Category Archives: Donald Trump

The New York attorney general's two-year civil probe into the Trump Organization is now a criminal investigation. Here's what we know so far. USA TODAY

WASHINGTON The stakes of investigations into former President Donald Trump and his close orbit increased on Tuesday, when New York Attorney General Letitia James announced she's joining forces with Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance in a criminal investigation of the Trump Organization.

"We have informed the Trump Organization that our investigation into the organization is no longer purely civil in nature," James spokesman Fabien Levy said in a statement first reported late Tuesday by CNN. "We are now actively investigating the Trump Organization in a criminal capacity, along with the Manhattan (district attorney)."

While the New York attorney has been conducting a civil investigation examining the finances of the Trump Organization for over a year, the latest revelation ups the pressure on the former president and his family, who have been dogged by investigators over the past several years.

President Trump and Rudy Giuliani on Aug. 14, 2020, in Bedminster, New Jersey.(Photo: Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)

'Vulnerable to prosecution': When Trump leaves White House, presidential 'cloak of immunity' goes away

New York probe: NY AG investigating whether Donald Trump inflated value of Seven Springs estate

More: Eric Trump must sit for deposition in NY investigation before Election Day, judge rules

The implications of a criminal investigation into Trump and those in his close orbit have gained particular salience because Trump nowlacks any immunity he enjoyed while president. The former president cannot pardon his former aides and close allies, a power he used to protect associates who were pursued in previous criminal investigations.

Here is what we know about the latest investigation into Trump and how it fits into the broader legal troubles for the former president.

New York's attorney general and Manhattan's district attorney are now jointly investigating possible criminal wrongdoing on the part of the Trump Organization.(Photo: Davidepj / iStock)

James' announcement of cooperation with the Manhattan DA adds weight to the ongoing criminal investigation into the Trump Organization, examining potential tax and bank-related fraud. Prosecutors are especially interested in whether Trump overvalued his properties and obscured debts in order to obtain valuable loans and other financial negotiations.

The New York attorney general will now cooperate with that investigation, broadening the available resources, jurisdiction and potential penalties. It is not immediately clear what additional roles the attorney general's office will play.

The original investigation began after Trump's former personal fixer Michael Cohen alleged in 2019 testimony to Congress that he and Trump repeatedly misled potential lenders and clients about the value of their properties and businesses in official documents.

Related: From Trump fixer to Mueller informant: Timeline of Michael Cohen's role in Russia probe

Vance's office was involved in a years-long court battle to obtain the former president's tax records and other documents relating to the Trump Organization.

The battle was finished at the Supreme Court, where the justices determined that the then-president must make his taxes available to the prosecutors but that prosecutors could not make the files public.

The district attorney received millions of pages of documents from the organization, including eight years of Trump's tax returns.

Taxes received: Donald Trump's tax records obtained by New York prosecutors, boosting investigation

And the attorney general is no stranger to investigating the Trump family's endeavors.

James previously investigated the Trump Foundation, the family organization's charitable arm, for fraud. The investigation resulted in the organization paying out $2 million in court-ordered damages to eight different charities in 2019. The foundation was then disolved by court order later that year.

Big picture: 'Vulnerable to prosecution': When Trump leaves White House, presidential 'cloak of immunity'goes away

Trump is also facing a criminal investigation in Georgia, where Fulton County prosecutors are examining Trump's attempts tointerfere in the state's election and illegally tilt the vote count in his favor.

Georgia prosecutors have acknowledged they are reviewing a range of possible offenses, including solicitation of election fraud, false statements, conspiracy, oath of office violations, racketeering and violence associated with threats to the election process.

2020 fallout: Georgia prosecutors investigate election fraud, conspiracy after Trump's pressure campaign as part of 'high-priority' criminal probe

Trump is also facing two defamation lawsuits brought by women who accusedhim of sexually assaulting them and then disparaging them ashe denied the allegations.

Former Elle magazine writer E. Jean Carroll accused Trump of raping her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in New York City in the mid-1990s. She sued him for defamation in 2019, after Trump accused her of lying to boost the sale of her memoir in which she described the incident. Carroll is also seeking DNA evidence to see if Trump's genetic material is on a dress she said she wore during the alleged rape.

Related: 19 women have accused Trump of sexual misconduct. Here's what their stories have in common.

Former "Apprentice" contestant Summer Zervos filed a similar lawsuit in New York state court, claiming that Trump forced himself on her by kissing and groping on multiple occasions.

Meanwhile, Mary Trump, the president's niece, has accused him and his siblings of cheating her out of millions of dollars in inheritance while squeezing them out of the family business.

More: Biden says he won't order an investigation of Trump, president's legal troubles remain

Trump, in a lengthy written statement, cast the attorney general's announcement as political warfare.

"There is nothing more corrupt than an investigation that is in desperate search of a crime," Trump said. "But, make no mistake, that is exactly what is happening here...The Attorney General of New York literally campaigned on prosecuting DonaldTrump even before she knew anything about me."

