tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87681453432960025342024-02-19T09:05:14.144-08:00Left Wing PinkoWe don't Occupy. We Overthrow.James Dillonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00517779620333212437noreply@blogger.comBlogger47125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8768145343296002534.post-2910587751474716652021-06-27T16:04:00.001-07:002021-06-27T16:11:40.314-07:00And So the Trump Org Gets charged.This is been a very bad week for Donald Trump. Rudy Giuliani lost his license to practice law in New York. the Trump organization is about to be indicted under criminal charges in Manhattan and Trump has been reduced to I like people he'll be reinstated as president and still he has a group of Hardcore supporters that believed every word he says and that I find unbelievable how can these people be so gullible or is it not their hatred a people that are different stronger than their belief system that their hatred can override their rational thinking and suspend disbelief. About one-third of the American people believe Trump won the election and he's going to be reinstated as president as soon as all the votes are counted or something.<div><br></div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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</div><br><div><br></div></div></div>James Dillonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00517779620333212437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8768145343296002534.post-56776084266813902752020-06-01T20:13:00.001-07:002020-06-01T20:13:32.810-07:00A DisasterTrump has proven himself to be a failure. James Dillonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00517779620333212437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8768145343296002534.post-73959742322743422922020-06-01T20:11:00.000-07:002020-06-01T20:11:52.984-07:00 Americans “favor taxing the wealthy to expand aid to the poor,”<div style="text-align: center;">
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The 2011 ideological poll showed that of the five ideological orientations that were named, the one with the highest net-favorability — the ratio of “positive” to “negative” ratings — by the American public, was “Progressive,” at 67%/22%, or 3.05; and the second-highest was “Conservative,” at 62%/30%, or 2.07. Like Senator Warren, Senator Sanders is one of the U.S. Senate’s three leading (if not the Senate’s only three) progressives. He clearly represents the most-widely-shared ideology: progressivism. If he wins the Democratic nomination, then the nation will be in for its first clear ideological choice since 1932 in a two-major-Party contest between a progressive Democrat versus a conservative Republican. That time it was FDR versus Herbert Hoover.</div>
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Of course, FDR won. Back in 1932, the conservative’s deadweight load, which the Republican had to overcome but couldn’t, was the crash of 1929. In 2016, the conservative’s deadweight load, which he’ll have to overcome but won’t be able to, will be his record of supporting or opposing George W. Bush’s decision to invade Iraq in 2003. Everyone but Republicans already knows that that was a catastrophic decision in every way, and was never justifiable; so: no candidate who is even on the fence about this important matter can stand even a chance of winning the Presidency if his or her chief opponent has always been clearly opposed to it, as Sanders has been, in both words and actions. Sanders, then a member of the U.S. House, was one of the small minority who voted in 2002 against it. And, unlike Barack Obama, who wasn’t even a national politician then and who spoke in 2002 about the Iraq question only briefly and in passing (in a video-clip that became famous in 2008), Bernie Sanders spoke against it passionately and repeatedly — and then he actually voted against authorizing the invasion. (And here’s the final vote, in both the Senate and the House.) By contrast, every current Republican Presidential candidate, except Rand Paul, says that GWB made the right decision “based on what was known then” (referring to the selective release by Bush’s Administration of faked evidence supporting the decision to invade). Marco Rubio contradicts himself about the matter, but basically he says that in the final analysis, “The world is a better place because Saddam Hussein does not run Iraq.” Even that statement would hurt him a lot in the general election (unless the Democrat is Clinton, since she actually voted to invade), because most Americans aren’t that stupid, to think that there’s any excuse whatsoever for Bush’s choice to fake evidence and then to invade Iraq on the basis of it — it was clearly a rigged deal from the get-go, to invade Iraq. Rubio is betting that the only way to win the Republican nomination is to support that rigged invasion; but Paul is betting that, by the time of the primaries, enough even of Republicans will have come to the (long overdue) realization that this issue could kill the Party’s chances in the general election, and that they’ll therefore get in line behind Paul’s candidacy as the Party’s only hope to get this issue off the backs of the Republican Party. The other leading Republican candidate, Scott Walker, is a pure mainstream Republican on the matter, saying that the decision was based on bad intelligence, “but knowing what we know now, we should not have gone into Iraq.” This line might suffice for him to be able to win the Republican nomination, but, if Bernie Sanders will be the Democrat he’ll be running against, then the Democrat will win, no matter how much money Republican billionaires pour into supporting their nominee. (Again, if Hillary becomes the Democratic nominee, the Republican nominee might win the Presidency — and probably will win if that Republican happens to be Rand Paul.)</div>
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Of course, the 2016 Presidential campaign won’t be about only the catastrophe in Iraq and George W. Bush’s having created it; there’s a President who followed after him, and he has continued GWB’s other catastrophe, the Wall Street bailouts and non-prosecution of the mega-banksters who cheated their ways to ‘AAA’ MBS-creating-&-marketing mega-bank fortunes (and the bailout-generated $10 trillion+ increase in the U.S. federal debt that was required in order for the public to absorb those mega-banksters’ “toxic assets”); and Sanders has always been against that pro-Wall-Street, anti-Main-Street, policy, too — both in words and in deeds. (And QE “The Greatest Backdoor Wall Street Bailout of All Time” is still continuing and so the total tab cannot yet be known, and Sanders has always been against that part of the Wall Street bailout too.) He was consistently correct on both of the big issues of recent U.S. history — both of the issues that depleted America’s future for the benefit of today’s super-rich.</div>
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On 15 February 2011, after Bush’s successor had been in office already two years continuing the bailouts, Rassmussen Reports bannered their poll, “57% Still Believe Bailouts Were Bad for US,” and also reported, “68% say bank bailout money went to those who caused meltdown.” Those overwhelming public views against the bailouts have also been not only Sanders’s own views throughout the period, but they’ve consistently been Sanders’s votes in the U.S. Senate, too, even at the start; so, on the two signature Bush catastrophes, Sanders would be in a perfect position to maul any Republican nominee, unless it turns out to be Rand Paul. However, unlike Scott Walker, whose net favorability rating is only modestly negative (i.e, it’s less than 1; it’s 73%, to be precise), Rand Paul’s is like almost all of the Republican field’s: it’s extremely negative (i.e., his ratio of strongly favorable to strongly unfavorable is much less than 1: it’s 56%). (Clinton’s, for comparison, is 69%. Elizabeth Warren’s was the only polled name that was positive: 1.08. As was previously mentioned, Sanders’s name wasn’t polled, and Warren was the only named candidate whose ratio was net-positive.)</div>
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In an earlier article, I stated the case “Why Hillary Clinton Would Be a Weak Presidential Nominee for Democrats,” and I explained why Ms. Clinton will never be able to rise from her present poor net favorability ratings. All the good publicity about her is past (from her flaks), while her support (being based purely on PR, sheer fluff) was a mile wide and an inch deep. The more that voters get to see her actual record, the more they’ll distrust her words. That reason she’d be a weak general-election candidate is: she’s not at all a trustworthy person (except by her financial backers), and there’s nothing she’ll be able to do at this late date to convince general-election voters that she is. The trust issue is so bad for her, that no matter how much money is spent on her campaigns, it’ll be like trying to paddle a boat not in water but in air — there won’t be the traction that’s needed to get her to being the first person past the finish-line in the boat-race. That boat has already been sold to the highest bidder, even before the race begins. She can evade, but she cannot hide, now that the contest has actually started. As more Democrats learn about this, they’ll turn away. Too many Democrats will avoid voting in the final, the general-election contest, or else will protest-vote for some third-party nominee; whereas the Republican nominee, whomever he is, will clearly be Republican in more than just his official designation. By contrast to Clinton: if Sanders is the Democrat, then voter-turnout on Election Day on the Democratic line will be enormous. And turnout in a Presidential election is crucial also in a much broader sense: it largely determines which of the two Parties will control both the Senate and especially the House (where everybody is up for election every two years). Even if Clinton were to win (which is unlikely), she would then be dealing in 2017 with a strongly Republican Congress, because of 2016’s resulting depressed Democratic voter-turnout. By contrast: if Sanders is the nominee, then not only will he win, but he will possibly (maybe even likely) be dealing with a Democratic Congress in 2017, by virtue of his drawing so many Democrats to the polls on Election Day 2016.</div>
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In other words: after having been a popular celebrity since at least January 2009, Hillary Clinton has now become, again, a mere politician, but this time with the heavier-than-ever baggage of her actual record (and especially of her having destroyed crucial evidence of that record, which she had secreted on her own private server), so that her evasive behaviors, verbal and otherwise, have now become her message; and what she says or does from here on can only collapse the house-of-cards that she had long been creating.</div>
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As of May 26th, her net favorability rating, shown at Huffington Post, had finally switched from positive to negative (47.8% negative versus 45.9% positive). This measure shown at HuffPo isn’t as accurate a measure, however, as the figures that I had linked to at the first link in the present article, because instead of building the net ratios there on favorables versus unfavorables, I built it on strong favorables versus strong unfavorables; and, especially at this early phase in a political campaign, that’s actually a far more accurate predictive measure, because the few people in the public who have strong feelings about a given candidate are the ones who will likeliest become the volunteers who will then serve as the core of the get-out-the-vote effort and who will consequently build the candidate’s volunteer campaign, if there is any. (If there isn’t any, then the Democratic candidate will surely lose, because the big-money campaign will likely go overwhelmingly to the Republican regardless.) So: the net favorability-ratios that were shown in my first-linked-to article are far more accurate indicators than are the ratios that are graphed at HuffPo; and what these ratios show is a far higher net unfavorability regarding all of the candidates.</div>
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However, the most important decision that American voters will be making in the 2016 elections will be the decision that Democratic voters collectively will be making in their Democratic primaries. That decision, in the primaries, rather than in the general election, will be the key to deciding America’s future. The decision that Republican voters will be making in their Party’s primaries, might not matter much, although, in the final analysis, if they choose Rand Paul, then that could change: there could be a real contest in the final election, against Sanders. (Furthermore, if Clinton does win the Democratic contest, then the final race will instead be between two candidates both of whom will have net negative favorability ratings — both Clinton and Paul — but turnout will almost certainly be higher on the Republican than on the Democratic side; so, Paul would probably win that contest.)</div>
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All of the pundits have been saying, all along, that Clinton is the most-likely candidate to win the White House, but they’re looking at the wrong indicators. Often, these same pundits were also saying that Jeb Bush would be the likeliest Republican to be able to win the White House, or that Christ Christie would be. I don’t pay attention to what the pundits say. Of course, the political bettors do; and, so, as of today, the betting odds heavily favor Clinton as by far the #1 likeliest person to become America’s next President. The public read the pundits. And the pundits make the arguments that their bosses, who are chosen by the media-owners, want to be published. (The media-owners want the final contest to be between two candidates who are both owned by the billionaire class, because a billionaire decides which media will receive his corporation’s advertising dollars and other favors; and that’s what keeps the media going.)</div>
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The pundits aren’t published — they’re fired — if they don’t serve their bosses. I don’t serve any boss; I serve only the truth as I see it, and I always explain and document what I am seeing. And when what I see changes, I report and explain that change, just as I had reported what was before it which has changed. My opinion isn’t ever set in stone. I might change it at any time. But all I can ever report is what I see, when I see it.</div>
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What I am seeing right now, which is the first time that things have looked clear enough for me to make a prediction in the U.S. Presidential contest, is the likelihood that the next President of the United States will be Bernie Sanders. The reasons for that prediction have been summarized here, based on the documentation that’s in the sources that have been linked-to here. Those linked articles contain the basic data that I consider, on my standard best-evidence basis, to be determinative, at this stage in the development of the 2016 U.S. Presidential campaign.</div>
James Dillonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00517779620333212437noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8768145343296002534.post-8764463298172943952019-04-09T09:05:00.000-07:002019-04-09T09:05:08.623-07:00To all of the Trump supporters.<br />
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I get my news from real news journalism sources like the New York times The Washington Post BBC NPR MSNBC and yes CNN. What I fail to comprehend is that Fox news is a blatant propaganda arm of the Republican national committee. Russian state-run television Pravda and now RT are just The Same. It's state-run pure propaganda.</div>
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The Trump administration is the most corrupt criminal organization I have ever witnessed in my entire life. No hate just the facts just look at how many of his top lieutenants are in prison or indicted or plead guilty.all for lying to the FBI and committing perjury because of their conversations with Russians. What's the big secret that they're trying to hide? So if you think Fox is fair and balanced, I have a bridge in San Francisco I'd like to sell you.</div>
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These are the facts. Fox can spin it however they like, but this is what's happened so far. Here is a news flash from that "liberal" "fake news" organization, The Associated Press:</div>
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WASHINGTON (AP) — Five people from President Donald Trump’s political team have now pleaded guilty to federal charges. Four of those pleas are part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election and possible coordination between Russia and the Trump campaign.The latest is former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, who pleaded guilty to federal charges.</div>
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GEORGE PAPADOPOULOS</div>
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George Papadopoulos, who served as a foreign policy adviser to the Trump campaign, was sentenced last week to 14 days in prison for lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russian intermediaries.</div>
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MICHAEL FLYNN</div>
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Trump’s former national security adviser, a retired general who had led the Defense Intelligence Agency, was the first White House official charged in Mueller’s probe. His plea in December to one count of lying to the FBI requires Flynn to cooperate with prosecutors.</div>
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RICK GATES</div>
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Gates, Manafort’s longtime business associate and a former Trump campaign adviser, pleaded guilty in February to federal conspiracy and false-statements charges.</div>
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MICHAEL COHEN</div>
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Trump’s former personal lawyer and fixer pleaded guilty in federal court last month to campaign-finance violations and other charges.</div>
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Roger Stone just got charged as well, another long time partner of Trump. He is fighting his case, and it's a doozy. Roger Stone is set to stand trial on Nov. 5 in connection with the Russia investigation.</div>
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Stone faces seven charges involving lying to the House Intelligence Committee about his conversations involving WikiLeaks, the organization that released thousands of hacked Democratic Party emails during the 2016 presidential campaign. He has pleaded not guilty to ALL SEVEN COUNTS! </div>
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How much more do you need to see that Trump was directly involved in this. His top advisers and campaign chairman have pleaded GUILTY! </div>
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The deal with the Russians was: We lift sanctions of them, in exchange for their help with the 2016 election. And they did, and it worked. That has been established so far. They hacked the DNC email server and passed it on to Wikileaks. Roger Stone and Trump knew about it in advance.</div>
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We are in the first quarter of this game, and Team Trump has been throwing sand in the umpire's eyes the whole game. </div>
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1: Trump fires James Comey, the FBI director because of the "Russia Thing". That's obstruction of Justice.</div>
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2: Bob Mueller get appointed, and Trump tries to get him fired. That's count two.</div>
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3: Trump tries to get Rosenstien to quit. That's count number 3.</div>
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Shall I go on? It should be painfully obvious to anyone without an pro-Trump agenda. </div>
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Again, these are facts we KNOW. It's not "fake news". It's fact.</div>
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I'm reporting the facts, kids. The Russians DID hack the DNC. That's been proven. Wikileaks got the emails and Roger Stone and Trump knew about it in advance. Trump didn't fire Mueller because he couldn't. But he did try. He also couldn't fire Rosenstien because he couldn't. But he tried, many times. Manafort and Rick Gates met with a Russian Intelligence officer and handed him internal RNC polling data. In exchange for what? We don't know yet because Barr is sitting on the report.</div>
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I suggest you get your information from somewhere other than Fox News. It's not going to go well for Donny. Reality has a funny way of doing that. The House Intel committee is checking into this. The SDNY is looking into his finances. Trump's days are numbered. He's guilty as hell.</div>
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We KNOW that Russian GRU hacked the DNC server. The forensics proved it beyond any doubt. (I do know a bit about that, but I'll save it for later). Wikileaks released them for whatever reason, and yes, Bernie got screwed. The DNC had a finger on the scale to get Hillary nominated. We know that too. But it does nothing to absolve Team Trump. Different issue altogether.</div>
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As far as Trump being a democratically elected president, I have my doubts. I consider him a disgrace to our country. The sooner he leaves, our country can start healing and repair the damage he has done. Later. These are legal matters and the Congress and the courts will have the last word. Peace.</div>
James Dillonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00517779620333212437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8768145343296002534.post-262817397633296012019-02-25T03:47:00.001-08:002019-04-09T08:47:19.834-07:00<div dir="ltr">
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<span style="font-size: 1.50em;"><b>The seven most important things Noam Chomsky said about Donald Trump</b></span><br />
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Noam<b> Chomsky gave an interview in which he gave his views on Donald Trump.</b><br />
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In conversation with his interviewer C.J. Polychroniou, Chomsky said Trump's environmental policy would accelerate humanity's '<a href="https://www.indy100.com/environment/noam-chomsky-donald-trump-climate-change-denier-global-warming-race-to-disaster-republicans-most-a7418296.html">race to disaster'</a>.</div>
