Mueller's top prosecutor connects the Trump tax revelations to Russia

CC™ Politico News

By Tim O'Donnell

Andrew Weissman, a prosecutor who served as one of former Special Counsel Robert Mueller's top lieutenants during the investigation into 2016 Russian election interference, this week connected revelations about President Trump's tax information to Moscow.

The tax information, obtained by The New York Times, has sparked speculation that Trump may owe hundreds of millions of dollars to an unknown funding source that kept his businesses alive over the years. Weissman suggested that Trump's son, Eric Trump, may have provided the geographic location of the money, if not the exact source, all the way back in 2014, before the elder Trump had announced his 2016 presidential campaign. "We have all the funding we need out of Russia," Eric Trump said in 2014.

Weissmann is just one of many wondering if there's a common thread between the tax information, the 2016 election, and the president's foreign policy strategy, but the Times notes its investigation was unable to reveal "any previously unreported connections to Russia," so the situation remains unclear.

The Week

Trump, Biden clash in embarrassing and chaotic first presidential debate

CC™ Global Politics

U.S. President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden on Tuesday night clashed in the first presidential debate described by commentators as chaotic and messy.

The 90-minute encounter featuring Trump of the Republican Party and Biden of the opposition Democratic Party squared off on the coronavirus pandemic, taxes, crime, the economy, climate change, election integrity, among others.

Here are some key moments of the encounter hosted by the Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.

“Will you shut up, man? This is so unpresidential”, Biden responded as Trump interrupted him while answering a question on the president’s Supreme Court nominee, Judge Amy Barrett.

During the COVID-19 segment, Trump told Biden to stop using the word “smart” because there was nothing smart about him.

“Did you use the word smart? So, you said you went to Delaware State (University) but you forgot the name of your college.

“You didn’t go to Delaware State (University). You graduated either the lowest or almost the lowest in your class.as characterized by frequent interruptions, mostly from Trump, and insults, with Biden calling the president a clown.

Fox News anchor and moderator of the night, Chris Wallace, had a hard time controlling both candidates, who talked over each other.

“Don’t ever use the word smart with me because you know what, there is nothing smart about you”, Trump said.

As the debate got heated with Trump interrupting Biden, the moderator urged the president to allow his rival finish and then get the final word on the economy segment

“Biden responded: “No, it is hard to get any word in with this clown”.

One of the most remarkable moments was when the moderator asked the president if he was willing to condemn white supremacists and armed groups fueling violence in the country.

Trump said he was willing to do that, but quickly noted that the violence he had seen was from the left wing.

Challenged to condemn them, he insisted that the opposition was responsible for the violence protests across the country and not white supremacists.

Trump renewed his attacks on mail-in ballot, describing it as a disaster and adding that it would be a fraud on a scale never seen before.

Asked if he would refrain from declaring victory until the election results were officially announced, Trump said he would only “go along with that” if the exercise was credible.

Biden dismissed the president’s threat, saying there was nothing he could do once the results were announced and he lost. 

AGENCY NEWS

Donald Trump   Joe Biden

Donald Trump: Kim Jong-Un showed off executed uncle’s headless body

CC™ Global News

The headless body of Kim Jong-Un’s executed uncle was displayed to senior North Korean officials, U.S. President Donald Trump told the author of a book on the U.S. president.

Jang Song Thaek, the North Korean leader’s uncle by marriage and a hugely powerful figure within the regime, was purged for treason and corruption in 2013, in what was widely seen as Kim mercilessly asserting his authority.

Kim “tells me everything. Told me everything,” Trump told the Washington Post investigative journalist Bob Woodward, according to his forthcoming book “Rage”.

“He killed his uncle and he put the body right in the steps,” Trump said, in an apparent reference to a building used by senior officials.

“And the head was cut, sitting on the chest,” he added in excerpts from the book seen by AFP.

The North has never officially stated how Jang was executed, although multiple reports say an anti-aircraft gun was used.

Trump’s account — apparently intended as a demonstration of the closeness of his relationship with Kim — is the first from any senior official to mention decapitation.

Nuclear negotiations between Pyongyang and Washington have been at a standstill since the collapse of the Hanoi summit last year over sanctions relief and what the North would be willing to give up in return.

Pyongyang officials said they had offered to “dismantle all the nuclear production facilities in the Yongbyon area”, but analysts say the North has several other nuclear sites.

According to the book Trump demanded five sites be given up.

“Listen, one doesn’t help and two doesn’t help and three doesn’t help and four doesn’t help. Five does help,” he said.

Yongbyon was the North’s biggest site, Kim countered according to excerpts from the book seen by AFP. “It’s also your oldest,” Trump told the author he retorted.

Kim, though, would not offer further concessions, and Trump told him: “You’re not ready to make a deal.”

