August 14, 2018: Paul Manafort Was Selling Positions in the Trump Administration

 

8/14/18: The prosecution rests in the Manafort trial. They wrap up with allegations of a shady loan deal, worked out between a Chicago banker named Stephen Calk and the defendant. In months leading up to and after the 2016 election, Manafort obtained $16 million in loans from Calk’s Federal Savings Bank, even though he was essentially broke. The two often emailed back and forth. Two weeks after Trump won the presidency, Manafort suggested he could get the banker a post in the administration. How would Calk like to be Army secretary? 

Calk wasn’t going to be picky and wasn’t going to be known for spelling prowess, no matter what role he won. In an email to Manafort he listed “perspective rolls” he’d be happy to fill. Those roles included Secretary of the Treasury, Secretary of Commerce, or head of Housing and Urban Development. Secretary of the Army was his sixth choice. Calk added that he might enjoy being an ambassador, listing 19 countries where he’d be willing to serve. 

In other words, evidence appeared to show that loans to Manafort were part of a quid pro quo. Top executives at Federal Savings Bank originally refused to give Manafort any money. Calk, as founder and majority owner, overruled them and signed off on the deal. Sadly for Calk, and his partners, he never got a post in the Trump administration and his bank lost $11.8 million.

 

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SPEAKING OF CRIMES, the president is back from vacation and hard at work at the White House. At 11:15 his busy day begins with an intelligence briefing, which for a president with a notoriously short attention span involves sock puppets to illustrate key points. 

An hour later, he’ll have lunch with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. 

After that, Trump will be done with business for the day and have time to digest, tweet and nap. 

Meanwhile, the president is worrying about the spreading taint of the Russia investigation and legal battles on multiple fronts. Summer Zervos’ civil case, involving charges of sexual harassment and defamation, looms. Michael Avenatti remains a thorn in his side and claims to have three more clients who say they had affairs with Trump but were paid to keep quiet. Michael Cohen, the president’s former lawyer, is ready to flip. Omarosa has turned. Roger Stone, a longtime Trump adviser, says he expects to be indicted soon in the Russia investigation.

What skills did Omarosa bring to the job to begin?

 

Up early and tweeting by 5:59 a.m., Trump starts with a series of attacks on everyone involved in the Russia investigation. He aims one blast at Omarosa, a woman he handpicked for a coveted spot on his staff. 

True. Omarosa is a piece of work. But if you thought the president had an ounce of dignity left, you’d be wrong. “When you give a crazed, crying lowlife a break,” he tweets, “and give her a job at the White House, I guess it just didn’t work out. Good work by General Kelly for quickly firing that dog!” 

“That dog.” 

He gave that dog an annual salary of $179,700 and kept her around so long as what she said about him was “GREAT.” 

Trump said so himself.

 

POSTSCRIPT: At a Trump campaign rally in Ohio, a good Christian pastor decides to take his own shot at the free press. 

In his invocation, Pastor Gary Click, who doubles as a member of the Republican State Central Committee had this to say: 

Tonight, I pray that You will protect our President and his family with a shield of faith, Lord, that shield of faith against the fiery darts of the wicked one, Lord, against that jungle journalism (that) extorts the truth and distorts honesty and integrity every single day, gets in his face with lies and mistruths and innuendos. Lord, protect him.

 

So, let’s put Rev. Click down as a fan of Trump, and at least one part of the First Amendment. 

Not the “freedom of the press” part, for sure. (See 8/16/18, for the response of 350 newspapers to Trump’s attacks.)

BLOGGER’S NOTE (2/7/22): Calk eventually pays an even steeper price for his flirtation with Paul Manafort. He is sentenced to spend one year and one day in federal prison, for soliciting “A Presidential Administration Position.”