Trump Corruption

This should totally firm up confidence in the COVID vaccine: Infuriated by the FDA’s defiance in a showdown over the Trump administration’s standards for authorizing a coronavirus vaccine, health secretary Alex Azar has spent recent weeks openly plotting the ouster of FDA chief Stephen Hahn. Azar has vented to allies within the Health and Human Services Department about his unhappiness …

Mediaite reports: White House National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien seemed undisturbed by the idea of President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, being targeted by foreign efforts to meddle with the 2020 election. CBS’ Paula Reid asked O’Brien, “Were you aware of concerns that the president’s personal attorney might be the target of a foreign influence campaign?” “I think there …

The Hill reports: President Trump on Thursday posted his full interview with “60 Minutes” ahead of its scheduled air time in an attempt to undercut the news program after he bristled at questioning from journalist Lesley Stahl. The president posted the nearly 40-minute sit down to his Facebook page with the caption: “Look at the bias, hatred and rudeness on …

The Washington Post reports: As President Trump entered the final stretch of the election season, he began making more than 50 false or misleading claims a day. It’s only gotten worse — so much so that the Fact Checker team cannot keep up. As of Aug. 27, the tally in our database that tracks every errant claim by the president …

Politico reports: The Trump administration is considering declaring that several prominent international NGOs — including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Oxfam — are anti-Semitic and that governments should not support them, two people familiar with the issue said. The proposed declaration could come from the State Department as soon as this week. If the declaration happens, it is likely …

Forbes reports: President Trump on Wednesday tweeted photos of 60 Minutes correspondent Lesley Stahl holding a large book ostensibly documenting his healthcare accomplishments – but one photo showed Stahl opening the book to a blank page, underscoring Democratic attacks against Trump’s health care record. Trump famously held a press conference in 2017 flanked by what appeared to be stacks of …

The New York Daily News reports: President Trump claimed that politics would be ‘boring without me,’ as he slammed Joe Biden while speaking at a rally in Pennsylvania on Tuesday. Trump’s comments came as he spoke to supporters in Erie. “If you had Sleepy Joe, nobody’s going to be interested in politics anymore,” Trump said. He claimed Biden would bring …

Politico reports: Back in early September, Trump weighed spending as much as $100 million of his own money on his reelection bid, according to Bloomberg News. When asked by reporters if he planned to self-fund part of his run, Trump said, “If I have to, I would.” But the money has not materialized. Trump has contributed just over $8,000 to …

The New York Times reports: It turns out that China is one of only three foreign nations — the others are Britain and Ireland — where Mr. Trump maintains a bank account, according to an analysis of the president’s tax records, which were obtained by The New York Times. The foreign accounts do not show up on Mr. Trump’s public …

Bloomberg News reports: Elliott Broidy, once a top Republican fundraiser, pleaded guilty to illegally lobbying President Donald Trump’s administration to help a Malaysian businessman end a federal investigation into the 1MDB scandal and to seek the extradition of a Chinese dissident from the U.S. Broidy’s plea Tuesday in federal court in Washington comes ahead of an expected criminal settlement with …

“This commission has been stacked against him from day one. It’s part of the corruption that we’ve seen in Washington. They don’t like Donald Trump. “This is a city that’s plugged in for Joe Biden, and to have this supposed non-partisan commission continue to make rule changes without consulting the Trump campaign. “They break promises that they made to the …

Axios reports: White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows confirmed in court on Tuesday that President Trump’s tweets authorizing the disclosure of documents related to the Russia investigation and Hillary Clinton’s emails “were not self-executing declassification orders,” after a federal judge demanded that Trump be asked about his intentions. Why it matters: BuzzFeed News reporter Jason Leopold cited the tweets …

Law & Crime reports: President Donald Trump dazzled a rally audience in Arizona on Monday by describing a scenario in which he could—-if he really wanted to do so, that is-—shake down a company like ExxonMobil for millions of dollars in campaign cash. “So, I call some guy, the head of Exxon, I call the head of Exxon–I don’t know” …

The New York Times reports: The Justice Department said on Monday that President Trump should not be sued personally for having denied a rape allegation because he made the statement while acting in his official capacity as president. Lawyers for the government made the argument as they defended Attorney General William P. Barr’s decision to intervene in a defamation lawsuit …

The Hill reports: President Trump on Monday mocked CNN for covering the ongoing coronavirus pandemic as he rallied hundreds of supporters, many of them not wearing masks, in Arizona. “They’re getting tired of the pandemic, aren’t they,” Trump told a crowd of hundreds of unmasked supporters in Prescott. “You turn on CNN, that’s all they cover. Covid, Covid, pandemic, Covid, …

The Daily Beast reports: President Donald Trump on Monday unloaded on Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious-disease expert, complaining that those working to curtail the coronavirus pandemic that has killed almost 220,000 Americans are all “idiots.” “People are tired of COVID. I have these huge rallies. People are saying whatever. Just leave us alone. They’re tired of it. People …

The Washington Post reports: As summer faded into autumn and the novel coronavirus continued to ravage the nation unabated, Scott Atlas, a neuroradiologist whose commentary on Fox News led President Trump to recruit him to the White House, consolidated his power over the government’s pandemic response. Atlas shot down attempts to expand testing. He openly feuded with other doctors on …

The Hill reports: President Trump mockingly warned at his rally in Nevada late Sunday that Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden would “listen to the scientists” if elected and there would be more lockdowns to curb the spread of the coronavirus. Trump told attendees in Carson City that supporters of his opponent would surrender their “future to the virus,” saying: “He’s …

The Week reports: Former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon predicted that if President Trump loses re-election in 2020, he’ll run again in 2024. “I’ll make this prediction right now: If for any reason the election is stolen from, or in some sort of way Joe Biden is declared the winner, Trump will announce he’s going to run for re-election …

The Washington Post reports: A federal judge on Sunday formally struck down a Trump administration attempt to end food stamp benefits for nearly 700,000 unemployed people, blocking as “arbitrary and capricious” the first of three such planned measures to restrict the federal food safety net. In a scathing 67-page opinion, Chief U.S. District Judge Beryl A. Howell of D.C. condemned …