The reasons Donald Trump would need a massive distraction such as a war with Iran are numerous. Unredacted versions of White House memos, obtained by the website JustSecurity.org and reported 1/2, confirmed the decision to withhold US military assistance from Ukraine came straight from Donald Trump. Those memos show rapidly escalating concern from officials at both the White House and the Pentagon who saw that Trump’s actions in delaying the release of the aide were both illegal and likely to generate a political firestorm. And they demonstrate that by the time Trump called the Ukrainian president, officials at the Office of Management and Budget were actively engaged in disguising the truth and conspiring to deceive both Congress and the public.
Then ForensicNews.net reported (1/3) Trump’s loans from Deutsche Bank were underwritten by a Russian state-owned bank. That news reportedly comes from a whistleblower with access to documents from both Deutsche Bank and Russia’s state-owned VTB Bank, which was also the proposed lender on the never-completed Trump Tower Moscow project, Mark Sumner noted at DailyKos (1/3).
The question of why Deutsche Bank would extend a series of huge loans to Trump has been dangling since before he ever announced his candidacy for president on a golden escalator ride. When Trump first went to Deutsche Bank, he was worse than broke. He had just finished bankrupting multiple casinos in New Jersey, and then had convinced investors to back a takeover of those casinos at a fraction of the original value. Then Trump deliberately allowed the investment group to go bankrupt so he could grab the whole deal himself at a fraction of what his investors had paid. Then he went bankrupt. Again. And along the way he was socked with a massive fine for money laundering at his now bankrupt (again) casino.
Trump was so fiscally radioactive that no American bank would let him in the door. But Deutsche Bank turned around and gifted Trump with loans that gave him a fresh start and an apparently miracle turnaround of his New York real estate empire. Those loans have always been the subject of head-scratching over just what DB could have been thinking. But if Forensic News is right, Deutsche Bank was thinking it wasn’t risking a damn thing, because the Russian government was actually vouching for Trump through VTB Bank. If Trump didn’t come through, Vladimir Putin was offering to make it good.
The documents supposedly originated with the son of a former Deutsche Bank official who committed suicide, which is very much the kind of connection that raises concerns about the authenticity of the information. This only highlights the importance of efforts by Congress to gain access to information on these loans. The last appeals court ruling in the case instructed DB to turn over the information, but the Supreme Court stepped in to block the subpoena and hear the case.
Trump lost the fight against the congressional subpoena at the district level and in two appeals, with all judges decisively siding with Congress’ authority to request the records. That the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case is very unusual, both because there was no conflict among rulings by lower courts and because the Supreme Court tends to avoid most cases involving a conflict between the executive and legislative branches.
Much of Trump’s “recovery” depended on selling apartments and buildings to Russian oligarchs at far above market prices. Those deals have always suggested the same kind of money laundering that added to the conviction of Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort, but if these accusations are accurate, Russia did far more for Trump than buy his gilded condos.
If they are true, this would show that Donald Trump was 100% dependent on the Russian government for his “big comeback.” It would mean that he was completely beholden to Putin for his real estate, for his golf courses, for his candidacy — for everything.
TRUMP TIPPED OFF MAR-A-LAGO PALS TO EXPECT ‘BIG’ IRAN ACTION. Top Democratic congressional leaders were left out of the loop before the drone strike that killed Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani and nine companions, but Trump reportedly tipped off his buddies at Mar-a-Lago to expect a big response to Iran.
“In the five days prior to launching a strike that killed Iran’s most important military leader, Donald Trump roamed the halls of Mar-a-Lago, his private resort in Florida, and started dropping hints to close associates and club-goers that something huge was coming,” The Daily Beast reported (1/4).
“According to three people who’ve been at the president’s Palm Beach club over the past several days, Trump began telling friends and allies hanging at his perennial vacation getaway that he was working on a ‘big’ response to the Iranian regime that they would be hearing or reading about very “soon.” Two of these sources tell The Daily Beast that the president specifically mentioned he’d been in close contact with his top national-security and military advisers on gaming out options for an aggressive action that could quickly materialize,” The Beast reported.
“He kept saying, ‘You’ll see,’” one of the sources said.
