Post by revirdsuba99 on Nov 6, 2017 5:15:47 GMT
Can Erik Prince Beat the GOP Establishment and Win a Senate Seat?
by KERI GEIGER and JONATHAN ALLEN NBC NEWS
NOV 5 2017, 4:27 AM ET
WASHINGTON — The latest recruit in former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon's war against the Republican establishment is, at least on the surface, an unlikely candidate to ride a populist wave to a Senate seat in Wyoming.
Erik Prince doesn't live in the state, he's from the same party as the incumbent, Sen. John Barrasso, and he's best known for founding a private security firm, Blackwater, that was kicked out of Iraq after its employees were accused of killing civilians. He recently reappeared in national headlines when President Donald Trump's national security team reviewed his proposal to replace most American troops in Afghanistan with a smaller corps of private contractors and special operations forces.
But, at a time of rising grassroots frustration with Republican leaders in Washington, Prince's status as a political outsider and a proven Trump loyalist — he advised the candidate, he pumped $250,000 into his coffers, and his sister is Trump's education secretary(DeVos)— makes him intriguing to a wing of the GOP that isn't afraid to back candidates who have baggage. The Bannonites see him as a potent weapon in their attack on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who counts Barrasso among his top lieutenants.
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More recently, Prince has also found himself in the middle of the Russian collusion investigation. According to the Washington Post, Prince met with a Russian official close to Putin in the Seychelles 11 days before Trump's inauguration. The meeting was reportedly brokered by the UAE and was part of an effort to set up a back-channel line of communications between Russia and the Trump administration.
Prince now runs Frontier Services Group, a logistics firm based in Hong Kong and has Chinese investors. The Hong Kong-listed firm recently acquired a 25 percent stake in a private Chinese security training school and recently won a contract to provide security and logistics for a free zone investment authority in Somalia.
Prince did not respond to a request for comment on the Seychelles meeting. The White House and Barrasso's office did not respond to requests for comment on Prince.
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. Prince's family has long owned property in the state, and he had a listed Wyoming address
more than a decade ago, but he has been living elsewhere.
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www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/can-erik-prince-beat-gop-establishment-win-senate-seat-n817561
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Blackwater Founder Repped Trump at Secret Meeting Overseas: Sources
by KEN DILANIAN and WILLIAM M. ARKIN NBC NEWS
APR 3 2017, 9:42 PM ET
Blackwater founder Erik Prince represented Donald Trump at a secret overseas meeting convened by the United Arab Emirates in early January, two intelligence sources familiar with the matter told NBC News.
The meeting was first reported by the Washington Post, which said that Prince met with an unnamed Russian emissary close to Vladimir Putin. The Post said the meeting was an effort to convince Russia to stop backing Iran.
One U.S. intelligence official confirmed the Post's account to NBC News, saying the meeting was with a Russian envoy. According to intelligence reports filed at the time, no Trump transition people were directly involved and it is unclear if the meeting was undertaken on behalf of Trump’s people or was a UAE initiative, the official said.
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White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer on Monday night added, "We are not aware of any meetings and Erik Prince had no role in the transition."
The meeting took place around Jan. 11, The Post reported and NBC News sources confirmed — nine days before Trump’s inauguration — in the Seychelles islands in the Indian Ocean.
The Post said the UAE agreed to broker the meeting in part to explore whether Russia could be persuaded to curtail its relationship with Iran, including in Syria, a Trump administration objective that would likely require major concessions to Moscow on U.S. sanctions.
Prince, who founded the Blackwater firm that became a private security provider for the U.S. government in Iraq, is the brother of Betsy DeVos, the education secretary in the Trump administration.
He was seen in the Trump transition offices in New York in December. Prince contributed $250,000 last year to support the Trump campaign and pro-Trump super-PACs, according to the Post.
A spokesperson for Prince said, "Erik had no role on the transition team, this is a complete fabrication. The meeting had nothing to do with President Trump. Why is the so called under resourced intelligence community, messing around with surveillance of American citizens when they should be hunting terrorists?"
