fact, a straw donor, that it appeared to be basically a fake, a front. well, today, that reporter s hunch dating all the way back to last summer of 2018, it was proved right. at least it was proved to be in line with what the justice department has concluded. today, the two men behind global energy partners, igor fruman and lev parnas were arrested for violating campaign finance laws. today s indictment states despite their huge donations, their supposed company, supposed natural gas company they had invented, had no income or significant assets. it was not engaged in energy trading, rather the indictment states that these contributions were made for the purpose of gaining influence with politicians so as to advance their own personal financial interests and the political interests of ukrainian government officials, including it also contains this amazing quote. when media reports about the contributions first surfaced an
giving more than $300,000 to a trump pac, it all remained unclear. he kept at it. by november last year, markay felt confident enough this mysterious company might have illegally hidden the true source of the much that it had used to make this big donation to the trump superpac and also other republican candidates. that post from lachlan markay at the daily beast led to ferocious pushback both from the company that made the donations and also from trump portland, but he kept at it and by june of this year, that same tenacious reporter still writing at the daily beast, he finally had what he suspected all along, he said he had was proof that this mysterious company that had made these gigantic donations was, in fact, a straw donor, that it appeared to be basically a fake,
there are reportedly not one or two but three different u.s. attorneys that are investigating elements of the inaugural, including subpoenas that went to the inaugural commit fee from the southern distrishgt of new york. plus attorneys general in at least two states looking at other aspects of the inaugural. we had the president s campaign chair say in court it s possible maybe he syphoned inaugural funds off for himself, maybe. he s not sure. we have another guy admit in court that he illegally funneled foreign money from a pro-russian ukrainian oligarch into the trump inaugural using a straw donor. all of this stuff is still out there, presumably, there s still more to know. there is more we will find out from the mysterious depths of the strange trump inaugural in january of 2017. but here is one live wire left over from that inauguration, which is now sparking anew for this fourth of july we re about to have in 2019. the night before trump s
people is illegal in any circumstance. but you can take any amount of money from anyone as long as they re not a foreign national. is that basically the rules of the road? that s right. if they re a u.s. a u.s. citizen or a u.s.-based company, it s fair game. and we already also know that at least one foreign individual had a straw purchaser to come to the inauguration, right? yes. so rick gaetz, who was deputy chairman of the inaugural, who, of course, worked with paul manafort on the campaign and before that in ukraine, another one of their associates, a guy by the name of sam patton used a straw donor to donate $50,000 on behalf of a ukrainian oligarch. so there s just one example, but that s the one that s been pinned down, and we do know that rick gaetz is cooperating with federal investigators and the mueller team, correct? right. caleb melby, thanks for being with me tonight. thanks for having me. the dnc has had it with fox news, today announcing the network i
how money was raised, who it was raised from, how it was spent, and conversations with donors about, as you said, whether or not there was any expectation for anything in return. and we don t we don t know where they re going across that entire entire spectrum of information. one of the things we do know, though, is that in terms of regulation, inaugural funds are kind of wild west, right? absolutely. there are essentially no regulations, although bribing people is illegal in any circumstance. but you can take any amount of money from anyone as long as they re not a foreign national. is that basically the rules of the road? that s right. if they re a u.s. a u.s. citizen or a u.s.-based company, it s fair game. and we already also know that at least one foreign individual had a straw purchaser to come to the inauguration, right? yes. so rick gaetz, who was deputy chairman of the inaugural, who, of course, worked with paul manafort on the campaign and before that in ukr