Exxon Mobil is pursuing a waiver from Treasury Department sanctions on Russia to drill in the Black Sea in a venture with Rosneft, the Russian state oil company, a former State Department official said on Wednesday. An oil industry official confirmed the account.
The waiver application was made under the Obama administration, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity, and the company has not dropped the proposal.
The proposal is now before the Trump administration at a delicate time in Russian-American relations, with rising tensions over the war in Syria and a looming congressional inquiry into reports of Russian efforts to influence the United States presidential election.
Here is how John McCain responded to the news.
Well that seems an appropriate question.Are they crazy? @WSJ: "Exxon Seeks U.S. Waiver to Resume #Russia Oil Venture" https://t.co/CHKS3sjOa8— John McCain (@SenJohnMcCain) April 19, 2017
As you might remember Rachel Maddow reported on this Rosnef deal way back in January, and actually suggested it had a lot to do with why the Russians were so keen on helping Trump win the White House.
Back then she even stated that the deal was "Biggest oil deal in the history of deals. So big it was expected to change the historical trajectory of Russia."
Yesterday Maddow tweeted this in response to the Wall Street Journal's reporting.
How could this NOT be our first response to hearing Exxon make this request?Ka-ching! Payout time.https://t.co/fovQGP09AQ— Rachel Maddow MSNBC (@maddow) April 19, 2017
So the question to ask is whether the Trump Administration is actually arrogant enough to grant this request, and what Russia will do if they do not?
Just WTF. These people are entirely without ethics, morals or souls.
ReplyDeleteYes.... it's called Christianity.
DeleteYeah, just repent and go out and lie, cheat, steal, be so corrupt, you are all forgiven. God says so.
DeleteI suspect Trump will grant the request and not care one bit about any blowback. He'll label any bad press as "fake news".
ReplyDeleteIsn't Russia considered a state sponsor of terror and doesn't America sanction those countries so American businesses can't get rich off the blood of innocents and don't wingnut korporations actively seek ways around the sanctions? Haliburton did oil business in Iraq while business was sanctioned. They just used a foreign subsidiary to get around the rules to aid and abet Saddam Hussein's oil industry- for which I am certain Cheney and crew were rewarded handsomely.
ReplyDeleteThis entire bunch need to be strung up! They are so un-American it is mind boggling! Fuck them - especially the Exxon guy operating in Trump's cabinet. JHC! Fucking mess!
ReplyDeleteRise up and wise up, America!
More corruption:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2017/04/20/us/politics/ap-us-epa-dow-chemical.html?utm_source=huffingtonpost.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=pubexchange&_r=0
"Dow Chemical is pushing the Trump administration to scrap the findings of federal scientists who point to a family of widely used pesticides as harmful to about 1,800 critically threatened or endangered species.
Lawyers representing Dow, whose CEO also heads a White House manufacturing working group, and two other makers of organophosphates sent letters last week to the heads of three Cabinet agencies. The companies asked them "to set aside" the results of government studies the companies contend are fundamentally flawed."
"Dow Chemical chairman and CEO Andrew Liveris is a close adviser to President Donald Trump. The company wrote a $1 million check to help underwrite Trump's inaugural festivities."
Any care to wager a guess as to how this is going to turn out?
WAIVER not Waver
DeleteMonsanto was allowed to write their own glowing report about how harmless Round-Up is to the environment and actually got atleast one EPA official to approve the report.
DeleteBut...but...but...hasn't Emperor Trump drained that swamp???
DeleteHe PROMISED!!!
Dirty "oilygarchs" are going to all make out like bandits during this next 4-8 years.
ReplyDeleteKey Official in Trump-Russia Investigation Will Step Down
ReplyDeleteMary B. McCord, the acting assistant attorney general for national security and one of the officials overseeing the Justice Department’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, announced this week that she will step down in May.
McCord made the announcement to department employees and said she plans to leave in mid-May, a spokesman told Politico on Thursday.
