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| #Post#: 15051-------------------------------------------------- | |
| Turning a Compromised Citizen Into An Agent of a Foreign Power | |
| By: HOLLAND Date: May 28, 2017, 12:42 pm | |
| --------------------------------------------------------- | |
| At this point, given the strong possibility that there are | |
| compromised citizens that are within the Trump Administration; | |
| that is to say, citizens that are suspected of illicit financial | |
| and security practices, it would be good to understand how such | |
| citizens are vulnerable to a foreign power. | |
| Below is a video from British Television which is about the | |
| destruction of a Soviet spymaster, Karla, through the turning of | |
| one of his agents, Grigoriev, in Switzerland. It is based upon | |
| a book by John Le Carre called Smiley's People. Grigoriev, a | |
| Soviet trade official, was compromised by performing illicit | |
| financial transactions on behalf of Karla, and when British | |
| Intelligence discovered it, they promptly blackmailed Grigoriev | |
| and had him disclose Soviet state secrets. | |
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRdgPzYbvWo | |
| It is sobering to think that Kushner or others in the Trump | |
| Administration could, possibly, be blackmailed much like | |
| Grigoriev . . . | |
| #Post#: 15052-------------------------------------------------- | |
| Re: Turning a Compromised Citizen Into An Agent of a Foreign Pow | |
| er | |
| By: Kerry Date: May 28, 2017, 9:00 pm | |
| --------------------------------------------------------- | |
| [quote author=HOLLAND link=topic=1220.msg15051#msg15051 | |
| date=1495993344] | |
| At this point, given the strong possibility that there are | |
| compromised citizens that are within the Trump Administration; | |
| that is to say, citizens that are suspected of illicit financial | |
| and security practices, it would be good to understand how such | |
| citizens are vulnerable to a foreign power. | |
| Below is a video from British Television which is about the | |
| destruction of a Soviet spymaster, Karla, through the turning of | |
| one of his agents, Grigoriev, in Switzerland. It is based upon | |
| a book by John Le Carre called Smiley's People. Grigoriev, a | |
| Soviet trade official, was compromised by performing illicit | |
| financial transactions on behalf of Karla, and when British | |
| Intelligence discovered it, they promptly blackmailed Grigoriev | |
| and had him disclose Soviet state secrets. | |
| It is sobering to think that Kushner or others in the Trump | |
| Administration could, possibly, be blackmailed much like | |
| Grigoriev . . .[/quote]I heard part of a hearing -- I think it | |
| was the ex-director of the CIA, John Brennan -- that dealt with | |
| this topic. Rich people from Russia are sometimes used to gain | |
| introductions to citizens; and the relationship could go on for | |
| some time without the citizen doing anything wrong. Things | |
| start off slowly and you can get sucked into a desperate | |
| situation without fully knowing how you got there. You can | |
| imagine how it could be -- one indiscretion could lead to you | |
| doing something you wouldn't want to do -- and if you do that, | |
| they got more blackmail on you. Brennan didn't mention names, | |
| in fact, carefully avoided it -- but not only did Kushner come | |
| to mind, so did Ivanka who's friends with Dasha Zhukova, the | |
| wife of one of Putin's closest friend Roman Abramovic who owns | |
| the Chelsea Football Club. Ironically, Dasha Zhuhova | |
| supported Hillary, even donating money to her. | |
| Then there's Wendi Deng Murdoch (ex-Fox TV personality and | |
| ex-wife of Rupert Murdoch) who went on a vacation with Ivanka. | |
| Kushner introduced Murdoch and Ivanka. I don't know how | |
| Kushner met Murdoch. Murdoch has been rumored to be Putin's | |
| girlfriend, but she says she's never met him. Who knows? There | |
| are rumors about Putin having an affair (if not children) with | |
| the gymnast too, Alina Maratovna Kabaeva. What we do know | |
| about Putin is that the Russian Orthodox Church kept silent when | |
| he divorced his wife and has had nothing to say if he is having | |
| affairs or secretly remarried. | |
| Wendi Deng Murdoch is someone I'd be afraid to hang out with. | |
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wendi_Deng_Murdoch#Personal_life | |
| When Deng was living with Jake and Joyce Cherry during Deng's | |
| studies in the United States, Joyce Cherry discovered her | |
| husband, Jake, was having an affair with Deng, who was 30 years | |
| his junior, and demanded Deng leave the house. Jake Cherry soon | |
| followed and moved in with Deng, and the two married in | |
| 1990.[9] Their marriage lasted 2 years 7 months before they were | |
| legally divorced,[10] but Jake would later explain they stayed | |
| together for only four or five months, when he learned that | |
| Deng was spending time with David Wolf, a man closer to her | |
| age.[9] Nonetheless, she had been able to secure a green card | |
| through her marriage to Cherry. | |
| In 1997 she met Rupert Murdoch, who was 37 years her senior, | |
| while working as the only Chinese executive at the Murdoch-owned | |
| Star TV in Hong Kong. They married in 1999 on board his yacht | |
| "Morning Glory"less than three weeks after the finalisation of | |
| his divorce from his second wife, Anna Murdoch. Following the | |
| marriage, she was branded a "gold digger" by sources close to | |
| Murdoch, including family members. The couple had two children, | |
| Grace (born 2001) and Chloe (born 2003). Tony Blair is Grace | |
| Murdoch's godfather. In June 2013, Murdoch filed for divorce | |
| from Deng, citing irreconcilable differences. | |
| On February 5, 2014, The Daily Telegraph published a report | |
| claiming Deng had a crush on Tony Blair, leading to her divorce | |
| from Murdoch. The report stated that Murdoch began to hear | |
| rumors about his wife in 2012 and is said to have interviewed | |
| staff members at his various homes to ask them what they had | |
| seen. According to the newspaper, Murdoch learned that Blair had | |
| visited Deng at Murdoch's Carmel ranch on more than one | |
| occasion. Blair allegedly spent the weekend of April 27, 2013, | |
| with Deng at the property. Other sources are quoted as placing | |
| Blair and Deng at The Carlyle in New York, on a private yacht, | |
| and at Murdoch's home in London. An article in The Economist | |
| claimed that as a result of Murdoch's suspicion that Blair had | |
| an affair with Deng, he ended his long-standing association with | |
| Blair in 2014. | |
| The British press reported a rumor that she was a Chinese spy. | |
| http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2412479/Clive-Palmer-claims-Murdoch-div… | |
| That would surely be interesting if true since Rupert Murdoch | |
| and his sons were embroiled in the scandal where his | |
| organization tapped phones of famous people to get news. Wendi | |
| was his wife at the time and rushed to his defense when a | |
| comedian tried to throw a pie at him at a hearing in Parliament. | |
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/News_International_phone_hacking_scandal | |
| Towards the end of the Murdochs' two hours of evidence, a | |
| protestor sitting in the public gallery, identified as comedian | |
| Jonnie Marbles, threw a shaving-foam pie at Rupert Murdoch. The | |
| incident propelled Murdoch's wife, Wendi Deng Murdoch, into the | |
| media spotlight for her athletic response in defence of her | |
| husband. Marbles later said that he had "much respect" for Deng | |
| for fighting back. Marbles, real name Jonathan May-Bowles, was | |
| sentenced to six weeks in prison for the attack. | |
| I am not saying she is a Chinese spy; but suppose she was, and | |
| suppose too that she had access to the tapped phone calls? | |
| Coming back to the US and the case of Flynn. Why would he lie | |
| about mentioning sanctions to the Russian ambassador? I don't | |
| get it. But he did lie, and Trump knew he lied and didn't fire | |
| him until it became public knowledge. That's weird too. Then | |
| there was the man Flynn hired for a job and who the CIA said | |
| failed their security test. No one has said why he flunked, | |
| and the matter has not been discussed since. | |
| http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/319073-top-flynn-aide-rejected-for-k… | |
| A top aide to national security adviser Michael Flynn was denied | |