Kevin Johnson and Jon Campbell contributed to this report.

Follow Matthew Brown online @mrbrownsir.

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What we know about investigations looming over Donald Trump and Trump Organization - USA TODAY

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Get the coronavirus news from around the world, read more about the investigation into Donald Trump and his business interests and see more stories trending online today.

Trump organization now under criminal investigation, New York attorney general says (AP)

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Rudy Giulianis son, Andrew Giuliani, running for governor of New York (ABC)

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Its official: Lollapalooza returning in 2021, bands to be announced Wednesday (Chicago Tribune)

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Princess Beatrice Expecting Her First Child (People)

Bank of America to boost minimum wage to $25 an hour for its employees by 2025 (USA Today)

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Donald Trump, coronavirus news & more: Whats trending today - cleveland.com

Capital T: The Trump International Hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue has a 60-year lease from the U.S. government.

Donald Trump, the landlord, was often accused of using his time in the Oval Office to pad his private business interests. His critics repeatedly decried his lack of transparency. The former president never had to publicly disclose who his tenants were because his commercial real estate portfolio was held by a collection of shell companies, and federal disclosure laws only apply to direct payments.

Last year Forbes revealed that 25 commercial tenants renting space in Trumps buildings were throwing him some $115 million a year. During the former presidents time in office, some of those tenantsfrom big investment banks to household-name consumer brands like Nike, Duane Reade and Starbuckshad either lobbied the federal government or bid for federal contracts, or sometimes both.

Meanwhile, the whiff of impropriety has also lingered over Donald Trump, the tenant. His lavish Washington, D.C. hotel is ensconced inside the spectacular Old Post Office, a federal building with a unique, historic importance to the country. From its completion in 1899, the impressive building, whose iconic clock tower houses the Bells of Congress, served for years at 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue as the main post office for the nations capital. Yet in the modern era, the building had become an underutilized money pit.

In 2012, the U.S. government awarded a 60-year lease to the Trump Organization, which beat out bids by hospitality behemoths Marriott International and Hilton Worldwide. Trump said that he had paid too much, and history may prove that Uncle Sam got the best of him.

In striking a deal with the General Services Administration (GSA), the agency that manages federally owned properties, the Trump Organization agreed to invest hundreds of millions of dollars to painstakingly restore the buildings Romanesque Revival exterior and convert the interior into a luxury hotel. To cover the massive renovation costs, Trumps company invested $42 million, got an historic-preservation tax credit to cover roughly $40million, and took out a $170 million loan from Deutsche Bank, which appears to be in trouble. On top of all of that, the Trump Organization pays the government approximately $248,000 per month in rentwhich works out to a cool $3 million per year.

Throughout Trumps presidency, Democratic members of the U.S. Housesubcommittee tasked with oversight of federal real estate assets argued that Trump was in breach of the lease when he became president, on the grounds that the agreement prohibits any elected official from benefitting personally from the lease. They made 10 requests for financial statements relating to the Trump International Hotel, including a subpoena in 2019. All were blocked by the Trump-appointed GSA administrator.

But now it appears that the eleventh times the charm. With a Biden-appointed acting administrator now running the agency, the GSA is finally coughing up some of those documents, CNN reported last week. The GSA conveyed to House Transportation Chairman Peter DeFazio, the that it was turning over monthly financial statements from Trumps hotel, audits and lease amendments.

The GSA provided those documents on a confidential basis and have not released them publicly, though some older documents relating to the Old Post Office are available online. Many have been heavily redacted.

Yet despite the GSAs years of stonewalling and less-than-transparent paper trail, Trump foes hoping to discover a smoking gun may be disappointed.

The tenant is paying the rent as agreed to under the lease and has been making rental payments consistent with its obligations under the lease. Those payments have not been late, said a GSA spokesperson via email.

In April 2020, the Trump Organization requested rent relief on the property during the pandemic, The New York Times reportedbut that request was denied.

The tenant did not receive rent relief for the OPO lease, according to the GSA. And there have been no amendments to the lease to change the rental payments.

That is all 100% correct, a Trump Organization spokesperson confirmed via email.

The ribbon-cutting ceremony took place in the grand lobby of Trump international Hotel on October 26, 2016. (Photo by Cheriss May)

In many ways, the fortunes of Trumps D.C. hotel have mirrored the former presidents political trajectory. Right after the 2016 presidential election, the hotel became instantly synonymous with schmoozy grift, as right-wing personalities and GOP elected officials made a point of frequenting the hotel and taking selfies in the Benjamin Bar. The hotel took in $18 million in the first four months of 2017 and another $34 million in the last eight,according to Trumps financial disclosure report.

But in time, the magic wore off. By 2019, the Trump Organization had quietly put the hotel on the market but failed to nab a bid even close to the $500 million asking price. Trumps lastfinancial disclosure report,released in the hours after his presidency ended, showed theTrump International Hotels revenue was down$33 million in 2020a 62% drop from the previous year. And while the hotel was eventually pulled off the market, Bloomberg reported last month that the Trumps were still open to offers.

