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RE: AP: Trump's Manafort secretly worked to advance Put... - 3/22/2017 10:09:52 AM   
Musicmystery


Posts: 30259
Joined: 3/14/2005
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Nope, try again . . .


quote:

ORIGINAL: Musicmystery

**BREAKING-- Associated Press has learned former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort "secretly worked for a Russian billionaire to advance the interests of Russian President Vladimir Putin."

"Manafort proposed in a confidential strategy plan as early as June 2005 that he would influence politics, business dealings and news coverage inside the United States, Europe and the former Soviet republics to benefit the Putin government".

AP Exclusive: Manafort had plan to benefit Putin government

By JEFF HORWITZ and CHAD DAY
33 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, secretly worked for a Russian billionaire to advance the interests of Russian President Vladimir Putin a decade ago and proposed an ambitious political strategy to undermine anti-Russian opposition across former Soviet republics, The Associated Press has learned. The work appears to contradict assertions by the Trump administration and Manafort himself that he never worked for Russian interests.

Manafort proposed in a confidential strategy plan as early as June 2005 that he would influence politics, business dealings and news coverage inside the United States, Europe and the former Soviet republics to benefit the Putin government, even as U.S.-Russia relations under Republican President George W. Bush grew worse. Manafort pitched the plans to Russian aluminum magnate Oleg Deripaska, a close Putin ally with whom Manafort eventually signed a $10 million annual contract beginning in 2006, according to interviews with several people familiar with payments to Manafort and business records obtained by the AP. Manafort and Deripaska maintained a business relationship until at least 2009, according to one person familiar with the work.

"We are now of the belief that this model can greatly benefit the Putin Government if employed at the correct levels with the appropriate commitment to success," Manafort wrote in the 2005 memo to Deripaska. The effort, Manafort wrote, "will be offering a great service that can re-focus, both internally and externally, the policies of the Putin government."

Manafort's plans were laid out in documents obtained by the AP that included strategy memoranda and records showing international wire transfers for millions of dollars. How much work Manafort performed under the contract was unclear.

The disclosure comes as Trump campaign advisers are the subject of an FBI probe and two congressional investigations. Investigators are reviewing whether the Trump campaign and its associates coordinated with Moscow to meddle in the 2016 campaign. Manafort has dismissed the investigations as politically motivated and misguided, and said he never worked for Russian interests. The documents obtained by AP show Manafort's ties to Russia were closer than previously revealed.

In a statement to the AP, Manafort confirmed that he worked for Deripaska in various countries but said the work was being unfairly cast as "inappropriate or nefarious" as part of a "smear campaign."

"I worked with Oleg Deripaska almost a decade ago representing him on business and personal matters in countries where he had investments," Manafort said. "My work for Mr. Deripaska did not involve representing Russian political interests."

Deripaska became one of Russia's wealthiest men under Putin, buying assets abroad in ways widely perceived to benefit the Kremlin's interests. U.S. diplomatic cables from 2006 described Deripaska as "among the 2-3 oligarchs Putin turns to on a regular basis" and "a more-or-less permanent fixture on Putin's trips abroad." In response to questions about Manafort's consulting firm, a spokesman for Deripaska in 2008 — at least three years after they began working together — said Deripaska had never hired the firm. Another Deripaska spokesman in Moscow last week declined to answer AP's questions.

Manafort worked as Trump's unpaid campaign chairman last year from March until August. Trump asked Manafort to resign after AP revealed that Manafort had orchestrated a covert Washington lobbying operation until 2014 on behalf of Ukraine's ruling pro-Russian political party .

The newly obtained business records link Manafort more directly to Putin's interests in the region. According to those records and people with direct knowledge of Manafort's work for Deripaska, Manafort made plans to open an office in Moscow, and at least some of Manafort's work in Ukraine was directed by Deripaska, not local political interests there. The Moscow office never opened.

Manafort has been a leading focus of the U.S. intelligence investigation of Trump's associates and Russia, according to a U.S. official. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because details of the investigation were confidential. Meanwhile, federal criminal prosecutors became interested in Manafort's activities years ago as part of a broad investigation to recover stolen Ukraine assets after the ouster of pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych there in early 2014. No U.S. criminal charges have ever been filed in the case.

FBI Director James Comey, in confirming to Congress the federal intelligence investigation this week, declined to say whether Manafort was a target. Manafort's name was mentioned 28 times during the hearing of the House Intelligence Committee, mostly about his work in Ukraine. No one mentioned Deripaska.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Monday that Manafort "played a very limited role for a very limited amount of time" in the campaign, even though as Trump's presidential campaign chairman he led it during the crucial run-up to the Republican National Convention.

Manafort and his associates remain in Trump's orbit. Manafort told a colleague this year that he continues to speak with Trump by telephone. Manafort's former business partner in eastern Europe, Rick Gates, has been seen inside the White House on a number of occasions. Gates has since helped plan Trump's inauguration and now runs a nonprofit organization, America First Policies, to back the White House agenda.

Gates, whose name does not appear in the documents, told the AP that he joined Manafort's firm in 2006 and was aware Manafort had a relationship with Deripaska, but he was not aware of the work described in the memos. Gates said his work was focused on domestic U.S. lobbying and political consulting in Ukraine at the time. He said he stopped working for Manafort's firm in March 2016 when he joined Trump's presidential campaign.

Manafort told Deripaska in 2005 that he was pushing policies as part of his work in Ukraine "at the highest levels of the U.S. government — the White House, Capitol Hill and the State Department," according to the documents. He also said he had hired a "leading international law firm with close ties to President Bush to support our client's interests," but he did not identify the firm. Manafort also said he was employing unidentified legal experts for the effort at leading universities and think tanks, including Duke University, New York University and the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Manafort did not disclose details about the lobbying work to the Justice Department during the period the contract was in place.

