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(SEAN HANNITY) This thread is the worldwide debut of a new Proof of Corruption excerpt. I hope you'll RETWEET it, as Hannity—Trump's shadow chief of staff—has questions he must answer. Links to preorder the book are in my bio and the next tweet. And yes—the picture below is real.
PREORDER/ Proof of Corruption is out 9/8, and can be preordered—hardcover, ebook, or audio—below. More preorder links are at the Macmillan website. Kirkus Reviews calls it "careful and exhaustive...a strong case for Trump's outsized, boundless corruption." https://www.amazon.com/dp/1250272998?tag=macsupaduinstalpa-20
NOTE/ This excerpt has many endnotes; I've removed them for clarity. As with prior direct-to-twitter excepts—all now available at Macmillan (see link below for an index)—I'll use "¶" for paragraph breaks, "§" for section breaks, and "
" for key passages. http://www.sethabramson.net
" for key passages. http://www.sethabramson.net
NOTE2/ As with last week's Erik Prince excerpt, this excerpt covers a lot of ground; it includes Hannity but also much more. Don't be surprised if it goes to both Ukraine (
) and Iran (
) and covers both Kremlin disinformation (
) and Trumpist anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.
) and Iran () and covers both Kremlin disinformation () and Trumpist anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.
BACKGROUND/ Sean Hannity has secretly been Trump's top policy adviser for years, speaking to him—and other Trump agents—several times daily. But he hasn't been seriously questioned as a Trump collaborator—though he has evidence critical to ongoing federal criminal investigations.
EXCERPT/ "In November 2019, deputy assistant secretary of state George Kent testifies to Congress that Trump considers the 'CrowdStrike' conspiracy theory to be almost entirely about Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden—the former the Democrats' 2016 presidential nominee, the latter...
...a leading 2020 Democratic contender. Trump 'wanted nothing less than for President Zelensky () to go to a microphone in 2019 and say "investigations," "Biden," and "Clinton,"' Kent tells a joint session of three House committees. () By January 2020, Trump's obsession...
) to go to a microphone in 2019 and say "investigations," "Biden," and "Clinton,"' Kent tells a joint session of three House committees. () By January 2020, Trump's obsession...
...with proving wrongdoing by Clinton will appear to have been a fruitless pursuit, as U.S. attorney John Huber wraps up a years-long, Jeff Sessions–ordered investigation of the Clinton Foundation having 'found nothing worth pursuing.' ()
{¶}
Trump wants more than just...
){¶}
Trump wants more than just...
...Clinton and Biden investigations from Zelensky, however. A third sensitive and potentially politically lucrative investigation centers on another name at the heart of the 2016 election: Paul Manafort. Approximately 60 days after Trump first publicly promotes the CrowdStrike...
...disinformation provided to his team by [Russian intelligence officer Konstantin] Kilimnik via Manafort, his attorney Rudy Giuliani travels to Kyiv [in June 2017] to meet with Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko and Ukraine's new prosecutor general, Yuri Lutsenko. ()
)
Poroshenko () is angling at the time for a visit to the White House; he ends up getting a visit in Kyiv with Giuliani instead, perhaps in part, the New Yorker intimates, because 'Trump was convinced that an unproven conspiracy theory that had circulated on Fox News and other...
) is angling at the time for a visit to the White House; he ends up getting a visit in Kyiv with Giuliani instead, perhaps in part, the New Yorker intimates, because 'Trump was convinced that an unproven conspiracy theory that had circulated on Fox News and other...
...conservative media outlets was true: Ukraine, under Poroshenko, had intervened against him in the 2016 American Presidential campaign."
{¶}
The 'intervention' here imagined involves Manafort and the 'black ledger'—a physical ledger of alleged kickbacks paid to Manafort...
{¶}
The 'intervention' here imagined involves Manafort and the 'black ledger'—a physical ledger of alleged kickbacks paid to Manafort...
...in Ukraine—rather than either Clinton or Biden. Indeed, within 24 hours of the Giuliani-Poroshenko-Lutsenko meeting [in June 2017], during which the three men, according to Giuliani and Poroshenko, discuss Ukraine's disadvantageous military positioning vis-à-vis Russia and...
