Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Naftogaz about to become an important new data point in impeachment inquiry?
Background on Suriya Jayanti, the second staffer to overhear Sondland's phone call:
Link to tweet
This may or may not get explored in detail at tomorrow's hearing, but it should come up, and it should stay meaningful for the rest of the investigations. What's the big buzz about Ukraine, aside from trying to fight off Vladimir Putin? Corruption. Whose corruption?
Team Trump screams about Ukrainian corruption while shaking down Ukrainian officials for profit OCT07
Donald Trump and Republicans keep claiming that Trump’s pressure on Ukraine isn’t about encouraging foreign interference in the 2020 elections—it’s about corruption. They are very, very focused on Ukrainian corruption and—surprise!—they should know, seeing as many Trump allies have been working to encourage and profit from it.
Three big Republican donors with ties to Trump and Rudy Giuliani—Lev Parnas, Igor Fruman, and Harry Sargeant III—were working to replace the CEO of Naftogaz, the Ukrainian state gas company, with another executive at the company, Andrew Favorov, who they apparently perceived as being more friendly to their profit motives. The men met with Favorov in Texas to propose a plan to import large quantities of liquefied gas from the U.S. to Ukraine, telling him that Trump supported the plan.
Dale Perry, a former business partner of Favorov’s, “told AP in an interview that Favorov described the meeting to him soon after it happened and that Favorov perceived it to be a shakedown.” Perry and a second source say that “Favorov said Parnas told him Trump planned to remove U.S. Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch and replace her with someone more open to aiding their business interests.” On Friday, Giuliani took credit for having Yovanovitch fired.
At the same time, soon-to-be-former Energy Secretary Rick Perry was also pressing for a shake-up at Naftogaz that would have moved a connected Republican into leadership there. A person in the room during that meeting, “who spoke on condition of anonymity due to fear of retaliation, said he was floored by the American requests because the person had always viewed the U.S. government ‘as having a higher ethical standard.’”
Three big Republican donors with ties to Trump and Rudy Giuliani—Lev Parnas, Igor Fruman, and Harry Sargeant III—were working to replace the CEO of Naftogaz, the Ukrainian state gas company, with another executive at the company, Andrew Favorov, who they apparently perceived as being more friendly to their profit motives. The men met with Favorov in Texas to propose a plan to import large quantities of liquefied gas from the U.S. to Ukraine, telling him that Trump supported the plan.
Dale Perry, a former business partner of Favorov’s, “told AP in an interview that Favorov described the meeting to him soon after it happened and that Favorov perceived it to be a shakedown.” Perry and a second source say that “Favorov said Parnas told him Trump planned to remove U.S. Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch and replace her with someone more open to aiding their business interests.” On Friday, Giuliani took credit for having Yovanovitch fired.
At the same time, soon-to-be-former Energy Secretary Rick Perry was also pressing for a shake-up at Naftogaz that would have moved a connected Republican into leadership there. A person in the room during that meeting, “who spoke on condition of anonymity due to fear of retaliation, said he was floored by the American requests because the person had always viewed the U.S. government ‘as having a higher ethical standard.’”
Link to tweet
At the center of the Naftogaz plan were two Soviet-born Florida real estate entrepreneurs, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, and an oil magnate from Boca Raton, Florida, Harry Sargeant III.
Link to tweet
Trump and Giuliani allies driving the attempt to change the senior management at Ukraine's Naftogaz appear to have had inside knowledge of the U.S. government’s plans in Ukraine. They told people that Amb. Yovanovitch would be recalled 3 months in advance.
Profit, not politics: Trump allies sought Ukraine gas deal OCT07
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — As Rudy Giuliani was pushing Ukrainian officials last spring to investigate one of Donald Trump’s main political rivals, a group of individuals with ties to the president and his personal lawyer were also active in the former Soviet republic.
Their aims were profit, not politics. This circle of businessmen and Republican donors touted connections to Giuliani and Trump while trying to install new management at the top of Ukraine’s massive state gas company. Their plan was to then steer lucrative contracts to companies controlled by Trump allies, according to two people with knowledge of their plans.
Their plan hit a snag after Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko lost his reelection bid to Volodymyr Zelenskiy...
It’s unclear if Perry’s attempts to replace board members at Naftogaz were coordinated with the Giuliani allies pushing for a similar outcome, and no one has alleged that there is criminal activity in any of these efforts. And it’s unclear what role, if any, Giuliani had in helping his clients push to get gas sales agreements with the state-owned company.
But the affair shows how those with ties to Trump and his administration were pursuing business deals in Ukraine that went far beyond advancing the president’s personal political interests. It also raises questions about whether Trump allies were mixing business and politics just as Republicans were calling for a probe of Biden and his son Hunter, who served five years on the board of another Ukrainian energy company, Burisma.
Their aims were profit, not politics. This circle of businessmen and Republican donors touted connections to Giuliani and Trump while trying to install new management at the top of Ukraine’s massive state gas company. Their plan was to then steer lucrative contracts to companies controlled by Trump allies, according to two people with knowledge of their plans.
Their plan hit a snag after Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko lost his reelection bid to Volodymyr Zelenskiy...
It’s unclear if Perry’s attempts to replace board members at Naftogaz were coordinated with the Giuliani allies pushing for a similar outcome, and no one has alleged that there is criminal activity in any of these efforts. And it’s unclear what role, if any, Giuliani had in helping his clients push to get gas sales agreements with the state-owned company.
But the affair shows how those with ties to Trump and his administration were pursuing business deals in Ukraine that went far beyond advancing the president’s personal political interests. It also raises questions about whether Trump allies were mixing business and politics just as Republicans were calling for a probe of Biden and his son Hunter, who served five years on the board of another Ukrainian energy company, Burisma.
Link to tweet
It’s becoming more and more likely that Trump and Giuliani are involved in a corruption scheme in Ukraine. All the crap about Biden may be intended as a smoke screen to cover up their own corruption.
We shall see.
3 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
