Podcast appearances and mentions of Elliott Broidy

For nearly eight decades, the house next door to Auschwitz—the former home of Nazi commandant Rudolf Höss—stood untouched, a silent witness to history's darkest crimes. Now, thanks to Ambassador Mark D. Wallace, Elliott Broidy, and Dr. Thomas Kaplan, it is being transformed into a global center for combating antisemitism and extremism. Rabbi Pini Dunner explores how this initiative ensures history's lessons are neither distorted nor forgotten in an era of rising Jew-hatred.

September 1, 2020Joe Biden and Kamala Harris SHATTER the record for the most money raised in a month, we hear arguments in the Manhattan DA's subpoena of Mazars in the Second Circuit, Trump compares the attempted murder of Jacob Blake to missing a putt, the Department of Health and Human Services bids $250M for a communications contract to spin the messaging on covid, Barr removes a 20 year career national security official and the replacement raises questions, Barr orders more changes in FBI surveillance under FISA, and Elliott Broidy is about to be indicted, and some good news with Dana Goldberg.Follow our guest on twitter:Renato Mariotti (@renato_mariotti) Check out other MSW Media podcastshttps://mswmedia.com/shows/Subscribe for free to MuellerSheWrote on Substackhttps://muellershewrote.substack.com Follow AG and Dana on Social MediaDr. Allison Gill https://muellershewrote.substack.comhttps://twitter.com/MuellerSheWrotehttps://www.threads.net/@muellershewrotehttps://www.tiktok.com/@muellershewrotehttps://instagram.com/muellershewroteDana Goldberghttps://twitter.com/DGComedyhttps://www.instagram.com/dgcomedyhttps://www.facebook.com/dgcomedyhttps://danagoldberg.comHave some good news; a confession; or a correction to share?Good News & Confessions - The Daily Beanshttps://www.dailybeanspod.com/confessional/ Listener Survey:http://survey.podtrac.com/start-survey.aspx?pubid=BffJOlI7qQcF&ver=shortFollow the Podcast on Apple:The Daily Beans on Apple PodcastsWant to support the show and get it ad-free and early?Supercasthttps://dailybeans.supercast.com/OrPatreon https://patreon.com/thedailybeansOr subscribe on Apple Podcasts with our affiliate linkThe Daily Beans on Apple Podcasts

Hillary and Tina cover former finance chairman of the Republican National Committee, Elliott Broidy. Elliott Broidy, former Finance Chairman of the Republican National Committee, faced a dramatic downfall after being embroiled in multiple scandals. BUT as the investigation unfolded, Broidy made deals with prosecutors to save his own skin. Sources Hillary's Story Bloomberg GOP Fundraiser Elliott Broidy Accused of Coercing Woman Into Having Abortion (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-09-07/elliott-broidy-wins-bid-to-sanitize-ex-playmate-lover-s-lawsuit) Bloomberg Law Ex-Trump Fundraiser Overcomes Qatar Effort to Shield Records Elliott Broidy says he got millions to illegally lobby Trump administration (https://news.bloomberglaw.com/business-and-practice/ex-trump-fundraiser-overcomes-qatar-effort-to-shield-records) CNN Politics GOP fundraiser Broidy pleads guilty to conspiracy charge in foreign lobbying effort (https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/20/politics/elliott-broidy-plea/index.html) The Daily Beast Former Trump Mega-Fundraiser Elliott Broidy Pleads Guilty to Illegal Lobbying (https://www.thedailybeast.com/former-trump-mega-fundraiser-elliott-broidy-pleads-guilty-to-illegal-lobbying-faces-fines-and-prison-time) Department of Justice Elliott Broidy Pleads Guilty for Back-Channel Lobbying Campaign to Drop 1MDB Investigation and Remove a Chinese Foreign National (https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/elliott-broidy-pleads-guilty-back-channel-lobbying-campaign-drop-1mdb-investigation-and) Los Angeles Times A tale of two scandals, with a rich Trump donor, kickbacks and a Playboy playmate (https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-elliott-broidy-trump-20180811-story.html) Mother Jones Yet Another Twist in the Crazy Tale of a GOP Fundraiser's Affair With a Playmate (https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/07/yet-another-twist-in-the-crazy-tale-of-a-gop-fundraisers-affair-with-a-playmate/) The New York Times Elliott Broidy Pleads Guilty in Foreign Lobbying Case (Elliott Broidy Pleads Guilty in Foreign Lobbying Case) Former Trump Fund-Raiser Drops Suits Over Hack of Emails (https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/09/us/politics/elliott-broidy-email-hack-lawsuit.html) Rolling Stone The Walls Are Closing in on Disgraced Trump Fundraiser Elliott Broidy (https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/elliott-broidy-walls-closing-disgraced-trump-fundraiser-856381/) Reuters LA money manager gets no jail in NY corruption case (https://www.reuters.com/article/newyork-pension-broidy/la-money-manager-gets-no-jail-in-ny-corruption-case-idUSL1E8MQ4KJ20121126/) The Washington Post Elliott Broidy says he got millions to illegally lobby Trump administration (https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/04/04/broidy-testify-trump-malaysia-fugees/) Wikipedia Elliot Broidy (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elliott_Broidy) Photos Elliot Broidy (https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/180731134425-01-elliott-broidy-restricted.jpg?q=x_2,y_196,h_898,w_1596,c_crop/h_653,w_1160/f_webp)--by Billy Bennight via CNN Politics Shera Bechard (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/53/Shera_Bechard_2010.jpg/800px-Shera_Bechard_2010.jpg)--by Toglenn via Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 3.0) Michael Cohen (https://cdn.theatlantic.com/thumbor/YvNmnQXiUUpB0Xgc45buU26XdYw=/0x229:4626x2831/1952x1098/media/img/mt/2018/04/RTX5R2MY/original.jpg)--by Lucas Jackson via The Atlantic