Under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, people who lobby in the U.S. on behalf of foreign political leaders or political parties must provide detailed reports about their actions to the department. Willfully failing to register is a felony and can result in up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000, though the government rarely files criminal charges.

Deripaska owns Basic Element Co., which employs 200,000 people worldwide in the agriculture, aviation, construction, energy, financial services, insurance and manufacturing industries, and he runs one of the world's largest aluminum companies. Forbes estimated his net worth at $5.2 billion. How much Deripaska paid Manafort in total is not clear, but people familiar with the relationship said money transfers to Manafort amounted to tens of millions of dollars and continued through at least 2009. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the secret payments publicly.

In strategy memos, Manafort proposed that Deripaska and Putin would benefit from lobbying Western governments, especially the U.S., to allow oligarchs to keep possession of formerly state-owned assets in Ukraine. He proposed building "long term relationships" with Western journalists and a variety of measures to improve recruitment, communications and financial planning by pro-Russian parties in the region.

Manafort proposed extending his existing work in eastern Europe to Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Georgia, where he pledged to bolster the legitimacy of governments friendly to Putin and undercut anti-Russian figures through political campaigns, nonprofit front groups and media operations.

For the $10 million contract, Manafort did not use his public-facing consulting firm, Davis Manafort. Instead, he used a company, LOAV Ltd., that he had registered in Delaware in 1992. He listed LOAV as having the same address of his lobbying and consulting firms in Alexandria, Virginia. In other records, LOAV's address was listed as Manafort's home, also in Alexandria. Manafort sold the home in July 2015 for $1.4 million. He now owns an apartment in Trump Tower in New York, as well as other properties in Florida and New York.

One strategy memo to Deripaska was written by Manafort and Rick Davis, his business partner at the time. In written responses to the AP, Davis said he did not know that his firm had proposed a plan to covertly promote the interests of the Russian government.

Davis said he believes Manafort used his name without his permission on the strategy memo. "My name was on every piece of stationery used by the company and in every memo prior to 2006. It does not mean I had anything to do with the memo described," Davis said. He took a leave of absence from the firm in late 2006 to work on John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign.

Manafort's work with Deripaska continued for years, though they had a falling out laid bare in 2014 in a Cayman Islands bankruptcy court. The billionaire gave Manafort nearly $19 million to invest in a Ukrainian TV company called Black Sea Cable, according to legal filings by Deripaska's representatives. It said that after taking the money, Manafort and his associates stopped responding to Deripaska's queries about how the funds had been used.

Early in the 2016 presidential campaign, Deripaska's representatives openly accused Manafort of fraud and pledged to recover the money from him. After Trump earned the nomination, Deripaska's representatives said they would no longer discuss the case.

[apnews.com]




(in reply to BoscoX)
Profile   Post #: 61
RE: AP: Trump's Manafort secretly worked to advance Put... - 3/22/2017 10:09:59 AM   
BoscoX


Posts: 11270
Joined: 12/10/2016
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: Musicmystery

Well since Sanity is confused, here's the topic. Glad to help.




You were bitching about making others the topic?

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(in reply to Musicmystery)
Profile   Post #: 62
RE: AP: Trump's Manafort secretly worked to advance Put... - 3/22/2017 10:11:15 AM   
Musicmystery


Posts: 30259
Joined: 3/14/2005
Status: offline
It's this topic here:


quote:

ORIGINAL: Musicmystery

**BREAKING-- Associated Press has learned former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort "secretly worked for a Russian billionaire to advance the interests of Russian President Vladimir Putin."

"Manafort proposed in a confidential strategy plan as early as June 2005 that he would influence politics, business dealings and news coverage inside the United States, Europe and the former Soviet republics to benefit the Putin government".

AP Exclusive: Manafort had plan to benefit Putin government

By JEFF HORWITZ and CHAD DAY
33 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, secretly worked for a Russian billionaire to advance the interests of Russian President Vladimir Putin a decade ago and proposed an ambitious political strategy to undermine anti-Russian opposition across former Soviet republics, The Associated Press has learned. The work appears to contradict assertions by the Trump administration and Manafort himself that he never worked for Russian interests.

Manafort proposed in a confidential strategy plan as early as June 2005 that he would influence politics, business dealings and news coverage inside the United States, Europe and the former Soviet republics to benefit the Putin government, even as U.S.-Russia relations under Republican President George W. Bush grew worse. Manafort pitched the plans to Russian aluminum magnate Oleg Deripaska, a close Putin ally with whom Manafort eventually signed a $10 million annual contract beginning in 2006, according to interviews with several people familiar with payments to Manafort and business records obtained by the AP. Manafort and Deripaska maintained a business relationship until at least 2009, according to one person familiar with the work.

"We are now of the belief that this model can greatly benefit the Putin Government if employed at the correct levels with the appropriate commitment to success," Manafort wrote in the 2005 memo to Deripaska. The effort, Manafort wrote, "will be offering a great service that can re-focus, both internally and externally, the policies of the Putin government."

Manafort's plans were laid out in documents obtained by the AP that included strategy memoranda and records showing international wire transfers for millions of dollars. How much work Manafort performed under the contract was unclear.

The disclosure comes as Trump campaign advisers are the subject of an FBI probe and two congressional investigations. Investigators are reviewing whether the Trump campaign and its associates coordinated with Moscow to meddle in the 2016 campaign. Manafort has dismissed the investigations as politically motivated and misguided, and said he never worked for Russian interests. The documents obtained by AP show Manafort's ties to Russia were closer than previously revealed.