Israel was also reportedly briefed before the assassination, Raw Story reported (1/3). Speaking on Israel’s Channel 13, journalist Barak Ravid said that the “United States informed Israel” about the operation in Iraq to kill Iranian military leader Gen. Qasem Soleimani “a few days ago.” Additionally, the Los Angeles Times reported that an “Israeli army officer with knowledge of Israeli military assessments, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he did not have permission to speak to reporters,” said that the attack that killed Suleimani “did not come as a surprise.”
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in a tweet revealed that he discussed the attack with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as a means to “protect American lives.”
“I emphasized that de-escalation is the United States’ principal goal,” Pompeo wrote, not altogether convincingly.
Trump may have given advance word to his son Eric, who tweeted (12/31), “Bout to open up a big ol’ can of whoop ass,” with a retweet of a video of US Marines arriving at the US Embassy in Baghdad (12/31) after the embassy was attached by a crowd angered by US air strikes targeting Iran-backed militia. Trump defenders noted Eric’s tweet, which was later deleted, did not reference the drone strike on Soleimani, which would occur two days later, but Eric’s tweet came about the same time Trump was telling his Mar-a-Lago neighbors to expect a big response against Iran.
TRUMP CLAIMS TWEETS WERE SUFFICIENT NOTICE TO CONGRESS THAT US MAY STRIKE IRAN. Reminded that the War Powers Act of 1973 mandates that the president report to lawmakers within 48 hours of introducing military forces into armed conflict abroad, President* Trump on June 5, two days after he ordered the launch of the drone strike that killed top Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani, claimed his tweets are sufficient notice to Congress of any possible US military strike on Iran.
“These Media Posts will serve as notification to the United States Congress that should Iran strike any U.S. person or target, the United States will quickly & fully strike back, & perhaps in a disproportionate manner,” Trump tweeted from his Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Fla., that Sunday afternoon. “Such legal notice is not required, but is given nevertheless!”
Trump’s claim that the US will retaliate against Iran “perhaps in a disproportionate manner” also contrasts with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s statement hours earlier on “Fox News Sunday” that the administration “will take responses that are appropriate and commensurate with actions that threaten American lives.”
TRUMP THREATS AGAINST IRANIAN SITES RAISE POTENTIAL OF WAR CRIMES. Amid deepening tensions in the Middle East, Trump’s threat to order attacks against sites in Iran important to its culture has prompted fresh concerns over the legality of doing so and left the administration facing questions about whether US officials are considering such a move.Seung Min Kim noted at the Washington Post (1/5).
On Twitter late Saturday (1/4), Trump leveled a new warning against Iran, saying the United States is targeting 52 Iranian sites and that some of those are “a very high level & important to Iran & the Iranian culture.”
“Those targets, and Iran itself, WILL BE HIT VERY FAST AND VERY HARD,” Trump tweeted. “The USA wants no more threats!”
Returning to Washington after two weeks in Florida, Trump stood by his tweet, telling reporters aboard Air Force One (1/5)y: “They’re allowed to kill our people. They’re allowed to torture and maim our people. They’re allowed to use roadside bombs and blow up our people. And we’re not allowed to touch their cultural site? It doesn’t work that way.”
But the comment drew fresh rebukes from Democratic lawmakers and former national security officials, who noted that targeting cultural sites with military action violates international law and urged for more clarification from the administration on Trump’s remarks on Twitter.
“ISIS targets cultural sites. The Taliban destroys cultural sites. The United States of America should not join this list,” tweeted Michael McFaul, who served as the US ambassador to Russia under the Obama administration. “Please @DeptofDefense @StateDept, roll back this horrific statement by @realDonaldTrump & make clear that we will not target Iranian cultural sites.”
“Targeting civilians and cultural sites is what terrorists do. It’s a war crime. Trump is stumbling into a war of choice,” tweeted Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), a member of the Foreign Relations Committee. “A war entirely of his making. A war that will get thousands of Americans killed. Congress must stop him.”
In an interview on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Pompeo said Trump’s reference to the 52 potential target sites in Iran was “entirely consistent” with the administration’s message of de-escalation.
“Iranian leadership needs to understand that attacking Americans is not cost-free,” Pompeo said during that interview. “Setting out conditions that say these are our expectations, these are the things that America is expecting from you and if you don’t do them, the cost will be clear and direct.”
In Beirut, the leader of Lebanon’s Iran-allied Hezbollah movement declared (1/5) that retribution for the killing of top Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani should target the US military presence in the Middle East and not US citizens, saying that harming ordinary Americans would play into the hands of Trump, the Washington Post reported.
The targets will be “all the US military bases in the region, their warships, every single general and soldier in our lands,” Hassan Nasrallah said at a ceremony held in Beirut’s southern suburbs to commemorate the death of Soleimani.
“It is the US military that killed Haj Qasem, and they must pay the price,” Nasrallah added, using an honorific. But American citizens should not be harmed, he said.
IRANIAN GENERAL ASSASSINATED BY TRUMP MAY HAVE BEEN WORKING ON PEACE DEAL. Qasem Soleimani may have been set up for assassination by a pretext of peace negotiations. Mustafa Salim of the Washington Post reported in tweets from Baghdad that Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi told parliament that after the embassy protests ended (12/31), Trump called to ask Abdul-Mahdi to mediate the dispute between the US and Iran but then Trump ordered the drone strike when Soleimani arrived in Baghdad to meet with Abdul-Mahdi.
“I was supposed to meet Soleimani at the morning the day he was killed, he came to deliver me a message from Iran responding to the message we delivered from Saudi to Iran,” Abdul-Mahdi said.
The drone strike that killed Soleimani also claimed the life of Iranian-backed Iraqi militia leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis. and eight others.
Abdul-Mahdi told parliament that Iraq was grateful for the assistance the US has provided in fighting ISIS, but he is now recommending that the 5,200 US troops stationed there permanently leave the country, NPR reported (1/5).
Trump said if the US were forced to leave Iraq, it would not be on “friendly” terms. Speaking aboard Air Force One, he said: “If they do ask us to leave, if we don’t do it in a very friendly basis, we will charge them sanctions like they’ve never seen before ever. It’ll make Iranian sanctions look somewhat tame.”
TRUMP STILL ‘UNDERWATER’ IN BATTLEGROUND STATES. Donald Trump remained “underwater,” starting the election year with disapproval greater than approval in key battleground states that provided Trump’s margin of victory in the Electoral College, according to a Morning Consult tracking poll of 5,000 registered voters in each of the 50 states. As of 1/5, in Iowa, Trump had 44% approval and 53% disapproval. In Michigan, Trump had 40% approval and 53% disapproval. In Ohio, Trump had 46% approval and 50% disapproval. In Pennsylvania, Trump had 46% approval and 51% disapproval. In Wisconsin, Trump had 44% approval and 53% disapproval. He also was down 47-50 in Arizona; 48-49 in Florida; 47-49 in Georgia; and he was tied 48-48 in North Carolina and Texas.
PENCE CLAIMS IRAN TIES TO 9/11 ATTACKS. Mike Pence tried to justify the assassination of Quasem Soleimani a series of tweets (1/3) in which he claimed Soleimani “assisted in the clandestine travel to Afghanistan of 10 of the 12 terrorists who carried out the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.”
Aaron Blake of the Washington Post noted that the first problem with the tweet is that 19 terrorists carried out the attack. A Pence spokeswoman clarified that Pence meant to refer specifically to hijackers who traveled through Afghanistan. But the 9/11 Commission found that, while Iran facilitated the transit of al Qaeda members into and out of Afghanistan before 9/11, by not placing stamps in the passports of these travelers, it “found no evidence that Iran or Hezbollah was aware of the planning for what later became the 9/11 attack.” And the 9/11 Commission did not mention Soleimani at all.
However, Iran offered to assist the US after the 9/11 attacks. Iran rounded up hundreds of Arabs after they crossed by border from Afghanistan, and provided information on them to the UN, which passed it on to US authorities, and Soleimani likely was involved in that effort. US interrogators were given a chance by Iran to question some of the detainees. But Bush rejected Iran’s offer of closer relations, instead including Iran with Iraq and North Korea in the “Axis of Evil” in his State of the Union speech in 2002. Bush then chose to invade Iraq, where Saddam Hussein had kept Sunni and Shiite extremists at bay since an eight-year war against Iran in the 1980s, which Ronald Reagan’s administration had supported.
After Islamic States jihadists rose in June 2014, Shiite militias backed by Iran played a key role in pushing ISIS back in Iraq, with Soleimani often reported to have led the fight from the front lines.
DEM TRYING TO FLIP LINDSEY GRAHAM’S SENATE SEAT REPORTS RECORD $3.5M FUNDRAISING HAUL. Jaime Harrison, a South Carolina Democrat currently campaigning to oust Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, announced he raised $3.5 million in 2019’s final quarter, which would be the most any Democratic Senate challenger has raised in a single quarter in South Carolina. His average donation is $27 and accumulated about 67,000 individual donors, and 112,000 different contributions from all 46 counties, as reported by The State of Columbia. Harrison’s campaign also reported that it has over $4.6 million in cash on hand entering 2020, Marissa Higgins noted at Daily Kos (1/6).
Harrison has been regarded as a long-shot candidate from the start, but he has some serious momentum behind him as he challenges Graham’s attempt to win a fourth term. A South Carolina Democrat has not held a Senate position since 1998. Harrison, a former South Carolina Democratic party chairman and current associate chairman of the DNC, has called out Graham for his transition from decrying Donald Trump as a “kook” to becoming one of his most faithful supporters. Harrison describes Graham’s hypocrisy as “comical,” which is, frankly, a gentle way of putting it.
IRANIAN AMERICANS, RETURNING HOME FROM CANADA, DETAINED, INTERROGATED BY BORDER AGENTS. In the midst of ongoing threats against Iran from impeached president Donald Trump, more than 60 Iranian-American and Iranian travelers were reportedly detained at length and interrogated at the US-Canada border over the weekend, the New York Times reported (1/5). A leading advocacy group said that when one person asked why they were being questioned, border agents reportedly responded, “I’m sorry this is just the wrong time for you guys,” Gabe Ortiz noted at Daily Kos (1/6).
In a statement, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said many of those detained and outright blocked from re-entering the US by Customs and Border Protection had gone to Vancouver, Canada, for an Iranian pop concert. “Those detained reported that their passports were confiscated,” the group said, “and they were questioned about their political views and allegiances.” The group said one US citizen, identified as a medical student named Crystal, was detained for more than 10 hours.
“The vast majority of people being held last night were American citizens,” she said, according to CAIR. “We kept asking why we were being detained and asked questions that had nothing to do with our reason for traveling and was told ‘I’m sorry this is just the wrong time for you guys.’” Sepehr Ebrahimzadeh, another traveler who had gone to Canada for the holiday break and was also interrogated, “noticed people of other backgrounds getting processed quickly, while the people of Iranian descent were left waiting for hours,” the New York Times reported.
CAIR said in its statement, “A source at CBP reported that the Department of Homeland Security has issued a national order to CBP to ‘report’ and detain anyone with Iranian heritage entering the country who is deemed potentially suspicious or ‘adversarial,’ regardless of citizenship status. CBP at the Peace Arch Border Crossing did not confirm or deny this report.” A CBP spokesperson later denied this, but federal immigration officials don’t exactly get the benefit of the doubt due to their long, documented history of lying and lawlessness.
“I wish we could trust this statement. But we absolutely cannot,” legal observer Mark Joseph Stern tweeted. “I once watched a series of CBP officers brazenly lie under oath in court. CBP has zero credibility.” In just one example, Stern said that “In 2010, a CBP agent shot Juan Mendez, an 18-year-old American, twice in the back, killing him. The agent claimed the victim had fought him, but interviews later revealed that he had been coached by a CBP official to fabricate the altercation.”
“These reports are extremely troubling and potentially constitute illegal detentions of United States citizens,” Masih Fouladi, executive director of CAIR’s Washington chapter, said about the interrogations. “We are working to verify reports of a broad nationwide directive to detain Iranian-Americans at ports of entry so that we can provide community members with accurate travel guidance. We will continue to update the community and other civil rights organizations as we obtain more information.”
From The Progressive Populist, February 1, 2020
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