Basura: A dishonor roll of those drained from swamp

Remember during the campaign of 2016 we often heard the phrase “Drain the Swamp”?  Is Trump the new federal drain commissioner?  I thought Trump’s promise to “drain the swamp” was to rid DC of undesirable varmints.

The Trump Administration has certainly provided a great deal of that benefit, though unintentionally, I suppose, if you consider the sleazy customers no longer part of the administration.

Let me list a few:

I’m just referring to some of those who have run afoul of criminal justice proceedings.  Numerous others are on the outs, one way or another, but this focus is on some of those in legal jeopardy for criminal behavior.

But who could forget Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, Rudy’s buddies, who have gotten into legal trouble about taxes and fraud?  But they were really more Guiliani’s pals, and their multiple interactions with Trump were due to the Rudy connection.

One thing my parents stressed when I was young, was that I should consider how my friends were viewed.  Some of my friends were well behaved, polite, high achieving young guys.  I suppose I benefited, when I ran with that crowd, from guilt by association.  Some of my other friends, of more questionable behavior, no doubt caused me to experience the flip side of the coin; guilt by association.

Does Trump cheat on his taxes?  We don’t know, although he does seem to lie very often, so perhaps that would be unsurprising.  He lies far more than normal.   Even Trump’s most ardent supporters recognize the propensity for falsehood.

His own sister, a retired federal judge, said he has no principles.  He paid large sums of money for the silence of Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal (along with paying for an abortion McDougal had.  He denied having had an affair with McDougal and Daniels, though those denials seem implausible to many, if not most, observers).

It may be that his tax returns will come out.  Would you be surprised if they revealed cheating?  I pay my taxes.  Most people do.  Did Trump?  His tax documents have been subpoenaed.  His efforts to quash the subpoenas have been ruled against at different levels of courts, up to and including the Supreme Court of the United States.

He’s spent a lot of effort – and money – keeping his taxes secret.  This after promising to release them.  All modern presidents before him, dems and repubs, have revealed their taxes for years.   I’m not saying he cheated on taxes, but there seems to be a lot of smoke there.  I’d be surprised to find there is no fire.

Here’s a bit more on those fellows listed above:

• Steve Bannon — former Trump advisor, indicted for fraud, awaiting trial.  The fraud is alleged to have been related to siphoning off money from a private fund to build Trump’s border wall.  Bannon was a trusted advisor, but they had a falling out and he left his role at the White House.  Trump said he hadn’t talked to him “in a year and a half.”  That was shown to be false as of latest revelations of August 2020.  Three lesser known individuals were indicted with Steve Bannon.

• Michael Cohen — former Trump lawyer and fixer, he was convicted of tax and campaign fraud, lying to congress, and campaign finance violations, for paying hush money to Stephanie “Stormy Daniels” Clifford, and Karen McDougal.  Trump denied having affairs with those women.  McDougal had an abortion.  That may be why she

got an extra $20,000.00 over and above the $130,000.00 provided to Stephanie “Stormy Daniels” Clifford.

It is noted that Michael Cohen testified under oath in the Michael Cohen trial that the person who directed and benefited from the tax fraud and real estate fraud was Donald Trump; Individual Number 1, the un-indicted co-conspirator.

• Paul Manafort —  Trump’s 2016 campaign manager.  In 2018, Manafort was convicted by jury of tax and banking crimes, and he pleaded guilty to conspiracy and obstruction of justice.  He was sentenced to 7½ years prison incarceration.

• Rick Gates — Trump’s deputy campaign manager, 2016 ; helped Manafort conceal $75,000,000 in foreign bank accounts derived from unreported lobbying for foreign governments.  Gates testified against Manafort and Roger Stone, and lawyer Gregory Craig.  Manafort and Stone were convicted at trial; Craig was acquitted.  Though sentencing guidelines called for 57 to 71 months in prison, Gates had cooperated with investigations, and was sentenced to only 45 days in jail, with a $20,000. fine, 300 hours of community service, and three years federal probation.

• Roger Stone — Trump’s political advisor, was convicted of seven crimes, including lying to Congress, witness tampering, and obstructing a congressional committee proceeding.  Days before he was to report to a federal prison, Trump commuted his sentence.

• Michael Flynn —  Trump’s former national security adviser,  pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his interaction with an Russian ambassador to undermine Obama administration before Trump was sworn in.  Flynn awaits sentencing.  He requested the opportunity to change his plea from guilty to not guilty.  Attorney General William Barr has essentially halted the process.

• George Papadopoulous —  former member, Trump’s Foreign Policy Advisory Panel during 2016 campaign; pleaded guilty to making false statements to FBI about the timing and significance of contacts regarding US/Russia relationships.  Served 12 days in prison, released on one year supervised release.

A judge I knew once said about a defendant, “The truth is not in him.”  Does that resonate when we think of our 45 ^th president?  As of July 9, the Washington Post database stands at 20,055 claims that are lies, false or misleading.  Most of us are not 100% truthful all of the time.  But Trump’s lying is excessive.