, 106 tweets, 36 min read Read on Twitter
💰Update - The Beltway Bandit

Elliott Broidy is arguably the swampiest Trump swamp creature, in a swamp filled with avaricious swamp monsters peddling foreign influence ops for hire (big bucks) with the goal of shaping US policy to benefit foreign governments.
#Broidy
Post 2016 elex, Broidy positioned himself as a premier broker of influence & access to the new adm & a financial oppty to mix his int’l biz with his efforts to influence US foreign policy, which is why he is the subject of federal scrutiny involving a number of global scandals.
‼️How a Trump Ally Tested the Boundaries of DC’s Influence Game

Broidy had pleaded guilty in 2009 to giving nearly $1M in illegal gifts to NYS officials to help land a $250 million investment from the state’s pension fund.
.
nytimes.com/2019/08/13/us/…
The conviction was reduced to a misdemeanor.

Nevertheless, Broidy was ushered into the West Wing.

📌Broidy met with Trump, Preibus, Flynn & Kush & discussed everything from personnel recommendations to the Republican Party’s finances.
nytimes.com/2019/08/13/us/…
Broidy also talked about the Middle East, a subject that had long been important to him personally & financially.
nytimes.com/2019/08/13/us/…
Broidy promoted a plan for a counterterrorism force backed by Saudi Arabia & the UAE, supported by his private security and intelligence company, Circinus, under the leadership of Stanley A. McChrystal, the retired Army general and former commander in AFG.
nytimes.com/2019/08/13/us/…
This was at a time Broidy was running a multimillion-dollar lobbying campaign to turn Washington against Qatar, a regional rival of the Saudis & the Emiratis, & told Trump that Qatar was part of an “axis of evil.”

nytimes.com/2019/08/13/us/…
💰Broidy, Nader & Saudi

George Nader whose patrons included MbZ & MbS, partnered with Broidy.

To the princes, whose countries are closely allied, Mr. Broidy was a perfect messenger to try to turn the new American administration against Qatar.
nytimes.com/2019/08/13/us/…
And to Mr. Broidy, Mr. Nader was a perfect messenger to pitch Circinus’s services to the wealthy gov’t of the UAE & Saudi.
nytimes.com/2019/08/13/us/…
🔑Nader wired Broidy $2.4 million in three installments, starting less than three months after the inauguration, for the anti-Qatar public policy effort.
nytimes.com/2019/08/13/us/…
💰Nader - Broidy UAE & Qatar

Scheme to legislate US sanctions against Qatar a US ally for monetary consideration #Broidy #Nader
📌Mr. Broidy donated to two Washington think tanks (PR Firms) — the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Hudson Institute — to fund conferences he intended to be critical of Qatar.
nytimes.com/2019/08/13/us/…
💰Qatar - Russia/Rosnef - Qatari Sovereign Wealth Fund & TeamTrump

Featured speakers included the former defense secretaries Mr. Panetta and Mr. Rick Gates, as well as Mr. Bannon and Mr. Petraeus.
nytimes.com/2019/08/13/us/…
🔑Gates & Bannon were paid about $100,000 each, while Petraeus was paid $50,000, according to interviews and contracts, which stipulated that Gates & Petraeus would meet privately with Broidy on the sidelines of the conference.
nytimes.com/2019/08/13/us/…
The think tanks paid the speakers and were reimbursed by Broidy. Nader helped arrange Bannon’s appearance.
thedailybeast.com/accused-sex-tr…
📌Broidy assured the think tanks that he was using only his own money and that it was not from foreign sources, who said he did not disclose that he was simultaneously pursuing business in the region. #1MDB
nytimes.com/2019/08/13/
us/politics/elliott-broidy-trump.html
🔑But updates sent by Mr. Broidy to Mr. Nader list Circinus as the entity overseeing the advocacy campaign, which included plans for the conferences, op-eds, articles and congressional and media outreach, including Sean Hannity
#RWmediaMachine
nytimes.com/2019/08/13/us/…
🔑One update lists the Emirati and Saudi gov’ts as the “clients” of the campaign, & a senior Saudi general, Maj. Gen. Ahmed al-Assiri, who would later be blamed by his country’s leadership for the killing of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi, as a consultant.
nytimes.com/2019/08/13/us/…
🔑Banking records show that, months after the first think-tank conference, and days before the second, Nader received the first of two payments of about $5M worth of Emirati currency from an entity controlled by the government of the United Arab Emirates.
nytimes.com/2019/08/13/us/…
“Any payments by the U.A.E. to Mr. Nader had absolutely nothing to do with the conferences or the broader educational initiative,” said Tim McCarten, a lawyer who represents both Nader & Broidy.

