Adelson’s contributions to Republicans pay off for him

Quid pro quo for one of Trump’s largest donors? https://t.co/jU1294izSq
— Max Boot (@MaxBoot) February 8, 2019

Casino mogul Sheldon Adelson poured more than $83 million into GOP candidates in 2016, including at least $20 million to elect Trump. He just got a gift in the middle of shutdown to protect his gambling business from competitorshttps://t.co/AWzcnX93gM
— Alfons López Tena #FBPE (@alfonslopeztena) February 8, 2019

NEW via @thamburger:
Justice Department decision to issue legal opinion long sought by casino magnate Sheldon Adelson draws criticismhttps://t.co/BD0hqC0dfe
— Rosalind Helderman (@PostRoz) February 8, 2019

A fund set up to help pay legal expenses incurred by aides to President Trump drawn into the Russia investigation raised $500,000 in the final quarter of 2018 — all of it coming on Oct. 1 from Sheldon and Miriam Adelson. pic.twitter.com/AMpv2CSlOk
— Michelle Ye Hee Lee (@myhlee) February 1, 2019

Since he brought up the economy, remember this:

🚫 He and Republicans forced a $1.3 trillion #GOPTaxScam that rewarded Sheldon Adelson with $670,000.000.00.

🚫 He shut down the government costing our economy $11,000,000,000.00. #SOTU
— Nancy Pelosi (@TeamPelosi) February 6, 2019

So we’re just gonna pretend Sheldon Adelson doesn’t exist, and that Kevin McCarthy is trying to punish ⁦@IlhanMN⁩ out of sincere commitment to the wellbeing of us Jews? Cool, cool. https://t.co/oFa3R3Prw0
— Adam Jentleson 🎈 (@AJentleson) February 11, 2019

Would Trump have won?

Would Trump have won in 2016 if we knew then what we know now? We’ll never know but I don’t think so. I don’t think any one of these items would have cost him the election but cumulatively, they would have hurt him. The one with the least impact was the payouts to the two women. If Trump voters were ok with the Access Hollywood tape, this would not have changed their vote.

Here’s a list:

Payouts to two women over alleged affairs
Lies about campaign’s many contacts with Russians
Dishonest about how much money he got from his family
Turned down for loan by Deutsche Bank
Efforts to build hotel in Moscow
Corrupt Trump Foundation

Deustche Bank turned Trump down for a loan in 2016

The reason Deutsche Bank told candidate Trump NO LOAN in 2016? The bank feared Trump wouldn’t repay and didn’t relish having to choose between getting stiffed and trying to seize the assets of the President of the United States https://t.co/8twzX9Cyac
— Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) February 3, 2019

WSJ reports Deutsche Bank tried reducing exposure to Russian clients in late 2016 due to concerns about US law enforcement and national security scrutiny, following — as the NYT reported yesterday — a decision earlier that year to reject a Trump loan. https://t.co/bTAtFWHr1w
— Tim O'Brien (@TimOBrien) February 3, 2019

Burning through cash, lending tens of millions to his campaign, Trump sought a golf loan from Deutsche Bank in 2016. DB said ‘No.’. ⁦@davidenrich⁩ ⁦@benprotess⁩ and me: https://t.co/YRZOHOhpYq
— Jesse Drucker (@JesseDrucker) February 2, 2019

Proud to note that @russchoma and I were among the first to report that @realDonaldTrump had a potential conflict with Deutsche Bank. And we did this months before the 2016 election. https://t.co/ZnfnFFFyxq
— David Corn (@DavidCornDC) February 2, 2019

Deutsche Bank, which has long been Trump's primary lender, has received an "inquiry" from House committees run by Maxine Waters and Adam Schiff.

For years, Dems have sought docs about whether any of the loans it made to Trump were connected to Russia. https://t.co/UBaFY1YYWd
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) February 2, 2019

As European lawmakers probe Deutsche Bank’s possible involvement with money laundering by Danske Bank — American lawmakers will be watching closely as they investigate the German lender and its dealings with President Trump https://t.co/QR971omdFA
— POLITICO (@politico) February 4, 2019

At the time that Preet Bharara was fires by Trump, he was investigating Deutsche Bank money laundering AND Ailes/Fox. https://t.co/hx4Dii54uv
— Sara Danner Dukic (@saradannerdukic) February 4, 2019

In late November, there was another massive raid at Deutsche Bank.https://t.co/NpV5zGNIJQ
— Sara Danner Dukic (@saradannerdukic) February 3, 2019

Trump, Jr’s calls with blocked numbers

It turns out that Trump, Jr.’s calls to a blocked number were to family friends and not to Trump. That still leaves lots of questions:

Did Trump know about the meeting? He says he didn’t but he lies all the time. If he got the calls, this would have proven he knew but it still doesn’t put him in the clear.
Why did they lie about the meeting? Trump prepared a false statement saying it was about adoptions.
If the calls were to business associates, why didn’t Trump, Jr. just provide that information?

NEWS: Senate investigators have obtained information that shows Donald Trump Jr.'s calls with a blocked number surrounding the Trump Tower meeting were NOT with his father, but with two business associates. W/ @PamelaBrownCNN @mkraju https://t.co/IGZFmZnNPS
— Jeremy Herb (@jeremyherb) January 31, 2019

Trump Jr.'s calls ahead of 2016 Trump Tower meeting weren’t with his father

"[This] new information doesn't change the fundamental concern about what the President knew. It just means he wasn't those blocked numbers — not that he didn't know about the meeting." – @ChrisCuomo pic.twitter.com/52wgF7bW1Q
— Cuomo Prime Time (@CuomoPrimeTime) February 1, 2019

.@DonaldJTrumpJr on the speculation the blocked numbers had belonged to his father: “After a year of hearing about this one ad nauseam, yet another left-wing narrative officially bites the dust.” https://t.co/Fh6Z3BWeqU
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) February 1, 2019

He could have just told us who he called.

