Finally, ***Trump*** named as involved w/ one of the undisclosed meetings w/ Kislyak.

[MelissaB]

Did Trump, Kushner, Sessions Have An Undisclosed Meeting With Russian?

by Ken Dilanian

The FBI and Congress are examining a campaign event last spring during which Donald Trump, Jeff Sessions and Jared Kushner were in a small gathering with Russian ambassador to the U.S. Sergey Kislyak and other diplomats at Washington's Mayflower Hotel, multiple U.S. officials told NBC News.

Five current and former U.S. officials said they are aware of classified intelligence suggesting there was some sort of private encounter between Trump and his aides and the Russian envoy, despite a heated denial from Sessions, who has already come under fire for failing to disclose two separate contacts with Kislyak. Kushner also denied through a spokesman that he met privately with Kislyak that day.

he officials acknowledged to NBC News that the evidence does not amount to proof, and they have declined to provide details about it.

"The Department of Justice appointed special counsel to assume responsibility for this matter," Department of Justice spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores said in a statement. "We will allow him to do his job. It is unfortunate that anonymous sources whose credibility will never face public scrutiny are continuously trying to hinder that process by peddling false stories to the mainstream media. The facts haven't changed; the then-Senator did not have any private or side conversations with any Russian officials at the Mayflower Hotel."

Link: http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/did-trump-kushner-sessions-have-undisclosed-meeting-russian-n767096

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. This is getting messier by the day.

And why would a DoJ spokesperson be defending Sessions with a statement like this? "It is unfortunate that anonymous sources whose credibility will never face public scrutiny are continuously trying to hinder that process by peddling false stories to the mainstream media. The facts haven't changed; the then-Senator did not have any private or side conversations with any Russian officials at the Mayflower Hotel." " A very lawyerly response, too. She says "the then-Senator did not have any private or side conversations with any Russian officials *at the Mayflower Hotel*." But did he have any such conversations somewhere else? In an alley *behind* the Mayflower Hotel? Trump Tower? I get suspicious when denials are that specific because they leave other possibilities open while still being truthful about a detail.

[politicaljunkie41910]

14. I was thinking the exact same thing. Why did this spokeswoman take it upon herself

to proclaim that Sessions did not meet with the Russians at that hotel. She wasn't there. I was okay with the first part of her statement (below) about allowing the special counsel to do their job. But she wasn't there so she doesn't know who was and who wasn't, and it wouldn't be the first time Jeff Sessions lied. Having worked for the government, you couldn't get me to make such a statement about anyone like that unless I had ironclad proof. Like Mueller said over the weekend at his granddaughter's commencement exercise. "Your integrity is all you have. If you have integrity, nothing else matters. If you don't have integrity, nothing else matters." Jeff Sessions hasn't proven that he has any integrity. If I were the spokesman for DOJ, I would not be putting my integrity on the line for someone whom I know has lied before.

"The Department of Justice appointed special counsel to assume responsibility for this matter," Department of Justice spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores said in a statement. "We will allow him to do his job. It is unfortunate that anonymous sources whose credibility will never face public scrutiny are continuously trying to hinder that process by peddling false stories to the mainstream media. The facts haven't changed; the then-Senator did not have any private or side conversations with any Russian officials at the Mayflower Hotel."

[bresue]

32. Probably why Joe in the morning so riled today

Her comments made me want to explode yesterday....cover-up, cover-up...and lies....

And that is a slap in the face to me...do they believe I am stupid enough to believe these falsehoods?

[awesomerwb1]

2. Unfortunately they can brush this off as hearsay.

It will be very hard to prove they met privately.

[MelissaB]

4. Unless a) somebody saw it. b) an intelligence agency listened in because of a FISA warrant

With multiple sources cited in the article, I doubt it will be left at hearsay.

[awesomerwb1]

5. Well, people apparently saw them with the russian AND other diplomats...

This was a face to face meeting. Unless the place was bugged or somebody was wearing a wire, nobody was listening in so FISA would be irrelevant?

[Maraya1969]

23. Like Flynn? Singing like a canary?

[Demsrule86]

27. Everything that Flynn knew about is coming out...Sessions and Trump are toast.

The Mayflower is where a quid pro quid deal was supposedly hatched...they picked the Mayflower for it out of the way location and easy secret ways in.

