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Open in TheBrain

Pension Plan 3

11 23 estb

SEE FOX NEWS CORP TREY GOWDY PARDON

KARO SPOX FOX 10 26 MAGA INC

see plum for trump admin fails

merri ok

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sinema AI rev dr lobby

Gold Institute for International Strategy

FLYNN LARA SMOKY JOE BARTON mcewen, foley

LI Gold Institute For International Strategy | LinkedIn

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President Donald Trump had big plans for outspoken MAGA ally Kari Lake, but with those plans having thoroughly imploded, a new MS NOW analysis explained how she has been given a familiar "consolation prize."

Lake first emerged as a news anchor in Phoenix, Arizona, before making the jump to politics as an avowed supporter of Trump and the MAGA movement. Despite high hopes for her as a future star for the Republican Party, the transition largely flopped, as she lost the 2022 Arizona gubernatorial race to Democrat Katie Hobbs and the 2024 Senate race to Democrat Ruben Gallego.

With no actual electoral success to her name, Trump attempted to install her as the next director for Voice of America, the international broadcaster funded by the U.S. government, amid plans to gut the institution and reshape it into a more right-wing form with the help of One America News. This effort, too, fell flat after a judge ruled that she was ineligible to serve at the head of VOA, invalidating her tenure and reversing the mass layoffs she had overseen.

In the wake of all that failure, Trump on Monday nominated Lake to serve as the new ambassador to Jamaica, echoing an emerging pattern of the president placing close allies in key diplomatic roles.

"President Trump on Monday appointed Kari Lake, a fierce ally of the president who had led the administration’s efforts to shutter Voice of America and other federally funded news groups, as the next ambassador to Jamaica," the New York Times reported this week. "Her appointment, if confirmed by the Senate, would end her tumultuous time at the parent agency for federally funded news groups that broadcast to countries with limited press freedom, such as China, Russia and Iran."

Writing about the development on Tuesday, Steve Benen, a longtime contributor and producer for MS NOW, wrote that the appointment of Lake fit a growing pattern from the administration and its handling of MAGA allies with failed political ambitions.

"Lake’s nomination coincided with the president also tapping Pennsylvania’s Doug Mastriano — another prominent Republican election denier who launched a gubernatorial campaign that failed — to serve as U.S. ambassador to Slovakia," Benen wrote. "The far-right state senator will also need to be confirmed by the Republican-led Senate. Time will tell when and whether Lake and Mastriano receive the support they’ll need on Capitol Hill, but their nominations are emblematic of a larger pattern: The White House sure does like to hand out ambassadorships to those whose earlier political plans didn’t quite work out."

Benen further detailed the various names who received a similar parachute from Trump: Mike Waltz was named U.N. ambassador after being ousted as White House national security adviser; former GOP Rep. Billy Long went from an "incredibly short tenure" leading the IRS to serving as ambassador to Iceland; and, John Giordano went from a failed interim U.S. attorney for New Jersey to serving as the ambassador to Namibia.

"Even Kristi Noem, after her many failures as the head of the Department of Homeland Security, made the transition to a diplomatic role as 'special envoy' to the Shield of the Americas, a poorly defined security initiative for the Western Hemisphere," Benen concluded. "As an Associated Press report summarized last year, 'Diplomacy may be soft power, but in President Donald Trump’s administration, it’s also lately a soft landing.'

an 5 26

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A TWO-FER FLORIDA

an 3 26

Conservative Dispatch CEO and editor Steve Hayes visited Bonita Springs, Florida, during campaign season and says he found the kind of political personalities you get in “Trump country.”

Former U.S. Rep. Madison Cawthorn was one of the first personalities Heyes shined a light on trying to nab Florida’s 19th Congressional District. In his article, titled “Meet the Has-Beens, Never-Weres, and Felon Locked in a Trumpy Primary,” he makes clear he is not impressed.

“That Cawthorn is a viable candidate — indeed, given his name recognition and MAGAworld celebrity status, he’s considered a real contender—says a lot about the contest in this dark red corner of Florida’s Gulf Coast and about the state of the Republican Party in the Trump era,” said Hayes, recounting Cawthorn’s congressional service beginning “with a rousing speech to the pro-Trump mob at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021,” where he praised the mob’s “willingness to fight, declared the 2020 election fraudulent, and later voted against certification.”

But that same career ended with “a flurry of bizarre and discrediting moments over the weeks leading up to the GOP primary for his reelection campaign,” said Hayes.

“A week after he lost that primary contest, the House Ethics Committee announced it was investigating the congressman for a possible improper relationship with a staffer and for a potential conflict of interest in his promotion of the LGB (Let’s Go Brandon) cryptocurrency,” for which he was ultimately fined $15,000,” said Hayes.

