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According to reports “between late 2016 and early 2017, ‘Mr. Calk was placing calls to the Pentagon and specifically to Army headquarters, asking for briefings to obtain information and prepare himself for a possible job.” 

Howard Calk is founder, chair, and CEO of The Federal Savings Bank. According to Bloomberg, he received an approximately $2 million investment from Vector Group, where one of Trump’s best friends, Howard Lorber, is CEO. Vector Group is the parent company of Douglas Elliman Real Estate, LLC (the article notes that the investment may have been from Douglas Elliman). Trump and Lorbor travelled together exploring business opportunities in Moscow (1996). They were accompanied by Bennett LeBow, chair and founder of Vector Group. LeBow was involved in the cigarette industry and real estate in both Russia and the Ukraine. A Ukrainian politician who was part of the same pro-Russia party for which Manafort worked, Vadim Z. Rabinovich, is a former business partner of LeBow. The article says that “Calk’s bank had signed an agreement with Douglas Elliman to send business its way“. This is apparently the 2014 partnership which “turned sour by the end of that year.” Nonetheless, Calk and Lorber served together on a Trump advisory committee. See: “Behind Manafort’s Loans, a Chopper Pilot Who Flew Into Trump’s Orbit” By Monte Reel and John McCormick, July 25, 2017, 9:31 AM EDT Updated on July 25, 2017, 11:55 AM EDT https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-07-25/behind-manafort-s-loans-chopper-pilot-who-flew-into-trump-orbit Currently the connection that we found with Russia was Douglas Elliman’s Knight-Frank association, which wrote in 2015 that “Our snapshot is set to expand significantly in the next five years with the addition of ambitious projects across emerging centres in Asia, Australia, Russia and the Middle East” (Global Development Report 2015, Douglas Elliman/Knight-Frank). In May 2017, Trump appointed Lorber as Chair of the U. S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.

“Top Dems Request Info from Pentagon on Reports that Manafort Promised Army Secretary Job To Banker Who Loaned Him Millions
Feb 27, 2018 Press Release
Top Dems Request Info from Pentagon on
Reports that Manafort Promised Army Secretary Job
To Banker Who Loaned Him Millions
 
Washington, D.C. (Feb. 27, 2018)—Today, Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, the Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and Rep. Stephen F. Lynch, the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on National Security, sent a letter to Secretary of Defense James Mattis requesting information about “extremely troubling” press reports suggesting that a banker named Stephen Calk may have made loans of up to $16 million to President Donald Trump’s campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, in exchange for alleged promises to name him Secretary of the Army.

“[R]eports that Mr. Calk was being considered for a high-level and highly sensitive national security position within the Trump Administration as part of a quid pro quo with Mr. Manafort raise serious concerns that, completely apart from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, warrant scrutiny by Congress,” Cummings and Lynch wrote.

According to numerous press accounts, the bank that Mr. Calk heads, Federal Savings Bank, provided up to $16 million in loans to Mr. Manafort “as part of a quid pro quo arrangement to secure Mr. Calk a job in Mr. Trump’s administration.”

According to these reports, between late 2016 and early 2017, “Mr. Calk was placing calls to the Pentagon and specifically to Army headquarters, asking for briefings to obtain information and prepare himself for a possible job.”  In addition, “Mr. Calk’s overtures raised questions among military leaders as to how to respond.”

The Ranking Members asked the Defense Department to provide a briefing and produce documents by March 13, 2018, including all communications with Calk, all requests for information from Calk, communications between the Department and individuals associated with President Trump’s campaign, and any actions considered or taken by the Pentagon.
Click here to read today’s letter. https://democrats-oversight.house.gov/sites/democrats.oversight.house.gov/files/2018-02-27.EEC%20%26%20Lynch%20to%20DOD%20re.Stephen%20Calk.pdf
Issues: 
Administration, Ethics and Transparency
115th Congress” https://democrats-oversight.house.gov/news/press-releases/top-dems-request-info-from-pentagon-on-reports-that-manafort-promised-army

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Lorber
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vector_Group
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bennett_S._LeBow
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_Kasowitz
Ligett Vector; Ligett Ducat was sold in 2000: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/59440/000005944016000072/a2015-10k.htm

Icahn has Russian government business ties ties through its Federal Mogul, as well as benefitting from sanctions by selling liquified natural gas to Poland via Cheniere Energy: “Trump’s Lawyer, Marc Kasowitz: ‘The Toughest of the Tough Guys’ – The New York Times Jun 5, 2017 “Mr. LeBow and Mr. Icahn, working with Mr. Kasowitz, tried, unsuccessfully, to take over RJR Nabisco. (Mr. Kasowitz was largely responsible for helping Liggett settle the huge class …” https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/05/business/dealbook/sorkin-marc-kasowitz-trump-lawyer.html

“Tobacco Company Lawyer Says Pact Might Lead to Bankruptcy – The New York Times
Jun 24, 1997 · Marc Kasowitz, who represents Liggett’s parent company, the Brooke Group Ltd., said that Liggett had … ” http://www.nytimes.com/1997/06/24/us/tobacco-company-lawyer-says-pact-might-lead-to-bankruptcy.html