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Tag: fraud
Liz Cheney Trump GOP

Cheney: Donors Beware! Trump's Legal Woes Are Draining GOP Finances

Donald Trump is in a bit of a financial bind: He can't post the $464 million bond necessary to buy him time while he appeals the ruling in the New York civil fraud case brought by state Attorney General Letitia James.

Trump has reportedly floated the enticing idea of underwriting his nearly half-billion obligation to some 30 different organizations and, shockingly, found no takers.

Trump absorbed the news with his usual grace, complaining bitterly about it Tuesday morning in at least seven posts on his social media platform Truth Social (which was down at the time of this writing).

“I would be forced to mortgage or sell Great Assets, perhaps at Fire Sale prices, and if and when I win the Appeal, they would be gone. Does that make sense?” Trump fumed in one post.

Trump's excessively public self-victimization for being found guilty of breaking the law is a clarion call for cash—from his MAGA cultists and whoever else might find it useful to potentially have a grateful asset in the White House.

As The New Republic's Timothy Noah told Greg Sargent on his new "Daily Blast" podcast, "Trump is broke, on the verge of bankruptcy, and he's running for president. It's a situation just ripe for corruption."

The presidency, should Trump win it, is effectively up for sale to the highest bidder.

But Trump's personal financial issues are just the tip of the iceberg for the man who just last week secured enough delegates to be the 2024 Republican nominee for president.

As his legal troubles continue to mount, the small-dollar donors who have funded much of Trump's legal bills are starting to turn off the spigot. CNBC's Brian Schwartz reports that in 2023, Trump’s reelection campaign raised 62.5 percent less money from small-dollar donors than in 2019, the year preceding the last presidential election. When the dust settled in 2020, Trump had raised nearly half of his total cash haul—$378 million—from small-dollar donations.

But the Trump campaign's looming cash crunch doesn't end there: the Republican Party's traditional well-heeled donor class is also missing in action. Many of those donors kept Nikki Haley’s rival bid for the GOP nomination afloat. Now they’re directing more of their funds to congressional races and, in particular, the Republican effort to win back the Senate.

Trump hasn't done himself any favors by promising to "permanently" bar Haley donors from his MAGA movement. In fact, the Biden campaign clearly sees an opening there and is making a play for Haley donors.

Biden made his own fundraising pitch when Haley ended her campaign, tweeting, "You don’t have to agree with me on everything to know MAGA extremism is a threat to this country. We need everyone on board—join our campaign." The tweet included a link to the Biden-Harris campaign fundraising page.

To review, Trump may have topped out in terms of what he can raise from his MAGA loyalists, while the bougie donors who fueled Haley's campaign are still MIA on Trump's presidential bid.

Since securing the required delegates, Trump has taken over the Republican National Committee with high hopes of a cash infusion he can use to pay his legal bills. Except the RNC is broke—entering the year with just $8 million cash on hand and nearly $2 million in debt. Those are some downright dismal numbers. And despite Trump's daughter-in-law Lara Trump promising to pay her father-in-law's legal bills, the RNC faces the same uphill fundraising battle that Trump does.

Trump’s archenemy, former Rep. Liz Cheney, took the opportunity to send out a buyer beware missive on Monday.

"Is it just a coincidence that Donald Trump took over the RNC, fired most of its Republican staff, and installed his daughter-law as co-chair at the same time he’s become desperate for money and can’t post bond?" Cheney tweeted. "Donors better beware."

While this month's Daily Kos/Civiqs poll found that 63 percent of Republican voters are fine with the RNC paying Trump's bills, it appears many of those voters aren't personally coughing up the cash they used to.

That's a serious problem for the RNC and, perhaps, all of its associated committees, though it's possible GOP donors will shore up Senate Republicans’ finances even as they take a pass on Trump. As for House Republicans, it remains to be seen whether House Speaker Mike Johnson can keep pace with his predecessor, Kevin McCarthy, who was actually a fundraising stud.

And amid these harrowing cash-strapped times for Trump, the Republican Party is convulsing its way through a nasty divorce that will require a lot of time, effort, and money to clean up before November.

That's a big messaging problem that is going to translate into a massive money problem. Even if Sephora sold enough lipstick to put on that pig, Trump wouldn’t have the cash on hand to buy it.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

Kenneth Chesebro

Trump Lawyer Used Secret Twitter Account In GOP Coup Plot

Kenneth Chesebro, one of the architects of Donald Trump’s fake elector plot, had a secret Twitter account he hid from investigators in Michigan that he used to promote some of his extremist theories. In October Chesebro pleaded guilty to a felony in Georgia’s RICO case against Donald Trump and 18 others.

Using the handle “BadgerPundit,” Chesebro hid “dozens of damning posts that undercut his statements to investigators about his role in the election subversion scheme, a CNN KFile investigation has found,” CNN reported. “The Twitter posts reveal that even before the 2020 election, and then just two days after polls closed, Chesebro promoted a far more aggressive election subversion strategy than he later let on in his Michigan interview.”

