12:44 PM 7/8/2019 - Is the Israeli Russian Jewish Mob behind these arms sales to Saudis' prospects, and the related affairs, issues, events, and mysteries? - Michael Novakhov
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The Saudis needed the sophisticated new anti-personnel weapons, such as laser and sonic ones, for their plans to kill Iranian generals, and George Nader was able to supply them, possibly through the Israelis and from the Russians, who were interested in arms sales to Arabs for some time (hence Kirill Dmitriev in Seychelles?).
Did George Nader arrange for the nice, convincing demonstrations of these new weapons, with Joel Zamel's help? Was he a competitor with Jamal and Adnan Khashoggis' Arms Trade Family Business?
Did George Nader play any role in Jamal Khashoggi's assassination?
Is the Israeli Russian Jewish Mob behind these arms sales to Saudis' prospects, and the related affairs, issues, events, and mysteries?
Michael Novakhov
12:44 PM 7/8/2019
2:21 PM 7/8/2019
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Elliott Broidy’s Company Got Its Biggest U.S. Government Job Ever While He Pitched Trump Administration – 2:13 PM 7/8/2019 – Michael Novakhov – SharedNewsLinks℠
Michael Novakhov – SharedNewsLinks℠ | ||
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| Elliott Broidy’s Company Got Its Biggest U.S. Government Job Ever While He Pitched Trump Administration | ||
IT WAS A VERY GOOD YEARElliott Broidy’s Company Got Its Biggest U.S. Government Job Ever While He Pitched Trump Administration
The GOP mogul didn’t just get rich off defense contracts in the Middle East in 2017. He also scored a record haul for his company from the Pentagon.
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IT WAS A VERY GOOD YEAR
Elliott Broidy’s Company Got Its Biggest U.S. Government Job Ever While He Pitched Trump Administration
The GOP mogul didn’t just get rich off defense contracts in the Middle East in 2017. He also scored a record haul for his company from the Pentagon.
Circinus has seen a boon in business since Trump took office. In addition to the more than $4 million in U.S. defense task orders it inked in late 2017, Broidy’s company has secured a reported $200 million in deals with the state-owned Romanian defense company Romarm. That’s in addition to the $600 million contract Broidy secured with the UAE, which came after two Oval Office meetings with Trump in late 2017 where Broidy lobbied the president on several fronts favorable to the Emiratis.
The Romanian contracts came after Broidy gave “unsolicited input” to Rep. Ed Royce, a California Republican who serves as chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, just before Royce visited Romania in August 2017. Documents obtained by McClatchy appear to show that Broidy was in Romania at the same time. Broidy also worked Royce on behalf of the Saudis and Emiratis, claiming he had “shifted” the lawmaker into “being critical of Qatar,” the AP reported on Monday.
Royce—who received the maximum legal campaign contribution from Broidy—eventually backed legislation critical of Qatar.
Broidy’s personal emails, hacked and shared with several media outlets in February, show that the fall of 2017 was a particularly busy time for him—and not just because Circinus had received the biggest government payouts in its history.
In August, Broidy tried to influence a Justice Department investigation into the Malaysian state-run company 1MBD, according to the emails. Included in the hacked correspondences was a draft of a contract that would have netted Broidy $75 million if the Justice Department investigation came to an end, according to emails obtained by The Wall Street Journal. Broidy’s attorney denied his client tried to insert himself into the investigation.
But in addition to his direct access to Trump, Broidy also has a relationship with Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who sought Broidy’s recommendations for U.S. attorney nominees shortly after Trump was elected, ProPublica reported. Broidy, a lifelong venture capitalist with interest in developing movies, has no background in legal work.
Broidy’s emails also reportedly show how he used his access to Trump to work on behalf of the UAE, with whom Circinus first went into business when it signed hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of contracts shortly after the election. More would follow, thanks to Broidy’s access to Trump and Nader working his benefactors among Saudi and Emirati royalty.
In October 2017, Broidy provided a dispatch of an Oval Office meeting between himself and Trump to Nader, who had cultivated Broidy as a partner in working within the White House to advocate for the positions of the Saudis and Emiratis. During one of two Oval Office visits, Broidy advocated for getting rid of then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who was seen as insufficiently hostile to Qatar.
In the same Oval Office meeting, Broidy made clear that Tillerson had to go.
“President Trump asked me about the job Rex was doing,” Broidy reported to Nader following the meeting. “I responded that he was performing poorly and should be relieved but only at a good time, politically.”
It now appears that Nader’s cultivation of Broidy as a White House contact—and the pair’s success in achieving some of the goals of the Saudis and Emiratis—was the culmination of a lobbying long game that began before Americans even went to the polls in November 2016.
On Sunday, The New York Times reported that Nader attended a meeting just before the 2016 electionthat included Donald Trump Jr., Trump campaign senior adviser Stephen Miller, Blackwater co-founder Erik Prince, and others. At the meeting, Nader spoke on behalf of the Emiratis and Saudis who offered support for Trump in his quest for the presidency.
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After six months in power, House Democrats have issued a series of high-profile subpoenas as part of their sprawling investigations into President Trump
Donald John TrumpThe ambassador's cables and the Tory election Trump to give speech on 'America's environmental leadership' NY governor signs bill allowing Congress to obtain Trump's state tax returns MORE and his administration.
Donald John TrumpThe ambassador's cables and the Tory election Trump to give speech on 'America's environmental leadership' NY governor signs bill allowing Congress to obtain Trump's state tax returns MORE and his administration.
Democrats have gone after key figures like former special counsel Robert Mueller
Robert (Bob) Swan MuellerTop Republican considered Mueller subpoena to box in Democrats Kamala Harris says her Justice Dept would have 'no choice' but to prosecute Trump for obstruction Dem committees win new powers to investigate Trump MORE as well as top-level administration officials, both current and former, as they seek to obtain documents and compel testimony.
