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Yorkie Mom

Yorkie Mom's Journal
Yorkie Mom's Journal
March 31, 2017

After being asked about Flynn, Trump leaves signing ceremony w/o signing executive orders. Pence

after @MajorCBS asks about Flynn, Trump leaves signing ceremony without signing executive orders. Pence went and picked it up from desk

https://twitter.com/justinsink/status/847899898724986880

Video courtesy of Jester
https://twitter.com/th3j35t3r/status/847909961120321536

March 31, 2017

New: Obama Officials Made List of Russia Probe Documents To Keep Them Safe & hand-carried to members

Mar 31 2017, 12:35 pm ET
Obama Officials Made List of Russia Probe Documents To Keep Them Safe

by Richard Greenberg

Obama administration officials were so concerned about what would happen to key classified documents related to the Russia probe once President Trump took office that they created a list of document serial numbers to give to senior members of the Senate Intelligence Committee, a former Obama official told NBC News.

The official said that after the list of documents related to the probe into Russian interference in the U.S. election was created in early January, he hand-carried it to the committee members. The numbers themselves were not classified, said the official.

The purpose, said the official, was to make it "harder to bury" the information, "to share it with those on the Hill who could lawfully see the documents," and to make sure it could reside in an Intelligence committee safe, "not just at Langley [CIA hq]."

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/obama-officials-made-list-russia-probe-documents-keep-them-safe-n741146

March 31, 2017

Schiff: Public should learn lot more about WHY Flynn wants immunity when Yates testifies

The public should learn a lot more about WHY General Flynn wants immunity when Sally Yates testifies before the House Intelligence Committee

https://twitter.com/RepAdamSchiff/status/847790067716427780

March 31, 2017

Best thread on Twitter tonight is from Jester

If you know who this guy is, you'll appreciate the post.

https://twitter.com/th3j35t3r/status/847633397090365442

March 31, 2017

FBI Agents Visit Office of Saipan Casino Run by Trump Protege / **Money Laundering**

**(Read people involved)**

This could get interesting... I think it's called money laundering.

FBI Agents Visit Office of Saipan Casino Run by Trump Protege

by Matthew Campbell
March 30, 2017, 6:20 PM EDT

Agents from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation visited an office belonging to the operator of a casino on the remote U.S. island of Saipan that has attracted attention for its huge revenues, according to a local legislator and residents.

... snip

Saipan, an island of 50,000 residents closer to China than to Hawaii, relaxed rules on casinos in 2014 and soon awarded Imperial Pacific exclusive rights to open casinos there. The casino, run by an executive who cut his teeth in Atlantic City casinos then owned by Donald Trump, enlisted a slate of luminary overseers including former leaders of both the Republican and Democratic national parties in the U.S.

Its board members include James Woolsey, who ran the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency in the early 1990s and was among national-security advisers to Trump’s presidential campaign. Former FBI director Louis Freeh and Ed Rendell, a former Pennsylvania governor and Democratic National Committee chairman, sit on an advisory committee, as does Haley Barbour, the ex-Mississippi governor and Republican National Committee chairman who’s now a prominent lobbyist.

...snip

Imperial Pacific Chairman Mark Brown is a former executive in President Trump’s Atlantic City casino empire. He has led Imperial Pacific’s plan to replace what it describes as a temporary gaming facility with a much larger casino complex in coming weeks.

More: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-03-30/fbi-agents-visit-office-of-saipan-casino-run-by-trump-protege


Check out this story from November

Big Money, Big Questions at Trump Protege's Remote Casino
Far-flung gambling operation advised by former FBI and CIA chiefs posts huge revenues—and its flows of cash have drawn the attention of the U.S. Treasury.


by Daniela Wei
and Matthew Campbell
November 13, 2016, 4:00 PM EST

On a tiny island in the western Pacific, at the end of a duty-free mall wedged between a one-story laundromat and a cell-phone shop, you’ll find what may be the most successful casino of all time.

The awkwardly named Best Sunshine Live hardly looks like a high-roller hub. Construction workers bet $5 or $10 at a time on roulette and baccarat in a fug of nicotine. Clustered in a far corner are a handful of tables for so-called VIP gamblers, which at 8:30 p.m. on a September Saturday are almost empty. A nearby bar has just a couple of patrons.

Nothing about the facility, which opened last year on the U.S. island of Saipan, hints at the money flowing through it—table for table, far more than at the biggest casinos in Macau, the world’s number-one gambling capital. Nor is there any sign of the connections of its owner, Hong Kong-listed Imperial Pacific International Holdings Ltd., which has a market value of $2.4 billion.

It’s a power list that includes a former director of the Central Intelligence Agency, a former director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and three former U.S. governors, including past chairmen of both the Democratic and Republican National Committees. Behind them all: a Donald Trump protege, Mark Brown, who ran the Republican president-elect’s Atlantic City casino empire and is now Imperial Pacific’s chief executive officer.

...snip

“A legitimate high-stakes gambler wouldn’t want to spend time in this place,” Hunter, the plaintiff in the suit against the Saipan casino law, said of Best Sunshine. “Have you seen it? It’s a duty-free store with a fresh coat of paint and some chandeliers.”
More: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2016-11-13/obscure-casino-run-by-a-trump-protege-is-raising-big-questions
March 28, 2017

In 1974, the GOP lost 49 House and 8 Senate seats.

I'll keep reminding you: In 1974, the GOP lost 49 House and 8 Senate seats. They were branded as defended a corrupt, criminal Presidency.

https://twitter.com/TheRickWilson/status/846734942272917504

March 27, 2017

Louise Mensch: Did Nunes Leak FISA Warrant Info via White House Lawyer Michael Ellis?

