"I'm Bill Browder. Here's the Biggest Mistake Putin Made When Trying to Get Access to Me Through

[emulatorloo]

I'm Bill Browder. Here's the Biggest Mistake Putin Made When Trying to Get Access to Me Through Trump
Even though the U.S. President called it 'an incredible offer'

BILL BROWDER
July 17th, 2018

Browder is the founder and CEO of Hermitage Capital Management and was the largest foreign investor in Russia until 2005. Since 2009 when his lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, died in prison after uncovering a $230 million fraud committed by Russian government officials, Browder has been leading a campaign to expose Russia's endemic corruption and human rights abuses.

http://amp.timeinc.net/time/5340545/bill-browder-vladimir-putin-magnitsky-act-donald-trump

———————-

I wasn’t watching the Donald Trump–Vladimir Putin press conference from Helsinki. But when my phone started burning up with messages, I knew something was going on. I quickly discovered that Putin had mentioned me by name. No journalist had asked about me. He just brought me up out of the blue.

Putin offered to allow American investigators to interview the 12 Russian intelligence agents just indicted by Special Counsel Robert Mueller in exchange for allowing Russians to have access to me and those close to me. This is no idle threat. For the last ten years, I’ve been trying to avoid getting killed by Putin’s regime, and there already exists a trail of dead bodies connected to its desire to see me dead. Amazingly, Trump stood next to him, appearing to nod approvingly. He even later said that he considered it “an incredible offer.”

I’m lodged so firmly under Putin’s skin because I’m the person responsible for getting the Magnitsky Act passed in the United States in 2012. This is a law that allows the U.S. government to freeze assets and ban visas of human-rights violators around the world. Some of these human-rights violators had killed Sergei Magnitsky, my Russian lawyer who was murdered in a Moscow jail for uncovering a massive $230 million government-corruption scheme that we’ve since traced to known Putin cronies. In essence, Putin received some of the proceeds of this crime, and he is terrified that the Magnitsky Act could be applied to his offshore fortune, which is probably one of the largest amassed in modern times.

<snip>

Since 2012, Putin has made it perhaps his largest foreign policy priority to have the Magnitsky Act repealed. But none of his efforts have worked. Not only has it not been repealed, it’s spread to six additional countries, including the United Kingdom, Canada, the Baltic states and Gibraltar. There are eight other countries with Magnitsky Acts on deck: Sweden, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Australia, South Africa and Ukraine. The Magnitsky Act is going viral, and countries that have Magnitsky Acts are sanctioning Putin’s cronies, who I imagine soon will be sanctioned by other countries as well.

In addition, the Global Magnitsky Justice Campaign has investigated and found the $230 million that Sergei Magnitsky exposed and was killed over. There are now a number of live law-enforcement investigations around the world determining just who benefited from this crime. These have resulted in tens of millions of dollars of frozen assets. Furthermore, these investigations don’t only put at risk the beneficiaries of this crime, but the benificiaries of many other similar crimes. These people are ready to kill to keep their money. Losing it would be devastating.

Much more at link ...

[hlthe2b]

1. A MUST READ

[Hekate]

2. Off to the Greatest page

[BigmanPigman]

3. The moron would be responsible for his death if

he allows Putin to have access to him.

[VMA131Marine]

8. Browder is not a US citizen

He is a citizen of the UK. Trump cannot give Putin access no matter how much he might try unless the UK gov't agrees. Even then, the UK courts would have their say.

[BigmanPigman]

12. That is good news...I guess.

I don't trust our own govt anymore.

[pangaia]

29. It is not our government any more.

[DBoon]

15. Trump cannot *legally* give Putin access ...

FTFY

This is an administration who tried to kidnap Fethullah Gulen at the behest of Turkey

[Thekaspervote]

16. Was just looking for that.. thx for answering my question ... was pretty sure he's UK citizen

[CaliforniaPeggy]

4. Fascinating article!

He provides more info on Putin and this is stuff people need to know.

Stay alive, Bill Browder!

