golf
belated
emolluments?
golf usual in junkets (abramoff marianas?)
JDV JR HELO RIDES TO LESSON?
ALEC? RAGA?
flynn fara 6 26
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context cnn an 11 26
House Democrats are demanding that the Interior Department retain documents related to President Donald Trump’s construction projects around Washington after whistleblowers warned that key paperwork has already been destroyed before Democrats take power, congressional sources tell CNN.
The warnings come as the Trump administration is signaling it will accelerate plans for moving ahead with the projects — a key part of what the president sees as his legacy — to lay as much groundwork as possible before the Democrats take over Congress in January.
On Tuesday, the top Democrat in the House Natural Resources committee, which has oversight of the agency that has helped fast-track many of Trump’s projects, plans to issue letters to the Interior Department as well as other federal agencies and private companies, requesting that they “preserve all records and data responsive to oversight” the congressional panel oversees.
[How presidential power has grown far beyond what the nation’s founders envisioned
The targets of the letters from Rep. Jared Huffman, shared first with CNN, give an early indication of what could be in the crosshairs for investigation when the California Democrat becomes chairman of the committee in the new Congress.
Multiple credible whistleblowers have approached Huffman’s committee in recent weeks to voice concern that the Interior Department is getting rid of records in anticipation of forthcoming scrutiny, the sources told CNN. The agency oversees much of the national parkland Trump wants to use for his projects.
The Interior Department called the whistleblower claims “100% false.”
“The Department follows all federal records management obligations as directed by the Department’s ethics officials,” a spokesperson said.
Among the other recipients of the preservation letters are the National Park Service and the Bureau of Land Management, which are part of Interior.
Letters are also being sent to the Agriculture Department and companies like Lockheed Martin and John Deere that are known to have donated to Trump’s projects. CNN has asked them for comment. Whistleblowers did not say these entities had destroyed documents.
However, all letter recipients must reply to certify their compliance, which requires efforts to “preserve existing records collections and productions,” as well as “Identify and recover any deleted information” and “suspend any destruction and deletion practices.”
A mandate to investigate
Rep. Jared Huffman speaks at the site of President Donald Trump's proposed triumphal arch, in Arlington, Virginia, on May 14. Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
The typically under-the-radar National Resources committee may lack the prominence of the Judiciary or Oversight committees, but in the new Congress it is set to take on the mantle of chief antagonist and auditor of projects that Trump has deeply and personally invested in seeing through.
The committee holds legislative jurisdiction over national parks and federal lands, on which Trump is attempting to build projects like the East Potomac golf course and the triumphal arch.
“Everything is coming; it’s all coming,” Huffman told CNN in an interview, signaling that his committee is readying a large arsenal of tools that come with the gavel in the new majority.
“It’s just going to be an entirely new day,” he said, noting that a win of the magnitude Democrats achieved in the midterms will embolden their investigations, as there is a belief that they have a true mandate from voters who felt the president was focused on the wrong issues.
Committee aides expect to hold a high-profile hearing on one or several projects early in the new Congress. The golf course and triumphal arch are chief among the areas of focus.
In anticipation of possible obstruction from the administration, the committee is prepared to issue subpoenas.
Huffman believes that the committee’s work could stop some of the president’s construction projects from going forward, “especially because we have standing to go to court if we have to,” he said. “We’ll have tools to be able to stop a lot of it.”
The committee has also been coordinating with House Oversight and Judiciary, which have mapped out an aggressive approach to investigate other areas of the administration.
Turbo-speed timelines
President Donald Trump watches as the last steel beam is installed during an event at the site of the White House ballroom on November 4.
President Donald Trump watches as the last steel beam is installed during an event at the site of the White House ballroom on November 4. Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
At the same time, multiple sources close to the approval process on Trump’s projects told CNN they are seeing a new urgency on the part of the administration to get as far as it can by the end of the year.
The move to supercharge some of the president’s projects is being met with ire by many in the preservationist community who have been fighting against them.
The triumphal arch; a project to put up fencing at Lafayette Square near the White House; the East Potomac Golf Links; and the Tidal Basin Development Concept plan, which includes the president’s Garden of American Heroes, will all see action pushing them ahead over the next 60 days.
Some will be going in front of key federal agencies for approval, and others are moving forward in the historical preservation evaluation process.
“We’re going to start seeing all of these things happening simultaneously,” said Charles Birnbaum of the Cultural Landscape Foundation. “It is going to be like a storm where it plays out until the new Congress is seated.”
The day after the midterm elections, Trump appeared in front of the White House ballroom construction site, signing the last steel beam before it was raised.
Davis Ingle, a spokesperson for the White House, said: “President Trump is moving at lightning speed because we don’t have time to waste in our mission to make America greater than ever before.”
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an 10 26
Trump’s next golf makeover comes with Superfund toxic sludge
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TEARING UP TAKING OVER DC GOLF ~AA?
