18. Andrew C. McCarthy, “Bush Derangement Syndrome: Russia as a Strategic Partner” (National Review, Aug. 15, 2008); “Putin’s Intentions Aren’t What Matter” (National Review, March 29, 2014); Mary Beth Nikitin, “U.S.-Russian Civilian Nuclear Cooperation Agreement: Issues for Congress” (Congressional Research Service, Jan. 11, 2011).
19. William Safire, “Ukraine Marches Out” (“misreading the forces of history in his “chicken Kiev” speech not only made one American President appear to be anti-liberty, but jeopardized our relations with an emerging European power”) (New York Times, Nov. 18, 1991); David Nakamura and Debbi Wilgoren, “Caught on an open mike, Obama tells Medvedev he needs ‘space’ on missile defense” (Washington Post, March 26, 2012); Glenn Kessler, “Flashback: Obama’s debate zinger on Romney’s ‘1980s’ foreign policy (with video)” (Washington Post, March 20, 2014).
20. Peter Schweizer, “The Clinton Foundation, State and Kremlin Connections—Why did Hillary’s State Department urge U.S. investors to fund Russian research for military uses?” (Wall Street Journal, July 31, 2016).
21. About a fifth of U.S. electrical power is generated by nuclear energy, part of which is uranium-generated. As The New York Times has reported, the nation produces only a fifth of the uranium needed for this purpose, and most plants have just 18 to 36 months of reserves. The U.S. is thus dependent on foreign uranium. Jo Becker and Mike McIntire, “Cash Flowed to Clinton Foundation Amid Russian Uranium Deal” (New York Times, April 23, 2015), citing Marin Katusa, The Colder War: How the Global Energy Trade Slipped from America’s Grasp (Wiley Publishing, 2014).
22. Peter Schweizer, Clinton Cash: The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and usinesses Help Make Bill and Hillary Rich (Harper, 2015); see also infra.
CHAPTER 1
1. Nicholas Eberstadt, “A statistical glimpse at Russia’s multiple demographic and human resource problems” (American Enterprise Institute, April 7, 2018); “The Dying Bear—Russia’s Demographic Disaster” (Foreign Affairs, Nov./Dec. 2011 ed.), and “Drunken Nation: Russia’s Depopulation Bomb” (World Affairs, Spring 2009 ed.); see also, e.g., Mark Lawrence Schrad, “Western Sanctions Are Shrinking Russia’s Population” (Foreign Policy, Oct. 19, 2017). Russia’s gross domestic product in 2017 was $1.58 trillion, well under one-tenth the size of the U.S. economy (Trading Economics, “Russia GDP”) (accessed March 10, 2019).
2. United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2131 (Dec. 31, 1965).
3. Sean Watts, “International Law and Proposed Responses to the D.N.C. Hack” (Just Security, Oct. 14, 2016); see also Jens David Ohlin, “Did Russian Cyber Interference in the 2016 Election Violate International Law?” Texas Law Review (2018).
4. See United States v. Internet Research Agency LLC, 18 Cr. 0032 (D.C., 2018), alleging conspiracy to defraud the United States under Section 371 of the federal penal code (Title 18, United States Code).
5. Scott Shane, “Russia Isn’t the Only One Meddling in Elections. We Do It, Too.” (New York Times, Feb. 17, 2018).
6. Steven F. Hayward, The Real Jimmy Carter: How Our Worst Ex-President Undermines American Foreign Policy, Coddles Dictators, and Created the Party of Clinton and Kerry (Regnery Publishing, 2004).
7. Peter Robinson, “Ted Kennedy’s Soviet Gambit” (Forbes, Aug. 28, 2009).
8. Scott Shane, “Russia Isn’t the Only One Meddling in Elections. We Do It, Too,” supra.
9. Seth Lipsky, “The hypocrisy of American election investigations into Israel” (New York Post, May 23, 2018); Stephen Dinan, “Obama admin. sent taxpayer money to campaign to oust Netanyahu” (Washington Times, July 12, 2016); see also Andrew C. McCarthy, The Grand Jihad (Encounter, 2010), pp. 213-20 (recounting then-Senator Barack Obama’s meddling in Kenya’s explosive 2006 elections).
