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Russicon (Republican) Senator Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) met in Moscow with former Russian Ambassador to the United States, Kislyak (believed a spy) Konstantin Konsachev (with a good profile for a spy) and additional Russian lawmakers on Monday. While he claims it was a private group meeting, he invited Russian lawmakers to meet with other US members of Congress, either in Washington DC or somewhere else. (So, how is this private? ) See The Washington Post: “Sen. Rand Paul goes to Moscow and invites Russians to Washington in unofficial bid to boost ties” https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/sen-rand-paul-goes-to-moscow-and-invites-russians-to-washingtonin-unofficial-bid-to-boost-ties/2018/08/06/0090975a-9945-11e8-8d5e-c6c594024954_story.html

Don Huffines of the Texas State legislature (Senator), his twin Philip, and the President-CEO of the Cato Institute, Peter Goettler, who last worked for Barclays, went with Rand Paul, or he went with them.

A political advisor for Rand Paul’s 2014 campaign, Richard Burt lobbied for the New European Pipeline, the old name for Nord Stream 2. He’s still lobbying for Nord Stream 2 through its consortium members. Former German Stasi agent, friend-associate of Putin (from KGB days in Germany) Matthias Warnig, is Managing Director of Nord Stream 2, as well as Chairman of the Board of Rusal.

Burt has continued to lobby for Gazprom’s partners in Nord Stream 2, including contracts worth $300,000 for 2018 through mid July (See screen captures at blog post bottom). Furthermore, he is working with other companies re sanctions, apparently including Iran related ones: “In 2014, Burt served as an unpaid foreign policy advisor for Rand Paul’s campaign for president.[9][10] During the first two quarters of 2016, Burt’s firm received $365,000 to lobby for New European Pipeline AG, a firm owned by Russian oil company Gazprom.[7] Beginning in February 2016, he and a colleague lobbied for Nord Stream II, an expansion of the Nord Stream pipeline which would allow Russian gas to reach Europe without going through Belarus or Ukraine. During the same time, Burt became an advisor for the presidential campaign of Donald Trump.[11] He encouraged Trump to take a less interventionist approach to foreign affairs[12]and helped craft Trump’s first major foreign policy speech at the think tank Center for the National Interest on April 27, 2016. In the speech, Trump called for greater cooperation with Russia. During the campaign, Burt also wrote white papers for Jeff Sessions on foreign policy and national security. Burt’s simultaneous roles as a campaign adviser for Trump and a lobbyist for Russian interests first drew scrutiny in October 2016 following the revelations of other connections between the campaign and Russia.[7]” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Burt
See too: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nord_Stream_AG

Democrat Nathan Johnson, running against Don Huffines for Texas State Senator stated: ”Over the last few weeks, I’ve crisscrossed the district talking to constituents about the many challenges we face right here in Senate District 16. Meanwhile, my Trump-defending opponent Don Huffines decided to go on a Moscow adventure this week with Rand Paul instead, to ‘improve parliamentary relations’ with Russia. What does this say about his priorities?” As quoted in: “State Sen. Don Huffines of Dallas meets with Russian officials in Moscow: The Dallas Republican, along with U.S. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, met with Russian officials to “increase engagement” with the country“. BY SYDNEY GREENE, The Texas Tribune, August 06, 2018 https://www.texastribune.org/2018/08/06/state-sen-don-huffines-meets-russian-officials-moscow/. Huffines related: https://www.texastribune.org/bidness/explore/donald-huffines/

Click to access Huffines-2015.pdf

The president of the Cato Institute is there too. There are millions of dollars given to the Cato Institute from unknown sources. The tax form is on their web site and shows millions in donations from individuals, but we don’t know who. The remaining Koch stepped down from the board, apparently for health reasons, but the Kochs may still be funding it. The Koch twins are members of Trump’s Mar a Lago and have a house or houses nearby. See: https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Cato_Institute

