Just last week, the Washington Post broke explosive reporting on a federal investigation that was conveniently shut down by Trump-appointed Attorney General Bill Barr into whether the Egyptian government funneled a staggering $10 million into Donald Trump’s presidential campaign in 2016, in what certainly appeared as though it could’ve been an attempted cash bribe.
Now, one of those same reporters took to social media with an even deeper dive and thorough explanation of why this new development is such an explosively big deal.
Washington Post reporter Carol Leonnig called the investigation into whether or not Donald J. Trump illegally took money from the Egyptian government “the most serious allegation of a bribe in White House history.”
Leonnig goes on to specifically cite three factors that make this particular investigation as explosive as it is:
1/ It was based on “jaw-dropping” CIA intelligence that indicated Egypt’s president sought in 2016 to illegally inject $10M to help elect Trump; 2/ the lead came from a reliable CIA informant and was corroborated by other US intelligence operations; 3/ investigators then discovered a $10M cash withdrawal in Jan 2017 from key Egyptian spy agency account that seemed to validate the intel.”
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WaPo’s original report revealed that an organization linked to Egypt’s intelligence services instructed the country’s state-run bank to withdraw $10 million in cash. That cash was then stuffed into two large sacks and carried out of the bank by hand.
“Federal investigators learned of the withdrawal, which has not been previously reported, early in 2019,” the Post reported. “The discovery intensified a secret criminal investigation that had begun two years earlier with classified U.S. intelligence indicating that Egyptian President Abdel Fatah El-Sisi sought to give Trump $10 million to boost his 2016 presidential campaign.”
In addition, the Department of Justice was also investigating whether Trump was aware of the potential to be reimbursed with cash from Egypt, possibly prompting him to spend a convenient $10 million of his own, personal money in the final weeks of his 2016 presidential campaign.
This investigation was ultimately shut down by Bill Barr and Biden AG Merrick Garland never chose to reopen it.
Featured image via Petty Officer 1st Class Dominique A. Pineiro
