Jack - Danger is Fun (feat. Peter Strzok)

Episode Date: October 24, 2021

This week: a Gaetz investigation update; Chris Steele and the pee tape are back in the news; we have a roundup of foreign straw donations to Trump and Trump PACs from Open Secrets; have federal raids on Manafort’s Russian handler Oleg Deripaska - I’ve dusted my murder board off for that; I welcome Russian spy hunter and author of the book Compromised, Peter Strzok to the show today to discuss the implications of the Deripaska raid AND we speculate a bit together on what it could mean; plus some Sabotage and the Fantasy Indictment League.Our Guest:Peter Strzokhttps://twitter.com/petestrzokhttps://www.hmhbooks.com/shop/books/Compromised/9780358237068Follow AG and Dana on Twitter:Dr. Allison Gill https://twitter.com/allisongillhttps://twitter.com/MuellerSheWrotehttps://twitter.com/dailybeanspodWant to support the show and get it ad-free and early?https://dailybeans.supercast.tech/Orhttps://patreon.com/thedailybeansPromo Codes Protect all of your online information and devices with one simple subscription. For a limited time, Aura is offering our listeners up to 40% off plans when you visit http://aura.com/MSW. Get your first $5,000 managed for free at Wealthfront.com/MSW. It takes just minutes to start building your wealth. Visit wealthfront.com/MSW. Wild Alaskan Company delivers high quality, sustainably-sourced Wild-Caught Seafood right to your door. Right now you can get $15 off your first box of premium seafood when you visit WildAlaskanCompany.com/MSW.

Welcome to Teacher Quit Talk, I'm Miss Redacted, and I'm Mrs. Frazzled. Every week we explore the teacher- Exodus to find out what if anything could get these educators back in the classroom. We've all had our moments where we thought, what the hell am I doing here? From burnout to bureaucracy to soul-secing stressors and creative dead ends, from recognizing when it was time to go, to navigating feelings of guilt and regret afterwards, we're here to cut off a gaslighting and get real about what it means to leave teaching. We've got insights from former teachers from all over the country who have seen it all. So get ready to be disturbed and join us on teacher quit talk to laugh through the pain

of the U.S. education system. We'll see you there. Hey, it's Mariah and Steve, co-host of Swing Loves, How We Win Podcast. Two years ago, with your help, Democrats won the Tri-Fecta in Virginia. The election to keep Virginia Blue is on November 2nd, and actually early voting has already started. We're asking you to go to SwingLeft.org and help us win again. If we get voters fired up and turned out, we'll keep Virginia Blue.

You can't let the GOP win. A Republican victory would move Virginia backwards, and it would dramatically weaken Democrats' chances in the midterms. Go to swingleft.org slash Virginia, and you can help us win. No matter where you live, you can make an impact. You can join a virtual phone bank, write letters to voters, and donate to the races that need the money the most. Let's show the GOP that we will not stop fighting

for our democracy. Go to swingleft.org slash Virginia and sign up to volunteer. That is how we win. Hey all, this is Glenn Kirschner, and you're listening to Mueller She Wrote. So to be clear, Mr. Trump has no financial relationships with any Russian oligarchs. That's what he said, that's what I said, that's obviously what our position is.

I'm not aware of any of those activities. I have been called a surrogate at a time or two in that campaign. And I didn't have, not have communications with the Russians. What do I have to get involved with Putin for? I have nothing to do with Putin. I've never spoken to him. I don't know anything about a mother than he will respect me. Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing. So, it is political. You're a communist!

No, Mr. Green. Communism is just a red herring. Like all members of the oldest professional capitalist. Hello and welcome to Muller She Road. I'm the host formerly known as AG, Dr. Allison Gill. I'm getting used to using the honorific in response to our amazing first lady, Dr. Jill Biden. Today is Sunday, October 24th, and holy majole, do we have a show for you today? We have a Gates investigation update. Chris Steele and the P tapes are back in the news. We have a round up of foreign straw donations to Trump and the P tapes are back in the news. We have a roundup of foreign straw donations

to Trump and Trump Pax from Open Secrets, because I think it's important we put it all in one place and here at all at the same time. We have federal raids on Manafort's Russian handler or leg, Derapaska, and I've dusted my murder board off for that. I'm also very happy to welcome Russian spy hunter and author of the book Compromised Peter Struck to the show today to discuss the implications of the Derapaska raid and

we speculated a bit together on what it could mean. He also brings up some very good points not discussed in mainstream media including the urgency of the raid and the potential freshness of the evidence. I want to thank our patrons, without whom we would not be able to produce this show. I also encourage you to listen to the final episode of the MSW Book Club series out today on Mary Trump's latest book, The Reckoning, where Mary answers patron's questions. November 7th, we will begin a new book club series

