Nancy Antoinette must be soooooo jealous!

 

Nancy Antoinette must be soooooo jealous!

 

Pro-Trump group that runs CPAC facing federal investigation of its finances: report





(CPAC), photo by Gage Skidmore.

On Wednesday, The Dispatch reported that federal investigators are looking into the finances of the American Conservative Union, the pro-Trump group run by GOP lobbyist Matt Schlapp, which hosts the annual Conservative Political Action Conference.

The investigation appears to have been kicked off by a complaint from the Campaign Legal Center (CLC), a nonpartisan watchdog group.

"Sources tell The Dispatch that federal investigators are currently looking into possible criminal campaign-finance misdeeds at ACU during Schlapp's tenure," reported Andrew Egger. "As part of the investigation, the FBI has interviewed former and current ACU employees about the financial dealings of the organization and its leaders — and in particular, as one source said, about their 'knowledge of the events leading up to the endorsement of Brian Kelsey.'"

Kelsey is a Tennessee state senator whose suspicious campaign financing while running for Tennessee's open 8th Congressional District in 2016 caught the eye of federal officials. According to The Tennessean, Kelsey's state Senate campaign gave $100,000 to the Standard Club PAC, which then gave $30,000 to the ACU and $36,000 to another PAC that then sent the money to the ACU as well. The ACU then spent $80,000 in a radio campaign endorsing Kelsey's unsuccessful congressional run.

Investigators are now trying to determine whether this was a pay-for-endorsement scheme Kelsey arranged with the ACU, which would run afoul of federal campaign finance laws, wrote Egger: "Recently ... federal investigators' attention has turned to the ACU itself. Several sources with knowledge of the ACU's operations at the time tell The Dispatch they have been interviewed by the FBI in recent months about their knowledge of the events leading up to the Kelsey endorsement."

ACU denies any wrongdoing, blasting the CLC as a "Soros-funded group" and saying in a statement, "We continue to believe ACU's activities, which took place more than five years ago, were legally compliant. We have been assured that ACU is not a target of any review by the government at this time." However, noted Egger, "Schlapp and the ACU did not respond to specific questions about the nature of the investigation."

You can read more here.

https://www.rawstory.com/cpac-federal-investigation/

 

Ware's a revolutionary when you need one? Go figure. Trump raked in $3.7 million from foreign courtiers staying at his hotel when he was president and now that he's out the place is all but empty. Simply a coincidence? What kind of fool would believe that? Oh wait I know. He will probably post here any second now.

Trump misled public about Washington hotel finances, House panel says




1 / 4
Trump misled public about Washington hotel finances, House panel says
Rebecca Shabad and Anna Schecter
Fri, October 8, 2021, 7:36 AM·2 min read
In this article:


WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump provided “misleading information about the financial situation” of his hotel in Washington while he was in office, according to the House Oversight and Reform Committee.

The committee, which recently obtained documents from the General Services Administration, found that Trump reported his hotel in downtown D.C. brought in $150 million in income while he served in the White House, but the hotel actually incurred more than $70 million in losses.

“By filing these misleading public disclosures, President Trump grossly exaggerated the financial health of the Trump Hotel,” the committee said Friday in a news release.

In a statement, a spokesperson for the Trump Organization called the committee's assertions "intentionally misleading, irresponsible and unequivocally false" and said the former president's company had rescued a "crumbling asset which was costing American taxpayers millions of dollars each year."

"Simply stated, this report is nothing more than continued political harassment in a desperate attempt to mislead the American public and defame Trump in pursuit of their own agenda," the spokesperson added.

When Trump first applied to lease the Old Post Office Building in 2011 for his hotel, he also provided the federal government with information that the committee said “appeared to conceal certain debts.” Records show Trump specifically didn’t show outstanding balances for properties he owned in other major cities like New York, Chicago and Las Vegas, the panel said.

The committee also said the newly obtained documents show that from 2017 through 2020, the Trump International Hotel in D.C. received about $3.7 million in payments from foreign governments, which it said raises “concerns about possible violations of the Constitution’s Foreign Emoluments Clause.”

