Very sorry to lose Justice Stevens.

He was dedicated to the facts. He remained vital to the country's events all of his retired years. He is a loss to the USA, a great American. He was a treasure.

On all accounts (click here) and on all the evidence, Justice John Paul Stevens is a truly honorable man and American patriot; and I am loath to argue needlessly with a dedicated fellow-golfer. His latest book, alas, prompts less generous sentiments. It is exasperating, and its principal message is wholly unintended: At some level, you want to think about law the way Justice Stevens did, and does. On second thought, you really don’t....

Justice Stevens (click here) served on the Supreme Court for thirty-five years and on the Seventh Circuit for five years before that, so summarizing his judicial career will be a multi-year, multi-volume project for legal scholars. But Justice Stevens’s underlying approach to judging may be easier to summarize. Two aspects of his approach stand out in my mind—namely, the importance he attached to the actual facts of a case and his deep respect for the law.

First, although the Supreme Court’s primary concern is with legal issues of broad significance, Justice Stevens never lost sight of the fact that the Court decides real cases, with real parties and real facts. Indeed, from his perspective, the parties and what happened to them are central. Not because his decisionmaking was driven by “empathy”—at least not in the sense that the word has been tossed around by politicians and the media in connection with the confirmation process for recent Supreme Court appointees—but because, to a common law judge, context should matter, and matter a lot. That’s why Justice Stevens’s opinions often include detailed explanations of the facts of a case, explanations that often reflect research into the record going well beyond what the parties provided in their briefs. It’s also why Justice Stevens often asked carefully crafted hypothetical questions at oral argument (questions that would make the most experienced advocates shudder)—to test how the legal principles the Court was being asked to adopt in one context would work in others....

Steve Scalise is a White Supremacist.

Mitch McConnell's remarks about how "...across the ideological spectrum..." mirror the president's Charlotteville words. 

Speaker Pelosi has every right to protect Freshman Congresswomen when they are attacked by the president. I think it is safe to say if there was any disagreement within the Democrat Congress it is definitely over.

From left to right is Rep. Rashida Tlaib, Rep. Ilhan Omar, Rep. Alexandria Ocsio-Cortez and Ayanna Pressley. 

The tweet Donald J. Trump stated was; "Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan “anti-Israel” and “anti-USA,” and then falsely claimed they are “pro-terrorist.”

At a press conference where the president ranted against the women, cameras caught that he even had the phonetic spelling of the terrorist group on his notes— “Alcaida” (this is a phonetic spelling of al Qaeda, he is pathetic) —seemingly to remind himself to bring it up and to remember how it’s pronounced.

I proud of the US House of Representatives as they face racism unafraid to call it out. It needs to be noted the attacks by Trump and FOX News propagates telephone calls to these women threatening them with death. That is absolutely no behavior for a president or his favorite news media. 

There should be no appeasement of this president as it interprets into death threats.

Continued from previous entry

By late December 2015, however, Cohen was complaining that Sater had not been able to use those connections to set up the promised meeting with Russian government officials. Cohen told Sater that he was "setting up the meeting myself. "345 On January 11, 2016, Cohen emailed the office of Dmitry Peskov, the Russian government's press secretary, indicating that he desired contact with Sergei Ivanov, Putin's chief of staff. Cohen erroneously used the email address "Pr_peskova@prpress.gof.ru" instead of "Pr _peskova@prpress.gov .ru," so the email apparently did not go through. 346 On January 14, 2016, Cohen emailed a different address (info@prpress.gov.ru) with the following message:

Dear Mr. Peskov,
Over the past few months, I have been working with a company based in Russia regarding the development of a Trump Tower-Moscow project in Moscow City.
Without getting into lengthy specifics, the communication between our two sides has stalled. As this project is too important, I am hereby requesting your assistance. I respectfully request someone, preferably you; contact me so that I might discuss the specifics as well as arranging meetings with the appropriate individuals. I thank you in advance for your assistance and look forward to hearing from you soon.347

Two days later, Cohen sent an email to Pr_peskova@prpress.gov.ru, repeating his request to speak with Sergei Ivanov.348

In the picture to the left, Ivanov is the man in the blue suit and red tie.

