Impeachment Inquiry

[fraurosena]

Because of course he did.

 

[fraurosena]

And the plot thickens even further.

Certainly explains a lot.

 

[fraurosena]

If the plot gets any thicker, we'll need a knife to cut it.

 

[fraurosena]

 

[fraurosena]

Rudy's toast.

 

[fraurosena]

Actually, Rudy's burnt toast. And he'll take Trump down with him.

Giuliani’s Ukraine Team: In Search of Influence, Dirt and Money

Quote

When Rudolph W. Giuliani set out to dredge up damaging information on President Trump’s rivals in Ukraine, he turned to a native of the former Soviet republic with whom he already had a lucrative business relationship.

Lev Parnas, a Ukrainian-American businessman with a trail of debts and lawsuits, had known Mr. Giuliani casually for years through Republican political circles. Last year, their relationship deepened when a company he helped found retained Mr. Giuliani — associates of Mr. Parnas said he told them he paid hundreds of thousands of dollars — for what Mr. Giuliani said on Thursday was business and legal advice.

Even as he worked with Mr. Parnas’s company, Fraud Guarantee, Mr. Giuliani increasingly relied on Mr. Parnas to carry out Mr. Trump’s quest for evidence in Ukraine that would undercut the legitimacy of the special counsel’s investigation into Russia’s interference on his behalf in the 2016 election and help him heading into his 2020 re-election campaign.

Mr. Giuliani dispatched Mr. Parnas and an associate, Igor Fruman, a Belarusian-American businessman, to Kiev, the Ukrainian capital, where, despite fending off creditors at home, BuzzFeed reported, they ran up big charges at a strip club and the Hilton International hotel. Their mission was to find people and information that could be used to undermine the special counsel’s investigation, and also to damage former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., a prospective Democratic challenger to Mr. Trump.

Over the past year, the two men connected Mr. Giuliani with Ukrainians who were willing to participate in efforts to push a largely unsubstantiated narrative about the Bidens. They played a key role in a campaign by pro-Trump forces to press for the removal of the United States ambassador to Ukraine on the grounds that she had not shown sufficient loyalty to the president as he pursued his agenda there.

They met regularly with Mr. Giuliani, often at the Trump International hotel in Washington. And all the while, they were pursuing their own business schemes and, according to an indictment unsealed on Thursday, illegally funneling campaign contributions in the United States in the service of both their political and business activities.

The indictment, along with interviews and other documents, show Mr. Parnas, Mr. Fruman and their associates as somewhat hapless operators, scrambling recklessly to use their new connections to the highest levels of American politics to seek financial gain while guiding Mr. Giuliani, the former New York City mayor, into a Ukrainian political culture rife with self-dealing and ever-shifting alliances.

The indictment provided new details about the dealings of Mr. Parnas and Mr. Fruman, as well as a pair of associates, including David Correia, who with Mr. Parnas helped found Fraud Guarantee, the fraud prevention and mitigation company that retained Mr. Giuliani. The four men were charged with campaign finance violations related to their efforts to enlist public officials in their moneymaking efforts and their political efforts in Ukraine.

The indictment does not name or identify Mr. Giuliani or Mr. Trump. But it helps show how Mr. Giuliani, who was retained by Mr. Trump as a personal lawyer to fend off one challenge to his presidency — the investigation by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III — helped steer his client into another: dealings with Ukraine that are now at the heart of the impeachment inquiry by House Democrats.

The congressional committees overseeing the impeachment inquiry have subpoenaed Mr. Giuliani for records related to his efforts in Ukraine, including records related to Mr. Parnas, Mr. Fruman and Semyon Kislin, another Ukrainian-born businessman.

Mr. Parnas and Mr. Fruman had been asked to appear before House investigators this week, but declined to do so. And on Thursday, the congressional committees issued subpoenas demanding they produce documents by Wednesday, while signaling that the committees still expected the pair to testify to Congress.