In a statement to the AP, Manafort confirmed that he worked for Deripaska in various countries but said the work was being unfairly cast as "inappropriate or nefarious" as part of a "smear campaign."

"I worked with Oleg Deripaska almost a decade ago representing him on business and personal matters in countries where he had investments," Manafort said. "My work for Mr. Deripaska did not involve representing Russian political interests."

Deripaska became one of Russia's wealthiest men under Putin, buying assets abroad in ways widely perceived to benefit the Kremlin's interests. U.S. diplomatic cables from 2006 described Deripaska as "among the 2-3 oligarchs Putin turns to on a regular basis" and "a more-or-less permanent fixture on Putin's trips abroad." In response to questions about Manafort's consulting firm, a spokesman for Deripaska in 2008 — at least three years after they began working together — said Deripaska had never hired the firm. Another Deripaska spokesman in Moscow last week declined to answer AP's questions.

Manafort worked as Trump's unpaid campaign chairman last year from March until August. Trump asked Manafort to resign after AP revealed that Manafort had orchestrated a covert Washington lobbying operation until 2014 on behalf of Ukraine's ruling pro-Russian political party .

The newly obtained business records link Manafort more directly to Putin's interests in the region. According to those records and people with direct knowledge of Manafort's work for Deripaska, Manafort made plans to open an office in Moscow, and at least some of Manafort's work in Ukraine was directed by Deripaska, not local political interests there. The Moscow office never opened.

Manafort has been a leading focus of the U.S. intelligence investigation of Trump's associates and Russia, according to a U.S. official. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because details of the investigation were confidential. Meanwhile, federal criminal prosecutors became interested in Manafort's activities years ago as part of a broad investigation to recover stolen Ukraine assets after the ouster of pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych there in early 2014. No U.S. criminal charges have ever been filed in the case.

FBI Director James Comey, in confirming to Congress the federal intelligence investigation this week, declined to say whether Manafort was a target. Manafort's name was mentioned 28 times during the hearing of the House Intelligence Committee, mostly about his work in Ukraine. No one mentioned Deripaska.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Monday that Manafort "played a very limited role for a very limited amount of time" in the campaign, even though as Trump's presidential campaign chairman he led it during the crucial run-up to the Republican National Convention.

Manafort and his associates remain in Trump's orbit. Manafort told a colleague this year that he continues to speak with Trump by telephone. Manafort's former business partner in eastern Europe, Rick Gates, has been seen inside the White House on a number of occasions. Gates has since helped plan Trump's inauguration and now runs a nonprofit organization, America First Policies, to back the White House agenda.

Gates, whose name does not appear in the documents, told the AP that he joined Manafort's firm in 2006 and was aware Manafort had a relationship with Deripaska, but he was not aware of the work described in the memos. Gates said his work was focused on domestic U.S. lobbying and political consulting in Ukraine at the time. He said he stopped working for Manafort's firm in March 2016 when he joined Trump's presidential campaign.

Manafort told Deripaska in 2005 that he was pushing policies as part of his work in Ukraine "at the highest levels of the U.S. government — the White House, Capitol Hill and the State Department," according to the documents. He also said he had hired a "leading international law firm with close ties to President Bush to support our client's interests," but he did not identify the firm. Manafort also said he was employing unidentified legal experts for the effort at leading universities and think tanks, including Duke University, New York University and the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Manafort did not disclose details about the lobbying work to the Justice Department during the period the contract was in place.

Under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, people who lobby in the U.S. on behalf of foreign political leaders or political parties must provide detailed reports about their actions to the department. Willfully failing to register is a felony and can result in up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000, though the government rarely files criminal charges.

Deripaska owns Basic Element Co., which employs 200,000 people worldwide in the agriculture, aviation, construction, energy, financial services, insurance and manufacturing industries, and he runs one of the world's largest aluminum companies. Forbes estimated his net worth at $5.2 billion. How much Deripaska paid Manafort in total is not clear, but people familiar with the relationship said money transfers to Manafort amounted to tens of millions of dollars and continued through at least 2009. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the secret payments publicly.

In strategy memos, Manafort proposed that Deripaska and Putin would benefit from lobbying Western governments, especially the U.S., to allow oligarchs to keep possession of formerly state-owned assets in Ukraine. He proposed building "long term relationships" with Western journalists and a variety of measures to improve recruitment, communications and financial planning by pro-Russian parties in the region.

Manafort proposed extending his existing work in eastern Europe to Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Georgia, where he pledged to bolster the legitimacy of governments friendly to Putin and undercut anti-Russian figures through political campaigns, nonprofit front groups and media operations.

For the $10 million contract, Manafort did not use his public-facing consulting firm, Davis Manafort. Instead, he used a company, LOAV Ltd., that he had registered in Delaware in 1992. He listed LOAV as having the same address of his lobbying and consulting firms in Alexandria, Virginia. In other records, LOAV's address was listed as Manafort's home, also in Alexandria. Manafort sold the home in July 2015 for $1.4 million. He now owns an apartment in Trump Tower in New York, as well as other properties in Florida and New York.

One strategy memo to Deripaska was written by Manafort and Rick Davis, his business partner at the time. In written responses to the AP, Davis said he did not know that his firm had proposed a plan to covertly promote the interests of the Russian government.

Davis said he believes Manafort used his name without his permission on the strategy memo. "My name was on every piece of stationery used by the company and in every memo prior to 2006. It does not mean I had anything to do with the memo described," Davis said. He took a leave of absence from the firm in late 2006 to work on John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign.

