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Maddow - Wilbur Ross At The Nexus Of Donald Trump Russian Deal

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B

BlazingDarkness

Member
Can we have a separate thread about this? It's getting lost in the Sessions stuff.
Published on Feb 27, 2017 With a line that runs through newly confirmed Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, Rachel Maddow connects the dots between a billionaire Russian oligarch and a Donald Trump deal worth tens of millions of dollars.
Click to expand...
Watch the segment here
It's long, but I think this kind of investigative reporting is necessary to understand Trump's connections with Russia.

Summary:
Russian oligarch wants to spread assets to offset losing money in divorce settlement
Same Russian oligarch is a vice chairman in Bank of Cyprus
Other vice chairman (and single largest shareholder) in bank is Wilbur Ross (just confirmed as Secretary of Commerce)
Trump sells a property to the oligarch for $100 million (a clean profit of $60 million)
Trump and Russian oligarch deny having direct contact with one another
Maddow lines the dots that Ross may have been the intermediary (a long time, close friend of Trump)

Trump was in financial straits at the time, Maddow suggests this 'mysterious windfall' for Trump was a part of a bigger story in which Trump was blackmailed (remember the 35 page dossier?) for his financial ties with Russian oligarchs who were stashing money abroad (Trump was helping them hide their money, for a profit, and Putin knew about it).
 
A

Aiii

So not worth it
I feel this is the biggest reason most of Trump's run as president has been discrediting journalists with his "fake news" campaign. He knows what's coming.
 
C

CTLance

Member
And of course Deutsche Bank plays a pivotal role. I swear, our big corporations/banks are all run by incompetent imbeciles.

Not like other countries are any better in that regard, but our guys seem to exude that special air of corruption and malignant idiocy. I mean, come onnnnnnn. That's so fucking blatannnnnt. How can you get caught with your pants down and then sit your ass right in the line of fire once again? JFC. Maybe they get lobotomised upon entering and exiting a leadership position.
 
B

BrassDragon

Member
I saw this a few days ago - it's highly informative and less speculative than Maddow's earlier Russia-Trump segment.

In summary, just when he was getting in trouble for not being able to pay off his business debt to Deutsche Bank, Trump received a windfall from several record-breaking real estate deals with a Russian oligarch in dire need of international investments to hide his liquid assets from the Russian courts.

One deal is particularly noteworthy because it involved flipping a gaudy and poorly maintained Florida mansion in the span of a few months (for inexplicably recordbreaking profits) without Trump and the Russian buyer ever meeting face to face or the buyer even visiting the property. These deals were faciliated by an offshore bank known for laundering/hiding oligarch money with Wilbur Ross on its board.

Also on that board were a Russian Putin loyalist with an intelligence background and a former Deutsche Bank executive at the center of earlier money laundering investigations.

Ross was just confirmed as commerce secretary.

This may be the first time we actually see Trump directly profiting from his cozy ties to Putin. Maddow thinks this not just a thread that may unravel the whole thing but a 'dangling rope'.
 
B

BlazingDarkness

Member
It's all so blatant really isn't it, I can't see for the smoke here.
I added a super brief summary to the OP, but people ought to watch it.
 
M

MarionCB

Member
Super blatant. 60 million dollars straight to Trump, with the help of Ross and Putin associates, and now Ross gets to be Commerce Secretary and Trump is amazingly pro-Putin.

It's not so much a smoking gun as a gun coated in oil and then set on fire. And this is just one of dozens of strong connections between Trump and his team and Russia.

We seriously need an independent special counsel right now.
 
M

Messofanego

Banned
I kept on smirking each time "King Of Fertiliser" was said. This narrative of money laundering through Cyprus and Deutschebank and Russian billionaires and Americans engaging in shady dealings while related to a billion dollar divorce settlement is straight out of a movie.
 
B

Bleepey

Member
Messofanego said:
I kept on smirking each time "King Of Fertiliser" was said. This narrative of money laundering through Cyprus and Deutschebank and Russian billionaires and Americans engaging in shady dealings while related to a billion dollar divorce settlement is straight out of a movie.
Click to expand...

