black ledger

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1/20 disambig</font><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/rudy-giuliani-paul-manafort-ukraine-black-ledger-894242/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/rudy-giuliani-paul-manafort-ukraine-black-ledger-894242/</font></a></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style=""><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rolling Stone</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>OCTOBER 3, 2019&nbsp;</b></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Who Would Be the Worst Possible Person to Help You Avoid Ukraine-Related Crimes?</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Rudy Giuliani is consulting with Paul Manafort. What could go wrong?</b></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">By RYAN BORT&nbsp;</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
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</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Rudy Giuliani has consulted with Paul Manafort “several times” in recent months as he quests to smear Joe Biden and boost a debunked conspiracy theory that Ukraine and Democrats — not Russia — were the ones who did the real malfeasance ahead of the 2016 election, The Washington Post reported on Wednesday.</b></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This isn’t exactly a great look for Trump’s personal lawyer-turned-global conspiracy theory propagator, as Manafort is currently in prison for a smorgasbord of financial crimes, many related to his dealings in Ukraine. So why exactly was Rudy seeking guidance from Trump’s disgraced former campaign manager? It’s complicated.</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Giuliani has been in touch with Trump’s former campaign manager (through a lawyer) because of their <b>shared interest in discrediting the Mueller investigation, which led to Manafort’s imprisonment, and the role a controversial “black ledger” could play in proving the probe was a hoax — just as Trump, Hannity, and the rest of the GOP’s crackpot crew has been saying all along.</b></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">The ledger, which was obtained by Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau, contained<b> evidence of Manafort receiving over $12 million in off-the-books payments from the political party of Viktor Yanukovych</b>, the Putin-friendly former Ukrainian president whom Manafort helped get elected. Manafort resigned as Trump’s campaign manager after the existence of the ledger was reported by the New York Times in August 2016, and now Giuliani is out to prove the ledger was fraudulent and part of a joint effort by Ukraine and the Democratic Party to to sink Trump’s campaign.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[RELATED</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Lev Parnas arrives to court in New York, . Parnas and Igor Fruman, close associates to U.S. President Donald Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani, were arrested last month at an airport outside Washington while trying to board a flight to Europe with one-way tickets. They were later indicted by federal prosecutors on charges of conspiracy, making false statements to the Federal Election Commission and falsification of recordsTrump Impeachment, New York, USA - 02 Dec 2019</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">New Impeachment Evidence: 'The Biden Case Will Be Investigated'</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Top Democrats React to Unredacted Emails: 'What Else Is Trump Hiding?']</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Manafort is, not surprisingly, happy to offer his assistance. “I said, ‘Was there really a black book? If there wasn’t, I really need to know. Please tell him I’ve got to know,’” Giuliani told the Post of his conversations with Manafort’s lawyer. “He came back and said there wasn’t a black book.”</b></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The only problem is that there is no actual evidence the ledger is fraudulent. If there was, as the Post points out, it probably would have been brought up by Manafort’s defense team when he was on trial last year, and before he admitted to receiving $60 million in payments for his work in Ukraine, $30 million of which he laundered. As U<b>krainian journalist Serhiy Leschenko, who played a central role in exposing the ledger</b>, wrote for the Post in September, the idea the ledger is fake is nothing more than a scam meant to muddy the waters and raise suspicion. “<b>Giuliani’s entire approach is built on disinformation and the manipulation of facts,” he wrote. “Giuliani has developed a conspiracy theory in which he depicts my revelations about Manafort as an intervention in the 2016 U.S. election in favor of the Democratic Party.”</b></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Sadly, Giuliani’s efforts have indeed raised suspicion in some Senate Republicans, who have added some kindling to the conspiracy theory in the form of a congressional inquiry. “Ukrainian efforts, abetted by a U.S. political party, to interfere in the 2016 election should not be ignored,” wrote<b> Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.) </b>of their new investigation into the matter. “Such allegations of corruption deserve due scrutiny, and the American people have a right to know when foreign forces attempt to undermine our democratic processes,” the senators wrote in the letter.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In other words, this conspiracy theory probably isn’t going away anytime soon. After all, Republicans don’t have much left to cling onto as they try to position themselves on the side of the president.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Despite having no official government role, Giuliani has emerged as one of the central figures in the scandal surrounding Trump’s efforts to pressure Ukraine into interfering in the 2020 election. He’s long been in contact with a host of shadowy Ukrainian figures, and his name was mentioned several times in both the whistleblower complaint and the president’s July 25th call to Ukrainian President Zelensky. “Rudy very much knows what’s happening and he is a very capable guy,” Trump told Zelensky, according to a partial readout of the call released by the White House. “If you could speak to him that would be great.”</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">On Monday, <b>House Democrats subpoenaed Giuliani for documents related to his efforts in Ukraine, going back to early 2017</b>. “Our inquiry includes an investigation of credible allegations that you acted as an agent of the president in a scheme to advance his personal political interests by abusing the power of the office of the president,” Reps. Adam <b>Schiff (D-Calif.), Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), and Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.