Robert (Bob) Swan MuellerTop Republican considered Mueller subpoena to box in Democrats Kamala Harris says her Justice Dept would have 'no choice' but to prosecute Trump for obstruction Dem committees win new powers to investigate Trump MORE as well as top-level administration officials, both current and former, as they seek to obtain documents and compel testimony.
Here are the key individuals, entities and documents subpoenaed by House committees as part of their multi-pronged investigations into Trump, his administration and his businesses.
Judiciary Committee
Robert Mueller
Democrats spent weeks negotiating with the former special counsel as they sought his public testimony following April’s release of his Russia report. But two top committees eventually resorted to subpoenaing Mueller.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler
Jerrold (Jerry) Lewis NadlerNadler apologized after repeatedly calling Hope Hicks 'Ms. Lewandowski' at hearing Hope Hicks: Trump campaign felt 'relief' after WikiLeaks released damaging info about Hillary Clinton House hearing marks historic moment for slavery reparations debate MORE (D-N.Y.) and Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff
Adam Bennett SchiffThis week: Lawmakers return as Amash fallout looms Here are the key figures subpoenaed by Democrats in Trump probes GOP strategist praises El Salvador's president for taking blame for migrant deaths MORE (D-Calif.) jointly announced last month that Mueller will testify publicly before the two panels on July 17. His appearance is expected to be a major spectacle on Capitol Hill, possibly rivaling some of the biggest hearings in congressional history.
Jerrold (Jerry) Lewis NadlerNadler apologized after repeatedly calling Hope Hicks 'Ms. Lewandowski' at hearing Hope Hicks: Trump campaign felt 'relief' after WikiLeaks released damaging info about Hillary Clinton House hearing marks historic moment for slavery reparations debate MORE (D-N.Y.) and Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam SchiffAdam Bennett SchiffThis week: Lawmakers return as Amash fallout looms Here are the key figures subpoenaed by Democrats in Trump probes GOP strategist praises El Salvador's president for taking blame for migrant deaths MORE (D-Calif.) jointly announced last month that Mueller will testify publicly before the two panels on July 17. His appearance is expected to be a major spectacle on Capitol Hill, possibly rivaling some of the biggest hearings in congressional history.
While Mueller has stated he will discuss matters beyond his 448-page report, Democrats are still buzzing with anticipation and hope that the former FBI chief will reveal aspects of the president’s conduct -- particularly episodes examined for possible obstruction -- as laid out in Mueller’s Russia report.
Don McGahn
In late April, Nadler went after Don McGahn, subpoenaing the former White House counsel to turn over documents and appear for a public interview.
Democrats view McGahn as a crucial witness, particularly because of his testimony to Mueller on Trump’s potential obstruction of the Russia investigation. Nadler has said the committee would look to “enforce” the subpoena even if it means going to court.
The White House has argued that McGahn and other top advisers are “absolutely immune” from compelled congressional testimony about their time in the West Wing -- an argument that may soon be tested in court.
Hope Hicks
Hope Charlotte HicksHere are the key figures subpoenaed by Democrats in Trump probes McGahn subpoena fight to test limits of executive 'immunity' Pavlich: Nadler's intimidation tactics backfire MORE
Hope Charlotte HicksHere are the key figures subpoenaed by Democrats in Trump probes McGahn subpoena fight to test limits of executive 'immunity' Pavlich: Nadler's intimidation tactics backfire MORE
Amid an already exacerbated fight with the White House, Nadler subpoenaed former White House communications director Hope Hicks on May 21st to testify before his committee and provide documents.
Hicks, who also worked on Trump’s 2016 campaign, agreed to testify behind closed doors for a transcribed interview in late June, making her the first big witness to appear on Capitol Hill amid the Democratic probes.
But the White House instructed Hicks not to turn over specific documents or discuss her work as it related to her time in the Trump administration.
White House lawyers who accompanied Hicks during her interview repeatedly blocked her from answering certain questions, according to a released transcript of her interview, further fueling Democrats’ accusations that Trump is obstructing their probes. Hicks did, however, discuss her time on the Trump campaign.
Annie Donaldson
Annie Donaldson, McGahn’s former chief of staff, was subpoenaed on the same day as Hicks. And the White House gave her the same instructions: Don’t discuss -- or provide records -- anything relating to your time in the administration.
Nadler announced last month that Donaldson has agreed to testify in person, in November, about the key events she observed while serving in the Trump administration. The deadline for her testimony was extended due to a pregnancy that makes it difficult for her to travel or testify for long periods of time.
Under the agreement, Donaldson must also provide written answers within a week of receiving them from the committee.
Intelligence Committee
Michael Flynn
In mid-June, Schiff issued a subpoena for Michael Flynn, the president’s former national security adviser who ultimately went on to cooperate with Mueller’s investigation.
Schiff has demanded that Flynn, who worked on Trump’s campaign before briefly serving in the administration, provide “documents and other materials” by June 26 and appear before the committee for sworn testimony on July 10. The panel has not said whether Flynn met the June 26 deadline. Any testimony would likely take place behind closed doors.
In December 2017, Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to federal investigators about his contacts with Russia’s ambassador to the U.S. and agreed to cooperate in Mueller’s investigation. He has not yet been sentenced.
Rick Gates
Rick GatesHere are the key figures subpoenaed by Democrats in Trump probes House panel subpoenas Flynn, Gates CNN sues FBI to force release of Mueller investigation documents MORE
Rick GatesHere are the key figures subpoenaed by Democrats in Trump probes House panel subpoenas Flynn, Gates CNN sues FBI to force release of Mueller investigation documents MORE
Schiff separately subpoenaed Rick Gates, stating that he had no choice but to compel the former Trump campaign aide to turn over documents and provide testimony because he had refused to cooperate with the committee voluntarily.
