More Pieces Of Donald Trump Russia Dossier Check Out | Rachel Maddow | MSNBC

but we are going to start at this Embassy the embassy uh this one is a a big one it is fully staffed it has a lot of different directorates there is for example a whole division of cultural Affairs they've got multiple military attaches they've got a Navy attache an Air Force atache they've got a drug enforcement attache they've got a law enforcement atache uh they've got the people who run cular Affairs which is like you know folks getting visas and stuff there's even in this Embassy there's even an attache specifically for fish the Fisheries attache uh is named Mr OLG vladimirovich rof so if you are a Russian fish with a problem that needs fixing by your government Oleg is your man in DC the fish Minister um but if your issue is economic in nature you should know that this Embassy which is the Russian Embassy in DC the economic section of the russan Embassy recently got a new guy put in charge of the economic section and the new guy at the economic section was brought in under some clouds of Suspicion concerning the old guy the old guy who got shipped out last summer his name is m uh kugan kugan forgive me my Russian pronunciation is as good as my fashion sense I'm sure I'm butchering it but it looks to me like kugan now it's important to the reason I'm stressing that it's it's important to know how his name is spelled because if you don't spell his name right that creates a little bit of a Google problem around the story because when this guy when this guy the head of the economic section at the Russian Embassy in Washington DC when he turned up in that sketchy uncorroborated dossier of alleged Russian dirt on Donald Trump his name was misspelled in the dossier uh they flopped a couple of the vowels around so he was spelled kulan instead of kugan and so if like me you set Google news alerts on names that popped up in that dossier that created a problem for following the story because the name was misspelled in the dossier other than that misspelling though which screwed up my research for days other than the misspelling the reference in the dossier actually made sense he was described in the dossier as a high-ranking Russian Diplomat in Washington and the reference to him was a really important one so this is from page 22 of this ski dossier it says this quote senior Russian Diplomat withdrawn from Washington Embassy on account of potential exposure in US presidential election operations uh and then on the following page it elaborates quote as a prophylactic measure a leading Russian Diplomat M kigan he means kugan um M the head of the economic section at the embassy quote was withdrawn from Washington on short notice because MOS ow feared his heavy involvement in the US election operation including the so-called veterans pensions ruse reported previously um his heavy involvement in the US election operation would be exposed in the media so this senior Russian Diplomat working at the Russian Embassy he gets taken out of the embassy he gets withdrawn from the Embassy in Washington he gets recalled to Moscow allegedly on account of him being exposable him potentially being exposed for his role in the Russian operation against our presidential election okay now that that reference to the pension ruse reported previously that's a reference to the alleged means by which the Russian government paid for this operation right that did actually have to pay for it right it's about the way they got cash to pay hackers and other operatives to do the grunt labor of this Russian election attack I mean what we know of the Russian attack on our election Russian efforts to try to elect Donald Trump president it did not seem to be a super labor intensive process it wasn't like an industrial process but you do need people to do the work you do need for example people building and running the online Bots and repeaters right that were you know giving ginned up fake viral status to negative news and about Hillary Clinton and and positive News about Donald Trump right so I mean you do actually have to involve some people and you probably do have to pay some folks so the allegation here from the dossier was that this guy working in a very senior position at the Russian Embassy he was basically the pay Master for this operation and the allegation from the dossier is that he was withdrawn from the embassy withdrawn from the Russian Embassy in Washington sent back to Moscow on short notice because the Russians were worried that he was going to be exposed right that he was a risk it seems like their idea if this proves out was that if there was ever going to be a real Russ a real investigation into what Russia did here this guy in this you know high ranking position at the embassy with this important role sort of a centralized role in the scheme he was just kind of too big a breadcrumb right to leave out there for investigators and so they had to get him back to Moscow get him out of Washington so that part of the dossier was dated September 14th last year and you know you have heard me say it you have heard everybody say it this is an uncorroborated dossier it is a chath of unproven allegations and some of those allegations are too lued to make even veiled jokes about them on basic cable but you know what not all of it is just lurid stuff of a personal nature this guy from the embassy M kugan he really did get called home from the Russian Embassy in DC in August and now he really is back in Moscow mcache has had some really good reporters on this beat in recent weeks they found this Embassy guy in Moscow they got him to do sort of an angry short email interview with them he denied everything he called it all fake news but look two people with knowledge of a multi-agency US investigation into the Kremlin Med meddling in the presidential election have told us that indeed mle kugan was under scrutiny when he departed so you know honestly none of us really know sort of holistically what to think about this dossier