Tuesday, August 29, 2017

Donald Trump’s Real Estate Company Tried To Do A Business Deal In Russia During Last Year's Campaign



Washington Post: Top Trump Organization executive asked Putin aide for help on business deal

A top executive from Donald Trump’s real estate company emailed Russian President Vladi­mir Putin’s personal spokesman during the U.S. presidential campaign last year to ask for help advancing a stalled Trump Tower development project in Moscow, according to documents submitted to Congress on Monday.

The request came in a mid-January 2016 email from Michael Cohen, one of Trump’s closest business advisers, who asked longtime Putin lieutenant Dmitry Peskov for assistance in reviving a deal that Cohen suggested was languishing.

“Over the past few months I have been working with a company based in Russia regarding the development of a Trump Tower-Moscow project in Moscow City,” Cohen wrote to Peskov, according to a person familiar with the email. “Without getting into lengthy specifics, the communication between our two sides has stalled.

“As this project is too important, I am hereby requesting your assistance. I respectfully request someone, preferably you, contact me so that I might discuss the specifics as well as arranging meetings with the appropriate individuals. I thank you in advance for your assistance and look forward to hearing from you soon,” Cohen wrote.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: I know from my own personal experience that when it comes to major real-estate projects in Moscow, 95% (if not more) never get-off the ground. And the reason why is because of land ... or more to the point .... who has title to the land that people want to develop. On this subject alone I can write a book on how complex and confusing this is .... and I am speaking from personal experience. In the case of President Trump, he has been trying to do business in the former Soviet Union (and now Russia) for years, and with the exception of the Miss Universe pageant held in Moscow a few years back, he has not been successful .... Trump Considered Business With the Russian Government in 1987, and Newsweek Met Him in Moscow (Newsweek). As for the Washington Post story that someone in Donald Trump's organisation tried to secure a deal where his name can be attached to a tower complex .... that's nothing new .... and I am willing to bet that the Russian developer behind this deal is Donald Trump's long time friend Aras Agalarov. As for Felix Sater's name popping up, this is what I had to say about him on February 20, 2017 ....

.... the appearance of the name of Felix Sater said it all to me. He has been rumoured to be the Russian money man who helped Donald Trump post-bankruptcy to finance his projects .... specifically the Trump SoHo building project in Lower Manhattan. There has been (and still is) a lot of Russian money in New York real estate ..... so I would not be surprised if Donald Trump had a taste of it. But for those who claim that this is the smoking gun that ties Donald Trump to Putin .... and he has been compromised because of it .... IMHO they are really stretching it.

I was right in February .... and I am right today .... the Washington Post is really trying to stretch this story.

Speaking of Felix Sater, here is a good post from Heavy describing who the man is .... Felix Sater: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know (Heavy).

Update: Now this is interesting (if true) .... Mueller Team Asking If Trump Tried to Hide Purpose of Trump Tower Meeting (NBC).

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