Podesta Group "Will Not Exist At The End Of The Year"

While all eyes (from the left and the establishment right) remain on Trump  (daring to shake Putin"s hand this weekend), the mainstream media appears to be missing the news that the lobbying firm founded by longtime Democratic operative Tony Podesta is reportedly on the verge of shuttering after being swept up in special counsel Robert Mueller"s Russia probe.

Just three weeks after we reported that special counsel Mueller was targeting lobbying firm Podesta Group. and just two weeks after Tony Podesta resigned from his position at the firm he founded, The Hill reports that Kimberley Fritts, the Podesta Group"s chief executive, told employees on Thursday that the firm would not exist at the end of the year and that they would likely not be paid through the end of November, sources told CNN.

Fritts announced her resignation from the top Washington lobbying group after Podesta left the company amid ties to indictments filed in the Russia investigation. Fritts is beginning work on launching a new firm. Her last day at the company Friday created new uncertainty for the Podesta Group after the departure of Podesta on Oct. 30.

Multiple employees who spoke to The Hill said the mood at the firm was mostly optimistic, though they said many of the firm"s dozens of employees could be in limbo as Fritts sets up the new firm and brings Podesta Group talent and clients with her.

As a reminder, Mueller is now investigating whether the Podesta Group properly identified to U.S. authorities its foreign work on behalf of a Ukrainian advocacy group in Europe, CNN reported.

An NBC report found that the Podesta Group was one of several firms working on Paul Manafort"s public relations campaign for European Centre for a Modern Ukraine, which the Podesta Group claims it thought was a nonpartisan think tank, something which this site reported first last August.

And here is one reason why we suspect more than a few on the left are now concerned...

It goes without saying, that Podesta"s brother, John, is arguably one of the top figure in Democratic politics, serving most recently as chief of staff in the Bill Clinton White House and also as the chairman of Hillary Clinton"s 2016 presidential campaign.

What happens next to Tony (and perhaps his brother John) is to be determined, but one thing is clear: both sides of the swamp should probably control themselves in any premature celebrations as this appears to be far from over.

Tony Podesta Threatens Tucker Carlson After Bombshell Report On Russian Influence Peddling

Submitted by iBankCoin

Tony Podesta sent a Cease and Decist letter to “Tucker Carlson Tonight” hours after resigning from his role at the Podesta Group – a D.C. lobbying firm accused by a former executive of pedaling Russian influence along with fellow lobbyist and short-lived Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort.

Tony Podesta threatened "Tucker Carlson Tonight" after resigning. Wanted our reporting shutdown. #Tucker @FoxNews

— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) October 31, 2017

Watch:

The Cease and Desist letter sent by Podesta:

Tony Podesta"s Cease and Desist letter to Tucker Carlson: pic.twitter.com/rb72QQ3lRN

— ZeroPointNow (@ZeroPointNow) October 31, 2017

Manfort was indicted over the weekend on 12 counts ranging from tax fraud, money laundering and giving false statements between 2006 and 2015, and is currently under house arrest after turning himself over to the FBI Monday morning – fueling speculation as to whether Tony Podesta’s sudden departure from his firm is connected.

Of note, Monday"s indictment lists "Company A" and "Company B" as firms involved in the investigation - which NBC reports are the Podesta Group and DC public relations firm Mercury Public Affairs.

Last week Carlson reported that Tony Podesta is a central figure in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. Directly after his report, Carlson’s show was contacted by a former long-time executive of the Podesta Group with “direct personal knowledge” of Tony Podesta’s questionable activities, which Carlson divulged the next evening.

While the nature of Podesta’s threat has not been made public, Carlson later tweeted “We’re confident the Mueller probe will reveal a lot more about Tony Podesta’s lobbying practices in the near future.”

To review:

After meeting with the former Podesta Group executive who has been “extensively” interviewed by Robert Mueller’s Special Counsel, Tucker Carlson Tonight relayed several highly troubling aspects of the Tony Podesta’s relationship with business associate and fellow lobbyist, Paul Manafort.

According to the former Podesta Group executive, Manafort and Tony Podesta were running a Russian influence-peddling racket up and down Washington D.C., bringing a “parade” of Russian oligarchs to congress for meetings. Podesta was also “Basically part of the Clinton Foundation,” meeting regularly to discuss the now-infamous Uranium One deal.

Highlights, as previously reported (video below):

• Lobbyist and temporary Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort is at the center of the Russia probe – however the scope of the investigation has broadened to include his activities prior to the 2016 election.


• Manafort worked with the Podesta Group since at least 2011 on behalf of Russian interests, and was at the Podesta Group offices “all the time, at least once a month,” peddling Russian influence through a shell group called the European Centre for a Modern Ukraine (ECMU).


• Manafort brought a “parade” of Russian oligarchs to congress for meetings with members and their staffs, however, the Russia’s “central effort” was the Obama Administration.


