For the past 30 years or so it has been a “custom”, not a requirement, for presidential candidates to release their tax returns. Presidential candidates are however required to file a “Personal Financial Disclosure” with the Federal Election Commission. Donald Trump has filed a Personal Financial Disclosure , but so far he has refused to reveal his tax returns that contain more detailed information.
House democrats, led by Nancy Pelosi, have stated they plan to request Trumps tax returns. One method is to use a little known section of the IRS, specifically IRS Section 6103(f)(1).
If you wanted to play tit-for-tat, on June 26, 2017, only 12 out of 530 senators and representatives had released their tax returns. But, you can’t fault the others, they are not required to. And neither is Trump.
The section of the IRS code that congress would use if they go forward on their promise to review President Trump’s tax returns over the years. One, while he was a private citizen. Two, while he has been President. The IRS has audited his returns over the years but this is thought not to be sufficient.
Nominally this is an underutilized section of the IRS. It has never been used against a President and the Separation of Powers would certainly come into play. Meaning the Supreme Court might be asked to intervene. This could take a few years. And this provision provides some anonymity for the tax payer being reviewed.
What could Trump do? Well, reading past 6103 (f), try IRS Section 6103 (g)…. It gives the President much broader powers than congress to pull anybody’s tax return.
The main portion of IRS Section I.R.C § 6103(g), which follows I.R.C § 6103(f). This subsection gives the President of the United States very broad powers to request and receive any US taxpayers tax returns. This would include congress members and members of the press.
This section gives the president very broad powers. He does not need a reason for these requests. He does have to eventually disclose who he has made requests for. But this would be after the fact.
Could Trump pull Nancy Pelosi and her husband, Paul Pelosi’s tax returns? And leak them, accidentally of course? Did AOC, working as a waitress disclose all of her tips? How many waiters have you known that disclose all of their tips? Did Dianne Feinstein and her husband, Richard Blum pay all their taxes? Or, George Sorros, who gave $400K to Kim Fox, might be interesting.
Where would it stop?
Public confidence in the tax system depends and relies on the belief that the IRS will protect taxpayers’ privacy. Most people have accepted Trump as not as clean as a whistle. His tax returns, have been reviewed and audited by the IRS for many years now. He probably attempts to make optimal use of the Tax Code, in his favor, as any smart American could do, and should.
Ideally, there should be a law that all candidates for public office should release their tax returns. But today, there is no such law.
In a letter to the Treasury Department’s legal office, one of Trump Attorneys wrote:
If the IRS acquiesces to Chairman Neal’s request, it would set a dangerous precedent. As Secretary Mnuchin recently told Congress, he is “not aware that there has ever been a request for an elected official’s tax returns.” For good reason. It would be a gross abuse of power for the majority party to use tax returns as a weapon to attack, harass, and intimidate their political opponents. Once this Pandora’s box is opened, the ensuing tit-for-tat will do lasting damage to our nation.
Can the Chairman request the returns of his primary opponents? His general-election opponents? Judges who are hearing his case? The potential abuses would not be limited to Congress, as the President has even greater authority than Congress to obtain individuals’ tax returns. 26 U.S.C. §6103(g). Congressional Democrats would surely balk if the shoe was on the other foot and the President was requesting their tax returns. After all, nearly 90% of them have insisted on keeping their tax returns private, including Speaker Pelosi, Senator Schumer, Representative Nadler, Representative Schiff, and Representative Neal himself.
In November 2013, Senate Democrats led by Harry Reid used the nuclear option to eliminate the 60-vote rule on executive branch nominations and federal judicial appointments. This opened a new frontier in politics.
Trump on leaving office, may, just leak tax returns, by accident. I wouldn’t put it past him.
Democrats should concentrate on legislation. Of course they have to work with the president. What have they passed in the last 3 months, that is now law?
