Month: July 2023

Hunter Biden Plea Agreement Hearing, July 26, 2023

by Dave

I will make this simple as possible.

Hunter Biden broke the law in 2018 and 2019, by not filing taxes. He broke the law again in 2018 by failing to acknowledge he was using illegal drugs at the time he applied for a gun permit. Obviously, if he had filled out the form honestly, the application would have been rejected and it would be headline news that he was addicted to drugs.

Biden reached an agreement with the Department of Justice to plead guilty to the late filings of taxes, and DOJ would drop gun application after he had been on probation for 2 years. Biden has paid all the money he owes including interest and fines.

So, the two parties, DOJ and Biden came to the court house, thinking the hearing will be perfunctory as agreement had been reached, and the judge just had to sign off on it. Judge Noreika would not sign off on it, because it would make her the arbitrator of the terms of an agreement which she had no involvement in creating. In her words, it would plop her in the middle of this case.

Earlier in the hearing, the Judge asked about the future investigations of Hunter Biden and in particular about a failure to register as a foreign agent. The specific law is called FARA, Foreign Agents Registration Act. This sparked some confusion as the sides differed, but after a brief recess, DOJ and Biden’s team came to an agreement that additional charges could be brought.

Judge Noreika asked DOJ and Biden to submit briefs addressing her concerns within 30 days. Hunter Biden entered a plea of not guilty on all charges. The hearing was dismissed. No one is sure how long the Hunter Biden saga will drag on. The New York Post headline, “Stunned onlookers gasp as Hunter Biden’s Sweetheart Plea Deal Crumbles.”

I believe the deal will ultimately approved by the Judge Noreika, with some additions to the plea agreement which minimize the role of the judge as arbitrator of the agreement. I also believe that FARA violation charges will be resolved with another out of court settlement or simply dropped by DOJ.

Many Republicans want the plea deal tossed out by the judge. Without a plea agreement, this case would go to court and drag on for years. They view it as a sweetheart deal, giving special privileges to Hunter Biden. Representative Jason Smith, Chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, submitted an Amicus Brief (Friends of the court) hoping to sway the judge to reject the deal, which would result in a court case, and keep the issues going through next years. The brief focuses on IRS whistleblower testimony to Congress, suggesting inappropriate and possibly biased investigation. The whistleblower testimony was not brought up during the hearing by the judge.

The DOJ has offered to allow David Weiss, Federal Prosecutor in Delaware, who has lead this case since it began, to testify in Congress. However, now that the deal is in limbo, I am sure DOJ will postpone any testimony.

Many subpoenas will be issued for testimony from DOJ officials involved in this case, from House Committees, because of politics. Officials can not comment on ongoing investigations. House members will be upset, and claim DOJ is stone-walling their investigation.

Stay tuned,

Dave

Part 2: Brian Kolfage, Guo Wengui and others

by Dave

In my prior blog, I began with Steve Bannon. I did not explain how We Build the Wall began, and how the others became involved. This second part ties up a few loose ends.

Brian Kolfage is a war hero. He lost both legs and an arm in the Iraqi war, serving in the Air Force.

We Build the Wall founder Kolfage has been sentence to 51 months in prison for his part in the scam. Timothy Shea partnered with Kolfage, and is described as a Colorado business man. He skimmed $350,000. He went to court and got 63 months sentence.

Trump had complained that he couldn’t get funding from Congress to build the wall, so Brian Kolfage thought of a charity to raise one billion dollars to build a wall. It started in December 2018 and was an instant success on GoFundMe, with 9 million dollars raised in the first 3 days. The problem was there was no way to transfer the money to the federal government to help “Trump’s wall.”

Some sections of a border barrier were built by We Build the Wall on private lands, but the nonprofit is now defunct.

Kolfage decided to form a 501(c)4 corporation in January 2019. This is where Andrew Badolato and Steve Bannon join in the effort. Oh, the sweet smell of money. As provided below, Steve Bannon headed the advisory board. Some sections of a border barrier were built by We Build the Wall on private lands, but the nonprofit is now defunct.

Wikipedia Link: We Build the Wall

The Advisory Board is provided in the above link. No one on the Advisory Board has been charged with skimming money from the charity, except Steve Bannon. But this could change as Bannon’s trial date nears. The current Attorney General of Kansas was on the board.

I could not find any biographical information on Andrew Badolato. I suspect his role was less as he received the lowest sentence of 3 years.

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The initial blog had a picture of Steve Bannon, arrested in Aug 2020, and the yacht Lady May owned by billionaire Guo Wengui (AKA Miles Guo, Han Wan Kwok) an exile from China. Lady May is a beautiful 152 ft yacht.

