“It’s beginning to look like Special Counsel Mueller will catch President Trump and his three eldest children committing the first ever reality TV show assisted financial crime, all collaborating in a $350 million dollar bank fraud related to the Trump SoHo Condominium Hotel.
The fraud-riddled Trump SoHo project ultimately failed and was foreclosed upon by lenders in 2014, but its legacy lives on in a byzantine web of lawsuits.
A Congresswoman has introduced a resolution calling for President Trump to undergo a physical and mental evaluation to determine if he is fit to continue in office as president. While the measure by Representative Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) probably has little chance of passage in a House controlled by Republicans, it shows that there is growing concern about Trump’s ability to carry out his role as the nation’s chief executive.Washington Journal
CHRISTOPHER STEELE DOSSIER“A Russian emigre figure close to the Republican US presidential candidate Donald TRUMP campaign team…the emigre confirmed that an intelligence exchange had been running between them for at least 8 years. Within this context priority requirement had been for intelligence on the activities, business and otherwise, in the US of leading Russian oligarchs and their families. TRUMP and his associates duly had obtained and supplied the Kremlin with this information.”
The Mentor, Roy Cohn
Roy Cohn biographer Wayne Barrett said on Netflix’s “Get Me Roger Stone”, “I started hearing about Roger from people who were close to Roy…Roy Cohn is the single most evil person I have ever…If that’s a Magnet for you as a young man, it says you’re Soulless before you start.”
Trump is the son of a tough New York [slum/]landlord who treated him more like a business guy than a warm father. He died young and Trump ran into the notorious Roy Cohn, the McCarthy-era attorney who bragged about skirting numerous indictments and was a closeted homosexual who died of AIDS in 1986. “I hear Roy in the things he says quite clearly,” said Peter Fraser, who as Mr. Cohn’s lover for the last two years of his life spent a great deal of time with Mr. Trump. “That bravado, and if you say it aggressively and loudly enough, it’s the truth — that’s the way Roy used to operate to a degree, and Donald was certainly his apprentice.” NY Times
“Then New York’s most feared lawyer, Mr. Cohn had a client list that ran the gamut from the disreputable to the quasi-reputable: Anthony (Fat Tony) Salerno.” NY TimesFat Tony Salerno went to prison in 1989 and died in 1992. “In a much-debated 1986 article, Fortune magazine rated him [Salerno] the most powerful and wealthiest gangster in America, citing earnings in the tens of millions from loan sharking, profit skimming at Nevada casinos and charging a “Mafia tax” on New York City construction projects. At the time, he maintained a home in Miami Beach, a 100-acre estate in Rhinebeck, N.Y., and an apartment in Gramercy Park.” NY Times
Mafia Consigliere Roy Cohn introduced Trump to Roger Stone, Ronald Regan campaign manager at the time. He started the most amoral lobbying firm to date with Paul Manafort just as Trump Tower was being built. Black, Manafort, Stone and later, Kelly, became Trump’s representatives and consultants throughout his career and Presidential campaigns. Trump Tower utilized illegal immigrant labor under the directive of Roy Cohn’s clients, Italian Mafia-run labor unions and owned concrete supplier. Trump used the inflated construction cost of Concrete, presumably for some gain or ease in development. Trump offered financing for his Trump Tower units from his own connection, and Manafort bought a unit. 3 units were sold to an unemployed girlfriend of the Mafia. This and the Polish illegal alien cases both ended up in court. Felix Sater, son of Russian Mafia and himself a criminal turned FBI informant, is the long-term business partner of Trump in Bayrock LLC. Bayrock is the subject of Dutch investigation into money laundering with former Soviet business partners and legally organized by Rudy Giuliani. Watch This Film, The Dubious Friends of Donald Trump: The Russians
Trump Fired FBI Director James Comey via letter delivered by private bodyguard on May 9, 2017. PODCAST How much power does a president have to affect an investigation? As the fallout from Trump’s decision to fire FBI Director James Comey continues, we take a look at the limitations of presidential power when it comes to investigations. Plus, we assess how history measures up, with Bob Woodward and Marc Fisher. Washington Post
May 10, 2017, Trump locked out US Press and Photographers out while he entertained Russian Ambassador/Explosive Expert Physicist Sergey Kislyak, central to the Flynn firing and inquiry, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Russia tweeted photos which alerted the US. Business Insider; H.R. McMaster, new National Security Advisor, was present and denied the importance of what was shared. This sharing of Israeli intelligence could end the sharing of intelligence with the U.S. “Trump allegedly revealed the city in ISIS-held territory where, according to his intelligence briefing, the U.S. ally retrieved evidence that the militant group is actively planning to smuggle a laptop wired with an explosive onto an airliner. The information of the location and nature of the plot threatens to give away Israeli intelligence methods to Russia. Israel fears that Moscow, allied with Iranian forces in Syria, may then pass the intelligence onto Tehran, its longtime enemy.”Newsweek
Trump Told Russians That Firing ‘Nut Job’ Comey Eased Pressure From Investigation “I just fired the head of the F.B.I. He was crazy, a real nut job,” Mr. Trump said, according to the document, which was read to The New York Times by an American official. “I faced great pressure because of Russia. That’s taken off.” The White House document that contained Mr. Trump’s comments was based on notes taken from inside the Oval Office and has been circulated as the official account of the meeting. One official read quotations to The Times, and a second official confirmed the broad outlines of the discussion.” NY Times
Steve Bannon pushed him through as Attorney General, the first appointee confirmed on February 8, 2017. Like Bannon and Trump, and according to his mother, he is a contrarian and loves to argue. Sessions recused himself from the investigation, and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointed Robert Mueller as special counsel. Trump has been openly displeased with Sessions refusing to resign, and Sessions protects Mueller from being fired from the investigation.
Then-Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) prepares to testify at his confirmation hearing to be attorney general. (Jim Lo Scalzo/European Pressphoto Agency)
Below, a timeline of events related to Attorney General Jeff Sessions’s relationship with the Trump campaign and his own conversations with Russian officials. This will be updated as needed.
Aug. 21, 2015. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) makes an unexpected appearance at a Donald Trump campaign rally in Mobile, Ala. While he doesn’t endorse Trump, he dons a “Make America Great Again” cap to loud applause. Sessions is one of the first elected officials to tacitly embrace Trump’s upstart candidacy.
(CNN)
Feb. 28, 2016. Sessions formally endorses Trump and becomes one of his campaign’s key surrogates.
March 3. Trump names Sessions as chairman of his campaign’s national security advisory committee.
March 17. At an event hosted by the American Council for Capital Formation, Sessions discusses Trump’s foreign policy positions.
“I think an argument can be made there is no reason for the U.S. and Russia to be at this loggerheads. Somehow, someway we ought to be able to break that logjam,” Sessions said. “Strategically it’s not justified for either country. It may not work. Putin may not be able to be dealt with, but I don’t condemn his instincts that we ought to attempt to do that.”
July 18. On the first day of the Republican National Convention, the Heritage Foundation hosted a panel conversation addressing European relations that was attended by a number of ambassadors. “Much of the discussion focused on Russia’s incursions into Ukraine and Georgia,” moderator Victor Ashe later wrote, adding that “[s]everal ambassadors asked for names of people who might impact foreign policy under Trump.”
This appears to be the event after which Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak approached Sessions as part of a small group of foreign dignitaries. Sessions, The Post reports, “then spoke individually to some of the ambassadors, including Kislyak.”
