Donald Trump's inauguration received tens of thousands of dollars from shell companies that masked the involvement of a foreign contributor or others with foreign ties.The campaign will claim, of course, that they did not "knowingly" receive these donations and therefore did nothing wrong.
The Guardian has identified the creators of three obscure firms that contributed money to Trump's inaugural committee, which collected a record $107m as he entered the White House in 2017.
The three companies each gave $25,000 to Trump's inaugural fund. At least one of the contributions was made for a foreign national who appears ineligible to make political donations in the U.S.
...U.S. election law prohibits non-resident foreigners from contributing to political campaigns, including inaugurations. Donors or campaigns who "knowingly and willfully" breach this rule may be fined or prosecuted.
We'll see about that.
But this is why that Bloomberg passage I highlighted yesterday is so important: "It was Christmas Day 2016, and President-elect Donald Trump had the Rockettes on his mind. ...[S]ome of the dancers were balking over Trump and his politics, a recurrent problem for those trying to lure top talent to play the inaugural. In a phone call with Tom Barrack, his longtime friend and chairman of his inaugural committee, Trump asked if the dance troupe was still locked down."
It's evidence that, despite Sarah Huckabee Sanders' claims to the contrary, Trump was involved with his inaugural committee.
There's a long way to go from the Guardian identifying foreign donations made to Trump's inauguration under shell companies to the inaugural committee knowingly accepting those illegal contributions to Trump himself knowing about it.
But Trump is a micromanager. That's why he was personally making a call about the Rockettes performing.
It's very likely he knew. Proving that, however, is a whole other story.
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