John Podesta (and his Scumbag Brother Tony)
Dirtbags of the Week Ending Friday February 2, 2024
John Podesta (born January 15, 1949, Chicago, Illinois) is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank "dedicated to improving the lives of Americans through ideas and action." [1]
Podesta served as Chief of Staff to President William J. Clinton from October, 1998 until January, 2001, he also served from 1997-98 as both an Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief of Staff. Earlier, from January 1993 to 1995, he was Assistant to the President, Staff Secretary and a senior policy adviser on government information, privacy, telecommunications security and regulatory policy.
Currently, Podesta is a Visiting Professor of Law on the faculty of the Georgetown University Law Center, a position he also held from January 1995 to 1997, and also co-chairman of President-elect Barack Obama's Presidential Transition team.[2]
His brother is the prominent lobbyist Tony Podesta with whom he founded the Podesta Group.
Clinton campaign manager John Podesta was notified by Google that his emails were hacked, not by Russia, but by Ukraine during the 2016 presidential election.[3]
The Democracy Integrity Project (TDIP), was a multimillion-dollar stealth organization launched in late January 2017, just days after President Donald Trump's inauguration, that provided a daily "research" bulletin known as "TDIP Research" to recognizable Washington journalists, and congressional staff members, to keep the Russia "collusion" hoax alive. Reports indicated "Social media titans including the founders of Facebook, Twitter and Google are indirectly funding the project through donations funneled through a Silicon Valley foundation." The nonprofit, 501(c)(4) social welfare organization, Fund for a Better Future (FBF),[5] donated $2,065,000 to TDIP in 2017.[6] TDIP raised some $7 million mainly from Silicon Valley tech executives and hired computer researchers, as well as FusionGPS opposition researchers and Christopher Steele, the foreign author of the discredited Steele dossier, to “prove” the rumors in the dossier.[7] In March 2019, it was reported that Paul Sperry had exposed TDIP, which is essentially a "Trump-Russia 2.0: Dossier-Tied Firm Pitching Journalists Daily news on Collusion" spreading lies and fake news to keep the "Trump-Russian collusion" false news narrative alive in main stream media reporting.[8][9] As they sought new dirt on Trump, they fed their information to fake news media outlets, leading Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee, namely Sens. Mark Warner and Ron Wyden, and the FBI.
RealClearInvestigations revealed that the organization ran an elaborate media-influence operation intent on driving and shaping daily coverage of the Trump-Russia collusion narrative, including the pushing of stories regarding Trump in the national main stream media, intending to tie the president or his associates to the Kremlin and Vladimir Putin. TDIP then provided the same "research" to the FBI and congressional investigators and then informs news reporters that "authorities" are investigating those items. Thus, mirroring a strategy federal authorities used to secure FISA warrants that were then used to spy on the Trump presidential campaign, in which, FISA applications would cite published news reports that were leaked to the news media to gain credibility.[8]
TDIP was founded and is run by former Senate Intelligence Committee (SSCI) staffer Daniel J. Jones with help from Biden National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and Clinton Campaign Chairman John Podesta. Jones is a former FBI investigator, Clinton administration volunteer and was on the staff of California Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein. Jones registered TDIP as a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization and claims it's mission is "non-partisan".[10] Jones and TDIP hired opposition research firm Fusion GPS and Christopher Steele, author of the Steele dossier, to continue anti-Trump research and fake news leaks to mainstream media.[11] TDIP used as a backup plan to impeach President Donald Trump because the Mueller investigation report failed to expose any criminal wrongdoing.[8] Special Counsel John Durham subpoenaed Jones to testify before his grand jury hearing the case on the origins of the Trump-Russia collusion hoax, along with computer experts and researchers recruited by Clinton attorney Michael Sussmann for the Clinton campaign's Trump-Russia hoax.[12]
Tony Podesta
Tony Podesta showing off art work that welcomes visitors to his home. The sculpture was inspired by a headless corpse found in the home of Jeffrey Dahmer
Anthony "Tony" Podesta (born October 24, 1943) is a Washington, D.C. lobbyist and the brother of John Podesta. The two founded the Podesta Group lobbying firm in 1988. It became one of the most influential lobbying firms in Washington, closely linked to the Democratic party. Tony and John Podesta are both of Greek and Italian descent. In July 2021 it was reported that Tony Podesta went to work for Huawei.[2]
John Podesta left the lobbying firm in 1993 to become Staff Secretary for the Clinton White House, leaving Tony Podesta in charge. Podesta has had many powerful clients, including Russians.[3]
Tony Podesta represented the Brussels based European Centre for Modern Ukraine (ECFMU), a front organization for former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych. The ECFMU was founded to enhance EU-Ukrainian relations. The ECFMU is linked with the Ukrainian Party of Regions. Podesta was paid $900,000.[4]
Podesta represented Uranium One, a company acquired by the Russian government which needed approval from Hillary Clinton. Bill Clinton was paid $500,000 for one speech from a Russian investment bank with “links to the Kremlin that was promoting Uranium One stock.” The Clinton Foundation pocketed $145 million.[5] Podesta was paid $180,000 for his illegal lobbying.[6]
Podesta Group handled Russia's largest bank, Sperbank. “Sberbank is the Kremlin, they don’t do anything major without Putin's go-ahead, and they don’t tell him ‘no’ either,” a Senior U.S. intelligence official said.
The firm went defunct in the later half of 2017 as a result of the Mueller probe and the firm's unregistered lobbying for the European Centre for Modern Ukraine (ECFMU). Podesta Group did not file as an agent of a foreign power under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).
Tony Podesta is perhaps best known for his art collection.[7] Washington Life magazine did a piece on his $5 million home and his 1300 piece "art" collection. One reviewer noted the "art" is so bad, journalists won't show it in articles. If Podesta's taste in art is meant to shock, it does the job. Most of the subject material revolves around abused children, headless corpses and dismemberment, and Satanic ritual abuse.
Tony Podesta at one time was an aide to Sen. Ted Kennedy and worked on his failed 1980 primary campaign. Podesta also worked on the failed campaigns of Sens. Eugene McCarthy in 1968 and George McGovern in 1972.