</b>) wrote in a letter to the former mayor.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Giuliani likened the request to McCarthyism</b>. “We’re getting really close to, if we haven’t met, the standard of the McCarthy hearings where nobody seems to care about things like attorney-client privilege,” he told the Times. Though Giuliani has not said explicitly that he won’t comply with the subpoena, it doesn’t appear he’s going to. On Tuesday, he hired former Watergate prosecutor Jon Sale to represent him.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In This Article: Paul Manafort, Rudy Giuliani, Ukraine</font></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div style=""><a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/2019/11/14/devin-nunes-calls-an-experienced-organized-crime-researcher-funded-by-paul-singer-a-democratic-operative/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.emptywheel.net/2019/11/14/devin-nunes-calls-an-experienced-organized-crime-researcher-funded-by-paul-singer-a-democratic-operative/</font></a></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">blog?</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style=""><header class="entry-content-header" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><h1 class="post-title entry-title " itemprop="headline" style="background-color: rgb(246, 246, 240); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 14px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.3em; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: uppercase;"><a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/2019/11/14/devin-nunes-calls-an-experienced-organized-crime-researcher-funded-by-paul-singer-a-democratic-operative/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link: Devin Nunes Calls an Experienced Organized Crime Researcher Funded by Paul Singer a Democratic Operative" data-wpel-link="internal" style="text-decoration: inherit; font-weight: inherit; outline: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 100%;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">&nbsp;NUNES CALLS AN EXPERIENCED ORGANIZED CRIME RESEARCHER FUNDED BY PAUL SINGER A DEMOCRATIC OPERATIVE<span class="post-format-icon minor-meta" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;" /></font></a></h1><span class="post-meta-infos" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; position: relative; top: -8px; display: block;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><time class="date-container minor-meta updated" style="box-sizing: border-box; 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font-weight: inherit; outline: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 100%;">2016 Presidential Election</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/2020-presidential-election/" rel="tag" data-wpel-link="internal" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: inherit; outline: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 100%;">2020 Presidential Election</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/impeachment/" rel="tag" data-wpel-link="internal" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: inherit; outline: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; 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font-weight: inherit; outline: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 5px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 100%;">emptywheel</a></span></span></span></span></font></span></header><div class="entry-content" itemprop="text" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><p style="margin: 0.85em 0px; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 240); box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>There’s a key part of Devin Nunes and Mark Meadows’ defense of the President yesterday that deserves far more attention, both for the way it distorts the factual record and how it suggests that simply being an expert on Russian and Ukrainian organized crime makes one a Democratic operative.</b></font></p><p style="margin: 0.85em 0px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">At issue is their bid to make the impeachment inquiry about Nellie Ohr, whom they’ve past&nbsp;<a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/2019/08/09/the-unremarkable-bruce-ohr-302s/" data-wpel-link="internal" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: inherit; outline: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 100%;">falsely suggested</a>&nbsp;had a role in mainlining the Steele dossier into DOJ and FBI. They’ve brought Nellie, the spouse of a key DOJ expert on organized crime, Bruce Ohr, back into their narrative by claiming she testified to Congress that Fusion GPS relied on Ukrainian sources. The idea is that Ohr’s testimony would prove that Trump had good reason to think Ukraine had it in for him in 2016, so could rightly ask Ukraine to investigate whether that amounted to tampering in the election.</font></p><p style="margin: 0.85em 0px; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 240); box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Here’s how Nunes laid it out in his&nbsp;<a href="https://republicans-intelligence.house.gov/uploadedfiles/rm_letter_to_chm_re_witness_request.pdf" data-wpel-link="external" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: inherit; outline: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 100%;">demand</a>&nbsp;that Ohr be called to testify:</font></p><blockquote style="background-color: rgb(245, 246, 242); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 20px 1em 20px 89.8438px; padding: 5px 20px; border-width: 0px 0px 0px 7px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: initial; border-left-style: solid; border-color: rgb(127, 140, 94); border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline;"><p style="margin: 0.85em 0px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Nellie Ohr, former contractor for opposition research firm Fusion GPS.</span>&nbsp;In a 2018 interview with the House Judiciary and Oversight Committees, Ms. Ohr stated that, during her work with Fusion GPS that ultimately assisted in the production of the Steele dossier–comprising false allegations against then-candidate Trump–Fusion GPS used information from sources in Ukraine, including Serhiy Leshchenko who recently lost his post from the Ukrainian parliament. Given President Trump’s documented belief that the Ukrainian government meddled in the 2016 election to oppose his candidacy, which forms the basis for a reasonable desire for Ukraine to investigate the circumstances surrounding the election and any potential Ukrainian involvement, Ms. Ohr is a prime fact witness who can assist Congress and the American public in better understanding the facts and circumstances surrounding Ukrainian involvement in the 2016 election.