— Federal grand jury charges ex-Trump campaign chair Manafort in Russia investigation
A federal grand jury in Washington D.C. has approved the first charges in the investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller into Russia’s interference in the 2016 U.S. elections.
President Donald Trump’s former-campaign chair Paul Manafort has turned himself in to authorities on charges that include tax fraud in the first Russia probe indictments.
Manafort and his former business associate Rick Gates have been served the first highly-anticipated indictments in the investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 U.S. elections.
— Former Trump advisor questioned by Senate panel
The Senate Intelligence Committee panel to investigate Russia’s interference in the 2016 elections questioned former Trump campaign advisor and energy consultant Carter Page.
Page declined to comment to the press on the committee’s questions or to say whether he had been contacted by special counsel Robert Mueller.
— Senate Judiciary Committee panel splits over Russia probe
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, a Republican from Iowa and ranking California Democrat Dianne Feinstein have split over the Russia investigation.
Republicans want to pursue issues related to Hillary Clinton’s private email server and the sale of a uranium company to Russians while Clinton was secretary of state.
On Oct. 24, Feinstein called the Republicans move “an obstruction of justice” and said the once bipartisan panel will now pursue investigations separately.
— Clinton, DNC paid for research resulting in Trump dossier
The Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee helped fund opposition research that resulted in a notorious dossier prepared by former British spy Christopher Steele alleging President Donald Trump’s connections to Russia.
Marc E. Elias, a lawyer from the firm Perkins Coie representing the Clinton campaign and the DNC retained Fusion GPS, a Washington, D.C. consulting firm to perform research.
Fusion GPS, previously hired by the Washington Free Beacon to research Trump, claims no knowledge of the Steele dossier and has refused to comply with Senate subpoenas to answer questions.
— Clinton campaign claims no prior knowledge of Trump dossier
The Clinton campaign hired a law firm to dig up dirt on Donald Trump, but claims not to know that Fusion GPS, a Washington consulting firm was retained, or that it in turn brought in former British spy Christopher Steele to prepare a dossier.
Democrats insisted they had not seen the dossier on Trump’s contacts with Russia, until it was leaked to the press.
Brian Fallon, a spokesman for the Clinton campaign, said he didn’t know about Steele’s research. “If I had, I would have volunteered to go to Europe and try to help him,” he said.
— House Republicans investigate Obama-era Russian uranium deal
Republics in the U.S. House of Representatives are launching an investigation into a deal involving sale of uranium to Russia during the administration of President Barack Obama.
Hilary Clinton has called the allegations of donations by Russians to the Clinton Foundation allegedly to facilitate the deal “baloney.”
The new direction of the Russia probe — away from Trump and on to Obama and Clinton — is inflaming already strained relations between the two parties
— Russian emigre in New York helped Russian company interfere in elections
A company owned by a Russian emigre company on Staten Island in New York in provided servers to the Internet Research Agency, known as the “Kremlin’s Troll Farm.”
The servers hosted two sites used to fuel tensions online in the run up to the 2016 elections, BlackMattersUs.com and DoNotShoot.Us.
— Fake Native American account agitated against oil pipeline
Another group active in stoking online tensions during the U.S. presidential campaign in 2016 has been found to be a concoction of the Internet Research Agency, known as the “Kremlin’s Troll Farm.”
@Native_Americans_united, an Instagram account with more than 33,000 followers, rallied people against the Dakota Access Pipeline built by oil companies across land viewed as sacred.
