Putin certainly hates the U.S.-- and, I can tell you from first-hand experience in Moscow and St. Petersburg, brainwashes students in his country to hate America-- but he sure loves his U.S. puppet, Comrade Trumpanzee. In an interview on heavily censored Russian TV Putin gushed about the clown he saddled America with: "I have no disappointment at all. Moreover, on a personal level he made a very good impression on me... It’s possible to negotiate with him, to search for compromises.” He was happy to announced about the U.S. that "it has demonstrated its inefficiency and has been eating itself up." Mission Accomplished!So that brings us to how Putin forced Comrade Puppet to ditch Romney for Putinista Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State. The report in Thursday's Wall Street Journal, cribbed primarily from Jane Mayer's piece on Christopher Steele in the New Yorker, was almost funny:
Weeks after Donald Trump was elected president, Russia-backed online "trolls" flooded social media to try to block Mitt Romney from securing a top job in the incoming administration, a Wall Street Journal analysis shows.The operatives called the 2012 GOP presidential nominee, then a contender for secretary of state, a "two headed snake" and a "globalist puppet," promoted a rally outside Trump Tower and spread a petition to block Mr. Romney’s appointment to the top diplomatic job, according to a review of now-deleted social-media posts.
Pressed for a response that Putin had told Trump not to appoint Romney, Romney told the Deseret News that he dorsn't "know what the president's process was in determining his secretary of state, or why he chose to ask me to come in, or decided not to have me as his secretary of state. So, I really can't comment on the Steele dossier in that regard... I do believe it's pretty clear that I'm not a fan of Vladimir Putin's and I wouldn't be surprised if he's not a fan of mine either."So now let's turn to Betsy DeVos' blood-thirsty brother, Erik Prince, who owns Blackwater, the mercenary firm, Trump wants to outsource U.S. Army operations to. CNN reported yesterday that Mueller is closing in a Prince, who acted as a back-channel between Trump and Putin and that Prince is hosting, along with Oliver North, a fundraiser in Virginia for Putin's favorite congressman, Orange County crackpot-- and probably spy-- Dana Rohrabacher.
Blackwater founder Erik Prince will host a fundraiser this month for Russia-friendly Republican Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, as Prince faces new questions over a 2017 meeting currently being investigated by special counsel Robert Mueller.Prince and Rohrabacher have been friends and mutual supporters for years: Prince interned for the California congressman on Capitol Hill in 1990, and Rohrabacher vigorously defended Prince when Blackwater faced congressional scrutiny during President George W. Bush's administration.The fundraising event, slated for March 18 at Prince's Middleburg, Virginia residence, is expected to be attended by GOP Reps. Tom Garrett Jr. and Dave Brat, and Lt. Colonel Oliver North, according to an invitation obtained by CNN. Tickets start at $1,000 for the general reception, although donors paying $2,700 will also be invited to attend a VIP event beforehand.But the fundraiser comes at an uneasy moment for the longtime allies.Prince, an associate of President Donald Trump, is confronting renewed questions regarding a January 2017 trip to the Seychelles islands, where he met with a Russian banker, Kirill Dmitriev and Emirati officials. Also in attendance was George Nader, a Middle East specialist with ties to Emirati leaders. Nader is now cooperating with Mueller's investigation, CNN has learned.During an interview in November with congressional investigators, Prince denied that the Seychelles trip was part of an effort to establish a backchannel between the Trump transition and Russia. But Prince did not mention Nader's presence there, either, an omission that has raised concerns among some Democrats.Rohrabacher, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, has been the target of attacks by Democrats and some Republicans for his unusually robust support for Russia. In the past, he has dismissed claims of Russia's human right violations as "baloney," publicly defended WikiLeaks and argued that the DNC was not hacked by Russia.Rohrabacher met with the House Intelligence Committee, which is investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 election, for a private interview in December 2017.He is now preparing for a challenging reelection fight, with nine Democrats currently jockeying to replace him in his southern California district.
So... a couple of tangents here. First off, it now appears that Prince lied-- under oath-- the the House Intelligence Committee about his meeting with Russian agents in the Seychelles. In fact, a non-partisan watchdog group in Washington, Campaign for Accountability, is demanding that the House Intelligence Committee-- the madhouse chaired by pro-Russia lunatic Devin Nunes, refer Erik Prince to the Department of Justice for an investigation into whether he lied to the committee regarding his meeting with Russian fund manager Kirill Dmitriev. CfA Executive Director Daniel Stevens said, "Prince’s testimony, never credible on its face, is directly contradicted by numerous press reports."
On March 6, the New York Times reported that United Arab Emirates Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan convened a January 2017 meeting in the Seychelles to bring together Dmitriev, a banker close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Prince, representing the Trump transition. Businessman George Nader, who once consulted for Prince’s former company, Blackwater, apparently introduced Prince to Dmitriev.Prince’s attendance at the Seychelles meeting was first reported by the Washington Post. As a result, Prince was asked to testify before the HPSCI, which he did on November 30, 2017.In November, Prince testified under oath and was warned before he began that lying could be a criminal violation. Nevertheless, Prince appears to have made numerous false statements. He claimed that his meeting with Dmitriev was incidental to the true purpose of his visit: developing business with the U.A.E. He claimed someone in the crown prince’s entourage, likely one of his brothers, simply suggested Prince meet with Dmitriev while he was there, but that no one introduced the two. Rather, he claims, he merely wandered to the bar and found Dmitriev on his own, identifying him after Googling his photograph.Prince also claims he had no official or unofficial role in the Trump campaign or transition, yet admits to meetings in Trump Tower, writing policy papers, numerous conversations with Steve Bannon, and donating hundreds of thousands of dollars to the campaign.18 U.S.C. § 1001 makes it a federal crime, punishable by up to five years imprisonment, to make a materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or representation in response to government investigations, including those of congressional committees.
Campaign for Accountability director Stevens pointed out that if, as Comrade Trumpanzee never ceases to remind the suckers who believe a word he says, "there was no collusion, then there is no reason for so many people who worked to install Trump in the White House to lie to those investigating the election. Americans deserve to know the whole truth about Russian efforts to subvert our democracy. Let the chips fall where they may."
