You are reading Free Media from Robby Soave and Reason.
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You → read → Soave
The Wall Street Journal has the receipts: Guilfoyle promised Eric Deters, a quixotic political operative and fundraiser for Republicans, special access to a number of administration officials who might help him with his pet causes, which included a dispute over his taxes with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
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which → have → Service
In exchange, she wanted $100,000 to help pay off her credit card debt.
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she → want → debt
"You could just send it here," she wrote, texting Deters a link to the American Express website.
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she → send → website
"It won't show up anywhere if you wire money to American Express that's all that will show."
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that → show → Express
Guilfoyle was keenly aware of the impropriety and repeatedly texted Deters to stop providing written evidence of their dealings and instead just call her up if need be—and to pay the money.
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need → texte → money
"What a nightmare," she wrote at one point.
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she → write → point
"You'll literally cost me my ambassadorship stop writing."
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You → cost → ambassadorship
Deters did not pay off Guilfoyle's credit card debt, though she did contact IRS Commissioner Billy Long about his case.
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she → pay → case
She also bragged about her access to a host of other top Trump officials: FBI Director Kash Patel, then-Attorney General Pam Bondi, and others.
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She → brag → officials
"Every secretary of you know defense, transportation, treasury commerce IRS commissioner everyone gets right back to me," she told Deters in 2024.
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she → know → 2024
So first, this is nakedly corrupt, and Guilfoyle should resign as ambassador or be impeached and removed.
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Guilfoyle → resign → ambassador
She cannot be trusted to represent U.S. interests abroad when she has proven that she is willing to peddle influence with the Trump administration in exchange for personal enrichment.
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she → trust → enrichment
Second, it's fair to ask some questions about Trump Jr., whose relationship with Guilfoyle ended before she was nominated to be ambassador to Greece; nevertheless, in her message to the IRS commissioner, she mentions that "Don Jr. and I are very close with Eric Deters."
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Jr. → ask → Deters
Trump Jr. subsequently married a model, Bettina Anderson.
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Jr. → marry → model
Their wedding was secretly paid for by Umar Kremlev, a Russian oligarch.
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wedding → pay → Kremlev
(Kremlev has since claimed that Trump Jr. paid him back.)
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Jr. → claim → him
While the oligarch maintains he had simply struck up a friendship with the couple and wanted to buy them a nice wedding gift, you would have to be very, very gullible not to suspect that his real aim was to influence the administration's policy toward Russia!
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aim → maintain → Russia
(It's possible Trump anticipated this and skipped the wedding for this very reason.)
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Trump → anticipate → reason
My point is this: Evidence is accumulating that suggests Guilfoyle and Trump Jr. are the kinds of people who will take money in exchange for doing favors.
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who → accumulate → favors
This irks me, as someone who cares about hypocrisy, because….Remember Hunter Biden?
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who → irk → Biden
The man who was at the center of countless congressional inquiries over allegations that he was paid by foreign interests in order to lobby his dad, President Joe Biden?
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he → pay → dad
Republicans turned this into a huge issue and doggedly pursued it—to be clear, with plenty of justification.
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Republicans → turn → justification
I criticized Biden pardoning his son as a clear example of the president abusing his power to thwart a legitimate investigation into his doings.
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president → criticize → doings
But look, there's no way around this: Trump Jr. letting a Russian oligarch pay for his wedding is at least as suspicious as anything Hunter Biden did.
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Biden → look → anything
And now his ex-girlfriend is caught red-handed engaging in precisely the kind of kickback scheme that birthed the "Biden crime family" moniker?
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that → catch → moniker
Unfortunately, I suspect many Republicans and conservative commentators will greet these revelations with the exact same stony silence that Democrats opted for when Hunter Biden was under the microscope.
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Biden → suspect → microscope
I hope I'm wrong though.
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I → hope → ?
This Week on Free Media
I'm joined by Amber Duke to go over the latest updates in the Cornell 7 story.
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I → join → story
Worth Watching
One more serious thing: I participated in a debate with the journalist Sohrab Ahmari, hosted by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute.
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I → watch → Institute
The topic was "Do Oligarchs Run America?"
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Oligarchs → run → America
ISI is a great organization, and Ahmari is an erudite articulator of his views, so I thought this was a particularly worthy exchange.
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this → think → views
The Aporia
