June 17, 2017: Another Member of the Trump Campaign Under Investigation

 

6/17/17: The New York Times reports another member of the Trump campaign is under investigation. 

__________

Rick Gates now under investigation.

__________

 

Rick Gates, a close ally of Paul Manafort, survived Manafort’s demise after his mentor was accused of taking millions from Ukrainian leaders with ties to Russia. In April, amid fresh accusations of Russian influence, Gates was forced to cut ties with the president. According to the Times a lawyer for the campaign has ordered five individuals to preserve all documents and records. 

Gates joins Manafort and Kushner in the cross hairs of investigators. 

During the time Manafort worked in the Ukraine, Gates would fly to Moscow to conduct business in his name. He would sign documents, including those related to shell companies in Cyprus, and funnel payments to Manafort and into secret bank accounts. One client was Oleg Deripaska, who had been denied a visa to the United States, because of ties to organized crime. 

“Everybody has tried to take these instances of anyone in the Trump orbit doing something in Russia,” Gates tells reporters, “and then fast-forwarding however many years, and then saying it is evidence of collusion with Russia over the election. It’s totally ridiculous and without merit.”

Deripaska, left, Putin, right.

 

BLOGGER’S NOTE: Fast forward to February 2108, when Gates pleads guilty to conspiracy and perjury and begins to cooperate with prosecutors. 

Then fast forward to May 2019, when Paul Manafort gets convicted on multiple felony counts and is sentenced to 7.5 years in prison. 

The throw in when Gates cooperates with investigators, and Manafort doesn’t, and just before leaving office, President Trump grants a pardon to…Manafort.

February 2-4, 2018: One Stooge, Two Dopes

 

2/2/18: Rep. Devin Nunes releases a three-and-a-third-page memo, proving that all those who work for Trump are innocent lambs and all top officials with the F.B.I. and Department of Justice are crooks. 

____________________ 

“Trump’s stooge.”

____________________ 

 

According to Nunes, in 2016, one member of the Trump campaign, Carter Page, was placed under a FISA warrant without cause. This proves that General Flynn and George Papadopoulos, who have already pled guilty, are innocent!!! Also, Paul Manafort and Rick Gates shouldn’t stand trial. As for Don Jr. and Jared, this means the secret meeting they had with Russian agents no longer matters. 

It probably stings a little when the largest newspaper in his home district, the Fresno Bee, labels Nunes, “Trump’s stooge.”

The stooge.

___ 

 

2/3/18: Trump wakes up in a sunny mood. According to no less a legal authority than himself, the Nunes memo – more than three pages long! – proves that he is innocent of all wrongdoing regarding Russia. 

He tweets: 

This memo totally vindicates “Trump” in probe. But the Russian Witch Hunt goes on and on. Their was no Collusion and there was no Obstruction (the word now used because, after one year of looking endlessly and finding NOTHING, collusion is dead). This is an American disgrace!

___ 

 

2/4/18: The president withdraws Kathleen Hartnett White’s name from consideration to head up the Council on Environmental Quality. Even Senate Republicans have concerns about her qualifications. In 2014, for example, White touted the virtues of fossil fuels. She argued that that they helped end slavery because they “dissolved the economic justification” for it. Later, White said producing more carbon dioxide and releasing it into the atmosphere was good news – because carbon dioxide was “the gas of life.” 

White also claimed that climate change regulation was a conspiracy pushed by communists. 

You might just as well nominate a panda bear to head up the Council, for all the good Ms. White might ever do.

March 29, 2018:

 

3/29/18: The Mueller “WITCH HUNT,” as Donald calls it, continues, even though nobody who ever worked for or currently works for Mr. Trump ever did anything wrong or even thought about doing anything wrong. Besides, why can’t the president just pardon everyone involved? 

In recent “Fake News,” we learn: 

Rick Gates, Paul Manafort’s right-hand man, has admitted he knew an individual he was communicating with regularly, during the 2016 campaign, had ties to Russian intelligence. 

Mueller now believes Manafort knew. You can find these nuggets in recently released court documents.

