Difference between revisions of "Ukrainian collusion"

From Conservapedia
Jump to: navigation, search
(Isikoff)
(Spelling, grammar, and general cleanup, typos fixed: parliment → parliament, didn’t → didn't (2), Yatsenyuk’s → Yatsenyuk's (21))
Line 16: Line 16:
 
Nuland and Pyatt met with Ukrainian opposition leaders Tyahnybok, Klitschko and Yatsenyuk along with then-president Yanukovych just days later on Feb. 7, 2014. Events moved swiftly. On Feb. 22, 2014, Yanukovych was removed as President of Ukraine and fled to Russia. On Feb. 27 2014, Yatsenyuk, the candidate favored by Nuland, was installed as Prime Minister. Tyahnybok and his [[Svoboda]] party were brought into the new government, Klitschko was left out.  
 
Nuland and Pyatt met with Ukrainian opposition leaders Tyahnybok, Klitschko and Yatsenyuk along with then-president Yanukovych just days later on Feb. 7, 2014. Events moved swiftly. On Feb. 22, 2014, Yanukovych was removed as President of Ukraine and fled to Russia. On Feb. 27 2014, Yatsenyuk, the candidate favored by Nuland, was installed as Prime Minister. Tyahnybok and his [[Svoboda]] party were brought into the new government, Klitschko was left out.  
  
On April 18, 2014, [[Hunter Biden]] was appointed to the Board of Directors for Burisma–one of the largest natural gas companies in Ukraine. Four days later, on April 22 2014, Vice President Biden traveled to Ukraine, offering his political support and $50 million in aid for Yatsenyuk’s shaky new government. Petro Poroshenko, a billionaire politician, was elected as president of Ukraine on May 25, 2014.
+
On April 18, 2014, [[Hunter Biden]] was appointed to the Board of Directors for Burisma–one of the largest natural gas companies in Ukraine. Four days later, on April 22 2014, Vice President Biden traveled to Ukraine, offering his political support and $50 million in aid for Yatsenyuk's shaky new government. Petro Poroshenko, a billionaire politician, was elected as president of Ukraine on May 25, 2014.
  
 
Biden became close to both men and helped Ukraine to obtain a four-year $17.5 billion IMF package in March 2015.
 
Biden became close to both men and helped Ukraine to obtain a four-year $17.5 billion IMF package in March 2015.
Line 43: Line 43:
  
 
===Fusion GPS===
 
===Fusion GPS===
[[Christopher Steele]] began the infamous ''[[Steele dossier]]'' in a series of conversations with top [[U.S. Justice Department]] official [[Bruce Ohr]] between December 2015 and February 2016 about securing evidence against Manafort. The FBI set up shop in the U.S. embassy in Kiev to assist its Ukraine–Manafort inquiry while using Steele as an informant at the start of its Russia probe. [[Nellie Ohr]], wife of Bruce Ohr and a researcher for Fusion GPS, testified to Congress that some of Fusion GPS’s research came from a Ukrainian member of parliment.<ref>https://dailycaller.com/2019/02/06/nellie-ohr-fusion-gps-leshchenko-ukraine/</ref> The Clinton campaign was using [[Perkins Coie]] law firm to pay [[FusionGPS]] for Steele’s work to stop Trump from winning the presidency, at the same time Steele was a paid FBI informant.
+
[[Christopher Steele]] began the infamous ''[[Steele dossier]]'' in a series of conversations with top [[U.S. Justice Department]] official [[Bruce Ohr]] between December 2015 and February 2016 about securing evidence against Manafort. The FBI set up shop in the U.S. embassy in Kiev to assist its Ukraine–Manafort inquiry while using Steele as an informant at the start of its Russia probe. [[Nellie Ohr]], wife of Bruce Ohr and a researcher for Fusion GPS, testified to Congress that some of Fusion GPS's research came from a Ukrainian member of parliament.<ref>https://dailycaller.com/2019/02/06/nellie-ohr-fusion-gps-leshchenko-ukraine/</ref> The Clinton campaign was using [[Perkins Coie]] law firm to pay [[FusionGPS]] for Steele's work to stop Trump from winning the presidency, at the same time Steele was a paid FBI informant.
  
The charges against Paul Manafort originated with Serhiy Leshenka, a Ukrainian member of parliament, and Artem Sytnyk, director of Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU). Leshenko provided the information to Clinton campaign staffer [[Alexandra Chalupa]],<ref>The DNC paid Chalupa $412,000 from 2004 to June 2016, according to Federal Election Commission records.</ref>  who passed the information to [[Michael Isikoff]] of Yahoo News. Isikoff reported  the story on August 18, 2016, one of the first public mentions of supposed “[[Russia collusion]]” by the Trump team.  
+
The charges against Paul Manafort originated with Serhiy Leshenka, a Ukrainian member of parliament, and Artem Sytnyk, director of Ukraine's National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU). Leshenko provided the information to Clinton campaign staffer [[Alexandra Chalupa]],<ref>The DNC paid Chalupa $412,000 from 2004 to June 2016, according to Federal Election Commission records.</ref>  who passed the information to [[Michael Isikoff]] of Yahoo News. Isikoff reported  the story on August 18, 2016, one of the first public mentions of supposed “[[Russia collusion]]” by the Trump team.  
  
 
Chalupa also passed the Black Ledger info on to [[Glenn Simpson]] at Fusion GPS, who passed them on to staffer [[Nellie Ohr]]. Ohr passed the info on to her husband Bruce Ohr.  On May 30, 2016, Nellie Ohr sent an email to Bruce Ohr and [[Justice Department]] staffers under the subject line “Reported Trove of Documents on Ukrainian Party of Regions’ ‘Black Cashbox.’”
 
Chalupa also passed the Black Ledger info on to [[Glenn Simpson]] at Fusion GPS, who passed them on to staffer [[Nellie Ohr]]. Ohr passed the info on to her husband Bruce Ohr.  On May 30, 2016, Nellie Ohr sent an email to Bruce Ohr and [[Justice Department]] staffers under the subject line “Reported Trove of Documents on Ukrainian Party of Regions’ ‘Black Cashbox.’”
Line 62: Line 62:
 
NABU has repeatedly refused to make the Memorandum of Understanding with the FBI public and went to court in 2018 to prevent its release. After receiving an unfavorable opinion from the Kyiv District Administrative Court, NABU appealed the ruling which was overturned in their favor by the Sixth Administrative Court of Appeal.
 
NABU has repeatedly refused to make the Memorandum of Understanding with the FBI public and went to court in 2018 to prevent its release. After receiving an unfavorable opinion from the Kyiv District Administrative Court, NABU appealed the ruling which was overturned in their favor by the Sixth Administrative Court of Appeal.
  
