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 Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Getty ImagesPay Dirt is a weekly foray into the pigpen of political funding. Subscribe here to get it in your inbox every Thursday.
A watchdog group is asking the Justice Department to investigate whether Donald Trump repeatedly lied in sworn statements to the federal government—including his own administration—about a $50 million loan that apparently never existed in the first place, and which could be evidence of tax evasion.
The criminal complaint, filed on Thursday by watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington and first obtained by The Daily Beast, asks the FBI and the Justice Department's Public Integrity Unit to probe whether Trump "knowingly and willfully" lied about the mystery loan on his personal financial disclosures.
Read more at The Daily Beast.
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Addressing steelworkers Wednesday, President Biden identified with families of modest means and sought to create a contrast with former president Donald Trump.
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 Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Getty ImagesDonald Trump sure looked lonely on Tuesday as he sat stone-faced and sleepy in a Manhattan courtroom for the second day of jury selection in his hush-money criminal trial. Gone were Trump's usual milieu of MAGA-manic supporters, replaced by a dour Supreme Court judge and a single protester who showed up outside the courthouse to defend the former president.
The trial partly centers on claims that Trump paid a former porn actress to keep quiet about their alleged affair. According to prosecutors, the $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels in October 2016 amounted to a conspiracy "to corrupt a presidential election" and involved "lying in New York business records to cover it up." His former fixer, Michael Cohen, has previously said he made the payments on his boss' behalf.
In addition to Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford, Trump was also allegedly involved in a $150,000 payment to former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who said she had an affair with him in 2006. The payment was made by tabloid giant American Media—an ally of Trump—which then killed the story.
Read more at The Daily Beast.
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