Innocent Until Proven Gilty

“In early March, as President Trump basked in the success of a military intervention in Venezuela, he joined Interior Secretary Doug Burgum in the West Wing for a private celebration. A businessman also attended, and brought along a pile of gold.” (I know, I know. You’re wondering why a businessman bringing a pile of gold into the West Wing rises to the level of newsworthy during the second Trump term. It’s the source of this particular gold that’s notable.) “Mr. Trump himself had once blacklisted Venezuelan gold, declaring that it destroyed the environment, poisoned people and financed gangsters and corrupt military officials. But after Mr. Trump toppled the Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro, his view changed. On the same day that the bars arrived at the White House, the Trump administration issued a new policy allowing traders to import Venezuelan gold from one of the world’s most violent and corrupt mining regions. The first supplies would come from a state-owned mining company that remained a designated U.S. national security threat.” Trump Brought Venezuelan Gold to the U.S., but Refiners Won’t Touch It. (They can always melt it down and finish coating the interior of the White House.)