Jump to content
IGNORED

Trump 53: Orange Florida Man Awaiting Indictment


GreyhoundFan

Recommended Posts

2 minutes ago, GreyhoundFan said:

It took me a while to read it. I had to keep stopping because it made me feel ill. 

I had to go look at recipes to get the Trump out of my head.

  • Upvote 8
Link to comment
Share on other sites

And the grifting goes on: "Since leaving office, Trump has charged the Secret Service more than $40,000 to use space at Mar-a-Lago"

Quote

Former president Donald Trump charged the Secret Service more than $40,000 this spring for rooms that Trump’s own protective detail used while guarding him at his Mar-a-Lago Club, according to federal spending records.

The records show that Trump’s club charged the Secret Service $396.15 every night starting Jan. 20, the day he left the White House and moved full-time into his Palm Beach, Fla., club.

Those charges, ultimately paid by taxpayers, continued until at least April 30, the spending records show, for a total of $40,011.15. The charges were for a single room used as a workspace by Secret Service agents, according to one person familiar with the payments.

The Secret Service released spending records up to April 30. Trump stayed at Mar-a-Lago more than a week beyond that before moving to his Bedminster, N.J., club for the summer. It was unclear whether he continued to charge the Secret Service into May.

Records documenting the charges were released by the Secret Service in response to a public-records request from The Washington Post. They are the first evidence that Trump has continued a controversial and lucrative practice — charging rent to his own protectors — into his post-presidency.

While he was president, Trump’s properties charged the U.S. government more than $2.5 million, often so that Secret Service agents could use rooms near him.

The Trump Organization did not respond to requests for comment. Trump’s post-presidential office and the Secret Service both declined to comment.

The rate Trump billed the Secret Service at his Florida resort is the same as the $396.15-per-room rate he charged as president.

Agents this spring rented fewer rooms at a time than they had when Trump visited Mar-a-Lago as president; back then, records show, they rented four or five rooms at the club for every night Trump was there. But costs for the single room in recent months added up because Trump was at Mar-a-Lago every night, not just on weekends and vacations. The end result: The Secret Service paid Mar-a-Lago nearly as much in the spring of 2021 as it had during comparable periods in 2018 or 2019.

Trump’s decision to charge the Secret Service rent appears unusual — both for a sitting president and now for a former one.

Former presidents get Secret Service protection for life. But last year The Washington Post spoke to historians and representatives for recent presidents and could not find another example of a president charging the Secret Service rent on this scale.

The closest parallel to Trump was the man who succeeded him: Joe Biden. While he was protected as vice president, Biden charged the Secret Service $2,200 per month to use a cottage on his property in Delaware. In total, Biden received $171,600 between 2011 and 2017.

Biden has not charged the Secret Service rent since becoming president in January, a White House spokesman said.

Historians said they were surprised Trump was still charging the Secret Service, considering that ex-presidents are entitled to an array of other taxpayer-funded benefits, including paid staff and a $219,000-per-year pension.

Trump, by his own account, is a billionaire. On his personal blog this week, he celebrated the $1.2 billion refinancing of a San Francisco office building in which Trump’s company owns a 30 percent share. That deal could bring Trump’s company a massive payout.

“It’s tacky,” Jeffrey A. Engel, the director of the Center for Presidential History at Southern Methodist University, said of Trump’s new charges. “Just because you can make a buck doesn’t mean you should make a buck. And especially when you have a situation where you’re an ex-president. You’re not going to starve.”

Trump, like other past presidents, is entitled to taxpayer funding for office space. A General Services Administration representative said this month that the government had not paid Mar-a-Lago any rent for Trump’s office space there. “There is no agreement to pay rent at Mar-a-Lago for any space the former president is using at the club,” the representative said.

Most Secret Service agents who guard Trump at Mar-a-Lago stay elsewhere. But security experts say that the agency still needs one or more spaces near the protectee for meetings, breaks, communications equipment and supervisors. At Mar-a-Lago, that means renting from Trump.

Since fall 2017, Mar-a-Lago has charged the agency the same rate of $396.15 per night. On its invoices to the Secret Service, Mar-a-Lago wrote that this rate was “billed at cost.” The Trump Organization has not explained how it chose that rate, down to the penny.

