But, the Somali “community” of Minneapolis doesn’t believe that Abdi Yusuf Hassanis guilty of the charges and they gathered at a Twin Cities Courthouse with their long-established mouthpiece Omar Jamalto proclaim his innocence.
Hassan is most likely one of tens of thousands of Somalis welcomed by the federal government and US State Department resettlement contractors and placed in Minnesota—a ‘new American’ indeed!
First see theAP story about Hassan’s arrest,
US citizen charged in kidnapping of journalist in Somalia
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A U.S. citizen has been charged with kidnapping and other counts for his alleged role in the abduction of a freelance journalist who was held hostage in Somalia for nearly three years, according to federal charging documents unsealed Thursday in New York.
According to a criminal complaint, Abdi Yusuf Hassan was part of a conspiracy to kidnap the journalist in January 2012 in Galkayo, Somalia, and demand $20 million in ransom. The journalist was released Sept. 23, 2014.
While the journalist is not named in the complaint or in a superseding indictment, the dates of his capture and release, and several details outlined in the court documents, match the experiences of author Michael Scott Moore, a German-American who was abducted by pirates in Somalia while he was there writing a book about piracy. Journalist Moore. His family ultimately paid $1.6 million for his release
Moore’s publicist said he was unreachable for an interview Thursday. In November, Moore confirmed to the New York Times that another man indicted in the case, Mohamed Tahlil Mohamed, was one of his captors. Mohamed and Hassan are listed as co-defendants. According to court documents, Hassan, 51, was born in Mogadishu and is a naturalized U.S. citizen. He faces six counts, including kidnapping conspiracy, hostage-taking conspiracy and unlawful use of firearms. He was arrested in Minneapolis on Friday and will be returned to New York to face charges.It was not immediately clear if he had an attorney in New York to comment on his behalf.
[….] The complaint says Hassan spoke English and was a translator for the hostage takers; the journalist, who identified Hassan from a lineup, said he also appeared to hold a leadership position over the other guards.
Much more hereabout the details of the kidnapping.
Now this, from CBS-Minnesota…
The Somali community led by none-other than the Somali Jesse Jackson, Omar Jamal, came out to the courthouse to say the feds have it all wrong. He, Hassan, was just there to help free kidnap victims.
Minneapolis Man Accused Of Holding American Journalist Hostage In Somalia
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – A Twin Cities man has been indicted for allegedly helping co-conspirators hold a journalist captive for more than two years.
Abdi Yusuf Hassan, who moved to Minnesota in 1998, is accused of holding three people hostage on the coast of Somalia.
[….]
On a crisp winter day, dozens from one of Minnesota’s strongest immigrant communities stood together to stand behind Abdi Yusuf Hassan, filing into the Minneapolis courthouse.
A loved one told WCCO-TV, “He’s innocent, completely innocent.”
Omar Jamal is back!
I haven’t seen him mentioned for a long time. I’ve followed his ‘career’ (going back more than ten years!) as he was the mouthpiece for any Somali in trouble in Minnesota (and elsewhere!) for anything at anytime! Jamal was not a refugee, but had actually gotten into the US illegally from Canada and was never removed. For at least a dozen posts on Jamal go here.
Don’t miss one of my favorite stories about Jamal, here in 2008, when I coined his nickname—Somali Jesse Jackson! CBS continues….
Federal papers show the captured journalist identified Hassan as one of the leaders of the operation. According to the indictment, Hassan speaks English and served as a translator for the hostage-takers and regularly communicated with the journalist. Omar Jamal: the community activist go-to guy for the media! Community activist Omar Jamal testified in court Thursday on behalf of his friend.
“He was in no way, shape or form that he was involved. Having known him for 20 years, the kind of guy he is, I don’t think so,” Jamal said.
He says Hassan has been working in Somalia the past few years to help rebuild the government, and that Hassan was simply helping translate negotiations with the journalist’s kidnappers, trying to help.
Since the community is so close-knit, I wonder if the alleged kidnapper Hassan is a friend of Ilhan Omar? Does anyone know? Maybe a contributor to her political campaign?
For me, as goes Stephen Miller, so goes the nation!***
Miller, if you don’t know, was Senator Jeff Sessions chief aide on immigration when Sessions was the Senator holding his finger in the dyke to stem the flood of illegal and LEGAL immigration flooding America. Is Kushner side-lining immigration expert Stephen Miller? The Dems want the “new American” voters and powerful business interesting in the Republican Party want a large pool of immigrant laborers to compete with American workers for jobs (at all levels!).
Now we are learning that Miller, who is one of only a few who went from the campaign to the White House with Trump (and survived, so far) is being sidelined as Jared Kushner, the first son-in-law, wants to practice his bipartisan deal making skills on the issue of immigration. Here is McClatchyreporting on Kushner’s latest play,
Jared Kushner privately working on reshaping legal immigration
And, pushing Stephen Miller to the sidelines?