Did Nunes Leak FISA Warrant Info via White House Lawyer Michael Ellis?
March 27, 2017 ~ patribotics

Following our exclusive report that Devin Nunes leaked information about transition team member, White House staffer and named subject of a failed FISA court application, Boris Epshteyn, I can exclusively report that sources with links to Congress state that staffers working on the Russia investigations believe that lawyers connected to the White House are illegally sharing information with Nunes – and illegally pressing him to leak it.

While sources are not yet definite as to which lawyer or lawyers they suspect of repeatedly breaking the law on leaks and obstruction of justice, several have named Michael Ellis, of the White House General Counsel’s office for National Security, as one they suspect.

Mr. Ellis previous job was the General Counsel for the House Intelligence Committee, working for Mr. Nunes directly. Sources indicate that Nunes recommended Ellis for the White House national security post.

Yesterday it was reported that Nunes’ friend Mr. Ellis, described as his “close aide”, only started working for the White House this month, when leaks started.

If indeed Mr. Ellis did pass on information about the FISA evidence on money laundering, possibly involving Epshteyn, to Nunes, asking him to leak it to the press or allowing him to do so, it would be highly illegal conduct.

More: https://patribotics.blog/2017/03/27/did-nunes-leak-fisa-warrant-info-via-white-house-lawyer-michael-ellis/

March 27, 2017

NSC offices, you say? Where the top WH #natsec lawyer works....who BY THE WAY was Nunes' lawyer unti

NSC offices, you say? Where the top WH #natsec lawyer works....who BY THE WAY was Nunes' lawyer until 3 weeks ago?

https://twitter.com/20committee/status/846391359720374273

Nunes says he was on WH grounds day before revealing Trump surveillance info

By Jake Tapper, Anchor and Chief Washington Correspondent

... snip

Nunes went to the building because he needed a secure area to view the information, he told CNN. A government official said Nunes was seen Tuesday night at the National Security Council offices of the Eisenhower building which, other than the White House Situation Room, is the main area on the complex to view classified information in a secure room.

The official said Nunes arrived and left alone.

Link: http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/27/politics/devin-nunes-white-house-donald-trump/index.html
March 27, 2017

Senate Committee to Question Jared Kushner Over Meetings With Russians

Kushner held a previously unreported meeting with a Russian banker in December - at the request of Amb Kislyak

Senate Committee to Question Jared Kushner Over Meetings With Russians

Senate investigators plan to question Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law and a close adviser, as part of their broad inquiry into ties between Trump associates and Russian officials or others linked to the Kremlin, according to administration and congressional officials.

The White House Counsel’s Office was informed this month that the Senate Intelligence Committee, which is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, wanted to question Mr. Kushner about meetings he arranged with the Russian ambassador, Sergey I. Kislyak, according to the government officials. The meetings included a previously unreported sit-down with the head of Russia’s state-owned development bank.

Until now, the White House had acknowledged only an early December meeting between Mr. Kislyak and Mr. Kushner, which occurred at Trump Tower and was also attended by Michael T. Flynn, who would briefly serve as the national security adviser.

Later that month, though, Mr. Kislyak requested a second meeting, which Mr. Kushner asked a deputy to attend in his stead, officials said. At Mr. Kislyak’s request, Mr. Kushner later met with Sergey N. Gorkov, the chief of Vnesheconombank, which drew sanctions from the Obama administration after President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia annexed Crimea and began meddling in Ukraine.

More: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/27/us/politics/senate-jared-kushner-russia.html?smid=tw-share
March 26, 2017

FISA related: Boris Epshteyn, special assistant to the president, & transition team **FIRED**

(Like Nunes) expected to leave his current post in the administration.

Read below about the news story Louise Mensch broke. This guy just may have been pointed to.

Update: Now Fired, not just leaving.
Boris Epshteyn, White House Press Official, Is Let Go From His Job

Boris Epshteyn, an official in the White House press office who had a contentious relationship with television producers and was once a frequent presence on TV himself, has been let go from his job, according to three people with knowledge of the move.

The departure was treated with some mystery. Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, would not comment on the reason Mr. Epshteyn, an old friend of President Trump’s son Eric, was let go.

A senior administration official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said only that officials were exploring other opportunities in the administration for Mr. Epshteyn, who at one point was on cable news as many as seven times a day promoting Mr. Trump during the presidential campaign.

Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/25/us/politics/boris-epshteyn-white-house-press-official-is-let-go-from-his-job.html?smid=tw-share


Top Trump TV surrogate to leave high-profile post

Boris Epshteyn, a special assistant to the president who oversees Donald Trump's television surrogate operation, is expected to leave his high-profile post, multiple sources close to the administration told POLITICO.

The well known, combative talking head, who fiercely defended Trump on television during the campaign first as a surrogate and then as a paid campaign staffer, is expected to remain in the administration, but possibly in a less visible role.

"We are discussing opportunities within the Administration," a senior administration official said in an email Saturday night.

Epshteyn did not respond to a request for comment on Saturday night.

Link: http://www.politico.com/story/2017/03/boris-ephsteyn-trump-leaving-236506


Edited to add that this is in the original story Louise Mensch broke about the FISA Warrant.

https://twitter.com/LouiseMensch/status/845806902504275968/photo/1


Link to original story about the FISA Warrant: https://heatst.com/world/exclusive-fbi-granted-fisa-warrant-covering-trump-camps-ties-to-russia/

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