This article was originally published by Tyler Durden at Zero Hedge
As the mainstream media circus ran wild with the Paul Manafort indictment yesterday, Trump, who repeatedly dismissed the charges as being unrelated to his campaign, has just tweeted that the biggest story revealed yesterday, a story which was largely ignored by the “fake news”, was Tony Posesta’s sudden resignation from the powerful lobbying group that bears his name.
Meanwhile, Trump also seemingly called on the Podesta brothers to “Drain the Swamp” by dishing whatever “earth shattering” dirt they have on Democrats to Special Counsel Mueller.
“The biggest story yesterday, the one that has the Dems in a dither, is Podesta running from his firm. What he know about Crooked Dems is earth shattering. He and his brother could Drain The Swamp, which would be yet another campaign promise fulfilled. Fake News weak!”
The biggest story yesterday, the one that has the Dems in a dither, is Podesta running from his firm. What he know about Crooked Dems is….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 31, 2017
….earth shattering. He and his brother could Drain The Swamp, which would be yet another campaign promise fulfilled. Fake News weak!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 31, 2017
Of course, as we noted yesterday, the founder of the Podesta Group, Tony Podesta, stepped down from his own lobbying shop after coming under investigation by Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller.
Meanwhile, even though the Podesta / Manafort news might seem unrelated, as we explained in Aug 2016, Paul Manafort – now under indictment on 12 charges – and his deputy Rick Gates previously worked with the Podesta Group where they lobbied various U.S. senators and congressmen on behalf of various Ukranian officials.
…emails obtained by the Associated Press showed that Gates personally directed two Washington lobbying firms, Mercury LLC and the Podesta Group, between 2012 and 2014 to set up meetings between a top Ukrainian official and senators and congressmen on influential committees involving Ukrainian interests. Gates noted in the emails that the official, Ukraine’s foreign minister, did not want to use his own embassy in the United States to help coordinate the visits.
…
And this is where the plot thickens, because while the bulk of the press has so far spun the entire Ukraine lobbying scandal, which led to Manafort’s resignation, as the latest “proof” that pro-Moscow powers were influencing not only Manafort but the Trump campaign in general (who some democrats have even painted of being a Putin agent), the reality is that a firm closely tied with the Democratic party, the Podesta Group, is just as implicated.
As AP further adds, the European Center for a Modern Ukraine, a Brussels-linked nonprofit entity which allegedly ran the lobbying project, paid Mercury and the Podesta Group a combined $2.2 million over roughly two years. In papers filed in the U.S. Senate, Mercury and the Podesta Group listed the European nonprofit as an independent, nonpolitical client. The firms said the center stated in writing that it was not aligned with any foreign political entity.
Perhaps Podesta knows what is likely to happen next. Podesta announced his decision during a firm-wide meeting Monday morning and is alerting clients of his impending departure.
“[Tony] was very magnanimous and said, “This is an amazing group of people,” a source said of Podesta’s remarks.
Podesta also told staff he “doesn’t intend to go quietly, or learn how to play golf.” He said he “needs to fight this as an individual, but doesn’t want the firm to fight it.”
Fritts also addressed the gathering, telling staff that she is “thrilled at this opportunity” and that, “This is not about me, this is about y’all.”
Several other senior staff spoke about their excitement about the future of the firm. The meeting ended with a standing ovation for Podesta.
It emerged last week that Podesta is the subject of a criminal investigation led by Mueller’s team for potentially violating a federal disclosure law. That law, known as the Foreign Agents Registration Act, pertains to working on behalf of foreign governments. An NBC report found that the Podesta Group was one of several firms working on Paul Manafort’s public relations campaign for European Centre for a Modern Ukraine, which the Podesta Group claims it thought was a nonpartisan think tank, something which this site reported first last August.
It goes without saying, that Podesta’s brother, John, is arguably one of the top figures in Democratic politics, serving most recently as chief of staff in the Bill Clinton White House and also as the chairman of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign.
What happens next to Tony (and perhaps his brother John) is to be determined, but one thing is clear: both sides of the swamp should probably control themselves in any premature celebrations as this appears to be far from over….
It Took 22 Years to Get to This Point
The head of the Canadian province of Ontario, Doug Ford, has warned that it will retaliate against...
Iowa's governor Kim Reynolds has extended that bird flu "disaster declaration" after the virus was...
President-elect, Donald Trump has announced that he will enforce tariffs on Mexico, Canada, and...
This article was originally published by Tyler Durden at ZeroHedge. While it had been reported in...
Commenting Policy:
Some comments on this web site are automatically moderated through our Spam protection systems. Please be patient if your comment isn’t immediately available. We’re not trying to censor you, the system just wants to make sure you’re not a robot posting random spam.
This website thrives because of its community. While we support lively debates and understand that people get excited, frustrated or angry at times, we ask that the conversation remain civil. Racism, to include any religious affiliation, will not be tolerated on this site, including the disparagement of people in the comments section.
Gregg Jarrett: Still no evidence of Trump-Russia ‘collusion’ – but Hillary is a different matter
Paul Manafort and his business associate, Rick Gates, “charges are, basically, a tax fraud case. The two men stand accused of hiding their income from their lobbying work for Ukraine in order to avoid paying taxes, then lying about it.”
The 31-page indictment makes no mention of Trump or Russia or “collusion.”
“It could be said that Hillary Clinton is the one who was conspiring with the Russians by breaking campaign finance laws with impunity.”
“It is against the law for the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee to funnel millions of dollars to a British spy and to Russian sources in order to obtain the infamous and discredited Trump “dossier.”
