Twenty years ago GOP presumptive nominee Donald Trump told a congressional committee that Indian gaming was ripe for takeover by organized crime.
Today, the presidential candidate claims that past events, such as the “Jack Abramoff scandal proves he was right back then. Abramoff was a lobbyist who defrauded tribal clients out of millions of dollars while supposedly representing them to D.C. politicians.
Last week Trump wrote an email to the Financial Times saying,
“It was 100 per cent right about this—it was the Jack Abramoff scandal.”
Interestingly, Trump’s campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski was once chief of staff to former Rep. Bob Ney, who was the only member of Congress to be convicted of a crime in the Abramoff scandal.
Although Trump was warning against organized crime’s possible influence on Indian gaming, the Abramoff scandal was more centered on influence peddling than the mob.
At the time, Trump testified, “But to sit here and listen as people are saying that there is no organized crime, that there is no money laundering, that there is no anything, and that an Indian chief is going to tell Joey Killer to please get off his reservation is almost unbelievable to me.”
