General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsLet's harken back a bit. Did Trump Bribe Ukraine to Stop Cooperating With Mueller?
Last edited Sat Sep 21, 2019, 11:36 PM - Edit history (2)
May 2018
Did Trump Bribe Ukraine to Stop Cooperating With Mueller?
http://nymag.com/intelligencer/amp/2018/05/trump-bornstein-mueller-questions-leaks-ukraine-missile-bribe.html
Reporters immediately rebutted this charge by noting that Muellers questions included many queries into his campaigns collusion with Russia. But it turns out, once again, we all assumed far too much good faith. The Washington Post now reports the questions were compiled not by Mueller but by Trumps own legal team, based on topics proposed by Mueller.
...
Bear this lesson in mind when you process the following. In December, the administration allowed the sale of anti-tank missiles to Ukraine. Supporters of the administration held up the sale as evidence that Trump could not have colluded with Russia here he was, arming Russias enemy. The year that began with the narrative of Trump-Russia collusion is ending with an unexpected plot twist the Trump administration is confronting and cracking down on Russia, reported Fox News. The Wall Street Journal editorial page mocked people who say President Trump colluded with Mr. Putin to win the election and wants to appease him now. Skeptics merely saw the sale as evidence that the foreign policy bureaucracy operated at some distance from Trumps whims.
Todays New York Times suggests a darker interpretation altogether. In response to the missile sale, Ukrainian officials have frozen out the Mueller investigation. Ukraines government had previously cooperated eagerly to expose the Trump campaigns ties to Russia providing, among other importance evidence, ledgers detailing payments to Paul Manafort by the Russian-backed Ukrainian party he had advised.
Oh...and of course Cambridge Analytica was involved
Link to tweet
Roland99
(53,342 posts)Former Trump aide approved 'black ops' to help Ukraine president
Thu 5 Apr 2018 11.00 EDT
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/apr/05/ex-trump-aide-paul-manafort-approved-black-ops-to-help-ukraine-president
The project was designed to boost the reputation of Ukraines then leader, Viktor Yanukovych. It was part of a multimillion-dollar lobbying effort carried out by Manafort on behalf of Yanukovychs embattled government, emails and documents reveal.
The strategies included:
Proposing to rewrite Wikipedia entries to smear a key opponent of the then Ukrainian president.
Setting up a fake thinktank in Vienna to disseminate viewpoints supporting Yanukovych.
A social media blitz aimed at targeted audiences in Europe and the US.
Briefing journalists from the rightwing website Breitbart to attack Clinton when she was US secretary of state.
Manaforts Ukraine strategy anticipated later efforts by the Kremlin and its troll factory to use Twitter and Facebook to discredit Clinton and to help Trump win the 2016 US election. The material seen by the Guardian dates from 2011 to 2013.
Roland99
(53,342 posts)Link to tweet
Giuliani works for foreign clients while serving as Trumps attorney
The former New York mayor has not registered on behalf of customers in Ukraine and elsewhere with interests in Trump administration policies.
triron
(22,001 posts)Response to Roland99 (Original post)
triron This message was self-deleted by its author.
EveHammond13
(2,855 posts)Roland99
(53,342 posts)Timeline in Ukraine Probe Casts Doubt on Giulianis Biden Claim
By Stephanie Baker and Daryna Krasnolutska , 5/7/2019, 12:00:01 AM
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-05-07/timeline-in-ukraine-probe-casts-doubt-on-giuliani-s-biden-claim
The official described to Bloomberg details about the countrys political dynamic in the run-up to early 2016 when Biden, then the U.S. vice president, threatened to hold up U.S. funding to Ukraine unless it cracked down on corruption. Bidens chief demand was the ouster of a top Ukrainian prosecutor who he said had been ineffective. The episode has come under the spotlight in the last week because at one point, that prosecutor had been investigating a natural gas company where Bidens son, Hunter Biden, sat on the board and received substantial compensation.
Theres little question that the Bidens paths in Ukraine held the potential for conflict, and in a tweet last week, Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani said the U.S. should investigate the matter. But what has received less attention is that at the time Biden made his ultimatum, the probe into the company -- Burisma Holdings, owned by Mykola Zlochevsky -- had been long dormant, according to the former official, Vitaliy Kasko.
There was no pressure from anyone from the U.S. to close cases against Zlochevsky, Kasko said in an interview last week. It was shelved by Ukrainian prosecutors in 2014 and through 2015.