The Zionist Stand in for Trump, in Taking
the False Blame for Impregnating Playboy Model, Shera Bechard
By Eve Mykytyn
Al-Jazeerah, CCUN,
September 1, 2019
Playboy model Shera Bechard received
hush money from a 'David Dennison'. Donald Trump has used the
same alias, to be silent about her pregnancy
Elliot Broidy, who took the false claim of imprignating Shera
Bechard, instead of Trump
What a Web Around Broidy
What do former ambassador Dennis Ross, former New Mexico governor
Bill Richardson, former Playboy model Shera Bechard, Sheldon Adelson, an
heiress from Beverly Hills and others have in common?
(They all have Elliot Broidy,
who was the) Vice Chair of Trump’s inauguration committee (which is
itself the subject of an inquiry into how it spent the $107 million
dollars it raised). Broidy was a member of the finance committee of the
Republican party and a board member
of the ultra Zionist Republican
Jewish Coalition. The following is a recap of
some of Broidy’s business dealings.
Markstone Capital
In 2009, Broidy pled guilty to paying $1 million to New York
officials in return for their investment of $250 million of NY pension
dollars in Broidy’s fund, Markstone Capital. Broidy denied liability in
a similar scheme in New Mexico, where Broidy hired a close associate of
then governor Bill Richardson to market his fund, but Broidy agreed to
pay the state a fine of $1 million.
In 2014, as Markstone looked for the investors to fulfill their
pledged funds (as is common in private equity deals) New Mexico and
several Israeli firms balked. The fund’s management collected $80
million in fees (an astounding 10% of the original investment, standard
in the industry is 2%) in exchange for which the fund lost 40% of its
investor’s money. While the New York Times and other US mainstream media
including tikkun olam write about Broidy’s role in the ‘pay to play’
scam, you have to go to either the business or Jewish press to find that
the fund invested solely in Israel and that investors lost almost half
their money. The fund announced it was closing in 2015.
Inauguration Committee Appearance of Bribing Foreign
Officials
Using his influence on the Inauguration committee, Broidy offered
inaugural tickets to Angola, the Republic of Congo and Romania, all of
which offered him potential contracts worth as much as $266 million.
Korbatov, Leonard and Selma Fisch, Asiru, Gabon and Trump
On December 7, 2016, Broidy, Nigerian businessman Asiru, and pro
Israel and Beverly Hills activist Korbatov signed an agreement for a
joint venture ‘BCH Development.’ The agreement provided that for any
contract BCH had with Angola, Korbatov would receive 3% and Asiru 30%
with the remainder going to Broidy.
Korbatov first met Asiru in 2007, when her parents, Leonard and Selma
Fisch, paid $10 million for a Beverly Hills mansion that Asiru managed
for the seller, Omar Bongo, long time dictator of Gabon. In a
transaction papered by Korbatov’s husband, the mansion was apparently
sold to a straw man and then retitled in Trump’s name who later sold the
house for over $9.5 million. (it’s a great story) The Fisches are Los
Angeles real estate investors, members of the Republican Jewish
Coalition and have donated over $250,000 to GOP candidates and causes.
Perhaps as early as 2007 some Jewish Republicans were already recruiting
Trump.
Korbatov was president of the Beverly Hills School Board (and
according to LA county records, she voted twice in elections in both
2005 and 2008, using her married and maiden names) and she tried to use
Broidy to influence President Trump and/or Transportation Secretary Chao
to aid in her campaign to derail a planned subway extension. Broidy
assured her that he had “a path” to Chao.
Korbatov tried to stoke transit phobia, claiming a subway tunnel
might release underground gas that could incinerate or poison students,
and even claimed, that:“our high school, with its reputation as having
affluent and Jewish students, would make a good target” for terrorists
attracted by the subway. She pushed the school district to spend $16
million of its limited funds on court battles to fight the subway,
spending that the district’s auditors flagged as violating the state
constitution. This is NIMBY taken to its ultimate extreme. (Korbatov
tried to abuse other connections as well. The story is here.)
Angola Much of the information on Angola comes from e mails hacked by
Qatar, the entire story was first and best reported by Mother Jones from
which much of the following is taken.
By the end of 2016, Broidy and Asiru (as BCH) had won a $12 million
contract to set up and operate an “Open Source Intelligence Center” for
the Angolan government. BCH also worked a deal with Grupo Simples, an
Angola-based oil services company that had no experience developing oil
wells, but that had been awarded oil concessions by Angola’s state-owned
oil company. This venture hoped to gain “billions of dollars in oil &
gas, and mining assets” for BCH. Broidy gave inaugural tickets to two
representatives of Angola and invited them to meetings with
congressional Republicans. These meetings were arranged by Aryeh
Lightstone, an Orthodox Jewish rabbi and founder of Shining City, a
right wing Zionist anti-BDS organization(and funder of right wing
politicians in Israel), and who owned a stake in another Broidy firm,
Menace Deterrence Capital. (Lightstone is now Senior Advisor to US’s
ambassador to Israel). The oil deal with Grupo Simples—and its potential
“billions” never occurred: Angola’s state-owned oil firm got a new
manager who blocked earlier concessions.