Sergei Ivanov (click here) is a former KGB agent and long time politician who served as Vladimir Putin's Chief of Staff until his sudden outsing August 12, 2016. Ivanov is one of several senior Russian officials the USA government sanctioned in 2014 in Russian's invasion into Ukraine.

From AlJazeera:

12 August 2016

Russian President Vladimir Putin (click here) has dismissed his close ally and powerful chief of staff Sergei Ivanov, according to a Kremlin statement.

The move represents the highest-level demotion inside the Kremlin in several years.

"Russian President Vladimir Putin has decreed to relieve Ivanov of his duties as head of the Russian presidential administration," Friday's statement said.

Ivanov, 63, who is also a former defence minister and also served together with Putin in the Soviet-era KGB spy agency, would now take up the post as a special representative for conservation, environmental and transportation issues....

Cohen testified to Congress, and initially told the Office, that he did not recall receiving a response to this email inquiry and that he decided to terminate any further work on the Trump Moscow project as of January 2016. Cohen later admitted that these statements were false. In fact, Cohen had received (and recalled receiving) a response to his inquiry, and he continued to work on and update candidate Trump on the project through as late as June 2016.349

Footnote 345 FS00004 (12/30/15 Text Message, Cohen to Sater (6:17 p.m.)).
Footnote 346 1/11/16 Email, Cohen to pr_peskova@prpress.gof.ru (9: 12 a.m.).
Footnote 347 1/14/16 Email, Cohen to info@prpress.gov.ru (9:21 a.m.).
Footnote 348 1/16/16 Email, Cohen to pr_peskova@prpress.gov.ru (10:28 a.m.).

Footnote 349 Cohen Information,  4, 7. Cohen's interactions with President Trump and the President's lawyers when preparing his congressional testimony are discussed further in Volume II. See Vol. II, Section 11.K.3, infra. Where obstruction is discussed.

On January 20, 2016, Cohen received an email from Elena Poliakova, Peskov's personal assistant. Writing from her personal email account, Poliakova stated that she had been trying to reach Cohen and asked that he call her on the personal number that she provided.350 (I take it that Cohen did not speak Russian,) Shortly after receiving Poliakova's email, Cohen called and spoke to her for 20 minutes.351 Cohen described to Poliakova his position at the Trump Organization and outlined the proposed Trump Moscow project, including information about the Russian counterparty with which the Trump Organization had partnered. Cohen requested assistance in moving the project forward, both in securing land to build the project and with financing. According to Cohen, Poliakova asked detailed questions and took notes, stating that she would need to follow up with others in Russia.352

Cohen could not recall any direct follow-up from Poliakova or from any other representative of the Russian government, nor did the Office identify any evidence of direct follow-up. However, the day after Cohen's call with Poliakova, Sater texted Cohen, asking him to "[c]all me when you have a few minutes to chat .. . It's about Putin they called today."353 Sater then sent a draft invitation for Cohen to visit Moscow to discuss the Trump Moscow project, 354 along with a note to "[t]ell me if the letter is good as amended by me or make whatever changes you want and send it back to me."355 After a further round of edits, on January 25, 2016, Sater sent Cohen an invitation- signed by Andrey Ryabinskiy of the company MHJ-to travel to "Moscow for a working visit" about the "prospects of development and the construction business in Russia," "the various land plots available suited for construction of this enormous Tower," and "the opportunity to co-ordinate a follow up visit to Moscow by Mr. Donald Trump."356 According to Cohen, he elected not to travel at the time because of concerns about the lack of concrete proposals about land plots that could be considered as options for the project.357

Footnote 350 1/20/1 6 Email, Poliakova to Cohen (5 :57 a.m.) ("Mr. Cohen[,] I can't get through to both your phones. Pis, call me.").

Footnote 351 Telephone records show a 20-minute call on January 20, 2016 between Cohen and the number Poliakova provided in her email. Call Records of Michael Cohen Grand Jury     After the call, Cohen saved Poliakova's contact information in his Trump Organization Outlook contact list. 1/20/16 Cohen Microsoft Outlook Entry (6:22 a.m.).

Footnote 352 Cohen 9/12/18 302, at 2-3. 
Footnote 353 FS000l 1 (1/21/16 Text Messages, Sater to Cohen). 

