Сотрудничество со следствием

[tijd]

Вчерашний репортаж New York Times рассказывает, что адвокат Белого дома Дон Макган сотрудничает с расследованием Мюллера и, по глупости освобожденный Трампом от привилегии сохранения тайны разговоров с президентом, дал детальные показания по делу о попытках помешать правосудию. Макган принимал непосредственное участие в дискуссиях вокруг увольнения Коми. По приказу Трампа он также давил на Сешнса, чтобы тот не брал самоотвода, и рассматривал возможность уволить Мюллера.

In at least three voluntary interviews with investigators that totaled 30 hours over the past nine months, Mr. McGahn described the president’s fury toward the Russia investigation and the ways in which he urged Mr. McGahn to respond to it. He provided the investigators examining whether Mr. Trump obstructed justice a clear view of the president’s most intimate moments with his lawyer.
Among them were Mr. Trump’s comments and actions during the firing of the F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, and Mr. Trump’s obsession with putting a loyalist in charge of the inquiry, including his repeated urging of Attorney General Jeff Sessions to claim oversight of it. Mr. McGahn was also centrally involved in Mr. Trump’s attempts to fire the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, which investigators might not have discovered without him.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/18/us/politics/don-mcgahn-mueller-investigation.html

Запахло Уотергейтем и ролью в нем Джона Дина, адвоката Белого дома при Никсоне.

McGahn is doing right! https://t.co/qqzhZRAFlY
- John Dean (@JohnWDean) August 18, 2018

В книге Fire and Fury описывается обсцессия Трампа с Дином:

Trump, who saw history through personalities-people he might have liked or disliked-was a John Dean freak. He went bananas when a now gray and much aged Dean appeared on talk shows to compare the Trump-Russia investigation to Watergate. That would bring the president to instant attention and launch an inevitable talk-back monologue to the screen about loyalty and what people would do for media attention. It might also be accompanied by several revisionist theories Trump had about Watergate and how Nixon had been framed. And always there were rats. A rat was someone who would take you down for his own advantage. If you had a rat, you needed to kill it. And there were rats all around.

Как бы подтверждая это описание, в ответ на публикацию статьи Трамп сам заговорил про "крысу" Джона Дина, в очередной раз написав слово "counsel" с ошибкой.

The failing @nytimes wrote a Fake piece today implying that because White House Councel Don McGahn was giving hours of testimony to the Special Councel, he must be a John Dean type “RAT.” But I allowed him and all others to testify - I didn’t have to. I have nothing to hide......
- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 19, 2018

Но история Макганом и Рашагейт не заканчивается на его участием в обструкции (попытках помешать правосудию).

Марси Уилер указывает на два дополнительных обстоятельства:



1. Макган поступил на работу к Трампу во многом благодаря своей эспертизе в деле финансирования избирательных кампаний. Есть свидетельства, что во время предыдущей работе в FEC (Федеральной избирательной комиссии) Макган прикрыл расследование организации ShouldTrumpRun, которая под руководством Майкла Коэна отмывала деньги для короткой президентской кампании Трампа в 2011, а также других мутных организаций, созданных Роджером Стоуном.

White House Counsel Don McGahn - the subject of a Maggie and Mike puff piece suggesting he would only be of interest on the obstruction investigation - has for at least seven years been right in the thick of defending Roger Stone’s legally dubious rat-fucking on behalf of Donald Trump.
And Roger Stone has been the focus of Mueller investigation for six months.
https://www.emptywheel.net/2018/08/18/should-trump-run-don-mcgahn-has-been-covering-for-roger-stones-rat-fucking-for-seven-years/



2. Макгана также рекомендовал и поддерживал лидер сенатского большинства Митч Макконнелл. В кооперации с Макконнелом Макган выполнял ответсвенное поручение подбирать федеральных судей для назначения Трампом. Ныне он участвует в борьбе за проталкивание в Верховный суд Бретта Кавано. Дело непростое - хотя у республиканцев хватает голосов в Сенате, им также важно не расплескать ни одного голоса, либо уломать отдельных демократов. Ситуация усложняется тем, что демократы требуют документов из предыдущей работы Кавано в администрации Буша, а не все такие документы оказалось не стыдно опубликовать. Интересно, что фильтрацией документов для публикации занимается Уильям Берк - тот же адвокат, что представляет Макгана, Бэннона и Прибуса в расследовании Рашагейта.

