The noose tightens.GO FBI! GO MUELLER!...hang these traitors

[kpete]

Testimony of William Browder to the Senate Judiciary Committee on FARA violations
connected to the anti-Magnitsky Campaign by Russian government interests
July 26, 2017

Chairman Grassley, Ranking Member Feinstein and members of the committee, thank you
for giving me the opportunity to testify today on the Russian government’s attempts to
repeal the Magnitsky Act in Washington in 2016, and the enablers who conducted this
campaign in violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act, by not disclosing their roles as
agents for foreign interests.

Before I get into the actions of the agents who conducted the anti-Magnitsky campaign in
Washington for the benefit of the Russian state, let me share a bit of background about
Sergei Magnitsky and myself.

I am the founder and CEO of Hermitage Capital Management. I grew up in Chicago, but for
the last 28 years I’ve lived in Moscow and London, and am now a British citizen. From 1996
to 2005, my firm, Hermitage Capital, was one of the largest investment advisers in Russia
with more than $4 billion invested in Russian stocks.

Russia has a well-known reputation for corruption; unfortunately, I discovered that it was
far worse than many had thought. While working in Moscow I learned that Russian oligarchs
stole from shareholders, which included the fund I advised. Consequently, I had an interest
in fighting this endemic corruption, so my firm started doing detailed research on exactly
how the oligarchs stole the vast amounts of money that they did. When we were finished
with our research we would share it with the domestic and international media.

For a time this naming and shaming campaign worked remarkably well and led to less
corruption and increased share prices in the companies we invested in. Why? Because
President Vladimir Putin and I shared the same set of enemies. When Putin was first elected
in 2000 he found that the oligarchs had misappropriated much of the president’s power as
well. They stole power from him while stealing money from my investors. In Russia your
enemy’s enemy is your friend, and even though I’ve never met Putin, he would often step
into my battles with the oligarchs and crack down on them.

That all changed in July 2003 when Putin arrested Russia’s biggest oligarch and richest man,
Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Putin grabbed Khodorkovsky off his private jet, took him back to
Moscow, put him on trial and allowed television cameras to film Khodorkovsky sitting in a
cage right in the middle of the courtroom. That image was extremely powerful because
none of the other oligarchs wanted to be in the same position. After Khodorkovsky’s
conviction the other oligarchs went to Putin and asked him what they needed to do to avoid
sitting in the same cage as Khodorkovsky. From what followed, it appeared that Putin’s
answer was, “Fifty per cent.” He wasn’t saying 50% for the Russian government or the
presidential administration of Russia, but 50% for Vladimir Putin personally. From that
moment on Putin became the biggest oligarch in Russia and the richest man in the world,
and my anti-corruption activities would no longer be tolerated

The results of this change came very quickly. On November 13th
, 2005 as I was flying intoMoscow from a weekend away, I was stopped at Sheremetyevo airport, detained for 15
hours, deported and declared a threat to national security.
Eighteen months after my expulsion a pair of simultaneous raids took place in Moscow.
Over 25 Interior Ministry officials barged into my Moscow office and the office of the
American law firm that represented me. The officials seized all the corporate documents
connected to the investment holding companies of the funds that I advised. I didn’t know
the purpose of these raids so I hired the smartest Russian lawyer I knew, a 35-year old
named Sergei Magnitsky. I asked Sergei to investigate the purpose of the raids and try to
stop whatever illegal plans these officials had.

Sergei went out and investigated. He came back with the most astounding conclusion of
corporate identity theft: the documents seized by the Interior Ministry were used to
fraudulently re-register our Russian investment holding companies to a man named Viktor
Markelov, a known criminal convicted of manslaughter. After more digging, Sergei
discovered that the stolen companies were used by the perpetrators to misappropriate
$230 million of taxes that our companies had paid to the Russian government in the
previous year.

I had always thought Putin was a nationalist. It seemed inconceivable that he would
approve of his officials stealing $230 million from the Russian state. Sergei and I were sure
that this was a rogue operation and if we just brought it to the attention of the Russian
authorities, the “good guys” would get the “bad guys” and that would be the end of the
story.

We filed criminal complaints with every law enforcement agency in Russia, and Sergei gave
sworn testimony to the Russian State Investigative Committee (Russia’s FBI) about the
involvement of officials in this crime.

However, instead of arresting the people who committed the crime, Sergei was arrested.
Who took him? The same officials he had testified against. On November 24, 2008 they
came to his home, handcuffed him in front of his family, and threw him into pre-trial
detention.

Sergei’s captors immediately started putting pressure on him to withdraw his testimony.
They put him in cells with 14 inmates and eight beds, leaving the lights on 24 hours a day to
impose sleep deprivation. They put him in cells with no heat and no windowpanes and he
nearly froze to death. They put him in cells with no toilet, just a hole in the floor and sewage
bubbling up. They moved him from cell to cell in the middle of the night without any
warning. During his 358 days in detention he was forcibly moved multiple times.
They did all of this because they wanted him to withdraw his testimony against the corrupt
Interior Ministry officials, and to sign a false statement that he was the one who stole the
$230 million — and that he had done so on my instruction.