[awesomerwb1]

38. Why are people so sure Flynn is 'singing like a canary', or everyone is toast?

Positive thinking? I hope all these traitors go down and take the generals with them as well but I don't like to get too carried away.

No proof of Flynn or others singing yet. I hope with all my heart him and others though!

[Demsrule86]

41. All the breaking news of late involved things Flynn knew about. That is why I think this

is the case.

[Eliot Rosewater]

28. And wait till the money laundering and other crimes are revealed.

Problem is GOP want their leader to lie, steal, kill.

GOP reveres people who pretend to be strong like Putin and Trump.

Sadly , I have known about the GOP attraction to Putin for a very long time and tried to warn people.

But alas, nobody listened.

[awesomerwb1]

37. That's my main hope. $$ laundering and other crimes state and federal level.

[Grown2Hate]

44. THIS (with a HEAVY focus on "state level"). At the state level, those crimes would be

adjudicated by the STATE Attorney General, and not subject to pardons by Trump.

[L. Coyote]

34. What with the photographs and all the circumstantial evidence, they have to deny, deny, deny.

"Brush this off as hearsay"

The private gathering was in the news when it happened.

[awesomerwb1]

39. I guess maybe you didn't read my entire post.

Article says there were other diplomats there as well so it doesn't sound like it was a private US-Russia spy gathering lol, so yes, those traitors can claim there is no proof of anything other than a small gathering of diplomats and cheeto's campaign entourage. " "

[L. Coyote]

40. I guess maybe you didn't read my entire story.

Not to mention all the background and reporting at the time. Why did the venue change? So they could have private meetings. The reception wasn't the only private meeting.

A lot more happened than your post about it delimits.

[Orrex]

3. But these are totally super-legitimate back-channels

Essential for diplomacy and shit.

[Nitram]

10. Except that it is illegal for a candidate and his party to engage in diplomacy.

[Orrex]

15. FAKE LAW! VERY BAD!!!!1!

[onetexan]

21. LOL

[L. Coyote]

35. Those are the worst kind of laws, the fake ones, get in the way of doing crimes and all.

How do you know a law is a fake law? If Trump and Company violate it.

[Still In Wisconsin]

6. ...and were it President Obama rather than Trump,

the Impeachment trial would have started in the Senate months ago.

[NewJeffCT]

13. Not just impeachment

they'd be lined up to prosecute him once he was impeached.

[Orrex]

16. Sad that we can say that same thing every single day

If Obama had tweeted "covfefe," McConnell would have been on the Senate floor at 06:00AM demanding that the Cabinet invoke the 25th Amendment.

[SunSeeker]

17. Yep. nt

[kairos12]

7. I guess Drumpt's Maxwell Smart shoe phone wasn't working that day.

[Still In Wisconsin]

22. He missed it by

*that* much!

[Honeycombe8]

8. If he got w/the Russians privately...bazinga. It's finally reached the top.

I thought MAYBE Trump was clever enough to keep himself out of all communications, buffering himself. But no, he wasn't even clever enough to do that.

[wishstar]

9. Manaforte was also there, Trump gave a very pro-Russia speech written by Russiaphile Richard Burt

Richard Burt, dealmaker with Russians, who hobnobbed with Sessions during Trump campaign,was there and the diplomats from the other 4 or 5 countries were known to be very pro-Russia interested in dealmaking involving oil interests and lifting of sanctions

Seth Abramsom blogged all the details of the private get-together back in March and thought it was explosive back then, but it got ignored by the mainstream media until now and guess it is only now coming out due to apparent confirmation by Sens. Leahy and Franken

[jaxind]

11. Do we...

Do we have anywhere on record tRUMP saying that he has never been in contact with Kislyak during the campaign or transition?

[wishstar]

25. Trump and his staffers repeatedly said they had no contacts with Russians

Here is Wash Post article from February about their denials of Russian contacts. At time of this article, they were only acknowledging the Flynn/Kislyak contacts that had been leaked out.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/02/15/4-times-donald-trumps-team-denied-contact-with-russia/?utm_term=.165897eba67c

[Scurrilous]

12. K&R

[Achilleaze]

18. freakin lying republican traitors

are deplorable in their campaign with freakin russia to undermine American democracy.