Or we can wait another 21 months to see if this scenario changes. Remember the house must pass a bill, then the senate must also pass it, and unless they have veto proof majority in both the house and senate, the presidents signature is required.
James B. Comey was Director of the FBI from 2013 until being fired May 9th, 2017. FBI Directors serve nominally under a 10 year term and his term was due to be up in 2023. The decade-long tenure was introduced to shield FBI directors from being drawn into politics, but the position is still subject to dismissal at the pleasure of the President.
In other words, he serves at the “pleasure” of the president.
Given the statement above, and a reading of the timeline below. You can say Trump is a shady New York real estate dealer, but, he never obstructed justice in regards to James B. Comey.
Russian hacking. Of course they meddled with the election. And guess what, they are going to do it again. Was this the first time? I think not! But next time they won’t pay Facebook with rubles.
James B. Comey Pre-election Timeline
2016/07/05 – Comey, on television, in a 15:38 speech, describes Hillary Clinton’s lying, spinning, and evasion regarding her misuse of classified information regarding her private email server. 7 Emails were above Top Secret, into the Special Compartmented realm. He then declared that “no reasonable prosecutor” would prosecute Hillary for her obvious and manifest crimes. This was an eye opening discussion. It puzzled a lot of people. He then referred it to Obama’s Justice Department for a decision on whether to prosecute. He passed the buck. Any other citizen, would have at least lost their clearance. 12 minutes in he lays into her, but at 13 minutes, he goes political. Hillary has no intent to be disloyal, she just didn’t care about the rules?
2016/10/28 – Comey sends a letter to congress stating, ” In connection with an unrelated case, the FBI has learned of the existence of emails that appear to be pertinent to the investigation. I am writing to inform you that the investigative team briefed me on this yesterday, and I agreed that the FBI should take appropriate investigative steps designed to allow investigators to review these emails to determine whether they contain classified information, as well as to assess their importance to our investigation.” Comey added that the agency couldn’t yet determine “whether or not this material may be significant or not,” or “how long it will take us to complete this additional work.” This was just 11 days before the election. And it rocked political establishment.
In hindsight for Comey. As the head of the FBI, he had to report it. If he didn’t and it came out later that he snuffed it. It would look very bad. And reporting it would be very bad. This is where he is the Fall Guy. Not good, not bad. Just how it is. Life at the top. If he was second in command, he would still have his job.
Democrats who had high praise in July for letting Hillary off the hook, were upset. Among the notables, Dianne Feinstein, Elijah Cummings . Both Democratic and Republican lawmakers were making it clear that he would be facing tough questioning about whether he’s fit to lead the agency after Election Day.
2016/11/05 – Comey clears Hillary a second time. He says the new emails do not point to any wrongdoing by Clinton. But many articles pop up about the Clinton Foundation and the issues between the Obama justice department and the FBI.
The intelligence chiefs came to Trump tower to meet with Trump. In attendance, James B. Comey, James Clapper(Director of National Intelligence), John Brennan(CIA) , and Reince Priebus, Trumps future Chief of Staff.
Clapper in talking to Trump, outlines three “Key Judgements.” They are:
Russia has a long desire “to undermine the US led liberal democratic order”.
Putin ordered an influence campaign in 2016 to undermine public faith in the US democratic process and denigrate Secretary Clinton, and show a clear preference for Trump.
When it appeared to Moscow that Clinton was likely to win, the Russian influence campaign began to focus on undermining her future presidency. Russia has been against Hillary since the Ukraine invasion. Anything they could do to hurt her they would do. Blindly, Trump, as her adversary, benefits.
As the meeting was winding down Trump asked if there was anything more? “Well yes, there is some additional sensitive material,”-Clapper stated. “Do you want us to stay or do this alone?-Preibus asked Trump. Comey suggested-“I was thinking the two of us.” Trump agreed-“Just the two of us”.