| security clearance to serve on the National Security Council | |
| (NSC), Politico reported late Friday. | |
| Robin Townley, the senior Africa director on the NSC, learned on | |
| Friday that the CIA had denied his �Sensitive Compartmented | |
| Information� security clearance. | |
| CIA director Mike Pompeo approved of the rejection, the report | |
| said. | |
| �They believe this is a hit job from inside the CIA on Flynn and | |
| the people close to him,� an unnamed source told Politico. | |
| �Townley believes that the CIA doesn�t run the world.� | |
| Townley's career looks pretty harmless to me. I'd say the CIA | |
| probably knows something I don't know; and it could be something | |
| not that big but still something that makes him vulnerable to | |
| blackmail. | |
| I believe the policy of the FBI and CIA is to inform US citizens | |
| at times if they are tapping a foreigner's phone calls and | |
| something comes up that suggests someone is trying to recruit | |
| the citizen and that he may be in over his head. At other times | |
| perhaps they wait to see what happens. The situation would be | |
| sensitive, to say the least. | |
| How would you react if you were President and the intelligence | |
| community gave you evidence that someone working for you was | |
| potentially vulnerable to blackmail and might possibly be | |
| recruited as an agent of a foreign power? I'd be grateful | |
| for being informed. Yet Trump seemed resentful for some | |
| reason. | |
| #Post#: 15075-------------------------------------------------- | |
| Re: Turning a Compromised Citizen Into An Agent of a Foreign Pow | |
| er | |
| By: HOLLAND Date: May 30, 2017, 7:27 pm | |
| --------------------------------------------------------- | |
| [quote author=Kerry link=topic=1220.msg15052#msg15052 | |
| date=1496023210] | |
| I heard part of a hearing -- I think it was the ex-director of | |
| the CIA, John Brennan -- that dealt with this topic. Rich | |
| people from Russia are sometimes used to gain introductions to | |
| citizens; and the relationship could go on for some time without | |
| the citizen doing anything wrong. Things start off slowly and | |
| you can get sucked into a desperate situation without fully | |
| knowing how you got there. You can imagine how it could be -- | |
| one indiscretion could lead to you doing something you wouldn't | |
| want to do -- and if you do that, they got more blackmail on | |
| you. Brennan didn't mention names, in fact, carefully avoided | |
| it -- but not only did Kushner come to mind, so did Ivanka who's | |
| friends with Dasha Zhukova, the wife of one of Putin's closest | |
| friend Roman Abramovic who owns the Chelsea Football Club. | |
| Ironically, Dasha Zhuhova supported Hillary, even donating money | |
| to her. [/quote] | |
| I would agree, Kerry. This is indeed the situation, and I think | |
| the American elite is particularly vulnerable given that so many | |
| of its members believe in the"Sovereign Individual" ideology | |
| that arose among conservatives that advocated an anarchism of | |
| the wealthy and the subversion of democracy. Those who believe | |
| that they are Sovereign Individuals do not believe that they | |
| need to follow their nation's laws or values. | |
| [quote]Then there's Wendi Deng Murdoch (ex-Fox TV personality | |
| and ex-wife of Rupert Murdoch) who went on a vacation with | |
| Ivanka. Kushner introduced Murdoch and Ivanka. I don't know | |
| how Kushner met Murdoch. Murdoch has been rumored to be | |
| Putin's girlfriend, but she says she's never met him. Who | |
| knows? There are rumors about Putin having an affair (if not | |
| children) with the gymnast too, Alina Maratovna Kabaeva. What | |
| we do know about Putin is that the Russian Orthodox Church kept | |
| silent when he divorced his wife and has had nothing to say if | |
| he is having affairs or secretly remarried. | |
| Wendi Deng Murdoch is someone I'd be afraid to hang out with. | |
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wendi_Deng_Murdoch#Personal_life | |
| When Deng was living with Jake and Joyce Cherry during Deng's | |
| studies in the United States, Joyce Cherry discovered her | |
| husband, Jake, was having an affair with Deng, who was 30 years | |
| his junior, and demanded Deng leave the house. Jake Cherry soon | |
| followed and moved in with Deng, and the two married in | |
| 1990.[9] Their marriage lasted 2 years 7 months before they were | |
| legally divorced,[10] but Jake would later explain they stayed | |
| together for only four or five months, when he learned that | |
| Deng was spending time with David Wolf, a man closer to her | |
| age.[9] Nonetheless, she had been able to secure a green card | |
| through her marriage to Cherry. | |
| In 1997 she met Rupert Murdoch, who was 37 years her senior, | |
| while working as the only Chinese executive at the Murdoch-owned | |
| Star TV in Hong Kong. They married in 1999 on board his yacht | |
| "Morning Glory"less than three weeks after the finalisation of | |
| his divorce from his second wife, Anna Murdoch. Following the | |
| marriage, she was branded a "gold digger" by sources close to | |
| Murdoch, including family members. The couple had two children, | |
| Grace (born 2001) and Chloe (born 2003). Tony Blair is Grace | |
| Murdoch's godfather. In June 2013, Murdoch filed for divorce | |
| from Deng, citing irreconcilable differences. | |
| On February 5, 2014, The Daily Telegraph published a report | |
| claiming Deng had a crush on Tony Blair, leading to her divorce | |
| from Murdoch. The report stated that Murdoch began to hear | |
| rumors about his wife in 2012 and is said to have interviewed | |
| staff members at his various homes to ask them what they had | |
| seen. According to the newspaper, Murdoch learned that Blair had | |
| visited Deng at Murdoch's Carmel ranch on more than one | |
| occasion. Blair allegedly spent the weekend of April 27, 2013, | |
| with Deng at the property. Other sources are quoted as placing | |
| Blair and Deng at The Carlyle in New York, on a private yacht, | |
| and at Murdoch's home in London. An article in The Economist | |
| claimed that as a result of Murdoch's suspicion that Blair had | |
| an affair with Deng, he ended his long-standing association with | |
| Blair in 2014. | |
| The British press reported a rumor that she was a Chinese spy. | |
| http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2412479/Clive-Palmer-claims-Murdoch-div… | |
| That would surely be interesting if true since Rupert Murdoch | |
| and his sons were embroiled in the scandal where his | |
| organization tapped phones of famous people to get news. Wendi | |
| was his wife at the time and rushed to his defense when a | |
| comedian tried to throw a pie at him at a hearing in Parliament. | |
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/News_International_phone_hacking_scandal | |
| Towards the end of the Murdochs' two hours of evidence, a | |
| protestor sitting in the public gallery, identified as comedian | |
| Jonnie Marbles, threw a shaving-foam pie at Rupert Murdoch. The | |
| incident propelled Murdoch's wife, Wendi Deng Murdoch, into the | |
| media spotlight for her athletic response in defence of her | |
| husband. Marbles later said that he had "much respect" for Deng | |
| for fighting back. Marbles, real name Jonathan May-Bowles, was | |
| sentenced to six weeks in prison for the attack. | |
| I am not saying she is a Chinese spy; but suppose she was, and | |
| suppose too that she had access to the tapped phone calls? | |
| [/quote] | |
| It is highly probable that Deng is a Chinese spy. It sounds | |
| logical and it is highly ironic that she was so close to Murdoch | |
| given his support for conservative politics in his news | |
| programming such as Fox. | |
| Perhaps William Buckley, if he could see present conservatives, | |
| would reject them as being such, given their indifference to | |
| national laws and values. | |
| [quote]Coming back to the US and the case of Flynn. Why would | |
| he lie about mentioning sanctions to the Russian ambassador? I | |
| don't get it. But he did lie, and Trump knew he lied and didn't | |
| fire him until it became public knowledge. That's weird too. | |
| Then there was the man Flynn hired for a job and who the CIA | |
| said failed their security test. No one has said why he | |
| flunked, and the matter has not been discussed since. | |
| http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/319073-top-flynn-aide-rejected-for-k… | |
| A top aide to national security adviser Michael Flynn was denied | |