When confronted with evidence the account belonged to Chesebro, his attorneys admitted it belonged to their client, while minimizing the damning posts as a “random stream of consciousness” where he was just “spitballing” and “being a goof.”

But, in one instance, when accused of promoting an article likened to the “death of democracy,” Chesebro on his secret social media account replied, “it’s called politics, dude,” CNN’s KFile team reports.

“When he was doing volunteer work for the campaign, he was very specific and hunkered-down into being the lawyer that he is, and gave specific kinds of legal advice based on things that he thought were legitimate legal challenges, versus BadgerPundit, who is this other guy over there, just being a goof,” said Robert Langford, an attorney for Chesebro.

But CNN reveals that on his BadgerPundit Twitter account, Chesebro said, “You don’t get the big picture. Trump doesn’t have to get courts to declare him the winner of the vote. He just needs to convince Republican legislatures that the election was systematically rigged, but it’s impossible to run it again, so they should appoint electors instead.” That was posted to Twitter, now X, on November 7, 2020, “the day multiple media outlets, including CNN, called the election for Joe Biden.”

CNN reports that contrary to his secret social media claim, “in his interview with Michigan investigators, Chesebro said the very opposite, claiming that the entire electors plan was contingent on the courts.”

“I saw no scenario where Pence could count any vote for any state because there hadn’t been a court or a legislature in any state backing any of the alternate electors,” Chesebro said.

In another twist, CNN reports, “In an email to Trump attorneys in early December 2020, Chesebro linked to a Google Drive account for the email address TheBadger14@Gmail.com, which was once used by BadgerPundit in a tweet as his contact information. Chesebro also cited the BadgerPundit account in emails to a Trump campaign official and attorney John Eastman on January 5, 2021, pointing to tweets from BadgerPundit arguing that Pence had the authority to pick the electors on January 6.”

Chesebro’s BadgerPundit account on X still exists, but has been “protected” so only those he has granted access to can read his posts. ”

TheBadger14 is also identified by Chesebro in his bio on X as a blog. NCRM found that site has been active since at least 2011, but posts from the past few years are also hidden from public view. Its “About” page suggests it is a venue for Chesebro to discuss “mocking, through exaggeration for comic effect, relatively routine instances of progressives behaving badly.”

Read the entire CNN article here.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Donald Trump

Trump Offers A Laughable Excuse For Fleeing New York Court Appearance

Donald Trump had been expected to testify Monday in the defense phase of his civil fraud trial in New York City. But after his attorney Alina Habba swore that “Trump doesn’t cower,” Trump did exactly that. He backed out of his testimony at the eleventh hour.

However, after the first round of articles and commentary ran, Trump seemed to get that Florida-fried chicken suit was not the greatest look. So on Tuesday, Trump was back to repeat the excuse he had used in running away over the weekend. He wanted to testify, claimed Trump, only he couldn’t. Because the gag order put in place by Judge Arthur Engoron and upheld by an appeals court on Nov. 30 took away “my constitutional right to defend myself.” According to Trump, he is continuing to appeal this order, because it doesn’t allow him “free and honest speech.”

This is interesting because literally all the order does is prevent Trump from attacking law clerk Allison Greenfield and other members of the courtroom staff.

Here’s a brief history of Engoron’s gag order:

On Oct. 3, Engoron issued what he said could be considered “a limited gag order” barring Trump and his legal team from making statements about court staff. This came after Trump had made a series of false statements about Greenfield, including identifying her as “Chuck Schumer’s girlfriend.” The next day, Engoron made the gag order formal. Despite this, Trump was fined $5,000 on October 20 and $10,000 on October 25 for continuing to make false, defamatory statements about Greenfield. On November 3, Engoron extended the order to Trump’s legal team after Trump's attorneys repeatedly objected to Greenfield handing notes to Engoron and suggested that she was doing something illegal.

When the gag order was upheld by an appellate judge on November 16, Trump immediately attacked Greenfield again, making false claims about her political donations, calling her a “Democrat operative,” and insisting that the “politically biased and out of control, Trump-hating clerk” was controlling Engoron. Members of Trump’s campaign team followed suit, with claims that Greenfield had violated laws governing political activities by court staff and calls for Engoron to be “investigated and removed from the bench.”

Testimony before the appeals court showed that Trump’s false claims had generated hundreds of death threats to Greenfield and others. However, Trump continued the attacks even as the appeals court heard testimony. Trump took advantage of the continued hold on the gag order over the Thanksgiving holiday, as he issued a barrage of social media messages describing Engoron as a “psycho” judge and Greenfield as a “corrupt clerk.”

Finally, on November 30, the gag order was reinstated by a panel of judges in the Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court. Trump almost immediately sought an urgent review before New York’s highest court. That court has not, so far, reinstated the hold.

