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(ERIK PRINCE) This thread is the *worldwide release* of a new Proof of Corruption excerpt. I hope you'll RETWEET it, as U.S. voters should know that Prince remains a nefarious presence inside Trumpworld. A preorder link is in my bio, the next tweet, and at the end of the excerpt.
PREORDER/ Proof of Corruption is out 9/8, and can be preordered—hardcover, ebook, or audio—below. More preorder links are at the Macmillan website. Kirkus Reviews calls it "careful and exhaustive...a strong case for Trump's outsized, boundless corruption." https://www.amazon.com/dp/1250272998?tag=macsupaduinstalpa-20
NOTE/ This excerpt has many endnotes; I've removed them for clarity. As with prior direct-to-twitter excepts—all now available at Macmillan (see link below for an index)—I'll use "¶" for paragraph breaks, "§" for section breaks, and "
" for key passages. http://www.sethabramson.net
" for key passages. http://www.sethabramson.net
BACKGROUND/ In 2018, Rudy Giuliani begins spearheading a secret effort to steal the 2020 election by securing illegal election aid from pro-Putin Ukrainian oligarchs. As he starts to lobby Putinists in Kyiv, he joins a covert campaign to aid Putin's puppet president in Venezuela.
EXCERPT/ "In August 2018, Rudy Giuliani becomes more closely involved in what has begun to appear like a pro-Nicolás Maduro campaign in Venezuela run by Trump ally Pete Sessions. As the Washington Post notes, Giuliani 'had joined Trump's legal team months earlier,' beginning...
...'talks with individuals who were part of the back channel to [the socialist Venezuelan president] Maduro. In August, Giuliani met in New York with Lev Parnas and two American business executives with investments in Venezuela to discuss the effort.' () This summit...
) This summit...
...between Trump's personal attorney and men seeking a clandestine arrangement with a supposed Trump enemy occurs 'at a favorite Giuliani hangout, the Grand Havana Room cigar bar, blocks from Trump Tower in Manhattan'—the very same establishment in which Trump campaign manager...
...Paul Manafort had given Kremlin agent Konstantin Kilimnik proprietary Trump campaign polling data 24 months earlier. () Per the Post, during the August 2018 meeting Giuliani agreed 'over whiskey and cigars to try to discern whether there was a way to negotiate with Maduro...
) Per the Post, during the August 2018 meeting Giuliani agreed 'over whiskey and cigars to try to discern whether there was a way to negotiate with Maduro...
...and perhaps reach a diplomatic solution to the political chaos and economic collapse overtaking Venezuela.'
{¶}
Shortly thereafter, in September 2018, Sessions and Giuliani hold a conference call with Maduro himself. () During the call, the three men review...
{¶}
Shortly thereafter, in September 2018, Sessions and Giuliani hold a conference call with Maduro himself. (
) During the call, the three men review...
...presumably for Giuliani's benefit, the deal Sessions and Maduro had agreed upon several months earlier. The Washington Post deems this call yet another instance—Ukraine being the primary exemplar—of Giuliani 'using his private role to insert himself into foreign diplomacy...
...alarming administration officials confused about whose interests he was representing in Venezuela...His freelancing has triggered concerns among White House officials that his intercessions have muddied and at times undercut official US policy.' Senior White House officials...
...once informed of the conference call, will say of the president's personal attorney that they do 'not know why he was involved' in foreign policy negotiations with Maduro. ()
{¶}
Sometime after the September 2018 conversation between Giuliani, Maduro, and Sessions...
){¶}
Sometime after the September 2018 conversation between Giuliani, Maduro, and Sessions...
...Giuliani tells associates, per the Post, that 'he had taken to the idea of a soft landing for Maduro to John Bolton, the president's national security adviser.' The revelation that Giuliani has lobbied the federal government on behalf of a deal agreed to by Maduro himself...
...is striking, given that Giuliani does not thereafter register as an agent of Venezuela or reveal whether he has run the idea past his most important client, Trump. There is reason to doubt, however, that the president's attorney would have been willing to work so ardently...
