Grifts around 47: A running catelogue for this presidency

[essentialsaltes]

Know your customers.

Trump team caught marking up MAGA merch while touting Black Friday 'deals'​

The campaign's Black Friday fundraising email hawks multiple items that appear to contain higher prices than what's listed on its website, according to Meidas Touch.

 

[essentialsaltes]

Revealed: Pro-Trump group scored an additional $1 billion in taxpayer dollars​

The America First Policy Institute (AFPI), a pro-Donald Trump think tank run by his former chief of staff, helped secure a $1 billion Department of Homeland Security contract tied to new planes for Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

On Wednesday, the Washington Post reported that the fast-tracked contract is closely linked to AFPI’s top donor. That donor, William Walters, runs the company that received a separate $140 million Noem-approved contract to buy six Boeing 737 planes for use in deportations, as the Post reported last week.

DHS claimed that the nonpartisan federal officials ensure the legitimacy of contracting decisions. Indeed, they do, but not in this case. The Post obtained emails exposing that it was the political appointees who chose the Meadows outfit for the $1 billion contract.

[Again, this is one reason why we want people hired in an apolitical process for the rank and file jobs in the government.]

The main contract went to an Arlington-based firm, Salus Worldwide Solutions, incorporated in 2023, which advertises expertise in coordinating international travel, disaster relief, and security facilities. It has never previously held a federal contract

 

[essentialsaltes]

Trump Mobile's Golden Smartphones Delayed For Months After Launch, Reports Say​

Trump Mobile's website has also removed any mention of the August launch date

YOU CAN GET A TRUMP MOBILE PHONE, JUST IN TIME FOR CHRISTMAS!

Trump Mobile's T1 still doesn't exist, but the company is now selling refurbished phones

The T1 smartphone from Trump Mobile remains non-existent vaporware, but the company is still finding new ways to take people's money.

www.engadget.com

 

[essentialsaltes]

$6 million bounties on the table for securing a Trump pardon: report

The explosion in pardon activity has created what the Journal describes as a "pardon-shopping industry," with lobbyists charging standard rates of $1 million for their services. The report notes that pardon-seekers have offered lobbyists success fees as high as $6 million upon securing a pardon.

$6 million bounties on the table for securing a Trump pardon: report

Donald Trump's significant increase in presidential pardons during his second term has attracted intense lobbying efforts, with millions of dollars being offered to secure clemency for wealthy convicted clients.According to the Wall Street Journal, Trump's pardon activity stands in stark...

www.rawstory.com

 

[essentialsaltes]

$6 million bounties on the table for securing a Trump pardon: report

The explosion in pardon activity has created what the Journal describes as a "pardon-shopping industry," with lobbyists charging standard rates of $1 million for their services. The report notes that pardon-seekers have offered lobbyists success fees as high as $6 million upon securing a pardon.

Speaking of Medicare fraud and the 'standard $1 million rate'...

Nursing home owner pardoned by Trump ordered to serve state sentence​

Joseph Schwartz, 65, of New York, was three months into a three-year federal sentence for tax fraud when President Donald Trump pardoned him in November.

Attorney General Tim Griffin filed a petition on Dec. 2 asking a Pulaski County Circuit Court judge to require Schwartz to serve the rest of his Arkansas sentence on Medicaid fraud and state tax evasion charges. The 12-month state sentence was to run concurrently with his federal sentence, according to his plea deal with Arkansas.

The Washington Post reported in November that Schwartz paid right-wing lobbyists $960,000 to secure the federal pardon. The Trump administration denied the lobbying influenced the decision, calling such spending a foolish waste of money.

In defending the pardon, the White House said the three-year federal sentence was “exceptionally harmful to a 65-year-old man already in deteriorating health.”

 

[essentialsaltes]

Trump Mobile's Golden Smartphones Delayed For Months After Launch, Reports Say​

Trump Mobile's website has also removed any mention of the August launch date and is still collecting $100 deposits for the phone, purported to launch "later this year." The brand also deleted earlier claims that the T1 would be "Made in the USA"

Make that next year.

Trump Mobile, the phone company launched by Donald Trump’s family business, has pushed back plans to deliver a $499 (£371) gold-coloured smartphone by the end of the year.

The company’s customer service team told the FT that the recent government shutdown had disrupted shipments.

The mobile service joins Trump-branded watches, footwear and Bibles as products capitalising on his political brand, while Trump’s sons have indicated there will be more to come.

 

[essentialsaltes]

Mystery trader garners $400,000-plus windfall on Maduro's capture​

An unknown trader has raked in a profit worth about $410,000 after betting that Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro would be ousted from his position.

The trader's account on Polymarket built up positions in contracts tied to Maduro's removal on terms that implied long ‌odds before the weekend raid. Those wagers, which were worth about $34,000 prior to Maduro's capture, surged in value after news of the U.S. ‌military operation on the Venezuelan leader emerged, Polymarket data shows.

The anonymous account was created last month, with the trader buying up $96 worth of contracts on December 27 that would pay off if the U.S. invaded Venezuela by January 31. The trader then made several more similar bets in the following days.

The mystery trade is likely to attract scrutiny from ‍U.S. lawmakers who have been pushing for stricter insider trading rules, including a bipartisan effort to potentially ban trading of stocks by lawmakers.

 

[NxNW]

Mystery trader garners $400,000-plus windfall on Maduro's capture​

An unknown trader has raked in a profit worth about $410,000 after betting that Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro would be ousted from his position.

The trader's account on Polymarket built up positions in contracts tied to Maduro's removal on terms that implied long ‌odds before the weekend raid. Those wagers, which were worth about $34,000 prior to Maduro's capture, surged in value after news of the U.S. ‌military operation on the Venezuelan leader emerged, Polymarket data shows.

The anonymous account was created last month, with the trader buying up $96 worth of contracts on December 27 that would pay off if the U.S. invaded Venezuela by January 31. The trader then made several more similar bets in the following days.

The mystery trade is likely to attract scrutiny from ‍U.S. lawmakers who have been pushing for stricter insider trading rules, including a bipartisan effort to potentially ban trading of stocks by lawmakers.

The plan to grab Maduro has been in the works since August 2025, and Maduro had been tipped off and was moving around to avoid capture. His movements were reported to the US by a close insider in the Maduro administration. So the info was floating around.