Rick Newman Columnist Yahoo Finance•March 28, 2018 Why does President Trump seem so fond of Russia and its strongman leader, Vladimir Putin?We asked Michael Isikoff of Yahoo News, co-author of the new bestseller, “Russian Roulette: The Inside Story of Putin’s War on America and the Election of Donald Trump.” And the answer may be pretty simple: It’s all about business.Related SearchesTrump And RussiaTrump Russia InvestigationTrump Russia CollusionNRA Russia ConnectionTrump Russia Sanctions“Everybody keeps looking for the smoking gun, the foolproof evidence that explains Trump’s Russia problems,” Isikoff tells Yahoo Finance. “But much of the evidence is hiding in plain sight.”As a real-estate developer and head of the Trump Organization, Trump tried for years to build a Trump Tower in Moscow, just as he had in New York, Chicago, Vancouver, Istanbul and other marquis cities. By 2014, he was actually getting close. Trump had made the right connections during a 2013 trip to Moscow, where the Miss Universe pageant, which he owned, was held. He knew Putin’s personal approval would be necessary to build his tower. And by early 2014, his company had signed a letter of intent with Moscow authorities to go ahead with the project.Trump’s daughter Ivanka, who was then one of the company’s top executives, was actually in Russia scouting for sites in February of that year, when Russia, under Putin’s order, annexed Crimea. Then Russian troops invaded Ukraine. Europe and the United States responded by imposing tough new economic sanctions on Russia—which directly affected a Russian bank Trump had lined up to help finance his Moscow tower.“It was the sanctions that killed his Russia deal,” Isikoff says. “It helps explain a lot.”U.S. President Donald Trump, right, meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G-20 Summit in Hamburg, Germany. Friday, July 7, 2017. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)As a candidate, Trump criticized those sanctions, without ever mentioning that they directly affected his business dealings. And as president, he has been strangely solicitous of Putin, bucking most of the U.S. national-security establishment and the orthodoxy of his own Republican party. Trump, for instance, called Putin recently to congratulate him for winning an  “election” widely viewed as completely rigged. Trump’s own national-security advisers had strongly advised him not to congratulate Putin.Trump persisted in his efforts to get a Moscow deal, even after declaring his candidacy for president in 2015. Later that year, Trump lawyer Michael Cohen—now embroiled in the Stormy Daniels controversy—spearheaded another effort to build a Trump tower in Moscow.“The public knew nothing about it,” Isikoff says. That project never got off the ground, either.While pursuing the Moscow deals, however, Trump and his company—including family members—developed a number of Russian contacts who circled back once Trump was a presidential candidate. Those were the Russians who offered “dirt” on Hillary Clinton, or helped set up meetings on the matter. A few are known confidantes of Putin. “If you want to understand what happened at these meetings,” Isikoff says, “you have to understand these business relationships.”Special counsel Robert Mueller is now investigating whether any dealings between Trump people and Putin people may have broken the law. Trump still has no tower in Moscow, and there’s no public evidence he has done anything illegal. But Trump does have a looming problem with Mueller, who may know far more than he has revealed. Trump’s business ambitions have cast a long shadow.Confidential tip line: rickjnewman@yahoo.com. Encrypted communication available.

Robert Mueller May Have Found That Witch That Trump Claims He’s Hunting ForS.V. Date HuffPost•March 29, 2018U.S. President Donald Trump shakes hands with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on July 7, 2017, as Russian President Vladimir Putin looks on.WASHINGTON ― After a year of Donald Trump’s complaints that a criminal investigation into his presidential campaign is nothing more than a “witch hunt,” it turns out that special counsel Robert Mueller may have, in fact, found a Russian witch.In the final months before the 2016 election, top Trump campaign aide Rick Gates was in contact with a former member of Russian military intelligence whose background he knew about, according to a new court filing by Mueller’s office.Related SearchesWitch HuntRobert Mueller InvestigationWho Is Robert Mueller“Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agents assisting the Special Counsel’s Office assess that Person A has ties to a Russian intelligence service and had such ties in 2016,” states a sentencing memo in the case of Alex van der Zwaan, a Dutch lawyer who pleaded guilty to lying to federal prosecutors earlier this year.The White House press office did not respond to HuffPost queries about the memo in light of Trump’s repeated questioning of the legitimacy of Mueller’s investigation. Press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders did offer the standard White House blanket denial that Trump or his campaign had done anything wrong.“There was no collusion and we’re confident in that,” Sanders said.Trump has called Mueller’s probe a “hoax” and a “witch hunt” dozens of times since taking office 14 months ago. Of late, he has taken to writing “witch hunt” in all capital letters for emphasis.