Mueller report exposes Israhell

[yankeedoodle]

Mueller Report says 'multiple members' of Trump transition approached foreign officials to stop UN resolution against Israeli settlements
https://mondoweiss.net/2019/04/approached-resolution-settlements/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=approached-resolution-settlements

The Mueller Report was released today, and one section reveals that "multiple members" of the Trump transition team, led by Jared Kushner, the President's son-in-law, "communicated with foreign government officials" in an effort to undermine the Obama White House's decision to allow the passage of a UN Security Council resolution in December 2016 that was sharply critical of Israeli settlements.  https://mondoweiss.net/2017/01/breathtaking-settlements-finkelstein/

We knew that Trump's transition tried to block the resolution by reaching out to Russia; former national security adviser Mike Flynn has pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about the matter.

The news here is that "multiple members" of the transition team reached out to other foreign countries. The report suggests that in order "to support Israel," Jared Kushner issued an all points bulletin throughout the transition team. (The report confirms what the Wall Street Journal characterized as a "blitz" in its own investigation of the incident last year.)

From the report: 
According to Flynn, the Trump Transition Team regarded the vote as a significant issue and wanted to support Israel by opposing the resolution. On December 22, 2016, multiple members of the Transition Team, as well as President-Elect Trump, communicated with foreign government officials to determine their views on the resolution and to rally support to delay the vote or defeat the resolution. Kushner led the effort for the Transition Team; Flynn was responsible for the Russian government. Minutes after an early morning phone call with Kushner on December 22, Flynn called [Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey] Kislyak. According to Flynn, he informed Kislyak about the vote and the Transition Team's opposition to the resolution, and requested that Russia vote against or delay the resolution. Later that day, President-Elect Trump spoke with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi about the vote. Ultimately, Egypt postponed the vote.

On December 23, 2016, Malaysia, New Zealand, Senegal, and Venezuela resubmitted the resolution. Throughout the day, members of the Transition Team continued to talk with foreign leaders about the resolution, with Flynn continuing to lead the outreach with the Russian government through Kislyak. When Flynn spoke with Kislyak, Kislyak informed Flynn that if the resolution came to a vote, Russia would not vote against it. The resolution later passed 14-0, with the United States abstaining.

It has been reported https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/.premium-mueller-filing-details-how-flynn-got-in-trouble-over-israeli-un-vote-and-became-an-1.6720013  that Israeli officials initiated the action by the Trump team:
Despite no mention in [an earlier Mueller filing] document, the Trump team's decision to contact Russia was made following requests by senior Israeli officials that they try to intervene.

Flynn's guilty plea in 2017 says that he was directed by a "very senior" official https://www.justice.gov/file/1015126/download , who it is reported was Kushner https://www.timesofisrael.com/kushner-reportedly-told-flynn-to-contact-russians-over-anti-israel-un-resolution/  , to approach officials of foreign governments. But Flynn only mentioned Russia as a country he approached.

There was speculation that Kushner would get caught up in the Mueller probe. Though he has escaped indictment. The Guardian  https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/dec/01/michael-flynn-israel-lobbying-russia-united-nations :
And while the identity of that "senior transition official" has not been revealed there have been hints, not least the Wall Street Journal's report last month that special counsel Robert Mueller has been investigating the attempt by Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner to block the passage of the resolution 2334 https://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Dannon-efforts-to-repeal-infamous-UNSC-resolution-2334-in-the-works-490042 – the same effort that Flynn, it now appears, lied to the FBI about.

The fact that Trump called al-Sisi was known https://www.timesofisrael.com/egypt-sissi-trump-agreed-in-call-to-delay-un-vote-on-settlements/  at the time.

The other Israel reference in the report is to George Papadopoulos and the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

Finally, the Office investigated whether one of the above campaign advisors-George Papadopoulos-acted as an agent of, or at the direction and control of, the government of Israel.
While the investigation revealed significant ties between Papadopoulos and Israel (and search warrants were obtained in part on that basis), the Office ultimately determined that the evidence was not sufficient to obtain and sustain· a conviction under F ARA or Section 951.

Papadopoulos has said that he was investigated https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2019/04/03/george_papadopoulos_mueller_wanted_to_charge_me_as_an_agent_of_israel.html  on this basis. He was working closely with energy businesses in Israel. Papadopoulos has pleaded guilty https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/former-trump-foreign-policy-adviser-george-papadopoulos-pleads-guilty-to-lying-about-contact-with-russians  to lying to the FBI about his connections to "certain foreign nationals" with connections to Russian officials.

[yankeedoodle]

And, of course, as in any emerging "monarchy," no report would be worth the paper it's printed on if it didn't discuss our "royal family."

What the Mueller report says about Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr.
The special counsel's report focuses on the president himself, but it also reveals new details about his family members.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/what-mueller-report-says-about-jared-kushner-ivanka-trump-donald-n995866

Special counsel Robert Mueller's 448-page report contains plenty of new details about President Donald Trump's actions before and after the 2016 election — but it also puts a spotlight on the family members he's leaned on during the campaign and his presidency.

Notably, the report contains revelations about a 2016 meeting between the president's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, incoming national security adviser Michael Flynn and a Russian envoy. It also provides details about how the president's daughter, Ivanka Trump, and other members of the president's inner circle reacted after learning about eldest son Donald Trump Jr.'s emails setting up the infamous June 2016 Trump Tower meeting with Russians; and it confirms correspondence between Donald Jr. and WikiLeaks about hacked Clinton campaign emails.

