SUMMARY
State Leaders Shared Numerous Ways They Attempted To Secure Supplies From The Federal Government Ranging From Filing FEMA Application To Calling And Pleading With Trump Directly. According to Politico, “The federal government’s haphazard approach to distributing its limited supplies has left states trying everything — filling out lengthy FEMA applications, calling Trump, contacting Pence, sending messages to Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, and trade adviser Peter Navarro, who are both leading different efforts to find supplies, according to local and states officials in more than a half-dozen states. They’re even asking mutual friends to call Trump or sending him signals on TV and Twitter. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t. ‘This is not something that we should ever be faced with,’ Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly, a Democrat, said in an interview. ‘It really is the federal government’s responsibility to build those stockpiles, and distribute those during the time of crisis.’” [Politico, 3/13/20]
Individuals With Personal Relationships With Trump Or High Ranking Members Of The Administration Circumvented Standard Protocols To Receive Federal Supplies And Support. According to Associated Press, “It was early on a Friday when Jared Kushner said he received a call from his father-in-law, President Donald Trump. Trump was hearing from friends in New York that the city’s public hospital system was running low on critical supplies to fight the new coronavirus — something city officials, nurses and doctors had been saying for weeks. Kushner, who has taken a lead role in the federal government’s response, called Dr. Mitchell Katz, who runs the city’s hospital system, to ask what was most needed. And not long after, Trump was on the phone with New York Mayor Bill de Blasio announcing that the Federal Emergency Management Agency would be sending a month’s worth of N-95 masks to the city’s front-line workers. ‘The president’s been very, very hands-on in this,’ Kushner told reporters. ‘He’s really instructed us to leave no stone unturned.’ It was a happy ending to one chapter of a dreadful story: Critical supplies went to a place with critical needs. But the president’s intervention underscored what watchdogs say is a troubling pattern when it comes to how the Trump administration is doling out lifesaving resources. Despite building a data-driven triage system in which FEMA allots supplies based on local needs, those who are politically connected and have the president’s ear have, at times, been able to bypass that process and move to the front of the line.” [Associated Press, 4/11/20]
As Major Cities Faced Serious Obstacles Accessing Government Issued Equipment, Senior Trump Appointees Distributed Requested Supplies To Political Friends And Allies Of The Administration. According to NBC News, “Much of the flexibility in who gets supplies comes from a secretive ‘adjudication’ process in which senior political appointees have the power to circumvent formulas designed to apportion test kits, ventilators, masks, gloves, gowns and other personal protective equipment based on evolving needs. ‘There’s a lot of politics involved,’ said a person familiar with the adjudications. ‘Senior leadership from [Capitol] Hill can call up and say ‘ship 500 ventilators’ and 500 ventilators go out.’ At the same time, front-line responders in big cities and in some Democratic states, from Phoenix to Detroit to New York, are scrambling to put together homemade gear because they can’t get government-issued equipment and the masks, gloves and gowns they’re trying to buy on the private market are often being delayed or rerouted. Most of the sources experienced in various aspects of emergency management who spoke to NBC News say the politicization of the disaster response is unprecedented in modern history.” [NBC News, 4/24/20]
Kushner Blamed Cuomo For New York’s PPE Shortage, “Cuomo Didn’t Pound The Phones Hard Enough To Get PPE For His State.” According to Vanity Fair, “The same attendee explained that although he believed in open markets, he feared that the system was breaking. As evidence, he pointed to a CNN report about New York governor Andrew Cuomo and his desperate call for supplies. ‘That’s the CNN bullshit,’ Kushner snapped. ‘They lie.’ According to another attendee, Kushner then began to rail against the governor: ‘Cuomo didn’t pound the phones hard enough to get PPE for his state…. His people are going to suffer and that’s their problem.’ ‘That’s when I was like, We’re screwed,’ the shocked attendee told Vanity Fair. The group argued for invoking the Defense Production Act. ‘We were all saying, “Mr. Kushner, if you want to fix this problem for PPE and ventilators, there’s a path to do it, but you have to make a policy change,”’ one person who attended the meeting recounted. In response Kushner got ‘very aggressive,’ the attendee recalled. ‘He kept invoking the markets’ and told the group they ‘only understood how entrepreneurship works, but didn’t understand how government worked.’ Though Kushner’s arguments ‘made no sense,’ said the attendee, there seemed to be little hope of changing his mind. ‘It felt like Kushner was the president. He sat in the chair and he was clearly making the decisions.’” [Vanity Fair, 09/17/20]
Over 100 Trump Donors’ Companies Took In $273 Million In Coronavirus Aid Loans. According to The Associated Press, “As much as $273 million in federal coronavirus aid was awarded to more than 100 companies that are owned or operated by major donors to President Donald Trump’s election efforts, according to an Associated Press analysis of federal data. Many were among the first to be approved for a loan in early April, when the administration was struggling to launch the lending program. And only eight businesses had to wait until early May before securing the aid, according to the AP’s review of data released Monday. The Trump-connected companies obtained the aid through the Paycheck Protection Program, which extends a lifeline to small businesses struggling to navigate the pandemic. Fast-food chains like Muy Brands, oil and gas companies and white-collar firms were all granted a slice of more than $659 billion in low-interest business loans that will be forgiven if the money is used on payroll, rent and similar expenses. All told, the Trump supporters who run these companies have contributed at least $11.1 million since May 2015 to Trump’s campaign committees, the Republican National Committee and America First Action, a super PAC that has been endorsed by Trump, the AP review found. Each donor gave at least $20,000.” [Associated Press, 7/7/20]
Ashford Inc Was The Top Recipient Of Coronavirus Relief Nationwide. According to the Daily Beast, “In late March, real estate investment firm Ashford Inc. was on the verge of financial ruin. But it had an ace in the hole: a pair of D.C. lobbying firms stacked with Trump fundraisers and White House alumni. A few weeks later, Ashford is now the top recipient nationwide of coronavirus relief aid from the $350 billion Paycheck Protection Act.” [Daily Beast, 4/23/20]
Trump Donor, Monty Bennett’s Companies Secured $96.1 Million In Loans From The Federal Paycheck Protection Program, Had Applied For $126 Million. According to Popular Information, “Across the country, thousands of small businesses — many on the verge of collapse — have not been able to obtain a forgivable loan from the Paycheck Protection Program. The initial $349 billion for the program ran out in a few days. Congress approved an additional $310 billion last week, but most of that money will go to businesses already in the pipeline. Many small enterprises will still be left out. One person who isn’t having trouble getting cash from the Paycheck Protection Program: Trump donor Monty Bennett, who is a multi-millionaire. Bennett, like Trump, is in the hotel business. Bennett is the CEO of Ashford Inc., which makes money ‘advising’ two related companies, Ashford Hospitality Trust and Braemar Hotels & Resorts, which own hotels. (Bennett serves as chairman of the board of the two subsidiaries.) The companies had ‘combined revenue last year of $2.2 billion.’ According to filings with the SEC, Bennett’s three companies have secured $96.1 million in Paycheck Protection Program loans. And more may be on the way. According to a fact sheet produced by the three companies, they’ve applied for a total of $126 million in Paycheck Protection Act loans.” [Popular Information, 4/27/20]
