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It was once believed that Bannon had no Russian exposure. I never believed this-for one thing it was hard to believe that he wasn’t interested in acquiring the 30,000 deleted emails, or Wikileaks and never spoke to Guccifer 2.0. He was  campaign director for the last three months-and with Bannon’s penchant for dirty tricks it wouldn’t say much for him if he were totally out of the loop on all this.

Then he basically co-wrote-he was one of Wolff’s biggest if not his biggest source-Fire and Fury with Michael Wolff-and somehow managed to turn himself into a person of interest. Apparently Mueller had not been interested in him until Fire and Fury was published. 

Just like Roger Stone, Sam Nunberg, and so many in TrumpWorld-to say nothing of Trump himself-Bannon has gotten himself into ‘deep doo doo’-to quote George Bush Sr.-by simply talking way too much-out of a desperate need for attention.

Then when the Dem minority report on Russia came out in March, it revealed that Bannon had spoken to Devin Nunes about his House testimony on Russia. 

In a followup to Bannon’s initial testimony-Bannon was the only Trump associate citing privilege the GOP saw fit to threaten to subpoena-could this have anything to do with Fire and Fury?-Bannon denied he spoke to Paul Ryan about his testimony but then stated he was unauthorized by the WH to answer if he’d spoke to Nunes. What would his speaking to the House Intel Chairman have to do with the WH the question begs? Unless the WH had something to do with this conversation between Nunes and Bannon…

Then Bannon traded shots fired with Trump’s WH lawyer, Ty Cobb, as he walked out the door. He criticized Cobb for being too cooperative with Mueller. 

He was especially critical of Cobb for being willing to waive executive privilege. To be sure Cobb had a great retort:

Cobb responded scathingly—“I don’t pay attention to Steve Bannon,” he told the Times. “I’ve seen all his documents.”

Good answer-I’m waiting/hoping that Bannon’s documents become public in the not too distant future. Wolff’s book contained many pages of Bannon excoriating the Comey firing as ‘the biggest mistake in modern political history.’

UPDATE: When the House Judiciary demanded documents from a number of Trump associates and entities Bannon was actually one of the first to respond and most cooperative sending thousands of documents. (Chapter A).

There’s something to that-although making himself a person of interest for the Mueller investigation when he previously wasn’t one was a pretty major mistake in its own right.

Meanwhile-Michael Avenatti is at it again-revealing more bombshell information not just about Cohen but the Steele Dossier and Trump.

But then Avenatti called our attention to something else-that achieves some convergence between: Michael Cohen, Trump, the dossier-and Steve Bannon.

UPDATE: Yes Avenatti has turned out to be a very shady character personally-as if everyone in TrumpWorld isn’t-but that doesn’t mean this is false-it’s what corroboration is for. The identity of the man with Cohen is falsifiable information if anything is and Bannon’s friend Jeff Kwatinetz corroborated it was in fact Al-Rumaihi.

Now Bannon’s buddy, Jeff Kwatinetz, gives Bannon the kind of character witness he would want: ‘The very idea would shock and outrage the virgin ears of me and Steve Bannon!’ Though he did  tacitly implicate Michael Flynn.

But Bannon’s name is once again in the wrong kind of conversations. Remember when almost everyone thought he had no Russian exposure?

For his part, Ahmed Al-Rumaihi reportedly boasted of bribing Trump officials.

Michael Flynn has pretty much been confirmed-and things, to paraphrase Chris Cillizza, ‘just look bad’ for Michael Cohen. Bannon? Well his good friend vouches for him but what would others tell us?

More on Al-Rumaihi:

Michael Cohen’s Meetings With Michael Flynn and a Qatari Diplomat Might Be the Key to Unlocking the Steele Dossier

What were all of these men doing together at the same time in Trump Tower in December 2016?

Again-Steve Bannon’s name also comes up:

“The founder of a three-on-three basketball league who claims he was offered a bribe by a one-time Qatari diplomat to arrange access to Steve Bannon said on Monday that the former diplomat is the same person photographed with Michael Cohen at Trump Tower in December 2016.”

“BIG3 basketball league co-founder Jeff Kwatinetz told Slate that he recognized Ahmed Al-Rumaihi in photos with Cohen that were tweeted Sunday by attorney Michael Avenatti.”

“Yes, 100 percent,” Kwatinetz said when asked if he thought the videos and photos were of Ahmed Al-Rumaihi. Last week, Kwatinetz, who is a co-founder of BIG3 with Ice Cube, accused Al-Rumaihi in a sworn court declaration of making an attempted bribe and of suggestively boasting that Flynn had not refused “our money.”