Another Trump Republican with a legal background would be former New York U.S. Rep. Chris Collins, who was charged with lying to the FBI in 2018, on top of charges related to insider trading. Republican leaders stripped Collins of his committee assignments. And even though he initially insisted on his innocence, two months later he accepted a plea deal. Three months after that he confessed his guilt at his sentencing hearing.

“Jonathan Barr, another lawyer for Collins, told Judge Vernon Broderick: ‘He accepted responsibility for his crimes, he has demonstrated sincere remorse. There is no excuse for the conduct. He doesn’t make any excuses for the conduct,” reports Hayes.

At the community meeting in Florida Hayes said Collins “used his opening remarks to emphasize (again and again) his coziness with Trump, [but] he left out the best evidence of their close relationship: Trump pardoned Collins after his guilty pleas and let him out of prison just two months into a two-year sentence.

But being an ally of Trump is what really matters in this deep-red Trump district, said Hayes. In fact, of all the candidates (and there are many more than Cawthorne and Collins) the only candidate whose website didn’t lead with Trump is Jim Oberweis, said Hayes. But of course his campaign—like all the others—is “nudging the White House political team for a Trump endorsement.

Every candidate is allied on policy, so the only advantage is which one gets the presidential nod, said Hayes.

“Nobody’s really campaigning — except to campaign to Trump,” said Francis Rooney, the former representative for the district. “The idea of Trump, the impact of Trump and MAGA is so overwhelming right now that the people want to be in that tent. And so they’re focusing on the things that are going to get the attention of the MAGA leadership.”

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amb to iceland?

President Donald Trump sent the military into Venezuela to seize the then-sitting president and he has since decided that the U.S. will takeover the Arctic island Greenland. Now, the ambassador is making alleged jokes about Iceland, but the founding NATO member nation isn't laughing.

Politico reported Thursday that the Icelandic ambassador from the U.S. has been called to explain himself to those in Reykjavík fearful that they're next after Greenland.

Billy Long, who served as the head of the IRS for 53 days before he was shifted to the ambassador post, hasn't been confirmed by the Senate, but he's already at work with the volcanic island trying to become its next "governor." Long was on the floor of Congress Wednesday night when he commented to other colleagues that Iceland would be the next state and he'd be the leader of it.

“The Ministry for Foreign Affairs has contacted the U.S. Embassy in Iceland to verify the veracity of the alleged comments,” Iceland’s foreign ministry said in a statement to the site.

“These words of Billy Long, who Donald Trump has nominated as ambassador to Iceland, may have been said in half-hearted terms, but they are insulting to Iceland and Icelanders, who have had to fight for their freedom and have always been a friend of the United States,” a petition started by Icelanders said.

They are now calling on Long to be rejected as the ambassador of the island.

*Read the full report here.

an 4 25

Busted: 'Serious questions' raised over Trump appointee's finances

rww

06/04/2025

by

Kyle Mantyla

Hunter Walker @ Talking Points Memo: Internal Docs Raise Questions About Trump IRS Pick Billy Long’s ‘No-Show Jobs’ And ‘Strange’ Schedule Inside A Powerful Agency

It’s not quite clear what is happening with former Missouri Congressman Billy Long and his associates at the federal Office of Personnel Management, where he has been a senior advisor to the director since March.

pro publ 12 24

Billy Long, Trump’s Nominee to Lead the IRS, Touts a Credential That Tax Experts Say Is Dubious
The former representative from Missouri, who once pushed to abolish the IRS, has marketed himself as a certified tax and business advisor after attending only a three-day seminar.

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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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gl 10 25

AI Overview

The "revolving door" describes former government officials becoming lobbyists after retirement, and while federal law restricts this, there are ongoing efforts to change the regulations

. Currently, former senators face a two-year ban on lobbying, while former House members have a one-year ban. New legislation, such as the "Close the Revolving Door Act," aims to increase these restrictions, with one proposal suggesting a lifetime ban for former members of Congress and longer waiting periods for staff, according to Congress.gov.

Current federal rules

Proposed changes and other details

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Close the Revolving Door Act of 2023. This bill increases restrictions on lobbying and penalties for violations of such restrictio...

Congress.gov

May 21, 2025 — A BILL. To provide greater controls and restrictions on revolving door lobbying. Be it enacted by the Senate and House...

Congress.gov

Nov 4, 2021 — [1]: Former legislative branch employees currently face certain post-employment restrictions depending on their chamber...