July 31. In an appearance on CNN, Sessions defends Trump’s position on reaching out to Russia.
“This whole problem with Russia is really disastrous for America, for Russia and for the world,” he said. “Donald Trump is right. We need to figure out a way to end this cycle of hostility that’s putting this country at risk, costing us billions of dollars in defense, and creating hostilities.
Sept. 8. Sessions and Kislyak meet in his Senate office. The subject of the meeting isn’t clear, but one official told NBC’s Hallie Jackson that during such meetings ambassadors would “often make superficial comments about election-related news.”
On Mar. 2, 2017, Session explained that the meeting was attended by himself and two or three other staffers. They “listened to the ambassador and what his concerns might be.” The topics discussed included travel to Russia, terrorism and Ukraine. “I don’t recall any specific political discussions,” Sessions said.
Sept. 13. A spokesperson for Sessions indicated that he and Kislyak spoke by phone on this day, but then retracted that claim.
Nov. 8. Trump is elected president.
Nov. 18. President-elect Trump nominates Sessions to serve as his attorney general.
Jan 10, 2017. A hearing on Sessions’s nomination to serve as attorney general is held by the Senate Judiciary Committee. Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) asks about a CNN report on Russian ties to the Trump campaign that came out that day.
Play Video2:15
Sessions ‘unable to comment’ on Trump intelligence briefing reports
FRANKEN: CNN just published a story alleging that the intelligence community provided documents to the president-elect last week, that included information that “Russian operatives claim to have compromising personal and financial information about Mr. Trump.” These documents also allegedly say “there was a continuing exchange of information during the campaign between Trump surrogates and intermediaries for the Russian government.” Again, I’m telling you this as it’s coming out, so, you know.
But if it’s true, it’s obviously extremely serious, and if there is any evidence that anyone affiliated with the Trump campaign communicated with the Russian government in the course of this campaign, what will you do?
SESSIONS: Senator Franken, I’m not aware of any of those activities. I have been called a surrogate at a time or two in that campaign and I did not have communications with the Russians, and I’m unable to comment on it.
FRANKEN: Very well.
Jan. 12. The first questions about national security adviser-designate Michael Flynn’s interactions with Russia’s ambassador are reported by The Washington Post.
Jan. 15. Vice President-elect Mike Pence appears on “Face the Nation” and — erroneously, as it turns out — says that Flynn’s contacts with Kislyak were “strictly coincidental” and that Flynn and the Russian “did not discuss anything having to do with the United States’ decision to expel diplomats or impose censure against Russia.”
Jan. 17. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) sends Sessions a lengthy letterasking about Russia (and a number of other things).
Several of the President-Elect’s nominees or senior advisers have Russian ties. Have you been in contact with anyone connected to any part of the Russian government about the 2016 election, either before or after Election Day?
RESPONSE: No.
Jan. 20. Trump is inaugurated as president.
Feb. 8. Sessions is confirmed as attorney general in a 52-47 vote. Franken and Leahy — and every other Democrat save Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) — vote no.
March 1. The Post reveals Sessions’s two interactions with Kislyak.
Sessions’s staff releases a statement from the attorney general: “I never met with any Russian officials to discuss issues of the campaign. I have no idea what this allegation is about. It is false.”
A statement from Trump’s administration called the questions an “attack” and hinted that Franken was pushing the story for political purposes.
Sarah Isgur Flores, director of public affairs for the Department of Justice, went further in a statement to BuzzFeed.
“There was absolutely nothing misleading about his answer. Last year, the Senator had over 25 conversations with foreign ambassadors as a senior member of the Armed Services Committee, including the British, Korean, Japanese, Polish, Indian, Chinese, Canadian, Australian, German and Russian ambassadors,” she said. “He was asked during the hearing about communications between Russia and the Trump campaign—not about meetings he took as a senator and a member of the Armed Services Committee.”
March 2. Speaking with NBC, Sessions addresses the situation directly.”
Sessions had a third meeting with Kislyak in his Senate office in September. Officials declined to say whether U.S. intelligence agencies intercepted any Russian communications describing the third encounter.
As a result, the discrepancies center on two earlier Sessions-Kislyak conversations, including one that Sessions has acknowledged took place in July 2016 on the sidelines of the Republican National Convention.
By that point, Russian President Vladimir Putin had decided to embark on a secret campaign to help Trump win the White House by leaking damaging emails about his rival, Democrat Hillary Clinton, according to U.S. intelligence agencies.
Although it remains unclear how involved Kislyak was in the covert Russian campaign to aid Trump, his superiors in Moscow were eager for updates about the candidate’s positions, particularly regarding U.S. sanctions on Russia and long-standing disputes with the Obama administration over conflicts in Ukraine and Syria.
Kislyak also reported having a conversation with Sessions in April at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, where then-candidate Trump delivered his first major foreign policy address, according to the officials familiar with intelligence on Kislyak.
Sessions has said he does not remember any encounter with Kislyak at that event. In his June testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee, Sessions said, “I do not recall any conversations with any Russian official at the Mayflower Hotel.”
Later in that hearing, Sessions said that “it’s conceivable that that occurred. I just don’t remember it.”
Current and former U.S. officials said that assertion is at odds with Kislyak’s accounts of conversations during two encounters over the course of the campaign, one in April ahead of Trump’s first major foreign policy speech and another in July on the sidelines of the Republican National Convention.
The apparent discrepancy could pose new problems for Sessions at a time when his position in the administration appears increasingly tenuous.” Washington Post
Sessions met with Russian envoy twice, encounters he did not disclose in confirmation hearings March 1, 2017 Washington Post
September 8, 2016:”Then-Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) spoke twice last year with Russia’s ambassador to the United States, Justice Department officials said, encounters he did not disclose when asked about possible contacts between members of President Trump’s campaign and representatives of Moscow during Sessions’s confirmation hearing to become attorney general.
One of the meetings was a private conversation between Sessions and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak that took place in September in the senator’s office, at the height of what U.S. intelligence officials say was a Russian cyber campaign to upend the U.S. presidential race.”
