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| The family tree |
That's the only conclusion I could draw, especially after reading the WaPo story about Prince's secret Seychelles meeting to establish a Trump-Putin back channel.
Though Prince had no formal role with the Trump campaign or transition team, he presented himself as an unofficial envoy for Trump to high-ranking Emiratis involved in setting up his meeting with the Putin confidant, according to the officials, who did not identify the Russian.
Prince was an avid supporter of Trump. After the Republican convention, he contributed $250,000 to Trump’s campaign, the national party and a pro-Trump super PAC led by GOP mega-donor Rebekah Mercer, records show. He has ties to people in Trump’s circle, including Stephen K. Bannon, now serving as the president’s chief strategist and senior counselor. Prince’s sister Betsy DeVos serves as education secretary in the Trump administration. And Prince was seen in the Trump transition offices in New York in December.
Prince is best known as the founder of Blackwater, a security firm that became a symbol of U.S. abuses in Iraq after a series of incidents, including one in 2007 in which the company’s guards were accused — and later criminally convicted — of killing civilians in a crowded Iraqi square. Prince sold the firm, which was subsequently re-branded, but has continued building a private paramilitary empire with contracts across the Middle East and Asia. He now heads a Hong Kong-based company known as the Frontier Services Group.DeVos and Prince are the children of an industrialist named Edgar Prince. Prince and the DeVos family were major GOP donors in 2016. The Center for Responsive Politics reported that the family gave more than $10 million to GOP candidates and super PACs, including about $2.7 million from Prince's sister, DeVos, and her husband.
What more perfect résumé could one have in aspiring to run DT's Dept. of Education?
IT’S THE BIG ONE. BLACKWATER’S ERIK PRINCE ARRANGED A MOSCOW BACKCHANNEL FOR TRUMP https://t.co/k4PWnXIOBf— Eric Garland (@ericgarland) April 3, 2017
It's also worth pointing out that Prince was the guru behind the privatization of modern warfare. War by contractors instead of GIs. Similar to what DeVos plans for public education.
ReplyDeleteAnd, of course, he's undoubtedly one of the people who are just chomping at the bit to start more wars. $$$$$$ for Blackwater, Halliburton (Dick Chaney's recent misstatements.
ReplyDeleteThe Military-Industrial Complex is alive & well!
And might I add: what a great brother-sister team--he, riding the tide of the M-I Complex & she (& her friends) the KA-CHING of the Education-Industrial Complex. It's all about the money.
ReplyDeleteAbout much more than money. This is about taking power.
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