Bennett’s Companies Said In SEC Filing They Did Not Plan To Return PPP Money Despite Trump Admin’s Call. According to the Wall Street Journal, “Lodging companies affiliated with a Dallas businessman that combined have received more than $68 million under a federal aid program say they are keeping the money, despite the government’s call for large public companies to return these funds. “We plan to keep all funds received under the [Paycheck Protection Program], which were provided as a result of the application process and other specific requirements established for our industry by Congress,” the three hotel companies said in a statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Saturday. The companies, Ashford Hospitality Trust, AHT 15.50% Braemar Hotels & Resorts Inc. BHR 5.02% and Ashford Inc., AINC 1.16% are among the biggest borrowers in the entire program. Together, they have applied for $126 million in loans under the program, according to the filing. Ashford Hospitality Trust alone had received $38 million—more than any other public company has disclosed receiving in securities filings. The common link to all three hotel companies is Monty Bennett, who is chairman and a major shareholder for all three. He is also chief executive for Ashford Inc.” [WSJ, 4/25/20]
A Republican Trump Donor Received Roughly $27 Million In Coronavirus Stimulus Support For His Private Jet Company. According to NBC Philadelphia, “A private jet company founded by a donor to President Donald Trump received nearly $27 million in government funding under a program run by the Treasury Department, according to government filings. Clay Lacy Aviation, a private jet charter company based in Van Nuys, California, that serves wealthy executives and celebrities, received the government grant as part of the CARES Act, a $2 trillion federal stimulus package aimed at supporting jobs during the coronavirus crisis. The company appears to have received the largest grant of any private jet company on the list. The vast majority of the other 96 recipients of government funding or loans on the list are major commercial airlines, regional carriers or support companies. Other large private jet operators such as NetJets are not on the list. The funding is a grant rather than a loan, and doesn’t need to be repaid to the government. The money is part of the CARES Act program to "compensate aviation industry workers and preserve jobs." […] According to election filings, Lacy gave $2,700 to the Trump campaign in 2016 — the maximum for an individual to give to the campaign — and he gave $47,000 to the Republican National Committee after Trump became the nominee. According to its website, Clay Lacy Aviation manages, maintains and operates a large fleet of private jets for charter. The company said it serves ‘business and world leaders, Fortune 500 companies, government agencies, professional athletes, sports franchises, celebrities and dignitaries.’” [NBC Philadelphia, 5/14/20]
Airline With Deportation Contract And Tie To Trump And Republicans Given $67 Million In CARES Relief. According to Yahoo News, “WASHINGTON — Four days before the 2016 presidential election, Republican candidate Donald Trump arrived for a campaign rally at an airplane hangar in Wilmington, Ohio, that belonged to an aviation company called Air Transport Services Group, or ATSG. The company’s chief executive at the time, Joe Hete, was a reliable supporter of the Republican Party. […] Trump has not been back to Wilmington since then. But his administration has not forgotten about ATSG. Last month, an ATSG-owned charter airline company, Omni Air, secured a $67 million bailout as part of the congressional coronavirus relief package. That came on the heels of a $77.65 million contract with the Department of Defense for “international charter airlift services.” In addition, Omni Air has charged the federal government exorbitant prices for “high risk” deportation flights for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the federal agency tasked with addressing the plight of millions who live within the United States without proper documentation. The expense was related to the unwillingness of airlines other than Omni Air to conduct such flights.” [Yahoo News, 6/23/20]
Kushner Taskforce Volunteers Were Instructed To Fast Track PPE Leads From VIPs Including Conservative Journalists Favored By The Trump Administration. According to The Washington Post, “Supply-chain volunteers were instructed to fast-track protective equipment leads from ‘VIPs,’ including conservative journalists friendly to the White House, according to the complaint and one senior administration official. ‘Fox & Friends’ host Brian Kilmeade, for example, called two people he knew in the administration to pass along a lead about protective equipment in an effort to be helpful, according to two people familiar with the outreach. Fox News Channel host Jeanine Pirro also repeatedly lobbied the administration for a specific New York hospital to receive a large quantity of masks, one of the people said. Kilmeade and Pirro said they were not aware that their tips were being prioritized, a Fox News spokeswoman said.” [Washington Post, 5/5/20]
The Indian Health Service Granted A Former White House Deputy Chief Of Staff With No Prior Federal Contracting Experience A $3 Million Dollar Limited Bidding Contract To Provide Masks To Navajo Hospitals, Some Of The Masks May Prove Unsuitable For Medical Use. According to ProPublica, “A former White House aide won a $3 million federal contract to supply respirator masks to Navajo Nation hospitals in New Mexico and Arizona 11 days after he created a company to sell personal protective equipment in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Zach Fuentes, President Donald Trump’s former deputy chief of staff, secured the deal with the Indian Health Service with limited competitive bidding and no prior federal contracting experience. The IHS told ProPublica it has found that 247,000 of the masks delivered by Fuentes’ company — at a cost of roughly $800,000 — may be unsuitable for medical use. An additional 130,400, worth about $422,000, are not the type specified in the procurement data, the agency said. What’s more, the masks Fuentes agreed to provide — Chinese-made KN95s — have come under intense scrutiny from U.S. regulators amid concerns that they offered inadequate protection.” [ProPublica, 5/22/20]
The Masks Sold To Navajo Hospitals By A Former Trump Official Failed To Meet FDA Standards. According to ProPublica, “The Indian Health Service acknowledged on Wednesday that 1 million respirator masks it purchased from a former Trump White House official do not meet Food and Drug Administration standards for ‘use in healthcare settings by health care providers.’ The IHS statement calls into question why the agency purchased expensive medical gear that it now cannot use as intended. The masks were purchased as part of a frantic agency push to supply Navajo hospitals with desperately needed protective equipment in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. [ProPublica, 5/27/20]
A Company Run By A Former Trump White House Volunteer Received A $2.4 Million Dollar Federal Contract For Surgical Gowns Through The U.S. Bureau Of Prisons. According to ProPublica, “A company created by a former Pentagon official who describes himself as a White House volunteer for Vice President Mike Pence won a $2.4 million dollar contract in May — its first federal award — to supply the Bureau of Prisons with surgical gowns. Mathew J. Konkler, who worked in the Department of Defense during the George W. Bush administration, formed BlackPoint Distribution Company LLC in August 2019 in Indiana, state records show, but had won no federal work until May 26. The Bureau of Prisons chose the company with limited competition for a contract to supply surgical gowns to its facilities.” [ProPublica, 6/26/20]
