RUSSIA/РОССИЯ THREAD—ASSANGE CHRGD W/ SPYING—DJT IMPEACHED TWICE-US TREASURY SANCTS KILIMNIK AS RUSSIAN AGNT
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:ALERTRED::ALERTRED::ALERTRED::ALERTRED:
MUELLER CATCHES ANOTHER BODY!!!
ANDREW MILLER TRIES TO DEFEND STONE BY REFUSING TO TESTIFY AND IS HELD IN CONTEMPT
ANDREW MILLER TRIES TO DEFEND STONE BY REFUSING TO TESTIFY AND IS HELD IN CONTEMPT
Judge holds Roger Stone associate in contempt for refusing to testify in Russia investigation
Spencer S. Hsu and Devlin BarrettAugust 10 at 11:49 AMEmail the author
A federal judge has found a witness in contempt for refusing to testify before the grand jury hearing evidence in special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
U.S. District Chief Judge Beryl Howell made the ruling Friday after a sealed hearing to discuss Andrew Miller’s refusal to appear before the grand jury. Miller is a former aide to longtime Trump confidant Roger Stone.
After the hearing, Miller’s lawyer Paul Kamenar said Miller was “held in contempt, which we asked him to be in order for us to appeal the judge’s decision to the court of appeals.”
Howell stayed her order while Miller’s legal team appeals the judge’s decision.
Miller had fought and lost a court battle earlier this month to quash a subpoena, after a judge issued a 93-page opinion saying Miller must testify before the grand jury.
Peter Flaherty, chairman of the National Legal and Policy Center, a conservative nonprofit that is funding Miller’s legal fight, said Miller had refused to appear before the grand jury in response to a subpoena. Miller is in Missouri, Flaherty said.
5:09
The ‘scandals’ and progress of the Russia probe
President Trump has tried to shift public attention from the Russia investigation with outlandish claims but they haven't slowed the progress. (Meg Kelly/The Washington Post)
Earlier in the day, Kamenar and Flaherty were seen entering Howell’s courtroom before she sealed it, and declined to comment on the proceeding. Kamenar spoke afterward, confirming it was a hearing held after prosecutors filed a motion to find the witness in contempt.
When a subpoenaed witness refuses to testify before a grand jury, that person can be held in contempt. In some cases, such a contempt finding can lead to a witness being sent to jail until the person agrees to testify.
Mueller is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election and whether any Trump associates conspired with those efforts.
[How an ex-madam, a political trickster and a toddler got tangled up in the Russia investigation]
Stone has been under scrutiny by Mueller in part because of a series of public statements and tweets he made during the 2016 campaign appearing to suggest he had advance knowledge of hacked Democratic emails released by the group WikiLeaks. The publication of the emails embarrassed Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and helped disrupt the presidential race.
U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded the Russian government was behind the hacking of the material from the Democratic Party and the personal email account of Clinton’s campaign chairman, John Podesta.
A grand jury indicted 12 Russian military officers in July for orchestrating the hacks.
Miller worked for Stone during the 2016 presidential campaign, handling duties such as setting up media interviews. He is one of at least a half-dozen of Stone’s associates to be called to testify. Others include his driver, John Kakanis, and a social media consultant, Jason Sullivan. Kristin Davis, who gained notoriety in the 2000s as the “Manhattan Madam” when she ran a high-end prostitution ring, is also expected to testify to the grand jury.
Stone has accused Mueller’s team of harassing his associates.
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WaveMolecules
Superstar
Friday 
GoddamnyamanProf
Countdown to Armageddon
They better hurry up and arrest this clown Miller before he disappears in Europe or has an unfortunate accident
:ALERTRED:
Exclusive: This Is Accused Russian Spy Maria Butina’s Secret Money Man in Moscow, Sources Say
Exclusive: This Is Accused Russian Spy Maria Butina’s Secret Money Man in Moscow, Sources Say
thedailybeast.com
Exclusive: This Is Accused Russian Spy Maria Butina’s Secret Money Man in Moscow, Sources Say
Betsy WoodruffAllison Quinn08.09.18 8:00 PM ET
9-11 minutes
Maria Butina, the Russian national accused of infiltrating the NRA and Republican political circles, received funding for her American activities from a Moscow billionaire. That’s according to U.S. prosecutors in their indictment of Butina.
But what the prosecutors didn’t say was that when Butina needed money from the oligarch, Konstantin Nikolaev, she went to a Kremlin-linked public relations power player named Igor Pisarsky for the cash. That’s according to two sources familiar with her activities, speaking to The Daily Beast on the condition of anonymity.
Pisarsky was Butina’s point of contact for the Nikolaev money, according to these sources—the face of the financing. According to one of the sources, he essentially acted like he was distributing grant money.
This information, previously unreported, highlights the breadth of Butina’s support network; she had friends in a wide variety of high places. In Paul Erickson, she had a longtime Republican insider with close ties to the right’s most powerful groups. In Alexander Torshin, she had a Kremlin ally who was deeply involved in Russia’s banking sector. In Konstantin Nikolaev, she had an oligarch willing to help bankroll her undertakings. And now, in Igor Pisarsky, she had a worldly, sophisticated public relations professional whose firm boasts having worked for a host of Kremlin entities, as well as Vladimir Putin’s political party. Pisarsky’s firm also has worked for two banks whose CEOs have faced U.S. sanctions, according to its website and reports.
Butina’s attorney declined to comment for this story. Pisarsky also declined to comment.
His friend Svetlana Bolshakova, an orchestra musician and editor of the musical radio broadcaster Orpheus, told The Daily Beast that Pisarsky is currently traveling in South America.
