1/ On Feb 14, billionaire donor Rebekah Mercer, who bankrolled Trump's campaign, defended her support for him by saying “I supported Trump's 2016 presidential campaign because he promised to tackle entrenched corruption on both sides of the aisle.” wsj.com/articles/forge…
2/ Let's have a look at how he's doing at that promise, in just the 2 weeks since Mercer published that claim. (Spoiler: not great) everyvoice.org/posts/entrench…
3/ After President Trump’s personal attorney Michael Cohen admitted that he paid hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels, experts wondered whether the payment was a violation of federal campaign finance laws. wsj.com/articles/was-t…
4/ Veterans Affairs Sec David Shulkin & his staff were accused of misleading agency ethics officials about the secretary’s foreign trip, according to a report from the department’s Inspector General. washingtonpost.com/politics/veter…
5/ Trump’s EPA rolled back an environmental safety rule benefiting a trucking company that is a major donor to Rep Diane Black, who requested the rule change. nytimes.com/2018/02/15/us/…
6/ Trump’s head of the FCC is under investigation by the department’s Inspector General as to whether he and his aides “improperly pushed for the rule changes and whether they had timed them to benefit Sinclair.” nytimes.com/2018/02/15/tec…
7/ Trump’s inaugural committee paid $26M to a company run by a friend of First Lady Melania Trump. nytimes.com/2018/02/15/us/…
8/ The Washington Post reported that “after less than 13 months, more than 40 percent of the people [Trump] originally picked for Cabinet-level jobs have faced ethical or other controversies." washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/w…
9/ Trump gave the secret list of $200K dues-paying members at his private club Mar-a-Lago the opportunity to help shape his response to the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting. washingtonpost.com/politics/trump…
10/ During that same weekend trip, he also asked those members he profits from to weigh in on White House staffing — Trump “spent the weekend…surveying people about whether he should fire his chief of staff.” nytimes.com/2018/02/20/us/…
11/ Those same $200K dues-paying members had access to chief of staff John Kelly: “Some guests approached Kelly to pay tribute, thanking him for keeping the president on course.” nytimes.com/2018/02/26/mag…
12/ Donald Trump Jr., the president’s son and top executive of the business Trump never divested from, faced a week of bad headlines over his trip to India to sell condos for the buildings the Trumps have licensed their name to there. vox.com/world/2018/2/2…
13/ It was revealed that the RNC is paying Trump’s former bodyguard $15,000 a month through the committee’s convention account: cnbc.com/2018/02/21/tru…
14/ Federal investigators are probing whether former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort promised a Chicago banker a job in the Trump White House in return for $16 million in home loans. nbcnews.com/politics/donal…
15/ A governor who endorsed Trump for president approved a tax break worth up to $6 million for a Trump-branded hotel project. nytimes.com/2018/02/21/bus…
16/ An AP analysis of the special interests that visited Trump properties in the first year of his presidency found several instances that at least created the appearance of ‘pay for play.’ washingtonpost.com/business/book-…
17/ Two weeks after Trump named him ambassador to Barbados, Leandro Rizzuto Jr. pledged thousands of dollars to a gala being held at Mar-a-Lago. washingtonpost.com/politics/two-w…
18/ @CampaignLegal filed an ethics complaint against Trump’s Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke over whether he inappropriately mixed official travel with political events. politico.com/story/2018/02/…
19/ A former top official on Trump’s presidential campaign, Rick Gates, pleaded guilty to two criminal charges related to Special Counsel Bob Mueller’s criminal investigation. cnn.com/2018/02/23/pol…
20/ The political donor network of the billionaire Koch brothers was caught bragging about all the ways in which the Trump administration and the Republican Congress was doing its bidding. theintercept.com/2018/02/25/koc…
21/ The president’s business is under investigation by the Panamanian government. Will this affect US foreign policy toward the country? washingtonpost.com/world/the_amer…
22/ The president’s company admitted it had profited from foreign governments over the past year, but refused to say how much money it received or who provided it. wsj.com/articles/trump…
23/ The night the Trump Org refused to disclose details of foreign gov't spending at its properties, a top White House aide appeared at a party for a foreign gov't spending money at a Trump hotel.
24/ HUD spent $31K on a dining set for the office of Ben Carson, way above the $5K the agency is allowed to spend on furniture for a dept head's office. nytimes.com/2018/02/27/us/… (the employee who brought up the $5K limit was removed from her job)
25/ White House Communications Director Hope Hicks told House Russia investigators that she intentionally misleads the public on behalf of the president. nytimes.com/2018/02/27/us/…
26/ Officials in UAE, China, Israel & Mexico believe top White House advisor and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner can be taken advantage of due to his “complex business arrangements." washingtonpost.com/world/national…
27/ Kushner violated the Hatch Act when he used his White House title in a statement announcing who would serve as campaign manager for Trump’s 2020 re-election. marketwatch.com/story/kushner-…
28/ Two financial firms — Apollo Global and Citigroup — made substantial loans to the business owned by Kushner’s family after Kushner met with representatives of those companies in the White House. nytimes.com/2018/02/28/bus…
29/ And that's JUST in the two weeks following Rebekah Mercer's justification for giving millions to the Trump campaign because he would fight corruption. The full list is here: everyvoice.org/posts/entrench…
30/ Or is it more likely that Mercer knew Trump would give enormous tax cuts to billionaires at the expense of everyone else? Because a year after his election and the "entrenched corruption" she claims to hate is more rampant than ever before.
31/31 btw if you liked this thread & want to stay up to date on the latest stories of corruption & money in politics, sign up for our morning newsletter: everyvoice.org/dailyclips
