Escorts, kickbacks and a Tesla: New details in scandal and fraud at Tom Girardi’s law firm
In an online blog post late Monday, the Trump administration accused Tom Girardi, a former Trump campaign attorney, and his firm, the law firm of Trump attorney Charles Harder, a former U.S. House Republican staffer, of lying to the Justice Department, the IRS and the Internal Revenue Service about two years ago.
The blog post by White House counsel Pat Cipollone and Deputy Counsel John Carter claims to identify “two specific events that occurred” during the early 2010s — one before and one after the administration approved a $35,000 severance payment to Girardi — when Tom Girardi, then a top Trump campaign aide, made an illegal contribution to a local political action committee to help Democrats win a seat on a city council in New York.
The post provides new details on events that occurred in early 2010 and details the contributions made in June and November of that year. The post notes, however, that the allegations against Tom Girardi and his firm are not “new,” and that “allegations had been previously made in these matters by federal and state law enforcement,” so it’s possible there was no need for the White House to formally accuse Girardi and his firm of committing any specific crimes.
The original post, on Monday morning, stated Girardi and Harder had “made false statements to the IRS, the Justice Department and the New York Department of Elections.”
The full post, which was posted later Monday, included the following timeline:
March 17, 2018 — Donald Trump pays Tom Girardi and his firm $35,000 severance to end his tenure with the Trump campaign.
June 24, 2018 — After the Trump administration approves a “significant” severance package to Tom Girardi and his law firm — $65,000 — to help New York businessman Rick Flair avoid the New York real