...Kyiv's need for aid, 'Lutsenko's office joins an existing investigation into the "black ledger"'; the investigation 'had previously been handled only by Ukraine's independent National Anti-Corruption Bureau.' () After Poroshenko puts Manafort's case under Lutsenko's thumb...
) After Poroshenko puts Manafort's case under Lutsenko's thumb...
...'critics allege the new move was meant to bury the Manafort scandal.'
{¶}
Just five days after this development in the Ukrainian Manafort investigations, reports emerge that Trump has agreed to meet with Poroshenko. () Six days later, the two in fact meet, an event that...
{¶}
Just five days after this development in the Ukrainian Manafort investigations, reports emerge that Trump has agreed to meet with Poroshenko. (
) Six days later, the two in fact meet, an event that...
...New York Magazine calls 'either a direct trade [of action in the Manafort case for a Trump-Poroshenko meeting], or an exchange of mutually beneficial actions that coincidentally occurred in very rapid succession.' That Trump is still suspicious of Poroshenko at the time...
...of his first meeting with him is suggested by the fact that, as the New Yorker notes, Poroshenko 'failed to arrange an official White House visit,' getting instead a 'brief "drop in" encounter' in June 2017 that 'had been without any of the fanfare usually rolled out...
...for visiting heads of state.'
{¶}
Tellingly—given how events will unfold between Trump, Vice President Pence, and new Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky in 2019 (see chapters 23, 25, 33)—in the midst of the 12-day period in 2017 in which a 'trade' or 'exchange' occurs...
{¶}
Tellingly—given how events will unfold between Trump, Vice President Pence, and new Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky in 2019 (see chapters 23, 25, 33)—in the midst of the 12-day period in 2017 in which a 'trade' or 'exchange' occurs...
...between Trump and the Poroshenko administration, White House press secretary Sean Spicer briefly intimates that Ukraine's president may only earn a meeting with Pence rather than Trump. In 2019, as Giuliani is again, in his own words, 'meddling' in a Ukrainian investigation...
...and dangling as a reward for actions taken in Kyiv beneficial to Trump a face-to-face meeting between Trump and the Ukrainian president, Trump will in fact pull a switch and offer Ukraine's President Zelensky a meeting with Pence, instead. Poroshenko, asked in 2019 about...
...his mid-2017 meeting with Giuliani, will reveal that the two men discussed 'political support and investment,' leaving open the possibility, given his oddly precise insistence that he never spoke to 'U.S. officials' about 'Ukrainian commercial companies,' that in June 2017...
...he had indeed been discussing that topic with Giuliani, who is not a U.S. official. As for Manafort, Politico indicates he was still corresponding with Trump through at least March 2017—90 days before Giuliani apparently influenced a change in the status of Manafort's cases...
...in Ukraine—and speaking to influential members of the Trump administration through at least February 2018. Even if direct Trump-Manafort contacts had indeed subsided by mid-2017, subsequent evidence, in the form of text messages disclosed by a federal court, reveals that...
...Manafort was in regular, "cozy" communication with one of Trump's top domestic policy advisers outside the administration, Sean Hannity, from at least July 2017 through June 2018—a period beginning shortly after Giuliani's trip to Kyiv to meet Poroshenko. ()
[NB: Hannity...
)[NB: Hannity...
...was found to have exchanged hundreds of messages with Manafort during this period. Per NBC News, Hannity offered Manafort face-to-face "strategy" meetings—which of course wouldn't be recorded. The odds Trump used Hannity to pass messages here, as elsewhere, is very high.]
{¶}
{¶}
"According to Politico, Manafort's ongoing conversations with Trump and his political team in 2017 and 2018 weren't merely of a personal nature. Indeed, the digital media outlet reports that among the topics Manafort discussed with members of Trump's political operation were...
...his fear that the Russia investigation could pose significant problems for those in Trump's orbit. More troublingly, per Politico, Manafort attempted to push a new conspiracy theory about the Russia investigation into Trump's inner circle: that the Steele dossier...
...—which addressed Manafort's alleged receipt of 'kickbacks' in Ukraine and was shared with the FBI in summer 2016—'was tainted...by the motivations of the people who initiated it, whom he alleged were Democratic activists and donors working in cahoots with Ukrainian...