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The philosopher, public speaker, and author of several popular books had some other choice words for Trump.</div>
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And his words carry weight, if not for the quality then their ubiquity.</div>
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According to a study by MIT, Chomsky <a href="http://news.mit.edu/1992/citation-0415">once held the title of most cited living person</a> in academic papers, and the eighth most cited person ever.</div>
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Here are seven of his important quotes on Trump from his interview with Truth Out, and from before the election was called for Trump on 9 November.</div>
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<i><b><span style="font-size: 1.40em;"><b>Climate Change</b></span></b></i></div>
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The winning candidate, now the president-elect, calls for rapid increase in use of fossil fuels, including coal; dismantling of regulations; rejection of help to developing countries that are seeking to move to sustainable energy; and in general, racing to the cliff as fast as possible.<br />
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Chomsky had previously criticised Trump in May, in an interview with <i>the Guardian</i></div>
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But there are some pretty stable elements of his ideology, if you can even grant him that concept. One of them is: “Climate change is not taking place.” As he puts it: “Forget it.” And that’s almost a death knell for the species – not tomorrow, but the decisions we take now are going to affect things in a couple of decades, and in a couple of generations it could be catastrophic<br />
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<b><i><span style="font-size: 1.40em;"><b>Trump is what the GOP gets for building a coalition of extremists </b></span></i></b></div>
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[Republicans] have turned to mobilizing sectors of the population that have always been there, but not as an organized coalitional political force: evangelicals, nativists, racists and the victims of the forms of globalization...Every candidate that has emerged from the base -- such as [Michele] Bachmann, [Herman] Cain or [Rick] Santorum -- has been so extreme that the Republican establishment had to use its ample resources to beat them down. The difference in 2016 is that the establishment failed, much to its chagrin, as we have seen.<br />
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<b><i><span style="font-size: 1.40em;"><b>Helping the American middle class</b></span></i></b></div>
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These are just samples of the real lives of Trump supporters, who are led to believe that Trump will do something to remedy their plight, though the merest look at his fiscal and other proposals demonstrates the opposite -- posing a task for activists who hope to fend off the worst and to advance desperately needed changes.<br />
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<b><i><span style="font-size: 1.40em;"><b>Mimicking Obama</b></span></i></b></div>
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One positive development might be the infrastructure program that Trump has promised while (along with much reporting and commentary) concealing the fact that it is essentially the Obama stimulus program that would have been of great benefit to the economy and to the society generally, but was killed by the Republican Congress on the pretext that it would explode the deficit.<br />
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<b><i><span style="font-size: 1.40em;"><b>'Friendly Fascism'</b></span></i></b></div>
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For many years, I have been writing and speaking about the danger of the rise of an honest and charismatic ideologue in the United States, someone who could exploit the fear and anger that has long been boiling in much of the society, and who could direct it away from the actual agents of malaise to vulnerable targets. That could indeed lead to what sociologist Bertram Gross called 'friendly fascism' in a perceptive study 35 years ago.<br />
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<b><i><span style="font-size: 1.40em;"><b>The ideology of 'Me'</b></span></i></b></div>
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But that ['friendly Fascism'] requires an honest ideologue, a Hitler type, not someone whose only detectable ideology is Me.<br />
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<b>More: </b><b><a href="https://www.indy100.com/article/dictionary-reveals-most-looked-up-words-since-trumps-win-and-its-terrifying-7420391">Dictionary reveals most looked up words since Trump's win</a></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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Bio: <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Noam-Chomsky">https://www.britannica.com/biography/Noam-Chomsky</a></div>
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James Dillonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00517779620333212437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8768145343296002534.post-28840262174057550042019-02-18T10:13:00.000-08:002019-02-18T10:13:23.690-08:00Team Trump<div class="" data-block="true" data-darkreader-inline-bgcolor="" data-darkreader-inline-color="" data-editor="cro7o" data-offset-key="8e0ki-0-0" style="--darkreader-inline-bgcolor: #17181c; --darkreader-inline-color: #dcdad6; background-color: #17181c; color: #dcdad6; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh18lh4lpmD9NIvYV__vGldFexblNf6Dtk0Oq8tiaZIIeqYwNUCOdjt-HDM72IVwbUeUQAT1nTzE0zVqj1gyeHl80Hb6I6mJlqKQcDe9IdVEm6d-zbe-eAX5w_40o9iv6t4Cm_tOoKA3aFC/s1600/manafort.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh18lh4lpmD9NIvYV__vGldFexblNf6Dtk0Oq8tiaZIIeqYwNUCOdjt-HDM72IVwbUeUQAT1nTzE0zVqj1gyeHl80Hb6I6mJlqKQcDe9IdVEm6d-zbe-eAX5w_40o9iv6t4Cm_tOoKA3aFC/s1600/manafort.jpg" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14px; text-align: left; white-space: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Paul John Manafort Jr.</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="8e0ki-0-0"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Paul John Manafort Jr. (born April 1, 1949) is an American lobbyist, political consultant, and convicted felon. A Republican, he joined Donald Trump's presidential campaign team in March 2016, and was campaign chairman from June to August 2016. Formerly an attorney, he forfeited his license to practice in January 2019.</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="88k4b-0-0"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Manafort was an adviser to the U.S. presidential campaigns of Republicans Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, and Bob Dole. In 1980, he co-founded the Washington, D.C.-based lobbying firm Black, Manafort & Stone, along with principals Charles R. Black Jr., and Roger J. Stone, joined by Peter G. Kelly in 1984. Manafort often lobbied on behalf of foreign leaders such as former President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych, former dictator of the Philippines Ferdinand Marcos, former dictator of Zaire Mobutu Sese Seko, and Angolan guerrilla leader Jonas Savimbi. Lobbying to serve the interests of foreign governments requires registration with the Justice Department under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA); on June 27, 2017, he retroactively registered as a foreign agent.</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="hks4-0-0"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On October 27, 2017, Manafort and his business associate Rick Gates were indicted by a District of Columbia grand jury on multiple charges arising from his consulting work for the pro-Russian government of Viktor Yanukovych in Ukraine before Yanukovych's overthrow in 2014. The indictment had been requested by Robert Mueller's Special Counsel investigation. In June 2018, additional charges were filed against Manafort for obstruction of justice and witness tampering that are alleged to have occurred while he was under house arrest, and he was ordered to jail.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the Eastern District of Virginia, in August 2018, Manafort was convicted on eight charges of tax and bank fraud. A mistrial was declared on ten other charges. In the District of Columbia, Manafort pleaded guilty to two charges and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors. On November 26, 2018, Robert Mueller reported that Manafort violated his plea deal by repeatedly lying to investigators, and on February 13, 2019, DC District Court judge Amy Berman Jackson concurred, voiding the plea deal.</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="e2u4r-0-0"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Source: Wikipedia</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="e2u4r-0-0" style="font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Manafort">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Manafort</a></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbAtNlVqsvWbhJV2aBjxn91bEFBktGs2x0MPEJ_2lm4BEfpBcYtk4rHMdXYu2kQeHb9yxsMLxGaL6u1ivuNVaLc0gRaENTXCMsyublos19gSFVbwlVYy8TisCvw8vs1X9ycgmSFjuSpnK9/s1600/sessions.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="148" data-original-width="148" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbAtNlVqsvWbhJV2aBjxn91bEFBktGs2x0MPEJ_2lm4BEfpBcYtk4rHMdXYu2kQeHb9yxsMLxGaL6u1ivuNVaLc0gRaENTXCMsyublos19gSFVbwlVYy8TisCvw8vs1X9ycgmSFjuSpnK9/s1600/sessions.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span data-offset-key="e2u4r-0-0" style="font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span data-darkreader-inline-color="" style="--darkreader-inline-color: #dcdad6; color: #dcdad6; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left; white-space: normal;">Jeff Sessions</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="e2u4r-0-0" style="font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span data-darkreader-inline-color="" style="--darkreader-inline-color: #dcdad6; color: #dcdad6; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left; white-space: normal;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="e2u4r-0-0"><span style="--darkreader-inline-color: #dcdad6; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><span data-darkreader-inline-color="" style="--darkreader-inline-color: #dcdad6; color: #dcdad6; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">Sessions was an early supporter of Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, and was nominated by Trump for the post of U.S. Attorney General. He was confirmed on February 8, 2017, with a 52–47 vote in the Senate, and was sworn in on February 9, 2017.
In his Attorney General confirmation hearings, Sessions stated, while under oath, that he did not have contact with Russian officials during the 2016 presidential campaign and that he was unaware of any contacts between Trump campaign members and Russian officials. However, in March 2017, news reports revealed that Sessions had twice met with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak in 2016. Sessions subsequently recused himself from any investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections, while some Democratic lawmakers called for his resignation. In testimony before the House Intelligence Committee in November 2017, Carter Page declared that he had notified Sessions about his contacts with Kremlin officials in July 2016, contradicting Sessions's earlier denials.</span></span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="e2u4r-0-0"><span style="--darkreader-inline-color: #dcdad6; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><span data-darkreader-inline-color="" style="--darkreader-inline-color: #dcdad6; color: #dcdad6; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="e2u4r-0-0"><span style="--darkreader-inline-color: #dcdad6; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><span data-darkreader-inline-color="" style="--darkreader-inline-color: #dcdad6; color: #dcdad6; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">Source: Wikipedia</span></span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="e2u4r-0-0"><span style="--darkreader-inline-color: #dcdad6; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><span data-darkreader-inline-color="" style="--darkreader-inline-color: #dcdad6; color: #dcdad6; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Sessions">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Sessions</a></span></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzNJeTEJfephAoFPzcWxCqJEwrHf50Tcn-ueBqK3uet1jCXxq86H3uOlrdSOsbch6THp8QOr1Vzl3pd_flj21RPLKEz9lTnAIscXuTCwh4IOdSJaCoQe5W_pHdmtDNQE2X2DCuetPTGB1X/s1600/papadopolous.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="682" data-original-width="1024" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzNJeTEJfephAoFPzcWxCqJEwrHf50Tcn-ueBqK3uet1jCXxq86H3uOlrdSOsbch6THp8QOr1Vzl3pd_flj21RPLKEz9lTnAIscXuTCwh4IOdSJaCoQe5W_pHdmtDNQE2X2DCuetPTGB1X/s320/papadopolous.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span data-offset-key="e2u4r-0-0" style="font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span data-darkreader-inline-color="" style="--darkreader-inline-color: #dcdad6; color: #dcdad6; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left; white-space: normal;">George Demetrios Papadopoulos</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="e2u4r-0-0" style="font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span data-darkreader-inline-color="" style="--darkreader-inline-color: #dcdad6; color: #dcdad6; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left; white-space: normal;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="e2u4r-0-0"><span style="--darkreader-inline-color: #dcdad6; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><span data-darkreader-inline-color="" style="--darkreader-inline-color: #dcdad6; color: #dcdad6; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">George Demetrios Papadopoulos is a former member of the foreign policy advisory panel to Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.
On October 5, 2017, Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to making false statements to FBI agents about the timing and the possible significance of his contacts in 2016 relating to U.S.-Russia relations and the Donald Trump presidential campaign. He has served time in federal prison and is currently on a 12-month supervised release.</span></span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="e2u4r-0-0"><span style="--darkreader-inline-color: #dcdad6; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><span data-darkreader-inline-color="" style="--darkreader-inline-color: #dcdad6; color: #dcdad6; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: center;">Source: Wikipedia</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="e2u4r-0-0"><span style="--darkreader-inline-color: #dcdad6; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><span data-darkreader-inline-color="" style="--darkreader-inline-color: #dcdad6; color: #dcdad6; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: center;">Felix Sater</span></span></span></span></div>
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Felix Henry Sater (born Felix Mikhailovich Sheferovsky; Russian: Фе́ликс Миха́йлович Шеферовский; March 2, 1966) is an American former mobster, real estate developer and former managing director of Bayrock Group LLC, a real estate conglomerate based out of Trump Tower in New York City. Sater has been an advisor to many corporations, including The Trump Organization, Rixos Hotels and Resorts, Sembol Construction, Potok (formerly the Mirax Group), and TxOil.</div>
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In 1998, Sater pleaded guilty to his involvement in a $40 million stock fraud scheme orchestrated by the Russian Mafia, and became an informant for the FBI and federal prosecutors, assisting with organized crime investigations. In 2017, Sater agreed to cooperate with investigators into international money laundering schemes.</div>
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Sater joined Bayrock Group as a senior advisor in 2003 at the behest of the company's owner and founder, Tevfik Arif. As a senior advisor, he assisted with several projects, including executive decisions in the Trump SoHo project.</div>
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Felix Sater was a managing director of Bayrock Group LLC, as well as a senior advisor to Donald Trump and The Trump Organization when construction of the Trump SoHo began in 2006.</div>
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He played a major role throughout the process of the building's construction, and remained managing director of Bayrock Group when the Trump SoHo project was completed in 2010. The building is a $450 million, 46-story, 391-unit hotel condominium located at 246 Spring Street in SoHo, New York City. The project was a collaboration between The Trump Organization, Bayrock Group LLC and Tamir Sapir.</div>
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Yuri Milner</div>
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Yuri Milner, a Russian businessman who was a major investor in Facebook. Mr. Milner had received hundreds of millions of dollars from the Russian government, which he invested in Facebook and Twitter. He has also invested in a real-estate investment company run by Jared Kushner. </div>
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On June 29, Facebook revealed to congressional investigators that it granted Mail.ru, a Russian internet company with close ties to the Kremlin, a special extension of the Facebook policy that allowed thousands of application developers access to massive amounts of user data. </div>
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Mail.ru ran applications on Facebook for years before 2015, allowing it to delve into Facebook profiles and activity from millions of users around the world. This was standard Facebook policy. Thousands of companies that built applications on the Facebook platform had access to potentially millions of users’ information.</div>
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Mail.ru, a Russian company was founded by Yuri Milner. While Americans have been justifiably appalled that an obscure political consulting firm, Cambridge Analytica, had rich behavioral data on at least 87 million voters, we should be more concerned that companies like Mail.ru had access to the same data.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 14px;">Sergei Millian</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14px;">Sergei Millian arrived in the early 2000s as a young, single professional in Atlanta, which has a large Russian-speaking community. Friends there said he worked in real estate, and, according to one résumé posted online, he opened a translating business whose clients included the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14px;">Friends said that Millian founded the Russian American Chamber of Commerce as a way to forge business ties between the United States and Russia and as a personal networking opportunity.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14px;">Papadopoulos is approached via LinkedIn by American-Belarussian Sergei Millian of the Russian-American Chamber of Commerce. They meet repeatedly in Manhattan. Millian offers to start an energy business together, to be financed by Russian billionaires "who are not under sanctions". Millian also claims that one Russian billionaire would consider the possibility of opening a Trump hotel in Moscow. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14px;">Sergei Millian shared some tantalizing claims about Donald Trump.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14px;">Trump had a long-standing relationship with Russian officials, Millian told an associate, and those officials were now feeding Trump damaging information about his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton. Millian said that the information provided to Trump had been “very helpful.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14px;">Unbeknownst to Millian, however, his conversation was not confidential. His associate passed on what he had heard to a former British intelligence officer who had been hired by Trump’s political opponents to gather information about the Republican’s ties to Russia.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14px;">The allegations by Millian — whose role was first reported by the Wall Street Journal and has been confirmed by The Washington Post — were central to the dossier compiled by the former spy, Christopher Steele. While the dossier has not been verified and its claims have been denied by Trump, Steele’s document said that Millian’s assertions had been corroborated by other sources, including in the Russian government and former intelligence sources.<br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14px;">Millian told several people that during the campaign and presidential transition he was in touch with George Papadopoulos, a campaign foreign policy adviser, according to a person familiar with the matter. Millian is among Papadopoulos’s nearly 240 Facebook friends.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14px;">Trump aides vehemently reject Millian’s claims to have had close contact with Trump or high-level access to the president’s company.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14px;">Millian did not answer a list of detailed questions about his interactions with Trump and his role in the Steele dossier, instead responding by email with lengthy general defenses of Trump’s election as “God’s will” and complaining that inquiries about his role are evidence of a “witch hunt” and “McCarthyism.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14px;">Source: Wikipedia</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14px;">Additional Source: </span><span style="font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><a href="https://themoscowproject.org/players/sergeimillian/">https://themoscowproject.org/players/sergeimillian/</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/who-is-source-d-the-man-said-to-be-behind-the-trump-russia-dossiers-most-salacious-claim/2017/03/29/379846a8-0f53-11e7-9d5a-a83e627dc120_story.html">https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/who-is-source-d-the-man-said-to-be-behind-the-trump-russia-dossiers-most-salacious-claim/2017/03/29/379846a8-0f53-11e7-9d5a-a83e627dc120_story.html</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14px;">Michael Thomas Flynn</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14px;">Michael Thomas Flynn (born December 24, 1958) is a retired United States Army Lieutenant General and was National Security Advisor to President Donald Trump.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14px;">Flynn's military career included a key role in shaping U.S. counterterrorism strategy and dismantling insurgent networks in Afghanistan and Iraq, and he was given numerous combat arms, conventional, and special operations senior intelligence assignments. He served as the 18th Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, serving from July 2012 until his forced retirement from the military in August 2014. After leaving the military, he established Flynn Intel Group, which provided intelligence services for businesses and governments, including ones in Turkey. He became a senior advisor to Trump during his presidential campaign and served as the National Security Advisor from January 23 to February 13, 2017. He resigned after information surfaced that he had misled the FBI and Vice President Mike Pence about the nature and content of his communications with Russian Ambassador to the U.S. Sergey Kislyak.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14px;">On April 27, 2017, the Pentagon inspector general announced an investigation into whether Flynn had accepted money from foreign governments without the required approval. The New York Times reported on May 18, 2018, that a longtime FBI/CIA informant had met Flynn at an intelligence seminar in Britain six months earlier and became alarmed by Flynn's closeness to a Russian woman there; this concern prompted another individual to alert American authorities that Flynn may have been compromised by Russian intelligence. Flynn initially refused to hand over subpoenaed documents to the Senate Intelligence Committee, pleading the Fifth Amendment against self-incrimination, but a compromise with the committee was worked out. On December 1, 2017, Flynn appeared in federal court to formalize a deal with Special Counsel Robert Mueller to plead guilty to a single felony count of "willfully and knowingly" making "false, fictitious and fraudulent statements" to the FBI. He confirmed his intention to cooperate with the Special Counsel's investigation.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14px;">Source: Wikipedia</span></div>
