MAINE ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS • August 24, 2020
The torrent of news continues about the power-mad Chump who wants to be President for life and his merry band of money-grubbing anarchists: Creepy creatures are abandoning the Trump swamp, the Gropper-in-Chief has been screwed by a porn star again for $44,000, more Trump Mob grifters have been caught stealing millions for personal gain, his AG has turned the Justice Dept into the Injustice Dept, his Postmeister General is messing with the mail to disenfranchise voters, his plan for pandemic pandemonium persists, and his promise to rescue Maine's lobster industry from his self-inflicted tariff wars has sunk to the bottom of the sea.
It is hard to keep up with the Trump Gang’s spree of organized crime and disorganized chaos in plain sight, so here in no particular order, since there is no particular order to the Trump chaos, is a cheat sheet (pun intended) about the status of some of his croniest cronies.
Steve Bannon - Former investment banker, and former executive chairman of far-right Breitbart News. Served as Trump’s 2016 campaign CEO, then as Trump’s chief strategist for seven months until fired in August 2017. Rejoined Breitbart. In 2018, he was slimed by Trump for admitting the Trump Organization was a "criminal enterprise." In August 2020, Bannon was arrested for fraud and money laundering. "I feel very badly," Trump said, fearing he too may be prosecuted for his crimes.
Paul Manafort - Trump’s second 2016 campaign manager. Serving a 7-year sentence for tax fraud and conspiracy, witness tampering, and foreign-lobbying violations.
Kellyanne Conway - Trump’s third 2016 campaign manager. Before Trump loses reelection and is indicted, in August 2020 she said she is quitting as Counselor to the President.
Michael Cohen - Disbarred lawyer and Trump’s personal fixer (2006-2018). Sentenced to 3 years in federal prison and ordered to pay a $50,000 fine for paying hush money to hide Trump's pay-for-sex assignations and other campaign finance violations as well as tax and bank fraud undertaken at the direction of Trump "for the principal purpose of influencing" the 2016 presidential election.
Roger Stone - Trump’s political advisor and a legendary political operative lower in the hierarchy than garden slugs (with apologies to actual slugs). Sentenced to 40 months in federal prison for witness tampering, lying to Congress, and other crimes. Unsurprisingly, in July 2020 Trump commuted his sentence.
Brad Parscale - With scant relevant experience, Parscale was hired as Trump’s 2016 campaign digital director. He funneled $39 million in campaign funds to companies he controlled.
Corey Lewandowski - Worked for the Koch Bros.-funded Americans for Prosperity (2008-2015) before being named Trump’s first campaign manager. Was demoted in April 2016 and forced out that June. Arrested on misdemeanor battery charges (2016). In 2018, he met with the Polish government to set up a U.S. military base in Poland, called "Fort Trump," to benefit the Polish arms industry. Lewandowski remains at large.
Rick Gates - Trump's 2016 campaign deputy. Sentenced to 45 days in jail on a plea bargain for making false statements charges of conspiracy against the United States.
George Papadopoulos - Trump’s former foreign policy advisor. Sentenced to 14 days in prison with a year of supervised release for lying to FBI agents about his contacts with Russian intermediaries during the 2016 campaign.
Michael Flynn - Trump’s National Security Advisor for a few days in 2017. Pled guilty to the felony of "willfully and knowingly” lying to the FBI. In May 2020, Trump’s Attorney General, Bill Barr, said the Justice Dept would drop all charges against Flynn.
William Barr - Former CIA operative (1973-77), Justice Dept lawyer in the Reagan Administration (1980s), and Attorney General for President George H.W. Bush (1991-93), became a multimillionaire as a corporate lawyer (1994-2008), named AG again (2019). He mischaracterized the summary of the Mueller report, intervened in the guilty convictions and sentences of Trump cronies Roger Stone and Michael Flynn, and removed Justice Dept attorneys who were investigating Trump’s corruption. His reign of injustice continues.
Rudy Giuliani - Former mayor of New York City. Trump’s personal attorney, best known for trying to sabotage the Mueller investigation. Violated the law by failing to register as required by the Foreign Agents Registration Act. Current whereabouts unknown; possibly in Ukraine.
Scott Pruitt - Trump’s first Environmental Protection Agency Administrator (2017- 2018). As an ultra reactionary former Attorney General of Oklahoma, he dismissed the scientific consensus on climate change and sued the EPA more than a dozen times. Pruitt resigned in July 2018 in disgrace while under at least 14 separate federal investigations over his spending habits, conflicts of interest, extreme secrecy, and management practices, and other wrongdoings.
Ryan Zinke - Trump’s first Secretary of the Interior (2017-2019). A former U.S. Navy SEAL (1986-2008) and U.S Rep. from Montana (2015-2017). He opened federal lands for oil, gas and mineral exploration and extraction. He resigned in disgrace while facing numerous federal probes, including a "Montana land deal" in which a foundation of Zinke's and the chairman of energy firm Halliburton were accused of wrongdoing in relation to a development project in Zinke's home town of Whitefish, Montana. The Dept of Justice also was investigating his use of personal email.
Jared Kushner - Real-estate developer and Trump’s son-in-law. After his father's conviction and incarceration for fraud, he took over management of Kushner Companies. With zero relevant experience and in violation of nepotism rules, he was appointed as Trump’s senior advisor. Kushner authored a peace plan that failed to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He got the Trump campaign to illegally funnel nearly $100,000 of donor money to pay his legal bills.
Ivanka Trump - Daughter of Ivana and Donald Trump. Despite no relevant experience and in violation of nepotism rules, along with her husband, Jared Kushner, she was appointed senior advisor to the President (2017). While serving in the White House, she continued to operate her clothing brand business, violating conflict of interest norms.
Donald J. Trump Jr. - Eldest kid of Ivana and Donald Trump. Currently serves as executive vice president of the Trump Organization, running the company with his younger brother Eric. During their father's presidency, the brothers have continued to do deals in foreign countries and collect payments to their U.S. properties from foreign governments, in violation of a pledge not do so. He likes to illegally hunt endangered species and push conspiratorial theories of white supremacists. May be genetically afflicted with the same mental illness as his father.
Eric Trump - Second son of Ivana and Donald Trump. Runs the Trump Organization with his older brother, Don Jr. During their father's presidency, the brothers have continued to do deals in foreign countries and collect payments to their U.S. properties from foreign governments, in violation of a pledge not do so. Likes to illegally hunt endangered species. His Eric Trump Foundation has illegally shifted hundreds of thousands of dollars donated for cancer patients to his family's businesses. With his sister, Ivanka, he is under investigation by the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia for their role in non-disclosed donations from foreign entities in violation of U.S. criminal law.