Did Cuomo Aide Take Fall For Him?

Aide to Democrat New York Governor convicted on 3 felony counts

March 14, 2018

Image via Joseph Sohm / Shutterstock.com

Democrat New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is believed by many to have his sights set on challenging President Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election, but he just got some bad news that could stand in his way.

Joseph Percoco, a confidant and former aide to the governor, was just found guilty in his federal corruption trial.

Bribery.

Percoco, who used to be Gov. Cuomo’s executive deputy secretary, was found guilty of taking $300,000 in bribes from two companies that were engaged in state business, The New York Timesreported.

Gov. Cuomo was not accused of any crimes, but it does cast a shadow of corruption on his administration as he prepares to campaign for re-election and potentially challenge President Trump in 2020.

Gov. Cuomo said he was sad for Percoco’s daughters in a statement, but said he stood against corruption.

“The verdict demonstrated that these ideals have been violated by someone I knew for a long time. That is personally painful,” he said. “However, we must learn from what happened and put additional safeguards in place to secure the public trust. Anything less is unacceptable.”

Brothers.

It had to be tough for the governor because of the close relationship he had with Porcoco.

At one time in their friendship the governor described him as the “third son” of his late father, former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo.

Gov. Cuomo’s brother is CNN anchor Chris Cuomo.

Percoco said that he was disappointed in the verdict and would talk to his attorneys about his options for appeal

“I’m thankful to my family and friends that have stood by me through this entire process,” Percoco said. “and I look forward to them all standing by me as we go forward.”

Do You Think President Donald Trump Would Defeat Gov. Cuomo In 2020?

• YES
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Now Gov. Cuomo is going to have to answer questions about his relationship with Percoco as he seeks re-election as New York governor. And it would assuredly be an issue on the campaign trail if he makes an attempt to become president.

Fair or not, guilt by association is a major part of politics.

Corruption Will Always Be A Problem When There Are Millions In Play. To Say We Can't Do Anything Is Foolish And Resignation To The Eventual Collapse Of The Country. Germany Is A Great Example.

Federal agents took bribes to let drugs, illegal immigrants into US

By Mark Moore

December 28, 2016 | 7:03pm | Updated

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Federal agents took bribes of up to $215,000 and even egg rolls to smuggle marijuana and cocaine, provide critical information to drug cartels so they could bypass border security, falsify documents for illegal immigrants and just make some cases “go away,” according to a report.

In one case, Johnny Acosta, a Customs and Border Protection officer in Douglas, Ariz., where he screened individuals and vehicles, said he was contacted by a group Mexican drug dealers in September 2013 and agreed to allow them to drive vans packed full of marijuana across the US border.

Acosta said the smugglers from Agua Prieta, Mexico, would describe the vehicles carrying the illegal load of pot and Acosta would allow them to cross the border without inspection, according to the New York Times. Court documents said Acosta took more than $70,000 in bribes to help the traffickers move over a ton of marijuana.

Mai Nhu Nguyen, an Immigration Service officer in Santa Ana, Calif., approved or denied citizenship applications for immigrants until she started taking bribes of money and food. In November 2011, according to the court documents, she approved a citizenship application in return for 100 egg rolls.

Then there’s the case of Joohoon David Lee. A federal Homeland Security agent working for Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Los Angeles, Lee interviewed a woman who said she came to the US to become a sex slave for a Korean businessman identified as HS in the court papers cited by the Times.

A year later, Lee contacted the businessman’s lawyer and said if he received an all-expenses-paid trip to Korea, where he would interview HS, he would write a favorable report clearing the accused man.

In 2013, Lee traveled to Seoul, where HS picked up the tab for his hotel and entertainment expenses. While there, Lee asked HG for a “large sum of money” to make “any immigration issue go away.”

HS agreed and when Lee returned to California, he filed a report clearing HS. “Subject was suspected of human trafficking. No evidence found and victim statement contradicts. Case closed. No further action required,” Lee wrote. In all, Lee received about $13,000 in bribes, the Times reported.

The Times, after reviewing court records and internal Homeland Security documents from the past 10 years, show nearly 200 DHS employees have pocketed nearly $15 million in bribes.

And even thought they represent just 1 percent of the total number of employees at the agency that secures 7,000 miles of border, their cases represent the toll their illegal actions can have on the nation’s security.

