Paul Manafort was removed from Sunday’s Emirates flight from Miami to Dubai while he attempted to travel on a revoked passport.
Manafort chaired the Trump presidential campaign in the summer of 2016, and under his leadership had support for a free and democratic Ukraine removed from the Republican platform. He was accused of providing internal polling data to Russian intelligence working in Ukraine, and had previously lobbied for former pro-Russian Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych as well as former dictators of Zaire, Mongolia, and the Philippines.
His indictment in 2017 stemmed from his work for Yanukovych and ultimately additional charges related to obstruction of justice and witness tampering. Manafort also worked for Pakistan’s spy agency to divert American attention from terrorist activities in the country.
He was released from prison in the fall of 2020 due to his age and health in light of Covid-19 risks, and eventually pardoned by President Trump prior to his leaving office.
The Manafort family became well known on 1990s Nickelodeon when it was revealed that he carried 13 credit cards in his wallet.
- A Gold, Platinum, and Corporate American Express card
- 9 Visa cards
- An AT&T Universal Card, though it’s not revealed which payment network the card was on (these were offered both as a Visa and a Mastercard in the early 1990s). It had no annual fee and came with 10% on AT&T calling. (Long distance calls were, presumably, a big expense for the man who eventually registered as a foreign agent.)
Weirdest video of the day:
Paul Manafort and his wife, Kathleen, appeared on the 90s Nickelodeon show 'What Would You Do?'
During a segment for "heaviest purse," Marc Summers has Manafort's wallet and pulls out 3 AmEx cards, 9 VISA cards, and another credit card. (via Reddit) pic.twitter.com/J0M41YxbBA
— Scott Gustin (@ScottGustin) September 3, 2019
There’s no indication that any of the 9 Visa cards Manafort carried, or any he obtained later, were Trump Rewards cards issued by Chase – a no annual fee card where points earned were worth a penny apiece when redeemed as comps at Trump casinos.
Hang on … let me get the popcorn out!
Meanwhile Biden gets 10% of his son’s illegal China bribes and his Ukraine Burisma deal..
Did have time for a glass of Dom? Perhaps, he certainly missed his shower prior to arrival!
Major let down, From the abbreviated title, I had visions of a large gold plated throne type seat that EK had installed in their lounge for DT, should he be travelling with them
Chairs should travel in the cargo hold with the other furniture. They don’t need passports.
Kalboz +1…..
Hmmmm…of course he knows his passport is revoked, so why attempt to risk flying on it? And what’s in Dubai that’s so urgent? Oh, yeah, a bunch of displaced Russians who are seeking a safe haven where their gold is stashed, that’s what.
Confused about why Manafort would be wanting to meet up with Russians…not.
Released from prison due to age and health. I thought he would be bedridden but seems he’s healthy enough to travel the world.
I know card designs weren’t so great back in the day, but that Trump card is pretty disappointing. No gold?
Jesus you really set out the breadcrumbs for this story Gary. Not a single mention that the entire investigation was predicated on bad info from corrupt scumbags at the FBI, MSM and Clinton campaign. Had they not bastardized our legal system this guy Manafort and others would have never been noticed. You seem to take lengths in pointing out what he was accused of doing but never actually did. TDS must be a horrible disease if people still suffer from it in 2022.
Gary loves Trump so much, deep into his bones.
I want to change my name to Jack Pots.
Doesn’t surprise me.
The following would be panned as political satire anywhere except in MAGAland where it is gospel truth, and the fact that there is not a single shred of supporting evidence is immaterial:
CrowdStrike, anyone?
I’ve had difficulty finding this good news on Fox
Do airlines check to see if passports are valid other than looking at the expiration date? There is no passport control before leaving the U.S..
I didn’t know cockroaches were issued passports.
Airline sends all passenger’s information to CBP before departure so there is actually a passport control behind the scene. Airline can also verify the destination visa status at check-in counter..
this article should bring out all the lib crazies and their foaming at the mouth. Will they cry about that broken window on the most terrible day of jan 6th 2021?
DCS –
I normally appreciate your comments re Hilton, although they have their pluses and minuses like everyone else; however your political opinions are entirely another matter.
Interesting that you mention Crowdstrike as they were the organization that apparently the “Russian” hack of the Democrat severs — although strangely, the FBI accepted their conclusions without even examining the servers — something that is very unorthodox.
However, fear not, as now John Durham is centering his ongoing investigation of this very item if news reports are accurate — not that this would be reported by the corporate media.
But, I digress … and will await his investigation……..
G’day!
Seems like if he did manage to travel he may not have been able to return to the US. Darn, what a shame that would have been.
darnDid he know his passport was revoked?
@Creditan, Thanks. I knew about the visa checks but the CBP review is new info. I guess CBP was on the ball in this instance.
Gee Wiz… just who might we be paying off with credit cards ??? Looks like a scam going on here. Oh wait….. he’s trying to give the Russian rich some $$$ since they are limited in funds.
@HADLEY V. BAXENDALE – Glad you appreciate my comments on Hilton (although I comment extensively on many other topics of interest to me), but I will tell you why you appreciate my ‘Hilton’ comments: they are evidence-based. Why then would you take issue with my so-called “political opinions” when they too are invariably based on the best objective evidence out there (there is such a thing, y’know? You simply need to look at various sources and not just at what Faux News puts out).
