Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

Tommy_Carcetti

(43,085 posts)
Mon Jul 30, 2018, 02:23 PM Jul 2018

Ambassador McFaul fights back against notorious Kremlin backed social media troll.






Michael McFaul?Verified account @McFaul · Jul 29

And just so we are clear (once you get it translated) @ARTEM_KLYUSHIN himself is accusing me of criminal behavior, working as an "illegal" CIA agent in Russia. Its completely false. Its intimidating to me. & @Twitter is allowing him to spread that message to a million followers.

10:44 AM - 29 Jul 2018



Just so you are well aware, Klyushin's not just some random 400 pound guy trolling from his parents' basement in Moscow. He's a heavy hitter (been described as an "oligarch" by some, a "fixer" by others) and purports to be a member of the Russian Ministry of Culture.

He also has a few interesting friends. Like this guy, who he partied with in Moscow in November 2013:

:large

His former wife is Yulya Alferova, who was the PR rep for the Agalarov company when they hosted the 2013 Miss Universe contest. She sat in on business meetings with Trump and would go on to promote Trump as a presidential candidate on social media long before Trump officially announced his candidacy:



:large



Artem Klyushin is also good buddies with Konstantin Rykov, the chief online propogadist for the Kremlin, who claims he ran an operation for Russia which used Cambridge Analytica, Wikileaks and hackers to get Trump elected.




Artem actually attended Rykov's Election Night party in Moscow in 2016, and was sitting at a table with Rykov when the election was called for Trump.



All I can say is that Artem is a slimy, creepy little weasel (known for intimidating anyone on Twitter who even comments on a story that mentions his name), and he knows a lot more about Donald Trump than most people are aware.

McFaul has already been exposed to these criminals before the campaign begun, and was contemporaneously made aware of their deeds as they occurred. That's why the Kremlin is attempting to intimidate and harass him.

Give 'em hell, Michael!
21 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Ambassador McFaul fights back against notorious Kremlin backed social media troll. (Original Post) Tommy_Carcetti Jul 2018 OP
Spread The Word Me. Jul 2018 #1
Rykov really got around, eh? Roland99 Jul 2018 #2
Yup. And he's also connected with Alferova. Tommy_Carcetti Jul 2018 #4
McFaul also specifically calls Klyushin a Russian government agent. Tommy_Carcetti Jul 2018 #3
Why was there an Election Night party in Moscow? superpatriotman Jul 2018 #5
Oh, not just that, there's video of it. (Lordy, there's tapes!) Tommy_Carcetti Jul 2018 #6
I'd forgotten all about the Hanick-Fox-Russia links. Hortensis Jul 2018 #7
Yup, there had to be funny business there. Tommy_Carcetti Jul 2018 #9
Extremely "funny" business. Hortensis Jul 2018 #13
Dig that handsome, heroic portrait of Red Don. And the guy explaining in American English... Hekate Jul 2018 #11
Yep, that's Jack Hanick, alright. Tommy_Carcetti Jul 2018 #12
What the hell is that on the wall behind them? Trump's bar mitzvah picture? colorado_ufo Jul 2018 #14
I've been following this for a few days. It's frightening! nolabear Jul 2018 #8
This just makes me want to vomit Hekate Jul 2018 #10
Cardboard Donald? Louis1895 Jul 2018 #15
I actually think it might be the same picture, with Klyushin and Alferova cropped out of each other. Tommy_Carcetti Jul 2018 #16
OK, I will buy that! Louis1895 Jul 2018 #17
That's definitely one of the ties Trump was wearing in Moscow. nt Tommy_Carcetti Jul 2018 #18
He even calls out Lavrov on Klyushin! Tommy_Carcetti Jul 2018 #19
Such dead eyes AwakeAtLast Jul 2018 #20
I read somewhere that Klyushin suffers from severe depression. Tommy_Carcetti Jul 2018 #21

Tommy_Carcetti

(43,085 posts)
4. Yup. And he's also connected with Alferova.
Mon Jul 30, 2018, 02:37 PM
Jul 2018

He was talking Donald Trump with her on Election Night 2012.


Tommy_Carcetti

(43,085 posts)
3. McFaul also specifically calls Klyushin a Russian government agent.
Mon Jul 30, 2018, 02:35 PM
Jul 2018





Michael McFaul
?
Verified account

@McFaul
21h21 hours ago


I was arguing with a Russian government official, not a bot, If you are a Russian citizen, then he is representing you, and you should be embarrassed by that fact.


2:13 PM - 29 Jul 2018

Tommy_Carcetti

(43,085 posts)
6. Oh, not just that, there's video of it. (Lordy, there's tapes!)
Mon Jul 30, 2018, 03:01 PM
Jul 2018


Most of it is in Russian, but the individual speaking English at 1:02 is Jack Hanick, one of the founders of Fox News who immigrated to Russia to start up a news organization named Tsargrad. (It appears to be a pet project of Russian ultra-nationalist Alexsandr Dugin).

Hanick also happens to be Sean Hannity's former director.

The big moment when Trump is projected a winner is at 7:08. Rykov is the guy with the beard and the black hoodie who comes up to the front to sing "We are the Champions." You briefly see Klyushin sitting at the table with Rykov at 7:12 and then again at 7:25.

It's absolutely fascinating how in your face these fuckers were about everything. Still are.

