The Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday released the fifth and final volume of its report on Russian interference in the 2016 election, which details “counterintelligence threats and vulnerabilities.”
Why it matters: The bipartisan, 996-page report goes further than the Mueller report in showing the extent of Russia’s connections to members of the Trump campaign, and how the Kremlin was able to take advantage of the transition team’s inexperience to gain access to sensitive information.
Highlights
Paul Manafort: The report found that the former Trump campaign chairman began working on influence operations for the Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska and other pro-Russia Ukrainian oligarchs in 2004.
Manafort hired and worked closely with Russian national Konstantin Kilimnik, whom the committee definitively calls a “Russian intelligence officer” that served as a liaison between him and Deripaska.
On numerous occasions, Manafort sought to pass sensitive internal polling data and campaign strategy to Kilimnik. The committee was unable to determine why or what Kilimnik did with that information, in part due to the pair’s use of encrypted messaging apps.
The committee did, however, obtain “some information” suggesting Kilimnik “may have been connected” to Russia’s hacking and leaking of Democratic emails. The section detailing these findings is largely redacted.
The bottom line: “Taken as a whole, Manafort’s high level access and willingness to share information with individuals closely affiliated with the Russian intelligence services, particularly Kilimnik and associates of Oleg Deripaska, represented a grave counterintelligence threat,” the committee wrote.
Roger Stone/WikiLeaks: The committee found that then-candidate Trump and senior campaign officials attempted to obtain advance information about WikiLeaks’ release of damaging emails from Roger Stone, who they believed had inside information.
It also assessed that Trump spoke with Stone about WikiLeaks on “multiple occasions,” despite the fact that the president said he did not recall doing so in written answers to special counsel Robert Mueller.
In July 2016, Stone drafted tweets for Trump — at his request — that “attacked Clinton for her adversarial posture toward Russia and mentioned a new peace deal with Putin.”
The committee also found “significant evidence” to suggest that WikiLeaks was “knowingly collaborating with Russian government officials.” WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has long denied that the source of the hacked emails was Russia.
2016 Trump Tower meeting: The committee found that Donald Trump Jr. expected to receive “derogatory information” that would benefit the campaign from a person he knew was connected to the Russian government, but that no information was ultimately transmitted.
Two participants at the meeting, Natalia Veselnitskaya and Rinat Akhmetshin, had far more “extensive and concerning” ties to the the Russian government, including to Russian intelligence, than publicly known.
Michael Cohen/Russia business deal: The report found that by the end of 2015, Trump’s former personal lawyer had “reached out to the Kremlin directly to solicit the Russian government’s assistance” about building a Trump Tower in Moscow.
“Cohen kept Trump updated on the progress of the deal. While these negotiations were ongoing, Trump made positive public comments about Putin in connection with his presidential campaign.” The report found Cohen and Felix Sater, a longtime business associate of Trump, “sought to leverage Trump’s comments, and subsequent comments about Trump by Putin, to advance the deal.”
Cohen made contact in January 2016 with a Russian aide to Putin spokesman Dmitri Peskov and reported to Trump that he had done so. Attempts to advance the deal stopped in the summer of 2016.
Trump transition: Russia “took advantage” of members of the Trump transition team’s “relative inexperience in government, opposition to Obama administration policies, and Trump’s desire to deepen ties with Russia to pursue unofficial channels through which Russia could conduct diplomacy,” the committee determined.
The transition team “repeatedly took actions that had the potential, and sometimes the effect,” of interfering with the Obama administration’s diplomatic efforts, including former national security adviser Michael Flynn’s conversations with the former Russian ambassador.
FBI investigation: The report concluded that “certain FBI procedures and actions in response to the Russian threat to the 2016 elections were flawed,” specifically with respect to the bureau’s interactions with the DNC about the email hacks and its treatment of the Steele Dossier.
Methodology: Together, the five volumes of the report represent “three years of investigative activity, hundreds of witness interviews and engagements, millions of pages of document review, and open and closed hearings.”
The committee conducted “follow-up interviews” with Michael Cohen, Jared Kushner, Donald Trump Jr., John Podesta, and State Department official Jonathan Winer — which were necessary after the committee “developed additional information since the initial interview that required clarification from the witnesses.”
The committee said it was limited in some aspects of its investigation by assertions of executive privilege, including by members of the Trump transition team. “The committee was surprised by these assertions because they were made inconsistently and because they have no basis in law,” the report claims.
