PART II
UPDATE: I introduced you to a few of the players in this drama in Part I. Since then, NSA Michael Flynn has resigned after admitting he “may have” discussed sanctions with Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak, at the end of December, then mislead Vice President Pence, the FBI, and all of us. The question in the days to come will be whether he acted alone or was directed to discuss the sanctions. Then Attorney General Sally Q Yates, informed Trump in January prior to the inauguration that she believed Flynn was susceptible to blackmail by the Russian Government. Shortly thereafter, she refused to uphold the travel ban over questions of its legality. She was fired on January 30th. Since then Senator Jeff Sessions has been appointed Attorney General.
It was also revealed that Flynn was paid $40,000 by the Russians for a speaking engagement while he was head of the DIA, funds that were never disclosed. Flynn claimed the paid engagement was approved by his superiors at the time, but it has been reported that there are no records of such a request or approval.
General H.R. McMaster has been named as his replacement. McMaster is a veteran of both the gulf war and the second Iraq War, and is considered to be one of the military’s most independent-minded officers. According to the NY Times, Republicans waged a behind-the-scenes campaign to encourage Trump to choose McMaster, who has no prior connection to him.
**********
It is very difficult to keep up with all of the people who may play a role in President Trump’s connections to the Kremlin. Although all of this has been reported, I find it much easier to connect the dots when everything is in one place and in some kind of order. There is much more than I could ever hope to assemble in such a way so I am just hitting the highlights. I have already given you some background in Part I and will continue that thread next. I would advise you to read/review part I first if you are not familiar with the story. This is starting to get complicated.
Part II of the Russian Connection
Paul Manafort, Viktor Yanukovych, Dmitry Firtash and others:
- Paul Manafort was Trump’s campaign manager who took over in June, 2016, after the firing of Corey Lewandowski.
-
Manafort resigned In August amid questions regarding his campaign role and extensive lobbying history overseas, particularly in the Ukraine, where he represented pro-Russian interests.
-
In 2004, he was invited unofficially, to assist in the presidential campaign of Viktor Yanukovych, then prime minister and an ally of Vladimir Putin. His opponent, a pro-Western, opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko, was poisoned with dioxin during the campaign. When Yanukovych was announced as the winner, massive protests broke out across the Ukraine. The election results did not stand and a new election was held. Yanukovych was defeated.
-
In 2010, Paul Manafort was hired to help improve the image of Yanukovych. He even arranged a photo-op with President Obama. Manafort’s involvement in the campaign was secretive. It was kept out of the media and all involved signed confidentiality agreements. He described his involvement as helping to align Yanukovych with Western interests, but there is no doubt that he was instrumental in getting Yanukovych elected. In 2014, massive protests erupted over Yanukovych’s refusal to sign trade agreements with the EU, to instead pursue closer economic ties to Russia. As the protests grew in intensity, security forces opened fire on the protesters and many were killed. Supporters of Yanukovych abandoned him and he was forced into exile in Russia where he remains after charges of treason. (After he fled, it was learned that his opulent private residence had gold plated fixtures, a private zoo, private man-made lake, and so much more….see the unbelievable photos here: www.telegraph.co.uk/… )
-
When Yanukovych fled the country, he left behind many documents. In his party headquarter’s office they found two safes containing 400 pages of hand-written ledgers; details of under-the-table, untraceable, cash payments. Paul Manafort’s name appears 22 times over 5 years, with payments to him totaling 12.7 million dollars. He denied receiving these payments yet less than a week after this was reported by the NY Times, he resigned as Trump’s campaign manager.
-
Just three weeks later, a Russian oligarch by the name of Dmitry Firtash was arrested in Austria, at the request of the FBI. Firtash is a billionaire partner in a multi-billion dollar natural gas deal with Vladimir Putin, has very close ties to Yanukovych, and Paul Manafort. Firtash and Manafort planned to build a high-end, 900-million-dollar real estate project on New York’s Park Avenue. It didn’t happen after a law suit alleged that it was nothing more that a money-laundering operation for government kickbacks and ill-gotten gains from the Ukraine and Russia. He is wanted by the FBI on unrelated charges of massive bribery (something to do with titanium for Boeing and India). The US has been trying to have him extradited for three years.
-
This is complicated but let’s try to unravel this. Firtash is a billionaire, who is in business with Vladimir Putin. He is also very close to Viktor Yanukovych, the exiled, extremely corrupt, former president of the Ukraine. He is an associate of Paul Manafort, and intended to partner with him on a New York real estate deal. That deal was nixed by a law suit alleging money laundering for Russia and the Ukraine. He is now in Austria and today, February 21st, an Austrian court has agreed to extradite him to the US to face charges of bribery. It will now be up to Jeff Sessions, the first senator to formally support Trump for president, to see this through...or not.
