Jake Sullivan’s hot mike revelations are most troubling

As part of the sanctions placed on Russia after their military intervention in Ukraine, there was a massive crackdown on Russian assets. This involved the seizure of assets such as luxury yachts, cars, aircraft, art, and the freezing of bank accounts owned by Russian oligarchs.

Obviously seizing and maintaining assets such as superyachts is a massive undertaking that involves great expenditure..

So who is footing that bill for the upkeep of the vessels seized?

That mystery was revealed just yesterday by Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan.

Moments prior to the event at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), Sullivan was caught on hot mike talking about the ongoing Operation KleptoCapture, which is a Justice Department-led effort meant to target Russian "elites, proxies, and oligarchs" by seizing civil and criminal assets of sanctioned oligarchs.

Richard Fontaine, chief executive officer of the CNAS, said: 

"I just wasn't aware how many super yachts there were in the world. I mean the size of these things, the value of these things is unbelievable."

Sullivan responded as follows:

"You know what the craziest thing is: When we seize one, we have to pay for upkeep. The federal government pays for upkeep, under the forfeiture rubric. Some people are basically being paid to maintain Russian super-yachts on behalf of the US government. It's unbelievable."

"Forfeiture rubric" was possibly a reference to the US Government's responsibility for maintaining property it seizes in good condition.

This conversation was reported by Vox reporter Jonathan Guyer

https://twitter.com/mideastXmidwest/status/1537461647094194177

If that revelation wasn’t troubling enough there was more.

Sullivan, mentioned his wife, Maggie Goodlander who is, a senior adviser to Merrick Garland saying

“She loves this klepto-capture stuff….”

https://twitter.com/mideastXmidwest/status/1537464010483847168

It was unclear what the meaning of that remark was.

Did Sullivan mean his wife likes the idea of capturing Russian assets to weaken Russia?

Does she ‘love’ the seized items and do the Sullivans or someone else in Washington in some way have access to some of the seized items? We will never know. 

The audio of this exchange that was inadvertently broadcasted when the event streamed live was removed the moment Sullivan's comments made headlines. A spokesperson for CNAS called the takedown an "honest mistake".

Sullivan was referring to the seizure of a series of vessels owned by oligarchs allegedly close to President Putin.

The Amadea, a 348-foot yacht, worth the $300 million was owned by sanctioned Russian oligarch Suleiman Kerimov. The ownership of the vessel was disputed. The US had moved Fiji's supreme court to seize the yacht in early May, it sailed for the US in early June, after the court authorized its seizure.

In early April, the US seized a 254-foot yacht in Spain owned by Viktor Vekselberg, a billionaire who heads the Moscow-based Renova Group, a conglomerate with interests in aluminum, oil, energy, telecoms, mining, and a variety of other sectors. 

Biden asked Congress for the authority to formally seize and sell assets of Russian assets to fund Ukraine’s defense and rebuilding. The request is without precedent and would amount to a significant expansion of presidential sanctions authority.

There still remain a few open questions. 

Why would Washington take it upon itself to seize and sell Russian assets? Shouldn't a global coalition such as NATO be doing it?

Does international law permit the US to seize global assets and sell them? 

Beyond that, why would the US want to unnecessarily provoke nuclear-powered Russia into a hot war instead of compelling all parties to come to the negotiation table and end the conflict?

Why must the US taxpayer be compelled to pay for maintenance of seized assets that they will not benefit from in any way?

Washington has been most generous with taxpayers' money recently.

Back in May, both the House and the Senate overwhelmingly approved $40 billion of taxpayer money in aid to Ukraine. Previously in March, both the House and the Senate approved $13.6 billion of taxpayer money for ‘assistance’ to Ukraine.

That brings the total to around $53 billion in just two months

What is troubling is that there is no tracking mechanism or transparency for this massive expenditure.

Ideally, there should be a comprehensive inventory must be made available online with all details of all seized assets. Online auctions should be conducted for the tenders of all contracts and the sale of Russian assets. Details about every stage from bidding to signing contracts and sales should be available online for public scrutiny.

Sadly that will never happen.

The tenders and contracts for various items such as arms, food aid, maintenance of seized assets, etc. are will be awarded to cronies. Obviously, there will be a quid pro quo agreement between Washington and the private contractors. 

The sale of assets will also be very murky. Perhaps they will be sold as an under-market value to cronies. Perhaps some of the smaller but valuable assets may mysteriously disappear. 

It is perfectly obvious that the US intervention in Ukraine isn't for the betterment of the suffering Ukrainian people or to punish Putin.

This is just another emergency situation that presents an opportunity for Washington to swiftly access taxpayers' money and spend it the way they like. It helps that they can cite moral ground i.e. compassion for the suffering people in Ukraine to justify their plunder. A great deal of this money may travel all over the world and reach back to US shores. 

Washington never fails to exploit an emergency, they did it during Covid-19 and they are doing it in Ukraine. The fact that Ukraine is far away makes tracking and accountability almost impossible is an added benefit.

The staggering record of corruption in Ukraine and in Washington, particularly in Biden’s White House generally makes this absolute lack of accountability and oversight most worrying.

Jake Sullivan’s hot mike utterances reveal what most have always known. There is a brazenness to how various personnel in the Biden administration conduct themselves. They are not only reckless, feckless, and incompetent but also corrupt and immoral. They no longer care how they are perceived by regular people. In fact, they scoff in defiance at citizen taxpayers who may question the considerable expenditure in Ukraine and the risk it presents to the US. 

This attitude prevails across party lines. 

The rot runs very deep in Washington.

Also appears in American Thinker