While he served in the White House, Trump also received “a significant financial benefit” from Deutsche Bank that allowed him to postpone making payments on the $170 million loan for the hotel, the committee said.

“Mr. Trump did not publicly disclose this significant benefit from a foreign bank while he was president,” the committee said.

Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., chairwoman of the committee, said Friday that her panel will continue to pursue its probe of Trump’s lease of the property. The committee has been investigating the issue since Trump was in office.

“For too long, the president has used his complex network of business holdings to hide the truth about his finances,” Maloney said. “The committee will continue to vigorously pursue its investigation until the full truth comes to light so that Congress can address the unresolved ethics crisis left by Trump and prevent future presidents from profiting off of the presidency.”


https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-misled-d-c-hotel-133607101.html

 

Trump pal Elliott Broidy attempts legal ‘jujitsu’ in bid to sue Qatar over hacked emails: report

Bob Brigham
October 08, 2021



Trump donor Elliott Broidy. (Screenshot/YouTube)
Former Republican National Committee finance chairman Elliott Broidy is employing an unusual legal tactic in his legal battle with Qatar, Politico reported Friday.

Broidy, a longtime ally of Trump who served as a vice chairman of the Trump Victory Committee and vice chairman of Trump's inauguration, claims Qatar "orchestrated the hacking and release of his emails in retaliation for his work for rivals in United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia."

The Qatari government successfully blocked a previous effort by Broidy by invoking the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, which shields foreign governments from lawsuits in U.S. courts.

"In another shot at the emirate, Broidy's attorneys have seized on a suit filed against him in August by an obscure travel company that asserted its Qatar-focused business was damaged by what the firm said was misinformation Broidy spread about Qatari ties to terrorism," Politico reported. "In a legal filing late Thursday, Broidy's attorneys argue the Delaware-based company — Mosafer — is acting as a front for the Qatari government. Broidy's team contends that makes the suit a vehicle for him to countersue Qatar over its alleged role in the hacking and distribution of his emails to the media in 2018."

Mosafer is being represented by the law firm Larson, LLP, which was founded by former Trump National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien.

Politico interviewed former State Department official Mark Feldman, who said it appeared Broidy was attempting to take advantage of a 1983 Supreme Court decision that allows an exception where a judge can overrule the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act.

"It sounds very tangled. It also sounds very imaginative and tenuous to me," Feldman said.

https://www.rawstory.com/elliott-broidy/

 

This reminds me of the "Bridge to nowhere" in Alaska Sarah Palin camp0aigned against as government waste. And then that reminds me of when she tried to frighten Americans claiming the ACA would lead to "death panels." That never came true but death panels did. In her home state. Because Trump lied and people die.

Road to nowhere: Oklahoma's Donald J. Trump Highway runs through the desolate Dust Bowl

Russell Cobb, Salon
October 09, 2021



United States Department of Agriculture via Wikimedia Commons

https://www.rawstory.com/donald-trump-highway/

 

Alaska death panels.
Nope.

 

House Panel: Trump’s DC Hotel Hid $3.7 Million Paid By Foreign Gov’ts, Falsely Claimed Big Profits But Actually Lost $70 Million
By Sarah RumpfOct 8th, 2021, 8:00 pm
835 comments




Former President Donald Trump’s Washington, D.C. hotel remains controversial, even after his term in office has ended. According to a report by CNN, not only did the Trump Organization falsely claim high profits when the hotel actually lost money, the hotel also hid millions of dollars paid to it by foreign governments, a major concern regarding conflicts of interest.

CNN’s Brian Todd reported on the story to Pamela Brown, filling in for Wolf Blitzer on The Situation Room.

“New information tonight that Donald Trump’s celebrated Washington hotel was not the successful venture the former president claimed it was,” said Todd, describing a report by the House Oversight Committee that the Trump International Hotel DC claimed it earned more than $156 million in income from its 2016 opening and last year, but it actually “suffered a net loss of more than $70 million in that period.”

