Ivanka and Jared 3: Treason Barbie and Ken

[GreyhoundFan]

[Howl]

46 minutes ago, GreyhoundFan said:

Day-um.  Mushroom cloud forming on the horizon. 

Relative to the other side of that dynamic duo -- Jared Kushner is profoundly corrupt and has been busy in various parts of the Middle East doing corruption.  In the long term, no matter how "pardoned" he is, the long arm of the law will catch up to him or at least expose the extent of his crime-ing. 

[AmazonGrace]

 

[Howl]

I was listening to one of the cable news shows (CNN/MSNBC?) today as background while taking down our little (faux) XMas tree.  The host was interviewing a woman political operative/conservative consultant of some stripe, discussing the potential for Srilanka* to primary Marco Rubio.  The political lady being interviewed  had first met Srilanka in her teen years.  She said politics were never going to happen for Srilanka; she doesn't have the inclination, personality or the chops for hard campaigning.  She didn't mention that maybe she's not smart enough, but it may have been implied. 

*I discovered "Srilanka" on Twitter, and wanted to drop it for your enjoyment before the FBOTUS (First Barbie of the United States)  becomes irrelevant next week. 

[fraurosena]

12 minutes ago, Howl said:

FBOTUS (First Barbie of the United States)  becomes irrelevant next week. 

Becomes irrelevant? 

[thoughtful]

1 hour ago, Howl said:

*I discovered "Srilanka" on Twitter, and wanted to drop it for your enjoyment before the FBOTUS (First Barbie of the United States)  becomes irrelevant next week. 

Spoiler

 

[GreyhoundFan]

"Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner move out of DC and lease luxury condo in Miami"

Quote

(CNN)Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner have moved out of their Washington, DC, home, and have signed a one-year lease on a luxury condo in Miami at the Arte, an expensive oceanfront residential building, a source familiar with the couple's move confirmed to CNN.

The last of their moving trucks departed the now-vacant property in the Kalorama neighborhood of DC Thursday. Trump's and Kushner's items are scheduled to be delivered to Miami, said a source with information on where the trucks were headed.

The Wall Street Journal was first to report the Trump-Kushner Miami rental.

CNN reached out to a representative for Ivanka Trump and has not immediately received a response.

Rents at The Arte, which is noted for its triangular shape, hover in the $40,000-per-month range and units typically sell for between $7 and 15 million.

The condo puts the family closer to the lot of land they purchased last month for $32 million on exclusive Indian Creek Island, also in the Miami area. The source familiar with the couple's move told CNN the family intends to use the condo as they develop and build what they are for now intending to be a more permanent home at Indian Creek.

"(Indian Creek Island) is one of Miami's most private and sought after neighborhoods, frequented by high net-worth individuals seeking privacy," said Dora Puig, who has during her career sold more than $3 billion worth of real estate and is the owner of a luxury boutique brokerage in the area. (Puig was not involved in the sale or purchase of the Trump-Kushner transaction.)

Puig said the extreme security measures at Indian Creek enjoyed by residents is one of the main reasons wealthy people are willing to pay into the tens of millions for a piece of land and views of the water surrounding it, waters monitored around the clock by armed private security.

Before leaving office, former President Donald Trump signed a memorandum extending US Secret Service protection by six months for all his children, according to a senior US official.

Mar-a-Lago, which is about an hour's drive from Indian Creek, is not a viable option for the Trump-Kushners to set permanent roots, mainly because it is a club with paying members and very little in the way of privacy -- perfect environs for her attention-loving father.

CNN has reported on Ivanka Trump's desire to perhaps run for political office in Florida. Trump had a taste of what the state might hold for her politically during her many campaign stops there last fall to stump for her father; she visited Florida multiple times in the run-up to the presidential election, drawing capacity audiences at events as well as raising millions of dollars at fundraisers.

Trump and Kushner, their three young children and two live-in nannies resided in the Kalorama rental during their tenure working as senior advisers in the White House.