on Colonel Vindman's book, Hear Right Matters, and he will join us to answer patron questions in the December final episode of that series. Patrons get ad-free versions of this program, the MSW Book Club and the Daily Beans, plus all the amenities and bonus content including invites to both live and virtual meetups with myself and guests including the likes of Rachel Vinnman and Glenn Kirschner and more. It's just three bucks a month for all that, so go ahead to patreon.com slash muller she

wrote to sign up. Alright, we have a lot to get to today, so let's kick it off with just the facts. Alright, let's talk about illegal straw donations from foreign donors. The recent indictment of two Republican operatives on charges that they allegedly funneled money from a Russia national to Trump's campaign and his joint fundraising committees

is the latest in a string of high profile and high stakes foreign straw donor schemes exposed by the Department of Justice. Federal prosecutors claim Jesse Benton and Doug Weid, accepted $100,000, as you remember from an unidentified Russian foreign national in exchange for getting the person a meeting with then-Canada Donald Trump at a fundraiser in 2016. Allegedly, the two funneled $25,000 to the Trump campaign and the Trump campaign's joint fundraising committee and pocketed the other 75,000.

Benton, a former campaign manager for Senator Rand Paul and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, worked for the pro-Trump Super PAC Great America PAC in 2016. In December 2020, Benton was pardoned by Trump on charges tied to hiding bribes in a 2012 scandal. At the time, Benton allegedly paid a vendor who then paid a sub-vendor violating the FEC's ultimate vendor disclosure rules. The new indictment is not the first instance in the Justice Department probing foreign contributions that boosted Trump. As we know, Frueman, the Soviet-born operative of Rudy Giuliani, he pled guilty to funneling political

contributions from a foreign national to a pro-Trump super PAC, America first action. Federal prosecutors recently announced that Giuliani, who also worked with Fruman's business partner Lev Parnas, is currently under investigation in the Southern District of New York over whether he may have acted as an unregistered foreign agent. Parnas, Fruman and the US partner Dave Korea were charged in the illegal foreign straw donor scheme after allegedly funneling $325,000 from Russian national André Muravyev through a shell company and through multiple in the illegal foreign straw donor scheme after allegedly funneling $325,000 from Russian national André Muravyev through a shell company and through multiple shell companies, actually, to America first action.

From his guilty plea, notably did not include an agreement to cooperate with the government, and he could face up to five years in prison. In February, Korea was sentenced to a year and a day in prison after he pleaded guilty to conspiracy and making false statements about the illegal foreign straw donation scheme. The trial for Parnas, another alleged co-conspirators, is underway. Parnas' trial and Cacushkin's trial had started last week, and we reported on that. Other groups supporting Trump have also come under scrutiny for foreign money. Federal prosecutors began probing allegations of foreign donations to Trump's inaugural committee

and pro-Trump Super PAC rebuilding America now in 2018. The inquiry reportedly examined whether foreign nationals from Middle Eastern nations, including Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, whether or not they funneled money through straw donors to disguise the donations to the Super PAC and to Trump's inaugural committee. That committee was chaired by Tom Barrack, who was and died at Interested in July on charges he secretly acted in the U.S. as an agent for the UAE. I think he's cooperating, that hasn't been confirmed. In 2018, Republican lobbyist Sam Patton, remember Sam Patton from the fantasy and diamond

league, he pled guilty to helping funnel foreign money to Trump's inaugural committee from a Ukrainian oligarch. Patton was a longtime partner of Constantine Kalimnik, a Ukrainian businessman with ties to Russian intelligence who previously worked for Trump's 2016 campaign share. Paul Manafort, gosh, the dots, they connect themselves, don't they? California Finance Year and Trump inaugural donor Amad Zabary was sentenced to 12 years in prison in February after pleading guilty to violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act and making illegal contributions after he failed to register

as a foreign agent while working for the Sri Lankan government and lobbying high-level U.S. government officials. Zabari, along with his firm Avenue Ventures, gave almost a million dollars to Trump's 2017 inaugural committee. Again, run by Tom Barrick, and he admitted he helped facilitate donations from foreign sources. The Justice Department reportedly probed whether another hundred grand donation to Trump inaugural came from Jolo, a fugitive Malaysian financier accused of stealing billions in the 1MDB scandal and who allegedly transferred about $21 million

to the Fuji's Prasma Shell as part of the straw donor scheme. The Justice Department also scrutinized Jolo's 1.5 million in transfers to a firm called LNS Capital, shortly before the firm's head, Larry Davis, made political contributions to the Trump Campaign's joint fundraising committee. The Justice Department has not released a conclusion on whether or not Jolo was the source of funding behind those contributions. So, hmm, Larry Davis, maybe, fancy indictment leg. Let's write this down. The Malaysian financiers contribution reached political operatives on both sides of the aisle with foreign money allegedly going to support Barack Obama as well as Donald Trump. Federal prosecutors claim Jolo funneled more than 1.8 million through straw donors to a pack