Sergei refused. In spite of the grave pain they inflicted upon him, he would not perjure
himself or bear false witness.

After six months of this mistreatment Sergei’s health seriously deteriorated. He developed
severe abdominal pains, he lost 40 pounds, and he was diagnosed with pancreatitis and
gallstones and prescribed an operation for August 2009. However, the operation never
occurred. A week before he was due to have surgery, he was moved to a maximum security
prison called Butyrka, which is considered to be one of the harshest prisons in Russia. Most
significantly for Sergei there were no medical facilities there to treat his medical conditions.
At Butyrka his health completely broke down. He was in agonizing pain. He and his lawyers
wrote 20 desperate requests for medical attention, filing them with every branch of the
Russian criminal justice system. All of those requests were either ignored or explicitly denied
in writing.

After more than three months of untreated pancreatitis and gallstones, Sergei Magnitsky
went into critical condition. The Butyrka authorities did not want to have responsibility for
him, so they put him in an ambulance and sent him to another prison that had medical
facilities. But when he arrived there, instead of putting him in the emergency room they put
him in an isolation cell, chained him to a bed, and eight riot guards came in and beat him
with rubber batons.

That night he was found dead on the cell floor.

Sergei Magnitsky died on November 16, 2009 at the age of 37, leaving a wife and two
children.

I received the news of his death early the next morning. It was by far the most shocking,
heart-breaking and life-changing news I’ve ever received.

Sergei Magnitsky was murdered as my proxy. If Sergei had not been my lawyer, he would
still be alive today.

That morning I made a vow to Sergei’s memory, to his family and to myself that I would
seek justice and create consequences for the people who murdered him. For the last seven
and a half years I’ve devoted my life to this cause.

Even though this case was characterized by injustice all the way through, the circumstances
of Sergei’s torture and death were so extreme that I was sure some people would be
prosecuted. Unlike other deaths in Russian prisons, which are largely undocumented, Sergei
had written everything down. In his 358 days in detention, Sergei wrote over 400
complaints detailing his abuse. In those complaints he described who did what to him, as
well as where, how, when and why. He was able to pass his hand-written complaints to his
lawyers, who dutifully filed them with the Russian authorities. Although his complaints were
either ignored or rejected, copies of them were retained. As a result, we have the most well
documented case of human rights abuse coming out of Russia in the last 35 years.


When I began the campaign for justice with this evidence, I thought that the Russian
authorities would have no choice but to prosecute at least some of the officials involved in
Sergei Magnitsky’s torture and murder. It turns out I could not have been more wrong.
Instead of prosecuting, the Russian authorities circled the wagons and exonerated
everybody involved. They even went so far as to offer promotions and state honors to those
most complicit in Sergei’s persecution.

It became obvious that if I was going to get any justice for Sergei Magnitsky, I was going to
have to find it outside of Russia.

But how does one get justice in the West for a murder that took place in Russia? Criminal
justice is based on jurisdiction: one cannot prosecute someone in New York for a murder
committed in Moscow. As I thought about it, the murder of Sergei Magnitsky was done to
cover up the theft of $230 million from the Russian Treasury. I knew that the people who
stole that money wouldn’t keep it in Russia. As easily as they stole the money it could be
stolen from them. These people keep their ill-gotten gains in the West, where property
rights and rule of law exist. This led to the idea of freezing their assets and banning their
visas here in the West. It would not be true justice but it would be much better than the
total impunity they enjoyed
.
In 2010, I travelled to Washington and told Sergei Magnitsky’s story to Senators Benjamin
Cardin and John McCain. They were both shocked and appalled and proposed a new piece
of legislation called The Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act. This would freeze
assets and ban visas for those who killed Sergei as well as other Russians involved in serious
human rights abuse.

Despite the White House’s desire to re-set relations with Russia at the time, this case shined
a bright light on the criminality and impunity of the Putin regime and persuaded Congress
that something needed to be done. In November 2012 the Magnitsky Act passed the House
of Representatives by 364 to 43 votes and later the Senate 92 to 4 votes. On December 14,
2012 President Obama signed the Sergei Magnitsky Act into law.

Putin was furious. Looking for ways to retaliate against American interests, he settled on the
most sadistic and evil option of all: banning the adoption of Russian orphans by American
families.

This was particularly heinous because of the effect it had on the orphans. Russia did not
allow the adoption of healthy children, just sick ones. In spite of this, American families
came with big hearts and open arms, taking in children with HIV, Down syndrome, Spina
Bifida and other serious ailments. They brought them to America, nursed them, cared for
them and loved them. Since the Russian orphanage system did not have the resources to
look after these children, many of those unlucky enough to remain in Russia would die
before their 18th birthday. In practical terms, this meant that Vladimir Putin sentenced his
own, most vulnerable and sick Russian orphans to death in order to protect corrupt officials
in his regime.

