Grand jury issues subpoenas over Trump Jr, Russian lawyer meeting: sources

WASHINGTON - A grand jury has issued subpoenas in connection with a June 2016 meeting that included President Donald Trump's son, his son-in-law and a Russian lawyer, 2 sources told Reuters on Thursday, signaling an investigation is gathering pace into suspected Russian meddling in the 2016 US election.

The sources added that US Special Counsel Robert Mueller had convened the grand jury investigation in Washington to help examine allegations of Russian interference in the vote. One of the sources said it was assembled in recent weeks.

Russia has loomed large over the first 6 months of the Trump presidency. US intelligence agencies have concluded that Russia worked to tilt the presidential election in Trump's favor. Mueller, who was appointed special counsel in May, is leading the probe, which also examines potential collusion by the Trump campaign with Russia.

Moscow denies any meddling and Trump denies any collusion by his campaign, while regularly denouncing the investigations as political witch hunts.

At a rally in Huntington, West Virginia, on Thursday night, Trump said: "Most people know there were no Russians in our campaign. ... We didn't win because of Russia. We won because of you."

Mueller's use of a grand jury could give him expansive tools to pursue evidence, including issuing subpoenas and compelling witnesses to testify. The Wall Street Journal earlier reported a grand jury was impaneled.

A spokesman for Mueller declined comment.

A grand jury is a group of ordinary citizens who, working behind closed doors, considers evidence of potential criminal wrongdoing that a prosecutor is investigating and decides whether charges should be brought.

"This is a serious development in the Mueller investigation," said Paul Callan, a former prosecutor.

"Given that Mueller inherited an investigation that began months ago, it would suggest that he has uncovered information pointing in the direction of criminal charges. But against whom is the real question."

A lawyer for Trump, Jay Sekulow, appeared to downplay the significance of a grand jury, telling Fox News: "This is not an unusual move."

US stocks and the dollar weakened following the news, while US Treasury securities gained.

It was not immediately clear to whom subpoenas were issued and the sources did not elaborate.

Some lawyers said it would put pressure on potential witnesses to cooperate with Mueller's investigation.

"When someone gets a subpoena to testify, that can drive home the seriousness of the investigation," said David Sklansky, a professor at Stanford Law School and a former federal prosecutor.

DAMAGING INFORMATION

News last month of the meeting between Donald Trump Jr. and a Russian lawyer who he was told had damaging information about his father's presidential rival, Democrat Hillary Clinton, fueled questions about the campaign's dealings with Moscow.

The Republican president has defended his son's behavior, saying many people would have taken that meeting.

Trump's son-in-law and White House senior adviser Jared Kushner and former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort also attended the meeting.

One of the sources said major Russian efforts to interfere in the election on Trump’s behalf began shortly after the June meeting, making it a focus of Mueller’s investigation.

Ty Cobb, special counsel to the president, said he was not aware that Mueller had started using a new 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."

John Dowd, one of Trump's personal lawyers, said: "With respect to the news of the grand jury, I can tell you President Trump is not under investigation."

A spokesman for Manafort declined to comment.

Lawyers for Trump Jr. and Kushner did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

'NOT THINKING OF FIRING MUELLER'

Trump has questioned Mueller's impartiality and members of Congress from both parties have expressed concern that Trump might dismiss him. Republican and Democratic senators introduced two pieces of legislation on Thursday seeking to block Trump from firing Mueller.

Sekulow denied that was Trump's plan.

"The president is not thinking of firing Bob Mueller," Sekulow said.

One source briefed on the matter said Mueller was investigating whether, either at the meeting or afterward, anyone affiliated with the Trump campaign encouraged the Russians to start releasing material they had been collecting on the Clinton campaign since March 2016.

Another source familiar with the inquiry said that while the president himself was not now under investigation, Mueller's investigation was seeking to determine whether he knew of the June 9 meeting in advance or was briefed on it afterward.

Reuters earlier reported that Mueller's team was examining money-laundering accusations against Manafort and hoped to push him to cooperate with their probe into possible collusion between Trump’s campaign and Russia. It is not known if the grand jury is investigating those potential charges.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Trump says will back away from business to focus on White House

NEW YORK - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump vowed on Wednesday to step back from running his global business empire to avoid conflicts of interest, as concern over his dual role mounts ahead of the Republican's inauguration on Jan. 20.

