From last year...
**********************
Here's the Russia influence controversy that John McCain doesn’t want you to know about
June 21, 2017
The same foreign lobbyists and Russians tied to the Trump probe were once associated to Senator John McCain when he ran for president.
Sen. John McCain, always the political maverick, recently bucked his own Republican Party by refusing to defend President Donald Trump in the Russia investigation and even suggesting the matter was reaching epic proportions.
“I think it is reaching the point it is a Watergate size and scale,” he declared last month during an event at his policy nonprofit, the International Republican Institute.
Davis and Manafort, who were already doing pro-Putin work against American national interests, were using potential meetings with McCain.
The remarks reverberated around the world given McCain’s status as a war hero and former GOP presidential nominee who has long railed against Vladimir Putin.
There was just one fact missing from his narrative: Exactly one decade earlier it was McCain’s own presidential campaign that was being roiled by concerns of possible Russian influence in his own inner circle.
"Before there was Trump, there were concerns about some of the same people being around McCain about 10 years ago"...U.S. official
In fact, McCain’s drama involved the same foreign lobbyist Paul Manafort; one of the same Russian oligarchs, Oleg Deripaska; the same Russian diplomat, Sergey Kislyak, and the same wily Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, that now dominate the current Trump controversy.
The only difference?
The FBI has said that there is no evidence to date that Trump ever met with a Russian figure banned from the United States.
McCain actually met twice with Deripaska, a Russian businessman and Putin ally whose visa was blocked by the United States amidst intelligence community concerns about his ties to Moscow. The meetings were arranged by Manafort and his lobbying firm partner Rick Davis, who later would become McCain's campaign manager, according to interviews and documents. Deripaska, a metals magnet, is president of United Company RUSAL, and is considered to be one of the richest men in the world worth an estimated at $5.1 billion, according to Forbes. “My sense is that Davis and Manafort, who were already doing pro-Putin work against American national interests, were using potential meetings with McCain --- who didn't know this and neither did we until after the fact -- as bait to secure more rubles from the oligarchs,” John Weaver, one of McCain’s top advisers at the time, told Circa in an interview this month.
Davis was McCain's campaign manager in both 2000 and 2008. Manafort, who was Trump's campaign manager for a brief time, resigned in August 2016, over questions of prior work with Ukrainian political parties.
During the 2008 campaign, the Davis Manafort firm disclosed through its U.S. partner Daniel J. Edelman Inc., that it was working for the political party in Ukraine supporting Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, who was backed by Putin.
"Davis Manafort International LLC is directed by a foreign political party, the Ukraine Parties of Regions, to consult on the political campaign in Ukraine," the January 2008 Foreign Agent Registration Act filing showed.
The work included developing "a communications campaign to increase Prime Minister Yanukovych's visibility in the U.S. and Europe," the report added, indicating that Davis and Manafort were being paid a $35,000 a month retainer for the work that began in spring 2007.
At the time, the Bush administration opposed Yanukovych, fearing he was anti-democratic and aligned with Putin after Yanukovych's party ousted the pro-democratic and Western friendly prime minister Viktor Yuschenko. McCain also backed Yuschenko even as his campaign manager's firm supported the pro-Russian opposition.
U.S intelligence raised concerns to McCain's staff about the Davis Manafort work, Weaver told Circa.
McCain’s office also was warned by U.S. intelligence about possible Russian military connections to one of his policy advisers at the IRI, causing aides to scramble to separate the Russian-born expert from the U.S. senator, U.S. officials and McCain aides said.
(So, McCain was afforded the luxury of a WARNING! How nice
)
McCain’s office did not return emails or phone calls seeking comment. Davis did not return a call to his office seeking comment.
The anecdote -- which John Solomon first reported back in 2008 with his then-colleague Jeffrey Birnbaum at The Washington Post -- has significant parallels for the current Russia-Trump investigation.
For instance, Manafort was first questioned by the FBI about his Russian and Ukrainian ties in 2014, two years before he became Trump’s campaign manager, and agents probed him on how he first came to work for Deripaska through McCain’s top political adviser, a source confirmed to Circa.