Brookings

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TULSI // SINEMA?

creating hype /violence by denouncing ? see bizzaro rubber glue reverse, projection on projection 12 23

mma 12 23

tasteful grey streak for gravitas?

LAURA INGRAHAM (HOST): Tulsi, you're saying they're inviting someone to take a shot at Trump. I think you're right.

TULSI GABBARD (GUEST): Yes, this is what is dangerous. They're sending a message to a rogue actor, a lone wolf saying, "Hey, we need someone to save our country from this modern day Hitler-like person." And that is what should alarm every single American. This is not how the United States of America is. This is not who we are. And, yet, this is what these people in positions of power are doing and abusing their power and undermining our democracy, cause in their minds the end justifies the means.

INGRAHAM (HOST): I am terrified for our country right now, given that type of rhetoric. I mean, unlike the left, we don't believe in censoring people's speech, but by doing what they're doing and saying what they're saying, they can talk about dog whistles, that's a dog whistle to violence. If Hitler is in waiting, then you've got to stop Hitler. AND THEREFORE WHAT?

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REUTERS 2023

Sept 22 (Reuters) - Fox Corp's (FOXA.O), opens new tab former chairman Rupert Murdoch's total compensation for 2023 climbed more than 24% to $22.9 million, a regulatory filing showed on Friday.

The media mogul stepped down from his role on Thursday after a career spanning more than seven decades and handed the reins to his son, Lachlan Murdoch, who will become the sole chairman of News Corp and continue as chair and CEO of Fox.

Rupert Murdoch will be chairman emeritus of both companies.

At Fox, his 2023 compensation includes an annual base salary of $5 million and about $7.6 million in stock awards and options. It also includes $4.4 million in incentive pay, the filing showed.

Lachlan's compensation at Fox stands at $21.8 million for 2023, little changed from last year's $21.7 million.

He is set to take over the Murdoch media empire at a time when the industry faces challenges ranging from dwindling traditional television viewership to copyright theft allegations.

Separately on Friday, Fox nominated former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott AC and Magic Leap CEO Peggy Johnson to the company's board.

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several fake electors promoted despite indicted

ethic violation lying

Just when you think the Arizona Republican Party couldn't ...

The Arizona Republic

https://www.azcentral.com › laurieroberts › 2024/04/28

jake hoffman arizona gop from www.azcentral.com

Apr 28, 2024 — Opinion: The Arizona GOP elected indicted Sen. Jake Hoffman and expelled Rep. Liz Harris to the RNC. Could this party get any more nutty?

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blows my theory that somehow jrnl exempt

On Steve Bannon's show John Solomon calls the Republican National Committee “a cancer” | Media Matters for America

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Raj Shah, Fox exec exposed in Dominion lawsuit, to lead House GOP comms | Media Matters for America

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SOME BAK

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['I don’t care': Kyrsten Sinema plans to cash in on Senate infamy if she loses reelection in 2024 - Alternet.org'I don’t care': Kyrsten Sinema plans to cash in on Senate infamy if she loses reelection in 2024 - Alternet.org](https://www.alternet.org/kyrsten-sinema-cash-in/)

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'I don’t care': Kyrsten Sinema plans to cash in on Senate infamy if she loses reelection in 2024 - Alternet.org

Senator Kyrsten Sinema (I-Arizona), who has been a thorn in the side of both President Biden and the Senate Democratic Caucus, is already eyeing a potentially lucrative private sector career if her bid to stay in the US Senate is unsuccessful.

In Atlantic staff writer's new biography of outgoing Senator Mitt Romney (R-Utah), Sinema — an independent who caucuses with Democrats (she left the Democratic Party in 2022) — apparently confided to the 2012 Republican presidential nominee that she's apathetic about staying in Washington for another six-year term. Arizona's senior US senator added that she feels she unilaterally "saved" the upper chamber of Congress by bucking' Democrats' efforts to eliminate the filibuster.

"I don’t care. I can go on any board I want to. I can be a college president. I can do anything,” she told Romney. “I saved the Senate filibuster by myself. I saved the Senate by myself. That’s good enough for me."

As the New Republic noted, the filibuster isn't actually a tradition in the Senate, nor is it even mentioned in the US Constitution. Former President Barack Obama once called it a "Jim Crow relic." Sinema's colleague, Senator Angus King (I-Maine), has called for it to be reformed by requiring those who use it to actually hold the Senate floor in what's known as a "talking filibuster."

"[I]nstead of having to have 60 votes to pass something, you'd have to have 41 votes to stop it. That way, the minority would at least have to show up," Sen. King said of the filibuster in 2021, when it was used to stop voting rights legislation. "So we've got to do something about this, at least when it comes to something as crucial as democracy itself, as voting rights."

