THREAD: Mueller is probing #Wikistrat (a consulting firm founded by Joel Zamel & Daniel Green in Israel) for their work for the #UAE, as Mueller continues to investigate FOREIGN influence in DC.🤨
Wikistrats' Zamel "informally met" w/Team🇺🇸Mueller👉🏼asked about his business relationship w/Nader, who's a top adviser to UAE Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed & also was close w/Team🇷🇺Trump.
Zamel’s relationship w/Nader is “arms’ length.”🙄2/
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Team🇺🇸Mueller also asked Zamel about his work, including for "certain clients," but the ultimate target of this line of inquiry is "unknown."🤔
If it involves the UAE, then you can bet that Secretary of Everything, Jared KUSHNER, likely is part of this inquiry.😉 3/
UAE hired Wikistrat in 2015 to conduct war game scenarios on Islamist political movements in #Yemen. Saudi Arabia & UAE entered the ongoing Yemen civil war in early'15 "to combat an Islamist insurgency."🤨
In reality, Yemen is a PROXY WAR btwn Sunni (Saudi/UAE) & Shia (Iran)🤔4/
Wikistrat’s work for the UAE later morphed into “intelligence lite”—using local on-the-ground HUMINT to anticipate threats. Zamel recently built a close relationship w/top Emirati national security officials & has held business meetings in the UAE.🤔 5/
Reminder: the UAE & Saudi Arabia lobbied the Trump administration to back its economic blockade of #Qatar, who hosts the US' largest military base in the Middle East.🤨
After Qatar refused to bail out Kush's 666 Fifth Ave building, then Trump backed the Saudi/UAE blockade.🙄 6/
The extent & nature of Zamel’s relationship w/Nader is unclear. A person familiar with the matter said the two have “done some business together.”🤨
Sounds like they're a bit tighter than an "arms' length" relationship‼️ 7/
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During the Trump transition, both Zamel & Nader tried to build relationships w/the incoming Trump administration.🤨
Zamel asked his contacts whether they were close to top officials in the incoming WH, according to the person close to Wikistrat.
In Dec'16, the UAE Crown Prince came to the US w/o telling the Obama administration to meet w/Trump transition officials in NY – this is HIGHLY unusual.🤨
Nader didn’t attend the meeting but greeted UAE officials as they were departing.🙄 9/
Nader also held multiple meetings at the WH , including w/Steve Bannon & Jared Kushner.🤨
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The UAE is a central player in the #TrumpRussia🇷🇺saga. Recall that UAE officials & Nader were involved in the #Seychelles meeting btwn #Russian🇷🇺oligarch, Kirill Dmitriev, & Erik Prince to arrange a secret backchannel btwn Trump & Putin.🙄 11/
Nader allegedly turned top #Republican fundraiser (RNC deputy finance chair) Elliott Broidy into a foreign agent for the UAE👉🏼discussed UAE-related issues w/the WH, a country where Broidy has multi-million dollar business interests.🤨 12/
Now, we have a new player in the #TrumpRussia🇷🇺 swamp, seemingly involved with the UAE angle: #Wikistrats.🤨
It's not yet clear how much Wikistrats is involved in this mess, but what IS clear is that the UAE played a *key* role.
Trump's deputy campaign chair Rick Gates solicited proposals (#felony) from Israeli firm Psy Group to create fake online personas, use social media manipulation & gather intel to help defeat @GOP primary opponents (@tedcruz) & @HillaryClinton🤨1/ nytimes.com/2018/10/08/us/…
Gates wasn't interested in Psy Group b/c other Trump aides oversaw social media. George Nader & Joel Zamel (Psy Group owner) met w/Don Jr & offered to help *THROW THE ELECTION* at an Aug'16 meeting arranged by Erik Prince‼️
George Birnbaum (Arthur Finkelstein protégé/@GOP consultant who worked for Netanyahu & other Israeli officials) initially pitched Gates on using social media influence/manipulation to sway @GOP delegates toward Trump.🤨 3/
🔥@GOP operative Peter Smith raised >$100,000 to pay #Russian🇷🇺hackers to find Clinton’s emails. 10 days after telling his story to the @WSJ, he committed suicide, yet a friend spoke w/him about a new project hours before his death & says he was “excited.” wsj.com/articles/gop-o…
Smith continued his quest for HRC’s emails *after* the US warned of #Russian🇷🇺interference & went to extraordinary lengths to ensure secrecy, communicating via saved DRAFT (unsent) emails in a shared Gmail account.🤨
🔥One sent email said the >$100k in donations were to be sent to a DC-based scholarship fund for **Russian students**👉🏼“This $100k total with the $50k received from you (Smith) will allow us to fund the Washington Scholarship Fund for the Russian students for the promised $150K.”
We Democrats realize that you are in a tough re-election battle, but backing #Kavanaugh only brings you more scorn from the @GOP and erodes your much-needed support from @TheDemocrats base.
Connie Chung to Dr. Ford: “I, too, was sexually assaulted—not 36 years ago but ~50 years ago. I kept my dirty little secret to myself. Silence for 5 decades...The exact date & year are fuzzy. But details of the event are vivid—forever seared in my memory.” washingtonpost.com/amphtml/opinio…
Connie Chung: “Christine, I, too, am terrified as I reveal this publicly. I can’t sleep. I can’t eat. Can you? If you can’t, I understand. I am frightened, I am scared, I can’t even cry.”😰
Chung: “I wish I could forget this truthful event, but I cannot because it is the truth. I am writing to you b/c I know that exact dates, exact years are insignificant. We remember exactly what happened to us & who did it to us. We remember the truth forever.”
Charles Ludington, a former varsity basketball player & friend of #Kavanaugh at @Yale plans to deliver a statement to the @FBI field office in Raleigh on Monday detailing **violent drunken behavior** by Kavanaugh in college. 1/
Ludington says #Kavanaugh initiated a fight that led to the ARREST of a friend: “When Brett got drunk, he was often belligerent & aggressive...” 2/
“On one of the last occasions I purposely socialized with Brett, I witnessed him respond to a semi-hostile remark, not by defusing the situation, but by throwing his beer in the man’s face and starting a fight that ended with one of our mutual friends in jail.”😳 3/
Rod Rosenstein suggested last year that he secretly record Trump to expose "chaos" consuming the administration & discussed recruiting cabinet members to invoke the #25thAmendment.
Will Trump use this as an excuse to fire Rosenstein⁉️
Rosenstein made his remarks about the #25thAmendment & secretly recording Trump in meetings & conversations w/other DOJ & FBI officials. Several people (briefed either on the events themselves or on memos written by FBI officials, including McCabe) described the episodes.🤨
Rosenstein reportedly told McCabe that he might be able to persuade Jeff Sessions & John Kelly to mount an effort to invoke the #25thAmendment.
All of these incidents allegedly occurred around the time that @Comey was fired. Rosenstein was very distressed & felt he was used.🤔