Trump Crime Family: Pay to play the White House ballroom way (State Department appointment edition)

 

AI-generated image:  Manus 1.6 Lite

 Headline:  The Guardian,  7/14/2026 

 

Cate Brown reports:

Konstantin Sokolov, a Russian-born private equity investor in Chicago, will serve as chairman of a new state department enterprise fund overseeing more than $200m designated for a central Asia trade corridor, including investments in transportation, energy infrastructure and critical minerals, the Guardian has learned. The state department confirmed his appointment on Friday. 

Sokolov was one of 36 donors, including 21 corporations and 15 individuals and family foundations, who Donald Trump said contributed over $350m to his ballroom project. 

Two-thirds of the corporate donors have since received government contracts, according to research by Public Citizen, a government watchdog group. [emphasis added]

More posts about the most corrupt presidential administration in history:

July 2026

Pay to play the chicken pluckers way.  (7.13)

Pay to play the fraudster way (Adam Kidan edition) .  (7/6)

April -June 2026

Trump-friendly New York Post takes on Trump Crime Family.  (6/30)

Pay to play the critical minerals way (Kazakhstan edition).  (6/28)

Pay to play the priestly way.  (6/23)

Pay to play the no-bid way (Reflecting Pool edition).  (6/19)

Oh, the irony!  Trump's best-worst approval rating is on the issue of CRIME.  (6/17)

Pay to play the methane-leaking way.  (6/16)

Pay to play the tariff break way.  (6/12)

Pay to play the ballroom way.  (6/8)

Pay to play the White House Way (Gautam Adani edition).  (5/16)

Pay to play the cabinet member way (White House shakedown).  (4/1)

March 2026

Pay to play the White House ballroom way. (3/25)

Playing the stock market (insider trading edition).  (3/25)

Pay to play the fraudster way.  (Julio Herrera Velutini edition).  (3/24)

Pay to play the health savings account way.  (3/23)

TrumpRx, his latest scam.  (3/20)

Pay to play the Big Tech billionaires way.  (3/19)

Pay to play the TikTok way.  (3/15)

Pay to play the pardon way.  (3/8)

February 2026

Pay to play the AI way.  (2/25) 

Pay to play the crypto/klepto way.  (2/23)

Pay to play the META way.  (2/20)

Trump Crime Family:  Pay to play the 250th birthday way (Freedom 250 edition).  (2/12)

Trump Crime Family:  Pay to play the Ambassador Bridge way.  (2/12)

Pardon me!  Pay to play the cryptocurrency way.  (2/10)

January 2026

Pay to play the inner circle way.  (1/25)

Trump Crime Family:  Ripping off America to the tune of $1,408,500,000 and counting.  (1/25)

Pay to play the TikTok way. (1/25)

Pardon me!  Trump White House pay to play.  (1/17)

Trump White House corruption:  Pay to play the Coinbase way.  (1/16)

Pay to play the Trump White House way.  (1/15)

 

2025

Trump crime family takes over White House (Pentagon drone proposal edition).  (10/29)

Raise your hands if you think these two headlines are related.  (10/23)

Sounds like a kings ransom to me.  (10/21)

Donald Trump, scammer-in-chief.  (7/5)

Sean Combs to Donald Trump: “The check is in the mail.”  (6/1)

Pay to play the Trump pardon way.  (6/1) 

Dear Charlie, A Trump official will be with you shortly to take your down payment for a pardon.  Best, Retiring Guy.  (3/31/2025)

Trump carnival barker corruption:  Pay to play the pardon way.  (3/29/2025)

Welcome to the most popular place for grifters, scammers, chiselers, swindlers, reprobates, and other miscreants.  (3/9) 

2024

Grift Ain't Groceries.  (11/9)

2023

Day 3,019 of mainstream media normalizing of grifter and serial liar Donald Trump,.  (9/19)

Day 3,017.  (9/17)