Monday, August 28, 2017

Nothingburger on stilts

Is collusion with Russia back in vogue already?  The NY Times, naturally, spilled a thousand useless words to tell us everything that Trump didn't do: "Democrats' Russia story hits another dead end."  "A Russian immigrant who didn’t work for Trump had a vision of making Donald Trump look good (and making himself a lot of money) via a business deal with the Russians, which Trump’s people never followed up on. It’s like a joke with no punch line."

3 comments:

Roger Bournival said...

It's not over yet - Mueller still hasn't interviewed Yakoff Smirnoff.

Eric said...

I find it interesting that everything leaks out of Washington EXCEPT the bombshell evidence that Mueller has.

Nothingborscht said...

ABC News, Dec. 2015; Memory Lapse? Trump Seeks Distance From 'Advisor' With Past Ties to Mafia
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/memory-lapse-trump-seeks-distance-advisor-past-ties/story?id=34600826


Though he touts his outstanding memory, when Donald Trump was asked under oath about his dealings with a twice-convicted Russian émigré who served prison time and had documented mafia connections, the real estate mogul was at a loss.

Even though the man, Felix Sater, had played a role in a number of high-profile Trump-branded projects across the country.

“If he were sitting in the room right now, I really wouldn't know what he looked like,” Trump testified in a video deposition for a civil lawsuit two years ago.

...Away from the spotlight, Donald Trump has also been seeking to minimize his past business ties with Sater, the Russian émigré who appeared in photos with Trump, and carried a Trump Organization business card with the title “Senior Advisor to Donald Trump.”

Asked last week about Sater by The Associated Press, Trump again seemed unable to retrieve a solid memory of the man. "Felix Sater, boy, I have to even think about it," he told the reporter. "I'm not that familiar with him."

Trump and Sater can be seen together in photographs attending a Denver business conference in 2005, and the two men posed on stage together at the 2007 launch party for the Trump SoHo Hotel and Condominium project. And in 2010, according to Trump’s lawyer, Sater was provided business cards by the Trump Organization identifying him as a “senior advisor" to Trump.

...The lawyer [Alan Garten] said the title was not reflective of Sater’s actual role. It was common practice in the real estate industry, he said, to provide business cards and bestow titles “in order for brokers to be able to make initial introductions.” ...But Garten declined to respond to emails and phone messages with further questions, including whether Sater was provided office space or compensated by the Trump organization in any other way. Images of Sater’s business card were wiped from the internet shortly after ABC News asked Garten about it.

...In 2013, the BBC pressed Trump asking why he didn’t say “You’re fired!” to Sater after reports surfaced alleging Sater had ties to organized crime, Trump ultimately rose from his chair mid-interview.

“I hate to do this, but I do have that big group of people waiting so I have to leave,” he said, walking out of the room.

Trump said during the deposition four months later he could not recall doing the BBC interview.