It was Aug. 26, 2019, in Biarritz, France, and Donald Trump greeted a friend as only he could – and get away with it politically.
Having repeatedly disgraced himself as our face and voice at another G7 economic conference, Trump topped things off in Trump style.
As a sit-down with brutal Egyptian military ruler Abdel Fattah el-Sisi approached, Trump croaked:
“Where’s my favorite dictator?”
Hey, hey, hey! Yay, dictators!
Ah, but this el-Sisi guy is not just any potentate. Having led a military takeover 11 years ago, he kills; he imprisons. Amnesty International calls Egypt an “open-air prison for critics.”
He’s jiggered Egypt’s constitution to stay in power for life.
But, then, that’s what dictators do. What elevated el-Sisi to No. 1 on Trump’s list?
In 2019, some FBI investigators thought they might have the answer.
But first, let’s hear newly christened candidate Trump in 2016 saying, “By self-funding my campaign, I am not controlled by my donors, special interests or lobbyists. I am working only for the people of the U.S.!”
Sure — just as he recently asked a Mar-a-Lago dining-room full of oil executives to fork over a combined $1 billion to his campaign.
This shakedown, as with the whole “self-funding” bucket of bulldust, is emblematic of a corrupt-to-the-core grifter.
The profits he made from his properties in dealing with foreign governments and varied favor seekers made potted meat of the Emoluments Clause, which used to prevent presidents from profiteering in office.
Back when Robert Mueller was probing collusion with Russia, Trump’s one-time minister of chaos Steve Bannon was dismissive of the effort but admitted off-hand that if Trump did get his tail in a ringer it would be over money-laundering – something for which Bannon himself would face criminal charges.
This is why investigators wondered where Donald Trump’s campaign got a sudden infusion of $10 million down the stretch in the 2016 election.
We were to assume it came from Trump’s own plentiful reserves. In fact, the campaign was desperate and running on fumes.
From where did this cash come?
One plausible assumption came when investigators discovered a very suspicious withdrawal of $10 million – two large bags of $100 bills – hauled away from the National Bank of Egypt by agents of the Egyptian Intelligence Service.
As the Washington Post reports, the FBI suspected this shady transaction might involve el-Sisi.
If this sounds like beyond-the-pale stuff, understand: Egypt was the “giver” behind the bribes that got U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez convicted.
The investigation of the sudden influx of $10 million for Trump’s campaign was, for a time, in the hands of special prosecutor Robert Mueller. However, Mueller was ending his probe into Trump’s cheek-to-cheek with Russia, and handed off the Egypt probe to the Trump Justice Department. Then, most conveniently, the investigation died when then-Attorney General Bob Barr pronounced it baseless.
Barr pretended the Russian probe was baseless, too. That was a lie. Mueller said Trump likely broke several laws in obstructing his investigation.
Now two Democrats on the House Oversight Committee, Reps. Jamie Raskin and Robert Garcia, have written Trump asking him to explain the $10 million rabbit out of a hat.
Trump won’t respond. The two don’t speak for the GOP-controlled committee. The committee majority is far more interested in whatever Hunter Biden had for dinner. Also, the statute of limitations has expired.
Is this bombshell a dud? Or a humongous example of Trump criminally compromising national interests?
I can’t say. What I know: Trump’s track record of being swaddled by foreign interests and moneyed powerbrokers leaves him open to our mistrust, of not criminal liability. If any president ever were to be bought this way, he’s the one.
He never should be in that position again.
Longtime newspaperman John Young lives in Colorado. Email: jyoungcolumn@gmail.com.