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# Following the Money to Dark Places With the Stink of Trump
January 25 2021
Written by Abby Zimet.
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**GUEST WORDS**-It seems the veterans of the Great Capitol Insurrection, high and low, are not faring well.
Scores of rioters have been and continue to be [arrested](https://abcnews.go.com/US/capitol-rioter-allegedly-posted-pelosis-office-instagram-arrested/story?id=75324078), many moronically incriminating themselves en route - with their "Murder the Media" t-shirts, their selfie[ videos ](https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/22/capitol-riots-man-admits-dragging-cop-to-be-beaten-by-flag-pole.html)proclaiming Trump needs to "fire the bat signal" and "death is the only remedy" for lawmakers, their[ getting booted ](https://www.commondreams.org/further/2021/01/22/%20https%3A/www.nytimes.com/2021/01/22/us/delta-flight-capitol-rioter.html)from airplanes for yelling "Trump 2020!" and their [admissions ](https://coloradosun.com/2021/01/22/jeffrey-sabol-colorado-arrested-capitol-riot/)they were in "a fit of rage" on that now-murky day after unsuccessfully [trying ](https://lawandcrime.com/u-s-capitol-siege/rioter-who-helped-drag-officer-down-u-s-capitol-steps-tried-to-flee-to-switzerland-feds/)to flee to non-extradicting Switzerland.
Their slimy Fuhrer, meanwhile, is daily being proved guilty of fomenting it all. Investigations by both [Bloomberg](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-01-22/trump-campaign-paid-organizers-of-pre-riot-rally-2-7-million?sref=PqmVp1JY) and [Open Secrets](https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2021/01/trump-tied-to-dc-protests-dark-money-and-shell-companies/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=twitt_trump-ties-dcprot-012220) have found that Trump's campaign and assorted cronies not only paid over $2.7 million to individuals and firms that organized the pre-riot rally, but that they likely worked with dark money groups and shell companies to illegaly [launder](https://campaignlegal.org/document/complaint-against-donald-j-trump-president-and-trump-make-america-great-again-committee) their respective funds.
According to *Open Secrets,* the [full extent ](https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2021/01/trump-tied-to-dc-protests-dark-money-and-shell-companies/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=twitt_trump-ties-dcprot-012220)of Trump campaign ties to the riot is still unknown; thanks to [opaque practices](https://www.vice.com/en/article/z3ewny/trump-campaign-laundering-campaign-finance-money-election-watchdog-says) around campaign finance laws, FEC disclosures only provide "a snapshot" of campaign payments that are further hidden by being routed through shell companies - at least one of which was [set up](https://twitter.com/ItZmeKatherine/status/1352648022413484037) by Jared Kushner - "making it difficult to know who the campaign paid and when." In other words, grifters gonna grift, which is why many are urging further investigations in order to [\#ProsecuteThemAll](https://twitter.com/hashtag/ProsecuteThemAll?src=hashtag_click).
What's [known ](https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2021/01/trump-tied-to-dc-protests-dark-money-and-shell-companies/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=twitt_trump-ties-dcprot-012220)to date: At least eight people listed on the rally [permit ](https://beta.documentcloud.org/documents/20458554-nps-permit)granted by the [National Park Service](https://beta.documentcloud.org/documents/20458554-nps-permit) worked for Trump’s campaign. They include Maggie Mulvaney, niece of Mick, whose [title ](https://beta.documentcloud.org/documents/20458567-maggie-mulvaney-linkedin)is director of finance operations and who's listed as the rally's “VIP Lead.”
Rally personnel also listed on the [permit](https://beta.documentcloud.org/documents/20458554-nps-permit) include [“VIP Advisor,](https://beta.documentcloud.org/documents/20458554-nps-permit)” [operations associate](https://beta.documentcloud.org/documents/20458554-nps-permit), production manager and stage manager - the latter two roles filled by the owners of Event Strategies Inc., the largest recipient of Trump campaign funds with a payday of $1.7 million. Thus begins a tangled web of [ongoing dealings](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-01-22/trump-campaign-paid-organizers-of-pre-riot-rally-2-7-million?sref=PqmVp1J) with dark entities like [America First Policies](https://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/detail.php?cycle=2018&cmte=C90017302) and [American Made Media Consultants LLC](https://www.opensecrets.org/campaign-expenditures/vendor?cycle=2020&vendor=American+Made+Media+Consultants), Trump's spending clearinghouse, which routed over $759 million to as-yet-unknown recipients.
With the riot's ominous backstory still emerging, Dems on the Senate Finance Committee have begun [asking ](https://www.commondreams.org/further/2021/01/22/%20https%3A/www.cnbc.com/2021/01/22/capitol-riot-senate-democrats-plan-to-target-irs-in-probe-of-pro-trump-groups.html)the IRS to investigate the tax-exempt status of dark money groups involved in rally planning, part of a larger probe into tax-exempt groups.
That spotlight on Trump et al will only get brighter in the lead-up to a Senate [impeachment](https://www.commondreams.org/further/2021/01/22/%20%20https%3A/www.cnn.com/2021/01/22/politics/impeachment-articles-schumer/index.html) trial slated for Feb. 9. It probably didn't help when Chuck Schumer, providing comic relief with an inadvertent, smirking self-own, [declared](https://twitter.com/twon8/status/1352636728985710592) Trump must be held accountable for inciting "the erection." [Cue ](https://twitter.com/jeremyscahill/status/1352635861565845504)bad puns about uprisings, hard-hitting analysis, and sedition that cannot stand. This trial outta be...something.
*(CityWatch guest columnist, Abby Zimet, writes for CommonDreams.org … where this piece was first posted.) Photo by Peter Van Agtmael/ Magnum for Time Magazine.*
*-cw*
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