490

UPDATE: Is this chapter’s place in the FBI chapter or the Russia if you’re listening chapter? The connection I had in mind no doubt is the part Prince played in Trumplandia. But this chapter is largely about his place in another scandal-Seychelles-that Bannon also had his own role in.

UPDATE 2.0: It seems to me this belongs in this part as it’s not primarily about the FBI but coordinate this with other chapters on Prince to watch for repetition.

Erik Prince, brother of Betsy DeVos, he of Blackwater fame, is a person of interest on many fronts both in the Russia investigation as well as in what Seth Abramson calls the  Trumplandia Conspiracy.

Erik Prince is one of those members of Trump world who does his work behind the scenes. Formally, publicly, he’s never held any role-his history with Blackwater makes him too toxic in any case for a public role.

He was a participant at the infamous Seychelle meeting that is believed to have been about setting up a back channel between the Trump WH and Russia. Now it’s emerging that the Russian financier that Prince met with in Seychelles has much closer ties to Putin than previously known:

 

“Erik Prince, the founder of Blackwater private security group and a close campaign adviser to Donald Trump, met a Russian financier with direct ties to Vladimir Putin’s family in the weeks leading up to Mr Trump’s inauguration, according to multiple people briefed on the talks. Although Mr Prince’s meeting with Kirill Dmitriev in the Seychelles, which is being examined by special counsel Robert Mueller, has been previously disclosed, Mr Dmitriev’s ties to the Putin clan have not been widely known. According to six people close to Mr Dmitriev, his wife is close friends with Mr Putin’s younger daughter. The close links to Mr Putin’s family are likely to raise new questions about whether Mr Prince was seeking a back-door communications route to the Kremlin on behalf of Mr Trump following earlier press reports that Mr Mueller was pursuing this line of inquiry.”

“Mr Dmitriev’s wife Natalia Popova was in the same year at Moscow State University as Yekaterina Tikhonova, Mr Putin’s younger daughter, and is the deputy director of her technology foundation, Innopraktika.  Ms Popova’s close friendship with Ms Tikhonova helped secure Mr Dmitriev’s job running the Kremlin’s $10bn Russia Direct investment Fund and has made him a powerful figure in the Kremlin, according to three people who work with Mr Dmitriev, a state banker, a fellow private equity executive and a person who knows him socially.”

“Prince has maintained that his conversations with Dmitriev was just of a social nature but the revelations to how close the Russian financier is to Putin’s family bring’s new impetuous to the idea that their meeting was about setting up a back channel:

“Mr Mueller wants to determine whether Mr Prince — whose sister is US education secretary Betsy DeVos — was attempting to negotiate a back-channel with the Kremlin on behalf of the incoming Trump administration at their meeting in January 2017, according to reports in the New York Times and Washington Post. The emergence of close links to the family adds weight to that line of inquiry. Mr Dmitriev “rose to the top because he is part of the family,” a person who works on deals with RDIF said.”

George Nader who is now cooperating with Mueller:

“George Nader, an adviser to Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nayhan, the Crown Prince of the United Arab Emirates, has told Mr Mueller’s team that Mr bin Zayed set up the meeting between the two men as a way to discuss US-Russia relations informally, the newspapers reported earlier this month. Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala state investment company has a $2bn joint fund with RDIF that has invested in strategic Russian businesses. Mr Prince told congressional investigators in November that he met Mr Dmitriev by chance while discussing other deals with UAE officials in the Seychelles and left after drinking one beer.

This is a key point to remember when Trump associates play this sort of game-‘Oh it was just a social talk’ or ‘he has no formal role with the campaign.’ But a lot of the most important decisions and discussions happen in informal settings-especially in TrumpWorld.

As for Erik Prince, he’s quite a piece of work-it’s hard to think of someone who shows less respect for the democratic process than Erik Prince:

“It has been a terrific week for what used to be called contempt of Congress, back when we had a Congress run by people less worthy of contempt. There was a time, and not so long ago, when, if someone had run the rap that Donald Trump, Jr. tried to run before the House Intelligence Committee the other day—that his conversation with his father were subject to attorney-client privilege, apparently because there was a lawyer somewhere within the 202 area code—that person would have left Capitol Hill in handcuffs. But this is the present Congress with the present Republican majorities running things, so Junior walked away to prevaricate another day.”

UPDATE: Another chapter covered Prince’s Congressional testimony.

UPDATE:

Is any of this related to Prince or does it all deserve-if used at all-to be elsewhere?

