In any normal administration, MSNBC's Rachel Maddow said, something like this would get a president impeached. For President Donald Trump, however, it's business as usual.
At the top of her show Wednesday, Maddow detailed the shocking revelations that the president was trying to use his position as president to score a deal with the British government and get the British Open to the Trump Turnberry resort, in Scotland. Ambassador Woody Johnson revealed the latest Trump corruption scandal after the president asked him to put in a good word with the British.
Maddow detailed the ways in which it's just more of the same that Americans have seen from this president, who has funneled at least $2.2 million from MAGA donors into his own properties. That doesn't include the $2.4 million in funds the Republican Party has spent on events at Trump's properties. In total, Trump, in conjunction with the Republican Party, has scored nearly $7 million since taking office.
But the same thing that is happening with political money is also happening with taxpayer dollars.
"Unlike other presidents, who disentangled themselves from their financial assets and obligations, who it blind trusts, or who dropped any sort of investments or any sort of thing that might create a conflict of interest, in this case, the president didn't do those things and he blatantly figured out how to blatantly keep funneling campaign money into his pockets but also figured out how to funnel government money, our money, taxpayer money, into his pockets," said Maddow.
The Trump Turnberry ploy is just the latest example of the president using his position to try and score more money from other governments. Despite warnings not to try and peddle Trump's property to the British, Ambassador Johnson did it anyway, meeting with Secretary of State of Scottland, David Mundell.
When asked about it, Trump denied the story and then bragged about how great Trump Turnberry is, endorsing it.
"Best in the world?" Maddow quoted. "Why would you say that? When answering a question about misusing your office to boost your business, do not forget to use the White House briefing room to boost your business while answering that question, right? He's denying that he's using the presidency to hype Turnberry and he's like, 'By the way, as president, you want to know how great Turnberry is?' That's how he denies it. That's the kind of salesmanship I bet they taught at Trump University before it was shut down as a multi-state fraud."
See her opener below:
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