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US Embassy [Obama] pressed Ukraine to drop probe of George Soros group during 2016 election
thehill ^ | 03/26/19 | JOHN SOLOMON

Posted on 07/27/2019 4:37:47 PM PDT by MarvinStinson

While the 2016 presidential race was raging in America, Ukrainian prosecutors ran into some unexpectedly strong headwinds as they pursued an investigation into the activities of a nonprofit in their homeland known as the Anti-Corruption Action Centre (AntAC).

The focus on AntAC — whose youthful street activists famously wore “Ukraine F*&k Corruption” T-shirts — was part of a larger probe by Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office into whether $4.4 million in U.S. funds to fight corruption inside the former Soviet republic had been improperly diverted.

The prosecutors soon would learn the resistance they faced was blowing directly from the U.S. Embassy in Kiev, where the Obama administration took the rare step of trying to press the Ukrainian government to back off its investigation of both the U.S. aid and the group.

“The investigation into the Anti-Corruption Action Center (sic), based on the assistance they have received from us, is similarly misplaced,” then-embassy Charge d’ Affaires George Kent wrote the prosecutor’s office in April 2016 in a letter that also argued U.S. officials had no concerns about how the U.S. aid had been spent.

At the time, the nation’s prosecutor general had just been fired, under pressure from the United States, and a permanent replacement had not been named.

A few months later, Yuri Lutsenko, widely regarded as a hero in the West for spending two years in prison after fighting Russian aggression in his country, was named prosecutor general and invited to meet new U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch.

Lutsenko told me he was stunned when the ambassador “gave me a list of people whom we should not prosecute.” The list included a founder of the AntAC group and two members of Parliament who vocally supported the group’s anti-corruption reform agenda, according to a source directly familiar with the meeting.

It turns out the group that Ukrainian law enforcement was probing was co-funded by the Obama administration and liberal mega-donor George Soros. And it was collaborating with the FBI agents investigating then-Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort’s business activities with pro-Russian figures in Ukraine.

The implied message to Ukraine’s prosecutors was clear: Don’t target AntAC in the middle of an America presidential election in which Soros was backing Hillary Clinton to succeed another Soros favorite, Barack Obama, Ukrainian officials said.

“We ran right into a buzzsaw and we got bloodied,” a senior Ukrainian official told me.

Lutsenko suggested the embassy applied pressure because it did not want Americans to see who was being funded with its tax dollars. “At the time, Ms. Ambassador thought our interviews of the Ukrainian citizens, of the Ukrainian civil servants who were frequent visitors in the U.S. Embassy, could cast a shadow on that anti-corruption policy,” he said.

State officials told me privately they wanted Ukraine prosecutors to back off AntAC because they feared the investigation was simply retribution for the group’s high-profile efforts to force anti-corruption reforms inside Ukraine, some of which took authorities and prestige from the Prosecutor General’s Office.

But it was an unusual intervention, the officials acknowledged. “We’re not normally in the business of telling a country’s police force who they can and can’t pursue, unless it involves an American citizen we think is wrongly accused,” one official said.

In the end, no action was taken against AntAC and it remains thriving today. Nonetheless, the anecdote is taking on new significance.

First, it conflicts with the State Department’s official statement last week after Lutsenko first mentioned the do-not-prosecute list. The embassy responded that the claim was a fabrication and a sign that corruption is alive and well inside Ukraine.

But Kent’s letter unequivocally shows the embassy did press Ukrainian prosecutors to back off what normally would be considered an internal law enforcement matter inside a sovereign country. And more than a half-dozen U.S. and Ukrainian sources confirmed to me the AntAC case wasn’t the only one in which American officials exerted pressure on Ukrainian investigators in 2016.

When I asked State to explain the letter and inclusion of the Soros-connected names during the meeting, it demurred. “As a general rule, we don’t read out private diplomatic meetings,” it responded. “Ambassador Yovanovitch represents the President of the United States in Ukraine, and America stands behind her and her statements.”

Second, the AntAC anecdote highlights a little-known fact that the pursuit of foreign corruption has resulted in an unusual alliance between the U.S. government and a political mega-donor.

