“Michael Cohen took this step today so that his family can move on to the next chapter. This is Michael fulfilling his promise made on July 2nd to put his family and country first and tell the truth about Donald Trump. Today he stood up and testified under oath that Donald Trump directed him to commit a crime by making …

When it rains, it motherfucking pours: Rep. Duncan Hunter and his wife, Margaret, were indicted Tuesday on charges related to the misuse of $250,000 worth of campaign funds for personal expenses and the filing of false campaign finance records. The charges of wire fraud, falsifying records, campaign finance violations and conspiracy were the culmination of a Department of Justice investigation …

The Washington Post reports: The publisher of a website that serves as a platform for white nationalism was a guest last weekend at the home of President Trump’s top economic adviser, Larry Kudlow. Peter Brimelow attended the gathering, a birthday bash for Kudlow, one day after a White House speechwriter was dismissed in the wake of revelations that he had …

Oh, yes. This one we will watch. Patch reports: The rally at the Charleston Civic Center at 7 p.m. comes on the same day Trump’s former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, was found guilty on eight counts in the fraud trial brought by Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III. A mistrial was declared in the other 10 counts. Also on Tuesday, …

The Hill reports: Michael Cohen, who worked for years as President Trump’s personal attorney, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to charges of bank fraud, tax fraud and campaign finance law violations, delivering a potentially significant legal blow to the president. Cohen pleaded guilty to eight counts total, including five counts of tax evasion and one count of making a false statement …

CNBC reports: President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort on Tuesday was found guilty of eight criminal counts, including five counts of tax fraud. In a note to U.S. District Court Judge T.S. Ellis, the jurors said they had not reached a consensus on the 10 remaining counts in the bank fraud and tax crimes trial. Manafort, 69, faces …

CNN reports: Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump’s former personal attorney, has surrendered to the FBI ahead of a 4 p.m. court proceeding, where the government is expected to disclose a plea deal, according to a law enforcement source. As part of the deal, Cohen is expected to plead guilty to multiple counts of campaign finance violations, tax fraud and bank …

Variety reports: A group of lawmakers introduced legislation on Tuesday to award the Congressional Gold Medal to Aretha Franklin, who died last week. Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) and Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) are among the co-sponsors of the legislation in the Senate, while Rep. Brenda Lawrence (D-Mich.) and Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.) are co-sponsors in the House. In a statement, …

Multiple outlets are reporting that former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen has surrendered to the FBI at their Manhattan office. He is expected to plead guilty this afternoon to multiple charges, including campaign finance violations. Jail time is expected. ABC News reports: The deal could be a significant blow for Trump. Cohen was part of Trump’s inner circle for more than …

Axios reports: President Trump’s former personal attorney Michael Cohen has reached a plea deal on with federal prosecutors in New York, per ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos. The big question: It’s still unknown whether Cohen’s deal means he’ll be cooperating with federal investigators, including those in the Mueller investigation. USA Today reports: The reported deal comes after reports that federal investigators …

The Washington Post reports on Twitter: “Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s office and attorneys for former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn are still not ready for sentencing, citing ‘status of investigation,’ and propose to update court Sept. 17. Likely pushes sentencing past Election Day.” Well, isn’t that interesting? CNN reports: On Aug. 8, CNN reported that the President’s …

“Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton colluded together with a former spy from Russia to spy on Donald Trump’s campaign, including embedding a human being in his campaign to spy on him and use the instruments of the United States government – the CIA, the FBI – to spy on a candidate for president. The government was used against political opponents. …

NBC News reports: Michael Cohen, President Trump’s former personal attorney, is discussing a possible guilty plea with federal prosecutors in Manhattan in connection with tax fraud and banking-related matters, multiple sources familiar with the matter tell NBC News. Those sources stress no deal has been reached but do say the potential deal could be reached as early as today. The …

CNN reports: The jury in the trial of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort has asked the judge what would happen if it can’t reach consensus on one of the 18 counts it is deliberating. Judge T.S. Ellis is preparing instructions to the jury to continue deliberations Tuesday morning, he said in court. The jury has not yet heard the …

Viral YouTube comedian Randy Rainbow is back today, this time taking on Omarosa to the tune of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s 1943 classic, Oklahoma! As always, I won’t give away any of the jokes, but as you’d expect there are many riffs on the secret tapes. Watch until the end.

The Guardian reports: The oldest and thickest sea ice in the Arctic has started to break up, opening waters north of Greenland that are normally frozen, even in summer. This phenomenon – which has never been recorded before – has occurred twice this year due to warm winds and a climate-change driven heatwave in the northern hemisphere. One meteorologist described …

The Associated Press reports: After more than a century behind bars, the beasts on boxes of animal crackers are roaming free. Mondelez International, the parent company of Nabisco, has redesigned the packaging of its Barnum’s Animals crackers in response to pressure from PETA, which has been protesting the use of animals in circuses for more than 30 years. Mondelez agreed …

The Hill reports: Former White House adviser Omarosa Manigault Newman said in an interview that aired on Tuesday that President Trump hired former communications director Hope Hicks for her looks. “Donald Trump hired her because she’s pretty,” Manigault Newman told Hill.TV’s Jamal Simmons on Monday. “She didn’t know what some of the most basic acronyms in politics meant. I said …

“Joseph Stalin’s secret police chief once famously proclaimed, quote ‘Show me the man, I will show you the crime.’ Those are chilling words, and the opposite of how the American justice system is supposed to operate. Our system is designed to prosecute crimes, not persecute individuals we disagree with. We live in a constitutional republic. We are supposed to have …

Mediaite reports: A fairly well-known tactic in today’s political world is this: if you want to get President Donald Trump’s attention, there is no more effective way than to go on Fox & Friends (his favorite television show) and make a public appeal for a policy change. Such was the case when Blackwater founder Erik Prince appeared on the right-of-center …