Congress should delve into Trump’s latest partnership with Saudis
News broke on Monday that special counsel Jack Smith subpoenaed the Trump Organization for financial information concerning deals it made with seven foreign countries as part of the investigation into classified documents found in the former president's Mar-a-Lago home.
As the report landed and sparked speculation that he might even be suspected of trying to make money from the documents, the man himself was bragging about his new Saudi-connected golf tournament.
"There is going to be great energy at the LIV Golf Tournament at @TrumpWashingtonDC this weekend," he said on Truth Social. The golf course is actually in Virginia. "Join me in watching incredible players including Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, Cam Smith, Sergio Garcia, and so many more."
"The Republican-led House Oversight Committee has spent most of the past five months hard at work trying to link 'the Biden family' (read: relatives of President Biden but not Biden himself) to millions of dollars proffered by foreign business interests before Biden became president," wrote Philip Bump of the Washington Post.
"With the 2024 presidential campaign already at the top of the political conversation, the idea that some revelation might prove to be politically damaging to the incumbent is obviously a central motivation."
He noted that one would think the committee would be interested if a Democratic front-runner was raking in dough from a foreign business linked to a foreign leader. It might be especially concerning if the foreign leader had also been "implicated by U.S. intelligence in the murder of a journalist."
But when it comes to Donald Trump, the House Oversight Committee couldn't possibly care less, Bump said. "But all of that is true of Donald Trump, not Joe Biden, so no hearings should be expected."
The LIV Golf empire is a group of tournaments with "a well-paid coterie of golfers" that is paid by the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), which is run by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. It's the same man who also reportedly gave Trump's son-in-law $2 billion.
"Mohammed, you will recall, was identified by U.S. intelligence officials as having approved the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi," wrote Bump.
He cited a federal judge who presided over a lawsuit filed by LIV against the Professional Golfers' Association.
“It is plain that PIF is not a mere investor in LIV,” U.S. District Judge Susan van Keulen wrote. “it is the moving force behind the founding, funding, oversight, and operation of LIV.”
The New York Times also reported that LIV isn’t likely to be a good financial investment for the PIF. But it's making Donald Trump a lot of money. The implication is that the former president is cashing in on what he did for the Saudis while in the White House. Now that the DOJ is investigating the foreign Trump businesses surrounding the documents scandal, a former DOJ official questioned whether the Saudis also scored some government intelligence out of the deal too.
The first LIV tournament was at Trump's New Jersey golf course, where families of those killed in the Sept. 11 attacks demanded the event be scrapped. Many of the hijackers were tied back to Saudi Arabia, according to the 9/11 Commission report. When asked about the protests, Trump told the Wall Street Journal: “I don’t know much about the 9/11 families."
But LIV is the only option that Trump has because the PGA reportedly didn't want to be linked to the man being investigated for his alleged role in attempting to overturn the 2020 election.
"If only there were an institution within the federal government interested in publicly policing sketchy relationships between presidential candidates and foreign entities! Alas, there doesn’t appear to be," Bump complained, implying that the Justice Department isn't interested
Read the full column at the Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/05/24/trump-saudis-golf-republicans/Alvin Bragg's secret weapon against Trump revealed by legal experts
For weeks, a mystery has surrounded Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's business fraud charges against former President Donald Trump. To enhance the charges from misdemeanors to felonies, Bragg has to establish that the fraud was done to conceal another, underlying crime.
But he hasn't revealed what that crime actually is, and has declined to provide a "bill of particulars" on request of Trump's legal team — something that Trump's allies have been quick to claim is proof the whole case is illegitimate.
But now, as several legal experts including Paula Junghans, Norm Eisen, Siven Watt, Joshua Stanton, and Fred Wertheimer write for Just Security, there are clear hints of what Bragg's legal basis is — and they say it's strong.
"The main facts of the case have been known for some time," they wrote. "DA Bragg alleges that, in October 2016, Trump had attorney Michael Cohen pay adult film actress Stormy Daniels (whose real name is Stephanie Clifford) a $130,000 payment to prevent her from publicizing an alleged sexual encounter she had with Trump.
"To conceal the hush money payment, it was agreed that Cohen would make the payment to Daniels via a shell company (Essential Consultants), on the agreement that Trump would later reimburse Cohen."
What ties this all together, they wrote – and what likely allows for the felony enhancement – is violations of tax law. And there are not just state statutes that apply here, but federal ones.
"Because Bragg’s response to the request for a bill of particulars leaves open the door that other offenses than those listed might also serve as the 'bump-up' predicates to the falsifying business records charges, in addition to New York state tax statutes, we also consider the possibility that prosecutors will attempt to leverage federal tax offenses for this purpose," they wrote.
"Two statutes appear most relevant: Declaration under Penalties of Perjury (26 U.S.C. 7206(1)), and Willful Assistance in Preparation of False or Fraudulent Tax Documents (26 U.S.C. 7206(2))."
In essence, these crimes involve deliberately misrepresenting finances on tax documents with intent to defraud the state. Some of these tax crimes are misdemeanors — but that doesn't matter, because business fraud to cover up a misdemeanor is still a felony.
"Whatever the effectiveness of such a bump-up based on the alleged primary campaign finance violations, pursuing an approach based upon state tax violations is wise and well grounded," they concluded.
"The strongest case involves statements to tax authorities falsely characterizing the payments to Michael Cohen as “legal fees,” rather than their true nature (reimbursements for a hush money payment). A strong case could also involve other variations on state criminal tax violations, as well as possible federal ones."
AFP'Trump team clearly expects charges' with Merrick Garland letter: MSNBC's Lemire
Donald Trump's lawyers sent a letter requesting a meeting with attorney general Merrick Garland, which MSNBC's Jonathan Lemire said was a signal that charges were imminent.
The former president posted a copy of the letter on his Truth Social website complaining special counsel Jack Smith's probe was unfair and unprecedented, but Lemire told "Morning Joe" their demand for the investigation's end was basically standard procedure in a criminal case.
"That's where this investigation is going to be about," Lemire said, referring to possible obstruction of justice. "[President Joe] Biden and [former vice president Mike] Pence also were found to have documents, the difference being they gave them right back and the Trump camp most certainly did not. Here's a question about whether or not they're worried about this, Trump posted to Truth Social last night a letter that his lawyers sent to Merrick Garland requesting a meeting about this, about [the] special counsel's investigation."
"The letter itself is full of bluster and whataboutisms, but here's the key: This is, in some ways, standard procedure," Lemire added. "It's sort of the last step before charges, when the lawyers for the defendant go talk to prosecutor and ask them not to pursue charges or to pursue milder charges. This is usually a clue that a charging decision is imminent. So the Trump team clearly expects they're going to hear sooner than later whether Trump is going to be charged, and the fact that they're asking for this meeting suggests that they think that he will."
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