If it makes B-rat feel better, I don't give a fuck about Donnie Jr. either. His dad is the one bad idea after another POS fascist who never encountered a situation where he shoulda THOUGHT before he spoke on shit he didn't understand, not him.
Oh wait, that is Junior, too. His coke use is his own fucking problem and none of my goddamn business.
i do not understand how difficult it is for these people to say "being woke is understanding and acknowledging that systematic injustices have taken place in american history and being aware of that and trying not to repeat or propagate those injustices."
i guess it would be too difficult to smear people and things as being woke and not come off looking like a hateful asshole then.
There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.- Hemingway
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Jack Mack and the Heart Attacks subpoenaing the Mar-I-Lieo staff in the documents case. Think any dishwashers, busboys, housekeepers, waitstaff or bartenders are going to prison for POOTWH?
Keep the Pathfinder gassed up, we're on the BRINK!
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
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mickeyrat
up my ass, like Chadwick was up his Posts: 35,938
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Hey, but Hunter's laptop, right? Or, who cares? Boy, putin on the ritz really had POOTWH figured out. All you have to do is flash the shiny bauble and it's yours. Good lord, "a life size painting." Hint: Did they look above the bed at Mar-I-Lieo? And a-hem, about those documents and the empty file folders? And I can hear Jared Dear Boy now, "now you go get my daddy a big nice gift, the bigger and the shinier, the better!, and you'll have whatever your precious little heart desires!"
I don't know but maybe this is what putting 'Muricans first, instead of last, looks like?
Two gifts to Trump family from foreign nations are missing, report says
More than 100 gifts worth nearly $300,000 were not properly reported to the government, a new report finds.
Federal officials cannot find two gifts received by President Donald Trump and his family from foreign nations, including a life-size painting of Trump from the president of El Salvador and golf clubs from the Japanese prime minister, according to a new report from House Democrats.
The gifts are among more than 100 foreign gifts — with a total value of nearly $300,000 — that Trump and his family failed to report to the State Department in violation of federal law, according to the report, which cites government records and emails.
The 15-page report, a result of ayear-long investigation by the House Oversight Committeeinto Trump’s failure to disclose gifts from foreign government officials while in office, revealed that the Trump family did not disclose dozens of gifts from countries that are not U.S. allies or have a complicated relationship with Washington. That includes 16 gifts from Saudi Arabia worth more than $48,000, 17 gifts from India worth over $17,000, and at least 5 gifts from China. Trump reported zero gifts entirely the final year of his presidency, according to the report, while he reported some of the gifts received in previous years.
Trump repeatedly told advisers that gifts given to him during the presidency were hisand did not belong to the federal government, former chief of staff John F. Kelly and other aides have previously told The Washington Post.
Investigators are continuing to search for the large portrait of Trump gifted to him ahead of the 2020 election by Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele and the golf clubs worth more than $7,000 thatTrump received from Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during visits to the Trump International Golf Club and Kasumigaeski Country Club in 2017 and 2018, the report says.
Most of the more than 100gifts identified by the committee are now in the custody of the National Archives or the federal government, even if they had not been reported to the State Department. It is unclear how many of the gifts were returned before Trump left office and after, officials say.
The incomplete accounting practices revealed by House investigators is based on a review of presidential records, so any gifts to the Trump family that were not memorialized in written communications by administration officials could still be outstanding. Republicans did not appear to participate in the investigation, which began while Democrats controlled the House.
“We’ve been able to piece all of this together through independent sources, but there could be a lot more given that none of these gifts have been reported and we’ve only found out about them through different kinds of investigative work and accidents,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, who declined to comment on whether the committee will make a criminal referral to the Department of Justice.
Email correspondence between Trump White House officials reviewed by The Post show a haphazard accounting of items given to Trump. In one email exchange,the White House Counsel’s Office provided incorrect guidance to White House staff on the process of accounting for foreign gifts.
The report also raises concerns about whether the unreported gifts may have been used by foreign governments to influence U.S. policy positions toward those countries. A letter issued to the State Departmentfrom Raskin on Friday requested documents and communications related to foreign gifts and Trump and his family, including “any references to effects on U.S. foreign policy.”