</font></p></blockquote><p style="margin: 0.85em 0px; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 240); box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In his demand, Nunes helpfully provides a footnote, to make it easy to see how many errors he makes in this paragraph. Here’s the passage of&nbsp;<a href="https://dougcollins.house.gov/sites/dougcollins.house.gov/files/10.19.18%20Nellie%20Ohr%20Interview.pdf" data-wpel-link="external" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: inherit; outline: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 100%;">Ohr’s testimony</a>&nbsp;before Congress that, Nunes falsely claims, backs his insinuations that Ohr tampered in the 2016 campaign.</font></p><p style="margin: 0.85em 0px; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 240); box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">GOP counsel Ryan Breitenbach is questioning her.</font></p><blockquote style="background-color: rgb(245, 246, 242); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 20px 1em 20px 89.8438px; padding: 5px 20px; border-width: 0px 0px 0px 7px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: initial; border-left-style: solid; border-color: rgb(127, 140, 94); border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline;"><p style="margin: 0.85em 0px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Q Was there indication from [her boss at Fusion GPS, Jake] Berkowitz or [Glenn] Simpson that they had any inside information as to whether there were suspicious connections with any of President Trump’s orbit of individuals including his family?</font></p><p style="margin: 0.85em 0px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A What do you mean by “inside information”?</font></p><p style="margin: 0.85em 0px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Q I would say any information that they specifically gave you, in terms of your employment with Fusion GPS, that would indicate that there were some level of connections with President Trump’s family and Russia?</font></p><p style="margin: 0.85em 0px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">They would give me leads based on their open-source research</span>&nbsp;and, you know, legal documents and other things.</font></p><p style="margin: 0.85em 0px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Q Did they ever indicate that any of their leads were based off of sources of theirs?</font></p><p style="margin: 0.85em 0px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A I don’t remember get- — regarding the Trump family, no.</font></p><p style="margin: 0.85em 0px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Q Regarding any of the research during this year, 10-, 11-month period, was any — was any research based off of sources of theirs that you were aware of?</font></p><p style="margin: 0.85em 0px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A Yes.</font></p><p style="margin: 0.85em 0px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Q And who were the sources?</font></p><p style="margin: 0.85em 0px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A I recall a —&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">they were mentioning someone named Serhiy Leshchenko</span>, a Ukrainian.</font></p><p style="margin: 0.85em 0px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Q And did they give you any indication as to Leshchenko’s connections with them, how they got to know him? Were they doing work for him?</font></p><p style="margin: 0.85em 0px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A With Fusion GPS?</font></p><p style="margin: 0.85em 0px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Q Correct.</font></p><p style="margin: 0.85em 0px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">I am not aware of how they</span>&nbsp;—</font></p><p style="margin: 0.85em 0px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Q Were you aware of how they had a connection with him?</font></p><p style="margin: 0.85em 0px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">I am not aware</span>.</font></p><p style="margin: 0.85em 0px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Q But you were aware that he was a source of information that was leading to information that they had, that they were then presenting to you as reasons for following up on opposition research or what research —</font></p><p style="margin: 0.85em 0px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A Yes.</font></p><p style="margin: 0.85em 0px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Q — that is, on President Trump or his family?</font></p><p style="margin: 0.85em 0px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A My understanding is that some — yes. And — yes,&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">it was not necessarily on his family that Leshchenko’s research was on</span>.</font></p><p style="margin: 0.85em 0px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Q Are you aware of what his research, or what his source information included?</font></p><p style="margin: 0.85em 0px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">His source information, I am not aware.</span></font></p><p style="margin: 0.85em 0px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Q You are just aware that he was a source of —</font></p><p style="margin: 0.85em 0px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A Yes.</font></p><p style="margin: 0.85em 0px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Q — Glenn Simpson? Or was it a source of Mr. Berkowitz? Or both?</font></p><p style="margin: 0.85em 0px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A I am not aware of a differentiation between them. Just a source for Fusion GPS.</font></p><p style="margin: 0.85em 0px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Q That is one source. Were there any other sources that you were aware of?</font></p><p style="margin: 0.85em 0px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A I don’t think so. I don’t recall that there were.</font></p><p style="margin: 0.85em 0px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Q And were you aware of Mr. Leshchenko prior to him being mentioned to you as a potential source of their information?</font></p><p style="margin: 0.85em 0px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A Yes.</font></p><p style="margin: 0.85em 0px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Q In what way?</font></p><p style="margin: 0.85em 0px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A He is very well-known, Ukrainian, anti-corruption activist. So&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">I had read about him in the press</span>.</font></p><p style="margin: 0.85em 0px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Q Had you studied him before?</font></p><p style="margin: 0.85em 0px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A What do you mean by “studied”?