And Broidy chased a third scheme in Angola. In February 2017, Fran
Moore, a former CIA agent and board member of Menace Deterrence, asked
Broidy to help her “strengthen” a proposal aimed at countering the
“high-level of corruption” in Angola. In an attempt to complete these
deals, Broidy bragged of his connections to the Trump White Home. For
ex. “I will be at the White House meeting with VP Pence, CoS Priebus
etc. tomorrow and can begin to set the wheels in motion for a meeting
for the Defense Minister.” ex. “[will see] President Trump this weekend
at Mira Largo [sic] and on Steve Wynn’s Yacht Aquarius on Saturday
evening. I can also ask Trump for the meeting.” In May 2017, Angolan
minister Lourenço signed a memo of understanding with Mattis to increase
“security cooperation” between Angola and America. Broidy’s defense
lawyer now claims “The Angolan defense minister met with Mattis on his
own, having nothing to do with [Broidy].” In a reply to questions about
his involvement with Broidy, Asiru wrote, “Be assured, I’ll respond
vigorously to any libel or slander by you ... to link me in any way with
any of Elliott Broidy’s alleged misdeeds.” Malaysia Investment Fund The
most recent federal probe into Broidy grew out of the investigation into
multi billion fraud at the Malaysian development fund, 1MDB. According
to court filings, the alleged mastermind, Jho Low, paid at least $6
million to Broidy and his wife to convince the Justice Department to
drop its investigation into Mr. Low.
Qatar, UAE and Saudi Arabia
This is a summary. For a more complete account, this is a great
article by Andy Kroll in Rolling Stone, The following, except where
noted, is from that article and from the New York Times.
Broidy waged a secretive, multimillion dollar PR and influence
campaign to persuade the Trump administration to punish Qatar, an enemy
of the UAE and Saudi Arabia, but an ally of the U.S. In October, 2016
Broidy met with Trump,and told him the two countries were forming an
army of 5,000 Arab soldiers to fight against the Taliban and ISIS.
Broidy slammed the Qataris as opposed to the plan and as financial
supporters of terrorism and included them with North Korea and Iran in a
new “axis of evil.”
Convicted sex offender, Lebanese-American George Nader, was a well
known ‘mediator-for-hire’ representing various countries in the Middle
East. The two men met at the Trump inauguration. Nadar hired Broidy to
design a strategy to further the aims of Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
Broidy was paid at least $2.5 million, and his lobbying campaign has led
to further contracts, to date Broidy has made tens of millions working
for the two nations.
Broidy’s PR offensive linked Qatar to groups labeled as terrorist;
the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas and the Taliban, spreading the message
using think tanks, newspapers, magazines, YouTube, social media and dark
money political ads. He put together two star-studded conferences to
push Trump and Congress into isolating and punishing Qatar.
The Daily Beast reports that Broidy recruited former Ambassador
Dennis Ross to write op-eds favorable to the UAE and Saudi Arabia. After
The Hill published one of Ross’ pieces Broidy paid him $10,000. Ross is
a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Peace (a group funded
and staffed by AIPAC).
It seems Trump believed the message. Throughout 2017, he became
increasingly critical of Qatar and vowed to work with the Saudis and the
UAE to support a counterterrorism center in the Middle East.
In June 2017, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt cut diplomatic
ties, closed their borders to Qataris and imposed a blockade on Qatar; a
serious blow to a country surrounded by water on three sides that
exports natural gas and imports everything else. That the details of the
resulting political battle are known at all is due to a 2018 hack and
disclosure of the emails of Broidy and of a number of prominent critics
of Qatar. The hack was possibly in retaliation for a UAE- Israeli hack
of the phones of senior Qatari officials and royals.
Qatar was initially unprepared, but they soon countered with their
own lobbying effort, hiring an army of lobbyists including former U.S.
Attorney General John Ashcroft and several former Trump staffers. One of
those hired was Nick Muzin, a Trump campaign aide who had extensive ties
to the Orthodox Jewish community. Broidy had tapped Zionist groups,
including AIPAC to criticize Qatar, Muzin convinced other Jewish leaders
that Qatar was an important friend and ally. He and his business
partner, a restaurant owner named Joey Allaham, arranged for people
close to Trump, including Alan Dershowitz, to visit Qatar, and steered
large sums of Qatari money to groups like the ultra right wing Zionist
Organization of America.
This was not the political see saw of liberal/conservative, this was
a proxy war in the Middle East fought on both sides by right wing
Zionists who were paid generously for their support.
The Pregnant Playboy Model
Broidy used presidential fixer Michael Cohen to pay hush money to
former Playboy model Shera Bechard
when she became pregnant and he was alleged to be the father. Media
reports suggest that Broidy might have been a
stand in for Trump, who is alleged to
have gotten the woman pregnant.
This is the sin for which Broidy had to resign from the Republican
Party finance committee and from the board of the Republican Jewish
Coalition. Fraud, theft, and bribery didn’t do it, he was ousted
for taking responsibility for getting a shikse pregnant.
