Saturday, May 16, 2020

Continued reading of the Special Counsel Report on Russian interference in the 2016 elections.

You'll excuse me, but, it is time for dinner.

b. The Events of June 9, 2016

i. Arrangements for the Meeting 


Lobbyist Rinat Akhmetshin (click here) arrives at the US Capitol for a meeting with the House Intelligence Committee.

Veselnitskaya was in New York on June 9, 2016, for appellate proceedings in the Prevezoncivil forfeiture litigation (click here).714 That day, Veselnitskaya called Rinat Akhmetshin, (received large payments before and after the meeting in June with the Trumps) a Soviet-born U.S. lobbyist, Grand Jury and when she learned that he was in New York, invited him to lunch.715 Akhmetshin told the Office that he had worked on issues relating to the Magnitsky Act and had worked on the Prevezon litigation.716 (A perfectly legitimate reason to have a working lunch.)...


A translator (click here) named Anatoli Samochornov was in the meeting between Donald Trump’s campaign team and two Russian lobbyists last year.

...Kaveladze and Anatoli Samochornov, a Russian-born translator who had assisted Veselnitskaya with Magnitsky-related lobbying and the Prevezon case, also attended the lunch.717  Grand Jury  Veselnitskaya said she was meeting   Grand Jury   and asked Akhmetshin what she should tell him.718 According to several participants in the lunch, Veselnitskaya showed Akhmetshin a document alleging financial misconduct by Bill Browder (click here)...

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Bill Browder was a subject of the Trump Tower meeting and the Helsinki summit.
Shortly after Presidents Donald Trump (click here) and Vladimir Putin wrapped up their recent summit at the Finnish Presidential Palace, in Helsinki, around two hundred journalists gathered in the building’s neoclassical ballroom. It was July 16th, three days after the special counsel Robert Mueller published an indictment charging twelve members of the G.R.U., Russia’s military-intelligence service, with hacking into Democratic Party servers and disseminating e-mails during the 2016 election. As Trump started answering questions about the interference, and it became clear that he would not accept the assessment of U.S. intelligence agencies over the denials offered by Putin, the frenetic sense of anticipation in the room turned to silent confusion.

Another quid pro quo:

Trump claimed that Putin had made “an incredible offer” during their meeting: investigators working with Mueller could come to Russia to interview the twelve indicted intelligence officers. In exchange, Putin explained to the gathered press, Russian investigators would question certain Americans who the Kremlin believes “have something to do with illegal actions on the territory of Russia.”...

Amazing. And at no time Trump told Putin, "No, there is no reason for any USA investigator or citizen to be interrogated by Russia." Never once. Yet, when The West is interested in a Russian and indicted for murder, Russians are never allowed to be extradited. Trump is a very weak president.

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...and the Ziff brothers (Americans with business in Russia),...

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By Lucy Komisar
Dec 16, 2019

I talked today on Fault Lines (click here) about the illicit Russian stock buys and tax evasion of the Ziff Brothers, whose Russian investments were handled by William Browder.
I think the Ziff Brothers made a wise decision to close the office. No doubt in my mind.
Ziff Brothers Investments, (click here) the multi-billion dollar family office hedge fund that invests the family fortunes of the three billionaire brothers is shutting down according to Wall Street Journal...
...The brothers Dirk aged 50, Robert, 47, and Daniel, 42 are grandsons of Ziff Davis Media founder William Ziff, Sr., who co-founded the publications business named Ziff Davis Inc way back in 1927. The brothers’ father, William Ziff Jr., took over the business in the 1950s and after several successful years of operation, sold it for $1.4 billion in 1992 as his sons were not keen on continuing the publications business....
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...and those individuals subsequently making political donations to the DNC.719 Grand Jury  20



The group then went to Trump Tower for the meeting.721

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714 Testimony of Natalia Veselnitskaya Before the Senate Committee on Judiciary (Nov. 20, 2017) at 41, 42; 
Alison Frankel, How Did Russian Lawyer Veselnitskaya Get into U.S. for Trump Tower Meeting?Reuters, (Nov. 6, 2017) (click here)
Michael Kranish et al., Russian Lawyer who Met with Trump Jr. Has Long HistoryFighting Sanctions, Washington Post (July 11, 2017)

My, my, how thoughtful Vladimir was of the Trump family. He even sent a great Russian lawyer to sculpture a way to end the Russian sanctions. This is highly unethical and completely corrupt and very illegal. Here sits Jr., once again, talking to a Russian lawyer and accepting advice on how to end sanctions A USA POLICY. There is nothing legal here. This is a presidential campaign meeting with a Russian lawyer TO LEARN HOW TO END SANCTIONS AGAINST RUSSIA. Wow. Wow. Someone want to pick up my jaw from the floor? The only word besides treason that comes to mind is FOOL!