Comey and Trump’s private meeting last 5 minutes. In a Higher Loyalty, Comey wrote, “The FBI was not currently investigating him. This was literally true. We did not have a counterintelligence case file open on him. We really didn’t care if had cavorted with hookers in Moscow, so long as the Russians weren’t trying to coerce him in any way.”
As Comey continued, “Still, the plan left me deeply uncomfortable…. There was a real chance that Donald Trump, politician and hardball deal-maker would assume I was dangling the prostitute thing over him to jam him, to gain leverage. He might well assume I was pulling a J. Edgar Hoover, because that’s what Hoover would do in my shoes. An eyebrow raise didn’t do this situation justice; it was really going to suck.
If I was Trump, and had these three guys come in and accuse me of things, I thought not to be right. It would not be a good first impression. Would I want to work with these characters?
WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 10: FBI Director James Comey, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and Central Intelligence Agency Director John Brennan (L-R) testify before the Senate (Select) Intelligence Committee in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill January 10, 2017 in Washington, DC. The intelligence heads testified to the committee about cyber threats to the United States and fielded questions about effects of Russian government hacking on the 2016 presidential election. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
2017/01/11 – Buzz Feed leaks the “Steele” dossier described above online. Our FBI and/or our CIA has trouble keeping secrets. Trump must really mistrust the characters from the January 6th meeting. Hmm, I would have fired their asses if I had the chance! But he’s not sworn in as president for 10 more days.
Post Inauguration Timeline
2017/05/03 – Comey testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee. He states he has no regrets about how he investigated Hillary.
2017/05/09 – James B. Comey is fired by Donald Trump. Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein cited at least two key items; 1) he accused Comey of attempting to “usurp the attorney general’s authority” by publicly announcing why he felt the case should be closed without prosecution. 2) “Compounding the error, the director ignored another longstanding principle: We do not hold press conferences to release derogatory information about the subject of a declined criminal investigation,”.
Post Firing Timeline
2017/05/17 – Rod Rosenstein signs an authorizing document to begin what became known as the Mueller Special Counsel investigation. The investigation’s scope included allegations that there were links or coordination between Donald Trump‘s presidential campaign and the Russian government as well as “any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation”. The scope of the investigation also included potential obstruction of justice charges against Trump and others within the campaign and administration.
During the Mueller investigation, Trump throws several tissy fits on what he believes to be an unjust investigation. But he never stop the investigation. He is entitled to his opinion on the investigation.
2018/04/17 – Comey’s book comes out, “A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Loyalty”.
2018/04/19 – Comey’s book becomes the top-selling book on Amazon.
2019/03/22 – Robert Mueller sends his report on Collusion and Obstruction of Justice to Attorney General Barr.
2019/03/24 – Barr summarizes the report saying no collusion but declines to be specific on obstruction of justice. He promises a report, redacted, for congress by April 15th.
To be continued.
In the end, the Democratically controlled congress, with the number one mission to make the presidents miserable. Can hold him to the fire for just about anything, just as long as they get 51% of the vote in the house. But then they need 67 votes in the Senate to make it stick. It’s certainly more fun to listen to this stuff in the news rather then new laws. Right?
President Trump, coming into office, being a political neophyte, who can’t keep his mouth shut, took a bit to learn, and still has a way to go. If I were the president, I would have fired, Brennan, Clapper, and Comey on day one of the presidency just from the early January meetings. Back in November 2016, half the democratic congressional members wanted him out.
This week’s Whiner of the Week is none other than Chuck Schumer. At this time, January 11th, 2019, parts of the Federal government are in a partial shutdown condition because of a lack of the House, the Senate, and the President from coming to terms on a budget.
President Trump in his campaign speeches promised to build a wall for $25 billion dollars and have Mexico pay for this wall. The $25B was an extraordinary amount as there is probably no need to stretch a wall from the Pacific to the Gulf of Mexico, a total of 1,954 miles. And having Mexico pay for it was probably not going to happen.
The Democrats have jumped on these two talking points with
glee. After all the President said he would,
right?
