Russia US Election Interference 2016

Former KGB spy Yuri Shvets has told The Guardian that Russia has cultivated former president Donald Trump as a Russian asset for over 40 years. Shvets serves as a source for journalist Craig Unger who's currently working on his new book 'American Kompromat' which explores Trump's relationship to Russia and Jeffrey Epstein. Trump allegedly appeared on Russian's radar after his marriage to his first wife Ivana Zelnickova in 1977 and was later identified as a potential asset by so-called spotter agent Joy-Lud who sold television sets to Trump for his Grand Hyatt New York hotel.

When Trump visited Russia with Ivana in 1987, he was allegedly approached by KGB operatives who suggested he'd go into politics.

"For the KGB, it was a charm offensive. They had collected a lot of information on his personality so they knew who he was personally. The feeling was that he was extremely vulnerable intellectually, and psychologically, and he was prone to flattery," Shvets recalls. "This is what they exploited. They played the game as if they were immensely impressed by his personality and believed this is the guy who should be the president of the United States one day: it is people like him who could change the world. They fed him these so-called active measures soundbites and it happened. So it was a big achievement for the KGB active measures at the time."

Donald Trump has granted his first national security adviser, Michael Flynn a "full pardon", the President wrote in a tweet Wednesday.

In 2017, Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with the Russian ambassador and later cooperated with prosecutors. He later accused the government of trying to frame him and withdrew his guilty plea.

"It is my Great Honor to announce that General Michael T. Flynn has been granted a Full Pardon. Congratulations to @GenFlynn and his wonderful family, I know you will now have a truly fantastic Thanksgiving," Trump wrote on Twitter.

The president of the United States Donald Trump has commuted his long time ally Roger Stone days before he was scheduled to go to prison.

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany has stated that "Roger Stone is now a free man" adding that there allegedly was "never any collusion between the Trump Campaign, or the Trump Administration, with Russia". Stone was sentenced to prison as a part of the investigation of Russia's interference in the 2016 election and possible collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign over lying to Congress, witness tampering and obstruction.

The former security advisor of Donald Trump, Michael Flynn, who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI in 2017 and is currently trying to withdraw this plea has high chances of receiving a presidential pardon from Donald Trump. The President wrote in a Twitter post that he is "strongly considering a full pardon".

In an interview the former congressman for the republican party in California Dana Rohrabacher confirmed that he offered Julian Assange a presidential pardon in 2017. Before the confirmation, only Assange's lawyers claimed that a presidential pardon was offered to the WikiLeaks founder. The offer was tied to the condition that Assange provides prove that Russia hasn't been the source of the, by WikiLeaks published, internal emails from the Democratic National Committee (DNC).

The lawyers of the Wikileaks founder Julian Assange said that he's planning on calling a witness on the stand that will testify that Assange was offered a presidential pardon. The pardon was allegedly tied to Assange denying that Russia were responsible for the interference in the US elections. They claim that the offer was made by the former republican congressman   Dana Rohrabacher who claimed to act on behalf of President Donald Trump.