 

[onekidanddone]

44 minutes ago, GreyhoundFan said:

"Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner move out of DC and lease luxury condo in Miami"

 

Miami’s loss is DC’s gain 

[GreyhoundFan]

Why did they receive a penny?

 

And they need to start paying for their own damned security, instead of charging taxpayers for Secret Service protection for all five of their family members.

[AmazonGrace]

Yeah so I don't believe Trump is broke either.

He's stashed his bounty.

Somewhere the people he owes money to won't find it.

[AnywhereButHere]

So, it looks like Ivanka isn’t planning on usurping Rubio. Does she realize she isn’t as loved as she thought, is she gearing up and hunkering down for any possible legal actions against her, is she cooking up some other business scheme? I just hope she crawls under a rock and stays there. Oh, and takes her father and sister-in-law with her. 
 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2021/02/18/us/ivanka-trump-florida-senate.amp.html

*Paywall, so I copied whole article*

Spoiler

Ivanka Trump will not run for the U.S. Senate from Florida in 2022, according to people close to her as well as an aide to Senator Marco Rubio, who holds the seat.

Since the final days of former President Trump’s term in office, speculation has been growing that Ms. Trump, his eldest daughter, might try to run for statewide office in Florida, where she and her family have moved permanently. Such a bid would involve a primary challenge to a sitting Republican senator, Mr. Rubio, and a competitive general election.

Marco did speak with Ivanka a few weeks ago,” said Nick Iacovella, a spokesman for Mr. Rubio. “Ivanka offered her support for Marco’s re-election. They had a great talk.” 

A person close to Ms. Trump also confirmed the conversation, and said that a Senate run was never something she was seriously considering. The person, who spoke on condition of anonymity to disclose private discussions, said that Mr. Rubio’s office had asked Ms. Trump to hold off on making clear she was not running until April, when they hoped to hold a joint event with her.

Mr. Iacovella, while not confirming that there was a request for Ms. Trump to delay speaking publicly, said there was a discussion of an event with her to highlight the work that she and Mr. Rubio have done on an expanded child tax credit that was part of the tax bill Mr. Trump pushed for early in his term. 

In separate statements, the two Republicans heaped praise on each other. Ms. Trump described Mr. Rubio as a “good personal friend and I know he will continue to drive meaningful progress on issues we both care deeply about.” Mr. Rubio thanked her for her “friendship” and for work they did together while she worked in the White House.

The discussion of whether Ms. Trump would seek the Senate seat in the battleground state came as her sister-in-law, Lara Trump, had let it be known that she was thinking of running for the U.S. Senate from her native state of North Carolina. But people briefed on the discussions said that Lara Trump was also unlikely to run.

 

 

[47of74]

Good

Quote

A Times Square retail property owned by Kushner Cos., the family company of former presidential adviser Jared Kushner, is a step closer to foreclosure, according to loan documents.

“Legal counsel has been engaged and foreclosure actions have been filed,” according to a report compiled by Wells Fargo & Co., the trustee on the debt.

Representatives for Kushner Cos. didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The building at 229 West 43rd Street, which used to house the New York Times, is only about half occupied. It was reappraised at $92.5 million in 2020 and counted Bowlmor and, until December, Guitar Center as tenants. The building was appraised at $470 million in 2016.

Whoever winds up owning that building should hose it down real good to get the Trumpvidian stink off the building. 

[GreyhoundFan]

"Once omnipresent Kushner now MIA from Trump's political pack"

Quote

(CNN)As Donald Trump plotted his Conservative Political Action Conference appearance last week, and a broader, more-robust plan to return to politics as an omnipresent disruptor, one person was conspicuously absent from the confab.

Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law, was notably not on the list of advisers assisting the former President. Kushner, who previously served as chief adviser-cum-micromanager with far-reaching responsibilities and had virtual carte blanche, has tapped out, say several people who worked closely with Kushner at the White House or are familiar with his thinking and told CNN on background in order to maintain relationships.