The New Republic's Jason Linkins wrote last weekend that Sinema's obstinance in getting rid of the filibuster has led to Democrats being unable to pass significant legislative reforms — not only in the arena of voting rights, but in an assortment of other social programs included in President Biden's Build Back Better Act that Sens. Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia) and Sinema ultimately watered down and killed. Sinema was also a key opposition vote in Democrats' unsuccessful attempt to keep the expanded child tax credit.

"Her steadfast opposition to taxing corporations and the wealthy cut off the one funding mechanism that Manchin was willing to countenance to keep it running," Linkins wrote.

READ MORE: 'A loser and a spoiler': Kyrsten Sinema raises almost $200K from major GOP donors

Sinema is currently running as an independent in the 2024 US Senate race against both presumptive Republican nominee Kari Lake and presumptive Democratic nominee Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Arizona). An early October poll showed Lake in front, with 37% of respondents saying they would vote for her next November. Gallego was second, with 33%, while Sinema came in third with just 19% support.

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penalty box?

https://www.mediamatters.org/matt-walsh/daily-wires-matt-walsh-hires-gregg-re-former-tucker-carlson-producer-history-liking

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aha doh 2 cont: talk radio and evang last bastions of pen plan:

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https://www.marijuanamoment.net/former-anti-marijuana-congressman-and-top-trump-health-official-joins-cannabis-company-board-documents-show/

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jeff bossert clark fired from legal CTT

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does it count if unpaid?

an 6 22 badash

Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) has hired a far right-wing agitator and activist who appeared to support sexual “relationships” between boys as young as 13 and older men.

In 2016 Milo Yiannopoulos said, “I think in the gay world some of the most important, enriching and incredibly life-affirming, important shaping relationships very often between younger boys and older men.”

Those remarks were part of a video in which “Yiannopoulos discussed romantic relationships between teenage boys and adult men while being interviewed for the Drunken Peasants podcast in early 2016,” NBC News had reported in 2017. “Asked whether he was advocating for ‘cross-generational relationships,’ Yiannopoulos said: ‘Yeah, I don’t mind admitting that.'”

At that time, Heavy also reported: “In the video, Yiannopoulos describes how he feels sexual relationships between boys and older men can be positive. He denies he was defending pedophilia in the video, saying that term refers to younger children, not ‘someone who is 13-year-old, who is sexually mature.’ He also says, ‘We get hung up on this sort of child abuse stuff to the point where we are heavily policing consensual adults.'”

Yiannopoulos said in an apology, “I do not advocate for illegal behavior,” and, “I do not support child abuse. It’s a disgusting crime of which I have been a victim.”

Monday afternoon The Hill reported: “Right-wing provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos is working as an unpaid intern in the Congressional office of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.).”

“Yiannopoulos, 37, announced the job on his Telegram account Monday with a photo of his official intern congressional badge,” The Hill added, noting “Greene’s office confirmed to The Hill that Yiannopoulos is indeed their intern.”

“At the end of April,” The Daily Beast also reports, “the hate-spewing ideologue—once a ubiquitous MAGA figure until he appeared to defend pedophilia in a YouTube video—attended a Greene press conference and, after it wrapped, was escorted with the congresswoman into the Capitol building through a ‘members only’ entrance.”

Rep. Greene has repeatedly attacked the LGBTQ community, and expanded her attacks to the larger liberal voting bloc, suggesting Democrats and anyone who supports LGBTQ people is a pedophile or supports pedophilia. Earlier Monday she posted this, one of several of her tweets calling people “groomer” or using the term “grooming.”

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trump baby jail?

Additionally, IRLI, FAIR’s legal arm, hired Tom Homan as a senior fellow. During the Trump administration, Homan served as the acting director of ICE from January 2017 to June 2018. Through their new roles, both Morgan and Homan have used media appearances to excoriate the Biden administration’s immigration policies, while lauding and promoting the preservation of Trump administration policies.

Across 2021, FAIR has focused its attention on increasing its influence on state and local public officials, particularly sheriffs.On June 25, 2021, FAIR organized a “Rally to End Biden’s Border Crisis,” at a segment of the U.S. border in Hereford, Arizona. The speakers at the event included Mark Morgan,Tom Homan, local sheriffs and Brandon Judd, president of the National Border Patrol Council. On April 8, 2021, FAIR promoted a letter signed by 275 sheriffs from across 39 states attacking the Biden Administration’s immigration strategy.The letter is filled with talking points routinely espoused by groups like FAIR.

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ref no lnx

https://www.thedailybeast.com/even-donald-trump-cant-make-sense-of-his-own-dark-money-maze

[Pay Dirt is a weekly foray into the pigpen of political funding. Subscribe here to get it in your inbox every Thursday.