Why did Vladimir Putin take such a drastic and malicious step?


For two reasons. First, since 2012 it’s emerged that Vladimir Putin was a beneficiary of the
stolen $230 million that Sergei Magnitsky exposed. Recent revelations from the Panama
Papers have shown that Putin’s closest childhood friend, Sergei Roldugin, a famous cellist,
received $2 billion of funds from Russian oligarchs and the Russian state. It’s commonly
understood that Mr. Roldugin received this money as an agent of Vladimir Putin.
Information from the Panama Papers also links some money from the crime that Sergei
Magnitsky discovered and exposed to Sergei Roldugin. Based on the language of the
Magnitsky Act, this would make Putin personally subject to Magnitsky sanctions.

This is particularly worrying for Putin because he is one of the richest men in the world. I
estimate that he has accumulated $200 billion of ill-gotten gains from these types of
operations over his 17 years in power. He keeps his money in the West and all of his money
in the West is potentially exposed to asset freezes and confiscation. Therefore, he has a
significant and very personal interest in finding a way to get rid of the Magnitsky sanctions.

The second reason why Putin reacted so badly to the passage of the Magnitsky Act is that it
destroys the promise of impunity he’s given to all of his corrupt officials.

There are approximately ten thousand officials in Russia working for Putin who are given
instructions to kill, torture, kidnap, extort money from people and seize their property.
Before the Magnitsky Act, Putin could guarantee them impunity and this system of illegal
wealth accumulation worked smoothly. However, after the passage of the Magnitsky Act,
Putin’s guarantee disappeared. The Magnitsky Act created real consequences outside of
Russia and this created a real problem for Putin and his system of kleptocracy.

For these reasons, Putin has stated publicly that it was among his top foreign policy
priorities to repeal the Magnitsky Act and to prevent it from spreading to other countries.
Since its passage in 2012, the Putin regime has gone after everybody who has been
advocating for the Magnitsky Act.

One of my main partners in this effort was Boris Nemtsov. Boris testified in front of the US
Congress, the European Parliament, the Canadian Parliament and others to make the point
that the Magnitsky Act was a “pro-Russian” piece of legislation because it narrowly targeted
corrupt officials and not the Russian people. In 2015 Boris Nemtsov was murdered on the
bridge in front of the Kremlin.

Boris Nemtsov’s protégé, Vladimir Kara-Murza, also travelled to law-making bodies around
the world to make a similar case. After Alexander Bastrykin, the head of the Russian
Investigative Committee, was added to the Magnitsky List in December of 2016, Vladimir
was poisoned. He suffered multiple organ failure, went into a coma and barely survived.
The lawyer who represented Sergei Magnitsky’s mother, Nikolai Gorokhov, has spent the
last six years fighting for justice. This spring, the night before he was due in court to testify
about the state cover up of Sergei Magnitsky’s murder, he was thrown off the fourth floor
of his apartment building. Thankfully he survived and has carried on in the fight for justice.


I’ve received many death threats from Russia. The most notable one came from Russian
Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in
2013. When asked by a group of journalists about the death of Sergei Magnitsky, Medvedev
replied, “It’s too bad that Sergei Magnitsky is dead and Bill Browder is still alive and free.”
I’ve received numerous other death threats from Russian sources through text messages,
emails and voicemails. US government sources have warned me about a planned Russian
rendition against me. These threats were in addition to numerous unsuccessful attempts
that the Russian government has made to arrest me using Interpol or other formal legal
assistance channels.

The Russian government has also used its resources and assets to try to repeal the
Magnitsky Act. One of the most shocking attempts took place in the spring and summer of
last year when a group of Russians went on a lobbying campaign in Washington to try to
repeal the Magnitsky Act by changing the narrative of what had happened to Sergei.
According to them, Sergei wasn’t murdered and he wasn’t a whistle-blower, and the
Magnitsky Act was based on a false set of facts. They used this story to try to have Sergei’s
name taken off of the Global Magnitsky Act that passed in December 2016. They were
unsuccessful.

Who was this group of Russians acting on behalf of the Russian state? Two men named
Pyotr and Denis Katsyv, a woman named Natalia Veselnitskaya, and a large group of
American lobbyists, all of whom are described below.

Pyotr Katsyv, father to Denis Katsyv, is a senior Russian government official and well-placed
member of the Putin regime; Denis Katsyv was caught by US law enforcement using
proceeds from the crime that Sergei Magnitsky uncovered to purchase high-end Manhattan
real estate (the case recently settled with the Katsyv’s paying $6 million to the US
government). Natalia Veselnitskaya was their lawyer.