July 18, 2016: “On the first day of the Republican National Convention, the Heritage Foundation hosted a panel conversation addressing European relations that was attended by a number of ambassadors. “Much of the discussion focused on Russia’s incursions into Ukraine and Georgia,” moderator Victor Ashe later wrote, adding that “[s]everal ambassadors asked for names of people who might impact foreign policy under Trump.”This appears to be the event after which Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak approached [Jeff] Sessions as part of a small group of foreign dignitaries. Sessions, The Post reports, ‘then spoke individually to some of the ambassadors, including Kislyak.'” Washington Post Sessions’ Timeline Washington Post
Sessions offered in recent months to resign as attorney general “Sessions announced his recusal shortly after he became attorney general and a day after The Washington Post revealed that he had twice met with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak during the campaign and did not disclose that fact to the Senate Judiciary Committee during his January confirmation hearing. Trump learned of the attorney general’s decision shortly before Sessions announced it at a news conference. The president’s anger has lingered for months, according to the people close to the White House. They said that Trump cites Sessions’s recusal as a factor that prompted the decision last month by Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein to appoint a special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, to oversee the expanding Russian investigation.” Washington Post June 6 ABC Breaking News
“Democrats spent the hours before the vote on Wednesday seething over the rebuke of Ms. Warren, of Massachusetts, who had been barred from speaking on the floor the previous night. Late Tuesday, Republicans voted to formally silence Ms. Warren after she read from a 1986 letter by Coretta Scott King that criticized Mr. Sessions for using “the awesome power of his office to chill the free exercise of the vote by black citizens” while serving as a United States attorney in Alabama. Since Mr. Trump announced his choice for attorney general, Mr. Sessions’s history with issues of race had assumed center stage. A committee hearing on his nomination included searing indictments from black Democratic lawmakers like Representative John Lewis of Georgia, the civil rights icon, and Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey, who broke with Senate tradition to testify against a peer.” NY TimesNow we know that Cory Booker took campaign contributions from Jared Kushner. MSN
“Jeff Sessions got confirmed as attorney general despite refusing to commit to recuse himself from DOJ inquiries into Trump and other administration officials.” Washington Post
“Sessions, then a U.S. senator from Alabama, was among Trump’s early supporters in Congress and went on television to promote the candidate. He has come under scrutiny for two meetings with Kislyak last year…Sessions said at a news conference Thursday that he was “taken aback” by a question — which referred to a breaking news story about contacts between Trump campaign surrogates and Russians. “In retrospect, I should have slowed down and said I did meet one Russian official a couple times. That would be the ambassador,” he said….John McLaughlin, a former deputy CIA director and acting CIA director under Obama, said that “it does strain credibility” that Sessions would have simply forgotten about his meetings with Kislyak when he asserted during his confirmation hearing to become attorney general that he had not met with Russian officials…Paul Saunders, a Russia specialist at the Center for the National Interest and a former official in the George W. Bush administration…hosted then-candidate Donald Trump for a foreign policy speech in April last year. Kislyak was in the audience as one of four invited foreign ambassadors as Trump proclaimed, “America-first will be the major and overriding theme of my administration.” Kislyak is known to collect scores of business cards as he moves around Washington, and to follow up, sometimes relentlessly, with requests for one-on-one meetings. Sessions said Thursday that Kislyak had also invited him to lunch, an invitation he never took up…In the case of Sessions, who was considered a top prospect for a Cabinet job when Kislyak visited him in his Senate office in September, Kislyak would have wanted to know: How reasonable is he from a Russia perspective? Hall said [Steven Hall, former head of Russia operations at the CIA].” Washington Post
Daily Kos Petition:”At his Senate confirmation hearing, Attorney General Jeff Sessions lied under oath that he had never had contact with the Russian government as a surrogate for the Trump campaign. We now know that he met with Russian officials at the Republican National Convention, right as they were engaging in cyberattacks to influence the election in favor of Donald Trump. After claiming he would “recuse himself” on all Trump-Russia matters at the Justice Department, Sessions then advised President Trump to fire FBI Director James Comey—right after Comey had issued subpoenas on the Trump-Russia investigation and requested more funding. As the nation’s top law enforcement official, Jeff Sessions has completely violated our trust. He must resign, and his successor appoint a special prosecutor to fully and openly investigate the Trump campaign’s ties with Russian officials.”
From Rolling Stone’s Meet the Leaders of the Trump Resistance by Tim Dickinson : “No cabinet pick has united the Trump resistance like Jeff Sessions, the Alabama senator tapped to head the Justice Department, where he would have broad autonomy to set the national course on the enforcement of civil rights, drug and immigration policy. Sessions was blocked from Senate confirmation once before, when the body refused to seat him as federal judge in the mid-Eighties, following hearings that detailed a distressing history of racism. As a U.S. attorney, Sessions had prosecuted black voting-rights activists – close associates of Martin Luther King Jr. – on trumped-up accusations of voter fraud. (The activists were found not guilty.) And he’s railed against the Voting Rights Act as “intrusive.” According to Senate testimony, Sessions repeatedly referred to a black subordinate as “boy” and opined – during an investigation of a Ku Klux Klan lynching – that he’d thought the KKK was “OK until I found out they smoked pot.” (Sessions denied denigrating his colleague, and insisted the Klan comment was a joke.) Sessions also called civil rights groups, including the NAACP, “un-American organizations teaching anti-American values.” In his U.S. Senate career, Sessions has continued a track record as an extremist. He’s an unreconstructed drug warrior – Sessions insisted last year that “good people don’t smoke marijuana.” An immigration hardliner, Sessions has long ties to the far-right organization FAIR; “he has cavorted with groups that we consider to be hate groups,” says Richard Cohen, president of the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Sharry, the immigrant-rights leader, calls the idea of Sessions enforcing civil rights and immigration laws “preposterous.” Todd A. Cox, director of policy at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, says “it is unimaginable that he could be trusted to enforce this nation’s civil rights laws.” Coretta Scott King warned in a 1986 letter that Sessions’ appointment to the judiciary would “irreparably damage the work of my husband.” Sessions faces deep resistance from the drug-reform community, concerned Sessions will break the fragile federal Drug War truce that has enabled state-legal marijuana to boom into a $7 billion industry. Sessions is also opposed by conservatives, who fear he will derail bipartisan progress on issues like criminal justice reform. “Sessions illustrates the need for a new conservative movement,” McMullin says.”
FL Group-Iceland BV (Bank) investment into Trump SoHo
Alexander Mashkevich–Trump SoHo investor
Sam Kislin-Tamir Sapir’s business partner in electronics retail, Fundraiser for Rudy Giuliani
Julius SchwarzBayrock’s executive vice presidentMay 2007 letter obtained by FORBES. Khrapunov and Bayrock Group created KazBay B.V. in the Netherlands in 2007, with the legal advice of Bracewell & Giuliani.
The world order we know is already over, and Russia is moving fast to grab the advantage. Can Trump figure out the new war in time to win it? By MOLLY K. MCKEW POLITICO January 01, 2017
Some call it a Global War on Liberal Democracies. Rich authoritarians who can’t get enough, at peoples’ expense. It sure seems like they’re all friends, doing business and laundering each other’s money. They use established religion to gain more power, and in the case of Russian Chabad, to conduct mob activities via its established network.
THE TRANSNATIONAL ORGANIZED CRIME NETWORK are the ones who deal in drug, sex and human trafficking, arms dealing,and more. Semion Mogilevich is the FBI’s most wanted man, hunted by Robert Mueller, James Comey, Peter Strzok and Bruce Ohr for decades. The Trump Organization has been laundering the Russian mafia’s money since the 80s, and the NY mafia before that. He did a lot of business with the Italian mafia as well. His dad went from whorehouse owner to slum lord. Manafort’s dad was into demolition with mafia ties, and Kellyanne Conway’s grandpa was a hitman for the NJ mob. Ironically, Giuliani was a mob buster when he took down many of New York’s “Five Families” and became Mayor in 1989. He prosecuted “the Mafia’s international heroin and cocaine ring in the “Pizza Connection” case” before signing off on a Mogilevich associate, Felix Sater‘s deal with Trump, convicted criminal blood diamond smuggler Lev Leviev and Alex Sapir in Bayrock.