| security clearance to serve on the National Security Council | |
| (NSC), Politico reported late Friday. | |
| Robin Townley, the senior Africa director on the NSC, learned on | |
| Friday that the CIA had denied his �Sensitive Compartmented | |
| Information� security clearance. | |
| CIA director Mike Pompeo approved of the rejection, the report | |
| said. | |
| �They believe this is a hit job from inside the CIA on Flynn and | |
| the people close to him,� an unnamed source told Politico. | |
| �Townley believes that the CIA doesn�t run the world.� | |
| Townley's career looks pretty harmless to me. I'd say the CIA | |
| probably knows something I don't know; and it could be something | |
| not that big but still something that makes him vulnerable to | |
| blackmail. | |
| I believe the policy of the FBI and CIA is to inform US citizens | |
| at times if they are tapping a foreigner's phone calls and | |
| something comes up that suggests someone is trying to recruit | |
| the citizen and that he may be in over his head. At other times | |
| perhaps they wait to see what happens. The situation would be | |
| sensitive, to say the least. | |
| How would you react if you were President and the intelligence | |
| community gave you evidence that someone working for you was | |
| potentially vulnerable to blackmail and might possibly be | |
| recruited as an agent of a foreign power? I'd be grateful | |
| for being informed. Yet Trump seemed resentful for some | |
| reason. | |
| [/quote] | |
| Even before the election results, Trump had blasted the American | |
| Intelligence community calling it fascistic. It was about the | |
| same time, as I remember, that he again failed to release his | |
| tax returns. At that time I linked the undisclosed tax returns | |
| to the possibility of Trump having Russian financial | |
| connections. Since he still fails to release those returns, I'm | |
| sure he's hiding something. We shall see, eventually . . . | |
| #Post#: 15079-------------------------------------------------- | |
| Re: Turning a Compromised Citizen Into An Agent of a Foreign Pow | |
| er | |
| By: Kerry Date: May 31, 2017, 12:22 am | |
| --------------------------------------------------------- | |
| [quote author=HOLLAND link=topic=1220.msg15075#msg15075 | |
| date=1496190465] | |
| I would agree, Kerry. This is indeed the situation, and I think | |
| the American elite is particularly vulnerable given that so many | |
| of its members believe in the"Sovereign Individual" ideology | |
| that arose among conservatives that advocated an anarchism of | |
| the wealthy and the subversion of democracy. Those who believe | |
| that they are Sovereign Individuals do not believe that they | |
| need to follow their nation's laws or values. [/quote] | |
| I wonder if the two Trump sons would pass a security background | |
| check? One of them allegedly commented once that Russian money | |
| poured into their projects. He denied later making that | |
| comment; but I wonder. If American banks turn you down because | |
| of bankruptcies, what do you do? | |
| [quote]It is highly probable that Deng is a Chinese spy. It | |
| sounds logical and it is highly ironic that she was so close to | |
| Murdoch given his support for conservative politics in his news | |
| programming such as Fox.[/quote]It's something to think about. | |
| [quote]Perhaps William Buckley, if he could see present | |
| conservatives, would reject them as being such, given their | |
| indifference to national laws and values. [/quote]They aren't | |
| conservatives in my book. | |
| [quote]Even before the election results, Trump had blasted the | |
| American Intelligence community calling it fascistic. It was | |
| about the same time, as I remember, that he again failed to | |
| release his tax returns. At that time I linked the undisclosed | |
| tax returns to the possibility of Trump having Russian financial | |
| connections. Since he still fails to release those returns, I'm | |
| sure he's hiding something. We shall see, eventually . . | |
| .[/quote] | |
| One wonders why he sold so many properties to rich Russians? | |
| The easy answer is they had the money to spend; but it raises | |
| some unpleasant questions. We know he sold a property to a | |
| rich Chinese woman, "a princess", the daughter of some bigwig; | |
| and it's known too that she is part of a network that spies. | |
| Bill Clinton declined to give a speech for them. | |
| There's also the matter of the Russian gangster living in Trump | |
| Tower -- and add to this list, his lawyer who just recently told | |
| Congress he was not going to cooperate with them when they asked | |
| for information. | |
| http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/congressional-russia-probe-now-includes-tru… | |
| President Trump's personal attorney, Michael Cohen, told NBC | |
| News on Tuesday that if he is issued a subpoena as part of | |
| Congressional probes into Russian interference in the U.S. | |
| election he will testify. | |
| Earlier, Cohen said that he has received requests for | |
| information from the Senate and House intelligence committees | |
| but said he wouldn't comply. | |
| "I declined the invitation to participate," said Cohen, "as the | |
| request was poorly phrased, overly broad and not capable of | |
| being answered." | |
| Cohen said he has received a letter requesting he list his | |
| Russia contacts and supply email and other communications but no | |
| subpoena. | |
| "I have nothing to hide, I will make myself available and I am | |
| more than happy and willing to testify but they have to be | |
| specific," Cohen told NBC News Tuesday evening. | |
| Nothing to hide? Does that mean he's going to blab about the | |
| his legal cases in which he's represented Russians or Americans | |
| doing business in Russia? What about client confidentiality? | |
| Cohen doesn't seem quite human to me. He doesn't understand how | |
| most other people think. He's the fellow who posted a photo of | |
| his daughter in lingerie and didn't understand it when other | |
| people found it odd. | |
| http://nypost.com/2017/05/14/trumps-lawyer-tweets-out-sexy-picture-of-his-daugh… | |
| President Trump�s longtime lawyer Michael Cohen has been firing | |
| back at haters on social media who are calling him out for | |
| tweeting a picture Sunday night of his very own daughter wearing | |
| lingerie. | |
| �So proud of my Ivy League daughter�brains and beauty channeling | |
| her Edie Sedgwick,� Cohen tweeted, referencing Andy Warhol�s | |
| muse and plugging his daughter Samantha�s Instagram profile, | |
| @samichka_. | |
| The pic shows her in a black lace bra and stockings, and was | |
| posted around 8:30 p.m. � causing an uproar on social media. | |
| Hundreds of people replied to the post, some of whom Cohen | |
| responded to himself. | |
| �Jealous?� Cohen wrote in response to a tweet from a woman who | |
| used a vulgar term for the picture of Samantha. | |
| �Most fathers don�t post lingerie shots of their daughters. I | |
| guess #Trump must be rubbing off on you,� wrote another user. | |
| �Beauty and brains you a-hole!� Cohen fumed in a response that | |
| tweet. �It�s a modeling shot remake from an old Edie Sedgwick | |
| photo. #hater.� | |
| He strikes me as someone who could easily be compromised by | |
| foreign intelligence services. | |
| #Post#: 15080-------------------------------------------------- | |
| Re: Turning a Compromised Citizen Into An Agent of a Foreign Pow | |
| er | |
| By: Kerry Date: May 31, 2017, 12:51 am | |
| --------------------------------------------------------- | |
| On a different matter, I see that a Chinese company which had | |
| owned a large chunk of Grindr stock just bought the rest so now | |
| they own it outright. Why would they want a gay dating | |
| website? For financial reasons only? | |
| http://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2095674/chinese-tech-firm-fully-… | |
| A little-known Chinese tech company has agreed to pay US$240 | |
| million for America�s Grindr so that it can become fully | |
| involved in the daily operations of the world�s largest gay | |
| social media app, as it expands and builds a loyal user base | |
| beyond China. | |
| Beijing Kunlun Tech, a game developer owned by 38-year-old | |
| billionaire Zhou Yahui, said on Wednesday it planned to pay | |
| US$152 million to buy the remaining 38 per cent stake in Grindr | |
| that it does not already own. Kunlun paid about US$88 million | |
| for a 62 per cent stake of the social media app in January last | |
| year, which meant that the startup�s valuation has gained 161 | |
