Pages

Saturday, August 22, 2020

Continuing Russian Probe in Election From 2015 to 2020-Trump and Elections Report Card

Nadene Goldfoot                                         
                                                                       
President Donald Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner

Donald Trump took office on January 20, 1917.  

His business was that of a hotel owner, owning international hotels in Chicago, Honolulu, New York City, Vancouver, Las Vegas and Washington D.C.  He has always been a businessman, not a politician.                             
                                             
Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC. 
        
He was not alone in business.  He was part of the Trump Organizaion.  The Trump Organization is a group of about 500 business entities of which Donald Trump is the sole or principal owner. About 250 of these entities use the Trump name. The organization was founded in 1923 by Donald Trump's grandmother, Elizabeth Christ Trump, and father, Fred Trump, as E. Trump & Son.  Donald was one of the heirs of his father's finances.  
We can't forget that Trump had his own TV shows, like The Apprentice-"You're fired!"  That's carried over in firing Democrats.                               
When a young Trump went to Russia

In 1987, Trump visited Russia to investigate developing a hotel, invited by Ambassador Yuri Dubinin whom he had met in New York the year before. British journalist Luke Harding alleged in 2017 that this trip likely began a long-term cultivation operation typical of the KGB's Political Intelligence Department, under written directives initiated by First Chief Directorate head Vladimir Kryuchkov, to recruit politically ambitious Westerners susceptible to flattery, egotism and greed. 

"In 2004, prominent New York real estate developer Donald Trump proposed a $200 million luxury hotel-condominium development at 26th Street and Camelback Road in the highly upscale Camelback Corridor (near the Arizona Biltmore Hotel and the Biltmore Fashion Park shopping center) of Phoenix."

"As of December 21, 2005, the project was cancelled and Trump withdrew his association with the project when the City Council succumbed to intense neighborhood opposition and a looming referendum fight (over 19,000 local residents signed the petition against increasing the height limit, many citing fears of the area developing too rapidly). Other developers such as shopping center owner Westcor were forced to radically change similar proposals as a result."  Such was the life of real estate developer and hotel owner, Donald Trump.  

He had owned hotels through the Trump Organization in other countries, such as:  

In 2015 he had signed on for buying a luxury hotel in Russia.  When he became president he had to turn over his assets to his family members of the Trump Organization.  

"Trump signed a nonbinding "letter of intent" dated October 13, 2015, to proceed with the project. The letter, also signed by Russian investor Andrei Rozov, was forwarded to Cohen by Russian-American real estate developer Felix Sater, who had worked with The Trump Organization on prior deals, including Trump SoHo and Trump International Hotel & Residence." 

"The Trump Organization pursued a luxury hotel and condominium project in Moscow—dubbed the Trump Tower Moscow—during the Trump presidential campaign. This project was facilitated by Michael Cohen, then an attorney for the Trump Organization, and from January 2017 to May 2018 became Trump's personal attorney."
                                                                             
"As early as spring 2015, American intelligence agencies started overhearing conversations in which Russian government officials, some within the Kremlin, discussed associates of Trump, then a presidential candidate."  Our government was thus taping;  wire tapping   conversations from Russians in Russia or outside,  about people working for Trump.  This is "NSA warrantless surveillance which refers to the surveillance of persons within the United States, including United States citizens, during the collection of nationally foreign intelligence by the National Security Agency as part of the Terrorist Surveillance Program

"From the beginning of his presidency Trump had requested assurances that he was not personally under investigation. FBI Director Comey told him so privately on three occasions but refused to make a public comment to that effect. In his letter dismissing Comey, Trump thanked Comey for "informing me, on three separate occasions, that I am not under investigation". Comey later confirmed that this was true."  So Comey lied to Trump.  

"The Steele dossier asserted that Trump attorney Michael Cohen in August 2016 had a clandestine meeting with Kremlin representatives in Prague. Cohen has stated he has never been to Prague, inviting investigators to examine his passport. McClatchy reported on April 13, 2018, that Mueller's investigators have evidence that in August or early September 2016 Cohen traveled to Prague by way of Germany. Such a trip would not have required a passport as Germany and the Czech Republic are in the Schengen Area which has abolished passport and all other types of border control at their mutual borders. On April 14, 2018, Cohen again denied he had ever been to Prague, although weeks after the 2016 election he had told journalist David Corn he had been in Prague fourteen years earlier. McClatchy reported in December 2018 that a mobile phone traced to Cohen had "pinged" cellphone towers around Prague in late summer 2016. McClatchy also reported that during that time an eastern European intelligence agency had intercepted communications between Russians, one of whom mentioned that Cohen was in Prague. The Mueller Report did not conclude Cohen had been in Prague, citing his testimony to investigators."

