Turnabout is fair play
What weighs two hundred and twenty pounds and takes four grown men to carry it? Donald Trump? No, despite Dr Ronny Jackson’s enthusiastically optimistic appraisal, Trump weighs far more than that. Try ten million dollars. In cash. Secretly bundled together by employees of the Egyptian National Bank just days before Trump’s inauguration in January of 2017.
According to a recent investigative article in the Washington Post, the clandestinely collected cash was a sufficiently suspicious amount of money to catch the attention of the CIA. Then, two years later, the Department of Justice became interested in what the CIA knew, and they looked into it as well. So, as it happened, did Robert Mueller during his compilation of the now infamous and disappointing “Mueller Report.”
Back then ten million dollars represented the totality of Egypt’s reserves in American currency. What did the withdrawal mean? Was it a coincidence so close to the Trump inauguration? Was it the fulfilment of a promised reimbursement to Trump, who uncharacteristically injected, ahem, ten million dollars into his campaign just days before the 2016 election?
Moreover, does all this have anything to do with the fact that, while in office, Trump repeatedly praised Egyptian president Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, over strenuous objections from state department officials who were concerned about Egypt’s authoritarian rule? Inquiring minds need to know.
Naturally, the denials from the Trump camp are flying, with the usual generous portions of wounded outrage. And naturally, these investigations are not conclusive. But there is enough there to merit a deeper dive, especially now that the Department of Justice is run by the very careful and circumspect Merrick Garland, as opposed to the deeply corrupt and partisan Trump loyalist Bill Barr.
Moreover, we also know Trump is not above corruption in much the same way that the oceans are not above the mountains. It would be perfectly easy to believe that Donald Trump would agree to accept a promise to pay ten million dollars in cash as justification to infuse his campaign with the same amount of money.
Besides, there is a certain James Comey resonance to it. Recall that just ahead of the election, when Comey disingenuously announced that Hillary Clinton was still being investigated, despite the fact that there was no reason to, it undoubtedly hurt her campaign. That was an election that was decided by centimetres.
Let’s just say that, if it happens that the 2024 election is also narrowly decided, another investigation into Trump corruption couldn’t hurt us. Or as my grandmother was fond of saying, turnabout is fair play. And, as ever, ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, comrades and friends, stay safe.
Robert Harrington is an American expat living in Britain. He is a portrait painter.