Latest news with #Elizabeth Warren
Daily Mail
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Dem. Sen. Elizabeth Warren pens Steven Colbert conspiracy theory for Variety...but omits important fact
Sen. Elizabeth Warren has peddled a scathing conspiracy theory claiming that CBS canceled Stephen Colbert 's late night show to appease President Donald Trump. The Democrat published an op-ed Wednesday in Variety Magazine alleging Trump bullied CBS parent company Paramount into cancelling The Late Show with Stephen Colbert - but voters were left unamused by her analysis. Warren cited how Trump hit CBS with a lawsuit that the firm branded 'meritless' during the 2024 election, but quickly reached a $16million once he took office. She also highlighted how Colbert called the settlement a 'big, fat bribe' and saw his show canceled just three days later. 'Was it a coincidence that CBS canceled Colbert just three days after he spoke out? Are we sure that this wasn't part of a wink-wink deal between the president and a giant corporation that needed something from his administration?' she wrote. She also pointed to how Trump celebrated the show's cancelation, adding: 'If CBS made this decision for "purely financial" reasons, why the timing? And why did Trump say "I hope I played a major part in" getting Colbert fired?' But her scornful opinion piece - which fails to address the embarrassing fact that the show was losing $40million each year - was not well-received by Americans who are now questioning 'why are you so concerned about Stephen Colbert?' Warren has tweeted about the show's axing at least four times, which voters allege should be the least of her worries. 'This is what your senator is spending time on. Really? Primary her,' one furious X user urged. 'You fight harder for illegal aliens and millionaire celebrities than you do your constituents. Why is that Liz?' another wrote. 'I am so glad you are focused on what will really help people in need,' one echoed. Another added: 'This just implicates you further. Congrats.' 'Only if you put this kind of effort into your constituents. But a little bit of connection with people, you would know that late night TV is not something people do anymore. People are more into streaming platforms these days,' one user said. Others branded her a 'buffoon' and called her out for not acknowledging the financial turmoil the show was facing. 'We know you're not too business savvy so let's try it slowly. $40M losses per year is not good for business,' one X user wrote. 'When a politician can't figure out why a business would dump an activity that loses $40million a year, you understand why our government is $36trillion in debt,' another criticized. Others called for her removal, penning tweets like: 'Hopefully you will be canceled In your next election.' Warren's op-ed alleges Paramount settled the lawsuit with Trump and axed the talk show to ensure its merger with Skydance, a deal she cites to be 'worth $8billion' and 'can only go through if it's approved by the Trump administration' Warren alleges Paramount settled the lawsuit and axed the talk show to ensure its merger with Skydance, a deal she cites to be 'worth $8billion' and 'can only go through if it's approved by the Trump administration'. 'Instead of fighting Trump on his "meritless" lawsuit, Paramount settled, handing to Trump's presidential library. This looks like bribery in plain sight, and that's exactly what Stephen Colbert said on his show,' she wrote. The senator further claimed the 'Paramount payoff' - as she calls it - demonstrates the president's 'corrupt pattern' of 'exploiting' his office to 'profit personally' and 'punish his perceived enemies'. She highlighted how ABC News provided $15million to Trump's presidential library to settle 'another questionable defamation lawsuit'. Warren also claimed that Trump told Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg he would only be 'brought in the tent' of his administration if he settled a separate lawsuit. Zuckerberg ultimately contributed $22million to Trump's library and ended Meta's fact-checking program, the senator said. She argued 'Trump is running the same play again' with Paramount and will continue to do so with other media outlets that question him. 'The pattern is the same: Trump threatens to bring down the weight of the federal government on a single institution, and, too often, the targets feel they have no option but to bow down to an all-powerful Trump,' she wrote. But she failed to acknowledge a recent report revealing The Late Show costs $100million a year to produce, with Colbert, 61, getting paid between $15million and $20 million annually to host. Voters were left frustrated by Warren's op-ed and multiple tweets about the show's cancellation, alleging she should be more focused on the needs of her constituents than on the status of a TV program The Late Show's cancelation was announced last Thursday. Colbert, who will broadcast his final show in May 2026, was reportedly first informed his show was on the chopping block around July 4. Paramount Co-CEO George Cheeks made the decision, Puck journalist Matthew Belloni revealed last week. Belloni outlined Colbert's astonishing lack of profitability just hours after CNN first broke the news that the show was canceled because it was in the red. Late night shows have slumped in profitability in recent years as viewers shun the format in favor of streaming services or watching content on their phones. Colbert beats ABC and NBC rivals Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon in the ratings, but that still wasn't enough to save him. Advertiser revenue has slumped sharply even in the last three years, Puck reported, making it harder to pull Colbert's show out of the red. The show's axing delighted Trump, who posted about it on his TruthSocial network. All three major late night hosts - Colbert, Kimmel and Fallon - have become notorious for their regular rants about Trump, which many viewers have complained are boring and off-putting. But Belloni said he didn't believe the famously anti-MAGA Colbert was axed to appease Donald Trump, who recently won a $15million payout from CBS after suing them over a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris he said was deceptively edited. Colbert was reported to be 'not angry, actually' about his cancelation, Puck reported.
