Thread by @themarketswork

1) My latest @EpochTimes Manafort’s Deripaska Connections and Waldman’s Role in the Assange Negotiations
theepochtimes.com/manaforts-deri…

2) Although the Guardian story re: Manafort & Assange may ultimately be disproven, there is another intriguing series of contacts that took place between the lawyer of Russian Oligarch Oleg Deripaska, Adam Waldman, and Julian Assange and high ranking US officials.

3) In addition to Manafort’s Ukrainian ties, Manafort has long been associated with Deripaska.

Reporting of $12.7 million in undisclosed Ukrainian payments & Manafort’s financial involvement with Deripaska reportedly led Trump to note, “I’ve got a crook running my campaign.”

4) Manafort Gates, were closely associated with Deripaska from 2005 to 2009 and maintained contact until at least 2011.

Then, ties became more ambiguous.

In 2014 Deripaska filed a lawsuit against Manafort claiming that Manafort and Gates had “simply disappeared.”

5) The lawsuit related to an investment fund, Pericles Emerging Markets.

Deripaska invested $18.9 million in 2008 to finance the purchase of Black Sea Cable.

Deripaska has also claimed that he paid “about $7.3 million in management fees.”

He wanted his money back.

6) When Deripaska filed his lawsuit, Manafort found himself in financial trouble as payments from Ukraine dried up in 2014.

Manafort was interviewed by the FBI in July 2014, and began taking out loans on his real estate properties.

Manafort remained indebted to Deripaska.

7) Deripaska has long sought stable visa access to the US and went to some extraordinary efforts, including a collaboration with the FBI from 2008 to 2010.

Deripaska was allowed entry into the United States “eight times between 2011 and 2014
theepochtimes.com/is-mueller-pro…

8) There was another high-profile individual seeking access to the US, and he had the help of Deripaska’s lawyer, Adam Waldman.

In 2017, Waldman was also representing Julian Assange. Waldman also, at the same time, represented interests of Christopher Steele.

9) Steele has known Deripaska since at least 2012, when he was hired by Waldman on behalf of Deripaska to assist in a lawsuit filed “by a business rival.

In late 2014, Steele and DOJ official Bruce Ohr met in Washington to discuss cultivating Deripaska into an FBI informant.

10) In 2015, Steele helped set up a meeting between Deripaska and the FBI, but wasn’t directly involved in the meeting itself. Ohr, however, was present.
nytimes.com/2018/09/01/us/…

11) During a series of communications in early 2016, Steele appeared to be lobbying Ohr on Deripaska’s behalf—Waldman’s name was also mentioned.

As Steele and Ohr were having their discussions, Manafort reached out to the Trump campaign on 2-29-16 and was hired on March 28.

12) During his time with the Trump campaign, Manafort was in regular contact with Konstantin Kilimnik, his longtime employee in Kiev. Many of their emails appear to pertain to Deripaska.

In one email, Manafort asked, “How do we use to get whole?”

13) Kilimnik told Manafort the Deripaska relationship might be repaired: “I am more than sure that it will be resolved and we will get back to the original relationship.”

Manafort sent an email to Kilimnik “If he needs private briefings we can accommodate.”

14) September 2016, Deripaska had another meeting with the FBI.

They asked Deripaska about Manafort’s ties to Russia.

The FBI also “posited a theory that Trump’s campaign was secretly colluding with Russia to hijack the U.S. election.”

Deripaska reportedly dismissed the idea

15) In January 2017, a strange sequence of events concerning Assange began to unfold when the Assange legal team approached Waldman regarding possible negotiations for “limited immunity and safe passage out of a London embassy to talk with U.S. officials.”

16) Almost immediately after accepting the Assange engagement, Waldman contacted Bruce Ohr. They would meet in early February.

Waldman also met three times with Assange in London in January 2017.

He would meet Assange 2 times in March, 3 times in April & 2 times in November.

17) In February 2017, Waldman formally began negotiations with the DOJ:

“Waldman negotiated with the Justice Department on a possible deal to get the WikiLeaks founder limited immunity and safe passage out of a London embassy to talk with U.S. officials.”

18) On Feb. 3, 2017, Waldman met in DC with Ohr.

Immediately following that meeting, Waldman was contacted by David Laufman, a Deputy Assistant Attorney General and head of counterintelligence for the DOJ’s National Security Division, via an email.
scribd.com/document/38255…

19) Laufman abruptly resigned from his position a year later on Feb. 8, 2018.