Gates, who served as Trump’s former deputy campaign manager, received his subpoena on the same day the committee issued a congressional order for Flynn. The panel also set the same deadline for Gates -- June 26 for documents and July 10 to provide sworn testimony. It’s not clear if the first deadline was met.
Gates, who pleaded guilty in February 2018 to making false statements and to a conspiracy charge, agreed to cooperate with Mueller’s probe. He is still cooperating with the government and has yet to be sentenced.
Felix Sater
Schiff issued a subpoena for Felix Sater in late June after the president’s onetime business associate did not appear for a scheduled closed door interview with the panel.
The committee had requested Sater’s testimony as part of its Russia investigation. In particular, Democrats on the panel wanted to question Sater about his involvement in discussions to build a Trump real estate property in Moscow during the 2016 presidential campaign. The plans never came to fruition, but the talks still attracted scrutiny by Mueller.
Sater’s attorney, Robert Wolf, said in a June 21 statement that Sater was prevented from appearing due to “unexpected health reasons.”
Deutsche Bank, Capital One
Schiff and House Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters
Maxine Moore WatersMaxine Waters hits Trump over taxpayer cost of golf outings Here are the key figures subpoenaed by Democrats in Trump probes Hillicon Valley: Facebook tries to ease concerns over cryptocurrency | Democrats ask company to halt plans | Instagram photos hit by glitch | Court rules Amazon liable for third-party sales | UK to study internet giants' market power MORE (D-Calif.) issued separate subpoenas to Deutsche Bank and Capital One in mid-April, as part of a joint effort to obtain Trump’s personal and business financial records from his longtime lender.
Maxine Moore WatersMaxine Waters hits Trump over taxpayer cost of golf outings Here are the key figures subpoenaed by Democrats in Trump probes Hillicon Valley: Facebook tries to ease concerns over cryptocurrency | Democrats ask company to halt plans | Instagram photos hit by glitch | Court rules Amazon liable for third-party sales | UK to study internet giants' market power MORE (D-Calif.) issued separate subpoenas to Deutsche Bank and Capital One in mid-April, as part of a joint effort to obtain Trump’s personal and business financial records from his longtime lender.
Trump responded by suing the financial institutions in an effort to prevent them from providing the documents covered by the subpoenas. But a federal judge in New York delivered a blow to the president in May by ruling that the two banks can provide Trump's financial records to House Democrats. Trump quickly filed appeals in both cases.
Oversight and Reform Committee
Carl Kline
Cummings in early April issued a subpoena to White House Personnel Security Director Carl Kline seeking to compel his testimony after a whistleblower came forward with allegations about the administration’s security clearance process.
The whistleblower, Tricia Newbold, told committee staff that her higher-ups at the White House overruled her and other career officials more than two dozen times by granting clearances to administration officials and contractors despite concerns about "disqualifying issues" in their backgrounds.
John Gore
Cummings also issued a subpoena to Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General John Gore in early April as part of the committee’s investigation into why the Trump administration wants to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census.
The Commerce and Justice Departments announced Tuesday the government would move forward with printing census materials without the citizenship question – a statement Trump contradicted Wednesday, sowing confusion about whether it would appear on the decennial survey. Later on Wednesday, a lawyer with the Department of Justice said agency officials have been ordered to determine whether there is a way the administration can still include a citizenship question on the census. The matter has yet to be resolved.
The drama followed a 5-4 ruling by the Supreme Court that the question could not be added for the time being.
Cummings issued the subpoena for Gore on April 2, the same day the committee separately sent orders for Kline.
The committee said it will hear from Census Bureau Director Steven Dillingham on July 24.
Kellyanne Conway
Kellyanne Elizabeth ConwayHere are the key figures subpoenaed by Democrats in Trump probes Here are the top paid White House staffers The Hill's Morning Report - Trump touts handshake with Kim, tariff freeze with Xi MORE
Kellyanne Elizabeth ConwayHere are the key figures subpoenaed by Democrats in Trump probes Here are the top paid White House staffers The Hill's Morning Report - Trump touts handshake with Kim, tariff freeze with Xi MORE
Oversight and Reform Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings
Elijah Eugene CummingsJohn Delaney: Decriminalizing border crossings is not 'the right thing to do' The Hill's Morning Report - Democrats assail border conditions as Congress returns to work FBI, ICE using state driver's license photos without consent for facial recognition searches: report MORE (D-Md.) issued a subpoena for Kellyanne Conway in late June, after the White House counselor did not appear voluntarily at a hearing focused on allegations that she ran afoul of the Hatch Act.
Elijah Eugene CummingsJohn Delaney: Decriminalizing border crossings is not 'the right thing to do' The Hill's Morning Report - Democrats assail border conditions as Congress returns to work FBI, ICE using state driver's license photos without consent for facial recognition searches: report MORE (D-Md.) issued a subpoena for Kellyanne Conway in late June, after the White House counselor did not appear voluntarily at a hearing focused on allegations that she ran afoul of the Hatch Act.
The committee voted largely along party lines to authorize the order to compel her testimony, which was issued on the same day as the vote, a committee spokesperson confirmed.
Last month, the Office of Special Counsel (OSC) sent a report to Trump that said Conway repeatedly violated the Hatch Act by discussing Democratic presidential candidates while appearing as a White House official for television interviews. The Hatch Act bars federal officials from using their positions to advocate for certain candidates.
When Democrats pressed to interview her, the White House intervened, blocking Conway from appearing for public testimony and citing a "long-standing precedent" in which presidential administrations decline requests to have presidential advisers give congressional testimony.