UPDATE 2.0: Yes.

Fred Wertheimer argues that there’s clear evidence that Donald Trump Jr. did, in fact, break the law.

Not clear why Don Jr stuff is here-if we need more Jr stuff augment this link to that.

Linked from Paul Waldman’s roundup

The House GOP ended the Russia investigation prematurely a month ago and declared ‘no collusion’ despite not having spoken to George Papadopoulos, Paul Manafort, Michael Flynn,  or the Peter Smith Estate among other material witnesses.

UPDATE: That was six months ago now.

But even among the material witnesses they did speak to, there was no followup to verify wether witnesses were telling the truth. They would just ask them ‘Did you collude’ and when the witness said ‘no’ they were like ‘See-there was no collusion.’

“The day before Junior’s appearance, a friendly member of Congress not unfamiliar with the shebeen gave me a heads-up. Wait until the transcript of Erik Prince’s testimony is released, this friendly person said. You won’t believe it. It was the considered opinion that Prince possibly was the most arrogant jackass ever to appear before a congressional committee. The transcript was released on Thursday and it will be hard to trust my pal again, considering how far he low-balled Prince’s attitude. The witness did everything except drop trou and moon the committee. There was a time, and not so long ago, when a person who treated a congressional committee like a group of not-very-competent valet parking attendants would have been introduced to institutional dining for a few months, But this is the present Congress with the present Republican majorities, so Prince looked up from the witness table and saw what he perceived to be a gathering of ambulatory doormats.”

“As you may know, Prince got rich running Blackwater, a mercenary military contracting force that fell apart after going renegade in the aftermath of the invasion of Iraq. Prince went on to a lucrative career as a gun-and-spook for hire and moved his operation to the friendlier climes of Abu Dhabi. He got involved with the Trump campaign, so, naturally, given his profession, he became entangled in that campaign’s prolonged slow dance with connected Russian oligarchs and other international grifters. Most recently, he has been in the news when it was reported that he proposed to develop a private military and intelligence force that would operate under the direct supervision of the White House.”

Yup-Prince who wants to privatize war also found a willing audience in Herr Trump on a private spy service to keep tabs on ‘the Deep State.’

This is one of those tough value judgments: a subject this hot almost begs for its own juicy headline. But we already have a lot of chapters and so much information.

Regarding the Seychelles meeting it also emerged that prior to attending Prince spoke to-yes, Steve Bannon.

“Of interest to the House Intelligence Committee, of course, was Prince’s role as an alleged go-between, a bridge between the Trump campaign and Russian bankers, particularly a meeting with the chief executive of a state-run Russian investment bank over dinner in the Seychelles Islands, a meeting arranged by Prince’s influential friends in the United Arab Emirates. Prince met with Steve Bannon prior to this meeting, something that Democrats on the committee found piquant as well.

“The meeting, Prince insisted was no big deal. But he was far more concerned about how the world had heard about it. (The Washington Post broke the story last April, claiming that Prince had met with the Russian to develop a backchannel between the Trump people and Moscow.) Barack Obama, he told the committee, lifting himself and his dudgeon on high, was trying to destroy him.”

“That distraction dispensed with, Prince went on to describe the Seychelles meeting in generalized, foggy terms. It had nothing to do with no back-channeling. No, sir. They were just talking about bauxite, and about how Barack Obama had screwed things up so badly in the Middle East by not listening to the guidance provided by people like Erik Prince.”

Sure-privatize all the wars of the Middle East-that’s a fine solution!

Again, the tactic is always to speak in foggy terms and about how it was just a social, informal chat-but again, that’s where the biggest conversations and decisions are often made.

But Prince’s true arrogance and disdain for democracy and the rule of law came out when he was asked about his role in the Comey letter-aka Trumplandia.

UPDATE: This sort of makes you think maybe it should stay in the FBI chapter but that possibly this could use an even juicier title like ‘Erik Prince on the Comey Letter: How is This Germane to this fishing expedition?

OR Prince’s true arrogant disdain for democracy comes shining through when asked about Comey Letter. )

OR: Upon being asked about his quotes about the NYPD Telling him stuff about Clinton’s emails Prince sniffs ‘I Haven’t Been Home in a Week’

But of course this obscures the other side of the story-Seychelles.