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<span style="color: var(--darkreader-inline-color); font-size: 14px;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Flynn">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Flynn</a></span></div>
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James Dillonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00517779620333212437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8768145343296002534.post-66780007060760333242019-02-13T20:20:00.002-08:002019-02-13T20:20:43.743-08:00Trump hates being exposed as a liar, a traitor, and a con man.<h2 style="text-align: center;">
Trump hates being exposed as a liar, a traitor, and a con man. Whatever your opinion of him, facts don't lie. You can't pick and chose the facts. </h2>
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To the president’s vocal frustration, federal judges have repeatedly enjoined his executive orders. Robert Mueller’s investigation has brought multiple convictions and plea deals from several key figures in his campaign as well as his administration.</div>
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General Mike Flynn - Guilty of lying to the FBI and Vice President Pence about the fact that sanctions were discussed in a December 2016 conversation with Moscow’s ambassador to the United States. He pleaded guilty last year. Flynn admitted to lying during an FBI interview about the content of his conversations with Sergey Kislyak, Russia’s ambassador to the U.S.</div>
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Paul Manafort - Guilty of “multiple false statements” to federal investigators, Special Counsel Mueller, and a grand jury. Manafort lied about his contacts with Russian political consultant Konstantin Kilimnik, an individual affiliated with Russian intelligence. And he lied intentionally. If Manafort had told the truth, it would have been extremely damaging to Trump. Manafort lied about the conspiracy to break into the Democratic National Committee to steal records and lied about the conspiracy relating to the social media and the micro-targeting of voters and the use of the voter information that he provided to Kilimnik.”</div>
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Trump's former personal attourny, Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations, among other crimes last year and was sentenced to three years in prison.</div>
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George Papadopoulos, a former Trump campaign adviser, was sentenced to prison for lying to the F.B.I. about his contacts with Russian intermediaries during the 2016 presidential race.</div>
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Special counsel Robert Mueller’s team has indicted or gotten guilty pleas from 34 people and three companies. </div>
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The latest: longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone. Special Counsel Robert Mueller has indicted him with one count of obstruction, five counts of false statements, and one count of witness tampering.</div>
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Trump has evinced little respect for the rule of law. He has attempted to have both Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and Special Counsel Robert Mueller fired. His efforts to mislead, impede, and shut down Mueller’s investigation have now led the special counsel to consider whether the president obstructed justice.</div>
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The Framers were concerned that a president could abuse his authority in ways that would undermine the democratic process and that could not wait to be addressed. So they created a mechanism for considering whether a president is subverting the rule of law or pursuing his own self-interest at the expense of the general welfare—in short, whether his continued tenure in office poses a threat to the republic. This mechanism is impeachment.</div>
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“The purpose of impeachment is not personal punishment; its function is primarily to maintain constitutional government.” Impeachable offenses, it found, included “undermining the integrity of office, disregard of constitutional duties and oath of office, arrogation of power, abuse of the governmental process, adverse impact on the system of government.”</div>
James Dillonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00517779620333212437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8768145343296002534.post-42931025539692731632019-02-13T19:09:00.000-08:002019-02-13T19:11:02.976-08:00The New Green Deal. I'm all in.<div style="text-align: center;">
Climate change is real it's happening as we see the weather patterns become more and more abnormal.</div>
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We need to move away from fossil fuels and specially coal, we need to improve the renewable energy infrastructure and transition to solar and wind power. We need to do away with running automobiles on gasoline and Diesel. If we switched over in the next 10 years we may be able to save the planet. There is no planet "B".</div>
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I support taxing billionaires and corporations at a much higher rate. Our infrastructure depends upon having adequate resources to rebuild it. If our roads, bridges, and power grid is needing repair and upgrading our entire economy depends upon it.</div>
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I would eliminate corporate campaign contributions and the massive super PAC campaign contributions. It is simply a form of legalized bribery. We should have level playing Field. </div>
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An individuals contributions capped at $2,500 or so. No more lobbying from pharmaceutical industry, and energy companies, and other parasites that are milking the American public. Speaking of big pharma, we need Medicare for all and clamp down on prescription drug prices start negotiating if they can buy the same thing in Canada for 1/10 the price maybe we should just buy it from Canada.</div>
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And by the way citizens united needs to be repealed. If corporations are people and can exercise free speech, let's see Texas execute one of them.</div>
James Dillonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00517779620333212437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8768145343296002534.post-60297225452909833142019-02-10T13:17:00.000-08:002019-02-10T13:17:06.835-08:00Millions of Americans won’t get a tax refund, Millions have to pay more taxes.<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/embedded-video/mmvo1439508035766" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>James Dillonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00517779620333212437noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8768145343296002534.post-79791945198230244152018-09-29T12:12:00.001-07:002018-10-02T10:00:31.325-07:00The many faces of Kavanaugh<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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A judge should be unbiased, fair, and above all, to avoid political bickering. A judge needs a even temperment, to remain calm when everyone around has lost their minds. </div>
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Judge Kavanaugh fails both tests.</div>
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The court should be above political issues. </div>
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James Dillonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00517779620333212437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8768145343296002534.post-5574241271111109132018-09-29T12:03:00.002-07:002019-01-31T07:44:00.409-08:00Ford testifies she was sexually assaulted, Kavanaugh responds with anger and tears <div style="text-align: center;">
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Do we really want a man consumed with rage, self-pity and hate on the Supreme Court?</div>
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Robin Abcarian</div>
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By ROBIN ABCARIAN</div>
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SEP 27, 2018 | 5:15 PM </div>
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I wasn't in that Maryland bedroom in 1982. You weren't there.</div>
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Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh says he wasn't there. But after listening to every word uttered by his tearful, yet calm and respectful accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, and Kavanaugh's combative, weepy refutation, I have no choice but to conclude she is credible and he is not.</div>
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He is not suited to a lifetime appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court.</div>
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Because of his self-pity and rage.</div>
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Because of the way he shredded the idea that he can be an impartial arbiter on the high court when he accused Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee of seeking "revenge on the behalf of the Clintons" and "left-wing opposition groups."</div>
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Because of the insulting way he spoke to Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar when she asked whether he ever drank so much he could not remember what happened. ("You're talking about a blackout," he said in a nasty tone. "I don't know. Have you?")</div>
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Because he refused to give a straight answer about whether he would support an FBI investigation into Ford's charges.</div>
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Because he interrupted Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal who was in the middle of asking a question, then had the cluelessness to say, "Let me finish."</div>
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Kavanaugh's anger may be understandable in a man who claims — hyperbolically — that his life and family have been "destroyed" by what he says are false allegations of sexual assault.</div>
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But they are hardly what we deserve or expect in a justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, which has so much control over Americans' lives, especially women's.</div>
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Ford, 51, a psychologist who studies trauma, was a mesmerizing witness.</div>
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She seemed honest, and pained, and, as she put it, "100%" certain that the 17-year-old boy who threw her on a bed, ground his hips against her and covered her mouth so she could not scream was Kavanaugh.</div>
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She practically pleaded for an FBI investigation that would include the only witness to the alleged attack, Kavanaugh's high school friend Mark Judge. Judge, who once wrote a memoir about his blackout drinking in high school, said in a statement to the Senate committee via his attorney that he has no memory of the event and never saw his friend behave in such a manner.</div>
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She spoke knowledgeably about the biological processes of how memory works.</div>
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When asked to describe her most vivid memory of the assault, she replied, "Indelible in the hippocampus is the laughter, the uproarious laughter between the two and their having fun at my expense. When she described the room where the alleged assault took place, and the loud music and the laughter of the two teen boys who were in cahoots, I believe that every viewer who has ever been assaulted probably had an unpleasant flashback. I know I did.</div>
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Like Anita Hill before her, Ford had wanted to remain anonymous.</div>
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But when she was outed, she said she felt she had no choice but to tell her story, knowing full well, as she testified, that the experience would be like stepping in front of a moving train, and that she would probably be "annihilated." As she said this, however, she displayed not a whit of self-pity.</div>
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It was clear that Kavanaugh's Judiciary Committee supporters don't particularly care whether or not he assaulted Ford all those years ago at a high school party.</div>
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And they knew — all 11 men — that they could not trust themselves to come off as caring, so they hired Rachel Mitchell, an Arizona sex-crimes prosecutor, whose plodding questions seemed to infuriate them. They wanted fireworks. She was a wet blanket.</div>
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Their pent-up rage exploded after Ford finished her testimony. They sidelined Mitchell, and turned their wrath on Democrats, who were accused of withholding information in order to delay the confirmation until after the midterm elections, when Democrats have a fighting chance of gaining the majority in the Senate and could scuttle Kavanaugh's nomination.</div>
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In tones verging on hysteria, they railed about the timing of the allegations (as if there is a good time to step forward alleging you've been attacked by a Supreme Court nominee).</div>
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I've never seen a theatrical outburst like Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham's display of self-righteous anger, sparked by Democratic Sen. Richard J. Durbin's simple assertion that if Kavanaugh truly cared about clearing his good name, he should want to have the FBI investigate Ford's claims. "God help anyone else that gets nominated," Graham said, forgetting that Neil M. Gorsuch was confirmed last year with barely a ripple.</div>
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Sen. Orrin G. Hatch's outraged voice broke as he scornfully dismissed the idea that anyone would care what had happened in high school. And yet, Ford had very specifically discussed the "anxiety, phobia and PTSD-like symptoms" that she had felt, intensely, in the first four years after the assault, and intermittently thereafter.</div>
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Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, forgetting his recitation of "Green Eggs and Ham" during a Senate filibuster, called it "one of the most shameful events in the history of the United States Senate."</div>
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Again and again, Kavanaugh, 53, was described by his supporters as a victim — not of Ford, because of course, it's no longer acceptable to publicly attack a victim of sexual assault — but of Democrats.</div>
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Ford, they said, was a victim, too. Of Democrats.</div>
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Just as I believed Anita Hill in 1991, I believe Christine Blasey Ford.</div>
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I wouldn't put Kavanaugh in jail for what he did when he was 17, but I sure as hell wouldn't put him on the Supreme Court.</div>
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</section>James Dillonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00517779620333212437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8768145343296002534.post-73461347581954559432018-06-17T18:13:00.001-07:002018-06-17T18:13:23.792-07:00The Steele Dossier...<p dir="ltr">Ok, maybe it is time to read the Steele Dossier...<br>
The report stated that Russian President Putin was supportive of the effort to cultivate Trump, and the primary aim was to sow discord and disunity within the U.S. and the West. The dossier of FSB-collected information on Hillary Clinton was purportedly managed by Kremlin chief spokesman Dimitry Peskov.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Subsequent reports provide additional detail about the possible conspiracy, which includes information about cyberattacks against the U.S. They allege that former Trump campaign chief Paul Manafort managed the plot to exploit political information on Hillary Clinton in return for information on Russian oligarchs outside Russia, and an agreement to “sideline” Ukraine as a campaign issue. According to the report, Trump campaign operative Carter Page is also said to have played a role in shuttling information to Moscow, while Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, reportedly took over efforts after Manafort left the campaign, allegedly providing cash payments for Russian hackers. In one account, Putin and his aides expressed concern over kickbacks of cash to Manafort from former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, which they feared might be discoverable by U.S. authorities. The Kremlin also feared that the U.S. might stumble onto the conspiracy through the actions of a Russian diplomat in Washington, Mikhail Kalugin, and therefore had him withdrawn, according to the reports.</p>
<p dir="ltr">https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3259984-Trump-Intelligence-Allegations.html</p>
<p dir="ltr">https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/03/how-the-explosive-russian-dossier-was-compiled-christopher-steele</p>
<p dir="ltr">https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/03/12/christopher-steele-the-man-behind-the-trump-dossier</p>
<p dir="ltr">https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/21/us/politics/fact-check-trump-russia-investigation-steele-dossier.html</p>
<p dir="ltr">http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2017/09/a_lot_of_the_steele_dossier_has_since_been_corroborated.html</p>
James Dillonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00517779620333212437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8768145343296002534.post-9793079199636626122018-06-17T11:29:00.001-07:002019-01-31T07:41:29.658-08:00Cognitive Dissonance: Republican Epidemic.<div dir="ltr">
I'm writing this because I've noticed over the last few decades that Republicans have been slowly but gradually surely losing their minds. I remember John F Kennedy as a great president and unfortunately tragically shut down far too early. The last real Republican president United States had was Dwight Eisenhower. I would have voted for I like that he was a man of vision the supreme commander of all armed forces in World War II. He led our country to victory over evil and fascism. He also did things like built the interstate highway system. boys there's your socialism for you. <br />
I also remember Lyndon Johnson passing the Civil Rights Act ensuring that all Americans citizens had the right to vote. Many things came out of that including equal opportunity Equal justice under the law. <br />
I also remember Richard Nixon oh what a debacle that was. Watergate impeachment resignation oh God he gave us Spiro Agnew. The Attorney General was John Mitchell and he was indicted. I'm glad we made it back to sanity.<br />
Then we had Jimmy Carter. Things were relatively peaceful but the rest of the world was going straight to hell. The Arab oil embargo should have been a wake-up call for the United States. Just find something else to power your little Vehicles all right. Oh yeah I know right. Iran freaked out because we wanted to dispose the Emperor or Shah or whatever. (The CIA has a bad habit of going around the world in picking political winners and losers. Sometimes there's a little backlash.)<br />
Anyhow I don't think that was Jimmy Carter's fault he was a good man and still is.<br />
And then we got Reagan. Jesus. <br />
Or if there was a match made in hell that would be a 10. Hollywood meet Washington. Most of Reagan's cabinet wound up working for Bush 1 and Bush 2. He gave us people like Oliver North, Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney was Chief of Staff. These are the same guys that lied to us 10 years later about chemical weapons in Iraq and had us go to war under false pretenses. And they were just as dirty back then. Power and profit was all that matters to them. They were trading missiles to Iran to supply money to the Nicaraguan contras. There were also selling Saddam Hussein billions of dollars in war machinery in his war against Iran. What a way to play both sides and still make money. In about this time they started to court the religious right. So there we have the merging of mass media, politics and religion. The Holy Trinity. The trifecta. Don't forget that they also allow the media to ignore equal time provision in the FCC rules. Big payment to the mass media companies. About this time you also saw consolidation of all the big media players. Now we are stuck with six media companies providing 90% of all our information. Six large corporations own the television stations they own the radio stations they own the cable companies they own everything you read. Welcome to Ronald Reagan America. That one's on him.<br />
