August 3, 2017
By Leon Neyfakh
Special Counsel Robert Mueller (click here) has impaneled a federal grand jury in Washington as part of his investigation into the Trump campaign’s role in Russia's interference in the 2016 election, reports the Wall Street Journal. The development confirms what was already quite clear from the hiring spree Mueller has been on since being appointed in May: this thing is serious, and it’s not going away any time soon. That said, as tempting as it might be to assume that the formation of a grand jury means Mueller is definitely trying to indict someone, the truth is it’s hard to extrapolate all that much from it. As one former federal prosecutor told me, “All it means is that he's investigating, not that charges are forthcoming.”...
Mueller's team is ready to hunt bear. He didn't mess around in his choices. He is ready to defend the country and not play party politics.
And then there is the man who knew too much. Would he or would he not defect?
By Laura Wagner
Nearly a year after former Russian press minister (click here) and Kremlin insider Mikhail Lesin was found dead in a downtown hotel in Washington, D.C., U.S. authorities have ruled his death an accident and closed the case.
The finding comes after a lengthy investigation by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia, the city's Metropolitan Police Department and the FBI.
Initially, Russian media reports citing information from Lesin's family members attributed his death last November to a heart attack, as The Two-Way reported. Then in March, the chief medical examiner's office in Washington said Lesin died as a result of "blunt force injuries of the head." It listed the manner of death as "undetermined."
Now, that has been changed.
"As a result of the almost year-long investigation, the Chief Medical Examiner of the District of Columbia has amended Mr. Lesin's manner of death from 'undetermined' to 'accident' with acute ethanol intoxication as a contributory cause of death," the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a statement Friday. "The investigation has now been closed."...
I hope Russia retrieved the tapes. It would seem Mr. Putin's taste in women run in the same direction as Mr. Lesin, young.
By Marnie O’Neill
...Nicknamed “The Bulldozer”, (click here) Mr Lesin oversaw a devastating crackdown on the Russian media that resulted in most newspapers and TV stations becoming state-run propaganda machines. He served as Putin’s press minister from 1999 to 2004 and presidential media adviser from 2004 to 2009.
He founded government-funded television network Russia Today (now RT) in 2005 and was a senior executive at Russia’s largest media holding company, Gazprom-Media....
...Weeks after Mr Lesin’s death, it was discovered that his $50 million superyacht Serenity had been left to languish at the Rivergate Marina & Shipyard in Queensland, where it had undergone a refit.
Records show that the six cabin, four deck vessel, made by the world renowned boat builders Dutch Heesen, arrived in Brisbane from Cairns on September 14. An article in the Cairns Post named the Serenity as one of six superyachts that descended on the harbour in July last year.
The Super Yacht Group Great Barrier Reef held a dock party for the captains and crews of the Serenity, Serenity J, Aquamarina and luxury game fishing boat Norby.
A spokesperson for the Super Yacht Group told news.com.au that the company could not discuss Serenity and its owner because, like anyone and everyone involved in the rarefied world of superyachts, they were bound by nondisclosure contracts....
