THUG: Tony Podesta Threatens Tucker Carlson After Bombshell Report On Russian Influence Peddling

from Zero Hedge:

Tony Podesta sent a Cease and Decist letter to “Tucker Carlson Tonight” hours after resigning from his role at the Podesta Group – a D.C. lobbying firm accused by a former executive of pedaling Russian influence along with fellow lobbyist and short-lived Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort.

Manfort was indicted over the weekend on 12 counts ranging from tax fraud, money laundering and giving false statements between 2006 and 2015, and is currently under house arrest after turning himself over to the FBI Monday morning – fueling speculation as to whether Tony Podesta’s sudden departure from his firm is connected.

Of note, Monday’s indictment lists “Company A” and “Company B” as firms involved in the investigation – which NBC reports are the Podesta Group and DC public relations firm Mercury Public Affairs.

Last week Carlson reported that Tony Podesta is a central figure in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. Directly after his report, Carlson’s show was contacted by a former long-time executive of the Podesta Group with “direct personal knowledge” of Tony Podesta’s questionable activities, which Carlson divulged the next evening.

While the nature of Podesta’s threat has not been made public, Carlson later tweeted “We’re confident the Mueller probe will reveal a lot more about Tony Podesta’s lobbying practices in the near future.”

To review:

After meeting with the former Podesta Group executive who has been “extensively” interviewed by Robert Mueller’s Special Counsel, Tucker Carlson Tonight relayed several highly troubling aspects of the Tony Podesta’s relationship with business associate and fellow lobbyist, Paul Manafort.

According to the former Podesta Group executive, Manafort and Tony Podesta were running a Russian influence-peddling racket up and down Washington D.C., bringing a “parade” of Russian oligarchs to congress for meetings. Podesta was also “Basically part of the Clinton Foundation,” meeting regularly to discuss the now-infamous Uranium One deal.

Highlights, as previously reported (video below):

• Lobbyist and temporary Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort is at the center of the Russia probe – however the scope of the investigation has broadened to include his activities prior to the 2016 election.
• Manafort worked with the Podesta Group since at least 2011 on behalf of Russian interests, and was at the Podesta Group offices “all the time, at least once a month,” peddling Russian influence through a shell group called the European Centre for a Modern Ukraine (ECMU).
• Manafort brought a “parade” of Russian oligarchs to congress for meetings with members and their staffs, however, the Russia’s “central effort” was the Obama Administration.
• In 2013, John Podesta recommended that Tony hire David Adams, Hillary Clinton’s chief adviser at the State Department, giving them a “direct liaison” between the group’s Russian clients and Hillary Clinton’s State Department.
• In late 2013 or early 2014, Tony Podesta and a representative for the Clinton Foundation met to discuss how to help Uranium One – the Russian owned company that controls 20 percent of American Uranium Production – and whose board members gave over $100 million to the Clinton Foundation.
• “Tony Podesta was basically part of the Clinton Foundation.”
• Believing she would win the 2016 election, Russia considered the Podesta Group’s connection to Hillary highly valuable.
• Podesta Group is a nebulous organization with no board oversight and all financial decisions made by Tony Podesta. Carlson’s source said payments and kickbacks could be hard for investigators to trace, describing it as a “highly secret treasure trove.” One employee’s only official job was to manage Tony Podesta’s art collection, which could be used to conceal financial transactions.

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