 

Next, the “Fake News” people report that Trump’s personal lawyer, John Dowd, floated the idea of presidential pardons to Manafort and Michael Flynn, who like Gates, has plead guilty and is cooperating with the Mueller team. 

Legal experts agree. Any discussion of pardons should have been handled not by Trump’s personal lawyer (representing Trump, the individual) but by White House Counsel Don McGahn (representing the office of the President of the United States, and in adherence to the United States Constitution). 

Of course, none of this proves either collusion with the Russians or criminal intent since. It just looks that way. 

In Congress, that realization appears to be having an effect. Republican Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina has joined Democratic colleague Chris Coons of Delaware in a call to pass legislation to protect the Mueller investigation and ensure the truth is ferreted out. In a joint statement, the two men explain: “We have heard from constituents – Republicans, Democrats, and Independents alike – who agree that Special Counsel Robert Mueller should be able to conduct his investigation without interference. This should not be a partisan issue.”

 

* 

AUBREY O’DAY makes tabloid headlines of her own, hinting broadly that she also had an affair with Donald J. Trump…in this case, Don Jr. The former contestant on The Apprentice had previously floated the idea that a song she wrote, “DJT” was about the young Pussy-Grabbing Jedi. 

Now, with people wondering why Don Jr. and his wife are divorcing, rumors swirl. BuzzFeed runs a story based on O’Day’s social media footprint. In 2011 she was tweeting about waking up in a room filled, wall-to-wall, with her favorite flowers, white lilies. “U gave me a garden of love baby,” she cooed. 

“Will he still love me when he’s free?” she wondered that December. Or would he go back to “the poison?” 

In the spring of 2012, she was “Heading 2 my fav sushi spot in the city w my ny bff, then sprinting 2 the Trump 2 get back in bed w/my babe...or maybe I’ll just stay in bed.” In fact, by May, she had so many “homies at the Trump” she could rely on them to give her warnings “on all the enemy creatures [emphasis added].” 

By October, with her romance suddenly on the rocks (apparently because Don Sr. stepped in to quash the love) poor Ms. O’Day was trashing the clan in general. In one tweet she said: “Ted Bundy’s lecturing on feminism… no, wait, it’s just Trump talking the morality of marriage.” 

(Bundy was an infamous serial killer.) 

Sources say, at one point, with his wife pregnant with their third child, Don Jr. told her he would be leaving her for Aubrey. The plan was derailed when Sr. stepped in and told Jr. “to knock it off.” 

On Election Night 2016, with Trump Sr. sweeping to victory, O’Day tweeted pointedly: “[M]y story I didn’t tell is worth millions now.”

Ms. O'Day looks exactly like the kind of woman Don Jr. would pick for an affair.

June 8, 2018: Rick Gates Knows Where the Coven Meets

 

6/8/18: This is how the Russia investigation goes. Rudy Giuliani makes stupid comments on television: “The president has the power to pardon himself! He can pardon a head of lettuce!” 

Next, the president posts a stupid tweet, something like: “I can pardon anyone I want. Even witches! I am totally innocent. But even if Special Counsel Mueller has pictures of me in bed with five Russian hookers, a pair of mallard ducks, and Vladimir Putin, I have the power to pardon myself!!!” 

 

Gates knows where the coven meets. 

Special Counsel Mueller and his investigators just keep on digging. They keep building cases (we don’t know how many there will be) and keep their mouths clamped shut. 

On this fine day Mueller and his team issue two fresh indictments. Paul Manafort gets hit with another, this time for witness tampering. 

If you’re having trouble keeping track, don’t feel bad. Manafort has been charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States, money laundering, tax evasion, bank fraud and being, generally, a scumbag. 

Also indicted for the first time is Konstantin Kilimnik, Manafort’s business partner and man with ties (of course) to Russian intelligence. Manafort once referred to him as “my Russian brain.” 

Rick Gates, Manafort’s right-hand man, and a cooperating witness in the investigation, has admitted that he knew Kilimnik was linked with Russian intelligence agents. Manafort left the campaign under a cloud in August 2016; but Gates remained a member of Team Trump through Inauguration Day and beyond. 

That means if there are real witches in the White House Gates knows where the coven meets.