The Intercept first reported McCord’s planned departure on Wednesday.
The division McCord oversees is leading the Department of Justice’s probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election, as well as any ties between members of President Donald Trump’s campaign and Russia.
An unnamed former Justice Department official told Politico that he did not think McCord’s departure would cause “tremendous disruption” to the investigation, but said a replacement would need to “step in at a senior level.”
https://theintercept.com/2017/04/19/key-official-in-trump-russia-investigation-will-step-down/
Ivanka doesn't even like her father. All she cares about is what she can get out of him, particularly an inheritance.
ReplyDeletehttps://twitter.com/RoguePOTUSStaff/status/855177194351603712
And she is a snake. Possibly the most manipulative person in the WW. Worse than POTUS, worse than Bannon.
https://twitter.com/RoguePOTUSStaff
But here’s a clue to the weirdness: by leaving vacant Senate-confirmed offices, the personal power of the presidential family is enhanced
https://twitter.com/davidfrum/status/855076554405183488
For the love of all that is holy --
DeleteROGUE POTUS IS FAKE.
He messed up the Nunes thing so bad, I don't see how anyone could think he has credibility.
Oh, and yeah, I'm using HE because the misogynistic tone makes it clear what the gender of the writer is.
These Tweets are garbage and sexist.
Why would Trump choose to go after Assange now? The answer can be found in the Russia scandal. If one believes the evidence that Wikileaks collaborated with Russia to help Trump win the presidential election, Donald Trump has a lot to lose if Assange ever decides to talk and say what he knows about the Russian election interference. If Assange ever spilled the beans, the result could mean more evidence that would point towards impeachment for Trump.
ReplyDeleteThe best way for Trump to make sure that Assange is discredited and out of the public eye is to convict him and lock him up in a federal Supermax prison somewhere in the United States. Trump is pulling a page out of the textbook that has been used authoritarians throughout world history. Once the authoritarian gains power, they try to remove anyone who could potentially incriminate them. This isn’t about whether one views Assange as a hero or a villain, but what he knows and what he could say.
Trump is desperately trying to outrun a Russia scandal that is gaining on him with each little drip of new information. He needs a big gesture that would both make it appear that he is distancing himself from the scandal, while potentially silence anyone who could help bring him down.
Arresting Julian Assange checks both boxes.
Donald Trump will stop at nothing to keep the Russia scandal covered up.
When viewed in this context, the plan to arrest Julian Assange makes perfect sense.
http://www.politicususa.com/2017/04/20/arrest-julian-assange-trumps-biggest-move-avoid-impeachment.html
Who's going to stop them? the republicans? 😂
ReplyDeleteUnfucking believable. What has this country done to itself?
ReplyDeleteHeck, I don't know but it kinda looks like the art of the deal. And meanwhile our dept of education head bro sits on an island translating and delivering deals for don. No connection there right?
ReplyDeleteOh, I see, he's going to deflect from the Russia sanction thing with the Julian asaange thing. Because the media is so cruddy they can't focus on more than one thing at once.
ReplyDeleteEffed prez cant even speak. Omg. We have a pile of sh*t as leader.
ReplyDeleteGod help us, will ya!
Fat orange guy is so stupid and old!
Ugh, just get rid of the piles of sh*t in office!
What an irrational prez. Omg he is kim.
Effed up murka. Murka last.
ReplyDeleteSick of scandal cyrus, prez stories. Chesp show mow.
ReplyDeleteMr. Chavvetz may resign tomorrow! Karma certainly is a bitch. My money is on a long term affair!
ReplyDeleteMcCain is great at making a big show of being principled. But when it comes time to vote, he invariably votes with the rest of his GOP partners.
ReplyDeleteDo not fall for it. McCain is not The People's Senator. He's a corporate stooge.
Well, a lot of the reason for the collusion by Russia was about the removal of sanctions. We should not be surprised.
ReplyDeleteBeaglemom