2018

TRUMP HAD TIES TO RUSSIAN MOB FIGURES

It’s satisfying when previous reporting gets picked up by the Main Stream Media.

Following up on the release of the House Intelligence Committee’s interview transcripts with Fusion GPS, news organizations are parsing through the 10+ hours of Glenn Simpson’s testimony. There are several juicy nuggets in there. Among them, Simpson goes into detail about Trump’s connections to Russian Organized Crime, and how his resorts and golf courses are giant money pit.

Back in Money Laundering I described Donald Trump’s business empire like The Producers; he makes money when his projects fail, and only makes something when he has to. This applies double to his resorts and golf courses.

When a normal, law-abiding citizen wants to build a golf course, they’ll do their research, see if it’s a viable option and if they would make money, then raise capital and/or take out loans to fund the construction. They would usually pick a place that either doesn’t have a golf course but has expressed a desire for one, or pick a place where there aren’t enough golf courses. The quality of the course will be determined by the prices they wish to charge, the services they offer, and the clientele they wish to draw. The same thing goes with resorts. It doesn’t make monetary sense to put a fancy, high priced club in the middle of a dozen other clubs that are more prestigious, better adorned, and cost less to use. Construction costs are kept as low as possible, all debts are paid at the end of the project, and quality people are hired to fill key positions.

When Trump makes one of his money laundering deals with an Oligarch, the mission isn’t creating a successful club, but making as much money as possible, and getting out quick. Trump’s team will pick a location that is usually overwhelmed with better golf clubs and has shown no desire for his brand of “luxury.” They will build average or below average courses, at least compared to the local competition, and they will set a ridiculously high price point while either using lower quality construction crews that were cheap, or he’d stiff his contractors claiming they did a lousy job. Debts are accrued at a record pace, funding brought in from illegal sources, then the money is distributed among Trump and his Oligarch investors while everyone else that joined on gets screwed. Trump will take out a mortgage or two on the property with crazy terms, with no intention of ever paying the money back. The reputation of the course craters, and eventually he declares bankruptcy while his investors are left holding the bag.

That’s Trump’s resort business in a nutshell; a front for money laundering.

It’s even more obvious when the money comes from a Russian bank, which became Trump’s primary source of financing in the late 2000’s.

The more attention this aspect of Trump’s behavior gets public scrutinization, the sooner he’s removed from office.

DUETSCHE BANK LOOKING INTO SUSPICIOUS TRANSACTIONS FOR JARED KUSHNER

Speaking of money laundering, DB’s back in the news. This time, they’ve informed Robert Mueller and federal authorities about unusual transactions for Jared Kushner.

Jared is in some very deep debt that is due soon, and is up to his eyeballs in all kinds of legal matters, including money laundering, perjury, obstruction of justice, and possible espionage charges.

DEVIN NUNES TRIES TO STIR UP CONTROVERSY ABOUT FISA BILL WITH MEMO

Dipshit Cowpoke is at it again.

This time, Devin Nunes circulating a memo around Congress trying to lay out all of the ways that Obama and crew abused FISA and 702, and that the bill that just passed both houses of Congress needs to be vetoed by Trump.

This is complete and total bullshit. How do I know? Let me count the ways…

Representative Devin Nunes has no credibility.
Everyone who saw it that isn’t one of his pals says the memo is a crock of shit.
FISA subsection 702 covers surveillance on foreign nationals located on foreign soil. Not foreigners in America, or Americans outside of the country.
Russia, specifically Putin, does not like 702.
WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, and Edward Snowden have been attacking this bill and pushing for this memo to be released.
The #releasethememo hashtag is being pushed almost entirely by Russian bots and trolls.
Nunes has run interference for Trump on several occasions. Unmasking, 702, Trump Towers “wiretap”, hamstringing the Russian Investigation, blocking the Fusion GPS transcripts.

Nunes is complicit, and in WAY over his head.

POSSIBLE GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN LOOMING

Leave it to the current version of the GOP to fail to keep the Government operating while they are in control of everything.

It’s 4pm EST right now. I’ll update this later in the night, see how this goes.