Trump’s campaign promises to have Mexico pay for the wall, were really just campaign promises. How many politicians have made campaign promises that they did not keep? Surely the Democrats understand that what you promise in a campaign does not mean you need to keep your word… Trump is new this political game. He is still a Greenhorn.
Since then Trump has reduced the request to $5.6B dollars while the Dems are only offering $1.3B in “Border Security,” but not to be used on the fence or wall. $5.6B will only build about 200 miles of border. But the idea is to place this new wall in strategic locations to buttress the existing barriers.
Some have called the non-walled high-tech border security
just “bells and whistles”. Border Patrol
would still have to respond to alarms and some have said it would be easy to
keep the Boarder Patrol occupied with false alarms. While one can joke about lasers zapping
moving objects coming over the fence, no one is talking about this kind of
high-tech security.
Small walls don’t seem to pose a challenge for these two ladies.
Trump is up against Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, both highly seasoned and partisan politicians each with a long history of “kicking the can down the road”. They are ready to wait it out and have nothing to lose. They are content with the Status Quo. Nancy has plans to step down and Chuck is from a non-border state that benefits greatly from under-the-table labor. They both have voted for border walls in the past and understand that in politics, being a Hypocrite is not always held against you.
Nancy Pelosi
Nancy Pelosi, now Speaker of the House, and representing California’s 12th district. The 12th district, geographically, is the City of San Francisco. San Francisco, basically her district, was called out by the United Nations on Oct 18th 2018, and Oakland, as the only two cities in the US that are part of a “global scandal”, that contain homeless encampments that are “cruel and inhumane”.
San Francisco is a Sanctuary City that provides a number of measures to prevent illegal aliens from being reported to Immigration. This allows them to compete with the homeless for housing, in effect, enlarging the homeless population. California’s state government has stated that California needs 3.5 million new housing units. Given the shortage of housing rents and costs are near the highest in the nation. More immigrants means more money for housing. If Nancy’s district is the one of the two worst areas in the US for taking care of people, how can she state, “Come one, come all, we shall shelter you from all of the cruelty in this world?”.
Chuck Schumer – A Weekly Whiner
Chuck Schumer, Senator from the State of New York and minority leader of the Senate, has also refused to budge. Considerations upon solving DACA and reopening the government have not swayed him in his resolve against Trump. Trump has been a controversial figure on the New York scene for years and support for Trump would cause him to lose tremendous face. Recently Leticia James was elected to Attorney General for NYC. She is part of the hard left attempting to get rid of Trump thru any means. Her campaign video is brutal. This is what Trump faces every hour, of every day.
New York is not a border state, but it does receive an large influx of visitors thru its airports. Travelers coming thru have been checked at their point of departures, and they are checked again at the airport by Pass Port Screeners. The southern border states have no luxury of congenial official airport Pass Port Screeners along the border. If we are to have open borders, do we still need Pass Port Screeners?
With the government shutdown numerous agencies are being shutdown. TSA, which provides security for Airports, including New York’s La Guardia, have been reportedly experiencing a Blue Fever which is a large number of employees calling in sick, because of lack of pay.
New York City, in 2007, was estimated
to have over a half a million illegal and undocumented immigrants. 40 percent of these immigrants came from
south of the US/Mexican border. For
example, 54% of the dishwashers in New York City are said to be illegally in
the country. The numbers, 12 years
later, must be higher now. Half of the
carpenters also have the same status.
If they were all to pick up and leave, wages would have to rise a substantial
amount in order to entice locals to pick up the slack. And it is generally thought locals might not
work as hard either.
Chuck Schumer has tremendous pressure from his constituents to keep things the way they are. New York is already an expensive place to eat out and New Yorkers love their restaurants. They also love their Nannies, Maids, Day Laborers, and Landscapers. Cost is one factor in a number of cases. No Social Security tax, no Medicare tax, no health insurance, and no minimum wage. Working conditions in a number of the jobs are more than the average American would tolerate. Chuck is reluctant to rock this boat.
