Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III is reportedly investigating payments made to President Trump’s foundation from a Ukrainian steel tycoon.
“Investigators subpoenaed the Trump Organization this year for an array of records about business with foreign nationals, according to an April 9 New York Times report. “In response, the company handed over documents about a $150,000 donation that the Ukrainian billionaire, Victor Pinchuk, made in September 2015 to the Donald J. Trump Foundation in exchange for a 20-minute appearance by Mr. Trump that month through a video link to a conference in Kiev.”
There you have it. Pinchuk is the boogeyman. A Ukrainian businessman who donated to the Trump Foundation. It’s the closest thing suggesting collusion Mueller has come up with to date.
But there’s one problem: The Times conveniently left out of today’s story the fact that Pinchuk has previously donated to the Clinton Foundation to the tune of $25 million, making him the largest individual benefactor to the Clinton’s “charity.”
He is also a close personal friend to Bill Clinton.
Pinchuk appeared on the guest list for a 2012 dinner. The list was sent in an email exchange between Dennis Cheng, an executive at the Clinton Foundation, and Huma Abedin, Clinton’s deputy chief of staff during Clinton’s tenure as Secretary of State. The gathering was held at the Clinton’s home.
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A FOIA request made in 2016 by judicial watch exposed the emails. Other exchanges show that Chelsea Clinton was invited to dine with Pinchuk when she visited Kiev, Ukraine in 2012. Pinchuk and Clinton were often in contact through a go-between named Melanne Verveer, a senior Ukrainian-American official at the State Department.
All of this occurred while Clinton served as Secretary of State, the nation’s top diplomat.
In addition, during the same time period, and after Clinton’s tenure as Secretary of State, Pinchuk was under investigation for trading with Iran in direct violation of U.S. Sanctions against Iran, for which foreign nationals can be punished.
According to Newsweek, invoices from Pinchuk’s company show a shipment for $1.8 million in May 2012 for “seamless hot-worked steel pipes for pipelines” and destined for a city near the Caspian Sea.
And who was the FBI Director during the time that Clinton was Secretary of State? None other than Robert Mueller.
So, to recap, the same person who is now investigating Trump for accepting a $150,000 foundation donation from Pinchuk as a private citizen in 2015, failed to investigate Hillary Clinton for accepting $25 million from Pinchuk while Pinchuk was breaking U.S. sanctions placed on Iran during Clinton’s time as America’s top diplomat.
No witch hunt here!
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