Mueller: Someone in Congress might have tried to stop Michael Flynn from cooperating

A newly unsealed document from special counsel Robert Mueller said someone in Congress might have tried to get retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn to not cooperate with the Russia investigation. The 448-page Mueller report, released last month with redactions, shows that President Trump's team may have sought to influence Flynn, who assisted Trump's 2016 campaign and briefly served as national security adviser in 2017. In the filing given to the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia on Thursday, Mueller suggested a wider effort.

Over the course of 19 interviews, Flynn "informed the government of multiple instances, both before and after his guilty plea, where either he or his attorneys received communications from persons connected to the Administration or Congress that could have affected both his willingness to cooperate and the completeness of that cooperation," Mueller wrote.

The document unsealed on Thursday is an addendum to the government's memo in aid of sentencing Flynn, who admitted to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak and reached a plea deal with Mueller's team. The five-page document provides insight on the "significance and usefulness" of Flynn.

The section on potential efforts to interfere with the Special Counsel's Office's investigation said Flynn "provided a voicemail recording of one such communication" and in some of the instances Mueller's team examined, the special counsel "was unaware of the outreach until being alerted to it by the defendant."

The Mueller report appears to mention this voicemail in his report. "After Flynn withdrew from a joint defense agreement with the President and began cooperating with the government, the President’s personal counsel left a message for Flynn’s attorneys reminding them of the President’s warm feelings towards Flynn, which he said 'still remains', and asking for a 'heads up' if Flynn knew 'information that implicates the President,'" Mueller's report said. "When Flynn’s counsel reiterated that Flynn could no longer share information pursuant to a joint defense agreement, the President’s personal counsel said he would make sure that the President knew that Flynn’s actions reflected 'hostility' towards the President.'"

U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan, who is overseeing Flynn's case, ordered the transcripts of the voicemail and any other audio recordings of Flynn’s conversations with Russians made public by May 31. Mueller also said that Flynn gave "useful information" about discussions among Trump campaign officials about WikiLeaks' release of emails stolen from the Democratic National Committee and John Podesta, the chairman of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, and provided "firsthand information about the content and context of interactions between the transition team and Russian government officials."

Flynn has yet to be sentenced and is still working with Justice Department prosecutors in criminal case against Bijan Kian, his former lobbying partner who worked for the Turkish government. He faces up to five years in prison.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/mueller-someone-in-congress-might-have-tried-to-stop-michael-flynn-from-cooperating

Flynn Docs

https://www.scribd.com/document/410358116/Flynn-Docs#from_embed

Tensions rise between Waters, House Republicans over hearing

House Republicans are crying foul over the conduct of House Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters, D-Calif., during a Thursday hearing with bank regulators. Waters ended the hearing abruptly at 1:30 p.m., gaveling out while her Republican counterpart, Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., and Rep. Bill Huizenga, R-Mich., tried to ask the chairwoman if the panel would stay past the end time Waters said her staff had negotiated with the regulators who attended.

“If a mistake was made and you were not notified we will deal with that later,” said Waters, who then broke typical committee procedure by ignoring McHenry, who was seated next to her, and gaveling out the hearing. “This is a travesty, the way you’ve handled this,” said McHenry, who has been vocal about trying to cooperate with Waters on areas of agreement during this Congress.

The California Democrat, for her part, has said that she intends to work with Republicans on issues such as reforming the multibillion-dollar national flood insurance program and the multitrillion-dollar housing finance system. But Republicans said Thursday’s hearing, and other recent interactions with Waters and her staff, cast doubt on her desire to work across the aisle. “If you’re talking about trying to build goodwill and bipartisanship and all these other things, why would you do it like that, and operate that way?” said Huizenga. “I hope that they can figure this out. It’s outrageous, we never treated them that way,” when Republicans held the majority. McHenry told the Washington Examiner: “Look, you have to follow our rules and have some level of common courtesy and decency in these hearings. The unfortunate thing is, while I’ve had a good working relationship with Chairwoman Waters, I think she’s been given horrible advice as it pertains to the law and parliamentary procedure.” Added the North Carolina Republican: “And that has eroded my capacity and my members’ capacity to have an open hand, an extended hand, when it comes to serious issues.”

Through a spokesperson, Waters said, “I am committed to continuing to provide productive leadership, and I and my experienced and committed staff will continue to work with Mr. McHenry and his staff. None of us have time for squabbling. The issues we are dealing with are much too important to be diverted into distraction and finger-pointing.” When asked if Thursday’s events might change the tenor for the committee moving forward, McHenry responded: “I hope not, but something has to change on how they’re treating us. This is a culmination of a number of issues, some public, in the last two or three weeks.”

