Jack - FARA and Balanced

Episode Date: June 12, 2022

This week in news stemming from Mueller world: Matthew Grimes has filed a motion to sever Tom Barrack; FARA news about Ron DeSantis’ handler; a hell of a Sabotage segment so we can add yet ANOTHER p...erson to the Trump Inaugural murder board; plus the Fantasy Indictment League.Follow AG 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/thedailybeansHow We Win Fundswingleft.org/fundraise/howwewin

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Starting point is 00:00:00 I'm Greg Oliar. Four years ago, I stopped writing novels to report on the crimes of Donald Trump and his associates. In 2018, I wrote a best-selling book about it, Dirty Rubels. In 2019, I launched Proveil, a bi-weekly column about Trump and Putin, spies and mobsters, and so many traders! Trump may be gone, but the damage he wrought will take years to fully understand. Join me and a revolving crew of contributors and guests as we try to make sense of it all. This is Preveil. Please join me in thanking Credit Karma for supporting Mueller She Wrote. Apply with more confidence today.
Starting point is 00:00:34 Ready to apply, head to creditcarma.com slash loan offers to see personalized offers. And thanks to Anna Luisa for supporting Mueller She Wrote. Anna Luisa makes beautiful, sustainable jewelry at fair prices. For 10% off, go to shop. A-N-A-L-U-I-S-A dot com slash MSW media and use code MSW media. Hey all, this is Glenn Kirschner and you're listening to Muller She Wrote. So to be clear, Mr. Trump has no financial relationships with any Russian oligarchs.
Starting point is 00:01:10 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, a truth, in that campaign. And I didn't have, not I have communications with the Russians. What do I have to get involved with Putin for having nothing to do with Putin?
Starting point is 00:01:29 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.
Starting point is 00:01:46 No, Mr. Green. Communism is just a red hairing. Like all members of the oldest profession, I'm a capitalist. Thank you. Hello, and welcome to Muller Shee Route. I'm your host, A.G. Allison Gill. And there is a lot of news, stemming from Muller World this week.
Starting point is 00:02:04 Of course, we had our first January 6th hearing this week, and I'm going to go over that in detail on this week's Clean Up on Owl 45 with Andrew Torres and on the Daily Beans podcast with Dana Goldberg. So that's where you'll find that coverage of that particular thing. Today on this show, we have plenty of other news to get to. From investigations that originated in the Mueller probe, Matthew Grimes has filed a motion to sever from Tom Barrack. I'll explain that. We have some fairer news about Ron DeSantis's spokesperson, and I have a hell of a sabotage for you today. We can add another person to the Trump inaugural
Starting point is 00:02:41 murder board. And also out today, another episode of the MSW Book Club, covering Allow Me to Retort by Ellie Mistal. So check that out if you're into it, subscribe wherever you get your pods. Without further ado, let's jump in with just the facts. All right, first up, the curious relationship. Between 75-year-old federally-undited financier Tom Barich and his 26-year-old co-defendant and roommate Matthew Grimes just got curious. In a federal court filing, Grimes is slowly backing away from Tom Barrick, like Homer Simpson into a shrubs, but with Grimes.
Starting point is 00:03:16 And here's what Grimes is a lawyer, Abby Loll, by the way, that's a Kushner lawyer, too. This is what he filed on his client's behalf on June 6th, just three weeks after Tom Barrick was superseded for taking $374 million from the UAE for pushing their interests with Trump. Mr. Grimes is charged with a novel statute applied to the directions of a U.S. boss. U.S. boss. That's interesting. U.S. boss. He is presently to be tried alongside that former boss, Thomas Barich, a sophisticated
Starting point is 00:03:56 international business man with long-standing business and government connections. Mr. Barich is also being charged with seven additional counts for obstruction of justice, making false statements, etc. During the predecessor investigation to this indictment led by the Office of Special Counsel, Robert Mueller, Mr. Grimes fully cooperated. Mr. Barrick also gave interviews with Robert Mueller and statements he made therein from the reformed basis of the additional counts against him. The statements that each defendant made in the past no doubt will likely be introduced by the government in this case. In addition, the government has indicated that it will call witnesses
Starting point is 00:04:36 in its case from Mr. Grimes' former employer, whom counsel for Mr. Grimes' conquestion perhaps differently than Mr. Barrick's Council. In a joint trial with Mr. Barrick, there was a real possibility that Mr. Grimes' defense would be impaired, and his right to a fair trial could be threatened. A joint trial could easily, one, lead the spillover bias from the fact that Mr. Grimes is not charged with any of the obstruction of justice or false statement charges and would also be confronted with substantial evidence that doesn't involve him. 2.
