Tag: Trump administration corruption

Trump’s FEMA chief under investigation over use of official cars

The lead disaster official for Hurricane Florence recently clashed with his boss, Homeland Security secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, over travel home to North Carolina.

The actions by Brock Long, the US government’s lead disaster official as the country braces for Hurricane Florence, have been called into question by the inspector general over whether taxpayers have inappropriately footed the bill for his travel. Credit: Chip Somodevilla, Getty Images

Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Brock Long is the target of an ongoing Department of Homeland Security inspector general investigation into whether he misused government vehicles during his commutes to North Carolina from Washington, according to three people familiar with the matter, including current and former administration officials.

The actions by Long, the U.S. government’s lead disaster official as the country braces for Hurricane Florence, have been called into question by the inspector general over whether taxpayers have inappropriately footed the bill for his travel, an issue that has tripped up a number of current and former top Trump administration officials.

Long’s travel habits triggered a clash between him and his boss, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, in recent weeks, clouding their relationship just as senior aides close to President Donald Trump prepared for hurricane season — a task that’s attracted extra scrutiny in the wake of the disaster that befell Puerto Rico in the aftermath of last year’s Hurricane Maria.

View the complete September 13, 2018, article by Daniel Lippman and ELiana Johnson on the Politico website here.

Commerce secretary faces scrutiny for investments, not selling certain holdings

The following article by Steven Mufson was posed on the Washington Post website August 17, 2018:

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross Credit: Manuel Balce Ceneta, AP)

As commerce secretary, Wilbur Ross has met with auto executives who are customers of the company he founded and still had a financial interest in.

He has met with the chief executive of a rail car manufacturer whose board he once sat on and whose shares he still owned.

And according to a Forbes magazine article, even though he owned a $10 million to $50 million stake in the financial firm Invesco, where he had worked, he met with a board member of the Qatar Investment Authority, a sovereign wealth fund that had given Ross’s former firm money to manage.

View the complete article here.

New Details About Wilbur Ross’ Business Point To Pattern Of Grifting

The following article by Dan Alexander was posted on the Forbes.com website August 7, 2018:

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross Credit: Andrew Harrer, Bloomberg News

A multimillion-dollar lawsuit has been quietly making its way through the New York State court system over the last three years, pitting a private equity manager named David Storper against his former boss: Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross. The pair worked side by side for more than a decade, eventually at the firm, WL Ross & Co.—where, Storper later alleged, Ross stole his interests in a private equity fund, transferred them to himself, then tried to cover it up with bogus paperwork. Two weeks ago, just before the start of a trial with $4 million on the line, Ross and Storper agreed to a confidential settlement, whose existence has never been reported and whose terms remain secret.

It is difficult to imagine the possibility that a man like Ross, who Forbes estimates is worth some $700 million, might steal a few million from one of his business partners. Unless you have heard enough stories about Ross. Two former WL Ross colleagues remember the commerce secretary taking handfuls of Sweet’N Low packets from a nearby restaurant, so he didn’t have to go out and buy some for himself. One says workers at his house in the Hamptons used to call the office, claiming Ross had not paid them for their work. Another two people said Ross once pledged $1 million to a charity, then never paid. A commerce official called the tales “petty nonsense,” and added that Ross does not put sweetener in his coffee.   Continue reading “New Details About Wilbur Ross’ Business Point To Pattern Of Grifting”

Federal Contractors Made Illegal Pro-Trump Super PAC Contributions, Complaint Says

The following article by Stephanie Akin was posted on the Roll Call website August 1, 2018:

Watchdog group wants FEC to investigate

Tourists from North Carolina don “Make America Great Again” hats in the Capitol Rotunda in March 2017. Credit: Tom Williams, CQ Roll Call file photo)

Updated 8:43 p.m. | A politically connected contractor made a $500,000 contribution this spring to a pro-Trump super PAC the day after it received a payment of almost the same amount as part of a Department of Defense contract, a watchdog group said.

The Campaign Legal Center flagged that contribution and a $50,000 contribution from another company to a super PAC supporting Florida Gov. Rick Scott’s Senate campaign, in separate complaints to the Federal Election Commission filed Wednesday afternoon.

The donations represent rare violations of a 75-year-old ban on campaign contributions from federal contractors, said Brendan Fischer, director of the federal reform program at the Campaign Legal Center.

View the complete article here.

Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh piled up credit card debt by purchasing Nationals tickets, White House says

The following article by Amy Brittain was posted on the Washington Post website July 11, 2018:

The Post’s Robert Barnes explains some of the factors that could influence whether Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh is confirmed. (Video: Monica Akhtar/Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh incurred tens of thousands of dollars of credit card debt buying baseball tickets over the past decade and at times reported liabilities that could have exceeded the value of his cash accounts and investment assets, according to a review of Kavanaugh’s financial disclosures and information provided by the White House.

White House spokesman Raj Shah told The Washington Post that Kavanaugh built up the debt by buying Washington Nationals season tickets and tickets for playoff games for himself and a “handful” of friends. Shah said some of the debts were also for home improvements.

