Tag: Trump grift

Trump cannot block grand jury subpoena for his tax returns, court rules

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A federal appeals court on Wednesday ruled that President Trump cannot block enforcement of a New York grand jury subpoena for eight years of his tax returns.

The ruling, from a three-judge panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit, affirms a federal judge’s decision in August that rejected Trump’s claims that the subpoena from Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. was overly broad and issued in bad faith.

The parties have agreed to temporarily halt enforcement of the subpoena. Continue reading.

Unanswered questions about Trump’s finances after NYT report

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A bombshell report by The New York Times last week shed new light on President Trump’s taxes, but there is much that is still unknown about his finances.

The Times examined records that included data from Trump’s tax returns for 2000 to 2017 and reported that the president did not pay any federal income taxes for 11 of those years, in part because he had significant business losses.

But Trump’s tax returns can’t provide a complete picture of his financial situation. They don’t include a person’s net worth and often don’t require the names of any lenders. Continue reading.

Room rentals, resort fees and furniture removal: How Trump’s company charged the U.S. government more than $900,000

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The Secret Service had asked for a room close to the president. But Mar-a-Lago said it was too late. The room was booked. Would agents like a room across the street from the president, instead?

“I do have a Beach Cabana available,” a staff member at President Trump’s club in Palm Beach, Fla., wrote in March 2017 to a Secret Service agent seeking rooms for the upcoming weekend. “Across the street at the Beach Club, North end of the pool.”

The next time, the Secret Service didn’t take the same risk. It paid Mar-a-Lago to book rooms for two weeks at a time — locking them up before the club could rent them to others, according to newly released records and emails. Continue reading.

Trump’s campaign paid $2.3 million in donor funds to his private businesses: FEC filings

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When Donald Trump ran for president in 2016, he promised to “drain the swamp” and declare war on crony capitalism — and he insisted that if he was elected, there would be a strict separation between his presidency and his business interests. But Dan Alexander, in Forbes, reports that according to Federal Election Commission filings, Trump’s campaign has so far paid $2.3 million in campaign funds to his private businesses.

“The most recent expenses look familiar,” Alexander notes. “The president accepted $38,000 in rent last month through Trump Tower Commercial LLC, the entity that owns his Fifth Avenue skyscraper.”

In July, according to the FEC filings, Trump’s campaign paid $8000 to the Trump Corporation for “legal and IT consulting.” And Trump’s campaign also coordinated with the Republican National Committee to pay Trump Tower Commercial LLC $225,000.

In July, the FEC filings show, Trump Hotel Collection received $1000 from his campaign. And some of the $2.3 million went to Trump Restaurants LLC. Continue reading.

Trump’s D.C. Hotel Jacked Up Its Prices as Trump Began Plotting a D.C.-Based Convention

The president hasn’t committed to giving his acceptance speech at the White House. But his nearby hotel has conspicuously begun charging way more for the weekend it’s scheduled.

As President Donald Trump hints that he plans to deliver his nomination speech from the White House on Aug. 27, the hotel bearing his name down the street is making a power play of its own: spiking its room rates by more than 60 percent for those convention dates. 

Listings for rooms at the Trump International Hotel in D.C., via Hotels.com, show rooms for one adult on the night of the address starting at $795 and running as high as $2,070.

That price tag represents a massive increase from the $495 starting rate currently offered for the dates one week following and one week prior. For three days before Trump’s scheduled speech—which were originally scheduled to be the dates of the GOP convention in Charlotte, North Carolina—the hotel is charging $695 a night for its cheapest room. The hotel will begin charging $795 that Thursday, and continue through the weekend, before dropping back to $495 on Monday. Continue reading.

Another Trip To Bedminster Means More Taxpayer And Donor Money In Trump’s Pocket

The president is back at his New Jersey golf resort, bringing his taxpayer-paid golf tab to $142 million.

WASHINGTON ― President Donald Trump returned to his New Jersey golf course Friday to host a campaign event, meaning yet more donor and tax dollars flowing into his own cash registers.