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www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/blackwater-founder-repped-trump-secret-meeting-overseas-sources-n742266
Blackwater, Devos, meetings/Russia, $250,000 contributions to Trump campaign+? And we want him sitting in the Senate? Watch carefully Wyoming........
by KERI GEIGER and JONATHAN ALLEN NBC NEWS
NOV 5 2017, 4:27 AM ET
WASHINGTON — The latest recruit in former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon's war against the Republican establishment is, at least on the surface, an unlikely candidate to ride a populist wave to a Senate seat in Wyoming.
Erik Prince doesn't live in the state, he's from the same party as the incumbent, Sen. John Barrasso, and he's best known for founding a private security firm, Blackwater, that was kicked out of Iraq after its employees were accused of killing civilians. He recently reappeared in national headlines when President Donald Trump's national security team reviewed his proposal to replace most American troops in Afghanistan with a smaller corps of private contractors and special operations forces.
But, at a time of rising grassroots frustration with Republican leaders in Washington, Prince's status as a political outsider and a proven Trump loyalist — he advised the candidate, he pumped $250,000 into his coffers, and his sister is Trump's education secretary(DeVos)— makes him intriguing to a wing of the GOP that isn't afraid to back candidates who have baggage. The Bannonites see him as a potent weapon in their attack on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who counts Barrasso among his top lieutenants.
**************************
More recently, Prince has also found himself in the middle of the Russian collusion investigation. According to the Washington Post, Prince met with a Russian official close to Putin in the Seychelles 11 days before Trump's inauguration. The meeting was reportedly brokered by the UAE and was part of an effort to set up a back-channel line of communications between Russia and the Trump administration.
Prince now runs Frontier Services Group, a logistics firm based in Hong Kong and has Chinese investors. The Hong Kong-listed firm recently acquired a 25 percent stake in a private Chinese security training school and recently won a contract to provide security and logistics for a free zone investment authority in Somalia.
Prince did not respond to a request for comment on the Seychelles meeting. The White House and Barrasso's office did not respond to requests for comment on Prince.
**************
. Prince's family has long owned property in the state, and he had a listed Wyoming address
more than a decade ago, but he has been living elsewhere.
*****************
www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/can-erik-prince-beat-gop-establishment-win-senate-seat-n817561
******************
Blackwater Founder Repped Trump at Secret Meeting Overseas: Sources
by KEN DILANIAN and WILLIAM M. ARKIN NBC NEWS
APR 3 2017, 9:42 PM ET
Blackwater founder Erik Prince represented Donald Trump at a secret overseas meeting convened by the United Arab Emirates in early January, two intelligence sources familiar with the matter told NBC News.
The meeting was first reported by the Washington Post, which said that Prince met with an unnamed Russian emissary close to Vladimir Putin. The Post said the meeting was an effort to convince Russia to stop backing Iran.
One U.S. intelligence official confirmed the Post's account to NBC News, saying the meeting was with a Russian envoy. According to intelligence reports filed at the time, no Trump transition people were directly involved and it is unclear if the meeting was undertaken on behalf of Trump’s people or was a UAE initiative, the official said.
********************
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer on Monday night added, "We are not aware of any meetings and Erik Prince had no role in the transition."
The meeting took place around Jan. 11, The Post reported and NBC News sources confirmed — nine days before Trump’s inauguration — in the Seychelles islands in the Indian Ocean.
The Post said the UAE agreed to broker the meeting in part to explore whether Russia could be persuaded to curtail its relationship with Iran, including in Syria, a Trump administration objective that would likely require major concessions to Moscow on U.S. sanctions.
Prince, who founded the Blackwater firm that became a private security provider for the U.S. government in Iraq, is the brother of Betsy DeVos, the education secretary in the Trump administration.
He was seen in the Trump transition offices in New York in December. Prince contributed $250,000 last year to support the Trump campaign and pro-Trump super-PACs, according to the Post.
A spokesperson for Prince said, "Erik had no role on the transition team, this is a complete fabrication. The meeting had nothing to do with President Trump. Why is the so called under resourced intelligence community, messing around with surveillance of American citizens when they should be hunting terrorists?"
*********************
www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/blackwater-founder-repped-trump-secret-meeting-overseas-sources-n742266
Blackwater, Devos, meetings/Russia, $250,000 contributions to Trump campaign+? And we want him sitting in the Senate? Watch carefully Wyoming........