Todd spoke with Forbes Magazine’s Zach Everson, asking how the hotel lost so much money.

“The math never made sense,” replied Everson. “I think the problem was, they couldn’t fill the rooms.” He noted there had been “no shortage of pro-Trump fans saddling up to the hotel’s bar” and embassies and other groups renting the banquet rooms, but many of the actual guest rooms were remaining vacant.

A CNN employee at the hotel during a weekend stay earlier this year took video and photos that showed “few guests at the hotel,” said Todd, and “hallways elegant but empty,” the elevators going up and down infrequently.

The House Oversight Committee’s documents say the Trump Organization funneled more than $24 million from other parts of the company to the hotel, reported Todd.

Their findings also include an analysis of the hotel’s financial documents showing that it received about $3.7 million from foreign governments, “which the committee says raises concerns about whether Trump violated part of the Constitution that bans federal office holders from receiving gifts, payments, [or] anything of value from foreign officials,” said Todd.

There’s more: the committee says Trump received “undisclosed preferential treatment from Deutsche Bank on a $170 million construction loan for the hotel.”

Trump himself often bragged about the hotel, located in the historic Old Post Office building on Pennsylvania Ave., calling it “the most coveted piece of real estate in Washington, D.C.”

Sources have told CNN that the Trump Organization has been looking to sell the lease on the hotel for more than a year, said Todd.

The Trump Organization sent CNN a statement calling the House Oversight Committee’s allegations “intentionally misleading, unequivocally false, and irresponsible,” and denying that they had received any preferential treatment from any lender. Deutsche Bank also replied that the committee had made “several inaccurate statements” about the bank and its loan agreement with the Trump Organization.

Watch the video above, via CNN.

https://www.mediaite.com/tv/house-p...med-big-profits-but-actually-lost-70-million/

 

Every time I think of the "revolution" and Trump "draining the swamp" I just bust out laughing.

Trump had to be blocked from appointing Ivanka to head up the World Bank: report

Tom Boggioni
October 10, 2021



President Donald Trump and Ivanka Trump, official White House Photo by Joyce N. Boghosian.
According to a report from the Intercept's Ryan Grim and Max Ufberg, former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin was forced to intercede when Donald Trump proposed appointing his daughter Ivanka to head up the World Bank.

The report notes that when the opening came about in January of 2019, Trump saw it as an opportunity to promote his fashion designer daughter.

"As the White House moved to select its new leader, one name very dear to the Trump's heart kept floating around: his daughter Ivanka Trump," the reports states while noting that rumors of the appointment had floated about at the time, with Ivanka demurring and telling reporters she was "happy" advising her dad in the White House.

As the Intercept is now reporting, "...two sources, not authorized to speak publicly, tell The Intercept the talk of Ivanka at the helm went far beyond the realm of Beltway chatter: Trump very much wanted Ivanka as World Bank president, and it was Mnuchin who actually blocked her ascent to the leadership role."

According to Grim and Ufberg, "Mnuchin often placed himself between the president and what the Treasury secretary saw as colossally counterproductive moves. His time as a Hollywood producer — making him a representative of the set whose approval Trump craved — gave him influence that others in the administration lacked."

The report adds, noting that Ivanka did have a hand in selecting the man who did take the spot, former Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs David Malpass.

You can read more here.

https://www.rawstory.com/ivanka-world-bank/

 

Alaska's biggest hospital to prioritize care for patients who can benefit most
Overwhelmed with COVID-19 cases, the hospital says it is "no longer able to provide the standard of care to each and every patient."

https://www.10tv.com/article/news/h...care/507-a7ed19f7-7264-4736-b98d-76a869989134

stumbler, Today at 9:40 AM
​

Try to follow stumblers link. It talks about Anchorage hospitals and "death panels" (stumlers propaganda)

Hospital Utilization | HHS Protect Public Data Hub
Data reported for week of 9/16/2021
One hospital out of 3 in Anchorage reported they were full. In Anchorage there are 541 available hospital beds, 485 were occupied.
Of ICU beds, 104 available, 94 are occupied.