“I’ve got to leave,” he added, to Kim’s shock.

The collapse of the summit came despite high expectations on both sides beforehand, but according to the book Trump continued to insist on full denuclearization even after the pair’s surprise meeting several months later in the Demilitarized Zone that divides the peninsula.

“It was an honor to cross into your country,” Trump wrote in a letter to Kim two days after the encounter, when he became the first sitting U.S. president to set foot in the North.

He urged Kim to strike a “big deal” that “sheds you of your nuclear burden”.

“Rage”, scheduled to hit the book stands next week, unveils 25 letters the pair exchanged, in which Kim repeatedly flatters Trump.

The DMZ meeting was supposed to restart the talks process but the U.S. and South Korea held military exercises a few weeks later and Kim subsequently wrote to Trump: “I am clearly offended and I do not want to hide this feeling from you. I am really, very offended.”

Negotiations between Pyongyang and Washington have remained at a standstill ever since, and ties between the North and South have plummeted, but Trump insisted that he still had a good relationship with Kim.

“He likes me. I like him. We get along,” he said.

AFP

Donald Trump   Kim Jong-Un

Police Are Searching for a Man Who Attacked a British Museum’s Benin Bronzes After He Failed to Appear in Court

CC™ ArtScope - By Kate Brown

Isaiah Ogundele is one of two men facing charges in Europe this month for dramatic protests against museums' colonial-era artifacts.

Curator Dr Caroline Bressey with a nineteenth century cast of a Yoruba bust, in the 'London, Sugar & Slavery' gallery at the Museum in Docklands, London. Photo: David Parry - PA Images/PA Images via Getty Images.

Isaiah Ogundele, a 34-year-old man facing charges related to a protest action he staged in front of colonial artifacts at a London Museum in January, failed to appear for his court date last week. A representative for the Metropolitan Police told Artnet News that they are currently trying to track him down.

Ogundele has been charged with using “threatening, abusive, insulting words, or behavior with intent to cause harassment, alarm, or distress,” according to the Crown Prosecution Service. He was convicted in absentia at the September 18 hearing, the Crown Prosecution Service said.

The inciting incident occurred when Ogundele was visiting the Museum of London Docklands’s exhibit “London, Sugar, & Slavery,” dedicated to the city’s involvement in the transatlantic slave trade. Angered by the content—which included, according to a statement from the museum, a selection of Benin Bronzes and other Ife replica pieces on loan from the British Museum—he reportedly charged the display and toppled the sculptures from their plinths in an attempt to seize them. The Telegraph reported that he said he was “not over slavery” and sought to return the objects to their rightful home. The objects have since been removed from view, according to the museum.

The precious bronze plaques and sculptures, which are held in many museums in Europe and around the world, were pillaged by the British navy during an attack on the royal palace in Benin City, Nigeria, in 1897. Calls for their return have been growing amid increased pressure for European nations to address their colonial pasts.

Ogundele is not the only person to take dramatic and direct action inside a European institution this year to protest the presence of African cultural heritage. Congolese activist Mwazulu Diyabanza is facing trial next week in Paris for a widely publicized action he led at the Musée du quai Branly in June, when he removed a funerary object of colonial-era origin, saying the museum was not its rightful owner. He carried out two similar actions in Marseille and in the Netherlands this year.

Reached by Artnet News, Diyabanza—who sees his acts as part of a broader push for reparations for cultural expropriation—expressed his “support and solidarity with the target.”

“It is a disgrace to the supposedly democratic monarchy of Great Britain to condemn someone for peacefully expressing their opinions,” Diyabanza said. “The British judiciary has just rallied without any resistance behind the injunctions of an oligarchy that refuses to see Africa gain access to its cultural heritage and priceless heritage.I redouble my efforts to win the September 30th trial for the restoration of the historical truth and the restitution of our heritage.”

All the works targeted by Ogundele were on long-term loan from the British Museum. On view were two replicas cast of the head of an Ife man dating to the 14th century; the cast of the head of an Ife King (dating to between 1100–1300), as well as an original Benin water container from the 1500s and a Benin brass plaque from the 1500s.

According to the Telegraph, museum manager Henry Martin recounted that Ogundele “said the object had been stolen from his heritage” and that the pieces “had been stolen and he wanted to take them back.”

Artnet News was not able to reach Ogundele for comment.

Update: The Crown Prosecution has corrected its earlier statement in which it said Ogundele was not convicted in absentia. He has, the body now tells Artnet News. The article has been updated accordingly.

Again, Obasanjo tackles Buhari, says Nigeria fast drifting to a failed state

CC™ Nigeria News

Ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo has again tackled President Muhammadu Buhari, over what he called 'mismanagement of diversity and socio-economic development of Nigeria, noting that the country is fast drifting to a failed state under his administration.

