{"id":78295,"date":"2017-07-20T16:35:47","date_gmt":"2017-07-20T20:35:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=78295"},"modified":"2017-07-20T16:49:25","modified_gmt":"2017-07-20T20:49:25","slug":"mueller-expands-probe-to-trump-business-transactions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=78295","title":{"rendered":"Special Counsel Mueller Has Been Set Up Purposefully To Take Apart Trump, Distract Him From MAGA Agenda"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Mueller Expands Probe to Trump Business Transactions<\/h1>\n<p><!--more-->By Greg Farrell and Christian Berthelsen<br \/>\nBloomberg.com<\/p>\n<h5><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/api\/embed\/iframe?id=3b0e69e8-e978-4473-9695-afcd9bdad0ce\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><br \/>\nMueller Said to Probe Trump&#8217;s Business Transactions<\/h5>\n<p>The U.S. special counsel investigating possible ties between the\u00a0<a title=\"Billionaire Profile\" href=\"http:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/billionaires\/id\/1252249\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Donald Trump<\/a>campaign and Russia in last year\u2019s election is examining a broad range of transactions involving Trump\u2019s businesses as well as those of his associates, according to a person familiar with the probe.<\/p>\n<p>FBI investigators and others are looking at Russian purchases of apartments in Trump buildings, Trump\u2019s involvement in a controversial SoHo development in New York with Russian associates, the 2013 Miss Universe pageant in Moscow and Trump\u2019s sale of a Florida mansion to a Russian oligarch in 2008, the person said.<\/p>\n<p>The investigation also has absorbed a money-laundering probe begun by federal prosecutors in New York into Trump\u2019s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"figure-expandable\" data-type=\"image\" data-id=\"315727887\" data-thumbnail=\"http:\/\/assets.bwbx.io\/images\/users\/iqjWHBFdfxIU\/iSe0JlNG3pag\/v0\/460x260.jpg\" data-align=\"left\">\n<div class=\"image\">\n<div id=\"lazy-img-315727887\" class=\"lazy-img\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft lazy-img__image loaded\" src=\"http:\/\/assets.bwbx.io\/images\/users\/iqjWHBFdfxIU\/iSe0JlNG3pag\/v0\/400x-1.jpg\" alt=\"President Donald Trump, Commerce Secretary nominee Wilbur Ross and senior advisor Jared Kushner attend a meeting at the White House on Feb. 2, 2017.\" data-native-src=\"http:\/\/assets.bwbx.io\/images\/users\/iqjWHBFdfxIU\/iSe0JlNG3pag\/v0\/-1x-1.jpg\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div><figcaption>\n<div class=\"news-figure-caption-text caption\">\n<h5>Trump, Ross and Kushner attend a meeting at the White House on Feb. 2, 2017. Photographer: Drew Angerer\/Getty Images<\/h5>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>John Dowd, one of Trump\u2019s lawyers, said on Thursday that he was unaware of the inquiry into Trump\u2019s businesses by the two-months-old investigation and considered it beyond the scope of what\u00a0Special Counsel Robert Mueller should be examining.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThose transactions are in my view well beyond the mandate of the Special counsel; are unrelated to the election of 2016 or any alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia and most importantly, are well beyond any Statute of Limitation imposed by the United States Code,\u201d he wrote in an email.<\/p>\n<h3>Markets Fall<\/h3>\n<p>Major U.S. stock indices, which had been trading higher in the morning,\u00a0<a title=\"Stocks Reverse Gains as Trump Probe Said to Widen: Markets Wrap\" href=\"http:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2017-07-19\/asia-stocks-point-higher-before-boj-ecb-decisions-markets-wrap\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">fell<\/a>\u00a0as traders worried that the probe could derail Trump\u2019s growth agenda. The dollar fell against the euro and U.S. government bonds rose.<\/p>\n<p>The president told the New York Times on Wednesday that any digging into matters beyond Russia would be out of bounds. Trump\u2019s businesses have involved Russians for years, however, making the boundaries fuzzy.<span style=\"font-size: 12px;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The Justice Department\u2019s May 17\u00a0<a title=\"Special counsel order\" href=\"http:\/\/www.justice.gov\/opa\/press-release\/file\/967231\/download\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">order<\/a>\u00a0to Mueller instructs him to investigate \u201cany links and\/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign\u201d as well as \u201cany matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation,\u201d suggesting a relatively broad mandate.<\/p>\n<p>Agents are interested in dealings with the\u00a0<a title=\"Company Overview\" href=\"http:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/quote\/BOCH:LN\">Bank of Cyprus<\/a>, where\u00a0<a title=\"Billionaire Profile\" href=\"http:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/billionaires\/id\/1414869\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Wilbur Ross<\/a>\u00a0served as vice chairman before he became commerce secretary. In addition, they are examining the efforts of Jared Kushner, the President\u2019s son-in-law and senior aide, to secure financing for some of his family\u2019s real-estate properties. The information about the investigation was provided by someone familiar with the developing inquiry but not authorized to speak publicly.