April 2020: Having Brought In New Vendors, Trump’s HHS Offered Hospitals A Choice Of Where To Send Their Data, Creating An Inefficient, Muddled Process. According to Politico, “Having brought on the new vendors, HHS in April offered hospitals a choice of where to send their data. But that decision introduced new complications: Instead of reporting to one system, some hospitals were sending data to three different places: their state, CDC and to the TeleTracking portal. Major hospital lobbies urged a more streamlined approach to collecting data, worrying that confusion over reporting requirements was causing major discrepancies, while top administration officials grappled with the confusion created by the jumble of data systems. In one episode, Birx chastised hospital executives in a private meeting for not reporting enough data. Officials realized later, however, that some of the data had been mistakenly eliminated as the administration pieced information together from the CDC, HHS and states into a single database, according to two people with knowledge of the situation.” [Politico, 07/16/20]
July 2020: The Trump Administration Ordered Hospitals To Bypass The CDC With COVID-19 Data. According to Politico, “After the Trump administration ordered hospitals to change how they report coronavirus data to the government, effectively bypassing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, officials at the CDC made a decision of their own: Take our data and go home. The sudden disappearance of the CDC’s coronavirus dashboards on Wednesday — which drew considerable scrutiny before the agency restored them on Thursday afternoon — has become the latest flashpoint in the extraordinary breakdown between the Washington, D.C.-based federal health department and the nation’s premier public health agency, located in Atlanta.” [Politico, 07/16/20]
The Trump Administration Decided To Contract With Ally Peter Thiel’s Company Palantir To Manage Their COVID-19 Data. According to Politico, “Within the administration, the move to shift data management away from CDC has been portrayed as a necessary, overdue fix. White House coronavirus coordinator Deborah Birx and other senior officials had grown frustrated with data delays that they blamed on the CDC’s system, arguing that it was clunky and inflexible. Among their complaints was that the agency’s system hampered their ability to distribute remdesivir, one of the only approved treatments for Covid-19. After discussions with the CDC across the spring about modernizing its existing system to perform coronavirus-related work, the administration instead contracted with a pair of outside vendors — TeleTracking and Palantir — that officials said were better suited to handle the evolving coronavirus response. An HHS spokesperson said it took three weeks to update the CDC system every time the federal government requested a new category of information from hospitals, compared to three days for the TeleTracking system. Birx also played a central role in selecting Palantir to help run HHS’ new data system, said three people with knowledge of the decision. She had worked with the data firm, which is funded by Trump ally Peter Thiel, in her prior role with the U.S. international HIV relief program.” [Politico, 07/16/20]
TeleTracking’s Contract To Take Over The CDC’s Data Coordination Strategy Was The Largest Government Contract The Company Had Ever Received, With Experts Unsure Of Their Aptitude To The Scale Of The Problem Due To The Fact That “They Have No History With Infection Preventionists.” According to Talking Points Memo, “Due to a Trump administration order earlier this month, thousands of hospitals will now bypass the CDC and instead funnel their COVID-19-related data to a Pittsburgh-based private technology firm that some experts say could be ill-equipped for the task. TeleTracking, which specializes in helping hospitals manage patient flow, had never before scored as large a government contract as it did this April when it clinched the $10.2 million deal to become a repository for hospitals’ COVID-19 data, according to government records. Now that the administration has elbowed aside the CDC’s infection tracking system, the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN), TeleTracking is being launched from the land of four- and five-figure government contracts to the front lines of tracking the pandemic. That has some experts concerned. The company’s track record just doesn’t compare to the CDC’s, said Karen Hoffmann, former president of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC). ‘The biggest issue with this new data system is, they are not the gold standard with data,’ she told TPM. ‘They have no history with infection preventionists, where the CDC is really considered the gold standard to be able to track and use their expertise and their technical support for collecting data.’ ‘And for infection preventionists and epidemiologists that have a longstanding relationship with the CDC — decades to build — we don’t have that with TeleTracking,’ she added. ‘We don’t know who’s on the other end, who can assist us, and if they have any personnel that have any epidemiologic knowledge to know what to do with that data.’” [Talking Points Memo, 07/21/20]
Michael Zamagias, The CEO Of TeleTracking And A Major Republican Donor, Mentored Neal Cooper, Who Has Done Billions Of Dollars In Business With The Trump Organization. According to NPR, “The CEO of the company, Michael Zamagias, came from the real estate sector. He founded Zamagias Properties, a real estate investment and development company, in Pittsburgh, Pa., in 1987. The company went on to develop iconic office buildings, shopping centers and malls in Pittsburgh and Virginia, and its success helped Zamagias become a fixture outside Pittsburgh and, in particular, in the New York real estate scene. Zamagias is a longtime Republican donor and community philanthropist, giving generously to Pittsburgh schools and youth programs. One of the young people who came to Zamagias for advice and counsel was a New Yorker named Neal Cooper, though he was hardly new to business or real estate. Zamagias became the young Cooper's mentor. He gave Cooper an internship. Neal's father, Howard, was the named partner in a Manhattan company called Cooper-Horowitz, one of the largest privately held real estate debt and equity firms in the country. ‘Cooper did business with Michael in the late 1980s,’ Neal Cooper told NPR, referring to his dad's company. ‘I don't know if we ever did big deals with him, but we ran in the same circles. I learned a lot from Michael. He was always one or two steps ahead of the next guy.’ Cooper-Horowitz handles debt and equity in all classes of real estate and specializes in the hospitality industry. And in that vein, it did billions of dollars of work with the Trump Organization on projects like the Trump International Hotel & Tower in Chicago.” [NPR, 07/29/20]
After The HHS System Touted By The White House Was “Plagued By Delays And Inconsistencies,” The White House Was Forced To Return Data Coordination To The CDC. According to The Wall Street Journal, “The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is reversing course on a change to the way hospitals report critical information on the coronavirus pandemic to the government, returning the responsibility for data collection to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Deborah Birx, the White House’s coronavirus coordinator, told hospital executives and government officials in Arkansas this week that the current system under which hospitals report new cases is “solely an interim system” and that the reporting would soon go back to the CDC. ‘CDC is working with us right now to build a revolutionary new data system so it can be moved back to the CDC, and they can have that regular accountability with hospitals relevant to treatment and PPE,’ Dr. Birx said, referring to personal protective equipment used by doctors and nurses. The reversal comes after increasing reports that the new system has been plagued by delays and inconsistencies in data since being implemented in July. Among other things, certain key statistics, such as inpatient beds occupied by Covid-19 patients, were updated only once a week, rather than daily or multiple times a week, as under the CDC system.” [Wall Street Journal, 08/20/20]
