Trump dossier

[Doug Fisher]

I'm going to run through some names listed in today's Washington Post article as Trump's foreign policy team choices. This is just what jumps out at me at first glance...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post...gton-post/

The Republican presidential front-runner, for the first time, listed five of the people who are part of a team, chaired by Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), counseling him on foreign affairs and helping to shape his policies. They are Keith Kellogg, Carter Page, George Papadopoulos, Walid Phares and Joseph E. Schmitz.

Schmitz served as inspector general at the Defense Department during the early years of President George W. Bush's administration and has worked for Blackwater Worldwide.

Along with Jack Keane, that's at least the second Blackwater adviser that Trump has named. There may be more. Jeff Sessions was mentioned above in connection with CNP.

[Doug Fisher]

Carter Page seems suspicious at first glance. Will check into him more later.

http://www.globalenergycap.com/management/

Founder and managing partner of Global Energy Capital. He spent 7 years as an investment banker at Merrill Lynch in London, Moscow and New York where he most recently served as Chief Operating Officer of the Energy and Power Group. He was involved in over $25 billion of transactions in the energy and power sector. He spent 3 years in Moscow where he was responsible for the opening of the Merrill office and was an advisor on key transactions for Gazprom, RAO UES and others. Previously, Carter was a Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations where he was responsible for energy-related research on the Caspian Sea region. He is a graduate of the United States Naval Academy, holds a MBA from the Stern School of Business at New York University and is a Chartered Financial Analyst. Carter is a frequent writer and lecturer on energy sector development in emerging markets.

Personally I think the Caspian Sea region, especially Azerbaijan and the -stans, is the most important geopolitical hotspot. See: US Azerbaijan Chamber of Commerce (which includes Farhad Azima along with some big neocon names)

[R.K. Locke]

I think Anthony Thorne might have some interesting perspectives on this given the people/interests involved.

For me, there is so much overlap between these groups that it's virtually impossible to form a coherent picture of what is going on. It's basically like an organized crime turf war fronted by PR people.

[Doug Fisher]

Joe "Keith" Kellogg was Executive Vice President at CACI, implicated in the Abu Ghraib scandal along with Titan Corp.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CACI#History


Bit of a side note here, but Hopsicker wrote about this Titan Corp employee's connection to Mohammed Atta down in Florida, and wound up getting sued for it:

http://911research.wikia.com/wiki/Makram_Majid_Chams

If memory serves, I believe Hopsicker claimed that Atta frequented that convenience store, and that Chams inexplicably closed up shop and abandoned it around the time of 9/11. It's been a while since I read the book, so someone correct me if I'm wrong.

Anyway, getting back to the Trump foreign policy team...

[Doug Fisher]

Phares Walid, PNAC, and support of Libyan terrorist groups targeting Palestinians and Assad regime

http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/phares_walid

In October 2011, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney included Phares on a list of foreign policy advisers filled with neoconservatives and other like-minded foreign policy hardliners, including Eliot Cohen, Robert Kagan, Michael Chertoff, Eric Edelman, John Lehman, Dan Senor, Vin Weber, and Paula Dobriansky.[6] Commenting on the list, Jim Lobe of the Inter Press Service wrote that most of the advisers "are known for their neo-conservative and strongly pro-Israel views. Remarkably, three of the top advisers … serve on the four-man board of directors of the Foreign Policy Initiative (FPI), the ideological successor to the Project for the New American Century (PNAC). Regarding Phares, Lobe wrote that he is "controversial for his past ties to the militant Phalange movement in Lebanon,"[7] a right-wing Christian militia that was notorious for its violent repression of Palestinians, committing several massacres during the Lebanese civil war (1975-1990).

Romney and Bain were connected to Iran-contra, so I'm not surprised to see some advisers in common.

[Doug Fisher]

I think Anthony Thorne might have some interesting perspectives on this given the people/interests involved.

For me, there is so much overlap between these groups that it's virtually impossible to form a coherent picture of what is going on. It's basically like an organized crime turf war fronted by PR people.

I feel the same way. I think of it like this: they are each connected to each other via so many different routes, with so many organizations, agendas, and goals in common, that we can be reasonably sure that there's at least some cooperation at times. But beyond that it's hard to discern. There seem to be rival factions within factions, as you said, with everyone looking out for number one. Probably the same as any other group of individuals. They tend to form cliques, cooperate at times, then clash at others.

I'm very troubled by the fact that one of the central themes seems to be sex rings. I've investigated politicians in the past, and I'm not sure I've ever found one individual who's connected to so many by only a degree of separation.

I'm not familiar with Anthony Thorne. Is he an author?

[Lauren Johnson]

I'm not familiar with Anthony Thorne. Is he an author?

He's a member here and posts often. He's on Facebook.

