Proof of Collusion

by Seth Abramson

  112. Mark Landler and Eric Lichtblau, “Jeff Sessions Recuses Himself from Russian Inquiry,” New York Times, March 2, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/02/us/politics/jeff-sessions-russia-trump-investigation-democrats.html.

  113. Miller, “National Security Adviser Flynn.”

  114. Karoun Demirjian, “Trump praises Putin’s response to sanctions, calls Russian leader ‘very smart!’ ” Washington Post, December 30, 2016, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2016/12/30/trump-praises-putins-response-to-sanctions-calls-russian-leader-very-smart/?utm_term=.128a6cb3288d.

  115. Graham Lanktree, “Trump White House Made Secret Efforts to Remove Russia Sanctions,” Newsweek, June 2, 2017, https://www.newsweek.com/trump-white-house-secret-efforts-lift-russia-sanctions-putin-619508; Jonathan Landay and Arshad Mohammad, “Trump adviser had five calls with Russian envoy on day of sanctions: sources,” Reuters, January 13, 2017, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-russia-idUSKBN14X1YX; Matthew Kahn, “Michael Flynn Plea Agreement Documents,” Lawfare, December 1, 2017, https://www.lawfareblog.com/michael-flynn-plea-agreement-documents.

  116. Howard Blum, “Exclusive: What Trump Really Told Kislyak After Comey Was Canned,” Vanity Fair, November 22, 2017, https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/11/trump-intel-slip?link_success=true.

  117. “Assessing Russian Activities and Intentions in Recent US Elections: The Analytic Process and Cyber Incident Attribution,” DNI.gov, January 6, 2017, https://www.dni.gov/files/documents/ICA_2017_01.pdf.

  118. Marshall Cohen, “Everything Trump has said about who tried to hack the US election,” CNN, June 21, 2017, https://www.cnn.com/2017/06/21/politics/trump-russia-hacking-statements/index.html.

  119. Nick Hopkins and Luke Harding, “Donald Trump dossier: Intelligence sources vouch for author’s credibility,” Guardian, January 12, 2017, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jan/12/intelligence-sources-vouch-credibility-donald-trump-russia-dossier-author.

  120. Bensinger, “These Reports Allege.”

  121. Adam Levine, “Comey’s response to Trump’s claim of not being under investigation,” CNN, June 7, 2017, https://www.cnn.com/2017/06/07/politics/donald-trump-james-comey-conversations/index.html.

  122. Cohen, Everything Trump has said.”

  123. Ibid.

  124. Ibid.

  125. Michael S. Schmidt et al., “Intercepted Russian Communications Part of Inquiry into Trump Associates,” New York Times, January 19, 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/19/us/politics/trump-russia-associates-investigation.html.

  126. Ibid.

  127. Hutchins, “Christie”; Meza, “Jared Kushner andIvanka Trump.”

  128. Byron York, “Jared Kushner’s Grudge Against Chris Christie,” Washington Examiner, April 16, 2017, https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/byron-york-the-sordid-case-behind-jared-kushners-grudge-against-chris-christie.

  129. Julie Hirschfeld Davis, “Firings and Discord Put Trump Transition Team in a State of Disarray,” New York Times, November 16, 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/16/us/politics/trump-transition.html.

  130. Ibid.

  131. Michael Kranish, “Kushner companies finalizes deal on troubled office tower,” Washington Post, August 3, 2018, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/kushner-companies-finalizes-deal-on-troubled-office-tower/2018/08/03/89cb5eb0-9756-11e8-810c-5fa705927d54_story.html?utm_term=.9b9b3f023f55; Ken Dilanian et al., “Was Kushner Seeking a Russian Bailout for Manhattan Building? Congress Will Ask,” NBC News, June 5, 2017, https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/was-kushner-seeking-russian-bailout-manhattan-building-congress-will-ask-n766801; Cristina Alesci, “Charles Kushner: ‘I Pushed Jared to Do the Deal’ for 666 Fifth Ave.,” CNN, April 2018, https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/23/politics/charles-jared-kushner-666-fifth-avenue/index.html.