The Contractor Chosen By HHS Struggled To Incorporate Timely Hospital-Level Data. According to The Wall Street Journal, “The HHS instructed hospitals last month to no longer report numbers on new cases, hospital capacity, inventories of key supplies and other data through the CDC’s National Health Safety Network. Instead, the facilities were directed to report daily numbers through the HHS Protect system using software provided by TeleTracking Technologies Inc., a hospital IT specialist that won a roughly $10 million contract with the HHS this year. At the time, Michael Caputo, the HHS’s deputy secretary for public affairs, defended the decision, saying that the CDC’s data gathering system was inadequate and that the CDC ‘just cannot keep up with this pandemic,’ according to news reports. ‘The changeover was very abrupt,’ said Dr. Thomas Talbot, chief hospital epidemiologist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn. ‘We track across our region things like hospitalization numbers, and we’ve increasingly noticed it being more difficult for hospitals to meet daily deadlines. We still see hospitals that just have no data reported for the day.’ The hospital data is important because it helps determine how much remdesivir, a key antiviral treatment for Covid-19, the federal government distributes to each state. But hospitals also need to see consistent data from other hospitals in their region so that they can deploy enough health-care workers and beds in certain areas and respond to outbreaks by providing doctors and nurses with sufficient protective equipment. ‘We use that data for a lot of different reasons, and one is to forecast and predict onwards not just the space capacity but the right number of workers, the right numbers of supplies,’ Dr. Talbot said. ‘It’s also not just for the patients but for the community: Are we safe to start and relax the interventions? Are we still a hot spot? We really need to have that data to see what’s going on.’” [Wall Street Journal, 08/20/20]
September 2020: FEMA Changed Its Rules So That Public Schools And Transportation Workers’ PPE And Cleaning Were No Longer Supported, Calling Them “Not Immediate Actions Necessary To Protect Public Health And Safety.” According to The New York Daily News, “Transit systems, schools and other public facilities in New York could soon become a whole lot dirtier because of a policy change enacted by the Trump administration that’ll strip millions of dollars in critical coronavirus aid for the state, the Daily News has learned. It’s a gut-punch no one saw coming, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) railed Thursday. Since the outset of the pandemic, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has helped New York and other states cover the costs of coronavirus-fighting efforts — from disinfecting schools and government buildings to stocking up on personal protective equipment for public employees. But FEMA snuck in a rules change this week to say ‘the operation of schools and other public facilities’ are no longer considered ‘emergency protective measures eligible for reimbursement,’ declaring, ‘These are not immediate actions necessary to protect public health and safety.’” [New York Daily News, 09/03/20]
The Change In Policy Followed Trump’s Designation Of Areas As “Anarchist Jurisdictions.” According to The New York Daily News, “A FEMA spokesman declined to explain what prompted the policy change, saying only the agency is no longer ‘authorized to support the day to day operations and operational expenses of facilities.’ The spokesman added that hospitals, ‘emergency operations centers’ for COVID-19 and some other public facilities remain eligible for reimbursements under the new rule. The FEMA funding shakeup comes on the heels of President Trump’s threat to withhold federal cash from what he described as ‘anarchist jurisdictions.’ A Trump memo — most likely headed straight for court — specifically names New York as one of the cities the president wants to punish in retaliation for local leaders refusing to let his administration send in federal law enforcement to crack down on racial justice protests. A White House spokesman did not respond to emailed questions about whether the FEMA rule shift was part of Trump’s effort to defund New York and other Democrat-run cities.” [New York Daily News, 09/03/20]
February 24, 2020: The Trump Administration Gave Wall Street A Heads Up As To The True Danger Of The Virus On The Same Day Trump Tweeted That It Was “Very Much Under Control.” According to The New York Times, “On the afternoon of Feb. 24, President Trump declared on Twitter that the coronavirus was ‘very much under control’ in the United States, one of numerous rosy statements that he and his advisers made at the time about the worsening epidemic. He even added an observation for investors: ‘Stock market starting to look very good to me!’ But hours earlier, senior members of the president’s economic team, privately addressing board members of the conservative Hoover Institution, were less confident. Tomas J. Philipson, a senior economic adviser to the president, told the group he could not yet estimate the effects of the virus on the American economy. To some in the group, the implication was that an outbreak could prove worse than Mr. Philipson and other Trump administration advisers were signaling in public at the time.” [New York Times, 10/14/20]
A Hedge Fund Consultant Who Attended The Meeting Of The Hoover Institute’s Where Trump Administration Officials All Mentioned Covid As A Concern Wrote A Memo, Which Later Spread Through The World Of Finance. According to The New York Times, “The document, written by a hedge fund consultant who attended the three-day gathering of Hoover’s board, was stark. ‘What struck me,’ the consultant wrote, was that nearly every official he heard from raised the virus ‘as a point of concern, totally unprovoked.’ The consultant’s assessment quickly spread through parts of the investment world. U.S. stocks were already spiraling because of a warning from a federal public health official that the virus was likely to spread, but traders spotted the immediate significance: The president’s aides appeared to be giving wealthy party donors an early warning of a potentially impactful contagion at a time when Mr. Trump was publicly insisting that the threat was nonexistent. Interviews with eight people who either received copies of the memo or were briefed on aspects of it as it spread among investors in New York and elsewhere provide a glimpse of how elite traders had access to information from the administration that helped them gain financial advantage during a chaotic three days when global markets were teetering.” [New York Times, 10/14/20]
Trump Told Chera To Go To His Beach House In New Jersey Which Would Be “Safer” Than NYC. According to The New York Post, “The 78-year-old developer, who introduced his good pal President Trump at last fall’s Veterans Day Parade, was rushed to New York Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center in recent days from his summer home near Deal, New Jersey, with an unknown illness, sources said. As the coronavirus pandemic grew, Trump had advised his longtime friend to decamp to Deal, where many Syrian Jewish families have large homes on the Atlantic Ocean, saying it would be ‘safer’ than New York City, real estate sources said.” [New York Post, 3/24/20]
78-Year-Old Stanley Chera Was Hospitalized During Coronavirus Pandemic. According to The New York Post, “Real estate honcho Stanley Chera has been hospitalized in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. The 78-year-old developer, who introduced his good pal President Trump at last fall’s Veterans Day Parade, was rushed to New York Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center in recent days from his summer home near Deal, New Jersey, with an unknown illness, sources said.” [New York Post, 3/24/20]
White House Confirmed that Trump had recently talked to Chera. According to the New York Post., “A White House spokesperson in a cryptic email only said that the president “connected with Stanley” and that “all is resolved.” [New York Post, 3/24/20]
Stanley Chera Donated $169,500 To Trump Victory. According to Politico, “But several of the six-figure donations to Trump’s campaign were made by donors with connections to the news: New York real estate mogul Stanley Chera, who is active in the city’s Sephardic Jewish community, gave $169,500 to Trump Victory on May 24th, ten days after the United States opened its embassy to Israel in Jerusalem.” [Politico, 7/15/18]
Chera Introduced Trump At 2019 Veterans Day Parade. According to the New York Post,“Real estate honcho Stanley Chera has been hospitalized in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. The 78-year-old developer, who introduced his good pal President Trump at last fall’s Veterans Day Parade, was rushed to New York Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center in recent days from his summer home near Deal, New Jersey, with an unknown illness, sources said.” [Post, 3/24/20]