[Doug Fisher]

Trump and Joe Wiechselbaum, cocaine trafficker

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2...lbaum.html

In summary, multiple outlets have reported that Donald Trump vouched for and rented an apartment to Joseph Weichselbauma known felon and soon-to-be-convicted drug trafficker. For some still-unknown reason, Weichselbaum's drug prosecution passed briefly through Trump's sister's courtroom in a state that had no apparent connection to the case. And Trump continued to pay Weichselbaum's helicopter company after Weichselbaum was convicted and (according to Spy) after Trump had founded his own helicopter business.

Wonder if there's an intelligence link there...

[Doug Fisher]

I'm not familiar with Anthony Thorne. Is he an author?

He's a member here and posts often.

Ah I see. Hopefully he can offer some perspective then. It's still a rather convoluted mess to me, and I've been researching this on and off for several months now.

Arnaud de Borchgrave is another name who popped up a lot, in relation to CNP, CFR, the Korean Unification Church, Washington Times, etc. His colleague Michael Ledeen was named as part of Ted Cruz's team. I also saw that Wikispooks had de Borchgave connected to Diligence, which is interesting. More info on him would be appreciated. I think tugging on that thread would be revealing, considering how many of the aforementioned groups he belongs to.

Apparently he's a plagiarist as well, and The Washington Times covered this up.

http://www.salon.com/2012/05/17/coverup_...ton_times/

According to four Times officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, the paper's management has known about de Borchgrave's pilfering for months. Editors in the paper's Commentary section, where the octogenarian columnist's work ran until earlier this year, first stumbled on the problem last July, when de Borchgrave wrote a column about Council on Foreign Relations president Richard N. Haass. It included unattributed passages that were drawn almost word for word from Haass' writing. At this point, the section's editors decided to give de Borchgrave the benefit of the doubt, in part because of his stature at the paper, and in part because Haass' words were attributed to him elsewhere in the column. "It was feasible in this situation that he could have accidentally dropped some quote marks," explains one person familiar with the matter.

[Peter Lemkin]

Why the Silence about Donald Trump's Mob Ties?

The company he keeps from left: Paul "Big Paul" Castellano, Anthony "Fat Tony" Salerno, Roy Cohn, and TrumpIt is the most under-reported story of the summer, and the mystery is why. Donald Trump, the Republican frontrunner, is well known to have had ties to notorious crime figures like Paul "Big Paul" Castellano, head of the Gambino crime family, Anthony "Fat Tony" Salerno, boss of the Genovese mob, and others of their ilk in New York City, Philadelphia and New Jersey.
Trump's palling around mobsters is well-documented. So why are his Republican opponents reluctant to use his sleazy connections against him, as they surely know he would do if the tables were turned?
While the story has gone unreported on cable outlets and by the major dailies, it has been public knowledge for at least a quarter century. All an intrepid oppo researcher would need to do to uncover the facts is spend a few seconds on a Google search.
There they would find three recent stories about Trump and the mob two in legitimate online sources "Trump's Mobbed Up, McCarthyite Mentor Roy Cohn," published by the Daily Beast on July 23, 2015, and "Donald Trump and the Mob," published on CNN.com on July 31. 2015 as well as a story in a right-wing outlet, the Federalist, published on July 28, 2015.
In his Federalist article, David Marcus makes the point that if "Trump wants to be a serious candidate for president, and has the numbers to back it up, he must be vetted like a serious candidate for president. A good place to start is to take a hard look at Trump's ties to Philadelphia and New York organized-crime families."
Marcus cites "Trump, The Deals and the Downfall," by Wayne Barrett, a book that uncovered Trump's ties to mobsters back in 1992.
"The Atlantic City story starts with Trump's purchase of a bar, at twice its market value, from Salvatore Testa, a made man in the Philadelphia mafia and son of Philip Chicken Man' Testa, who was briefly head of the Philly mob after Angelo Bruno's 1980 killing," Marcus writes. "Harrah's casino, half owned by Trump, would be built on that land, and Trump would quickly buy out his partner, Harrah's Entertainment, and rename the casino Trump Plaza."
Trump contracted with mob-owned construction and concrete companies to build his Atlantic City casino, just as he did on several projects in Manhattan, including Trump Tower, his garish Fifth Avenue headquarters. The contractor for Trump Tower was S&A Concrete Co., which was owned by Fat Tony Salerno and Big Paul Castellano, according to Marcus and other sources.
Hired Illegal Aliens
During demolition to make way for construction of the Trump Tower, Trump's company hired illegal aliens and forced them to work 12 hours a day, seven days a week, for $5 per hour.
Marcus also points to an incident that ought to be of special interest to oppo researchers for Trump's GOP foes. During the demolition of the department store that was cleared to make way for Trump Tower, Trump and his contractors hired crews of illegal aliens from Poland to take down the building somehow managing to put dozens of "scabs" to work without incurring the wrath of local unions. The men were forced to work 12 hour days, seven days a week.
In 1991, Trump was found guilty of conspiring with union officials to hire the Polish workers who were in the United States illegally in order to avoid paying union pension and welfare-fund contributions. During the trial, Trump who constantly brags about his superior management skills blameshifted the hiring of the illegals onto underlings. The judge found him guilty nonetheless and imposed a $1 million fine.
"When the rubber hit the road Donald Trump didn't walk the walk," writes David Marcus, "he lined his pockets and sold out American workers."
[B]Five Questions for Trump[/B]
[B]A Google search also produces an article published on July 1, 2015, by Pulitzer Prize winning journalist David Cay Johnston titled, "21 Questions for Donald Trump." Questions six through 10 probed into Trump's mob activities:[/B]

