Democratic lobbyist Tony Podesta made about $1 million last year lobbying the Biden White House on behalf of Chinese tech giant Huawei.
Financial disclosure forms released last week show that Podesta made $500,000 in the fourth quarter of 2021 lobbying the “Executive Office of the President” on “Issues related to telecommunication services and impacted trade issues,” according to the <a href="https://nypost.com/2022/01/21/tony-podesta-made-1m-lobbying-biden-wh-for-chinas-huawei-telecom-firm/">New York Post</a>. That sum is in addition to another $500,000 Podesta disclosed in the third quarter of 2021 for lobbying President Joe Biden on behalf of Huawei.
When asked about Podesta’s lobbying in October, the White House pointed out that the Chinese tech giant is still under U.S. sanctions.
“President Biden and this administration believe digital infrastructure equipment made by untrustworthy vendors, like Huawei, pose a threat to the security of the U.S., our allies, and our partners. Export controls against Huawei remain in place,” a White House official <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/21/huawei-paid-tony-podesta-500000-to-lobby-white-house.html">said</a> at the time.
“We are committed to using the full range of our tools to keep us and our allies secure,” the official added. “We are engaging with all of our partners and allies on the risks posed by Huawei and dozens of countries and carriers have made the decision to exclude Huawei from their 5G networks. And we expect this trend to continue.”
Podesta was a K Street titan in Washington, D.C., until his lobbying firm, the Podesta Group, crashed in 2017 as he faced federal investigation. Podesta originally launched the firm in 1988 alongside his brother, John, who served as Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign chairman.
Through his lobbying firm, Podesta has been a Democratic power broker in the nation’s capital for decades. His reputation took a hit when his connections to Paul Manafort, Donald Trump’s former campaign manager, were revealed through the course of ex-special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into the Russian collusion conspiracy of Trump’s 2016 campaign.
Podesta was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/chinese-tech-giant-hires-democratic-lobbyist-tony-podesta-to-warm-relations-with-biden">revealed</a> to have been hired by Huawei to lobby the Biden administration in July. The Chinese tech giant has retained a number of lobbying firms in D.C. to plead its case to lawmakers as U.S.-China tensions have increased in recent years. Huawei has also hired consulting firm belonging to former GOP congressman Lee Terry, attorney Stephen Binhak, and former GOP aide Glenn LeMunyon.
As China has grown increasingly hostile with its takeover of Hong Kong and threatening posture toward Taiwan, Huawei’s reputation in the U.S. has crumbled. In February, the Department of Justice charged the Chinese tech giant with violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.
Huawei has also struggled internationally. In July 2020, the U.K. <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/07/14/boris-johnson-huawei-5g-360688">banned</a> the tech giant from working on expanding the British 5G network over security concerns.
“We have to have confidence in the security and resilience of the infrastructure on which [new technologies] are built,” British Secretary of State for Digital Oliver Dowden told the U.K. House of Commons at the time.

Tony Podesta

Democratic Power Broker Rakes In $1M Lobbying Biden White House For Chinese Tech Giant

