Tag: Politics

Daily Check-In 05/08/2018

Tuesday, May 8th.

 

COHEN/STORMYGATE: TRUMP LAWYER RECEIVED $500K FROM VEKSELBERG, $400K FROM NOVARTIS, $200K FROM AT&T DAYS AFTER ELECTION TO SAME COMPANY, BANK ACCOUNT USED TO PAY OFF STORMY DANIELS

  • Chief among these suspicious financial transactions are approximately $500,000 in payments received from Mr. Viktor Vekselberg, a Russian Oligarch with an estimated net worth of nearly $13 Billion. Mr. Vekselberg and his cousin Mr. Andrew Intrater routed eight payments to Mr. Cohen through a company named Columbus Nova LLC (“Columbus”) beginning in January 2017 and continuing until at least August 2017.
  • Columbus Nova is a private equity firm founded in 2000 with over $2 billion in assets. Mr. Intrater is the CEO of Columbus Nova. Columbus Nova is the U.S. investment vehicle for Renova Group, a multi-national company controlled by Mr. Vekselberg. Renova group holds investments in various interests, including mining, oil, and telecommunications.

You know the definition of stupid?  Using the same LLC and bank account for accepting bribes and paying off witnesses.

Starting in the days following the election, Viktor Vekselberg paid Donald Trump’s personal lawyer half of a million dollars.  It’s very likely that Stormy Daniels’s payment was reimbursed by Russian money.

But it wasn’t just Russia.  Novartis, a pharmaceutical company that gained access to the White House, paid almost $400k to Essential Consultants, LLC.  $399,920 to be precise.  They made 4 monthly payments of $99,980.  That’s $20 shy of $100,000.  There are corporate regulations and legal requirements for wire transfers at certain thresholds.  One of the big thresholds is $100k.  At that level, there’s greater scrutiny over the nature of the wire transfer.  Structuring payments to avoid regulatory reporting is a felony.

The timelines are converging, the streams are crossed. Stormygate has now merged over with Team Mueller’s Investigation to form some kind of corruption-busing Voltron.  It’s just going to get more fucked from here on out.

Insights into the administration.  While AT&T was trying to merge with Time Warner.

This is pay to play.

This is Bribery.

On the lighter side of Cohen’s criminal activities, here’s a great breakdown of the hypothesis that it wasn’t Broidy that knocked up Playmate Shera Bechard, but Donald Trump.  I’ve covered this before (Daily Check-In 04/13/2018 , Daily Check-In 04/16/2018, Daily Check-In 04/26/2018), but this hypothesis is sounding more and more realistic every day. So much so that I might move it from hypothesis to theory.

I wonder if the Evangelicals will stand by Trump when they find out that his attorney fixer paid a Playboy Playmate to have an abortion with laundered Russian money originally earned from drug and human trafficking.

 

IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL:  DOTARD VIOLATES TREATY AGREEMENT BY WITHDRAWING, IRAN AND E3 (GERMANY, UK, FRANCE) TO CONTINUE TO HONOR TREATY

How much of this is undoing Obama’s legacy, priming the pump for a war in Iran, or forcing the Iranians to launder money through the Trump Hotel in Baku is up for debate, but I’d put money down that they’re all involved.

Yes, I really think that Trump would put the world at risk to make a few bucks.  He’s that fucking petty.

 

THE RUSSIAN INVESTIGATION

4 hours for 2 questions.  Mueller interviewed Vekselberg weeks ago.  We’re just catching up now.

 

BLACK CUBE

I covered this in more detail yesterday. (Daily Check-In 05/07/2018). Still, it’s pretty fucked up.

RUDY

Rudy’s behavior is hard to explain.  Is it dementia, he flipped and is attacking Trump from the inside, or is he just a shitty human being and lawyer?  Most likely the last one, but this is 2018.  Hush money to pay off of a porn star came from the same bank account that AT&T used to bribe the President.

COLD WAR 2.0

Ricketts was one of five military wives who received death threats from the self-styled CyberCaliphate on the morning of Feb. 10, 2015. The warnings led to days of anguished media coverage of Islamic State militants’ online reach.

Except it wasn’t IS.

The Associated Press has found evidence that the women were targeted not by jihadists but by the same Russian hacking group that intervened in the American election and exposed the emails of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign chairman, John Podesta.

The brazen false flag is a case study in the difficulty of assigning blame in a world where hackers routinely borrow one another’s identities to throw investigators off track. The operation’s attempt to hype the threat of radical Islam also presaged the inflammatory messages pushed by internet trolls during the U.S. presidential race.

