A quick housekeeping note: I have just completed a very intense, very good fourteen month long project. I’m a bit wiped, so I’m going to keep tonight on the shorter side.
It is 7:55 PM EST/2:55 AM local time in Ukraine and the drone swarms have returned over all of northern Ukraine.
As I wrote a bit last night in regard to the reporting that USAID’s IG was investigating the contracts between Starlink and Ukraine, one of the two primary questions to be asked of every action by Trump, Musk, Musk’s minions (which include Trump; he didn’t spend 1/3rd of a billion for giggles), other Trump appointees, surrogates, catspaws, etc is who benefits. The other is: if they were actually witting or unwitting assets of one or more hostile foreign powers would they be doing anything differently?
NEW: Donald Trump’s pick for FBI director told senators he has no plans to divest his shares, which his financial disclosure form says were received in exchange for consulting services.
— WIRED (@wired.com) February 7, 2025 at 4:26 PM
From Wired:
Kash Patel, President Donald Trump’s nominee to be the head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), owns stocks valued between $1 to $5 million in a company that controls Shein, a controversial ecommerce and fashion giant founded in China, according to lobbying and corporate records from three countries reviewed by WIRED. They show that Patel began consulting for Shein one month before the company also retained the services of a lobbying firm where Pam Bondi, Trump’s newly confirmed US attorney general, worked at the time.
In a legally required financial disclosure, Patel told members of the US Senate—who are expected to vote on whether to confirm him next week—that he does not plan to divest his stake in Shein if he becomes the leader of the FBI. He was allotted shares in the fast-fashion company, which is reportedly valued to be worth $50 billion, in the form of what are called “restricted stock units” (RSUs).
RSUs are often given to company employees, who typically cannot cash them out until a certain amount of time has passed or other conditions are met. Patel disclosed that his Shein RSUs began vesting on February 1 and are expected to be paid out quarterly.
Legally, an official like the head of the FBI would not need to divest or recuse until a clear conflict of interest emerges, says Jordan Libowitz, vice president of communications at the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. “However, the optics of the situation are not great,” he says. “So we would recommend divestiture or recusal from any matter involving Shein upon taking office.”
In his financial disclosure, Patel said he began working as a consultant for an entity in the Cayman Islands called Elite Depot Ltd in April 2024, which he described as a “Fashion Management Company.” A WIRED review of corporate registration filings, lobbying disclosures, and other public records from the US, UK, and Cayman Islands shows that Elite Depot functions as a parent company for Shein.
Much more at the link.
Disturbing ties between Kash Patel and SHEIN — a PRC company implicated in forced labor in Xinjiang. He has millions in shares and won’t divest.
Especially concerning amid reports that DOJ/FBI is going to reduce focus on PRC influence efforts in the US.
Full detail below from Roger Sollenberger:
— Rush Doshi (@rushdoshi.bsky.social) February 6, 2025 at 10:14 PM
The four motivations that counterintelligence professionals look for are: money, ideology, compromise, and ego, which is turned into the acronym MICE. Patel has attempted to monetize anything and everything since JAN 2021, so we can check that box. He either needs constant large streams of income or he’s got a compulsion to catch up with wealthier colleagues. He’s also got a gigantic ego. He’s branded his names on dozens of products since JAN 2021, so we can check that box too. Ideology wouldn’t be at play here, which just leaves compromise. I have no idea if Patel has or has not done something that would lead him to be compromised. By disclosing these shares and this business activity he removes the potential to be compromised in this instance.
However, it is important to remember that the Trump administration has disbanded the FBI task force targeting foreign influence, organized crime, and white collar and financial crimes.
This tells you who their constituents are. Not American voters. Not Americans at all.
www.nbcnews.com/politics/nat…— Timothy Snyder (@timothysnyder.bsky.social) February 7, 2025 at 11:26 AM
Here is President Zelenskyy’s address from earlier today. Video below, English transcript after the jump.
War for Ukraine Day 1,079: Infiltration at All LevelsPost + Comments (32)
