# Podiumgate (Arkansas) - how big a deal is this?

**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/podiumgate-arkansas-how-big-a-deal-is-this/991245
**Category:** Politics & Elections
**Created:** [October 7, 2023, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/podiumgate-arkansas-how-big-a-deal-is-this/991245 "2023-10-07T14:41:37Z")
**Posts on this page:** 1
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### Author: ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)
#### Post date: [October 7, 2023, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/podiumgate-arkansas-how-big-a-deal-is-this/991245/1 "2023-10-07T14:41:37Z")

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Josh Marshall over at TPM posted this story a couple days ago about something that may or may not be a brewing scandal down in Arkansas.

[https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/lets-talk-about-podiumgate](https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/lets-talk-about-podiumgate)

I’ll try to recap but it’s kind of convoluted so you probably just need to read the article. So, back in June, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders took a trade delegation to Paris to attend an aerospace trade show. A blogger/reporter filed a FOIA request afterwards for expense reports for the trip. At first they seem to be trying to block the FOIA request but eventually the guy gets what he requested.

As he’s going through the paperwork he finds an invoice or receipt for a $20K podium, which apparently may or may not actually exist. As he’s nosing around some more, the state GOP says “You know what? We’ll just pay for it.” Which doesn’t really make the questions go away.

Turns out the company who made the podium is owned by a BFF of SHS. Who, as people start digging through social media discover, was not only with SHS (along with a third woman) in Paris, out partying quite a bit, but they have also been seen together at many other government and social functions over the years.

Meanwhile nobody has actually seen the podium in question, so they release a photo of the podium, which looks suspiciously like a podium that SHS had been using previously.

So, it seems like there is something hinky going on that they may or may not be trying to cover up, but it’s hard to tell. And the story doesn’t seem to be getting much traction in the MSM, possibly because Trump is hogging all the air time. (Kinda makes me wonder if that’s why the GOP loves Trump so much - he makes a great smokescreen to distract from other GOP shenanigans going on around the country.)

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