Now the Bannon-Guo connection, from Wikipedia:

G News is a website owned by Guo Media – a company associated with Guo – operating in collaboration with Steve Bannon, a former executive chairman of Breitbart News and former advisor to the Trump administration.[70][71] Guo Media paid Bannon $1 million in exchange for consulting services from August 2018 to August 2019,[72] and Bannon has an office in Guo Media’s headquarters.[15] Both Guo and Bannon are regularly featured in G News videos that criticize the Chinese government.[71] Guo and Bannon later co-founded GTV Media Group in 2020,[73] which operates the Chinese video website GTV.[74]

In August 2020, when Steve Bannon was arrested, Guo responded that the charges were “fabricated” and claimed that they were part of a plan by the Chinese Communist Party to “take Mr. Bannon down” [11]” Sure. See Wikipedia link:

Wikipedia, GTV Media

GTV Media specialized in conspiracy theories and spreading misinformation.

Guo Wengui became rich in China as a result of real estate development in China. His long biography is listed below:

Wikipedia, Guo Wengui

Per Wikipedia:

Guo was arrested on March 15, 2023 in New York by Federal authorities, for conspiracy to defraud his online followers out of more than $1 billion.[83][84] These included $452 million in unregistered offering and $150 million in loans for GTV, in addition to $250 million for membership programmes and $262 million for the Himalaya Exchange cryptocurrency project.[85]

So, as I understand it, it was a cryptocurrency scam.

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Guo is bankrupt. His 152′ boat went up for auction. Herb Chambers, 81 years old, is the new owner. Herb Chambers became rich by working hard, selling cars.

Wikipedia: Herb Chambers

He still works, going to work in his helicopter. So Bannon and Guo are headed for trial, Herb Chambers can be tooling around Dorchester Bay in the Lady May. If he has time.

Stay tuned,

Dave

Steve Bannon and Others: We Build the Wall

by Dave

Steve Bannon is smart. He has an MBA from Harvard Business School. He has a master’s degree in national security from Georgetown University. He has been an investment banker and held high positions in numerous companies.

He developed a strategy to get Trump elected, focusing on very emotional issues likely to get Republicans pumped up enough to vote for Trump. About a third of Americans don’t vote.

One theme was that the elites in Washington don’t care about working families. And of course that illegal Mexicans are taking jobs from good Americans, so we need to build a really high wall. And Trump added a twist, in that it wasn’t going to cost taxpayers a cent as Mexico was going to build it for us. Trump said this repeatedly, with intense conviction.

In addition to being smart, Bannon is corrupt. He is a grifter. Trump fired him as the Chief Strategist in the White House in August 2017. After this, Bannon was involved in many conservative organizations and was even a consultant to President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil and his son.

I have no idea what advice Bannon gave to Bolsonaro, but after losing the Brazilian election on October 31, 2022, he did not concede the election and cast doubt whether the election machines accurately recorded the votes. There was no evidence of faulty election machines, and the federal electoral court on June 30, 2023 barred Bolsonaro from running for president until 2030 for discrediting the election process:

https://apnews.com/article/brazil-bolsonaro-ineligible-court-ruling-vote-99dee0fe4b529019ccbb65c9636a9045

Bannon promoted the “We Build the Wall” movement. The idea was that if Democrats in Congress would not fund Trump’s wall, then Steve Bannon and other Republicans would. A total of 25 million dollars was raised.

It was a scam. Some of the money was used, but the organizers were taking substantial sums for their own personal use. The donors were die-hard conservatives, who would without a second thought, send money to help build the wall. The organization was ripping off Trump’s MAGA supporters.

In August 2020, Steve Bannon was arrested on board the Lady May, owned by Guo Wengui, a billionaire and one of the top 10 on China’s most wanted list. We will get to Guo Wengui in Part 2 of this blog. Also a bit about the Lady May. It is no longer owned by Mr. Wengui.

Based on evidence presented to a grand jury, Bannon and three others were indicted on defrauding donors. The three others are Andrew Badolato, Brian Kolfage and Timothy Shea. Badolato and Kolfage pled guilty and have been sentenced to 36 and 51 months on April 26, 2023. Shea pled not guilty and was sentenced to 63 months in prison on July 25, 2023.

Southern District of New York Colorado Man Sentenced To Prison For “We Build The Wall” Online Fundraising Fraud Scheme, July 25, 2023

Steve Bannon was able to avoid a trial because Trump gave him a pardon on his last day in office. This didn’t work. While charges were dropped in Federal Court, Manhattan DA, Alvin Bragg charged Bannon with money laundering, conspiracy and scheming to defraud donors on September 8, 2022.

Prior to his pardon, he was accused of stealing over one million dollars. Per the link below, “if convicted on the top charge, he faces a maximum 5 to 15 years in prison, according to Bragg.”

Politico, Steve Bannon charged with money laundering, conspiracy

Given Shea conviction, there is no chance of a plea bargain. It is expected to go to trial in 2024.

Bannon has been convicted for a failure to appear at the Jan 6 Congressional Hearing on October 21, 2022 and has been sentenced to four months in jail and pay a fine of $6500. He was allowed to be free on bond until the appeals are complete.

