beach, gentry

<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;"><div></div><div><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/05/aiming-to-take-down-fox-donald-trump-jr-reportedly-investing-in-far-right-oann/">https://www.alternet.org/2020/05/aiming-to-take-down-fox-donald-trump-jr-reportedly-investing-in-far-right-oann/</a></div><div>
</div><div>Investors aligned with Donald Trump Jr. and Republican National Committee (RNC) co-chair Tommy Hicks Jr. have acquired a major stake in One America News Network (OANN), sources familiar with the deal told Vanity Fair.“Tommy Hicks and Don Jr. have been looking to buy a station for Trump TV,” a person briefed on the negotiations told Vanity Fair.“This is all about building a Fox competitor. Trump is really aiming to take down Fox,” the person said.The report is the first to connect the Trump family to the acquisition, discussions of which were first <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-allies-explore-buyout-of-conservative-news-channel-one-america-news-network-11578696767" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">reported</a> in January by the Wall Street Journal.The Journal reported that Hicks Equity Partners, a firm belonging to the family of Tommy Hicks Jr., the RNC co-chair, was negotiating a $250 million deal with Herring Networks, the parent company of OANN, a <a href="https://www.vox.com/2019/5/13/18617594/trump-one-america-news-network-explained" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">low-impact</a> far-right network that offers a home to the likes of Pizzagate conspiracy theorist Jack Posobiec and has <a href="https://hillreporter.com/6-conspiracy-theories-promoted-by-oann-trumps-new-favorite-news-outlet-32633" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">defended Roy Moore</a> and <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-new-favorite-network-oann-embraces-russian-propaganda" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">endorsed Russian propaganda</a>.Sources told Vanity Fair the deal has stumbled along for months and still hasn’t closed, but that the Trump-affiliated group had reportedly talked Herring down to $200 million. VF said it was also unclear whether Donald Trump Jr. invested Trump money in the deal, or was given equity.As the buyout talks progressed, President Trump has repeatedly expressed his growing distaste with Fox News — long perceived as the only network he likes, and certainly the only network that consciously slants coverage and analysis in his favor.Last month <a href="https://www.salon.com/2020/04/20/trump-warns-americans-that-fox-news-is-on-a-bad-path-after-nancy-pelosi-appears-on-the-network/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Trump accused Fox News of “being on a bad path,”</a> and has <a href="https://www.salon.com/2020/04/13/trump-wants-to-know-what-the-hell-is-happening-at-fox-news-its-a-whole-new-ballgame-over-there/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">asked twice now</a> “what the hell is happening” at the network. He <a href="https://www.salon.com/2020/04/02/trump-attacks-fox-news-reporter-for-asking-about-disbanded-pandemic-team-are-you-working-for-cnn/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">attacked Fox reporters</a> twice last month <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-attacks-fox-news-reporter-kristin-fisher-during-coronavirus-press-briefing" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">during White House coronavirus briefings</a>, and has taken several potshots at several of the channel’s shows and personalities, <a href="https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/1222183788211470336" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">tweeting</a> in January that Fox News was “really pathetic” and “so politically correct,” <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/celebrities/2020/02/21/trump-attacks-fox-news-neil-cavuto-network-stars-jump-his-defense/4829214002/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">singling out Chris Wallace’s impeachment coverage</a>.After it was reported that Fox had fired MAGA-world luminaries Diamond and Silk for hawking ludicrous coronavirus conspiracy theories, Trump <a href="https://www.salon.com/2020/04/28/trump-pushes-back-against-fox-news-for-cutting-his-most-loyal-supporters-i-love-diamond-and-silk/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">tweeted</a> his support for the duo: “But I love Diamond and Silk, and so do millions of people!”In late April, <a href="https://www.salon.com/2020/04/27/trump-demands-an-alternative-to-fox-news-as-he-accuses-the-network-of-spreading-misinformation/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Trump took to Twitter once again to call for an alt-Fox, pro-himself network</a>:“The people who are watching @FoxNews, in record numbers (thank you President Trump), are angry,” he wrote. “They want an alternative now. So do I!”During this same period, Trump often promoted OANN, providing the nascent network — which is <a href="https://hillreporter.com/6-conspiracy-theories-promoted-by-oann-trumps-new-favorite-news-outlet-32633" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">viewed with disdain by many reputable journalists</a> — with cover <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/oann-reporter-says-white-house-invited-her-back-to-coronavirus-briefings-after-removal-from-whca-rotation" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">against the White House Correspondents’ Association</a>. Trump even plugged OANN by name in <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1249093268920467457?