Trump Corruption

The Daily Beast reports: New audio obtained by The Daily Beast appears to show former Rudy Giuliani associates Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman attending an April 2018 fundraising dinner with President Donald Trump along with former Republican Rep. Pete Sessions. The recording marks the second substantial release of audio showing Parnas interacting with the president at a fundraising event. Trump …

The Louisville Courier-Journal reports: Several members of President Donald Trump’s impeachment defense team recently gave money to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s 2020 reelection campaign, a Courier Journal analysis of campaign finance data found. Ken Starr, who famously prosecuted former President Bill Clinton in his impeachment trial before joining Trump’s team, gave the maximum individual contribution allowed — $2,800 — …

CBS News reports: Senators on Thursday prepared for a second day of questions for both the Democratic House managers and the defense team in President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial. Senators asked more than 90 questions Wednesday on everything from executive power to the ability to call witnesses — an issue that has lawmakers sharply divided. Ahead of the vote on …

The Associated Press reports: President Donald Trump’s defense lawyer Alan Dershowitz now says his headline-dominating argument against impeaching the president was ‘distorted.’ In a day-after tweet, the former Harvard Law professor complained Thursday about the portrayal of his testimony at Trump’s Senate Trial that a president, if he believes his re-election is in the “national interest,” is essentially immune from …

The Washington Post reports: An attorney for John Bolton has pushed back against the White House’s assessment that his book manuscript contains classified material and asked for an expedited review of a chapter about Ukraine in case the former national security adviser is called to testify in the Senate impeachment trial. The Jan. 24 email to the White House from …

CBS News reports: Alan Dershowitz argued that a quid pro quo involving a president’s political benefit was fine because all presidents believe their elections are in the public’s interest. Essentially, if Trump withheld nearly $400 million in aid to pressure Ukraine into announcing investigations of Democrats to help his campaign, that’s fine because Trump thinks his election is to the …

Grub Street reports: One of the biggest concerns surrounding the trial has been whether or not witnesses will be allowed to testify before the lawmaking body, and especially former national security adviser John Bolton.  Which is why Brooklyn bakery Butter & Scotch has undertaken the truly entertaining task of sending sheet cakes to 53 Republican senators. The cakes are the …

NBC News reports: Lev Parnas, the indicted associate of President Donald Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani who has said he wants to testify in the president’s impeachment trial, showed up at the Senate on Wednesday attempting to gain entry. Parnas, however, can’t enter the Senate gallery because he is wearing an electronic monitoring device on his ankle — and no …

Colorado Politics reports: Sen. Cory Gardner said Wednesday that he thinks the Senate has heard from enough witnesses in President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial, taking off the table a potential Republican vote to subpoena national security adviser John Bolton. “I do not believe we need to hear from an 18th witness,” the Colorado Republican told Colorado Politics in a statement. …

CNN reports: The White House has issued a formal threat to former national security adviser John Bolton to keep him from publishing his book, “The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir,” sources familiar with the matter tell CNN. The White House had no comment. Neither Bolton nor a spokesman for the publisher, Simon & Schuster, responded to a …

CNN’s K-File reports: Law professor Alan Dershowitz, who is a member of President Donald Trump’s impeachment defense team, said in 2016 that he believed Trump was more corrupt than Hillary Clinton and more likely to continue being corrupt as president. Dershowitz spoke on the Senate floor Monday in defense of the President. He made the 2016 comments during an appearance …

“Mitt Romney’s call for John Bolton’s testimony comes as no surprise. Romney has been, lets say, wobbly throughout. He’s long had connections with foreign policy RINOs and they with him. Bolton one of them. He served as Romney’s foreign policy adviser during Romney’s failed 2012 presidential run. “Not so complicated, is it? John Bolton himself has been reduced to a …

Raw Story reports: Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) on Wednesday briefly became the fourth Republican senator to say that former National Security Adviser John Bolton should testify — and then he changed his mind. Democrats would need four Republican senators to vote with them in order to hear Bolton’s testimony. Senators Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Susan Collins (R-ME) and Mitt Romney (R-UT) …

And the hits just keep coming: Lev Parnas, an indicted associate of President Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, asked a federal court for permission to turn over more evidence to House Democrats after already providing some evidence, including a 2018 recording of Trump discussing the dismissal of then-U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch. In a letter dated Friday, Parnas’s attorney …

The New York Daily News reports: The former New York mayor was upset Tuesday that Democrats are leaving him in the cold while pressing for John Bolton to be called as a witness at President Trump’s Senate impeachment trial. “They have indicated in every way possible they are afraid of my physical presence,” Giuliani told the Daily News as part …

NBC News reports: President Donald Trump’s lawyers on Tuesday are kicking off their final day of arguments in his impeachment trial. After previewing their case in a short session on Saturday, Trump’s legal team doubled down on Monday, insisting that there was nothing improper about his dealings with Ukraine’s government and casting blame on former Vice President Joe Biden and …

The Sarasota Herald-Tribune reports: President Donald Trump is denying that he told former National Security Adviser John Bolton he wanted to withhold military aid from Ukraine until the country launched investigations into Joe Biden and his son, allegations that Bolton levies in his new book, according to news reports. But one of Trump’s former top aides told a Sarasota crowd …

The New York Times reports: John R. Bolton, the former national security adviser, privately told Attorney General William P. Barr last year that he had concerns that President Trump was effectively granting personal favors to the autocratic leaders of Turkey and China, according to an unpublished manuscript by Mr. Bolton. Mr. Barr responded by pointing to a pair of Justice …

Mediaite reports: Fox News Senior Judicial Analyst Andrew Napolitano argued that in light of newly reported revelations in an upcoming book by John Bolton, President Donald Trump’s best defense is to simply own up to all that the House Managers are alleging and simply argue that it’s not impeachable. Napolitano called material that appears to be in former National Security …

Axios reports: If at least four Senate Republicans decide to vote with Democrats this week to subpoena witnesses and documents in President Trump’s impeachment trial, Hill Republicans fear a potential domino effect, with additional GOP senators — especially those up for reelection in November — falling. “You don’t want to be one of the first four. But no one gives …