[gibraltar72]

19. Oh

You meant that meeting!

[jmg257]

20. They FINALLY got around to this?? Took long enough...it is old news

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/jeff-sessions-sergey-kislyak-mayflower_us_58c05639e4b0d1078ca37225

Sessions appears to have left out a third instance in which they crossed paths.

In April of 2016, Sessions attended a VIP reception at a hotel in Washington, D.C., with President Donald Trump and roughly two dozen guests, including four ambassadors. One of them was Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. The cocktail meet-and-greet took place in a private room at the Mayflower Hotel near the White House. Shortly thereafter, Trump delivered a foreign policy speech in the hotel’s ballroom, where he called for improved U.S.-Russia relations. Kislyak was seated in the front row.

Though the event was small, it is unclear if Sessions and Kislyak spoke directly, and a spokeswoman for the attorney general did not respond immediately to questions about the event from The Huffington Post. Organizers said the event included a receiving line.
...

The Center for the National Interest, the conservative foreign policy organization that hosted Trump’s speech at the Mayflower, invited Kislyak to the reception. An April 2016 story in Politico noted that Sessions also attended the event and was in the Senate Room of the Mayflower, along with “ambassadors.” ...

Supposedly the other ambassadors were intriguing due to their supposed ties to the Russian energy deal.

[L. Coyote]

36. The Seth Abramson Mega-Thread covered this in 50 tweet detail.

What Is Seth Abramson Trying to Tell Us?
A professor of English has won himself a big audience by building a case against President Trump on Twitter. But the real meaning of his online crusade is in the subtext.
By Steve Kolowich May 15, 2017

#TrumpRussia 50 tweet MEGA-THREAD by Seth Abramson

PHOTO Kislyak, front row, listens to Presidential hopeful Trump - Mayflower Hotel April 27 '16
Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak (front row L) listens as Republican US Presidential hopeful Donald Trump speaks about foreign policy at the Mayflower Hotel April 27, 2016 in Washington, DC. / AFP PHOTO / Brendan Smialowski - April 27, 2016

Sessions and Sergey Kislyak in a photo, Mayflower Hotel.
Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) (2L) speaks with a guest while Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak (front row R) waits to hear Republican US Presidential hopeful Donald Trump speak about foreign policy at the Mayflower Hotel April...More - April 27, 2016

One of the problems with GD, people don't look down the post list far enough to see that there is an active thread on what they are posting. I posted the above in 4 posts, BumRushDaShow added this:

James Baker (yes that one) brought Kislyak in

Link to tweet

[Lars39]

45. James Baker, the Fixer for Bush Senior?!

I've been wondering how Bushco may have felt about all this. Baker's involvement is very worrisome.

[L. Coyote]

47. James Baker, the Fixer for Election 2000.

James Baker is the guy who made sure Florida was stolen from Gore.

[Lars39]

48. Yes! Him.

Dang. The tentacles really go deep don't they.

[triron]

24. "multiple U.S. officials" (some degree of corroboration)

[Turbineguy]

26. Trump has a strategy to counter this.

Do something really astonishingly stupid and destructive to divert attention.

[FarPoint]

29. Since we know his pattern....

Why can't the media figure it out?

[Nitram]

31. The media has. They point it out all the time.

[gristy]

30. Well how about that... Looks promising...

NBC news, no less. Might this be the beginning of the end of him? Maybe at least the end of beginning?

[Demsrule86]

33. Kislyak was being monitored ...I bet there is a tape...which means if as we have heard is true...

Trump offered lifting sanctions for the Russian's help in getting him elected...he is over. Even the GOP could not overlook that.

[L. Coyote]

43. No doubt Kislyak was under surveillance. Change of venue was to allow private meets.

Any room reserved by Kislyak would have been bugged. Any cellphone anywhere near him might have been recording.

[Demsrule86]

46. That is what I think. And earlier reports suggest that Trump made a quid pro quo offer

personally. And notice all the 'breaking news' is something Flynn new about...singing like a canary maybe.

[lindysalsagal]

42. Yuh know it's friday when

the potus is outed for colluding with putin.

Geeze. Louise.....