Trump Russia Indictment Rumors: U.S. Marshals Move On Trump Associates After Hearing, Online Report Claims

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.

There are unconfirmed reports that a “sealed indictment” of Donald Trump, as well as indictments of numerous Trump associates, has been handed down by a grand jury in a federal court and had circulated online at least since Saturday after a popular but controversial blogger posted the initial claim of an indictment.

Those reports, which may more correctly be called “rumors,” escalated on Wednesday when former White House staffer Claude Taylor — who has posted numerous Trump Russia reports from his “sources” on his Twitter account — reported via Twitter that “hundreds” of United States Marshals had received a green light from judges to “target” multiple associates of Trump — possibly to make arrests. But whether that supposed “targeting” actually involved arrests, simply serving warrants, or something else was not specified by Taylor in his series of Twitter postings.

“Shortly after 12 p.m. in the Eastern District of Virginia (EDVA) in a closed and secure courtroom colloquially known as a SKIF, a hearing was held,” Taylor wrote, referring to a “Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility” (the correct acronym is “SCIF”), a closed and secured room where classified information is stored or secret proceedings take place.

“The Government argued before a 3 judge panel for a MOE (Marshall Order of Execution). The MOE was granted. A revised tactical and logistical plan was approved for Multiple Jurisdictions by the Court. This is a highly detailed plan using hundreds of United States Marshal Service targeting an unknown number of Trump associates,” Taylor continued.

“The operation commenced shortly after the Court’s approved of the MOE at about 2pm. The MOE filing and number will remain under seal until the indictments are unsealed by the Court.”

The post reporting the alleged “sealed indictment” was written by online journalist Louise Mensch with Taylor and appeared on Mensch’s blog at this link.

Mensch and Taylor’s earlier reports that a grand jury had been convened to investigate the alleged connection between the Trump campaign and Russian contacts proved correct when that grand jury issued several subpoenas last week against business associates of former Trump National Security Adviser Michael Flynn — one of Trump’s leading surrogates during the 2016 Presidential Campaign.

Their claim that the grand jury had actually handed down a “sealed indictment” against Trump himself has not been confirmed. Nor had there been further reports of the reported U.S. Marshal operation against Trump associates as of 6:45 p.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday.

But the unconfirmed report comes just a day after reports that former FBI Director James Comey, who was fired by Trump last week, had kept detailed records of conversations between Trump and himself, including a conversation in February in which Trump asked Comey to drop-off the FBI investigation into Flynn’s Russia ties.

The allegation was described by multiple Senators and House members as an attempt to obstruct justice by Trump — which if true could become an offense worthy of impeachment.

Two days after firing Comey, and after numerous members of Trump’s White House staff had publicly declared that there was no connection between the firing and the FBI’s Russia investigation, Trump gave an interview to Lester Holt of NBC News in which he explicitly connected his decision to terminate the FBI director to “the Russia thing,” saying that the scandal was “a made-up story… an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election that they should’ve won.”

Mensch and Taylor’s online reports have been proven controversial. Last week, Mensch reported on her blog that the “first Trump Russia arrests” could take place “possibly as soon as Thursday, May 11th.” But that date passed with no arrests in the Trump Russia case reported — and none have been reported at all, to date.

[Featured Image by Drew Angerer/Getty Images]