Trump, a real estate magnate who owns hotels and golf resorts from Panama to Scotland, said he will spell out at a Dec. 15 news conference how he will separate himself "in total" from his worldwide business holdings, which include a winery, modeling agency, and a range of other businesses.

After Trump won the Nov. 8 election, his company, the Trump Organization, had said it was looking at new business structures with the goal of transferring control to Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump and Eric Trump - three of his adult children who are involved with the company.

Trump gave few details in a series of early morning tweets on Wednesday, but said "legal documents are being crafted which take me completely out of business operations" and said his children will attend the news conference. He did not say what the planned change might mean for ownership of his businesses.

His children are also on the executive committee of his White House transition team. His daughter Ivanka joined a telephone call his father had with Argentine President Mauricio Macri earlier this month and attended a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, raising concerns about possible conflicts of interests.

A brand name around the globe, Trump had previously argued that he had no need to separate himself from the Trump Organization, which includes a hotel down the street from the White House, a Manhattan tower where he lives and is running his transition to office, and a New Jersey golf course where he interviewed cabinet candidates earlier this month.

Trump said on Wednesday he is not required by law to alter his relationship with his business, but added: "I feel it is visually important, as president, to in no way have a conflict of interest with my various businesses."

As the Republican heads toward taking over the White House from President Barack Obama, scrutiny of potential conflicts has grown. Democratic lawmakers on Capitol Hill called for hearings on the issue.

Rules on conflict of interest for executive branch employees do not apply to the president, but Trump will be bound by bribery laws, disclosure requirements and a section of the U.S. Constitution that prohibits elected officials from taking gifts from foreign governments.

The nonpartisan Office of Government Ethics said in a statement it applauded Trump's aims, and recommended Trump completely divest his holdings rather that transfer control.

"As we discussed with your counsel, divestiture is the way to resolve these conflicts," the office tweeted.

WALL STREET PICKS

Trump, a former reality TV star, has spend much of the last few weeks setting up his new cabinet and interviewing candidates for top jobs in his administration.

On Wednesday, Trump said he will nominate his chief campaign fundraiser Steven Mnuchin to lead the U.S. Treasury. Mnuchin said the administration would make tax reform and trade pact overhauls top priorities as it seeks a sustained pace of 3 percent to 4 percent economic growth.

Mnuchin, a former Goldman Sachs banker, also signaled a desire to remove U.S. mortgage-finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from government ownership, a move that could have wide-ranging ramifications for how Americans pay for their homes, and said banking regulations should be eased to spur lending.

Trump named Wilbur Ross, a billionaire known for his investments in distressed industries, as his nominee for commerce secretary. Both nominees will require confirmation by the U.S. Senate.

Trump is also considering Goldman Sachs President and Chief Operating Officer Gary Cohn, a former commodities trader, to head his White House budget office or to fill another position, a Trump transition official said.

The economic picks were praised by the Business Roundtable, a group that represents America's largest corporations.

But Democratic senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren called Mnuchin "just another Wall Street insider."

"That is not the type of change that Donald Trump promised to bring to Washington - that is hypocrisy at its worst," Sanders and Warren said in a joint statement.

Trump had pledged during his campaign to "drain the swamp" in Washington. A spokesman said giving top economic jobs to Wall Street figures was not inconsistent with that vow.

"You want some people that are insiders and understand the system and some outsiders that are creative thinkers, out-of-the-box thinkers and disruptors," said Anthony Scaramucci, an asset manager who is on Trump's transition committee.

Trump is also working to fill out his foreign policy team, but no decision appeared imminent on who the next secretary of state will be.

He met on Wednesday with Linda McMahon, co-founder of wrestling empire WWE. McMahon told reporters that she discussed job creation and the Small Business Administration with Trump, and said "Stay tuned!" about whether she would join the administration.

On Thursday, Trump will travel to Indiana to formally announce a deal he reached with United Technologies Corp to keep close to 1,000 jobs at its Carrier Corp air conditioner plant in Indianapolis rather than shifting them to Mexico.

Trump and his running-mate Mike Pence, the governor of Indiana, had railed against Carrier on the campaign trail, using the company's outsourcing move as an example of how trade agreements hurt American workers.

(Additional reporting by David Lawder and Eric Walsh in Washington and Melissa Fares in New York; Writing by Roberta Rampton; Editing by Bill Trott and Alistair Bell)

source: news.abs-cbn.com