Rick Gates is cooperating with Mueller.

 

* 

AT THE G-7 MEETING in Canada, President Trump, who all the other leaders there can’t stand, suggests Russia should be allowed to rejoin the group. That way he’d have at least one friend. 

Trump also appears to be confused. At one point, he suggests Canada was responsible for burning the White House in 1814. As for Russia invading the Crimea in 2014, that doesn’t bother him one bit.

Trump does ♥Putin.

 

Ohio Governor John Kasich, a Republican, issues this statement: 

Russia was kicked out of the G-8 because of its invasion and annexation of Crimea. Since that time, Moscow has encouraged and directed a separatist insurgency in Eastern Ukraine, intervened in support Syria’s murderous dictator and the war crimes that he has perpetrated, interfered in the U.S. presidential election, waged an information war to undermine Western democracies, attempted to assassinate opponents on the sovereign territory of our allies, and made common cause with China to undermine the post-WWII international security system and the democratic values embedded in it.

 

…President Trump’s idea of renewing Russian membership in the G-7/G-8 does not protect or defend the national security interests [emphasis added] of the United States or our allies.

 

Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, also a Republican, says in a statement of his own, “Russia shouldn’t be let back into the G-8 until it changes the behavior that caused it to be expelled in the first place.”

 

* 

BACK IN WASHINGTON D.C., Sierra Club leaders file a Freedom of Information Act request. Then they start digging through E.P.A. records. It doesn’t take long to learn that E.P.A. Administrator Pruitt allowed a Dallas businessman to select the head of the E.P.A.’s influential Science Advisory Board. 

That businessman, Doug Deason, and his dad, Darwin Deason, donated $900,000 to GOP candidates and Trump’s 2016 election. Now the head of the Science Advisory Board will review regulations that can impact Deason’s business. 

Pruitt has also removed pesky scientists, with their ridiculous focus on clean air and water, from several advisory boards. To fill their seats, he allowed coal and gas industry executives to suggest replacements. Now the people who bring you giant oil spills, blow up towns like West, Texas and cause hundreds of fracking-related earthquakes in Oklahoma, will be advising the E.P.A. on clean water and clean air and how to make sure dangerous chemicals don’t end up… 

Oh, forget it. This is Scott Pruitt. 

He doesn’t care any more about clean air and water than Trump cares about eating healthy and regular exercise.

July 7, 2018: No Deal with North Korea - and Nineteen Reasons to Believe Candidate Trump Jumped in Bed with the Russians

 

7/7/18: Trump continues to learn that diplomacy is a bitch. Having announced that North Korea was no longer a nuclear threat, and that all Americans could slumber in peace, he sends Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to North Korea so Kim Jong-un can hand over all his nukes. 

 

No deal with North Korea. 

Apparently, it comes as a surprise to the North Koreans that they are no longer a threat to the U.S. Pompeo assures reporters after the meetings end that talks were “productive.” “These are complicated issues,” he admits, “but we made progress on almost all of the central issues.” 

The North Korean Foreign Ministry releases a different assessment: “The attitude and demands from the U.S. side during the high-level talks were nothing short of deeply regrettable. ...The issues the U.S. side insisted on during the talks were the same cancerous ones that the past U.S. administrations had insisted on.”  For good measure, the North Koreans described the U.S. negotiating position as a “unilateral and gangster-like demand for denuclearization.”

 

* 

BACK HOME, the president spends another “productive” day tweeting. His attention turns to the Russian investigation. It’s a “Rigged Witch Hunt,” he says. He rambles on about “the missing DNC Server, Crooked Hillary’s illegally deleted Emails, the Pakistani Fraudster, Uranium One, Podesta & so much more.”  

Why weren’t they investigated! 

At this point you begin to wonder what other extraneous issues Trump will dump in the mix. Who the hell is “the Pakistani Fraudster?” What does he or she have to do with the fact that all the following statements are true: 

1.     Trump’s first National Security Adviser, General Flynn, lied to Vice President Jesus about a meeting with Russians. He has pled guilty to one felony and continues to cooperate with the investigation. 

2.     Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos lied about contacts with Russians. He pled guilty and continues to cooperate. 