...on a foreign policy initiative wholly unknown to his primary client. ()
{¶}
Giuliani's 2019 representation of [indicted Venezuelan Alejandro] Betancourt, who the Miami Herald reports 'has grown fabulously wealthy from energy deals with the socialist [Maduro] government'...
){¶}
Giuliani's 2019 representation of [indicted Venezuelan Alejandro] Betancourt, who the Miami Herald reports 'has grown fabulously wealthy from energy deals with the socialist [Maduro] government'...
...remains a mystery. When the Post asks a senior administration official to react to Giuliani representing a 'wealthy energy executive [with a potential criminal case] before the administration while also serving as the president's personal attorney,' the official responds...
...'You have to ask, "Why is he doing this?"'
{§}
On December 30, 2019, the Associated Press reveals that longtime Trump adviser Erik Prince is covertly involved in the Venezuela crisis as well. Prince was among those who had recommended, before the 2016 election...
{§}
On December 30, 2019, the Associated Press reveals that longtime Trump adviser Erik Prince is covertly involved in the Venezuela crisis as well. Prince was among those who had recommended, before the 2016 election...
...that the Trump campaign develop an 'alternative narrative' to Russia's having hacked the DNC—advice ultimately accepted by way of false accusations against Ukraine by Trump and his allies. () Per the AP, Prince 'has been referred to the United States Treasury Department...
) Per the AP, Prince 'has been referred to the United States Treasury Department...
...for possible sanctions violations tied to his recent [November 2019] trip to Venezuela for a meeting with a top aide of President Nicolás Maduro.' The AP notes that 'the visit was flagged...due to the concern of officials in the Trump administration over what appeared to be...
...an unauthorized diplomatic outreach to Maduro.' () It adds that 'the mere presence in Venezuela of a businessman with longstanding ties to the U.S. national security establishment prompted questions about whether [Prince] was there to open a secret back channel to Maduro...
) It adds that 'the mere presence in Venezuela of a businessman with longstanding ties to the U.S. national security establishment prompted questions about whether [Prince] was there to open a secret back channel to Maduro...
...on behalf of the Trump administration.' () Much like Giuliani and Parnas, Prince has acted as a clandestine Trump emissary before; according to the Mueller Report, Prince, acting on Trump's behalf as an 'envoy,' sought to connect with top Putin lieutenant Kirill Dmitriev...
) Much like Giuliani and Parnas, Prince has acted as a clandestine Trump emissary before; according to the Mueller Report, Prince, acting on Trump's behalf as an 'envoy,' sought to connect with top Putin lieutenant Kirill Dmitriev...
...at a series of secret January 2017 meetings in the Seychelles.
{¶}
Just as Pete Sessions will claim that the administration knew of and endorsed his secret negotiations with Maduro, a person familiar with Prince's trip to Venezuela will say Prince notified both the NSC...
{¶}
Just as Pete Sessions will claim that the administration knew of and endorsed his secret negotiations with Maduro, a person familiar with Prince's trip to Venezuela will say Prince notified both the NSC...
...and the Treasury Department prior to his visit. Nevertheless, U.S. special envoy to Venezuela Elliott Abrams will inform the Associated Press that he cannot find any U.S. official briefed by Erik Prince about his trip to Venezuela either before or after it happened. ()
{§}
){§}
In February 2020, the Post reports that the 'US embargo on Venezuelan oil' has resulted in a 'clear win' for Putin—one earning him upward of $1.4 billion per year in 'secret deals' with the same Maduro government with whom Trump's allies, allegedly with administration approval...
...have been secretly negotiating. The next day CNN reports that Parnas still has a 'trove' of as yet unseen documentary and material evidence substantiating his claims of clandestine dealings with Trump and his inner circle—including evidence relating to Giuliani's activities...
...in Venezuela. 'The images obtained by CNN are of trips that provide a peek into relationships Giuliani has not been willing to discuss, specifically work he's done for legally embattled foreign clients whose interests could intersect with his most prominent client...
