By Steve Neavling
Ticklethewire.com
Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort emailed the president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner weeks after the 2016 election in an attempt to secure a top job for a Chicago banker who is at the center of Manafort’s fraud trial.
Manafort wrote that Stephen Calk, chief executive officer of the Federal Savings Bank, “should be part of the Trump Administration” and that Calk’s “preference” was to be secretary of the Army.
Kushner, who played an integral role during the transition, responded in no time.
“On it!” Kushner responded to the Nov. 30, 2016 email.
Calk approved $16 million in loans to Manafort, even though the bank was warned earlier that Manafort had falsely overstated his finances.
“Calk was active supporter of campaign since April,” Manafort wrote in the email. “HE served on the National Economic Policy Advisory Committee for Trump campaign and has made over 40 television interviews during the course of the General Election. His background is strong in defense issues, management and finance. His preference is Secretary of the Army.”
Manafort listed “alternative positions” for Calk: Undersecretary of the Treasury for Domestic Finance, Undersecretary of the Treasury for International Affairs and Deputy Secretary of Commerce.
Calk never got the job.
A week after the election, Calk pitched himself for the job in a memo entitled, “Qualification Memorandum on Behalf of Stephen M. Calk Articulating His Qualifications to Serve as the 22nd Secretary of the Army.”
“Mr. Calk willingly risked his national professional and personal reputation as an active, vocal, early supporter of President-Elect Trump,” Calk wrote in the memo.
Prosecutors rested their case this week against Manafort, who could spend the rest of his life in prison if he’s found guilty of numerous bank and tax fraud charges.
