IT NEVER RAINS ...

 

 Let's back up a little bit. Readers might recall my blog piece entitled "Friday Night Massacre."  

 

The short version of that story was this:

 

Promptly after his election, Trump fired Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. As a replacement, Attorney General Sessions chose Geoffrey Berman, a New York Republican who had earlier served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the district. Berman interviewed with the President for the job, an unusual event.

 

But Berman disappointed Barr and Trump. Instead of playing nice, nice with Bill and Donald, Berman proceeded to indict i) the President's former lawyer Michael Cohen and named the President as an unindicted co-conspirator (the President was outraged, and said so), ii) a Republican Congressman named Collins, iii) Jeffrey Epstein, (which resulted in the resignation of Trump's Secretary of Labor, Acosta, who had screwed up the matter earlier in Florida), and iv) Parness and Fruman, acolytes of Rudy Giuliani.

 

Trump had not sent Berman's name to the Senate for confirmation, and after 120 days, Berman was selected as US Attorney by a unanimous vote of all of the judges in the district.

 

In June 2020, Barr announced that he was replacing Berman with Craig Carpenito, (the current New Jersey US attorney,) as temporary US attorney for the SDNY. Barr said the President would send up to the Senate the name of his golf buddy, Jay Clayton, for confirmation as the permanent US attorney for the district.

 

But Berman hung tough and said Barr did not have the right to fire him. Berman had been appointed by the SDNY judiciary, and was  entitled to remain on the job until his successor was named and confirmed by the Senate. After a brief war of words, Barr blinked, dropped Carpenito, and wrote that Berman's hand-picked number two, AUDREY STRAUSS, "would remain as head of the office until a permanent successor is in place." Berman declared victory and immediately resigned.

 

Why is it relevant to repeat all of this here? Because reasonable people wondered what was cooking in the SDNY that so frightened Barr and Trump. What was so important that the administration had to risk the scandal and try to replace Berman with a presidential golf buddy?

 

The speculation in the media revolved around Rudy Giuliani. It was regularly reported in the press that Berman had Rudy on the griddle.

 

But while Rudy has thus far avoided indictment, AUDREY STRAUSS has been busy with another key Trump advisor, Steve Bannon.

 

The Bannon indictment is delicious. He, and three co-conspirators, are accused of conspiracy to defraud, and money laundering, to the tune of more than $1 million in connection with an alleged "non-profit" entity called "We Build the Wall."

 

 

In the process of soliciting donations of more than $25 million to build a segment of the wall separating Mexico from the United States, Bannon and his three associates repeatedly pledged that no salaries would be paid to any of the four conspirators. They repeated again and again that "100% of the donations would go to the construction of a wall," and "not one penny" would go to any other purpose.  The website prepared by Bannon & Co. promised "All money donated to the We Build the Wall campaign goes directly to the wall!!! Not anyone's pocket."

 

Bannon and friends specifically promised that the founder of the We Build the Wall movement (defendant KOLFAGE) "would not be paid a dime." And that the corporation's advisory board, (which Bannon chaired!), would not be compensated.

 

But the four defendants  (Bannon, Kolfage, and two others) siphoned off more than $1,000,000 and enriched themselves by routing project funds through third-party entities, including one "under the control of defendant Bannon."

 

The Bannon entity, using funds stolen from We Build the Wall, paid over $120,00 to conspirator Kolfage, and in an effort to obscure the facts, Bannon's entity issued a 1099 tax form to Kolfage's spouse.

 

In all, Kolfage received from Bannon's entity and others, in excess of $350,000, which he used "To pay for his own personal expenses, including, among other purposes, home renovations, payments toward a boat, a luxury SUV, a golf cart, jewelry, cosmetic surgery, personal tax payments, and credit card debt".  Bannon, and the other defendants "each received hundreds of thousands of dollars in funds from We Build the Wall, which they each used to pay for a variety of personal expenses, including, among other things, travel, hotels, consumer goods and personal credit card debts. "

 

"Bannon's entity received over $1,000,000 from We Build the Wall. ...  Bannon used a substantial portion of those donor funds for personal use and expenses unrelated to We Build the Wall."

 

The scope of the fraud is indicated by the list of bank accounts  the government seeks to forfeit as proceeds of the fraud. Listed are 13 accounts scattered among seven banks, as well as a boat, an SUV, an "any and all property" involved in or traceable to the fraud.

 

The link to Trump is direct. Aside from the fact that Bannon is now at the very top of the swamp creatures list, Trump, as usual, stepped all over his lies in an effort to disassociate himself from the scandal.

 

Directly after Acting US Attorney Audrey Strauss (remember her?) announced the indictment, the White House issued a statement that the President barely knew anyone on the Board of Directors of We Build the Wall. That was an out and out lie:

 

The Chairman of the Board was Steve Bannon.

 

The lawyer for the board was Kris Kobach, the right wing Kansas conservative whom Trump appointed to head up the commission searching for voter fraud. (He found none.)

 

The next "unknown" swamp creature is Eric Prince, the head of Blackwater, and the brother of Secretary of Education, Betsy de Vos.

 

Next in line is Dr. Robert Spalding a former "Senior Director for Strategy" for President Trump.

 

Next in line is a series of Tea Party and Breitbart supporters of right wing politics often quoted on Drudge and Breitbart.

 

It is clear the President knows most, if not all members of the Board and is very familiar with the organization.

 

Sons Donald Jr. and Eric have made statements in support of the project. "This is what capitalism is all about" said the elder son, and Eric posed for pictures and gave an award to defendant Kolfage at a Trumpettes award function at Mar-A-Lago. (No, I am not being sarcastic. There really is a group of women in Palm Beach who go by that name!)

 

Kobach, also a board member, is on record saying he had spoken to the President at least three times about We Build the Wall and on each occasion the President was enthusiastic about the project. The President is quoted as saying "You tell the guys at We Build the Wall that they have my blessing." Kobach said the President used those exact words.

 

 

 

Trump was Trump. His lies contradicted his lies. Despite the foregoing, he first said he knew nothing about the project, and then contradicted himself by saying he did know about it but didn't like the project because it was "showboating." (An interesting adverb coming from this reality-TV star.)

 

Acting SDNY US Attorney Strauss says US Attorney General Barr had been informed about the investigation. Is that why they fired Berman? If so, that was a whopping miscalculation!

 

Is there another shoe to be dropped? Giuliani? If one or more of the Bannon conspirators folds, is Kobach next in line? And Bannon is reported to be involved in yet another criminal investigation involving a Chinese billionaire and the Securities Exchange Commission. 

Lots of potential shoes.

 

Audrey Strauss may yet turn out to be The Spider Lady!

 

A bientot!

 

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