Trump’s
Russiagate excuses start to unravel
By Samuel Warde
Attorney and University of New Hampshire
professor Seth Abramson has been publishing extensive tweets regarding the
Trump-Russia conspiracy for months now; and, while he has his critics, he has
been correct on most of his assessments.
Seth is
regularly interviewed about politics and higher education by domestic and
International media. Recent interviews include the BBC, CNN, NPR, PBS, ABC Radio, The New York
Times, The Boston Globe, The Chronicle of Higher Education, New
York Magazine, and The
New England Review of Books.
Seth’s essays have also been widely cited, including discussions on CNBC, PBS, FNC, BET, and NPR, as well as in Politico, The Atlantic, Rolling Stone, The Washington Post, The Guardian, The Los Angeles Times, The New Yorker, The Chicago Tribune, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Playboy, Slate, and Pitchfork.
Seth’s essays have also been widely cited, including discussions on CNBC, PBS, FNC, BET, and NPR, as well as in Politico, The Atlantic, Rolling Stone, The Washington Post, The Guardian, The Los Angeles Times, The New Yorker, The Chicago Tribune, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Playboy, Slate, and Pitchfork.
Abramson published a massive megathread
on Twitter regarding the House Permanent
Select Committee on Intelligence‘s release of the 208*
page transcript of the committee’s November 2, 2017 hearing with Trump’s
former foreign policy adviser, Carter Page. [* while the transcript itself is
208 pages, the full document as released by the committee is 243 pages in
total.]
Abramson concluded, after posting more
than 100 tweets, that:
Today a great blow was struck against the Trump-Russia conspiracy—which is now *undeniable*, and will bring down this presidency.
Carter Page repeatedly implicated
Attorney General Jeff Sessions, confirming multiple times that Sessions was
aware of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia;
Page repeatedly implicated other
members of the Trump campaign to include National Co-Chair Sam Clovis and
Trump’s entire national security team – which also included then Senator Jeff
Sessions;
Page’s testimony confirms portions
of the infamous Steele Dossier;
Page confirmed much of what we now
know about George Papadopoulos, the first person to plead guilty in Special
Prosecutor Robert Mueller’s Trump-Russia investigation;
Page confirmed he met with Russia’s
deputy prime minister during a 2016 trip to Moscow and informed members of
the Trump campaign about the Russia trip, including Jeff Sessions;
Page confirmed he spoke
with Trump’s national security team members *and* Trump campaign officials
about that Moscow trip ahead of time – including Jeff Sessions;
Page confirmed that he traveled to
Budapest in 2016, the European headquarters for Russian intelligence, the FSB which
is the successor of the infamous KGB;
The aim of significant Kremlin
contact with Page and the Trump campaign/administration was to *negotiate
Russia policy* [i.e. end Russian sanctions] – which later occurred in the form
of the Trump campaign’s successful efforts to alter the GOP Platform.
Abramson refers to Page on several
occasions as a “perjury machine.”
“I say that because Page is a perjury machine—reckless talker—so in “many” FBI meetings with no lawyer he would’ve made false statements.” “Rooney and Gowdy let him testify, at one point, “by narrative”—which is when you let a liar or troubled person just talk themselves out.“
Page could be subject to arrest at
any time: “This would also seem to confirm the FBI could charge Page at any time, as
it’s clear he *wasn’t* honest with Congress or investigators."
Abramson, himself, identified 8
“bombshells” from Page’s testimony that would lead to the end of the Trump
regime. In Abramson’s words:
The picture of what happened between Trump and Russia is now getting
*very* clear despite it *still* being early- to mid-investigation.
What we saw in this transcript was enough scandal—proof of WH and Trump campaign lies—for 10 administrations. And Mueller knows *more*.
What we saw in this transcript was enough scandal—proof of WH and Trump campaign lies—for 10 administrations. And Mueller knows *more*.
Abramson’s bombshells included:
BOMBSHELL #3: Jeff Sessions organized the June 2016 Capitol Hill Club
NatSec meeting, and let the WH lie that no such meeting occurred. [NatSec refers to Trump’s national security team.]
BOMBSHELL #8: As Clovis was saying only a “private citizen”
Moscow trip would work, Page was revealing to the team his Moscow trip plan.[Clovis
refers to “Sam Clovis, a top adviser to Trump during his election campaign,”
who withdrew his candidacy [October 2, 2017] for a senior administration post,
just days after he was linked to another aide [George Papadopoulos] who pleaded
guilty in the probe into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 election.”
source: Reuters]
Abramson also posted a series of
what he called “Major Reveals.”
MAJOR REVEAL #1: Page admits he told HOPE HICKS he was going to Moscow.
You’d *only* do that if you wanted to make sure that Trump knew.[Hope Hicks is the current White House Communications
Director for Trump.]
MAJOR REVEAL #4: The WH says NatSec met once; Page says it met so many
times Papadopoulos only attended “some” of the “group sessions.”[NatSec refers to Trump’s national security team.]
Abramson also questioned Page’s
competence several times:
For instance, early on in his
analysis he remarked: “Page came without counsel—in context, itself nearly a sign of mental
instability—after recanting his raising of his 5th Amendment rights.“
In another tweet, Abramson posted a screenshot of a portion of Page’s testimony with the following observation: “This is hard to read. I’ve questioned *many* witnesses and—how to say it—this witness would strike me as having several personal issues.“
Abramson also expressed almost
feeling pity for Page at one point tweeting: “Page’s limited understanding, as a pro se witness, of how the Fifth
Amendment works is so embarrassing I’m starting to feel bad for him.”
[The term pro se refers to an individual who represents instead of
having an attorney.]
He followed that up with the
following observation: “Attorneys: read pp. 61-63 of the PDF if you want instant
recall of every interrogation you’ve done of a borderline incompetent witness.“
Be sure to check Abramson’s Twitter page for his ongoing
point-by-point mega-thread regarding the Trump-Russia investigation.
