Trump Corruption

The Daily Beast reports: Last year, the Republican National Convention began cutting checks to a former producer of NBC’s Celebrity Apprentice who was accused of having, as one contestant put it, “all the dirt” on Donald Trump. From August 2019 through May 2020, the Committee on Arrangements for the 2020 Republican National Convention made a dozen payments totaling more than …

The Washington Post reports: A New York court on Wednesday lifted a temporary restraining order against the publication of a book by President Trump’s niece, enabling publisher Simon & Schuster to continue printing and distributing the explosive insider account by Mary L. Trump. A state Supreme Court’s appellate division on Wednesday lifted the restraining order that had been imposed on …

Even the Daily Caller isn’t buying it: President Donald Trump accused former Vice President Joe Biden of fielding scripted questions during his Tuesday press conference in Wilmington, Delaware. Ari Fleischer, White House press secretary for former President George W. Bush, said that though he “was critical of the press for the softball questions they threw to Biden,” the former vice …

Politico reports: President Trump claimed early Wednesday that reports about suspected Russian bounties on coalition forces in Afghanistan were a “hoax” meant to damage him politically. The White House has denied that Trump was personally briefed on the intelligence before it became public, though it has sidestepped questions about subsequent reports that the information was cited in one of Trump’s …

The New York Times reports: President Trump’s re-election campaign has begun spending heavily on Facebook ads that also promote the social media pages of his campaign manager, Brad Parscale, running more than $325,000 in such ads, mostly in recent weeks. Until this week, Mr. Parscale was one of only three people whose Facebook and Instagram pages the campaign had used …

Politico reports: Last Monday, Commerce deputy secretary Karen Dunn Kelley [photo] informed Census Bureau director Steven Dillingham and his career deputy, Ron Jarmin, that the two new appointees, Commerce aides Nathaniel T. Cogley and Adam Korzeniewski, had been installed in senior roles at the Census Bureau — a move that blindsided both of them, according to a Census Bureau official. …

Vice News reports: A judge in New York State just slapped a temporary restraining order on President Trump’s niece, ordering her to hold off on publishing her damning tell-all book about her uncle until the court can issue a final ruling. The decision marks a near-term victory for Trump’s younger brother, Robert Trump, in his legal battle to keep Mary …

Mediaite reports: Fox News’ Ainsley Earhardt justified President Donald Trump’s inaction with intelligence on Russia because “all president’s don’t read all of their briefings.” “This is not anything new,” Earhardt said on the matter. “The point here is: if it is not verified by our 16 intelligence agencies, that’s their job, that’s what they do it doesn’t get to the …

The Associated Press reports: Top officials in the White House were aware in early 2019 of classified intelligence indicating Russia was secretly offering bounties to the Taliban for the deaths of Americans, a full year earlier than has been previously reported, according to U.S. officials with direct knowledge of the intelligence. The assessment was included in at least one of …

Mediaite reports: Trump kicked off the week on Twitter by claiming intel of Russian bounties to Taliban militias was not credible, before bragging of his “95% approval rating” from Republicans — slamming conservatives who refuse to support him as “stupid people.” Despite his repeated assertions. Trump does not have a 95% approval rating from Republicans in any poll. Trump took …

The Wrap reports: President Donald Trump on Sunday retweeted — and then deleted — a two-minute video that featured a Florida Trump supporter yelling, “White power!” while driving a golf cart by anti-Trump protesters. “Thank you to the great people of The Villages,” Trump wrote in his tweet, referring to a popular retirement community outside of Orlando, Florida. “The Radical …

CNN reports: US intelligence concluded months ago that Russian military intelligence offered bounties to Taliban-linked militants to kill coalition forces in Afghanistan, including US troops, amid peace talks, according to a New York Times report published Friday. Citing officials briefed on the matter, the Times reported that President Donald Trump was briefed on the intelligence findings and that the White …

Mediaite reports: When President Donald Trump tried to capitalize on an edited clip of Joe Biden’s recent verbal miscue about the coronavirus death toll, Twitter blue checks responded by roasting Trump over his own gaffes, and of the actual death toll he has overseen. Trump and his supporters have been trying to hype a clip of Biden from a Thursday …

The New York Times reports: Shortly after he became attorney general last year, William P. Barr set out to challenge a signature criminal case that touched President Trump’s inner circle directly, and even the president’s own actions: the prosecution of Michael D. Cohen, Mr. Trump’s longtime fixer. Mr. Barr spent weeks in the spring of 2019 questioning the prosecutors over …

From the editorial board of the Wall Street Journal: Lately he has all but given up even talking about the pandemic when he might offer realism and hope about the road ahead even as the country reopens. His default now is defensive self-congratulation. The country also wants firm but empathetic leadership after the death of George Floyd, but Mr. Trump …

The Hill reports: President Trump on Saturday morning touted the television ratings from his campaign rally in Tulsa, Okla, last weekend and his town hall with Fox News’ Sean Hannity this week. Trump asserted in a pair of tweets that the ratings “are the real polls,” after a series of recent pubic surveys have shown him trailing Democratic rival Joe …

Talking Points Memo reports: U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson pushed back Roger Stone’s surrender date until July 14. Stone had a requested a delay until August 30. Jackson’s order Friday was accompanied by an opinion giving her reasons for only partially granting the delay request that is still under seal, but the judge indicated she would like to make …

Law.com reports: President Donald Trump’s brother sued his niece in Dutchess County Supreme Court Friday in his latest attempt to block publication of her upcoming book about the president and his family. The suit, which was filed by Robert Trump’s attorney, Charles Harder, follows the speedy dismissal of a petition filed in Queens County Surrogate’s Court in connection with the …

Bloomberg News reports: The Senate Judiciary Committee blocked an effort by Chairman Lindsey Graham to give the attorney general the power to veto investigations of Justice Department lawyers by the inspector general. The committee instead backed — over the objections of Graham and Attorney General William Barr — a bipartisan bill by Republican Senator Mike Lee of Utah that would …

The Daily Beast reports: A New York judge has tossed an application by President Donald Trump’s brother to try and halt the publication of his niece’s book, Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man. Queens County Surrogate Court Judge Peter Kelly cited “several improprieties” in Robert Trump’s filing that rendered it “fatally defective”—including …