Typically, the White House Gifts Unit records all domestic and foreign gifts and their valuation that are received by the president and first family. If an official wishes to retain a gift, they have the option of paying full value, as outlined under the Foreign Gifts and Decorations Act. The 1966 law prohibits officials from personally keeping gifts from foreign entities worth more than $415.
Otherwise, the gift is transferred to the Archives, where it is stored for use in presidential libraries. Gifts meant for the White House residence are referred to the Department of the Interior’s park service, and gifts that are not sent to the Archives, or not personally retained by the president or his family, are sent to the General Services Administration. Luke Niederhelman served as the director of the White House gift office under Trump and did not immediately respond to request for comment.
Separately, the Office of Protocol in the State Department publishes an annual list of all gifts from a foreign government to a federal employee. The State Department disclosed in 2021 that because Trump White House officials failed to provide a list of foreign gifts Trump received before leaving office, the department did not have the necessary data to compile a complete 2020 report.
The Post first reported last fall that investigators were seeking help from the National Archives to locate dozens of pricey mementos gifted to Trump and his family.
Email correspondence included in the committee’s report shows then-Deputy White House Counsel Scott Gast incorrectly advising Molly Michael, Trump’s executive assistant, who had asked about required disclosures and payments for gifts in January 2021, that “no disclosure is required for any gifts that are purchased with personal funds.”
“While this is accurate for domestic gifts, Mr. Gast failed to specify that all foreign gifts over the minimal value are required to be reported, regardless of disposition,” investigators wrote.
Gast did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The committee’s effort to track down the portrait of Trump serves as a snapshot of the disorganization within the Trump administration’s gift accounting practices.
Tearsheet for TRUMPGIFTS (Obtained by The Washington Post)
In November 2020, the U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador emailed Trump son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner’s assistant, Avi Berkowitz, to notify him that President Nayib Bukele had delivered a painting to the residence that needed to be shipped to Trump.
“President Bukele contracted the same Salvadoran artist who completed his portrait for the Presidential House here,” wrote Ambassador Ronald Johnson in an email that featured photos of himself flashing a thumbs up next to the large painting. “It took the artist 6-months to complete the painting, and the attention to detail is absolutely amazing (see some close-up examples below).”
Tearsheet for TRUMPGIFTS (Obtained by The Washington Post)
The email was forwarded directly to Kushner, who then asked his assistant Cassidy Dumbauld to “take care of this,” remarking that the painting was “very nice.” Dumbauld replied later that day that the painting was set to be delivered to the White House. Investigators, however, state in the report that there are no records to account for the gift, and neither the National Archives nor the General Services Administration had records for the purchase of the painting.
“ … despite GSA transition documents indicating that the Director of Correspondence for the Office of Donald Trump certified ‘full compliance with the final disposition of gifts’ in April 2021, certain records suggest the portrait may have been moved to Florida ‘as property of the former President’ in July 2021,” investigators concluded.
A spokesperson for the National Archives said they cooperated with the report but declined to comment on its findings.
Ethics experts say the issues reflect a broader problem with enforcement of the emoluments clause of the Constitution that requires the president ask Congress for permission to accept a gift from a foreigner.
“If someone accepts a gift you are not allowed to take under the Constitution or government ethics rules, it’s not criminal,” said Richard Painter, the chief White House ethics lawyer for President George W. Bush. “But if anyone knowingly lied on the gift disclosure forms, that’s a violation of the false statements statue and that should be referred to the Department of Justice.”
The committee’s findings show extensive discrepancies in the formal accounting of gifts. For example, the State Department’s Federal Register Listing reported that the Trump family received 10 gifts from Saudi Arabia in 2017, two gifts from the country in 2018, zero gifts in 2019 and one gift in 2020. But the committee identified 16 additional gifts from Saudi Arabiathat had not been reported, worth more than $45,000 in total.
