Who is Michael Cohen's father-in-law? Trump says he should be investigated

President Trump invoked a different figure Saturday when talking about the ongoing Russia investigation: his former attorney Michael Cohen's father-in-law. In order for Cohen to get his sentence reduced, he thought "I have an idea, I'll give you some information on the president. Well, there is no information," Trump said during his more than 20-minute, often rambling call to Fox News' Jeanine Pirro on Saturday night. "He should give information maybe on his father-in-law, because that's the one that people want to look at." Cohen, Trump's longtime personal attorney, pleaded guilty to lying to Congress in November and to eight counts of campaign finance violations, tax fraud, and bank fraud in August, in part related to hush-money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal over their alleged affairs with Trump. Cohen has been cooperating with special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, despite once saying he would take a bullet for the president.

When Pirro asked the name of Cohen's father-in-law, Trump came up empty-handed. "I don't know, but you'll find out, and you'll look into it because nobody knows what's going on over there," he said, an unusual statement by a president regarding a private citizen. Cohen's father-in-law Fima Shusterman reportedly loaned millions to a Chicago cab company owner, who was was mentioned in the FBI warrants used to raid Cohen's home and office. In the interview, Trump described the raid as a break-in. "I was a client. He has a law firm. They broke into his law firm sometime early in the morning," Trump said of Cohen.

Shusterman loaned an estimated $20 million to Yasya Shtayner, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. Shtayner, along with her husband Semyon Shtayner, manage more than 350 Chicago cabs, including 20 owned by Cohen. Trump previously mentioned Cohen's father-in-law, though not by name, in a December tweet.

Shusterman, who pleaded guilty to income tax fraud in 1993, owns a condo in Trump World Tower in New York. He and Shtayner both own condos outside Miami in another Trump development, which Shtayner used as the collateral for the loans from Shusterman. "He's on trouble on some loans and fraud and taxi cabs and stuff that I know nothing about," Trump said of Cohen in the interview.

Trump, who responded to a New York Times report revealing an FBI counterintelligence investigation into him after his firing of former FBI director James Comey and a Washington Post report saying he concealed details of his interactions with Russia President Vladimir Putin, maintained the investigation is a "hoax" or "witch hunt." "Here's the bottom line, there was no collusion. There was no obstruction. There was no anything," he said.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/who-is-michael-cohens-father-in-law-trump-says-he-should-be-investigated

House Democrat says physical barrier at the border is necessary

Rep. Katie Hill said she's fine with a wall. The conflict between congressional leaders and the president is over semantics. "For many of us, there's not really doubt that some kind of physical barrier is necessary," she said said in a Fox News appearance on Saturday. "I think the challenge is that we've gotten so hung up on the semantics, really on both sides. Gosh, I can't tell you how much I've come to hate the word wall, and many of us have." But for Hill, whose district includes a federal air traffic control center, a federal prison, and other federal law enforcement professionals who are essential personnel and are working without being paid during the shutdown, wants one thing before negotiations over a physical wall start. "We can't talk about any of this until the government is open," she said.

The partial government shutdown, which became the longest in U.S. history as it entered its fourth week Saturday, is the result of a stalemate between President Trump and Congressional Democratic leaders over more than $5 billion in funding for a physical wall. Hill, a Congressional freshman, defended fellow California Democrat House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, saying she is in a tough spot. "I think we're in a place where the people who elected us say, 'Don't give in on this, this isn't what we elected you for.' And so there's a place where we have to draw the line," she said. "But I think that again, that line that we're all consistent on as Democrats, open the government first and then we'll talk. You will not get everyone happy on either side of the aisle with whatever solution we've ended up landing on." She maintained that she, like some of her cohorts, is in favor of a physical wall. "Democrats are for border security, too, and part of that is physical barriers," she said.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/house-democrat-says-physical-barrier-at-the-border-is-necessary

PG&E Reportedly Planning Bankruptcy Announcement To Workers As Soon As Monday

18 years after becoming one of America's largest bankruptcies, the writing is on the wall for California's utility giant after its cash-collateral-call triggering second downgrade to junk has led to reports that PG&E may notify employees as soon as Monday that it’s preparing a potential bankruptcy filing, according to people familiar with the situation. California passed legislation last year in the aftermath of the deadly Wine Country fires requiring utilities to post public notices for employees at least 15 days before a change of control, including a bankruptcy filing. This potential bankruptcy announcement comes after PG&E's AIG moment hit late on Thursday, when Moody’s did precisely what S&P did two days earlier, and cut the utility's credit rating to junk citing the electric company’s potential wildfire liabilities.

