Trump Corruption

The New York Times reports: President Donald J. Trump’s blood oxygen level sank to a precariously low level after he announced that he had tested positive for the coronavirus last year, according to a new book by Mark Meadows, his former chief of staff. The new details contradict Mr. Trump’s denials this year that his Covid bout was more dire …

The Wall Street Journal reports: The publicly traded company that plans to merge with former president Donald Trump’s social media company is under investigation by two federal regulators, which have asked for stock trading information and communications. Digital World Acquisition Corp. disclosed in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing that it had received “certain preliminary, fact-finding inquiries” from the Financial …

The Washington Post reports: When he first learned he had tested positive for the corona­virus, President Donald Trump was already aboard Air Force One, en route to a massive rally in Middletown, Pa. With him on the plane that Saturday evening were dozens of people — senior aides, Air Force One personnel, junior staffers, journalists and other members of the …

Slate reports: Former President Donald Trump issued a brief statement on Saturday night that appeared to have been written in such a rushed manner that no one had any time to proofread it. The statement consists of one sentence that appeared to accidentally criticize those who believe the lie that there was widespread election fraud in the 2020 presidential election. …

Politico reports: John Eastman, the attorney who helped former President Donald Trump pressure then-Vice President Mike Pence to overturn the 2020 election, has asserted his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, according to a letter he delivered to the Jan. 6 committee explaining his decision not to testify. “Dr. Eastman hereby asserts his Fifth Amendment right not to be a witness …

CNN reports: The House select committee investigating the January 6 attack on the US Capitol unanimously voted Wednesday night to approve the report to hold former DOJ official Jeffrey Clark in contempt of Congress for defying his subpoena by refusing to answer questions during a recent deposition and failing to hand over documents to the panel. Passing the criminal contempt …

Mediaite reports: On Wednesday morning The Guardian reported that a new book by former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows reveals that Trump did in fact test positive for Covid-19, but then tested negative. Trump said via statement, “The story of me having COVID prior to, or during, the first debate is Fake News. In fact, a test revealed that I …

The Daily Beast reports: Matthew Whitaker held senior roles in Trump’s Justice Department from September 2017 to February 2019, finishing off his DOJ tenure with a three-month stint as the acting attorney general. And when he finally departed the administration, he found quite the cushy gig: chairing a new project for the right-wing nonprofit FreedomWorks. The group brought Whitaker on …

The Daily Beast reports: The federal probe, which has not been previously reported, is examining the finances of Defending the Republic, an organization founded by Powell to fund her “Kraken” lawsuits to overturn the 2020 election, the sources said. According to two of the people familiar with the matter, a grand jury was empaneled, and subpoenas and documents requests have …

The Guardian reports: Hours before the deadly attack on the US Capitol this year, Donald Trump made several calls from the White House to top lieutenants at the Willard hotel in Washington and talked about ways to stop the certification of Joe Biden’s election win from taking place on 6 January. The former president first told the lieutenants his vice-president, …

The Washington Post reports: Mark Meadows, former president Donald Trump’s White House chief of staff at the time of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, is cooperating with the House committee investigating the pro-Trump insurrection, committee chairman Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.) said Tuesday. “Mr. Meadows has been engaging with the Select Committee through his attorney,” Thompson said in a …

The Independent reports: The House select committee investigating the 6 January insurrection will meet on Wednesday to consider authorising criminal contempt of congress charges against Jeffrey Clark, the ex-Trump justice department attorney who pushed to weaponise the department in service of former president Donald Trump’s push to overturn results of the 2020 election. If the committee votes in favor of …

Not at all surprising: The US intelligence community “struggled” to brief President-elect Donald Trump in 2016, achieving “only limited success” in educating and developing a relationship with the incoming president, according to a newly released unclassified history of the transition period published by the CIA’s in-house academic center. Trump rarely, if at all, read the daily classified briefing book prepared …

“They have told us from the beginning that they want to fundamentally transform America. Well, how do you that? You have to change America from the inside-out. You have to take away our traditions. “So it might seem a little funny and a little ridiculous. ‘Oh, don’t have a turkey, then people won’t come over.’ Last year, remember, they didn’t …

The Insider reports: Eric Trump threatened to sue a website for defamation after it suggested that he had used burner phones to communicate with pro-Donald Trump rally organizers in the run-up to January 6. Trump, the second son of former President Donald Trump, threatened The Palmer Report with legal action after over a claim it made in the aftermath of …

The Daily Beast reports: After more than a year of delays, a team of attorneys will finally make a trip to Los Angeles next month to review highly guarded, never-before-seen outtakes of Celebrity Apprentice—seeking any evidence that the Trump family knew they were suckering people into investing in a scam. On Tuesday, a federal judge in New York City ordered …

The New York Daily News reports: Former President Trump said on Wednesday that he’s given the former NYPD commissioner Bernie Kerik the green light to comply with a subpoena for testimony issued by the Congressional select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. Hinting that Kerik may use the demand for information as a publicity stunt, the twice …

The Hill reports: Former President Trump received an honorary ninth dan belt certificate in taekwondo from the sport’s main governing body in Florida over the weekend. Issued by Kukkiwon president Lee Dong-sup, Trump received the honorary belt at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Fla. Kukkiwon posted the exchange to its Facebook page, where Trump can be seen wearing a …

ProPublica reports: Kimberly Guilfoyle, a top fundraiser for former President Donald Trump and the girlfriend of his son Donald Trump Jr., boasted to a GOP operative that she had raised $3 million for the rally that helped fuel the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. In a series of text messages sent on Jan. 4 to Katrina Pierson, the White House liaison …

Politico reports: As Donald Trump builds out a presidential-campaign-in-waiting, his team is focusing on an electoral strategy that relies on recapturing the five states that flipped to Joe Biden in 2020. The five states — Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — delivered a total of 73 electoral votes in 2020, enough to produce a decisive Electoral College victory for …