Mazars
Cummings issued a subpoena in mid-April seeking the president’s financial records from the accounting firm Mazars.
A district judge later upheld the congressional subpoena for the records, delivering a blow to the president. Trump’s lawyers have filed an appeal, which will be decided by a three judge panel on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals on July 12.
Key documents
Mueller report
The House Judiciary and Intelligence committees are waging high-profile battles with the Justice Department for the full Mueller report.
Attorney General William Barr
William Pelham BarrCarl Bernstein knocks media coverage of Mueller report: 'I think we've made a big mistake' The Hill's Morning Report - Democrats assail border conditions as Congress returns to work Peter King: Improper behavior by FBI officials 'going to come out' MORE, who has been subpoenaed by the Judiciary Committee for the documents, has resisted releasing grand jury material from the report to Congress, noting federal law mandates its secrecy in the absence of a court order.
William Pelham BarrCarl Bernstein knocks media coverage of Mueller report: 'I think we've made a big mistake' The Hill's Morning Report - Democrats assail border conditions as Congress returns to work Peter King: Improper behavior by FBI officials 'going to come out' MORE, who has been subpoenaed by the Judiciary Committee for the documents, has resisted releasing grand jury material from the report to Congress, noting federal law mandates its secrecy in the absence of a court order.
Schiff has also requested access to Mueller’s full unredacted report, its underlying evidence, and counterintelligence and foreign intelligence materials generated in the course of the 22-month investigation.
While neither chairman has obtained the full report, the Judiciary panel reached an agreement with the Justice Department to receive underlying evidence on obstruction, and the department has begun producing counterintelligence and foreign intelligence files to the Intelligence panel.
Trump's tax returns
The chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee in mid-May subpoenaed Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin
Steven Terner MnuchinThe Hill's Morning Report - Democrats assail border conditions as Congress returns to work Here are the key figures subpoenaed by Democrats in Trump probes On The Money: GOP raises concerns about White House plan to avoid shutdown | Trump pushes Fed to weaken dollar | Trade deficit spikes | Dow, S&P, Nasdaq set record highs MOREand IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig to turn over six years of Trump’s tax returns.
Steven Terner MnuchinThe Hill's Morning Report - Democrats assail border conditions as Congress returns to work Here are the key figures subpoenaed by Democrats in Trump probes On The Money: GOP raises concerns about White House plan to avoid shutdown | Trump pushes Fed to weaken dollar | Trade deficit spikes | Dow, S&P, Nasdaq set record highs MOREand IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig to turn over six years of Trump’s tax returns.
Mnuchin and Rettig, however, did not comply with the congressional order, prompting Committee Chairman Richard Neal
Richard Edmund NealNY governor signs bill allowing Congress to obtain Trump's state tax returns Setting the record straight about America's multiemployer pension crisis Here are the key figures subpoenaed by Democrats in Trump probes MORE (D-Mass.) to file a lawsuit Tuesday over their refusal, igniting what could become a lengthy court battle.
Richard Edmund NealNY governor signs bill allowing Congress to obtain Trump's state tax returns Setting the record straight about America's multiemployer pension crisis Here are the key figures subpoenaed by Democrats in Trump probes MORE (D-Mass.) to file a lawsuit Tuesday over their refusal, igniting what could become a lengthy court battle.
Census materials
Cummings also subpoenaed Barr and Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross for documents related to the administration’s desire to include the citizenship question in the 2020 census.
Barr and Ross did not comply, and the Oversight Committee voted largely along party lines to hold the two Cabinet members in contempt.
“The Attorney General and the Secretary of Commerce must now turn over all of the documents our Committee has subpoenaed on a bipartisan basis,” Cummings said Tuesday.
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Epstein has been held since his arrest at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in lower Manhattan, the same high-security facility where Paul Manafort, ...
Broidy's lawyers argue the GOP fundraiser did not have a contract or exchange money with any Romanian government politicians, and claimed ... The grand jury is also seeking records related to George Nader, a Broidy associate ...
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In May 2018, Trump overruled his own Defense Secretary, Jim Mattis, and pulled the .... Before Elliott Broidy pleaded guilty in December 2009 to bribing officials in New ... But Broidy was really interested in securing contracts with ... On the night of Trump's Inauguration, Broidy met George Nader, and almost ...
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George Aref Nader was an informal adviser to an Arab prince and reportedly sent more than $2 million to Trump fundraiser Elliott Broidy. ... a Trump supporter and founder of defense contractor Blackwater, and the head of the ...
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... to Donald Trump's moneymen, Elliott Broidy and Michael Cohen ... 19 2017: Broidy meets with Romanian defense minister Mihai Fifor ... give it the inside track for contracts valued at more than $200 million,” the New York Times reports. ... 3, 2016: George Nader, Israeli social media specialist Joel Zamel, ...
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May 22, 2018 - But today, we turn our attention to one Elliott Broidy, who may well be moving ... George Nader waged in 2017 in order to obtain huge consulting contracts ... Broidy's company, Circinus LLC, received millions of dollars in defense work. ... Broidy teamed up with George Nader, a Lebanese American who had ...
Did Elliott Broidy pay off yet another former Trump mistress for a ...
https://www.salon.com/.../did-elliott-broidy-pay-off-yet-another-former-trump-mistres...
May 23, 2018 - We learn that Broidy and George Nader, another shadowy character who ... paid a total of just $7,501 for its work on various defense contracts.
Elliott Broidy, top Trump fundraiser, accuses ex-CIA operative of ...
https://www.nbcnews.com/.../elliott-broidy-top-trump-fundraiser-accuses-ex-cia-opera...
May 24, 2018 - WASHINGTON — Lawyers for Elliott Broidy, a top fundraiser for President ... hundreds of millions of dollars in defense contracts from the United Arab ... with George Nader, a Lebanese-American businessman and lobbyist.