and joint fundraising committee supporting Obama's 2012 reelection campaign George Nader, Elevonese American businessman and lobbyist known for serving as a witness in special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation allegedly steered foreign money across the political spectrum funneling money to both Trump and Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election both Nader was indicted for charges relating to funneling more than 3.5 million through straw donors to political groups supporting Clinton's 2016 presidential bid, in a reported attempt to build influence with her inner circle. During that period of time, Nader was working as an advisor to the UAE and Saudi Arabia. Hmm, connections to Barrack.

After Trump won the 2016 election, the payment process in company owned by one of Nader's straw donors, who allegedly facilitated the donations to Clinton, gave a million bucks to Trump's inauguration, and later met Trump in the Oval Office. Now, this reporting includes all kinds of names of ghosts of Russia past, and this week, the FBI rated the homes, I should say, of Oleg Derepaska in New York and D.C. I penned a Twitter thread and it felt like old times. Let me read it for you. Thread reminds me, okay, so canvogal had tweeted, and as we know canvogals for New York times, he tweeted that an interesting new detail in the raid of Oleg Darapaska, the FBI agents who searched Darapaska's house in Greenwich Village were seeing leaving this morning carrying

several large flat rectangular boxes Like those used to transport paintings So I said, you know that reminds me of What does that remind me of Leonardo DiCaprio when he had to forfeit a Picasso and a Boschiat Given to him by Jolo who laundered money from one MDB Tom Barrick owned a hotel by the way Purchased by a laundered one MDB funds. Tom Barrick was indicted as I said in July and could be cooperating.

I think this raid and Barack could be related. Those are space beans, super space beans. And then I have the sources here for the decaprio stuff, the Jolo indictment. The Department of Justice, I say, was also investigating whether Jolo made straw donations to the Trump inaugural, which Tom Barrick chaired, as we said in this last piece. Oh, and did I mention? Deutsche Bank got wrapped up in the 1MDB scandal. Former Deutsche Bank employee Tim Lysner pled guilty to bribery and money laundering charges for funneling money from 1MDB. And of course, Elliot Brody, the guy pardoned by Trump

that ran the RNC finance thing and paid $1.6 million for a mistress to get an abortion. He worked for Jolo and was indicted for lobbying Trump on behalf of Jolo. One of the founding members of the Fougies was also indicted. Brody was pardoned. And then I ended with, so yeah,

seems to stand a reason Dara Paska would have fine art being seized by the FBI. Feels like old times. Oh, the good old days. Up next, America's most prolific Russian spy hunter and the author of the book compromised which you need to get a copy of, Tudesweet. Peter Struck will join me to discuss the raid on Darapasca. Stay with us. Everyone, this segment of Moshiro is brought to you by Aura. Most credit card companies

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Hey, everybody. Welcome back. So, sanctioned Russian oligarch with direct ties to Putin, Oleg Darapaska, had his homes in DC in New York, rated by the FBI this week, and an investigation stemming from either the Southern District or Eastern District of New York. And here to discuss the ins and outs is my favorite Russian spy hunter,

author of the book Compromised. Please welcome Peter Strach, high Peter. Hey, how are you? Good, it's good to see you, it's been a while. Yeah, you too. First things first here, I mean, out of the blue seemingly, we have these raids on Darapasca's, well, he owns them, I don't know if he lives there, but they're his residences.

Can you just give us your top line thoughts on how this is, you know, we hadn't heard anything leading up to this and what your takeaways are from this raid? These raids, I should say. So it was surprising and I think based on Deirapasca kind of having a little mini meltdown on his telegram channel overnight that it was a surprise to him as well. He was kind of complaining about everything and took a shot at the end that hopefully the agents found stale jam and some bottles of vodka and their Bolshevik bean counting ways and looking for you know muddy bags from Putin. So he was clearly both not pleased and surprised. But I think all of us the question is you know so what for an FBI agent to be in a place they either have to have

the consent of the person who has control over it or they need a warrant. And either a criminal warrant or a Pfizer warrant. Typically Pfizer warrants are not done overtly like this was. So that tells me that there was some sort of a court order, probably a search warrant, that gave them lawful authority to be there. And the most likely reason is that there is an ongoing investigation that there was an Asian who could sit down and swear out in an affidavit saying that there was problem caused to believe that there was an agent who could sit down and swear out in an affidavit