Serhiy Leshchenko became the subject of an investigation in December 2018 after a [[Kyiv]] court ruled that Leshchenko, along with NABU Director Artem Sytnyk acted illegally when they illegally leaked Manafort’s name in the Black Ledger.<ref>https://www.kyivpost.com/ukraine-politics/publication-of-manafort-payments-violated-law-interfered-in-us-election-kyiv-court-rules.html</ref><ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/12/world/europe/ukraine-paul-manafort.html Ukrainian CourtRuled Manafort Disclosure Caused 'Meddling' in U.S. Election], ''The New York Times.''</ref> The court ruled the disclosure broke the law and  “led to interference in the electoral processes of the United States in 2016 and harmed the interests of Ukraine as a state."<ref>https://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/434892-senior-ukrainian-justice-official-says-hes-opened-probe-into-us-election</ref>
+
Serhiy Leshchenko became the subject of an investigation in December 2018 after a [[Kyiv]] court ruled that Leshchenko, along with NABU Director Artem Sytnyk acted illegally when they illegally leaked Manafort's name in the Black Ledger.<ref>https://www.kyivpost.com/ukraine-politics/publication-of-manafort-payments-violated-law-interfered-in-us-election-kyiv-court-rules.html</ref><ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/12/world/europe/ukraine-paul-manafort.html Ukrainian CourtRuled Manafort Disclosure Caused 'Meddling' in U.S. Election], ''The New York Times.''</ref> The court ruled the disclosure broke the law and  “led to interference in the electoral processes of the United States in 2016 and harmed the interests of Ukraine as a state."<ref>https://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/434892-senior-ukrainian-justice-official-says-hes-opened-probe-into-us-election</ref>
  
 
In Dec. 2017, Ukrainian Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko accused Sytnyk of allowing the FBI to conduct illegal operations in Ukraine, claiming that the “U.S. law enforcers were allegedly invited without the permission required and in breach of the necessary procedures.” Lutsenko continued, asking “who actually let the foreign special service act in Ukraine?”
 
In Dec. 2017, Ukrainian Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko accused Sytnyk of allowing the FBI to conduct illegal operations in Ukraine, claiming that the “U.S. law enforcers were allegedly invited without the permission required and in breach of the necessary procedures.” Lutsenko continued, asking “who actually let the foreign special service act in Ukraine?”
  
Taras Chornovil, a Ukrainian political analyst, also questioned the FBI’s activities, writing that “some kind of undercover operations are being conducted in Ukraine with direct participation (or even under control) of the FBI. This means the FBI operatives could have access to classified data or confidential information.”
+
Taras Chornovil, a Ukrainian political analyst, also questioned the FBI's activities, writing that “some kind of undercover operations are being conducted in Ukraine with direct participation (or even under control) of the FBI. This means the FBI operatives could have access to classified data or confidential information.”
  
Prosecutor General Lutsenko called for an audit of NABU, claiming to “possess information of interest to the auditors” and was pushing for Sytnyk’s resignation, along with that of Nazar Kholodnitskiy, the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAP). According to reporting by Euromaiden Press, Lutsenko’s efforts failed “thanks to the reaction from Ukraine’s American partners.”
+
Prosecutor General Lutsenko called for an audit of NABU, claiming to “possess information of interest to the auditors” and was pushing for Sytnyk's resignation, along with that of Nazar Kholodnitskiy, the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAP). According to reporting by Euromaiden Press, Lutsenko's efforts failed “thanks to the reaction from Ukraine’s American partners.”
  
[[Michael Carpenter]], an advisor to former vice-president Joe Biden, personally issued a public warning to Lutsenko and others pushing for Sytnyk’s removal, stating, “If the Rada votes to dismiss the head of the Anticorruption Committee and the head of the NABU, I will recommend cutting all U.S. government assistance to #Ukraine, including security assistance.”
+
[[Michael Carpenter]], an advisor to former vice-president Joe Biden, personally issued a public warning to Lutsenko and others pushing for Sytnyk's removal, stating, “If the Rada votes to dismiss the head of the Anticorruption Committee and the head of the NABU, I will recommend cutting all U.S. government assistance to #Ukraine, including security assistance.”
  
 
===Kiev embassy===
 
===Kiev embassy===
 
Lutsenko accused the Obama-era U.S. Embassy in 2016 of interfering in his office's ability to prosecute corruption cases, saying the U.S. ambassador gave him a list of defendants that he could not pursue, then refused to cooperate in an investigation into alleged misappropriation of U.S. funds to aid Ukraine. Embassy official George Kent wrote, “We are gravely concerned about this investigation for which we see no basis."<ref>https://html1-f.scribdassets.com/6ngpwwr6yo6tov9k/images/1-204cb3458d.jpg</ref> Ukrainian officials said, {{quotebox|The implied message to Ukraine’s prosecutors was clear: Don’t target AntAC in the middle of an America presidential election in which [[Soros]] was backing Hillary Clinton to succeed another Soros favorite, [[Barack Obama]].}}  
 
Lutsenko accused the Obama-era U.S. Embassy in 2016 of interfering in his office's ability to prosecute corruption cases, saying the U.S. ambassador gave him a list of defendants that he could not pursue, then refused to cooperate in an investigation into alleged misappropriation of U.S. funds to aid Ukraine. Embassy official George Kent wrote, “We are gravely concerned about this investigation for which we see no basis."<ref>https://html1-f.scribdassets.com/6ngpwwr6yo6tov9k/images/1-204cb3458d.jpg</ref> Ukrainian officials said, {{quotebox|The implied message to Ukraine’s prosecutors was clear: Don’t target AntAC in the middle of an America presidential election in which [[Soros]] was backing Hillary Clinton to succeed another Soros favorite, [[Barack Obama]].}}  
  
Kostiantyn Kulyk, deputy head of the Prosecutor General’s International Legal Cooperation Department, said senior Ukrainian [[law enforcement]] officials have tried since 2018 to get [[visa]]s from the U.S. Embassy in Kiev to deliver their evidence of Obama-era wrongdoing by [[Democrat]]s to Washington but have been thwarted. “We were supposed to share this information during a working trip to the United States. However, the U.S. ambassador blocked us from obtaining a visa." House Rules Committee chairman Pete Sessions asked [[Secretary of State]] [[Mike Pompeo]] to recall the current U.S. ambassador who has spoken against U.S policy in 2018.<ref>https://html2-f.scribdassets.com/36o8ydebgg6touoh/images/1-b12b1ad1d1.jpg</ref>
+
Kostiantyn Kulyk, deputy head of the Prosecutor General's International Legal Cooperation Department, said senior Ukrainian [[law enforcement]] officials have tried since 2018 to get [[visa]]s from the U.S. Embassy in Kiev to deliver their evidence of Obama-era wrongdoing by [[Democrat]]s to Washington but have been thwarted. “We were supposed to share this information during a working trip to the United States. However, the U.S. ambassador blocked us from obtaining a visa." House Rules Committee chairman Pete Sessions asked [[Secretary of State]] [[Mike Pompeo]] to recall the current U.S. ambassador who has spoken against U.S policy in 2018.<ref>https://html2-f.scribdassets.com/36o8ydebgg6touoh/images/1-b12b1ad1d1.jpg</ref>
  
 
Kulyk said one focus of investigators has been as disbursements of much as $7 billion in Ukrainian funds spirited unlawfully out of the country  and moved to the United States by businessmen friendly to the prior regime of Viktor Yanukovych. Ukrainian businessmen “authorized payments for lobbying efforts directed at the U.S. government,” he told me. “In addition, these payments were made from funds that were acquired during the [[money-laundering]] operation. We have information that a U.S. company was involved in these payments.” That company is tied to one or more prominent Democrats.
 
Kulyk said one focus of investigators has been as disbursements of much as $7 billion in Ukrainian funds spirited unlawfully out of the country  and moved to the United States by businessmen friendly to the prior regime of Viktor Yanukovych. Ukrainian businessmen “authorized payments for lobbying efforts directed at the U.S. government,” he told me. “In addition, these payments were made from funds that were acquired during the [[money-laundering]] operation. We have information that a U.S. company was involved in these payments.” That company is tied to one or more prominent Democrats.
  