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1249093268920467457&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fdidtrumptweetit.com%2F1249094316242481152-2%2F" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">a tweet last month</a> as the alternative he has been asking for.But <a href="https://www.vox.com/2019/5/13/18617594/trump-one-america-news-network-explained" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">this isn’t the first time</a> Trump has appeared to be switching media mistresses. When Fox soothes him, he reciprocates. When they rankle him, he pumps OANN.OANN, which has roughly one-third of Fox’s reach, with ratings <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-new-favorite-network-oann-embraces-russian-propaganda" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">reportedly</a> lower than the Tennis Channel, appears to have no problem <a href="https://www.vox.com/2019/5/13/18617594/trump-one-america-news-network-explained" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">serving as the president’s megaphone</a>.For instance, OANN hired former Trump campaign aide Michael Caputo — the newly-hired spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services who recently disgraced himself with <a href="https://www.salon.com/2020/04/24/trumps-new-health-and-human-services-spokesman-tweeted-racist-remarks-and-conspiracy-theories/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">a barrage of racist, pandemic-related tweets</a> — who hosted a special program dedicated to “the Ukraine Hoax.” Late last year a network crew accompanied Rudy Giuliani and <a href="https://www.salon.com/2019/11/10/who-is-rudy-giulianis-friend-charles-an-accidental-text-may-have-outed-his-identity/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">personal assistant Christianné Allen</a> on a trip to Ukraine, which resulted in a <a href="https://www.oann.com/oaninvestigates/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">three-part series</a> that mainlined viewers with apparentRussian disinformation.Spokespeople for Trump Jr. and Hicks denied involvement in the deal to Vanity Fair.President Trump, who is in no financial position to acquire Fox News, views OANN as a fallback business opportunity should former Vice President Joe Biden defeat him in November, according to Vanity Fair, which reported the president might look to OANN as a “post-presidential television platform.”The cash from the buyout will reportedly help OANN increase its production values and campaign to expand its viewership, two elements Trump would demand of any home for a post-White House TV home.Trump Jr. and Hicks have been wrapped in scandal before. The president’s eldest son and his younger brother Eric were — along with Hicks and Dallas-based investment manager Gentry Beach — co-registrants for a nonprofit called Opening Day, which insinuated itself in Trump’s inauguration. Trump’s sons had to abandon the organization weeks after its inauguration event was announced, amid <a href="https://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2016/12/21/eric-trump-donald-trump-jr-distance-themselves-from-dallas-based-nonprofit-s-inauguration-party/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">allegations that they were selling access</a> to their father.An associate of Gentry Beach declined to comment when Salon inquired about his possible involvement in the OANN deal.</div><div>
</div><p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;">=<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;">Kirk, a former contributor to Breitbart News, the online platform of the racist alt-right, is an ally of the Trump administration. He worked for the Trump campaign in 2016 and spoke at the Republican National Convention that year. Kirk has appeared on Fox News alongside members of the Trump family.<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;">Two members of the TPUSA advisory council, investor <a href="https://www.tpusa.com/aboutus/advisory-council/gentry-beach/" rel="nofollow" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;">Gentry Beach</a> and <a href="https://www.tpusa.com/thomas-o-hicks-jr/" rel="nofollow" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;">Thomas Hicks, Jr.</a>, the son of a Dallas billionaire, worked with Trump’s sons Donald Jr. and Eric to establish a Texas nonprofit to <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2016/12/19/donald-trumps-sons-behind-texas-nonprofit-selling-/" rel="nofollow" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;">sell access to the president</a> to big donors during inauguration festivities in January. Beach and Hicks, who were both national vice chairmen of the Trump campaign, <a href="https://www.dallasnews.com/news/donald-trump-1/2017/05/22/art-schmooze-trump-pal-dallas-enjoys-special-access-white-house" rel="nofollow" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;">raised millions of dollars</a> for the campaign. Beach has visited the White House multiple times in 2017.<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;">Beach’s father, Gary, was <a href="https://www.dallasnews.com/news/donald-trump-1/2017/05/22/art-schmooze-trump-pal-dallas-enjoys-special-access-white-house" rel="nofollow" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;">indicted</a> on five charges of bankruptcy fraud in 2016. Charlie Kirk's father is allegedly <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150512012916/http://www.groupaarch.com:80/staff/principal.html" rel="nofollow" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;">Robert W. Kirk</a>, the project architect manager for Trump Tower in New York City.