Everyone remembers last month's implosion of Republican National Committee finance chair Steve Wynn, who resigned due to what he called “an avalanche of negative publicity” over sexual harassment charges. Well, now two other gents on the RNC finance leadership team are embroiled in some legal trouble of their own: Michael Cohen, Donald Trump's personal lawyer, and Elliott Broidy, the Trump benefactor who tried to get the Justice Department to drop an investigation in exchange for money.
But last year at this time, RNC chair Ronna McDaniel was super excited about these additions, announced in concert with Steve Wynn:
“I am delighted to announce the addition of these longtime friends of the Party and supporters of this administration to our Finance leadership team,” said Chairwoman McDaniel. “Elliott Broidy, Michael Cohen, and Louis DeJoy will serve as National Deputy Finance Chairmen..."
No word yet on DeJoy's current legal entanglements, but Cohen and Broidy sure have some tales to tell. Cohen, of course, has dominated headlines over the past couple weeks with his evolving explanation for why and how he paid adult film star Stormy Daniels $130,000 in hush money. Not only has that payment landed him in hot water for potentially violating campaign finance laws, he's also come under the scrutiny in the Russia probe for his role in trying to seal the deal for building a Trump Tower in Moscow and separately for his role in allegedly delivering a Russia-backed Ukraine peace proposal to the Trump White House.
Broidy appears to be just as much of a class act as Wynn, with legal entanglements just as grand as Cohen's. The major Trump backer has turned up in a number of articles over the past couple weeks involving a massive corruption scheme run through a Malaysian state investment fund and his attempts to influence U.S. foreign policy—specifically related to the United Arab Emirates.
Last fall, Broidy reportedly provided a detailed report about a private Oval Office meeting to George Nader, the Lebanese-American businessman who has begun cooperating with the special counsel's Russia probe. A copy of that memo was obtained by the New York Times. Nader has achieved recent notoriety for facilitating and attending the secret Seychelles meeting between a Putin representative and Trump associate Erik Prince. Broidy owns a private security firm that has millions in contracts with the U.A.E. and he has been apparently been lobbying Trump to back the U.A.E.'s more aggressive posture in the region.
Another private communication of Broidy's also put him at the heart of a massive fraud and money laundering scheme being run through the Malaysian state-run investment fund known as 1MDB. Emails turned up showing that Broidy and his wife, Robin Rosenzweig, were contemplating setting up a consulting contract with Jho Low, the Malaysian businessman at the center of the scandal, including a $75 million pay off if the couple succeeded in getting the Justice Department to drop its probe of the fund.
To give you an idea of just how massive the Malaysian money laundering scheme was: The U.S. investigation recently yielded a $60 million settlement from the Hollywood production company behind the film the "Wolf of Wall Street." U.S. authorities also seized a $250 million yacht in Bali in relation to the $4.5 billion fraud case.
Trump is due to attend an L.A. fundraiser hosted by Broidy Tuesday night. It’s a safe bet the White House doesn’t release any pictures of a Trump-Broidy embrace from the event.