What McConnell, Graham and the rest of their Republican colleagues "cannot do is simultaneously enable an unhinged, authoritarian president and uphold their oaths of office." Jennifer Rubin, Washington Post, Jan. 11, 2019
"Frankly our forefathers would be very surprised that we haven't gone to Mitch Mcconnell's house and literally ripped it apart and thrown the pieces in a river for his actions, or lack of them, that border on treason." Laura Michet, Resister
The infusion of Russian and Saudi Arabian influence and money into the fabric of our Executive and Legislative branches of government, which has affected the Judiciary Branch as well, is beyond anything Americans have ever experienced. It's a story of crime and treason. It's the story history will tell of our terrifying times.An incompetent president and an intransigent, perfidious Speaker of the Senate, who has aided and abetted him from the start, have put our democracy in jeopardy for close to three years. Historian Christopher Browning, in a fascinating NY Review of Books article on the rise of Hitler in Germany and what's happening now in the US (October 25, 2018), called McConnell "the gravedigger of American democracy."
It is more important to them to get their tax cut for billionaires than to insure the safety and national security of our country. More important to put alt-right extremists on SCOTUS, assault Obama's legacy, and obtain other nefarious goals, by any means necessary. Not America's goals, mind you, but the goals of the rich and of large corporations,the goals of the 1%, and yes, the goals of foreign countries like Russia, China and Saudi Arabia.
And there's more. The president, like a petulant child, has temper tantrums if he doesn't get his way. He's a pathological liar, ignorant about how to develop plans and make policy. The latest expression of this incompetence is his holding the government hostage over his "vanity" wall, which every expert and the Army Corps of Engineers say is not needed for border security. The president doesn't listen to experts, however; only to sycophants who encourage his irrational actions. Nor does he care about the people and the public servants the government shutdown is hurting. The president could stop the shutdown at any time, but he refuses to let go of his wall. So could Mitch McConnell, who is AWOL. Where is he? twitter is ablaze with the question. I think I have an answer. I believe Robert Mueller is interviewing him as we speak.
Why has Mitch Mcconnell stopped any action in the Senate unless it's for goals he wants? Why has he gotten away with rank abuse of power, starting at least with his refusing to act on President Obama's nomination of Merrick Garland to SCOTUS? McConnell's capriciousness and subversive ways have made a joke of the Senate, which he rules with an iron hand. Nobody questions him. They simply follow him like blind sheep. Why? Who will hold him accountable?
A little research reveals some answers, or at least enough information to alarm Americans, and no doubt the Mueller team investigating Russian interference in our 2016 election. Here is a section of a reddit.com fact-finding article that is relevant, and scary. It's about Mitch McConnell's brother-in-law,Jim Breyer, and his multiple, and perhaps multiferious, networks. This was all news to me, and it got me thinking.
"Jim Breyer, Blackstone Group, and Saudi Arabia." "In June 2016, during Trump’s presidential campaign, Jim Breyer [married to Elaine Chao's sister, McConnell's brother-in-law] met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin-Salman, or MBS. The next month Breyer joined the board of Blackstone Group alongside Stephen Schwarzman and Jacob Rothschild. In the past Blackstone Group had loaned Kushner Companies a combined $400 million over multiple projects. In the 2018 election cycle, Schwzarman donated $5 million to the pro-McConnell superPAC, Senate Majority PAC.
Jacob Rothschild’s brother, Nat, is business partners with Oleg Deripaska , Rupert Murdoch, and Dick Cheney. Nat is also a major investor in Glencore, one of the purchasers of Rosneft stock detailed in the Steele Dossier, and RusAl. In January 2017, Jim Breyer’s business partner at Wickr, Erik Prince, was introduced to Dimitriev by MBS’s emissary, George Nader, and the Crown Prince of the UAE (10).