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/economy/tensions-rise-between-waters-house-republicans-over-hearing

>>6518247

That is what I was thinking when reading this…thinking ..NoName on this for at least one of them.

>>6518264

Looking like Loop Capital might come into focus..

Barr on Trump-Russia investigation: 'We have to find out what the government was doing'

Attorney General William Barr wants to know what government officials were doing at the start of the Trump-Russia investigation. "If we’re worried about foreign influence, for the very same reason, we should be worried about whether government officials abused their power and put their thumb on the scale,” Barr said in a Fox News interview set to air Friday. “And so I’m not saying that happened, but I am saying we have to look at that.”

Barr is investigating whether the Department of Justice and FBI acted appropriately at the beginning of the investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller into Russian efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election. While he has “been trying to get answers to questions,” he said, a lot of the answers have fallen short or "don’t hang together." “In a sense, I have more questions today than when I first started,” Barr said.

President Trump himself viewed the Mueller investigation with suspicion from the beginning, repeatedly calling it a politically-motivated "witch hunt." And Republicans have called for investigating the investigators for more than two years now, with those calls increasing following the conclusion of Mueller's investigation. The 448-page redacted Mueller report showed Russia had interfered in the 2016 election through cyber attacks and social media disinformation campaigns, but it did not establish that anyone on the Trump campaign engaged in a criminal conspiracy with the Russians.

Barr previously told the Senate Judiciary Committee that he is looking into the origins of the investigation into Trump, the existence of any criminal leaks from the FBI or DOJ to the media, the possibility that the salacious dossier compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele was influenced by Russian disinformation, whether the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act was abused, and more. “I think people have to find out what the government was doing during that period," Barr said Thursday.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/barr-on-trump-russia-investigation-we-have-to-find-out-what-the-government-was-doing

>>6518294

Kek, That's a lot of spagetti!

Trump administration follows though on $1B funding cut for California high-speed rail

The Trump administration followed through on its threat to pull almost a billion dollars in funding for a California high-speed rail project. The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Railroad Administration sent a letter to California officials Thursday saying it will not give the state $928.6 million promised in a 2010 agreement, and would look into recovering $2.5 billion in funds already given for the program.

“FRA finds that CHSRA has repeatedly failed to comply with the terms of the FY10 Agreement and has failed to make reasonable progress on the Project,” the administration said in a statement. The administration had originally threatened the pending grant and the initial funding in February.

President Trump repeatedly attacked the project earlier in the year, calling it the “ failed Fast Train project.” California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, announced in February that the project would be scaled back because it “ would cost too much and take too long” to complete as initially designed.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/trump-administration-follows-though-on-1b-funding-cut-for-california-high-speed-rail

New Yorkers Don’t Appear To Be Happy About De Blasio’s Presidential Announcement

MSNBC’s Savannah Sellers interviewed New Yorkers on Thursday morning, asking them their thoughts about New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio entering the presidential race. His campaign likely won’t make it far, if their reaction is indicative of how the rest of the country will react.

“Yes, so, Steph, there was actually—last month, in a Quinnipiac poll—76% of New Yorkers said that they do not think he should run for president. Every party, age, racial and borough group listed in that agreed on that. And from what I heard this morning, so do New Yorkers just riding the subway getting ready for their morning commute. Here’s what they had to say,” Sellers began. “Very disappointed,” one person said. “I personally would not vote for him.” Another added, “My concern is how there’s a lot of Democrats running for president, and it makes it complicated to narrow down a choice.” “He needs help, seriously. The guy hasn’t done really jack. Besides it’s about time a woman runs the country,” a different person explained. “I think he should have announced on the first of April,” a different New Yorker told Sellers. “Because it would have been a good April Fools’ Day joke.”

Sellers concluded, “Yeah, exactly. It’s been a fun morning out here. One person actually heard me ask that question and had not heard the announcement yet and shouted, ‘Is that a joke?’ And started hysterically laughing. It’s been fun letting New Yorkers get a little frustration off their chest.” De Blasio became the 23rd Democrat to declare their candidacy for president Thursday morning.

https://www.dailycaller.com/2019/05/16/new-york-city-bill-de-blasio-president/

>>6518524

That would be great for New Yorker's, I think they really need one and they need to get Bloomberg out of the shadows of the background governing.

>>6518584

The position of President calls for the best individual, not the best gender.