The Steele Dossier was compiled by Christopher Steele who was hired and paid by The DNC (Democratic National Committee),  and the Hillary Clinton campaign.  He authored a dossier that claims Russia collected a file of compromising information on U.S. President Donald Trump)."

They paid Steele over $160,000 through the law firm, Perkins Cole and a research firm, Fusion GPS.  (Fusion GPS is a commercial research and strategic intelligence firm based in Washington, D.C. The company conducts open-source investigations and provides research and strategic advice for businesses, law firms and investors, as well as for political inquiries, such as opposition research.   The "GPS" initialism is derived from "global research, political analysis, strategic insight.)   Steele was to dig for dirt on Donald Trump and to find Trump's ties to Russia.  The FISA application left out the facts about Fusion GPS and Glenn Simpson of the law firm Perkins Cole and their connections with the DNC and the Clinton campaign.  The FBI had also authorized payment to Steele for this same information.  He was double-dipping!  

They mislead the readers of the FISA application by including Michael Isikoff's article in the Yahoo News article about Page's July 2016 trip to Moscow.  The facts of the article had been given by  Christopher Steele himself to Yahoo News and evidently Michael Isikoff quoted it without revealing his resource.  This was a real planting of false evidence!

                                                 
State Delegation Votes 2016 for Republicans
"The Special Counsel investigation was an investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections, alleged links between associates of Donald Trump and Russian officials and possible obstruction of justice by Trump, conducted by special prosecutor Robert Mueller from May 2017 to March 2019. It was also called the Russia investigation, the Mueller probe, and the Mueller investigation. Prior to the appointment of the Special Counsel, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has been, starting in July 2016, covertly investigating activities by Russian operatives and by members of the Trump presidential campaign, under the code name "Crossfire Hurricane".The investigation culminated with the Mueller Report which concluded that — though the Trump campaign welcomed Russian interference and expected to benefit from it — there was insufficient evidence to bring any conspiracy charges against Trump or his associates. The Report did not reach a conclusion about possible obstruction of justice, citing a Justice Department guideline that prohibits the federal indictment of a sitting president."

"In February 2019, McCabe, since fired from the FBI, confirmed he launched the obstruction of justice investigation for those reasons, and gave additional reasons such as 
1. Trump's multiple depictions of the investigation into Trump associates and Russia as a "witch hunt", as well as 
2. Trump allegedly telling Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to mention the Russia probe in Rosenstein's memo to recommend firing Comey, and 
3. Trump's comments to the Russian ambassador and NBC relating Comey's firing to the Russia probe."

Impeachment by the Democrats came about on September 24, 2019.  September 24, 2019: After Nancy Pelosi formally announced an impeachment inquiry into Trump,  several opinion polls reflected an increase in support for an impeachment inquiry. According to a Morning Consult poll, 43% of Americans support impeachment proceedings, a 7-point increase, tying with Americans who do not support such proceedings. Additionally, an NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll showed support for an impeachment inquiry into Trump at 49%, while 46% opposed.    " It was chiefly a transactional approach to policies in Ukraine that gave the Democrats in Congress the fuel to impeach Trump.

Trump is not a politician.  He has made errors; errors in speech as well in decisions.  What one must do is list all the things he has done and those he has messed up and weigh them.  Each person seems to have their preferable list of accomplishments or failures from this man.  We know his failngs and his special qualities.  We are not sure of Biden's.  Biden is a politician.   


  • People have come and gone in his administration.  "Fired” may be a little strong, but in 2018, top national security officials handling pandemics left abruptly and were not replaced by the Trump administration.  May 18 saw Rear Admiral Timothy Ziemer leave his post on health from National Security Council who had been under Obama. John Bolton reorganized this global health team with Tom Bossert wanting strong defenses against biological warfare, who was pushed out by Bolton in 2018.  There was no replacement of Tom Bossert, and no COVID 19 appearing at this time.  
     
