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Trump attacks New York Times over report on son's campaign meeting After Trump attacks New York Times, Giuliani tells paper Mueller will be done by September
(about 4 hours later)
Donald Trump attacked the New York Times on Sunday, after the newspaper said his oldest son and other aides met in August 2016 with a representative of two Gulf states offering to help the Trump campaign.Donald Trump attacked the New York Times on Sunday, after the newspaper said his oldest son and other aides met in August 2016 with a representative of two Gulf states offering to help the Trump campaign.
“Things are really getting ridiculous,” the president tweeted. “The Failing and Crooked (but not as Crooked as Hillary Clinton) @nytimes has done a long & boring story indicating that the World’s most expensive Witch Hunt has found nothing on Russia & me so now they are looking at the rest of the World!” The Times said the emissary for Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates and another attendee at the meeting had co-operated with Robert Mueller, the special counsel investigating Russian election interference and links between Trump aides and Moscow.
The Times reported that Donald Trump Jr met George Nader, a purported emissary for Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates; Joel Zamel, an Israeli specialist in social media manipulation; and Erik Prince, the founder of the private security firm formerly known as Blackwater. Later on Sunday the president’s attorney, Rudy Giuliani, told the Times Mueller told the White House he intends to finish his investigation by 1 September this year.
The meeting at Trump Tower in Manhattan “was convened primarily to offer help to the Trump team”, the paper said. Opening his Sunday morning fusillade, Trump tweeted: “Things are really getting ridiculous. The Failing and Crooked (but not as Crooked as Hillary Clinton) @nytimes has done a long & boring story indicating that the World’s most expensive Witch Hunt has found nothing on Russia & me so now they are looking at the rest of the World!”
The offer, the Times said, met with Trump Jr’s approval, and Nader later met with Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner and Michael Flynn, the former national security adviser who is now cooperating with special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian election interference and links between Trump aides and Moscow. The Times reported that Donald Trump Jr met George Nader, the purported emissary; Joel Zamel, an Israeli specialist in social media manipulation; and Erik Prince, the founder of the private security firm formerly known as Blackwater. The meeting at Trump Tower in Manhattan “was convened primarily to offer help to the Trump team”, the paper said.
A lawyer for Trump Jr, Alan Futerfas, confirmed the meeting but said Trump Jr “was not interested and that was the end of it”. The offer met with Trump Jr’s approval, the Times said, and Nader later met with Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and Michael Flynn, the former national security adviser also now cooperating with Mueller.
Marc Mukasey, a lawyer for Zamel, told the Times his client had “provided full cooperation to the government”. He also said: “Joel Zamel offered nothing to the Trump campaign, received nothing from the Trump campaign, delivered nothing to the Trump campaign and was not solicited by, or asked to do anything for, the Trump campaign.” A lawyer for Trump Jr, Alan Futerfas, said Trump Jr “was not interested and that was the end of it”. Marc Mukasey, a lawyer for Zamel, said: “Joel Zamel offered nothing to the Trump campaign, received nothing from the Trump campaign, delivered nothing to the Trump campaign and was not solicited by, or asked to do anything for, the Trump campaign.”
Mueller has been looking into another meeting, in January 2017 in the Seychelles, that Nader and Prince held with Abu Dhabi’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and Kirill Dmitriev, a Russian banker with ties to the Kremlin.Mueller has been looking into another meeting, in January 2017 in the Seychelles, that Nader and Prince held with Abu Dhabi’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and Kirill Dmitriev, a Russian banker with ties to the Kremlin.
The Times quoted a lawyer for Nader as saying he had “fully cooperated with the special counsel’s investigation and will continue to do so”. “A senior official in Saudi Arabia”, the Times said, denied Nader had ever been authorised to speak for the government. The Times quoted a lawyer for Nader as saying he had “fully cooperated with the special counsel’s investigation and will continue to do so”. “A senior official in Saudi Arabia”, the Times said, denied Nader had been authorised to speak for the government. Prince declined to comment. The White House did not comment.
The paper said Prince declined to comment. The White House did not comment. On Sunday, speaking to the Times, Giuliani said the White House wanted Mueller’s report completed before the midterm elections in November.
On Sunday, Trump’s multi-tweet salvo continued: “Now that the Witch Hunt has given up on Russia and is looking at the rest of the World, they should easily be able to take it into the Mid-Term Elections where they can put some hurt on the Republican Party. Don’t worry about Dems FISA Abuse, missing Emails or Fraudulent Dossier!” “You don’t want another repeat of the 2016 election where you get contrary reports at the end and you don’t know how it affected the election,” he said, referring to then FBI director James Comey’s reopening and then closing of an investigation of Hillary Clinton’s use of private email.
In another tweet, Trump called the Russia investigation a “$20,000,000 Witch Hunt, composed of 13 Angry and Heavily Conflicted Democrats and two people who have worked for Obama for 8 years, STOP!” Trump fired Comey last May, precipitating the appointment of Mueller. Comey has emerged as a leading critic of Trump. The firing of Comey and whether Trump obstructed justice are under consideration by Mueller.
