Trump Corruption

Vanity Fair reports: In their forthcoming book, The Divider: Trump in the White House, 2017-2021, authors Peter Baker and Susan Glasser report that while it might have seemed like Trump just woke up one day and thought to himself, “I’d like to buy Greenland,” the idea was actually put in his head by billionaire Ronald Lauder, after which the president …

Mediate reports:  CNN anchor Chris Wallace warned that Trump supporters will hear a “call to arms” in former President Donald Trump‘s recent comments about the prospect he’ll be indicted. Trump told radio host Hugh Hewitt that he couldn’t “imagine” he’ll be criminally indicted, but made a rather ominous prediction if that were to happen. “He didn’t say it explicitly, but …

Reuters reports: A senior federal judge with experience handling U.S. national security matters was named on Thursday as an independent arbiter to vet records seized by the FBI from former President Donald Trump’s Florida estate in an ongoing criminal investigation. Senior U.S. District Judge Raymond Dearie, based in Brooklyn, was appointed by Florida-based U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon to serve …

The Wall Street Journal reports: The Florida lawyer brought on to defend former President Donald Trump against potential government prosecution over sensitive documents stored at Mar-a-Lago secured an upfront payment of $3 million, according to people familiar with the terms. The deal reached by Chris Kise, who had been a partner at Foley & Lardner LLP, reflects the high-profile, unprecedented …

Gothamist reports: Members of the City Council called on Mayor Eric Adams to end the city’s contract with the Trump Organization on Thursday. The current arrangement allows former President Donald Trump’s company to manage a public golf course in the Bronx. In January 2021, then-Mayor Bill de Blasio announced he was ending the city’s contract with the Trump Organization over …

And the MAGA rubes are thrilled to do it: Donald Trump’s outside spending arm has paid $3 million to cover attorney Chris Kise’s legal work representing the former president, according to three people familiar with the arrangement. The $3 million paid by Save America PAC is a significant sum, and comes as Trump faces a number of federal and state …

The Washington Post reports: Former president Donald Trump warned that if he were indicted on a charge of mishandling classified documents after leaving the White House, there would be “problems in this country the likes of which perhaps we’ve never seen before.” Trump, speaking Thursday to conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, added, “I don’t think the people of the United …

The Guardian reports: Donald Trump’s White House chief of staff secretly bought a book in which 27 mental health professionals warned that the president was psychologically unfit for the job, then used it as a guide in his attempts to cope with Trump’s irrational behavior. News of John Kelly’s surreptitious purchase comes in a new book from Peter Baker of …

Law & Crime reports: Former Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Clark, who tried to subvert the 2020 election results for Donald Trump, claims that he’s immune from ethics charges stemming from that effort — and that his superiors engaged in “dereliction of duty” for rejecting his conspiracy theories. Those superiors, former Acting Attorney General Jeffrey A. Rosen and ex-Acting Deputy Attorney …

CNN reports: Former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows has complied with a subpoena from the Justice Department’s investigation into events surrounding January 6, 2021, sources familiar with the matter tell CNN, making him the highest-ranking Trump official known to have responded to a subpoena in the federal investigation. Meadows turned over the same materials he provided to the …

The Washington Post reports: President Trump once offered what he considered “a great deal” to Jordan’s King Abdullah II: control of the West Bank, whose Palestinian population long sought to topple the monarchy. “I thought I was having a heart attack,” Abdullah II recalled to an American friend in 2018, according to a new book on the Trump presidency being …

Mediaite reports: Former President Donald Trump‘s message to a group of protestors outside a Washington D.C. jail was interrupted by a man wearing a chicken head mask. On Tuesday, a group of protestors gathered outside a D.C. jail to voice their support for those who are serving jail sentences for their involvement in the January 6th insurrection. The group was …

The Daily Beast reports: In confidential court documents, former President Donald Trump tried to squirm his way out of taking a trip to the New York Attorney General’s office last month, telling a judge that the Secret Service had security concerns about the AG’s office. Reached on Tuesday, the Secret Service was caught by surprise by the allegations and had …

Posted today to Trump’s Truth Social account: Breaking News: Mike Lindell, ‘THE Pillow Guy,’ was just raided by the FBI. We are now officially living in a Weaponized Police State, Rigged Elections, and all. Our Country is a laughing stock all over the World. The majesty of the United States is gone. Can’t let this happen. TAKE BACK AMERICA! From …

The New York Times reports: When John H. Durham was assigned by the Justice Department in 2019 to examine the origins of the investigation into the 2016 Trump campaign’s ties to Russia, President Donald J. Trump and his supporters expressed a belief that the inquiry would prove that a “deep state” conspiracy including top Obama-era officials had worked to sabotage …

CNN reports: The House Oversight Committee is asking the National Archives for an assessment of whether there are presidential records still unaccounted for and in Donald Trump’s possession, according to a new letter obtained by CNN. The committee’s chairwoman, Rep. Carolyn Maloney, a New York Democrat, also is requesting in the letter that the National Archives and Records Administration, or …

Greg Sargent writes for the Washington Post: As the Jan. 6 House select committee documented, Trump and his allies raised as much as $250 million with countless texts and emails that were full of lies about the 2020 election. Some missives, which were sent out in the run up to Jan. 6, 2021, called for donations to an “Official Election …

Vice News reports: Former President Donald Trump has now shared his most explicit endorsement of the QAnon conspiracy movement to date. Trump shared a picture of himself wearing a Q lapel pin, overlaid with the QAnon phrases “The Storm is Coming” and “WWG1WGA,” on his Truth Social account on Monday evening. The post had been originally shared on Truth Social …

The Daily Beast reports: The Senate Judiciary Committee plans to conduct a congressional inquiry into claims made by a former top federal prosecutor that Donald Trump attempted to meddle with his office, using the Justice Department to protect himself and pursue his detractors. Geoffrey Berman, who was U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York until mid-2020, when he …

The Associated Press reports: Save America PAC is under new legal scrutiny after the Justice Department issued a round of grand jury subpoenas that sought information about the political action committee’s fundraising practices. Much of the money Trump has amassed was raised in the days and weeks after the 2020 election, which he lost to Democrat Joe Biden. That’s when …