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Trump has crassly said that 110 billion dollars in arms sales is more important than seeking justice for tortured and murdered Journalist. Today he claimed he’s waiting for the evidence, kind like what he did with Brett Kavanaugh.
What he hasn’t told anyone is all the “other” Saudi “side-deals” that the Trump Insiders Club, also has on the line.
First recall how First Son-in-Law — and Czar of Everything — about a year ago, went about getting the Saudi Crown Prince to open up his Big Oil checkbook …
FBI must investigate Jared Kushner's links to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, say Democrats
by Emily Shugerman, independent.co.uk — 29 March 2018
US legislators have asked the FBI investigate presidential adviser Jared Kushner over reports that he disclosed classified information to the crown prince of Saudi Arabia.
The FBI must open an investigation into possible “unauthorised disclosures of information” by Donald Trump’s son-in-law, six Democratic representatives wrote in a letter to the bureau.
The request was spurred by reports that Mr Kushner told Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman the names of royal family members who were opposed to him – information the adviser allegedly gained from Mr Trump’s daily briefing.
[...]
During his visit [Kushner visited Crown Prince Salman in October 2017], Mr Kushner disclosed the names of Saudi families who opposed the power shift, sources close to the royal family told The Intercept. The names were listed in a presidential daily briefing that Mr Kushner read religiously, according to the outlet.
Afterall what good is a Presidential Daily Briefing, if you can’t use it to grease the wheels of kickbacks and corruption?
Intercept: Saudi crown prince bragged about Kushner relationship
One person "who talks frequently to confidants of the Saudi and Emirati rulers" told the Intercept that MBS bragged to United Arab Emirates Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed that Kushner was "in his pocket."
[...]
Eager to consolidate power and rein in the sprawling orbit of the Saudi royal family and aristocratic class, Prince bin Salman listened intently and a week later cracked down on corruption in the country by imprisoning more than 200 members of the country's ruling class inside the confines of the Ritz-Carlton hotel in charging each with corruption.
"What we did in Saudi Arabia was
extremely necessary,"
the Saudi crown prince told CBS in his first interview with a Western outlet. "All actions taken were in accordance with existing and published laws."
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As I cited from the NY Times, at the time …
The Saudi figures named in the President’s Daily Brief were among those rounded up; at least one was reportedly tortured.
[...]
In the months that followed,
the arrestees were coerced into signing over billions in personal assets to the Saudi government. In December, the London-based Arabic-language newspaper
Al-Quds Al-Arabi reported that Maj. Gen. Ali al-Qahtani
had been tortured to death in the Ritz. Qahtani’s body showed signs of mistreatment, including a neck that was “twisted unnaturally as though it had been broken,” bruises, and “burn marks that appeared to be from electric shocks,” the New York Times
reported earlier this month.
Thanks Jared! you do bad work.
What’s in it, for you, First Dude?
Kushners' Blackstone Connection Put on Display in Saudi Arabia
by Caleb Melby and Hui-yong Yu, bloomberg.com — May 25, 2017
When Saudi Arabia announced last week a $20-billion investment in a U.S. infrastructure fund managed by Blackstone Group LP, many noticed that it came shortly after presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner personally negotiated a $110-billion arms sale to the country. What went unnoticed -- and is largely unknown -- is how important Blackstone is to the Kushner family company.
Since 2013, Blackstone has loaned more than $400 million to finance four Kushner Cos. deals -- two of which have not been reported -- making it one of the business’s largest lenders. And their ties go beyond the loans. Stephen Schwarzman, Blackstone’s co-founder and chief executive officer, heads Trump’s business-advisory council and was in Riyadh with the president and Kushner. The Saudi promise to invest in Blackstone’s fund drove the firm’s stock up more than 8 percent.
[...]
But the sequence of the deals and the intertwined personal relationships of the principals raise concerns about conflicts of interest. Schwarzman, one of the world’s richest businessmen, is a Republican and, like Trump, a resident of New York and Palm Beach. Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter and Kushner’s wife, was an investor in a fund Blackstone created in 2010 to seed hedge funds, according to financial disclosures.
