You Are Known By the Company You Keep

My mother’s admonition (see title) perhaps fell on deaf ears while I was a child.  I didn’t really have much control of my pool of friends.  They could only be selected from the neighborhood and kids in school where we had assigned classrooms.  It wasn’t until I was an adult that I had more control of the people with whom I would associate.  "You are known by the company you keep" has a parallel that states, "birds of a feather flock together."

Donald J. Trump has neither the excuse of youthful inexperience nor ignorance.  He has full control of his friends and associates and has gone so far as to claim, "I surround myself only with the best and most serious people."  That which follows outlines some of the characters Donald J. Trump has selected as allies, advisors, and friends.  This story covers but a single thread in a complex tale regarding his election and initial dealings after he became president.

Robin Rosenzweig (Mrs. Broidy) and Elliott Broidy

Enter Elliott Broidy, a top fundraiser for the Trump campaign in 2016, who would go on to become the Deputy Finance Chairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC).  This is the same Elliott Broidy who bribed financial regulators in New York State in addition to their family members and mistresses.  He avoided jail time by making restitution to the tune of $18 million and by flipping on the others.  Broidy also sought $75 million from Malaysian officials to get the Justice Department to stop an investigation into a fraud case involving a Malaysian development fund.  Why would someone like Elliott Broidy think he had such influence?  None of this seemed to bother The Donald or the RNC.  They only surround themselves with the "best people."  He is one of them.

Shera Bechard and Elliott Broidy

Stormy Daniels, Donald Trump, and Karen McDougal

Broidy did eventually step down from his Deputy Finance Chairman job when it was revealed that he paid a former Playboy centerfold, Shera Bechard, $1.6 million to keep quiet about their affair (rumored pregnancy and abortion).  Sound familiar?  Her lawyer was none other than Keith M. Davidson who also brokered deals with Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal with Michael Cohen on behalf of Donald Trump.  Remember Cohen too, was the Deputy Finance Chairman of the Republican National Committee. Michael is now also known as Inmate No. 86067-054 as he is serving three years for financial crimes and for paying hush money to women to protect his boss, Donald Trump.  All the president's men and women.

Trump poses with George Nader, an ex-con who had served time for child pornography and child molestation when this picture was taken.  Now in jail again on child pornography charges.

Enter George Aref Nader, a close ally of Donald J. Trump.  He is a Lebanese-American businessman, lobbyist, and convicted sex offender.  Trump surrounds himself with only the best people.  Well, at Trump’s inauguration it was destined that "best person" Elliott Broidy and "best person" George Nader would meet and strike up a "best people" partnership.  They would frequently meet with Jared Kushner, Steve Bannon, and Michael Flynn.  

George Nader, for a little background, has served two jail terms, one for possession of child pornography and one for child molestation.  He avoided a third jail term on a technicality when key evidence was thrown out by the courts.  His first child pornography conviction came in 1991 when videotapes were found in candy tins as he came through the Dulles Airport in Washington.  In 2018 he again came through Dulles when his three iPhones were found to have child pornography.  At some point during the Mueller investigation, George Nader testified but left the country before investigators could arrest him for child porn. Yesterday, he came through JFK and he was arrested based on a sealed indictment.  The charges indicate his phones had porn videos of children as young as three.

Well, the Broidy-Nader alliance was based partially on Nader’s being a paid emissary of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and for his ties with Saudi Arabia.  They came close to sealing a deal for $1 billion in defense contracts.  They would get these contracts presumably because of their ties to Trump and their promise to get Trump to come down hard on their mortal enemy, Qatar (pronounced "cutter").  Getting the U.S. to alienate Qatar would be difficult since it is home to as many as 11,000 U.S. troops stationed at that critically strategic airfield.

Map of Qatar
Note its location between Saudi Arabia & UAE
and its proximity to Iraq and Iran

Qatar Airbase

Imagine how unusual it was then that after the UAE expressed a desire for the U.S. to alienate Qatar, that President Trump entered the Rose Garden with the president of Romania and gave the off-the-cuff remark that Qatar was our bitter enemy and a sponsor of international terrorism.  This happened on June 9, 2017.  One might reasonably ask, why would he say such a thing?  You might also want to then ask if Qatar is a sponsor of international terrorism, why we sold Qatar $12 billion worth of fighter jets just seven days later.  We do know that two of Trump’s friends were promising the UAE a change in U.S.-Qatar relations.  We then know that Trump, counter to U.S. defense interests, called Qatar sponsors of terrorism.  Things that make you scratch your head in wonderment.

Trump with Romanian president in Rosegarden
It was at this meeting Trump called Qatar a sponsor of terrorism
None of which had anything to do with Romania

It might help to also know that back in August of 2016, Erik Prince (founder of Blackwater security and brother of Betsy DeVos), George Nader, Donald Trump Jr., and Joel Zamel (Israeli social media expert who specializes in "honey traps" and deep or dark web capabilities) met in Trump Tower to discuss a multi-million dollar foreign intelligence effort to be run and financed by Zamel’s Gulf Monarchies.  George Nader paid Zamel $2 million after Trump was elected.

Mohammed bin Zayed, aka MBZ

There was another meeting (to discuss Israeli-Palestinian peace??) at the Four Seasons in New York with Rick Gerson (hedge fund manager and close personal friend of Jared Kushner), Jared Kushner, Steve Bannon, Michael Flynn, UAE Ambassador to the U.S., Yousef Otaiba and Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Mohammed bin Zayed (aka MBZ).  This meeting seemed to be a prelude to another meeting, weeks later in Seychelles (pronounced "say-SHELZ") a 115 island nation in the Indian Ocean), that included Erik Prince, George Nader, and Russian and Emirati officials.  Rick Gerson denied he was at this second meeting but was just on this remote island for vacation.

The red marker is the location of Seychelles Island

It would seem that our cast of characters would fit well in an internationally themed Damon Runyon novel of misfits and scoundrels.  Where wheeling and dealing is a way of life.  You need lots of money in this game because, if you get caught, you will need it to keep yourself free from jail.  We find ourselves in a post-Mueller Report timeframe and await the dropping of the next shoe.  I will imagine that the Trump presidency will have to wait for the development of a Hollywood movie before the complexity all of his shenanigans can be possibly understood.