saying that there was problem caused to believe that there was evidence of a crime in those resonances. That can be, typically, fruit serenstmentalities, something that was used to do the crime, something that is evidence, bank records, phone records, legal documents, something that would show computer hard drive, something that would show the commission or evidence of the commission of a crime. And then there's also kind of a component too, like he was, he was sanctioned, put on the sanction list by Treasury in 2018. So, you know, there are forfeiture provisions that come. So it might be, and one of the thoughts I had is, you know, it is possible as part of

these sanctions that the US government could go looking to attach to his assets to forfeit them and essentially take control of them, you know, sell them, but whatever monetary penalty was owed to the United States and or if these were the result of illegal activity to seize that. So first thought it was like, well, maybe they're going in there just to catalog on the fine art. But as the day went on, you know, people in both locations in DC and New York, the news coverage had, you know, just videos and photographs of people carrying out boxes and boxes and boxes of stuff and small boxes, not like, you know, Marvel statues or big paintings, but things that make you believe that it would be whatever those items are, something that would be consistent with evidence of a crime.

I think there was something showing a car being towed away from DC, but whether that was, because that might have evidence or trace sort of fingerprints here, fiber type stuff, or if it was just seeking to seize the vehicle to forfeit, I don't know. But the high level takeaway is, I think it's probably everybody. I think the immediate memory that comes to everybody is that the business relationship between Manafort and Derapasca and the fact that, you know, allegedly Derapasca had

loaned him up and around $10 million as far as trying to settle that debt that Maniford was offering private briefings about the Trump campaign to Dharapasca that he provided the now infamous you know confidential campaign pulling data that he gave to Constantin Klemnik, which now is the Senate, at least, is calling an intelligence officer, Russian intelligence officer, not just an agent,

but you know, that kind of closest point of contact that at least we've seen publicly between elements of the Trump campaign and the Russian intelligence services, agent, but that kind of closest point of contact that at least we've seen publicly between elements of the Trump campaign and the Russian intelligence services, but Manafort gave that pulling data to the Klemnik-Atsin Klemnik to give it to Derapasca. So there is, I think everybody, when you hear Derapasca, the thought is, okay, is there something relating to this? I think Andrew Weissman in his book talked about the possibility of being very close to

being able to charge Manafort with regard to some conspiracy in the context of his relationship with Derapasca. So DOJ cleared him to say that in the book. But it could, it may be that it also may not be. It may be, you know, Derapasca is a, you know, allegedly has been involved in part of the things he was sanctioned for. We're engaging in a variety of not just on savory, but the illegal business dealings. So this might be the result of other investigations of other criminal activity. And you know, what that might be? Anybody's guess. So we shall see, I think. Well, a great mind, Pete, because you just flew through every single question that I had

for the entire interview. So I think we're done. No. I want to unpack some of that stuff, though. And I want to talk about, first of all, the criminal investigation versus counterintelligence investigation. Did I hear you correctly or you're saying that simply being sanctioned means that you might have to forfeit assets.

I don't know enough about how Treasury designations convey the ability to seize or attach things, tangible goods or money and accounts. So I think, in other words, I don't know there could be at least, and I'm way out of our mesquities here. One could be if you owe some sort of judgment where you are in default for a court has found that you're liable for paying some amount of money in the government can go look at some point to seize assets to fulfill that obligation. The other thing would be slightly different that if you are, you know,

laundering money or if you're buying things that, you know, that are a the fruit of illegal activity that you can attach to that through forfeiture and those are slightly different things, but the ins and outs of how that works with treasury designations, I just I don't know enough to be able to speculate on that. So and again to the point of what what folks were after in there, they're in there a long time. I mean, I think it was, you know, whatever time it popped up when some reporter was running by or walking by his D.C. residents, and I think they were there at least late until the late afternoon or the evening. So easily, you

know, 10, 12 hours inside. This was not, you know, I'm looking for a thumb drive going there and, you know, dig through. There was a lot of material taken out. So the scope of the warrant appears to be fairly broad. And, you know, again, we're guessing it's out of New York, not DC. So, you know, there's some spec- I have seen people speculate and I don't think it is related to the love of Parna, Siegraf Ruman cases or Rudy's investigation. It might be, but I don't know. And it is interesting to though that it is out of New York and not DC, because some of those logical, you need some sort of venue for whatever you're investigating when in the criminal sense.

