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New round of Trump clemency benefits Manafort, other allies
Read full article: New round of Trump clemency benefits Manafort, other alliesFILE - In this Thursday, June 27, 2019 file photo, Paul Manafort arrives in court in New York. President Trump's former campaign manager is to be arraigned on state mortgage fraud charges. Manafort, who led Trump's campaign during a pivotal period in 2016 before being ousted over his ties to Ukraine, was among the first people charged as part of Mueller’s investigation into ties between the Trump campaign and Russia. Though the charges against Manafort did not concern the central thrust of Mueller's mandate — whether the Trump campaign and Russia colluded to tip the election — he was nonetheless a pivotal figure in the investigation. Trump and the elder Kushner knew each other from real estate circles and their children were married in 2009.
How a probe of Trump-Russia ties turned into a GOP rally cry
Read full article: How a probe of Trump-Russia ties turned into a GOP rally cryYet in the 2020 campaign, Democrats are largely ignoring the Russia probe. While some of the revelations from the steady drip of newly declassified documents are serious, they do not undercut the reasons the Russia probe was launched or its principal findings. Meanwhile, Attorney General William Barr has appointed a prosecutor to investigate the origins of the Russia probe. Meanwhile, attacking the Russia probe is a core part of Trump's campaign. Those attacks on the Russia probe may not win over many undecided voters.
Mueller pushes back on criticism from lawyer on Russia team
Read full article: Mueller pushes back on criticism from lawyer on Russia teamWASHINGTON – Former special counsel Robert Mueller pushed back Tuesday against criticism from one of the top prosecutors on the Russia investigation team that the team was not as aggressive as it should have been in probing connections between Donald Trump's 2016 campaign and Russia. Mueller did not specifically mention the book in his statement, but the timing made clear that it was issued in response. I stand by those decisions and by the conclusions of our investigation.”Weissmann's book, “Where Law Ends: Inside The Mueller Investigation,” is the first insider account of the Mueller team's investigation published by a former prosecutor who was part of it. Weissmann was one of the prosecutors involved in the financial crimes case against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort. The Mueller team identified significant contacts between Trump associates and Russians during the 2016 campaign, but did not allege a criminal conspiracy between the two to tip the election.
Ex-FBI agent Strzok due out with book about Trump, Russia
Read full article: Ex-FBI agent Strzok due out with book about Trump, RussiaThis cover image released by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books & Media shows "Compromised Counterintelligence and the Threat of Donald J. Trump" by Peter Strzok. The book will offer an insiders view on some of the most sensational and politically freighted investigations in modern American history, including into whether the 2016 Trump campaign coordinated with Russia to sway the presidential election. Strzok briefly served on special counsel Robert Mueller's team but was removed from his role after the Justice Department inspector general flagged derogatory and pejorative text messages about Trump that Strzok sent and received during the 2016 campaign. In a statement announcing the book, the publishing company said the Trump administration used his private expression of political opinions to force him out." Andrew Weissmann, a former Justice Department prosecutor who served on Mueller's team, is due out with a book in September.
Former Mueller prosecutor writing book on investigation
Read full article: Former Mueller prosecutor writing book on investigationNEW YORK A top prosecutor for special counsel Robert Mueller has a book coming out this fall about the two-year investigation into the alleged ties between Russia and the 2016 campaign of President Donald Trump. Random House announced Monday that Andrew Weissmann's Where Law Ends: Inside the Mueller Investigation will be published Sept. 29. Weissmann, often the target of criticism from Trump supporters, is calling the book a meticulous account of the Mueller team's probe and its ongoing battles with the Trump administration. Under Mueller, Weissmann led the case against former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges in 2018. The Mueller Report, released in April 2019, found no criminal conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia to tip the outcome of the 2016 presidential election in Trumps favor.