[FSogol]

5. K & R. n/t

[Laffy Kat]

6. Kick. nt

[Leghorn21]

7. KICK

[Hortensis]

9. Putin hates and fears Browder and the international

kleptocrat-wrecking ball he's helped get rolling. F

Fortunately, Browder is now a British citizen, and they'd never extradite him into the hands of the Kremlin. For the same reason, I hope Browder is not in America.

[whathehell]

44. The US has no extradition treaty with Russia.

Trump be damned.

[Hortensis]

45. Too complacent. We apparently have the agreement Putin

referenced. An expert discussing this used the word extradition; perhaps another would be more correct if not any more legal. Putin has a huge grudge against Browder for encouraging passage of the Magnitsky Act in our country and other actions in other nations. He's now claiming Browder, Ambassador McFaul and the others were involved in criminal conspiracy. Putin doesn't want to question, but to imprison and to cause great uproar here.

Trump is already far, far over the line toward committing this atrocity even by saying he's considering it. If Trump ordered arrests and and we learned these people had been flown to Russia, whereabouts unknown, what would we do?

Remember, Trump very publicly broke what have to be a bunch of laws thousands of times in arresting people claiming refugee status and kidnapping their children, putting them in detention facilities, immediately trafficking some of them into a foster-care-to-adoption pipeline. He believed the right would continue to support him, and he was very right.

He plans to double down on atrocities against immigrants using other excuses. Detention camps for over 100,000 are in the works.

I now believe the only personal limits to what this wannabe dictator would do are those actions he fears could come back and hurt him and crimes so big that he's lacked the guts to proceed, such as using our nukes or bizarrely invading Venezuela. So far.

He's given us strong reason to believe that only considerations of political fallout to him would keep him from obligingly arresting former government officials and turning them over to Putin. And the right might be initially a little shaken but would form back up and support it. Putin even helped this along by personally claiming Browder donated $400 million (!) to Hillary's campaign.

[whathehell]

46. I am hardly "too complacent"

but I retain a certain faith in American institutions, and I refuse to become paranoid.

The Moron in Chief is certainly "over the line" in his comments, but in addition to the Secretary of State'd calling out Russia:s allegations as "absurd", one needs to remember that words are not actions, especially given that the Moron is now walking back his every day.

I see the entire country as being on "alert" since the Putin summit According too many, the even more recent NYT expose of his early knowledge of Russian hacking makes him particularly vulnerable to charges of Collusion and/ or Cover-up.

[Hortensis]

48. Hope you're right, but I"m not paranoid either

and thousands of kidnapped children are still held in detention camps and their relatives in prison camps or deported, with our government claiming they're now officially "abandoned."

These vicious atrocities meet my criteria for crimes against humanity and also surpass my notion of what would once have been paranoid imaginings. This government has already brought us where what would once have been paranoid fears are very real.

[lapislzi]

50. It's best we don't know where he is

If I were him, I'd be ensconced in an undisclosed British protectorate, maybe in the South Pacific.

[Hortensis]

52. Yes. Browder's an extremely brave, determined man

to have done what he has, and a real hero. I hope he lives to not bother spitting on Putin's grave and many years after.

[Hortensis]

10. Putin also wants to get hold of a U.S. congressional staffer

and other Americans.

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

[spanone]

11. k&R...

[Scurrilous]

13. K&R

[BSdetect]

14. Horrifying that drumph did not reject this ploy by putin.

Nodding approval is sickening.

[Fred Sanders]

22. Just another result of meeting with a dictator without advisors or experts and then agreeing to

something out of sheer ignorance of fact, history, or consequence.

Because Don don't need no experts because every fuckup is forgiven by his braindead base and the calls for his resignation never seem to come...as they should have long ago.

Get some guts, my leaders..if Democratic leaders can call for the elimination of ICE, a real political risk, why not say this.

RESIGN, MOTHERFUCKER.

The World would immortalize you.

[lastlib]

42. (you meant to say "wouldn't" at the end, didn't you?...)