So if it were something related to, you know, 2016, of course, passing that polling data took place at the Grand Havana room, which was in New York City and wasn't in DC. So, I mean, I can envision a number of reasons it would be in New York and none of them sort of narrow down what this might actually be at the end of the day. Yeah, actually, my first thought was it might be related to Tom Barich and that investigation

and indictment. I know he had a lot of ties to QIA Cutter, 666 Fifth Avenue, UAE, but also six fifth avenue, UAE, but also working with the inaugural committee, and then you can drag Jolo into this and one MDB. Because one of the first things I thought of when they were saying they were dragging art out of there is my first thought was money laundering red flag. But again, yeah, it could be asset forfeiture or seizure, not forfeiture, seizure. It's, I mean, but you know, until we know it's just all speculation, but you know, also, you know, you brought up Weisman, which I thought was interesting because I was going to talk specifically about that, how he said in his book, where, where law ends, that they did

have enough to, to get Maniford on conspiracy against the United States. They went with the tax stuff because it was just much far easier to prove. They got a conviction. They got the sentencing. They thought they were gonna get maybe a little on the low end. But, you know, I mean, the only reason he's not in jail is because he was pardoned.

But he was not pardoned for that polling data thing. But however, in order to get this warrant, they would have to have fresh evidence, but I don't think that that would preclude it from being tied into an entire scheme. Yeah, and freshness is a big question in my mind. I mean, in other words, you've got to be able to demonstrate to the judge why you think there's something that is relevant, that is evidence that's there now. And if you look at some of the neighbors, I think George Conway actually lives in Kellyanne, lived very close, if not immediately adjacent to the House, he told somebody in

70's, where we're reporting, I've never seen the lights on there at night. And from what Deir Pasca, he, I don't think since, is sanctioned in 2018, these lawfully allowed to come into the United States. So, the question is, okay, what if people, if he hasn't been in there and if people aren't transiting through there or living there, you know, over the course of three years, what does the government have that they're able to say in an affidavit? You know, there's problem on cause to think evidence of a crime exists there now. If nobody's really been in there for three years.

How do you, it's certainly possible, but that puts a, that certainly puts a spin on the, on the possibilities of what that problem will cause is because it's not, you know, it's not going to be a crime that, you know, unless he's got a server that's being operated out of the residence now, but if he did something illegal in February of 2021 and he hasn't been in the United States for three years, there's not really, in most scenarios, a reason to think that recent evidence of a crime would be in that residence. Reasonably, it would go back to something that occurred likely, not necessarily, but possibly 2018 or before. Whenever the last time he legally could come and see the United States. So in my mind, points at least the likely date of whatever this crime or investigation

is, some element of it, some element of the criminal activity taking place back whenever it was that Daripasca was last in are able to travel to the United States. Now, I mean, the danger in prognoscating like this, are there a thousand ways that that theory might fall apart. If he has an assistant that constantly takes care of the house and he's still getting bank statements there and they're bringing in the mail, well, that could be, they're just,

while that scenario laid out seems to me likely, it is by no means certain. So there's always a danger when we start speculating like this. I know, but danger is fun. Because you know, you're right. I hadn't thought of that before. He hasn't been there in a really long time. It's not like the raid on Rudy Giuliani where they had to do it quickly because he's there every day or every other day or whatever or there's people there. It's an active activity. And so I hadn't thought of that possibility before but I'm pretty sure the Inspector General Department of Justice is investigating whether or not a lot of these cases were kind of quashed or held

back or purposefully blocked by Bill Barr. We'll, I don't know when we'll see. It's been more than 90 days since they've started that investigation. I don't know when we'll see the fruits of that. We might not if there is an ongoing investigation. I'd say they tend to keep those reports under wraps. You know, same inspector general has been looking at January 6th and January 5th since January.

So, yeah, that's not going to be a success. I mean, I know just from my own experience, I mean those things can take years, so I wouldn't, you know, the fact that we're, you know, six, seven months in, it might be another 12 months before anything comes out or more. Well, you have personal experience with inspector general. It's shockingly enough, yeah, they tend to keep them quiet unless they want to like, you know, illegally release expedient private text messages

in the middle of the night to reporters, but that's either here or there. So. Yeah. So in point being, I think we're going to be waiting a while before we see several of these IG investigations. And then the other point to the IG is that, you know, they do have a lot of authority over the FBI in terms of what they can compel and ask and get information-wise.

But when it comes to DOJ attorneys, their authority is significantly reduced. A lot of that falls within DOJ's OPR, which is nothing like the IG. So when it comes to the IG looking at the actions of the department versus the FBI, it's not, it may not, the result may not look like what people are accustomed to seeing when they see reports about the FBI or DEA or subordinate investigative components of the department. Yeah. And you brought up the automobile. I think that that's interesting. I've heard one or two automobiles were taken.

