INAUGURATION, INC: The new episode of the @nytimes TV show, @TheWeekly, explores how TRUMP’s inauguration raised & spent a record-shattering $107M. I’m going to be tweeting some context & behind-the-scenes nuggets in this thread during the broadcast at 10pm tonight on @FXNetworks
@nytimes @TheWeekly @FXNetworks (For those who have cut the cord to cable, the INAUGURATION, INC. episode of @TheWeekly will be available for streaming starting tomorrow on @Hulu.)
@nytimes @TheWeekly @FXNetworks @hulu ALSO: @AllMattNYT & I will be doing a @reddit AMA on TRUMP's inauguration on Tuesday, 7/2 at 12pm. 
@nytimes @TheWeekly @FXNetworks @hulu @AllMattNYT @reddit .@MarkMazzettiNYT just made a great point about why the inauguration is still so relevant (beyond ongoing investigations): some of the questions that have plagued the TRUMP admin., including about $ & foreign influence, were on public display for the 1st time at the inaugural.
@nytimes @TheWeekly @FXNetworks @hulu @AllMattNYT @reddit @MarkMazzettiNYT SURPRISING IN RETROSPECT: The deputy chair of TRUMP’s inauguration was none other than RICK GATES, who was picked even after his boss PAUL MANAFORT was pushed off the Trump team amid scrutiny of his work (with Gates) for Russia-aligned Ukrainian interests. nytimes.com/2017/06/16/us/…
@nytimes @TheWeekly @FXNetworks @hulu @AllMattNYT @reddit @MarkMazzettiNYT Someone with baggage like RICK GATES would typically not get an important gig with an incoming inauguration, but as @maggieNYT points out “it was not seen as a disqualifier here.”
The Trump operation has never been big on vetting, & that was even more true back then.
The Trump operation has never been big on vetting, & that was even more true back then.
@nytimes @TheWeekly @FXNetworks @hulu @AllMattNYT @reddit @MarkMazzettiNYT @maggieNYT RICK GATES, of course, would later plead guilty in the MUELLER probe to financial fraud & lying, & he went on to help build the case against MANAFORT, who is serving a 7 ½-year prison sentence. Gates is STILL cooperating with prosecutors on other cases. nytimes.com/2019/03/15/us/…
@nytimes @TheWeekly @FXNetworks @hulu @AllMattNYT @reddit @MarkMazzettiNYT @maggieNYT NOW BEING FEATURED LIVE ON @THEWEEKLY ON @FXNetworks: The friend of MELANIA TRUMP whose company was paid $26M by TRUMP’s inauguration, STEPHANIE WINSTON WOLKOFF. After we revealed the $26M, Winston Wolkoff left her role as an unpaid advisor to the 1st Lady nytimes.com/2018/02/26/us/…
@nytimes @TheWeekly @FXNetworks @hulu @AllMattNYT @reddit @MarkMazzettiNYT @maggieNYT We got a hold of financial records showing that about 1/3 of all the money spent by TRUMP’s inaugural committee went to 5 major vendors had some connection to the Trump family or their close friends, including $1.5M that went to the @TrumpDC Hotel. nytimes.com/2019/01/14/us/…
@nytimes @TheWeekly @FXNetworks @hulu @AllMattNYT @reddit @MarkMazzettiNYT @maggieNYT @TrumpDC OTHER MAJOR TRUMP INAUGURATION EXPENDITURES: A Candlelight Dinner at Union Station for VIPs, featuring $65 seat cushions. $130,270 in commemorative bowls from Tiffany’s, & $675k in decorations, including six 32-foot-tall obelisks covered in green moss. #TheWeeklyNYT
@nytimes @TheWeekly @FXNetworks @hulu @AllMattNYT @reddit @MarkMazzettiNYT @maggieNYT @TrumpDC AMONG THE FOREIGNERS AT TRUMP'S INAUGURATION: At least 12 Ukrainian political & business figures, many positioning themselves as brokers who could help end Russia-Ukraine tensions, & the tough sanctions imposed on Moscow following its seizure of Crimea. nytimes.com/2019/01/10/us/…
@nytimes @TheWeekly @FXNetworks @hulu @AllMattNYT @reddit @MarkMazzettiNYT @maggieNYT @TrumpDC One Ukrainian-Russian who tried — but failed — to get VIP access was the developer PAVEL FUKS, who had tried to build a TRUMP Tower in Moscow years earlier. He paid $200k for tickets, but says he never got them. Now he's suing a lobbyist for defrauding him nytimes.com/2019/06/18/us/…
@nytimes @TheWeekly @FXNetworks @hulu @AllMattNYT @reddit @MarkMazzettiNYT @maggieNYT @TrumpDC I traveled to Kiev with @TheWeekly crew to interview FUKS. He recalled that, when he approached Trump about collaborating on a Moscow tower project, Fuks wanted an investment FROM Trump.
