In the years I spent in Africa working for Associated Press
I knew at least two of the most vicious leaders I traveled with had a
Washington lobbyist.
That man, who worked for Zairean dictator Mose Sese Seko and
Angolan rebel Jonas Savimbi, turned out to be Paul Manafort.
I was stunned to find this same man is now working for
Donald Trump.
“The list of questionable characters, shady lawsuits, and
international scandals he has been involved in would require at minimum a few
day’s worth of non-stop reading, and we here at Paste
Magazine realize that our readers have actual lives outside of the
internet. What’s really amazing is that all of this information is readily
available online if one only makes the arduous effort to enter “Paul Manafort”
into a Google search. This is a man whose firm was prominently featured in the
report “The Torturer’s Lobby,” by the Center for
Public Integrity, and whose name appears no fewer than forty times
in the investigation. This is a man who is quoted in a federal hearing as
arguing, “You might call it influence-peddling. I call it lobbying,” while
attempting to defend himself during a federal investigation into a $43 million
scam involving the Department of Housing and Urban
Development,” Paste reported. MSNBC said Manafort is not being paid.
Manafort also worked for Philippine dictator Ferdinand
Marcos.
As a young Republican he had worked for Presidents Gerald
Ford and Ronald Reagan.
But the latest news getting attention makes all this seem
petty.
The New York Times has reported that it is possible Manafort
got $12.7 billion while working for ousted Ukrainian dictator Victor
Yanukovych, who fled to Russia where he is sheltered by Russian President
Vladimir Putin.
Putin, Manafort and Trump have what some call a love affair
because the Russian hates Hillary Clinton.
The Ukrainian government that replaced Yanukovch, and found
his burned and scorched data files in a swimming pool, says it is still
investigating.
“A spokeswoman for the anti-corruption bureau, Darya
Manzhura, said Monday that payments to Manafort were listed in a ledger
recovered from the headquarters of Yanukovych’s political party, the Party of
Regions. Investigators did not specify the reason the money was designated for
Manafort from 2007 to 2012,” the Washington Post was told.
“The anti-corruption bureau cannot make indictments but must
pass on any evidence to prosecutors, who can decide whether to file charges.
Manzhura said that processing the list will take a long time, as will matching
signatures to individuals and proving that money actually changed hands,” she
said. Manafort is not the priority, so he may get a pass.
For investigators, she said, Manafort is not the priority.
Paste said: “Even more shocking is Manafort has been the
subject of almost no scrutiny from the mainstream US media. On the contrary,
his hiring was seen as a victory for Trump, that a man so successful and
embedded in the GOP establishment would be willing to work for an “outsider”
such as Trump. In reality, it shouldn’t be the least bit surprising that a man
known for his willingness to work with anyone, no matter how brutal and
corrupt, would decide to work for Donald Trump, known for his failure to
pay bills, his praise of questionable world leaders such as Saddam
Hussein and Vladimir Putin, and general fascist tendencies such as banning
numerous journalists from events and certain religions from our nation. With
the recent DNC hack being
linked to Russia, and with Russia becoming increasingly more aggressive towards
US positions in Syria, this is a man whose Russian ties should at a minimum
raise a few alarm flags.
“Ultimately the real concerning issue is that no one seems
to know, or even worse, care, just exactly what Paul Manafort’s end game is.”
Vice President Joe Biden today said on national television
that Trump “would have loved Stalin.”
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