Although the popular and wise adage Follow the money is associated with Watergate, none of the scandal’s real life participants ever uttered those words. The phrase was invented by All the President’s Men screenwriter William Goldman, who also wrote The Princess Bride line, “Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.” In other words, Goldman is worth listening to. So let’s follow his advice and follow the money in a few stories. NYT (Gift Article): Accounting Firm Mazars Cuts Ties With Trump and Retracts Financial Statements. “Donald J. Trump’s longtime accounting firm cut ties with him and his family business last week, saying it could no longer stand behind a decade of annual financial statements it prepared for the Trump Organization … Mazars is the latest in a long line of companies to break with him over the last year, following in the path of several banks, insurers and lawyers.” Are we supposed to believe that Mazars just suddenly realized that Trump has been lying, cheating, and stealing for his entire life? No, this is all about the New York attorney general’s case against the Trump Org. It’s worth noting that in the past two weeks, Pence and McConnell have both loudly split with Trump, and now Mazars has jumped ship. That makes me think of another William Goldman line, this one from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid: “See, you may be the biggest thing that ever hit this area, but you’re still two-bit outlaws.”

+ A Princely Sum: “Prince Andrew has settled a civil sexual assault case brought against him in the US by Virginia Giuffre.”

+ NPR: “Families of victims killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting have reached an agreement to settle a lawsuit against the company that made the murder weapon, for $73 million.”

+ “The most consequential court battle between Erica and Francis deSouza concerned a bitter dispute over millions of dollars in missing Bitcoin.” NYT (Gift Article): Divorcing Couples Fight Over the Kids, the House and Now the Crypto. (Following the money is harder than it used to be.)