When Trump (presumably based on the advice of his chief court-stacker, Don McGahn) nominated Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, people (including Mitch McConnell) warned him of the danger of nominating someone with such an extensive paper record. Nevertheless, Republicans started with an assumption that that record would be made public. Until July 24, when Republicans had a private meeting and realized they had to suppress Kavanaugh’s record as White House Staff Secretary. <...>
Since then, William Burck has taken time away from representing Don McGahn and Reince Priebus and Steve Bannon to personally suppress lots of Kavanaugh’s records as White House Staff Secretary. And Chuck Grassley has moved up Kavanaugh’s confirmation process to make sure that some of production being slow-rolled by Don McGahn’s lawyer will not be release before Kavanaugh gets a vote on a lifetime appointment.
There’s clearly something in Kavanaugh’s record as White House Staff Secretary that might lead Susan Collins or Lisa Murkowski to vote against Kavanaugh - or make the entire nomination toxic in time for the mid-terms.
Mind you, whether Don McGahn’s failures on the topic he is supposed to be an expert on, campaign finance, contribute to getting the President’s lackeys indicted for a conspiracy may not directly relate to his last great hurrah in stacking the courts, solidifying a regressive majority on SCOTUS for a generation and with it adding someone who will suppress this investigation.
Then again it might.
https://www.emptywheel.net/2018/08/18/why-would-don-mcgahn-and-his-lawyer-cooperate-in-a-piece-claiming-he-cooperated-with-mueller-on-obstruction/

Happy birthday my love @GeorgePapa19 ❤️💞💞💗 we will never forget this one ;) #strong #together #ForeverYoung
- Simona Mangiante Papadopoulos (@simonamangiante) August 19, 2018

Говоря о людях, сотрудничающих с расследованием Мюллера, другой новостью стала официальная рекомендация Мюллера суду по поводу приговора Джорджу Пападопулосу, признавшему себя виновным во вранье ФБР.
https://www.lawfareblog.com/document-george-papadopoulos-sentencing-memo

Выполняя обещание о смягчении наказания в обмен на признание вины, Мюллер рекомендует от нуля до шести месяцев заключения плюс штраф в $9500. Вместе с тем он указывает, что сотрудничество Пападопулоса не принесло особой пользы расследованию, а его предыдущее вранье не было безобидным и помешало ФБР арестовать Джосефа Мифсуда, который по неизвестной причине находился в США в начале 2017.

The defendant’s lies to the FBI in January 2017 impeded the FBI’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Most immediately, those statements substantially hindered investigators’ ability to effectively question the Professor when the FBI located him in Washington, D.C. approximately two weeks after the defendant’s January 27, 2017 interview. The defendant’s lies undermined investigators’ ability to challenge the Professor or potentially detain or arrest him while he was still in the United States. The government understands that the Professor left the United States on February 11, 2017 and he has not returned to the United States since then.

Не делается заключения о том, из каких именно соображений Пападопулос врал, но его мотивы связываются с желанием устроиться на высокопоставленную работу в администрацию Трампа невзирая на смехотворную некомпетентность.

The government cannot definitively know what motivated the defendant to lie to the agents on January 27, 2017. But the record shows that at the time of the interview, the defendant was attempting to secure a job with the Trump Administration and had an incentive to protect the Administration and minimize his own role as a witness. In January 2017, the defendant had several communications with officials of the incoming Administration in an effort to obtain a high-level position with the National Security Council, the State Department, or the Energy Department. On January 27, 2017, in the hours after being interviewed by the FBI, the defendant submitted his biography and a description of work he did on the campaign in an effort to obtain a position as a Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Energy Department.

О том, что Пападопулос рассчитывал на Майкла Флинна для получения работы в NSC (Национальном совете безопасности), сообщалось раннее.

Mr. Papadopoulos was hoping that Michael T. Flynn, then Mr. Trump’s pick to be national security adviser, might give him the energy portfolio at the National Security Council.
The pair exchanged New Year’s greetings in the final hours of 2016. “Happy New Year, sir,” Mr. Papadopoulos wrote.
“Thank you and same to you, George. Happy New Year!” Mr. Flynn responded, ahead of a year that seemed to hold great promise.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/30/us/politics/how-fbi-russia-investigation-began-george-papadopoulos.html



Марси Уилер обращает внимания на то, что у разных людей, признавших себя виновными в ходе расследования Мюллера, условия сделки со следствием разные.
https://www.emptywheel.net/2018/08/18/the-ongoing-criminal-exposure-of-muellers-cooperating-witnesses/

У Пападопулоса и Флинна написано "In consideration of your client’s guilty plea to the above offense, your client will not be further prosecuted criminally by this Office for the conduct set forth in the attached Statement of the Offense." Это ознает, что им обещают не предъявлять новых обвинений по эпизодам, описанным в "Statement of the Offense", но необязательно по другим эпизодом.



