Source: Mueller Using D.C. Grand Jury In Russia Probe 3AUG17

SPECIAL COUNSEL Robert Mueller's investigation into the drumpf/trump-pence campaign's and now administration's collusion with putin's russia in interfering in the 2016 Pres election becomes much more serious with the involvement of a D.C. grand jury. Mueller wouldn't involve a grand jury if he didn't think the investigation wasn't going to discover evidence of criminal activity. Watch for a twitter storm of stupidity from the White House after reading this from +NPR .....

Source: Mueller Using D.C. Grand Jury In Russia Probe

August 3, 20175:44 PM ET

JESSICA TAYLOR

Special counsel Robert Mueller arrives at the U.S. Capitol for a closed meeting with members of the Senate Judiciary Committee in June.

Alex Wong/Getty Images

Special counsel Robert Mueller is using a grand jury in Washington, D.C., in connection with his investigation into Russian efforts to influence the 2016 presidential election and possible collusion between Russia and top aides to the Trump campaign, a source with knowledge of the investigation confirms to NPR's Peter Overby. The source did not want to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter.

The Wall Street Journal first reported Thursday that Mueller was using a grand jury. The latest development signals that the former FBI director's investigation is "growing in intensity," with the grand jury beginning work in recent weeks, the Journal reported.

A spokesman for Mueller declined to comment to NPR.

Ty Cobb, a recently appointed White House special counsel focused on the Russia probes, said in a statement provided by White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders that he wasn't aware Mueller had started using a grand jury.

"Grand jury matters are typically secret," Cobb said. "The White House favors anything that accelerates the conclusion of his work fairly. ... The White House is committed to fully cooperating with Mr. Mueller."

President Trump has maintained there was no collusion between Russia and his campaign during the 2016 election. And Trump has, at times, cast doubt on the determination of the U.S. intelligence community that Russia was behind various efforts to interfere in the election, including the hacking of emails belonging to individuals and organizations aligned with the Democrats and the strategic release of those emails at key points in the campaign last year.

But in a statement Wednesday announcing that he had signed into law a bill imposing sanctions on Russia, Trump said he supported "making clear that America will not tolerate interference in our democratic process and that we will side with our allies and friends against Russian subversion and destabilization."

Trump has repeatedly called Mueller's probe a "witch hunt," and some media reports have indicated the president has looked into ways to undercut or even fire Mueller.

"With respect to the impaneling of the grand jury, we have no reason to believe that the president is under investigation," Jay Sekulow, a lawyer on the president's outside legal team, told NPR's Tamara Keith.

The revelation that Mueller's investigation is utilizing a grand jury comes as CNN reports that investigators have zeroed in on "Trump and his associates' financial ties to Russia as one of the most fertile avenues for moving their probe forward," with sources saying that the "web of financial ties could offer a more concrete path toward potential prosecution than the broader and murkier questions of collusion in the 2016 campaign." That includes ongoing investigations into former White House national security adviser Michael Flynn and Trump's former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort.

But Mueller dipping into Trump's own personal finances is exactly what the president argued to the The New York Times last month would be a "violation" of the scope of investigation delineated at the time Mueller was appointed by the Justice Department.

Reuters is also reporting that grand jury subpoenas have been issued regarding Donald Trump Jr.'s June 2016 meeting with a Russian attorney who the president's son was told would have incriminating information about Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.

CorrectionAug. 3, 2017

A caption on a previous version of this story incorrectly said Robert Mueller was heading to a meeting with senators last month. The meeting took place in June.