Let’s face it: it’s tough keeping track
of the stream of sleaze surging around
the Trump White House.
The sheer volume — the plea deals and
co-operating witnesses, the raids on
lawyers’ offices, the porn stars,
Russians, the new faces and names
emerging weekly — has become numbing and
exhausting.
We may delight in the revelations, but
many of us just don’t have the time for
the details and slow drip of legal
manoeuvres. Wake us when it’s over,
whenever that is.
Which might explain why the story of
fundraiser, the child pornographer and
the
Playboy playmate has failed to
catch on.
Got your attention now?
Elliott Broidy is a well-connected
Republican fundraiser and influence
peddler around Washington. Like all
lobbyists, his value is in his
relationships (real or perceived) and
access to power – in this case, to the
new president.
During the inauguration festivities,
Broidy met George Nader, a Lebanese-born
lobbyist working on behalf of the United
Arab Emirates. The pair struck up a
friendship, and Nader began pressing
Broidy to reach out to Mr Trump on
behalf of the UAE in their efforts to
isolate and punish fellow gulf state
Qatar and, by extension, Iran.
Elliott Broidy has confessed to
being the man who impregnated and
paid off Ms Bechard.
Photo: AAP
Nader (who pleaded guilty to possessing
child pornography in 1991) pressed
Broidy hard to do the UAE’s bidding, and
for good reason: the two stood to make
hundreds of millions of dollars in
contracts from the UAE, whose princes
were eager to influence Trump.
Broidy, according to an exhaustive
report by The Associated Press, launched
all manner of anti-Qatar activities –
congressional bills, think-tank forums
and donations to members of Congress.
Despite Broidy and Nader’s denials, the
AP suggests all these efforts were paid
for by the UAE, which would violate US
law.
(Broidy, no stranger to the dark arts of
achieving influence, was convicted in
2009 of bribing New York State officials
relating to a pension fund).
By the end of 2017, Broidy and Nader
were on the verge of a US$600 million
contract from the UAE. It was at
precisely that moment that two things
occurred: Broidy met Mr Trump at the
White House, and he began making a
series of secret transfers to bank
accounts associated with Michael Cohen,
Mr Trump’s attorney/fixer.
Several months later, following the raid
on Mr Cohen’s offices in New York,
The
Wall Street Journal revealed that a
total of US$1.6 million was shovelled by
Broidy into the accounts to pay off
Shera Bechard, a
Playboy playmate.
When confronted by
Journal reporters, Broidy – who,
let’s remember, just forked over US$1.6
million in hush money – confessed
immediately to having had an affair with
Ms Bechard and paying for an abortion.
He was summarily bounced from his
finance job at the Republican National
Committee.
It gets curiouser. Documents found in Mr
Cohen’s offices show that the payments
to Ms Bechard include
the same alias – David Dennison – used in Mr Cohen’s
payments to Stormy Daniels, who claims
she had an affair with Mr Trump. The
documents also show the involvement of
Keith Davidson, Ms Daniels’ former
attorney, who she later fired believing
he was in cahoots with Mr Cohen.
George Nader, convicted of
possessing child porn, poses with
Donald Trump in 2017.
Photo: AAP
Is there a connection between Broidy’s
meeting with Mr Trump and the subsequent
payments to Ms Bechard? Simply put, did
he agree to be the fall guy for a Trump
hush payment in exchange for access to
the Oval Office and a UAE windfall?
(Broidy and Nader, it should be noted,
received the US$600 million contract.)
The hard evidence tying Mr Trump to the
Broidy payments is, so far, only
speculative, which helps explain why it
hasn’t gotten more traction in the
press.
Ms Bechard is not talking, and
prosecutors who raided Mr Cohen’s
offices aren’t revealing what they found
there. Curiously, neither the AP
investigation nor the
Journal story questioned Broidy’s
explanations about the affair.
But only a fool could deny the apparent
connections – Mr Cohen, the aliases,
etc. And let us not forget that, in
addition to Ms Daniels, Mr Trump has
already been accused of having an affair
with another
Playboy playmate, Karen McDougal.
He likes what he likes.
In any other administration, the
revelations about Broidy and Nader’s
influence peddling alone would warrant
intense news coverage.
That US foreign policy could so nakedly
be changed (President Trump did support
the UAE/Saudi blackballing of Qatar,
despite objections from some of his
staff) with the help of oil money
washing through DC is scandalous.
It also puts the lie to Mr Trump’s
exhortations about “draining the swamp”.
In his Washington, the swamp just keeps
spreading.
But these are not ordinary times.
It remains to be seen what Mr Mueller’s
probe thinks of the Broidy affair.
Should it emerge that Broidy is charged
by Mr Mueller, or is said to have become
a co-operating witness, that would be
bad news for Mr Trump.
But in a country so inured to his bad
behaviour, it’s anyone’s guess if it
will matter.
Larry
Hackett is the former editor-in-chief
of People magazine,
and a current contributor to the US
morning television news program Good
Morning America