<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“We stay totally removed from restricted political activity,” said Kirk. “Instead, we focus on starting chapters, hosting debates on campus, planning training seminars, and hosting national training conferences such as our upcoming one in Palm Beach in December.”<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.dallasnews.com/news/donald-trump-1/2017/05/22/art-schmooze-trump-pal-dallas-enjoys-special-access-white-house">https://www.dallasnews.com/news/donald-trump-1/2017/05/22/art-schmooze-trump-pal-dallas-enjoys-special-access-white-house</a><p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The art of the schmooze: Trump pal from Dallas enjoys special access to White House<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">FILED UNDERDONALD TRUMP  AT MAY 2017 SHARE<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Default Profile ImageWritten by<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Sue Ambrose  Miles Moffeit<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The guy with the slicked-back red hair, bodyguard build and quick-draw handshake glided through the hotel ballroom with his buddy Donald Trump Jr., schmoozing with GOP leaders and pointing out the Texas flag on Trump’s belt buckle.<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Gentry Beach, ebullient stock trader and proud son of Highland Park, had become a rising star in Republican fundraising almost overnight. He was one of two Texans Trump singled out from the stage of the Dallas Omni at the March event.<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Not only did they raise millions of dollars for the campaign, Trump said, but they also spent seven months with him on the road, doing everything from “taking selfies to carrying my bags.”<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“I was basically their dancing monkey,” Trump said about Beach and Tom Hicks Jr., a Dallas businessman.<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Beach’s friendship with Don Jr. and his role in the campaign have won him rare access to the White House and the Trump administration. That access has come with questions.<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Beach was at the center of a controversial effort late last year to set up a nonprofit with Trump's sons, which critics said appeared to sell access to the president.<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Eric Trump, Donald Trump Jr. distance themselves from Dallas-based nonprofit's inauguration party<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“If I called up there and asked someone to do me a favor, could I get in the door? Sure,” Beach said in one of several conversations with The Dallas Morning News.<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">But Beach, 41, says he has no plans to take advantage of that access. He has no record of political activism and little history of making campaign contributions before Trump became a candidate.<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“I need nothing from the government,” he said. “I didn’t have a desire to go into politics.”On the other hand, he has been spending time in Washington recently, and not just at the annual Easter Egg Roll. He shrugs off as a happy accident his appearance at an Interior Department photo-op when the new secretary rolled back an Obama-era regulation. Then there was a reported visit to the White House with an energy lawyer, which Beach won’t discuss. A photo recently on the Instagram account of his wife’s clothing business showed her posing with President Trump as she models one of her designs.<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“I have many friends throughout the entire White House,” Beach said.<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Tommy Hicks Jr. (left), Donald Trump and Gentry Beach.  Hicks and Beach, two Dallas businessmen, were credited with raising millions for Trump's presidential campaign.(Courtesy of Tommy Hicks Jr.)]<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">For almost a decade, Beach has been embroiled in financial and legal disputes, which culminated in a federal criminal investigation involving his family’s financial dealings.<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">He canceled several interviews before finally agreeing to sit down with The News, saying he’s tired of getting calls from the media.<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“You put a target on your back and nothing good comes from that,” Beach said.<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Mastering the schmooze<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The son of an oil and gas man, Beach was a popular athlete at Highland Park High School. In a 1993 photograph taken by a News photographer, Beach and seven other football teammates flex their biceps to show off the benefits of hiring a personal-fitness trainer.<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The team’s former quarterback remembers Beach as a player “you want on your side’’ and a guy he couldn’t recall being negative.<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">"He was always selling himself,'' said Ty Hudnall, now a paramedic. “He had this endless, but not quite hyper, energy. And a lot of confidence.''<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Gentry Beach (middle row, third from left) poses with Highland Park High School teammates in a 1993 photo.