Links between CyberCaliphate and the Russian hackers — typically nicknamed Fancy Bear or APT28 — have been documented previously. On both sides of the Atlantic, the consensus is that the two groups are closely related.

But that consensus never filtered through to the women involved, many of whom were convinced they had been targeted by Islamic State sympathizers right up until the AP contacted them.

“Never in a million years did I think that it was the Russians,” said Ricketts, an author and advocate for veterans and military families. She called the revelation “mind blowing.”

“It feels so hilarious and insidious at the same time.”

 

The report finds that Moscow conducted an “unprecedented, coordinated cyber campaign” against the nation’s voting infrastructure. Through its investigation, the committee found that Russia-linked hackers were in a position to “alter or delete voter registration data” in a small number of states before the 2016 vote.

We are at war with Russia, we just don’t know it yet.  It’s time for a regime change.

 

THE PROPAGANDA MACHINE

He finally found what he sees as a kind of Rosetta Stone into Assange’s thinking in a leaked email Assange wrote way back in 2007 while soliciting support for the nascent WikiLeaks concept. One of the goals for WikiLeaks, Assange wrote, “is total annihilation of the current U.S. regime and any other regime that holds its authority through mendacity alone.”

…

WikiLeaks baffled some supporters when it started seeding or promoting fake news about Hillary Clinton’s health, Pizzagate, and even Democrats engaging in satanic rituals at the same time it was releasing genuine material stolen from the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton campaign.

This was not, as it might appear, a cynical bid to garner Donald Trump’s favor; nor was it simple pandering to a new funding base, argues Iain. It was part and parcel of Assange’s alignment with Russian President Vladimir Putin against their common adversary, the United States.

…

In retrospect, the shift was apparent way back in 2013, during Assange’s failed bid to win a Senate seat in Australia, Iain said. To that end Assange established the country’s WikiLeaks Party, with a platform built on government transparency and libertarianism. But just weeks before the election the party was roiled by a controversy over its ranking of other political parties in Australia’s ranked choice voting, preferencing, in two races, the white-nationalist Australia First Party and the right-wing Shooters and Fishers Party above the liberal favorite, the Australian Greens.

Wikileaks first attacked Australia back in 2013.  They followed that up with Ukraine and Syria in 2014, Brexit in 2015 and the United States in 2016.  Everywhere the Russians went, and always on their side.

Get the picture yet?

 

CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA AND FACEBOOK

 

WHITE HOUSE CHAOS

 

SCHNEIDERMAN

 

#NEVERAGAIN

 

GOP:  THE PARTY OF LINCOLN IS DEAD

 

BLUE WAVE

 

TRUMP HATES BROWN PEOPLE

 

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

 

RUMOR MILL

The above likely aren’t rumors, but I don’t read Finnish, Swedish, or Russian.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That’s it for today.  We’re crossing the precipice today.  Things are going to accelerate, and get crazier from here on out.  As the scope, breadth, and volume of the corruption and scandals reach the populace, it will feel like everything has gone to shit and it’s falling apart.  Just stay frosty, and keep your head on swivel.

Like I said yesterday, I might need to take a night or two off soon.  I don’t know if it’ll be this week or next week, but sometime soon.

 

Thank you, and have a good one.

 

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur

 

 

Daily Check-In 05/07/2018

 

Monday, May 7th, and the weekend.

 

BLACK CUBE

“I didn’t think much more of it until I was informed over the weekend that the gentleman in question was not a journalist, but an operative of this Israeli intelligence firm. That’s upsetting enough, but the fact that this firm was hired by the Trump Administration to spy on and entrap US individuals and organizations, is beyond reprehensible.”

Just when I think that things can’t get any more fucked up, a story like this comes out.

In an effort to discredit the diplomats that worked on the Iran Nuclear Deal, Trump’s administration ordered a private investigator with ties to Israeli Intelligence to dig up dirt on the diplomats.  When details of this operation came out on Twitter, some people connected the dots and discovered that this was the same people behind Harvey Weinstein’s bullying and harassment campaign – Black Cube.

What are the odds that Trump and Weinstein both happened to pick the same shady PI company with ties to Mossad by sheer coincidence?  If you said between slim and none, and slim just caught an Uber, go get yourself a cookie.  Or celery.  Whatever floats your boat.

This wasn’t in 2015 or 2016, this was while Donald Trump was President of the United States.  Him, someone representing him from the White House, or someone from the private sector who would benefit from screwing Iran, hired spies to attack, threaten, and/or discredit private citizens.