Footnote 354 The invitation purported to be from Genbank, ((The bank (click here)was established as Commercial Bank Genbank LLLC in 1993. The bank joined the deposit insurance system in March 2005. The bank was transformed into Genbank CJSC in March 2013.)) a Russian bank that was, according to Sater, working at the behest of a larger bank, VTB (VTB Bank (public joint-stock company - click here) and would consider providing financing. FS00008 (12/31/ 15 Text Messages, Sater & Cohen). Additional information about Genbank can be found infra. 355 FS000l I (1/21/16 Text Message, Sater to Cohen (7:44 p.m.)); 1/21/16 Email, Sater to Cohen (6:49 p.m.).

Footnote 356 1/25/16 Email, Sater to Cohen (12:01 p.m.) (attachment)
Footnote 357 Cohen 9/12/18 302, at 6-7

I am going to end here and will resume tomorrow. Thank you for your interest.

continued in later entry

Continued from previous entry

Between November 18 and 19, 2015,-Klokov and Cohen had at least one telephone call and exchanged several emails. Describing himself in emails to Cohen as a "trusted person" who could offer the Campaign "political synergy" and "synergy on a government level," Klokov recommended that Cohen travel to Russia to speak with him and an unidentified intermediary. Klokov said that those conversations could facilitate a later meeting in Russia between the candidate and an individual Klokov described as "our person of interest."337 In an email to the Office, Erchova later identified the "person of interest" as Russian President Vladimir Putin. 338

In the telephone call and follow-on emails with Klokov, Cohen discussed his desire to use a near-term trip to Russia to do site surveys and talk over the Trump Moscow project with local developers. Cohen registered his willingness also to meet with Klokov and the unidentified intermediary, but was emphatic that all meetings in Russia involving him or candidate Trump-­ including a possible meeting between candidate Trump and Putin-would need to be "in conjunction with the development and an official visit" with the Trump Organization receiving a formal invitation to visit. 339 (Klokov had written previously that "the visit [by candidate Trump to Russia] has to be informal.")340

That is a conspiracy to defraud. The trip to Moscow had two agendas, the Moscow Trump Tower and Putin's involvement in the 2016 elections. Kindly remembe3r, this is the end of 2015. Putin already had his own efforts to undermine the USA democracy in full swing. So, this meeting is like frosting on the cake. It would fit right into Putin's plans.

Klokov had also previously recommended to Cohen that he separate their negotiations over a possible meeting between Trump and "the person of interest" from any existing business track. 341 Re-emphasizing that his outreach was not done on behalf of any business, Klokov added in second email to Cohen that, if publicized well, such a meeting could have "phenomenal" impact " in a business dimension" and that the "person of interest['s]" "most important support" could have significant ramifications for the " level of projects and their capacity." Klokov concluded by telling Cohen that there was "no bigger warranty in any project than [the] consent of the person of interest."342 

Wow. The Trump Campaign was walking right into the plans of Vladimir Putin, including floating the idea all is possible on a permanent basis if Trump and Putin were to meet. Carrot and stick.

Cohen rejected the proposal, saying that "[c]urrently our LOI developer is in talks with VP's Chief of Staff and arranging a formal invite for the two to meet."343 This email appears to be their final exchange, and the investigation did not identify evidence that Cohen brought Klokov' s initial offer of assistance to the Campaign's attention or that anyone associated with the Trump Organization or the Campaign dealt with Klokov at a later date. Cohen explained that he did not pursue the proposed meeting because he was already working on the Moscow Project with Sater, who Cohen understood to have his own connections to the Russian government.344

Sater was a known commodity to Cohen and the Trump interests.

337 11 /18/15 Email, Klokov to Cohen (6:51 a.m.).

338 In July 2018, the Office received an unsolicited email purporting to be from Erchova, in which she wrote that "[a]t the end of 2015 and beginning of 2016 I was asked by my ex-husband to contact lvanka Trump . .. and offer cooperation to Trump's team on behalf of the Russian officials." 7/27/18 Email, Erchova to Special Counsel's Office. The email claimed that the officials wanted to offer candidate Trump "land in Crimea among other things and unofficial meeting with Putin." Id. In order to vet the email's claims, the Office responded requesting more details. The Office did not receive any reply.

339 11/18/15 Email, Cohen to Klokov (7:15 a.m.).
340 11/18/15 Email, Klokov to Cohen (6:51 a.m.).

