Trump Corruption

The Washington Post reports: Former White House counsel Donald McGahn must comply with a House subpoena, a federal court ruled in a case that could affect the impeachment inquiry. The finding came in a case testing whether top presidential advisers have absolute immunity from congressional demands for information. The ruling in a lawsuit brought by the House Judiciary Committee has …

CNN reports: David Pecker, the head of the company that publishes the National Enquirer, has spoken with prosecutors with the New York district attorney’s office as part of its investigation into the Trump Organization’s handling of hush money payments to women who alleged affairs with President Donald Trump, sources with knowledge of the meeting tell CNN. The America Media Inc. …

The Wall Street Journal reports: Subpoenas issued to people with ties to President Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, and his associates indicate a broad federal investigation into possible money laundering, obstruction of justice and campaign-finance violations, and suggest that prosecutors are looking closely at the work of Mr. Giuliani himself, according to people familiar with the matter. Story is behind …

Axios reports: A federal judge on Monday issued a preliminary injunction ordering the Department of Defense and the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to comply with a Freedom of Information Act request for records relating to the Trump administration’s freeze on security aid to Ukraine. Allegations that Trump froze nearly $400 million congressionally-approved military aid in order …

Bloomberg reports: Rudy Giuliani discussed representing a state-owned Ukrainian bank in a legal dispute over the summer even while publicly pressing Ukraine on behalf of the U.S. president. Though he ultimately did not take on the client, the talks expose his enthusiasm for foreign business and his willingness to insert himself in matters rife with potential conflicts. In fact, the …

CNBC reports: The lawyer for an indicted business associate of Rudy Giuliani said his client is prepared to testify under oath that aides to Rep. Devin Nunes, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, scrapped a trip to Ukraine this year when they realized it would mean notifying Democratic Chairman Rep. Adam Schiff. Lev Parnas would tell Congress that …

ABC News reports: The House Intelligence Committee is in possession of audio and video recordings and photographs provided to the committee by Lev Parnas, an associate of President Donald Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, who reportedly played a key role in assisting him in his efforts to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden. The material submitted to the committee includes …

None of this is remotely surprising: A confidential White House review of President Trump’s decision to place a hold on military aid to Ukraine has turned up hundreds of documents that reveal extensive efforts to generate an after-the-fact justification for the decision and a debate over whether the delay was legal, according to three people familiar with the records. The …

The Hill reports: President Trump retweeted an announcement that his Doral resort received an award, saying it was “Too bad we didn’t have” the Group of Seven (G-7) summit at the Florida location. The Trump Golf account posted that the resort received the Resort of the Week award from GOLF.com. The president called Doral the “Best location” for the summit …

NBC News reports: President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani gave a wide-ranging interview on Saturday in which the former New York City mayor attacked numerous figures involved in the impeachment hearings and claimed for the second time to have “insurance” when questioned whether the president would remain loyal to him. “I’ve seen things written like he’s going to throw …

Politico reports: The top Democrat on the House armed services committee said Saturday that Republican Rep. Devin Nunes is likely to face an ethics investigation over allegations he met with an ex-Ukrainian prosecutor at the center of the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump. “Quite likely, without question,” House Armed Services Committee chairman Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash) said when asked …

Courthouse News reports: President Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani had multiple phone calls with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo weeks before the ouster of U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, according to State Department records released under court order Friday evening. The documents were released to the watchdog group American Oversight in a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. Among the …

The Daily Beast reports: Lev Parnas, the Soviet-born businessman whose involvement in helping the president’s personal attorney seek out kompromat on Joe Biden in Ukraine is at the center of an impeachment inquiry, is reportedly prepared to testify to Congress about Rep. Devin Nunes meeting with a Ukrainian official as part of the same dirt-digging mission. Nunes, the top-ranking Republican …

Mediaite reports: Rudy Giuliani called into America This Week and mounted stunning new allegations against former Vice President Joe Biden regarding the alleged Ukraine corruption that the Trump administration claimed to be investigating. Giuliani defended the Trump administration’s foreign policy saying, “The reality is the president is confronting Ukraine correctly, the country as a big problem with corruption.” “You know …

The Associated Press reports: President Donald Trump says he does not expect to be impeached, claiming Democrats have “absolutely nothing” incriminating, despite days of public testimony by witnesses who said Trump withheld aid from Ukraine to press the country to investigate his political rivals. Trump said Friday, “I think it’s very hard to impeach you when they have absolutely nothing.” …

Axios reports: President Trump spent 53 minutes of his Friday morning on the phone with the hosts of “Fox & Friends” — his latest call-in to one of his favorite TV shows. President Trump spent a chunk of the interview repeating a debunked conspiracy theory that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 presidential election. “That’s what the word is,” he claimed …

The Hill reports: President Trump on Friday dismissed U.S. ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland’s testimony that there was a quid pro quo in his efforts to press Ukraine for investigations, calling it “total nonsense.” “I hardly know him,” Trump said of Sondland, a hotelier and GOP donor. “I have spoken to him a few times.” “I want nothing …

The Washington Post reports: The first daughter weighed in on her father’s impeachment Thursday evening with a quote from 19th century French historian Alexis de Tocqueville warning that impeachment could be used politically. On Twitter, Ivanka Trump shared without comment this quote: “A decline of public morals in the United States will probably be marked by the abuse of the …

CNN reports: House Democrats say they are undeterred by the White House preventing first-hand witnesses from testifying before the House Intelligence Committee — and now are actively preparing for the next step in their eight-week-old investigation and the likely impeachment of President Donald Trump. Privately, Democrats are anticipating a busy December that will be filed with proceedings before the House …

The New York Times reports: Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) sent a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo Thursday requesting documents related to former vice president Joe Biden and his communications with Ukrainian officials, a step seen as a GOP effort to counter the House impeachment investigation of President Trump. Graham’s inquiry is focused on any calls …