Trump ditches Barrack because he didn’t get his cut
by digby
So Trump isn’t speaking to his good pal Tom Barrack anymore and Politico tells us why:
The key issue driving the two men apart: Barrack’s role as chairman of the president’s 2017 inauguration fund, which is under investigation by prosecutors.
Trump was “really upset” to read reports about Barrack’s role in allegedly making it easy for some foreigners and others to try to spend money to get access to Trump and his inner circle and whether some of the inauguration money was misspent, according to a senior administration official.
“The president was really surprised to read all about the inauguration and who was trying to buy access and how, because the president doesn’t get any of that money,” said the official.
It is perfectly normal now to read about how the president is upset about some corrupt practice in his administration, not because it’s against the law and totally unethical, but because he didn’t get his cut.
These two have been friends for 40 years. In fact, Barrack may be his only real friend. Oh well.
Of course, the falling out may also be due to some other factors too. Barrack has cooperated with federal investigators. With Bill Barr in charge, Trump undoubtedly knows everything the witnesses have told the feds. And Politico speculates that Trump was upset that Barrack employed Rick Gates right up until he was indicted, which is dumb. Barrack surely employed him on Trump’s behalf to keep him happy.
But this may be part of it as well:
Several sources said Trump’s falling out with Barrack, who hasn’t yet donated to Trump’s re-election campaign, began even before the damaging reports about the inaugural committee.
“Barrack is the kind of guy who would tell him things he didn’t want to hear, so Trump stopped talking to him,” a former senior White House official said.
Barrack has also made some critical remarks about Trump’s performance in office and said in Trump’s first year that his friend was “better than this” (referring to Trump’s rhetoric toward Muslims and immigrants), and that he was “shocked” and “stunned” by some of the remarks.
Yeah, whatever. If they really aren’t speaking, it’s because nobody gets to sell access to Trump, but Trump. That’s what his personal appearances at his golf clubs every weekend are for.
Update: Well, he actually did get a cut. I guess it wasn’t enough:
The Trump hotel in DC got more than $1 million from the inaugural committee. https://t.co/kTEcnyKUMf— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) August 19, 2019
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