Danlbooner

Anchor: “how many scandalous activities do you think donald trump jr. can get up to in just one hunting trip? let’s count, shall we? scandal number one. this summer while on a hunting trip in mongolia, a guide told the financial times that don jr. shot and killed an endangered sheep, and as awful as that is, it is unfortunately not really that surprising, is it? and don jr. has reportedly killed at least two more of that same kind of endangered sheep in the past decade. moving on to scandal number two. while most americans are struggling to of course pay for gas at the pump every single day, it appears this hunting trip may have cost taxpayers nearly $19,000. federal records show the u.s. embassy in mongolia’s capital paid nearly $19,000 for hotel rooms tied to an unspecified secret service visit at the same time as don jr.’s trip. that’s all according to the financial times. now as a member of the president’s family, don jr. is entitled to secret service protection, sure, but i remember the days when that kind of taxpayer expense tied to a luxury vacation like this of a member of the president’s family was, well, a scandal in its own right. now speaking of spending money on the president’s family, that brings me to scandal number three. you’re all keeping track. turns out a week of this hunting trip was actually the prize given to the highest bidders as part of a series of charity auctions. records indicate that one bidder paid a hundred and forty thousand dollars, everyone, and another paid two hundred and twenty five thousand dollars for the honor and privilege of joining the president’s very charming eldest son on this seven day hunting trip in mongolia. now at the auction, don jr. reportedly tried to incentivize bidders by joking that he is, quote, very sexy in camo. to each his own, i suppose. hate to really break it to you though, don, but i do not think your looks or your personality are why anyone was willing to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to go hunting with you. just look at that photo. we’re gonna keep it up there for a second. now as the watchdog group citizens for responsibility and ethics in washington put it to the financial times today, buying access to power is an ethics concern whether it’s through a charity, a wedding, a campaign donation, or a lavish gift. speaking of access to power, that brings me to scandal number four. after don jr.’s week of hunting, the financial times reports that he traded his sexy camo, his description, not mine, for a suit and held a series of meetings. and one of those meetings was a dinner with none other than mongolia’s president. and after the dinner, a spokesperson for the mongolian government reportedly posted photos on facebook and wrote that the mongolian president and don jr. discussed u.s. mongolia relations and potential business opportunities. the facebook post was then quickly taken down. a spokesperson for the mongolian president told the financial times that the two did not discuss politics actually at the dinner. spokesperson for don jr. told the paper that it was just an unofficial meeting where they largely discussed the outdoors. again, i hate to break it to you don, but i really don’t think the president of mongolia wanted to talk to you because of your shared love of hunting and the outdoors. i don’t think. i think that it had a heck of a lot more to do with the fact that your dad is the president of the united states. now you would think that would be the biggest possible scandal that i would have covered at this point that don jr. could possibly get himself into on a hunting trip, right? don jr. is supposed to be firewalled off from his dad. jr. and his brother run the family businesses while their dad runs the country. that’s how it goes, right? even the implication that don jr. might be using his relationship with his dad to try to set up some sort of political or business deal with the president of another country is a huge huge deal. but somehow that is not even the biggest scandal from this one hunting trip of don jr.’s. the biggest scandal is that for two days of this mongolia trip don jr. was joined by this man, umar kremlev. you may remember him as the russian oligarch who secretly spent hundreds of thousands of dollars renting a private island for part of don jr.’s wedding weekend in the bahamas just a few months before this trip, as oligarchs do i suppose. at the time don jr. described kremlev as a personal friend and said they had no business relationship of any kind. donald trump has since said that don jr. paid kremlev back for the private island rental, though we have yet to actually see any proof of that. and when asked about kremlev’s attendance at don jr.’s recent hunting trip in mongolia, don jr.’s spokesperson repeated the fact that the two have no business relationship and said that their friendship is largely based on their shared love for hunting, fishing, and the outdoors. so much love for all these things. again i really hate to be the bearer of bad news to you don. i wish i could hold your hand while i tell you this really, but he doesn’t like you because you like hunting, buddy. it’s not the thing, or the outdoors. kremlev is a russian oligarch. he is part of putin’s inner circle. as the former counterintelligence director of trump’s own national security council told the financial times, the moment the russian security and intelligence services figure out someone has a relationship with any one of high value, they will try to weaponize that. so sure, maybe don jr. and this russian oligarch spent their time together in mongolia talking about fly fishing, who knows, but it is incredibly suspicious that one of putin’s allies has spent so much time and money trying to ingratiate themselves with the president’s son. well, the president now seems to be bending over backwards to give putin everything he wants.”