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Merrick Garland Draws a Line in the Sand with a raid on the Trump compound... maybe [1]
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Date: 2022-08-09
The likelihood of Trump still holding on to classified documents that involve foreign actors was high enough to convince a judge. Whether the raid netted the identified documents/items, we’ll know eventually, especially since it could put Trump in jail for 10 years.
For example documents related to nuclear power or nuclear weapons could include the future proliferation of nuclear technology to the Middle East floated at the beginning of the Trump administration could still be percolating.
(May 11, 2021 update from 2019) Despite a half-dozen warnings from National Security Council officials about the ethics and legality of a proposal to export nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia, White House officials continued to push for it in the early months of the administration, promoting a lucrative project backed by former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, according to a new report from congressional Democrats.
[...]
Rick Perry, Trump’s Energy Secretary, has revived talks about nuclear cooperation, telling Congress in May 2018, “[W]e tried to really drive home to the crown prince … that if you want the best reactors in world, you have to come to the United States and you have to use Westinghouse.” Westinghouse was acquired by a subsidiary of Brookfield Asset Management in early 2018. Brookfield took over a lease of Kushner’s troubled 666 Fifth Avenue office tower. Representatives for Kushner did not immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment. According to The New York Times, Perry began negotiating with Riyadh over possible terms in late 2017. The Saudis placed Westinghouse on a short list of companies to build a nuclear plant, Perry said, according to the Wall Street Journal. www.koamnewsnow.com/...
(2017)
Federal investigators have questioned others in the wider Russian probe about Flynn activities during the transition that may have overlapped with undisclosed business work.
A spokesman for the special counsel’s office declined to comment. A transition official said the transition was not aware of any investigation into Flynn.
The company that paid Flynn, X-Co/Iron Bridge, has closed. A lawyer representing Rear Adm. Michael Hewitt, the former CEO and his new company, IP3, did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Messages left at Hewitt’s new firm Tuesday were not returned. Neither Hewitt nor his companies have been accused of wrongdoing or legal liability.
Flynn’s February report to the U.S. office of Government Ethics disclosed that he advised X-Co/Iron Bridge from August 2015 to December 2016
Flynn’s role in the so-called Marshall Plan does not appear tied to potential Russian election interference. But Mueller’s examination of Flynn’s transition activities unnerves Trump officials and who fear a wide-ranging investigation that finds wrongdoing in places far from where it started. A person familiar with the investigation said Mueller’s team seems particularly interested in Flynn’s post-November actions.
The “Marshall Plan,” a reference to the post-World War II U.S. plan to rebuild Europe, took its name from an ambitious business proposal, obtained by Newsweek in June, that would “bring economic development, jobs, security, stability and shared prosperity to the region.” While many Trump transition officials were unfamiliar with the idea, which never became part of any administration policy statement, high-level discussions led by Flynn took place for at least several weeks.
As described in the original proposal, the plan envisioned funding by Middle East governments at no U.S. taxpayer cost.
The ambitious vision had prominent backers with military backgrounds. The X-Co/Iron Bridge board included former National Security Agency director and retired Gen. Keith Alexander and retired Marine Corps Gen. James “Hoss” Cartwright, former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
But it seems to have gone nowhere after its most powerful advocate, Flynn, was fired 24 days into the Trump administration for misleading Vice President Mike Pence about his communications with Russia’s ambassador to Washington.
www.politico.eu/...
the decision to adopt IP3's nuclear plan , which it called the Middle East Marshall Plan , and develop "dozens of nuclear power plants" had already been made by General Flynn during the transition—while he was serving as an advisor to IP3.
(2015)
Russia’s state-owned nuclear vendor, Rosatom, provides a menu of offerings to countries seeking nuclear power. Bespoke orders can include a range of flexible financing, construction, ownership and operational solutions all underwritten by Moscow. In some cases, the entire menu is ordered. The result is that Russia gains a long-term, strategic and commercial relationship with host nations.
Russian pledges and promises to Middle Eastern nations to become a partner in their pursuit of nuclear energy mirror similar pledges in Europe, Asia, Africa and South America. The political capital banked by the sovereign sponsor—Russia—of such nuclear deals should not be underestimated. Nuclear financing is a long-term, complex and expensive endeavor with little-to-no short-term dividends, and long-term benefits are difficult to quantify. However, Russian nuclear deals are the cherry on top of other infrastructure projects, making it a “win-win” proposition for both sides.
The first and only nuclear project to date in the Middle East that has received Russian money—roughly $1.5B—is in Turkey, set to break ground in 2016. This is the first time the Build, Own, Operate (BOO) project finance model is used in the nuclear industry. Similar arrangements have been proposed for Jordan where Russia’s pledged stake is just shy of half of the proposed $10 billion project expected to commence in 2017. In Egypt, a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Russia has been signed, but timing and financing is yet to be determined. In addition to an existing Russian plant in Tehran, Rosatom has pledged two more plants. And, most recently, Saudi Arabia and Russia have signed an MOU in June in addition to plans to invest $10 billion of Saudi FDI into Russia, amidst deteriorating relations with the United States.
nationalinterest.org/...
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