Mueller is a Republican who was appointed FBI director by a Republican president, George W Bush, and made special counsel by a Republican deputy attorney general, Rod Rosenstein. Some of Mueller’s investigators are registered Democrats or have donated to Democratic campaigns. “We want the concentration of this to be on Comey versus the president’s credibility, and I think we win that and people get that,” Giuliani told the Times, advocating a criminal investigation into Comey for perjury and the sharing of information with the Times.
The Virginia senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee, told CNN’s State of the Union: “If the Times story is true we now have a second or maybe a third nation that was trying to lean in to this campaign. I don’t understand what the president doesn’t get about the law that says if you have a foreign nation interfere with in American election it is illegal. Giuliani also said he was continuing to negotiate an interview between Trump and Mueller, and said Trump wanted Mueller’s final report to be public. A spokesman for the special counsel declined to comment, the Times said.
“What we do know is that Russia, a foreign adversarial nation, massively intervened in our elections … and they were doing it to help Trump and hurt Clinton.” On Sunday, Trump’s tweet salvo contained a complaint that the Russia investigation would “put some hurt on the Republican Party” in the midterms. Inaccurately, the president called the investigation a “$20,000,000 Witch Hunt, composed of 13 Angry and Heavily Conflicted Democrats and two people who have worked for Obama for 8 years”.
Warner refused to be drawn on whether he believed Russian was assisted by the Trump campaign. “That is the end-point question,” he said. “But we do know that the Trump campaign welcomed dirt on Clinton.” Mueller is a Republican appointed FBI director by a Republican president, George W Bush, and made special counsel by a Republican deputy attorney general, Rod Rosenstein. Some of Mueller’s investigators are Democrats or have donated to Democratic campaigns.
Trump Jr was the central figure in a now infamous June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower with Russians including a Kremlin-linked lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya. Told the Russians had incriminating information about Clinton, Trump Jr responded: “If it’s what you say, I love it.” The Virginia senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee, discussed the reported Trump Tower meeting on CNN’s State of the Union.
Steve Bannon, formerly Donald Trump’s chief strategist, told the author Michael Wolff he thought that meeting was “treasonous”. “If the Times story is true we now have a second or maybe a third nation that was trying to lean in to this campaign,” he said. “I don’t understand what the president doesn’t get about the law that says if you have a foreign nation interfere with in American election it is illegal.”
Warner said the Mueller investigation was now “a year in, 14 indictments, including the president’s campaign manager [Paul Manafort], and five guilty pleas and a lot of questions still need to be answered”. Warner refused to be drawn on whether he believed Russian was assisted by Trump aides. “That is the end-point question,” he said. “But we do know that the Trump campaign welcomed dirt on Clinton.”
On NBC’s Meet The Press, former Trump adviser Roger Stone said he was “prepared” to be charged by Mueller. Trump Jr was the central figure in another meeting at Trump Tower, in June 2016 with Russians including a Kremlin-linked lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya. Told the Russians had incriminating information about Clinton, Trump Jr responded: “If it’s what you say, I love it.” Steve Bannon, formerly Donald Trump’s chief strategist, told the author Michael Wolff the meeting was “treasonous”.
“I can guarantee you they have found no evidence whatsoever of Russian collusion, nor trafficking of allegedly hacked emails with WikiLeaks,” Stone said. But, he added, it was not “inconceivable” that investigators “may seek to conjure up some extraneous crime, pertaining to my business, or maybe not even pertaining to the 2016 election. So I am prepared, should that be the case.” Warner said Mueller was “a year in, 14 indictments, including the president’s campaign manager [Paul Manafort], and five guilty pleas and a lot of questions still need to be answered”.
Several media outlets named an FBI source who allegedly informed the bureau about the Trump campaign. Trump has described the story as “bigger than Watergate”. Warner said attempts to reveal the identity of the informant were “irresponsible” and “potentially illegal”. On NBC’s Meet The Press, former Trump adviser Roger Stone said he was “prepared” to be charged, as it was not “inconceivable” that investigators “may seek to conjure up some extraneous crime, pertaining to my business, or maybe not even pertaining to the 2016 election”.
“Publicly outing a source risks not only their life but the lives of every American,” he wrote on Twitter. Several media outlets, meanwhile, named an FBI source who allegedly informed on the Trump campaign. Trump duly tweeted: “I hereby demand, and will do so officially tomorrow, that the Department of Justice look into whether or not the FBI/DOJ infiltrated or surveilled the Trump Campaign for Political Purposes – and if any such demands or requests were made by people within the Obama Administration!”
Speaking on CBS’s Face the Nation, Warner spoke of an “ongoing assault by the president and his allies on the FBI and department of justice”, which “leads to an area where people get to decide which laws they want to follow and which they don’t”. That, he said, was “dangerous, dangerous territory”.
Trump did not take heed. He tweeted: “I hereby demand, and will do so officially tomorrow, that the Department of Justice look into whether or not the FBI/DOJ infiltrated or surveilled the Trump Campaign for Political Purposes - and if any such demands or requests were made by people within the Obama Administration!”
Trump-Russia investigationTrump-Russia investigation
Donald TrumpDonald Trump
RussiaRussia
Donald Trump JrDonald Trump Jr
US politicsUS politics
New York TimesNew York Times
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