After the Obama Justice Department launched its Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative a decade ago to prosecute corruption in other countries, the State Department, Justice Department and FBI outsourced some of its work in Ukraine to groups funded by Soros.

The Hungarian-American businessman is one of the largest donors to American liberal causes, a champion of the U.S. kleptocracy crackdown and a man with extensive business interests in Ukraine.

One key U.S. partner was AntAC, which received 59 percent (or $1 million) of its nearly $1.7 million budget since 2012 from U.S. budgets tied to State and Justice, and nearly $290,000 from Soros’s International Renaissance Foundation, according to the group’s donor disclosure records.

The U.S.-Soros collaboration was visible in Kiev. Several senior Department of Justice (DOJ) officials and FBI agents appeared in pictures as participants or attendees at Soros-sponsored events and conferences.

One attendee was Karen Greenaway, then the FBI supervisor in charge of international fraud cases and one of the lead agents in the Manafort investigation in Ukraine. She attended multiple such events and won glowing praise in a social media post from AntAC’s executive director.

In one event during 2016, Greenaway and Ambassador Yovanovitch participated alongside AntAC’s executive director, Daria Kaleniuk, and Lutsenko was present. The message was clear: The embassy supported AntAC.

The FBI confirmed Greenaway’s contacts with the Soros group, saying they were part of her investigative work: “In furtherance of the FBI’s mission and in the course of their duties, FBI employees routinely travel and participated in public forums in an official capacity. At a minimum, all such travel and speaking engagements are authorized by the employee’s direct supervisor and can receive further authorization all the way up to the relevant division head, along with an ethics official determination.”

Greenaway recently retired, and Soros’s AntAC soon after announced she was joining its supervisory board.

Internal memos from Soros’s umbrella charity organization, Open Society Foundations, describe a concerted strategy of creating friendships inside key government agencies such as State, DOJ and the FBI that can be leveraged inside the countries Soros was targeting for anti-corruption activism.

“We have broadly recognized the importance of developing supportive constituencies in order to make headway in tightening the global web of anti-corruption accountability,” a Feb. 21, 2014, memo states. “We first conceived of this in terms of fostering and helping to build a political environment favorable to high-level anti-corruption cases.”

That same memo shows Soros’s organization wanted to make Ukraine a top priority, starting in 2014, and planned to use the Anti-Corruption Action Centre as its lead.

“Ukraine: Behind the scenes advice and support to Ukrainian partner Anti-Corruption Action Centre’s efforts to generate corruption litigation in Europe and the U.S. respecting state assets stolen by senior Ukrainian leaders,” the memo states.

The memo included a chart of Ukrainians the Soros team wanted to have pursued, including some with ties to Manafort.

Senior U.S. law enforcement officials confirmed to me that the early kleptocracy collaborations inside Ukraine led to highly visible U.S. actions against the oligarch Dmitri Firtash, a major target of the Soros group, and Manafort. Firtash is now represented by former Hillary Clinton lawyer Lanny Davis and former U.S. Attorney Dan Webb.

Documents posted online by Open Society Foundations show that after U.S. officials scored some early successes in corruption cases in Ukraine, such as asset forfeitures, AntAC requested to receive some of the seized money.

“Ukrainian NGO Anticorruption Action Centre (AntAC) petitioned the United States Justice Department on behalf of Ukrainian civil society to dedicate the nearly $3 million in forfeited and seized assets allegedly laundered by former Ukrainian Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko, to creating an anti-corruption training facility,” a 2015 foundation document stated.

Spokespersons for AntAC and Open Society Foundations did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

Michael Vachon, a spokesman for Soros, deferred any comment about AntAC to the group. But he did he confirm his boss supported the continued investigation of Russia collusion allegations against Trump well past 2016. Vachon said Soros wrote a sizable check from his personal funds in fall 2017 to a new group, Democracy Integrity Project, started by a former FBI agent and Senate staffer Daniel Jones to continue “investigation and research into foreign interference in American elections and European elections.”