Kushner, who has financially profited from the close relationship forged with the Saudis during the Trump presidency, purchased and retained five gifts from the Saudis, according to GSA records obtained by the committee, including a $24,000 dagger and sheath given to him by Mohammed bin Salman and two sword sets worth $8,800.
Raskin recently renewed a document request related to Kushner’s investment firm, which raised $2 billion from the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia, as part of an ongoing investigation into Kushner’s ties to the Saudi government.
Officials discussing security in case of Trump indictment
By COLLEEN LONG and JENNIFER PELTZ
59 mins ago
NEW YORK (AP) — Law enforcement officials in New York are making security preparations for the possibility that Donald Trump could be indicted in the coming weeks by a Manhattan grand jury and appear in a courtroom in an investigation examining hush money paid to women who alleged sexual encounters with the former president, four law enforcement officials said Friday.
There has been no public announcement of any timeframe for the grand jury's secret work, including any potential vote on whether to indict the ex-president.
The law enforcement officials, who were not authorized to speak publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity, said authorities are just preparing in case of an indictment. They described the conversations as preliminary and are considering security, planning and the practicalities of a potential court appearance by a former president.
Trump's lawyer, Joseph Tacopina, had no comment. Messages were left for prosecutors and court administrators.
The grand jury has been hearing from witnesses including former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, who says he orchestrated payments in 2016 to two women to silence them about sexual encounters they said they had with Trump a decade earlier. Trump denies the encounters occurred, says he did nothing wrong and has cast the investigation as a “witch hunt” by a Democratic prosecutor bent on sabotaging the Republican's 2024 presidential campaign.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office has apparently been examining whether any state laws were broken in connection with the payments or the way Trump’s company compensated Cohen for his work to keep the women’s allegations quiet.
Cohen has said that at Trump's direction, he arranged payments totaling $280,000 to porn actor Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal. According to Cohen, the payouts were to buy their silence about Trump, who was then in the thick of his first presidential campaign.
Cohen and federal prosecutors said the company paid him $420,000 to reimburse him for the $130,000 payment to Daniels and to cover bonuses and other supposed expenses. The company classified those payments internally as legal expenses.
Federal prosecutors in 2018 charged Cohen with campaign finance crimes, saying the payments to Daniels and McDougal amounted to impermissible, unrecorded gifts to Trump’s election effort.
Cohen pleaded guilty, served prison time and was disbarred. Federal prosecutors never charged Trump with any crime.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Officials discussing security in case of Trump indictment
By COLLEEN LONG and JENNIFER PELTZ
59 mins ago
NEW YORK (AP) — Law enforcement officials in New York are making security preparations for the possibility that Donald Trump could be indicted in the coming weeks by a Manhattan grand jury and appear in a courtroom in an investigation examining hush money paid to women who alleged sexual encounters with the former president, four law enforcement officials said Friday.
There has been no public announcement of any timeframe for the grand jury's secret work, including any potential vote on whether to indict the ex-president.
The law enforcement officials, who were not authorized to speak publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity, said authorities are just preparing in case of an indictment. They described the conversations as preliminary and are considering security, planning and the practicalities of a potential court appearance by a former president.
Trump's lawyer, Joseph Tacopina, had no comment. Messages were left for prosecutors and court administrators.
The grand jury has been hearing from witnesses including former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, who says he orchestrated payments in 2016 to two women to silence them about sexual encounters they said they had with Trump a decade earlier. Trump denies the encounters occurred, says he did nothing wrong and has cast the investigation as a “witch hunt” by a Democratic prosecutor bent on sabotaging the Republican's 2024 presidential campaign.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office has apparently been examining whether any state laws were broken in connection with the payments or the way Trump’s company compensated Cohen for his work to keep the women’s allegations quiet.
Cohen has said that at Trump's direction, he arranged payments totaling $280,000 to porn actor Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal. According to Cohen, the payouts were to buy their silence about Trump, who was then in the thick of his first presidential campaign.
Cohen and federal prosecutors said the company paid him $420,000 to reimburse him for the $130,000 payment to Daniels and to cover bonuses and other supposed expenses. The company classified those payments internally as legal expenses.
