Posted on 05/18/2018 8:59:49 AM PDT by gattaca
Qatari former diplomat claims Michael Cohen asked him for a fee of $1 million for his services amid a conversation about a potential Qatari investment in U.S. infrastructure.
Washington D.C. is abuzz with speculation of a new Trump - Qatar scandal this week, after photos were posted on Twitter Sunday by attorney Michael Avenatti, who is representing porn star Stormy Daniels in a lawsuit against Michael Cohen, U.S. President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer.
The photos show Ahmed al-Rumaihi, a former Qatari diplomat in the United States and the current head of Qatar Investments - a division of the world’s largest sovereign investment fund - entering an elevator in Trump Tower on Dec. 12, 2016. The visit happened five days after news broke of the multibillion-dollar sale of 19.5 percent of the Russian oil giant Rosneft to Qatar Investments.
The Intercept further fueled the scandal Wednesday by publishing revelations from al-Rumaihi - whom they reportedly had been interviewing since March. Ryan Grim writes that al-Rumaihi claims Cohen asked him for a fee of $1 million for his services amid a conversation about a potential Qatari investment in U.S. infrastructure.
Cohen responded to The Intercept denying the claim he had sought payment from al-Rumaihi. “These falsehoods and gross inaccuracies are only being written in the hopes of maligning me for sensationalistic purposes. The truth will prevail and will ultimately be proven in court and not by pundits,” Cohen replied via text message. Grim notes that al-Rumaihi’s story “is the first detailed account from the other side of the table.”
Cohen is currently at the center of an FBI investigation which has included a dramatic raid on his office and hotel room. A document released by Avenatti increased media scrutiny of Cohen showing that he was paid millions of dollars in fees for “insights” into the Trump administration by companies like AT&T and Novartis and a Russian billionaire who it was initially reported reimbursed Cohen for the Stormy Daniels payment. Trump's latest ethics disclosure, also reported on Wednesday, shows that he paid more than $100,000 to Cohen as reimbursement for payment to a third-party.
The Qatari connection
On Monday, Slate ran a headline claiming the al-Rumaihi meeting may be the key to “unlocking the Steele dossier,” a piece of opposition research funded by the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign that Trump defenders incorrectly blame for sparking the special counsel investigation into the president. One of the central claims of the dossier was that Trump foreign policy adviser Carter Page, during an alleged meeting with Rosneft officials in summer 2016, promised that a Trump administration would undo sanctions against Russia, in part, in exchange for brokerage of the Rosneft deal. In May 2016, al-Rumaihi took over as head of the wealth fund division involved in the Rosneft deal......
A spokesman for Kushner attorney Abbe Lowell said the report was the "mischief" of unnamed sources conducting a "misinformation campaign" to mislead the news media.
Kushner has long been under scrutiny for not recusing himself in foreign policy matters relating to Qatar, which was considered a prospective investor for the Kushner family property at 666 Fifth Ave. in New York, which has a $1.2 billion mortgage loan due early next year.
“As a result, Kushner should have fully recused himself from participating in US foreign policy matters involving Qatar,” wrote an ethics expert for CNN this March. Kushner was key in advising Trump on the U.S. response to the blockade of Qatar by its Saudi and United Arab Emirates only a month after the Kushner Cos. unsuccessfully solicited funding from the Qatar finance minister for the 666 Fifth Ave.
Additionally, the Washington Post reported in mid-March that the Kushner Companies confirmed U.S. President Donald Trump's son-in-law and White House adviser Jared Kushner's father met with the Qatari finance minister three months after U.S. President Donald Trump was inaugurated.
“I was invited to a meeting,” Charles Kushner said in a statement to The Washington Post. “Before the meeting, Kushner Companies had decided that it was not going to accept sovereign wealth fund investments. We informed the Qatar representatives of our decision and they agreed. Even if they were there ready to wire the money, we would not have taken it.”
Kushner admitted he discussed Qatar investing in a troubled New York City property, but that he turned any possible investment,
This is the latest making the social media crowd on the left.
I don't think so.
Clinton Foundation.
More leaks from the fbi’s raid on Cohen’a office?
Why post this garbage?
Russian Collusion is dead, and only ill informed and ideologues still think it is alive.
This is just an effort by the Leftist Media to draw attention to something else.
It stinks to high heaven that all this info about Cohen’s private business dealings is coming from Avenatti. Leaking to the media is one thing, but leaking to someone like Avenatti is utterly brazen.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-foundation-idUSKBN12Z2SL
“Clinton’s charity confirms Qatar’s $1 million gift while she was at State Dept.”
Conspiring with Russia didn’t work. So now it’s conspiring with Qatar.
Great detective work.
Why haven't the Prince and Princess returned to their NYC castle yet?
In fact, I'm starting to come around to the strong possibility that every target of this Mueller investigation was legitimately a crooked bastard looking to sell influence to foreign interests looking to get their hooks in the Trump administration.
“Why post this garbage?”
Wondering myself. a lot of POOP is being posted.
Getting really old - gotta give it to the Lefties; they got stamina....
I agree with others here. Why post this garbage? What is the motivation?
He worked for the Dems in Chicago like Obama and the current mayor. He did opposition research. He is trash.
(((YAWN))) Another day, another “scandal” concocted by the DNC’s “mainstream media”.
No matter what, the left will never acknowledge Trump’s legitimacy. We should quit expecting anything of the kind and move on. We will have to get physical with them eventually as the ballot box only seems to work when Dims win.
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