It also talks about Idaho.
Similar results. Every region in Idaho has and had available hospital beds. No death panels.

It also talks about Iowa.
Same results. Every area of Iowa has beds available.

More propaganda aimed at scaring the shit out of people without reason.

THERE ARE NO DEATH PANELS BECAUSE OF COVID.

 

The whole world enjoyed playing Trump for the fool he is. All any country had to do was flatter Trump and make him feel like a big deal and ye would give them anything they wanted. Incuding being accessory to murder.

Saudi Royal Family Gifted Trump Fake Tiger Furs, Says Report

With an estimated fortune of $110 billion, the Saudi royal family can afford anything it wants—but it seems even the world’s most nefarious billionaires like to save cash when buying gifts out of obligation. The Saudis showered former President Donald Trump with presents during his infamous “glowing orb” visit in 2017, including three robes made with white tiger and cheetah fur. According to The New York Times, the Trump administration clung onto gifts and failed to properly disclose them before they eventually handed them over to the General Services Administration on the final day of Trump’s presidency. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service then ran tests on the furs and determined that they were fake. “Wildlife inspectors and special agents determined the linings of the robes were dyed to mimic tiger and cheetah patterns and were not comprised of protected species,” said Tyler Cherry, a spokesman for the Interior Department. The Saudi Embassy in Washington didn’t take up the chance to explain the embarrassing revelation when contacted by the Times.

Read it at The New York Times


https://www.thedailybeast.com/saudi-royal-family-gifted-trump-fake-tiger-furs-says-report?ref=home

 

Insider is suing the Biden administration for secret Trump and Pence staffing records
Dave Levinthal
Mon, October 11, 2021, 9:29 AM·3 min read
In this article:

President Donald Trump, left, and Vice President Mike Pence, right, are pictured on November 2, 2020. Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty

• 
  Insider filed a lawsuit Monday in federal court against the General Services Administration.
  
  
• The agency withheld names of nine Trump and Pence staffers following Insider's FOIA requests.
  
  
• Insider is asking the court to force the release of records naming the Trump and Pence employees.
  

Insider Inc. is suing the Biden administration to obtain the names of staffers who have this year earned taxpayer-funded paychecks while working for former President Donald Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence.

The lawsuit, filed Monday in the US District Court of the District of Columbia, seeks to compel the General Services Administration to provide the names of nine staffers who worked for Trump and Pence in the months after they left office.

Those staffers continued to serve as federal employees and received federal paychecks for as many as six months after the conclusion of the Trump administration.

Some of them may still be working for Trump in the government-sanctioned Office of the Former President, which Trump is using to advance his political agenda as he hints at another bid for the White House in 2024.

In response to a series of Freedom of Information Act requests from Insider senior correspondent Robin Bravender, the General Services Administration released the names of some staffers who continued to work for Trump and Pence aides, including Trump aides Stephen Miller and Dan Scavino.

The General Services Administration also revealed that several Pence aides, including his former chief of staff Marc Short and former director of strategic initiatives Paul Teller, stayed on the former vice president's team.

But GSA withheld the names of five Trump employees and four Pence employees who worked on the transition, citing a privacy exemption. The agency denied Insider's administrative appeals of this decision, saying that "disclosure of the names would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy" of the Trump and Pence staffers.

Insider argues in its lawsuit that the GSA is incorrect and illegally withholding the requested information.

The "requested records are not exempt under FOIA," Insider says in its complaint. "According to the U.S. Department of Justice's FOIA Guide, 'civilian federal employees who are not involved in law enforcement or sensitive occupations generally have no expectation of privacy regarding their names, titles, grades, salaries, and duty stations as employees.'"

Insider is asking the court to declare that GSA has violated FOIA and to order GSA to produce the names of the Trump and Pence staffers.

"The public has a right to know who is earning a taxpayer-funded salary to work for Donald Trump and Mike Pence, and Insider will continue to fight to obtain that information until it does," Insider Washington Bureau Chief Darren Samuelsohn said.