TRUMP SPENT 38 WEEKENDS AT HIS PROPERTIES DURING FIRST YEAR IN OFFICE

That’s 73 percent of weekends in his first year as President. Remember when he said Obama golfed too much?

38 weekends. Each one of them at taxpayer expense. Each one them charging the United States Government for use of his facilities to ensure that he received the protection required by law. He made money off of this by forcing the Secret Service and other agencies to use his equipment.

What makes this worse than it sounds is that out of the remaining 14 weekends, 5 of them were at Camp David, the secured facility traditionally used for Presidential retreats, and another 4 were on foreign trips.

14 – 5 – 4 = 5. 5 weekends in the White House…almost.

On those weekends, he’d usually go down to his club in Sterling, VA. for a round of golf during the day, or the Trump International Hotel in D.C. for a fundraising dinner.

Plus, most of those were 3 day weekends, and he refuses to do actual work on those trips unless absolutely necessary.

Remember, there’s a large group of people out there praising his work ethic.

OMOAROSA MAY HAVE RECORDED CONVERSATIONS IN WHITE HOUSE

Take this with a grain of salt, but this might explain a few things.

So, Omarosa, Trump’s black friend from The Apprentice, worked in the White House doing… no one has a clue what she did. But she was there. Until she wasn’t several weeks ago, when she was fired while quitting, and reportedly escorted off of the premises.

Around the same time, there was a new security policy announced that personal cell phone use would not be permitted in work areas.

Supposedly, Omarosa would use her iPhone to record conversations as her way of taking notes. Word got around that she was doing this, and planned to sell her story when she left.

NRA TIES WITH PUTIN ALLIES GO BACK YEARS

This is a thread that needs to be tugged.

This post includes a very in-depth timeline of Russian interference and infiltration into the National Rifle Association going back to 2011. This lines up with the introduction of the Magnitsky Act into Congress. Putin made stopping this bill the centerpiece of his administration. He saw how much damage it could do to him and his allies, and wanted to prevent it at all costs.

The timeline really picks up in November 2012, when Torshin was invited by G. Kline Preston to observe the 2012 elections.

Torshin was charged with money laundering in Spain, and only avoided arrest because he was tipped off by a corrupt Russian prosecutor.

Let’s see where this leads us.

STORMY REGRETTED AFFAIR WITH DONALD TRUMP, FELT SORRY FOR MELANIA

Time for another update on this universe’s 6th biggest story of the week. The President had an affair with a Porn Star.

This time, it’s regret. According to her 2011 interview, Stormy later felt regret at her affair with Trump, and she also felt sorry for what she did to Melania.

I’m going to assume that she’s not the only woman who ever felt regret at having sex with Donald Trump. Disgust, fear, and loathing are probably other common reactions.

Another tidbit of information. Remember in Daily Check-In 01/18/2018 when I mentioned she was spanking him with a rolled up Forbes Magazine? Turns out that it had his face on it, and he brought it with him. He was getting spanked with his own likeness.

I’m pretty sure that this clicks a checkbox or two on the Narcissistic Personality Inventory Test.

That’s it for now. I’m publishing this earlier in the day, knowing full well that I’ll likely be back later tonight with some crazy shit.

Thank you, and have a good one.

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.” –

Katy Tur

Daily Check-In 01/18/2018

NRA UNDER INVESTIGATION BY FBI FOR FUNNELING RUSSIAN MONEY INTO REPUBLICAN PARTY

Remember back in Daily Check-In 10/2/2017 when I said Fuck the NRA?

Or how about in Holiday Weekend Check-In Thanksgiving 2017 when the Daily Caller, of all places, reported that Russians had infiltrated the NRA?

Well, consider this a confirmation post. Allow me a moment to gloat…

I FUCKING CALLED IT!!

The FBI is investigating the National Rifle Association for their ties to Russian Oligarchs, and their use as a middle man for the Russians and the Republican Party.

