Tired of ads? Want to support our progressive journalism? Click to learn more.
JOIN FOR $1
Enjoy good journalism?
… then let us make a small request. The COVID crisis has slashed advertising rates, and we need your help. Like you, we here at Raw Story believe in the power of progressive journalism. Raw Story readers power David Cay Johnston’s DCReport, which we've expanded to keep watch in Washington. We’ve exposed billionaire tax evasion and uncovered White House efforts to poison our water. We’ve revealed financial scams that prey on veterans, and legal efforts to harm workers exploited by abusive bosses. And unlike other news outlets, we’ve decided to make our original content free. But we need your support to do what we do.
Raw Story is independent. Unhinged from corporate overlords, we fight to ensure no one is forgotten.
We need your support in this difficult time. Every reader contribution, whatever the amount, makes a tremendous difference. Invest with us. Make a one-time contribution to Raw Story Investigates, or click here to become a subscriber. Thank you. Click to donate by check.
Value Raw Story?
… then let us make a small request. The COVID crisis has slashed advertising rates, and we need your help. Like you, we believe in the power of progressive journalism — and we’re investing in investigative reporting as other publications give it the ax. Raw Story readers power David Cay Johnston’s DCReport, which we've expanded to keep watch in Washington. We’ve exposed billionaire tax evasion and uncovered White House efforts to poison our water. We’ve revealed financial scams that prey on veterans, and efforts to harm workers exploited by abusive bosses. We need your support to do what we do.
Raw Story is independent. You won’t find mainstream media bias here. Every reader contribution, whatever the amount, makes a tremendous difference. Invest with us in the future. Make a one-time contribution to Raw Story Investigates, or click here to become a subscriber. Thank you.
Report typos and corrections to: corrections@rawstory.com.
President Joe Biden declared Canada and the United States best friends Tuesday, while Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the friendship "extraordinary" in a virtual meeting turning the page on the turbulent Donald Trump era.
"The United States has no closer friend than Canada," Biden said, setting the tone for the get-together conducted by video link between the White House and Trudeau's office in Ottawa.
<p>Although Covid-19 restrictions kept the two leaders apart physically, they went out of their way to demonstrate that the giant neighboring countries are back to their traditional closeness after the tension of Trump's "America First" policies.</p><p>"We have a robust agenda today and we're all best served when the United States and Canada work together and lead together," Biden said in public remarks before heading into closed-door talks.</p><p>Repaying the compliment, Trudeau said they would work "together to get through Covid but also to make sure we're pulling our weight around the world and making the world a better and safer place for everyone."</p><p>Trudeau thanked Biden -- who has put the United States back into the Paris climate accord on reducing global carbon emissions -- for his policies on global warming.</p><p>"US leadership has been sorely missed over the past, uh, past years," he said in a not so hidden dig at Trump.</p><p>The White House is touting that Tuesday's extensive talks will provide a "roadmap" for better relations.</p><p>Trump, who recategorized Canada and other US allies as competitors, had a sometimes tense personal relationship with Trudeau.</p><p>By contrast, Trudeau was the first foreign leader to phone Biden after he won the November election and Trudeau was the first foreign leader the Democrat called after getting into the Oval Office.</p><p>The White House emphasized how US-Canada ties play an important role in multilateral settings, from the G7 to NATO, the Five Eyes intelligence alliance and the WTO.</p><p>But while Canada is looking forward to more predictable behavior from its largest trading partner, Biden has already introduced his own new source of friction by canceling the cross-border Keystone XL pipeline project, citing environmental concerns.</p><h1>Criticism of China</h1><p>Biden and Trudeau said they addressed several mutual priorities, including climate change and revving up the North American economy.</p><p>"By being on the same line on several subjects, like climate change or economic revival, we can do more together," Trudeau's office said.</p><p>They also waded into the thorny issue of competing with China on global trade and Beijing's continued detention of two Canadian nationals.</p><p>Former diplomat Michael Kovrig and businessman Michael Spavor were arrested in China in 2018 in what was seen as likely retaliation for the arrest in Vancouver of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou that year on a US warrant.</p><p>"Human beings are not bartering chips," Biden said.</p><p>One area Biden and Trudeau did not comment on in the public portion of their remarks was the US decision to cancel the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline, a project fiercely opposed by environmentalists but backed by Ottawa and previously by Trump.</p><p>Biden rescinded the permit by executive order on his first day in office.</p><p>"The president made clear that this is a commitment he's made in the past, that it's not in the interests of the United States and that we want to try to address our climate crisis, while also creating good paying union jobs," White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said.</p><p>"The prime minister raised his concerns directly with the president, has previously, and he's of course welcome to today."</p><p>Although virtual, the talks closely followed the format of regular in-person bilateral leader meetings.</p><p>Also taking part were US Vice President Kamala Harris, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, along with their Canadian counterparts.</p>
CONTINUE READING
Show less
The GOP's Ayn Rand death cult: Trump's party is literally killing the American people
February 24, 2021
Behold! Death rides upon a pale horse — and Death is a Republican.