 

SCHNEIDERMAN ACCUSED OF DOMESTIC ABUSE

I’m not sure what to make of this.  On one hand, this smells a hell of a lot like Al Franken, suspiciously like Roger Stone pulling shit to illicit the knee-jerk response from the left to call for resignations over allegations.

On the other hand, this is some pretty fucked up shit, and if the allegations are true, then he should resign.

Let’s see how this unfolds…

UPDATE.  Well that was quick.

This changes nothing in the investigations into the Trump family, the efforts to change New York law to allow the state to prosecute people protected by pardons as a way to avoid justice, and this doesn’t change the NYAG’s office cooperating with the Special Counselor’s Office.

I used to play football.  Badly.  I was the 6th string JV running back, and we only had 5 running backs.  But we had a phrase.  Next man up.  Everyone practices and prepares as though they have to play.  A lot of things could happen between the first practice of the week and game day.  Injuries, bad grades, pop a piss test, get arrested for attempted assault, get shot in the ass by an angry farmer after a cow tipping incident gone horribly wrong, or one of the coaches wants to play someone different.

It’s the same situation here.  Next man (or woman) up.

 

TRUMP ORG AND CORRUPTION, FROM THE WATER IS WET DEPARTMENT

The MSM is FINALLY looking into Trump’s money laundering, though they haven’t used the phrase yet.

Trump, who bragged for decades about financing his projects with other people’s money, then welching on the loans, suddenly pulled an about-face and used a crap ton of money to pay for projects.  Then, after construction, they took out loans for more than the value the properties.  That’s Money Laundering.

 

THE RUSSIAN INVESTIGATION

Tom Barrack was the chairman of the Trump Inauguration Committee.  His Chief of Staff… Rick Gates. Yes, that Rick Gates.

Remember Erik’s ties to Chinese Intelligence (Daily Check-In 03/22/2018)?  It’s nice to see the MSM starting to catch up.

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who is now on President Trump’s legal team, told CBS News correspondent Paula Reid Monday afternoon that special counsel Robert Mueller’s office has rejected proposals to allow Mr. Trump to answer questions from investigators in writing.

The president’s legal team has previously signaled that this would be their preferred format for a possible interview as it helps protect Mr. Trump from the possibility of lying or misleading investigators, which is a criminal offense.

It’s not that Mueller’s office won’t accept written answers from Donald Trump, but there are guidelines preventing legal documents being written in crayon.

 

COHEN/RUDY/STORMYGATE

When Daniels is asked if Trump’s hair stays still as he has sex, Daniels replies, “No, [his hair is] real. He chose that.” When the interviewer presses, “And it just fluffs around as he’s on top of you?” she replies, “Yeah, that’s real. Kind of like a drunken cockatoo.” How much is the Eternal Sunshine procedure?

Yeah, a cockatoo.  I’m afraid to guess how long it will take someone to make a pic of that.

 

COLD WAR 2.0

1600 Russians arrested in protests in Russia, many of them children.  Protesting is not protected speech in Russia, so even showing up is illegal.

As they were chanting, “Down with the Tsar!”

 

WHITE HOUSE CHAOS

Holy Shit, we’ve got the trifecta of corrupt cabinet stories.  We’ve got a White House Advisor who can’t get a clearance, a Transportation Secretary connected to Human Trafficking, the EPA head paranoid AF and spending taxpayer money like he’s on a speed run and planing stories about other corrupt cabinet members like Ryan Zinke, Carl Icahn engaging in insider trading, and Ben Carson, a black man that says that attempts at desegregation are socialist.

Life is not an episode of 24.  Torture is bad, and has no place in an interrogation.  The return on investment is low.

Yeah.  Irony isn’t dead, it hung itself in the garage from the rafters.  It left a note that said “It’s all your fault.”

 

THE PROPAGANDA MACHINE

 

CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA AND FACEBOOK

 

GOP: THE PARTY OF LINCOLN IS DEAD

 

BLUE WAVE

 

#NEVERAGAIN

Oliver North came to infamy from the Iran-Contra Affair back in the 80’s for his role in Congressional testimony about a plot to… you know, I’m not exactly sure.  Out of all Presidential scandals, I know the least about this one.  I was a kid when this happened, and I remember one of my vacations spent watching this dick taco on television.

 

DOCTOR, DOCTOR

 

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

 

 

RUMOR MILL

Remember the speculation about what oligarchs were stopped at the airport from Daily Check-In 04/04/2018?  Looks like at least one of them was Viktor Vekselberg.

