Page 125 in the report and page 133 of the PDF
Although only delegates could participate in formal discussions and vote on the platform, the Trump Campaign could request changes, and members of the Trump Campaign attended committee meetings.791 John Mashburn, the Campaign’s policy director, helped oversee the Campaign’s involvement in the platform committee meetings.792 He told the Office that he directed Campaign staff at the Convention, including J.D. Gordon, to take a hands-off approach and only to challenge platform planks if they directly contradicted Trump’s wishes.793
John Mashburn employment record (click here)
On July 11, 2016, delegate Diana Denman submitted a proposed platform amendment that included provision of armed support for Ukraine.794
Diana Denman (click here) was a district-level delegate to the 2016 Republican National Convention from Texas. Denman was one of 104 delegates from Texas bound by state party rules to support Ted Cruz at the convention.[1] Cruz suspended his campaign on May 3, 2016. At the time, he had approximately 546 bound delegates.
The amendment described Russia’s “ongoing military aggression” in Ukraine and announced “support” for “maintaining (and, if warranted, increasing) sanctions against Russia until Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity are fully restored” and for “providing lethal defensive weapons to Ukraine’s armed forces and greater coordination with NATO on defense planning.”795 Gordon reviewed the proposed platform changes, including Denman’s.796 Gordon stated that he flagged this amendment because of Trump’s stated position on Ukraine, which Gordon personally heard the candidate say at the March 31 foreign policy meeting—namely, that the Europeans should take primary responsibility for any assistance to Ukraine, that there should be improved U.S.-Russia relations, and that he did not want to start World War III over that region.797 Gordon told the Office that Trump’s statements on the campaign trail following the March meeting underscored those positions to the point where Gordon felt obliged to object to the proposed platform change and seek its dilution.798
On July 11, 2016, at a meeting of the National Security and Defense Platform Subcommittee, Denman offered her amendment.799 Gordon and another Campaign staffer, Matt Miller, approached a committee co-chair and asked him to table the amendment to permit further discussion.800 Gordon’s concern with the amendment was the language about providing “lethal defensive weapons to Ukraine.”801 Miller did not have any independent basis to believe that this language contradicted Trump’s views and relied on Gordon’s recollection of the candidate’s views.802
According to Denman, she spoke with Gordon and Matt Miller, and they told her that they had to clear the language and that Gordon was “talking to New York.”803 Denman told others that she was asked by the two Trump Campaign staffers to strike “lethal defense weapons” from the proposal but that she refused.804 Denman recalled Gordon saying that he was on the phone with candidate Trump, but she was skeptical whether that was true.805 Gordon denied having told Denman that he was on the phone with Trump, although he acknowledged it was possible that he mentioned having previously spoken to the candidate about the subject matter.806 Gordon’s phone records reveal a call to Sessions’s office in Washington that afternoon, but do not include calls directly to a number associated with Trump.807 And according to the President’s written answers to the Office’s questions, he does not recall being involved in the change in language of the platform amendment.808
Gordon stated that he tried to reach Rick Dearborn, a senior foreign policy advisor, and Mashburn, the Campaign policy director. Gordon stated that he connected with both of them (he could not recall if by phone or in person) and apprised them of the language he took issue with in the proposed amendment. Gordon recalled no objection by either Dearborn or Mashburn and that all three Campaign advisors supported the alternative formulation (“appropriate assistance”).809 Dearborn recalled Gordon warning them about the amendment, but not weighing in because Gordon was more familiar with the Campaign’s foreign policy stance.810 Mashburn stated that Gordon reached him, and he told Gordon that Trump had not taken a stance on the issue and that the Campaign should not intervene.811
When the amendment came up again in the committee’s proceedings, the subcommittee changed the amendment by striking the “lethal defense weapons” language and replacing it with “appropriate assistance.”812 Gordon stated that he and the subcommittee co-chair ultimately agreed to replace the language about armed assistance with “appropriate assistance.”813 The subcommittee accordingly approved Denman’s amendment but with the term “appropriate assistance.”814 Gordon stated that, to his recollection, this was the only change sought by the Campaign.815 Sam Clovis, (click here) the Campaign’s national co-chair and chief policy advisor, stated he was surprised by the change and did not believe it was in line with Trump’s stance.816 Mashburn stated that when he saw the word “appropriate assistance,” he believed that Gordon had violated Mashburn’s directive not to intervene.817
7. Post-Convention Contacts with Kislyak
Ambassador Kislyak continued his efforts to interact with Campaign officials with responsibility for the foreign-policy portfolio—among them Sessions and Gordon—in the weeks after the Convention. The Office did not identify evidence in those interactions of coordination between the Campaign and the Russian government.