The coronavirus pandemic has now killed more than 500,000 people in the United States. This is roughly equivalent to the cumulative number of Americans lost in World War II and the Korean and Vietnam wars. These deaths from the coronavirus were largely preventable.
<p>Instead, at almost every opportunity Donald Trump and his regime, through <a href="https://www.salon.com/2021/02/22/500000-dead-americans-one-year-of-covid-exposes-the-rot-of-gop-ideology/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">willful negligence if not outright sabotage and negligent homicide</a>, made decisions which caused more deaths, not fewer, from the pandemic.</p><p>The country's season of mass death, now nearing its one-year anniversary, will negatively impact American society for generations to come.</p><p>A new report by The Lancet, one of the world's leading medical journals, shows in great detail how <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2021/01/15/957209935/pandemic-shortens-u-s-life-expectancy-study-concludes" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">the Trump regime's response to the coronavirus</a> (and the country's well-being more generally) <a href="https://www.salon.com/2021/02/13/trumps-covid-response-was-deadly--but-decades-of-dreadful-racist-policy-set-up-the-catastrophe/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">actually shortened Americans' lifespans</a> through incompetence and malevolence.</p><p>The report, titled "<a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)32545-9/fulltext" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Public policy and health in the Trump era</a>" features this summary: </p> <blockquote> The global COVID-19 pandemic has had a disproportionate effect on the USA, with more than 26 million diagnosed cases and over 450 000 deaths as of early February, 2021, about 40% of which could have been averted had the US death rate mirrored the weighted average of the other G7 nations.<br/>Many of the cases and deaths were avoidable. Instead of galvanising the US populace to fight the pandemic, President Trump publicly dismissed its threat (despite privately acknowledging it), discouraged action as infection spread, and eschewed international cooperation. His refusal to develop a national strategy worsened shortages of personal protective equipment and diagnostic tests. President Trump politicised mask-wearing and school reopenings and convened indoor events attended by thousands, where masks were discouraged and physical distancing was impossible.<br/> </blockquote> <p><a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2021/02/11/lancet-commission-donald-trump-covid-19-health-medicare-for-all/4453762001/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The racial disparities are extreme: the life spans of Black and brown Americans have been shortened, compared to whites.</a> Given the Trump regime's racial authoritarian policies, as well as its overall hostility to nonwhite people, such an outcome is a feature and not a bug. The Lancet report continues: "COVID-19 has increased the longevity gap between Black and white people by more than 50%, ... Overall, in the USA, Black and Latinx people have incurred more total years of potential life lost than white people because of COVID-19, although the white population is three to four times larger." </p><p>In addition, <a href="https://www.bmj.com/content/372/bmj.n439" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">since 1980 public policies have reduced Americans' lifespans by 3.4 years as compared to the other "advanced" countries in the G7</a> (with data included through to 2018). America's public health problems considerably predate Trump's tenure in office — but his regime made them much worse.</p><p>On this, The Lancet report specifically notes Trump's "disdain for science and manipulation of hatred," adding that his "Make America Great Again" promise "camouflaged policies that enriched people who were already very wealthy and gave corporations license to degrade the environment for financial gain."</p><p>The mass death from the coronavirus pandemic reflects a broader pattern of negative outcomes, largely caused by the Republican Party and broader right-wing "conservative" movement. </p><p>As <a href="https://www.salon.com/2019/04/11/scholar-jonathan-metzl-white-supremacy-is-literally-killing-white-people/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">exhaustively documented by public health experts and other social scientists</a>, across a range of policies such as gun violence, tax policy, the environment, access to health care, education, voting rights and the size and strength of the social safety net more generally, Republican policies over the last several decades have resulted in the deaths of many more Americans, compared to the policies advocated by Democrats.