Replies to post #253421 on Tornado Alley (PROG)

[StephanieVanbryce]

Snips ~ “Before he fled to Russia two years ago, Mr. Yanukovych and his Party of Regions relied heavily on the advice of Mr. Manafort and his firm, who helped them win several elections,” the story notes. “During that period, Mr. Manafort never registered as a foreign agent with the United States Justice Department — as required of those seeking to influence American policy on behalf of foreign clients — although one of his subcontractors did.”

Later ~ -- In any conventional campaign, someone in Manafort’s position would not be able to survive a story like this. But this is not a conventional campaign…

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/daily-202/2016/08/15/daily-202-can-trump-chairman-paul-manafort-survive-new-ukraine-revelations/57b0ec7ccd249a2fe363ba20/?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_daily202-9a-top%3Ahomepage%2Fstory

lots of interesting things there..

[PegnVA]

Manafort didn't look good on CNN when he tried to challenge the NY TIMES story and the CNN reporter came right back at Manafort and reminded him that he once worked at the NYT and when a reporter/s had this kind of a story, they had to show management the details of their information (sources, etc.), or the story would not be printed.

I'm not familiar with a "foreign powers act" but if you're thinking of the War Powers Act, I'm not sure that would apply.

Interesting article in POLITICO...
TRUMP CHANGED VIEWS ON UKRAINE AFTER HIRING MANAFORT
Trump now says he might recognize Crimea as a Russian territory.
-POLITICO, August 3, 2016

[fuagf]

Loopholes, Filing Failures, and Lax Enforcement: How the Foreign Agents Registration Act Falls Short

Topics: Government Accountability
Related Content: Foreign Lobbying

December 16, 2014 | By: Ben Freeman, Ph. D., Lydia Dennett

Why This Matters

The Foreign Agents Registration Act requires American lobbyists working on behalf of foreign clients to disclose significantly more information about their activities than what is required of domestic lobbyists. This includes the actual documents used to influence policy makers, called informational materials. These materials include draft legislation, speeches, press releases and more, all created to influence U.S. policy. But the lobbyists do not always follow the letter of the law and enforcement by the Justice Department has been lax in recent years. Furthermore, the law itself seems to have loopholes that make enforcement difficult if not impossible. The Foreign Agents Registration Act is intended to bring transparency into the world of foreign lobbying. But when American lobbyists working on behalf of foreign interests fail to follow the law, or the Justice Department fails to enforce it, the American people are left in the dark.

Contributions to research and writing by Ben Freeman, Lydia Dennett, Neil Gordon, and Angela Canterbury. Edited by Danni Downing, David Hilzenrath, and Michael Smallberg.

Table of Contents .. http://www.pogo.org/our-work/reports/2014/loopholes-filing-failures-lax-enforcement-how-the-foreign-agents-registration-act-falls-short.html

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Tracking foreign influence peddling in America: Tip sheet

It’s important to note that FARA depends on voluntary compliance and the Justice Department rarely pursues foreign agents who have not submitted their reports. Agents are required to submit reports biannually (the dates depend on the original registration date) and any informational materials (except some involving tourism) within 48 hours.
http://journalistsresource.org/studies/government/congress/tracking-foreign-influence-peddling-america-tip-sheet

Manafort has been involved in lobbying American government for foreign clients (including countries
high on the 'abuse of human rights' list) for so long he's have his ass well covered. You'd guess.