RealClearInvestigations' Picks of the Week
August 27toSept. 2 Featured Investigation Perhaps no organization has benefitted more from Donald Trump's victory than the Southern Poverty Law Center. As concerns have mushroomed on the left about the attitudes of the President and his supporters regarding race, gender, religion and other aspects of identity, the SPLC has become the mainstream media's arbiter of who is, and who is not, a hater. A search of the New York Times archive turned up at least 31 stories mentioning the group betweenAug. 14 and Sept. 1, as the Charlottesville clashes and Confederate monuments drew strong attention. The Washington Post's archive returned at least 61 mentions of the SPLC during the same period. Apple has said it is donating $1 million to the organization and has placed an SPLC donation button in its iTunes store. This positive presshas also brought more scrutiny to the Alabama-based non-profit.Joe Schoffstallof the Washington Free Beaconreports thatthe group's leaders draw generous salaries from those donations.It's President and CEO, Richard Cohen, was "given $346,218 in base compensation in 2015." Schoffstallalso reports: The minimum amount paid to an officer, director, trustee, or key employee in 2015 was $140,000 in base salary, not including other compensation. The group spent $20 million on salaries throughout the year. The SPLC, which claims to boast a staff of 75 lawyers who practice in the area of children's rights, economic justice, immigrant justice, LGBT rights, and criminal justice reform, reported spending only $61,000 on legal services in 2015. The Free Beacon has also uncovered information that, it says, shows that the SPLC has "financial interests" in the Cayman Islands, British Virgin Islands and Bermuda. Experts say these are highly unusualfor such a group: SPLC lists Tiger Global Management LLC, a New York-based private equity financial firm, as an agent on its form. The form shows a foreign partnership between the SPLC and Tiger Global Private Investment Partners IX, L.P., a pooled investment fund in the Cayman Islands. SPLC transferred $960,000 in cash on Nov. 24, 2014 to Tiger Global Private Investment Partners IX, L.P, its records show. The SPLC's Form 926 ... from 2014 shows additional cash transactions that the nonprofit had sent to offshore funds. The SPLC reported a $102,007 cash transfer on Dec. 24, 2014 to BPV-III Cayman X Limited, a foreign entity located in the Cayman Islands. The group then sent $157,574 in cash to BPV-III Cayman XI Limited on Dec. 31, 2014, an entity that lists the same PO Box address in Grand Cayman as the previous transfer. Read Full Article Other Noteworthy Articles and Series Mueller Enlists IRS in Trump-Russia Probe
Daily Beast
Special counsel Robert Mueller has enlisted the help of agents from the IRS' Criminal Investigations unit, according to sources familiar with his investigation into alleged Russian election interference. The unit's 2,500 agents focus exclusively on financial crime. "And it goes without saying," this report says, "that the IRS has access to Trump's tax returns -- documents that the president has long resisted releasing to the public." Comey Worked on Clinton ExonerationBeforeHer Interview
Washington Examiner
Former FBI Director James Comey started to draft a statement exonerating Hillary Clinton before the FBI interviewed her or her key witnesses over her use of a private email server, the Senate Judiciary Committee said, citing bureau transcripts as evidence. "Conclusion first, fact-gathering second — that's no way to run an investigation," Senators Chuck Grassley and Lindsey Graham said in a letter to the FBI. FBI Rejects Releasing Its Files on Clinton Emails
Washington Times
There isn't a sufficient public interest to justify releasing the FBI's files on Hillary Clinton's email practices, the bureau said this week, rejecting an open-records request by a lawyer seeking to have the former Secretary of State punished for perjury. "You have not sufficiently demonstrated that the public's interest in disclosure outweighs personal privacy interests of the subject," an FBI records official wrote. Sordid Double Life of Emirates' Powerful Ambassador to U.S.
The Intercept
Leaked emails show that Yousef al-Otaiba, the UAE's charming and influential ambassador to Washington, led a sordid double life with a hard-partying crew, including an alcoholic college pal who embezzled from his charity. The group planned debauchery with female "youngsters" at the MGM Grand's exclusive penthouse Skylofts in Sin City. "Is my diplomatic immunity valid in Vegas?" Otaiba emailed. Congressmen Score Personal Loans From Supporters
Center for Public Integrity
At least 19 members of the House and Senate -- Republicans and Democrats alike -- have accepted loanstotalingmillions from organizations or individuals instead of a bank or traditional financial institutions, disclosure forms show. Often these organizations and people rank among the lawmakers' key political supporters. In two of the cases, loans were made to members' spouses. The South Carolina Mayor Who Helps His Friends
Post and Courier
Over more than two decades in office, North Charleston Mayor Keith Summey has given his friendshigh-paying government jobs and helped affluent developers, a Post and Courier investigation finds. He dodges campaign finance limits through the "LLC loophole." He might not get away with this under the ethics laws in other states, but South Carolina is a whole 'nother story. The Ridiculously Easy Crime Spree of the Hotel Keycard Hacker
Wired
Aaron Cashatt went on a yearlong crime spree across the U.S. exploiting a flaw in a common model of hotel keycard locks. He broke into hotel rooms to steal TVs and guests' belongings using an extremely easy hack, requiring only $50 worth of supplies. But eventually police agencies joined forces in Operation Hotel Ca$h, and Cashatt's now serving nine years -- behind locks presumably more invincible. | 