JARED KUSHNER
Among Kushner's many appearances in the report is his and Flynn's meeting with Russian Ambassador to the United States Sergey Kislyak at Trump Tower in New York after the 2016 election. The New York Times and others reported that the meeting that November was about improving relations between the two countries, and they discussed establishing a secure line of communication with Russia.

Mueller's report confirms those details and adds that the three also discussed U.S. policy toward Syria.

At the 30-minute meeting, which Kislyak requested, Kushner "expressed a desire on the part of the incoming Administration to start afresh with U.S.-Russian relations," the report said.

Kushner "asked Kislyak to identify the best person (whether Kislyak or someone else) with whom to direct future discussions — someone who had contact with Putin and the ability to speak for him," the report said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The three men "also discussed U.S. policy toward Syria, and Kislyak floated the idea of having Russian generals brief the Transition Team on the topic using a secure communications line," the report said.

When Flynn replied that there was no secure line in the transition team offices, "Kushner asked Kislyak if they could communicate using secure facilities at the Russian Embassy. Kislyak quickly rejected that idea."

KUSHNER GETS RUSSIA RECONCILIATION PLAN
Mueller's report also outlines the "most senior levels" of the Russian government's efforts to encourage Kremlin-connected persons to make inroads into the Trump transition team — including through a friend of Kushner, Richard Gerson, a New York hedge-fund manager with no official involvement in the transition.

That December and January, Gerson worked with the chief executive officer of Russia's sovereign wealth fund, Kirill Dmitriev, on a U.S.-Russia reconciliation proposal that Gerson passed on to Kushner, who later gave copies to Trump adviser Steve Bannon and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

When Dmitriev, who initially talked joint ventures between their funds, expressed interest in meeting someone in the incoming administration about improving economic relations between the countries, Gerson told him he would ask Kushner and Flynn who that person might be, the report said.

After receiving the reconciliation proposal, Kushner placed it in a file and said he would get it to the right people -- ultimately Bannon and Tillerson, neither of whom followed up with him about it, according to Kushner.

Days later, Dmitriev followed up with Gerson to ask about how the plan was received, saying his "boss" was interested in any feedback, and that Putin would be talking with Trump by phone about "very confidential" information. Dmitriev also touched base with a close associate who had introduced them, United Arab Emirates adviser George Nader, to confirm that some of the ideas would be used in the phone call between Trump and Putin. Nader told him, "Definitely paper was so submitted to Team by Rick and me. They took it seriously!" the report said.

After the call between Trump and Putin, Dmitriev wrote to Nader to say "the call went very well. My boss wants me to continue making some public statements that us [sic] Russia cooperation is good and important," Mueller's report said.

"Gerson also wrote to Dmitriev to say that the call had gone well, and Dmitriev replied that the document they had drafted together 'played an important role,'" the report said.

IVANKA TRUMP
The president's eldest daughter and senior White House aide is mentioned a handful of times in the redacted report, including in the response of senior administration officials to learning about Donald Jr.'s emails setting up a June 9, 2016, Trump Tower meeting with then-campaign chairman Paul Manafort, Kushner and Russians offering negative information on Hillary Clinton.

The president became aware of the emails, which said the meeting was "part of Russia and its government's support for Mr. Trump," by June 2017, the report said.

On multiple occasions over the next several weeks, Trump told his aides not to publicly disclose the emails, and then he dictated a statement about the meeting, to be issued by Donald Jr., that described the meeting as having been about foreign adoptions, the report said.

Then-communications adviser Hope Hicks recalled discussing with Kushner and Ivanka Trump that the emails were damaging and would inevitably be leaked, suggesting the best strategy would be to proactively release the emails to the press, the report said. But when they approached the president about the emails, Trump shut the conversation down and told them not to go to the media.

At a meeting between them and the president in late June, "Hicks warned the President that the emails were 'really bad' and the story would be 'massive' when it broke, but the President was insistent that he did not want to talk about it and said he did not want details," the report said.

Ivanka Trump was also present at a "regular morning meeting of senior campaign staff and Trump family members" in the days before the Trump Tower meeting in which Donald Jr. announced he had a lead on "negative information about the Clinton Foundation," the report said, citing interviews with former deputy campaign manager Rick Gates. Manafort, Eric Trump and Hicks were also at the meeting, with Ivanka Trump and Kushner joining late, the report said.

"Gates believed that Trump Jr. said the information was coming from a group in Kyrgyzstan and that he was introduced to the group by a friend," the report said. It added, "According to Gates, Manafort warned the group that the meeting likely would not yield vital information and they should be careful."

DONALD TRUMP JR.
In addition to his well-publicized interactions over the meeting with Russians at Trump Tower in the summer of 2016, Donald Jr. is also mentioned in the report regarding his correspondence with WikiLeaks prior to its dumping of hacked emails from Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman John Podesta.

In September 2016, the report says, Trump Jr. received a direct message on Twitter from WikiLeaks about a soon-to-be-launched anti-Trump website, PutinTrump.org, and asking for any comments.

Several hours later, the report said, Trump Jr. emailed senior campaign staff telling them he "got a weird Twitter DM from wikileaks." He responded to WikiLeaks' by direct message: "Off the record, l don't know who that is but I'll ask around. Thanks."

A couple weeks later, WikiLeaks messaged him again, asking for help spreading a link alleging that Clinton had pushed for using a drone to target Julian Assange.

"Trump Jr. responded that he already 'had done so,' and asked, 'what's behind this Wednesday leak I keep reading about?'" the report said.

WikiLeaks did not respond, but several days later it wrote him again, saying it was "great to see you and your dad talking about our publications. Strongly suggest your dad tweets this link if he mentions us wlsearch.tk," which the group said would help Trump parse through leaked emails. Two days later, Trump Jr. tweeted the link.