Trump Corruption

The Associated Press reports: President Donald Trump is accusing his former rival Hillary Clinton of blaming everyone but herself for her election loss. Trump revived an old nickname for the Democrat Wednesday, tweeting that, “Crooked Hillary Clinton now blames everybody but herself, refuses to say she was a terrible candidate.” Trump was likely responding to Clinton’s appearance Wednesday at Recode’s …

The New Yorker reports: On May 11th Roger Stone, Donald Trump’s on-again, off-again political adviser for several decades, had just wrapped up a pair of morning television appearances when, according to two sources with direct knowledge, he received a call from the President. Just a night earlier, Trump claimed that he was no longer in touch with Stone. In the …

The Hill reports: President Trump’s administration will cease answering questions from reporters about the investigation into the Trump campaign’s alleged ties to Russia, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Wednesday. In an off-camera press briefing, Spicer told reporters that any future questions about the investigation would be addressed by Trump’s personal lawyer. “We are focused on the president’s agenda …

CNN reports: Fired FBI director James Comey plans to testify publicly in the Senate as early as next week to confirm bombshell accusations that President Donald Trump pressured him to end his investigation into a top Trump aide’s ties to Russia, a source close to the issue said Wednesday. Final details are still being worked out and no official date …

Talking Points Memo reports: President Donald Trump on Wednesday morning published a short series of tweets about former campaign aide Carter Page following a report on “Fox and Friends” about claims from Page that the House Intelligence Committee had delayed a planned session with him. Trump used the “Fox and Friends” report to blast the Russia probe and the attention …

ABC News reports: One of President Donald Trump’s closest confidants, his personal lawyer Michael Cohen, has now become a focus of the expanding Congressional investigation into Russian efforts to influence the 2016 campaign. Cohen confirmed to ABC News that House and Senate investigators have asked him “to provide information and testimony” about any contacts he had with people connected to …

The Hill reports: President Trump on Tuesday retweeted a Fox News report citing an anonymous source which pushes back on another article that White House aide Jared Kushner tried to establish backchannel communications with Moscow. Trump’s retweet comes just days after the president blasted the use of anonymous sources in news reports. The Fox News report Trump shared is titled …

Politico reports: President Donald Trump wrote on Twitter Tuesday morning that “Russian officials must be laughing at the U.S.” over the ongoing investigations into Russia’s efforts to interfere in last year’s election and the significant amount of media coverage those probes have generated. Russia’s campaign of cyberattacks targeting the 2016 election, as well as the possibility of collusion between the …

Reuters reports: U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday that many of the leaks from the White House were “fake news,” following reports his son-in-law tried to set up a secret channel of communications with Moscow before Trump took office. Trump returned to the White House after a nine-day trip to the Middle East and Europe that ended on Saturday …

The Washington Post reports: Jared Kushner and Russia’s ambassador to Washington discussed the possibility of setting up a secret and secure communications channel between Trump’s transition team and the Kremlin, using Russian diplomatic facilities in an apparent move to shield their pre-inauguration discussions from monitoring, according to U.S. officials briefed on intelligence reports. Ambassador Sergei Kislyak reported to his superiors …

Reuters reports: Once U.S. President Donald Trump returns from his overseas trip, the White House plans to launch its most aggressive effort yet to push back against allegations involving Russia and his presidential campaign, tackling head-on a scandal that has threatened to consume his young presidency. Trump’s aides are preparing to establish a “war room” to combat mounting questions about …

The Associated Press reports: President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, is willing to cooperate with federal investigators looking into ties between Russia and the Trump campaign, his attorney said. The statement from attorney Jamie Gorelick was issued Thursday amid reports that the FBI was investigating meetings Kushner had in December with Russian officials. “Mr. Kushner previously volunteered to share with …

As usual, nobody has any idea what he’s talking about: President Trump on Friday morning said his first foreign trip has “made and saved” the U.S. “billions of dollars and millions of jobs” as he arrived at his final stop before returning home. Trump has landed in Sicily, Italy, for a G-7 summit after earlier visits to Saudi Arabia, Israel, …

The Washington Post reports: Investigators are focusing on a series of meetings held by Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law and an influential White House adviser, as part of their probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 election and related matters, according to people familiar with the investigation. Kushner, who held meetings in December with the Russian ambassador and a banker …

Business Insider reports: “Game of Thrones” author George R.R. Martin and star of the HBO series Kit Harington don’t think highly of President Donald Trump. In a new profile of Harington for Esquire, the two men weighed in on comparisons between the HBO hit fantasy drama and today’s politics. “I think Joffrey is now the king in America,” Martin told …

NBC News reports: Just before taking office, President Donald Trump promised to donate all profits earned from foreign governments back to the U.S. Treasury. But MSNBC has learned the Trump Organization is not tracking all possible payments it receives from foreign governments, according to new admissions by Trump representatives. By failing to track foreign payments it receives, the company will …

Politico reports: President Donald Trump congratulated his Filipino counterpart, Rodrigo Duterte, during a phone call last month for doing “an unbelievable job on the drug problem” in the Philippines, where the government has sanctioned the extrajudicial killing of suspects. A transcript of the April 29 conversation published online by The Intercept and reported by multiple media outlets, including The New …

Politico reports: Special prosecutor Robert Mueller’s office is now operating from an office in Washington, beginning its work of probing the impact of Russian influence on the 2016 presidential election, Justice Department officials said Tuesday. “The special counsel’s office is up and running now,” Assistant Attorney General for Administration Lee Lofthus told reporters at an annual briefing on the Justice …

The Washington Post reports: President Trump asked two of the nation’s top intelligence officials in March to help him push back against an FBI investigation into possible coordination between his campaign and the Russian government, according to current and former officials. Trump made separate appeals to the director of national intelligence, Daniel Coats, and to Adm. Michael S. Rogers, the …

NBC News reports: Former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn appears to have lied to security clearance investigators by telling them he was paid by “U.S. companies” when he traveled to Russia in December 2015, according to a letter released Monday by the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee. “The Oversight Committee has in our possession documents that appear to …