A number of other high-ranking DOJ and FBI officials, including Rachel Brand, James Rybicki, Josh Campbell and Michael Kortan all resigned within days of each other.

20) On Feb. 14, 2017, a series of encrypted texts between Sen. Mark Warner and Waldman began.

The exchange may have originated earlier but these are the first dates made public.

Warner had to be aware that his encrypted text exchanges would have been visible to the NSA.

21) 2-16-17 Waldman text to Warner:

Just want to underscore my opinion and the reason I got involved – this guy is going to do something catastrophic for the dems, Obama, CIA and national security. I hope someone will consider getting him to the US to ameliorate the damage.

22) In February, Warner told FBI Dir Comey of the Assange negotiations.

Comey issued a stand-down order regarding any further negotiations, but it appears he was overridden by someone within the DOJ—possibly Laufman—and negotiations with Assange continued
thehill.com/opinion/white-…

23) During this same period, Deripaska began taking out newspaper ads saying he was willing to testify before Congress.

Deripaska would make the same offer again in May 2017.

24) On March 7, 2017, in what appears to be a negotiating tactic by Assange, WikiLeaks released thousands of files relating to the CIA’s arsenal of hacking tools.

Some of these tools were also able to bypass encryption-enabled applications like WhatsApp and Telegram.

25) In the midst of the ongoing Assange negotiations, Waldman met on March 16 with former staffer of Sen. Feinstein, Dan Jones, who had recently begun working with Fusion GPS and Steele.

26) On the same day as the Waldman-Jones meeting, Dan Coats was sworn in as the new DNI.

Comey would testify that he immediately briefed Coats on the ongoing Russia Investigation.

Comey also cryptically implied that he had not briefed former DNI Clapper.

27) On March 18, 2017, Steele sent a concerned-sounding text to Ohr:

Steele: “Hi! Just wondering if you had any news? Obviously, we’re a bit apprehensive given scheduled appearance at Congress on Monday. Hoping that important firewalls will hold. Many thanks.”

28) Comey was scheduled to testify before Congress on March 20, 2017.

During testimony, Comey stated that he intentionally withheld congressional notification of the FBI’s counterintelligence investigation until some weeks prior to his testimony.

29) Waldman & Warner continued to text:

Warner 3/23: Need to coordinate date for trip can you talk with my scheduler also want to discuss Paul

Waldman 3/25: Deripaska is in London Mon-Thur and I might be able to arrange a mtg w him too if you wish. I discussed it with him today

30) On March 28, 2017, Waldman sent an email to Laufman that appeared to lay out conditions re: Assange.
scribd.com/document/38255…
On April 5, 2017, Laufman pressed Waldman in an email regarding the terms to be accepted by Assange
scribd.com/document/38255…

31) Assange did not appear happy with Laufman’s terms as WikiLeaks released a second series of documents relating to CIA malware used for cyber attacks on April 7.

On April 10 2017 Waldman texted Warner regarding all three of his clients—Steele, Assange and Deripaska

32) Negotiations on Assange appear to fall apart.

Several days later, CIA Dir Pompeo slammed Assange and WikiLeaks:

“It is time to call out WikiLeaks for what it really is—a non-state hostile intelligence service often abetted by state actors like Russia.”

33) On 8-16-17 Rohrabacher visited Assange:

Assange told a U.S. congressman he can prove the leaked Democratic Party documents he published during last year’s election did not come from Russia and promised additional helpful information about the leaks in the near future.”

34) “Julian also indicated that he is open to further discussions regarding specific information about the DNC email incident that is currently unknown to the public.”
theguardian.com/media/2018/jun…

35) Waldman would visit Assange two final times, both in November 2017.

On April 5, 2018, Waldman’s firm, the Endeavor Group severed ties with Deripaska, after nearly nines years of representation.

36) The following day the US imposed sanctions against 24 Russians, including Deripaska, who called the decision “very unfortunate but not unexpected.”

On Oct. 8, the U.S. government moved to freeze Deripaska’s U.S. assets, including mansions in Manhattan and Washington.

37) On Nov. 16, it was revealed through an apparent court error that criminal charges against Assange had been filed.

Following a Nov. 27 ruling, the charges against Assange will remain sealed for the time being as the judge awaits more information.
/End