Aleksander Torshin, a Russian Oligarch with very close ties to Putin and avid gun nut, reportedly worked with the NRA to help them funnel millions of dollars into the Republican Party. Initial reported figures are about $55 million, but this doesn’t include the $15 million that didn’t need to be reported to the Federal Election Committee since they were spent on online advertisements.

55 + 15 = 70. $70 million. That’s a fuckton of money.

We already know that Torshin set up a meeting with Donnie Jr. at the May 2016 NRA convention. And we know that Sheriff David Clarke was in Russia at the same time that Mike Flynn was meeting with Putin.

Here’s David Clarke sitting around a table with the NRA President, Aleksander Torshin, Pete Brownell (President of the NRA) and Dmitry Rogozin (Russian Deputy Prime Minister).

This photo came from RT. Here’s another version with more people identified:

Image result for david clarke torshin

The NRA is now part of the Russian Investigation.

Why is this so big?

The NRA is the largest gun manufacturing lobby in America, and the largest single donor to the Republican Party for more than 40 years. They’re set up so that part of their group can donate money without disclosing where it came from or where it’s going, which makes it perfect for laundering foreign money into campaigns. Plus, there’s the emotional part.

A lot of Americans are members of the NRA. Many gun clubs and gun ranges demand that all members join. I used to be a member of the NRA because my family had a membership to a gun club when I was growing up, and the family rates were cheaper. Americans love their guns, and many of them equate the NRA with the right to own guns.

There’s also a lot of Americans that see them for what they are; a borderline terrorist organization that stands directly in the way of enacting any semblance of common sense laws that would prevent the countless mass murders that only occur in America.

The NRA is one of those institutions in America that people looked up to. They trust it, believe what they said, often against their better judgement. But many people see through it.

According to Glenn Simpson of Fusion GPS, his research had found that Russia had infiltrated the NRA. More on that later.

TRUMP PERSONALLY INSTRUCTED BANNON TO NOT ANSWER HOUSE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE QUESTIONS

This is going to end up biting Trump in the ass.

Supposedly, Trump had a lawyer talking to Bannon’s lawyer during the testimony a couple days ago, and they were coordinating on which questions Steve would answer.

This Busch League Bullshit might work for a very partisan House Committee that doesn’t want to find the truth, but it won’t work with the Special Counselor.

HOUSE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE VOTES TO RELEASE FUSION GPS TRANSCRIPTS

It’s about fucking time.

The House Intelligence Committee voted to release their transcripts from their interview with Fusion GPS. This was a majority vote, though I don’t have the actual numbers.

There’s bound to be quite a bit of meat in this interview. We’ve already seen reports about Russia’s attempts to infiltrate the NRA and other conservative groups, as well as the Kremlin Purge following the release of the Steele Dossier.

HERE IS THE TRANSCRIPT!

SEB GORKA HAS ARREST WARRANT FROM HUNGARY OPEN FOR HIM SINCE 2016

Everyone’s favorite Fake Doctor Nazi has an outstanding warrant for his arrest from Hungary. It appears to be for a weapons charge, but no other details have come forward yet. The warrant was issued in 2016. Seb served in the White House in 2017.

I’ve talked at length about the SF-86, the security form used by the United States Government for granting a security clearance. There’s a section where it asks if you have any warrants out for your arrest from any government body, including foreign countries.

If he said yes, then this could explain the rumors I’ve heard about him having his security clearance pulled.

If he said no, he committed perjury, and is looking at 2 years in prison. If he said no and they caught him, that would also explain his lack of a security clearance.

SCL, PARENT COMPANY OF CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA, FILES RETROACTIVE FARA REGISTRATION FOR UAE, SAUDI WORK AGAINST QATAR

NBC reports that SCL, the parent company of Cambridge Analytica, filed a FARA registration for their work against Qatar.

SCL owns Cambridge Analytica, the data firm owned by the Mercer family that used micro targeting to precisely choose specific voters and groups to hit with propaganda, and also which voters to suppress.

They were working for the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia in a campaign to smear Qatar, accusing them of being a terrorist state. They accepted $333,000 from the Saudi government for this work.

