RUSSIA/РОССИЯ THREAD—ASSANGE CHRGD W/ SPYING—DJT IMPEACHED TWICE-US TREASURY SANCTS KILIMNIK AS RUSSIAN AGNT
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Thread on how Trump keeps getting rebuffed and theres firewalls in place:
:letmesee:
Trump to be presented with $47M deal to arm Ukraine against Russia
Dmitry Kostyukov/AFP/Getty Images
WATCH Sessions denies he misled Congress on contacts with Russian officials
President Donald Trump will be presented with the recommendation to finance and sell anti-tank missiles to the Ukrainian government — a move aimed at deterring aggression from pro-Russian separatists, a State Department official told ABC News.
The National Security Council decided during a meeting on Tuesday to greenlight the presentation of a $47 million grant package to the Ukrainian government to purchase American defense arms, including the powerful Javelin anti-tank missiles.
The president and Congress must approve the sale of anti-tank missiles. The Javelin, a portable missile with a steep price-tag, has been described as "The American Military's Anti-Tank Killer."
If Trump approves the arms deal, it would be a major shift from the party platform on sending lethal weapons to Ukraine, which was amended when Trump was the party's nominee for president, from supporting "lethal defensive arms" to Ukraine to the more vague "appropriate assistance” -- language that ran counter to the perspective of many of the organization’s Republicans.
"They softened it, I heard, but I was not involved," Trump said of his campaign in an interview with ABC News's George Stephanopoulos at the time, before adding, "The people of Crimea, from what I've heard, would rather be with Russia than where they were."
Trump's then-campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, had worked for years for the pro-Russian Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, who was expelled in a popular uprising in 2014.
Russia invaded Crimea and sent troops and arms into eastern Ukraine shortly after his ouster, leading to a conflict that rages on to this day. The Obama administration never provided arms assistance to Ukraine in response.
A former Trump White House official and adviser to the president expressed concern to ABC News that arming Ukraine would inflame tensions in the region and aggravate America’s fragile relationship with Russia.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defense Secretary Gen. James Mattis have been in discussions since June about how to best make the sale. They strongly recommended the decision to finance and sell anti-tank missiles to Ukraine above two other options that would aid in the arming of Ukraine.
The State Department official added that, in the upcoming weeks, there will be a meeting to discuss the public messaging on the sale — feedback that will be included in the eventual decision.
But a White House official cautioned that they are not ready to make their decision public.
"We have no announcement at this time," National Security Council spokesperson Michael Anton told ABC News in an email.
The State Department was equally non-committal. "The United States has neither provided defensive weapons nor ruled out the option of doing so," a State Department spokesperson told ABC News.
Ukrainian officials have been publicly optimistic about relations with the United States.
"We are really satisfied with the acceleration of U.S.-Ukraine relations at the moment," Artur Gerasymov, a member of the Ukrainian parliament and chairman of a military subcommittee, told the publication Foreign Policy in late October.
Mattis stressed the administration's desire to strengthen ties with Ukraine in an August press conference in Kiev with President Petro Poroshenko.
"This permits me, better informed, to go back and advocate for what I believe you need, as brought to me by your minister of defense and, certainly, your president," Mattis said. "For example, we've just approved -- just very recently, last couple of weeks -- another $175 million worth of equipment, including some specialized equipment that can be used to help defend the country, bringing to a total of nearly $750 million in the last several years."
He added, at the time, that U.S. military leadership has been reviewing the American position on providing defensive lethal weapons.
"I would also point out that, on the defensive lethal weapons ... we are actively reviewing it," Mattis said. "I will go back, now, having seen the current situation, and be able to inform the secretary of state and the president in very specific terms what I recommend for the direction ahead."
ABC News' Conor Finnegan contributed to this report.
:moscowmjpls:
@DonKnock @SJUGrad13 @88m3 @Menelik II @wire28 @smitty22 @Reality @fact @Hood Critic @ExodusNirvana @Blessed Is the Man @THE MACHINE @OneManGang @dtownreppin214 @JKFrazier @tmonster @blotter @BigMoneyGrip @Soymuscle Mike @Grano-Grano @.r. @GinaThatAintNoDamnPuppy! @Cali_livin
Trump to be presented with $47M deal to arm Ukraine against Russia
Dmitry Kostyukov/AFP/Getty Images
WATCH Sessions denies he misled Congress on contacts with Russian officials
President Donald Trump will be presented with the recommendation to finance and sell anti-tank missiles to the Ukrainian government — a move aimed at deterring aggression from pro-Russian separatists, a State Department official told ABC News.
