A Big Shoe Just Dropped

[deminks]

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/a-big-shoe-just-dropped

I don't know how much attention it's received. But the appearance of the name of Felix Sater in this new article in the Times is one of the biggest shoes I've seen drop on the Trump story in some time.

The new story explains that a group of Trump operatives, including top lawyer Michael Cohen and fired former campaign manager Paul Manafort, along with a pro-Putin Ukrainian parliamentarian named Andrii V. Artemenko and Mr. Sater are pushing President Trump on a 'peace plan' for Russia and Ukraine.

Cohen recently met with Sater and Artemenko; and Cohen agreed to personally deliver the peace plan (actually a sealed envelope with documents detailing it) to the President when he met with him at the White House. Cohen says he left it with General Flynn days before Flynn was forced to resign

(snip)

Having spent some time studying the matter, the biggest red flags about Donald Trump's ties to Russia and businessmen around Vladimir Putin have always been tied to the Trump SoHo building project in Lower Manhattan, from the first decade of this century. I base my knowledge of this on this rather cursory but still quite good April 2016 article from the Times and my own limited snooping around the Outer Boroughs Russian and Ukrainian emigre press. (I summarized the most salient details of the earlier Times article in Item #3 of this post.) This was a key project, perhaps the key project in the post-bankruptcy era in which Trump appeared heavily reliant on Russian funds to finance his projects. Sater was at the center of that project. The details only came to light after the project got bogged down in a complicated series of lawsuits.

After the lawyers got involved, Trump said he barely knew who Sater was. But there is voluminous evidence that Sater, a Russian emigrant, was key to channeling Russian capital to Trump for years. Sater is also a multiple felon and at least a one-time FBI informant. Bayrock Capital, where he worked was located in Trump Tower and he himself worked as a special advisor to Trump. Again, read the Times article to get a flavor of his ties to Trump, the Trump SoHo project and Russia. For my money there's no better place to start to understand the Trump/Russia issue. (end snip)

(end snip)

[BumRushDaShow]

2. This is the article being referenced

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/19/us/politics/donald-trump-ukraine-russia.html

[murielm99]

5. Interesting that Rick Perry

was included in the picture accompanying the article.

This could get complicated. Watergate had a lot of players, too. We had to learn how to keep them straight.

[BumRushDaShow]

6. I figured

they just picked a photo that had both Flynn and Cohen in it and Perry happened to be there too. I can't imagine Perry being in any inner circle with Bannon and the rest of that odious crew.

[Honeycombe8]

13. Wow. Looks like Russian is setting up TWO puppet governments...

He has set one up in the U.S.? Now, he wants to set up Artemenko in the Ukraine as a puppet President.

Artemenko has no authority, it seems, to be presenting any sort of plan re Ukraine. He is not an elected official or representative of Ukraine. He's an interloper. Is this a coup in the making?

This is complicated. All the players and complex connections that go back years.

[Wounded Bear]

15. Ukraine had a Putin puppet for a while...

they managed to oust him via election a few years ago. That's when Manafort had to leave Kiev for nicer climes.

[BumRushDaShow]

17. I think Putin really wanted Ukraine

(for port purposes too) and the puppet here sortof fell into his lap allowing him to make the move now and go for the (assumed) win-win.

I am thinking the seeds were planted in 2007 and the final countdown towards the coup here started in 2013 -

http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/11/politics/trump-ties-with-russia/

[PearliePoo2]

3. Yes!! My heart's going thumpity THUMP! ALWAYS the $$$$ nt.

[sunonmars]

4. He's going to go down in flames soon, this is the dots joining together with a nice little red bow.

[ginnyinWI]

21. well, sooner or later.

It took a couple of years before Nixon resigned. But hoping soon!

[tomp]

43. this seems far more blatant AND, of course, far earlier...

...than anything Nixonian (although Nixon had that pre-1968 Viet Nam thing).

[triron]

45. no internet back then. news spreads way faster now.

[MrPurple]

53. better sooner before he's more entrenched

[Lucinda]

7. KNR

[mcar]

8. Part of the whole

And again, Drumpf pretends he doesn't know an associate.