An inquiry from the feds has thrown new light on the murky relationships between a dozen Trump-aligned groups. And the problem traces back, as do so many other problems in Trumpworld, to a familiar name: former top aide Corey Lewandowski.

When Lewandowski got himself fired from a pro-Trump super PAC last fall—after allegedly sexually assaulting a big donor—the group brought in a clean-up crew. When Lewandowski refused to step down, they opened up a new super PAC without him.

That super PAC—the preposterously titled “Make America Great Again, Again!”—was the 12th in a sprawling labyrinth of political groups and nonprofitsthat comprise the Trump fundraising network. And in terms of the incestuous confusion, it may have been the one that finally tipped the scales; federal election officials now want to know why some of the super PAC’s payments aren’t being properly reported.

[Trump’s Dark-Money Machine Gets a Makeover—and New Owners

BILL OF GOODS

Roger Sollenberger]

Brendan Fischer, deputy executive director of good government group Documented, said the extent of Trump’s network is unparalleled.

“It is worth emphasizing: All of this is totally unprecedented for a former president,” Fischer told The Daily Beast. “Even if Trump kept it simple, and just had one hard money PAC, a single super PAC, and a pair of 501(c)(3)/501(c)(4) nonprofits, there would be no parallel with any former president in American history.”

Anyone who’s taken even the quickest of peeks at Trump’s personal financial disclosures would recognize the pattern.

His first such disclosure revealed positions with more than 500 entities, nearly 400 of which used his name or initials. And Trump has “organized” the mess in a stultifying Russian-nesting-doll structure—companies within companies within companies. Frequently, one company will be held under multiple Trump companies at the same time, each with stakes in still other Trump companies.

This isn’t an accident. The structure gave the Trump Organization an enormous amount of financial flexibility, while making it difficult to follow the billions of dollars that Trump, his family, and his accountants move across the organization.

When Trump hauled his private life into politics, he brought this practice with him, too.

The full Trump-aligned apparatus counts a dozen separate political committees and dark money organizations. Almost all of them share one of three names.

Here they are:

Make America Great Again PAC (converted from the old Trump campaign)

Make America Great Again Action (super PAC)

Make America Great Again, Again! (super PAC)

Trump Make America Great Again (small-dollar joint fundraising committee)

Make America Great Again Policies Inc (a 501(c)(4) nonprofit)

America First Policy Institute (a 501(c)(3) nonprofit)

America First Works (formerly America First Policies; a 501(c)(4) nonprofit)

America First Legal Foundation (a 501(c)(3) nonprofit)

America First Action (super PAC)

Save America (leadership PAC)

Save America JFC (joint fundraising committee)

Trump Victory (high-dollar joint fundraising committee)

“Typically, former presidents focus on their presidential library, or start a charitable foundation, but Trump is staying in the political game and raising a staggering amount of cash,” Fischer said.

It is staggering.

Want a closer look inside the pockets of the government’s most powerful players? Subscribe to the Pay Dirt newsletter here for exclusive reporting every Thursday.

For instance, the Trump-endorsed America First Action super PAC pulled in nearly $200 million between 2017 and 2020. Its sister nonprofit, America First Works—formerly America First Policies—posted $51.3 million in revenue for 2020, doling out nearly $40 million in grants.

[Dark-Money Group Paid Former Trump AG to Ask for Pardons

BEG YOUR PARDON

Roger Sollenberger]

The TMAGA PAC raised $884 million for 2020, with Trump Victory tossing in another $336.3 million. Those guns mostly fell quiet last year, while Trump’s three new PACs built up a $124.4 million stash, with another $12.5 million in the MAGAA! super PAC.

And we won’t know how much those other dark money nonprofits raised in 2021, or what they did with it, until after the midterms.

As Trump and the Republican Party gear up for 2024, these groups are in various stages of repair. However, that also appears to have created some internal problems. In fact, according to a filing on Wednesday, even the Trump campaign admits it isn’t always able to follow its own money.

Fischer chalked up the mess to a few factors, including Trump’s will-he-or-won’t-he candidate status, his relationship with the Republican National Committee, and disarray among his associates.

But Brett Kappel, a specialist in campaign finance and nonprofit law at Harmon Curran, perceived something more designed.

“The central lesson of Watergate is ‘Follow the money,’” Kappel told The Daily Beast. “And this byzantine structure of different types of legal entities—which are subject to different fundraising restrictions and file different reports with different agencies according to different filing schedules—appears to be designed to make that task as difficult as possible.”