“The Mueller probe should never have been started in that there was no collusion and there was no crime. It was based on fraudulent activities and a Fake Dossier paid for by Crooked Hillary and the DNC, and improperly used in FISA COURT for surveillance of my campaign. WITCH HUNT!” he tweeted on March 17.Two days later, he tweeted, “A total WITCH HUNT with massive conflicts of interest!”The new document, filed late Tuesday, is the most recent tidbit to emerge from Mueller’s closely guarded investigation, which so far has produced five guilty pleas and indictments of 14 others ― including 13 Russians who worked to help elect Trump as well as the former chairman of Trump’s campaign, Paul Manafort.Gates was Trump’s deputy campaign chairman and later the campaign’s liaison to the Republican National Committee.Manafort and Gates were also business partners in efforts to help pro-Russian politicians in Ukraine, and their indictments accused them of money laundering in that work. Gates has pleaded guilty and is cooperating with Mueller, while Manafort has vowed to fight the charges.“Person A” is not identified in the court filing, but the description reportedly appears to match Konstantin Kilimnik, who managed a Kiev lobbying office for Gates and Manafort.Last summer, according to The New York Times, John Dowd, who was then the president’s main personal lawyer on the Mueller investigation, discussed the idea of giving pardons to Manafort and to retired Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, Trump’s first national security adviser. Flynn has also pleaded guilty in the Russia probe, for making false statements to investigators. Pardons could make it harder for Mueller to gather evidence against Trump personally ― but could make it easier for Mueller to prove obstruction of justice.Dowd denied the pardon story in a brief phone interview with HuffPost on Wednesday. “I didn’t have discussions,” he said, before hanging up.At Wednesday’s press briefing, Sanders referred all questions about any pardon discussions to a statement from Ty Cobb, the lawyer handling the Mueller probe for the White House. His statement also denied that there had been any talk of pardons.The U.S. intelligence community concluded during the 2016 campaign that not only was Russia interfering in the U.S. election, but it was actively trying to help Trump and hurt Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.The FBI began its probe of possible collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians well before Election Day. Control of the investigation was shifted to Mueller after Trump fired then-FBI Director James Comey in May 2017. Soon after, the president told NBC News as well as senior Russian officials visiting the Oval Office that he had done so because of the investigation.

World Biggest convoy yet evacuates Syria’s ruined GhoutaAFP•March 28, 2018 A convoy transporting Syrian civilians and rebel fighters evacuated from Eastern Ghouta waits in a government-held area prior to entering the village of Qalaat al-Madiq, some 45 kilometres northwest of the central city of Hama, on March 26, 2018 A convoy transporting Syrian civilians and rebel fighters evacuated from Eastern Ghouta waits in a government-held area prior to entering the village of Qalaat al-Madiq, some 45 kilometres northwest of the central city of Hama, on March 26, 2018 (AFP Photo/ABDULMONAM EASSA)Damascus (AFP) – The largest convoy yet of Eastern Ghouta evacuees arrived in northwestern Syria Tuesday as the regime threatened to resume its blitz if the last remaining rebels do not leave.Government troops, backed by Russia and loyalist militia, launched a ferocious assault more than a month ago to retake the enclave on the outskirts of Damascus.They have recaptured more than 90 percent of it and are draining the last rebel-held pockets through negotiated withdrawals brokered by Russia.Russia and the Syrian regime it supports reportedly threatened to resume their blistering bombardment if the last holdout pocket that includes the main Ghouta town of Douma does not agree to a similar deal.Jaish al-Islam, the powerful Islamist faction that holds Douma, had hoped talks with Moscow would result in their staying in the town, instead of being bussed out like other rebels.But negotiations have stalled and Russia is reverting to its initial „leave or die” approach, two opposition sources close to the negotiations said.”At the end of their meeting Monday, the Russians gave Jaish al-Islam two choices: surrender or face an attack,” one of them told AFP.Jaish al-Islam spokesman Hamza Bayraqdar had said the negotiations were for a deal whereby the group lays down its heavy weapons in exchange for government-provided water and electricity returning to the town.Two deals have already seen thousands of rebels, their relatives and other civilians bussed out of bombed-out Ghouta districts to Idlib, a northwestern province that is mostly out of government control.- Thousands board buses -The largest numbers have quit the towns of Arbin and Zamalka, and the adjacent district of Jobar, all controlled by the Faylaq al-Rahman Islamist faction.The group reached a deal with Moscow on Friday and its implementation began the following morning with nearly 1,000 people boarding buses and leaving.The numbers have grown steadily since, with the biggest convoy yet departing in the early hours of Tuesday with more than 6,700 people aboard.They arrived Tuesday afternoon in the Qalaat al-Madiq area of central Hama province, a staging ground frequently used in such deals, an AFP correspondent said.In Qalaat al-Madiq, a man wearing an ammunition belt unloaded a bag from a bus hold, while a young man with his leg in a cast was wheeled away by rescue workers.That convoy brought the total number of evacuees from areas under Faylaq al-Rahman’s control to more than 13,000 people.The group’s spokesman, Wael Alwan, has said as many as 30,000 people could be evacuated in all.President Bashar al-Assad has used such evacuation agreements to recover swathes of territory since the uprising against his rule began seven years ago this month.They have usually begun with the military encirclement of an area, followed by bombardment and a ground operation before a deal is reached.Eastern Ghouta lies within mortar range of Damascus, and rebels had repeatedly used it as a launchpad for rocket attacks on the capital.The regime responded with a crippling half-decade siege of the enclave’s 400,000 residents, sealing off access to food, medicines and other goods.