...the President of the United States. Parnas says that the photos help show ties that Giuliani had with business and political interests in Venezuela. Asked about [a Madrid trip to see his Venezuelan client Alejandro Betancourt], Giuliani told CNN he could not discuss details...
...because it is a matter of "national security"'—suggesting that his work in Venezuela has been on behalf of either the president or the federal government broadly writ. () Per CNN, Giuliani's 'effort' with respect to Venezuela 'bears striking similarity to how Parnas has...
) Per CNN, Giuliani's 'effort' with respect to Venezuela 'bears striking similarity to how Parnas has...
...described an effort to solve legal problems in the U.S. faced by Ukrainian oligarch Dmitry Firtash.' ()
{¶}
In January 2020, the Wall Street Journal notes that Maduro has been aided in circumventing U.S. sanctions by Russia, Turkey, and the UAE ()—all countries with...
){¶}
In January 2020, the Wall Street Journal notes that Maduro has been aided in circumventing U.S. sanctions by Russia, Turkey, and the UAE (
)—all countries with...
...autocratic leaders whose fellowship Trump has long courted. Critically, writes the newspaper, Trump's 'reluctance to impose sanctions on Russian enterprises and others' in response to their covert maneuvers in South America has 'kept Venezuela's oil and gold flowing...
...to buyers' in Moscow, Ankara, Abu Dhabi, and Dubai ()—an illicit export of goods from Caracas that has been a 'lifeline...helping Mr. Maduro...consolidate his grip on power.' The Journal reports that while 'the US has warned officials in Russia, Turkey, and the UAE...
)—an illicit export of goods from Caracas that has been a 'lifeline...helping Mr. Maduro...consolidate his grip on power.' The Journal reports that while 'the US has warned officials in Russia, Turkey, and the UAE...
...about sanctions violations in private meetings...it hasn't moved to blacklist companies or individuals suspected of breaking the sanctions'—a position consistent with Trump's longstanding resistance to sanctioning or otherwise vexing any nation in which he has done...
...or intends to do private business through the Trump Organization (see chapter 36)."
{§}
[Note: The next part of the excerpt appears later in Proof of Corruption].
"Lingering questions remain about Trump's relationship with crown prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia...
{§}
[Note: The next part of the excerpt appears later in Proof of Corruption].
"Lingering questions remain about Trump's relationship with crown prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia...
...one of several nations [with UAE, Israel, Turkey and Russia] that sought to offer the Trump campaign illicit election assistance in 2016. In October 2019, the Washington Post reports that the encrypted-messaging service WhatsApp has accused an Israeli cybersurveillance firm...
...connected to MBS's Saudi Government, NSO Group, of helping governments hack more than 100 people worldwide—including journalists and human rights activists. Soon after, two reports are released, one by the United Nations and one by a private consulting company, establishing...
...that MBS had the phone of a top Trump 'political enemy'—Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos—hacked. () As fears of pro-Trump interference by the Saudis in the 2020 election grow, augmented by the fall 2019 DOJ indictment of two Twitter employees for spying for MBS's court 'by accessing...
) As fears of pro-Trump interference by the Saudis in the 2020 election grow, augmented by the fall 2019 DOJ indictment of two Twitter employees for spying for MBS's court 'by accessing...
...the company's information on Saudi dissidents who use the platform', Trump announces that, his repeated promises to bring US troops home notwithstanding, he will send 'a fresh wave of troops to help defend the [Saudi] kingdom.' ()
{¶}
As MBS continues to exert his power...
){¶}
As MBS continues to exert his power...
...within the United States, another top Trump ally, Vladimir Putin, is devising legislation to facilitate his assumption of a permanent role as the 'supreme leader' of Russia—a revelation that comes contemporaneously with, per CNN, 'the entire Russian government resigning.' ()
)
Meanwhile, Putin and Trump's ally in Hungary, president Viktor Orban, will receive 'absolute power'—the 'power to rule by decree indefinitely,' per Business Insider—after the COVID-19 outbreak hits the European nation in late March 2020.
{¶}
Instead of distancing himself...
{¶}
Instead of distancing himself...
