Call it yet the latest example of the taxpayer-funded steamroller, called our Just Us Department: a steamroller that can ruin lives during investigations that increase federal prosecutor profiles on their way up the chain. We’re witnessing in real time an underbelly of our government that would’ve been sight unseen had Hillary Clinton won the presidency: the push to enforce the unregistered foreign agent law that many well-connected are even bothered with.
That is, until a few were introduced to the world of candidate-and-now President Donald Trump. They are now an insignificant means to an end for his removal from office.
Michael Flynn pleaded guilty late last year to lying about the subject of conversations he had with high-ranking Russian officials after President Donald Trump won the election, but before he took office. “All along you were an unregistered agent of a foreign country while serving as the national security adviser to the president of the United States,” U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan said at Tuesday’s hearing. “Arguably, that undermines everything that flag over here stands for.”
— Politico, 12/18/18
While the media in-concert shouted-out U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan’s admonishment to Flynn that “You sold your country out”, they’re selectively omitting his “walking back” the statement.
“I made a statement about Mr. Flynn acting as a foreign agent in the White House,” he said. Sullivan added that he realized that was incorrect.
The left, ever since the initial indictment of former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn, has played fast and loose with his being guilty of some form of treason. They kinda’ need (again) to read up on what they talk about before going there.
Whoever, owing allegiance to the United States, levies war against them or adheres to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort within the United States or elsewhere, is guilty of treason and shall suffer death, or shall be imprisoned not less than five years and fined under this title but not less than $10,000; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States.
— 18 U.S. Code § 2381 – Treason
Not sure what war enemy we’re engaged with that Michael Flynn offered aid-and-comfort to but the selective enforcement of the law with regards to “foreign lobbyists” is jacked.
Anyone who’s spent any time in and around Capitol Hill knows that lobbyists bring millions of dollars aimed at politicians in office and those who wannabe. Anyone in the DOJ or FBI need be very wary that those they hassle today could either be placed in the chain of command above them or have the ability to affect their department as a whole or even individually later.
Thus, the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) is widely blown off until something blows up they can’t avoid… or people involved are those federal law enforcement deems worthy of targeting. Collateral human damage under said target is something these prosecutors are callously indifferent to no matter how many lives are damaged.
For the most part, high-profile documented enforcement of FARA can total the number of fingers in less than two hands.
Bijan Kian and Ekim Alptekin are accused in an indictment of conspiring to “covertly and unlawfully” influence U.S. public opinion and politicians, all while concealing that the Turkish government was directing their work. The campaign came during the final months of the 2016 presidential campaign while Flynn was a top surrogate for Trump’s campaign. Both men are charged with conspiracy and acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government. Alptekin is also charged with lying during an interview with the FBI.
— Associated Press, 12/17/18
Had it not been for Flynn’s involvement with Donald Trump, Kian and Alptekin would be living their lives here today just fine.
A Russian gun rights activist pleaded guilty Thursday to conspiring with a senior Russian official to infiltrate the conservative movement in the United States as an agent for the Kremlin from 2015 until her arrest in July. In plea papers, prosecutors agreed to drop a second count against Russian national Maria Butina of violating a law that requires foreigners working for their government to register with the U.S. Justice Department. There is no suggestion in the documents that Butina was employed by the Russian intelligence services, but violations of the law are considered more serious than a separate law that requires registration by paid lobbyists for foreign entities.
— Washington Post, 12/13/18
Had it not been for the shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School and the expected, yet amped-up ire against the NRA, Butina would be living her life here today just fine.
The prosecution of Nisar Ahmed Chaudhry reflects what current and former Justice Department officials say is an aggressive enforcement strategy against unregistered foreign agents that began even before special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation exposed a shadowy world of international influence peddling. The effort comes amid revelations about Russian attempts to meddle in the 2016 presidential election and a stream of high-profile foreign-agent filings from President Donald Trump’s associates.
— US News, 5/22/18
Had it not been for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign defeat and looking for anyone and everyone else to blame, Chaudhry would be living his life here today just fine.
Federal law requires people to disclose to the Justice Department when they lobby or perform other political activities in the U.S. on behalf of foreign governments. But the Justice Department has rarely brought criminal cases, choosing instead to encourage people to comply with the law rather than prosecute them when they fail to do so.
— Firstpost, 5/8/18
Is this another case of fat and comfortable federal employees not doing their job unless it will result in higher pay and greater retirement benefits? The case could be made.
While both firms disclosed the work to Congress under less-rigorous domestic lobbying rules, John and Tony Podesta did not initially register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. The indictment alleges that was done intentionally — by routing the money through a Brussels-based nonprofit — “to minimize public disclosure of their lobbying campaign” that “was under the ultimate direction” of Viktor F. Yanukovych, the Russia-aligned former president of Ukraine, his party and his government.
— New York Times, 11/20/17
There are too many partisans within the Justice Department to ever let any details of Democrat/Clinton malfeasance see the light of day. See: “Uranium One“….
The U.S. government charges Victor Podobnyy, an alleged Russian intelligence operative in New York City and two other Russian operatives for acting as unregistered agents of a foreign government, after it had broken up a Russian spy ring aimed at seeking information on U.S. sanctions. Federal prosecutors include the Russian intelligence effort to recruit Carter Page as part of the government’s evidence.
— Slate, 11/7/17
Had it not been for Carter Page’s low-level position on the Trump for President campaign, Podobnyy would be living his life here today just fine.
“The U.S. Department of Justice has only brought six criminal FARA prosecutions since 1966 and it has secured only one conviction during this period,” said Kevin Downing, Paul Manafort’s defense attorney. “It is far from clear what activity triggers a requirement to file a report as a foreign agent.”
— CNN, 11/6/17
Had it not been for his very brief stint at the helm of the 2016 Trump campaign, Manafort would be living his life today just fine.
New Abedin emails released to Judicial Watch this week show that Huma Abedin served as liaison between Clinton Foundation donors, including foreign governments, and the State Department. When foreign donors had difficult in getting appointments with Mrs. Clinton through normal State Department channels, Clinton Foundation executive Douglas Band would email Huma Abedin, and poof! the doors would open as if by magic. Donald Trump has criticized this as “pay for play.” But it also raises questions as to whether Huma Abedin and Mrs. Clinton were in fact serving as unregistered agents for foreign powers who sought to impose their anti-freedom agenda on the United States.
— The Hill, 8/23/16
Had it not been for her husband’s attention-getting debauchery while having a potential president’s ear, Huma would be living her life today just fine.
And not many of these “unregistered foreign agents” met with much scrutiny during most of the Obama administration.
All 10 suspected Russian spies who pleaded guilty in a federal court in New York have been flown out of the United States and are now headed for Russia. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on July 8 refused to comment on the case, saying, “I am going to refer all inquiry about this matter to the Justice Department.” U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said on July 8 that the “extraordinary” case had taken years of work, “and the agreement we reached today [July 8] provides a successful resolution for the United States and its interests.”
— Radio Free Europe, 7/9/10
They plead guilty and served no jail time, in fact they got to go home. This shows how seriously being an “unregistered foreign agent” is really taken, that is until you have any kind of association with someone Democrats don’t like, if not downright hate.
They’ll use the almost unlimited prosecutorial budget of the federal government to attack your reputation, invade the privacy of your home at their whim, force you to incur hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt to defend yourself in court proceedings, and as you may be that little fish they don’t really want, you may have to spend a few days in jail because of flimsy charges and/or prosecutorial funny business, if at all.
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