Ming is an interesting character on Twitter, and I’ve discussed Cassandra Fairbanks a few times before.  I’ve referenced her indirectly in a few posts, and mentioned her directly in Daily Check-In 9/11/2017 when I talked about meeting Claude Taylor.  She was a Leftist/Anarchist turned Bernie Bro turned Never Hilary turned Alt-Right/Team Trump, all while working for RT.  A true example of Horseshoe Theory.

According to this tweet, at some point she began working with the FBI…again.  I say again because there were rumors of her working with them to set up a lot of her old Leftist colleagues.

2018 has such sloppy writing and a low budget.  Reusing old sets and side characters like this?

Corruption isn’t just Russian or American.  It’s worldwide, and across many fields.  The scope will shock everyone.

That sounds like a clickbait article.  “43 ways that Corruption Infects the World.  #17 WILL SHOCK YOU!”

 

That’s it for today.  I might need to take a day off soon, but at the same time, I’m afraid that the one day I take off, everything will go to shit.  I know that’s not likely the case, but at the same time, in some weird way, writing and researching these entries are both stressful and stress-reducing at the same time.

By the way, the Pens lost tonight.  They’re out of the playoffs this year.  That means my hope for a Pens/Knights Stanley Cup final won’t happen this year.  Oh well.

 

Thank you, and have a good one.

 

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur

 

 

The Indicted

Here’s a list of everyone that has been indicted so far.

 

Paul Manafort – Former Campaign Manager to Donald Trump.  

Indictments first reported on Daily Check-In 10/30/2017

Paul Manafort has been indicted on about 30-40 charges of the following crimes, as of May 6, 2018:

  • Conspiracy Against the United States
  • Conspiracy to Launder Money
  • Failure to File Reports of of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts for several years (each year is a different charge)
  • Unregistered Agent of a Foreign Principal
  • False and Misleading FARA Statements
  • False Statements
  • Subscribing to False United States Individual Income Tax Returns, for multiple years
  • Assisting in the Preparation of False United States Individual Income
  • Bank Fraud Conspiracy, multiple counts
  • Bank Fraud, multiple counts

 

Paul Manafort is awaiting two trials, one in D.C. and the other in Eastern Virginia.  The trails are both scheduled for later 2018.

On June 8, 2018, Manafort was also indicted on the following charges, along with Kostantin Kilimnik

  • Conspiracy Against the United States
  • Conspiracy to Launder Money
  • Unregistered Agent of a Foreign Principal
  • False and Misleading FARA Statements
  • False Statements
  • Obstruction of Justice
  • Conspiracy to Obstruct Justice

On Daily Check-In 06/15/2018, Paul Manafort was remanded to prison, pending his trials.

On Daily Check-In 08/21/2018, Paul Manafort was found guilty on 8 felony counts from his trial in the Eastern District of Virginia.

On Daily Check-In 09/14/2018, Paul Manafort pleaded guilty to Conspiracy to Commit Witness Tampering and Conspiracy Against the United States.  He also pleaded guilty to the remaining charges from his EDVA trial.

On Daily Check-In 03/07/2019, Paul Manafort was sentenced to 47 months in prison for his EDVA conviction.

On Daily Check-In 03/13/2019, Paul Manafort was sentenced to 73 months in prison for his DC convictions.  He was also charged in New York for 16 felony counts. The State of New York charged Paul Manafort 3 counts of Residential Mortgage Fraud in the First Degree, Attempted Mortgage Fraud in the First Degree, 3 counts of Conspiracy in the Fourth Degree, 8 counts of Falsifying Business Records in the First Degree, and 1 count of Scheme to Defraud in the First Degree.

 

Rick Gates – Former Deputy Campaign Manager to Donald Trump.

Indictments first reported on Daily Check-In 10/30/2017

Arrested in October 2017.  Rick was originally charted with close to 30 white-collar felonies.  After a few months of back and forth, Gates pled guilty to one charge of Making False Statements to the FBI and one charge of Conspiracy Against the United States, as reported on Daily Check-In 02/20/2018.  The remainder of his charges were dropped as he became a cooperating witness.  Sentencing is still pending as of May 6, 2018.

 

George Papadopoulos – Former member of Trump’s Foreign Policy team.

Indictments first reported on Daily Check-In 10/30/2017

Arrested in July 2017, pled guilty to 1 charge of Making False Statements to the FBI, and became a cooperating witness. Sentencing is still pending as of May 6, 2018.

 

Michael Flynn – Former National Security Advisor.

Indictment first reported on Daily Check-In 12/01/2017.

