Category Archives: chicanery

“Auction to Dine With Trump Creates Foreign Influence Opportunity; When the bidding stops Monday, the top buyers of a Trump family crypto coin will win a tour of the White House.”

bribery, chicanery, conflict of interest laws

NYT:

The sale of face-to-face access to President Trump using the Trump family’s own cryptocurrency has done more than benefit him financially, though it has certainly done that.

Mr. Trump announced last month that leading buyers of a digital coin his family is marketing would be rewarded with a private dinner with him at one of his golf courses and that the very top bidders would win a tour of the White House.

The auction, which ends Monday, has set off a spectacle that has drawn bipartisan criticism, triggered a suspicious trading pattern, and left a sitting United States president wide open to attempts to corruptly influence him.

Since the announcement, crypto investors around the world have raced to expand their holdings of $TRUMP — a digital currency called a memecoin, which is typically treated more as a novelty investment than an actual currency.

ertain buyers, in interviews and statements, have said they bought the coins or entered the dinner contest with the intention of securing an action by Mr. Trump to affect United States policy.

The contest has pushed up the memecoin’s trading price, adding billions of dollars, at least on paper, to the value of a $TRUMP stash controlled by the Trump family and its business partners. And in a matter of weeks, the Trumps and their partners have reeled in more than $1.3 million in fees, taking a cut every time the coins changed hands, according to Chainalysis, a crypto data firm.

Certain other large traders, sensing an opportunity to cash in, have moved quickly to sell their $TRUMP holdings, exploiting the run up in price caused by Mr. Trump’s promotional push as new money poured in from people enticed by his offer of “the most exclusive invitation in the world.”

But the blitz of profit-seeking by Mr. Trump and his family is also provoking a backlash.

Last week, it helped derail a major piece of crypto legislation pending in Congress, as the sale prompted objections from crypto industry executives and lawmakers, including some Republicans.

“It does give me pause because it complicates our work here,” Senator Cynthia Lummis, Republican of Wyoming, said in an interview last week after some Democrats began to balk on the crypto bill over Mr. Trump’s involvement in the industry. “The optics are challenging.”

Trading records examined by The New York Times show that a flurry of purchases of the $TRUMP token started the day before the coin’s backers disclosed the contest. Information had leaked about the upcoming promotion, allowing certain parties to make early bets that the market price was about to jump, the records suggest.

The aggressive effort by Mr. Trump and his partners to promote the dinner has also drawn scrutiny from former securities regulators, who assert that Mr. Trump may be violating federal securities laws. However, he would almost certainly not be targeted for investigation, now that his administration has curtailed crypto enforcement efforts at both the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Justice Department.

“This absolutely would have triggered an initial investigation,” said John Reed Stark, an enforcement attorney who spent 18 years at the S.E.C., including as chief of its unit that examined cybercrimes. “Or at least it certainly would have under norms from prior Republican and Democratic eras.”…

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“Trump administration poised to accept ‘palace in the sky’ as a gift for Trump from Qatar: Sources”

bribery, chicanery, conflict of interest laws

ABC News:

In what may be the most valuable gift ever extended to the United States from a foreign government, the Trump administration is preparing to accept a super luxury Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet from the royal family of Qatar — a gift that is to be available for use by President Donald Trump as the new Air Force One until shortly before he leaves office, at which time ownership of the plane will be transferred to the Trump presidential library foundation, sources familiar with the proposed arrangement told ABC News.

The gift is expected to be announced next week, when Trump visits Qatar on the first foreign trip of his second term, according to sources familiar with the plans.

Trump toured the plane, which is so opulently configured it is known as “a flying palace,” while it was parked at the West Palm Beach International Airport in February.

The highly unusual — unprecedented — arrangement is sure to raise questions about whether it is legal for the Trump administration, and ultimately, the Trump presidential library foundation, to accept such a valuable gift from a foreign power.

Anticipating those questions, sources told ABC News that lawyers for the White House counsel’s office and the Department of Justice drafted an analysis for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth concluding that is legal for the Department of Defense to accept the aircraft as a gift and later turn it over to the Trump library, and that it does not violate laws against bribery or the Constitution’s prohibition (the emoluments clause) of any U.S. government official accepting gifts “from any King, Prince or foreign State…..

Jonathan Adler at Volokh: Have you ever seen an emolument fly?

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“Texas Attorney General Announces Vote Fraud and ‘Harvesting’ Charges”

chicanery

NYT:

A half-dozen people, including a county judge, two City Council members and a former county election administrator, were indicted in Texas on Wednesday for “vote harvesting” and tampering with evidence, elevating Attorney General Ken Paxton’s charges of voter fraud by mostly Latino Democrats to a criminal level.