However, the only people protected by this gag order are members of the court staff and their families. It doesn’t protect New York Attorney General Leticia James or the lawyers who have prosecuted the case in court. It doesn’t protect Judge Engoron. It doesn’t even protect Engoron’s wife, who Trump attacked with false claims about a supposed account on Twitter that posted anti-Trump memes.

Had he taken the stand on Monday, Trump could have said anything he wanted about his company and the way they valued their properties. He could have raked the prosecution team over the coals for hours. He could have screamed about Engoron and made more false claims about his wife.

The only thing that Trump could not have done due to the gag order is make statements about Greenfield and the other members of the court staff. That’s the tiny pebble behind which Trump is now seeking to hide his giant chicken-feathered butt.

And considering the way things are going, Trump might really wish he’d climbed back in the hot seat. Because on Tuesday, in what is expected to be the final day of testimony by the defense, Trump’s expert witness—accounting professor Eli Bartov—has been actively taken apart under cross-examination.

Attorney Louis Solomon trotted out information about a previous expert witness appearance by Bartov in a 2019 trial against ExxonMobil. Reading from court transcripts, Solomon said in that trial the judge ruled that Bartov’s testimony was “unpersuasive" and "flatly contradicted by the weight of the evidence." Bartov claimed he was unaware of the judge’s ruling. This is another statement that might be described as unpersuasive.

Bartov charged Trump almost $900,000 to come to court and say nice things about his accounting methods. In an all-caps statement on Monday, Trump bragged about the support of his expert witnesses, but he left those expert witnesses out of his rant on Tuesday. Which means Bartov probably shouldn’t be expecting a tip.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

Laura Loomer

Trump And Allies Post Toxic Lies About New York Judge's Wife

On Thursday, the Supreme Court of the State of New York reinstated a narrow gag order against Donald Trump that prohibits him from making statements about court staff. The order was originally put in place by Judge Arthur Engoron after Trump repeatedly attacked law clerk Allison Greenfield, including falsely claiming that she was the “girlfriend” of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. Trump’s statements have been tied to multiple threats on the life of both Greenfield and Engoron.

In response, Trump posted a series of false claims about Engoron’s wife, using a widely debunked series of images posted by conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer. Trump also reposted the images along with statements sure to generate threats against Engoron’s wife and family.

Not only is this vivid confirmation that Trump is a low-life POS, it’s also an obvious threat aimed at every prosecutor, judge, or other member of the justice system who tries to hold him to account for his crimes.

Loomer’s original “exclusive” was based on posting several images from an account on X (formerly known as Twitter) that had messages indicating Trump was a criminal.

Loomer offered no evidence that the account belonged to Engoron’s wife, basing her accusation on nothing other than the coincidence that the account was apparently from someone who shared the first name “Dawn.” Loomer went on to name and describe Engoron’s children, including where they worked and lived. She also posted images of Engoron’s brother and even his nephew as she talked about the “Engoron crime family,” suggested that one of Engoron’s children was somehow benefiting from Trump’s trial, and posted images of Engoron’s family members.

Loomer’s original post on X has now been viewed over 13 million times. Responses to that post have included numerous threats and accusations against Engoron. That includes at least one supporter who located the Engoron family home, provided it to Loomer, and offered to join in harassing them.

Online observers immediately noted that Loomer had no evidence that the posts had been made by Engoron’s wife. The following day, Newsweek spoke with Dawn Engoron, who made it clear she had no connection to the account Loomer cited. New York's Office of Court Administration has since confirmed that the account did not belong to Engoron’s wife, that Dawn Engoron doesn’t even have a Twitter account, and that she never posted the images Loomer used.

None of this stopped Loomer and her followers from continuing to spread the images and elaborating on lies about Engoron, his wife, and his family.

On Wednesday, Trump began reposting the images on his Truth Social platform. He kept right on posting them on Thursday, even after the gag order had been reinstated.

Since Engoron was not protected under the intentionally narrow gag order, it’s unlikely that these reposts are in violation of that order. Trump has made or reposted a number of false claims and threats against Engoron, including one suggesting that Engoron and New York Attorney General Letitia James be subject to “citizen’s arrest.”

Trump is issuing clear threats to Engoron and other members of the court, showing that he’ll go to any lengths in his constant search for revenge. Their spouses, family, and friends are not off limits for Trump. To underscore this, a hearing just last week revealed hundreds of “serious and credible“ threats each day made against Engoron and Williams even before Trump began repeating Loomer’s “Engoron crime family” images.

This is a blatant and obvious effort to rule through fear.

With multiple criminal cases to follow the New York civil fraud trial, it’s also a message that is sure to be heard by every judge, clerk, and prosecutor Trump will be facing in the coming weeks. And something that will be viscerally felt by every member of their families.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.