“Igor is far from both politics and politicians. He is all about a good party, a good trip, or a good meal,” Bolshakova said. “Last time I saw him was about a month ago in a crowd of Moscow’s hip elite. I don’t think he ever hangs out with any government people, at least I’ve never seen him around any officials. He is an independent person, a co-owner of two hip restaurants. He adores cooking.”
Related in World
Pisarsky and Butina are Facebook friends, and she has liked several of his pictures. She also wrote about him on her blog: An entry on March 12, 2015, describes Pisarsky as a “good friend” and says she attended his birthday party.
Pisarsky appears to be one of the most prominent and influential figures in the Russian public relations industry.
He is chairman of the board of the PR firm R.I.M. Porter Novelli, according to its website, and founded it in 1993. The Russian publication Snob notes that it was one of Russia’s first public affairs companies. Pisarsky is frequently cited in Russian media as an expert on public affairs matters.
Under Pisarsky’s leadership, the firm has represented at least one anti-Kremlin interest: The trade publication O’Dwyers reported in 2014 that the firm helped manage media relations for Ukrainian protesters opposing then-President Viktor Yanukovych, a Paul Manafort client.
But the company’s website also says it has worked for a host of Kremlin clients, including the Russian Ministry of Transportation; the Federal Service for the Oversight of Consumer Protection and Welfare; the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of the Russian Federation for Civil Defense, Emergencies, and Elimination of Consequences of Natural Disasters; and the Russian postal service. Baltic Weekend reported that the firm has also worked for the Ministry of Industry and Energy.
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The website also lists Putin’s United Russia party as a client, work AdWeek mentioned in a 2014 piece. And one of the firm’s employees, Dmitry Konyaev, headed the “agitation and propaganda division” of United Russia in the Moscow area before joining the firm, according to his bio.
The site also says R.I.M. Porter Novelli has represented Skolkovo, an innovation center in Moscow run by a foundation connected to Putin ally Viktor Vekselberg, a sanctioned Russian billionaire linked to longtime Trump attorney Michael Cohen. The FBI warned back in 2014 that Skolkovo, which has cooperated with MIT and other American organizations, could be a hotbed for Russian spies looking to worm their way into U.S. companies, as The Boston Globe reported.
A spokesperson for R.I.M. Porter Novelli said the firm had contracts with these entities in previous years.
Pisarsky’s firm has also worked with Russian entities that have found themselves in the crosshairs of U.S. sanctions. In February 2017, InvestorIntel reported that Rostec—a state-owned development company—had signed on R.I.M. Porter Novelli. The U.S. Treasury put the company’s CEO, longtime Putin ally Sergei Chemezov, on its list of Specially Designated Nationals in 2014 after Russia invaded Crimea. CNBC reported that Rostec itself was sanctioned after Russia invaded eastern Ukraine in 2014.
The company also has worked for a subsidiary of the Russian gas giant Gazprom, according to the list of clients on its website. Treasury sanctioned Gazprom’s CEO, Alexei Miller, in 2018 as part of retaliation against Russia for meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
And the firm’s website says it has worked for the Bank of Moscow, which was sanctioned by the U.S. and the European Union in 2014.
A spokesperson for Porter Novelli, a massive global PR firm, told The Daily Beast that R.I.M. pays a small annual fee to be part of its network.
“R.I.M. in Moscow is not owned by Porter Novelli,” said spokesperson Amy Marriott. “They can use our name and can collaborate with us on cross-market projects. We have never worked with them on anything related to Maria Butina, nor do we have any knowledge of them working with Konstantin Nikolaev.”
Jacob Minevich, partner and CEO of R.I.M., said the firm has not worked with Butina.
“R.I.M. has never worked with Maria Butina,” he said. “We never worked for Konstantin Nikolaev or on projects funded by him. Igor Pisarsky is the founder and chairman of R.I.M. but is not involved in the day-to-day management and projects. We can’t comment on his personal relations beyond those related to the agency.”
Pisarsky has taken a leadership role in the Russian public affairs world. He founded the Silver Archer award, which goes to people who work in public relations, and has sat on its board of supervisors since its 2003 inception, according to the award’s website. The award has been described as a means of warming relations between Russia and the U.S.
Alexander Stadnik, Russia’s trade envoy to the U.S., said at its 2015 award ceremony that the prize could help connect the two countries.
“The relations between the two countries have once again faced a challenge and have been taken to a level which is extremely dangerous for the global economy and international cooperation,” Stadnik said, according to the Russkiy Mir Foundation. “I’m sure that the award has a power not only to expand the contacts between Russia and the U.S., but the Silver Archer’s arrow will also be able to show the vector of rapprochement between the countries.”
One award winner was Sergei Millian, an American citizen born in Belarus who founded the Russian-American Chamber of Commerce.
Millian has claimed to work with the Trump Organization on behalf of its Russian clients, according to The Wall Street Journal. He told The Daily Beast that he didn’t personally represent Trump but rather just worked with him on certain projects. Millian also reportedly made statements that were relayed to the author of the controversial Steele dossier alleging ties between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin (Millian has denied being a source for the dossier).
Pisarsky has also worked with Alfa Capital, a unit of Alfa Bank. Alfa Capital announced on Oct. 1, 2007, that Pisarsky was joining the company to work with its division providing asset management services to wealthy clients.
“n Russia, the number of successful wealthy people who are vitally interested in the comfortable and professional management of their savings is growing,” Pisarsky said at the time.
Pisarsky’s firm also lists Alfa Bank itself as a client. One of the bank’s co-founders, billionaire German Khan, is the father-in-law of Alexander van der Zwaan, who spent several weeks in prison after pleading guilty to lying to special counsel Robert Mueller’s team about work his law firm did alongside Paul Manafort for the Ukrainian government.
—with additional reporting by Anna Nemtsova