weldon, curt Rep
ntbcw floridA MAN
https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/trump-allies-plan-lift-russian-sanctions-was-hatched-early-2016-campaign-report
new report from McClatchy reveals that a plan President Donald Trump's allies worked on that would have ceded Crimea to Russia and lifted key sanctions against the country was developed much earlier than has previously reported — in the beginning days of 2016.
This places the origination of the plan during the opening stage of Trump's run for the presidency, before he clinched the nomination and before there were any revelations about Russia's attempts to interfere in the election and support Trump's candidacy.
McClatchy notes that special counsel Robert Mueller is investigating the plan as part of his probe into Russian meddling and potential collusion with Trump associates. Though it's not clear there's a direct relationship with this plan, another incident during the 2016 election may be relevant: a mysterious change in the Republican National Committee's party platform to weaken U.S. support for Ukraine following the invasion of Russia.
McClatchy learned new details of the plan from Andrii Artemenko, a former Ukrainian politician. He says he worked on the plan with former GOP Rep. Curt Weldon of Pennsylvania, who has recently come under suspicion for his ties to both Trump and Russian business interests. Alexander Rovt, a prominent figure in New York real estate, was also reportedly involved.
This plan eventually ended up in the hands of Michael Cohen, Trump's fixer and former attorney. Trump's former business associate Felix Sater was also involved. Cohen has previously said that he gave the plan to Trump's ex-national security adviser Michael Flynn, though he has changed his story on that front multiple times.
After the plan was first reported on in the *New York Times*, it appears to have fizzled out.
Artemenko says that, based on his interviews with Mueller, he believes Cohen is among the targets of the Russia investigation.
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https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/ex-congressman-russia-ties-may-be-missing-piece-mueller-investigation-report
Ex-Congressman with Russia Ties May Be the 'Missing Piece' in the Mueller Investigation: Report
Senate investigators think its important that they interview Curt Weldon. Here's why.
By Cody Fenwick / AlterNet June 7, 2018, 3:17 PM GMT
Former Congressman Curt Weldon may be key to unraveling the extensive connections between President Donald Trump's associates and Russia, according to a new report from the Atlantic.
Weldon served as a Republican representative in Pennsylvania until 2006, when his campaign was mired in controversy when his daughter's house was subjected to an FBI raid in the weeks before election day. Though no charges were ever brought in the investigation — Weldon alleges the government betrayed him — but reports suggested that agents were scrutinizing his ties to Russia-linked business. He was also a vocal Trump supporter in 2016.
Now, as the Atlantic's Natasha Bertrand reports, Senate investigators are seeking to interview Weldon as a part of their probe into potential collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia's efforts to influence the 2016 election. A spokeswoman for Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) says Weldon has suspicious “connections to both Russia and the Trump campaign” that the senators would like to investigate, Bertrand reports.
What are those connections? Bertrand details several surprising ties that give a few clues.
An anonymous source told Bertrand that Weldon had knowledge of a private meeting between Trump's fixer Michael Cohen, an ex-Ukrainian official, and business partner of Trump before the inauguration to discuss a peace plan between Russia and Ukraine. When that meeting was revealed in the press Weldon was reportedly "furious" that the plan fell through.
He also reportedly said that funding had already been obtained for the peace plan — from Viktor Vekselberg.Vekselberg is a Russian oligarch with ties to the company Columbus Nova, which was recently revealed to have given Cohen more than $500,000 via a shady shell company shortly after Trump's election
It's not clear what all these connections add up to — but if the Senate Intelligence Committee has its way, it will find out.
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