This is getting real good.
ABC News has now followed up with the Trump campaign about their report on his ties to the the Russian government, the Russian Oligarchy, a business associate with ties to the Russian Mafia and Carter Page’s dealings with Putin government officials as well.
Of course, the Trump campaign denied knowing these people, but ABC News was able to show that Trump’s “world’s greatest memory” was indeed just more lies.
The Trump campaign denies that Carter Page has a position in the campaign and yet, Trump names Page as one of his foreign policy advisors during a Washington Post opinion staff interview in March of this year. US Intel is looking into Page’s dealings with Putin government officials.
Donald Trump, a man who once boasted having “the world's greatest memory,” has suddenly forgotten the role that was to be played by a controversial businessman he named to help guide his foreign policy.
“He has no role,” said Steven Cheung, the campaign’s director of rapid response, when ABC News asked about the report. “We are not aware of any of his activities, past or present.”
Back in March, in a recorded meeting with The Washington Post editorial board, Trump named Page as one of five members of his foreign policy team. Page, a former energy executive in Russia, described himself an expert on the Caspian Sea region and economic development in former Soviet states.
RYAN: Thank you… We’ve heard you’re going to be announcing your foreign policy team shortly… Any you can share with us?
TRUMP: Well, I hadn’t thought of doing it, but if you want I can give you some of the names… Walid Phares, who you probably know, PhD, adviser to the House of Representatives caucus, and counter-terrorism expert; Carter Page, PhD; George Papadopoulos, he’s an energy and oil consultant, excellent guy; the Honorable Joe Schmitz, [former] inspector general at the Department of Defense; [retired] Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg; and I have quite a few more. But that’s a group of some of the people that we are dealing with. We have many other people in different aspects of what we do, but that’s a representative group.
This one is even more troubling.
Trump has associated with and done business with a convicted felon, with reputed ties to the Russian Mafia and once again "the world’s greatest memory” has a difficult time remembering he did business with Russian businessman Felix H. Sater.
"Senior Advisor to Donald Trump.”Sater had appeared in photos with Trump and carried a Trump Organization business card with the title “Senior Advisor to Donald Trump.” Sater had played a role in a number of high-profile Trump-branded projects across the country. Garten said at the time that Sater was not actually an advisor to Trump and that it was common practice in the real estate industry to provide business cards and bestow titles “in order for brokers to be able to make initial introductions.”
Sater was also a twice-convicted felon who served prison time and had documented Russian mafia connections.
In 2013, when Trump was asked under oath about his dealings with Sater, Trump acknowledged he had interacted with the man in the past but said, "if he were sitting in the room right now, I really wouldn't know what he looked like."
Wouldn't know what Sater looked like? It appears, from the photos below, Donald Trump knew Felix H. Sater quite well.
Donald Trump is deposed under oath during a civil lawsuit in November 2013.From ABC’s December 2015 news report:
Trump and Sater can be seen together in photographs attending a Denver business conference in 2005, and the two men posed on stage together at the 2007 launch party for the Trump SoHo Hotel and Condominium project. And in 2010, according to Trump’s lawyer, Sater was provided business cards by the Trump Organization identifying him as a “senior advisor" to Trump.
Sater has declined repeated requests for an interview, citing the advice of his attorney. But he has not been shy about posting items online touting his ties to Trump. On his website, he called the Trump SoHo his “most prized project.” For years he identified himself on his online resume at the LinkedIn website as having been a "senior advisor" to Trump in 2010-2011. Last month, after ABC News asked Trump’s attorney about it, that portion of Sater’s online resume was deleted.
Donald Trump exits the Budweiser Events Center after talking at the Bixpo 2005 convention in Loveland, Colo., Sept. 14, 2005. Felix Sater appears in the red tie on Trump's left. Donald Trump, highlighted left, stands with Felix Sater, highlighted right, at the Trump SoHo Launch Party on Sept. 19, 2007 in New York. Highlights added by ABC news.Trump’s ties with the Putin government, the Russian Oligarchy and shady figures like Sater are very deep folks. This isn't something to take lightly, since a Trump presidency would compromise our Russian foreign policy for Trump’s own gain.
Trump and his campaign team are lying and it’s good to see ABC News following up and calling them out. Let’s hope we see more of this kind of reporting.