The Real Cost of Corruption

Represent.Us

May  2018

Martin Sheen’s unscripted take on corruption will stop you in your tracks.

Martin Sheen: The Real Cost of Corruption

Martin Sheen's unscripted take on corruption will stop you in your tracks.

Posted by Represent.Us on Saturday, May 5, 2018

The anti-Obama: Trump’s drive to destroy his predecessor’s legacy

The Guardian

The anti-Obama: Trump’s drive to destroy his predecessor’s legacy

From the Iran deal to TPP to climate change, ‘the whole thing that animates and unites his policy views is antipathy towards Obama’

David Smith in Washington, The Guardian         May 11, 2018  

Donald Trump advertised his ambitions to dismantle Barack Obama’s achievements throughout the election campaign. Photograph: Pool New/Reuters

When Donald Trump pulled out of the deal to curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions, hardline conservatives celebrated, European leaders winced and Barack Obama made a rare, lengthy public statement.

Trump’s decision was “misguided” and “a serious mistake”, Obama said, as his signature foreign policy achievement was tossed away.

It was just the latest example of Trump’s all-out assault on the Obama legacy. From climate change to criminal justice to international relations, rarely has one occupant of the Oval Office appeared so obsessed with taking a chainsaw to the work of another.

Tommy Vietor, a former national security council spokesman under Obama, told the Guardian: “The whole thing that animates and unites his policy views is antipathy towards Obama. It’s fucking pathetic. He’s a vindictive person so there is an element of this that is about sticking it to Obama. He knows, probably better than anyone, how to find all the Republican erogenous zones because he spent years whipping people into a frenzy and telling lies about Obama.”

From the start, it has been hard to imagine two men more different than Obama, 56, a mixed-race intellectual married to one woman for a quarter of a century, and Trump, 71, a white, thrice married businessman and reality TV star who has boasted about grabbing women’s private parts. One reads books voraciously; the other, it is said, barely reads at all. There were few reasons for their paths to ever cross except, perhaps, on a golf course, their one common passion.

But then came the 2011 White House Correspondents’ Association dinner. Trump, pushing a racially charged conspiracy theory questioning whether the president was born in America, was among the tuxedo-wearing guests. Obama mocked his nascent political ambitions without mercy. “Obviously, we all know about your credentials and breadth of experience,” he said, recalling an episode of Celebrity Apprentice in which the men’s cooking team fell short and Trump fired actor Gary Busey.

“And these are the kind of decisions that would keep me up at night,” the president continued to roars of laughter. “Well handled, sir. Well handled. Say what you will about Mr. Trump, he certainly would bring some change to the White House. Let’s see what we’ve got up there.”

The room erupted as Obama pointed to a Photo-shopped image of the then fantastical idea of a Trump White House, with three extra storeys, a giant “TRUMP” sign, a hotel, casino and golf course, a giant crystal chandelier, four gold columns and two women in swimwear drinking cocktails in the north lawn fountain.

Four years later, Adam Gopnik of the New Yorker magazine would recall: “Trump’s humiliation was as absolute, and as visible, as any I have ever seen: his head set in place, like a man in a pillory, he barely moved or altered his expression as wave after wave of laughter struck him … he sat perfectly still, chin tight, in locked, unmovable rage.”

Future historians may well ask: was this the moment that Trump resolved to storm the White House and tear down the Obama legacy?

For sure, from the day he formally launched his election campaign in June 2015, branding Mexican immigrants as criminals and rapists, he cast himself as the anti-Obama in style and substance. His act enraptured rightwing media and the Republican base, who saw Trump as a vessel into which they could pour their hopes and frustrations. David Litt, a former speechwriter for Obama, said this week: “It’s not only Trump who says, ‘If Obama is for it, I’m against it.’ This was the guiding philosophy for eight years of the Obama administration. Trump is a catalyst of the movement but he’s also a product of it.”

President Barack Obama greets President-elect Donald Trump in the White House Oval Office on 10 November 2016. Photograph: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

During his battle with Hillary Clinton, Trump duly promised to unravel Obama’s accomplishments. He described the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a proposed free trade deal with Asia, as “a rape of our country”. He said he is “not a great believer in manmade climate change” and vowed to cancel the Paris agreement. He called the Iran nuclear accord a “disaster” and “the worst deal ever negotiated” and warned that it could lead to a “nuclear holocaust”.