What they’re saying:
Senate Intelligence acting chairman Marco Rubio (R-Fla.): “We can say, without any hesitation, that the Committee found absolutely no evidence that then-candidate Donald Trump or his campaign colluded with the Russian government to meddle in the 2016 election. …
Senate Intelligence ranking member Mark Warner (D-Va.): “At nearly 1,000 pages, Volume 5 stands as the most comprehensive examination of ties between Russia and the 2016 Trump campaign to date – a breathtaking level of contacts between Trump officials and Russian government operatives that is a very real counterintelligence threat to our elections. … This cannot happen again.”
Passing off long time member of Columbus Council #126,,,
Charles D. Vorbach (Charlie), age 89 of Brooklyn, entered into eternal rest on August 15th, 2020. Charlie was predeceased by his beloved wife Joan (nee Gallagher) on October 21, 2009. A United States Marine Corp Veteran and former dedicated FDNY Firefighter, Charlie enjoyed hunting, fishing, camping and anything relating to military history – particularly the Civil War era. Family trips included taking his wife, daughters and grandkids to see various military forts that might be in the vicinity, many times planning the trips around this. Upon retirement Charlie and Joan would enjoy winters in Florida and returning to family in New York for the summers. While together they enjoyed dancing, going to dinner and occasionally trying their luck at the casinos. They mostly enjoyed spending quality time with their family. Charlie is survived by his daughters Carol Traynor, Susan Nesci and husband Albert, Linda Lubsen and husband Hank, Barbara Clowe and husband Dermott, and daughter Patricia Caroleo and husband Anthony. He was a dedicated and loving grandfather to Allison, Kevin, Christopher, Jennifer, Bobby, Nick, Carly, Krisanne, Joseph, Taylor, Samantha, Anthony and Emily. He is also survived by 8 beautiful great grandchildren. Visitation for Charlie will be held at Marine Park Funeral Home, 3024 Quentin Road, Brooklyn, NY 11234 on Wednesday, August 19, 2020 from 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm. Funeral mass will be held at St Columba Roman Catholic Church, 2245 Kimball St, Brooklyn, NY 11234 on Thursday, August 20, 2020 at 10:30 am. In lieu of flowers Charlie requested that donations be made to International Waldenstrom’s Macroglobulinemia Foundation. This was a charity near and dear to his heart.
Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May Charlie’s soul and all the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen. Forever In Our Hearts✝️📿🙏
CAPITOL HILL. Monday, August 17, 2020— The popular and fast-growing internet Petition of the Capitol Hill-based Irish National Caucus is now being seen as a perfect response to the approaching 100th Anniversary of England’s partition of Ireland.
Fr. Sean Mc Manus, Caucus president, said: “Our 1974 founding motto, ‘Ireland, too, has the right to be One Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all’ —https://www.change.org/IrelandOneNation—serves as a perfect response for the worldwide Irish to England’s partition of Ireland. As of this date, the Petition has been signed by 14, 265 people.
December 23, 1920, is an infamous day in England’s long infamous history in Ireland. For on that day, the London Parliament imperially enacted its Government of Ireland Act (“Partition Act”). In an act of State-terrorism, this Act violently ripped six small counties—Fermanagh, Tyrone, Derry, Antrim, Down, and Armagh (about one-sixth of Ireland)—from the other 26 Counties of Ireland, with frightful and deadly consequences.
The new mini-state of the Six Counties/Northern Ireland came into existence later in 1921….But the racist/sectarian Act was done on December 23, 1920, in England’s Parliament—where all infamous deeds regarding Ireland were done (with some still being done, despite the Good Friday Agreement). It was not the Orangemen who enacted the Government of Ireland Act. It was the London Parliament, with the Royal Consent of King George V, and the buck stops there, and nowhere else.”
Fr. McManus explained: “ I use the term England rather than British because one can hardly blame Wales or Scotland—despite villains like Lloyd George or Lord “Bloody” Balfour— especially since Scotland now seems to be heading towards independence.
It was always England that was the major culprit; it just dragged Wales and Scotland along in its evil Empire that spread and institutionalized racism/sectarianism (the twin evils of the British Empire) across about one-quarter of the earth.”
Fr. Mc Manus continued:“This Act was criminal, undemocratic, racist (anti-Irish) and sectarian (anti-Catholic), cruelly and obscenely enacted two days before Christmas … England’s Christmas gift to long-suffering Ireland. The only way that England would be able to hold on to a part of Ireland was through the creation of an artificial, gerrymandered, anti-Catholic state in which Catholics would be systematically discriminated against and excluded from all power. Anti-Catholicism became, in effect, the State Religion of the Six Counties/Northern Ireland.
