The New York Times published a story Sunday on the hundreds of thousands of dollars being spent to support women willing to come forward with sexual misconduct accusations against Donald Trump. The Times reports that a group founded by David Brock secretly gave $200,000 to attorney Lisa Bloom while another progressive donor gave her $500,000
for the same purpose.
A nonprofit group founded by the Democratic activist David Brock, which people familiar with the arrangements say secretly spent $200,000 on an unsuccessful effort to bring forward accusations of sexual misconduct against Mr. Trump before Election Day, is considering creating a fund to encourage victims to bring forward similar claims against Republican politicians…
Ms. Allred’s daughter, the lawyer Lisa Bloom, seized on the political potency of sexual harassment charges against Mr. Trump not long after he clinched the Republican presidential nomination. She said she reached out to a pro-Clinton “super PAC” — though she declined to identify which one — for money to help her vet a sexual misconduct claim against Mr. Trump.
That case collapsed one week before Election Day, but as a result of the attention it generated, several donors reached out to Ms. Bloom “asking how they could help,” she said. She told them that she was working with “a few other women” who might “find the courage to speak out” against Mr. Trump if the donors would provide funds for security, relocation and possibly a “safe house.”
Ms. Bloom would not identify the donors. But two Democrats familiar with the arrangements said a nonprofit group founded by Mr. Brock, American Bridge 21st Century Foundation, gave $200,000, while the fashion entrepreneur Susie Tompkins Buell, a major donor to Mr. Brock’s suite of groups, gave $500,000 to Ms. Bloom’s firm for the last-ditch effort.
Two weeks ago the Hill reported that Lisa Bloom was
negotiating with an unnamed woman who claimed Trump had made an “unsolicited advance” on her years earlier. Bloom initially offered the woman $10,000 to come forward, then $50,000. As the date of the election grew closer, the figure
kept going up:
“Another donor has reached out to me offering relocation/security for any woman coming forward. I’m trying to reach him,” Bloom texted the woman on Nov. 3, 2016. Later she added, “Call me I have good news.”…
The figured jumped to $200,000 in a series of phone calls with Bloom that week, according to the woman. The support was promised to be tax-free and also included changing her identity and relocating, according to documents and interviews.
The unnamed woman finally requested a payment of $2 million. Bloom says she rejected that request but the Hill reported Bloom did fly from California to make a last-ditch offer of $750,000 just two days before the election. That amount matches roughly with the amount of money the New York Times reports was offered by the two donors, i.e. $700,000. But the unnamed accuser never did come forward. Another accuser who did come forward, Jill Harth, admits that donors arranged by Lisa Bloom paid off the mortgage on her apartment. Bloom claims she didn’t discuss any of her activities with the Clinton campaign.
According to the Times, Bloom returned the $500,000 donated by Susie Tompkins Buell but kept the money given by American Bridge 21st Century Foundation. Neither Buell nor David Brock would comment on the arrangement.
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