Federal prosecutors in 2018 charged Cohen with campaign finance crimes, saying the payments to Daniels and McDougal amounted to impermissible, unrecorded gifts to Trump’s election effort.
Cohen pleaded guilty, served prison time and was disbarred. Federal prosecutors never charged Trump with any crime.
Who was in charge of the DOJ at the time? Regardless, they should offer POOTWH the opportunity to voluntarily appear, be charged and booked and slink off via a back door or in some other fashion or he can be perp walked and made a spectacle of. What they can't do is allow this to turn into any kind of Bundy Ranch style armed standoff. If it does or it wants to play games, gloves come off and it sits in Rikers, pending trial.
In a monumental ruling Friday, a federal judge ordered Donald
Trump attorney Evan Corcoran to provide additional testimony as part of
an investigation into the former president’s handling of classified
documents, a source familiar with the matter told CNN.
Corcoran has the potential to become one of the most crucial
witnesses in special counsel Jack Smith’s criminal investigation into
possible mishandling of classified records after the Trump presidency
and obstruction of justice.
District Judge Beryl Howell said in an order under seal that
Justice Department prosecutors have met the threshold for the
crime-fraud exception for Corcoran, the source said.
The scope of what DOJ will be allowed to ask, however, was not
immediately clear. Trump’s team is expected to appeal and ask for the
judge’s order to be stayed while legal proceedings play out.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
In a monumental ruling Friday, a federal judge ordered Donald
Trump attorney Evan Corcoran to provide additional testimony as part of
an investigation into the former president’s handling of classified
documents, a source familiar with the matter told CNN.
Corcoran has the potential to become one of the most crucial
witnesses in special counsel Jack Smith’s criminal investigation into
possible mishandling of classified records after the Trump presidency
and obstruction of justice.
District Judge Beryl Howell said in an order under seal that
Justice Department prosecutors have met the threshold for the
crime-fraud exception for Corcoran, the source said.
The scope of what DOJ will be allowed to ask, however, was not
immediately clear. Trump’s team is expected to appeal and ask for the
judge’s order to be stayed while legal proceedings play out.
continues....
Jack Mack and the Heart Attacks explains the recent panicky shrillness. Walls are closing in but who’s it going to be who rats it out? Corcoran? Don, Jr.? The Dumb one? Ivanka Darlink? Jared Dear Boy? Ruddy Ghouliani? Mark Field of Weeds Meadows? Sorry Powell? Steve O? Who’s turning state’s witness?
In a monumental ruling Friday, a federal judge ordered Donald
Trump attorney Evan Corcoran to provide additional testimony as part of
an investigation into the former president’s handling of classified
documents, a source familiar with the matter told CNN.
Corcoran has the potential to become one of the most crucial
witnesses in special counsel Jack Smith’s criminal investigation into
possible mishandling of classified records after the Trump presidency
and obstruction of justice.
District Judge Beryl Howell said in an order under seal that
Justice Department prosecutors have met the threshold for the
crime-fraud exception for Corcoran, the source said.
The scope of what DOJ will be allowed to ask, however, was not
immediately clear. Trump’s team is expected to appeal and ask for the
judge’s order to be stayed while legal proceedings play out.
continues....
Jack Mack and the Heart Attacks explains the recent panicky shrillness. Walls are closing in but who’s it going to be who rats it out? Corcoran? Don, Jr.? The Dumb one? Ivanka Darlink? Jared Dear Boy? Ruddy Ghouliani? Mark Field of Weeds Meadows? Sorry Powell? Steve O? Who’s turning state’s witness?
the help. you know the unseen in the room staff. the insignificant little peole who clean up etc....
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
In a monumental ruling Friday, a federal judge ordered Donald
Trump attorney Evan Corcoran to provide additional testimony as part of
an investigation into the former president’s handling of classified
documents, a source familiar with the matter told CNN.
Corcoran has the potential to become one of the most crucial
witnesses in special counsel Jack Smith’s criminal investigation into
possible mishandling of classified records after the Trump presidency
and obstruction of justice.
