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Trump trotting out the old campaign lie that Mexico will pay for the border wall seems like a good time to remind the public about @RepMattGaetz key role in the wall scam, both the looting public funds part & the swindling private donors part. 1/
FIRST: Mexico did not pay for the wall. Using his emergency powers, POTUS diverted $3.6B meant for our military. As a member of HASC, @RepMattGaetz had an obligation to protect those funds. Instead, he used his platform to give Trump political cover.2/ https://gaetz.house.gov/media/press-releases/congressman-matt-gaetz-releases-statement-utilization-military-funds-border
In all, 127 mil bases lost funding for much-needed construction projects, ranging from weapons training facilities to childcare centers to emergency facilities. Florida's Tyndall Air Force Base lost $17m. 3/ https://www.pnj.com/story/news/2019/09/05/tyndall-air-force-base-sees-17-million-cut-help-fund-mexico-border-wall/2222006001/
Gaetz has underplayed, even misrepresented, the local impact of these DoD cuts, which in fact directly impact the mission at bases in the panhandle:
-$156M for F35s
-$180M for Army vehicles
-$180M for AF light attack
-$650M for Navy amph. assault ship
4/ https://www.waltonsun.com/news/20200224/local-impact-of-switching-defense-funds-to-border-wall-not-yet-clear
-$156M for F35s
-$180M for Army vehicles
-$180M for AF light attack
-$650M for Navy amph. assault ship
4/ https://www.waltonsun.com/news/20200224/local-impact-of-switching-defense-funds-to-border-wall-not-yet-clear
Of the $3.6B defense funds redirected to the wall, Fisher Construction, a GOP donor, was awarded $2B despite the Army Corps of Engineers determination they were unqualified.
The award to Fisher is currently under investigation by the Pentagon IG. 5/ https://homeland.house.gov/news/press-releases/pentagon-inspector-general-to-review-400-million-border-wall-contract-after-thompson-request
The award to Fisher is currently under investigation by the Pentagon IG. 5/ https://homeland.house.gov/news/press-releases/pentagon-inspector-general-to-review-400-million-border-wall-contract-after-thompson-request
Before its first award of $400m in 12/19, Fisher was excluded from the bidding process b/c of inexperience. Their luck changed after @RepMattGaetz visited them on the border & promoted their product. 6/ videohttps://twitter.com/RepMattGaetz/status/1118220509647441923?s=20
But @RepMattGaetz lied. He wasn't at the southern border in Arizona reviewing wall construction as he tweeted, he was actually at Fisher Construction's facility looking at prototypes and taking pictures. 7/ https://americanindependent.com/gop-congressmen-matt-gaetz-border-wall-lie/
Also in April, the now defunct We Build the Wall approached Fisher to build a small segment of border fence on private property w/ private donations. The group's leader, Brian Kolfage is a resident of Florida's panhandle & associate of @RepMattGaetz 8/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/trump-border-wall-tommy-fisher/2020/09/14/8176798a-ed52-11ea-a21a-0fbbe90cfd8c_story.html#comments-wrapper
In the Fall after @RepMattGaetz 2019 field trip and photo shoot at Fisher Construction, DHS officials met with We Build the Wall to discuss possibly transferring the privately-funded border fence built by Fisher to the U.S. gov't. 9/ https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/bannon-wall-border-patrol/
After lobbying by @RepMattGaetz & Steve Bannon on their behalf, Fisher was awarded $400M in Dec 2019, the first of 3 gov't awards. Fisher would be awarded another $1.3B and $289M despite quality problems and an IG investigation. 10/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/trump-border-wall-tommy-fisher/2020/09/14/8176798a-ed52-11ea-a21a-0fbbe90cfd8c_story.html
In August 2020, We Build the Wall's Brian Kolfage and Steve Bannon were indicted for defrauding donors and taking kickbacks in their scheme to raise private dollars to build the border fence. Fisher Construction was their contractor. 11/ https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/leaders-we-build-wall-online-fundraising-campaign-charged-defrauding-hundreds-thousands
Embarrassing reports of erosion & instability of Fisher's fence emerged this summer. @potus & @RepMattGaetz have distanced from their once pet project. Time will tell how much of that $3.6B meant for our military has been wasted or misspent on this folly.x https://www.politico.com/news/2020/07/12/trump-border-wall-make-me-look-bad-357706
