Trump Corruption

NBC News reports: Former President Donald Trump may submit a written letter in his defense for the Senate impeachment trial, contemplating the move as he expands his legal team less than two weeks before the proceedings are set to begin, according to two people familiar with the matter. And while he is considering such a statement, Trump is not planning …

Media Matters has the transcript: RUDY GIULIANI:  I’m going to fight it on legal grounds but I’ll also show — you know, I used to do defamation law for ten years, for the Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, the New York Daily News, kind of one of my specialties, so I get two defenses, right? Part of it — part of …

Business Insider reports: The board of the Trump Plaza condominium complex in West Palm Beach has voted unanimously to remove Trump from its name. The vote comes after a violent insurrection by Trump supporters left five dead in early January. Trump later became the first president to get impeached twice. Residents of the complex will have to vote on a …

Yahoo News reports: The town of Palm Beach, Florida, is reviewing Donald Trump’s use of his Mar-a-Lago Club as a residence, even as the former president is set to once again violate a length-of-stay provision he himself agreed to three decades ago. At 11:32 a.m. Wednesday, Trump will have been at his property for more than seven consecutive days in …

The Hill reports: Former President Trump’s ex-chief of staff predicted that Democrats’ efforts to convict the former president in a Senate trial were “dead on arrival” following a vote Tuesday by most of the chamber’s Republicans to dismiss a second impeachment trial. Some senators have maintained they are undecided on whether to convict Trump despite the vote Tuesday. Still, the …

The Independent reports: Donald Trump has established his “Office of the Former President” in Palm Beach, Florida, where he has opened a headquarters for his post-presidential public affairs. The office will manage his correspondence, appearances and other “official activities to advance the interests of the United States” and “carry on the agenda” of his administration through “advocacy, organizing and public …

Axios reports: Donald Trump’s still-active presidential campaign committee officially disavowed political groups affiliated with the nascent “Patriot Party” on Monday. Trump briefly floated the possibility of creating a new political party to compete with the GOP — with him at the helm. But others have formed their own “Patriot Party” entities during the past week, and Trump’s team wants to …

“Dominion’s defamation lawsuit for $1.3B will allow me to investigate their history, finances and practices fully and completely. The amount being asked for is, quite obviously, intended to frighten people of faint heart. “This is another act of intimidation by the hate-filled left-wing to wipe out and censor the exercise of free speech, as well as the ability of lawyers …

The Associated Press reports: The Supreme Court on Monday brought an end to lawsuits over whether Donald Trump illegally profited off his presidency. The justices threw out Trump’s challenge to lower court rulings that had allowed lawsuits to go forward alleging that he violated the Constitution’s emoluments clause by accepting payments from foreign and domestic officials who stay at the …

The Washington Post reports: House impeachment managers are planning to deliver an article of impeachment to the Senate on Monday, accusing Trump of “incitement of insurrection” for his role in the Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol by a violent mob, a takeover that left a Capitol Police officer and four rioters dead. “Although I remain hopeful for our …

Bloomberg News reports: Already banned from Twitter, it looks like Donald Trump will be shut out of Davos too. The former U.S. president, the star attraction of last January’s gathering of power-brokers in the Swiss Alps, is unlikely to be invited back, according to the World Economic Forum’s founder and executive chairman, Klaus Schwab. Asked by newspaper NZZ am Sonntag …

The Wall Street Journal reports: In his last weeks in office, former President Donald Trump considered moving to replace the acting attorney general with another official ready to pursue unsubstantiated claims of election fraud, and he pushed the Justice Department to ask the Supreme Court to invalidate President Biden’s victory, people familiar with the matter said. Those efforts failed due …

The Washington Post reports: Former president Donald Trump threw himself back into politics this weekend by publicly endorsing a devoted and divisive acolyte in Arizona who has embraced his false election conspiracy theories and entertained the creation of a new “MAGA Party.” In a recorded phone call, Trump offered his “complete and total endorsement” for another term for Arizona state …

The South Florida Sun Sentinel reports: Former President Donald Trump won’t see his name on the airport in his home turf of Palm Beach County — and it also might be difficult to engrave it anywhere else in South Florida. A majority of Palm Beach County commissioners told the South Florida Sun Sentinel this week that they won’t support renaming …

The Hill reports: Democrats are mulling whether they can use the 14th Amendment to prevent former President Trump from ever holding office again. The discussions are in the early stages — and top members of the Senate caucus aren’t yet convinced it’s a viable remedy — but senators are exploring their options as they plot a strategy after Trump’s supporters …

The New York Times reports: The Justice Department’s top leaders listened in stunned silence this month: One of their peers, they were told, had devised a plan with President Donald J. Trump to oust Jeffrey A. Rosen as acting attorney general and wield the department’s power to force Georgia state lawmakers to overturn its presidential election results. The unassuming lawyer …

Axios reports: The Senate will begin former President Trump’s impeachment trial the week of Feb. 8, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced Friday on the Senate floor. Trump is the only president in U.S. history to be impeached twice for “incitement of insurrection” after a violent pro-Trump mob breached the U.S. Capitol, resulting in five deaths. The day of the insurrection …

The Washington Examiner reports: Former President Donald Trump gave nothing away about his plans for life after the White House as he dined with friends at his golf club on Friday. “We’ll do something, but not just yet,” he told the Washington Examiner as he sat at his regular table in the dining room of the Trump International Golf Club. …

Bloomberg News reports: Former President Donald Trump’s campaign paid more than $2.7 million to individuals and firms that organized the Jan. 6 rally that led to violent rioters storming the U.S. Capitol, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. The payments, which span Trump’s re-election campaign, show an ongoing financial relationship between the rally’s organizers and Trump’s political operation. They …

Axios reports: The lobbying firm run by Trump ally Matt Schlapp brought in $750,000 in the final two weeks of 2020 from a former top Trump fundraiser and convicted fraudster who retained Schlapp to lobby — unsuccessfully — for a presidential pardon. The substantial sum that the former fundraiser, Georgia’s Parker “Pete” Petit, paid to Schlapp’s Cove Strategies shows how …