In 2016, Kavanaugh reported having between $60,000 and $200,000 in debt accrued over three credit cards and a loan. Each credit card held between $15,000 and $50,000 in debt, and a Thrift Savings Plan loan was between $15,000 and $50,000.

View the complete article on the Washington Post website here.

Trump’s dumbfounding bet on Scott Pruitt

The following article by Aaron Blake was posted on the Washington Post website July 6, 2018:

The Fix’s Aaron Blake breaks down why President Trump supported scandal-plagued EPA administrator Scott Pruitt for so long. (Video: Jenny Starrs/Photo: Melina Mara/The Washington Post)

This post has been updated.

The business of politics is often a cost-benefit analysis, if not outright gambling. People have a certain amount of political capital, comprising their base of support and internal favors, and they get to choose when and where to spend it — with no telling how their decisions will pan out or how much of a return, if any, they will reap.

Scott Pruitt was both a bad business decision and a horrible political gamble. Yet the White House kept throwing good money after bad on that bet. As indictments of Trump’s political decisions and acumen go, Pruitt ranks extremely high.

Put plainly: The White House for some reason thought this might get better, even as it was pretty clear to everyone outside 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. that Pruitt’s blatant indifference to ethical concerns ensured that it never would.

View the full article on the Washington Post website here.

Scott Pruitt resigns from EPA

The following article by lauren Meier and Haley Britzky was posted on the Axios website July 5, 2018:

Credit: Kaster, AP Photo

Environmental Protection Agency head Scott Pruitt has resigned following months of bizarre scandals.

President Trump quickly tweeted that he accepted his resignation, thanking him for his time with the agency, adding that “the future of the EPA is very bright!” Deputy Administrator Andrew Wheeler, a former coal lobbyist and top aide to Oklahoma Sen. Jim Inhofe, will take over as head of the EPA.

Continue reading “Scott Pruitt resigns from EPA”

Today, int Trump’s America: Scott Pruitt faces yet more allegations of ethical misconduct

The following article by Emily C. Singer was posted on the Mic.com website July 3, 2018:

About last night: The hits just keep on coming for EPA administrator Scott Pruitt

Every time a new bombshell drops on Environmental Protection Agency administrator Scott Pruitt, it’s hard to believe the scandal around him could get any bigger.

And yet, it consistently grows.

Multiple stories dropped Monday afternoon alleging yet more inappropriate behavior by Pruitt. The Washington Post reported that Pruitt asked a former policy aide to get his wife a job as a fundraiser for the Republican Attorneys General Association, where he wanted her to earn at least $200,000.

View the full article on the Mic.com website here.

Whistleblower: EPA’s Pruitt kept secret calendar to hide meetings

The following article by Scott Bronstein, Curt Devine and Drew Griffin was posted on the CNN website July 3, 2018:

(CNN) — EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt and his aides have kept “secret” calendars and schedules to overtly hide controversial meetings or calls with industry representatives and others, according to a former EPA official who is expected to soon testify before Congress. A review of EPA documents by CNN found discrepancies between Pruitt’s official calendar and other records.

EPA staffers met routinely in Pruitt’s office to “scrub,” alter or remove from Pruitt’s official calendar numerous records because they might “look bad,” according to Kevin Chmielewski, Pruitt’s former deputy chief of staff for operations, who attended the meetings.
A CNN review which compared Pruitt’s public calendar with internal EPA schedules and emails shows more than two dozen meetings, events or calls were omitted from his public calendar.

View the complete article on the CNN website here.

These Trump Staffers — Including an ex-NRA Lobbyist — Left Their Financial Disclosure Forms Blank

The following article by Gabriel Sandoval was posted on the ProPublica website June 28, 2018:

The Interior Department acknowledges that many of its employees’ forms “were not reviewed and certified properly.”

Before accepting a position at the U.S. Department of the Interior last October, Benjamin Cassidy championed gun rights for nearly seven years as a lobbyist for the National Rifle Association, collecting a peak annual salary of $288,333 for his work on Capitol Hill.

The public wouldn’t know that by looking at Cassidy’s government financial disclosure report. The form, which he filed soon after taking a job as senior deputy director of the office of intergovernmental and external affairs, doesn’t list his old job at the NRA — or any past job, for that matter. Cassidy’s form was nearly blank, save for his name, title and some bank holdings and investments. In the space allotted to show his income, it incorrectly stated “None.”

Benjamin Cassidy’s Financial Disclosure Report

BENJAMIN CASSIDY’S 2017 DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE REPORT (p. 2)
Selected portion of a source document hosted by DocumentCloud
Benjamin Cassidy, senior deputy director of the office of intergovernmental and external affairs, doesn’t list his old job as a lobbyist for the National Rifle Association.
View the entire document with DocumentCloud

Continue reading “These Trump Staffers — Including an ex-NRA Lobbyist — Left Their Financial Disclosure Forms Blank”