Trump Administration

NBC News reports: President Donald Trump has given his administration broad authority to slap sanctions on Turkey, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Friday. Trump signed an executive order authorizing the powers, though the administration will not move yet to punish Turkish individuals or entities after the country’s offensive in northern Syria. Still, Mnuchin threatened devastating actions in the wake of …

The Hill reports: Retired Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, who was ousted as President Trump’s national security adviser in 2018, said Thursday “it’s absolutely not” appropriate to solicit foreign interference in U.S. elections. “It just didn’t happen when I was there or in any conversation that I was privy to and part of, which was I think almost all the, really …

Axios reports: President Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton has decided to write a book about his time in the Trump administration, according to 2 people familiar with the matter. Bolton has agreed to be represented by Javelin’s Matt Latimer and Keith Urbahn. Why it matters: Given the fact that he wrote a book about his tenure in the …

The Indianapolis Star reports: Vice President Mike Pence said on Wednesday that he has no objection to the White House releasing transcripts of his conversations with the Ukrainian president, a move he said White House lawyers are considering even as the administration has refused to turn over other documents requested by House Democrats as part of their impeachment inquiry. “I’d …

Bloomberg reports: President Donald Trump pressed then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to help persuade the Justice Department to drop a criminal case against an Iranian-Turkish gold trader who was a client of Rudy Giuliani, according to three people familiar with the 2017 meeting in the Oval Office. Tillerson refused, arguing it would constitute interference in an ongoing investigation of the …

Trump’s rape of the environment proceeds unchecked: “The Trump administration is dedicated to enhancing the exploration and development of federal solid mineral resources in an environmentally conscious manner,” said Interior Secretary David Bernhardt in a statement. “By eliminating burdensome regulations, the U.S. will have a stronger foothold to compete globally in non-energy, solid, leasable commodities markets and increase job opportunities …

Bloomberg reports: Treasury Department officials are considering rolling back a tax rule aimed at preventing American companies from moving money offshore to avoid U.S. taxes, according to several people familiar with discussions. Treasury could narrow regulations aimed at preventing U.S. firms from lowering their U.S. tax bills by borrowing from an offshore branch of the company. The department is also …

The New York Times reports: The Trump administration directed a top American diplomat involved in its pressure campaign on Ukraine not to appear Tuesday morning for a scheduled deposition with House Democrats conducting an impeachment inquiry, according to two people briefed on the matter. The decision to block Gordon D. Sondland, the United States ambassador to the European Union, from …

NBC News reports: A dozen House Democrats are calling for President Donald Trump’s ambassador to the European Union, Gordon Sondland, to resign in the wake of revelations about his key role in the unfolding Ukraine scandal. The calls for his ouster come as Sondland prepares to be deposed Tuesday by House committees as part of their impeachment inquiry into the …

Just in via press release: The Inspector General of the Department of Justice should investigate whether Attorney General William Barr violated federal ethics laws and principles by participating in matters related to allegations in the Ukraine whistleblower complaint, according to a letter sent today by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW). While Attorney General Barr was directly implicated …

Politico reports: In her first 14 months as Transportation secretary, Elaine Chao met with officials from Kentucky, which her husband Mitch McConnell represents in the Senate, vastly more often than those from any other state. In all, 25 percent of Chao’s scheduled meetings with local officials of any state from January 2017 to March 2018 were with Kentuckians, who make …

The Associated Press reports: As Rudy Giuliani was pushing Ukrainian officials last spring to investigate one of Donald Trump’s main political rivals, a group of individuals with ties to the president and his personal lawyer were also active in the former Soviet republic. This circle of businessmen and Republican donors touted connections to Giuliani and Trump while trying to install …

From the editorial board of the Washington Post: Text messages among U.S. diplomats and a Ukrainian official released by House committees definitively show that not only did the Trump administration seek to extract Ukrainian promises of political probes in exchange for a summit meeting, but also they spent weeks negotiating the deal both before and after the Trump-Zelensky phone call. …

The New York Times reports: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo defiantly insisted on Saturday in Greece that the Trump administration was right to ask Ukrainian officials to investigate claims of election interference in the 2016 American presidential campaign, bolstering a widely debunked conspiracy theory that had already been dismissed by his own diplomatic envoy. In comments to journalists in Athens, …

The New York Times reports: Gordon D. Sondland, the blunt-spoken hotelier who is President Trump’s ambassador to the European Union, was boasting on Ukrainian television that Mr. Trump had honored him with a “special assignment” — “overseeing” relations between the two countries “at the highest levels.” At the time, his television remarks might have been the kind of diplomatic bluster …

The Washington Post reports: The Treasury Department’s acting inspector general has opened a review into whether the Trump administration acted improperly during its ongoing fight with House Democrats over releasing President Trump’s tax returns. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has refused to comply with a request from House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard E. Neal (D-Mass.) for six years of …

USA Today reports: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo failed to comply with a Friday deadline to turn over Ukraine-related documents to House Democrats leading an impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump, according to an official on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. The State Department’s delay in producing reams of documents related to the agency’s dealings with Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s personal …

Vice News reports: House Democrats slapped the White House with a subpoena for documents in their impeachment inquiry into President Trump’s Ukraine scandal on Friday. Democrats are seeking documents and communications related to whether Trump pressured Ukraine to investigate his 2020 rival Joe Biden, in a scandal that has consumed Washington and thrown up new developments daily since bursting into …

Politico reports: Energy Secretary Rick Perry is expected to announce his resignation from the administration by the end of November, according to three people familiar with his plans. Perry, who had been Texas’ longest-serving governor before joining President Donald Trump’s Cabinet in 2017, has largely avoided the controversies that felled others in the administration. But his travels to Ukraine lately …

The New York Times reports: The Trump administration is moving to begin collecting DNA samples from hundreds of thousands of people booked into federal immigration custody each year for entry into a national criminal database, an immense expansion of the use of technology to enforce the nation’s immigration laws. Senior officials at the Department of Homeland Security said Wednesday that …