341 11/18/15 Email, Klokov to Cohen (6:51 a.m.) ("I would suggest separating your negotiations and our proposal to meet. I assure you, after the meeting level of projects and their capacity can be completely different, having the most important support.").

Putin wasn't interested in concealing the meeting with Trump and he didn't want to mix business with campaign planning.

342 11/19/15 Email, Klokov to Cohen (7:40 a.m.).
343 11/19/15 Email, Cohen to Klokov (12:56 p.m.).
344 Cohen 9/18/18 302, at 12.

continued in next entry - thank you

Continued from previous entry

On November 3, 2015, the day after the Trump Organization transmitted the LOI, Sater emailed Cohen suggesting that the Trump Moscow project could be used to increase candidate Trump's chances at being elected, writing:

Buddy our boy can become President of the USA and we can engineer it. I will get all of Putins team to buy in on this, I will manage this process .... Michael, Putin gets on stage with Donald for a ribbon cutting for Trump Moscow, and Donald owns the republican nomination. And possibly beats Hillary and our boy is in .. . . We will manage this process better than anyone. You and I will get Donald and Vladimir on a stage together very shortly. That the game changer. 327

Later that day, Sater followed up:

Donald doesn't stare down, he negotiates and understands the economic issues and Putin only want to deal with a pragmatic leader, and a successful business man is a good candidate for someone who knows how to negotiate. "Business, politics, whatever it all is the same for someone who knows how to deal"

327 11/3/15 Email, Sater to Cohen (12:14 p.m.).

Felix Sater is an agent for Donald Trump in negotiating the Moscow Trump Tower. He also was ambitious and quite possibly reflecting Trump's ambitions. Regardless, if Trump was willing to be involved with Russia and Russia was helping within the known methods with Wikileaks, that is called a conspiracy. I think Sater reflects "we will take whatever the Russians provide."

I think I can get Putin to say that at the Trump Moscow press conference.

Sater actually believed they could control the president of Russia. Russia would allow him to believe that as well. There is no controlling Putin. Putin plays a really dangerous game and anyone that denies that and believes they have control is a fool.

If he says it we own this election. Americas most difficult adversary agreeing that Donald is a good guy to negotiate ....
We can own this election

Oh, sure, Vladimir Putin is going to say exactly what Trump wants him to say to win the election and walk away figuring he did his friend a good turn. That is flat out stupid. Putin might play along for his own purposes. There would be no patting Trump on the back as a good friend. Putin would expect something to come his way as well and more than just a building in Moscow from a man he helped elect to the USA presidency.

Michael my next steps are very sensitive with Putins very very close people, we can pull this off.
Michael lets go. 2 boys from Brooklyn getting a USA president elected. This is good really good.328

According to Cohen, he did not consider the political import of the Trump Moscow project to the 2016 U.S. presidential election at the time. Cohen also did not recall candidate Trump or anyone affiliated with the Trump Campaign discussing the political implications of the Trump Moscow project with him. However, Cohen recalled conversations with Trump in which the candidate suggested that his campaign would be a significant "infomercial" for Trump-branded prope1ties. 329

If the Trump presidency brings anything of benefit to the American people it is an education in how to recognize a slimeball.

ii. Post-LOI Contacts with Individuals in Russia

Given the size of the Trump Moscow project, Sater and Cohen believed the project required approval (whether express or implicit) from the Russian national government, including from the Presidential Administration of Russia.330 Sater stated that he therefore began to contact the Presidential Administration through another Russian business contact.331 In early negotiations with the Trump Organization, Sater had alluded to the need for government approval and his attempts to set up meetings with Russian officials. On October 12, 2015, for example, Sater wrote to Cohen that "all we need is Putin on board and we are golden," and that a "meeting with Putin and top deputy is tentatively set for the 14th [ of October]. "332 this meeting was being coordinated by associates in Russia and that he had no direct interaction with the Russian 333 government

Approximately a month later, after the LOI had been signed, Lana Erchova... 

It seems as though this is scandalous everywhere except the USA. This is from the "Irish Times."