On October 22, 2018, three weeks after the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, when most American investors were spooked away from Saudi Arabia, Jim Breyer showed up at an MBS-hosted Saudi business summit alongside Kirill Dimitriev of the Russian Direct Investment Fund. That same day, MBS pledged $20 billion for Blackstone Group's new infrastructure fund to fund Elaine Chao's $1.5 trillion infrastructure plan. Elaine Chao, Mitch McConnells wife and Jim Breyer's sister-in-law, is Trump's Secretary of Transportation." (reddit.com)
Fascinating, right? Reddit's research reveals the complex connections and relationships that run through both the Russian interference campaign AND the Saudi Arabia international networks. It appears that the Russian hybrid warfare campaign, interference in our 2016 election, and the Saudi Arabian criminal and money laundering networks overlap. And this is only the tip of the iceburg. Robert Mueller has more on his plate than we can even imagine. It's all about connecting the dots and following the money.
Here's another section of the reddit.com fact-finding article on McConnell's brother-in-law Jim Breyer on the issue of how the cyber-warfare campaign against Hillary and on behalf of tRump got going. This follows a section about facebook's involvement, also informative and revealing.
Is it any wonder Trump appointed Devos to Education and Mitch's wife Elaine Chao to the Department of Transportation? That many of the nominations the Transition Team put forward are billionaires with international connections, people like the Mercers, like Mnuchin and Wilbur Ross, formerly of the money-laundering Bank of Cypress?
The more we know the more sense it makes that Mitch McConnell, in the midst of a government shut down he refuses to do anything about, allowed a vote to lift Russian sanctions on Derispaka and other Russian oligarchs. "It says a lot about his priorities," as Robert Reich noted. This has been Putin's #1 goal from the git-go, his obsession, his motivation for interferring in the 2016 election.
I found it shocking, then learned that Russia paid big money through these various channels and networks to lobby Republicans, with the help of former Senator Vitters, now a foreign agent. They all fell into line behind their leader McConnell. The opensecret.org article (cited below) also reveals another quid pro quo: Earlier in 2018, Trump nominated Vitter's wife Wendy Vitter to a federal judgeship with the U.S. District Court in New Orleans. Mindboggling, isn't it? The celebration in Russia, the glee, was painful to watch. Nor is this the end of it.
The criminal Trump administration, from the Oval Office on down, at every level, bestowed to us by a criminal Transition Team, and confirmed without vetting by Senator Mitch McConnell and his Republican sycophants, have betrayed us. The Executive Branch and the Legislative Branch. Filled with traitors who care more about other countries than about our own, motivated by money, greed and power. It has infested the Judiciary branch as well. All three branches of government, corrupted.
It's time for impeachment. It's time to hold this so-called president accountable for his actions. It's time to investigate, indict and expel Mitch McConnell from the Senate that he has destroyed. It's time to bring down the Republicans complicit in this tyranny, like those who visited Russia and voted to lift sanctions. It's time to fix the flaws in our democracy that this tyranny has revealed, like the gerrymandering, voter suppression campaigns, and dark money that rig elections. Never again should we have another Trump in the White House or a Mitch McConnell in the Senate.
"Jim Breyer invests in Wickr with Erik Prince" In 2012 Breyer invested in a encrypted messenger app, Wickr. Other investors include Gilman Louie and Erik Prince. To understand the connection, we need to go back to 1987. Breyer, newly hired to Accel Partners, made his first investment with Louie’s video game company that owned the rights to the Soviet Union’s first video game export, Tetris (1). Louie went off to become the founding CEO of the CIA-backed In-Q-Tel which invested in Palantir. Palantir’s founder, Peter Thiel, sat on the board of Facebook with Breyer (2)(3). On the board of In-Q-Tel is Buzzy Krongard (7), the man who helped Erik Prince’s Blackwater receive their first CIA contract, who also joined the board of Blackwater in 2007 (6). [Remember Eric Prince and Kushner held a secret meeting in the Seychelle's to plan a back channel to Russia, something Flynn was involved with as well before and during the inauguration].
Around that same time, 2012-2013, Prince met Vincent Tchenguiz, founder of Cambridge Analytica's parent company, SCL (8), and was introduced to Cyrus Behbehani of Glencore, one of the purchasers of Rosneft stock detailed in the Steele Dossier (9). Cyrus Behbehani sat on the board of RusAl with Christophe Charlier, who is also Chairman of the board at Renaissance Capital (10), an early investor of DST (11).