Anthony Podesta

China

Joe Biden

Chinese technology company Huawei reportedly tapped Democratic mega-lobbyist Tony Podesta to help them appeal to the Biden administration.
Podesta — the founder of Podesta Group and the brother of Hillary Clinton campaign chair John Podesta — faced <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/justice-department-ends-investigation-tony-podesta-vin-weber-without-charges-n1058306">investigation</a> for violating foreign lobbying laws while working with a Ukrainian organization linked to former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, although his firm was never charged.
A report from <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2021/07/23/huawei-hires-tony-podesta-500649">Politico</a> explains:
<blockquote>Huawei is hiring Democratic lobbyist Tony Podesta as a consultant, according to two people familiar with the matter. Podesta will aim to help the controversial Chinese telecom giant warm relations with the Biden administration.
Huawei is not Podesta’s first major China client. Disclosure forms show that his former company also represented the China-United States Exchange Foundation (CUSEF), which funds a host of activities in the U.S. The University of Texas at Austin in 2018 rejected a funding offer from the foundation because of concerns about its links to the Chinese Communist Party.</blockquote>
Indeed, Huawei has embarked upon a massive effort to enlist lobbyists from both sides of the aisle:
<blockquote>In addition to Podesta, Huawei recently hired several other representatives: the consulting firm of Lee Terry, a former Republican congressman from Nebraska; lawyer Stephen Binhak; Glenn LeMunyon, who was an aide to former House GOP Whip Tom DeLay; and the consulting firm J.S. Held. The company also retains white-shoe law firm Steptoe and Johnson, paying them $60,000 in the second quarter, according to a disclosure.</blockquote>
Both Podesta and Huawei declined Politico’s request for comment.
Last year, the Department of Justice <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-chinas-huawei-charged-with-racketeering-conspiracy-to-steal-trade-secrets">indicted</a> Huawei with conspiracy to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. Investigators said that the firm has a “long-running practice of using fraud and deception to misappropriate sophisticated technology from U.S. counterparts.”
In June, Huawei <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/crippled-by-trumps-national-security-risk-ban-chinese-tech-giant-huawei-launches-own-operating-system">announced</a> that it would launch a mobile operating system in an attempt to compete in the smartphone market after the Trump administration barred it from using the Android operating system. The United Kingdom has also <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-u-k-bans-chinas-huawei-from-its-5g-network-after-months-of-pressure-from-trump-admin">barred</a> Huawei from working on its 5G telecommunications network.
As <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/cuban-government-uses-chinese-tech-systems-to-block-internet-access">The Daily Wire</a> reported last week, the Cuban government relies upon technology designed by Huawei to shut off citizens’ access to the internet — a strategy that it most recently deployed to suppress the largest anti-communism protests on the island in decades. 
<a href="https://www.newsweek.com/china-behind-cuba-protests-censored-beijing-linked-1608771">Newsweek</a> explained:
<blockquote>A report by the Institute For War &amp; Peace Reporting released last December noted that Etesca, the sole company in Cuba that provides internet access, has three primary technology providers that are all Chinese: Huawei, TP-Link, and ZTE.
Another report in 2017 by the Open Observatory of Network Interference (OONI), a global internet censorship watchdog, found traces of Chinese codes in both the surface and the interfaces used for wi-fi access portals in Cuba.</blockquote>

Huawei

Chinese Tech Giant Hires Democratic Lobbyist Tony Podesta To ‘Warm Relations’ With Biden

Special Counsel Robert Mueller has reportedly offered immunity to Democratic lobbyist Tony Podesta in exchange for testimony against Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort.
Fox News&#8217; Tucker Carlson reported exclusively on Thursday night that two sources confirmed to the network that Podesta was offered immunity to testify against Manafort for a &#8220;near identical crime.&#8221;
&#8220;In other words, for a near identical crime, Bill and Hillary&#8217;s friend could escape and emerge completely unscathed while Paul Manafort may rot in jail,&#8221; Carlson said. &#8220;Only one of them made the mistake of chairing Donald Trump&#8217;s presidential campaign.&#8221;
Last October, Podesta stepped down from the Podesta Group, an organization that he founded, after it came under investigation by Mueller at the same time that Manafort and Rick Gates were indicted for financial crimes. <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2017/10/30/tony-podesta-stepping-down-from-lobbying-giant-amid-mueller-probe-244314">Politico</a> reported:
<blockquote>
The investigation into Podesta and his firm grew out of investigators&#8217; examination of Manafort&#8217;s finances. Manafort organized a PR campaign on behalf of a nonprofit called the European Centre for a Modern Ukraine. Podesta Group was one of several firms that were paid to do work on the PR campaign to promote Ukraine in the U.S.
Podesta Group filed paperwork with the Justice Department in April stating that it had done work for the European Centre for a Modern Ukraine that also benefited the same Ukrainian political party that Manafort once advised.
</blockquote>
This latest development in Mueller&#8217;s Russia investigation may add to the overwhelming allegations of political bias that he has been accused of as his team of prosecutors is <a href="http://dailycaller.com/2018/02/21/exclusive-zero-registered-republicans-mueller-lawyer/">comprised</a> of only Democrat prosecutors with no Republicans on his staff.
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BREAKING: Mueller Offers Immunity To Democrat Tony Podesta To Testify Against Manafort, Report Says