Headquartered in New York City, Insider Inc. is the global news company behind Insider and Business Insider, with offices and bureaus in London, Singapore, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Washington, DC.


https://www.yahoo.com/news/insider-suing-biden-administration-secret-152926417.html

 

Well of course. It was a great scam for foreign counties to bribe Trump. And for Republican organizations to pour money into Trump's pocket. And he even managed to corrupt the process for the location of the new FBI building to keep it close to his property. But now that Trump's no longer president the hotel is all but empty and the scam is no longer working so time to dump it.

'A symbolic bombshell': Trump family reportedly on the verge of selling off troubled DC hotel

Tom Boggioni
October 12, 2021



(L-R) Eric Trump, Donald Trump Jr., and Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump attend the ground breaking of the Trump International Hotel at the Old Post Office Building in Washington July 23, 2014. REUTERS/Gary Cameron

According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, Donald Trump and his family are close to sealing a deal to sell off the lease of Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C. The report states the deal appears to be for between $370 and $400 million for the hotel that was previously the Old Post Office.

According to the Journal, a Miami-based investment firm known as CGI Merchant Group "is in talks to acquire the lease on the hotel."

"The property is owned by the federal government, but with extensions the lease runs close to 100 years. CGI has also entered into discussions with hotel operators, including Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc.'s Waldorf Astoria luxury brand, about removing the Trump name in favor of that of another hotel manager," the Journal reported.

"The removal of Trump's big, golden name from Pennsylvania Avenue would be a symbolic bombshell savored by opponents," Axios noted earlier this year.

According to the report, two years ago the Trump's were hoping to move the lease for $500 million.

A recent report noted that the hotel has been a big loser for the family, with a House Committee of Oversight and Reform stating it appears to have lost $70 million.

Once a hub for lobbyists and lawmakers, The Washingtonian recently reported it has become a ghost town since Trump lost re-election, with the bar and lobby sitting empty on Friday nights when it used to be packed.

https://www.rawstory.com/trump-hotel-dc-2655281610/

 

Shooter is sure theres a point to stumblers post about trump maybe, perhaps, could be selling his Washington hotel.
Not sure what that would be, but no matter.
Yes, Shooter can see the innuendo about foreign bribes for trump being laundered through the hotel.
And the suggestion that the location of the FBI building was selected based in part on it's relation to the hotel.
And that despicables would happily dance in the streets if the hotel lease were sold, viewing it as comeuppance for the trump family and that fucker trump in particular.

But other than speculation, innuendo, and despicable wet dreams, Shooter fails to see the point.
No matter.

 

The reason this is so laughable is because the proof of everything I said is right on this thread.I know it and you know it.

 

No, there is no proof of what stumbler said about the Washington hotel.
Lots of propaganda, and spin, and lies, and innuendo.
But no proof.
None.
Zip.
Zero.

 

State Department watchdog probing whether Trump aides took gifts meant for foreign officials

The State Department Office of Inspector General is investigating whether aides to former President Trump took gifts meant for foreign officials, according to multiple reports.

The New York Times first reported on Monday that the watchdog is probing allegations that aides took thousands of dollars worth of gift bags that were meant for leaders attending the Group of Seven summit.

The summit was supposed to take place last year in June at Camp David, but the White House canceled it amid the coronavirus pandemic in favor of a virtual summit.

The gift bags contained leather portfolios, pewter trays and marble trinket boxes that had either the presidential seal or Trump’s signature, according to the Times.

The reporting was confirmed by NBC News on Tuesday.

A State Department spokesperson told The Hill that the agency "takes seriously its role in reporting the disposition of certain gifts received by U.S. Government employees. These gifts are the property of the American people and must be accounted for accurately."

"With that responsibility in mind, we conduct the necessary due diligence before filing the required reports with the Federal Register," the spokesperson continued. "As we noted in the most recent report, we are investigating the whereabouts of gifts that are unaccounted for and the circumstances that led to their disappearance."

The State Department’s inspector general had no comment when reached by The Hill.

Politico reported in August that at least 20 types of gifts meant for foreign officials were missing from the department’s vault.