Instead, Trump suggested Fuks should PAY Trump to license Trump's name. It didn't work out.
Instead, Trump suggested Fuks should PAY Trump to license Trump's name. It didn't work out.
@nytimes @TheWeekly @FXNetworks @hulu @AllMattNYT @reddit @MarkMazzettiNYT @maggieNYT @TrumpDC Several people who watched previews of this episode of @TheWeekly suggested I ask the producers to cut the B-roll of me at my desk on a giant blue exercise ball.
They said it was embarrassing.
But I've been sitting on that ball for 15 years.
It's part of who I am, so it stayed.
They said it was embarrassing.
But I've been sitting on that ball for 15 years.
It's part of who I am, so it stayed.
@nytimes @TheWeekly @FXNetworks @hulu @AllMattNYT @reddit @MarkMazzettiNYT @maggieNYT @TrumpDC The GOP donor ELLIOTT BROIDY — who is being featured now on @TheWeekly on @FXNetworks — offered access to TRUMP's inauguration to (sometimes unsavory) foreign politicians whose governments were prospective clients of his defense & intelligence firm. nytimes.com/2018/03/25/us/…
@nytimes @TheWeekly @FXNetworks @hulu @AllMattNYT @reddit @MarkMazzettiNYT @maggieNYT @TrumpDC Federal prosecutors in April asked TRUMP’s inaugural committee for documents related ELLIOTT BROIDY & his company’s clients or prospective clients, including foreign politicians who attended inaugural events at his invitation, the @WSJ reported this month. wsj.com/articles/prose…
@nytimes @TheWeekly @FXNetworks @hulu @AllMattNYT @reddit @MarkMazzettiNYT @maggieNYT @TrumpDC @WSJ The inaugural dinner hosted by TRUMP's old friend TOM BARRACK was "another way to demonstrate his influence with the Trump WH to people, including foreigners & foreign officials, who then can invest in his private equity fund," @SharonLNYT says on @TheWeekly on @FXNetworks.
@nytimes @TheWeekly @FXNetworks @hulu @AllMattNYT @reddit @MarkMazzettiNYT @maggieNYT @TrumpDC @WSJ @SharonLNYT As @maggieNYT summed it up at the end of @TheWeekly inauguration episode: "There is supposed to be a line b/t gov't service & private benefit, & there has been a pervasive sense of that as blurred in the Trump Admin. & the inaugural is almost like a neon sign reminder of that"
@nytimes @TheWeekly @FXNetworks @hulu @AllMattNYT @reddit @MarkMazzettiNYT @maggieNYT @TrumpDC @WSJ @SharonLNYT Some amazing reporting went into @TheWeekly's INAUGURATION, INC., episode, including @BrennanCusack & @leftrighttv's team, which pored over thousands of photos to ID VIP inaugural event attendees, including an Angolan official who ELLIOTT BROIDY was courting for a major contract.
@nytimes @TheWeekly @FXNetworks @hulu @AllMattNYT @reddit @MarkMazzettiNYT @maggieNYT @TrumpDC @WSJ @SharonLNYT @BrennanCusack @LeftRightTV Also, I never realized just how much thought, skill & sweat went into shooting great video footage until I got to watch @andreasburgess & @JohnPappasFilm working up close in Kiev for the latest episode of @TheWeekly.
