In the final two months of 2016, the Trump presidential campaign paid more than $1.2 million to a small Ohio telemarketer. At the time, the company, Victory Solutions, owed hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Internal Revenue Service and was facing a number of lawsuits from investors. The following year, it filed for bankruptcy.
Then Trump’s White House gave the company’s chief executive a job.
Shannon Burns is an advance associate for the White House, a part-time gig that involves preparing and managing various official presidential appearances. “I work for the WH on behalf of the President advancing his events and rallies around the nation,” Burns told his Facebook friends earlier this year. “Have been doing it since last year.” He’s also done a little bit of work for the Trump re-election campaign this year.