PrintAlex Van Der Zwaan indictment the latest Mueller accusation to have nothing to do with Trump campaign, but may lead to big-time Dems
Trump-haters are hoping Alex Van Der Zwaan, the London lawyer (and son-in-law of a Russian oligarch) indicted by Special Counsel Mueller's investigation for lying, will turn on and implicate Carter Page, who briefly had something to do with the Trump campaign – who will then finally provide the elusive shred of evidence of some sort of "collusion with Russia" that is so conspicuously lacking.
But there is a danger here, in turning over the rock of Ukrainian influence-seeking. You see, Ukraine, like most smart foreign countries that seek to influence American policy, spreads its money around to insiders of both parties. Max Haldevang, writing in Quartz, calls the process engaged in on behalf of the Ukrainians "reputational laundering," the flip-side of the scurrilous Steele dossier, intended to exonerate rather than slur, but engaged in by a shadow industry of international consultants and law firms.
Special counsel Robert Mueller today indicted (pdf) the Dutch lawyer Alex Van Der Zwaan with charges of lying to federal prosecutors and deleting evidence of his contact with top Trump campaign staffer Rick Gates and an unnamed "Person A." The three were allegedly in touch about a report on the controversial trial of former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Timoshenko. The report was authored by top New York law firm Skadden Arps, where Van Der Zwaan worked at the time.
Gates and Paul Manafort contracted Skadden in 2012 while working as spin doctors for then-Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych's government. Yanukovych, who fled the country in 2014, has been accused of extraordinary corruption while in office and had locked up rival Timoshenko on charges widely considered to be false. Skadden's report that year largely supported the charges against her. Manafort then hired the Podesta Group and Mercury Communications to lobby US officials to support Yanukovych, using the report.
I apologize for the long series of tweets that follows, but I have not found the information put together better than Vachel Lindsey does, tracing this mess back to...Hillary and the Clinton Foundation.
8. IMPORTANT (bombshells incoming!) : Alex van der Zwaan was involved in producing the report, BUT he was not the person engaged by the Ukrainian government. That was Greg Craig, a partner of the firm. And Clifford Sloan, another partner.
— Vachel Lindsay (@_VachelLindsay_) February 21, 2018
What are you NOT being told?
9. Well, looky here: Greg Craig had been WH Counsel to Barack Obama. WTF? Yes! But wait, there's more:
— Vachel Lindsay (@_VachelLindsay_) February 21, 2018
10. Even more significantly (IMO), Craig had served as assistant to the President and special counsel in the White House of (drum roll)...
— Vachel Lindsay (@_VachelLindsay_) February 21, 2018
President Bill Clinton.
There's more:
11. Craig directed the team defending Clinton against impeachment. Working with Clinton's COS, one John Podesta.
— Vachel Lindsay (@_VachelLindsay_) February 21, 2018
Yes you can get up off the floor. Actually, wait a sec, stay there. The other partner at Skadden responsible for producing the report? Clifford Sloan?
12. Well, how about that?
— Vachel Lindsay (@_VachelLindsay_) February 21, 2018
Clifford Sloan was Associate White House Counsel to President Bill Clinton. At the same time as Greg Craig.
These two guys are CLINTON people.
FROM WAY BACK.
Ain't it funny what the media won't tell you? Anyway, let's move on.
13. The question : why would two Clinton stooges produce a report in 2012 for the pro-Russian government of Yanukovych? Can anyone guess?
— Vachel Lindsay (@_VachelLindsay_) February 21, 2018
Let's explore a bit, before we try and answer.
14. Who was SOS between January 21, 2009 – February 1, 2013?
— Vachel Lindsay (@_VachelLindsay_) February 21, 2018
Hillary Rodham Clinton. Now when she took over as SOS, US policy toward Ukraine was clear - very much anti-Putin. Then came the infamous 'Russian re-set'.