John Hudak, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution think-tank in Washington, said: “The president ideologically disagrees with much of what President Obama accomplished but it’s important to remember these were campaign promises. It’s not out of nowhere. It’s what his voters wanted. Very little of what the president is doing is shocking, considering his campaign rhetoric.”

Soon after the stunning election outcome, Obama hosted Trump at the White House for about an hour and a half. Trump seemed surprised and a little impressed by the welcome, Obama appeared to be walking on eggshells.

But extraordinarily, since inauguration day, the men have not spoken. Hudak described this as “odd”, noting a past example: the first person Obama called after the killing of Osama Bin Laden was George W Bush.

“But it’s important to remember President Trump doesn’t like to hear ideas that he does not believe. If he called President Obama and said, ‘Can you talk me through this Iran deal?’ he would hear things that wouldn’t fit with that mindset. He could call Bill Clinton or George Bush, but why waste their time?”

At the recent funeral of former first lady Barbara Bush, the Bushes, Clintons and Obamas were joined by the first lady, Melania Trump, but the current president was conspicuously absent.

In the meantime, Trump is working through his Obama checklist at a rapid clip. He made good on his promises to withdraw from the TPP, Paris and Iran agreements. He partially reversed what he called a “terrible and misguided deal” with Cuba, reinstating some travel and commercial restrictions. He ordered the Pentagon to reverse an Obama-era policy that allowed transgender people to serve in the military.

Trump has also struck a radically different tone from the 44th president, expressing admiration for strongmen, confounding America’s longstanding allies and apparently viewing international relations through the prism of personal chemistry. The steady hand of “no drama Obama” has been replaced by chaos, unpredictability and Twitter diplomacy.

Donald Trump’s ‘only guiding principle seems to be to undo what Obama did’, says one Democratic strategist. Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images

Domestically, his tone on abortion rights, gun control and race relations represents another 180-degree turn. He announced plans to scrap Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (Daca), a program created under Obama to allow people brought to the US illegally as children the temporary right to live in America. He has rolled back hundreds of government regulations in areas such as immigration, net neutrality and clean air and water.

Some reversals have gained less public attention but could have more lasting consequences. Whereas the Obama administration directed federal prosecutors to be less aggressive in charging non-violent drug offenders, Trump’s attorney general, Jeff Sessions, has reverted to a hard-line stance, raising the prospect of a resurgence in mass incarceration just as the prison population had begun to dip.

Lanhee Chen, a research fellow at the Hoover Institution in Stanford, California, said: “It’s not unusual for a president to want to do things differently from his predecessor. I will say the scope and ambition of Trump’s effort to do that is breathtaking. Whether it’s breathtakingly good or breathtakingly bad depends on your point of view.”

But there have been setbacks in the anti-Obama crusade. Trump was unable to steer Republicans to agree on a replacement for the Affordable Care Act, the flagship of Obama’s domestic program, though critics argue they have since done their best to sabotage it through a sweeping tax reform and other measures.

Some believe the effort failed because Trump has little grasp of or interest in policy details. Bob Shrum, a Democratic strategist, said: “His only guiding principle seems to be to undo what Obama did. His driving motivation seems to be his animosity towards Obama. We know he has no deep convictions of his own so Obama became his negative reference point.”

Trump averaged one false claim every 83 seconds of his speech on the Iran deal.

Mint Press News

Hands OFF Syria

May 9, 2018

Trump Lies on the Iran Nuclear Deal..
Trump averaged one false claim every 83 seconds of his speech on the Iran deal.

Trump Lies on the Iran Nuclear Deal

Trump Lies on the Iran Nuclear Deal.. Trump averaged one false claim every 83 seconds of his speech on the Iran deal.

Posted by Hands OFF Syria on Wednesday, May 9, 2018

As many as 20% of people in the U.S are behind bars for the crime of being poor.

U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders Video:

May 11, 2018. This is insane. In the United States of America as many as 20% of people incarcerated are behind bars for the crime of being poor.

Shaun King explain why.

Cash Bail in the US is Insane

This is insane. In the United States of America as many as 20% of people incarcerated are behind bars for the crime of being poor. Shaun King explain why.Video: U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders

Posted by The People For Bernie Sanders on Friday, May 11, 2018

Philadelphia’s District Attorney just showed America how to end mass incarceration.

