Trump Administration

Politico reports: A businessman facing federal charges over an alleged plot to trade political donations for help obtaining marijuana licenses around the country was working on a medical cannabis research deal with the Department of Veterans Affairs just weeks before his indictment. Andrey Kukushkin, a Ukraine-born cannabis investor whose multi-state marijuana projects and political donations were allegedly illegally funded by …

She’ll probably just ignore it. Nothing matters anymore. House Oversight Committee Chair Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) warned Education Secretary Betsy DeVos on Monday that the panel may subpoena her to testify after she attended campaign events on behalf of President Trump rather than testifying before the committee. The committee chair wrote that while DeVos is not barred from campaigning for the …

The New Jersey Advance reports: A Senate vote to end President Donald Trump’s impeachment proceedings without calling witnesses should be considered “half a trial,” the president’s former chief of staff John Kelly said Friday. “In my view, they kind of leave themselves open to a lot of criticism,” Kelly said in an interview in advance of his Feb. 12 appearance …

The BBC reports: A top Tanzanian official who launched a surveillance squad dedicated to hunting down gay people has been banned by the US from entering the country. The US state department said Paul Makonda, the administrative chief of the capital Dar es Salaam, was involved in “gross violations of human rights”. His immediate family members have also been barred …

NBC News reports: Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said on Thursday that the coronavirus outbreak in China could lead businesses to bring jobs back to the U.S. and Mexico. “Well, first of all, every American’s heart has to go out to the victims of the coronavirus. So I don’t want to talk about a victory lap over a very unfortunate, very …

Reuters reports: The U.S. economy maintained a moderate pace of growth in the fourth quarter, and again fell short of attaining the Trump administration’s coveted but elusive 3% annual growth target because of slumping business investment amid damaging trade tensions. The Commerce Department’s snapshot of gross domestic product on Thursday will show the Federal Reserve’s three interest rate cuts in …

The Washington Post reports: An attorney for John Bolton has pushed back against the White House’s assessment that his book manuscript contains classified material and asked for an expedited review of a chapter about Ukraine in case the former national security adviser is called to testify in the Senate impeachment trial. The Jan. 24 email to the White House from …

Politico reports: Democrats are bracing for the possibility that if President Donald Trump loses the 2020 election, he and his aides will bungle a smooth handover of power – and maybe even try to outright sabotage the transition. At least one outside group that works with the 2020 Democratic campaigns has quietly launched a transition-related effort designed to offer an …

The Hill reports: President Trump made light of a dispute between Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and an NPR reporter on Tuesday, saying that the top diplomat “did a good job on her.” Trump recognized Pompeo as “our great secretary of State” during remarks announcing his administration’s Middle East peace plan alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White …

The Sarasota Herald-Tribune reports: President Donald Trump is denying that he told former National Security Adviser John Bolton he wanted to withhold military aid from Ukraine until the country launched investigations into Joe Biden and his son, allegations that Bolton levies in his new book, according to news reports. But one of Trump’s former top aides told a Sarasota crowd …

Politico reports: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s quarrel with NPR escalated on Monday night after one of the radio network’s reporters was barred from flying on the secretary’s plane during an upcoming trip to Ukraine. Michele Kelemen, a veteran reporter for the network, was removed from the list of reporters allowed to fly with Pompeo on a trip to Eastern …

The Associated Press reports: Vice President Mike Pence’s office says he was not asked by President Donald Trump to raise the Biden family or Burisma in conversations with the president of Ukraine last year. Pence’s chief of staff Marc Short says in a statement that Trump “expressed concerns about corruption in Ukraine” in a meeting before Pence flew to Poland …

Reuters reports: The U.S. Supreme Court gave the go-ahead on Monday for one of President Donald Trump’s hardline immigration policies, allowing his administration to implement a rule denying legal permanent residency to certain immigrants deemed likely to require government assistance in the future. The justices, on a 5-4 vote, granted the administration’s request to lift a lower court’s injunction that …

CNN International reports: Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin’s wife Louise Linton on Saturday showed support for climate activist Greta Thunberg, days after her husband took a jab at the teenager. Mnuchin was dismissive of the 17-year-old Swedish climate activist at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and said Thunberg should go study economics in college before weighing in on US …

Buzzfeed News reports: State Department investigators this week interviewed hundreds of diplomats and employees at the US embassy in Ukraine as part of an investigation into the alleged surveillance of former ambassador Marie Yovanovitch by associates of Rudy Giuliani, two US officials with knowledge of the investigation told BuzzFeed News. One diplomatic source described the investigation as “cynical” and a …

The Guardian reports: Boris Johnson “reiterated the need” for the suspect charged with causing the death of Harry Dunn to return to the UK during a phone call with Donald Trump, a Downing Street spokeswoman said. Dunn, 19, died after a crash outside a US military base in Croughton, Northamptonshire, on 27 August 2019. Anne Sacoolas, 42, was charged with …

USA Today reports: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo used the “F-word” and other expletives after a testy interview with an NPR host on Friday, the news outlet said Friday. Pompeo unloaded on NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly after an interview in which she questioned him on Ukraine and Iran, among other issues. He grew extremely irritated by Kelly’s Ukraine questions. “‘Do …

Bloomberg News reports: Secretary of State Michael Pompeo refused to defend his ousted ambassador to Ukraine despite being pressed multiple times, maintaining his long-running refusal to mention former envoy Marie Yovanovitch by name. “I’ve defended every single person on this team,” Pompeo told National Public Radio’s Morning Edition, when asked why he hadn’t stood up for Yovanovitch. “I’ve done what’s …

From the Jesuit publication America Review: U.S. Vice President Mike Pence met Pope Francis in the Vatican at noon on Jan. 24, and the two spoke together in private for an hour, a surprisingly long time for an audience with someone who is not a head of state. It was their first meeting. Pope Francis welcomed the vice president, who …

The New York Times reports: Ivanka Trump, a White House adviser, was presented at this conference of global elites as a principal second only to her father, even as she traveled as part of a delegation that included all of the president’s most important economic advisers. She said that she would “continue to be focused on the areas where I’ve …