  • As for funding, there’s no question that the Trump administration sought to cut key CDC budget categories. But thanks to Congress, that funding was restored and even increased in bills that Trump ultimately signed." By November 19, a mixed group of lawmakers, Dem. and Rep., wanted it restored, so a letter was sent requesting a new appointment to NSC. Evidently, it couldn't be done.  "The fact that they explicitly dismantled the office in the White House that was tasked with preparing for exactly this kind of a risk is hugely concerning," Jeremy Konyndyk, who ran foreign disaster assistance in the Obama administration, told the Guardian. "Both the structure and all the institutional memory is gone now."
Instead, Trump has looked within his administration to fill roles for the coronavirus response. In January, Trump appointed his Health and Human Services Secretary, Alex Azar, to chair a coronavirus task force. On Feb. 26, he announced that Vice President Mike Pence would be taking charge of the U.S. response to the coronavirus. And the following day, Pence announced he was appointing Ambassador Debbie Birx to assist the effort as "White House coronavirus response coordinator." Birx is a physician and global health expert who is currently responsible for coordinating the State Department's HIV/AIDS task force. The White House said she will be supported by NSC staff in her role.
Because of the animosity involved between Democrats and Republicans these days, evidently Trump feels he cannot trust any former Democrat in any role that can be turned against him.  The animosity has gone on during all 4 years of his position.  It's been a hateful climate.  He's a man who needs to be liked.  One can see that in how he's acted with the Russians and the Chinese and the Arabs.     
                                                              
Picture from June 2008 in Scotland,
Their mother was Scottish.  
It has happened to his family.  He has a sister, Maryanne Trump Barry,  who assailed him for lying, phoniness and cruelty as well as having no principals.  What is all this about?  Dollars to donuts, there was a fight over money due to her.  Barry, who retired from her role as a federal judge last year, has never spoken negatively about her brother in public. "The change of stories. The lack of preparation. The lying. Holy s---. But he's appealing to the base. What they're doing to the kids at the border, I mean," Barry told Mary Trump in one taped conversation in 2018. Trump just lost a brother that he felt very close to.  

Trump has been acting out on many occasions from feeling that many are against him; appearing to have a persecution complex to many. In fact, the climate has been such that people were acting like a Civil War was brewing between the 2 parties.   After 4 years of having actual things happen to him, the results of listening in on conversations about him to pin him to the Russian and collusion, the Steele Dossier, and then the final Impeachment process; it's like the old-time joke, of a man saying to a doctor:  Doc, they're out to get me; everywhere I go they're hiding behind bushes and will jump out at me.  
Doc:  Man, they are out to get you-it's not a persecution complex you have, it's real!  

Our 50 states have 24 Democratic governors and 26 Republican governors.  How we will all vote this time around is something I wouldn't take a bet on.   

What president served 4 years only?  John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Martin Van Buren, John Tyler, James Polk, Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, Rutherford B. Hayes, Chester Arthur, Stephen Grover Cleveland, Benjamin Harrison, William McKinley, William Howard Taft, Herbert Hoover, Gerald Ford, and Jimmie Carter.
                                                       

Trump was the opposition to Hillary.  He was able to accomplish much for Israel, more than any other previous president. He had the guidance of Jared Kushner.   These steps were very important to Israelis.  

1.  The “recognition of Israel’s capital, Jerusalem.
2. Opening the American Embassy in Jerusalem
3.  Recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights.” These were key decisions made between December 2017 and March 2019.
4. Changed US policy on Israeli communities in the West Bank,  
5. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has given Israel clear support for operations against Iran’s presence in Syria and elsewhere.
6. Numerous high-level military visits have taken place to Israel in recent months, including the visit of Centcom chief Gen. Kenneth McKenzie as well as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley and Air Force commander Gen. David Goldfein, who all came in November. And the Deputy Chief of the IDF General Staff Maj.-Gen. Eyal Zamir visited the US in mid-December. 
7. He also appears to see Israel as one of America’s key and reliable allies, having not mentioned many other countries positively in the letter.
8. Unprecedentedly pro-Israel policy moves, such as quitting the Iran nuclear deal                                                       
9.  U.S. decision effectively backing Israel’s building of settlements in the occupied West Bank, long awaited.   Labourers work in a construction site in the Israeli settlement of Ramat Givat Zeev in Judea-Samaria November 19, 2019. It is five kilometers northwest of Jerusalem. The town was founded in 1977 on the site of the abandoned Jordanian military camp, adjacent to the site of ancient Gibeon.  Israel won this land after war of 67 so had to wait 50 years to avoid condemnation to build needed apartments.  
10.  His peace treaty is bearing fruit with the leadership of son-in-law Jared Kushner in making peace with United Arab Emirates who may be followed up with their associates.  This comes from Trump's making friends with Saudi Arabia.                                                                                                                                Mistakes with Israel

1. Decision to stand aside as Turkey sends troops into Syria and fights Kurds allied with Washington has some Israelis wondering whether they too might eventually pay a price for his impatience with Middle East engagements. Kurds were helping to fight against ISIS.  They were friends of Israel; and our closest match of DNA.  This was a shock. 
2. Israel has had to put off annexation plans of area C, their part since the Oslo Accords, of Judea-Samaria, from pressure in Washington, etc.  "Israeli settlers in the West Bank, many of whom live in areas that Israel hopes to annex as part of the deal devised by Washington."  Between Covid 19 and the new peace arrangement with UAE, it is on the table but no one is serving it.   The pair "do not have Israel's security and settlement interests in mind. All they care about in this outline is promoting their own interests ahead of the upcoming election,” he added, appearing to refer to the U.S. presidential election, say some people needing Israel's protection there that would be provided through the annexation.   
3. Any plans involving Jerusalem's status of today; Israel's undivided capital.  This is sacrosanct to Israelis.  Never again shall it be divided or out of Israel's hands.  (G-d willing).  This would be a terrible mistake.  

None of us are perfect.  Weigh what is important to you, somebody that promises a lot and is a slick speaker or someone who is a doer, a work horse, a workaholic who gets things accomplished.  Netanyahu had to do just this; to cede territory so precious as area C , Jewish towns in Judea-Samaria or not mess with peace with Arabs. He of course chose peace.  Saving a life always comes first.   Trump has many faults; constant messaging; sending of tweets; ignorance of science; preference of votes over knowledge; Whatever your yardstick for measurement is, look at all sides.  This is going to be a hard election for both the candidates and the voters.  

  Harris, Shane (July 12, 2017). "Russian Officials Overheard Discussing Trump Associates Before Campaign Began"The Wall Street JournalArchived from the original on July 12, 2017. Retrieved July 12, 2017.
166   Rosenberg, Matthew; Goldman, AdamSchmidt, Michael S.(March 2, 2017). "Obama Administration Rushed to Preserve Intelligence of Russian Election Hacking"The New York Times
 Bump, Philip (June 7, 2017). "Here's why James Comey wouldn't tell the world that Trump wasn't under investigation"The Washington PostArchived from the original on June 15, 2018. Retrieved April 11, 2018.
 Trump, Donald (May 9, 2017). "Comey Firing Letter" (PDF)DocumentCloudArchived (PDF) from the original on November 26, 2017. Retrieved November 20, 2017.
 "Trump v Comey: Who said what"BBC News. June 22, 2017. Archived from the original on May 7, 2018. Retrieved April 11, 2018.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_things_named_after_Donald_Trump
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/30/us/politics/michael-flynn-appeals-court.html
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2020/feb/28/michael-bloomberg/did-donald-trump-fire-pandemic-officials-defund-cd/
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trumps-sister-assailed-him-for-lying-phoniness-cruelty-and-having-no-principles-secretly-recorded-audio-reveals/ar-BB18gDmf?ocid=se
https://www.jpost.com/international/trump-touts-12-foreign-policy-achievements-amid-impeachment-611436
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-syria-security-israel-kurds/israel-uneasy-over-trumps-refusal-to-stand-by-kurds-idUSKBN1WP2KP
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-syria-security-israel-kurds/israel-uneasy-over-trumps-refusal-to-stand-by-kurds-idUSKBN1WP2KP
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-palestinians-usa-evangelicals/trump-shift-on-israeli-settlements-fulfills-wish-list-of-evangelical-base-idUSKBN1XT2UT
https://newrepublic.com/article/150646/young-trump-went-russia

No comments:

Post a Comment