April 20, 2019
By Joshua Chaffin and Kiran Stacey

It was late 2015, (click here) and the Trump Organization had just signed a letter of intent to fulfil its longstanding ambition of developing a tower in Moscow. Lana Erchova, the wife of a prominent businessman with high-level political connections, contacted Ivanka Trump.

“If you ask anyone who knows Russian to Google my husband Dmitry Klokov, you’ll see who he is close to and that he has done Putin’s political campaigns,” Erchova wrote in a boastful email, as she offered Klokov’s help with Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.

Ivanka Trump forwarded the email to Michael Cohen, her father’s personal lawyer, who did an internet search and concluded – incorrectly – that Klokov was a former Olympic weightlifter.

That exchange gives a sense of the many desperate attempts at connection between Trump intimates and a network of Russians with greater and lesser Kremlin ties in the fateful window of time around the 2016 US election.

The Russians were seeking a foothold in the Trump campaign with the hope of shifting US policy that had been unfriendly since the annexation of Crimea...

...emailed lvanka Trump on behalf of Erchova's then-husband Dmitry Klokov, to offer Klokov's assistance to the Trump Campaign.334 

See You Tube video at bottom of entry. Thank you.

Klokov was at that time Director of External Communications for PJSC Federal Grid Company of Unified Energy System, a large Russian electricity transmission company (Bloomberg lists the company - click here), and had been previously employed as an aide and press secretary to Russia's energy minister. Ivanka Trump forwarded the email to Cohen.335 He told the Office that, after receiving this inquiry, he had conducted an internet search for Klokov's name and concluded (incorrectly) that Klokov was a former Olympic weightlifter.336

327 11/3/15 Email, Sater to Cohen (12:14 p.m.)
328 11/3/15 Email, Sater to Cohen (12:40 p.m.).
329 Cohen 9/12/ 18 302, at 3-4; Cohen 8/7/18 302, at 15. 
330 Grand Jury  Sater 12/15/17 302, at 2. 
331 Sater 12/15/17 302, at 3-4. 
332 10/12/15 Email, Sater to Cohen (8:07 a.m.).
333  Grand Jury   

334 Ivanka Trump received an email from a woman who identified herself as "Lana E. Alexander," which said in part, "If you ask anyone who knows Russian to google my husband Dmitry Klokov, you' ll see who he is close to and that he has done Putin's political campaigns." 11/16/15 Email, Erchova to I. Trump.

Populous strong man figures are involved in the politics of Russia; ie: Steven Seagal. Interesting article about how Trump adopted Van Damme as his strong man for his campaign. Basically along the same lines, as Sater was espousing, there would be an incredible peace that would settle in around the planet.

December 28, 2017
By Tom Breihan

Donald Trump once claimed that Citizen Kane was his favorite movie. (click here) We know better. In a 1997 New Yorker profile, writer Mark Singer took a private flight with Trump and saw the future president’s taste in movies up close. Singer recorded Trump getting bored watching the then-current John Travolta vehicle Michael and switching instead to Bloodsport, the 1988 underground-fighting extravaganza that introduced Jean-Claude Van Damme to the world. Trump (correctly) called Bloodsport “an incredible, fantastic movie” and assigned his son Eric, then 13, to fast-forward straight to all the fight scenes.

The admiration, it turns out, is mutual. Last year, a couple of weeks before the presidential election, Van Damme, giving a TMZ interview in a dark parking lot—wearing blue-tinted sunglasses and a baseball cap with his own initials, a chihuahua tucked under his arm—gave his all-important endorsement: “Look, I love my brother Muslims. They love martial arts. I love them. I love everybody on earth. Right now, we need Donald Trump.”

It was a shocking moment, one that might’ve grown even more shocking with time. With that, Van Damme became one of very few high-profile entertainers to stand with Trump. And Van Damme, who once attended a bare-knuckle fight with Vladimir Putin in Russia, also said that America and Russia need to be friends because “all the rest are weak country [sic], except America is strong, and Russia is strong. So they have to shake hands.”...

335 11/16/15 Email, I. Trump to Cohen.

336 Cohen 8/7/18 302, at 17. During his interviews with the Office, Cohen still appeared to believe that the Klokov he spoke with was that Olympian. The investigation, however, established that the email address used to communicate with Cohen belongs to a different Dmitry Klokov, as described above. Easy mistake to make.