</p><p>While Republicans and the right market themselves as being "pro-life," in reality their policies could more fairly be described as <em>pro-death</em>. These dire outcomes rest on the following foundation.</p><p><strong>Neoliberalism or "gangster capitalism." </strong>Every part of society is to be financialized and subjected to the forces of the market. There is no innate value to human life and human dignity. "Democracy" is but a tool for the market and the moneyed classes to gain more control over society through a process that superficially legitimizes their authority and rule. In this sociopathic worldview, there are "makers and takers," "productive" people as compared to those deemed to be "parasites" and "surplus" human beings. Social democracy is to be destroyed and ultimately replaced by "market forces" and some version of "managed democracy" or "competitive authoritarianism".</p><p><a href="https://www.salon.com/2020/03/27/trumps-death-cult-finally-says-it-time-to-kill-the-useless-eaters-for-capitalism/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>Social Darwinism</strong></a>. This is a belief in the "survival of the fittest," where government is seen as having no obligation to the collective good. Moreover, instead of an understanding that government exists to solve problems that are greater than the ability of any one person to resolve, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/21/opinion/green-new-deal-texas-blackout.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">the state instead becomes a tool for plutocrats and other elites to secure more power and resources, at the public's literal expense.</a> </p><p><strong>Right-wing libertarian fantasies of "self-reliance," "freedom" and the evils of government.</strong> Modern conservatism and the right-wing movement have constructed their own alternate reality, one that rejects empirical reality and expert knowledge, and confuses dogma with truth. In total, it is a closed epistemology, a hallucinatory ideology where self-serving fantasies about the "economy" and "human nature" are taken as inviolate truths. This is a form of <a href="https://www.salon.com/2020/09/17/shunning-masks-is-a-central-sacrament-of-the-trump-cult-reason-cant-compete-with-faith/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">religious politics in which faith supersedes reason, substantive evidence and truth. </a></p><p>One of the central figures in this right-wing fantasy world is novelist and self-styled philosopher Ayn Rand, whose semi-coherent theories have helped to create an America where cruelty and selfishness have been elevated into virtue. </p><p>Lisa Duggan, author of the recent book "<a href="https://truthout.org/articles/ayn-rands-legacy-of-unifying-social-cruelty/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Mean Girl: Ayn Rand and the Culture of Greed,</a>" locates Rand relative to the current age of capitalist barbarism by observing that Donald Trump is not the only person in contemporary America "who mistakenly envisages himself as a Rand hero":</p> <blockquote> ... the government and business world is full of Rand fans who read Atlas Shrugged in high school. The blend of right-wing white nationalism, combined with hard, zombie neoliberalism that rules the Republican Party right now does not align with Rand's purest economic and political vision. But the unifying social cruelty, the full deference to the wealthiest as the most deserving of tax breaks, the representation of the poor and of immigrants as unworthy and undeserving of any kind of assistance, the opposition to unions, to universal health care, to minimum wages — that is pure Rand.<br/>Many advocates of these policies learned to legitimize them, learned to moralize them, as in "greed is good," from reading Rand or just from existing in a Randian milieu (we can be pretty sure Trump has not actually read Rand!). She is the dour visage presiding over the cruelties of our contemporary moment.<br/> </blockquote> <p><strong>Coronavirus fascism.</strong> The Trump regime, the Republican Party and the right-wing movement do not believe in multiracial democracy. Fascism uses violence and destruction as a means of creating a "new" world, one based on a return to some mythical past. To that end, the death and misery caused by the coronavirus pandemic creates an opportunity to undermine democratic institutions (and the very idea of government itself) as well as to target those who are deemed to be "the enemy" for elimination.