February 26, 2018--Jared Kushner In the Soup

If you're thinking that the reason it is taking so long for First Son-in-Law Jared Kushner to receive the security clearance that would allow him to see the top-secret documents Dad is already improvisationally allowing him to see, think again.

It is not just that he and First Daughter Ivanka failed to list meetings with Russians that they "took" or because they forgot to list several hundred of their assets on the forms they were required to fill out, rather it is because it is as the Washington Post reported on Friday--there are high-level concerns about Jared getting his hands on top secret information.

As reported Friday by WaPo there are substantial reasons it has taken more then a year for the FBI to get to this point. With no resolution in sight.

How is Jared supposed to "fix" the Middle East, defeat ISIS, and figure out what to do to get control of Mexico and Venezuela while serving as de facto Secretary of State, not to mention making the federal government more efficient and solving the opioid crisis while keeping his father-in-law from going off the deep end?

This is a rather ambitious job description for Kushner so one would imagine that the FBI would have given it top priority.

I am sure they did and in the process found things so egregious, so troubling that they punted the decision to the White House itself where chief-of-staff Kelly, to whom Jared is supposed to report, is undoubtedly taking illicit pleasure in arranging for his chief rival to twist slowly in the wind.

I got a sense of what concerned the FBI from David Frum's chilling new book, Trumpocracy: The Corruption of the American Republic. Especially the chapter, "Plunder," substantially about the Trump and Kushner money.

One thing son- and father-in-law have in common is frequently hovering close to bankruptcy. Including right now. In Kushner's case the collapse of the 666 Fifth Avenue deal, about which I have already written (January 8th).

This deal alone has plunged Jared into a cascade of personal financial troubles. Perhaps enough for at least three things to result--

First, Jared and the rest of the Kushners go broke. 

No more fancy New York City lifestyle, no more regular tables at the 21 Club, no more holidays in Aspen, and likely no more Ivanka who is unlikely to hang around while her husband is forced to grovel for bailout funding to keep him out of debtors' prison. She's no Huma Abedin.

Second--the groveling part. This includes, as bankripsies often do, involvement with shady types in shiny suits, characters who are only too happy to loan you money if you promise to turn over to them as collateral your first born son, but don't wait around for long before wanting to get paid.

In Kushner's predicament, back to David Frum and the FBI (which more than any person or institution must be relishing the Trump-related agony and desperation), I am feeling certain that their background check discovered his financial situation and shenanigans. In Jared's case I am certain that they unearthed the same sorts of note holders that Frum did--largely international banks that specialize in money laundering. Chinese banks, off-shore banks, Cypriot banks, Deutsche Bank, and of course--closer to home--Russian banks where oligarchs and Putin himself go to launder they filthy lucre. 

The kind of guys, who, if they can't get their hands on your evaporating cash, after working on your knees, want a piece of your behind. In the case of someone like Kushner (and Paul Manafrot) that piece could easily be access to confidential information or levers through which to undermine what's left of our democracy. You can pay back either with cash or state secrets.

Third and finally, Trump World comes crashing down. As I also wrote recently, using my favorite, Ockham's Razor (January 29th--"Reiterating."), ultimately it has been and is all about money. With Kushner's crash proceeding his father-in-law's.
And it won't solve Trump's problem to pardon Kushner and Manafort, among others, because some of their alleged crimes occurred in New York and federal, presidential pardons do not override criminal prosecutions in individual states. 

Be patient, once even many Trump supporters see all the documentary evidence of the colluding with the Russians, in spite of Fox News and the White House crying "fake news," once they see how the coverup and obstruction of justice has been playing out, once Trump "little guy" supporters see, again, hard evidence of the money trail, it will be difficult for Trump to talk his way out.
The system may be working.  

January 8, 2018--666 Fifth

How did I miss this one?

Not able to stop myself from thinking about Trump, his family of co-conspirators, and Robert Mueller, it slipped right by me that son-in-law Jared Kushner is involved in a mega-real estate deal at Fifth Avenue and 52 Street in New York City. A building, in a small way, I helped construct back in the late 50s when I was a sheetmetal worker.

Sheetmetal workers were responsible for installing the heating and air-conditioning systems, the HVAC, mainly through a complex network of ducts mainly fabricated off site from sheetmetal and suspended from the ceilings and through risers that paralleled the elevator shafts. 

I was not that skilled a mechanic and so I spend little time on the installation and more on the bull gang, unloading trucks that brought the factory-built ducts to the site and then getting them to the floors where they were needed by using the outside hoist, or work elevator, affixed to the exterior of the rising building.

I made a lot of money doing this--enough to help pay for college--and through the manual work got myself into the best physical shape of my life. I also made longterm friends and witnessed some horrific events--including a number of fellow workers injured and killed in construction accidents. One of which decapitated Joe Murey who was a member of my work gang. Still, as I look back on my work life it was the best job I ever had.

One bonus was hanging out on the 52nd Street side of the building site during lunch hour where we woofed down huge hero sandwiches and knocked down a few quick cans of beer. The job was adjacent to the 21 Club (Donald Trump's favorite New York place for dinner) and one treat was to see who showed up each day for lunch. My favorite sighting was Mike Todd and his then wife, Elizabeth Taylor. In true construction-worker form we whistled at her and not only did she turn our way to flash us a glamorous smile but walked over to shake our work-soiled hands. 

So how did I miss knowing that the Kushner family, led by Jared, back in 2007 bought the building for $1.8 billion and that they have been struggling ever since to carry out an ambitious $7.5 billion project that includes tearing it down (it's 41 stories tall) and building a new place of twice that height that would include a hotel, luxury apartments, and high-end retail shops. Very Trumpian. 

They have not been able to secure financing and have thus had difficultly meeting debt payments. It seems possible that the Kushners could lose up to a billion on this fiasco.

But here's where it gets more interesting--

To secure financing for additional debt and to carry out the ultimate plan, Jared Kushner has apparently sought the help of business interests in China, Qatar, and Russia. Including likely borrowing laundered Russian money through Deutsche Bank.

No wonder the Kushner and Trumps are in a panic and running scared.

In the meantime, there is my little Tishman Building Zelig experience.

One more thing--unnoticed by me at the time and I assume by the Kushners is the building's street address--666 Fifth Avenue.

The number 666 itself has quite a curious history.

Chapter 13 of the Book of Revelations reads--

Let one with understanding reckon the meaning of the number of the beast, for it is the number of the man. His number is 666.

The "beast" is the antichrist who rises from the sea which represents the nations of the world and thus 666 is the number associated with the antichrist. 

The conjunction between Kushner and Trump and the antichrist, ironically, requires little elaboration.