And again, it could be seizure. But also, I mean, how long have this car has been sitting there? Could they have evidence in them if somebody plugs your phone into the car? I mean, who knows what it is. But I think that it's very telling that there were actually not just in there

taking fancy expensive stuff. There were seemingly boxes of documents. And... Did you mention art? Did you see that or did people report on that? I mean, I was kind of stowing that out as a hypothetical, but I didn't see actual art being dragged out. Yeah, I know people who were kind of on the ground

on the scene, like Robert Neckars, et cetera, had seen what appeared to be like a piece of art with a blanket over it. So speculation, but art-sized- Yeah, if that's true, if it is art, I mean, that certainly does point to forfeiture type activity. Now, it could be any number of things.

It could be evidence of a crime and things that might represent things that the government want to attach to as the proceeds of ill-gotten gains. But if there was art being taken out, that point is not just looking for evidence of the crime. It's looking for the fruits of the crime and how that might have been converted via money laundering or something else, but it's interesting. Yeah, and that's the reason I brought up Jolo.

I remember, I think Leonardo DiCaprio had to return a Picasso and a Basquiat purchased with a laundered money that was put into the Wolf of Wall Street oddly. And so, you know, that's kind of where my brain was going with that. And I remember that investigation, and I remember how many people broidy somebody from the Fuji's, how many people were swept up in that one MDB investigation. And we got that indictment for illegally donating money to campaigns funneling it from one MDB. And I know that Donald pardoned Brody for his involvement in that.

So it's just, it's very, I mean, there's so many, you know, I mean, you worked on this. There's just so many threads. And you know, part of me wonders if the Derapasca raid isn't, didn't originate in the molar investigation, much like I think the Tom Barich thing did, or if it's just, you know, like I said, it could be just purely a sanctions thing, a sanctions violation, sanctions thing.

And, but I mean, 10 and a half hours, like you said, it doesn't feel like a, like a sanctions raid. Yeah, and the other, I mean, you know, Derapasca is, I mean, he is an oligarch. His business interests are broad and complex. And so, you know, we are focused on his relationship to Maniford in 2016, but you know, you think about like the, the result, the, you know, the Russian aluminum plant that they had agreed to build in Kentucky, you know, shockingly aluminum plant that they had agreed to build in Kentucky, you know, shockingly enough, centers of Connell and Rand Paul Proud, you know, supporters of

that in my understanding is that, you know, I don't know that the first shovel has been put into the ground after all that, but, you know, when that was going through, I think that was part of the reason that, you know, through, I don't know, if it was CIFIAS or another process that Derepaska had to get rid of a majority ownership stake or reduces ownership stake so that the plant could, the plant could go forward. And so that was approved. And I don't know, again, I would be very curious if it's actually resulted in a single additional job for Kentucky. But setting that aside, you know, is there something there? Is it the point being that for everyone thing like that, if you're only there, Pascha, and you have extraordinary control over the aluminum production of Russia, you are going to have any number of activities which might run a

file of the law. So speculating is really just that at this point. But I'll expect them a little soon enough. I mean, look, if you have the FBI, you know, when you do these search like this, little on two, that it's going to hit the news. And so whatever you have to do before it becomes public, you're going to have done. You know, if it's important, you're going to say, all right, you know, before you take a step that's going to be very alerting and very public like that, anything you need to do in terms of obtaining information at a minimum, like freezing and preserving eye-cloud accounts or communications records or anything that might be deleted or delete a bowl, you're going to either get it or maintain it such that when you do something

like this, presumably when Dereposcene is undoubtedly extraordinarily competent, attorneys go out to try and control what might be out there. If you're the FBI or DOJ, you've already gotten it. Are you've already caused it to be copied sequestered until such a time as you can get a warrant to go get it. So this overstep like this indicates a certain maturity of the investigation. And again, it's not like you're not going there. You're not worried that he's going to go in tomorrow. And actually, there's evidence there that he's going to destroy overnight. So you can pick. I mean, they could have done this a month ago, a week ago, a month from now,

there's not a sort of exigent reason to have to go in yesterday. So that tells me that at least a lot of the work that they would have wanted to do if you have the liberty and luxury of picking the time that you're gonna search. Then you do it once you've accomplished everything that else that you reasonably wanna do. So, I think we'll see. The urgency wasn't there, yeah. That's sometimes it is.

But yeah, we will see. I think one thing we can agree on though is how the good news here, I mean, there's a lot of good news for me personally, but the good news here is that we didn't hear a peep about it from the Department of Justice before it went down, much like we didn't have any idea that Tom Barrick was going to be indicted, and we didn't have any idea that Rudy was going to be rated. And so I think that we're back into an era where the Department of Justice is keeping tight-lipped about things,

not announcing investigations and doing things as they're supposed to do them until, like you said, such a time when there's going to be an overt thing that people are going to know about and they're prepared for that moment when it arrives. Yeah, and you can go, what will be interesting to do is if the government comes up with enough information to charge Dereposca to pull out whatever that, you know, the complaint of the indictment, whatever it ends up being and take a look at the narrative. And you can see with Barrick, and, you know, the question is, are there gaps in the narrative, right?

