Today we dig into Ivanka Trump’s mortgage, have a look at a Trump-allied super PAC that is continuous to spend on behalf of Trump customers and check in on the anti-abortion groups working to elect Herschel Walker.
Ivanka Trump Bragged That Her Father ‘Wouldn’t Just Give Me An Apartment.’ Recent Documents Suggest He Principally Did Just That
“Ivanka Trump has long styled herself as a self-made woman, at the least as much because the daughter of a billionaire will be,” reports Dan Alexander:
“It’s some extent of pride that I’m in command of my life,” she wrote in her 2009 book, The Trump Card. “I own a two-bedroom apartment in a Trump constructing, but nobody gave it to me.”Actually, her father appears to have just about done exactly that. For years, Donald Trump’s personal balance sheets, which were recently released in reference to a fraud lawsuit against him, included “receivables,” with one noted as “Ivanka (T Park Ave).” That exact receivable was listed at $1.5 million, the precise price of the two-bedroom unit in Trump Park Avenue that Ivanka bragged about owning.
In other words, although Ivanka might try to assert her father didn’t technically give her apartment, he appears to have loaned her 100% of the cash she needed to purchase it. In her book, Ivanka conceded that she had received some fatherly help. “I’m paying a mortgage on my apartment,” she wrote. “Admittedly, I pay my mortgage on to my father as a substitute of to a bank, however it’s a mortgage just the identical, and I’ve never missed a payment.”
Her loan, nevertheless, doesn’t appear to have been a “mortgage just the identical,” as she put it. In 2021, 17 years after Ivanka purchased the apartment, her father’s financial documents still listed a receivable of $1.5 million described as “Ivanka (T Park Ave)”, suggesting that her mortgage got here with an unusually long period during which she didn’t must pay down any principal.
Ivanka Trump attends a round table discussion together with her father U.S. President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Feb. 13, 2017. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
Getty Images
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In Case You Missed It
Trump-Linked Super PAC Spends Thousands and thousands In These Key Senate Races
“A recent super PAC linked to former President Donald Trump has invested tens of millions to support Republicans in five key Senate races next month, targeting Pennsylvania Senate candidate John Fetterman (D) together with President Joe Biden in its latest ad campaign,” reports Sara Dorn:
MAGA Inc.—which is run by Trump spokesperson Taylor Budowich—has spent $11.7 million on promoting in five Senate races since October 6, the ad tracking firm AdImpact reported Wednesday…
MAGA Inc.’s largest investment up to now ($2.89 million) is in Arizona, where Trump-endorsed Republican Blake Masters is waging a comeback against Sen. Mark Kelly (D), whose polling lead over Masters has narrowed from about 6.7 to three.6 points within the last two weeks, in line with FiveThirtyEight’s polling average.
Trump’s PAC has also spent greater than $1.8 million each on Senate races in Nevada (where Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto is facing Republican Adam Laxalt) and Georgia (where Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock is running against Republican Herschel Walker).
This week’s ad buy is the second time previously two weeks that the Trump-allied MAGA Inc. has spent tens of millions on behalf of candidates who’ve funneled political money to Trump properties. Masters, Laxalt and Walker have combined to shift $290,000 to Trump’s businesses, as Forbes reported last week. In an email, Budowich said that questions on any relationship between the ads and spending at Trump properties were “absurd and absolutely sophomoric.”
GOP candidate for Senate Blake Masters speaks as former U.S. President Donald Trump looks on at a campaign rally at Legacy Sports USA on Oct. 09 in Mesa, Arizona. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
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Continuing Irresolutions
Updates on Checks & Imbalances’ previous reporting
Women Speak Out PAC spent one other $74,000 on mailers opposing Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) on Wednesday. Anti-abortion PACs have now spent at the least $868,000 backing Herschel Walker because it was first reported that he’d paid for and encouraged his girlfriend to have an abortion. Walker denies the allegations.
Intriguing Expenses
Rep. Jody Hice’s (R-Ga.) campaign paid The Gober Group $45,000 in legal fees on Aug. 1. The Austin, Texas-based law firm represented Hice in his unsuccessful try to quash a subpoena from the Fulton County District Attorney in July. The DA’s office is investigating attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
The Federal Election Commission allows candidates to make use of campaign funds to cover legal fees so long as the expenses are related to their official position. A spokesperson for the Hice campaign didn’t immediately reply to an inquiry.
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The campaign for Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) donated $1,700 to an unspecified GoFundMe on Sept. 6. A spokesperson for the campaign didn’t immediately reply to an inquiry.
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On Sept. 1, the campaign for Rep. Alex Mooney (R-W.V.) spent $540 on event tickets on the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum, in line with FEC records. The 160-year-old former hospital for the mentally in poor health now offers historic and paranormal tours. The visit was a part of a gathering for Mooney’s office staff, in line with a campaign spokesperson.
On this December 2011 photo, the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum is shown in Weston, West Virginia. The previous psychiatric hospital is now marketed as a historic and paranormal tourist attraction. (AP Photo/David Smith)
AP
Oopsies
In September, the FEC made the rare move of fining a PAC’s treasurer in his personal capability, moderately than in his official one.
Robert Lucero of Culver City, California, UtePAC’s now-former treasurer, agreed to pay $3,500 after an FEC inquiry determined that he had understated receipts and didn’t properly document contributions and expenses. Between January 2019 and February 2020, for instance, UtePAC disbursed $318,000, but only disclosed spending $11,000, in line with the investigation.
The FEC reduced its nice from $33,000 after Lucero pleaded financial hardship. UtePAC’s mission is to support the Ute Indian Tribe’s defense of its sovereignty.
Tracking Trump
Forbes continues to update “Tracking Trump: A Rundown Of All The Lawsuits And Investigations Involving The Former President.”
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Forbes
America First Policy Institute, a dark-money nonprofit allied with Donald Trump, is hosting a gala at Mar-a-Lago on Nov. 18. Donations to AFPI made in hopes of winning an invitation are tax-deductible, in line with the competition entry.
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America First Policy Institute
The campaign for Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Texas) spent $345 on meals at Trump’s golf club in Virginia on Aug. 11, in line with an FEC report filed earlier this month. Trump endorsed Nehls in February.
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This weekend, Trump’s Miami resort hosts the team championship of the Saudi-backed LIV Golf tour.
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Instagram/Bernd Wiesberger
- “Trump’s fundraising operation sent an email signed this morning by Blake Masters, the Arizona Republican Senate candidate. However the default split is … absolutely brutal, with 99 percent of it going to Trump and 1 percent to Masters.” (Twitter/Zach Montellaro of Politico)
- “Jared Kushner seen in the primary row on the Saudi investment forum that just began in Riyadh this morning” (Twitter/Independent journalist Ahmed Al Omran)
- “Trump, too, is working on a book — on a yet to be announced subject — that might be published through Winning Team Publishing, run by his son Donald Trump Jr. and a top lieutenant, Sergio Gor.” (Politico)
Editor’s Picks
- “That Cardboard Box in Your Home Is Fueling Election Denial” (ProPublica)
- “Amazon puts January 6 within the rearview mirror: ‘It has been greater than 21 months’” (Popular Information)
- “How Mike Lindell’s Pillow Business Propels the Election Denial Movement” (The Recent York Times)
- “Liz Cheney launches TV ad targeting Arizona election deniers” (NBC News)
- “Russia continues funding media within the U.S.” (Politico)
- “Senator Robert Menendez is under investigation again” (Semafor)
- “Members of Congress pocketed tens of hundreds from lobbyists linked to China’s Huawei” (The Washington Examiner)
- “Ron DeSantis’ Old Law Firm Received Thousands and thousands in State Funds” (The Every day Beast)
- “Federal lobbying topped $3 billion through third quarter for the primary time ever” (OpenSecrets)
- “Two Former Directors of Public Works Sentenced for Accepting Bribes” (Department of Justice)
- “Amazon quietly gave $400,000 to conservative nonprofit that opposed recent antitrust laws” (CNBC)
- “Democrats Raise Questions About Mnuchin’s Deals in Persian Gulf” (The Recent York Times)
- “The Election-Swinging, Facebook-Fueled, Get-Out-the-Vote Machine” (Wired)
In Closing
“Probably the most beautiful house on the planet has a mortgage
What do I care?”
— Frank Sinatra, “The Most Beautiful Girl within the World”