In addition to working on the Katsyv’ s money laundering defense, Ms. Veselnitskaya also
headed the aforementioned lobbying campaign to repeal the Magnitsky Act. She hired a
number of lobbyists, public relations executives, lawyers and investigators to assist her in
this task.

Her first step was to set up a fake NGO that would ostensibly promote Russian adoptions,
although it quickly became clear that the NGO’s sole purpose was to repeal the Magnitsky
Act. This NGO was called the Human Rights Accountability Global Initiative Foundation
(HRAGI). It was registered as a corporation in Delaware with two employees on February 18,
2016. HRAGI was used to pay Washington lobbyists and other agents for the anti-Magnitsky
campaign. (HRAGI now seems to be defunct, with taxes due.)

Through HRAGI, Rinat Akhmetshin, a former Soviet intelligence officer naturalised as an
American citizen, was hired to lead the Magnitsky repeal effort. Mr Akhmetshin has been
involved in a number of similar campaigns where he’s been accused of various unethical and
potentially illegal actions like computer hacking.

Veselnitskaya also instructed US law firm Baker Hostetler and their Washington, DC-based
partner Marc Cymrot to lobby members of Congress to support an amendment taking
Sergei Magnitsky’s name off the Global Magnitsky Act. Mr. Cymrot was in contact with Paul
Behrends, a congressional staffer on the House Foreign Affairs Committee at the time, as
part of the anti-Magnitsky lobbying campaign.

Veselnitskaya, through Baker Hostetler, hired Glenn Simpson of the firm Fusion GPS to
conduct a smear campaign against me and Sergei Magnitsky in advance of congressional
hearings on the Global Magnitsky Act. He contacted a number of major newspapers and
other publications to spread false information that Sergei Magnitsky was not murdered, was
not a whistle-blower and was instead a criminal. They also spread false information that my
presentations to lawmakers around the world were untrue.

As part of Veselnitskaya’s lobbying, a former Wall Street Journal reporter, Chris Cooper of
the Potomac Group, was hired to organise the Washington, DC-based premiere of a fake
documentary about Sergei Magnitsky and myself. This was one the best examples of Putin’s
propaganda.

They hired Howard Schweitzer of Cozzen O’Connor Public Strategies and former
Congressman Ronald Dellums to lobby members of Congress on Capitol Hill to repeal the
Magnitsky Act and to remove Sergei’s name from the Global Magnitsky bill.

On June 13, 2016 they funded a major event at the Newseum to show their fake
documentary, inviting representatives of Congress and the State Department to attend.
While they were conducting these operations in Washington, DC, at no time did they
indicate that they were acting on behalf of Russian government interests nor did they file
disclosures under the Foreign Agent Registration Act.

United States law is very explicit that those acting on behalf of foreign governments and
their interests must register under FARA so that there is transparency about their interests
and their motives.

Since none of these people registered, my firm wrote to the Department of Justice in July,
2016 and presented the facts.

I hope that my story will help you understand the methods of Russian operatives in
Washington and how they use US enablers to achieve major foreign policy goals without
disclosing those interests. I also hope that this story and others like it may lead to a change
in the FARA enforcement regime in the future.

Thank you

MORE:
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/07/bill-browders-testimony-to-the-senate-judiciary-committee/534864/


MCEVERS: Donald Trump Jr. released the emails this week that led to a meeting with Veselnitskaya. He was told by an intermediary she had damaging information about Hillary Clinton. She denies this, and she denies that she works for the Russian government. What do you say about that?

BROWDER: Well, I say it's complete nonsense. She is the representative of a family called the Katsyv family. The Katsyv family, the patriarch of that family is a man named Pyotr Katsyv. Pyotr Katsyv is a senior Russian government official who is closely aligned with Vladimir Putin. And so there's no way that she can - she can say that she has nothing to do with the Russian government when she works for a senior Russian government official.

MCEVERS: And given what you know about the way the Russian government works, the way Russian President Vladimir Putin operates, what do you make of this meeting between her and Donald Trump Jr. and other members of the Trump campaign?

BROWDER: Well - so we have to go back to the Magnitsky case for a second. Vladimir Putin is infuriated by the Magnitsky case. Why is he infuriated by it? It's because he steals a lot of money himself. He ends up terrorizing people himself. And he keeps that money he's stolen offshore. And the Magnitsky Act basically imposes sanctions on people who do those types of things. And so this puts Putin's personal money at risk. So he made the repeal of the Magnitsky Act his single most important foreign policy priority. And if you speak to any Russians in the opposition who are against Putin they'll tell you that the Magnitsky Act is the thing that most upsets him, most infuriates him and he wants changed.

And so what has happened is that this woman, Natalia Veselnitskaya, via various people in the Russian government has become the proxy for Putin's interests in repealing the Magnitsky Act. And she has hired huge numbers of lobbyists and spent millions of dollars on lawyers, on public relations professionals, on smear campaigners with the objective of repealing the Magnitsky Act.

