For anyone curious about Trump’s sudden attempts to paint a “deep state conspiracy” against him regarding an FBI informant within his campaign, look no further than the stories coming out against himself and those in his orbit around Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into the Trump 2016 presidential campaign and their alleged collusion with foreign governments and Trump’s own attempts to cover it up.
On Wednesday, yet another sketchy transaction to add to the list of questionable acts by Trump’s people during and after the election was reported by BBC. They report that Trump’s personal attorney, Michael Cohen, was paid $400,000 by the government of Ukraine so that he would set up meetings between themselves and President Trump. That meeting was not declined by the White House.
‘The meeting at the White House was last June. Shortly after the Ukrainian president returned home, his country’s anti-corruption agency stopped its investigation into Trump’s former campaign manager, Paul Manafort.’
BBC Exclusive: Trump lawyer Michael Cohen “paid by Ukraine” to arrange White House talks in June 2017https://t.co/NsfSjRzEzJ
— BBC Breaking News (@BBCBreaking) May 23, 2018
Just in the past week, the public learned that Cohen asked the government in Qatar for a $1 million donation to the Trump campaign “in exchange for access or insight into the Trump administration.” Although Qatar’s government officials declined that request, The New York Times reported that this was not the only undisclosed meeting between Trump campaign and foreign government officials.
‘Three months before the 2016 election, a small group gathered at Trump Tower to meet with Donald Trump Jr., the president’s eldest son. One was an Israeli specialist in social media manipulation. Another was an emissary for two wealthy Arab princes. The third was a Republican donor with a controversial past in the Middle East as a private security contractor.’
NEW: Top Trump inaugural donor Frank Haney hired Michael Cohen as a consultant. In April, the pair pitched an investment in Haney's nuclear power plant to the Qatari sovereign wealth fund. w/@mrothfeld @aviswanatha https://t.co/ppcCYk8CoM
— Rebecca Ballhaus (@rebeccaballhaus) May 21, 2018
On Tuesday, more of that story was released. Qatar had turned down the offer, but Trump campaign fundraiser Elliott Broidy and United Arab Emirates (UAE) adviser George Nader met with officials in the UAE, an archrival of Qatar, and funneled millions of dollars into Congressional election funds.
‘A top fundraiser for President Donald Trump received millions of dollars from a political adviser to the United Arab Emirates last April, just weeks before he began handing out a series of large political donations to U.S. lawmakers considering legislation targeting Qatar, the UAE’s chief rival in the Persian Gulf, an Associated Press investigation has found.
‘George Nader, an adviser to the UAE who is now a witness in the U.S. special counsel investigation into foreign meddling in American politics, wired $2.5 million to the Trump fundraiser, Elliott Broidy, through a company in Canada, according to two people who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter. They said Nader paid the money to Broidy to bankroll an effort to persuade the U.S. to take a hard line against Qatar, a long-time American ally but now a bitter adversary of the UAE.’
• Broidy “offered that MBZ [UAE crown prince] is available to come to the US and preferred a quiet meeting in New York or New Jersey.”
• Tillerson “should be removed but only at a good time, politically.”
• McMaster “clearly supporting” decertification of Iran deal pic.twitter.com/6KJKre2V2h— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) May 21, 2018
Trump has openly admitted that his attempts to discredit the press are attempts to deflect from negative reporting about him. Never doubt that his pushing of ridiculous conspiracy theories around the “deep state” have the exact same goal.
Featured image via Getty/Chip Somodevilla