"Right now, he's just checked out of politics," says one person, echoing the mindset of Kushner's wife, Ivanka Trump, who is so over the political bubble she has told friends and colleagues of late to not utter anything to do with Washington.

Given Trump's election loss and current out-of-power position, Kushner's absence from the aftermath follows a pattern critics have previously pointed out: being present for the wins and MIA from the losses. A person with close ties to Kushner told CNN that Trump's son-in-law is enjoying "some much needed time with his family," and his retreat is unrelated to the ebb and flow of the former President's popularity.

During the administration, Kushner was more than happy to speak on behalf of the moments that turned out well for the White House -- but also conveniently skip the parts embroiled in turmoil.

As far back as 2017, when Trump's health care plan floundered and failed, Kushner and his family were on the slopes of Aspen, Colorado. In 2018, they were vacationing in Florida amid the government shutdown, even though the White House insisted Kushner was actively leading negotiations. And in 2019, when Trump was under fire for multiple issues, from background checks to comments about Jews and Democrats, the couple was having downtime in Wyoming, something even Trump noted with a tweet of a photo of them on vacation: "Two incredible people. I can't believe they're not working (few work harder)!"

A Trump spokeswoman did not provide an on the record response to CNN's request for comment.

It's not clear, however, who is instigating this -- at least for now -- breakup. Some who have been in contact with Kushner place it at the feet of being done with his father-in-law's antics. Sources closer to Trump say he's angry with his son-in-law over the election loss.

Trump's regulars, minus one

That Kushner has now developed anathema to his father-in-law's political appetite is questionable in its timing, an indicator that Kushner again is putting space between his image and Trump's, in the wake of the delusional flow of falsehoods after Election Day and the deadly Trump-incited insurrection at the US Capitol on January 6.

Yet several people told CNN that Kushner is truly -- this time -- effectively done with Trump's rhetoric.

Kushner and Ivanka Trump got out of their posh Washington rental home soon after January 20, the last moving trucks rolling towards their new high-rise, beachside Miami rental departing within 24 hours of President Joe Biden's inauguration. Another person familiar with Kushner's new chapter, says he wants closure and a fresh start, one that doesn't include advising his father-in-law on a daily basis.

Yet two other people who spoke with CNN indicated the schism was instigated by Trump, who has been telling those in his inner circle he is angry with Kushner.

Late last week, when Trump convened what he believes is his strongest political brain trust for a meeting to discuss his political future he did not include Kushner. The group looked at the 2022 midterms and, more and more likely, say people who have spoken to Trump of late, a presidential run in 2024.

Ensconced in Trump's private quarters at Mar-a-Lago, his club/post-White House headquarters/home in Palm Beach, the advisers consisted in part of former campaign manager Bill Stepien, adviser Jason Miller, former White House social media director Dan Scavino, Trump's son Donald Trump Jr. and another former campaign manager, Brad Parscale, who Kushner fired at Trump's request last summer and replaced with Stepien.

On the table was a push to create a super PAC to raise money, as well as a broader discussion of who would do what as Trump determined where and when and to whom to dole his outsized influence within a fractured Republican Party.

For Kushner not to be present at a strategic roundtable struck many who know his deep involvement in every aspect of Trump's political messaging as odd.

"That's about as 180 a turn as he could ever make," said a third person, who worked inside the Trump White House with Kushner. "This was a guy who for four years did everything on behalf of President Trump. He lived that job."

Another former White House colleague expressed surprise at Kushner's decision to walk away, adding there was nothing in the administration's portfolio that Kushner didn't "meddle" in, according to this person.

From domestic policy, foreign policy, staffing, speechwriting, national security, criminal justice reform, budget, Covid-19, Kushner had a hand in it all.

"He was an 'expert' in everything," said the former colleague, who noted Kushner's flitting from one topic to the next was often the bane of some senior West Wing staff's existence.

