Yves smith reply re "Russia Russia" comment

Russiagate is nonsense. 

Mueller had two years and didn’t find anything. Read Aaron Mate for long form takedowns. I don’t have the time or patience for a rehash.

Trump has dated and married swimsuit models for years. One of his girlfriends met him at a model party at Mar a Lago. She didn’t have swimsuit. He took her back to one of the bedrooms and opened a drawer, which was full of suits for her to choose from. He was a non-druggie but hard partier. And there’s no evidence he ever hired prostitutes. He’d sometimes pay women for sex afterwards, and they were offended and upset, because they were not pros, they thought they were dates, and he was basically paying them to go away.

Now in Russia he might have to pay for company, but I have to tell you, NYC is full of Russian “models” who show up at parties for free hoping to get close to men much less rich than Trump.

In other words, Trump was/is shameless and the idea that the Russians would get anything that could embarrass him after New York Magazine had been making fun of his escapades for years is a stretch.

As for money laundering, there’s no evidence Trump did anything other than flounder around in Russia. That Senate report shows he dragged his escort girls around with him to 1996 meetings and was seen as a fool. He later set up a corporate entity that did no business. He did have an architect draw up plans for some sort of fantastical development and tried to get the attention of Putin as a possible buyer of the best unit. He was so devoid of contacts there that his stooge had to call an official (public) number, as in Trump had no inside connections whatsoever. Trump’s “Russia” guy was ex-con Felix Sater, who was more accurately ex-international Jewish mob than Russian mob. Sater had turned evidence to get his sentence reduced, which means no crook and no one honest would trust Sater.

As for money laundering, you clearly don’t even understand the concept. Every NYC developer of any significance has sold units to Russian nationals. There was one year when 70% of the condos sold in Brooklyn were sold to Russians. And no real estate seller is implicated in money laundering, unless they took cash for the purchase. Banks are responsible for anti money laundering checks. They have the “know your customer” obligation, not the real estate seller.