


Scene: Gelly, JC and Greenie having drinks with Jordan following a session in Jordan’s office.  Conversation starts Entry #244.

092615_2031_Characters2.jpgGreenie:  “Jordan, if you don’t mind, I’d like to continue the conversation we began at the  office.  You know lots of the ins and outs of Washington…so why did the Donald get taken out?”

Jordan:  “Greenie, you’re more of an insider than I am.”

JC:  “Jordan, quit stalling and just answer Greenie’s question, please.”

Gelly:  “Yes, please.  I’m interested, too.”

092615_2031_Characters7.gifJordan:  “Simple.  Well, maybe not so simple…but easy to understand.  It’s the old adage of ‘Just follow the money.’”

Greenie:  “You think Trump was on the take when he was president?  Surely not.”

Jordan:  “Unlikely he was on the take per se…like Flynn and Manafort were on the take.  But Trump was up to his eyeballs in debt.”

Gelly:  “I thought he was some kind of billionaire several times over.  I mean with all those hotels and properties that he owned.”

092615_2031_Characters1.jpgJC:  “I hear you Jordan.  How much do you think he owed on those properties…and to whom?”

Greenie:  “A lot of the stories written long before he became a presidential candidate suggest his record as a developer was questionable at best.  How many times did he go bankrupt?  And didn’t he stiff a bunch of major US banks?”

JC:  “Why didn’t he ever release his tax returns?  The excuse about being audited was sheer baloney.  Besides why didn’t he release his 2016 return when he sent it in?  The IRS doesn’t start any audit until you file a return.”

irs-logoGelly:  “So you guys think he was heavily in debt.  If so, like JC said, money owed to whom?”

Jordan:  “I realize it’s a while ago but think back before the election in 2016.  There was strong evidence of people involved in the transition had links to Russian banks and to the Bank of Cyprus, which was notorious at the time as a haven for laundering money.”

Cypress BankJC:  “What was that guy on the transition team who had been some high-level dude at Bank of Cyprus?”

Greenie:  “That guy became what was it…Secretary of…?”

Jordan:  “…Commerce.  You mean Wilbur Ross?”

Greenie:  “That’s the guy.”

donald-trumpGelly:  “Then are you saying then that the Russians took out Trump?”

Jordan:  “Not necessarily.  As JC said in the office, the Russians had the Donald by the short hairs.”

Greenie:  “Really, JC, such a nice girl like you.  You need to clean up your language.”

JC:  “What else do you want to call it?  It’s true.”

Gelly:  “If the Russians took him out, then wouldn’t they would lose their leverage with him?  Plus, maybe never get their money?”

Greenie:  “Agree, except maybe they still had their leverage.”

Gelly:  “I don’t get what you mean?”

Greenie:  “Remember a couple of months into the term when he did 180 degree turn on the Russians?  In just a few days the Russian went from good guys to bad guys…or at least that’s what the Administration wanted us to think.”

PutinJordan:  “Good point, Greenie.  I’ve always been suspicious about the sudden change in attitude.  And, then, within a day or so of the change in attitude, Secretary of State Tillerson is at the Kremlin and has a private, unscheduled, undocumented two-hour meeting with Putin.  That meeting doesn’t smell right.  How much of a bad-ass could Tillerson have been?  Just a couple of years before, Putin gave Tillerson a Russian Order of Friendship medal.”

JC:  “Whatever the Administration was trying to do, one thing’s for certain.  Trump was like a spinning top.  He changed positions constantly.  We never knew where he stood…or what he was thinking.”

Gelly:  “Or even if he was thinking.”

TurtleneckJordan:  “Good one Gelly.”

Greenie:  “I agree Trump’s change of position on the Russians might have been a diversion.  Think about the growing pressure from the investigations into Russian influence on the election.  The Senate’s investigation was just starting.  He had every reason to try to make Congress and the public think he was being tough on the Russians.”

JC:  “Let’s say the diversionary tactic was true.  But what happens if the Donald then balks at paying his debt?  If he balks, then the Russians lose very little by talking him out?”

Gelly:  “Seems to me that once he realized he could use the military to his advantage – look at how he puffed up his chest using the military in Syria and to threaten North Korea – maybe he thought he could intimidate the Russians as well…and then he could walk away from the debt without any consequence.”

Mickey-Mouse-fingerJordan:  “I agree he might have thought he could give the proverbial finger to the Russians and walk away…but that’s not how it works.”

Waiter:  “Excuse me, folks, would you care for another round of wine?”

(To be continued.)