A little bit of corruption can add up to a lot of harm.

“Any amount is bad, and one person alone can do a lot of damage. It doesn’t have to be widespread,” John Roth, the inspector general at Homeland Security, told the Times.

President-elect Donald Trump made border security a central theme of his presidential campaign, promising to build a wall along the border with Mexico to keep out criminals, rapists and drug dealers.

But a Homeland Security official said until corrupt agents can be weeded out of the agency, walls will have no effect on keeping trouble from crossing the country’s borders.

“It does absolutely no good to talk about the building of walls or tougher enforcement if you can’t secure the integrity of the immigration system, when you have fraud and corruption with your own employees,” the official told the Times.

Can Hillary Say Anything That Does Not Contain A Lie

Hillary's Latest Big Lie: She Never Took Money From The Oil And Gas Industry
By DICK MORRIS & EILEEN MCGANN
Published on TheHillaryDaily.com on December 17, 2015

There she goes again. Another BIG Hillary lie.

When asked by an Iowa voter whether she would pledge to refuse campaign contributions from energy interests, Hillary Clinton said she didn't think she ever took money from the oil and gas industry.

That's a lie and she knows it.

The fact is that she's benefited from almost $400 MILLION that came from the energy industry.

The total of her payments from oil, gas, and mining interests to her Senate and Presidential campaigns, along with the speaking fees paid to her and Bill, and donations to the Clinton Foundation have netted the Clintons over $325 MILLION. If you add on speaking fees and donations by oil-producing Middle Eastern countries, the total is between $368 - $398 MILLION. (Those countries include Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Brunei, Oman, and Kuwait) That's almost $400 million.

She says that if she did get money from the energy industry, she doesn't remember.

That's a lot to forget. Especially since at least $20 million of it went directly into Bill and Hillary's joint bank accounts and was reported as joint income. But who's counting?

Hillary received almost $2 million in direct campaign contributions from individuals who work for oil and gas companies. And, of course, as she knows, corporations are not permitted to make campaign contributions. That's why they get their employees to do it.

She says she won't take money from oil and gas companies, but she knows she can't -- that's illegal. But she sanctimoniously promises not to do it. She says she'll take money from individuals who work for energy companies.

EARTH TO HILLARY: That's how corporations make campaign contributions.

She says she's not a favorite of the energy companies. That's not true, wither.

In her current presidential campaign, she's already received about $365,000 from the oil and gas folks. That makes her the third top recipient of all 22 presidential candidates. Only Ted Cruz and Jeb Bush -- both with ties to Texas oil companies, raked in more than she did.

And energy industry lobbyists have jumped on the Hillary Bandwagon. Her own campaign released the names of 159 registered lobbyists who are bundlers for Hillary.  Forty of them have worked against climate control, supported offshore drilling or promoted the Keystone Pipeline and other energy issues. Bundlers raise over $100,000 each for her campaign.

She says that if she did get money from the energy industry, she doesn't remember.

Either she's dumber than we think, or she thinks we're really dumb.

The Keystone pipeline was a windfall for Bill and Hillary. The Clintons cleaned up on Pipeline investors. Hillary was personally paid $1.5 million by two Canadian banks that are investors in the Keystone Pipeline -- right after she left the State Department, where she subtly endorsed the Pipeline that she now opposes.

And Bill Clinton was paid over $10 million by TD Bank, a major Pipeline investor.  He also received another $1 million in speaking fees from other energy sources.

It didn't stop there. The Clinton Foundation benefitted from the kindness of energy companies.  Duke Energy, Cheniere Energy, Entergy. ExxonMobil, and NRG Energy all gave from $1 to $5 million.

Chevron and Energy Development gave between $500,000 - $1 million and Hess, Noble Energy, and Inter-Energy gave between $250,000 to $500,000.

Chevron and ExxonMobil also chipped in $5 million each for one of Hillary's pet projects: the U.S. Pavilion at the China Expo. After that, both companies were featured at the Clinton Global Initiative.

Hillary must have been out of the room -- or she certainly would have remembered.

And, finally, mega-donor Canadian mining billionaire Frank Giustra -- who has investments in the Keystone Pipeline, has pledged over $300 million. Giustra also owns the Colombian oil company Pacific Rubiales and other international energy companies.

So, Hillary's latest $400 million lie is easy to see through.  It's staring her right in the face.