(1993 File Photo/Dallas Morning News)<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Gentry Beach (middle row, third from left) poses with Highland Park High School teammates in a 1993 photo. (1993 File Photo/Dallas Morning News)<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Beach’s football talent hooked recruiters at the University of Pennsylvania, and he joined its team after graduating from high school in 1994. Injuries soon cut short his budding gridiron career.<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">But through the university’s Wharton School, he earned an economics degree in 1998 after studying alongside Donald Trump Jr., the oldest son of the future president.<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Fortune hunting<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">After graduation, Beach got a job with Enron Corp., at the time one of the world’s fastest-growing energy corporations. Beach worked there for less than a year, scouting for possible mergers and acquisitions, before going to work on Wall Street as an investment banker and money manager.<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">By the mid-2000s, Beach had married Kathryn Munson of Denison and moved to Manhattan. And he had reunited with his college chum, Don Jr. Both joined a private shooting club outside New York City, and started traveling the world together hunting, Beach said.<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Under the tutelage of veteran hunter Peter Horn, who runs New York’s high-end Beretta Gallery gun dealership, Beach stalked European brown bears in Romania.<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In his 2014 memoir, Hunting Across the Danube, Horn wrote of one successful trip in which Beach took down a large bruin.<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“The bear fell not thirty yards from the point of impact in full view of the smiling Texan,’’ Horn wrote. A photo shows Beach propping his Winchester against the bear’s belly.<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“He’s fearless and he knows what he’s doing,” Horn said in an interview.<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">On other trips, Beach said, he grew to admire Don Jr.’s judgment and enjoyed “just being in the outdoors’’ with his fellow hunters. Beach later turned to the hunting community to drum up support for the Trump candidacy.<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">By 2005, Beach's career appeared to be humming. He lived in expensive apartments near Central Park, city records show, and with his wife appeared in photos from society parties.<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In November, a photographer captured images of Beach adjusting Don Jr.'s bow tie before his wedding at his father's Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach.<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Dallas businessman Gentry Beach (right) helped his friend Donald Trump Jr. prepare for Trump's wedding ceremony in 2005 at the Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Fla.(C. Allegri/Getty Images)<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Dallas businessman Gentry Beach (right) helped his friend Donald Trump Jr. prepare for Trump's wedding ceremony in 2005 at the Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Fla. (C. Allegri/Getty Images)<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">That year, Beach was hired to manage energy investments by Touradji Capital Management, a hedge fund founded by Paul Touradji, an accomplished Wall Street trader.<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In his first year, he earned more than $2 million, according to court documents. A supervisor later gave him high marks in an evaluation for “finding what ideas are going to make big $.’’ The review also noted that he could improve his leadership skills, describing him as “aggressive and powerful, but doesn’t get the buy-in of his troops.’’<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Beach introduced his father, Gary, to Touradji, and the trio agreed to operate an oil-and-gas exploration company together, with the senior Beach managing the new firm.<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">But the business didn’t pan out, and the partners quarreled. Touradji pulled out of the venture and demoted Beach at the hedge fund. Beach said he was due millions in bonuses for other successes at the firm; Touradji said he wasn’t.<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In September 2008, tensions erupted in a shouting match in Touradji’s office, and Beach resigned the next day, according to court records. Beach filed a police report saying Touradji had threatened his life. In court papers, Touradji denied that and said the complaint never led to charges.<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Then ensued an eight-year legal battle that spilled into courts in New York and Texas.<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Legal wars<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Beach’s father fired the first salvo, suing Touradji in Texas for breach of contract over the oil company and asking for $8 million. Gentry Beach then sued Touradji in New York saying he was owed $23 million in bonus pay. A colleague, Robert Vollero, joined that lawsuit, saying he too was owed millions.<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Touradji countersued, accusing Beach’s father of taking $500,000 from the oil company. Touradji accused the son of ruining fund investments, hiding information and conspiring with his father to steal money, according to court records.