Category: Money, Class, and Poverty,

Trump lender, other convicted banks get reprieves from feds

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

Five banks, including a big lender to President Donald Trump, have received temporary reprieves from the administration to run businesses that they otherwise would have had to shut down after criminal convictions.

The Labor Department granted Deutsche Bank a waiver from punishment allowing it to continue to manage pension funds and individual retirement accounts for another three years, according to an announcement in the Federal Registry soon after the decision last month.

…Deutsche Bank has been a big lender to Trump over the years, and the president still has loans with the bank that were originally worth $300 million.

…How the administration handles Frankfurt-based Deutsche Bank has drawn scrutiny from good-government groups, given the bank’s big role in the president’s business. It has also reportedly drawn the attention of federal prosecutors and investigators.

German business newspaper Handelsblatt reported last month that special prosecutor Robert Mueller has subpoenaed Deutsche Bank seeking records as part of his investigation into allegations that Russia helped Trump win the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Deutsche Bank had no comment at the time, and a lawyer for Trump denied that Mueller had subpoenaed Deutsche records relating to the president.

Deutsche Bank is also a big lender to the family real estate company once run by Trump senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner. In 2016, Deutsche Bank lent $285 million to affiliates of the Kushner Cos. to refinance a loan used to purchase of the retail floors in the old New York Times building in Manhattan.

Trump lender, other convicted banks get reprieves from feds

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Weeks Before Blockade, Qatar Denied Money to Kushner’s Firm

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Middle East,, Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

Qatar hosts one of America’s largest and most strategically important air bases in the Middle East. Any development that pushes Doha away from Riyadh pulls it toward Tehran. Thus, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson — and virtually every other arm of the U.S. government — scrambled to nip the blockade in the bud.

…It’s worth noting that the project the Qatari foreign minister refused to finance wasn’t just one more item in the Kushner family’s portfolio; it was Jared’s baby — his misbegotten, sickly, drowning baby.

In 2007, Jared Kushner decided that the real-estate market had nowhere to go but up. And so the 26-year-old mogul decided to plow $500 million of his family’s money — and $1.3 billion in borrowed capital — into purchasing 666 Fifth Avenue for twice the price it had previously sold for. Even if we’d somehow avoided a global financial crisis, this would have been a bad bet: Before the crash, when the building was almost fully occupied, it generated only about two-thirds of the revenue the Kushners needed to keep up with their debt payments.

…The office space that the Kushners retained is worth less than its $1.2 billion mortgage — which is due early in 2019. If their company can’t find some new scheme for refinancing and redeveloping the property by then, Kushner will have cost his family a fortune.

…Maybe all of this looks worse than it is. But it looks like the president’s son-in-law worked to sour relations with a key U.S. ally in the Middle East — which has since drifted further into the orbit of a regime hostile to the United States — because it refused to bail out his family’s underwater real-estate investment.

Weeks Before Blockade, Qatar Denied Money to Kushner’s Firm

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Carl Icahn unloaded millions in steel-related stock days before Trump tariff

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

Investor and former regulatory advisor Carl Icahn dumped $31.1 million of stock in a Wisconsin company that relies heavily on steel to make its products last week, days before President Donald Trump said he’d impose stiff tariffs on steel imports.

…The billionaire investor and longtime confidant of Mr. Trump started selling the stock on Feb. 12, according to the filing dated Feb. 22. Icahn began selling before Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross released a report Feb. 16 that called for a 24 percent tariff.

…Icahn resigned from his post as a “special adviser” to the president in August, ahead of a New Yorker article describing how he used his White House position to shield his investments, from which he had not detached himself before taking the job.

Carl Icahn unloaded millions in steel-related stock days before Trump tariff

If it isn’t illegal insider trading, it’s still shady AF.

