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发帖数: 4427 | 1 Donald Trump's campaign chairman was a key player in multi-million-dollar
business propositions with Russian and Ukrainian oligarchs — one of them a
close Putin ally with alleged ties to organized crime — which foreign
policy experts say raises questions about the pro-Russian bent of the Trump
candidacy.
"The relationships that Trump's advisors have had with pro-Russian forces
are deeply disturbing," said David Kramer, a former senior State Department
official in the George W. Bush administration and a former adviser to Marco
Rubio's presidential campaign. "Trump's attitude on Russia is not in line
with most Republican foreign-policy thinking. Trump has staked out views
that are really on the fringe."
In 2008, according to court records, senior Trump aide Paul Manafort's firm
was involved with a Ukrainian oligarch named Dmytro Firtash in a plan to
redevelop a famous New York hotel, the Drake. The total value of the project
was $850 million. Firtash's company planned to invest over $100 million,
the records say.
That same year, Firtash acknowledged to the U.S. ambassador in Ukraine that
he got his start in business with the permission of a notorious Russian
crime lord, according to a classified State Department cable. Other cables
say Firtash made part of his fortune through sweetheart natural gas deals
between Russia and the Ukraine.
Around the same time, companies controlled by another Russian billionaire,
Oleg Deripaska, paid $7.35 million toward management fees for Manafort and
his partners in connection with an investment fund, according to a court
filing in the Cayman Islands. Deripaska once was denied entry to the United
States because of alleged mafia ties, current and former officials told NBC
News. Deripaska is considered by U.S. officials to be among Putin's inner
circle.
The Drake deal didn't go through, and the Deripaska investment arrangement
ended in a dispute. But Manafort's dealings with Firtash and Deripaska,
documented in court records obtained by NBC News, are among several the
political operative has maintained with wealthy Russian and Ukrainian
businessmen going back over eight years. Firtash is a wanted man, indicted
by the Justice Department in 2014 over bribery allegations in India. He is
living in exile in Austria.
Now, Manafort is helping to run what foreign policy experts say is the most
pro-Russian political campaign in modern American history. Many observers
are wondering whether Manafort's financial dealings with a Putin ally and a
wealthy Ukrainian have anything do with Trump's pro-Putin tilt.
"It's just extraordinary," said Michael McFaul, a former U.S. ambassador to
Russia under President Barack Obama. "This is not a Republican or Democratic
thing. Almost nobody agrees with Trump on this stuff."
Trump reshuffled his campaign Tuesday, bringing in Stephen Bannon, who runs
the conservative Breitbart News website, as chief executive. But Manafort
retains the title of chairman.
In interviews and statements to NBC News, Manafort says he "never had a
business relationship" with Firtash. "There was one occasion where an
opportunity was explored. ... Nothing transpired and no business
relationship was ever implemented."
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/donald-trump-aide-paul-manafort-scrutinized-russian-business-ties-n631241 |
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