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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM

megaeliz Since: Mar, 2017
#263151: Nov 30th 2018 at 8:28:11 AM

The obligatory big NYT Piece putting together all the pieces in context.

How a Lawyer, a Felon and a Russian General Chased a Moscow Trump Tower Deal

When Donald J. Trump took a run at building a tower in Moscow in the middle of his 2016 presidential campaign, it was the high point of a decades-long effort to plant the “Trump” flag there.

The role his former lawyer Michael D. Cohen played in the endeavor entered the spotlight again on Thursday after he pleaded guilty to misleading Congress. But the effort was led in large part by Felix Sater, a convicted felon and longtime business associate with deep ties to Russia.

To get the project off the ground, Mr. Sater dug into his address book and its more than 100 Russian contacts — including entries for President Vladimir V. Putin and a former general in Russian military intelligence. Mr. Sater tapped the general, Evgeny Shmykov, to help arrange visas for Mr. Cohen and Mr. Trump to visit Russia, according to emails and interviews with several people knowledgeable about the events.

For months, the felon, the former Russian intelligence officer and Mr. Trump’s lawyer worked to land the deal, speaking with a Putin aide, Russian bankers and real estate developers. But by July 2016, with Mr. Trump having secured the Republican presidential nomination and accusations of Russian election interference heating up, the project was abandoned, and neither Mr. Cohen nor Mr. Trump traveled to Moscow.

The improbable story of the Trump Tower Moscow deal was thrust onto center stage again Thursday after Mr. Cohen admitted lying to Congress about his role in the project. Mr. Cohen told the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, that his involvement went on far longer, and his contacts with Russians and briefings to Mr. Trump were more frequent, than he had previously claimed.

Mr. Cohen’s recollections, disclosed in a court filing on Thursday, as well as documents related to Mr. Sater’s work for the Trump Organization that were obtained by The New York Times, provide a fuller picture of Mr. Trump’s pursuit of business in Moscow.

The president’s former lawyer Michael D. Cohen, who pleaded guilty on Thursday to misleading Congress about his role in trying to secure a Trump Tower project in Moscow.

The Times first reported the existence of the 2016 deal last year. Buzz Feed News later reported additional details, including the involvement of a former Russian intelligence officer, but did not identify him.

Mr. Trump’s effort in 2016 was only the latest episode in a long, sporadic quest dating to the 1980s. But as the Trump brand became increasingly common, emblazoning hotels and commercial towers around the world, a Russian equivalent never quite came together — even after Mr. Trump secured trademarks in the country and sent emissaries, including his children, to scout for deals.

One deal that almost got off the ground in 2005 — a Moscow tower on the site of a former pencil factory — was also pitched by Mr. Sater, an American citizen who immigrated as a child from Russia. He was working at the time for Bayrock Group, a development company that teamed up with Mr. Trump on several hotel projects in the United States.

Mr. Sater, who sometimes carried a business card identifying him as a “senior adviser” to Mr. Trump, pursued Russian deals throughout the 2000s. On one visit in which he was accompanied by Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump, he arranged for Ms. Trump to sit in Mr. Putin’s chair during a tour of the Kremlin, he said in emails to Mr. Cohen.

Mr. Sater drew on connections he had made in Russia in the late 1990s when he began secretly working for American intelligence agencies, which in turn helped reduce his penalty after a guilty plea in a $40 million securities fraud case. (He was previously convicted after slashing a man’s face in a Manhattan bar fight in 1991.) He told the House Intelligence Committee last year that he had cultivated a network of foreign contacts that included “ranking intelligence, military operatives and military research facilities.”

One of his contacts was Mr. Shmykov, who worked with anti-Taliban fighters in Afghanistan in the late 1990s and early 2000s while serving in Russian military intelligence, according to documents and online research. Mr. Shmykov, who is 62, has a profile on a Russian social media site that says he attended the Academy of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation, which trains intelligence personnel.

Contacted by The Times, Mr. Shmykov declined to answer questions, but directed a reporter to photos of his time in the military, including one in which he appears with Mr. Sater, saying, “In these photographs are answers to all your questions.” Mr. Sater declined to comment.

Mr. Sater enlisted Mr. Shmykov in late 2015, when, with the United States presidential race well underway, he was making his latest push for a Trump Tower deal in Moscow. Mr. Sater had been exchanging emails and phone calls with Mr. Cohen about resurrecting plans for the tower. The two men were friends, and Mr. Sater seemed almost giddy as he explained to Mr. Cohen how he would use his connections to “get all of Putin’s team to buy in on this.”

