Recent findings indicate that high-paying members of former President Donald Trump‘s Palm Beach golf club, Mar-A-Lago, played a major role in his administration’s Veterans’ Affairs Department and Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).
Dr. Bruce Moskowitz, despite having no government position, regularly corresponded with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the White House and very likely the Department of Health and Human Services. Calendar records show that Moskowitz had several calls with then-CMS Administrator Seema Verma.
Moskowitz and another Trump friend Ike Perlmutter said of their involvement with federal agencies: “At all times, we offered our help and advice on a voluntary basis, seeking nothing at all in return. While we were always willing to share our thoughts, we did not make or implement any type of policy, possess any authority over agency decisions, or direct government officials to take any actions… To the extent anyone thought our role was anything other than that, we don’t believe it was the result of anything we said or did.”
Documents declassified through the Freedom of Information Act, however, show that Moskowitz spoke with the CMS and VA regularly, insisting that the departments hear his views. Such access for people without any government position is considered to be highly unethical.
