It’s a Beast of a time in D.C. Donald Trump’s Washington reality show is full of new characters, plot twists and cliffhangers, and the Daily Beast will navigate you through it. The President won’t need to drain The Swamp. It’s all leaking here…

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This week in news from the ooze: Michelle Obama, Jeff Bezos, Kash Patel, Steve Ricchetti, Elon Musk, and “Wonder Woman” Lynda Carter.

What Goes Around, Comes Around…

Rather than shine as the nation’s lasting tribute to America’s first Black commander-in-chief, costly delays and worrying setbacks are in danger of turning the 225-ft watchtower library and museum project on the south side of Chicago into the Obamas’ financial folly.

While the media is busy worrying about Barack and Michelle Obama being on the outs—they haven’t been seen publicly together since December, although they did release a photo in January—the center’s fund-raisers have more substantial concerns on their minds—like why some deep-pocketed donors have gone MIA.

In 2022, Jeff Bezos and Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky bailed them out with $100 million apiece to boost the year’s total to over $311 million, but fund-raising nosedived by more than 50% to $129,320,227, the following year, according to IRS filings, and supporters are nervously awaiting the 2024 totals as costs spiral upwards and delays pile up.

We’re told there’s a certain schadenfreude in some circles as the Obamas weren’t seen to be playing the game as they climbed the slippery pole to the White House. “He’s arrogant,” said one donor who ended up giving substantially less than they could. “He didn’t help others when they were trying to fundraise and so they’re not going to look out for the Obamas now. There’s no quid pro quo because it’s a one-way street.” Donors may also be asking how more than $5 million was paid out in “executive compensation” and $27,365,683 in other wages in 20023, with Obama pal Valerie Jarrett pulling in a $740,000 salary for a project that’s not likely to open for another year at the earliest. As things stand, the center’s on track to take a record time—at least 3,100 days—between the end of a presidency and the opening of a presidential library. By comparison, the libraries of George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush took an average of 1,653 days, Bill Clinton’s took 1,398, and Ronald Reagan 1,000 days.

The general mood hasn’t been improved by a $40 million lawsuit taken out by a concrete contractor alleging discriminatory practices. The looming tower at the heart of the privately-funded 10-acre complex, which includes a library, a fruit and vegetable garden; a museum; an auditorium; and outdoor meeting areas and sports facilities has been erected and other buildings are in various stages of construction. The center has been contacted for comment. The Obamas put back the projected opening date from late 2025 to Spring 2026 because the flowers will be in bloom. Fortunately, the library is digital. It doesn’t have to be that big.

Meanwhile, the fund-raising goes on. And the website is open to small donations. Every amount helps. Even $5.

Keep Your Friends Close...  

As much as he might like moving into the Lincoln Bedroom in the White House as his D.C. crash pad, Elon Musk has told friends he is doing overnighters at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building just up the street. Once Elon’s in, he’s all in. He did the same thing with Twitter and Tesla, sleeping at work in a message to staff that he’s hands-on. Just as long as he doesn’t wander into the West Wing for breakfast in his dressing gown.

….and your enemies closer.

Got secrets on your enemies or, more likely, your friends that need oozed out? Email theswamp@thedailybeast.com.

Hard, Cold, Ka$h 

Kash Patel has a history of attacking Silicon Valley billionaires, including the world’s richest man who now controls the world’s biggest (for now, at least) superpower.

Other previous posts by Patel trashing Musk have already disappeared, so if the links cited here suddenly no longer work, our Swamp readers will know why. Patel routinely belittled Musk’s social media platform as “Titter” and a tool of “disinformation” and censorship as he touted Trump’s MAGA platform as the superior way to spew disinformation. (Hmm, could the “Titter” slight have sent Musk over the edge to rename Twitter X and later call his son by the same letter?) Patel embraced QAnon and other conspiracy theories before pivoting in his Senate confirmation hearing to disavowing any such record. His old social media posts foreshadowed how his battle of gaslighting may outshine money. “Newsflash: Elon Musk cares about Elon Musk n his X app, he wants to own the company that owns humanity… dont believe me, hes now got his billionaire buddys at the commie central world economic forum running Titter,”  Patel posted on May 21, 2023. “We’re all paying for it, this is why he’s so rich. DOD’s biggest contractor is Elon Musk. I’ll never get hired from him now. Can you edit that out?” Lol, Kash. We’ll see if Trump’s top doge, wingman and billionaire-in-chief thinks you’re the real deal.

“Ill take Elon seriously when he gets rid of #GovernmentGangsters who sold out to the private sector after selling out their country,” Patel posted on Dec. 5, 2022.

How could Kash not take Elon seriously now?