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This day in legal history, September 6, is a dark one – but one that should not be ignored just because it is difficult to talk about. On September 6, 1941, German authorities announced the adoption of a regulation requiring all Jewish people in German territories to wear the Star of David. For our purposes here on a legal news website, we'll talk about how it highlights and exemplifies the Nazi regime's obsession with committing their atrocities under the color of law.From 1935, the Nazi regime utilized the law as a tool for the systemic persecution of the Jewish people, initiating this with the enactment of the Nuremberg Laws. These laws, officially signed by Hitler and other Nazi leaders, stripped German Jews of their citizenship, prohibited marriages between Jews and other Germans, and barred Jews from displaying the German flag, now represented by the swastika. This legal framework, which was further intensified in the subsequent years, facilitated the marginalization, segregation, and eventual extermination of the Jewish community in Germany.The Nazis had begun their legal assault on the Jewish population as early as 1933, using official decrees to progressively strip Jews of various rights, including holding public office, working in certain professions, and participating in economic activities. This legal strategy was part of a broader effort to segregate Jews from the social, political, and economic life of Germany, with the ultimate aim of appeasing radical elements within the Nazi party who were clamoring for more drastic measures against the Jews.During the Nuremberg Trials that followed World War II, these laws served as critical evidence in the prosecution of prominent Nazi leaders, highlighting the extent to which the Nazi regime had manipulated the law to facilitate their campaign of persecution and genocide. In the ongoing California ethics case, attorney John Eastman, who had previously advised that the vice president could overturn the 2020 election results, was compelled to testify, despite his efforts to invoke Fifth Amendment protections against self-incrimination. State Bar Court Judge Yvette D. Roland dismissed Eastman's defense that testifying would infringe on his Fifth Amendment rights, a stance she had maintained even as criminal cases were underway. Eastman, along with Donald Trump and 17 others, faces racketeering charges in Georgia, linked to attempts to declare Trump the winner of the 2020 election.Eastman's lawyer, Randall Miller, emphasized that the demand for Eastman's testimony in the bar case, which could potentially lead to the revocation of his law license, places him in a precarious position. Miller highlighted the dilemma Eastman faces: remaining silent might undermine his defense, while full testimony could jeopardize the ongoing Georgia case. Despite these arguments, Judge Roland noted that Eastman had already waived his right to self-incrimination by testifying extensively in the case and in previous instances, including before the January 6 congressional committee and the Fulton County grand jury.The judge underscored that Eastman was well aware of the gravity of the committee's questions, which were closely tied to the allegations presented in the disciplinary charges. Although the court allowed a brief postponement for Eastman to attend to criminal indictment procedures in Fulton County, it rejected the defense's plea to halt or postpone the case further, citing no alternative reasons were provided. Efforts by Eastman to prevent the state bar prosecutors from presenting evidence concerning his alleged involvement in devising alternative elector slates were also dismissed.As the trial continues, with additional sessions scheduled from September 12-15, Eastman faces 11 counts of ethical and legal violations pertaining to his post-election actions, culminating in the January 6 Capitol raid. During his testimony, he began addressing questions about the memos he had dispatched to presidential advisors, discussing potential strategies to invalidate or delay the vote counting process. The trial is set to feature testimonies from several individuals, including accountant Joseph Fried, who lacks formal training in election audits but conducted a study on the 2020 election "anomalies", and former Michigan Supreme Court Justice Michael Gabelman. The case, represented by Miller Law Associates for Eastman and the Office of Chief Trial Counsel for the bar, continues to unfold.Trump Lawyer Eastman Forced to Testify in California Ethics CaseElliott Broidy, a former prominent fundraiser for ex-President Donald Trump, has issued a subpoena to the law firm Covington & Burling, seeking documents in a lawsuit where he alleges a conspiracy backed by Qatar to hack and defame him. The law firm, which represented Qatar in various US legal cases, objected to the subpoena, citing privilege and sovereign immunity. This move is seen as an assertive approach by Broidy's legal team to involve a US law firm in the case, a rare occurrence due to the attorney-client privilege that usually protects such communications.Broidy, who resigned from his position as the deputy finance chairman of the Republican National Committee in 2018 following a scandal and was later pardoned by Trump for illegal lobbying charges, initiated this lawsuit four years ago. He accused Qatar of orchestrating a campaign to tarnish his reputation, alleging that they disseminated hacked information about him to journalists. The lawsuit specifically targets consulting firm Stonington Strategies and several individuals who have worked for Qatar, although the nation itself is not officially named in the suit.Broidy contends that both Qatar and Covington have worked to conceal evidence pertinent to the case and has requested the US District Court to mandate a forensic examination to uncover any hidden data. The defendants are expected to respond to these allegations by September 8. Covington has dismissed Broidy's accusations as baseless, emphasizing that the documents in question actually support Qatar's claims of privilege. Trump Ex-Fundraiser Targets Qatar's US Law Firm in Hack LawsuitThe U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina has given preliminary approval to a revised $12.5 billion settlement between 3M and water utilities concerning the per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) contamination issue. This settlement includes a unique "Protection Against Claims-Over" provision, which prevents 3M from reclaiming settlement money from water utilities in case of future lawsuits related to drinking water harm. This change enhances the value of the settlement for the participating water systems, as it eliminates the possibility of them being held liable for damages exceeding their recovery from the settlement.The final decision on the settlement will be made by Judge Richard Mark Gergel after a hearing scheduled for February 2, 2024, with 3M's payouts extending until 2036. Despite this, several attorneys general have criticized the settlement amount as insufficient to scover the damages caused by 3M's products to public water systems, burdening ratepayers and taxpayers. They also warned that the ongoing litigation could potentially bankrupt 3M by the end of the 12-year payout period. The settlement might pave the way for a larger agreement resembling the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement with tobacco companies, although the science on the diseases resulting from PFAS exposure remains unclear.3M's Revised PFAS Settlement Includes Atypical Liability TermsThree high-ranking Apple executives, Eddy Cue, John Giannandrea, and Adrian Perica, have failed in their attempt to prevent the U.S. Justice Department from summoning them as witnesses in the forthcoming trial against Google, where the latter is accused of misusing its search dominance. The executives had contended that being called to testify would be "duplicative" and "unduly burdensome," given their participation in earlier stages of the case. Despite not being a defendant, Apple claims to have been subjected to "overbroad" demands, having already shared over 125,000 documents from its senior executives.U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta rejected Apple's plea to nullify the subpoenas on Monday. The Justice Department's case is focused on Google's practice of sharing substantial annual advertising revenues with business allies like Apple, to ensure Google's search engine is the default on their devices. The trial, which is expected to scrutinize Google's information-services agreement with Apple closely, is scheduled to commence on September 12 in Judge Mehta's court. Apple has expressed concerns that the trial could inadvertently reveal its highly sensitive competitive information.Apple execs lose bid to block testimony at Google antitrust trial | ReutersThe Oregon Supreme Court is set to vote on a groundbreaking alternative to the bar exam for licensing attorneys in the state. This initiative, which has been in development since 2020 by the Oregon State Board of Bar Examiners, proposes that law school graduates can become licensed after completing 675 hours of supervised legal work, equivalent to the typical study time for the bar exam. The program, named the Supervised Practice Portfolio Examination, also requires candidates to submit eight pieces of legal writing, lead two client interviews or counseling sessions, and spearhead two negotiations, among other prerequisites.Participants' portfolios will be assessed by Oregon bar examiners, and those achieving the necessary scores will be inducted into the state bar, with compensation provided for their efforts. The proposal, which aims to be a model for other states considering similar pathways, would significantly expand the scale of bar exam alternatives, accommodating law students both within and outside Oregon. A second pathway, focusing on practice-based coursework during the last two years of law school, is also under development. Currently, only Wisconsin and New Hampshire offer limited alternatives to the bar exam.Oregon Supreme Court to vote on bar exam alternative | ReutersGoogle has tentatively settled a class-action lawsuit in the U.S., where it was accused of violating federal antitrust laws through its Play Store by allegedly overcharging customers, as per a recent court document. The lawsuit, initiated by over 30 U.S. states representing 21 million consumers, argued that Google's supposed monopoly might have led to increased app prices and limited options for consumers. The specific terms of the settlement remain undisclosed.The parties involved in the settlement have requested the cancellation of the trial that was slated for November 6. While Google has not admitted to any wrongdoing and declined to comment on the settlement, the court's approval is pending. This case is one among several where Google is accused of maintaining monopolies in the Android app and in-app goods markets, often requiring apps to use Google's payment tools and surrender up to 30% of digital goods sales. Notably, Epic Games and Match Group, who have raised similar claims against Google, are not part of this proposed settlement.Google reaches tentative settlement in US Play Store lawsuit | Reuters Get full access to Minimum Competence - Daily Legal News Podcast at www.minimumcomp.com/subscribe

David Waldman and Greg Dworkin present another fine KITM, always providing the most for your entertainment/information dollar and bath time listening. Just think, if you and Dominion Voting Systems donated only 1% of your disposable income as convenient monthly payments, how much democracy and joviality could be preserved? Fox wins! Fox found a way to screw over all of their competitors by killing that cash cow of hourly Dominion v. Fox updates everyone had spent months investing in. Of course, getting pantsed and spending $787.5 Million was a bit steep of a price, but it was a small price to pay... in comparison to all the other prices they will be shortly paying. Gop fake electors have begun to turn on each other. Ruptured Republicans smile through their pain as they mark their first 100 days of suffering and look forward to even worse as Kevin McCarthy thrusts them into their debt ceiling fiasco. Remember Kevin's promises about border security? Dems can take over any time now. Ron DeSantis (Ted Cruz, but with pudding on his fingers) has chosen to die on Disney hill. Donald Trump beats on Ron mostly for fun right now, but DeSantis could become an irritation along the primary trail. Republicans will never go sane once they tasted the crazy. Don't worry, Democrats can still find a way to make 2024 painfully close. Dick Durbin won't give up blue slips no matter how worthless they become. He might reconsider after Dianne Feinstein retires, or maybe after he does. Liberal judges continue to exist, but meanwhile the Iowa Senate passes their child labor bill. The Trump Supreme Court hurries to find an excuse to ban mifepristone.  Charlottesville torch-carrying marchers indicted for torch-carrying! After all burning crosses is only symbolic right when they are lit and they look like burning crosses. Russia has a fleet of vessels set to sabotage wind farms and communication lines. Elliott Broidy can't stop criming! Of course, $75 million helps.

You can't see David Waldman and Greg Dworkin on today's KITM! In significant step forward for women's basketball, the sport now has finally become big enough to sustain days of loudmouth opinionating. New York, New York gets ready to give a big New York welcome to Donald Trump tomorrow! If Donald can be arraigned there, he can (and will) be arraigned anywhere. Of course, not everyone is delighted about this... over two thirds are of course, but somebody might still be opposed, maybe, for a while. Then there will be even more indictments, arraignments, trials, convictions, etc., etc. and eventually people will get tired of all the winning. Chances are that ubiquitous Michael Cohen, raw dog fall guy Elliott Broidy, mysterious Chinese plutocrats, rappers, sex and money will be involved. That makes even Chuck Todd wonder why somebody hadn't gotten on this sooner. Trump says the Justice System has been weaponized. He would know. So would Jim Jordan. Wow. 60 Minutes used to be a journalistic authority. Now Marjorie Traitor Greene is a fan. The contest is over. The best April Fool's joke of ALL TIME was pulled in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Amazon Studios was on the cusp of green-lighting a reality TV series centered around Donald J. Trump's inauguration; audio engineer Eric Rosas was hired for the production but was stiffed on payment — his signature forged on an NDA he never saw. Eric Rosas shares this historic audio with The Knows, recounting what he witnessed during the week leading up to the inauguration. A week that's still being dissected five years later in the form of ongoing federal investigations and countless scandals that continue to haunt many featured on the recordings, like Tom Barrack, Rudy Giuliani, Donald Trump Jr., Elliott Broidy, and many more.

Elliott Broidy's efforts to lobby the president came close to succeeding, exposing gaps in the system.Read the article by David Barboza: https://www.thewirechina.com/2021/04/25/peddling-the-president/Narrated by Kaiser Kuo.

We can breathe slightly easier knowing that our nation has a new administration- but we cannot pause in demanding that the racist and classist Hyde Amendment be overturned. And as we shake our heads at the mountains of Trump pardons (so glad that Elliott Broidy can get back to hushing up pregnancies) we are reveling in how ex-legislator Derrick Evans’ clinic harassment is being scrutinized. We are excited for Robin Marty, abobo historian, author, and activist to give us a crash course on Joe Schiedler, founder of the Prolife Action League. who died this week at age 93. Scheidler was one of the OG abortion extremists, and Robin takes us on a scary trip down Scheidler lane and gives us a reality check about his legacy and the harm it hath wrought.  Gathered in the Sleeper Cell Lizz Winstead @lizzwinstead Moji Alawode-El @mojilocks Marie Khan @mkhanj  Guest Robin Marty @robinmarty Follow us on Twitter! @accessforce Quick Hits What Can Biden-Harris Do Right Now? https://www.npr.org/sections/president-biden-takes-office/2021/01/21/959170860/biden-administration-prepares-to-overturn-trump-abortion-rule  Trump Pardons Two Antis  Representative Rick Renzi  https://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=4408794&page=1 https://www.12news.com/article/news/politics/former-arizona-congressman-rick-renzi-pardoned-by-president-trump/75-ffc3f0a6-cd26-41c2-98b6-39540435f4c9 Elliott Broidy https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/05/more-evidence-that-broidy-was-covering-for-trump-in-affair.html https://www.newsweek.com/elliott-broidy-donald-trump-pardon-gop-fundraiser-1562908 https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/20/trump-pardons-exits-white-house-460586 We Knew About Derrick Evans  https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/capitol-siege-derrick-evans-trump-maga-b1788368.html Meaty Story Joe Scheidler Is Dead- Where’s The Rapture?  https://apnews.com/article/us-news-us-supreme-court-chicago-64f4fe81c88ae96994923634f6182d2bhttps://pressfolios-production.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/story/story_pdf/185828/1858281456074208.pdfWrath of Angels- https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1999414.Wrath_of_Angels  Six Degrees Can Lizz connect Fruit Roll Ups to Abortion? https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/21/entertainment/chrissy-teigen-inauguration/index.html Events Tell Iowa that HSB 41  https://www.legis.iowa.gov/legislation/BillBook?ga=89&ba=HSB41 https://www.legis.iowa.gov/committees/subcommitteePublicComments?meetingID=32212&action=viewCommitteePublicComments&fbclid=IwAR1Gd5KzveRDui3Fu9WRiMHdhWZX_D_BEVmuAsjjZD0tYYu94IVK0NMQ8hY  All the housekeeping Write a review / give us 5 stars - it’s the best way for our podcast to reach more people!Follow us on social @accessforce on Twitter/Instagram/Facebook/tikok and YouTubeEmail us at podcast@aaforce.org! Edited by Brad Pearson, theme song by Cory Eischen, The Purple Xperience DONATE TO Abortion Access Force/Feminist Sleeper Cell pod!!!! MAY THE ABORTION ACCESS FORCE BE WITH YOU!

Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop TODAY'S HEADLINES: The world is a little bit safer today. Joe Biden is back in the White House after four years of malarkey and madness, and ready with seventeen day one actions. Meanwhile, Donald Trump’s flunkies began to face international sanction almost immediately upon the end of his tenure. And his most loyal followers are distraught – how sad. And lastly, supply shortages are causing states to cancel thousands of appointments for people who hoped to get the coronavirus vaccine. Here’s hoping Biden can turn this situation around, and fast. THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW: The Trump era is over. Joe Biden yesterday was sworn in by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts as the forty-sixth president of the United States. In his inaugural speech, surrounded by thousands of National Guard troops who were mostly off-camera, Biden addressed the violence at the Capitol on January 6th. He vowed that white supremacy and domestic terrorism will never prevail. He said QUOTE Today we celebrate the triumph not of a candidate but of a cause, the cause of democracy... Democracy has prevailed ENDQUOTE. He also called for unity, calling it the path forward at a historic moment of crisis and challenge. Kamala Harris, the first woman vice president and the first VP of color, was sworn by Justice Sonia Sotomayor. She was escorted to the platform by Eugene Goodman, a Capitol Police officer who faced down members of the mob two weeks ago. Lady Gaga belted out the national anthem, Jennifer Lopez sang “This Land Is Your Land,” and young poet Amanda Gorman recited a poem she completed only after the insurrection. Garth Brooks also performed. Biden wasted no time attempting to undo some of the worst actions of Donald Trump’s tenure in the White House. He signed seventeen executive orders, memorandums and proclamations yesterday, according to the New York Times. He ended Trump’s efforts to leave the World Health Organization and enacted a mask mandate on federal property. He signed orders reversing Trump’s immigration crackdowns, and repealed Trump’s so-called Muslim Ban. He signed a letter indicating that the US will rejoin the Paris climate accords, and an executive order overturning several of Trump’s destructive environmental policies. He also extended federal moratoriums on evictions and on federal student loan payments. Not bad for a first day. China Sanctions Trump Cronies Donald Trump took his last trip on Air Force One yesterday morning, landing in Florida, where with any luck he will endure a form of internal exile. Republican state representative Anthony Sabatini has proposed renaming US Route 27 after Trump, according to the Washington Post. But Democratic members of Congress Joaquin Castro of Texas and Linda Sanchez of California plan to introduce legislation banning federal property from ever being named in Trump’s honor. Sanchez went so far as to tell People magazine that QUOTE not even a bench [should] ever bear the name of this traitor ENDQUOTE. Trump surrendered the White House after a late night of signing last-minute pardons and other clemency orders for one hundred and forty-three people, the New York Times reports. Beneficiaries included Steve Bannon, his former chief strategist; Elliott Broidy, one of his top fund-raisers in 2016; and a series of politicians convicted of corruption. The White House did not announce the pardons until after midnight. As Biden was being sworn in yesterday, China imposed sanctions on former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, trade adviser Peter Navarro, and other Trump administration officials, saying they had damaged the US-China relationship with QUOTE crazy moves ENDQUOTE. Tough break, fellas! State capitols around the country were mostly calm but under heavy guard yesterday for fear of more violence by Trump supporters. Biden’s inauguaration also drove Trump’s most rabid supporters, the followers of the Q-Anon conspiracy theory, to despair. Some, however, are still urging their comrades to QUOTE trust the plan ENDQUOTE, and hold out hope for a miraculous Trump revival. Whatever. Finally, HuffPost reports that federal authorities yesterday arrested Joe Biggs, a prominent member of the Proud Boys who promoted the Capitol insurrection. It’s too late for a Trump pardon now. Harsh, bro. US States Suffer Vaccine Shortages The push to inoculate Americans against the coronavirus is hitting a roadblock, the Associated Press reports. A number of states are reporting they are running out of vaccine, and tens of thousands of people who managed to get appointments for a first dose are seeing them canceled. The full explanation was unclear, but last week the Health and Human Services Department suggested that states had unrealistic expectations for how much vaccine was on the way. About half of the thirty-one million doses distributed to the states by the federal government have been administered so far, according to the AP. However, only about two million people have received the two doses needed for maximum protection against Covid-19. Countries across Europe are also having problems getting enough doses. In the US, some states have suggested they may run out of vaccine by today and are unclear when new doses will arrive. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said yesterday that the city had to cancel twenty-three thousand appointments for people awaiting their first dose this week, the AP reports. The reason? Inadequate supply. In Florida, local media reported a similar problem in the Miami area, where the Baptist Health care system canceled appointments that had been scheduled for first doses. San Francisco’s health department said it is likely to run out of vaccine today, in part because the state pulled back on administering a batch of Moderna shots after several health workers suffered what may have been a bad reaction. West Virginia, which has run one of the speediest vaccination drives in the country, in part by using small-town pharmacies, said it didn’t receive an expected increase in doses this week. This is where the feds need to step in and use the government’s vast resources to boost production. Capeesh? AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES: Kroger yesterday pulled the Indiana Oath Keepers from its community rewards initiative, which funneled an unknown amount of donations from customers to the right-wing extremist group. But according to the Washington Post, the Indiana Oath Keepers are still participants in a similar donation program called Amazon Smile – at least for now... The AP reports that Italian police have recovered a five-hundred-year-old copy of a Leonardo da Vinci painting that was stolen from a Naples church during the pandemic. The man whose apartment police found the painting in claimed he’d bought it at a market. Sounds like a real bargain. Police in the United Kingdom found eight hundred and twenty-six cannabis plants in an indoor farm in London’s financial district, Reuters reports. The plants were in a building near the Bank of England. But we thought banker types preferred cocaine? In the final hours of the Trump presidency, immigration officials detained a nine year-old Haitian boy with a valid US visa, separated him from his elder brother and incarcerated him, the Guardian reports. Vladimir Fardin was sent to a refugee resettlement facility in southern California as an unaccompanied minor, and his older brother Christian Laporte was deported to Mexico. Advocates are worried about the boys and appalled at the cruelty of the Trump policy. May America be done with such inhumanity forever. JAN 21, 2021 - AM QUICKIE HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner WRITER - Corey Pein PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn

Inauguration Day, 2021. I offer my take on the day’s events, context and political climate, as we listen to the proceedings. LIVE AT 10:23AM CT. FIRST SEGMENT (20 MINUTES) REBROADCAST OF 1/15/21 SHOW. Callers William - MT Tom - FL (dropped) My Take On Today’s Inauguration Empty rhetoric, hollow slogans, and celebrity performance art by Garth Brooks, Jenny from the Block, and Marina Abramović’s ‘hardcore student’ and Abramovic Method practitioner, Lady Gaga; that’s how I would describe today’s Presidential Inauguration. The nagging question is; how long until the Biden - Harris Inauguration transitions to its next revolutionary wave putsch, and moves to ‘unperson’ Sleepy Creepy Joe, in Stalinist forced disappearance fashion, as was recently sought with outgoing President, Donald J. Trump – and all political opposition, for that matter? In a word; ‘eery’ - or perhaps, ‘ominous’. Marxist socialists chanting ‘democracy’ – eery – insulated by the ‘smart power’ projection of 6,200 15,000 20,000 25,000 National Guard troops – ominous – who’ve been ‘vetted by the FBI’ – the same FBI (i.e. leadership) we’ve once again come to know we cannot trust – for their allegiance to the Establishment power faction, not the Constitution they swore to “support and defend,” or their fellow Americans – foreboding – and a motorcade hundreds long, proceeding through Washington D.C., the District of Criminals Super-villains, with only the projection of military force and razor wire on display. An Orwellian visual that would leave Stalin and Mao envious, if ever there was one. The Alinskyite Weather Underground junta has recaptured the White House. Andrew Breitbart, where are you when we need you? If that’s not bad enough, then there’s next week’s 51st World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting and Davos Agenda (January 25-29, 2021) where Dr. Evil, Klaus Schwab and his globalist New World Order pals intend to fully unveil to the world their so-called “Great Reset” – which Biden-Harris fully and openly endorses, even borrowing their ‘Build Back Better’ slogan – to ‘reimagine’ and ostensibly ‘fix’ what (economy et al) they broke – which, by the way, was always intended to break, just ask Keynes himself. What could possibly go wrong? I can’t help but have a deep sense of foreboding. Links POTUS 46: Biden-Harris Inauguration WATCH: Presidential Inauguration 2021 | C-SPAN.org Related President Trump Departure Ceremony at Joint Base Andrews | C-SPAN.org Vice President Pence Arrives on Capitol Hill for Inauguration | C-SPAN.org White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki Holds First Briefing | C-SPAN.org Statement from the Press Secretary Regarding Executive Grants of Clemency | The White House Trump pardons Steve Bannon, Elliott Broidy, others on last night in White House Trump Prepares Pardon List for Aides and Family, and Maybe Himself - Bloomberg The complete list of Donald Trump’s pardons and commutations Pardons Granted by President Donald Trump Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address - Lincoln Memorial (U.S. National Park Service) Lady Gaga - Wikipedia Amanda Gorman - Wikipedia Walter - Jeff Dunham Jeff Dunham: Characters (i.e. Walter / “Ben Hiden”) - Wikipedia For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for a lifetime; Weeping may last for the night, But a shout of joy [comes] in the morning. - Psalm 30:5 NASB For his anger [endureth but] a moment; in his favour [is] life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy [cometh] in the morning. - Psalm 30:5 KJV Writing a speech for Biden can be hell. And that was before the inaugural. - POLITICO “I would never say this,” Biden once snapped at an aide, aghast over the prepared remarks he was reviewing, according to a person in the room during a speech prep session last year. “Where did you get this from?’” The aide explained that Biden had just said it in a public speech a couple of weeks earlier. The MSM Is No Longer Covering up Biden’s Cognitive Decline “I mean,

