Posted on 07/23/2019 5:54:46 AM PDT by Texas Fossil
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (CN) – The case against a business associate of former national security adviser Michael Flynn went to the jury Monday, which will determine whether he illegally lobbied at the direction of Turkey without telling the federal government.
During closing arguments Monday, prosecutors said 66-year-old Bijan Rafiekian tried to carefully mask who was behind a project he and Flynn worked on that aimed to discredit Fethullah Gulen, a cleric Turkish President Recep Erdogan has blamed for a 2016 failed coup against him.
“They tried to subvert the American process so Erdogan could get his hands on Gulen,” U.S. Attorney James Gillis told the jury Monday.
The Turkish government has long sought to extradite Gulen, who lives in Pennsylvania and runs a network of schools and charitable organizations, but the Justice Department has declined. The project Rafiekian, also known as Bijan Kian, worked on at Flynn Intel Group culminated in an op-ed published in The Hill on election day 2016 under Flynn’s name that called on the U.S. to extradite Gulen to Turkey.
Kian says the project was for a business owned by a Dutch-Turkish businessman named Kamil Ekim Alptekin and was aimed towards making Turkey seem more favorable to international business and investment.
But walking through a string of emails between Kian and Alptekin that dated back to shortly after the failed coup, Gillis said Monday the project from the beginning had the interest and approval of people at the highest levels of the Turkish government. In addition, the project always focused directly on Gulen.
When Kian and Alptekin changed the name of the project from “Truth” to “Confidence” in August 2016, it was nothing more than an attempt at subterfuge, as was the revelation at the same time that Alptekin’s company would bankroll the effort.
(Excerpt) Read more at courthousenews.com ...
There is a lot more to this controversy than is in the news, and a smell of the (Com)Dems involvement in bringing these charges. And the charges brought against General Flynn, to damage President Trump.
What about John Kerry and Iran? And I thought Obama has been up to no good overseas.
Yes. John Fn Kerry was clearly outside US law.
Yes, Obama was meddling in foreign elections in Israel and spent taxpayers dollars to do it.
Yes. Obama started all of this anti Trump crap. He and the Never Trump globalist traitor GOP weasels.
I have no opinion about the merit of this trial.
Let me help you out, Neither do I, wether he is guilty or nor to me is irrelevant. I wouldn’t believe anything the Gubmint puts forward as evidence. We also know this sort of thing is rampant in DC and almost NEVER is anyone ever prosecuted for it, it is customary for them to pay a small fine for the paperwork violation.
Furthermore I REFUSE to give the Gubmint a Vote of Guilty for any citizen accused of a Crime where NO Injury or Loss has occurred.
No opinion here if this is good or bad, but if it ends in a conviction, I’m hoping DoJ uses it as justification to go directly after the hundreds of DC lobbyists who now currently operate un-registered. Since Flynn and his partner weren’t permitted to retroactively register, I don’t expect the new targets to be afforded and relief.
The law that charges were brought under was obscure. It was aimed at Trump.
BUT, there is a serious issue with foreign lobbying inside the US.
Gosh mister, if you can't trust the government, who can you trust?
A Florida cop planted meth on random drivers, police say. One lost custody of his daughter.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.