The Saudi have a bunch of PR firms working for them in Washington. The Prince
is being displayed as young and modern. The fact that he imprisoned his wealthy
rivals and had one of them murdered, that his country has the worst human
rights record in the world, doesn't matter. It hasn't mattered ever since FDR
first embraced Saudi Arabia. Donald Trump is just following in the footsteps of
every president since FDR.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Friday, March 23, 2018 10:10 AM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: [blind-democracy] Saudi Crown Prince Boasted
That Jared Kushner Was “In His Pocket”
The Prince is one of, if not the most wealthy person on Earth. Of course he is
going to have the Trump family in his mink lined pocket.
In fact, our entire Federal government is being embrace by the Prince and his
fellow multi billionaires around the Globe.
We folks called, "John and Jane Q. Public", are such gullible little creatures,
splashing around in the political muck and fast talk that means nothing and
everything. That muck we're splashing around in happens to be the "Swamp" that
Donald Trump promised to drain. Oh, did you think he meant a different swamp?
No my little darlings, Uncle Donald meant that great public swamp that is made
up of all sorts of fragments of Social Services. That's the swamp he was
talking about. You say, "No"? Just look at the people Donald Trump has bumped
out, and the people he has embraced as the leaders in his campaign to "reform"
America and make her Great Again. Do you notice any friendly faces among his
appointees? Well, to qualify that, the smiles on their wealthy, healthy faces
are for their great gains, not for the Masses.
But I guess we Americans just love to be lied to...again and again and again...
Carl Jarvis
On 3/23/18, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Saudi Crown Prince Boasted That Jared Kushner Was “In His Pocket”
Alex Emmons, Ryan Grim, Clayton Swisher March 21 2018, 5:09 p.m.
Photo: The White House/flickr
Until he was stripped of his top-secret security clearance in
February, presidential adviser Jared Kushner was known around the
White House as one of the most voracious readers of the President’s
Daily Brief, a highly classified rundown of the latest intelligence
intended only for the president and his closest advisers.
Kushner, who had been tasked with bringing about a deal between Israel
and Palestine, was particularly engaged by information about the
Middle East, according to a former White House official and a former
U.S. intelligence professional.
In June, Saudi prince Mohammed bin Salman ousted his cousin,
then-Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, and took his place as next in
line to the throne, upending the established line of succession. In
the months that followed, the President’s Daily Brief contained
information on Saudi Arabia’s evolving political situation, including
a handful of names of royal family members opposed to the crown
prince’s power grab, according to the former White House official and
two U.S. government officials with knowledge of the report. Like many
others interviewed for this story, they declined to be identified
because they were not authorized to speak about sensitive matters to the
press.
In late October, Jared Kushner made an unannounced trip to Riyadh,
catching some intelligence officials off guard. “The two princes are
said to have stayed up until nearly 4 a.m. several nights, swapping
stories and planning strategy,” the Washington Post’s David Ignatius reported
at the time.
What exactly Kushner and the Saudi royal talked about in Riyadh may be
known only to them, but after the meeting, Crown Prince Mohammed told
confidants that Kushner had discussed the names of Saudis disloyal to
the crown prince, according to three sources who have been in contact
with members of the Saudi and Emirati royal families since the
crackdown. Kushner, through his attorney’s spokesperson, denies having done
so.
“Some questions by the media are so obviously false and ridiculous
that they merit no response. This is one. The Intercept should know
better,” said Peter Mirijanian, a spokesperson for Kushner’s lawyer Abbe
Lowell.
On November 4, a week after Kushner returned to the U.S., the crown
prince, known in official Washington by his initials MBS, launched
what he called an anti-corruption crackdown. The Saudi government
arrested dozens of members of the Saudi royal family and imprisoned
them in the Ritz-Carlton Riyadh, which was first reported in English
by The Intercept. The Saudi figures named in the President’s Daily
Brief were among those rounded up; at least one was reportedly tortured.
The Saudi Embassy did not respond to questions from The Intercept. The
White House referred questions to National Security Council
spokesperson Michael Anton. Anton declined to comment, referring
questions on Kushner’s discussions with MBS to Lowell.
It is likely that Crown Prince Mohammed would have known who his
critics were without Kushner mentioning them, a U.S. government
official who declined to be identified pointed out. The crown prince
may also have had his own reasons for saying that Kushner shared
information with him, even if that wasn’t true. Just the appearance
that Kushner did so would send a powerful message to the crown
prince’s allies and enemies that his actions were backed by the U.S.
government.
One of the people MBS told about the discussion with Kushner was UAE
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed, according to a source who talks
frequently to confidants of the Saudi and Emirati rulers. MBS bragged
to the Emirati crown prince and others that Kushner was “in his
pocket,” the source told The Intercept.
Access to the President’s Daily Brief is tightly guarded, but Trump
has the legal authority to allow Kushner to disclose information
contained in it. If Kushner discussed names with MBS as an approved
tactic of U.S. foreign policy, the move would be a striking
intervention by the U.S. into an unfolding power struggle at the top
levels of an allied nation. If Kushner discussed the names with the
Saudi prince without presidential authorization, however, he may have
violated federal laws around the sharing of classified intelligence.
On November 6, two days after the detentions in the Ritz began, Trump
took to Twitter to defend the crackdown:
In the months that followed, the arrestees were coerced into signing
over billions in personal assets to the Saudi government. In December,
the London-based Arabic-language newspaper Al-Quds Al-Arabi reported that Maj.