The Good Friday Agreement, thank God, mostly brought an end to the violence by all sides —British Army/police, Unionists, IRA, etc.— and showed the world that the sectarian, anti-Catholic state of The North/Northern Ireland was a failed State. It was founded on the deeply undemocratic predicate that the artificially created Unionist/Protestant majority —created by England’s damn Border— would endure forever. … The hubris of Empire!
Today, experts seem to agree that the 2021 Census will show that the 1920 two-to-one undemocratically created Protestant majority has vanished, with Nationalists/Republicans/ Catholics being numerically equal. Furthermore, the Brexit madness has changed everything, showing, among other things, that England cares little about Catholics or Protestants in Northern Ireland. As Lord Palmerston (1874-1865) said: ‘England has no eternal friends, England has no perpetual enemies, England has only eternal and perpetual interests.’ And as General de Gaulle said: ‘For England when she was stronger, there is no alliance which holds, no treaty which is respected, no truth which matters.’”
Fr. Mc Manus concluded: “Our motto—based, of course, on the American Pledge of Allegiance— offers the vision of The Beloved Community: unity, solidarity, equality, mutual respect, with ‘liberty and justice for all.’ The Irish National Caucus urges the worldwide Irish and all who respect international human rights and justice to please sign this splendid Petition—https://www.change.org/IrelandOneNation ’’
To understand what’s going on with the Postal Service, and whether President Trump is trying to undermine mail voting before the presidential election, we spoke with Michael Shear, a White House correspondent for The Times.
“Basically, two things are colliding,” Michael told us. The number of Americans who plan to vote absentee has spiked during the pandemic. “But at the same time,” Michael said, “post office officials who are allies of President Trump are taking actions — like limiting overtime —that seem to be slowing down the mail right before the election.”
States set their own rules on mail voting. But some fear postal delays could undermine those rules. “The concern from Democrats is that the president and his allies at the Postal Service could slow down the mail so that ballots from Democratic voters would not be returned in time to be counted,” Michael said.
But it’s unclear which side any delays would hurt most. Despite the president’s false claims of fraud, studies show mail voting doesn’t benefit one political party over the other. And while Democrats disproportionately say they intend to vote absentee this year, Trump’s criticisms of absentee ballots “could result in more of his own supporters failing to vote,” Michael said.
Given those uncertainties, what can states do to limit potential delays?
One option is to send absentee ballots early and encourage their prompt return, Michael said. “States could also provide more opportunities for voters to fill out absentee ballots and drop them off at official election drop boxes, avoiding any possible mail delays.”
More on mail voting:
White House aides have considered potential executive actions that Trump could take to stop the delivery or counting of mail ballots, Politico reports.The Supreme Court rejected Republicans’ request to block a trial judge’s ruling that makes it easier for voters in Rhode Island to cast absentee ballots.Delaying or discrediting mail ballots will help Trump only if he is ahead of Joe Biden on election night among voters who cast ballots in person, argues Jamelle Bouie, a Times Op-Ed columnist. “Going to the polls or bringing your mail-in ballot to a ‘drop box,’” he writes, “will be the best way to protect your vote.”
The Independent Loyal Orange Institution Demonstration makes its way along Main Street Portrush in 2006. Picture: Derek Simpson/Coleraine Times archives
On this day in 1935 the News Letter published in detail a manifesto which had been the Belfast County Grand Lodge of the Independent Loyal Orange Institution.
It read as follows: “That we, the Independent Orangemen of Belfast and district, call upon the Government of Northern Ireland to take immediate and drastic action to suppress all disloyal organisations in the Six Counties, as we are thoroughly convinced there are many members of these organisations at large whose sole object is to create a reign of terror and disorder, as evidenced by recent disturbances in Belfast.”
The manifesto continued: “We also ask the Government to make careful investigation of all Government departments to ensure that none but those who are loyal to the British Throne and Constitution are employed.” It further added: “We further strongly advocate that all known members of the Irish Republican Army who have come into the Six County area since the establishment of the Parliament of Northern Ireland be apprehended and deported as undesirable citizens.”
The manifesto concluded: “We, as an organisation, pledged to maintain and protect the Protestant religion, declare that we are determined to arouse Protestant opinion to such an extent that the subtlety and disloyalty of Romanists in our country be thoroughly exposed and counteracted.”
Sarah Miler sorting ballots for Washington State’s primary last week.Ruth Fremson/The New York Times