see OSC-KAV00113 (6/8/16 Email, Goldstone to Kaveladze);
RG000073 (6/8/16 Email, Goldstone to Trump Jr.);
Lieberman 12/13/17 302, at 5; (This must be evidence that is not online because I looked in a few places to find the Lieberman reference and I couldn't find it. I will look again tomorrow.)
see also Prevezon Holdings Order (Oct. 17, 2016) (click here)

Footnote 715  Grand Jury

Footnote 716 Akhmetshin 11/14/17 302, at 4-6;  Grand Jury 

Footnote 717 Kaveladze 11/16/17 302, at 7;
 Grand Jury     Samochornov 7/13/17 302, at 2, 4;  Grand Jury  

Footnote 718  Grand Jury   

Footnote 719  Grand Jury    Kaveladze 11/16/17 302, at 7;  
Grand Jury  Samochornov did not recall the subject matter of the Trump Tower meeting coming up at lunch.planned  Grand Jury  Samochornov 7/12/17 302, at 4. In her later Senate statement and interactions with the press, Veselnitskaya produced what she claimed were the talking points that she brought to the June 9 meeting.

Footnote 720  Grand Jury 

Footnote 721 E.g., Samochornov 7/12/17 302, at 4

Continued in a following entry. Thank you for your interest.

Continued reading of the Special Counsel Report.

Continued from page 115 and page 123 on the PDF

I find it more than interesting that the deputy campaign chairman with Manafort was his partner Rick Gates. Gates has had some interestingly partners that were lobbyists. The name is Rick Davis. Gates worked for Davis and Davis eventually became a campaign manager for John McCain. The Russian corruption crept into the McCain Realm. The difference between McCain and other Republicans like Moscow Mitch and Trump affiliates like Manafort is that John McCain never took the bait from Oleg Deripaska. The Late Senator John McCain had a very long history of rejecting the Russian corruption entered into the USA. He opposed it at every turn. That opposition vanished with his death and others corrupted by Russian wealth saw nothing wrong with it.

It is interesting how Americans can get the idea there is nothing wrong in dealing with Russian oligarchs when it is completely unethical and many times illegal.

Oleg Deripaska (click here)



...top political adviser in Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign (click here) helped arrange an introduction in 2006 between McCain and a Russian billionaire whose suspected links to anti-democratic and organized-crime figures are so controversial that the U.S. government revoked his visa.

Rick Davis, who is now McCain's campaign manager, helped set up the encounter between McCain and Russian aluminum magnate Oleg Deripaska in Switzerland during an international economic conference. At the time, Davis was working for a lobbying firm and seeking to do business with the billionaire.

There is no evidence that McCain did anything for Deripaska after they met at a social gathering over drinks and dinner. Deripaska was grateful for the introduction, writing a thank-you note to Davis and his partner and offering to assist them in a subsequent business deal, according to a copy of the note obtained by The Washington Post.

With a net worth of more than $13 billion, Deripaska is one of the richest men in Russia and a close ally of President Vladimir Putin. McCain has been one of Putin's sharpest U.S. critics, calling for Russia to be kicked out of the Group of Eight industrialized nations because of Putin's anti-democratic activities. The Arizona Republican also has repeatedly complained about the negative impact of Kremlin-linked oligarchs such as Deripaska....

Even Rush Limbaugh reported this episode with the Late Senator. (click here)

The Late Senator McCain is the hero Americans expect of their statesmen and stateswomen. Russia knows that the political figures can be exploited with their money. Any elected official rejecting the influence of Russian money within the borders of the USA are also rejecting the Russian government's plans for the USA.

Rick Gates, who was the deputy campaign chairman, stated during interviews with the Office that in the days before June 9, 2016 Trump Jr. announced at a regular morning meeting of senior campaign staff and Trump family members that he had a lead on negative information about the Clinton Foundation.703 Gates believed that Trump Jr. said the information was coming from a group in Kyrgyzstan and that he was introduced to the group by a friend.704 Gates recalled that the meeting was attended by Trump Jr., Eric Trump, Paul Manafort, Hope Hicks, and, joining late, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner. According to Gates, Manafort warned the group that the meeting likely would not yield vital information and they should be careful.705 Hicks denied any knowledge of the June 9 meeting before 2017,706 and Kushner did not recall if the planned June 9 meeting came up at all earlier that week.707

Michael Cohen recalled being in Donald J. Trump’s office on June 6 or 7 when Trump Jr. told his father that a meeting to obtain adverse information about Clinton was going forward.708 Cohen did not recall Trump Jr. stating that the meeting was connected to Russia.709 From the tenor of the conversation, Cohen believed that Trump Jr. had previously discussed the meeting with his father, although Cohen was not involved in any such conversation.710 In an interview with the Senate Judiciary Committee, however, Trump Jr. stated that he did not inform his father emails or the upcoming meeting.

