Since the GOP insist that Trump is an anti-corruption crusader, let's take a look at some of his record (receipts attached):
Paid $25 million because he defrauded college students trying to get an education by running a fraudulent university
Paid $2 million because he defrauded 8 different charities that he ran (including ones for veterans and one for kids with cancer). He and his family are now banned from operating charities in New York.
Named "Individual 1" in the case that sent his attorney Michael Cohen to prison for bank fraud and campaign finance violations, among other crimes, that he committed at the behest of Trump.
Committed 10 different counts of obstruction of justice as outlined in the Mueller report.
Is currently being sued for fraud for his involvement in multi-level marketing scams.
Was sued by the Department of Justice for racially based housing discrimination.
In addition to his former personal lawyer, the following associates of his have either pleaded guilty or been found guilty of crimes uncovered during the Mueller investigation:
Paul Manafort, Trump's campaign chairman, convicted of 18 felony counts, including five counts of filing false tax returns, two counts of bank fraud, and one count of failing to disclose a foreign bank account.
George Papadopoulos, Trump's campaign advisor, who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI during the Mueller investigation.
Roger Stone, Trump's long-time political advisor, who was found guilty of five counts of lying to Congress, one count of witness tampering and one count of obstruction of a proceeding.
Michael Flynn, Trump's national security advisor, who pleaded guilty to "willfully and knowingly" making "false, fictitious and fraudulent statements" to the FBI regarding conversations with Russia's ambassador.
His current personal lawyer is the subject of 3 ongoing criminal and counterintelligence investigations; a federal investigation for possible campaign-finance violations, as well as a failure to register as a foreign agent, and a criminal investigation and a counterintelligence investigation for his dealings in Ukraine.
If that’s not enough, let’s look at the people he’s appointed to positions of power:
Tom Price, who used taxpayer money to take private jets for multiple government business trips, even to fly distances often as short as from Washington to Philadelphia. The cost for the trips ran into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
David Shulkin improperly accepted Wimbledon tickets, and his chief of staff misled officials about Shulkin’s wife’s travel to Europe in 2017. That trip consisted of Shulkin, his wife, three VA staffers, and six members of the secretary’s security detail — involved “personal time for sightseeing and other unofficial activities” such as a visit to Westminster Abbey and not one, but two river cruises on the Thames and the Nyhavn Canal in Copenhagen. Shulkin justified the travel as in support of the VA’s mission. But the report documented only three and a half days of meetings and other official events during a nine-day trip that cost at least $122,334 in taxpayer money.
Wilbur Ross, who as commerce secretary failed to divest assets when he said he would - despite telling ethics officials he had done so, to the tune of tens of millions of dollars, and profited to the tune of tens of millions of dollars because of it.
Steven Mnuchin was involved in too many scandals to list here, so I recommend reading the link.
Betsy DeVos was held in contempt of court and the Education Department must pay a $100,000 fine after a federal judge ruled it failed to stop collecting student loans on a now-defunct college. After the ruling, the director of the Project on Predatory Student Lending at Harvard University said, "Secretary DeVos has repeatedly and brazenly violated the law to collect for-profit college students' debts and deny their rights."
Brenda Fitzgerald purchased shares in a tobacco company one month after taking her position at the agency, and also had a history of tobacco investments prior to taking her post at CDC. She was forced to resign due to conflicts of interest.
Matthew Whittaker, who Trump appointed as acting Attorney General, sat on the board of a scam company that the FTC eventually forced into shutting down, and still has an ongoing criminal investigation into it. He was also appointed to interfere with the Mueller investigation.
Ryan Zinke was forced out of the administration amidst several scandals. The Justice Department is considering whether to pursue a criminal investigation against the former Montana congressman and Navy SEAL, who is facing several probes into whether he has used his office for personal gain.
Scott Pruitt resigned after many ethical breaches. Again, for the sake of space, I'll refer you to the article.
Ben Carson, in addition to the ethically questionable things he's done in his official duties, allowed his son, Ben Carson Jr., to help organize an agency “listening tour” in Baltimore last summer despite warnings it might run afoul of federal ethics rules since Carson Jr. and his wife “may be doing business with these entities or may be interested in doing business with [Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank, Genesis Rehab Services co-chief operating officer Dan Hirschfield, and members of the Paterakis family, which owns a real estate development and bakery business in Baltimore].”
Mick Mulvaney, aside from his deep involvement in the Ukraine scandal, is riddled with ethical complaints and a legacy of undermining consumer protections as head of the agency that's supposed to fight for them.
Brock Long stepped down from his position of chief of FEMA for misuse of government resources and unauthorized travel expenses.
Alex Acosta, who got Jeffrey Epstein a sweetheart deal and shielded him from further investigation despite being the prosecutor in the case. And that was before Trump hired him as labor secretary.
No, this isn’t all of Trump’s scandals, nor is it all of his administration’s scandals, but if you think Trump is an anti-corruption crusader, as the GOP are trying to claim, I have a bridge to sell you.
No comments:
Post a Comment