And obviously when Donald Trump was starting to rise and when he started to rise post-Republican nomination, I'm sure that they had a strategy meeting at headquarters and they said, we need to get to this guy to repeal the Magnitsky Act because this is their single most important foreign policy priority. And so they probably had embarked using all of their paid advisers to figure out how to get to Trump. And they finally found this odd in through this music promoter. And they went there with the sole objective of getting the Magnitsky Act repealed.


MORE:
http://www.npr.org/2017/07/13/537082081/businessman-bill-browder-details-dealings-with-russian-lawyer-tied-to-trump



https://www.c-span.org/video/?431852-1/william-browder-overturning-magnitsky-act-putins-top-priority

“Sergei Magnitsky died on November 16, 2009, at the age of 37, leaving a wife and two children. I received the news of his death early the next morning. It was by far the most shocking, heart-breaking, and life-changing news I’ve ever received. Sergei Magnitsky was murdered as my proxy. If Sergei had not been my lawyer, he would still be alive today.
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/07/bill-browders-testimony-to-the-senate-judiciary-committee/534864/

[BSdetect]

1. Putin should have been dealt with a long time ago.

And now we have a fool being duped and blackmailed into giving him more power.

[NastyRiffraff]

30. I'm not sure Trump IS being duped

He may know exactly what Putin is and wants, and is willing to give it in exchange for power.

[workinclasszero]

33. Oh I have no doubt

It's a done deal plus Putin may have some...interesting...info on Donny two scoops to hold over his head just in case.

Who knows?

I wonder what Trump is gonna do about those tough sanctions the Congress put on Putin?

Will he veto them for his pal Vlad?

[MiddleClass]

47. Exactly what I'm thinking, as corruption business of Vladimir is in American banks

In American banks because the dollar is the world's currency.

Out of touch of the Russian government if it overthrows Vladimir.

All the major payoffs, are in the form of multimillion dollar mortgages.

With the corruption money used as collateral and pavement,

the mortgage money is not just laundered, it's tax deductible.

Don the Con's golf courses are probably all funded with mortgage payoffs.

Repeal the Magnitski act, dismantle NATO, will payoff all your mortgages, golf courses.

Just research. How many mortgages Paul Manafort has taken out in the last 20 years.

And we know he was paid off by Vladimir for his action in Ukraine.

What is the bet that that is exactly what Robert Mueller's prosecutors are doing right now.

Look how Don the con is acting, it fits

[dixiegrrrrl]

52. Now I am starting to worry about Mueller's health.

This perfectly connects the 9 or so dead Russians...esp. the ones under WTF circumstances.

[MiddleClass]

53. Holy crap, I did not think of that, dead Russians can easily become dead Americans

They need to pass that law protecting Mueller quickly.

A few words to go from protect from firing, to danger

[dixiegrrrrl]

58. You start messing into a man's billions dollars piggybank

and it can go bad.
Multiply those dollars and add in the dead bodies= deadly serious.

You remember that string of dead guys related to Bank of America?
It was hard for us to realize that these things happen.
And mostly to witnesses, and to prosecutors if need be.

[MiddleClass]

75. Why do witnesses always picked the wrong railing to jump over

Usually 5 or 6 stories up, I never could understand that

[workinclasszero]

63. Agree

[dixiegrrrrl]

54. And he gave it away, in a news interview.

There was a news interview where the reporter/whoever, said something about Russia? Other country? killing people, and Turmp said, with a hard cold look in his eyes..."OH, you don't think WE kill
( America)? people. sure we do"

That look in his eye, his face of cold anger..... and then instantly he was back to being
doofus again.

I won't for get that look.

I apologize for not having source of that on tip of tongue, it was shown as a news snippet all over the web.

[MiddleClass]

76. Bill O'Reilly, halftime Super Bowl

[catbyte]

77. This one?

[dixiegrrrrl]

80. Yes. Thank you finding it!!! n/t

[Beartracks]

79. THAT line should be used in 2018 mid-term Dem ads...

... especially when linking Republican candidates to Trump and healthcare repeal.

============

[onetexan]

61. yeap, and i'm thinking it may be $$$ if Putin's got nothing on this idiot

[vlyons]

71. More like do Putin's bidding for money

nt

[winetourdriver01]

2. Putin

This world, and it's people, will never be safe again until Putin can no longer spread his evil slime.

[PearliePoo2]

3. Holy shit, reading this gave me chills. These murderous thugs should NEVER be on U.S. soil.

I hope EVERY member of the Senate Committee was sitting up straight, their jaws dropped and listening intently.
This is an accounting of pure fucking evil.

[hlthe2b]

6. This needs to take over news 24/7... Force even Faux Snooz to cover it!

[MiddleClass]

49. This fucking wasn't even covered on MSNBC. What they did cover the transgender Army Bullshit

Now we know what Don the con was doing with that outrageous unfounded statement.