Ukrainian investigators also gathered evidence that money paid to a Democrat allegedly was hidden by Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) during the 2016 election under pressure from the Obama administration. “In the course of this investigation, we found that there was a situation during which influence was exerted on the NABU, so that the name of the American would not be mentioned.<ref>https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/437719-ukrainian-to-us-prosecutors-why-dont-you-want-our-evidence-on-democrats</ref>
+
Ukrainian investigators also gathered evidence that money paid to a Democrat allegedly was hidden by Ukraine's National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) during the 2016 election under pressure from the Obama administration. “In the course of this investigation, we found that there was a situation during which influence was exerted on the NABU, so that the name of the American would not be mentioned.<ref>https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/437719-ukrainian-to-us-prosecutors-why-dont-you-want-our-evidence-on-democrats</ref>
  
 
===Manafort===
 
===Manafort===
Line 92: Line 92:
 
Just days prior to Manafort’s hiring, on March 24, 2016, Chalupa spoke with the Ukrainian ambassador to the United States, Valeriy Chaly, and told him of concerns she had regarding Manafort. Reportedly, her concerns were initially rebuffed as Chaly didn’t think Trump had a real chance of winning the presidency.
 
Just days prior to Manafort’s hiring, on March 24, 2016, Chalupa spoke with the Ukrainian ambassador to the United States, Valeriy Chaly, and told him of concerns she had regarding Manafort. Reportedly, her concerns were initially rebuffed as Chaly didn’t think Trump had a real chance of winning the presidency.
  
According to ''Politico'', the day after Manafort’s hiring, Chalupa provided a briefing on “Manafort, Trump and their ties to Russia” to the DNC’s communications staff. Notably, “with the DNC’s encouragement,” Chalupa asked the Ukrainian Embassy staff to attempt to arrange an interview with Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko and have him discuss Manafort’s ties to former Ukrainian President Yanukovych. The Ukrainian Embassy reportedly declined the request but, according to Chalupa, did begin working with reporters who were researching Trump.
+
According to ''Politico'', the day after Manafort’s hiring, Chalupa provided a briefing on “Manafort, Trump and their ties to Russia” to the DNC's communications staff. Notably, “with the DNC’s encouragement,” Chalupa asked the Ukrainian Embassy staff to attempt to arrange an interview with Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko and have him discuss Manafort's ties to former Ukrainian President Yanukovych. The Ukrainian Embassy reportedly declined the request but, according to Chalupa, did begin working with reporters who were researching Trump.
  
Andrii Telizhenko, who worked in the Ukrainian Embassy under one of Chaly’s top aides, Oksana Shulyar, has repeatedly stated that Chalupa was working closely with the Ukrainian Embassy to obtain information on Trump. In an interview with the Gateway Pundit, Telizhenko said he met Chalupa in the spring of 2016 at the Ukrainian Embassy, where Chalupa told him she was “a DNC operative working for the DNC” and the “Clinton campaign.” Telizhenko continued, noting that Chalupa said she was “collecting any dirt or background information on Manafort, presidential candidate Trump or any other campaign official from the Trump campaign” and was looking for “connections to Russia or the FSB or Russian mob, or Ukrainian mob, etc.” According to Telizhenko, Chalupa said the information would “be used for committee hearings in Congress under a congresswoman.”<ref>Rep. [[Marcy Kaptur]].</ref> Telizhenko didn’t disclose the identity of the congresswoman, noting, “I don’t want to mention her name on record.”
+
Andrii Telizhenko, who worked in the Ukrainian Embassy under one of Chaly's top aides, Oksana Shulyar, has repeatedly stated that Chalupa was working closely with the Ukrainian Embassy to obtain information on Trump. In an interview with the Gateway Pundit, Telizhenko said he met Chalupa in the spring of 2016 at the Ukrainian Embassy, where Chalupa told him she was “a DNC operative working for the DNC” and the “Clinton campaign.” Telizhenko continued, noting that Chalupa said she was “collecting any dirt or background information on Manafort, presidential candidate Trump or any other campaign official from the Trump campaign” and was looking for “connections to Russia or the FSB or Russian mob, or Ukrainian mob, etc.” According to Telizhenko, Chalupa said the information would “be used for committee hearings in Congress under a congresswoman.”<ref>Rep. [[Marcy Kaptur]].</ref> Telizhenko didn't disclose the identity of the congresswoman, noting, “I don’t want to mention her name on record.”
  
 
In January 2017, Telizhenko told ''Politico'' that Chalupa said, “If we can get enough information on Paul [Manafort] or Trump’s involvement with Russia, she can get a hearing in Congress by September.”
 
In January 2017, Telizhenko told ''Politico'' that Chalupa said, “If we can get enough information on Paul [Manafort] or Trump’s involvement with Russia, she can get a hearing in Congress by September.”
Line 103: Line 103:
  
 
===Isikoff===
 
===Isikoff===
On April 26, 2016, Yahoo News investigative reporter Michael Isikoff published a story about Paul Manafort’s business dealings with Russian oligarch [[Oleg Deripaska]].
+
On April 26, 2016, Yahoo News investigative reporter Michael Isikoff published a story about Paul Manafort's business dealings with Russian oligarch [[Oleg Deripaska]].
  
 
The Isikoff article referenced an investment fund, Pericles Emerging Markets, which was started by Manafort and several partners in 2007. According to ''[[The New York Times]]'', Deripaska was the financial backer of the fund and agreed to commit as much as $100 million, although he apparently only invested $18.9 million in 2008 to finance the purchase of Black Sea Cable, a Ukrainian telecommunications company. Pericles is now defunct, and Deripaska sued Manafort in a Cayman Islands court, seeking to recover his investment.
 
The Isikoff article referenced an investment fund, Pericles Emerging Markets, which was started by Manafort and several partners in 2007. According to ''[[The New York Times]]'', Deripaska was the financial backer of the fund and agreed to commit as much as $100 million, although he apparently only invested $18.9 million in 2008 to finance the purchase of Black Sea Cable, a Ukrainian telecommunications company. Pericles is now defunct, and Deripaska sued Manafort in a Cayman Islands court, seeking to recover his investment.
Line 113: Line 113:
 
Appearing with her was Isikoff, with whom she was apparently working and whom she had invited, according to a May 3, 2016, email that Chalupa sent to Luis Miranda, communications director of the DNC, and was published by [[Wikileaks]]:<ref>https://wikileaks.org/dnc-emails/emailid/3962</ref> {{quotebox|“I spoke to a delegation of 68 investigative journalists from Ukraine last Wednesday at the Library of Congress—the Open World Society’s forum—they put me on the program to speak specifically about Paul Manafort and I invited Michael Isikoff, whom I’ve been working with for the past few weeks and connected him to the Ukrainians.”}}
 
Appearing with her was Isikoff, with whom she was apparently working and whom she had invited, according to a May 3, 2016, email that Chalupa sent to Luis Miranda, communications director of the DNC, and was published by [[Wikileaks]]:<ref>https://wikileaks.org/dnc-emails/emailid/3962</ref> {{quotebox|“I spoke to a delegation of 68 investigative journalists from Ukraine last Wednesday at the Library of Congress—the Open World Society’s forum—they put me on the program to speak specifically about Paul Manafort and I invited Michael Isikoff, whom I’ve been working with for the past few weeks and connected him to the Ukrainians.”}}
  
Isikoff is the same reporter who published an article about Trump campaign foreign policy adviser [[Carter Page]] on Sept. 23, 2016. The article, headlined ''U.S. Intel Officials Probe Ties Between Trump Adviser and Kremlin,'' was based on an interview with [[Christopher Steele]]. Isikoff’s article would later be used as corroborating information by the FBI in the [[FISA]] warrant application on Page.
+
Isikoff is the same reporter who published an article about Trump campaign foreign policy adviser [[Carter Page]] on Sept. 23, 2016. The article, headlined ''U.S. Intel Officials Probe Ties Between Trump Adviser and Kremlin,'' was based on an interview with [[Christopher Steele]]. Isikoff's article would later be used as corroborating information by the FBI in the [[FISA]] warrant application on Page.
  