Washington Press

Philadelphia’s District Attorney just showed America how to end mass incarceration.
We thank our friend and ally the letter K for this very informative video. The District Attorney of Philadelphia is trying a new and innovative method in regards to mass incarceration. Shorter sentences for minor offenses which target low income, and certain ethnic groups. The results is a savings of $60,000 year per prisoner, this savings is more than the average teacher, fireman, or police officer makes in the city of Philadelphia a year. It is also an incentive to the person incarcerated to turn their lives around, and become an active participating member of society.”

Philadelphia's District Attorney just showed America how to end mass incarceration.

Philadelphia's District Attorney just showed America how to end mass incarceration.

Posted by Washington Press on Tuesday, March 20, 2018

Large Oil Spill Reported on Montana Reservation, Contaminating Pond

EcoWatch

Large Oil Spill Reported on Montana Reservation, Contaminating Pond

Lorraine Chow      May 3, 2018

A well operated by Anadarko Minerals Inc. spilled a “substantial” amount of oil in the central region of the Fort Peck Reservation in northeast Montana, according to local media.

An estimated 600 barrels of oil and 90,000 barrels of brine (production water) leaked from the well, the Glasgow Courier reported, citing officials with the reservation’s Office of Environmental Protection and the Bureau of Land Management.

The spill was first discovered by a farmer doing a flyover in the area. The farmer immediately notified Valley County authorities about the incident.

According to a press release received by MTN News, the spill was reported to the reservation’s Office of Environmental Protection on April 27. The exact date that the leak occurred is not yet clear. The well was shut in late December.

Fort Peck Reservation, which lies north of the Missouri River, is home to members of the Sioux and Assiniboine nations. Members adamantly oppose the proposed Keystone XL (KXL) pipeline and its potential to endanger their water supply.

The press release states that the spill further reinforces tribal officials’ opposition to the KXL and pipeline development on or near the reservation.

Oil and brine from the leak has now traveled roughly 200 yards downhill to a stock pond used by tribal entities to water livestock. The extent of the pond’s contamination is not yet determined, the press release continued. According to initial assessments, about three to six inches of oil currently sit on top of the water.

Jestin Dupree, a Fort Peck Tribal council member, detailed in a Facebook post Wednesday: “In order to get this pond cleaned up there are certain levels of contamination that are allowable but we are looking at the possibility of draining the pond for a proper clean up and the Tribal Chairman felt the same way. In some places in this pond the water is about 13 feet deep.”

“THIS IS CONSIDERED A LARGE SPILL as there are 100,000 gallons of salt water, 27,000-30,000 gallons of oil which equates to 600 barrels of oil,” he added.

According to MTN News, Anadarko has developed a clean up plan with oversight from tribal officials, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Dupree noted on Facebook that by Friday the oil company will have a dollar amount for the cost of clean up.

Floyd Azure, chairman of the Fort Peck Tribes, was quoted by MTN News as saying that the incident is further indication of the detrimental effects oil production on the environment and is yet another threat to the reservation’s water quality.

After their initial report was published, the Glasgow Courier posted on their Facebook page: “Fort Peck Tribes have asked that people avoid the area of the oil spill so as not to impede clean up efforts.”

EcoWatch has contacted the reservation and will update with any new information.

Glasgow Courier: A “substantial” oil spill occurred approximately 5 miles west of the Frazer/Richland Road, Lustre Grain East Road Junction.

The spill was discovered last Thursday, according to the Fort Peck Disaster Emergency Service Coordinator. Clean-up is ongoing and the cause is being investigated.

Clean up and assessment are being handled by the Fort Peck Tribes and EPA. More information will be in May 9 Glasgow Courier.

Image may contain: sky, mountain, outdoor and nature
Image may contain: sky, cloud, outdoor and nature

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Geothermal technology has already transformed Iceland.

May 11, 2018

The U.S. can tap into a huge source of renewable energy that few people are talking about: geothermal. This technology has already transformed Iceland.

#WeCanSolveThis #YEARSproject

We Can SolveThis: America Forges Ahead

The U.S. can tap into a huge source of renewable energy that few people are talking about: geothermal. This technology has already transformed Iceland. #WeCanSolveThis #YEARSproject

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This African factory turns trash into energy.

