TRUMP CORRUPTION INDEX

This Week in Trumpland Corruption: Flynn Goes Free

This week, we saw a judge throw out the case against Michael Flynn, plus another failed attempt by Trump to overthrow election results

Is there enough graft, double-dealing, and self-interested chicanery in the Trump administration to publish this column every week? Only time — and Trump — will tell. (But we feel pretty confident.) Presenting this week’s installment of the Trump Corruption Index.

A Keystone State groaner

In a last-ditch effort to undermine President-elect Biden’s 80,000-vote victory in the Keystone State, President Trump has tried twice over the past few days to discuss with the Republican speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives whether he can challenge the election results, the New York Times reported Tuesday. “[Trump] did ask what options were available to the legislature,” said a spokesperson for the state House Speaker Bryan Cutler, but “Cutler made it very clear what power the legislature has and does not have.” The Trump campaign had filed a series of lawsuits alleging voting fraud in Pennsylvania, but all were dismissed by state and federal courts. Trump has also pulled similar tactics — always unsuccessful — in Michigan and Georgia, pressuring politicians in those states to help reverse the election results.

• Corrupt-o-meter (out of a possible five emojis): 🗳️🗳️🗳️🤡🤡

Quite the renter’s perk

An analysis conducted by NBC News last week of pandemic relief programs found outsize benefits for small businesses paying rent at properties owned by the Trump Organization and Kushner Companies. According to the data, which was released by the Small Business Administration (SBA), 25 loans issued through the Paycheck Protection Program, totaling more than $3.65 million, were given to businesses with addresses in properties owned by Trump or Kushner’s real estate companies. Fifteen of the businesses reported that even after receiving the loan, they kept only one job, no jobs, or didn’t provide a figure. The SBA data was provided only after 11 newsrooms sued for its release. “Only now — after its hand has…