Opinion: Is Trump's arrest connected to Sarasota and the Skunk Ape? Of course it is

In Donald Trump's most recent indictment, the one that alleges his lies were responsible for Jan. 6, federal prosecutors claim he enlisted six "co-conspirators to assist him in his criminal efforts to overturn the legitimate results of the 2020 presidential election and retain power."

Of course, there is a Sarasota connection to all of this.

Isn't there always?

The co-conspirators have not been charged with a crime, nor were they named in the indictment. However, five of the six are easily identifiable based on the details contained in the indictment and published media reports.

Dallas-based attorney Sidney Powell – a person even Mike Pence referred to as a "crackpot" – is Co-Conspirator 3 in the indictment. Trump, it says, "embraced and publicly amplified" her baseless accusations of election fraud, even though he privately said her theories sounded "crazy."

So, what is the Sarasota connection? Well, ever since Trump lost the 2020 election, Powell has been running a nonprofit called Defending the Republic Inc. Its mission is to solicit money to litigate election fraud cases around the country.

Defending the Republic Inc. is registered in Texas. It was also registered in Florida up until June 1, when it dissolved for some reason, an odd maneuver considering it had just filed an updated annual report with the state in April as an active company.

At any rate, a Sarasota woman named Mary Pat Coughlin is the chief financial officer of Defending the Republic. She is also listed as a person in charge of custody of records, as well as being in charge of distribution and solicitation.

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Coughlin lives near Siesta Key, and her address appeared in all Defending the Republic Inc. filings with the state of Florida. In addition, she is listed as the CFO of Defending the Republic Pac Inc., which is active in Florida.

So, who, exactly, is she, and what is her relationship to Powell?

I stopped by Coughlin’s house once and asked for her. A man – who said she wasn't home – wanted to know why I was there. I said, Sidney Powell. He shut the door. I could hear Coughlin come out of a bedroom. A man told Coughlin I was there to ask about Powell. I waited by the door, thinking she would come out. The man, instead, opened the door and told me to leave.

Coughlin, according to state business records, is active in a variety of endeavors. She is a long-time local accountant and investment adviser who also appears to own a pool-cage replacement company.

Oh, and she's involved in the film industry too.

A company she is involved with called Best Dudes Productions has produced such videos and DVDs as "The Skunk Ape Lives!," "Roswell 40 Years Later," "The Pit" and "Journey with Monsters." She was listed as an executive producer on the Skunk Ape flick.

It's safe to assume the movie royalties are nowhere near what Defending the Republic has been taking in.

On a 990 tax form – signed by Coughlin – Defending the Republic took in $16.3 million in contributions between Dec. 1, 2020 and Nov. 30, 2021. Expenses were listed as half of that, and there was no indication of where the rest of the money went.

Coughlin was listed on documents as working 40 hours a week for Defending the Republic and receiving no compensation.

Defending the Republic has been under federal investigation in the past, though it is not known if the nonprofit which is registered in multiple states, still is.

Defending the Republic is also being sued by Dominion Voting Systems for a cool $1.3 billion for unsubstantiated claims the voting machine company was in on a communist plot to rig the 2020 election.

So there you have it, another Sarasota connection to election fraud, though I still don't know who Mary Pat Coughlin is, or how she became CFO of a nonprofit run by a co-conspirator in a major federal indictment involving the former President of the United States.

Next person who runs into the Skunk Ape, please do me a favor and ask.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Sarasota, Trump and the Skunk Ape somehow makes perfect sense