Herschel Walker’s End Run Around Finance Laws

Former Georgia Bulldog, New Jersey General, and The Apprentice TV loser Herschel Walker told lots of lies during his failed MAGA senate campaign, but his secret lie to a billionaire donor was worth over half a million dollars and, possibly, a federal conviction for wire fraud.

Instead of transferring the payments to his senatorial campaign fund, Walker asked Montana billionaire Dennis Washington to wire $535,200 directly to his private company, HR Talent, LLC. Mr. Washington did so, thinking this was a legitimate political contribution. Not so.

The hidden ball trick is legal in football, but not in campaign finance, or any kind of finance, except maybe organized crime. The watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) has asked the referees, The Federal Election Commission (about the campaign donation violation and Attorney General Garland (about the wire fraud issue), and it sure looks like a personal foul by Herschel Walker.

More:

“Emails Reveal ‘Jaw-Dropping’ Herschel Walker Money Scandal,” Roger Sollenberger, Daily Beast

“Emails show Herschel Walker nicked billionaire Dennis Washington for $500K,” Zoë Buchli, Missoulian

“Report: Herschel Walker’s Very Embarrassing Campaign May Have Also Committed Wire Fraud,” Caleb Ecarma, Vanity Fair

Top image: 1984 Topps bubblegum card. The New Jersey Generals team owner was Donald Trump. 

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Clarence Thomas Family Value$

As an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, Clarence Thomas makes a measly $230,000 a year, so naturally he needs all the financial help he can get. And he gets lots of it, chiefly from his billionaire pal Harlan Crow, friend of the Court and renowned collector of Nazi memorabilia. A true believer in family values, Mr. Crow:

Paid the $120,000 salary of Mrs. Ginni Thomas and propped up her far-right Liberty Central lobby;

Paid Justice Thomas for his elderly mother’s house, fixed it up, and allowed her to live there rent-free; and

Paid the private school tuition of Mr. Thomas’s legal ward, his grandnephew Mark Martin.

Justice Thomas didn’t disclose any of this to the Court in his required annual financial disclosure reports. He also didn’t reveal his trips on Harlan Crow’s private jet or megayacht or their luxury vacation excursions.

Most of these issues were uncovered bythe non-profit ProPublica newsroom and the New York Times.

More:

“A brief timeline of Clarence Thomas, Harlan Crow and ethics questions,” Aaron Blake, Washington Post

“Billionaire Offered Tuition to Send Ginni Thomas to Law School for Second Time,” Andy Borowitz, The New Yorker

Related:

“Clarence Thomas has for years claimed income from a defunct real estate firm,” Shawn Boburg and Emma Brown, Washington Post

“More ethics questions rise for Supreme Court justices,” Sareen Habeshian, Axios

“Judicial activist directed fees to Clarence Thomas’s wife, urged ‘no mention of Ginni,’” Emma Brown, Shawn Boburg and Jonathan O’Connell, Washington Post

The real reason for the Supreme Court’s corruption crisis,” Ian Millhiser, Vox

Updates:

“CREW files civil and criminal complaint against Clarence Thomas,” Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) [Read the complaint]

“Clarence Thomas Promises To Adopt Code Of Ethics For The Right Price,” The Onion

“Thomas’ Monsanto years offer window into justice’s enviro roots,” Pamela King, E&E News

“The strange story of Clarence and Ginni Thomas,” Lauren Mechling, The Guardian

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Trump: Senior Golf Cheat

Celebrity golf cheat and former US President Donald Trump held a Senior Golf Tournament at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach last week. The winner? Surprise! It was Donald Trump, and he wasn’t even there for half of it:

“Trump told tournament organizers he played a strong round on the course Thursday, two days before the tournament started, and decided that would count as his Saturday score for the club championship. That score was five points better than any competitor posted during Saturday’s first round.” — Tom D’Angelo, Palm Beach Post

Mr. Trump plays 18 to 26 rounds of golf each week, so the cherrypicking adds nuance to the jawdropping phantom round.

More:

“Trump pilloried as ‘4-year-old cheat’ over golf tournament claims: ‘Guy can’t even con right anymore,’” Namita Singh, The Independent, via Yahoo Sports

“Trump declares himself the winner of his own club championship – in the Trumpiest way ever,” Tom D’Angelo, Palm Beach Post

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House Speaker Votes Continue

Several trolls in the so-called House Freedom Caucus have paralyzed the U.S. House of Representatives all week, blocking election of a presiding Speaker. The umpteenth round of voting will occur tonight, January 6th at 10 PM EST.

Update:

After 14 ballots, the House again failed to elect a Speaker. On this date two years ago, terrorists failed to disrupt Congress. Today, the terrorists inside the House did just that.

The House began voting for the 15th time at 11:50 PM.

New:

Early on Saturday, Kevin McCarthy was elected to the Office of Speaker of the House, or what’s left of it.

