Crime in Progress
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forced the resignation: Jonathan Martin and Alan Rappeport, “Debbie Wasserman Schultz to Resign D.N.C. Post,” New York Times, June 24, 2016.
“Experts are telling us that”: “Full Interview: Clinton Campaign Manager Robby Mook,” YouTube video of interview with Jake Tapper on CNN’s State of the Union, 8:56, posted by “CNN,” July 24, 2016.
“The new joke in town is”: Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump), Twitter, July 25, 2016, 4:31 A.M.
middle of a Russian active measures campaign: “Active measures” describes any clandestine measures taken by the Russian government’s security services in order to influence political outcomes abroad, usually against a foreign policy adversary, such as the United States.
The Times published its first big story: Steven Lee Myers and Andrew E. Kramer, “How Paul Manafort Wielded Power in Ukraine Before Advising Donald Trump,” New York Times, July 31, 2016.
Hamburger was eager to learn: Tom Hamburger and Ellen Nakashima, “Clinton Campaign—and Some Cyber Experts—Say Russia Is Behind Email Release,” Washington Post, June 24, 2016.
“I will tell you this: Russia, if you’re listening”: “Trump Hopes Russia Finds Clinton’s Deleted Emails,” YouTube video, 3:02, posted by “ABC News,” July 27, 2016.
Five hours later: United States v. Netyksho, No. 1:18-cr-00215-ABJ, U.S. District Court, District of Columbia, July 13, 2018.
CHAPTER EIGHT: BREAKFAST AT THE MAYFLOWER
The executive summary on Steele’s newest memo said it all: Orbis, Company Intelligence Report 2016/97, July 30, 2016.
Steele and Ohr had recently worked together: Kenneth P. Vogel and Matthew Rosenberg, “Agents Tried to Flip Russian Oligarchs. The Fallout Spread to Trump,” New York Times, September 1, 2018.
His father worked as a scientist: Brittany Crocker, “Trump Target Bruce Ohr Remembered in Oak Ridge as Part of Special Family,” Knoxville News Sentinel, September 18, 2018.
Nellie was a specialist in the rural history of Stalinism: Nellie Ohr’s 1990 PhD thesis, “Collective Farms and the Russian Peasant Society, 1933–1937: The Stabilization of the Kolkhoz Order,” is available at the Stanford University library and online through academic subscription services.
“I view myself as part of a community”: Testimony of Nellie Ohr, House Judiciary Committee and House Committee on Oversight and Reform, October 19, 2018.
“had Donald Trump over a barrel”: Testimony of Bruce Ohr, House Committee on Oversight and Reform, August 28, 2018.
“aha moment”: Testimony of Nellie Ohr, October 19, 2018.
Nine months earlier: Richard Reeve and Stephen Tschida, “Former Putin Aide, Founder of Russia Today, Found Dead at Dupont Circle Hotel,” WJLA ABC7 News, November 6, 2015.
The coroner said it was a drunken accident: Michal Kranz, “ ‘Everyone Thinks He Was Whacked’: New Evidence Has Emerged That a Russian Media Mogul Was Beaten to Death by Hired Thugs in Washington,” Business Insider, March 27, 2018.
Lesin’s hotel bill was being covered: Ashraf Khalil, “Ruling Revives Questions About D.C. Death of Ex–Putin Aide,” Associated Press, March 12, 2019.
“Hey if you discussed new case”: Peter Strzok texts, released by Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, February 7, 2018.
Lisa Page later said that the agents working: Philip Bump, “What We Know About the Genesis of the Russia Investigation,” Washington Post, April 1, 2019.
“Crossfire Hurricane”: Greg Miller, The Apprentice: Trump, Russia, and the Subversion of American Democracy (New York: Custom House, 2018), 147.
Bruce Ohr reported his conversation with Steele to McCabe: Testimony of Bruce Ohr, House Committee on Oversight and Reform, August 28, 2018.
Address records linked him to a Soviet émigré in Florida: Rosalind S. Helderman and Tom Hamburger, “Sergei Millian, Identified as an Unwitting Source for the Steele Dossier, Sought Proximity to Trump’s World in 2016,” Washington Post, February 7, 2019.
Like Brighton Beach in Brooklyn: Sunny Isles Beach, Florida, is commonly referred to as “Little Moscow” due to the large influx of Russian immigrants. Trump has several branded properties along the beach in this section of Miami. See Tom Hamburger, Rosalind S. Helderman, and Dana Priest, “In ‘Little Moscow,’ Russians Helped Donald Trump’s Brand Survive the Recession,” Washington Post, November 4, 2016.