15. July 2, 2010 - Clinton visited Ukraine to meet with Yanukovych & other leaders of the Putin-backed team. Consistent with the re-set but also disappointing for anti-Putin crowd, her tone was surprisingly positive about Yanukovych:https://t.co/HhjBuQXOAw
— Vachel Lindsay (@_VachelLindsay_) February 21, 2018
16. Of course, there were other reasons why it was in Clinton's private interests to ensure Yanukovych remained in power. Why?
— Vachel Lindsay (@_VachelLindsay_) February 21, 2018
Because she & Bill were being paid a fortune by one of Yanukovych's billionaire backers at the time, Victor Pinchuk.
17. How much? From 2009 up to 2013 (the year the Ukrainian coup erupted), the Clinton Foundation received at least $8.6 million from the Victor Pinchuk Foundation, which is headquartered in Kiev.
— Vachel Lindsay (@_VachelLindsay_) February 21, 2018
18. Oh - also, in 2008 Pinchuk, who had made a fortune in the pipe-building business, had pledged a five-year, $29-million commitment to the Clinton Global Initiative.
— Vachel Lindsay (@_VachelLindsay_) February 21, 2018
19. Many aren't aware, but Ukrainians (read 'Pinchuk') were the single-largest donors to the Clinton Foundation:https://t.co/3DbX3GrSkQ
— Vachel Lindsay (@_VachelLindsay_) February 21, 2018
20. Pinchuk is an extremely clever man, who switches sides when the winds dictate. His objective is simple: making more money. LOTS of it, too.
— Vachel Lindsay (@_VachelLindsay_) February 21, 2018
...
25. Did Clinton disclose what was going on with Pinchuk? Hell no. She deliberately LIED about even meeting him.https://t.co/8WebBZsvLx
— Vachel Lindsay (@_VachelLindsay_) February 21, 2018
26. How convenient that the Obama MOU (between the Clinton Foundation and Obama admin) restricted transparency only to donations from 'foreign governments'.
— Vachel Lindsay (@_VachelLindsay_) February 21, 2018
27. It was a sham document from the start, as it permitted oligarchs to either donate as individuals, or as proxies for governments. Not that it mattered - the Clintons breached it anyway:https://t.co/jwzACWKyDW
— Vachel Lindsay (@_VachelLindsay_) February 21, 2018
28. Anyway, remember how I pointed out at the start of the thread that the media are missing key names when discussing the Manafort/Gates indictment? We have CRAIG & SLOAN, the two Clinton stooges at Skadden.
— Vachel Lindsay (@_VachelLindsay_) February 21, 2018
The other name? TONY PODESTA.
29. See, Podesta was working the pro-Yanukovych lobbying scheme with Manafort the whole time, via The Podesta Group. Manafort was also using Mercury LLC, another lobbying group.
— Vachel Lindsay (@_VachelLindsay_) February 21, 2018
Mercury did the GOP side of the aisle, Podesta the Democratic side of the aisle.
...
33. Podesta was also a top contributor to the Clinton campaign and is responsible for bringing in big donors for Hillary.
— Vachel Lindsay (@_VachelLindsay_) February 21, 2018
What we don't know is how much money Podesta & Manafort made from this Ukrainian scheme (or Mercury).
...
40. Again, may be wrong. But I think we will see that Podesta was also far more heavily involved in the entire scheme than we know - and acted as an intermediary between Bill Clinton/ Clinton Foundation, as well as Hillary as SOS.
— Vachel Lindsay (@_VachelLindsay_) February 21, 2018
...
42. Which will confirm what smart people in our remote corner of twitter already know - the Clintons and their small army of crooks were selling the USA to the highest bidder - and Hillary Clinton was using State as a sales department for the Clinton Foundation. Right?
— Vachel Lindsay (@_VachelLindsay_) February 21, 2018
...
Is this all going back to Hillary and the Clinton Foundation?
— Panzer Leader (@ArmorCavSpin) February 21, 2018
NULAND/MCCAIN/SOROS coup against duly elected Ukrainian govt. We will see what the next moves by Mueller are. If more Ukrainian shit then I think Trump is trying to clear that issue up with Russia.
— oldas dirt (@oldmanluvsmineo) February 21, 2018
