Judicial Watch Obtains Emails Showing Podesta Group’s Work for Pro-Russia Ukrainian Political Party

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By Judicial Watch. Judicial Watch today released new documents from the U.S. Department of State showing the Podesta Group working on behalf of the pro-Russia Ukrainian political group “Party of Regions.” The new documents also show longtime Obama and Clinton counselor John Podesta lobbying on behalf of his brother’s firm.

Judicial Watch obtained the documents in a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the State Department filed on November 20, 2017, (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of State (No. 1:17-cv-02489)). The lawsuit was filed after the State Department failed to respond to a September 13, 2017, FOIA request for:

All records of communication between any official, employee, or representative of the Department of State and any principal, employee, or representative of Podesta Group, Inc.

All records produced related to any meetings or telephonic communications between any official, employee, or representative of the Department of State and any principal, employee, or representative of Podesta Group, Inc.

All records regarding the European Centre for a Modern Ukraine.

The FOIA request covers the timeframe of January 1, 2012 to the present.

A March 28, 2013, email from now-Deputy Executive Secretary in the Office of the Secretary of State Baxter Hunt shows the Podesta Group, led by Tony Podesta, a Clinton bundler and brother of Clinton’s 2016 campaign chairman John Podesta, represented the Party of Regions, a pro-Kremlin political party in Ukraine.

In the March 2013 email, to a number of officials including then-U.S. Foreign Service Officer John Tefft (who would go on to be U.S. Ambassador to Russia in 2014) and State Department director for the Office of Eastern Europe Alexander Kasanof, Hunt writes:

See below, I also stressed to them the need for GOU to take concrete steps to get new SBA with IMF and avoid PFC/loss of GSP. Podesta Group is noted among host of Ukraine lobbyists in article I’ll forward in article on low side.

Ben Chang and Mark Tavlarides of the Podesta Group, which is representing the Party of Regions, told us they were working with Klyuyev on a visit he plans to make to Washington in early May. They are working to broaden the POR’s contacts on the Hill, including setting up a meeting for Klyuyev with Chris Smith, and have advised Kyiv to stop trying to justify their actions against Tymoshenko in Washington. They also noted that during his recent meeting with former EC President Prodi, HFAC Chairman Ed Royce said that Congress would not be enacting sanctions legislation against Ukraine.

The Party of Regions served as the pro-Kremlin political base for Ukraine’s former President Viktor Yanukovych, who fled to Russia in 2014.

Like Paul Manafort, who is currently under indictment in the errant special counsel Russia investigation, the Podesta Group had to retroactively file Foreign Agent Registration Act disclosures with the Justice Department for Ukrainian-related work. The filing states that the Podesta group provided for the nonprofit European Centre for a Modern Ukraine “government relations and public relations services within the United States and Europe to promote political and economic cooperation between Ukraine and the West. The [Podesta Group] conducted outreach to congressional and executive branch offices, members of the media, nongovernmental organizations and think tanks.” Unlike Manafort and his partner Rick Gates, the Mueller special counsel operation hasn’t indicted anyone from the Podesta Group.

Also, the new emails show longtime Obama and Clinton counselor John Podesta, lobbying on behalf of the Podesta Group’s efforts to secure a maintenance facility from Jet Blue and Lufthansa for Puerto Rico.

In a June 27, 2013, email former U.S. Ambassador to Germany and current New Jersey Gov. Philip D. Murphy writes to John Podesta, Minister-Counselor for Economic Affairs at the American Embassy in Berlin Seth Winnick, and others:

Jet Blue and Lufthansa are considering 2 locations for a maintenance center – Puerto Rico or Mexico. The Governor of PR wants this badly. The question is can we get to LH at the right levels to make the case. Either John or colleague OR John’s brother Tony or colleague will get to us with more details.

Winnick then writes to John Podesta: “Washington alerted us to this advocacy issue and we are on it. Phil will try to connect in the next few days and we will follow up.”

