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The Ex-Spy Behind the Trump-Russia Dossier Left a Clue for Mueller
Christopher Steele told a reporter that one real-estate deal might be key to understanding the collusion case.
November 16, 2017 11:44 am
As federal investigators pour over the Trump campaigns ties to Russia, the work of ex-British spook Christopher Steele continues to loom large. At least part of Robert Muellers probe has been informed by Steeles infamous dossier, which alleges substantive ties between Donald Trump and the Russian government. Though Trumpworld has cast doubt on the documents legitimacy, with former Trump aide Carter Page dubbing it the dodgy dossier, Steele has stood by his research and, reportedly, has offered up another tip: zero in on the presidents foreign real-estate deals.
In December of last year, Steele informed Luke Harding, a journalist for the Guardian, that the contracts for the hotel deals and land deals between Trump and individuals with the Kremlin ties warrant investigation. Check their values against the money Trump secured via loans, the former spy said, according to a conversation detailed in Hardings new book, Collusion: Secret Meetings, Dirty Money, and How Russia Helped Donald Trump Win. The difference is whats important.
According to his book, Steele did not elaborate on this point to Harding, but his implication was clear: its possible that Trump was indebted to Russian interests when he descended Trump Towers golden escalator to declare his candidacy. After the real-estate mogul suffered a series of bankruptcies related to the 2008 financial crisis, traditional banks became reluctant to loan him moneya reality he has acknowledged in past interviews. As a result, the Trump Organization reportedly became increasingly reliant on foreign investors, notably Russian ones. As Donald Trump Jr. famously said in 2008, Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross section of a lot of our assets. We see a lot of money pouring in from Russia.
The significance of such transactions is not lost on Special Counsel Robert Mueller. Citing a person familiar with the F.B.I. probe, Bloomberg reported in July that Muellers team is investigating a series of deals Trump struck, including the Trump Organizations failed SoHo development that involved Russian nationals, the 2013 Miss Universe pageant in Moscow, and the presidents sale of a Palm Beach estate in 2008. All three deals have drawn scrutiny for their ties to Russian interests; as Craig Unger outlined for the Hive, the 2014 Trump SoHo development is likely of interest to Mueller thanks to the involvement of Felix Satera Moscow-born, Russian-American businessman who did time for stabbing a man in the face with a margarita glassand the now-defunct company he worked for, the Bayrock Group. Similarly, Russian developer Aras Agalarov, whose son Emin helped broker the controversial Trump Tower meeting last June between Donald Trump Jr. and Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya, paid $20 million to bring Miss Universe to Moscow. And Russian fertilizer magnate Dmitry Rybolovlev bought the Florida mansion for a staggering sum of $95 million in 2008despite Trump having paid just $41 million for the property four years prior.
Trump has cautioned that he would view any attempt by Mueller to dig into his past business deals as out of bounds. But the former F.B.I. director has a broad mandate from the D.O.J. to investigate any links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign and any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigationsuggesting that Trumps deals with Russians fall under Muellers purview. Nor is Muellers tack in following the money limited to Trump. The indictments the special prosecutor brought against former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort and his deputy and longtime business associate Rick Gates included conspiracy to launder money and seven counts of improper foreign banking and financial reporting. (Both Manafort and Gate have denied the charges.)
Since media outlets published the Steele dossier last January, Republican lawmakers and conservative pundits alike have sought to discredit it. In recent weeks, Trumpworld has latched onto the revelation that the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton campaign indirectly bankrolled Steeles investigative workwhich he conducted for Washington-based intelligence firm Fusion G.P.S.through the law firm Perkins Coie. They have argued that the dossiers origins not only make it invalid, but are indicative of a larger anti-Trump conspiracy. Steele, however, stands by his work. While the former MI6 agent acknowledged that no piece of intelligence is 100 percent airtight, Harding noted that Steele told friends he believes the 16 memos he delivered to Fusion to be 70 to 90 percent accurate.
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/11/christopher-steele-robert-mueller-trump-russia-dossier?mbid=nl_CH_5a0dc781206b756de7931258&CNDID=45600135&spMailingID=12376014&spUserID=MTYxNzY1ODQ1ODQ0S0&spJobID=1281540201&spReportId=MTI4MTU0MDIwMQS2
DeminPennswoods
(15,290 posts)on money. A lot of Russian money seemed to flow into Trump's hands, either spent on apts/real estate and/or loaned. I think Putin could bring Trump's empire crashing down on him with a few hints to his oligarch friends to call in Trump loans or stop investing in Trump real estate. I believe Trump is deathly afraid of being exposed as a bankrupt grifter rather than the brilliant businessman he likes everyone to think of him as being.
Bernardo de La Paz
(49,047 posts)He's the guy who paid double for tRump Florida estate.
ProudProgressiveNow
(6,129 posts)Bernardo de La Paz
(49,047 posts)http://www.dictionary.com/e/pore-over-vs-pour-over/
yuiyoshida
(41,867 posts)come crashing down, and the rest of his administration as well.