Distanced relationship

But Kushner's -- and similarly Ivanka Trump's -- ability to maneuver in and out of topics, day-in and day-out, was due in part to being family.

"It's not like Trump could fire his son-in-law, or give him a nickname and attack him on Twitter," said the person who worked inside the Trump White House.

As such, Kushner was able to be a chief strategist and an influential voice for the then-President.

Not so much now.

Two of the people who spoke to CNN say Kushner's relationship with Trump, son-in-law or no, has been fractured since Trump's reelection loss.

Trump, they say, has at times in the last several weeks expressed to those close to him that he faults Kushner for losing.

A person who speaks with Kushner frequently strongly denied any contention between the two men, noting Kushner and Trump met for lunch Wednesday in Florida at Trump's Doral property.

Kushner, however, would be a plausible surrogate, seeing it was he who orchestrated much of the administration's response to, essentially, most things, from the economy to immigration reform and ultimately coronavirus -- and who can forget Kushner's pledge last April during an interview that the United States would be "really rocking again" by July?

"We know the boss isn't going to blame himself" (for losing the election), said one source speaking to the nature of their relationship, highlighting Trump's habitual avoidance of personal responsibility.

However, if it is Trump who is keeping Kushner at arm's length, or vice versa, one thing is clear to those who have talked to Kushner in recent weeks: "He wants a break," said a person familiar with his thinking. But the source predicted that after a cooling-off period, and if and when Trump decides to launch a 2024 campaign, Kushner would likely come back into the fold as an adviser.

For now, however, Kushner is more than willing to see Trump Jr. or even Parscale assume the role of Trump whisperer and loyal first lieutenant, though Kushner's close associate said he keeps tabs on Stepien, Parscale and Miller, and speaks with them frequently.

Several of the people who spoke to CNN noted Kushner's peripheral interests still include an ongoing focus on the Middle East, brokering peace deals and helping ensure they take hold.

He would also like to be part of advancing criminal justice reform, such as reviving parole in the federal prison system, something that was eliminated in 1984 and Kushner feels deserves reexamination.

"He is trying to be someone you would go to on the Republican side to put a deal together," said the person familiar with Kushner's potential career path.

Yet for the foreseeable future, don't expect to spot Kushner among the former presidential advisers eagerly volunteering for a second tour.

"The drama of politics wore him down. Eventually, Trump wears everyone down," the person said.

I would be pleased to never hear about or see Treason Barbie and Ken again.

[GreyhoundFan]

Is anybody with active brain cells surprised by this? "Ivanka Trump's flagship policy program slammed by government auditors"

Quote

The Government Accountability Office has issued a damning report about Ivanka Trump’s pet project during her time as an adviser to her father, President Donald Trump.

As Ivanka Trump traveled the world talking up the Women’s Global Development and Prosperity Initiative, a whole-of-government women’s empowerment initiative, deep problems were developing in the implementation of the bipartisan Women’s Entrepreneurship and Economic Empowerment Act of 2018.

Trump’s stump speech on the global conference circuit was anchored in stories about the legal and regulatory barriers many women face around the world in establishing their property rights and starting businesses, and she had a solution: W-GDP.

Supporters of W-GDP saw it as a groundbreaking whole-of-government approach to female empowerment, while critics of the new law derided it as too limited to make a real difference.

The plan was to mandate and codify gender analysis and deliver targeted finance across the women’s programs of 10 U.S. Government agencies. At the individual level, the hope was that often poor women entrepreneurs would receive the financial kick-start they needed to build a business.

One of the 10 agencies involved was the U.S. Agency for International Development, which is mandated by the WEEE Act to allocate $265 million a year for support to micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises. Half of the money is required to go to women, half to the very poor (some overlap between the two groups is expected).

While Trump touted W-GDP as a cohesive program “enabling us to rigorously track the execution and the efficacy of the money that we are spending,” the GAO’s 14-month audit demonstrates that, at least at USAID, the opposite was happening.