  132. Kranish, “Kushner companies finalizes deal”; Dilanian, “Was Kushner Seeking”; Alesci, “Charles Kushner”; Michelle Mark, “Charles Kushner explains his meeting with Qatar’s finance minister, says it was ‘a wrong thing to do,’ but ‘none of us knew the rules of government,’ ” Business Insider, June 2018, https://www.businessinsider.com/charles-kushner-qatar-finance-minister-meeting-666-fifth-ave-2018-6.

  133. “Michael Flynn: Timeline of his rise, fall and guilty plea,” NBC News, February 14, 2017, https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/mike-flynn-timeline-his-rise-fall-russia-call-n720671.

  134. Jessica Taylor, “White House Press Secretary Says Trump Fired Flynn as National Security Adviser,” NPR, February 14, 2017, https://www.npr.org/2017/02/14/515215088/white-house-press-secretary-says-trump-fired-flynn-as-national-security-adviser.

  135. Peter Nicholas et al., “Trump Open to Shift on Russia Sanctions, One China Policy,” Wall Street Journal, January 2017, https://www.wsj.com/articles/donald-trump-sets-a-bar-for-russia-and-china-1484360380.

  136. Robert Windrem and William M. Arkin, “Trump Told Russia to Blame for Hacks Long Before 2016 Debate,” NBC News, October 10, 2016, https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/trump-was-told-russia-was-blame-hacks-long-debate-n663686.

  137. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump), “The ‘Intelligence’ briefing on so-called ‘Russian hacking’ was delayed until Friday, perhaps more time needed to build a case. Very strange!” Twitter, January 3, 2017, 5:14 p.m., https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/816452807024840704.

  CHAPTER TWELVE: THE FIRINGS OF FLYNN AND COMEY

  1. Bryan Bender and Shane Goldmacher, “Trump’s Favorite General,” Poilitco, July 8, 2016, https://www.politico.com/story/2016/07/donald-trump-general-michael-flynn-vp-225253.

  2. John Haltiwanger, “John McCain describes how he received the Steele dossier that contains the most salacious allegations about Trump and Russia,” Business Insider, May 22, 2018, https://www.businessinsider.com/how-john-mccain-received-steele-dossier-trump-russia-2018-5.

  3. Tom Hamburger and Rosalind S. Helderman, “Hero or hired gun? How a British former spy became a flash point in the Russia investigation,” Washington Post, February 6, 2018, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/hero-or-hired-gun-how-a-british-former-spy-became-a-flash-point-in-the-russia-investigation/2018/02/06/94ea5158-0795-11e8-8777-2a059f168dd2_story.html?utm_term=.6129890f680a; Amy Knight, “Was This Russian General Murdered over the Steele Dossier,” Daily Beast, January 23, 2018, https://www.thedailybeast.com/was-this-russian-general-murdered-over-the-steele-dossier.

  4. Department of Justice release, May 17, 2017, https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3726396-Order-3915-2017-Special-Counsel-0.html.

  5. Glenn Kessler, “President Trump vs. James B. Comey: A Timeline,” Washington Post, March 23, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2017/05/23/president-trump-versus-james-comey-a-timeline/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.e77c4f07d28c.

  6. Ibid.

  7. Ibid.

  8. Ibid.

  9. Ibid.

  10. Carol E. Lee, “Flynn Kept FBI Interview Concealed from White House, Trump,” NBC News, January 24, 2018, https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/flynn-kept-fbi-interview-concealed-white-house-trump-n840491.

  11. Emily Schultheis, “Mike Pence Says Trump Adviser’s Contact with Russia Was ‘Strictly Coincidental,’ ” CBS News, January 15, 2017, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mike-pence-michael-flynn-russia-contact-strictly-coincidental/.

