Desperate Trump Turns Once Again To Paul Manafort For Money, Cheating
Desperate Trump Turns Once Again To Paul Manafort For Money, Cheating
Democrats shouldn't let Trump's flagrant corruption pass without comment
As I was saying…
Shortly after I published Monday’s newsletter, Donald Trump went hat in hand to a New York court begging for relief. He says he can’t post the $464 million bond required to prevent the state from collecting the huge civil-fraud penalty he’s been assessed while he appeals the judgment. And he can’t find a lender to post it for him because companies that provide appeal bonds won’t accept his (falsely valued) real-estate assets as collateral.
So he seeks special treatment. Unlike a normal citizen, he wants the state appeals court to stop New York Attorney General Letitia James from enforcing the full judgment until he’s exhausted his appeals—an exception for himself under law that applies to everyone else.
Take a moment to relish the fact that he’s broke. Enjoy this tweet from Trump propagandist Mark Levin lashing out at actual right-wing billionaires for not bailing out their god-king. “Why are there no Republican multi-billionaires offering to lend President Trump the funds to file his appeal in the outrageous case in NY state? Are none of them liquid enough to help or join with others to help? This is an outrage.” Ahhhh. Ahahaha.
Then keep in mind that Trump is a desperate man and believes achieving power is his ticket to freedom and renewed wealth.
That alone is enough to conflict Trump out of receiving the classified intelligence briefings the government typically provides to presidential nominees as a courtesy. It’s one of many conflicts, in fact. But then Trump decided to drive the point home even further.
On Monday, we learned Trump wants to bring Paul Manafort back into his campaign.
As a refresher:
Manafort was one of Trump’s main conduits to the Russian intelligence officials who subverted the 2016 election, most famously by passing detailed polling data to a Russian spy.
Manafort helped Trump obstruct Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation; he was ultimately found guilty of eight felony offenses then pled guilty to several more, and was sentenced to six years in federal prison, only to receive a pardon from Trump for his troubles.
Democrats and Republicans on the Senate intelligence committee referred to Manafort as “a grave counterintelligence threat” in their bipartisan report on Russian interference in the 2016 election, which they released in 2020 when Republicans still held the majority.
Manafort’s counterintelligence risks and Trump’s enormous financial debts aren’t two separate stories. They’re one story.