LEVEL OF CRIMINALITY IN TRUMP PRESIDENCY MINDBOGGLING, UNPRECEDENTED!!!

 

From the editor:  The Trump administration really was a criminal enterprise in every way.  

It's difficult to see even the mafia running the country with more criminality.

So far, Trump himself has been charged with 71 criminal felonies and at least 11 from his administration have been charged with crimes or unethical conduct.

The saddest aspect of this disgraceful period in U.S. history is that Trump himself will brush everything off as a "witchhunt" and his brainwashed followers will believe him and actually want him to be president again. . . . . . .

Below, a list of everyone in Trump’s orbit over these past five years who has run afoul of the law over these past 5 years. (They’re listed in alphabetical order by last name.)

1. Steve Bannon: Trump’s political Svengali was charged with fraud in August 2020 for a fundraising scam tied to raising dollars to build Trump’s much bally-hooed border wall. The allegation, which Bannon has denied, was that he and others involved in the We Build The Wall group used money raised to pay for lavish personal expenses.

2. Tom Barrack: Barrack was charged on seven counts on Tuesday. The allegations, according to the indictment, center on the idea that Barrack used his closeness to Trump to “advance the interests of and provide intelligence to the UAE while simultaneously failing to notify the Attorney General that their actions were taken at the direction of senior UAE officials.” Following Trump’s 2016 victory, Barrack asked UAE officials to provide him with a “wish list” they hoped for from the administration over the first 100 days of Trump’s presidency. “The defendant is charged with acting under the direction or control of the most senior leaders of the U.A.E. over a course of years,” wrote the prosecutors of Barrack.

3. Elliott Broidy: Broidy, a top fundraiser for Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, pleaded guilty in October 2020 to conducted a secret lobbying campaign in exchange for millions of dollars. As CNN’s Kara Scannell wrote at the time of his Broidy’s guilty plea: “Broidy was charged earlier this month with conspiracy for failing to register and disclose his role in a lobbying effort aimed at stopping a criminal investigation into massive fraud at a Malaysian investment fund and advocating for the removal of a Chinese billionaire living in the US.”

4. Michael Cohen: The one-time fixer for Trump, Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison for a series of crimes, most notably secret hush-money payments made during the final months of the 2016 presidential campaign to two women alleging affairs with Trump. The sentencing judge said that Cohen had pleaded guilty to “a veritable smorgasbord” of crimes. Cohen turned informant on Trump and, in sworn testimony in front of Congress in 2019, Cohen called Trump “a racist,” “a conman” and “a cheat” – and insisted that the president was fully aware of the hush-money payments.

5. Michael Flynn: Flynn spent a brief stint as Trump’s national security adviser before being forced to resign after he failed to disclose the depth and breadth of his contacts with Russian officials during the transition. Later that year, Flynn admitted that he had lied to the FBI about his contact with Russia and had also done work for Turkey as an unauthorized lobbyist. In early 2020, Flynn and his legal team sought to have his conviction overturned. That effort was rendered moot when Trump pardoned him in November 2020.

6. Rick Gates: Gates, deputy to the campaign chairman of Trump’s 2016 campaign, pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting Paul Manafort in concealing $75 million in foreign bank accounts. Gates turned informant for the government as part of the broader probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, and was sentenced to 45 days in jail.

7. Paul Manafort: Trump’s campaign manager for part of the 2016 presidential campaign, Manafort pleaded guilty in 2018 to on count of conspiracy against the US and one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice due to attempts to tamper with witnesses – and agreed to cooperate with the ongoing Russia probe. Manafort was sentenced to 47 months in prison in 2019. Trump pardoned Manafort, who wound up serving just under two years in prison, in the final weeks of his presidency.

8. George Nader: An informal foreign policy adviser to Trump’s 2016 campaign, Nader cooperated heavily with special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election. In early 2020, he pleaded guilty to two counts of sex crimes involving minors.

9. George Papadopoulos: Papadopoulos, a relatively junior adviser to Trump’s campaign, was sentenced to 12 days in prison for lying to investigators about his contacts with individuals tied to Russia. Papadopoulos was defiant about his innocence; “The truth will all be out,” he tweeted the night before reporting to prison. “Not even a prison sentence can stop that momentum.” Trump pardoned Papadopoulos in December 2020.

10. Roger Stone: Stone spent years advising Trump although he was only formally affiliated with the 2016 campaign very briefly. He was convicted in November 2019 for lying to Congress and threatening a witness regarding his efforts for Trump’s campaign. According to the judge, Stone’s actions “led to an inaccurate, incorrect and incomplete report” from the House on Russia, WikiLeaks and the Trump campaign. Stone, and stop me if you’ve heard this one before, was pardoned by Trump in December 2020.

11. Allen Weisselberg: Earlier this month, the longtime chief financial officer for the Trump Organization was charged with tax crimes tied to perks he was given in lieu of salary. “All told, the indictment alleged, Weisselberg evaded taxes on $1.76 million in income over a period beginning in 2005 and concealed for years that he was a resident of New York City, thereby avoiding paying city income taxes,” wrote CNN”s Erica Orden, Kara Scannell and Sonia Moghe. Weisselberg pleaded not guilty. The Trump Organization, which was also indicted and has pleaded not guilty, called the Weisselberg a “pawn in a scorched-earth attempt to harm the former president.”