  12. Kessler, “President Trump vs. James B. Comey.”

  13. Ibid.

  14. Ibid.

  15. Ibid.

  16. Ibid.

  17. Edward-Isaac Dovere and Matthew Nussbaum, “Obama Warned Trump About Flynn, Officials Say,” Politico, May 8, 2017, https://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/08/obama-warn-trump-michael-flynn-238116.

  18. Eric Bradner et al., “Trump Offers Flynn Job of National Security Advisor,” CNN, November 18, 2016, https://www.cnn.com/2016/11/17/politics/trump-offers-flynn-job-of-national-security-adviser/index.html.

  19. Maureen George, “Pence, Flynn and the Russia Investigation: A Timeline of Key Events,” USA Today, December 1
0, 2017, https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/12/10/pence-flynn-and-russia-investigation-timeline-key-events/935046001/.

  20. Chad Day and Eric Tucker, “Michael Flynn didn’t disclose Mideast trip for security clearance, top Dems say,” Associated Press, September 13, 2017, https://www.twincities.com/2017/09/13/top-dems-say-flynn-left-mideast-trip-off-security-clearance/.

  21. Megan Twohey and Scott Shane, “A Back-Channel Plan for Ukraine and Russia, Courtesy of Trump Associates,” New York Times, February 19, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/19/us/politics/donald-trump-ukraine-russia.html.

  22. Vicky Ward, “Michael Cohen Speaks: Trump exec admits Russia dealings were gross, but not illegal,” Huffington Post, September 1, 2017, https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/michael-cohen-trump-lawyer-russia_us_59a71a28e4b010ca2899e933.

  23. Adam Entous et al., “Justice department warned White House that Flynn could be vulnerable to Russian blackmail, officials say,” Washington Post, February 13, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/justice-department-warned-white-house-that-flynn-could-be-vulnerable-to-russian-blackmail-officials-say/2017/02/13/fc5dab88-f228-11e6-8d72-263470bf0401_story.html?utm_term=.2ad9d7219690; Carol D. Leonnig et al., “Trump lawyer says president knew Flynn had given FBI the same account he gave to vice president,” Washington Post, December 3, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-lawyer-says-president-knew-flynn-had-given-fbi-the-same-account-he-gave-to-vice-president/2017/12/03/5c59a620-d849-11e7-a841-2066faf731ef_story.html?utm_term=.77576596808a.

  24. Glenn Kessler, “Trump Pointing of the Finger at Obama for Failing to Vet Flynn,” Washington Post, May 9, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2017/05/09/trumps-pointing-of-the-finger-at-obama-for-failing-to-vet-flynn/?utm_term=.4727c5b99e7c.

  25. Ibid.

  26. George, “Pence, Flynn and the Russia Investigation.”

  27. Ibid.

  28. Sari Horwitz and Adam Entous, “Flynn in FBI interview denied discussing sanctions with Russian ambassador,” Washington Post, February 16, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/flynn-in-fbi-interview-denied-discussing-sanctions-with-russian-ambassador/2017/02/16/e3e1e16a-f3d5-11e6-8d72-263470bf0401_story.html?utm_term=.31f996e40396.

  29. “Trump fully briefed on Flynn’s calls with Russian ambassador, source says,” Fox News, February 16, 2017, http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/02/16/trump-fully-briefed-on-flynns-calls-with-russian-ambassador-source-says.htm.html.

  30. Mark Mazzetti and Matthew Rosenberg, “Michael Flynn Offers to Testify Before Congress in Exchange for Immunity,” New York Times, March 30, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/30/us/politics/michael-flynn-congress-immunity-russia.html.

  31. Ibid.

  32. Ken Dilanian and Kasie Hunt, “Michael Flynn’s Immunity Request Rejected by Senate Intelligence Committee,” NBC News, April 1, 2017, https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/senate-intelligence-committee-rejects-immunity-michael-flynn-n741061.

