Trump Corruption

CNN reports: The inspector general of the US Agency for International Development was fired on Tuesday, a day after his office released a report critical of the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle the agency, a source familiar with the matter told CNN. Paul Martin was informed by an email from the deputy director of the Office of Presidential Personnel on …

NBC News reports: The top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee has sent a letter to the Justice Department Inspector General accusing Kash Patel, President Trump’s pick for FBI director, of secretly orchestrating the firings of FBI officials, a day after telling the committee under oath that he was not aware of any plan to do so. “If these allegations …

CNN reports: Trump made no attempt Tuesday to soften his proposal to relocate Palestinians in Gaza and redevelop the land into premium housing, even as his guest in the Oval Office, King Abdullah II of Jordan, suggested the Arab world was opposed. Trump repeated his view that Palestinians should be moved out to “parcels” in third countries, including Jordan. The …

The Associated Press reports: A federal appeals court on Tuesday refused to halt a judge’s order requiring the Trump administration to release billions of dollars in federal grants and loans. States say the money remains frozen even after a court blocked a sweeping pause on federal funding. The Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals turned back the emergency appeal, …

The Associated Press reports: As a global news organization, The Associated Press informs billions of people around the world every day with factual, nonpartisan journalism. Today we were informed by the White House that if AP did not align its editorial standards with President Donald Trump’s executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America, AP would …

“FEMA spent tens of millions of dollars in Democrat areas, disobeying orders, but left the people of North Carolina high and dry. It is now under review and investigation. “THE BIDEN RUN FEMA HAS BEEN A DISASTER. FEMA SHOULD BE TERMINATED! IT HAS BEEN SLOW AND TOTALLY INEFFECTIVE. INDIVIDUAL STATES SHOULD HANDLE STORMS, ETC., AS THEY COME. “BIG SAVINGS, FAR …

The Washington Post reports: A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the nation’s premier health agencies to restore online access to several websites that monitor HIV, health risks for youths, and assisted reproductive technologies, which were abruptly taken offline to ensure they complied with Trump’s recent executive order on gender. U.S. District Judge John D. Bates granted a temporary restraining order …

ABC News reports: Staffers at the nation’s cybersecurity agency whose job is to ensure the security of U.S. elections have been placed on administrative leave, jeopardizing critical support provided to state and local election offices across the country. In recent days, 17 employees of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency who have worked with election officials to provide assessments …

A new snippet from Trump’s Super Bowl interview… BRET BAIER: Sports has always been something that Americans rally around, come together they really do. You won the popular vote. You won all the swing states. But still, Kamala Harris got 75 million votes in the country. TRUMP: Well, if you believe the whole thing. BAIER: Yeah, yeah, okay, let’s just …

The New York Times reports: The Justice Department on Monday told federal prosecutors in Manhattan to drop the corruption charges against Mayor Eric Adams of New York, claiming his indictment last fall came too near the 2025 mayoral primary and had limited his ability to cooperate in President Trump’s immigration crackdown. “You are directed to dismiss” the charges, Emil Bove, …

CNBC reports: President Donald Trump is set Monday to sign an executive order directing the Department of Justice to pause enforcing a nearly half-century-old law that prohibits American companies and foreign firms from bribing officials of foreign governments to obtain or retain business. The pause in criminal prosecutions will be implemented to avoid putting U.S. businesses at an economic disadvantage …

The New York Times reports: President Trump announced sweeping tariffs on foreign steel and aluminum on Monday, re-upping a policy from his first term that pleased domestic metal makers, but hurt other American industries and ignited trade wars with allies on multiple fronts. The president signed two official proclamations Monday evening that would impose a 25 percent tariff on steel …

Democracy Docket reports: A federal judge today ordered the Trump administration to resume payments for federal programs after the White House violated a previous order blocking a federal funding freeze. In a blistering opinion, District Court Judge John McConnell in Rhode Island warned that not complying with a court order could lead to contempt of court, which is a crime. …

Reuters reports: Former Donald Trump adviser Steve Bannon plans to plead guilty in a deal with New York state prosecutors to resolve fraud charges connected to fundraising for a U.S. southern border wall and allow him to avoid any prison time, legal trade publication Law360 reported. The report cited a defense attorney for Bannon, John F. Carman. “It is anticipated …

Axios reports: President Donald Trump is expected to pardon former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, according to a person familiar with the plans. Blagojevich served eight years in prison on charges stemming from his effort to sell Barack Obama’s Senate seat after Obama won the 2008 presidential election, until Trump commuted his 14-year sentence in 2020. Trump and Blagojevich have a …

The Washington Post reports: Candidates for top national security positions in the Trump administration have faced questions that appear designed to determine whether they have embraced the president’s false claims about the outcome of the 2020 election and its aftermath, according to people familiar with cases of such screening. The questions asked of several current and former officials up for …

The Hill reports: A federal judge in Rhode Island on Monday ordered the Trump administration to comply with his order to unfreeze federal grants, after attorneys general for several Democratic states claimed the directive was not being fulfilled. In a short order, U.S. District Judge John McConnell directed the Trump administration to “immediately” end any federal funding pause until he …

Bloomberg News reports: In another weekend takeover of a federal agency’s operations, staffers from an efficiency initiative led by billionaire Elon Musk helped to effectively shut down the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — as they gained access to an array of the bureau’s protected information. The actions began last Thursday, when four young staffers working under Musk for DOGE, showed …

Politico reports: Trump on Monday said he had ordered the firings of the boards of visitors for all of the U.S. military’s service academies, the outside advisory panels that help oversee academic programs and student life, saying that the government’s training grounds for military officers had been invaded by so-called “woke” ideology. Trump campaigned on a promise to purge the …

A new excerpt from last night’s Fox interview… TRUMP: We’ll build beautiful communities for the 1.9 million people. We’ll build beautiful communities, safe communities. Could be five, six, could be two. But we’ll build safe communities, a little bit away from where they are, where all of this danger is. In the meantime, I would own this. Think of it …