Mike Flynn pled guilty to 1 charge of Making False Statements to the FBI, and became a cooperating witness.  Sentencing is still pending as of May 6, 2018.

 

Alex Van Der Zwaan – Former attorney to Rick Gates.

Indictment first reported on Daily Check-In 02/20/2018, the same day that Rick Gates pled guilty.

Alex was sentenced on Daily Check-In 04/03/2018 to 30 days in prison, a $20,000 fine, and 3 months probation.

On Daily Check-In 05/08/2018, Alex reported to prison to serve his sentence.  He was released on Daily Check-In 06/04/2018Daily Check-In 06/04/2018, and deported shortly thereafter.

Fun fact: Alex is the son-in-law of German Khan, a Russian Oligarch.  The law firm he worked at, Skadden Arps, also worked with Michael Cohen on his BuzzFeed lawsuit, and I’m looking for the story, but I recall hearing an office at one of their locations that was loaned out to Cohen was raided.

 

Richard Pinedo – Identity Thief.

Indictment first reported on Daily Check-in 02/16/2018.

From California, Richard ran an online company on the Dark Web called Auction Essentials.  This company provided Russians from the Internet Research Agency with the means to spoof PayPal security.

Richard Pinedo pled guilty to one charge of Identity Theft, and become a cooperating witness.

Mr. Pinedo was sentenced to 6 months in jail on +Daily Check-In 10/10/2018Daily Check-In 10/10/2018.

 

The Russian Troll Farm

Indictment first reported on Daily Check-in 02/16/2018.

The following companies and people were indicted for Conspiracy to Defraud the United States.  Those marked with an * are also charged with Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud and Bank Fraud.  Those marked with a ^ are also charged with Aggravated Identity Theft.

  • INTERNET RESEARCH AGENCY LLC *^
  • CONCORD MANAGEMENT AND CONSULTING LLC
  • CONCORD CATERING
  • DZHEYKHUN NASIMI OGLY ASLANOV *^
  • GLEB IGOREVICH VASILCHENKO *^
  • IRINA VIKTOROVNA KAVERZINA ^
  • VLADIMIR VENKOV ^
  • MIKHAIL IVANOVICH BYSTROV
  • MIKHAIL LEONIDOVICH BURCHIK
  • ALEKSANDRA YURYEVNA KRYLOVA
  • ANNA VLADISLAVOVNA BOGACHEVA
  • SERGEY PAVLOVICH POLOZOV
  • MARIA ANATOLYEVNA BOVDA
  • ROBERT SERGEYEVICH BOVDA
  • VADIM VLADIMIROVICH PODKOPAEV

 

Konstantin Kilimnik – “Kostya from the GRU”

Indictment first reported on Daily Check-In 06/08/2018

Konstantin, also known as “Kostya from the GRU”, was Manafort’s man in Kiev.  He worked with Manafort for more than a decade, helping him execute many illegal activities.  On June 8, 2018, he was indicted on the following charges, along with Paul Manafort.

  • Conspiracy Against the United States
  • Conspiracy to Launder Money
  • Unregistered Agent of a Foreign Principal
  • False and Misleading FARA Statements
  • False Statements
  • Obstruction of Justice
  • Conspiracy to Obstruct Justice

 

The Russian Troll Farm

Indictment first reported on Daily Check-In 07/13/2018

The following people were indicted for Conspiracy to Commit an Offense Against the United States and Money Laundering.  Those marked with * were also charged with Aggravated Identity Theft.  Those with ^ were charged with an additional count of Conspiracy to Commit an Offense Against the United States.

  • Viktor Borisovich Netyksho *
  • Boris Alekseyevich Antonov *
  • Dmitry Sergeyevich Badin *
  • Ivan Sergeyevich Yermakov *
  • Aleksey Viktorovich Lukashev *
  • Sergey Aleksandrovich Morgachev *
  • Nikolay Yuryevich Kozachek *
  • Pavel Vyacheslavovich Yershov *
  • Artem Andreyevich Malyshev *
  • Aleksandr Vladimirovich Osadchuk * ^
  • Aleksey Aleksandrovich Potemkin *
  • Anatoly Sergeyevich Kovalev ^

 

Sam Patten – Lobbyist for the Opposition Bloc and former member of Cambridge Analytica 

Indictment first reported on Daily Check-In 08/31/2018

Sam Patten was indicted on one count of violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). He worked alongside Paul Manafort representing the Opposition Bloc, a political party in Ukraine comprised of the remnants of the Party of Regions, which fell apart after former President Viktor Yanukovitch was forced from office and fled to Moscow.  Sam also served as a Straw Buyer, or middleman, to launder foreign money into Trump’s Inauguration Committee, and worked at SCL/Cambridge Analytica from 2014 to 2015.