New York City’s police union is set to endorse Trump’s reelection at his Bedminster resort Friday evening, allowing it to charge Trump’s campaign for the rental of the meeting space and catering. Taxpayers, meanwhile, must pay for rooms and food for Secret Service agents and other staff during his stay.

Neither the Trump campaign nor the Trump Organization, his family business that runs his hotels and golf resorts, responded to HuffPost queries about how much the campaign would be charged for Friday’s event. Continue reading.

Here’s what the location of the FBI headquarters has to do with Congress’ $1 trillion coronavirus relief bill

The great problem of legislation is, so to organize the civil government of a community . . . that in the operations of human institutions upon social action, self-love and social may be made the same.
— John Quincy Adams, Society and Civilization

AlterNet logoHerewith the questions of the week for savvy readers to ponder and, perhaps, answer.

What is, as of this writing, one of the Trump-inspired provisions in the $1 trillion coronavirus relief bill that, to Mitch McConnell’s surprise, has been included? Here’s a hint: the location of a government building.

Here is the next question: which government building? Here is the answer: the FBI headquarters. They are now located catty corner across from Trump International Hotel on Pennsylvania Ave. NW in D.C. Continue reading.

GOP under fire for slipping $30 billion Pentagon gift into coronavirus relief bill

AlterNet logoIn a floor speech late Monday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell described the GOP’s newly released coronavirus stimulus package as a “carefully tailored” plan to provide financial relief to desperate Americans.

But a look at the legislative text (pdf) released by Senate Republicans shows the HEALS Act is replete with massive gifts to the Pentagon and defense contractors that would do nothing to aid the unemployed, provide nutrition assistance to hungry children, prevent an avalanche of evictions, or stop the spread of coronavirus.

“Last time I checked F-35s don’t help families pay their bills,” Rep. Chuy García (D-Ill.) tweeted in response to the GOP’s proposal of $686 million in spending on new fighter jets. Continue reading.

McConnell, GOP Senators Come Out Against Trump Plan To Use Covid-19 Funds For FBI Building

Adding funding to rehab the FBI building to the Senate COVID funding bill? It’s all to prevent another hotel from moving in and competing with Trump International DC. Wow.

TOPLINE:  Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and other Republican Senators have joined with Democrats to oppose a Trump administration proposal to allocate $1.75 billion in coronavirus relief funds for a new FBI headquarters, with Republicans saying it was included at the administration’s insistence and Democrats alleging the move is aimed at boosting Trump’s D.C. hotel.

KEY FACTS

  • Trump has previously intervened in plans to build a new FBI headquarters in the Washington, D.C. suburbs, with his administration instead proposing to build it at the site of the crumbling J. Edgar Hoover building in downtown D.C., just across from the Trump International Hotel.
  • The Senate GOP’s new coronavirus stimulus proposal includes $1.75 billion “for the design and construction of a Washington, DC headquarters facility for the Federal Bureau of Investigation.”
  • “There is no question that the President stands to gain financially by keeping the FBI in its existing building and blocking any competition for the Trump Hotel from being developed there,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) said in a statement. Continue reading.

Trump has made it very, very easy to believe he tried to leverage his position to benefit his golf club

Washington Post logoEvery three months, the White House makes an ostentatious presentation of President Trump donating his salary to a government agency or department. In early March, he donated his $100,000 quarterly salary to the Department of Health and Human Services “to support the efforts being undertaken to confront, contain and combat coronavirus.” The amount was equivalent to 0.000008 percent of the agency’s annual budget.

There is income that Trump does accept, of course: income from his stake in the Trump Organization. He earned nearly half a billion dollars in both 2018 and 2019, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, most of it from his private company. While the presidency occupies Trump’s time, the Trump Organization continues to line his pockets.

This unprecedented situation is so well established by now that it barely attracts attention when Trump’s two employers are in conflict or overlap. He spends so much time at Trump properties that, when he leaves the White House early on a Saturday morning, there’s generally no question where he’s headed: to his golf club in Sterling, Va. He has gone there on average about once every two weeks since he took office. It’s just background noise. Continue reading.