Chalupa’s email closed with a reference to something larger that would become public in the coming weeks: {{quotebox|“More offline tomorrow since there is a big Trump component you and Lauren need to be aware of that will hit in next few weeks and something I’m working on you should be aware of.”}}
+
Chalupa's email closed with a reference to something larger that would become public in the coming weeks: {{quotebox|“More offline tomorrow since there is a big Trump component you and Lauren need to be aware of that will hit in next few weeks and something I’m working on you should be aware of.”}}
  
 
In late July, according to the ''Politico'' article, Chalupa left the DNC to work full-time on her research into Manafort. Around the same time, on Aug. 4, 2016, Chaly, the Ukrainian ambassador, wrote an op-ed in ''The Hill'' against candidate Trump, noting that “recent comments by [[Republican]] nominee [[Donald Trump]] about the Ukrainian peninsula of [[Crimea]]—occupied by Russia since March 2014—have raised serious concerns in Kyiv and beyond Ukraine.”
 
In late July, according to the ''Politico'' article, Chalupa left the DNC to work full-time on her research into Manafort. Around the same time, on Aug. 4, 2016, Chaly, the Ukrainian ambassador, wrote an op-ed in ''The Hill'' against candidate Trump, noting that “recent comments by [[Republican]] nominee [[Donald Trump]] about the Ukrainian peninsula of [[Crimea]]—occupied by Russia since March 2014—have raised serious concerns in Kyiv and beyond Ukraine.”
Line 134: Line 134:
 
On July 24, 2017, Sen. [[Chuck Grassley]] (R-Iowa) sent a letter to Deputy Attorney General [[Rod Rosenstein]] regarding Chalupa, noting that her actions {{quotebox|appear to show that she was simultaneously working on behalf of a foreign government, Ukraine, and on behalf of the DNC and Clinton campaign, in an effort to influence not only the U.S. voting population but U.S. government officials.}}
 
On July 24, 2017, Sen. [[Chuck Grassley]] (R-Iowa) sent a letter to Deputy Attorney General [[Rod Rosenstein]] regarding Chalupa, noting that her actions {{quotebox|appear to show that she was simultaneously working on behalf of a foreign government, Ukraine, and on behalf of the DNC and Clinton campaign, in an effort to influence not only the U.S. voting population but U.S. government officials.}}
  
Grassley asked why the [[DOJ]] hadn’t required Chalupa to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act and also asked if the DOJ was {{quotebox|investigating links and coordination between the Ukrainian government and individuals associated with the campaign of [[Hillary Clinton]] or the Democratic National Committee? If not, why not?}}
+
Grassley asked why the [[DOJ]] hadn't required Chalupa to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act and also asked if the DOJ was {{quotebox|investigating links and coordination between the Ukrainian government and individuals associated with the campaign of [[Hillary Clinton]] or the Democratic National Committee? If not, why not?}}
  
 
==Greg Craig and the Clinton Foundation==
 
==Greg Craig and the Clinton Foundation==
On April 11, 2019, [[Greg Craig]], [[Obama]]’s former White House Counsel and a partner at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, was indicted for lying about and concealing his work in Ukraine. Craig, who reportedly worked closely with Manafort, was paid more than $4 million to produce an “independent” report justifying Ukraine’s trial and conviction of the former prime minister, [[Yulia Tymoshenko]]. Notably, Craig’s name was not included in the “Black Ledger” leak from Leshchenko and Sytnyk.
+
On April 11, 2019, [[Greg Craig]], [[Obama]]’s former White House Counsel and a partner at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, was indicted for lying about and concealing his work in Ukraine. Craig, who reportedly worked closely with Manafort, was paid more than $4 million to produce an “independent” report justifying Ukraine's trial and conviction of the former prime minister, [[Yulia Tymoshenko]]. Notably, Craig's name was not included in the “Black Ledger” leak from Leshchenko and Sytnyk.
  
 
The indictment notes that “a wealthy private Ukrainian” was fully funding the report. In a YouTube video, Craig publicly stated that “it was Doug Schoen who brought this project to me, and he told me he was acting on behalf of [[Victor Pinchuk]], who was a pro-western, Ukrainian businessman who helped to fund the project.”
 
The indictment notes that “a wealthy private Ukrainian” was fully funding the report. In a YouTube video, Craig publicly stated that “it was Doug Schoen who brought this project to me, and he told me he was acting on behalf of [[Victor Pinchuk]], who was a pro-western, Ukrainian businessman who helped to fund the project.”
Line 159: Line 159:
 
Schoen also helped Pinchuk establish ties with the [[Clinton Foundation]]. The ''[[Wall Street Journal]]'' reported on March 19, 2015, how Schoen connected Pinchuk with senior Clinton State Department staffers in order to pressure former Ukrainian President Yanukovych to release Yulia Tymoshenko–a political rival of Yanukovych–from jail. And the relationship between Pinchuk and the Clintons continued. According to the ''Kyiv Post'': {{quotebox|“Clinton and her husband [[Bill Clinton|Bill, the 42nd U.S. president]], have been paid speakers at the annual YES and other Pinchuk events. They describe themselves as friends of Pinchuk, who is known internationally as a businessman and philanthropist.”}}
 
Schoen also helped Pinchuk establish ties with the [[Clinton Foundation]]. The ''[[Wall Street Journal]]'' reported on March 19, 2015, how Schoen connected Pinchuk with senior Clinton State Department staffers in order to pressure former Ukrainian President Yanukovych to release Yulia Tymoshenko–a political rival of Yanukovych–from jail. And the relationship between Pinchuk and the Clintons continued. According to the ''Kyiv Post'': {{quotebox|“Clinton and her husband [[Bill Clinton|Bill, the 42nd U.S. president]], have been paid speakers at the annual YES and other Pinchuk events. They describe themselves as friends of Pinchuk, who is known internationally as a businessman and philanthropist.”}}
  
Although exact numbers are not clear, reports filed by the Clinton Foundation indicate that as much as $25 million of Pinchuk’s donations went to the Clinton organization.
+
Although exact numbers are not clear, reports filed by the Clinton Foundation indicate that as much as $25 million of Pinchuk's donations went to the Clinton organization.
  
 
Pinchuk also has ties to Serhiy Leshchenko, the Ukrainian member of parliament who leaked the information on Manafort. Leshchenko had been a frequent speaker at the Ukrainian Breakfast, a traditional private event held at Davos, Switzerland and hosted by the Victor Pinchuk Foundation and has also been pictured with Pinchuk at multiple other events.
 