George Bush Senior had a brief but auspicious term of office. Desert Storm desert shield? Yeah right. Saddam had chemical weapons VX nerve Laboratories. I'm sure he was going to get develop nuclear bombs as well. George Bush Senior leagacy is we are still in Iraq. Tons of scandal during his term in office, I just can't remember them all.</div>
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Then we had Bill Clinton the only reason I like Bill is because he played saxophone on Arsenio Hall Show. So I voted for him.</div>
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Hey hey hey. Score of the game. Most very excellent. Party Time.</div>
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So what did Bill Clinton do? Well, the economy did pretty well. And that pissed off the Republicans a lot. He balanced the budget and that pissed off Republicans even more. He got a b****** from an intern and that turned into an impeachment hearing. Look, if the guy is in charge of all the nuclear weapons I want him to get a b****** everyday...<br />
I don't care who gets to do it. Hell we could set up a raffle and sell tickets.</div>
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Then the old neocon boys from Reagan and Bush 1 returned and we got George W Bush. </div>
James Dillonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00517779620333212437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8768145343296002534.post-73620354657026331122018-05-31T14:15:00.002-07:002018-05-31T14:15:36.273-07:00E. Scott Lloyd ORR DirectorE. Scott Lloyd ORR Director
Office of Refugee Resetlement
Office: 202 401-9246
Fax: 202 401-0981James Dillonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00517779620333212437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8768145343296002534.post-30116231601094195792018-05-26T20:57:00.001-07:002018-05-26T20:57:20.031-07:00Former DNI Clapper speaks out.<div align="left"><p dir="ltr">James Clapper, the former director of national intelligence, has spoken out about Russia’s bid to subvert the 2016 presidential election.<br></p></div>
<p dir="ltr">In his new memoir, <i>Facts and Fears: Hard Truths From a Life in Intelligence, </i>Clapper describes evidence that Russian President Vladimir Putin swayed the election in a bid to secure Trump’s election as “staggering.”</p>
<p dir="ltr">“Of course, the Russian efforts affected the outcome," writes Clapper, as cited in a <i><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/former-intelligence-chiefs-argument-that-putin-did-indeed-sway-the-2016-vote/2018/05/22/0d26c13a-53ac-11e8-a551-5b648abe29ef_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.1cb4264bc3a7">Washington Post </a></i>review. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"Surprising even themselves, they swung the election to a Trump win. To conclude otherwise stretches logic, common sense and credulity to the breaking point. Less than eighty thousand votes in three key states swung the election. I have no doubt that more votes than that were influenced by this massive effort by the Russians.”</p>
<p dir="ltr">Describing a report on Russian interference presented by the intelligence community to president-elect Trump in January 2017, Clapper writes, “I remember just how staggering the assessment felt the first time I read it through from start to finish, and just how specific our conclusions and evidence were.”</p>
<p dir="ltr">In the intelligence chief's view, “We showed unambiguously that Putin had ordered the campaign to influence the election…and how the entire operation had begun with attempts to undermine U.S. democracy and demean Secretary Clinton, then shifted to promoting Mr. Trump when Russia assessed he was a viable candidate who would serve their strategic goals.” <br>
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James Dillonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00517779620333212437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8768145343296002534.post-56686799797470106142018-05-05T09:24:00.001-07:002018-05-14T14:57:26.683-07:00New Radicals Someday we'll knowhttps://youtu.be/bDmA8qQKhMYJames Dillonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00517779620333212437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8768145343296002534.post-71080107352610417592018-04-23T20:30:00.001-07:002018-04-23T20:33:51.907-07:00The DNC LAWSUIT<p dir="ltr">The Democratic National Committee has <a href="https://medium.com/@TheDemocrats/were-suing-the-trump-campaign-and-russia-72a6b76067e6">sued</a> the Russian Intelligence service (GRU), Julian Assange and WikiLeaks, the Trump campaign, and a number of other individuals and organizations that the political party believes were affiliated with the now-infamous 2016 hack, whose perpetrators managed to spirit away internal research about then-candidate Donald Trump, as well as private e-mail and messages. <br></p>
James Dillonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00517779620333212437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8768145343296002534.post-76727925473752154522017-09-01T12:12:00.001-07:002017-11-12T15:34:45.797-08:00Donald and the Russian Connection Problem<h3 class="post-title entry-title" itemprop="name" style="background-color: white; color: #4c4c4c; font-family: arial, tahoma, helvetica, freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; position: relative; text-align: center;">
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The Trump / Russian connection:</div>
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Time to connect the dots 2017:</div>
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Sources with links to the intelligence community say it is believed that Carter Page went to Moscow in early July carrying with him a pre-recorded tape of Donald Trump offering to change American policy if he were to be elected, to make it more favorable to Putin. In exchange, Page was authorized directly by Trump to request the help of the Russian government in hacking the election. These associates were all present: Carter Page, Paul Manafort, and Boris Epshteyn.<br />
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A key aspect of the scandal surrounding Russia and its efforts to elect Donald Trump is the hacking operation, which stole Democratic materials. But as Reuters reported, that wasn’t the only element of the broader espionage operation.<br />
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A Russian government think tank controlled by Vladimir Putin developed a plan to swing the 2016 U.S. presidential election to Donald Trump and undermine voters’ faith in the American electoral system, three current and four former U.S. officials told Reuters.<br />
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They described two confidential documents from the think tank as providing the framework and rationale for what U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded was an intensive effort by Russia to interfere with the Nov. 8 election. U.S. intelligence officials acquired the documents, which were prepared by the Moscow-based Russian Institute for Strategic Studies, after the election.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 10.4px;">Carter Page</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 10.4px;">Paul Manafort</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 10.4px;">Boris Epshteyn</td></tr>
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Boris Epshteyn is a Soviet-born American Republican political strategist, investment banker, and attorney.<br />
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The FBI gathered intelligence last summer that suggests Russian operatives tried to use Trump advisers, including Carter Page, to infiltrate the Trump campaign, according to US officials.<br />
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The new information adds to the emerging picture of how the Russians tried to influence the 2016 election, not only through email hacks and propaganda but also by trying to infiltrate the Trump orbit. The intelligence led to an investigation into the coordination of Trump's campaign associates and the Russians.<br />
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These officials made clear they don't know whether Page was aware the Russians may have been using him. Because of the way Russian spy services operate, Page could have unknowingly talked with Russian agents.<br />
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The intelligence suggests Russia tried to infiltrate the inner-workings of the Trump campaign by using backdoor channels to communicate with people in the Trump orbit, US officials say.<br />
Page is one of several Trump advisers US and European intelligence found to be in contact with Russian officials and other Russians known to Western intelligence during the campaign, according to multiple US officials. The scope and frequency of those contacts raised the interest of US intelligence agencies. The FBI and CIA declined to comment on Page's statement.<br />
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In 2013, Page had meetings with a Russian man who turned out to be a spy, according to federal prosecutors. Page denied knowing that the man, Victor Podobnyy, was secretly a Russian operative living in New York.<br />
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As CNN first reported, Carter Page's speech critical of US policy against Russia in July 2016 at a prominent Moscow university drew the attention of the FBI and raised concerns he had been compromised by Russian intelligence, according to US officials. They also feared that Russian operatives maintained contact with him both in the United States and Russia, US officials say.<br />
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His conversations with suspected Russian operatives are being examined as part of a large intelligence-gathering operation by the FBI and other US agencies that was set up to probe Russia's interference in the election. The officials would not say what the conversations were about.<br />
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How Page's name became associated with the campaign is a reflection of how minimal the Trump operation was last year, as establishment national security figures avoided an association with the insurgent operation.<br />
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Page wrote to the House Intelligence committee offering to testify, Page describes more interactions with the campaign. The FBI had Page on their radar for at least four years, according to court documents and US officials.<br />
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Former CIA Director James Woolsey was an adviser to Donald Trump’s campaign. He eventually quit during the transition period, diplomatically suggesting that his role had run its course. But he’s now publicly disclosing something which may have been a factor. Last summer Michael Flynn brought Woolsey along to a meeting with representatives from the Turkish government, where they discussed theoretical plans for abducting Turkish dissident Fethullah Gulen from his home in Pennsylvania and shipping him back to Turkey. During the same meeting, Flynn tried to hire Woolsey as a consultant to his firm, in the name of furthering this plot against Gulen.</div>
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Congress notified the Trump team during the transition that Michael Flynn was on Turkey’s payroll. Trump and Pence stood by him until his Russia ties leaked publicly in February, at which point he was nudged out; Trump and Pence then <b><a href="http://www.palmerreport.com/news/mike-pence-learned-in-november-that-michael-flynn-was-a-foreign-agent-lied-about-knowing/1863/" style="color: #4f48a0; text-decoration-line: none;">went on to lie</a></b> about not having known. Notably, James Woolsey resigned from the Trump transition team a few weeks after the team learned Flynn was on the take. It’s unclear why Woolsey is choosing to go public now</div>
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April 9, 2017: The FBI arrested ten people in New York City with alleged indirect ties to Donald Trump and a Russian mafia figure.</div>
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March 30, 2017: FBI agents entered the Saipan casino in a joint action with local authorities. A local politician characterized the action as an “investigation or raid” of the property. The casino is run by Mark Brown, who according to a prior Forbes article is a longtime protege of Donald <u>Trump</u>. In fact Brown is the former CEO of Trump Hotels and Casinos, which went on to file for bankruptcy three times. But Brown isn’t the only direct Trump connection to the property.</div>
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Former CIA Director James Woolsey, who was a foreign policy adviser to Donald Trump during his campaign and part of his transition period, is on the board of directors of that same casino. That means two people with close ties to Trump, one of them financial and one of them political, just saw their casino raided by the Feds.</div>
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10 APRIL 2017:</div>
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A Russian programmer has been arrested in Spain on suspicion of involvement in attempts to influence the outcome of the 2016 US presidential election, local media reported. His wife, Maria Levashova said her husband was accused of writing a virus that helped Donald Trump win the election. Levashov is “suspected of having participated in hacking the election campaign in the United States." Mr. Levashov’s wife earlier said she had been told her husband’s arrest was linked to alleged interference on the US election. </div>
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April 13, 2017:</div>
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@SheWhoVotes, a Twitter user who is also a Constitutional lawyer and has a solid track record. She tweeted today that she’s “Hearing from intelligence insiders that [New York State Attorney General Eric] Scheiderman is working closely with intel. They’re going to take out the entire three ring circus”. This was then quickly validated with the words “Fact check: true” by Louise Mensch, a former member of British Parliament who is now a political journalist, and whose inside sources have been consistently correct about the FISA warrants in the Trump-Russia investigation going back to last fall. Mensch then added “First arrests maybe next week”. She also referenced the arrest of ten low level mafia figures in New York two weeks ago, who were not Russian, but whose crime family has alleged ties to both Donald Trump and the Russian mafia through Felix Sater.</div>
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<u>The</u> FBI leaked that it’s been surveilling Carter Page since last summer, meaning it has recordings of everyone he conspired with, in what seemed to be a final warning shot to any Trump-Russia conspirators who want to cut a deal before the arrests begin.<br />
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April 21, 2017<br />
This may be of some interest to the DOJ official overseeing the FBI’s ongoing counter-intelligence investigation, but as Politico reported, it turns out, she’s leaving her post.<br />
The Justice Department official who is leading the government’s investigation into potential collusion between President Donald Trump’s campaign and the Russian government will step down next month.<br />
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Mary McCord, who has served as acting assistant attorney general for national security since October, informed DOJ employees this week that she will be leaving in mid-May, a spokesman confirmed to POLITICO.<br />
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DOJ’s National Security Division is leading the agency’s inquiry into possible links between Trump campaign aides and Moscow, as well as the Kremlin’s alleged digital meddling campaign during the 2016 presidential race. This does not mean that the investigation is over, but Rachel spoke about this last night with Matthew Miller, a former Justice Department spokesperson, who raised an under-appreciated point.<br />
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McCord, who’s now stepping down for reasons that haven’t been publicly disclosed, is a career Justice Department official, not a political appointee, who’s had a hands-on, day-to-day oversight role in the counter-intelligence investigation. Once she steps down, it’s possible, if not likely, that the DOJ will replace her with a political appointee, chosen by Team Trump, at least temporarily.<br />
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You see the problem: Team Trump is the subject of the investigation Mary McCord has helped lead. Indeed, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who’s been accused of lying under oath about his own communications with Russian officials, has recused himself from the investigation, but it may soon fall to him to choose McCord’s acting successor.<br />
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It’s why Matthew Miller said last night, “I think it would be hugely troubling if [the Trump administration] put a political appointee, who had not been nominated, not been confirmed by the Senate into this job to investigate the president…. Eventually, I think it has to be a special counsel, but short of that, it has to be an acting career person until someone can be confirmed by the Senate.”</div>
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James Dillonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00517779620333212437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8768145343296002534.post-44526549281529090712017-07-04T02:15:00.000-07:002017-07-04T02:24:13.360-07:00Happening Fourth or July<p dir="ltr">The beginning of July, the 4th of July Trump Administration news slowly but inevitably coming off the rails it's only a matter of time before he completely disintegrate and the mental problems of Donald Trump are becoming more and more obvious to the average Observer. There are several investigations foreign simultaneously into mr. Trump's Financial dealings with Russians in the Iranians and the Turkish ring Ukrainian other countries that have then point to us from Associates largest stone Carter page hurt France Wilbur Ross Felix Adler most of Hazzard multiple dealings and businesses real estate and financial transactions that.</p>
James Dillonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00517779620333212437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8768145343296002534.post-3708837720370258642017-06-18T14:33:00.001-07:002017-06-18T14:47:01.963-07:00Donald Trump's links to the Russian Mob.<center>
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Dutch documentary investigates Trump’s past links to the Russian mob.</h3>
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Trump told reporters in February: "I have no dealings with Russia. I have no deals that could happen in Russia, because we’ve stayed away. And I have no loans with Russia. I have no loans with Russia at all." </div>
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Donald Trump said in a recent interview with NBC’s Lester Holt, "I have had dealings over the years where I sold a house to a very wealthy Russian many years ago. I had the Miss Universe pageant — which I owned for quite a while — I had it in Moscow a long time ago. But other than that, I have nothing to do with Russia."</div>
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The truth is that Trump is lying. Donald Trump has deep Russian connections that far exceed what he admitted to. In 2013, after Trump addressed potential investors in Moscow, he bragged to Real Estate Weekly about his access to Russia's rich and powerful. “I have a great relationship with many Russians, and almost all of the oligarchs were in the room,” Trump said, referring to Russians who made fortunes when former Soviet state enterprises were sold to private investors.</div>
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In September 2008, Donald Trump Jr. gave the following statement to the “Bridging U.S. and Emerging Markets Real Estate” conference in Manhattan: “In terms of high-end product influx into the United States, Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets; say in Dubai, and certainly with our project in SoHo and anywhere in New York. We see a lot of money pouring in from Russia.” </div>
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He refers specifically to the Soho venture in which Trump partnered with the Russian-connected Bayrock group.</div>
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New York City real estate broker Dolly Lenz said she sold about 65 condos in Trump World at 845 U.N. Plaza in Manhattan to Russian investors, many of whom sought personal meetings with Trump for his business expertise. “I had contacts in Moscow looking to invest in the United States,” Lenz said. “They all wanted to meet Donald. They became very friendly.” Many of those meetings happened in Trump's office at Trump Tower or at sales events, Lenz said.</div>
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I am amazed that none of the major media outlets in the USA have released this information. This is the most damning evidence I have seen of Trump's multiple criminal activities. 50 years of lies and cons. Trump's association with criminal figures isn't going to go away. After six bankruptcies, US banks stopped making loans to him. One Billion Dollars in debt, no bank in New York would lend him a dime. To expand his real estate empire, Donald Trump and partners repeatedly turned to wealthy Russians and oligarchs from former Soviet republics, allegedly connected to organized crime, Trump and company have had business dealings with Russians that go back decades.</div>
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The president and his companies have been linked to at least 10 wealthy former Soviet businessmen with alleged ties to criminal organizations and money laundering schemes. efforts to launch real estate ventures in Russia through Bayrock Associates, a Russian-connected outfit. Bayrock had partnered with Trump on at least four major but failed American projects: the Fort Lauderdale Trump Tower, the Trump Ocean Club in Fort Lauderdale, the SoHo condominium-hotel in New York, and a resort in Phoenix. Since President Trump won the Republican nomination, the majority of his companies’ real estate sales are to secretive shell companies that obscure the buyers’ identities.<br />