While USAID launched at least 19 new women’s empowerment programs in 2019 alone, there were extensive failures in both the targeting of the money, and the measurement of its impact.

USAID was unable to say what proportion of funds went to the very poor and women-owned and managed businesses. Shockingly, the agency couldn’t even define what actually constitutes a business owned and run by women, the GAO concluded.

Ivanka Trump and her team spent two years developing the broader W-GDP program. But the White House had limited control over USAID, where a 20-person team of career officials — initially known as the Office of Private Capital and Microenterprise, and later as the Private Sector Engagement Hub — oversaw WEEE Act spending. Trump’s team held weekly and sometimes daily calls with those officials to monitor implementation.

One of Ivanka Trump’s favorite anecdotes about women’s empowerment on global conference stages from New York to Doha focused on her efforts to empower Colombian women, whom she visited in September 2019 with USAID administrator Mark Green. The American and Colombian governments went as far as to issue a joint communique on their shared vision.

Below the surface, there were already problems with USAID’s programs in Colombia. The GAO singled out USAID’s Colombian funding of a Productive Entrepreneurships for Peace program and a Rural Finance Initiative as examples of projects with important general inclusion goals, which also failed to meet the WEEE Act requirement to fund the very poor directly.

“USAID has not defined and does not collect information necessary to meet its statutory targeting requirements” the report noted, including by failing to obtain survey responses from 26 of its 47 bureaus around the world on how they distributed funding.

The GAO’s six recommendations for USAID focus on establishing new internal processes that can provide “reasonable assurance” that the money allocated by Congress gets to its intended recipients.

USAID — which is now under the leadership of acting administrator Gloria Steele, as Samantha Power waits for confirmation of nomination to lead the agency — has accepted all six recommendations. Colleen Allen, acting assistant administrator at USAID, in a written reply to the GAO report, said the agency has already partially implemented several of the recommendations, and recognized the need for better early planning.

Rep. Lois Frankel (D-Fla.) and former Rep. Ed Royce (R-Calif.), the co-authors of the WEEE Act, did not immediately respond to POLITICO’s request for comment.

The GAO audit was based on official financial accounts and interviews with USAID staff based in 11 countries. The report noted that some of the problems linked to mismanagement of the allocated funds date back to 2015, before the WEEE Act was signed into law.

 

[Cartmann99]

[AmazonGrace]

Corruption Barbie is laughing all the way to the bank.

 

[WiseGirl]

Wait, what, is this for real? *rubs hands gleefully* Vanity Fair article is under spoiler. 

Stocking up in

Spoiler

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/05/new-york-attorney-general-trump-organization-criminal-probe/amp

 

[Cartmann99]

Chapter One

 On our first day at the White House, Ivanka and I were shocked to discover that Hunter Biden, Hillary Clinton, and the shape-shifting lizard people were secretly running the country.

 

[Howl]

This will be the mega lie his ass off WH coverup fantasy book.  I'll be surprised if he isn't under investigation or even indicted by the time the book goes to print. 

He was crime-ing from the minute Trump was elected. Maybe he'll explain how he walked away with several hundred million bucks of dirty money and managed to unload the 666 Fifth Ave financial albatross during his tenure. 

[GreyhoundFan]

[SPHASH]

https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/23/politics/donald-trump-ivanka-trump-jared-kushner/index.html

[IrishCarrie]

10 hours ago, SPHASH said:

https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/23/politics/donald-trump-ivanka-trump-jared-kushner/index.html

I guess CNN reporting on Ivanka/Jared distancing themselves from Daddy, plus Jared's book deal is the start of the Redemption Tour 2021, right? ???

Tune in next month when Ivanka is "papped" volunteering at a puppy shelter and Jared is spotted by a "random passerby" helping an old lady across the road.

[Ozlsn]

Not going to help them when they get charged. And Trump won't lift a finger either.

[fraurosena]

*clutches pearls* 

She lied? Under oath? Who'd've thunk?