The two men did get something useful for their Ukrainian efforts from Pete Sessions, then a Republican member of Congress from Texas, who is not identified in the indictment. It says that after making substantial campaign donations to him, Mr. Parnas asked Mr. Sessions for help last year in pressing the Trump administration to remove the United States ambassador to Ukraine, Marie L. Yovanovitch. Mr. Sessions subsequently wrote a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo criticizing Ms. Yovanovitch and seeking to have her dismissed.

Mr. Parnas had told associates that she was not open to his proposals related to the lucrative gas business in Ukraine, where Mr. Parnas pitched a natural gas deal to the chief executive of Naftogaz, as The New York Times reported last month.

Ms. Yovanovitch had also come under fire from a Ukrainian prosecutor, Yuriy Lutsenko, who was connected to Mr. Giuliani by Mr. Parnas and Mr. Fruman and played a key role in Mr. Giuliani’s efforts to promote investigations into Mr. Trump’s rivals.

While the indictment did not identify any officials by name, it said that Mr. Parnas, in his effort to oust Ms. Yovanovitch, acted, “at least in part, at the request of one or more Ukrainian government officials.”

Mr. Giuliani also said he provided legal advice to Mr. Parnas and Mr. Fruman after their efforts in Ukraine brought them into conflict with a powerful oligarch, Ihor Kolomoisky.

Mr. Kolomoisky said in interviews in the Ukrainian news media that Mr. Parnas and Mr. Fruman traveled to see him in Israel in April, ostensibly to talk about their plans to sell gas to Ukraine. But, he said, the two men then pushed him to arrange a meeting between Mr. Giuliani and Ukraine’s newly elected president, Volodymyr Zelensky. Mr. Giuliani had been seeking to press Mr. Zelensky to agree to investigate the Bidens and Ukraine’s role in the 2016 election, and had been working with Mr. Parnas to lay the groundwork for the effort, as The Times first reported in May.

Upon returning to Ukraine, Mr. Kolomoisky threatened in May to expose Mr. Parnas and Mr. Fruman. Mr. Giuliani, in turn, posted on Twitter that the oligarch had “defamed” Mr. Parnas and Mr. Fruman, “and I have advised them to press charges.” He also warned Mr. Zelensky not to surround himself with allies of Mr. Kolomoisky.

Mr. Parnas, Mr. Fruman and Mr. Giuliani were frequently spotted together over the past year at the Trump International hotel in Washington, and were overheard discussing politics and energy projects, including a methane initiative in Uzbekistan. Mr. Giuliani and his associates were to be paid at least $100,000 for the project, on which Mr. Parnas offered advice.

The project did not pan out, Mr. Giuliani said.

Mr. Parnas said in an interview last month that he and Mr. Fruman were self-financing their efforts on behalf of Mr. Giuliani’s political work in Ukraine and that those “have nothing to do with our business.”

He added, “My only business with Giuliani was a long time ago,” and involved an insurance company that Mr. Parnas suggested he owned that Mr. Giuliani “offered some advice on.”

In an interview on Thursday, Mr. Giuliani at first seemed to acknowledge having advised Fraud Guarantee in 2018, then backtracked.

“I can’t acknowledge it’s Fraud Guarantee, I don’t think,” he said.

“I can acknowledge I gave them substantial business advice,” he said, adding that one of his companies trains institutional customers in security work, including “how to investigate crimes, from murder to terrorism to fraud.” He said that “most of it is subdivisions of government, but every once in a while it is a private enterprise.”

Last month, he seemed to minimize the campaign finance issues facing Mr. Parnas and Mr. Fruman, saying in an interview, “I referred them to a campaign finance expert, who pretty much resolved it.”

On Thursday, Mr. Giuliani said he did not regret working with Mr. Parnas and Mr. Fruman in Ukraine. “I have to presume they’re innocent,” he said, adding: “There are a lot of motives going on trying to smear people, so I wouldn’t say that I regret it, no. Who else would I have turned to?”