Elliott B. Broidy (born 1956/1957) is an American venture capitalist, owner of a global security ... In 2018, Broidy intended to take a business trip with George Nader to meet with the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, in order to sell the .... He obtained defense contracts worth more than $200 million from the United Arab Emirates.
Trump fundraiser Broidy was reportedly close to securing $1 billion in ...
https://slate.com/news-and.../05/broidy-contracts-saudi-arabia-uae-qatar-trump.html
May 21, 2018 - Elliott Broidy and George Nader, who met for the first time during Donald ... Close to Securing $1 Billion in Contracts From Saudi Arabia and UAE to Push ... and to then turn that success into millions of dollars in defense deals, ...
7:03 AM 6/22/2019 – $4 million defense contract for George Nader ...
https://trumpandtrumpism.com/.../703-am-6-22-2019-4-million-defense-contract-for-...
Jun 22, 2019 - Michael_Novakhov shared this story from “$4 million defense contract for George Naderand Elliott Broidy” – Google News.
Inside the Newest Trump Scandal: Arabian Princes, the RNC, and a ...
https://www.pastemagazine.com/.../inside-the-emerging-trump-scandal-surrounding-ar...
May 22, 2018 - Broidy and his business partner, Lebanese-American George Nader, pitched themselves to the crown princes as a backchannel to ... and has secured at least $800 million in foreign defense contracts since Trump took office. ... Elliot Broidy, a now-former deputy finance chairman of the Republican National ...
Thread by @tomlobianco: "Here it is, the complete story -- Elliott ...
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/998670186394931200.html
The pair's intensive effort began with their meeting at Trump's inauguration in 2017 and it ended when Mueller's agents confronted Nader a year later as he was ...
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elliott-broidy-sessions-turned-to-convicted-fundraiser-for ... - ProPublica
https://www.propublica.org/.../elliott-broidy-sessions-turned-to-convicted-fundraiser-f...
Apr 9, 2018 - Today, Broidy, a defense contractor and investor based in Los ... that the UAE adviser, George Nader, tempted Broidy with the prospect of more ...
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George Nader, Jamal Khashoggi, Arms Sale to Saudi, and “The Other Collusion Scandal” – 1:19 PM 7/8/2019 – Michael Novakhov – SharedNewsLinks℠
| Michael Novakhov – SharedNewsLinks℠ | ||
|---|---|---|
| The Other Collusion Scandal – Progressive.org | ||
Stop us if you’ve heard this one already: Representatives of a foreign government hold a secret meeting with members of the Trump campaign in Trump Tower to discuss ways that this foreign government could use social media manipulation to help get Trump elected. It now appears that, since the election, this government has received favorable treatment from the Trump Administration. But here’s the thing: It’s not Russia.
This isn’t some new scoop. Many parts of this story have been covered in the media. There is simply so much going on with the administration that it’s easy to miss this thread.
Yet there is at least as much evidence that Trump has been purchased by the crown princes and de facto rulers of the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia as there is to support the idea that he’s been bought by Vladimir Putin.
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The Progressive — A voice for peace, social justice, and the common good.
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Stop us if you’ve heard this one already: Representatives of a foreign government hold a secret meeting with members of the Trump campaign in Trump Tower to discuss ways that this foreign government could use social media manipulation to help get Trump elected. It now appears that, since the election, this government has received favorable treatment from the Trump Administration. But here’s the thing: It’s not Russia.
This isn’t some new scoop. Many parts of this story have been covered in the media. There is simply so much going on with the administration that it’s easy to miss this thread.
Yet there is at least as much evidence that Trump has been purchased by the crown princes and de facto rulers of the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia as there is to support the idea that he’s been bought by Vladimir Putin.
During the first two years of his presidency, Trump’s foreign policy has lined up tightly with the interests of the United Arab Emirates’ Mohammed bin Zayed, crown prince of Abu Dhabi, and Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed bin Salman. In a remarkable number of instances, Trump has sided with these two crown princes over his own State Department, intelligence officials, and even Cabinet members.
In a remarkable number of instances, Trump has sided with these two crown princes over his own State Department, intelligence officials, and even Cabinet members.
The Emirati and Saudi influence campaigns are not totally separate from the one involving Russia. During the early days of the Trump Administration, representatives of both the Emirates and Saudi Arabia pushed Trump to curtail sanctions on Russia in exchange for Russia rolling back its relations with Iran.
Like Russia, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have repressive autocratic governments with atrocious human rights records; however, unlike Russia, these two countries have enormous wealth and can operate under the cover of being U.S. allies.
While much has been made of the Russian meeting in Trump Tower on June 9, 2016, little attention has been given to another secret meeting in the same building involving offers of direct assistance to the Trump campaign. While there has been extensive reporting on how the $130,000 paid to Stephanie Clifford, known professionally as Stormy Daniels, might constitute a campaign finance violation, it appears that the Trump campaign may have secretly received up to $2 million in indirect assistance paid by a foreign government.
And while claims of “no collusion” in regard to the Russia investigation are hotly debated in the media, there seems to be substantial evidence of direct coordination between the Trump campaign and the governments of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. These governments were given unofficial, direct access to the White House and have made significant foreign policy requests outside of any State Department channels.
Moreover, there is compelling evidence that people within and connected to the Trump organization received direct financial benefit from these arrangements.
To say that Donald Trump’s first presidential trip abroad, to Saudi Arabia in May 2017, was a lavish affair would be putting it mildly. The Saudi Kingdom saw the trip as a way to help reset U.S.-Saudi relations after a cool relationship with President Barack Obama and, as a result, it went all out. It reportedly spent $68 million on the event, which included sporting events, auto shows, a performanceby country music singer Toby Keith, the projection of a five-story image of Trump’s face on the wall of his hotel, and a multimillion-dollar dinner in his honor.
