The Media Is Hushing Up Emmer's Crypto-Corruption
On Friday, when McCarthy was asked by a CNN reporter if the GOP conference is “broken,” he replied “We’re in a very bad place right now, yes.” And then on Meet the Press this morning, McCarthy said “This is embarrassing for the Republican Party, embarrassing for the nation.” Asked at a rally in Charleston yesterday who he would like to see become speaker, Chris Christie said “I don’t care. Just pick someone!” Sure… it’s not that easy. Someone quipped that it would take less time to list all the Republicans who aren’t running than to list all the Republicans who are!
This morning, the NY Times noted that “at least 10 Republicans have announced that they will run for speaker or that they are considering doing so since Friday… A flood of lawmakers began campaigning just hours after Republicans voted in a closed-door meeting to restart the nomination process after Jordan, his support ebbing, failed on a third floor vote to win the speakership. The vote essentially ensured that the office of the speaker would remain empty for a third week… Virtually none have the kind of commanding national profile normally required of the speaker, who is not only second in line to the presidency but a key fund-raiser for their party’s efforts to protect and expand its majority.”
Although Trump has since given him the thumbs down, the early frontrunner— endorsed by McCarthy— was Tom Emmer (R-MN), a crooked politician serving in Congress since 2015. His district— more or less the same backward area that sent neanderthal Michele Bachman to Congress— is a red hellhole in a blue state. The district’s partisan lean is R+19 and Trump beat Biden there 57.7% to 40.1%. Last year, Emmer was reelected in a landslide against a sacrificial lamb 62.1% to 37.9%. He spent $4,196,088 to her $195,836. Emmer won all 7 counties… and none were close. Emmer, a prodigious fundraiser with a whiff of corruption always present, had run for governor in 2010 and narrowly lost. After that he became a lobbyist. When Bachmann’s own corruption forced her to retire, Emmer, the Tea Party candidate, grabbed her seat.
The Times’ description of Emmer isn’t exactly misleading— just pathetic, noting that he has been accused by extremists of “being insufficiently supportive” of Señor Trumpanzee. They also Katie Edmondson and Luke Broadwater also noted that he’s “a former college ice hockey player and coach… [and that he] served two terms as the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, helping Republican candidates across the country win elections and making inroads across the conference in the process.” Edmondson and Broadwater always seemed to be first-rate reporters, yet they seem to have chosen to leave out of the description that Emmer is a member of the House Financial Services Committee and on the crypto subcommittee (the Subcommittee on Digital Assets, Financial Technology and Inclusion), at least one of whose members— and likely more— has already been served with a subpoena to testify at the Sam Bankman Fried trial as the prosecutors begin dealing with the massive bribes Bankman Fried and his colleagues gave to members of Congress. Emmer is also the leader of the notorious Blockchain 8— Scam Bankman Fried’s bought-and-paid-for mouthpiece on Capitol Hill. Emmer and his bipartisan cronies have been vocal supporters of crypto-friendly legislation and regulation and have attacked the SEC for its aggressive enforcement actions against cryptocurrency companies. SBF was paying Emmer and the others— via campaign contributions— to take responsibility from crypto-regulation away from the SEC and give it to a clueless and corrupt agricultural commodities operation.
Last year— just before the FTX scandal broke— Emmer wrote a letter to the SEC on behalf of the other criminals in the Blockchain 8, demanding that the agency explain itself in its information-gathering, calling into question the commission's authority and approach. They argued that the SEC was overstepping its bounds and stifling innovation in the cryptocurrency industry. Emmer has consistently put the interests of the crypto-crooks ahead the public interest.It’s who he is and it’s shocking That Times chose to mention that he was a college hockey player rather than discuss his crypto-corruption. What a news source! You may have seen this video— but apparently Edmondson and Broadwater either haven’t or didn’t think it was worth mentioning:
Emmer has received at least $108,700 in campaign funds from Bankman Fried and his network of congressional bribers. On top that, the crypto industry helped Emmer’s efforts at the NRCC, which led directly to his position at House Majority Whip and, now, as a speaker candidate. For example, the GMI PAC, which is funded by the crypto exchange Gemini (currently being sued by the State of New York), spent over $1 million to support Emmer and other Republican candidates in the 2022 election cycle.
Was Emmer’s college hockey playing more important than the Spot Market Integrity, Transparency, and Efficiency Act (SMITEA) legislation that Emmer wrote to repay all that money from SBF and the crypto industry? After all it would exempt spot cryptocurrency exchanges(like FTX and Gemini) from securities laws and would establish a new regulatory framework for spot cryptocurrency trading. Emmer has been criticized for carrying the crypto industry’s water in return for massive campaign contributions— but you wouldn’t know that by reading the NY Times today. Also unmentioned by The Times: Emmer is a homophobic, xenophobic, anti-Choice, anti-healthcare, anti-minimum wage, anti-tax sociopath. But he did play hockey in college.
The other speaker candidates who The Times failed to describe adequately-- or just left out entirely-- for their readers include some guy named Austin Scott (R-GA), some guy named Gary Palmer (R-AL), some guy named Jack Bergman (R-MI), extremist maniac Mike Johnson (R-LA), former bankrobber Byron Donalds (R-FL), some guy named Dan Meuser (R-PA), Pete Sessions (R-TX), Budget Committee chairman Jodey Arrington (R-TX), McDonalds franchisee Kevin Hern (R-OK)— the #1 beneficiary in Congress of military industrial complex investments, ahead of Mark Green (R-TN), who is also running.
By the way, The Hill ran a piece the other day, What to know about Speaker hopeful Tom Emmer which was every bit as superficial and lame as the one by The Times and also neglected to say anything about Emmer’s extremist positions or about his scandalous relationship to the crypto-industry, which may well soon come to define his political career, whether he becomes speaker or not.
