Elliot Broidy is in the news again.
Let’s begin the Elliot Broidy story on April 9, 2018 when the FBI raided Trump’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen’s office and seized material.
A few days later on April 13, Elliot Broidy made news when it was reported that Michael Cohen had brokered a deal between Broidy and playboy model Shera Bechard.
Broidy, described as a wealthy RNC official with “close ties to the White House,” had allegedly been paying Bechard to have an exclusive affair. After she became pregnant, Cohen brokered a deal: Broidy would pay her $1.6 million for the abortion and her silence. Cohen collected $250K for arranging the deal.
When the scandal broke, Broidy resigned his position as deputy finance chair of the GOP.
The same day the Broidy story broke, Cohen was claiming the FBI couldn’t examine the material taken from his office because he had a “sensitive” law practice, and the materials were protected under the attorney client privilege.
The prosecution argued that the material was not privileged: They alleged that Cohen had only one client, and that the work he did for this client was not legal work.
The court scheduled a hearing for the following Monday to determine how to handle the “sensitive” material seized from Cohen’s office.
Over the weekend, Trump intervened in the Cohen case. He filed a letter with the court requesting that he and his lawyers look at all the seized materials, decide what was privileged, and hand over to law enforcement what they should be permitted to see.
Obviously the seized materials concerned Trump—and he didn’t want them to fall into the hands of law enforcement.
At the Monday morning hearing Cohen said he had 3 clients: Trump, Broidy, and a third client who he refused to name.
The court insisted that Cohen reveal the third client. He revealed the third client: Sean Hannity. (Interesting to contemplate why Hannity needed a fixer.)
(Very little of the seized material was ultimately found to be privileged.)
This morning we learned that in July of 2018—shortly after Cohen began cooperating with law enforcement—federal agents raided Broidy’s offices and seized material.
ProPublica reports the sealed search warrant shows that federal agents sought records from Broidy’s office related to the United Arab Emirates, UAE adviser George Nader, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and any travel to the Middle East.
They were also seeking records concerning Broidy’s dealing with Trump administration officials.
Keep in mind that law enforcement cannot obtain a warrant without probable cause that they will find evidence related to a crime.
Broidy was a major Trump campaign fundraiser.
The search warrant cites three potential crimes that authorities are investigating: Conspiracy, money laundering, and violations of the law barring covert lobbying on behalf of foreign officials.
I suspect—given the nature of the suspected crimes and foreign entities involved—that we are glimpsing a point of an Iron Triangle, which I talked about here.
Broidy already has a criminal record: In 2009 he pleaded guilty to charges connected with public corruption and bribery.
Former Republican Max Boot wrote yesterday that the GOP is morally bankrupt. He notes that the GOP, that once called itself the party of law and order, is standing by as Trump obstructs justice.
Breaking laws is no longer a disqualification in the GOP. In fact, it is becoming a badge of honor. This astonishing video shows the ovation and applause Roger Stone received recently at a GOP event in VA, after his indictment.
I have offered two explanation for the firehose of crimes we see coming from the GOP: First: The GOP is trying to take us back to the 1920s & the era of robber barons, when white men could basically do as they please.
Wealthy white men could cheat! They could grab! (click here for a history of rape and sexual harassment laws.)
Second: The GOP has aligned with Putin’s Russia because they see Russia as the savior of the white race. See. Their alliance with Putin brings them into alliance with other non-Democratic nations.
And of course, all of this makes perfect sense when you look at the history of the GOP and how it came to be an authoritarian party, which I recounted here.