District Judge Beryl Howell said in an order under seal that
Justice Department prosecutors have met the threshold for the
crime-fraud exception for Corcoran, the source said.
The scope of what DOJ will be allowed to ask, however, was not
immediately clear. Trump’s team is expected to appeal and ask for the
judge’s order to be stayed while legal proceedings play out.
continues....
Jack Mack and the Heart Attacks explains the recent panicky shrillness. Walls are closing in but who’s it going to be who rats it out? Corcoran? Don, Jr.? The Dumb one? Ivanka Darlink? Jared Dear Boy? Ruddy Ghouliani? Mark Field of Weeds Meadows? Sorry Powell? Steve O? Who’s turning state’s witness?
the help. you know the unseen in the room staff. the insignificant little peole who clean up etc....
That's what I'm thinking. The chamber maid or housekeeper POOTWH hit on, the bus boy he belittled and threw a hamburder at, the bartender he yelled at for touching the screw cap to his Diet Coke or the greens keeper he hit with his golf cart because he wouldn't move out of the way when POOTWH drove onto the green or the pool boy who handed him a damp towel and had to pick up the stack of just folded, fresh towels swiped off the counter onto the wet pool deck.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Run by Devin Nunca of midnight in the garden fame. To think he gave up a safe, posh congressional seat, salary, pension and perks for POOTWH. Sucker. And soul. Did I mention his soul?
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Comments
Libtardaplorable©. And proud of it.
Brilliantati©
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
www.cluthelee.com
www.cluthe.com
She was saved by the bell.
www.cluthelee.com
www.cluthe.com
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
Oh wait, that is Junior, too. His coke use is his own fucking problem and none of my goddamn business.
Hunter Biden? NOT SO MUCH.
Don Senior? Tick, tock motherfucker. TICK TOCK.
i guess it would be too difficult to smear people and things as being woke and not come off looking like a hateful asshole then.
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
Libtardaplorable©. And proud of it.
Brilliantati©
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Keep the Pathfinder gassed up, we're on the BRINK!
Libtardaplorable©. And proud of it.
Brilliantati©
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
I don't know but maybe this is what putting 'Muricans first, instead of last, looks like?
Two gifts to Trump family from foreign nations are missing, report says
More than 100 gifts worth nearly $300,000 were not properly reported to the government, a new report finds.
Federal officials cannot find two gifts received by President Donald Trump and his family from foreign nations, including a life-size painting of Trump from the president of El Salvador and golf clubs from the Japanese prime minister, according to a new report from House Democrats.
The gifts are among more than 100 foreign gifts — with a total value of nearly $300,000 — that Trump and his family failed to report to the State Department in violation of federal law, according to the report, which cites government records and emails.
The 15-page report, a result of a year-long investigation by the House Oversight Committee into Trump’s failure to disclose gifts from foreign government officials while in office, revealed that the Trump family did not disclose dozens of gifts from countries that are not U.S. allies or have a complicated relationship with Washington. That includes 16 gifts from Saudi Arabia worth more than $48,000, 17 gifts from India worth over $17,000, and at least 5 gifts from China. Trump reported zero gifts entirely the final year of his presidency, according to the report, while he reported some of the gifts received in previous years.
Trump repeatedly told advisers that gifts given to him during the presidency were his and did not belong to the federal government, former chief of staff John F. Kelly and other aides have previously told The Washington Post.
Investigators are continuing to search for the large portrait of Trump gifted to him ahead of the 2020 election by Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele and the golf clubs worth more than $7,000 that Trump received from Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during visits to the Trump International Golf Club and Kasumigaeski Country Club in 2017 and 2018, the report says.
Most of the more than 100 gifts identified by the committee are now in the custody of the National Archives or the federal government, even if they had not been reported to the State Department. It is unclear how many of the gifts were returned before Trump left office and after, officials say.
The incomplete accounting practices revealed by House investigators is based on a review of presidential records, so any gifts to the Trump family that were not memorialized in written communications by administration officials could still be outstanding. Republicans did not appear to participate in the investigation, which began while Democrats controlled the House.