but here's one concrete checkable part of it this guy really did work as a senior Diplomat in the russan Embassy in DC and he really did get summoned back to Moscow while nobody expected him to reportedly while us investigators were examining his potential role in this scheme by the Russian government to mess up our election that's in the dossier that seems to have happened in real life at least the checkable parts of it have he had served in the embassy apparently for six years but then yank and and of course you know he denies having any role in this scheme all the Russians deny that there even was such a scheme and it's possible that he was yanked this past summer just as part of a normal rotation it was time for him to go it's also possible that the Russians felt like they needed to get him out and think about their reasoning behind that right because he was a senior Diplomat at their Embassy they didn't have to worry about any criminal liability for him right he would have diplomatic immunity he a senior Diplomat serving in the embassy no matter what the US might have ever wanted to charge him with he'd have immunity I mean if he was theoretically the pay Master for foreign agents hack into the Democratic party and otherwise undermining America's presidential election and that was found to be a crime in this country he couldn't be convicted of that in the United States because of his diplomatic immunity they wouldn't have to worry about him being personally liable if he was involved in this now that he's back in Moscow well there's two implications of that right two consequences of that now that he's back in Moscow and he's no longer in DC if there were ever criminal charges brought against him conveniently Russia does not have an extradition treaty right so they've got the right they've got immunity for him as a diplomatic official in the United States back home in Russia they don't have to extradite anybody to the United States so in terms of his personal liability protecting him in no sense is he in any sort of danger right in no sense is he looking at any sort of personal liability in this matter even if he did what he is alleged to have done but there's another implication to bringing him back to Moscow right there's one very clear Advantage for the Russians in bringing them back to Moscow if this guy did have a key role in running operation against our presidential election well as long as he's in Moscow he's outside the grasp of us investigators right it's not just that you can't extradite him you can't you know subpoena him you can't ask him to come to Congress he's out of the way he's in Moscow he's Out Of Reach and that maybe is the most important thing for our purposes as US citizens here right we're all trying to figure out what's just happened to our country you know what's going on with this incredible National Security scandal that looms over our new presidency how are we going to get to the bottom of this thing right what what's most important to all of us about this is that if this guy did have a key role in that scheme while he is in Moscow he is Out Of Reach of us investigators and who are the US investigators right in terms of the investigation into what happened here something really important happened today that is not heartening at all we all know the basic history of this dossier right now reportedly it had circulated around Washington it had circulated among some journalists late last year I never saw it before it was published I had heard rumors about some of the things in it but I am not one of the people who saw it and I don't know many people who say they did see it before but BuzzFeed published it but it was apparently out there in early January it was reported by CNN that the FBI briefed Donald Trump and briefed President Obama on a list of allegations against Donald Trump and his campaign concerning Russia that initial report from CNN didn't exactly say what these allegations were but within 24 hours BuzzFeed news published the dossier this whole 35-page dossier and there was a huge uproar at the time everybody including BuzzFeed admitted the dossier was all uncorroborated information but you know what it didn't end there and that ends up being really important for what happened today because quietly over the next few weeks after this thing was published by BuzzFeed just such an uproar there have been multiple reports that some of the information in this dossier is bearing out under further investigation this thing didn't just get published and then go away us investigators have been looking into this and bits and pieces of what's reported in this dossier are turning out to be true and reported and checkable I mean there is this mysterious recall to Moscow of the economic section chief for the Russian Embassy in DC and mlti reporting that when he left yes he was under investigation for his potential role in this Russian operation against our election okay there's also a report from CNN recently and from The New Yorker last week that we highlighted just the other night on this show look headline us investigators corroborate some aspects of the Russia dossier quote intercepts do confirm that some of the conversations described in the dossier took place between the same individuals on the same days and from the same locations as detailed in the dossier quote corroboration based on intercepted Communications has given us intelligence and law enforcement greater confidence in The credibility of some aspects of the dossier and here's an intelligence official speaking to the New Yorker quote they are continuing to chase down stuff from the dossier and at its core a lot of it is bearing out okay well if parts of this dossier are bearing out if investigators are finding that the specific allegations specific conversations describe specific anecdotes at least some of them check out when they double check this work well it's maybe worth focusing again on what the point of this is on what the bottom line is of this dossier particularly