Saturday, April 1, 2017

"Who's Worth What" - White House Releases Financial Disclosures Of Key Staffers

President Trump night released details of the personal finances of his staffers late on Friday, including his son-in-law Jared Kushner and daughter Ivanka, which once again confirmed that most of the people in his immediate circle are very wealthy. The legally required disclosure documents provided a snapshot of assets and positions held by personnel when they first entered their new jobs at the White House, and before they started selling stocks and other assets that could pose conflicts of interest, according to White House ethics officials.


Curiously, the White House did not actually create a public depository of the filings, so AP, Propublica and the NYT created a shared drive for all the disclosures so far.



Here are the key highlights via the NYT and Reuters:


  • Jared Kushner and wife Ivanka Trump released a 54-page report which included "scores of assets worth six- and seven-figures". According to a NYT breakdown, the president’s daughter and son-in-law are the beneficiaries of a sprawling real estate and investment business worth as much as $740 million, despite their new government responsibilities. Ivanka will maintain a stake in the Trump International Hotel in Washington, and earned from $1 million to $5 million from January 2016 to March 2017, the value of stake was estimated at $5 million to $25 million. Kushner held executive positions with 266 LLCs, corporations, groups and non-profits, which he has resigned from since January.

  •  Stephen K. Bannon, the president’s senior adviser, made between $1.3 and $2.3 million last year according to his 12 page disclosure report, which showed stakes in various advisory companies and movie studios but no stock holdings. Bannon"s pre-White House bank accounts, real estate and other holdings were valued at between $3.3 million and $12.6 million. Bannon disclosed $191,000 in consulting fees he earned from Breitbart News Network, the conservative media organization; $125,333 from Cambridge Analytica, a data firm that worked for the Trump campaign; and $61,539 in salary from the Government Accountability Institute, a conservative nonprofit organization. All three organizations are backed by the major Republican donors Robert Mercer and his daughter, Rebekah profiled recently. According to the NYT, Bannon’s most valuable asset was Bannon Strategic Advisors Inc., a privately held consulting firm from which income from his other investments appeared to flow into. It was valued at $5 million to $25 million. He also listed the value of his Bannon Film Industries at $1 million to $5 million. His bank accounts were valued at as much as $2,250,000, while he listed rental real estate valued at as much as $10.5 million.

  • Gary Cohn, the former Goldman Sachs president and now head of the White House National Economic Council, disclosed assets worth $252 million to $611 million. Little information was given on several of his assets and only indicated they were worth more than $1 million. That makes Cohn, now the director of the National Economic Council and a central adviser to Mr. Trump, one of the wealthier members of the already-affluent Trump administration, which includes more than one billionaire. According to the NYT, in addition to the millions of dollars in cash and stock Cohn received from Goldman that made up the lion’s share of his personal assets, he held a slew of positions in publicly traded stocks — many of which he has already said he plans to sell — and in various private entities. Those entities include a stake valued at more than $1 million in a consumer education and consulting business called Payoff, a position in a cosmetics retailer also valued at more than $1 million, investments in several self-storage concerns in Ohio valued at $100,000 or more each, and an investment in a venture capital fund run by Andreessen Horowitz, the Silicon Valley powerhouse, valued at $100,000 or more.

  • Kellyanne Conway, one of Trump’s top advisers, was not quite in the same wealth category as some of her superrich colleagues. Conway made over $800,000 last year, her filing shows. As head of her own consulting firm, Conway’s clients included an assortment of conservative causes, including the National Rifle Association and the Tea Party Patriots, as well as Cambridge Analytica, the political data firm that advised Mr. Trump’s campaign. She was also paid for a speaking engagement at Point72 Asset Management, the investment firm run by the billionaire stock picker Steven A. Cohen.

  • Reince Priebus, White House Chief of Staff, disclosed assets of between $604,000 and $1.16 million and income of $1.42 million. About $566,000 of his income came from the Republican National Committee and the rest from his partnership in a Milwaukee law firm.

  • Reed Cordish, a Baltimore real estate developer before he become Trump"s technology adviser, disclosed pre-White House assets of between $92 million and $798 million. He had income of between $48 million and $55 million.

  • Julia Hahn, a former Breitbart.com reporter until she went to work in the White House, disclosed a PNC custodial account valued at $500,000 to $1 million. Various stock funds listed on her financial disclosure are worth as much as $1.5 million. As the NYT put, it "her work as a journalist was also nothing to sneeze at." As a reporter, she made $117,217 last year at Breitbart. On top of that, she earned $74,082 from Laura Ingraham’s radio show.

  • Dina Powell, who serves on the National Security Council, made between $1.08 and $6 million last year. Her assets stand at over $9 million.

  • Donald McGahn, chief White House Counsel, disclosed income of $2.4 million at Jones Day, where his clients included Trump, the NRA, and Aaron Schock (the Illinois lawmaker charged with federal corruption).

  • Omarosa Manigault, a former contestant on Trump"s reality show the Apprentice and now is a White House adviser, had a modest income under $100,000. The disclosures showed she is a beneficiary of a trust established by her late fiance, actor Michael Clarke Duncan, worth between $1 million and $5 million. Manigault is currently engaged to a Florida pastor. Forms show she received a wedding dress, veil and accessories worth $25,000 for an appearance on the reality show "Say Yes to the Dress."

  • Peter Navarro, Trump’s trade czar and resident China hawk, is not a wealthy man, but his salary as an economics professor at a public university wasn’t bad. According to his disclosure form,Mr. Navarro earned $240,000 in salary and bonuses from the University of California, Irvine. He also earned $10,500 for delivering a speech in November to the Casket & Funeral Supply Association of America.

  • Sean Spicer, the press secretary, reported stakes in the Coca-Cola Company, McDonald’s and several real estate investments. But, despite his much-discussed taste for cinnamon-flavored gum, he reported no investments in chewing gum companies (although he does invest in Walmart, which sells chewing gum).

  • Sebastian Gorka, a deputy assistant to Mr. Trump and a former editor at Breitbart News, reported consulting fees of $38,200 from Breitbart. He also reported royalties of $50,000 to $100,000 for his book “Defeating jihad: The Winnable War” — and also said that he signed a contract for a second book.

  • Boris Epshteyn, who served during the presidential campaign as one of Mr. Trump’s chief attack dogs and television talking heads, stills owes over $50,000 on college loans he took out more than a decade ago, his filing indicates. Recently, Mr. Epshteyn left his White House post under circumstances that were unclear.

  • Jason Greenblatt, the Trump Organization lawyer tasked with helping to bring peace to the Middle East, disclosed $1,025,000 in compensation from Mr. Trump’s company last year.

  • Michael Ellis, who reportedly shared intel on Trump surveillance with House Intel Chairman Devin Nunes, owes more than $30K in student loans.

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The full list of disclosures, which excludes president Trump and vice president Pence


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