Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The republican caucus is covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

I like you, you’re my kind of trouble.

If you cannot answer whether trump lost the 2020 election, you are unfit for office.

‘Museums aren’t America’s attic for its racist shit.’

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

Every one of the “Roberts Six” lied to get on the court.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

It’s not hopeless, and we’re not helpless.

“But what about the lurkers?”

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

I really should read my own blog.

ha ha ha! Nice try weird people.

Donald Jessica Trump found guilty as fuck – May 30, 2024!

Dear media: perhaps we ought to let Donald Trump speak for himself!

You can’t love your country only when you win.

After dobbs, women are no longer free.

Meanwhile over at truth Social, the former president is busy confessing to crimes.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the gop

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

Not all heroes wear capes.

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / Open Thread: Oh, Look, Another GOP (Alleged) Felon!

Open Thread: Oh, Look, Another GOP (Alleged) Felon!

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Can’t throw an ore-bearing rock around the Peepot Dome Gang without hitting one. From the NYTimes, “Investigation Intensifies Into Top Trump Fund-raiser”:

Federal prosecutors have intensified their wide-ranging federal investigation into Elliott Broidy, a top fund-raiser for President Trump, signaling the Justice Department’s continued interest in questions about foreign influence on the administration.

In recent months, federal authorities have searched Mr. Broidy’s Southern California office and subpoenaed records related to him from a onetime business partner and from Mr. Trump’s inaugural committee. They have reportedly asked the authorities in Romania for assistance investigating associates with whom Mr. Broidy worked to win military intelligence contracts potentially worth as much as $64 million.

They have also charged four people who worked with Mr. Broidy on plans to influence the administration, including on behalf of interests in Asia, the Middle East and Europe. While the charges against three of his associates were unrelated to their work with Mr. Broidy, most have been asked about their relationships with him, according to several people familiar with the investigation.

Taken together, the steps suggest mounting pressure on Mr. Broidy. And they underscore the legal questions raised by his efforts to parlay his access into business advantage in the frenetic weeks after Mr. Trump’s election, and then to influence the new administration’s policies toward the Middle East, where he was pursuing contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

The scrutiny comes as the Justice Department has stepped up its enforcement of foreign lobbying laws and continues to investigate whether foreign money was illegally funneled into Mr. Trump’s super PAC or inaugural committee.

Mr. Broidy’s lawyers have contended that he did not do anything that would require him to lobby. One of the lawyers, Chris Clark, said in an email on Monday that he dismissed as “utterly false” the idea that his client used his connections to Mr. Trump to drum up business…

We never had to *ask*, Your Honor. Once we’d inserted our guy into office, we could count on him doing what was best for The (GOP) Family…

The AP story is more painstaking with the details:

… Broidy, a 61-year-old Los Angeles businessman, made a fortune in investments before moving into defense contracting and has played prominent roles in GOP fundraising, including as finance chairman of the Republican National Committee from 2006 to 2008 and vice chair of the Trump Victory Committee in 2016.

But there have been problems along the way. In 2009, investigators looked into the New York state pension fund’s decision to invest $250 million with Broidy and found he had plied state officials with nearly $1 million in illegal gifts. Broidy pleaded guilty to a felony but it was later knocked down to a misdemeanor after he agreed to cooperate with prosecutors and pay back $18 million in management fees.

Another scandal came last year when Broidy stepped down as deputy finance chair of the RNC after reports that he agreed to pay $1.6 million as part of a confidentiality agreement to a former Playboy model with whom he had an affair. That payment was arranged in 2017 by Trump’s longtime lawyer Michael Cohen.

In the Brooklyn federal probe, Broidy’s is the first name listed in the grand jury subpoena, followed by his Los Angeles investment firm and four limited liability companies linked to him.

It also sought records related to George Nader, a Broidy associate who served as an adviser to the United Arab Emirates, provided grand jury testimony to special counsel Robert Mueller and was recently jailed on federal child pornography charges…

Reader Interactions

61Comments

  2. 2.

