Continued from previous entry

ii. Candidate Trump's Opportunities to Travel to Russia

The investigation identified evidence that, during the period the Trump Moscow project was under consideration, the possibility of candidate Trump visiting Russia arose in two contexts.

First, in interviews with the Office, Cohen stated that he discussed the subject of traveling to Russia with Trump twice: once in late 2015; and again in spring 2016. 375 According to Cohen, Trump indicated a willingness to travel if it would assist the project significantly. On one occasion, Trump told Cohen to speak with then-campaign manager Corey Lewandowski to coordinate the candidate's schedule. Cohen recalled that he spoke with Lewandowski, who suggested that they speak again when Cohen had actual dates to evaluate. Cohen indicated, however, that he knew that travel prior to the Republican National Convention would be impossible given the candidate's preexisting commitments to the Campaign.376

Second, like Cohen, Trump received and turned down an invitation to the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. In late December 2015, Mira Duma...

Who Is the Fashion Czarina (click here) and Art-World Socialite Miroslava Duma, Recently Named in the Mueller Report?

Russian czarina Miroslava “Mira” Duma, who founded the lifestyle and culture website Buro 24/7, has made a surprise cameo in the Mueller report. So now the question is—who is Mira Duma?...

...a contact of Ivanka Trump' s from the fashion industry-first passed along invitations for Ivanka Trump and candidate Trump from Sergei Prikhodko, a Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation.377 On January 14, 2016, Rhona Graff...

Rhona Graff is Trump's assistant. There is an article about Summer Zervos and her interaction with Ms. Graff. The women involved with Trump are fitting an interesting picture. They are very successful women. They are business people. When he came on to them, they retreated from ever filing a complaint for fear of an impact on their career and/or business. In the case of Summer Zervos she remained interested in business opportunities that Trump might have for her even after being fired from "The Apprentice" and afterward sexually assaulted. 

Summer Zervos Email: (click here) Donald Trump’s assistant, Rhona Graff, Got This April 2016 Email From Trump Accuser

Women blame themselves and hope to correct that misunderstanding in order to continue their business success. They hope by correcting misunderstandings about sexual involvement will bring about a better impression of themselves to allow clarification of their abilities vs. their attractiveness.

It is really lousy to be sexually assaulted for many reasons and complete confusion about the relationship is not unusual.

At any rate, Graff was the voice for Trump to defend his reputation and blame the woman.

...sent an email to Duma stating that Trump was "honored to be asked to participate in the highly prestigious" Forum event, but that he would "have to decline" the invitation given his "very grueling and full travel schedule" as a presidential candidate.378 Graff asked Duma whether she recommended that Graff "send a formal note to the Deputy Prime Minister" declining his invitation; Duma replied that a formal note would be "great."379

Footnote 375 Cohen 9/12/18 302, at 2
Footnote 376 Cohen 9/12/18 302, at 7.
Footnote 377 12/21/15 Email, Mira to Ivanka Trump (6:57 a.m.) (attachments); TRUMPORG_16_000057 (1/7/16 Email, I. Trump to Graff(9:18 a.m.)).
Footnote 378 1/14/16 Email, Graff to Mira.
Footnote 379 1/15/16 Email, Mira to Graff. 

It does not appear that Graff prepared that note immediately. According to written answers from President Trump,380 Graff received an email from Deputy Prime Minister Prikhodko on March 17, 2016, again inviting Trump to participate in the 2016 Forum in St. Petersburg.381 Two weeks later, on March 31, 2016, Graff prepared for Trump's signature a two-paragraph letter declining the invitation.382 The letter stated that Trump's "schedule has become extremely demanding" because of the presidential campaign, that he "already ha[ d] several commitments in the United States" for the time of the Forum, but that he otherwise "would have gladly given every consideration to attending such an important event."383 Graff forwarded the letter to another executive assistant at the Trump Organization with instructions to print the document on letterhead for Trump to sign.384

At approximately the same time that the letter was being prepared, Robert Foresman-a New York-based investment banker-... 