Trumps campaign promise of a $25B Wall has now shrunk to a $5.6B fence constructed in strategic places, buttressing the existing fence or barrier. You don’t hear Chuck arguing for tearing down existing portions of the “Immoral” fence. Once again, whatever is the “Status Quo” is just fine.
Trump has also not done well in his presentation of the
need. On January 4th he held
a press conference where he almost looked presidential. ICE and Border Security were present and
stated a fence was necessary and would help.
Some have questioned how a more secure fence would help. It certainly did not stop the recent caravans coming to seek asylum. The caravans are in a sense an answer to safety, as making your way across the desert to border entry points that have sparse patrols with minimal fencing. A desert crossing can be unsafe for men and women. Because of the ease of entry at the points represents what might be termed an, “Attractive Nuisance“, which is a legal term that states maybe it’s too easy to cross the border. In 2014 National Geographic published an article about the “Busy Pipeline” of illegals . This article describes the “Rape Trees” where migrant girls are raped and killed by their coyotes. It also describes a Rancher, Hollek, who says, “He won’t eat hog caught south of Highway 285 because the chances of it having fed on a dead human being are too high”.
On the southern border, there have been many reported sightings of these Rape Trees.
Trump needs to be a kinder and gentler president. He still thinks he is in campaign mode, rather than executive mode. He might find that if he were kinder, and did more explaining, he might make more headway.
If Barack Obama had wanted $5B for an additional 200 miles of partial fence, buttressing strategic areas of the borders, both Chuck and Nancy would most likely have bent over backwards to help. They might have even helped Barack legalize the DACA issue.
Some of the non leadership Democrats, Jackie Speier’s for instance, have stated they would trade DACA for the border wall money. But the Democratic leadership team of Chuck and Nancy, and the far left of the party are not ready to budge.
Since the Democrats have taken over the house just recently, it looks like they are not in the mood to deal. We may be headed for a news heavy next two years. Trump needs to find a way to make Nancy and Chuck look like winners.
The Immigration problem is not going to go away. With free healthcare for all being discussed, a new magnet to America will soon be added as folks with health issues cross the border. It can be expensive to provide full healthcare for anyone who finds themselves within the US border but some think the US is ready for it.
But on the other hand, America needs the appropriate workers to succeed in the global marketplace. Our educational system does not produce the type of workers we need, hence, we look offshore for legal immigration thru the H1B visa program. Trump has talked about a path to citizenship for them.
California’s Imperial Beach
Border Guard guarding California’s Imperial BeachJim Acosta huddling behind a wall, reporting ironically there is no border emergency where he is standing. But, is that because a wall constructed during the Obama administration is protecting him?
Famous Quotes:
Chuck Schumer has changed his tune. He and New York do not get along with Trump. But in the past, under a different President. He had a different viewpoint. Nancy has also “Immorally” voted for a Wall in the Past.
Sen. Chuck Schumer, 2009: “People who enter the United States without our permission are illegal aliens and illegal aliens should not be treated the same as people who enter the U.S. legally. The American people will never accept immigration reform unless they truly believe that their government is committed to ending future illegal immigration.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, 2008: “We do need to address the issue of immigration and the challenge we have of undocumented people in our country. We certainly do not want any more coming in.”
Barack Obama, 2005: “We simply cannot allow people to pour into the U.S. undocumented, undetected, unchecked, circumventing the people who are waiting patiently, diligently, lawfully to become immigrants in this country.”
Barack Obama, 2014: This short video shows him describing a “Border Crisis” regarding children being brought in. One must admit, he does look more presidential than Donald Trump.
