Mr. Pratt, the chairman of a multinational paper and packaging company and one of Australia’s richest men, had already paid to join Mr. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida. He had also spent top dollar to ring in the new year there while rubbing elbows with the president. And, eager to behold a Trump re-election celebration at the club, he had offered to reach into his pocket once again as Election Day approached.

“If Potus is having his election party at mar Lago I’ll book as many rooms as available,” Mr. Pratt told an associate in a message obtained by federal investigators and reviewed by The New York Times. “Reasons he should,” Mr. Pratt continued, are that “1 it will shore up the Florida electoral college 2 it will be good for business.”
...
Behind closed doors, however, Mr. Pratt described Mr. Trump’s business practices as being “like the mafia,” according to covert recordings obtained by “60 Minutes Australia” and shared with The Times.
...
On the recordings, Mr. Pratt recounts how Mr. Trump shared with him in December 2019 what he describes as elements of a conversation the president had with Iraq’s leader right after a U.S. military strike there aimed at Iranian-backed forces . Days later, a U.S. drone strike in Baghdad would kill Iran’s top security and intelligence commander.

At one point, Mr. Pratt said, Mr. Trump discussed the phone call he had with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine earlier that year that had helped lead to Mr. Trump’s first impeachment. “That was nothing compared to what I usually do, ” Mr. Trump said, in Mr. Pratt’s recounting.
...
A witness in the federal documents case told prosecutors that Mr. Pratt spent $1 million to attend the party, well in excess of the normal charge, according to people with knowledge of the testimony. The witness did not have firsthand knowledge of the claim, and it is unclear if prosecutors ever verified it. Mr. Trump’s company, the Trump Organization, did not respond to requests for comment.
...
Mr. Pratt claims on one recording that he paid Mr. Giuliani around $1 million to come to his birthday party as a celebrity guest. The pandemic prevented Mr. Giuliani from attending, but Mr. Pratt says on the recording that “now he rings me once a week.”
“Rudy is someone that I hope will be useful one day,” Mr. Pratt says. A spokesman for Mr. Giuliani did not respond to requests for comment.
...
The draft speech, provided to The Times by “60 Minutes Australia,” tracks closely with the remarks delivered by Mr. Pratt but contains several crossed-out lines that describe a transactional relationship with Mr. Trump. It is not clear whether Mr. Pratt himself wrote the speech or if he crossed out the lines.

Membership at Mar-a-Lago, one crossed-out line of the draft states, “definitely turned out to be a strategic investment — and a very good investment.”

basilico:

Thats my opinion of you.

basilico:


Damages are for helping victims obtain closure.

It means recognizing that Israel has every right to exist; that the Jewish people have claim to a secure homeland where they have ancient historical roots; and that there have been instances in which previous Israeli governments made meaningful efforts to resolve the dispute and provide a path for a two-state solution — efforts that were ultimately rebuffed by the other side.

It means acknowledging that Palestinians have also lived in disputed territories for generations; that many of them were not only displaced when Israel was formed but continue to be forcibly displaced by a settler movement that too often has received tacit or explicit support from the Israeli government; that Palestinian leaders who’ve been willing to make concessions for a two-state solution have too often had little to show for their efforts; and that it is possible for people of good will to champion Palestinian rights and oppose certain Israeli government policies in the West Bank and Gaza without being anti-semitic.

bemeruca:


Lol, leave that block head. He is silent on how they bomb their own people in hospital car lut and blame it on Israel.

IjeBos:
The levels of corruption and influencing peddling this article describes is eye-popping. And this is just one guy. If the GOP really wants to investigate influence peddling they should turn their eyes here. But we know they don't really care, just want to have something made up to attack Biden.



https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/22/us/politics/anthony-pratt-donald-trump.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

basilico:


I like Nairaland because apart from being like a zoo where you see and study the behavior of these retarded animals I have saved lots of online reference links I consider important.
I also like the technology part, I've been toying with the idea of getting into Machine learning and AI without killing myself coding in Python.. There are some very smart guys in that section with deep insights.

bemeruca:


AI has improved significantly. I use it for some of my project to generate codes. It is good for boilerplate codes, but it will hardly give you exactly what you want so you got to know what you are doing else you will be wasting your time.

basilico:


How fools are sent on a wild good chase. NYT is portraying Trump as an influence peddler to low
IQ hominids while in reality

Loans were " based upon representations that his last name, ‘ Biden , ’ could ‘ open doors ’ and that he could obtain a large investment
from the Middle East based on his political
connections "


This is a criminal fraud clearly worse than a yahoo boy con job.

If I knew then what I know now I would have declined to represent Donald Trump in these post election challenges. - Jenna Ellis

IjeBos:
Jenna Ellis pleads guilty, takes deal.
Pity all the lives she ruined with her lies.


All this lawfare.. lol. Republican motto: "Rule of Law for thee, Lawfare for me."


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TQUre_TmYQ

LordReed:


LoLz. basilico let's hear the spin for this one.

basilico:


What's there to spin. I've said all along the idea is to prevent Trump from running. Not Trump but anyone else that DNC and RNC do not approve .
The speaker of the house. The Republicans are flatly refusing a Trump supporting Speaker, they will stall until they get a RINO in place.

As for Trump, I now think they will move to jail him. Have close aides strung up in legal jeopardy until they plead guilty. Voila It's now confirmed that felonies were committed. Next step is jailing Trump.
And by the way, don't ever think that Kennedy Jr will ever win the election. He is not an acceptable candidate, he is now an independent after seeing the roadblocks in place via the Democrat party.
They will never let any other outsider become the president.
That to me is the sad state of a system I thought works but whose decline will be inevitable.

basilico:


What's there to spin. I've said all along the idea is to prevent Trump from running. Not Trump but anyone else that DNC and RNC do not approve .
The speaker of the house. The Republicans are flatly refusing a Trump supporting Speaker, they will stall until they get a RINO in place.

As for Trump, I now think they will move to jail him. Have close aides strung up in legal jeopardy until they plead guilty. Voila It's now confirmed that felonies were committed. Next step is jailing Trump.
And by the way, don't ever think that Kennedy Jr will ever win the election. He is not an acceptable candidate, he is now an independent after seeing the roadblocks in place via the Democrat party.
They will never let any other outsider become the president.
That to me is the sad state of a system I thought works but whose decline will be inevitable.

feedthenation:

---@basilico---so who's next to 'fess' up---

ono:


Unfortunately Bas, they’re winning.

If Emmers, a never-Trumper who voted to endorse FJB wins speaker of the house, Trump may well just forget his presidential run.

I have said time and again that Trump is up against a force far greater than he alone can handle. It will take divine intervention for Trump to win against these formidable foes - and it appears he didn’t know he was wining and dining with them. They know him inside out.

feedthenation:
---Two messages from the Mob Boss of the GOP--- about Tom Emmer---there is no guarantee that GOP will have a Speaker---

feedthenation:
---Two messages from the Mob Boss of the GOP--- about Tom Emmer---there is no guarantee that GOP will have a Speaker---

basilico:


It's the private club of the republican and democrat DC operatives. They are OK with anyone acceptable to them. A Trump supporter. They will not let him be speaker, they only need 6? Republicans to do a deal with democrats.
And there is not a darn thing the voters can do.

Bye bye the Republic of America.
Gee Which president sought to make America just like another ordinary unnoticeable country? Not the superpower it has been setting good examples of democracy.

feedthenation:
---Two messages from the Mob Boss of the GOP--- about Tom Emmer---there is no guarantee that GOP will have a Speaker---

basilico:


What's there to spin. I've said all along the idea is to prevent Trump from running. Not Trump but anyone else that DNC and RNC do not approve .
The speaker of the house. The Republicans are flatly refusing a Trump supporting Speaker, they will stall until they get a RINO in place.

As for Trump, I now think they will move to jail him. Have close aides strung up in legal jeopardy until they plead guilty. Voila It's now confirmed that felonies were committed. Next step is jailing Trump.
And by the way, don't ever think that Kennedy Jr will ever win the election. He is not an acceptable candidate, he is now an independent after seeing the roadblocks in place via the Democrat party.
They will never let any other outsider become the president.
That to me is the sad state of a system I thought works but whose decline will be inevitable.

basilico:

The Republicans are flatly refusing a Trump supporting Speaker, they will stall until they get a RINO in place.

ono:


Unfortunately Bas, they’re winning.

basilico:

Keep Gloating
First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out.