The National Security Council decided during a meeting on Tuesday to greenlight the presentation of a $47 million grant package to the Ukrainian government to purchase American defense arms, including the powerful Javelin anti-tank missiles.
The president and Congress must approve the sale of anti-tank missiles. The Javelin, a portable missile with a steep price-tag, has been described as "The American Military's Anti-Tank Killer."
If Trump approves the arms deal, it would be a major shift from the party platform on sending lethal weapons to Ukraine, which was amended when Trump was the party's nominee for president, from supporting "lethal defensive arms" to Ukraine to the more vague "appropriate assistance” -- language that ran counter to the perspective of many of the organization’s Republicans.
"They softened it, I heard, but I was not involved," Trump said of his campaign in an interview with ABC News's George Stephanopoulos at the time, before adding, "The people of Crimea, from what I've heard, would rather be with Russia than where they were."
Trump's then-campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, had worked for years for the pro-Russian Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, who was expelled in a popular uprising in 2014.
Russia invaded Crimea and sent troops and arms into eastern Ukraine shortly after his ouster, leading to a conflict that rages on to this day. The Obama administration never provided arms assistance to Ukraine in response.
A former Trump White House official and adviser to the president expressed concern to ABC News that arming Ukraine would inflame tensions in the region and aggravate America’s fragile relationship with Russia.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defense Secretary Gen. James Mattis have been in discussions since June about how to best make the sale. They strongly recommended the decision to finance and sell anti-tank missiles to Ukraine above two other options that would aid in the arming of Ukraine.
The State Department official added that, in the upcoming weeks, there will be a meeting to discuss the public messaging on the sale — feedback that will be included in the eventual decision.
But a White House official cautioned that they are not ready to make their decision public.
"We have no announcement at this time," National Security Council spokesperson Michael Anton told ABC News in an email.
The State Department was equally non-committal. "The United States has neither provided defensive weapons nor ruled out the option of doing so," a State Department spokesperson told ABC News.
Ukrainian officials have been publicly optimistic about relations with the United States.
"We are really satisfied with the acceleration of U.S.-Ukraine relations at the moment," Artur Gerasymov, a member of the Ukrainian parliament and chairman of a military subcommittee, told the publication Foreign Policy in late October.
Mattis stressed the administration's desire to strengthen ties with Ukraine in an August press conference in Kiev with President Petro Poroshenko.
"This permits me, better informed, to go back and advocate for what I believe you need, as brought to me by your minister of defense and, certainly, your president," Mattis said. "For example, we've just approved -- just very recently, last couple of weeks -- another $175 million worth of equipment, including some specialized equipment that can be used to help defend the country, bringing to a total of nearly $750 million in the last several years."
He added, at the time, that U.S. military leadership has been reviewing the American position on providing defensive lethal weapons.
"I would also point out that, on the defensive lethal weapons ... we are actively reviewing it," Mattis said. "I will go back, now, having seen the current situation, and be able to inform the secretary of state and the president in very specific terms what I recommend for the direction ahead."
ABC News' Conor Finnegan contributed to this report.
:moscowmjpls:
@DonKnock @SJUGrad13 @88m3 @Menelik II @wire28 @smitty22 @Reality @fact @Hood Critic @ExodusNirvana @Blessed Is the Man @THE MACHINE @OneManGang @dtownreppin214 @JKFrazier @tmonster @blotter @BigMoneyGrip @Soymuscle Mike @Grano-Grano @.r. @GinaThatAintNoDamnPuppy! @Cali_livin
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:FBIMuellerLaugh:
:comeyholdup:
:comeyholdup:
:ALERTRED:
:FuturamaFry:
The Latest: Palestinian threat to cut communications with US
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on the status of the Palestinians’ office in Washington (all times local):
1:05 p.m.
The Palestinians are threatening to cut off all communication with the Trump administration if it goes through with plans to shutter the Palestine Liberation Organization office in Washington.
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat (sah-EEB’ EHR’-ih-kaht) says the U.S. administration’s decision is — in his words — “very unfortunate and unacceptable.”