[Achilleaze]

9. republican draft dodger Comrade Casino's corrupt complications

what a massive mountain of tax-dodging corruption & russian sellout the republicans have shoved up America's keister with their canonization of the draft-dodging, genital-grabbing & hate-spewing Comrade Casino.

[sheshe2]

10. Tic-Toc

[KewlKat]

11. The Con with Tevfik Arif, center, and executive Felix Sater

attend the Trump Soho launch party on Sept. 19, 2007, in New York.

Sater is the man the Con said he wouldn't recognize him if he saw him......




Another photo -
PHOTO: Donald Trump exits the Budweiser Events Center after talking at the Bixpo 2005 convention in Loveland, Colo., Sept. 14, 2005. Felix Sater appears in the red tie on Trumps left.

[LuckyLib]

46. Top photo, they look like mobsters. Yep. See riversedge post below.

[Hortensis]

12. This (!), and the Senate Intelligence Committee after

meeting with FBI Director Comey officially asked more than a dozen agencies to save all materials of their investigations into the Russian stuff. Seems like that would be SOP from the very beginning for any honest and honorable investigations, but in any case something's apparently made this about-face (ass covering) seem necessary now.

Sater likely has nothing to do with it himself, but there is also the question of who something like 19%(?) interest in a Russian state-owned oil company was transferred to. The story is that it was to be payola to someone/some people for getting U.S. sanctions against Russia dropped. It would presumably be worth many billions once our sanctions ended and Russian oil production revved up.

That said, we shouldn't get too excited about imagining 45 will be succeeded by 46 any time soon. After all, Watergate took 2 years to resignation when most people believed Nixon was involved right from the beginning, including the conservatives who reelected him.

Democrats seek to quell Trump impeachment talk, Party leaders caution against rushing into a political trap.
Democratic officials in Republican-dominated Washington view the entire subject as a trap, a premature discussion that could backfire in spectacular fashion by making the party appear too overzealous in its opposition to Trump. Worse, they fear, it could harden Republican support for the president by handing his party significant fundraising and political ammunition when the chances of success for an early impeachment push are remote, at best.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

18. When the tipping point is reached, even Republicons won't be able to impeach him fast enough.

If there is complicity with Ryan and McCONnell and Prince Rebus in his position as head of the Republican National Committee during the election, ... then I'm not sure anything can save the Republicon brand for a decade. Maybe six or seven years anyway.

[Hortensis]

20. Well, I thought that when Donnie won the primary.

Let's not underestimate these hyperpartisans, who've rushed to stomp all lines and principles in the mud in their determination to oppose Democrats.

[Alice11111]

54. If there is complicity,Ryan &Turtleman, will block impeachment

until their death. Otherwise, prison, shame to families. They will die fighting it.
If they have managed to distance themselves from what they must know, then they will dump him at the right time.

[JTFrog]

59. If they can also nail Pence, why wouldn't Ryan want to make himself President?

Seems like the way McConnell and Ryan would want this to end up.

There are so many crazy ways this whole ordeal can go. I cannot believe we are even in this situation to begin with.

[Alice11111]

61. Really. The intrigue will be historical. Ryan doesn't want

the taint of being DTs VP. Too risky. Same reason DT can't get others to come on board. Its harder with each passing day if idiocy...his press conference, Russia scandal....

[Wounded Bear]

14. Follow the money...

Trump is a wholly owned subsidiary of Putin, Inc.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

16. Show us the tax returns. tRump says he has nothing to hide & auditing is NOT an excuse.

You have nothing to hide, right, Mr. Minority President?

[salin]

19. Laura Rozen's Twitter feed has been on fire today - very interesting stuff

https://twitter.com/lrozen

[BumRushDaShow]

23. Interesting that Bill Kristol even appeared in there.

[salin]

49. my read is that she is a centrist (slight left lean) foreign policy writer

She used to have a very informative blog in the early years of the Iraq War (2002+). Very thoughtful and thorough. Haven't followed here on twitter until recently. She looks at writing across the spectrum (thus including Kristol) to try to capture (and critique) multiple narratives.