a. Ambassador Kislyak Invites J.D. Gordon to Breakfast at the Ambassador’s Residence
On August 3, 2016, an official from the Embassy of the Russian Federation in the United States wrote to Gordon “[o]n behalf of” Ambassador Kislyak inviting Gordon “to have breakfast/tea with the Ambassador at his residence” in Washington, D.C. the following week.818 Gordon responded five days later to decline the invitation. He wrote, “[t]hese days are not optimal for us, as we are busily knocking down a constant stream of false media stories while also preparing for the first debate with HRC. Hope to take a raincheck for another time when things quiet down a bit. Please pass along my regards to the Ambassador.”819 The investigation did not identify evidence that Gordon made any other arrangements to meet (or met) with Kislyak after this email.
b. Senator Sessions’s September 2016 Meeting with Ambassador Kislyak Also in August 2016, a representative of the Russian Embassy contacted Sessions’s Senate office about setting up a meeting with Kislyak.820 At the time, Sessions was a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and would meet with foreign officials in that capacity.821 But Sessions’s staff reported, and Sessions himself acknowledged, that meeting requests from ambassadors increased substantially in 2016, as Sessions assumed a prominent role in the Trump Campaign and his name was mentioned for potential cabinet-level positions in a future Trump Administration.822
On September 8, 2016, Sessions met with Kislyak in his Senate office.823 Sessions said that he believed he was doing the Campaign a service by meeting with foreign ambassadors, including Kislyak.824 He was accompanied in the meeting by at least two of his Senate staff: Sandra Luff, (click here) his legislative director;
Is it a Republican thing they hire lobbyists for their assistants? That is built-in corruption.
and Pete Landrum, who handled military affairs.
Former Senior Advisor (click here) to Sen. Jeff Sessions strengthens firm’s national securityand international offering
Washington, D.C. – April 3, 2017: BGR Government Affairs announced today that retired Army Colonel Pete Landrum, who spent the last ten years as a Senior Advisor to former Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), joined the firm as Vice President. Pete will strengthen the firm’s International and Defense practice, focusing on its homeland security, shipbuilding and aerospace clients....
Peter Landum employment history (click here)825 The meeting lasted less than 30 minutes.826 Sessions voiced concerns about Russia’s sale of a missile defense system to Iran, Russian planes buzzing U.S. military assets in the Middle East, and Russian aggression in emerging democracies such as Ukraine and Moldova.827 Kislyak offered explanations on these issues and complained about NATO land forces in former Soviet-bloc countries that border Russia.828 Landrum recalled that Kislyak referred to the presidential campaign as “an interesting campaign,”829 and Sessions also recalled Kislyak saying that the Russian government was receptive to the overtures Trump had laid out during his campaign.830
Oops there it is. Trump was courting Russia the entire time and he carried that relationship into the White House. Interesting that Sessions is wooing ambassadors during the campaign only to have Trump, through Michael Cohen, bargain their way into the White House.
None of the attendees, though, remembered any discussion of Russian election interference or any request that Sessions convey information from the Russian government to the Trump Campaign.831
There was no reason for Sessions or Kislyak to discuss the campaign and Russian interference in the 2016 election, Trump did that on a regular basis in the open. I imagine Trump's open conspiracy with Russia did make it an interesting campaign for Russia.
"Russia can you hear me...." was definitely being heard.
During the meeting, Kislyak invited Sessions to further discuss U.S.-Russia relations with him over a meal at the ambassador’s residence.832 Sessions was non-committal when Kislyak extended the invitation. After the meeting ended, Luff advised Sessions against accepting the one on-one meeting with Kislyak, whom she assessed to be an “old school KGB guy.”833 Neither Luff nor Landrum recalled that Sessions followed up on the invitation or made any further effort to dine or meet with Kislyak before the November 2016 election.834 Sessions and Landrum recalled that, after the election, some efforts were made to arrange a meeting between Sessions and Kislyak.835 According to Sessions, the request came through CNI...
I am uncertain what CNI is referred to in this document. I think it is the second one, The Council for the National Interest.
Council of Networked Information (click here)
The Council for the National Interest (click here)
...and would have involved a meeting between Sessions and Kislyak, two other ambassadors, and the Governor of Alabama.836 Sessions, however, was in New York on the day of the anticipated meeting and was unable to attend.837 The investigation did not identify evidence that the two men met at any point after their September 8 meeting.
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Footnotes are primarily emails, telephone calls or emails.
Footnote 791 Hoff 5/26/17 302, at 1;
Rachel Hoff (click here) was an at-large delegate to the 2016 Republican National Convention from Washington, D.C. Hoff was one of ten delegates from Washington, D.C., bound by state party rules to support Marco Rubio at the convention. Rubio suspended his campaign on March 15, 2016.
Hoff was on the Republican National Convention Platform Committee. She was the first openly gay person to be on the committee.
One of those voices was Rachel Hoff, the first-ever openly gay delegate on the Republican platform committee. Hoff proposed an amendment that wouldn’t actually endorse gay marriage but would acknowledge that people within the party disagreed on the issue. It was voted down. Then, in part to “test just how far this committee is willing to go to avoid a single positive reference to the LGBT community,” she proposed language specifying that the victims of the Orlando mass shooting were targeted for being gay. That, too, was rejected....