Manafort's work with Deripaska continued for years, though they had a falling out laid bare in 2014 in a Cayman Islands bankruptcy court. The billionaire gave Manafort nearly $19 million to invest in a Ukrainian TV company called Black Sea Cable, according to legal filings by Deripaska's representatives. It said that after taking the money, Manafort and his associates stopped responding to Deripaska's queries about how the funds had been used.

Early in the 2016 presidential campaign, Deripaska's representatives openly accused Manafort of fraud and pledged to recover the money from him. After Trump earned the nomination, Deripaska's representatives said they would no longer discuss the case.

[apnews.com]




(in reply to BoscoX)
Profile   Post #: 63
RE: AP: Trump's Manafort secretly worked to advance Put... - 3/22/2017 10:12:34 AM   
BoscoX


Posts: 11270
Joined: 12/10/2016
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quote:

ORIGINAL: heavyblinker

quote:

ORIGINAL: BoscoX
Everything to do with the topic, at least as much as MMs reply. The problem is that you fail to understand how.


Yes, you mean that since Trump won the election despite the fact that everyone thought he was going to lose, every single poll and every single news article in existence is wrong (unless you personally agree with it).


Rather, the MSM got so wrapped up in pushing their fake polls that even they began believing them. May even have cost Hillary the election, as she didn't campaign in the states they were lying about her having the lead in

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(in reply to heavyblinker)
Profile   Post #: 64
RE: AP: Trump's Manafort secretly worked to advance Put... - 3/22/2017 10:13:03 AM   
Lucylastic


Posts: 40310
Status: offline
i jumped the gun...my ass is now more fluffy

< Message edited by Lucylastic -- 3/22/2017 10:18:33 AM >


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(in reply to Musicmystery)
Profile   Post #: 65
RE: AP: Trump's Manafort secretly worked to advance Put... - 3/22/2017 10:15:11 AM   
Musicmystery


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Not posting for you. You seem to get the topic fine.

(in reply to Lucylastic)
Profile   Post #: 66
RE: AP: Trump's Manafort secretly worked to advance Put... - 3/22/2017 10:16:40 AM   
BoscoX


Posts: 11270
Joined: 12/10/2016
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quote:

ORIGINAL: Lucylastic

Would you stop that?
You wouldnt like it if I posted the subject to you every time you call Bosco a twat. I already said I wasnt going to post to him again
take a pill dood


Thank you.

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(in reply to Lucylastic)
Profile   Post #: 67
RE: AP: Trump's Manafort secretly worked to advance Put... - 3/22/2017 10:17:49 AM   
heavyblinker


Posts: 3623
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: BoscoX


quote:

ORIGINAL: heavyblinker

quote:

ORIGINAL: BoscoX
Everything to do with the topic, at least as much as MMs reply. The problem is that you fail to understand how.


Yes, you mean that since Trump won the election despite the fact that everyone thought he was going to lose, every single poll and every single news article in existence is wrong (unless you personally agree with it).


Rather, the MSM got so wrapped up in pushing their fake polls that even they began believing them. May even have cost Hillary the election, as she didn't campaign in the states they were lying about her having the lead in.


So this means that all polls from now on are fake/wrong/a liberal plot?
Or just the ones you disagree with?

(in reply to BoscoX)
Profile   Post #: 68
RE: AP: Trump's Manafort secretly worked to advance Put... - 3/22/2017 10:20:12 AM   
Lucylastic


Posts: 40310
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: Musicmystery

Not posting for you. You seem to get the topic fine.

I apologise for making an ass out of myself:)



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( (> A NASTY
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(in reply to Musicmystery)
Profile   Post #: 69
RE: AP: Trump's Manafort secretly worked to advance Put... - 3/22/2017 10:25:09 AM   
BoscoX


Posts: 11270
Joined: 12/10/2016
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quote:

ORIGINAL: Lucylastic


quote:

ORIGINAL: Musicmystery

Not posting for you. You seem to get the topic fine.

I apologise for making an ass out of myself:)




An ass? Better than being a lowly, stinking, stupid, helpless, bleeding twat

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(in reply to Lucylastic)
Profile   Post #: 70
RE: AP: Trump's Manafort secretly worked to advance Put... - 3/22/2017 11:51:30 AM   
Lucylastic


Posts: 40310
Status: offline
awwwwwwwww special.


But for everyone else....

A slight change of direction for this piece from media matters , re roger stone and Manafort.
Notorious Liar Roger Stone Claimed That Paul Manafort Has “No Russian Ties”
https://mediamatters.org/blog/2017/03/22/notorious-liar-roger-stone-claimed-paul-manafort-has-no-russian-ties/215778

The Associated Press reported today that Paul Manafort, the former campaign chairman for President Donald Trump, “secretly worked for a Russian billionaire to advance the interests of Russian President Vladimir Putin a decade ago.” The revelation underscores the unreliability of Trump adviser Roger Stone, who has repeatedly claimed that Manafort, his longtime friend and former business partner, has “no Russian ties” and “never” worked for the Russians.

The AP reported that Manafort “secretly worked for a Russian billionaire to advance the interests of Russian President Vladimir Putin a decade ago and proposed an ambitious political strategy to undermine anti-Russian opposition across former Soviet republics.” The news organization reported:

Manafort proposed in a confidential strategy plan as early as June 2005 that he would influence politics, business dealings and news coverage inside the United States, Europe and the former Soviet republics to benefit the Putin government, even as U.S.-Russia relations under Republican President George W. Bush grew worse.