In April 2018, Mr. Parnas and Mr. Fruman incorporated a company called Global Energy Producers ostensibly as a vehicle to engage in the trade of liquefied natural gas — a commodity American officials have long urged Ukraine to buy from the United States.

In weeks, the company attracted notice in Republican finance circles with major donations to committees supporting Mr. Trump and his allies. It gave $325,000 to America First Action, a pro-Trump super PAC; $50,000 to a political action committee affiliated with the Trump-endorsed candidate for Florida governor in 2018, Ron DeSantis, and $15,000 to a super PAC supporting the 2018 Senate campaign of the West Virginia attorney general, Patrick Morrisey.

The donation spree prompted legal filings by a former business partner of Mr. Parnas who was trying to collect more than $510,000 from Mr. Parnas from a 2016 federal judgment.

Fraud Guarantee?

 

[fraurosena]

Good friends.

 

[Becky]

1 hour ago, fraurosena said:

Actually, Rudy's burnt toast. And he'll take Trump down with him.

Giuliani’s Ukraine Team: In Search of Influence, Dirt and Money

Fraud Guarantee?

 

I feel dirty just reading that.  

[fraurosena]

Can't say I'm surprised.

Deutsche Bank Might Have Destroyed Physical Copies of Trump's Tax Returns, Cleansed Servers

Quote

A former Deutsche Bank executive who reviewed President Donald Trump's tax returns reportedly said it is "not normal" that the institution no longer holds copies of those records.

Trump for many years relied on Deutsche Bank for loans to sustain his real estate business when many other institutions would not lend to him because of his rocky financial history.

The president is accused by some, including his former attorney Michael Cohen, of manipulating the value of his assets to either secure finance or reduce his tax bill.

He has broken with recent precedent for presidents and refused to release publicly all of his recent tax returns, despite pressure to do so.

Congress is investigating Trump's finances and attempting to get hold of his tax returns from Deutsche. But the bank told the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals that it did not hold them.

David Enrich, finance editor at The New York Times, posted to Twitter a screenshot of his conversation with the unnamed executive in which they expressed surprise that Deutsche told a federal appeals court it did not have the president's tax returns anymore.

"Holy f**k," the executive wrote, per the screenshot. "The circumstance could be that they returned any physical copies or destroyed any physical copies under an agreement with a client and cleansed their servers. Not normal though."

Deutsche Bank did not respond immediately to Newsweek's request for comment.

In previous statements, Deutsche Bank has said: "We remain committed to cooperating with authorized investigations."

At a congressional hearing in February, Trump's former fixer Cohen—who went to prison for tax fraud, campaign finance violations, and lying to Congress in past testimony—said the president reduced his real estate bills by artificially devaluing his assets, committing tax fraud.

Moreover, Cohen said Trump inflated his assets to insurance companies. He said the evidence could be found on Trump's tax returns.

On Monday, a federal judge ruled that Trump's accountant Mazars USA should hand his tax returns and other financial records over to investigators at the Manhattan District Attorney's office.

They are probing the hush payments to porn stars alleging affairs with the president. Trump's lawyers attempted to block the Manhattan DA's subpoena of Mazars for eight years of the president's financial records.

Judge Victor Marrero wrote in his 75-page ruling that the case presented by Trump's attorneys was "repugnant to the nation's governmental structure and constitutional values" for suggesting that the president, his family, businesses, and associates are "above the law."

[GreyhoundFan]

I think Ghouliani and the Tangerine Toddler should have adjoining cells in prison. They deserve each other.

[fraurosena]

GOP'er Larry Hogan joins Phil Scott and Charlie Baker in support of the impeachment inquiry. 

Larry Hogan comes out in support of Trump impeachment inquiry

Quote

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan publicly expressed support for the impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump, joining a small but growing number of Republicans breaking from the party’s mostly unwavering support of the president.

