To understand why Devin Nunes brought the Intelligence Committee's Russiagate investigation to an abrupt end yesterday, take a look at the problematic testimony Erik Prince gave in November. It's a must read for the incisive work of four Democrats at the hearing, Adam Schiff, Eric Swalwell, and Jackie Speier of California and Jim Himes of Connecticut.
The story Prince narrated about his "unplanned" meeting with Kirill Dmitriev in the Seychelles also needs scrutiny in light of the tariff on aluminum Imports recently announced by Trump.
The transcript of Prince's testimony is posted at the House website but it isn’t easy to find. Here’s the link.
http://docs.house.gov/meetings/IG/IG00/20171130/106661/HHRG-115-IG00-Transcript-20171130.pdf
Kirill Dmitriev is the CEO of the Russia Direct Investment Fund, an entity created by the Russian Federation and sanctioned by the Obama administration. Dmitriev crossed paths with Prince in the Seychelles where the two met in the bar of the hotel where they were staying. Prince said that they chatted over beers about international trade and bauxite, a mineral used in the making of aluminum.
Prince: “ . . . I remember him saying how much he wished trade would resume with the United States in a normal way.”
Schiff zeroed in with questions about the topics they discussed.
Prince: “ . . . I remember telling him that if Franklin Roosevelt could work with Joseph Stalin to defeat Nazi fascism, certainly the United States could work with Vladimir Putin to defeat Islamic fascism.”
The timing of the meeting, during the transition before Trump's inauguration, and the topics Prince and Dmitriev discussed raised many questions. Did Prince meet with Dmitriev on behalf of the incoming Trump administration in some official capacity?
Prince was undone by his own personal vanity. He portrayed himself, without caution, as an international man of intrigue with friends in high places. It was “His Highness,” the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi who invited him to the Seychelles, in the first place. He gave testimony confirming his ties to Steve Bannon and Dana Rorhabacher. His sister, Betsy Devos, was Trump’s pick for a cabinet position. With all of his connections to people involved in Trump's campaign and the transition, it seemed obvious that he landed in the Seychelles in an official capacity.
Prince denied it and when he insisted that there was no official or unofficial purpose for his meeting with Dmitriev, he got tangled up in his own testimony. He tried anyway.
Prince: “ . . . Erik Prince, a private citizen, travelled to the Seychelles to meet with some Emirati people that he’d known for a few years. And while there, they said, “Oh, there’s this Russian guy that's also here to see us. Might be useful for you to see him.”
The bits and pieces of Prince's colorful story were bound to haunt him. His chat with a Russian state banker about foreign trade and aluminum point to Oleg Deripaska, the Russian oligarch who made a fortune in bauxite. He's also known for his ties to Paul Manafort.
Last year, when Deripaska decided to launch his conglomerate business enterprises as an initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange, Dmitriev and the Russia Direct Investment Fund were there for him to make it happen. The EN+ Group IPO made Deripaska and Dmitriev business partners. Its shares began trading on November 7, 2017.
rdif.ru/...
http://eng.enplus.ru/en/index.html
Deripaska and Dmitriev were also appointed by Vladimir Putin to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Business Advisory Council. A few days after the EN+ Group IPO launch, they attended the APEC Summit with Putin in Danang, Vietnam on November 10-11, 2017.
http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/56041
Guess who else was there . . . looks like Trump with Putin and Deripaska, of all people.
http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/56049
When Trump showed up at the APEC Summit last November, it was one leg of a larger East Asian tour. The US is an APEC member but Trump opposes its free trade agenda. APEC promotes the elimination of all tariff and non-tariff barriers to international trade. At the summit, all eyes were on the US and Russian leaders. The foreign press photographed them with Deripaska huddled together in hallways and corners, apparently whispering to each other, surrounded by Putin’s secret service who tried to block the view with their backs to the cameras.
It’s safe to say that they weren’t talking about free trade agreements.
If they were talking about a US aluminum tariff, what did the conversation sound like?
It may be a surprise to readers here to know that Russia is the second largest supplier of bauxite and aluminum to the United States. It’s not affected by the sanctions that target specific individuals and business entities. The US Trade Representative quotes the value of aluminum imported from Russia in 2016 at $1.3 billion.
ustr.gov/...
The US Census Bureau foreign trade stats for 2017 value the bauxite and aluminum imported from Russia at $1.5 billion and while the value of imports from Canada is down 8% since 2008, the value of imports from Russia is up 56%.
There’s no transcript or record of Trump, Putin, and Deripaska discussing plans for an aluminum tariff at the APEC Summit. The event was the right time and place for a face-to-face meeting where they were able to talk without leaving evidence of collusion that could be discovered later.
Deripaska has unfinished business with Manafort that he could pursue with legal action or by cooperating with Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. He may have information that could put Trump in jeopardy.
Putin wants to improve Russia’s position in the world and he has ambitious plans for economic development and global trade.
Trump is for Trump and he seems eager to please his Russian friends. In the US, he’s known for a con job about trade, protectionism, and jobs that helped him get elected. Voters imagine tariffs as a trade barrier that would hurt our trading partners and benefit the US.
In reality, a 10% aluminum tariff won’t inhibit US trade. It will add to the price that importers pay and the cost will be passed along to consumers. A tariff would also be a wild card that could disrupt global trading patterns as suppliers adapt and compete for a share of the US market.
That’s where Deripaska and EN+ Group have a distinct advantage which is spelled out in the IPO’s offering documents and on its company website.
EN+ Group is a conglomerate with business in two sectors: energy and metals. Aluminum production requires a massive amount of electricity which EN+ Group generates with sustainable hydro power.
Once EN+ Group completes its build out and its operations reach full capacity, its aluminum smelters will run on electricity that the company generates for itself and the public power grid, resulting in lower production costs.
It’s a plan that may or may not succeed. It could give Russia an advantage that its competitors won’t have, particularly if they’re stuck with a 10% tariff on their products.
eng.enplus.ru/…
If Special Counsel Robert Mueller isn’t looking into this matter already, it’s just a matter of time until he does.