To me personally, the single most interesting thing in this was:
begin partial quote:
"Trump's corporate attorney Michael Cohen gave to congressional investigators last week. For the deal, Cohen worked with Felix Sater, a mob-linked felon and former Trump business partner."
It is interesting to me that one of Trump's business partners is Felix Sater who is a mob linked Felon. So, we now have a president who does business with the mob here in the U.S. Does he also do business with the Russian Mob as well?
Begin quote from:
Experts: Trump Tower deal risked compromising Trump - CNNPolitics
www.cnn.com/2017/09/06/politics/trump-tower-moscow...risked.../index.html
18 hours ago - Senators told CNN on Tuesday they want to learn more about the Trump Organization's efforts to do business in Russia during the presidential ...
memeorandum: Experts: Trump Tower deal risked compromising ...
www.memeorandum.com/170906/p81
13 hours ago - Hurricane Irma just slammed into Trump's Caribbean estate — and is headed toward his Florida properties — A ferocious Hurricane Irma ...
LI News Radio Experts: Trump Tower deal risked compromising ...
linewsradio.com/experts-trump-tower-deal-risked-compromising-trump/
'
Experts: Trump Tower deal risked compromising Trump
Story highlights
- Experts say Russian dealings risked drawing Trump and associates closer to a hostile government
- Trump's associates may have unwittingly wandered right into the lion's den
Washington (CNN)Returning
to Washington after a recess full of new Russia revelations, senators
from both parties told CNN on Tuesday that as the Hill investigations
ramp up this fall, they want to learn more about the Trump
Organization's efforts to do business in Russia during the presidential
campaign.
The newly detailed effort to
license Donald Trump's name to a proposed tower in Moscow began in fall
2015 and resulted in Trump signing a non-binding agreement to start
formal negotiations, according to a statement Trump's corporate attorney
Michael Cohen gave to congressional investigators last week. For the
deal, Cohen worked with Felix Sater, a mob-linked felon and former Trump
business partner.
Sen.
Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina Republican who isn't shy about
criticizing Trump, told CNN on Tuesday he "would assume" that Cohen will
be asked to testify before Congress about the matter.
"It
seems to be inconsistent with the idea that the Trump Organization was
having no business dealings with Russia," Graham said. "That seems to be
inconsistent with that statement."
Virginia
Sen. Mark Warner, the Democratic vice chair of the Senate intelligence
committee, said his panel's investigation into Russian meddling will
likely drag into next year as it sifts through new leads.
"It
raises a whole host of questions that people associated with then
candidate Trump were trying to do business with senior folks in Russia,"
Warner told CNN on Tuesday. "Lots of individuals' blanket denials of
involvement and engagement with Russia months ago have all proven to be
not true."
Experts with experience
in intelligence operations and Russian tactics tell CNN that the Russian
dealings risked drawing Trump and his associates closer to a hostile
government already working covertly to sway the US election, and gave
the Kremlin an opening to find leverage over his team.
It
wasn't publicly known at the time, but the Russian government's "active
measures" campaign was already at full speed, and Russia soon started
looking for pathways into the Trump orbit. By seeking a deal in Russia,
Trump's associates may have unwittingly wandered right into the lion's
den.
In an attempt to move the
project along, Cohen even sought help in mid-January 2016 from the
Kremlin's top spokesman, Dmitry Peskov. He emailed Peskov through a
general address for press inquiries. Cohen said he never got a response
from Peskov, which Peskov confirmed to reporters in Moscow last week.
Soon after he sent that email, Cohen says he decided to terminate the
deal.
"Peskov is one of Putin's
senior lieutenants," said Steve Hall, a CNN contributor and former top
CIA official who served for 30 years. "He has access to Putin and is as
influential as anybody."
While
Cohen tried to advance the deal, Russian President Vladimir Putin and
his senior staff were managing the campaign to interfere in the US
election, according to the US intelligence community.
Russian-backed
hackers had already breached the Democratic National Committee's
servers in summer 2015, months before Cohen reached out to Peskov. And
the US intelligence community assessment cited
credible reports that some of Russia's "professional trolls" on social
media started advocating for Trump as early as December 2015, while the
Trump Tower deal was in the works.
The
US intelligence community report also says Peskov helped create RT, the
Kremlin-controlled TV network that pushes propaganda to American
audiences and advocated for Trump as part of Russia's meddling
campaign. RT "consistently" denigrated Democratic nominee Hillary
Clinton and intensely focused on the WikiLeaks releases, all while
praising Trump, the US intelligence assessment said.