SANCTIONS for the Occupation of Crimea and the Global Magnitsky Act Russia needs sanctions dropped in order to complete the largest business deal ever, between Rosneft and ExxonMobil, referenced in the Steele Dossier with a pending 19.5% stake for Team Trump. Exxon’s lifelong CEO/employee Rex Tillerson, former US Secretary of State, broke tradition by meeting with Turkey’s Erdogan without an interpreter.The House passed the Sanctions bill, but Trump has not signed it and the office which enforces sanctions has been closed. Trump did sanction Nicaragua and Turkish men for detaining Christian minister Andrew Brunson, followed by Khashoggi’s death on their soil and the minister’s release, but not before bringing up the release of Gulen, whom Michael Flynn was charge with taking $500,000 for taking in a kidnapping coup. Turkey wants Fethullah Gulen. Russia wants Bill Browder who created The Magnitsky Act sanctions discussed during the June 9, 2016, meeting and pivotal to this day because they threaten the personal wealth of Putin, the Oligarchs, and others. Saudi Arabia brutally murdered Jamal Khashoggion October 2, 2018. Putin tried to take control of INTERPOL, who has arrested Browder on numerous occasions at Putin’s request.
The FSB (Former KGB) and RISS, the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies think tank devised a plan to weaken our democracy and manipulate a right-wing government into power. Steve Bannon‘s “The Movement”, political consulting, is attempting to spread right-wing authoritarianism globally. He was Director of Cambridge Analytica, closed May 1, 2018, whose parent company, SCL (Social Limited), is involved with the Trump 2020 campaign and others internationally. The RNC will absorb the Trump 2020 Campaign. Brexit was its trial before the Trump Campaign, Ukraine before that. Robert Mercer invested in Cambridge Analytica, the Trump and Cruz campaigns, and more. Russia has done this with the help of Paul Manafort in Ukraine and Turkey; Brexitand separatist movements, and attempted to throw the French election towards LePen with Alt-Righttrolls and a hacked and altered email dump. Montenegro and unknown numbers of elections have been influenced in the same manner.
Conspiracy: The secret meetings and identifying the players who arranged, participated, and had knowledge of the Russian plan to influence the US election.
The Money Trail: Money laundering of Russian oligarchs through the Trump Organization and associates including Paul Manafort, Felix Sater of Bayrock. Russian campaign financing of key Republicans made possible by Citizens United, and also via the NRA (National Rifle Association). The most powerful Russian mobster is Semion Mogilevich. His lieutenant was Felix Sater’s father, who established the Russian mob in Brighton Beach. Felix Sater was busted for a pump and dump scheme during an historic unification of the Five Families of NYC and the Russian mob. Trump’s mentor was NY mafia consigliere Roy Cohn, and Trump Tower was built using mob concrete with the mob labor union looking the other way while Trump hired Polish immigrants to do the demolition prep. Many Italian Mafia and Russian criminals have been Trump property owners and tenants. Trump has a long history of business ties to people from former Soviet states. Sater went to Russia and became an FBI informant. When he returned to the US, Felix Sater formed Bayrock with the FL Group. One of his primary funding partners has been Bayrock, which built Trump Soho and many other Trump-branded properties, Bayrock is under investigation in the Netherlands for money laundering and tax evasion. Deutsche Bank: Several members of the Trump and Kushner families hold accounts at DB. Mueller has requested information. The Bank of Cyprus is connected to many questionable transactions, and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross led it through the financial crisis. FINCEN (Financial Crimes Enforcement Network) investigation for money laundering. In March, 2015, Trump Taj Mahal settled for a civil money penalty of $10,000,000 for having “willfully violated the program, reporting, and recordkeeping requirements of the Bank Secrecy Act and its implementing regulations”.
Propaganda, Disinformation and Active Measures-Hybrid Warfare, The Russians have broken it down and made it a science. The goal is to cause division, get favorable candidates elected, and dominate from within. Social and Right Wing Media: Hacking and release of emails and information through Wikileaks and DC Leaks dumps of DNC / Clinton hacked emails. Having returned from Russia himself, now-guilty cooperating witness Michael Flynn spread Pizzagate conspiracies from Podesta emails to weaken Clinton. Alt-Right Meme Warriors on Reddit and Gab funded by American tech billionaire Peter Thiel (who has since left “liberal silicon valley”) with now-fired from Breitbart and disgraced hate speech provacateur Milo Yiannopoulos as the conduit; Russian Bots and Trolls employed by the Internet Research Agency posing as American Trump supporters and protestors; and the US social (Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, etc) & traditional media and Trump Campaignwhich furthered Russian-generated propaganda. The Hamilton 68 dashboard tracks Russian bots real-time. Russians have invested in these companies.
Trump suggested a joint US-Russia cyber security task force at the G20 Summit which would entail sharing our system with them so they could hack us even more. At the end of January 2018, the heads of the FSB and RISS had a meeting with CIA Dir. Pompeo and DNI Dan Coats, despite one of them being on the sanctioned list and prohibited from entering the US.
July 10, 2017: White House Press Briefing Started Clinton Russian Hacking Rumors, Again “Don Jr. took a very short meeting from which there was absolutely no follow-up. Frankly, I think something that may make sense is looking at the Democrat National Committee coordinated opposition research directly with the Ukrainian Embassy. This is not an accusation, that’s an on-the-record action that they took. So if you’re looking for an example of a campaign coordinating with a foreign country or a foreign source, look no further than the DNC who actually coordinated opposition research with the Ukrainian Embassy. And no one in this room to my knowledge really had a big problem with that. The only thing I see inappropriate about the meeting was the people that leaked the information on the meeting after it was voluntarily disclosed. “
Rachel Maddow ShowGOP Operative Peter Smith created scandals for Bill Clinton similarly to how Flynn has for Hillary. He tried to obtain the 33,000 Clinton emails on behalf of Flynn.
“In one case, investigators found there had been a manipulation of voter data in a county database but the alterations were discovered and rectified, two sources familiar with the matter tell TIME. Investigators have not identified whether the hackers in that case were Russian agents.
The fact that private data was stolen from states is separately providing investigators a previously unreported line of inquiry in the probes into Russian attempts to influence the election. In Illinois, more than 90% of the nearly 90,000 records stolen by Russian state actors contained drivers license numbers, and a quarter contained the last four digits of voters’ Social Security numbers, according to Ken Menzel, the General Counsel of the State Board of Elections.
The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and House Intelligence Committees, and the Department of Defense are investigating the Russian interference in the 2016 Election. “Keith Olbermann – nonetheless confirmed last night, Tuesday, May 9th, that subpoenas were issued from the Eastern District of Virginia against associates of General Flynn.” Patribotics
The US Treasury Department Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) which tracks money laundering worldwide and is sharing information with the investigation. The FinCEN is under Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin.
US Justice Preet Bharara was fired in January, after being personally assured by Trump in November after the election that he would not. Bharara was investigating Trump’s money laundering connections from Russians through his real estate. His jurisdiction was the headquarters of Trump and therefore the court for multiple lawsuits and ALSO presided over the Money Laundering Division in the Southern District of New York. Two days before going to trial, Jeff Sessions dropped the case.
The Inspector General at the Defense Department was the first to officially investigated Michael Flynn, the announcement of which was followed by Jeff Sessions recusing himself from that investigation. The Inspector General at Jeff Sessions’ Justice Department started by investigating Clinton’s emails but has not stated if Sessions has recused himself from the Paul Manafortinvestigation.