Paul Manafort

Robert Mueller

The Podesta Group, a Democratic lobbying firm led by Tony Podesta &#8212; the brother of Hillary Clinton campaign chairman, John Podesta &#8212; will likely shut its doors this week, after ending up at the center of Special Counsel Robert Mueller&#8217;s Russia probe.
In a staff meeting Thursday, Podesta Group chief executive Kimberley Fritts, reportedly told employees to clean out their desks and pack their personal belongings. She added,<a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/11/11/politics/podesta-group-mueller-investigation/index.html"> according to CNN</a>, that the company wasn&#8217;t likely to survive the year, and that employees could not expect to be paid past November 15.
<a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/359933-podestas-lobbying-firm-may-close-by-end-of-year-report">Fritts also announced that she was leaving Podesta Group</a> effective Friday, and that she was taking some of the firm&#8217;s biggest name clients with her. She told the firm&#8217;s staff that most, if not all, will likely join her at her new lobbying firm. Other Podesta Group bigwigs, including Tony Podesta himself, are exploring other options.
Tony Podesta resigned his position at his namesake firm on October 30, just a day after learning that he was named in Mueller&#8217;s investigation. Several years ago, Podesta worked with former Trump 2016 campaign manager, Paul Manafort, lobbying Congress and others in D.C. on behalf of a pro-Putin Ukrainian leader. Podesta reportedly failed to properly disclose the foreign entanglement, earning Mueller&#8217;s suspicion.
Mueller&#8217;s team subpoenaed communications and records from the Podesta Group back in August, and Podesta and others have reportedly been in Mueller&#8217;s crosshairs since the beginning of the summer. The investigation that Democrats had hoped would pull down the president and some of his top advisors, ended up ensnaring one of their own top operatives.