Forty-Seven days until the 46th president is sworn in and the 45th is banished from the White House! And poor old #45 seems to be losing what's left of his mind further each day. There's been a lot of chatter in recent days about Trump's pardon plans. He already pardoned Michael Flynn, and the rumors are that he'll pardon his cronies and family members including Giuliani, Jared Kushner, Kushner's dad, Don Jr, Eric and Ivanka... and himself. And this week we learned of a Pay for Pardon scheme that also implicates Jared, his lawyer Abbe Lowell (who should know better), and one big-league donor who's already been caught up in Trump's swamp, Elliott Broidy. To help pull it together and make sense of it all, we'll check with Marcy Wheeler of Emptywheel.net

Go to New York Magazine to read our list of insiders who profited off the Trump presidency. On April 30, 2018, nine top executives from T-Mobile checked in to the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., with their names on a list of VIP arrivals. They landed in Washington at a critical moment: Just the day before, T-Mobile had announced plans for a merger with Sprint. To complete the deal, the company needed approval from the Justice Department, one block away on Pennsylvania Avenue. Hanging out in the lobby in his trademark hot-pink-and-black T-Mobile hoodie, then CEO John Legere was instantly recognizable to hotel guests. His company wasn’t just patronizing the president’s hotel. It was advertising that it was doing so. That evening, in a closed-door suite just off the hotel lobby, a small group of political donors got to have dinner with the president of the United States. The guests included a steel magnate, who complained to the president about rules limiting the number of hours a trucker could be on the road, and a property developer, who suggested holding the next summit with Kim Jong-un at a site he had built near Seoul. Also in the mix were two then-obscure businessmen, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman. They had secured an invite to the dinner after promising a $325,000 donation to a Trump-aligned super-PAC. Like the other guests, they came with an agenda. Parnas and Fruman wanted to build an energy business in Ukraine but felt the U.S. ambassador in Kiev, Marie Yovanovitch, stood in their way. Parnas fed the president a fabrication that was sure to get his attention: that Yovanovitch was an anti-Trumper. “She’s basically walking around telling everybody, ‘Wait, he’s going to get impeached,’ ” Parnas told the president. Trump was enraged. Parnas and Fruman and the T-Mobile executives were pulling the same lever that night. And they all got results. T-Mobile’s merger was later approved, and Ambassador Yovanovitch was abruptly removed from the U.S. Embassy in Kiev. Later, Parnas and Fruman were indicted on a -campaign-finance-violations charge (they had concealed the origins of their super-PAC donation) and were arrested with one-way tickets to Vienna in hand. (They have pleaded not guilty and face trial in 2021.) Trump claimed he did not know them. This is the Washington Trump has built these past four years, where people who patronize Trump businesses can expect preferential treatment, where a deputy secretary can oversee a bailout that benefits his family’s company, where administration officials fly in private jets paid for by the public — and where top government officials don’t bother to divest from industries whose policies they oversee. It started at the top, of course. Just nine days before his inauguration, Trump held his first news conference as president-elect. Presiding over a table with towering stacks of folders, Trump’s lawyer suggested there would be a “wall” between Trump’s business and his presidency, even though Trump himself made it quite clear that he would not be divesting. “I have a no-conflict situation because I’m president,” Trump said. “I could run the Trump Organization, great, great company, and I could run the company — the country,” he added. “I’d do a very, very good job, but I don’t want to do that.” Trump never separated himself from his company in any meaningful way. Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, also didn’t fully divest from their business interests. The couple made tens of millions of dollars from an array of limited-liability companies while also serving in the White House. Trump’s Commerce secretary, Wilbur Ross, pledged to Congress that he would largely sell off his assets, then took dozens of meetings with executives to whose companies he had personal financial ties. Others did divest, but then proceeded to use their agency budgets as their personal piggy banks. Friends, donors, and hangers-on also thrived. Top GOP financier Elliott Broidy leveraged his fundraising into access, including a meeting in the Oval Office. Broidy attempted to use that access as a calling card with foreign officials from whom he sought security contracts. Like several other beneficiaries of Trump’s generosity, Broidy eventually found himself in legal trouble, pleading guilty to violating foreign-lobbying laws on behalf of Malaysian and Chinese clients. But many Trump affiliates benefited in ways that are perfectly legal. Attorney William S. Consovoy, who argued before an appeals court last fall that Trump could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and be shielded from all consequences (the judges were unpersuaded), brought in $2 million from the RNC and Trump-campaign committees. Others sought the ultimate benefit: freedom. Roger Stone, who would not turn on Trump despite the threat of jail time, was one of many Trump loyalists and allies to receive clemency from the president. To be sure, a lot of people found ways to benefit from Trump’s time in office: journalists, progressive nonprofits, high earners — Trump donors or not. But Trump profiteers went far beyond what used to count as standard-issue Washington swampiness. New York partnered with WNYC’s Trump, Inc. podcast to identify 51 such insiders, whose unprecedented ability to gain from the Trump presidency will go down in history. Their schemes became ever more brazen these past four years, even as their goals shifted. The initial grifts tended to be strictly transactional on the model of the Trump Organization itself, through which the Trump name could be had by nearly anyone for the right price. Later on, not just money but power became the president’s currency. The quids became subtler: shielding Trump from legal consequences, investigating a political opponent, providing an intellectual rationale for understanding the presidency as Trump sees it — not as a civic duty but as a business. Read our full list of 51 Trump insiders (from Sheldon Adelson to Ryan Zinke) at New York Magazine. Sign up for email updates from Trump, Inc. to get the latest on our investigations.

RadioPublic|LibSyn|YouTube|Patreon|Square Cash (Share code: Send $5, get $5!) It’s 11 days, 12 hours, 12 minutes and 26 seconds until the election, give or take… Deep breaths! Why is it still so far away? Listen to today’s KITM with David Waldman and Thursday’s guest Greg Dworkin, and another two hours will fly by!   Indeed, the presidential campaign really ends in just a few hours at the conclusion of tonight’s debate. This is Donald Trump’s one last chance for that one grand pivot into presidential behavior. It’s also his last chance to be a real dick... Tormenting Joe Biden over Hunter is the very least he could do tonight. Joe is already set with his Supreme Court answer. Or, Trump might just not show up. That would be as completely on-brand for him as going bankrupt. The polls can’t be cheering up Donald lately. Demographics is yet another aspect of reality not in his favor. Adjusting for race can spoil a pollster’s aim, but Greg always adjusts for windage, elevation and skewage.  Even with a loss, Donald Trump is set to torture us for 11 weeks following the election. He wouldn’t miss that for the world. Christopher Wray and William Barr do not bring joy to Trump and shouldn’t be expecting an invitation to Melania’s Christmas party. The FBI hasn’t found Russians behind the Hunter Biden laptop scheme… yet. Qatar and the United Arab Emirates have been leaking emails to journalists with the help of Elliott Broidy, but with Broidy going away, what will they do? Expect a presidential pardon, as Elliott Broidy is the reason Donald Trump doesn’t have to wear condoms, and you can’t lose a wingman like that. 11 days, 10 hours, 30 minutes and 34 seconds...

Lynn is starting off today discussing Elliott Broidy pleading guilty to foreign lobbying charge.

Among the headlines for Wednesday, 21st October, The International Trade and Industry Ministry has agreed to allow a maximum of 10 percent of managers and supervisors to be in the office starting tomorrow. Also, a former fundraiser for U.S. President Donald Trump, Elliott Broidy, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to a charge that he illegally lobbied Trump to drop an investigation into the 1MDB scandal. Listen to the top stories of the day, reporting from Astro AWANI newsroom — all in 3 minutes.   We bring you the headlines, weekdays at 5 pm.   Stay informed on astroawani.com for these news and more.