[wiggs]

22. Was his work in the NY office of the FBI? nt

[WomanWhoRoars]

24. Hmmmm

Is this the big story we've been waiting for?

[Amaryllis]

44. I think there are multiple plot lines in this story. This is just one plot line.

[Stuart G]

25. k and r... It is the connection between Sater, Cohen and Trump that are the key..

Trump claims he hardly knew Slater..but the entire article proves that Trump and Slater worked together closely on financing of some of his real estate deals in the early part of this century. So the Trump story that he hardly knew Slater is a total lie. And if Slater delivered the plans to Cohen, and if Slater got them from the Russians, then everything would be proven to be a lie..that is if they can prove this...so..we will see tomorrow and the day after ...

[Ligyron]

32. "Ohhhh, THAT Sater. I thought you said James Spater, ya know - the actor guy."

[Stuart G]

34. Oh...the spelling /typing police got me again...change made...sorry for error...nt

[BumRushDaShow]

68. The "Spater" would be (James) "Spader" the actor

[Ligyron]

69. ooooops, yes!!

Haven't noticed that guy in awhile...

[BumRushDaShow]

70. Yeah he's been in a lot of stuff

I think one of the first things I noticed him in (and paid attention to) was Stargate.

[Ligyron]

71. Right, and then they made a series out of it I think he was in

Sex, Lies and Video Tape, was when I first remember seeing him, where he played a Voyeur type to a sexual trio.

[BumRushDaShow]

72. Yup.

(that was a weird movie...lol)

[Ligyron]

73. Sure was. Seemed to type-cast him for awhile too...

[wiggs]

26. I'll leave this link here for those who haven't seen it. At first seemed far-fetched, but

getting more plausible each news cycle.

FBI (NY), Manafort, NYPD, Trump lawyer Cohen, Sessions, etc...all complicit. Any time new names or facts come up about Trump/Russia, I go back and re-read.

https://patribotics.wordpress.com/2017/01/17/dear-mr-putin-lets-play-chess-louise-mensch-trump-russia/

[riversedge]

27. David Frum tweet--- Dots. Connected.

David Frum ?@davidfrum 2h2 hours ago

David Frum Retweeted Josh Marshall

Dots. Connected.

David Frum added,

Link to tweet

Capt. Thomas Braydee ?@GeeBee70 2h2 hours ago

@davidfrum David, don't let anyone minimize the importance of Felix Sater & Cohen in this. Sater is linked to Semon Moglievich - RUS Mafia.
1 reply 11 retweets 25 likes
Cherl cherl sands ?@CherlSands 57m57 minutes ago

@GeeBee70 @karolcummins @davidfrum






0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes

Jskorn ?@Jskorn 2h2 hours ago

.@davidfrum Bannon is allegedly moving everything to paperless. Is that legal? The question begs to be asked what are they hiding?
0 replies 5 retweets 10 likes




Joseph Garner ?@braveviking 2h2 hours ago

@davidfrum too few will read and understand this. Much less the ones who need too. Great reporting though!
0 replies 0 retweets 7 likes




ddd ?@ddd_deborah 2h2 hours ago

@davidfrum with DT its always about the $

[WomanWhoRoars]

28. Dear God

Dear God let this be the beginning of a larger story

[wiggs]

29. Bill Moyers research from 6 months ago...more Sater stuff

the FBI (infamous NY office?) helped Sater avoid jail time for convictions

Sater was said to be a witness in mob-related and national security matters

Sater is Russia-born

From another article it's reported that Sater's office in Trump Tower is on the same floor as Trump's office

during the primaries, Ted Cruz was trying to help the Slater / Mob story get legs but couldn't

http://billmoyers.com/story/donald-trump-story-youre-not-hearing/

[dalton99a]

36. +1

[Tatiana]

65. +1. Thanks for posting.

He should be deported.

