Pompeo To Headline RNC Fundraiser

Today, like the Department of Justice, we keep looking at Mar-a-Lago.

Pompeo To Headline RNC Fundraiser

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is headlining a fundraiser for the Republican National Committee in New York next week, according to an invitation obtained by Forbes. Tickets to the reception and dinner cost $36,500 a person. Those only attending only the reception can pay a reduced rate of $15,000 per couple.

Spokespeople for the RNC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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In Case You Missed It

FTX’s Bankman-Fried Says He’s ‘Surprisingly Optimistic’ U.S. Will Devise Crypto Rules Within A Year

“Sam Bankman-Fried, CEO of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange, told attendees at this year’s SALT-New York event that he thinks U.S. lawmakers will draft a bill or other framework setting new rules for digital assets within a year, and that he’s been regularly traveling to Washington on lobbying trips,” reports Maria Gracia Santillana Linares:

His conversations with lawmakers in recent weeks, he told conference attendees, concerned investor and customer protections. “I’ve been sort of pleasantly surprised, by the extent to which a lot of people in D.C. are honestly just trying to figure out how they can do the right thing,” he said…

FTX executives also have been not-so-quietly donating funds to an increasing number of political campaigns. Bankman-Fried made the second-largest donation to Joe Biden’s presidential run, and more recently FTX’s head of engineering indirectly gave $1.1 million to a congressional candidate in Vermont.

Trump Opposes DOJ Request To Block Special Master From Seeing Classified Documents

“Attorneys for former President Donald Trump argued a federal judge should not allow the DOJ to hold on to 100 classified documents it seized at Mar-A-Lago and not turn them over to a third-party ‘special master,’ claiming in a court filing Monday that Trump rightfully had access to the documents and may have declassified some of them,” reports Alison Durkee:

The ex-president’s attorneys also argued not all of the documents that were seized with classification markings may actually be classified, claiming Trump “had full authority to declassify documents” and could declare documents personal instead of presidential.

Trump’s attorneys have not previously told the court that he declassified any documents—and don’t specify here that Trump actually did, but rather that he could—and legal experts have previously criticized the suggestion that Trump could have declassified documents without following the proper procedures to do so.

Continuing Irresolutions

Updates on Checks & Imbalances’ previous reporting

Rep. Chris Jacobs (R-N.Y.) failed to report securities trades to the House Clerk’s Office within 45 days, as federal law requires, Insider reported on Monday. It was the second time Jacobs was late to file a disclosure. Last year, he did not timely report 13 securities trades totaling more than $356,000.

In that instance, the nonpartisan Office of Congressional Ethics found that Jacobs “may have” violated ethics laws. The bipartisan House Committee on Ethics, however, unanimously voted to dismiss the referral, concluding that “there was not clear evidence that the errors and omissions…were knowing or willful.” According to a statement from the committee, it worked with Jacobs, who “made diligent efforts to take appropriate remedial actions and ensure [his] continued compliance with applicable financial disclosure requirements.”

Evidently, those efforts and actions weren’t enough.

*****

On Saturday, Amy Kremer tweeted that Women for America First, which she chairs, was received a subpoena from the Justice Department for the dark-money nonprofit’s role in the January 6 rally that preceded the riot at the Capitol. Kremer also is the treasurer for the Women Vote Smart PAC. In that role, she failed to submit financial reports to the FEC and then failed to pay the resulting fines, which total $37,000, reported Rantt Media.

The PAC also never explained how it got rid of its debt to Trump’s D.C. hotel. 

Why Mar-A-Lago Carpet Is Key To FBI Raid Story

Your correspondent joined Forbes Newsroom and assistant managing editor Diane Brady to discuss, yep, Mar-a-Lago’s carpet.

Tracking Trump

Forbes continues to update “Tracking Trump: A Rundown Of All The Lawsuits And Investigations Involving The Former President.”

Trump posted on Truth Social that he was working at his golf course in Northern Virginia on Monday. He hasn’t been around the club much since leaving the presidency, even though he stopped by more than 100 times while in office, according to the New York Times.

• “House deal for Trump records lets accounting firm decide what to release” (The Washington Post)
• “Justice Department pressured former US attorney to bring cases against Trump enemies, Geoffrey Berman says” (ABC News)
• “It appears Trump’s Save America PAC — accused of using false 2020 election claims to raise millions for a non-existent ‘Official Election Defense Fund’ — is now sending out fundraising emails that twist the facts of the Mar-a-Lago search.” (Twitter/Steve Reilly of Grid)
• “12 times Donald Trump’s political action committees promised worthless rewards for a donation” (Insider)