“Buddy,” Mr. Sater wrote, “our boy can become President of the USA and we can engineer it.”

Mr. Cohen emailed Mr. Sater in December 2015, linking to a news story about Mr. Putin praising Mr. Trump. In the email, Mr. Cohen said: “Now is the time. Call me.”

A couple of days later, according to copies of emails reviewed by The Times, Mr. Sater emailed Mr. Cohen with an urgent request. He said that he had Mr. Shmykov on the phone, and that he needed passport information for Mr. Cohen and Mr. Trump so they could receive visas. Mr. Sater explained that the Kremlin could not issue them for diplomatic reasons, and that they would instead come from VTB bank as part of “a business meeting not political.”

The chairman of VTB, one of the largest state-owned banks in Russia, has denied that his bank was involved in the project.

Mr. Sater later testified to the House Intelligence Committee that the tone of his emails reflected overeagerness on his part, and that he did not really have serious ties to the Kremlin. He said his suggestion that the tower deal could help Mr. Trump get elected simply meant that he believed it would generate positive publicity for the campaign.

In their report on Russian interference in the election, committee Republicans accepted assertions by Mr. Cohen and Mr. Sater that the Trump Tower project was a business venture with no political overtones. The report — which makes no mention of Mr. Shmykov or his role — concluded that no “element of the Russian government was actually directly involved in the project.”

Mr. Cohen’s guilty plea on Thursday casts that conclusion in a new light. Among other things, Mr. Cohen now admits that he tried multiple times to reach Mr. Putin’s press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, who had an aide contact Mr. Cohen to discuss the tower project. Mr. Cohen said he had a 20-minute conversation with the Kremlin aide in January 2016, who “asked detailed questions and took notes, stating that she would follow up with others in Russia.”

In a message to Mr. Cohen the next day, Mr. Sater mentioned Mr. Putin and said he had heard from someone about the project: “They called today.” Later, in May 2016, he told Mr. Cohen that a Russian official had invited the lawyer to an economic forum in St. Petersburg, where it was hoped he could meet Mr. Putin.

Mr. Cohen initially agreed, but later met with Mr. Sater in the lobby of Trump Tower in New York and said he would not be going.

A lot of this was covered in Mueller She Wrote Episodes where they covered the Book Russian Roulette, pretty deeply, but this is a nice overview.

Edited by megaeliz on Dec 1st 2018 at 12:01:10 PM

TechPriest90 Servant of the Omnissiah from Collegia Titanica, Mars, Sol System Since: Sep, 2015 Relationship Status: Above such petty unnecessities
Servant of the Omnissiah
#263152: Nov 30th 2018 at 10:42:34 AM

Cohen becoming willing to croak was honestly kind of surprising. Wonder what Muller knows about him that he doesn't want to see leaked out.

I hold the secrets of the machine.
TobiasDrake (•̀⤙•́) (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
(•̀⤙•́)
#263153: Nov 30th 2018 at 10:46:32 AM

I don't think it's about hiding anything. I think it's about the fact that he has a family that he'd very much like to see again and doesn't want to die in prison.

That's usually the reason why people in mob investigations turn state's evidence in exchange for a plea bargain. The time for covering his ass is long past; now, he's just negotiating for a reduced sentence.

Edited by TobiasDrake on Nov 30th 2018 at 11:47:47 AM

My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.
AngelusNox Warder of the damned from The guard of the gates of oblivion Since: Dec, 2014 Relationship Status: Married to the job
Warder of the damned
#263154: Nov 30th 2018 at 11:30:53 AM

[up][up]His internet browser history.

Inter arma enim silent leges
SeptimusHeap from Switzerland (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Mu
#263155: Nov 30th 2018 at 12:29:41 PM

Didn't we have a discussion about how Pizzagate might be projection? Apparently it might have been, sort of.

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Swanpride Since: Jun, 2013
sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#263157: Nov 30th 2018 at 12:54:02 PM

A headline on CNN on TV says Cohen has talked with Mueller for over 70 hours.

ironballs16 Since: Jul, 2009 Relationship Status: Owner of a lonely heart
#263158: Nov 30th 2018 at 12:55:28 PM

So Ryan Zinke, current Secretary of the Interior, responded to criticism of ethics scandals by saying "It's hard for him to think straight from the bottom of the bottle" about the Democrat criticizing him. On the official Interior Dept. Twitter account.

