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Eight takeaways from the NYT's bombshell story on Turkey's Halkbank

http://ahval.co/en-98410 

Ahval
Last Updated On: Oct 31 2020

A new investigation by the New York Times revealed that U.S. President Donald Trump and senior administration officials moved frequently to quash an investigation into Turkey's state-run Halkbank after the president was repeatedly lobbied by his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

There have been many attempts to understand why and how the Erdoğan government and the Trump administration got on so well for several years. The case against Halkbank, which is accused of laundering up to $20 billion on behalf of Iranian entities to help them break U.S.-imposed sanctions, bank fraud charges, and concealing the nature of these illicit transactions from U.S. officials, has been one of the hot topics in the "bromance" between the two leaders.

So, what have we learned from the NYT investigation?

1. Trump tried, tried, and tried to quash the case against Halkbank

The NYT mentions several conversations between Trump and Erdoğan in which the Turkish president urged Trump to settle the Halkbank case and Trump responded tactfully, even though he supported a hard line on Iran.

John Bolton, Trump's former national security adviser, details a time when Erdoğan provided Trump with a memo maintaining the innocence of Halkbank. "Well, it looks convincing to me," Trump said after quickly skimming through the text, according to Bolton.

Later, the Justice Department told federal prosecutors in New York overseeing the case that senior officials including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Secretary of Treasury Steven Mnuchin, as well as the Justice Department itself, would be getting involved in the case.


Trump also reached out to former Acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker to “fix” Turkey’s problem. Whitaker reportedly shot down U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) Geoffrey Berman’s request to file charges against the bank at the beginning of 2019.

2. Key reason to remove powerful U.S. Attorney was... Halkbank

Trump also instructed Attorney General William Barr to address Erdoğan's requests that Halkbank avoid charges. After Barr took office in early 2019, he pressured SDNY prosecutors.

However, Berman resisted Barr's pressure and charges were finally filed against the bank in October 2019.

However, Berman was fired in June this year. The NYT says that the Trump administration’s “bitterness” over Berman’s stance on Halkbank was a key reason for his removal.

3. Trump has mixed personal and state businesses when it comes to dealing with Erdogan

The NYT said that Trump's personal interests in Turkey were also contributing to his approach to the case. Trump Towers has a branch in Istanbul and Erdoğan attended its opening ceremony along with Trump and other Trump family members. The U.S. president made nearly $3 million in profit from his business in Turkey recently, the NYT said. A month ago, the newspaper reported on Trump's tax records, which showed the president collected $13 million from Turkey since 2008 - far more than previously thought.

Rudy Giuliani, Trump's personal lawyer, represented Reza Zarrab, a Turkish-Iranian gold trader who implicated high-ranking Turkish politicians in a scheme to evade American sanctions on Iran. Former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, another person from Trump's close circle, has acknowledged that he filed false information about his lobbying work on behalf of Turkey. On top of that, the lobbying firm of Brian Ballard, a top Trump fundraiser, was paid $4.6 million by Turkey over two years, the NYT said.

4. Impeachment players involved with Halkbank: Giuliani, Barr and Pompeo...

The impeachment crisis against Trump over a July phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in which he is suspected of urging his counterpart to investigate a political rival, involves the same players; Barr, Pompeo and Giuliani, the NYT said.

“This was a relationship that was really important for the United States to handle,” she told the Times of the Halkbank situation. “And at every turn, the president kept leaping in, and he wasn’t following the strategic threads of the relationship.”

5. Obstruction of Justice??

Bolton said Trump’s willingness to provide Erdoğan with a settlement in the Halkbank case was obstruction of justice “It was so idiosyncratic, so personal to Trump in the pursuit of personal relationships, that it was very dangerous,” the NYT cited Bolton as saying.

“And it does look like obstruction of justice.”

Bolton also said Trump told Erdoğan, in the presence of the former national security advisor, that he would get his people involved in the Halkbank case to "take care "of the matter.

6. Erdoğan began pressing Trump early and consistently...

All the reports imply that Erdoğan got a foot in the door early with Trump and he prioritised Halkbank in numerous meetings with the U.S. president for the last four years. Two of the top priorities of Erdoğan were to dismiss the charges against Halkbank and to get Zarrab out of jail, yet it seems he failed so far.

It should also be noted that Turkish businessman Ekim Alptekin’s lobbying contract with Trump’s first National Security Adviser Mike Flynn was the earliest and most binding tie between the two leaders. Alptekin is the former head of the U.S.-Turkey Business Council. He has been indicted by U.S. federal prosecutors and currently cannot travel outside of Turkey. Flynn got fired from his position only weeks after Trump was inaugurated.

7. Now Halkbank became part of the U.S. elections

Erdoğan, his relationship with Trump and the Halkbank case have found a stage in the U.S. election race.

U.S. presidential nominee Joe Biden has already taken aim at Erdoğan in a bid to highlight Trump's appeasement of authoritarian leaders. Biden said in an interview with the New York Times editorial board in December that he would embolden the Turkish opposition to defeat Turkey's strongman in elections if he became president. He also called Erdoğan an "autocrat", adding, "He’s the president of Turkey and a lot more."

Biden's words raised a storm in Turkey, with Erdoğan's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) blasting his comments as putschism and an example of foreign interference.

Halkbank will probably be one of the hot topics for discussion in the U.S.-Turkey relationship if Biden is elected, as a lawsuit against the company over its alleged role in a sanctions-busting scheme with Iran is set to continue in March.

8. The story has confirmed Turkish opposition figures' and critical news outlets' suspicion that Erdoğan prioritised the interests of his family and friends when dealing with the most powerful country on earth

Finally, the investigation published by the New York Times has shown how much the Turkish opposition has been right about the Zarrab and Halkbank cases and how much the Erdoğan government has prioritised the case when it comes to U.S.-Turkish relations.

The NYT investigation, strengthened by several first-hand witnesses, shows how Erdoğan saw the Halkbank case as a threat to his family, friends and allies and spent considerable time and political capital to press Trump to quash it. It is not immediately clear what Trump had gotten in return for his efforts besides a steady stream of income from his Istanbul Trump Towers.

Last week, Erdoğan confirmed to journalists that Turkey had tested Russian-made S-400 air defense missiles, much to the disappointment of Washington and other NATO allies. It remains to be seen if Trump approves any request by Congress to sanction Turkey should it fully activate the system.

The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Ahval.

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