Donald Trump Presidency-Day One

[Stavros]

Thanks for the link, I read the whole article, never having heard of the Observer before. I don't see any criminal intent in Kushner's behaviour based on what we know so far, but there may be an ignorance of politics as a day-to-day activity at the highest level, because governing the USA is not like running a business, I do think these people are oblivious to the concept of accountability, as if they had never heard anyone use the expression 'the Buck stops here' with regard to the Presidency.

As to whether or not having experience in business prepares one for the Presidency, there have been six with a business background before-Harding, Hoover, Truman, Bush 1 & 2, and Jimmy Carter. Harding may be the closest analogy, being a newspaper man in Ohio, and known in the beltway during his time in the White House as 'Warren Hardon' because of his uncontrollable sexual urges. Thereagain, Citizen Kane springs to mind, and we know how that ended.

A curious fact about 666 Fifth Avenue, the property owned by Mr Kushner -purchased with money borrowed from Barclay's and USB (do these people ever buy property with their own money?)- is that the restaurant on the top floor used to be called Top of the Six and is where Martin Scorsese filmed the lunch scene between Leonardo di Caprio and Matthew McConaughey near the opening of The Wolf of Wall Street.

[Laphroaig]

Donald Trump has clearly heard of the phrase "the buck stops here", but he (and Ivanka) obviously believe it refers to the $$$'s rolling into the White house for them...

[broncofan]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...=.e3b3593ee466

About two weeks after Kushner requested a secret line between himself and the Kremlin, he met with the head of a bank called VEB, a man named Sergey Gorkov. While VEB claims that it met with Kushner as the head of his family's real estate business, the White House has claimed that Kushner met with him as a member of the transition team to coordinate with various business leaders worldwide.

VEB bank was directly affected by the sanctions Obama placed on the Russian economy following its incursion into Crimea into 2014. Kushner needs a source of funds for his building on 666 5th ave. which is financially distressed. Their meeting could have involved a quid pro quo of financing for Kushner and sanctions relief for VEB, which is restricted from selling equity to Americans or borrowing from American institutions. Gorkov flew to Japan to meet with Putin immediately after meeting with Kushner.

According to experts, VEB is used as a slush fund for the Russian government, helping it finance projects the government does not want on its official books. One of its employees in the Manhattan office was convicted for espionage in the U.S. and recently released so there is the connection between Russian intelligence and this bank.

Kushner has indicated he will cooperate with authorities, but I'm afraid if there is not corroborating evidence somewhere recorded and Kushner did not actually borrow money (which in itself is not even prohibited by the sanctions) Kushner will be able to lie about what was said. But there continues to be an increasing number of contacts and coincidences for the administration to explain away. The more they talk on the record, the greater is their chance to contradict themselves or the record.

[bluesoul]

Donald Trump has clearly heard of the phrase "the buck stops here", but he (and Ivanka) obviously believe it refers to the $$$'s rolling into the White house for them...

i was on a plane just a couple of hours ago with a girl- and we're sitting next to each other- and i look to her and i ask her "drink?" she goes "sure" so i order us a bottle of wine. next she asks what i do and i tell and her and she tells me what she does (real estate) and we laugh and yap yap. "so, what do you think of trump?" i ask?
"oh fuck trump. but fuck trump" hahahaha!

if you don't get it, maybe you should be got.

it wasn't the best bottle of wine, but we polished it together. great flight.

are we home yet?

[Stavros]

[QUOTE=broncofan;1770593
Kushner has indicated he will cooperate with authorities, but I'm afraid if there is not corroborating evidence somewhere recorded and Kushner did not actually borrow money (which in itself is not even prohibited by the sanctions) Kushner will be able to lie about what was said. But there continues to be an increasing number of contacts and coincidences for the administration to explain away. The more they talk on the record, the greater is their chance to contradict themselves or the record.[/QUOTE]

Isn't the interest here related to the Logan Act and the contacts a Presidential-Elect team can have and do with foreign governments? From today's Guardian:

There’s one other example of Kushner’s Trump-like qualities that now seems pertinent: the boldness of a private citizen not yet in public office who allegedly discussed with a foreign banker the creation of a back-channel to the ruthless leader of a US adversary. “That makes no sense in terms of normal White House protocol and procedure,” said professor Jeffrey Berry, a political scientist at Tufts University.