3.     Roger Stone admits he met with a Russian offering dirt on Clinton; but the Russian wanted $2 million to share it. 

4.     Michael Cohen admits negotiations to build a Trump Tower Moscow continued until at least June 2016. 

5.     Felix Sater, working for Trump in Moscow, suggested giving Putin a $50 million penthouse apartment in the proposed tower, to sweeten the deal. 

6.     In June 2016 Don Jr., Jared Kushner and Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort took a secret meeting with representatives of the Russian government offering dirt on Mrs. Clinton. 

7.     Originally, all the men mentioned in #’s 1-6, “forgot” they had such meetings and contacts.

 

When The New York Times revealed the meeting, noted in #6, all three men remembered: Oh, that meeting! 

8.     Don Jr. appeared on Fox News to set the record straight. He assured Sean Hannity that the meeting was a harmless affair and everyone talked mostly about adoption policy. 

9.     The president helped draft a letter that made a similar claim – that the meeting was “primarily” about adoption policy.

 

The New York Times notified Don Jr. it had in its possession emails proving the meeting had been set up primarily for the purpose of receiving from agents of the Russian government, dirt on Hillary Clinton. 

10. Press Secretary Pinocchio denied that the president had drafted the letter claiming the meeting was primarily about adoption. 

11. Steve Bannon called the meeting at Trump Tower “treasonous.” 

12. Later he backed off and said Don Jr. and Jared weren’t treasonous. Only Manafort. 

13. Manafort has been indicted on a long list of crimes. 

14. Manafort’s top aide, Rick Gates, was indicted for most of the same crimes. He pled guilty and decided to cooperate with investigators. 

15. Trump’s lawyers eventually admitted that the president did draft the misleading letter (#9 above) about the purpose of the meeting at Trump Tower. 

16. Manafort gets hauled into court a second time. His $10 million bail is revoked and he gets sent to jail. 

17. Now he’s charged with witness tampering. 

18. Michael Caputo and Roger Stone, who denied for two years having had anything to do with any Russians during the 2016 campaign, suddenly remember they did set up a meeting (Caputo) and meet (Stone) with a Russian offering to sell dirt on Hillary. 

19. Last, but not least – and remember, this is but a sampling – the Senate Judiciary Committee releases its bipartisan report. Among its key findings: The Russians did interfere in the 2016 election. The Russians did work to damage Hillary Clinton’s chances of winning. The Russians did hope Donald J. Trump would be the next president.

 

U.S. intelligence agencies had plenty of reasons to start an investigation into contacts between members of the Trump campaign and various Russians with links to Vladimir Putin.

August 31, 2018: The Witch Hunters Find a Real Witch

 

8/31/18: At this point, if federal investigators caught President Trump with a conical hat on his head, a book of spells in his hands, and a bubbling brew of noxious ingredients in a cauldron in the Oval Office, his Helen Keller-like fans would still insist he has nothing to do with witchcraft. 

 

Another witch is brought to justice. 

Friday, prosecutors bring another witch to justice. This witch, like several others recently, pleads guilty and agrees to cooperate with authorities. This time the man in the pointed black hat is W. Samuel Patten, heretofore a little-known Republican lobbyist. What makes Patten interesting in the Russia story is that he has long had ties with Paul Manafort, the convicted felon. 

Like Manafort, Patten worked secretly for a pro-Russian Ukrainian political party, backed by Vladimir Putin. In the process he earned a cool million dollars plus for his services. If the Russians killed a few thousand Ukrainians in attacks along their country’s border, Patten wasn’t bothered. 

Hey, a million dollars plus!

 

Patten, left, heads to court with wife.

Patten also formed a company with Konstantin Kilimnik, a former Russian intelligence agent (naturally). 

Kilimnik was indicted along with Manafort recently, in a separate federal investigation. Both are scheduled to stand trial starting September 24; but Kilimnik will decline to attend. He has fled to Russia. 

Patten pled guilty to funneling a $50,000 donation from foreign sources to the Trump Inaugural Committee, which is, for obvious reasons, illegal. That crime may not seem like much to Trump’s base. Patten copped to a single felony, while admitting to several more.

