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Have you wondered like me, WHY Trump has been so dead-set in not blaming Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for the death of American Journalist, Jamal Khashoggi?
Even though CIA has said with “high confidence” that MBS was indeed behind the chilling hit-rendition.
As I started to explain a week ago, as with most things Trump, the 1st Rule is “Follow the Money”. Here is a follow-up on that mercurial theme.
In Trumpland everything has a price … those businessmen ‘setting the price’ — are much more likely to get an Insider seat at the ‘Club House’ table.
At the intersection of Schwarzman, Kushner, and Saudi Arabia ...
Trump's China whisperer: How billionaire Stephen Schwarzman has sought to keep the president close to Beijing
by Michael Kranish, The Washington Post; mysanantonio.com -- March 12, 2018
The day after President Donald Trump rattled world markets by suggesting a trade war that could inflame China, he dined at his Mar-a-Lago Club in Florida with a Palm Beach neighbor and billionaire financier who for more than a year had striven to prevent such a move.
Stephen Schwarzman, chief executive of the Blackstone Group, a private equity giant, had declined to give Trump's campaign money or endorse him during the 2016 presidential race. But since the election, Schwarzman has emerged as one of Trump's most generous donors, as well as a key adviser with rare and regular access to the president.
The New York investor, who has one of the closest relationships to Beijing of any American executive, is in many ways the president's de facto China whisperer - helping to persuade the man who said Beijing's leaders were "raping" the United States not to follow through on a campaign promise to declare China a "currency manipulator."
[...] the departure of White House economic adviser Gary Cohn - leaves him as one of the last remaining free-trade advocates with a direct line to Trump.
[...] "In Washington, there will be another issue, and you have to play the long game and continue to be a trusted adviser."
So the Blackstone Group CEO, speaks Trump’s language. Schwarzman, the once leader of Trump’s short-lived Business Advisory Council — is more than willing to “play the game” in order to keep having the president’s Decider’s ear.
Sometimes that includes a plane ticket too …
Blackstone said to raise $5bn for Saudi-backed infrastructure fund
arabianbusiness.com -- 25 Jun 2018
Thirteen months after unveiling a gigantic pledge from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, Blackstone Group LP is nearing a first close of $5 billion for its inaugural infrastructure fund, according to people familiar with the matter.
[...]
The planned $40 billion fund — Blackstone Infrastructure Partners - raised eyebrows when it was unveiled last May in Riyadh during a visit from President Donald Trump and business leaders including Stephen Schwarzman, Blackstone’s chairman and chief executive officer.
The Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, known as PIF, pledged as much as $20 billion, on the condition that every dollar would be matched against commitments from other investors.
$20 Billion dollars in Infrastructure Investments, directly to Blackstone Infrastructure Partners — not bad for a couple days work ...
Massive United States-Saudi Infrastructure Fund Struggles to Get Going
Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the United Nations in New York City last month
by Kate Kelly and Andrew Ross Sorkin, NYTimes.com -- April 4, 2018
Blackstone — whose co-founder and chief executive, Stephen A. Schwarzman, is a prominent supporter of President Trump — rushed to unveil the infrastructure fund during the pomp-filled presidential visit to Saudi Arabia last May. Wall Street titans including Mr. Schwarzman attended opulent ceremonies to celebrate the two countries’ financial and political ties.
The deal fit neatly into the White House’s efforts to coax foreign countries to invest in the United States. Blackstone’s president at the time, Hamilton E. James, predicted that the fund would spur infrastructure projects that would “create well-paying American jobs and will lay the foundation for stronger long-term economic growth.”
In the joint Blackstone-Saudi news release, H.E. Yasir Al Rumayyan, the head of the Public Investment Fund, said that the $20 billion Saudi pledge “reflects our positive views around the ambitious infrastructure initiatives being undertaken in the United States as announced by President Trump.”
Schwarzman is so committed to seeing that “$20 billion Saudi pledge” become reality — that he started offering discounts, in order to secure the “matching funds” from other Institutional investors.
Blackstone offers discounts on Saudi-backed infrastructure fund
The $40bn initiative was a signature announcement of Trump’s 2017 trip to Saudi Arabia
by Mark Vandevelde in New York, ft.com — June 10, 2018
Blackstone is using discounts to coax investors into its Saudi-backed infrastructure fund, as the investment group toils to kick-start a $40bn initiative hailed as an early success for President Donald Trump’s mercantilist foreign policy.
Saudi Arabia’s pledge to match up to $20bn in contributions from other investors in power plants, toll roads and similar assets, mostly in the US, was a signature announcement of Mr Trump’s inaugural foreign trip to Riyadh in May 2017. Blackstone hopes to finalise the first investments from other sources this month.