Trump, Jr. lied to the US Senate Judiciary Committee. He lied to Congress.

711 Similarly, neither Manafort nor Kushner recalled anyone informing candidate Trump of the meeting, including Trump Jr.712 President Trump has stated to this Office, in written answers to questions, that he has “no recollection of learning at the time” that his son, Manafort, or “Kushner was considering participating in a meeting in June 2016 concerning potentially negative information about Hillary Clinton.”713
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Footnote 703 Gates 1/30/18 302, at 7;
Gates 3/1/18 302, at 3-4. 
Although the March 1 302 refers to “June 19,” that is likely a typographical error; external emails indicate that a meeting with those participants occurred on June 6. See NOSC00023603 (6/6/16 Email, Gates to Trump Jr. et al.).

Bob Mueller does magnificent work. No stone unturned. He even reports inconsistencies.

Footnote 704 Gates 1/30/18 302, at 7. Aras Agalarov is originally from Azerbaijan, and public reporting indicates that his company, the Crocus Group, has done substantial work in Kyrgyzstan. See Neil MacFarquhar, A Russian Developer Helps Out the Kremlin on Occasion. Was He a Conduit to Trump?, New York Times (July 16, 2017). 

Azerbaijan and Kyrgyzstan are former Soviet republics. By hiding Russian activities with Azerbaijan and Kyrgyzstan identities elected American officials it can be leveraged to compromise the USA. The countries of Azerbaijan and Kyrgyzstan are no longer owned by Russia. They can be good friends to the USA and American business interests like the idea of opportunities in these countries freed from Russian oppression. That said, it is important for American legislators to know exactly who they are dealing with to elevate people out of oppression and not in turn victimizing and oppressing Americans.

Footnote 705 Gates 3/1/18 302, at 3-4. 

Footnote 706 Hicks 12/7/17 302, at 6. 

Footnote 707 Kushner 4/11/18 302, at 8.

Footnote 708 Cohen 8/7/18 302, at 4-6. 

Footnote 709 Cohen 8/7/18 302, at 4-5. 

Footnote 710 Cohen 9/12/18 302, at 15-16.

Footnote 711 Interview of: Donald J. Trump, Jr., Senate Judiciary Committee, 115th Cong. 28-29, 84, 94-95(Sept. 7, 2017) (click here). The Senate Judiciary Committee interview was not under oath, but Trump Jr. was advised that it is a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1001 to make materially false statements in a congressional investigation. Id. at 10-11. 

Footnote 712 Manafort 9/11/18 302, at 3-4;
Kushner 4/11/18 302, at 10. 

Footnote 713 Written Responses of Donald J. Trump (Nov. 20, 2018) (click here), at 8 (Response to Question I, Parts (a)- (c)). We considered whether one sequence of events suggested that candidate Trump had contemporaneous knowledge of the June 9 meeting. On June 7, 2016 Trump announced his intention to give “a major speech” “probably Monday of next week”—which would have been June 13—about “all of the things that have taken place with the Clintons.” See, e.g., Phillip Bump, What we know about the Trump Tower meeting,Washington Post (Aug. 7, 2018) (click here). Following the June 9 meeting, Trump changed the subject of his planned speech to national security. 

He was looking for information from the Russians at the June meeting. He didn't get it in the way he wanted it, so he had to change his plans for the speech. No one would necessarily question that change of topic if they didn't know such a meeting took place. See, I would have to question why he would allow such egregious activity by his son. Either he didn't care if Jr. conducted himself criminally or he just figured if he was ever facing charges he would simply pardon him as president. There was a lot riding on that election, including being able to remove any criminal record for his son. There is a lot of incentive across the spectrum of people, including Flynn, to be sure Trump made it into office. I would never let my son even risk such a meeting. There wouldn't be anything that important to me.

But the Office did not find evidence that the original idea for the speech was connected to the anticipated June 9 meeting or that the change of topic was attributable to the failure of that meeting to produce concrete evidence about Clinton.

Former Director Robert S. Mueller, III did NOT overreach. He accounted for potentials to crimes, but, he did not pursue a blind alley/a road leading nowhere.