“We’ve been able to piece all of this together through independent sources, but there could be a lot more given that none of these gifts have been reported and we’ve only found out about them through different kinds of investigative work and accidents,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, who declined to comment on whether the committee will make a criminal referral to the Department of Justice.
Email correspondence between Trump White House officials reviewed by The Post show a haphazard accounting of items given to Trump. In one email exchange, the White House Counsel’s Office provided incorrect guidance to White House staff on the process of accounting for foreign gifts.
The report also raises concerns about whether the unreported gifts may have been used by foreign governments to influence U.S. policy positions toward those countries. A letter issued to the State Department from Raskin on Friday requested documents and communications related to foreign gifts and Trump and his family, including “any references to effects on U.S. foreign policy.”
Typically, the White House Gifts Unit records all domestic and foreign gifts and their valuation that are received by the president and first family. If an official wishes to retain a gift, they have the option of paying full value, as outlined under the Foreign Gifts and Decorations Act. The 1966 law prohibits officials from personally keeping gifts from foreign entities worth more than $415.
Otherwise, the gift is transferred to the Archives, where it is stored for use in presidential libraries. Gifts meant for the White House residence are referred to the Department of the Interior’s park service, and gifts that are not sent to the Archives, or not personally retained by the president or his family, are sent to the General Services Administration. Luke Niederhelman served as the director of the White House gift office under Trump and did not immediately respond to request for comment.
Separately, the Office of Protocol in the State Department publishes an annual list of all gifts from a foreign government to a federal employee. The State Department disclosed in 2021 that because Trump White House officials failed to provide a list of foreign gifts Trump received before leaving office, the department did not have the necessary data to compile a complete 2020 report.
The Post first reported last fall that investigators were seeking help from the National Archives to locate dozens of pricey mementos gifted to Trump and his family.
Email correspondence included in the committee’s report shows then-Deputy White House Counsel Scott Gast incorrectly advising Molly Michael, Trump’s executive assistant, who had asked about required disclosures and payments for gifts in January 2021, that “no disclosure is required for any gifts that are purchased with personal funds.”
“While this is accurate for domestic gifts, Mr. Gast failed to specify that all foreign gifts over the minimal value are required to be reported, regardless of disposition,” investigators wrote.
Gast did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The committee’s effort to track down the portrait of Trump serves as a snapshot of the disorganization within the Trump administration’s gift accounting practices.
In November 2020, the U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador emailed Trump son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner’s assistant, Avi Berkowitz, to notify him that President Nayib Bukele had delivered a painting to the residence that needed to be shipped to Trump.
“President Bukele contracted the same Salvadoran artist who completed his portrait for the Presidential House here,” wrote Ambassador Ronald Johnson in an email that featured photos of himself flashing a thumbs up next to the large painting. “It took the artist 6-months to complete the painting, and the attention to detail is absolutely amazing (see some close-up examples below).”
The email was forwarded directly to Kushner, who then asked his assistant Cassidy Dumbauld to “take care of this,” remarking that the painting was “very nice.” Dumbauld replied later that day that the painting was set to be delivered to the White House. Investigators, however, state in the report that there are no records to account for the gift, and neither the National Archives nor the General Services Administration had records for the purchase of the painting.
“ … despite GSA transition documents indicating that the Director of Correspondence for the Office of Donald Trump certified ‘full compliance with the final disposition of gifts’ in April 2021, certain records suggest the portrait may have been moved to Florida ‘as property of the former President’ in July 2021,” investigators concluded.
A spokesperson for the National Archives said they cooperated with the report but declined to comment on its findings.
Ethics experts say the issues reflect a broader problem with enforcement of the emoluments clause of the Constitution that requires the president ask Congress for permission to accept a gift from a foreigner.
“If someone accepts a gift you are not allowed to take under the Constitution or government ethics rules, it’s not criminal,” said Richard Painter, the chief White House ethics lawyer for President George W. Bush. “But if anyone knowingly lied on the gift disclosure forms, that’s a violation of the false statements statue and that should be referred to the Department of Justice.”
