjury Charges Against Trump-Russia Witnesses,” Mother Jones, June 7, 2018, https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/06/mueller-schiff-perjury/.
24. Tom Hamburger et al., “Manafort Offered to Give Russian Billionaire ‘Private Briefings’ on 2016 Campaign,” Washington Post, September 20, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/manafort-offered-to-give-russian-billionaire-private-briefings-on-2016-campaign/2017/09/20/399bba1a-9d48-11e7-8ea1-ed975285475e_story.html?utm_term=.a5476a430a28.
25. Ibid.
26. Ibid.
27. Tom Hamburger et al., “Trump’s Company Had More Contact With Russia During Campaign, According to Documents Turned Over to Investigators,” Washington Post, October 2, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trumps-company-had-more-contact-with-russia-during-campaign-according-to-documents-turned-over-to-investigators/2017/10/02/2091fe5e-a6c0-11e7-850e-2bdd1236be5d_story.html?utm_term=.ae19f7819c5e.
28. Ibid.
29. Ibid.
30. Ibid.
31. Jonathan Vankin, “Michael Cohen Mystery: Donald Trump ‘Fixer’ Said He Was Going to Moscow in 2016, Report Says—Where Was He?” INQUISITR, May 21, 2018, https://www.inquisitr.com/4908791/michael-cohen-donald-trump-moscow/.
32. Anthony Cormier, “This Is The Inside Of Trump’s Lawyer’s Passport,” BuzzFeed News, May 5, 2017, https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/anthonycormier/trumps-lawyer-showed-you-the-cover-of-his-passport-heres#.kcGZWqoxLA.
33. Roger Friedman, “Exclusive: Trump Lawyer Michael Cohen’s Alibi Blown—He Lied About July 2016 Capri Vacation with Rock Star Steve van Zandt,” Showbiz 411, April 13, 2018, http://www.showbiz411.com/2018/04/13/exclusive-michael-cohen-alibi-blown-he-lied-about-july-2016-capri-vacation-with-rock-star-steve-van-zandt.
34. Cormier, “This Is the Inside of Trump’s Lawyer’s Passport.”
35. “Trump attorney Cohen on intelligence dossier: ‘I’ve never been to Prague and I’ve never been to Russia,’ ” Fox News, January 12, 2017, http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/01/12/trump-attorney-cohen-on-intelligence-dossier-ive-never-been-to-prague-and-ive-never-been-to-russia.html.
36. Philip Bump, “Yes, Sean Hannity Was a Legal Client of Michael Cohen’s,” Washington Post, April 17, 2018, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2018/04/17/yes-sean-hannity-was-a-legal-client-of-michael-cohens/?utm_term=.47a576d10468.
37. Luke Harding et al., “British Spies Were First to Spot Trump Team’s Links with Russia,” Guardian, April 13, 2017, https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/apr/13/british-spies-first-to-spot-trump-team-links-russia.
38. Josh Meyer, “Investigators Probe European Travel of Trump Associates,” Politico, December 6, 2017, https://www.politico.com/story/2017/12/06/trump-europe-russia-travel-281134.
39. Peter Stone and Greg Gordon, “Sources: Mueller Has Evidence Cohen Was in Prague in 2016 Confirming Part of Dossier,” McClatchy, April 13, 2018, https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/white-house/article208870264.html.
40. Cormier, “This Is the Inside of Trump’s Lawyer’s Passport.”
41. Ibid.; Artin Afkhami, “Timeline of Carter Page’s Contacts With Russia Updated,” Just Security, February 5, 2018, https://www.justsecurity.org/46786/timeline-carter-pages-contacts-russia/.
42. Politico staff, “Transcript: Jeff Sessions’ Testimony on Trump and Russia,” Politico, June 13, 2017, https://www.politico.com/story/2017/06/13/full-text-jeff-session-trump-russia-testimony-239503.
43. Allan Smith, “We now know more about why Jeff Sessions and a Russian ambassador crossed paths at the Republican convention,” Business Insider, March 2, 2017, https://www.businessinsider.com/why-jeff-sessions-spoke-to-russian-ambassador-rnc-2017-3; Adam Entous et al., “Sessions discussed Trump campaign-related matters with Russian ambassador, U.S. intelligence intercepts show,” Washington Post, July 21, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/sessions-discussed-trump-campaign-related-matters-with-russian-ambassador-us-intelligence-intercepts-show/2017/07/21/3e704692-6e44-11e7-9c15-177740635e83_story.html?utm_term=.cace22b6c753.
44. Manu Raju and Evan Perez, “Russia meetings in security clearance form, DOJ says,” CNN, May 25, 2017, https://www.cnn.com/2017/05/24/politics/jeff-sessions-russian-officials-meetings/index.html.
45. Entous et al., “Sessions discussed Trump campaign-related matters with Russian ambassador.”
46. Julia Ioffe, “Why Did Jeff Sessions Really Meet with Sergey Kislyak?” Atlantic, June 13, 2007, https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/06/why-did-jeff-sessions-really-meet-sergey-kislyak/530091/.