One Sunny Isles investor: Popovyan owned Trump Casa 1102 LLC before transferring it to someone who appears to be his daughter. His ownership was first reported by Ilya Shumanov, “ ‘Our Miami’: Why Russian Businessmen and Bandits Settle in Trump Towers,” Forbes (Russian edition), November 7, 2016.
Roman Sinyavsky, a realtor: According to his own Miami FIP Properties website, https://famvp.com, accessed September 1, 2019.
On July 29, Millian sat down: Sergei Millian, interview, ABC News, July 2016. Transcript available on scribd.com, uploaded by Pete Madden, investigative reporter for ABC News.
The “Trump team”: Ibid.
he followed up with a Facebook message: Robert S. Mueller III, Report on the Investigation into Russian Interference in the 2016 Presidential Election, March 2019, vol. I, 103. Hereafter, “Mueller report.”
“despite our repeated efforts”: Mueller report, vol. I, 102.
CIA Director John Brennan emerged: Miller, The Apprentice, 149.
he testified later to Congress: John Brennan, “Russia and the 2016 Elections,” C-SPAN, user-created video, 2:11:15, uploaded May 23, 2017.
Brennan held a call with Alexander Bortnikov: John. O. Brennan, “John Brennan: President Trump’s Claims of No Collusion Are Hogwash,” New York Times, August 16, 2018.
With President Obama’s approval: John Brennan, “Brennan Gang of Eight,” C-SPAN, user-created video, 1:09, posted May 23, 2017.
On June 15, the day that Guccifer 2.0 leaked internal DNC research on Trump: “DNC Hacker Releases Trump Oppo Report,” Smoking Gun, June 15, 2016.
Republican House leaders gathered privately: Adam Entous, “House Majority Leader to Colleagues in 2016: ‘I Think Putin Pays’ Trump,” Washington Post, May 17, 2017.
“There’s two people, I think, Putin pays: Rohrabacher and Trump”: Ibid.
“actually communicated with [WikiLeaks]”: Roger Stone, speech to the Southwest Broward Republican Organization, Pembroke Pines, Florida, August 8, 2016. The media watchdog Media Matters (https://mediamatters.org) posted an online clip of the video on August 9, 2016. Stone Cold Truth, Stone’s media brand, uploaded the whole speech to YouTube on August 11, 2016.
Bloomberg filed a story from Spain: Esteban Duarte, Henry Meyer, and Evgenia Pismennaya, “Mobster or Central Banker? Spanish Cops Allege This Russian Is Both,” Bloomberg, August 8, 2016.
Halfway through the story: Ibid.
gun ownership is tightly regulated there, far more than in the United States: See Matthew Bodner, “Russians, Their Guns and the State,” Moscow Times, April 27, 2016.
Operación Dirieba: A sweeping investigation into organized crime by the Guardia Civil prosecutor José Grinda Gonzalez, among others in Spain. The Spanish government collected wiretaps that implicated Torshin in the Taganskaya organized crime family’s operations there. See José María Irujo, “Las pruebas que implican al aliado ruso de Trump con el crimen organizado,” El Pais (Madrid), April 3, 2016.
“democratic principles and election legislation”: “Senator Torshin Says Elections in Ukraine Are Held in Line with Democratic Principles,” RIA Novosti, November 22, 2004, accessed via http://factiva.com.
It would be a perfect cover: Amber Phillips, “The NRA-ification of the Republican Party,” Washington Post, August 14, 2015.
The NRA had publicly opposed: “Obama Administration Bans Import of Popular Russian Firearms,” NRA Institute for Legal Action, July 17, 2014.
promoted the brand in the United States: Alexandr Torshin, “Torshin: Kalashnikov, the Man and the Weapon,” op-ed, Washington Times, January 2, 2014.
the Times produced the results: Andrew E. Kramer, Mike McIntire, and Barry Meier, “Secret Ledger in Ukraine Lists Cash for Donald Trump’s Campaign Chief,” New York Times, August 14, 2016.
muckraking former journalist in the Ukrainian parliament: Elias Groll, interview with Serhiy Leshchenko, “The Ukrainian Who Sunk Paul Manafort,” Foreign Policy, August 27, 2018.
Manafort resigned as Trump’s campaign chairman: Nolan D. McCaskill, Alex Isenstadt, and Shane Goldmacher, “Paul Manafort Resigns from Trump Campaign,” Politico, August 19, 2016.
