Trump Corruption

CNN reports: There was a reason for President Donald Trump’s particularly scathing response when a reporter asked him Wednesday about a new term coined about the president’s tariffs: TACO, or Trump Always Chickens Out. He had not yet heard the term, according to a senior White House official who acknowledged to CNN that the president was caught off guard. Trump …

The Daily Beast reports: With one repost from President Donald Trump, former president Joe Biden has joined a storied pantheon: public figures believed to have died and been replaced by clones. Not content with spreading conspiracy theories on Friday night, late on Saturday night, Trump shared a post by a supporter to his Truth Social page that claimed Biden was …

NBC News reports: The cost to repair Washington, D.C., streets after the upcoming military parade celebrating the Army’s 250th anniversary could cost as much as $16 million, according to U.S. military officials. That’s part of an estimated $45 million total cost for the June 14 military parade, which coincides with President Donald Trump’s 79th birthday. The cost estimates have fluctuated …

The Washington Post reports: The Trump White House has a new target in its campaign to expand executive power: the Library of Congress. Never mind the name — administration lawyers are now arguing that the main research library of the legislative branch doesn’t actually belong to Congress at all. A legal push to claim the Library as executive turf isn’t …

CNN reports: President Donald Trump’s directives for mass firings at multiple agencies will remain on hold, a federal appeals court ruled Friday evening. The Trump administration had asked the US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to freeze a lower court’s order that halted the terminations at more than a dozen agencies. The new order is a major setback for Trump …

CNN reports: Trump announced Friday that he would set tariffs on steel imported into the United States at 50%, double their current rate. At a US Steel facility in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, Trump said he had a “major announcement.” To an applauding crowd of US Steel employees, Trump said he would jack up the tariff to protect America’s steelworkers. “We …

NPR reports: PBS and a public television station in rural Minnesota filed suit on Friday against President Trump over his executive order demanding that the Corporation for Public Broadcasting kill all funding for the network. The suit alleges Trump’s order is unlawful, exceeding his authority as president and violating Constitutional protections of free speech because he has made clear he …

“I know people are thinking about it. I think some people have been very close to asking. First of all, I’d look at what’s happening. And I haven’t been watching it too closely. He used to really like me a lot, but I think when I ran for politics, he sort of – that relationship busted up, from what I …

The Hill reports: During the press conference, Trump spoke to reporters when he was asked about Biden’s cancer diagnosis. Trump’s response is a sharp turn from the Truth Social post he had put out on May 18, where he expressed best wishes to Biden and his wife, Dr. Jill Biden. Calling his former political opponent “moderate,” Trump said that Biden …

The Washington Post reports: President Donald Trump announced Friday that he has fired the director of the National Portrait Gallery, Kim Sajet, whom he called “highly partisan.” The dismissal marks the first action Trump has taken against the Smithsonian Institution since an executive order he signed earlier this year that promised to eliminate “divisive narratives” and “anti-American ideology” from the …

“The Democrat inspired and ‘controlled’ Congressional Budget Office (CBO) purposefully gave us an EXTREMELY LOW level of Growth, 1.8% over 10 years. How ridiculous and unpatriotic is that! They did the same thing to us in 2017, and we DOUBLED their numbers. The information they recently released is even more absurd and indefensible. I predict we will do 3, 4, …

The Guardian reports: President Trump received plenty of attention this month when he happily accepted a $400m Boeing 747 from the Persian Gulf emirate of Qatar. But Trump and his golf buddy turned special negotiator Steve Witkoff landed a much bigger gift this month, likely to enrich them far more: a $2bn investment in their new cryptocurrency venture from the …

The Washington Post reports: Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) said Thursday that President Donald Trump would be breaking a promise if he went through with pardoning the two men who were convicted of plotting to kidnap her, claiming that he pledged not to do so during a conversation last month. In 2022, Barry Croft Jr. and Adam Fox were convicted …

“Two weeks ago China was in grave economic danger! The very high Tariffs I set made it virtually impossible for China to TRADE into the United States marketplace which is, by far, number one in the World. We went, in effect, COLD TURKEY with China, and it was devastating for them. Many factories closed and there was, to put it …

The Huffington Post reports: Attorney General Pam Bondi on Thursday informed the American Bar Association that she is cutting off its access to nonpublic information about President Donald Trump’s judicial nominees because she thinks the nonpartisan organization is an “activist group.” “Unfortunately, the ABA no longer functions as a fair arbiter of nominees’ qualifications, and its ratings invariably and demonstrably …

Bloomberg News reports: The Trump administration is adding four essay questions to applications for civil service jobs, asking applicants about their favorite executive orders and their commitment to government efficiency. The essay requirements apply even to relatively lower-level jobs starting at the GS-5 pay scale or above — positions that can begin at base salaries as low as $32,357. Those …

NBC News reports: A federal judge on Thursday extended a temporary order blocking the Trump administration’s revocation of Harvard’s ability to enroll international students. The extension came after the Trump administration said it would give the university 30 days to challenge the revocation, according to a letter attached to a Wednesday night court filing. The court document states that the …

Bloomberg Law reports: The board that issues the Pulitzer Prize can’t use Donald Trump’s own ability to claim immunity from civil litigation while president to stop him from suing over alleged defamation, a Florida appeals court ruled Wednesday. The Pulitzer Board members argued that presidential prerogative to seek stays of litigation against them while serving should also prevent the officeholders from …

Hartford’s NBC affiliate reports: Trump has pardoned former Connecticut Gov. John Rowland, who was convicted in two federal criminal cases. In July 2004, Rowland resigned less than halfway through his third term as governor rather than testify before a special House Committee of Inquiry, after a ruling by the state Supreme Court. Once the nation’s youngest governor, Rowland was elected …

The Washington Post reports: Despite claims by the Defense Department to the contrary, legal teams representing the U.S. and Qatari governments have not finalized an agreement for transferring the luxury Boeing 747-8 jetliner that President Donald Trump wants for Air Force One amid outstanding requests by Qatar for Washington to clarify the transaction’s terms, said officials familiar with the matter. …