Prior to joining UBS, (click here) Bob was Barclays Group Country Head for Russia, representing and coordinating the activities of Barclays Group in the country, including investment banking and wealth management.

Picture below is Anton Kobyakov, Assistant to President Putin. (click here)

...began reaching out to Graff to secure an in-person meeting with candidate Trump. According to Foresman, he had been asked by Anton Kobyakov, a Russian presidential aide involved with the Roscongress Foundation (click here), to see if Trump could speak at the Forum.385... 

Vladimir Putin is featured this year.

...Foresman first emailed Graff on March 31, 2016, following a phone introduction brokered through Trump business associate Mark Burnett (who produced the television show The Apprentice)....





Mark Burnett (click here) (born 17 July 1960) is a British television producer, based in Los Angeles. Burnett is currently the executive producer of five network television series with seven hours of network programming. He has produced over 2,400 hours of television which regularly airs in over 70 countries. His current series are Survivor (2000), The Voice(2011), The Apprentice, Shark Tank (2009) and People's Choice Awards....

...In his email, Foresman referenced his long-standing personal and professional expertise in Russia and Ukraine, his work setting up an early "private channel" between Vladimir Putin and former U.S. President George W. Bush, and an "approach" he had received from "senior Kremlin officials" about the candidate. Foresman asked Graff for a meeting with the candidate, Corey Lewandowski, or "another relevant person" to discuss this and other "concrete things" Foresman felt uncomfortable discussing over "unsecure email." 386 On April 4, 2016, Graff forwarded Foresman's meeting request to Jessica Macchia, another executive assistant to Trump.387

Executive Assistant to Donald J. Trump (click here)
The Trump Organization
Oct. 2014 - Feb. 2017
New York, New York 

This guy, Foresman, wanted to create a secretive channel between Putin and Trump. Who set up the backchannel between Trump, Jr. and a Russian bank? This is being set up by Putin. Russia did that. These guys are way out of line. Putin. Man oh, man oh, man.

Footnote 381 Written Responses of Donald J. Trump (Nov. 20, 2018), at 17 (Response to Question IV, Pait (e)) ("[D]ocuments show that Ms. Graff prepared for my signature a brief response declining the invitation.").

Footnote 382 Written Responses of Donald J. Trump (Nov. 20, 2018), at 17 (Response to Question IV, Part (e)); see also TRUMPORG_l 6_000134 (unsigned letter dated March 31, 2016).

Footnote 383 TRUMPORG_16_000134 (unsigned letter).
Footnote 384 TRUMPORG_l6_000133 (3/31/16 Email, Graffto Macchia).
Footnote 385 Foresman 10/17/18 302, at 3-4.
Footnote 386 See TRUMPORG_16_00136 (3/31/16 Email, Foresman to Graff); see also Foresman 10/17/18 302, at 3-4.
Footnote 387 See TRUMPORG_ l6_00136 (4/4/16 Email, Graff to Macchia).

April 18, 2019
By Adam K. Raymond

In the summer of 2017, (click here) President Trump told Corey Lewandowski, his former campaign manager, to have then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions thwart Robert Mueller’s investigation, according to the special counsel’s report. Trump also told Lewandowski to fire Sessions if he refused a meeting to talk about the issue, the report says....

...With no response forthcoming, Foresman twice sent reminders to Graff-first on April 26 and again on April 30, 2016.388 Graff sent an apology to Foresman and forwarded his April 26 email ( as well as his initial March 2016 email) to Lewandowski. 389 On May 2, 2016, Graff forwarded Foresman's April 30 email-which suggested an alternative meeting with Donald Trump Jr. or Eric Trump so that Foresman could convey to them information that "should be conveyed to [the candidate] personally or [to] someone [the candidate] absolutely trusts"-to policy advisor Stephen Miller.390...

