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No One on Team Trump Will Explain That $130 Million “Gift” to Military

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yesterday

An anonymous ally of Donald Trump is donating $130 million to pay members of the military during the government shutdown.

The Department of Defense confirmed Friday that “the donation was made on the condition that it be used to offset the cost of service members’ salaries and benefits,” spokesperson Sean Parnell told CNN. Trump had announced the donation the day before.

The move is unprecedented, as the military has always been funded by American taxpayers. According to CNN, the White House referred questions about the donor’s identity and possible ties to foreign interests to the Defense Department, which then referred questions back to the president. Both Democrats and Republicans in Congress told the news outlet that they were out of the loop.

It’s the latest example of the Trump administration touting an influx of private cash. Trump has bragged that his White House ballroom is being funded entirely with private donations, but seems unconcerned about the appearance of bribery or corruption. The fact that this donation, ostensibly to military personnel, is coming from an anonymous donor also raises the question of legality, as it could come from a foreign entity or government looking to curry favor with Trump or his business interests.

The Trump Organization, which the president claims is being run by his children during his presidency, has expanded its business interests dramatically in the past year. One foreign leader, the president of Indonesia, was caught asking the president to speak with his son about a deal earlier this month.

Is this donation to the military coming with strings attached for government policy? Or is it benefiting the president’s personal interests in some way? Thanks to a lack of transparency, no one outside of the president’s inner circle has a clue.

Canada seems to be caving to President Trump, pulling a TV ad featuring former President Ronald Reagan’s criticism of tariffs. The ad originally began airing in Ontario last week, thanks to Doug Ford, the province’s conservative premier.

The ad featured a clip of Reagan’s 1987 radio address in which the conservative icon argued that tariffs undermine economic prosperity and that they only serve to “hurt every American.”

The one-minute ad cuts portions of Reagan’s five-minute speech so that Reagan is saying several sentences in succession that were actually separate during the original address. As edited, Reagan says:

When someone says, ‘Let’s impose tariffs on foreign imports,’ it looks like they’re doing the patriotic thing by protecting American products and jobs. And sometimes, for a short while, it works—but only for a short time.

But over the long run such trade barriers hurt every American worker and consumer. High tariffs inevitably lead to retaliation by foreign countries and the triggering of fierce trade wars. Then the worst happens: Markets shrink and collapse, businesses and industry shut down, and millions of people lose their jobs. Throughout the world, there’s a growing realization that the way to prosperity for all nations is rejecting protectionist legislation and promoting fair and free competition. America’s jobs and growth are at stake.

While the clip is edited, Reagan certainly was not pro-tariff, and the ad Ford posted is not that far off from how the former president felt, much to the chagrin of Trump. Watch the ad in full here:

New York State Attorney General Letitia James warned Friday that President Donald Trump is using the American justice system as a “tool of revenge.”

After pleading not guilty to charges related to committing mortgage fraud and making false statements to a financial institution, James delivered remarks outside of the federal courthouse in Norfolk, Virginia.

She thanked her supporters, who cheered her as she spoke. “But this is not about me, this is about all of us,” James said. “And about a justice system which has been weaponized. A justice system which has been used as a tool of revenge.”

James added that the president was using the justice system as a “vehicle of retribution” against his perceived political enemies.

But Trump’s crusade against his critics is far from over. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi admitted Friday that the Trump administration had already set its sights on another of the president’s foes: former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. That announcement follows the federal indictments of James, former FBI Director James Comey, and former national security adviser John Bolton.

The DOJ effort against James, led by inexperienced Trump-appointed interim U.S. attorney Lindsey Halligan, accused New York state’s chief legal officer of duplicitously acquiring a second home. James is accused of renting the home out as an “investment property,” collecting “thousands” in rent money, and saving over $17,000 in the process. But prosecutors charged with investigating James discovered evidence that undermined the government’s allegations that James collected significant rent from her niece Nakia Thompson.

James’s

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