Chera And Family Owned Stores In The Base Of 666 5th Avenue While The Building Was Owned By The Kushner Family. According to The New York Post, “One of his three sons, Haim Chera, now an executive with Vornado Realty Trust, texted on Monday that his father was ‘doing very well.’ Chera and brother, Isaac Sr., founded the family-owned Crown Acquisitions with clothing stores in Brooklyn before it started buying up real estate. Crown is now an investor in some World Trade Center buildings and the owner of numerous Brooklyn and Manhattan retail assets, including the Fulton Mall, stores in the base of Olympic Tower and the St. Regis Hotel. It also owned stores at the base of 666 Fifth Ave. when that building was owned and operated by the Kushner family, including Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.” [New York Post, 3/24/20]
Stanley Chera Entered A Coma While Combating A Case Of Coronavirus. According to Daily News, “A Manhattan real estate mogul and longtime friend of President Trump slipped into a coma after a coronavirus diagnosis, influencing the White House’s change of heart for an Easter Sunday relaxing of COVID-19 restrictions, according to Vanity Fair magazine. The president was deeply shaken by the news about Stanley Chera, a 78-year-old Trump pal and founder of Crown Acquisitions. Chera has been a frequent White House guest, and organized several fundraisers for his fellow developer. ‘Boy did that hit home,’ said Bill White, another New York donor to the Trump campaign, told the magazine. ‘Stan is one of his best friends.’ The bad news, along with worries about the November election and the virus’ spread, were enough to convince Trump that a less aggressive plan was in order, the magazine reported. The president was quoted as telling a friend that the pandemic was now the only issue going forward for his run at a second term.” [Daily News, 4/1/20]
April 11, 2020: Trump Friend And Donor, Stanley Chera, Died After Contracting Coronavirus. According to Politico, “A friend and donor to President Donald Trump who the president had said was in a coma and seriously ill after becoming infected with the coronavirus has died. Stanley I. Chera’s death Saturday was reported by The Real Deal, which covers the New York real estate industry. The publication cited unidentified sources who have worked with Crown Acquisitions, the firm Chera founded and ran. Chera was in his late 70s. A White House official on Sunday confirmed Chera’s identity and ties to the president. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to share details about Trump’s personal friendships.” [Politico, 4/12/20]
Senior White House Advisors Ivanka Trump And Jared Kushner Broke The Washington DC Stay-Home Order And Traveled To The Trump National Golf Club In Bedminster, New Jersey To Celebrate Passover. According to The New York Times, “Ivanka Trump, President Trump’s eldest daughter and a senior White House adviser, has positioned herself as one of the leaders of the administration’s economic relief efforts and one of its most vocal advocates of social distancing. ‘Those lucky enough to be in a position to stay at home, please, please do so,’ Ms. Trump said in a video she posted online, encouraging Americans to follow federal guidelines about social distancing, which suggests that people stay at least six feet apart. ‘Each and every one of us plays a role in slowing the spread.’ But Ms. Trump herself has not followed the federal guidelines advising against discretionary travel, leaving Washington for another one of her family’s homes, even as she has publicly thanked people for self-quarantining. And effective April 1, the city of Washington issued a stay-at-home order for all residents unless they are performing essential activities. Ms. Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, who is also a senior White House adviser, traveled with their three children to the Trump National Golf Club Bedminster in New Jersey to celebrate the first night of Passover this month, according to two people with knowledge of their travel plans, even as seders across the country were canceled and families gathered remotely over apps like Zoom.” [New York Times, 4/15/20]
Despite Prior Instructions And The Rule That All Visitors Wear Masks, Pence Chose Not To While Touring The Mayo Clinic. According to New York Times, “The Mayo Clinic, the renowned medical center in Minnesota, has a clear policy in place during the coronavirus outbreak that any visitor should wear a protective face mask. But when a delegation of Trump administration officials arrived at the clinic on Tuesday to thank the doctors there for their work on the virus, one person decided to flout the rule: Vice President Mike Pence, the chairman of the White House coronavirus task force. Stephen M. Hahn, the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, wore a mask as did other administration officials and members of the clinic’s staff. Mr. Pence stood out as the only person with his face uncovered as he toured the virology laboratory’s labeling area and spoke to a clinic staff member who had recovered from the coronavirus. Mr. Pence also participated in a round table with local officials and Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, who were also wearing masks. After his visit, the Mayo Clinic posted on Twitter that it had ‘informed @VP of the masking policy prior to his arrival today.’ The clinic then deleted the tweet, with no explanation.” [New York Times, 4/28/20]
Karen Pence Claimed That “It Was Actually After He Left Mayo Clinic That We Found Out They Had A Policy Of Asking Everyone To Wear A Mask.” According to MSN, “Second Lady Karen Pence said Thursday that her husband, Vice President Mike Pence, was not aware of the Mayo Clinic’s policy on masks until after his visit, during which he did not wear a mask. The vice president toured the Minnesota clinic Tuesday. Photos and video of Pence without a mask while surrounded by people wearing masks drew criticism. The Centers of Disease Control and Prevention recommends everyone wear a mask in public to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus. Masks prevent the wearer from spreading the virus to others. Mayo Clinic said Tuesday, and reasserted Thursday, that the leader of the nation’s coronavirus task force was made aware of its masking rule before his visit. But Karen Pence contradicted that during an appearance on Fox & Friends Thursday. ‘As our medical experts have told us, wearing a a mask prevents you from spreading the disease and knowing that he doesn’t have COVID-19, he didn’t wear one,’ she said. ‘It was actually after he left Mayo Clinic that we found out they had a policy of asking everyone to wear a mask.’ Mike Pence told White House pool reporters after the Tuesday visit that he is regularly tested for the virus.” [MSN, 4/30/20]
The Day Before Pence Visited The Mayo Clinic, The Office Of The Vice-President Distributed A Memo Informing All Accompanying Journalists To Wear Masks As A Requirement Of The Clinic. According to The Washington Post, “Vice President Pence’s office threatened to retaliate against a reporter who revealed that Pence’s office had told journalists they would need masks for Pence’s visit to the Mayo Clinic — a requirement Pence himself did not follow. Pence’s trip to the clinic Tuesday generated criticism after he was photographed without a surgical mask — the only person in the room not wearing one. The Minnesota clinic requires visitors to wear masks as a precaution against spreading the coronavirus. Pence’s wife, Karen Pence, said in an interview with Fox News on Thursday that he was unaware of the mask policy until his visit was over. But Steve Herman, who covers the White House for Voice of America, suggested that there was more to the story after Karen Pence’s interview. ‘All of us who traveled with [Pence] were notified by the office of @VP the day before the trip that wearing of masks was required by the @MayoClinic and to prepare accordingly,’ tweeted Herman, who covered the trip as part of his rotation as one of the pool reporters, who share information with other reporters in limited-space situations.” [Washington Post, 4/30/20]
Wall Street Journal Reported Tweeted On Same Day That “We Were All Told The Day Before We Had To Wear A Mask If We Entered The Clinic.” According to The Washington Post, “As is, the vice president’s office took no action against another reporter, Gordon Lubold of the Wall Street Journal, who traveled with Pence and tweeted something similar to Herman’s tweet Thursday. “Everyone in the entire Mayo Clinic had a mask on, everyone, and we were all told the day before we had to wear a mask if we entered the clinic,” Lubold tweeted.” [Washington Post, 4/30/20]