 

Is there anything else fishy, regarding the Trump Inaugural Committee? Vice chairmen of the Committee included, Elliott Broidy, a bigtime Republican financier, and Rick Gates (now a convicted felon). A year ago, the “Fake News Media” revealed that Broidy had agreed to a $1.6 million hush money payment to a Playboy Bunny who claims he impregnated her Bunny self. That Bunny went on to have an abortion (because, of course, Republicans want to overturn Roe v.  Wade). 

Who set up that lucrative deal? It was Michael Cohen, Trump’s former personal lawyer (now a felon).

 

* 

AT LEAST ONE REPUBLICAN, Michael London, a former member of the Trumbull, Connecticut Town Council announces he is quitting the party. 

Why? 

London is blunt. In an op-ed published by the Hartford Courant, London says his decision to quit the party and register as an unaffiliated voter was “something that I never thought I would do.”  

I blame President Trump for turning the Grand Old Party into a lame, extreme right-wing group of people unwilling or unable to see the truth. But Trump is not alone in causing my disillusionment.

 

I have had it with the state and federal branches of the Republican Party that tolerated the president’s behavior. None of our GOP candidates for governor denounced Trump. None of the leaders of Connecticut’s GOP will speak out.

 

Trump, he added, with complete disgust, is “the worst president our country has had — ever.”

 

BLOGGER’S NOTE (5/30/22): It would be comical, were it not sad, but Elliott Broidy later gets indicted, convicted in a scheme to funnel foreign money to Trump-affiliated groups, and then gets a last-minute pardon, as Trump heads out the door. 

Thomas Barrack, head of the Trump Inaugural Committee is, as I type this note, under indictment for the same kind of crimes.

February 13, 2019: Another Secret Meeting with Trump Advisers and Russians Is Revealed

 

2/13/19: Yet another secret meeting with Trump campaign people and Russians is revealed. 

On August 2, 2016, we learn (more than two-and-a-half years after it happened) that Paul Manafort, then Trump’s campaign manager, and his right-hand man Rick Gates, met for dinner with a third party at a Manhattan cigar bar, the Grand Havana Room. That third party, Konstantin Kilimnik, was a man with connections to Russian intelligence. He, too, is now under indictment in the Russia probe. 

 

“The people of Crimea…would rather be with Russia.” 

Among other topics Manafort, Gates and Kilimnik discussed a possible peaceful resolution to the conflict in the Ukraine. It was, in fact, the invasion of Ukrainian territory and the seizure of Crimea by Putin’s forces that led to the Obama administration slapping Russia with sanctions. 

At this same meeting, it is alleged, Manafort turned over valuable polling data to Kilimnik. This data would (in theory) help Russian hackers target U.S. social media sites successfully. It is also alleged that Manafort expected to be paid $2.4 million for the trove. After the three men finished dinner, chatted, and smoked cigars, they decided it would be wise to leave by three separate doors, just like any set of friends out for dinner and conspiring to steal an election.

 

Something else interesting had happened the day before: that is August 1, 2016. 

Candidate Trump had informed George Stephanopoulos, host of This Week on ABC that, “The people of Crimea, from what I’ve heard, would rather be with Russia than where they were.” 

Then he blamed the problem in the Ukraine on the Obama administration, not on the invaders, themselves.

 

So, while this blogger would argue that we still have not seen evidence that would merit impeachment of President Trump, the case is taking shape. If a gang of eight is suspected of robbing a bank, and five gang members (Flynn, Gates, Manafort, Papadopoulos and Cohen), lie about where they were on the night of the heist, you begin to believe the gang robbed the bank. If two alleged accomplices (Don Jr. and Stone) are caught with safe-cracking tools in their cars, you realize there is evidence the gang robbed the bank. Does that prove the head of the gang, President Trump, gave the orders, or that he was directly involved? 

Not yet. 

At this point you begin to suspect police are going to find marked $100 bills, covered in red dye, under Trump’s bed.

Trump and Putin.

July 21, 2021: Team Trump - Foreign Policy for Sale

 

7/21/21: This seemed like a long time coming (see: 2/4/19 and 7/29/19), but Tom Barrack, another Trump crony, joins the roster of arrestees who worked with the former president during his 2016 campaign, or palled around with “45” while he was in office.