Hortensis

(58,785 posts)
7. I'd forgotten all about the Hanick-Fox-Russia links.
Mon Jul 30, 2018, 03:24 PM
Jul 2018

From Alternet in April:

Jack Hanick, whose now-deleted LinkedIn profile shows he began working for Fox News three months before its first broadcast aired in October 1996, left the network in August 2011 and helped launch the Orthodox Christian network Tsargrad TV three year later.

The religious network’s founder, Konstantin Malofeev, is a Kremlin-connected oligarch who’s been under U.S. sanctions since 2014 for financing pro-Russian separatist rebels in Crimea. ...

Despite the sanctions, Hannity’s former director Hanick — who has since been accepted into the Russian Orthodox Church with his family — to help launch the network.

“The nod to Fox is not accidental,” Financial Times reported in 2015. “To get Tsargrad TV up and running, Malofeev hired Jack Hanick, one of Fox News’s founding producers, whom he met when they were both speakers at a Moscow conference on morality in the media.” ( ) ...

Hanick left Tsargrad TV — which has featured InfoWars conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and was the only Russian TV network to cover Trump adviser Carter Pages’ 2016 speech in Moscow — about three years ago but continued working as a consultant to the media company.

The former Fox News executive was invited to celebrate Trump’s 2016 election in Moscow by Kremlin propagandist Konstantin Rykov — who boasted on Facebook that he helped recruit the “Apprentice” star in 2012 to run for president as part of an “insane” plan to reshape the global order.

https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/former-director-sean-hannity-left-fox-news-build-pro-kremlin-propaganda-network

Wonder what might have really prompted Hanick's permanent departure from the U.S. to a backwards and backwater nation like Russia.

Tommy_Carcetti

(43,085 posts)
9. Yup, there had to be funny business there.
Mon Jul 30, 2018, 03:34 PM
Jul 2018

And how he ends up on Konstatin Rykov's invite list for his Election Night party is one question I still haven't seen answered.

Hekate

(90,189 posts)
11. Dig that handsome, heroic portrait of Red Don. And the guy explaining in American English...
Mon Jul 30, 2018, 03:42 PM
Jul 2018

...that "America was founded on Christian principles and is now moving away from Christianity."

nolabear

(41,915 posts)
8. I've been following this for a few days. It's frightening!
Mon Jul 30, 2018, 03:32 PM
Jul 2018

Twitter should NOT allow the kinds of threats being made. And McFaul is being swarmed in Russian so we often don’t know what’s being said and replied to until they’re translated.

It is very nasty. And very sobering.

Louis1895

(768 posts)
15. Cardboard Donald?
Mon Jul 30, 2018, 05:35 PM
Jul 2018

Maybe someone else pointed it out but I do not think that is a live Donald in pictures #1 and #4. I think that is a cardboard cutout of Donald, not the real guy. Exact same pose in both pictures. Or photoshopped.

Tommy_Carcetti

(43,085 posts)
16. I actually think it might be the same picture, with Klyushin and Alferova cropped out of each other.
Mon Jul 30, 2018, 05:37 PM
Jul 2018

I'll see if I can find the full picture to confirm.

Both definitely met with Trump in person when he came in November 2013.

Tommy_Carcetti

(43,085 posts)
19. He even calls out Lavrov on Klyushin!
Mon Jul 30, 2018, 06:00 PM
Jul 2018





Michael McFaul?Verified account @McFaul · Jul 29

Foreign Minister Lavrov @MID_RF and Ambassador Antonov, @RusEmbUSA does Mr. Klyushin @ARTEM_KLYUSHIN speak on behalf of your government, or is he spreading these lies in his private capacity? cc: Yuri Ushakov @PutinRF

11:03 AM - 29 Jul 2018




Michael McFaul is going to be one of the heroes in this story when it all comes together. Mark my words.

Tommy_Carcetti

(43,085 posts)
21. I read somewhere that Klyushin suffers from severe depression.
Tue Jul 31, 2018, 11:12 AM
Jul 2018

Might explain why Alferova split with him.

Although frankly she just seems quite taken by Donald. Especially if you read the Daily Beast article,

https://www.thedailybeast.com/she-met-donald-trump-at-the-moscow-ritz-not-that-way



Trump had long been Alferova’s business idol. She read his books, his life story, and modeled herself after him, working in commercial real estate for Crocus Group, developing social-media pages for Russian governors and regional officials, organizing federal and regional events. That day in November, Trump teamed up with Alferova, as if they were old friends. “We talked as if we were equals, and I felt certain we were very much alike,” she said. Trump invited her to have lunch together—Alferova pulled up one more picture to demonstrate that there were just a few men and her waiting for lunch at the Crocus restaurant that day. When she mentioned she was interested in the real-estate business, Trump pulled out his business card and encouraged her to call him when she was in New York.

The dossier full of allegations discrediting Trump that was released earlier this month came as no surprise to Alferova. “His competitors dug in the dirt to come up with something against him, but Trump is a solid, huge figure who predicted and figured out everything in advance. He will just roll over all this misery, and next week nobody will remember this story,” she said of the dossier.





Notably, it's this article where she attempted to hand deliver to Trump a fake alibi against the possibility of the pee tape by claiming Trump couldn't have been involved in any incident at the Ritz since she claimed he only stayed one day.

Trump then repeated that false claim to James Comey and others; however, flight records and photographs conclusively show that Trump was in Moscow for at least parts of three days.
Latest Discussions»General Discussion»Ambassador McFaul fights ...