Where people, you know, political actors like Bumpar or others come in and say, okay, you know, never mind the little established blackout around the election, but we're gonna extend that for, you know, six months earlier and months after, just to get them out of office, is there if and when charges against Air Paska come, is there going to be that similar gap that would point to kind of the shenanigans, the politicization of the department that occur in the last administration,

is this just gonna present another data point. But you're right, it didn't leak, Barrick didn't leak clearly investigators in the FBI, investigators in New York and DC, were well aware of this. And the first we all hear about is when we're watching our televisions with folks in RAJAC, it's walking into the resonance.

So it's a good, is a former FBI person? That's exactly what you want. That is how it should be that's appropriate. And now we can all wait and see what comes. Yeah, definitely. I like your idea that it's a more mature investigation because they didn't have that kind of urgency where that, you know, with Cohen or, etc. where they had to go in immediately to preserve the evidence in the face of it potentially being destroyed. So, yep, we'll keep our eye on it.

And I appreciate your time today. Everybody pick up the book, compromised, really, really good book. Still reading about ghost stories is one of my favorite things. So, or watch the Americans, whatever you need to do. But I appreciate your time today, Pete Struck. Great, thanks. Everybody, stick around. We'll be right back. Hey everybody, it's A.G. and this portion of Mooreshi Road is brought to you by

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[♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ Everybody, I've got a few things that could shake up your fantasy indictment picks this week. Something I recalled while researching my backlog of Trumpland crime and statutes of limitations. This week, I phoned main justice, and I send them a letter, asking them to reconsider or revisit multiple criminal referrals made under Bill

Barr that got ignored in 2019. First, the House Intelligence Committee made a criminal referral to the Department of Justice under Barr to investigate Eric Prince for lying to Congress in January of 2017. That statute of limitations expires in a little over three months. I also asked them to reconsider a criminal referral made by the Senate Judiciary for Sam Clovis, Trump, Jr. Kushner, Eric Prince, and Steve Bannon for lying to Congress.

I believe those crimes should be investigated and if warranted, they should be indicted on 1,0001 charges. I also asked the House Intelligence Committee to make a criminal referral if they haven't already based on Don McGanz testimony recently about the obstruction of justice outlined in volume two of the Mueller report. And finally I asked them to reconsider charges against Corey Lewandowski for lying to Congress. And I'll be watching what happens. In other sabotage news, Joel Greenberg, former Florida official, whose crimes in Florida

and snared Matt Gates in a federal sex trafficking investigation has been providing the Justice Department with new information as he continues to cooperate with authorities following a guilty plea earlier this year. After a brief hearing in Orlando federal court last week, Roger Handberg, an assistant U.S. attorney, said that Greenberg has made allegations to investigators that, quote, take us to some places we didn't anticipate. He went on to say, what investigators do is they follow up. They follow up on that to try to corroborate the information that's being provided. Greenberg, a former county tax commissioner and close friend of Gates, pleaded guilty to six charges in May, admitting that he had knowingly solicited and paid a minor for sex.

As part of his plea agreement, he was required to give substantial assistance to investigators as they built out related cases. Cases plural plural. His lawyer has said that Greenberg has held a series of proffers, which are, you know, queen-for- day meetings with the justice department. Hamburg didn't say what investigators Greenberg was providing new information to authorities about, but CNN reported that Greenberg had told the justice department about encounters he and Gates had with women who were given cash or gifts in exchange for sex. Greenberg faced dozens of criminal charges before his guilty plea, and the ongoing investigations related to him have also eroped in a circle of local politicians and businessmen who authorities are scrutinizing for possible fraud. In court Monday,

Hanberg called Greenberg a prolific criminal, and, he said Mr. Greenberg was not alone. Gates, who is also under investigation for obstruction of justice related to the investigation into him, has not been charged with a crime. He has repeatedly denied having sex with underage women. The hearing was held following a request by Greenberg's attorney to delay Greenberg's sentencing for a second time so that he could continue to provide information. The Justice Department did not oppose that request. Hamburg called the need for a second delay unusual, but out of the department was in an unusual situation, given the number of different investigations and different lines of investigations

they're pursuing. He indicated this would be the last extension, the Justice Department needed, and a judge agreed to move forward with a delay of sentencing until March 2022. Fritz Sheller, who is Greenberg's lawyer, told Court Monday that the sentencing delays were critical to his clients so he could provide prosecutors with all relevant details. The Justice Department could seek a more lenient prison sentence for Greenberg based on the extent of his cooperation. As we know over the summer, federal investigators continue to investigate the contracts that

Greenberg handed out to several associates while he served as the tax collector in Seminole County. Aspects of the investigation into political finance crimes related to Greenberg have been handled in part by the U.S US Secret Service and on Monday an official from that agency sat in the courtroom with prosecutors. And this just in a breaking, breaking, fresh breaking news from Mike Schmidt at the times. Check this out. And this is also a pen by Katie Banner.

