This time, reports emerge about First Son-in-Law Jared Kushner’s big secret. Yes, it is difficult to take in scandal layered upon scandal layered upon scandal of the Trump administration. Just as we begin to grasp the magnitude of one of them, another report has already exploded onto the scene. Such as this one.
Kushner personally gave his okay to pay top campaign officials off of the books. Both the Campaign Manager beginning in July 2020, Bill Stepien and Deputy Campaign Manager Justin Clark said that Kushner approved their third-party arrangements. According to FEC (Federal Election Commission) records, the Trump campaign did not pay its Chief Strategist Jason Miller anything at all. Miller began with the campaign in June of 2020.
Trump campaign spokesperson Tim Murtaugh said the allegations were false, The Salon reported:
‘[T]he campaign reported all expenditures as required by federal law.’
Where were the campaign receipts? Director of the Federal Reform Program at the Campaign Legal Center Brendan Fischer told Salon:
‘It doesn’t surprise me at all. The Trump campaign has disguised millions of dollars in payments to personnel and vendors by routing the money through LLCs created or managed by senior Trump campaign officials.’
The campaign reported. $20,000 per month in salary to Chief of staff Stephanie Alexander and Senior Adviser Katrina Pierson. Conversely, COO Jeff DeWit and Senior Advisers Bob Paduchik and Bill Shine did not have the same arrangement. Deputy Campaign Manager Justin Clark took no direct payments since February 2019.
What happened was that the campaign paid its top advisers via second parties, many undisclosed, according to The Vanity Fair magazine.
Kushner told the Trump Campaign to send Miller’s $35,000 per month through Jamestown Associates, which is a media and production studio. Miller once worked there. Now, he is trying to evade his child-support payments in court. This was his excuse for hiding his annual fee of $420,000 arrangement through the Jamestown Associates.
The Salon reported that Miller’s campaign income was zeroed out and around the involved taxes. Instead, Jamestown Associate recorded his payment as “video production” fees. Miller’s name and job description were nowhere to be found in the organization’s records.
Trump liked the idea that Miller took a pay cut when he replaced former campaign manager Brad Parscale last summer. There was another shell company, this one in-house, American Made Media Consultants (AMMC). Apparently, Parscale left after reporters noted his wildly diverse high-end spending. Bill Stepien, his replacement, promised to control that type of spending but actually increased campaign spending. Stepien founded Elections LLC, a legal firm, but it received the payments instead.
Stepien and Clark formed another firm in February 2019, called National Public Affairs. A Trump spokesperson told Salon that AMMC does not pay that firm, but would not say whether Stepien was paid through Elections, LLC. This list goes on.
The Mueller Report Adventures: In Bite-Sizes on this Facebook page. These quick, two-minute reads interpret the report in normal English for busy people. Mueller Bite-Sizes uncovers what is essentially a compelling spy mystery. Interestingly enough, Mueller Bite-Sizes can be read in any order.