Now, with Trump having exited D.C., the line of folks wanting to curry favor by spending a few nights at his hotel or making an appearance at the restaurant has dwindledleaving the hotels future unclear.

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Donald Trump Is An Exemplary Tenant, Says His Washington D.C. Landlord - Forbes

Donald Trump has moved his base operation from Mar-a-Lago in Florida to Bedminster, New Jersey, ahead of a fundraiser this weekend, according to a report from CNN.

Trump made the move last week and is expected to reside in the members only Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster through the summer.

The former president is expected to make an appearance at a fundraiser at Bedminster for the Make America Great Again Super Pac on Saturday.

The pro-Trump fundraiser, which is run by his longtime adviser Corey Lewandowski, will be Trumps first official appearance at the club this season, although he has been spotted playing the clubs 36-hole golf course. The fundraiser on Saturday will include reception and a dinner. The minimum price for entry is $250,000.

Former Trump aides have also set up base at Bedminster Township. The move will make it easier for the staff to visit the Trump offices in Trump Towers in Manhattan which is 45 miles east of Bedminster. Trumps daughter, Ivanka Trump, and her husband, Jared Kushner, also have a property on the Bedminster resort.

Several lawmakers, including Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and Congressman Matt Gaetz of Florida, had visited the former president in his Mar-a-Lago residency, where he settled after he lost the presidency, seeking endorsement from him.

It is expected future pro-Trump fundraisers and visits from potential candidates seeking his endorsement will also shift from south Florida to New Jersey.

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Donald Trump flies north for the summer to New Jersey golf club - The Guardian

Correction: This article has been updated to correct which states Joe Biden won in 2020 that Donald Trump won in 2016.

WASHINGTONShortly after meeting at the White House on Wednesday, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., sent an aggressive fundraising text signaling a renewed effort to target his host, the president.

"I just met with Corrupt Joe Biden and hes STILL planning to push his radical Socialist agenda onto the American people," the text said.

McCarthy and other Republicans said intraparty squabbles, including the drama surrounding Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo.,distracted them from presenting a unified front against Biden and his big spending plans.

Now that Cheney's been expelled from Republican congressional leadership, the GOP and its allies are renewing attacks on Biden on issues such as immigration, taxing the wealthy, foreign policyand the ability of a 78-year-old man to handle the political world's toughest jobs.

A number of factors, analysts said, have foiled those Republican attempts and could keep Republicans from landing a lasting punch.

Biden hosts 'big four' Congressional leaders at WH

President Joe Biden hosts the first formal gathering of the "big four" congressional leaders on Wednesday. Biden's sit-down Oval Office meeting comes as the White House accelerates its efforts to reach a bipartisan infrastructure agreement. (May 12)

AP

After more than three months in office, Biden enjoys approval ratings of more than 50%, and polling showssupport for his ambitious spending plans that include $1.9 trillion approved for COVID-19 relief and $2.3 trillion proposed for jobs and infrastructure.

'I don't understand the Republicans': Joe Biden says GOP in middle of 'mini-revolution' amid Cheney dustup

'Stop the Spending Spree': Fiscal conservatives mobilize to block Biden's jobs and families plans

The Republicans' success or failure in tarnishing Biden and his team could determine whether they win back Congress in 2022 and the White House in 2024. History is on their side: Midterm electionsfrequently see control of Congress change hands.

Ex-President Donald Trump, deprived of Twitter and other social mediabut still viewed by many as the most powerful Republican voice in the country, increased his outputof written statements, many of them attacking his successor over a variety of issues.

Stepped-up Republican attacks may not resonate, analysts said,especially if more people get back to work, inflation is checked, and the economy rebounds after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lara Brown, director of the Graduate School of Political Management at George Washington University, said most Americans "approve of the job President Biden is doing and believe that the country is on the right track."

"It is difficult for the Republicans to raise a ruckus and rile the public," she said, "when most are either satisfied or feeling optimistic about the future.

Republicans have had little success demonizing Biden with independent voters because so many people feel they know him, analysts said.

The president has been a fixture in American politics for more than a half-century. A senator from Delaware for more than three decades, Biden participated in many high-profile hearings and congressional debates. He served eight years as vice president to President Barack Obama.

After winning the Democratic nomination for president last year, Bidenracked up more than 80 million votes to unseat Trump despite Trump and his Republican allies lobbing constant allegations of malfeasance against Biden and his sonHunter, as well as attacks on Biden's fitness to hold office.

Some of those attacks have continued into the Biden presidencybutto little avail.

An average of polls compiled by Real Clear Politics gives Biden an average job approval rating of 54.2%.

The underlying data in those polls shows a common theme: Republicans tend not to like Biden, and Democrats support him strongly, including those who backed more liberal candidates such as Bernie Sanders in last year's primaries.

Americans have a generally positive view of the president who casts himself as the product of a working-class environment in Scranton, Pennsylvania, a practical politician willing to work with Republicans on legislation to help Americans.

