How Trump Make a Crooks Out of Other People: Thieves of a Feather?

We are all familiar with the statement, “thieves of a feather stick together.” That other statement, There is no honor among thieves” would seem to contradict it but it doesn’t. Just because a thief would turn on a fellow thief at the snap of a finger when her own goose is about to be cooked only tells us that until that time they will stick together as if conjoined twins.

Just an aside, did you know why conjoined twins used to be called Siamese twins. It an interesting history. Look it up here.

I don’t know if the name Emily Webster Murphy is familiar to you. She graduated from Smith College in 1995 and from the University of Virginia School of  Law in 2001. She has had numerous responsible jobs in the U.S. government as shown here.   She nominated by Trump to head of the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA). Her nomination received a strong showing of bipartisan support with leaders from both parties praising her experience, qualifications, and commitment to public service. She was confirmed by the Senate on December 5, 2017.

After she became head of the GSA she met with Trump in the Oval Office. She is the woman in the photograph above.

Now you know Trump owns a hotel in Washington, DC. called the Trump International Hotel which is in the Old Post Office Building located at 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW. Nearby the Trump hotel is the FBI’s J. Edgar Hoover Building located at 935 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW.

The FBI Building is falling down. Here is an October 2015 report about it. It noted, “Further retrofitting is prohibitively expensive; despite the Hoover building’s overall size of 2.4 million gross square feet only 53 percent of that is usable according to a 2011 report from the Government Accountability Office.” (my emphasis) The article noted: “For more than a decade, leaders at the Federal Bureau of Investigation have warned that the bureau needed to replace the J. Edgar Hoover Building, . . . ” It told of inadequate space, crumbling walls, and overcrowding.

A plan had been developed by the GSA to interest some developers who would buy the building and in exchange would build the FBI a new campus somewhere immediately outside the DC area. Meanwhile: “The bureau has tried to make do with the Hoover Building despite tens of millions of dollars in overdue repairs. Inside there are not uncommon elements of older office buildings — peeling paint, ragged carpet, stained light fixtures — but there are also more laborious work-arounds.”

it was estimated that to turn the building over to a developer and have a new FBI campus built on the outskirts of DC might cost a new FBI campus could cost “between $1.4 billion and $2 billion while the Hoover building might fetch only $500 million.”. Congress wasn’t ready to fall for that so nothing was done. About 20 million was spent to scout around for sites. Two were proposed in Maryland and one in Virginia. The building is in need of $100 million in repair work.

Then Trump came to office. He got personally involved in the project. A developer interested in the deal would build a hotel which could compete with his hotel. He didn’t want that. The plans to move the FBI changed. The idea is to now do what was labeled three years ago as being prohibitively expensive. Trump’s press secretary said: “The President is interested in making sure taxpayer dollars spent on new buildings are being spent wisely and appropriately.” 

It is estimated that “Constructing a new building on the lot would cost $3.3 billion, and a four-phase renovation of the existing Hoover facility would run to $3.8 billion, according to estimates included in the February presentation from the GSA.” That does not include the cost of housing the 11,000 FBI employees in temporary housing or the extra moving costs which is estimated to cost another half billion.

The GSA said it changed its mind about relocating FBI headquarters because the FBI requested it. Emily Webster Murphy testified before Congress about the plans. Here’s some background on it. Congressman Mike Quigley said, “Last April, I asked the GSA administrator under oath whether the President or anyone at the White House was involved in the discussions on this decision about the FBI building. She said no. The inspector general said that she misled us. I suppose that’s a DC euphemism for a lie. So I’d like her to come back before my subcommittee and answer that question accurately.”

It turned out Murphy had talked with Trump about the building. It was at the time the above photograph was taken. Why did she deny it? Lying under oath to Congress is a crime.

Congress now wants to hear from her again to get the complete statement.  Quigley is giving her a chance to correct the record. The question is whether Trump will block her testimony to cover-up his role.

A couple of things are obvious: the new plan will probably double if not triple the cost of moving FBI headquarters, so much for saving he taxpayer money; and, people who appear to have led good lives for some reason change when they get close to Trump.

6 Comments

  1. Concur with Dan C on Connolly and Grieg. The day after the election Flynn is going to be pardoned and those who leaked the classified signals intelligence to the Post will be investigated and eventually indicted.

  2. I suspect the president’s interest in a new FBI headquarters stems partly from his desire to keep an eye on the Bureau. God knows what kind of sneakin’ around might happen at an out-of-view suburban headquarters. It’s also likely that he doesn’t want to see a D.C. Hilton on the site of the Hoover building. In the meantime, the Bureau can rot in its current dilapidated HQ. That’s fine with Trump, too.

    Don’t have a clue about Emily Webster Murphy apart from the fact that she wants to hang onto her job. Do you think she introduces herself as “Emily Webster Murphy” when she meets people? Just curious.

    • Afterthought: There’s a new book out on the women of Southie. Has anybody read it, and is it any good?

      Also, here’s hoping (again) that Catherine Greig and John Connolly will be quickly released from prison. They’ve paid for their sins and then some.

      Also hoping that the immortal soul of the loathsome John Morris will burn in the everlasting fires of Hell since no Earthly punishment seems to be in the offing.

  3. I read an article about this and it certainly makes for interesting reading. It is late October 2018, at what point does Mike Flynn get sentenced? With all due respect to the job you had for so many years it seems very clear white collar crime with a big money attorney is somehow so much important than a violent crime by a repeat offender who would get sentenced right away. How much more could Mike Flynn have to talk about at this point anyway?

  4. “Just an aside, did you know why conjoined twins used to be called Siamese twins.”

    More PC we could live nicely without. Lets not insult all the fine friends we have in Siam/Thailand. And don’t piss off those cats!

    Handicapped-Disabled-Crippled. I have a hard time remembering.

    I drove a neighbor of mine up in Milton to the Carroll Center for the Blind once in a while. He use to joke about the blind/sightless debate. (It wasn’t much as debates go) He use to say, “Just because I’m blind don’t think I’m in the dark.” I would describe the women we drove by on the way. He’d say, “Sounds like she is worth brailling.”

  5. Are you suggesting that some of Trump’s motivation to be Commander In Chief was to improve the size of his personal wealth? That milquetoast son-in-law of his may have a few thoughts on the subject. Like most good assassins, he looks like he couldn’t fight his way out of a petting zoo.