Miriam, not only don't the dems have a majority in congress we also have a
republican supreme court. If congress had enough votes to impeach him the
supremes could stop the process. Remember how they stopped the legally mandated
vote recount in Bush vs Gore?
Frank
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Miriam Vieni
Sent: Tuesday, March 20, 2018 8:04 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Before He Was FBI Director, Chris Wray
Supervised an Investigation That Found Erik Prince Likely Broke U.S. Law
Abby,
When you turn on the TV, you're not getting actual news. But if you listen to
Democracy Now and The Real News Network, either on your computer or on
podcasts, you might. Also, The Pacifica Evening News on KPFA or KPFK, whichever
station is near you. But the Democrats won't impeach Trump. They already have,
actually had during his first month, enough to impeach him. But they don't have
a majority in Congress and there are a number of them who happily vote with
Republicans.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of abby
Sent: Tuesday, March 20, 2018 7:49 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Before He Was FBI Director, Chris Wray
Supervised an Investigation That Found Erik Prince Likely Broke U.S. Law
When I turn on TV or lefty radio, I get stories about women who want to tell
all about their affairs with Donald Trump. Best if they lose in court, as I
really don't want those images in my head. News is a great thing To give up
for lent. So, I'm counting on you...denizens of Blind Democracy land...to post
when Trump gets impeached.
Abby
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Miriam Vieni
Sent: Tuesday, March 20, 2018 11:46 AM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Before He Was FBI Director, Chris Wray Supervised an
Investigation That Found Erik Prince Likely Broke U.S. Law
© First Look Media. All rights reservedTerms of use Erik Prince, chairman and
executive director of Frontier Services Group Ltd., walks to a closed-door
House Intelligence Committee meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S.,
on Thursday, Nov. 30, 2017. Prince, best known for running the Blackwater
private security firm whose employees were convicted of killing Iraqi citizens,
was a presence during Donald Trump's presidential transition and worked in part
with Michael Flynn. Photographer: Aaron P. Bernstein/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Before He Was FBI Director, Chris Wray Supervised an Investigation That Found
Erik Prince Likely Broke U.S. Law
Jeremy Scahill, Matthew Cole
Mar. 19
Photo illustration: Elise Swain for The Intercept/Getty Images
As a private attorney in 2016, FBI Director Chris Wray supervised a team of
lawyers that informed the Justice Department that Blackwater founder Erik
Prince had likely violated U.S. law while trying to sell secretly modified
paramilitary attack aircraft to Azerbaijan’s military.
Wray and Robert Hur, now a senior Justice Department official, were both
partners at the powerhouse law firm King & Spalding in 2015 when officials at
Prince’s Hong Kong-based logistics company, Frontier Services Group, discovered
suspicious activity by Prince over the proposed sale of the planes. Hur is
currently the top lieutenant to Rod Rosenstein, the U.S. deputy attorney
general. At King & Spalding, he was one of the lead lawyers on the Prince
investigation.
FSG retained King & Spalding to conduct a review of the company’s legal
exposure to violations of U.S. law on weapons sales and the export of defense
services to foreign governments and militaries. The attorneys concluded that
Prince could potentially be charged with brokering defense articles without a
license, according to a copy of the review obtained by The Intercept. The
FSG-hired lawyers briefed the Obama Justice Department’s National Security
Division in February 2016 on Prince’s activities and, a month later, FSG’s CEO
notified the State Department that FSG intended to voluntarily report its
possible violations of U.S. defense export laws.
“The potential violations stem principally from conduct of Mr. Prince, a U.S.
person,” CEO Gregg Smith wrote to the director of the State Department’s
Directorate of Defense Trade Controls, which regulates the export of defense
articles and services, in a letter obtained by The Intercept.
In the letter, Smith promised to provide the State Department with a copy of
the findings of FSG’s internal investigation. In April 2016, The Intercept
published two reports detailing Prince’s attempts to modify small aircraft for
sale to militaries in Africa and the Middle East, and a federal investigation
into his alleged business ties to Chinese intelligence. According to a second
letter dated April 13, 2016 and seen by The Intercept, Smith asked the State
Department for an extension so FSG could review the report for more potential
violations of U.S. defense export laws.
When contacted by The Intercept for this story, Smith declined to comment.
“Please be advised that I resigned from FSG and all of its affiliates effective
May 1, 2016,” he wrote in an email. “By prior agreement I am precluded from
making any comment whatsoever on FSG, its affiliates or officers.”
Violations of International Traffic in Arms Regulations can trigger civil
penalties of up to half a million dollars or criminal penalties of up to 20
years in prison, depending on the specific nature of the violations.
A current FSG spokesperson, responding on behalf of the company and Prince,
said, “Any assertion that FSG or Mr. Prince violated any laws in this matter is
categorically false.”
