Head-to-Head
Showdown Brewing
Prague Meeting: Cohen w/Russian Operatives
(Could be the final piece of Muller's puzzle or not)
Cell Signal Reportedly
Puts Michael Cohen Outside Prague Around Time of Alleged Russian Meeting (Note: And, just
before the 2016 election)
Full story from Mediaite here – highlights follow:
A new report from McClatchy is
claiming that a mobile phone that belonged to Trump’s former lawyer Michael “The Fixer” Cohen briefly sent
signals recorded in cell towers near Prague in the late summer of 2016.
Significance: Writing
for the Sacramento-based Newspaper Company (McClatchy),
Peter Stone and Greg Gordon, reported:
“A mobile phone traced to President Donald Trump’s former lawyer and
“fixer” Michael Cohen briefly sent signals ricocheting off cell towers in the
Prague area in late summer 2016, at the height of the presidential campaign, leaving an electronic record to support claims that Cohen
met secretly there with Russian officials, four people with knowledge of the
matter say. During the
same period of late August or early September, electronic eavesdropping by an
Eastern European intelligence agency also picked up a conversation among
Russians, one of whom remarked that Cohen was in Prague, two people familiar
with the incident said.”
Cohen’s denial via Twitter (just like Trump):
I have never been to Prague in my
life. #fakenews
The McClatchy report continues: If the foreign intelligence intercepts are accurate,
the big questions now are: (1) whether Cohen has acknowledged to investigators
that a meeting in Prague occurred, (2) if he informed them what transpired, and
(3) what was revealed, if anything, and that he may have told Trump about.
Very noteworthy: The four who spoke with McClatchy did so on the condition
of anonymity due to the sensitivity of information shared by their foreign
intelligence connections.
Each one of them obtained their information independently from their foreign
intelligence connections.
Article Summary:
If in fact it proves true
that Cohen was in the Prague area, despite his vigorous denials, then that
would give more weight to the notion that the Trump campaign may have conspired
with foreign agents in the run up to the 2016 general election.
Cohen has avoided discussing
the investigation led by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, claiming he doesn’t
want to “jeopardize the investigation.”
Also, Cohen’s former attorney,
Lanny Davis, had repeated his
client’s denials about visiting Prague earlier this month.
Added in part from the Daily Beast:
Stone and Gordon are
experienced and well-regarded national security reporters with several
important scoops between them, e.g., Stone broke important parts of the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal in 2005.
After this story (Cohen/Prague
connection) plays out, Stone and Gordon will either be a latter-day Woodward
and Bernstein — far ahead of the pack on a scandal that could bring down a
president — or they could be another Judith Miller: The New York Times reporter manipulated by sources into publishing
stories about the Iraq War that didn’t hold up.
So, even if this story
doesn’t do damage, as Miller’s did, it would if false, give the entire news
media a black eye at a time Trump is trying to discredit any critical stories
as “fake news, a hoax, or witch hunt.”
MSNBC show “All In” with host Chris Hayes tweeted: “Feels like McClatchy is really out on a limb if they’re wrong about
this Cohen-Prague stuff. They're either right or they got massively snookered.”
My 2 cents: This
as stated, and if true, is the most-revealing to date about Trump and his
campaign colluding with Russia to influence the election… I’m positive that
Mueller and his team are all over this aspect.
So, it is the right Michael Cohen, or not?? If so, it’s possibly an end
to this national nightmare … Cohen having been in Prague may be evidence, but it’s not
necessarily proof – that final part of the puzzle is left
up to S/C Robert Mueller to fit into place.
More follows later I am sure – and as always, thanks for stopping by.
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