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This was on my To Do List before year end (see Post Title). As per usual, when looking up the past Dealings of Donald J. Trump — I found much more than I expected when I started. What started out as a 30 minute chore, quickly morphed into 180 minutes and counting.
It seems timely too however, given where some NY Investigators think the Special Counsel is headed ...
Trump and Russia: What to expect from Mueller in 2019
by Ken Dilanian is a national security reporter for the NBC News Investigative Unit — 12-31-18
[...]
Daniel Goldman, a former federal prosecutor in New York, said he is beginning to believe that conspiracy with Russian election interference is not the most serious crime Mueller is investigating.
Goldman, also now an NBC News analyst, postulates that at the heart of the inquiry is a question of whether the president has made foreign policy decisions — particularly with regard to Russia and Saudi Arabia — for personal financial reasons, rather than in the best interest of the country.
"What we are learning is that there may have been a much larger conspiracy to provide sanctions relief to Russia either in return for personal business and financial benefits or in return for assistance in the campaign," Goldman said.
That is why, Rosenberg, Goldman and other legal experts say, the Mueller team almost certainly has obtained many years of Trump's tax returns and business records, and is poring over past transactions, particularly his foreign ones.
There are numerous Deals Trump has made with Saudi Nationals over the years — but this one seems quite significant to me. Primarily because of its simplicity of the Transactions, and its clear impact for purposes of telling this “Conflict of Interests” sordid tale …
by Bob Bryan, BusinessInsider — 11-21-2018
[...]
- In 2016, the New York Daily News reported that the Saudi government also purchased the entire 45th floor of the Trump World Tower, for $4.5 million, in June 2001. Given annual fee fares for the building at the time, Trump also was paid $5.7 million by the Saudis between the purchase and 2016, the paper reported.
Trump bragged about his business dealings with the Saudis during a 2015 campaign rally in Mobile, Alabama.
"I get along great with all of them; they buy apartments from me," Trump said. "They spend $40 million, $50 million. Am I supposed to dislike them? I like them very much!"
“Trump likes them very much” — in Trump-speak that equates to about a $100 million dollars worth:
|
45th Floor Trump Tower NY |
|
2001 |
4,500,000 |
bought in 2001 by Saudi Govt |
2002 |
5,700,000 |
annual fees |
2003 |
5,700,000 |
annual fees |
2004 |
5,700,000 |
annual fees |
2005 |
5,700,000 |
annual fees |
2006 |
5,700,000 |
annual fees |
2007 |
5,700,000 |
annual fees |
2008 |
5,700,000 |
annual fees |
2009 |
5,700,000 |
annual fees |
2010 |
5,700,000 |
annual fees |
2011 |
5,700,000 |
annual fees |
2012 |
5,700,000 |
annual fees |
2013 |
5,700,000 |
annual fees |
2014 |
5,700,000 |
annual fees |
2015 |
5,700,000 |
annual fees |
2016 |
5,700,000 |
annual fees |
2017 |
5,700,000 |
annual fees |
2018 |
5,700,000 |
annual fees |
|
$101,400,000 |
|
(Assuming that the Saudis still lease the 45th floor through 2018. So far I’ve found no indication its been sold. If only I had those damn Trump Tax Returns!)
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This next eye-opening article confirms some other more complex Saudi-Trump-world financial ties. Talk about your vested interests. Talk about keeping your “customers” happy … keeping your perspective new “landlord” overseas, happy too.
Donald Trump and Jared Kushner’s New York businesses depend on money from Saudi Arabia and its allies.
by Zach Williams, City and State New York — 10-18-18
[...]
The Trumps wanted to do business in Saudi Arabia before the election
The Washington Post did report shortly after the election that eight companies were registered three months after Ivanka Trump told the publication Hotelier Middle East in 2015 about how the Trump Organization was looking to do business throughout the region. “We are looking at multiple opportunities in Abu Dhabi, in Qatar, in Saudi Arabia, so those are the four areas where we are seeing the most interest,” she said.
