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They Came to See Trump. First They Heard a Pitch to Buy Gold and Silver.

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At a conference this month put on by Turning Point Action, a rising conservative activist group, 8,000 people packed into a Detroit convention hall to hear directly from Republicans’ presumptive nominee for president, Donald J. Trump.

But first, there was a word from a sponsor: Alexander Spellane.

Mr. Spellane, who federal regulators say is also known as Alexander Fisher and Alexander Overlie, sells investments in precious metals. Cash, stocks and 401(k)s could plummet in value, he warned from the stage, but he told the throng of Trump supporters that they could protect their money by buying gold and silver from his company, Fisher Capital.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has been trying to shut down Fisher Capital’s sales for the past 14 months, alleging in a lawsuit that it sold gold and silver coins at such exorbitant, deceptive prices that virtually every customer had suffered “immediate and dramatic losses on their investment.” Fisher Capital has denied the allegations.

That lawsuit did not keep Turning Point Action from embracing Fisher Capital as a top-level sponsor of the Detroit event, which has required a donation of at least $250,000 and allowed Mr. Spellane to be photographed backstage with Mr. Trump. Mr. Spellane also claims to be the largest corporate sponsor of a sister group, Turning Point USA.

Mr. Spellane’s place on the Detroit stage offers a window into how Charlie Kirk, a young conservative activist and media personality who is close to both Mr. Trump and his son Donald Jr., has blended commerce and politics to transform a fringe initiative into a juggernaut with sweeping influence in right-wing circles. Turning Point Action, an advocacy group, and Turning Point USA, a charitable organization, were each created by Mr. Kirk and have each helped rally conservatives behind Mr. Trump.

This year, Turning Point Action says it plans to spend over $100 million to turn out voters in three battleground states.

The groups’ highly polished, multimillion-dollar events, which have drawn thousands to convention halls in Phoenix, West Palm Beach and elsewhere, are underwritten by corporate sponsors, who gain access to potential customers.

While some political groups try to steer clear of corporate sponsors that might prompt blowback from politicians or other donors, the Fisher Capital example shows that Turning Point leaders are willing to look the other way to reel in cash, said Michael Steele, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee. He described Turning Point’s attitude as “as long as the check clears, I’m good.”

“It is an incestuous relationship between the folks with the money and the folks who want the money,” said Mr. Steele, a frequent Trump critic.

Andrew Kolvet, a Turning Point spokesman, said the opposite was true. “There is no lack of scrutiny to ensure we’re always abiding by relevant regulations and laws,” he said. Turning Point leaders learned of the fraud claims against Fisher Capital more than a year ago, he said, and “felt satisfied with their explanation at the time.”

“We live in a country where you are presumed innocent, and we extend that presumption to sponsors and their teams as well,” he said.

Another group that has sponsored Turning Point events is New Federal State of China, a organization that says it is dedicated to overthrowing the Chinese Communist Party. The organization has helped finance two recent annual conferences, including one in December, 10 months after prosecutors charged the group’s founder, Guo Wengui, with defrauding thousands of investors of more than $1 billion with bogus cryptocurrency deals and other schemes.

Mr. Guo has said he is innocent. Mr. Kolvet said Turning Point had no agreement with the New Federal State of China to sponsor future events.

Mr. Trump himself has been found to engage in deceptive business practices. He was convicted late last month on felony charges of falsifying business records. Last year, in a civil case in New York, he was found liable for conspiring to manipulate his net worth.

Mr. Spellane and Fisher Capital have asked a judge to dismiss the federal complaint, arguing that the regulatory agency has no jurisdiction to sue and no evidence of fraud. The firm disclosed its fees to customers and operated “in a similar vein as any retailer in this country,” according to its motion to dismiss. Mr. Spellane did not respond to questions for this article.

Turning Point has only strengthened its relationship with Mr. Spellane since the federal complaint was filed in April 2023. The Detroit conference was the third event the firm has helped finance since then, including an annual conference in December in Phoenix, which drew an estimated 13,000 people.