The charges surprised Latino voting rights activists, who had insisted that a series of law enforcement raids on political operatives and voting organizers, some who were in their 70s and 80s, appeared to have been political. The raids last August by Mr. Paxton’s office were part of a sprawling voter fraud inquiry in Latino enclaves near San Antonio and in South Texas, conducted by Mr. Paxton’s “election integrity unit.”

At the time, the League of United Latin American Citizens, one of the nation’s oldest Latino civil rights organizations, said that officers conducting the raids took cellphones, computers and documents. An 87-year-old retired educator described heavily armed officers barging into her home and taking personal items.

LULAC leaders accused the famously conservative attorney general of trying to suppress Latino voters and asked the Justice Department to investigate the raids.

Now, five people, all with ties to Democratic candidates, are accused of illegal vote harvesting, which usually involves knocking on doors and asking if volunteers can deliver completed absentee or mail-in ballots to voting centers or ballot drop boxes.

In 2021, Gov. Greg Abbott signed an overhaul of Texas election laws which included new restrictions on vote harvesting, making it illegal to deliver a ballot for a third party. Many activists fear that the exchange of money, such as money for gas, to help deliver a ballot or cast a vote could also be considered illegal. Wednesday’s indictment accused officials of using CashApp to pay one person to engage another to collect ballots.

It was unclear if other arrests were pending.

“I think this is all part of voter suppression,” said Lidia Martinez, who was 87 last year when nine officers, some with guns, raided her home in San Antonio. She was not among the indicted.

Officials with LULAC said on Wednesday that they needed to study the indictments before commenting for this article….

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“Justice Department lawyers face skeptical judges upset by ‘shoddy work'”

chicanery, Department of Justice

WaPo:

Justice Department lawyers defending the Trump administration’s policies are encountering mounting criticism and frustration from federal judges, a sign of deepening tension between the executive branch and courts weighing its aggressive uses of power.

In recent hearings and rulings, judges appointed by presidents of both parties have criticized the statements and behavior of administration officials, accusing them of defying court orders, submitting flimsy evidence, providing inadequate answers to questions and even acting like toddlers.

The cases involve lawsuits challenging everything from President Donald Trump’s push to increase deportations to his efforts to punish law firms. Most are in the early stages of litigation. But the judicial pushback suggests a break from the goodwill courts have traditionally shown toward assertions by government lawyers.

The “deference that judges would give to attorneys from Main Justice is evaporating,” said John E. Jones III, a former federal judge in Pennsylvania appointed to the bench by President George W. Bush. Justice Department lawyers, he added, have “lost a fair measure of their credibility.”

At a hearing in D.C. last week about law firms, U.S. District Judge John D. Bates seemed unimpressed by some of the Justice Department lawyer’s answers, responding at one point: “Oh, give me a break.”

U.S. District Judge Beryl A. Howell was similarly skeptical Friday as she ruled Trump’s actions against a different law firm were unconstitutional, writing that Justice Department lawyer Richard Lawson, “when asked, was unable to fill in basic details” about the sanctions.

In Virginia, a judge scoffed at evidence the government offered in an immigration case in March to claim one couple were members of a violent gang. “I expect more from the government than this kind of very shoddy work,” U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema told the Justice Department lawyer, adding that if it were a criminal case, “I’d throw you out of my chambers.”…

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“A fund backed by Abu Dhabi . . . would be making a $2 billion business deal using the Trump firm’s digital coins.”

bribery, chicanery, conflict of interest laws

The corruption isn’t hidden; it’s right in front of our eyes:

Sitting in front of a packed auditorium in Dubai, a founder of the Trump family cryptocurrency business made a brief but monumental announcement on Thursday. A fund backed by Abu Dhabi, he said, would be making a $2 billion business deal using the Trump firm’s digital coins.

That transaction would be a major contribution by a foreign government to President Trump’s private venture — one that stands to generate hundreds of millions of dollars for the Trump family. And it is a public and vivid illustration of the ethical conflicts swirling around Mr. Trump’s crypto firm, which has blurred the boundary between business and government.

Zach Witkoff, a founder of the Trump family crypto firm, World Liberty Financial, revealed that a so-called stablecoin developed by the firm would be used to complete the transaction between the state-backed Emirati investment firm MGX and Binance, the largest crypto exchange in the world.

Virtually every detail of Mr. Witkoff’s announcement, made during a conference panel with Mr. Trump’s second-eldest son, contained a conflict of interest.

MGX’s use of the World Liberty stablecoin, USD1, brings a Trump family company into business with a venture firm backed by a foreign government. The deal creates a formal link between World Liberty and Binance — a company that has been under U.S. government oversight since 2023, when it admitted to violating federal money-laundering laws.

And the splashy announcement served as an advertisement to crypto investors worldwide about the potential for forming a partnership with a company tied to President Trump, who is listed as World Liberty’s chief crypto advocate….

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New Jersey: “Paterson council president indicted, allegedly destroyed ballots for other candidates”

chicanery

Paterson Press:

City Council President Alex Mendez faces a new indictment on voter fraud charges in a case that has dragged on for almost five years involving an all vote-by-mail election that took place at the beginning of the COVID pandemic in 2020.

Mendez’ wife, Yohanny, and two of his campaign workers, Omar Ledesma and Iris Rigo, also are accused of election crimes under the indictment announced Wednesday morning by New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin.

The accused allegedly collected mail-in ballots completed by voters, brought them to Mendez campaign headquarters, destroyed the ballots that did not contain votes for Mendez in Paterson’s 3rd Ward council race, and replaced them with bogus ballots for Mendez.

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New York Post Story Shows Why Voter Impersonation Fraud Almost Never Happens

chicanery

NYP:

A Long Island voter pretended to be someone else to cast an extra ballot in the 2024 election but his scheme was exposed when the resident he impersonated showed up on Election Day, cops said.

Lindenhurst resident Christopher Lindenberg, 54, was slapped with felony voter fraud charges for allegedly submitting a mail-in ballot under another person’s name before voting legally a second time, Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said.

Lindenberg had requested the early mail-in ballot through an online portal for another person without their knowledge last October.

The county Board of Elections initially counted the fraudulent vote but authorities first got suspicious when the real individual showed up to vote on Election Day and was turned away, the DA said.

It’s unclear if Lindenberg knew the person before the scheme. It’s also unclear whom the fraudulent ballot was cast for, but Lindenberg was a registered Republican, according to state records…..

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“Secret Deals, Foreign Investments, Presidential Policy Changes: The Rise of Trump’s Crypto Firm”

chicanery, conflict of interest laws

NYT:

The pitch from “ZMoney” arrived on the encrypted messaging app Signal just days before Donald J. Trump’s presidential inauguration.

“ZMoney” was Zachary Folkman, an entrepreneur who once ran a company called Date Hotter Girls and was now representing World Liberty Financial, the cryptocurrency firm that Mr. Trump and his sons had recently unveiled. Mr. Folkman was writing to a crypto startup in the Cayman Islands, offering a “partnership” in which the firms would buy each other’s digital coins, a deal that would bolster the startup’s public profile.

But there was a catch, The New York Times found. For the privilege of associating with the Trumps, the startup would have to make, in effect, a secret multimillion dollar payment to World Liberty.

“Everything we do gets a lot of exposure and credibility,” Mr. Folkman wrote, asserting that other business partners had committed between $10 million and $30 million to World Liberty.

The Cayman startup rejected the offer, as did several other firms that received a similar pitch from World Liberty, executives said. They considered the deal unethical, concluding that World Liberty was essentially selling an endorsement — and hiding the arrangement from the public.

World Liberty’s executives, who have maintained that they did nothing improper, were undeterred. They successfully pitched similar deals to other firms while also marketing their coin to buyers around the world, reaping more than $550 million in sales, with a large cut earmarked for the president’s family.

Mr. Trump’s return to the White House has opened lucrative new pathways for him to cash in on his power, whether through his social media company or new overseas real estate deals. But none of the Trump family’s other business endeavors pose conflicts of interest that compare to those that have emerged since the birth of World Liberty.

The firm, largely owned by a Trump family corporate entity, has erased centuries-old presidential norms, eviscerating the boundary between private enterprise and government policy in a manner without precedent in modern American history.

Mr. Trump is now not only a major crypto dealer; he is also the industry’s top policy maker. So far in his second term, Mr. Trump has leveraged his presidential powers in ways that have benefited the industry — and in some cases his own company — even though he had spent years deriding crypto as a haven for drug dealers and scammers.

He has filled his administration with sympathizers to the crypto cause, including by appointing a former adviser to industry players as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission. In addition, the Justice Department recently disbanded a crypto crimes task force, continuing a broader unwinding of Biden-era scrutiny of the industry.

A Times examination of World Liberty’s rapid ascent from fledgling startup to international force — and Mr. Trump’s conversion from crypto skeptic to industry cheerleader — highlights the range of conflicts of interest trailing the company….