May 10, 2018

1,400 tons of waste burned a day. Power for 25% of Addis Ababa’s homes.     3 million bricks made from the ash.

See More

This African factory turns trash into energy, clean water and bricks

1,400 tons of waste burned a day.✅Power for 25% of Addis Ababa's homes.✅3 million bricks made from the ash. ✅ via World Economic Forum

Posted by EcoWatch on Thursday, May 10, 2018

What Happens to bees after they sting?

What Happens to bees after they sting?

What Happens To Bees After They Sting

You Need To See This… 😱😱😱😱😱😱via ViralHog #FNJ

Posted by Alltime Videos on Saturday, May 5, 2018

Documents Reveal How Russian Official Courted Conservatives In U.S. Since 2009

NPR – Politics

Documents Reveal How Russian Official Courted Conservatives In U.S. Since 2009

Tim Mak       May 11, 2018

Russian official Alexander Torshin, appearing in Moscow in 2016, was sanctioned by the U.S. government in April, suspending years of travel back to 2009 during which he cultivated ties with American conservatives. Alexander Shalgin/Alexander Shalgin/TASS

Kremlin-linked Russian politician Alexander Torshin traveled frequently between Moscow and various destinations in the United States to build relationships with figures on the American right starting as early as 2009, beyond his previously known contacts with the National Rifle Association.

Documents newly obtained by NPR show how he traveled throughout the United States to cultivate ties in ways well beyond his formal role as a member of the Russian legislature and later as a top official at the Russian central bank. These are steps a former top CIA official believes Torshin took in order to advance Moscow’s long-term objectives in the United States, in part by establishing common political interests with American conservatives.

“Putin and probably the Russian intelligence services saw [Torshin’s connections] as something that they could leverage in the United States,” said Steve Hall, a retired CIA chief of Russian operations. “They reach to reach out to guy like Torshin and say, ‘Hey, can you make contact with the NRA and some other conservatives… so that we can have connectivity from Moscow into those conservative parts of American politics should we need them?’ And that’s basically just wiring the United States for sound, if you will, in preparation for whatever they might need down the road.”

POLITICS: Depth Of Russian Politician’s Cultivation Of NRA Ties Revealed

Torshin’s trips took him to Alaska, where he requested a visit with former Gov. Sarah Palin; to the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C.; to Nashville, where he was an election observer for the 2012 presidential race; and to every NRA convention, in various American cities, between 2012 and 2016.

But the jig is up. Last month, Torshin was designated for sanctions by the U.S. Treasury Department.

“We can conclude that the administration thought he was acting to advance Putin’s malign agenda, but what precisely [he did] they did not make clear,” said Daniel Fried, helped craft the sanctions authority that were ultimately employed against Torshin as a former State Department coordinator for sanctions policy.

Arriving At Sarah Palin’s Doorstep

Torshin’s outreach to the United States started well before Russia’s now-public campaign of electoral interference during the 2016 elections. And it appears to be a cultivated effort to reach out to conservatives, even in its earliest stages.

“I really do think the Russians are looking at being able to reach out to the right… to say, ‘Hey, you know Russians actually share a lot of the same values,'” said Hall, whose 30-year career in the CIA concluded in 2015.

NATIONAL SECURITY: 6 States Hit Harder By Cyberattacks Than Previously Known, New Report Reveals

Hall said their message was: “You know, we don’t like LGBT causes anymore than you conservatives on the right in the United States do, we are interested in engaging the NRA… the church plays an important role in Russia just as it should in the United States.”

Torshin’s earliest known visit to the United States was in 2009, when he requested a meeting with former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin — a request that has never before been reported.

An email from the former Alaska governor’s archives, released due to a public records request from activist Andree McLeod and posted online en masse by then-Alaska Dispatch News reporter Richard Mauer, shows how Torshin made the approach through the Russian ambassador to the U.S., who was then Amb. Sergey Kislyak.

An aide wrote to Palin in May of 2009: “You had received a request to call the Russian Ambassador regarding a proposed visit by Mr. Alexander Torshin… Torshin will be visiting Alaska on June 6, 2009 and we have asked the Lt. Governor to meet with him.” Neither the Russian embassy nor Palin responded to a request for comment.