Other events, such as the Pulse nightclub shooting (click here) on June 12, could well have caused the change. The President’s written answers to our questions state that the speech’s focus was altered “[i]n light of” the Pulse nightclub shooting. See Written Responses, supra. As for the original topic of the June 13 speech, Trump has said that “he expected to give a speech referencing the publicly available, negative information about the Clintons,” and that the draft of the speech prepared by Campaign staff “was based on publicly available material, including, in particular, information from the book Clinton Cash by Peter Schweizer.” (click here) 

I never read the book. I wasn't interested in hearing more stupid accusations about the Clintons. Hillary and Bill Clinton were in office for the people. When he left office after two terms the world was worried about never being in touch again and in reaction to that global involvement the "Clinton Global Initiative. (click here)" It was an extension of the Clinton diplomacy to move all nations forward toward peace and prosperity. The noble cause was never expected to be a focus of political hate, but, it did and the doors were closed. Perhaps the mission of the initiative was finally completed.

Written Responses, supra. In a later June 22 speech, Trump did speak extensively about allegations that Clinton was corrupt, drawing from the Clinton Cash book. See Full Transcript: Donald Trump NYC Speech on Stakes of the Election, politico.com (June 22, 2016) (click here).

Continued in next retry.

Continued reading of the Special Counsel Report.

Page 114 in the report and page 122 on the PDF.

I will start here today.

ii. Awareness of the Meeting Within the Campaign 

On June 7, Goldstone emailed Trump Jr. and said that “Emin asked that I schedule a meeting with you and [t]he Russian government attorney who is flying over from Moscow.”694 Trump Jr. replied that Manafort (identified as the “campaign boss”), Jared Kushner, and Trump Jr. would likely attend.695

They should have refused. All the campaign members should have refused contact with the Russians. The Russians found the campaign attractive because it was easy to influence Trump. That should be obvious to everyone by now.

This aspect of POLICY is known to every American. This was not an innocent group of people without influential relationships with Russia. This isn't a civilian activity anymore. From beginning to the end of the campaign relationships with America's enemies should have been off-limits, but, it wasn't. The campaign has been completely inappropriate the entire time and still today Trump is inappropriate with Russia.

The Russians weren't about to leave evidence with the Trump campaign committee. They hadn't gotten anything from the relationship to date. But, this is supposed to be the talking points the Russian Lawyer/Lobbyist that wanted the Magnitsky Act withdrawn from USA law. (click here) So, much for the rule of law.




The note actually conveys the idea that Sergei Magnitsky didn't die in a Russian prison. He was arrested and taken to a Russian prison and died. But, Russians like to rewrite history. Sergei Magnitsky is known to Paul Manafort.


November 4, 2020
By Diana Swain

Paul Manafort, left, is accused of funnelling millions through Cyprus to the U.S., avoiding tax. The fraud uncovered in Russia by Sergei Magnitsky, right, took a similar route.

The indictment this week of former Donald Trump (click here) presidential campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his aide Richard Gates, runs to 31 pages.

Much of it reads like a bank ledger, listing dozens of wire transfers both men allegedly made over several years, moving millions of dollars into the United States without paying taxes. Most of those wire transfers came from roughly a dozen bank accounts in Cyprus.

For anyone familiar with the money-laundering tale uncovered by Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, that's an interesting coincidence. The financial fraud case he discovered in Moscow in 2007 also saw millions passed through bank accounts in Cyprus....

The international corruption linked to Trump's campaign by association is significant. He brought shady characters into the campaign. He had lawyers and yet these folks were the preferred personnel choices. Amazing. I suppose if a candidate has something on his staff members it makes them easier to deal with.

What is really interesting is that fact the Trumps were not new to these folks. There is a history dating to long before he was the Republican nominee.

Perhaps the most significant meeting (click here) between members of the Trump campaign and representatives of the Russian government occurred on June 9, 2016. That day, Donald Trump, Jr., Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort met in Trump Tower with four individuals with ties to the Russian government.

The roots of the meeting go back all the way to July 2015, one month after Trump announced he was running for president. That month, Goldstone, who had first become acquainted with the Trumps through the Agalarovs and the Miss Universe Pageant in 2013, emailed Trump’s assistant asking whether Trump “would welcome a meeting with President Putin.” According to The Washington Post, “there is no indication that Trump or his assistant followed up on Goldstone’s offer,” and Goldstone’s attorney declined to comment....

I can't really hold the Republican National Committee responsible for the poor vetting of their candidate, it took an investigation by the FBI to stir up the dirt on Trump.