10. David M. Herszenhorn and Ellen Barry, “Putin Contends Clinton Incited Unrest Over Vote” (New York Times, Dec. 8, 2011).
11. Nolan D. McCaskill, “Trump tells Wisconsin: Victory was a surprise” (Politico, Dec. 13, 2016).
12. Andrew C. McCarthy, “Putin’s Intentions Aren’t What Matter” (National Review, March 29, 2014).
13. “After the Summit; Excerpts From Bush’s Ukraine Speech: Working ‘for the Good of Both of Us’” (New York Times, Aug. 2, 1991); William Safire, “Ukraine Marches Out” (New York Times, Nov. 18, 1991); James Jay Carafano, “How to be a freedom fighter” (Washington Examiner, April 3, 2011).
14. Robert McConnell, “Keep America’s Word Again—and Protect Ukraine” (WallStreet Journal, Jan. 9, 2017); Andrew C. McCarthy, “Obama Won’t Arm Ukraine Because He Led the Disarming of Ukraine” (National Review, July 23, 2014); Sen. Richard Lugar Press Release, “Lugar and Obama Urge Destruction of Conventional Weapons Stockpiles” (Aug. 30, 2005).
15. Francis Fukuyama, The End of History and the Last Man (Free Press, Reissue Edition, 2006); William Anthony Hay, “Squandering the Post-Cold War Peace Dividend” (Law & Liberty, Sept. 1, 2016).
16. Steven Pifer, “Ukraine, nuclear weapons, and the trilateral statement 25 years later” (Stanford University Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Jan. 4, 2019); United States Department of State, Office of the Historian, “Bill Clinton, Boris Yeltsin, and U.S.-Russian Relations” (Milestones: 1993-2000); International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook, Global Economic Prospects and Policies, Advanced Economies (Oct. 1997).
17. “Bush Trusts Putin—Bush looked into Putin’s eyes and got a sense of his soul, and he trusts him” (C-SPAN, June 16, 2001); Andrew C. McCarthy, “Bush Derangement Syndrome: Russia as a Strategic Partner” (Aug. 15, 2008); Mary Beth Nikitin, “U.S.-Russian Civilian Nuclear Cooperation Agreement: Issues for Congress” (Jan. 11, 2011).
18. McCarthy, “Obama Won’t Arm Ukraine Because He Led the Disarming of Ukraine” (supra).
19. Luke Coffey, “10 Years After Putin’s Invasion, Russia Still Occupies Parts of Georgia” (Daily Signal, March 1, 2018); Nikitin, “U.S.-Russian Civilian Nuclear Cooperation Agreement: Issues for Congress” (supra).
20. Claudia Rosett, “Ten Years into Obama’s Russia ‘Reset’” (PJ Media, March 6, 2019).
21. Peter Baker, “White House Scraps Bush’s Approach to Missile Shield” (New York Times, Sept. 17, 2009); Michaela Dodge, “President Obama’s Missile Defense Policy: A Misguided Legacy” (Heritage Foundation, Sept. 15, 2016; Nikitin, “U.S.-Russian Civilian Nuclear Cooperation Agreement: Issues for Congress” (supra).
22. Hillary Clinton, “Trade with Russia Is a Win-Win—By making Moscow a normal trading partner, Congress would create American jobs and advance human rights” (Wall Street Journal, June 19, 2012).
23. U.S. European Command, “Russia’s Skolkovo Innovation Center” (EUCOM Strategic Foresight pamphlet, July 29, 2013), p.6 (emphasis in original); John Solomon, “The case for Russia collusion … against the Democrats” (The Hill, Feb. 10, 2019).