“I think we do need an inquiry because we have to get to the bottom of it,” Hogan said in a segment on PBS’ Firing Line that airs Friday night. “I’m not ready to say I support impeachment and the removal of the president, but I do think we should have an impeachment inquiry.”

While Hogan expressed concern about whether the inquiry could be “a fair, objective one” in the Democrat-controlled House, he maintained his position that an inquiry is a reasonable response to Trump’s request of the Ukrainian president to dig up dirt on political rival Joe Biden.

“I don’t see any other way to get the facts,” he concluded.

Hogan joins governors Phil Scott (R-VT) and Charlie Baker (R-MA) in their call for impeachment inquiry proceedings. No Republican members of the House have openly supported the inquiry. If the House impeaches Trump, the Republican-controlled Senate will likely hold a trial, in which Trump must lose 20 of the 53 Republican senators to be removed from office.

Hogan briefly flirted with a primary challenged to Trump, but ultimately decided against the move in June, citing his decision to honor his commitment to the people of Maryland.

The governor is likely quite familiar with the process of impeachment proceedings. His father, Lawrence Hogan, was the only GOP member of the Judiciary Committee in 1974 to vote for all three articles of impeachment against President Richard Nixon that the committee ultimately approved.

 

[fraurosena]

I think they'll have to up his meds today...

Trump loses appeal to withhold financial records from Democrats

Quote

President Donald Trump lost a key court decision in his bid to block a subpoena from House Democrats pressing to see his financial records.

The 2-1 ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit stems from a case where Trump sued to block Democrats from seeing a vast trove of materials as Congress probes Trump over potential conflicts of interest and payments from foreign governments.

 

[fraurosena]

And the smear campaign against Sonderland begins in 3... 2... 1...

E.U. ambassador to testify in impeachment inquiry, defying Trump administration

Quote

Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, will testify next week to House committees leading the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump, defying the State Department's direction not to cooperate.

“Notwithstanding the State Department’s current direction to not testify, Ambassador Sondland will honor the Committees’ subpoena, and he looks forward to testifying on Thursday,” Sondland's attorneys, Robert Luskin and Kwame Manley, said in a statement Friday.

Sondland's joint deposition before the House Foreign Affairs, Intelligence and Oversight committees is scheduled for Oct. 17. Axios was first to report that Sondland would appear next week.

Sondland's closed-door interview was originally scheduled for this week, but his appearance was blocked by the Trump administration. In response, the Democratic chairmen of the House committees issued a subpoena for Sondland, seeking both his testimony and documents they charge Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is withholding from Congress.

Sondland, a Trump political appointee, has emerged as a central player in Trump's bid to persuade Ukraine’s new government to commit publicly to investigate corruption and the president's political opponents.

Sondland, through his lawyers, said Friday that he would not share the documents demanded by the House committees, claiming that those records were property of the State Department.

"Federal law and State Department regulations prohibit him from producing documents concerning his official responsibilities. Ambassador Sondland does not control the disposition of his documents. By federal law and regulation, the State Department has sole authority to produce such documents, and Ambassador Sondland hopes the materials will be shared with the Committees in advance of his Thursday testimony,” Sondland's lawyers said in the statement.

Sondland, a hotelier and Republican megadonor, was nominated to be ambassador to the European Union one year after he made a $1 million donation to Trump's inaugural committee.

Sondland was named by Trump's personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, as one of two senior U.S. diplomats Giuliani coordinated with on his efforts in Ukraine. The other diplomat, former Ukraine envoy Kurt Volker, resigned amid the chaos last month.

Text messages provided to Congress show Sondland and another ambassador worked to persuade Ukraine to publicly commit to investigating Trump’s political opponents and explicitly linked the inquiry to whether Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy would be granted an official White House visit.

The messages, released this month by House Democrats, show the diplomats coordinating with both Giuliani and a top Zelenskiy aide.