The committee’s findings show extensive discrepancies in the formal accounting of gifts. For example, the State Department’s Federal Register Listing reported that the Trump family received 10 gifts from Saudi Arabia in 2017, two gifts from the country in 2018, zero gifts in 2019 and one gift in 2020. But the committee identified 16 additional gifts from Saudi Arabia that had not been reported, worth more than $45,000 in total.
Kushner, who has financially profited from the close relationship forged with the Saudis during the Trump presidency, purchased and retained five gifts from the Saudis, according to GSA records obtained by the committee, including a $24,000 dagger and sheath given to him by Mohammed bin Salman and two sword sets worth $8,800.
Raskin recently renewed a document request related to Kushner’s investment firm, which raised $2 billion from the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia, as part of an ongoing investigation into Kushner’s ties to the Saudi government.
A spokesperson for Kushner declined to comment.
Continues...............
Two gifts to Trump family from foreign nations are missing, report says - The Washington Post
Libtardaplorable©. And proud of it.
Brilliantati©
NEW YORK (AP) — Law enforcement officials in New York are making security preparations for the possibility that Donald Trump could be indicted in the coming weeks by a Manhattan grand jury and appear in a courtroom in an investigation examining hush money paid to women who alleged sexual encounters with the former president, four law enforcement officials said Friday.
There has been no public announcement of any timeframe for the grand jury's secret work, including any potential vote on whether to indict the ex-president.
The law enforcement officials, who were not authorized to speak publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity, said authorities are just preparing in case of an indictment. They described the conversations as preliminary and are considering security, planning and the practicalities of a potential court appearance by a former president.
Trump's lawyer, Joseph Tacopina, had no comment. Messages were left for prosecutors and court administrators.
The grand jury has been hearing from witnesses including former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, who says he orchestrated payments in 2016 to two women to silence them about sexual encounters they said they had with Trump a decade earlier. Trump denies the encounters occurred, says he did nothing wrong and has cast the investigation as a “witch hunt” by a Democratic prosecutor bent on sabotaging the Republican's 2024 presidential campaign.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office has apparently been examining whether any state laws were broken in connection with the payments or the way Trump’s company compensated Cohen for his work to keep the women’s allegations quiet.
Cohen has said that at Trump's direction, he arranged payments totaling $280,000 to porn actor Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal. According to Cohen, the payouts were to buy their silence about Trump, who was then in the thick of his first presidential campaign.
Cohen and federal prosecutors said the company paid him $420,000 to reimburse him for the $130,000 payment to Daniels and to cover bonuses and other supposed expenses. The company classified those payments internally as legal expenses.
Federal prosecutors in 2018 charged Cohen with campaign finance crimes, saying the payments to Daniels and McDougal amounted to impermissible, unrecorded gifts to Trump’s election effort.
Cohen pleaded guilty, served prison time and was disbarred. Federal prosecutors never charged Trump with any crime.
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Libtardaplorable©. And proud of it.
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Trump attorney ordered to testify before grand jury investigating former president
In a monumental ruling Friday, a federal judge ordered Donald Trump attorney Evan Corcoran to provide additional testimony as part of an investigation into the former president’s handling of classified documents, a source familiar with the matter told CNN.
Corcoran has the potential to become one of the most crucial witnesses in special counsel Jack Smith’s criminal investigation into possible mishandling of classified records after the Trump presidency and obstruction of justice.
District Judge Beryl Howell said in an order under seal that Justice Department prosecutors have met the threshold for the crime-fraud exception for Corcoran, the source said.
The scope of what DOJ will be allowed to ask, however, was not immediately clear. Trump’s team is expected to appeal and ask for the judge’s order to be stayed while legal proceedings play out.
continues....
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Libtardaplorable©. And proud of it.
Brilliantati©
the help. you know the unseen in the room staff. the insignificant little peole who clean up etc....
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Libtardaplorable©. And proud of it.
Brilliantati©
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Libtardaplorable©. And proud of it.
Brilliantati©
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
BLAH BLAH BLAH ARRESTED BLAH BLAH BLAH