...government officials.' () [NB: This is false. Steele's research on Trump's dealings in Russia was initiated in 2015 by GOP donors to Trump's primary opponents—and when later financed by Democratic entities did not involve Ukrainian government officials' aid in any capacity.]
) [NB: This is false. Steele's research on Trump's dealings in Russia was initiated in 2015 by GOP donors to Trump's primary opponents—and when later financed by Democratic entities did not involve Ukrainian government officials' aid in any capacity.]
Manafort's claim that Steele was biased against the Trumps will be significantly undercut when the Washington Post reports that Steele is in fact 'a personal friend' of Trump's daughter Ivanka, and that indeed Trump and the Trump Organization had trusted Steele and his work...
...sufficiently that they considered offering him a job early in the 2010s.
{¶}
In May 2017, Politico reports on a January 2017 phone call by Manafort to the White House. According to the report, Manafort speaks to Trump's chief of staff, Reince Priebus, who thereafter...
{¶}
In May 2017, Politico reports on a January 2017 phone call by Manafort to the White House. According to the report, Manafort speaks to Trump's chief of staff, Reince Priebus, who thereafter...
...relays the content of the conversation to Trump. Other discussions between Manafort and Trump advisers may likewise have been recounted for the president; of the content of such other conversations Politico notes that Manafort is known to have discussed, with Trump allies...
...other than Priebus, 'the possibility of launching a countervailing investigation into efforts by Ukrainian government officials who allegedly worked in conjunction with allies of Trump's Democratic rival Hillary Clinton to damage Trump's campaign...Manafort saw such an...
...investigation as a way to distract attention from the parallel FBI and congressional Russia probes.' ()
{¶}
That the sort of Ukrainian gambit Trump would be impeached for in late 2019 was conceived in 2017 by his soon-to-be-indicted-and-convicted former campaign chief...
){¶}
That the sort of Ukrainian gambit Trump would be impeached for in late 2019 was conceived in 2017 by his soon-to-be-indicted-and-convicted former campaign chief...
...—a man confirmed by the Mueller Report to have colluded with Kremlin agents—sheds new light on Trump's dealings with Ukraine not just in 2019 but in 2017 and 2018 as well.
{§}
As Giuliani is spreading disinformation about U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch (
)...
{§}
As Giuliani is spreading disinformation about U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch (
)...
...in the Washington Post in 2019, he is simultaneously telling CNN that [Hungarian-American Holocaust survivor] George Soros () is behind a conspiracy involving the 'black ledger.' Giuliani alleges, without evidence, that an anti-corruption nonprofit in Ukraine called AntAC...
![...in the Washington Post in 2019, he is simultaneously telling CNN that [Hungarian-American Holocaust survivor] George Soros () is behind a conspiracy involving the 'black ledger.' Giuliani alleges, without evidence, that an anti-corruption nonprofit in Ukraine called AntAC...](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EgXxVShVAAEkXo1.jpg "...in the Washington Post in 2019, he is simultaneously telling CNN that [Hungarian-American Holocaust survivor] George Soros () is behind a conspiracy involving the 'black ledger.' Giuliani alleges, without evidence, that an anti-corruption nonprofit in Ukraine called AntAC...")
) is behind a conspiracy involving the 'black ledger.' Giuliani alleges, without evidence, that an anti-corruption nonprofit in Ukraine called AntAC...
...'took funding from a Soros philanthropy' and that—in repayment—AntAC decided to 'fabricate evidence against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort' in mid-2016. Giuliani adds, in an interview with Trump adviser Sean Hannity on Fox News, that unnamed Ukrainians...
...'brought him substantial evidence of Ukrainian collusion with Clinton, the DNC, Soros and Soros' company.' Giuliani does not reveal the evidence to Hannity or FNC viewers.
[NB: The book establishes Giuliani's conspiracy theory as false, anti-Semitic, and enabled by Hannity.]