Starting point is 00:05:12 Resolved in the presentation to the jury of competing trial strategies and defenses by Mr. Grimes and Mr. Barrick based on each presenting their different roles at the company and in the events at issue. Number three, inject Bruton confrontation issues into the larger trial since the government can be counted on to offer several out-of-court statements that one defendant has made regarding the alleged conduct that would be inadmissible against the other. And finally, four, it could touch on some of the issues the court has addressed concerning colony capital witnesses. In short, these likely events to find a well-supported case for severance pursuant to rule 14, they don't. As the case presents, quote, a serious risk that a
Starting point is 00:05:59 joint trial would compromise a specific trial right of one of the defendants and prevent the jury from making a reliable judgment about guilt or innocence. And then they cite that's from Zephyro V. United States, 1993. Accordingly, for the reasons discussed below, Mr. Grimes respectfully request his court sever his trial on counts one and two. So what are counts one and two? Here's what count one says. In or about April 2016 and April 2018, both dates being approximate and inclusive. Within the Eastern District of New York and elsewhere, the defendants Rashid Sultan Rashid al-Malik
Starting point is 00:06:38 al-Ashahi, also known as Rashid al-Malik. Thomas Joseph Merrick and Matthew Grimes together with others did knowingly and intentionally act in the United States as agents of a foreign government to it the United Arab Emirates without prior notification of the Attorney General of the United States as required by law title 18 United States Code section 951A2, which is some, some people call that espionage light, but I like to call it phara plus. Okay? Because this isn't really espionage that he's being indicted with. It's for lobby. It's for lobbying for foreign country. But see, like the differences and I've talked to some phara experts on this. And when I say phara experts, I mean phara experts, not
Starting point is 00:07:26 like Twitter people. I mean actual fucking phara experts. And they say, you know, with for phara, the regular phara, 611, you just, you know, you have to be lobbying on behalf of foreign interests. And 951 adds like direction, right? So it's heavier. It's like pharaoh plus. Then more than that, then espionage like, although they do charge espionage under 951. Anyway, count two says in or about April 2016 and April 2018,
Starting point is 00:07:59 both dates approximate and inclusive within the Eastern District of New York and elsewhere, defendants, all Malik, and Thomas Joseph Barrack and Matthew Grimes and Matthew Grimes together with others did knowingly intentionally conspire to act in the United States as agents of foreign government to wit the United Arab Emirates without prior notification of the attorney general United States, contrary to title 18 US code section 951A in furtherance of the conspiracy and to affect its objects within the Eastern District of New York and elsewhere, defendants, Al Malik, Tom Barich, Matthew Grimes, together with others did commit and caused the commission of among others the following.
Starting point is 00:08:38 And then they list like dozens of overt acts, dates, text messages, emails, meetings related to barracks, promotion of the UAE and its foreign policy interests in media appearances. And that's where the dozens of the things come in here. And that's what makes it violations of 18 US code 371 conspiracy to defraud the United States. Abbey Lowell argues there's no evidence that Mr. Grimes ever agreed to be an agent for the UAE or that Grimes New or would have known that his alleged activities on behalf of colony rendered him an agent of the United Arab Emirates He is just a kid. He's just a kid who lives with the guy sure and was there at all the meetings. Yeah
Starting point is 00:09:22 But I mean he was just working for me was he was the US boss. This is just a kid taking orders. I was just following orders. The filing goes on to say during the time period, it dressed in the indictment April 16, April 2016 to April 2018, Mr. Barrack is alleged to have met and communicated with various foreign officials hosted inauguration events in honor of and alongside President-elect Trump, and briefed the White House and other executive branch agencies on key matters, and meetings affecting the US-UAE relationships. Mr. Grimes is alleged to have facilitated some of those meetings in a company Mr. Barrick to some of those business trips, as would be expected from an assistant to the executive
Starting point is 00:10:01 chairman. Despite their vastly different roles, the actions of Messer's, Barric, and Grimes are often blended together, both in the indictment and in the filings the government has made in motion's practice. Yeah, they're both indicted. Additionally, Mr. Grimes cannot foreclose the possibility that his defense will include questioning the colony witnesses that the government has indicated it plans to call about the different roles he and Mr. Barrick had and his reliance on those within the company and
Starting point is 00:10:34 its advisors. In fact, the superseding indictment added allegations of a business transaction referred to as the commercial property that the government believes is now relevant to the charges. But then we start running into some redactions. And that's where I want to read this to you. It says, as noted above, during the Mueller investigation, both Grimes and Barrick made statements, and then in parentheses it says, Mr. Grimes redacted and once in an interview and Mr. Barrick at two interviews, one with the Office of Special Counsel and one with the Eastern District of New York prosecutors, that the government will most certainly seek to introduce
