Trump Corruption

Politico reports: During his campaign, Donald Trump promised to pay the legal bills of supporters who beat up protestors at his rallies, but a POLITICO analysis found that Trump’s campaign hasn’t always paid its own legal bills in a timely or transparent fashion. The analysis of court and campaign filings found that Trump’s campaign committee is still spending heavily to …

CNBC reports: President Donald Trump promoted his “buy American, hire American” policy again Tuesday — but his family’s companies haven’t always followed that pledge themselves. After touring a Snap-on tools plant in Wisconsin on Tuesday afternoon, Trump signed an executive order pushing the hiring of domestic workers by American companies. “We are sending a powerful signal to the world. We …

The Associated Press reports: On April 6, Ivanka Trump’s company won provisional approval from the Chinese government for three new trademarks, giving it monopoly rights to sell Ivanka brand jewelry, bags and spa services in the world’s second-largest economy. That night, the first daughter and her husband, Jared Kushner, sat next to the president of China and his wife for …

Politico reports: When the Trump administration initially announced last Friday that it would not release a log of visitors to the White House, reversing a practice begun by former President Barack Obama, White House communications director Michael Dubke said the move would protect the nation’s national security interests as well as the privacy of those visiting the Trump administration. But …

The Independent reports: Donald Trump has accused protesters who took to the streets of cities across the US to demand he publish his tax returns of being part of an organised conspiracy paid for by persons unknown. The billionaire said his election as US President meant the release of tax returns was irrelevant, writing on Twitter: “Someone should look into …

The Hill reports: President Trump on Saturday reportedly took a longer route than usual on his way back to his Mar-a-Lago resort in what reporters said appeared to be an attempt to avoid large crowds of Tax March protesters. According to pool reports, Trump’s motorcade made a long loop to get back to Mar-a-Lago after leaving Trump International Golf Club …

The Read Deal reports: A Miami-based paint company stiffed three years ago by President Donald Trump’s Doral golf resort may finally get paid. The Third District Court of Appeals on Friday rejected the Trump National Doral Miami’s petition to throw out a lower court’s prior ruling affirming a nearly $35,000 construction lien The Paint Spot placed on the property, and …

Politico reports: President Donald Trump will not release records of visitors to the White House, his administration announced Friday, breaking with President Barack Obama and raising concerns about transparency. The Obama administration had posted the visitor logs online. But White House communications director Michael Dubke said in a statement Trump had decided to withhold them because of “the grave national …

Last year the Justice Department declared that it would no longer contract with private for-profit prisons after widespread reports of corruption and mistreatment of prisoners by the global private prison company GEO Group. Back in February that decision was reversed by Attorney General Jeff Sessions after the GEO Group donated six figures to a pro-Trump super PAC. Which brings us …

Slate reports: Buried in the last paragraph of a Guardian story about British intelligence alerting the U.S. to contact between Trump advisers and Russian officials is this sort-of bombshell: One source suggested the official [American] investigation was making progress. “They now have specific concrete and corroborative evidence of collusion,” the source said. “This is between people in the Trump campaign …

Fast Company reports: A campaign finance watchdog said today that chief White House strategist Steve Bannon may have illegally benefited from spending by a pro-Trump super PAC while he led Trump’s presidential campaign. The Campaign Legal Center believes Make America Number 1, a super PAC that backed Trump, may have improperly subsidized Bannon’s salary. In a letter to regulators on …

The Associated Press reports: President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman is registering as a foreign agent. Paul Manafort’s spokesman says he was in talks with the government about registering before the 2016 election and is now “taking appropriate steps” in response to “formal guidance” from the government. The spokesman says Manafort’s lobbying work was not conducted on behalf of the …

Whoa. The Washington Post reports: The United Arab Emirates arranged a secret meeting in January between Blackwater founder Erik Prince and a Russian close to President Vladi­mir Putin as part of an apparent effort to establish a back-channel line of communication between Moscow and President-elect Donald Trump, according to U.S., European and Arab officials. The meeting took place around Jan. …

The New York Daily News reports: President Trump, after again ripping the “Fake News Media,” turned to Fox News for proof that he’s the victim in the probes of his administration’s alleged Russian ties. The President, in another Saturday morning tweetstorm, quoted a Fox story from a day earlier reporting that members of Trump’s team were identified in intelligence reports …

The Hill reports: President Trump on Saturday called for NBC News to devote more attention to his unproven claims that President Obama spied on him and stop covering the investigations into Russia’s interference in the election. It was not immediately apparent what NBC coverage Trump was taking issue with. Chuck Todd on Friday interviewed top Washington lawyer Abbe Lowell and …

From the Washington Examiner: White House press secretary Sean Spicer declined on Friday to say whether President Trump believes ousted national security advisor Mike Flynn is guilty of a crime, even though Trump said on Twitter that Flynn should seek immunity from the Senate Intelligence Committee before he testifies about Russia. Spicer was asked if Trump’s tweet means that Flynn …

Politico reports: A federal judge has approved a $25 million settlement President Donald Trump agreed to late last year in a bid to head off a civil fraud trial over his Trump University real estate seminar program. U.S. District Court Judge Gonzalo Curiel issued a 31-page ruling Friday deeming the deal fair and overruling claims from some former Trump University …

The Washington Post reports: For the eighth weekend in a row, President Trump has visited a property that bears his name. He has done so on 21 of the 66 days he has been in office, meaning that for the equivalent of three full weeks of his just-over-nine weeks as commander in chief, he has spent all or part of …

Raw Story reports: At the so-called “Winter White House,” President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, the former reality TV star hosted Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, and would soon welcome Chinese president Xi Jinping. But some of the hotel’s visitors, like Republican campaign funding juggernaut David Koch, have been a bit less visible to the public. Democrats …

CNN reports: President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, has offered to testify before the House Intelligence Committee in its investigation of Russian meddling in the US election, committee chairman Devin Nunes announced Friday. Nunes said House investigators are still negotiating when Manafort will testify and whether he will testify in an open hearing or in a closed briefing. …