![...'brought him substantial evidence of Ukrainian collusion with Clinton, the DNC, Soros and Soros' company.' Giuliani does not reveal the evidence to Hannity or FNC viewers.[NB: The book establishes Giuliani's conspiracy theory as false, anti-Semitic, and enabled by Hannity.]](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EgXyEIuVoAIcnXQ.jpg "...'brought him substantial evidence of Ukrainian collusion with Clinton, the DNC, Soros and Soros' company.' Giuliani does not reveal the evidence to Hannity or FNC viewers.[NB: The book establishes Giuliani's conspiracy theory as false, anti-Semitic, and enabled by Hannity.]")
[NB: The book establishes Giuliani's conspiracy theory as false, anti-Semitic, and enabled by Hannity.]
{¶}
Giuliani's allegations against Soros have appeared in a John Solomon article in The Hill, its content having been coordinated, per NBC, with Trump legal advisers Joe diGenova and Victoria Toensing ()
[NB: Solomon also leaked articles to Hannity, as discussed in the book.]
![{¶}Giuliani's allegations against Soros have appeared in a John Solomon article in The Hill, its content having been coordinated, per NBC, with Trump legal advisers Joe diGenova and Victoria Toensing ()[NB: Solomon also leaked articles to Hannity, as discussed in the book.]](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EgXyWAbUMAEBp5I.jpg "{¶}Giuliani's allegations against Soros have appeared in a John Solomon article in The Hill, its content having been coordinated, per NBC, with Trump legal advisers Joe diGenova and Victoria Toensing ()[NB: Solomon also leaked articles to Hannity, as discussed in the book.]")
Giuliani's allegations against Soros have appeared in a John Solomon article in The Hill, its content having been coordinated, per NBC, with Trump legal advisers Joe diGenova and Victoria Toensing (
)[NB: Solomon also leaked articles to Hannity, as discussed in the book.]
In November 2019, diGenova declares on Fox News, without evidence, that Soros 'wants to run Ukraine' and 'controls a very large part' of not only the U.S. diplomatic corps and the contingent of FBI agents assigned by the Bureau to work on Ukraine policy, but also an unstated...
...number of other FBI agents around the world.
[NB: DiGenova's vile, anti-Semitic rant on Fox News caused national controversy. One topic in the book is the concerted effort by Trump's team—including Hannity and Trump's lawyers—to spread anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.]
{§}
[NB: DiGenova's vile, anti-Semitic rant on Fox News caused national controversy. One topic in the book is the concerted effort by Trump's team—including Hannity and Trump's lawyers—to spread anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.]
{§}
After Solomon () publishes, with the aid of at least 3 members of Trump's legal team, his interview with Yuri Lutsenko, Giuliani, per ProPublica, publicly praises them. Trump himself does so as well, declaring that Solomon 'deserves a Pulitzer Prize'—without mentioning, too...
) publishes, with the aid of at least 3 members of Trump's legal team, his interview with Yuri Lutsenko, Giuliani, per ProPublica, publicly praises them. Trump himself does so as well, declaring that Solomon 'deserves a Pulitzer Prize'—without mentioning, too...
...that several members of his advisory corps, including his personal lawyer, helped coordinate Solomon's report-like op-eds over a period of weeks and even months. Solomon's interview and subsequent columns are thereafter championed by longtime Trump adviser Sean Hannity.
{§}
{§}
On April 25, 2019, Trump appears on his domestic policy adviser Sean Hannity's FNC show. Hannity leads with Ukraine, referencing Solomon's interview with Lutsenko () from a month earlier. Trump says that 'big, big stuff' is happening in Ukraine, referencing his April 21 call...
) from a month earlier. Trump says that 'big, big stuff' is happening in Ukraine, referencing his April 21 call...
...with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky (). When Hannity falsely alleges that Ukraine 'is offering evidence to the U.S." that "they [the Ukrainian government] colluded on behalf of Hillary Clinton's campaign in 2016,' Trump says that America needs to see the evidence...
![...with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky (). When Hannity falsely alleges that Ukraine 'is offering evidence to the U.S." that "they [the Ukrainian government] colluded on behalf of Hillary Clinton's campaign in 2016,' Trump says that America needs to see the evidence...](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EgX0ChXU4AMhB9D.jpg "...with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky (). When Hannity falsely alleges that Ukraine 'is offering evidence to the U.S.\" that \"they [the Ukrainian government] colluded on behalf of Hillary Clinton's campaign in 2016,' Trump says that America needs to see the evidence...")