    Gin & Tonic

    he had plied state officials with nearly $1 million in illegal gifts

    I had a sales guy offer me a Yeti coffee mug (retail value $24.99) as part of a software contract negotiation. I ignored the offer and debated for a day whether I needed to report the offer to our VP of IT.

    I guess I’m not cut out to be a Republican.

  3. 3.

    lamh36

    73 years WOW!

    @wsbtv
    ·
    Jul 7
    Happy anniversary, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter! The former president and first lady have been married for 73 years! (link: http://2wsb.tv/2JrVEi4) 2wsb.tv/2JrVEi4

  4. 4.

    Quantumman

    Off topic. Hearing tomorrow on big ACA case. Could result in ACA being declared unconstitutional. IANAL, so any legal folks want to comment on this?

  5. 5.

    lamh36

    Ugh…this stupid…word that rhymes w/twitch…smh

    I thought she was quitting The View anyway..

    @shannonrwatts
    Meghan McCain: “My version of marriage counseling is drinking Jack Daniels, shooting some guns and hanging out.”

    For too many women in America, alcohol mixed with guns is their version of domestic gun violence, which kills 50+ US women each month.

    https://twitter.com/shannonrwatts/status/1148374246038487040?s=20

  7. 7.

    Baud

    Sen. Elizabeth Warren placed a big bet a few months ago: In a sprawling field of two dozen Democratic presidential hopefuls, and without a tested grass-roots fundraising machine, she pledged not to court wealthy donors who could boost her candidacy with big checks.

    That bet has paid off, at least for now, as Warren’s campaign announced Monday she had raised $19.1 million in the second quarter of 2019 — a significant sum that secures her spot as a competitive candidate in the top tier of the primary field.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/warrens-19-million-haul-highlights-big-fundraising-quarter-for-democrats/2019/07/08/567dfc64-a19d-11e9-bd56-eac6bb02d01d_story.html

  8. 8.

    Baud

    In the summer of 2017, Arizona developer Mike Ingram’s proposed housing and golf course project in the desert was facing a road block because of a decision by the Department of the Interior.

    A field supervisor for the US Fish and Wildlife Service had determined that it was “reasonably certain” that threatened and endangered species could be harmed.

    But that decision suddenly changed following a secret breakfast meeting at a Montana hunting lodge between Ingram — a donor to President Donald Trump and co-owner of the Arizona Diamondbacks — and David Bernhardt, then the Trump administration’s deputy Interior secretary.

    https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/08/politics/interior-department-arizona-development-bernhardt/index.html

  11. 11.

    Keith P.

    @lamh36: If memory serves, Cy Vance was also the guy who decided not to go after the Jr & Ivanka for fraud(?) several years go….in typical Trump fashion, they lied about their property to attract buyers.

  13. 13.

    Steeplejack

    Okay, Joy Reid subbing for Rachel Maddow. Nice change of pace. She’s starting with l’affaire Epstein.

  14. 14.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Keith P.: Your memory is correct. Rich and powerful and eager to donate to Cy Vance’s re-election campaign make for a cloak of magic resistance.

  15. 15.

    Keith P.

    @Gin & Tonic: I’m starting to think about all the crazy theories about these cases, but I’m starting to wonder if Jeffrey Epstein is like Sonny Shine from “Happy!”, where his entire career is due to a massive library of blackmail on famous people. Unlikely but it’s still much more likely than shit like Pizzagate.
    I mean, all kinds of shit could fit in here….remember when Trump kept talking about some super-rich friend of his who complained about how bad Paris has gotten due to immigration? Where did Epstein *just* come from vacation?

  18. 18.

    trollhattan

    Kiddo got on her flight home from Germany a few hours ago and texted Brandi Chastain is on the plane. Hope she overcomes her shyness and says “Hi.”

    Can’t wait to see her, it’s been three long weeks.

  20. 20.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Keith P.: @Gin & Tonic: for… $25K? Or was it $50K? Either way, seems to me as simple internet rando to be a pretty cheap pay off for such a prominent office, I thought. Of course, Vance might have seen that as a first installment.

