As he had asked, I’m pretending Donald Trump is on the ballot.
Apart from a slew of policy and personal affronts that he has presented me as a voter, what keeps getting in the way is the non-pretend part that Donald Trump is running the country from his gilded Oval Office as a funnel for his own benefit.
Just as Donald Trump did when he heard stories of now former Ambassador Kimberly Gilfoyle seeking and taking big money for promised access to White House decision-making, Trump apparently privately blew up at hearing that his one-time lawyer, Alina Habba Mildon, had signed a $50 million, no-show contract with a billionaire who wanted a pardon for his already reduced federal charges.
Pretend outrage or not, what seems to have bothered Trump was that others in his circle were collecting big sums of money for influence with his government – but not kicking into his preferred coffers.
While the rest of us see moral or ethical shock at rampant corruption, what Trump reportedly hears is that he is being bypassed for a taste – or a big chunk – of any such personal proceeds. A New York Times story this week outlined that Trump “erupted” after learning that Habba Mildon had secured the five-year contract to work for Venezuelan billionaire Julio Herrera Velutini, who had been seeking a pardon from Trump.
The pardon did arrive, though Trump said it had nothing to do with Habba Mildon’s involvement, though she was a Justice Department official at the time.
But rather than call out a blatant attempted (at least) case of pay-for-play influence, Trump’s ire was directed at the fact that “that she should donate a portion of that money to his future presidential library or another Trump-related entity, according to multiple people briefed on the conversations.”
In other words, it was a rotten deal because it did not personally benefit Trump, as if directly following a script of an organized crime storyline. The boss may not participate but gets “to dip his beak” or “get a taste” of proceeds by any associates.
I guess we can pretend Trump is preaching from the (im)morality box as well as the midterm ballot.
The Deal and the Split
The article revisits the details of how Alina Habba Mildon had been offered “an extraordinarily well compensated” general counsel for a company with no public profile started by that billionaire’s daughter. Habba Mildon, former personal lawyer to Trump and briefly a U.S. attorney in New Jersey who was never confirmed by the Senate, has not spoken publicly about the deal.
Apparently, the deal is worth $10 million for each of four years plus bonuses, in total worth more than $50 million. The company, Concord Partners, has no public profile and its business is unclear.
Trump wants her to turn over substantial amounts of her compensation to his presidential library effort – he is seeking a billion dollars in donations – or for the Herrera family to halt the contract. The irony is that the original charges against Herrera involved bribery, the activity laid out in this deal for a pardon to erase the remaining misdemeanor charges that survived early Justice rollbacks in the case.
Trump apparently spoke with another of his former lawyers, Christopher M. Kise, about advisers who are making money by selling their access to the Oval Office. Kise had worked on the pardon case. Trump has been critical when word of big consulting fees for advisers become public.
Earlier this month, Trump criticized James Blair and Chris LaCivita, two of his top political advisers for being paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to provide counsel to a pro-Russian Balkan government. The pair said they would donate their earnings to the Trump library fund.
Trump privately criticized his own son, Don Jr., after word leaked that a Russian operative in Vladimir Putin’s circle had paid hundreds of thousands for a post-wedding party for Don Jr. in Bermuda. Trump has been relatively silent about reports and a new book detailing the efforts of his own son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and his real estate partner Steve Witkoff to mix business dealings with the Saudis and other Middle Eastern leaders with diplomatic efforts representing the U.S.
Democratic legislators anticipating a change in majority in at least the House say they expect to open all these cases to public review if Tuesday’s election goes their way.
Terry H. Schwadron retired as a senior editor at The New York Times, Deputy Managing Editor at The Los Angeles Times and leadership jobs at The Providence (RI) Journal-Bulletin. He was part of a Pulitzer Gold Medal team in Los Angeles, and his team part of several Pulitzers in New York.