I am wondering to myself who will play Christopher Steel. Hugh Laurie? Pierce Prosnan would be my first choice but it seems just too on the nose. Hugh Grant and Colin Firth also seem too obvious.
 
R

Renekton

Member
CTLance said:
And of course Deutsche Bank plays a pivotal role. I swear, our big corporations/banks are all run by incompetent imbeciles.

Not like other countries are any better in that regard, but our guys seem to exude that special air of corruption and malignant idiocy. I mean, come onnnnnnn. That's so fucking blatannnnnt. How can you get caught with your pants down and then sit your ass right in the line of fire once again? JFC. Maybe they get lobotomised upon entering and exiting a leadership position.
Click to expand...
I read a book about the 2008 crisis and Germans simply love dodgy dirty stuff deep down.
 
G

Ghgghggh

Banned
Shit like this really helps me understand how utterly pathetic the pursuit of nothing but wealth and power are. This is foolish. These people are very low.
 
A

amar212

Member
I literally watch and listened to this in the morning while shaving and preparing for work.

This woman is amazing. I would marry her instantly.

And the story is complete bonkers and probably 100% true to the core.
 
I

infinityBCRT

Member
I'm surprised this didn't blow up. Maybe maddow was a little too plodding with her presentation as it's pretty loosely tied together until you start to understand that trump was basically paid off with 60 million dollars.

Also, when the golden showers stuff came out I saw people posting around here that Rybovlev has a private jet that has been spotted coming and going where Trump was during his campaign and speculating maybe he was Putin's courier. This bit totally should be part of the narrative.
 
B

Bold One

Member
amar212 said:
I literally watch and listened to this in the morning while shaving and preparing for work.

This woman is amazing. I would marry her instantly.

And the story is complete bonkers and probably 100% true to the core.
Click to expand...

Rachel is awesome...
 
M

mieumieu

Member
amar212 said:
I literally watch and listened to this in the morning while shaving and preparing for work.

This woman is amazing. I would marry her instantly.

And the story is complete bonkers and probably 100% true to the core.
Click to expand...

SHE'S MINE

jokes aside, will listen to this after work. I love her usual world building unlike many others
 
B

Breads

Banned
Amazing how many dots keep being connected here and yet the GOP and Trump supporters are distracted at best but otherwise pretty damn quiet.

They would rather drown in corruption, collusion, espionage, and treason than they would finding themselves being represented by democrats.

Meanwhile the media is the enemy of the people.

L O FUCKING L

I hope your imaginary gains are worth it.
 
H

HariKari

Member
If Maddow can connect the dots, the IC can. One can only hope that they are trying to smoke out the rats behind the scenes and do what they can. If not, America had a good run.
 
C

Creamium

shut uuuuuuuuuuuuuuup
I recently discovered these segments and I'm now a big fan of Maddow. There are times where I watch a couple of these back to back, I love how they're built up. You have to be a fan of this structure, but the sizeable buildup to get to the juice makes the segments even better. However I do get that they're probably too long for some people.

This one in particular should be spread and shared everywhere. It's nuts how far these ties go and how it started years before he came into office.

The one she did recently about Pruitt is also great.

How long has she been doing these videos? Has it always been this good?
 
E

El_Tiguere

Member
Trump fits the stereotype of a sleazy developer that deals with the Russian mafia all the time (they are all over South Florida). He's like Al Pacino's Scarface sitting in his tub of gold, without the intellect.
 
N

Neuromancer

Member
Ross also wore a $600 pair of custom made velvet slippers with the logo of the Commerce Department on them to Trump's speech the other night.

C5zeHtdWMAItpcy.jpg


https://mobile.twitter.com/christinawilkie/status/836788104312864768
 
J

jellies_two

Member
El_Tiguere said:
Trump fits the stereotype of a sleazy developer that deals with the Russian mafia all the time (they are all over South Florida). He's like Al Pacino's Scarface sitting in his tub of gold, without the intellect.
Click to expand...