24. Peter Schweizer, “The Clinton Foundation, State and Kremlin Connections” (Wall Street Journal, July 31, 2016).
25. Solomon, “The case for Russia collusion … against the Democrats” (supra); Lucia Ziobro, “FBI Boston office warns businesses of venture capital scams” (Boston Business Journal, April 4, 2014); Michael B. Farrell, “FBI warns Mass. Tech companies on Russian investors” (Boston Globe, April 8, 2014) (reproduced by telegram.com).
26. U.S. Department of State, 2012 Country Reports on Human Rights Practies, Russia Report (April 19, 2013).
27. Schweizer, “The Clinton Foundation, State and Kremlin Connections” (supra).
28. Schweizer, Clinton Cash (supra); Jo Becker and Mike McIntire, “Cash Flowed to Clinton Foundation Amid Russian Uranium Deal” (New York Times, April 23, 2015).
29. U.S. Energy Information Administration, “What is the status of the U.S. nuclear industry”; and “Where Our Uranium Comes From” (accessed March 11, 2019).
30. U.S. Department of State, “Kazakhstan 2017 Human Rights Report”; Andrew Osborn, “Kazakhstan to Britain: Don’t lecture us o
n human rights” (Reuters, July 1, 2013); Peter Baker, “As Kazakh scandal unfolds, Soviet-style reprisals begin” (Washington Post, June 11, 2002) (reproduced, Chicago Tribune).
31. Andrew C. McCarthy, “Uranium One Focus: Corruption, Not National Security” (National Review, Nov. 15, 2017).
32. Peter Schweizer, Clinton Cash: The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Help Make Bill and Hillary Rich (Harper, 2015).
33. Title 18, U.S. Code, Section 1956.
34. Title 18, U.S. Code, Section 371.
35. United States v. Vadim Mikerin, No. 14 Cr. 529 (District of Maryland, 2014), Plea Agreement (Aug. 14, 2015); John Solomon and Alison Spann, “FBI uncovered Russian bribery plot before Obama administration approved controversial nuclear deal with Moscow” (The Hill, Oct. 17, 2017).
36. That may not be the end of the story. Campbell, the informant, has claimed that he learned, through conversations with Mikerin and other conspirators, that Russian nuclear officials tried to ingratiate themselves with the Clintons. He further alleges that the FBI induced him to sign a nondisclosure agreement, and that the Obama Justice Department threatened to enforce it against him—including to prevent him from disclosing information to Congress and from filing a civil lawsuit to recover losses he says he sustained because of the criminal scheme. President Trump’s original Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, waived any nondisclosure sanctions in order to permit Campbell to speak with congressional investigators. Republicans claim he provided information about a possible Russian scheme to channel funds to a lobbying firm that would contribute to the Clinton Global Initiative (a Clinton Foundation project). Democrats launched a stinging attack against Campbell’s credibility, highlighting medical problems and other issues that caused him significant memory lapses. The matter is reportedly under investigation by Utah U.S. Attorney John Huber, appointed by Sessions in 2017 to probe matters related to the 2016 election. The Hill’s John Solomon, who has reported extensively on Uranium One, noted in October 2018 that the FBI has thus far refused to disclose 37 pages of relevant documents, which are the subject of Freedom of Information Act litigation. Solomon, “FBI’s 37 secret pages of memos about Russia, Clintons and Uranium One” (The Hill, Oct. 1, 2018); see also Solomon and Alison Spann “Russian uranium informant says FBI sought new information from him about the Clintons” (The Hill, March 22, 2018); Dan Friedman, “Here’s Why Republicans Stopped Talking about a Uranium One ‘Whistleblower’” (Mother Jones, March 8, 2018).
37. Karen Tumulty and Philip Rucker, “At third debate, Trump won’t commit to accepting election results if he loses” (Washington Post, Oct. 19, 2016).
