Russia

When commenting on the Flynn plea deal with Mueller, we said that while hardly evidence of collusion between Trump and Russia, especially since all events took place after the election, the real question is who was the "senior member of the transition team" that instructed Flynn to call Russia. Now, according to Bloomberg's Eli Lake we may have the answer: none other than Jared Kushner, who as Lake says, "could be one of the next dominoes to fall."

As the public scrambles to uncover more information on just what Flynn knows, or doesn't know, and how exactly he is cooperating with Mueller, moments ago the Special Counsel has released the following "statement of the offense", i.e., i.e., Robert Mueller full case against Flynn, which he will hope to use and impeach Trump. It all boils down to two phone calls between a senior member of the Trump administration and the Russian ambassador to the US at the time.

Here is the key section:

A Russian lawmaker on Friday said that North Korea doesn’t want nuclear war with the US - but that the country is “morally ready” for war after US threats and if it's left with no other option, RIA reported. At the same time, Russia's foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, chimed in, and according to interfax, said there are people in Washington "who wish to provoke Pyongyang to reckless actions" and warned the US that if it "wants to destroy North Korea" then it is playing with fire and making a great mistake.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller has charged former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn with "willfully and knowingly" making "false, fictitious and fraudulent statements" to the FBI regarding conversations with Russia's ambassador. Flynn, in turn, is expected to plead guilty in a DC court to making false statements to FBI agents in January 2017, according to the court filing presented below. The plea hearing is set for 10:30 am ET.

In response to the recent crackdown against RT and Sputnik who saw their TV station credentials recently yanked by the US government, which is rapidly descending into a neo-McCarthyite abyss, Russia’s parliament said it could bar U.S. media from reporting within its walls in retaliation.

Olga Savastyanova of the State Duma told Russian news agencies on Friday that she expects the Duma to adopt the ban next week.