The figure is far above the $205 spending limit that has applied to most government employees looking for rooms in Palm Beach County this spring. The Secret Service is allowed to spend more than the limit if its protective mission requires.

Trump is expected to remain at Bedminster for most of the summer, following his seasonal pattern. While Trump was president, the Bedminster club also charged the Secret Service for a four-room cottage used by the agents guarding Trump. The rate there was $567 per night.

It is unclear whether those charges have resumed, now that Trump has returned. Both the Secret Service and the Trump Organization declined to say.

 

  • Upvote 4
  • Disgust 4
  • WTF 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Don't panic. Trump won't run in 2024. Not because he doesn't want to, but because he can't. 

Unless, of course, one can run from prison... or from abroad where you're in hiding.

  • Upvote 11
Link to comment
Share on other sites

31 minutes ago, fraurosena said:

Don't panic. Trump won't run in 2024. Not because he doesn't want to, but because he can't. 

Unless, of course, one can run from prison... or from abroad where you're in hiding.

Your keyboard to Rufus' ears.

  • Upvote 4
  • Rufus Bless 1
  • I Agree 15
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, fraurosena said:

Unless, of course, one can run from prison...

 Eugene V. Debs ran for president while he was in prison.

Quote

Debs was again the Socialist Party candidate for president in 1908, 1912, and 1920 (he refused the nomination in 1916). His highest popular vote total came in 1920, when he received about 915,000 votes. Ironically, he was in prison at the time, serving a sentence for having criticized the U.S. government’s prosecution of persons charged with violation of the 1917 Espionage Act. He was released from prison by presidential order in 1921; however, his U.S. citizenship, which he lost when he was convicted of sedition in 1918, was restored only posthumously in 1976. Debs’s years of living in harsh prison conditions adversely affected his health, and he spent long periods of the remainder of his life in a sanatorium in suburban Chicago.

Neither an intellectual nor a hardheaded politician, Debs won support through his personal warmth, integrity, and sincerity. He was extremely effective as a public speaker and made his living primarily as a lecturer and contributor to various periodicals. Among his best-known writings are a pamphlet, Unionism and Socialism (1904), and a book, Walls and Bars (1927).

 

  • Upvote 1
  • Thank You 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Cartmann99 said:

his U.S. citizenship, which he lost when he was convicted of sedition in 1918,

I did not realise that birthright citizenship could be lost in the US. Or that you could run for electoral office after being convicted of sedition. 

Maybe it's time to look at scaling back protection for former officials? Or at least do threat assessments - although in the case of the former guy the threat is from within, so it's nice to keep an eye on him. 

  • Upvote 7
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Ozlsn said:

I did not realise that birthright citizenship could be lost in the US. Or that you could run for electoral office after being convicted of sedition. 

Maybe it's time to look at scaling back protection for former officials? Or at least do threat assessments - although in the case of the former guy the threat is from within, so it's nice to keep an eye on him. 

My understanding is that Debs was disenfranchised (lost the right to vote) upon his 1918 conviction, rather than lost his citizenship.  I think you're correct that birthright citizenship of the USA can't be lost, at least as far as I am aware.*

I don't know about running for office after a conviction of sedition.  I suppose maybe it's case by case -- as it appears to be with regard to impeachment.

 

*ETA -- after looking at the source @Cartmann99 referenced, now I'm not sure.  It suggested he did lose his citizenship upon conviction for sedition, and then it was posthumously restored in the 1970s.

Edited by church_of_dog
uncertainty
  • Upvote 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, Cartmann99 said:

 Debs won support through his personal warmth, integrity, and sincerity.

In short, the antithesis of Trump.

  • Upvote 6
  • I Agree 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Anybody know if the Tangerine Terror has decamped from Mar-a-Lago and gone to Bedminster for the summer?

Interesting that Franklin Graham was quoted a few weeks ago saying he didn't think Trump would be physically able to run in 2024.  He noted Trump's terrible health habits in general, and his crappy diet in particular. 

Investigations by Cyrus Vance (Manhattan DA) and Leticia James (New York attorney general) have got to be affecting his blood pressure. 