/s

Documents Show Ivanka Trump Didn’t Testify Accurately in Inauguration Scandal Case

Quote

The Trump family has trouble with depositions. In 2007 testimony, Donald Trump was repeatedly shown to be a liar. In February, Donald Trump Jr. was deposed in the Trump inauguration scandal lawsuit, and on several key points, under oath, he provided false testimony. A review of documents filed in that case and other material obtained by Mother Jones shows that Ivanka Trump also testified inaccurately during her deposition in this lawsuit. 

The inauguration probe was launched last year by Karl Racine, the attorney general of Washington, DC. He has alleged that Trump’s inauguration committee misused charitable funds to enrich the Trump family. As Racine put it, the lawsuit maintains “that the Inaugural Committee, a nonprofit corporation, coordinated with the Trump family to grossly overpay for event space in the Trump International Hotel… The Committee also improperly used non-profit funds to throw a private party [at the Trump Hotel] for the Trump family costing several hundred thousand dollars.” In short, the attorney general accused the Trump gang of major grifting, and he is seeking to recover the money paid to the Trump Hotel so those funds can be used for real charitable purposes. 

During a December 1 deposition—in which she swore to tell the truth—Ivanka Trump, the eldest daughter of Donald Trump who was an executive at the Trump Organization before becoming a White House adviser to her father, was asked if she had any “involvement in the process of planning the inauguration.” She replied, “I really didn’t have an involvement.” Ivanka testified that if her “opinion was solicited” regarding an inauguration event, she “would give feedback to my father or to anyone who asked my perspective or opinion.” And that was as far as her participation went.

But this wasn’t accurate, according to the documents, which indicate she was part of the decision-making for various aspects of the inauguration, including even the menus for events.

One email chain shows that Ivanka Trump was directly involved in the planning of at least one proposed event for the inauguration. On November 29, 2016, Rick Gates, then the deputy chairman of the Presidential Inauguration Committee (known as the PIC), emailed her the current schedule of inauguration events. He noted that Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, a lead producer working with the PIC, “is going to call you to discuss some additional ideas she has about some other events that we would like to see if you would be willing to do based on our meetings.” Ivanka replied to Gates and Winston Wolkoff, “Great. I am looping in my assistant Suzie who can coordinate a time for us to connect.” 

A few days later, Winston Wolkoff sent a long “Dear Ivanka and Jared” email to Ivanka Trump and her husband. She thanked them for “our meeting yesterday” and presented them with a “high-level summary” of the inauguration plans “for your review.” This was a detailed report on the assorted events and themes being created for Trump’s inauguration. The “overarching strategic objective,” she reported, was “reinforcing” the theme “With the People: Making America Great.” She laid out “key” messages, including “Our greatest strength is our people” and “Americans deserve to be heard, and their government needs to listen.” She noted that in their recent meeting, she and Ivanka Trump had discussed how to include Donald Trump’s “constituency” in the events, and Winston Wolkoff referred to proposals for doing so. This included inviting “families from all 50 states to attend official functions” and provide them “Airfare. Accommodations. Hair & makeup.”

In this email, Winston Wolkoff also asked Ivanka to confirm that she would host a “Women’s Entrepreneurs Reception/Dinner” as part of the inauguration. “Please let me know who…you would like invited,” she added. And she asked whether Ivanka Trump would prefer for the event to be hosted at the National Museum of African American History or the National Gallery of Art. Winston Wolkoff also attached to the email the communications strategy for the inauguration, the proposed event schedule, and a list of the “100 most influential women in Business, Philanthropy, Fashion, Politics and Finance.” She ended the note saying she would “follow up” with them “at TT”—a reference to Trump Tower. 