📌McCarten declined to specify the purpose of the payments.

nytimes.com/2019/08/13/us/…
🔑The second $5 million payment came months after Mr. Nader began cooperating with prosecutors looking into whether Emirati money was funneled into Mr. Trump’s political operation.
nytimes.com/2019/08/13/us/…
🔑The Justice Department has asked witnesses about the funding of the anti-Qatar campaign, as well as whether foreign money flowed into Mr. Trump’s inaugural.
nytimes.com/2019/08/13/us/…
💰1MDB & UAE💰

Otaiba UAE Ambassador to US

🔑In April, federal prosecutors in Brooklyn issued a subpoena for documents from the inaugural committee naming Mr. Broidy and companies with which he is associated, as well as Mr. Nader.
nytimes.com/2019/08/13/us/…
Among others named were Dragnea, the Angolan politician Sango & Angola’s current president, João Lourenço. Lourenço previously served as the head of the Angolan Defense Ministry, and was also invited by Broidy to attend the inauguration, but did not go.
nytimes.com/2019/08/13/us/…
📌The anti-Qatar advocacy campaign coincided with Trump’s public criticism of Qatar, & his expression of support for Qatar’s rivals, the Emiratis & the Saudis, though his administration attempted to walk back some of the criticism.
nytimes.com/2019/08/13/us/…
🔑Broidy paid $10,000 a month to a Democratic firm, Bluelight Strategies, which worked to harness the center-left to press the administration to be tough on Qatar, according to emails and interviews.
nytimes.com/2019/08/13/us/…
🔑Broidy gave $25,000 to a nonprofit group called the Jewish Institute for National Security of America to write op-eds and host news conferences criticizing Qatar, including with a retired Air Force general, Charles F. Wald.
nytimes.com/2019/08/13/us/…
🔑Another nonprofit listed by Mr. Broidy as part of the advocacy campaign, the American Media Institute, received $240,000 from Broidy in 2017, according to its tax returns.
nytimes.com/2019/08/13/us/…
Mr. Broidy and his allies were in close contact with the group’s staff as it produced articles and op-eds that advanced the interests of his clients and prospective clients.

nytimes.com/2019/08/13/us/…
Including the government of Malaysia, while criticizing their rivals, including Qatar and the Chinese dissident.
nytimes.com/2019/08/13/us/…
I am not sure if the article is referencing Lim Guan Eng or Gao Wengui as “the Chinese dissident.”

Here is info about Lim Guan Eng
washingtonpost.com/world/2018/09/…
🔑In correspondence around the time of the Hudson Institute conference, Mr. Broidy cited Mr. Panetta and General Wald — as well as General McChrystal — as members of Circinus’s team.

🔑The trip came after Mr. McChrystal was offered $100,000 by Mr. Broidy.
nytimes.com/2019/08/13/us/…
🔑General McChrystal acknowledged that he accompanied Mr. Broidy and his team on a trip to the Middle East, where they met with Prince Mohammed bin Zayed in the summer of 2017
nytimes.com/2019/08/13/us/…
🔑McChrystal said he accompanied Mr. Broidy to the UAE because it seemed as if his company was pursuing worthwhile work.