Under Fire In Russia Probe, Podesta Group Tells Employees It’s Shutting Down

On Tuesday, President Trump responded to the news that former campaign advisor George Papadopoulos cut a plea deal with federal investigators over his alleged role in trying to work with Russian contacts by slamming the &#8220;low level volunteer&#8221; as having &#8220;already proven to be a liar.&#8221;
&#8220;The Fake News is working overtime. As Paul Manaforts lawyer said, there was &#8216;no collusion&#8217; and events mentioned took place long before he came to the campaign,&#8221; wrote Trump. &#8220;Few people knew the young, low level volunteer named George, who has already proven to be a liar. Check the DEMS!&#8221;
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The Fake News is working overtime. As Paul Manaforts lawyer said, there was &#8220;no collusion&#8221; and events mentioned took place long before he&#8230;
&#8212; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/925333956110757888?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 31, 2017</a></blockquote>
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&#8230;.came to the campaign. Few people knew the young, low level volunteer named George, who has already proven to be a liar. Check the DEMS!
&#8212; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/925335577217683456?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 31, 2017</a></blockquote>
</div>
Trump&#8217;s statement followed news that Papadopoulos had cut a plea deal with authorities and had provided some evidence of alleged contact between himself as a representative of the Trump campaign and Russian government intermediaries. Trump&#8217;s reference to him having been &#8220;proven to be a liar&#8221; refers to the fact that Papadoulos pleaded guilty to initially lying to the FBI. 
Papadopoulos claims intermediaries for Russian officials offered him &#8220;dirt&#8221; on Hillary Clinton via thousands of leaked emails. Daily Wire Editor-In-Chief Ben Shapiro provides <a href="http://www.dailywire.com/news/22922/breaking-former-trump-foreign-policy-advisor-cuts-ben-shapiro">more details</a> on the case:
<blockquote>
The <a href="https://www.justice.gov/file/1007346/download">statement of offense</a>, describing what Papadopoulos admitted to, suggests attempted collusion between Papadopoulos and fronts for the Russian government. According to that statement, Papadopoulos was told he would become a foreign policy advisor to the Trump campaign in early March 2016 by a &#8220;campaign supervisor.&#8221; He was also told that a better relationship with Russia would be a &#8220;principal foreign policy focus of the Campaign.&#8221; While in Italy, Papadopoulos &#8220;met an individual who was a professor based in London.&#8221; When the professor found out that Papadopoulos was working for the Trump campaign, the professor became very interested in Papadopoulos; the feeling was mutual, because the professor &#8220;claimed to have substantial connections with Russian government officials, which defendant Papadopoulos thought could increase his importance as a policy advisor to the Campaign.&#8221; In late March, Papadopoulos met with the professor in London, and the professor brought a female Russian national &#8212; allegedly a &#8220;relative of Russian President Vladimir Putin with connections to senior Russian government officials.&#8221;
</blockquote>
The Associated Press reports that Papadopoulos was arrested in July and has since been interviewed &#8220;repeatedly&#8221; by authorities. One of special counsel Robert Mueller&#8217;s team suggested they might be interviewing Papadopoulos soon. 
Trump&#8217;s dismissal of the relevance of Papadopoulos was echoed by White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who said he played an &#8220;extremely limited&#8221; role in the the campaign. According to Sanders, &#8220;no activity&#8221; by Papadopoulous &#8220;was ever done in an official capacity on behalf of the campaign.&#8221; 
After he dismissed the significance of the Papadopoulos story online, Trump tweeted that the &#8220;biggest story&#8221; of Monday were revelations about the sketchy dealings of Tony Podesta, brother of Hillary Clinton confidant John Podesta, that prompted him to leave his powerful lobbying firm. (<a href="http://www.dailywire.com/news/22930/breaking-swamp-king-tony-podesta-steps-down-hank-berrien">Read more on Podesta here</a>.)
&#8220;The biggest story yesterday, the one that has the Dems in a dither, is Podesta running from his firm,&#8221; the president tweeted. &#8220;What he know about Crooked Dems is earth shattering. He and his brother could Drain The Swamp, which would be yet another campaign promise fulfilled. Fake News weak!&#8221;
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The biggest story yesterday, the one that has the Dems in a dither, is Podesta running from his firm. What he know about Crooked Dems is&#8230;.
&#8212; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/925363340553211909?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 31, 2017</a></blockquote>
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&#8230;.earth shattering. He and his brother could Drain The Swamp, which would be yet another campaign promise fulfilled. Fake News weak!
&#8212; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/925364408364171265?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 31, 2017</a></blockquote>
</div>
<a href="http://www.dailywire.com/news/22922/breaking-former-trump-foreign-policy-advisor-cuts-ben-shapiro">Read more on Papadopoulous&#8217; claims here</a>.

Trump: Man At Center Of Russia Probe Has ‘Proven To Be A Liar’

Donald Trump

John Podesta

Russia

Trump Administration

The &#8220;Podesta Group,&#8221; a huge lobbying outfit in Washington D.C., says they&#8217;re considering changing their name, after the group and their founder, Tony Podesta, were referenced in Monday&#8217;s indictments.
Podesta, a prominent lobbyist &#8212; and brother of Clinton presidential campaign chairman, John Podesta &#8212; wasn&#8217;t mentioned by name in documents charging former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort with failing to report millions in assets from foreign governments, but the Podesta Group was one of the lobbying firms that helped Manafort lobby Congress on behalf of a pro-Putin Ukranian leader.
<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/30/us/politics/tony-podesta-resignation-lobbying.html">As a result, The New York Times reports</a>, the Group has been hemorrhaging clients &#8212; an exodus that began in August, when Mueller issued subpoenas to Podesta&#8217;s firm, and only intensified yesterday as Tony Podesta resigned his position as the group&#8217;s chief lobbyist.
So now, like the Weinstein Company, in the wake of dozens of sexual harassment allegations against chief Harvey, the Podesta Group is promising its clients that it will change its name, so long as they maintain their accounts with the firm.
Senior officials with the group also told clients, reportedly, that the group is considering a complete marketing overhaul, changing branding, signage, and commercial materials to distance themselves from Special Counsel Robert Mueller&#8217;s investigation.
The similarities to Weinstein, strangely enough, don&#8217;t end there. As news broke Monday of Podesta&#8217;s involvement in Manafort&#8217;s lobbying operation, the D.C. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/30/us/politics/tony-podesta-resignation-lobbying.html">mega-lobbyist exploded in a staff meeting, the NYT</a> reports, blaming &#8220;Fox News&#8221; and &#8220;conservative media&#8221; for making it &#8220;impossible to run a public affairs shop.&#8221;
It&#8217;s all Republicans fault, of course.