‘Naked politics’ of punishing Delta could haunt Georgia

On By peanutgallerynhIn Local Interest,, Media and Culture,, Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

By killing a proposed tax break on jet fuel, pro-gun Republicans won a political victory that could pay off in the short term, but other companies won’t soon forget that Georgia allied itself with the NRA over one of its largest private employers, with 33,000 workers statewide.

“When you inject naked politics — and that’s what this is — into the economic equation, I think that it does have the chance of spooking the business community,” said Tom Stringer, a New York-based consultant for the business-advisory firm BDO. “One thing about the business community is that it has a very long memory.”

…Delta revealed Friday that the NRA discount that triggered the showdown had barely been used. Offered recently for NRA members flying to the group’s 2018 convention in Dallas, only 13 discounted tickets had been sold, Delta spokesman Trebor Banstetter said.

‘Naked politics’ of punishing Delta could haunt Georgia – ABC News

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4 Keys to Understanding Probe of Loan Helping Bernie Sanders’ Wife

On By peanutgallerynhIn Local Interest,, Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

Under Jane Sanders’ leadership, Burlington College overstated pledged contributions by about $2 million in its presentation to the state financing agency and the bank, Toensing said in his letter to Miller, the U.S. attorney for Vermont, and Gibson, FDIC’s inspector general.

…To secure the loan, she assured People’s United Bank and the state bonding agency that the college had $2.6 million in pledges, according to public documents Toensing obtained through the public records law and included in his letter to investigators. The $2.6 million was to shore up confidence in the school’s ability to pay back the loan.

However, the college reportedly collected $279,000 by the end of fiscal 2011 and had a total of $676,000 by 2014—almost a $2 million shortfall in confirmed donations and grants.

…Burlington College, unable to sustain the debt, closed in May 2016.

4 Keys to Understanding Probe of Loan Helping Bernie Sanders’ Wife

Whether there was any basis to the accusations or not, HRC would have been pilloried for being associated with such a dark cloud hanging around their head. Interesting to see how little media-space have been devoted to this story.

 

Striking teachers in West Virginia make sure kids still eat

On By peanutgallerynhIn Local Interest,, Money, Class, and Poverty,, Schools,Leave a comment

When teachers at Beckley Elementary in West Virginia considered going on strike, they worried their students would go to bed hungry. About 300 of the school’s 430 students rely on the free breakfast and lunch programs and a closed school meant many would have rumbling bellies.

…In a faculty meeting, they pooled money to purchase pizzas, fruit, and water. They set the first free lunch at a local grocery store on the second day of the strike, last Friday. When the local Sam’s Club and Little Caesar’s Pizza learned of it, they also donated items.

…During the four-day strike, teachers throughout West Virginia went out of their way to provide students with food. Teachers and staff at Horace Mann Middle School in Charleston prepared bagged lunches to send home with their students before they hit the picket line. Others worked with local food pantries to drop food off at students’ homes.

…As the strike lingered, teachers continued finding ways to feed their students. On Monday, Williams and his colleagues made snack bags, with nonperishable foods, such as ramen noodles, mac and cheese and ravioli, which they delivered to their students. Observing the children’s reaction made the effort worth it.

Striking teachers in West Virginia make sure kids still eat – TODAY.com

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Depth Of Russian Politician’s Cultivation Of NRA Ties Revealed

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Media and Culture,, Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

Russian politician Alexander Torshin said his ties to the NRA provided him access to Donald Trump — and the opportunity to serve as a foreign election observer in the United States during the 2012 election.

…These revelations come amid news that the FBI is investigating whether Torshin, the deputy governor of the Bank of Russia, illegally funneled money to the NRA to assist the Trump campaign in 2016, McClatchy reported in January.

Depth Of Russian Politician’s Cultivation Of NRA Ties Revealed : NPR

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Netanyahu questioned ‘under caution’ in corruption case

On By peanutgallerynhIn Middle East,, Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was questioned “under caution” in Case 4000, according to an Israeli official, making him a suspect now in three corruption investigations.

