Junior's testimony perjury

The matter at hand was a lawsuit filed in 2020 against Donald Trump’s inauguration committee and the Trump Organization by Karl Racine, the attorney general of Washington, DC. The suit claims that the inauguration committee misused charitable funds to enrich the Trump family. As the attorney general put it, the lawsuit “alleges that the Inaugural Committee, a nonprofit corporation, coordinated with the Trump family to grossly overpay for event space in the Trump International Hotel. Although the Inaugural Committee was aware that it was paying far above market rates, it never considered less expensive alternatives, and even paid for space on days when it did not hold events. The Committee also improperly used non-profit funds to throw a private party [at the Trump Hotel] for the Trump family costing several hundred thousand dollars.” In short, the attorney general has accused the Trump clan and its company of major grifting [...] .

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During his deposition, Trump Jr. frequently replied, “I don’t recall,” and he downplayed his involvement in preparation for his father’s inauguration in January 2017. In several exchanges, he made statements that are contradicted by documents or the recollections of others and that appear to be false.

  Mother Jones

Surprise, surprise.

During the deposition, Trump Jr. was asked, “Did you attend an event at Union Station [during the inauguration]?” This was a reference to that fancy candlelight dinner. He replied, “I don’t know.” The video shows Trump Jr. was at this celebration, which was also attended by his father, his adult siblings, Melania, and many Trump world luminaries. In the video, Trump Jr. ebulliently proclaims that this dinner “will go down in history.”

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Trump Jr. also had trouble during the deposition remembering whether on the night of the inauguration he attended that exclusive bash at the Trump Hotel that the DC attorney general says was improperly paid for by the Trump inauguration committee and describes as a “private party for the Trump children” and guests of the hotel. According to Racine, Gates, with Ivanka Trump’s knowledge, “allowed the [inauguration committee’s] nonprofit funds to pay for a private after-hours party for the Trump family at their Hotel, even after [the committee’s] staff initially canceled this event over concerns of improper use of funds. Gates allowed the event to move forward after Trump Hotel staff complained that canceling it would hurt the Hotel’s bottom line.”

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In recently submitted legal filings in the case, Racine provides more evidence this was indeed a private affair for the Trump children and hotel guests. “Attendance was by invitation only, and guests were limited to friends and family of the President-elect and guests of the Hotel,” he maintains in one filing. And he adds, “Incredibly, the final decision to proceed with the event was not even made by the [inauguration committee], but by Donald Trump, Jr.”

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In his sworn testimony, Trump Jr. sidestepped the issue of whether this event was held for him and his siblings. And when he was asked if he had been “involved” in any inauguration events “like dinners, lunches, concerts,” he answered, “Not to my recollection. No.”

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The inauguration committee paid the Trump Hotel $288,367 for this event, according to Racine. And the AG notes in a filing that Trump, Trump Jr., Ivanka, and Eric each profit from Trump Hotel revenues.

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As the lawsuit notes, during the organization of the inauguration, Winston Wolkoff, then a close friend of Melania Trump, had raised concerns with the president-elect, Ivanka Trump, and Gates about the prices the Trump Hotel was charging the inauguration committee for events to be held there. This included a written warning to Ivanka Trump and Gates that Trump’s hotel was trying to charge the committee twice the market rate for event space. (Gates ignored the warning, the lawsuit notes, and the committee struck a contract with the Trump Hotel for $1.03 million, an amount the lawsuit says was far above the hotel’s own pricing guidelines.)

During his deposition, Trump Jr. was asked about Winston Wolkoff: “Do you know her?” He replied, “I know of her. I think I’ve met her, but I don’t know her. If she was in this room I’m not sure I would recognize her.”

Little parrot. Exactly what his father has said numerous times under similar circumstances.

[Mother Jones has video] from a tony candlelight dinner held at Union Station in Washington, DC, the night before Trump’s inauguration. This soiree was one of the official inauguration events. (A million-dollar contribution to the inauguration committee earned a Trump donor a ticket.) Here Trump Jr. can be seen profusely praising Barrack and Winston Wolkoff for the “incredible” work they did. It seems he did know her.

And documents obtained by Mother Jones shows there’s evidence that Trump Jr.’s claim of having “no involvement” with Winston Wolkoff was false. On January 17, 2017, an assistant for Ivanka Trump texted Winston Wolkoff and said that Trump Jr. wanted to speak to her, providing Winston Wolkoff with his cell number.

That same day, Trump Jr. emailed Winston Wolkoff and asked if they could talk. He said he had a contact who “seems to have some very big talent lined up, if we wanted it” for the inauguration events. Winston Wolkoff responded in an email, saying that the inauguration committee was “locked and loaded” for all its events. And Trump Jr. replied, “Thank you Stephanie, I wanted to see if you were still possibly looking for talent. Some friends of mine that are quite big in the industry have been asking around and would be able to put together a pretty impressive roster.”

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Trump Jr. has a spotty record when it comes to telling the truth about scandals. When the news emerged in July 2017 that a year earlier he, Kushner, and Paul Manafort had secretly met in Trump Tower with a Russian emissary who they were told would supply them dirt on Hillary Clinton as part of a covert Kremlin effort to help the Trump campaign, Trump Jr. issued a statement that claimed they had gathered to discuss “a program about the adoption of Russian children.” The statement did not acknowledge that the intent of the meeting was to obtain derogatory material on Trump’s campaign rival from a Russian operative. An earlier draft of Trump Jr.’s statement did mention that the “individual” he met “might have information helpful to the campaign.” But that line was deleted at his father’s instruction, according to the final report of Mueller.

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Trump Jr.’s testimony in Congress during the Trump-Russia investigation in September 2017 also raised questions about his trustworthiness. He told the Senate Judiciary Committee that he was not “aware” of any overseas governments other than Russia offering or providing assistance to the Trump camp in 2016. Yet eight months later, the New York Times revealed that during the 2016 campaign Trump Jr. had a meeting with George Nader, an emissary for the rulers of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates; Joel Zamel, an Israeli expert in social media manipulation; and Erik Prince, the infamous private security contractor and Trump backer. (Nader is now serving a 10-year sentence on child sex trafficking and pornography charges.) “The meeting,” the newspaper reported, “was convened primarily to offer help to the Trump team.” After the Times story appeared, Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) declared, he was “deeply concerned that…Donald Trump Jr. provided false testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee.”

Charge these criminals.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.