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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe "wire fraud" charge is very real and very serious
It was uncontrollable greed, in my opinion.
Even after all the experts advised Trump that there was no fraud and that he had actually lost the election, he kept sending out emails asking for money from his supporters. The Committee has reported that he raised $250 million dollars to fight the election fraud.
Instead, he used it in ways not yet totally specified, although it was reported that $1 million was donated to Mark Meadows for his "foundation". And another $60,000 dollars was donated to Kimberly Guilfoyle for a 2 1/2 minute speech on January 6th. Who knows where the rest of the money went?
As for Mark Meadows, this does not look good for him. It looks like a bribe to keep him quiet.
In my opinion, the DOJ will look at wire fraud charges very seriously. The "Big Lie" was not just a scheme to defraud the American people of their votes, it was also, in the words of Zoe Lofgren, a "big rip-off".
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SoonerPride
(12,286 posts)
Novara
(6,115 posts)So that is self-dealing.
I hope it's not all they can get him on but this one looks like a slam-dunk.
kentuck
(115,407 posts)up to 20 years in prison.
Nevilledog
(55,082 posts)Link to tweet
Jennifer Taub 🌻 🇺🇸
@jentaub
Wire fraud (18 USC 1343) is not just a federal crime but also a RICO predicate offense. Plus wire fraud conspiracy (18 USC 1349) is a thing too.
GIF
Watch on Twitter
2:20 PM · Jun 13, 2022
Joinfortmill
(21,169 posts)Justice matters.
(9,787 posts)Even Charity...
...Gigantic Fine for Stealing From Charity
Donald Trump, just admitted in the course of paying $2 million in court-ordered damages to resolve a lawsuit filed against him by the New York attorney general’s office?
1. When he had the Trump 2020 campaign put the Trump Foundation’s name on promotional materials and ceremonial checks related to a fundraiser that he, as a candidate, held for military veterans in January 2016. (The Trump Foundation was ostensibly a charity, and charities can’t participate in political campaigns.)
2. When he used $100,000 of the Trump Foundation’s money—which was raised almost entirely from other people—to settle an ordinance dispute that his Mar-a-Lago club/vacation home was having with the city of Palm Beach, Florida. (He had violated the ordinance in question by flying an enormous American flag on an 80-foot flagpole, which, admittedly, is a funny way to get sued by the city of Palm Beach.)
3. When he used $157,820 of the Trump Foundation’s money to settle a legal dispute with a man who’d won a $1 million hole-in-one prize during an event held by another charity at a Trump golf course in New York. (The resolution agreement released by New York state says that a company from which the outside charity had purchased “ ‘hole in one’ insurance” was responsible for denying the man his prize. Per reporting by the Washington Post’s David Fahrenthold, who uncovered a great deal of the activity covered in New York’s suit, the question at issue was whether Trump’s golf course had made the relevant hole too short.)
4. When he used $25,000 of the charity’s money to make a donation to a political group that supported then–Florida attorney general Pam Bondi at the same time that Bondi was considering whether to sue “Trump University” for defrauding its “students.” (Bondi did not, but New York’s attorney general did, which led in part to the other multimillion-dollar fraud settlement that Trump paid since taking office.) (Bondi now works for the White House as a special adviser to Trump on matters related to impeachment.) (LOL.)
5. When he used the Trump Foundation to pay $5,000 to put an advertisement for the Trump International Hotel in D.C. into a program distributed at another charity’s fundraising event.
6. When he used $10,000 of the Trump Foundation’s money to buy a painting of himself (Donald Trump) that he hung inside his Doral resort in Miami.
7. When he used $32,000 of the Trump Foundation’s money to pay “stewardship” costs for a piece of property in Westchester County, New York, that he’d donated to a land preservation group (but only after attempting unsuccessfully to build a golf course and luxury housing on it).
Some people might say that No. 6 is the best because it creates an overlapping Venn diagram of corruption involving the Doral resort, to which Trump’s administration attempted to award a contract to host the G-7 international summit. But I like No. 5 because it’s so simple.
The president should go to jail! Why isn’t the president in jail? Why isn’t this a bigger story? (The answer is because it’s competing for news space with all the other crimes for which he should go to jail.)
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/12/trump-pays-2-million-fine-for-stealing-from-charity.html
LOCK HIM UP!
Joinfortmill
(21,169 posts)dalton99a
(94,138 posts)How Trump, RNC raised hundreds of millions pushing baseless election fraud claims
Only $13 million of the $280 million raised went to legal expenses, records say.
By Soo Rin Kim and Will Steakin
February 02, 2021, 6:30 PM
Alexander Of Assyria
(7,839 posts)The lawyers detailed accounting of the legal bills, and then a peek their trust accounts would be…revealing.