Didn’t say it exonerated Trump. Just said it undermined the case because there had been widespread suspicion that Don Jr had called the old man prior to meeting. https://t.co/5OLRgNicN3
— Max Boot (@MaxBoot) February 1, 2019

“I believe that there are serious questions about Donald Trump Jr.’s appearance before our committee … I’m suggesting there are serious questions. He needs to come back before the committee. He ought to be subpoenaed,” says Dem @SenBlumenthal of the Senate Judiciary Committee. pic.twitter.com/e1p3jppEtZ
— The Situation Room (@CNNSitRoom) January 31, 2019

As investigators learn Trump Jr.'s blocked calls weren't w/ his father, Rep @GerryConnolly notes theirs is a relationship where "son really wants to make daddy happy," adding it "stretches credulity to believe he never told" his dad about the 2016 meeting.https://t.co/VnqsQ77xjX pic.twitter.com/2OAn3H96sk
— OutFrontCNN (@OutFrontCNN) February 1, 2019

The fact that Trump Jr’s phone calls to blocked numbers around the time he set up the Trump Tower meeting weren’t with his Dad is not proof the two didn’t discuss the meeting in some other setting. https://t.co/EqviGVLHzF
— Joyce Alene (@JoyceWhiteVance) February 1, 2019

Per CNN and ABC: Don Jr.'s blocked phone calls before Russia meeting weren't to Trump. These are the calls Adam Schiff considered suspicious and planned to probe. https://t.co/8JwPYUZmuw
— Jonathan Swan (@jonathanvswan) February 1, 2019

The NRA-Russia connection

EXCLUSIVE: Emails sent by NRA officials before the now-infamous 2015 trip to Moscow, as well as photos taken during the visit, reveal the gun group’s significant role in arranging the excursion. https://t.co/vSnwmrXmb3

— Pete Madden (@pamadden) January 30, 2019

The NRA is trying to create distance between CEO Wayne LaPierre and the NRA officers who traveled to Moscow in 2015 at the invite of criminal Russian influence agent Maria Butina and Alexander Torshin, when NRA members met with top Putin officials.https://t.co/SwSVwhFHPA

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) January 30, 2019

As the NRA now tries to distance itself from the 2015 Moscow trip where its leaders spent time with Russian operatives Maria Butina & Alexander Torshin, a reminder that NRA spokesperson Dana Loesch confirmed the trip last year, as I reported here https://t.co/Fn4f8l3luQ @RonWyden

— Mark Follman (@markfollman) January 29, 2019

Trump and His Associates Had More Than 100 Contacts With Russians Before the Inauguration

and they lied about the contacts over and over, even under oath. Why?

Remember when the Trump campaign used to insist that it had had no contact whatsoever with Russia? Here's an illuminating @nytimes graphic noting more than 100 such contacts: https://t.co/4RMNlaQmlV

— Nicholas Kristof (@NickKristof) January 26, 2019

Except that Michael Cohen had spoken to the Russians, too, about a Trump Tower Moscow—and testified to Mueller that he kept Trump and his family in the loop about it in 2016. https://t.co/XAHcSRjd9F

— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) January 29, 2019

Republicans in Congress and the NRA

We have to get to the bottom of the connections between the NRA, Russia, and Republican campaigns including Trump’s in 2016.

At the heel of the hunt, I think the key to general Republican complicity in this scandal is going to be the fact that a lot of them got laundered Russian money in 2016, a lot of which got washed by the NRA.

— Charles P. Pierce (@CharlesPPierce) January 13, 2019

The NRA, which pumped $30 million into #Trump campaign, says it took money from 23 Russia-linked donors https://t.co/5M8LKBGfTz

— David Beard (@dabeard) January 2, 2019

Republican senators overseeing NRA-Russia probes are top NRA allies https://t.co/WeqabL5YVD

— Mother Jones (@MotherJones) January 21, 2019

The National Rifle Association appears to have illegally coordinated its political advertising with Republican candidates in at least three recent high-profile US Senate races, according to Federal Communications Commission records. https://t.co/N29pHiZZ7K

— Mother Jones (@MotherJones) January 14, 2019

Senator Richard Burr & NRA appear to be even tighter than we thought. Documents from the @FCC show that the NRA’s ads in @SenatorBurr’s race were authorized by the same media consultant working for Burr’s campaign-which is against the law. https://t.co/qPg57a3mk6 #NoNRAmoney

— Newtown Action (@NewtownAction) January 15, 2019

The Senators investigating ties between the Kremlin and the NRA are big allies of the gun group—but they don't seem to be impeding the investigation, a sign that the NRA's hold on lawmakers may be weakening. https://t.co/VImPUpoMnR

— The Trace (@teamtrace) January 18, 2019

EXCLUSIVE: Leaked U.S. intel report says Butina/Torshin operation to co-opt the NRA was blessed by the Kremlin. https://t.co/Ri670G8OSC

— Noah Shachtman (@NoahShachtman) January 14, 2019