'Deeply Disturbing': Trump Aide's Russia Ties Under Scrutiny

[Mileage Psycho]

Trump does seem very comfortable with Putin.....................disturbing or deeply disturbing as a former Bush Admin official says

 

Quote

 

'Deeply Disturbing': Trump Aide's Russia Ties Under Scrutiny

 

Donald Trump's campaign chairman was a key player in multi-million-dollar business propositions with Russian and Ukrainian oligarchs — one of them a close Putin ally with alleged ties to organized crime — which foreign policy experts say raises questions about the pro-Russian bent of the Trump candidacy.

 

"The relationships that Trump's advisors have had with pro-Russian forces are deeply disturbing," said David Kramer, a former senior State Department official in the George W. Bush administration and a former adviser to Marco Rubio's presidential campaign. "Trump's attitude on Russia is not in line with most Republican foreign-policy thinking. Trump has staked out views that are really on the fringe."

 

In 2008, according to court records, senior Trump aide Paul Manafort's firm was involved with a Ukrainian oligarch named Dmytro Firtash in a plan to redevelop a famous New York hotel, the Drake. The total value of the project was $850 million. Firtash's company planned to invest over $100 million, the records say.

 

That same year, Firtash acknowledged to the U.S. ambassador in Ukraine that he got his start in business with the permission of a notorious Russian crime lord, according to a classified State Department cable. Other cables say Firtash made part of his fortune through sweetheart natural gas deals between Russia and the Ukraine.

 

Around the same time, companies controlled by another Russian billionaire, Oleg Deripaska, paid $7.35 million toward management fees for Manafort and his partners in connection with an investment fund, according to a court filing in the Cayman Islands. Deripaska once was denied entry to the United States because of alleged mafia ties, current and former officials told NBC News. Deripaska is considered by U.S. officials to be among Putin's inner circle.

 

The Drake deal didn't go through, and the Deripaska investment arrangement ended in a dispute. But Manafort's dealings with Firtash and Deripaska, documented in court records obtained by NBC News, are among several the political operative has maintained with wealthy Russian and Ukrainian businessmen going back over eight years. Firtash is a wanted man, indicted by the Justice Department in 2014 over bribery allegations in India. He is living in exile in Austria.

 

Now, Manafort is helping to run what foreign policy experts say is the most pro-Russian political campaign in modern American history. Many observers are wondering whether Manafort's financial dealings with a Putin ally and a wealthy Ukrainian have anything do with Trump's pro-Putin tilt.

 

"It's just extraordinary," said Michael McFaul, a former U.S. ambassador to Russia under President Barack Obama. "This is not a Republican or Democratic thing. Almost nobody agrees with Trump on this stuff."

 

Trump reshuffled his campaign Tuesday, bringing in Stephen Bannon, who runs the conservative Breitbart News website, as chief executive. But Manafort retains the title of chairman.

 

In interviews and statements to NBC News, Manafort says he "never had a business relationship" with Firtash. "There was one occasion where an opportunity was explored. ... Nothing transpired and no business relationship was ever implemented."

 

On the political front, Manafort was paid handsome sums for years to advise a pro-Putin Ukrainian political figure, Viktor Yanukovych, who fled to Russia in 2014 after he was ousted as president in a political revolution. U.S. officials say Yanukovych was deeply corrupt and did Putin's bidding in Ukraine. Manafort met regularly with the U.S. Ambassador in Kiev, William Taylor, according to a source familiar with the meetings.

 

The rest of the story:  http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/deeply-disturbing-trump-aides-russia-ties-under-scrutiny/ar-BBvLric

 

 

[Zambroski]

Hell, if you ask me, the more ties our possible future administration can have with Russia...the better off we are.

IMO, It's ties with our current administration ties that are  deeply disturbing.  

NY TIMES Excerp (link below):

As the Russians gradually assumed control of Uranium One in three separate transactions from 2009 to 2013, Canadian records show, a flow of cash made its way to the Clinton Foundation. Uranium One’s chairman used his family foundation to make four donations totaling $2.35 million. Those contributions were not publicly disclosed by the Clintons, despite an agreement Mrs. Clinton had struck with the Obama White House to publicly identify all donors. Other people with ties to the company made donations as well.

And shortly after the Russians announced their intention to acquire a majority stake in Uranium One, Mr. Clinton received $500,000 for a Moscow speech from a Russian investment bank with links to the Kremlin that was promoting Uranium One stock.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/24/us/cash-flowed-to-clinton-foundation-as-russians-pressed-for-control-of-uranium-company.html?_r=0

[Highmark]

LMFAO!  The relationship of one of his aids is disturbing but what has been going on in the Clinton Foundation is fine.   Hole Fuk bias fucks with peoples rational thought.

Edited August 18, 2016 by Highmark

[Zambroski]

Just now, Highmark said:

LMFAO!  The relationship of one of his aids is disturbing but what has been going on in the Clinton Foundation is fine.   

Wait...what is going on with the Clinton Foundation?  Any convictions?

[Jimmy Snacks]

1 hour ago, Highmark said:

LMFAO!  The relationship of one of his aids is disturbing but what has been going on in the Clinton Foundation is fine.   Hole Fuk bias fucks with peoples rational thought.

Vince has gone full on Corky Chromosome left wing retard.