Starting point is 00:11:15 a trial. Among the statements Mr. Barrick stated in his interview with the Eastern District of New York prosecutors that redacted. Interview of Thomas J. Barrack on June 20, 2019. In that same interview, in connection with allegedly acquiring a dedicated cell phone, referenced in the superseding indictment charges against Mr. Barrack, Mr. Barrack stated that redacted, redacted, redacted, to connect with certain individuals in the Middle East. He had a cell phone to connect with certain, and that's mentioned in the indictment and superseding indictment. And then for his part, Mr. Grimes stated in his interview with Rob Mueller,
Starting point is 00:11:57 that Rashid Arma Leek, redacted and redacted, cultivating relationships for barrack and colony. Interview with Matthew Grimes, April 3, 2018 with Muller. Furthermore, Mr. Grimes made other out-of-court statements that the government might introduce. For example, in connection with redacted redacted, in or about September 2017, Mr. Grimes stated in a text message to Al Malik that redacted redacted redacted. Mr. Al Malik also redacted, redacted, redacted. Mr. Al Malik also asked Mr. Grimes whether there had been redacted, redacted, and he replied, redacted, redacted. Neither Mr. Grimes nor Mr. Barrett can compel the other to just to testify to explain such
Starting point is 00:12:37 statements, if needed. And so these will constitute out of court statements for which there would be no cross-examination. Courts are particularly sensitive to these possibilities, and even limiting instructions are deemed insufficient. Yeah, good luck, bro. Good luck. And one other bit of information buried in a footnote. It's in a footnote.
Starting point is 00:12:59 In the fine print, at the end of the last page of the filing, Abbey Law, concedes that he spoke to the government about this motion to sever, and that the government is not on board. Yeah, no shit, primer. All right, next up, a spokeswoman for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis this week had to register as a forward agent of a former president of Georgia, Mikhail Saskeshvili, belatedly detailing the work she performed for the politician between 2018 and 2020. The spokeswoman, Christina Poussa, has made the disclosure following contact from the Justice
Starting point is 00:13:38 Department, according to her old attorney, Mike Sherwin. Mike Sherwin, I wonder if that's the same Mike Sherwin that was, had to resign from the Justice Department before he was sanctioned for blabbing about oath keepers, seditious conspiracy charges on 60 minutes. I wonder if it's the same guy. Anyway, Pasha began her work in 2018 as a volunteer in the post-Soviet country. Sherwin said and was ultimately paid $25,000 over the course of two years. She received her first payment of $10,000 in October 2018 in cash. According to her filing, she stayed for free for six weeks in an apartment
Starting point is 00:14:17 owned by Sakushvili. Well, the one of his associates in Tbilisi, which is the capital of Georgia. Quote her efforts included writing op-eds, reaching out to supporters and officials and advocating on his behalf in Georgia and in the United States. The work ended in 2020. Miss Poussha was notified recently by the Department of Justice that her work
Starting point is 00:14:37 on behalf of Sakush Vili, likely required fair registration. Poussha filed for the registration retroactively as soon as she was made aware." Justice Department spokesman is declined to comment, this episode reflects standard enforcement practices under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, and that's according to Joshua Ian Rosenstein, an expert on the 1938 law at DC-based Sandler Reef Lam Rosenstein and and Berk and Stock. A letter of inquiry may prompt a voluntary registration, he said, to short-circuit a more formal determination
Starting point is 00:15:10 of failure to comply. Now, enforcement can take place years after the activity and question if authorities receive a complaint or simply act on public news. Though the methods are standard, Rosenstein added, there is an increased willingness to use them. Last month, as we know, Justice Department sued Steve Wynn, developer Casino Mogul, Republican
Starting point is 00:15:32 Megadoner, former finance chair of the RNC. They sued him to compel him to register as an agent of China. Days before that, a Washington lobbying firm said a probe into its work for Burisma Holdings concluded when it submitted a new filing retroactively to tailing its activities on behalf of the Ukrainian oil and natural gas company, which once counted Hunter Biden as a board member. Interesting. Pusha, a year into her 10-year, is DeSantis's press secretary, has become a prominent protector of her boss and a fierce critic of the media, Twitter briefly locked her account last year after the associated
Starting point is 00:16:08 press said the criticism she directed at a reporter cost him to receive death threats. She was written, she has written openly on social media of her work for Saka Shvili, who was arrested last year when he returned to Georgia after eight years in exile, associated with factions, critical of the Kremlin. Sakashvili led Georgia from 2004 to 2013 and entered Ukrainian politics after that, country removed a pro-Russian president in 2014. A court in Georgia now controlled by Sakashvili's political opponents convicted him in absentia in 2018. He vased arrest three years later when he made a theatrical return to his country, posting a copy of his plane ticket on social media.