| per cent since the Chinese firm�s last purchase. | |
| �It is of strategic importance for us to fully engage in the | |
| daily operations of Grindr and make it our development | |
| milestone,� Kunlun said in a statement. | |
| I wonder why the American government allowed this to happen. I | |
| see it as a security risk. In the United States, I suppose it | |
| would be people who are in the closet who could be blackmailed; | |
| but elsewhere in the world where being gay is banned, the | |
| Chinese could blackmail almost anyone who used the service if | |
| they could identify them. This would give China a big | |
| advantage in these countries -- and in this country too if they | |
| wanted to blackmail prominent lawyers, ministers, and | |
| politicians they identified as using Grindr. No one seems to | |
| see the dangers posed. I think maybe I should write my | |
| Senators and Congressman about it. | |
| #Post#: 15468-------------------------------------------------- | |
| Re: Turning a Compromised Citizen Into An Agent of a Foreign Pow | |
| er | |
| By: Kerry Date: July 9, 2017, 12:54 pm | |
| --------------------------------------------------------- | |
| [quote author=HOLLAND link=topic=1220.msg15075#msg15075 | |
| date=1496190465] | |
| Even before the election results, Trump had blasted the American | |
| Intelligence community calling it fascistic. It was about the | |
| same time, as I remember, that he again failed to release his | |
| tax returns. At that time I linked the undisclosed tax returns | |
| to the possibility of Trump having Russian financial | |
| connections. Since he still fails to release those returns, I'm | |
| sure he's hiding something. We shall see, eventually . . | |
| .[/quote]We may be a little closer to seeing now. | |
| https://www.circa.com/story/2017/07/09/politics/russian-lawyer-who-got-inside-d… | |
| By her own account, the Russian lawyer that managed to slide her | |
| way into Trump Tower last year and meet with President Donald | |
| Trump�s eldest son, his campaign manager and son-in-law is a | |
| former Moscow prosecutor who had been denied a visa to enter the | |
| United States Natalia Veselnitskaya filed an affidavit in a | |
| federal case in New York describing how she managed to get | |
| special permission to enter the United States after the visa | |
| denial to help represent a Russian company called Prevezon | |
| Holdings owned by the Russian businessman Denis Katsyv in a case | |
| brought against it by U.S. prosecutors. | |
| It seems so far, the Donald has kept quiet, leaving his lawyers | |
| do the talking. | |
| President Trump�s lawyers said Saturday they feared | |
| Veselnitskaya�s meeting at Trump Tower may have been part of a | |
| broader election opposition effort to smear the Republican by | |
| creating the impression he and his family had extensive ties to | |
| Russia as the Kremlin was interfering in the 2016 election. | |
| �We have learned from both our own investigation and public | |
| reports that the participants in the meeting misrepresented who | |
| they were and who they worked for,� said Mark Corallo, a | |
| spokesman for President Trump�s legal team. �Specifically, we | |
| have learned that the person who sought the meeting is | |
| associated with Fusion GPS, a firm which according to public | |
| reports, was retained by Democratic operatives to develop | |
| opposition research on the President and which commissioned the | |
| phony Steele dossier. " | |
| "These developments raise serious issues as to exactly who | |
| authorized and participated in any effort by Russian Nationals | |
| to influence our election in any manner,� Corallo said. | |
| Reince Priebus suggested that perhaps the Democrats had set | |
| Donald Jr. up. Sure, sure! | |
| http://www.mediaite.com/tv/priebus-suggests-dems-set-up-trump-team-meeting-with… | |
| During an appearance on Fox News Sunday, White House Chief of | |
| Staff Reince Priebus said that the meeting was a �nothingburger� | |
| for the Trump team while suggesting it could have been an | |
| attempt by Democrats to set up the Trump campaign, linking it to | |
| the infamous Steele dossier. | |
| Pointing to previous statements made by Trump outside counsel | |
| Mark Corallo in which the lawyer said they�d seen hints that the | |
| Russian attorney misrepresented who she was working for and that | |
| it may have been part of a Dem opposition effort, Priebus noted | |
| that this could hurt the Democratic Party in the future. | |
| �I don�t know much about it other than it seems to be on the end | |
| of the Trump individuals a nothingburger but may spin out of | |
| control for the DNC and the Democrats,� Priebus told host Chris | |
| Wallace. | |
| When pressed later by Wallace why the Trump team even would have | |
| wanted to meet with a Russian attorney about the issue of | |
| adoption, Priebus said he had no idea and that Wallace would | |
| have to �talk to them.� | |
| Great question from Wallace. Why indeed would Kushner, | |
| Manafort, and Donald Jr. want to discuss the matter of American | |
| adoption of Russian children with this lawyer? | |
| What seems to go over the heads of Trump's lawyer (perhaps) is | |
| that Fusion could have been playing both the Democrats and | |
| Republicans, trying to hedge their bets. Both Democrats and | |
| Republicans look tarnished a bit to me. | |
| So what got said at this meeting? Will Kushner, Manafort and | |
| Donald Jr. all tell the same story? The New York Times has | |
| Donald Jr.'s story: | |
| In his statement, Donald Trump Jr. said: �It was a short | |
| introductory meeting. I asked Jared and Paul to stop by. We | |
| primarily discussed a program about the adoption of Russian | |
| children that was active and popular with American families | |
| years ago and was since ended by the Russian government, but it | |
| was not a campaign issue at the time and there was no follow | |
| up.� | |
| He added: �I was asked to attend the meeting by an acquaintance, | |
| but was not told the name of the person I would be meeting with | |
| beforehand.� | |
| Late Saturday, Mark Corallo, a spokesman for the president�s | |
| lawyer, issued a statement implying that the meeting was a | |
| setup. Ms. Veselnitskaya and the translator who accompanied her | |
| to the meeting �misrepresented who they were,� it said. | |
| This doesn't quite jive. Junior said he was asked to attend | |
| this meeting by "an acquaintance." Who? Tell us who. Corallo | |
| implies Velnitskaya and the translator wormed their way into the | |
| meeting by misrepresenting who they were. Back in March, | |
| Donald Jr. lied: | |
| Donald Trump Jr. had denied participating in any | |
| campaign-related meetings with Russian nationals when he was | |
| interviewed by The Times in March. �Did I meet with people that | |
| were Russian? I�m sure, I�m sure I did,� he said. �But none that | |
| were set up. None that I can think of at the moment. And | |
| certainly none that I was representing the campaign in any way, | |
| shape or form.� | |
| Asked at that time whether he had ever discussed government | |
| policies related to Russia, the younger Mr. Trump replied, �A | |
| hundred percent no.� | |
| I guess if the Times printed what he said, they were printing | |
| lies! | |
| What does Manafort have to say about the meeting? Nothing | |
| publicly so far, it seems. | |
| Mr. Manafort, the former campaign chairman, also recently | |
| disclosed the meeting, and Donald Trump Jr.�s role in organizing | |
| it, to congressional investigators who had questions about his | |
| foreign contacts, according to people familiar with the events. | |
| A spokesman for Mr. Manafort declined to comment. In response to | |
| questions, Ms. Veselnitskaya said the meeting lasted about 30 | |
| minutes and focused on the Magnitsky Act and the adoption issue. | |
| �Nothing at all was discussed about the presidential campaign,� | |
| she said, adding, �I have never acted on behalf of the Russian | |
| government and have never discussed any of these matters with | |
| any representative of the Russian government.� | |
| Ha, the real question may be if she ever worked for the people | |
| who were sanctioned or was still working for them. If Russia | |
| responded to those sanctions with the adoption ban, I would | |
| think her wanting to discuss the adoption ban was probably | |
| linked to having the sanctions removed. The meeting would have | |
| gone nowhere fast if Junior and Kushner weren't that interested | |
| in Americans adopting Russian babies. Maybe Manafort would have | |
