Blackwater founder held secret Seychelles meeting to establish Trump-Putin back channel
Source: Washington Post
The United Arab Emirates arranged a secret meeting in January between Blackwater founder Erik Prince and a Russian close to President Vladimir Putin as part of an apparent effort to establish a back-channel line of communication between Moscow and President-elect Donald Trump, according to U.S., European and Arab officials.
The meeting took place around Jan. 11 nine days before Trumps inauguration in the Seychelles islands in the Indian Ocean, officials said. Though the full agenda remains unclear, the UAE agreed to broker the meeting in part to explore whether Russia could be persuaded to curtail its relationship with Iran, including in Syria, a Trump administration objective that would likely require major concessions to Moscow on U.S. sanctions.
Though Prince had no formal role with the Trump campaign or transition team, he presented himself as an unofficial envoy for Trump to high-ranking Emiratis involved in setting up his meeting with the Putin confidant, according to the officials, who did not identify the Russian.
(snip)
The Seychelles encounter, which one official said spanned two days, adds to an expanding web of connections between Russia and Americans with ties to Trump contacts that the White House has been reluctant to acknowledge or explain until they have been exposed by news organizations.
(end snip)
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/blackwater-founder-held-secret-seychelles-meeting-to-establish-trump-putin-back-channel/2017/04/03/95908a08-1648-11e7-ada0-1489b735b3a3_story.html?utm_term=.a84cbc918493
Solly Mack
(90,792 posts)fun n serious
(4,451 posts)It gets worse and worse everyday!
Jonny Appleseed
(960 posts)GoldHair is the worst villain.
Liberal Jesus Freak
(1,451 posts)I'll look into having my jaw permanently attached to the floor
50 Shades Of Blue
(10,064 posts)ret5hd
(20,533 posts)magicarpet
(14,187 posts)..... communicated with Russian Alpha Bank - the only other communications by this secret server were with a DeVos controlled computer in Michigan.
L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)Prince runs Trumps private military force.
Judi Lynn
(160,646 posts)Knowing this now adds even more creepiness to this profoundly ugly situation.
Thank you, L. Coyote.
FailureToCommunicate
(14,026 posts)LisaM
(27,843 posts)This is nuts.
SunSeeker
(51,745 posts)Response to SunSeeker (Reply #13)
SunSeeker This message was self-deleted by its author.
Holy Shit!
gademocrat7
(10,676 posts)When is this going to stop?
TygrBright
(20,772 posts)vkkv
(3,384 posts)mahatmakanejeeves
(57,664 posts)By Adam Entous, Greg Miller, Kevin Sieff and Karen DeYoung
April 3 at 4:29 PM
....
Sieff reported from the Seychelles. Julie Tate, Devlin Barrett, Matea Gold, Tom Hamburger and Rosalind S. Helderman contributed to this report.
Adam Entous writes about national security, foreign policy and intelligence for The Post. He joined the newspaper in 2016 after more than 20 years with The Wall Street Journal and Reuters, where he covered the Pentagon, the CIA, the White House and Congress. He covered President George W. Bush for five years after the September 11, 2001, attacks. Follow @adamentous
Greg Miller covers intelligence agencies and terrorism for The Washington Post. Follow @gregpmiller
Kevin Sieff has been The Posts Africa bureau chief since 2014. He served previously as the bureau chief in Kabul and had covered the U.S. -Mexico border. Follow @ksieff
Karen DeYoung is associate editor and senior national security correspondent for the Washington Post. Follow @karendeyoung1
SunSeeker
(51,745 posts)Vinca
(50,318 posts)It also explains the debt owed to Betsy DeVoss.
Ilsa
(61,705 posts)With putin surrogates and spies, but I bet they haven't talked this much to any other govt's representatives.
I wonder what 45 will be tweeting on the toilet at 4am tomorrow.
Bernardo de La Paz
(49,047 posts)KewlKat
(5,624 posts)know is a part of the goldenshowers team, but seriously, aren't these actions illegal?
L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)ColemanMaskell
(783 posts)Initech
(100,108 posts)And his supporters don't care that they are breaking the law either.
hughee99
(16,113 posts)what was specifically discussed. Without more specific info on that, this isn't the "bombshell" people are making it out to be.
GetRidOfThem
(869 posts)If Trump needed to establish a back-channel connection via Blackwater in the Seychelles in January before being inaugurated but after the election, then there was no back-channel connection during the campaign, and therefore little chance of secret collaboration, and the whole Russia story falls apart. This is not a good development, unless it is an alternative fact planted by the agent orange administration...
greyl
(22,990 posts)The OP is about one channel, and your if-then logic is faulty.
magicarpet
(14,187 posts)..... update, discuss strategy and results are no longer viable means of communication because investigative agencies and journalists are hot on their trail. Prince comes along - arranges a clandestine trump/putin meet up - clandestine channels of communication are set up again.
C Moon
(12,221 posts)Initech
(100,108 posts)The more you peel back the layers, the more it stinks, and the more you are likely to cry as a result.