But he said he declined a subsequent offer for a leadership role in the company.
nytimes.com/2019/08/13/us/…
In 2017 Broidy pitched Trump on a plan to recruit a thousands-strong international Muslim army — to be advised by retired Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal — that would help the UAE battle the Taliban and the Islamic State in Afghanistan
huffpost.com/entry/leaked-m…
Mr. Panetta’s office said he “is not and has never been involved in” Mr. Broidy’s business.

nytimes.com/2019/08/13/us/…
📌General Wald said he turned down Mr. Broidy’s invitation to join Circinus because he felt the company’s work was “mercenary,” and because of concerns about Mr. Broidy.

nytimes.com/2019/08/13/us/…
💰Broidy Background

Broidy has been shunned by some GOP post his 2009 fraud scandal, but Trump welcomed him as did the @gopchairwoman when she named him co-chair of the RNC.

His shady past & questionable ethics were apparently a feature not a bug.
nytimes.com/2019/08/13/us/…
🔑Broidy became a top fundraiser for not only the Trump campaign but the inauguration as well.

Campaign fundraisers: Mnuchin + Broidy + Cohen + Barrack

All the best people...🙄

🔑Crown Resort’s James Packer (and Trump pal) now under Fed scrutiny in AU, for money washing & racketeering recommended Mnuchin to Trump.

🔑Trump named Mnuchin as his Trump 2016 Campaign Finance Chair May 2016 & then US Treasury Secretary....
Tom Barrack introduced Kushner ↔️Otaiba ↔️FDD

Adelson ↔️Barrack↔️Trump↔️Manafort

Going back decades

Tom Barrack recommended that Mr. Trump hire Manafort, who rose to campaign chairman before he was fired over a separate foreign lobbying scandal.

#Barrack #Manafort
nytimes.com/2019/07/28/us/…
‼️Excellent Overview re Manafort

Paul Manafort, American Hustler

Decades before he ran the Trump campaign, Paul Manafort’s pursuit of foreign cash and shady deals laid the groundwork for the corruption of Washington.
theatlantic.com/magazine/archi…
March 29, 2016
Manafort, 68, joined the Trump campaign on March 29, 2016, when he was named campaign convention manager for the Republican Party's mid-July gathering in Cleveland.
abcnews.go.com/Politics/timel…
May 19, 2016

📌Manafort was promoted to campaign chairman and chief strategist on May 19, effectively taking full command at that point.
abcnews.go.com/Politics/timel…
Manafort 👉🏼16m loan👉🏼 Steven Calk’s bank👉🏼Lorber & Calk do biz, fight sue 👉🏼$2m s’ment👉🏼Lorber/Witkoff do biz with JhoLow’s booty stolen from #1MDB, JhoLow buys L’Ermitage w/ 1MDB funds from Tom Barrack, Kush gets a cut for 666.

I digressed but wanted to illustrate the connections to so many scandals enveloping Trump’s inner circle.

Back to today’s story:
Broidy enlisted a host of prominent figures to advance the interests of his companies, his clients or his causes.

In addition to General McChrystal, there was the former Trump adviser Stephen K. Bannon;
nytimes.com/2019/08/13/us/…
Former defense secretaries including Robert M. Gates and Leon E. Panetta; David H. Petraeus, the former C.I.A. director; and the longtime diplomat Dennis B. Ross.
nytimes.com/2019/08/13/us/…
They gave paid speeches to groups Broidy was funding, wrote op-eds or advised him, wittingly or unwittingly becoming public faces of his efforts..
nytimes.com/2019/08/13/us/…
🔑The DOJ has been probing, among other issues, whether Broidy violated the law by not registering as an agent of foreign interests at a time when he was promo’g their causes & being paid by them, & whether he was paid w/ laundered money to lobby.