During the trip, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates donated $100 million to Ivanka Trump’s World Bank fund for women entrepreneurs, while presenting Trump with a chance to show off his supposed skills as a deal maker. Trump bragged that he had nailed down $350 billion worth of American weapons sales to Saudi Arabia; experts said the actual amount was far less.
Since this initial trip to Saudi Arabia, members of the Trump Administration have continued to visit the Saudi Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates frequently. In the last week of February 2019, Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, met the crown princes of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates; Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with the leaders of the Emirates and Saudi Arabia the month before; and Energy Secretary Rick Perry visited Saudi Arabia in December 2018.
The Trump Administration has consistently taken positions favorable to the two countries. For instance, Trump backed their decision to institute a punishing blockade on Qatar, just days after Trump left Saudi Arabia. Trump did so against the advice of Rex Tillerson, then Secretary of State.
In November 2017, Trump praised Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as he instituted a crackdown on wealthy Saudis in which they were detained and tortured until they agreed to hand over substantial amounts of money.
In May 2018, Trump overruled his own Defense Secretary, Jim Mattis, and pulled the United States out of the Iran nuclear deal, which the Crown Princes bin Salman and bin Zayed had been pushing him to do.
Trump has also looked the other way as the Saudi Kingdom cut off relations with Canada and forcibly detained the prime minister of Lebanon, and Trump got rid of the limited constraints Obama had imposed on U.S. arms exports to Saudi Arabia for use in the war in Yemen. Human rights groups have documented how Saudi Arabia and the Emirates have used U.S.-supplied weapons to commit war crimes.
Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of Human Rights Watch’s Middle East and North Africa Division, tells The Progressive, “The Trump Administration’s cruel insistence that profits to the arms industry justify the unlawful killings, disease, and destruction in Yemen undoubtedly will come back to bite the American people.”
The Trump Administration also failed to push back against bin Salman for locking up women activists who had pushed for the right to drive.
Indeed, it appeared as though there was almost nothing the Saudi crown prince could do that Trump would rebuke. Even the gruesome murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi wasn’t enough. Trump ran cover for bin Salman, insisting the killing was a rogue operation and dismissing the CIA’s assessment that bin Salman planned the hit himself. (Prince bin Salman had reportedly even threatened to put a bullet in Khashoggi a year prior to the murder.)
“Trump’s cover-up of [bin Salman’s] responsibility for the killing was the worst political cover-up in history,” Abdullah Alaoudh, a senior fellow at Georgetown University, who was a friend of Jamal Khashoggi, tells The Progressive. “Trump is willing to go against the CIA, against Congress and his own Cabinet and his own administration to support [bin Salman]. It blows your mind.”
A former intelligence official with decades of experience in the Middle East, who spoke on condition of anonymity, calls it “really unprecedented for a President to completely dismiss the assessment of the entire intelligence community.”
And Nabeel Khoury, who served as deputy chief of mission at the U.S. embassy in Yemen from 2004 to 2007, tells The Progressive, “Giving [bin Salman] a pass for the murder of Khashoggi for the sake of deals, quite apparently goes beyond the national to the personal interests of those making them, on both sides.”
“Trump’s lack of knowledge and expertise makes him sort of a blank canvas. It’s just a lot easier for them to influence him than with previous Presidents. He’s kind of an easy target for foreign influence operations,” Ben Freeman, the director of the Center for International Policy’s Foreign Influence Transparency Initiative, tells The Progressive.
But how did this relationship between Trump, Crown Prince bin Salman, and Crown Prince bin Zayed develop?
The meetings between the Trump team and Russia’s then U.S. ambassador, Sergey Kislyak, and lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya are now infamous. But another secretive meeting at Trump Tower, just months after the meeting with Veselnitskaya, has received far less attention.
This “other” Trump Tower meeting contains all the elements that are only hinted at in the Russia meetings. A representative of a foreign government offers to help the campaign, specifically through social media manipulation. The campaign responds positively and, in return, may have received substantial support.
The August 3, 2016, meeting was set up by Erik Prince, the founder of the notorious private military contracting outfit Blackwater who later acted as an informal adviser to the Trump team. Prince is the brother of Betsy DeVos, now Trump’s Secretary of Education.
Others in attendance: George Nader, an American businessman and convicted pedophile, who represented the crown princes of the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia; the President’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr.; Trump campaign adviser Stephen Miller, later a top White House aide; and Joel Zamel, a former Israeli intelligence agent who founded Psy-Group, a “social media manipulation” firm staffed by former Israeli intelligence agents, who pitched the Trump team on social media manipulation strategies.
‘We had a relationship with Saudi Arabia once upon a time where the U.S. drove the relationship. Now Saudi action drives the Trump Administration.’
Nader, who pleaded guilty in 1991 to a federal child pornography charge in Virginia and was convictedin 2003 of sexually abusing ten minors in the Czech Republic, told Donald Trump Jr. that the crown princes of both the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia “were eager to help his father win election as President,” according to a New York Times report. The leadership of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates strongly disliked Obama’s policy in the region, which they saw as too supportive of the Arab Spring and Iran, and too hands-off in the war against Bashar al-Assad in Syria.
Trump Jr. responded positively to the offers of help. Immediately after the 2016 election, Nader allegedly paid Zamel’s company $2 million for his efforts related to social media.
Then, on December 15, 2016, Crown Prince bin Zayed made a secret visit to a New York hotel to meet directly with Michael Flynn, Jared Kushner, and Steve Bannon. The Emiratis didn’t inform then-President Obama, whose administration found the meeting suspicious.