Is it any wonder that the lying occupant of the White House and Mitch McConnell act in mysterious ways when it comes to the national interests of our own country? That Trump meets secretly with Putin, hides his notes, tells no one? American intel agencies and officials still in the dark? Is it any wonder the president and McConnell have done so little to punish Saudi's MBS for the murder of Khashoggi? They've shoved it under the rug, ignored it, scurrying to get on with their own business, their own self-serving goals.
Is it any wonder Trump appointed Devos to Education and Mitch's wife Elaine Chao to the Department of Transportation? That many of the nominations the Transition Team put forward are billionaires with international connections, people like the Mercers, like Mnuchin and Wilbur Ross, formerly of the money-laundering Bank of Cypress?
The more we know the more sense it makes that Mitch McConnell, in the midst of a government shut down he refuses to do anything about, allowed a vote to lift Russian sanctions on Derispaka and other Russian oligarchs. "It says a lot about his priorities," as Robert Reich noted. This has been Putin's #1 goal from the git-go, his obsession, his motivation for interferring in the 2016 election.
I found it shocking, then learned that Russia paid big money through these various channels and networks to lobby Republicans, with the help of former Senator Vitters, now a foreign agent. They all fell into line behind their leader McConnell. The opensecret.org article (cited below) also reveals another quid pro quo: Earlier in 2018, Trump nominated Vitter's wife Wendy Vitter to a federal judgeship with the U.S. District Court in New Orleans. Mindboggling, isn't it? The celebration in Russia, the glee, was painful to watch. Nor is this the end of it.
The criminal Trump administration, from the Oval Office on down, at every level, bestowed to us by a criminal Transition Team, and confirmed without vetting by Senator Mitch McConnell and his Republican sycophants, have betrayed us. The Executive Branch and the Legislative Branch. Filled with traitors who care more about other countries than about our own, motivated by money, greed and power. It has infested the Judiciary branch as well. All three branches of government, corrupted.
It's time for impeachment. It's time to hold this so-called president accountable for his actions. It's time to investigate, indict and expel Mitch McConnell from the Senate that he has destroyed. It's time to bring down the Republicans complicit in this tyranny, like those who visited Russia and voted to lift sanctions. It's time to fix the flaws in our democracy that this tyranny has revealed, like the gerrymandering, voter suppression campaigns, and dark money that rig elections. Never again should we have another Trump in the White House or a Mitch McConnell in the Senate.
Some sources:
https://www.reddit.com/r/RussiaLago/comments/a34y7i/mitch_mcconnells_brotherinlaw_one_of_the/
on the complex connections and networks re RU interference and Saudi Arabia.
On RU lobbying and influence campaign to lift sanctions. https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2019/01/senator-david-vitter-among-foreign-agents-sanctions-on-russian-oligarch/? "Foreign agents, including former Senator David Vitters, ran an influence campaign to get the Senate to lift sanctions on Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska. They were paid $543,958 over the past six months, according to newly released Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA) disclosures made available through the Center for Responsive Politics’ Foreign Lobby Watch tool." Lots of meetings were held with Mnuchin, Ross, and others in the Cabinet. Republican Senators had no trouble falling like dominos behind McConnell to do Putin's bidding. This article also reveals another quid pro quo. Earlier in 2018, Trump nominated Vitter's wife Wendy Vitter to a federal judgeship with the U.S. District Court in New Orleans. Mindboggling, isn't it?
On Derispaka: "Deripaska has been investigated for money laundering, and has been accused of threatening the lives of business rivals, illegally wiretapping a government official, and taking part in extortion and racketeering. There are also allegations that Deripaska bribed a government official, ordered the murder of a businessman, and had links to a Russian organized crime group."[112 wikipedia, sanctions during the Ukraine crisis. And Mitch McConnell has no problems with lifting sanctions on this man and others. It's because they know each other and help each other out, financially and in actions againt the US itself.
On Eric Prince, see also: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/07/erik-prince-on-mueller-interview-would-rather-go-to-a-proctology-exam.html tRump appointed Prince's sister DVos to head Education. McConnell and Rs confirmed with no vetting, no problem. They are all connected, all complicit, all should be indicted, jailed.
