Thread by @RickPetree

@TepiZep @PollyCHaag On TT payments, anything beyond the single digit millions that NYT reported he’s received over 5-10 yr period would be outside his contract with Dogan Group and I don’t see that as a feasible mechanism.+

@TepiZep @PollyCHaag On other possible mechanisms, you start with the fact that the Turkish presidency has a very large “dark” (not publicly disclosed or audited) slush fund, ostensibly to be used for secret nat’l sec purposes.+

@TepiZep @PollyCHaag You would also have to take notice of the complex network of offshore companies, revealed in the so called Black Sea papers, operated by members of Erdogan’s family and close associates.+

@TepiZep @PollyCHaag Those companies are likely channeling at least part of Erdogan’s own ill gotten gains, but might also be a means of flowing payments to Trump or others “on the pad.”+

@TepiZep @PollyCHaag Erdogan’s son, Bilal, is believed to have been involved in illicitly trading oil from ISIS-controlled parts of northern Syria, with much of the oil destined for Israel. That money allegedly flowed thru the hidden network of offshore companies.+

@TepiZep @PollyCHaag Other possible sources of money to bribe foreign officials are too numerous to mention. Erdogan is alleged to have a personal stake in many state owned companies, like Turkish Airways, cloaked, some say, as Qatari investments (Qatar is said to manage partnof Erdogan’s wealth).+

@TepiZep @PollyCHaag Qatar, for example, just bought 10% of the Istanbul stock exchange.+

@TepiZep @PollyCHaag Remember, too, the reason Erdogan went to such lengths to bury the Zarrab and Halkbank cases: he feared the evidence might implicate him, personally, in the illicit oil for gold trading scheme. It’s believed Erdogan and those near him took hundreds of millions of dollars.+

@TepiZep @PollyCHaag So, bottom line, if Erdogan wanted to bribe Trump, he had the ways and means of doing so. That said, we don’t know the specifics and can only speculate.