“New York Attorney General Eric Schneidermanas well as Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. also have been examining real-estate transactions by Mr. [Paul] Manafort, who has spent and borrowed tens of millions of dollars in connection with property across the U.S. over the past decade” WSJ
“A member of the Federal Election Commission is calling on the agency to investigate whether Russian agents paid for Facebook ads to spread damaging stories about Hillary Clinton ahead of last fall’s presidential election. “I think there is potential there for finding a violation, but I don’t want to suggest that I have prejudged anything that could potentially come before me,” said FEC Commissioner Ellen Weintraub, a Democratic appointee to the commission. Her assertion comes as agency staff is already moving to investigate a related complaint filed in December by a pair of watchdog groups against President Donald Trump’s campaign and the Russian government.” Politico There are more. 17 US Intelligence agencies and the Netherlands.
“John O. Brennan, the former C.I.A. director, described on Tuesday a nerve-fraying few months last year as American authorities realized that the presidential election was under attack and feared that Donald J. Trump’s campaign might be aiding that fight. Mr. Brennan, in testimony before the House Intelligence Committee, said he was concerned by a series of suspicious contacts between Russian government officials and Mr. Trump’s associates. The C.I.A. learned about those meetings just as it was beginning to grapple with Russian hackers and propagandists trying to manipulate the presidential race.” May 23, 2017 NY Times
June 2, 2017 Trump Reviewing Whether to Block Comey Testimony to Senate “Independent analysts have said they don’t believe Comey, now a private citizen, can be stopped if he is intent on telling his story.”Bloomberg
May 26, 2017: NSA CHIEF Admiral Mike Rogers Admits Donald Trump Colluded with Russian “According to multiple reports, the president approached top intelligence bosses to coax them into joining Trump’s personal war with Comey. In particular, Trump is reported to have asked Dan Coats, the director of national intelligence (DNI), and Admiral Mike Rogers, director of the National Security Agency, to go public in denying that Team Trump had any ties to Russia during the 2016 election campaign. Admiral Rogers anecdotally flatly denied Trump’s request, which—if true—was inappropriate, unethical and dubiously legal, while Coats, a Trump appointee who’s only been in the DNI job since mid-March, likewise refused to back the president against the FBI. This was a stunning setback for Trump, who seems to view our nation’s top security officials as his personal employees who ought to follow his presidential whim rather than the law and the Constitution, which all of them take an oath to defend.” Observer Exclusive
Following are different resources of compiled information written as evidence has been revealed: Salon, 4/9/17
THE CHRISTOPHER STEELE DOSSIER The current investigation became widely known upon release of the 35-page memo which was authored by former British intelligence agent Christopher Steele of Orbis Business Intelligence Ltd. “was hired between June and November last year by Fusion GPS, a Washington-based research consultancy to look into Trump’s links with Russia.” Read the original “Golden Showers” intelligence report here courtesy Buzzfeed, released a month later. A second Steele memo was drafted December 13, 2016, including intelligence which had continued to come in unsolicited after the November election. Court docs embedded in The GuardianBuzzfeed
The Christopher Steele/Orbis memos reference Source A, Russian Foreign Ministry who had been feeding Trump intelligence on opponents including Clinton for several years, confirmed by Source D. Source B, an active top-level Russian intelligence officer “who asserted that the TRUMP operation was both supported and directed by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Its aim was to sow discord and disunity both within the US itself, but more especially within the Transatlantic alliance which was viewed as inimical to Russia’s interests. ” In June 2016, Source B asserted there was enough “embarrassing material on the now Republican presidential candidate to be able to blackmail him if they so wished.” Source B confirmed a dossier of “kompromat” on Hillary Clinton but it was mainly recorded phone calls “and focused on things she had said which contradicted er current position on various issues.”.”Source C, a Senior Russian Financial Official said the TRUMP operation should be seen in terms of PUTIN’s desire to return to Nineteenth Century ‘Great Power’ politics anchored in countries’ interests rather than the ideals-based international order established after World War Two.” “Source D, a close associate of Trump who had organized and managed his recent trips to Moscow, and who reported, also in June 2016, that this Russian intelligence had been “very helpful.” Source E (most likely hotel staff) confirmed the Moscow Ritz-Carlton Presidential Suite “Golden Showers” prostitute party in 2013 and introduced Source F, a female hotel staffer who worked there at the time. “Source G, a senior Kremlin official, confided that the CLINTON dossier was controlled exclusively by chief Kremlin spokesman, Dmitriy PESKOV, who was responsible for compiling/handling it on the explicit instructions of PUTIN himself.”
One of the main tactics used by the Kremlin to control politicians is through “Kompromat”: compromising material and dossiers kept on individuals under the control of Dmitriy Peskov and/or Department K of the FSB. Steele
Putin controlled a think tank to sway the US Elections, and the knowledge thereof started the FBI Investigations called the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies or RISS [en.riss.ru/] “Neither of the Russian institute documents mentioned the release of hacked Democratic Party emails to interfere with the U.S. election, according to four of the officials. The officials said the hacking was a covert intelligence operation run separately out of the Kremlin. The overt propaganda and covert hacking efforts reinforced each other, according to the officials. Both Russia Today and Sputnik heavily promoted the release of the hacked Democratic Party emails, which often contained embarrassing details.” Reuters Exclusive
Ivanka Trump– Jared Kushner’s Wife. Based on behavioral and circumstantial evidence, the Italian-Russian mob princess and Jewish mob prince want to inherit and control the world with their friends, please decide for yourself. The Trump administration’s every move has favored Putin’s long-range plan to weaken the US in every way it can and further the deep international mob corruption. Ivanka and her brothers were on their way to jail under Cy Vance in 2014 at SDNY, but there was a payoff.
Deutsche Bank and Mazars CPA cases at SDNY are under Cy Vance, but this time the Trump Organization financials will be released to the Court. In 2008, Trump Defaulted on a Deutsche Bank loan, so Jared Kushner recommended his private banker Rosemary Vrablic, whose boss was William Broeksmit. Broeksmit was Ukraine-born and committed suicide by hanging in 2014, leading his son to discover documents, work with the FBI, and write the book Dark Towers (Harper Collins). Interview with Dark Towers author David Enrich: Narativ Live with Zev Shalev: The Truth About Trump and Deutsche Bank Part 1Part2
2012 Doral Resort in Miami- $100 million Deutsche Bank loan
2015 Washington, DC, Old Post Office Hotel conversion – $170 million
Without a properly conducted Security Clearance, Kushner runs shadow foreign policy with friendly dictators and mobsters. That’s because he knows them all on a personal basis. That should tell you something right there:
Kushner Middle East Peace Plan – United front between N Africa against Iran-Turkish power alliance bordering Southern former Soviet Bloc-(The “-Stans”) to challenge existing organizations and agreements. Kushner and MBS- Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman are tight, and the plan hinges upon cooperative arms deals and Israel ceasing West Bank annexation, observing the events surrounding mid-August 2020. The plan seems to have been inked at the Seychelles meeting with Erik Prince, George Nader, and others. Kushner gave MBS a list of potential foes within the House of Saud and a mass round-up and internment at the Ritz Carlton Hotel followed. Meanwhile, June 2017 found Qatar behind a blockade against them by the UAE and Saudi Arabia as Kushner sought bailout refinancing for his 666 5th Ave, NYC, office building. Middle East EyeMarch 19, 2018 “Nader said this group of states could become a force in the region “that the US government could depend on” to counter the influence of Turkey and Iran, according to two sources briefed on the meeting. Nader brought togetherMohammed bin Salman, who was then deputy crown prince of Saudi Arabia; Mohammed bin Zayed, crown prince of Abu Dhabi; Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, president of Egypt; Prince Salman, crown prince of Bahrain; and King Abdullah of Jordan onto the yacht. Their respective states, plus Libya which was not represented at the secret summit, would form the nucleus of pro-US and pro-Israeli states.” July 20, 2019Rep. Cummins’ Oversight report Corporate and Foreign Interests Behind White House Push to Transfer U.S. Nuclear Technology to Saudi Arabia; 7 days later, Cummings’ home was broken into. – IP3-Saudi nuclear power & weapons technology, Weapons to the UAE. The Med-East Pipeline–Papadopoulos–Flynn– Israel–Greece–Italy
Michael Flynnadviser to IP3 2015-2016, informed business partners about future meetings with Putin and Saudi Crown Prince MBS & offered to use the contacts to further IP3 Judge Sullivan: [Flynn] “sold out your country.” Unmasking requests to the NSA began November 30, 2016 by Samantha Power, US Amb. to the UN. Flynn worked with Trump’s adviser friend Tom Barrack, under investigation in the Eastern District of New York (Brooklyn):
As Donald J. Trump was preparing to deliver an address on energy policy in May 2016, Paul Manafort, his campaign chairman, had a question about the speech’s contents for Thomas J. Barrack Jr., a top campaign fund-raiser and close friend of Mr. Trump.