Perhaps this is all “above board” — Saudi Arabia just wants a ‘piece of America’, to go along with their ‘conduit of PDBs’ every so often. Just another wasted day, in Trump’s America right?
Well I’d tend to agree, if it were not for these other ‘specialized skillsets’ that CEO Schwarzman brings to the Trump club-house table …
Something More for Robert Mueller to Investigate?
by Russ Baker, whowhatwhy.org -- March 28, 2018
2013 June
Schwarzman’s firm begins lending to the Kushner Companies. Over time, it will become one of the firm’s biggest lenders, providing more than $400 million in financing in four separate deals.
Blackstone, along with Deutsche Bank AG, provides loans for Kushner and CIM Group to purchase a Manhattan office building at 2 Rector Street.
[...]
But Blackstone and Schwarzman made some unwanted news with the release, in November 2017, of the so-called “Paradise Papers” — hacked documents from the offshore law firm Appleby. Among the millions of documents released were a batch showing Blackstone had used offshore shell companies to hide income from UK tax collectors. As the Paradise Papers’ 2016 predecessor, the “Panama Papers,” show, Blackstone invests in InterTrust/Walkers Management Services, an offshore company in the Cayman Islands, which facilitates the filing and management of opaque offshore shell corporations.
Afterall since the GOP no longer cares about “Conflicts of Interests” — the appearance of them, nor those that are quite real — they really shouldn’t care about the China Trade War, then either.
No matter how much it may effect their personal portfolios. It’s how we roll now, under Mar-a-Lago Club House rules.
Stephen Schwarzman Funds Scholarships in China
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Trump’s billionaire adviser stands to gain from policies he helped shape
Blackstone CEO Steve Schwarzman has extensive holdings in China and influence on Trump’s policies there.
by Issac Arnsdorf and Josh Dawsey, politico.com -- 04/18/2017
There’s nothing illegal about Schwarzman providing informal advice that benefits his own wealth, as there would be if he were an official government employee. But the arrangement creates an ethical gray area, and the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel recommends making advisers employees so that they become subject to rules that guard against conflicts of interest.
Robert Weissman, president of watchdog group Public Citizen, said it’s all but impossible for someone like Schwarzman to separate his roles as a corporate expert and as a top executive and major investor in Blackstone.
"The corporate pipeline to the president’s ear guarantees the corruption of American domestic and foreign policy,” Weissman said. "In the ethics vacuum of the Trump administration, Schwarzman’s special role as perhaps Trump’s closest corporate adviser makes it almost inevitable that administration policy will bend to Blackstone’s interests."
First rule of Mar-a-Lago Club House … don’t talk about Mar-a-Lago Club House (just pay your Dues).
Second rule of Mar-a-Lago Club House is — make damn sure you’ve carved out your own stake, in the Insider Deals hatched in the Club. That makes the Trump-ride, well worth the price of admission …
“Damn the ‘enemy’ torpedoes … full steam ahead …”
Kushners' Blackstone Connection Put on Display in Saudi Arabia
by Caleb Melby and Hui-yong Yu, bloomberg.com — May 25, 2017
When Saudi Arabia announced last week a $20-billion investment in a U.S. infrastructure fund managed by Blackstone Group LP, many noticed that it came shortly after presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner personally negotiated a $110-billion arms sale to the country. What went unnoticed -- and is largely unknown -- is how important Blackstone is to the Kushner family company.
Since 2013, Blackstone has loaned more than $400 million to finance four Kushner Cos. deals -- two of which have not been reported -- making it one of the business’s largest lenders. And their ties go beyond the loans. Stephen Schwarzman, Blackstone’s co-founder and chief executive officer, heads Trump’s business-advisory council and was in Riyadh with the president and Kushner. The Saudi promise to invest in Blackstone’s fund drove the firm’s stock up more than 8 percent.
[...]
But the sequence of the deals and the intertwined personal relationships of the principals raise concerns about conflicts of interest. Schwarzman, one of the world’s richest businessmen, is a Republican and, like Trump, a resident of New York and Palm Beach. Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter and Kushner’s wife, was an investor in a fund Blackstone created in 2010 to seed hedge funds, according to financial disclosures.
Hey, it’s just like being the “early investors” in Apple or Amazon — No difference.
When you got the “insider information” you got the power — long as “current events” don’t get in the way of that Blackstone-Saudi train ...
“What dead journalist? — we don’t see any dead journalist. MBS told us there was No problem.
So case closed.”
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The Blackstone Group — Wikipedia
www.blackstone.com
Bank' Blackstone, Not Just For Billionaires — Forbes.com
Just another day in “Paradise Papers” America, and another day for more ‘super-amazing’ business deals … What’s not to love?