Trump Corruption

The Hill reports: President Trump on Wednesday blasted the news media for its use of anonymous sources. His tweet come as his son, Donald Trump Jr., faces scrutiny for a meeting he had last year during the presidential campaign with a Russian lawyer. Trump Jr. said late Tuesday that he would be willing to testify under oath about his election-year …

CNN reports: Donald Trump Jr. has offered a series of explanations over the past 72 hours for why he met with a Russian lawyer who purported to have information about Hillary Clinton’s campaign. He tried out his latest one with Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Tuesday night. “I didn’t know if there was any credibility, I didn’t know if there …

Mediaite reports: During a segment this afternoon on the blockbuster news, Fox News anchor Shepard Smith had on Associated Press reporter Julie Bykowicz to discuss these recent developments. Smith used this opportunity to poke holes in the White House’s narrative that this was Trump Jr. being transparent. “His transparency came minutes before he had been made aware that The New …

Julian Assange is claiming that earlier today he contacted Donald Trump Jr. to urge him to release those emails anonymously via Wikileaks because otherwise Trump’s enemies would just “milk isolated phrases for weeks or months” without providing context. You may recall that the elder Trump regularly declared his love for Wikileaks. Contacted Trump Jr this morning on why he should …

CNN reports: Hillary Clinton’s former running mate, Sen. Tim Kaine, said Donald Trump Jr. may have committed treason when he agreed to meet with a Russian lawyer under the pretense of getting dirt on Clinton. “We are now beyond obstruction of justice,” the Virginia Democrat told CNN Tuesday. “This is moving into perjury, false statements and even potentially treason.” Sen. …

Reuters reports: President Donald Trump on Tuesday called his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., a “high-quality person” and applauded his transparency. “My son is a high-quality person and I applaud his transparency,” Trump said in a brief statement read to reporters by White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders.

Ted Cruz is in full deflect mode: Speaking with reporters on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, Cruz insisted that interest in the Russia scandal was simply a fixation of the media — and that average American citizens couldn’t care less. “Washington is obsessed right now, it is the Democratic talking point du jour,” Cruz told a gaggle of reporters. “But when …

Mediaite reports: Jake Tapper joined Kate Bolduan’s CNN show Tuesday to emphasize the gravity of Donald Trump Jr.’s newly released emails revealing he sought damaging information on Hillary Clinton from the Russian government. “It’s a staggering turn of events, and it’s rather momentous,” Tapper continued. “This can’t just be, this can’t be dismissed as people out to get Donald J. …

The Hill reports: President Trump’s deputy assistant Sebastian Gorka mocked CNN’s ratings on its morning program “New Day” on Tuesday, stating “more people watch Nick at Nite cartoons than CNN today,” in a contentious interview with co-anchor Alisyn Camerota. “The amount of time you spend in desperation on a topic that has plummeted you to 13th place in viewership ranking …

Raw Story reports: Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) thinks it’s time for Donald Trump Jr. to talk with the Senate Intelligence Committee. Collins told Bloomberg reporter Steven Dennis on Monday that she wanted Trump Jr. to talk with the Senate Intel Committee about his interactions with a Russian lawyer who promised him dirt on former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. The …

The Intercept reports: Not long before a major crisis ripped through the Middle East, pitting the United States and a bloc of Gulf countries against Qatar, Jared Kushner’s real estate company had unsuccessfully sought a critical half-billion-dollar investment from one of the richest and most influential men in the tiny nation, according to three well-placed sources with knowledge of the …

The Washington Post reports: The Kremlin on Monday said it was unaware of a 2016 meeting between Donald Trump Jr. and a Russian lawyer purported to have information that could potentially damage Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. President Trump’s eldest son said Sunday that Natalia Veselnitskaya, who represents business executives close to the Russian government had approached him in June 2016, …

The Week reports: MSNBC justice and security analyst Matthew Miller said Trump’s statement in and of itself could be the potential confession of a crime. “You know, it is a crime to solicit or accept anything of value from a foreign national in a campaign,” Miller explained to the Morning Joe hosts. “The ‘thing of value’ has never come up …

Reuters reports: After Ivanka Trump faced heat for briefly stepping in for her father at the G-20 summit on Saturday, President Trump has redirected criticism of her at former first daughter Chelsea Clinton. “When I left Conference Room for short meetings with Japan and other countries, I asked Ivanka to hold seat,” Trump tweeted. “Very standard. Angela M agrees!” Trump …

The New York Times reports: President Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., was promised damaging information about Hillary Clinton before agreeing to meet with a Kremlin-connected Russian lawyer during the 2016 campaign, according to three advisers to the White House briefed on the meeting and two others with knowledge of it. The meeting was also attended by his campaign chairman …

Politico throws shade: At this week’s G-20 summit in Germany, one subject the world’s most powerful leaders are discussing is why Democrat Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman did not cooperate with U.S. intelligence and law enforcement officials as they investigated cyberattacks against the Democratic National Committee, President Donald Trump wrote on Twitter Friday morning. “Everyone here is talking about why John …

Politico reports: The Trump Organization has renewed its claim on more than 1,000 of the web domains registered by its general counsel, including some politically sensitive websites such as TrumpRussia.com and TrumpTowerMoscow.com. The company, which President Donald Trump’s two adult sons are managing while he serves in the White House but from which he has not divested, has reserved thousands …

The New York Daily News reports: The top Republican and Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee’s Russia probe threatened to subpoena the White House if it doesn’t give more information about whether there were recordings of meetings between President Trump and former FBI Director James Comey on Thursday. Reps. Mike Conaway (R-Texas) and Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said the White House’s …

From the Wall Street Journal: Before the 2016 presidential election, a longtime Republican opposition researcher mounted an independent campaign to obtain emails he believed were stolen from Hillary Clinton’s private server, likely by Russian hackers. In conversations with members of his circle and with others he tried to recruit to help him, the GOP operative, Peter W. Smith, implied he …

Politico reports: The firm headed by Paul Manafort, President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman, made more than $17 million working as a foreign agent of a pro-Russian Ukrainian political party, according to newly filed disclosure reports. The filing makes Manafort the second Trump campaign official to retroactively disclose foreign lobbying. Michael Flynn, Trump’s ousted former national security adviser, filed paperwork …