setya

= GOODMAN: Ethics

experts say Donald Trump must divest from his business interests to

avoid conflicts of interest. Well, for more, we’re joined by two guests.

In Washington, D.C., Robert Weissman is staying with us, president of

Public Citizen, his recent <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-weissman/the-most-corrupting-conflicts_b_13125228.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px none; letter-spacing: -0.2px;">piece</a>,

"Trump’s Conflicts of Interest are Unprecedented in American History."

And joining us from San Francisco, Aaron Glantz, senior reporter at Revealfrom The Center for Investigative Reporting, where his latest <a href="https://www.revealnews.org/article/trumps-indonesia-hotel-deals-hint-at-his-form-of-foreign-relations/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px none; letter-spacing: -0.2px;">investigation</a> is headlined "Trump’s Indonesia hotel deals hint at his form of foreign relations."refhttps://www.revealnews.org/article/trumps-indonesia-hotel-deals-hint-at-his-form-of-foreign-relations/...In the Indonesian media,<a href="http://www.cnnindonesia.com/politik/20150909200959-32-77744/harry-tanoe-telepon-trump-untuk-perkenalkan-setya-novanto/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit;"> it was widely reported</a> that Hary Tanoe had introduced Setya to Trump. But the appearance left many observers scratching their heads.“It

was a strange scene because Setya Novanto is widely regarded as being

one of the most corrupt officials in Indonesia,” Liddle said.Three months after appearing with Trump on the podium, Setya resigned amid scandal. He had been caught on tape demanding<a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-12-17/indonesia-corruption-scandal-claims-speaker/7036210" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit;"> a $4 billion kickback</a> from

an official with an international mining company, Freeport-McMoRan

Inc., in exchange for continued parliamentary approval for its gold and

copper mining operations.Now that Trump has won, his business relationship with Hary Tanoe might turn into a political one as well.Hary

Tanoe came to prominence in his country nearly 20 years ago, when he

began scooping up television stations owned by the children of Gen.

Suharto, Indonesia’s long-ruling dictator, overthrown in a popular

uprising in 1998. His wealth expanded as he diversified into real

estate, toll roads and financial services.The

Indonesian mogul has sought power for years, too, though he’s found it

elusive, in part because he is an ethnically Chinese Christian in a

country that is overwhelmingly Malay and Muslim.In

2014, he ran for vice president of Indonesia on a ticket with Gen.

Wiranto, the final military chief under Suharto, who has been<a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/07/28/indonesia-indicted-general-unfit-cabinet-post" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit;"> indicted for crimes against humanity</a> by a United Nations tribunal.Hary Tanoe<a href="http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/03/25/with-hary-tanoe-co-pilot-hanura-takes.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit;"> reportedly</a> bankrolled

the campaign, but the duo failed to garner more than 5 percent of the

vote. So the following year, shortly before his dealings with Trump

began, Hary Tanoe decided to found his own political party, called

“Perindo,” which means “unity.”Some observers expect he will continue to try to succeed in politics – especially now that he has a friend in the White House.“He’s

a very wealthy man who can fund his own political party,” Liddle said.

Despite his failure to generate electoral support so far, Liddle added,

“we can expect that he will contest for the presidency in 2019.”==Setya Novanto
GOODMAN: "Who

cares?" [Vice] President-elect Pence says. Well, we turn now to look at

the president-elect’s potential conflicts of interest. Talk more about

the significance of Pence saying, Robert Weismann, "Who cares?"ROBERT WEISSMAN: Yeah,

by the way, they’re not potential conflicts of interest, they’re not

possible conflicts of interest, they’re not future conflicts of

interest, it’s not the appearance of conflict of interest—they are

conflicts of interest. And it will bedevil almost everything that he

does as president. He has a hotel in Las Vegas, for example. There’s an

ongoing labor dispute. The National Labor Relations Board says he ought

to let his workers unionize, and he’s trying to fight it. OK, now he’s

going to be boss of the NLRB,

and he’s going to have a profound role in making decisions about labor

law. He’s got a self-interest in the issue. He just was

involved—obviously, settled recently the lawsuit involving his fake

Trump University. Well, the reason that people who were victimized by

Trump University were able to sue him is that there are consumer

protections in this country, and they had a right to band together in a

class action to sue the perpetrator of wrong against them. Well, now as

president, he’s going to have a key role in deciding whether or not

people have a right to join together in class actions and what the

standards are of consumer protection. His biggest—his biggest lender is

Deutsche Bank. Well, Deutsche Bank is involved in negotiations with the

Justice Department now for the wrongs it did leading up to the financial

crash. The Justice Department wants about $14 billion from Deutsche

Bank, and the bank and the German government are fighting hard against

that. Is that not going to be influenced by President Donald Trump?