“Are you running this by our friends?” Mr. Manafort asked in a previously undisclosed email to Mr. Barrack, whose real estate and investment firm does extensive business in the Middle East. Mr. Barrack was, in fact, coordinating the language in a draft of the speech with Persian Gulf contacts including Rashid al-Malik, an Emirati businessman who is close to the rulers of the United Arab Emirates [MBZ].
Tom Barrack-(Lebanese son of Culver City, CA grocer) Colony Capitalrec’d. $1.5 billion incl. $474 million from sovereign wealth funds from theSaudis and UAEout of $7 billion total that Colony raised, under investigation in the Eastern District of New York (Brooklyn); Kushner blocked Barrack from becoming a special Middle East envoy & super ambassador to Central and South America;Longtime Trump Friend Under The Microscope For Mideast Ties, Inauguration Role NPRFebruary 21, 2019 Scott Horsley; Barrack Chairman of Inaugural Committee; Confidential Memo: Company of Trump Inauguration Chair Sought to Profit From Connections to Administration, Foreigners The memo outlines how Colony, the company founded by Tom Barrack, an investor who chaired the inaugural, aimed to exploit its connections to Donald Trump. Federal prosecutors are conducting a wide-ranging probe into the nonprofit that ran the inaugural. by Justin Elliott, ProPublica, and Ilya Marritz, WNYC February 5, 2019
ABC News reviewed documents of theInaugural Committeethat spent $104 million of the $107 million raised, more than $1.5 million at the DC Post Office-Trump International Hotel during the Transition: $130,000 for customized seat cushions at 2 dinners, $10,000 to provide makeupto the servers, $2.7 million for a Frank Sinatra rendition of “New York, New York” with Trump pal Steve Wynn’s Las Vegas showgirls, $26 million to Melania Trump‘s California event planner friend, Stephanie Winston-Wolkoff, WIS Media Partners, $1.62 million personal commission (Obama’s 2009 inauguration, which spent about $51 million of the $53.2 million raised; Trump also donated $5 million to the American Red Cross, Salvation Army and the Smithsonian Institute, etc.)-MORE
Lev Leviev-Long-time friends with the Israeli Diamond mogul, financier of Chabad and illegal Israeli West Bank settlements with the Kushners, both friends with Benjamin Netanyahu, daughter sold part of the former NY Times building to Kushner and is friends with Ivanka Trump
Deutsche Bank–Jared Kushner recommended his family’s private banker, Rosemary Vrablic, for Trump when he was desperate
Jared Kushner–Netanyahu is a family friend, friendly with MBS
Kushner Middle East Peace Plan – United front between N Africa against Iran-Turkish power alliance bordering Southern former Soviet Bloc-(The “-Stans”) Middle East EyeMarch 19, 2018 “Nader said this group of states could become a force in the region “that the US government could depend on” to counter the influence of Turkey and Iran, according to two sources briefed on the meeting. Nader brought togetherMohammed bin Salman, who was then deputy crown prince of Saudi Arabia; Mohammed bin Zayed, crown prince of Abu Dhabi; Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, president of Egypt; Prince Salman, crown prince of Bahrain; and King Abdullah of Jordan onto the yacht. Their respective states, plus Libya which was not represented at the secret summit, would form the nucleus of pro-US and pro-Israeli states.”
Strategic Adviser to Trump, Strategic Initiatives Group, White House Office of American Innovation, Son-In-Law, Real Estate heir
Significant business associates include Beny Steinmentz, Steve Roth of Vornado Realty Trust
While he is being investigated, the long-term effects of Jared Kushner’s presence have yet to be seen. One of the big ones is his relationship to the Sinclair-Tribune merger, which is now delivering biased “must run” news into 72% of US households. In December 2016, Kushner gave Sinclair special access.
“Wendi Deng Murdoch, the ex-wife of Rupert Murdoch, first introduced Zhukova to Ivanka Trump a decade ago. Then in 2010, Thrive Capital, the venture firm founded by Joshua Kushner, which included funds from older brother Jared, invested in Artsy, an online platform for art discovery and collecting, and brought in Wendi Murdoch and Zhukova as co-investors.”
“Congressional Democrats from Maryland are asking for thousands of pages of documents to review the business practices of the apartment rental company owned by Jared Kushner, son-in-law and senior adviser to President Donald Trump.
In a letter Friday, Sens. Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen and Reps. Elijah E. Cummings, C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger, John Sarbanes and Anthony Brown told Kushner’s firm that it must abide by U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development regulations because its tenants receive federal rental subsidies through the Housing Choice voucher program.
The Kushner Cos. own 17 apartment complexes in Maryland, most of them in Baltimore County. The lawmakers, who represent areas with Kushner properties, want documents that detail the New York-based company’s voucher contracts with HUD, inspection reports, lawsuits filed by the firm against former tenants and information about any potential conflicts of interest for Kushner.
The Baltimore Sun posted a story online this week detailing the firm’s legal efforts to collect unpaid rent from former tenants, including requesting body attachments, the controversial practice in which judges order the arrest of civil defendants for allegedly failing to appear in court.
The Sun has reported that the Kushner Cos. have filed more than 1,200 civil actions against former tenants in Maryland for unpaid debts, actions that have included requests to have renters arrested.
The Sun has reported that three of the company’s 17 apartment complexes in Maryland have received $6.1 million in HUD Housing Choice voucher payments on behalf of 268 tenants. The White House told the Sun in February that Kushner would not participate in any policy decisions related to the voucher program to avoid the potential for conflicts of interest.
The lawmakers cite The Sun’s reporting and a magazine article by The New York Times and ProPublica that alleged substandard living conditions in Kushner properties.
“If these reports are accurate, they raise very serious and troubling concerns about whether Kushner Companies and its subsidiaries are complying with HUD’s housing quality standards to ensure the safety and health of their own tenants,” they write.
A “That goes to the heart of requests from Maryland’s Congressional Democrats about the business practices of the apartment rental company owned by Kushner and his family business, the Kushner Companies.” Washington Journal
Kushner met at Trump Tower with Russian attorney on June 9, 2016, right after Trump won the Republican nomination, accompanied by Campaign Manager Paul Manafort and Donald Trump, Jr., who called the meeting. Trump, Jr. admitted to the New York Times the purpose was to get compromising information on Clinton from the Russian source.