Only the very best people!

He followed up with - "This is coming from [Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.),] who used nearly $50,000 in tax dollars as hush money to cover up his drunken and hostile behavior. He should resign and pay back the taxpayer for the hush money and the tens of thousands of dollars he forced my department to spend investigating unfounded allegations."

I kind of doubt there's any grounds to that particular claim.

Edited by ironballs16 on Nov 30th 2018 at 3:57:28 PM

"Why would I inflict myself on somebody else?"
Grafite Since: Apr, 2016 Relationship Status: Less than three
#263159: Nov 30th 2018 at 12:59:28 PM

Some interesting (detailed) information about the groups of voters in this election. Basically, nearly everyone supports marijuana legalization, public internet utilities and pollution fees, but racial animus and such are keeping some from voting Democratic.

Life is unfair...
MarqFJA The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer from Deserts of the Middle East (Before Recorded History) Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer
#263160: Nov 30th 2018 at 1:04:01 PM

Didn't we have a discussion about how Pizzagate might be projection? Apparently it might have been, sort of.
All of those who were consciously involved in letting this travesty happen ought to have both their reputations and their careers dragged through the mud and ruined beyond salvation.

Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.
TechPriest90 Servant of the Omnissiah from Collegia Titanica, Mars, Sol System Since: Sep, 2015 Relationship Status: Above such petty unnecessities
Servant of the Omnissiah
#263161: Nov 30th 2018 at 2:04:51 PM

[up][up] In summary "We'll do it and we're all for it, but we're not gonna join forces with them filthy liberals/conservatives/etc."

End result is total deadlock.

I hold the secrets of the machine.
MarqFJA The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer from Deserts of the Middle East (Before Recorded History) Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer
#263162: Nov 30th 2018 at 2:11:30 PM

Skewed Priorities doesn't even begin to cover that sort of logic, methinks.

Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.
Ramidel Since: Jan, 2001
#263163: Nov 30th 2018 at 2:19:04 PM

On another subject: Gorsuch and Thomas join with SC liberals against excessive civil asset forfeiture.

I'd have the Independent Thought Alarm clip going, except that civil asset forfeiture has always pissed off both sides of the fence (even Scalia was against it). It's a major hobbyhorse of libertarian as well as liberal types.

CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#263164: Nov 30th 2018 at 2:28:18 PM

Epstein knew Trump and Bill Clinton plus many many other famous hollywood celebrities. He also provided many-many of his guests underage prostitutes. The problem isn't that their reputations were dragged through the mood, it's the fact many haven't had it happen to them.

No one can say who did or didn't participate in it but I can't imagine anyone didn't know.

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
MarqFJA The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer from Deserts of the Middle East (Before Recorded History) Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer
#263165: Nov 30th 2018 at 2:57:27 PM

The problem isn't that their reputations were dragged through the mood, it's the fact many haven't had it happen to them.
OK, perhaps I should've worded myself differently. By "ought", I meant "this should be done now to them as punishment".

Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.
Soban Since: Aug, 2009 Relationship Status: 700 wives and 300 concubines
#263166: Nov 30th 2018 at 3:26:00 PM

Re: Timbs v. Indiana

There is a good chance we will see a 9-0 anti civil forfeiture ruling I think.

sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#263167: Nov 30th 2018 at 5:34:44 PM

https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2018/11/30/day-680/

    Day 680: Peripheral awareness. 
1/ Trump Jr.'s testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee conflicts with Michael Cohen's version of events regarding negotiations of a prospective Trump Tower in Moscow. In Cohen's version, he says the discussions with at least one Russian government official continued through June 2016. Trump Jr. testified in September 2017 that talks surrounding a Trump Tower in Moscow concluded without result "at the end" of 2014 and "certainly not [20]16. There was never a definitive end to it. It just died of deal fatigue." Trump Jr. also told the Senate committee that he was only "peripherally aware" and didn't know that Cohen had sent an email to Putin's aide, Dmitry Peskov. In Cohen's guilty plea, he said he briefed Trump's family members about the continued negotiations. (NPR)

https://www.npr.org/2018/11/30/672188201/trump-jr-s-2017-testimony-conflicts-with-cohen-s-account-of-russian-talks