</font></p><p style="margin: 0.85em 0px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Q Performed independent research for any prior employer.</font></p><p style="margin: 0.85em 0px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A No. I followed him in the — you know, if I saw him mentioned in the press, I read — I read about it.</font></p><p style="margin: 0.85em 0px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Q And previous to this particular incoming knowledge from Mr. Simpson or just from Fusion GPS, were you aware of any connections between Mr. Leshchenko — am I saying that name, by the way?</font></p><p style="margin: 0.85em 0px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A Yes.</font></p><p style="margin: 0.85em 0px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Q — Mr. Leshchenko and President Trump, or anyone in President Trump’s familial orbit or even friendly orbit?</font></p><p style="margin: 0.85em 0px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A I was unaware of any connections before that. [my emphasis]</font></p></blockquote><p style="margin: 0.85em 0px; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 240); box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Before this colloquy, Ohr had already testified that she had “no reason to believe” that her work was integrated into the Steele dossier at all</b><span style="font-weight: inherit;">. Democratic staffers walked her through passage after passage in the Steele dossier and asked her if her work had provided background for it, which she said it did not. She also had already explained (to both Jim Jordan and Mark Meadows in separate interactions directly) that she, “did online open source research using Russian sources, media, social media, government, you know, business registers, legal databases, all kinds of things.”&nbsp;</span><b>Ohr’s testimony was backed by Glenn Simpson’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.feinstein.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/3/9/3974a291-ddbe-4525-9ed1-22bab43c05ae/934A3562824CACA7BB4D915E97709D2F.simpson-transcript-redacted.pdf" data-wpel-link="external" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 100%;">earlier appearances</a>&nbsp;before Congress — including&nbsp;<a href="https://docs.house.gov/meetings/IG/IG00/20180118/106796/HMTG-115-IG00-Transcript-20180118.pdf" data-wpel-link="external" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 100%;">an appearance before HPSCI that Nunes attended</a>; Simpson also said his own research was based off open source research</b><span style="font-weight: inherit;">.</span></font></p><p style="margin: 0.85em 0px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span style="font-weight: inherit;">Moreover, both the reports Nellie did (</span><a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6294363-190710-Orr-Comms.html" data-wpel-link="external" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: inherit; outline: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 100%;">PDF 216 to 299</a><span style="font-weight: inherit;">) and a&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.judicialwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/JW-v-DOJ-Ohr-comms-production-6-01854-pgs-300-312.pdf" data-wpel-link="external" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: inherit; outline: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 100%;">table she put together on Trump and his flunkies’ ties to suspect Russians</a><span style="font-weight: inherit;">&nbsp;show that the bulk of her research for Fusion preceded the time when Christopher Steele was working on the dossier. Significantly, that means&nbsp;</span><b>much of Nellie Ohr’s work was paid by GOP billionaire Paul Singer, not the DNC.</b></font></p><p style="margin: 0.85em 0px; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 240); box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">So in this passage, Nellie Ohr is talking leads she got from her boss at Fusion, Jake Berkowitz, based off open source research he had done, that she would use to do more open source research, for a project mostly paid for by a Republican billionaire interested in the ties between Trump and Russian organized crime.</font></p><p style="margin: 0.85em 0px; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 240); box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And what the passage shows is that:</font></p><ul style="background-color: rgb(246, 246, 240); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px 7px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style-position: outside; list-style-image: initial;"><li style="font-weight: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0px 1em; padding: 3px 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Ohr said the information from Berkowitz came from open source reporting</font></li><li style="font-weight: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0px 1em; padding: 3px 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">She described herself getting information on Serhiy Leshchenko’s efforts, because he was a very well-known anti-corruption activist who was covered in the press</font></li><li style="font-weight: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0px 1em; padding: 3px 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">She twice said she was not aware of how Berkowitz and Simpson got their information from Leshchenko</font></li><li style="font-weight: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0px 1em; padding: 3px 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">She also said she didn’t know where Leshchenko got his information</font></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0px 1em; padding: 3px 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Ohr said that Leshchenko’s reporting wasn’t focused on the Trump family (it almost certainly was focused on Paul Manafort, about whom Ohr wrote a detailed timeline)</b></font></li></ul><p style="margin: 0.85em 0px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In short, the transcript Nunes says supports a demand that Ohr testify does no such thing. Instead, it shows that this side of Fusion’s work relied on open source reporting, and that information on Leshchenko’s efforts was available via open sources. It also shows that Ohr repeatedly denied knowing whether the Fusion focus on Leshchenko was based on anything but open source reporting.</font></p><p style="margin: 0.85em 0px; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 240); box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This transcript also shows that if Republicans really wanted to know about how Leshchenko’s work informed Fusion’s work, they should ask Simpson or Berkowitz to testify, because Ohr was only ever working from open sources — that is, doing research, mostly paid for by a Republican billionaire.