Today, Elliott Broidy is set to plead guilty in the 1MDB case during his arraignment on October 20th, Barr and the White House have to convince Judge Reggie Walton that Trump’s tweet declassifying all things Russia wasn’t serious, the New York Post’s Burisma story completely falls apart, the California GOP refuses to remove fake ballot drop boxes, the Republican governor of Massachusetts supports Joe Biden for president, Joe and Kamala raise $383M in September, the Trump administration’s private COVID briefings fueled a massive stock sell off, and Lindsey Graham breaks the law the night before he gavels past the Senate rules to advance the nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett, plus Aimee Carrero (@aimeecarrero) and AG share your good news, and confessions. Follow our guest on twitter: Stephen Shainbart (@SShainbart) Author of I Actually Did It! Want to get the show early and ad-free? https://dailybeans.supercast.tech/ or https://www.patreon.com/muellershewrote Have some good news, a confession, or a correction? https://bit.ly/2ShareGN Promo Codes: Tru Niagen cellular defense - truniagen.com/DAILYBEANS save twenty dollars on a three month supply Brickhouse Nutrition - go to fieldofgreens15.com and get 15% off your 1st order with promo code DAILYBEANS Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today, Trump may have accidentally declassified the Mueller Report and Buzzfeed is asking the court for it, Elliott Broidy is cooperating with the feds after being charged with acting as a foreign agent, Durham comes up empty handed, Trump calls on the DOJ to indict his political rivals, former special forces sought by a private security company to guard polling sites in Minnesota, Cyber Command is disrupting the world’s largest botnet ahead of the election, more info about Trump’s taxes comes out of the New York Times, Pompeo revives the Clinton emails, ABC confirms that supporters who attended the White House campaign event this weekend were paid, Louis DeJoy gave the Trump Foundation nearly $700K, a quick reality check for Senator Schumer who thinks he can stop a quorum in the Senate Judiciary to advance Amy Coney Barrett, Jon Hoadley (@jonhoadley) is running in Michigan’s 6th to Flip it Blue, plus AG shares the good and touching news you’ve shared with us. Follow our guest on twitter: Stephen Kohn of Kohn Kohn Colapinto (@KKCWhistleblow) If you have some good news, a confession, or a correction please share it here: https://bit.ly/2ShareGN Check out our Sponsors: Tru Niagen - truniagen.com/DAILYBEANS PlushCare makes it easy for me to get the excellent care I need, when I need it. They can do the same for you. Start your free 30 day trial today.               PlushCare.com/DailyBeans Foursigmatic.com/DAILYBEANS Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop TODAY'S HEADLINES: The Federal Bureau of Investigation busted a plot by right-wing militia members to kidnap a Democratic governor. Who ever could have inspired them? Any guesses? Meanwhile, medical workers around the country are at their wits’ end with coronavirus conspiracy theorists. Again, I ask you, where are people getting such crazy ideas? And lastly, Donald Trump – you remember him – says he won’t participate in any online debates. As a result, Joe Biden is all set to get some free network airtime. THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW: They wanted to ignite a civil war and bring about societal collapse. Instead, they’re headed to federal prison, possibly for the rest of their lives. Federal agents yesterday charged six men in an outrageous plot to kidnap Michigan’s Democratic Governor, Gretchen Whitmer, and put her on trial for treason. Seven more men – members of a right-wing militia called the Wolverine Watchmen – caught state charges in a related conspiracy. Federal agents allege the conspirators twice conducted surveillance at Whitmer's personal vacation home in northern Michigan. The Detroit News reports that through confidential sources, undercover agents and clandestine recordings, federal agents tracked the six men during their planning to kidnap Whitmer as they communicated over encrypted messaging platforms using code words and phrases in an attempt to avoid detection by law enforcement. The group also allegedly participated in field exercises that included detonating an improvised explosive wrapped in shrapnel to test its capabilities. The FBI and state police arrested several of the conspirators when they were meeting on the east side of the state to pool funds for explosives and exchange tactical gear, the News reports. The federal investigation dates to early 2020 when the FBI learned through social media that individuals were discussing the violent overthrow of several state governments. According to the FBI, the group talked about creating a society that followed the US Bill of Rights where they could be self-sufficient. Addressing the foiled plot, Whitmer said QUOTE I knew this job would be hard. But I’ll be honest, I never could have imagined anything like this ENDQUOTE. She also suggested Trump’s rhetoric made him effectively complicit. Joe Biden echoed that idea, asking QUOTE Why can’t the president just say stop, stop, stop, stop? ENDQUOTE. Trump campaign official Jason Miller on Fox News yesterday attacked Whitmer, saying she wakes up everyday with hatred in her heart towards Trump. Back in April, when armed right-wing militia took over the state capitol of Lansing, Trump tweeted liberate Michigan. I guess people were listening. Coronavirus disinformation frustrates doctors Doctors and nurses across the country are frustrated and overwhelmed by members of the public who’ve swallowed various conspiracy theories about the coronavirus. It’s a problem that many worry will get even worse now that Trump is promoting the experimental treatment he received at Walter Reed hospital as another miracle cure, and telling people not to be afraid of the virus. Nurse Amelia Montgomery of Springfield, Missouri, shared her frustrations with the Associated Press. She complained that some people demand the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine and think the only patients who get really sick have underlying health problems. To be clear: that isn’t true. Doctor Jay W. Lee, a family physician in Orange County, California, recalled a patient who demanded QUOTE the largest hydroxychloroquine prescription you can give me ENDQUOTE. The problem is pronounced in red states, the AP reports. In Iowa, home health nurse Lisa Dockery was fired from her job caring for a boy with severe disabilities after arguing with his parents, who said Covid-19 is a hoax. The argument started because the parents refused to wear masks, even though she told them their son’s life was in danger because he has respiratory problems, relies on tube feedings and cannot walk. The case ended with a judge ordering her former employer to pay her unemployment. In Georgia, at Augusta University Medical Center, visitors have tried to get around the mask requirement by wearing face coverings made of fishnet and other material with visible holes. The hospital calls this malicious compliance. People also have shown up with video cameras in an attempt to collect proof the virus is a hoax. Doctor Phillip Coule, chief medical officer at the Augusta health system, contracted the virus in July and has seen two staff members die. He said he fears people may draw the wrong lesson about the seriousness of the disease from what happened to Trump, and may extrapolate that the risk for a seventy four-year-old is low when the opposite is true. As another doctor put it, per the AP, it’s an info-demic as well as a pandemic. And, as with his rhetoric encouraging violent right-wing extremism, it’s a problem Trump could put a stop to, if only he wanted to. Biden gains free airtime The next presidential debate was scheduled for next Thursday, October 15th, in Miami, Florida. Now it’s not clear whether the debate will be happening at all. The Commission on Presidential Debates, which organizes the events, said it would change course and hold the second debate remotely in order to protect the health and safety of all involved. In response, Trump yesterday morning told Fox News QUOTE I'm not going to waste my time on a virtual debate... they cut you off whenever they want ENDQUOTE. Someone is cranky about being asked to follow the rules! In turn, Joe Biden’s campaign said the event should be pushed back to October 22nd, so that the president is not able to evade accountability. The Trump campaign seemed open to that idea, but then wanted to schedule a third debate for October 29th – five days before the election – which the Biden campaign rejected. With all this back-and-forth going on, ABC News scheduled a town hall with Biden, moderated by the anchor George Stephanopoulos, on October 15th, the night the second debate was set to take place. Producers at ABC News reportedly finalized plans for the Biden town hall yesterday after Trump withdrew from the debate. So as of now, Trump’s refusal to play by the rules has resulted in significant free airtime for Biden. The Democratic candidate observed yesterday that Trump QUOTE changes his mind every second ENDQUOTE. Yup, and at this stage of the presidential race, Trump’s indecision clearly works to Biden’s advantage. AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES: Police in Portland, Oregon, targeted street medics with teargas and projectiles during summer protests, in what a new report by Physicians for Human Rights calls indiscriminate attacks. The Guardian says the human rights group found a pattern of cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment from Portland police and federal agents, violating several international compacts on the use of force, and arguably constituting torture. The police offered no substantive reponse. Actions speak louder, anyway. Hurricane Delta is set to make landfall in Louisiana today not far from where Hurricane Laura hit in late August. Delta is the tenth named storm of the season – that’s a new record for a single year. More than a dozen Louisiana cities and parishes called on residents to evacuate. Take care out there. Prominent Republican fundraiser Elliott Broidy has been charged in an illegal lobbying campaign aimed at getting the Trump administration to drop an investigation into the multibillion-dollar looting of a Malaysian state investment fund, the AP reports. He was working on behalf of a fugitive Malaysian financier, Jho Low, and sought to arrange meetings with both Trump and former Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Broidy faces a single conspiracy charge related to his failure to register as a foreign agent. Oopsie! NBC News reports that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi plans to introduce legislation today that would create a Commission on Presidential Capacity, which would be involved in presidential transfer of power procedures under the 25th Amendment to the Constitution. Pelosi will hold a news conference on the bill with Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland this morning. Intriguing... That’s all for the AM Quickie. Join us this afternoon on the Majority Report. Oct 9, 2020 - AM Quickie HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner WRITER - Corey Pein PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn

Today, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris SHATTER the record for the most money raised in a month, we hear arguments in the Manhattan DA’s subpoena of Mazars in the Second Circuit, Trump compares the attempted murder of Jacob Blake to missing a putt, the Department of Health and Human Services bids $250M for a communications contract to spin the messaging on covid, barr removes a 20 year career national security official and the replacement raises questions, barr orders more changes in FBI surveillance under FISA, and Elliott Broidy is about to be indictedand some good news with Dana Goldberg. Dana Goldberg (@DGComedy)  Follow our guest on twitter: Renato Mariotti (@renato_mariotti) Check out our sponsors: You can try Caliper CBD risk-free for 30 days. If you don’t love it they’ll give you a full refund! https://trycaliper.com/dailybeans/ Don’t forget promo code DAILYBEANS for 20% off your first order! Special offer for DAILYBEANS listeners, get 10% off your first month at betterhelp.com/DAILYBEANS To find your perfect sofa, check out allform.com/DAILYBEANS. Allform is offering 20% off all orders for our listeners! Go to magicspoon.com/DAILYBEANS to grab a variety pack of cereal for grownups.b Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Episode 5, Jay analyses the latest demands for Trump's personal tax returns, the debate over the citizenship question, Women's World Cup victory spurs equal pay discussion, the recent Earthquakes in California, progress in the Democratic fundraising, the Epstein trial gets underway, an investigation into GOP fundraiser Elliott Broidy over abuse of power, Conservatives win the elections in Greece, Deutsche Bank cuts 18,000 jobs, UK Ambassador to America in trouble over Trump memos, Hong Kong protests and much more.