2009 REQUEST TO THEN-ALASKA GOV. SARAH PALIN (p. 1)

View the entire document with DocumentCloud

The Lieutenant Governor at the time was Sean Parnell, who would go on later to become the governor of Alaska. Parnell told NPR he doesn’t recall meeting with Mr. Torshin, nor did the name ring a bell — but he said it wouldn’t be odd for him to take such a meeting.

“It wouldn’t be unusual for Alaska’s Lt. Governor to take a meeting with a visiting foreign dignitary, especially if the Governor’s Office had been approached first by the visitor/visiting delegation to schedule a meeting and the governor had declined,” Parnell said in an email.

Torshin’s travels in the United States continued with a strange trip to Tennessee. Public records requests made by NPR shed light on how Torshin managed to become an election observer in Nashville during the 2012 presidential elections.

“The interesting thing about election monitoring is it does get foreign officials out and about in places that they perhaps might not usually go,” said Hall, the former CIA chief of Russian operations. “It wouldn’t be uncommon for either somebody like Mr. Torshin, or a diplomat, or a Russian intelligence officer to appear in places like Washington or New York… But a place like Nashville, or other locations in the United States, provide sort of an insight about what’s really going on in the heartland.”

A memo left for Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett on Oct. 11, 2012, shows that local lawyer Kline Preston, known for his support of Putin, made the application for election observer status on behalf of Torshin.

“Russian Senator Alexander Torshin would like to observe our Presidential election. Polling stations,” the 2012 message reads.

2012 PHONE MESSAGE FOR TENN. SECRETARY OF STATE (p. 2)

View the entire document with DocumentCloud

An email from Tennessee Coordinator of Elections Mark Goins shows that Torshin requested visits to the Davidson County Election Commission and the Williamson County Election Commission. And a sign-in sheet showed that he visited the polling station at Grassland Middle School in Williamson County, Tenn.

2012 TENNESSEE POLL WATCHER SIGN IN (p. 1)

View the entire document with DocumentCloud

According to these documents, Torshin was accompanied by a Russian diplomat named Igor Matveev. Matveev had postings in Syria and the United States, and is fluent in Arabic and English. Hall said that Matveev, who did not respond to a request for comment from NPR, fit the profile of a professional diplomat rather than an intelligence operative due to his background, “but basically the Russian intelligence services can and do oftentimes co-opt standard diplomats to do their bidding for them.”

EMAIL FROM 2012 TENNESSEE COORDINATOR OF ELECTIONS (p. 3)

View the entire document with DocumentCloud

Torshin made no secret of his visit to Tennessee, and posted it on Twitter, like he has about many of his visits to America. He even posted a photo of himself in line at a Nashville-area polling place.

Translation: “Standing in line to the voting station. Like an average American. 6.45 am.”

Russia has a long history of politicizing the use of election monitors — for example using Western, pro-Putin observers to vouch for the validity of its contested elections.

Preston, who arranged for Torshin’s 2012 election observation status in his hometown of Nashville, recently went to Crimea. In a trip reported by a Russian state operated news agency, Preston declared that the election process in Crimea, which Russian annexed in 2014, were open, honest and trustworthy. He did not respond to a list of questions provided by NPR.

There were very few international doubts about the fairness of America’s 2012 presidential elections, which makes Torshin’s visit to Nashville for this ostensible purpose all the more perplexing.

And while there have been election monitors in the United States in the past, it usually involves an international organization like the OSCE, which during the 2012 elections sent 44 observers throughout the U.S. to monitor the elections.

“There are of course no real elections in Russia that Vladimir Putin doesn’t approve of and essentially run himself,” Hall said. “So the idea that any Russian entity would go to be an election monitor anywhere in the world is of course on its face ridiculous. It’s sort of like sending an alcoholic to the distillery to make sure that everything is going okay.”

More Frequent Visits Leading Up To 2016 Campaign

From 2012 to 2016, Torshin began making regular visits to the United States that suggested Russians were trying to find common cause on issues like religion and guns. Torshin attended every National Rifle Association convention during this time and met high-ranking NRA officials.

These trips took him all across the American heartland, with stops in St. Louis, Houston, Indianapolis, Nashville and Louisville. Last month, the NRA acknowledged Torshin was a life member of the NRA and has been since 2012, but insisted he only ever paid his membership dues to the organization. The gun rights group said it had received $2,500 from about 23 Russia-linked contributors since 2015.

