Posted on 10/30/2017 12:46:38 PM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
The lobbying firms the Podesta Group and Mercury Public Affairs are the unnamed companies in the grand jury indictment of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his deputy, Rick Gates, according to three sources with knowledge of the investigation.
The indictment, unsealed Monday, refers to "Company A" and "Company B" as the firms Manafort and Gates solicited in 2012 to lobby on behalf of the Ukranian government. Company A is Mercury Public Affairs and Company B is the Podesta Group, the sources said.
The revelation of the companies’ identities points to more details about the players involved in the high-stakes venture run by Manafort and Gates to push the interest of a pro-Russia Ukranian political party inside the United States. It also provides a glimpse into the material special prosecutor Robert Mueller has corroborated on both companies and the potential legal repercussions both groups could face.
According to the indictment, the lobbying firms were paid $2 million from offshore accounts controlled by Manafort.
Their work included lobbying "multiple members of Congress and their staffs about Ukraine sanctions, the validity of Ukraine elections" that the reasons for imprisoning Yulia Tymoshenko, the political rival of Russian-backed Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych.
The indictment also revealed that Gates told Company A, now known to be Mercury, in February 2012 that it would be "representing the Government of Ukraine in [Washington] D.C."
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnews.com ...
Now the question becomes which members of congress were lobbied by these guys??? LOL
My question #1: Who was the Secretary of State being influenced by this, if true?
Insiders sent a poster to FR to claim its true. Trump is in a super duper secret alliance with mueller
Who’s husband of Sec State made 500k in speaking fees while in Russia?
Where does this come from?
This is rather interesting.
Mueller is alleging that payments to offshore companies - they may or may not be just accounts, but regardless, they are companies under the laws of the countries they are in - are somehow reportable as personal income.
Now that’s hard to prove. All the major corporations of this country have trillions parked offshore that’s income to offshore corporations they control. How that money comes home can be complicated, and may or may not be taxable.
Manafort most likely structured transactions in a way that he, his accountants and attorneys thought was legitimate if somewhat of a stretch. Companies push the envelope like that all the time.
And this is why 5 or 6 years ago - when all of this happened - Mueller did nothing. He knows all that.
So this indictment is just a hail mary move on his part to A) take the heat off Hillary and b) keep his own gig going, since most everyone see’s that it’s a con.
Five years came and went and Mr. Mueller just now discovers that payments in kind from offshore companies should be reported a different way then what he would like?
Tell Tim Cook.
Haiti and Panama Papers...
Former Secretary of State and Democratic 2016 Presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton condemned “outrageous tax havens and loopholes ... in Panama and elsewhere” at a Pennsylvania AFL–CIO event. Clinton added that “some of this behavior is clearly against the law, and everyone who violates the law anywhere should be held accountable”, but it was “scandalous how much is actually legal”. Clinton promised that “We are going after all these scams and make sure everyone pays their fair share here in America.”
These jerks all got what they wanted, and now they don't like what they're seeing.
This doesn’t seem to be going toward Trump.
I suspect the indictment was filed quickly and without all the information they would need to prosecute the case just to get it filed before statutes of limitations expired on some of these charges.
That is a good yarn, but I will not be holding my breath. It suggests that Rosenstein is part of the cabal (which is true) but that Mueller is not (which does not seem likely to me.) Rosenstein appointed Mueller. That doesn’t happen unless they are pretty confident he is one of them.
Remember the FBI already investigated Manafort regarding suspicious financial activity around 2012 and never found anything.
“scandalous how much is actually legal”
Think I just said that.
Manafort may be on the edges of laws, but there’s a lot that is legal about how you can benefit from foreign corporations.
The entire Cayman / Bahamian / Panamanian economies are built on that.
Methinks Mr. Mueller makes big noise and smoke over not a lotta fire.
Prediction: Manafort pleads to a few reporting misdeeds back in 2012 and walks with a fine.
I am somewhat encouraged by the fact that :
1- Tony Podesta just quit.
2- Schumer & Pelosi are squawking like pigs.
Yeah. I buy that. It’s pretty sketchy and reeks of vapor.
Which means it’s a stretch.
A defense in all of this is that you were under advice that the actions were legal. Proving intent, welllll....which part of it is legal tax avoidance and which part illegal tax evasion?
Regardless, it’s exactly the tripe we knew this crooked punk Mueller would come up with: just trying to put the arm on Manafort to say something, anything to help the “collusion” noise.
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