OK what’s in it, for Donald, First Con? Afterall what good is it to be President, if you can’t leverage that Office, into some deep pocket deals?
Blackstone Unveils $40 Billion Infrastructure Mega Fund With Saudi Arabia As President Trump Visits
by Antoine Gara, Forbes Staff — May 20, 2017
As President Donald Trump visits Saudi Arabia on the biggest foreign trip of his presidency, private equity giant Blackstone Group is unveiling a $40 billion infrastructure fund with the gulf nation, which will primarily invest in the United States. Saudi Arabia will commit $20 billion to the Blackstone infrastructure fund and another $20 billion will be raised from other limited partners, readying cash that could lead to $100 billion in total infrastructure investments on a leveraged basis.
Blackstone, co-founded by billionaire Stephen Schwarzman, head of Trump's business council, said on Saturday morning the fund effectively launches a new business line for the over $360 billion in assets firm. Already a powerhouse in private equity, real estate, hedge funds and credit investments, Blackstone has been preparing for a push into infrastructure [...]
According to Axios, the Saudi-backed Blackstone Group is looking to bank Mega-Profits, with its new US Infrastructural “projects and plans” — Since they got the “insider track”, with Schwarzman running Trump’s Business Council.
… Only in Trump’s America … Making America broke again.
Saudis pledge $20 billion to U.S.-focused infrastructure fund
by Dan Primack, Axios.com — May 20, 2017
Saudi Arabia on Saturday made a tentative commitment of $20 billion to a new infrastructure investment fund that would be managed by The Blackstone Group, the private equity and real estate giant led by Trump economic advisor Steve Schwarzman. The overall fund target is around $40 billion, with Blackstone saying on a media call last month that its past infrastructure investments have generated net returns of around 40%.
Why it matters: Most of the money would be earmarked for U.S. infrastructure projects, and likely would benefit from a Trump infrastructure plan that is expected to heavily leverage public-private partnerships.
[...]
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As I cited from the recent Headlines, this morning …
Current resident Trump seems disturbingly ready to — Let the Saudi Crown Prince MBS — get away with murder. Trump is ready to “slow walk” the evidence, until the news cycle changes.
It always does — just give it a Tweet or two.
Perhaps the Trump family’s funding connections with the The Blackstone Group, backed by Saudi deep pockets Cash, could explain the Trump outrage-hesitancy … as he exclaimed when all these deals were being signed ...
Or perhaps it’s those other “unseen financial kickbacks” that Blackstone’s founder and CEO Steve Schwarzman, is rather adept at setting up too … Are there any offshore Blackstone accounts, that only Trump, Jared, and Ivanka have the passwords to?
[...]
Schwarzman has piloted Blackstone through international deals that have earned billions of dollars, employing precisely the kind of investments one would expect of an international private equity firm.
But Blackstone and Schwarzman made some unwanted news with the release, in November 2017, of the so-called “Paradise Papers” — hacked documents from the offshore law firm Appleby. Among the millions of documents released were a batch showing Blackstone had used offshore shell companies to hide income from UK tax collectors. As the Paradise Papers’ 2016 predecessor, the “Panama Papers,” show, Blackstone invests in InterTrust/Walkers Management Services, an offshore company in the Cayman Islands, which facilitates the filing and management of opaque offshore shell corporations.
whowhatwhy.org — March 22, 2018
… Nothing but “the best” crooks, strongmen, and thieves, for the current White House resident — who will never step on his own financial self-interest. No matter the political cost.
Trump Jr. retweets unsubstantiated claim on missing Saudi journalist
by Sophie Tatum and Nicole Gaouette, CNN — October 13, 2018
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CYA — is the “watchword” for current presidential delayed-reaction response.
Slow-walking this news, until he can’t slow-walk it no more.
Then Step two, “were looking into it — we’ve got all the ‘Best People’ — figuring out what we should do next ...”
And Step three, if MBS says “No we didn’t do it” — well there you go. Whatcha gonna do?
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