 

____________________ 

Barrack put U.S. foreign policy up for sale.

____________________

  

In a numbskull nutshell, the billionaire businessman and longtime friend of Loser Don is accused of conducting foreign policy to benefit the United Arab Emirates (and to a lesser degree Saudi Arabia), rather than serving the interests of…um…this country right here. 

Barrack has been shady for years. That makes him a perfect walk-on in the story of Donald J. Trump. He has also been charged with obstructing justice, the go-to move of every alleged Trumpian crook in every story in the last five years. 

In one email, Barrack refers to the UAE as the “home team,” when in fact, the United States was the home team.

 

Here are just a few of the questionable connections and actors in this story. Start with Barrack. Throw in Matt Grimes, also indicted, who reported directly to Barrack at Colony Capital, the firm Barrack founded. What country has invested heavily with Colony? You will never guess. 

Okay. You guessed. The United Arab Emirates. 

Then toss a third indicted co-conspirator – by the name of Rashid Sultan Rashid Al Malik Alshahhi, a.k.a. Rashid Al Malik and Rashid Al‑Malik, 43, a UAE businessman, into the mix. 

In the indictment against him, prosecutors allege that Barrack put U.S. foreign policy up for sale. Both the UAE and Saudi Arabia were intent on winning a battle for influence in the Persian Gulf, against rival Qatar. If they could gain access to, or influence with, Mr. Trump, they were ready to pay. 

As the Washington Post explains: 

“The defendant is charged with extremely serious offenses based on conduct that strikes at the very heart of our democracy [emphasis added],” prosecutors wrote in a court filing. Barrack, they said, “capitalized on his position of significant influence as an outside advisor to the Campaign and the Administration and as a national media figure with regularly televised interviews on major news networks to further the interests of the UAE as directed by senior UAE officials and their intermediaries.”

 

There are plenty of fishy details to this story – including Barrack’s work with the 2016 Trump campaign, as alluded to by prosecutors. Barrack was in charge of the Inaugural Committee. That committee is also under investigation, including for vastly overpaying to use Trump Hotel facilities in D.C. during festivities. That meant spending $300,000 to pay for a party for the Trump children. 

But wait, there’s more! Rick Gates worked on the Inaugural Committee, too. Even after he ran into trouble – for working with Paul Manafort – who was working with Russian agents during the campaign – Barrack kept Gates on his payroll, to the tune of $20,000 monthly. Gates ended up pleading guilty to several felonies, got sentenced to 45 months in jail, and agreed to cooperate with the Mueller investigation. Manafort refused to cooperate, got convicted on eight counts of fraud – then got convicted again in a case of witness tampering – then got charged in state courts with mortgage fraud – and then got a pardon, which he assuredly did not deserve.

 

Barrack also worked with Elliott Broidy to advance the interests of the UAE. Broidy’s reward was a deal worth, by one account, as much as $600 million, to organize intelligence work for the Emirates. Broidy then got indicted – for crimes similar to those with which Barrack is charged. Last October, Broidy plead guilty to one felony, again, basically for selling U.S. foreign policy, with so many sleazy side deals you’ll have to read the DOJ charging document yourself. 

Then, in December, he got a pardon too. 

But wait! Again! There’s still more!! Now we have to throw in the guy who got busted for sex-trafficking a minor. Both Barrack and Broidy had worked with George Nader, who was working for the UAE to facilitate their interests. He ended up ensnared in the Mueller investigation and got nailed – and not for the first time – for dabbling in child pornography and sex with minors. And, since we know Republicans hate homosexuals, we should note his victim was a 14-year-old boy. So, Mr. Nader is already spending the next ten years behind bars. 

The UAE has plenty of money - and wanted to "buy" U.S. support.

 

POSTSCRIPT: The Qataris knew they might have problems if the UAE and Saudi Arabia had their way. They decided to fight money with more money. A certain Trump aide and his family held a huge mortgage on a property in New York City, and couldn’t meet payments. They were deep underwater, in terms of the value of said property vs. what they owed. 

