Trump is considering turning over a former U.S. Ambassador to Putin
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Browder created the Magninsky act. Putin been tryin to get at him for years now. Trump turns him over he's a deadman.
Putin Invents a Conspiracy Theory About the Former U.S. Ambassador to Russia
by Nancy LeTourneau
July 18, 2018
POLITICAL ANIMAL
Rod Searcey/Wikimedia Commons
Former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul
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Since Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin met on Monday, the focus has been on what Trump said during their news conference afterwards. As I wrote previously, we don’t know what the two leaders actually discussed with each other privately. That’s why this announcement came as a bit of a surprise:
Lucian Kim
✔@Lucian_Kim
Breaking: Russian MoD says in statement that it's ready to implement agreement on international security Putin and Trump reached in Helsinki.
10:11 AM - Jul 17, 2018
Twitter Ads info and privacy
Apparently there was an “agreement” made between Trump and Putin, but neither leader has said anything about what was was included.
Aside from potential military agreements, we know that an offer was made by Putin.
President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia made a surprise offer to Robert S. Mueller III, the special prosecutor investigating Moscow’s meddling in the 2016 presidential election, at the news conference on Monday concluding the summit meeting between him and President Trump.
The Kremlin, Mr. Putin said, would allow Mr. Mueller and his team to travel to Russia and be present at the questioning of 12 Russian military intelligence officers the special counsel indicted last week for hacking into the computer systems of the Democratic National Committee and the emails of Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman.
In exchange, however, the United States would have to permit Russian law enforcement officials to take part in interrogations of people “who have something to do with illegal actions on the territory of Russia.” He singled out one man: William F. Browder.
A London-based financier who led a global human rights crusade against the Kremlin that has resulted in sanctions being leveled against numerous Russian officials, Mr. Browder, 54, is a source of deep frustration for the Kremlin, which has gone to great lengths to shut him down.
Who Is Bill Browder, Kremlin Foe Singled Out in Putin’s Offer?
Image
William F. Browder, an American-born financier now based in Britain, leaving an anti-graft prosecutor’s office in Madrid in May.CreditFrancisco Seco/Associated Press
By Michael Schwirtz and Kenneth P. Vogel
The Kremlin, Mr. Putin said, would allow Mr. Mueller and his team to travel to Russia and be present at the questioning of 12 Russian military intelligence officers the special counsel indicted last week for hacking into the computer systems of the Democratic National Committee and the emails of Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman.
In exchange, however, the United States would have to permit Russian law enforcement officials to take part in interrogations of people “who have something to do with illegal actions on the territory of Russia.” He singled out one man: William F. Browder.
A London-based financier who led a global human rights crusade against the Kremlin that has resulted in sanctions being leveled against numerous Russian officials, Mr. Browder, 54, is a source of deep frustration for the Kremlin, which has gone to great lengths to shut him down. In May, he was arrested and briefly detained in Spain by officers acting on a Moscow-issued Interpol red notice, the sixth the Russians have filed against him.
by Nancy LeTourneau
July 18, 2018
POLITICAL ANIMAL
Former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul
Share
Tweet
Since Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin met on Monday, the focus has been on what Trump said during their news conference afterwards. As I wrote previously, we don’t know what the two leaders actually discussed with each other privately. That’s why this announcement came as a bit of a surprise:
Lucian Kim
✔@Lucian_Kim
Breaking: Russian MoD says in statement that it's ready to implement agreement on international security Putin and Trump reached in Helsinki.
10:11 AM - Jul 17, 2018
Twitter Ads info and privacy
Apparently there was an “agreement” made between Trump and Putin, but neither leader has said anything about what was was included.
Aside from potential military agreements, we know that an offer was made by Putin.
President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia made a surprise offer to Robert S. Mueller III, the special prosecutor investigating Moscow’s meddling in the 2016 presidential election, at the news conference on Monday concluding the summit meeting between him and President Trump.
The Kremlin, Mr. Putin said, would allow Mr. Mueller and his team to travel to Russia and be present at the questioning of 12 Russian military intelligence officers the special counsel indicted last week for hacking into the computer systems of the Democratic National Committee and the emails of Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman.
In exchange, however, the United States would have to permit Russian law enforcement officials to take part in interrogations of people “who have something to do with illegal actions on the territory of Russia.” He singled out one man: William F. Browder.
A London-based financier who led a global human rights crusade against the Kremlin that has resulted in sanctions being leveled against numerous Russian officials, Mr. Browder, 54, is a source of deep frustration for the Kremlin, which has gone to great lengths to shut him down.
At one point during the presser, Trump referred to this proposal as a great offer from Putin. The question is whether or not it is part of the so-called “agreement.”
Browder has advocated for passage of the Magnitsky Act in the United States and other countries, which punished Russian officials responsible for the death of tax accountant Sergei Magnitsky in a Moscow prison in 2009. In retaliation for passage of that act, Russia banned U.S. adoptions, which became the cover story for Don Trump Jr’s meeting with Natalia Veselnitskaya at Trump Tower during the 2016 campaign.
Because of Browder’s campaign to hold the Russians accountable for the death of Magnitsky, he has been a target of Putin’s for years now. He has been sentenced in Russia in absentia to nine years’ imprisonment on tax evasion, deliberate bankruptcy, and fraud. On several occasions the Russians have attempted to use Interpol to arrest and detain him. During Monday’s press conference, Putin attempted to spin a conspiracy theory about Browder that will not doubt be added to the tales Trump tries to tell about Hillary Clinton and the Democrats.
Mr. Putin on Monday detailed on television a variation of some of the allegations that the lawyer, Natalia V. Veselnitskaya, brought to the Trump Tower meeting — namely that some of Mr. Browder’s associates had funneled $400 million to the Clinton campaign with money illegally moved out of Russia.
We now know who Putin was talking about in reference to “some of Mr. Browder’s associates” that he wants interrogate.
According to the representative of the Russian Prosecutor’s Office, the questioning is to be conducted in order to bring charges to the US citizens for the crimes “committed by Browder”.
The General Prosecutor’s Office is poised to send an official request to the United States’ authorities to question a number of US officials and intelligence agents as part of a criminal case against Hermitage Capital Management CEO Bill Browder.
As RIA Novosti reports, the body expressed its intention to interrogate the employees of the American special services and state employees. In particular, Kurennoy named former US Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul.
It appears as though Russia’s General Prosecutor Kurennoy has something more than interrogations in mind for the former Russian ambassador.
“We’re ready to send another request to the U.S. authorities to grant us permission to question these very employees of the U.S. intelligence agencies, as well as a number of other U.S. government officials and businessmen, in order to charge them for the crimes committed by Browder,” said Alexander Kurennoy, head of the Russia’s Office of Prosecutor General’s Mass Media Department, per the state-run Sputnik News.
As this news broke last night, Michael McFaul reacted on Twitter.
Michael McFaul
✔@McFaul
As I discuss in detail in From Cold War to Hot Peace, Putin has been harassing me for a long time. That he now wants to arrest me, however, takes it to a new level. I expect my government to defend me and my colleagues, in public and private.
11:10 PM - Jul 17, 2018
Twitter Ads info and privacy
Michael McFaul
✔@McFaul
Hey WH press Corps, can you confirm tomorrow with @PressSec that Putin discussed me personally in his one on one with Trump? Did he suggest that I was part of some alleged money laundering scheme? And did Trump push back on this completely invented , whacko idea?
8:47 PM - Jul 17, 2018
Twitter Ads info and privacy
As McFaul references, this is not the first time he’s been a Putin target. I’d recommend that at this point it would be a good idea for folks to read an article he wrote a couple of months ago about his time as Obama’s ambassador to Russia.
To rally his supporters and undermine the protesters, Putin would need an enemy, and he turned to the most reliable one in Russia’s recent history: the United States and then, by extension, me. As soon as I became the new proxy for Washington, Moscow launched a full-scale disinformation campaign alleging that, under my direction, the United States was funding the opposition and attempting to overthrow Putin. State propagandists and their surrogates crudely photoshopped me into pictures, spliced my speeches to make me say things I never uttered and even accused me of pedophilia.
It is obvious what Putin is attempting to do with this “completely invented whacko idea.” He’s launching the most blatant kind of bothersiderism via conspiracy theory. In other words, Mueller may have indicted people like Manafort, but we’ve got Browder and McFaul.
Once again I am reminded of what Peter Palmerantsev wrote back in 2014 about Putin’s brand of information warfare, which feels eerily familiar these days.
The point of this new propaganda is not to persuade anyone, but to keep the viewer hooked and distracted—to disrupt Western narratives rather than provide a counternarrative. It is the perfect genre for conspiracy theories, which are all over Russian TV…
Ultimately, many people in Russia and around the world understand that Russian political parties are hollow and Russian news outlets are churning out fantasies. But insisting on the lie, the Kremlin intimidates others by showing that it is in control of defining ‘reality.’ This is why it’s so important for Moscow to do away with truth. If nothing is true, then anything is possible.
Keep an eye on this story over the next few weeks. The most important question to be answered is whether or not Trump agreed to the targeting of a former U.S. ambassador and other national security officials. But beyond that, will the president and his enablers pile on to this particular conspiracy theory created by Putin to obscure the facts about Russia’s activities? If so, it will be yet another example of this president’s ongoing collusion with Russia that is taking place right in front of our eyes.
Browder has advocated for passage of the Magnitsky Act in the United States and other countries, which punished Russian officials responsible for the death of tax accountant Sergei Magnitsky in a Moscow prison in 2009. In retaliation for passage of that act, Russia banned U.S. adoptions, which became the cover story for Don Trump Jr’s meeting with Natalia Veselnitskaya at Trump Tower during the 2016 campaign.
Because of Browder’s campaign to hold the Russians accountable for the death of Magnitsky, he has been a target of Putin’s for years now. He has been sentenced in Russia in absentia to nine years’ imprisonment on tax evasion, deliberate bankruptcy, and fraud. On several occasions the Russians have attempted to use Interpol to arrest and detain him. During Monday’s press conference, Putin attempted to spin a conspiracy theory about Browder that will not doubt be added to the tales Trump tries to tell about Hillary Clinton and the Democrats.
Mr. Putin on Monday detailed on television a variation of some of the allegations that the lawyer, Natalia V. Veselnitskaya, brought to the Trump Tower meeting — namely that some of Mr. Browder’s associates had funneled $400 million to the Clinton campaign with money illegally moved out of Russia.
We now know who Putin was talking about in reference to “some of Mr. Browder’s associates” that he wants interrogate.
According to the representative of the Russian Prosecutor’s Office, the questioning is to be conducted in order to bring charges to the US citizens for the crimes “committed by Browder”.
The General Prosecutor’s Office is poised to send an official request to the United States’ authorities to question a number of US officials and intelligence agents as part of a criminal case against Hermitage Capital Management CEO Bill Browder.
As RIA Novosti reports, the body expressed its intention to interrogate the employees of the American special services and state employees. In particular, Kurennoy named former US Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul.
It appears as though Russia’s General Prosecutor Kurennoy has something more than interrogations in mind for the former Russian ambassador.
“We’re ready to send another request to the U.S. authorities to grant us permission to question these very employees of the U.S. intelligence agencies, as well as a number of other U.S. government officials and businessmen, in order to charge them for the crimes committed by Browder,” said Alexander Kurennoy, head of the Russia’s Office of Prosecutor General’s Mass Media Department, per the state-run Sputnik News.
As this news broke last night, Michael McFaul reacted on Twitter.
Michael McFaul
✔@McFaul
As I discuss in detail in From Cold War to Hot Peace, Putin has been harassing me for a long time. That he now wants to arrest me, however, takes it to a new level. I expect my government to defend me and my colleagues, in public and private.
11:10 PM - Jul 17, 2018
Twitter Ads info and privacy
Michael McFaul
✔@McFaul
Hey WH press Corps, can you confirm tomorrow with @PressSec that Putin discussed me personally in his one on one with Trump? Did he suggest that I was part of some alleged money laundering scheme? And did Trump push back on this completely invented , whacko idea?
8:47 PM - Jul 17, 2018
Twitter Ads info and privacy
As McFaul references, this is not the first time he’s been a Putin target. I’d recommend that at this point it would be a good idea for folks to read an article he wrote a couple of months ago about his time as Obama’s ambassador to Russia.
To rally his supporters and undermine the protesters, Putin would need an enemy, and he turned to the most reliable one in Russia’s recent history: the United States and then, by extension, me. As soon as I became the new proxy for Washington, Moscow launched a full-scale disinformation campaign alleging that, under my direction, the United States was funding the opposition and attempting to overthrow Putin. State propagandists and their surrogates crudely photoshopped me into pictures, spliced my speeches to make me say things I never uttered and even accused me of pedophilia.
It is obvious what Putin is attempting to do with this “completely invented whacko idea.” He’s launching the most blatant kind of bothersiderism via conspiracy theory. In other words, Mueller may have indicted people like Manafort, but we’ve got Browder and McFaul.
Once again I am reminded of what Peter Palmerantsev wrote back in 2014 about Putin’s brand of information warfare, which feels eerily familiar these days.
The point of this new propaganda is not to persuade anyone, but to keep the viewer hooked and distracted—to disrupt Western narratives rather than provide a counternarrative. It is the perfect genre for conspiracy theories, which are all over Russian TV…
Ultimately, many people in Russia and around the world understand that Russian political parties are hollow and Russian news outlets are churning out fantasies. But insisting on the lie, the Kremlin intimidates others by showing that it is in control of defining ‘reality.’ This is why it’s so important for Moscow to do away with truth. If nothing is true, then anything is possible.
Keep an eye on this story over the next few weeks. The most important question to be answered is whether or not Trump agreed to the targeting of a former U.S. ambassador and other national security officials. But beyond that, will the president and his enablers pile on to this particular conspiracy theory created by Putin to obscure the facts about Russia’s activities? If so, it will be yet another example of this president’s ongoing collusion with Russia that is taking place right in front of our eyes.
Who Is Bill Browder, Kremlin Foe Singled Out in Putin’s Offer?
Image
William F. Browder, an American-born financier now based in Britain, leaving an anti-graft prosecutor’s office in Madrid in May.CreditFrancisco Seco/Associated Press
By Michael Schwirtz and Kenneth P. Vogel
- July 16, 2018
The Kremlin, Mr. Putin said, would allow Mr. Mueller and his team to travel to Russia and be present at the questioning of 12 Russian military intelligence officers the special counsel indicted last week for hacking into the computer systems of the Democratic National Committee and the emails of Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman.
In exchange, however, the United States would have to permit Russian law enforcement officials to take part in interrogations of people “who have something to do with illegal actions on the territory of Russia.” He singled out one man: William F. Browder.
A London-based financier who led a global human rights crusade against the Kremlin that has resulted in sanctions being leveled against numerous Russian officials, Mr. Browder, 54, is a source of deep frustration for the Kremlin, which has gone to great lengths to shut him down. In May, he was arrested and briefly detained in Spain by officers acting on a Moscow-issued Interpol red notice, the sixth the Russians have filed against him.
During the presidential campaign, a Kremlin-linked lawyer tried to interest the Trump campaign in allegations against Mr. Browder during a June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower in New York with members of the Trump campaign, who had been promised damaging information about the Clinton campaign. That meeting has become a focus of Mr. Mueller’s investigation.
Mr. Putin on Monday detailed on television a variation of some of the allegations that the lawyer, Natalia V. Veselnitskaya, brought to the Trump Tower meeting — namely that some of Mr. Browder’s associates had funneled $400 million to the Clinton campaign with money illegally moved out of Russia.
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“Business associates of his have earned over $1.5 billion in Russia,” Mr. Putin said. “They never paid any taxes. Neither in Russia nor in the United States. Yet the money escaped the country. They were transferred to the United States. They sent huge amounts of money, $400 million, as a contribution to the campaign of Hillary Clinton.”
Additionally, Mr. Putin declared, “we have solid reason to believe that some intelligence officers accompanied and guided these transactions.”
Mr. Putin offered no evidence to support his claims about money moving to the Clinton campaign, let alone with assistance from intelligence officers.
Yet his claims in some ways echoed allegations that have been leveled by Mr. Trump and his supporters about financial corruption by Mrs. Clinton and her campaign, as well as the contention that sinister forces within a bureaucratic “deep state” had sought to thwart his election victory.
Trump Trusts Putin’s Denial, but Seven U.S. Intelligence Groups Blame Russia for Election Meddling
On Monday, President Trump continued to cast doubt on Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election, the consensus position of American intelligence agencies and both parties on Capitol Hill.
July 16, 2018
Mr. Trump later called Mr. Putin’s suggestion of an investigative quid pro quo “an incredible offer,” though how such reciprocity would work was unclear. Mr. Browder long ago gave up his American passport in favor of British citizenship.
In a phone interview on Monday, Mr. Browder said that Mr. Putin’s denunciation was just another sign of the Kremlin’s unhappiness with the Magnitsky Act, a 2012 law that Mr. Browder championed, in which the United States imposed sanctions against Russia.
“It’s a true affirmation of the fact that we’ve found Putin’s Achilles’ heel with the Magnitsky Act,” Mr. Browder said. “He’s basically lost it, emotionally, because his own money in the West is now being seized under that Magnitsky Act.”
Out of safety concerns, Mr. Browder, who holds a British passport, would not say where he was located. But he said he did not believe Mr. Putin’s remarks put him in any greater danger.
“America is a rule-of-law country, and I think that the rule of law will protect me,” he said.
Mr. Browder expressed puzzlement over what Mr. Putin might have been referring to on Monday when he claimed that Mr. Browder’s associates steered $400 million to Mrs. Clinton’s campaign.
“This is just part of their weird non-fact-based emotional reaction,” Mr. Browder said. “He has become unhinged.”
By Mr. Putin’s first term in office, Mr. Browder, who co-founded Hermitage Capital Management, had risen to become the largest portfolio investor in Russia, with more than $4 billion under management as of 2005. Along the way, he ran afoul of the Kremlin by becoming a fierce critic of weak corporate governing standards.
In November 2005, Mr. Browder was turned back after arriving in Moscow for a business trip, and was later declared a “threat to national security” as a result of his battle against corporate corruption.
Russian authorities then raided his offices, seized Hermitage’s investment companies and used them to fraudulently obtain $230 million in tax rebates. When the firm’s tax lawyer, Sergei L. Magnitsky, investigated the crime, he was arrested by the same officers he had implicated and imprisoned. He died nearly a year later at age 37, the result, Mr. Browder claims, of months of torture.
Since then, Mr. Browder has devoted much of his life to seeking justice for Mr. Magnitsky. His campaigning led Congress to adopt the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act in 2012, which imposed visa sanctions on and froze the assets of those involved in Mr. Magnitsky’s detention. The legislation was the first time the United States had sanctioned Russia in 35 years; Mr. Browder has urged the European Union to adopt similar legislation.
Mr. Browder’s efforts have infuriated the Kremlin, which has sought out different avenues to thwart him. In 2013, Mr. Browder was convicted of tax fraud in absentia by a Russian court.
He then faced a new fight, as Russia sought to get British courts to find and freeze his assets and enforce a civil judgment against him in Russia.
How Republican Lawmakers Responded to Trump’s Russian Meddling Denial
Reports of the president’s comments prompted outcry from some lawmakers, but they were followed by notable silence from others.
July 16, 2018
Russia has pushed several times to get Interpol to issue arrest orders against Mr. Browder, and it announced this summer that it would try yet again.
In the summer of 2016, though, the Kremlin tried another approach. Ms. Veselnitskaya, a lawyer with ties to the country’s powerful prosecutor general, approached the Trump campaign with an offer of help. At a meeting at Trump Tower, attended by Mr. Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, his son-in-law, and the campaign’s chairman, Paul Manafort, Ms. Veselnitskaya presented a memo that detailed the claims against Mr. Browder, and alleged that his lobbying in the United States had gained traction because of the political connections of the principals in one of the firms that invested with him, Ziff Brothers Investments.
“According to information we have, the Ziff brothers took part in financing both Obama election campaigns,” stated the memo, a copy of which was obtained by The New York Times. “It cannot be ruled out that they took part in financing the campaign of Hillary Clinton.”
The memo does not offer any specific data to support those conclusions, and public records do not support the notion that any of the Ziffs, or their firm, were among the leading financial supporters of Mrs. Clinton’s campaign.
Federal Election Commission records indicate that the Ziffs and their immediate family had donated only about $35,000 to Mrs. Clinton’s various committees over the years. And federal election laws limit the amount that individuals can donate directly to campaigns to $2,700 per election.
Taken together, the brothers behind the firm — Daniel, Dirk and Robert Ziff — combined with their spouses and parents have donated nearly $5 million to Democratic and Republican campaigns and committees since the 1980s, including $1.1 million to the Democratic National Committee.
The Ziff Brothers firm did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
It was not clear from where Mr. Putin derived the $400 million figure, or whether he was referring to the Ziffs or possibly other donors as well. Former Clinton campaign officials did not respond to requests for comment.
Members of the Trump campaign team said they struggled to understand the significance of the information offered by Ms. Veselnitskaya, and the meeting wrapped up quickly. Ms. Veselnitskaya initially denied any ties to the Russian government, but has since said she has worked as an “informant” for Russian prosecutors.
Last month, Russia’s prosecutor general, Yuri Chaika, seemed to foreshadow Mr. Putin’s move in Helsinki.
“I think in the near future, stronger efforts will be taken by Russia in the international arena,” he said. Mr. Chaika added that the Russian government would not allow Mr. Browder “to sleep soundly.”
In Helsinki, Mr. Putin said that Mr. Mueller would be welcome to come to Russia. But the price would be William Browder.
“We can meet you halfway,” he said.
Mr. Putin on Monday detailed on television a variation of some of the allegations that the lawyer, Natalia V. Veselnitskaya, brought to the Trump Tower meeting — namely that some of Mr. Browder’s associates had funneled $400 million to the Clinton campaign with money illegally moved out of Russia.
You have 4 free articles remaining.
Subscribe to The Times
“Business associates of his have earned over $1.5 billion in Russia,” Mr. Putin said. “They never paid any taxes. Neither in Russia nor in the United States. Yet the money escaped the country. They were transferred to the United States. They sent huge amounts of money, $400 million, as a contribution to the campaign of Hillary Clinton.”
Additionally, Mr. Putin declared, “we have solid reason to believe that some intelligence officers accompanied and guided these transactions.”
Mr. Putin offered no evidence to support his claims about money moving to the Clinton campaign, let alone with assistance from intelligence officers.
Yet his claims in some ways echoed allegations that have been leveled by Mr. Trump and his supporters about financial corruption by Mrs. Clinton and her campaign, as well as the contention that sinister forces within a bureaucratic “deep state” had sought to thwart his election victory.
Trump Trusts Putin’s Denial, but Seven U.S. Intelligence Groups Blame Russia for Election Meddling
On Monday, President Trump continued to cast doubt on Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election, the consensus position of American intelligence agencies and both parties on Capitol Hill.
July 16, 2018
Mr. Trump later called Mr. Putin’s suggestion of an investigative quid pro quo “an incredible offer,” though how such reciprocity would work was unclear. Mr. Browder long ago gave up his American passport in favor of British citizenship.
In a phone interview on Monday, Mr. Browder said that Mr. Putin’s denunciation was just another sign of the Kremlin’s unhappiness with the Magnitsky Act, a 2012 law that Mr. Browder championed, in which the United States imposed sanctions against Russia.
“It’s a true affirmation of the fact that we’ve found Putin’s Achilles’ heel with the Magnitsky Act,” Mr. Browder said. “He’s basically lost it, emotionally, because his own money in the West is now being seized under that Magnitsky Act.”
Out of safety concerns, Mr. Browder, who holds a British passport, would not say where he was located. But he said he did not believe Mr. Putin’s remarks put him in any greater danger.
“America is a rule-of-law country, and I think that the rule of law will protect me,” he said.
Mr. Browder expressed puzzlement over what Mr. Putin might have been referring to on Monday when he claimed that Mr. Browder’s associates steered $400 million to Mrs. Clinton’s campaign.
“This is just part of their weird non-fact-based emotional reaction,” Mr. Browder said. “He has become unhinged.”
By Mr. Putin’s first term in office, Mr. Browder, who co-founded Hermitage Capital Management, had risen to become the largest portfolio investor in Russia, with more than $4 billion under management as of 2005. Along the way, he ran afoul of the Kremlin by becoming a fierce critic of weak corporate governing standards.
In November 2005, Mr. Browder was turned back after arriving in Moscow for a business trip, and was later declared a “threat to national security” as a result of his battle against corporate corruption.
Russian authorities then raided his offices, seized Hermitage’s investment companies and used them to fraudulently obtain $230 million in tax rebates. When the firm’s tax lawyer, Sergei L. Magnitsky, investigated the crime, he was arrested by the same officers he had implicated and imprisoned. He died nearly a year later at age 37, the result, Mr. Browder claims, of months of torture.
Since then, Mr. Browder has devoted much of his life to seeking justice for Mr. Magnitsky. His campaigning led Congress to adopt the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act in 2012, which imposed visa sanctions on and froze the assets of those involved in Mr. Magnitsky’s detention. The legislation was the first time the United States had sanctioned Russia in 35 years; Mr. Browder has urged the European Union to adopt similar legislation.
Mr. Browder’s efforts have infuriated the Kremlin, which has sought out different avenues to thwart him. In 2013, Mr. Browder was convicted of tax fraud in absentia by a Russian court.
He then faced a new fight, as Russia sought to get British courts to find and freeze his assets and enforce a civil judgment against him in Russia.
How Republican Lawmakers Responded to Trump’s Russian Meddling Denial
Reports of the president’s comments prompted outcry from some lawmakers, but they were followed by notable silence from others.
July 16, 2018
Russia has pushed several times to get Interpol to issue arrest orders against Mr. Browder, and it announced this summer that it would try yet again.
In the summer of 2016, though, the Kremlin tried another approach. Ms. Veselnitskaya, a lawyer with ties to the country’s powerful prosecutor general, approached the Trump campaign with an offer of help. At a meeting at Trump Tower, attended by Mr. Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, his son-in-law, and the campaign’s chairman, Paul Manafort, Ms. Veselnitskaya presented a memo that detailed the claims against Mr. Browder, and alleged that his lobbying in the United States had gained traction because of the political connections of the principals in one of the firms that invested with him, Ziff Brothers Investments.
“According to information we have, the Ziff brothers took part in financing both Obama election campaigns,” stated the memo, a copy of which was obtained by The New York Times. “It cannot be ruled out that they took part in financing the campaign of Hillary Clinton.”
The memo does not offer any specific data to support those conclusions, and public records do not support the notion that any of the Ziffs, or their firm, were among the leading financial supporters of Mrs. Clinton’s campaign.
Federal Election Commission records indicate that the Ziffs and their immediate family had donated only about $35,000 to Mrs. Clinton’s various committees over the years. And federal election laws limit the amount that individuals can donate directly to campaigns to $2,700 per election.
Taken together, the brothers behind the firm — Daniel, Dirk and Robert Ziff — combined with their spouses and parents have donated nearly $5 million to Democratic and Republican campaigns and committees since the 1980s, including $1.1 million to the Democratic National Committee.
The Ziff Brothers firm did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
It was not clear from where Mr. Putin derived the $400 million figure, or whether he was referring to the Ziffs or possibly other donors as well. Former Clinton campaign officials did not respond to requests for comment.
Members of the Trump campaign team said they struggled to understand the significance of the information offered by Ms. Veselnitskaya, and the meeting wrapped up quickly. Ms. Veselnitskaya initially denied any ties to the Russian government, but has since said she has worked as an “informant” for Russian prosecutors.
Last month, Russia’s prosecutor general, Yuri Chaika, seemed to foreshadow Mr. Putin’s move in Helsinki.
“I think in the near future, stronger efforts will be taken by Russia in the international arena,” he said. Mr. Chaika added that the Russian government would not allow Mr. Browder “to sleep soundly.”
In Helsinki, Mr. Putin said that Mr. Mueller would be welcome to come to Russia. But the price would be William Browder.
“We can meet you halfway,” he said.
This won't have anything to do with Mueller. If Trump does this it will end his presidency. Guaranteed! Congress will have no choice but to remove him.
Putin gets a list of 20+ people indited by Mueller, Putin pretty much ignores the list. But this turd wants to hand over a former ambassador. An these stupid ass white people talk about continuing their support.
I'm to a point where I believe if Putin wants his dick sucked Trump will jump right on it.
Damn a piss tape. Putin must have an 8 x 10 glossy of Trump lickin' his ass.
Trump is an agent.
Nah it’s gotta be Way bigger than thatDamn a piss tape. Putin must have an 8 x 10 glossy of Trump lickin' his ass.
1-I think it’s tied with his taxes follow the money trail. -Russian mob etc,
2- some kind of Pedo shit- either him doing it or a whole secret society with him at the head of it
Wasn’t Flynn caught trying to negotiate a kidnapping of a Turkish citizen from the U.S with turkey?
Trump is fucked 9 ways to Sunday.. he ain’t got no choice now but to listen to his Handler Putin..
My mind keeps coming to the pedal shit
What's crazier to me is it doesn't take all of the GOP members to stop all this non-sense. It only takes a few of them, obviously with all the Dems, to end this shit.
What kinda power does GOP members have over each other?
Straight up powerful cult shit.
Browder already said that he's a British citizen now, and wished Putin good luck going to May with that request for transfer. Moving his banner to the U.K. might have been the smartest move he ever made.
But yeah.... the way this week has gone, I'm shocked that the interpreters in the room haven't turned up "missing". The fact that literally no one on our side knows exactly what was discussed is mind boggling (I'm pretty sure Putin covered his bases in that regard).
But yeah.... the way this week has gone, I'm shocked that the interpreters in the room haven't turned up "missing". The fact that literally no one on our side knows exactly what was discussed is mind boggling (I'm pretty sure Putin covered his bases in that regard).
Not just a citizen, a citizen with diplomatic immunity. The article posted above said Russia wants to question them in order to charge them for Browder's crimes.
Doesn't this also open the door for "operatives" to be handed over if X government request it from Trump?
I don't think it's going to go anywhere, at least not officially. I think congress would rebel and Kelly and Mattis would walk if he did this. Now Trump letting them pull an OP to snatch him, like Flynn wanted to do with that Turkish guy, is another matter. He'd lose his presidency over that for sure though if it were found out.
I want to agree with everything you've said here. But how many times have we been at "If Trump did that then it would mean the end of his Presidency etc..." Yet here we are a few "If Trump did that..." later.
I'm honestly starting to believe that the GOP would ride him straight to hell.
Literally all aboard!
For them to continue to support him at this hour speaks to their characters and it ain't pretty.
This would threaten our people all over the world. I've never said this about any other action. I'm not convinced he'd go down if he fired Mueller or Rosenstein, but if he hands over our diplomats to an adversary everybody but his rabid followers would revolt. No one in Congress would stand for that and ambassadors would quit en masse. We've already had some quit over less.
The intelligence community already dislikes Trump. The fact he is even entertaining this idea means they can't trust him at all. He is going to get agents murdered.
They cowards and are also treasonist scum . All they care about is Money . Money over everything. Trump is untouchable. If anything happens it will be long after his 8 years is up
It's looking more and more like that.
But I have to ask a serious question here.
If Trump manages to get a 2nd term can anyone guarantee that they aren't going to change the only 2 term limit for a President?
Trump was not joking about that China life-time dictator talk. That was real!
Trump loses all that Presidential immunity as soon as he's out of office and all those lawsuits are coming at him 100X fold.
He will do anything to stay in power until his death-bed
Pedal tho'.
Holdin' each others secrets over their heads and they all have secrets.
Michael McFaul is the former United State Ambassador to Russia. Trump talked to Putin about AND IS CONSIDERING handing over a former U.S. ambassador. To Putin. Trump is actually following up on this with this national security team, not ruling it out.
Sounds like what Mike Flynn was doing.
These people are remarkable.
Exactly! Exactly!
I find it hard to believe that there aren't a lot of GOP members that are absolutely disgusted by Trump.
So the question becomes why don't they turn on him?
Then answer is simply because that blackmail is a bitch!
So it's safer to shut up and go with it.
I think it’s a good number of them are but they are afraid of him for some dumb reason
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