Trump Declined To Wear A Mask While Touring The Honeywell International Plant That Manufactures Personal Protective Equipment Insisting It Was Not Necessary. According to NBC News, “President Donald Trump on Wednesday defended his decision not to wear a mask during a tour of a mask production facility in Phoenix the day before, saying he had been told it wasn’t necessary. ‘I didn’t need it, and I asked specifically the head of Honeywell, ‘Should I wear a mask?’ and he said, ‘Well, you don’t need one in this territory.’ And as you know, we were far away from people, from the people making the masks,’ said Trump, who also didn’t wear a mask Wednesday as he spoke with reporters during a photo opportunity with nurses in the Oval Office.” [NBC News, 5/6/20]
Trump Later Claimed To Have Worn A Mask That Wasn’t Seen By The Media. According to NBC News, “Trump said he did have a mask on ‘for a period of time,’ and that he had at least four masks with him during the tour. ‘I can’t help it if you didn’t see me, I mean, I had a mask on,’ Trump told reporters. When Trump was seen by reporters and photographers touring the Honeywell plant his face was uncovered, and he was less than 6 feet apart from the Honeywell officials giving him the tour, who were also without masks. Other workers throughout the plant were wearing masks; a sign posted in the building said, ‘Please wear your mask at all times.’ The administration has issued guidelines to the public saying people should wear a cloth face covering in public settings where it is difficult to practice social distancing measures, such as grocery stores and pharmacies.” [NBC News, 5/6/20]
Despite Pence’s Press Secretary’s Recent Positive Diagnosis, Pence’s Staff Instructed Food Industry Executives To Remove Their Masks During A Roundtable Discussion With The Vice President. According to Slate, “Mere hours after Vice President Mike Pence’s press secretary tested positive for COVID-19, he was set to meet with a group of food industry executives who had gathered for a roundtable discussion in West Des Moines, Iowa. But before Pence joined them on the stage, someone came in and asked all five guests to remove their masks, which they all did dutifully, reports the Intercept, which posted a segment of the live video stream of the event that showed the sequence of events. ‘The strange request underscored just how committed the White House is to ignoring federal health advice intended to slow the spread of the pandemic coronavirus,’ notes the Intercept’s Robert Mackey.” [Slate, 5/10/20]
Pence’s Staff Announced That The Vice-President Would Not Self-Quarantine Despite Exposure To COVID-19 Positive Staff Members. According to CNN, “Vice President Mike Pence is not planning to enter self-quarantine after his press secretary tested positive for coronavirus on Friday and plans to be at the White House on Monday, his office said on Sunday. Pence spokesperson Devin O’Malley said the vice president ‘will continue to follow the advice of the White House Medical Unit and is not in quarantine.’ ‘Additionally, Vice President Pence has tested negative every single day and plans to be at the White House tomorrow,’ O’Malley said in the statement. The announcement comes as the White House continues to urge governors to begin reopening their states even as the virus has edged closer to the West Wing with news that top members of the coronavirus task force will self-quarantine, in some form, after coming in contact with an individual who tested positive for the virus. An official said there is extreme sensitivity inside the White House at the current state of affairs with officials recognizing the contradiction in telling states to reopen while the White House enhances protocols to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.” [CNN, 5/11/20]
Three Top U.S. Health Policy Officials Entered Self-Quarantine Following Exposure To COVID-19 Infected White House Staffers. According to Politico, “Three top-ranking Trump administration health officials are in some form of quarantine after possible exposure in the White House — forcing them to self-isolate from a disease they are responsible for fighting. CDC Director Robert Redfield and Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert, on Saturday evening disclosed plans to isolate over the next two weeks after ‘low-risk’ contact with an infected person. A day earlier, FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn began two weeks of self-quarantine after coming in contact with White House spokesperson Katie Miller, who tested positive for Covid-19 on Friday. All three officials serve on the White House coronavirus task force, which the administration this week declared would remain intact — shortly after President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence suggested its work would be winding down as they shifted focus to reopening the country.” [Politico, 5/9/20]
In Response To A Growing Nationwide Shortage Of Face Masks, The Trump Administration Secured A Donation Of Masks From Taiwan To Protect Senior White House Staff. According to The Washington Post, “In mid-March, a National Security Council team rushed to fix what they saw as a threat to the U.S. government’s ability to function amid the advancing pandemic: a lack of masks to protect enough staff on the White House complex. Alarmed by the small cache and the growing signs of an acute shortage of protective gear in the United States, a senior NSC official turned to a foreign government for help, according to people familiar with the situation. The outreach resulted in a donation of hundreds of thousands of surgical masks from Taiwan, which had plentiful domestic production and had sharply curtailed the spread of the coronavirus on the island. While the bulk of Taiwan’s goodwill shipment went to the Strategic National Stockpile, 3,600 were set aside for White House staff and officials, administration officials said. ‘While the administration had detailed pandemic response plans, somehow those did not include maintaining a supply of masks for White House personnel,’ said an administration official who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal discussions. ‘That was a lesson learned. We did look at buying some, but couldn’t find available supply.’ A White House spokesman disputed the notion that the complex did not have a sufficient supply of masks, but declined to say how many were on hand or why the NSC turned to a foreign government for a donation.” [Washington Post, 4/15/20]
The NSC Secured Thousands Of Masks For White House Personnel, While The CDC Continued To Discourage The Use Of Masks For Two Weeks Before The Trump Administration Promoted The Use Of Masks For The Public. According to The Washington Post, “The urgent appeal to Taiwan on March 14 highlights a stark conflict between the Trump administration’s stance then on the use of masks and the race behind the scenes to obtain them for key White House personnel. At the time, the U.S. government was discouraging the public from wearing masks, saying that healthy people didn’t need them and that the gear should be saved for front-line medical workers most at risk of infection. Because of that guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the White House was not issuing masks to its staff, according to two officials. But inside the NSC, a top deputy was convinced that face coverings should be used more broadly to protect both his team and the public at large. The resulting arrangement he struck with Taipei made thousands of masks available for White House staff use two weeks before the administration reversed policy and advised that citizens should broadly begin wearing cloth face coverings in public.” [Washington Post, 4/15/20]
Trump Directed White House Staff To Wear Masks At Work. According to the New York Times, “WASHINGTON — The White House on Monday ordered all West Wing employees to wear masks at work unless they are sitting at their desks, an abrupt shift in policy after two aides working near the president — a military valet and Katie Miller, the vice president’s spokeswoman — tested positive for the coronavirus last week. In an internal email obtained by The New York Times, people who work in the cramped quarters around the Oval Office were told that “as an additional layer of protection, we are requiring everyone who enters the West Wing to wear a mask or face covering.” Asked at a Rose Garden news conference whether he had ordered the change, Mr. Trump — who did not wear a mask and has repeatedly said he sees no reason to — said, “Yeah, I did.” But officials said the new requirement was not expected to apply to Mr. Trump or to Vice President Mike Pence.” [NYT, 5/11/20]