"double negatives," right?

[Cha]

17. Thank You, emulatorloo!

[2naSalit]

18. K&R

[OliverQ]

19. Wonder what's taking other countries so long to pass their Magnitsky Acts.

[kstewart33]

20. Russians don't interrogate. They assassinate.

I hope that Mr. Browder and Ambassador McFaul hire some security.

[bdamomma]

39. and poison people

hmmm.... trump is playing with fire and he get burnt to a crisp. keep fucking around with a ex-KGB'er.

[N_E_1 for Tennis]

21. K & R...

Bookmarked for later study.

[Garrett78]

23. It's good to know he's a British citizen, but he still has to watch his back.

Does anyone know if Mueller has interviewed either Browder or McFaul?

[Native]

24. Is this Bill Browder the billionaire serial killer CIA/M16 agent?

Excerpt:

Putin’s latest allegation that I donated $400 million to Hillary Clinton is so ludicrous and untrue that it falls into delusion. I’ve never made a political donation to Hillary Clinton or any other political candidate. It’s in the same category as other Russian government allegations against me: they accused me of being a serial killer; they accused me of being a CIA/MI6 agent determined to destroy the Russian government; and they accused me of somehow stealing $4.8 billion of IMF money back in the 1990s that was destined for the Russian Treasury. These guys have seriously lost their cool and are beginning to make mistakes.

[stuffmatters]

25. This has got to finally shatter Trump's GOP Hostage Congress.

Trump with Putin conspiring against McFaul & Browder, this is just so hostile to everything America and our Democracy stands for.

[Midnight Writer]

30. LOL. There is no "Hostage Congress". This is now mainstream Republican politics.

[stuffmatters]

34. 1000%.Used the word "hostage" because Putin hold proof of long time GOP's war on our democracy

My suspicion is that way more than the NRA but actually the whole GOP Koch/Fundie/international petrofascist donor infrastructure that has been funding the GOPs in Congress for a long time is swimming in dark Putin money. To me they are all cut from the same cloth from their plantation ideology & to their totalitarian goals.

I think there are years of correspondence & emails that Putin holds from and to those in the GOP Congress & heirarchy. When McCarthy & Ryan made the mike "slip" about "Rohrbacher & Trump being THE ONLY ONES paid by Russia" it was intentional, a smokescreen feigning innocence to protect the rest of them from being investigated.

We know that Putin hacked the Dem side to get incriminating info and steal strategic election data to defeat Hillary & elect Trump.
What nobody is mentioning is that Putin most certainly hacked the RNC & the GOP Machine too. But instead of exposing GOP truths, it was to update his long standing, incriminating GOP archive, to further hold their secrets in exchange for their continuing submission & protections in the Trump/Putin Presidency

That's where my thinking is with this right now.

[DemocracyMouse]

41. That sounds all too plausible. What a Le Carre novel we're living through...

[sharedvalues]

38. Only one thing the Hostage GOP Congress cares about: propagandized base

The Hostage Congress cares about two things:
- money from billionaires
- votes from the GOP base

The GOP base is controlled by Fox and Limbaugh.
As long as Fox and Limbaugh are propagandizing for Trump, the GOP Congress will NEVER ditch him.
They are going to put party and power before country. Nothing matters except the base and what Fox says to them.
Look at Mark Sanford - primaried because he opposed Trump. Because Fox lies to Sanford's constituents.

[stuffmatters]

59. & take all marching orders from Koch Bros & Global Petrofascist Cabal where Putin is front & center

That credible dangle of Rosnet 19% deal to Trump, the bottomless pockets of the RW/Koch's" Prava" infrastructure, the extensive
web of non disclosure required "social welfare" RW & Fundie funnels for dark money (the NRA is just the tip of this evil iceberg ) into not just the GOP campaigns but also all of their sado populist groups like the Tea Party & alt right machinery.