Manafort pitched the plans to Russian aluminum magnate Oleg Deripaska, a close Putin ally with whom Manafort eventually signed a $10 million annual contract beginning in 2006, according to interviews with several people familiar with payments to Manafort and business records obtained by the AP. Manafort and Deripaska maintained a business relationship until at least 2009, according to one person familiar with the work.

[…]

In a statement to the AP, Manafort confirmed that he worked for Deripaska in various countries but said the work was being unfairly cast as "inappropriate or nefarious" as part of a "smear campaign."

"I worked with Oleg Deripaska almost a decade ago representing him on business and personal matters in countries where he had investments," Manafort said. "My work for Mr. Deripaska did not involve representing Russia's political interests."

Manafort reportedly pitched plans to Deripaska in 2005 that could "benefit the Putin Government if employed":

"We are now of the belief that this model can greatly benefit the Putin Government if employed at the correct levels with the appropriate commitment to success," Manafort wrote in the 2005 memo to Deripaska. The effort, Manafort wrote, "will be offering a great service that can re-focus, both internally and externally, the policies of the Putin government."

The AP noted that its reporting about Manafort’s work “appears to contradict assertions by the Trump administration and Manafort himself that he never worked for Russian interests.” During a recent briefing, White House press secretary Sean Spicer laughably attempted to minimize Manafort’s role in the Trump campaign as “very limited.”

Stone is a longtime adviser and confidant to Trump. He has a decades-long history of employing political dirty tricks and lying, and he regularly spouts violent, racist, and sexist rhetoric.

Stone worked as both a paid and unpaid adviser to Trump’s 2016 campaign, and he was a partner with Manafort in the lobbying firm Black, Manafort, Stone and Kelly during the 1980s through the mid-90s. Stone wrote in his book that he “introduced Manafort to Donald Trump at the 1988 Republican National Convention in New Orleans.” The Washington Post reported that Manafort “was recommended for the job by Roger Stone, the longtime Trump associate who officially parted ways with the campaign last summer but remains influential.”

United States law enforcement and intelligence agencies are reportedly investigating both Stone and Manafort “as part of a broad investigation into possible links between Russian officials and associates of … Trump.”

But Stone has repeatedly claimed that Manafort has never worked for the Russians and has attempted to distance Manafort from any claims of Russian influence. (Stone has similarly claimed he has no Russian ties.)

Stone said on August 15 edition of The Alex Jones Show that Manafort “has never worked for the Ukrainian government or for the Russian government.”

Stone said on the August 18 edition of Breitbart News Daily that the claim that Manafort is in bed with Putin is a “conspiracy theory.” He made similar remarks defending Manafort during an August 18 appearance on C-SPAN.

During an August 19 appearance on The Alex Jones Show, Stone claimed that “Manafort has not worked for the government of Ukraine or Russia.”

Stone wrote an August 19 piece for his website denying that Manafort is “somehow in bed with Putin and the Russian’s when Trump has never met or communicated with Putin and Putin dislikes Manafort”:

The entire spin by the Clintonistas that Trump and Manafort are somehow in bed with Putin and the Russian’s (sic) when Trump has never met or communicated with Putin and Putin dislikes Manafort because of the latter’s pushing of [Ukrainian politician Viktor Yanukovych] to have Ukraine join the EU. This is the “New McCarthyism[.]” The Clinton’s (sic) and their vassals essentially accuse Trump and Manafort of treason against their own Country when in fact it’s Bill and Hillary who have profiteered in the Ukraine as well as taking millions from oligarchs and interests aligned with Putin.

(As CNN noted, “Trump has at least nine times claimed to have spoken to, met, or made contact with Putin.”)

Stone tweeted on October 31 that “@PaulManafort has NO Russian ties to investigate” and that contrary claims are “100% made up horseshit.”

Roger Stone @RogerJStoneJr
100% made up horseshit- NBC parrots Clinton line- @PaulManafort has NO Russian ties to investigate http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/fbi-making-inquiry-ex-trump-campaign-manager-s-foreign-ties-n675881
8:17 PM - 31 Oct 2016
Photo published for FBI making inquiry into ex-Trump campaign manager's foreign ties
FBI making inquiry into ex-Trump campaign manager's foreign ties
An inquiry is not an official investigation, however.
nbcnews.com

Stone also wrote a January 13 op-ed for The Daily Caller in which he claimed that there’s “no evidence” that Manafort was “working for the Russians”:

The persistent insistence that I knew of Russian assistance to Assange and advised Trump of it is a lie. Roger Stone, Paul Manafort, and Donald Trump were working for the Russians? Please. It’s tedious and no evidence in the possession of our vaunted Intelligence Agencies proves this.

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(in reply to BoscoX)
Profile   Post #: 71
RE: AP: Trump's Manafort secretly worked to advance Put... - 3/22/2017 12:05:48 PM   
Musicmystery


Posts: 30259
Joined: 3/14/2005
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: Musicmystery

**BREAKING-- Associated Press has learned former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort "secretly worked for a Russian billionaire to advance the interests of Russian President Vladimir Putin."

"Manafort proposed in a confidential strategy plan as early as June 2005 that he would influence politics, business dealings and news coverage inside the United States, Europe and the former Soviet republics to benefit the Putin government".

AP Exclusive: Manafort had plan to benefit Putin government

By JEFF HORWITZ and CHAD DAY
33 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, secretly worked for a Russian billionaire to advance the interests of Russian President Vladimir Putin a decade ago and proposed an ambitious political strategy to undermine anti-Russian opposition across former Soviet republics, The Associated Press has learned. The work appears to contradict assertions by the Trump administration and Manafort himself that he never worked for Russian interests.