OR: Erik Prince Pitches Princely Tantrum Upon Being Asked About Receiving Leaks From the NYPD About Clinton’s Emails

“But it was as the day ground on that Prince’s true contempt for civilian authority and the rule of law came to full flower. When Democratic Congressman Joaquin Castro asked Prince about whether or not he had any moles in the New York Police Department who might have leaked to him what the New York FBI office was doing regarding Hillary Rodham Clinton’s emails, Prince reacted as though Castro had asked him for the nuclear launch codes.”

Castro: So I guess why were you quoted in that story as saying someone in the NYPD was telling you stuff.

Prince: How is this germane to this fishing expedition?

But it was when he was being questioned for the second time by Adam Schiff, the ranking Democrat on the committee, Prince emptied both barrels.

How is this germane?! Don’t these little people know who I am? 

Prince: Now, listen, it’s 5:30. I haven’t been home in a week. I flew in this morning from Africa and I’ve had about enough of this. So, thank you.

Oh boy-did you say Africa? How inconvenient for you to have to testify about issues bearing on the legitimacy of American democracy when you have such better things to do.

Schiff: Are you refusing to testify any further, Mr. Prince?

Prince: I’d say the extent of your questions is so far outside the scope of what you’re actually looking for that I’m not here to indulge your fishing expedition any longer…Look, it’s not even the nature of the questioning. The fact is that I have been here for…three hours, actually. And I haven’t been home in a week. I came back from Africa, arrived this morning to indulge you here and I think I have indulged you enough. You have the document production you have asked for and there is nothing else to see or hear.

I’ve indulged you enough. 

UPDATE: The idea that Prince is the authority on what Congress’ scope is and when they’ve ventured outside of it is similar to Whittaker’s more recent testimony before the House Judiciary.

Schiff: Are you refusing to finish the hearing, Mr. Prince?

Prince: I’m refusing to waste anyone else’s time.

“So the hearing left it that Prince flew halfway around the world to meet some people from the UAE and, lo and behold, there was this influential Russian banker there, too. Erik Prince lives a life of great coincidence, and you have no right to know what he’s up to, you groveling insect, with your Congress and everything.”

Of course, per Nance’s law ‘coincidences take a lot of planning.’

He didn’t seem to mind traveling around the world to speak to the Russian banker but the US Congress? Don’t these commoners know who he is?

For the record, Comey himself sees the question of wether information was leaked by the NYPD or NY FBI to Giuliani-or Prince is a important question. The FBI itself is investigating Giuliani’s own public statement that he was leaked information. 

“FBI Director James Comey told senators Wednesday that the agency is looking into whether employees leaked information about the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails to members of Donald Trump’s team, including Rudy Giuliani.”

“Shortly before the election, Comey announced that he was reopening the probe into Clinton’s private server after more emails were found on the computer of former Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.), who was married to a top Clinton aide.”

“A few days later, Giuliani went on Fox News and bragged that he knew in advance about the new emails.”

“Did I hear about it? You’re darn right I heard about it,” said Giuliani, a prominent Trump surrogate and former New York City mayor. He added that he had expected the news to come out weeks before.

Comey said he didn’t yet know whether anyone in the FBI had leaked information about the investigation to Giuliani or others, but it was a matter that he was “very very interested in.”

“If I find out that people were leaking information about our investigations, whether to reporters or to private parties, there will be severe consequences,” he told Sen. Pat Leahy (D-Vt.) in testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday.

“But you are looking into it?” Leahy asked.

“Correct,” Comey replied. He said he would let the committee know the findings of this investigation, although he might not release them publicly.

So this might explain why Prince got so touchy-there’s an investigation into leaks and he like Giuliani has previously boasted he received information.

This was almost a year ago in early May. Where is this investigation currently and has Congress been since briefed. I personally think it should be made public-we’ll see what else Comey has to say on this question in his new book A Higher Loyalty. 

FN: The answer turned out to be absolutely nothing. The only new ground he broke was that he himself knew the furor over Tarmacgate was a canard all along but still used it as a further pretext for his indefensible July 5 Presser-Chapter A for more.

End FN

I’ve mentioned this a few other places too, but. bottomline this is one question a future Dem Congress needs an answer too-the status of this leak investigation. Again, the IG is reportedly coming out with a sequel that focuses on the leaks in the hopefully not too distant future.

UPDATE: Still haven’t heard a peep about the leak investigation while the IG was happy to take the detours Trump and Devin Nunes wanted into Lisa Page’s and Peter Strozk’s nothingburger texts and Andy McCabe’s leak of the unpredicated investigation into the Clinton Foundation.