Joining us this week is Andrea Chalupa from Gaslit Nation! Plus, Jaleesa will be going over Mueller’s response to Corsi’s law suit, Jordan has a wonderful story about Nunes, and AG will be covering new insights on Elliott Broidy, Flynn, Yang, and Gates. Enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

S3E12 - Joining us this week is Andrea Chalupa from Gaslit Nation! Plus, Jaleesa will be going over Mueller’s response to Corsi’s law suit, Jordan has a wonderful story about Nunes, and AG will be covering new insights on Elliott Broidy, Flynn, Yang, and Gates. Enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Trump, Inc. is back. Our podcast with ProPublica focused earlier this year on the many mysteries around President Donald Trump’s businesses. This season, we’re widening the lens to look at the people around Trump and how they are benefitting from his presidency. Our first episode looks at Elliott Broidy. You might remember him as the Republican financier who agreed to pay a Playboy model $1.6 million in return for her silence. (Broidy has said it was just to help her financially.) Before that scandal, Broidy was at the center of another one. A decade ago, he pleaded guilty to bribing New York State pension officials — “an old-fashioned payoff,“ as then-state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo put it. (Before the plea was finalized, a judge allowed Broidy to change his plea from a felony to a misdemeanor.) After that, Broidy built himself back up as a fundraiser for Republican candidates and, eventually, for Trump. He became the deputy finance co-chair of the Republican National Committee, met with the president, and drummed up hundreds of millions in foreign business while touting his connections. “Elliott Broidy is fantastic,” Trump said last year at his first presidential fundraiser. “Everybody loves Elliott.” How did Broidy go from a criminal conviction to praise from the president? And what did he do with that connection? Listen to our episode. We have an unusually detailed picture of Broidy’s work from his emails, which were hacked and given to reporters. Broidy has blamed Qatar, saying the country targeted him because he is a vocal supporter of Israel and critic of Qatar. (Here is a letter we received from Broidy’s lawyer about that.)   Broidy declined our requests for an interview. His spokesman told us in an email statement: “Elliott Broidy has never agreed to work for, been retained by nor been compensated by any foreign government for any interaction with the United States Government, ever.”   Correction, Sept 26, 2018: This story originally stated that Elliott Broidy was convicted of bribing New York State officials. In fact, he pleaded guilty to bribing them, but before the plea was finalized, a judge allowed him to change his plea from a felony to a misdemeanor. Correction, Sept 26, 2018: This story originally said that Elliott Broidy paid $1.6 million to a Playboy model. He agreed to do so but stopped paying her after the arrangement became public.   

Not too long after moving to the United States from Australia, Jonathan Swan has become one of the best-sourced White House reporters in the country. In this latest episode of The Jamie Weinstein Show, Jonathan Swan, the star of Axios, opens up on what has surprised him about the Trump presidency, who holds influence in Trump world, how he achieved his rapid success, and much more. Show Roadmap:  What has surprised him since Trump took office? How Trump sees the world. On who, if anyone, Trump listens to for advice. On the role of Steve Bannon, Ivanka Trump and Roger Stone within Trump world. On whether anyone in the White House thinks Putin may have something on Trump. On whether Republicans in Congress will ever revolt. Is there any candidate Trump fears running against in 2020? On Matt Drudge, Anthony Scaramucci, Don Trump Jr., Sean Hannity and Elliott Broidy. How Swan became one of the best sourced White House correspondents. On his influences.

