NEW: The recording of the 4/30/18 @TrumpDC donor dinner sheds light on the origins of TRUMP's interest in Ukraine & MARIE YOVANOVITCH, & even seems to foreshadow his administration’s withholding of military assistance as part of the pressure campaign. nytimes.com/2020/01/25/us/…
@TrumpDC WHY LEV & IGOR TARGETED YOVANOVITCH: The recording hints at the initial motive for PARNAS & FRUMAN pushing for YOVANOVITCH's ouster (before @RudyGiuliani got involved) — they believed she was blocking their efforts to break into the Ukrainian energy market nytimes.com/2020/01/25/us/…
@TrumpDC@RudyGiuliani OFF THE RECORD? At one point in the video, FRUMAN is warned “some people may not want their pictures taken. Just be aware of that.”
Later, TRUMP himself tells attendees “this is all sort of, like, off the record, right?”
@TrumpDC@RudyGiuliani TRUMP & WEED: During the donor dinner, LEV PARNAS, who would later push a cannabis venture, urged TRUMP to ease regulations on the industry, arguing it would win millennial support.
Asked if TikTok's Chinese parent ByteDance had a role in prepping him for today, TikTok chief SHOU CHEW says he worked “with my team here in DC."
Curious what the Biden-connected firm @SKDK, which TikTok hired amid rising US scrutiny, is doing for TikTok.
.@SKDK advises clients on navigating government & public scrutiny.
But it says it doesn't lobby.
It is not currently registered to lobby for TikTok (or any client) under LDA or FARA, despite FARA's requirement that consultants register when they do PR for some foreign clients.
Its members include judges, but also Senators & business & media execs.
As LEONARD LEO put it in a video obtained by @ProPublica, "if this can work for law, why can’t it work for lots of other areas of American culture…" propublica.org/article/leonar…
According to materials I obtained, TENEO's big Sept. retreat at @BarnsleyResort in Ga. featured presentations by:
▶️@realdailywire's @JeremyDBoreing
▶️filmmaker Jon Erwin
▶️@BetsyDeVos & Dick DeVos
▶️hedge fund billionaire Paul Singer
▶️Leonard Leo & his lieutenant Jonathan Bunch
NEW: KEVIN McCARTHY's closest confidant & biggest fundraiser is a lobbyist who spearheaded his speaker campaign, sneaking into his Capitol office to avoid reporters & urging donors to pressure holdouts to vote 'yes.'
As a result, Miller is in high demand in corporate America, where he is seen as the guy to neutralize scrutiny from a GOP right flank that is targeting big business as "woke"
Even with Trump gone, Jeff Miller demonstrated his influence (but also the risks of the relationship for McCarthy) by helping defeat bipartisan antitrust bills targeting his clients @Amazon & @Apple.
@TuckerCarlson & others suggested McCarthy opposed the bills at Miller's behest
In an encrypted group text, FTX officials & consultants deliberated over how to attribute political donations, & worried they might be violating campaign finance rules, we revealed last month. nytimes.com/2022/11/22/bus…
Those concerns were borne out in the indictment unsealed today
According to the indictment:
@SBF_FTX & others "knowingly & willfully" made donations to candidates, joint cmtes & super PACs "in the names of other persons" (i.e. illegal straw donations), & made corporate donations to campaigns (which are also illegal). documentcloud.org/documents/2345…
Another potential violation not expressly articulated in the indictment:
If @FTX_Official corporate funds were being steered into political donations, that could also constitute illegal FOREIGN donations, since the company was registered in the Bahamas. fec.gov/help-candidate…
JUST POSTED: With Washington headed for divided government, The Oversight Industrial Complex is revving up.
Millions of dollars are already starting to flow to defense lawyers & new nonprofit groups geared toward GOP congressional investigations. nytimes.com/2022/11/17/us/…
DAVID BROCK is leaving MEDIA MATTERS (@mmfa) & @AMERICAN_BRIDGE to start & run a new 501(c)4, @FactsFirstUSA that aims to raise $5m/year for "A SWAT Team to Counter Republican Congressional Investigations," per memo to Dem donors, outside groups & others. documentcloud.org/documents/2331…
FACTS FIRST USA plans to use paid advertising, social, legal analysis, polling & research to try to turn the oversight investigations back on Republicans.
It produced this video accusing Republicans of preparing “sham investigations to help elect Trump.”
The PETER THIEL-backed Senate candidate BLAKE MASTERS also spoke (before TRUMP) at the ROCKBRIDGE NETWORK's reception last night at Mar-a-Lago.
Then, Masters & Trump attended the premiere of a documentary critical of MARK ZUCKERBERG's donations to support election administration
A deck indicates that ROCKBRIDGE NETWORK is “pursuing political alpha” by funding initiatives like:
➡️"government-in-waiting" for the next GOP WH: $3M
➡️“influencer programs,” investigative journalism & P.R.: $8M
➡️“lawfare & strategic litigation”: $3.75M documentcloud.org/documents/2157…