Disclosing this at an interactive session with some socio-cultural groups in Abuja on Friday, Obasanjo said: "Today, Nigeria is fast drifting to a failed and badly divided state, economically our country is becoming a basket case and poverty capital of the world, and socially, we are firming up as an unwholesome and insecure country.

"And these manifestations are the products of recent mismanagement of diversity and socio-economic development of our country.

"Old fault lines that were disappearing have opened up in greater fissures and with drums of hatred, disintegration and separation and accompanying choruses being heard loud and clear almost everywhere.

"It would appear that anybody not dancing to the drum beat nor joining in chorus singing would be earmarked as ethnically unpatriotic or enemy of its tribe or geographical area. In short, the country is fast moving to the precipice.

"Before continuing, let me say that we must remind those who are beating the drums of disintegration and singing choruses of bitterness, anger and separation that if even Nigeria is broken up, the separated parts will still be neighbors. And they will have to find accommodation as neighbors or they will be ever at war. And those who prevent justice to be done invite violence to reign."

Recall that Obasanjo had written series of letters criticizing Buhari's mode of operation.

Lagos State to begin collection of ‘5% levy’ (aka Tinubu tax) as Iroko TV gets notice to pay for content distribution and streaming

CC™ Media News

Despite seeming outrage that followed the announcement by the Lagos State government to start charging a 5% levy on all contents produced in the state, the government has issued a seven-day ultimatum to IrokoTV to comply.

IrokoTV is a Lagos-based digital platform that provides paid-for Nigerian films on demand.

In a letter dated August 31 and shared by IrokoTV boss, Jason Njoku, on Twitter, the government said it is requesting the “payment of the five percent levy on all audio and visual contents produced, sold, distributed, marketed, exhibited, streamed, downloaded and shared across all physical and digital platform situate lying and being within Lagos State.”

"You have been served notice as a necessary procedure and you are obliged to comply within seven days from the due of receipt of this notification."

The authorities also attached a Direct Debit Mandate Form to the notice, while mandating the company to fill the attached form.

The announcement of the regulation in August had earlier attracted widespread criticism.

The government said the exercise will assist the Lagos State Government in policy formulation, with regard to planning and funding for the sector.

However, critics said the government’s decision is insensitive and untimely. They argued that it could further stifle the creative industry which is already struggling due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In fact, the National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB), the federal government agency saddled with the responsibility of classifying, censoring, and registering movies, described the new tax policy as a wrong approach.

Executive Director of the NFVCB, Adedayo Thomas, in a telephone conversation with The Guardian in August, said the Lagos State Ministry of Arts, Culture, and Tourism did not know anything about the policy, noting that the tax announcement was an under-talk being used to test waters.

He said the decision would hamper the Nigerian Government’s move to strengthen the ease of doing business.

"It is a very wrong approach to the creative industry. Since the inception of President Muhammadu Buhari, there is a policy of Ease of Doing Business, which is global, and one of the cardinal points of that policy is eradicating double taxation,” he said.

"Lagos State has keyed into that policy right from the administration of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as governor and has harmonized its taxes that even the local governments have limits to the things conceded to them, as long as you are paying the regular thing to the state.

"The same thing happened with the current 'Ease of Doing Business' policy, which is why you see businesses growing day in, day out.

"So, I don't know why someone will sit somewhere and come up with a policy that will kill the creative industry that has occupied a very larger space in the development of this country.

"The high-point is that the creators of these contents have to pay five per cent levy on every of their content. The begging question is: How do you tax an intellectual property right of somebody that has not come into bear? It is a very wrong approach."

Thomas further said there is an existing court judgment that restrained the LSFVCB from censoring and regulating films, noting: "I think the LSFVCB should look in the direction of cleaning the environment for those who are making it in the ecosystem, especially in the film business."

All-new Mercedes S-Class PREMIERE Exterior Interior review 2021 S-Klasse V223 (W223) - Autogefühl

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Trump says all African nations are 'complete sh-tholes' in new book by Michael Cohen

CC™ Newsday

In a new book out this week, U.S. President Donald Trump's former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, alleges that Trump regarded all African countries and nations run by black people as "complete toilets".

The book also said Trump made disparaging remarks about Black world leaders including former South African President Nelson Mandela after he died.

In the book, Cohen alleges that Trump described Mandela as a poor leader and disparaged U.S. minorities in general, the Washington Post has reported.

According to the newspaper, which has a copy of the book, Cohen wrote that following Mandela's death in 2013, Trump said: "Mandela f---ed the whole country up. Now it's a s---hole. F--k Mandela! He was no leader."

Cohen also alleges that Trump said: "Tell me one country run by a black person that isn't a s---hole. They are all complete f---ing toilets."