Hillary Clinton, 2014: “I voted numerous times when I was a senator to spend money to build a barrier to try to prevent illegal immigrants from coming in and I do think you have to control your borders.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders, 2007: “I don’t know why we need millions of people to be coming into the country who will work for lower wages than American workers and drives wages down even lower than they are right now.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell: “The only things that have changed between then and now are the political winds, and of course, the occupant of the White House. So this is no newfound principled objection; it’s just political spite. A partisan tantrum being prioritized over the public interest.”
The last quote, when viewing the quotes preceding it, sums things up nicely.
German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, 2018-Nov-21 at a Konrad Adenauer Foundation event in Berlin: “Nation states must today be prepared to give up their sovereignty”. She also stated, “Ceding power to a superstate is a better form of patriotism.” For Germany this is the EU, for America, the UN.
2018-Week 43 - Donald Trump - FBI Headquarters needs to stay put?
This weeks Weekly Whiner is none other than Donald Trump. The FBI has been trying to get a new headquarters to replace the aging (J Edgar) Hoover Building, built in 1971, on Pennsylvania Avenue. About four blocks east of the White House. And about a block away, across the street, kitty-korner, from the Trump International Hotel which is located in the Old Post Office building.
A lot of good controversy in the total story here for folks with ATDS (Acquired Trump Derangement Syndrome). But, my main issue is the following.
What is the Big Deal?
Having so many FBI members in one place, and in DC is akin to US Navy on Dec 7, 1941 having just about every battle ship in port. Lined up in a nice pretty row and just waiting to be sunk.
Pearl Harbor, Dec 7, 1941, USS Virginia burning along “Battleship Row”. Clustering all your assets in one place is DUMB. (Photo Courtesy of WikiCommons)
Our premier police agency deserves and needs to be more geographically distributed. One cheap and easy to smuggle in Nuclear Device. As in the style of one of my favorite movies, True Lies, encased in lead, in the back of a rental truck, is all it would take to bring DC down. And with it our cadre of well trained and experienced FBI agents.
Something also tells me it would also be cheaper in other parts of the country to pay and house these agents. And have them be quickly available when issues pop up around the country. With modern technology, they could still easily communicate and work as a team. The total team, their data centers, and their equipment, needs to be distributed.
I always look at fondness at the US Government Printing Office in Pueblo, Colorado.
Would Trump, if he knew about this Printing Office, want to give them a central office building in DC to consolidate all in one location?
More of the US government should be scattered about the country as both a cost saving measure, to spread the wealth and knowledge of the Federal Workers across the land, and to prevent one singular terrorist disaster from taking out our FBI, and other key government agencies.
Of course, the FBI should maintain a presence in DC, but 11,000 agents? If they must fly to San Francisco, California they need five hours of air time. Why not put some of them in Kansas?
As discussions and funding to replace the building have occurred, there have been calls to distribute the FBI employee load to multiple locations. This is one way to drain the swamp. But Trump has acted like the little Dutch Boy using his finger in the dike to plug the leak.
The Little Dutch Boy, true or not, a good analogy for someone trying to boost DC employment rather then distributing workers around the country spreading the pie. (Photo Courtesy of wikiCommons)
The Story:
An easy to read timeline exists below in this article. But in Nov/2011, the GSA started a study to find a way to replace the Hoover Building. After millions of dollars and hours of research they came up with three other places, in the suburbs. Meanwhile, Trump, before he announced his candidacy, expressed interest in the site for a hotel, and acquired the Old Post Office across the street from the Hoover Building. Donald Trump becomes president, dismisses Comey, the head of the FBI, and starts to take a bit too much interest in the study. The study gets cancelled in Jul/2017.
The Old Post Office Building in Washing DC, in 2012, before it became the Trump International Hotel – Photograph by Mike Peel (www.mikepeel.net)
Trump appears to favor instead replacing the existing building with a new building and moving some of the agents to Quantico, Virginia where the FBI has an existing training facility.