The aide and his family, including his wife, really hoped to get bailed out by somebody! A Chinese bank – that’s right, a Chinese bank – said, “We’d love to help.” A deal was agreed to worth $400 million. 

The free press sniffed out the story. The Chinese backed off. So the Trump aide, and his family still needed a bailout. Brookfield, a global property investment company, stepped up to offer a deal. Can you guess who deposits huge wads of cash in accounts at Brookfield? Which then lends out those huge wads to struggling multi-millionaires? 

Ha, ha. Qatar. 

And, lo, it came to pass. Brookfield saved Jared Kushner and his family, and, in a way, Ivanka Trump, too, and bailed them out on the huge loans they had on an office tower at 666 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York.

           

FUN FACT – INDICTMENTS: Here, we should provide a list of some of Team Trump players who have been jailed, pardoned, currently remain under indictment, or have been sued in court. 

Steve Bannon – indicted for fraud; but got a surprise pardon (his co-conspirators are still facing trial). 

Thomas Barrack – see above. 

Elliott Broidy – see above. 

Stephen Calk – convicted of bribery, in a scheme to pay Paul Manafort (below) in return for a cabinet seat in the Trump administration.

 

Michael Caputo – lied to Congress about helping set up a meeting with Roger Stone and at least one Russian during the 2016 campaign; avoided perjury charge by amending his testimony. 

Michael Cohen – sentenced to jail for violating campaign finance laws (not pardoned, because he cooperated with the Mueller investigation). 

Unindicted Co-Conspirator #1 – in the Cohen case, the unindicted individual turned out to be Donald J. Trump. 

Rick Gates – described above. 

Rudy Giuliani – disbarred in New York State for lying about the “stolen election” and sued in court by Dominion Voting Machines for defamation.

 

General Michael T. Flynn – plead guilty to working as a foreign agent; got a pardon. 

Igor Fruman – indicted, worked with Rudy, allegedly to root out corruption in Ukraine. Plead guilty on September 10, 2021. 

Paul Manafort – see above. 

George Nader – see above. (This blogger has a feeling Nader is cooperating with federal investigators.) 

George Papadopoulos – convicted of one felony for lying to the F.B.I. during the Mueller investigation; got a pardon. 

Lev Parnas – same as Fruman, above. 

(Blogger’s Note: Convicted; see 10/25/21.)

 

W. Samuel Patten – convicted of the same kind of crimes Barrack is charged with; cut a deal with prosecutors; got three years’ probation. 

Felix Sater (honorable mention) – he was a felon when he went to work for Trump, pushing for a Trump Tower deal in Moscow. 

Roger Stone – lied to Congress about contacts with Russians, got convicted on seven felony counts; got a pardon. 

Trump Foundation CFO Allen Weisselberg – currently under indictment for tax evasion. 

Imaad Zuberi – fined $1.75 million and sentenced to twelve years in prison, for obstruction of justice, selling influence to foreign countries; may be able to implicate Barrack and Broidy (although the latter has that pardon). 

Alexander van der Zwaan – convicted of lying during the Russian investigation.

 

Also facing civil damage suits for lying about rigged voting machines and the “stolen 2020 election:” 

Maria Bartiromo of Fox News. 

Lou Dobbs of Fox News. 

Fox News. 

Mike Lindell, the MyPillow and “Trump will be reinstated as president on the morning of August 13” guy. 

Newsmax (has already settled a damage case). 

Judge Jeanine Pirro of Fox News. (Removed from the suit in March 2022) 

Sidney Powell, the “Kraken Lady.” (She and other lawyers who filed a bogus “stolen election” case in Michigan have been ordered by a judge to pay more than $200,000 in legal fees to the state and city of Detroit – basically, for filing an idiotic case, with lousy evidence. 

L. Lin Wood – the State Bar of Georgia has begun an investigation into whether or not Mr. Wood should be disbarred. As part of that investigation, he is required to sit for a mental health examination. As you might expect, Lawyer Wood has filed a motion to have the Bar stopped from forcing him to undergo examination. 

A federal judge has thrown out his motion. 

Appeal to follow.