Experts
in espionage say the Trump-approved effort to seek business in Russia
during the campaign might have given the Kremlin an opening to collect
intelligence and maybe even find some leverage during the campaign, a
matter that will likely be of interest to special counsel investigators.
Every
interaction with Trump's associates, even above-board efforts to pursue
business deals, could give Russian operatives an opportunity to "find
out who Trump is, how he operates, and how he thinks," according to Jack
Barsky, a former KGB spy who worked undercover in the US for a decade.
"By
doing this, Trump and his organization created multiple vulnerabilities
for themselves," Barsky said. "Doing business with big corporations
over there doesn't mean you become an agent of their government, but it
does mean you have to be really careful. There's always the [Russian]
government looming in the background."
There
isn't any indication that the Russian firm Cohen was negotiating with,
I.C. Expert Investment Company, has any ties to Russian intelligence.
But four of the seven "banking partners" that it lists on its website
are either completely or partially controlled by Russian government
entities. And even private banks in Russia can only survive with tacit
support from Putin's government, Barsky said.
"Then
comes the leverage -- this is what [foreign] intelligence services do,"
said Joshua Geltzer, who has previously held senior positions in the
National Security Council and the Justice Department. "They tuck away
things that they might be able to use to their advantage down the road.
Knowing something that the world doesn't know, whether it is
embarrassing or just unwanted, is a very powerful thing."
Cohen's
email to Peskov, even if its content was harmless, could fall under
this category if the Kremlin knew about it and the Trump team insisted
there were no contacts. Trump and his aides repeatedly denied any interactions between the campaign and Russia, only to be proven wrong later by the press.
Former
acting attorney general Sally Yates told Congress earlier this year
that a "compromise situation" can emerge when US officials make a
statement to the public that the Russians already know to be untrue or
misleading. In that case, Americans "could be blackmailed by the
Russians," she said.
Trump himself insisted on numerous occasions that he had no business ties to Russia.
"I
have nothing to do with Russia, how many times do I have to say that?"
Trump said at a press conference in July 2016. "What do I have to do
with Russia? You know the closest I came to Russia, I bought a house a
number of years ago, in Palm Beach. ... I sold it to a Russian for $100
million."
Trump repeated his denial
at an October 2016 rally, omitting mention of the failed Trump Tower
deal: "I had Miss Universe there a couple of years ago. Other than that,
no, I had nothing to do (with Russia)."
Peskov
said last week he didn't reply to the email. No evidence has emerged to
suggest that Peskov or any other Russians used this situation for
leverage, despite having the opportunity to do so.
"My
email to Mr. Peskov gave no 'leverage' to anyone," Cohen told CNN in a
statement Monday. "Its straightforward content is about a business
proposal that I rejected within a few days of sending the email. It was
about a building proposal, nothing more."
In
defense of his client, Cohen's attorney, Stephen Ryan, referred CNN to
Gregory Copley, a foreign policy analyst who founded a think tank called
the International Strategic Studies Association. In an appearance
earlier this year on Kremlin-controlled RT,
Copley said he does not believe Russia interfered in the 2016 election
-- contrary to the conclusions of the US intelligence community.
"From
what we know, there's no legal or political embarrassment for President
Trump or his team from the Cohen email to Peskov," Copley told CNN on
Monday. "It would be a stretch of the imagination to think that the fact
or substance of the email could be used to obtain political or legal
leverage over Trump or anyone in the campaign."
White
House press secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters last week that Trump
-- who Cohen said did not know of the email when it was sent -- wasn't
worried about Cohen's activities.
"It's
pretty clear that there's really nothing there to this story, nothing
to move forward," Sanders said. "The President at that time was very
focused on his campaign, and that was the priority he had at the time,
and so certainly not something I believe he's at all concerned about."
Special Counsel Robert Mueller has expanded his
Russian meddling investigation to examine some of Trump's prior
business activities, including past deals in Russia and with Russians.
Mueller's team is exploring whether any of these deals could put Trump
or his associates in a compromising position.
In
a statement given last week to congressional investigators and obtained
by CNN, Cohen maintained that he was never a part of the Trump
campaign. Trump, and other senior administration officials, have
repeatedly insisted that his presidential campaign had no improper
contacts with Russians.
While Cohen
was not an official part of the Trump campaign, he was never far from
it. Sources who were part of the campaign tell CNN that Cohen advised
Trump on personnel. And he granted dozens of TV interviews throughout
the campaign to promote Trump and attack his opponents.
Multiple
sources tell CNN that Cohen was not paid by the Trump campaign, and
Federal Election Commission records dating back to mid-2015 don't show
any direct payments to Cohen.
Cohen will face questions from the House intelligence committee when he testifies likely this month.
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