It's like Catnip for reporters, what a bunch of idiots.

Distract the cat with the laser, while the mouse steals that cheese, even the whole refrigerator.

[politicaljunkie41910]

67. This story has been covered on MSNBC. I know it has been covered on Rachal Maddow's show and

possibly even Lawrence O'Donnell as well as man others because I've heard about it many times especially in relation to the Don Trump Jr and Jared Kushner meeting with the Russians that is currently being investigated by members of Congress. If it's news worthy it's going to show up sooner rather than later on Rachal's show. Stay tuned in.

[MiddleClass]

84. Rachel covered the story of Magnitsky, and the act.

What I was talking about is not knowing about Mister Bower and Mister Magnitsky because we do because of Rachel. What I was talking about is Mister Bower, testifying to why Vladimir Putin is so desperate to get Trump to repeal the Magnitsky act, and the inner workings of Russian corruption and how our banks (US banks) play a major role.

It shows why a unbelievable story is damn believable, and totally understandable.

But MSNBC, and all there sh it y reporters decided to play with the Catnip liberal utopia, rather than reporting what should involve 350,000,000 Americans (number, including illegals) rather than maybe 50,000 military active personnel at the most.

Pisses me off from the liberal media is played by an idot in the White House, because he's in the White House

[VMA131Marine]

4. The Russian government needs to be declared a corrupt enterprise ..

which would prevent it doing business with US corporations.

[dalton99a]

5. It is really the Russian mob headed by Putin

[SalviaBlue]

7. I really admire William Browder.

He makes this complicated issue easy to understand.

[byronius]

16. His interview with Randi Rhodes last week was amazing. Brave, honest, very real person.

[SalviaBlue]

21. I heard that interview. She did a good job.

Randi's "Homework" section is really helpful too.

[Ligyron]

37. Man, do I miss Randi.

She was a local talent for years in South Florida. WJNO in West Palm had her show along with 2 other progressives who were local and live (not canned). Rush moved in and they were all kaput. Now it's all canned Hannity, Rush and the hate fest rest.

[womanofthehills]

44. Even if you don't buy Randi's podcast, you can listen to Randi live Mon-Fri on You Tube

I bought a podcast so I can listen anytime on my iphone. I also listened to that interview - it was chilling.

[Ligyron]

45. Oh, good to know!

Thanks for that.

[dixiegrrrrl]

81. thanks for that info...good to know.

You tube has a lot of very serious news/public affairs vids, I get vids of the hearings that way so I can follow them when I am able to listen closely.

[C_U_L8R]

8. Epic.

Criminal.

[berksdem]

9. this is straight

out of some espionage novel... absolute evil that must be stopped.

Mr Mueller, please work diligently and follow the money.

[lastlib]

59. And Stay SAFE!!

You are undoubtedly in grave danger!

[eleny]

10. Once I started reading this I couldn't stop

It's compelling and rings completely true. I hope this is covered far, wide and often. Keep hammering at it, Mr Browder. You're a patriot of the world.

[Leghorn21]

12. +++++ - I read it last night, late, and just went NUTS - the whole deal shout Preet

Bahara getting fired at long last made sense to me and then the DOJ settles for a lousy "6 million" ??!- holy cow - (for starters) what the hell??

Mr. Browder has given me the great gift of finally finally understanding (in my dull but aching brain!!) what the deal is with Putin's actions and motivations, and what Mr. Browder is doing for the United States of America will be of incalculable benefit...it may take a moment for him to shine through all the bogus drama and LOSER 45 idiot tweets, but - well, now and forever to Mr. Browder -

[eleny]

14. +1 ... His statement reads like a novel

He lays it out step by simple yet horrifying step painting Putin so clearly as the greedy, sociopath that he is.

[Leghorn21]

15. Totally, 100%...now I have to go find out WHO EXACTLY let Natalia V. walk away with a

little bitty 6 million dollar fine in that DOJ settlement...???

on edit: okay, it was Joon H. Kim, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. But why? Why let them essentially slide on such a major $$$$ case?

Ah well, maybe I'll know someday, maybe not.

I saw on my teevee last week that like, half of Nashville adores Putin...Lordy, if they would just read even a couple of paragraphs of Mr.. Browder's testimony...

[Duppers]

26. "half of Nashville adores Putin."

Lordy is right! WTF is wrong with these people other than they consume RW talking pts all the time and never, ever bother to seek other sources of info? I thought with all the newbies moving into Nashville the culture change would be further along.




It also looks as if the Knoxville area is forever going to be stuck in the Fux-hell dark ages. (Wouldn't even think of moving back if it weren't for those sacred mountains.)

[Leghorn21]

32. Nashville, Knoxville...so many "villes" so willing to live in cooperation with mobsters calling

the plays - oy - I do believe many people will eventually go, ohhhh....damn....but...no, I can only guess what it's going to take to open some eyes in the "villes"!

