Russia Scandal Befalls Two Brothers: John and Tony Podesta

By KENNETH P. VOGELNOV. 10, 2017

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/10/us/politics/john-tony-podesta-mueller-russia-investigation.html

WASHINGTON — One is a rail-thin liberal idealist who spent his career in government, on campaigns and at think tanks. The other is an overweight pragmatist who made a fortune lobbying for all manner of liberal boogeymen.

And now, in a twist with Shakespearean undertones, the two influential Washington brothers have found themselves on opposite sides of the scandals over Russian interference in the 2016 election.

John D. Podesta, perhaps more than anyone except Hillary Clinton, was a victim of the Russian cyberassault on allies of her presidential campaign, of which he was the chairman. Emails stolen from his personal Gmail account were dribbled out by WikiLeaks last fall, revealing the embarrassing rifts roiling the campaign and Washington’s Democratic establishment. He has pushed hard for an aggressive investigation of Russia’s role in the election.

Last week’s indictment did not name the Podesta Group or another firm with which it worked on the Ukraine account, Mercury Public Affairs. Instead, the indictment referred to them as “two Washington, D.C., firms” that were recruited by Mr. Manafort and Mr. Gates.

While both firms disclosed the work to Congress under less-rigorous domestic lobbying rules, they did not initially register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. The indictment alleges that was done intentionally — by routing the money through a Brussels-based nonprofit — “to minimize public disclosure of their lobbying campaign” that “was under the ultimate direction” of Mr. Yanukovych, his party and his government.

Which of course was obfuscation due to his known extremely close ties to HILLARY CLINTON and her influence in the State Department, The Clinton Foundation, and the upcoming election.