Starting point is 00:16:49 According to Christina Poussha's LinkedIn profile, she joined the governor's office in May 2021. After her time, as director of a nonprofit, focused on empowering youth through education and professional development opportunities based into BLEASEY. She also lists experiences of campaign strategies for a Georgian opposition party, and on other social media has identified that party as the United National Movement, which Saka Shvili once chaired. In her filing with the Justice Department, dated June 6, she
Starting point is 00:17:15 wrote that her activities included perception management, public relations, preparation and dissemination of informational materials to an international audience, including US.S. persons and entities. Pusha's work for Sakashvili involved going toe-to-toe in 2018 with Samuel Patton, a political consultant who had just pleaded guilty to not registering as an agent of a Ukrainian political party. As part of his plea deal, Patton agreed to assist special counsel Robert Muller in his investigation of foreign influence in the 2016 election. In communication, reproduced at the time by George Washington University Law Professor Jonathan Turley, Christina Pousha claims to have
Starting point is 00:17:54 contacted the DOJ about messages allegedly sent by Patten to a former aide to Sakashvili before the Georgian exiles appearance on CNN, before he was on CNN. In the appearance, which included a discussion of Patton's case, Sakashvili read aloud the messages said to have come from Patton, including a warning to call off your trolls now or I'll start releasing things about Misha, he'd prefer I didn't. Quote, today I contacted the Department of Justice to report Sam's threat to send over
Starting point is 00:18:25 the screenshots Pusha wrote to TURLE, who appeared on CNN after Sakush Vili. I believe Sam knew Sakush Vili would talk about the case on CNN yesterday, since I announced it on Facebook a few hours beforehand. I think Sam sent that threat right before the interview to coercive into silence. Patton called the suggestion that he was bullying Sakushvili or his associates absurd backwards and disproven. Turley said he reproduced Pusha's message with her permission. Sherwin, her attorney, did not respond to a question about the 2018 episode. So we've got Mike Sherwin, Jonathan Turley, Pusha, Sam Patten, the best people. Talk about a throwback.
Starting point is 00:19:07 I've been calling her DeSantis's Man of Fort, but she's blocked me on Twitter, so she can't see that. All right, we still have a banana sabotage right after this quick break. Stay with us. ... Hi everyone, I want to talk about my new favorite place to buy jewelry.
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Starting point is 00:21:41 slash loan offers to see personalized offers. Go to creditcarma.com slash loan offers to find the loan for you. That's creditcarma.com slash loan offers. You'll be glad you did. Alright everybody, welcome back. It's time for sabotage. Alright, are you ready for some major dot connecting? We're gonna put the dipsy doodle on this entire fucking episode.
Starting point is 00:22:08 You're gonna, it's gonna blow your mind. So that last story about Rhonda Santas' Manifort, Christine Pasha having to register as a foreign agent, and how she went toe to toe with Sam Patton, and Sam Patton was charged with making straw donations to the Trump inaugural, and Grimes, Matthew Grimes, wants to sever from Tom Barich, who was the chair of the Trump inaugural. Our sabotage today has to do with, you guessed it, the Trump inaugural. Let me play you a clip from the Wayback Machine. This is an episode of Mullershi Road that aired on February 10th, 2019. That's over three years ago, y'all. It's called Bezos Exposes Pecker. And I know, I'm gonna pull them out,
Starting point is 00:22:51 I'm gonna start somewhere, but it will make sense. I will tie it to something relevant this week. I promise, let's listen to the clip now. This is potentially more consequential than even the Mueller investigation. Don't hate me for saying that. Though this investigation originated from Mueller's probe, so it came from there. The Southern District of New York issued a broad subpoena for the Trump inaugural committee,
Starting point is 00:23:14 and we've been following this story for a really long time since we found out Trump's inaugural cost twice as much as Obama's apparently, but was like one tenth as cool. So what's amazing about this subpoena, you guys, is the sheer scope of it. It requires Trump inaugural officials to hand over documents about donors, finances, activities, spending, any guests, any benefits they handed out, including tickets and photo ops with the president, federal disclosure filings, vendors, contractors, contractor lists, pretty much everything they have. It could take months to comply with this subpoena.
