Seabass wrote:
When Pence refused to go along with Trump's coup, Trump said "I don't want to be your friend anymore."
Apparently, Pence had been wavering on whether or not to go along with the coup, and fucking Dan Quayle talked him out of it. We were saved by Dan Fucking Quayle.

Longtime GOP operatives charged with funneling Russian national’s money to Trump, RNC


Two veteran Republican campaign operatives — including one who got a pardon from then-President Donald Trump one month before he left office — are charged in a new federal indictment with funneling $25,000 from a Russian national into the Trump campaign in 2016.

Jesse Benton, 43, and Doug Wead, 75, made brief appearances Monday at a video hearing in U.S. District Court in Washington, pleading not guilty to six felony charges including facilitating a campaign contribution by a foreign national, acting as a straw donor and causing the filing of false campaign finance reports.

The grand jury indictment alleges that Benton and Wead worked together to accept $100,000 from an unidentified Russian national in order to get the foreigner a meeting with then-candidate Trump at a fundraiser in Philadelphia on Sept. 22, 2016.

Neither Trump nor his campaign are mentioned by name in the indictment, but details in the 19-page document make clear that the scheme involved seeking the donation in connection with the Trump event and an opportunity to get face to face with him.

For example, the indictment’s reference to a $25,000 donation on Oct. 27, 2016, to a political committee by Benton — allegedly to cover up the foreign source of the money — lines up with a donation of the same size and date to Trump’s political committee attributed to a “Jesse Bentor,” which prosecutors said is a garbling of Benton’s name.

There is no indication in the indictment that Trump or his campaign aides were aware that the money originated with the Russian donor. The charges say that Benton and Wead “concealed” the arrangement from Trump, and that part of the scheme involved getting the political committees to “unwittingly” file reports indicating that Benton was actually the source of the funds.

The indictment suggests that Benton and Wead hoped to make money from the scheme and did — taking $100,000 from the Russian, but paying only $25,000 to Trump Victory, a joint venture between the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee.

Benton, a veteran of Kentucky and presidential politics, had previously faced federal campaign finance charges for payments to a key Iowa state lawmaker who switched endorsements from Michelle Bachman to Ron Paul in the 2012 presidential GOP primary. Trump, just before leaving office, pardoned Benton for the crimes he was convicted of. Benton is also an in-law and former adviser to Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who is Ron Paul’s son. Benton previously led Sen. Mitch McConnell’s 2014 reelection campaign before stepping down amid legal scrutiny.

Seabass wrote:

Longtime GOP operatives charged with funneling Russian national’s money to Trump, RNC


Two veteran Republican campaign operatives — including one who got a pardon from then-President Donald Trump one month before he left office — are charged in a new federal indictment with funneling $25,000 from a Russian national into the Trump campaign in 2016.

Jesse Benton, 43, and Doug Wead, 75, made brief appearances Monday at a video hearing in U.S. District Court in Washington, pleading not guilty to six felony charges including facilitating a campaign contribution by a foreign national, acting as a straw donor and causing the filing of false campaign finance reports.

The grand jury indictment alleges that Benton and Wead worked together to accept $100,000 from an unidentified Russian national in order to get the foreigner a meeting with then-candidate Trump at a fundraiser in Philadelphia on Sept. 22, 2016.

Neither Trump nor his campaign are mentioned by name in the indictment, but details in the 19-page document make clear that the scheme involved seeking the donation in connection with the Trump event and an opportunity to get face to face with him.

For example, the indictment’s reference to a $25,000 donation on Oct. 27, 2016, to a political committee by Benton — allegedly to cover up the foreign source of the money — lines up with a donation of the same size and date to Trump’s political committee attributed to a “Jesse Bentor,” which prosecutors said is a garbling of Benton’s name.

There is no indication in the indictment that Trump or his campaign aides were aware that the money originated with the Russian donor. The charges say that Benton and Wead “concealed” the arrangement from Trump, and that part of the scheme involved getting the political committees to “unwittingly” file reports indicating that Benton was actually the source of the funds.

The indictment suggests that Benton and Wead hoped to make money from the scheme and did — taking $100,000 from the Russian, but paying only $25,000 to Trump Victory, a joint venture between the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee.

Benton, a veteran of Kentucky and presidential politics, had previously faced federal campaign finance charges for payments to a key Iowa state lawmaker who switched endorsements from Michelle Bachman to Ron Paul in the 2012 presidential GOP primary. Trump, just before leaving office, pardoned Benton for the crimes he was convicted of. Benton is also an in-law and former adviser to Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who is Ron Paul’s son. Benton previously led Sen. Mitch McConnell’s 2014 reelection campaign before stepping down amid legal scrutiny.

continued:
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/09/20/gop-operatives-charged-funneling-russian-money-trump-rnc-513219

"We won at the Arizona forensic audit yesterday at a level that you wouldn't believe," Trump told the crowd in Perry, Georgia. "They had headlines that Biden wins in Arizona, when they know it's not true. He didn't win in Arizona. He lost in Arizona based on the forensic audit."

The_Piper wrote:I doubt this needs to be said here, but just for posterity:
All of the accusations that I've heard from Grisham's book sound plausible, but still, she has very little credibility. I know she resigned after the insurrection, but for a day or two the wind was blowing towards Republicans denouncing that riot. That makes me expect that her resignation was totally self-serving. Now she's cashing in on her time in the administration just like so many before her.