Quarter billion dollars for legal bills? Nope, huge red flag in front of a bull in a Spanish arena.
wiggs
(8,812 posts)
Tommymac
(7,334 posts)TFG and all his followers who refuse to acknowledge the Truth deserve every insult, every dig, every joke made about them.
And every one of them who broke the Law deserve to have the legal book thrown at them.
ultralite001
(2,551 posts)Still going strong in 2022...
https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-holds-contest-for-small-dinners-no-one-receives-prize-wapo-2022-3?op=1]
https://popular.info/p/the-trump-campaign-holds-a-lot-of?s=r]
Anyone hoping for an autographed RTumpster hat???
https://secure.winred.com/save-america-joint-fundraising-committee/hat-rally-sweepstakes-free]
crickets
(26,168 posts)They never were intended to. He keeps all the prizes, with two scoops of ice cream on top. Also, there is no way he was going to sit down to dinner with any of the hoi polloi. Not a snowball's chance in hell.
wnylib
(26,019 posts)in the days of the Wild West.
Or the faith healers who promise cures for a "donation."
The TV evangelists who get rich with smooth-tongued preaching.
The used car salesman, like the father in Matilda.
An internally empty con man.
Joinfortmill
(21,169 posts)
Wounded Bear
(64,328 posts)bucolic_frolic
(55,143 posts)Under every rock a connection to another two rocks.
genxlib
(6,136 posts)But it sure is hard to feel sorry for anyone that would still send him money at this point.
PatSeg
(53,214 posts)What does Trump have to do to get through to them? If he flat out told them he was conning them, they'd probably still send him money.
Demobrat
(10,299 posts)he’ll be sending out emails begging for donations to cover his legal fees. And the rubes will dig deep in their pockets. He’ll make bank off that too.
His email address list would be worth a fortune to a marketing firm. His supporters will fall for anything. I would bet that’s what he will do in the end. Sell their names for the biggest windfall of them all.
PatSeg
(53,214 posts)He views the entire world through a grifter's lens. He probably overlooks very real and lucrative opportunities because he is looking for the grift. Honesty is for suckers.
Yes, that address list probably is worth a fortune.
Ilsa
(64,377 posts)Who could have ever predicted this? 
Anyone who is surprised has not been paying attention. It was what he does and it is what he has always done. I wouldn't expect anything less from him.
llmart
(17,623 posts)"there's a sucker born every minute" or something like that.
onetexan
(13,913 posts)Botany
(77,324 posts).... the amount TFG spent of that money he raised on either of those 2 causes was zero.
If you send your money to a known con man then you will lose your money. End of story.
But 2 good things can come out of TFG's grift:
1) MAGAts lost their money.
2) TFG will be charged with wire fraud.
KY_EnviroGuy
(14,782 posts)3) This is $250 million dollars that will not go to the RNC or to fund other Rethug campaigns.
KY....
PatSeg
(53,214 posts)Definitely a positive!
PatrickforB
(15,426 posts)whether it will come to that. It didn't for Nixon, with Ford's pardon. It didn't for the snake Reagan for the Iran/Contra scandal. It didn't for any of the dirtbag Republicans that stole the 2000 election from Gore. It didn't for W, Dick, Don, and Condi for WAR CRIMES.
But you gotta admit, Trump is a whole other class than these guys before - They broke laws, yes, but Trump tried to commit a fucking coup and overthrow the government. So it isn't really apples and apples, or even apples and oranges. If we wished to introduce scale to the whole thing, maybe it would be Nixon, Reagan, W = blueberry, and Trump = watermelon. Seriously - I never in a million years thought that Trump would be elected, or that this republic would fall so far so fast.
onetexan
(13,913 posts)Thinking it would heal the country. Nixon shld have gone to jail. In the Con's case, he needs to be stripped on his billions & thrown into prison for rest of his miserable life. His crimes make nixon's look juvenile.
Walleye
(44,807 posts)Barr seemed happy to flip
onetexan
(13,913 posts)convicted: https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/onpolitics/watergate/Johnmitchell.html
Ironically it was Mitchell's 'mouth of the south' wife Martha who was a whistleblower of his shenanigans:
https://www.history.com/news/martha-mitchell-watergate-kidnapping
Joinfortmill
(21,169 posts)Ford didn't make these crooks, they made themselves.
onetexan
(13,913 posts)with Garland moving so damn slow i'm not getting a warm & fuzzy he'll have the balls to do it. We're on the brink of democracy crumbling. Garland needs to convict a criminal regardless of his position, power & influence, and that includes the office of the presidency. No one is above the law. I don't think Ford's action healed the country. Look where we are now.
Ilsa
(64,377 posts)just like for Spiro Agnew. Even without prison, a felony conviction with a huge fine might convince these mf's that they are done. But I would love to see TFG in prison, and he deserves it more than anyone in the public sphere, IMO. He got people killed, ruined lives, disabled people, and cheated others.
onetexan
(13,913 posts)
leftyladyfrommo
(20,005 posts)around is just flabbergasting to me. I wish someone would send an extra million or two my way.
