Welcome to the Checks & Imbalances newsletter. Today we look at another Trump fundraiser taking place at a Trump property, who may have received $35,000 from a super PAC aligned with Ted Cruz, and the new gig of a congressman who resigned after being convicted of three felonies.
Trump Super PAC Charges $100,000 For Candlelight Dinner With Former President At His Club
Donald Trump’s super PAC is hosting a candlelight dinner with the former president at one of his New Jersey golf courses next month, according to an invitation obtained by Forbes. The price to attend: $100,000 per person.
The event will raise funds for Make America Great Again, Again!, which in turn will presumably pay Trump National Golf Club Bedminster for hosting the event. Donald Trump owns 100% of the club, according to his 2021 financial disclosure.
The $100,000 ticket comes with a photo alongside the 45th president—and perhaps an opportunity to pay even more: “Private golf opportunities with President Donald J. Trump also available upon request,” according to the invite.
Such events have been lucrative for Trump in the past. By hosting them at his own properties, he can collect big hauls for his political groups and decent slices for his private business. Since losing the 2020 election, the former president has used his property portfolio to charge his political entities more than $1 million.
Spokespeople for MAGA Again! and the event did not immediately respond to inquiries.
Make America Great Again, Again! is hosting a $100,000 per person candle light dinner with Donald Trump at his Bedminster, New Jersey golf club.
MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, AGAIN!
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Hedge Fund Tycoon Ken Griffin Leads Billionaires Helping Lisa Murkowski
“Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski has won the backing of several billionaire donors in her battle for a fourth term,” reports Kyle Mullins:
Leading the pack is hedge fund tycoon Ken Griffin, one of seven moguls who have donated over $25,000 to help Murkowski stay in the Senate.
Griffin sent $1.5 million to Alaskans for L.I.S.A., a super PAC that can accept unlimited donations. The group, founded by former Murkowski campaign staffers, claims the acronym in its name stands for “Leadership In a Strong Alaska,” but it only backs one candidate: Murkowski, and has spent $2.7 million on her behalf. In addition to Griffin, fellow hedge funders John Arnold and Louis Bacon contributed $500,000 and $50,000 to the PAC, respectively. James and Kathryn Murdoch, the politically moderate heirs to the Murdoch media empire, have each given $250,000.
Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, seen here in the Senate chamber in April 2022, has the backing of at least seven out-of-state billionaires in her bid to win a fourth term.
AP PHOTO/J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE
In Case You Missed It
UPS Box That Received $35,000 From Cruz-Aligned PAC Is Connected To Right-Wing Radio Host Michael Berry
In August, the FEC asked Truth and Courage, a super PAC aligned with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), to provide details about its $35,000 payment in May to Alamo Marketing, a company that appears to have popped out of nowhere.
No company named Alamo Marketing with the address the PAC provided to the FEC appears in any other committees’ disclosures, Google and Lexis Nexis search results or Texas’ records of taxable entities, as Checks & Imbalances reported on Wednesday.
The mailing address the super PAC provided for the company, 5090 Richmond Road #466, however, is connected to conservative talk-radio host Michael Berry, as reader and super-sleuth @Z3dster pointed out. That UPS Store mailbox appears on Berry’s listing with the State Bar of Texas and the defunct Michael Berry Properties, Inc.
It’s easy to see why Truth and Courage might pay Berry. In June, the radio host spoke at a Milwaukee summit for the PAC, and he is scheduled to speak again in Atlanta on Saturday.
The FEC asked for more information about the $35,000 expenditure, which the PAC initially described as covering “event entertainment services.” An amended filing clarified that the money covered went toward “speaking services.”
Neither the PAC nor Berry responded to requests for comment.
Michael Berry’s registration with the State Bar of Texas has the same address as a firm that received a $35,000 payment from the Truth and Courage PAC.
STATE BAR OF TEXAS
Continuing Irresolutions
Updates on Checks & Imbalances’ previous reporting
The New Jersey Globe reported that the House Ethics Committee’s investigation into Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-N.J.) probably won’t finish before the November election, because the ranking member on the panel, Rep. Jackie Walorski (R-Ind.), died earlier this month. In January, the Office of Congressional Ethics found “substantial reason to believe” Malinowski failed to disclose dozens of stock trades within 45 days, as federal law requires.