). When Hannity falsely alleges that Ukraine 'is offering evidence to the U.S." that "they [the Ukrainian government] colluded on behalf of Hillary Clinton's campaign in 2016,' Trump says that America needs to see the evidence...
...and adds, referencing Barr, that 'I'd imagine he'd want to see this evidence. People have been saying—this whole concept of Ukraine—they've been talking about it actually for a long time.'
[NB: Trump refers to—but doesn't name—Manafort and Russian intel officer Kilimnik ()]
![...and adds, referencing Barr, that 'I'd imagine he'd want to see this evidence. People have been saying—this whole concept of Ukraine—they've been talking about it actually for a long time.'[NB: Trump refers to—but doesn't name—Manafort and Russian intel officer Kilimnik ()]](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EgX0UU1VAAgx4zs.jpg "...and adds, referencing Barr, that 'I'd imagine he'd want to see this evidence. People have been saying—this whole concept of Ukraine—they've been talking about it actually for a long time.'[NB: Trump refers to—but doesn't name—Manafort and Russian intel officer Kilimnik ()]")
[NB: Trump refers to—but doesn't name—Manafort and Russian intel officer Kilimnik (
)]
{§}
In January 2020, after 'Trump boasts that he had taken out an American enemy [Iranian general Qasem Soleimani],' the New York Times observes that the 'confusion' caused by Trump's actions led to 'a Ukrainian civilian passenger jet being destroyed by an Iranian missile...
![{§} In January 2020, after 'Trump boasts that he had taken out an American enemy [Iranian general Qasem Soleimani ],' the New York Times observes that the 'confusion' caused by Trump's actions led to 'a Ukrainian civilian passenger jet being destroyed by an Iranian missile...](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EgX00u6U4Acdcsv.jpg "{§} In January 2020, after 'Trump boasts that he had taken out an American enemy [Iranian general Qasem Soleimani ],' the New York Times observes that the 'confusion' caused by Trump's actions led to 'a Ukrainian civilian passenger jet being destroyed by an Iranian missile...")
In January 2020, after 'Trump boasts that he had taken out an American enemy [Iranian general Qasem Soleimani
],' the New York Times observes that the 'confusion' caused by Trump's actions led to 'a Ukrainian civilian passenger jet being destroyed by an Iranian missile...
...killing 176 people.' As to whether this deadly 'confusion' can be tied to information coming from Trump or his immediate political circle, it is worth observing that in the hour before the Ukrainian airliner was downed, top Trump adviser Sean Hannity was on his...
...internationally televised Fox News program announcing that 'if you work in an Iranian refinery, you might want to start a new job—I'd start *now*...[because Iran's] three major refineries could soon go up in flames. Their illicit nuclear sites may finally be annihilated...
...and the mullahs of Iran, well, they may want to...keep a watchful eye on the sky tonight as they look from their bunkers—where I'm sure they are hiding. Powerful US military forces...are in position tonight. We can report that six B-52 bombers are on their way to the region...
...[and] multiple carrier groups are already within striking distance. And, in a show of force, 52 of the world's most advanced aircraft, the F-35, launched in succession at a US military base. Because of the escalating aggression from this rogue terrorist regime in Iran...
...the United States is prepared...for conflict.' Hannity doesn't reveal the source for this report on America's imminent military plans in Iran (); it has been noted before, however, that Hannity and Trump speak 'several times a day.' The Arizona Republic subsequently calls...
); it has been noted before, however, that Hannity and Trump speak 'several times a day.' The Arizona Republic subsequently calls...
...the Trump adviser's false claims—all coming during an hour of peak tension between the United States and Iran—'threats' against the Iranian regime." ()
Proof of Corruption is out in 13 days. You can preorder it now. The Amazon preorder link is here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1250272998?tag=macsupaduinstalpa-20
)Proof of Corruption is out in 13 days. You can preorder it now. The Amazon preorder link is here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1250272998?tag=macsupaduinstalpa-20
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