Judge demands Trump DOJ unravel 'massive coincidence' in golf course fight
Judge smacks down Trump effort to remove herself from golf course lawsuit
Exposed: How Trump uses golf courses to dodge millions in taxes
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AInvest
The Transatlantic Shift: Trump Jr.'s Play for Eastern Europe's Economic ...
Apr 26, 2025Real Estate and Brand Licensing: The Trump Organization's ventures—such as a proposed golf resort in Serbia and a luxury hotel in Belgrade—serve as tangible investments in this strategy. These projects aim to capitalize on the region's underdeveloped tourism infrastructure while leveraging the brand's global appeal.
MSN
Trump Jr. Heads to Eastern Europe to Expand Family Business - MSN
US President Donald Trump's eldest son will make a trip to eastern Europe, where he's seeking to expand his family's business ties, according to people familiar.
https://www.alternet.org/2022/08/donald-trump-sportswashing-saudi-arabia/
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AN 12 25
President Donald Trump's most recent "bizarre" pardon seems to have been negotiated in part thanks to his frequent golf habit, according to an analysis from MS NOW.
Trump is no stranger to controversial pardons, often appearing to hand them out to loyalists or those convicted of crimes he looks favorably upon. Even so, some of his more recent pardons have managed to turn heads, including those of former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, who was convicted in one of the largest drug trafficking cases in US history. At least one recent pardon, that of real estate developer Timothy Leiweke, contradicts his own Justice Department, and seems to have been decided over a round of golf, according to MS NOW contributor and Rachel Maddow producer Steve Benen.
According to Benen's analysis of the situation, Trump's DOJ pursued charges against Leiweke over allegations that he attempted to rig the bidding process for a $375 million basketball arena that was ultimately built at the University of Texas. Despite his own administration launching the case, Trump issued a pardon for Leiweke last week.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed that this decision was made after “a very thorough review process,” done by “qualified lawyers.” Benen, however, called this "one of the most laughable claims Leavitt has ever made" and added that, "in this administration, 'pardons' and 'utmost seriousness' clearly do not belong in the same sentence."
To back up that argument, Benen highlighted reports from the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times, which both noted that Trump made the decision after Leiweke's case was brought up to him by Trey Gowdy, a former South Carolina congressman turned Fox News contributor.
"While the Journal’s report has not been independently verified by MS NOW, Gowdy, who became a Fox News host after stepping down from Congress in 2019, effectively confirmed the reporting, telling the paper on the record that he played a round of golf with the president on Nov. 16, at which point Trump asked Gowdy if there was anything he needed," Benen wrote. "The former Republican congressman brought up his client, Leiweke, arguing that he’d been treated unfairly."
Gowdy reportedly suggested a nonprosecution deal for Leiweke, but Trump ultimately opted to give him a full pardon.
The president's decision flies in the face of efforts directly tied to two of his most high-profile administration officials: the investigation against Leiweke was led by an FBI official appointed by Director Kash Patel, and charges were eventually brought by a DOJ prosecutor appointed by Attorney General Pam Bondi.
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On Wednesday, a key congressional ally of former President Donald Trump broke with him over the legitimacy of the Saudi-sponsored golf tournament he is hosting on his Trump National Bedminster property in New Jersey.
The argument came after Nick Adams, a pro-Trump social media influencer, took to Twitter to complain that the golfers participating in the tournament weren't getting top billing. "I really have no interest in the PGA Tour FedEx Cup Playoffs without the top LIV Tour golfers being included," he wrote. "Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, Patrick Reed, and Jason Kokrak should ALL be playing."
Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), however, disagreed.
"I have no interest in watching these guys play after selling their souls to the highest bidder when that bidder is a foreign country known to have financed 9-11 and other terrorist activity," wrote Roy. "But whatever… somehow this is MAGA or something."
Fifteen of the 19 hijackers involved in the coordinated attacks on New York and Washington were Saudi nationals. An FBI memo released last year hinted at official Saudi involvement.
Trump himself claimed in 2016 while he was running for president that Saudi Arabia was responsible, without providing any evidence.
"(Now) he chooses to host the kingdom at his course in the backyard where 750 people were blown away," said Brett Eagleson, who was 15 when his dad died in the rubble of the World Trade Center, referencing the number of New Jersey residents killed on 9/11.
"It's incredibly infuriating," he said.
Bankrolled by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, LIV has sought to lure top golfers from the establishment PGA and DP World tours with contracts that have run into the hundreds of millions of dollars.
Human Rights groups say the venture is a "sportswashing" exercise being used to boost Saudi Arabia's international reputation. Organizers insist their intention is to boost golf's popularity worldwide.
Trump has come under heavy criticism, particularly from the families of 9/11 victims, for agreeing to host the Saudi-backed golf tournament, with many openly protesting the tournament.
For Tim Frolich, who was injured on 9/11, the tournament has reopened old wounds.
"I had trouble sleeping last night, just the anger," the 58-year-old told AFP.
Trump, for his part, has defended Saudi Arabia's involvement in the tournament, claiming to reporters that "nobody's gotten to the bottom of 9/11."
With additional reporting by AFP