Thanks to Adelle.
Has President Trump just passed an executive order that can be used to provide justification and cover for the unsealing of the thousands of sealed indictments and the takedown of deep-state subjects of interest?
Granted it initially targets only foreign nationals, but can it be extended or invoked?
Executive Order Blocking the Property of Persons Involved in Serious Human Rights Abuse or Corruption
December 21, 2017
I … determine that serious human rights abuse and corruption around the world constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States, and I hereby declare a national emergency to deal with that threat.
New Executive Order Implements Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, Provides for Treasury Sanctions Against Malign Actors Worldwide
Washington – Today, the Trump Administration launched a new sanctions regime targeting human rights abusers and corrupt actors around the world. Building on the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act passed by Congress last year, President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order (Order) today declaring a national emergency with respect to serious human rights abuse and corruption around the world and providing for the imposition of sanctions on actors engaged in these malign activities.
In an Annex to the Order, the President imposed sanctions on 13 serious human rights abusers and corrupt actors. In addition, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), acting on behalf of the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of State and the Attorney General, imposed sanctions on an additional 39 affiliated individuals and entities under the newly-issued Order.
“Today, the United States is taking a strong stand against human rights abuse and corruption globally by shutting these bad actors out of the U.S. financial system. Treasury is freezing their assets and publicly denouncing the egregious acts they’ve committed, sending a message that there is a steep price to pay for their misdeeds,” said Secretary of the Treasury Steven T. Mnuchin. “At the direction of President Trump, Treasury and our interagency partners will continue to take decisive and impactful actions to hold accountable those who abuse human rights, perpetrate corruption, and undermine American ideals.”
As a result of today’s actions, all of the assets within U.S. jurisdiction of the individuals and entities included in the Annex to the Order or designated by OFAC are blocked, and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with them. Further details on these designations are included below.
Trump targets human rights abusers with executive order
VICTORIA GUIDA, Politico, 12/21/2017
President Donald Trump cracked down Thursday on individuals and groups that his administration deems to be perpetrators or enablers of human rights abuses and corruption, the first action under a broad sanctions law passed a year ago.
Trump signed an executive order declaring a national emergency related to “serious human rights abuse and corruption around the world” and imposed sanctions on 13 individuals, using his authority under the 2016 Global Magnitsky Act.
The Treasury Department sanctioned an additional 39 people and entities for alleged human rights abuses and corruption, for a total of 52 targets. Among those sanctioned is the son of Russia’s prosecutor general.
The executive order says “the prevalence and severity of human rights abuse and corruption” outside of the United States “have reached such scope and gravity that they threaten the stability of international political and economic systems.”
The people sanctioned include Yahya Jammeh, former president of Gambia; Slobodan Tesic, an arms dealer in the Balkans; Mukhtar Hamid Shah, a Pakistani surgeon specializing in kidney transplants; Guatemalan Congressman Julio Antonio Juárez Ramírez; and Artem Chaika, the son of Russia’s prosecutor general.
“Today, the United States is taking a strong stand against human rights abuse and corruption globally by shutting these bad actors out of the U.S. financial system,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement.