Paul Manafort registering with U.S. as foreign agent
The Latest on former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his firm’s work (all times local): 3:05 p.m. President Donald Trump‘s former campaign chairman is registering as a foreign agent. Paul Manafort’s spokesman says he was in talks with the government about registering before the 2016 election and is now “taking appropriate steps” in response to “formal guidance” from the government. The spokesman says Manafort’s lobbying work was not conducted on behalf of the Russian government and began before Manafort started working with the Trump campaign. It’s unclear whether Trump was aware that Manafort was in talks with the government about registering before he hired him. Michael Flynn, who was fired as White House national security adviser in February, has also had to register as a foreign agent for lobbying work he did with ties to Turkey. __ 12:49 p.m. A Washington lobbying firm that worked under the direction of two former Trump campaign advisers has registered with the Justice Department as a foreign agent. The firm said its work could have benefited the Ukrainian government. The Podesta Group’s cited details of lobbying it performed from 2012 through 2014 on behalf of the European Centre for a Modern Ukraine. The firm reported being paid more than $1.2 million for the effort. The disclosure follows reporting by the AP in August that the firm of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his deputy, Rick Gates, who served in a senior role in the Trump campaign, had overseen the lobbying effort. The effort sought to promote a pro-Russian Ukrainian political party’s interests in Washington. Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
Kay Ivey accepts Stan Stabler’s resignation, installs Hal Taylor as Acting Secretary of ALEA
The Office of the Governor announced Wednesday newly sworn-in Gov. Kay Ivey has accepted the resignation of Stan Stabler, who replaced Spencer Collier as Secretary of Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) in March 2016. Stabler, along with the 21 agency leaders of former Gov. Robert Bentley‘s cabinet, were required to submit letters of resignation by Ivey on Tuesday. Following Stabler’s resignation, Ivey named Hal Taylor as Acting Secretary of the ALEA. “Hal Taylor is a man of the utmost integrity who I trust during this time of transition to help in my vision of improving Alabama’s image,” stated Ivey. “I also thank the hundreds of men and women in our state law enforcement ranks who work every day to protect us.” Having most recently served as the Deputy Chief of Staff for the State Bureau of Investigations and ALEA Chief of Staff beginning in 2014, Taylor had previously worked for the ABC Board going back to 1992. There he held multiple positions, including executive security and then assistant director of the Enforcement Division. “Governor Ivey has a significant task to steady the ship of state, and I’m thankful she has entrusted me with the duty of leading our state law enforcement agency,” weighed-in Taylor. “Our troopers, SBI investigators, support staff, and others at ALEA are top-notch, and it’s an honor to work with them in this new capacity.” Ivey intends to conduct a thorough search for a permanent ALEA Secretary.
Luther Strange reporting solid fundraising for 2018 Senate special election
Newly appointed U.S. Sen. Luther Strange, selected by Gov. Robert Bentley to replace Jeff Sessions after he became U.S. Attorney General, is posting robust fundraising numbers ahead of a 2018 special election. According to AL.com, Strange’s campaign expects to report raising $673,802 to the Federal Elections Commission, with $763,612 cash-on-hand. A primary for the special election is tentatively scheduled June 5, 2018, for the General Election Nov. 6, 2018. However, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey – who took over after Bentley’s resignation this week after accusations of ethics and campaign finance violations – could move the date up. While Strange is the only announced candidate so far, AL.com reports that before the appointment, nearly a dozen people have expressed interest in the Senate race. In February, Bentley appointed Strange to the Senate seat in February only four months after Strange, who was Alabama Attorney General at the time, called on the House committee to suspend its investigation of the governor’s impeachment, claiming his office was conducting “necessary related work.” The controversial appointment led attorney Sam McClure to file an ethics complaint with the Alabama State Bar. Steve Marshall, Bentley’s choice to replace Strange as AG, has confirmed to reporters his office is conducting an investigation into the governor.
