Russia and US politicians
A Partisan Combatant, a Remorseful Blogger: The Senate Staffer Behind the Attack on the Trump-Russia Investigation
Jason Foster, chief investigative counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee, once blogged under the handle “Extremist,” expressing worry about a Muslim takeover and whether Joe McCarthy got a bum rap. Today, as he helps lead an explosive investigation, he says the blogging was satire and asks for forgiveness.
www.propublica.org/article/jason-foster-the-senate-staffer-behind-the-attack-on-the-trump-russia-investigation
For the last year, Foster — empowered by his boss, Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, the committee’s chairman — has been the behind-the-scenes architect of an assault on the FBI, and most centrally its role in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, according to interviews with current and former congressional aides, federal law enforcement officials and others.
With Foster in charge of his oversight work, Grassley has openly speculated about whether former FBI director James Comey leaked classified information as Comey raised alarms about President Donald Trump’s possible interference in the Russia probe. Grassley and the other Republicans on the committee have questioned the impartiality of a former member of Mueller’s team, cast doubt on the credibility of the FBI’s secret court application for permission to surveil a Trump campaign associate and called for a second special counsel to investigate matters related to Hillary Clinton. A firm that conducted opposition research on Trump has made clear in court it believes Grassley’s committee, with Foster as its lead investigator, had leaked sensitive information about its business.
Most recently, many of those interviewed by ProPublica said, Foster engineered Grassley’s highly unusual public announcement asking federal authorities to consider criminal charges against Christopher Steele, the ex-British spy who compiled the dossier warning of possible collusion between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin.
For Foster’s critics, and they include Republicans as well as Democrats, his provocative work on the Trump-Russia investigation is just the latest chapter in the career of a partisan combatant willing to discard norms and indulge in conspiratorial thinking as he pursues investigations favorable to Republicans.
And
[this is russia state media so obviously has an agenda]
Julia Davis
@JuliaDavisNews
#Russia's state TV reports that an unnamed high-level White House source quietly told the Russians that the number of Russian diplomats in the U.S. is not being cut (they can send 60 other diplomats to replace the ones being expelled). They quote the source: "The doors are open."
#Russia's state media quotes an unidentified senior Trump administration official, who reportedly said that the number of Russian diplomatic staff in the U.S. is not being cut (60 expelled spies could be replaced by others).
And a thread about media framing
Caroline O.
@RVAwonk
So, we need to talk about these headlines for a minute...
"Russia responded quid pro quo..."
"Russia will expel same # of diplomats..."
"Russia expels diplomats in tit-for-tat measure..."
"Russia expelling diplomats in quid pro quo response..."
[link to photos here: twitter.com/RVAwonk/status/979573677862871041 ]
Russia launched a chemical toxin attack on British soil. It was the first offensive use of a nerve agent in Europe since WWII.
In response, Britain & its allies expelled Russian diplomats.
Russia then retaliated by expelling diplomats from those countries.
2/
There is no "quid pro quo" here.
There is no "tit for tat" here.
Russia launched a chemical attack on a civilian living on British soil. And then they retaliated against the retaliation for it.
3/
One of the goals of Russian propaganda is to undermine support for deterrence measures taken by Western countries by portraying them as acts of aggression.
Our media needs to stop playing into that narrative by portraying situations like this as "tit-for-tat" scenarios.
4/
It doesn't matter that Russia expelled the same # of diplomats. It doesn't balance things out. It wasn't an "equal" response.
Only one of these countries launched a chemical attack on British soil. That was Russia.
5/
Russia's use of information warfare is effective, in large part, b/c of a collective failure to recognize it as such.
And that's how you end up with headlines portraying Russian retaliation against deterrence in the face of Russian aggression as a "tit-for-tat" response.
6/6
And
Jennifer Jacobs
@JenniferJJacobs
Russian ambassador to US says in a letter to a senator that no one will meet with him — not the White House chief of staff, not the VP, not Congressional leaders.
www.politico.com/story/2018/03/29/anatoly-antonov-russian-ambassador-meetings-denied-492262
Michael MacKay
@mhmck
More Michael MacKay Retweeted Jennifer Jacobs
Anatoly Antonov is sanctioned by Canada and the EU because of war crimes he committed during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Ask Trump why he accepted this monster as Russia’s ambassador to the US.
Putin insulted the US and Ukraine by selecting Antonov to replace Kislyak. Trump insulted Canada and the EU by accepting a sanctioned war criminal as ambassador. My article from last August:
radiolemberg.com/ua-articles/ua-allarticles/wardog-antonov-as-russian-ambassador
And here in the UK
Senior Tory MPs accused of accepting money from former Soviet states
Journalist uses parliamentary privilege to name Liam Fox and John Whittingdale at Russian corruption hearing
amp.theguardian.com/politics/2018/mar/28/senior-tory-mps-accused-of-accepting-money-from-former-soviet-states
And (I don't know about the integrity of evolve politics)
Ministerial aide to Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson had 2015 election campaign bankrolled by a Russian oligarch
evolvepolitics.com/ministerial-aide-gavin-williamson-russian-oligarch/