<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Beach and Vollero, meanwhile, started their own hedge fund, Vollero Beach Capital, whose portfolio focused on energy investments.<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">As the lawsuits progressed, Beach and his wife maintained close ties with the Trumps. They appeared with Ivanka and Don Jr. at a Manhattan charity fundraiser, and posed for pictures at Donald Trump’s Central Park skating rink with their kids. Don Jr. became a godfather to one of Beach’s sons.<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">But there were problems. In late 2009, and again in 2010, Beach’s fund made some stock trades that regulators would later say violated federal securities rules.  The fund paid $800,000 to settle the complaints without admitting wrongdoing.<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The Internal Revenue Service filed a lien against Beach and his wife for $240,000 in back taxes, which they paid.<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">An Instagram post by Kathryn Beach pictures her and President Donald Trump as she wears one of the hunting vests her business sells. (The Dallas Morning News)<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">An Instagram post by Kathryn Beach pictures her and President Donald Trump as she wears one of the hunting vests her business sells.  (The Dallas Morning News)<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">And in 2011 Beach's father lost his Houston lawsuit. The court ruled he and one of his companies owed Touradji almost $3 million. He appealed.<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">A few days later, Beach's father filed for bankruptcy protection. Under the law, a government-appointed trustee was supposed to round up his assets and use them to pay as much of the bills as possible.<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Just days before Gary Beach had filed for bankruptcy, a trust fund he and Gentry controlled bought a million-dollar house for Gary on Beverly Drive. Gary didn't disclose the house on his bankruptcy paperwork.<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Money from the same family trust also helped pay for Gentry's own red-brick colonial in Highland Park, according to court records.<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In 2013, the bankruptcy trustee sued Gentry and Gary Beach for fraud, alleging that they had spent all the money in the trust to try to keep it out of the hands of creditors (mainly Touradji).<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The Beaches settled that case without admitting wrongdoing but agreeing to pay $1 million. Gary had also lost the appeal of his Houston case. Gentry Beach declined to comment on the bankruptcy or Touradji-related litigation.<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">But by 2014, federal prosecutors had begun investigating.<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
Late last year, the presidential election loomed. Gentry Beach, one of several national vice chairmen for the Trump campaign, focused on drumming up money on a final swing through the west. He hosted receptions in Salt Lake City and Dallas where the admission price for couples soared as high as $893,000, according to invitations obtained by The Center for Responsive Politics.<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Charlie Kirk, director of the conservative student organization Turning Point USA, said Beach held strong during the dark days of the campaign following the release of a recording of Trump bragging about sexually assaulting women.<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“He was steadfast in his support of the mission,” Kirk said in a recent interview in Dallas. “I think that speaks a lot about a person’s character.”<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Then, just seven days before the election, a grand jury indicted his father on charges of  bankruptcy fraud. Federal prosecutors charged Gary Beach with seven counts of lying about his income during his bankruptcy proceedings; each count carries up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">He pleaded not guilty and declined to comment for this article. A trial is set for September.<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Gentry Beach was not charged with any crimes, but the indictment cited his involvement in financial transactions in the case. He said he is not under investigation. The U.S. Justice Department declined to comment.<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Looking forwardMeanwhile, Beach’s energy fund merged with a bigger operation and he soon left that firm. He recently joined forces with other Dallas businessmen to form a company to develop roof-top wind turbines, and is pursuing a futuristic farming venture.<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">When Beach sat down for an interview, he brought along a business partner who is also a minister, Eric Schick, who vouched for Beach’s character and faith.<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“That’s what I’ve identified in this man: God works through this man so possible things become very possible,’’ Schick said.<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Life’s challenges, Beach said, have deepened his spirituality.<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“I've learned a lot of lessons along the way, and a lot of humbling moments, and if it's not for God, it's not for me,’’ he said. “That's the way I feel.’’<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Gentry Beach (far right, left of a woman in purple coat) was in attendance as President-elect Donald Trump arrived for his inauguration. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Gentry Beach (far right, left of a woman in purple coat) was in attendance as President-elect Donald Trump arrived for his inauguration.  (Scott Olson/Getty Images)<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Beach has continued to lead a fast-paced life. His 6,500-square-foot home has a pool and three fireplaces. He drives Jaguars and Range Rovers and was ticketed in 2015 for going 101 on the Dallas North Tollway in a Mercedes.<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Beach's wife, Kathryn, runs her own businesses, including one that has moved from selling cashmere baby clothes to children's party outfits. The couple has five children.<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Another of her ventures — producing women's hunting vests — has used a photo of her modeling a vest and ruffled white blouse with President Trump at a National Rifle Association convention.<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">After the election, Trump appointed Beach to raise money for the inauguration. He was among 22 financial chairmen overseeing the effort, which organizers said landed a record $100 million for the swearing in.<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">But Beach said he doesn’t deserve credit for anything, despite Don Jr.’s  praise.<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“You know who deserves the credit? The organization does, his father does,’’ Beach said. “I was a very good bag carrier, right-hand man. I would do whatever I needed to do to be helpful.’’<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In December, Beach and his friend Hicks planned an inauguration event for sportsmen that would donate money to conservation causes. They formed a nonprofit to sponsor the event: two Trump sons were listed as participants. A brochure draft that leaked out promised donors who gave $1 million access to the new president or hunting trips with his sons. Hicks declined to comment.<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Ethics experts said it appeared the nonprofit was trying to sell access to the president. The Trump sons’ names were removed from the venture, and the event was called off.<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Those kinds of events — and the use of a presidential photo to promote someone’s business — are legal but ethically problematic, said Richard Painter, a former ethics lawyer for President George W. Bush and a law professor at the University of Minnesota.<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“The job of the White House ethics lawyer and the White House staff in general is to strongly discourage that,” he said.<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“If I were running the White House ethics shop,” he added, “I’d have them on my watch list.”<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Visits to Washington, D.C. <p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">A few days before the inauguration, Beach greeted other guests at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C. His father, whose travel had been limited to Texas after his indictment, received special permission from a judge to go to the event, court records show.<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Gentry Beach (left) and his wife, Kathryn, visited the lobby of the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., a few days before the inauguration.(Eric Lipton/The New York Times)<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Gentry Beach (left) and his wife, Kathryn, visited the lobby of the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., a few days before the inauguration. (Eric Lipton/The New York Times)In February, according to the news website Mic.com, Beach attended a White House meeting with Wadie Habboush, a Washington, D.C., energy lawyer, to discuss lifting sanctions against oil-rich Venezuela with national security officials. Beach denied the account, saying he has no access to the National Security Council and has nothing to do with Venezuela.<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Beach said he met Habboush during the inauguration. But he wouldn’t say whether the two were later at the White House together.<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“I can’t comment ever about a meeting inside anywhere,” Beach said. Habboush and the White House did not respond to requests for comment.<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Gentry Beach (left) receives a ceremonial pen from Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke as Zinke signed orders on March 2, his first day on the job. (U.S. Department of Interior)<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Gentry Beach (left) receives a ceremonial pen from Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke as Zinke signed orders on March 2, his first day on the job.  (U.S. Department of Interior)<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In March, Beach took another trip to D.C., where he stood in the office of the new secretary of the Interior, Ryan Zinke. Zinke was reversing an Obama-era decision that banned lead ammunition and fishing tackle on certain public lands and waterways.<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Sportsmen have argued that the higher cost of non-toxic ammunition interferes with their pastime; at the signing, Zinke was surrounded by representatives of the National Rifle Association and about 20 hunting and fishing groups.<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Why was Beach there?