  33. Michael Isikoff, “As investigators circled Flynn, he got a message from Trump: Stay strong,” Yahoo! News, May 18, 2017, https://www.yahoo.com/news/investigators-circled-flynn-got-message-trump-stay-strong-145442727.html?soc_src=mail&soc_trk=ma.

  34. Doug G. Ware, “Senate Intel Head: Flynn Won’t Comply with Subpoena,” UPI, May 18, 2017, https://www.upi.com/Senate-intel-head-Flynn-wont-comply-with-subpoena/9991495123468/.

  35. Catherine Herridge, “Carter Page, Former Trump Adviser, Says He’s Cooperating with the Senate Russian Probe,” Fox News, May 2, 2017, http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/05/02/former-trump-adviser-says-hes-cooperating-with-senate-russian-probe.html.

  36. Ibid.

  37. Senate Judiciary Committee interview of Donald J. Trump, Jr., September 7, 2017, https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Trump%20Jr%20Transcript_redacted.pdf.

  38. “Full Transcript: Sally Yates and James Clapper Testify on Russia Election Interference,” Washington Post, May 8, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/05/08/full-transcript-sally-yates-and-james-clapper-testify-on-russian-election-interference/?utm_term=.c526a6e37537.

  39. Kessler, “President Trump vs. James B. Comey.”

  40. Ibid.

  41. Ibid.; Michael S. Schmidt and Julie Hirschfield Davis, “Trump Asked Sessions to Retain Control of Russia Inquiry After His Recusal,” New York Times, May 29, 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/29/us/politics/trump-sessions-obstruction.html.

  42. MSNBC broadcast, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmuKwCfb8f0.

  43. Ibid.

  44. Philip Rucker and Karen DeYoung, “Inside the Oval Office with Trump and the Russians: Broad Smiles and Loose Lips,” Washington Post, May 16, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/inside-the-oval-office-with-trump-and-the-russians-broad-smiles-and-loose-lips/2017/05/16/2e8b0d14-3a66-11e7-8854-21f359183e8c_story.html?utm_term=.ba6bb089abfe.

  45. Jack Moore, “Trump Revealed Israel’s Secret Syria Raid to Russian Diplomats,” Newsweek, November 23, 2017, https://www.newsweek.com/trump-revealed-secret-israeli-mission-northern-syria-russian-diplomats-720600.

  46. Matt Apuzzo et al., “Trump Told Russians that Firing ‘Nut Job’ Comey Eased Pressure from Investigation,” New York Times, May 19, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/19/us/politics/trump-russia-comey.html.

  47. “Lester Holt’s Extended Interview with President Trump,” NBC News, May 11, 2017, https://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/video/pres-trump-s-extended-exclusive-interview-with-lester-holt-at-the-white-house-941854787582?v=railb.

  48. Ibid.

  49. Twohey and Shane, “A Back-Channel Plan.”

  50. Ibid.

  51. Ibid.

  52. Ibid.

  53. Tom Hamburger and Rosalind S. Helderman, “Amid Russian scrutiny, Trump associates received informal Ukraine policy proposal,” Washington Post, February 19, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/amid-russia-scrutiny-trump-associates-received-informal-ukraine-policy-proposal/2017/02/19/72b0b264-f6eb-11e6-be05-1a3817ac21a5_story.html?utm_term=.fb02c96be975.

  54. Twohey and Shane, “A Back-Channel Plan.”

  55. Hamburger and Helderman, “Amid Russian Scrutiny.”

  56. Ibid.

  57. Ibid.

  58. Twohey and Shane, “A Back-Channel Plan.”

  59. Ward, “Michael Cohen Speaks.”

  60. Ibid.

  61. Ibid.; Twohey and Shane, “A Back-Channel Plan.”

  62. Andreii Soldatov, “The Leaked Trump-Russia Dossier Rings Frighteningly True,” Guardian, January 12, 2017, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jan/12/donald-trump-russia-dossier-frighteningly-true?CMP=share_btn_tw.