He’s accusing the U.S. of bowing to pressure from the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (neh-ten-YAH’-hoo), just as he says the Palestinians are “trying to cooperate to achieve the ultimate deal.”
Erekat says the Palestinians have conveyed their intention to cut off talks if the office is closed in a letter to the Trump administration. The threat comes as the U.S. is trying to broker an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal.
Netanyahu’s office says the closure is a “matter of U.S. law.”
___
12:30 p.m.
The State Department says the Palestine Liberation Organization’s office in Washington will close.
Officials say the Palestinians have ran afoul of a U.S. law by calling for Israelis to be prosecuted by the International Criminal Court.
Only a day earlier, department officials had said the office could stay open if President Donald Trump determined that the Palestinians were in serious peace negotiations with Israel.
But now, those same officials are saying the office must close regardless — at least for some time. It could reopen in the future, if the Palestinians are in talks with Israelis
It’s unclear when the office will close. And it’s not clear whether the Palestinians must evacuate or simply close the office to the public.
The officials weren’t authorized to publicly discuss the situation and spoke on condition of anonymity.
—Associated Press writer Josh Lederman.
___
5:10 a.m.
The Palestinian foreign minister says the Palestinians won’t give in to what he calls “extortion” after a U.S. threat to close their diplomatic mission in Washington.
Riad Malki tells Palestine Radio that the Palestinians are waiting for further communication from the U.S. government. He says “the ball is now in the American court.”
U.S. officials — citing an American law — say the Trump administration has put the Palestinians on notice that it’ll close their office in Washington unless they’ve entered serious peace talks with Israel. President Donald Trump has 90 days to make a decision.
Malki says the U.S. move may be aimed at putting pressure on the Palestinians. But he says “the Palestinian leadership will not accept any extortion or pressure.”
@DonKnock @SJUGrad13 @88m3 @Menelik II @wire28 @smitty22 @Reality @fact @Hood Critic @ExodusNirvana @Blessed Is the Man @THE MACHINE @OneManGang @dtownreppin214 @JKFrazier @tmonster @blotter @BigMoneyGrip @Soymuscle Mike @Grano-Grano @.r. @GinaThatAintNoDamnPuppy! @Cali_livin
:FuturamaFry:The Latest: Palestinian threat to cut communications with US
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on the status of the Palestinians’ office in Washington (all times local):
1:05 p.m.
The Palestinians are threatening to cut off all communication with the Trump administration if it goes through with plans to shutter the Palestine Liberation Organization office in Washington.
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat (sah-EEB’ EHR’-ih-kaht) says the U.S. administration’s decision is — in his words — “very unfortunate and unacceptable.”
He’s accusing the U.S. of bowing to pressure from the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (neh-ten-YAH’-hoo), just as he says the Palestinians are “trying to cooperate to achieve the ultimate deal.”
Erekat says the Palestinians have conveyed their intention to cut off talks if the office is closed in a letter to the Trump administration. The threat comes as the U.S. is trying to broker an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal.
Netanyahu’s office says the closure is a “matter of U.S. law.”
___
12:30 p.m.
The State Department says the Palestine Liberation Organization’s office in Washington will close.
Officials say the Palestinians have ran afoul of a U.S. law by calling for Israelis to be prosecuted by the International Criminal Court.
Only a day earlier, department officials had said the office could stay open if President Donald Trump determined that the Palestinians were in serious peace negotiations with Israel.
But now, those same officials are saying the office must close regardless — at least for some time. It could reopen in the future, if the Palestinians are in talks with Israelis
It’s unclear when the office will close. And it’s not clear whether the Palestinians must evacuate or simply close the office to the public.
The officials weren’t authorized to publicly discuss the situation and spoke on condition of anonymity.
—Associated Press writer Josh Lederman.
___
5:10 a.m.
The Palestinian foreign minister says the Palestinians won’t give in to what he calls “extortion” after a U.S. threat to close their diplomatic mission in Washington.
Riad Malki tells Palestine Radio that the Palestinians are waiting for further communication from the U.S. government. He says “the ball is now in the American court.”
U.S. officials — citing an American law — say the Trump administration has put the Palestinians on notice that it’ll close their office in Washington unless they’ve entered serious peace talks with Israel. President Donald Trump has 90 days to make a decision.