Mr. Spellane pledged $1 million to Turning Point USA at a February gathering at Mar-a-Lago, Mr. Trump’s Florida resort, and later announced that the group had appointed him to its advisory board.

In Detroit, Mr. Spellane played up his Turning Point ties, saying, “That’s why we are here for the third year in a row.” He ended with: “Give it up for Donald Trump, everybody!”

Listening with interest was Jeff Strasser, 57, a former carpenter and truck driver who had traveled more than two hours from Northern Michigan to hear Mr. Trump. Mr. Strasser said he was intrigued by Mr. Spellane’s statement that anyone who stopped by the Fisher Capital booth in the adjoining hall would be eligible for up to $10,000 in free silver.

He came away from the booth thinking a precious metal investment was a slam dunk. “You kind of have to be a fool not to want to do it,” he said, adding “I’m talking about maybe switching my whole 401(k) over to it.”

Ian Sangster, a Fisher account executive, said about 50 people stopped by over the weekend, some of whom signed up for a follow-up sales pitch.

Asked if Mr. Spellane’s backstage photos with Mr. Trump would be a selling point for Fisher Capital, Mr. Sangster said: “Yeah. It’s pretty cool, right?”

Both Fisher Capital and New Federal State of China have ties to high-profile Trump allies. Fisher Capital’s spokesman is Roger Stone, a Trump associate who was convicted in 2019 of lying to Congress and witness tampering. He was later pardoned by Mr. Trump.

Mr. Guo founded the New Federal State of China with Stephen K. Bannon, a former Trump strategist and keynote speaker at many Turning Point events. Neither the group nor Mr. Bannon was charged in Mr. Guo’s fraud case. Mr. Bannon was named as a co-conspirator.

Mr. Bannon was charged in a separate criminal case with swindling donors in a supposed effort to finance a wall on the Mexico border. He pleaded not guilty and was pardoned by Mr. Trump before his trial. He now faces state charges in New York stemming from the same effort. He was convicted of contempt of Congress after refusing to testify about efforts to overturn the 2020 election results and is scheduled to begin serving a four-month prison sentence next week.

Mr. Spellane is a relative newcomer to the Trump political world. Just 31, he never registered with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to trade precious metals, as required, the agency says. Its complaint, filed less than three years after Fisher Capital opened in 2020, said the operation was meant to trick older, unsophisticated investors into swapping their retirement savings for gold and silver coins priced as high as 200 percent over their market value. The company is not connected to Fisher Investments, a Texas-based firm.

Targeting Christian conservatives was central to the scheme, according to the complaint. Salespeople falsely claimed that Fisher had teamed up with conservative media personalities — who were not named — to protect customers from a looming retirement crisis, it said.

James A. Simpson Jr., an evangelical pastor from western Ohio who visited Fisher Capital’s booth at the conference, said that the Turning Point imprimatur “absolutely” bestowed credibility on the company.

After learning of the fraud claims, Mr. Simpson, 61, said he would have hoped that Mr. Kirk, Turning Point’s founder, “would have diligently done some research as far as whether he felt the allegations were valid or not” before giving Mr. Spellane an opportunity to drum up customers. He said he would be very cautious about pursuing any investment.

Regulators are seeking to permanently bar Mr. Spellane and Fisher Capital from trading commodities like precious metals and to recoup money investors lost. Steven Adamske, a spokesman for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, said the agency’s lawsuit was moving slowly, like most such cases.

Typically, by the time government lawyers are able to shut down an operation, “the money is already gone,” he said.

Michael Forsythe contributed reporting. Kitty Bennett and Susan C. Beachy contributed research.



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For sale: A piece of California’s country music history

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The famed Buck Owens Crystal Palace, where music legends including Willie Nelson, Dwight Yoakam, Garth Brooks and a young Taylor Swift have played, is up for sale, with the foundation that runs the Bakersfield venue planning to list it for $7 million on Monday.