As Bloomberg reports, a notice may signal that the company has accelerated plans to make a Chapter 11 filing as way of dealing with crippling liabilities from wildfires that tore through California in 2017 and 2018, killing over 100 people and destroying hundreds of thousands of acres. And, as we detailed previously, with two junk ratings, PG&E will now be required to use cash as collateral to guarantee power contracts, according to the company’s latest quarterly filing, which estimates the utility will have to fully collateralize as much as $800 million of positions. That… is a problem because PG&E had only $430 million of cash on its books in September, precipitating what now appears to be an imminent liquidity crisis, one which as a result of some $30 billion in wildfire legal liabilities will quickly escalate into a solvency inferno, to use a term closely associated with California utility companies. PG&E declined to provide a statement, saying the company doesn’t comment on rumor or speculation.

During its 2001, bankruptcy, California governor Gray Davis used the state's treasury to bail out the utility, provoking a controversy that eventually contributed to his ouster.PG&E emerged from bankruptcy in April 2004 after returning $10.2 billion to creditors. Newly appointed California Governor Gavin Newsom said during a press conference Thursday that his office would be making an announcement related to PG&E within the next few days and that the issue was at the top of his agenda. He said in a later interview that the announcement would involve appointments to the California Public Utilities Commission, the state’s grid operator and to a commission established by legislature to explore wildfire issues. Newsom’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on Saturday.

Citigroup Inc. called it a “a crisis of confidence.” Guggenheim Securities analysts likened the dilemma PG&E poses to investors and lawmakers as “a falling knife.” As we pointed out previously, with relation to the last financial crisis, while Lehman was the spark, its was the bailout of AIG that really precipitated the most violent part of the 2008 crisis. While most analysts see PG&E as an isolated case, now that the biggest California utility is on the verge of bankruptcy, and is about to have its own AIG moment, one wonders just how "contained" this particular shock to the system will be. One thing is clear, however: the shock to California residents, or rather their wallets, will be most unpleasant, as their rates are about to surge one way or another. Think it couldn't happen? Think again, as Bloomberg reports, PG&E’s deepening financial crisis has already spread to the companies that supply its natural gas and generate electricity for its customers. At least two small gas suppliers have restricted sales to PG&E out of concern that the company won’t be able to pay, people with direct knowledge of the situation said earlier this week. Some banks are taking a long look at a potential $2 billion debt financing for the Geysers, the world’s largest geothermal complex, because it supplies the utility, people familiar with the matter also said this week.

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-01-12/pge-reportedly-planning-bankruptcy-announcement-workers-monday

Schumer to force vote on U.S. decision to lift sanctions on Russia firms

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said on Saturday he will force a vote soon on a resolution to disapprove the Trump administration’s decision to relax sanctions on three Russian companies connected to oligarch Oleg Deripaska. “I have concluded that the Treasury Department’s proposal is flawed and fails to sufficiently limit Oleg Deripaska’s control and influence of these companies and the Senate should move to block this misguided effort by the Trump Administration and keep these sanctions in place,” Schumer said in a news release.

The U.S. Treasury announced on Dec. 20 that it would lift sanctions imposed in April on the core businesses of Deripaska, including aluminum giant Rusal its parent En+ and power firm EuroSibEnergo, watering down the toughest penalties imposed since Moscow’s 2014 annexation of Crimea. After lobbying by European governments that followed the imposition of sanctions, Washington postponed enforcement of the sanctions and started talks with Deripaska’s team on removing Rusal and En+ from the blacklist if he ceded control of Rusal.

The businessman, who has close ties to the Kremlin, also had ties with Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign manager, documents have showed. An FBI agent said in an affidavit attached to a 2017 search warrant unsealed earlier this year that he had reviewed tax returns for a company controlled by Manafort and his wife that showed a $10 million loan from a Russian lender identified as Deripaska.

On Thursday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin insisted that the Trump administration would keep tight control on companies linked to Deripaska, despite the decision to ease restrictions. Mnuchin said the firms would face consequences including the reimposition of sanctions if they failed to comply with the terms.

Schumer said given Deripaska’s potential involvement with Manafort, and since special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Trump’s ties with Russia has not yet concluded, “It’s all the more reason these sanctions must remain in place.” Passage of the resolution of disapproval of Treasury’s decision would require the approval of both the Democratic-majority house and the Senate, led by Trump’s fellow Republicans who are unlikely to break with his policy.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-russia-sanctions-schumer/schumer-to-force-vote-on-u-s-decision-to-lift-sanctions-on-russia-firms-idUSKCN1P702L

>>4735182

I feel as though there might be some sort of message with the number "10" today…there is this in the news, and then there are 2 articles about Space X..10 satellites went up…and just (notables) now I was reading and then there is Space X laying off 10% of its work force…

SpaceX to lay off 10 percent of workforce

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-spacex-layoffs/spacex-to-lay-off-10-percent-of-workforce-idUSKCN1P6002

>>4735283

HA!