47. Natasha Bertrand, “It looks like another Trump adviser has significantly changed his story about the GOP’s dramatic shift on Ukraine,” Business Insider, March 3, 2017, https://www.businessinsider.com/jd-gordon-trump-adviser-ukraine-rnc-2017-3; Carrie Johnson, “2016 RNC Delegate: Trump Directed Change to Party Platform on Ukraine Support,” NPR, December 4, 2017, https://www.npr.org/2017/12/04/568310790/2016-rnc-delegate-trump-directed-change-to-party-platform-on-ukraine-support.
48. Ibid.
49. Ibid.
50. Ibid.
51. Kenneth P. Vogel and David Stern, “Authorities Looked into Manafort Protégé,” Politico, March 8, 2017, https://www.politico.com/story/2017/03/trump-russia-manafort-235850.
52. Natasha Bertrand, “A Trump adviser gave the campaign ‘the chance to intervene’ in controversial Ukraine platform change — and lawmakers want to know why,” Business Insider, November 8, 2017, https://www.businessinsider.com/congressional-russia-investigators-are-now-examining-the-gops-ukraine-platform-change-2017-11; Kaitlan Collins, “Bannon ally leaves the National Security Council after less than six months,” CNN, July 6, 2017, https://www.cnn.com/2017/07/06/politics/tera-dahl-bannon-ally-national-security-council/index.html.
53. Sara Murray et al., “More Trump advisers disclose meetings with Russia’s ambassador,” CNN, March 4, 2017, https://www.cnn.com/2017/03/02/politics/russia-donald-trump-meetings-ambassador/index.html.
54. Kelly and Reilly, “Trump Team Issued at Least 20 Denials of Contacts with Russia.”
55. Ibid.
56. Prokop, “Carter Page, the Star of the Nunes Memo, Explained.”
57. Michael C. Butz, “AJC Panel dissects American role in global affairs,” Cleveland Jewish News, July 21, 2016, https://www.clevelandjewishnews.com/news/politics/rnc/ajc-panel-dissects-america-s-role-in-global-affairs/article_7d91f20a-4f3f-11e6-97b6-ab6586eff87a.html.
58. Tapper, “The Mysterious Case of George Papadopoulos.”
59. Ibid.
60. Carole Cadwalladr and Stephanie Kirchgaessner, “Cambridge Analytica director ‘met Assange to discuss US election,’ ” Guardian, June 7, 2018, https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/jun/06/cambridge-analytica-brittany-kaiser-julian-assange-wikileaks.
61. Ibid.
62. Ken Stern, “Exclusive: Stephen Bannon, Trump’s New C.E.O., Hints at His Master Plan,” Vanity Fair, August 17, 2016, https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/08/breitbart-stephen-bannon-donald-trump-master-plan.
/>
63. Mark Tait, “The Time I Got Recruited to Collude with the Russians,” Lawfare, June 30, 2017, https://www.lawfareblog.com/time-i-got-recruited-collude-russians.
64. Ibid.
65. CNN Library, “2016 Presidential Election Investigation Fast Facts,” CNN, October 10, 2017, https://www.cnn.com/2017/10/12/us/2016-presidential-election-investigation-fast-facts/index.html; David E. Sanger and Eric Schmitt, “Spy Agency Consensus Grows That Russia Hacked D.N.C.,” New York Times, July 26, 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/27/us/politics/spy-agency-consensus-grows-that-russia-hacked-dnc.html; Michael S. Schmidt, “Trump Invited the Russians to Hack Clinton. Were They Listening?” New York Times, July 13, 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/13/us/politics/trump-russia-clinton-emails.html.
66. Alex Gangitano, “DCCC Hacked in Series of Cyberattacks Against Democratic Groups,” Roll Call, July 29, 2016, https://www.rollcall.com/news/politics/dccc-hacked-in-series-of-cyber-attacks-against-democratic-groups.
67. Meghan Keneally, “Timeline leading up to Jeff Sessions’ recusal and the fallout,” ABC News, July 26, 2017, https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/timeline-leading-jeff-sessions-recusal-fallout/story?id=45855918.
68. “Transcript: Jeff Sessions’ Testimony on Trump and Russia,” Politico.
69. Ibid.
70. Ibid.
71. Ibid.
72. Matthew Yglesias, “The other 25 senators on Sessions’s committee say they had no meetings with Russian ambassador in 2016,” Vox, March 2, 2017, https://www.vox.com/2017/3/2/14794646/sessions-kislyak-senate-armed-services.
73. Ioffe, “Why Did Jeff Sessions Really Meet with Sergey Kislyak?”
74. Bertrand, “It looks like another Trump adviser.”
75. Ibid.
76. Philip Rucker, “Trump: ‘I don’t remember much’ about meeting with Papadopoulos, campaign adviser who has pleaded guilty,” Washington Post, November 11, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/11/03/trump-i-dont-remember-much-about-meeting-with-papadopoulos-campaign-adviser-who-has-pleaded-guilty/?utm_term=.235236858f4f.
Proof of Collusion Page 44