"There's nothing new (Republicans) can say that's going to change anybody's mind," saidPatrickMurray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., left, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., head opposition to President Joe Biden's big spending plans.Evan Vucci, AP

Many Republicans expect Americans will become dissatisfied with record levels of government spending and debt, an increasingly crowded U.S.-Mexican borderand new rules and regulations promulgated by the Democratic Congress and the Biden administration.

Pledging to work with the Biden administration on an infrastructure bill, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said he is "hopeful" that "we may be able to do some things on a bipartisan basis but they got off to a pretty hard left-wing start."

"We don't intend to participate in turning America into a left-wing,kind of Bernie Sanders vision of what this country ought to be like," McConnell told Fox News after the meeting between Biden and congressional leaders.

Conservative groups are stepping up campaigns against Biden and his spending proposals.

The organization Americans For Prosperity is preparing ads for competitive House elections in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona and Georgia. Biden wrested those states from Trump in the 2020 election, providing him his margin of victory in the Electoral College.

Some Republican criticism plays off Biden's age and his occasionally mangled syntax, but that strategy has met limited success. Some of the attacks mirror the ones Trump made in 2020 against "Sleepy Joe."

"Trump never found a salient way to brand Biden, and Republicans continue to struggle after the election," Republican strategist Alex Conant said.

"Conservatives main angle of criticism is Bidens age," he said, "but nobody is afraid of their grandfather."

Republicans said they were distracted in making the case against Biden by a lack of cohesion, including internal disagreements over what to do about Trump.

Some blamed Cheney, the now-former House Republican Conference chair who argued that the party should move past Trump and stop echoing his lies that the 2020 election was stolen from him. She said those claims triggered the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, an incident Democrats would surely use against Republicans when elections roll around.

'Just the Trump party':Liz Cheney's demotion proves Trump still rules Republican politics, experts say

'I will not sit back': In fiery speech, Rep. Liz Cheney calls Trump a 'threat'

House Republicans voted Wednesday to demote Cheney from her role as third-ranking Republican. She responded that the GOP would struggle against Biden and his agenda if it continues to embrace Trump and his conspiracy theories.

"To be as effective as we can be to fight against those things, our party has to be based on truth," Cheney told NBC News.

House Republican Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., who supported demoting Cheney, said voters are disenchanted with Biden and the Democrats. Scalise told Fox News he sees "a lot of really serious concern about the direction that the socialist Democrats are taking us," and "Biden has embraced that far-left Bernie Sandersagenda."

"People don't want this to become a socialist nation, yet you see how far theyre moving," Scalise said.

Republicans had success taking control of Congress in the elections of 1994 and 2010, the first midterms for Democratic Presidents Bill Clinton and BarackObama.

Both of those presidents were more polarizing than Biden, analysts said, and Republicans made great use of hot-button issues, such asDemocratic health care proposals.

The success of attacks on Biden may depend on overarching factors, particularly the state of the economy, analysts said. A massive event could also shake politics, as 9/11 did in the run-up to the 2002 elections.

Perhaps the biggest challenge for Republicans is they lack the megaphone of the White House to promote themselves and denigratetheir opponents.

"It's always difficult to generate a unifying message when you're the party out of power," GOP pollster Whit Ayres said.

Published9:30 am UTC May. 15, 2021Updated9:01 pm UTC May. 18, 2021

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Joe Biden proves an elusive target for Republicans. After Cheney fight, their focus is back on the president - USA TODAY

Donald Trumpcalled the 2020 presidential election the crime of the century on Saturday, even as Republican leaders scrambled to dodge the fallout from the violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol that supporters of the former president carried out earlier this year.

Trump also blasted Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) as weak and pathetic in a post on his so-called communications platform. He went after former Vice President Mike Pence for lacking the courage to reverse the results of the election, which Joe Biden won.

Screen Shot/Donald J. Trump blog

If Pence and McConnell had reinstalled Trump as head of the nation, we would right now have a Republican President who would be VETOING the horrific Socialistic Bills that are rapidly going through Congress, including Open Borders, High Taxes, Massive Regulations, and so much else! Trump wrote.

There are no open borders. Taxes have not been increased, though Biden is planning to raise the corporate tax rate from 21% to 25% to 28% after Trump arranged to slash the corporate tax rate by 40%. Its unclear what massive regulations Trump was referring to.

Trump also claimed that polling ahead of the election was rigged. He argued that his supporters didnt bother to vote because polls made him look like such an incredible winner or that polls made him look like such an astounding loser that his supporters didnt think it was worthwhile to vote. The position that not enough of his supporters turned out to vote would seemingly contradict Trumps claims that ballots were somehow miscounted.

Trumps latest rant about the election results comes at an awkward time for fence-straddling Republican leaders, who have both been feeding oxygen to the big lie that the election was rigged and sort of denying it exists.

I dont think anybody is questioning the legitimacy of the presidential election, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said Wednesday after he and other congressional leaders met with Biden. I think that is all over with. Were sitting here with the president today.