Vachon said the group asked Soros not to divulge the size of his contribution, and Soros later learned the group hired Fusion GPS, the same firm that was paid by Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the Democratic Party to create the infamous “Steele dossier” alleging Trump-Russia collusion.

The he said-she said battle playing out between Ukraine’s chief prosecutor and the American ambassador doesn’t benefit either side, but an honest, complete and transparent account of what the embassy communicated to Ukraine’s law enforcement does.

And the tale of AntAC raises some cogent questions:

Why would the U.S. Embassy intervene on a Ukrainian internal investigation and later deny it exerted such pressure?

Did Soros’s role as a major political funder have any impact?

Do Americans want U.S. tax dollars commingled with activists’ private funds when it comes to anti-corruption probes?

Someone in State and Congress should try to get the answers.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Foreign Affairs
KEYWORDS: 2016; 201605; 2016election; 2017; abuseofpower; acac; alabama; alabamaukraine; ambassadortoukraine; anotherobamascanda; anotherobamascandal; antac; assetforfeiture; biden; clintoncrimefamily; corruption; danieljones; danjones; dariakaleniuk; desist; dip; doj; fbi; fbiagent; fusiongps; georgesoros; greenaway; greenway; judgemoore; kar; karengreenaway; kari; kleptocracy; lutsenko; manafort; marieyovanovitch; masha; moore; newknowledge; nonprofits; obama; obama2016election; obamascandals; obamasoros; obamaukraine; opensociety; osf; roymoore; seizedassets; soros; ssciscandal; ukraine; ukrainealabama; ukrainesoros; ukrainianprosecutor; usambassador; usembassy; waronmoore; yovanovitch
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1 posted on 07/27/2019 4:37:47 PM PDT by MarvinStinson
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To: MarvinStinson

2 posted on 07/27/2019 4:39:35 PM PDT by MarvinStinson
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To: MarvinStinson
One person is sitting. Only one.


3 posted on 07/27/2019 4:47:25 PM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion or satire. Or both.)
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To: MarvinStinson
...in the middle of an America presidential election in which Soros was backing Hillary Clinton to succeed another Soros favorite...

COLLUSION!

4 posted on 07/27/2019 4:49:41 PM PDT by McGruff (If you hate our Country, or if you are not happy here, you can leave!)
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5 posted on 07/27/2019 4:50:43 PM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion or satire. Or both.)
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To: BenLurkin

6 posted on 07/27/2019 5:09:40 PM PDT by MarvinStinson
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To: MarvinStinson

This is like some wild fantasy spy movie that leaves me dumbfounded. What a gigantic Pandora’s Box has been opened, simply by investigating Hillary and the innumerable, corrupt leaders and just as corrupt followers of our government.

This is beyond anything one can imagine. How do we proceed with all this. Do we have enough good people to handle all of the real conspiracy that has rocked our nation?

And at the center of it all is that worthless, megalomaniac, my personal favorite...GEORGE SCHWARTZ/SOROS.

If as a result of all this chaos, we get Schwartz to leave the country, go to prison or die, it will have been worth it.


7 posted on 07/27/2019 5:20:29 PM PDT by Maris Crane
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To: Maris Crane

I STILL THINK SCHWARTZ LOOKS LIKE THAT UNSPEAKABLY UGLY VILLAIN ‘ZEK’ IN THE MOVIE “JACE REACHER.”


8 posted on 07/27/2019 5:22:17 PM PDT by Maris Crane
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To: McGruff; sport; Lurker; SunkenCiv; Grampa Dave

The U.S. government has quietly spent millions of taxpayer dollars to destabilize the democratically elected, center-right government in Macedonia by colluding with leftwing billionaire philanthropist George Soros, records obtained by Judicial Watch show. Barack Obama’s U.S. Ambassador to Macedonia, Jess L. Baily, has worked behind the scenes with Soros’ Open Society Foundation to funnel large sums of American dollars for the cause, constituting an interference of the U.S. Ambassador in domestic political affairs in violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.

