Trump's entire 2017 GOP fundraising team caught up in interwoven corruption scandals: analysis

On Wednesday, writing for The Washington Post, columnist Aaron Blake made a key observation: with the new reports of upcoming federal charges against a top GOP fundraiser, all four of the original 2017 leaders of the Republican fundraising operation — Steve Wynn, Michael Cohen, Louis DeJoy, and Elliott Broidy — are caught up in misconduct, corruption, and fraud scandals.

"Wynn resigned amid accusations of sexual misconduct (while denying the claims) in early 2018, and Cohen has pleaded guilty to multiple crimes while flipping on Trump and implicating him in a campaign-finance scheme involving payments to women who accused Trump of affairs," wrote Blake. "DeJoy has in recent weeks been at the center of a controversy over his actions as the new head of the U.S. Postal Service. And now, we learned Tuesday, federal prosecutors are preparing to charge Broidy," for his alleged involvement in a foreign lobbying effort to gain extradition of Chinese business executive Guo Wengui, "and the two sides could reach a plea deal."

Furthermore, Blake wrote, several of these scandals are all related to each other.

"Wynn has also been tied to the lobbying campaign, having conveyed Chinese President Xi Jinping’s desire for Guo’s extradition on multiple occasions and having called Trump about the matter while with Broidy on Wynn’s yacht, according to the documents and people with knowledge of the case. Wynn has cooperated with the government’s investigation," wrote Blake. "In addition, shortly after Wynn resigned from the RNC following accusations of sexual misconduct, Broidy himself resigned over a $1.6 million payment made to a former Playboy model he had impregnated in a martial affair. The settlement was negotiated by none other than Cohen, his fellow RNC deputy finance chair, who was previously Trump’s personal lawyer."

The new Broidy case, in particular, argued Blake, could complicate Trump's election strategy of saber-rattling against China.

"Guo has been accused of bribery and other crimes in China, and while in the United States he has made a number of unproven allegations against the Chinese Communist Party," wrote Blake. "A recent charging document against one of Broidy’s business partners alleges 'a prominent official of a national political party with ties to the administration' has been paid $9 million as part of the lobbying effort to return Guo to China and the other matter involving the Malaysian development firm, 1Malaysia Development Bhd., or 1MDB, which has been accused of billions of dollars in fraud."

"Broidy becomes the latest person with close Trump ties and lots of connections in Trumpworld to face the prospect of criminal charges or pleading guilty — along with possibly cooperating," concluded Blake. "And as the number of people who fit that description grows, their sagas increasingly overlap."

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