‘Pay-to-Play’ the only game in the Trump Presidency!

WELCOME TO UNBELIEVABLE CORRUPTION . . .

by Selvam Canagaratna-June 9, 2018, 7:30 pm 

"They say the gods themselves / Are moved by gifts. And gold does more with men than words."

– Euripides, Medea (431 B.C.)

Nobody can accuse the leading members of Donald Trumpʼs Administration of not faithfully following the bossʼ lead when it comes to engaging openly in the game of ʻPay-to-Playʼ.

Take, for instance, Republican politician John Michael Mulvaney.

In November 2017, Trump appointed him to serve as Acting Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) – but under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, which allows the President to appoint an interim replacement without Senate confirmation! It so happened that Mulvaney’s appointment was contested by the Bureau’s then Deputy Director, Leandra English, but a federal judge ruled in Mulvaney’s favour, thus allowing him to simultaneously be Acting Director of both the CFPB as well as the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

David A. Graham, writing in The Atlantic on April 25 this year, was cryptic in his intro: ‟The problem isn’t that Mick Mulvaney wasn’t being honest. It’s that he was a little too honest."

Explained Graham: ‟Speaking to the American Bankers Association at a conference in Washington on April 24th, Mulvaney had this unambiguous advice for those gathered: If you want to play, you better pay."

One has to hand it to Mulvaney for, er… well, I guess, his forthrightness. He confided to members of the American Bankers Association: ‟We had a hierarchy in my office in Congress," (according to The New York Times). "If you’re a lobbyist who never gave us money, I didn’t talk to you. If you’re a lobbyist who gave us money, I might talk to you." He then added, "However, If you came from back home and sat in my lobby, I talked to you without exception, regardless of the financial contributions."

Mulvaney’s spokesperson promptly sprang to his defence, saying his boss was making the point that constituents contacting their representatives was "more important than lobbyists and it’s more important than money." But, noted Graham, Mulvaney was making that point to a large conference of bankers, whom the CFPB ostensibly regulates, and thus advising them on how best to persuade his former colleagues on Capitol Hill to sharply curtail the powers of the agency he leads.

In effect, explained Graham, Mulvaney was simply mapping out two paths for purchasing influence: donating directly to legislators, and investing in a grassroots campaign to undermine the CFPB. Persuading Congress to act, he said, is among the "fundamental underpinnings of our representative democracy. And you have to continue to do it."

Added Graham by way of explanation: ‟That’s a message that has one resonance when delivered to a town-hall meeting, and a rather different meaning when offered to a room full of corporate leaders and lobbyists.

‟It’s not exactly news that money makes Washington move," concluded Graham‚ "but in the past, members of the political establishment have at least tried to pretend that isn’t true. The surprise is that Mulvaney was willing to say so out loud, with reporters present!"

But when it comes to self-incrimination, no politician has come anywhere near Donald J. Trump. Consider this:

Sarah K. Burris, writing on the Raw Story website on May 13th, noted: "Nested in Christopher Steele’s dossier on President Donald Trump are two pieces of research that could spell the end of his presidency, whether Republicans want it or not.

"Before taking off for a Mother’s Day of golfing, Trump tweeted out that he’s working with the Chinese President to bring back a phone company accused of spying on hundreds of millions of users. His tweet read:

"President Xi of China, and I, are working together to give massive Chinese phone company, ZTE, a way to get back into business, fast. Too many jobs in China lost. Commerce Department has been instructed to get it done!"

Little doubt that Trump’s needless – and utterly foolish – boastfull tweet has already caught the attention of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team of investigators.

Sarah Burris also told readers that young investigative journalist Scott Stedman had posted two screen captures from the Steele dossier that outline ways in which Trump’s tweet could be indicative of a bribery scheme: "TRUMP’s business dealings in China and other emerging markets . . . were substantial and involved the payment of large bribes and kickbacks which, were they to become public, would be potentially very damaging to their campaign," the excerpt said.

MSNBC commentator Malcolm Nance explained that this could be an example of bribery, which is listed among the "high crimes against the Constitution."

Section 4 of Article Two of the United States Constitution outlines that the "President‚ Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors."

But, as Sarah Burris explained, these types of dealings are, in fact, ʻbusiness as usualʼ for Trump, who once wanted to legalize bribery! On occasion, Trump has denounced the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), which was passed after the Watergate scandal to make it illegal for any American to bribe a foreign official.

"What are we prosecuting people to keep China honest?" Trump asked during a May 2012 phone-in to CNBC. "Now every other country goes into these places and they do what they have to do. It’s a horrible law, and it should be changed. I mean, we’re like the policemen for the world, and it’s ridiculous."

Far less prominent – until quite recently at least, but also far more successful – than Mick Mulvaney in the Trump Administrationʼs ʻPay-to-Playʼ drive has been Donaldʼs own long-time ʻfixerʼ-cum-personal attorney, Michael Cohen.

Federal prosecutors in New York are now investigating Cohen, and that probe appears largely focused on Cohen’s ʻrobust’ efforts after Trump’s election to pitch his supposedly ʻclose relationshipʼ with the President to individuals and companies seeking ʻassistanceʼ from the new administration.

Michael Avenatti, a lawyer for porn star Stormy Daniels (who reportedly had a sexual encounter with Trump way back in 2006) revealed several substantial payments received by Cohen, which were detailed in SFAs – or ʻSuspicious Financial Activityʼ reports – compiled by a bank Cohen used. AT&T, Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis, and Columbus Nova, the US investment manager for Viktor Vekselberg, a Russian oligarch recently sanctioned by the US Treasury Department, have all confirmed making substantial payments to a Cohen firm called Essential Consultants LLC. After news of these payments surfaced, several companies claimed that Cohen failed to deliver the assistance they sought.

Beth A. Rosenson, Professor of Political Science at the University of Florida, who has researched and written about conflicts of interest for 20 years, observed: "From my perspective, Trumpʼs conflicts of interest are unprecedented in scope."

Among the Trump Organizationʼs holdings are 16 hotels, 17 golf courses, a modeling agency, a production agency and at least 25 residential real estate properties (17 domestically, 8 overseas). His over 500 companies have dealings in 25 countries including India, Panama, Scotland and the Philippines.

"Thatʼs not all: Trump leases his DC hotel from the federal government and appoints the head of the agency that monitors his lease! Trump also owes millions in loans, including over US $300 million in loans to Deutsche Bank, which is under investigation by the federal government. He also owes money to at least seven other banks for his heavily mortgaged properties; and one of his real estate partnerships has a loan from the state-owned Bank of China."

Conflicts galore!