Gen. Ali al-Qahtani had been tortured to death in the Ritz. Qahtani’s
body showed signs of mistreatment, including a neck that was “twisted
unnaturally as though it had been broken,” bruises, and “burn marks
that appeared to be from electric shocks,” the New York Times reported
earlier this month.
Senior U.S. government officials have long worried about Kushner’s
handling of sensitive foreign policy issues given his lack of diplomatic
experience.
They have also raised concerns about the possibility that foreign
officials might try to influence him through business deals with his
family’s real estate empire. Special Counsel Robert Mueller is
reportedly examining Kushner’s business ties as part of his ongoing probe.
The Washington Post reported this week that former Secretary of State
Rex Tillerson and National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster “expressed
early concern that Kushner was freelancing U.S. foreign policy.”
According to the Post, Tillerson once asked staffers in frustration:
“Who is the secretary of state here?”
Indeed, Kushner has grown so close to the Saudi and Emirati crown
princes that he has communicated with them directly using WhatsApp, a
reasonably secure messaging app owned by Facebook and popular in the
Middle East, according to a senior Western official and a source close
to the Saudi royal family.
Asked about Kushner’s use of WhatsApp to communicate with foreign
officials, his attorney’s spokesperson Mirijanian said, “Without
commenting on who he talks with and how he does his work, Mr. Kushner
is in conformity with the Presidential Records Act and other rules.”
Kushner’s attorneys have since told him not to use the app for
official business, according to a source with direct knowledge of the
exchange.
Kushner’s unconventional communications with regional leaders excluded
diplomats during the summer of 2017, when Saudi Arabia and the UAE
initiated an economic blockade aimed at weakening their Gulf neighbor Qatar.
Tillerson’s attempts to mediate the crisis were quickly undercut by
Trump and Kushner, who supported the blockade. Three State Department
officials told The Intercept that Tillerson was largely in the dark
about Kushner’s communications with MBS during that period.
In the wake of MBS’s crackdown in Saudi Arabia, the National Security
Council’s policy coordination committee suggested that Tillerson
intervene and try to reason with the crown prince, according to a
former White House official and a former State Department official.
Tillerson declined, telling colleagues doing so would be “pointless”
given that Kushner was already in close and direct contact with him.
The National Security Council’s Middle East adviser, retired U.S. Army Col.
Michael Bell, has also complained in recent months that he was out of
the loop on the Gulf crisis and the Arab-Israeli conflict, the former
White House official said. Bell has told colleagues that Kushner
frequently micromanaged those subjects through direct interaction with
regional leaders, without offering Bell any worthwhile readout on
their interactions.
Bell, speaking through National Security Council spokesperson Anton,
denied that Kushner has kept him out of the loop and said he respects
Kushner’s lead role in the region.
NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 6: A Kushner Companies logo is visible near an
entrance to the Kushner Companies' flagship property 666 Fifth Avenue
in Midtown Manhattan, March 6, 2018 in New York City. Kushner
Companies, run by the family of White House senior adviser Jared
Kushner, has been trying to raise funds for their $1.2 billion dollar
mortgage on the building that is due in February 2019. The Kushners bought
the property for $1.8 billion in 2006.
Many real estate analysts say that they Kushners vastly overpaid for
the property. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images) A Kushner
Companies logo is visible near an entrance to the Kushner Companies’
flagship property 666 Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, March 6,
2018, in New York City.
Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images
Kushner’s support for Saudi Arabia and the UAE over Qatar in the Gulf
crisis has raised questions about a possible conflict of interest.
Kushner backed the blockade a month after Qatar’s ministry of finance
rebuffed an attempt by Kushner’s real estate firm, Kushner Companies,
to extract financing for the firm’s troubled flagship property at 666 Fifth
Avenue.
In 2007, Kushner bought the landmark Manhattan building for $1.8
billion, putting down $500 million in cash raised largely by selling
thousands of rental units the family had owned in New Jersey. It was
widely regarded as overpriced at the time, and when the financial
crisis hit, the value plummeted, wiping out much of the initial
investment. The clock is now ticking toward a February 2019 deadline
when a major mortgage payment will come due.
Since 2011, Kushner and his relatives have been searching the globe
for a new investor. As recently as the spring of 2017, Charles
Kushner, Jared’s father, asked former Qatari prime minister Sheikh
Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani to invest in the building. Then in April
2017, Charles Kushner made a direct pitch to the Qatari government through
the country’s minister of finance.
Qatar rejected the deal as not financially viable. In May, Trump
traveled to Riyadh with Kushner, where the famous glowing orb photo
was taken. In the wake of the meeting, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and a
handful of allied countries announced the blockade of rival Qatar,
accusing it of fomenting terror. The crisis continues today.
“We could not understand why the Trump administration was so firmly
taking the Saudis’ side in this dispute between the Saudis, the
Emiratis, and Qatar, because the United States has very important interests
in Qatar,”
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., told George Stephanopoulos, host of ABC’s
“This Week,” after The Intercept reported on Kushner Companies’
efforts to obtain financing from Qatar. Murphy was referring to Al
Udeid Air Base in Qatar, home of U.S. Central Command, where thousands of
U.S. troops are stationed.
“If the reason this administration put U.S. troops at risk in Qatar
was to protect the Kushners’ financial interests, then that’s all the
evidence you need to make some big changes in the White House,” Murphy said.
MBS is in Washington this week. On Tuesday, he was warmly received by
Trump, who told reporters that the U.S.-Saudi relationship is
“probably the strongest it’s ever been.”
Top photo: Mohammed bin Nayef and Mohammad bin Salman with Jared
Kushner and Ivanka Trump on May 20, 2017, at the Royal Court Palace in
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
👆
