Trump Corruption

“I think we’ve gotten lost in this whole idea of quid pro quo. If you’re not allowed to give aid to people who are corrupt — there’s always contingencies on aid. Presidents since the beginning of time have resisted Congress and there’s been this sort of back and forth jockeying over what is sent. “But also presidents have withheld aid …

Bloomberg reports: President Donald Trump says he lifted his freeze on aid to Ukraine on Sept. 11, but the State Department had quietly authorized releasing $141 million of the money several days earlier, according to five people familiar with the matter. The State Department decision, which hasn’t been reported previously, stemmed from a legal finding made earlier in the year, …

Axios reports: Democratic Sens. Kamala Harris, Richard Blumenthal and Sheldon Whitehouse requested documents and communications from the Justice Department on Nov. 8 related to President Trump’s reported call for Attorney General Bill Barr to hold a press conference exonerating the president of any wrongdoing on the July 25 Ukraine call. The White House continues to defy congressional subpoenas related to …

Politico reports: Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney is asking to join a pending lawsuit aimed at clarifying whether the House of Representatives can require senior advisers to President Donald Trump to testify in the ongoing impeachment probe related to Ukraine. Mulvaney’s move in a court filing late Friday night could breathe new life into the suit filed …

Fox News reports: House Republicans plan to call Hunter Biden, the Ukraine whistleblower and a range of other witnesses to testify in the upcoming public Trump impeachment hearings, according to a witness list obtained exclusively by Fox News. It is unclear, at this point, how many of the Republicans’ proposed witnesses will be approved by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam …

The Hill reports: Former National Security Council (NSC) official Fiona Hill described a meeting with Ukrainian officials on July 10 during which U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland said he had an agreement with Mulvaney that a White House meeting with Ukraine’s president would be contingent on Kiev launching investigations. “Sondland, in front of the Ukrainians, as I …

The Associated Press reports: The Interior Department is proposing to award one of the first contracts for federal water in perpetuity to a powerful rural California water district that had long employed Secretary David Bernhardt as a lobbyist. Conservation groups are demanding fuller disclosure of financial terms and an environmental review of the proposed deal for the California’s Westlands Water …

The New York Times reports: John R. Bolton, President Trump’s former national security adviser, has knowledge of “many relevant meetings and conversations” connected to the Ukraine pressure campaign that House impeachment investigators do not yet know about, his lawyer told lawmakers on Friday. The lawyer, Charles J. Cooper, made that tantalizing point in a letter to the chief House lawyer …

Just in from the Trump campaign: THIS IS A WITCH HUNT! READ THE TRANSCRIPT! President Trump is calling you to FIGHT BACK and become one of the first patriots to receive their Official Impeachment Defense Membership Card. This card will mark your status as one of his TOP DEFENDERS, and with it, you will be at the forefront of this …

CNN reports: A lawyer for the Ukraine whistleblower, whose complaint document triggered the House impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump, has sent a letter to the White House warning the President to “cease and desist” attacking his client. “I am writing out of deep concern that your client, the President of the United States, is engaging in rhetoric and activity …

The Associated Press reports: Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney has stood up Democrats in their impeachment inquiry, skipping his 10 a.m. deposition as Democrats wrap up closed-door interviews and move into a public phase of the investigation. Democrats subpoenaed Mulvaney late Thursday as the White House signaled that he wouldn’t appear. The White House instructed its officials …

Mediaite reports: Donald Trump Jr., in his new book, compared the plight of the Trump family to that of soldiers buried at Arlington National Cemetery. In an excerpt from his just-released “Triggered”, Trump Jr. described how he felt visiting Arlington on the day before President Donald Trump’s inauguration. “I rarely get emotional, if ever,” he wrote. “I guess you’d call …

The Associated Press reports: Ivanka Trump on Friday echoed her father’s view that the House impeachment investigation is an attempt to overturn the 2016 election. But, in an interview with The Associated Press, she parted ways with President Donald Trump by calling the identity of the impeachment whistleblower “not particularly relevant.” The Republican president and some of his allies have …

CNN reports: An aide to Vice President Mike Pence who listened to the call between President Donald Trump and the Ukrainian President told impeachment inquiry investigators on Thursday that she found the conversation to be unusual because it was political in nature, according to two sources familiar with the testimony. Jennifer Williams, an aide in the vice president’s office and …

CNN reports: Federal prosecutors for the second time at Roger Stone’s trial highlighted the volume of conversations Stone had with then-candidate Donald Trump and other top officials from his campaign throughout 2016. Prosecutors have attempted to paint a detailed image of who Stone spoke to and when, as the first witness, a former FBI agent who worked on the Stone …

Politico reports: House Democrats on Thursday released another deposition transcript ahead of public hearings scheduled for next week. This time, the deposition was that of George Kent, a deputy assistant secretary at the State Department whose portfolio includes Ukraine. Kent testified in a closed session on Oct. 15, telling lawmakers that, like other career diplomats, he was essentially cut out …

CNN reports: A judge ordered President Donald Trump to pay $2 million to a collection of nonprofit organizations as part of a settlement with the New York state attorney general’s office to resolve a civil lawsuit that alleged “persistent” violations of charities law that included unlawful coordination with the 2016 Trump presidential campaign, according to a court filing Thursday. Filed …

ABC News reports: President Donald Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., appeared on ABC’s The View on Thursday to promote his new book “Triggered: How the Left Thrives on Hate and Wants to Silence Us.” Trump Jr. has consistently said he hasn’t profited off of his father’s presidency. On Monday, President Trump tweeted, urging his followers to “Go order” Don Jr.’s …

Axios reports: Former White House national security adviser John Bolton did not appear for his closed-door deposition on Thursday, instead telling the House committees conducting the impeachment inquiry that he would challenge a potential subpoena for his testimony in court. Why it matters: A House Intelligence Committee official said that Democrats have “no interest in allowing the administration to play …

“When Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia died on Feb. 13, 2016, it took McConnell about an hour to declare that the Senate would not consider a replacement nominee until after the November presidential election. “This bold move on behalf of the Constitution will always be McConnell’s crowning achievement as leader: He let the people decide the direction of the court. …