</font></p><p style="margin: 0.85em 0px; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 240); box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">That background is all critically important for how Nunes ended yesterday’s testimony. In his&nbsp;<a href="https://www.c-span.org/video/?466134-1/impeachment-hearing-william-taylor-george-kent&start=19577" data-wpel-link="external" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: inherit; outline: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 100%;">closing statement</a>&nbsp;at the hearing, Nunes restated his demand that Schiff permit Republicans to call their chosen witnesses, which he listed as:</font></p><ul style="background-color: rgb(246, 246, 240); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px 7px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style-position: outside; list-style-image: initial;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0px 1em; padding: 3px 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The whistleblower</font></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0px 1em; padding: 3px 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The folks that he spoke to</font></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0px 1em; padding: 3px 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Numerous Democratic operatives who worked with Ukraine to meddle in the election</font></li></ul><p style="margin: 0.85em 0px; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 240); box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Obviously, Nellie Ohr — an experienced researcher on Ukrainian and Russian organized crime — must fall into the latter category.</font></p><p style="margin: 0.85em 0px; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 240); box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">So on top of all the ways Nunes misrepresented the Ohr’s testimony (or her ability to testify on the issues he claims to want to hear), there’s this. The Ranking Member of the House Intelligence Committee, Devin Nunes, believes that an expert on Ukrainian and Russian organized crime being paid to do open source research by a Republican billionaire must be a Democratic operative.</font></p></div><footer class="entry-footer" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 240);"><span class="blog-tags minor-meta" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Tags:</span><span style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">&nbsp;<a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/tag/bruce-ohr/" rel="tag" data-wpel-link="internal" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: inherit; outline: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 100%;">Bruce Ohr</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/tag/christopher-steele/" rel="tag" data-wpel-link="internal" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: inherit; outline: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 100%;">Christopher Steele</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/tag/devin-nunes/" rel="tag" data-wpel-link="internal" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: inherit; outline: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 100%;">Devin Nunes</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/tag/glenn-simpson/" rel="tag" data-wpel-link="internal" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: inherit; outline: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 100%;">Glenn Simpson</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/tag/jim-jordan/" rel="tag" data-wpel-link="internal" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: inherit; outline: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 100%;">Jim Jordan</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/tag/mark-meadows/" rel="tag" data-wpel-link="internal" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: inherit; outline: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 100%;">Mark Meadows</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/tag/nellie-ohr/" rel="tag" data-wpel-link="internal" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: inherit; outline: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 100%;">Nellie Ohr</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/tag/paul-manafort/" rel="tag" data-wpel-link="internal" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: inherit; outline: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 100%;">Paul Manafort</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/tag/paul-singer/" rel="tag" data-wpel-link="internal" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: inherit; outline: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 100%;">Paul Singer</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/tag/serhiy-leshchenko/" rel="tag" data-wpel-link="internal" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: inherit; outline: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 100%;">Serhiy Leshchenko</a></span></font></span></footer></div><div style=""><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">=</font></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">manafort, solomon black ledger nunes</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style=""><a href="https://theintercept.com/2019/11/19/republicans-use-impeachment-hearings-smear-ukrainian-helped-expose-manafort" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://theintercept.com/2019/11/19/republicans-use-impeachment-hearings-smear-ukrainian-helped-expose-manafort</font></a></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style=""><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx many</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Republicans Urge Americans to Follow Them Through the Fox News Looking Glass on Ukraine</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Robert Mackey</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">November 19 2019</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">AMERICANS WHO DO NOT get all of their information about Ukraine from Fox News or right-wing Twitter and Facebook feeds have no doubt been baffled by the Republican cross-examination of witnesses called to give public testimony in the House impeachment hearings.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">There have been frequent, context-free references to something called “the black ledger,” invocations of the supposedly nefarious role of George Soros in supporting Ukrainian anti-corruption activists, and even suggestions that Donald Trump’s former campaign chair, Paul Manafort, who is serving seven and a half years in federal prison for financial crimes stemming from his work in Ukraine, might have been framed.