April 22, 2019
By Gabby Orr and Andrew Restuccia

The White House policy aide (click here) has involved himself in specific immigration cases and pressed to publicize more personal information about migrants....

No communications or other evidence obtained by the Office indicate that the Trump Campaign learned that Foresman was reaching out to invite the candidate to the Forum or that the Campaign otherwise followed up with Foresman until after the election, when he interacted with the Transition Team as he pursued a possible position in the incoming Administration.39 1 When interviewed by the Office, Foresman denied that the specific "approach" from "senior Kremlin officials" noted in his March 31, 2016 email was anything other than Kobyakov's invitation to Roscongress. According to Foresman, the "concrete things" he referenced in the same email were a combination of the invitation itself, Foresman's personal perspectives on the invitation and Russia policy in general, and details of a Ukraine plan supported by a U.S. think tank (EastWest Institute). Foresman told the Office that Kobyakov had extended similar invitations through him to another Republican presidential candidate and one other politician. Foresman also said that Kobyakov had asked Foresman to invite Trump to speak after that other presidential candidate withdrew from the race and the other politician's participation did not work out.392 Finally, Foresman claimed to have no plans to establish a backchannel involving Trump, stating the reference to his involvement in the Bush-Putin back channel was meant to burnish his credentials to the Campaign. Foresman commented that he had not recognized any of the experts announced as Trump's foreign policy team in March 2016, and wanted to secure an in-person meeting with the candidate to share his professional background and policy views, including that Trump should decline Kobyakov's invitation to speak at the Forum. 393

Foresman is very good at dancing and creating an alternate reality for the FBI.

Footnote 391 Foresman's contacts during the transition period are discussed further in Volume I, Section IV.B.3, infra. 
Footnote 392 Foresman 10/17/18 302, at 4.
Footnote 393 Foresman 10/17 /18 302, at 8-9. 

continued in a later entry. I will start with George Papadopoulos tomorrow. 

Continued from a previous entry

Page 76 of the Special Counsel Report and Page 84 on the PDF

d. Discussions about Russia Travel by Michael Cohen or Candidate Trump (December 2015-June 2016)

Did anyone know Trump was traveling to Russia during that time of his candidacy?

i. Sater 's Overtures to Cohen to Travel to Russia

The late January communication was neither the first nor the last time that Cohen contemplated visiting Russia in pursuit of the Trump Moscow project. Beginning in late 2015, Sater repeatedly tried to arrange for Cohen and candidate Trump, as representatives of the Trump Organization, to travel to Russia to meet with Russian government officials and possible financing partners. In December 2015, Sater sent Cohen a number of emails about logistics for traveling to Russia for meetings.358 On December 19, 2015, Sater wrote:

Please call me I have Evgeney [Dvoskin] on the other line. [359] He needs a copy of your and Donald's passports they need a scan of every page of the passports. Invitations & Visas will be issued this week by VTB Bank to discuss financing for Trump Tower Moscow. Politically neither Putins office nor Ministry of Foreign Affairs cannot issue invite, so they are inviting commercially/ business. VTB is Russia's 2 biggest bank and VTB Bank CEO Andrey Kostin, will be at all meetings with Putin so that it is a business meeting not political. We will be invited to Russian consulate this week to receive invite & have visa issued.360

In response, Cohen texted Sater an image of his own passport.361 Cohen told the Office that at one point he requested a copy of candidate Trump's passport from Rhona Graff, Trump's executive assistant at the Trump Organization, and that Graff later brought Trump's passport to Cohen's office.362 The investigation did not, however, establish that the passport was forwarded to Sater.363

Footnote 358 See, e.g., 12/1/15 Email, Sater to Cohen (12:41 p.m.) ("Please scan and send me a copy of your passport for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.").

