Congressman Duped Into Holding Sham Hearing for Ukrainian TV

[riversedge]

Source: dailybeast



A Kansas Republican's office booked a room in the basement of the Capitol that was used for a fake congressional hearing put on by a shadowy Ukrainian lobbying group.

10.02.17 5:23 PM ET

A former U.S. lawmaker appears to have duped a freshman congressman's office into organizing a sham “hearing” that aired on Ukrainian television on behalf of a shadowy lobbying client implicated in the Panama Papers leak, The Daily Beast has learned.

Former Rep. Connie Mack (R-FL) reached out to the office of Rep. Ron Estes (R-KS)—a freshman lawmaker who won the special election to replace CIA Director Mike Pompeo—to reserve a room in the basement of the Capitol for an event on the Ukrainian banking sector.

As The Weekly Standard documents, the fake “hearing” was broadcast in full on Ukraine’s NewsOne and described to viewers as the “U.S. Congressional Committee on Financial Issues.” But not a single member of Congress attended. The network teased the “shocking details” about the “highest levels of corruption in the NBU,” referring to the National Bank of Ukraine.

Panelists at the event included Sergiy Taruta, a former politician in Ukraine, Oleksandr Zavadetskyi, a former NBU employee, and James Woolsey, the former CIA director under President Bill Clinton who also served as an adviser to President Trump’s campaign. A pamphlet handed out to attendees was evaluated by a Ukrainian fact-checking website as having “mostly correct” data about the NBU but “manipulated in almost all occasions.”



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Read more: https://www.thedailybeast.com/congressman-duped-into-holding-sham-hearing-for-ukrainian-tv

[BootinUp]

1. Fucking Woolsey. Spotted him as

Last edited Tue Oct 3, 2017, 04:33 AM - Edit history (1)

A pure scammer years ago.

[kentuck]

5. I've always thought the guy was a spy?

From the first time I heard him speak.

[BootinUp]

6. Well

I suppose that's possible, all I know is he is a gifted liar and snake oil salesman.

[CottonBear]

3. Its outrageous that Woolsey is involved in this propaganda event.

He and Mack must be being paid a lot of money for their work on behalf of foreign governments..

[Deb]

4. Woolsey,Estes and Mack made a Ukrainian INFOMERCIAL using U.S. Govt property?

I would think Republican voters tire of being used as piggy banks.

[Hortensis]

7. Here's a Roll Call article on this that to me explains what's wrong here a bit more clearly.

It also gets all its Woolsey info from a Weekly Standard article with video and its own description (understanding that Weekly Standard is not the most ethical conservative site around). Nothing explains why Woolsey involved himself in this shady, recorded business.

Weekly Standard" A Senate aide with knowledge of the event said, “It was a strange, strange event. Even by Ukrainian standards, that was an odd one. . . . I mean, why would a former CIA director be in the basement of the Capitol for a inter-oligarch dispute? [Former] CIA directors don’t just go to events and say, how much we could get along with the Russians. They don’t do that without a reason.”

https://www.rollcall.com/news/politics/lobbyists-capitol-meeting-space

[Achilleaze]

8. republicans

are dangerous for America. Cupidity, stupidity & mendacity up the freaking wazoo.

[vkkv]

9. James Woolsey made a little sense at times, but he's been a paranoid lunatic since 911, roughly.

What a dope.