Later that day, in an email sent to his brother Tony Podesta and Winnick, John Podesta writes: “Thanks Seth. The Governor is a friend of mine. My brother Tony represents Puerto Rico and will follow up with details.”

Winnick replies to John and Tony Podesta: “Happy to help on this one. I think we have the details we need for now from SelectUSA at Commerce but will come back if any issues arise.”

Puerto Rico was selected by the airlines for the facility to service A320s in 2014.

Judicial Watch is waiting to hear on any additional documents the State Department may produce in response to the FOIA lawsuit about the Podesta Group.

“By the standards of the Mueller special counsel operation, these emails alone would have been enough for the Podestas to have been hauled before a grand jury or worse,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “These emails are a stark reminder that the Mueller’s special counsel operation seems more interested in the alleged foreign ties of the Trump team, rather than Hillary Clinton’s (and Barack Obama’s) associates.” (For more from the author of “Judicial Watch Obtains Emails Showing Podesta Group’s Work for Pro-Russia Ukrainian Political Party” please click HERE)

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Federal Prosecutors Said to Be Investigating Lobbyist Tony Podesta After Special Counsel Referral

By CNBC. Federal prosecutors are investigating former lobbyist Tony Podesta, former Rep. Vin Weber, R-Minn., and former Obama White House Counsel Greg Craig, NBC News confirmed, citing multiple sources familiar with the matter.

CNN first reported the existence of the investigation.

Prosecutors for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York opened the investigation following a referral from the office of special counsel Robert Mueller, the sources told NBC.

NBC previously reported that Mueller had been looking into Podesta and his Democratic-leaning lobbying firm as part of its broader investigation into the finances of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort. (Read more from “Federal Prosecutors Said to Be Investigating Lobbyist Tony Podesta After Special Counsel Referral” HERE)

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Woman Repeatedly Sells Young Son to Pedophiles

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A German woman committed one of the worst acts perpetrated on an innocent child in recent memory, selling her eight-year-old son on the darknet to pedophiles, who raped him repeatedly.

The 48-year-old woman, who has been sentenced to over 12 years in prison for selling her young son on the darknet to abusers, has a 39-year-old partner who is a convicted pedophile, according to The Guardian. He was also found guilty of sexually assaulting a 3-year-old girl, The New York Times reported. The Times added:

The court found that the man had assaulted the 3-year-old daughter of acquaintances who had visited the family for play dates. When the families’ relationship soured and the girl no longer visited, the man started his repeated assault of the woman’s son, the court said, with the woman’s full knowledge and participation. … The mother always stayed close by during the assaults, to act as a calming influence, according to testimony heard in court.

Almost 60 separate identified acts starting in 2015 targeting the son were listed; the partner received a 12-year prison sentence plus a preventative detention order, which will effectively function as a life sentence. Six other men who had paid the couple to abuse the boy, who is now 10, were sentenced to between eight and 10 years.

The men who abused the boy allegedly paid as much as $11,000 to the couple, who identified as Berrin T and Christian L, and admitted in court that they had sold the boy and even abused him themselves. The Guardian added, “Others on trial included a 44-year-old German who was given access to rape the boy but was prevented by the mother from carrying out his wish to kill him.” (Read more from “Woman Repeatedly Sells Young Son to Pedophiles” HERE)

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Canadians Declare a Boycott on American Products to Punish Donald Trump. There’s One BIG Problem.

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Canadian consumers are launching a “boycott” of American goods, The Wall Street Journal reports, in retaliation for Trump Administration tariffs and President Donald Trump’s penchant for poking fun at their beloved Prime Minister.

But there’s one big problem: many of the consumer products Canadians believe are made in Canada are actually made in the United States, or by American corporations.

The “boycott” officially began in July, in response to the Trump Administration’s new 20% tariff on Canadian steel (and a host of other, less significant tariffs on things like Canadian aluminum), and after President Donald Trump called Prime Minister Justin Trudeau “weak” at a meeting of the “group of 7.” Angry at being disrespected, Canadians pledged to purge their shopping carts of anything made below their southern border.

