Before the interview started President Joe Biden’s National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan didn’t realize that the microphone was on and made a maddening admission.
Unkown that his voice was being live-streamed on Youtube Sullivan revealed that the Unistate government is using taxpayer money to maintain Russian yachts that were seized.
Sullivan was speaking with Richard Fontaine, chief executive officer of the CNAS about the White House’s effort to seize assets from Russian oligarchs.
“I just wasn’t aware how many super yachts there were in the world,” Fontaine tells Sullivan on the recording. “I mean the size of these things, the value of these things is unbelievable.”
“I know. It’s so ridiculous, but you know what the craziest thing is? When we seize one, we have to pay for the upkeep,” Sullivan said.
“The federal government pays for upkeep because under the kind of forfeiture rubric, so like some people are basically being paid to maintain Russian superyachts on behalf of the United States government,” he added.
National security adviser Jake Sullivan spoke at a think tank this AM. He was caught on a hot mic talking Russian yachts.
“You know what the craziest thing is: When we seize one, we have to pay for upkeep. The federal government pays for upkeep, under the forfeiture rubric…”
— Jonathan Guyer (@mideastXmidwest) June 16, 2022
Reports indicate that Sullivan was referring to the seizure of the Amadea a 348-foot yacht owned by Rissian oligarch Suleiman Kerimov. The United States government recently sailed the vessel to the states after Fiji’s Supreme Court authorized its seizure.
The audio was immediately taken offline after Sullivan’s comments went viral. Staff for the CNAS claimed that the deletion of the audio was an “honest mistake” and not done on purpose.
The rest of the video was later uploaded online but Sullivan’s comments were removed.