</p><p>Because coronavirus fascism wields power over its followers in part by arousing their fears, it is not entirely surprising that in the 2020 election <a href="https://apnews.com/article/counties-worst-virus-surges-voted-trump-d671a483534024b5486715da6edb6ebf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Trump actually did better in regions of the country hit especially hard by the pandemic.</a> </p><p>In a near-perfect crystallization of the cruel values the sustain today's Republican Party and right-wing movement, Tim Boyd, the Republican mayor of Colorado City, Texas, wrote on Facebook that <a href="https://www.salon.com/2021/02/23/why-texas-froze-and-california-fried-this-disaster-was-90-years-in-the-making/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">those suffering through that state's ice and snow disaster and electrical outages</a> should: "Sink or swim it's your choice! The City and County, along with power providers or any other service owes you NOTHING! ... If you are sitting at home in the cold because you have no power and are sitting there waiting for someone to come rescue you because your (sic) lazy [it] is [a] direct result of your raising." (Boyd was at least forced to resign in disgrace.)</p><p>Why do rank-and-file Republicans, Trumpists and other right-wing voters support leaders and policies that literally cause them illness, suffering and death?</p><p>There are many reasons, including <a href="https://www.salon.com/2020/01/07/democracy-fatigue-and-how-to-fight-it-philosopher-henry-giroux-on-life-in-the-age-of-trump/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">a vast propaganda and disinformation machine comprised of the right-wing media, Christian nationalist churches and related organizations, schools and other socializing agents that create and sustain an alternate reality.</a></p><p>Political parties have become a marker of personal identity. This is especially true of Republicans and right-leaning independents. Because today's Republican Party is a full-on white supremacist organization, loyalty to the party (and to its neofascist leader) is an embrace of white identity as central to one's personhood. As a function of that relationship, any criticism of the Republican Party and right-wing movement is seen as an attack on the believers' sense of being and their emotional, psychological, cognitive and material investment(s) in white privilege and white supremacy.</p><p>Perhaps most importantly, rank-and-file Republicans, Trumpists, and other members of the white right believe themselves to be in an existential struggle against various enemies: liberals and progressives, Democrats in general, nonwhite people, Muslims, immigrants and other "enemies" who want to "end their way of life". Therefore, to embrace death is understood to be a patriotic act in service to a better future.</p><p>Ultimately, today's Republican Party and broader right-wing movement are a death cult, whose millions of ardent followers are willing to sacrifice themselves and their families to sustain it. Much to the dismay of the Democrats and others who believe in "normal politics," this is the reality we must all face. No "bipartisanship" or "unity" or "common ground" is possible with a fanatical death cult. Joe Biden's great task and responsibility is to make decisions with that fact in mind and then find a way forward to political victory and a better American society.</p>
CONTINUE READING
Show less
Pro-Trump Black group that solicited foreign investors is now under FBI investigation
February 24, 2021
The FBI has opened an investigation into the activities of a pro-Trump group that appears to have engaged in an off-the-books foreign influence campaign and violated IRS rules regulating the political activity of nonprofit organizations, Salon has learned.
The probe's scope includes two officials affiliated with the Urban Revitalization Coalition, a now-defunct organization which made headlines last year with suspicious cash giveaways to Black voters and subsequently lost its tax-exempt charity status, a person familiar with the investigation told Salon. The two men — Kareem Lanier and Darrell Scott, a Cleveland-area pastor and former Trump campaign official — also used the URC as a vehicle to "solicit donations" from foreign nationals, including influential Turkish businessmen, while they worked with Trump administration officials to attract new investment in "Opportunity Zones," economically disadvantaged areas targeted for new incentives under the former president's 2017 tax bill.
<p>Salon reported the Turkish connections in a <a href="https://www.salon.com/2020/09/05/the-turkey-hustle-how-a-pro-trump-black-group-became-unofficial-lobbyists-for-erdogan/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">two-part series</a> last September.</p><p>Some of the solicitations were floated by <u><a href="http://buzzfeednews.com/article/rogersollenberger/she-shunned-islam-and-was-embraced-by-trump-world-now-shes" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">former MAGA-world star Rabia Kazan</a></u>, a Turkish author whom Scott and Lanier brought into the URC to facilitate such connections, according to Kazan and people with knowledge of the arrangement. Multiple people told Salon that the group had also approached Americans for donations in exchange for access to the Trump White House. Former Trump officials told Salon that such deals included tickets to a White House Easter Egg Roll, and that Scott was suspected of using his Cleveland church to funnel untraceable large-dollar contributions to Trump's inauguration.</p><p>The URC made headlines last February when it held <a href="http://politico.com/news/2020/01/29/trump-black-voters-cash-giveaways-108072" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">campaign-adjacent events with cash giveaways for Black voters in underprivileged communities</a>, including a $25,000 raffle — which the organization had promised the IRS it would not do. Politico described the raffles as part of a <a href="https://www.cleveland.com/open/2020/01/charity-founded-by-trump-allies-plans-follow-up-cash-giveaway-events-in-cleveland-elsewhere.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">national</a> strategy to hold events "in Black communities where they lavish praise on the president while handing out thousands of dollars in giveaways."</p><p>Government watchdog <a href="https://www.citizensforethics.org/pro-trump-group-gave-away-cash-irs/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington</a> raised concerns that the URC was in breach of IRS rules governing the group's capacity to participate in political activities. But because the URC never filed a tax return, neither the public nor the IRS have learned much about the group's fundraising and spending.</p><p>Scott, who advised Trump's 2016 and 2020 campaigns, <a href="https://www.cleveland.com/open/2015/11/cleveland_heights_pastor_darre.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">presents himself as a Christian minister reformed from a life of drugs</a>. During the 2020 election he <a href="https://blackvoices.donaldjtrump.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">co-chaired</a> Black Voices for Trump, an official campaign arm formerly led by the late Herman Cain, and frequently identifies himself as "Dr. Scott," thanks to an honorary degree he received from the unaccredited St. Thomas Christian College in 2004. He founded the nondenominational New Spirit Revival Center, headquartered in a former Cleveland Heights synagogue. It has its own radio station.</p><p>Scott was often seen at the Trump White House, but told Salon he prided his independence from unenumerated encumbrances that would have accompanied an official administration title. He traveled on Air Force One with Trump a number of times, and watched the 2018 midterm returns with the former commander in chief at the White House. The surrogate is also close with former White House adviser Jared Kushner: Scott calls him <a href="https://twitter.com/PastorDScott/status/958936276106993665" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">"J-Rock,"</a> and the two worked closely to promote Opportunity Zones, a program that created capital gains tax incentives to spur investment in poor and minority communities, which eventually fizzled out.</p><p>The URC's efforts to make inroads with foreign investors dovetailed with the Trump administration's foreign policy goals of establishing <a href="https://www.dailysabah.com/economy/2018/12/25/turkish-american-bilateral-trade-expected-to-soar-next-year" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">a new overarching trade deal with Turkey</a>. They also overlapped with Turkey's release of Andrew Brunson, an American pastor and political prisoner held by the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Texts from an Erdogan aide, obtained by Salon, describe the release as part of a "mutual" exchange connected to the 2018 midterm elections.</p><p>Legal experts told Salon that some of the above activities appear to violate rules governing U.S. tax and lobbying laws.</p><p>Kazan previously told Salon that Scott had a particular fascination with Turkey, and that she had connected him with multiple Turkish figures, including billionaire industrialist <a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/mehmet-nazif-gunal/#5955f4a01d2f" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Mehmet Nazif Günal</a> and Kazan's own sister, who had married into the Godiva chocolate business empire. Kazan said Scott and Günal had discussed millions of dollars in assets that Günal could no longer access in Saudi Arabia, and that Günal hoped that Scott could help convince Trump to lean on the Saudi king.