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Former Rep. Filemon Vela (D-Texas) is now serving as a lobbyist for Missouri Cobalt, a company building a hydrometallurgical facility near a mine in Montana that it plans to use to produce cobalt and nickel for batteries, according to Politico. Vela’s responsibilities include helping the company obtain “funding regarding development and processing of critical minerals essential to electric vehicle battery manufacturing,” the outlet reported.
Vela resigned early from Congress this spring to begin lobbying with the firm Akin Gump.
Fortenberry Landed New Job Before He’d Left Congress
Within days of resigning from congress after a jury found him guilty on three felony charges, Jeff Fortenberry already had started his new gig.
Sometime in March, he signed an agreement of future employment with Practice Management of America, Inc., which offers business support to physicians, according to a financial disclosure Fortenberry filed with the House clerk’s office.
On March 24, Fortenberry was found guilty of concealing information and making false statements to the FBI. He resigned from Congress a week later. His new job started four days after that.
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CLERK OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES/REP. JEFF FORTENBERRY
Tracking Trump
Forbes continues to update “Tracking Trump: A Rundown Of All The Lawsuits And Investigations Involving The Former President.”
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Forbes
“Former President Donald Trump endorsed controversial conservative Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) in a post on Trump’s social media site Truth Social on Saturday,” reported Brian Bushard. Gaetz is now one of at least 76 Trump customers who have received the real estate mogul’s endorsement this election cycle. Gaetz’s campaign has reported spending $35,000 at Trump properties, including $21,000 at Mar-a-Lago in April.
Altogether, Trump’s properties have collected at least $1.4 million from the campaigns of candidates the former president has endorsed.
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Truth Social/Donald J. Trump
“Trump announced Friday afternoon he plans to hold a rally for Republican candidates in Pennsylvania, headlined by gubernatorial nominee Doug Mastriano and Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz, who is struggling to gain momentum in his campaign against Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman,” reports Nicholas Reimann.
Dr. Mehmet Oz attends the 2022 Champions Of Jewish Values Gala at Carnegie Hall on January 20, 2022 in New York City. (Photo by Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images
GETTY IMAGES
- “[Trump’s] Save America Super PAC could be the alternative funding source these candidates need. But even sitting on a massive war chest and reaping the financial benefits of outrage over the Mar-a-Lago FBI raid, they’ve spent little cash on actually backing candidates.” (Spectator World)
- “Trump PAC’s $650,000 ‘charitable contribution’ to the Smithsonian will pay for portraits of Donald and Melania Trump” (Insider)
Editor’s Picks
- “An Unusual $1.6 Billion Donation Bolsters Conservatives” (The New York Times)
- “Fortune to the Architect of the Right-Wing Takeover of the Courts” (ProPublica)
- “A push for more space for America’s farm animals is thwarted” (The Economist)
- “Board: SD Gov. Kristi Noem may have ‘engaged in misconduct’” (The Associated Press)
- “Meet the Lobbyist Next Door” (Wired)
- “Banks, crypto lobby clash with lawmakers over Fed digital dollar” (Politico)
- “Rudy Giuliani’s Legal Defense Fund Is Back With a New Twist” (The Daily Beast)
- “New York congressional candidate Carl Paladino revealed his personal finances after Insider reported that he was violating a federal law” (Insider)
- “Eric Adams After Dark: A Private Table and Tarnished Friends” (The New York Times)
- “Following 2018 break from GOP, Victoria’s Secret [mogul] continues to donate big to Republicans” (Open Secrets)
- “Large war chests didn’t keep pro-impeachment Republicans from losing to Trump-backed challengers” (ABC News)
- “Pro-Lombardo PAC launches effort targeting Hispanic and Asian voters” (NBC News)
- The Olive Garden is looking for a government relations analyst, tweeted Anthony Musa of Foreign Policy
In Closing
“Distal burden waits on the shoulders of the great Alaska.
Tundra, frozen over permanent preserves forworn disaster.
Polar tides, pulling suffocation ushered in by ancient icebergs.
Evil, creeps along the coastline underneath the belly of Alaska,
Underneath the belly of Alaska, underneath the belly of Alaska”
—Archers of Loaf, “Distance Comes in Droves”