While his father-in-law has been filed suit for violations of Emoluments Clauses by DC and MD, and Kushner has been officially under investigation for Russian connections since May 2017, Kushner’s financial savior of the 666 Fifth Ave. $1.8 Billion vanity over-bid, Steve Roth of Vornado Realty Trust, is one of the finalists in the $1.7 Billion construction of a new FBI headquarters.
“Virginia Congressman Gerald Connolly said the White House ties to Vornado [Realty Trust] create a conflict of interest. Since Trump hasn’t divested from his company, “that shifts the ethical burden to his business partners,” Connolly said. “We’re in a position where once again he shrugged off his responsibilities and sloughed it off to someone else.” Connolly, who represents an area in Virginia vying for the new headquarters, called on Vornado to drop out of the bidding. “Vornado is run by Steven Roth, who has been advising Donald Trump on his plans to revamp the nation’s infrastructure. He also is consulting with the White House Office of American Innovation, which is being led by Kushner. Steven Schooner, a professor of government procurement law at George Washington University, said the relationship between Vornado and the White House makes any government deal with the real estate company suspect. “This would absolutely pose an apparent, and, potentially, an actual conflict of interest,” Schooner said in an email. “I cannot imagine any modern-era precedent for the president (and his advisor and son-in-law) not recognizing that this is a problem and shutting this down before it gets any worse.” Chicago Tribune
$1.2 Billion Mortgage Due February 2019 on 666 Fifth Ave, NYC
Kushner’s White House role ‘crushed’ efforts to woo investors for NYC tower“Today, 666 Fifth Avenue appears to be the most troubled of the projects Kushner left behind for his family to manage. With one-fourth of its offices empty, lease revenue does not cover monthly interest payments, according to lending documents. A $1.2 billion mortgage, with escalating interest rates, comes due in 18 months. A ratings agency has classified a $115 million portion of the loan as “troubled,” and company officials decline to say whether it will be fully repaid.” Washington Post September 13, 2017
“Qatar is facing an ongoing blockade led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates and joined by Egypt and Bahrain, which President Trump has taken credit for sparking. Kushner, meanwhile, has reportedly played a key behind-the-scenes role in hardening the U.S. posture toward the embattled nation.
That hard line comes in the wake of the previously unreported half-billion-dollar deal that was never consummated. Throughout 2015 and 2016, Jared Kushner and his father, Charles, negotiated directly with a major investor in Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani, known as HBJ for short, in an effort to refinance the property on Fifth Avenue, the sources said.
Trump himself has unsuccessfully sought financing in recent years from the Qataris, but it is difficult to overstate just how important the investment at 666 Fifth Avenue is for Kushner, his company, and his family’s legacy in real estate. Without some outside intervention or unforeseen turnaround in the market, the investment could become an embarrassing half-billion-dollar loss. It’s unclear precisely how much peril such a loss would put Jared’s or his family’s finances in, given the opacity of their private holdings.
HBJ, a former prime minister of Qatar who ran the country’s $250 billion sovereign wealth fund, is a billionaire and one of the world’s richest men. He owns a yacht worth $300 million called Al Mirqab, the same name he gave to the private investment firm that Kushner pitched. The former emir of Qatar summed up HBJ’s power with a quip: “I may run this country, but he owns it.”
HBJ ultimately agreed to invest at least $500 million through Al Mirqab, on the condition that Kushner Companies could raise the rest of a multibillion refinancing elsewhere.” The Intercept
Beny Steinmentz, BSG Resources
Detained 12/2016 & 8/14/17
Brother & Father of Kushner Real Estate Co-Developer
Israeli Diamond, Mining, Real Estate Magnate: Money Laundering, Bribery, Obstruction of Justice, etc. blames Soros
August 14, 2017:Israeli Billionaire Beny Steinmetz Detained in InvestigationNY Times “investigation into money laundering, obstruction of justice and bribery…an Israeli diamonds, mining and real estate magnate, is already under scrutiny by law enforcement authorities in Switzerland, Guinea, He was previously detained and questioned in Israel in December. Since 2013, the United States Justice Department has been investigating Mr. Steinmetz’s company, BSG Resources, over potential violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The Guinean government has claimed that BSG Resources obtained an iron ore mining concession by paying more than $8 million in cash through a representative to the then-wife of the country’s president.
Israeli investigation appears to be more expansive, based on an official statement that said that authorities were investigating “a number of people on suspicion that they acted systematically together with the main suspect in order to create and present fictitious contracts and deals, among other things in thefield of real estate in a foreign country, for the purpose of transferring funds and money laundering.”
Mr. Steinmetz is also under indictment in Romania, as part of a broad investigation into money laundering and real estate there.
In April, The New York Times reported that a firm that claimed to invest money for Mr. Steinmetz’s brother and longtime business partner, Daniel, along with his son Raz, had partnered with Kushner Companies, the family real estate firm of Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law and White House adviser, on dozens of apartment buildings around Manhattan and Jersey City.
The Kushner Companies said its deals were with Beny Steinmetz’s nephew Raz, and not with Beny Steinmetz.
On Monday, Beny Steinmetz gave a statement in court. “This is how totalitarian states behave,” Israeli media reported him as saying. “This is like a dictatorship that decides and marks people.”
As he has done previously, he blamed his multinational legal issues on the billionaire hedge fund titan George Soros, who he has said directed a smear campaign against him and his companies. In April, two of his firms sued Mr. Soros in Federal District Court in Manhattan.
Mr. Steinmetz was detained along with four others, including Tal Silberstein, a political consultant who has worked for Ehud Barak, former Israeli prime minister, and other Israeli leaders. Israeli media reported that David Granot, the chief executive of Bezeq, a telecommunications company, was also questioned.
Police officials said their investigation was being conducted with international cooperation and said each of those involved was suspected of different violations. Some of their homes and offices were searched Monday morning, officials said.
“As far as we understand, at issue are questions about events that occurred in 2011. Now, it is 2017,” he said, adding that his client denied all the accusations against him.”