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Over the last 12 months, about 70% of buyers of Trump properties were limited liability companies – corporate entities that allow people to purchase property without revealing all of the owners’ names. That compares with about 4% of buyers in the two years before. What’s interesting about this is: It’s not the first time. A decade ago, when Donald Trump’s seventh bankruptcy had wiped out his ability to borrow, he was dragged back from the brink of financial failure by money from Russian oligarchs. That infusion of money came not only in the form of big investments in new building projects, it also came through a money-laundering scheme that created LLCs for the express purpose of grabbing Trump properties at premium prices.</div>
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Bayrock had its office on the 24th floor of Trump Tower, and its 2007 brochure featured a photo of Trump and Tevfik Arif, a principal Bayrock partner, who served for 17 years in the Soviet government before emigrating to the United States. It called the Trump Organization a “strategic partner,” and listed Trump as their primary reference.</div>
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Among them:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1rqwbLf-lN6pvqb0vqZqjB8Y-gL8myOvkI3OYDDR0YEuG6z2aFKIq0rnp5YllTMp6R9lwi5UNruKZH1StgBfO7st4r8SYrC-Bfg2vZbKYULxAt1PKebe5OnhgqO79tImshXW7Acv4WfTR/s1600/sater.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1rqwbLf-lN6pvqb0vqZqjB8Y-gL8myOvkI3OYDDR0YEuG6z2aFKIq0rnp5YllTMp6R9lwi5UNruKZH1StgBfO7st4r8SYrC-Bfg2vZbKYULxAt1PKebe5OnhgqO79tImshXW7Acv4WfTR/s1600/sater.jpg" /></a></div>
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• Felix Sadar, a Russian-born managing director at Bayrock, is a twice-convicted felon, and is a founding member of Bayrock, a firm that developed the Trump SoHo Hotel in New York. Felix Sadar is the son of the head of the Russian mafia, and who spent a year in prison for stabbing a man. Felix Sater,was convicted of assault in 1991. Then, in 1998, federal prosecutors convicted Sater of fraud, for running a $40 million penny stock fraud in collaboration with the New York and Russian Mafia. In return for a guilty plea, Sater reportedly agreed to work as a government informant.</div>
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• An investor in the SoHo project was accused by Belgian authorities in 2011 in a $55 million money-laundering scheme.</div>
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• Three owners of Trump condos in Florida and Manhattan were accused in federal indictments of belonging to a Russian-American organized crime group and working for a major international crime boss based in Russia.</div>
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• A former mayor from Kazakhstan was accused in a federal lawsuit filed in Los Angeles in 2014 of hiding millions of dollars looted from his city, some of which was spent on three Trump SoHo units.</div>
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• A Ukrainian owner of two Trump condos in Florida was indicted in a money-laundering scheme involving a former prime minister of Ukraine.</div>
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Trump's Russian connections are of heightened interest because of an FBI investigation into possible collusion between Trump's presidential campaign and Russian operatives to interfere in last fall's election. The FBI apparently knew, directly or indirectly, based upon available facts, that prior to Election Day, Trump and his campaign had personal and business dealings with individuals and entities linked to criminal elements — including reputed Russian gangsters — connected to Putin.</div>
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The FBI can't talk about Donald Trump’s contacts with Russia because it would jeopardize a sensitive operation targeting mobsters tied to Russian President Vladimir Putin — and to Trump.</div>
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The plaintiffs in a 2015 racketeering case against Bayrock, Sater, and Arif, among others, alleged in the civil lawsuit that: “for most of its existence Bayrock was substantially and covertly mob-owned and operated,” engaging “in a pattern of continuous, related crimes, including mail, wire, and bank fraud; tax evasion; money laundering; conspiracy; bribery; extortion; and embezzlement.” Although the lawsuit does not allege complicity by Trump, it claims that Bayrock exploited its joint ventures with Trump as a conduit for laundering money and evading taxes. The lawsuit cites as a “Concrete example of their crime, Trump SoHo stands 454 feet tall at Spring and Varick, where it also stands monument to spectacularly corrupt money-laundering and tax evasion.”</div>
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Trump’s 2013 sojourn in Russia for the Miss Universe pageant was far less innocent that he would have us believe. According to the Washington Post, the deal to bring the pageant to Russia was “financed in part by the development company of a Russian billionaire Aras Agalarov.… a Putin ally who is sometimes called the ‘Trump of Russia’ because of his tendency to put his own name on his buildings.”<br />
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While in Moscow, Trump met with Russian oligarchs who were closely aligned with President Vladimir Putin, including Herman Gref, the chief executive officer of the state-controlled Sberbank, Russia’s largest bank. In 2014, the United States and the European Union sanctioned Sberbank in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “The Russian market is attracted to me,” Trump said. “Almost all of the oligarchs were in the room,” he bragged. He tweeted, “TRUMP TOWER-MOSCOW is next.”<br />
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The Bayrock Group’s Felix Sater emerges again during the Trump campaign and presidency. Sater contributed the maximum $5,400 to Donald Trump’s campaign. Then on February 19, 2017, the New York Times reported that “A week before Trump fired Michael Flynn resigned as national security advisor, a sealed proposal was hand-delivered to his office, outlining a way for President Trump to lift sanctions against Russia.”<br />
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The Times said that three men were responsible for developing and delivering the plan: Andrew Cohen, Trump’s personal lawyer, and Andrii V. Artemenko, a pro-Russian member of the Ukrainian parliament.<br />
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The third man was none other than Trump’s former business partner and convicted fraudster, Felix Sater. How and why Sater became involved with a key member of the Trump administration in the most sensitive of diplomatic transactions between the United States and Russia remains one of the many mysteries to be resolved by congressional and FBI investigators.</div>
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“I Can’t Go into Those Details Here”</h3>
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Former FBI Director James Comey said In his March 20 testimony before the House Intelligence Committee that he could not go into detail about its probe into the Trump administration’s Russian connection. If he had we may have learned that for more than three decades the FBI has had Trump Tower in its sights. Many of its occupants have been targets of major investigations. One thing many of them have in common is deep ties to organized crime — including the Russian mafia.</div>
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Felix Sater fits all of these categories. A convicted felon, Sater worked in Trump Tower, made business deals with Donald Trump through Sater’s real estate firm, Bayrock, and later scouted for investments in Russia on behalf of Trump. Sater cooperated with the FBI and CIA and was subsequently protected by the DOJ from prosecution. The Moscow-born immigrant now lives in New Jersey and remains deeply linked to Russia and Ukraine. </div>
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The FBI has spent years untangling the financial machinations of Bayrock — which they allege involve hundred of millions of dollars in claims arising from, among other things, money laundering and fraud.</div>
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James Dillonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00517779620333212437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8768145343296002534.post-65908295042478970152017-06-16T03:06:00.001-07:002017-06-16T03:36:44.585-07:00Russian Cyber attacks were much more prevasive than we thought<p dir="ltr">Boomberg article reveals more details.</p>
<p dir="ltr">In Illinois, investigators found evidence that cyber intruders tried to delete or alter voter data. The hackers accessed software designed to be used by poll workers on Election Day, and in at least one state accessed a campaign finance database. Details of the wave of attacks, in the summer and fall of 2016, were provided by three people with direct knowledge of the U.S. investigation into the matter. In all, the Russian hackers hit systems in a total of 39 states.</p>
<p dir="ltr">https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2017-06-13/russian-breach-of-39-states-threatens-future-u-s-elections</p>
James Dillonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00517779620333212437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8768145343296002534.post-36589198482250308452017-05-04T10:52:00.001-07:002017-06-18T13:45:34.325-07:00Money Laundering: Trumps real Russian connection<div dir="ltr">
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The list of Donald Trump's Russian connections just keeps getting longer and longer and longer.<br />
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It's no coincidence that Donald Trump has very deep financial ties to Russians going back decades. This may explain why he is hesitant to release his tax returns.<b> </b><br />
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<b>This is also why </b><b>the</b><b> Treasury</b> <b>Department financial crimes division is looking into charges of money laundering. </b><b>Here is how I believe it works: Russians deposit large sums of money to the bank of Cypress and subsequently the money was transferred to offshore accounts in the Cayman Islands, Bermuda and other offshore tax havens. They then buy real estate thru the shell companies and use that to secure millions in loans.</b><br />
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<b>The New York Times reported Wednesday night that investigators are looking into a specific type of connection: money laundering. </b><b>If they find evidence that members of the Trump team received money from Moscow and then tried to hide it, the implications would be hugely significant. It would show there were money transfers worth hiding — and you don’t do that if what you’re doing is lawful.</b><br />
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<b>Let’s first be clear about what money laundering is. Money laundering, in its simplest form, is making it seem like money that comes from X place actually comes from Y place. It can help make an illegal money transfer appear like it was a run-of-the-mill, everyday exchange. Without laundering, the illegal money transfer would connect the lawbreaking parties, making it easier for law enforcement to identify the wrongdoers.</b><br />
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It appears Robert Muller has recruited an experienced Justice Department trial attorney, Lisa Page, whose résumé boasts intriguing hints about where Mueller's Russia investigation might lead. Page has deep experience with money laundering and organized crime cases, including investigations where she's partnered with an FBI task force in Budapest, Hungary, that focuses on eastern European organized crime. That Budapest task force helped put together the still-unfolding money laundering case against Ukrainian oligarch <b>Dmitry Firtash</b>, a one-time business partner of Trump's campaign manager Paul Manafort. News reports speculate that Mueller could be investigating potential money-laundering by Trump team members.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAYIxTdhHhaj1er3_Qp2DHzBa70IPnn4tUevXttcqS9OkmFZpEQNzM6F1sh7zJrUmhgdz3F8FPnuzi80afq8ANqTqgenP3INkIlN5oBgOiyWW0NVCNln-7NGV_uSxsUHmkFhFaPJ27jYmI/s1600/firtash.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Dmitry Firtash: This Guy looks guilty.." border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAYIxTdhHhaj1er3_Qp2DHzBa70IPnn4tUevXttcqS9OkmFZpEQNzM6F1sh7zJrUmhgdz3F8FPnuzi80afq8ANqTqgenP3INkIlN5oBgOiyWW0NVCNln-7NGV_uSxsUHmkFhFaPJ27jYmI/s1600/firtash.jpg" title="Dmitry Firtash: This Guy looks guilty.." /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b style="font-size: medium;">Dmitry Firtash: Manafort's Business partner</b></td></tr>
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Donald Trump's son mentioned to reporters that the Russians were "pouring money into his golf courses". In 2008, <b>Donald Trump Jr.</b> tells a real estate conference, “Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets. <b>We see a lot of money pouring in from Russia</b>.” During the speech, Trump Jr. says he traveled to Russia six times in the previous 18 months.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhplbZJUpVtGyvbkrPugssXEnDQdx4XOwNsOwWsl4zm-iRJO5LesRO6-TknUa9o70xHnct-l8sBqRD-106L1s9-YNgWx_L4ICmNcFjHZJZ6LxbjXhbhrB57ePreYN-DxaHOjMS_Fzr3ozIG/s1600/trump-jr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Donald Trump Jr." border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhplbZJUpVtGyvbkrPugssXEnDQdx4XOwNsOwWsl4zm-iRJO5LesRO6-TknUa9o70xHnct-l8sBqRD-106L1s9-YNgWx_L4ICmNcFjHZJZ6LxbjXhbhrB57ePreYN-DxaHOjMS_Fzr3ozIG/s1600/trump-jr.jpg" title="Donald Trump Jr." /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b style="font-size: medium;">Donald Trump Jr.</b></td></tr>
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Trump received a hundred million dollar in payments for a house in Florida that he bought for 50 million dollars just two years earlier. That Mansion was subsequently bulldozed to build a new property. Another Russian with mob connections bought 6 condos from Donald Trump at Trump Towers in New York City in another 100 million dollar sale.<br />
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<b>This was another Russian connection. </b></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZBpTPi1cCgxEuIP-UQ1zcOdbOWwCchXyv4pB-FOq3mi5p1Lp7BsjUQIL8Sre9ZSpfaoqehxM2LGsiIf6N0qYsqB093sFbooj7Oi2T0W83YMeWXzuG0CQWyC1w3A7RT8gCdYFmhAKJ3G3l/s1600/ross.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Wilbur Ross, Trump and Mike Pence" border="0" data-original-height="556" data-original-width="990" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZBpTPi1cCgxEuIP-UQ1zcOdbOWwCchXyv4pB-FOq3mi5p1Lp7BsjUQIL8Sre9ZSpfaoqehxM2LGsiIf6N0qYsqB093sFbooj7Oi2T0W83YMeWXzuG0CQWyC1w3A7RT8gCdYFmhAKJ3G3l/s320/ross.jpg" title="Wilbur Ross, Trump and Mike Pence" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Wilbur Ross, Trump and Mike Pence</b></td></tr>
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Donald Trump's Commerce Secretary is <b>Wilbur Ross, </b>the former head of the Bank of Cyprus with close financial ties to Russians.Wilbur Ross joined with a Russian oligarch and a former KGB official to run a bank in Cyprus. Ross has been a business partner with Viktor Vekselberg, a Russian billionaire oligarch and Putin ally. Vekselberg is one of the richest men in Russia, in a major financial project involving the Bank of Cyprus, that country’s largest and most significant financial institution. A financial crisis in 2013 led to the bank’s collapse and eventual bailout. The bank had held billions in deposits from wealthy Russians—some of it presumably dirty money or funds deposited there. During its restructuring, a large amount of these deposits were converted into shares, giving Russian plutocrats a majority ownership (on paper) of the bank. Cyprus is known to be awash in dirty Russian money as they tried to bypass sanctions on their bank called VBE. Wilbur Ross oversaw the Bank of Cyprus. In October 2014, Wilbur Ross unveiled a new board of directors for the Bank of Cyprus. He would be one of the members of the board and so would <b>Maksim Goldman</b>, a Renova executive representing Vekselberg’s interests. (Vekselbergs’ conglomerate, the Renova Group, had become the bank’s second-largest shareholder.) Also on this board was <b><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/industry/mining/9745330/Vladimir-Strzhalkovsky-receives-largest-pay-off-in-Russian-corporate-history.html" target="_blank">Vladimir Strzhalkovsky</a></b>, a previous board member whom Russia Today a year earlier had identified as a Putin associate and former KGB official. Ross and Vekselberg also recruited Josef Ackermann, a former head of Deutsche Bank, to come in as chairman. Ross is been involved with this oligarch for the past two years in an arrangement involving over $1 billion.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRKUhHPH4vzjuzSzt6qPSj5AmF1sIij0yw916g433v6eTn7UvdEgGDYg3IexDqOYmAN5ZeaYEqR_D9iXGVUFnrTh3gsnX3TaT_jE32xp5_9H4F_oISoy0XQ-mA_K66z-Q6-x7SAWhLfTOw/s1600/vekselberg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRKUhHPH4vzjuzSzt6qPSj5AmF1sIij0yw916g433v6eTn7UvdEgGDYg3IexDqOYmAN5ZeaYEqR_D9iXGVUFnrTh3gsnX3TaT_jE32xp5_9H4F_oISoy0XQ-mA_K66z-Q6-x7SAWhLfTOw/s1600/vekselberg.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Viktor Vekselberg, a Russian billionaire.</b></td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBpSNn-kyGpzh8t6Emg8t-ovYDYZgYBfWqHfYwa18ooUc8ZQe434bZOung1AIP26zDVocXdXyMnuinO5BBEXcrvho2jgeeuwBWzxSmBmdPzQ2YwyqH9STJDSQEuexFQc7D6imBzWCUlpv2/s1600/Vladimir-Strzhalkovsky.jpg" imageanchor="1"></a><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="680" data-original-width="770" height="176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBpSNn-kyGpzh8t6Emg8t-ovYDYZgYBfWqHfYwa18ooUc8ZQe434bZOung1AIP26zDVocXdXyMnuinO5BBEXcrvho2jgeeuwBWzxSmBmdPzQ2YwyqH9STJDSQEuexFQc7D6imBzWCUlpv2/s200/Vladimir-Strzhalkovsky.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="200" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b style="font-size: medium;">Vladimir Strzhalkovsky</b></td></tr>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWjWWlL9IGJIOmPxJH9iyxBCR9fUvyTxZegktxGPoy9H1A0QEKrTUjB2n21uknK1Ye1IT1ljytLveedqfy5gHl4XD4IeCKihoS9EGfmtfqromGLf5yXDmfZhtJCkHyMO0MS4zhOs6z19fr/s1600/Maksim+Goldman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="177" data-original-width="284" height="124" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWjWWlL9IGJIOmPxJH9iyxBCR9fUvyTxZegktxGPoy9H1A0QEKrTUjB2n21uknK1Ye1IT1ljytLveedqfy5gHl4XD4IeCKihoS9EGfmtfqromGLf5yXDmfZhtJCkHyMO0MS4zhOs6z19fr/s200/Maksim+Goldman.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;"><b>Bank of Cypress and </b><b style="font-size: medium;">Maksim Goldman</b></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm3XKA2WTX4BCK7keV3TdwM5tlFcn-2nrDgj-RVQfxY5xQXGMnoq5PwgpU3aYtpZQI0hSE8vD5Ur8LeKkJPNd3oyVaIwZGMsJsowd30cOVXTDatudlN6gKRwJ1tljWqnTTrDIDkG0gi-M-/s1600/putin-tillerson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="298" data-original-width="530" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm3XKA2WTX4BCK7keV3TdwM5tlFcn-2nrDgj-RVQfxY5xQXGMnoq5PwgpU3aYtpZQI0hSE8vD5Ur8LeKkJPNd3oyVaIwZGMsJsowd30cOVXTDatudlN6gKRwJ1tljWqnTTrDIDkG0gi-M-/s320/putin-tillerson.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Vladimir Putin and Exxon Mobil Chief Executive Rex Tillerson attend a meeting outside Moscow, Russia April 16, 2012.</b></td></tr>
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<b>Rex Tillerson</b>, the former CEO of ExxonMobil, is our new Secretary of State, with one major connection to Putin and Moscow. He boasts a long-term relationship with Putin and has cut huge deals with Russia for ExxonMobil. Tillerson is the long-time director of a US-Russian oil company based in the tax haven of the Bahamas. He has opposed US sanctions against Russia that get in the way of more oil deals between ExxonMobil and Putin, like the Kara Sea project. Exxon Mobil stands to regain access to huge reserves of oil if the United States rolls back sanctions on Russia. Tillerson has experience negotiating deals in Russia, and he got to know Putin while chief executive of the world's biggest integrated oil and gas company.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Rosneft<span style="background-color: white; color: #545454; font-family: "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small; text-align: left;"> </span></b><span style="background-color: white; color: #545454; font-family: "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small; font-weight: bold; text-align: left;">CEO Igor Sechin, Vladamin Putin, and Rex Tillerson</span></td></tr>
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The U.S.' relationship fell apart after Russia took Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and then intervened in civil wars in Ukraine and Syria. ExxonMobil's yearly losses from the halted ventures: $1 billion. As Exxon's chief executive, Tillerson's priority has been to his shareholders, and he has sought to protect the company's substantial interests in Russia. Tillerson has criticized U.S. sanctions on Russia. Exxon Mobil is pursuing a waiver from Treasury Department sanctions on Russia to drill in the Black Sea in a venture with Rosneft, the Russian state oil company.</div>
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Exxon's operations in Russia represent only a fraction of its global oil and gas production, but a joint venture with Russian state-controlled oil giant Rosneft to explore and produce fossil fuels in Arctic waters represents a big part of Exxon's potential future production growth. Those projects have been on ice since 2014, when the United States imposed sanctions on Russia for its incursions into Ukraine. Exxon said in a filing after the sanctions were put in place that its "maximum before-tax exposure to loss from these joint ventures" totaled $1 billion through the end of 2015.</div>
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Exxon and Rosneft entered the joint venture in 2012 to develop offshore reserves in the Arctic Kara Sea and the Black Sea, as well as onshore assets in Siberia. The following year, they advanced their strategic alliance by adding seven more blocks in the Chukchi, Laptev and Kara seas.</div>
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Exxon's holdings in Russia's Arctic waters and the Black Sea, which are not producing for the energy giant due to the sanctions, totaled 63.6 million acres. By comparison, Exxon holds 85,000 net acres across its main Russian venture, an offshore project called Sakhalin, which was in place before the sanctions. Rosneft estimates there are <b><i>87 billion barrels</i></b> of oil lying in the three blocks of the Kara Sea covered by its joint venture with Exxon Mobil. The first exploration well in the Kara Sea in the icy Arctic waters above Russia yielded a discovery of <b><i>730 million barrels of oil</i></b>. U.S. sanctions on Russia have prevented Exxon Mobil from exploring assets covering 63.6 million acres. The relationship fell apart after Russia took Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and then intervened in civil wars in Ukraine and Syria.</div>