Stone started messaging with Guccifer 2.0: Andrew Blake, “Roger Stone, Trump Confidant, Acknowledges ‘Innocuous’ Twitter Conversation with DNC Hackers,” Washington Times, March 10, 2017.
Strzok texted Lisa Page in all caps: Peter Strzok, texts released by Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, February 7, 2018, https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Appendix%20C%20-%20Documents.pdf.
He had also learned of Russian efforts to infiltrate the computers of state election systems: Harry Reid to James Comey, August 27, 2016. Letter described in David E. Sanger, “Harry Reid Cites Evidence of Russian Tampering in U.S. Vote, and Seeks F.B.I. Inquiry,” New York Times, August 29, 2016.
Reid sent a letter to Comey: Ibid.
He texted Page a link to the Times account: Peter Strzok, texts released by Senate. The text linked to the article by Sanger, “Harry Reid Cites Evidence.”
caused Obama to task Homeland Security: Jacob Pramuk, “Jeh Johnson: Cyberattacks ‘Are Going to Get Worse Before They Get Better,’ ” CNBC, June 21, 2017.
the effort broke down along party lines: Miller, The Apprentice, 60.
he would put out his own statement: Scott Neuman, “Biden: McConnell Refused to Sign Bipartisan Statement on Russian Interference,” NPR, January 24, 2018.
CHAPTER NINE: HAIL MARY TIME
“Russians do have further ‘kompromat’ ”: Orbis to Fusion, Company Intelligence Report 2016/111, September 14, 2016.
Russian military intelligence officers: Mueller report, vol. I, 42.
The next day, the Russians reached out to WikiLeaks: “On September 15, 2016, @dcleaks wrote to @WikiLeaks” via Twitter; Mueller report, vol. I, 46.
Jane Mayer would later describe her session with Steele: Jane Mayer, “Christopher Steele, the Man Behind the Trump Dossier,” New Yorker, March 5, 2018.
Isikoff published a story: Michael Isikoff, “U.S. Intel Officials Probe Ties Between Trump Adviser and Kremlin,” Yahoo News, September 23, 2016.
Page told the Post: Josh Rogin, “Trump’s Russia Adviser Speaks Out, Calls Accusations ‘Complete Garbage,’ ” Washington Post, September 26, 2016.
the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court: Verified Application, Carter W. Page, U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, Washington, D.C., October 2016. Declassified version accessible at nytimes.com.
Russian intelligence had tried to recruit: Ali Watkins, “A Former Trump Adviser Met with a Russian Spy,” BuzzFeed News, April 3, 2017.
The FBI had even asked him about his Russian contacts in March 2016: Natasha Bertrand, “Carter Page Is a Very Unlikely GOP Hero,” Atlantic, September 19, 2018.
The lawyer and diplomat knew a lot of journalists in: See Winer biographies/profiles at https://apcoworldwide.com, on LinkedIn, and on the U.S. Department of State archived site, https://2009-2017.state.gov.
he acted as an informal pipeline: Jonathan M. Winer, “Devin Nunes Is Investigating Me. Here’s the Truth,” Washington Post, February 8, 2018.
in the interest of helping an ally: Upon his retirement from government in 2016, Winer was given the State Department’s highest award for service for, among other things, “extraordinary service to the U.S. government” in helping save the lives of more than three thousand Iranian exiles in Iraq. The Iranians belonged to a cultlike group called the People’s Mojahedin, long considered a terrorist organization by both Iran and the United States.
Shearer was, in fact, the author of the document: Stephanie Kirchgaessner and Nick Hopkins, “Second Trump-Russia Dossier Being Assessed by FBI,” Guardian, January 30, 2018.
He provided a copy of the memo: Fusion would also learn that the FBI had offered to bring Steele on for $50,000 to assist with its investigation, money that was never paid. The FBI also failed to reimburse him for his travel to Rome.
“My understanding was that [the FBI] believed Chris at this point”: Testimony of Glenn Simpson, Senate Judiciary Committee, August 22, 2017.
“She’s saying Russia, Russia, Russia”: Donald Trump, “First Presidential Debate,” NBC News, September 26, 2016.
the Obama administration put out a statement: Department of Homeland Security Press Office, “Joint Statement from the Department of Homeland Security and Office of the Director of National Intelligence on Election Security,” press release, October 7, 2016.
Trump had been caught on an Access Hollywood videotape: Now commonly known as the Access Hollywood tape. See David A. Fahrenthold, “Donald Trump Recorded Having Extremely Lewd Conversation About Women in 2005,” Washington Post, October 7, 2016.