Despite Guidance Issued By His Administration, Trump Criticized Biden For Wearing A Mask In Public, Asked A Reporter To Remove Their Mask During A Press Conference, And Dismissed Mask Wearing Overall As, “Politically Correct.” According to Vox, “The first question Trump fielded was from Jeff Mason of Reuters, who asked him to explain a retweet he posted on Monday seemingly mocking presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden for wearing a mask during a public appearance earlier in the day. Trump’s response indicated he’s deeply confused about how masks work. ‘He was standing outside with his wife, perfect conditions, perfect weather — when they’re inside they don’t wear masks,’ Trump said. ‘And so I thought it was very unusual he had one on.’ But all Biden was doing was following the guidance of Trump’s own government about wearing masks in public. Trump seems to think he should also be wearing a mask at home, but the entire point is to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus when people are out and about — something Biden obviously doesn’t have to worry about at home. But even this basic understanding of how masks work is seemingly lost on the president. Then, as Mason tried to ask a follow-up question, Trump cut him off and asked him to remove his mask. Mason refused, prompting Trump to dismiss mask-wearing as an effort to be ‘politically correct.’ ‘You want to be politically correct,’ Trump said. ‘No sir, I just want to wear the mask,’ Mason responded.” [Vox, 5/26/20]
Washington Post Headline: Politicians Jockeying For Covid-19 Tests Find Proximity To Trump Is The Fastest Route. [Headline –Washington Post, 3/25/20]
Then Acting COS Mick Mulvaney And Trump Allies Rep. Matt Gaetz And Incoming COS Mark Meadows Were Tested. According to the Washington Post, “In the cases of Mulvaney, Trump’s incoming chief of staff Mark Meadows and Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), White House medical staffers arranged for their tests on the grounds that they risked infecting the president. Both Meadows and Gaetz came into contact with someone at last month’s CPAC gathering who then learned he had contracted covid-19.” [Washington Post, 3/25/20]
The White House Administered The Rapid Coronavirus Test To Any Individual Coming Into Contact With Trump Or Pence. According to Politico, “The White House is administering a rapid coronavirus test to anyone coming into contact with President Donald Trump or Vice President Mike Pence, Deputy Press Secretary Judd Deere confirmed to POLITICO on Friday. ‘As the Physician to the President and White House Operations continue to protect the health and safety of the President and the Vice President, starting today anyone who is expected to be in close proximity to either of them will be administered a COVID-19 test to evaluate for pre-symptomatic or asymptomatic carriers status to limit inadvertent transmission,’ Deere said in a statement.” [Politico, 4/3/20]
In The Wake Of Several Staffers Testing Positive, Trump Announced He And Pence Would Begin Daily Coronavirus Testing. According to CNBC, “The president said Thursday that he and Pence would begin taking daily coronavirus tests, an increase from the weekly tests that had been White House protocol. There was no word on whether staffers would also be given daily tests. Currently, the White House tests visitors who will come into close contact with the president before they meet with him, checks temperatures for press, and provides weekly testing for staffers.” [CNBC, 5/8/20]
Mike Pence’s Chief Of Staff, Marc Short Owned Between $506,043 and $1.64 Million Worth Of Stock In Companies Directly Tied To White House Pandemic Relief Efforts. According to NPR, “Marc Short, the chief of staff to Vice President Pence, owns between $506,043 and $1.64 million worth of individual stocks in companies doing work related to the Trump administration’s pandemic response — holdings that could run afoul of conflict of interest laws. Many of the medical, pharmaceutical and manufacturing companies – including 3M, Abbott Laboratories, Gilead Sciences, Procter & Gamble, Medtronic, Bristol Myers Squibb and Johnson & Johnson – in which Short and his wife hold stock have been directly affected by or involved in the work of the coronavirus task force chaired by Pence. Other companies among his holdings, such as CVS, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Walmart and Roche, have been publicly touted by the White House for their work with the federal government on the coronavirus response. Short declared at least some of his stock holdings — more than 100 listings of individual stocks across a range of economic sectors — to be potential conflicts of interest after he joined the vice president’s office last year. But he did not divest those holdings after being denied a tax break often granted to government officials who must sell stock to comply with ethics laws.” [NPR, 5/28/20]
Deputy Treasury Secretary Justin Muzinich Transferred $60 Million In Shares Of His Family’s Company Muzinich & Co. To His Father For $0. According to ProPublica, “Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin have become the public faces of the $3 trillion federal coronavirus bailout. Behind the scenes, however, the Treasury’s responsibilities have fallen largely to the 42-year-old deputy secretary, Justin Muzinich. A major beneficiary of that bailout so far: Muzinich & Co., the asset manager founded by his father where Justin served as president before joining the administration. He reported owning a stake worth at least $60 million when he entered government in 2017. Today, Muzinich retains financial ties to the firm through an opaque transaction in which he transferred his shares in the privately held company to his father. Ethics experts say the arrangement is troubling because his father received the shares for no money up front, and it appears possible that Muzinich can simply get his stake back after leaving government.” [ProPublica, 6/2/20]
28 Of Muzinich & Co.’s 29 Funds Rose After Treasury And The Fed Bought Corporate Debt, Which Muzinich & Co Specialized In. According to ProPublica, “When lockdowns crippled the economy in March, the Treasury and the Fed launched an unprecedented effort to buy up corporate debt to avert a freeze in lending at the exact moment businesses needed to borrow to keep running. That effort has succeeded, at least temporarily, with credit continuing to flow to companies over the last several weeks. This policy also allowed those who were heavily invested in corporate loans to recoup huge losses. Muzinich & Co. has long specialized in precisely this market, managing approximately $38 billion of clients’ money, including in riskier instruments known as junk, or high-yield, bonds. Since the Fed and the Treasury’s actions in late March, the bond market has roared back. Muzinich & Co. has reversed billions in losses, according to a review of its holdings, with 28 of the 29 funds tracked by the investor research service Morningstar Direct rising in that period. The firm doesn’t publicly detail all of its holdings, so a precise figure can’t be calculated.” [ProPublica, 6/2/20]
Muzinich Was Personally Involved In Crafting Lending Programs Including The Junk Bond Market Bailout. According to ProPublica, “As the markets panicked about the economic impact of the coronavirus, Muzinich’s responsibilities expanded. The Treasury worked with the Fed on the emergency lending programs, and the agency has ultimate power to sign off. Muzinich was personally involved in crafting the programs, including the effort to bail out the junk bond market, The Wall Street Journal reported in April. He communicates with Fed officials daily by phone, email or text, the paper said.” [ProPublica, 6/2/20]
