Susan Wright on the Right
I’m trying hard to look to a post-Trump future. The next two years are going to be so difficult to get through.
And yes, I just predicted that Trump will not be reelected. At most, he clings to this one and only presidential term by his fingertips, before stepping down and letting his lackey, Mike Pence take the helm, or they’re both voted out.
I understand that Trump’s devoted followers don’t get that there’s another election in 2020 and he won’t be running against Hillary Clinton, this time.
Then again, there’s also the strong possibility that the heat of the ongoing Russia probe becomes much too hot to handle for Trump, as well as his family, and he is carted out in cuffs.
It could happen.
On Monday, CNN allowed documentary filmmaker, Jack Bryan, to discuss his new project about the 2016 election, as well as the interference by the Russian government.
The film is to be called “Active Measures,” and listening to Bryan, it appears that he is prepared to delve deeper than what we’ve been seeing in the headlines since November 2016.
Does the name Semion Mogilevich mean anything to any of you?
I don’t think I’ve heard it before, either, but according to Bryan, he’s an alleged Russian mob boss, described as a “money laundering kingpin.” He has ties to Donald Trump that the filmmaker will attempt to unravel for the viewers.
Bryan said the first indication that Trump got involved with Russian mobsters came in 1984, when he sold five Trump Tower condos to a Russian mobster named David Bogatin, who was later found to be part of a larger scheme that revolved around buying up properties as a way to launder money.
Stories of Trump’s involvement with the Russian mob have been around long before he threw his hat in the ring for the 2016 election. That much I remember. At the time the stories began to circulate, it seemed as if it was one of those issues that was of interest to New York and New Jersey authorities, but not necessarily to the nation, as a whole. I mean, he was just some goofy New York businessman.
In light of his current position, however, it would seem those he’s entangled himself with need a closer look.
According to Bryan, Trump’s involvement with the Russian mob wasn’t a one-and-done affair.
“Throughout the ’90s and early 2000s, he starts getting in debt, starts going through bankruptcies, and it seems that 2004 is really the year that Mogilevich and the Russian mob really make the move,” he said. “People associated with the Russian mafia start working within the Trump Organization, and it changes the dynamic of where the money is coming from.”
Of course, that statement begs the question: What does Bryan mean about the Russian mafia working within the Trump Organization?
CNN’s John Berman asks Bryan to expand on what he’s saying, and he mentions Felix Sater.
Sater is a name we’ve heard before. He’s a Russian-born businessman who lived in Trump Tower, and is somewhat connected to Donald Trump.
In 1998 Sater pleaded guilty to taking part in a mafia-related stock fraud scheme.
“Felix Sater tried to make deals with Donald Trump,” Berman said.
“He not only tried to, he did,” replied Bryan.
Bryan seems to be digging back into what some are calling “ancient history” in Trump’s associations, but is it, really?
While campaigning, Donald Trump promised, then broke his promise to reveal his tax returns.
Showing tax returns isn’t really a requirement, but it’s something done for clarity and full disclosure of who the voters are dealing with. Trump is the first nominee for a major political party to not release his tax returns in four decades (Gerald Ford declined to release his in 1976).
Trump has used a number of excuses for why he won’t release his tax returns: They’re too complicated for anyone to understand. He’s being audited.
None of these are valid reasons, and the IRS has stated that even if he were being audited, there’s no reason not to release his past tax returns.
The more likely reasons to consider are that A) the public will find he’s not nearly as wealthy as he wants the world to believe he is, which would kill the fantasy of Trump as a highly successful businessman and deal maker.
Also, B) they would show who he is indebted to, and exactly where his financing comes from.
That last point is the important one, because Trump is a man with a troubling past, and he’s now sitting in the Oval Office.
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