“locker room banter”: Trump Pence Campaign, “Statement from Donald J. Trump,” press release, October 7, 2016.
WikiLeaks released the trove of emails: Amy Chozick, “John Podesta Says Russian Spies Hacked His Emails to Sway Election,” New York Times, October 11, 2016.
October surprises: U.S. political term referring to a news story deliberately dropped late in the campaign for maximum effect.
“Our standard is we do not confirm or deny”: “FBI Oversight,” video of James Comey testimony. House Committee of Oversight and Reform hearing, 3:58:12, C-SPAN, September 28, 2016.
Comey sent a letter: James B. Comey to Richard M. Burr et al., October 28, 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/10/28/us/politics/fbi-letter.html.
“Lock her up, lock her up”: “Donald Trump Campaign Rally in Cedar Rapids, Iowa,” video, 28:00, C-SPAN, posted October 28, 2016.
“a surprise or two”: “Giuliani Responds to Reports the FBI Leaked Info to Him,” Kelly File, Fox News, November 4, 2016.
“explosive information about close ties”: Aaron Blake, “Harry Reid’s Incendiary Claim About ‘Coordination’ Between Donald Trump and Russia,” Washington Post, October 31, 2016.
Referring to Steele by the acronym CHS: “Records Between FBI and Christopher Steele,” unclassified but redacted, publicly available via Freedom of Information Act, accessed online at http://vault.fbi.gov.
“Was a Trump Server Communicating”: Franklin Foer, “Was a Trump Server Communicating with Russia?” Slate, October 31, 2016.
“met on a quarterly basis”: Petr Aven, interview with the special counsel’s office on August 2, 2018, as cited in the Mueller report, vol. I, 146.
“Aven said that he took these meetings”: Mueller report, vol. I, 154.
the Times posted a story that stomped: Eric Lichtblau and Steven Lee Myers, “Investigating Donald Trump, F.B.I. Sees No Clear Link to Russia,” New York Times, October 31, 2016.
“even chased a lead”: Lichtblau and Myers, “Investigating Donald Trump.”
Catherine Belton posted a story: Catherine Belton, “The Shadowy Russian Émigré Touting Trump,” Financial Times, October 31, 2016.
“Mr. Millian came on to the FBI’s radar”: Belton, “The Russian Émigré.”
the Times’s public editor wrote: Liz Spayd, “Trump, Russia, and the News Story That Wasn’t,” New York Times, January 20, 2017.
James Baker told congressional investigators: Testimony of James A. Baker, House Co
mmittee on Oversight and Reform, October 3, 2018.
Baquet suspected that Lichtblau: Maxwell Tani, “In Blunt Book on Media, Jill Abramson Dishes on the Times, Reveals Profane Dean Baquet Rant,” Daily Beast, January 5, 2019.
“Hillary Clinton would probably be president”: Nate Silver, “The Comey Letter Probably Cost Clinton the Election,” FiveThirtyEight, May 3, 2017.
CHAPTER TEN: “COURAGE, FOLKS”
“World Exclusive”: Louise Mensch, “Exclusive: FBI ‘Granted FISA Warrant’ Covering Trump Camp’s Ties to Russia,” Heat Street, November 7, 2016.
“Sphere Consulting’s unparalleled stable”: Sphere Consulting, post-election email to clients, November 9, 2016. Sphere Consulting LLC is a DC public relations and lobbying firm run by James Courtovich. Courtovich has courted controversy around Washington in the past; see Brody Mullins, “The Rise and Fall of a K Street Renegade,” Wall Street Journal, February 13, 2017.
The state assembly, the Duma, burst into applause: Andrew Osborn, “Russia Says It Was in Touch with Trump’s Campaign During Election,” Reuters, November 10, 2016.
Hope Hicks claimed the Trump campaign: David Filipov and Andrew Roth, “Moscow Had Contacts with Trump Team During Campaign, Russian Diplomat Says,” Washington Post, November 10, 2016.
President Obama used a ninety-minute meeting: Kristen Welker, Dafna Linzer, and Ken Dilanian, “Obama Warned Trump Against Hiring Mike Flynn, Say Officials,” NBC News, May 8, 2017.
Trump named Flynn to the post: Bryan Bender, “Trump Names Mike Flynn National Security Adviser,” Politico, November 17, 2016.
Among the attendees: 2016 conference details and attendee lists are available at https://halifaxtheforum.org.
Wood said he “was aware”: Deposition of David Kramer, Gubarev v. BuzzFeed, No. 17-cv-60426, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida, December 13, 2017.
“You don’t have a choice”: 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.