On Blackstone group, see The Blackstone Group L.P. is the largest American Multinational private equity firm, alternative asset management and financial services firm based in New York City. As the largest alternative investment firm in the world, Blackstone specializes in private equity, credit and hedge fund investment strategies. wikipedia
On Kirill Dimitriev: He is the CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, a $10 billion sovereign wealth fund created by the Russian government to co-invest in the Russian economy alongside the sovereign wealth funds of other countries.He is in Putin's inner circle. wikipedia He faciliated with Pal Jim Breyer, the husband of Elaine Chao's sister, the money from MSB for Elaine Chao's infrastructure plan. Good lord, what treasonous conflicts of interest.
The Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia (MSB) is the second most important position in Saudi Arabia, second to the King, and is his designated successor. Currently, the Crown Prince assumes power with the approval of the Allegiance Council after he is appointed by the King. wikipedia. He is responsible for the brutal murder of journalist Khashoggi, which the tRUmp/Mitchell team has pretty much ignored and covered up. The reasons are rather obvious as stated by reddit.com fact-finding articles and other sources it lists.
https://www.thenation.com/article/mitch-mcconnell-assaulted-the-constitution-and-got-away-with-it/
Mitch McConnell assaults Constitution and gets away with it.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/here-are-18-reasons-why-trump-could-be-a-russian-asset/2019/01/13/45b1b250-174f-11e9-88fe-f9f77a3bcb6c_story.html?
Jennifer Cohen, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/01/11/lindsey-graham-is-depressed-doesnt-know-what-do-can-we-help/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trump-has-conjured-a-crisis-out-of-thin-air-that-should-worry-us-all/
https://www.vox.com/2018/7/13/17568806/mueller-russia-intelligence-indictment-full-text for info on the individuals and corporations sanctioned.
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/03/impeachment-trump/580468/ The case for Impeachment. "Today, the United States once more confronts a president who seems to care for only some of the people he represents, who promises his supporters that he can roll back the tide of diversity, who challenges the rule of law, and who regards constitutional rights and liberties as disposable. Congress must again decide whether the greater risk lies in executing the Constitution as it was written, or in deferring to voters to do what it cannot muster the courage to do itself."
wikipedia, international sanctions during the Ukraine crisis, list of people and companies sanctioned. Remember, sanctions were imposed by EU, US et al for Putin's invasion of the territorial integrity of Ukraine in April 2014, and since then.
https://www.reddit.com/r/RussiaLago/comments/a34y7i/mitch_mcconnells_brotherinlaw_one_of_the/
on the complex connections and networks re RU interference and Saudi Arabia.
On RU lobbying and influence campaign to lift sanctions. https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2019/01/senator-david-vitter-among-foreign-agents-sanctions-on-russian-oligarch/? "Foreign agents, including former Senator David Vitters, ran an influence campaign to get the Senate to lift sanctions on Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska. They were paid $543,958 over the past six months, according to newly released Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA) disclosures made available through the Center for Responsive Politics’ Foreign Lobby Watch tool." Lots of meetings were held with Mnuchin, Ross, and others in the Cabinet. Republican Senators had no trouble falling like dominos behind McConnell to do Putin's bidding. This article also reveals another quid pro quo. Earlier in 2018, Trump nominated Vitter's wife Wendy Vitter to a federal judgeship with the U.S. District Court in New Orleans. Mindboggling, isn't it?
On Derispaka: "Deripaska has been investigated for money laundering, and has been accused of threatening the lives of business rivals, illegally wiretapping a government official, and taking part in extortion and racketeering. There are also allegations that Deripaska bribed a government official, ordered the murder of a businessman, and had links to a Russian organized crime group."[112 wikipedia, sanctions during the Ukraine crisis. And Mitch McConnell has no problems with lifting sanctions on this man and others. It's because they know each other and help each other out, financially and in actions againt the US itself.
On Eric Prince, see also: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/07/erik-prince-on-mueller-interview-would-rather-go-to-a-proctology-exam.html tRump appointed Prince's sister DVos to head Education. McConnell and Rs confirmed with no vetting, no problem. They are all connected, all complicit, all should be indicted, jailed.
