Victor Pinchuk and U.S. Politics.
*Another book excerpt because I think it is pertinent info in light of the Michael Morrell Atlantic Council scandal. *
Pinchuk was always considered a pro-Russian oligarch when he was discussed in connection with Donald Trump. Trump getting a $150,000 speaking fee in 2015 was clearly an example of influence peddling. Pinchuk donated huge sums of money to The Clinton Foundation and she was clearly his expected and preferred candidate to be President of the United States. However, Pinchuk is a practical man and knew that Trump was gaining great popularity and always had enormous name recognition. So he hedged his bets by buying influence from Trump with the 2015 video speech. While deals like this are sleazy they are not uncommon in politics. Due to running as a political outsider, Trump was elected by the populace, in part, to avoid this sort of bribery disguised as a service. This makes it all the more brazen and horrible that Trump agreed. Trump delivered to Pinchuk by heaping lavish praise upon him in the speech. However, their relationship would not remain so cordial.
Citizen journalist George Webb mused that the 2015 speech was possibly an entrapment effort as it was later used by Robert Mueller in his investigation of supposed Russian interreference in the 2016 election. Pinchuk’s substantial donations to the Clinton Foundation received no such scrutiny (much less allegations that Hillary was in league with the Russians.)
Donald Trump Jr. met with the Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya in 2016 at Trump Tower. Veselnitskaya claimed to have opposition research about Hillary Clinton she could provide. Trump Jr. claimed the meeting was brief as not only did she have no information but her only interest was discussing efforts to overturn part (or all of) the Magnitsky Act which led to Russia placing a ban on American's adoptions of Russian children. Veselnitskaya reportedly believed that if measures were softened Russian adoption could resume.
The meeting was hailed by the media as proof of Donald Trump Jr. colluding with Russia to subvert American elections. Veselnitskaya met with the founder of Fusion GPS, Glenn Simpson, the morning before the meeting leading many to believe it was an effort to entrap the Trump family. Fusion GPS was involved in the creation of the infamous Steele dossier that claimed there were blackmail tapes of Donald Trump in Russian possession. Ironically, the Steele dossier was itself opposition research created by a foreign national, Christopher Steele. However, Hillary paying British former intelligence agents to compile unsupported and bogus claims was not seen as a threat to democracy by the mainstream media. The Trump Tower meeting was for a time seen as direct confirmation of Russian collusion despite the fact that no action was ever seen to have come of it.
Fusion GPS was brought in by the law firm Perkin's Cole which represented both Hillary Clinton's campaign and the Democratic National Committee (DNC). This is interesting as they were the same people to bring in Crowdstrike who claimed Russia hacked the DNC servers. The FBI was never allowed to see the DNC servers and instead Crowdstrike, a private cybersecurity firm, was granted the sole right to see it. Crowdstrike is funded by Victor Pinchuk and Crowdstrike's former co-founder is Dmitri Alperovitch who sits with Pinchuk on the anti-Russian think tank the Atlantic Council. Crowdstrike's legitimacy should be called into question as they once falsely claimed Russia hacked into a Ukrainian artillery app. The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) claimed that Crowdstrike drew inferences from IISS data to falsely claim there was a military hack and combat losses that did not occur. The media ignored this information as it could cast doubt on the accuracy and impartiality of Crowdstrike and their claim that Russia hacked the DNC.
The Atlantic Council did not merely have Pinchuk as a member. Soros and Pinchuk were donors to the organization. As a result, the organization reflects their political leanings and objectives. While Pinchuk may have once donated to Trump, through the Atlantic Council, he later did all he could to damage him. The Atlantic Council was one of the groups to partner with Facebook to fight supposed disinformation. This destruction of the free marketplace of ideas was lionized as defending democracy from disinformation. 'Russia expert' at US govt-funded Atlantic Council spreads fake news over Ukraine - Multipolarista
Perhaps best exemplifying the Atlantic Council's attitude towards Trump was former CIA agent and senior Atlantic Council member John Sipher. Sipher was one of 51 so-called intelligence experts who claimed that in their professional opinion the story that broke about Hunter Biden's laptop prior to the 2020 election was Russian disinformation. Hunter Biden is the son of Joe Biden. He is well known for his checkered past and his crack cocaine addiction. After the New York Times finally admitted that the Hunter Biden laptop was legitimate, John Sipher bragged about helping shift the election away from Trump. The laptop contained evidence of the Biden family being tied to financial crimes, including with Hunter's position at Burisma Holdings, Hunter’s frequenting of prostitutes and escorts, and even more evidence of Hunter’s rampant drug usage. Worst of all was evidence of Hunter engaging in possible pedophilia. After the 51 intelligence agents made their stance on the laptop story, news agencies dismissed it as disinfo and social media began to crack down on any serious discussion of it as a threat to democracy. Sipher was nonplussed about helping hide important evidence of Joe Biden's wrongdoing to the American public in an election year, instead taking personal pride in hurting Donald Trump.
Pinchuk showed his genuine antipathy towards Trump with the creation of the Transatlantic Council on Election Integrity (TCEI). The council was said to combat Russian disinformation influencing democratic elections. This was in response to Trump's victory when Pinchuk himself had given him thousands of dollars. Trump's victory over Hillary could not be portrayed by Pinchuk any way other than Russian subversion and not anything representing the will of the American people. Former members of the Transatlantic Council on Election Integrity included Joe Biden and John Kerry. Joe Biden left the group upon securing the presidency. Victor Pinchuk remains a member. Another notable member is Natalie Jaresko, the former Minister of Finance of Ukraine.
The connections between Jaresko and Pinchuk run deep. She received a scholarship from the World Wide Studies program from the Victor Pinchuk Foundation. But the connection is much more than merely his foundation giving her her academic beginnings. She is connected to multiple institutions that either feature Victor Pinchuk as a member or are a Victor Pinchuk Foundation partner or affiliated group. The Atlantic Council features both Pinchuk and Jaresko as members. She also makes appearances at Pinchuk's Yalta European Strategy (YES) as well as being the chair of the board of the Pinchuk partnered Aspen Institute. She is also a member of the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on the Future of Financing on Capital.
While born in the U.S., Jaresko served as a former Finance Minister of Ukraine. During her tenure she presided over a debt restructuring for Ukraine in 2015. Ukrainian parliament member Andriy Derkach claimed that 16.5 of it was laundered to the Board of Burisma, including Hunter Biden. This connection makes both Joe Biden and Jaresko both acting as members of TCEI all the more blatantly corrupt. Both Jaresko and Pinchuk are accused of laundering money to the Democratic party while simultaneously accusing Trump of having improper ties to Russia. The projection of their own wrongdoing was blatant. What's more, they used accusations of Russian propaganda to try to crack down on legitimate free speech on issues within the public interest.