“Based on Mr. Torshin’s listing as a specially designated national as of April 6, we are currently reviewing our responsibilities with respect to him,” NRA general counsel John Frazer wrote to Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., last month. The NRA has denied wrongdoing and says that it does not accept funds from foreign persons “in connection with United States elections.”

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Over a similar time period, Torshin also reportedly made repeated trips to Washington, D.C., to attend the National Prayer Breakfast — Yahoo reported that he even had a meeting scheduled with newly-inaugurated President Donald Trump during the breakfast in 2017, but that the president pulled out at the last minute when an aide figured out who Torshin was. The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

Further, Torshin facilitated reciprocal trips during these years in which he brought Americans to Russia. In 2013 and 2015, he hosted gun rights advocates in Russia, including former NRA president David Keene, whom he developed a close relationship with.

His visits to America sometimes puzzled those who saw him there, as he appeared to have no serious expertise in the field he was purportedly representing. A speech Torshin gave in Washington, D.C. in March 2015, as deputy governor of the Bank of Russia, left some in the audience perplexed.

“For anyone at the lunch who’s remotely familiar with finance or the world of central banking, Torshin demonstrated no significant expertise in either realm,” said a former U.S. official who was at the event. “Torshin’s performance was all the more surprising, given the big questions circulating at that time about the fate of the Russian economy, sanctions, Western diplomatic isolation, and the like.”

In fact, for those observing Torshin, what he was best known for was not central banking, but allegations of money laundering. In 2013 Spanish authorities alleged that Torshin helped a Russian mob syndicate in Moscow launder money through banks and properties in Spain, according to a report by Bloomberg News.

NATIONAL SECURITY

NRA, In New Document, Acknowledges More Than 20 Russian-Linked Contributors

“It is extraordinary and outrageous that a man caught in international money laundering was appointed… to become deputy chair of the Russian Central Bank,” said Anders Aslund, a resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center.

Torshin’s travels to the United States continued through to perhaps his most infamous trip: The NRA convention in 2016, where he attempted to get a meeting with then-candidate Trump.

According to a report written by Democrats on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Torshin used a Republican strategist named Paul Erickson as an intermediary to set up a meeting with Trump himself.

“Happenstance and the (sometimes) international reach of the NRA placed me in a position a couple of years ago to slowly begin cultivating a back-channel to President Putin’s Kremlin,” Erickson wrote to Rick Dearborn, a senior campaign official and a longtime advisor to Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

That meeting never occurred — though Torshin did meet Donald Trump, Jr., at an event during the convention. Trump Jr. claims they did not discuss the election.

Sanctions Mean The Jig Is Up

On April 6, the U.S. Treasury Department specifically designated Torshin as a target of U.S. sanctions — Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the agency targeted “those who benefit from the Putin regime and play a key role in advancing Russia’s malign activities.”

The sanctions mean that any assets Torshin has in the United States could be seized, and the travel to America that punctuated his life for years will end.

THE TWO-WAY

U.S. Hits Russian Oligarchs And Officials With Sanctions Over Election Interference

“He’s, for lack of a better term, become radioactive, certainly to the United States, but really the global financial institutions, that are unlikely to be willing to do any business with him for fear of secondary sanctions from the U.S. Treasury Department,” said Boris Zilberman, who works on the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Center on Sanctions and Illicit Finance.

He also reportedly faces scrutiny from congressional investigators probing the 2016 election and the FBI. McClatchy has reported that the FBI is investigating whether Torshin illegally funneled money to the National Rifle Association to help President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign. The FBI did not respond to a request for comment.

Hall said it also probably reflected intelligence gathered on Torshin’s intentions over years of travel to the United States.

“The fact that Torshin has now been personally sanctioned… is an indication that the administration… has seen, probably, intelligence reporting on Torshin and his background, and perhaps what the plans and intentions of the Russian government vis-a-vis Mr. Torshin,” Hall told NPR. “It shows that our system… is doing its job in informing policymakers about the dangers of somebody like Torshin.”

For years, Torshin built relationships with governors, NRA bigwigs and conservative activists — making a point of traveling to the United States repeatedly to expand those ties. But with Torshin’s designation as a target of U.S. sanctions last month, that door has been closed.

Torshin did not respond to a list of questions provided by NPR.

WPLN’s Chas Sisk, NPR’s Audrey McNamara and NPR’s Alina Selyukh contributed to this report.