FLASH
Shkruar nga Pamfleti
Sali Berisha, on the third day of the electoral campaign, appears at the first meeting with the diaspora, not among the candidates or representatives of Albanian emigrants, but on both sides of him appear 2 Americans, on the right Chris LaCivita and on the left a character named Paul Manafort.
The two Americans were first seen entering the Democratic Party headquarters together on the morning of February 10. That same day, Berisha pompously introduced LaCivita as his campaign strategist. For more than a month now, despite repeated inquiries, the Democratic Party has yet to make public the details of the agreement between them and the cost. Meanwhile, the role of the other American remains even more enigmatic, as does the financial agreement with him.
But who is Paul Manafort and why is he so well-known to the world's biggest media outlets?!
Manafort is known as the 'black sheep' of American politics, as a man connected to the Kremlin in Washington, who has committed tax evasion, money laundering, bank fraud, threatening witnesses, lying in testimony, and other federal crimes.
After running Donald Trump's 2016 campaign, Manafort was found guilty of several financial crimes in 2018. He spent about 2 years in prison, after being sentenced to 7 and a half years for bank and tax fraud, illegal foreign lobbying and conspiracy to intimidate witnesses. Manafort was ordered to pay a $24.8 million fine, and was released in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, spending the remainder of his sentence in home isolation, before later receiving a presidential pardon from Trump. It was later revealed that Manafort had also committed financial fraud in 2019.
The convictions were handed down by special counsel Robert Mueller as he investigated Manafort's alleged collusion with the Russian government in 2016. Manafort had accepted a plea deal in the case in September 2018, admitting to money laundering, tax fraud and illegal foreign lobbying linked to pro-Russian Ukrainian politicians. He also admitted to lying to investigators and under oath to a grand jury about his contact with a Russian associate during the 2016 campaign, violating the plea agreement.
According to the US Senate Intelligence Committee and the American intelligence community, Manafort had connections with Russian secret services, while in Ukraine he and his group that came to Tirana helped pro-Russian politicians.
But what are Berisha's old and new connections with Paul Manafort?
What if Berisha says he has a contract with Chris LaCivita, which he promises to make known, for Paul Manafort, Berisha doesn't reveal how he behaved in Tirana? Berisha's ties with Paul Manafort seem to date back at least 2 years.
This contract signed by the Democratic Party chairman himself to lobby in the US against the "Non grata" against him was made on April 10, 2023 with Charles Black, a former partner of Paul Manafort in a lobbying firm in Washington.
But the threads that ultimately connect them to Paul Manafort never end. An article published just 4 days ago in the "Huffington Post" said that 3 characters, all connected to Paul Manafort, have flown to Tirana to help a politician sanctioned by official Washington for substantial corruption. The well-known media writes that LaCivita's team has expanded, including the well-known pollster Tony Fabrizio and Manafort's longtime associate, Phil Griffin.
The arrival of these characters in Tirana, at Berisha's behest, is also confirmed by the statements and posts of Fatmir Mediu himself, an ally of Berisha, who is known for his frequent trips to the US and numerous contacts with the world of American politics. Mediu himself has announced the arrival of the entire team, in this photo with Chris LaCivita and Phil Griphin , while in an interview he also announces the arrival of another member of the group, Tony Fabrizio.
These names have a long history of collaboration with Manafort, including strong lobbying to keep Vladimir Putin's man, Viktor Yanukovych, in power in Ukraine in 2012-13, who was later overthrown by a revolution by pro-Western citizens.
Berisha has only been asked about Manafort once, and the only answer he has been able to give is that it is not about lobbying, while he calls his conviction persecution in the US.
"Paul Manafort is a colossus, a genius of electoral campaigns, of the 2016 campaign of President Donald Trump. They are not lobbyists, I have said it here before you, they are absolutely not lobbyists. They are not. They are absolutely not...He was the architect, the chief strategist of the 2016 electoral campaign of President Donald Trump, who was persecuted in the most vengeful way for these reasons alone, by McGonigal among others....;'
Whether or not Paul Manafort is the real manager of Berisha's campaign and what the agreement is with him, the Democratic Party still has no explanation, while even though it has promised it, the agreement that is said to have been signed with Chris LaCivita is still not recognized by Albanians, despite Berisha's promises. / Shqiptarja.com
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