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<b>President Trump’s personal lawyer and a former business associate met privately in New York City in Feb. 2017 with a member of the Ukrainian parliament to discuss a peace plan for that country that could give Russia long-term control over territory it seized in 2014 and lead to the lifting of sanctions against Moscow. </b><b>The meeting with Andrii V. Artemenko, the Ukrainian politician, involved Michael Cohen, a Trump Organization lawyer since 2007, and Felix Sater, a business partner who worked on real estate projects with Trump’s company.</b><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b style="font-size: medium;"> Andrii V. Artemenko</b></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b style="font-size: medium;">Felix Sater</b></td></tr>
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<b>Tevfik Arif </b></div>
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<b>Arif is chairman of the New York real estate company Bayrock Group</b></div>
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<b>Trump has dismissed the assessment, reached unanimously by 17 U.S. intelligence services, that the Russian government directed cyber attacks on the United States to interfere with the U.S. election process. </b><b>Coincidence? </b><b>I</b><b> </b><b>don't</b><b> think so.</b></div>
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<b>So far there has been several individuals associated with Donald <u>Trump</u> with deep financial ties to </b><b>Russian connections:</b><br />
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<b>Campaign Manager Paul</b><b> </b><b>Manafort</b></div>
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<b>National Security Adviser Retired General Mike</b><b> Flynn</b></div>
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<b>Attorney general Jeff Sessions</b><br />
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<b>Secretary of State </b><b>Rex Tillerson</b></div>
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<b>Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross</b><br />
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<b>Michael Cohen, Trump's lawyer</b></div>
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<b>Carter Page</b></div>
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<b>Erik</b><b> Prince</b><br />
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<b>Roger Stone</b><br />
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<b>Jared Kushner</b></div>
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Looking into money laundering around Trump is like investigating moisture in the middle of the ocean.</div>
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If that’s not enough money laundering for an investigation, read this last:</div>
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A Financial Times investigation has found evidence that one Trump venture has multiple ties to an alleged international money laundering network. Title deeds, bank records and correspondence show that a Kazakh family accused of laundering hundreds of millions of stolen dollars bought luxury apartments in a Manhattan tower part-owned by Mr Trump and embarked on major business ventures with one of the tycoon’s partners. The<span style="text-align: center;"> FBI did wiretap Trump Tower to monitor Russian activity, but it had nothing to do with the 2016 Presidential election, it has been reported.</span></div>
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Between 2011 and 2013 the Bureau had a warrant to spy on a high-level criminal Russian money-laundering ring, which operated in unit 63A of the iconic skyscraper — three floors below Mr Trump's penthouse.</div>
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The plaintiffs in a 2015 racketeering case against Bayrock, Sater, and Arif, among others, alleged in the civil lawsuit that: “for most of its existence it [Bayrock] was substantially and covertly mob-owned and operated,” engaging “in a pattern of continuous, related crimes, including mail, wire, and bank fraud; tax evasion; money laundering; conspiracy; bribery; extortion; and embezzlement.” Although the lawsuit does not allege complicity by Trump, it claims that Bayrock exploited its joint ventures with Trump as a conduit for laundering money and evading taxes. The lawsuit cites as a “Concrete example of their crime, Trump SoHo, [which] stands 454 feet tall at Spring and Varick, where it also stands monument to spectacularly corrupt money-laundering and tax evasion.”</div>
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Money laundering is <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">what Trump does</em>.</div>
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James Dillonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00517779620333212437noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8768145343296002534.post-14047628766202221362017-05-02T13:19:00.000-07:002017-05-02T13:19:56.750-07:00Defense Department Opens Investigation Into Michael Flynn’s Russia Payment | MSNBC<Center>
Published on Apr 27, 2017<br>
<h3>NBC’s Kelly O’Donnell reports on the new investigation being launched by the Defense Department’s Inspector General regarding former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.</h3>
<br>
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/FhHJ5a_kMtM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
</center>James Dillonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00517779620333212437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8768145343296002534.post-1248547118595597342017-04-13T12:26:00.001-07:002017-04-25T11:30:21.315-07:00Donald Trump and his Russian connections<p dir="ltr"></p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>Donald Trump and his Russian connections.</b></p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>Team Trump</b></p>
<p dir="ltr"><img src="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/trump-russia/img/people/trump.jpg"></p>
<p dir="ltr">Donald Trump </p>
<p dir="ltr">President of the United States and real estate developer. His business contacts in Russia date to the late 1980s.<br></p>
<p dir="ltr">Millian</p>
<p dir="ltr"><img src="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/trump-russia/img/people/millian.jpg"><br></p>
<p dir="ltr">Putin</p>
<p dir="ltr"><img src="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/trump-russia/img/people/putin.jpg"><br></p>
<p dir="ltr">Sater</p>
<p dir="ltr"><img src="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/trump-russia/img/people/sater.jpg"><br></p>
<p dir="ltr">Kislyak</p>
<p dir="ltr"><img src="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/trump-russia/img/people/kislyak.jpg"><br></p>
<p dir="ltr">Artemenko</p>
<p dir="ltr"><img src="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/trump-russia/img/people/artemenko.jpg"><br></p>
<p dir="ltr">Agalarov</p>
<p dir="ltr"><img src="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/trump-russia/img/people/agalarov.jpg"><br></p>
<p dir="ltr">TIMELINE</p>
<p dir="ltr">1986 | Trump sits next to Russian Ambassador Yuri Dubinin at a luncheon hosted by Leonard Lauder, the oldest son of Estée Lauder who managed the sprawling cosmetic business at the time. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1988/12/03/trump-and-the-gorby-connection/90def16e-147b-4581-8ac5-56fb6fbdf44f/?utm_term=.4fb3c0a83d65">Read more </a></p>
<p dir="ltr">1987 | Trump visits Moscow and tours various sites in an effort to strike real estate deals in Soviet-era Russia. He stays in a hotel overlooking the Kremlin, and tells Playboy that Russian jets escorted his own on the way to the airport. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-says-he-has-nothing-to-do-with-russia-thirty-years-of-history-shows-otherwise/2017/01/11/b7f20c5a-d829-11e6-b8b2-cb5164beba6b_story.html?utm_term=.0c242caa1583">Read more </a></p>
<p dir="ltr">December 1988 | Trump invites Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev and his wife to visit Trump Tower in New York, but the meeting never materializes. <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1988/12/01/world/for-gorbachev-met-museum-and-trump-tower-visits-due.html">Read more </a></p>
<p dir="ltr">1996 | Trump says he will hold a press conference with a Miami-based tobacco company in Moscow announcing plans to build an office and apartment complex similar to Trump Tower in New York. <a href="http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1996-11-05/business/9611040460_1_trump-hotels-trump-tower-trump-s-office">Read more </a></p>
<p dir="ltr">2005 | Trump gave the development company Bayrock a one-year deal to find a site for a Trump Tower. Felix Sater later testified that he identified a former pencil factory as a site for the project, before the deal fell apart. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/former-mafia-linked-figure-describes-association-with-trump/2016/05/17/cec6c2c6-16d3-11e6-aa55-670cabef46e0_story.html?utm_term=.1231c610805b">Read more </a></p>
<p dir="ltr">Nov. 9, 2013 | While in Moscow for his Miss Universe competition, Trump meets with Russian businessmen, including real estate developer Aras Agalarov, an ally of Russian president Vladimir Putin. Before the pageant, Trump said to MSNBC, "I do have a relationship" with Putin.<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/inside-trumps-financial-ties-to-russia-and-his-unusual-flattery-of-vladimir-putin/2016/06/17/dbdcaac8-31a6-11e6-8ff7-7b6c1998b7a0_story.html?tid=a_inl&utm_term=.6a9d7326a620">Read more </a></p>
<p dir="ltr">May 2014 | Trump tells a group at the National Press Club that while he was in Moscow, he spoke with Putin "indirectly and directly."</p>
<p dir="ltr">July 2015 | At a town hall in Las Vegas, Trump tells an audience that he knew Putin. "I don't think you'd need the sanctions. I think that we would get along very, very well," he said. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nP8xogCIGXw">Read more </a></p>
<p dir="ltr">September 2015 | Putin and Trump are on the season premiere of "60 Minutes." Although Trump would later say in a debate, "I got to know him very well because we were both on '60 Minutes.' We were stablemates," Time magazine revealed that they were interviewed in separate cities. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2017/03/03/the-web-of-relationships-between-team-trump-and-russia/?utm_term=.5a49c7004e72">Read more </a></p>
<p dir="ltr">December 2015 | Putin says Trump is “colorful" and "talented." Trump calls the compliment an “honor.” Even as ties to Russia become a campaign issue in 2016, Trump refuses to renounce Putin: “A guy calls me a genius, and I’m going to renounce? I’m not going to renounce him.” (Putin has not publicly called Trump a genius.) <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2017/02/07/does-trump-know-putin-a-chronology/?utm_term=.6125264df5f4">Read more </a></p>
<p dir="ltr">April 2016 | Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak attends a speech in Washington in which Trump vows to seek better relations with Russia. The president of the think tank that invited Kislyak said he introduced the two in a receiving line. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/despite-early-denials-growing-list-of-trump-camp-contacts-with-russians-haunts-white-house/2017/03/03/a5b196d8-002d-11e7-8f41-ea6ed597e4ca_story.html?utm_term=.7b9484e2f621">Read more </a></p>
<p dir="ltr">July 2016 | In news conferences and tweets, Trump says he has “nothing to do with Russia,” and "I don't know who Putin is. ... I've never spoken to him." He also tweeted, “For the record, I have ZERO investments in Russia.” At the same time, at a news conference, Trump encouraged the Russians to hack Hillary Clinton's email. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/heres-what-we-know-about-donald-trump-and-his-ties-to-russia/2016/07/29/1268b5ec-54e7-11e6-88eb-7dda4e2f2aec_story.html?utm_term=.b9085aec33e8">Read more </a></p>
<p dir="ltr">July 19, 2016 | Donald Trump, long seen as an unlikely candidate in the 2016 presidential election, is nominated as the GOP presidential candidate at the Republican National Convention. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/republican-national-convention-scrutiny-of-melania-trumps-speech-follows-plagiarism-allegations/2016/07/19/3efc4208-4da4-11e6-a7d8-13d06b37f256_story.html?utm_term=.7b1eed7ae042">Read more </a></p>
<p dir="ltr">Nov. 10, 2016 | Two days after the election, a Russian official tells a reporter in Moscow that the Kremlin had been in contact with Trump’s campaign. Trump spokesperson Hope Hicks denies it, saying, “There was no communication between the campaign and any foreign entity during the campaign.” <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/despite-early-denials-growing-list-of-trump-camp-contacts-with-russians-haunts-white-house/2017/03/03/a5b196d8-002d-11e7-8f41-ea6ed597e4ca_story.html?utm_term=.ee8e79d52431">Read more </a></p>
<p dir="ltr">Jan. 20, 2017 | Inauguration Day. Donald Trump is sworn in as the 45th president of the United States. He designates the day as “National Day of Patriotic Devotion.” <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/01/23/trump-names-his-inauguration-day-a-national-day-of-patriotic-devotion/?utm_term=.1556a5b46371">Read more </a></p>
<p dir="ltr">Jan. 28, 2017 | President Trump and Putin speak on the phone for an hour. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/details-of-trump-putin-call-raise-new-white-house-leak-concerns/2017/02/09/162f0fe6-ef0b-11e6-b4ff-ac2cf509efe5_story.html?utm_term=.5d70109ff163">Read more </a></p>
<p dir="ltr">March 2017 | One of Trump's personal lawyers, Marc E. Kasowitz, is named to the legal team defending Russia’s largest state-run bank in a corporate-raiding case, BuzzFeed reports. <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/anthonycormier/trumps-longtime-lawyer-is-defending-russias-biggest-bank?utm_term=.tvE2g7QA6&wpisrc=nl_daily202&wpmm=1#.mby1aD24A">Read more </a></p>
<p dir="ltr"><img src="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/trump-russia/img/people/manafort.jpg"></p>
<p dir="ltr">Paul Manafort </p>
<p dir="ltr">A political consultant and lobbyist and former Trump campaign chairman, Manafort was also a former business associate of Rick Gates and Roger Stone. Manafort was involved in a couple of million-dollar investment deals with oligarchs linked to Putin. He also advised former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, who fled to Russia in 2014.<br></p>
<p dir="ltr">Firtash</p>
<p dir="ltr"><img src="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/trump-russia/img/people/firtash.jpg"></p>
<p dir="ltr">TIMELINE</p>
<p dir="ltr">2005 | For nearly a decade starting in 2005, Manafort worked for people with ties to the party of Putin ally and Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych — and for the party itself — in a successful effort to remake Yanukovych's image and return him to the presidency. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/08/19/paul-manaforts-complicated-ties-to-ukraine-explained/?utm_term=.11f67a76bb04">Read more </a></p>
<p dir="ltr">2006 | Russian aluminum magnate Oleg Deripaska, who has close ties to Putin, becomes Manafort's client. He invests in Manafort's Cayman Islands fund, which bought assets primarily in Ukraine. (Later in court, Deripaska accuses Manafort and Rick Gates of defrauding him out of $19 million.) <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/in-business-as-in-politics-trump-adviser-no-stranger-to-controversial-figures/2016/04/26/970db232-08c7-11e6-b283-e79d81c63c1b_story.html?utm_term=.6742083ad752">Read more </a></p>
<p dir="ltr">2006 | Manafort reportedly signs a $10 million annual contract with Deripaska to secretly advance the interests of Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to the Associated Press. He also proposed a strategy to undermine anti-Russian opposition in former Soviet republics. Before the March 2017 story, Manafort and the Trump administration had said Manafort never worked for Russian interests. Manafort and Deripaska denied that any work was done on behalf of Putin or the Russian government, and the AP account has not been confirmed. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2017/03/22/timeline-paul-manaforts-long-murky-history-of-political-interventions/?utm_term=.0dee756614ed">Read more </a></p>
<p dir="ltr">2008 | Manafort and associate Rick Gates agree to work on a Park Avenue development project with Ukrainian oligarch and steel tycoon Dmitry Firtash, but the project falls apart.<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/austria-approves-extradition-of-ukrainian-oligarch-tied-to-trump-campaign-aides/2017/02/21/13c71542-f83d-11e6-aa1e-5f735ee31334_story.html?utm_term=.87a84ed7135c">Read more </a></p>
<p dir="ltr">May 19, 2016 | Manafort formally becomes Trump's campaign chairman and chief strategist. Trump's campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, is fired June 20. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/05/19/veteran-strategist-paul-manafort-becomes-trumps-campaign-chairman/?utm_term=.6d3c4a252051">Read more </a></p>
<p dir="ltr">Aug. 14, 2016 | A New York Times story alleges Manafort received $12.7 million in secret cash payments from Ukranian President Viktor Yanukovych's party between 2005 and 2012. The findings are dubbed the "secret ledger."<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/15/us/politics/paul-manafort-ukraine-donald-trump.html">Read more </a></p>
<p dir="ltr">Aug. 19, 2016 | Manafort, whose campaign role at this point had been eclipsed by Stephen K. Bannon and Kellyanne Conway, resigns at the request of Trump. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/more-than-12-million-earmarked-for-trumps-campaign-manager-in-ukraine/2016/08/15/7ff7bec4-62dd-11e6-96c0-37533479f3f5_story.html?utm_term=.c3ca38b8e906">Read more </a></p>
<p dir="ltr">March 21, 2017 | A Ukrainian lawmaker releases documents alleging that Manafort laundered payments from Yanukovych's party using offshore accounts in Belize and Kyrgyzstan. Manafort denied receiving those payments. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/new-documents-say-trump-aide-hid-payments-from-pro-moscow-ukraine-party/2017/03/21/92ec85f2-0e11-11e7-9d5a-a83e627dc120_story.html?utm_term=.7088a71ab437">Read more </a></p>
<p dir="ltr">March 24, 2017 | Paul Manafort volunteers to be interviewed before the House Intelligence Committee on Russia ties, says Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.). <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/manafort-volunteered-to-testify-before-house-intelligence-committee-in-its-russia-probe/2017/03/24/7235a442-10a0-11e7-9b0d-d27c98455440_story.html?utm_term=.1634dd8ca1ba">Read more </a></p>
<p dir="ltr"><img src="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/trump-russia/img/people/flynn.jpg"></p>
<p dir="ltr">Ret. Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn </p>
<p dir="ltr">Former national security adviser and former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency. Flynn resigned as the NSC head after The Washington Post reported that he misled Vice President Mike Pence and others on the true nature of his contacts with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, saying he had not privately discussed U.S. sanctions.</p>
<p dir="ltr">RUSSIAN TIES</p>
<p dir="ltr">Putin</p>
<p dir="ltr"><img src="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/trump-russia/img/people/putin.jpg"><br></p>
<p dir="ltr">Sater</p>
<p dir="ltr"><img src="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/trump-russia/img/people/sater.jpg"><br></p>
<p dir="ltr">Kislyak</p>
<p dir="ltr"><img src="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/trump-russia/img/people/kislyak.jpg"></p>
<p dir="ltr">TIMELINE</p>
<p dir="ltr">2013 | Flynn meets Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak on a trip to Moscow. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/justice-department-warned-white-house-that-flynn-could-be-vulnerable-to-russian-blackmail-officials-say/2017/02/13/fc5dab88-f228-11e6-8d72-263470bf0401_story.html?utm_term=.64752c1f0fca">Read more </a></p>
<p dir="ltr">Dec. 10, 2015 | Flynn is paid more than $45,000 by Russian-government-backed RT for his participation in a Moscow panel honoring the news agency. At a related gala, he sat at the table of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Also in 2015, he was paid more than $22,000 by Russia-related entities for two speeches in Washington. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/new-details-released-on-russia-related-payments-to-flynn-before-he-joined-trump-campaign/2017/03/16/52a4205a-0a55-11e7-a15f-a58d4a988474_story.html?utm_term=.63f78facdf74;%20LINK%20TO%20DOCS:%20https://www.washingtonpost.com/apps/g/page/politics/documents-give-details-on-russia-related-payments-to-michael-flynn/2180/?tid=a_inl">Read more </a></p>
<p dir="ltr">Before Nov. 8, 2016 | Flynn contacts Kislyak, according to Post reporting. It's not clear how often they communicated or what was discussed. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/moscows-man-in-washington-is-at-the-center-of-the-political-moment/2017/03/02/7e624234-ff6b-11e6-99b4-9e613afeb09f_story.html?utm_term=.71eb714db095">Read more </a></p>
<p dir="ltr">December 2016 | Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, Flynn and Kislyak meet at Trump Tower for 20 minutes. This was just before the Obama administration sanctioned Russia for interfering in the 2016 election. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/02/us/politics/kushner-flynn-sessions-russia.html?_r=2">Read more </a></p>
<p dir="ltr">Dec. 29, 2016 | Flynn places five phone calls to Kislyak, who was being monitored by U.S. intelligence agencies. The same day, President Obama announces the sanctions. Putin chooses not to retaliate. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/russia-plans-retaliation-and-serious-discomfortoverus-hacking-sanctions/2016/12/30/4efd3650-ce12-11e6-85cd-e66532e35a44_story.html?utm_term=.c70923eead78">Read more </a></p>
<p dir="ltr">Jan. 12, 2017 | Post columnist David Ignatius reveals that conversations took place between Flynn and Kislyak. On Jan. 15, Vice President Mike Pence says on "Face the Nation" that Flynn had assured him that he and Kislyak did not discuss sanctions. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/why-did-obama-dawdle-on-russias-hacking/2017/01/12/75f878a0-d90c-11e6-9a36-1d296534b31e_story.html?utm_term=.e9f6a653287c">Read more </a></p>