[B][B]6. Trump Tower is not a steel girder high rise, but 58 stories of concrete. Why did you use concrete instead of traditional steel girders?[/B][/B]
[B][B]7. Trump Tower was built by S&A Concrete, whose owners were "Fat" Tony Salerno, head of the Genovese crime family, and Paul "Big Paul" Castellano, head of the Gambinos, another well-known crime family.[/B][/B]
[B]If you did not know of their ownership, what does that tell voters about your management skills?[/B]
[B][B]8. You later used S&A Concrete on other Manhattan buildings bearing your name.[/B][/B]
[B]Why?[/B]
[B][B]9. In demolishing the Bonwit Teller building to make way for Trump Tower, you had no labor troubles, even though only about 15 unionists worked at the site alongside 150 Polish men, most of whom entered the country illegally, lacked hard hats, and slept on the site.[/B][/B]
[B]How did you manage to avoid labor troubles, like picketing and strikes, and job safety inspections while using mostly non-union labor at a union worksite without hard hats for the Polish workers?[/B]
[B][B]10. A federal judge later found you conspired to cheat both the Polish workers, who were paid less than $5 an hour cash with no benefits, and the union health and welfare fund. You testified that you did not notice the Polish workers, whom the judge noted were easy to spot because they were the only ones on the work site without hard hats.[/B][/B]

[B][B]Casino License Was Not Revoked[/B][/B]
[B][B]Finally, another quick Google search also produces a review of Wayne Barrett's book on Trump's corrupt connections written by David Cay Johnston in 1992.[/B][/B]
[B][B]"Trump: The Deals and the Downfall,' by Wayne Barrett, asserts that the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement has failed to examine how Trump's life intertwines with the underworld,' Johnston wrote then. "It also alleges that the Casino Control Commission has denied licenses to others for conduct far less serious than what the book alleges Trump has done."[/B][/B]

[B][B]Key among these assertions is that in 1983, after Trump had obtained a casino license, he met with Anthony "Fat Tony" Salerno, head of the Genovese crime family, at the Manhattan townhouse of Roy Cohn, a lawyer who represented both men. The book cites an unnamed eyewitness as its source.[/B][/B]
[B][B]Other casino executives have had their licenses revoked or were denied a license just for being photographed in the company of major organized-crime figures, including Salerno.[/B][/B]
[B][B]At the time of the purported meeting, Trump was using a concrete company called S&A to build his Trump Plaza condos in Manhattan, according to federal court records cited in the book. S&A was controlled by Salerno and Paul Castellano, then head of New York's Gambino crime family, according to those same records.[/B][/B]

[B][B]Roy Cohn, Trump's mentor, was a powerful but disreputable lawyer who made his name in the 1950s as the chief council for disgraced Republican Sen. Joe McCarthy's communist witch-hunting committee. In 2003, Al Pacino won an Emmy for his portrayal of Cohn in the HBO miniseries, "Angels in America," in which Cohn was depicted as loathsome, self-hating, closeted and dying of HIV disease. In fact, Roy Cohn died from AIDS-related causes in 1986.[/B][/B]
[B][B]Back in 1992, in response to Barrett's allegations, Trump issued a statement that sounds eerily similar to his thin-skinned responses to criticism today. After claiming that he had not read the book, he called Barrett "a second-rate writer who has had numerous literary failures." Trump described the book, which, again, he said he had not read, as "boring, non-factual and highly inaccurate."[/B][/B]
[B][B]For the record, Wayne Barrett had a long career as a writer for the Village Voice and his books, including "The Big Apple: City for Sale: Ed Koch and the Betrayal of New York," have been quite successful.[/B][/B]
[B][B][B]Again, Why the Silence?[/B][/B][/B]
[B][B]So what's going on here? Why are Trump's Republican opponents silent about his mob connections?[/B][/B]
[B][B]According to one noted mob expert, the reason the other candidates won't expose Trump's mob ties is that they all equally mobbed up. Exposing him would expose them all. It's hard to imagine such a fractious cabal of self-serving strivers adhering to omertà. On the other hand, there is ample historical evidence of mob influence in politics.[/B][/B]
[B][B]It's possible, perhaps, these Republican candidates are afraid that the notoriously litigious Trump might sue them. This seems unlikely. These facts are on the record, and there's no evidence he sued Wayne Barrett or David Cay Johnston after they exposed his mob connections in the early 1990s.[/B][/B]