...from Putin, Trump draws the architect of pro-Trump election interference in 2016 closer, announcing in October 2019 that he has agreed to 'gradually start...resuming cooperation on cybersecurity' with the Kremlin—a development so closely linked to and beneficial for...
...Russian intelligence that it is announced in Russia by the man within the Kremlin's state security service whom the Daily Beast calls 'Putin's top spy.' Trump's decision to advance new U.S.-Kremlin collaborations on cybersecurity comes even as Bloomberg News reports that...
...a firm linked to longtime Manafort associate and—per the Financial Times—Putin 'money launderer' Oleg Deripaska has been raided by federal investigators as part of a previously unannounced criminal probe; according to Bloomberg, the investigation is a money laundering probe...
...that 'grew out of Bob Mueller's work.' Even as federal law enforcement closes in on Deripaska, however, Trump's treasury secretary, Steve Mnuchin, is inexplicably dragging his feet on imposing required new sanctions against the Russian oligarch. () When, in February 2020...
) When, in February 2020...
...the sanctions remain unimposed, the Daily Beast reports that 'the two months of inaction have stirred suspicions of political interference in the sanctions process.' () Mnuchin's solicitousness comes as fears grow that Attorney General Barr is systematically shutting down...
) Mnuchin's solicitousness comes as fears grow that Attorney General Barr is systematically shutting down...
...more than twenty Trump-related criminal investigations spawned by special counsel Robert Mueller's work between 2017 and 2019. Concerns that Trump's still-murky ties to Russia may never be properly criminally investigated are only augmented when the Daily Beast reports...
...in December 2019 that Trump is fighting an 'aggressive new package of sanctions on Russia' with a 22-page letter of condemnation, even as he 'threatens to veto a government funding bill if a Ukraine aid requirement is included'—the proviso Trump finds objectionable being...
...one that mandates that 'future military aid for Ukraine be released quickly.'
{§}
In November 2019, the Trump administration asks longtime Trump adviser and donor Erik Prince to purchase a Ukrainian aerospace manufacturer, Motor Sich, purportedly to keep the company away...
{§}
In November 2019, the Trump administration asks longtime Trump adviser and donor Erik Prince to purchase a Ukrainian aerospace manufacturer, Motor Sich, purportedly to keep the company away...
...from Chinese investors. As Prince's Frontier Services Group is a Beijing-based private security contractor with substantial Chinese government contracts—indeed, its largest shareholder is a Chinese state-controlled investment fund—it's unclear how his purchase of Motor Sich...
...would, as the Trump administration contends, keep the company clear of Chinese influence.
{¶}
According to the Wall Street Journal, if Chinese government-backed entities acquire Motor Sich, it would allow China to master a certain 'heavy-lift' aeronautical technology...
{¶}
According to the Wall Street Journal, if Chinese government-backed entities acquire Motor Sich, it would allow China to master a certain 'heavy-lift' aeronautical technology...
...that America does not want its geopolitical rival either to acquire or to convey to one of China's top allies in the sharing of military technology—Russia—and which successive presidential administrations have spent '30 years' trying to keep closely held within the U.S. ()
)
The newspaper notes, too, that 'a Motor Sich sale to China would doom Ukraine's efforts to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization [NATO] and the European Union," a revelation underscoring a second reason the Kremlin might want a Ukraine-China Motor Sich deal to go through.
Per the WSJ, future cooperation between China and Russia on heavy-lift technology is almost certain: 'Russia's state incubator for high-tech industrial civilian and military products has announced a pending joint venture with the Chinese to manufacture a heavy-lift helicopter...
...with the ability to transport armored vehicles and artillery.'
{¶}
That Prince has had his eye on Ukraine for some time is clear. The Journal reports that the mercenary company executive traveled to Ukraine at least nine times between Trump's November 2013 trip to Moscow...
{¶}
That Prince has had his eye on Ukraine for some time is clear. The Journal reports that the mercenary company executive traveled to Ukraine at least nine times between Trump's November 2013 trip to Moscow...