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[All the President’s Crimes</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Read Our Complete Coverage</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">All the President’s Crimes]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The resulting spectacle has confused viewers unfamiliar with a series of conspiratorial reports about Ukraine from the conservative columnist John Solomon, whose work has been promoted relentlessly on Fox, and caused many to simply tune the proceedings out. Virginia Tilley, a political scientist at Southern Illinois University, suggested on Twitter that making the impeachment hearings nearly unwatchable might even be the Republican strategy.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Virginia Tilley</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">@unpetrifiedop</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Scariest thing about our national crisis: lying GOP has made even impeachment hearing so repellent that few can bear to listen. They win by just repelling us with inane babble, demoralizing the principled with shrieking stupidities. Is this how democracy dies? Through BS fatigue?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This bizarre performance stretched into a second week on Tuesday, as Republicans sought to distract from the testimony of Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, a National Security Council expert on Ukraine, and Jennifer Williams, a Russia adviser for Vice President Mike Pence, both of whom heard President Donald Trump press his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, to open sham investigations of his Democratic political rivals.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Devin Nunes, the senior Republican on the House intelligence committee, devoted a significant part of his opening statement at Tuesday’s first hearing to complaining that recent criticism of Solomon’s shoddy, misleading reports on Ukraine’s supposed “meddling in the 2016 election to oppose the Trump campaign” was some sort of plot directed by the mainstream media’s Democratic “puppet masters.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Justin Baragona</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">@justinbaragona</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Devin Nunes uses his opening statement this morning to blast reporters for being very nasty and unfair to John Solomon.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Embedded video</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>“The media,” Nunes said, “is furiously smearing and libeling Solomon.”</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Nunes went on to claim that there was a “concerted campaign by the media to discredit and to disown some of their own colleagues,” including Solomon and New York Times reporter Ken Vogel.</span>&nbsp;What that characterization elides, however, is that there are good reasons to question the work of both Solomon and Vogel, who have helped propel far-right conspiracy theories about Ukraine by choosing to focus on certain facts and omit others. Solomon, whose work is now being reviewed by his former employer, The Hill, also recently joined Fox News as a contributor, which makes him a primary source of information about Ukraine for Americans overly reliant on Fox News, including the president of the United States.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In the hearings, the government officials called to testify so far have seemed at a loss when asked by Republicans to comment on claims of Ukrainian interference in the 2016 election presented as fact by the president’s defenders in Congress.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Bill Taylor, the senior American diplomat in Ukraine, looked dumbfounded last Wednesday when he was asked by Steve Castor, the lawyer for House Republicans, if he would agree that the decision by a Ukrainian journalist and lawmaker to publicize evidence of Manafort’s crimes during the 2016 campaign proved that “there were elements of the Ukrainian establishment that were out to get the president.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Heath Mayo</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">@HeathMayo</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In a single clip, you can see here the utter disconnect between Taylor’s reality-based worldview and the conspiracy-based partisan blinders of the current GOP. This is precisely the reaction Castor deserved.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The GOP used to be more like Taylor.&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Embedded video</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As Fox News viewers are well aware, the so-called black ledger mentioned repeatedly by Castor refers to a book of handwritten accounting records discovered among the papers of the deposed Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych’s pro-Russian political party after he fled to Russia following a popular uprising in 2014.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Those records, which were posted online by Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau in August 2016, appeared to document secret payments, including $12.7 million to Yanukovych’s former political adviser, Manafort. One day after the records were made public,&nbsp;<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">Sergii Leshchenko, a Ukrainian investigative journalist who was elected to parliament after the uprising, displayed pages from the<b>&nbsp;ledger&nbsp;</b>at a news conference in Kyiv, and Manafort resigned from Trump’s campaign.</span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[111819_corruption-1574129738In August 2016, Sergii Leshchenko, a Ukrainian investigative journalist then serving in parliament, showed reporters records of apparent secret payments to Paul Manafort, a former adviser to Ukraine’s deposed president. He was accompanied by Sevgil Musayeva-Borovyk, the editor of Ukrainska Pravda, which published the leaked records, and Anton Marchuk, an anti-corruption expert. Photo: Sergii Leshchenko, via YouTube]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Leshchenko, an anti-corruption activist&nbsp;</b>who continued to work as a journalist while serving in parliament, has never been, as Castor suggested, a pillar of Ukraine’s establishment, so the idea that his publication of pages from the ledger was akin to Russia’s interference in the 2016 election is absurd.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Leshchenko himself explained in a September Washington Post opinion piece that his motivation for exposing Manafort’s corruption was not, as Republicans now claim, part of a Ukrainian government plot to defeat Trump.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>“I will always be angry at Manafort,” Leshchenko wrote. “His work contributed greatly to Yanukovych’s election victory in 2010;&nbsp;</b>Yanukovych then used his position as president to enrich himself and his inner circle. I have no doubt that Yanukovych paid Manafort for his services out of the funds he robbed from Ukrainian taxpayers.