Parnas and Fruman Got Access to Trump to Call for Dumping Ambassador By Promising Big Contribution to Trump Super PAC

WaPo:

The April 2018 dinner was designed to be an intimate affair, an opportunity for a handful of big donors to a super PAC allied with President Trump to personally interact with the president and his eldest son.


In an exclusive suite known as the Trump Townhouse at Trump’s Washington hotel, the group  including Jack Nicklaus III, the grandson of the famous golfer, and a New York developer — snapped photos, dined and chatted about their pet issues with the president for about 90 minutes.


Among those in attendance were two Florida business executives who had little history with Republican politics but had snagged a spot at the dinner with the promise of a major contribution to the America First super PAC. They turned the conversation to Ukraine, according to people familiar with the event, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the private dinner.

One of the men, Lev Parnas, has described to associates that he and his business partner, Igor Fruman, told Trump at the dinner that they thought the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine was unfriendly to the president and his interests.

Remember the Court in Citizens United told us that ingratiation and access are not corruption. Even if that’s right, it can facilitate corruption.

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