-
www.cnn.com/…
-
www.msnbc.com/…
-
www.latimes.com/…
-
www.salon.com/…
Carter Page (just added via edit 2/24/17): The founder and managing partner of a failed investment fund called Global Energy Capital. He has said he has years of experience investing in Russia and the energy sector, and was named by Trump as being an adviser during his campaign, on the subject of Russian energy policy. No one who knew anything about Russia had ever heard of him until Trump mentioned him as a possible Secretary of State. It was then learned that Page was being probed by U.S. intelligence for purported back-channel ties to Russian leaders. It took some digging to learn that Page worked in the London and Moscow offices of Merrill Lynch and actually knew very little about Russian policy or investing or energy policy. Yet his connection with Trump seemed to propel him into the spotlight that included speaking engagements in Russia, interviews and news articles where he was critical of the US foreign policy and Obama but praised Vladimir Putin. Although he bragged of high level contacts at Gazprom, those who knew him scoffed at the idea. Page’s colleagues from Merrill Lynch confirmed that Page’s role was simply arranging meetings between Gazprom and Western investors, something normally done by analysts, the lowest rank on the totem pole.
When the Trump dossier was released by Buzzfeed, it included a claim that Page had a meeting in Moscow in July, at the same time he had given a speech there. Igor Sechin, the CEO of Russia's state oil company Rozneft, purportedly offered Carter Page and his associates the brokerage of a 19% stake in the company in exchange for the lifting of US sanctions on Russia. The dossier also held claims that it was Paul Manafort that suggested Page act as a liaison in a scheme to funnel Russian money into the Trump campaign. This has not been verified and the investigation is ongoing.
**********************
I will continue with Part III as time permits and the interest is there, or if for no other reason, to help me to keep it all in order as this unfolds. There is so much corruption, going on for so long without opposition that to the players, this is normal. They believe they are untouchable, and perhaps they are. While you contemplate that thought, here is another interesting list. See if you can see the common thread. (Hint: most of them are dead.)
- Mikhail Lesin Ad exec/cabinet minister ran the media wing of Gazprom before being forced out. (November 2015, died in D.C, hotel from “heart attack” that was later confirmed to be blunt force trauma to the head)
- Vladimir Kara-Murza Opposition Party leader, and proponent of US sanctions against Russia (poisoned August 2016, but survived)
- Russia involved in a plot to kill the former Montenegrin prime minister, Milo Djukanovic, and overthrow the Balkan government to sabotage its plan to join Nato. The plot was foiled. October, 2016
- Oleg Erovinkin, assistant to Igor Sechen head of Gazprom, acted as a ‘go-between’ for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Sechen. Supposedly is the mole that gave the Trump dossier to investigator, Christopher Steele. ( Dec 26, 2016 “heart attack”, found in the backseat of his Lexus)
- Andrei Malanin - Russian Consul in Greece found dead in his apartment in Athens (55 years, cause of death unknown January 9, 2017)
- Andrey Karlov, 62, Russia's ambassador to Turkey, was several minutes into a speech at an embassy-sponsored photo exhibition when a man who stood directly behind him in a dark suit shot the diplomat in the back from close range multiple times. (shot to death 12/20/2016)
- Peter Polshikov, was a senior figure in the Latin American department of the Russian foreign ministry (age 56, shot to death at home in Moscow December 20, 2016)
- Vladimir (Ntentouskin) Dedushkin- Russian diplomat in Yemen January 14, 2017 (shot to death) Russia says this never happened and he isn’t dead. (?)
- Alexander Kadakin,- Ambassador to India died in New Delhi January 26, 2017 (age 67, brief illness/heart failure)
- Vitaly Churkin – Russian Ambassador to the UN, died in New York City 02/20/2017 (heart condition)
UPDATE: Thursday, Feb 23, 2017 · 1:11:50 PM CST · jusducky
From Politico: A purported cyberhack of the daughter of political consultant Paul Manafort suggests that he was the victim of a blackmail attempt while he was serving as Donald Trump’s presidential campaign chairman last summer.
The undated communications, which are allegedly from the iPhone of Manafort’s daughter, include a text that appears to come from a Ukrainian parliamentarian named Serhiy Leshchenko, seeking to reach her father, in which he claims to have politically damaging information about both Manafort and Trump. www.politico.com/...