It's looking like Allen Weisselberg, Trump Org's chief exec of 40 years, is going to flip.  Weisselberg & sons are facing criminal investigations into their own taxes, which is huge leverage to cooperate on the larger Trump Org investigation. 

At least one adult son, Barry, also works for Trump Org. Barry's ex Jennifer is bringing the tea by providing all of the financial records from her divorce, including her ex-husband’s bank accounts, credit cards, statements of net worth and tax filings.  

 

  • Upvote 14
Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, Howl said:

Anybody know if the Tangerine Terror has decamped from Mar-a-Lago and gone to Bedminster for the summer?

He left for New Jersey earlier this month. Melania and Barron plan to join him once the school year is over.

Bedminister also has a fundraiser scheduled for tonight:

Quote

A pro-Donald Trump super PAC is holding its first fundraising event on May 22 at the former president’s Bedminster golf club, according to two people familiar with the planning.

The event will benefit Make America Great Again Action, a super PAC spearheaded by former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski. Trump is expected to attend the event, which will include reception and a dinner. The minimum price for entry is $250,000.

[...]

The event will be the first fundraiser at Bedminister since Trump left the White House. The former president is expected to spend the summer season at the golf club instead of his Mar-a-Lago estate in South Florida.

 

 

  • Upvote 3
  • Thank You 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites

21 hours ago, Cartmann99 said:

He left for New Jersey earlier this month

I now feel obligated to give a "salute" in his general direction every time I drive to or through NJ.

  • Upvote 2
  • Haha 4
  • I Agree 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I recently saw this on a car in a Wegmans parking lot & had to get a picture. This car had several other stickers on it that made me wish I could be friends with that person, too, but this one genuinely made me laugh. 

Before the election, several Trumpers were driving around my area with their flags & being all ridiculous. I was so tempted to flip them off, but considering how crazy & dangerously insane some of them are, it's just as good that I didn't. 

On the day that the early voting started, I got in line at a local firehouse. And of course, a Orange Cheeto supporter lived right next door & had a big old flag hanging up in their house. (I still see flags up every so often, & it makes me ill.) 

Sorry if I hijacked anything. Please feel free to go back to your regularly scheduled posting. ✌️

 

IMG_20210425_122557537_HDR.jpg

  • Haha 27
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 5/23/2021 at 6:37 PM, LadyCrow1313 said:

I recently saw this on a car in a Wegmans parking lot & had to get a picture. This car had several other stickers on it that made me wish I could be friends with that person, too, but this one genuinely made me laugh. 

Before the election, several Trumpers were driving around my area with their flags & being all ridiculous. I was so tempted to flip them off, but considering how crazy & dangerously insane some of them are, it's just as good that I didn't. 

On the day that the early voting started, I got in line at a local firehouse. And of course, a Orange Cheeto supporter lived right next door & had a big old flag hanging up in their house. (I still see flags up every so often, & it makes me ill.) 

Sorry if I hijacked anything. Please feel free to go back to your regularly scheduled posting. ✌️

 

 

IMG_20210425_122557537_HDR.jpg

I remember election day there was some idiot driving up and down the Southwest Arterial with a giant orange fuck stain flag attached to the back of his pickup.  At least we don't see those all that often now.  

When out on the road driving I am sorely tempted to give a one figured salute to properties bearing flags or signage of said orange fuck stain.

  • Upvote 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

OMG, OMG This is not a drill. I repeat this is not a drill! More information on CNN.com

 

Edited by WiseGirl
So excited I forgot how to spell.
  • Upvote 1
  • Thank You 13
  • Love 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, WiseGirl said:

OMG, OMG This is not a drill. I repeat this is not a drill! More information on CNN.com

 

Was just coming to post this - , it's my understanding that there is no prosecution yet, the grand jury will determine if there is enough evidence to bring charges. Not a done deal by any means, but a big step forward toward FINALLY holding Donald Trump accountable. 

  • Upvote 13
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Continued here:

 

  • Thank You 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • GreyhoundFan locked this topic
  • GreyhoundFan unpinned this topic
Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.



×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.