Podesta Group Considering Dropping ‘Podesta’ From Its Name To Keep Clients

Harvey Weinstein

Eagle-eyed court watchers on Twitter noticed, late Monday, that there are four sealed cases listed on the U.S. District Court&#8217;s docket in Washington, D.C., located on the docket between George Papadopoulos&#8217;s sealed plea bargain (#182) and Paul Manafort&#8217;s sealed indictment (#201).
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
U.S. District Court for D.C. has four sealed cases in its docket with case numbers between Papadopoulos&#8217; (182) and Manafort&#8217;s (201). <a href="https://t.co/zDKMY3qHM6">pic.twitter.com/zDKMY3qHM6</a>
&#8212; Steve Reilly (@BySteveReilly) <a href="https://twitter.com/BySteveReilly/status/925063641870856192?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 30, 2017</a></blockquote>
Legal experts immediately concluded that the four sealed cases could mean Special Counsel Robert Mueller isn&#8217;t done issuing secret subpoenas and grand jury indictments.
After yesterday&#8217;s wave of charges, snagging Manafort and his business partner, Rick Gates, and revealing that former Trump foreign policy aide Papadopoulos struck a deal with Federal prosecutors, D.C. watchdogs &#8212; particularly on the Left &#8212; assumed we were only beginning to see what Mueller had in store. After all, no charges were leveled at former Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn, whom many had suspected of being in league with Russian officials looking to influence the outcome of the U.S. Presidential election.
But the four sealed indictments might not, necessarily, be Mueller&#8217;s work. Around <a href="https://twitter.com/BySteveReilly/status/925066684704198657">40% percent of criminal cases that pass through the D.C. Circuit court</a> are sealed, largely to protect vulnerable witnesses, or because defendants have struck plea bargains with Federal prosecutors in return for limited sentences or government protection. This makes sense if you consider Federal prosecutors often handle major drug cases, cases of conspiracy, and Federal racketeering charges.
There is one indication that Mueller has at least one more indictment up his sleeve. The Manafort indictment is marked as INDICTMENT (B), which <a href="https://twitter.com/emptywheel/status/925066745408360448">presumes there&#8217;s an &#8220;INDICTMENT (A)</a>&#8221; lurking somewhere, maybe in &#8220;sealed document #200.&#8221; The subject of that indictment is anyone&#8217;s guess; it could be Flynn, or it could be Tony Podesta who hinted in his resignation letter yesterday that he was under scrutiny.

