THREAD: Amid the various corruption and ethics inquiries all over the Trump administration—and under the shadow of the looming Russia investigation—it's easy to forget the *stunning* pattern of deceit and corruption evidenced by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross. Some highlights:
1) In any other administration, Wilbur Ross would be the SINGLE BIGGEST SCANDAL, facing withering press, ethical, and likely legal scrutiny for behavior both before and after taking office as a Cabinet secretary. In this administration, sadly, he's rarely even front page news...
2) @DanAlexander21 at @forbes has been doing tremendous work documenting the ethical stew around Ross, most recently with his bombshell piece yesterday...: forbes.com/sites/danalexa…
3) There @DanAlexander21 alleges perhaps as much as $120 million in accused thefts/etc. "If even half of the accusations are legitimate, the current United States secretary of commerce could rank among the biggest grifters in American history." ...
4) But there's so so so much more. Wilbur Ross makes Scott Priutt look like a choir boy ....
5) There is the NYT report that Wilbur Ross hid ties to Putin cronies even AFTER becoming Commerce Secretary ....: nytimes.com/2017/11/05/wor…
6) and appears to have engaged in possible insider trading related to his Russian ties, doubling-down on the corruption ....: forbes.com/sites/danalexa… and also
7) There's @DanAlexander21's previous reporting about how Ross held onto interests as Commerce Secretary in companies co-owned by the Chinese government....: forbes.com/sites/danalexa…
8) Which is part of a larger seeming pattern of Ross *lying* under oath about the divestments he made to become Commerce Secretary .... newrepublic.com/article/149309…
9) And none of that begins to touch on some of the most intriguing questions about his odd ties to the Cyprus bank caught up with the Russia investigation and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg .... : motherjones.com/politics/2018/…
10) And all of that is just his business deals and personal fortune. None of that touches on his behavior actually as Commerce Secretary—and he should still face real, hard questions about his role in the 2020 Census ....
11) as @paulwaldman1 says, "This [Census] scandal has a malign conspiracy, public lies, possible perjury, and an unrelenting assault not just on a core American institution enshrined in the Constitution but on democracy itself." washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-lin…
12) The fact that every cable news channel isn't doing wall-to-wall resignation-watch on Wilbur Ross is a testament to how far we've allowed this administration to sink ethically and criminally. It should not be tolerated. /END