Afterward, Erik Prince contacted bin Zayed, saying he was acting as an unofficial surrogate for the Trump team and wanted the crown prince to set up a meeting with an individual close to Putin for the purposes of setting up a secret communications back-channel between Russia and the incoming administration. On January 11, 2017, just days before Trump’s Inauguration, a secret meeting took place in the Seychelles, an archipelago in the Indian Ocean. Attending were Erik Prince and Kirill Dmitriev, a Russian believed to be close to Vladimir Putin, bin Zayed, and Nader.
One topic discussed, The Washington Post reported, was whether the United States might improve relations with Russia in exchange for Russia distancing itself from Iran, which the United Arab Emirates regards as its enemy.
Jared Kushner was interviewed twice by Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team as part of the investigation into alleged foreign collusion by the Trump Administration. Steve Bannon was interviewedthree times, Erik Prince was interviewed once, and Trump’s short-lived National Security Adviser Michael Flynn has been charged with illegally lobbying for the Turkish government.
Before Elliott Broidy pleaded guilty in December 2009 to bribing officials in New York State, he’d been a major Republican donor who threw big fundraisers at his home in Bel-Air. Broidy grew rich founding an investment firm and was friends with a circle of Jewish conservatives from Southern California who donated large amounts of money to the Republican Party.
Following his guilty plea, Broidy’s reputation was significantly diminished. Yet when Steven Mnuchin, chief fundraiser for Trump’s campaign, needed people to raise money for a candidate many found distasteful, he called Broidy, who accepted the role.
After Trump’s unlikely election victory, Broidy, acting as vice chair of the Inauguration committee, brought two high-level Angolan officials to the Inauguration, according to a report in Rolling Stone; Angola later made a payment on a contract with Broidy’s defense-contracting company, Circinus, LLC.
But Broidy was really interested in securing contracts with deep-pocketed countries like the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. On the night of Trump’s Inauguration, Broidy met George Nader, and almost immediately afterward they went to work on a plan. The first phase involved a public relations campaign against Qatar, which the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia had long-standingdisagreements with over its support for the Arab Spring and its tolerance for Muslim democratic movements.
The campaign attempted to turn the United States against Qatar, a small Persian Gulf kingdom that had been a longtime U.S. ally. The plan to influence Congress and the Trump Administration was finalized in March 2017, and Nader asked Broidy to invoice him $2.5 million.
This influence campaign involved doling out nearly $600,000 to members of Congress and Republican political committees. The Associated Press, which initially reported on these payments, “found no evidence that Broidy . . . broke any laws.”
In a November 2017 email to Nader titled “Strictly Confidential,” Broidy outlined eleven different efforts being undertaken to pressure the Trump Administration to adjust its policies.
One prong involved getting then Representative Ed Royce, the Republican chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, to speak at a conference on Qatar and the Muslim Brotherhood, ostensibly put on by two conservative think tanks. Following the conference, Royce received $5,400 in campaign gifts from Broidy, the maximum allowed by law.
Broidy and Nader attempted to set up a quiet meeting between Trump and bin Zayed at a quiet location away from the White House. H.R. McMaster, Trump’s National Security Adviser at the time, blocked the effort.
Broidy told Trump that the crown princes of the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia were going to use his company to create an all-Muslim counter-terrorism force, which would fight against the Taliban and ISIS. Reported Rolling Stone, “Trump loved the idea.” Broidy then made a pitch for Trump to visit the Saudi Kingdom, which later became Trump’s first trip abroad.
Even though Nader and Broidy facilitated a communications channel between the crown princes and the White House, neither was registered as a foreign agent, as required by law. These meetings were not reported by the White House, but became public when Broidy’s email was hacked. Broidy has maintained that he was not required to register as a lobbyist, since he was not being directed to act by a foreign agent.
Nader was on his way to Mar-a-Lago to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the Trump presidency when he was picked up and questioned by agents working for Special Counsel Robert Mueller. He was granted partial immunity for cooperating with the special counsel and later met with high-level officials in Iraq, which has increasingly become a new front in the influence war between Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.
“Days after Broidy’s meeting with Trump,” the Associated Press reported, the United Arab Emirates “awarded Broidy the intelligence contract the partners had been seeking for up to $600 million over five years.” Broidy disputes this reference to timing, and other sources have reported the value of this contract at $200 million.
In April 2016, according to a New York Times report, Trump’s billionaire friend Tom Barrack began communicating with Yousef al-Otaiba, the United Arab Emirates’ ambassador to the United States, assuring al-Otaiba that despite Trump’s rhetoric about banning Muslims, he was someone the Emirates could work with.
Meanwhile, Barrack sent al-Otaiba an email about Trump. “We can turn him to prudence,” he assured the ambassador. “He needs a few really smart Arab minds to whom he can confer—u r at the top of that list!”
Barrack served as a major fundraiser for the Trump campaign and suggested Trump hire Paul Manafort as campaign manager. And while Barrack has not been formally involved in the Trump Administration, his company has raised billions in investments since Trump won the Republican nomination, with nearly a quarter of it coming from the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
Barrack’s connection to the Trump Administration, the Times noted, extends beyond the President. In 2010, he took on $70 million of the debt owed by Jared Kushner for the 666 Fifth Avenue skyscraper. Early in his career, Barrack negotiated oil drilling rights with the Ambassador al-Otaiba’s father. In 2009, al-Otaiba and Barrack made a deal where Barrack’s private equity firm sold a Beverly Hills hotel to a venture owned in part by an Abu Dhabi investment fund.
By May 2016, Barrack had introduced al-Otaiba to Jared Kushner, and soon after the two attempted to arrange a meeting between Paul Manafort and Mohammed bin Salman (then deputy crown prince of Saudi Arabia) in June 2016, but Manafort canceled. Barrack informed al-Otaiba of changes made to the Republican platform, which no longer called for the release of the twenty-eight pages redacted fromthe 9/11 Commission Report, which found the September 11 hijackers may have had connections to the Saudi royal family and government.