<p dir="ltr">Jan. 24, 2017 | Flynn tells FBI interviewers that he did not discuss sanctions with Kislyak, contradicting transcripts from intelligence officials who monitored the calls. Two days later, acting attorney general Sally Q. Yates tells the White House counsel that Flynn had discussed sanctions and could be vulnerable to blackmail by Russia. Trump fired Yates Jan. 30 for refusing to enforce his travel ban. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/justice-department-warned-white-house-that-flynn-could-be-vulnerable-to-russian-blackmail-officials-say/2017/02/13/fc5dab88-f228-11e6-8d72-263470bf0401_story.html?utm_term=.64752c1f0fca">Read more </a></p>
<p dir="ltr">Feb. 8, 2017 | Flynn tells a Post reporter that he did not discuss sanctions with Kislyak. The next day, he waffles; a spokesman says Flynn "couldn't be certain that the topic never came up." Also that day, Pence learns from a Post story that the White House knew in January that Flynn and Kislyak had discussed sanctions. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/national-security-adviser-flynn-discussed-sanctions-with-russian-ambassador-despite-denials-officials-say/2017/02/09/f85b29d6-ee11-11e6-b4ff-ac2cf509efe5_story.html?tid=a_inl&utm_term=.ab32eb59adc7">Read more </a></p>
<p dir="ltr">Feb. 13, 2017 | Flynn is fired after news reports revealed that he misled Pence. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/michael-flynn-resigns-as-national-security-adviser/2017/02/13/0007c0a8-f26e-11e6-8d72-263470bf0401_story.html?utm_term=.b14e5f7df129">Read more </a></p>
<p dir="ltr">March 7, 2017 | Flynn files paperwork to register as a foreign agent because of lobbying work potentially benefitting Turkey. Days later it is revealed that his lawyers twice alerted the White House counsel during the transition that Flynn may need to register, meaning the nation's top national security voice was also being paid to represent the interests of a another country. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/flynn-told-trump-team-he-might-register-as-a-foreign-agent/2017/03/10/7e30713a-05cb-11e7-b9fa-ed727b644a0b_story.html?utm_term=.34448dbe2b1f">Read more </a></p>
<p dir="ltr">March 28, 2017 | The Post reports that the Trump administration unsuccessfully tried to block Yates from testifying in a House Intelligence Committee hearing after her lawyer told the Justice Department that her testimony would probably contradict statements by White House officials. Committee chair and former Trump adviser Devin Nunes canceled the hearing. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-administration-sought-to-block-sally-yates-from-testifying-to-congress-on-russia/2017/03/28/82b73e18-13b4-11e7-9e4f-09aa75d3ec57_story.html?utm_term=.8a05c2a6131e&wpisrc=nl_daily202&wpmm=1">Read more </a></p>
<p dir="ltr"><img src="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/trump-russia/img/people/page.jpg"></p>
<p dir="ltr">Carter Page </p>
<p dir="ltr">Former foreign policy adviser for the Trump campaign, energy executive and oil industry consultant. Page had worked in Moscow for years as a vice president with Merrill Lynch and made recent trips to Russia.</p>
<p dir="ltr">RUSSIAN TIES</p>
<p dir="ltr">Sechin</p>
<p dir="ltr"><img src="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/trump-russia/img/people/sechin.jpg"><br><br></p>
<p dir="ltr">Kislyak</p>
<p dir="ltr"><img src="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/trump-russia/img/people/kislyak.jpg"><br></p>
<p dir="ltr">TIMELINE</p>
<p dir="ltr">2004-2007 | Page runs the Moscow office of Merrill Lynch. He said he advised the state-run energy conglomerate Gazprom and other energy companies. However, Page's then-supervisor said Page's role was to execute deals rather than to negotiate or advise on them. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/trump-advisers-public-comments-ties-to-moscow-stir-unease-in-both-parties/2016/08/05/2e8722fa-5815-11e6-9aee-8075993d73a2_story.html?utm_term=.4fc9883d31cb">Read more </a></p>
<p dir="ltr">March 2016 | Page is hired by the Trump team. In an interview with Bloomberg News, he says he owns shares of Gazprom and that his stock portfolio had suffered since the United States and Europe imposed economic sanctions on Russia. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/trump-advisers-public-comments-ties-to-moscow-stir-unease-in-both-parties/2016/08/05/2e8722fa-5815-11e6-9aee-8075993d73a2_story.html?utm_term=.4fc9883d31cb">Read more </a></p>
<p dir="ltr">July 7, 2016 | Page gives a speech critical of U.S. policy toward Russia on a Moscow trip that had been approved by Trump's campaign manager on the condition that Page not formally represent the campaign. While there, Page allegedly met with Igor Sechin, a Putin confidant and chief executive of the energy company Rosneft, according to a dossier cited by Rep. Adam Schiff, the ranking Democrat on the House intelligence committee. Some of the information in the dossier has been verified by U.S. intelligence agencies, while other parts have proved false. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/trump-russia/NEED%20NEW%20LINK">Read more </a></p>
<p dir="ltr">July 18, 2016 | Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak speaks with Page and campaign adviser J.D. Gordon following a panel at the Republican National Convention, where Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) had also met Kislyak. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/sessions-spoke-twice-with-russian-ambassador-during-trumps-presidential-campaign-justice-officials-say/2017/03/01/77205eda-feac-11e6-99b4-9e613afeb09f_story.html?utm_term=.3840176395c4">Read more </a></p>
<p dir="ltr">Sept. 26, 2016 | Page leaves the campaign after reports showed he met with Igor Sechin, the head of state-owned Russian oil giant Rosneft, and other high-ranking Russian officials during the campaign. Page denies meeting “any of those guys” and volunteers to testify in front of Congress to clear his name. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/josh-rogin/wp/2016/09/26/trumps-russia-adviser-speaks-out-calls-accusations-complete-garbage/?utm_term=.6f8b1d6fffc5">Read more </a></p>
<p dir="ltr">April 3, 2017 | BuzzFeed reports Page met with a Russian agent named Victor Podobnyy in 2013 in New York at an energy conference, according to court filings. Page later tells The Washington Post that the reason his name came up in the court filings was because he was helping the Justice Department build its case against Evgeny Buryakov, an undercover Russian agent who was posing as a bank executive in New York at Vnesheconombank. Buryakov was later convicted of foreign espionage. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/former-trump-adviser-admits-to-2015-communication-with-russian-spy/2017/04/04/a09d7384-193b-11e7-9887-1a5314b56a08_story.html?utm_term=.6d4022b1a6fa">Read more </a></p>
<p dir="ltr"><img src="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/trump-russia/img/people/sessions.jpg"></p>
<p dir="ltr">Jeff Sessions </p>
<p dir="ltr">Attorney general. The former senator from Alabama and early Trump supporter recused himself from investigations related to the 2016 campaign after The Post found that, contrary to statements he made in his confirmation hearing, he had met with the Russian ambassador twice during the campaign.</p>
<p dir="ltr">RUSSIAN TIES</p>
<p dir="ltr">Kislyak</p>
<p dir="ltr"><img src="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/trump-russia/img/people/kislyak.jpg"></p>
<p dir="ltr">TIMELINE</p>
<p dir="ltr">July 18, 2016 | Sessions speaks with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak at a panel hosted by the Heritage Foundation at the Republican National Convention. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/sessions-spoke-twice-with-russian-ambassador-during-trumps-presidential-campaign-justice-officials-say/2017/03/01/77205eda-feac-11e6-99b4-9e613afeb09f_story.html?utm_term=.3840176395c4">Read more </a></p>
<p dir="ltr">Sept. 8, 2016 | Sessions and Kislyak meet in his Senate office.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Jan 10, 2017 | In a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Sessions’s nomination to serve as attorney general, Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) asks about a CNN report on Russian ties to the Trump campaign that had come out that day. During Sessions's answer, he says, "I did not have communications with the Russians, and I’m unable to comment on it." <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2017/03/02/what-jeff-sessions-said-about-russia-and-when/?utm_term=.31e2c3792917">Read more </a></p>
<p dir="ltr">Jan. 17, 2017 | Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) asks Sessions in a letter: "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?" Sessions responded, "no." <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2017/03/02/what-jeff-sessions-said-about-russia-and-when/?utm_term=.31e2c3792917">Read more </a></p>
<p dir="ltr">March 1, 2017 | The Post reveals Sessions's two meetings with Kislyak. The next day, Sessions reverses his previous statements and — over Trump's objection — says he will recuse himself from investigations related to the campaign. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/sessions-spoke-twice-with-russian-ambassador-during-trumps-presidential-campaign-justice-officials-say/2017/03/01/77205eda-feac-11e6-99b4-9e613afeb09f_story.html?utm_term=.7035bbaba4f3">Read more </a></p>
<p dir="ltr"><img src="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/trump-russia/img/people/kushner.jpg"></p>
<p dir="ltr">Jared Kushner </p>
<p dir="ltr">Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, New York real estate developer. Kushner's circle of friends and business ties includes prominent Russians.</p>
<p dir="ltr">RUSSIAN TIES</p>
<p dir="ltr">Gorkov</p>
<p dir="ltr"><img src="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/trump-russia/img/people/gorkov.jpg"><br></p>
<p dir="ltr">Milner</p>
<p dir="ltr"><img src="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/trump-russia/img/people/milner.jpg"><br></p>
<p dir="ltr">Kislyak</p>
<p dir="ltr"><img src="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/trump-russia/img/people/kislyak.jpg"></p>
<p dir="ltr">TIMELINE</p>
<p dir="ltr">2015 | Kushner, his brother and a friend start Cadre, a real estate company. Among its investors is Russian tech investor Yuri Milner. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/07/us/politics/jared-kushner-trump-business.html">Read more </a></p>
<p dir="ltr">December 2016 | Kushner, Flynn and Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak meet at Trump Tower for 20 minutes just as the Obama administration was preparing to sanction Russia, according to the New York Times. Kushner sent a deputy to another meeting that month. Later, at Kislyak's request, Kushner met for about half an hour with Sergey N. Gorkov, chief of Vnesheconombank, which is on the U.S. sanctions list. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/27/us/politics/senate-jared-kushner-russia.html?_r=0">Read more </a></p>
<p dir="ltr">Jan. 20, 2017 | Dasha Zhukova, wife of oligarch and Putin friend Roman Abramovich, attends the inauguration as a guest of Ivanka Trump.</p>
<p dir="ltr">March 27, 2017 | White House and Senate officials say Kushner will be available to interview with the Senate Intelligence Committee. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/senate-panel-plans-to-interview-trump-son-in-law-kushner-in-russia-probe/2017/03/27/84fe10ae-12f9-11e7-ada0-1489b735b3a3_story.html?utm_term=.106e82fafd6d">Read more </a></p>
<p dir="ltr"><img src="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/trump-russia/img/people/trump-jr.jpg"></p>
<p dir="ltr">Donald Trump Jr. </p>
<p dir="ltr">Trump's eldest son. Trump Jr. is operating the family business while his father is in office.<br></p>
<p dir="ltr">RUSSIAN TIES</p>
<p dir="ltr">Sater</p>
<p dir="ltr"><img src="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/trump-russia/img/people/sater.jpg"><br></p>
<p dir="ltr">TIMELINE</p>
<p dir="ltr">2006 | Felix Sater says he was asked by Donald Trump to escort Ivanka and Donald Trump Jr. around Moscow in 2006. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/amid-russia-scrutiny-trump-associates-received-informal-ukraine-policy-proposal/2017/02/19/72b0b264-f6eb-11e6-be05-1a3817ac21a5_story.html?utm_term=.ab4a64a0ee90">Read more </a></p>
<p dir="ltr">2008 | Trump tells a real estate conference, “Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets,” according to trade publication eTurboNews. “We see a lot of money pouring in from Russia.” During the speech, Trump Jr. says he traveled to Russia six times in the previous 18 months. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/inside-trumps-financial-ties-to-russia-and-his-unusual-flattery-of-vladimir-putin/2016/06/17/dbdcaac8-31a6-11e6-8ff7-7b6c1998b7a0_story.html?tid=a_inl&utm_term=.3406cde459c9">Read more </a></p>
<p dir="ltr">October 2016 | Trump visits France to speak to an obscure think tank with ties to Russia.</p>
<p dir="ltr">March 17, 2017 | Reuters reports that 63 people with Russian passports or addresses have invested nearly $100 million in seven Trump properties in South Florida. <a href="http://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-trump-property/?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=Social">Read more </a></p>
<p dir="ltr"><img src="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/trump-russia/img/people/tillerson.jpg"></p>
<p dir="ltr">Rex Tillerson </p>
<p dir="ltr">Secretary of state and former chief executive of ExxonMobil. Tillerson developed extensive ties in Russia during his tenure with the oil giant.</p>
<p dir="ltr">RUSSIAN TIES</p>
<p dir="ltr">Sechin</p>
<p dir="ltr"><img src="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/trump-russia/img/people/sechin.jpg"><br></p>
<p dir="ltr">Putin</p>
<p dir="ltr"><img src="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/trump-russia/img/people/putin.jpg"><br><br></p>
<p dir="ltr">TIMELINE</p>
<p dir="ltr">1998 | Tillerson is appointed head of Exxon Neftegas Limited, which was in charge of the U.S. part of the huge Sakhalin-1 oil and gas project off the coast of Siberia. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/tillersons-relations-with-autocrats-forged-during-decades-in-industry/2016/12/13/2d4c663e-c08e-11e6-897f-918837dae0ae_story.html?utm_term=.e3b809768514">Read more </a></p>
<p dir="ltr">2004 | Tillerson becomes president of ExxonMobil around the same time Igor Sechin takes control of Russian oil giant Rosneft, the company in charge of the Russian part of the Sakhalin-1 project. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/josh-rogin/wp/2016/12/13/inside-rex-tillersons-long-romance-with-russia/?utm_term=.ebd5a13c5506">Read more </a></p>
<p dir="ltr">2006 | Tillerson uses his relationship with Rosneft to fight off Gazprom, Russia's largest gas producer, from exerting control over the export of gas from Sakhalin-1. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/tillersons-relations-with-autocrats-forged-during-decades-in-industry/2016/12/13/2d4c663e-c08e-11e6-897f-918837dae0ae_story.html?utm_term=.e3b809768514">Read more </a></p>
<p dir="ltr">2011 | Tillerson and Sechin sign the first in a series of deals as part of a landmark “Strategic Cooperation Agreement” that involved drilling in the Russian Arctic and the Black Sea. The agreements led to Tillerson having several direct interactions with then-Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.</p>
<p dir="ltr">April 2012 | Tillerson and Sechin, then deputy prime minister, go on a publicity tour touting the ExxonMobil-Rosneft cooperation.</p>
<p dir="ltr">June 2012 | Tillerson and Sechin are in attendance when Putin inaugurates a new presidential commission on fuel and energy and the three meet again in Moscow later that year. A video shows Putin and Tillerson toasting each other with champagne.</p>
<p dir="ltr">2013 | Tillerson is awarded the “Order of Friendship” by Putin. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/12/13/what-is-the-russian-order-of-friendship-and-why-does-trumps-pick-for-secretary-of-state-have-one/?utm_term=.54563f9bc1e7">Read more </a><br></p>
<p dir="ltr"><img src="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/trump-russia/img/people/ross.jpg"></p>
<p dir="ltr">Wilbur Ross </p>
<p dir="ltr">Commerce Secretary Ross holds a stake in the Bank of Cyprus, which has prominent Russian investors.</p>
<p dir="ltr">RUSSIAN TIES<br></p>
<p dir="ltr">Vekselberg</p>
<p dir="ltr"><img src="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/trump-russia/img/people/vekselberg.jpg"></p>
<p dir="ltr">TIMELINE</p>
<p dir="ltr">1990s | President Bill Clinton appointed Ross to the board of the U.S.-Russia Investment Fund, a USAID effort to bolster businesses in post-Cold-War Russia. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2017/01/19/wilbur-ross-will-be-a-force-in-the-trump-cabinet/?utm_term=.eb9ad570d3d9">Read more </a></p>
<p dir="ltr">February 2017 | In Ross's confirmation hearing, senators ask about his stake in the Bank of Cyprus and his relationship with Russian shareholders, including Putin friend Viktor Vekselberg, who was once on oil giant Rosneft's board of directors, and former KGB agent Vladimir Strzhalkovsky, a former vice chairman of the bank. <a href="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/article133217874.html">Read more </a></p>
<p dir="ltr"><img src="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/trump-russia/img/people/stone.jpg"></p>
<p dir="ltr">Roger Stone </p>
<p dir="ltr">Longtime Trump friend, adviser and political consultant, former business partner of Paul Manafort. Stone claimed to have communicated indirectly with WikiLeaks before the website published emails that the intelligence community said were stolen by Russian agents.</p>
<p dir="ltr">RUSSIAN TIES</p>
<p dir="ltr">Russian hackers<br></p>
<p dir="ltr">TIMELINE</p>
<p dir="ltr">Aug. 10, 2016 | In a speech to a Florida Republican group, Stone said he'd been in contact with WikiLeaks leader Julian Assange through mutual friends. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/10/12/is-there-actually-evidence-that-trump-allies-had-a-heads-up-on-what-wikileaks-was-doing/?tid=a_inl&utm_term=.3ade3336a2d0">Read more </a></p>
<p dir="ltr">Aug. 21, 2016 | Stone tweets "Trust me, it will soon be Podesta's time in the barrel," referring to Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta. WikiLeaks released a trove of Podesta's emails in October.</p>
<p dir="ltr">March 11, 2017 | Stone admits corresponding via Twitter on Aug. 14 with Guccifer 2.0, a hacker involved in the WikiLeaks releases. But Stone denies colluding with the Russians. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/ex-trump-adviser-swaps-messages-with-dnc-hacking-suspect/2017/03/11/0ed846ae-0676-11e7-9d14-9724d48f5666_story.html?utm_term=.8e2678846f02">Read more </a></p>
<p dir="ltr"><img src="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/trump-russia/img/people/gordon.jpg"></p>
<p dir="ltr">J.D. Gordon </p>
<p dir="ltr">Former Trump campaign adviser. The Republican strategist resisted adding anti-Russia language in the GOP platform and met with Kislyak at the convention.</p>
<p dir="ltr">RUSSIAN TIES</p>
<p dir="ltr">Kislyak</p>
<p dir="ltr"><img src="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/trump-russia/img/people/kislyak.jpg"></p>
<p dir="ltr">TIMELINE</p>
<p dir="ltr">July 18, 2016 | Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak speaks with Page and campaign adviser J.D. Gordon following a panel at the Republican National Convention, where Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) had also met Kislyak. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/sessions-spoke-twice-with-russian-ambassador-during-trumps-presidential-campaign-justice-officials-say/2017/03/01/77205eda-feac-11e6-99b4-9e613afeb09f_story.html?utm_term=.3840176395c4">Read more </a></p>
<p dir="ltr">July 2016 | During the convention, a delegate’s proposal regarding U.S. support for Ukraine in its fight against Russian-backed rebels is softened before inclusion in the GOP platform. Campaign chairman Paul Manafort told NBC in August that the change “absolutely did not come from the campaign.” <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/despite-early-denials-growing-list-of-trump-camp-contacts-with-russians-haunts-white-house/2017/03/03/a5b196d8-002d-11e7-8f41-ea6ed597e4ca_story.html?utm_term=.ee8e79d52431">Read more </a></p>
<p dir="ltr">March 2017 | Gordon says that he had advocated for the Russia-friendly change in platform, believing it to match Trump’s views, and he had consulted about the matter with “campaign policy colleagues” before the convention.<br></p>
<p dir="ltr">Michael Caputo </p>
<p dir="ltr">Adviser to the Trump campaign for the New York primary. The public relations executive was once paid to improve Putin's image in the United States.</p>
<p dir="ltr">RUSSIAN TIES</p>
<p dir="ltr">Putin</p>
<p dir="ltr"><img src="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/trump-russia/img/people/putin.jpg"><br></p>
<p dir="ltr">TIMELINE</p>
<p dir="ltr">1994-2000 | Caputo moves to Russia shortly after the fall of the Soviet Union and is first employed by U.S. Agency for International Development. He then starts a public relations firm.</p>
<p dir="ltr">2000 | Caputo enters a contract with the Russian conglomerate Gazprom Media to improve Putin’s image in the United States. He told the Buffalo News that he was “not proud of the work today. But at the time, Putin wasn’t such a bad guy.” <a href="http://buffalonews.com/2016/03/05/the-radical-adventures-of-conservative-radio-host-mike-caputo/">Read more </a><br></p>
<p dir="ltr">Rick Gates </p>
<p dir="ltr">Business associate of Manafort since 2006, Gates helped lead a nonprofit supporting Trump policies, America First. He took a leave of absence in March after The Washington Post reported on his business deals with Manafort.<br></p>
<p dir="ltr">RUSSIAN TIES</p>
<p dir="ltr">Firtash</p>
<p dir="ltr"><img src="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/trump-russia/img/people/firtash.jpg"></p>
<p dir="ltr">TIMELINE</p>
<p dir="ltr">2006 | Gates joins Manafort's firm after oligarch Oleg Deripaska is solicited to become a client. Deripaska invested in Manafort's Cayman Islands fund that bought assets primarily in Ukrainea. (Later, Deripaska accused Manafort and Gates in court of defrauding him out of $19 million.) <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/in-business-as-in-politics-trump-adviser-no-stranger-to-controversial-figures/2016/04/26/970db232-08c7-11e6-b283-e79d81c63c1b_story.html?utm_term=.6742083ad752">Read more </a></p>
<p dir="ltr">2008 | Manfort and Gates agree to work on a Park Avenue development project with oligarch Dmitry Firtash, but the project falls apart.</p>
<p dir="ltr">2012-2014 | Gates arranges introductions for two Washington lobbying firms — the Podesta Group and Mercury LLC — to represent the European Center for a Modern Ukraine.</p>
