There is no honor among thieves and this piece of recent reporting indicates that members of Team Trump are fleecing other members and getting rich off one another and MAGA. It makes perfect sense. What would be unusual is if things like this weren’t taking place and if cabinet appointments were going to worthy individuals who had proven themselves, as in days of yore and days yet to come. But for right now, here’s the scene in Trump world and even Matt Gaetz might have laid out a few coppers in order to get his 8-day-long attention fest as his nomination for Attorney General came and went. CNN:
The allegations concerning Epshteyn were brought to incoming White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, two sources familiar with the matter told CNN. It is unclear whether the allegations have been presented to Trump directly.
At times, Epshteyn has described the services he is trying to sell as a type of consulting, but the legal team investigating the issue has struggled to pinpoint any legitimate consulting work Epshteyn has provided, according to a source familiar with the matter.
“The way I see it is it’s very much a pay-for-play,” said one person who spoke to the legal team that investigated Epshteyn. This person described a separate incident in which Epshteyn allegedly tried to request payment for questionable consulting services, offering to connect the person with incoming administration officials relevant to their industry or lobbying firms that will be the most well-connected to the new administration.
The investigator assured the person that their interaction with Epshteyn wasn’t an isolated incident.
“It was like, ‘Hey, you’re not the only one,’” the person who spoke to investigators said. “He’s gone to everybody for it.”
One person close to Epshteyn brushed off the notion that this was pay-for-play.
“This is how Washington works,” the person said.
Allies of Epshteyn described the internal review as the product of newer associates not understanding the dynamic between Trump and Epshteyn as well as a disdain for the power Epshteyn wields with the President-elect. Epshteyn was a constant presence on Trump’s plane through the end of the 2024 campaign, often insisting on being present for conversations and briefings that had nothing to do with legal matters, a source close to Trump told CNN.
Now here is specifically what happened relating to Gaetz.
Sources described Epshteyn as responsible for pushing former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz’s name amid discussions about who Trump should pick as his attorney general. Epshteyn lobbied for Gaetz directly to Trump on a flight just hours before Gaetz was named as the pick.
The former Florida congressman later withdrew after it became clear he didn’t have the votes in the Senate amid the potential disclosure of a House Ethics Committee report detailing an investigation into Gaetz, including over allegations of sexual misconduct and other alleged crimes.
This fits right in with Trump’s well known pattern of making a decision about something based on the advice of the last person he talked to about the matter. That appears to be Susie Wiles’ task going forward, is to make sure that she’s the last person Trump talks to at these key times. Good luck with that. Rick Wilson said last week that Wiles had been toppled and I tend to believe his political insiders, particularly in Florida.
But there’s an interesting point to be made here and that is that everybody is scamming everybody in Trump world, Trump world is scamming MAGA and Trump will once again be scamming all of America — like he did during COVID, if not worse.
His “cabinet” has been compared to a junk drawer and to the Star Wars cantina band of misfits at Mos Eisely spaceport — a “wicked hive of villainy and scum.” Move over Obi-Wan, we’re going to show you a crowd that makes Mos Eisely look quant.
But there is good news in this: the good news is that Trump’s administration so far represents chaos and lack of a guiding vision. The only vision anybody’s got is for greenbacks and short term gain and so look for today’s infighting at Mar-a-Lago to set the standard for the next four years. They are all there to line their pockets. And Trump has a lot less physical and mental stamina than he had in 2016. Washington will be a zoo.
They’re now grifting each other.
There’s no honor amongst these thieves.
looks to me to be a “Mafia Movie”
This is hysterical. And at the same time, scary.