In his previous stint as president, Donald Trump hid corruption and law breaking as well as a toddler pretending they didn’t break a glass.
This deluge of illegality had a masking effect. There was so much crime going on that it was impossible to take it all in, and its substantial impact and irregularity was washed away by sheer volume. Now, one issue that was initially nestled away, hidden among the literal hundreds of crimes committed by Trump or someone in his team during his administration, is in the news again.
It is alleged that in 2016, the former Apprentice host took $10 million from the Egyptian government, delivered shadily via crisp $100 banknotes straight from the country’s national bank. A few days later, Trump loaned his campaign $10 million, a sum he was to receive back.
There is strong evidence the money was an illegal campaign donation from Abdel Fatah al-Sisi’s government, and the cash was laundered via the loan to the Trump campaign so he could keep it for himself. Sadly, the very well connected former attorney general William Barr blocked FBI access to convicted felon Trump’s accounts, meaning nobody can shine a light on the paper trail. Barr also removed two prosecutors on the investigation, before landing on a lawyer who shut down the case entirely.
What we do know is that, days before Trump was inaugurated, an organization linked closely to the Egyptian intelligence service collected millions in $100 bills from the country’s national bank. As per the Washington Post, who broke this story, that amount “was then a sizable share of Egypt’s reserve of U.S. currency.”
Sisi was an early foreign guest of Trump’s at the White House, and Egypt was a beneficiary of over $1 billion in military aid that year. Sisi’s government was widely criticized for its flagrant human rights abuses and the large number of protestors they murdered.
Democratic politicians have gone so far as to write to the president for more information. As per the Post:
“Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee sent the Justice Department’s inspector general a letter Monday asking him to investigate whether Trump appointees ‘interfered with and, ultimately, blocked’ a criminal probe into U.S. intelligence that the Egyptian government sought to give Donald Trump $10 million to boost his 2016 presidential campaign.”
Although there seems to be a clear case to take the Home Alone 2: Lost in New York actor to court, as the last decade or so has shown, the Republican party are happy to let him get away with even the most blatant crimes. After all, this is highly illegal behavior, and the cover-up to ensure Trump doesn’t face any culpability hasn’t even been subtle. It seems we are once again in for four years of Trump proving the bones of American democracy are brittle and easily snapped.
For what it’s worth, Trump has denied any culpability, crying his usual refrain that the accusations are “fake news.” And, sadly, plenty of people will believe him.