38. Eric Lipton, David E. Sanger, and Scott Shane, “The Perfect Weapon: How Russian Cyberpower Invaded the U.S.” (New York Times, Dec. 13, 2016); Greg Miller, Ellen Nakashima, and Adam Entous, “Obama’s secret struggle to punish Russia for Putin’s election assault” (Washington Post, June 23, 2017); Philip Bump, “What Obama did, didn’t do and couldn’t do in response to Russian interference” (Washington Post, Feb. 21, 2018); Emily Birnbaum, “Trump: Obama didn’t warn about Russia before election because ‘it is all a big hoax’” (The Hill, July 22, 2018).
39. Chiara Palazzo, “Barack Obama tells The Daily Show’s Trevor Noah that Russian hacking was no ‘big surprise’” (The Telegraph, Dec. 13, 2016).
40. Debra Heine, “RussiaGate: Hillary Clinton and John Podesta’s Troubling Ties to Russia” (PJ Media, March 29, 2017).
CHAPTER 2
1. Justin Baragona, “Fox News’ Chris Wallace Sets Record Straight: Russia Investigation Did Not Start With Trump Dossier” (Daily Beast, March 29, 2019).
2. Intelligence leaks have suggested that there was FISA surveillance of Paul Manafort and his assistant, Richard Gates, but these appear to have been dispelled during Manafort’s prosecution. It has been reported, though not confirmed, that Manafort’s Russian associate, Konstantin Kilimnik, was a subject of FISA surveillance. Michael Flynn appears to have been captured by FISA surveillance, but the target of that effort was likely Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak, with Flynn monitored incidentally when the two communicated. As further detailed subsequently, it has also been reported that there was an effort to get FISA coverage on a Trump Tower server once suspected of being a back-channel to Russia through two Kremlin-connected financial institutions, including Alfa Bank.
3. Max Boot, “Everybody spies on allies—get over it” (New York Post, Oct. 23, 2013) (The “five eyes” alliance is an exception to the usual rule in that they “probably don’t spy on each other’s leaders—but they do spy on each other’s citizens. In fact this intelligence sharing allows them to do an endrun around prohibitions on domestic surveillance: The Brits can spy on our citizens, we can spy on theirs and then we can share the results.”; Scarlet Kim, Diana Lee, and Paulina Perlin, “Newly Disclosed Documents on the Five Eyes Alliance and What They Tell Us about Intelligence-Sharing Agreements” (Lawfare, April 23, 2018); Margaret Warner, “An exclusive club: The 5 countries that don’t spy on each other” (PBS, Oct. 25, 2013).
4. John O. Brennan Tweet (@JohnBrennan, July 16, 2018) (“Donald Trump’s press conference performance in Helsinki rises to & exceeds the threshold of ‘high crimes & misdemeanors.’ It was nothing sort of treasonous. Not only were Trump’s comments imbecilic, he is wholly in the pocket of Putin. Republican Patriots: Where are you???”); Tim Hains, “Brennan: ‘I Stand Very Much By’ Accusing President Trump of Treason; ‘He’s Bringing This Country Down” (Real Clear Politics, Aug. 19, 2018).
5. House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Minority Memo of January 29, 2018 (Schiff Memo), p. 3; Andrew C. McCarthy, “The Schiff Memo Harms Democrats More Than It Helps Them” (National Review, Feb. 25, 2018).
6. See, e.g., Schiff Memo, supra, p.3; Scott Shane, Mark Mazzetti, and Adam Goldman (with reporting contributions from Nicholas Confessore, Andrew E. Kramer, Michael S. Schmidt, and research assistance by Kitty Bennett), “Trump Advisor’s Visit to Moscow Got the F.B.I.’s Attention” (New York Times, April 19, 2017).