[RowdieTurtle]

30. Whirrr

Bet those shredders are running hot already over at the WH. I can picture Bannon and Priebus, sweating, hair awry, fists full of documents and screaming for Kelly Ann to come help.

[underpants]

31. Felix Sater

[Fast Walker 52]

33. there's a guy on twitter --Adam Khan-- who's been pushing this for a while

the whole idea of Trump being ind debt to the Russian mafia etc

Sater mentioned many times by him

Link to tweet

[Snarkoleptic]

50. And this former NSA guy is onto the Trump/Sater/Mafia connection.

"Sater's dad is a top underboss 4 Semyon Mogilevich, the world's leading mafia don. Just another Trump coincidence."

Link to tweet

Plus this video of Trump doing the bob and weave about his relationship with Sater. (at 1:10, he flees an interview)

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

[Bernardo de La Paz]

35. Ostriches at the FReak site

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2017-02-19, 8:15:09 PM · by drewh · 2 replies

Long-hidden Winston Churchill essay on aliens surfaces
2017-02-19, 8:12:06 PM · by RoosterRedux · 4 replies

Who the hell is this McCain person ...
2017-02-19, 8:09:15 PM · by HIDEK6 · 11 replies

Vox Asks Readers For Obamacare Success Stories, Plan Backfires Horrifically
2017-02-19, 8:05:44 PM · by grundle · 2 replies

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2017-02-19, 8:02:30 PM · by grundle · 4 replies

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2017-02-19, 7:57:50 PM · by Texas Fossil · 5 replies

Armed Robber Shot by Victim's Neighbor, Police Say
2017-02-19, 7:52:50 PM · by nickcarraway · 11 replies

Little boy born without a brain can now speak, count, and attend schoo
....

[annabanana]

37. BOOKMARK! I shall revisit as it "elevates" to the MSM...

[ananda]

38. The drip is turning into a stream.

Won't be long before it's a waterfall.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

39. Crickets at FoxNews, DrudgeReport, Conservative Angle, & ConservativeTreeHouse. . . . nt

[DK504]

40. A Personal lawyer being a courier for secret information in the government.

"Cohen agreed to personally deliver the peace plan (actually a sealed envelope with documents detailing it) to the President when he met with him at the White House. Cohen says he left it with General Flynn days before Flynn was forced to resign ...."

Does this asshole have even have clearance? Since a 1/2 dozen of these flunkies couldn't get clearance, how did a personal lawyer get approval to walk around with government info.?????

[Horse with no Name]

51. That's how the mafia does it. N/t

[flamingdem]

41. Another layer

Link to tweet

[Stuart G]

42. kick for exposure...

[wiggs]

47. tons more Sater /Trump stuff at link

including interesting info like

Felix's father was a Russian mobster in US

Loretta Lynch cultivated him as an FBI / CIA informant

His areas of interest include nuclear materials and missiles

TONS OF FINANCIAL CONNECTIONS WITH RUSSIANS...the amount of money is unbelievable

http://www.the-american-interest.com/2016/12/19/the-curious-world-of-donald-trumps-private-russian-connections/

[flamingdem]

64. So Sater is going to blow the whistle?

?

[BumRushDaShow]

67. If they give him immunity

and also put him in witness protection (considering they used him as an informant), he might.

[Cryptoad]

48. kick again,,,,

[czarjak]

52. "Says who"...

Huh, Michael?

[triron]

55. kick for visibility

[blitzen]

56. wow...just wow....and holy crap n/t

[triron]

57. kick again

[JTFrog]

58. Didn't junior say they had money pouring in from Russia? nt

[triron]

60. kick again

[triron]

62. knr

[mshasta]

63. The kkk gate

[Sebasdad22]

66. The Deplorables Don't Care

Cuz the lying ass iz gonna fix evvrithing. Spit.

[nolabels]

74. The wagon circle keeps getting tighter and it seems like......

there is incoming from the right, middle and left.

If the front and rear start in with it, then above and below are sure to follow

[bora13]

75. melbourne trials?

anyone, anyone? bueller?

mark it on your google map places.

[triron]

76. knr