Malki says the U.S. move may be aimed at putting pressure on the Palestinians. But he says “the Palestinian leadership will not accept any extortion or pressure.”
@DonKnock @SJUGrad13 @88m3 @Menelik II @wire28 @smitty22 @Reality @fact @Hood Critic @ExodusNirvana @Blessed Is the Man @THE MACHINE @OneManGang @dtownreppin214 @JKFrazier @tmonster @blotter @BigMoneyGrip @Soymuscle Mike @Grano-Grano @.r. @GinaThatAintNoDamnPuppy! @Cali_livin
Jean Jacket
NOPE
But he went hard at Al Franken, and none of his supporters see the rank hypocrisy?
They really operate in an alternate reality.
Notice as well the Dems continue to play fair and condemned Al unequivocally, and Franken himself asked for a full investigation. None of that, "these women were sluts anyway" arguments....
We're dealing with the devil breh.
Russia looks to prospect of future without Vladimir Putin
'There can be no second Putin': Russia looks to prospect of future without Vladimir as sources say he has considered quitting
- Oliver Carroll Moscow Correspondent
Speculation remains about whether Russia’s leader will run again for the presidency Getty
For a long time, it has seemed that the only person unsure he will run in the presidential elections next March is Vladimir Putin.
The people expect it, his opponents are sure of it, his entourage is convinced of it. But Russia’s President is delaying.
When Mr Putin chooses to run, he will win, and handsomely. The President remains popular with his base and possesses a well-oiled political machine that, as dependable as the rotation of the sun and the movements of the tide, will deliver a result between 60 per cent and 70 per cent in his favour.
But behind the scenes things are less predictable. From interviews with academics, government and near-government players, some anonymous, The Independent can reveal a picture of intense uncertainty at the heart of power.
It is a picture that shows the President’s grip on the Kremlin to be as strong as ever – but only because it needs to be.
Vladimir Putin is, sources say, tired. And he is reluctant to engage in a major national election – again. The campaign will be reduced to a bare minimum; there will be no repeat of the exhausting test of the 2011-2012 elections, when Mr Putin declared his candidacy six months early.
His decision to swap jobs with Dmitry Medvedev provoked an unexpected wave of protest. By the time of election day, the result was not in question. But Mr Putin invested a lot in winning – emotionally and psychologically.
The absolute deadline for registration depends on whether Mr Putin runs as an independent or on a party platform. But most expect a declaration no earlier than mid-December.
A short campaign brings with it other benefits. It will offer a sense of drama to what otherwise promises to be a sterile contest. Likewise, opponents will also have the shortest time possible in which to challenge him.
The opposition, unable even to agree on a unity candidate, is of course unlikely to make a breakthrough. The controversial candidacy of TV personality Ksenia Sobchak has split the anti-Kremlin vote. Whether she will be allowed to participate is still, sources say, under discussion. The technocratic head of Putin’s administration, Sergei Kiriyenko believes her presence would add sparkle; others are less convinced.
Nemtsov and Navalny opposition parties join forces against Putin in Russia
Authorities will also almost certainly bar leading Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny from registering his candidacy. Russia’s Election Commission says that an embezzlement conviction makes him ineligible – it’s a conviction that has been ruled provisionally unfair by the European Court of Human Rights.
Mr Navalny has surprised the Kremlin with his persistence this year. From declaring presidential ambitions in December, he has consistently outflanked the government. His YouTube expose of Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev’s alleged corruption – which Mr Medvedev denies – was watched by tens of millions. His call to the streets in March saw the largest protests Russia has seen since 2012. Mr Navalny has captured the language of a new, young protest demographic; the Kremlin, to some extent, is still playing catch-up.
Mr Putin’s people believe the battle for Mr Navalny’s youth will be won not on the streets, but on screens. There will be no repeat of Nashi-style pro-Kremlin mass youth movements of the past. Instead, insiders report a beefed-up internet department inside the presidential administration. There are expanded news-making desks thinking up sexy digital narratives – like Mr Putin’s demonstrative visit to Russia’s search engine giant Yandex. Other desks concentrate on using bots, trolls and other creatures of the Russian digital space to form a “new, positive youth agenda”.
The aim is clear and unambiguous: Mr Putin offers opportunity; he continues to be the future.