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“My desire to expose Manafort’s doings was motivated by the desire for justice,” he continued. “Neither Hillary Clinton, nor Joe Biden, nor John Podesta, nor George Soros asked me to publish the information from the black ledger. I wanted to obtain accountability for the lobbyist whose client immersed Ukraine in a blood bath during the Revolution of Dignity and the subsequent war in eastern Ukraine, when Yanukovych called on Russia to send troops.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Despite claims by Manafort to the president’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, that the ledger was a forgery, bank records described in an FBI search warrant, and reviewed by the Associated Press, confirmed that at least $1.2 million in payments listed in the records next to Manafort’s name were actually deposited in one of his firm’s bank accounts in Virginia. (A record of one of those deposits was subsequently made public by Leshchenko.)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Andrew Kramer, the New York Times foreign correspondent who first revealed the secret payments to Manafort, also reported at the time that others in Ukraine who were named in the ledger had confirmed that the records were genuine.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Undeterred by the fact that there is no credible evidence that these records were forged, the lawyer for the House Republicans suggested on Friday to Marie Yovanovitch, the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine who was forced out following a smear campaign by Trump loyalists, that “some have questioned whether the information that Mr. Leshchenko published was all correct, or whether it was doctored.” Yovanovitch, who is clearly not a dedicated viewer of Fox News, said that she had never heard that false claim.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Justin Baragona</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">@justinbaragona</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">So the GOP's counsel is now apparently on a fishing expedition, introducing conspiracies straight from Hannity world about the Ukrainian black ledgers featuring Paul Manafort and asking Marie Yovanovitch whether she's aware they may have been "doctored"</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Embedded video</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“It is a real document, with real signatures,” Leshchenko told me in a telephone interview in September, explaining that it had been examined by Ukrainian law enforcement experts. “Giuliani is continuing to misinform American society” about the ledger, Leshchenko added, “by saying it’s fraudulent.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On Friday, Leshchenko, who has been appalled by the Republican effort to rehabilitate Manafort by attacking him, drew attention on Twitter to a section of Yovanovitch’s testimony where she told Castor: “I think from a Ukrainian perspective — I realize we are looking at this from an American perspective — from a Ukrainian perspective, what Mr. Leshchenko and others who were looking into the black ledger were most concerned about was actually not Mr. Manafort, but former president Yanukovych and his political party and the amount of money that they allegedly stole and where it went.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Leshchenko</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">@Leshchenkos</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">To Steve Castor re his question Masha Yovanovitch. 1) Black Ledger was never found phony document. 2) Expertise of Ukraine law enforcement authorities proved that there are authentic signatures 3) Mr. Manafort was paid by money stolen from my country https://youtu.be/UbC-y-V-FtY?t=1948 …</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;YouTube ?@YouTube</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">When Castor then asked Yovanovitch if she could see why Trump might have seen the publication of records damaging Manafort by a Ukrainian lawmaker as an attack on him, the former ambassador replied that Leshchenko is an investigative journalist, “and he got access to the black ledger and he published it as I think journalists would do.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“I don’t have any information to suggest that that was targeting President Trump,” she added.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">But if there is no credible evidence that the payment records incriminating Manafort were fake, how did the president’s defenders on cable news and in the House impeachment inquiry get this idea? In an interview with CNN in September, Giuliani referred to the ledger as “a completely fraudulent document that was produced in order to begin the investigation of Manafort.” People in Ukraine who knew about this plot, he claimed, “were trying to get to us, but they were being blocked by the ambassador, who was a Obama appointee, in Ukraine, who was holding back this information.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>That was a reference to extremely dubious reporting from Washington by Solomon,<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">&nbsp;</span></b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">who relied on the word of a disgraced Ukrainian prosecutor, Nazar Kholodnytsky. Last year, Kholodnytsky was wiretapped by Ukraine’s independent anti-corruption bureau and caught on tape advising suspects in a corruption probe on how not to get caught. Kholodnytsky told Solomon that the ledger “was not authenticated.”</span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">After Kholodnytsky was caught in that sting operation, Ambassador Yovanovitch, who was the top American diplomat in Ukraine until May, called for him to be fired. Kholodnytsky retaliated by helping Solomon and other right-wing pundits smear Yovanovitch as an anti-Trump, deep-state plotter, prompting the State Department to recall her from Kyiv.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Solomon’s other main source for the claim that the ledger was false turns out to have been Konstantin Kilimnik, Manafort’s former Ukrainian business partner,</b>who has been linked to Russian intelligence and was indicted last year and charged with obstruction of justice by special counsel Robert Mueller.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Despite the questionable nature of his sources, Solomon’s reporting that the black ledger records were fake has been accepted as fact by the president and his surrogates. In June, two years after the bank records of payments to Manafort’s firm had been revealed, Solomon appeared on Fox Business Network, telling Lou Dobbs that the black ledger “was likely false, likely fake, a fraud.