It seems as though Dimitry Klokov is a popular figure along with his wife. He likes "Teenage Mutant Nija Turtles." He is a competitive weight lifter.

continued in next entry

Continued from a previous entry.

Page 69 of the Special Counsel Report and page 77 on the PDF. (click here)

Sater contacted Cohen on behalf of I.C. Expert Investment Company (LC. Expert), a Russian real-estate development corporation controlled by Andrei Vladimirovich Rozov. 307 Sater had known Rozov since approximately 2007 and, in 2014, had served as an agent on behalf of Rozov during Rozov's purchase of a building in New York City.308 Sater later contacted Rozov and proposed that I.C. Expert pursue a Trump Tower Moscow project in which l.C. Expert would license the name and brand from the Trump Organization but construct the building on its own. Sater worked on the deal with Rozov and another.employee of l.C. Expert. 309

Cohen was the only Trump Organization representative to negotiate directly with l.C. Expert or its agents (Felix Sater). In approximately September 2015, Cohen obtained approval to negotiate with I.C. Expert from candidate Trump, who was then president of the Trump Organization. 

Realizing Trump was occupying his time with a run for the presidency proves that Cohen was left alone to negotiate with the Russians. The basics were already covered by the family and their trips to the site of the Moscow Trump Tower. 

Cohen provided updates directly to Trump about the project throughout 2015 and into 2016, assuring him the project was continuing. 310 Cohen also discussed the Trump Moscow project with Ivanka Trump as to design elements (such as possible architects to use for the project 311) and Donald J. Trump Jr. (about his experience in Moscow and possible involvement in the project 312 ) during the fall of 2015.

The Footnotes are evidence to the text.

Footnote 307 Sater 9/19/17 302, at 3.
Footnote 308 Rozov 1 /25/18 3 02, at 1.
Footnote 309 Rozov 1/25/18 302, at I; see also 11 /2/15 Email, Cohen to Rozov et al. (sending letter of intent).
Footnote 310 Cohen 9/12/18 302, at 1-2, 4-6.
Footnote 311 Cohen 9/12/18 302, at 5.
Footnote 312 Cohen 9/12/18 302, at 4-5.

Also during the fall of 2015, Cohen communicated about the Trump Moscow proposal with Giorgi RtskhiladzeG, a business executive who previously had been involved in a development deal with the Trump Organization in Batumi, Georgia.

Trump Signs Deal to Develop, Two Towers in Georgia, Former Soviet State (click here)

Mikheil Saakashvili, then President of Georgia is left in the background, Trump is shaking hands with Giorgi Rtskhiladze from the Silk Road Group in the foreground. To completely understand why Trump would cancel the TWO towers with Georgia, is that Moscow would have insisted. Moscow was not going to embark on a project with the Trump Company if they were also doing business with a former Soviet State.

9 January 2017

The Trump Tower project (click here) in Georgia’s Black Sea resort town of Batumi has been officially cancelled.

The Trump Organisation and Silk Road Group (click here), Trump's partner and developer in the project, announced the news in a joint statement released on January 6.

"The Trump Organization and Silk Road Group (SRG) jointly announce their decision to formally end the development of Trump Tower, Batumi, a residential condominium in the Republic of Georgia under the license agreement executed in March 2011”, the statement read.

"As such, the Trump Organization continues to hold SRG and the Republic of Georgia in the highest regard.‎ SRG, in turn, is grateful to the Trump Organization for the time and attention they have dedicated to this project and fully understands the circumstances and accepts this request”

Looking forward, SRG said it plans to build a luxury condominium tower along the Georgian Black Sea coast in Batumi.

"[We are] confident that this spectacular project envisioned by Mr. Trump during his visit to the Republic of Georgia in 2012 will strengthen Georgia’s bid to become a global destination”, SRG said.

International media wrote back in December that Trump was planning to cancel the Trump Tower project in Georgia due to a conflict of interest given the beginning of his presidency on Friday, January 20.

The Associated Press (AP) reported the Trump Organisation had cancelled a licensing deal for a hotel in Azerbaijan for similar reasons.

Trump canceled the Georgia project, but, not the Moscow project in consideration of his run for the presidency. So, he was not a novice in understanding what a conflict of interest would entail. The Moscow project was still maintained all during his campaign and afterward. I don't think that was disclosed, was it?