Squaring the digital narrative with the analogue reality of an ageing leader is where things get difficult. The recession may be over, but most Russians have experienced four years of declining real terms income. There has been a fundamental shift in public mood that, according to polls, favours change over stability.
The Kremlin has not been able to agree on a serious programme of reform in response, says Valery Solovei, a professor of the Moscow State Institute for International Relations. Indeed, the election offer has already been scaled back. Rather than projecting a confident future, the promise is now on improving productivity and efficiency.
“There is a growing sense that this election is less about the future, as it is about the end,” said Mr Solovei.
Gleb Pavlovsky, a former Kremlin advisor and head of the Effective Politics Foundation, told The Independent that the regime was entering a “terminal” phase. “Whichever way you play it, this campaign is about transitioning to a post-Putin Russia,” he said.
Already, a battle is under way over who will head government following the March elections. This, according to the constitution at least, is the second most important position in Russian politics.
In October, Bloomberg suggested the current Prime Minister, Dmitry Medvedev, would become a necessary sacrifice. Bloodied by Mr Navalny’s assault, the Prime Minister was considered a spent political force. Names such as the Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, head of the Central Bank Elvira Nabiullina and industry minister Denis Manturov were mentioned as possible replacements.
Monuments of Lenin 100 years after Russian Revolution
But, say sources, the Prime Minister has “recuperated psychologically” since then and may well stay in position. The dismissal of Medvedev would need to be seen as a strong move, says political commentator Konstantin Gaaze. At the moment, “it would not resolve much”.
One high-level source told The Independent that Putin was likely to stay with what he knew best. The President was a “conservative man” when it came to appointments, and would try not to change things if he doesn’t have to. Besides, if something looks obvious from the outside, it won’t happen: “Mr Putin likes the unexpected; and when he makes changes, he will confer with no one.”
The sense of a man out on his own, trusting no one, was repeated several times in interviews. Mr Putin has not made his intentions clear even to his closest colleagues, said Mr Pavlovsky: “He’s a tragic character, someone who is forced to organise his own special operation.”
Mr Putin’s inner circle – “not so much a cabinet, but a Tsarist court” – is notoriously protective of their man. It does not want to let him go.
“They need Putin much more than he needs them,” says Mr Pavlovsky. “The first day they are left without him, the questions will begin. Where’s the money come from? And who are they exactly?”
Guarantees about what will happen come March have not been forthcoming from the President, says Mr Gaaze. This has created “enormous tensions” at the heart of government, he says: “Even if Putin manages to delay announcing until December, you will see the beginning of a huge turf war, with compromising material being flung between various parts of the government; it’s already beginning, in fact.”
Theresa May: ‘I have a simple message for Russia: We know what you are doing. And you will not succeed’
Three separate sources told The Independent that Mr Putin apparently considered leaving the presidency in autumn last year. He instructed his administration to draw up possible scenarios for his exit.
One of the ideas was a snap presidential election in December. Other possibilities included constitutional reform – from instituting a new vice-presidential position to transferring executive power to a more collegiate body, akin to the Soviet Politburo. The plan was to steal a march on the expected hardline Russia policy that a Clinton presidency would have brought with it.
Donald Trump’s unexpected victory changed the calculus somewhat. But more fundamentally, there was no obvious person to hand the baton to. One figure touted at the time was Alexei Dyumin, a career officer and currently governor of Tula Oblast. His main credentials for the job, one source said, were that “Putin trusts him”.
Others suggested Mr Dyumin was being used to sow unrest among the Tsar’s “out-of-control” boyars. “Dyumin isn’t from the inner circle, so his very appearance is frightening to them,” said Mr Pavlovsky.
The competing groups are unlikely to agree on a successor. Vladimir Putin has carved out a unique role over nearly two decades, and sits at the top of a balanced, highly personalised system. His exit, when it comes, will be profound.
“There can be no second Putin. When the man goes, the system goes,” says Mr Solovei. “All the informal communications, the glue that holds things together, that will go too.”
The appointment of inexperienced technocrats to governor positions nationwide could exacerbate the pressures, he says: “There’s no money, so there may come a point where you can’t resolve local problems, then the strikes start, then Moscow gets involved. Protest, mass actions – you can’t predict any of this.”
A majority of the interviewees suggested that Russia was on the verge of a major political crisis – the system has “exhausted itself”, and was “teetering at the edge of an era”.