[Ligyron]

38. The draw for them is White Supremacy.

That and a weird evangelical outreach that captured some in Russia via their missionaries.

[Duppers]

41. Ah yes, allegiance to the confederancy principles &

And that good, ole-time religion. The brainwashed suckers.

[dixiegrrrrl]

82. The US Attorneys are often directed by Justice Dept.

So Kim was the prosecutor for the feds, but not necessarily wanted to give the case away so cheaply.
Sessions still has the power to decide how to settle cases.

[Leghorn21]

83. Thanks, dixie...i didn't know if Beau's arm could reach that long...I mean, if he staged this

giveaway for mobster buddies, then - damn.

Wait, I think some Dems sent - sessions? - a letter about this recently, asking for more info on why the $$ penalty was so paltry...well, I shall go hunt for it!

http://www.businessinsider.com/why-was-russian-money-laundering-case-dismissed-house-dems-2017-7

Yup, they did. I'm sure they'll get a response real soon, eh...

[elehhhhna]

11. Donald is putting fanboy and wants to destroy America and strip

Donald is putting fanboy and wants to destroy America and strip our assets just like his buddy did to Russia

[Achilleaze]

13. k and r

[octoberlib]

17. I highly recommend Browder's book

Red Notice: A True Story of High Finance, Murder, and One Man’s Fight for Justice


https://smile.amazon.com/Red-Notice-Finance-Murder-Justice-ebook/dp/B00LD1ORX6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1501183338&sr=8-1&keywords=red+notice+bill+browder


A New York Times bestseller: “[Red Notice] does for investing in Russia and the former Soviet Union what Liar’s Poker did for our understanding of Salomon Brothers, Wall Street, and the mortgage-backed securities business in the 1980s. Browder’s business saga meshes well with the story of corruption and murder in Vladimir Putin’s Russia, making Red Notice an early candidate for any list of the year’s best books” (Fortune).

This is a story about an accidental activist. Bill Browder started out his adult life as the Wall Street maverick whose instincts led him to Russia just after the breakup of the Soviet Union, where he made his fortune.

Along the way he exposed corruption, and when he did, he barely escaped with his life. His Russian lawyer wasn’t so lucky: he ended up in jail, where he was tortured to death. That changed Browder forever. He saw the murderous heart of the Putin regime and has spent the last half decade on a campaign to expose it. Because of that, he became Putin’s number one enemy, especially after Browder succeeded in having a law passed in the United States that punishes a list of Russians implicated in the lawyer’s murder. Putin famously retaliated with a law that bans Americans from adopting Russian orphans.

[maui902]

24. Agree with this recommendation

Browder's book, Red Notice, goes into greater detail about what happened in Russia after the breakup of the Soviet Union. Apparently, Russian citizens were given certificates in what used to be state owned businesses and very smart and ruthless individuals bought or stole these certificates from people who didn't realize their value. The book goes on to describe how the individuals we now refer to the oligarchs obtained control of key Russian companies by paying pennies on the dollar compared to the real wealth of the companies they set out to control. The book describes how Browder came to become a large investor in the country after the breakup of the Soviet Union, but how it all came apart when Putin sided with the oligarchs to sabotage his investments. Fascinating, and frightening book.

[ancianita]

43. Thanks, sounds good. Garry Kasparov(Winter Is Coming)tells the story behind Browder's Magnitsky Act.

He also covers the same period after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the struggles of Gorbachev and Yeltsin to keep both democracy and capitalism functioning.

[orangecrush]

18. Kick and Rec

Trump wants to follow Putins game plan right here in the good old U.S.A..

[Duppers]

22. That's the truth.

I wonder if he'd stop at murder?

[SalviaBlue]

25. This is IT. Trump wants to do what Putin has done.

[Honeycombe8]

19. A chilling story. Lengthy post, but worth the read, because it gives the timeline & explains...

the scenario that led to Russia plans to get the Trump team to do what they want.

[Duppers]

20. My God, my God my God!!

We knew major parts of this but his shocking recount brought it home.

Trump has joined the Russian Mafia and he's mostly clueless and could care less about what he does know. The whole TRump family are a but pawns craving more power and money.

Impeach him now!


Big K&R.

[Elwood P Dowd]

23. K&R

Just copied and sent to everyone in my email address book.

[Duppers]

29. Doing the same.

Thanks.

[still_one]

27. I wish the OP was longer

[underpants]

28. Browder - I hadn't seen this.

[peacebuzzard]

31. Chilling description of hell in the Russian sanctions

[ div class="excerpt"]

[procon]

34. Why was SHS trying to spin this as fake news?

Can't she read?

It was the last thing she said at the presser, claiming something about about stupid dossier being discredited for once and for all, she was smirking like an idiot and blaming the press. She was implying that the whole Russian fiasco hinges on that one document and now that she's announced that it is unimportant, the investigation should end.

