Trusted FBI source and Russian oligarch denied Russian collusion with Trump

The HillTwo months before Trump was elected president, Deripaska was in New York as part of Russia’s United Nations delegation when three FBI agents awakened him in his home; at least one agent had worked with Deripaska on the aborted effort to rescue Levinson. During an hour-long visit, the agents posited a theory that Trump’s campaign was secretly colluding with Russia to hijack the U.S. election.

“Deripaska laughed but realized, despite the joviality, that they were serious,” the lawyer said. “So he told them in his informed opinion the idea they were proposing was false. ‘You are trying to create something out of nothing,’ he told them.” The agents left though the FBI sought more information in 2017 from the Russian, sources tell me. Waldman declined to say if Deripaska has been in contact with the FBI since Sept, 2016.

So why care about some banished Russian oligarch’s account now?

Two reasons.

First, as the FBI prepared to get authority to surveil figures on Trump’s campaign team, did it disclose to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court that one of its past Russian sources waived them off the notion of Trump-Russia collusion?

I'm betting they didn't disclose that to the court, meaning a lie by omission. Even if a Russian denial (admittedly a Russian they apparently trust enough to work with to the tune of $25 million, which presents its own ethical and legal issues for Mueller) would not sink such an application, it is a factor that should be weighed by the court, especially with so much weight being placed on Steele's single-source credibility.

Mueller is now vulnerable to a conflict of interest charge in his role as special counsel because of his involvement with Deripaska.

This entry was published Sun May 27 11:33:56 CDT 2018 by TriggerFinger and last updated 2018-05-16 03:57:02.0. [Tweet]

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