Manafort proposed in a confidential strategy plan as early as June 2005 that he would influence politics, business dealings and news coverage inside the United States, Europe and the former Soviet republics to benefit the Putin government, even as U.S.-Russia relations under Republican President George W. Bush grew worse. Manafort pitched the plans to Russian aluminum magnate Oleg Deripaska, a close Putin ally with whom Manafort eventually signed a $10 million annual contract beginning in 2006, according to interviews with several people familiar with payments to Manafort and business records obtained by the AP. Manafort and Deripaska maintained a business relationship until at least 2009, according to one person familiar with the work.

"We are now of the belief that this model can greatly benefit the Putin Government if employed at the correct levels with the appropriate commitment to success," Manafort wrote in the 2005 memo to Deripaska. The effort, Manafort wrote, "will be offering a great service that can re-focus, both internally and externally, the policies of the Putin government."

Manafort's plans were laid out in documents obtained by the AP that included strategy memoranda and records showing international wire transfers for millions of dollars. How much work Manafort performed under the contract was unclear.

The disclosure comes as Trump campaign advisers are the subject of an FBI probe and two congressional investigations. Investigators are reviewing whether the Trump campaign and its associates coordinated with Moscow to meddle in the 2016 campaign. Manafort has dismissed the investigations as politically motivated and misguided, and said he never worked for Russian interests. The documents obtained by AP show Manafort's ties to Russia were closer than previously revealed.

In a statement to the AP, Manafort confirmed that he worked for Deripaska in various countries but said the work was being unfairly cast as "inappropriate or nefarious" as part of a "smear campaign."

"I worked with Oleg Deripaska almost a decade ago representing him on business and personal matters in countries where he had investments," Manafort said. "My work for Mr. Deripaska did not involve representing Russian political interests."

Deripaska became one of Russia's wealthiest men under Putin, buying assets abroad in ways widely perceived to benefit the Kremlin's interests. U.S. diplomatic cables from 2006 described Deripaska as "among the 2-3 oligarchs Putin turns to on a regular basis" and "a more-or-less permanent fixture on Putin's trips abroad." In response to questions about Manafort's consulting firm, a spokesman for Deripaska in 2008 — at least three years after they began working together — said Deripaska had never hired the firm. Another Deripaska spokesman in Moscow last week declined to answer AP's questions.

Manafort worked as Trump's unpaid campaign chairman last year from March until August. Trump asked Manafort to resign after AP revealed that Manafort had orchestrated a covert Washington lobbying operation until 2014 on behalf of Ukraine's ruling pro-Russian political party .

The newly obtained business records link Manafort more directly to Putin's interests in the region. According to those records and people with direct knowledge of Manafort's work for Deripaska, Manafort made plans to open an office in Moscow, and at least some of Manafort's work in Ukraine was directed by Deripaska, not local political interests there. The Moscow office never opened.

Manafort has been a leading focus of the U.S. intelligence investigation of Trump's associates and Russia, according to a U.S. official. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because details of the investigation were confidential. Meanwhile, federal criminal prosecutors became interested in Manafort's activities years ago as part of a broad investigation to recover stolen Ukraine assets after the ouster of pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych there in early 2014. No U.S. criminal charges have ever been filed in the case.

FBI Director James Comey, in confirming to Congress the federal intelligence investigation this week, declined to say whether Manafort was a target. Manafort's name was mentioned 28 times during the hearing of the House Intelligence Committee, mostly about his work in Ukraine. No one mentioned Deripaska.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Monday that Manafort "played a very limited role for a very limited amount of time" in the campaign, even though as Trump's presidential campaign chairman he led it during the crucial run-up to the Republican National Convention.

Manafort and his associates remain in Trump's orbit. Manafort told a colleague this year that he continues to speak with Trump by telephone. Manafort's former business partner in eastern Europe, Rick Gates, has been seen inside the White House on a number of occasions. Gates has since helped plan Trump's inauguration and now runs a nonprofit organization, America First Policies, to back the White House agenda.

Gates, whose name does not appear in the documents, told the AP that he joined Manafort's firm in 2006 and was aware Manafort had a relationship with Deripaska, but he was not aware of the work described in the memos. Gates said his work was focused on domestic U.S. lobbying and political consulting in Ukraine at the time. He said he stopped working for Manafort's firm in March 2016 when he joined Trump's presidential campaign.

Manafort told Deripaska in 2005 that he was pushing policies as part of his work in Ukraine "at the highest levels of the U.S. government — the White House, Capitol Hill and the State Department," according to the documents. He also said he had hired a "leading international law firm with close ties to President Bush to support our client's interests," but he did not identify the firm. Manafort also said he was employing unidentified legal experts for the effort at leading universities and think tanks, including Duke University, New York University and the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Manafort did not disclose details about the lobbying work to the Justice Department during the period the contract was in place.

Under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, people who lobby in the U.S. on behalf of foreign political leaders or political parties must provide detailed reports about their actions to the department. Willfully failing to register is a felony and can result in up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000, though the government rarely files criminal charges.

Deripaska owns Basic Element Co., which employs 200,000 people worldwide in the agriculture, aviation, construction, energy, financial services, insurance and manufacturing industries, and he runs one of the world's largest aluminum companies. Forbes estimated his net worth at $5.2 billion. How much Deripaska paid Manafort in total is not clear, but people familiar with the relationship said money transfers to Manafort amounted to tens of millions of dollars and continued through at least 2009. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the secret payments publicly.

In strategy memos, Manafort proposed that Deripaska and Putin would benefit from lobbying Western governments, especially the U.S., to allow oligarchs to keep possession of formerly state-owned assets in Ukraine. He proposed building "long term relationships" with Western journalists and a variety of measures to improve recruitment, communications and financial planning by pro-Russian parties in the region.