UPDATE 2: Michael Horowitz in his testimony last week before the Senate Judiciary did reveal the investigation into the leaks of the anti Clinton pro Trump agents remains ongoing. The question that begs is what’s taking so long? Why have all the Trump and GOP co-conspirators into Andy McCabe and now the origins of the Russia probe lapping the  investigation he begun in January 2017?

I’ve argued for two years that with all the furor over the texts of Peter Strozk and Lisa Page we really should see the texts of some of these rogue FBI agents. And in the course of the investigation into the Russia investigation’s origins-Horowitz actually came across some texts of these rogue agents and they didn’t exactly hide their preference for Trump.

After all the investigation of the investigators is now lapping that of the investigation itself.

It’s tough to see how much of this is new-most of it was covered in other chapters it seems. The only real new thing might be the FN on Comey’s book and the texts of the anti Clinton pro Trump agents.

Arguably not much in the notes below are needed.

UPDATE 2

UPDATE:  Some notes I wrote regarding Prince’s testimony:

Little of this belongs here-it’s just notes.

His name is Erik Prince and he seems to be well named. His testimony was regarding his meeting with some Arab princes and his attitude during the questoning was quite princely

His main contact with the Trump campaign was: Steve Bannon. He insists his meeting with the Russian banker has nothing to do with the Trump transition team at the time but yet he spoke to Bannon before meeting with him-and by his own admission Bannon was his key contact to TrumpWorld.

http://docs.house.gov/meetings/IG/IG00/20171130/106661/HHRG-115-IG00-Transcript-20171130.pdf

Prince denied receiving the House Intel’s request for documents-and Schiff pointed out that the Committee had sent him the request using not just certified mail but also email and facsimile back in May, 2017.

Yet Prince claimed at his November 30, 2017 hearing to not have heard from the Committee until a few weeks ago. He claimed that he was invited by Kash Patel; Patel happens to be the Nunes aide who wrote the Nunes’ memo. 

 

Prince also claims that Patel didn’t request any documents just invited him to speak. He recounts later speaking to Nunes himself who said the the hearing was ‘about the unmasking of intelligence on Americans.’

According to Prince, he was called into Nunes office regarding a WSJ op-ed he wrote regarding Afghanistan.

Schiff asked him about the the December meeting of the transition team with the UAE at TrumpTower.

Prince says all he knows of the meeting he heard from Steve Bannon-that Mohammed bin Bayed is ‘a great guy.’

Prince doesn’t know MBZ well-he’s met him more than 12 times.

It’s fitting that Erik Prince has met the Prince so many times-pun intended-as the former Blackwater CEO has such a princely attitude himself.

This MBZ is one and the same with the Saudi Prince that became Jared Kushner’s best friend and bragged to people that he had Jared in his ‘back pocket’ 

Prince provides a trove of emails he exchanged with Christophe Charlier who Jackie Speier points out served in a company that , employed a string of former KGB agents,  and was being investigated by: Magnitsky (pg. 73).

 

She asks about another company, RussiaAl,  that had Manafort’s billionaire oligarch, Deripaska, on the board. In one breath Prince effects to know nothing about the company an in the next he corrects the Congresswoman: ‘it’s RUSAL.’

So maybe he does know the company.

Ms Speier also asks Prince if he knows anything about Rosnet’s privatization sale to Glencore or other companies in December.

He also claimed to be unaware that the Russian banker’s company he spoke to in Seychelles is sanctioned by the US government. Oops!

He took issue with Mike Quigley for asking him about his business interests in the UAE prior to the Seychelles meeting

He refused to answer and Chairman Conaway’s surreal response was that Prince was there on a ‘voluntary basis’ and ‘if he answers he answers and if he doesn’t he doesn’t.’ This nicely sums up Conaway and his GOP colleague’s attitude to the entire investigation. After not asking questions or compelling answers they declared there to be ‘no evidence of collusion.’

Perhaps Prince’s testimony shouldn’t be voluntary.

Prince also got edgy when asked about his travel to Italy during the summer of 2016 (pg. 85)

Interesting fact I wasn’t aware of: Erik Prince was Dana Rohrbacher’s intern (pg. 91).

Prince may have perjured himself:

https://www.vox.com/2018/3/10/17097692/seychelles-erik-prince-congress-mueller

On pg. 98 it gets REALLY GOOD-though the whole thing is good this got REALLY GOOD. Joaquin Castro goes there and asks if the NYPD was leaking information about the emails to him and if so, what and who.

 

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