Starting point is 00:23:46 They want to know all the benefits provided to guests and donors and donations because the inaugural has to disclose these to the FEC. Any falsification or omission is a crime because the disclosure form is signed under penalty of perjury. And this one was signed by a guy named Doug Amerman. So you might want to throw him on your fantasy draft. Doug. Doug Amerman. So you might want to throw him on your fantasy draft. Doug. Doug Amerman. Squirrel. Prosecutors want to know if any foreigners illegally donated as well as whether committee staff members knew that such donations were illegal, or if
Starting point is 00:24:15 money was just being paid directly to vendors instead of going through the inaugural, like it's supposed to, so that they didn't have to report it. For tax, well, it's a nonprofit, so it's not a tax dodge. It's more of a, we don't want you to know where this money came from, dodge. Right. And that bit is important because accepting foreign contributions is, it's only a crime if it's done with knowledge that the donations were illegal. And it also says to me that there is indeed evidence of foreign contributions and the
Starting point is 00:24:40 Southern District of New York is building a case for criminal charges. Beans. They asked for documents laying out a inaugural policy for accepting donations because federal law prohibits foreign contributions to federal campaigns, packs, and inaugural funds. So if the Trump org has these documents that lay out a policy that says we can't accept foreign donations, then that means they knew. And that, therefore, it's a crime, right? Jim Shuto, CNN said that the prosecutors are investigating a giant list of potential crimes, including conspiracy against the United States, false statements, male fraud, wire fraud, money laundering, inaugural committee disclosure violations, and violations of laws
Starting point is 00:25:19 prohibiting contributions made by foreign nations and contributions made in the name of another person known as straw donors, or if you hear us say cut out, that's what that is. Okay. And we already know Mueller and Dited Sam Patton for using a straw donor to funnel money into the inaugural when he bought four tickets to the party for $50,000 that was recouped from a Putin-backed Ukrainian oligarch. In fact, it was Mueller's interest in Russian-Squid Pro-Crow that launched this investigation in the southern district in the first place.
Starting point is 00:25:46 Go, Mueller. The ultimate owner of this fund is Trump himself as a person. I don't know. I don't know who the ultimate, I think the ultimate owner is the Trump inaugural. It's an entity. It's a nonprofit. Is that to protect themselves, like basically
Starting point is 00:26:00 from legal liability? No, I think it's just you have to set it up as a 501C3 or C4, 4, 4, 4, 6, 5, something. So you don't think there's one individual who the liability falls on. It's just everyone that was involved in any sort of passing those payments along. Well, the executives could be like,
Starting point is 00:26:17 take the Trump org, for example, you can indict the Trump org or you can indict the executives of the Trump org separately. Just like AMI, you can indict AMI or you can indict Pecker or Dylan, right separately, Dylan Howard. Um, for this, the two people in charge were Tom Barich and Rick Gates. Okay. So and you know, they keep postponing the sentencing of Rick Gates, right?
Starting point is 00:26:42 Yeah. So it seems like if he were assisting the Southern district in this investigation, it would make sense to postpone his sentencing so he can get credit for helping. Although you can get credit for helping up to being in jail for a year, but he hasn't even been sentenced yet. We don't even know what kind of time he's facing and additional help could make him avoid jail altogether
Starting point is 00:27:00 if he wasn't already. He was the deputy director of the inaugural fund, second to Tom Barak, who I mentioned before. He's the guy who helped Manifort get the job with Trump in the first place. He's the one under investigation for his shady real estate dealings with the cutter investment authority. And in a pro-publica report, we know that Barich was seeking to personally profit from connections to the Trump administration, according to a confidential memo obtained by WNYC. The memo outlines how Barracks Company called colony sought to benefit financially from its ties to Trump
Starting point is 00:27:29 on a fashion-ly white man colonists. This memo says, quote, the key is to strategically cultivate domestic and international relations while avoiding any appearance of lobbying. Any appearance, yeah. Yeah, don't wanna look like you're lobbying. Otherwise, we have to register as foreign lobbyists and no one wants to do that.