“Usually we don’t pay that much attention to it,” one Canadian consumer told the WJS. “You tend to buy the products that taste good or you buy the products that are low in price where taste isn’t an issue.” But, he added, this summer it got personal.

Most products assumed to be Canadian, though, are actually American. Old Dutch chips, for example, are mostly consumed in Canada, but are made in Minnesota. And, it turns out, Americans make a lot of products that people use every day. Canadians might be able to do without Heinz ketchup, but they probably won’t give up drinking Starbucks or Coca-Cola, using Apple and Microsoft technology, eating at McDonalds and Pizza! Pizza! (the local iteration of Little Caesars) or wearing American-made clothing. If they do, they’ll hurt local Canadian franchise owners before they harm American business interests. (Read more from “Canadians Declare a Boycott on American Products to Punish Donald Trump. There’s One Big Problem.” HERE)

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U.S. Senator’s Personal Driver for 20 Years Was a Chinese Spy

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Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s office was infiltrated by a Chinese spy who worked as her driver and attended official functions on her behalf for 20 years, according to new reports from Politico and The San Francisco Chronicle.

Feinstein reportedly had no idea that her office was being infiltrated by a man who was feeding information to an individual linked to China’s Ministry of State Security. She was “mortified” when the FBI showed up at her Washington DC office five years ago to warn her about the mole.

Feinstein, who was serving as chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee at the time, had access to classified intelligence that would be extremely valuable to the Chinese government. She forced her driver to resign shortly thereafter and did not tell her staff about the incident, according to an unnamed source cited in the Chronicle.

In her capacity as a ranking member on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Feinstein unilaterally released testimony from Fusion GPS founder Glenn Simpson to the public earlier this year, violating committee precedent. When she released these records, she failed to disclose that one of her former staffers, Daniel Jones, had hired Fusion GPS and ex-British spy Christopher Steele to dig up dirt on Donald Trump after the 2016 election. (Read more from “U.S. Senator’s Personal Driver for 20 Years Was a Chinese Spy” HERE)

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Venezuelan Government: Explosions Were Attempted Attack on President

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Authorities detained six people suspected of using explosives-laden drones in a failed bid to assassinate Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, officials said Sunday. Interior Minister Nestor Luis Reverol on Sunday described it as a terrorist attack and said more arrests could follow within hours. Investigators have raided hotels and seized vehicles for details into the plot.

Venezuela’s socialist government alleged Sunday that the detained suspects conspired with others in Miami and the capital of neighboring Colombia, though they offered no specific evidence. Opposition leaders criticized Maduro for broadly singling out his political opponents, and they warned that he might use the attack to further suppress his critics.

The thwarted attack comes as Venezuela is reeling from a worsening economic and humanitarian crisis and Maduro has grown increasingly isolated. Foreign nations, including the United States, are slapping economic sanctions against a growing list of high-ranking officials and decrying his government as an autocratic regime.

Maduro and his allies called the attack direct proof that an international plot to overthrow his socialist administration exists, while also saying that the military’s response shows he still has the loyalty of Venezuela’s soldiers.

But analysts said the images broadcast live on television when the attack struck during a Maduro speech Saturday evening made him appear vulnerable. (Read more from “Venezuelan Government: Explosions Were Attempted Attack on President” HERE)

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Trump Receives ‘Nice Letter’ From Kim Jong Un; Is North Korea Deceiving Us?

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Is the North Korean regime deceiving us once again?

In a tweet Thursday, President Trump announced that he had received a second letter from North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. The president praised Kim for releasing the supposed remains of American soldiers who were killed during the Korean War.

While top administration figures continue to tout the progress on North Korea talks, there remains great concerns about the viability of the effort in its entirety.

For many months, the Trump administration has remained true to the goal of securing the full denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. However, North Korea experts across the political spectrum are becoming increasingly concerned that the latest moves from Pyongyang are nothing more than a smokescreen to buy time for their nuclear ambitions.

