Trump Corruption

The BBC reports: The FBI special counsel’s spokesman has just given us this statement: “Paul J. Manafort, Jr., 68, of Alexandria, Va., and Richard W. Gates III, 45, of Richmond, Va., have been indicted by a federal grand jury on Oct. 27, 2017, in the District of Columbia. “The indictment contains 12 counts: conspiracy against the United States, conspiracy to …

The Washington Examiner reports: President Trump responded to reports that special counsel Robert Mueller is about to indict people in his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election by pointing the finger at Democrats. Trump said the investigation into whether his campaign colluded with the Kremlin is “phony,” “bad for our country,” a “witch hunt,” and “evil politics.” He …

The New York Times reports: Natalia V. Veselnitskaya arrived at a meeting at Trump Tower in June 2016 hoping to interest top Trump campaign officials in the contents of a memo she believed contained information damaging to the Democratic Party and, by extension, Hillary Clinton. The material was the fruit of her research as a private lawyer, she has repeatedly …

Raw Story reports: President Donald Trump was reportedly on the verge of deporting billionaire Chinese fugitive Guo Wengui, but changed his mind after aides informed him that Guo is a fellow billionaire and a member in good standing at the president’s Florida resort, Mar-a-Lago. According to Vanity Fair‘s Isobel Thompson, Guo is wanted on charges of rape, bribery and kidnapping …

Yet another big scoop from Axios: President Trump has promised to spend at least $430,000 of his own money to defray legal costs incurred by campaign associates and White House staff due to the Russia investigations, a White House official tells Axios. The Republican National Committee has paid roughly $430,000 to lawyers representing the president and his eldest son, Don …

Bloomberg reports: President Donald Trump’s re-election committee paid almost $238,000 in the third quarter to the law firm representing Donald Trump Jr. in connection with ongoing investigations of Russian interference in the 2016 election, according to campaign finance disclosures. Trump’s campaign made two payments — one in mid July, the other in early August — to the law firm of …

CNN reports: The leaders of the House intelligence committee are warning that President Donald Trump associate Roger Stone will be slapped with a subpoena Friday if he does not reveal the name of his intermediary with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. “We’ll give it until tomorrow,” Rep. Mike Conaway, the Texas Republican who is running the House panel’s Russia investigation, told …

The New York Daily News reports: Former Trump adviser Carter Page is pleading his Fifth Amendment right and refusing to hand over documents to a Congressional inquiry into Russian election-meddling. Page, a former financier in Moscow who was name-dropped as a foreign policy adviser by the future President last spring, told CNN that he would still like to testify publicly. …

Politico reports: A new organization aiming to step up the legal pressure on President Donald Trump’s business empire is launching this week with the backing of several liberal icons, including the lawyer who scored the first big Supreme Court win for same-sex marriage and a TV producer best known for a hotly-disputed story about President George W. Bush’s National Guard …

The Los Angeles Times reports: Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin took military aircraft on at least seven occasions without adequate justification, his department’s inspector general said in a report. The inspector general said that Mnuchin’s use of the planes was not illegal but that he had failed to meet rules that require that military flights be used only if the …

Reuters reports: The special counsel investigating whether Russia tried to sway the 2016 U.S. election has taken over FBI inquiries into a former British spy’s dossier of allegations of Russian financial and personal links to President Donald Trump’s campaign and associates, sources familiar with the inquiry told Reuters. A report compiled by former MI6 officer Christopher Steele identified Russian businessmen …

Pro Publica and the New Yorker jointly report that in 2012, Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr. were about to be indicted on felony fraud charges related to real estate claims until a Trump attorney made a campaign donation to Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, a Democrat and the son of the late Cyrus Vance Sr., who served as Secretary …

Trump today unveiled his tax reform plan before an adoring Indianapolis crowd, where he out and out lied about the plan’s impact on his own taxes. The Week reports: The plan — which proposes shrinking the seven individual tax brackets down to three at 12 percent, 25 percent, and 35 percent — is being promoted as a win for the …

CNN reports: Special counsel investigators could start interviewing current and former White House staff as soon as later this week regarding the Russian probe, two sources familiar with the matter tell CNN. One source cautioned it is still being worked out with Robert Mueller’s office and said it might be delayed until next week. As CNN previously reported, among the …

Yahoo News reports: In a feisty statement to be delivered to the House Intelligence Committee on Tuesday, Roger Stone, President Trump’s longtime political adviser, denies any collusion with Russia during last year’s presidential election and accuses panel members of “cowardice” for insisting that he testify behind closed doors rather than in a public session. While acknowledging that he is “no …

Politico reports: Presidential son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner has corresponded with other administration officials about White House matters through a private email account set up during the transition last December, part of a larger pattern of Trump administration aides using personal email accounts for government business. Kushner uses his private account alongside his official White House email account, sometimes …

Axios reports: The Watergate resonance of the Bob Mueller probe rose this week with a CNN report that the special counsel has details of wiretaps of “former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort under secret court orders before and after the election.” Now we can tell you about another potential honey pot for Mueller. Former colleagues of Sean Spicer tell Axios …

The Washington Post reports: Less than two weeks before Donald Trump accepted the Republican presidential nomination, his campaign chairman offered to provide briefings on the race to a Russian billionaire closely aligned with the Kremlin, according to people familiar with the discussions. Paul Manafort made the offer in an email to an overseas intermediary, asking that a message be sent …

Reuters reports: U.S. President Donald Trump is using money donated to his re-election campaign and the Republican National Committee to pay for his lawyers in the probe of alleged Russian interference in the U.S. election, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters. Following Reuters exclusive report on Tuesday, CNN reported that the Republican National Committee paid in August more …

CNN reports: The leaders of the Senate intelligence committee said Tuesday they want President Donald Trump’s personal attorney and longtime associate to testify in public after Michael Cohen released to the media his opening statement he planned to give at a closed door meeting. Senate Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr, a North Carolina Republican, and Vice Chairman Mark Warner, a Virginia …