Category Archives: Viva!

Trump Official Did Undisclosed Work With Scandal-Plagued GOP Fundraiser

by Justin Elliott

A current State Department official helped a top fundraiser for Donald Trump arrange meetings with U.S. senators and Angolan officials in early 2017, according to emails obtained by ProPublica. Neither the official nor the fundraiser registered as a foreign agent.

Aryeh Lightstone helped plan the January 2017 meetings with U.S. senators, high-ranking Angolan government officials and the Trump fundraiser Elliott Broidy, the emails show. Several months later, Lightstone was appointed by the Trump administration to a top position in the U.S. Embassy in Israel. The involvement of a now-sitting Trump administration official in Broidy’s work has not previously been reported.

Broidy has since been embroiled in scandal, stepping down from his Republican National Committee deputy finance chair post after the revelation that he agreed to pay $1.6 million in a settlement with a Playboy model he reportedly impregnated. (Broidy has said it was just to help her financially, and he stopped paying her after the arrangement became public.)

Elliott Broidy, the Trump fundraiser
(Stefanie Keenan/Getty Images for Pepperdine University)

The Washington Post reported in August that the Justice Department is investigating whether Broidy “sought to sell his influence with the Trump administration by offering to deliver U.S. government actions for foreign officials.” Several news outlets have also reported that Broidy worked for or sought to do business with a Malaysian financier and the United Arab Emirates. (Learn more about Broidy in this “Trump, Inc.” podcast episode.)

Some legal experts argue that Lightstone and Broidy should have registered with the government for the Angolan meetings, though representatives for both dispute that. Work for foreign governments must be publicly reported under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, which requires people conducting business with foreign countries for political purposes to disclose and periodically report details of that work.

“Arranging meetings between a foreign government and U.S. government officials to discuss the foreign policy of the U.S. vis-à-vis a foreign government or to discuss the relationship between the U.S. and the foreign county would in my view count as political activities requiring registration,” said Joshua Rosenstein, a FARA specialist at the law firm Sandler Reiff.

For years, the foreign agents law was sparsely enforced. Recently, the Justice Department has pursued high-profile prosecutions based on the law, most notably of former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort, who was paid millions to represent a Ukrainian political party.

Broidy’s attorney said in a statement he “has never done any work, in relation to Angola or otherwise, that would require registration under FARA.” He declined to comment on the Post report of a Justice Department investigation, calling it a “rumor.”

In a statement, Lightstone said he “never worked for or received any compensation from Elliott Broidy, Threat Deterrence, or Circinus,” referring to Broidy’s companies. The statement added that Lightstone “has never engaged in activity that would require him to register under FARA.” The State Department declined to comment.

In January 2017, Angola paid Broidy’s company $6 million for intelligence services, according to the emails and Broidy’s lawyer. The Angolan defense and intelligence minister were in Washington and were “looking forward to fostering a closer relationship with the United States and the Trump Administration,” Broidy’s assistant said in a Jan. 15, 2017, email to an aide for Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark.

The emails show that Lightstone helped plan the meetings with Cotton and Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis.; the Angolan officials; and Broidy. In one email to Broidy under the subject line “Contacts & next steps,” Lightstone lists several senators and advice for how to approach them.

“Cotton – ideal lunch in Senate dining room,” Lightstone wrote. “My gut is if we can lock in these Senators we have a good showing – plus the group you have on the house side [sic].” He added, “Please advise if I am looking to do anything else?”

In his statement, Broidy’s attorney described the meetings as “simply handshake opportunities and purely introductory in nature” and added that “no substantive matters of any kind were discussed. There certainly were no policy-related discussions.”

In July 2017, several months after Lightstone helped arrange the meetings for the Angolans, he was appointed to the Israel Embassy post. He is now considered one of the most influential people in the embassy as a top aide to Ambassador David Friedman. Lightstone’s connection to Broidy has not been previously reported.

Lightstone and Broidy have long been friends and fixtures in pro-Israel advocacy circles. They co-hosted fundraisers focused on pro-Israel advocacy in the 2016 election cycle for Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif. Lightstone also owns a stake in Broidy’s company, Threat Deterrence Capital LLC, as ProPublica previously reported.

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Angola, which is a major oil producer, has military and economic interests with the U.S. government. In May 2017 Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis signed a memorandum of understanding with the Angolan defense minister to “enhance the security cooperation” between the U.S. and Angola. That was the same official, João Lourenço, for whom Lightstone helped arranged meetings with U.S. senators. Lourenço is now president of the country.

Broidy’s attorney, Chris Clark of Latham & Watkins, described the emails about Broidy’s dealings with the Angolans as “stolen and likely doctored.” He declined to give specific examples of any emails that had been altered. Broidy this year sued Qatar and several people accusing them of hacking his emails to retaliate against him for working for one of Qatar’s regional rivals, the United Arab Emirates. Qatar has denied the allegations.

The embassy of Angola and the offices of Cotton and Johnson did not respond to requests for comment.

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Would A Democratic State Senate Threaten Charter Schools’ Favored Status?

I would hope so – in general they support segregation and steal from public system that schooled those who made America great over the last 100+ years. Would A Democratic State Senate Threaten Charter Schools' Favored Status?

Over four years ago, charter school leaders, terrified of a new Democratic mayor in New York City, scrambled for powerful allies to stymie him. Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire mayor and fierce booster of charters, was gone. His successor wanted to charge them rent and curtail their growth. [ more › ]

Bannon holds rally for Republican candidates but none show up

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Trump’s former strategist touts his role in president’s success before crowd of 200 in upstate New York

As Donald Trump held midterm rallies this week in front of thousands, his one-time chief strategist Steve Bannon made his own, rather more low-key return to the campaign trail.

Bannon appeared in front of 200 people at a firehouse outside Buffalo, New York, ostensibly to campaign for Republicans based in the area. But in a visceral demonstration of just how far Bannon’s stock has fallen since leaving the White House 14 months ago, none of those Republicans running for office turned up.

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‘Erasure of an entire group’: intersex people fear Trump anti-trans memo

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Their lives would be at odds with the scientifically erroneous definitions of sex and gender that Trump is pursuing

It took decades for Anunnaki Ray Marquez to accept himself. Then, on 17 September 2018, the state of Colorado accepted him, too, issuing a new birth certificate that said he was “intersex”, meaning born with a mix of what are considered male and female sex characteristics.

It was a “huge, gigantic, momentous” event in the 50-year-old’s life: finally an official government document recognizing his existence. But the celebration was short-lived.

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Trump administration wants to remove ‘gender’ from UN human rights documents

Unlimited hatred of non-hetero people.

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Exclusive: US diplomats have pushed for rewriting of collective statements to remove language inclusive of transgender people

The US mission to the United Nations is seeking to eliminate the word “gender” from UN human rights documents, most often replacing it with “woman”, apparently as part of the Trump administration’s campaign to define transgender people out of existence.

At recent meetings of the UN’s Third Committee, which is concerned with “social, humanitarian and cultural” rights, US diplomats have been pushing for the rewriting of general assembly policy statements to remove what the administration argues is vague and politically correct language, reflecting what it sees as an ‘ideology’ of treating gender as an individual choice rather than an unchangeable biological fact.

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