“The last time I felt like this was at the end of the Soviet Union,” says Mr Solovei. “And, worryingly, people who were around at the time are telling me they feel exactly the same.”
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The keebler elf got jokes.
Should have responded "If there was, would you even recall it?
"
Inside the ‘Lewandowski Embassy’
Like Steve Bannon at the Breitbart office, Lewandowski stays upstairs when he’s in town. The lower floors house a lobbying firm and sometimes a radio show.
By THEODORIC MEYER, DANIEL LIPPMAN and JOSH DAWSEY
11/15/2017 05:05 AM EST
Corey Lewandowski has a new base of operations in Washington: an elegant, century-old row house that resembles his own version of the “Breitbart Embassy.”
Just as Steve Bannon does at the rowhouse a dozen blocks away where Breitbart News sometimes holds meetings and hosts parties, Lewandowski, Donald Trump’s former campaign manager, stays upstairs when he’s in town, according to five people familiar with the arrangement. The lower floors serve as his workspace, as well as the offices of Turnberry Solutions, a lobbying firm started this summer by another Trump campaign veteran.
Lewandowski has said he has nothing to do with Turnberry, but the firm lists the rowhouse’s address on all of its lobbying disclosures, and a Turnberry nondisclosure agreement recently sat on a desk in the front room. Signs of Lewandowski’s presence also abounded when a POLITICO reporter visited the house last month, including framed copies of articles about Lewandowski in the print editions of POLITICO and The Sun of Lowell, Massachusetts, his hometown.
“You could call this the Turnberry embassy,” said John Fredericks, a friend of Lewandowski’s who sometimes broadcasts his syndicated radio show, “The John Fredericks Show," out of the dining room and allowed a POLITICO reporter to join him there.
Pressed on that description, he corrected himself.
“Nobody knows what Turnberry is, so I would call it the Lewandowski Embassy,” Fredericks said. “On the air, I call it the Corey Lewandowski galactic headquarters.”
Lewandowski and his family live in New Hampshire, but his Capitol Hill headquarters is the latest sign that he is committed to building a presence in Trump’s Washington.And Turnberry — a name that calls to mind Trump Turnberry, the president's Scottish golf resort — appears to be the latest of a series of companies with ties to Lewandowski that have cashed in on connections to the administration.
Lewandowski started a lobbying firm, Avenue Strategies, late last year with another Trump campaign veteran, Barry Bennett, but quit in May after a series of stories raised questions about Lewandowski selling access to the president. He quickly started another firm, Lewandowski Strategic Advisors, which The New York Times reported was advising an Ohio payday lender that was previously a lobbying client of Avenue Strategies.
Lewandowski hasn't been registered as a lobbyist since 2011, and he's insisted repeatedly that the work he's doing doesn't meet the definition of lobbying. But two people familiar with Lewandowski's work said he has pitched clients on his ties to Trump, even though he lost some of his access to the president with the arrival of chief of staff John Kelly, as did other outside advisers. (Lewandowski has complained to associates about it, according to people who have spoken to him.)
“He’s clearly making high-level asks of key people in the administration, and at times even the president himself,” said one consultant who shares clients with Lewandowski and has heard his pitch to them. “Those clients are clearly hiring him for his knowledge and expertise of how the administration works.”
“He sells how well he knows Trump and that he understands Trump and knows all the people around him,” said another person who has spoken with Lewandowski, adding that he boasted of offers to represent foreign governments.
Lewandowski may be considering working with other firms, too. He’s held discussions with the BGR Group, a top Washington lobbying firm, about working together as well, according to a person familiar with the talks. But it’s unclear whether those talks are going anywhere or exactly what Lewandowski’s role would be.
Asked for comment last week, Lewandowski responded by text message that he was on a plane and asked a reporter to send written questions. But he didn’t respond to emailed questions or further texts or phone calls.
Lewandowski’s stately new digs are a world away from the cramped offices he rented when he started Avenue. While he no longer has a view of the White House, the row house boasts hardwood floors, fireplaces and three chandeliers. There’s a gleaming kitchen in the back of the main floor and a leafy backyard. Five unopened bottles of wine sat on the counter recently, along with a big, half-empty bottle of Bulleit bourbon sitting high on a shelf.
“It’s very much like the Breitbart Embassy,” said a Trump campaign veteran who knows Lewandowski, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Unlike with his previous ventures, Lewandowski has tried to keep his distance from Turnberry — perhaps because he signed a noncompete agreement when he quit Avenue. The agreement prohibits Lewandowski from lobbying for foreign or domestic clients for one year or directing others who do such work, according to Bennett.
Mike Rubino, a former Trump campaign staffer who worked with Lewandowski at Avenue Strategies, started Turnberry in July, two months after Lewandowski left Avenue, according to documents filed in Delaware. Jason Osborne, another Avenue veteran, and Rubino are the only lobbyists listed on Turnberry's registrations.
Lewandowski insisted when Turnberry reported its first lobbying clients in September that he wasn’t involved with the firm. "Get your facts right,” Lewandowski said in an interview at the time. “I have nothing to do with Turnberry Solutions.”
But Joel Sheltrown, vice president of government affairs for Elio Motors, a Turnberry client, said in September that Lewandowski had been on a conference call with Turnberry. Lewandowski also appeared at the time to have a Turnberry email address.
During discussions between Turnberry and the Azerbaijani government this year, Elin Suleymanov, Azerbaijan’s ambassador to the U.S., insisted on talking with Lewandowski before continuing with talks, according to documents shared with POLITICO.
Turnberry hasn’t registered to represent Azerbaijan or any other foreign clients. In an interview, Suleymanov said he’d met with Turnberry only once and said he had met Lewandowski on social occasions.
“I meet with five lobbying firms a day. We never discussed signing a contract,” he said of his dealings with Turnberry.
Rubino, the Turnberry lobbyist, is often spotted with Lewandowski, according to two people familiar with his work. “Wherever Corey is, Mike is there, whether that’s hanging out at the Trump hotel or pitching business,” one of those people said, referring to Rubino.
The clearest evidence linking Lewandowski to Turnberry, though, may be the row house. Asked whether the house was Corey’s personal office or Turnberry’s offices, Fredericks said there wasn’t a distinction.
“Turnberry is Corey’s public affairs company,” Fredericks said. “They’re one and the same.”
The house, built in 1900, is owned by the Citizens United Foundation, according to Washington, D.C., property records. It’s not clear whether Lewandowski, Turnberry or another entity rents the house or whether Lewandowski is allowed to use it for free.
Lewandowski worked with David Bossie, Citizens United’s president, on “Let Trump Be Trump: The Inside Story of His Rise to the Presidency,” a book due out next month. Bossie did not respond to requests for comment.
Lewandowski “does TV and radio interviews” in the house, said one person who knows Lewandowski and has been to the row house. “He lets friends of his use it. It is pretty open-door.”
One of those friends, Fredericks, said Lewandowski will sometimes “just come downstairs and pop on” his radio show.
The house also provides nods to Lewandowski’s new influence in Washington, a city where few had heard of him before he took the helm of Trump’s campaign in 2015.
The framed POLITICO story was a May piece headlined "Trump eyeing Lewandowski, Bossie as crisis managers.”
And a letter from Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) that hangs on the wall, dated July 20, 2017, thanks Lewandowski for addressing members of the Conservative Opportunity Society, of which King is chairman.
"Corey, you lit them up!" King wrote in a handwritten note at the bottom of the letter. "And you took action — many of us will follow through on your excellent advice."
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Lol, I didn’t know Lewandowski was from that shythole, Lowell (as a 3rd generation scumbag from Lowell) I can unequivocally declare that Lowell is white trash capital of New England (Springfield and Worcester are a distant 2nd and 3rd, Fall River and Lawrence are definitely honorable mentions). This is the place they filmed high on crack street. I also moved from Lowell to NH. I know, and grew up with so many people exactly like this dude, fukking, loud, angry, pieces of shyt that wouldn’t actually shoot the five with a man, but will shove the shyt out of women. As hard as he tries, he will never wash that white trash pedigree off him, no matter how successful, he is just like Trump,, these people are the real “empty barrels” that Kelly likes to call black women. I promise y’all, if I ever see this guy when I’m visiting family up north, I will try my fukking hardest to get him to actually shoot a fair one, I will talk about his family, say some real ignorant shyt, all that, who knows, I know he has a temper, maybe he will be willing to get his fukking ass kicked.