Trump is a modern mob boss
His name is his "vig" you want the name no trouble with unions etc you pay him the cut.
That trump tower of his introduced him to a long list of sleazy international types particularly from Russia as New York real estate is the favored place to stash ill gotten gains. With no banks in USA willing to deal with him he got entangled with them and people close to putin as well, now he has been invested in. Putin owns him even if he doesn't have tapes - and ffs that's the easiest to believe out of all of this - putin knows his finances, much better than anyone else.
 
K

kaching

"GAF's biggest wanker"
Creamium said:
How long has she been doing these videos? Has it always been this good?
Click to expand...
She's been doing these as long as I've been watching her, years now. This is a large part of why I've long been a viewer: as much as she wears her heart on her sleeve as a liberal, she always goes to great lengths to ensure she lays out all the facts as accurately as she can so her viewers can make their own decision on the matter effectively. She's about as anti-Fox News as can be, in all the right ways.

In terms of quality control, her segments are usually this good, but there are times when she's delving into much more wonky stuff where it's hard to follow her interest/enthusiasm.
 
D

daveo42

Banned
Trey said:
I'm sure when the investigation starts, this information will be a centerpiece.
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That all depends on whether or not the GOP tries to bury it like they've been doing since before the election on all the shit coming out of Trump and his camp.
 
M

Man-is-Obsolete

Member
kris. said:
why isn't this being talked about more? so frustrating.
Click to expand...

Lot of it is pointing out giant smoke plumes right now and that is key to keeping the axe to the grinder, but in the current climate a fire needs to be spotted before the axe starts to come down.

This will hopefully lead to a special independent committee to investigate it further. Reporting like this, WAPO, NYT, etc is is really keeping he pressure on and making it impossible to ignore. I would be shocked if a fire is never found.
 
X

x24hrs2livex

Banned
jellies_two said:
Trump is a modern mob boss
His name is his "vig" you want the name no trouble with unions etc you pay him the cut.
That trump tower of his introduced him to a long list of sleazy international types particularly from Russia as New York real estate is the favored place to stash ill gotten gains. With no banks in USA willing to deal with him he got entangled with them and people close to putin as well, now he has been invested in. Putin owns him even if he doesn't have tapes - and ffs that's the easiest to believe out of all of this - putin knows his finances, much better than anyone else.
Click to expand...


This sounds like what's actually going on.
 
G

Glix

Member
mieumieu said:
SHE'S MINE

jokes aside, will listen to this after work. I love her usual world building unlike many others
Click to expand...

I'm a straight guy. My girlfriend is a straight woman. We have discussed the fact that either of us would nope right out of the relationship for a chance with Rachel.

:)
 
T

The Albatross

Member
Meh, we don't need a reality TV personality to connect the dots for us. The intelligence community has done that already, now we need people in government to act on that.
 
S

Shake Appeal

Member
The Albatross said:
Meh, we don't need a reality TV personality to connect the dots for us. The intelligence community has done that already, now we need people in government to act on that.
Click to expand...
Reality TV personality?

I get that Maddow's show is riddled with bias and constructed to be news entertainment ... but she's also sharp as a tack (Stanford alum, Rhodes Scholar, Ph.D. from Oxford) and just an all-around cool person.
 
K

kaching

"GAF's biggest wanker"
The Albatross said:
Meh, we don't need a reality TV personality to connect the dots for us.
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We don't need this kind of willfully ignorant cynicism either. Maddow is the furthest thing from a mere reality TV personality. She puts in the work and her journalistic integrity is of just about the highest standard that can be found.
 
A

Azuran

Banned
The Albatross said:
Meh, we don't need a reality TV personality to connect the dots for us. The intelligence community has done that already, now we need people in government to act on that.
Click to expand...

Claiming journalist like Maddow are nothing more than "reality TV personalities" is just as bad as people who scream FAKE NEWS at everything they don't agree with.
 
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