Pinchuk also has ties to Serhiy Leshchenko, the Ukrainian member of parliament who leaked the information on Manafort. Leshchenko had been a frequent speaker at the Ukrainian Breakfast, a traditional private event held at Davos, Switzerland and hosted by the Victor Pinchuk Foundation and has also been pictured with Pinchuk at multiple other events.

Revision as of 07:22, May 19, 2019

The Obama administration tried to convince the American people through US intelligence agencies and the mainstream media that Vladimir Putin had colluded with the Trump campaign to elect Donald Trump, using the Steele dossier as evidence. The falsified document was bought and paid for by the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee.
Illustration on the Steele Dossier by Alexander Hunter/The Washington Times[1]

Prominent Democrats, the DNC, and the Clinton campaign colluded with Ukraine to interfere in the 2016 presidential election and help Hillary Clinton win.

Ukrainian coup

Victoria Nuland

Oleh Tyahnybok (left) Victoria Nuland (center) Arseniy Yatsenyuk (right) Vitali Klitschko (rear).

On or shortly before Feb. 4, 2014, Victoria Nuland, the assistant secretary for European and Eurasian affairs in the Obama state department, had a conversation with U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, Geoffrey Pyatt, which was intercepted and leaked.[2]

In the call, Nuland and Pyatt discussed the ouster of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and the installation of opposition leader Arseniy Yatsenyuk as prime minister. Nuland favored opposition leader Yatsenyuk over his main rivals Vitali Klitschko and Oleh Tyahnybok.[3]

Nuland told Pyatt, “I think Yats is the guy who’s got the economic experience, the governing experience. He’s the… what he needs is Klitsch and Tyahnybok on the outside.”

Towards the end of the conversation, then-Vice President Joe Biden was discussed as being willing to help cement the changeover in Ukraine:

Pyatt: “We want to try to get somebody with an international personality to come out here and help to midwife this thing. The other issue is some kind of outreach to Yanukovych but we probably regroup on that tomorrow as we see how things start to fall into place.”

Nuland: “So on that piece Geoff, when I wrote the note [Biden’s national security adviser Jake] Sullivan’s come back to me VFR [direct to me], saying you need Biden and I said probably tomorrow for an atta-boy and to get the deets [details] to stick. So Biden’s willing.”[4]

Nuland and Pyatt met with Ukrainian opposition leaders Tyahnybok, Klitschko and Yatsenyuk along with then-president Yanukovych just days later on Feb. 7, 2014. Events moved swiftly. On Feb. 22, 2014, Yanukovych was removed as President of Ukraine and fled to Russia. On Feb. 27 2014, Yatsenyuk, the candidate favored by Nuland, was installed as Prime Minister. Tyahnybok and his Svoboda party were brought into the new government, Klitschko was left out.

On April 18, 2014, Hunter Biden was appointed to the Board of Directors for Burisma–one of the largest natural gas companies in Ukraine. Four days later, on April 22 2014, Vice President Biden traveled to Ukraine, offering his political support and $50 million in aid for Yatsenyuk's shaky new government. Petro Poroshenko, a billionaire politician, was elected as president of Ukraine on May 25, 2014.

Biden became close to both men and helped Ukraine to obtain a four-year $17.5 billion IMF package in March 2015.

Joe Biden

Joe Biden was the Obama administration’s point-person on policy towards Ukraine. Biden traveled to Ukraine 17 times during his tenure as vice president. Biden steered $1.8 billion in aid to the Ukrainian government. Four months later while his son, Hunter Biden got a sweetheart deal with Burisma, an energy company. In a 14-month period Burisima paid $3.1 million into an account where Hunter Biden was getting paid. U.S. banking records show Hunter Biden's firm, Rosemont Seneca Partners LLC, received regular transfers — usually more than $166,000 a month — from Burisma from spring 2014 through fall 2015, during a period when Joe Biden was the main U.S. official dealing with Ukraine. Biden used U.S. taxpayer government resources for the personal gain of his family.[5]

Ukraine prosecutors would like to present evidence to Attorney General William Barr regarding Joe Biden's interference and threats in a corruption probe involving his son, Hunter Biden.

Vice President Biden bragged to the Council on Foreign Relations to have caused the firing of a Ukraine prosecutor who was leading a wide-ranging corruption probe into Burisma, a natural gas firm that employed Biden's younger son, Hunter Biden, as a board member.[6] In April 2014 Hunter Biden joined the board of Burisma in April 2014 despite having no experience in the oil and gas industry.[7]In December 2015 The New York Times reported on Joe Biden, His Son and the Case Against a Ukrainian Oligarch. The story focused on Hunter Biden, Burisma Holdings, and its owner, Mykola Zlochevsky, who was Ukraine's ecology minister under former President Victor Yanukovych.[8]

Biden threatened Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko that the Obama administration would pull $1 billion in U.S. loan guarantees, sending Ukraine toward insolvency, if it didn't immediately fire Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin who was investigating his son, Hunter. Biden recounted,
"'You’re not getting the billion'. I’m going to be leaving here in, I think it was about six hours. I looked at them and said: ‘I’m leaving in six hours. If the prosecutor is not fired, you’re not getting the money'...Well, [SOB], he got fired. And they put in place someone who was solid at the time."[9][10]

Yuriy Lutsenko, who replaced Shokin as the prosecutor looking into Burisma, said the evidence in the Burisma case he'd like to present to William Barr, particularly the vice president's intervention.

Between April 2014 and October 2015, more than $3 million was paid out by Burisma to an account linked to Biden's and Devon Archer's Rosemont Seneca firm, according to the financial records placed in a federal court file in Manhattan in another case against Archer. The bank records show that, on most months when Burisma money flowed, two wire transfers of $83,333.33 each were sent to the Rosemont Seneca–connected account on the same day. The same Rosemont Seneca–linked account typically then paid Hunter Biden one or more payments ranging from $5,000 to $25,000 each. Ukrainian prosecutors reviewed internal company documents and wanted to interview Hunter Biden and Archer about why they had received such payments, but couldn't because of Joe Biden's intervention.

Rosemont Seneca Partners

Hunter Biden, Joe Biden's son, and Christopher Heinz, John Kerry stepson, formed Rosemont Seneca Partners, a private equity firm in 2009 with their friend, Devon Archer. The three friends established a series of related LLCs.[11] It was anchored to Rosemont Capital, the alternative investment fund of the Heinz family fortune.[12]. The fund grew quickly. According to an email revealed as part of a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation, Rosemont described themselves as “a $2.4 billion private equity firm co-owned by Hunter Biden and Chris Heinz,” with Devon Archer as “Managing Partner.”[13]

Black ledger files

Ukrainian prosecutors are looking into whether the country's law enforcement system was illegally used to meddle in the United States' 2016 Presidential election. Ukraine Prosecutor General Yurii Lutsenko is investigating whether the agency he heads leaked Paul Manafort's financial records to American media in April 2016 to help Hillary Clinton's campaign. Manafort eventually resigned as the Trump campaign chairman over negative American media publicity. The so-called black ledger files were leaked two years after the FBI investigated Manafort's Ukrainian business activities but declined to bring charges.

A court has ruled that the leak was “an illegal intrusion into the American election campaign.” A Ukrainian law enforcement agency involved had frequent contact with the Obama administration’s embassy in Kiev at the time. Politico reported on evidence of Ukraine’s Washington embassy colluding to help the Clinton campaign discredit Trump. “A Ukrainian-American operative who was consulting for the Democratic National Committee met with top officials in the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington in an effort to expose ties between Trump, top campaign aide Paul Manafort and Russia."[14]

Ukraine's chief prosecutor Yurii Lutsenko, before becoming Prosecutor General, was a major activist against Russian influence in his country during the tenure of President Viktor Yanukovych. He became prosecutor general in 2016 as part of anti-corruption reforms instituted by President Petro Poroshenko,[15] an Obama ally installed after the U.S.-backed coup.

Fusion GPS

Christopher Steele began the infamous Steele dossier in a series of conversations with top U.S. Justice Department official Bruce Ohr between December 2015 and February 2016 about securing evidence against Manafort. The FBI set up shop in the U.S. embassy in Kiev to assist its Ukraine–Manafort inquiry while using Steele as an informant at the start of its Russia probe. Nellie Ohr, wife of Bruce Ohr and a researcher for Fusion GPS, testified to Congress that some of Fusion GPS's research came from a Ukrainian member of parliament.[16] The Clinton campaign was using Perkins Coie law firm to pay FusionGPS for Steele's work to stop Trump from winning the presidency, at the same time Steele was a paid FBI informant.

The charges against Paul Manafort originated with Serhiy Leshenka, a Ukrainian member of parliament, and Artem Sytnyk, director of Ukraine's National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU). Leshenko provided the information to Clinton campaign staffer Alexandra Chalupa,[17] who passed the information to Michael Isikoff of Yahoo News. Isikoff reported the story on August 18, 2016, one of the first public mentions of supposed “Russia collusion” by the Trump team.

Chalupa also passed the Black Ledger info on to Glenn Simpson at Fusion GPS, who passed them on to staffer Nellie Ohr. Ohr passed the info on to her husband Bruce Ohr. On May 30, 2016, Nellie Ohr sent an email to Bruce Ohr and Justice Department staffers under the subject line “Reported Trove of Documents on Ukrainian Party of Regions’ ‘Black Cashbox.’”

NABU and the Obama administration were working closely with Soros NGO Anti-Corruption Action Centre (AntAC) in Ukraine. AntAC received 59 percent of its $1.7 million budget since 2012 from the U.S. State and Justice Departments, and another $290,000 from Soros’s International Renaissance Foundation. When Ukrainian prosecutors investigated AntAC over a missing $4.4 million in U.S. funding aid, they were told by Obama officials to stand down.

NABU

Following the successful overthrow of Ukrainian President Yanukovych, Biden had a direct hand in the formation of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau or NABU as he personally “pushed for the creation of an independent anti-corruption bureau to combat graft."

NABU was formally established in October 2014 in response to pressure from not only from the U.S. State Department and Biden, but also by the International Monetary Fund and the European Commission.

Despite the international push, the fledgling anti-corruption unit took over a year to actually become a functioning unit. During this time, NABU officials began establishing a relationship with the FBI. In early 2016, NABU director Artem Sytnyk announced that his bureau was very close to signing a Memorandum of cooperation with the FBI and by February 2016, the FBI had had a permanent representative onsite at the NABU offices.

On June 5, 2016, Sytnyk met with U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, Geoffrey Pyatt to discuss a more formalized relationship with the FBI and on June 30, 2016, NABU and the FBI entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that allowed for an FBI office onsite at NABU offices to focus on international money laundering cases. The relationship was renewed for an additional two years in June 2017.

NABU has repeatedly refused to make the Memorandum of Understanding with the FBI public and went to court in 2018 to prevent its release. After receiving an unfavorable opinion from the Kyiv District Administrative Court, NABU appealed the ruling which was overturned in their favor by the Sixth Administrative Court of Appeal.

Serhiy Leshchenko became the subject of an investigation in December 2018 after a Kyiv court ruled that Leshchenko, along with NABU Director Artem Sytnyk acted illegally when they illegally leaked Manafort's name in the Black Ledger.[18][19] The court ruled the disclosure broke the law and “led to interference in the electoral processes of the United States in 2016 and harmed the interests of Ukraine as a state."[20]

In Dec. 2017, Ukrainian Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko accused Sytnyk of allowing the FBI to conduct illegal operations in Ukraine, claiming that the “U.S. law enforcers were allegedly invited without the permission required and in breach of the necessary procedures.” Lutsenko continued, asking “who actually let the foreign special service act in Ukraine?”

Taras Chornovil, a Ukrainian political analyst, also questioned the FBI's activities, writing that “some kind of undercover operations are being conducted in Ukraine with direct participation (or even under control) of the FBI. This means the FBI operatives could have access to classified data or confidential information.”

Prosecutor General Lutsenko called for an audit of NABU, claiming to “possess information of interest to the auditors” and was pushing for Sytnyk's resignation, along with that of Nazar Kholodnitskiy, the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAP). According to reporting by Euromaiden Press, Lutsenko's efforts failed “thanks to the reaction from Ukraine’s American partners.”

Michael Carpenter, an advisor to former vice-president Joe Biden, personally issued a public warning to Lutsenko and others pushing for Sytnyk's removal, stating, “If the Rada votes to dismiss the head of the Anticorruption Committee and the head of the NABU, I will recommend cutting all U.S. government assistance to #Ukraine, including security assistance.”

Kiev embassy

Lutsenko accused the Obama-era U.S. Embassy in 2016 of interfering in his office's ability to prosecute corruption cases, saying the U.S. ambassador gave him a list of defendants that he could not pursue, then refused to cooperate in an investigation into alleged misappropriation of U.S. funds to aid Ukraine. Embassy official George Kent wrote, “We are gravely concerned about this investigation for which we see no basis."[21] Ukrainian officials said,
The implied message to Ukraine’s prosecutors was clear: Don’t target AntAC in the middle of an America presidential election in which Soros was backing Hillary Clinton to succeed another Soros favorite, Barack Obama.

Kostiantyn Kulyk, deputy head of the Prosecutor General's International Legal Cooperation Department, said senior Ukrainian law enforcement officials have tried since 2018 to get visas from the U.S. Embassy in Kiev to deliver their evidence of Obama-era wrongdoing by Democrats to Washington but have been thwarted. “We were supposed to share this information during a working trip to the United States. However, the U.S. ambassador blocked us from obtaining a visa." House Rules Committee chairman Pete Sessions asked Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to recall the current U.S. ambassador who has spoken against U.S policy in 2018.[22]

Kulyk said one focus of investigators has been as disbursements of much as $7 billion in Ukrainian funds spirited unlawfully out of the country and moved to the United States by businessmen friendly to the prior regime of Viktor Yanukovych. Ukrainian businessmen “authorized payments for lobbying efforts directed at the U.S. government,” he told me. “In addition, these payments were made from funds that were acquired during the money-laundering operation. We have information that a U.S. company was involved in these payments.” That company is tied to one or more prominent Democrats.

Ukrainian investigators also gathered evidence that money paid to a Democrat allegedly was hidden by Ukraine's National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) during the 2016 election under pressure from the Obama administration. “In the course of this investigation, we found that there was a situation during which influence was exerted on the NABU, so that the name of the American would not be mentioned.[23]

Manafort

According to the Kyiv Post,
“Chalupa said she first came across Manafort after she organized a meeting with then-U.S. President Barack Obama’s National Security Council and leaders of Ukrainian-American organizations in January 2014, to brief the White House about the Euromaidan Revolution that drove President Viktor Yanukovych from power on Feb. 22, 2014.”