Earlier this week, news reports surfaced claiming that North Korea is continuing to ramp up production on its latest series of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). Satellite images reportedly showed that North Korea is building liquid fueled ICBMs right outside of its capital. A regime apparently committed to denuclearization is making moves that achieve the exact opposite of that goal.

Bruce Klingner, a Heritage Foundation foreign policy scholar who served as the CIA’s Deputy Division Chief for Korea, has sounded the alarm about the current progress (or lack thereof) being made on denuclearization efforts. Earlier in the week, Klingner warned that the Trump administration may be moving in the direction of adopting the failed policies of the Obama administration.

There are also worrying signs that the maximum pressure sanctions regime imposed against Pyongyang is starting to show signs of vulnerability.

The Trump administration, aware of the outside criticism over its strategy, is urging analysts to let the diplomatic talks play out. Over the weekend, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo described the current negotiations with the Kim regime as “patient diplomacy.”

“We’re engaged in patient diplomacy,” Pompeo stated. “But we will not let this drag out to no end. I emphasized this position in the productive discussions I had with Vice Chairman Kim Yong Chol. President Trump remains upbeat about the prospects for North Korean denuclearization. Progress is happening.”

However, it’s only a matter of time before more and more people start to ask what progress has actually been made on denuclearization, and whether North Korea is serious about internal reform.

Since its founding, the North Korean regime has developed a reputation for deception and for breaking the rules. The regime has long used stall tactics in order to buy time to advance its nuclear program, while simultaneously finding a way to receive an economic bailout lifeline to prop up its broken Stalinist economy. Unfortunately, it looks like Pyongyang under Kim Jong Un might be up to its old tricks again. (For more from the author of “Trump Receives ‘Nice Letter’ From Kim Jong Un; Is North Korea Deceiving Us?” please click HERE)

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U.S. Sanctions Turkish Officials Over Pastor’s Detention

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White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced on Wednesday that the United States will impose sanctions on Turkish officials in response to the imprisonment of American pastor Andrew Brunson in Turkey.

“At the president’s direction, the Department of Treasury is sanctioning Turkey’s Minister of Justice and Minister of Interior, both of whom played leading roles in the arrest and detention of pastor Brunson,” Sanders said. “As a result, any property or interest in property of both ministers within U.S. jurisdiction is blocked and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with them.”

“We’ve seen no evidence that Pastor Brunson has done anything wrong and we believe he is a victim of unfair and unjust detention by the government of Turkey,” Sanders stated.

The sanctions are directed at Minister of Justice Abdulhamit Gul and Minister of Interior Suleyman Soylu. A U.S. Treasury Department press release said the officials “serve as leaders of Turkish government organizations responsible for implementing Turkey’s serious human rights abuses.” Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin called Brunson’s detention “simply unacceptable.”

Brunson is an evangelical pastor from North Carolina who was arrested by Turkish authorities in 2016 after the failed coup attempt. He was accused of having ties to the Kurdistan Workers Party and U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, who is alleged by the Turkish government to have been behind much of the unrest. (Read more from “U.S. Sanctions Turkish Officials Over Pastor’s Detention” HERE)

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Migrant Who ‘Hero’ Student Stopped From Being Deported Sentenced for Assault

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The Swedish student who was branded a “hero” and captured worldwide attention after she stopped the deportation of an Afghan migrant by refusing to sit down on a plane instead prevented the extradition of a man sentenced for assault and whose asylum application was rejected.

Elin Ersson, a student at Gothenburg University, was subjected to fawning media coverage over her stunt earlier this month when she refused to take her seat on the plane until the 52-year-old Afghan deportee was released. She was successful and authorities weren’t able to deport the man.

However, Swedish Police confirmed to Fox News that the man whose deportation Ersson prevented had received a prison sentence in Sweden for assault. The police spokesman declined to go into more details about the crime the migrant has committed. His asylum application was also rejected. . .

