Patterico's Pontifications

11/7/2019

Fundraising Fraud: Trump’s Phony Promises to Have Meals with Contest Winners

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 7:59 am



A Web site called the Popular Information newsletter reports:

A heavily-promoted contest to win breakfast with President Trump in New York City on September 26 was a fraud. The purported winner of the contest, Joanna Kamis, did not have breakfast with Trump. Instead, she was invited to a breakfast at a New York City restaurant that Trump did not attend. Kamis was later permitted to take a photo with Trump.

The promise of breakfast with Trump was used in hundreds of Facebook ads to entice supporters to donate money. The ads were clear that donors would be entered into a contest to share a meal with Trump. “This is your LAST CHANCE to meet me this quarter, and I really want to discuss our Campaign Strategy for the rest of the year with you over breakfast,” Trump said in a Facebook ad in September.

Kamis’s contest is one of fifteen in which winners were promised a meal with the President. The campaign is required by law to provide information regarding the names of the contest winners but has persistently ignored media requests. After the newsletter published the fact yesterday that the campaign had not verified that anyone had won any of these contests, the Daily Caller trotted out Kamis as ostensible “proof” that the allegations were bogus.

In other words, Kamis is not necessarily representative of all contest winners. She’s the best they’ve got — and she wasn’t given what she was promised. The other “winners” might not even exist. Either way, there is, to date, even from a Trump-sympathetic outlet like the Daily Caller, not one shred of evidence that anyone has had a meal with the President after fifteen contests promising one.

If there are no winners — and winners might emerge, but keep in mind Trump’s pattern, as shown when he tried to steal money from veterans during his campaign, of promising things that he has no intention of delivering on — if there are no winners, this may be fraud:

Richard Painter, a former associate counsel in the Bush White House, told Newsweek that the failure to deliver on the promised meals with Trump could be criminal. “You’re raising campaign cash, you’re lying to people. If you obtain money from people through false pretenses that’s a violation of federal mail fraud and wire fraud statutes,” Painter said.

Trumpists will call this petty, as they do with everything Trump-related, even though they would have heart attacks by the dozen if Joe Biden did the same. But it’s dishonest and slimy fraud, typical of this criminal cretin.

[Cross-posted at The Jury Talks Back.]

44 Responses to “Fundraising Fraud: Trump’s Phony Promises to Have Meals with Contest Winners”

  1. If this is true, it’s just an amazingly petty fraud on the part of Trump. I think that’s what makes it so sad. Given the power and tools at his disposal this is such a small way to rip off his followers.
    It’s hard to understand also, he can pick the time and place, he likes being fawned over, it creates a photo opportunity, it just seems like such a weird fraud.

    Time123 (353edd)

  2. 1. Sounds just like Trump to me. Dunno if the accusation would hold up in court, but it’s plausible.

    Gryph (08c844)

  3. Yeah, that Trump. The Billionaire President who fixes penny ante contests. Right.

    rcocean (1a839e)

  4. 3. I think you pronounced “promises things he has no intention of fulfilling” wrong.

    Gryph (08c844)

  5. Trump humpers think that Vera Coking was petty and ultimately meaningless as well.

    Gryph (08c844)

  6. #3, you say that as though Donald Trump had any demonstrated sense of honor, or as though being a “billionaire” made him indifferent to money.

    Radegunda (39c35f)

  7. 98% OT — after an LBJ-like announcement, why not use this concept for the 2020 R presidential primary – http://www.gq.com/story/trump-burnett-white-house-apprentice?mbid=synd_yahoo_rss

    urbanleftbehind (5eecdb)

  8. There are at least a couple of Trump truisms: (1) Everything he says should be presumed false until proven true, and (2) like a King Midas in a Stanger Things alt-universe, everything Trump touches gets corrupted. The only person I can think of who left on her own terms and kept her integrity intact is Nikki Haley.

    Paul Montagu (00daa1)

  9. Black Friday should have some great deals on fainting couches.

    Munroe (dd6b64)

  10. Trump has always been notorious as a two-bit chiseler who has stiffed everybody stupid enough to do business with him, from soda-pop vendors to banks, no amount too small or too large, but I see this as evidence of his germophobia. I wouldn’t want to eat at the same table with a Trump donor, either.

    nk (dbc370)

  11. Breaking-

    Donald Trump to pay $2 million to settle New York Attorney General civil lawsuit against Trump Foundation and his children
    A judge ordered President Donald Trump to pay $2 million to a collection of nonprofit organizations as part of a settlement with the New York state attorney general’s office to resolve a civil lawsuit that alleged “persistent” violations of charities law that included unlawful coordination with the 2016 Trump presidential campaign, according to a court filing Thursday. ….