They say the Justice Department has added two top prosecutors from Washington to the child sex trafficking investigation of Matt Gates, and that's according to two people briefed on the matter, not familiar, briefed. And this is a sign of the complex and high stakes nature of the inquiry into Gates. The prosecutors, one, a public corruption investigator with an expertise in child exploitation crimes, the other, a top leader of the public corruption unit, have been working on the Florida-based investigation for at least three months. That speaks volumes about the silence at the Justice Department.

It is not unusual for prosecutors from the DOJ in Washington to be added to local teams of federal investigators and high-profile cases that require a deep and specific expertise, like sex crimes. The Washington prosecutors have joined a group of federal authorities in Florida who have been investigating accusations of sex trafficking fraud and corruption by several people connected to Republican politics in Florida, including gates. The authorities have been examining whether gates violated federal child sex trafficking laws by providing goods or payments or drugs to a 17-year-old girl in exchange for sex. And with that it's time for the fantasy and diamond league. I can't come down. I'm gonna be dead. All right, well, I gotta put gates up. I mean, if we've just found out about these two attorneys, two prosecutors, excuse me, from DC, they've been on the case for more than three months.

The sentencing hearing for Greenberg extended to March 2022, assuming a trial could take place between now and then, it's time for gates. I think he's been on there anyway. I'd also like to add the Trump Organization and Weiselberg Supersea, and I think it's time for Gates.

I think he's been on there anyway. I'd also like to add the Trump Organization and Weiselberg superseding indictments. As we know, as we were listening to the beans this week, Mimi Roca, friend of the pod, and now the Westchester County District Attorney has opened her own investigation into whether Donald inflated or decreased assets of golf course that's there. Let's see, how about Rudy? I mean, it's coming up to be time, right?

Because if we go by timelines, in the Cohen case, Cohen was rated in April, pled guilty in August. Rudy was rated in April. Barbara Jones, special master, who was also the special master in the Cohen raid, has been turning over documents on a rolling basis to prosecutors. It's been almost two months longer than Rudy, but I don't think Rudy's going to complete guilty. Let's also put DeGenerna Vantone's on there.

Eric Prince. Eric Prince, I'd like to put Eric Prince on there. Steve Bannon. And I'm going to go two ways on Steve Bannon. It could either be the DC US Attorney's Office, Department of Justice, in the January 6th. He was just a criminal referral was sent to the DOJ about him for defying a subpoena for the January 6th committee. Or Bannon could be indicted by the Manhattan District Attorney. He's also investigating him. And that makes 10, my friends.

So those are my picks. There's probably so many people that could be indicted while I'm off for a week. That's what happens. I go in vacation. People get indicted. So dust off your picks for the fantasy indictment league. And we'll see what happens.

I'm thinking Gates, but man, that's such a complex, sprawling, huge investigation. And for the guy Hamburg to say in court this week, yeah, this is taken as de places we didn't expect to go. So Florida is in for it, especially Republicans. All right, everybody, that is the show. Thank you so much for listening. Again, thank you a million times to our patrons.

Hopefully I will see you when I'm in Boston. The next couple of days in New York, the next couple of days after that. I'm sure I had a real good time in DC, although I'm recording this before I go. But it was wonderful. DC was amazing. And thanks all so much for listening.

And please, take care of yourselves, take care of each other, take care of the planet, and take care of your mental health. I'm Allison Gill, and this is Mollershi Road. [♪ Music playing in background, music playing in background, playing in background, music playing in background, Mollershi Road is written and produced by Allison Gill in partnership with MSW Media.

Sound designed in engineering or by Molly Hockey, Jesse Egan is our copywriter and our art and web designer by Joelle Reader at Moxie Design Studios. Mollershi Road is a proud member of MSW Media, a group of creator-owned podcasts focused on news, justice and politics. For more information, visit MSW Media dot com. www.menaedia.com. Hi, I'm Harry Lickman, host of Talking Feds. Around table, it brings together prominent figures from government law and journalism for a dynamic discussion of the most important topics of the day.

Each Monday, I'm joined by a slate of Feds favorites at new voices to break down the headlines and give the insiders view of what's going on in Washington and beyond. Plus, Sidebar is explaining important legal concepts read by your favorite celebrities. Find Talking Feds wherever you get your anywhere you get your podcasts. M-S-W-Media.