The Federal Election Campaign Act (52 USC 30101) prohibits foreign nationals and governments from giving or receiving money in U.S. campaigns. It also prohibits the filing of false or misleading campaign reports to hide the true purpose of the money (52 USC 30121). This is what Clinton and the DNC appear to have done.”
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2017/10/30/gregg-jarrett-still-no-evidence-trump-russia-collusion-but-hillary-is-different-matter.html
Apparently, there is a lot more to this “investigation.”
Manafort indictment about more than just getting Trump
“You will now hear ad nauseum that the Robert Mueller investigation is all about tying Donald Trump’s presidential victory to Russia influence and that the arrest of former Trump operative Paul Manafort is the tip of the iceberg to take out Trump over his Russia ties.
But the charges Manafort and Rick Gates face are not about their work on the Trump campaign and the “Trump-Russia collusion” investigation is about much more than Trump. It’s about protecting the Deep State.”
As Bob Livingston wrote at the time:
“Elected Ukrainian pro-Russia President Viktor Yanukovych was ousted after he rejected the International Monetary Fund’s demands to raise taxes and devalue the currency. So the U.S. and the EU installed central banker and hand puppet Arseniy “Yats” Yatsenyuk.
A Forbes article described Yats as “… the kind of technocrat you want if you want austerity, with the veneer of professionalism. He’s the type of guy who can hobnob with the European elite. A Mario Monti type: unelected and willing to do the IMFs bidding.”
In the wee hours of the morning of March 2, the U.S. took possession of Ukraine’s $1.8 billion (estimated value) gold reserves. That’s partial payback for the $5 billion the U.S. invested in dragging Ukraine toward the EU. It’s also gold the U.S. can pass on to Germany, which has been seeking to have its gold — supposedly held by the Federal Reserve — returned.”
“Manafort and his firm, which Gates helped run, spent years as Yanukovych’s political consultants. But also working for Yanukovych was the Podesta Group of Democrat operatives Tony and John Podesta – a fact the Podestas attempted to hide by not disclosing the extent of their work on their lobbying reports to Congress.
John Podesta worked on the Hillary Clinton campaign and covertly for the Clinton State Department as revealed by emails dumped by WikiLeaks.
Of course, Mueller has his own hands dirtied by Russian contacts. In 2009 while FBI director he delivered a 10-gram sample of enriched uranium to contacts on a Moscow tarmac on behalf of Clinton. And also while FBI director, Mueller slow-walked an investigation into bribery and corruption charges surrounding the Clinton-brokered deal sell licenses to mine U.S. uranium deposits in Kazakhstan to the Russian firm Rosatom.
In exchange, the Clinton’s money laundering operation the Clinton Foundation and Bill Clinton himself received a combined sum in excess of $9 million.”
“Meanwhile, an Obama-appointed judge who contributed to the Obama campaign has ordered the bank records for Fusion GPS — the opposition research team paid $9 million by the Clinton campaign to produce the phony dossier that sparked the Russia collusion narrative and led to illegal wiretaps and unmasking of Trump campaign operatives – to be sealed from the public and most of Congress.
But the propaganda media won’t be talking about that. Just about Manafort’s ties to Trump and Trump’s ties to Russia.”
https://personalliberty.com/manafort-indictment-just-getting-trump/
Manafort Indictments on business dealings, not campaign…
Ex-Trump aide Manafort charged with US tax fraud over Ukraine work
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-41804740
Hey all, This will be Marcus’s last post here. What social media I’m in is done, hardware is being decommissioned shortly and I’m starting from scratch.
Just wanted to say thanks for the resources, intel, learning and opinions (even the opposing ones). We may not all be on the same page on every issue, but you folks are some of the Good People. Keep your heads up, and good luck, whatever comes.
Marcus, sorry to see you go but glad to know you learned a lot here. If you can check back in on occasion just so we’ll know you’re OK. Best wishes to you.
goof luck to you, marcus.
What Trump needs to say publicly right now is that they let Manafort go from being campaign manager as soon as they discovered through an anonymous FBI source that Manafort was a Clinton campaign plant in the Trump organization. Manafort’s credibility is GONE at that point and can do nothing to hurt Trump going forward. Win-win…
Yes! We brothers want to admit to child abduction, rape, cannibalism, and consumption of edible underwear without paying. Sounds like a great deal to me! Where do we sign? We don’t care about no stinking money.
Carry on Marcus….be straight,be honest,that’s what counts.
The Podesta bros. will never cave. They’re both into the skullduggery and worse up to their eyeballs. They ARE denizens of the swamp. A couple of the most loathsome in fact. They’ll no more rat themselves out than Hillary and Bill will.
Personally, I liked it better when what happened in the USA stayed
in the states. Nobody was allowed to do business with a foreign
country without clearance first. It seems once NAFTA took over our
resources…..we have lost all accountability to everyone.
Now we are the beggars.
People jet off to foreign countries, make deals, hide money, keep
secrets, and betray the USA and citizens. They use the stock market
to launder ill gotten wealth. Crash stocks by selling a few million shares
and buying them back as soon as it hits bottom.
They are in fact controlling Wall Street. There should be a 6 month
turn around before they can buy anything again. They are cheating the
small invester who thinks everything on Wall Street is honest.
I heard numerous times last year during the campaign that if Hillary was taken down a good percentage of DC would also fall. If we could get that much of the swamp drained, it would help. Gotta start somewhere.
The Podestas aren’t going to do anything to help. They will be Arkancided or their pedophilia will be outed big time.