Sondland’s name also appears in the intelligence community whistleblower complaint, which says that the day after Trump’s July call with Zelenskiy, Sondland and Volker met with Zelenskiy in the Ukrainian capital. The whistleblower describes Sondland as working to help the Ukrainians navigate Trump’s request for an investigation and trying to mitigate damage Giuliani was allegedly inflicting on U.S. national security.

But in the text messages that Volker ultimately turned over to Congress, Sondland appears to not only be actively facilitating Trump’s goal but also shutting down a top diplomat who raised concerns.

On Sept. 9, according to the messages, acting Ambassador to Ukraine Bill Taylor tells Sondland that “as I said on the phone, I think it's crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign.” Sondland pushes back, telling Taylor that he’s “incorrect” about Trump’s intentions and that the president has made clear “no quid pro quos of any kind.” He then advises Taylor to stop discussing the issue via text.

 

[onekidanddone]

32 minutes ago, fraurosena said:

GOP'er Larry Hogan joins Phil Scott and Charlie Baker in support of the impeachment inquiry. 

Larry Hogan comes out in support of Trump impeachment inquiry

 

My Governor. Good for him. He has never been a Tumpite and has gone public saying so. Still, he is an R, and I didn’t vote for him. I’d call him lawful neutral. 

[thoughtful]

5 hours ago, fraurosena said:

Good friends.

 

I had a "wait, what?" reaction to the title above that video - wasn't Anatevka the fictional town in Fiddler on the Roof?

So I went looking. That video is actually from 2018, not from the recent visit right before the arrest. It seems that there is a new town, named for the town in Fiddler, being built, and I guess Parnas and Fruman were involved in the funding. Rudy was made honorary mayor:

Also, I learned that the original Anatevka was not entirely fictional - there was a town by that name in Ukraine.

Spoiler

 

People of Anatevka, you've got yourself tangled up with some crooks!

[fraurosena]

Finally some repercussions. The House has decided to use the power of the purse... ?

 

[fraurosena]

He did not know them, but they were at his invite only election party. 

 

[fraurosena]

It is astonishing  how they manage to wreak such havoc in the world when they are so astoundingly stupid.

 

[fraurosena]

How long till Giuliani is arrested?

Rachel Maddow has a thread with more info on the connection with Firtash.

This is the unrolled version: 

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1182773420192350212.html

[Becky]

Let us hope that one or more of these men is willing to sing.... and that they are being adequately protected in custody.  

[WiseGirl]

Breaking per Seth

[onekidanddone]

1 hour ago, WiseGirl said:

Breaking per Seth

I have to stop reading here again. My anxiety attacks are bad for my tachycardia. 
 

[Howl]

Republican talking points sent to Democrats is hilarious. 

Sondland will use the "These words don't really mean what they obviously mean" defense spin because it supplies talking points to the credulous base, and that's all that matters now.  When the transcript was released, I don't think the WH had any idea of the massive impeachment blowback headed their way.  

I HOPE that House and Senate Dems use counsel to brutally query Sondland and not the "every body gets five-minutes" dance, which is hugely ineffective.  Or have everyone give their time to Kamala Harris. 

Edited October 13, 2019 by Howl

[fraurosena]

2 minutes ago, Howl said:

Or have everyone give their time to Kamala Harris

I would pay money to see that.

I've seen/read somewhere that the dems are using counsel to query all their witnesses, and if true, Sondland will be subject to that as well. Can you imagine the counsel pointing out succinctly that he is under oath and what the penalty for lying is? I'd love to see Sondland squirm under the questioning and that constant reminder, but I don't suppose his testimony is going to be public. 

[Howl]

35 minutes ago, fraurosena said:

Can you imagine the counsel pointing out succinctly that he is under oath and what the penalty for lying is? I'd love to see Sondland squirm under the questioning and that constant reminder, but I don't suppose his testimony is going to be public. 

Yeah, I'm personally pretty excited to see if Sondland is as prolific at flop sweat as Matthew Whitaker.  I also want to watch how he throws Trump under the bus without seeming to throw him under the bus.