Paul Manafort firm received Ukraine ledger payout
Last August, a handwritten ledger surfaced in Ukraine with dollar amounts and dates next to the name of Paul Manafort, who was then Donald Trump‘s campaign chairman. Ukrainian investigators called it evidence of off-the-books payments from a pro-Russian political party — and part of a larger pattern of corruption under the country’s former president. Manafort, who worked for the party as an international political consultant, has publicly questioned the ledger’s authenticity. Now, financial records newly obtained by The Associated Press confirm that at least $1.2 million in payments listed in the ledger next to Manafort’s name were actually received by his consulting firm in the United States. They include payments in 2007 and 2009, providing the first evidence that Manafort’s firm received at least some money listed in the so-called Black Ledger. The two payments came years before Manafort became involved in Trump’s campaign, but for the first time bolster the credibility of the ledger. They also put the ledger in a new light, as federal prosecutors in the U.S. have been investigating Manafort’s work in Eastern Europe as part of a larger anti-corruption probe. Separately, Manafort is also under scrutiny as part of congressional and FBI investigations into possible contacts between Trump associates and Russia’s government under President Vladimir Putin during the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign. The payments detailed in the ledger and confirmed by the documents obtained by the AP are unrelated to the 2016 presidential campaign and came years before Manafort worked as Trump’s unpaid campaign chairman. In a statement to the AP, Manafort did not deny that his firm received the money but said “any wire transactions received by my company are legitimate payments for political consulting work that was provided. I invoiced my clients and they paid via wire transfer, which I received through a U.S. bank.” Manafort noted that he agreed to be paid according to his “clients’ preferred financial institutions and instructions.” Previously, Manafort and his spokesman, Jason Maloni, have maintained the ledger was fabricated and said no public evidence existed that Manafort or others received payments recorded in it. The AP, however, identified in the records two payments received by Manafort that aligned with the ledger: one for $750,000 that a Ukrainian lawmaker said last month was part of a money-laundering effort that should be investigated by U.S. authorities. The other was $455,249 and also matched a ledger entry. The newly obtained records also expand the global scope of Manafort’s financial activities related to his Ukrainian political consulting, because both payments came from companies once registered in the Central American country of Belize. Last month, the AP reported that the U.S. government has examined Manafort’s financial transactions in the Mediterranean country of Cyprus as part of its probe. Federal prosecutors have been looking into Manafort’s work for years as part of an effort to recover Ukrainian assets stolen after the 2014 ouster of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, who fled to Russia. No charges have been filed as part of the investigation. Manafort, a longtime Republican political operative, led the presidential campaign from March until August last year when Trump asked him to resign. The resignation came after a tumultuous week in which The New York Times revealed that Manafort’s name appeared in the Ukraine ledger — although the newspaper said at the time that officials were unsure whether Manafort actually received the money — and after the AP separately reported that he had orchestrated a covert Washington lobbying operation until 2014 on behalf of Ukraine’s pro-Russian Party of Regions. Officials with the Ukrainian National Anti-Corruption Bureau, which is investigating corruption under Yanukovych, have said they believe the ledger is genuine. But they have previously noted that they have no way of knowing whether Manafort received the money listed next to his name. The bureau said it is not investigating Manafort because he is not a Ukrainian citizen. Still, Manafort’s work continues to draw attention in Ukrainian politics. Last month, Ukrainian lawmaker Serhiy Leshchenko revealed an invoice bearing the letterhead of Manafort’s namesake company, Davis Manafort, that Leshchenko said was crafted to conceal a payment to Manafort as a purchase of 501 computers. The AP provided to Manafort the amounts of the payments, dates and number of the bank account where they were received. Manafort told the AP that he was unable to review his own banking records showing receipt of the payments because his bank destroyed the records after a standard 7-year retention period. He said Tuesday the “computer sales contract is a fraud.” “The signature is not mine, and I didn’t sell computers,” he said in a statement. “What is clear, however, is individuals with political motivations are taking disparate pieces of information and distorting their significance through a campaign of smear and innuendo.” Leshchenko said last month the 2009 invoice was one of about 50 pages of documents, including private