    Trump himself had vowed to fight the lawsuit, tweeting last year, “I won’t settle this case!” ….

    Rip Murdock (86020d)

  12. The only person I can think of who left on her own terms and kept her integrity intact is Nikki Haley.

    But she’s been sounding like a defender Donald Trump first and foremost.

    Radegunda (39c35f)

  13. Black Friday should have some great deals on fainting couches.

    Being a die-hard Trump defender requires disposing of one’s moral capacity to be scandalized by anything, as long as it’s Trump doing it.
    That was the premise of “I could shoot someone on 5th Avenue …,” a boast that Trumpsters seem determined to prove true.

    Radegunda (39c35f)

  14. That was the premise of “I could shoot someone on 5th Avenue …,”

    I wonder what they’ll when he’s removed, or loses the election, and he brings in 10 Russian divisions to enforce his Article II.

    nk (dbc370)

  15. nk, in that regard Kentucky might be the practice round for any forced removal of head of state.

    urbanleftbehind (3b42b4)

  16. what they’ll *do* when

    nk (dbc370)

  17. Heart attacks? Actually, if Biden did this Trumpists would simply say Joey Bee plagiarized the ploy.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  18. Why lie about something like this? And why do people defend Trump on anything? If they always fall back to ‘he’s scum but he’s not a democrat’ why defend him in the first place?

    Dustin (336809)

  19. We don’t care about this stuff trump supporters (now 90% of republican party) will say. Trump hates the same people we hate liberal elitists, never trumpet free trade libertarian conservatives and rinos! Republican base just kicked rinos and never trumpkins out of power in republican party. Your wealthy donor’s money couldn’t buy love only rent it!

    asset (c3eb82)

  20. No President would be caught doing this. Nor ripping off his own charitable organization. If he did, Republicans wouldn’t tolerate it.

    noel (f22371)

  21. Trump told you: “My whole life I’ve been greedy”. But God bless some of you…. you still won’t believe him.

    noel (f22371)

  22. He would steal the tiniest holiday ornament from Cindy Lou.

    noel (f22371)

  23. #21 — That’s the oddest thing. Even when Trump announces his horribleness quite openly, the faithful keep insisting that he’s a much better person than the evidence indicates.

    Radegunda (39c35f)

  24. But it’s dishonest and slimy fraud, typical of this criminal cretin.

    I’ve gotten e-mails from Nigerian princes with more integrity…

    Dave (8f119a)

  25. @19. “Never give a sucker an even break or smarten up a chump.”- Larson E. Whipsnade [W.C. Fields] ‘You Can’t Cheat An Honest Man’ 1939

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  26. Tiffany Trump concurs with you Dave, although her bf is more in the Theresa Heinz Kerry mold of “African”.

    urbanleftbehind (82ad94)

  27. Off Topic:
    @Patterico and co-bloggers… this is a real interesting link:
    https://stratechery.com/2019/tech-and-liberty/


    Over the last several weeks debate has raged over Facebook’s policy to not fact-check politician speech on its platforms, either in organic posts or paid advertisements. Twitter, meanwhile, decided to ban political ads completely.


    Facebook, obviously, is not the government, and thank goodness: the fact that Zuckerberg answers to no one is deeply concerning to me. To be fair, in the case of political ads, this was arguably a benefit: I think he is making the right decision in the face of massive resistance. In the long run, though, it is very problematic that such a powerful player in our democracy has no accountability. Liberty is not simply about laws, or culture, it is also about structure, and it is right to be concerned about the centralized nature of companies like Facebook.

    To that end, the fact that this debate is even occurring is evidence of the problem: those opposed to Facebook’s decision about ads wish the company would wield its power in their favor; my question is whether such power should even exist in the first place. Facebook can close Munroe’s door on anyone, and there is nothing anyone can do about it.

    whembly (fd57f6)

  28. Never give a sucker an even break

    REQUEST FOR ASSISTANCE-STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL

    I am Dr. Bakare Tunde, the cousin of Nigerian Astronaut, Air Force Major Abacha Tunde. He was the first African in space when he made a secret flight to the Salyut 6 space station in 1979. He was on a later Soviet spaceflight, Soyuz T-16Z to the secret Soviet military space station Salyut 8T in 1989. He was stranded there in 1990 when the Soviet Union was dissolved. His other Soviet crew members returned to earth on the Soyuz T-16Z, but his place was taken up by return cargo. There have been occasional Progrez supply flights to keep him going since that time. He is in good humour, but wants to come home.

    In the 14-years since he has been on the station, he has accumulated flight pay and interest amounting to almost $ 15,000,000 American Dollars. This is held in a trust at the Lagos National Savings and Trust Association. If we can obtain access to this money, we can place a down payment with the Russian Space Authorities for a Soyuz return flight to bring him back to Earth. I am told this will cost $ 3,000,000 American Dollars. In order to access the his trust fund we need your assistance.

    Consequently, my colleagues and I are willing to transfer the total amount to your account or subsequent disbursement, since we as civil servants are prohibited by the Code of Conduct Bureau (Civil Service Laws) from opening and/ or operating foreign accounts in our names.
    Needless to say, the trust reposed on you at this juncture is enormous. In return, we have agreed to offer you 20 per cent of the transferred sum, while 10 per cent shall be set aside for incidental expenses (internal and external) between the parties in the course of the transaction. You will be mandated to remit the balance 70 per cent to other accounts in due course.

    Dave (8f119a)

  29. Tagged “Strictly Confidential”- yet you share.

    Whistleblower!! 😉

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  30. JVW – Tulsi was on Breitbart News Daily with Alex Marlow this morning. Good interview by Marlow. He let her speak and explain her positions.

    mg (8cbc69)

  31. He let her speak and explain her positions.

    In Syrian or Russian?

    Dave (8f119a)

  32. Which kind of positions?

    urbanleftbehind (82ad94)

  33. The depth of Trump’s fraud and corruption is bottomless. I’ve said that from the beginning. It’s the reason why I refused to vote for him.

    Now a new book by “Anonymous,” purportedly a high-ranking official, says he’s not personable either.

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/book-by-anonymous-describes-trump-as-cruel-inept-and-a-danger-to-the-nation/ar-BBWqVqG?ocid=spartandhp

    Gawain's Ghost (b25cd1)

  34. Dave @28.

    He was stranded there in 1990 when the Soviet Union was dissolved. His other Soviet crew members returned to earth on the Soyuz T-16Z, but his place was taken up by return cargo. There have been occasional Progrez supply flights to keep him going since that time. He is in good humour, but wants to come home.

    In the 14-years since he has been on the station, he has accumulated flight pay and interest amounting to almost $ 15,000,000 American Dollars…

    From this, it would seem this was written in 2004 – about the heyday of spam.

    Do you know what the most common junk e-mail (spam) subject line was in 2006?

    It was: “Donald Trump wants you. Please respond.”

    (Source: The Tyranny of E-Mail: The Four Thousand Year Journey to Your Inbox by John Freeman (Scribner, 2009) page 125. I think the original source may be AOL, so this may pertain to AOL.

    See also: https://www.jwz.org/blog/2005/12/top-ten-spam-subjects

    https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/hey-donald-trump-wants-you!!-&-other-lies-told-by-spammers-in-2005-1001549452

    I think now e-mail is more commonly spelled email, without the hyphen.

    Sammy Finkelman (1e81da)

  35. #33, IOW, Trump in private is really not a better person than he appears to be in public. Who would have guessed?

    Radegunda (d4a7fb)

  36. This is hilarious: The press secretary huffs that “Real authors reach out to their subjects to get things fact checked” — as if anyone could seriously believe that Donald Trump is the person to ask for the real facts about Donald Trump.

    Radegunda (d4a7fb)

  37. Visit to Arlington Cemetery reminded Donald Trump Jr. of all his family’s ‘sacrifices,’ he writes
    It was the day before his father was inaugurated president of the United States when the weight of the office first washed over Donald Trump Jr.
    President-elect Trump and the new first family were at Arlington National Cemetery, where Trump was to lay a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknowns.
    “I rarely get emotional, if ever,” Trump Jr. wrote in his new book, “Triggered: How the Left Thrives on Hate and Wants to Silence Us.” “Yet, as we drove past the rows of white grave markers, in the gravity of the moment, I had a deep sense of the importance of the presidency and a love of our country.”
    He also had another revelation as he watched his father standing in front of the tomb, surrounded by more than 400,000 graves, listening to the Army Band bugler playing taps: The Trump family had already suffered, he recalled thinking, and this was only the beginning.
    “In that moment, I also thought of all the attacks we’d already suffered as a family, and about all the sacrifices we’d have to make to help my father succeed — voluntarily giving up a huge chunk of our business and all international deals to avoid the appearance that we were ‘profiting off the office,’” Trump Jr. wrote.
    The book bills itself as a 300-page evisceration of PC culture — “the book that leftist elites don’t want you to read,” its Amazon page twice crows. In it, Trump Jr. writes, “A victimhood complex has taken root in the American left.” Yet, in his telling, the real victim is often him, his father or another Trump family member. ……..

    Rip Murdock (6fea74)

  38. 36. Radegunda (d4a7fb) — 11/7/2019 @ 8:27 pm

    This is hilarious: The press secretary huffs that “Real authors reach out to their subjects to get things fact checked” — as if anyone could seriously believe that Donald Trump is the person to ask for the real facts about Donald Trump.

    Still, he coukd point you to other people or documents, and there are things reported to be in that are book tat are simply not credible. Such as the claim that Vice President Mike Pence was ready or willing to sign on to a 25th amendment removal process for the president. That claim has been made before ad Rod Rosenstein denied what it said about him.

    Some other things in that book are just clever turns of phrase, such as that Donald Trump being president is like a 12-year old being running air traffic control. (the point being that 12 year could sort of manage to do the job, but could also do some strange wrong things because of ignorance and maybe because he decides to have fun.

    There is also the claim that a number of people plotted a mass resignation, so they could make a statement against Donald Trump that would get a lot of attention, but decided against it because that would just leave the government in worse hands. Donald Trump would still be president for a number of years and now his supporting staff would be worse.

    Some of these things could be fiction that a number of people have decided to say, or maybe it’s a case of one backing up the other.

    This leaves people with difficulty n determining what might be true. And there’s the point that if he tells too much that is true, he identifies himself.

    Sammy Finkelman (1e81da)

  39. 37 – what a big effing baby! He’s the true “Fredo”.

    urbanleftbehind (5eecdb)

  40. 39. That would be Eric, no?

    They gave up a lot of money (which they didn’t however, need — it wouldn’t affect their lifestyle, and they lost privacy and respect. He wanted to identify with the people buried in Arlington cemetery, so it;s not bad that he came up with sacrifices he had made. His life didn’t become easier with his father running for president and being so controversial.

    Sammy Finkelman (1e81da)

  41. Trumpists will call this petty

    The Trump defense will be two fold:

    1) Politicians cannot be challenged for lies they say in political ads, at least when it doesn’t involve cheating people out of money, and that a breakfast with Donald Trump, as opposed to the same breakfast without Donald Trump being there, is not a thing of value.

    2) Other candidates for public office did this sort of thing before him, and no action was taken.

    Nw what just happeneds with his charity, which is already dissolved s that Trump has to gove $2 million to charities that he is not associated with because the judge considered any money that to hs Foundation from that event he did to have an excuse to skip a debate to be of too much benefit to him

    Sammy Finkelman (1e81da)

  42. Eric doesn’t have the history of drinking or the failed marriage (though I think with his new squeeze, it was his way of getting back at the ex-wife having been with a Latin King in her youth), doesnt do safari hunting, and looks a lot more “Aryan/Nordic” than Jr.

    urbanleftbehind (5eecdb)

  43. He also had another revelation as he watched his father standing in front of the tomb, surrounded by more than 400,000 graves, listening to the Army Band bugler playing taps:

    He may have thought it was the Army Band bugler, but it was actually the world’s smallest violin.

    The Trump family had already suffered, he recalled thinking, and this was only the beginning.

    I’ll bet he even felt a twinge of bone spurs way, deep down inside his patent leather Gucci Oxfords…

    Dave (b206e1)

  44. “In that moment, I also thought of all the attacks we’d already suffered as a family, and about all the sacrifices we’d have to make to help my father succeed — voluntarily giving up a huge chunk of our business and all international deals to avoid the appearance that we were ‘profiting off the office,’” Trump Jr. wrote.

    This guy said this in the context of the tomb of the unknown soldier! How do people manage not to throw up whenever they are in his presence?

    Dustin (d42b09)


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