David Corn: The Main Trump Super-PAC Is Covering Up Its Own Role in the Impeachment Scandal

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The Main Trump Super-PAC Is Covering Up Its Own Role in the Impeachment Scandal
A conspiracy theory, a chronology, and a con.
David Corn
Washington, DC, Bureau ChiefBio | Follow


The number-one super-PAC for Donald Trump, which is expected to raise tens of millions of dollars to help re-elect him this year, has come up with a nifty fundraising gimmick: the “Witch Hunt Timeline”. This interactive chronology supposedly details “the road to a sham impeachment” to show how a phony Russia scandal turned into a phony Ukraine scandal that turned into a phony impeachment. But this is a highly selective timeline, and in a bout of Trump-sized chutzpah, America First Action leaves out at least one crucial episode: its own role in the Ukraine scandal.

In a fear-mongering email seeking donations, the super-PAC claims that Trump is a victim of a nefarious and wide-ranging plot, insisting that “federal law enforcement officers, intelligence agencies, and government bureaucrats engaged in a shocking effort to influence the 2016 election, crush the Trump campaign, and cripple our elected president.” The timeline, it asserts, “follows the genesis and development of the deep state’s Witch Hunt against President Donald J. Trump, a monstrous conspiracy against the American people and the American system of government.” Yeah, that again—and it’s part of another rightwing buck-raking scam.

This alternative-reality con job is not being mounted by a group of GOP schmoes or wannabes. This super-PAC is run by the the cream of Trump World. It is chaired by Linda McMahon, who was Trump’s pick to run the Small Business Administration. Its senior adviser and spokesperson is Sean Spicer, Trump’s first White House press secretary. Kelly Sadler, formerly a senior Trump White House official in charge of coalitions outreach, is the communications director for the group. Steve Cortes, another adviser for this super-PAC, has been a member of Trump’s Hispanic Advisory Council.

It raised $39 million for the 2018 elections to support pro-Trump Republicans, and in Trumpistan, it is the Trump-approved place to go for donors who want to give big-bucks for Trump’s reelection. It had over $10 million cash in the bank as of last June, the latest data available. But that amount will likely swell by several times as the election approaches. As a super-PAC, it is supposed to act independently of Trump’s official reelection campaign. But its affiliated non-profit, America First Policies, which last month announced it was spending $2 million on anti-impeachment ads, was cofounded by Brad Parscale, who is now Trump’s campaign manager.

The timeline ignores many significant moments of Trump’s Russia and Ukraine scandals. Gone are key contacts between the Trump campaign and Russians in 2016. There’s nothing on Trump’s secret endeavors during that campaign to score a deal in Moscow to develop a tower that could earn him hundreds of millions of dollars (while telling voters he had “nothing” to do with Russia). Trump’s denials that Russia was attacking the US election? Nope, not there. The release of Russian-stolen Democratic emails just when the grab-them-by-the-pussy tape emerged? They forgot that, too. The timeline neglects to mention that the US intelligence community concluded Moscow attacked the 2016 election in part to help Trump win the White House. (Interest declared: the timeline does note the story I posted on October 31, 2016, that first revealed the existence of what would become known as the Steele dossier and that disclosed the FBI’s interest in the allegations they contained. Somehow, presumably, that was part of a Deep State operation.)

The timeline indicates this Trump super-PAC suffers from selective amnesia. Especially regarding one incriminating incident.

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https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/01/the-main-trump-super-pac-is-covering-up-its-own-role-in-the-impeachment-scandal/