The McCain story also is a poignant reminder the Putin’s allies have long sought U.S political influence, and that U.S. counterintelligence often focuses on keeping Americans from becoming compromised by foreigners.
“Before there was Trump, there were concerns about some of the same people being around McCain about 10 years ago, and we alerted his team to those concerns and they appeared to take some defensive action,” according to a U.S. official, who was involved a decade ago and remains in the counterintelligence world. The official spoke only on condition of anonymity.
(Again, they were kind enough to ALERT McCain's team. Lovely double standard here)
The McCain story begins in the mid-2000s when Davis connected with Deripaska, one of the world’s wealthiest men and a Russian with significant business interests in Ukraine. At the time, the Davis-Manafort firm was advising with pro-Russian political figures in Ukraine and also doing work in Montenegro, another former Soviet satellite that Putin was trying to influence.
While Davis was building the political connections with the oligarch, he was handing off the commercial side of the relationship to his longtime lobbying partner, Manafort, a former Ronald Reagan adviser with a well established foreign lobbying portfolio, according to a source on Manafort’s legal team.
“Paul came to work on the commercial side for Deripaska through Rick,” the source said, speaking only on condition of anonymity.
Behind the scenes, McCain’s inner circle already was getting some caution from U.S. intelligence about possible Russian influence near the Arizona Republican senator and assumed 2008 presidential candidate.
(Agaaaiiiiinnnnnn, McCain receives a CAUTION now. Soooo considerate)
In 2005, McCain’s inner circle was encouraged to distance itself from a Russian adviser on the IRI because the U.S. believed he might have ties to the Russian military.
(Now he's 'encouraged'. The kid gloves continue for McCain. This is nuts.)
Out of an abundance of caution, McCain’s IRI team asked the adviser to leave, and ironically the adviser went to the private sector to work with Manafort on some business matters, according to interviews. A National Security Council official working for then President George W. Bush also expressed concern that Davis’ firm was working for pro-Russia forces in Ukraine, essentially at odds with the current U.S. policy.
...story continues......
~Sara Carter~
https://www.circa.com/story/2017/06...hat-john-mccain-doesnt-want-you-to-know-about
**********************
Here's the Russia influence controversy that John McCain doesn’t want you to know about
June 21, 2017
The same foreign lobbyists and Russians tied to the Trump probe were once associated to Senator John McCain when he ran for president.
Sen. John McCain, always the political maverick, recently bucked his own Republican Party by refusing to defend President Donald Trump in the Russia investigation and even suggesting the matter was reaching epic proportions.
“I think it is reaching the point it is a Watergate size and scale,” he declared last month during an event at his policy nonprofit, the International Republican Institute.
Davis and Manafort, who were already doing pro-Putin work against American national interests, were using potential meetings with McCain.
The remarks reverberated around the world given McCain’s status as a war hero and former GOP presidential nominee who has long railed against Vladimir Putin.
There was just one fact missing from his narrative: Exactly one decade earlier it was McCain’s own presidential campaign that was being roiled by concerns of possible Russian influence in his own inner circle.
"Before there was Trump, there were concerns about some of the same people being around McCain about 10 years ago"...U.S. official
In fact, McCain’s drama involved the same foreign lobbyist Paul Manafort; one of the same Russian oligarchs, Oleg Deripaska; the same Russian diplomat, Sergey Kislyak, and the same wily Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, that now dominate the current Trump controversy.
The only difference?
The FBI has said that there is no evidence to date that Trump ever met with a Russian figure banned from the United States.
McCain actually met twice with Deripaska, a Russian businessman and Putin ally whose visa was blocked by the United States amidst intelligence community concerns about his ties to Moscow. The meetings were arranged by Manafort and his lobbying firm partner Rick Davis, who later would become McCain's campaign manager, according to interviews and documents. Deripaska, a metals magnet, is president of United Company RUSAL, and is considered to be one of the richest men in the world worth an estimated at $5.1 billion, according to Forbes. “My sense is that Davis and Manafort, who were already doing pro-Putin work against American national interests, were using potential meetings with McCain --- who didn't know this and neither did we until after the fact -- as bait to secure more rubles from the oligarchs,” John Weaver, one of McCain’s top advisers at the time, told Circa in an interview this month.