She practically ran out of the room to avoid questions.

[Ligyron]

40. I thought it was the Steele dossier?

IDK

[awesomerwb1]

35. I'm at work, haven't even read half of the article

and I'm slack jawed.

[trof]

36. Just...WOW! K&R

[Gabi Hayes]

39. That was law aw aw ng!

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10029339421

[Moostache]

42. Jesus F'ing Christ Crucified....it's like a Bond Villain come to life!

That whole thing is deeply disturbing, but the way it very neatly ties into Trump and his idiot kids and corrupt as shit campaign is horrifying...

THIS PASSAGE IS PARTICULARLY CHILLING:

Denis Katsyv was caught by US law enforcement using proceeds from the crime that Sergei Magnitsky uncovered to purchase high-end Manhattan real estate (the case recently settled with the Katsyv’s paying $6 million to the US government). Natalia Veselnitskaya was their lawyer.

So, in a case that was seeking to get back the stolen money that was at the heart of the Magnitsky saga, the lawyer JUST HAPPENED TO BE the same Natalia Vesselnitskaya that surreptitiously contacted the Trump campaign, drew the audience of Jr, the stick and the hit - who ALL lied about the meeting until they were unable to hide it any longer and then we later find out that the case was "settled" by DoJ after Preet was fired and removed from the case and for a fraction of the total?

But yeah, tell me again how this is a "nothing burger"?

I wish I could stand there and watch them all swing for treason one day...

[smirkymonkey]

46. K&R and Bookmarked!

[spanone]

48. K&R...

[Barack_America]

50. This is laid out beautifully and simply.

It is my great hope that the Magnitsky Act has forced them to overreach and that they will finally pay for this.

[MiddleClass]

51. K & R, that's more riveting, More detail, then the CNN interview, WoW

And the media didn't cover this, we should let them know en masse.

Transgender, threatening a lot more important than American security

[Tatiana]

55. K&R. Thanks for posting this. Browder is a true patriot.

I cannot imagine the number of threats he must be receiving on account of his advocacy and truth-telling.

[MyOwnPeace]

56. Eye-opening? YES!

And here's what scares me: We're counting on one person, the "independent investigator" - to find the "nuggets" necessary to make the government (House and Senate) ACT to save our country!

W - T - F !?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

Is our own congress SO corrupt that they will not act unless there's too much evidence that forces them to do so?

OMG, we're in worse shape that I had ever thought.....................

[voteearlyvoteoften]

57. Knr!!

[RandomAccess]

60. Thanks for posting this

I watched it this afternoon. It was BREATHTAKING. And believe it or not, my favorite was Lindsay Graham. I think Senator Whitehouse too, though his was shorter and seemed less impactful.

[Gabi Hayes]

70. Wasn't it? Just saw the first part on replay

Can't believe those words coming out his mouth

Kept waiting for the pivot

He must've seen the light

Will he keep down this path? Country over party? See it---then believe it

[RandomAccess]

85. We can only hope -

but this isn't the first time Lndsey has been "my favorite Republican" on this or that matter. He's funny too. Al Franken said this morning on AMJoy, I think it was, that when Lindsey was #17 out of 19 Republican candidates, he told him "If I were a Republican I'd vote for you." Graham responded: "That's my problem." I cracked up.

[Gabi Hayes]

86. Heard that! It was Alex Witt, pretty sure

His book is worth a listen

Got it from the library

Inspiring, hopeful, really funny when he goes after the current lying liars, and instructive about the inner senate workings

[orleans]

62. wow. thanks for posting this n/t

[Volaris]

64. ..'Putins answer was "fifty percent"..'

Holy Christ...
Sounds like Ledger's Joker...
'Ok. How much you want, to kill the Batman?'
'Half.'

[blue-wave]

65. Wow! Thanks Sooo Much For Posting

Trump & company are cutting deals with bloody murderers? This needs to be studied and understood by every American. And we must inoculate our great country from any chance that this type of blood money business ever occurs again.

[Egnever]

66. After watching this testimony

All I can say is wow.

Just stunning testimony.

Should be required reading.

[barbtries]

68. kick and rec

the most important story that everyone should know.

[dchill]

69. K&R.

[keithbvadu2]

72. If Trump was elected by fraud,,,,, so was Pence.

[VaBchTgerLily]

73. we have got to keep the pressure on Republicans who are trying to belittle Trump-Russian relations!

Must tell our Reps. to keep pushing harder sanctions!

[LongTomH]

74. K&R for Truth

This needs to be kept on the front page of GD and the greatest page. The GOPee can't be allowed to succeed in their disinformation campaign against Browder and Magnitsky.

[annabanana]

78. Did you TWEET the links? Did you put in on your FaceBook page??

This info has to be spread as far and as fast as possible. Every American should know the name Browder by the time we're done!