Anti-Espionage Act violated by McCain Campaign Manager's Firm?

[Joanne98]

Sun Jun 15, 2008 at 09:20:25 AM PDT
ohhhh, talk about a hot steamy mess... and people complained about Jim Johnson? Give this a swing

The McCain campaign is strongly denying the paper's reporting that in 2005, a White House National Security Council staffer called John McCain's Senate office to complain that Rick Davis' lobbying firm was "undercutting American policy on Ukraine" by representing a Kremlin-backed politician.

The Bush White House -- and McCain opposed Yanukovich, whom the United States and others had accused of election fraud, and benefiting from violence and intimidation towards journalists.

If the account of the NSC staffer's call is true, it suggests McCain should have known about the work by Davis' business -- but installed him as campaign manager anyway. McCain's campaign, which had earlier referred a New York Times reporter to McCain's Senate office, now disputes that such a phone call ever happened.

Billary Redux's diary :: ::
and the clincher

The story also raises the possibility that Davis' firm may have violated the anti-espionage Foreign Agents Registration Act, by failing to register work for Yanukovich with the U.S. government.

From the original NY Times Report

For instance, a lobbying firm owned by Rick Davis, the McCain campaign manager, has worked in recent years for a Ukraine politician, Viktor Yanukovich.

During this time, however, Mr. Davis’s firm, Davis Manafort, never registered as a lobbyist for Mr. Yanukovich even though Paul Manafort, Mr. Davis’s business partner, had met with the United States ambassador in Kiev on Mr. Yanukovich’s behalf.

In a related development, Mr. McCain may have first become aware of Davis Manafort’s activities in Ukraine as far back as 2005. At that time, a staff member at the National Security Council called Mr. McCain’s Senate office to complain that Mr. Davis’s lobbying firm was undercutting American foreign policy in Ukraine, said a person with direct knowledge of the phone call who spoke on condition of anonymity.

A campaign spokesman, when asked whether such a call had occurred, referred a reporter to Mr. McCain’s office. The spokesman there, Robert Fischer, did not respond to repeated inquiries.

They're now denying the story but certain things are certainly true:

Davis' firm likely broke the anti-espionage Foreign Agents Registration Act
Someone at the NSC found out and intervened; likely placing a call to McCain's Office
Rick Davis is still John McCain's Campaign Manager
It does not matter At All whether or not Davis directly lobbied; what matters is that his firm, which he was a full partner of, broke the law in a major major way and then Rick Davis was still named Manager.

How could someone at the NSC know about this and the news not get to McCain?

A denial on this sort of thing is very weak... a denial that he didn't do direct work is weak... all of it is truly a very hot mess...

And they are still talking about Jim Johnson's Mortgage? Give me a fucking Break...

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/6/15/121125/757