7. Scott Shane, Mark Mazzetti, and Adam Goldman (with reporting contributions from Nicholas Confessore, Andrew E. Kramer, Michael S. Schmidt, and research assistance by Kitty Bennett), “Trump Advisor’s Visit to Moscow Got the F.B.I.’s Attention” (New York Times, April 19, 2017).
8. Sharon LaFraniere, Mark Mazzetti, and Matt Apuzzo (with reporting contributions from Adam Goldman, Eileen Sullivan, and Matthew Rosenberg), “How the Russia Inquiry Began: A Campaign Aide, Drinks and Talk of Political Dirt” (New York Times, Dec. 30, 2017).
9. Adam Entous, Devlin Barrett, and Rosalind Helderman, “Clinton campaign, DNC paid for research that led to Russia dossier” (Washington Post, Oct. 24, 2017); Andrew C. McCarthy, “When Scandals Collide” (National Review, Oct. 25, 2017).
10. FBI Director James B. Comey, testimony before Senate Intelligence Committee (June 8, 2017) (reproduced by the The Washington Post) (questioning by Senator Susan Collins (R., Maine)).
11. Gubarev et al. v. Orbis Business Intelligence Ltd. and Christopher Steele, High Court of Justice, Queens Bench Division, Claim No. HQ17D00413, Defendants’ Response to Claimants’ Request for Further Information (May 18, 2017); Andrew C. McCarthy, “Politicizing Steele’s Raw, Unverified ‘Intelligence’” (National Review, Jan. 9, 2018).
12. Grassley and Graham Letter to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and FBI Director Christopher Wray (Jan 4, 2018); Andrew C. McCarthy, “Grassley-Graham Memo Affirms Nunes Memo—Media Yawns” (National Review, Feb. 10, 2018).
13. Tim Haines, “Gowdy: Did Obama Justice Department Rely on Steele Dossier to Get FISA Warrant?” (Real Clear Politics, Oct. 29, 2017); Evan Perez, Shimon Prokupecz, and Manu Raju, “FBI used dossier allegations to bolster Trump–Russia investigation” (CNN, April 18, 2017).
14. Louis Nelson and Brent D. Griffiths, “Carter Page: I’ve never communicated with Trump” (Politico, Feb. 5, 2018).
15. United States v. Evgeny Bury
akov, Igor Sporyshev, and Victor Podobnyy, Sealed Complaint Affidavit of FBI Agent Gregory Monaghan (Jan. 23, 2015), pp. 12-13 (referring to Carter Page as “Male-1”); Byron York, “Assessing the new Democratic intel memo” (Washington Examiner, Feb. 24, 2018); Andrew C. McCarthy, “A Foreign Power’s Recruitment Effort Is Not a Basis for a FISA Court Warrant” (National Review, Feb. 26, 2018). Because of redactions to the Page surveillance warrant applications, we do not know exactly what the Justice Department and FBI told the court about Page’s involvement in the Russian spy prosecution. In the Schiff memo, supra, House Democrats highlight the fact that Page was the subject of a recruitment effort in arguing that there were reasons for grave concern about Page’s interactions with Russia. The memo mentions the Buryakov spy case and cites to the arrest complaint, but redactions render it impossible to say whether these mentions (a) are merely meant to underscore that Page was a recruitment target, or (b) acknowledge Page’s cooperation with the Justice Department’s prosecution. Schiff Memo, pp. 3-4 & n.10.
16. For example, we learned in mid-2017 that Aras Agalarov, a Russian oligarch close to Putin, had coordinated the dispatch of Natalia Veselnitskaya, a Kremlin-connected lawyer, to pass to the Trump campaign what Don Trump Jr. was told would be information devastating to Hillary Clinton. The information was apparently nonsense, but the campaign took the June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower in New York City because of Donald Trump’s personal relationship and prior business history with Agalarov. See Andrew C. McCarthy, “The Curious Case of Natalia Veselnitskaya” (National Review, July 19, 2017).
CHAPTER 3
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