</p><p>A group led by Scott <a href="https://twitter.com/NDCTrump/status/865968397498150912?s=20" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">tweeted</a> in 2017 about Saudi Arabia's King Salman presenting Trump with the kingdom's highest honor.</p><p>Kazan also connected the URC officials with Turkish business representative Ali Akat, who made at least two visits to the U.S. in 2018, in April and November. Akat met with multiple congressmen and GOP operatives, and in April was escorted by Scott to the headquarters of the Republican National Committee and the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, home to offices of White House aides and staff, where they held a meeting, according to photos posted to social media.</p><p>In a phone interview, Scott did not deny or express surprise at the existence of a federal investigation into his group. He also said that aside from Akat, he never met with any foreign investors. A passage from his book, "Nothing to Lose," published last summer, claims that the two men conceived of the URC specifically as a way to attract investors from overseas.</p><p>"As Kareem and I talked and strategized we concluded that since the money would come from foreign investors, we had to ensure before securing funding that the business would be done right," Scott <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=5xnxDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT131&lpg=PT131&dq=%22darrell+scott%22+%22foreign+investors%22&source=bl&ots=RxNBmf14f9&sig=ACfU3U3uprz9C279gJPrNggX0CXHYV7KbA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiyn5Gi9YDvAhVaAp0JHaTSANsQ6AEwA3oECAQQAw#v=snippet&q=%22foreign%20investors%22&f=false" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">wrote</a>.</p><p>Though Scott denied meeting other foreign investors, and told Salon that he met "like 500 people a day" in Washington and could not be expected to remember everyone, when reminded of Günal, he immediately recalled a meeting over dinner in May 2018, during which he said the billionaire "was drunk." A few minutes prior to the phone conversation, Scott had sent Salon an email that read, in full: "I never had any dealings with Turks. It was a lie." Of his time with Akat, Scott said: "Nothing came of it. It turned out that he was just a con man."</p><p>Expatriate Turkish journalist and newspaper editor Abdulhamit Bilici previously told Salon in a call that "it's not possible Erdogan could not know" about Akat's interactions with the URC.</p><p>"Even the smallest details of these things wouldn't happen without his knowledge," Bilici said. "All businesses in the country, if allowed to operate, pay their dues to him, so to speak."</p><p>In addition to the meetings with Akat and Günal, Scott was apparently close with Turkish journalist Yavuz Atalay, the White House correspondent for Aksam Gazette, a newspaper that supports Erdogan's government. Indeed, Atalay's most recent tweet, as of this writing, is a thank-you note to Scott for a signed copy of his book and "all other gifts."</p><p>Scott boasted multiple times on Twitter about meeting Akat. On April 25, 2018, he <a href="https://twitter.com/PastorDScott/status/989316109294858240" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">tweeted</a>, "With some of my Business Homies, Ali and the guys, in DC at the Trump discussing bringing businesses to America! Great things are on the horizon! #urbanRevitalizationCoalition." Later that evening he <a href="https://twitter.com/PastorDScott/status/989316855801237505" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">tweeted</a>, "With my guy Ali to discuss bring HUNDREDS of BUSINESSES to Urban America. Great things are on the horizon __#UtbanRevitalizationCoalition" [sic], and included a picture of himself with Akat at the Trump International Hotel in Washington.</p><p>The next day, Scott <a href="https://twitter.com/PastorDScott/status/989368279130046464" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">tweeted</a>: "Finalizing plans to bring 30 billion dollars in investment along with 25,000 well paying manufacturing jobs to Urban America. Great things are on the horizon!!!!! #UrbanRevitalizationCoalition". He tagged all the tweets with the name of his nonprofit, whose mission, according to its <a href="http://urcamerica.com/about-us/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">website</a>, was to "Revitalize America's Urban Communities!"</p><p>Two weeks later, and one day after a since-deleted article in the Turkish press quoted Akat about the visit — Scott <a href="https://twitter.com/PastorDScott/status/993218668615098368" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">tweeted</a>, "Myself and @realkareemdream have been negotiating with foreign investors about potentially pouring billions of dollars into Opportunity Zones in Urban Communities all across the country. Great things are on the horizon! ##UrbanRevitalizationCoalition."</p><p>Scott engaged with a reply to that tweet reading: "Talk with the Saudis. They like us now!"</p><p>"They're on our radar screen!" Scott wrote.