Footnote 359 Toll records show that Sater was speaking to Evgeny Dvoskin. Call Records of Felix Sater Grand Jury             Dvoskin is an executive of Genbank, a large bank with lending focused in Crimea, Ukraine. At the time that Sater provided this financing letter to Cohen, Genbank was subject to U.S. government sanctions, see Russia/Ukraine-related Sanctions and Identifications, Office of Foreign Assets Control (Dec. 22, 2015), available at https://www.treasury.gov/resource center/sanctions/OFAC Enforcement/Pages/20151222.aspx. Dvoskin, who had been deported from the United States in 2000 for criminal activity, was under indictment in the United States for stock fraud under the aliases Eugene Slusker and Gene Shustar. See United States v. Rizzo, et al., 2:03-cr-63 (E.D.N.Y. Feb. 6, 2003).

They all knew each other. They didn't care about past reputations. Trump is compromised by his antics of the past and present.I am quite certain none of this was disclosed and still is not disclosed. The bank is under sanctions and was during the entire time Trump was pursuing the Moscow Trump Tower and during his presidential campaign.

March 21, 2019
by Eric Umansky and Heather Vogel

One of Genbank’s owners is Yevgeny Dvoskin, (click here) a Russian-born financier who grew up in Brighton Beach at the same time as Sater. Dvoskin pleaded guilty to tax evasion in federal court in Ohio for the bootlegging scheme and spent time in prison. He was later deported to Russia, according to press accounts. In Russia, he remained tied to criminal networks, according to the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project. (We were unable to reach Dvoskin for comment.)...

Footnote 360 12/19/15 Email, Sater to Cohen (10:50 a.m.); FS00002 (12/19/15 Text Messages, Sater to Cohen, (10:53 a.m.). 36 1 FS00004 (12/19/15 Text Message, Cohen to Sater); ERT_0198-256 (12/19/15 Text Messages, Cohen & Sater). 

Footnote 361 FS00004 (12/19/15 Text Message, Cohen to Sater); ERT_0198-256 (12/19/15 Text Messages, Cohen & Sater)

Footnote 362 Cohen 9/12/18 302, at 5.

The passports became a matter of investigation. Allies, Terrorist networks, etc. Russia's interest went beyond a background check however, Trump and possibly Cohen were going to be meeting Putin.

Footnote 363 On December 21, 2015, Sater sent Cohen a text message that read, "They need a copy of DJT passport," to which Cohen responded, "After I return from Moscow with you with a date for him." FS00004 (12/21/15 Text Messages, Cohen & Sater)

Into the spring of 2016, Sater and Cohen continued to discuss a trip to Moscow in connection with the Trump Moscow project. On April 20, 2016, Sater wrote Cohen, " [t]he People . wanted to know when you are coming?"364 On May 4, 2016, Sater followed up:

I had a chat with Moscow. ASSUMING the trip does happen the question is before or after the convention. I said I believe, but don't know for sure, that's it's probably after the convention. Obviously the pre-meeting trip (you only) can happen anytime you want but the 2 big guys where [sic] the question. I said I would confirm and revert. . . . Let me know about If I was right by saying I believe after Cleveland and also when you want to speak to them and possibly fly over.365

Cohen responded, "My trip before Cleveland. Trump once he becomes the nominee after the convention."366

So plans were being made for after Trump was the nominee. There was no putting anything on hold. There was a complete conflict of interest, but, running for president of the USA was not important enough to put his business interests on hold or assign them to someone in a blind trust. Trump was the focus of the trip. Cohen was to conduct a preliminary trip, but, ultimately Trump was the focus of the trip and he knew it. As a candidate Trump was compromised to the influence of Russia and he didn't care. The country came second and it still does.

