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Is Middle Eastern Money Being Laundered Into The McCain Campaign?

Where there is smoke lies the possibility of fire.

Some of the most prolific givers in Sargeant’s network live in modest homes in Southern California’s Inland Empire. Most had never given a political contribution before being contacted by Sargeant or his associates. Most said they have never voiced much interest in politics. And in several instances, they had never registered to vote. And yet, records show, some families have ponied up as much as $18,400 for various candidates between December and March.

Both Sargeant and the donors were vague when asked to explain how Sargeant persuaded them to give away so much money.

‘I have a lot of Arab business partners. I do a lot of business in the Middle East. I’ve got a lot of friends,’ Sargeant said in a telephone interview yesterday. ‘I ask my friends to support candidates that I think are worthy of supporting. They usually come through for me.’ “

Florida governor Charlie Crist, a possible McCain running mate and a sudden flip-flopper on the issue of allowing offshore drilling in Florida is also a beneficiary of this network of big cash flowing in suspiciously.

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24 Responses to “Is Middle Eastern Money Being Laundered Into The McCain Campaign?”

  1. Jay Tea says:

    Odd you should bring this up. It seems that, according to FEC records, Obama got almost $30,000 from two brothers — Monir and Hosan Edwan — who live in Rafah, in the Gaza Strip. The men, when contacted in Gaza, apparently gave conflicting stories on how they gave the money to the campaign, but admitted they did give it. And their family apparently has extensive ties to Hamas, the terrorist group that is currently the duly-elected government of the Gaza Strip.

    Details — including screen shots of FEC online records — here:

    http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2008/07/obamas-gazan-co.html

    It looks that, regardless of their citizenship and residency, the Edwan brothers violated the limits on how much they can give. Note that the McCain donors were listed as donating $2300 and $4600, the legal limts for donations…

    J.

  2. Yes, Pamela Gellar is a really credible source. She sees moooslims behind every corner.

  3. duh says:

    Ahh, questions swirl…..

    Of course there is still the messy matter of the Hsu’s…..

  4. SaveFarris says:

    Remember when Obama said he wasn’t taking any money from lobbyists? Yeah… not so much

  5. PD100 says:

    Atlas Juggs still believes Obama is also a non citizen with a forged birth certificate. Fine let her (and any other idiot who takes her seriously) run with it. I’ll see it and raise one House of Saud.

  6. Jay says:

    Yes, Pamela Gellar is a really credible source. She sees moooslims behind every corner.

    Actually, the source appears to be the FEC. It just happened to be posted on her site.

    Unless of course, you think she’s forging documents. Somebody call Dan Rather!

  7. PD100 says:

    “Unless of course, you think she’s forging documents. Somebody call Dan Rather!

    Rathergate may have been the best thing to ever happen, as it has turned the entire wingnutoshphere into a one-trick pony with syphilis.

  8. And if there was anyone in the blogosphere who would fake something it would be Pamela Gellar.

  9. ed says:

    Is Middle Eastern Money Being Laundered Into The McCain Campaign?

    Yes. Next question.

  10. duh says:

    Thats a great defense….straight denial, “you made it up!”

    You of course can prove that this document/donation is fake, right Oliver?

  11. Jay Tea says:

    OK, then, go straight to the horse’s mouth.

    1) Go to donordata.org, plug “Rafah” into the “search by city” box, and click on “search city.”

    2) go to fec.gov, then search by “Rafah” under cities. The results there:

    Presented by the Federal Election Commission

    Individual Contributions Arranged By Type, Giver, Then Recipient

    Contributions to Political Committees

    ADWAN, MONIR
    RAFAH, GA
    ACCOUNTER/ACCOUNTING

    OBAMA, BARACK
    VIA OBAMA FOR AMERICA
    09/12/2007 553.00 27931414730
    10/24/2007 1001.00 28930533990
    01/13/2008 -553.00 28930626476

    EDWAN, HOSAM
    RAFAH, GA
    ACCOUNTER/ACCOUNTING

    OBAMA, BARACK
    VIA OBAMA FOR AMERICA
    10/26/2007 -834.00 28930539431
    10/26/2007 -508.00 28930539431
    10/26/2007 508.00 28930539432
    10/26/2007 834.00 28930539432
    10/26/2007 834.00 28930539430
    10/26/2007 1082.00 28930539430
    10/26/2007 1725.00 28930539430
    10/30/2007 -956.00 28930539432
    10/30/2007 956.00 28930539433
    10/30/2007 1556.00 28930539431

    EDWAN, MONIR
    RAFAH, GA
    ACCOUNTER/ACCOUNTING

    OBAMA, BARACK
    VIA OBAMA FOR AMERICA
    10/27/2007 1290.00 28930539433
    10/30/2007 -1582.00 28930539439
    10/30/2007 -717.00 28930539439
    10/30/2007 717.00 28930539440
    10/30/2007 1037.00 28930539439

    So much for your “shoot the messenger” tactic. Turns out that the info Pamela reported is accurate.

    So, what’s plan B? Someone hacked the FEC’s web site? Bushco and Cheney put Halliburton in charge of maintaining the donor records?

    J.

  12. Jay Tea says:

    Damn, it cut off partway through the listing. My apologies.

