US Politics Mega-thread - Page 9091

On October 31 2017 02:16 xDaunt wrote:

The Podestas would be a good bet. We already know that they screwed up their reporting requirements like Manafort did and that Mueller is investigating them.

On October 31 2017 02:16 xDaunt wrote:

The Podestas would be a good bet. We already know that they screwed up their reporting requirements like Manafort did and that Mueller is investigating them.

On October 31 2017 02:36 Doodsmack wrote:


Isn't it Tony's brother only? It would be odd if you're trying to bring in Tony because of the name Podesta.

Democratic power lobbyist Tony Podesta, founder of the Podesta Group, is stepping down from the firm that bears his name after coming under investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller.

Podesta announced his decision during a firm-wide meeting Monday morning and is alerting clients of his impending departure.

Podesta is handing over full operational and financial control to longtime firm CEO Kimberley Fritts, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the meeting. Fritts and a senior group of the Podesta team will be launching a new firm in the next one or two days. Sources said the transition has been in the works for the past several months.

....
The investigation into Podesta and his firm grew out of investigators’ examination of Manafort’s finances. Manafort organized a PR campaign on behalf of a nonprofit called the European Centre for a Modern Ukraine. Podesta Group was one of several firms that were paid to do work on the PR campaign to promote Ukraine in the U.S.

On October 31 2017 02:57 Mohdoo wrote:
I am really disheartened seeing Fox and other conservative outlets defending Manafort. This is starting to get really creepy. He is about as guilty as guilty gets and is clearly totally fucked. But they are blasting all this stuff about violating his rights and Mueller having no credibility. Riling up Americans to lack faith in the justice system is a really, really bad thing to be doing. Especially when the people in question are horrendously guilty. This is getting really creepy.

On October 31 2017 02:58 zlefin wrote:

some of them have been attacking the judiciary/rule of law for decades now. so for some of them it's not really a change at all.

On October 31 2017 02:58 ticklishmusic wrote:
So my understanding of the issue with Tony Podesta is that he did business with ECMU, a group set up by Manafort which was pro-Ukraine. ECMU told Podesta that they were not a special-interests group, he took them at their (or rather Manafort's) word and reported as such on his disclosures.

And I think it's worth take a look at the relative magnitude of these things. The Podesta Group, as a whole, brings in ~$60-80m a year. So whatever this ECMU thing was, they were paid not that much. Compare that to the $75m+ that Manafort has laundered.

On October 31 2017 03:12 xDaunt wrote:

Well, and in fairness, the $75m that Manafort laundered was over the course of a decade or so. But that said, it's not really clear what the Podesta group is in trouble for beyond flubbing the reporting the requirements. But the fact that Manafort's financial records led Mueller to Podesta is clearly troublesome. And Tony pulling a Weinstein and resigning from his own firm looks ominous as well.

On October 31 2017 02:45 xDaunt wrote:


Could be either Tony or John or both. It remains to be seen. But in related news, this just happened:



Source.

On October 31 2017 03:27 Mohdoo wrote:
So...where's manafort? Is he hiding? Arrested?

On October 31 2017 03:30 NeoIllusions wrote:

I believe he surrendered himself to the FBI this morning.

The Podesta Group, a Democratic lobbying firm co-founded by Clinton campaign manager John Podesta, appears to play a central role in the indictments of former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort.

From 2006 to 2014, Manafort and Richard Gates “engaged in a multi-million dollar lobbying campaign in the United States at the direction of [former Ukrainian President Victor] Yanukovych, the Party of Regions, and the government of Ukraine,” according to the indictment. The Party of Regions is a pro-Russia Ukrainian political party whose leader, Yanukovych, served as president from 2010 to 2014.

Manafort and Gates chose two companies, identified as Company A and Company B in the indictment, to lobby on behalf of the European Centre for a Modern Ukraine, a European nonprofit that officials say was created as a mouthpiece for the Party of Regions. Previous news reports have indicated that the two companies are the Podesta Group and Mercury LLC.

The head of the Podesta Group, Tony Podesta, resigned from the group on Monday amid increasing attention from special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian influence operations. Tony’s brother, John Podesta, served as Hillary Clinton’s campaign chair during the 2016 election.

The two companies were aware that they were lobbying on behalf of the Ukrainian government and worked with Manafort to conceal their foreign lobbying activities from the public, according to the indictment.

“Manafort repeatedly communicated in person and in writing with Yanukovych, and Gates passed on directions to Company A and Company B,” the indictment states.

“At the direction of Manafort and Gates, Company A and Company B engaged in extensive lobbying,” the indictment adds. “Among other things, they lobbied multiple Members of Congress and their staffs about Ukraine sanctions, the validity of Ukrainian elections, and the propriety of Yanukovych’s imprisoning his presidential rival, Yulia Tymoshenko (who had served as Ukraine President prior to Yanukovych).”

The two companies received payments “solely through off-shore accounts associated with the Manafort-Gates entities,” according to the indictment.

The Podesta Group retroactively filed lobbying disclosures in April admitting their previously hidden Ukrainian lobbying activities.