However, several Republicans indeed have continued to undermine the legitimacy of the democraticpresidential election.

On Wednesday,House Republicans voted to oust Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) from her leadership role aftershe refused to go along with Trumps lies about the election. The former presidents rhetoric about election fraud motivated rioters to storm the Capitol on Jan. 6.

Rep. Ted Budd (R-N.C.) said Biden was legitimately elected, but added in a dig that we need to make sure that we have unquestioned elections moving forward.

And Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) tried to deny that the Capitol riot occurred. There was no insurrection, he said last week. He also described rioters violent behavior as a normal tourist visit to the Capitol.

Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) has called the rioters peaceful patriots.

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Donald Trump Bashes 2020 Presidential Election As 'Crime Of The Century' - HuffPost

The Daily Beast

Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast / Photo GettyBill Gates enjoyed holding court at Jeffrey Epsteins Manhattan mansion, allegedly seeking refuge from his marriage and talking with the sex offenders circle of high-profile dinner guests about philanthropy and other worldly topics.But the Microsoft mogul may have been angling for another perk by networking with Epstein: Gates hoped the well-connected pervert could help him secure the Nobel Peace Prize, one former Gates Foundation employee told The Daily Beast.This person said members of the foundations communications team were alerted to Gates relationship with Epstein and were told it was a maneuver to try to get himself a Nobel Peace Prize. They said the tech mogul had even kept some employees on call on prize day in years past just in case he was awarded the distinction.We were aware of things that were potential reputational risks for the foundation and the co-chairs, Bill and Melinda, said the former employee. Even back then, people knew this guy wasnt squeaky clean, the person said, referring to Epstein.He [Gates] thought that Jeffrey would be able to help him, that he would know the right people, or some kind of way to massage things, so he could get the Nobel Peace Prize, which is what Bill wants more than anything else in the world, the staffer said.I think he was ultimately disappointed it didnt work out, the person added.Epstein was known for cultivating a rolodex of elite contacts from around the globe: billionaires, royals, celebrities, politicians, and prominent scientists, including Nobel laureates Frank Wilczek, Gerald Edelman and Murray Gell-Mann. The money-manager also opened various nonprofits over the years to steer millions to his friends projects and to fund research at institutions including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University. Researchers continued taking Epsteins money despite widespread reports of his abuse of underage girls and young women.The former staffers claim that Gates thought Epstein was his ticket to the prestigious prize adds fuel to a Norwegian newspapers report last year that highlighted a 2013 meeting with Gates, Epstein, and the Norwegian Nobel Committees chairman at the time, Thorbjrn Jagland.A spokesperson for Bill Gates, however, denied the billionaire philanthropist was seeking Epsteins help in obtaining the award.While a Nobel Prize would certainly be a great honor, it is false to state that Bill Gates was obsessed with the honor, set it as a goal, or campaigned for it in any way, the spokesperson told The Daily Beast. If Epstein had a plan or motivation to insert himself into any processes related to any awards or honors on behalf of Gates, neither Gates nor anyone he works with was aware of his intentions and they would have rejected any offers for assistance.Jeffrey Epstein Gave Bill Gates Advice on How to End Toxic Marriage, Sources SaySince his divorce announcement this month, Gates has faced a torrent of scrutiny over his ties to Epstein, whom he met dozens of times after Epstein went to jail for soliciting a minor and had to register as a sex offender. Over the weekend, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal published reports on Gates alleged history of hitting on employees and his extramarital affair with a Microsoft engineer.It was not a secret within the foundation that he had dalliances, the former foundation employee told The Daily Beast. Of Melindas attitude toward the infidelity, the employee added, I dont think it was a wink-wink permissive thing at all. I think she was humiliated and did not like it.According to People, Bill and Melinda Gates will continue as co-chairs of their foundation, even as they divide their $130 billion in marital assets, because of their shared ambition for the Nobel Prize. One source told the magazine: They were really interested in trying to win a Nobel Prize. So one thing that was part of this is, if it gets worse, then it ends that. It seems as if that was on the agenda, and thats for both of them.Melinda Gates Warned Bill About Jeffrey EpsteinBill Gates may have had the prize on his mind in March 2013, when he and Epstein reportedly visited Jaglands home in Strasbourg, France.The rendezvous was revealed by Dagens Nringsliv, Norways largest business newspaper, in an October 2020 report. At the time of the meeting, Jagland was chair of the committee which awards the Peace Prize, and Gates was a potential candidate for the honor.The meeting also included members of the International Peace Institute (IPI)a think tank run by former Norwegian diplomat Terje Rd-Larsen that Epsteins secret charity lavished with a $375,000 donation in 2017. (Rd-Larsen resigned from the New York-based IPI last October after it was revealed his group received $650,000 in donations from Epstein, who also provided him with a $130,000 personal loan.)According to DN, Jagland said Gates and Epstein arrived at the Strasbourg meeting together, and Epstein introduced Gates to IPI for a polio eradication project. Rd-Larsen didnt attend the meeting but is a longtime friend of Jagland.Rd-Larsen also had longstanding ties to Epstein, who issued press releases touting his support of IPI while he worked to rehabilitate his image following his 2008 conviction in Palm Beach, Florida. (As The Daily Beast reported Sunday, Gates allegedly encouraged Epstein to revamp his reputation in the media.)In an email to DN, Jagland claimed Gates asked to meet him while he was in France and that their discussion centered not on the Nobel, but around human rights organization Council of Europes work on counterfeit vaccines. Asked if he thought it was a conflict to socialize with a possible Nobel laureate, Jagland told the newspaper: Bill Gates was not nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2013.Not long after the Strasbourg gathering, the Gates Foundation granted IPI millions of dollars; records on the foundations website show IPI received a $2.5-million grant in October 2013, $5.5 million in March 2014, and $256,968 in June 2019 and July 2020.And, in September 2013, Bill and Melinda Gates spoke at IPIs Eighth Annual Ministerial Working Dinner on the Middle East. A writeup of the event indicates the couple were special guests who discussed the ongoing efforts of their foundation to eradicate polio and cited the connection between health and security.When asked about Gates meeting with the Nobel committee chairman, a spokesperson for the billionaire directed The Daily Beast to a 2019 statement, which says: Multiple high-profile people suggested that Bill Gates meet with Epstein because he made claims of being able to bring billions of dollars into philanthropy based on his status as an agent and advisor to wealthy individuals with respect to their giving strategies.Given the prospect of helping catalyze significant increases in charitable giving, Gates met with Epstein and others multiple times to discuss philanthropy and the work of his foundation. Although Epstein pursued Gates aggressively, Gates had absolutely no business partnership or personal friendship with Epstein. Gates never socialized with Epstein or attended parties with him.Its become clear that Epstein misrepresented the nature of his meetings with Gates while also working to insert himself behind-the-scenes without Gatess knowledge. Bill Gates regrets ever meeting with Epstein and recognizes it was an error in judgement to do so.Melinda Gates Called Divorce Lawyers in 2019 After Epstein Report: WSJThe Strasbourg meeting may not have been Gates only visit abroad with Epstein.In August 2019, the French news outlet Franceinfo reported on a roster of famous visitors to Epsteins Parisian apartment, which included Bill and Melinda on at least one occasion, according to the financiers former butler. A spokesperson for Melinda Gates told The Daily Beast that Melinda has never been to Epsteins Paris home.In spring of 2013, Epstein and his friend Lawrence Krauss appeared to be touting Gates appearance at a future panel at Arizona State University in 2014.Krauss, a theoretical physicist who led ASUs Origins Project and left the university amid sexual misconduct allegations, name-dropped Gates in an email to a prospective panelist for the event, which was later canceled. (Epstein had donated $250,000 to the Origins Project, while his buddy, billionaire hedge-funder Leon Black, donated $2 million, according to Buzzfeed.)In an email obtained by the Daily Mail, Krauss indicated Epstein was organizing a panel on the Origins of Money" and that "right now he has Bill Gates, Richard Branson, Larry Summers on board. Through a spokesperson, Branson denied having anything to do with the event, while Summers apparently didn't comment for the article.Reached by The Daily Beast, Krauss would only say that the panel never happened. Since I dont know Gates or these people, I cant comment, he said. with additional reporting from William BreddermanRead more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

