Over the past few weeks, more and more explosive headlines have dropped pointing to Donald Trump’s continued influence peddling. Earlier this week, the Congressional Integrity Project sent a letter to Rep. James Comer, Chairman of the House Oversight Committee, calling on him to formally investigate possible foreign influence peddling involving former president Trump as well as the blocked investigation into it. Despite Comer spending the past year and a half promising to investigate presidential influence peddling, including former president Trump, he has not sent any letters, requested any information, or held any hearings. MAGA House Republicans have spent their entire time in the majority shielding their allies from oversight and accountability instead of focusing on the real issues.
A recent investigation by The Washington Post revealed that Egypt’s president may have sought to illegally inject $10 million into Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign. An investigation into the donation was launched in 2019, but Donald Trump’s top Justice Department officials shut it down. And, other reporting shows that millionaires and billionaires are peddling access to Trump through Mar-a-Lago memberships and massive campaign donations.
Possible $10 Million Bribe From Egypt
Washington Examiner: House GOP Pressed To Investigate Whether Trump Campaign Took Money From Egypt.
- “House Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-KY) is being pressured to open an investigation after recent reporting revealed Egyptian President Abdel Fatah El-Sisi sought to contribute to former President Donald Trump’s campaign during the 2016 cycle.”
- “In a letter sent to Comer on Monday, the Democratic-aligned Congressional Integrity Project pressed the chairman to look into a possible $10 million donation from the Egyptian leader and any subsequent cover-ups by the Trump administration to investigate the matter. The request comes in response to a story by the Washington Post that reported a cash withdrawal from a bank account linked to the Egyptian intelligence service just days before Trump was inaugurated in 2017.”
The Washington Post: $10M Cash Withdrawal Drove Secret Probe Into Whether Trump Took Money From Egypt.
- “Five days before Donald Trump became president in January 2017, a manager at a bank branch in Cairo received an unusual letter from an organization linked to the Egyptian intelligence service. It asked the bank to “kindly withdraw” nearly $10 million from the organization’s account — all in cash. Inside the state-run National Bank of Egypt, employees were soon busy placing bundles of $100 bills into two large bags, according to records from the bank. Four men arrived and carried away the bags, which U.S. officials later described in sealed court filings as weighing a combined 200 pounds and containing what was then a sizable share of Egypt’s reserve of U.S. currency.”
- “Within months of learning of the withdrawal, prosecutors and FBI agents were blocked by top Justice Department officials from obtaining bank records they believed might hold critical evidence, according to interviews with people familiar with the case as well as documents and contemporaneous notes of the investigation. The case ground to a halt by the fall of 2019 as Trump’s then-attorney general, William P. Barr, raised doubts about whether there was sufficient evidence to continue the probe of Trump.”
- “In June 2020, the prosecutor Barr appointed to take over the office leading the case closed the probe, citing ‘a lack of sufficient evidence to prove this case beyond a reasonable doubt.’”
The New Republic: How Bill Barr Killed Secret Probe on Whether Egypt Paid Trump Millions.
- “The Egyptian government may have given $10 million to Donald Trump in 2017, violating U.S. law—but the investigation into the payment was squashed by Attorney General William Barr.”
- “In the U.S., receiving funds from overseas is a federal crime. Federal investigators were trying to prove if any money actually moved from Egypt to Trump, and if that had anything to do with Trump’s decision to boost his campaign in its final days with $10 million of his own money. But the investigation was halted by Trump’s Justice Department, which blocked FBI agents and prosecutors from accessing bank records that could provide the evidence. In the fall of 2019, Barr questioned whether there were sufficient grounds for the investigation to continue.”
The New York Times: Alongside the Trump-Russia Inquiry, a Lesser-Known Look at Egyptian Influence.
- “In the summer of 2017, as the special counsel Robert S. Mueller III was starting his investigation, his agents and prosecutors were chasing potentially explosive allegations about foreign influence over Donald J. Trump and his campaign. C.I.A. intelligence relayed to the special counsel’s office suggested that senior leaders of a foreign power had signed off on secretly funneling millions of dollars — with the help of a Trump campaign adviser acting as ‘a bag man’ — to Mr. Trump in the final days of the 2016 election. Interviews and other evidence obtained by the special counsel’s office showed that indeed Mr. Trump had lent his campaign a similar amount of money in the final days of the race — and, after beating Hillary Clinton, Mr. Trump immediately struck a far more favorable tone toward the country than his predecessors. The country in question, however, was not Russia. It was Egypt.”
Salon: Federal Investigators Suspected That Egypt May Have Bribed Trump With $10 Million In Cash.
- “This sizable withdrawal caught the attention of federal investigators early in 2019, reviving a secret criminal investigation that had begun two years prior into allegations contained in a classified U.S. intelligence assessment that Egypt’s dictator, Abdel Fatah El-Sisi, had agreed to give $10 million to Trump’s campaign. In office, Trump repeatedly praised Sisi, his administration releasing hundreds of millions of dollars in aid that had been held up over concern about Egypt’s abysmal human rights record.”
- “Candidates for federal office are barred from accepting foreign donations. There is no proof that any money made it to Trump’s coffers, but as the Post reported that could in part be due to the fact they were unable to subpoena the former president’s bank records for the time he was in office. Trump had, in October 2016, injected $10 million into his own campaign in the form of a loan; this after meeting with Sisi when he was in New York for a trip to the United Nations.”
Peddling Access Through Million-Dollar Mar-a-Lago Memberships and Billionaire Donors
The Guardian: Trump Hikes Mar-a-Lago Membership To $1M, Raising Concerns Of Selling Access.
- “Donald Trump has set a million-dollar price tag for the ability to whisper in his ear should he win back the presidency in November, prompting ethics watchdogs to worry that the Republican nominee is selling access and political influence for personal gain.”
- “Ethics observers say the move suggests that Trump is courting a new clique of wealthy donors eager to pay for access, while tapping a lucrative, fresh income stream to alleviate his substantial legal bills and settlement obligations.”
- “[D]uring Trump’s term…Mar-a-Lago members received plum appointments. They include Lana Marks, the luxury handbag designer, who became US ambassador to South Africa with no diplomatic training or experience; Adrian Zuckerman, a lawyer and Trump’s golfing buddy who served the same role in Romania; and David Cornstein, the jewelry magnate, a longstanding Trump friend sent to Hungary as ambassador to woo strongman prime minister Viktor Orbán.”
The New Republic: Trump’s New Insane Mar-a-Lago Fee Fuels His Election Grift.
- “The list of 500 Mar-a-Lago members is not public, but at least eight past or present members of Trump’s clubs were appointed to the Trump administration, USA Today reported in 2019, with some going on to become ambassadors to Romania, South Africa, Dominican Republic, and Hungary, despite some having no relevant experience.”
USA Today (Opinion): Can Elon Musk Buy Trump The White House? Americans Are About To Find Out.
- “Elon Musk, the richest person in the world, has said, according to a Wall Street Journal report, that he will donate about $45 million a month to a new super PAC supporting the election of former President Donald Trump.”
- “Musk’s monthly donations will bolster the Republican super PAC’s ability to fund massive advertising campaigns, grassroots mobilization efforts and other voter outreach initiatives. Flexing his financial muscle also will amplify his business endeavors, increase Trump’s chances of winning and boost his personal favorability with Trump and other Republicans.”
- “Musk, like other big donors, isn’t giving his money to politicians because he’s just a generous fellow. He’s buying access and influence with decision-makers in the halls of power.”