Trump was previously linked with making denigrating comments about African countries.

In January 2018, during a discussion with lawmakers at the White House regarding immigrants, Trump reportedly exhibited frustration over protecting immigrants from Haiti, El Salvador, and African countries.

At the time, he allegedly said, "Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?" This alleged comment generated outrage across the US and wider world.

Trump never denied he said so, when President Muhammadu Buhari visited him in Washington.

"We didn't discuss it. But you do have some countries that are in very bad shape," he said at a joint press conference with Buhari.

However on Saturday White House Spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany attacked Cohen's credibility.

"Michael Cohen is a disgraced felon and disbarred lawyer, who lied to Congress. He has lost all credibility, and it's unsurprising to see his latest attempt to profit off of lies," McEnany said in a statement.

Trump has called Cohen "a rat," and a liar, and Cohen has said he faced repeated death threats from Trump supporters.

Trump, a Republican, is seeking re-election and will face Democrat Joe Biden at the polls on Nov. 3.

At the Republican convention in August where Trump was formally nominated to appear on the ballot, speakers defended Trump against past accusations of racism.

Cohen alleged that Trump was dismissive of minorities, and that Trump said during his 2016 presidential campaign that he would not win the Hispanic vote, the Washington Post reported. According to Cohen, Trump said: "Like the blacks, they're too stupid to vote for Trump."

Cohen is serving time for tax evasion, false statements and campaign finance violations, the last related to payments to silence women who alleged affairs with Trump before the 2016 presidential election.

He was released to home confinement in May given the risks of catching COVID-19 in prison, but then was briefly imprisoned again in July. A federal judge then ruled Cohen had been subjected to retaliation for planning to publish his book, and ordered him released again

Cohen worked closely with Trump for years before turning against him, most publicly in testimony to Congress last year prior to Trump's impeachment.

Now, Cohen is serving a three-year sentence for, among other things, making false statements to Congress.

Buhari administration accepts unproven Russian COVID-19 vaccines and prepares to use Nigerians as experimental guinea pigs

CC™ Breaking News

The Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire, has received samples of Russia’s COVID-19 vaccine from Russia's Ambassador to Nigeria, Alexey Shebarshin.

In a statement on Russia’s COVID-19 vaccine by the Ministry's Director of Information, Media, and Public Relations, Olujimi Oyetomi, the Russian envoy made the delivery during a visit to the ministry in Abuja.

Meanwhile, according to the Ministry of Health’s statement entitled 'Russian Federation Ambassador to Nigeria, H.E. Alexey L. Shebarshin on courtesy visit to Nigeria's Health Ministers, Russian-made COVID-19 Vaccine finally here', Ehanire "quickly referred" to the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, and the Nigeria Institute of Pharmaceutical Research and Development, and others for review.

More details to follow.....

Diezani's partner, Kola Aluko, to lose $25m Los Angeles mansion

CC™ Global News

The United States Department of Justice has begun proceedings to seize a $25m mansion in Los Angeles belonging to Kola Aluko, an ally of Diezani Alison-Madueke, former Minister of Petroleum Resources in Nigeria.

Aluko and Olajide Omokore, had in 2011 to 2015 allegedly conspired with others to bribe Alison-Madueke in order to win oil production contracts worth $1.5bn, according to a civil forfeiture complaint.

According to Africa Intelligence, the US government told a US District Court in Southern District of Texas that the mansion was bought to "launder ill-gotten gains" from Nigeria.

Aluko, an ally of Diezani Alison-Madueke, Nigeria's former minister of petroleum resources, has been the subject of various investigations in Nigeria and abroad for allegedly taking part in shady oil contracts.

Properties, including a yacht used by Beyonce and Jay Z for vacation, and a New York penthouse, have been seized from him. The 65-metre Galactica Star superyacht was later auctioned in July 2019.

The US Government, represented by Joshua Lee Sohn, trial attorney at the DoJ, said it had initiated proceedings at the court, which hears many federal asset-forfeiture cases to seize a villa at 755 Sarbonne Road in western Los Angeles acquired in 2012 by Aluko.

This luxurious property, which includes an infinity pool and 1,400 square metres of land on the city's heights, is estimated to be worth nearly $25m.

It said the mansion was acquired through "specified illegal activity" that justifies its confiscation.

Apart from the application to seize the mansion, the DoJ is also on a hunt for assets acquired on American soil by Aluko and Jide Omokore, another Diezani ally.

The DoJ said the duo received multiple shipments of crude at knock-down prices, resold to trading giants at comfortable profits and invested the proceeds in high-end real estate.

The department said Aluko also bought three other mansions in the US through shell companies, one in Beverly Hills worth $15 million and two in Santa Barbara valued at $33 million.