  21. 21.

    NotMax

    @Keith P.

    As he was arrested upon landing at an airport used primarily for small and private planes, his pilot must have access to a treasure trove of info.

  22. 22.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @trollhattan: Did your kid recognize Chastain? I find it hard to do that when people are out of context, but I guess women’s soccer is in the front of everyone’s minds right now.

    Kiddo’s flight must land pretty soon. She’ll be beat!

  23. 23.

    Keith P.

    @NotMax: I forgot the other bonus – this Epstein episode is more likely than not to end Alan Dershowitz’ career, even on Fox News. He’s been fighting given testimony harder than just about anyone else for years now.

  26. 26.

    Sebastian

    @Keith P.:

    That’s not a theory but proven fact. There was a mediaroom under the stairs (in the staircase itself). Everything was recorded.

    Let me see if I can find it. Might take a bit.

  27. 27.

    trollhattan

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:
    She’s a soccer girl and traveling with a group, so either it’s her or some blonde lady who will be handling some odd interactions.

    Makes a certain amount of sense given many former USWNT players were at the finals and I’ll be all the flights from France to the States were booked.

    She will be borked, bonked, zonked but glad to see her own bed after three weeks.

    ETA three years ago she met Christie Rampone and even got to hold one of her Olympic gold and WWC gold medals. Dream the dream.

  28. 28.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Another scandal came last year when Broidy stepped down as deputy finance chair of the RNC after reports that he agreed to pay $1.6 million as part of a confidentiality agreement to a former Playboy model with whom he had an affair. That payment was arranged in 2017 by Trump’s longtime lawyer Michael Cohen.

    The sordidity.

  30. 30.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Justin Sink @ justinsink
    that’s patriots owner robert kraft (!) at the same table as the president at tonight’s dinner for the emir of qatar

    Elliott Broidy: I should be at that table!

    Me: you’d fit right in

  31. 31.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @lamh36:

    Meghan McCain: “My version of marriage counseling is drinking Jack Daniels, shooting some guns and hanging out.”

    Really? REALLY? Meghan McFuckingMcCain is fucking joking about booze and firearms? As fucking marriage counselling??

    Please, someone, just take this woman away. Jesus H. Christ.

  32. 32.

    mad citizen

    “the Peepot Dome Gang” I LOVE this name. Instead of the banal -gate suffix to our current scandal names, go back to a big one from the 1920s–yes! I listened to an audiobook on Teapot Dome last year so am quite familiar with that Republican widespread corruption scandal.

  35. 35.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @SiubhanDuinne: tough-talkin’ non-snowflake regular gal, ready to hang with the boys, shoot some rats down at the dump (or at the compost heap on the outer perimeter of the compound Mummy bought with some fraction of the $200-odd million grandpapa gave her) and knock back some rotgut with the boys, to recover from a long week of having her publicists whine to reporters that her unearned sinecure on a media outlet is just too hard for her because some of those women show her no deference! They. Talk. Back! These nobodies who nobody even knows who their fathers are!

    as twitter Nixon observed, it is apparently possible to have negative self-awareness

  37. 37.

    Kay

    Seung Min Kim
    ‏Verified account
    @seungminkim
    3h3 hours ago
    More Seung Min Kim Retweeted Tim Kaine
    Kaine was the sole member of the Senate HELP committee to ask Acosta explicitly about the Epstein plea deal during his confirmation hearing.

    Too bad we passed on one of the few decent people and hired the worst applicants.

    Have to stop doing that. Not a good idea, and not one you get away with forever. It starts to show. That’s what we’re seeing. Too much garbage and rot to cover up.

  38. 38.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Also, I think I would not like to be Ben Domenech.

    Well, obvs, for a lot of reasons, but mostly to do with having to be married to Meghan McHarridan McTermagant.

  40. 40.