This report came after State revealed in a Federal Register filing that a whiskey bottle given to then-Secretary Mike Pompeo from the Japanese government in 2019 was missing. The bottle was estimated to be worth $5,800.

At the time, Pompeo’s attorney told The Hill that Pompeo did not recall receiving the bottle and was unaware that the inspector general was investigating.

The internal watchdog launched a probe into the missing bottle, The New York Times reported.

https://thehill.com/homenews/admini...tchdog-investigating-whether-trump-aides-took

 

The Saudi royal family gave Jared Kushner gifts worth over $47,000 including 2 swords and a dagger, report says

• The Saudi royal family gave Jared Kushner nearly $48,000 worth of gifts, the NYT reports.
  
  
• Kushner ended up paying for the value of the gifts, which included two swords and a dagger.
  
  
• The Times uncovered the previously undisclosed presents for an investigation published Monday.
  

The Saudi royal family gave Jared Kushner nearly $48,000 worth of gifts including two swords and a dagger, The New York Times reported Monday.

Kushner ended up paying the US government the full $47,920 value that the gifts were worth after he left the White House, The Times said. The value of the items far exceeds the maximum of $415 worth of gifts that US officials are allowed to accept and keep from foreign entities and governments under the Foreign Gifts and Decorations Act.

The swords and dagger were among over 80 presents and tokens the Saudis lavished on Trump and his delegation upon their first visit to the country in 2017, which The Times uncovered as part of a broader investigation into the Trump administration's practices of accepting and disclosing gifts from foreign governments.

The Times also found that the gifts from the Saudi royals included robes which appeared to made from real white tiger and cheetah fur, sparking a warning from the White House counsel's office that keeping them could violate the Endangered Species Act.

The existence of the robes, which the White House didn't disclose until Trump's last day in office, were eventually taken in for inspection by the US Fish and Wildlife Service in summer of 2021, and found to be dyed to look like real cheetah and tiger fur, the Interior Department confirmed to The Times.

Men in Saudi Arabia and Yemen have traditionally worn daggers at their waist. Known as jambiya, the daggers carried in belts typically have a curved blade and a decorated hilt, and are often passed down to young men by older male relatives.

Kushner, former President Donald Trump's son-in-law and a senior White House advisor, took the lead on shaping and executing the White House's Middle East policy with a particular focus on Israel-Palestine relations.

The Trump administration took a decidedly more friendly approach towards Saudi Arabia than its predecessors under former President Barack Obama. Saudi officials devoted significant resources to courting Kushner, given his focus on the Middle East, as an ally to promote their strategic interests and get the White House on their side in disputes in the region.

Kushner himself developed a close relationship with the powerful and ambitious Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, also known as MBS. Kushner got on a first name basis with the Prince Mohammed, with the two frequently messaging and calling eachother on WhatsApp in direct interactions that concerned US national security officials, The Times reported in 2018.

In one fall 2017 trip that Kushner took to Saudi Arabia, the Washington Post's David Ignatius wrote that "the two princes are said to have stayed up until nearly 4 a.m. several nights, swapping stories and planning strategy." The Intercept subsequently reported that Prince Mohammed bragged to the Crown Prince of the United Arab Emirates that he had Kushner "in his pocket."

Kushner maintained the relationship and was one of Crown Prince's most powerful defenders after US intelligence concluded he directly ordered the 2018 assassination of exiled Saudi journalist and Washington Post writer Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey. In a 2020 interview with Newsweek, Kushner said the Prince had made "a couple of missteps" but was still a "very good ally."

https://www.yahoo.com/news/saudi-royal-family-gave-jared-161235896.html

 

Huh.
Sounds like the Trump administration did what other administrations do. Except the Clintons. They had to return stuff they took and didn't pay for.
Shooter had forgotten that.
Thanks for the memories stumbler!

 

Under Trump, Foreign Gifts Went Missing, Unrecorded

Records from the administrations of Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush list no gifts to officials or presidential families unaccounted for

https://home.sparklight.com/news/re...t_missing_unrecorded-rnewsersyn/vendor/Newser