Read on Twitter
THREAD 1 of Volume 5 of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s Counterintelligence investigation into Russian election interference. The bipartisan report is 966 pages. The below is through the first 100 pages. I implore you to read it for yourself and form your own conclusions.
To begin, Vol. 5 outlines what the committee found in relation to the its own abilities and liabilities. They were able to find flaws in their own protocols. They outline this almost as a ‘lessons learned’ exercise. I do hope they work on legislation to fill the gaps.
They see limitations in uncooperative witnesses. They see limitations in witnesses being cheeky. In one instance of discovery, the person sent in a photograph of their hard drive. Not the hard drive, just a picture. The committee found the system is not built to handle a prick.
McGahn must testify. He gave everyone the bright idea that they would be covered by Executive Privilege prior to taking office on Inauguration Day. The committee was hindered by witnesses claims of executive privilege they A: did not yet have and B: were never privy to anyways.
The committee, Republicans included, state they adhere to the view that a valid claim of executive privilege can only exist once a president is sworn into office. Also McGahn must testify because of the Obstructions of Justice as outlined in Vol 2 of the Mueller Report.
WH counsel office reviewed documents from private citizens to determine if they could be fodder for executive privileges claims. This hampered the committee’s investigation. This was used as a stalling tactic as well. When a pattern of stalling emerges it becomes obstruction.
Team trump really maneuvers within the cracks of the system. They exploit any opening to obstruct. They use joint defense agreements to prolong the investigation. At each turn, the witnesses seem unwilling to provide information. They do seem very willing to hide it.
What is interesting is a Joint defense agreement has to be documented. They’re never was a documented JDA. One was never produced to the committee. Using something that does not exist as a pretense to not cooperate with this investigation is startling to say the least. Pg 30.
Can a president pardon his son if they both were part of a joint defense agreement that included the very crimes he is pardoning his son for? Would this not be another illegal act, pardoning a co-conspirator? Why the need for joint defense agreements if there was no wrong doing?
The committee was further hampered by witnesses pleading their 5th Amendment right to not self-incriminate. The committee thought about granting limited immunity, but decided against it. Witnesses basically saying,I’m not going to tell you what I did, you have to figure it out.
Manafort was connected to Konstantin Kilimnik who was connected to Oleg Deripaska who was connected to Putin. trump hired him to be campaign manager for no pay. Manafort tried to leverage his proximity to trump to erase his debts so he shared internal information with Kilimnik.
Even if we stipulate any and all nefarious activities were perpetrated by Manafort alone, then his actions inadvertently lead to trump’s election which lead to over 170,000 dead Americans. But we know better. Manafort was not the only bad actor.
Kilimnik was tied the Russian GRU. Meaning he could have been an agent. He was connected to the GRU hack and release of [REDACTED]. Redactions in this document are relative to ongoing investigations. Meaning this volume 5 report isn’t the end. FBI investigations ongoing?
The committee was unable to review extensive conversations between Manafort and Kilimnik due to their use of encrypted messages. It seems there is a large effort afoot to hide information pertinent to the investigation. Almost like a coordinated effort to cover up the truth.
On page 48, there is mention of Michael Caputo. You might remember him from such scandals as the states having to send all their coronavirus related information to him instead of the CDC. Oh, and he also worked for Manafort and Roger Stone as well as being a trump surrogate.
Page 52. I am sure trump unceremoniously pushing the leader of Montenegro was just a coincidence right? I mean, it wouldn’t have been an act of fealty or a message to any coconspirators. Naaaahhh.
Just from these first 100pgs, there should be hearings scheduled. Manafort feeding Kilimnik trump campaign data in MI,PA,WI and then targeted Russian influence in those locations exploiting Clinton hatred is something we need answers about. Impeachment is election security.
END
END