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Does Donald Trump Know He Could Be Arrested This Year? - Yahoo Entertainment

Donald Trumps new digital-media play is not exactly the social networking juggernaut one mightve expected him to try and unleash since leaving the White House. Instead, the former president has launched a personal communications platform, otherwise known as a bloga throwback to the style of pre-Instagram personal websites that celebrities once used to share their daily goings-on with fans.No longer able to post on Twitter and Facebook, both of which have currently banned him following the Capitol riot, the 45th president is now serving up his many grudges and grievances under the heading, From the Desk of Donald J. Trump. The site's launch took place several weeks after Trump adviser Jason Miller claimed that Trump would soon completely redefine" the social media game by creating a new platform, a P.R. promise that, so far, could not be further from reality.

There is noticeably less engagement and far fewer visitors on Trump's new site than the attention he recieved on his Facebook and Twitter accounts, according to NBC News. Using data compiled by the online analytics company BuzzSumo, the NBC report noted that the platform has only netted a little over 212,000 engagements. In comparison, one post on the former presidents Twitter account to his 88 million followers could receive more than a million likes, mainlining his every musing to consume the news cycle and the nations attention. Even the Trump name brand has severely deflated online since he was dropped by Facebook and Twitter in January. NewsWhip, an agency that researches social media use, recently reported that social media entries mentioning Trump have dropped by roughly 91%, per Axios. Amid this decline, the Trump campaign has utilized old-school email blasts that include short statements from Trump on stories in the newsincluding a recent note calling this years scandalized Kentucky Derby winner a junky horsewhich reporters then share on Twitter via screenshots, providing the former president with a back door into the social media conversation.