The “former guy” ‘s CrowStrike claim was tossed out for lack of evidence, just like his continuing claim that he won the 2020 election. John Durham is a hack who has overstayed his welcome. Appointed by former A.G. Bill Barr — himself a former ‘former guy’ sycophant who, after soiling himself for his master, just penned a revisionist tell-all book calling him a wacko — Durham was supposed to deliver the “goods” ahead of the 2020 election that would have prevented the “former guy” from becoming, well, the “former guy”, but there was nothing to find then, and there still won’t be anything to find when he finally gets the hint and leaves down, because from the start he was on wild goose chase.
Durham will disappoint you, but true to MAGA, you’ll pin your hopes on something else that Faux News will declare the flavor of the month…
G’day.
The requirements for the US State Department to revoke a passport are pretty specific. On which specific grounds was Manafort’s passport revoked this time?
dalo,
When it comes to US citizens who find themselves outside of the US with a revoked or denied passport, the USG has generally still issued them a limited use passport or passport-replacing travel document for such person to use to fly back to the US.
Yes, the USG has tasked CBP to conduct systematic electronic passport control checks for all passengers attempting to fly out of the country on common carrier flights.
I am confused by this article. A title is presented, but the article itself really says very little towards the subject of that title. I think this confusion is shared by others after reading the comments, of which a majority are the same senseless back and forth political squabble that sadly we have gotten used to these days.
Back to the actual article – why, when and under what circumstances was the passport revoked? How did a person (any person) board an aircraft with a revoked passport? THESE are the questions that should be answered.
Gary is becoming more woke than The Coke Guy in the hamptons.
Not too much useful stuff here anymore. Just slinging promo offers and neo-communist woke politics like the 96,205 other “travel” blogs.
Edward Snowden’s US passport was revoked while he was already out of the US. It’s part of why he was in a pickle of a situation on arrival in Russia at SVO after managing to make his way out of HKG even as he still had a US passport in hand at that time of seeking sanctuary from the long-arm of the US “security” state.
About CBP for departures out of the US, the airlines’ PNR data — including passport info used for check-in — is electronically provided by the airlines to CBP. Then too the electronic feed of the PNRs and passenger manifests are scrubbed for determining a CBP response to the situation. It’s during this process that the users of known revoked passports are flagged down to get an adverse response from the airline and/or law enforcement.
I am still curious about why Manafort’s passport was revoked. His last US passport was scheduled to expire in May 2018 IIRC.
Did his passport revocation have something to do with having civil debts claimed by the IRS? Having unpaid state child support above a very small amount is grounds for US passport denial by the USG, but more typically those unpaid child support debts (making a person unqualified for a US passport under US law) result in denial of US passports and not revocation of US passports. The IRS angle for passport denials and revocations has a different (more recent) history and historical course.
Alan and David Stone you are correct,right on… Thank You.
DCS get your facts straight Demented Joe was on the TAKE!!! even if CNN says differently.
@DEE — You are clearly confusing MAGA propaganda faxes and conspiracy theories with objective facts and reality.
Goodbye
@DCS
Russia siezed maripol today. They now have the land bridge to Crimea (Russian territory).
How does reality make you feel? Isn’t the American media been saying it’s all over for Russia the last month?
That Russia seized “maripol”, a nonexistent city, is as ridiculous as your claim that “American media [has] been saying it’s all over for Russia the last month.” As I recall it, it’s Putin who thought his troops would just waltz into Ukraine, decapitate the government within a few days, and be welcomed by Ukrainians as liberators. To say that it’s been a rude awakening for Vlad and his few remaining right-wing cheerleaders would an understatement. The “mighty” Russian forces has been revealed to be as incompetent and as soft as a paper tiger.
BTW, the last time I checked, Mariupol had not yet been seized, with Ukraine rejecting Russia’s demand that they surrender.
@Kojjerj — Tovarish, you are a Russian bot and an uneducated one.
@DCS, It is obvious that this blog has gained the attention of one of the lower paid Russian troll factories.
DCS —
Did not receive notification of your reply to my comments — so here goes.
Durham is no hack, as I guess avert your eyes from the fact that Obama had appointed him.
With respect to “Faux News,” and the New York Post, both owned by Murdoch media — they were right and the Corporate Media — Take your Pick = Washington Post, New York Times, NPR, CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN and MSNBC, to name but a few, were all wrong about the Hunter Biden laptop — even the NYT now acknowledges that it is the real deal.
So, I would rather place my trust in the “Faux ‘News” as you label them, than the biased and clearly wrong news sources that you listen to.
By the way, whatever happened to that Russian Collusion thing with Trump — yet another false story by the biased corporate news media.
@HADLEY V. BAXENDALE sez:
Cahn’t make this stuff up.
At least you are honest about and proud of your MAGA affiliation, which those statements are equivalent to. Like the former guy said: “I like the uneducated”, which is all one needs to know to understand how anyone can still support the worst US ‘president’ ever, even after his referring to Putin a ‘genius’ for invading Ukraine.
Nauseated, I am done here.