WASHINGTON As debate in public rages about illegal immigration and a border wall, Jared Kushner has been holding private meetings in the West Wing on ways to overhaul the legal immigration system, according to six people familiar with the conversations and documents obtained by McClatchy.
President Donald Trump’s senior adviser and son-in-law is operating on at least two tracks — the first is working with a small group studying specific ways to redistribute employment visas and the second is helping lead a series of “listening sessions” with about three dozen interest groups important to Trump to see if there is a position that Republicans can rally around before the 2020 elections.
[….]
What is clear from conversations with participants and both current and former Trump officials is that Kushner has helped kicked (sic) off a fresh discussion on immigration that reflects a new paradigm in the White House. It’s a shift away from priorities of 2017 that sought to prevent the influx of foreign workers who could displace American workers in favor of a new approach preferred by more traditional Republicans, particularly those close to the corporate sector who are desperate to attract more foreign workers to fill U.S. factories and tech hubs.
[….]
According to meeting agendas obtained by McClatchy, those invited to sessions with Kushner come from some of Trump’s core constituencies in the worlds of religion, law enforcement, agriculture and business. They include the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Heritage Foundation, Association of Builders and Contractors, Faith and Freedom Coalition, Council on National Policy, George W. Bush Center and Select Milk Producers.
I want to remind readers that the Heritage Foundation may be good on illegal immigration, but they sure did get wobbly on refugees awhile back, so I wouldn’t count on them being your voice at these meetings. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce openly supports more immigration of all kinds. I don’t know what the Faith and Freedom Coalition’s views are on immigration, do you?
Kushner wants a deal!
“He’s a smart guy,” one of the participants said. “But he doesn’t care about the issues. He’s there to find out where the deal is. Where is the sweet spot?”
The senior administration official said the White House is rethinking some policies that it supported before, such as the Sen. Tom Cotton’s RAISE Act, which would institute a merit-based system to determine who is admitted to the country — that the White House continues to support — but would also slash legal immigration. “The president said many times he wants to raise immigration,” the official said.
Such language is concerning to conservative immigration groups. Indeed, between Kushner’s business background and the large number of guests with corporate interests, conservatives are worried that the changes Kushner is pursuing run counter to Trump’s “Hire American” priorities.
“There is a real dance going on in the White House on all the legal immigration issues as they work on their vision for reform,” said Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies for the Center for Immigration Studies, who is in regular discussions with the administration. “It’s hard for me to tell sometimes what is based on actual policy goals and what is meant to assuage an interest group and who is just being stroked and whose ideas have been convincing to Kushner and his group.”
Kushner edges-out Stephen Miller!
Adding to that anxiety is the feeling that Kushner has edged out Stephen Miller, Trump’s chief architect on some of the toughest proposals and a favorite in conservative circles, in the policy area on which Miller is best known.
“That is how you have to understand it,” said a former Trump official who remains in contact with White House officials. “And look, Steve may be willing to go along with it, because he’s there for the long game. And there is always other battles to fight. He’s more strategic than people think he is. But there is no doubt that he’s not getting what he wants out of this move.”
The White House emphasized that discussions are still in the early stages. It could take weeks or months before anything is presented to the president. Trump may also decide not to do anything with the information if they can’t get enough buy in.
More here.
While we are beguiled by the media on the subject of the Smollett hoax, a serious policy shift could be occurring in the Trump White House.
By the way, NumbersUSA, the largest grassroots group concerned with protecting American workers by keeping immigration numbers low is very concerned by what they are hearing. See one story here.
What do you do? Let the White House knowwhat you think about the Kushner coup going on under the President’s nose. Do it today and every day! Your job is to make your voices louder than those of the Open Borders forces and thus keep the White House on track!
***Stephen Miller is my barometer. I can’t imagine him staying if the Trump White House gets too wobbly on immigration and if he is fired (like Bannon and others) then you know it’s all over for those of us who want to see immigration numbers lowered.
Normally I prefer to not write about stories that are being widely covered by the media, but this one is so awful that I want to make sure all of you see it.
A former U.S. Air Force counterintelligence officer who defected to Iran nearly six years ago has been charged with revealing classified military information to the Iranian government and helping Iran target her former co-workers, the Justice Department announced Wednesday.
Monica Elfriede Witt, 39, allegedly disclosed the existence of a highly classified military intelligence collection program and the identity of a U.S. intelligence officer to Iranian spy agencies. A grand jury indictment unsealed Wednesday also charged Witt with helping Iranian intelligence services target at least eight U.S. agents who had interacted or worked with her.
An arrest warrant was issued for Witt, who remains at large and is believed to live in Iran.
Four Iranians working on behalf of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) also were named in the indictment and face charges of conspiracy, computer intrusions and identity theft in connection with targeting Witt’s former co-workers in 2014 and 2015.
Witt was born in Texas, converted to Islam and was also a supporter of ‘Occupy Wall Street.’
I realize I don’t have a category here at Frauds, Crooks and Criminalsfor this story, so I’m making a new one—Betraying Americans (betraying America!). And, I will tag the story ‘treason.’