paperwork and copies of employee-issued debit cards, that were found in Manafort’s former Kiev office by a new tenant. The amount of the invoice — $750,000 — and the payment date of Oct. 14, 2009, matches one entry on the ledger indicating payments to Manafort from the Party of Regions. The invoice was addressed to Neocom Systems Ltd., a company formerly registered in Belize, and included the account and routing numbers and postal address for Manafort’s account at a branch of Wachovia National Bank in Alexandria, Virginia. The AP had previously been unable to independently verify the $750,000 payment went to a Manafort company, but the newly obtained financial records reflect Manafort’s receipt of that payment. The records show that Davis Manafort received the amount from Neocom Systems the day after the date of the invoice. Leshchenko contended to AP that Yanukovych, as Ukraine’s leader, paid Manafort money that came from his government’s budget and was “stolen from Ukrainian citizens.” He said: “Money received by Manafort has to be returned to the Ukrainian people.” Leshchenko said U.S. authorities should investigate what he described as corrupt deals between Manafort and
Steve Flowers: The wolves at Robert Bentley’s door
Well, our good ole Dr. Governor, Robert Bentley, is headed to the same fate as Guy Hunt and Don Siegelman. Folks, we are building a legacy that may put us in a league with good old Louisiana when it comes to corruption and debauchery. Bentley’s story is sad. I still really believe he is a good guy at heart. He had a tremendous legacy etched for his life if only he hadn’t run for governor. He had established one of if not the largest and premier Dermatology practices in the state in Tuscaloosa. He had been brought up in modest means in rural Shelby County. He was a brilliant student in High School, in undergraduate school at the University of Alabama, and then on to medical school at UAB. He met his wife, Dianne, while in medical school. He was truly a Horatio Alger story. If only he had retired and gone to the beach. Many of us had pointed to April 5 as a day of reckoning for the governor. His reputation had been dreadfully tarnished by his affair. Ole Bentley just doesn’t look the part of a philandering playboy. His plain, grandfatherly look was the reason folks liked him. His simple country look and gait gave the appearance of a trusted family man and Baptist deacon. It was his calling card so to speak. Folks felt betrayed by their old country doctor. Poor ole Bentley wore a white hat and rode a white horse and there’s an old saying that if you ride a white horse you better not get mud on it. The old guy totally fell in love like a little schoolboy. He allowed Mrs. Mason to take control of his life and the reigns of the governor’s office. She has essentially been the governor. She played the old fool like a fiddle. There’s no fool like an old fool. Late Wednesday night after the Ethics Commission opinion came down; I did an interview with a national news network. They had not heard of nor did they know the lurid details of our Dr. Governor’s saga. When I shared it with them and they heard the story of a 74-year-old simple man falling in love with a 44-year-old married woman who gave her husband a vague position making $90,000 a year and that she cajoled and coerced our poor ole governor into transgressing the Ethics Laws to sustain and perpetuate their adulterous relationship, they thought this was as colorful as a soap opera. It is definitely fodder for another book. My last book, “Goats and Governors,” highlights the exploits of ole “Big” Jim Folsom. Bentley may make for a new book. The April 5 Ethics Commission ruling that found that there was a reasonable cause that the governor violated the Ethics Law is the coupe de gras to the Bentley/Mason regime. This Ethics panel is stellar and well versed in the law. You have two of the four voting members who are distinguished retired Circuit Judges, Charles Price and Jerry Fielding. Another prominent attorney, Butch Ellis, appropriately recused himself because he and Bentley are related by marriage. The vote indicted the governor on four counts with overwhelming votes. They concluded that the governor had broken the law. By the way, Bentley appointed three out of four of the members of the Ethics Panel. Their recommendation that Bentley be prosecuted puts the wolves at Bentley’s door. He can’t overcome this blow. The best thing for Bentley to do is to make a deal with the prosecution. It would be best for Bentley and the people of Alabama if the prosecutors would simply allow Bentley to resign and avoid a costly trial and removal from office. Alabama doesn’t need any more of this mess. Mrs. Mason should show some semblance of decency and allow ole Bentley to leave office with some dignity. Ole Bentley is nothing more than a clown. Nobody in Alabama takes him seriously and this latest chapter has made him a National cartoon character. He really should parlay this story into a Soap Opera or even a movie. See you next week. ___ Steve Flowers is Alabama’s leading political columnist. His weekly column appears in over 60 Alabama newspapers. He served 16 years in the state Legislature. Steve may be reached at www.steveflowers.us.