Early March: Then Acting Chief Of Staff Mulvaney Dumped $215,000 To $550,000 In Stock As Trump Insisted The Economy Was Strong. According to the Daily Beast, “As the novel coronavirus began to tank the stock market in early March, President Donald Trump went on Fox News to assure the country that the economy remained strong. That same day, Trump’s chief of staff unloaded hundreds of thousands of dollars in publicly traded securities. Mick Mulvaney, then the acting White House chief of staff and the director of the Office of Management and Budget, sold between $215,000 and $550,000 in holdings in three mutual funds on March 4, according to ethics paperwork he submitted late last month. Holdings in each of the three funds are made up almost entirely of U.S. stocks.” [Daily Beast, 6/15/20]
Trump Refused To Commit To Blocking His Companies From Seeking Congressional Bailout Funds To Address The Ongoing Coronavirus Crisis. According to The Huffington Post, “President Donald Trump on Sunday refused to say if he would bar his own company from receiving stimulus money included in any potential bailout package Congress passed to deal with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. ‘I’ve learned, let’s just see what happens,’ the president told reporters at the White House when asked about the Trump Organization. ‘Because we have to save some of these great companies.’ […] While declining to give a firm answer about the Trump Organization, which owns many hotels and golf clubs already impacted by the coronavirus, the president also said he hadn’t gotten enough credit for refusing to take home a salary while in office. ‘Nobody said ‘thank you,’ the president said, also noting it was ‘very hard for rich people to run for office.’ Reporters also asked Trump whether he had sold any stocks in recent weeks. Reports have emerged indicating several lawmakers, including Sens. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), sold hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars in holdings after Congress began receiving private briefings on the coronavirus outbreak. (All three have denied any impropriety.) ‘I don’t have stock,’ Trump said. ‘I own things.’ ‘Nasty question, and yet it deserves to be asked I guess,’ he added. ‘What I’ve done, by deciding to run … it costs me billions of dollars to become president.’” [Huffington Post, 3/23/20]
Asked About Who Would Oversee The Allocation Of The $500 Billion Corporate “Slush Fund” In The Senate Republican Economic Relief Package, Trump Dismissed Concerns Saying, “I’ll Be The Oversight.” According to Intelligencer, “Monday’s White House coronavirus press conference brought a slew of questions as reporters hoped to parse out why and when President Trump intends to lift the national social distancing measures and how the Republican stimulus bill would responsibly distribute a $500 billion corporate slush fund that currently allows for the Treasury Secretary to withhold the names of the businesses that receive bailout cash. […] Answering the question of who would provide accountability for the unrestricted distribution of half-a-trillion dollars, Trump’s response was even less promising: ‘I’ll be the oversight. I’ll be the oversight.’ Anyone with a cursory memory of Trump’s time in office should be hesitant to hand over a sum roughly equivalent to the GDP of Belgium to a figure that is legally not allowed to run a charity in New York state.” [Intelligencer, 3/23/20]
Trump Organization Sought Guidance From Palm Beach County On Whether It Had To Keep Making Payments On West Palm Beach Golf Club. According to the New York Times, “In Florida, the Trump Organization in late March sought guidance from Palm Beach County about whether it had to continue making monthly payments on land that the company leases for its 27-hole Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, according to people briefed on the discussions and documents reviewed by The New York Times.” [NYT, 4/21/20]
June, 2020: Trump West Palm Beach Golf Club Asked County To Defer Monthly Rent. According to the Palm Beach Post, “President Donald Trump’s golf club in West Palm Beach has asked Palm Beach County to defer some of the $88,338 monthly rent it pays to lease public land for the president’s private golf club, citing hardships caused by the coronavirus pandemic. In a June 5 letter to the county, the club’s finance director, Ed Raymundo, cited the “significant impact” caused by county’s order shutting parks and golf courses during the pandemic. The March 25 order coincided with the “busiest part of our season,” Raymundo wrote. The county and its Department of Airports, which both hold leases on Trump’s 27-hole golf club on airport property, have taken no action on the club’s request for rent relief, according to county officials. The club has paid rent through June.” [Palm Beach Post, 6/16/20]
The Trump Organization Requested GSA Grant A Change To Their Lease Payments Or Additional Relief For The Trump Hotel In Washington, DC. According to New York Times, “President Trump’s signature hotel in the nation’s capital wants a break on the terms of its lease. The landlord determining the fate of the request is Mr. Trump’s own administration. Trump International Hotel, just a few blocks from the White House, had been a favored gathering place for lobbyists, foreign dignitaries and others hoping to score points with the president. But like most hotels, it is now nearly empty and looking to cut costs because of the coronavirus pandemic. In recent weeks, the president’s family business has inquired about changing its lease payments, according to people familiar with the matter, which the federal government has reported amount to nearly $268,000 per month. The Trump Organization owns and operates the luxury hotel, but it is in a federally owned building on Pennsylvania Avenue. As part of its deal to open the 263-room hotel, the company signed a 60-year lease in 2013 that requires the monthly payments to the General Services Administration. Eric Trump, the president’s son, confirmed that the company had opened a conversation about possible changes to the terms of the lease, which could include adjustments to future monthly payments. The Trump Organization has said it is current on its rent. The younger Mr. Trump said the company was asking the G.S.A. for any relief that it might be granting other federal tenants. The president still owns the company, but his eldest sons run the day-to-day operations. ‘Just treat us the same,’ Eric Trump said in a statement on Tuesday. ‘Whatever that may be is fine.’” [New York Times, 4/21/20]
The Trump Organization Sought Bailout Relief To Support Their Ireland And Scotland Resorts. According to USA Today, “The Trump Organization has applied for bailout money from Ireland and Scotland to help cover salaries for employees at its three golf resorts in Europe because of the coronavirus lockdown, according to a report by Bloomberg. There is nothing improper about the applications. Companies across Ireland and the United Kingdom are making use of the government programs that fund up to 80% of workers’ salaries, with a $3,100 monthly cap, if they are put on leave and not laid off. But the easy access to state aid for financially struggling Trump Organization golf resorts in Europe stands in contrast to U.S. economic relief for President Donald Trump’s family company – to which it is mostly barred. The Trump Organization is run by the president’s sons, Eric and Donald Jr. Since taking office, Trump has vowed to insulate himself from the international business empire that bears his name.” [USA Today, 4/23/20]
Trump Went Golfing Over Memorial Day Weekend As The Nation Approached 100,000 Covid-19 Related Deaths. According to Bloomberg, “President Donald Trump golfed on Saturday for the first time in over two months, engaging in his personal passion as well as attempting to show how the U.S. can return to normal after stay-at-home orders taken against the coronavirus. Trump arrived at the Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia, around 10:30 a.m. on Saturday and departed some three and a half hours later. A CNN photojournalist posted photos on Twitter of Trump swinging a golf club, waving at the camera, and driving, solo, in a golf cart. He appeared to be playing in a foursome. […] […The U.S. now has over 1.6 million confirmed cases of Covid-19, and over 96,000 have died, according to Johns Hopkins University. States are moving to alleviate stay-at-home orders and allowing many types of business to reopen. Most U.S. golf courses are now open, including those in Maryland and Virginia but so far not those in the nation’s capital, just a short drive from the White House.]” [Bloomberg, 5/23/20]