US Politics Mega-thread - Page 7869

An American lobbyist for Russian interests who helped craft an important foreign policy speech for Donald Trump has confirmed that he attended two dinners hosted by Jeff Sessions during the 2016 campaign, apparently contradicting the attorney general’s sworn testimony given this week.

Sessions testified under oath on Tuesday that he did not believe he had any contacts with lobbyists working for Russian interests over the course of Trump’s campaign. But Richard Burt, a former ambassador to Germany during the Reagan administration, who has represented Russian interests in Washington, told the Guardian that he could confirm previous media reports that stated he had contacts with Sessions at the time.

“I did attend two dinners with groups of former Republican foreign policy officials and Senator Sessions,” Burt said.

Asked whether Sessions was unfamiliar with Burt’s role as a lobbyist for Russian interests – a fact that is disclosed in public records – or had any reason to be confused about the issue, Burt told the Guardian that he did not know.

Several media reports published before Trump’s election in November noted that Burt advised then candidate Trump on his first major foreign policy speech, a role that brought him into contact with Sessions personally.

Burt, who previously served on the advisory board of Alfa Capital Partners, a private equity fund where Russia’s Alfa Bank was an investor and last year was lobbying on behalf of a pipeline company that is now controlled by Gazprom, Russia’s state-controlled energy conglomerate, first told Politico in October that he had been invited to two dinners that were hosted by Sessions last summer, at the height of the presidential campaign.

Sessions, a former senator for Alabama who was chairman of the Trump campaign’s national security committee, reportedly invited Burt so that he could discuss issues of national security and foreign policy.

When John McCain, the Republican senator from Arizona who is a frequent critic of Trump and Russian president Vladimir Putin, asked Sessions in a hearing this week before the Senate intelligence committee about whether the attorney general had ever had “any contacts with any representative, including any American lobbyist or agent of any Russian company” during the 2016 campaign, Sessions said he did not.

“I don’t believe so,” Sessions said.

Other outlets, including the New Yorker magazine and Reuters, also reported last year that Burt had contributed his views to Trump’s speech. When NPR interviewed Burt in May 2016 about the talk, he said he was “asked to provide a draft for that speech, and parts of that draft survived into the final [version]”.

The speech, delivered on 27 April 2016 at the Mayflower Hotel, was attended by Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak and is now at the heart of new questions about Sessions’ personal dealings with Russian officials. Sessions recused himself from oversight of the FBI’s investigation into possible collusion between the Kremlin and the Trump campaign in March after it emerged that he held two undisclosed meetings with the Russian ambassador last year.

In his explosive testimony before Congress earlier this month, former FBI director James Comey, who was fired by Trump, suggested that he had known that Sessions would eventually have to recuse himself from the Russia probe, but declined to explain the details in public.

Questions directed at Sessions by lawmakers days later – after they had privately been briefed by Comey – suggested it related to a third alleged encounter with Kislyak that had not been disclosed, this time at the Mayflower Hotel speech. In his confirmation hearing, Sessions had told lawmakers under oath that he had never had communication with Russian officials.

This week, in the latest hearing, Sessions said he may have “possibly” had an “encounter” with the Russian ambassador during a reception at the Mayflower, but could not recall any specific conversations.

The speech was hosted by the Center for the National Interest, a Washington thinktank. Burt sits on the group’s board of directors.

While Burt has not played a central role in the FBI and congressional investigation, Sessions’ response about his dealings with American lobbyists – which appears to contradict previous reports that Burt and Sessions communicated during the campaign – could invite more scrutiny of the attorney general’s testimony.

It is also possible that Sessions was not fully aware of Burt’s lobbying history, although Burt’s affiliation with Russian interests is fairly well known in Washington circles.

The former ambassador is managing director of the Europe and Eurasia practice at McLarty Associates. In that role, he’s served as a lobbyist for the New European Pipeline AG, the company behind Nord Stream II. At the time the work started, Gazprom, the Russian state-owned oil company, owned a 50% stake, but it now owns the entire entity. The pipeline, which is seen as making Europe more dependent on Russian energy exports, was opposed by the Obama administration.

Burt also serves on the board of Deutsche Bank’s closed-end fund group, according to his online biography.