From the Desk users can like entries and share them on more popular platformsas in, the ones that Trump isnt allowed to use anymore. But unlike most blogging platforms, readers cannot comment or otherwise interact with the posts. In the case of Trumps new platform, it is so technologically primitive that there is no way for his followers to even migrate, said Binghamton University tech professor Jeremy Blackburn in a comment to NBC News.

Still, Trumps new blog has at least one avid reader so far. Senator Marco Rubio tried pimping his America First authenticity in an email to supporters that noted he was lucky enough to be [mentioned in] one of his first posts, referring to the former presidents new platform.

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Its no secret that Colorados politicians want the Biden administration to reverse the former administrations decision to move Space Command headquarters out of Colorado Springs.

Now U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, who sits on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, and Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, chair of the committee, specifically want to find out if the Trump Administration took into account how the move will impact intelligence capabilities and missions when making the decision to move the headquarters to Huntsville, Alabama.

We are concerned this decision did not take into account how such a move may affect Intelligence Community (IC) dependencies and missions, they wrote to President Joe Biden on Tuesday.

The two are asking Biden to review the process that led to the decision to move Space Command headquarters out of Colorado.

There are two other reviews into the decision already happening. One is spearheaded by the Government Accountability Office, Congresss watchdog group, which began at the request of Republican Rep. Doug Lamborn, and which Bennet and Sen. John Hickenlooper also support. The other review is being conducted by the Defense Departments Office of the Inspector General.

In the new request to the White House from Bennet and Warner, aside from suggesting the Trump administration did not look at how intelligence operations will be impacted, they argue that building a new headquarters in Alabama will be expensive, and that a move disrupts the workforce.

We are keenly aware of the threats in space and the criticality of maintaining U.S. superiority in the face of an evolving threat landscape, the senators wrote to Biden. Space is a critical national security issue, and we cannot squander time, talent, or money on unnecessary expenditures or delays.

The two Democrats argue there is valuable collaboration between the intelligence community and Defense Department that occurs in Colorado Springs because of past investments to foster that kind of collaboration at joint sites, such as the National Space Defense Center located at Schriever Air Force Base. And the two said both agencies benefit from communities of expertise in the area.

The Senate Intelligence committee will continue to examine how the intelligence community is postured to support U.S. superiority and leadership in space. Bennet is focused on ensuring these issues are duly considered in the decision making process on Space Command, said a Bennet spokesperson.

Lamborn, Bennet, Hickenlooper and others fear that political concerns, and not defense ones, led former President Donald Trump to override the Air Force recommendation that would have kept Space Command in Colorado Springs.

Bipartisan members of the states congressional delegation have pointed to press reports indicating Peterson Air Force Base had topped the list for the permanent headquarters, but that Trump ordered it to move to Alabama, a state that had voted for Trump in the 2020 election and which had several lawmakers support the former presidents election objections.

Local leaders in Colorado Springs share those concerns. Reggie Ash, chief defense development officer at the Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce, also heard from people that the Air Forces first choice was Colorado Springs.

Our delegation did a whole lot [on advocating for Colorado]. And ultimately it came down to electoral politics, he said.

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Bennet Wants White House Review Of Trump's Decision To Move Space Command Away From Colorado Springs - Colorado Public Radio

COLUMBIA, S.C. As Mike Pence discussed his tenure as vice president with about 500 religious Republicans, some listeners couldn't help but wonder if they were seeing a preview of coming attractions.

I said to my husband, Did you think this was a trial run for a campaign speech? said Beth Atwater, an attorney from Lexington, South Carolina, who attended Pence's speech before the Palmetto Family Council last week.

Republicans across the country are pondering Pence's chances of becoming president thanks in part to the man who remains at the heart of GOP politics and made Pence vice president: Donald Trump.

Trump and some allies criticize Pence for refusing Trump's demands that he help overturn his election loss of Joe Biden. The insurrection by pro-Trump rioters Jan. 6 at the U.S. Capitol put Pence's life in danger.

Republicans who want the party to move on from Trump see the former vice president as part of the problem a loyalist who too often enabled the president.

Pence hasn't said he's running for president, but he raised eyebrows with his reemergence in public in South Carolina, home of a key GOP primary in 2024. He has a lineup of events in the coming months that looks like an attempt to appeal to Trump voters without alienating their leader.

Building a base for a presidential run is always challenging, Republicans said, but Pence's predicament is unique.

"I just don't see the path," said Denver Riggleman, a former GOP congressman from Virginia and an outspoken critic of Trump.

Making the moves

Pence is one of several Republicans making the kind of moves one does when exploring a presidential run.

The former vice president has created a political committee, Advancing American Freedom, to promote and defend the policies of the Trump-Pence administration. It has run web ads featuring Pence on issues such as border security.

Young America's Foundation, a conservative group, announced that Pence will give the keynote address at its National Conservative Student Conference in August in Houston. Pence plans to campaign for Republican candidates in the 2022 congressional races.