Mueller Not Done? Federal Court Docket Shows Four More Sealed Indictments

Michael Flynn

Fox News host Tucker Carlson revealed Monday night that he was threatened by a lawyer representing Tony Podesta over his coverage of the Podesta Group as they have reportedly come under investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller.
Geoffrey Garinther sent the <a href="https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/4164203/Tony-Podesta-Cease-amp-Desist-to-Tucker-Carlson.pdf">letter</a> to Carlson on Monday that alleges that Carlson made &#8220;obviously false&#8221; and defamatory statements about Podesta that have &#8220;caused injury to the reputation of Mr. Podesta and the Podesta Group.&#8221;
The two-page letter &#8220;demands&#8221; the following from Carlson and Fox News:
<ul>
<li>Immediately issue a retraction that is of equal prominence to the reports by no later than Friday, November 3, 2017</li>
<li>Remove the story from all media sources</li>
<li>Cease and desist from disseminating false and misleading statements about Mr. Podesta and the Podesta Group</li>
</ul>
The letter instructs Carlson to respond in writing within three days of his receipt of the letter to confirm that he plans to take these steps. If the host doesn&#8217;t, the letter states that he may receive legal action from Podesta.
Carlson responded with a fiery statement in which he said he isn&#8217;t intimidated and will continue reporting the news the rest of the media is ignoring.
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During his segment, Carlson tweeted out the following:
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Tony Podesta threatened &#8220;Tucker Carlson Tonight&#8221; after resigning. Wanted our reporting shutdown. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Tucker?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Tucker</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/FoxNews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@FoxNews</a>
&#8212; Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) <a href="https://twitter.com/TuckerCarlson/status/925152839424454658?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 31, 2017</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
We&#8217;re confident the Mueller probe will reveal a lot more about Tony Podesta&#8217;s lobbying practices in the near future <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Tucker?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Tucker</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/FoxNews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@FoxNews</a>
&#8212; Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) <a href="https://twitter.com/TuckerCarlson/status/925153002159255553?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 31, 2017</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
If you are working on behalf of a foreign power against American interests I hope you are exposed <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Tucker?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Tucker</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/FoxNews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@FoxNews</a>
&#8212; Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) <a href="https://twitter.com/TuckerCarlson/status/925155178315214848?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 31, 2017</a></blockquote>
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WATCH: Tucker Carlson Responds To Tony Podesta’s Legal Threats Against Him

Democratic Party

Hillary Clinton

Tucker Carlson

One of the two unnamed companies in the grand jury indictment of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his deputy, Rick Gates, is reportedly the Podesta Group &#8212; a lobbying firm with strong ties to Hillary Clinton.
The indictment, unsealed on Monday, lists two unnamed companies &#8212; &#8220;Company A&#8221; and &#8220;Company B&#8221; &#8212; as firms that Manafort and Gates approached in 2012 to lobby for the pro-Putin Ukrainian government. &#8220;Company A&#8221; is Mercury Public Affairs and &#8220;Company B&#8221; is the Podesta Group, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/investigations/sources-podesta-group-mercury-are-companies-b-indictment-n815721">NBC News</a> reported.
The far-left Podesta Group was founded by Democratic lobbyist Tony Podesta, who is the brother of Hillary Clinton&#8217;s former campaign chairman John Podesta. The firm came under fire for not disclosing its work lobbying for the Ukrainian government under the Foreign Agents Registrant Act (FARA).
The indictment indicated that the Podesta Group and Mercury Public Affairs received $2 million from offshore accounts controlled by Manafort for their work lobbying members of Congress about Ukraine sanctions and the validity of Ukraine elections.
Tony Podesta stepped down from the Podesta Group on Monday, nearly 30 years after founding the firm.
&#8220;[Tony] was very magnanimous and said, &#8216;This is an amazing group of people&#8217;,&#8221; a source told <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2017/10/30/tony-podesta-stepping-down-from-lobbying-giant-amid-mueller-probe-244314">Politico</a>, speaking of Podesta&#8217;s remarks. &#8220;Podesta also told staff he &#8216;doesn&#8217;t intend to go quietly, or learn how to play golf.&#8217; He said he &#8216;needs to fight this as an individual, but doesn&#8217;t want the firm to fight it.&#8217;&#8221;

REPORT: Unnamed Company In Mueller Indictment Is Clinton-Connected Podesta Group

Washington, D.C. mega-lobbyist, Tony Podesta, the brother of Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta, stepped down from his post at the helm of the Podesta Group and suggested in his resignation letter that he could be facing ramifications for failing to disclose lobbying he did on behalf of the pro-Putin Ukrainian government, in concert with Paul Manafort.
But, a quick look back reveals that Tony Podesta has been in trouble for this sort of thing before. Back in 2016, the Podesta Group <a href="http://freebeacon.com/politics/podesta-group-admits-undisclosed-foreign-government-advocacy/">was called on the carpet by The Washington Free Beacon</a>, who discovered that the Group failed to file legally-required disclosures notifying the Federal government that it had been lobbying on behalf of a foreign government.
In that case, the foreign government was India. But perhaps more importantly, among the emails the Free Beacon found were communications between Tony Podesta and his brother, John, demonstrating that Tony had lobbied John on several occasions, asking John to use his position as counselor to President Barack Obama to help push policy items favorable to Tony&#8217;s clients.
<blockquote>
On August 4, 2014, the Podesta brothers met with the Indian ambassador to the United States in the White House, visitor logs show. At the time, John was a senior counselor to the president. His &#8220;portfolio&#8221; of work there included issues pertaining to India.
A few months later, on Jan. 1, 2015, Tony emailed John inviting him to an event featuring the Indian ambassador, according to emails posted by WikiLeaks after hackers believed to be acting on behalf of the Russian government breached John&#8217;s account.
</blockquote>
The reports are significant today because Tony Podesta was involved in doing work for Paul Manafort, who stands accused by the FBI of subverting American interests by advocating &#8212; and even, perhaps, connecting &#8212; American officials to pro-Putin Russians. The Podesta Group definitely worked with Manafort, and if Tony Podesta was involved, it might mean collaboration of a larger scale than just with the Trump campaign.
This is all speculation, of course. Manafort and Grant have both pled not guilty to charges they conspired against the United States, and it&#8217;s not clear what Tony Podesta was referring to as &#8220;forthcoming&#8221; in his resignation letter.

FLASHBACK: Documents Show Tony Podesta Lobbied John Podesta On Behalf Of Foreign Government

On Monday, news broke that Tony Podesta, the powerful lobbyist and co-founder of the Podesta Group along with his brother, former Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta, has come under investigation by Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller and is stepping down from his position.
The Podesta Group held a firm-wide meeting Monday morning at which Podesta announced his decision to step down, according to <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2017/10/30/tony-podesta-stepping-down-from-lobbying-giant-amid-mueller-probe-244314">Politico</a>. The company will now be headed by firm CEO Kimberley Fritts, who will join a senior member for the company to launch a new firm, a plan the company claimed had been discussed for several months.
According to Politico, Podesta boasted to his staff that he &#8220;doesn&#8217;t intend to go quietly, or learn how to play golf,&#8221; that he &#8220;needs to fight this as an individual, but doesn&#8217;t want the firm to fight it.&#8221; Fritts reportedly stated that she was &#8220;thrilled at this opportunity&#8221; and that, &#8220;This is not about me, this is about y&#8217;all.&#8221; The meeting allegedly ended with a standing ovation for Podesta.
As Mueller and his team launched their investigations in 2017, over a dozen of the Podesta&#8217;s group&#8217;s lobbying clients have cut ties with the firm, while revenues have plunged from $6.1 million in the third quarter of 2016 to 5.2 million in the second quarter of 2017 to an estimated $4.8 million in the third quarter of 2017.
Ironically, Podesta became a target for Mueller because of the investigation into former Donald Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort&#8217;s finances. As Politico notes:
<blockquote>
Manafort organized a PR campaign on behalf of a nonprofit called the European Centre for a Modern Ukraine. Podesta Group was one of several firms that were paid to do work on the PR campaign to promote Ukraine in the U.S. Podesta Group filed paperwork with the Justice Department in April stating that it had done work for the European Centre for a Modern Ukraine that also benefited the same Ukrainian political party that Manafort once advised.
</blockquote>
NBC News <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/mueller-now-investigating-democratic-lobbyist-tony-podesta-n812776">reported</a> that The Podesta Group filed a FARA registration for its work with ECMU only after the payments were reported by the media.
People who lobby on behalf of foreign governments, leaders or political parties are <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/mueller-now-investigating-democratic-lobbyist-tony-podesta-n812776">required to file</a> detailed disclosures about their spending and activities with the DOJ. Last November, the Podesta Group <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/10/23/report-mueller-probe-expands-to-democratic-lobbyist-tony-podestas-russia-dealings.html">told the Justice Department</a> that it <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/11/28/podesta-group-admits-undisclosed-foreign-government-advocacy.html">failed to</a> file legally required disclosures of White House advocacy on behalf of India.