Dive Deeper Into the Swamp…

• Unmasked: Elon’s Secret DOGE Goon Squad—Every One Under 26
• Trump’s Lackeys Freeze Work at Another Federal Agency
• Don’t Call Me ICE Barbie Says Mace After Perp Walk Catwalk

With a Little Help From My Friends…

 At UK Ambassador Dame Karen Pierce’s farewell bash for her friends on Saturday night, there was a rare political detente with Republicans, Democrats, and journalists among the guests starting with high teas and ending with champers and dancing to the likes of Abba and Village People. Trump campaign guru Chris LaCivita was among those smoking cigars and hanging out with his wife Catherine until late. After the last strains of YMCA petered out in the stateroom turned disco, everyone still there gathered around the residence’s piano for John McCarthy, former senior advisor for political engagement in the Biden White House, to play four of the departing (and extremely popular) diplomat’s favorite songs—American Pie, Take Me Home Country Roads, Piano Man and Your Song. After the singalong, a final chant of, “Four more years,” rang out as the clock struck midnight. The next morning, Pierce was on her way back to London to be replaced by Labour stalwart Peter Mandelson, who once called Trump a “bully,” and, “a danger to the world” only to do a complete 180 degrees and admit he was “ill-judged” and “wrong” on Fox News when his new job appeared threatened. (He also has some issues about one Jeffrey Epstein.) He should fit right in.

Also at the party, co-hosted by Pierce’s husband Sir Charles Roxburgh, were former Virginia governor and Bill Clinton campaign veteran Terry McAuliffe, General Charles Quinton Brown Jr., chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, retired general and former CIA director David Petraeus, Ed Luce of the Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal’s Josh Dawsey, MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart, Haddad Media CEO Tammy Haddad, former Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro, former counselor to President Biden Steve Ricchetti, Secretary of the Smithsonian Lonnie Bunch, Kennedy Center President Deborah Rutter, former World Bank Group President David Malpass, and ‘Wonder Woman’ Lynda Carter.

SPOTTED

Former Texas Rep. Van Taylor, whose wild extramarital affair with “ISIS bride” Tania Joyce led to him dropping his re-election bid in 2022, was at the Longworth House Office Building on Capitol Hill on Monday. Joyce was the widow of American ISIS recruit John Georgelas. If Taylor’s asking about his old job, he can forget it. He hasn’t been in Trump’s good books since he voted to investigate the Jan. 6 riot.

Out In the Cold

Biden’s former staffers take note: it’s frosty out there in Trumpworld. General Mark Milley would normally expect to snap up a plum boardroom or consultant job after retiring as Joint Chiefs chairman, but good luck getting a reference. Donald Trump took down his two portraits—one as chairman of the Joint Chiefs and the other as Army chief of staff—from the hallways in the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth scrapped his security detail, and Military.com reached out to nearly a dozen current and retired general officers for a reaction to Milley’s treatment. Not a single one would talk, not even as background. A retired general would only say that Milley was “as radioactive as it gets.” Now Hegseth is trying to retroactively demote him, a move that could cost thousands in lost pension.

Another spent force in the previous White House administration trying to get a head start on a new life back in civvy street is Joe Biden. After our report last week about his uncertain future, the former president has signed with Creative Artists Agency to try to splash some Hollywood gloss on his legacy. Biden has become obsessed with Trump since leaving the Oval Office and talks about him all the time. Give it four years, and they could go on the road as a double act. It worked for the debate. Laurel and Hardy, Felix and Oscar, Bert and Ernie… Don and Joe.

Even Billionaires Want Discounts

Trump’s billionaires are circling the Washington housing market for bargains. Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick, Trump’s secretary of commerce, has already snapped up the priciest home in the capital, paying a record $25 million in December for Fox News anchor Bret Baier’s 16,250-square-foot French Chateau-style manse in Foxhall Road. It was a deal for Lutnick—the property was originally advertised for $30 million. Rumor has it he paid cash. Another of Trump’s plutocrats—name so far secret—is said to have swooped in for a six-bed $14.5 million home in Kalorama that was on the market for $18.5 million last summer. Only a block away from the renovated former Textile Museum that Jeff Bezos bought five years ago for $19 million, it’s perfect for another tech bro. We know how they love to stick together. 

The renovated former Textile Museum that Jeff Bezos bought five years ago.

As reported last week, David Sacks, the new White House AI and crypto tsar, just spent a quick $10.3 million on a four-bed, six-bathroom mansion as a base in NW Washington. Incoming GOP administration officials tend to prefer living outside the left-leaning District of Columbia, which Kamala Harris carried in 2024 with 90.3 percent of the vote. Excepting the toniest neighborhoods like Kalorama, Georgetown, and the Palisades, Trump officials are eyeing real estate across the Potomac River in Maclean, Virginia, local realtors tell The Swamp. One notable Trump bureaucrat—not at the Cabinet level—has just closed on a $2 million property in Arlington, Virginia, said one agent, who has signed non-disclosure agreements with his clients. (It’s no D.C. But Arlington County is still blue, as is the entire metro region.) “It used to be that high rollers purchasing big-ticket homes in D.C. wanted to fly well below the political radar,” luxury real estate agent Tom Daley, co-owner of Keller Williams Capital Properties tells us. “Evidently, Trump 2.0 has ushered in a new era of ‘look who I am and what I just bought,’ which makes sense given who the boss is.”

Daily Beast’s The Swamp is written by David Gardner, Mary Ann Akers and Juliegrace Brufke.

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