Day 1,429: Report: Trump team set up shell corporation to easier funnel $600M in campaign cash to unknown places

The Art of the Grift continues.

According to a Business Insider report, Donald Trump’s campaign set up a shell corporation to funnel payments to family members and vendors. The racket was apparently approved by Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, and appears to involve payments to Donald Trump Jr.’s girlfriend, Eric Trump’s wife and Mike Pence’s nephew. The operation was so secretive that many top officials in the campaign were kept in the dark about how the company worked.

The entity reportedly spent more than $600 million.

The goal was apparently to hide certain operational and financial dealings from donors and the public as a whole.

While it’s possible the structure violated laws, it’s also possible that it’s merely ethical icky and not illegal.

As Business Insider notes, the FEC can issue fines to political committees if it’s determined they broke the law, while the Justice Department can open criminal investigations if it suspects a “knowing and willful” violation of election law. Such investigations are apparently uncommon, though former DOJ and FEC officials have told Business Insider they believe Justice officials could “already be discreetly investigating Trump’s reelection activity.”

Nothing could be more apropos of the dying days of the administration than reports of a multi-hundred million dollar grift to obscure campaign contributions and helping funnel the cash to unknown coffers.

1,429 days in, 33 to go

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