“The Obama administration seemed to bust taxpayer budgets in an effort to fund the Soros operation,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “The Trump State Department and USAID should get their act together and disclose the details of the Obama-Soros spigot.”

https://www.geopolitica.ru/en/news/obama-illegally-sponsored-soros-order-overthrow-macedonian-government


9 posted on 07/27/2019 5:22:31 PM PDT by MarvinStinson
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To: BenLurkin

No doubts to the nature of that pic but whenever my eyes have to adjust to any image my photoshop BS meter starts to twitch.


10 posted on 07/27/2019 5:27:16 PM PDT by Wilderness Conservative (Nature is the ultimate conservative.)
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To: Wilderness Conservative

Stay skeptical my FRiend. It’s a good thing.


11 posted on 07/27/2019 5:29:16 PM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion or satire. Or both.)
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To: Maris Crane

Look What the Unholy Alliance of Soros and Obama are Doing in Texas!

AUGUST 1, 2017
https://truthfeed.com/look-what-the-unholy-alliance-of-soros-and-obama-are-doing-in-texas/96803/

The unholy alliance of Soros, Obama, and Eric Holder are attempting to redistrict maps in Texas to the advantage of Democrats.

This is yet another sign that Obama will not simply fade away from the limelight and wants to continue to be a leading for for globalism and radical socialism in America.

From DML

In an opinion piece published in Saturday’s Washington Examiner, Texas Governor Greg Abbott issued a warning to the GOP that “Democrats in Washington, D.C. are plotting to pour hundreds of millions of dollars in state and local elections across the country” in an effort to buy back power.

Abbott pointed a finger at hedge fund billionaire George Soros, who is helping to fund the National Democratic Redistricting Committee so that it can take away control from voters, noting that congressional re-districting will go into effect in 2021, “when booming conservative states such as Texas will gain seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.”

He said that one of the group’s goals is to reinstate Rep. Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House. But that’s not all…

“Headed by former Attorney General Eric Holder, the tax-exempt 527 political action committee plans a three-pronged attack to flood state-level races with outside money, to leverage activist courts to wrest control of state redistricting plans, and finally, with the formidable community organizing prowess of former President Barack Obama, to fund astroturfed ballot initiatives in the guise of ‘fairness,’” he wrote.

He noted that Obama’s tenure as President for eight years was disastrous for Democrats, who lost more than 900 state legislative seats. However, it was great for Republicans, who were able to win the majority in both chambers in 32 states.

“Resoundingly rejected by voters, Democrats’ last hope is to pervert congressional district maps to subvert the will of the people,” stated Abbott as he laid out their plan.

“Every 10 years, states redraw their legislative and congressional districts based on Census population changes,” he explained, noting that because people are known to move to more successful communities, Texas has grown more than any state in the nation. And many of those new Texans once lived in Nancy Pelosi’s California.

According to Abbott, “The Soros network has their sights set on re-drawing congressional districts in the Lone Star State to push their progressive agenda and turn the Texas dream into a California nightmare.”“Less government, lower taxes, smarter regulations, and right-to-work laws — these are the pro-growth economic policies that help our homegrown businesses flourish and that attract employers to Texas from states that over-tax and over-regulate,” said Abbott, explaining that the conservative economic policies which have fostered such economic growth are threatened by “the Democrats’ plan to re-engineer Texas’ district maps to make them look like California’s maps.”

In fact, “The Democrats are looking to re-draw hundreds of congressional districts across the nation,” stated Abbott, adding that Soros is no stranger to election “meddling”.

Soros’ modus operandi is to flood his chosen candidates with overwhelming amounts of cash to spend on negative campaigns. In 2016, he reportedly spent nearly $11 million on a dozen local district attorney races, including one in Harris County, Texas, said Abbott, noting that most of his selected candidates won.

“What Obama could not accomplish while in office, turning red states blue, he will attempt to do now through the machinations of this “super group” — a partisan focus unbecoming a former president,” said Abbott, who vows to keep Texas a bright, vibrant red and will run for re-election.