Yahoo
17-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Critics of Trump's presidential library fundraising say "there are no rules"
President Trump's efforts to direct millions of dollars to his future presidential library has drawn fresh attention to a lack of visibility into the identities or potential interests of the donors who are funding it, a longstanding Washington concern facing past presidents from both parties. Two prominent Senate Democrats say they are preparing to introduce a bill Wednesday that would regulate fundraising for presidential libraries, according to documents shared with CBS News. "Donald Trump is using his presidential library as a tool for bribery while he is still in office," said Sen. Elizabeth Warren, of Massachusetts, who is introducing the legislation with Sen. Richard Blumenthal, of Connecticut. "Many of the donations to Trump's future library are coming straight from companies and special interests that need a favor from Trump," Warren said. "Right now there are no rules." The effort was spurred by a series of announcements about gifts to the Trump library, including an opulently appointed Boeing 747 given to the U.S. Air Force by the Qatari royal family for the president's use, after which it would be donated to the library for Mr. Trump's post-presidency. The proceeds of four large legal settlements with the president are also reportedly bound for his library fund. The multimillion-dollar settlements stem from Mr. Trump's lawsuits against Meta, ABC News, X (formerly Twitter) and Paramount. Paramount is the parent company of CBS News. The funds from the four settlements alone could total up to $63 million, according to a CBS News review of news reports and court documents. Sens. Warren and Blumenthal, along with three House members, Reps. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.), Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.) and Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), are proposing several measures to restrict fundraising for presidential libraries. Among them is a contribution cap of $10,000 per person while the president is still serving in office. The legislation also proposes quarterly disclosures for all donations of $200 or more, and imposes a two-year "cooling off" period after the end of their term during which a president cannot accept donations from foreign nationals, federal government contractors or individuals seeking presidential pardons. Finally, the bill also explicitly bars the use of library donations for personal expenses. "Right now, there are basically no rules," said Warren. "The settlements show everyone who has business pending in front of the federal government, that if they've got enough money and can funnel it to Donald Trump through his future presidential library, they might receive better treatment from the US government." The White House did not respond to CBS News' request for comment. Funding is largely opaque and unregulated The total amount raised for the Trump library to date is likely far greater than the amounts visible through the president's publicly announced legal settlements. For instance, funds leftover from the $239 million raised by the Trump-Vance inaugural committee — including millions from tech companies and CEOs such as Amazon, OpenAI, Apple and Uber — were expected to be redirected to the library, according to multiple news reports. It's unclear how much of those funds have already been transferred. Donations to inaugural funds are required to be reported publicly, whereas presidential libraries are under no such obligation. The $400 million jet the Trump administration accepted from Qatar in May is also slated to be transferred to the Trump library shortly before he leaves office. Other than those instances, the funding for the private foundations that support presidential libraries is largely opaque and unregulated, experts said. "No one outside the organization knows who contributes to presidential library funds," said Brett Kappel, a campaign finance lawyer who advises tax exempt organizations. "That information is provided to the IRS, but is not made public." While campaign funds have historically been tightly regulated under a series of laws passed after the Watergate scandal, there are no restrictions on donations to presidential libraries, Kappel said. While in office, presidents can solicit unlimited library donations from anyone — including foreign nationals, individuals seeking presidential pardons and corporations with federal contracts. "The lack of transparency could raise the appearance of impropriety," said Kappel. "No one will know who is making donations to the presidential library while the president is still in office and making government policy." Trustees of the two Trump library organizations and the Trump Organization did not respond to CBS News' request for comment. The Obama Presidential Foundation, which oversees the development of former President Barack Obama's library in Chicago, was founded in January 2014, a year after Obama's second term began. The foundation said it would disclose all donors and donations over $200 on a quarterly basis on their website in an effort to increase transparency. It was estimated in June 2021 that the center will cost roughly $700 million to construct. President George W. Bush's library foundation began fundraising efforts in the spring of 2009, after he left office. The foundation did not publicly disclose its donors. The cost of that effort clocked in at $250 million. The George W. Bush Presidential Center, on the campus of Southern Methodist University in Dallas, opened in 2013. The first presidential library was established by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1938. Since then, presidential libraries are built and maintained with a mix of private and federal funds. Typically the library itself is constructed with private donations, and occasionally with support from local government or university partners. The library is then transferred to the federal government and maintained by the National Archives and Records Administration, or NARA, which oversees the preservation of presidential documents and has a congressionally appropriated budget for maintaining the library structures. Two nonprofits behind the Trump library In the last year, the Trump family and associates have established two funds for presidential library donations, according to incorporation records reviewed by CBS News. Both are incorporated as nonprofits in Florida. The first, the Donald J. Trump Presidential Library Fund Inc., was created in December 2024, before President Trump was sworn in, and shortly after ABC announced it would donate $15 million to the future Trump library to settle a defamation claim the president brought against the network. According to incorporation documents, the fund was established by Jacob Roth, a Florida-based attorney who also filed the paperwork for both the Trump Vance Inauguration Committee Inc. and the Trump Vance Inaugural Committee Inc. in November. According to incorporation documents for the organization, the purpose of the fund is to "to preserve and steward the legacy of President Donald J. Trump and his presidency." A few months later, in May, a second nonprofit was incorporated under the name Donald J. Trump Presidential Library Foundation. There are three listed trustees: Eric Trump; Tiffany Trump's husband, Michael Boulos; and James Kiley, a New York attorney who represented Mr. Trump between 2020 and 2022 during one of his legal battles against his niece, Mary Trump. This foundation was created to "steward, preserve, and celebrate the legacy and historical record of President Donald J. Trump and his presidency," according to filings. There may not be rules for what money can go into a presidential library fund, but there are strict rules for how nonprofit funds can be spent. As nonprofit 501(c)(3)s, tax laws prohibit the use of funds from a presidential library for personal benefit. The IRS is in charge of enforcing all conflict-of-interest laws for nonprofits, although experts are skeptical about the agency's political will to enforce those provisions. "501(c)(3)s are supposed to be used for charitable purposes. To the extent funds are being used beyond that, and outside the scope of a presidential library, that's something the IRS would have to look into," said Viriginia Canter, who served as senior ethics counsel for the Treasury Department under both Republican and Democratic administrations. There is no indication that Mr. Trump or his family are using funds for the libraries for personal expenses. Past library controversies The Trump family is not the first to face criticism over donations to a library fund while in office. President Bill Clinton faced significant pushback after he pardoned billionaire businessman Marc Rich, who'd fled to Switzerland after he was indicted in 1983 on more than 50 counts of wire fraud, racketeering, trading with Iran during an embargo and evading more than $48 million in U.S. income taxes. Clinton's pardon — which was issued just hours before he left office in January 2001 — faced scrutiny even from some of his closest allies, who said Rich's pardon appeared to have been bought. They pointed to the $450,000 donation Rich's ex-wife, Denise Rich, bestowed to the Clinton library foundation and the additional $100,000 she donated to Hillary Clinton's 2000 Senate campaign. And in 2008, a GOP lobbyist with ties to the Bush administration was caught on video allegedly soliciting a donation for his presidential library in exchange for setting up a meeting with top White House officials. (It was a sting operation set up by a newspaper; no money changed hands.) Congress has tried, and largely failed for almost two decades, to pass legislation that would require organizations raising funds for presidential libraries to disclose donations. Since 2007, the House has passed five bills regarding presidential library funding transparency — the most recent being in 2019 — but they have all been stalled in the Senate. Son of man who was violently detained by ICE reacts after release Mike Johnson breaks from Trump, calls on DOJ to release Epstein files 7.3 magnitude earthquake hits southern Alaska