| been interested if offered money, but I doubt either Kushner or | |
| Junior would be that interested in money that much that they | |
| take bribes. I don't think they're that low. Not that I like | |
| either of them, but I don't see them as willing to take obvious | |
| bribes; and the Russian lawyer knew it would have been a mistake | |
| to try that. I'm guessing. That's all I can do now; but | |
| perhaps time will reveal more of the details. I am particularly | |
| interested in who the anonymous acquaintance is that suggested | |
| the meeting to Junior. (Don't tell me it was a Democrat! | |
| John Podesta? Ha!) | |
| #Post#: 15531-------------------------------------------------- | |
| Re: Turning a Compromised Citizen Into An Agent of a Foreign Pow | |
| er | |
| By: Kerry Date: July 16, 2017, 11:01 pm | |
| --------------------------------------------------------- | |
| One of the President's lawyers said something that makes me | |
| believe something is being covered up. | |
| http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/trump-lawyer-jay-sekulow-blames-secret-se… | |
| Jay Sekulow, a member of President Donald Trump�s legal team, on | |
| Sunday aired a new defense for Donald Trump Jr.�s meeting with a | |
| Russian lawyer who promised him damaging information on Hillary | |
| Clinton: The Secret Service should not have �allowed these | |
| people in� to meet with Trump�s eldest son. | |
| �I wonder why the Secret Service, if this was nefarious, why the | |
| Secret Service allowed these people in,� Sekulow said on ABC�s | |
| �This Week,� referring to Trump�s protection detail as the | |
| Republican candidate. �The President had Secret Service | |
| protection at that point, and that raised a question with me.� | |
| This is weird for more than one reason. First of all, Sekulow | |
| is not Donald Junior's lawyer. It's not his job to render | |
| opinions about Junior. Secondly, it just downright stupid to | |
| try to blame the Secret Service; and the Secret Service | |
| responded quickly to this bizarre accusation. | |
| http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-russia-idUSKBN1A10Q9 | |
| In an emailed response to questions about Sekulow's comments, | |
| Secret Service spokesman Mason Brayman said the younger Trump | |
| was not under Secret Service protection at the time of the | |
| meeting, which included Trump's son and two senior campaign | |
| officials. | |
| "Donald Trump, Jr. was not a protectee of the USSS in June, | |
| 2016. Thus we would not have screened anyone he was meeting with | |
| at that time," the statement said. | |
| Surely Mr. Sekulow should know who gets Secret Service | |
| protection and when. | |
| Nor does the Secret Service decide who's allowed in the country. | |
| The State Department, under President Obama, made that call. | |
| So what made Mr. Sekulow make such a stupid comment? After | |
| all, he has been named to some list of prominent attorneys, and | |
| I think he's argued cases in the Supreme Court. So what would | |
| possess him to make a comment about Donald Jr.'s case and such a | |
| bizarre comment at that? I'd say his mind is spinning, and | |
| he's trying to come up with something -- and the President | |
| probably told him part of his job is to try to defend Junior. | |
| Well, really now, I don't get the focus on Junior. What | |
| Manafort did was worse since he was the campaign manager. And | |
| what Jared Kushner did is worse too since he lied about being at | |
| this meeting; and if he wanted to lie about it, why didn't he | |
| delete the emails on his computer that prompted his lawyers to | |
| tell all he knew and to turn them over to the government? | |
| Kushner keeps revising his list of foreign contacts; and he lied | |
| officially when filing the form about it. Yet no one seems to | |
| be asking why his security clearance isn't revoked. It is a | |
| crime to do what he did. We call call what Junior did dubious | |
| or unsavory; but what Kushner did was a crime. | |
| Of course, we still don't have all the story. Donald Jr. gave | |
| no indication of receiving any "dirt on Hillary"; but the | |
| ex-military intelligence agent from Russia who was there also | |
| said papers were laid down and he couldn't recall if anyone | |
| picked them up. | |
| All told, the whole thing strikes me as a comedy of errors. | |
| Junior was basically saying he tried to collude with the | |
| Russians but failed because they didn't have what they promised. | |
| And so many people were there! I knew, of course, that the | |
| Russian lawyer couldn't speak English -- so that told me someone | |
| else had to be there. It turns out there were three other | |
| Russians. So is this any way to conduct hush-hush business? | |
| If I wanted to collude with someone and that many people showed | |
| up at the meeting, I'd have to pretend I was stupid and didn't | |
| know what they wanted. Eight people at this meeting and they | |
| still couldn't come up with something substantial? I wouldn't | |
| want to embark on a scheme of any kind with any one of the eight | |
| people -- none seem to know how to keep anything secret. | |
| Of course, too, the idea is preposterous that the Russians were | |
| hot and bothered that Russian babies can't be adopted in the | |
| US. Why talk to Americans about that? The Russian government | |
| made that decision. So it wasn't really about adopting babies. | |
| Get real. It was about sanctions. The Russians imposed the ban | |
| on adoptions after sanctions were placed on some important | |
| Russian people. That's what it was really about. The people | |
| who talked admitted sanctions were mentioned, but all sides | |
| seemed to want to put the emphasis on the adoptions. | |
| I also find the timing of certain events fascinating. While | |
| President Trump is said not to have known of this meeting for a | |
| long time, it was only hours after the meeting was set up that | |
| he boasted he'd make revelations about Hillary soon. | |
| http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4688608/Trump-teased-Clinton-speech-Tru… | |
| President Donald Trump previewed a 'major speech' attacking | |
| Hillary Clinton last June, just hours after his son, Donald | |
| Trump Jr, set up a meeting with a Russian lawyer he was told had | |
| damaging information about the Democratic candidate. | |
| In a speech on June 7, 2016, Trump said that 'probably Monday of | |
| next week' he would deliver a 'major speech' featuring a | |
| discussion of 'all of the things that have taken place with the | |
| Clintons'. | |
| The speech came just four days after Trump Jr was contacted by | |
| publicist Rob Goldstone, who claims that he has information | |
| obtained by the Russian government that he said would | |
| incriminate Clinton. | |
| The meeting, which eventually took place on June 9, was | |
| organized just hours before Trump took the stage at Trump | |
| National Golf Club Westchester in scenic Briarcliff, New York, | |
| after a series of Primary elections on June 7. | |
| The now-President failed to follow through with his pledge to | |
| reveal dirt on Clinton during the campaign, and never gave the | |
| speech he promised. | |
| Read more: | |
| http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4688608/Trump-teased-Clinton-speech-Tru… | |
| /> | |
| Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook | |
| What is the lesson here? Sometimes you should look a | |
| gift-horse in the mouth, especially if the person offering it is | |
| Russian or Chinese. If someone calls or emails you with such an | |
| offer, call the Justice Department or the FBI to see what they | |
| think. | |
| I think the Russians played both sides. They certainly | |
| embarrassed Hillary, and now they're embarrassing the Trumps. | |
| What happened as a matter of fact may not be that important -- | |
| it probably wasn't -- the cover-ups and denials may be worse | |
| than what happened. After all, how important could it be to get | |
| dirt on Hillary? There are already mountains of dirt to deal | |
| with. Who needs more? | |
| If the Russian intention was to hamper the operation of the US | |
| government, I'd say it worked. Notice too how fast the Russians | |
| were to blab. And too how fast Rob Goldstone was to say, "That | |
| was me. I set that meeting up." And he could even say, "And I | |
| got to go to the meeting too. See? I was at Trump Tower that | |
| day." I don't know if he stayed for the meeting since he said | |
| in an email he'd introduce them and leave; but even that is | |
