Donald Trump Aide Paul Manafort Scrutinized for Russian Business Ties

[spanone]

Donald Trump's campaign chairman was a key player in multi-million-dollar business propositions with Russian and Ukrainian oligarchs — one of them a close Putin ally with alleged ties to organized crime — which foreign policy experts say raises questions about the pro-Russian bent of the Trump candidacy.

"The relationships that Trump's advisors have had with pro-Russian forces are deeply disturbing," said David Kramer, a former senior State Department official in the George W. Bush administration and a former adviser to Marco Rubio's presidential campaign. "Trump's attitude on Russia is not in line with most Republican foreign-policy thinking. Trump has staked out views that are really on the fringe."

In 2008, according to court records, senior Trump aide Paul Manafort's firm was involved with a Ukrainian oligarch named Dmytro Firtash in a plan to redevelop a famous New York hotel, the Drake. The total value of the project was $850 million. Firtash's company planned to invest over $100 million, the records say.

That same year, Firtash acknowledged to the U.S. ambassador in Ukraine that he got his start in business with the permission of a notorious Russian crime lord, according to a classified State Department cable. Other cables say Firtash made part of his fortune through sweetheart natural gas deals between Russia and the Ukraine.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/donald-trump-aide-paul-manafort-scrutinized-russian-business-ties-n631241

[FreeStateDemocrat]

1. Getting wider coverage (MSM) finally! Love to see with some legs on it.

[Gothmog]

2. Mannafort was Putin's person on the Trump campaign

[UTUSN]

3. Read the whole thing, still don't know, who's "scrutinizing"/investigating/jurisdiction?!1

Fine, that all these news reports are out there, but then, ever since MANAFORT first was officially hired by DRUMPF and his name got out there (I'm sure many knew it before), there were plenty of background news articles with most of the information.

A DUer dismissed my question about jurisdiction as saying it (might be) happening but needed to be secret because of the sensitive international issues.

When the wingnut congresscritters were in their latest round of persecuting Hillary, they asked COMEY why the FBI wasn't investigating something else or other that was in their wingnut news outlets and he said the FBI "needs a referral".

So, all these news reports "need a referral"?!1 To whom? From whom? I surmise that there are multiple intelligence agencies that might be investigation-capable, but wouldn't the results of whatever go back to DOJ????!1

I just want the bunch of these mobsters, including DRUMPF, frog marched.