- Rebel prisoners freed -On February 18, the regime, its ally Russia and loyalist militia launched an all-out air and ground assault that killed more than 1,600 civilians, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.The Britain-based monitor said it had also documented the detention of more than 40 men and boys by Syrian troops in recaptured areas.Devastating air strikes and artillery fire have reduced large parts of Ghouta to ruins, forcing their residents to abandon them.At a UN Security Council meeting on Tuesday, US Ambassador Nikki Haley said the failure of a 30-day ceasefire resolution adopted on February 24 should be a „day of shame” for council members.Russia hit back that it was the only country working to turn the ceasefire into a reality on the ground in Syria.Some 110,000 people have fled into government-held territory, most of them on foot or motorbike, through corridors opened up by the army and its Russian allies, according to state media.The United Nations says around 55,000 of them are housed in very basic conditions in regime-run temporary shelters on the edge of Ghouta.Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told the Security Council the departures were voluntary and that Moscow’s forces were providing food, shelter and medical aid to those in need.Moscow has brokered talks with the rebel groups that control the three remaining pockets of the enclave.The first agreement, with hardline Islamist group Ahrar al-Sham, saw more than 4,500 people, including rebel fighters, leave the town of Harasta last week.Under the second deal, rebels from Faylaq al-Rahman are being given safe passage to the northwest, along with thousands of civilians, in exchange for releasing prisoners they were holding.Eight were freed on Sunday and another 26 the following day, state news agency SANA said.

Politics Trump eyes having the U.S. military pay for his border wallDavid Knowles Yahoo News•March 28, 2018 Trump eyes having the U.S. military pay for his border wallPresident Trump has figured out who’s going to pay for his wall on the U.S. border with Mexico. Hint: It’s not Mexico.Trump has privately pushed the U.S. military to fund construction of the border wall, the Washington Post and CNN reported Tuesday, citing sources who requested anonymity.Related SearchesTrump Border WallDonald Trump WallTrump Wall PrototypesThe president is said to have suggested his idea that the military should pitch in to fund the border wall to both Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and to House Speaker Paul Ryan, the Post reported.The move comes after Trump failed to secure nearly enough funding from Congress in the recently signed omnibus spending bill. Trump is seeking $25 billion for construction of the wall, and Congress allocated just $1.6 billion for upgrades to the existing fencing.At Tuesday’s briefing, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders sidestepped a question about whether having the military wall construction posed constitutional issues, and gave a glass-half-full assessment of where the president’s signature campaign promise currently stands.“I can’t go into the specifics of that at this point, but I can tell you that the continuation of building the wall is ongoing, and we’re going to continue moving forward in that process,” Sanders said.Over the weekend, Trump seemed to first publicly float the idea that the military could help him fulfill his campaign pledge.Donald J. Trump@realDonaldTrumpBecause of the $700 & $716 Billion Dollars gotten to rebuild our Military, many jobs are created and our Military is again rich. Building a great Border Wall, with drugs (poison) and enemy combatants pouring into our Country, is all about National Defense. Build WALL through M! 1:33 PM – Mar 25, 2018Perhaps the most notable refrain from Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign rallies was an audience call-and-response in which Trump, after whipping up his crowd by first insisting that he would build a wall if elected, then asked, “And who’s going to pay for the wall?”“Mexico!” his crowds routinely shouted back in unison.The FBI began its probe of possible collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians well before Election Day. Control of the investigation was shifted to Mueller after Trump fired then-FBI Director James Comey in May 2017. Soon after, the president told NBC News as well as senior Russian officials visiting the Oval Office that he had done so because of the investigation.

Veterans Affairs Secretary Is Latest to Go as Trump Shakes Up CabinetThe New York Times By NICHOLAS FANDOS 3 hrs ago Video by Washington Post WASHINGTON — After weeks of uncertainty atop the Department of Veterans Affairs, President Trump said on Wednesday he plans to replace its secretary, David J. Shulkin, with Dr. Ronny L. Jackson, the White House physician and a rear admiral in the Navy.The announcement punctuated what has been a sharp fall from favor for Dr. Shulkin, a politically moderate former hospital executive, who delivered Mr. Trump a string of bipartisan legislative victories at a time when he was struggling to find them. And it adds to a significant shake-up of Mr. Trump’s senior staff, which has already included the secretary of state, director of the C.I.A. and the president’s national security adviser.Sign Up For the Morning Briefing NewsletterMr. Trump called Dr. Jackson “highly respected” and thanked Dr. Shulkin for “service to our country and to our great veterans.”