To illustrate, these organizations can be divided into two groups: PACs and joint fundraising committees, and “dark money” nonprofits.

The PACS and joint fundraising committees are Trump’s political organizations. They disclose their finances to the Federal Election Commission. But they don’t all follow the same filing schedule, and, depending on what kind of committee they actually are, they can raise and transfer different amounts of money from different types of people and organizations.

[The GOP Dark Money Group Giving Big to White Supremacists

UNWORTHY CAUSES

Roger Sollenberger]

Of these groups, Save America leadership PAC is currently Trump’s main squeeze. Most of the money he raises goes there.The Save America JFC is a joint committee that splits donations between Save America and MAGA PAC, which used to be the Trump campaign. Weirdly, MAGA PAC doesn’t get much out of this joint arrangement—more than 90 percent of every contribution goes to the Save America PAC.

And the super PACs are, as mentioned above, something of a mess.

As for the “dark money” nonprofits, unlike the PACs, these groups file with the IRS. They don’t have to disclose their donors at all (hence “dark money”). They also only file once a year, and because those deadlines are so late, it can take nearly two years for a transaction to become visible to the public.

The IRS restricts their activities, too. Some groups have leeway to be political (the 501(c)(4) groups). Some must focus on social welfare (the 501(c)(3) groups). The Trump network has a healthy helping of both.

Sometimes, however, these PACs and nonprofits can overlap, even sharing employees and office space, like America First Action and America First Policies did during the Trump administration.[shuffle?]

And while they appear to be giving that another go, as the FEC found, it hasn’t been so clean this time.

Enter Lewandowski.

After Trump left the White House, the industriously sycophantic Lewandowski wormed his way back into his graces, winning the right to run the Make America Great Again Action super PAC. At the same time, he quietly created a Florida nonprofit, Make America Great Again Policies Inc.

But MAGA Policies didn’t appear to do anything—at all. There has been no reporting on any actual activity since it was created. Zero. It is a black box.

Then Lewandowski reportedly sexually assaulted a Trump donor and got himself booted from orbit. More experienced hands took over the new MAGAA! super PAC, led by former Florida attorney general Pam Bondi, and that also got complicated.

[Trump PAC Lavishing $37K a Month on Trump Tower Rent: WaPo

DONATIONS WELL SPENT

According to a new corporate filing in Florida, Bondi—who also happens to lead the massive America First Policy Institute nonprofit—also took over Lewandowski’s mysterious MAGA Policies nonprofit, adding former Trump administration officials Ric Grenelland Matt Whitaker, as well as Donald Trump Jr. paramour Kimberly Guilfoyle. All of those people are also on the new super PAC’s payroll.

But here’s the rub: The super PAC hasn’t been paying them directly. The nonprofit has, as part of a “cost share agreement.”

On Tuesday, the FEC sent the super PAC a letter saying that’s not cutting it. The group needs to explain exactly what they mean by “cost share agreement,” the letter said, because what they provided is not adequate.

Kappel said the FEC may be trying to figure out whether the two groups are “financially and operationally independent.” If the super PAC was found to be “connected” to the MAGA Policies nonprofit, he said, that meansit can only raise money from people tied to the nonprofit—and not from the general public. That would be a death blow, and the group would be forced to reorganize itself yet again.

Fischer said he wouldn’t be surprised to see more groups strategically shut down, like Trump Victory began doing last year.

“It might be more straightforward for Trump to shut down MAGA PAC,” he said, though he pointed out that MAGA PAC appears to own the campaign’s valuable supporter data, which might make it more cost-effective to retain for joint fundraising efforts.

But, Fischer pointed out, even though the constellation of Trump-aligned groups is basically unnavigable, it always could have been worse.

“Recall that Brad Parscale also started the ‘American Greatness’ super PAC in 2021, which never really got off the ground,” he said.

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BOARD

As of 2021, Heritage was governed by a 21-member board, which included the president, Kay C. James. Some additional members of the 2021 board are listed below:[132]

Barb Van Andel-Gaby is the board chair. As of 2021, she was also the co-trustee (along with Richard Gaby) of the eponymous Richard & Barbara Gaby Foundation and a board member of Alticor (the parent company of Amway). She is a former vice-president of the Amway Hotel Corporation, and the daughter of the late Jay Van Andel, co-founder of Amway. She became a Heritage board member in 1996. [133] [134] [135]

Michael W. Gleba is the board vice-chair. As of 2021, Gleba was the CEO/chairman of the Sarah Scaife Foundation and had held board or advisory positions with several additional center-right policy organizations. He joined the Heritage board in 2016. [136]

Trustee Edwin Feulner was the founder of the Heritage Foundation and its president from 1977 until 2013. He reprised this role as interim president in 2017, prior to the hiring of James. [137]