OrangeJoe
(559 posts)Trump takes money from the chumps $50 at a time. He then hoards 90% of it, giving a bit to family and co-conspirators. Nobody gets millions thrown at them from Trump.
Chainfire
(17,757 posts)We need to see some damn charges. It ain't like the DOJ is unaware of that crap. It would be fun to also see some civil suits from the people who were defrauded. There has to be some greedy Trump supporters that would want to go that route. Had I known in that December, what I know now, I would have sent him a fat check. My ambulance chasing attorney would love it. She is worse than a pit bull if she smells a dollar. 
Jack-o-Lantern
(1,020 posts)fightforfreedom
(4,913 posts)These fucking traitors are going to pay. They went too far.
spooky3
(38,634 posts)Either to the message or to Tribe's account? I'd love to see that list!
Link to tweet
?s=21&t=RoznvqR8R55nLe7QXJMTCA
slightlv
(7,790 posts)I'm doing laundry today and trying to keep up on everything. I appreciate not having to go on a hunting expedition, to boot! You're a life saver, spooky!
spooky3
(38,634 posts)TNNurse
(7,541 posts)Anything to get him out of our lives.
Phoenix61
(18,829 posts)Be a shame if they seized all the money and put him in jail.
sprinkleeninow
(22,346 posts)😝
towerbum
(263 posts)onetexan
(13,913 posts)Fanni needs to be credible & deliver.
AngryOldDem
(14,180 posts)Just as Capone’s downfall was income tax evasion, it would be true poetic justice (and other kinds of justice) for this con man to go down for wire and mail fraud. My ears pricked up when I heard that.
Meadows getting a shit-ton of money? Kim Guilfoyle getting $60,000 for doing nothing?
Trump’s been scamming and grifting for decades. I hope the bill for all that is finally coming due - with a vengeance.
aggiesal
(10,806 posts)Don't believe me? Check out what Pendejo45 did to the official White House Photographers. Pretty disgusting, but that's Pendejo45's MO. I guess if you lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas.
She Took the White House Photos. Trump Moved to Take the Profit.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/31/us/politics/trump-photographer-shealah-craighead.html
Alien Life Form
(370 posts)Walleye
(44,807 posts)
Historic NY
(40,037 posts)His campaign already got spanked after it mailing tactics that kept withdrawing money from peoples accounts
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/04/trumps-campaign-scammed-donors-auto-checked-box.html]
He already clipped them for 122 million that had to be refunded.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/tommybeer/2021/04/03/trump-campaign-reportedly-forced-to-refund-more-than-122-million-to-donors/?sh=85bfd7e58a39]
calimary
(90,021 posts)That boat sprung a leak or two this morning. To add to whatever punctures are there already.
We could call such a boat the donald dingy.
Beaverhausen
(24,699 posts)
Sogo
(7,191 posts)Nab him on wire fraud, and develop the larger case while he sits out this conviction....
ancianita
(43,307 posts)towerbum
(263 posts)ancianita
(43,307 posts)for one man be way past that? All the counts of fraud are multiplied under RICO.
Initech
(108,783 posts)Time to hit 'em where it hurts! 
Walleye
(44,807 posts)I hope anyway they’re saving a bigger charges. Nixon’s chief of staff went to prison
zentrum
(9,870 posts).......be too timid.
DENVERPOPS
(13,003 posts)After Mueller, I am not putting much faith in either Garland or the 1/6 Committee.
I feel that with the Republicans in the House, The Republicans in the Senate, and the USSC Republicans, it would take a revolt by the MAGA voters to have anything happen....
We must fight to get/keep the majority in the house, and add a few Senate seats. If we lose Dems seats in the Senate, and/or lose the majority in the house there will truly be no reason to have any hopes what-so-ever in the 2024 Presidential election.......
agingdem
(8,851 posts)Last edited Mon Jun 13, 2022, 06:47 PM - Edit history (1)
Meadows, the guy registered to vote in three states, was Coup Central...he took the calls, he ushered in the lunatic lawyers, burned documents..there's a reason he and Ginni Thomas were conspiracy buddies...a reason Mike Lee and Meadows were texting pals..the money paid into Meadows "foundation" was just business as usual in Trump World
Wounded Bear
(64,328 posts)
JudyM
(29,785 posts)He has created a long line of evidence…
More on proof from DOJ:
"The requisite intent under the federal mail and wire fraud statutes may be inferred from the totality of the circumstances and need not be proven by direct evidence." United States v. Alston, 609 F.2d 531, 538 (D.C. Cir. 1979), cert. denied, 445 U.S. 918 (1980). Thus, intent can be inferred from statements and conduct. United States v. Cusino, 694 F.2d 185, 187 (9th Cir. 1982) (citing United States v. Beecroft, 608 F.2d 753, 757 (9th Cir. 1979)), cert. denied, 461 U.S. 932 (1983). Impression testimony, that is, testimony of victims as to how they had been misled by defendants, is admissible to show an intent to defraud. See Phillips v. United States, 356 F.2d 297, 307 (9th Cir. 1965), cert. denied, 384 U.S. 952 (1966). Also consider complaint letters received by defendants as relevant to the issue of intent to defraud. The inference might be drawn that, since the defendant knew victims were being misled by solicitation literature and other representations, the continued operation of the business despite this knowledge showed the existence of a scheme to defraud.