<\/p>\n<figure data-type=\"image\" data-id=\"315731248\" data-thumbnail=\"http:\/\/assets.bwbx.io\/images\/users\/iqjWHBFdfxIU\/iJh.qFK49f24\/v0\/460x260.jpg\" data-web-url=\"http:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/features\/trump-daily\/#\/\" data-align=\"left\">\n<div id=\"lazy-img-315731248\" class=\"lazy-img\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft lazy-img__image loaded\" src=\"http:\/\/assets.bwbx.io\/images\/users\/iqjWHBFdfxIU\/iJh.qFK49f24\/v0\/400x-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-wp-imgselect=\"1\" data-native-src=\"http:\/\/assets.bwbx.io\/images\/users\/iqjWHBFdfxIU\/iJh.qFK49f24\/v0\/-1x-1.jpg\" \/><\/div><figcaption>\n<div class=\"news-figure-caption-text caption\">\n<p>The roots of Mueller\u2019s follow-the-money investigation lie partly in a wide-ranging money-laundering probe launched by then-Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara last year, according to the person.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>FBI agents already had been gathering information about Manafort, according to two people with knowledge of that probe.\u00a0Prosecutors hadn\u2019t yet begun presenting evidence to a grand jury. Trump fired Bharara in March.<\/p>\n<p>The Manafort inquiry initially focused on actions involving a real-estate company he launched with money from Ukraine in 2008. By the time Bharara was fired, his office\u2019s investigation of possible money laundering extended well beyond that, according to the person briefed on the Mueller probe.<\/p>\n<p>The Bharara investigation was consolidated into Mueller\u2019s inquiry, showing that the special counsel is taking an overarching approach. The various financial examinations constitute one thread of Mueller\u2019s inquiry, which encompasses computer hacking and the dissemination of stolen campaign and voter information as well as the actions of former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.<\/p>\n<p>Joshua Stueve, Mueller\u2019s spokesman, declined to comment, as did\u00a0a Manafort spokesman and Abbe Lowell, a lawyer for Kushner.<\/p>\n<p>Spokesmen for the White House,\u00a0<a title=\"Company Overview\" href=\"http:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/quote\/3603126Z:US\">Trump Organization<\/a>\u00a0and Ross didn\u2019t immediately respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n<h3>Evade Taxes<\/h3>\n<p>Mueller\u2019s team is looking at the Trump SoHo hotel condominium development, which was a licensing deal with Bayrock Capital LLC. In 2010, the former finance director of Bayrock filed a lawsuit claiming the firm structured transactions in fraudulent ways to evade taxes. Bayrock was a key source of capital for Trump projects, including Trump SoHo.<\/p>\n<p>The 2013 Miss Universe pageant is of interest because a prominent Moscow developer, Aras Agalarov, paid $20 million to bring the beauty spectacle there. About a third of that sum went to Trump in the form of a licensing fee, according to Forbes magazine. At the event, Trump met Herman Gref, chief executive of Russia\u2019s biggest bank, Sberbank PJSC. Agalarov\u2019s son, Emin, helped broker a meeting last year between Donald Trump Jr. and a Russian lawyer who was said to have damaging information about Hillary Clinton and her campaign.<\/p>\n<p>Another significant financial transaction involved a Palm Beach, Florida, estate Trump purchased in 2004 for $41 million, after its previous owner lost it in bankruptcy. In March of 2008, after the real-estate bubble had begun losing air, Russian fertilizer magnate\u00a0<a title=\"Billionaire Profile\" href=\"http:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/billionaires\/id\/6957015\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Dmitry Rybolovlev<\/a>\u00a0bought the property for $95 million.<\/p>\n<p>As part of their investigation, Mueller\u2019s team has issued subpoenas to banks and filed requests for bank records to foreign lenders under mutual legal-assistance treaties, according to two of the people familiar with the matter.<\/p>\n<p>___<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2017-07-20\/mueller-is-said-to-expand-probe-to-trump-business-transactions\">http:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2017-07-20\/mueller-is-said-to-expand-probe-to-trump-business-transactions<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mueller Expands Probe to Trump Business Transactions<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-78295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78295","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=78295"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78295\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=78295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=78295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=78295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}