This filing is huge, and in almost any other universe would be the biggest story of the day. This comes after Mueller’s interviews with Brad Pascale, after the FBI acquired their emails, and before Steve Bannon talks to Mueller voluntarily. This is a retroactive filing, which is almost always done as a Cover Your Ass (CYA) move when a party expects to get hit with the Hammer of Justice. This is often to mitigate other sentences, or reduce jail time to a fine.

Mueller is coming for them. No quarter will be taken, and none given.

STORMY DANIELS: TRUMP DIDN’T WEAR CONDOM, COMPARED HER TO IVANKA AFTER SEX

Remember when the President having an extra marital affair wasn’t the fourth biggest story of the day? Or how about a quaint old time when there wasn’t even a hint of incest in the air?

I no longer try to guess what’s at the bottom of the barrel. Between Trump, Russia, Porn Stars, Human Trafficking, China, and some accusations of pedophilia, I have no doubts to the sickness and depravity of these people. Combine that with a vivid imagination and Trump’s ability to do the absolute worth thing possible, I’m half expecting the mole in the campaign to be Tiffany Trump, and her turning him in is her revenge for him raping her as a child.

So, when I hear that Stormy Daniels had sex with Donald Trump, I’m not surprised. There was likely some money and/or favors involved.

When I hear that Donald asked Stormy to autograph his DVD copy of “3 Wishes”, I’m not surprised. From what I hear it’s a good movie.

When I hear that she spanked him with a copy of Forbes Magazine, I’m not surprised. There’s some psychological thing about him and money. Either that, or it was the only thing lying around.

When I hear that he refused to wear a condom, I am once again not surprised. Trump admitted to not wearing condoms during the 1980’s AIDS scare. Plus, condoms don’t work that well on a micropenis.

When I hear that Trump told Stormy that she “reminded him of Ivanka” after they had sex, I wish I could say I’m surprised. But I can’t. Not even close to surprised.

Don’t get me wrong, comparing someone you just had sex with to your child is pretty fucking sick. But I’m not surprised that Donald Trump would do this. My level of surprise at this is like when you watch a video of a kid trying to do a complicated skateboard trick, and he falls and hurts himself. You knew it was gonna happen, but you hold out hope that maybe, just maybe this won’t end in disaster. Then the skateboard breaks and the kid smashes his nuts on the railing.

TRUMP LAWYER USED PSUEDONYMS, PRIVATE COMPANY TO PAY STORMY DANIELS

The Wall Street Journal reports that Michael Cohen, Trump’s personal lawyer, used a private company and a false name to pay the $130,000 settlement to Stormy Daniels to keep her silent during the election.

The company was named Essential Consultants, LLC. This company was created on October 17, 2016, less than a month before the election. The payment was made to Peggy Patterson.

Who’s Peggy Patterson? Why that’s Stephanie Clifford, a.k.a. Stormy Daniels.

Last night on Rachel Maddow, one of the reporters working this story (I think Michael Rothfield) mentioned that Stormy had given him a rider sheet for the settlement that listed the names and abbreviations used in the settlement, and who they represented in this case. There were blank spaces for the company name and lawyer name.

This reeks of a standardized form letter, which tells me that this was far from the first time that Trump’s team paid off a woman’s silence.

How many times have they pulled this shit?

That’s it for today. This has been one hell of a day, and there’s no sign that tomorrow will be any different. I forgot to mention that Corey L. testified yesterday before the HIC, and pulled the same shit that Bannon pulled. I have a special hatred for him, but I’ll go into that at a later time.

There’s a lot going on, and I need to do a sanity check. I think what I’ll try to do this weekend is update the Russian Hypothesis, and add in what’s changed, what I’ve learned, what has been confirmed, and what’s been rumored. One of the problems with running this site is trying to keep track of everything, but at the same time, not sounding like a complete and total lunatic when describing what’s going on. Sometimes I feel like I’m 2 minutes away from arguing for 12 foot tall Norsemen that live in a hole under the North Pole. But then I see the shit that’s going on and remember how when I was a kid in elementary school, one day we were told the story of the Emperor’s New Clothes. After going through the whole story, we got to the point where the kid pointed that he was naked, and all of the adults berated him. I didn’t understand then why they were mad at a kid for telling the truth. It helped build a healthy skepticism in me, and I’ve never been one to avoid calling bullshit when I see it.