Again, let’s remember that Michael Avenatti’s revelations got us here:

“The photos were posted on Twitter on Sunday by Avenatti, who is representing the adult film actor Stormy Daniels in a lawsuit against Cohen that seeks to nullify her confidentiality agreement over an alleged affair with Donald Trump. Avenatti tweeted the images that appeared to show Al-Rumaihi entering an elevator in Trump Tower on Dec. 12, 2016, five days after news broke of the multibillion-dollar sale of 19.5 percent of the Russian fossil fuel giant Rosneft to Swiss trading firm Glencore and Qatar’s sovereign investment fund. (Glencore and Qatar sold off a major stake of Rosneft to China last year, but earlier this month Qatar bought back in to the Russian company for a total stake of 19 percent.)

FN: Was Carter Page involved in the eventual Rosnet sale-ie, corroboration of a central part of the dossier’s contention?

Carter Page Shared “Immaterial Non-Public Information” with Rosneft While “Working” for Trump

Remember when the MSM was pronouncing the Stormy Daniel’s story a nothingburger that wouldn’t last beyond the news cycle? To the contrary it has achieved a shocking level of convergence with Russiagate.

UPDATE: Yes Avenatti turned out to be a dishonest fellow but the MSM was still totally wrong in its snap judgment that the Stormy Daniels case was a nothingburger-to the contrary it’s thanks to her story that Trump is today a co-conspirator as we speak even as the Dem leadership dithers and worries that impeaching a criminal may be ‘overreach.’

UPDATE: The below arguably belongs in the Cohen part not Bannon’s.

UPDATE: The Daily Mail has a new scoop on Cohen and Ahmed Al-Rumaihi. According to a high ranking Kuwait source  i, Cohen asked Al-Rumaih  for millions of dollars for Trump family members at this increasingly infamous December 2016 Trump Tower meeting:

Donald Trump‘s lawyer, Michael Cohen, is facing claims he asked a Middle Eastern official for millions of dollars to give to ‘Trump family members’ in a meeting at Trump Tower weeks after the president’s election victory, DailyMail.com can reveal.

“Cohen is alleged to have asked Ahmed Al-Rumaihi, a former diplomat in charge of a $100bn Qatari investment fund, to send ‘millions’ through him to Trump family members. A source told DailyMail.com that the Qatari said he refused.

So in the story from yesterday I looked at above, Jeff Kwatinetz had stated that Ahmed Al-Rumaihi had asked him for a meeting with Stephen Bannon-and that the former diplomat offered to underwrite all of Bannon’s political efforts in exchange for support. Now in Ahmed Al-Rumaihi’s side of the story Michael Cohen asked him for millions of dollars for Trump’s family members.

Note the difference in the two stories: Kwatinetz claims that Al-Rumaihi offered Bannon a blank check and Kwatinzetz and Bannon turned him down;  but according to a high ranking Kuwait source, s Cohen asked Al-Rumaih for million for the Trump family and the Qatari turned him down.

The claims of a demand for ‘millions’ were made by a senior Kuwaiti government source close to Al-Rumaihi.

“Last week DailyMail.com revealed that Al-Rumaihi was accused in court documents of boasting about bribing disgraced Trump former aide Michael Flynn, and attempting to bribe Trump’s former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon – charges which the investor denies.”

“The Kuwaiti source told DailyMail.com that following DailyMail.com’s disclosure of the court case, Al-Rumaihi called him and boasted that Cohen had asked him for money in exchange for influence in the Trump administration.”

The official said: ‘He said Cohen told him to send millions to various members of the Trump family.’ Al-Rumaihi did not do so, the official added. The Trump family members were not named.

“According to this high ranking Kuwait source, Al-Rumaih told him of Cohen’s attempted bribery attempt so as not to appear to be going behind Kuwait’s back in its relationship with the Trump Administration.”

For Cohen, the hits keep coming-the latest hit comes after his sales pitch to a series of blue-chip names was revealed.

He signed up AT&T and Novartis as clients for his ‘insight’ into the president and tried to get Uber and Ford to do the same, telling the ride-share giant:

”I have the best relationship with the president on the outside, and you need to hire me.’ Novartis and AT&T have both called contracting Cohen after Trump’s inauguration a mistake.”

AT&T for its part has apologized for its payments to Cohen-it now states ‘hiring Michael Cohen was a mistake.’

For his part, Al-Rumaih is flatly denying he was at the infamous basketball game-when the picture Avenatti tweeted out clearly appears to be him:

UPDATE: The below arguably doesn’t belong in the Bannon part.

Slate:

“On Monday, the company of a one-time Qatari diplomat and investor said it could not confirm and had “no basis to confirm” that the company’s owner, Ahmed Al-Rumaihi, was pictured in a video that appeared to show Al-Rumaihi in the lobby of the Trump Tower in Dec. 2016, accompanied by Trump’s lawyer, Michael Cohen.”

By Tuesday, a spokesperson for the company acknowledged to CNN that Al-Rumaihi had attended a meeting at Trump Tower on that date.