Kushner replied the next day in a brief email to Winston Wolkoff and told her, “Thanks, Stephanie – looks like it’s going to be a special event! So glad you are involved!” Ivanka Trump responded, too, later that day, with a more elaborate email, stating, “As mentioned, my interest in hosting [the dinner or reception for women entrepreneurs] depends on the quality and theme of the event. ” She added, “I would love to bring together an incredible group of female entrepreneurs and thought leaders and integrate young girls in the programing. If we can make it an impactful event, I would love to do it.” She asked Winston Wolkoff to work with Abigail Klem and Rosemary Young, respectively the president and marketing head of Ivanka’s company. “It would be great to have a cross section of industry and also invite top female cabinet members and lawmakers,” she wrote. Ivanka also volunteered to help Winston Wolkoff if she had any problems coordinating with Reince Priebus, whom Trump had picked to be his White House chief of staff, and Katie Walsh, his deputy: “please let me know if you don’t get the direction that you need from Reince and Katie and I will step in.”

That same day, Klem emailed Winston Wolkoff to set up a time to discuss the Ivanka Trump event, and she cc’d Ivanka and Kushner. On December 6, Winston Wolkoff met with Ivanka and her business associates regarding the women’s event to be hosted by Ivanka, according to Winston Wolkoff. In her book, Melania and Me: The Rise and Fall of My Friendship with the First Lady, which chronicles a host of internal problems within the PIC, Winston Wolkoff recalls that this meeting caused her to wonder “why was the PIC planning an event for Ivanka at all? And how had I gotten roped into it?”After the meeting, Tom Barrack, the billionaire pal of Donald Trump who was chairing the PIC, texted her, “We have so much to do for each of them,” referring to Trump family members. 

The gathering of women entrepreneurs was eventually scuttled, but Ivanka Trump remained involved in other components of the inauguration planning. In late December 2016—after news reports noted that Donald Trump could not draw big-name entertainment figures for his inauguration events—Matthew Hiltzik, a public relations consultant, sent her an email under the subject heading, “Here is the point i was going to share earlier…” He told her that the “narrative surrounding inauguration is going awry.” Referring to Mark Burnett, the television producer who had created The Apprentice and who was working on the inauguration, Hiltzik wrote, “Mark B and i were talking and he specifically suggested/requested that i raise this issue with you and he and i discussed the situation. Basically – in order to better control the narrative, you should have stephanie [Winston Wolkoff] be front and center on this and there needs to be clear direction expressed publicly about what the inauguration plan IS (celebration of talent of lesser known but incredibly gifted Americans) as opposed ot [sic] being defined by what it is NOT (no – or few – hollywood and top mainstream musical talent). Always best to be defined by what you are, vs. what you are not.”

“I really didn’t have an involvement” in inauguration planning, Ivanka testified. But documents show she was even consulted on menus.

As Winston Wolkoff wrote in her book, Hiltzik “was warning Ivanka to distance herself from the bad inauguration press and pushing me to the top of Shit Mountain.” Ivanka forwarded this email to Winston Wolkoff with a simple message: “I agree.” 

Other emails show that Ivanka did participate in discussions about the talent being recruited for the inauguration. On December 23, Jon Reynaga, a producer working on the event, emailed Gates and Sara Armstrong, a top PIC official, with a list of musical artists being booked for inauguration events. “They are all somewhat known acts but non-are A-listers,” he observed. (The roster included Fantasia, a female soul singer, Big and Rich, a country act, and Katharine McPhee, an American Idol runner-up.) Armstrong replied, “Well I’m worried this gets into the lower level that Ivanka didn’t want.” Gates responded that Barrack had okayed this list, and he added, “The entertainment is coming in at cost/expenses which is one of the most important points for DJT – he will like that.”

In a December 16 text to Reynaga, Winston Wolkoff reported that Trump “DID NOT APPROVE THE BEACH BOYS and he nor Ivanka want them.” Asked about this during her deposition, Ivanka Trump said, “I don’t recall that. I love the Beach Boys.”

According to text messages between them, Ivanka Trump instructed Winston Wolkoff to make sure there would be “tons” of reporters at the celebratory candlelight dinner being held the evening before the inauguration and at the inauguration balls. When Winston Wolkoff told her that the communications team for the Trump transition was not sending out information on these events to all the media, Ivanka took action. She communicated with Sean Spicer and texted back to Winston Wolkoff, “He is on it and will circle up with…you.”

