It’s a shame the focus is on the #Russiagate probe in Trump’s first year. This bypasses the role played by Ukraine in the Manafort deflection, Wikileaks revelation, DNC hack and the large Republican funders with ties to Netanyahu’s Israel.
Mueller investigators interested in interview with Donald Trump | The Guardian – 3 hrs ago |
Special counsel Robert Mueller’s team of investigators has expressed interest in speaking with Donald Trump as its investigation into potential coordination between Russia and the president’s election campaign looks set to reach right into the Oval Office, it emerged on Monday.
… the source expressed the view that it was not surprising that Mueller’s team would want to interview Trump as part of the investigation that got under way last year and has been working its way closer and closer to the ultimate seat of power.
Mueller’s team briefly interviewed Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner in November, chiefly in relation to Trump’s fired national security adviser Michael Flynn.
…
At the weekend, former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon apologized for accusing Trump’s eldest son, Donald Jr, of treasonous and unpatriotic conduct in meeting with Russians at Trump Tower during the election.A White House spokesman pointed to a statement from White House lawyer Ty Cobb saying the White House does not publicly discuss its conversations with Mueller.
More below the fold …
Mueller got Mike Flynn to cooperate by targeting his son. Same for putting pressure on Trump by investigating closest family and business members? Kushner’s business ties to Israel will be scrutinized by a SEC investigation …
Kushner’s financial ties to Israel raise questions over peace broker role | Middle East Monitor |
Doubts have been raised as to the suitability of US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner for the role of Middle East peace negotiator, amid new revelations of his ongoing business ties to Israel.
A report in The New York Times yesterday revealed that Kushner has been benefitting from various property and investment trusts worth some $761 million, many of which have ties to Israel.
In May 2017, shortly before Kushner accompanied the president on his official trip to Israel, the family business reportedly received a $30 million investment from Israeli insurance company Menora Mivtachim.
Just one month earlier, in April, Kushner also worked with the Steinmetz family from Israel to buy some $200 million worth of Manhattan apartment buildings. He has also repeatedly taken out loans from Bank Hapoalim , Israel’s largest bank.
“No one could ever imagine this scale of ongoing business interests, not in a local peanut farm or a hardware store but sprawling global businesses that give the president and his top adviser personal economic stakes in an astounding number of policy interests,” Robert Weissman, the president of Public Citizen, a non-profit government ethics group said.
This is not the first revelation of Kushner’s personal ties to the country. Last month, a team of US researchers found that the president’s son-in-law failed to disclose on government records his position as co-director of a foundation that funds illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. Kushner is also a family friend of Benjamin Netanyahu, so close that the prime minister once slept in Kushner’s childhood bedroom.
Whilst the report clarified that Kushner’s business dealings do not violate federal ethics laws, which require him to withdraw only when government decisions would have a “direct and predictable effect” on his financial interests, questions have been raised as to his suitability for the role of Middle East negotiator due to how such dealings will be perceived.
US to probe Kushner’s relations with Israel
US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior advisor Jared Kushner is facing investigation for contact with senior Israeli officials in an attempt to block a UN resolution condemning Israel’s occupation, the Washington Post reported yesterday.
Robert Mueller, the special counsel investigating Russia’s interference in the 2016 US presidential elections, is reportedly looking into efforts made by Kushner during the transition period between the Obama and Trump administrations at the end of 2016.
The paper claimed that several sources involved in the investigation said that Kushner had spoken with senior Israeli officials who sought to thwart a UN Security Council’s resolution which condemned Israel’s occupying activities in East Jerusalem and the West Bank as illegal under international law.
- ○ ‘Sensitive’ Jared Kushner Emails Among Trove Obtained By Robert Mueller | The Forward – Dec. 17, 2017 |
○ Jared Kushner’s company under renewed scrutiny over Chinese and Israeli deals | The Guardian – Jan. 8, 2018 |
Previous diaries wayback when …
○ Got Off Easy Laundering thru Hapoalim
- Once again, many more links of NY mobsters with Israel and equally with [Jewish] mobsters from Moldova, Ukraine and Russia. Israel’s Netanyahu looks after his own interests when dealing with foreign policy. Illegal contracts even reached Iran during the US and UN economic boycott.
○ Visitors to BooMan’s Place ¶ Invited? :: Abramoff Link (2006)
More reading …
○ Black Cube and Oligarchs in the Shadows | Tikun Olam |
○ Harvey Weinstein used Israeli spies in effort to silence victims | The Electronic Intifada |
