To: RMF who wrote (947705 ) 7/17/2016 11:52:20 PM From: puborectalis Read Replies (1) | Respond to Paul Manafort..sordid pastJonas Savimbi , the leader of the Angolan rebel group UNITA , to refurbish his image in Washington and secure financial support on the basis of his anti-communism. Throwing events at the American Enterprise Institute , the Heritage Foundation and Freedom House , Savimbi was praised as a freedom fighter by Jeanne Kirkpatrick , and went on to receive hundreds of millions of dollars in American aid[ citation needed ]. Allegedly, Manafort's continuing lobbying efforts helped preserve the flow of money to Savimbi several years after the Soviet Union ceased its involvement in the Angolan conflict, forestalling peace talks. [10] Ferdinand Marcos . He was also involved in lobbying for Siad Barre of Somalia, and Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaïre. His firm also lobbied on behalf of the governments of the Dominican Republic , Equatorial Guinea , Kenya (between $660-750,000 yearly 1991 and 1993), and Nigeria ($1 million in 1991). These activities led Manafort's firm to be listed amongst the top five lobbying firms receiving money from human-rights abusing regimes in the report "The Torturer's Lobby." [11] Edouard Balladur in the 1995 elections, and admitted to having been paid under the table [12] (at least $200,000). The money was transferred to him through his friend, Lebanese arms-dealer Abdul Rahman al-Assir, from middle-men fees paid for arranging the sale of three French Agosta class submarines to Pakistan, in a scandal known as the Karachi Affair . [13] Inter-Service Intelligence agency as part of a "false flag" operation to divert attention from terrorism. A former Pakistani ISI official claimed Manafort was aware of the nature of the operation. [14] While producing a documentary as part of the deal, Manafort interviewed several Indian officials while pretending to be a CNN reporter. [15] HUD to ensure funding for a $43 million rehabilitation of dilapidated housing in Seabrook, N.J. [16] Manafort's firm received a $326,000 fee for its work in getting HUD approval of the grant largely through personal influence with Deborah Gore Dean , an executive assistant to former HUD Secretary Samuel R. Pierce, Jr. [17] Viktor Yanukovych [18] even as the U.S. government (and McCain) opposed Yanukovych because of his ties to Russia's Vladimir Putin . [7] Manafort was hired to advise Yanukovych months after massive street demonstrations known as the Orange Revolution overturned Yanukovych's victory in the 2004 presidential race . [19] Borys Kolesnikov , Yanukovich’s campaign manager, said the party hired Manafort after identifying organizational and other problems in the 2004 elections, in which it was advised by Russian strategists. [18] Manafort rebuffed U.S. Ambassador William Taylor when the latter complained he was undermining U.S. interests in Ukraine. [20] According to a 2008 U.S. Justice Department annual report, Manafort’s company received $63,750 from Yanukovych's Party of Regions over a six-month period ending on March 31, 2008, for consulting services. [21] In 2010, under Manafort's tutelage, the opposition leader put the Orange Revolution on trial, campaigning against its leaders' management of a weak economy. Returns from the presidential election gave Yanukovych a narrow win over Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko , a leader of the 2004 demonstrations. Yanukovych owed his comeback in Ukraine's presidential election to a drastic makeover of his political persona and, people in his party say, that makeover was engineered in part by his American consultant, Manafort.