The nightclub, museum and steakhouse was owned by its namesake Buck Owens, the country music trailblazer who bucked the slick commercial melodies of Nashville for a distinctly West Coast twang. Owens opened the Crystal Palace in 1996, watching it become a premier venue for the biggest names in country music, including himself. Buck and the Buckaroos played there every Friday and Saturday night until his death in 2006.

Jim Shaw, a member of the Buckaroos and a director of the Buck Owens Private Foundation, said that after 28 years of running the famed venue, the Owens family plans to step back and find new owners amid a challenging business climate. The foundation said in a statement that “since Buck’s passing in 2006, we’ve tried to maintain the excellence that he expected, even as it became more and more difficult during these challenging times of increasing food and labor costs.”

The venue is not closing and scheduled events will continue as planned, Shaw said.

“It’s business as usual for now,” Shaw said. “Ideally, someone who wants to keep it exactly as it is will come forward.”

Owens’ youngest son, Johnny Owens, wrote on Facebook that the family’s hope “is that a buyer steps forward with a vision for the future and a reverence” for his father and the Bakersfield Sound.

The Crystal Palace, located on Buck Owens Boulevard, is a major tourism staple for Bakersfield. The 18,000-square-foot venue is next to the city’s downtown entrance.

“It’s the No. 1 tourist attraction in Bakersfield,” Shaw said. “There are people stepping forward and we are waiting to see what happens. I am getting a lot of phone calls. I’m anxious to see what happens.”



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2nd local radio host says they were given questions ahead of Biden interview

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A second local radio host on Saturday told ABC News that he was provided a list of questions in advance of his interview with President Joe Biden this week.

“Yes, I was given some questions for Biden,” Earl Ingram of CivicMedia told ABC News. Ingram, a prominent host of a Wisconsin radio station, interviewed Biden this week in the wake of his debate performance.

Ingram said he was given five questions and ended up asking four of them.

“I didn’t get a chance to ask him all the things I wanted to ask,” he said.

Ingram is the second interviewer who now says they were provided questions by Biden aides to ask the president this week. Earlier today, another local radio host who interviewed Biden this week told CNN she was given questions to ask Biden before the interview.

PHOTO: President Joe Biden speaks to supporters during a campaign rally at Sherman Middle School, on July 5, 2024, in Madison, Wisconsin.  (Scott Olson/Getty Images)PHOTO: President Joe Biden speaks to supporters during a campaign rally at Sherman Middle School, on July 5, 2024, in Madison, Wisconsin.  (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

PHOTO: President Joe Biden speaks to supporters during a campaign rally at Sherman Middle School, on July 5, 2024, in Madison, Wisconsin. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

“We do not condition interviews on acceptance of these questions, and hosts are always free to ask the questions they think will best inform their listeners,” the Biden campaign told ABC News on Saturday.

Ingram told ABC he didn’t see anything necessarily wrong with the practice. “To think that I was gonna get an opportunity to ask any question to the President of the United States, I think, is a bit more than anybody should expect,” he said.

He continued that he was grateful for the opportunity to interview Biden at all.

“Certainly the fact that they gave me this opportunity … meant a lot to me,” Ingram said.

MORE: Wealthy Democratic donors sound alarm over Biden staying in race

On CNN earlier today, Andrea Lawful-Sanders, the host of WURD’s “The Source,” said Biden officials provided her with a list of eight questions ahead of their interview with Biden.

“The questions were sent to me for approval; I approved of them,” she said.

“I got several questions — eight of them,” she continued. “And the four that were chosen were the ones that I approved.”

Responding to Lawful-Sanders, Biden campaign spokesperson Lauren Hitt said in a statement that it’s not “uncommon” for interviewees to share topics they would prefer. She noted that Lawful-Sanders was “free” to ask any questions she saw fit. She also noted that it was the campaign who sent over the questions and not the White House as other reports claim.

