* For anyone still under the illusion that Donald Trump’s business record is his greatest selling point as a presidential candidate, Steve Reilly pretty much tears through that myth.
At least 60 lawsuits, along with hundreds of liens, judgments, and other government filings reviewed by the USA TODAY NETWORK, document people who have accused Trump and his businesses of failing to pay them for their work. Among them: a dishwasher in Florida. A glass company in New Jersey. A carpet company. A plumber. Painters. Forty-eight waiters. Dozens of bartenders and other hourly workers at his resorts and clubs, coast to coast. Real estate brokers who sold his properties. And, ironically, several law firms that once represented him in these suits and others.
Trump’s companies have also been cited for 24 violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act since 2005 for failing to pay overtime or minimum wage, according to U.S. Department of Labor data…
In addition to the lawsuits, the review found more than 200 mechanic’s liens — filed by contractors and employees against Trump, his companies or his properties claiming they were owed money for their work — since the 1980s…
The actions in total paint a portrait of Trump’s sprawling organization frequently failing to pay small businesses and individuals, then sometimes tying them up in court and other negotiations for years. In some cases, the Trump teams financially overpower and outlast much smaller opponents, draining their resources. Some just give up the fight, or settle for less; some have ended up in bankruptcy or out of business altogether.
* Timothy O’Brien literally wrote the book on Donald Trump in 2005. A new edition is about to be released with this intro from O’Brien.
Once upon a time — long before The Apprentice and the golf courses and the TRUMP-branded-underwear-vodka-mattresses-steaks-wine-and-who-knows-what-else and the questionable online education venture and the choreographed wrestling farces and the phallic skyscrapers and the sprawling casinos and the boxing matches and the magazine covers and the beauty pageants and the fisticuffs with City Hall and the serial bankruptcies and the bungled real estate deals and the yacht and the airline and the shady, thuggish business partners and the three marriages and the football team and the 2016 presidential race and the size of his Trump junk and the litany of DOPES! and LOSERS! and the guerrilla takeover of GOP debates and the flagrant race-baiting and the Great Wall of Mexico and the proposals for deporting eleven million people and the 6.6 million Facebook friends and and the seven million Twitter followers and the brawls at political rallies and the flip-flopping on abortion and the punishments for abortions and the nuclear weapons for Japan and South Korea and the white supremacists and Megyn Kelly’s menstrual cycle and John McCain’s war record and Hillary Clinton getting schlonged and Barack Obama’s birth certificate and Mitt Romney’s kneeling — Donald set his sights on Hollywood.
* I always love it when Steve Benen goes in on Karl Rove. His latest, dedicated to taking down Rove’s concern trolling about Clinton’s emails and potential abuses of the Justice Department, is no exception.
First, while I’m sure his fascination with cabinet-level email protocols has nothing to do with a partisan agenda, let’s not forget Rove was once at the center of a controversy involving … wait for it … missing emails during his tenure in the Bush White House.
Second, if there’s anyone in the country who should avoid taking about potentially scandalous political influence over the Justice Department, it’s Karl Rove…
Sure, Karl, tell some more about your concerns over political influence and the Justice Department. We’re all ears.
In case you’ve forgotten what Benen is referring to – click those links.
* Samantha Bee gives us: Other Female Firsts Covered Like Hillary’s Historic Nomination.
“Amelia Earhart completed her solo non-stop flight across the Atlantic yesterday afternoon. Her landing was met with skepticism by aviation enthusiasts who claimed her aircraft gave her an ‘unfair advantage.’”
“Ignoring voice vote, rigged Nobel Prize committee hands award to Marie Curie.”
“Sally Ride makes history as first American female in orbit. But is space ready for a woman?”
* Finally, here is Trump’s response to the President’s endorsement of Hillary Clinton today:
Almost immediately the Clinton campaign tweeted this in response. Hilarity ensued.
Delete your account. https://t.co/Oa92sncRQY
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) June 9, 2016