<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">At first, a department spokeswoman declined to comment, writing in an email that the event’s organizer no longer works for the agency. Later she wrote it was a social visit.<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Beach’s explanation: Nothing to see here. He just happened to be in Zinke’s office during the secretary’s first day on the job, Beach said.<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“I randomly stopped by.”<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Read the full indictment of Gary Beach:<div></div><div>A <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3243182-BUSINESS-ORGANIZATIONS-INQUIRY-VIEW-ENTITY.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(161, 210, 223); box-shadow: rgb(161, 210, 223) 0px -1px 0px 0px inset; text-decoration-line: none;">new Texas nonprofit</a> led by Donald Trump’s grown sons is offering access to the freshly-minted president during inauguration weekend — all in exchange for million-dollar donations to unnamed “conservation” charities, according to interviews and documents reviewed by the <a href="https://www.publicintegrity.org/politics" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(161, 210, 223); box-shadow: rgb(161, 210, 223) 0px -1px 0px 0px inset; text-decoration-line: none;">Center for Public Integrity</a>.And the donors’ identities may never be known.   Prospective million-dollar donors to the “Opening Day 2017” event — slated for Jan. 21, the day after inauguration, at Washington, D.C.’s Walter E. Washington Convention Center — receive a “private reception and photo opportunity for 16 guests with President Donald J. Trump,” a “multi-day hunting and/or fishing excursion for 4 guests with Donald Trump, Jr. and/or Eric Trump, and team,” as well as tickets to other events and “autographed guitarsby an Opening Day 2017 performer.”  Website <a href="https://www.tmz.com/2016/12/16/donald-trump-inauguration-party/" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(161, 210, 223); box-shadow: rgb(161, 210, 223) 0px -1px 0px 0px inset; text-decoration-line: none;">TMZ.com</a> first published <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3243183-Opening-Day-2017-Redacted.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(161, 210, 223); box-shadow: rgb(161, 210, 223) 0px -1px 0px 0px inset; text-decoration-line: none;">a brochure</a> hyping the happening. The brochure says that “all net proceeds from the Opening Day event will be donated to conservation charities,” but it does not name the charities or detail how net proceeds will be calculated.Who’s behind the get-together?Walter Kinzie, chief executive officer of Texas event management company <a href="http://www.encorelive.com/about/" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(161, 210, 223); box-shadow: rgb(161, 210, 223) 0px -1px 0px 0px inset; text-decoration-line: none;">Encore Live</a>, confirmed to the Center for Public Integrity that a nonprofit group called the Opening Day Foundation hired his firm to manage Opening Day 2017.A Center for Public Integrity review of Texas incorporation records found the Opening Day Foundation was created less than a week ago, on Dec. 14. Unlike political committees, such nonprofits aren’t required by law to reveal their donors, allowing sponsors to write seven-figure checks for access to the president while staying anonymous, if they choose.The paperwork for the Opening Day Foundation listed four directors: Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, Dallas investor Gentry Beach and Tom Hicks Jr., the son of a Dallas billionaire.Beach and Hicks are reportedly <a href="http://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2016/11/11/two-young-dallas-guns-helped-deliver-white-house-trump" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(161, 210, 223); box-shadow: rgb(161, 210, 223) 0px -1px 0px 0px inset; text-decoration-line: none;">close friends</a> with Donald Trump Jr., and both men helped raise millions of dollars for Trump’s campaign.“The event is being put on by the Opening Day Foundation,” Kinzie confirmed, adding: “There are a number of different individuals who are part of the foundation.”Kinzie also said the information in the brochure posted by TMZ.com was not entirely accurate — he did not specify what was incorrect — and he added that the participation of Trump family members is not confirmed.The Trump Organization, a spokeswoman for President-elect Trump and the presidential transition team did not immediately respond to requests for comment.Hicks and Beach also did not immediately respond to phone messages requesting comment.The <a href="http://tmz.vo.llnwd.net/o28/newsdesk/tmz_documents/Opening_Day_2017_Redacted.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(161, 210, 223); box-shadow: rgb(161, 210, 223) 0px -1px 0px 0px inset; text-decoration-line: none;">brochure</a> for “Opening Day 2017,” an event described as “honoring President Donald J. Trump,” offers sponsor packages ranging from $25,000 to $1 million. The event will “celebrate the great American tradition of outdoor sporting, shooting, fishing and conservation,” the brochure states.Mike Ingram, an Arizona developer who is listed as one of the co-chairmen, said Beach approached him to help."I’m honored to do it," he said. "It’s not going to be a black tie event. It’s going to be boots and jeans and camouflage and it’s going to raise a lot of money to go to sportsman’s charities" and conservation charities, he said.Ingram said he could not confirm the Trump family's participation.