Thomas Saunders III is another trustee and the former board chair. Saunders was the chair of the Heritage board for a decade, until 2018. He is an investment fund manager and the founder of two firms in this field. [138]

Edwin Meese III is another trustee. Meese served as U.S. Attorney General during the Reagan administration and a close political advisor, employee, and friend of the former president for all of Ronald Reagan’s political career.  Meese took on the first of his formal roles with Heritage in 1988, the final year of the Reagan presidency. He became the founding chair of its Center for Legal and Judicial Studies in 2001 and held the post until what he referred to as “semi-retirement” in 2013. He became a Heritage board member in 2017. [139]

Trustee Steve Forbes is a former Republican presidential candidate, journalist, business executive, and frequent cable television news commentator. He is the president and CEO of Forbes, Inc., the publisher of Forbesmagazine and parent of other eponymously named media properties. He joined the Heritage board in 2001. [140]

William Middendorf II is a former Secretary of the Navy, has held three different posts as a foreign ambassador for the United States, and advises federal politicians on foreign affairs, trade and defense policy. He became a Heritage trustee in 1989. [141]

Rebekah Mercer is a private business owner, the director of the Mercer Family Foundation, and a board member for several additional center-right organizations. She is the daughter of computer scientist and hedge fund manager Robert Mercer. [142]

Abby Spencer Moffat is the CEO of the Diana Davis Spencer Foundation and a board member for other policy organizations. [143]

Staff

As of March 2021, the staffing page of the Heritage website listed at least 250 individuals. Notable staff included:[144]

Tommy Binion was listed as vice president for government relations. [145]

Robert Bluey was listed as vice president for communications and the executive editor for the Daily Signal, Heritage’s daily news outlet. [146]

James Carafano was listed on the Heritage website as the “vice president of Heritage’s Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for National Security and Foreign Policy and the E. W. Richardson Fellow.” [147]

Ken:{Cuccinelli was the deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in the Trump administration and is a former attorney general of Virginia. He joined Heritage in 2021 as a visiting fellow for national security and foreign policy issues. [148]}:

Becky Norton Dunlop was the vice president for external relations at Heritage from 1998 until 2016, and a member of the Trump administration transition team. As of 2021 the Heritage website described her as “special projects” and traveling as “an ambassador” for Heritage as the “Heritage Foundation’s Ronald Reagan Distinguished Fellow.” [149]

Mike Gonzalez was listed on the Heritage website as the “senior fellow in Heritage’s Allison Center for Foreign Policy and the Angeles T. Arredondo E Pluribus Unum fellow.” [150]

Kim Holmes was listed as executive vice president of the Heritage Foundation and is a former assistant secretary of state for international organization affairs during the George W. Bush administration. [151]Holmes announced his resignation alongside Heritage president Kay C. James in March 2021. [152]

John Malcolm was listed as a senior legal fellow and director of Heritage’s Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies. [153]

MikePence began his role as a visiting fellow at Heritage in 2021, after four years as the vice president of the United States. He is also a former governor of Indiana and former U.S. Representative. [154]

Jack Spencer was listed as the vice president for Heritage’s Institute for Economic Freedom and Opportunity. [155]

Hans A. von Spakovsky was listed as a senior legal fellow and the manager of Heritage’s election law reform initiative. [156]

Genevieve Wood was listed as a senior advisor and spokesperson. [157]

Bridgett Wagner was listed as the vice president for policy promotion. [158]

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Now that former President Donald Trump's reign is over, the members of his administration have been forced to take their careers in different directions. So, where are the members of the Trump administration now? According to The Intelligencer, many are doing an array of different things; some of which are synonymous with the questionable activities that long-haunted the Trump administration.

Here's where the top Trump White House officials are now:

1. Former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is still trying to distance himself from the kidnapping of Julian Assange. According to Pompeo, he had nothing to do with it.

Pompeo is adamantly denying any involvement in the plot to kidnap Assange. A report published by Yahoo! News back in September, suggested that Pompeo was livid when he learned Assange divulged U.S. national-security secrets. In fact, the report also claimed that he participated in discussions with members of the Trump administration on how to get retribution.

However, Pompeo is still suggesting the reports are not true. "There's pieces of it that are true," Pompeo said during an appearance on The Megyn Kelly Show. "We tried to protect American information from Julian Assange and WikiLeaks, absolutely, yes … We're not permitted by U.S. law to conduct assassinations. We never acted in a way that was inconsistent with that."

2. Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin has been milking his access to the Secret Service.

