Did AT&T violate federal law by contributing $2 million to Trump’s inauguration?
New subpoenas could shed some light
AT&T could be in the hot seat with federal and state prosecutors and Congress for its $2 million donation to Trump’s inaugural committee.
Recently, federal officials, state attorneys general across three jurisdictions and the House Judiciary Committee issued subpoenas or requests for documents to uncover how the Trump inaugural committee raised a record-setting $107 million from deep-pocketed donors and how they spent it.
Officials want to know not only whether Trump misspent the money, but if donors, some of who gave millions to his inauguration, were trying to influence the incoming administration.
This is significant because, as “Money” put it, “Giving money to politicians or political committees in exchange for political favors can be construed as a violation of federal corruption laws.”
As the inauguration’s largest corporate contributor, AT&T could now be under the microscope for participating in yet another massive pay-to-play scheme.
Last year, we learned that AT&T paid Michael Cohen, Trump’s longtime lawyer and fixer, $600,000 to advise the telecom giant on “regulatory policy development,” although he has no experience in policy or the telecom sector. Some believe the payments were used to influence the FCC’s decision to repeal net neutrality protections.
It appears that AT&T’s huge inauguration donation may also have paid off. According to legal documents uncovered last year, the National Security Agency awarded AT&T a secret $3.3 billion contract even though its proposal came in more than $750 million higher than a competitor’s. We’ve known for a while that AT&T worked hand-in-hand with the NSA to spy on Americans’ internet traffic, but this is a new low.
Unlike several large mobile carriers, CREDO will never attempt to influence the Trump administration with donations. Quite the opposite. We donate every month directly to progressive causes fighting Trump’s dangerous, hateful and corrupt agenda.
If you’d like to learn more about how you can join the nation’s only progressive mobile carrier fighting the Trump administration and put your dollars toward progressive change, click here.
