The daily outrages from Donald Trump make it so easy for so many things to slide under the radar. And with the holiday week last week, I just want to highlight a few things that might have been missed as people prepared and enjoyed their Thanksgiving holiday.
Megyn Kelly, in her just-released book, accused the Trump campaign of trying to bribe her with offers a free stays at his hotels including free trips to his Mar-a-Lago complex in Florida. More importantly, Kelly alleges that
Trump tried to bribe other reporters as well in order to influence coverage. She claims that some reporters were “clearly in the tank” for Trump and that certain TV hosts actually coordinated mild criticisms of Trump with Trump himself so they could protect themselves from claims of bias. Kelly did not name names but it seems to have been a pretty open secret in the media world about just who these people might have been, But I have yet to see any media organization launch an internal investigation to discover if any of their employees might have been involved. Perhaps it was not a coincidence that “With All Due Respect”, hosted by Mark Halperin who even Joe Scarborough claimed was clearly pro-Trump, got canceled in the wake of the election. And it’s not like Scarborough himself did not endlessly promote Trump especially in the primaries. Now, I doubt we are going to see any serious self-analysis by the media but this is surely an area where intrepid reporters from outside the mainstream media might find worth looking at.
Next, the
Trump Foundation admitted in its latest IRS filings to self-dealing. The admission covers 2015 and the filing indicates that the self-dealing occurred in prior years as well. The Foundation admitted to transferring “income or assets to a disqualified person”. In this instance, a disqualified person would either mean Trump himself or a member of his family. The filing provided no details on what was involved in the admitted self-dealing, although it probably related to the extensive investigation and revelations of Washington Post reporter David Farenthold. According to the Washington Post, “[s]uch violations can carry penalties including excise taxes, and the charity leaders can be required to repay money that the charity spent on their behalf.” It will be interesting to see how this admission effects NY Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s ongoing investigation of the Trump Foundation, especially as Trump himself signed off on the now admittedly false IRS filings in prior years.
Finally, we should not forget some of the campaign finance scandals that also surround the Trump campaign. The Democratic Coalition Against Trump filed a complaint with the FBI accusing the Super Pac Make America Number 1 of illegally coordinating with the Trump campaign by
paying Steve Bannon’s salary when he was working as Trump’s campaign CEO. This followed on an earlier complaint by the Campaign Legal Center (CLC) to the FEC accusing the same PAC of illegally coordinating with the Trump campaign by
making payments to both Bannon and Kellyanne Conway while they were members of Trump’s team. Kellyanne Conway was formerly the president of that same Make America Number 1 Super PAC before she joined the Trump campaign. The CLC also accused the PAC Rebuilding America Now of illegally coordinating with the Trump campaign by hiring two Trump campaign staffers within the 120 day limit prescribed by law. A PAC hiring campaign staff within 120 days is considered to be illegally coordinating with a campaign. It should also be noted that CLC also filed a similar claim of coordination against Correct The Record, a Super PAC that supported Clinton. In that case, the PAC does not necessarily dispute the facts that the CLC presents but says what they are doing is legal based on a prior FEC ruling. It is also another indication of the failure of the media in this election that a Google search of “campaign legal center accuses PAC of illegal coordination with campaign” returns with articles only associated with the complaint against Clinton and not the one about Trump, despite both complaints being filed on the same day.
Lastly, an undercover investigation by the British newspaper the Telegraph showed the co-chairman of the Great America PAC discussing with a reporter who was posing as a representative of a Chinese national about how he could donate $2 million to the Trump campaign. The PAC was supported by Rudy Giuliani and Trump’s son Eric. Political donations by foreign nationals are clearly illegal. The co-chairman discussed the ability to use a 501(c)4 in order to disguise the donation while assuring the “donor” that he would make sure he would “credit” for the donation from Trump. In essence, the donor would give to a 501(c)4 which would then pass the donation on the PAC. Read the whole story as it even more sordid and intricate than the basics I have covered here. It should also be noted that the Telegraph approached PACs backing Clinton and were consistently rebuffed.
None of the above scandals are earth shattering. But that will be the pattern throughout the Trump administration. It will be a continual barrage of small scandals and corruption. But it is important that, like Trump himself, the situation does not become normalized. I don’t expect the mainstream media to investigate itself to find out which of their reporters are in the tank for Trump. Nor do I expect the FBI or FEC to follow up on these complaints. What I do expect is that independent media should and will pursue these investigations vigorously. It is no coincidence that it was a UK paper that uncovered the willingness of the Trump-supporting PAC to essentially accept foreign money. In addition, Democrats will need to press those agencies responsible for these investigations to actually do their job. That may take inordinate courage from certain individuals within those agencies but we have seen that strength of character many times in the past. And it will be necessary because it will probably not be a big scandal that brings Trump down. A usual, it will be a relatively small issue that suddenly gets blown out of all proportion. In a Trump administration, there will be plenty of opportunities for that to happen.
