Axios obtained and leaked almost 100 internal Donald Trump campaign vetting documents on candidates for his cabinet. One of these includes former WWE CEO Linda McMahon, who co-founded the company in 1974 alongside her husband and was with the company until 2009. In the lengthy leaked document, it goes over 14 major red flags, one of which has been redacted, that had to be considered in appointing her to the position of Administrator of Small Business Administration.
The document has a lot to take in, and I’d recommend reading the full thing if you want all the details, but here are the 13 unredacted red flags:
- She has donated to several Democratic mayors, representatives and senators over the years including Rahm Emanuel, Tom Allen, and Stephanie Hunter Sanchez.
- She paid property taxes late several times since 1984.
- McMahon said that some of Trump’s comments about women were “deplorable.”
- McMahon took nearly $3 million in taxpayer subsidies for WWE while criticizing government bailouts.
- WWE has faced a number of lawsuits over sexual harassment.
- WWE has poorly represented gay characters in the past, specifically citing a 2004 segment where a wrestler attacked a man in drag while shouting that he was a “f—–.”
- The company’s representation of Arab Americans were also referenced as they were called “sand people.”
- The Chris Benoit murder-suicide was referenced and how a doctor specializing in brain injuries said that it could be work-related.
- McMahon has gone on record to discredit studies that link concussions to brain damage.
- WWE-affiliated doctor George Zahorian was found guilty of distributing drugs to wrestlers.
- The 1993 steroid distribution case against Vince McMahon was mentioned.
- Despite McMahon guaranteeing that wrestlers on steroids won’t work in WWE in 1993, 65 wrestlers had died from heart attacks in a seven year span in 2004.
- WWE has denied wrestlers benefits and classified them as independent contractors.
None of these should be shocking for wrestling fans, and McMahon obviously got the job despite these, but there’s a lot more worth digging into in the linked document above.
McMahon has denied comment on the leaked document.