Starting point is 00:27:47 It's just not cool to share in 2016. And oddly, the only guy mentioned in the subpoena is Amad Zabari. He was in Trump Tower around the same time. Al Rumei, he was there from the cutter investment authority meeting with Flynn Jr. and Cohen. Mo. Probably to discuss the Ross Neft commission,
Starting point is 00:28:05 sell off super beans though, that's beans. And according to Renato Mariotti, friend of the pod and host of the on topic podcast, this subpoena indicates that the investigation is in its early stages. And the massive scope of the subpoena, as I said, could take months to comply with. And the inaugural has said it will fully cooperate.
Starting point is 00:28:24 So they're to start digging. So, that old February 2019 subpoena, named one guy, Zubari and mod Zubari. And my beans came true by the way when I predicted they'd bring criminal charges in the southern district. They did. Zubari is in jail. In November 2019, Zubari pled guilty to a three-count information, charging him with violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
Starting point is 00:28:52 It's like a fairer episode today. They made false statements on a fairer filing, he did, tax evasion, and making illegal campaign contributions. In June 2020, Zubari pled guilty in a separate case to one count of obstruction of justice. The obstruction charged to which Zubari pled guilty in June 2020 stemmed from a federal investigation into a $900,000 donation from Zubari through his company to a presidential inaugural committee in late 2016, wonder which one it was. Some of the funds Zubari donated to the committee came from other people, including one individual who gave them $50,000. After media reports,
Starting point is 00:29:29 that a federal grand jury in the Southern District of New York was investigating donations into the presidential inaugural committee, Zubari met with the individual at a California restaurant on February 25, 2019. That is 15 days after my episode came out. The one that you just heard a clip from, Zubari met with an individual at a California restaurant. During that meeting, the individual asked Zubari to refund the $50,000, which is Zubari did, but backdated the check to February 1st, 2019, to make it appear the refund was sent before he learned of the federal investigation. Oh, my God. Zubair got 12 years.
Starting point is 00:30:14 He's in prison right now. So why this whole setup? What are you talking about? Where are you going, H.E.? Well, Zubair's name popped up in the news this week. You ready for this? From the times federal prosecutors have obtained records indicating that John R. Allen, the retired four-star marine general who commanded all American troops at SENTCOM in Afghanistan, and
Starting point is 00:30:36 now heads the venerable Washington think tank, which we'll tell you about in a minute. Secretly lobbied for the government of Qatar, lied to investigators about his role and tried to withhold evidence sought by federal subpoenas according to court documents. Court documents that were accidentally filed. The court records are the latest evidence of a broad investigation by the Justice Department and the FBI into the influence that wealthy Arab nations like Qatar, the UAE and Saudi Arabia, wheeled in Washington. We know Saudi Arabia just gave cushion or two billion dollars. We know the UAE gave Tom Barrack 374 million.
Starting point is 00:31:13 And now we've got this guy in Qatar. The records about General Allen were filed in April and Federal District Court in Central California and in application for a warrant to search General Allen's electronics communications. Other filings in the case appears to be sealed. And the public release of this warrant application might have been accidental the time says. The filing lays out evidence that General Allen joined in the secret lobbying plan, along with Richard G. Olson, a former US ambassador, extraordinary plenipotentory to the United Arab Emirates and Pakistan, and Imad Zabari, a business executive with ties to the Middle East. Mr Zabari is serving a prison sentence for violating foreign lobbying campaign
Starting point is 00:32:00 finance tax laws and well as obstruction of justice, blah blah. Mr. Olson has agreed to plead guilty for participating in the cuttery lobbying effort in violation of prohibition of such activity during the first year after leaving a diplomatic service. Ethics! Hi ethics! I waited for a year to tell you about where I worked for the government. This guy couldn't do it. A spokesman for General Allen, Bo Phillips, said in a statement, John Allen voluntarily cooperated with the government's investigation into this matter. John Allen's efforts with regard to Qatar in 2017 were to protect the interests of the
Starting point is 00:32:38 United States and the military personnel station in Qatar. John Allen received no fee for his efforts. The court documents were reported earlier on Tuesday by the Associated Press. Federal law requires anyone lobbying for a foreign government register with the Justice Department. The department has been cracking down in recent years on violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act. There's no record of general Allen registering to lobby for Qatar. There's no record of general Alan registering to lobby for cutter. Federal prosecutors have signaled in a particular interest in potential violations involving Persian golf nations, which have developed close ties to business and political figures in the United States last month, Justice Department filed a new indictment in an ongoing case against