In late 2015, Chalupa expanded her research into Manafort to include the Trump campaign and possible ties to Russia.

In January 2016, Chalupa informed an unknown senior DNC official that she believed there was a Russian connection with the Trump campaign. Notably, this theme would be picked up by the Clinton campaign in the summer of 2016. Chalupa also told the official to expect Manafort’s involvement in the Trump campaign.

Chalupa’s forecast proved prescient, as Manafort reached out to the Trump campaign shortly after, on Feb. 29, 2016, through a mutual acquaintance, Thomas J. Barrack Jr. According to Manafort, he and Trump hadn’t been in communication for years until the Trump campaign responded to Manafort’s offer. On March 28, 2016, Manafort was hired by the Trump campaign. He was reportedly initially hired to lead the Trump campaign’s delegate effort, but was soon promoted, and on May 19, 2016, Manafort became Trump’s campaign chairman and chief strategist.

Just days prior to Manafort’s hiring, on March 24, 2016, Chalupa spoke with the Ukrainian ambassador to the United States, Valeriy Chaly, and told him of concerns she had regarding Manafort. Reportedly, her concerns were initially rebuffed as Chaly didn’t think Trump had a real chance of winning the presidency.

According to Politico, the day after Manafort’s hiring, Chalupa provided a briefing on “Manafort, Trump and their ties to Russia” to the DNC's communications staff. Notably, “with the DNC’s encouragement,” Chalupa asked the Ukrainian Embassy staff to attempt to arrange an interview with Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko and have him discuss Manafort's ties to former Ukrainian President Yanukovych. The Ukrainian Embassy reportedly declined the request but, according to Chalupa, did begin working with reporters who were researching Trump.

Andrii Telizhenko, who worked in the Ukrainian Embassy under one of Chaly's top aides, Oksana Shulyar, has repeatedly stated that Chalupa was working closely with the Ukrainian Embassy to obtain information on Trump. In an interview with the Gateway Pundit, Telizhenko said he met Chalupa in the spring of 2016 at the Ukrainian Embassy, where Chalupa told him she was “a DNC operative working for the DNC” and the “Clinton campaign.” Telizhenko continued, noting that Chalupa said she was “collecting any dirt or background information on Manafort, presidential candidate Trump or any other campaign official from the Trump campaign” and was looking for “connections to Russia or the FSB or Russian mob, or Ukrainian mob, etc.” According to Telizhenko, Chalupa said the information would “be used for committee hearings in Congress under a congresswoman.”[24] Telizhenko didn't disclose the identity of the congresswoman, noting, “I don’t want to mention her name on record.”

In January 2017, Telizhenko told Politico that Chalupa said, “If we can get enough information on Paul [Manafort] or Trump’s involvement with Russia, she can get a hearing in Congress by September.”

In a recent tweet, Telizhenko summed the situation succinctly, noting
“The Clinton campaign had a Democratic operative working with Ukraine’s embassy in Washington to research Trump’s Russia ties, as well as a Ukrainian lawmaker feeding information to Fusion GPS.”

The “Democratic operative” refers to Chalupa, while the “Ukrainian lawmaker” refers to Leshchenko.

Isikoff

On April 26, 2016, Yahoo News investigative reporter Michael Isikoff published a story about Paul Manafort's business dealings with Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska.

The Isikoff article referenced an investment fund, Pericles Emerging Markets, which was started by Manafort and several partners in 2007. According to The New York Times, Deripaska was the financial backer of the fund and agreed to commit as much as $100 million, although he apparently only invested $18.9 million in 2008 to finance the purchase of Black Sea Cable, a Ukrainian telecommunications company. Pericles is now defunct, and Deripaska sued Manafort in a Cayman Islands court, seeking to recover his investment.

This same transaction would later be referenced in the Aug. 14, 2016, New York Times article that reported the alleged payments to Manafort from the Party of Regions black box.

On April 28, 2016, Chalupa appeared on a panel to discuss her research on Manafort with a group of 68 Ukrainian investigative journalists gathered at the Library of Congress, for a program sponsored by a U.S. congressional agency called the Open World Leadership Center.

Appearing with her was Isikoff, with whom she was apparently working and whom she had invited, according to a May 3, 2016, email that Chalupa sent to Luis Miranda, communications director of the DNC, and was published by Wikileaks:[25]
“I spoke to a delegation of 68 investigative journalists from Ukraine last Wednesday at the Library of Congress—the Open World Society’s forum—they put me on the program to speak specifically about Paul Manafort and I invited Michael Isikoff, whom I’ve been working with for the past few weeks and connected him to the Ukrainians.”

Isikoff is the same reporter who published an article about Trump campaign foreign policy adviser Carter Page on Sept. 23, 2016. The article, headlined U.S. Intel Officials Probe Ties Between Trump Adviser and Kremlin, was based on an interview with Christopher Steele. Isikoff's article would later be used as corroborating information by the FBI in the FISA warrant application on Page.

Chalupa's email closed with a reference to something larger that would become public in the coming weeks:
“More offline tomorrow since there is a big Trump component you and Lauren need to be aware of that will hit in next few weeks and something I’m working on you should be aware of.”

In late July, according to the Politico article, Chalupa left the DNC to work full-time on her research into Manafort. Around the same time, on Aug. 4, 2016, Chaly, the Ukrainian ambassador, wrote an op-ed in The Hill against candidate Trump, noting that “recent comments by Republican nominee Donald Trump about the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea—occupied by Russia since March 2014—have raised serious concerns in Kyiv and beyond Ukraine.”

Leshchenko and Chalupa

On Aug. 14, 2016, The New York Times broke their blockbuster story alleging that payments to Manafort had been uncovered from the Party of Regions “black box”—the 400-page handwritten ledger released by Leshchenko. The article proved to be a fatal blow for Manafort, who resigned from the Trump campaign just days later.

On Aug. 19, 2016, Isikoff wrote a follow-up article, claiming that Ukrainian anti-corruption investigators were seeking to question Manafort, who had resigned from the Trump campaign that same day. The source for Isikoff was Leshchenko, who told him that the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NACB) of Ukraine “have to interrogate him. … This has to happen.”

Leshchenko held a press conference in Kyiv that same day, where he provided further details from the Party of Regions’ ledger. Leshchenko also provided details directly to Isikoff, telling Yahoo News “that ledgers in the book include 22 separate entries for Manafort—most of them for fees under his contract as a political consultant to the party, but others for exit polls, computers, international observers and other expenses.”

Mentioned in the same article was Chalupa, with whom Isikoff had been working: “I’m ecstatic that Paul Manafort resigned from the Trump campaign,” Chalupa told Yahoo News. “Mr. Manafort is someone who spent the last decades working against our nation’s foreign policy interests overseas, as most recently demonstrated in Ukraine when he worked for Putin’s former puppet president, Viktor Yanukovych.”