He pled guilty to this charge, and is now a cooperating witness for the Mueller Investigation.

 

Michael Cohen – Trump’s Personal Lawyer, Fixer, and Deputy Chair of the Republican National Committee.

Indictment first reported on Daily Check-In 08/21/2018

Cohen, Trump’s former personal lawyer, pled guilty to 5 counts of Tax Evasion, 1 count of Lying to a Bank, 1 count of Causing an Unlawful Corporate Contribution, and 1 count of Excessive Campaign Contribution.

Indicted on Daily Check-In 11/29/2018 for Lying to Congress.  This was part of his cooperation agreement with Mueller.

Cohen was sentenced to 3 years in prison on Daily Check-In 12/12/2018.

 

Roger Stone – Ratfucker Supreme, Campaign Advisor to Donald Trump.

Indictment first reported on Daily Check-In 01/25/2019

Roger Stone served at Trump’s dirty tricks man, or his ‘ratfucker.’  Roger coordinated the email drops between the Trump Campaign and WikiLeaks.  WikiLeaks received the stolen emails from the GRU.

Roger is charged with seven felonies.  One of them is Obstruction of Proceeding, since his lies impeded Congressional investigation.  Counts two through six are his various lies to Congress, and one count of Witness Tampering.

 

Gregory Craig – Lobbyist that worked for Ukraine, former Obama White House Counsel

Indictment first reported on The Last Few Days 04/14/2019

Craig was indicted for failing to register for FARA and making false statements to investigators on April 11, 2019.  He pleaded not guilty on April 12.

 

Not directly indicted by Mueller’s team, but indicted on a relevant investigation.  Case could have been sourced out to local U.S. Attorney’s Offices

Mariia Butina – Russian National and protege of Alexander Torshin

Indictment first reported on Daily Check-In 07/16/2018

Mariia, also known as Maria, was Alexander Torshin’s protege and served as a go-between or backchannel between Torshin, The Kremlin, the National Rifle Association, the Republican Party, and Donald Trump’s 2016 Presidential Campaign.

Maria has been indicted on one count of Conspiracy to act as an Agent of the Russian Federation, and Acting as a Foreign Agent.

Maria was sentenced to 18 months in prison on The Last Few Days 04/26/2019.

 

Paul Erickson – GOP Lobbyist

Indictment first reported on Daily Check-In 02/06/2019

Paul Erickson was Mariia’s boyfriend and co-conspirator in the United States.  He used his connections with various Republican and Right Wing organizations to help Miss Butina infiltrate the party on behalf of the Russians.  This includes the National Rifle Association.

Paul was indicted on one count of Wire Fraud and ten counts of Money Laundering.

 

Julian Assange – WikiLeaks Founder

Indictment first reported on The Last Few Days 04/14/2019

Julian Assange was indicted with Conspiracy to Commit Computer Intrusion.  This indictment was unsealed on April 11, 2019, and he was arrested in London by British police while leaving the Ecuadorian embassy.

On Check-In 05/23/2019 Assange was charged with violating the Espionage Act.

 

Michael Avenatti – Lawyer

Indictment first reported on The Last Few Days 04/14/2019

Avenatti was indicted on 36 counts of wire fraud, bank fraud, and bankruptcy fraud on April 11, 2019.

Avenatti was also charged with defrauding Stormy Daniels and attempting to extort Nike on Check-In 05/23/2019.

 

Not directly indicted by Mueller’s team, but indicted on related crimes and now cooperating witnesses.

Jeffrey Yohai – Real Estate Entrepreneur and Former Son-in-law of Paul Manafort

Indictment first reported on Daily Check-In 05/18/2018

Details of his indictment and plea deal are under seal as of May 22, 2018.

Jeff pled guilty as part of a plea deal against his former father-in-law Paul Manafort, and became a cooperating witness.  Jeff worked with Paul on multiple real estate deals that are suspected of being involved in money laundering.

 

Evgeny Freidman – The Taxi King

Indictment first reported on Daily Check-In 05/21/2018 (May 22)

Evgeny, a former business partner of Michael Cohen, pled guilty to one count of Tax Evasion of $50,000.  He received 5 years probation, and became a cooperating witness against Michael Cohen.

 

Not directly indicted by Mueller’s team, but indicted on related crimes.

Chris Collins, Representative from New York.