Saudis are keeping Trump’s hotel businesses profitable
Some observers credit the Saudi government with keeping some Trump hotels afloat. The general manager of the Trump International Hotel in Manhattan credited the crown prince’s visit earlier this year with contributing so much business that revenues actually rose one quarter after a two-year slump, the Washington Post reported in August. Saudi-based customers have also booked a total of 218 nights at a Trump hotel in Chicago – a 169 increase from 2016. Then there is the Trump hotel down the street from the White House where a lobbying firm linked to the Saudi Embassy has spent $270,000 on food and lodging at the same time they were advocating against a law that would have allowed 9/11 victims to sue the Saudi government. Though they are not the only country accused of trying to gain Trump’s favor by helping his bottom line, they have exhibited a unique determination to use hotels to do that, according to the Washington Post.
Trump has a long history of selling assets to Saudi officials
"They buy apartments from me," Trump said about the Saudis during an Alabama rally in 2015. "They spend $40 million, $50 million. Am I supposed to dislike them? I like them very much.” In 2001, the Saudi government bought the entire 45th floor of a Trump property near the United Nations in Manhattan for $4.5 million. A 10,500-square-foot property in another Trump property on the west side of Manhattan was bought years before the 2016 election by Prince Nawaf bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, who then sold it earlier this year for $36 million.
Lots of money changing hands here — no wonder Trump doesn’t want to rock that boat.
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This next seedy article is eye-opening in a different way. You can tell a lot about a man by the company he keeps … by the business deals he makes. By the financial interests he caters to.
Not the least of which is Donald Trump himself
[...]
At that, following is a list of a handful of Trump Tower’s current residents, who include an embattled former sports administrator who plead guilty in a crime connected to the FIFA scandal, and Trump’s former campaign manager.
Donald Trump, Floors 66 through 68
Of course the Republican presidential nominee shacks up in the top floors of his namesake tower, hidden behind a grand entryway gilded in gold and diamonds. The palatial penthouse, Bloomberg reports, takes a tip from Saudi arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi: “One reason Trump’s triplex is so vast, he has written, is a trip he took to...Khashoggi’s condo nearby, where he stepped into a living room bigger than his own.” Trump, who has the best temperament, wanted to level up with a Saudi arms dealer. That’s reassuring.
Guido Lombardi, Floors 62 through 63
Real estate investor Guido Lombardi is a self-proclaimed Italian count, Trump supporter, and sympathizer with Italy’s anti-immigrant Northern League party.
[...]
Ernie Garcia, Floors 48 through 49
The chairman of used car dealer DriveTime plead guilty to bank fraud in 1990 in connection to the collapse of Charles Keating’s Savings and Loan. Garcia was sentenced to probation, and currently takes up residence in the tower.
Paul Manafort, Floor 43
Trump’s former campaign manager, who resigned in August, has lived in Trump Tower since 2006. Manafort transferred the apartment from an LLC to his name in 2015.
Funny how Floor 45 somehow got left off that list.
That list of Trump Residents who happily pay him Millions (or used to pay him) — for the honor of anonymity and exclusive accommodations, by one of the least curious landlords in the world.
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Here’s some back-ground on “Saudi arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi” who was leasing “accommodated” on floors 66-68 of Trump Tower, Donald’s own floors. (How convenient for them and their Mega-Billions Dollar Arms Contracts).
Adnan is Jamal Khashoggi’s rich uncle with the bad reputation.
And Adnan Khashoggi helped sell enough of these weapons to become one of the world’s wealthiest men: a fortune once estimated at £2.4 billion, friendships with Saudi and Hollywood royalties, homes all over the world, a superyacht later sold to Donald Trump, a personal bodyguard nicknamed Mr Kill.
www.independent.co.uk
NPR describes him this way:
His uncle Adnan Khashoggi became a celebrity billionaire as the weapons broker for another Saudi monarch, King Fahd.
Makes one wonder if Donald and Adnan were on a first name basis — before he passed away in June 2017?
One might suspect, they were even “Yacht Buddies” before the Investigative scrutiny got turn up to the ‘High-beams’ setting. Oh yeah, and then their was that “unfortunate rendition of his Nephew” that went off the rails. What a messy “financial speed-bump” that ‘deal’ was, eh?
THAT could put a dampener on any “high rollers” relationship — Unless of course, it was in Trumpworld!
Then it’s: Full steam ahead — Damn the “fake news” torpedoes!
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