2/ The Trump Organization wanted to give Putin a $50 million penthouse in the proposed Trump Tower Moscow as the company continued to negotiate the real estate development during the 2016 campaign. Michael Cohen discussed the idea with Dmitry Peskov, who serves as Putin's press secretary, hoping that giving the penthouse to Putin would encourage other wealthy buyers to purchase their own. The plan fizzled when the project failed to materialize, and it is not clear whether Trump knew about the plan to give the penthouse to Putin. (Buzz Feed News / CNN)

https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/29/politics/trump-tower-moscow-putin-penthouse/index.html

The House Intelligence Committee wants to investigate the Trump Organization's plan to give Putin a $50 million penthouse when Democrats take control of the committee in the new year. (Buzz Feed News / The Guardian / Politico)

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/11/29/michael-cohen-congress-testimony-trump-mueller-1034365

3/ Ivanka and Trump Jr. are both under increased scrutiny for their roles in the proposed Moscow project. Trump Jr. and Ivanka were involved in the project at some point before Jan. 2016, but it is still unclear how deeply they were involved or how long they worked on the project after that. It is also unclear whether or not they worked with Michael Cohen on the deal. (CNN / Yahoo News)

https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/29/politics/donald-trump-jr-cohen-trump-organization/index.html

4/ Investigators have publicly cast Trump as a central figure in Robert Mueller's investigation into whether the Trump campaign conspired with the Russian government during the 2016 campaign. Trump even has his own legal code name: "Individual 1." Documents reveal that investigators have evidence that Trump was in close contact with his most trusted aides and advisers as they dealt with both Russia and Wiki Leaks, as well as evidence that they tried to cover their tracks. (Washington Post)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/individual-1-trump-emerges-as-a-central-subject-of-mueller-probe/2018/11/29/e3968994-f3f7-11e8-80d0-f7e1948d55f4_story.html?utm_term=.37577589007f

"Trump was totally caught off guard by the Cohen plea," according to a former White House staffer. "The Cohen news is very bad," and the Trump team is worried that Mueller may have laid a perjury trap. A person close to the president described the White House as "an untethered situation." (Vanity Fair)

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/11/inside-trumpworld-some-fear-mueller-has-laid-a-perjury-trap

5/ Mueller is also bearing down on Roger Stone and his relationship with Wiki Leaks and its founder Julian Assange. Mueller is focusing on Stone's role as a potential go-between for the Trump campaign and Wiki Leaks, which published thousands of DNC emails that were stolen by Russian intelligence officers. Mueller's team has evidence that Stone may have known in advance about the release of the emails, and investigators may also be looking into potential witness intimidation by Stone. (Wall Street Journal)

https://www.wsj.com/articles/mueller-bores-into-trump-adviser-roger-stones-ties-to-wikileaks-1543582805?emailToken=e59d812756090ce855fbb41b33a723630HNea395nz0Xp2QL%5C+LM59AW0q5YIIPdiCX0xC0z2zi%5C+0pSD7LzNS5aTb5XT/eTqBJBOO99%5C+3E11Wr0nW9E1jgX%5C+BomhMwWQfEOIXpjdhofWTufSEmqQBySSJJKfWxI8N&reflink=article_copyURL_share

6/ Mueller's office is considering retrying Paul Manafort and bringing new criminal charges, contending that he obstructed justice and committed additional federal crimes since entering a plea agreement with the special counsel in September. Prosecutors will file a more detailed explanation of what they believe Manafort lied about to investigators on Dec. 7. Manafort will be sentenced in March 2019 after he pleaded guilty to two charges of conspiracy and witness tampering. Manafort is currently in jail in Alexandria, Virginia. (Politico / CNN / CNBC / ABC News)

https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/30/politics/paul-manafort-hearing/index.html

James Comey asked a U.S. court to block a subpoena from House Republicans for his testimony, saying he wants to testify in public rather than behind closed doors. (Bloomberg)

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-11-29/james-comey-files-legal-action-against-house-republican-subpoena

Notables.

