Trump Corruption

The Charleston Post & Courier reports: In the waning days of Donald Trump’s presidency, U.S. Sen. Tim Scott secured a pardon for a pastor he applauded for becoming a model citizen after being convicted in a cocaine bust in the 1990s. Less widely known: the man is Scott’s cousin. Securing a presidential pardon is a rare feat. Some 143 pardons …

From the government watchdog group CREW: Betsy DeVos reported at least $225 million — and potentially well over $414 million — in outside income while working as Donald Trump’s education secretary, according to an analysis of DeVos’s financial disclosures by CREW. It is impossible to know the exact amount because DeVos’s income is reported in broad ranges, but we do …

Mediaite reports: Donald Trump spokesman Jason Miller was on Fox News on Sunday trying to build hype for the former president’s big, grand return to social media — whatever form it may take. Miller first boasted about the attention Trump is getting for the statements he’s been sending out recently, before hinting that he will be returning to social media …

The New York Times reports: One hacked the computers of business rivals. One bribed doctors to win referrals for his nursing homes. Another fled the country while he was on trial for his role in a fraud that siphoned $450 million from an insurance company, leading to its collapse. Still another ran a Ponzi scheme that plunged a synagogue into …

CNN reports: Trump’s personal Boeing 757 was always the crown jewel of his wealth — the ultimate sign that he had made it. He’s used it as a backdrop for sleek photo shoots, campaign rallies, VIP tours, for shots of him eating his Big Macs and KFC, plated, with a knife and fork. Trump loved to show it off — …

NBC News reports: The ex-wife of a Trump Organization executive has spoken “multiple times” with investigators from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, she told NBC News, as the probe into Donald Trump’s financial dealings intensifies. Jennifer Weisselberg said it appears investigators have been seeking information related to the role of Allen Weisselberg, the Trump Organization’s chief financial officer and the …

Block Club Chicago reports: The city has cut off Loretto Hospital’s supply of first doses for coronavirus vaccinations amid controversy over who it’s vaccinating. Loretto Hospital — a small hospital meant to serve the West Side — is under scrutiny for vaccinating ineligible workers at Trump Tower and for its chief operating officer, Dr. Anosh Ahmed, telling people he vaccinated …

ABC News reports: A federal appeals court on Thursday reinstated the conviction of a one-time business partner of former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn for acting as an unregistered agent of the Turkish government. A jury in Alexandria convicted Bijan Kian at a 2019 trial. After the conviction, though, the trial judge, Anthony Trenga, intervened and overturned the conviction. The …

Bloomberg News reports: Donald Trump upended the American presidency after stepping away from the company that made him rich and famous. Four years later, returning to his empire after losing the White House, what he finds may upend him. Trump’s net worth is down to $2.3 billion from $3 billion when he became president, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. …

Block Club Chicago reports: A top executive of a West Side hospital in Chicago bragged about vaccinating Eric Trump the same day the hospital vaccinated workers at Trump Tower Downtown — where the executive owns a condo. In a photo obtained by Block Club Chicago, Dr. Anosh Ahmed, chief operating officer of Loretto Hospital, poses with a smiling Trump, the …

The Washington Post reports: Former president Donald Trump’s son Eric, who runs the family’s private company, touted the potential of transforming their Doral golf resort into a gambling destination amid a quiet push among Florida Republicans to legalize casinos in areas of the state that have long opposed them. Although Republican legislative leaders have not yet submitted a bill, word …

Playbook reports: Dutton Books, part of Penguin Random House, is out today with a paperback version of ABC chief White House correspondent Jon Karl’s “Front Row at the Trump Show” ($18), and it includes some new reporting. In mid-March of last year, Navy hospital ship Mercy was being deployed to Seattle to alleviate hospitals overburdened with infected Covid-19 patients. Instead, …

Law & Crime reports: It seems “Ricky” has some explaining to do. A federal judge in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday granted Donald Trump’s request for an extension to respond to a lawsuit filed by Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) and the NAACP after an “unknown individual identified only as ‘Ricky’” signed for the summons and complaint sent via certified mail. U.S. …

Vanity Fair reports: The quest to get on the White House list—which was closely guarded by Meadows’s office and a small cadre of NSC officials—attracted an array of supplicants. They ranged from the representatives of cabinet secretaries to young White House desk jockeys to those prepared to leverage their connections to President Donald Trump’s senior adviser and son-in-law, Jared Kushner. …

West Palm Beach’s NBC News affiliate reports: Lauree Simmons, president and founder of Big Dog Ranch Rescue, told WPTV NewsChannel 5’s T.A. Walker this week her goal at the Wine, Women & Shoes event, a fundraiser for the rescue held at Mar-a-Lago, was to raise $500,000. Simmons, jarred by images of the China dog meat market trade, is trying to …

The Huffington Post reports: A dog rescue charity with links to Lara Trump has spent as much as $1.9 million at former President Donald Trump’s properties over the last seven years and will drop an additional quarter-million at his Mar-a-Lago country club this weekend. According to a permit filed with the town of Palm Beach, Florida, Big Dog Ranch Rescue …

Apparently pardons don’t get you out of everything: The Defense Department’s internal watchdog has concluded a long-delayed investigation into Michael Flynn, defense officials said Friday, sending its findings to the Army in a case that could bring tens of thousands of dollars in financial penalties for former president Donald Trump’s first national security adviser. The investigation focuses on Flynn’s acceptance …

NBC News reports: Senior officials in the Manhattan district attorney’s office this week asked ex-President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer Michael Cohen to return for what would be his eighth interview with the office, which is conducting a wide-ranging criminal probe related to the Trump Organization. A person familiar with the case said that Cohen, while being questioned for the …

From the lengthy New Yorker piece cited earlier today: Trump has already demonstrated a willingness to engage in almost unthinkable tactics to protect himself. Among his social circle in Palm Beach, speculation abounds that Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, an ally, might not honor an extradition request from New York if a bench warrant were issued for Trump’s arrest. Dave …

From a lengthy New Yorker piece on the Manhattan’s DA’s Trump probe, which includes an interview with the CFO of the Trump Organization’s former daughter-in-law: Jennifer told me that she first met Trump before she was married, at Allen Weisselberg’s modest house, in Wantagh, on Long Island. That day, the Weisselberg family was sitting shivah, for Allen’s mother. Trump showed …