…Investigators questioned Netanyahu at his residence in Jerusalem for five hours Friday morning, marking the eighth time the Israeli leader has been questioned in graft probes targeting him and his inner circle.

An Israeli official told CNN that Netanyahu was questioned “under caution,” which refers to the questioning of someone suspected of having committed a crime, with the warning that anything they say, or decline to talk about, could be used against them in court proceedings.

Netanyahu questioned ‘under caution’ in corruption case – CNN

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FBI counterintel looks at Ivanka Trump business deal

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

The FBI has been looking into the negotiations and financing surrounding Trump International Hotel and Tower in Vancouver, according to a US official and a former US official.

…The FBI has been looking closely at the international business entanglements of both Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, to determine whether any of those deals could leave them vulnerable to pressure from foreign agents, including China, according to a US official.

…Because Ivanka Trump and Kushner are married, concerns that arise during one partner’s security clearance investigation could stall or block both of them from receiving a full clearance, according to a US official.

Any information that arises during the FBI’s security clearance checks that could be relevant to the special counsel’s investigation would be automatically shared, according to a US official.

…Ivanka Trump accompanied the President as two key events unfolded that Mueller is looking into as part of an obstruction of justice investigation: the firing of then-FBI Director James Comey and the misleading statement about the Trump team’s meeting with a Kremlin-connected Russian lawyer in Trump Tower in June 2016.

Exclusive: FBI counterintel looks at Ivanka Trump business deal – CNNPolitics

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State Department report will trim language on discrimination

On By peanutgallerynhIn Chick Stuff,, Domestic Affairs,, International Affairs,, Money, Class, and Poverty,, Race,Leave a comment

State Department officials have been ordered to pare back passages in a soon-to-be-released annual report on global human rights that traditionally discuss women’s reproductive rights and discrimination, according to five former and current department officials.

The directive calls for stripping passages that describe societal views on family planning, including how much access women have to contraceptives and abortion.

…This sends a clear signal that women’s reproductive rights are not a priority for this administration, and that it’s not even a rights violation we must or should report on,” one serving State Department official said.

…A broader section that chronicles racial, ethnic and sexual discrimination has also been ordered pared down, the current and former officials said.

…Tillerson and Trump have both said human rights should not block other U.S. foreign policy priorities, especially when it to comes to key allies such as Egypt or Saudi Arabia. But the administration hasn’t held back on talking about human rights when speaking out against enemies like Iran and North Korea.

Last year, Tillerson broke with tradition and chose not to personally unveil his department’s human rights report — dismaying activists and lawmakers, including Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, who believe human rights should be a pillar of U.S. foreign policy.

State Department report will trim language on women’s rights, discrimination – POLITICO

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Ben Carson Tries to Cancel $31,000 Dining Set Purchase for HUD Office

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

Ben Carson, the secretary of housing and urban development, is attempting to cancel a $31,000 order for a customized hardwood dining room table, chairs, sideboard and hutch the day after the chairman of the House Oversight Committee announced an investigation into the refurbishment of his HUD office.

…[Carson] was sharply criticized for the purchase at a time when his agency is facing $6.8 billion in budget cuts requested by the White House, seemed to change his mind.

…Representative Trey Gowdy, the South Carolina Republican who is chairman of the Oversight Committee, sent Mr. Carson’s staff a three-page letter on Wednesday demanding an explanation for the purchase of the dining room set, which might have violated a federal law requiring congressional approval for any office renovation expense exceeding $5,000.

…The department’s own lawyers warned Mr. Carson that the attendance of his son, a Maryland-based entrepreneur seeking to do business with the government, posed a serious potential conflict of interest.

Ben Carson Tries to Cancel $31,000 Dining Set Purchase for HUD Office – The New York Times

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HUD staffer files complaint over spending on Carson office redecoration

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

Helen Foster said she was told to “find money” beyond the legal $5,000 limit for redecorating. In one instance, she says a supervisor said that “$5,000 will not even buy a decent chair.”

