All’s Fair In Politics And Arms Deals
October 8, 2016 at 6:06 a.m.
By Gary [email protected]
Turi, who is an American, is an arms dealer.
The Obama administration accused him of selling weapons destined for the hands of Libyan rebels.
But on Monday, according to reporting on Politico.com and other internet sources, lawyers for the administration filed a motion in federal court in Phoenix to drop the case against Turi. Turi’s attorneys also signed the motion.
From Politico:
In the dismissal motion, prosecutors say “discovery rulings” from U.S. District Court Judge David Campbell contributed to the decision to drop the case. The joint motion asks the judge to accept a confidential agreement to resolve the case through a civil settlement between the State Department and the arms broker.
“Our position from the outset has been that this case never should have been brought and we’re glad it’s over,” said Jean-Jacques Cabou, a Perkins Coie partner serving as court-appointed defense counsel in the case. “Mr. Turi didn’t break the law. ...We’re very glad the charges are being dismissed.”
Under the deal, Turi admits no guilt in the transactions he participated in, but he agreed to refrain from U.S.-regulated arms dealing for four years. A $200,000 civil penalty will be waived if Turi abides by the agreement.
A State Department official confirmed the outlines of the agreement.
Turi was indicted in 2014 and faced four felony counts.
The administration said he violated the Arms Export Control Act and lied to government officials when he worked with the State Department.
The government said Turi claimed the weapons involved were destined for Qatar and the United Arab Emirates when they were actually headed for Libya.
For his part, Turi said the shipments were approved by the U.S. government.
So why the change of heart by the Obama administration?
Politico:
Questions about U.S. efforts to arm Libyan rebels have been mounting, since weapons have reportedly made their way from Libya to Syria, where a civil war is raging between the Syrian Government and ISIL-aligned fighters.
During 2013 Senate hearings on the 2012 Benghazi attack, Clinton, under questioning from Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky), said she had no knowledge of weapons moving from Libya into Turkey.
Wikileaks head Julian Assange in July suggested that he had emails proving that Clinton “pushed” the “flows” of weapons “going over to Syria.”
Additionally, Turi’s case had delved into emails sent to and from the controversial private account that Clinton used as Secretary of State, which the defense planned to harness at any trial.
At a court hearing in 2015, Cabou said emails between Clinton and her top aides indicated that efforts to arm the rebels were — at a minimum — under discussion at the highest levels of the government.
“We're entitled to tell the jury, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, the Secretary of State and her highest staff members were actively contemplating providing exactly the type of military assistance that Mr. Turi is here to answer for,” the defense attorney said, according to a transcript.
Turi’s defense was pressing for more documents about the alleged rebel-arming effort and for testimony from officials who worked on the issue the State Department and the CIA. The defense said it planned to argue that Turi believed he had official permission to work on arms transfers to Libya.
Oh, OK, now I get it.
The case was about to get real and place even more scrutiny on Hillary’s emails and her role in Benghazi, as well as potentially expose attempts by the CIA to arm Libyan rebels.
Couldn’t really have that, now could we? So let’s just drop the case and make the whole thing go away.
According to Politico’s reporting, it’s not clear that any of the weapons made it into Libya, and, “The proposal did not result in an actual transfer of defense articles to Libya,” the State Department official told Politico on Tuesday.
Problem is, as much as the administration would like it to, this story probably isn’t going away.
Robert Stryk works for the government relations and consulting firm SPG.
He accused the government of trying to scapegoat Turi to cover up Hillary’s misdeeds with regard to Libya.
Speaking about Turi, Stryk told Politico, “The U.S. government spent millions of dollars, went all over the world to bankrupt him, and destroyed his life — all to protect Hillary Clinton’s crimes.”
Stryk also told Politico Turi is looking into book and movie deals to tell his story.
Uh, oh.
Turi, who is an American, is an arms dealer.
The Obama administration accused him of selling weapons destined for the hands of Libyan rebels.
But on Monday, according to reporting on Politico.com and other internet sources, lawyers for the administration filed a motion in federal court in Phoenix to drop the case against Turi. Turi’s attorneys also signed the motion.
From Politico:
In the dismissal motion, prosecutors say “discovery rulings” from U.S. District Court Judge David Campbell contributed to the decision to drop the case. The joint motion asks the judge to accept a confidential agreement to resolve the case through a civil settlement between the State Department and the arms broker.
“Our position from the outset has been that this case never should have been brought and we’re glad it’s over,” said Jean-Jacques Cabou, a Perkins Coie partner serving as court-appointed defense counsel in the case. “Mr. Turi didn’t break the law. ...We’re very glad the charges are being dismissed.”
Under the deal, Turi admits no guilt in the transactions he participated in, but he agreed to refrain from U.S.-regulated arms dealing for four years. A $200,000 civil penalty will be waived if Turi abides by the agreement.
A State Department official confirmed the outlines of the agreement.
Turi was indicted in 2014 and faced four felony counts.
The administration said he violated the Arms Export Control Act and lied to government officials when he worked with the State Department.
The government said Turi claimed the weapons involved were destined for Qatar and the United Arab Emirates when they were actually headed for Libya.
For his part, Turi said the shipments were approved by the U.S. government.
So why the change of heart by the Obama administration?
Politico:
Questions about U.S. efforts to arm Libyan rebels have been mounting, since weapons have reportedly made their way from Libya to Syria, where a civil war is raging between the Syrian Government and ISIL-aligned fighters.
During 2013 Senate hearings on the 2012 Benghazi attack, Clinton, under questioning from Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky), said she had no knowledge of weapons moving from Libya into Turkey.
Wikileaks head Julian Assange in July suggested that he had emails proving that Clinton “pushed” the “flows” of weapons “going over to Syria.”
Additionally, Turi’s case had delved into emails sent to and from the controversial private account that Clinton used as Secretary of State, which the defense planned to harness at any trial.
At a court hearing in 2015, Cabou said emails between Clinton and her top aides indicated that efforts to arm the rebels were — at a minimum — under discussion at the highest levels of the government.
“We're entitled to tell the jury, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, the Secretary of State and her highest staff members were actively contemplating providing exactly the type of military assistance that Mr. Turi is here to answer for,” the defense attorney said, according to a transcript.
Turi’s defense was pressing for more documents about the alleged rebel-arming effort and for testimony from officials who worked on the issue the State Department and the CIA. The defense said it planned to argue that Turi believed he had official permission to work on arms transfers to Libya.
Oh, OK, now I get it.
The case was about to get real and place even more scrutiny on Hillary’s emails and her role in Benghazi, as well as potentially expose attempts by the CIA to arm Libyan rebels.
Couldn’t really have that, now could we? So let’s just drop the case and make the whole thing go away.
According to Politico’s reporting, it’s not clear that any of the weapons made it into Libya, and, “The proposal did not result in an actual transfer of defense articles to Libya,” the State Department official told Politico on Tuesday.
Problem is, as much as the administration would like it to, this story probably isn’t going away.
Robert Stryk works for the government relations and consulting firm SPG.
He accused the government of trying to scapegoat Turi to cover up Hillary’s misdeeds with regard to Libya.
Speaking about Turi, Stryk told Politico, “The U.S. government spent millions of dollars, went all over the world to bankrupt him, and destroyed his life — all to protect Hillary Clinton’s crimes.”
Stryk also told Politico Turi is looking into book and movie deals to tell his story.
Uh, oh.
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