  63. BuzzFeed News, January 10, 2017, https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3259984-Trump-Intelligence-Allegations.html.

  64. “Some Questions in Trump-Russia Dossier Now Finding Answers,” CBS News, June 29, 2018, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/some-questions-in-trump-russia-dossier-now-finding-answers/; William Mansell, “James Clapper says more and more of the Trump Dossier has turned out to be true,” Newsweek, May 27, 2018, https://www.newsweek.com/james-clapper-steele-dossier-donald-trump-spygate-fbi-946058; Kim Sengupta, “Steele Dossier: Donald Trump denounced the document as fake, but much of its contents have turned out to be true,” Independent, April 20, 2018, https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-russia-dossier-christopher-steele-fake-true-mi6-putin-moscow-hotel-cohen-a8315046.html; Jim Sciutto and Evan Perez, “US Investigators Corroborate Some Aspects of the Russia Dossier,” CNN, February 10, 2017, https://www.cnn.com/2017/02/10/politics/russia-dossier-update/index.html.

  65. Greg Gordon et al., “Russia’s pension money for its veterans escapes scrutiny as it flows into US,” McClatchy, Feburary 21, 2017, https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/article133879684.html.

  66. Paul Wood, “Trump Russia Dossier Key Claim ‘Verified,’ ” BBC News, March 30, 2017, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-39435786. />
  67. Natasha Bertrand, “Carter Page’s testimony is filled with bombshells—and supports key portions of the Steele dossier,” Business Insider, November 6, 2017, https://www.businessinsider.com/carter-page-congressional-testimony-transcript-steele-dossier-2017-11; Knight, “Was This Russian General Murdered Over the Steele Dossier.”

  68. Meghan Keneally, “Comey says he believes the source of the Steele ‘dossier’ to be ‘credible,’ ” ABC News, April 15, 2018, https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/comey-believes-source-steele-dossier-credible/story?id=54488781.

  69. Shannon Vavra, “Russian diplomats keep dying unexpectedly,” Axios, August 24, 2017, https://www.axios.com/russian-diplomats-keep-dying-unexpectedly-1513303951-de0183f3-7f77-400e-b9a2-45fb8ed7dfbd.html; Knight, “Was This Russian General Murdered Over the Steele Dossier”; “Report: Death of Former Russian Spy Chief Linked to Dossier on Trump,” Haaretz, June 30, 2017, https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/report-death-of-russian-spy-chief-linked-to-dossier-on-trump-1.5491949; Gareth Davies, “Former KGB general who helped MI6 spy compile the Donald Trump dirty dossier has been found dead in the back of his car amid claims of a Kremlin cover up,” Daily Mail, January 28, 2017, https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4166610/Kremlin-covered-murder-former-KGB-chief.html; Charlotte England, “Unexpected deaths of six Russian diplomats in four months triggers conspiracy theories,” Independent, February 27, 2017.

  70. Robert Mendick and Robert Verkaik, “Mystery death of ex-KGB chief linked to MI6 spy’s dossier on Donald Trump,” Independent, January 27, 2017, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/01/27/mystery-death-ex-kgb-chief-linked-mi6-spys-dossier-donald-trump/.

  71. Knight, “Was This Russian General Murdered Over the Steele Dossier.”

  72. Ibid.

  73. Ibid.

  74. Marshall Cohen and Jose Pagliery “Nine Months, Nine Prominent Russians Dead,” CNN, August 24, 2017, https://www.cnn.com/2017/03/24/europe/dead-russians/index.html

  75. Ibid.

  76. Ibid.; Richard Engel and Aggelos Petropoulos, “Lawyer Probing Russian Corruption Says His Balcony Fall Was ‘No Accident,’ ” NBC News, July 7, 2017, https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/lawyer-probing-russian-corruption-says-his-balcony-fall-was-no-n780416.