• In 2013, John Podesta recommended that Tony hire David Adams, Hillary Clinton’s chief adviser at the State Department, giving them a “direct liaison” between the group’s Russian clients and Hillary Clinton’s State Department.


• In late 2013 or early 2014, Tony Podesta and a representative for the Clinton Foundation met to discuss how to help Uranium One – the Russian owned company that controls 20 percent of American Uranium Production – and whose board members gave over $100 million to the Clinton Foundation.


• “Tony Podesta was basically part of the Clinton Foundation.”


• Believing she would win the 2016 election, Russia considered the Podesta Group’s connection to Hillary highly valuable.


• Podesta Group is a nebulous organization with no board oversight and all financial decisions made by Tony Podesta. Carlson’s source said payments and kickbacks could be hard for investigators to trace, describing it as a “highly secret treasure trove.” One employee’s only official job was to manage Tony Podesta’s art collection, which could be used to conceal financial transactions.

Full monologue below: 

Former Podesta Group Exec: Paul Manafort was in PG offices "all the time" representing Russian political and business interests. #RussiaGate pic.twitter.com/6dFB1MJRdP

— ZeroPointNow (@ZeroPointNow) October 25, 2017

"Tony Podesta was basically part of the Clinton Foundation," Podesta Group may be concealing financial transactions through art collection. pic.twitter.com/yyyo57THMJ

— ZeroPointNow (@ZeroPointNow) October 25, 2017

Follow on Twitter @ZeroPointNow

Mueller Probe Targets Democrat Lobbying Firm Podesta Group

Authored by ZeroPointNow, originally published on iBankCoin

Tony Podesta and his lobbying firm the Podesta Group are under federal investigation by FBI Special Counsel Robert Mueller in connection with the Russia investigation, three sources told NBC News.

The firm, co-founded by Hillary Clinton"s campaign manager John Podesta, was subpoenaed in late August along with three other public relations firms who worked with former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort during a 2012-2014 lobbying effort for a pro-Ukraine think tank - the European Centre for a Modern Ukraine (ECMU) - tied to former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych.

Yanukovych fled from Ukraine to Russia after he was unseated in a 2014 coup.

Two of the subpoenaed firms include Paul Manafort"s Mercury, LLC and the Podesta Group, founded by John and Tony Podesta and operated by the latter.

Manafort’s firm earned $17 million between 2012 – 2014 consulting for Yanukovych’s centrist, pro-Russia ‘Party of Regions.’ During the same period, Manafort oversaw a lobbying campaign for the pro-Russia “Centre for a Modern Ukraine,” a Brussels based think tank linked to Yanukovych which was pushing for Ukraine’s entry into the European Union.

The Podesta group, operating under Manafort, earned over $1.2 million as part of that effort.

In a statement to NBC, a spokesman for the Podesta Group said the firm "is cooperating fully with the Special Counsel"s office and has taken every possible step to provide documentation that confirms timely compliance. In all of our client engagements, the Podesta Group conducts due diligence and consults with appropriate legal experts to ensure compliance with disclosure regulations at all times — and we did so in this case."

White House Special Access

Visitor logs reveal that Tony Podesta visited the White House at least 114 times during the Obama administration according to White House visitor logs, and was said to have had ‘special access‘ to the administration through his brother, John Podesta, while lobbying for various pro-Kremlin interests.

During a 2015 interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria, former president Obama admitted that his administration ‘brokered a deal‘ for the 2014 coup in Ukraine – all while John Podesta was a West Wing advisor and Tony Podesta lobbied for an organization which opposed the coup.

Podesta Group and Russia

While Robert Mueller’s investigation is primarily focused on the Trump campaign – having conducted a surprise raid on Paul Manafort’s home in July, it will be interesting to see if the Special Counsel chooses to delve into the bevy of documented ties between the the Podesta brothers and Russia.

For example, Russia’s Kremlin-owned Sberbank paid the Podesta group $170,000 over a 6 month period to lobby against 2014 economic sanctions by the Obama administration:

Podesta’s efforts were a key part of under-the-radar lobbying during the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign led mainly by veteran Democratic strategists to remove sanctions against Sberbank and VTB Capital, Russia’s second largest bank.

 

The two Russian banks spent more than $700,000 in 2016 on Washington lobbyists as they sought to end the U.S. sanctions, according to Senate lobbying disclosure forms and documents filed with the Department of Justice.

 

The Podesta Group charged Sberbank $20,000 per month, plus expenses, on a contract from March through September 2016. –Daily Caller

In March of this year it was revealed that the Podesta group forgot to register as a “Foreign Agent” for their work with Sberbank.

Uranium One

The Podesta group also earned $180,000 lobbying for Russian-owned mining company Uranium One during the same period that the Clinton Foundation was receiving millions from UrAsia / U1 interests.

