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.
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ASolo ago
How much steam you think Pizzagate gonna get now, ESPECIALLY once news of child pornography on COMET PING PONG and PIZZA private servers also gets national attention?
Are_we__sure ago
Why are you lying about this article?
Why do you lies line up exactly with a different campaign of lies?
The article doesn't mention UraniumOne at all. So why are you lying to everyone on Voat and claiming it does.
Again I ask why?
ASolo ago
While this isn't necessarily a retraction, it is more of a CORRECTION. You are right, my limited understanding of the entirety of the Podesta Groups lobbying contracts are responsible for the confusion and these subpoenas were served on the Podesta Group for work that would "boost Ukraine’s reputation in the United States and increase its chances of joining the European Union" and NOT for their involvement in the Uranium1 issue as stated in the title. Further research into this issue today has helped clear up my misunderstanding.
While "both firms claim that they were unaware of any connection to the Ukrainian government", the Clinton political mechanization's in the Balkan/Kosovo conflicts during their tenure make that lie utterly contemptuous.
I do apologize for any misleading information.
The rise and fall of the Podestas, Washington’s powerful political brother act
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-podestas-washingtons-powerful-political-brother-act/2017/11/10/04bf1f6e-c4a6-11e7-afe9-4f60b5a6c4a0_story.html?utm_term=.02d34e123c94
"Podesta and the other firm, Mercury Public Affairs, say that they were hired by the European Center for a Modern Ukraine, a nonprofit group based in Brussels, to boost Ukraine’s reputation in the United States and increase its chances of joining the European Union. Both firms claim that they were unaware of any connection to the Ukrainian government. The Podesta Group received $1.1 million between 2012 and 2014 from the organization.
Its representation was originally listed under the Lobbyist Disclosure Act but not the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), as required. A Podesta Group spokeswoman says that following media reports that the ECMU may have been connected to Ukraine’s government, the firm submitted new disclosure forms, after which “the FARA office at DOJ informed the Podesta Group that it was not the subject nor a target of an investigation.”
Legalities aside, the question among lobbyists in Washington is why someone at the top of his game like Tony would have anything to do with Manafort, whom one Republican lobbyist described as a “shady businessman advocating for murderers, thugs and thieves — even if those criminals were heads of states.” Sources close to the Podesta Group claim that Manafort was not involved with the ECMU at the time the firm worked on its behalf.
Tony declined to comment on anything involving the investigation. His company has “fully cooperated” with Mueller’s office and “taken every possible step to provide documentation that confirms compliance with the law,” according to the spokeswoman.
But the news was enough to end Tony’s tenure at his own firm. He resigned just hours after Manfort’s indictment went public."
Are_we__sure ago
Good on your for your retraction. Kudos. If you genuinely misunderstood the issue, I withdraw lie and will subsitute, "This is false and you are misinformed."
It does show the power of the dishonest UraniumOne narrative though.
Here's a non-dishonest summary. Mueller is not investigating Uranium dealings in any shape or form. Not UraniumOne, nor the Tenex the company involved in the bribery crime. Mueller is investigating Russian interference in our presidential election. This led him to look at Trump's campaign manager Paul Manafort. Looking at Paul Manafort led to several shady transactions that looked like money laundering. A local NYC blogger got a tip and found out that Paul Manafort owned a brownstone in Brooklyn. Real Estate records showed. The building was bought for $3 million dollars in an ALL CASH no mortgage deal by a shell company and later ownership was transferred to Paul Manafort for $0. Manafort then got $6.8 million in mortgages on the house. (5.3 million of these was for a one year mortgage. Due in Jan 2018.) https://pardonmeforasking.blogspot.com/2017/10/paul-manafort-carroll-gardens_30.html
This basically classic money laundering. Further examination of Manafort found other NYC properties with the same MO. Mueller has found tens of millions of dollars that Manafort has been paid to him by Pro-Russian Urkanian political party and he has never declared this money. Among things he was paid for was lobbying for Ukraine in the US and setting up a non-profit organization in Belgium who's purpose was to do PR for the corrupt Ukrainian president.
This was illegal because Manafort did not disclose this under the Foreign Agent Registration Act. This is where Tony Podesta comes in. The Belgian non-profit was intended to look like an International Organization and it hired a couple of firms in the US to do PR work, a Democratic firm, The Podesta Group and another Republican affiliated firm. The Podesta group didn't disclose under FARA. They are claiming they the work they did never counted as lobbying work and they disclosed the work in a different way to Congress. In effect they are arguing they used a loophole. Whatever the legal status of doing it that way, that argument probably falls apart if they knew the money was really coming from Ukraine and Paul Manafort. The Podesta group denied this was the case in a cease and desist letter to Tucker Carson's show. https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4164203-Tony-Podesta-Cease-amp-Desist-to-Tucker-Carlson.html
So what we know is
A. The Podesta Group was subpoenaed to turn over documents and testimony.
B. NBC News described The Podesta Groups and Tony Podesta as "subjects" of Mueller's investigation. In this case a subject has a specific meaning, meaning the subject might be indicted. Manafort was a "target" of the Mueller investigation meaning, he was almost certain to be indicted. It's possible to subpoenaed to the grand jury and not have any legal jeopardy. If they were just looking at Manafort, they still could have requested documents and testimony from Podesta to find out things about Manafort's potential crimes, but it seems that Mueller is going to see Podesta violated FARA too.
C. None of this involves pizzagate or uranium. Folks are deliberately trying to confuse people about that.
D. Neither Tony Podesta nor John Podesta are in custody. That was always goofy nonsense.
E. Tony Podesta has stepped down from the Podesta group and this news has definitely affected his firm.
What we don't know.
If John Podesta is involved at all. He doesn't work at The Podesta Group and hasn't had a financial interest there since the 1990's, I believe.
That Tony Podesta is indicted. It's possible that the loophole that Manafort is claiming stands up or Mueller can't find enough evidence to prove a FARA violation. It's possible that the sealed indictments include Podesta and given E. above, I think this is likely