nytimes.com/2019/08/13/us/…
🔑Federal investigators are homing in on the question of whether his involvement with the government of the UAE and the Malaysian financier may have run afoul of FARA.
nytimes.com/2019/08/13/us/…
Investigators are exploring the financial links between Mr. Broidy, the government of the United Arab Emirates and one of that government’s advisers, George Nader.
nytimes.com/2019/08/13/us/…
Nader was paid millions of dollars by the UAE as he was working closely with Broidy on two fronts: to win security and intelligence contracts from the Emirate and Saudi governments, and to direct and fund the campaign in Washington against Qatar.
nytimes.com/2019/08/13/us/…
🔑Other banking records show that the government of the UAE continued to pay Broidy’s company tens of millions of dollars, including a payment of $24 million in late March, even as it became public that prosecutors were looking into his activities.
nytimes.com/2019/08/13/us/…
🔑Officials from one country with which Mr. Broidy has worked, Angola, say they believed his company was being paid to lobby on their behalf, rather than to provide private intelligence services, as Mr. Broidy’s representatives say.
nytimes.com/2019/08/13/us/…
🔑Broidy’s efforts to help his clients in Washington were more extensive than previously known.

Ah, this is why Broidy’s Indictment is so slow in coming, the swamp is deep & vast & well populated with previously unknown or lesser known swamp creatures

nytimes.com/2019/08/13/us/…
They involved not just prominent political figures but also payments to influential think tanks, lobbyists and a nonprofit conservative media outlet that produced articles promoting his clients’ agendas and criticizing their rivals.
nytimes.com/2019/08/13/us/…
Broidy was a key player in the disinfo campaign against Qatar.
Four people Mr. Broidy worked with on business or advocacy efforts have been indicted. Nader, Cohen, Higgenbotham, & Gates.

nytimes.com/2019/08/13/us/…
Broidy resigned as deputy finance chairman of the Republican National Committee last year after it was revealed he had agreed to pay $1.6 million in hush money to a former Playboy model he impregnated, in a deal arranged by Cohen.

nytimes.com/2019/08/13/us/…
He offered to arrange inaugural tickets for politicians from Angola, the Republic of Congo and Romania — countries from which he sought intelligence contracts worth as much as $266 million, documents and interviews show.
nytimes.com/2019/08/13/us/…
Broidy greatly increased his giving to Republicans.

🔑He socialized with Trump at the president’s Mar-a-Lago resort, where he was a member.

I wonder how many Mar-A-Lago Members will end up being indicted...?
nytimes.com/2019/08/13/us/…
🔑Broidy’s company won deals worth more than $200 million from the United Arab Emirates alone. The company established an office there that employs 60 people who compile intelligence reports for the U.A.E. government.
nytimes.com/2019/08/13/us/…
“He [Broidy] was certainly trying to influence the administration to adopt a policy that served his political preference,” Mr. Ross said.

“Was he doing it because it would serve his business interests as well? Presumably yes.”
thedailybeast.com/gop-moneyman-e…
After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Mr. Broidy’s political and business focus turned toward national security in the United States and Israel.

So many TeamTrump players dove into new endeavors post 9/11—a story for another day.
nytimes.com/2019/08/13/us/…
A lot of intersections in the GWB adm too...

In 2006, he was appointed by President George W. Bush, for whom Mr. Broidy had become a top fund-raiser, to a homeland security advisory panel and the Kennedy Center board of trustees.
nytimes.com/2019/08/13/us/…
🔑As the 2016 presidential campaign got underway, Mr. Broidy edged back into high-profile electoral politics, supporting a succession of senators seeking the Republican nomination, including Lindsey Graham, Marco Rubio & Ted Cruz.
nytimes.com/2019/08/13/us/…
💰Inauguration - Broidy

Broidy was a member of the Inaugural Committee.