Gas tax bill to improve Alabama roads, infrastructure clears first hurdle
Kay Ivey is politically savvy and pulls no punches, experts say
Within a span of minutes, Alabama’s lieutenant governor catapulted from a position of largely ceremonial duties to the state’s top political job. But new Republican Gov. Kay Ivey has decades of experience working in, and around, state politics. She held two terms as state treasurer and ran for governor in 2010, entering a crowded GOP primary field that included ex-Gov. Robert Bentley, who resigned Monday rather face impeachment hearings. Ivey dropped out of the race that Bentley eventually won, and she was victorious in her bid for lieutenant governor that year. “Not to be overly flattering, but you don’t tell Kay anything,” Former Republican Party Chairman Marty Connors responded when asked if party powerbrokers told her to switch to the lower ballot race in 2010. “She tells you exactly what is on her mind. She pulls no punches. That’s why I trust her.” After she was sworn in Monday, the 72-year-old Ivey called it a dark day in Alabama but one of opportunity. “I ask for your help and patience as we together steady the ship of state and improve Alabama’s image,” she said. Ivey grew up in Wilcox County, the same rural area where U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions was raised, and the two attended high school together. She graduated from Auburn University in 1967 and has worked as a classroom teacher, banker, administrator in higher education and assistant director of the state’s industrial recruitment agency. She worked for then-Gov. Fob James in early 1980s, serving as first as executive assistant for social services and then as assistant director of the Alabama Development Office. “She would persevere to always get the job done at a high level. She always wanted to know the details,” James said. “She’s got a lot of political know-how by now.” As state treasurer, Ivey oversaw the Alabama Prepaid Affordable College Tuition Plan, which was heavily invested in stocks. Turmoil on Wall Street caused its assets to plunge as tuition costs rose to the point of the plan becoming insolvent. Critics blamed her for the demise, but Ivey’s defenders said she had no control over Wall Street and tuition costs. As the Senate’s president and presiding officer as lieutenant governor, Ivey acted as a moderator who didn’t offer opinions on legislation but instead directed the procedural flow in her signature honey-dripping drawl, cutting off senators whose speeches have gone on too long or namedropping distinguished guests in the gallery. Ivey spent her first day in office talking to staff and dismissed Jon Mason, the husband of the woman alleged to have had a romantic affair with Bentley. An investigation that began with reports about an alleged romance between Bentley and the woman resulted in Bentley’s resignation on Monday. Eileen Jones, a spokeswoman for Ivey, said the new governor has asked all Cabinet and staffers to turn in letters of resignation so that she can evaluate everyone to decide who will stay and who will go. “She knows there are going to be many people asking her for stuff right now. She is smart enough to hear both sides before making a decision,” said Retirement Systems of Alabama head David Bronner, who worked with Ivey in the James administration. Ivey is Alabama’s second female governor, and the first to climb up the political ladder on her own. Alabama’s first female governor was Lurleen Wallace, wife of four-term Gov. George C. Wallace. She ran as a surrogate for her still-powerful husband in 1966 when he couldn’t seek re-election because of term limits. She won, but died in office in 1968. Her husband regained the governor’s seat in 1970. Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
