Equally concerning is Ross' vice presidency of the Bank of Cyprus, which he only resigned from after his confirmation to the Cabinet in March 2017. The Bank of Cyprus has extensive dealings with Sberbank and is widely seen as a financial haven for Russian oligarchs. A subsidiary, the now-defunct Federal Bank of the Middle East, is currently under FBI investigation for Russian money laundering.
Incidentally, Ross was a registered Democrat until 2016, proving that unseemly dealings with Russia are not a partisan issue, but a national security one.
Former Deutsche Bank CEO Josef Ackermann was chairman of the Bank of Cyprus at this time. Deutsche Bank, which recently had to pay $10 billion after being found guilty of money-laundering for Russian oligarchs, has loaned Trump a staggering $3.5 billion since 1998 to pay off his other bankruptcies.
During Ross' few public appearances in the White House briefing room, including one in April 2017 regarding lumber trade with Canada, the press corps has neglected to press him on these troubling allegations. Other than Rachel Maddow and Scarborough on MSNBC, and Tapper on CNN, there has been little other coverage to date.
Ross will be speaking at the National Press Club on Monday. He may have some explaining to do there, as well as to Mueller.
Robert Weiner, A Paterson native, is a former spokesman for the Clinton and George W. Bush administrations. Kyle Fleck is a policy analyst for Robert Weiner Associates and Solutions for Change.
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