More:

“The ‘spoiler caucus’ is creating chaos,” David Winston, Roll Call

“The Chaos Caucus Is Now In Charge,” Michelle Cottle, New York Times

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2024 Presidential Campaign Shapes Up

Last week, at Mar-a-Lago, Donald Trump, former president, had dinner with Ye, former Kanye West, and Ye’s companion, Holocaust-denying white supremacist Nick Fuentes. Ye announced he would run for president in 2024, and asked Mr. Trump to be his running mate. As this meal occured a week after Mr. Trump had announced his own candidacy, hilarity ensued.

Perhaps the former Kanye West felt the former president would be open to his deal after Mr. Trump cost the GOP the Senate in the midterms and nearly lost them the House. On the other hand, Ye, as Kanye, was briefly a 2020 presidential candidate, and that evaporated faster than his Adidas deal.

More:

“A ‘nightmare’: Trump team does damage control after he dines with Ye and white supremacist Nick Fuentes,” Marc Caputo, NBC News

“Report: Trump Doesn’t Want to Condemn His Holocaust-Denying Dinner Date Because It Might Alienate His Jew-Hating Supporters,” Bess Levin, Vanity Fair

“Trump Says He Did Not Know Identity of Dinner Guest, Owing to White Hood,” Andy Borowitz, The New Yorker

Related:

“Trump Brought Nazis Into the GOP. DeSantis Won’t Expel Them.” Jonathan Chait, New York Magazine

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Alaskans Reject Sarah Palin — Again

Fresh on the heels of August’s loss in Alaska’s special congressional election, MAGA proto-Trump Sarah Palin — former Miss Wasilla, ex-sportscaster, once part-time Temp-Governor of Alaska, losing GOP Vice Presidential candidate, cancelled reality TV star, Arizona homeowner, Masked Singer, and failed Fox News commentator — also lost November’s election to pro-fish Democrat Mary Peltola. Previously, Ms. Peltola was an Orutsararmuit Native Council Tribal Court Judge and 5-term Alaska state legislator before serving the remainder of deceased US Congressman Don Young’s term, then winning re-election to a full two-year term.  A Yup’ik woman from the Yukon-Kuskokwim delta, she is the first Native Alaskan to serve in the U.S. Congress. Ms. Palin, on the other hand, had been endorsed by Donald Trump.

These days, Sarah Palin seems a quaint relic of the Republican party she helped destroy.

More:

“Next act for Palin unclear after Alaska House losses,” Becky Bohrer, Associated Press

“Sarah Palin Loses as the Party She Helped Transform Moves Past Her,” Jeremy W. Peters, New York Times

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Bannon Behind Bars?

Update: Steve Bannon has been setenced to 4 months in prison. He will appeal.

The Department of Justice indicted Trump creature and fascist-fancier Steve Bannon for Contempt of Congress after he defied a subpoena compelling his testimony before the January 6th Select Committee. He was convicted back in July. The DOJ has recommended that he receive a six-month prison sentence and a $200,000 fine.

Mr. Bannon dodged the slammer after his previous indictment — for money laundering and conspiracy in defrauding donors to a charity — when he was pardoned by then-president Trump as he was exiting the White House. Unindicted co-conspirator Trump himself was recently subpoenaed by that same Congressional Committee.

More:

“Steve Bannon: justice department urges six-month prison term in contempt case,” Sam Levine, The Guardian

“DOJ seeks 6-month prison sentence for Steve Bannon,” Erin Doherty, Axios

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DeSantis Refugee Trafficking: Contracting Fraud?

As you may recall, Florida MAGA/GOP governor Ron DeSantis used newly-arrived Venezuelan refugees (including women and children) in a political stunt, flying them to the rural island of Martha’s Vineyard. He couldn’t find enough unauthorized migrants in Florida, so he flew 48 of them from Texas in two state-funded charter jets at a cost of $1200 per passenger. DeSantis paid for the migrant flights with CARES Act federal COVID stimulus money (actually with the interest accrued from the $8 billion in federal COVID-relief funding he banked instead of using it to help Floridians, so there’s that).

Besides possible federal COVID fund fraud charges and fraud suits by the refugees themselves, the airlift excerise raises other legal red flags:

• The flights and two future missons (cost: over $1.5 millon) were paid out of $12 million budgeted with the Florida Department of Transportation for “a program to facilitate the transport of unauthorized aliens from this state consistent with federal law.” But the migrants were in Texas, not Florida. There’s a lawsuit about that.

• The state contracted Vertol Systems Company, (VSC) of Destin, Florida, owned by Republican donor James Montgomerie, to fly the migrants to Martha’s Vineyard. VSC is a helicopter operator, and had to subcontract Dornier 328-310 jets from Ohio’s Ultimate JetCharters. There are lots of charter jet outfits in Florida, so why contract VSC; is it those GOP donations? Moreover, the company had hired Matt Gaetz and Larry Keefe to help with past legal issues. Gaetz is a familiar Florida reptile, but who’s Keefe? He’s the Florida “public safety czar,” in charge of the whole migrant airlift scheme. His law firm, Keefe, Anchors & Gordon, still represents VSC. Something here smells like Gulf Coast red tide.

