Dennis Raico, a senior vice president at Federal Savings Bank, testified Friday that bank CEO and Trump fan Steve Calk repeatedly put his thumb on the scales to help former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort get $16 million from two loans just after the presidential election—a $9.5 million one on November 16, 2016 and a $6.5 million dollar one in January 4, 2017—as the men discussed the Trump campaign and a possible job for Calk in the administration.
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Match made in MAGA: Raico said Manafort first started seeking loans from Federal Savings Bank in April of 2016 and that he brought Manafort—then the Trump campaign’s convention manager—to the attention of CEO Calk because of their mutual interests. “I came to learn that Mr. Manafort was involved in politics and I knew Steve [Calk] was interested in politics,” he told the jury. Their interest in politics wasn’t just abstract. Both were Trump supporters and Calk later joined the Trump campaign as an economic adviser.