The 2016 Donald Trump campaign appears to have been populated by all the country’s worst and most elite criminals he could find, including Trump himself. On Saturday, yet another story of corruption in the Republican party and the Trump campaign was exposed.
The New York Times reports:
‘Elliott Broidy, a Los Angeles-based businessman who was a finance vice chairman of Mr. Trump’s 2016 campaign and inauguration committees, was paid to lobby the Trump administration to try to end an investigation related to the embezzlement of billions of dollars from a Malaysian state-owned fund, according to court filings made public on Friday.’
NEW: Former top TRUMP fundraiser @ELLIOTT_BROIDY accepted at least $6M in laundered money to lobby the Trump administration to end an investigation by @TheJusticeDept into the Malaysian financier JHO LOW, according to court filings submitted Friday. https://t.co/S0w95UlsNJ
— Kenneth P. Vogel (@kenvogel) December 1, 2018
Higginbotham left the Justice Department in August of 2018 and is currently working in cooperation with prosecutors. His confession is damaging for Broidy, who served as the finance vice chairman to the Trump 2016 campaign and his inauguration committee.
‘The filings were released in connection with a guilty plea entered by George Higginbotham, a former Justice Department employee. Mr. Higginbotham admitted to conspiring to lie to banks about the source of tens of millions of dollars he funneled into the United States from the Malaysian financier Jho Low, who federal authorities say masterminded a scheme to loot the 1 Malaysia Development Berhad fund, also known as 1MDB.’
Federal prosecutors cited the involvement of Elliott Broidy, a onetime top fund-raiser to President Trump, in a scheme to launder millions of dollars into the country to help a flamboyant Malaysian financier end a DOJ investigation https://t.co/IVckZgkhSn
— Robert Maguire (@RobertMaguire_) December 1, 2018
Broidy used his relationship with Trump for influence and profited from the relationship in the form of business contracts and a $6 million bribe from the Malaysian financier.
‘Mr. Broidy, who pleaded guilty in 2009 in an unrelated pension fund bribery case, is one of several Trump associates whose business with foreign governments and figures has attracted scrutiny, including from investigators for the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III.’
WHY IT MATTERS: MUELLER has asked witnesses about @ELLIOTT_BROIDY, who has worked with several key figures — @MICHAELCOHEN212, RICK GATES, GEORGE NADER & TRUMP himself.@POTUS was ID'd in Fri court filings related to Broidy as "US Government Official # 1.” https://t.co/S0w95UD4cj pic.twitter.com/j9QDnirWMC
— Kenneth P. Vogel (@kenvogel) December 1, 2018
Broidy also pushed Chief of Staff John Kelly to have Trump meet on the golf course with the Malaysian prime minister for private talks.
‘A draft agreement called for a $75 million “success fee” to be paid to Mr. Broidy if the investigation was resolved within 180 days, or $50 million if it was resolved within 365 days.’
Broidy was also in contact with John Kelly about this. pic.twitter.com/F0KFosTHKH
— SeriouslyUS? (@USseriously) December 1, 2018
Featured image screenshot via YouTube