313 Cohen stated that he spoke to Rtskhiladze in part because Rtskhiladze had pursued business ventures in Moscow, including a licensing deal with the Agalarov-owned Crocus Group.314 On September 22, 2015, Cohen forwarded a preliminary design study for the Trump Moscow project to Rtskhiladze, adding "I look forward to your reply about this spectacular project in Moscow." Rtskhiladze forwarded Cohen's email to an associate and wrote, "[i]f we could organize the meeting in New York at the highest level of the Russian Government and Mr. Trump this project would definitely receive the worldwide attention."315

On September 24, 2015, Rtskhiladze sent Cohen an attachment that he described as a proposed "[!Jetter to the Mayor of Moscow from Trump org," explaining that "[ w ]e need to send this letter to the Mayor of Moscow (second guy in Russia)...

Sergey Semyonovich Sobyanin (Russian: Серге́й Семёнович Собя́нин; born 21 June 1958) is a Russian politician. He has served as Mayor of Moscow from October 2010 to 5 July 2013 and was re-elected Mayor in the September 2013 city election.

I believed he only served until 2016 which is the three year term, There is another mayor that is also chairman of the State Duma; Vyacheslav Viktorovich Volodin who would have been elected in 2016 and facing the end of his third year.

...he is aware of the potential project and will pledge his support." 316 In a second email to Cohen sent the same day, Rtskhiladze provided a translation of the letter, which described the Trump Moscow project as a "symbol of stronger economic, business and cultural relationships between New York and Moscow...

I think most New Yorkers would take exception with that description.

...and therefore United States and the Russian Federation."317 On September 27, 2015, Rtskhiladze sent another email to Cohen, proposing that the Trump Organization partner on the Trump Moscow project with "Global Development Group LLC," (click here)...

810 7TH St NE

Washington, DC, 20002-3610  United States

Company Type: Independent

(703) 397-3248

D&B Hoovers provides sales leads and sales intelligence data on over 120 million companies like Global Development Group LLC and Finance & Insurance Sector contacts in Washington, DC, United States and around the world. Our data undergoes extensive quality assurance testing with over 2,000 discrete checks for validity and reliability. We use over 30,0000 different sources, including teams of primary source researchers to update our data over 5 million times per day. So when you get Global Development Group LLC insights, financials and competitors from D&B Hoovers, you can trust in their accuracy. To witness the full depth and breadth of our data and for industry leading sales intelligence tools, take D&B Hoovers for a test drive. Try D&B Hoovers Free

The electronic address to Global Development Group, LLC begins with hoovers.com/company. That was a clue this was not a completely American company in a way one would expect an LLC to be. 

http://www.hoovers.com/company-information/cs/company-profile.global_development_group_llc.31cd78e7bd27c338.html?aka_re=1

Hoover is a translator service. I have no doubt they are a very good company that provides rock-solid information to companies, like this one from Russia. They provide success in dealing with USA rules and regs depending on the state and local governments of interest. It is somewhat like a lawyer service. From the description I do not believe they are lawyers, however, any of the companies that seek their advice and information will no doubt require a lawyer to complete all the documents needed.

My guess is that Russia rather a Russian architect building the Moscow Trump Tower. Michail Posikin (the information online about a Russian architect is primarily old world stuff. Nothing current.) would have experience in building American buildings and would be best to partner with Trump. Keeping everything Russia is Putin. Again this is the perfect crime and Putin wants to control. If there is nothing but Russians dealing with Trump, Putin would have control.

...which he described as being controlled by Michail Posikhin, a Russian architect, and Simon Nizharadze.318...

Solartia Group (click here)

Moscow office:

15/7 Gagarinsky Pereulok, 
Moscow, Russia

Tel.: +7 (495) 601-94-94
info@solartiagroup.ru

Nizharadze Simon
Chairman of the Board of Directors

Novoselova Maria
General Director

Streltsov Dmitry
Executive Director

Cohen told the Office that he ultimately declined the proposal and instead continued to work with LC. Expert, the company represented by Felix Sater.319

c. Letter of Intent and Contacts to Russian Government (October 2015-January 2016) i. Trump Signs the Letter of Intent on behalf of the Trump Organization Between approximately October 13, 2015 and November 2, 2015, the Trump Organization (through its subsidiary Trump Acquisition, LLC)...