One PIC planning document noted that Ivanka had a say in the catering. Winston Wolkoff, it reported, “needs to get menus approved by IT and DJT.”

In her book, Winston Wolkoff recounts a mid-December meeting in Donald Trump’s office during which she presented to him and Ivanka the plans for eighteen inauguration events. “I grabbed my binder, went over to Donald’s side of his desk, and sat with my knees on the floor…Ivanka hovered over me…[and] made comments and asked questions.”

(“I want tanks and choppers. Make it look like North Korea,” Donald Trump said.)

Days later, Winston Wolkoff tells Mother Jones, she attended a meeting at Ivanka Trump’s office at Trump Tower where she provided Ivanka and other family members “a run-through of the entire inauguration,” which included slides on events, the communications strategy, and its branding. 

During her deposition in the inauguration case, Ivanka Trump downplayed her relationship with Winston Wolkoff. She described Winston Wolkoff as “a person I knew in New York who does events,” adding, “I didn’t know Stephanie Winston that well. I just knew she was very good at planning. I just knew her in that capacity.” Winston Wolkoff, she said, was no more than “an acquaintance.” But emails between her and Winston Wolkoff obtained by Mother Jones indicate that in previous years, Ivanka Trump and Winston Wolkoff had been friends. In 2012, Ivanka emailed Winston Wolkoff, “Jared and I are having a few friends over for dinner next Monday night (Nov 12th) and would love to have you and David join us. It will be a very casual, small group and I promise good food and conversation. If not, let’s catch up soon.” In another email exchange, the two women texted about family matters when they set up a lunch date. 

Ivanka Trump was instrumental in landing Winston Wolkoff a top spot at the PIC. Days after Trump was elected president, she emailed Barrack, “Per our conversation, I want to connect you with Stephanie, cced. She would be great for you to speak with about the planning of the inauguration—as mentioned, i have no doubt she will be invaluable to you!”

But Ivanka Trump may now have reason to distance herself not only from the messy inauguration scandal but also from Winston Wolkoff, who became something of an internal whistleblower. During the planning process, Winston Wolkoff raised an important matter within the PIC: whether the Trump Hotel was overcharging Trump’s inauguration committee. (This matter is at the heart of Racine’s lawsuit against the Trump Organization and the PIC.) The first cost estimates were high, and Ivanka Trump interceded to obtain a better rate. But Winston Wolkoff believed this new estimate—$700,000 for meeting and banquet rooms reserved for four days—was still twice the market rate. On December 17, 2016, she emailed Gates, Ivanka Trump, and others to express her concern. “Please take into consideration,” she warned, that the PIC’s spending would eventually be audited and this deal with the Trump Hotel would “become public knowledge.” Winston Wolkoff is now a lead cooperating witness in Racine’s lawsuit against the Trump Organization and the PIC. 

Mother Jones sent lawyers for Ivanka Trump and the Trump Organization a list of questions about her deposition testimony and its accuracy. They did not respond. Racine’s office declined to comment on Ivanka Trump’s deposition. 

In her own deposition in the inauguration scandal case, Winston Wolkoff testified that she was worried “it would look [that] members of the Trump family or the Trump Organization or the Trump Hotel financially profited from the inauguration.” During that deposition, she was asked whether it seemed “improper” to her that Ivanka Trump was “involved at times in decision-making about some of the events that were part of the inaugural festivities.” She replied, “I think it was questioned…It was out of the ordinary.”

 

[onekidanddone]

1 hour ago, fraurosena said:

*clutches pearls* 

She lied? Under oath? Who'd've thunk?

/s

Documents Show Ivanka Trump Didn’t Testify Accurately in Inauguration Scandal Case

 

Noticed how it is sanitized to ‘wasn’t accurate’ instead of being a lying liar who lies while sporting 5,000 outfit.