Indictment first reported on Daily Check-In 08/08/2018

Collins, the first member of Congress to endorse Donald Trump, was indicted for 1 count of Conspiracy to Commit Securities Fraud, 7 counts of Securities Fraud, 1 count each of Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud, Wire Fraud, and False Statements.

 

Duncan Hunter, Representative from California.

Indictment first reported on Daily Check-In 08/21/2018

Hunter, the second member of Congress to endorse Donald Trump, was indicted for Conspiracy, 43 counts of Wire Fraud (Yes, 43), 18 counts of Falsification of Records Related to Campaign Finance, and 3 counts of Prohibited Use of Campaign Contributions.

 

Elena Alekseenvna Khusyaynova, Accountant from Project Lakhta.

Indictment first reported on Daily Check-In 10/19/2018

Elena was the accountant in charge of Project Lakhta, Russia’s project to influence the 2018 Election.  She received a Criminal Complaint for Conspiracy to Defraud the United States.

 

Bijan Kian and Kamil Ekim Alptekin, Turkish nationals.

Indictment first reported on Daily Check-In 12/17/2018.

Bijan Kian was the second in command of Flynn Intel Group.  Kamil Alptekin set up Inovo BV, a Dutch company designed to hide payments from Turkey’s government.  Kamil and Bijan were both indicted for FARA violations and Acting as a Foreign Agent.

 

Natalia Veselnitskaya, Russian Lawyer and Spy.

Indictment first reported on Daily Check-In 01/08/2019.

Natalia Veselnitskaya is a Russian lawyer and spy with very close ties to the Kremlin.  She represented Putin’s government in the June 9th meeting.  Ms. Veselnitskaya was indicted on a count of Obstruction of Justice for her role in a 2014 civil case where she represented Prevezon Holdings.  That company had purchased a large number of real estate ventures in New York City using laundered funds gained through a tax scam perpetrated by the Russian government against Hermitage Capital.  This scam was uncovered by a Russian tax attorney named Sergei Magnitsky.  For his role in uncovering this corruption, he was arrested, tried, convicted, and eventually tortured to death.

She allegedly created a false paper trail with the Russian Prosecutor-General to cover up Prevezon’s involvement in this case, as well as her own.  These false documents were entered into evidence into SDNY and were meant to deflect the case away from her client.

 

Stephen M. Calk, Banker.

Indictment first reported on Check-In 05/23/2019.

Stephen Calk was indicted for Financial Institution Bribery for approving loans to Paul Manafort in exchange for a position in the Trump Administration.

 

George Nader, Advisor and Consultant to Trump Campaign and Erik Prince

Indictment first reported on Check-In 06/04/2019.

George Nader was indicted for transporting child pornography into the United States.

Daily Check-In 05/04/2018

  • May the 4th be with you.

 

THE RUSSIAN INVESTIGATION

 

COHEN

The school accepts almost anyone who can pay the $51,000 annual tuition bill—more than 85 percent of its applicants were admitted last year. Fewer than half of its graduates manage to pass a bar exam on their first try; among all law school graduates in the country, about 75 percent pass on their first attempt. The 46-year-old school has had to go to court over the past year to fight for its accreditation from the American Bar Association, which found that the school was out of compliance on basic admission standards for a time. Last year, the National Advisory Council for Law School Transparency gave Cooley a ranking no school wants: It was No. 1 on the group’s list of “the 10 least selective law schools in the country.

I’ve described before how bad Cooley Law School is.  I’ve been seriously tempted to take the LSAT, just to see if I could score higher than their admissions guidelines, and I’m not a lawyer or legal scholar.

Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, gained access to as much as $774,000 through two financial transactions during the 2016 presidential campaign as he sought to fix problems for his boss, public records show.

Those transactions could factor into a broad investigation of Mr. Cohen’s business affairs being conducted by Manhattan federal prosecutors and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, who are examining whether Mr. Cohen violated any laws in his efforts to raise cash and conceal negative information about Mr. Trump, according to people familiar with the matter. Those include transactions tied to his credit line and his ownership of real estate and taxi medallions, the people said.

Cohen’s slush fund was three quarters of a million dollars during the campaign?  That’s like, 5 or 6 Stormy’s at a time.

 

STORMYGATE

 

RUDY

I’ll cover the broke part down in the Rumor Mill section, along with a crazy hypothesis I have about his behavior, that doesn’t include dementia, or being mobbed up to his nuts.

 

THE PROPAGANDA MACHINE:  THE JOURNALISTS STRIKE BACK

Welcome to the weirdest timeline.  It’s taken a year and a half for the White House Press Corp to call out their lies, and Tom Arnold is now an investigative journalist.