At worst, Berry added, such a proposal could expose Kushner to prosecution under the Logan Act, the law that forbids anyone who is not in or authorized by government (in this case the Obama administration) from negotiating with a foreign power on behalf of the US. “There’s no reason for him to be talking to a Russian banker about US policy,” Berry said.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...mp-russian-web

[Stavros]

It came as no surprise to many of us that not long after the attacks in London over the weekend (Saturday 4th June 2017) the natural instinct of the President of the USA was to insult and abuse the UK and its democratically elected representatives. He then followed that up with a typically inane tweet in which he pointed out the killers used a van and knives, but did not point out that many more would have died (as was the case in Paris) had they used guns, because in the UK it is exceedingly difficult to legally purchase the automatic weapons his Presidency has enabled any nutcase with the money to buy over the counter across the USA.

But look further and you discover that when a bomb murdered 80 and injured over 300 people in Kabul last Wednesday the event produced not a tweet from the President of the USA. The bomb was attributed to the 'Haqqani Network', a criminal organization allied to the Taliban based in North Waziristan in the 'Tribal areas' between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Moreover, the Haqqani Network does not just fund its operations from extortion and drug rackets, it is funded from the United Arab Emirates and Pakistan's ISI (Inter-Services-Intelligence).
https://www.counterextremism.com/threat/haqqani-network

There is a clear link here which raises the 'uncomfortable questions' about Terrorism that Theresa May says we now need in the UK, something Jeremy Corbyn has pursued with regard to an as yet unpublished report into the financing of terrorism commissioned by David Cameron when he was Prime Minister. As Corbyn put it (though his comment doesn't go far enough)

“Yes, we do need to have some difficult conversations, starting with Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states that have funded and fuelled extremist ideology.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...-jihadi-groups

The link is not just between arms sales from the UK to Saudi Arabia, a cause of devastation in its illegal war in the Yemen, but between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, and thus the financial links between Saudi Arabia and terrorism in Pakistan, Afghanistan and also in Kashmir. And then there are the links between the President of the USA to this terror network through his personal financial ties to Saudi Arabia, and the USA's political alliance with the Kingdom in spite of multiple examples of the links between the Kingdom and terrorist atrocities across the world and, indeed, in the USA itself.

Consider remarks the Presidential candidate made at a rally in Alabama in 2015:
Saudi Arabia — and I get along great with all of them. They buy apartments from me. They spend $40 million, $50 million. Am I supposed to dislike them? I like them very much."
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/18/u...ecede-him.html

At some point in the future, and as Jeremy Corbyn said in the article quoted above, democracies like the UK and the USA must ask themselves what they receive in return for their relationship with Saudi Arabia, not just because of the financial links between the Kingdom and terrorist groups across the world, but also because of the Wahabi ideology that has encouraged the very same violence we see on our streets.

But if you follow the money you will understand that some things are more important than individual liberty, freedom and human rights, at least for as long as our elected representatives hold hands and dance with dictators and mass murderers.
It doesn't have to be like this.

For an up to date if lengthy perusal of the President's men and their dodgy deals, see
https://www.theatlantic.com/business...erests/508382/

[Jericho]

For those who've not seen the the Trumplets in question.

[Stavros]

The gossip from Westminster is that the government is reconsidering its invitation to the President for a state visit this year, and he may take the initiative and cancel/postpone the visit because he knows he is not popular here and it would not look good to his fan base to see him being treated badly, even if that is all he deserves. In any case we must still hope he will be thrown out of office before Christmas.

[broncofan]

For those interested in Trump's personal grift, here is an article about a new chain of hotels his sons are opening up independently. He is entering the low to mid-priced hotel chain market with a hotel called American Idea, with various American themed branding to profit off of the nationalism of his campaign (reminiscent of America First etc.). It just keeps getting worse.

I watched his tweets about the attack on his twitter. Embarrassing and galling. I would love it if you guys would revoke his invitation, but as Stavros said the possiblity of a chilly reception is enough to keep him away probably.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/05/b...tel-chain.html

[broncofan]

That article I posted is not that consequential in the sense that there's nothing illegal about his family making money off his political success. The manner in which it's done just doesn't seem right.

But what is interesting, for those who have time, James Comey will be testifying on Thursday of this week, 7 am pacific time, 10 am eastern time, 3 pm in London etc.

I won't be able to watch live but I will be catching a replay. Trump had apparently tried to use executive privilege to block Comey's testimony but was not able to, I believe because he's already written and spoken about the nature of his conversations with Comey, therefore he can't block the response. But he has said he will be tweeting responses to Comey's testimony as it happens. You can't make this shit up....we're living in a nightmare.

Edit: As Thursday is also the date of the election in the UK some of you may have other things on your mind!