A portion of our Young Turks Main Show from July 2, 2018. For more go to http://www.tytnetwork.com/join.  Cenk Uygur, Ana Kasparian. Ron Paul tweets racist image. GOP donor Elliott Broidy to stop paying mistress hush money. Trump says North Korea deal may not work out. Results of Mexico’s election. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A portion of our Young Turks Main Show from May 14, 2018. For more go to http://www.tytnetwork.com/join.  Hour 1: Cenk Uygur & Ana Kasparian. More attacks on Bernie Sanders from Politico. Elliott Broidy uses Trump’s campaign to secure millions in defense contracts.  Breaking News: NY Times reports a close business partner of Michael Cohen, Evgeny Freidman has agreed to a plea deal to cooperate with investigators. Friedman was disbarred earlier this month, and accused of tax evasion. Donald Trump’s phone is susceptible to hacks. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you’ve seen video or images of Michael Cohen, President Trump’s personal attorney, they’ve probably been set in locations that exude power and importance: Cohen berating a CNN anchor in a TV studio, for example, or striding across the sleek marbled interior of Trump Tower, or more recently, smoking cigars in front of Cohen’s temporary residence, the Loews Regency Hotel on Manhattan’s Park Avenue. But to understand how Michael Cohen arrived in those precincts, you need to venture across New York City’s East River. There, in a Queens warehouse district in the shadows of an elevated No. 7 subway line, is a taxi garage that used to house his law practice. The office area in the front is painted a garish taxi-cab-yellow, with posters of hockey players on the wall and a framed photo of the late Hasidic rabbi, Menachem Schneerson. Cohen practiced law there and invested in the once-lucrative medallions that grant New York cabs the right to operate. Or you could drive 45 minutes deep into Brooklyn, near where Gravesend turns into Brighton Beach. There, in a desolate stretch near a shuttered podiatrist’s office, you’d find a medical office. According to previously unexamined records, Cohen incorporated a business there in 2002 that was involved in large quantities of medical claims. Separately, he represented more than 100 plaintiffs who claimed they were injured in auto collisions. At the same time, in Brooklyn and Long Island, New York prosecutors were investigating what Fortune magazine called possibly “the largest organized insurance-fraud ring in U.S. history.” That fraud resulted in hundreds of criminal prosecutions for staging car accidents to collect insurance payments. Cohen was not implicated in the fraud. A distinctive pattern emerged early in Cohen’s career, according to an examination by WNYC and ProPublica for the Trump, Inc. podcast: Many of the people who crossed paths with Cohen when he worked in Queens and Brooklyn were disciplined, disbarred, accused or convicted of crimes. Cohen, 51, has always emerged unscathed — until now. Last week, his Rockefeller Center office was raided by federal agents, as were his home, hotel room, safety deposit box, and two cell phones. Cohen is under criminal investigation by federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York. According to court papers, investigators are examining whether he committed fraud and showed a “lack of truthfulness.” He and his attorneys did not respond to a lengthy set of questions emailed to them. Cohen’s lawyers have stated that he has done nothing improper. Cohen has attained national attention as the man who paid Stormy Daniels $130,000 to keep her alleged affair with Trump secret. He also negotiated a $1.6 million settlement with a woman impregnated by Trump fundraiser Elliott Broidy. (Cohen’s attorney told a judge on Monday that his only three legal clients over the past 15 months were Trump, Broidy and talk-show host Sean Hannity.) Cohen has for decades had close personal and professional relationships with many citizens of the former Soviet Union. He ended up as point men on Trump’s deals there and also turned up in the notorious Russia “dossier.” He has routinely been described as an indispensable man to Donald Trump. One indicator of that, according to the New York Times: President Trump is more agitated by what those New York prosecutors may find in Cohen’s files than he is by the wide-ranging investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller. Cohen, it seems, may hold some crucial secrets. What’s more surprising, perhaps, is the path he took to get to that point. *** Michael Cohen grew up in the Five Towns area of Long Island, N.Y., a heavily Jewish enclave. His father was a surgeon, according to media reports, and Cohen enjoyed a top-tier education, graduating from the private Lawrence Woodmere Academy, then moving on to American University. From there, it seems, Cohen’s educational trajectory turned in a different direction. He attended the Thomas M. Cooley School of Law in Michigan, which InsideHigherEd.com once wrote, “is known for admitting students other law schools would not touch.” In 1992, after law school, he returned to his home region and landed a job working for a personal injury attorney named Melvyn Estrin, who had an office on lower Broadway in Manhattan.  Estrin was the first in a series of colleagues who would run afoul of authorities. Within three years of Cohen’s arrival, Estrin was charged with bribing insurance adjusters to inflate damage estimates and expedite claims. He later pleaded guilty. Cohen was never implicated in any of the misdeeds. Estrin did not respond to a request for comment. He is still practicing law. Cohen continued to use Estrin’s address on legal filings as late as 1999, but he added several new addresses during this period, including 22-05 43rd Avenue, in Long Island City, Queens — the taxi garage. It was the headquarters of the New York branch of the empire of Simon Garber, a Soviet emigre who also has had cab companies in Chicago and Moscow. Charismatic and silver-haired, Garber released kitschy TV-style advertisements, in Russian, for his company. Over the years, Garber has been convicted of assault in New York, arrested for battery in Miami, and pleaded guilty in New Jersey to charges of criminal mischief involving him breaking into three neighbors’ homes, shattering glass doors, smearing blood all over, and taking a shower. In Chicago, his taxi fleet included wrecked vehicles with illegally laundered titles. Garber did not respond to a request for comment. (Two other attorneys had offices inside Garber’s offices in the early 2000s. One was forced to resign from the bar after he was accused of not turning money over to a client. The other was disbarred, in part for trying to steal money from the first lawyer.) In 1994 Cohen married Laura Shusterman, who was born in the Soviet Union. Her father, also a taxi entrepreneur, pleaded guilty to a felony, conspiracy to defraud the IRS, the year before. By the late 1990s, records show, Cohen had begun acquiring taxi medallions, licenses required by the City of New York to operate a yellow cab. The number of medallions has been strictly controlled for decades. Before the advent of services like Uber, they were particularly valuable, with their price peaking at over $1 million in 2014. Cohen co-owned some of the medallions with his wife, and indeed, his family and business relationships sometimes overlapped. Filings show his father-in-law once made a loan to Garber. And in 2001, Cohen borrowed money for one of his taxi companies, Golden Child Cab Corp., from one of the men convicted with Cohen’s father in law, Fima Shusterman, in the fraud against the IRS. Starting around 2000, Cohen was involved in scores of car insurance lawsuits, often on behalf of plaintiffs who claimed to have been injured in auto collisions and were seeking judgments to cover purported medical expenses. At this time, a wave of staged auto accidents, involving immigrants from the former Soviet Union who claimed to have been hurt, had led prosecutors to open a massive investigation. They dubbed it Operation Boris, an acronym for Big Organized Russian Insurance Scam. The prosecutorial push resulted in hundreds of convictions. Cohen also drew up incorporation papers for at least three medical practices, and three medical billing companies. One company Cohen registered in 2002, Avex Medical Care PRC, sued insurance companies nearly 300 times. The plaintiffs lawyer in almost all of these cases was David Katz, who was disbarred later for professional misconduct. The doctor who owned Avex was charged in 2003 with criminal insurance fraud connected with another medical business; the charge was dismissed. He’s now practicing medicine in New Jersey. Dr. Zhanna Kanevsky, the principal of Life Quality Medical, a clinic business that Cohen incorporated in 2002, surrendered her medical license after pleading guilty to writing phony prescriptions for 100,000 oxycodone and other pills. Once again, Cohen was never charged. *** In the early 2000s, Trump and Cohen became connected, fittingly, through real estate. Cohen started to transfer the wealth he’d gained from taxi medallions and insurance lawsuits to apartments in Trump buildings. Along with his parents, his in-laws, and Simon Garber, Cohen acquired eight units in Trump Palace, Trump Park Avenue, and Trump World Plaza. The man who operated out of a Queens taxi garage now owned apartments alongside the likes of Sophia Loren and Harrison Ford. Cohen also began to show political ambitions. In 2003, he ran for city council on Manhattan’s Upper East Side as a Republican. Even people close to his campaign weren’t sure why he ran. His own campaign biography provided few answers — or rather, disparate ones. He claimed at the time to own 200 taxi medallions, to be a member of the Friars Club, an avid stamp collector, and a member of the Metropolitan Transit Authority’s Inspector General advisory board. Cohen lost the city council race, but his donor list provides a snapshot of his network. He received contributions from his father, his father in law, and Bruce Winston, a son of the jeweler Harry Winston. A New York Republican with knowledge of Cohen’s 2003 campaign said Cohen told him then that he was Harry Winston’s in-house counsel at the time. The company says Cohen was never an employee. Court papers show Cohen was one of the lawyers who helped Bruce Winston, and his daughter, Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, in a legal action challenging Deutsche Bank’s conduct as trustee of Harry Winston’s estate. Their petition failed. (For her part, Wolkoff, a friend of Melania Trump’s, later became the highest-paid contractor for Donald Trump’s inauguration, taking in an eye-popping $26 million, and sparking a backlash.) It’s unclear when Cohen and Trump first met, but the two were publicly linked in February 2007. The New York Post published an article then about an attorney who was purchasing large numbers of apartments in Trump buildings. “Trump properties are solid investments,” Cohen told the Post. Trump returned the compliment, declaring Cohen to be a wise investor. “Michael Cohen has a great insight into the real-estate market,” he told the Post. “He has invested in my buildings because he likes to make money — and he does.” Three months later, Cohen became an executive vice president at the Trump Organization, with the same job title as Donald Jr., Ivanka, and Eric Trump. Cohen was never a traditional in-house lawyer for Trump. He has been described as both a “fixer” and a “dealmaker” — and it seems he embraced both roles. “He did jobs for Donald that no one else would do,” said one person who worked with Cohen, “especially not a lawyer. He did a lot of these jobs.” Still, even after Cohen had joined the Trump Organization, he harbored personal political dreams. In 2010, Cohen mounted a second unsuccessful campaign, this time for the New York State Senate. Among his donors in that race were shipping magnate Oleg Mitnik and tobacco tycoon and New York real estate man Howard Lorber, one of Donald Trump’s closest friends. Cohen continued to expand his role within the Trump universe. It had become simultaneously global, national and highly local. The Trump Organization’s business model had shifted, from building high-end Manhattan properties to scoping for international licensing deals, particularly in the former Soviet Union. Cohen, along with Trump’s adult children, headed up this effort. At a Trump Tower press conference in early 2011, Cohen took the public stage as an international dealmaker. “Seven months ago, at the request of a dear friend of mine from Georgia, Giorgi Rtskhiladze, I traveled to the Republic of Georgia to explore several real estate opportunities on behalf of Mr. Trump,” Cohen said in his unmistakable Long Island accent. He then introduced Trump and the then-president of Georgia, Mikhail Saakashvili. The ostensible purpose of the press conference was to talk up a planned tower in the city of Batumi, on the Black Sea coast. But most of the questions centered on Donald Trump’s possible run for President. Months earlier, Michael Cohen had helped set up a website called shouldtrumprun.com with the Long Island law firm Schwartz, Gerstman, and Malito. (David Schwartz is a long time Cohen friend and attorney who made several television appearances on Cohen’s behalf when the Stormy Daniels news broke.) Cohen also traveled to Iowa to explore the political terrain. Shouldtrumprun.com was billed as independent of Trump; otherwise Trump would have had to file papers with the Federal Election Commission on his own behalf. At the press conference, Trump was peppered with political questions. “Could you comment on the kind of feedback or what you took from the feedback from Mr. Cohen’s Iowa trip,” one reporter asked. “You could ask Mr. Cohen. You can speak to him,” Trump replied. But she pressed. “Are you encouraged by anything that you saw or read out of that? Trump couldn’t resist. “Well,” he said, “I mean the response has been amazing, actually.” Another response: A complaint was filed with the Federal Election Commission, alleging Trump had accepted “excessive or impermissible contributions from the Trump Organization, LLC” because shouldtrumprun.com was set up by an employee: Michael Cohen. Trump and Cohen were cleared of wrongdoing. One of the two commissioners who signed off on the ruling was Donald McGahn. McGahn later became Trump’s White House Counsel. There’s another piece of public work that Cohen was involved in that further shows the close links among Trump, Cohen, and the attorney David Schwartz. During the same time period of the Georgia deal and shouldtrumprun.com, Schwartz and Cohen were both working on a project called Trump on the Ocean, which aimed to construct a massive catering hall in the popular Jones Beach State Park on Long Island. Trump was so keen on this project that, unusually even for him, he called four governors and a state comptroller to lobby for it, according to former state officials. In at least one of the calls, he cited his generous donations as a reason to get the clearances he needed to move forward.   Trump put Cohen in charge of the negotiations. But some state officials balked at what they saw as an attempt to commercialize a state park, and Trump’s insistence that the state override its fire code so he could build a kitchen in the basement. The lobbying was contentious, said Judith Enck, the top environmental advisor for Govs. Eliot Spitzer and David Paterson (and later the chief of the Environmental Protection Agency for the New York region), who was involved in the negotiations. “That was not a typical discussion with a business that was trying to do business with the state of New York. It was aggressive,” Enck said. “There were efforts to go around me to get a better outcome in the discussion… I recall it as you know one of the most unpleasant experiences I had in the governor's office.” Misery, perhaps for a government official — but triumph for Trump, Cohen, and Schwartz. They got permission to begin construction. “GREAT JOB!” Trump wrote in a note to Schwartz. “I will hire your firm again!” Alas, it was all for naught in the end. Months later, the tail of the storm Sandy inundated Jones Beach and Trump walked away from the project. *** Three years later, when Trump made a run for the White House, Cohen continued to serve both as promoter and dealmaker. He frequently appeared on TV as a Trump surrogate, though he had no official campaign position. In one interview in the summer of 2016, Cohen refused to acknowledge that polls strongly favored Hillary Clinton. He badgered CNN anchor Brianna Keilar when she referred to Trump’s then-dismal poll numbers. “Says who?” Cohen shot back. “What polls?” The anchor, seemingly mystified, answered “all of them?” The clip went viral. Cohen’s truculent tendencies were also on display a year before that interview when he threatened Daily Beast reporter Tim Mak. Mak had resurfaced an old accusation made by Donald Trump’s first wife, Ivana, during their divorce proceedings, that Trump had raped her. (She later withdrew the allegation.) “I'm warning you,” Mak says Cohen told him, “tread very fucking lightly because what I’m going to do to you is going to be fucking disgusting.” Behind the scenes, Cohen was still attempting to make deals for Trump in the former Soviet Union. Cohen drafted a letter of intent with a Moscow investment company to build Trump World Tower Moscow. Cohen’s partner in the deal was Felix Sater, a Trump associate who had been convicted of assault and securities fraud and had widely reported connections to the Russian mob. “Let’s make this happen and build a Trump Moscow,” Sater wrote in an email to Cohen. “And possibly fix relations between the countries by showing everyone commerce and business are much better and more practical than politics.” In another email, Sater wrote, “Buddy our boy can become President of the USA and we can engineer it.” In a statement issued last summer, Cohen called this “puffery” and said Sater was prone to colorful language and salesmanship. Cohen’s activities drew the attention of Christopher Steele, a former British spy who was assembling raw intelligence on the Trump campaign for a private client (ultimately paid for by the Clinton campaign). The resulting collection of documents has become known as “the dossier.” Steele’s memo included the assertion that Cohen met with Russian contacts in Prague after damaging news emerged about Trump’s former campaign manager and an aide. “The overall objective had been ‘sweep it all under the carpet and make sure no connection could be fully established or proven,’” Steele wrote in a memo dated Oct. 19, 2016. In statements and court documents, Cohen has vociferously denied ever visiting Prague, even dispensing photos of his passport, with no Czech stamps visible, as putative proof. Cohen has filed two defamation lawsuits over the release of the dossier. But now McClatchy has reported that Special Counsel Robert Mueller has evidence that Cohen was in Prague in late summer 2016. (And the photographic “proof” Cohen offered may turn out to be moot, according to the McClatchy article, since he reportedly entered the Czech Republic from Germany, which would not have required him to pass through immigration or customs.) One thing that Cohen does not dispute: In October 2016, he was involved in fixing another problem, this time by paying $130,000 to porn star Stormy Daniels. Cohen asserts he did this on his own, with money he obtained from a home equity line of credit. When FBI agents searched Cohen’s offices on April 9, 2018, they were seeking evidence relating to the Stormy Daniels payment. They were also, according to the Washington Post, sifting through business records relating to Cohen’s taxi medallions. There may still be answers to be found in Queens.

Last week's many dramas continued in a New York court on Monday, with the explosive news that Michael Cohen was seeking attorney-client privilege to seized documents and tapes involving a total of THREE clients in the last year: the president, former RNC finance chair Elliott Broidy... and Sean Hannity. Which unleashed a plethora of new questions about the ethics of Hannity opining about the raid on Cohen's office without disclosing that he, too, was a client... and the role of Fox News as a channel of propaganda. Trump was predictably unhinged over the release of James Comey's new book and the many media interviews he is doing to support it - but news media reported that it was the Cohen raid and the possible evidence unearthed that was really threatening to him. Also this week: UN Ambassador Nikki Haley announced additional Russia sanctions before the administration threw her under the bus (the Russian news agencies are reporting that Trump has assured them that there will be NO more new sanctions. Hm.)Mike Pompeo's secret Easter visit with Kim Jong Un.The Starbucks incident and the corporation's responseFormer first lady Barbara Bush passed away at the age of 92. MOMocrats Karoli, Aliza Worthington, and Donna Schwartz Mills discuss the political newsof the last few days from the progressive point of view. An Engender Media Group production.  