| still a bit much for me. | |
| I don't get why the counter-intelligence guy was there -- or why | |
| the "client" who wanted Russian babies adopted in the US would | |
| be there. I sort of get why a translator would be there; but | |
| that amazes me too. If I were Junior and wanted such a | |
| meeting, I would arranged it on a one-to-one basis and expected | |
| to meet only one person. I also wouldn't have held it at Trump | |
| Tower! I wouldn't have sent emails to several people about it | |
| or asked them to tag along. If I then got dirt on Hillary, I'd | |
| deliver it in person to my father. If there had been a request | |
| about sanctions, I would have told him that -- on a one-to-one | |
| basis without nobody else listening. | |
| The client wanting to be there is almost amusing. I wonder who | |
| it was. If you can't trust your own attorney to do what you | |
| want and want to be along with him or her when they're | |
| representing you, my advice is to find a lawyer you can trust. | |
| By all means consider someone who can speak English too. I am | |
| sure there are Russian lawyers who speak English. It's weird | |
| since that attorney had denied a visa to enter the US. She got | |
| a special exemption from the Obama administration. | |
| http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/341788-exclusive-doj-let-russian-law… | |
| The Moscow lawyer had been turned down for a visa to enter the | |
| U.S. lawfully but then was granted special immigration parole by | |
| then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch for the limited purpose of | |
| helping a company owned by Russian businessman Denis Katsyv, her | |
| client, defend itself against a Justice Department asset | |
| forfeiture case in federal court in New York City. | |
| During a court hearing in early January 2016, as Veselnitskaya�s | |
| permission to stay in the country was about to expire, federal | |
| prosecutors described how rare the grant of parole immigration | |
| was as Veselnitskaya pleaded for more time to remain in the | |
| United States. | |
| �In October the government bypassed the normal visa process and | |
| gave a type of extraordinary permission to enter the country | |
| called immigration parole,� Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul | |
| Monteleoni explained to the judge during a hearing on Jan. 6, | |
| 2016. | |
| �That's a discretionary act that the statute allows the attorney | |
| general to do in extraordinary circumstances. In this case, we | |
| did that so that Mr. Katsyv could testify. And we made the | |
| 
further accommodation of allowing his Russian lawyer into | |
| the country to assist,� he added. | |
| The prosecutor said the Justice Department was willing to allow | |
| the Russian lawyer to enter the United States again as the trial | |
| in the case approached so she could help prepare and attend the | |
| proceedings. | |
| The court record indicates the presiding judge asked the Justice | |
| Department to extend Veselnitskaya�s immigration parole another | |
| week until he decided motions in the case. There are no other | |
| records in the court file indicating what happened with that | |
| request or how Veselnitskaya appeared in the country later that | |
| spring. | |
| The U.S. Attorney�s office in New York confirmed Wednesday to | |
| The Hill that it let Veselnitskaya into the country on a grant | |
| of immigration parole from October 2015 to early January 2016. | |
| Justice Department and State Department officials could not | |
| immediately explain how the Russian lawyer was still in the | |
| country in June for the meeting with Trump Jr. and the events in | |
| Washington. | |
| #Post#: 15534-------------------------------------------------- | |
| Re: Turning a Compromised Citizen Into An Agent of a Foreign Pow | |
| er | |
| By: Kerry Date: July 17, 2017, 6:32 am | |
| --------------------------------------------------------- | |
| I found this about Sekulow said ironic and amusing. | |
| http://www.businessinsider.com/jay-sekulow-interview-trump-jr-full-ginsberg-201… | |
| While Trump Jr.'s lawyers have remained primarily behind the | |
| scenes, the president's personal lawyer has become a ubiquitous | |
| presence on television, performing the so-called "Full Ginsberg" | |
| by appearing on all five major political talk shows on Sunday. | |
| In five interviews on Sunday, Jay Sekulow downplayed Trump's | |
| knowledge of the meeting, attended by Trump Jr., then campaign | |
| chief Paul Manafort, and current adviser Jared Kushner, and | |
| dodged and deflected questions by repeatedly criticizing former | |
| FBI Director James Comey, the Democratic National Committee, and | |
| the US Secret Service, among others. | |
| Okay, so he every show he could on Sunday, and the press (bad | |
| mainstream media) gave him platforms. Now get this: | |
| Sekulow's primary tactic in each interview was an attempt to | |
| paint Comey as an attention seeker, blasting the former director | |
| for taking a book deal, and noting that the FBI director passed | |
| the New York Times information about his private meetings with | |
| Trump. | |
| Comey is the big attention seeker? Well, Sekulow may have | |
| brought himself more attention than he would want with the | |
| allegations now of his siphoning off millions of dollars from a | |
| "Christian charity" into the pockets of family members. | |
| https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jun/27/trump-lawyer-jay-sekulow-donati… | |
| Documents obtained by the Guardian show Sekulow that month | |
| approved plans to push poor and jobless people to donate money | |
| to his Christian nonprofit, which since 2000 has steered more | |
| than $60m to Sekulow, his family and their businesses. | |
| Telemarketers for the nonprofit, Christian Advocates Serving | |
| Evangelism (Case), were instructed in contracts signed by | |
| Sekulow to urge people who pleaded poverty or said they were out | |
| of work to dig deep for a �sacrificial gift�. | |
| �I can certainly understand how that would make it difficult for | |
| you to share a gift like that right now,� they told retirees who | |
| said they were on fixed incomes and had �no extra money� � | |
| before asking if they could spare �even $20 within the next | |
| three weeks�. | |
| In addition to using tens of millions of dollars in donations to | |
| pay Sekulow, his wife, his sons, his brother, his sister-in-law, | |
| his niece and nephew and their firms, Case has also been used to | |
| provide a series of unusual loans and property deals to the | |
| Sekulow family. | |
| Attorneys and other experts specialising in nonprofit law said | |
| the Sekulows risked violating a federal law against nonprofits | |
| paying excessive benefits to the people responsible for running | |
| them. Sekulow declined to detail how he ensured the payments | |
| were reasonable. | |
| �This is all highly unusual, and it gives an appearance of | |
| conflicts of interest that any nonprofit should want to avoid,� | |
| said Daniel Borochoff, the president of CharityWatch, a | |
| Chicago-based group that monitors nonprofits. | |
| #Post#: 15554-------------------------------------------------- | |
| Re: Turning a Compromised Citizen Into An Agent of a Foreign Pow | |
| er | |
| By: HOLLAND Date: July 18, 2017, 7:02 pm | |
| --------------------------------------------------------- | |
| [quote author=Kerry link=topic=1220.msg15531#msg15531 | |
| date=1500264078] | |
| One of the President's lawyers said something that makes me | |
| believe something is being covered up. | |
| http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/trump-lawyer-jay-sekulow-blames-secret-se… | |
| Jay Sekulow, a member of President Donald Trump’s legal | |
| team, on Sunday aired a new defense for Donald Trump Jr.’s | |
| meeting with a Russian lawyer who promised him damaging | |
| information on Hillary Clinton: The Secret Service should not | |
| have “allowed these people in” to meet with | |
| Trump’s eldest son. | |
| “I wonder why the Secret Service, if this was nefarious, | |
| why the Secret Service allowed these people in,” Sekulow | |
| said on ABC’s “This Week,” referring to | |
| Trump’s protection detail as the Republican candidate. | |
| “The President had Secret Service protection at that point, | |
| and that raised a question with me.” | |
| This is weird for more than one reason. First of all, Sekulow | |
| is not Donald Junior's lawyer. It's not his job to render | |
| opinions about Junior. Secondly, it just downright stupid to | |