The acting attorney general championed a patent firm in 2014 while fielding fraud complaints about it. Matthew Whitaker was an advisory board member of World Patent Marketing, which the FTC sanctioned in 2017 and described as an "invention promotion scheme" that was "bilking millions of dollars from consumers." (Washington Post / Bloomberg)

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-11-30/ftc-emails-show-whitaker-fielded-gripes-on-miami-firm

Ryan Zinke responded to criticism about his various ethical scandals by calling a Democratic lawmaker a drunk, accusing Rep. Raúl Grijalva of using "$50,000 in tax dollars as hush money to cover up his drunken and hostile behavior." Grijalva had called on Zinke to resign. (Politico)

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/11/30/zinke-grijalva-drunk-1035145

The number of children who were uninsured in the U.S. in Trump's first year in office rose for the first time in nearly a decade. 276,000 more children were without health insurance due to GOP-led efforts to curb Medicaid expansion. (ABC News)

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/researchers-find-276k-kids-uninsured-trumps-year-office/story?id=59472116

Six Trump administration officials violated the Hatch Act for tweeting support for Republicans or Trump on their government Twitter accounts, according to the Office of Special Counsel, which declined to take disciplinary action. (NBC News)

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/6-trump-officials-engaged-political-activity-violated-hatch-act-n942286

Roughly two million federal workers were warned that it may be illegal for them to discuss impeaching or resisting Trump, according to a memo distributed by the Office of Special Counsel. (New York Times)

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/29/us/politics/federal-employees-hatch-act-trump-impeachment.html

The Trump administration approved five requests from companies to conduct seismic tests off the Atlantic shore that could kill tens of thousands of dolphins, whales, and other marine animals. Seismic testing maps the ocean floor and estimates the location of oil and gas. (Washington Post)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/energy-environment/2018/11/30/trump-administration-approves-seismic-tests-that-could-harm-many-thousands-atlantic-dolphins-whales/

The U.S., Canada, and Mexico signed a new North American trade pact, ending 15 months of contentious talks between three countries. The agreement faces uncertain prospects in Congress next year, where Democrats will control the House. (Politico / Reuters / Washington Post)

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-g20-argentina-usmca/u-s-canada-mexico-sign-trade-deal-trump-shrugs-off-congress-hurdle-idUSKCN1NZ0HE

Edited by sgamer82 on Nov 30th 2018 at 6:36:35 AM

tclittle Professional Forum Ninja from Somewhere Down in Texas Since: Apr, 2010
Professional Forum Ninja
#263168: Nov 30th 2018 at 5:42:48 PM

BREAKING: 7.0 earthquake hits near downtown Anchorage, Alaska.

Well, not so breaking since it was about 3 hours ago, but still.

Edited by tclittle on Nov 30th 2018 at 7:44:54 AM

"We're all paper, we're all scissors, we're all fightin' with our mirrors, scared we'll never find somebody to love."
sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#263169: Nov 30th 2018 at 5:43:15 PM

I saw that this afternoon. There was even a tsunami warning going out because of it

RainehDaze Nero Fangirl (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
Nero Fangirl
#263170: Nov 30th 2018 at 5:44:32 PM

How on Earth is that breaking news?

tclittle Professional Forum Ninja from Somewhere Down in Texas Since: Apr, 2010
Professional Forum Ninja
#263171: Nov 30th 2018 at 5:45:48 PM

I actually just saw it myself.

Also, I didn't mean the pun.

"We're all paper, we're all scissors, we're all fightin' with our mirrors, scared we'll never find somebody to love."
Ramidel Since: Jan, 2001
#263172: Nov 30th 2018 at 6:09:37 PM

Fortunately, the tsunami warning was a false alarm.

Very little damage where I am (my condo building's a fortress), but a lot of the city's closed down, power outages, et cetera. Interrupted my plans to go see Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, which is the worst part.

Edited by Ramidel on Nov 30th 2018 at 5:09:57 AM

PushoverMediaCritic I'm sorry Tien, but I must go all out. from the Italy of America Since: Jul, 2015 Relationship Status: watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ
I'm sorry Tien, but I must go all out.
#263173: Nov 30th 2018 at 6:14:17 PM

Sounds like nobody died, at least, which is good.

MarqFJA The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer from Deserts of the Middle East (Before Recorded History) Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer
#263174: Nov 30th 2018 at 6:20:23 PM

"Trump was totally caught off guard by the Cohen plea," according to a former White House staffer. "The Cohen news is very bad," and the Trump team is worried that Mueller may have laid a perjury trap. A person close to the president described the White House as "an untethered situation." (Vanity Fair)
Yeeesss, yeeesss. This is what I want to hear: The proverbial noose of criminal conviction drawing tighter and tighter around Trump's neck.

Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.
CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#263175: Nov 30th 2018 at 6:49:25 PM

Cohen announced a deal a lonnggg time ago.

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.

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