Gordon 9/7/17 302, at 10.
Footnote 792 Mashburn 6/25/18 302, at 4; Manafort 9/20/18 302, at 7-8.
Footnote 793 Mashburn 6/25/18 302, at 4; Gordon 8/29/17 302, at 10.
Footnote 794 DENMAN 000001-02
DENMAN 000012
DENMAN 000021-22
Denman 12/4/17 302, at 1
Denman 6/7/17 302, at 2.
Footnote 795 DENMAN 000001-02,
DENMAN 000012,
DENMAN 000021-22.
Footnote 796 Gordon 8/29/17 302, at 10-11.
Footnote 797 Gordon 8/29/17 302, at 11;
Gordon 9/7/17 302, at 11;
Gordon 2/14/19 302, at 1-2, 5-6.
Footnote 798 Gordon 2/14/19 302, at 5-6.
Footnote 799 Denman 6/7/17 302, at 2; see DENMAN 000014.
Footnote 800 Denman 6/7/17 302, at 2;
Denman 12/4/17 302, at 2;
Gordon 9/7/17 302, at 11-12;
see Hoff 5/26/17 302, at 2.
Footnote 801 Denman 6/7/17 302, at 3.
Footnote 802 M. Miller 10/25/17 302 at 3.
Footnote 803 Denman 12/4/17 302, at 2; Denman 6/7/17 302, at 2.
Footnote 804 Hoff 5/26/17 302, at 2.
Footnote 805 Denman 6/7/17 302, at 2-3, 3-4; Denman 12/4/17 302, at 2.
Footnote 806 Gordon 2/14/19 302, at 7.
Footnote 807 Call Records of J.D. Gordon Grand Jury . Gordon stated to the Office that his calls with Sessions were unrelated to the platform change. Gordon 2/14/19 302, at 7.
Footnote 808 Written Responses of Donald J. Trump (Nov. 20, 2018), at 17 (Response to Question IV, Part (f)).
Footnote 809 Gordon 2/14/19 302, at 6-7; Gordon 9/7/17 302, at 11-12; see Gordon 8/29/17 302, at 11.
Footnote 810 Dearborn 11/28/17 302, at 7-8.
Footnote 811 Mashburn 6/25/18 302, at 4.
Footnote 812 Hoff 5/26/17 302, at 2-3;
see Denman 12/4/17 302, at 2-3;
Gordon 8/29/17 302, at 11.
Footnote 813 Gordon 8/29/17 302, at 11;
Gordon 9/7/17 302, at 12.
Footnote 814 Hoff 5/26/17 302, at 2-3.
Footnote 815 Gordon 2/14/19 302, at 6.
Footnote 816 Clovis 10/3/17 302, at 10-11.
Footnote 817 Mashburn 6/25/18 302, at 4.
Footnote 818 DJTFP00004828 (8/3/16 Email, Pchelyakov [embassy@russianembassy.org] to Gordon).
Footnote 819 DJTFP00004953 (8/8/16 Email, Gordon to embassy@russianembassy.org).
Footnote 820 Luff 1/30/18 302, at 5.
Footnote 821 Sessions 1/17/18 302, at 23-24;
Luff 1/30/18 302, at 5.
Footnote 822 Sessions 1/17/18 302, at 23-24;
Luff 1/30/18 302, at 5;
Landrum 2/27/18 302, at 3-5.
Footnote 823 Sessions 1/17/18 302, at 23.
Footnote 824 Sessions 1/17/18 302, at 23.
Footnote 825 Sessions 1/17/18 302, at 23;
Luff 1/30/18 302, at 5-6;
Landrum 2/27/18 302, at 4-5 (stating he could not remember if election was discussed).
Footnote 826 Luff 1/30/18 302, at 6; Landrum 2/27/18 302, at 5.
Footnote 827 Luff 1/30/18 302, at 6; Landrum 2/27/18 302, at 4-5.
Footnote 828 Luff 1/30/18 302, at 6; Landrum 2/27/18 302 at 4-5.
Footnote 829 Landrum 2/27/18 302, at 5.
Footnote 830 Sessions 1/17/18 302, at 23.
Sessions also noted that ambassadors came to him for information about Trump and hoped he would pass along information to Trump.
Sessions 1/17/18 302, at 23-24.
831 Sessions 1/17/18 302, at 23;
Luff 1/30/18 302, at 6;
Landrum 2/27/18 302, at 5.
Footnote 832 Luff 1/30/18 302, at 5; Landrum 2/27/18 302, at 4.
Footnote 833 Luff 1/30/18 302, at 5.
Footnote 834 Luff 1/30/18 302, at 6; Landrum 2/27/18 302, at 4-5.
Footnote 835 Sessions 1/17/18 302, at 23.
Footnote 836 Sessions 1/17/18 302, at 23.
Footnote 837 Sessions 1/17/18 302, at 23.
Continued in following entry.