| try to blame the Secret Service; and the Secret Service | |
| responded quickly to this bizarre accusation. | |
| http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-russia-idUSKBN1A10Q9 | |
| In an emailed response to questions about Sekulow's comments, | |
| Secret Service spokesman Mason Brayman said the younger Trump | |
| was not under Secret Service protection at the time of the | |
| meeting, which included Trump's son and two senior campaign | |
| officials. | |
| "Donald Trump, Jr. was not a protectee of the USSS in June, | |
| 2016. Thus we would not have screened anyone he was meeting with | |
| at that time," the statement said. | |
| Surely Mr. Sekulow should know who gets Secret Service | |
| protection and when. | |
| Nor does the Secret Service decide who's allowed in the country. | |
| The State Department, under President Obama, made that call. | |
| So what made Mr. Sekulow make such a stupid comment? After | |
| all, he has been named to some list of prominent attorneys, and | |
| I think he's argued cases in the Supreme Court. So what would | |
| possess him to make a comment about Donald Jr.'s case and such a | |
| bizarre comment at that? I'd say his mind is spinning, and | |
| he's trying to come up with something -- and the President | |
| probably told him part of his job is to try to defend Junior. | |
| Well, really now, I don't get the focus on Junior. What | |
| Manafort did was worse since he was the campaign manager. And | |
| what Jared Kushner did is worse too since he lied about being at | |
| this meeting; and if he wanted to lie about it, why didn't he | |
| delete the emails on his computer that prompted his lawyers to | |
| tell all he knew and to turn them over to the government? | |
| Kushner keeps revising his list of foreign contacts; and he lied | |
| officially when filing the form about it. Yet no one seems to | |
| be asking why his security clearance isn't revoked. It is a | |
| crime to do what he did. We call call what Junior did dubious | |
| or unsavory; but what Kushner did was a crime. | |
| Of course, we still don't have all the story. Donald Jr. gave | |
| no indication of receiving any "dirt on Hillary"; but the | |
| ex-military intelligence agent from Russia who was there also | |
| said papers were laid down and he couldn't recall if anyone | |
| picked them up. | |
| All told, the whole thing strikes me as a comedy of errors. | |
| Junior was basically saying he tried to collude with the | |
| Russians but failed because they didn't have what they | |
| promised.[quote] | |
| That's my impression on this, Kerry. An attempt on the part of | |
| a political campaign to obtain information from a source that | |
| relates back to a hostile power is a serious matter. Some on | |
| the media are calling it a form of treason. That may be | |
| overblown, but Trump and family are probably in a compromised | |
| state where they can be blackmailed by a foreign power. | |
| [quote]And so many people were there! I knew, of course, that | |
| the Russian lawyer couldn't speak English -- so that told me | |
| someone else had to be there. It turns out there were three | |
| other Russians. So is this any way to conduct hush-hush | |
| business? If I wanted to collude with someone and that many | |
| people showed up at the meeting, I'd have to pretend I was | |
| stupid and didn't know what they wanted. Eight people at this | |
| meeting and they still couldn't come up with something | |
| substantial? I wouldn't want to embark on a scheme of any kind | |
| with any one of the eight people -- none seem to know how to | |
| keep anything secret.[/quote] | |
| I suppose that the Russians were amused at the crude tradecraft | |
| of the Trump campaign. So how it goes. | |
| [quote]Of course, too, the idea is preposterous that the | |
| Russians were hot and bothered that Russian babies can't be | |
| adopted in the US. Why talk to Americans about that? The | |
| Russian government made that decision. So it wasn't really | |
| about adopting babies. Get real. It was about sanctions. The | |
| Russians imposed the ban on adoptions after sanctions were | |
| placed on some important Russian people. That's what it was | |
| really about. The people who talked admitted sanctions were | |
| mentioned, but all sides seemed to want to put the emphasis on | |
| the adoptions.[/quote] | |
| I agree. Russian baby adoption is preposterous. In tradecraft, | |
| the cover story about the meeting is the first business, then | |
| the real business follows after that. It has to be the economic | |
| sanctions that the Russians were interested about and | |
| information on the Clinton campaign that the Trumps were | |
| interested in. I think that more was going on that what has | |
| been said about this meeting. | |
| [quote]I also find the timing of certain events fascinating. | |
| While President Trump is said not to have known of this meeting | |
| for a long time, it was only hours after the meeting was set up | |
| that he boasted he'd make revelations about Hillary soon. | |
| http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4688608/Trump-teased-Clinton-speech-Tru… | |
| President Donald Trump previewed a 'major speech' attacking | |
| Hillary Clinton last June, just hours after his son, Donald | |
| Trump Jr, set up a meeting with a Russian lawyer he was told had | |
| damaging information about the Democratic candidate. | |
| In a speech on June 7, 2016, Trump said that 'probably Monday of | |
| next week' he would deliver a 'major speech' featuring a | |
| discussion of 'all of the things that have taken place with the | |
| Clintons'. | |
| The speech came just four days after Trump Jr was contacted by | |
| publicist Rob Goldstone, who claims that he has information | |
| obtained by the Russian government that he said would | |
| incriminate Clinton. | |
| The meeting, which eventually took place on June 9, was | |
| organized just hours before Trump took the stage at Trump | |
| National Golf Club Westchester in scenic Briarcliff, New York, | |
| after a series of Primary elections on June 7. | |
| The now-President failed to follow through with his pledge to | |
| reveal dirt on Clinton during the campaign, and never gave the | |
| speech he promised. | |
| Read more: | |
| http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4688608/Trump-teased-Clinton-speech-Tru… | |
| /> | |
| Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook | |
| What is the lesson here? Sometimes you should look a | |
| gift-horse in the mouth, especially if the person offering it is | |
| Russian or Chinese. If someone calls or emails you with such an | |
| offer, call the Justice Department or the FBI to see what they | |
| think.[/quote] | |
| I would agree. I suspect that perhaps the Trump people, at the | |
| meeting, asked for and received assurances of help from the | |
| Russians in the upcoming general election. This may not have | |
| been directly asked and answered in the meeting but had been | |
| obliquely asked and answered using language in a way that is in | |
| keeping with tradecraft. | |
| [quote]I think the Russians played both sides. They certainly | |
| embarrassed Hillary, and now they're embarrassing the Trumps. | |
| What happened as a matter of fact may not be that important -- | |
| it probably wasn't -- the cover-ups and denials may be worse | |
| than what happened. After all, how important could it be to get | |
| dirt on Hillary? There are already mountains of dirt to deal | |
| with. Who needs more? | |
| If the Russian intention was to hamper the operation of the US | |
| government, I'd say it worked. Notice too how fast the Russians | |
| were to blab. And too how fast Rob Goldstone was to say, "That | |
| was me. I set that meeting up." And he could even say, "And I | |
| got to go to the meeting too. See? I was at Trump Tower that | |
| day." I don't know if he stayed for the meeting since he said | |
| in an email he'd introduce them and leave; but even that is | |
| still a bit much for me.[/quote] | |
| I would agree. | |
| [quote]I don't get why the counter-intelligence guy was there -- | |
| or why the "client" who wanted Russian babies adopted in the US | |
| would be there. I sort of get why a translator would be there; | |
| but that amazes me too. If I were Junior and wanted such a | |
| meeting, I would arranged it on a one-to-one basis and expected | |
| to meet only one person. I also wouldn't have held it at Trump | |
| Tower! I wouldn't have sent emails to several people about it | |
| or asked them to tag along. If I then got dirt on Hillary, I'd | |