Cato president used to work for Barclays, who are concerned about sanctions: “Barclays Warns on ‘Drastic’ Proposal to Sanction Russian Banks By Anna Andrianova August 6, 2018, 7:22 AM EDThttps://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-08-06/barclays-warns-on-drastic-proposal-to-sanction-russian-banks

Proposed sanctions by US House and US Senate:
https://miningawareness.wordpress.com/2018/07/20/the-secure-america-from-russian-interference-act-of-2018/
https://miningawareness.wordpress.com/2018/08/03/bipartisan-group-of-us-senators-introduce-defending-american-security-from-kremlin-aggression-act-of-2018-to-increase-economic-political-and-diplomatic-pressure-on-russia/

“Rand Paul’s Big Flip-Flop on Russia” By DAVID CORN MAR. 14, 2014 https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/03/rand-paul-flip-flop-russia-ukraine-georgia/

“Nixon’s Think Tank to Host Donald Trump” http://www.thinktankwatch.com/2016/04/nixons-think-tank-to-host-donald-trump.html

“Rand Paul’s Russian Connection: Paul names controversial Kremlin expert foreign policy adviser, August 20, 2014 9:59 am https://freebeacon.com/politics/rand-pauls-russian-connection/ (Dmitri Simes and Richard Burt named.)

Nixon Center – Dmitri Simes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_for_the_National_Interest

Largest known donor to Don Huffines was Empower Texas: “Appeals court revives Empower Texans lawsuit seeking to gut the Texas Ethics Commission The case had been dismissed by a Travis County judge, but an appeals court on Friday overturned that dismissal“. BY EMMA PLATOFF AUG. 3, 2018 2 PM https://www.texastribune.org/2018/08/03/empower-texans-lawsuit-aiming-gut-texas-ethics-commission-revived/

https://www.followthemoney.org/entity-details?eid=6049322&default=candidate

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Huffines
https://www.texasobserver.org/outsider-senator-elect-don-huffines-puts-hat-lobby-money/
https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/politics/texas-elections-2018/2018/02/12/267185/paxton-huffines-spend-millions-in-gop-bid-for-texas-only-open-state-senate-seat/

Schedule B is supposed to have donors but on the web site only gives the amounts, on this copy even less. See screen capture at post bottom: https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/237432162/201703219349300530/IRS990ScheduleB

“Suspected Russian spy found working at US embassy in Moscow Exclusive: Russian is understood to have had full access to secret data during decade at embassy ” https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/aug/02/suspected-russian-spy-us-embassy-moscow-secret-service

Recall that Russian Foreign minister Lavrov and Ambassador Kislyak just popped up at the White House the day after FBI Director Comey was fired. Lavrov seemed to be feigning surprise. Putin friend and advisor Henry Kissinger showed up too.
https://miningawareness.wordpress.com/2018/02/01/3-russian-intel-chiefs-in-dc-ahead-of-deadline-for-trump-actions-against-russia-ahead-of-memo-re-russia-linked-carter-page/
https://miningawareness.wordpress.com/2017/05/11/long-time-trump-putin-friend-henry-kissinger-met-with-trump-same-day-as-russian-foreign-minister-and-ambassador/

“Accused spy Maria Butina met with Russia’s former US ambassador Photos emerge of Butina with Sergey Kislyak, whose contacts with Trump advisers have raised concerns ” https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jul/19/maria-butina-russia-spying-sergey-kislyak-ambassador-meeting

“Meet U.S. Person 2 in Maria Butina’s Spy Ring His name is George D. O’Neill, Jr. He’s a Rockefeller heir, gun nut, serial abuser of women & children, sexual deviant, and a big fan of Vladimir Putin“, by Ladd Everitt https://medium.com/@LaddEveritt/meet-u-s-person-2-in-maria-butinas-spy-ring-2b136bf7bf6f

“Jared Kushner discussed creating secret communications channel with Moscow – reports
Russia’s ambassador told his superiors that he and Kushner discussed ways to shield White House transition team discussions from monitoring, sources said” https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/may/26/jared-kushner-russia-secret-communications-channel



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