</p><p>That same day, Lanier quoted Scott's "foreign investors" tweet, commenting: "Huge Announcement(s) Coming Soon Urban America! <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@realDonaldTrump</a> & <a href="https://twitter.com/PastorDScott" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@PastorDScott</a> and many others are fighting everyday for all in our great country!!! <a href="https://twitter.com/CNN" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@CNN</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/MSNBC" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@MSNBC</a> will be forced to eat their words and report "Real News" for a change. Hahaha!!!<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BillionsontopofBillions?src=hashtag_click" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#BillionsontopofBillions</a>"</p><p>Scott has also deleted his end of <a href="https://twitter.com/InBoxVA/status/993995459663482880" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">a Twitter conversation</a> in which he debated the value of foreign investments.</p><p>The "huge announcement," however, appears not to have come to pass. The Trump administration <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trade-turkey/u-s-terminates-turkeys-preferential-trade-agreement-reduces-tariffs-on-steel-idUSKCN1SN01Z" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">never struck a large-scale trade deal</a> with Turkey, and intergovernmental communications quickly fell apart that summer in the spat over Brunson's release.</p><p>In a taped phone conversation in Turkish, which Salon obtained and had independently translated three times, Akat acknowledges that Scott and Lanier had asked him for financial "donations." Akat says that when he declined, the men "pressured" him to remove the photos of their meetings published on his social media accounts and in Turkish media. Kazan told Salon that Scott and Lanier also asked that she delete her own social media photos documenting the visit.</p><p>Scott told Salon that their request to have photos deleted was not out of the ordinary.</p><p>"If I introduce you to a Black dude, and you take a picture with him, and then you find out he's a drug dealer, wouldn't you want to tell him to take that picture down?" he asked. Akat is the president of the Turkish American Business Association and the Turkish-American Chamber of Commerce. Scott himself used to <a href="https://www.cleveland.com/open/2015/11/cleveland_heights_pastor_darre.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">sell drugs</a>.</p><p>Following the meetings with Akat, Scott and Lanier brought Kazan on board to the URC. Kazan says that the men were using her entirely for her connections to Turkey.</p><p>Experts tell Salon that, by all appearances, the URC was engaged in lobbying efforts on behalf of foreign interests — which would legally require it to register with the U.S. government as a foreign agent.</p><p>It is unclear whether the URC maintained communications with Akat and Günal. Scott denied having spoken again with the men, but said he could not remember if they had exchanged emails or text messages.</p><p>In <a href="https://www.dailysabah.com/business/2018/03/29/turkish-american-businessmen-to-establish-organized-industrial-zone-in-us" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">an interview</a> with the Daily Sabah — a pro-government Turkish newspaper — given a month before his first U.S. visit, Akat said that he planned to meet with U.S. government officials in hopes of establishing a "Turkish organized industrial zone" in a number of American states. In a later <a href="https://www.dailysabah.com/economy/2018/12/25/turkish-american-bilateral-trade-expected-to-soar-next-year" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">interview</a> with the outlet, following Akat's November trip to Washington, during which he stayed at the Trump Hotel and received gifts from the White House, he boasted of a major trade deal ahead. The businessman pointed to Godiva Chocolatier, a largely Turkish-owned company, as particularly promising, since Americans were unlikely to perceive Godiva as a foreign brand.</p><p>The goal, according to Akat, was to round up Turkish companies who would promise a $1 million up-front investment. These companies would then get first crack at manufacturing opportunities in certain American markets. It is unclear whether Akat met with Scott and Lanier on that second trip, and unclear why trade talks later fell through.</p><p>In a since-deleted <a href="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DbzRz34XkAAqi6h.jpg" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Facebook post</a> during Akat's April 2018 trip, Republican strategist and XStrategies CEO Alexander Bruesewitz said he and Akat discussed Godiva at the then-president's hotel, mentioning Turkey's "desire to invest $12B in the US" and create 25,000 jobs.</p><p>Despite Scott's tweets, however, he says he lost interest in Akat within days.</p><p>"A lot of people like to talk a lot of shit, but when it comes time to put up or shut up, more often than not they shut up," he said.</p><p>Kareem Lanier could not be reached for comment.</p>
CONTINUE READING
Show less
Trending
Latest
Videos
Copyright © 2021 Raw Story Media, Inc. PO Box 21050, Washington, D.C. 20009 | Masthead | Privacy Policy | For corrections or concerns, please email corrections@rawstory.com.
Thanks for your support!
Did you enjoy Raw Story this year? Join us! We're offering RawStory ad-free for 15% off - just $2 per week. From now until March 15th.