Trump Corruption

NPR reports: The head of the U.S. Postal Service promised Friday to make the organization more efficient and more financially stable, but his remarks may do little to quell fears that the post office’s cost-cutting measures will hurt service during the coronavirus pandemic. “We are at the beginning of a transformative process,” Louis DeJoy said in his first public remarks …

Law & Crime reports: A government watchdog group on Friday filed a complaint against Lane Ruhland with the Wisconsin Office of Lawyer Regulation (OLR) alleging the attorney has been violating ethics and conflict of interest obligations by working for both the presidential campaigns of both Kanye West and Donald Trump. Ruhland – the former general counsel for the state Republican …

The Hill reports: President Trump on Friday teased an executive order to require health insurers to cover all preexisting conditions, something already established under the Affordable Care Act, which his administration is suing to dismantle. “Over the next two weeks I’ll be pursuing a major executive order requiring health insurance companies to cover all preexisting conditions for all companies,” Trump …

CBS News reports: President Trump is holding a news conference in Bedminster, New Jersey, Friday night as he hints at executive action as another week of negotiations over a coronavirus aid package on Capitol Hill ended no closer to a deal. The news conference is slated for 7 p.m. After talks between Democratic leaders House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate …

New York Magazine reports: As of this writing, Kanye West has successfully filed to be on the ballot in nine states, where he could win a total of 88 electoral votes. (He also filed in a tenth state, New Jersey, but removed himself from the ballot ahead of a hearing on whether the signatures submitted were forged.) There are 19 …

The Washington Post reports: The head of the U.S. Postal Service acknowledged in a meeting with top Democrats that he instituted new policies restricting overtime and extra mail processing trips, moves that the agency previously downplayed and that postal workers say have caused mail backlogs, according to a letter released Thursday by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) and Senate Minority …

Forbes reports: Amid various reports that Republican and Trump-affiliated political operatives are trying to get Kanye West onto various state ballots for November’s presidential election, the billionaire rap superstar indicated, in an interview by text today, that he was in fact running to siphon votes from the presumptive Democratic nominee, Joe Biden. Asked about that directly, West said that rather …

Mediate reports: After praising his own leadership, Trump turned toward his 2020 election rival and told his supporters “I wouldn’t say he’s at the top of his game, would you?” Trump went on to claim that Biden’s presidency would lead to a financial crash, that the ex-veep is a conduit for “the radical left agenda,” and that Biden will “destroy …

The Daily Beast reports: As President Donald Trump hints that he plans to deliver his nomination speech from the White House on Aug. 27, the hotel bearing his name down the street is making a power play of its own: spiking its room rates by more than 60 percent for those convention dates. Listings for rooms at the Trump International …

The Independent reports: Donald Trump has suggested a coronavirus vaccine could possibly be ready for market before the presidential election in November — even as his own White House and leading health experts said that’s a very unlikely scenario. The president was asked on Thursday whether he believed a vaccine would be ready before Election Day during an interview with …

Popular Information reports: This week, the Trump campaign has been heavily promoting a contest to win a “VIP Dinner” with Trump in Southhampton, New York, on August 8th. Advertisements on Facebook touted the dinner as a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” to share a meal with Trump. The campaign solicited donations from Facebook users for a chance to win. According to Facebook data, …

The Hill reports: Michael Cohen has been offered a job at an unspecified political action committee to work as a consultant and to make media appearances, a lawyer for President Trump’s former personal attorney and fixer said. Cohen’s lawyer, Danya Perry, asked U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein in a letter on Monday to approve the move. [Read the letter …

The New York Times reports: The New York prosecutors who are seeking President Trump’s tax records have also subpoenaed his longtime lender, a sign that their criminal investigation into Mr. Trump’s business practices is more wide-ranging than previously known. The Manhattan district attorney’s office issued the subpoena last year to Deutsche Bank, which has been Mr. Trump’s primary lender since …

CNBC reports: President Donald Trump reiterated Wednesday that the coronavirus will “go away,” and he continued to push for schools to reopen since the virus “doesn’t have much of an impact” on children. “It’s going away. It’ll go away. Things go away. No question in my mind that it will go away,” Trump said during a White House press briefing. …

CNBC reports: Several former lobbying clients of Chad Wolf, now the acting secretary of Homeland Security, have received millions of dollars’ worth of government contracts while he has held senior positions within the department. Wolf, who became the acting chief of the department late last year, was a lobbyist for over a decade at Wexler & Walker before he took …

NBC News reports: Republicans in at least four states, including a crucial swing state, appear to be helping music superstar Kanye West gain ballot access for November’s election, actions that raise new questions about the hip-hop star’s presidential bid. West’s bid has been marred by missed deadlines and faulty filings that have frustrated his efforts to make the ballot in …

This isn’t a rerun, it’s just more Trumpian oversight. From the Justice Department: A Houston, Texas man has been taken into custody on allegations he fraudulently obtained more than $1.6 million in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Brian C. Rabbitt of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. Lee Price III, 29, spent the money on luxury …

The Associated Press reports: The State Department’s acting inspector general resigned abruptly on Wednesday following the firing of his predecessor in circumstances now being investigated by Congress. Stephen Akard announced his resignation just two days after Democrats issued subpoenas for several of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s top aides to answer questions about the shakeup in the watchdog’s office. The …

New today from the Lincoln Project: In a new video released today, “Secretary of Failure,” The Lincoln Project scrutinizes Senior Advisor Jared Kushner’s malignant response to the national COVID-19 pandemic. A recent article from Vanity Fair highlighted the outright maliciousness and evilness of Kushner’s actions: He scrapped a national response plan, believing the virus would affect only Democratic states and …

Mediaite reports: President Donald Trump continued his attack on mail-in voting on Wednesday by claiming it would make the 2020 election “go on for years” due to delays. There is no evidence of widespread corruption in mail-in voting that would delay the November results for “years,” and critics have accused the president of assailing such voting in order to undermine …