Federal prosecutors are looking into the possibility that the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia made illegal donations to President Trump’s inaugural committee and to a pro-Trump super PAC with the intention of buying influence with the Trump Administration. Tom Barrack raised money for both funds.
Saudi Arabia also financially backed a lobbying firm, who booked more than 500 nights at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., around the time of the Inauguration.
Barrack has been interviewed by investigators for the Mueller investigation, but his spokesperson has said he is not a target of the investigation.
Early in the Trump Administration, according to another New York Times report, Kushner began making unofficial contacts with the crown prince of Saudi Arabia. The contacts worried some American officials because they believed Kushner’s inexperience left him open for manipulation.
Shortly after Trump won the election, a high-level Saudi team visited the United States and identified Kushner as a convenient entry point into the administration. John Kelly, then Trump’s Chief of Staff, attempted to restrict contact between Kushner and Prince bin Salman, but the two kept chatting, using the messaging platform WhatsApp.
The Saudis pitched themselves as having the key to reaching a long-elusive Middle East peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians. They talked up the potential of billions of dollars in weapons deals and investment in American infrastructure. They talked about setting up “an intelligence and data” exchange to help the Trump Administration with its extreme vetting of immigrants.
Kushner appeared to buy into Saudi Arabia’s plan and pushed for Trump to make Saudi Arabia his first visit abroad, over the objections of Rex Tillerson at the State Department. In March 2017, Kushner helped usher Prince bin Salman into a formal lunch with Trump at the White House, giving the two their first face-to-face meeting.
Following Trump’s visit in May 2017, Prince bin Salman moved to sideline the then-Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, with bin Salman taking over as crown prince. Within days, the new Crown Prince bin Salman began a blockade of Qatar. According to a report in The Intercept, Saudi Arabia had planned to invade Qatar, but was stopped by Tillerson.
The crown princes of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates both took credit for pushing Tillerson out of his position as Secretary of State in March 2018.
Following the murder of Khashoggi last October, Kushner emerged as one of Crown Prince bin Salman’s staunchest defenders.
“If you follow that Saudi love affair, you really see how Mohammed bin Salman is able to effectively manipulate Jared Kushner and through Kushner he’s able to manipulate Trump and really get the U.S. to ignore so much crazy stuff that he was doing, all the way up through the murder of Jamal Khashoggi,” says Ben Freeman of the Foreign Influence Transparency Initiative.
Kushner had visited with bin Salman in Saudi Arabia in the fall of 2017 and just days later the crown prince initiated a crackdown on hundreds of wealthy Saudis. On the trip, Kushner allegedly discussed the names of Saudis who were disloyal to bin Salman; he denied this. This is information that may have been available to Kushner through the President’s daily briefings.
A source told The Intercept that bin Salman bragged about how Kushner was “in his pocket.”
In one of the most recent examples of Trump taking actions that benefit bin Salman, the President blew off a Congressionally required assessment about whether the crown prince had violated human rights in killing Khashoggi.
“We had a relationship with Saudi Arabia once upon a time where the U.S. drove the relationship,” Chas Freeman, who served as U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia during the Gulf War, tells The Progressive. “Now Saudi action drives the Trump Administration.”
The anonymous former intelligence official goes further in criticizing Trump’s whitewashing of bin Salman’s bad behavior: “The actions of the President border on treason.”
On February 19, a Democratic committee released a report raising concerns that the Trump Administration is planning to ignore White House lawyers and rush delivery of sensitive nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia.
Former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn had backed a plan to build a whole host of nuclear power plants in Saudi Arabia. Flynn is gone, but the plan lives on.
“Reactors are basically nuclear weapons boxed starter kits,” Henry Sokolski, who served as the deputy for nonproliferation policy in the Office of the Secretary of Defense from 1989 to 1993, tells The Progressive. He believes the erratic Saudi regime controlled by bin Salman could have a nuclear bomb in as little as four to five years. “You’re banking on the Kingdom being stable,” he explains. “Taking a look at who’s running it right now, that’s not a sure thing.”
The only smart course, Sokolski says, is for the United States to stand up to Saudi Arabia: “You just say no. Their word is worthless after the Khashoggi murder. We should have our red lines.”
Yet the exact opposite appears to be occurring. Trump’s foreign policy seems to be clearly and consistently run to benefit Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
“[Bin Salman] believes he bought Trump’s silence with all the superficial weapons deals,” says Alaoudh of Georgetown University. “The Saudi regime has imprisoned U.S.-Saudi relations in one man and now Trump has put all the eggs in one basket [bin Salman’s]. That’s not in the best interests of Americans or the Saudi people.”
Some observers have fretted that if the United States were to seriously push back against Crown Prince bin Salman and Crown Prince bin Zayed, it would risk driving them into closer alliances with Russia, China, and India. But the former intelligence official sees it differently: “We have tremendous leverage over them and we should use it.”
As long as Trump is President, that seems unlikely.
Editor’s note: The original version of this article was changed to address omissions called to our attention. We changed a reference to Elliott Broidy’s involvement in a “secret lobbying push” to “influence campaign,” and added this sentence of explanation: “Broidy has maintained that he was not required to register as a lobbyist, since he was not being directed to act by a foreign agent.” We have also noted, with regard to the $600,000 in donations made by Broidy to members of Congress and Republican political committees, that the Associated Press, which initially reported on these payments, “found no evidence that Broidy . . . broke any laws.” Finally, we acknowledge that Broidy has disputed the AP’s reporting regarding the timing and value of contracts he received, noting that the latter has been elsewhere reported as $200 million.
April 1, 2019
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