The link below gives more details of Steve Bannon. Per the link below, ‘In his memoir, White House senior adviser Jared Kushner recalled having an abrasive relationship with Bannon and two occasions in which Bannon threatened him, including one in which he threatened to ‘break Kushner in half’ after he accused Bannon of leaking to the press.[272][273] Also in his memoir Kushner writes “Bannon single-handedly caused more problems for me than anyone else in my time in Washington. He probably leaked and lied about me more than everyone else combined. He played dirty and dragged me into the mud of the Russia investigation”.’

Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Bannon

So, Donald Trump and Steve Bannon will be in Manhattan to face charges in 2024. Trump is facing criminal charges on the Stormy Daniels Hush Money case and Bannon on the Build the Wall fraud scheme.

What was going through Trump’s head when he pardoned Bannon, knowing he ripped off his followers and leaked lies about his son in law to the press. I can only believe that Bannon had a lot of ammunition to use against Trump.

Part 2 will be shorter, as I will discuss the fall of Guo Wengui, a close associate of Steve Bannon.

Stay tuned,

Dave

Trump’s legal problems – Quick summary

by Dave

It’s 4+2, which stands for 4 criminal cases and 2 civil cases. They are well summarized in the link below:

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/what-are-the-legal-cases-against-donald-trump.html

Two simple principles must be understood: (1) No one is above the law and (2) Trump’s legal problems are of his own making.

Billionaire Trump will use campaign donations to pay for his legal expense. This is the height of audacity. He will claim he is the victim and the Biden administration is trying to lock him up so he can’t run.

The four criminal cases will take place in Florida, Georgia, NY and Washington DC. Can you name them and give their status?

They are the Mar-a-Lago Documents case in Florida, Election Tampering case in Georgia, Stormy Daniels hush money in NY, and Jan 6 and 2020 election aftermath in Washington DC.

Now, the status as of July 25, 2023: Documents case – trial scheduled for May 20, 2024, Georgia Election Tampering – indictment announcement likely between now and September 1, 2023, Stormy Daniels case- trial scheduled for March 25, 2024, Jan 6 and election aftermath, indictments likely very soon.

Ok for extra credit, match the prosecutor (Smith, Bragg and Willis) to each case.

The two civil cases are summarized in the link above. October 24, 2023 Trump goes on trial for business fraud in NYC and then on January 15, 2024, a trial is scheduled for the second defamation case against E. Jean Carroll. He does not have to appear for either trial.

Criminal cases can result in jail time. So, will Donald Trump do time? If found guilty, his lawyers will be fighting in court to keep him from ever serving time. Convicts have the right to be incarcerated in a place that guarantees their well-being. A lot is up to the judge in the case. It will not be like the movies. No one will parade Donald Trump in front of the news media. He has secret service protection for life, by law. House arrest is an option. It is unprecedented to incarcerate an ex-president and a presidential candidate. There will be many appeals.

Finally, the documents case will be in Palm Beach County, not far from where I live. Trials in the US are open to the public. How can I attend? Perhaps I have to camp outside in line. I think the accused (Donald Trump) must be present.

Sometimes, the accused have little chance to defend themselves in court, because they have to rely on public defenders. Billionaire Trump has access to the best legal minds in our country.

The wheels of justice turn slowly, but they appear to be going in the right direction.

Stay tuned,

Dave

Manned flight to Mars

by Dave

We are learning many reasons why the OceanGate submarine was not safe enough to go 13,000 ft below the sea to view the Titanic. Of course, there was little problem sending cameras and strobe lights down to these depths. In fact, advances in robotics now make it possible to explore extremely challenging environments.

I feel the same way about exploration of Mars. I really loved the latest headline from NASA, “The Ingenuity Phones Home” which of course, is about receiving communications from the Ingenuity helicopter, after a communications black out, because the helicopter communicates with the Perseverance Rover, which was behind a hill, and couldn’t receive communications. All that changed on June 28, and I am hoping for more images from the Martian surface.

Pictured above is Sara Langberg, an aeromechanical engineer at AeroViroment, and a member of the team which designed the Ingenuity helicopter.

“I’m honored and humbled to be a part of it,” said Langberg. “Hardware that I designed and built with my own hands is going to touch the surface of Mars and that’s just mind-boggling.”

Mars is not a place to be colonized. This is a ridiculous notion. Locking up six astronauts for two years and submitting them to unhealthy conditions (weightlessness and radiation) makes no sense. I want real research not headlines.

CNN Link: https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/25/health/biology-of-spaceflight-studies-wellness-scn-trnd/index.html

Red risks for a journey to the red planet: The highest priority human health risks for a mission to Mars

Mars is a planet to be explored. Send the robots, rovers, helicopters, and other devices with thousands of sensors.

By the way, Elon Musk isn’t going. Neither is Mr. “Multi-planet Species” Neil deGrasse Tyson. They are not taking a chance on their health. They are not subjecting themselves to 2 years of confinement.

I have commented on this topic before, and nothing really has changed my opinion.

Stay tuned,

Dave