On Blackstone group, see The Blackstone Group L.P. is the largest American Multinational private equity firm, alternative asset management and financial services firm based in New York City. As the largest alternative investment firm in the world, Blackstone specializes in private equity, credit and hedge fund investment strategies. wikipedia
On Kirill Dimitriev: He is the CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, a $10 billion sovereign wealth fund created by the Russian government to co-invest in the Russian economy alongside the sovereign wealth funds of other countries.He is in Putin's inner circle. wikipedia He faciliated with Pal Jim Breyer, the husband of Elaine Chao's sister, the money from MSB for Elaine Chao's infrastructure plan. Good lord, what treasonous conflicts of interest.
The Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia (MSB) is the second most important position in Saudi Arabia, second to the King, and is his designated successor. Currently, the Crown Prince assumes power with the approval of the Allegiance Council after he is appointed by the King. wikipedia. He is responsible for the brutal murder of journalist Khashoggi, which the tRUmp/Mitchell team has pretty much ignored and covered up. The reasons are rather obvious as stated by reddit.com fact-finding articles and other sources it lists.
https://www.thenation.com/article/mitch-mcconnell-assaulted-the-constitution-and-got-away-with-it/
Mitch McConnell assaults Constitution and gets away with it.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/here-are-18-reasons-why-trump-could-be-a-russian-asset/2019/01/13/45b1b250-174f-11e9-88fe-f9f77a3bcb6c_story.html?
Jennifer Cohen, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/01/11/lindsey-graham-is-depressed-doesnt-know-what-do-can-we-help/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trump-has-conjured-a-crisis-out-of-thin-air-that-should-worry-us-all/
https://www.vox.com/2018/7/13/17568806/mueller-russia-intelligence-indictment-full-text for info on the individuals and corporations sanctioned.
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/03/impeachment-trump/580468/ The case for Impeachment. "Today, the United States once more confronts a president who seems to care for only some of the people he represents, who promises his supporters that he can roll back the tide of diversity, who challenges the rule of law, and who regards constitutional rights and liberties as disposable. Congress must again decide whether the greater risk lies in executing the Constitution as it was written, or in deferring to voters to do what it cannot muster the courage to do itself."
wikipedia, international sanctions during the Ukraine crisis, list of people and companies sanctioned. Remember, sanctions were imposed by EU, US et al for Putin's invasion of the territorial integrity of Ukraine in April 2014, and since then.
On April 6, 2018, the United States imposed economic sanctions on seven Russian oligarchs and 12 companies they control, accusing them of "malign activity around the globe", along with 17 top Russian officials, the state-owned weapons-trading company Rosoboronexport and Russian Financial Corporation Bank (RFC Bank). High-profile names on the list include Oleg Deripaska and Kiril Shamalov, Putin's ex-son-in-law, who married Putin's daughter Katerina Tikhonova in February 2013. The press release stated: "Deripaska has been investigated for money laundering, and has been accused of threatening the lives of business rivals, illegally wiretapping a government official, and taking part in extortion and racketeering. There are also allegations that Deripaska bribed a government official, ordered the murder of a businessman, and had links to a Russian organized crime group."[112]Other names on the list include: Oil tycoon Vladimir Bogdanov, Suleiman Kerimov, who faces money-laundering charges in France for allegedly bringing hundreds of millions of euros into the country without reporting the money to tax authorities, Igor Rotenberg, principal owner of Russian oil and gas drilling company Gazprom Burenie, Andrei Skoch, a deputy in the State Duma. U.S. officials said he has longstanding ties to Russian organized criminal groups, Viktor Vekselberg, founder and chairman of the Renova Group, asset management company,[112][113] and Aleksandr Torshin.[114]
In August 2018 following the poisoning of Sergey Skripal, U.S Department of Commerce imposed further sanctions on dual-use exports to Russia which deemed to be sensitive on national security grounds, including gas turbine engines, integrated circuits, and calibration equipment used in avionics. Until that moment, such exports were considered on a case-by-case basis. Following the introduction of these sanctions, the default position is of denial.[115] Also, on September that year list of companies in the space and defense industrycame under sanctions, including: AeroComposit, Divetechnoservices, Scientific-Research Institute “Vektor”, Nilco Group, Obinsk Research and Production Enterprise, Aviadvigatel, Information Technology and Communication Systems (Infoteks), Scientific and Production Corporation of Precision Instruments Engineering and Voronezh Scientific Research Institute “Vega“, whom are forbidden from doing business with.[116]