Lawful-Sanders did note in her interview with CNN that she ultimately “approved” the questions provided.

“It’s not at all an uncommon practice for interviewees to share topics they would prefer. These questions were relevant to news of the day – the president was asked about this debate performance as well as what he’d delivered for black Americans,” the statement said.

“We do not condition interviews on acceptance of these questions, and hosts are always free to ask the questions they think will best inform their listeners. In addition to these interviews, the President also participated in a press gaggle yesterday as well as an interview with ABC. Americans have had several opportunities to see him unscripted since the debate.”

A source familiar with the Biden booking operation told ABC News that moving forward they will “refrain” from offering suggested questions to interviewers.

“While interview hosts have always been free to ask whatever questions they please, moving forward we will refrain from offering suggested questions.”

2nd local radio host says they were given questions ahead of Biden interview originally appeared on abcnews.go.com



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President George W. Bush turns 78 years old

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George W. Bush, born on July 6, 1946, in New Haven, Connecticut, was the 43rd President of the United States.

Bush was born to parents Barbara Bush and former President George H. W. Bush. He has five siblings; Jeb Bush, Marvin Bush, Neil Bush, Dorothy Bush Koch and Pauline Robinson Bush. Pauline was diagnosed with leukemia and passed away at age three.

He was formerly the Republican Governor of Texas from 1995 to 2000.

WHY FORMER PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH IS WINNING … THE POST-PRESIDENCY

Bush was first elected to the White House in November 2000, and officially began his first term as president in January 2001, after he defeated Democrat Al Gore during the presidential election. Bush was reelected to his second term as the incumbent in November 2004, when he prevailed over Democrat John Kerry, and led the United States until January 2009 before handing over his torch to former President Barack Obama.

Bush married Laura Bush on November 5, 1977, the day after her 31st birthday, in her hometown of Midland, Texas. The couple were engaged in September 1977, and married less than two months later in a Methodist church. Bush and Laura met at a barbecue, and he took her to play mini-golf on their first date. 

The Bush’s share twin daughters, Barbara Pierce Bush and Jenna Bush Hager, born on November 25, 1981. Today, the couple also share four grandchildren; Mila, Poppy, Hal and Cora.

GEORGE BUSH, FORMER FIRST LADY ISSUE STATEMENT ON AFGHANISTAN WITH MESSAGE TO US TROOPS, VETERANS

During his presidency, Bush cared for his English springer spaniel, Spot Fetcher, who accompanied him to meetings in the Oval Office and on adventures throughout the White House. The dog was born to his parent’s dog, Millie.

On September 11, 2001, less than one year into Bush’s presidency, the Twin Towers in New York City were attacked by terrorists when airplanes hit both buildings, causing a collapse and thousands of lives lost. At the time, Bush was reading to elementary-aged children at a school in Sarasota, Florida. He was calmly and quietly advised of the attacks and quickly returned to Washington, where he was briefed alongside Vice President Dick Cheney.

Bush was regarded highly for his poise while learning of the attacks and for his demonstration of patriotism and leadership in the uncertain days and weeks following the hijackings of multiple planes on the day that shook America to her core.

SADDAM CAPTURED ‘LIKE A RAT’ IN RAID

On December 30, 2003, during Bush’s first term as POTUS, Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi leader and executor of the 9/11 attacks on the U.S., was captured by the American military

In the early morning of December 30, 2006, during Bush’s presidency, Hussein was hanged and executed for his crimes against humanity. Americans across the nation celebrated the death of Hussein and applauded Bush for promising the country he would take him out and following through.

While Bush was regarded for his dealings with the terrorist attacks, the signing of No Child Left Behind Act and the Patriot Act and the creation of the United States Department of Homeland Security, many Americans were unhappy with the sanctions of interrogation techniques, the war in Iraq and taxes while he was president.

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