NonilexAug 2, 2025

Donor List Suggests Scale of Trump’s Pay-For-Access Op

…#Trump has been willing to grant…deep-pocketed interests seeking business, preferential treatment or protection from him & his admin.

…Lobbyists, political consultants & others in the influence industry have capitalized on Trump’s aggressive #fundraising while in office to deliver for clients & earn chits with a president who keeps close tabs on who is delivering #cash….

#law #corruption #plutocracy #oligarchy
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/02/us/politics/donor-list-suggests-scale-of-trumps-pay-for-access-operation.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

Donor List Suggests Scale of Trump’s Pay-for-Access Operation

A new disclosure shows how corporations and individuals, including many in the crypto business, wrote big checks while seeking favor from the president.

The New York Times
Show threadNonilexAug 2, 2025
It is a cycle that has helped #Trump fill the coffers of his political groups, defying the gravity that sometimes drags down the #fundraising of term-limited presidents.
The degree to which this dynamic has benefited Trump, his #donors & their #lobbyists — while shutting out regular people seeking assistance from their #government — was laid bare in #MAGA Inc’s financial report. The group, which can accept unlimited donations, raised an astounding $177 million in the first half of the year.
#law
Show threadNonilexAug 2, 2025

That was nearly 2X as much as the amount raised during the same period by the #RNC, which is subject to contribution limits.

#MAGA Inc.’s report included donations from a mother seeking a pardon for her son, as well as people who had been, or would later be, appointed to posts in the #Trump admin & companies in industries seeking more lenient treatment than they had gotten under the admin of President Joe #Biden.

It is not just MAGA Inc. that benefits.

#law #corruption #plutocracy #oligarchy

Show threadNonilexAug 2, 2025

Since Trump’s election last fall, fund-raisers & #lobbyists have been steering #corporations & #donors to a buffet of options for unlimited giving, some of which are less overtly political or allow anonymous donations, that can bring #access to #Trump.

Trump’s inaugural cmte raised a record-shattering $239M, including about $18M from #crypto interests & $1M each from #tech giants like #Meta & #Amazon that had drawn his ire in the past & were looking to smooth things over….

#law #plutocracy

Show threadNonilexAug 2, 2025

A nonprofit group called Securing American Greatness, which is affiliated with #MAGA Inc. but is not required to disclose its #donors, can accept cash from interests willing to pay for #access to #Trump without the controversy that can come with having that known.

Even the White House Historical Association has become a vehicle for lobbyists & favor seekers.

#law #corruption #bribery #DarkMoney #plutocracy #oligarchy

Show threadNonilexAug 2, 2025

…Among the largest #donors to #MAGA Inc. were the #pipeline company #EnergyTransfer & its co-founder & executive chairman, Kelcy Warren. They combined to donate $25 million, after Warren spent heavily to support the #Trump campaign. His company, which has seen its profits increase this year, has praised the Trump admin’s industry-friendly approach to #oil & #gas permitting as good for business.

#law #corruption #bribery #plutocracy #oligarchy

Show threadNonilexAug 2, 2025

#Cryptocurrency interests, which have benefited from the #Trump admin’s dismantling of a yearslong govt crackdown & from the Trump family’s financial interest in the industry, appear to have been the most generous industry, accounting for nearly $45M in donations to #MAGA Inc.

#law #corruption #bribery #DarkMoney #plutocracy #oligarchy

Show threadNonilexAug 2, 2025

An affiliate of the exchange Crypto.com gave $10 million, while the #crypto services company Blockchain.com donated $5 million. The venture capitalists #MarcAndreessen & #BenHorowitz, who are heavily invested in crypto, gave $3 million each.

#OndoFinance, which has a partnership with the #Trump family’s crypto company, donated $2.1 million to #MAGA Inc., on top of $1 million to Trump’s inauguration.

#law #corruption #bribery #DarkMoney #plutocracy #oligarchy

Show threadNonilex
Industry execs who gave to #MAGA Inc were invited to a WH #crypto summit in March that included…the most influential figures in the industry. Among the attendees was an executive from Andreessen’s & Horowitz’s company. Also on the list were Tyler & Cameron #Winklevoss, who run crypto exchange #Gemini & contributed a combined total of nearly $4M to MAGA Inc through the company & personal donations, & #KyleSamani, a venture investor who donated $200k after having donated $250k to the inauguration.
Aug 2, 2025 at 1:57pmWeb
Show threadNonilexAug 2, 2025

On May 5, #MAGA Inc organized a “crypto & #AI innovators dinner” featuring #Trump at his golf club in Virginia. Among the attendees, acc/to 2 people…, was #JPRichardson, the chief exec of the #crypto company #Exodus, which donated $1 million to MAGA Inc. in Jan.

“It is in the best interests of our company & its shareholders to support pro-crypto causes & candidates,” Richardson said in a text message. “We intend to continue backing similar efforts.”

#law #corruption #bribery #DarkMoney

Show threadNonilexAug 2, 2025

A #crypto company called #AvaLabs donated $1 million on April 2. The donation earned Ava’s president, #JohnWu, a spot at a #fundraising reception with #Trump 2 days later at Mar-a-Lago…. An invitation billed it as an intimate “candlelight dinner” with “very limited” space.

Also attending the dinner…was the cosmetics heir Ronald S. Lauder [#EsteeLauder], a longtime major #political #donor & supporter of #Israel who donated $5 million to #MAGA Inc. in late March.

#law #corruption #bribery

Show threadNonilexAug 2, 2025

…Another guest at the April dinner was the businesswoman #ElizabethFago.

While Fago had raised money for #Republican candidates for decades, her previous largest federal donation on record was $100,000 to the Republican National Committee in 2002. Yet the day before the candlelight dinner, she donated $1 million to #MAGA Inc.

#law #Trump #corruption #bribery #DarkMoney #plutocracy #oligarchy

Show threadNonilexAug 2, 2025

#ElizabethFago had particular incentive to curry favor with #Trump at the time.

As NYT previously reported, she was appealing to Trump to #pardon her son, #PaulWalczak, who had pleaded #guilty to tax #crimes late last year.

Less than 3 weeks after Fago attended the dinner, Trump signed a full & unconditional pardon for Walczak. It spared him from having to pay nearly $4.4M in #restitution & from reporting to #prison for an 18-month sentence.

#law #corruption #bribery #DarkMoney #plutocracy

Show threadNonilexAug 2, 2025

People seeking appointments from #Trump also donated to #MAGA Inc.

In February, Anjani Sinha, an orthopedic surgeon & businessman who has been described as a friend of Trump’s, donated $1 million. The next month, he was nominated to be US ambassador to #Singapore.

#Donors are often tapped as ambassadors, but Sinha’s nomination has drawn particular criticism.

#law #corruption #bribery #plutocracy #oligarchy

Show threadNonilexAug 2, 2025

During a #Senate confirmation hearing last month, he struggled to answer questions about #Singapore & its relationship with the #UnitedStates. Senator Tammy Duckworth, a Democrat from Illinois, called him “unqualified” & urged him “to shape up & do some homework.” His nomination is still pending.

#law #Trump #corruption #bribery #plutocracy #oligarchy

Show threadNonilexAug 2, 2025

Cody Campbell, a #Texas #energy investor who had a brief professional football career with the Indianapolis Colts, donated $500,000 to #MAGA Inc. in late April. On Thursday, he was named to the newly reconfigured President’s Council on Sports, Fitness, & Nutrition.

Josh Lobel, a financial executive, donated $250,000 in January. The next month, he was announced as a member of the President’s #Intelligence Advisory Board.

#law #Trump #corruption #bribery #plutocracy #oligarchy

Show threadNonilexAug 2, 2025

Then there is #JaredIsaacman, the #billionaire entrepreneur who led 2 private missions to orbit on #rockets made by the company of his close associate, the onetime #Trump ally #ElonMusk. Trump tapped Isaacman to be #NASA administrator soon after the election, but withdrew the nomination in May after #Trump supporters objected to Isaacman’s previous donations to Democrats.

#law #corruption #bribery #DarkMoney #plutocracy #oligarchy

Show threadNonilexAug 2, 2025

In late June, #JaredIsaacman donated $1 million to #MAGA Inc., in addition to >$440,000 to the #RNC, around the time he mused to a reporter about running for #Congress as a #Republican or obtaining a different position in the #Trump admin.

But if the donation to MAGA Inc. was intended to win back Trump’s favor, it may instead have revealed the limits of political contributions as a means to court the president.

#law #corruption #bribery #DarkMoney #plutocracy #oligarchy

Show threadNonilexAug 2, 2025

#JaredIsaacman came under fire from #Trump last month—about a week after the donation—amid a flare-up of the president’s feud with #Musk, who had donated $5 million of his own to #MAGA Inc, around the same time as his ally.

Trump wrote on social media that it was “inappropriate that a very close friend of Elon, who was in the Space Business, run NASA, when #NASA is such a big part of Elon’s corporate life. My Number One charge is to protect the American Public!”

#law #corruption #plutocracy

Show threadMylesRydenAug 2, 2025

@Nonilex

Drain the swamp!

Right into my pocket!

Show threadAlwyn Soh Aug 3, 2025
@Nonilex saw the video. Grossly incompetent.
Show thread⚯ Michel de Cryptadamus ⚯Aug 3, 2025

@Nonilex for those looking to understand what kind of person Kyle Samani is:

https://universeodon.com/@cryptadamist/113889816686824845

#crypto #cryptocurrency #MAGA #trump #VC #VCs

⚯ Michel de Cryptadamus ⚯ (@[email protected])

Attached: 1 video Here's a somewhat infamous video of #KyleSamani from #MulticoinCapital explaining with a straight face that it's actually GOOD for society if most 18-25 year olds get scammed out of their life's savings¹ because it will teach them lessons about risk. Kyle Samani is buds with America's new "crypto czar" #DavidSacks - they're both investors in #Solana, the blockchain for #memecoins where the TRUMP and MELANIA memecoins were launched - and is now helping set American regulatory policy. ¹ by scammers like Kyle Samani #uspol #uspolitics #SEC #CFTC #finreg #libertarian #libertarians #memecoin #TrumpCoin #Trump #DonaldTrump

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