FSG’s apparently good-faith attempt to uncover potential wrongdoing by Prince
represented the culmination of a power struggle between Smith and Prince for
control of the company. “Erik was not cooperating or supportive” of the
internal review, according to a former senior FSG official.
WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 12: FBI Director nominee Christopher Wray testifies
during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee July 12,
2017 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. If confirmed, Wray will fill the
position that has been left behind by former director James Comey who was fired
by President Donald Trump about two months ago. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty
Images) Chris Wray testifies during his confirmation hearing before the Senate
Judiciary Committee July 12, 2017 on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.
Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images
A close associate of Prince previously told The Intercept that, at the time of
the Wray-led investigation, Prince was operating a “secret skunkworks program”
using his role as FSG’s founder and chair to cover his shadowy activities.
“Erik wants to be a real, no-shit mercenary,” said the associate. “Erik hides
in the shadows … and uses [FSG] for legitimacy.”
Soon after Smith reported Prince’s potential violations to the State
Department, Smith was forced out of the company, and Prince and his Chinese
business partners consolidated power.
What action, if any, the Justice Department took after Wray’s team shared their
initial findings has not been made public. “We were perplexed by the lack of
immediate action” by the State and Justice departments, the former senior FSG
official told The Intercept, adding that he and others at the company got the
impression that “nobody wanted to dig into this until after the [2016]
election.”
At King & Spalding, Wray chaired the special matters and government
investigations team, though it is unclear how involved he was in its day-to-day
work or the FSG investigation. “Chris led the group that our attorneys reported
to,” said the former senior FSG official.
The team Wray led reads like a who’s who of former Justice Department
officials. Hur, who worked with Rosenstein in the George W. Bush Justice
Department before his most recent stint at King & Spalding, and Gary Grindler,
former chief of staff to former Attorney General Eric Holder, took the lead in
briefing the government on the Prince situation in 2016.
“The evidence strongly suggests that Mr. Prince was offering a foreign defense
article (i.e., an attack aircraft) for sale to the Azerbaijan MOD,” according
to the internal investigation.
Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General Robert K Hur speaks during a press
briefing at the White House in Washington, Thursday, July 27, 2017. (AP
Photo/Alex Brandon) Deputy Attorney General Gary Grindler speaks during the
unveiling of the Justice Department's National Strategy for Child Exploitation
Prevention and Interdiction, Monday, Aug. 2, 2010, at the National Center for
Missing and Exploited Children Charles B. Wang International Children's
Building in Alexandria, Va. (AP Photo/Drew Angerer)
Top/Left: Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General Robert K Hur speaks
during a press briefing at the White House in Washington, Thursday, July 27,
2017. Bottom/Right: Deputy Attorney General Gary Grindler speaks during the
unveiling of the Justice Department's National Strategy for Child Exploitation
Prevention and Interdiction, Monday, Aug. 2, 2010.Photos: Alex Brandon/AP, Drew
Angerer/AP
Asked about the status of any investigations into Prince stemming from King &
Spalding’s work, Justice Department spokesperson Sarah Isgur Flores told The
Intercept: “We don’t comment, confirm, or deny the existence of
investigations.” Grindler, who is still a partner at King & Spalding, said he
is “unable to comment because all of the information I have is covered by the
attorney client privilege.”
For his part, Erik Prince appears emboldened by the Donald Trump presidency. He
gave heartily to a pro-Trump super PAC and his sister, Betsy DeVos, is the
education secretary. Prince continues to very publicly push for the Trump
administration to utilize his private spy and security services with no
apparent concern that the FBI or Justice Department may be pursuing him. On
Sunday, Prince and Oliver North, of Iran-Contra fame, hosted a fundraiser at
Prince’s home in Virginia for his longtime friend California Republican Rep.
Dana Rohrabacher.
Prince, the founder of the notorious private security firm Blackwater, has also
emerged as a central figure in the investigation of possible collusion between
Trump and his associates and Russia. He testified before the House Intelligence
Committee in November on his alleged efforts to establish a secret back channel
between Trump and Russia during a meeting in the Seychelles in January 2017.
Prince told the panel he had not played any such role, but some top Democrats
on the committee say they are examining whether he misled them under oath.
While many details about Prince’s effort to create a private air force have
been previously reported by The Intercept, Wray and Hur’s involvement and their
interaction with the Obama Justice Department have not. Their role raises new
questions about why the government’s investigation into Prince appears to have
languished and what role the two senior officials may play in any continuation
of the probe.
Given that Wray and Hur could potentially be involved with investigations or a
prosecution of Prince, there could be ethical issues stemming from their past
work for FSG. “Whenever a move like this happens, it’s legitimate to ask
whether that creates a risk of disclosing confidential information,” said Len
Niehoff, a law professor who teaches ethics at the University of Michigan.
“It’s certainly fair to ask questions to ensure there’s no conflict of interest
or improper disclosure.”
