Trump Russia Scandal: Grand Jury Investigation Underway, Online Sources Say — Could Force Impeachment If True
Editor’s note: Recently, a story based on a source associated with Claude Taylor was debunked as a hoax by the Guardian and disavowed by Taylor. In light of this, we advise any information derived from sources provided by Claude Taylor to be viewed in the light cast by this revelation.
The ongoing scandal over possible collusion between Donald Trump and Russia to influence the 2016 United States presidential election may have taken a drastic new turn last week — a turn that could lead directly to criminal indictments and even to Trump’s impeachment — with new reports that a grand jury investigation was underway, looking into the Russia connections.
In fact, the reports say, there have been not one but two grand jury investigations into the Trump Russia scandal underway, at least one of which is connected to the FBI investigation of the Trump Russia connections revealed in March by Director James Comey.
However, are the online reports, which have not been confirmed by any major media outlet as of May 1, actually true? Claude Taylor, a former member of President Bill Clinton’s White House staff who is now widely described as a “Washington insider,” made the dramatic claim on his Twitter account last Friday.
This just in from a source with knowledge of Comey’s investigation. “two grand juries have convened and I know that one is almost complete.”
— Claude Taylor (@TrueFactsStated) April 29, 2017
While Taylor’s claim was not picked up by any major media outlet, a Republican political consultant and columnist for the Daily Beast online magazine, Rick Wilson, offered his own confirmation one day later, indicating that sources had also told him of the grand jury investigations.
— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) April 29, 2017
Taylor also reiterated his claim on Saturday, adding that he was simply repeating what sources had told him.
@Maggyw519 @TheOlafsens I’m not. This is what I was told by someone in a position to know. Word for word.
— Claude Taylor (@TrueFactsStated) April 29, 2017
In fact, Taylor said in another Twitter posting that he is so confident that his information about the supposed grand jury investigations is correct, that is willing to make a wager with any media member willing to take him up on it that not only are the grand jury probes real but that they will soon return criminal indictments.
The two separate grand jury probes, according to Taylor’s as-yet unconfirmed reports, focus on two separate topics both under the wider heading of the Trump Russian scandal. The allegedly more extensive of the two investigations focuses, Taylor says, on violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act, or FARA.
Longtime Trump associate and former campaign manager Paul Manafort recently said he would register as a foreign agent and should have done so earlier, due to paid political work he performed for the government of Ukraine between 2012 and 2014 when that country was led by pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych.
Fired National Security Adviser Michael Flynn also recently registered as a foreign agent after admitting that he had performed paid work for the government of Turkey during the presidential campaign, when he was a top Trump surrogate and foreign policy adviser.
However, according to Taylor, the FARA probe goes further than Manafort and Flynn, and “loops in the Russians in Trump Tower.”
The “Russians in Trump Tower,” where Trump also makes his own personal residence, included Vyacheslav Ivanov, the “godfather” of the Russian crime syndicate in the United States, who was deported in 2004 and assassinated in Moscow five years later. Ivanov kept an address in Trump Tower and reportedly had private Trump Organization phone numbers in his personal address book.
More recently, between about 2011 and 2013, a Russian crime syndicate gambling ring operated out of Trump Tower — just three floors below Trump’s own lavish, three-story apartment.
The second grand jury investigation reported by Taylor is said to focus on a Russian money-laundering operation. That investigation, according to the unconfirmed reports, is being operated by the New York State Attorney General’s office and could return criminal indictments — any of which, if tied to Trump, could be considered offenses worthy of impeachment.
MORE DONALD TRUMP RUSSIA SCANDAL STORIES FROM THE INQUISITR
Trump Russia Scandal: Russia May Soon Control U.S. Oil Company That Gave Big Bucks To Trump
Trump Russia Collusion: ‘Concrete Evidence’ Trump Team, Russia Conspired On Election Hacks, New Report Says
Trump Russia Scandal Bombshell: Conspiracy ‘Smoking Gun’ Found In Hungary Connection, New Report States
Trump Russia Hearing: Russians Used ‘Cut Out’ In Leak To Wikileaks — But Who?
Trump Russia Scandal: Vladimir Putin ‘Think Tank’ Planned How To Rig U.S. Election For Trump
WATCH: Trump Russia Investigation Told To ‘Follow The Trail Of Dead Russians’
Trump Russia Scandal: 2 White House Officials Fed Secret Intel To Devin Nunes
Donald Trump Caught On Tape With Russian Spy, Report Claims
James Comey Trump Russia Hearing: 5 Incredible Moments Nobody Is Talking About
Trump Obama Wiretap Charge: Russian Propaganda Was Source Of ‘British’ Spy Claim
Trump WikiLeaks Collusion Seen As Farage, Stone Make Contact With Julian Assange
Donald Trump Met Russian Ambassador Last April, Lied About It Later, Report Says
Donald Trump Linked To Iran Through Shadowy Hotel Deal, Explosive Report Charges
Trump Russia FBI Transcripts May Show Collusion, Must Be Released, Senator Says
Jared Kushner Russia Link: Trump Son-In-Law, Adviser Met Russian Kislyak
Trump, Russia, And Malaysia Airlines MH17 Shootdown: New Suspect Has Putin Link
Trump-Russia Connection: Four Russia-Linked Characters Trump Claims Not To Know
Donald Trump, Russia, And Rosneft: Shares Sold To Mystery Buyer Once Offered As Trump Bribe
The Donald Trump Russia Connection: 5 Facts You Should Know About Candidate’s Possible Ties To Putin
[Featured Images by Jae C. Hong, Cliff Owen/AP Images]
