Posted on 05/13/2015 11:32:22 AM PDT by Dave346
Washington • The state-owned oil company of Azerbaijan secretly funded an all-expenses-paid trip to a conference at Baku on the Caspian Sea in 2013 for 10 members of Congress and 32 staff members, according to a confidential ethics report obtained by The Washington Post. Three former top aides to President Barack Obama appeared as speakers at the conference.
Lawmakers and their staff members received hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of travel expenses, silk scarves, crystal tea sets and Azerbaijani rugs valued at $2,500 to $10,000, according to the ethics report. Airfare for the lawmakers and some of their spouses cost $112,899, travel invoices show.
The State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic, known as SOCAR, allegedly funneled $750,000 through nonprofit corporations based in the United States to conceal the source of the funding for the conference in the former Soviet nation, according to the 70-page report by the Office of Congressional Ethics, an independent investigative arm of the House.
The report reflects the most extensive investigation undertaken by the ethics office, which was created seven years ago in response to a number of scandals on Capitol Hill, including lobbyist Jack Abramoff's illegal funding of lawmakers' trips.
The nonprofit corporations allegedly filed false statements with Congress swearing that they were sponsoring the conference. The findings have been referred to the House Committee on Ethics for investigation of possible violations of congressional rules and federal laws that bar foreign governments from trying to influence U.S. policy.
The lawmakers who took the trip were Reps. Jim Bridenstine, R-Okla., Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y., Danny Davis, D-Ill., Rubén Hinojosa, D-Tex., Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Tex., Leonard Lance, R-N.J., Michelle Lujan Grisham, D-N.M., Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., Ted Poe, R-Tex., and then-Rep. Steve Stockman, R-Tex..
(Excerpt) Read more at sltrib.com ...
When we finally go Third Party our logo should be the US Capitol with a flush handle on the side.
Regardless of party, it seems they just can’t resist the pull of ill-gotten gains, can they...
Could have gone all week without being reminded of Sheila “Don’t You Know Who I Am” Jackson Lee.
I am sure the more came out of some kind of Foreign Aid we provided them.
Mostly the usual suspects
$750G is relative chicken feed compared to what Soros funnels into his political stable horses, including the man in the Oval office and his female jockeys.
Plus, there might be an actual security interest considering that the Azeris are at odds with both Russia and OPEC on a lot of issues plus they are the largest minority group in Iran. Accordingly, attending this conference might actually have been in America's interests.
Bridenstein is a solid Tea Party Conservative from an oil state. Sounds like they were lied to.
Reps. Jim Bridenstine, R-Okla.,
Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y.,
Danny Davis, D-Ill.,
Rubén Hinojosa, D-Tex.,
Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Tex.,
Leonard Lance, R-N.J.,
Michelle Lujan Grisham, D-N.M.,
Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y.,
Ted Poe, R-Tex.,
Hmmn. And in a Tea Party 2016 election in the House, from a TX district, the only other Repubbie who went to Russia on this trip got “unelected” eh?
Need to know more about the two repubbies - Poe and Bridenstine. The rest are screaming liberals with no oil interests at all. except being talked to Russia by Obola’s hired talking point repeaters?
yeah sure..he had no idea...sell his family to the mussies!
How about the Constitution itself, or does that not matter anymore.
Article I Section 9
No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince or foreign State.
-PJ
Hillary’s standard fee in the 1990’s for access to the President was only 100,000.00
She prolly thought she was going to Mars to see the US Flag that's planted up there...
$100G for one person. The Azeris spent $750g for 10 congress critters and 32 staffers and that included airfare. That works out to less than $18G per person some 20 years later.
Oh snap, it’s that testy Constitution again. Prison is good enough, hanging would be better.
Corruption is in a politician’s nature, their essence their very being.
And let me guess - we will have hearings about this.
Are you defending them?
I just want to throw up my hands and give up. We have a totally corrupt government from top to bottom and it will only get worse.
I feel the same. What we see, what gets dribbled out in the media to score political points in this farce known as American politics, could only be the tip of the iceberg. The exempt Congress-exempt from CommieCare, from the laws they enact on the rest of us, from the consequences of breaking laws. But in bed with whatever will make a bigger pie for them to carve up. They just stake out different “sides” as if they’d tossed a coin to see which “team” they’ll run as, but they’re all there for the same reason, and they know it. We the people are the stupid ones who actually believe there are two opposing parties and we need to get all heated every couple of years and cheer and vote for one or the other “teams” (of the uniparty). Hillary said one truth in her life, though not in the context in which she meant it-”What difference does it make?”
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