Well, the markets think it will be influenced, because Deutsche Bank’s

stock went up 20 percent as soon as he was elected.AMY GOODMAN: I want to turn to Aaron Glantz, who looked deeply into one story for Reveal, The Center for Investigative Reporting. Aaron, lay out what you found.AARON GLANTZ: Well,

the important thing for me, Amy, was that not only does Donald Trump

have these vast business interests all over the world, but he was

expanding them even as he was running for president. So, we looked at

his business interests in Indonesia, because he signed deals for two

different resort complexes in Indonesia, one in West Java and another in

Bali, while he was running for president in August and September of

And we looked especially at his business partner, who goes by

Hary Tanoe in Indonesia, who’s a very controversial oligarch and media

mogul, much like Donald Trump, a politically motivated person who ran

for vice president of Indonesia on a ticket with General Wiranto, who is

a—indicted for war crimes by a U.N. tribunal. He has a wife who owns a

beauty pageant. He owns many media properties and is a purveyor of

reality television. This is the person that Donald Trump went into business with for two resorts, after he had already declared that he was running for president of the United States.AMY GOODMAN: Very

interesting, because he was also very much a supporter of Prabowo, who

ran for president in 2014, responsible for mass killings, who said he

thought about becoming a fascist dictator, but ultimately was defeated.

He was supported by Donald Trump’s Indonesian business partner.AARON GLANTZ: Well,

these are his friends. Right? That’s how I look at it. I mean, people

like Robert Weissman are going to be asking what are the conflicts of

interest that he faced, and noting the conflicts, like unionization of

his hotels. In the foreign policy arena, I ask: Who are his friends? If

there’s a crisis in Southeast Asia, who does Donald Trump know? Who is

he going to pick up the phone and call? And the people all around the

world that Donald Trump knows, that he would call in the event of a

crisis, are the people who build his resorts, his hotels. And he was

actively expanding these businesses, making these contacts both during

the campaign and in the years leading up to the campaign. And so,

examining who those people are tells us a lot about the kind of

decisions he might make in a moment of international crisis.AMY GOODMAN: Can you talk about Hary Tanoe?

Well, he quickly tweeted his congratulations to his business partner,

Donald Trump, November 9th. And also, he, too, a real admirer of the

Russian president, Vladimir Putin. Why does this matter?AARON GLANTZ: I

think it matters because it gives us a sense—for people who are

concerned about social justice, economic rights, war and peace, when you

know that there’s somebody on the other end of the phone—you know, we

know our president-elect is an admirer of Vladimir Putin, who is no

friend of human rights, when we know that his business partners around

the world share the same views, when we know that his business partners

around the world are, you know, facilitating perhaps corruption. I mean,

one other thing that we reported in our story was this very bizarre

moment on the campaign trail at Trump Tower in September 2015 when

Donald Trump walks off the stage of the podium and goes and grabs the

speaker of the Indonesian Parliament, Setya Novanto, and declares that

he’s a great man who’s going to do great things for America. And then,

shortly after that, the speaker, Mr. Setya, is involved in a massive corruption scandal involving a mining company,

where he was caught on tape demanding a 20 percent stake in the

company—basically, a $4 billion kickback—and then resigned in disgrace,

and, actually, recently is now back as the speaker of the Indonesian

Parliament. To have a president who either is not aware of these massive

corruption scandals overseas or simply doesn’t care, because it aligns

well with his business interest, is something that Americans should be

concerned about.==In Indonesia, House Speaker Setya Novanto is accused of asking for a 20 percent stake in the Freeport mining worth

4 billion US dollars in exchange of a contract allowing the company to

continue operating in the country. An audio recording between Novanto

and Freeport executives was presented as evidence against the

politician. Novanto admitted that he made the demand but insisted that

he was only joking. He was being investigated for ethics violation when

he stepped down as House speaker last December 16. Novanto’s behavior

was widely condemned in Indonesia.
Novanto

is no stranger to controversy. Last September, he was criticized for

appearing at the political rally of United States presidential candidate

Donald Trump
3 Sep 15 Yenni Kwok @yennikwokIndonesia

House Speaker Setya Novanto & Deputy House Speaker Fadli Zon attend

Donald Trump's campaign rally in NYC

https://twitter.com/apathoni/status/639578912171823104 … Follow Yenni Kwok @yennikwokDonald Trump: Do they like me in Indonesia? Setya Novanto: Yes, highly Fadli

Zon: [Trump]'s a friend of Indonesia

http://www.businessinsider.com/heres-the-story-behind-the-end-of-donald-trumps-press-conference-2015-9

…6:35 PM - 3 Sep 2015Photo published for Here's the story behind the unexpected moment at the end of Donald Trump's press conferenceHere's the story behind the unexpected moment at the end of Donald Trump's press conferenceHe has big fans in the Indonesian government.businessinsider.com==https://globalvoices.org/2016/01/01/for-southeast-asia-2015-was-a-year-of-corruption-scandals/In Indonesia, House Speaker Setya Novanto is <a href="https://globalvoices.org/2015/12/30/one-of-2015s-biggest-political-scandals-ends-in-the-indonesian-house-speakers-resignation/" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">accused</a> of

asking for a 20 percent stake in the Freeport mining worth 4 billion US

dollars in exchange of a contract allowing the company to continue

operating in the country. An audio recording between Novanto and

Freeport executives was presented as evidence against the politician.

Novanto admitted that he made the demand but insisted that he was only

joking. He was being investigated for ethics violation when he stepped

down as House speaker last December 16. Novanto’s behavior was widely

condemned in Indonesia.Novanto is no stranger to controversy. Last September, he was criticized for <a href="https://globalvoices.org/2015/12/30/one-of-2015s-biggest-political-scandals-ends-in-the-indonesian-house-speakers-resignation/" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">appearing</a> at the political rally of United States presidential candidate Donald Trump
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