Manafort proposed extending his existing work in eastern Europe to Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Georgia, where he pledged to bolster the legitimacy of governments friendly to Putin and undercut anti-Russian figures through political campaigns, nonprofit front groups and media operations.

For the $10 million contract, Manafort did not use his public-facing consulting firm, Davis Manafort. Instead, he used a company, LOAV Ltd., that he had registered in Delaware in 1992. He listed LOAV as having the same address of his lobbying and consulting firms in Alexandria, Virginia. In other records, LOAV's address was listed as Manafort's home, also in Alexandria. Manafort sold the home in July 2015 for $1.4 million. He now owns an apartment in Trump Tower in New York, as well as other properties in Florida and New York.

One strategy memo to Deripaska was written by Manafort and Rick Davis, his business partner at the time. In written responses to the AP, Davis said he did not know that his firm had proposed a plan to covertly promote the interests of the Russian government.

Davis said he believes Manafort used his name without his permission on the strategy memo. "My name was on every piece of stationery used by the company and in every memo prior to 2006. It does not mean I had anything to do with the memo described," Davis said. He took a leave of absence from the firm in late 2006 to work on John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign.

Manafort's work with Deripaska continued for years, though they had a falling out laid bare in 2014 in a Cayman Islands bankruptcy court. The billionaire gave Manafort nearly $19 million to invest in a Ukrainian TV company called Black Sea Cable, according to legal filings by Deripaska's representatives. It said that after taking the money, Manafort and his associates stopped responding to Deripaska's queries about how the funds had been used.

Early in the 2016 presidential campaign, Deripaska's representatives openly accused Manafort of fraud and pledged to recover the money from him. After Trump earned the nomination, Deripaska's representatives said they would no longer discuss the case.

[apnews.com]




(in reply to Musicmystery)
Profile   Post #: 72
RE: AP: Trump's Manafort secretly worked to advance Put... - 3/22/2017 12:09:02 PM   
Musicmystery


Posts: 30259
Joined: 3/14/2005
Status: offline
So we have incriminating evidence or the words of a consistent liar. Hmmm.
quote:

ORIGINAL: Lucylastic

awwwwwwwww special.


But for everyone else....

A slight change of direction for this piece from media matters , re roger stone and Manafort.
Notorious Liar Roger Stone Claimed That Paul Manafort Has “No Russian Ties”
https://mediamatters.org/blog/2017/03/22/notorious-liar-roger-stone-claimed-paul-manafort-has-no-russian-ties/215778

The Associated Press reported today that Paul Manafort, the former campaign chairman for President Donald Trump, “secretly worked for a Russian billionaire to advance the interests of Russian President Vladimir Putin a decade ago.” The revelation underscores the unreliability of Trump adviser Roger Stone, who has repeatedly claimed that Manafort, his longtime friend and former business partner, has “no Russian ties” and “never” worked for the Russians.

The AP reported that Manafort “secretly worked for a Russian billionaire to advance the interests of Russian President Vladimir Putin a decade ago and proposed an ambitious political strategy to undermine anti-Russian opposition across former Soviet republics.” The news organization reported:

Manafort proposed in a confidential strategy plan as early as June 2005 that he would influence politics, business dealings and news coverage inside the United States, Europe and the former Soviet republics to benefit the Putin government, even as U.S.-Russia relations under Republican President George W. Bush grew worse.

Manafort pitched the plans to Russian aluminum magnate Oleg Deripaska, a close Putin ally with whom Manafort eventually signed a $10 million annual contract beginning in 2006, according to interviews with several people familiar with payments to Manafort and business records obtained by the AP. Manafort and Deripaska maintained a business relationship until at least 2009, according to one person familiar with the work.

[…]

In a statement to the AP, Manafort confirmed that he worked for Deripaska in various countries but said the work was being unfairly cast as "inappropriate or nefarious" as part of a "smear campaign."

"I worked with Oleg Deripaska almost a decade ago representing him on business and personal matters in countries where he had investments," Manafort said. "My work for Mr. Deripaska did not involve representing Russia's political interests."

Manafort reportedly pitched plans to Deripaska in 2005 that could "benefit the Putin Government if employed":

"We are now of the belief that this model can greatly benefit the Putin Government if employed at the correct levels with the appropriate commitment to success," Manafort wrote in the 2005 memo to Deripaska. The effort, Manafort wrote, "will be offering a great service that can re-focus, both internally and externally, the policies of the Putin government."

The AP noted that its reporting about Manafort’s work “appears to contradict assertions by the Trump administration and Manafort himself that he never worked for Russian interests.” During a recent briefing, White House press secretary Sean Spicer laughably attempted to minimize Manafort’s role in the Trump campaign as “very limited.”

Stone is a longtime adviser and confidant to Trump. He has a decades-long history of employing political dirty tricks and lying, and he regularly spouts violent, racist, and sexist rhetoric.

Stone worked as both a paid and unpaid adviser to Trump’s 2016 campaign, and he was a partner with Manafort in the lobbying firm Black, Manafort, Stone and Kelly during the 1980s through the mid-90s. Stone wrote in his book that he “introduced Manafort to Donald Trump at the 1988 Republican National Convention in New Orleans.” The Washington Post reported that Manafort “was recommended for the job by Roger Stone, the longtime Trump associate who officially parted ways with the campaign last summer but remains influential.”

United States law enforcement and intelligence agencies are reportedly investigating both Stone and Manafort “as part of a broad investigation into possible links between Russian officials and associates of … Trump.”

But Stone has repeatedly claimed that Manafort has never worked for the Russians and has attempted to distance Manafort from any claims of Russian influence. (Stone has similarly claimed he has no Russian ties.)