“I’m running for re-election to make sure that San Francisco liberals such as Pelosi will not be running our great state. I’m committed to preserving Texas’ liberty. And I will continue to fight back against the liberal agenda that threatens the future of our nation,” he stated, adding, “The GOP needs to take the Soros network and the Holder, Obama, and Pelosi alliance seriously.”


12 posted on 07/27/2019 5:31:43 PM PDT by MarvinStinson
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To: BenLurkin

Soros’ Son forms Shadow government with Obama

SEPTEMBER 25, 2018
https://www.shiftfrequency.com/soros-forms-shadow-government-with-obama/

Alexander G. Soros, the son of George Soros, Deputy Chair of the Open Society Foundation and one of the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders of 2018, met with Obama on Saturday, the 22nd of September, to officially reintroduce him to the political game with these words later published on Twitter: It was Great to welcome President @BarackObama back into my home this week and introduce him on behalf of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee.

The National Democratic Redistricting Committee is another tool of the Deep State whose motto is incredibly enough: The political system is rigged.

This think tank directly controlled by George Soros and his son focuses on redistricting reform and is, of course, affiliated with the Democratic Party.

The Chair President of this umbrella organization is former Attorney General Eric Holder, but in reality, the real leader of this new organization set up by the New World Order to forcibly overthrow Donald J. Trump is former President Barack Obama, who said he would be involved with this committee, and maintained his promise on Saturday.

Alexander and his father are working hard to help Democrats to regain a strong foothold and take back control of the House in the Midterm elections. They devised a central command for Soros’ political operation where he can direct Obama and the rest of the Democrats in their political campaign to oppose Trump. This is the real role of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee; to build a shadow government with Obama as leader to relaunch a dying political party, like the Democrats.

Both Alexander and George Soros are working simultaneously to close down all voices of dissent on the internet and relaunching their number one puppet Barack Obama. The photos of the meeting and the Tweet’s written by Alexander Soros on his official account on the 22nd of September are indeed very revealing.


13 posted on 07/27/2019 5:38:38 PM PDT by MarvinStinson
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To: MarvinStinson
Why the Left So Despises Donald Trump ‎7‎/‎27‎/‎2019‎ ‎6‎:‎24‎:‎31‎ ‎PM· 54 of 55 Maris Craneto bitt President Trump has had the audacity to PULL THAT GREEN CURTAIN ASIDE, FORCEFULLY TELL US WHAT WAS HAPPENING BEHIND THAT WRETCHED CURTAIN AND OFFER AND IMPLEMENT SOLUTIONS. How could the Left not hate him. He tore down all their lousy work. ------------------------------------------------------------I wrote this earlier today and I still feel passionate bout it.
14 posted on 07/27/2019 5:41:35 PM PDT by Maris Crane
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To: MarvinStinson

Alexander Soros (son of George Soros) and Obama.

15 posted on 07/27/2019 5:42:38 PM PDT by MarvinStinson
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To: MarvinStinson

Soroznazi $$$$$$ puppeteer. Obama mere ( evil to the core) puppet.


16 posted on 07/27/2019 5:45:21 PM PDT by faithhopecharity ( “Politicians are not born; they are excreted.” Marcus Tullius Cicero (106 to 43 BCE))
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bookmark


17 posted on 07/27/2019 5:48:58 PM PDT by freds6girlies (many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first. Mt. 19:30. R.I.P. G & J)
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To: MarvinStinson

Satan incarnate and son of Satan


18 posted on 07/27/2019 6:22:13 PM PDT by antidemoncrat (yawn)
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To: MarvinStinson

These are the same people screaming treason about $40K of Facebook ads purchased by foreigners during the timeframe of the 2016 elections.

That’s some galactic hypocrisy.


19 posted on 07/27/2019 6:44:41 PM PDT by Dr.Deth
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To: MarvinStinson

Seems like we should launch an investigation into DOMESTIC interference in the American election of 2016

Start at 1600 Pennsylvania Oval Office and work DOWN the organization chart


20 posted on 07/28/2019 2:23:14 AM PDT by Oscar in Batangas
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