Just dropped · Trial Balloon · Ep. 192
November Surprises
“A Belarusian model who claims to have information on the ties between Russia and Donald Trump’s election campaign says she has turned it over to Russian billionaire businessman Oleg Deripaska,” the AP reports.
“Anastasia Vashukevich has claimed she had 16 hours of audio and video of Deripaska, who is close to President Vladimir Putin, talking about interference in the U.S. election. She has also posted videos of Deripaska discussing U.S.-Russia ties with a senior government official.”
“The Trump administration on Sunday lifted sanctions against the business empire of Oleg Deripaska, one of Russia’s most influential oligarchs,” the New York Times reports.
“Congressional Democrats had tried to block the move this month, assailing it as a capitulation to the Kremlin and a key ally of President Vladimir Putin. But they failed to win enough Republican support to enforce the sanctions.”
“When the Trump administration announced last month that it was lifting sanctions against a trio of companies controlled by an influential Russian oligarch, it cast the move as tough on Russia and on the oligarch, arguing that he had to make painful concessions to get the sanctions lifted,” the New York Times reports.
“But a binding confidential document signed by both sides suggests that the agreement the administration negotiated with the companies controlled by the oligarch, Oleg V. Deripaska, may have been less punitive than advertised.”
“The deal contains provisions that free him from hundreds of millions of dollars in debt while leaving him and his allies with majority ownership of his most important company, the document shows.”
“Congress is reviewing the Trump administration’s decision to lift sanctions on companies owned by Oleg Deripaska, an influential Russian oligarch with close ties to President Vladimir Putin,” the New York Times reports.
“The reviews could fuel a congressional effort to block the administration’s decision, which came after an aggressive lobbying and legal campaign against the sanctions by Mr. Deripaska’s corporate empire.”
“A sprawling mansion on the Upper East Side has been frozen as part of a hard-core battle between the US government and Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska,” the New York Post reports.
“US officials say Deripaska, an aluminium billionaire, is close both with Russian mob leaders and Russian president Vladimir Putin — and that he is on the sanctions list because he is allegedly involved in murder, money-laundering, bribery and racketeering.”
“Deripaska also had President Trump’s ex-campaign manager Paul Manafort — who has been convicted of crimes including money-laundering and who is cooperating with US special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe — on his payroll for years.”
“A longtime U.S. lobbyist for the Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska visited Julian Assange nine times at the Ecuadorian embassy in London last year,” according to visitor logs seen by the Guardian.
“Adam Waldman, who has worked as a Washington lobbyist for the metals tycoon since 2009, had more meetings with Assange in 2017 than almost anyone else… It is not clear why Waldman went to the WikiLeaks founder or whether the meetings had any connection to the Russian billionaire, who is now subject to US sanctions. But the disclosure is likely to raise further questions about the extent and nature of Assange’s alleged ties to Russia.”
“Oleg Deripaska, a Russian oligarch once close to President Trump’s former campaign manager, has offered to cooperate with congressional committees investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 election, but lawmakers are unwilling to accept his conditions,” the New York Times reports.
“Mr. Deripaska’s offer comes amid increased attention to his ties to Paul Manafort, who is one of several Trump associates under F.B.I. scrutiny for possible collusion with Russia during the presidential campaign.”
“Mr. Deripaska, an aluminum magnate who is a member of the inner circle of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, recently offered to cooperate with congressional intelligence committees in exchange for a grant of full immunity… But the Senate and House panels turned him down because of concerns that immunity agreements create complications for federal criminal investigators.”
Taegan Goddard
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire -- which for more than two decades has been one of the nation's most influential political news sites.
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