Stone said on August 15 edition of The Alex Jones Show that Manafort “has never worked for the Ukrainian government or for the Russian government.”

Stone said on the August 18 edition of Breitbart News Daily that the claim that Manafort is in bed with Putin is a “conspiracy theory.” He made similar remarks defending Manafort during an August 18 appearance on C-SPAN.

During an August 19 appearance on The Alex Jones Show, Stone claimed that “Manafort has not worked for the government of Ukraine or Russia.”

Stone wrote an August 19 piece for his website denying that Manafort is “somehow in bed with Putin and the Russian’s when Trump has never met or communicated with Putin and Putin dislikes Manafort”:

The entire spin by the Clintonistas that Trump and Manafort are somehow in bed with Putin and the Russian’s (sic) when Trump has never met or communicated with Putin and Putin dislikes Manafort because of the latter’s pushing of [Ukrainian politician Viktor Yanukovych] to have Ukraine join the EU. This is the “New McCarthyism[.]” The Clinton’s (sic) and their vassals essentially accuse Trump and Manafort of treason against their own Country when in fact it’s Bill and Hillary who have profiteered in the Ukraine as well as taking millions from oligarchs and interests aligned with Putin.

(As CNN noted, “Trump has at least nine times claimed to have spoken to, met, or made contact with Putin.”)

Stone tweeted on October 31 that “@PaulManafort has NO Russian ties to investigate” and that contrary claims are “100% made up horseshit.”

Roger Stone @RogerJStoneJr
100% made up horseshit- NBC parrots Clinton line- @PaulManafort has NO Russian ties to investigate http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/fbi-making-inquiry-ex-trump-campaign-manager-s-foreign-ties-n675881
8:17 PM - 31 Oct 2016
Photo published for FBI making inquiry into ex-Trump campaign manager's foreign ties
FBI making inquiry into ex-Trump campaign manager's foreign ties
An inquiry is not an official investigation, however.
nbcnews.com

Stone also wrote a January 13 op-ed for The Daily Caller in which he claimed that there’s “no evidence” that Manafort was “working for the Russians”:

The persistent insistence that I knew of Russian assistance to Assange and advised Trump of it is a lie. Roger Stone, Paul Manafort, and Donald Trump were working for the Russians? Please. It’s tedious and no evidence in the possession of our vaunted Intelligence Agencies proves this.


(in reply to Lucylastic)
Profile   Post #: 73
RE: AP: Trump's Manafort secretly worked to advance Put... - 3/23/2017 11:57:52 AM   
Musicmystery


Posts: 30259
Joined: 3/14/2005
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: Lucylastic


quote:

ORIGINAL: Musicmystery

Not posting for you. You seem to get the topic fine.

I apologise for making an ass out of myself:)



No worries.

(in reply to Lucylastic)
Profile   Post #: 74
RE: AP: Trump's Manafort secretly worked to advance Put... - 3/26/2017 3:13:35 PM   
mnottertail


Posts: 60698
Joined: 11/3/2004
Status: offline
I am thinking Flynn is in the deepest shit, and will squeal. Thats why he was not scheduled to show up at the cancelled open investigation panel.
I also think that now that they have found the DNC has hidden payments to Russia, they are going to find that the DNC paid Russians to hack the DNC servers.

I wonder how many will go to jail, and if there will be more convicted in this than the record 138 under St. Wrinklemeat, the nutsucker corruption record holder?

discuss.

_____________________________

Have they not divided the prey; to every man a damsel or two? Judges 5:30


(in reply to Musicmystery)
Profile   Post #: 75
RE: AP: Trump's Manafort secretly worked to advance Put... - 3/27/2017 12:09:31 AM   
lovmuffin


Posts: 3759
Joined: 9/28/2007
Status: offline
FR

Would someone please help me understand how a collusion between Trump and the Russians could effect the election. Did the KGB send a crap load of secret agents over to cast illegal votes? Did Putin go out on the campaign trail with Trump disguised as an American? Maybe Trump paid the Russians billions to hack into the voting machines to add more votes? Or could it be something out of the Hillary playbook like helping Trump by covertly getting him the questions ahead of the debates? Inquiring minds want to know.

_____________________________

"Give a man a gun and he can rob a bank. Give a man a bank and he can rob the world." Unknown

"Long hair, short hair—what's the difference once the head's blowed off." - Farmer Yassir

(in reply to mnottertail)
Profile   Post #: 76
RE: AP: Trump's Manafort secretly worked to advance Put... - 3/27/2017 7:23:57 AM   
mnottertail


Posts: 60698
Joined: 11/3/2004
Status: offline
uh, DNC server leaks, heavily investing in fake news and the like, for starters.



_____________________________

Have they not divided the prey; to every man a damsel or two? Judges 5:30


(in reply to lovmuffin)
Profile   Post #: 77
RE: AP: Trump's Manafort secretly worked to advance Put... - 3/27/2017 9:12:43 AM   
Musicmystery


Posts: 30259
Joined: 3/14/2005
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: mnottertail

I am thinking Flynn is in the deepest shit, and will squeal. Thats why he was not scheduled to show up at the cancelled open investigation panel.
I also think that now that they have found the DNC has hidden payments to Russia, they are going to find that the DNC paid Russians to hack the DNC servers.

I wonder how many will go to jail, and if there will be more convicted in this than the record 138 under St. Wrinklemeat, the nutsucker corruption record holder?

discuss.

Or, he'll be a good soldier and fall on his sword.

A similar situation saved Reagan's ass on Iran/Contra.

(in reply to mnottertail)
Profile   Post #: 78
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