Our democracy has hit peak occupation by a unified (foreign and domestic) hostile power masquerading as a political party.. IMHO

[Achilleaze]

26. k and r

[Old Crow]

27. K&R. I hope ever DU'er reads this. (N/T)

[yonder]

28. K&effinR

[Honeycombe8]

31. Maybe this is what Putin wants from Trump. It sounds big enuf, important enuf. nt

[TomCADem]

32. So, Why Did Bernie Sanders Vote Against Magnitsky Act?

To vote against both Russian sanctions AND the Magnitsky Act is quite a twofer. I can’t think of another member of Congress who voted no on both bills. Maybe Rohrabacher?

[oberliner]

49. Hillary Clinton was also opposed to it

And 3 other Democrats voted no as well (Levin, Whitehouse, and Reed).

[TomCADem]

55. False. Chuck Schumer and Gillibrand Were NY's Senators at the Time

Also, did those same folks you mentioned also vote against Russian Election Sanctions?

Finally, why do Bernie supporters act like Trump and try to blame Hillary Clinton all the time? Whenever a question is raised about Trump/Bernie, the response is what about Hillary Clinton?

Who cares? She was not a U.S. senator then, and she is not President now.

[oberliner]

57. No, it's true

She was opposed to it, not as a senator, but as the US Secretary of State (check the op-ed she wrote at the time entitled "Trade with Russia is a Win-Win" ).

I'm not blaming Hillary Clinton for anything - I am just saying that there was opposition from both her and Bernie Sanders, and the several Democratic senators that I listed (no Republicans voted against it, only Democrats and Sanders).

I am a big fan of Hillary Clinton and supported her whole-heartedly in the primary and, of course, the general election (I also like Bernie Sanders a lot too).

In terms of the other "no" vote you reference from Bernie - that was on a bill that included giving Trump discretion with respect to sanctions against Iran - which was why Bernie said he opposed it.

Here is his statement from that time:

“I am strongly supportive of sanctions on Russia and North Korea. However, I worry very much about President Trump’s approach to Iran. Following Trump’s comments that he won’t re-certify Iran’s compliance with the nuclear agreement, I worry new sanctions could endanger it.”

This seems pretty reasonable.

[TomCADem]

58. Bernie Sanders Voted No on Russian Sanctions AND the Magnitsky Act

This is not Fox News. Neither Bernie nor Trump get a free pass by blaming Hillary or bringing up Hillary.

Bernie is the only Senator who voted no on both the Magnitsky Act and Russian sanctions. He is the only one. That is not reasonable that on the two most consequential bills involving Putin's corruption and meddling that Bernie voted no.

Hillary did not vote no on either bill. She was not a Senator.

That being said. What about you? Were you against the Russian sanctions bill and the Magnitsky Act? I can understand your defense of Bernie if you were opposed to both bills.

[gademocrat7]

33. K&R!

[smirkymonkey]

35. K&R

[Pluvious]

36. K & R MUST READ !! nt

[sharedvalues]

37. Love the article and Browder. But remember - Koches own Time

This is a good article and it's written by Browder.

But going forward, for future Time articles, remember: the Koches bought Time to use as a propaganda instrument. Be wary.

[bdamomma]

40. K&R

nt

[SunSeeker]

43. K & R

[blue-wave]

47. K&R

[FakeNoose]

51. BOOM! K & R

Last edited Thu Jul 19, 2018, 02:22 PM - Edit history (1)

Pertinent quote from the OP:

The biggest mistake that Putin made in his offer today to effectively swap me for the 12 Russian agents is that he went to the wrong head of state. Although I was born in America, I emigrated to the United Kingdom 29 years ago and am a British citizen. If he really wants me, he better go talk to Theresa May, who might have a few choice words for him after Russian agents spread the military-grade nerve agent Novichok across the cathedral town of Salisbury, England.

Does anybody believe that Trump even knows that Mr. Browder is a British subject?
Good luck to you Mr. Browder! I hope you have a few fake IDs in your possession.

[Gothmog]

53. K&R

[BlancheSplanchnik]

54. Wow!!

Thanks for sharing this!

[Scurrilous]

56. Boink.