Starting point is 00:33:19 Tom Barrick, Jr., a friend and informal advisor to Trump, working on behalf of the UAE to steer American foreign policy. The plan described in the documents involving General Allen unfolded around the beginning of the Trump administration five years ago, you don't say after he left the military and before he became president of the Brookings institution. Cutter was frantically trying to fend off a pressure campaign, an economic embargo by its Persian Gulf rival Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Rumors were circulating a possible Saudi ground invasion, which Donald Trump appeared to back the Saudis and Emirates, and both sides of the dispute were spending
Starting point is 00:34:00 heavily to win favor in Washington. Zubari, according to the filing, viewed the diplomatic crisis as a business opportunity and began conspiring to sell lobbying services to Cutter. He contacted Mr. Olson, who had recently left the government, Mr. Olson in turn brought in General Allen. If we can do this, we will own half of Cutter," said Zubairi, to Mr. Olson in a WhatsApp message cited in the filing about their proposed plan with General Allen. The court document gives a detailed account of several weeks in June 2017 when General
Starting point is 00:34:32 Allen was recruited by Mr. Olson and Mr. Zubary to meet with top-cutterie American and American officials to defuse the Gulf crisis and how General Allen saw the money-making potential for his involvement. The document states that he agreed to travel to Doha, the capital of Qatar, at Mr. Ziberi's expense, and negotiated payment of $20,000, which he referred to as a speaker's fee. The document quotes one message from General Allen showing his aim of making more money down the road to work out a fuller arrangement of a longer term relationship. So Alan says he didn't make any money while Alan's lawyer says he didn't make any money, but that's not what the documents say. Other messages cited in the document show that general Alan pursued other business with firms affiliated with Qatar, one of which would have provided
Starting point is 00:35:20 him with a commission of over a million dollars, a million bucks. The document said the FBI had not determined whether he received this money. During this period, Alan met several times with American officials, including members of Congress and HR McMaster. He was the White House National Security Advisor at the time. But the document, citing an interview of General McMaster by federal agents, stated that General Alan never informed General McMaster that he was being paid for his work. The document also describes efforts by Alan to obstruct the investigation by lying to federal
Starting point is 00:35:49 agents who asked him about his lobbying efforts during an interview last August, and withholding documents that showed his financial interest in his interactions with cuttery officials. Allen's production was devoid, quote, of any documents that revealed his financial interest in the diplomatic crisis and nearly devoid of any document showing the involvement of Zubarian Olsen. That's what the search warrant says. General Allen is former deputy commander of the United States, CENTCOM, Central Command, which has responsibility for the Middle East and our largest base in Qatar.
Starting point is 00:36:20 His time at Central Command helped him cement ties with senior cutlery leaders, including Shik Tamim, Bim, Hamad, Altani. That's the country's amir. In 2011, he was given a fourth star and took command of an all-American and NATO troops in Afghanistan until 2013. In 2016, the year before the court documents states his lobbying effort began in cutter, General Allen was an advisor to Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign and spoke that year at the Democratic National Convention.
Starting point is 00:36:45 He took over as president of Brookings in November 2017. Brookings once had a large campus in Doha. The campus was established years before General Allen became president of the think tank. In September, according to its website, Brookings ended its affiliation with Doha Institute, which is now called the Middle East Council on Global Affairs. Mr. Olson's contemporaneous notes on a June 2017 conference call show that Zubari agreed to pay the group's travel expenses in general Allen speaking fee but emphasize the need for secrecy.
Starting point is 00:37:13 Oh, so many people emphasizing the need for secrecy this week. The filing suggests that General Allen sought other forms of payment. In Israeli security company, Fifth Dimension agreed to pay him 10 grand a month, as well as 1.5% commission on any new business he generated. And he sought credit for persuading cutter to sign a $72 million contract with the company over the same weekend trip, potentially earning him a fee of more than $1 million.
