Platinum Contributing Member Highmark Posted October 25, 2019 Platinum Contributing Member Share Posted October 25, 2019 (edited) How the Obama White House engaged Ukraine to give Russia collusion narrative an early boost BY JOHN SOLOMON, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR — 04/25/19 07:00 PM EDT https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/440730-how-the-obama-white-house-engaged-ukraine-to-give-russia-collusion The agenda suggested the purpose was training and coordination. But Ukrainian participants said it didn’t take long — during the meetings and afterward — to realize the Americans’ objectives included two politically hot investigations: one that touched Vice President Joe Biden’s family and one that involved a lobbying firm linked closely to then-candidate Trump. U.S. officials “kept talking about how important it was that all of our anti-corruption efforts be united,” said Andrii Telizhenko, then a political officer in the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington tasked with organizing the meeting. Telizhenko, who no longer works for the Ukrainian Embassy, said U.S. officials volunteered during the meetings — one of which was held in the White House’s Old Executive Office Building — that they had an interest in reviving a closed investigation into payments to U.S. figures from Ukraine’s Russia-backed Party of Regions. That 2014 investigation was led by the FBI and focused heavily on GOP lobbyist Paul Manafort, whose firm long had been tied to Trump through his partner and Trump pal, Roger Stone. Agents interviewed Manafort in 2014 about whether he received undeclared payments from the party of ousted Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, an ally of Russia’s Vladimir Putin, and whether he engaged in improper foreign lobbying. The FBI shut down the case without charging Manafort. Telizhenko said he couldn’t remember whether Manafort was mentioned during the January 2016 meeting. But he and other attendees recalled DOJ officials asking investigators from Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) if they could help locate new evidence about the Party of Regions’ payments and its dealings with Americans. “It was definitely the case that led to the charges against Manafort and the leak to U.S. media during the 2016 election,” he said. That makes the January 2016 meeting one of the earliest documented efforts to build the now-debunked Trump-Russia collusion narrative and one of the first to involve the Obama administration’s intervention. Kulyk said Ukrainian authorities had evidence that other Western figures, such as former Obama White House counsel Gregory Craig, also received money from Yanukovych’s party. But the Americans weren’t interested: “They just discussed Manafort. This was all and only what they wanted. Nobody else.” Edited October 25, 2019 by Highmark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spin_dry Posted October 25, 2019 Share Posted October 25, 2019 Opinion piece these stories that you post are so convoluted and ridiculous that no one except a republican hack can possibly take them seriously. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platinum Contributing Member Highmark Posted October 25, 2019 Author Platinum Contributing Member Share Posted October 25, 2019 Just now, spin_dry said: Opinion piece these stories that you post are so convoluted and ridiculous that no one except a republican hack can possibly take them seriously. We will see. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momorider Posted October 25, 2019 Share Posted October 25, 2019 3 minutes ago, spin_dry said: Opinion piece these stories that you post are so convoluted and ridiculous that no one except a republican hack can possibly take them seriously. Leave it to AFJCLOWNBLOW to make the Ironic post of the decade Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jtssrx Posted October 25, 2019 Share Posted October 25, 2019 They are nervous!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platinum Contributing Member Highmark Posted October 25, 2019 Author Platinum Contributing Member Share Posted October 25, 2019 1 minute ago, jtssrx said: They are nervous!!! His voice is shaky. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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