Justice Department spokesperson Flores said, “We don’t comment, confirm, or
deny recusals because to do so could confirm or deny the existence or details
of an underlying investigation.”
The 2015 internal report by FSG’s lawyers from King & Spalding concluded that
“based on the information available, it appears likely that Mr. Prince engaged
in ‘brokering activities,’” without the necessary approval from the U.S.
government in connection with the attempted sale of the secretly modified
paramilitary aircraft to Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Defense.
Under federal law, U.S. citizens seeking to offer military services or
technologies to foreign governments must have a license certifying that the
services or articles are approved under the International Traffic in Arms
Regulations, or ITAR.
In their February 22, 2016 meeting with officials from the Justice Department’s
National Security Division, FSG’s lawyers from King & Spalding “raised the
possibility” that Prince may have been illicitly brokering defense services to
a foreign government without the necessary approvals from the U.S. government,
according to the March 2016 letter from Smith, FSG’s then-CEO.
In the letter, Smith alleged that Prince modified the aircraft with weapons
systems “without FSG management knowledge” to “prevent management oversight.”
Smith alleged that Prince “for his own interests directed the aircraft
modification and then promoted the sale of the modified aircraft to private
buyers and governments.” Smith noted that FSG had no evidence that Prince had
the necessary license from the U.S. government. Prince’s offer to sell the
aircraft was part of a broader proposal to Azerbaijan for security and
logistical services. That effort was known internally at FSG as “Project Zulu.”
The King & Spalding findings centered around a deal Prince tried to make with
Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Defense for several American crop dusters that Prince
had secretly modified into attack and surveillance aircraft. The deal was
Prince’s last-ditch effort to realize a long-held desire to sell small
offensive aircraft to governments around the world for small and low-intensity
conflicts.
Prince used FSG’s legitimacy to privately pitch an array of services to
Azerbaijan. The King & Spalding investigation determined that nearly everything
Prince offered to the Azerbaijani government was a service FSG couldn’t provide
and was not for the company’s benefit. The deal ultimately fell apart.
Top/Left: A Thrush aircraft originally purchased by FSG. Bottom/Right: Slides
from Prince’s original plan to weaponize the Thrush 510G.Photo/Slide: Obtained
by The Intercept
As The Intercept reported in 2016, Prince orchestrated a plan to modify small
crop-dusting aircraft, known as Thrush, and sell them to foreign governments to
be used in counterinsurgency operations and protect oil fields and other
natural resource extraction operations in dangerous countries.
At the time, Prince was being investigated by U.S. law enforcement and his
communications were being monitored. What began as an investigation into
Prince’s attempts to sell defense services in Libya and other countries in
Africa widened to include allegations that Prince received assistance from
Chinese intelligence to set up an account for his Libya operations through the
Bank of China. FSG’s single largest shareholder is Citic Group, the Chinese
government’s largest state-owned investment firm. Citic, which recently
invested another $60 million in FSG, is the company’s largest single
shareholder.
The FSG spokesperson did not address any of the allegations contained in the
2015 King & Spalding report obtained by The Intercept. He stated that FSG
“voluntarily filed a report” with the State Department in September 2016. That
was after Smith and other Americans in leadership at FSG had left the company.
“Based on the documents and information available, FSG’s review did not
identify ITAR violations,” said the FSG/Prince spokesperson, adding “there has
been no follow up whatsoever making it crystal clear that this matter has
ended.” He did not address the discrepancy between this assertion and the
positions laid out by the lawyers in the investigation, which were briefed to
the Justice Department earlier in 2016.
After Trump’s election, Prince emerged from the shadows he’d occupied for much
of the Obama administration. He was one of the top contributors to the
pro-Trump super PAC, Make America Number One Again. Prince was a frequent guest
at Trump Tower and secretly advising Trump during the transition. His wife
posted pictures from inside Trump-Pence headquarters on election night.
Prince seemed unconcerned about the investigations into his activities. He
openly, though unsuccessfully, campaigned — through White House meetings, cable
news interviews, and op-eds in major publications — to have the war in
Afghanistan privatized by mercenary forces and effectively placed under his
control. Prince pitched this and other intelligence operations to the CIA and
senior administration officials.
The ranking Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, Rep. Adam Schiff, has said
he wants to re-interview Prince in light of new information from a Prince
associate, George Nader, who is reportedly cooperating with Special Prosecutor
Robert Mueller. Nader contradicted key details of Prince’s testimony to
Congress, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Prince has run up against ITAR in the past. In 2010, he sold most of his equity
in the companies that fell under the Blackwater umbrella. Soon after, he left
the United States and became a resident of Abu Dhabi. The remnant of his
network was renamed Academi LLC. Federal prosecutors eventually attempted to
prosecute Prince’s former companies, culminating in a 2012 deferred prosecution
agreement to settle a long list of U.S. legal and regulatory violations,
including ITAR violations, committed from 2005 through 2008 when Prince was in
charge.
👆