The former vice president is writing an autobiography scheduled to be published in 2023, a year before the presidential election.

In deciding where to make his first first speech since leaving office, Pence picked South Carolina home of the first-in-the-South primary that has been pivotal in Republican nomination battles.

Friday, Pence will attend an early cattle call of eight potential Republican candidates not named Trump. Texas Republicans organized a private meeting of donors to hear from Pence, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and U.S. Sens. Tom Cotton, Marco Rubio, Tim Scott and Rick Scott.

Sarah Longwell, a GOP strategist who ran a group called Republican Voters Against Trump in 2020, said Pence's challenges in a 2024 race are many.

"No. 1, Trump is going to attack him as insufficiently loyal," she said, and Trump voters who believe the election was stolen will blame Pence.

Republicans who want to shed Trump see Pence as complicit in the administration's actions, including the drawn-out protests of the election.

Longwell said, "People who love Trump don't like him, and people who hate Trump don't like him."

'A Christian, a Conservative, a Republican in that order'

During his half-hour speech in a downtown Columbia ballroom last week, Pence said that serving alongside Trump was "the greatest honor of my life," though he didn't mention the ex-president's name that much. He spoke more about the administration's record and criticized the Biden administration over immigration, spending, taxes, abortion and religious freedom.

In his opening, Pence recited a standard self-description: "I'm a Christian, a conservative and a Republican in that order."

Though vice presidents often find it hard to emerge from the shadow of the presidents they served, the job has become a stepping stone toward the Oval Office. Richard Nixon, George H.W. Bush and Joe Biden were elected to the presidency as former vice presidents. Hubert Humphrey (1968), Walter Mondale (1984) and Al Gore (2000) won the Democratic nominations but fell short in the general elections.

None of those former veeps faced the kind of obstacle within their own party that Pence has in Trump.

Pence has to answer one question first: Will he run if Trump does? The former president said he is considering another race in 2024 but won't make an announcement until after the 2022 congressional races.

Normally, a former vice president would be in "the top spot" for the next election, but "in a Trump GOP, it is more complicated," said Mike DuHaime, former political director for the Republican National Committee.

Despite Pence's "fealty over the four years," DuHaime said, "Trump may have forever damaged his reputation with Trump supporters by calling him out during the election lie and the Capitol riot on Jan. 6."

Pence, who frequently talks about his religious faith, does have support from at least one important Republican constituency: evangelical voters such as the ones who saw him speak at the Palmetto Family Council.

Tim Miller, a former Republican political strategist who saw Pence in Columbia, said he has "a base of support with evangelicals, which is better than most have, but can he expand out of that?"

Members of Trump's "Make America Great Again" caucus may remain suspicious.

"Hard to imagine the MAGA voters are ever going to love him," Miller said.

'He did the right thing ... And it's going to cost him'

One of Pence's biggest hurdles to a potential run isn't just his association with Trump but Trump's own criticisms of him.

At a Republican donor conference last month at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, Trump said he was still "disappointed" that Pence did not move to block the counting of electoral votes from states that went for Biden.

In a statement this week attacking Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., Trump said the election result would have been different "had Mike Pence referred the information on six states (only need two) back to State Legislatures."

Trump denounced his vice president at a rally Jan. 6 that preceded the insurrection at the Capitol, where some Trump supporters roamed the halls looking for Pence and calling him a traitor.

Riggleman, the former congressman from Virginia, said he has seen Trump-Pence yard signs in his district with the vice president's name painted over or otherwise vandalized.

He said he likes Pence and believes the vice president acted honorably in refusing to interfere Jan. 6 when Congress met to confirm Biden's victory. "He did the right thing for the country that day," Riggleman said. "And it's going to cost him."

One thing potentially working in Pence's favor: Few people are paying attention to the Republican presidential race.

Jenny Beth Martin, honorary chairman of Tea Party Patriots Action, said reporters and political activists are interested in the early jockeying, but most Americans are worried about things such as schools opening once the COVID-19 pandemic is under control.

When the time for attention comes, she said, "the grassroots would want to know first and foremost whether Trump is going to want to run."

'A long time away'

At the Columbia Convention Center, South Carolina Republicans said they believe compatriots in their state and elsewhere places such as Iowa and New Hampshire will judge Pence on his merits. They are intrigued by how Pence might navigate the issue of Trump.

Kelly Ross, who works for a nonprofit company in Greenville, said Pence's base of voters is different from Trump's, and the election "is a long time away" in any event.

Others said the Pence-Trump dispute over Jan. 6 will mean little to Republicans in 2024.

"I think people forget things and get over them and move on to what's best for the country," said Cathy Wells, a housewife from Lexington.

In short, many said, they'll wait and see.

"It's kind of hard to tell," said Atwater, the attorney from Lexington. "You know, politics changes so quickly."

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Mike Pence looks at the 2024 presidential race but sees Donald Trump everywhere - South Bend Tribune