Starting point is 00:37:39 His endorsement quote would likely complete their decision making. He wrote to the company in an email. General Allen also sat in the board of a Texas-based artificial intelligence company, Spark Cognition, and appears to have attempted to sell a $30 million contract for its services to Cutter as well. $30 million contract, quote, the brief is in their hands, General Allen wrote to the chief executive shortly after returning from his visit. General Allen appeared to acknowledge that he was, in effect, working as a subcontractor on the lobbying effort, most notably after the Cutterie Amir, another top officials insisted
Starting point is 00:38:12 on excluding Mr. Zubairi from a meeting with the former general and the former ambassador. Quote, you guys should have stepped in and said, no, you should stay. Zubairi fumed in a WhatsApp message to the ambassador adding, does General Allen know his place or his position? In an email to make a man's general Allen, according to the court documents, thanked Mr. Zubari for his leadership and expressed regret at his exclusion. Quote, I think there's a lot of opportunity, he added. So Zubari is connected to the inaugural, who Sam Patton made a straw donation
Starting point is 00:38:48 to, and knows DeSantis's spokesperson who just had to register as a foreign agent. The same inaugural, by the way, run by Tom Baruch, who is now under indictment for lobbying at the direction of the United Arab Emirates and Grimes wants to sever, and Zubari is connected to this general and a former ambassador for selling access. Hmm. Quite a murder board. With that, it's time for the fantasy and diamond league. I'm gonna be a dick! No, it is gonna be okay. I'm gonna be a dick! I'm gonna be a dick! I'm gonna be a dick! I'm gonna be a dick! I'm gonna be a dick! I'm gonna be a dick! I'm gonna be a dick! I'm gonna be a dick! I'm gonna be a dick! I'm gonna be a dick! I'm gonna be a dick! I'm gonna be a dick! I'm gonna be a dick! I'm gonna be a dick! I'm gonna be a dick! I'm gonna be a dick! I'm gonna be a dick! I'm gonna be a dick! I'm gonna be a dick! I'm gonna be a dick! I'm gonna be a dick! I'm gonna be a dick! I'm gonna be a dick! I'm gonna be a dick! I'm gonna be a dick! I'm gonna be a dick! I'm gonna be a dick! I'm gonna be a dick! I'm gonna be a dick! I'm gonna be a dick! I'm gonna be a dick! I'm gonna be a dick! I'm gonna be a dick! I'm gonna be a dick! I'm gonna be a dick! I'm gonna be a dick! I'm gonna be a dick! I'm gonna be a dick! I'm gonna be a dick! I'm gonna be a dick! I'm gonna be a dick! I'm gonna be a dick! I'm gonna be a dick! I'm gonna be a dick! I'm gonna be a dick! I'm gonna be a dick! I'm gonna be a dick! I'm gonna be a dick! I'm gonna be a dick! I'm gonna be a dick! I'm gonna be a dick! I'm gonna be a dick! I'm gonna be a calm down. I can't calm down, I'm gonna be dead. All right, I'm just gonna give myself five points. One for each proud boy that got hit with super-seating seditious conspiracy charges this week. Hell yes, thank you, thank you, hold your applause, thank you.
Starting point is 00:39:35 For this week, I'm gonna take Gates, Rudy, Sidney Powell, this general John Allen fellow, who thought I just talked about, Bannon, I think he's about to get indicted by the Manhattan District Attorney, Alvin Bragg, for the We Build the Walls game. And I think it's time to start drafting some more January six guys.
Starting point is 00:39:57 So, especially the leaders of the coup, it's getting, I think it's getting close. I'm gonna say Eastman, Donald, I'm gonna put Donald on there where the fuck not Roger Stone, Alex Jones, and Jeffrey Clark should be an interesting few months to say the least. Although I'm really thinking that the indictments aren't gonna come into laughter the election,
Starting point is 00:40:20 but we'll see. We also have Fanny Willis, you know, Donald Trump could get indicted there too All right, that'll do it for the show check out the MSW book club episode out today I'll be back tomorrow with the daily beans until then please take care of yourselves take care of each other Take care of the planet take care of your mental health vote blue over Q. I've been a G and this is Muller. She wrote This is Muller She Wrote. Muller She Wrote is written and produced by Allison Gill in partnership with MSW Media. Sound Design and Engineering, or by Molly Hockey, Jesse Egan is our copywriter and our art and
Starting point is 00:40:56 web designer by Joelle Reeder at Moxie Design Studios. Muller She Wrote 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, a group of creator-owned podcasts focused on news, justice, and politics. For more information, visit MSW Media.com. Hi, I'm Dan Dunn, host of What We're Drinking With Dan Dunn, the most wildly entertaining adult beverage-themed podcast in the history of the medium. That's right, the boozy best of the best baby, and we have the cool celebrity promos to prove it. Check this out. Hi I'm Allison Janie and you're here with me on what we're drinking with Dan Dunn.
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