Reality just jumped the shark.

 

DOCTOR, DOCTOR

Dr. Jen Peña, who like Jackson is a military physician detailed to the White House, was among those who detailed claims of professional misconduct against Jackson to senators considering his nomination, according to a person familiar with the events.

If this is what I think it is, it is a clear violation of the military whistleblower protection act.

 

WHITE HOUSE CHAOS

The government of Qatar bought a $6.5m apartment in one of Donald Trump’s New York towers soon after the dismissal of a lawsuit that tried to stop the president benefiting from such deals.

Qatar’s mission to the United Nations signed a deal for the condominium at Trump World Tower on 17 January, according to city records. The purchase means that the Middle Eastern state now owns four units in the building, for which it paid $16.5m.

 

COLD WAR 2.0

 

#NEVERAGAIN

 

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

YAVIN IV — The Rebel High Command announced Thursday it had indicted several Rebel officers for fraud and bribery, including the legendary Adm. Gial Ackbar.

Ackbar, along with several other senior members of the Rebel Alliance, are suspected of an elaborate scandal involving the notorious intergalactic gangster, “Fat Jabba.”

According to investigators, Rebel Calamari cruisers, Corellian Corvettes, and Nebulon-B frigates would frequently dock at spaceports owned by Fat Jabba, who would charge the Rebel Alliance double the normal rate for space fuel. In exchange, Ackbar was treated to lavish seafood dinners, tickets to see the Max Rebo band, and was frequently seen with a pair of Twi’lek prostitutes.

Authorities arrested Ackbar and other Rebel officers in a massive sting operation, eventually catching Ackbar mid-coitus with an underage Ewok while staying in a luxurious Coruscant hotel. Still, lawyers for Ackbar have alleged that Rebel authorities themselves are guilty of entrapment.

“It’s a trap!” Ackbar said in a written statement.

Rebel Alliance officials were tight-lipped over any punishment Ackbar may receive for siphoning off billions of New Republic credits to a disreputable criminal, but sources indicate Rebel leader Mon Mothma is considering demoting Ackbar to lieutenant colonel and retiring him with full benefits.

It’s such a shame what happened to the Admiral, but going into business with the Hutt Crime Family is just beyond the pale.  And don’t even get me started on the allegations about the underage Ewok, or the apologists saying “that’s their culture.”  That’s just wrong.

 

GOP:  THE PARTY OF LINCOLN IS DEAD

 

BLUE WAVE

 

SAY GOODBYE TO THE ECONOMY

 

RUMOR MILL:  TRUMP BROKE AS A JOKE

Here’s a question…

Why did it take several months for Donald Trump, a supposed billionaire, four months to pay back Michael Cohen $130,000?

Assuming if what Rudy said on Wednesday was correct (Daily Check-In 05/02/2018) which is a big if, why did it take a billionaire four months to pay off $130,000?  A billionaire paying off that amount of money would be like a regular working Joe taking four months to pay off a meal at Wendy’s.

So why is that?  I can come up with two reasons, and neither of them are good for Trump.

The first is they split the payments up to cover their tracks for reporting purposes.  This makes the most sense if he’s trying to hide the payment.  Problem with this thought is Trump doesn’t give a fuck about consequences or getting caught doing something wrong.  Plus, this plan involves forethought, and nothing that he’s done at any point implies planning or forethought.  Everything with him is reaction.

The second reason that it took four months for Trump to pay back Cohen is because he didn’t have the cash to pay him.  Why?  He’s broke.

There are three basic definitions of a billionaire.  First is someone who makes a billion dollars or more a year. The second is someone whose net worth is more than a billion dollars.  The third is someone who owns more than a billion dollars in assets, regardless of debts.

Trump’s not a billionaire, not by the first two definitions.  His revenue stream is far less than a billion dollars per year, and he’s mortgaged out the ass.  By recent accounts, he’s nearly $300 million in the hole.  Almost all of his properties are upside down.  His cash flow is completely dependent on his money laundering, but even that has dried up a bit as he’s under scrutiny.  He can’t pull $130,000 out of his at a moment’s notice.  It took a couple months to scrape the cash together.

Don’t get me wrong, he’s not rolling pennies for gas broke, or ramen noodles every night for dinner broke, but he’s not buying a fleet of Ferraris with the spare money in his pockets.

 

That’s it for today.  Hopefully I’ll get something written this weekend, but I’m making no promises.  Maybe a pledge to do what I can, but no promises.

 

Thank you, and have a good one.

 

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur