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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsPete Sessions' daddy, ex-FBI Director William Sessions was on Semion Mogilevich's payroll.
@craigunger
As I note in #HouseofTrump, Pete's dad is ex-FBI director William Sessions, who became atty for RU mobster Mogilevich. When he was in Congress, Pete was a vocal opponent of sanctions against RU.
Link to tweet
Link to tweet
From the Washington Post an article by Craig Unger
... snip
These were just some of the Russian mobsters who gravitated toward Trump as they laundered money and cultivated politicians. Over time, they learned how to work the system. They paid large sums for the most powerful legal talent in the land enough, at times, to woo the very men who had once been charged with pursuing them. In 1997, former FBI director William Sessions traveled to Moscow and alerted the world to the horrifying dangers of the brutal Russian Mafia. But 10 years later, he took on as a client the Ukrainian-born Mogilevich. At the time, the U.S. Department of Justice was investigating racketeering charges against Mogilevich over questionable energy deals between Russia and Ukraine. Sessionss successor as FBI director, Louis Freeh, also later represented Russian clients. All perfectly legal. In Freehs case, the client was Denis Katsyvs Cyprus-based Prevezon Holdings. Freeh helped Prevezon settle a money laundering probe by the U.S. government after the company was accused of laundering more than $200 million in a Russian tax fraud scheme in which an American hedge fund manager and his firm, Hermitage Capital, were said to have been framed by the Russians. The ensuing scandal culminated in the death of Sergei Magnitsky, Hermitages accountant, and led to the passage of the Magnitsky Act, which sanctioned high-level Russian officials. Natalia Veselnitskaya, Prevezons defense lawyer, attended the much-discussed June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower with Trumps eldest son, Donald Trump Jr.; Trumps son-in-law, Jared Kushner; and Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/trumps-businesses-are-full-of-dirty-russian-money-the-scandal-is-thats-legal/2019/03/29/11b812da-5171-11e9-88a1-ed346f0ec94f_story.html
SummerSnow
(12,608 posts)MelissaB
(16,420 posts)@craigunger
As I note in #HouseofTrump, Pete's dad is ex-FBI director William Sessions, who became atty for RU mobster Mogilevich. When he was in Congress, Pete was a vocal opponent of sanctions against RU.
Link to tweet
I'm going to add this to the op.
dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)Most of us have been looking at trump as head of his own mafia, so the problems coming out of the WH seems limited to him.
Now we find out in the article that buying and selling law makers is part of Semion activities and NOT limited to U.SA. politicians.
Does explain a lot why the Repubs are so damn intransigent.
trump would have relished telling Graham all the lurid details of what would happen to him by the enforcers if he didn't come over to the dark side.
Anyone read Unger's House of Trump, House of Putin: The Untold Story of Donald Trump and the Russian Mafia book ??
Srkdqltr
(6,317 posts)Seems like a lot of Trumps people are in the Russian pockets.
BumRushDaShow
(129,440 posts)He's the grand daddy of them all when it comes to Russia, going back decades.
He lost his seat in the 2018 blue wave.
Anon-C
(3,430 posts)liberalla
(9,260 posts)posting reminder...
SummerSnow
(12,608 posts)MelissaB
(16,420 posts)Mob, mob, mob.
Pacifist Patriot
(24,654 posts)BumRushDaShow
(129,440 posts)By Philip Bump
Oct. 10, 2019 at 1:34 p.m. EDT
The last time Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman were in the news, they were the targets of subpoenas from House Democrats as part of the impeachment inquiry involving President Trump. Parnas and Fruman are associates of Trumps personal attorney Rudolph Giuliani. According to their attorney Trumps former attorney John Dowd the pair are also represented by Giuliani, which conveniently shields their communications with Giuliani under attorney-client privilege. If that set of interactions seems complex, buckle up.
On Wednesday evening, Parnas and Fruman were arrested in Virginia. The pair were two of four individuals named in an indictment obtained by federal prosecutors investigating campaign finance violations involving excessive campaign contributions and illegal foreign spending. Whats described in the indictment is a complex set of interactions and campaign payments with Parnas and Fruman at the center.
In walking through their interactions, its important to remember one bit of context. The impeachment inquiry targeting Trump focuses on his interactions with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. During a call in late July, Trump asked that Zelensky and Ukraine investigate former vice president Joe Biden. That request was the culmination of an effort by Giuliani to elevate now-debunked allegations targeting the potential 2020 Democratic nominee. Giulianis investigation was itself aided by Parnas and Fruman. During the Trump-Zelensky call, the pair also discussed former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch. The indictment focuses on a few specific incidents involving Parnas and Fruman.
One part of the indictment involves their interactions with an unnamed politician, identified in later reporting as former congressman Pete Sessions of Texas. Sessions (R) was the beneficiary of political contributions from Parnas, including a contribution that the indictment alleges was made with money provided by Fruman. Fruman and Parnas pushed Sessions to call for Yovanovitchs ouster as ambassador. Sessions sent a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in May 2018 calling for Yovanovitch to be fired. The same day the letter was sent, Parnas posted a now-deleted photo of himself with Sessions. The indictment suggests that the effort to oust Yovanovitch by the pair came in part from pressure by a Ukrainian politician.
More: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/10/10/web-political-connections-surrounding-two-indicted-giuliani-associates/
MelissaB
(16,420 posts)Here is what the article says about this.
BumRushDaShow
(129,440 posts)But I am wondering who the 2 "Nevada politicians" are! (could be referencing the Senate seat and a House seat)
pecosbob
(7,543 posts)Hoping that it's Mark Amodei would be rank speculation
BumRushDaShow
(129,440 posts)pecosbob
(7,543 posts)The House candidate could be Mark Amodei, currently the only Republican federal office holder from Nevada.
BumRushDaShow
(129,440 posts)funding against the Democrats running (for Senator and for the lone GOP House seat) similar to how the chart shows 2 Democrats attacked by the PAC money (Biden & Manchin).
BumRushDaShow
(129,440 posts)Both lost.
dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)how they framed a Nevada politician via a prostitute murder charge, thus got him in their pocket.
Seems so tame now....
dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)this is literally churning my stomach, tho.
BumRushDaShow
(129,440 posts)just from posts here on DU with others who received money from those 2 guys.
pecosbob
(7,543 posts)I feel like I'm swimming in a bowl of Captain Crunch.
erronis
(15,328 posts)Still, there are days that make me happy to read the news.
Too often since the (R)epuglicons installed their trumpet, not anticipating the latest absurdity/atrocity.
Marthe48
(17,018 posts)attack people as commies in the 1950s and incubate generational criminal traitors in the shadows. So overwhelming that there are so many crooks and traitors attracted to government positions.
erronis
(15,328 posts)Make your potential hosts doubt themselves and them sell them a fake "anti-virus" solution.
"You Can Only Trust Us Since We Say So. And We Are On T.V.!"
bucolic_frolic
(43,281 posts)Oligarchs made billions in the breakup of the Soviet Union, and some of our GOP politicians found a way to join the caravan
FM123
(10,054 posts)triron
(22,020 posts)benld74
(9,909 posts)ProudProgressiveNow
(6,129 posts)magicarpet
(14,167 posts)Russians under that rock,...
Russians under every rock !
Baked Potato
(7,733 posts)2naSalit
(86,775 posts)Proud Liberal Dem
(24,437 posts)Talking about Free and Sessions and their Russian ties not too long ago
Hotler
(11,445 posts)emmaverybo
(8,144 posts)Republic published his article Trumps Russian Laundromat. Then he did the much denser, less user-friendly, but still mind-blowing book House of Putin, House of Trump. Missed this. Thanks. Worse and worser as the plot sickens.
SleeplessinSoCal
(9,144 posts)So wrong.
"Washington(CNN)President Donald Trump's new national security adviser Robert O'Brien told White House staff today he will slash the National Security Council staff by nearly half and increase the percentage of political appointees in the process, sources tell CNN."