Goldstone was surprised to learn that Trump Jr., Manafort, and Kushner would attend.696 Kaveladze Grand Jury “puzzled” by the list of attendees and that he checked with one of Emin Agalarov’s assistants, Roman Beniaminov, who said that the purpose of the meeting was for Veselnitskaya to convey “negative information on Hillary Clinton.”697 Beniaminov, however, stated that he did not recall having known or said that.698 

Early on June 8, 2016 Kushner emailed his assistant, asking her to discuss a 3:00 p.m. meeting the following day with Trump Jr.699 Later that day, Trump Jr. forwarded the entirety of his email correspondence regarding the meeting with Goldstone to Manafort and Kushner, under the subject line “FW: Russia - Clinton – private and confidential,” adding a note that the “[m]eeting got moved to 4 tomorrow at my offices.”700 Kushner then sent his assistant a second email, informing her that the “[m]eeting with don jr is 4pm now.”701 Manafort responded, “See you then. P.”702

The report is a very strong report when it comes to the truth. All the statements in the Special Counsel Report is backed up by ACTUAL CORRESPONDENCE, EMAILS AND PHONE CALLS. There is no falsehood here. The White House is sitting on evidence because he doesn't want the EVIDENCE on full display during his election.
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Footnote 694 DJTJR00467 (6/7/16 Email, Goldstone to Trump Jr.); @DonaldJTrumpJr 07/11/17 (11:00) Tweet; RG000068 (6/7/16 Email, Goldstone to Trump Jr.)    Grand Jury '

Footnote 695 DJTJR00469 (6/7/16 Email, Trump Jr. to Goldstone); @DonaldJTrumpJr 07/11/17 (11:00) 
Tweet; RG000071 (6/7/16 Email, Trump Jr. to Goldstone); OSC-KAV_00048 (6/7/16 Email, Goldstone to Kaveladze);  Grand Note

Footnote 696 Goldstone 2/8/18 302, at 7;  Grand Note  

Footntoe 697 Grand Jury  see Kaveladze 11/16/17 302 at 7; OSCKAV_00048 (6/7/16 Email, Goldstone to Kaveladze). 

Footnote 698  698 Beniaminov 1/6/18 302, at 3.

Footnote 699 NOSC0000007-08 (6/8/18 Email, Kushner to Vargas). 

Footnote 700 NOSC00000039-42 (6/8/16 Email, Trump Jr. to Kushner & Manafort); DJTJR00485 (6/8/16 Email, Trump Jr. to Kushner & Manafort).

701 NOSC0000004 (6/8/16 Email, Kushner to Vargas).

702 6/8/16 Email, Manafort to Trump Jr

Continued in next entry.

I told you so. Netanyahu didn't form a government yet.

May 16, 2020

Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Ayman Safadi on Friday (click here) continued the Kingdom's efforts to formulate an effective international position against Israel's implementation of its decision to annex occupied Palestinian lands, a step that would represent a flagrant violation of international law and undermine all peace efforts.


During a phone call with French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, whose country has confirmed its rejection of the annexation and its intention to confront such a move, Safadi emphasised the danger that the annexation would pose, according to the Jordan News Agency, Petra.


The two ministers reviewed opportunities for joint action to confront this potential decision and joint work to launch serious, direct and effective negotiations to resolve the conflict based on a two-state solution in accordance with international law as the only way to achieve a comprehensive and lasting peace....


May 16, 2020

The Turkish presidential spokesman (click here) today voiced solidarity with Palestinian people as they observed the 72nd anniversary of the Day of Nakba, reported by Anadolu Agency.

In a statement marking the day, Ibrahim Kalin said Nakba, which defines the “great catastrophe” that the Palestinian nation was exposed to, signifies the 72-year-long occupation, unlawfulness, oppression and injustice.

Noting that 70% of Palestine’s population has been displaced and 6 million Palestinians are living in different countries as refugees, Kalin said despite UN decisions and international rulings, illegal settlements are ongoing in East Jerusalem and the West Bank....

May 15, 2020

The EU has indicated (click here) that it will try to stop Israel's proposed annexation of parts of the occupied West Bank.

Foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the bloc would use its diplomatic clout to prevent unilateral action.

Israel's incoming unity government has agreed that the process of annexing West Bank settlements and the Jordan Valley could begin as early as July.

The Palestinians, who seek a state which includes all of the West Bank, bitterly oppose the idea.

Speaking after a virtual meeting of EU foreign ministers, Mr Borrell said: "We must work to discourage any possible initiative toward annexation."...