Right now, we’re living through that story. For the past couple years, the sycophants are telling Trump how great he is, how amazing he is, and how blessed we are to have him. I’m still that kid pointing and saying he’s naked. Now, I’m older, fatter, balder, uglier, and screaming “THAT LOOKS LIKE A PENIS, ONLY SMALLER!”

Thank you, and have a good one.

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur

Daily Check-In 01/17/2018

INVESTIGATORS LOOKING INTO SUSPICIOUS PAYMENTS MADE TO RUSSIAN DIPLOMATS

Several suspicious financial transactions for the Russian Embassy were flagged by Citibank, going back at least to August 2016. These include multimillion dollar payments to contractors for work that was never performed, payments to the Ambassador days after the election, payments to staff listed as payroll that didn’t fit patterns, and some other money laundering red flags.

Every major bank has to keep track of their transactions and histories for anything flagged for potential money laundering. Even if the funds were eventually released, they have to keep track of where it came from, and where it was going.

It’s more than likely that Mueller has all of this information.

BANNON ATTORNEY TALKED TO WHITE HOUSE IN REAL TIME DURING HOUSE COMMITTEE TESTIMONY

There’s a strong likelihood that Mueller subpoenaed Bannon to keep him from giving too much to the House Intelligence Committee.

HEALTH REPORT LISTS TRUMP AT 6’3″, 239 POUNDS

According to the Navy Physician who gave Trump his physical, he’s in good health, at 6’3″ and 239 pounds.

This comes out to a BMI of 29.9. 30.0 is the lower threshold for obesity. And, somehow, he grew an inch since two years ago. Most senior citizens shrink in height.

This whole thing seems rather dubious.

I’ve been following a twitter account called Rogue Senior White House Advisor (@RogueSNRadvisor) and one of the topics he (I assume it’s a he) often covers is Trump’s health. Some of the tweets are pretty disturbing.

According to Rogue, Trump is a stress eater. Big time stress eater. When Flynn turned himself in, Trump was binge eating Arby’s, Panda Express, and Krispy Creme all day. Similar events happened when Flynn’s lawyers told Trump they would no longer be sharing information, and when news broke about George P.’s guilty plea and Manafort’s arrest.

Dr. Ronny Jackson is palpably afraid of Trump and his temper. He debated ever since he was assigned this task between telling the truth or fudging the numbers. In the end, he decided it was safer for him to fudge the numbers on his weight, height, and blood pressure. The weight is much closer to 339 than 239.

A travel rider for the Asian trip back in November 2017 requested, among other things, 45 Arby’s Roast Beef sandwiches, 22 pounds of Filet Mignon, 22 Hungry Man Chicken Dinners, 3 80 inch televisions, and 3 XXXXL silk robes. That’s Quadruple Extra Large. According to DXL’s size chart, that is a 58″ chest and a 54-56″ waist. 56 inches is 1.42 meters. That sizing is much more consistent with a man weighing 339 pounds (153 kg) instead of 239 pounds (108 kg). Especially if he were a former athlete.

Trump wanted Dr. Jackson to change the weight to 199, but staff was “asking him to be realistic.” At Trump’s real height, closer to 6′ or 5’11”, 199 is still unhealthy, but isn’t obese.

The reason his stats were given at 6’3″ and 239 is that it translates to a BMI of 29.9, literally 1 pound below obese.

Granted, this is all based off of a random Twitter Alt account, but a good deal of his tweets have panned out before. Take it with a grain of salt.

INTOUCH TO RELEASE 2011 INTERVIEW WITH STORMY DANIELS

Well, looks like Porngate is picking up steam. Or Pornwater. How about The Teapot Porn Scandal?

InTouch Magazine, an American tabloid that is a couple notches below People in quality but light years ahead of the National Enquirer, interviewed Stormy Daniels back in 2011 about her affair with Donald Trump. For some reason, they decided not to run it then. They’re running it this week.