Pat Robertson’s Group Demands Investigation Of Muslim Congressional Staffers Based On Misleading Fox Report from THINKPROGRESS 17NOV10

I just have to wonder what God thinks about these religious people who use their faith to spread lies, hate, fear, and prejudice about others? This is a perfect example of the 9th Commandment "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor" being ignored by the same people who insist the 10 Commandments be placed in courthouses and other government buildings to show just how religious America is. Their gospel of hate does nothing but harm Christianity in America because so many people can see through the hypocrisy of their propaganda and are disgusted by it. Unfortunately, too many willing adherents of "faith based" hate and discrimination are willing to be deceived by those who are perverting Christianity for their own lust for power and domination. It is a sad fact that these people, leaders and followers, present as much a threat to the civil liberties and human rights of our Republic as do the fanatical Muslims they rail against. From ThinkProgress
With America caught up in an Islamophobic whirlwind, anything remotely tied to the Islamic faith sets off paranoid hysterics over an impending Muslim takeover. Rather than responsibly debunk these delusions, the Fox News network has contributed to the hysteria by promoting extremely radical guests, polarizing rhetoric, bigoted punditry, and racial profiling. Last week, FoxNews.com unveiled a new “investigation” targeting Muslim staffers on Capitol Hill. According to the report, the Congressional Muslim Staff Association’s (CMSA) have sought to bring the “Who’s Who” of jihadist sympathizers to its weekly Friday Jummah prayer meetings “for more than a decade.”
Right on cue, the right-wing American Center for Law and Justice demanded that the Justice Department to investigate and “take immediate action to halt” the congressional prayer sessions. Channeling its founder and indefatigable anti-Muslim Rev. Pat Robertson, the ACLJ said the “absurdity” of inviting “the very terrorists who want to destroy America” to Capitol Hill “raises a host of significant questions-including concerns about national security” and, based on Fox’s “report,” warrants a “thorough investigation”:

The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) is calling on the U.S. Department of Justice to launch an investigation concerning reports that Islamic terrorists have appeared before a Congressionally sponsored Muslim group that meets at the U.S. Capitol. The investigative report by Fox News reveals that a number of well-known terrorists-including U.S. born Anwar al-Awlaki, the Al Qaeda cleric believed to be hiding in Yemen and the lone American on the U.S. government’s capture or kill list-have appeared at what’s been described as weekly ‘prayer’ sessions on Capitol Hill.
“It is unbelievable that that the very terrorists who want to destroy America are permitted to meet in a Congressionally-sanctioned setting on Capitol Hill,” said Jay Sekulow, chief counsel of the ACLJ. “This raises a host of significant questions-including concerns about national security. We’re demanding that the Department of Justice conduct an investigation and take immediate action to halt to what appears to be a pattern of inviting Islamic extremists with ties to terrorism to participate in these events. The absurdity is clear: the U.S. government disinvites Franklin Graham to a prayer service at the Pentagon, while Islamic terrorists take part in Capitol Hill events. A thorough investigation is warranted.”

In ginning up the hysteria over terrorist infiltration, Fox and the ACLJ missed one small fact – the Friday prayers have nothing to do with the CMSA. As Religion Dispatches’ Sarah Posner explains, the prayers are held by individual staffers “under the auspices of the House chaplain; they are not an official function of the CMSA.” In fact, the CMSA, which does not receive funding or support from the government, “didn’t exist” when Fox says the people with terrorist ties supposedly went to the prayer sessions. The report, says Posner, is less fact and more “red meat” for the “conservative culture that feeds on paranoia.”
Just ask the Muslim Republicans who are involved. Suhail Kahn, a conservative Republican who served as a political appointee in the Bush administration and who currently serves on the American Conservative Union board, was once a Republican hill staffer. According to Khan, the services are open to the public and are “very pro-American, and tend to be about public service, and the honor of public service.” In fact, the member who granted Khan’s room request for a small number of Muslim staffers to pray was then-Speaker and current Islamophobe Newt Gingrich. If CMSA truly posed some national security issue, Gingrich or Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) — who’s staffer is CMSA’s vice-president — would avoid any semblance of support.
But, as Khan points out, unfounded “guilt-by-association” claims like this are nothing more than “good old fashioned bigotry.” “Ninety-nine point nine percent of honest reporters” would “know a smear when they see it” and “toss it into the garbage can,” he said. Kudos to Fox News for making that 0.1 percent.