…After she refused to misuse taxpayer dollars for the office redecoration project she was “retaliated against by being taken out of my position as Chief Administrative Officer.”

…Foster, who is still a HUD employee, though detailed to another agency, told CNN that she was contacted by the Office of Special Counsel (this office is unrelated to Justice Department special counsel Robert Muller) for an interview last week. The office has 120 days to decide whether it will launch an official investigation. If the OSC finds wrongdoing, it can pursue disciplinary actions against the agency, arbitrate the situation and it could also seek relief on Foster’s behalf — including getting her previous job back.

HUD staffer files complaint over Carson office redecoration – CNNPolitics

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Paul Manafort, Rick Gates laundered more than $30 million, according to new Mueller indictment

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

The filing adds allegations of tax evasion and bank fraud and significantly increases the legal jeopardy facing Paul Manafort, who managed Trump’s campaign for several months in 2016, and longtime associate Rick Gates. Both had already faced the prospect of at least a decade in prison if convicted at trial.

The two men were initially charged in a 12-count indictment in October that accused them of a multimillion-dollar money-laundering conspiracy tied to lobbying work for a Russia-friendly Ukrainian political party.

The new charges, contained in a 32-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Virginia, allege that Manafort and Gates doctored financial documents, lied to tax preparers and defrauded banks — using money they cycled through offshore accounts to spend lavishly, including on real estate, interior decorating and other luxury goods.

…The charges against Manafort and Gates arise from their foreign lobbying and efforts that prosecutors say they made to conceal their income by disguising it as loans from offshore companies. More recently, after their Ukrainian work dwindled, the indictment also accuses them of fraudulently obtaining more than $20 million in loans from financial institutions.

…Two other people who aided Trump in the campaign or in the White House — former national security adviser Michael Flynn and former campaign foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos — have pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about their foreign contacts. Neither man has been sentenced. Both are cooperating with the investigation.

Paul Manafort, Rick Gates laundered more than $30 million, according to new Mueller indictment | PBS NewsHour

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Trump officials fight eviction from Panama hotel they manage

On By peanutgallerynhIn Money, Class, and Poverty,, The Americas,Leave a comment

One of President Trump’s family businesses is battling an effort to physically evict its team of executives from a luxury hotel in Panama where they manage operations, and police have been called to keep the peace, The Associated Press has learned. Witnesses told the AP they saw Trump’s executives carrying files to a room for shredding.

…In October, Ithaca Capital led a push to terminate Trump Hotel’s management contract and seek compensatory damages. Trump’s company – which he still owns but does not directly control – refused to hand over control of the property, arguing that the vote to fire Trump Hotels was invalid.

A Panamanian court declined to support that claim in December, and the parties have since been fighting in court. The AP reported that the Trump management team ran off a group of Marriott executives who had been invited to tour the property amid a search for a replacement hotel operator.

On Thursday, Fintiklis arrived at the property with management staff and lawyers intending to take over the hotel immediately. The Trump management team again refused to yield control of the property, and according to the legal complaint filed by Ithaca’s lawyers, refused to allow Fintiklis to check into any of his company’s 202 hotel rooms.

Trump officials fight eviction from Panama hotel they manage

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The Outer Banks Voice: While we argued, legislators trashed the plastic bag ban

On By peanutgallerynhIn Environment,, Local Interest,, Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

So ask yourself: Who benefits from repealing the ban, if it really wasn’t harming locally owned stores?

Which businesses were experiencing significant (even if not “harmful” to the bottom line) costs complying with the ban?

Who would be afraid of the legislature extending the ban to other areas of the state, including inland areas?

The answer to that is simple: big box stores.

The Outer Banks Voice – While we argued, legislators trashed the plastic bag ban

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The Outer Banks Voice: CCA, GOP to blame for proposed license change

On By peanutgallerynhIn Environment,, Local Interest,, Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

The proposed definition would require standard commercial license holders to earn at least 50 percent of his or her income from commercial fishing, make $10,000 or more a year in fish sold, and also turn in 36 or more Trip Tickets per year.