Last week, two bombshell reports published by The Hill revealed that the FBI - headed by Robert Mueller at the time - discovered that “Russian nuclear officials had routed millions of dollars to the U.S. designed to benefit former President Bill Clinton’s charitable foundation during the time Secretary of State Hillary Clinton served on a government body that provided a favorable decision to Moscow” – a deal which would grant the Kremlin control over 20 percent of America’s uranium supply, as detailed by author Peter Schweitzer’s book Clinton Cash and the New York Times in 2015.

After Russia took control of the Uranium rights, the Podesta Group received $180,000 to lobby for Uranium One during the same period that the Clinton Foundation was receiving millions from U1 interests, and after Russia took majority ownership in the “20 percent” deal (source – you have to add up the years).

the Podesta Group received $180,000 to lobby for Uranium One during the same period that the Clinton Foundation was receiving millions from U1 interests, and after Russia took majority ownership in the “20 percent” deal (source – you have to add up the years).

Joule Unlimited

While NBC reports that Hillary Clinton"s campaign manager and presumed Secretary of State John Podesta is not currently affiliated with the Podesta group and not part of Mueller"s investigation, it should be noted that he sat on the board of Massachusetts energy company Joule Unlimited, along with senior Russian official Anatoly Chubais and Russian oligarch Ruben Vardanyan – who was appointed by Vladimir Putin to the Russian economic council. 

Two months after Podesta joined the board, Joule managed to raise $35 million from Putin’s Kremlin-backed investment fund Rusnano.

Not only did John Podesta fail to properly disclose this relationship before joining the Clinton Campaign, he transferred 75,000 shares of Joule to his daughter through a shell company using her address.

Despite the Russian assistance, the Daily Caller reports that Joule Unlimited folded shortly after Hillary Clinton lost the 2016 election.

In an interview with Fox Business News" Maria Bartaromo, Podesta denied that he failed to disclose his ties, emphatically stating “Maria, that’s not true. I fully disclosed and was completely compliant,” adding “I didn’t have any stock in any Russian company!” in reference to Massachusetts based Joule Unlimited – with its two Russian dignitaries on the board board and a $35 million loan from a Russian investment fund founded by Vladimir Putin.

* * *

For more, see "FBI Probes Firm Belonging To Brother Of Clinton Campaign Chair For Ukraine Corruption Ties"

5 Charts Showing Where Hurricane Irma Might Land

For anyone wondering why meteorologists can’t say for certain where Hurricane Irma – now a category 3 storm – might land in the US, Jonathan Erdman, a senior meteorologist at Weather.com, has an explanation. First, let’s look at the National Hurricane Center current forecast cone, a five-day forecast.

According to NHC statistics, the average error in a five-day forecast path of the center in 2016 was about 194 miles. While NHC track forecasts have improved over the years, this is still a sizable error at five days, roughly the distance between Miami and Cape Canaveral, or from midtown Manhattan to Martha"s Vineyard.

A basic tenet of numerical weather prediction is that small errors grow with time. If the five-day track error is already almost 200 miles, imagine what a 10-plus-day track error would be?

So, in the spirit of offering a more comprehensive assessment of where the hurricane might land, Erdman recommends looking at what’s called an ensemble model. Instead of using one set of parameters, economists use a range of initial conditions.

The ensemble forecast from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts can be seen below, in grey. The data are current as of Aug. 31 at 8 p.m. EDT. As Weather.com notes, readers can hardly see the US map below the mess of possible tracks, extending from south of Newfoundland to the Gulf of Mexico…

…And here’s another set of projections from NOAA.

Of course, forecasting the path of a hurricane with complete certainty is impossible. All meteorologists can say with some degree of accuracy is that the US East Coast and the Gulf of Mexico should be paying attention.

While it’s difficult to neatly sort a hurricane into a series of scenarios, meteorologists at Weather.com created illustrations showing what an east-coast landfall – as well as a near miss – might look like.

Ultimately, whether Irma hits the East Coast will depend on the Bermuda-Azores high, the primary steering wheel for Atlantic tropical cyclones.

“When this high is strong and expansive in west-to-east extent and/or there"s little or no southward plunge of the jet stream anywhere near the eastern U.S., an approaching hurricane would be steered westward into the Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico or East Coast.”

While the path and precise landfall of the storm is still unclear, at least one metereologist has described Irma"s 180-mph winds as "the highest windspeed forecasts I"ve ever seen in my 10 yrs of Atlantic hurricane forecasting."

These are the highest windspeed forecasts I"ve ever seen in my 10 yrs of Atlantic hurricane forecasting. #Irma is another retiree candidate. pic.twitter.com/e6nMsp1myY

— Michael Ventrice (@MJVentrice) August 31, 2017

Meteorologists should have a clearer picture of what to expect in a few days. After seeing photos of the flooding in Texas, we imagine homeowners along the Atlantic seaboard, not to mention the Gulf of Mexico, will be nervously awaiting more news.