Thanks to Trump's order extending the use of the Secret Service to members of his administration, Mnuchin has used the professional perk to his benefit. The publication reports that in his first six months out of office, Mnuchin has racked up the highest Secret Service tab. The Washington Post detailed how Mnuchin managed to rack up more than $150,000 in Secret Service expenses.

The receipts showed that agents spent $114,000 over the six months to rent rooms at a W Hotel in Los Angeles, where Mnuchin has a home. They also followed Mnuchin on three trips to the Middle East, where Mnuchin is reportedly seeking to raise money from sovereign wealth funds for a new venture called Liberty Strategic Capital…

Mnuchin's travels with the Secret Service weren't all business, however. Over the six months, the records show three separate trips to Cabo San Lucas — the Mexican resort, where Mnuchin had also vacationed during Trump's presidency.

To guard Mnuchin during those three trips, the records show, the Secret Service paid $56,000 for hotel rooms and $2,000 to rent golf carts.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Mnuchin is planning to use the $2.5 billion he has raised traveling so he can invest in technology and cybersecurity investments, along with "new forms of content." It remains unclear what Mnuchin specifically describes as "new forms of content" but "many big tech companies are pushing virtual- and augmented-reality hardware and content products and digital gaming."

3. Wilbur Ross is reportedly fantasizing about putting "Trump condos on the moon."

Back in February after the Trump administration transitioned out of the White House, Ross spoke with Bloomberg and shared his upcoming post-government plans; which involve "Trump condos on the moon."

On this particular afternoon, he's sitting in the living room of his 80-year-old home filled with Magrittes and Picassos, sipping a cappuccino, dressed in cashmere sweater, slacks and velvet slippers embroidered with octopuses.

Ironically, it's while ensconced in this paradise of earthly delights that Ross is gearing up to invest in space, among other possibilities. He sees opportunity in extraterrestrial tourism, manufacturing, research and habitation.

Habitation? When asked whether space would be a gold-plated real estate opportunity for Trump, Ross didn't disagree.

"Why not Trump condos on the moon?" he quipped back.

Ross' remarks came just months after the U.S. Commerce Department's inspector general released a scathing report about the former Trump official's behavior. According to The Washington Post, the IG's report "concluded that Ross had made many inaccurate statements to federal officials about his assets before taking office, though he did not willfully violate conflict-of-interest laws."

4. Ben Carson is launching a venture similar to Boy Scouts of America.

After departing Washington, D.C., Ben Carson —the former Housing and Urban Development Secretary— launched an organization called the American Cornerstone Institute.Carson's new think tank reportedly places an emphasis on discovering "commonsense solutions to some of our nation's biggest problems."

The American Cornerstone Institute

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Carson has also created the Little Patriots program, which is described as a partisan organization for children. Speaking to The Washington Post, Carson explained the organization's initiative. "It will be something like the Boy Scouts," Carson told the publication. "But heavily exposed to the real history of America.

"You probably notice when ISIS goes into a place, they destroy the history, they destroy the monuments," Carson explained. "History is what gives you identity."

5. Elaine Chao contributed to calls for Kroger to be boycotted.

Chao —wife of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and former transportation secretary— worked for several of the country's top corporations prior to her role with the Trump administration. But Intelligencer reports that "she and other Trump Cabinet alums were having a hard time finding cushy landing spots after exiting the administration. 'The feedback was 'It's too soon,' said one of the headhunters involved in an unsuccessful effort to find companies willing to work with Chao."

Despite her struggles to re-enter the corporate world, Chao was appointed to Kroger's board of directors. But given her history of abusing her power and position with the government, social media users quickly expressed outrage and urged Kroger to drop the former Trump cabinet member from its board.

6. Alex Azar is reportedly conspiring against his former colleagues.

Former Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar is at odds with many of his former colleagues. In fact, several of them including —former FDA commissioner Stephen Hahn, former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) director Robert Redfield, former Medicare chief Seema Verma, and former White House COVID coordinator Deborah Birx— have reportedly joined forces to prepare their statements regarding the Trump administration's handling of COVID-19.

According to Politico, they've done so out of caution and concern about Azar possibly using them as "scapegoats" to clear themselves.

"I know the way this goes — everyone has a different perspective," Hahn said in an interview. "I wanted to tell what it was that happened and why it happened and the perspective that we had."

In calls and text messages, members of the group have swapped notes, compared recollections, and sent updates on media requests and interview opportunities, four people with knowledge of the matter said …

And in a nod to their individual battles with Azar, some have jokingly referred to the group in private as "AAA," or Alex Azar Anonymous, according to a person in direct contact with multiple members.

From the looks of it, many Trump administration officials are still conducting shady business as they did while in office.

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