Davis was McCain's campaign manager in both 2000 and 2008. Manafort, who was Trump's campaign manager for a brief time, resigned in August 2016, over questions of prior work with Ukrainian political parties.
During the 2008 campaign, the Davis Manafort firm disclosed through its U.S. partner Daniel J. Edelman Inc., that it was working for the political party in Ukraine supporting Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, who was backed by Putin.
"Davis Manafort International LLC is directed by a foreign political party, the Ukraine Parties of Regions, to consult on the political campaign in Ukraine," the January 2008 Foreign Agent Registration Act filing showed.
The work included developing "a communications campaign to increase Prime Minister Yanukovych's visibility in the U.S. and Europe," the report added, indicating that Davis and Manafort were being paid a $35,000 a month retainer for the work that began in spring 2007.
At the time, the Bush administration opposed Yanukovych, fearing he was anti-democratic and aligned with Putin after Yanukovych's party ousted the pro-democratic and Western friendly prime minister Viktor Yuschenko. McCain also backed Yuschenko even as his campaign manager's firm supported the pro-Russian opposition.
U.S intelligence raised concerns to McCain's staff about the Davis Manafort work, Weaver told Circa.
McCain’s office also was warned by U.S. intelligence about possible Russian military connections to one of his policy advisers at the IRI, causing aides to scramble to separate the Russian-born expert from the U.S. senator, U.S. officials and McCain aides said.
(So, McCain was afforded the luxury of a WARNING! How nice
)McCain’s office did not return emails or phone calls seeking comment. Davis did not return a call to his office seeking comment.
The anecdote -- which John Solomon first reported back in 2008 with his then-colleague Jeffrey Birnbaum at The Washington Post -- has significant parallels for the current Russia-Trump investigation.
For instance, Manafort was first questioned by the FBI about his Russian and Ukrainian ties in 2014, two years before he became Trump’s campaign manager, and agents probed him on how he first came to work for Deripaska through McCain’s top political adviser, a source confirmed to Circa.
The McCain story also is a poignant reminder the Putin’s allies have long sought U.S political influence, and that U.S. counterintelligence often focuses on keeping Americans from becoming compromised by foreigners.
“Before there was Trump, there were concerns about some of the same people being around McCain about 10 years ago, and we alerted his team to those concerns and they appeared to take some defensive action,” according to a U.S. official, who was involved a decade ago and remains in the counterintelligence world. The official spoke only on condition of anonymity.
(Again, they were kind enough to ALERT McCain's team. Lovely double standard here)
The McCain story begins in the mid-2000s when Davis connected with Deripaska, one of the world’s wealthiest men and a Russian with significant business interests in Ukraine. At the time, the Davis-Manafort firm was advising with pro-Russian political figures in Ukraine and also doing work in Montenegro, another former Soviet satellite that Putin was trying to influence.
While Davis was building the political connections with the oligarch, he was handing off the commercial side of the relationship to his longtime lobbying partner, Manafort, a former Ronald Reagan adviser with a well established foreign lobbying portfolio, according to a source on Manafort’s legal team.
“Paul came to work on the commercial side for Deripaska through Rick,” the source said, speaking only on condition of anonymity.
Behind the scenes, McCain’s inner circle already was getting some caution from U.S. intelligence about possible Russian influence near the Arizona Republican senator and assumed 2008 presidential candidate.
(Agaaaiiiiinnnnnn, McCain receives a CAUTION now. Soooo considerate)
In 2005, McCain’s inner circle was encouraged to distance itself from a Russian adviser on the IRI because the U.S. believed he might have ties to the Russian military.
(Now he's 'encouraged'. The kid gloves continue for McCain. This is nuts.)
Out of an abundance of caution, McCain’s IRI team asked the adviser to leave, and ironically the adviser went to the private sector to work with Manafort on some business matters, according to interviews. A National Security Council official working for then President George W. Bush also expressed concern that Davis’ firm was working for pro-Russia forces in Ukraine, essentially at odds with the current U.S. policy.
...story continues......
~Sara Carter~
https://www.circa.com/story/2017/06...hat-john-mccain-doesnt-want-you-to-know-about