given what happened today in London because forget all of the salacious personal stuff forget all the stuff that made the White House so mad when this was published right the bottom line of this dossier the bottom line allegation the point of it is that the Trump campaign didn't just benefit from Russia interfering in our presidential campaign the point of this is they colluded they helped they were in on it right the money quote from this dossier is the operation had been conducted with the full knowledge of trump and senior members of his campaign team that's basically what this whole dossier alleges that the Trump folks were in on it they were there were multiple people close to Trump involved in the Trump campaign who were in contact with the Russian government about the Russian government's attacks on Hillary Clinton while those attacks were happening while Russia was waging these attacks and overall yes we still have to describe this as a sheath of uncorroborated allegations but little pieces supporting that bottom line thesis really do keep falling in line right I mean think about what we've learned just in the last few weeks Michael Flynn resigning right buried in the revelations about National Security adviser Michael Flynn resigning right him having contact with the Russian government that he did not own up to and lying about what the content was of his Communications buried in those Revelations was not just the fact that he talked to the Russian government during the trans trans but he also had multiple contacts with the Russian government during the campaign right during the campaign what was he talking to them about during the campaign when the Russians were hacking our election explicitly referenced in the dossier is a meeting by Trump campaign foreign policy adviser Carter pige meeting between him and a very senior Russian official in July 2016 not only has the Trump campaign now admitted that that meeting happened today a trump campaign official confirmed to politico.com that not only did that meeting happen in Moscow but the Trump campaign explicitly authorized Carter page to go to Moscow and take that meeting at the time that's just confirmed by the Trump campaign today Wednesday night last week the New York Times reported that the British and the Dutch American Allies including the British and the Dutch have given information to us investigators about not just intercepted Communications but in-person meetings during the presidential campaign between people close to Vladimir Putin including Russian government officials and people close to Trump they were allegedly holding in-person meetings in European cities and European intelligence agencies reported on those meetings to the US they reported on those meetings between Trump folks and Putin folks during the campaign and that that news fairly explosive news from The New York Times that was last Wednesday night it was overshadowed in the news cycle because a couple hours after the New York Times posted that article The Washington Post broke the news that attorney general Jeff sessions himself had taken at least two meetings with Russian government officials that he had not disclosed even when he was asked about it under oath during his confirmation hearings and so yeah it's understandable that those earlier allegations from earlier in the evening got overshadowed but you know the sessions thing how's that resolving that led to you know a whole big drama that continues today about sessions recusing himself as attorney general recusing himself from overseeing any of the investigations into the Trump campaign and its contacts with Russia but once again we're sort of in this situation with this story in particular and the Trump Administration in general where it's sort of best to treat it like a silent movie a little bit ignore the personal stuff ignore all the kinetic fighting about this stuff in Washington right get back to the main point here right get back to the big Point here get back to the like you know challenging the fate of the Republic stuff here right the main allegation here the thing everybody is most worried about which is the bottom line allegation of this unproven dossier is that Russia didn't just attack our election they did so with the knowledge of and support of the Trump campaign that the Trump folks were in on it that they knew what Russia was doing while they were doing it and they continued meeting with Russians in knowledge of that activity during the time of the attack so yeah the Jeff sessions drama and the rusal questions are interesting and while continuing to continue to be newsworthy but look at the meeting that gave rise to the recusal right that meeting with Jeff sessions and the Russian guy happened September 8th what did they talk about I mean these were the headlines that week right this is the Washington Post started that week us investigating potential covert Russian plan to disrupt November elections this was the biggest story in the country that week and that's when Jeff sessions took his meeting with a re Russian government official hm did they talk about the biggest story in the country that week which was about the Russian government and the Trump campaign as they took that meeting as a representative of the Russian government and the Trump campaign right the remember the bottom line here the allegation here the bottom line allegation here the worst case scenario is collusion that the Trump folks were in on it that they were in communication with the Russians about this while the Russians were doing it and yeah sessions is recused you still got an open question as to whether there will be an independent investigation today was the confirmation hearing of the man nominated to be Deputy Attorney General Sessions has recused himself from the Trump Russia investigations it would be this Deputy attorney general if he's confirmed to be who would be overseeing what we're told there's several ongoing justice department investigations into links between the Trump campaign