FBI Headquarters, built in 1971, the controversy is to build on this site, or in 3 other locations the GSA determined are best. WikiCommons
Critics of Trump have these issues (related to the Hoover Building):
The lease of the Old Post Office could be illegal as he is now an elected official. However the GSA ruled in Mar/2017, with the new legal setup, the lease is still valid. Trump doesn’t benefit as today, legally, he is not the owner, but after he leaves office, he could.
Some have said his hotel would get more valuable business if the building was replaced rather then picking another location per the original studies recommendations.
Some have also said Trump fears another Hotel chain may acquire the Hoover building and present competition to his “Trump International Hotel”
The swamp was going to be partially drained, as some 2300 FBI agents would have transferred to other parts of the country. But, Trump in his zeal, is preventing a distributed deployment of agents across the country. More agents should be distributed across the country. Even in what [tooltips keyword=”Blue Coasters” content=”Blue Coasters are the culturally elite members of the Illuminati that regard middle America as flyover states.”] call the flyover states.
Ideally the FBI could have a small office in DC, where the center of government presently is. But, could more of the FBI be more evenly distributed about the country? If Trump really wanted to drain the swamp he could have asked that the FBI Headquarters be distributed and, located in another area of the country.
Trump instead appears to favor instead replacing the existing building with a new building, protecting his existing hotel from competition?, and moving some of the agents to Quantico, Virginia where the FBI has an existing training facility.
For years the GSA had told both the Bush and Obama administrations that the Edgar J. Hoover building needed to be replaced and a new secure site was required in suburban DC to consolidate 11,000 FBI employees on one site.
Trump has failed to even try and drain the swamp in this case. Here he has an opportunity. And instead he wants to fertilize the swamp.
His naysayers are crying over spilt-milk regarding his lease as it occurred long before his candidacy. They do have a case if he is trying to prevent another hotel chain from competing with his hotel in the old post office.
2018-Dec-04 – With the House in Democratic hands, the new head of the House Oversight Committee US Representative Gerald Connolly announced he would lead an inquiry into the cancellation of the original study recommendations.
2018-Feb-12 – Asst Attorney General Lee Lofthus announces a plan to build a modern and secure building across the street from the (J. Edgar) Hoover Building. Instead of 11,000 agents on this site. 2,300 to be split out to Huntsville, Alabama for explosive analysis Pocotel, Idaho would receive the a data center, Clarksburg, West Virginia, would receive Criminal Justice, data center, and Biometrics. Leaving 10,000 at the original site.
2018-Aug-27 – An Inspector General report shows Donald Trump was more involved in the decisions to scrap plans to move to either Maryland or Virginia.
2018-Jan-24 – Two meetings are held about the FBI project. The first in Chief of Staff John Kelly’s office. The second in the Oval Office confirming an Inspector General report about Trump’s intervention. Trump appears to care about the FBI headquarter location.
2017-Jul-10 – The FBI Headquarters search is cancelled. It had started in Nov of 2011. Prior to the cancellation the locations under consideration were; Greenbelt Maryland, Landover Maryland, or Springfield Virginia.
2017-May-19 – FBI Director, James Comey is dismissed.
2017-Mar-23 – The GSA issues a report stating the President’s Lease is legal. The lease does contain a clause; “No member or delegate to Congress, or elected official of the Government of the United States … shall be admitted to any share or part of this Lease.”
2015-Jun-16 – Donald Trump Announces his campaign for President
2014-Jul-23 – Groundbreaking of the Trump International Hotel occurs.
2014-Mar-03 – The “Trump Old Post Office Building LLC”, consumates a Lease with the GSA to lease the space at
2013-Aug-05 – The “Trump Old Post Office LLC”, creates the first ground lease with the GSA. This is 22 months before Trump’s announcement to run as a candidate for the Presidency.
2012-Dec-03 – GSA states it would entertain proposals to swap the Hoover building for larger parcel outside of the city.
2011-Nov – GSA Starts a study to find a new location to replace the (J. Edgar) Hoover FBI building.
