Trump Corruption

CNN reports: Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr. sat for depositions as part of the New York attorney general’s civil investigation into the Trump Organization’s finances after months of fighting in court, people familiar with the matter told CNN. Ivanka Trump’s behind-closed-doors deposition took place Wednesday and Trump Jr. had his deposition last Thursday, the people said. Trump Jr., who …

The New York Post reports: John Kelly was secretly “listening to all” of President Donald Trump’s conversations without telling him, first son-in-law Jared Kushner reveals in his forthcoming book. Kushner writes that Trump was unaware that the former Marine Corps general turned White House chief of staff was listening to his phone calls until after Kelly’s departure was announced in …

Yahoo News reports: The Department of Justice on Wednesday filed a lawsuit against the former White House official Peter Navarro accusing him of “wrongfully retaining” presidential records “that are the property of the United States.” The DOJ alleged in its lawsuit that Navarro violated the Presidential Records Act, which requires presidents and White House staff to preserve official documents and …

The New York Times reports: As Rudolph W. Giuliani comes under intensifying scrutiny for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, another legal threat is quietly fading: the criminal inquiry into his ties to Ukraine during the presidential campaign. The investigation, conducted by federal prosecutors in Manhattan and the F.B.I., has examined whether Mr. Giuliani illegally lobbied the Trump …

ABC News reports: A federal grand jury has subpoenaed former Trump White House counsel Pat Cipollone in its investigation into the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol and efforts to overturn the 2020 election, sources with direct knowledge of the matter told ABC News. The sources told ABC News that attorneys for Cipollone — like they did with the …

The New York Times reports: Two Arizona Republicans recruited by allies of former President Donald J. Trump to join an effort to keep him in office after he lost the 2020 election grew so concerned about the plan that they told lawyers working on it that they feared their actions could be seen as treason, according to emails reviewed by …

Mediaite reports: Former President Donald Trump’s new social media platform TRUTH Social is shadow banning users for posting about certain topics, a new study claims. The bans of certain types of content are at odds with the principles of “free speech” the platform was founded on, according to the progressive non-profit group Public Citizen. Public Citizen, upon hearing complaints from …

The Hill reports: The Department of Defense (DOD) failed to retain text messages from a number of its top officials relating to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot because it wiped their phones during the transition, a watchdog group that sued for the records disclosed Tuesday. American Oversight filed a public records request for the communications of former acting Defense …

Courthouse News reports: In a 2-1 vote, the D.C. Circuit ruled on Tuesday that it is constitutional for the military to court-martial retired service members for post-retirement crimes. The appeals court panel’s ruling reverses a federal judge’s decision. Two Trump-appointed judges — U.S. Circuit Judges Neomi Rao and Justin Walker — were in the majority. with Clinton-appointed U.S. Circuit Judge …

Law & Crime reports: A federal judge in Washington, D.C. refused to dismiss three lawsuits brought by four U.S. Capitol Police Officers against former President Donald Trump over “injuries they sustained” on Jan. 6. Judge Amit Mehta issued a brief 2-page order which mostly cited a previous ruling to reject Trump’s claims of absolute immunity in lawsuits by Marcus J. …

CNN reports: A retired Washington, DC, police officer who was part of Donald Trump’s motorcade on January 6, 2021, told CNN’s Don Lemon on Monday night that the then-President was adamant about going to the US Capitol as the riot unfolded. The comments by Mark Robinson, who has testified to the January 6 committee, further corroborate key details first revealed …

Politico reports: The Republican National Committee has been relying on a stable of the party’s most prolific spreaders of false stolen-election theories to pilot a sweeping “election integrity” operation to recruit and coach thousands of poll workers in eight battleground states, according to new recordings of organizing summits held this spring in Florida and Pennsylvania obtained by POLITICO. On the …

Law & Crime reports: Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) has retained Donald Trump’s former White House counsel Don McGahn to pursue his newly refiled federal lawsuit challenging a subpoena in connection with a special grand jury investigation on attempts to overturn the 2020 election results. In July, Graham filed a federal lawsuit in South Carolina seeking to quash an order forcing …

The Washington Post reports: This weekend’s LIV Golf event at Trump National Golf Club involved serious money — a total purse of $25 million — and took great efforts to present itself as golf with attitude. Or at least a personality. There were paratroopers before the first tee shot and T-shirt guns during breaks in the action. Top 40 and …

Mediaite reports: Former President Donald Trump was joined by some of his family, Fox News’s Tucker Carlson, and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) on his golf course, as “Let’s Go, Brandon,” chants broke out during the Saudi-backed LIV tournament. In a video posted to Twitter, chants broke out as the crowd spotted Trump, Carlson, Greene, Eric Trump, and Kimberly Guilfoyle …

The Washington Examiner reports: Former President Donald Trump accused President Joe Biden of having dementia rather than a COVID-19 rebound infection in a backhanded “get well” message on his Truth Social platform that spurred a wild rant Sunday. The former president began by trolling his successor on the social media site over his re-diagnosis. The sarcastic opener led Trump down …

Rolling Stone reports: Donald Trump’s lawyers are preemptively preparing a legal defense against criminal charges from the Justice Department, as the former president’s lawyers are increasingly anxious that their client will be prosecuted for his role in the attempt to overturn the 2020 election. Members of the ex-president’s legal team have already begun brainstorming strategy and potential defenses, according to …

Mediaite has the transcript: She went in there loaded up with drugs into a hostile territory where they’re very vigilant about drugs. They don’t like drugs. And she got caught. And now we’re supposed to get her out — and she makes, you know, a lot of money, I guess. We’re supposed to get her out for an absolute killer …

Vox reports: The Trump campaign was actually being spied on in 2016, claims former Trump campaign chair and convicted felon Paul Manafort in his forthcoming book. It just wasn’t by anyone who Trump has accused of doing so on Twitter. Instead, Manafort writes, it was former Trump attorney Michael Cohen, who made himself administrator of the campaign server in an …

Salon reports: Ivana Trump, the first wife of former President Donald Trump, has been buried at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey, where Trump himself plans to be buried one day. As several people on Twitter were quick to point out, New Jersey land used for cemetery purposes comes with a significant tax break. “New Jersey law exempts …