    MisterForkbeard

    @SiubhanDuinne: Hey now, “Ignoring real problems in favor a jingoistic and dumb solution that makes things much worse for everyone” is exactly on brand for McCain and the rest of the Reoublican Party.

  41. 41.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @SiubhanDuinne: apparently, Mr Meghan is very sensitive about the question, ‘who funds the Federalist?’. I’m not sure why, and I am in fact only vaguely aware of what The Federalist is, other than a website that posts just about anything from anyone on the right, from the NeverTrumpers to that ridiculous Mollie Hemingway person. But I do wonder if Mother McCain couldn’t do it with the loose change the maids find in the couch cushions of the eleven, or is it twelve?, homes. How much does it cost to post the drivel of the emo-cons?

  42. 42.

    Kay

    Eliana Johnson
    ‏Verified account
    @elianayjohnson
    2h2 hours ago
    More
    Dems more or less pass on the chance to call for Acosta’s resignation via ⁦@burgessev⁩ ⁦@marianne_levine⁩: “Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who opposed Acosta, had no comment” –

    Can we get some information on how and why Chuck Schumer is somehow being held hostage by Donald Trump?

    WTF is wrong with him? Can he step down and figure it out? This has been going on for two years. Trump has him under a gag order or something. I want someone else to step in. We can’t afford to indulge whatever this relationship he has with Trump right now. He’s worse than useless. He’s an impediment.

  46. 46.

    Keith P.

    @Gin & Tonic: I figured that his inability to get Mike Tyson, the most famous athlete on the planet at the time, an acquittal on a rape case IN THE 90s would have done the trick.

  47. 47.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Barr is vowing to do everything he can to block Mueller staffers from testifying. IANAL, but I wonder on what grounds, or if he could stop him if the ‘angry Democrats’– known on planet Earth as people who took an oath to defend the Constitution– wanted to.

    Joyce Alene @ JoyceWhiteVance
    Barr might not relish the notion of Mueller testifying, but calling it a “public spectacle” displays a level of fear that’s consistent with the man who mischaracterized the report’s findings realizing the man who wrote it will finally get his day in court.

    Whoever it was at the AP who picked that photo was having a bit of fun.

    I do wish Joyce Vance had used the words “lied about” instead of “mischaracterized”, but she is AL.

  49. 49.

    Dan B

    @Kay: Concur about Schumer. Is it financiers that have him on a short leash? What percentage of the top 10 % need to be corrupt to destroy a country? The number of pervs and predators under a cloud is frighteningly large.

  50. 50.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Huh, Cy Vance is even cheaper a crook than I thought. I wonder how gaudy his patter?

    Norman Ornstein @ NormOrnstein
    The same Cy Vance who let Ivanka and Don Jr off the hook despite clear evidence and then got a $10,000 campaign contribution from Trump lawyer Kasowitz. He does not belong in office.

  52. 52.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Shalimar:

    Domenech claims he is married to Meghan, but he has a long history of taking credit for other people’s work.

    WINESPIT!

  53. 53.

    joel hanes

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Broidy … [allegedly] agreed to pay $1.6 million as part of a confidentiality agreement to a former Playboy model with whom he had an affair.

    Yeah, Broidy was on of Cohen’s three clients, right? And the other was Hannity?
    And no one knows what Cohen did for Hannity? Is that still true?

    Completely without evidence, I have always suspected that Broidy’s alleged hush-money to the Playboy model was, in fact, Broidy taking the heat for one of The Donald’s bits of philadendering, as a favor for which Broidy expected to be repaid in access and influence.

  54. 54.

    Matt McIrvin

    I remember Paul Campos at LGM was obsessed with the theory that Broidy’s mistress wasn’t his at all but Donald Trump’s, and Broidy was really paying her off on his behalf. There doesn’t seem to have been anything to it.

  55. 55.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Al Arabiya English @ AlArabiya_Eng
    Britain’s trade minister said he would apologize to US President Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka for a leak of confidential memos in which the UK ambassador describes the US administration as “dysfunctional” and “inept”.

    A Republic… if we can keep it.

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