Broidy helped organize and fund a private breakfast at the Trump International Hotel two days before the inauguration that was attended by 50 to 60 people,

nytimes.com/2019/08/13/us/…
📌The guest list featured officials from Africa, Eastern Europe & Arab nations, as well as Republicans with ties to the incoming adm, including Flynn.
nytimes.com/2019/08/13/us/…
Mr. Broidy teamed with a Nigerian-American entrepreneur to pursue an intelligence contract with the Angolan gov’t An early draft of the deal called for payments of $64M or less over 5 years
nytimes.com/2019/08/13/us/…
🔑He offered to arrange access in Washington for a pair of powerful Angolan officials who had a hand in the contract.
nytimes.com/2019/08/13/us/…
Days before the inauguration, the Angolans paid $6 million to Circinus.

And Mr. Broidy escorted an Angolan official, André de Oliveira João Sango, then the director of external intelligence, to introductory meetings with Republican lawmakers.
motherjones.com/politics/2018/…
Mr. Sango sat at a table adjacent to Mr. Broidy’s at an exclusive “candlelight” donor dinner sponsored by Trump’s inaugural committee and attended by the president-elect, according to another Angolan official.
nytimes.com/2019/08/13/us/…
🔑”It was basically to help assist in approaching the Trump administration,” Lucombo Joaquim Luveia, a counselor at the embassy, said of the payment to Circinus.
nytimes.com/2019/08/13/us/…
🔑The Angolan ambassador at the time, Agostinho Tavares, said his impression was that Mr. Broidy “sold the invitation” to the inaugural to Mr. Sango.
nytimes.com/2019/08/13/us/…
Mr. Luveia said that “all those arrangements were back-channeled between the lobbyist Broidy and the central government, at the presidential level.”

The Angolan president at the time, José Eduardo dos Santos, was replaced last year.
nytimes.com/2019/08/13/us/…
José Filomeno dos Santos, the former head of the oil-rich African nation’s $5 billion sovereign wealth fund, had been detained.

He had been charged earlier with the fraudulent transfer of $500 million from the fund to an account in Britain.
nytimes.com/2018/09/25/wor…
🔑Broidy arranged an impromptu intro to Trump during an informal dinner at the Trump hotel for Liviu Dragnea, now jailed for corruption, then a powerful Romanian parliamentary leader.

#Romania

📌TeamTrump & Romania is another story for another day.
nytimes.com/2019/08/13/us/…
Circinus subsequently competed for Romanian government contracts valued at more than $200 million, according to the Romanian news media and people familiar with the contracting process. But the contracts did not materialize.
nytimes.com/2019/08/13/us/…
Mr. Dragnea, who was facing unrelated corruption charges in Romania at the time of the inauguration, has since been convicted.

And Romanian and American officials have questioned a former Circinus executive in Romania.
nytimes.com/2019/08/13/us/…
Through the transition and the early days of the administration, Broidy entertained discussions about using his newfound influence & connections in Washington to help an array of foreign clients.
nytimes.com/2019/08/13/us/…
After being approached by a lawyer working with Russian executives who were under sanctions, Mr. Broidy devised a plan to try to lift the sanctions in exchange for $11 million — a deal that ultimately was not pursued.
nytimes.com/2019/08/13/us/…
🔑Separately, Mr. Broidy discussed helping to end a Justice Department investigation into Jho Low suspected of embezzling billions of dollars from a Malaysian investment fund. #1MDB
nytimes.com/2019/08/13/us/…
🔑The financier, Low Taek Jho, known as Jho Low, transferred $6 million to the law firm of Mr. Broidy’s wife, Ms. Rosenzweig, to finance the effort, according to a guilty plea for bank fraud by a former DOJ employee in a related case. #Higgenbotham
nytimes.com/2019/08/13/us/…
Allies of Mr. Low also talked with Mr. Broidy about using his connections to force the extradition of a Chinese dissident living in the United States. #GaoWengui
As illustrated above Broidy is perhaps the swampiest swamp creature in a vast & deep swamp filled with other avaricious swamp monsters eager to peddle influence ops to affect US foreign policy to suit the interests of perhaps hostile foreign governments, while long their pockets.
@threadreaderapp unroll please and thank you.

#Broidy

August 14, 2019
*lining not long. 🤷‍♀️
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