The day after this exchange, Sater tied Cohen' s travel to Russia to the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum ("Forum"), an annual event attended by prominent Russian politicians and businessmen. Sater told the Office that he was informed by a business associate that Peskov wanted to invite Cohen to the Forum.367 On May 5, 2016, Sater wrote to Cohen:

Peskov would like to invite you as his guest to the St. Petersburg Forum which is Russia's Davos it's June 16-19. He wants to meet there with you and possibly introduce you to either Putin or Medvedev, as they are not sure if 1 or both will be there. This is perfect. The entire business class of Russia will be there as well. He said anything you want to discuss including dates and subjects are on the table to discuss[. ] 368

The following day, Sater asked Cohen to confirm those dates would work for him to travel; Cohen wrote back, "[w]orks for me."369 

362 Cohen 9/12/18 302, at 5.

363 On December 21, 2015, Sater sent Cohen a text message that read, "They need a copy of DJT passport," to which Cohen responded, "After I return from Moscow with you with a date for him." FS00004 (12/21/15 Text Messages, Cohen & Sater).

364 FS00014 (4/20/16 Text Message, Sater to Cohen (9:06 p.m.)).
365 FS000l 5 (5/4/16 Text Message, Sater to Cohen (7:38 p.m.)).
366 FS00015 (5/4/16 Text Message, Cohen to Sater (8:03 p.m.)).
367 Sater 12/15/17 302, at 4.
368 FS00016 (5/5/16 Text Messages, Sater to Cohen (6:26 & 6:27 a.m.)).
369 FS00016 (5/6/ 16 Text Messages, Cohen & Sater).

On June 9, 2016, Sater sent Cohen a notice that he (Sater) was completing the badges for the Forum, adding, "Putin is there on the 17th very strong chance you will meet him as well."370 On June 13, 2016, Sater forwarded Cohen an invitation to the Forum signed by the Director of the Roscongress Foundation, the Russian entity organizing the Forum.371 Sater also sent Cohen a Russian visa application and asked him to send two passport photos.372 According to Cohen, the invitation gave no indication that Peskov had been involved in inviting him. Cohen was concerned that Russian officials were not actually involved or were not interested in meeting with him (as Sater had alleged), and so he decided not to go to the Forum.373 On June 14, 2016, Cohen met Sater in the lobby of the Trump Tower in New York and informed him that he would not be traveling at that time. 374

Den of thieves. One does not trust the other.

37° FS000 18 (6/9/16 Text Messages, Sater & Cohen).
371 6/13/16 Email, Sater to Cohen (2:10 p.m.).
372 FS00018 (6/13/16 Text Message, Sater to Cohen (2:20 p.m.)); 6/13/16 Email, Sater to Cohen.
373 Cohen 9/12/18 302, at 6-8. 374 FS00019 (6/14/16 Text Messages, Cohen & Sater (12:06 and 2:50 p.m.)).

continued in next entry

Forecast for Wednesday, July 17, 2019 - People without shade or water will face dehydration and exposure.

Children will succumb to heat before adults will.

Symptoms of heatstroke according to the Mayo Clinic.

High body temperature. (click here) A core body temperature of 104 F (40 C) or higher, obtained with a rectal thermometer, is the main sign of heatstroke.

Higher body temperature leading to heatstroke is not due to infection. It is literally the body heating and unable to cool down. The outside temperature is acting on the body and making it warmer. There is no second guessing this. No matter the cause if a person's body temperature is rising and is exposed to excessively hot temperatures they need to be transported immediately to the Emergency Room. Let the doctors sort it out.

Altered mental state or behavior. Confusion, agitation, slurred speech, irritability, delirium, seizures and coma can all result from heatstroke.

Alteration in sweating. In heatstroke brought on by hot weather, your skin will feel hot and dry to the touch. However, in heatstroke brought on by strenuous exercise, your skin may feel dry or slightly moist.

Nausea and vomiting. You may feel sick to your stomach or vomit.

Flushed skin. Your skin may turn red as your body temperature increases.

Rapid breathing. Your breathing may become rapid and shallow.

Racing heart rate. Your pulse may significantly increase because heat stress places a tremendous burden on your heart to help cool your body.

Headache. Your head may throb.