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Rich Bernstein: “The North Carolina’s Supreme Court’s Dangerous Violation of Equal Protection Threatens All Elections”

Bush v. Gore reflections, chicanery, election subversion risk

The following is a guest post from Rich Bernstein:

Imagine that a state’s statute (or constitution) required a photo ID to vote, but only in certain counties that had a history of consistently voting for Democrats by wide margins.  Everyone would agree that such a law violated the Equal Protection Clause, and the First Amendment to boot for the obvious viewpoint discrimination.  But that is how the North Carolina Supreme Court applied a statewide statute in April 2025, in its decision concerning a close November 2024 election for one seat on that Court.  All fair-minded Americans should be very afraid of the precedent that be would be set for all elections, including elections for federal offices, if the federal courts do not invalidate this North Carolina Supreme Court decision.

Continue reading Rich Bernstein: “The North Carolina’s Supreme Court’s Dangerous Violation of Equal Protection Threatens All Elections” →
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“Trump’s justice department appointees remove managers of voting unit”

chicanery, Department of Justice, Voting Rights Act

Sam Levine for The Guardian:

Donald Trump’s appointees at the Department of Justice have removed all of the senior civil servants working as managers in the department’s voting section and directed attorneys to dismiss all active cases, according to people familiar with the matter, part of a broader attack on the department’s civil rights division.

The moves come less than a month after Trump ally Harmeet Dhillon was confirmed to lead the civil rights division, created in 1958 and referred to as the “crown jewel” of the justice department. In an unusual move, Dhillon sent out new “mission statements” to the department’s sections that made it clear the civil rights division was shifting its focus from protecting the civil rights of marginalized people to supporting Trump’s priorities.

Tamar Hagler, the chief of the voting section, which is responsible for enforcing federal laws designed to prevent voter discrimination, and five top career managers were all reassigned last week to the complaint adjudication office, a little-known part of the department that handles employee complaints, according to people familiar with the matter. A career line attorney in the section has also been reassigned to the complaint adjudication office.

The voting section had seven managers in January overseeing around 30 attorneys. Of the two other managers, one retired and another was detailed to work on an antisemitism task force.

Political appointees have also instructed career employees to dismiss all of their active cases without meeting with them and offering a rationale – a significant break with the department’s practices and norms.

The justice department did not return a request for comment.

Taken together, the changes have raised significant alarm about what the future of voting rights enforcement will look like for the federal government at a moment when states continue to pass restrictive voting measures….

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“George Santos’s Closing Act: A Prison Sentence of More Than 7 Years”

campaign finance, chicanery

NYT:

George Santos, the former Republican congressman from New York whose outlandish fabrications and criminal schemes fueled an unforeseen rise and spectacular fall, was sentenced to more than seven years in federal prison on Friday.

His 87-month sentence was a severe corrective to a turbulent period in which Mr. Santos was catapulted from anonymity to political and pop cultural infamy, a national spotlight that, even when negative, he often relished more than rejected.

Mr. Santos pleaded guilty last year to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. He acknowledged his involvement in a variety of other deceptions, including lying to Congress, fraudulently collecting unemployment benefits and bilking campaign donors out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

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“Judges Worry Trump Could Tell U.S. Marshals to Stop Protecting Them”

authoritarian threats in US, chicanery

NY Times:

On March 11, about 50 judges gathered in Washington for the biannual meeting of the Judicial Conference, which oversees the administration of the federal courts. It was the first time the conference met since President Trump retook the White House.

In the midst of discussions of staffing levels and long-range planning, the judges’ conversations were focused, to an unusual degree, on rising threats against judges and their security, said several people who attended the gathering.

Behind closed doors at one session, Judge Richard J. Sullivan, the chairman of the conference’s Committee on Judicial Security, raised a scenario that weeks before would have sounded like dystopian fiction, according to three officials familiar with the remarks, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations: What if the White House were to withdraw the protections it provides to judges?

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“Trump Says He Would Sign Bill Banning Congressional Stock Trades”

campaign finance, chicanery, conflict of interest laws

Bloomberg:

President Donald Trump said he would “absolutely” sign a bill banning congressional stock trading, saying he was concerned lawmakers could be using insider information for an advantage.

“I would be okay with it,” Trump said in an interview with Time Magazine that published Friday. “If they send that to me, I would do it.”

There has long been some bipartisan support for legislation that would limit how members of Congress could buy and sell stocks, as their access to classified intelligence and internal knowledge about the progress of lawmaking offers a leg up on others in the market. In 2020, a bipartisan group of senators drew fire for trading health care stocks after closed-door briefings on the coronavirus pandemic.

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