<p dir="ltr">2014 | In Washington, Manafort and Gates promote the policy priorities of the political party of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, who fled to Russia.</p>
<p dir="ltr">March 2017 | In a brief interview with The Post, Gates describes his work as “supporting the private equity fund started by the firm and democracy building and party building in Ukraine.” <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/manafort-is-gone-but-his-business-associate-remains-a-key-part-of-trumps-operation/2017/03/22/6ecbaa96-0f0f-11e7-9b0d-d27c98455440_story.html?utm_term=.d12ebe40a68b&wpisrc=nl_headlines&wpmm=1">Read more </a></p>
<p dir="ltr">March 23, 2017 | Gates was forced out of America First Policies for his ties to Manafort after the Associated Press reported that Manafort had worked for Russian government interests. <a href="http://bigstory.ap.org/article/122ae0b5848345faa88108a03de40c5a/manaforts-plan-greatly-benefit-putin-government">Read more </a></p>
<p dir="ltr"><img src="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/trump-russia/img/people/cohen.jpg"></p>
<p dir="ltr">Michael Cohen </p>
<p dir="ltr">Longtime Trump Organization lawyer who became personal counsel to the president following the inauguration. In late January, Cohen met with a Ukrainian lawmaker and agreed to ferry a Russian-backed peace plan for Ukraine to the White House. The New York Times reported Cohen said he left the plan in Flynn's office days before Flynn resigned as national security adviser. Cohen told The Washington Post he threw the plan in the trash.</p>
<p dir="ltr">RUSSIAN TIES</p>
<p dir="ltr">Sater</p>
<p dir="ltr"><img src="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/trump-russia/img/people/sater.jpg"><br></p>
<p dir="ltr">Artemenko</p>
<p dir="ltr"><img src="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/trump-russia/img/people/artemenko.jpg"></p>
<p dir="ltr">TIMELINE</p>
<p dir="ltr">Late January 2017 | Felix Sater, Michael Cohen and Andrii V. Artemenko meet in a luxury hotel in Manhattan to discuss Artmenko's proposed deal to end conflict over Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Sater later said he thought Cohen would hand the peace deal proposal to National Security Advisor Flynn himself. Cohen said he never intended to do so. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/amid-russia-scrutiny-trump-associates-received-informal-ukraine-policy-proposal/2017/02/19/72b0b264-f6eb-11e6-be05-1a3817ac21a5_story.html?utm_term=.73b1bdf6cfe7">Read more </a><br></p>
<p dir="ltr">George Papadopoulos </p>
<p dir="ltr">Sergei Millian, a key source for the "dossier" compiled by a former British spy, told certain individuals during the campaign that he was in touch with Papadopoulos, a campaign adviser. Papadopoulos met with foreign leaders and gave an interview criticizing U.S. sanctions on Russia.<br></p>
<p dir="ltr">RUSSIAN TIES</p>
<p dir="ltr">Millian</p>
<p dir="ltr"><img src="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/trump-russia/img/people/millian.jpg"></p>
<p dir="ltr">TIMELINE</p>
<p dir="ltr">March 21, 2016 | In a meeting with The Washington Post's editorial board, Trump reveals that George Papadopoulos is one of his foreign policy advisers. Trump describes Papadopoulos as "an energy and oil consultant," and says he's "an excellent guy." <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2016/03/21/a-transcript-of-donald-trumps-meeting-with-the-washington-post-editorial-board/?utm_term=.028a6f0fc1d2">Read more </a><br></p>
<p dir="ltr"><img src="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/trump-russia/img/people/prince.jpg"></p>
<p dir="ltr">Erik Prince </p>
<p dir="ltr">Prince, a Trump business associate, brother of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and the founder of notorious private security firm Blackwater, presented himself as an unofficial envoy of Trump in a meeting with a representative of Vladimir Putin in the Seychelles days before Trump's inauguration, according to U.S., European and Arab officials. The meeting was brokered by the United Arab Emirates who hoped to loosen Russian ties to Iran by strengthening ties between Russia and the United States.<br></p>
<p dir="ltr">TIMELINE</p>
<p dir="ltr">January 2017 | About Jan. 11, Prince presented himself as an unofficial envoy of Trump in a meeting with an anonymous representative of Russian President Vladimir Putin on the island of Seychelles, according to U.S., European and Arab officials as reported by The Post. The meeting was arranged by the United Arab Emirates and officials said a discussion topic was the prospect of persuading Moscow to loosen ties with Iran. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/blackwater-founder-held-secret-seychelles-meeting-to-establish-trump-putin-back-channel/2017/04/03/95908a08-1648-11e7-ada0-1489b735b3a3_story.html?utm_term=.72a40ffd6ce6">Read more </a><br></p>
<p dir="ltr"><img src="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/trump-russia/img/people/ivanka.jpg"></p>
<p dir="ltr">Ivanka Trump </p>
<p dir="ltr">President Trump's older daughter has a security clearance, an unpaid and unspecified role in her father's administration and an office in the West Wing. She has already met with foreign heads of state, including Justin Trudeau of Canada and Angela Merkel of Germany.</p>
<p dir="ltr">RUSSIAN TIES</p>
<p dir="ltr">Sater</p>
<p dir="ltr"><img src="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/trump-russia/img/people/sater.jpg"><br></p>
<p dir="ltr">Russian business<br></p>
<p dir="ltr">TIMELINE</p>
<p dir="ltr">2006 | Felix Sater, a Russian American who worked with Donald Trump on several projects and proposals, says Trump asked him to escort Ivanka and Donald Trump Jr. around Moscow. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/amid-russia-scrutiny-trump-associates-received-informal-ukraine-policy-proposal/2017/02/19/72b0b264-f6eb-11e6-be05-1a3817ac21a5_story.html?utm_term=.73b1bdf6cfe7">Read more </a></p>
<p dir="ltr">Jan. 20, 2017 | Dasha Zhukova, wife of oligarch and Putin friend Roman Abramovich, attends the inauguration as a guest of Ivanka Trump. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2017/03/03/the-web-of-relationships-between-team-trump-and-russia/?utm_term=.9a3f8d55f54a">Read more </a></p>
<p dir="ltr"><img src="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/trump-russia/img/people/arif.jpg"></p>
<p dir="ltr">Tevfik Arif </p>
<p dir="ltr">Arif is chairman of the New York real estate company Bayrock Group, which was exploring the possibility of a Trump Tower in Moscow. The deal fell apart.</p>
<p dir="ltr">RUSSIAN TIES</p>
<p dir="ltr">Sater</p>
<p dir="ltr"><img src="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/trump-russia/img/people/sater.jpg"></p>
<p dir="ltr">TIMELINE</p>
<p dir="ltr">2005 | Trump signs one-year deal with Bayrock to develop a Trump Tower in Moscow. The deal eventually falls apart. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/former-mafia-linked-figure-describes-association-with-trump/2016/05/17/cec6c2c6-16d3-11e6-aa55-670cabef46e0_story.html?utm_term=.e9b691ccc48e">Read more </a></p>
<p dir="ltr">2008 | Trump SoHo New York is completed, a construction project on which Bayrock was a leading partner.</p>
<p dir="ltr"> </p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>Russian ties</b></p>
<p dir="ltr"><img src="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/trump-russia/img/people/putin.jpg"></p>
<p dir="ltr">Vladimir Putin </p>
<p dir="ltr">Russian president who U.S. intelligence agencies believe personally ordered the interference into the 2016 election, including penetrating the Democratic National Committee's computer systems and distributing fake news stories. Putin has consistently denied the allegations, calling the attacks a "political witch hunt."<br><br></p>
<p dir="ltr">TIES TO TEAM TRUMP</p>
<p dir="ltr">Trump</p>
<p dir="ltr"><img src="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/trump-russia/img/people/trump.jpg"><br></p>
<p dir="ltr">Flynn</p>
<p dir="ltr"><img src="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/trump-russia/img/people/flynn.jpg"><br></p>
<p dir="ltr">Tillerson</p>
<p dir="ltr"><img src="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/trump-russia/img/people/tillerson.jpg"><br><br></p>
<p dir="ltr">Russian business interests </p>
<p dir="ltr">Historically, oligarchs have used relationships with foreign business leaders for political gain. Many of the Russian business people with whom Team Trump has various types of relationships are listed separately in this article.<br></p>
<p dir="ltr">TIES TO TEAM TRUMP</p>
<p dir="ltr">Trump</p>
<p dir="ltr"><img src="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/trump-russia/img/people/trump.jpg"><br></p>
<p dir="ltr">Manafort</p>
<p dir="ltr"><img src="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/trump-russia/img/people/manafort.jpg"><br></p>
<p dir="ltr">Flynn</p>
<p dir="ltr"><img src="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/trump-russia/img/people/flynn.jpg"><br></p>
<p dir="ltr">Page</p>
<p dir="ltr"><img src="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/trump-russia/img/people/page.jpg"><br></p>
<p dir="ltr">Kushner</p>
<p dir="ltr"><img src="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/trump-russia/img/people/kushner.jpg"><br></p>
<p dir="ltr">Trump Jr.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><img src="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/trump-russia/img/people/trump-jr.jpg"><br></p>
<p dir="ltr">Tillerson</p>
<p dir="ltr"><img src="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/trump-russia/img/people/tillerson.jpg"><br></p>
<p dir="ltr">Ross</p>
<p dir="ltr"><img src="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/trump-russia/img/people/ross.jpg"></p>
<p dir="ltr">Caputo<br><br></p>
<p dir="ltr">I. Trump</p>
<p dir="ltr"><img src="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/trump-russia/img/people/ivanka.jpg"></p>
<p dir="ltr"><img src="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/trump-russia/img/people/kislyak.jpg"></p>
<p dir="ltr">Sergey Kislyak </p>
<p dir="ltr">Russian ambassador to the United States since 2008, a career diplomat not considered especially close to Putin.<br></p>
<p dir="ltr">TIES TO TEAM TRUMP</p>
<p dir="ltr">Trump</p>
<p dir="ltr"><img src="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/trump-russia/img/people/trump.jpg"><br></p>
<p dir="ltr">Flynn</p>
<p dir="ltr"><img src="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/trump-russia/img/people/flynn.jpg"><br></p>
<p dir="ltr">Page</p>
<p dir="ltr"><img src="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/trump-russia/img/people/page.jpg"><br></p>
<p dir="ltr">Sessions</p>
<p dir="ltr"><img src="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/trump-russia/img/people/sessions.jpg"><br></p>
<p dir="ltr">Kushner</p>
<p dir="ltr"><img src="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/trump-russia/img/people/kushner.jpg"><br></p>
<p dir="ltr">Gordon</p>
<p dir="ltr"><img src="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/trump-russia/img/people/gordon.jpg"></p>
<p dir="ltr"><img src="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/trump-russia/img/people/sechin.jpg"></p>
<p dir="ltr">Igor Sechin </p>
<p dir="ltr">Executive chairman of the Russian state oil giant Rosneft, former deputy prime minister in Putin's cabinet.</p>
<p dir="ltr"> </p>
<p dir="ltr">TIES TO TEAM TRUMP<br><br></p>
<p dir="ltr">Page</p>
<p dir="ltr"><img src="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/trump-russia/img/people/page.jpg"><br></p>
<p dir="ltr">Tillerson</p>
<p dir="ltr"><img src="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/trump-russia/img/people/tillerson.jpg"><br></p>
<p dir="ltr">Russian hackers </p>
<p dir="ltr">The GRU, Russia’s military intelligence organization, is thought to have begun cyber operations aimed at influencing the U.S. presidential election by March 2016, according to the U.S. intelligence community. The GRU hacked the Democratic National Committee and also the personal email accounts of Democratic Party officials and political figures. By May, 2016, the GRU had stolen large volumes of data from the DNC. The GRU relayed that material to WikiLeaks, the anti-secrecy organization, the intelligence community concluded. Guccifer 2.0. is an online persona linked to the GRU and used perhaps by more than one individual to publicize hacked materials. Analysts are skeptical Guccifer 2.0 conducted the actual hacking, but agree with officials that the name was used as a front to disclose materials online.</p>
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James Dillonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00517779620333212437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8768145343296002534.post-54374231934311549452017-04-12T03:19:00.001-07:002017-04-12T03:30:16.993-07:00Are we in America yet?<p dir="ltr">This is America, a country where people could speak, write, assemble, demonstrate without fear. It was in the Constitution, the Bill of Rights.</p>
<p dir="ltr">We were a democracy. </p>
<p dir="ltr">The state and its police are not neutral referees in a society of contending interests. They are on the side of the rich and powerful. Free speech? Try it and the police will be there with their horses, their clubs, their guns, to stop you.  </p>
<p dir="ltr">Something fundamental is wrong in this country—not just the existence of poverty amidst great wealth, not just the horrible treatment of minorities,  but something rotten at the root. The situation required not just a new president or new laws, but an uprooting of the old order, the introduction of a new kind of society.</p>
<p dir="ltr">America is at a crossroads. History may show that from this point forward, we will have left behind any semblance of constitutional government and entered into a militaristic state where all citizens are suspects and security trumps freedom. Certainly, this is a time when government officials operate off their own inscrutable, self-serving playbook with little in the way of checks and balances, while American citizens are subjected to all manner of indignities and violations with little hope of defending themselves. </p>
<p dir="ltr">We have moved beyond the era of representative government and entered a new age—the age of authoritarianism. <br></p>
<p dir="ltr">The Executive Branch: Whether it’s the administration’s war on whistleblowers, the systematic surveillance of journalists and regular citizens, the continued operation of Guantanamo Bay, or the occupation of Afghanistan, Barack Obama has surpassed his predecessors in terms of his abuse of the Constitution and the rule of law. </p>
<p dir="ltr">The President and many of his predecessors, has routinely disregarded the Constitution when it has suited his purposes, operating largely above the law and behind a veil of secrecy, executive orders and specious legal justifications. </p>
<p dir="ltr">The policies of the American police state will continue under Donald Trump. </p>
<p dir="ltr">The Legislative Branch:  Congress may well be the most self-serving, corrupt institution in America. Abuses of office run the gamut from elected representatives neglecting their constituencies to engaging in self-serving practices, including the misuse of eminent domain, earmarking hundreds of millions of dollars in federal contracting in return for personal gain and campaign contributions, having inappropriate ties to lobbyist groups and incorrectly or incompletely disclosing financial information. Pork barrel spending, hastily passed legislation, partisan bickering, a skewed work ethic, graft and moral turpitude have all contributed to the public’s increasing dissatisfaction with congressional leadership. No wonder 86 percent of Americans disapprove of the job Congress is doing. </p>
<p dir="ltr">The Judicial Branch: The Supreme Court was intended to be an institution established to intervene and protect the people against the government and its agents when they overstep their bounds. Yet through their deference to police power, preference for security over freedom, and evisceration of our most basic rights for the sake of order and expediency, the justices of the United States Supreme Court have become the guardians of the American police state.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Sound judgment and justice have largely taken a back seat to legalism, statism and elitism, while the rights of the people has been deprioritized and made to play second fiddle to both governmental and corporate interests.</p>
<p dir="ltr">America’s is a bitterly divided nation teetering on the brink of financial catastrophe.</p>
<p dir="ltr">We have a shadow government, one that is fully operational and staffed by unelected officials who are running the country. Referred to as the Deep State, this shadow government is comprised of unelected government bureaucrats, corporations, contractors, paper-pushers, and button-pushers who are actually calling the shots behind the scenes right now. </p>
<p dir="ltr">Law Enforcement: “law enforcement” encompasses all agents within a militarized police state, including the military, local police, and the various agencies such as the Secret Service, FBI, CIA, NSA, etc. Having been given the green light to probe, poke, pinch, taser, search, seize, strip and generally manhandle anyone they see fit in almost any circumstance, all with the general blessing of the courts, America’s law enforcement officials, no longer mere servants of the people entrusted with keeping the peace but now extensions of the military, are part of an elite ruling class dependent on keeping the masses corralled, under control, and treated like suspects and enemies rather than citizens. </p>
<p dir="ltr">In Virginia lawmakers are considering legislation to keep police officers’ names secret, ostensibly creating secret police forces. </p>
<p dir="ltr">A Surveillance Society: Every dystopian sci-fi film we’ve ever seen is suddenly converging into this present moment in a dangerous trifecta between science, technology and a government that wants to be all-seeing, all-knowing and all-powerful. By tapping into your phone lines and cell phone communications, the government knows what you say. By uploading all of your emails, opening your mail, and reading your Facebook posts and text messages, the government knows what you write. By monitoring your movements with the use of license plate readers, surveillance cameras and other tracking devices, the government knows where you go. By churning through all of the detritus of your life—what you read, where you go, what you say—the government can predict what you will do. By mapping the synapses in your brain, scientists—and in turn, the government—will soon know what you remember. And by accessing your DNA, the government will soon know everything else about you that they don’t already know: your family chart, your ancestry, what you look like, your health history, your inclination to follow orders or chart your own course, etc. Consequently, in the face of DNA evidence that places us at the scene of a crime, behavior sensing technology that interprets our body temperature and facial tics as suspicious, and government surveillance devices that cross-check our biometrics, license plates and DNA against a growing database of unsolved crimes and potential criminals, we are no longer “innocent until proven guilty.” </p>
<p dir="ltr">Military Empire: America’s endless global wars and burgeoning military empire—funded by taxpayer dollars—have depleted our resources, over-extended our military and increased our similarities to the Roman Empire and its eventual demise. The U.S. now operates approximately 800 military bases in foreign countries around the globe at an annual cost of at least $156 billion. The consequences of financing a global military presence are dire. David Walker, former comptroller general of the U.S., believes there are “striking similarities” between America’s current situation and the factors that contributed to the fall of Rome, including “declining moral values and political civility at home, an over-confident and over-extended military in foreign lands and fiscal irresponsibility by the central government.” I haven’t even touched on the corporate state, the military industrial complex, SWAT team raids, invasive surveillance technology, zero tolerance policies in the schools, overcriminalization, or privatized prisons, to name just a few, but what I have touched on should be enough to show that the landscape of our freedoms has already changed dramatically from what it once was and will no doubt continue to deteriorate unless Americans can find a way to wrest back control of their government and reclaim their freedoms. That brings me to the final and most important factor in bringing about America’s shift into authoritarianism: “we the people.” We are the government. Thus, if the government has become a tyrannical agency, it is because we have allowed it to happen, either through our inaction or our blind trust. Essentially, there are four camps of thought among the citizenry when it comes to holding the government accountable. Which camp you fall into says a lot about your view of government—or, at least, your view of whichever administration happens to be in power at the time. In the first camp are those who trust the government to do the right thing, despite the government’s repeated failures in this department. In the second camp are those who not only don’t trust the government but think the government is out to get them. In the third camp are those who see government neither as an angel nor a devil, but merely as an entity that needs to be controlled, or as Thomas Jefferson phrased it, bound “down from mischief with the chains of the Constitution.” Then there’s the fourth camp, comprised of individuals who pay little to no attention to the workings of government, so much so that they barely vote, let alone know who’s in office. Easily entertained, easily distracted, easily led, these are the ones who make the government’s job far easier than it should be. It is easy to be diverted, distracted and amused by the antics of the presidential candidates, the pomp and circumstance of awards shows, athletic events, and entertainment news, and the feel-good evangelism that passes for religion today. What is far more difficult to face up to is the reality of life in America, where unemployment, poverty, inequality, injustice and violence by government agents are increasingly norms. The powers-that-be want us to remain divided, alienated from each other based on our politics, our bank accounts, our religion, our race and our value systems. As George Orwell observed, “The real division is not between conservatives and revolutionaries but between authoritarians and libertarians.” The only distinction that matters anymore is where you stand in the American police state. In other words, you’re either part of the problem or part of the solution.</p>
James Dillonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00517779620333212437noreply@blogger.com0