There is a reason that there is an emoluments clause.
Sounds a lot like Fred Trump’s business model.
How does one get in on the grift? Asking for a friend.
A top inaugural planner emailed Ivanka and others at the company to “express my concern” that the hotel was overcharging for its event spaces, worrying of what would happen “when this is audited.”
We’re about to find out, I do believe.
Also, the hits just keep coming:
Hmmmm more indications, perhaps, of what Rick Gates has been dishing out?
Inaugural workers had other misgivings. Rick Gates, then the deputy to the chairman of the inaugural, asked some vendors to take payments directly from donors, rather than through the committee, according to two people with direct knowledge. The vendors felt the request was unusual and concerning, according to these people, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they signed confidentiality agreements. It is not clear whether any vendors took him up on his request.
This story is exploding and tres explosive.
And does this question really need to be asked?
Greg Jenkins, who led George W. Bush’s second inauguration, was perplexed by the Trump team’s mammoth fundraising haul. “They had a third of the staff and a quarter of the events and they raise at least twice as much as we did,” Jenkins told WNYC and ProPublica this year. “So there’s the obvious question: Where did it go? I don’t know.”
Trump’s way: there is always more grift beneath the surface.
Grifters gotta grift. Even when someone marginally from the outside looks at it and says “hey! That grifting you’re doing? Everyone will be able to see that, you know?” They still gotta grift.
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The SD of NY is looking into all of this. They have Cohen’s materials, as well as a butt load of stuff from Rick Gates, who was running the sham. Trump had about 1/2 of the events that Obama or Bush had, but raised twice the money. Much of it looks like it came from Russan and Arab sources. Where the $107M went is of a lot of interest, and what was given in return for it is even of more interest.
And I might add, that this gets into the investigation of influence peddling that is at the core of what Mueller is looking at, but its being done by the SD of NY. Why? Well the US Attorney (appointed by Trump) has recused himself, so the investigation is being overseen by a career Justice prosecutor with a great reputation, and he does not have to clear or report what he does to Main Justice. Only were he to, e.g. want to indict Individual 1 would he need to seek approval.
I think that Mueller has purposely protected this part of his investigation.
This makes me happy.
When your family, all of your associates and all of the people who work for you are grifters, grifting will happen. Trump never has to personally break the law, he just has to exist for the crime to surround him in everything he does.He wanders through the world like Pigpen perpetually surrounded by a cloud of ethical violations, immorality and outright thievery. It is who he is. Looking for specific prosecutable acts is like looking for the ignition device in the crater formed by an atomic bomb.
I used to joke about using Guantanamo to incarcerate the convicted members of the corrupt Trump regime - with supplemental water boarding just to do a double check that all transgressions have been acknowledged.
Now I’m thinking that this is a viable option -
How much money was spent on inflating the crowd size?
Can I tell you how shocked I am?
You have to be either born or married to the family.
During the planning, Ivanka Trump, the president-elect’s eldest daughter and a senior executive with the Trump Organization, was involved in negotiating the price the hotel charged the 58th Presidential Inaugural Committee for venue rentals. A top inaugural planner emailed Ivanka and others at the company to “express my concern” that the hotel was overcharging for its event spaces, worrying of what would happen “when this is audited.”
Watch out, Ivanka, there’s a paper trail. So you may not want to follow that quaint Trump family tradition of lying about everything. It’s really quite something: violating the Emoluments clause before even taking office.
For those who say we don’t know where the money went, actually we do know - into Trump’s pockets. How many millions is the only question. May they all rot in jail.
And since when do ethics lawyers need a spokesman?
Who would have expected that such a plastic surgery beauty could be such a crook?
It is important to maintain perspective here. The tsunami of criminality coming down the pike with Drumpf has been unprecedented. Drumpf’s genius is to normalize this. There are proven ways in which he does this. The rough model includes deflection, lying, GOP, FOX, working the base, (ironically) stoking the crazy.
In addition, Drumpf is president. For millions that’s enough (as long as the proverbial frog in the glass jar is not burned to death)
In addition, most of us have been exposed to the idea of “made-up” scandals. The motion picture “Dave” had such a “scandal”
So Drumpf is real good at normalizing scandals for the base.
His end game-- trying to discrediting his pursuers, delaying, stalling, while working the base–assumes more and more of center stage.
The currupt, compromised GOP Congresscritters propping him up have GOT to face the rule of law.
“Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what your country can do for The Trump Organization LLC.”
Any of the little people out there who responded to a fundraising letter—“let’s welcome President Trump to a new era in Washington and really show the liberals their time in the driver’s seat is over blah blah blah”—are going to wonder sourly if their money simply went straight into his damn pocket. And don’t tell me “No they won’t, they’ll just…” and so forth. People don’t like being cheated. They wanted to not feel like victims, and they got even more victimized. I think this little scandal is going to leach away a meaningful amount of support.