You may recall that in early August, The Washington Post dropped a blockbuster report about what looked like an illegal $10 million “donation,” in cash, from the president of Egypt to Donald Trump near the end of his 2016 presidential campaign, just when he was running low on funds. That was followed by Trump suddenly infusing $10 million into his campaign and promising the U.S. would be a “loyal friend” to Egypt’s “fantastic” President Abdel Fatah El-Sisi. After Trump got into the White House, El-Sisi was one of the first guests. The two met again on Trump’s first trip abroad. The camaraderie was a break from U.S. policy of distancing us from El-Sisi, after he seized power via a military coup.
Federal prosecutors were investigating these very, very suspicious details when Trump’s attorney general, Bill Barr, made blatant efforts to discourage the probe from going forward. The Barr-appointed prosecutor closed the investigation because of “a lack of sufficient evidence to prove this case beyond a reasonable doubt.” Current Attorney General Merrick Garland could have re-opened the case but didn’t. Now, the statute of limitations has expired.
So, it’s excellent news that Rep. Jamie Raskin, ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee and Rep. Robert Garcia, top Democrat on its national security subcommittee, are not letting it die. They have written to Trump asking for assurance he never accepted a bribe an illegal contribution from Egypt.
From The Washington Post’s September 3 report:
“Surely you would agree that the American people deserve to know whether a former president — and a current candidate for president — took an illegal campaign contribution from a brutal foreign dictator,” the letter signed by the two Democrats reads. “Accordingly, we request that you immediately provide the Committee with information and documents necessary to assure the Committee and the American public that you never, directly or indirectly, politically or personally, received any fund from the Egyptian president or government.”
Predictably, the Trump campaign is stonewalling and lying. Rather than reassure the public the felonious fraudster did not take any bribe – er “illegal contribution” – spokesman Steven Cheung pretended Trump was exonerated.
Asked for comment, the Trump campaign called reporting about Trump and Egypt “textbook Fake News.” The Justice Department investigation “found no wrongdoing and was closed,” said spokesman Steven Cheung, repeating a statement he gave for The Post story last month. “None of the allegations or insinuations being reported on have any basis in fact.”
The original Post report makes clear the investigation was closed in the wake of Barr’s pressure, before it was completed, not because no wrongdoing was found.
Raskin and Garcia do not have subpoena power. But they do have platforms to keep the spotlight on this issue. It’s a seriously BFD, or it should be. The more MAGA world tries to sweep this under the rug, the more we should keep it front and center.