“This is problematic on so many levels,” said Larry Noble, the general counsel of the <a href="https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&rlz=1C1OPRB_enUS704US704&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=lawrence%20noble%20campaign%20legal%20center" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(161, 210, 223); box-shadow: rgb(161, 210, 223) 0px -1px 0px 0px inset; text-decoration-line: none;">Campaign Legal Center</a>, a nonpartisan campaign reform organization. “This is Donald Trump and the Trump family using a brand new organization to raise $1 million contributions for a vague goal of giving money to conservation charities, which seems a way of basically just selling influence and selling the ability to meet with the president.”Noble cautioned that the details of the event and its association with the new nonprofit listing the Trump brothers as directors are still unclear.“It’s really hard to identify all the problems when they’re so vague,” he said.The Trump family has recently endured criticism for appearing to sell access to Trump’s adult children, who serve on the executive committee of Trump’s presidential <a href="https://greatagain.gov/president-elect-trump-announces-new-transition-vice-chairs-executive-committee-members-f654cca0c9e9#.flwqityck" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(161, 210, 223); box-shadow: rgb(161, 210, 223) 0px -1px 0px 0px inset; text-decoration-line: none;">transition team</a> and have functioned as key advisers since he began his campaign.The family <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/16/us/politics/ivanka-trump-charity-auction.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(161, 210, 223); box-shadow: rgb(161, 210, 223) 0px -1px 0px 0px inset; text-decoration-line: none;">canceled</a> an auction for coffee with Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump last week after ethics experts said it was ethically questionable, according to the New York Times. The proceeds of the auction would have gone to the Eric Trump Foundation, an <a href="https://www.erictrumpfoundation.com/welcome" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(161, 210, 223); box-shadow: rgb(161, 210, 223) 0px -1px 0px 0px inset; text-decoration-line: none;">existing nonprofit</a> whose mission is to support a children’s hospital.Update, 4:18 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 20: Trump's transition team emailed a statement from spokeswoman Hope Hicks. It reads: "The Opening Day event and details that have been reported are merely initial concepts that have not been approved or pursued by the Trump family. Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump are avid outdoorsmen and supporters of conservation efforts, which align with the goals of this event, however they are not involved in any capacity."A Trump transition official told the Center for Public Integrity that the <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3244010-Texasdocument.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(161, 210, 223); box-shadow: rgb(161, 210, 223) 0px -1px 0px 0px inset; text-decoration-line: none;">registration document</a> for the Opening Day Foundation, the nonprofit behind the Opening Day 2017 event, "will be amended" and that the names of Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump will be removed.The statement and transition official did not address Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump serving as directors of the Opening Day Foundation. Nor did it explain how the Trump brothers came to be listed on the event's brochure, which organizers circulated among conservative political donors in recent days.Beach is listed in the Opening Day Foundation's signed <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3244010-Texasdocument.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(161, 210, 223); box-shadow: rgb(161, 210, 223) 0px -1px 0px 0px inset; text-decoration-line: none;">registration document</a> as the group's registered agent. Texas nonprofit <a href="http://www.sos.state.tx.us/corp/forms/202_boc.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(161, 210, 223); box-shadow: rgb(161, 210, 223) 0px -1px 0px 0px inset; text-decoration-line: none;">registration forms</a> state that including "materially false" information is subject to "penalties imposed by law."Houston-based lawyer <a href="https://www.texasbar.com/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Find_A_Lawyer&template=/Customsource/MemberDirectory/MemberDirectoryDetail.cfm&ContactID=206559" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(161, 210, 223); box-shadow: rgb(161, 210, 223) 0px -1px 0px 0px inset; text-decoration-line: none;">Thomas M. Gregor</a> signed Opening Day Foundation's <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3244010-Texasdocument.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(161, 210, 223); box-shadow: rgb(161, 210, 223) 0px -1px 0px 0px inset; text-decoration-line: none;">registration document</a> under penalty of perjury. Gregor could not immediately be reached for comment.This story is republished with permission from the <a href="https://www.publicintegrity.org/2016/12/19/20564/donald-trumps-sons-behind-nonprofit-selling-access-president-elect" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(161, 210, 223); box-shadow: rgb(161, 210, 223) 0px -1px 0px 0px inset; text-decoration-line: none;">Center for Public Integrity</a>, a nonprofit, nonpartisan investigative media organization in Washington.</div><div></div><p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px none; list-style: none outside none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">