“Mr. Al-Rumaihi was at Trump Tower on December 12, 2016. He was there in his then role as head of Qatar Investments, an internal division of QIA, to accompany the Qatari delegation that was meeting with Trump transition officials on that date,” the spokesperson for Sports Trinity told CNN. “He did not participate in any meetings with Michael Flynn, and his involvement in the meetings on that date was limited.”

“Al-Rumaihi is currently at the center of a legal dispute in which a former business partner, Jeff Kwatinetz, alleges that Al-Rumaihi had tried to bribe him for access to Steve Bannon and had suggestively boasted that Michael Flynn had not refused “our money.” (A spokesman for Al-Rumaihi’s sports group has called Kwatinetz’s claims “xenophobic” and “meritless.”) Kwatinetz was the co-founder of a three-on-three basketball league, along with Ice Cube, that included Al-Rumaihi as an investor. Kwatinetz and the league are suing Al-Rumaihi for allegedly reneging on his investment.”

But why did Rumaihi-who’s head of Sports Trinity spend 24 hours refusing to confirm what was clear from the picture: that was him at the basketball game?

As Avenatti commented on Twitter, “You cannot reconcile this ‘no basis to confirm the video’ with their admission today to [CNN] that he was there. This smells really bad.” One way to reconcile it appears to merely be to deny that the two things were ever in conflict.

“Nothing has changed,” Siegfried wrote in an email about the apparent contradiction on Tuesday. “The question yesterday was about a video and that was and is the Sport Trinity response. What you have e-mailed today is a description of when Mr. Al-Rumaihi was at Trump Tower and in what capacity.”

So now they are saying he wasn’t at the basketball-though that really looks like him in the bleachers-but that was him at Trump Tower the same day?

If nothing else Sports Trinity’s spokesperson has achieved new levels of hairsplitting and obfuscation:

“Here is a recap of my email exchange with Siegfried regarding the apparent contradiction:

Slate: These two statements are diametrically opposed, and I wonder what changed between yesterday and today? Basically, I’m wondering why what appears to have been a lie here was told to me yesterday. If this wasn’t a lie, I’d also love to please hear an explanation of why it wasn’t a lie.

Siegfried: Nothing has changed. The question yesterday was about a video and that was and is the Sport Trinity response. What you have e-mailed today is a description of when Mr. Al-Rumaihi was at Trump Tower and in what capacity.

Slate: So: Mr. Al-Rumaihi’s company Sports Trinity was aware that Mr. Al-Rumaihi was at Trump Tower on Dec. 12 2016, but also has “no basis to confirm” that the footage of Mr. Al-Rumaihi at Trump Tower on Dec. 12, 2016 was actually footage of him at Trump Tower on Dec. 12, 2016, the same day that it acknowledges he was at Trump Tower. This is your position, correct?

Siegfried: That is not what I said.

Slate: I’m happy to [sentence] diagram this for you: “Nothing has changed. The question yesterday was about a video and that was and is the Sport Trinity response.”

Sports Trinity’s response about whether or not the video of Mr. Al-Rumaihi at Trump Tower on Dec. 12 2016 was a video of Mr. Al-Rumaihi at Trump Tower on Dec. 12 2016 was: “We do not confirm and have no basis to confirm the video”

So: Sports Trinity has “no basis to confirm” that the footage of Mr. Al-Rumaihi at Trump Tower on Dec. 12, 2016 was actually footage of him at Trump Tower on Dec. 12, 2016.

Today’s statement is this: “Mr. Al-Rumaihi was at Trump Tower on December 12, 2016. He was there in his then role as head of Qatar Investments, an internal division of QIA, to accompany the Qatari delegation that was meeting with Trump transition officials on that date,” said a spokesperson for Sport Trinity, a company that Al-Rumaihi co-owns. “He did not participate in any meetings with Michael Flynn, and his involvement in the meetings on that date was limited.”

So: Mr. Al-Rumaihi’s company Sports Trinity was aware that Mr. Al-Rumaihi was at Trump Tower on Dec. 12 2016.

Combine the two things together: Mr. Al-Rumaihi’s company Sports Trinity was aware that Mr. Al-Rumaihi was at Trump Tower on Dec. 12 2016, but has “no basis to confirm” that the footage of Mr. Al-Rumaihi at Trump Tower on Dec. 12, 2016 was actually footage of him at Trump Tower on Dec. 12, 2016, the same day that it acknowledges he was at Trump Tower.

Again, this seems to be a pretty simple contradiction, and I’d love for you to please explain to me why it’s wrong, if it’s wrong.

That depends on what your definition of is, is has nothing on Sports Trinity. So he was at Trump Tower but in his capacity of head of Qatar investments-rather than in some other capacity and his involvement was limited. Ok even if you grant this how does that make that picture of him not a picture of him?

Overall, in attempting to arbitrate these conflicting stories between Kwatinetz and Al-Rumaihi it hardly seems that either is telling the full truth.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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October 28, 2016: a Day That Will Live in Infamy Copyright © by . All Rights Reserved.

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