One of the largest newspapers in Finland, Helsingin Sanomat, reported last week as well that the man was sentenced for assault. The man will still eventually be deported, though the date remains unknown, the newspaper reported.

Despite lacking information about the man who was being deported, most media organizations jumped on the story, with the Washington Post calling Ersson’s stunt a “dramatic act of civil disobedience” while Newsweek magazine described the student as a “hero”. (Read more from “Migrant Who ‘Hero’ Student Stopped From Being Deported Sentenced for Assault” HERE)

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Report: Iran Increased Persecution of Christians in July

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The Iranian government’s persecution of Christians increased over the past month, according to information gathered by the nonprofit International Christian Concern.

Earlier this month, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani claimed Christians have the same rights as others do in Iran. Despite the claim, a report from ICC, a Washington-based nonprofit that assists religious minorities from persecution through assistance, advocacy, and awareness, points to evidence from the month of July showing Christians have been targeted by the Iranian regime. Eight believers faced judicial action, “a noteworthy increase of publicized cases of Christian persecution in Iran,” according to ICC.

The report highlighted cases of Christians held by the government. On July 2, intelligence forces arrested and detained Massoumeh Taqinejad and her son. She was charged with proselytizing on the Internet. A couple weeks later, Ramiel Bet Tamraz received a four month prison sentence for allegedly acting against national security. In the following days and weeks, the report includes five others who were arrested, detained, or tried in court.

Christian Solidarity Worldwide, another organization dedicated to supporting Christians suffering persecution, issued a statement that observed, “as the Iranian regime has grown more unpopular and citizens have become more vocal in their criticism of corruption in official circles, the government has become increasingly reliant on the support of hard-line ayatollahs, who favour increased pressure on religious minorities.”

Similarly, ICC’s regional manager, Claire Evans, said “the persecution of Christians in Iran is increasingly building as the regime struggles to maintain its grip over the hearts and minds of its citizenry.” (Read more from “Report: Iran Increased Persecution of Christians in July” HERE)

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Social Worker: Migrants See Child Brides ‘as Their Sons’ Tickets to Europe’

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Here’s another entry in the chronicle of Western difficulties assimilating Third World immigrants: Swedish authorities report growing problems with migrants sending young daughters to marry older men abroad, both as a strategy to avoid assimilation and to gain European citizenship. While underage marriage is essentially banned in Sweden, the country recognizes underage marriages conducted abroad.

“People see young girls as their sons’ tickets to Europe,” social worker Zubeyde Demirörs told Politico for a recent article. Demirörs, now 45, was herself forcibly married to a Turkish man 22 years her senior when she was 15. . .

ow she runs a shelter to help girls in similar situations, and hears “similar stories every day,” despite many public campaigns, especially since the height of the European migrant crisis in 2015, to reduce the practice. Last year the Swedish government launched a unit to address honor crimes after a surge accompanying asylum-seekers.

Summer is the busiest time for marrying girls off, because they are on holiday from school: “This time of year my phone just doesn’t stop ringing. May, June, July — that’s when many girls are taken back to their parents’ home countries, mostly to rural parts of the Middle East and Africa,” Demirörs told Politico. Marriage before age 18 is the norm in many poor countries. In Niger, the world’s No. 1 in this regard, 77 percent of marriages occur before the female is 18. . .

In response to seeing an increase in this evil custom and others such as female genital mutilation within their borders, Swedish lawmakers are considering proposals to not recognize foreign marriages involving minors, travel bans for those suspected of bringing daughters abroad for forced marriages or mutilation, and extraditing foreigners involved with honor crimes. Just last month Denmark began implementing stringent new laws to address similar problems. Beginning at one year old, children living in immigrant “ghettos” must now attend 25 hours per week of mandatory assimilation instruction, or their parents may lose welfare payments. (Read more from “Social Worker: Migrants See Child Brides ‘as Their Sons’ Tickets to Europe’” HERE)

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