More:

“Doubts rise over whether DeSantis had budget authority to fly migrants,” Gary Fineout, Politico

“DeSantis violated law with Martha’s Vineyard flights, Florida Democrats say,” Anna Ceballos, Tampa Bay Times

“Florida migrant-moving company gave GOP cash, has ties to DeSantis’ immigration ‘czar’ and Rep. Matt Gaetz,” Marc Caputo, NBC News

“DeSantis Chartered Planes From GOP-Allied Donor To Fly Migrants to Martha’s Vineyard,” Ken Klippenstein, The Intercept

Funding for furture flights might dry up faster than post-Ian Florida, as the governor is likely to use the pot of federal CARES Act money to augment other hurricane relief funds. That shouldn’t let him off the hook for his Vineyard stunt.

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DeSantis Refugee Trafficking Fallout

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, the future of the MAGA GOP, is basking in the afterglow of flying 48 Venezuelan refugees from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard to “own the Libs,”spending $615,000 in public funds on two charter jets. That’s a cost of $12,300 for each refugee DeSantis trafficked for his own political purposes.

DeSantis still has almost $11.5 million more in purloined federal COVID relief funds left, so he’s doubling down. There’s been a further payment of $950,000, possibly for flights to Delaware (Joe Biden’s home state) or New Jersey. The charter jet contractor, Vertol Systems, owned by Republican donor James Montgomerie, purchased helicopters from Russian government-controlled companies, and received a PPP loan of $255,583 in 2020, during the Trump Administration. Vertol has been associated with James Odom, who went to prison for laundering campaign funds for Mike Huckabee’s presidential campaign. It’s not clear if Vertol got a sole-source contract; they’re certainly not the only charter jet outfit in Florida, so state procurement officials should take a look at that, if they’re not afraid of poltical retribution.

DeSantis and his cronies may be liable for other crimes. They fraudulently lured unsuspecting refugee men, women, and children from Texas to a small, isolated town in Massachusetts, promising non-existant jobs and housing. The refugees are suing for fraud, and a Texas sheriff is looking into the matter.

Is it interstate human trafficking? It may be a gray area but, in any case, it’s certainly cruel. Of course, that’s the point.

Update:

“DeSantis risks voter backlash in Florida with migrant flights,” Max Greenwood and Ann Parnes, The Hill

More:

“Massachusetts seeks human trafficking probe targeting Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over migrants,” John Bacon and Rachael Devaney, USA Today

“The smoking gun in Martha’s Vineyard,” Judd Legum, Popular Information 

“Senator Ted Cruz says that transporting migrants is illegal, but commends GOP governors for it anyway,” Alia Shoaib, Insider

“DeSantis actions on migrants is ‘mini-ethnic cleansing’, expert warns,” Stephanie Kirchgaessner, The Guardian

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Trump Embraces QAnon Conspiracy Theories

Donald Trump is, finally, openly embracing the wacko QAnon conspiracy theory. Tuesday, on his Truth Social platform, he reposted an image of himself wearing a Q lapel pin overlaid with the words “The Storm is Coming.” For QAnon looons, the “storm” refers to a Trump final victory, when he will regain power and his opponents will be tried (and probably executed) on live television.

At a JD Vance campaign rally on Saturday, Donald Trump spoke over QAnon-themed background music while his supporters raised their right index fingers to the sky in a creepy salute. Sure, it might mean “We’re Number 1” or “America First,” or signal the “One Way” of Christian Nationalism, but The Daily Beast’s Will Sommer, author of a forthcoming book on QAnon, tweeted that it could symbolize the QAnon rallying cry ‘Where we go one, we go all.’”

That rally music?  It was either the QAnon anthem “Wwg1wga” or a copyright-free clone of it. Trump had used it in a video on his Truth Social last month.

More:

“Trump openly embraces, amplifies QAnon conspiracy theories,” David Klepper and Ali Swenson, Associated Press

“Trump asks QAnon to stand back and stand by,” Phillip Bump, Washington Post

“Trump’s Gone Full QAnon. There’s No Point in Denying It Anymore.” Jared Holt, Daily Beast

“What’s with the creepy one-fingered salute by Trump supporters?” Imogen Champagne, Crikey.com.au

“Is Trump fans’ ‘weird’ one-finger salute at rally a QAnon tribute?” Gustaf Kilander, The Independent via Yahoo News

“Trump’s Latest Rally Was Even Weirder Than Usual,” Chas Danner, New York Magazine

“Trump’s New Recruits: He’s embracing the QAnon conspiracy theorists,” Tom Nichols, The Atlantic

Update:

“Trump Endorsed QAnon Because He’s Stuck,” Juliette Kayyem, The Atlantic

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