But Rachel Maddow asked a very important question.

Who paid the settlements?

It might not seem like a big deal, but those settlements are most likely campaign contributions. Paying off porn stars to keep quiet right before an election has a big impact on the election. The people and groups that made those payments are required by law to file with the FEC.

So, when the National Enquirer paid $150,000 for Karen McDougal’s story to bury it? That would be a campaign contribution.

But what I’m wondering is whether or not the Trump Campaign used donations to pay off their other porn star affairs?

That’s it for today.

Thank you, and have a good one.

Daily Check-In 01/16/2018

BANNON SUBPOENAED TWICE IN ONE DAY

Steve Bannon testified before the House Intelligence Committee for about 10 hours. During that time, he was subpoenaed, then subpoenaed again.

Confused? Don’t be.

While Bannon was on his way to Congress, he was notified that the White House was exercising Executive Privilege for the Congressional hearing. At least, that’s what Bannon claimed.

Bannon stonewalled Congress so much they served him with a subpoena to get some answers.

During the day, it comes out that he’s already been subpoenaed by Mueller to appear before a Grand Jury. Because of that, he’s hesitant to answer questions from Congress.

Plus, if he did flip, someone in Congress **cough Nunes cough** might leak it to the White House.

Typically, witnesses are subpoenaed, not suspects. And , this could be a negotiation tactic to get Bannon to come quietly. Another option is that he’s been served to keep his lawyer from influencing his testimony, since the lawyer also represents White House Counsel Don McGahn and Reince Preibus.

STORMY DANIELS, A YEAR LONG RELATIONSHIP, KEITH SCHILLER, AND FOX NEWS

Trump’s Porn Star Girlfriend Stormy Daniels had a story to tell in 2016, and told it to Fox News. They buried the story.

Stormy, real name Stephanie Clifford, claimed to have had a year long sexual relationship with Donald Trump while he was married to Melania, much of it while she was pregnant. Encounters were set up by Keith Schiller, Trump’s bodyguard.

Supposedly, she went to Fox News to make sure that he paid the hush money. They told his campaign about Stormy, and Cohen cut a check.

One thing that’s a little unusual. Cohen released a statement from her that she never had sexual relations with Trump. The statement came from Cohen, not Stormy’s publicist, and was signed with her stage name, not her real name.

FOREIGN GOVERNMENTS AND REPUBLICANS USING TRUMP PROPERTIES

This is straight up bribery, pay for play bullshit.

Remember, it’s a crime to offer a bribe as well as accept one.

SENATE PROPOSES STRICT SANCTIONS ON ANY COUNTRY THAT INTERFERES IN ELECTIONS

Interfering in an election is an Act of War, but sanctions are a good first step.

The next few stories are from Monday and the weekend.

WENDI DENG MURDOCH, JAVANKA, AND CHINESE INTELLIGENCE

Murdoch? Why does that sound familiar?

Wendi is Rupert Murdoch’s ex-wife, has an affair with Tony Blair, and was rumored to have been dating Putin. She’s also been accused of having ties to Chinese Intelligence.

Wendi is also very good friends with Jared and Ivanka.

SPEED ROUND!

ECUADORIAN CORRUPTION

ASSANGE NEEDS A SHOWER

STICK A PIN IN THIS: MARYLAND TRANSPORTATION COMPANY OFFICIALS INDICTED ON BRIBERY CHARGES

I’m a little confused as well, but several members of the Rumor Mill went all “Oh Snap Mutha Fuckas” over this.

TOP TIP: MAKE SURE THERE ARE NO TIES TO MONEY LAUNDERING IN COUNTRIES THAT YOU CALL A SHITHOLE

That’s it for today.

It looks like the New Year lull is over. I’m not sure what’s around the corner, but I wouldn’t expect any more indictments until either after Trump interviews with Mueller or tries to avoid it altogether.

Also, get ready to hear a lot more about China. The focus so far has been on Russia, but there are some shady ass ties between Trump and China.

Thank you, and have a good one.

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur