Help Me, Says The GOP, I’m Drowning
The Republican Party is ignominiously unraveling.
The treasurer of the Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC), resigned, citing financial and personnel mismanagement by the CPAC chairman, Matt Schlapp, who is himself a target of a civil suit claiming he made sexual advances to a male staffer.
Texas lawmakers, including Republicans, issued 20 articles of impeachment against state Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton, after six years of scandal, criminal charges and corruption accusations. The impeachment decision came shortly after Paxton accused GOP House Speaker Dade Phelan of being drunk on the job. Paxton also is under investigation regarding his extramarital affair with a woman whom he later recommended for a job with a wealthy donor.
Earlier this month, the Texas House General Investigating Committee recommended the expulsion of GOP Texas state Rep. Bryan Slaton for inappropriate sexual conduct with a 19-year-old intern. Slaton resigned before a planned vote to kick him out.
The Trump Organization, the company led by former President trump and his family, finished last in an Axios Harris survey of brand reputations for the second year in a row.
E. Jean Carroll has asked a court to expand a lawsuit against trump for an added $10 million in damages after trump, once again, called Carroll a liar and a “whack job” for claims in her successful civil suit in which she was awarded $5 million that trump sexually assaulted her in a department store dressing room in the 1990s.
Trump’s latest comments about Fox News Laura Ingraham removes any remaining doubt that the love affair between trump and Fox News is kaput. Trump had a hissy fit after Ingraham discussed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s 2024 chances for president.
Diving deeper, Bob Beauprez, the longtime treasurer of the American Conservative Union (ACU), the organizer of CPAC, claimed that the ACU had not fully informed him about the money it paid for Schlapp’s legal defense against a lawsuit accusing him of sexual assault.
“I cannot deliver a financial report at the upcoming board meeting with any confidence in the accuracy of the numbers,” Beauprez wrote. “A cancer has been metastasizing within the organization for years. It must be diagnosed, treated, and cured, or it will destroy ACU/F. You simply cannot survive like this.”
In January, Carlton Huffman, a longtime Republican staffer, alleged that Schlapp groped him while they were campaigning together last fall for U.S Senate candidate Hershel Walker in Georgia. Huffman accused Schlapp of repeatedly grabbing his genitalia while he was driving the conservative activist back from a bar where Schlapp drank large quantities of vodka. Huffman later sued for Schlapp for allegedly “aggressively fondling [the plaintiff’s] genital area in a sustained manner,” and for an alleged organized effort by Schlapp and his wife to discredit and defame Huffman.
Beauprez is concerned that the money Schlapp is using to defend himself against Huffman’s charges comes from organizational funds that have been donated to the ACU to promote conservatism.
Beauprez, a former Republican congressman, wrote that ACU’s executive committee had advanced Schlapp $50,000 so he could immediately retain a lawyer. He also said that Schlapp later told him he had raised another $270,000 from donors to ACU and its related foundation, ACUF.
CPAC’s annual conferences has long been a platform for far right Republicans, including, among others, trump, Steve Bannon, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla. and Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo.
Beauprez has had his own problems. In 2006, he appeared at a photo-op in a military-issued uniform, even though he had never served in the military. He had requested and received three draft deferments and then a medical release during the Vietnam War.
Schlapp was actively in support of trump’s phony claims about voter fraud in the 2020 election. Schlapp falsely claimed that 9,000 votes were improperly cast in Nevada. In the final days of the trump administration, Schlapp lobbied for a pardon for Parker H. “Pete” Petit, a major Republican donor, who was the Georgia finance chairman of trump’s 2016 campaign and was convicted of securities fraud in November 2020. Schlapp charged Parker $750,000 for his lobbying assistance.
As chair of CPAC, Schlapp was paid $600,000 annually, though the position had been previously, historically unpaid.
* The Republican-led, Texas House General Investigating Committee unanimously recommended impeaching Paxton, the state’s top lawyer, on 20 articles, including bribery, unfitness for office and abuse of public trust.
Paxton has been under FBI investigation for years over accusations that he used his office to help a donor. He was indicted on securities fraud charges in 2015, but has yet to stand trial.
Paxton called the committee vote a political attack by the house’s “liberal” Republican speaker, Dade Phelan. Paxton called for Phelan to resign and accused him of being drunk during a legislative session last week. Phelan’s office said Paxton’s comments were a blatant attempt to “save face.”
The articles of impeachment focus on Paxton’s relationship with a wealthy donor, developer Nate Paul, and Paxton’s alleged efforts to protect Paul from an FBI investigation. Paul, an Austin real estate investor, has been found in contempt of court, fined more than $180,000 and ordered to serve jail time by a state judge.
In 2014, Paxton admitted he broke a Texas securities law by not registering as an investment advisor while soliciting clients. A year later, Paxton was indicted on felony securities charges by a grand jury in his hometown near Dallas, where he was accused by a grand jury of defrauding investors in a tech startup. He has pleaded not guilty to two felony counts that carry a potential sentence of five to 99 years in prison.
Paxton is a strong trump supporter, having helped to file the unsuccessful Texas v. Pennsylvania case in the U.S. Supreme Court to invalidate Biden electors, to speaking at the rally trump held on January 6, 2021, that immediately preceded the 2021 U.S. Capitol attack.
The vote to impeach Paxton was the second time this year that the committee had recommended the removal of an elected official from office. The first involved Republican state Rep. Bryan Slaton. A committee investigation found that Slaton had slept with a 19-year-old staff member after serving her alcohol.
Slaton, 45, resigned shortly after the investigation results were announced. The House then voted unanimously to formally expel him, and prevent him from holding office in the future.
The House investigation determined that Slaton gave the intern and another young staffer alcohol at his home, had sex with the intern after she was intoxicated, and later showed her a threatening email but said everything would be fine if the incident was kept quiet.
Slaton also asked a fellow lawmaker to keep his behavior secret, the House General Investigating Committee report noted. Slaton’s legislative biography describes him as holding values and principles formed by church and family gatherings. It also cites his degrees from a Baptist seminary and work as a youth minister.
“I look forward to spending more time with my young family, and will continue to find ways to serve my community and all citizens across our great state,” wrote Slaton in a resignation letter.
* The Trump Organization finished last in an Axios Harris survey of brand reputations for the second year in a row. The annual poll compiles views of what respondents identify as the 100 most visible companies in the country. The company calculates its Reputational Quotient (RT) by measuring various characteristics — character, trajectory, trust, culture, ethics, citizenship, vision, growth and products and services.
The Trump Organization scored a 52.9 out of 100, making it the only company to receive a “very poor” score, according to the rankings. FTX, Fox Corporation, Twitter and Facebook received the next lowest scores, rounding out the bottom five.
This year’s rankings are based on a survey of 16,310 Americans from a nationally representative sample conducted March 13–28. Americans are asked which two companies stand out as having the best reputation today and which two have the worst. The top-performing companies were Patagonia, Costco and John Deere.
Trump couldn’t keep his mouth shut and it may cost him $10 million. At a CNN town hall meeting, trump repeated earlier claims about E. Jean Carroll that he “never met this woman” while calling Carroll’s story “fake” and “made up,” as he again referred to Carroll as a “whack job.”
His choice words came one day after a jury awarded $5 million to Carroll over her claim that trump sexually assaulted her in a department store dressing room in the 1990s. After the CNN comments, Carroll asked a court to expand the scope of a separate lawsuit against trump, seeking at least an additional $10 million in damages.
Trump couldn’t stop himself from also launching a fusillade of insults against Fox News’ host Laura Ingraham after she presented a segment discussing Florida Gov. Ron Desantis’ 2024 chances during her prime-time show.
Trump posted on his Truth Social site, that Ingraham carried out a “hit piece” on him.
Ingraham discussed DeSantis recently trying to appeal to evangelical Christians, with a speech at the National Religious Broadcasting convention in Orlando ahead of his expected 2024 announcement. Ingraham and Common Sense Society executive editor Chris Bedford also discussed recent polls that suggested that DeSantis, and not Trump, would beat Biden in a potential presidential face-off in 2024 in the key swing states of Arizona and Georgia.
“Laura Ingraham on FoxNews just did a hit piece on me (there go her ratings!) showing some polls which indicate that Ron DeSanctimonious may do better against Biden than I would, when actually polls show that I do MUCH better against Biden than ‘Rob,’” trump posted on his Truth Social site.
In the Truth Social post, Trump shares a screenshot of Fox News showing the results of the Richard Barris Poll of rust belt states, with Trump beating Biden 45 to 38.1 percent, while Biden taking DeSantis 38.6 to 35.1 percent.
“The poll you’re looking at now, which has me doing far better against Crooked Joe, was just put out by FOX, I am sure unhappily. I’m also leading DeSanctus by over 40 points in Primary Voting,” trump posted.