BREAKING: Swamp King Tony Podesta Steps Down From Lobbying Group After Manafort Indictment

A new report released on Sunday indicates that Donald Trump&#8217;s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort was allegedly under investigation by federal authorities years before joining the Trump campaign for a series of suspicious wire transfers.
Manafort allegedly wired $3 million from offshore companies that he &#8220;controlled&#8221; to American businesses between 2012 and 2013, <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/jasonleopold/fbi-probe-of-paul-manafort-focuses-on-13-suspicious-wire?utm_term=.bg94p5yOeq#.ra164K0keo">BuzzFeed</a> reports.
The 13 wire transfers of interest to federal law enforcement officials reportedly appeared on their radar when they started examining if Manafort helped a Ukrainian regime that was close to Russian President Vladimir Putin launder money they gained through corruption. The Ukrainian president at the time, Viktor Yanukovych, is widely thought to be corrupt and was ousted in 2014 and lives in exile in Russia &#8212; he&#8217;s &#8220;accused of treason by Ukrainian authorities; the country&#8217;s general prosecutor said Yanukovych&#8217;s embezzlement of state funds was so egregious it resembled a &#8216;mafia structure.&#8217;&#8221;
The transfers were first flagged by U.S. financial institutions as far back as 2012 and involved five offshore companies associated with Manafort: Global Endeavour Inc., Lucicle Consultants Ltd., and three other companies not named in BuzzFeed&#8217;s report. The countries where the wire transfers originated &#8212; most notably Cyprus, St. Vincent, and the Grenadines &#8212; are notorious for money laundering activity. A lot of the money ended up in the U.S. at a variety of different types of businesses, ranging from construction contractors to car dealerships:
<blockquote>
Wire transfers flagged as suspicious show that during the waning months of Yanukovych&#8217;s presidency, Global Endeavour sent more than $750,000 out of Ukraine. None of these transactions have been previously reported.
In November and December of 2013, for example, the company transferred almost $53,000 to Konstantin Kilimnik, a Kiev-based political operator. It&#8217;s not known what the money was for.
In September 2013, Global Endeavour transferred $500,000 that would ultimately end up back in Manafort&#8217;s control. First it went to a hedge fund in Florida, Aegis Holdings LLC, that is controlled by Marc Baldinger, a broker who in 2014 <a href="https://brokercheck.finra.org/individual/summary/1942349#disclosuresSection" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">was suspended</a> for 18 months for engaging in deals his financial institution didn&#8217;t know about.
The day after Aegis Holdings received the $500,000, it transferred the same amount to a securities clearinghouse, which ultimately sent the funds to Lilred LLC in Morristown, New Jersey.
Also in late 2013, Global Endeavour sent out $200,000 to a remodeling company in Long Island, SP&amp;C Home Improvement. Stephen Jacobsen, a representative, told bank officials the funds were an advance on a remodeling project.
</blockquote>
BuzzFeed&#8217;s report comes on the heels of a report by CNN on Friday night revealing that a federal grand jury approved the first charges filed by special counsel Robert Mueller into his investigation into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russian officials. The report said that arrests could be forthcoming as soon as Monday morning.
It is worth noting that BuzzFeed also broke the story about the Trump dossier &#8212; which former British spy Christopher Steel&#8217;s attorneys claimed was never supposed to be made public. CNN instantly spread the unverified allegations in the dossier after BuzzFeed published the report.
Fox News&#8217; Tucker Carlson reported last week that Manafort is not the only individual in Mueller&#8217;s crosshairs as he is also looking heavily into the Podesta Group &#8212; run by Anthony Podesta and John Podesta, who was Hillary Clinton&#8217;s 2016 presidential campaign chairman.
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