Besides Isikoff, it appears Leshchenko had also been in contact with Chalupa. According to a March 20, 2017, report from Fox News, Leshchenko had spoken with Chalupa sometime in 2016:
“Leshchenko said he discussed Manafort’s role in Ukrainian politics with Chalupa, the Democratic consultant, last year. Leshchenko said Manafort ‘kept his eyes blind to all the corruption’ by the Ukrainian politicians he was advising years ago.”
The day after election day, Alexandra Chalupa posted a message to Facebook about work done in conjunction between the Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security and an Anonymous-based organisation known as “The Protectors” based in Washington, DC.
“Homeland Security/DOJ teamed up with a group that is part of Anonymous based in Washington, D.C. called ‘The Protectors’. This group saw a lot of activity during Election Day from the Russians and believe that the voting results projected don’t match the internal and public polls because the voting results were manufactured in favor of Trump in heavily Republican counties in key states, and voting results may have been described for Clinton in key Democratic countries via malware that was placed by the Russians when they hacked the election systems of more than half our states.” [26]
On July 24, 2017, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) sent a letter to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein regarding Chalupa, noting that her actions
appear to show that she was simultaneously working on behalf of a foreign government, Ukraine, and on behalf of the DNC and Clinton campaign, in an effort to influence not only the U.S. voting population but U.S. government officials.
Grassley asked why the DOJ hadn't required Chalupa to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act and also asked if the DOJ was
investigating links and coordination between the Ukrainian government and individuals associated with the campaign of Hillary Clinton or the Democratic National Committee? If not, why not?

Greg Craig and the Clinton Foundation

On April 11, 2019, Greg Craig, Obama’s former White House Counsel and a partner at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, was indicted for lying about and concealing his work in Ukraine. Craig, who reportedly worked closely with Manafort, was paid more than $4 million to produce an “independent” report justifying Ukraine's trial and conviction of the former prime minister, Yulia Tymoshenko. Notably, Craig's name was not included in the “Black Ledger” leak from Leshchenko and Sytnyk.

The indictment notes that “a wealthy private Ukrainian” was fully funding the report. In a YouTube video, Craig publicly stated that “it was Doug Schoen who brought this project to me, and he told me he was acting on behalf of Victor Pinchuk, who was a pro-western, Ukrainian businessman who helped to fund the project.”

“The Firm understood that its work was to be largely funded by Victor Pinchuk,” Skadden wrote in recent FARA filings.

Pinchuk put out a statement on Jan. 21, denying any financial involvement:

“Mr. Pinchuk was not the source of any funds used to pay fees of Skadden in producing their report into the trial and conviction of Yulia Tymoshenko. He was in no way responsible for those costs. Neither Mr. Pinchuk nor companies affiliated with him have ever been a client of Skadden. Mr. Pinchuk and his team had no role in the work done by Skadden, including in the preparation or dissemination of the Skadden report.”

Victor Pinchuk is the founder of Interpipe, a steel pipe manufacturer. He owns Credit Dnipro Bank, several ferroalloy plants and a media empire. He is also married to Elena Pinchuk, the daughter of former Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma.

Pinchuk has been accused of profiting immensely from the purchase of state-owned assets at severely below-market prices through political favoritism.

Between April 4 and April 12, 2016, Ukrainian Parliamentarian Olga Bielkov had four meetings, with Samuel Charap (International Institute for Strategic Studies), Liz Zentos (National Security Council), Michael Kimmage (State Department), and David Kramer (McCain Institute).

FARA documents filed by lobbyist Doug Schoen showed that he was paid $40,000 a month by Victor Pinchuk (page 5)–in part to arrange these meetings.

Schoen attempted to arrange another 72 meetings with congressmen and media (page 10). It is unknown how many of these meetings, if any, took place.

Schoen also helped Pinchuk establish ties with the Clinton Foundation. The Wall Street Journal reported on March 19, 2015, how Schoen connected Pinchuk with senior Clinton State Department staffers in order to pressure former Ukrainian President Yanukovych to release Yulia Tymoshenko–a political rival of Yanukovych–from jail. And the relationship between Pinchuk and the Clintons continued. According to the Kyiv Post:
“Clinton and her husband Bill, the 42nd U.S. president, have been paid speakers at the annual YES and other Pinchuk events. They describe themselves as friends of Pinchuk, who is known internationally as a businessman and philanthropist.”

Although exact numbers are not clear, reports filed by the Clinton Foundation indicate that as much as $25 million of Pinchuk's donations went to the Clinton organization.

Pinchuk also has ties to Serhiy Leshchenko, the Ukrainian member of parliament who leaked the information on Manafort. Leshchenko had been a frequent speaker at the Ukrainian Breakfast, a traditional private event held at Davos, Switzerland and hosted by the Victor Pinchuk Foundation and has also been pictured with Pinchuk at multiple other events.

See also

References

  1. https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/nov/7/hillary-clinton-democrats-deluded-themselves/
  2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WV9J6sxCs5k&t=2s
  3. In televiserd speech in 2004, Tyahnybok made comments such as, "[You are the ones] that the Moscow-Jewish mafia ruling Ukraine fears most" and "They were not afraid and we should not be afraid. They took their automatic guns on their necks and went into the woods, and fought against the Muscovites, Germans, Jews and other scum who wanted to take away our Ukrainian state." In April 2005, Tyahnybok co-signed an open letter to President Viktor Yushchenko calling for a parliamentary investigation into the "criminal activities of organized Jewry in Ukraine.
  4. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26079957
  5. https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/04/03/exclusive-peter-schweizer-joe-biden-steered-1-8-billion-to-ukraine-while-his-son-bagged-sweetheart-deal-from-their-government/#
  6. https://burisma-group.com/eng/director/hunter-biden/
  7. http://www.dw.com/en/who-are-hunter-bidens-ukrainian-bosses/a-17642254
  8. https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/09/world/europe/corruption-ukraine-joe-biden-son-hunter-biden-ties.html
  9. https://www.cfr.org/event/foreign-affairs-issue-launch-former-vice-president-joe-biden
  10. https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/436816-joe-bidens-2020-ukrainian-nightmare-a-closed-probe-is-revived
  11. Including Rosemont Seneca Partners, LLC, Rosemont Seneca Technology Partners, and Rosemont Realty.
  12. The Heinz Ketchup family fortune.
  13. https://nypost.com/2018/03/15/inside-the-shady-private-equity-firm-run-by-kerry-and-bidens-kids/amp/
  14. https://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/ukraine-sabotage-trump-backfire-233446
  15. https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/435029-as-russia-collusion-fades-ukrainian-plot-to-help-clinton-emerges
  16. https://dailycaller.com/2019/02/06/nellie-ohr-fusion-gps-leshchenko-ukraine/
  17. The DNC paid Chalupa $412,000 from 2004 to June 2016, according to Federal Election Commission records.
  18. https://www.kyivpost.com/ukraine-politics/publication-of-manafort-payments-violated-law-interfered-in-us-election-kyiv-court-rules.html
  19. Ukrainian CourtRuled Manafort Disclosure Caused 'Meddling' in U.S. Election, The New York Times.
  20. https://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/434892-senior-ukrainian-justice-official-says-hes-opened-probe-into-us-election
  21. https://html1-f.scribdassets.com/6ngpwwr6yo6tov9k/images/1-204cb3458d.jpg
  22. https://html2-f.scribdassets.com/36o8ydebgg6touoh/images/1-b12b1ad1d1.jpg
  23. https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/437719-ukrainian-to-us-prosecutors-why-dont-you-want-our-evidence-on-democrats
  24. Rep. Marcy Kaptur.
  25. https://wikileaks.org/dnc-emails/emailid/3962
  26. https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10157855450785389&id=614520388