and the Russians uh the nominee Rod Rosenstein today would not commit to handling th to handing those duties off to an independent special prosecutor even though if he decides to do this himself that puts him in a weird position right I mean if he decides he's going to personally oversee these investig a it'll not just be him investigating the Trump campaign that just appointed him to this High position it'll be him overseeing an investigation into his own boss Jeff sessions since sessions personally is implicated sessions himself is implicated in this story and the timeline of his Russian contacts needs explaining as part of any looking into this right so the independence of the FBI investigations the justice department investigations right if you're worried about the FBI investigations and the other doj investigations if you're worried that those may not cut the mustard in terms of aggression and Independence well what are the other investigations there's these intelligence committees in Congress right that are also leading investigations one of them in the house headed by a trump campaign transition official who just announced today that they will hold uh their first public hearing on this issue on March 20th the other investigation in the Senate is headed by a member of the National Security advisory committee to the Donald Trump campaign right but that brings us to the shooting star that went off in this story today NBC News reported last week on the day sessions recused himself on Thursday NBC reported on the basis of two sources that that Senate intelligence committee headed by Richard Burr who was part of the Trump campaign NBC reported that that committee was interested in talking to the author of The dossier the author of The dossier the former MI6 officer who prepared this chief of information first for private clients and then reportedly who brought it to the FBI himself in the summer of last year when he was so Disturbed by what he found by what he concluded about collusion between the Trump folks and the Russians again what he found was evidence what he says he found was evidence not just of Russia attacking the US presidential election but one party in that election the Trump campaign helping going along with it colluding being part of it and that is way worse allegation than just the Russians attacking our election right or the Trump campaign having inexplicable contacts with Russians that they keep forgetting the allegation of collusion is very very very very serious right I mean it's sort of as serious as it gets it's a whole different ball game then there's something mysterious here follow the money right and again the allegations in this dossier we have to continue to describe them as uncorroborated but toward the basic thesis of this dossier that the Trump campaign was in on it little pieces of that little checkable pieces of that have been falling into place almost every day now and clearly the author of this dossier thought that he was on to something thought that he had seen in action and he was proving that that iion was underway and he was so disturbed by it that he took it to the FBI and NBC reported on Thursday that the Senate intelligence committee wants to call him personally to testify about this until and until today that was all academic interesting but academic because of course the author of this dossier famously went into hiding as soon as BuzzFeed published this document in January but you know what happened today in London he's alive look there he is he's back he's no longer in in hiding Christopher steel the author of The dossier made himself known publicly today he says he's going back to work at his intelligence firm and he doesn't want to answer any questions okay well number one it answers some questions number one this means he's alive number two he's well and capable of speaking number three he made sure to appear by video so presumably people who recognize him can recognize him and back up the fact that that really is him he really has surfaced does this mean though that we as American citizens are finally going to get access to what he knows that we're finally going to get to hear what backs this up is the Senate intelligence committee going to call him and have him testify like NBC News reported late last week well we called the Senate intelligence committee tonight and they told us no probably not press secretary to the top Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee tonight told us quote it is not at all likely at least not at this moment Christopher steel is back he's alive he's out there you guys investigating this want to talk to him I mean so far it is us as American citizens It Is Us in the Press who are connecting the dots on this story who are figuring this out do we have any reason to believe that any government official investigation into this Scandal is is doing the same honestly it's a doj controlled by a trump campaign official or it's two intelligence committees each controlled by a trump campaign official support your free press it is really starting to feel like we're going to have to do this ourselves hey there I'm Chris Hayes from MSNBC thanks for watching MSNBC on YouTube if you want to keep up to date with the videos we're putting out you can click subscribe just below me or click over on this list to see lots of other great videos

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Keywords: msnbc, rachel, maddow, politics, news, news channel, news station, newspaper, us news, world news, current events, top stories, pop culture, business, health, liberal, progressive, cable, cable news, Donald Trump, Russia Dossier, Trump Russia, More Pieces, Donald Trump ties to Russia, investigation, by the press, government investigators, Trump campaign, Donald Trump Russia Dossier, Russia Dossier Check Out, intelligence, Donald Trump ties, Russia remains unconfirmed, primary government

Id: 5exiuko3-nQ

Length: 22min 48sec (1368 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 08 2017