The curious case of Elliott Broidy will be front and center as I am joined by the Founder and President of LessGovernment.org, Seton Motley. The leftist media, Russian collusion, President Donald Trump and his supporters, Qatar and their support of Iran, it has all of the makings of a political thriller except this story is from the non-fiction section. Plus we'll talk about Less Government and it's work to try to keep our government smaller and protect our constitutionally guaranteed rights. In the second hour, I hope to be joined by the host of Southern Sense Talk Radio and co-founder of the Beaufort Tea Party, Ann "The Radio Chick" Ubelis. If she can make it we'll be talking South Carolina politics from a bill to secede if the Second Amendment is infringed upon to how the mid-terms are shaping up. Don't forget about the Edwards Notebook and the Veteran's Tip of the Day! All of this and more as time allows. Listen live, join the chatroom, be a part of the show.

The curious case of Elliott Broidy will be front and center as I am joined by the Founder and President of LessGovernment.org, Seton Motley. The leftist media, Russian collusion, President Donald Trump and his supporters, Qatar and their support of Iran, it has all of the makings of a political thriller except this story is from the non-fiction section. Plus we'll talk about Less Government and it's work to try to keep our government smaller and protect our constitutionally guaranteed rights. In the second hour, I hope to be joined by the host of Southern Sense Talk Radio and co-founder of the Beaufort Tea Party, Ann "The Radio Chick" Ubelis. If she can make it we'll be talking South Carolina politics from a bill to secede if the Second Amendment is infringed upon to how the mid-terms are shaping up. Don't forget about the Edwards Notebook and the Veteran's Tip of the Day! All of this and more as time allows. Listen live, join the chatroom, be a part of the show.

Our intrepid host is off in an undisclosed location, doing his reporting thing. Tamara is valiantly attempting to helm the podcast in his absence. This week: What we’ve learned—and what we still don’t know—about Cambridge Analytica, Facebook, and the 2016 campaign. Putin's re-election and Trump's congratulations. There’s a lot of fuss over leaking the president’s briefing paper. Do we care? What should this episode tell us? Also: Deals deals deals! Trump brought posterboards to the Oval Office to show off how much of our stuff the Saudis are buying. At the same time, the New York Times reports that George Nader and RNC vice chair Elliott Broidy have been making deals of their own to influence the Trump administration, reportedly using laundered money.

Last month, the committee that ran President Donald Trump’s inaugural festivities released basic details about its revenues and spending. Trump raised $107 million, almost twice the previous record, and spent $104 million. The committee’s tax filing showed that $26 million of the spending went to an event planning firm started in December by a friend of the First Lady. It’s not clear how the firm spent that money, or how most of the money raised for the inauguration was used. The tax filing doesn’t show spending by subcontractors, nor is it required to do so. In this week’s episode of Trump Inc., we dig into the inauguration. We’ve found that even experienced inaugural planners are baffled by the Trump committee’s massive fundraising and spending operation. We also noticed that two members of the inaugural committee have been convicted of financial crimes, and a third — the committee’s treasurer — was reportedly an unindicted co-conspirator in an accounting fraud. Greg Jenkins led President George W. Bush’s second inaugural committee in 2005, which raised and spent $42 million (that would be $53 million in today’s dollars). Asked about how Trump’s team managed to spend so much more, Jenkins said, “It's inexplicable to me. I literally don't know.” “They had a third of the staff and a quarter of the events and they raise at least twice as much as we did,” Jenkins said. “So there's the obvious question: where did it go? I don't know.” Steve Kerrigan, who led both of President Obama’s inaugural committees, agreed. “There was no need for that amount of money,” said Kerrigan.” We literally did two inaugurations for less than the cost of that.” According to Trump’s filing, slightly more than half of the money went to four event-planning companies, including the firm owned by the First Lady’s friend, Stephanie Winston Wolkoff. Her company, WIS Media Partners, paid the co-creator of “The Apprentice,” Mark Burnett, to help with the festivities, as the New York Times reported.   Melania Trump has since cut off her work with Wolkoff after the disclosure of the spending. Wolkoff and WIS Media Partners did not respond to a request for comment. We asked the White House and the inaugural committee about fundraising and spending related to the inauguration. Officials did not agree to be interviewed on the record. We also looked at members of the inaugural committee, which had about 30 people in leadership and fundraising roles. The committee’s treasurer, Doug Ammerman, was named by prosecutors as an unindicted co-conspirator in a tax shelter fraud in the early 2000s, according to the Wall Street Journal.  Ammerman was a partner at the accounting firm KPMG, which later admitted criminal liability. A Senate investigation from the time includes emails from Ammerman suggesting he was aware of the scheme. Ammerman is also currently accused in a shareholder lawsuit of dumping stock in a grilled chicken chain, El Pollo Loco, where he was on the board, ahead of a bad quarterly report. Ammerman did not respond to requests for comment. The finance vice-chair for the inaugural committee, Elliott Broidy, pleaded guilty in 2009 to paying bribes to get investments from the New York State pension fund. His felony conviction was later downgraded to a misdemeanor. Broidy, a top Trump fundraiser, has also come under scrutiny in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. Broidy did not respond to requests for comment. Another inaugural organizer was Rick Gates, the former deputy to former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort. Gates pleaded guilty this year to lying to the FBI and to conspiracy in a vast money laundering scheme, charges that came from Mueller’s office. At the time that Gates worked on the inauguration, he had not been indicted, but his dealings with former Ukrainian strongman Viktor Yanukovych had already come under scrutiny. Gates’ business partner, Manafort, was forced off of the Trump campaign in the summer of 2016 after it was reported he got nearly $13 million of undisclosed payments from Yanukovych. Gates did not respond to requests for comment. We found one more thing that set this inauguration apart: Some of the donations are almost impossible to trace. As the Center for Responsive Politics reports, two “dark money” groups, which do not disclose their donors, gave $1 million each. Trump’s inaugural committee appears to have been the first to accept significant donations from dark money groups. Kerrigan, Obama’s inauguration chief, said he would have rejected a check from a group designed to preserve donor anonymity. “I would have said, ‘Prove who you are and if you can’t pass vet, I’ll have to give the check back,’” Kerrigan said. There are also, of course, many donors we do know about. Like other presidents, Trump raised millions from corporate contributions and wealthy individuals. The securities and investment industry contributed the most, nearly $15 million. Other top industries included real estate, casinos, oil and gas, and mining — each of which later benefited from various presidential initiatives and policies. The existence of a contribution, of course, doesn’t mean that’s the reason for a policy change. Click here to explore OpenSecrets’ analysis of inaugural contributions. And click here to check out journalist Christina Wilkie’s easy-to-search spreadsheet of inaugural donors.

It’s an oddity about covering President Trump’s potential conflicts of interest: certain names keeping coming up. For example, Elliott Broidy.  In April, the Republican National Committee announced the appointment of three national deputy finance chairmen: President Trump’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen, North Carolina businessman Louis DeJoy and Broidy.  What went unnoted, according to a search of stories published at that time, was that Broidy had pled guilty eight years earlier in a pay-to-play scheme involving public pension investments. Broidy’s 2009 guilty plea was spectacular news: then-New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo had caught former New York State Comptroller Alan Hevesi in a kickback scheme involving the state’s retirement fund for public sector workers. According to his guilty plea, Broidy gave Hevesi $1 million in gifts “as a reward for giving preferential treatment” to Broidy’s investment fund, Markstone Capital Partners. As Cuomo described it, Broidy paid for five personal trips for Hevesi and his family to places like Israel and Italy — trips that included airfare, luxury hotel suites and a helicopter tour. Broidy even invested in an obscure movie called Chooch produced by a pension official’s brother. In 2012, a judge reduced his felony plea to a misdemeanor after he repaid $18 million to the state. Broidy also left Markstone. He currently runs his own firm, Broidy Capital. We were reminded of Broidy’s run-ins with the while we were reporting about the CIM Group, a Los Angeles-based private equity firm that has played a key role in real estate deals involving Donald Trump and his son-in-law, and now White House adviser, Jared Kushner. CIM handles investments from public pension funds: Reuters reported that at least seven state pensions have provided money to the company. When New York officials were investigating the pay-to-play scheme in their state, Broidy was also a member of the city of Los Angeles Fire and Police Pension Board. According to a Los Angeles Times investigation, Broidy voted to invest $30 million of pension funds with CIM, without disclosing that his own private equity fund had received $500,000 from the firm. The Securities and Exchange Commission investigated Broidy for fraud in California. As part of that investigation, court records show, the SEC asked Broidy to disclose his communications with CIM. In a statement issued to WNYC after publication of this article, an attorney for CIM said, "To the best of CIM's knowledge, it has never been investigated by the SEC for fraud nor was it the subject of any SEC investigation into matters related to Mr. Broidy." Broidy was not sanctioned for his actions in California. Several years later, Broidy is now one of the most significant fundraisers for the Republican National Committee. He was a major fundraiser for Trump’s inaugural committee. And during the presidential campaign, he raised money for Trump’s Victory Fund, a joint Trump/RNC fundraising committee. This places Broidy, once convicted of bribing government officials to enrich his own company, in the position of soliciting giant donations for Republican causes and candidates. The inaugural committee, which is separate from the RNC and the presidential campaign, broke records for fundraising. According to an analysis by the nonpartisan OpenSecrets.org, most of the $107 million raised came from industries that stand to gain from Trump administration priorities. Asked about Broidy’s previous role in the pay-to-play prosecution in New York and his current role as a political fundraiser, a spokesman declined to comment. Ryan Mahoney, a spokesman for the RNC said, “This is well documented and in the past. There's a point at which somebody has paid their debt to society and Elliott has done that.” Editor's note: This story has been updated from its original version to more clearly describe the Securities and Exchange Commission's investigation and to include a statement from CIM’s attorney concerning the investigation.