Donald Trump's Business Sought A Stake In Parler Before He Would Join

[highplainsdem]

Source: BuzzFeed

The Trump Organization negotiated on behalf of then-president Donald Trump to make Parler his primary social network, but it had a condition: an ownership stake in return for joining, according to documents and four people familiar with the conversations. The deal was never finalized, but legal experts said the discussions alone, which occurred while Trump was still in office, raise legal concerns with regards to anti-bribery laws.

Talks between members of Trump’s campaign and Parler about Trump’s potential involvement began last summer, and were revisited in November by the Trump Organization after Trump lost the 2020 election to the Democratic nominee and current president, Joe Biden. Documents seen by BuzzFeed News show that Parler offered the Trump Organization a 40% stake in the company. It is unclear as to what extent the former president was involved with the discussions.

The never-before-reported talks between Trump’s business organization and Parler, a social media network that promises less moderation than mainstream sites and is embraced by the far right, provide more insight into the frantic last weeks of Trump’s presidency. Until the Jan. 6 insurrection, after which Facebook and Twitter suspended or banned him for continuing to sow discord about the election, Trump used those internet platforms to peddle baseless conspiracy theories. While doing so, his representatives actively negotiated to bring him to Parler, which sought to make the president a business partner who would help it compete with Twitter and Facebook by getting him to post his content on its platform first.

Former Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale raised the idea to Trump of taking an ownership stake in Parler during a meeting last year at the White House, according to a source familiar with the negotiations. Parscale had taken an early interest in Parler, and reportedly considered creating an account for Trump on the site in 2019 as a bulwark against Twitter and Facebook.

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Read more: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ryanmac/trump-parler-ownership

[PatSeg]

1. Whoa, nothing inappropriate about that

[Ford_Prefect]

2. Trump demands a kick-back for doing business on Parler? Corporate bribery of a

sitting president? Surely it was a 1st amendment question, right? No self-dealing involved?

It adds to the reasoning that Trump knew he had lost but needed to manipulate his followers by this method to continue his power over the GOP and the donations he was scamming.

[bucolic_frolic]

3. Occasionally an exec or star has sought equity interest in a sports team

as condition of signing on. It's not proven very successful as a strategy.

[Blue Owl]

4. What's in it for the fat piece of shit?

That greedy fuck only cares about the goddamned money he is incapable of managing

[Kid Berwyn]

5. What emoluments?

Show me a liar and I’ll show thee a thief.

[machoneman]

6. It's like the My Pillow guy. Did Trump promote him and buy his pilllows for Trump Tower?

[ancianita]

7. The Mercers started it, and they hang, so yeah, he'd do investing with them.

[COL Mustard]

8. Sounds Like A Quid Pro Quo

eom

[niyad]

9. I thought parler was shut down??

[mackdaddy]

10. Donald Trump is imune from and above all rules, regulations and Laws.

NOTHING this man does is ever punished.

I hope to the gods I am proven wrong, but so far I have not seen and evidence that this bastard will ever be held accountable for any of the myriad of felonies he has committed.