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Monday, November 6, 2017

UH-OH! Tony Podesta Did Not Register As Foreign Agent When Lobbying For Clinton-Uranium One Deal

The very thing that was one of Manfort's Charges?

Tony Podesta, the Democrat powerbroker and founder of the Podesta Group, failed to register as a foreign agent while lobbying for the Clinton-Uranium One deal. “Podesta collected lobbying fees of $180,000 from Uranium One, according to the non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics, that discloses lobbying documents filed with Congress,” reports Richard Pollock of the Daily Caller.
The Daily Caller reports:
The Podesta Group lobbied on behalf of Uranium One for part of 2012 and in 2014 and 2015, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. The Podesta Group was not listed as a lobbyist for Uranium One during its sale to ROSATOM in 2010.
The Podesta Group did not file under FARA during any of the years when it lobbied both Congress and the executive branch, according to the Justice Department website.
Reporting requirements under FARA demand far more rigorous public disclosure requirements — including contract information — than reports filed under congressional lobbying disclosure rules.
“The Podesta Group takes legal compliance seriously, and it complied with the law here,” a spokesperson from the Podesta Group told the Daily Caller.
According to NBC News sources, the Podesta Group is one of the two companies directly linked to Paul Manafort’s indictment in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s ‘Russian interference’ investigation.
NBC News reports:
The lobbying firms the Podesta Group and Mercury Public Affairs are the unnamed companies in the grand jury indictment of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his deputy, Rick Gates, according to three sources with knowledge of the investigation.
The indictment, unsealed Monday, refers to “Company A” and “Company B” as the firms Manafort and Gates solicited in 2012 to lobby on behalf of the Ukranian government. Company A is Mercury Public Affairs and Company B is the Podesta Group, the sources said.
As The Gateway Pundit previously reported, Tony Podesta, the founder of D.C. lobbying firm the Podesta Group is stepping down from the company amid Robert Mueller’s probe. Podesta made the announcement at a company-wide meeting last Monday.
POLITICO reports:
Podesta is handing over full operational and financial control to longtime firm CEO Kimberley Fritts, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the meeting. Fritts and a senior group of the Podesta team will be launching a new firm in the next one or two days. Sources said the transition has been in the works for the past several months.
“[Tony] was very magnanimous and said, “This is an amazing group of people,” a source said of Podesta’s remarks. Podesta also told staff he “doesn’t intend to go quietly, or learn how to play golf.” He said he “needs to fight this as an individual, but doesn’t want the firm to fight it.”
The Podesta Group was subpoenaed in late August along with four other public relations firms who worked with former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort during a 2012-2014 lobbying effort for a pro-Ukraine think tank – the European Centre for a Modern Ukraine (ECMU) – tied to former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych.
Two of the subpoenaed firms include Paul Manafort’s Mercury, LLC and the Podesta Group, founded by John and Tony Podesta and operated by the latter.

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