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Lou Dobbs</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">@LouDobbs</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">#DeepState –<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">&nbsp;@jsolomonReports: “FBI agents must use evidence that’s factually true. In this case, they cited the black ledger in 4 search warrants after they knew it was false, fake & a fraud. They knew the docs were wrong & still put it in the search warrant.” #MAGA #Dobbs</span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Embedded video</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Solomon seems to have concluded that the black ledger records were fake by screening out all evidence to the contrary. That technique was on full display in a long Skype interview he conducted with Leshchenko in July, in which he essentially ignored the Ukrainian’s clear explanation that Manafort’s bank records suggested the ledger was real.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Later in that interview — which was posted on YouTube in two parts (1 and 2) — Leshchenko told Solomon that the ledger was not introduced as evidence in criminal proceedings because the chain of custody for the records was unclear (the pages in his possession had come to him in an email from an anonymous source).</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Solomon responded by claiming that the ledger must be fake because the former accountant for the corrupt former president Yanukovych’s party insisted that it “was not an accurate representation of his books, and that his books, the official books of the party, burned during a looting” of the party’s headquarters in 2014.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Treating the accountant’s claim as undisputed fact, Solomon then asked Leshchenko if he had any regrets about releasing some of the ledger, “knowing that it turned out to be not an accurate representation,” of the truth. “No,” Leshchenko replied, since “we have no proof that the black ledger is a fake document.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The smearing of Leshchenko by Solomon’s fans in Congress comes as other anti-corruption activists, like Daria Kaleniuk of Ukraine’s Anti-Corruption Action Center, known as Anatc, have also found themselves condemned by the president’s allies based on misleading reports from the same journalist</span>. The unhinged accusation against Kaleniuk is that her group is supposedly collaborating in a plot secretly orchestrated by George Soros, the billionaire philanthropist who has funded civil society groups in post-Soviet Eastern Europe.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>In his CNN interview in September, Giuliani referred to Kaleniuk’s group as “Soros’s charity or whatever the hell it was, Antac,”</b>&nbsp;and claimed falsely that the activists had “developed all of the dirty information that ended up being a false document that was created in order to incriminate Manafort.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In fact, Antac, which has received less than 20 percent of its funding from Soros’s Open Society Foundations, played no role in the publication of the ledger.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Behind all these lies there is an ugly truth. Under the guise of fighting corruption, the Trump administration and its Republican allies have thrown the full force of the United States government, and Fox News, into supporting what amounts to a counter-revolution in Ukraine.</b>&nbsp;In a stunning reversal, Trump and his supporters have taken the side of the corrupt oligarchs and former officials ousted in 2014, as they seek to claw back power by undermining the reformers and anti-corruption activists supported by the Obama administration, under the leadership of former Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch and former Vice President Joe Biden.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In a column for the Kyiv Post published during Tuesday’s impeachment hearings, Leshchenko urged Republicans to stop lying about him to the American public. The former lawmaker wrote that it was absurd to argue that he had “tried to undermine Trump’s candidacy in 2016 by targeting his then-campaign manager Paul Manafort,” given that the 22 pages from the black ledger he published in May of that year included no reference to Manafort.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“I was not the original source of information about Manafort’s shady payments in Ukraine,” Leshchenko explained, contradicting the story told repeatedly by Republicans at the hearings. “I found out about it the same way that everyone else did — from a New York Times article.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“I have been openly critical of Manafort since the time he worked as a political mentor to Yanukovych. And, of course, the fact of Manafort’s involvement in Trump’s presidential campaign, along with the change of the Republican Party’s attitudes towards Ukraine on the eve of the American elections in 2016, could not but cause a critical reaction from Ukrainians,” Leshchenko wrote.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Many Ukrainian politicians and journalists have spoken out against Trump on social media. However, such criticism has always been made openly and published on personal accounts,” he added. “And such criticism has nothing to do with the whole set of measures to undermine American democracy on Russia’s part in 2016, which were established by the U.S. investigation. Now it appears that Russia, using some U.S. politicians as well as its agents of influence in Ukraine, is trying to shift the responsibility for interfering in the 2016 elections to my country.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Speaking by telephone from Kyiv on Tuesday, Leshchenko told me that the conspiracy theory about him interfering in the 2016 election against Trump had originated in Ukraine. “I believe in the beginning it was crafted by Lutsenko,” he said, referring to Ukraine’s former chief prosecutor, who met several times with Giuliani and was a source for Solomon. “But now,” Leshchenko said, the conspiracy theory has mutated in the collective Republican imagination and “it lives its own separate life.”</font></div></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/09/30/democrat-strategist-alexandra-chalupa-goes-on-bizarre-rant-after-devin-nunes-mentions-her-during-hearing/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/09/30/democrat-strategist-alexandra-chalupa-goes-on-bizarre-rant-after-devin-nunes-mentions-her-during-hearing/</font></a></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>democrat Strategist Alexandra Chalupa Goes on Bizarre Rant After Devin Nunes Mentions Her During Hearing</b></font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="">Alexandra ChalupaFacebook</font></div></div></div>