…Corbett seemed to back arguments that the new definitions were needed to eliminate commercial fishing licenses held by recreational anglers who used the licenses to skirt catch limits.

…“I fish pound nets for flounder. It’s about a six-month job to get flounder nets prepared and set and you got three months of fishing and you fish two days a week because you let them sit for several days before you fish them.

“I don’t believe in any year I would have made 36 Trip Tickets,” Tobin said. “With that said, in a good year, we’re making $75,000 to $100,000 a year.”

“In a bad year, when there’s hurricanes, we make less than $10,000 because our nets are torn up.”

…The state Republican Party wasted time repealing a plastic bag ban that cost no jobs locally.

One has to now question why they are aiding [an effort]  destroy a business that has an estimated value of $25 million annually to Dare County’s economy alone and supports entire communities such as Wanchese and Stumpy Point.

The Outer Banks Voice – Commentary: CCA, GOP to blame for proposed license change

It does sound like these changes would make it harder for people who are not part of a huge commercial fishing outfit to fish for a living. Why not require commercially licensed fishermen to sell their catch or losses instead? Or create a separate license to smaller commercial outfits?

NRA backlash: Major bank and car-rental giant are ending partnerships

On By peanutgallerynhIn Media and Culture,, Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

Companies may be starting to rethink their ties to the National Rifle Association in the wake of last week’s massacre at a Florida high school, with a major bank and car-rental giant announcing Thursday they were dropping partnership programs with the NRA.

…First National Bank of Omaha, the nation’s largest privately owned bank, said Thursday it will not renew its contract with the NRA for a branded Visa card.

…Later Thursday, privately held Enterprise Holdings Inc. — the parent company of the Enterprise, Alamo and National car rental brands — said it will end its partnership with the NRA, which gave NRA members discounts. In tweets, Enterprise Holdings said that program will end next month.

NRA backlash: Major bank and car-rental giant are ending partnerships

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Trump Jr. says missing out on India deals because of father’s self-imposed curbs

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

Trump Jr. says missing out on India deals because of father’s self-imposed curbs

Godd lawd, Junior. Did you have a brain tumor for breakfast? Those limitations were about as voluntary as membership in a press gang.

…And stop your snivelling for gawd’s sake, it beyond unbecoming all the way to embaressing.

Mueller indicts Alex van der Zwaan: What it means and why it matters

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Europe,, Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

Yanukovych was in the midst of a power struggle with another prominent Ukrainian politician, which he decided to solve by jailing her in the fall of 2011. Manafort and Gates’s job was to run cover for this clearly undemocratic prosecution. So they retained a team from Skadden Arps, which included van der Zwaan, to put together a “report” that conveniently concluded that there was no political motive for putting her in jail.

This was a big deal in Ukraine but a relatively obscure issue for most of the rest of the world.

…The key piece of information in all of this is the timing: Manafort resigned as Trump’s campaign manager on August 19, 2016 — weeks before the alleged conversations between Gates, Person A, and van der Zwaan. The resignation was the result of widespread reporting about Manafort’s shady ties to Yanukovych, particularly an allegedly off-the-books payment.

If Gates and van der Zwaan were talking about the Skadden report in September 2016, and van der Zwaan felt the need to lie to the FBI about it, it suggests that there may have been something criminal about the report’s production — or at least, something whose release would be politically damaging.

Mueller indicts Alex van der Zwaan: What it means and why it matters – Vox

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Manafort Charges Renew Questions About Skadden’s Work in Ukraine

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Europe,, Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

One of New York’s most prestigious law firms raised eyebrows five years ago when it produced a report for the pro-Russian government in Ukraine that largely defended the prosecution and conviction of Yulia Tymoshenko, the blond-braided former prime minister.