The former ambassador and lobbyist appears to have recently sought to downplay his role in helping Trump to formulate the Mayflower speech, telling the Daily Beast earlier this year that he had transmitted his counsel through a third party intermediary.

On June 16 2017 08:19 Plansix wrote:Of course it doesn't help Sessions that Trump has done nothing to make them trust him and attacked almost every government agency under his control. Fuck, a lot of these leaks are likely coming from his staff.

On June 16 2017 08:19 Plansix wrote:
The Sessions issue was caused by Sessions. I don't know why he didn't provide full details of his meetings, but I feel that he just assumed the senate wouldn't call him on it.

Of course it doesn't help Sessions that Trump has done nothing to make them trust him and attacked almost every government agency under his control. Fuck, a lot of these leaks are likely coming from his staff.

Edit: Glad we are back to crooked Hillary.

https://twitter.com/AshleyRParker/status/875484989890154499

Pence must now fire his attorney and hire a new one. Or resign for collusion with Comey through his attorney.

On June 16 2017 01:58 IgnE wrote:


you know dangles i am kind of surprised you and dauntless are so in the hole on this one. if i may, remember the discussion around the ferguson shooting with michael brown? and how dauntless said things like "maybe cops shouldnt be shooting people in various situations, but michael brown is not the hill you outraged people want to die on?" isn't this an analogous case? maybe theres some argument both ways about foreign policy and leaks and executive privilege and the ability to appoint agency executives. but Trump is still a fucking crook with no integrity who has been stealing and fucking people over his whole life. he's the opposite of all the small town american values you always go on about. when do you just wash your hands and say, "the democrats are acting hysterical but trump is still garbage" i just don't see the point in wasting so much energy to defend him

On June 16 2017 01:58 IgnE wrote:


you know dangles i am kind of surprised you and dauntless are so in the hole on this one. if i may, remember the discussion around the ferguson shooting with michael brown? and how dauntless said things like "maybe cops shouldnt be shooting people in various situations, but michael brown is not the hill you outraged people want to die on?" isn't this an analogous case? maybe theres some argument both ways about foreign policy and leaks and executive privilege and the ability to appoint agency executives. but Trump is still a fucking crook with no integrity who has been stealing and fucking people over his whole life. he's the opposite of all the small town american values you always go on about. when do you just wash your hands and say, "the democrats are acting hysterical but trump is still garbage" i just don't see the point in wasting so much energy to defend him

On June 16 2017 08:36 rageprotosscheesy wrote:


Its funny because a lot of the leaks the administration is whining about are clearly done because:

- The people they're working under are pretty terrible. Terrible not in a "I don't like your politics" way but terrible in a "jesus christ, do I have to work overtime again because you're so useless" way. Sessions, despite being AG, has gone out of the way to make himself look like a complete tool for reasons completely unrelated to policy. Trump still has a billion vacancies he needs to fill but just doesn't care/can't find enough yes men that will pledge loyalty. All state departments are constantly contradicting each other or confirming leaks, making the work of the typical civil servant a complete headache.

- People in the administration clearly, clearly don't like each other. I have no doubt from the many leaks regarding Bannon and Kushner come from their respective factions.

The leaks wouldn't happen if people were actually happy with their job.



That's the problem with the whole "Mueller is too close to Comey" argument. Really, all seriously qualified lawyers and investigators with some degree of understanding of government processes know each other.

The best you can do is find someone qualified but reputable enough that his personal judgement won't be clouded by his personal relationships.

On June 16 2017 05:49 Wulfey_LA wrote:
Trump has now sent out his unhinged Tweets confirming that he was OFFICIALLY under investigation for obstruction of justice 12 hours earlier than I predicted. Can we settle this argument now Danglars et al? Trump is officially under investigation for obstruction of justice.

EDIT: the "but anonymous" defense against terrible Trump stories needs to be put to bed for good. Trump always confirms the "but anonymous" stories in angry tweets within 48 hours or less.

On June 16 2017 08:42 Danglars wrote:

Clearly grounds to skip the confirmation part. If you want to speculate, have at it. I'm for letting the investigation continue, probably with a recused Mueller for obstruction investigations too close to Comey. He's fine for possibly compromised Trump campaign workers and other related matters.