See Who Else Has Visited Trump’s Mar-A-Lago Office

Watch: ‘Most Alarming’ Visitors Trump Had At Mar-A-Lago Revealed

Your correspondent joined Forbes Newsroom and assistant managing editor Diane Brady to discuss who has been spotted at Mar-a-Lago while the private club housed classified documents.

In Case You Missed It

Bannon Indicted In New York For Border Wall Scheme—Here Are The Charges He’s Facing

“Former Trump advisor Steve Bannon and organization WeBuildTheWall were indicted in New York state court Thursday on six counts of money laundering, conspiracy and scheme to defraud, the second time the far-right figure has faced consequences for his role in the border wall fundraising scheme—more than a year after he got out of federal charges due to a pardon from former President Donald Trump,” reports Alison Durkee.

The indictment alleges that, despite publicly claiming WeBuildTheWall would not pay any salary to CEO Brian Kolfage, the group actually funneled more than $250,000 in compensation to Kolfage from January 11, 2019 through the end of that year, constituting the alleged fraud and conspiracy (Kolfage has pleaded guilty to similar charges in federal court, and was identified in the indictment as “unindicted co-conspirator 1”).

WeBuildTheWall repeatedly stated that Kolfage would not take a salary, a pledge that served as a “material part” of the fundraising campaign, the indictment says, including through media appearances, on the campaign’s website and in bylaws submitted to a crowdfunding website to convince it to release funds to the organization.

Watch: Trump Gets More Bad News Following Rally

The White House Wants Crypto Mining Companies To Share How Much Energy They Use With Regulators

“The White House announced on Thursday that crypto mining operations in the U.S. are on track to consume as much energy as all of the nation’s home computers, necessitating formalized measures for curbing the industry’s power demands,” reports Sarah Emerson:

A new report issued by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) addressed environmental concerns that industrial-scale crypto miners could strain local and federal energy grids, and undermine global climate change efforts.

As a result of its findings, the department recommended that mining operations should be regularly assessed for risk in accordance with federal energy standards, and that these companies should additionally make their data available to regulators. Miners are unlikely to be happy with the latter suggestion, as some companies have sought to redact information about power purchase agreements and energy usage, even when doing business with public utilities.

Most notably, the report challenged the refrain that mining will promote the development of more renewable energy sources. This belief has spurred the mantra that “bitcoin is a battery,” which encompasses a range of opinions, including the notion that crypto mining can distribute energy throughout the grid.

Continuing Irresolutions

Updates on Checks & Imbalances’ previous reporting

“Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) cited Covid when he dumped shares ahead of stock market crash,” according to newly released FBI records, ProPublica reported on Wednesday. In January 2021, the Justice Department closed its investigation into Burr without filing charges over allegations of insider trading. The campaigns or personal accounts of 42 current or former lawmakers have contributed to the legal defense fund for Burr, which has taken in a total of $575,000 from donors.

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Trump’s former ambassador to the United Nations, Kelly Craft, announced her candidacy for governor of Kentucky on Wednesday. During a two-month stretch as U.S. ambassador to Canada under Trump, Craft spent more than half of the days in Kentucky or meeting with Kentuckians visiting Canada, according to her calendar released by the State Department, as Checks & Imbalances reported last September.

Impeachment Figure Lev Parnas Reports To Prison

Lev Parnas, a key figure in Trump’s first impeachment, has begun to serve his 20-month sentence for campaign-finance and wire fraud, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Parnas is currently housed at a “medium-security federal correctional institution with an adjacent minimum security satellite camp and a detention center” in Otisville, New York. Parnas first appeared in the bureau’s inmate locator in the past couple of weeks. Parnas’ attorney did not immediately respond to an inquiry.

“Parnas was convicted last year of illegally funneling a Russian oligarch’s money into several 2018 political campaigns, a scheme prosecutors say was designed to nudge politicians to give licenses to a recreational marijuana business,” Joe Walsh reported in June. “He also pleaded guilty in March to wire fraud charges for siphoning off investors’ money from a company he co-founded to insure businesses against fraud (the company’s name, coincidentally, was Fraud Guarantee).”

In August, Parnas and the government came to an agreement that the restitution he owes totals $1.8 million.