The report, by Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLC, defied the view held by the U.S. and the European Union that the case against her was politically motivated. The firm’s $12,000 payment was modest, just below the amount that required public bidding.

The following year, however, with no further work done, Ukraine sent Skadden $1 million. After the pro-Russian government was run out of town in 2014, the new authorities began investigating.

…Manafort and his partner Richard Gates are accused of laundering millions of dollars from unreported work for Ukraine and its political parties, money that ran through offshore accounts.

…Manafort was a longtime political adviser to Tymoshenko’s rival, the pro-Russian politician Viktor Yanukovych, advising him on political strategy and sprucing up his image in Washington. After Yanukovych clinched the presidency in 2010, he ordered an investigation of Tymoshenko that resulted in a conviction and seven-year sentence, widely condemned abroad.

…Correspondence between Craig, Manafort and the Ukrainian government show Skadden agreeing to accept payment from a “third party,” Radionov, the prosecutor, said. What that means is unclear.

…The indictment provides fresh details about Manafort’s clandestine influence campaign on behalf of Yanukovych in the U.S. It alleges that offshore accounts associated with Manafort and Gates paid more than $2 million between 2012 and 2014 to two companies that lobbied members of Congress and their staffs about Ukraine sanctions and “the propriety of imprisoning his presidential rival.”

…Investigators in the U.S. and Ukraine have been looking into Manafort’s and Skadden’s work. But Serhiy Gorbatyuk, the Ukrainian prosecutor investigating Yanukovych-era crimes, says seven letters from the general prosecutor to the U.S. Justice Department have gone unanswered. This week, an FBI agent meeting with Ukrainian prosecutors in Kiev got an earful about lack of cooperation and failing to use proper procedures to collect documents in Ukraine, Radionov said.

Manafort Charges Renew Questions About Skadden’s Work in Ukraine – Bloomberg

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Mueller’s interest in Kushner grows to include foreign financing efforts

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

Special counsel Robert Mueller’s interest in Jared Kushner has expanded beyond his contacts with Russia and now includes his efforts to secure financing for his company from foreign investors during the presidential transition, according to people familiar with the inquiry.

…Mueller’s investigators have been asking questions, including during interviews in January and February, about Kushner’s conversations during the transition to shore up financing for 666 Fifth Avenue, a Kushner Companies-backed New York City office building reeling from financial troubles, according to people familiar with the special counsel investigation.

…One line of questioning from Mueller’s team involves discussions Kushner had with Chinese investors during the transition, according to the sources familiar with the inquiry.

…Mueller’s team has also asked about Kushner’s dealings with a Qatari investor regarding the same property, according to one of the sources. Kushner and his company were negotiating for financing from a prominent Qatari investor, former prime minister Hamad bin Jassim Al Thani, according to The Intercept. But as with Anbang, these efforts stalled.

…Also during the transition, Kushner met with Sergey Gorkov, chairman of Russian state-run Vnesheconombank. Kushner testified on Capitol Hill that the meeting was for official US government purposes. But the Russian bank maintains that the sit-down in New York was part of their “roadshow of business meetings” and that Gorkov met Kushner because he ran Kushner Companies.

…Flynn, who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI and is cooperating with the investigation, attended some of Kushner’s meetings with foreign nationals. Under his plea deal, Flynn is obligated to tell Mueller’s investigators everything he knows about these meetings.

Mueller’s interest in Kushner grows to include foreign financing efforts – CNNPolitics

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Former Trump aide Gates to testify against Man

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

Former Trump presidential campaign aide Rick Gates has agreed to testify against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and will plead guilty to fraud related charges, according to the Los Angeles Times.

…Gates can expect “a substantial reduction in his sentence,” to likely about 18 months in prison if he cooperates with the investigation, according to the LA Times report. He is also likely going to have to forfeit any cash or valuables obtained through his alleged illegal activity.

LA Times: Former Trump aide Gates to testify against Man – CNNPolitics

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