From Propublica:

Trump Acquisition Corp. (Pass-thru company for Trump) (click here)

Trump Acquisition LLC (dormant inactive)

New York, NY

Appointees formerly compensated or employed by this organization went to work at these agencies

• White House Office

Held position at this organization

• Ivanka Trump
  Executive Vice President → went to White House Office

Why would I not expect Trump to have his own pass-thru company?

...and I.C. Expert completed a letter of intent (LOI) for a Trump Moscow property. The LOI, signed by Trump for the Trump Organization and Rozov on behalf of I.C. Expert, was "intended to facilitate further discussions" in order to "attempt to  enter into a mutually acceptable agreement" related to the Trump-branded project in Moscow. 320 The LOI contemplated a development with residential, hotel, commercial, and office components, and called for

"[a]pproximately 250 first class, luxury residential condominiums," as well as

"[o]ne first class, luxury hotel consisting of approximately 15 floors and containing not fewer than 150 hotel rooms."321 For the residential and commercial portions of the project, the Trump Organization would receive between 1% and 5% of all condominium sales,322 plus 3% of all rental and other revenue. 323 For the project's hotel portion, the Trump Organization would receive a base fee of 3% of gross operating revenues for the first five years and 4% thereafter, plus a separate incentive fee of 20% of operating profit. 324 Under the LOI, the Trump Organization also would receive a $4 million "up-front fee" prior to groundbreaking.325 Under these terms, the Trump Organization stood to earn substantial sums over the lifetime of the project, without assuming significant liabilities or financing commitments.326

Time for a break.

I intentionally left some space between footnotes to allow for easier reading.

Footnote 313 Rtskhiladze was a U.S.-based executive of the Georgian company Silk Road Group. In approximately 2011, Silk Road Group and the Trump Organization entered into a licensing agreement to build a Trump-branded property in Batumi, Georgia. Rtskhiladze was also involved in discussions for a Trump -branded project in Astana, Kazakhstan. The Office twice interviewed Rtskhiladze, Grand Jury   

Footnote 314 Cohen 9/12/18 302, at 12;see also Rtskhiladze 5/10/18 302, at 1.
Footnote 315 9/22/1 5 Email, Rtskhiladze to Nizharadze.
Footnote 316 9/24/15 Email, Rtskhiladze to Cohen.
Footnote 317 9/24/1 5 Email, Rtskhiladze to Cohen.
Footnote 318 9/27/15 Email, Rtskhiladze to Cohen.
Footnote 319 Cohen 9/12/18 302, at 12.

Footnote 320 11/2/15 Email, Cohen to Rozov et al. (attachment) (hereinafter "LOI"); see also I 0/13/15 Email, Sater to Cohen & Davis (attaching proposed letter of intent).

Footnote 321 LOI, p. 2. 

Footnote 322 The LOI called for the Trump Organization to receive 5% of all gross sales up to $100 million; 4% of all gross sales from $100 million to $250 million; 3% of all gross sales from $250 million to $500 million; 2% of all gross sales from $500 million to $1 billion; and 1% of all gross sales over $1 billion. LOI, Schedule 2.

Footnote 323 LOI, Schedule 2. 
Footnote 324 LOI, Schedule 1.
Footnote 325 LOI, Schedule 2.
Footnote 326 Cohen 9/12/18 302, at 3

continued in next entry - thank you

Hopefully, everyone who comes to visit the blog got the firm fact that Trump and his company received bribery, in the form of funding from a Russian investment company that survives because a 19-year-old man doesn't.

So, time to move on in the reading of the Special Counsel Report. But, first a cup of tea.

Chairman Adam Schiff of the US House Intelligence Committee brings up many interesting facts about a counter intelligence report as prepared by the Special Counsel.

In my opinion, the reason the bribery of Trump and his company doesn't show up is that it was a Russian investment firm. There is no way a Russian anything or anyone is going to cooperate with the USA Special Counsel  It doesn't mean the country is not compromised, quite the contrary, the country is compromised by the monies the Trump Company has received, but, justice is out of reach. Without the truth from the Russians, Trump and the Republicans are able to lie at will about all of it.

You could call it the perfect crime and it wasn't Trump that thought it up.