| deliver it in person to my father. If there had been a request | |
| about sanctions, I would have told him that -- on a one-to-one | |
| basis without nobody else listening.[/quote] | |
| The counter-intelligence man had to be there to check to see if | |
| this was a CIA operation being done by the Trumps. I believe | |
| that he was pleasantly surprised to learn that it was an amateur | |
| operation cobbled together by the Trump campaign. It is not | |
| good tradecraft to have one on one meetings between important | |
| officials since there is a lack of witnesses to confirm the | |
| basis of the meeting. | |
| [quote]The client wanting to be there is almost amusing. I | |
| wonder who it was. If you can't trust your own attorney to do | |
| what you want and want to be along with him or her when they're | |
| representing you, my advice is to find a lawyer you can trust. | |
| By all means consider someone who can speak English too. I am | |
| sure there are Russian lawyers who speak English. It's weird | |
| since that attorney had denied a visa to enter the US. She got | |
| a special exemption from the Obama administration. | |
| http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/341788-exclusive-doj-let-russian-law… | |
| The Moscow lawyer had been turned down for a visa to enter the | |
| U.S. lawfully but then was granted special immigration parole by | |
| then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch for the limited purpose of | |
| helping a company owned by Russian businessman Denis Katsyv, her | |
| client, defend itself against a Justice Department asset | |
| forfeiture case in federal court in New York City. | |
| During a court hearing in early January 2016, as | |
| Veselnitskaya’s permission to stay in the country was about | |
| to expire, federal prosecutors described how rare the grant of | |
| parole immigration was as Veselnitskaya pleaded for more time to | |
| remain in the United States. | |
| “In October the government bypassed the normal visa | |
| process and gave a type of extraordinary permission to enter | |
| the country called immigration parole,” Assistant U.S. | |
| Attorney Paul Monteleoni explained to the judge during a hearing | |
| on Jan. 6, 2016. | |
| “That's a discretionary act that the statute allows the | |
| attorney general to do in extraordinary circumstances. In this | |
| case, we did that so that Mr. Katsyv could testify. And we made | |
| the 
further accommodation of allowing his Russian lawyer | |
| into the country to assist,” he added. | |
| The prosecutor said the Justice Department was willing to allow | |
| the Russian lawyer to enter the United States again as the trial | |
| in the case approached so she could help prepare and attend the | |
| proceedings. | |
| The court record indicates the presiding judge asked the Justice | |
| Department to extend Veselnitskaya’s immigration parole | |
| another week until he decided motions in the case. There are no | |
| other records in the court file indicating what happened with | |
| that request or how Veselnitskaya appeared in the country later | |
| that spring. | |
| The U.S. Attorney’s office in New York confirmed Wednesday | |
| to The Hill that it let Veselnitskaya into the country on a | |
| grant of immigration parole from October 2015 to early January | |
| 2016. | |
| Justice Department and State Department officials could not | |
| immediately explain how the Russian lawyer was still in the | |
| country in June for the meeting with Trump Jr. and the events in | |
| Washington. | |
| [/quote] | |
| I suppose this lawyer may have a connection to Russian | |
| Intelligence and may be considered an asset. It could be that | |
| she is working cover and is, indeed, functioning as a lawyer. | |
| Many agents who function abroad from their country do this. | |
| [quote author=Kerry link=topic=1220.msg15534#msg15534 | |
| date=1500291136] | |
| I found this about Sekulow said ironic and amusing. | |
| http://www.businessinsider.com/jay-sekulow-interview-trump-jr-full-ginsberg-201… | |
| While Trump Jr.'s lawyers have remained primarily behind the | |
| scenes, the president's personal lawyer has become a ubiquitous | |
| presence on television, performing the so-called "Full Ginsberg" | |
| by appearing on all five major political talk shows on Sunday. | |
| In five interviews on Sunday, Jay Sekulow downplayed Trump's | |
| knowledge of the meeting, attended by Trump Jr., then campaign | |
| chief Paul Manafort, and current adviser Jared Kushner, and | |
| dodged and deflected questions by repeatedly criticizing former | |
| FBI Director James Comey, the Democratic National Committee, and | |
| the US Secret Service, among others. | |
| Okay, so he every show he could on Sunday, and the press (bad | |
| mainstream media) gave him platforms. Now get this: | |
| Sekulow's primary tactic in each interview was an attempt to | |
| paint Comey as an attention seeker, blasting the former director | |
| for taking a book deal, and noting that the FBI director passed | |
| the New York Times information about his private meetings with | |
| Trump. | |
| Comey is the big attention seeker? Well, Sekulow may have | |
| brought himself more attention than he would want with the | |
| allegations now of his siphoning off millions of dollars from a | |
| "Christian charity" into the pockets of family members. | |
| https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jun/27/trump-lawyer-jay-sekulow-donati… | |
| Documents obtained by the Guardian show Sekulow that month | |
| approved plans to push poor and jobless people to donate money | |
| to his Christian nonprofit, which since 2000 has steered more | |
| than $60m to Sekulow, his family and their businesses. | |
| Telemarketers for the nonprofit, Christian Advocates Serving | |
| Evangelism (Case), were instructed in contracts signed by | |
| Sekulow to urge people who pleaded poverty or said they were out | |
| of work to dig deep for a “sacrificial gift”. | |
| “I can certainly understand how that would make it | |
| difficult for you to share a gift like that right now,” | |
| they told retirees who said they were on fixed incomes and had | |
| “no extra money” – before asking if they could | |
| spare “even $20 within the next three weeks”. | |
| In addition to using tens of millions of dollars in donations to | |
| pay Sekulow, his wife, his sons, his brother, his sister-in-law, | |
| his niece and nephew and their firms, Case has also been used to | |
| provide a series of unusual loans and property deals to the | |
| Sekulow family. | |
| Attorneys and other experts specialising in nonprofit law said | |
| the Sekulows risked violating a federal law against nonprofits | |
| paying excessive benefits to the people responsible for running | |
| them. Sekulow declined to detail how he ensured the payments | |
| were reasonable. | |
| “This is all highly unusual, and it gives an appearance of | |
| conflicts of interest that any nonprofit should want to | |
| avoid,” said Daniel Borochoff, the president of | |
| CharityWatch, a Chicago-based group that monitors nonprofits. | |
| [/quote] | |
| This all sounds, Kerry, like clumsy disinformation. The trouble | |
| with lies is that they have a limited shelf life; they | |
| eventually spoil in plain view . . . | |
| #Post#: 16016-------------------------------------------------- | |
| Re: Turning a Compromised Citizen Into An Agent of a Foreign Pow | |
| er | |
| By: HOLLAND Date: August 27, 2017, 9:19 pm | |
| --------------------------------------------------------- | |
| ^^^Given that there may be a release of information regarding | |
| "The Trump Dossier" and the British agent, Christopher Steele, | |
| this week by the Congress, it is likely that it will become | |
| increasingly apparent to the public of the likely betrayal of | |
| the country by either Trump or members of his family or | |
| Administration. As far as I know, there is little to contradict | |
| the accuracy of this dossier. | |
| if there is treason, this is going to get people killed. I pray | |
| that the damage to the security of the country can be quickly | |
| restored. | |
| This had happened to the United kingdom in the 1950s-1960s. It | |
| was fictionalized in John Le Carre's book Tinker, Tailor, | |
| Soldier, Spy. The ending credits of the following video shows | |
| the religious hope of the period. Let us hope and pray in the | |
| Lord. | |
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFS6lO6WaaM | |
| ***************************************************** | |
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