Fraudulent intent is shown if a representation is made with reckless indifference to its truth or falsity. Cusino, 694 F.2d at 187. In addition, "[f]raudulent intent may be inferred from the modus operandi of the scheme." United States v. Reid, 533 F.2d 1255, 1264 n. 34 (D.C. Cir. 1976) ("[T]he purpose of the scheme 'must be to injure, which doubtless may be inferred when the scheme has such effect as a necessary result of carrying it out." ) (quoting United States v. Regent Office Supply Co., 421 F.2d 1174, 1180-81 (2d Cir. 1970) (quoting Horman v. United States, 116 F. 350, 352 (6th Cir.), cert. denied, 187 U.S. 641 (1902))). "Of course proof that someone was actually victimized by the fraud is good evidence of the schemer's intent." Id. (quoting Regent Office Supply Co., 421 F.2d at 1180-81). In United States v. D'Amato, the court explained the government's burden of proving fraudulent intent as follows:
Justice matters.
(9,787 posts)JudyM
(29,785 posts)
Takket
(23,715 posts)our fundraising laws being what they are in this country, you can pretty much say anything you want and promise anything you want to get money. I don't think he'll ever be charged for using the Big Lie to get donations. now, what he spent that money on, THAT has more strict laws, like you said (donating $1M to meadows could get them both in serious trouble!)
subterranean
(3,762 posts)The emails claimed the donations were needed to pay for lawsuits to fight nonexistent election fraud, but in at least some of them, a disclaimer (in very fine print, no doubt) said that any donations under $8,000 would go toward paying off Trump's campaign debt or to his PAC.
While the emails may have misled his supporters, that disclaimer might be enough to prevent wire fraud charges from sticking.
poli-junkie
(1,567 posts)Manafort’s company.
Aussie105
(7,926 posts)when they have no visibility on where that money goes, or if it is does any good, as intended.
I don't donate, not to any political cause or animal welfare cause like 'save the spotted Siberian hedgehogs'.
I'd rather buy big bags of dog and cat food, some suitable blankets, and take them in to my local animal shelter.
But . . . the Trump donors, $250 million? Not too smart, really.
Where do not-smart people get money from?
Skittles
(171,717 posts)just curious
NCLefty
(3,678 posts)Wake me when it (or any conviction with a severe penalty) actually happens. 😛
spanone
(141,628 posts)
Johnny2X2X
(24,210 posts)There were threads about this when it was happening and that there was a disclaimer donors were given that the money could go towards overturning the election in court, but if no avenues existed that it would go towards a Trump campaign fund.
I think that covers him for taking the money. Now how they spent it could be fraud if they just kept it for non political things.
Socal31
(2,491 posts)Something tells me our best bet is to run a crushing 2024 campaign against whatever smooth-brain comes out of the pug primary.
Although a deus-ex-machina involving (tiny) handcuffs is fun to think about, ill give you that.
Kota
(901 posts)circle had the intent to raise money from the lie. Keep the lie going, it's raising money. Maybe e-mails!
brooklynite
(96,882 posts)If you went to the donation page of Trump's solicitations, the fine print was very clear about the allocation of funds:
kentuck
(115,407 posts)The initial fraud being the Big Lie as the excuse to raise the money and the second fraud was misrepresenting what the money was to be used for, with an illegitimate name for the PAC used for collecting donations.
867-5309.
(1,189 posts)Wake me when he's prosecuted.
CentralMass
(16,971 posts)
Beartracks
(14,602 posts)... since it was FAKE election fraud.
Like everything else Trump over the years, all con all the time.
===========
allegorical oracle
(6,480 posts)NQAS
(10,749 posts)I'd love to see TFG go to jail for sedition, seditious conspiracy, incitement, etc.
But if he goes to jail on wire fraud or (in Georgia) election fraud, I'd be fine with that. I'd be even finer if he were followed to indictment and conviction of Cruz, Hawley, Meadows, Murphy, Bannon, Ivanka, Junior, et al. And I'd be thrilled to bits if even only one of them was confined in a supermax prison with no contact with the outside for the next few decades.