Two associates of Rudy Giuliani connected to efforts to dig up dirt in Ukraine on Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden have been arrested and indicted on criminal charges for allegedly funneling foreign money into US elections. After a foreign wire transfer of $1.26 million, the pair created a shell company which donated $325000 to "America First", a Trump PAC, to support Pete Sessions and gave Sessions another $20000 direct donation. Sessions then pushed Trump to remove the ambassador to the Ukraine, which he did.
The charges against the men suggest Giuliani's push on Ukraine and President Donald Trump's receptiveness to it had ties to an illegal effort to influence US politics and policy using foreign funds. The indictment involves two people central to the impeachment inquiry in the House.
The two Giuliani-and Trump-linked defendants, Igor Fruman and Lev Parnas, were detained at Dulles International Airport outside of Washington on Wednesday and are scheduled to appear in court in Virginia at 2 p.m. ET Thursday, October 10.
US prosecutors were not intending to unseal the indictment against the Giuliani associates and two others Thursday, according to three US officials. Their hand was forced by an attempt by Fruman and Parnas to leave the country.
In a second scheme, the pair took $1000000 in funding from Russian business man and funneled it to various Republican candidates in 2018. This in an apparent scheme to change the rules for marijuana businesses because they had missed a deadline to apply for a license and needed Nevada legislators to change that deadline for them.
The pair were arrested at Dulles International Airport fleeing the country on one way tickets.
William Barr has been kept up to date on these investigations since February, but took no action.
Photos of the men with Trump in the Whitehouse and at fundraisers at Maralago along with photos of the pair with Trump Jr in California have now been removed from their websites.
6 Comments
BSRsays...Won't be long before Air Force One is stuck in Russia while Trump seeks asylum.
newtboysays...The house has already subpoenaed their records along with Rick Perry's this morning.
Perry is accused of being complicit in the "arms for accusations" scheme by Trump and Guliani, actually Trump is trying to pin the scandal on Perry recently, but is also accused using his influence to appoint some Texas friends to head a Ukrainian state owned natural gas company. He has agreed to cooperate.
Ruh-Roe!
newtboysays...Oops....Trump's trade advisor went on Fox and stupidly admitted that as part of his trade talks with China he asked the Chinese to investigate Biden....well before Trump said the same thing on international television. This tanks the moronic Republican lie that Trump was only trolling the press when he publicly said China needs to investigate his political rivals, it was also an official request tied to his trade wars.
Numerous other Republicans are getting caught in this Giuliani slime web, having accepted massive foreign donations from Giuliani's friends with strings attached to each one.
Now, after pulling our forces from Syria where they were stopping Turkey from invading by their presence....for their safety and to get the U.S. out of the middle east he said, but really it's to protect his interests in the Trump towers in Turkey from state seizure....Today he announced he's sending thousands of troops to Saudi Arabia for their protection. (I guess so they don't have to use those weapons he's so proud they bought?)
These moves not only make it likely ISIS will survive and embed themselves worldwide, but also makes enemies of the Kurds, our staunch allies. It is foreseeable that a new, anti American Kurdish terrorist group will be the result. Who could possibly blame them?
Also this morning Trump lost another appeal trying to hide his taxes.
Will the madness ever end?
moonsammysays...This Saudi Arabia shit is totally bonkers. Is it more sucking up to his beloved totalitarian regimes? Is it a step towards war with Iran? They're (the country from which came most of) the fuckers that attacked us on 9/11! They straight-up brutally murdered a critical journalist, who lived in the US and worked for a US newspaper! They're ideologically closer to ISIS than Iraq's former government was! I mean... what the fuck? It's like he's trying his hardest to piss off even the Republicans at this point, just to see what it'll take...
Oops....Trump's trade advisor went on Fox and stupidly admitted that as part of his trade talks with China he asked the Chinese to investigate Biden....well before Trump said the same thing on international television. This tanks the moronic Republican lie that Trump was only trolling the press when he publicly said China needs to investigate his political rivals, it was also an official request tied to his trade wars.
Numerous other Republicans are getting caught in this Giuliani slime web, having accepted massive foreign donations from Giuliani's friends with strings attached to each one.
Now, after pulling our forces from Syria where they were stopping Turkey from invading by their presence....for their safety and to get the U.S. out of the middle east he said, but really it's to protect his interests in the Trump towers in Turkey from state seizure....Today he announced he's sending thousands of troops to Saudi Arabia for their protection. (I guess so they don't have to use those weapons he's so proud they bought?)
These moves not only make it likely ISIS will survive and embed themselves worldwide, but also makes enemies of the Kurds, our staunch allies. It is foreseeable that a new, anti American Kurdish terrorist group will be the result. Who could possibly blame them?
Also this morning Trump lost another appeal trying to hide his taxes.
Will the madness ever end?
bobknight33says...If these guys did wrong then let them have their punishment.
That being said Looks like of a stunt that this was so public. Would have it been normally?
newtboysays...They've been under quiet investigation since at least February, probably longer. It only became public because they tried to flee the country after Giuliani met with them (and maybe tipped them off), and were publicly arrested at the airport. Duh.
If Obama's donors had funneled hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars of Russian money to him, his personal lawyer, and Pelosi to buy their interference in foreign countries against the interests of the United States and multiple laws, would you complain it was made public, or would you seethe, irate over the fact it was kept private and allowed to continue for so long by the DOJ? I know which.
Still feel like Trump's winning? Still claiming no collusion?
These guys, funded by Russians, paid Trump (and other Republicans) to do their bidding, illegally. They needed our ambassador, who wouldn't play ball in their corrupt schemes, removed, so they sold Chump a blatant lie that, in his deluded paranoia, and against all professional advice, information, and opinion, he naively believed and acted on. Zero question.
If these guys did wrong then let them have their punishment.
That being said Looks like of a stunt that this was so public. Would have it been normally?
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