У Алекса ван дер Цваана условия были другие и перечисляли возможные преступления, в которых Мюллер обязывался не выносить обвинений: "In consideration of your client’s guilty plea to the above offense, your client will not be further prosecuted criminally by this Office for the conduct set forth in the attached Statement of the Offense, for any other false statements made by him to the Office on November 3 and December 1, 2017, any destruction, deletion, and withholding of documents and evidence in connection with requests by this Office or his law firm, and any violations of the Foreign Agent Registration Act or other law arising from the preparation and/or roll out of the Tymoshenko report for the Ukraine Ministry of Justice."

Ван дер Цваан уже отсидел свои 30 дней и был депортирован обратно в Голландию.

Alex Van Der Zwaan, a Dutch lawyer and the only person to serve prison time in Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation, was deported and arrived back in the Netherlands Tuesday, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Van Der Zwaan, the son-in-law of Russian oligarch German Khan, pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his work with two of President Trump's former campaign aides. He served 30 days in a low-security prison in Allenwood, Pennsylvania.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/06/05/alex-van-der-zwaan-lawyer-charged-muellers-russia-probe-deported/674731002/



У Рика Гейтса: "In consideration of your client’s guilty plea to the above offenses, and upon the completion of full cooperation as described herein, no additional criminal charges will be brought against the defendant for his heretofore disclosed participation in criminal activity, including money laundering, false statements, personal and corporate tax and FBAR offenses, bank fraud, and obstruction of justice. In addition, subject to the terms of this Agreement, at the time of sentence, the Government will move to dismiss the remaining counts of the Indictment in this matter. In addition, the Office will move promptly to dismiss without prejudice the charges brought against your client in the Eastern District of Virginia and your client waives venue as to such charges in the event he breaches this Agreement."

Судя по всему, Гейтс оказался ценным свидетелем.

When Gates pleaded guilty and flipped on Manafort in February, he also agreed to help the special counsel with its investigation into Russian election interference as he was needed. It's unclear how he has aided the special counsel's probe beyond the Manafort case, but Gates was a deputy to Manafort on the Trump campaign and worked on the transition and presidential inauguration.
The still-secret conversation occurred Tuesday afternoon in the middle of Gates' testimony against Manafort, who served as Trump's campaign chairman in 2016.
Defense attorney Kevin Downing had asked Gates, "Were you interviewed on several occasions about your time at the Trump campaign?"
Prosecutor Greg Andres objected to the question before Gates could answer.
The lawyers and Ellis then huddled in the far corner of the courtroom to discuss whether the question could be asked. The courtroom's overhead noise machine was turned on so that Gates, the jury and the public in the room couldn't hear what they said.
Ellis called for a break in the proceedings immediately after the short discussion ended, and Downing tried to ask about the Trump campaign investigation again.
During the discussion -- one of many during a trial, often called a "sidebar conference" in court lingo -- the prosecutors now say they discussed "new" details about their "ongoing criminal investigation" into Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential election and possible coordination with the Trump campaign.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/09/politics/gates-manafort-mueller-cooperation/index.html



На основе сведений, известных ей лично (о которых она дала показания ФБР), Уилер считает, что преступление, которое расследует Мюллер, не сводится, как это было в случае Никсона, к попытке помешать правосудию и включает в себя более серьезный заговор.

К похожему выводу, просто на основе наблюдений за Трампом и его "consciousness of guilt", склоняется другой популярный блоггер, Джош Маршалл.

Trump is guilty. Why there’s such resistance to this reality is an interesting question. My own best guess is that it is too disquieting a reality to grapple with. Someone who has deliberately betrayed his country and who is compromised by and under the thumb of a foreign despot clearly should not be President. But his supporters don’t accept that. And as long as they don’t there’s no path to removing him from power prior to 2020 and maybe even beyond. That means that for the present we are locked in a situation in which we must operate in a system in which the person with the most power is working for a foreign adversary, whether out of avarice or fear. That is a profoundly uncomfortable reality. Remaining agnostic on the big question is more comfortable.
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/we-know-trump-is-guilty-were-having-a-hard-time-admitting-it