Good day all. Monday, Robert Mueller charged Paul Manafort and Robert Gates with assorted money crimes and not registering as a foreign lobbyist. The charges Mueller and his goon squad levied has sent a shock wave through what is known as “K Street.”
K Street is the Seville Row of lobbying firms in Washington D.C. This is probably the deepest part of both the deep state and the Washington Swamp. Mueller’s going after Manafort for what is common practice has already scared one potential lobbying firm. Why? Because they are welded at the hip to Felonia von Pantsuit and are long term members of the Clinton Crime Family. Here are some details from Politico:
Washington lobbyists who represent foreign powers have taken comfort for decades in the fact that the Justice Department rarely goes after them for potentially breaking the law. That all changed on Monday.
Has it? That is going to be a big question going forward. It wasn’t the Department of Justice that charged Manafort, it was Mueller. Technically he is within the DoJ, but he is acting independently. His goal is to “Get Trump” and he and his minions think Manafort can deliver the goods. If Mueller does go after other K Street firms, then we will know he’s not just playing games.
The news of Tony Podesta’s resignation from his namesake firm and indictment of Paul Manafort and Rick Gates sent K Street scrambling, as lobbyists rushed to make sure they’re in compliance with the rules. The developments also renewed calls for Congress to pass legislation beefing up the Justice Department’s enforcement of the law, which lawmakers in both parties have derided for lacking teeth.
“Firms are going to be even more careful than they have been in the past in the foreign lobbying arena,” said Trent Lott, the former Senate majority leader who’s now a lobbyist at Squire Patton Boggs, where his foreign clients have included Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
Speaking of Swamp Dwellers, we have Trent Lott. He’s typical of the long term SD’s in that he went from his Senate seat straight into lobbying his old friends. In fact, it looks like he resigned his senate seat so he wouldn’t be covered under the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act. Basically, he’s a member in good Standing of the Uniparty and the Deep State.
An indictment unsealed on Monday charged Manafort and Gates with crimes including money laundering, tax evasion and conspiracy against the United States, in addition to violating foreign lobbying law by orchestrating a “multi-million dollar lobbying campaign” without registering.
One of the interesting things about that charge is that since it was passed into law, in 1966 I believe, it’s been used 6 times to prosecute someone. Generally, if a lobbying firm is out of compliance, they register “Retroactively” to bring themselves into compliance. This is one of the reasons a lot of scholarly legal types are thinking that Mueller is off the rails.
The indictment also described two Washington firms, Company A and Company B, that lobbied for a nonprofit called the European Centre for a Modern Ukraine, which the indictment alleges was actually under the control of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, his political party and the Ukrainian government. Companies A and B refer to Mercury and the Podesta Group.
Now I’ve never heard of this Mercury group, but the Podesta’s? Oh yeah! John Podesta managed Felonia’s campaign, and undoubtedly knew about the FusionGPS payments for that bogus dossier on President Trump. If anyone was colluding with the Russians, it was the Podesta’s and Felonia von Pantsuit. So, will Mueller go after them or do another one of his white washing coverups like he did with the Uranium One bribery scandal? (My money is on a good white washing)
The DOJ unit dedicated to enforcing FARA is small, and has focused in the past on prodding lobbyists to comply with the law voluntarily, rather than going after them by pressing criminal charges. Mueller’s willingness to indict Manafort and Gates instead of just hounding them to file has struck fear into lobbyists that they could be next.
Personally, I think scaring the crap out of these SD’s is a good thing. However, Mueller doesn’t seem to be interested in cleaning up the K Street Kommandos, and honestly, it’s way outside his alleged mandate. He’s just using this as a way to pressure Manafort and Gates to “Get Trump!” I have a suspicion that if this actually gets into court, Manafort will win, eventually. As for the rest of the K Street Kommandos? They’re busy trying to figure out how to bill their clients for clean underwear.
Thatisall
~The Angry Webmaster~
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