...and the end of 2019; whether any of these trips helped inform or evolve Trump's relationship with the Kremlin or the president's insistent focus on investigations of Clinton and Biden in Ukraine is unknown. Per the WSJ, the Ukrainian company Prince is considering acquiring...
...Motor Sich, is 'the successor to the linchpin in the Soviet Union's defense industry,' and 'for years supplied engines for the bulk of the Russian military's helicopter fleet'—a business model that ended with Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2014...
...and one that by all accounts Putin would like to reestablish. The sale of Motor Sich—to either 'a group of companies, including Beijing Skyrizon Aviation,' or Prince's Chinese-government-linked holding company—could therefore aid Russia in acquiring military technology ()...
)...
...that it cost itself with its actions in Crimea.
{¶}
The Trump administration's interest in the Motor Sich deal will be underscored in February 2020, when it is revealed that Trump is still withholding $30 million in military equipment earmarked for Ukraine...
{¶}
The Trump administration's interest in the Motor Sich deal will be underscored in February 2020, when it is revealed that Trump is still withholding $30 million in military equipment earmarked for Ukraine...
...though in this case the withholding is of 'guns and ammunition' for which Kyiv has already paid. () Buzzfeed News reports that, in an echo of the 2019 Ukraine scandal, Ukraine has 'no idea why' it is being denied the American war-fighting equipment it paid for...
) Buzzfeed News reports that, in an echo of the 2019 Ukraine scandal, Ukraine has 'no idea why' it is being denied the American war-fighting equipment it paid for...
...though one Ukrainian official tells the digital media outlet that the freeze 'could be because the US wants Ukraine's anti-monopoly committee to decide in its favor by cancelling...the pending sale of Motor Sich, a strategic aerospace company, to a Chinese firm' rather than...
...other potential bidders—such as Prince. Whatever the cause of new arms freeze, its effect is to make it more likely that Ukraine sells Motor Sich to a reliable campaign donor and 'informal adviser' to Donald Trump. Were Prince to thereafter make a larger than usual donation...
...to Trump's 2020 reelection campaign, it would be nearly impossible to designate the donation an illegal kickback from any Motor Sich deal facilitated by the White House. In any case, Barr's 2020 DOJ edict regarding campaign finance investigations of presidential candidates...
...makes it highly unlikely that the FBI or DOJ would receive authorization to investigate Erik Prince or any other 2020 Trump donor.
{¶}
Trump's February 2020 firing of Alexander Vindman—much like his firing of John Bolton in September 2019—deprives the federal government...
{¶}
Trump's February 2020 firing of Alexander Vindman—much like his firing of John Bolton in September 2019—deprives the federal government...
...of one of its most vocal opponents to the sale of Motor Sich to the Chinese government or a Chinese-government-backed entity. Trump therefore finds himself in the midst of a piece of international business intrigue whose resolution is almost certain to benefit at least one...
...of two top allies: Erik Prince or Vladimir Putin. ()
{¶}
In March 2020, the New York Times reports that Prince 'has in recent years helped recruit former American and British spies for secretive intelligence-gathering operations that included infiltrating Democratic...
){¶}
In March 2020, the New York Times reports that Prince 'has in recent years helped recruit former American and British spies for secretive intelligence-gathering operations that included infiltrating Democratic...
...congressional campaigns, labor organizations, and other groups considered hostile to the Trump agenda.' 'Whether any Trump administration officials or advisers to the president were involved in the operations is unclear,' adds the Times."
Preorder now: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1250272998?tag=macsupaduinstalpa-20
Preorder now: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1250272998?tag=macsupaduinstalpa-20
DATA/ Proof of Conspiracy—out in just 2+ weeks from Macmillan—is 576 pages in print, with an additional 440 pages of digital endnotes that will be made available for free online (comprising 5,000 major-media sources). The book was reviewed by a team of professional fact-checkers.
COUNTRIES/ To give you a sense of its scope, here is the roster of countries discussed in Proof of Corruption:
The index is so long it has *19* entries beginning with "Mc".
The index is so long it has *19* entries beginning with "Mc".