    Presented by the Federal Election Commission

    Individual Contributions Arranged By Type, Giver, Then Recipient

    Contributions to Political Committees

    ADWAN, MONIR
    RAFAH, GA
    ACCOUNTER/ACCOUNTING

    OBAMA, BARACK
    VIA OBAMA FOR AMERICA
    09/12/2007 553.00 27931414730
    10/24/2007 1001.00 28930533990
    01/13/2008 -553.00 28930626476

    EDWAN, HOSAM
    RAFAH, GA
    ACCOUNTER/ACCOUNTING

    OBAMA, BARACK
    VIA OBAMA FOR AMERICA
    10/26/2007 -834.00 28930539431
    10/26/2007 -508.00 28930539431
    10/26/2007 508.00 28930539432
    10/26/2007 834.00 28930539432
    10/26/2007 834.00 28930539430
    10/26/2007 1082.00 28930539430
    10/26/2007 1725.00 28930539430
    10/30/2007 -956.00 28930539432
    10/30/2007 956.00 28930539433
    10/30/2007 1556.00 28930539431

    EDWAN, MONIR
    RAFAH, GA
    ACCOUNTER/ACCOUNTING

    OBAMA, BARACK
    VIA OBAMA FOR AMERICA
    10/27/2007 1290.00 28930539433
    10/30/2007 -1582.00 28930539439
    10/30/2007 -717.00 28930539439
    10/30/2007 717.00 28930539440
    10/30/2007 1037.00 28930539439
    10/30/2007 1499.00 28930539434
    10/30/2007 1582.00 28930539440
    10/30/2007 1582.00 28930539438
    10/30/2007 1643.00 28930539434
    10/30/2007 1671.00 28930539433
    10/31/2007 953.00 28930539438
    10/31/2007 1494.00 28930539438
    11/01/2007 1099.00 28930539437
    11/01/2007 1389.00 28930539437
    11/01/2007 1963.00 28930539437
    11/01/2007 2017.00 28930539436
    11/02/2007 873.00 28930539435
    11/02/2007 873.00 28930539436
    11/02/2007 1282.00 28930539435
    11/02/2007 1389.00 28930539436
    11/02/2007 1389.00 28930539435
    11/11/2007 870.00 28930539434

    EDWAN, OSAMA
    RAFAH, GA
    TRADER/TRADER

    OBAMA, BARACK
    VIA OBAMA FOR AMERICA
    11/10/2007 706.00 28930539440
    11/10/2007 1102.00 28930539441

    Total Contributions: 32319.00

    So, Obama has raked in over $32,000 from three guys in the Gaza Strip. Or is there a Rafah, Georgia that nobody seems to have never heard of?

    J.

  13. Duros62 says:

    Okay, so the point is what exactly? Both campaigns have donors from the Middle East?

    The score is 1-all.

    Next.

  14. SFC B says:

    The WaPo had to issue a correction to this story. Of the four donators they cited, three of them didn’t actually donate money to McCain, they donated money to Hillary Clinton and Rudy Guiliani.

  15. Jay Tea says:

    SFC B: Hush yourself! Don’t confuse the issue with FACTS!

    You gotta remember we’re dealing with the reality-BASED community. Actual reality scares them.

    J.

  16. Parthenon says:

    If they gave too much, that is one thing. But why is their nation of origin of interest to anybody? Do you guys honestly think everybody in Iran thinks the United States is the great Satan? That everybody in Islamic countries hates Israel? That everybody in N. Korea is batshit loony?

  17. Jay Tea says:

    Parthenon, it’s not their country of origin. It’s their country of citizenship. The guys who donated all that money to McCain are NOT Americans, and therefore it is against the law for them to donate money to Obama.

    Non-citizens are NOT allowed to donate money. Period. That’s the law.

    J.

  18. Duros62 says:

    The guys who donated all that money to McCain are NOT Americans, and therefore it is against the law for them to donate money to Obama.

    What?

  19. william says:

    How about updating your post Oliver –

    Correction to This Article

    An earlier version of this story about campaign donations that Florida businessman Harry Sargeant III raised for Sen. John McCain, former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton incorrectly identified three individuals as being among the donors Sargeant solicited on behalf of McCain. Those donors — Rite Aid manager Ibrahim Marabeh, and lounge owners Nadia and Shawn Abdalla — wrote checks to Giuliani and Clinton, not McCain. Also, the first name of Faisal Abdullah, a McCain donor, was misspelled in some versions of the story.

  20. Jay Tea says:

    Duros:

    Crap.

    The guys who gave money to OBAMA (not McCain) are residents of Rafah, in the Gaza Strip, and NOT Americans.

    Sorry about that…

    J.

  21. Duros62 says:

    No worries, mate.

    This is still unclear to me, though. I thought taking contributions from foreign nationals was verboten, yet both candidates seem to have done it.
    Just how bendy are campaign finance laws, anyway?

  22. Sean D. Martin says:

    Jay Tea: Crap. … Sorry about that…

    This is why, although I often disagree with Jay Tea, I can’t work up some of the ire against him that some do. Unlike some (one in particular) he does admit, at times, when he’s in error.

  23. C.S.Strowbridge says:

    “Unlike some (one in particular) he does admit, at times, when he’s in error.”

    Like the per 100,000 debacle? You went after me for days on that one. Even Jay admitted he said it after misreading what SpiderJ wrote, but you refused to accept what he said was wrong and you argued that what he said made perfect sense.

    In other words…

    Jay admitted he made a mistake, You refused to admit Jay made a mistake.

    And now you are accusing others of doing the same. Well done.

  24. Sean D. Martin says:

    Again you’re going to tell me that you can read my mind and know what I’m thinking? Who said I was referring to you?