President Trump’s son-in-law, a top adviser, had help building a real estate empire from a member of one of Israel’s wealthiest families. By JESSE DRUCKER
Jared Kushner is called “The Secretary of Everything”: Strategic Initiatives Group, White House Innovations Director, Key Contact for 24 countries, Peace negotiator for Israelis and Palestinians, liaison to China, the Muslim community and the Senate Judiciary Committee on criminal justice. Resigned from over 200 family-run business positions because of conflicts but still benefits. As MidEast Peace Negotiator, a $5 million unsecured line of credit from Israel Discount Bank is also a conflict.IBTimes
White House Office of American Innovation: “Chris Liddell, a former chief financial officer of both Microsoft and General Motors; Reed Cordish, a former Baltimore real estate developer; and Matt Lira, a veteran Capitol Hill staffer. Liddell and Cordish share a West Wing office. ...[Kushner’s] credited with successfully overhauling the Trump campaign’s theretofore wobbly data and digital operation.” Politico
Founding Editor of Gawker, Editor NY Observer: “My response to a right-wing blogger who called me a kook and a loser for stating that Donald Trump is a liar / water is wet: pic.twitter.com/pAp18w2x3W “Let me tell you a story, Doug: my opinion about Trump is formed by, among other things, actual real-life interaction the family and having covered the business he’s in, where he was such a notorious liar that a friend of his once said of him, “he’d lie to you about what time of day it is, just for he practice.” And that was a FRIEND. So when I was the editor of the New York Observer and Jared Kushner and I were going back and forth about how the paper should cover him. I told Jared that I was particularly appalled by his father-in-law’s birtherism stance, which I viewed as cynical and racist. He rolled his eyes and said, “he doesn’t really believe it, Elizabeth. He just knows Republicans are stupid and they’ll buy it.” And sadly, he was apparently right. But let’s be clear: he was talking about you, Doug. Trump did not con Democrats; he conned–and is still conning–his base. So you have every right to your gullibility and I won’t try to deprive you of it, but personally, I’ld rather know what the hell is going on.”— Elizabeth Spiers (@espiers) May 28, 2017GQ
May 25, 2017 DNC calls for suspension of Kushner’s security clearance amid FBI scrutiny The Hill
Democrat Cory Booker, NJ, doesn’t support suspension of Kushner security , while having takes $61,000+ from Kushner dating to 2009 and attended his wedding to Ivanka. “Booker also pushed back against those calling for Trump’s impeachment, saying, “I’m not going to rush to impeachment.” IBTimes
May 26, 2017: Russian ambassador told Moscow that Kushner wanted secret communications channel with Kremlin Washington Post “Ambassador Sergey Kislyak reported to his superiors in Moscow that Kushner, son-in-law and confidant to then-President-elect Trump, made the proposal during a meeting on Dec. 1 or 2 at Trump Tower, according to intercepts of Russian communications that were reviewed by U.S. officials. Kislyak said Kushner suggested using Russian diplomatic facilities in the United States for the communications. The meeting also was attended by Michael Flynn, Trump’s first national security adviser.”
NPR’s All Things Considered May 26, 2017
Seth Abramson’s Explanation of Kushner’s Unreported Meetings
(THREAD) We don’t know if Kushner’s Senate letter is true, or if he’ll revise it repeatedly like his SF-86. But here’s what’s wrong with it. pic.twitter.com/HbV9Otardb
(8) Kushner merely says he can’t remember those calls. He is not flatly denying them because the evidence they were made is *overwhelming*.
(9) The calls matter because they suggest a) Kushner invited Kislyak to breach international protocol and attend Trump’s “Mayflower Speech.”
(10) They *also* suggest b) the December meeting was possibly at Kushner’s request and on topics Kushner forecast to Kislyak—not just Syria.
(11) There’s every reason to think the Trump campaign—and Kushner, given that he organized the event—invited Kislyak to the Mayflower Hotel.
(12) Even if Dmitri (Center for the National Interest) invited Kislyak and *never told the Trump campaign* who’d attend, we have a problem.
(13) If Kislyak were simply a guest of the CNI, there is *no reason whatsoever* for political aides to Donald Trump to be at that VIP event.
(14) Indeed, we can’t even say Trump himself was a “VIP,” inasmuch as his campaign had set up the whole affair at the Center the day before.
(16) So either (a) Jared invited Kislyak to the NPC early in April and then had someone call Kislyak to tell him to come to the CNI instead,
(17) or (b) the Trump campaign found out Kislyak was going to the CNI, so they *cancelled* at the NPC and *invited themselves* to the CNI.
(18) In either case, there is *no explanation* for Sessions, Manafort, Kushner, and other Trump aides attending the VIP event at the CNI.
(19) So when Kushner admits chatting with Kislyak at the VIP event and saying—in effect—listen up, *this is our policy*, it’s extraordinary.
(20) In campaigns, it’s “OK” to have a bizarre pro-Russia policy agenda. It’s *not* OK to make promises to foreign agents about that agenda.
(21) Kushner should *never* have been at that VIP event. Kislyak should *never* have been at that VIP event. Don’t let Kushner normalize it.
22) So: Kushner admits to Kislyak contact in April/November but implies 7 officials are lying in saying he called him in those months also.
(23) As for the “Trump/Agalarov Summit” in Summer 2016 Kushner makes every—legally speaking—”self-serving statement” he could possibly make.
(24) Of *course* he claims he never read the email chain. It’s nearly impossible to prove what someone read or didn’t, so why not say that?
(25) As long as Kushner sent no emails about the meeting—which he *wouldn’t* have—or got rid of any emails he did, he’s “in the clear” here.
(26) But Kushner needs a “self-serving statement” to explain his presence at the meeting—which is, of course, easily provable—so he has one.
(27) Did it really take over ten minutes of sitting in a meeting about “Russian adoptions” for Kushner to decide he didn’t need to be there?
(28) Either way, his text to his secretary created documentation he (may have) left the meeting—suggesting he knew he needed a paper trail.
(29) Is it possible that he was just trying to get out of the meeting? Yes. But he’d have acted the *same* if this were a collusive meeting.
(30) As a former criminal defense attorney and criminal investigator, I’m saying that that text is neither inculpatory *nor* exculpatory.
(31) I’ll note that sending a text after 10 minutes *doesn’t* mean you left then. And “not recalling” any docs doesn’t mean there were none.
(32) Above all, please remember this: Kushner promised he would do anything he possibly could to help out the Senate Intelligence Committee.
(33) Instead he (a) refused to testify publicly, which they wanted; (b) refused to testify under oath, which they wanted; and (c) refused…
(34) …to talk to the full Committee rather than just their *staff*, which was perhaps the most preposterous of the three demands he made.
(35) And what did he give those Senate staffers? A bunch of “I don’t recall” excuses and some non-exculpatory details—don’t be fooled. {end}
(PS) When I say the “Mayflower Speech” was “at the CNI” of course I mean a venue controlled—on that day—by CNI, not the National Press Club.
(PS2) There’s no evidence the NPC was willing to host a VIP hour ambassadors from hostile nations breached international protocol to attend.
(PS3) At the NPC, the NPC (not the CNI) would’ve technically been the host. At the Mayflower, CNI was the host. They could what they wanted.
(PS4) So the CNI *had* to have set up the VIP event at the Mayflower *the day before*—when they learned Trump had *cancelled* the NPC event.
(PS5) In other words, Trump’s campaign precipitated the very VIP event at the Mayflower *neither it nor the Russians* should have attended.
(PS6) Don’t forget Kushner makes demands of the Intel Committee as he’s on the hook for the *felony* of making false statements on an SF-86.
(PS7) In the law, it’s almost impossible to imagine a defendant dead-to-rights on a “false statement” felony refusing to testify under oath.
(PS8) Had Kushner testified publicly under oath to the full Committee, he’d be saying the SF-86 thing was a mistake. Instead, he acts shady.
(PS9) Media must remember: self-serving statements made by defendants *must* be reported as such, not as simply “facts” about what happened.
(PS10) If you delete the self-serving statements and non-inculpatory/exculpatory data from Kushner’s statement, what do you have? *Nothing*.
(NOTE) I’m *not* spinning a theory about Kushner here. I’m saying this *is* how a criminal attorney and investigator looks at his statement.
(DOCS1) Here’s a statement (h/t @kylegriffin1) from Senator Wyden (D-OR) of the Senate Intel Committee about Kushner’s letter to the Senate:
Blank Slate@blankslate2017Jul 24 “I have not relied on Russian funds” = I borrowed $200 million, but that’s still less than half of the $1 billion I took from other crooks.
