Trump Corruption

Politico reports: A federal judge has turned down the Justice Department’s bid to keep secret several financial disclosure forms ex-acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker submitted before his filings were formally accepted by ethics officials. Acting on a Freedom of Information Act suit brought by BuzzFeed, U.S. District Court Judge Trevor McFadden ruled Wednesday that the draft financial disclosures are not …

The New York Times reports: Even as Democrats intensified their scrutiny this week of Rudolph W. Giuliani’s role in the pressure campaign against the Ukrainian government that is at the heart of the impeachment inquiry, Mr. Giuliani has been in Europe continuing his efforts to shift the focus to purported wrongdoing by President Trump’s political rivals. Mr. Giuliani, the president’s …

NBC News reports: Who in the White House budget office called Rudy Giuliani on an August afternoon, and what did they have to talk about for 13 minutes? It’s unclear what legitimate purpose the president’s personal lawyer would have to speak at length with the White House Office of Management and Budget. But the revelation is likely to fuel arguments …

From the editorial board of the New York Daily News: That President Trump’s press secretary claims the House Intelligence Committee’s report “reads like the ramblings of a basement blogger straining to prove something when there is evidence of nothing” is the surest sign that Adam Schiff just delivered a compelling, coherent presentation of what happened when Trump leaned on the …

Axios reports: Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) broke with some of his Republican colleagues on Tuesday, telling reporters on Capitol Hill Tuesday he has seen “no evidence” Ukraine interfered in the 2016 election. “I saw no evidence from our intelligence community, nor from the representatives today from the Department of State, that there is any evidence of any kind that suggests …

The Washington Post reports: A federal appeals court has sided with House Democrats seeking to obtain President Trump’s private financial records from Deutsche Bank and Capital One, stating that “the public interest favors denial of a preliminary injunction.” The ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit came in the ongoing legal battle Trump has waged over …

The Washington Post reports: Written and designed by The Washington Post and illustrated by artist Jan Feindt, “The Mueller Report Illustrated: The Obstruction Investigation” brings to life the findings of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III in an engaging and illuminating presentation. When it was released on April 18, Mueller’s report laid out two major conclusions: that Russia’s interference in …

The Washington Post reports: Attorney General William P. Barr has told associates he disagrees with the Justice Department’s inspector general on one of the key findings in an upcoming report — that the FBI had enough information in July 2016 to justify launching an investigation into members of the Trump campaign, according to people familiar with the matter. The Justice …

ABC News reports: An attorney representing Rudy Giuliani’s indicted associate, Lev Parnas, asked that materials seized during his client’s arrest be released to the House committees leading the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump. Joseph Bondy, the lawyer for Parnas, asked a federal court in Manhattan on Monday for an update on discovery in his client’s case, specifically referring to …

Bloomberg News reports: The U.S is “likely” to bring additional charges in a case against Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, associates of Rudy Giuliani who are accused of skirting campaign contribution limits as part of a plot to oust the American ambassador to Ukraine, a prosecutor said. Speaking in response to a question from U.S. District Judge Paul Oetken about …

Talking Points Memo reports: White House counselor Kellyanne Conway says she will appear to testify on behalf of the White House as part of the House’s impeachment inquiry under one condition: House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff (D-CA) must do the same. Conway made the crack during a press gaggle with reporters inside the White House briefing room on Monday, …

ABC News reports: President Trump on Monday praised Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) for his appearance a day earlier on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” where anchor Chuck Todd questioned the senator for pushing the unsubstantiated claim that Ukraine meddled in the 2016 election. Kennedy has been part of controversial interviews each of the past two Sundays after making claims about Ukraine’s …

The Hill reports: Rep. Doug Collins (Ga.), the top GOP member of the House Judiciary Committee, said Sunday that Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) is the most important witness Republicans want to question in the upcoming phase of the impeachment inquiry. “The first and foremost person who needs to testify is Adam Schiff,” Collins said on “Fox News Sunday,” …

Newsweek reports: President Donald Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani branded the impeachment inquiry worse than the McCarthyism of the 1950s and called it a “frame-up.” Giuliani is under scrutiny by federal prosecutors in part because of his activities in Ukraine. The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York has hit multiple Giuliani associates with subpoenas in recent weeks, The …

Axios reports: President Trump keeps losing in court, but his legal strategy is winning as he plays for time, The New York Times reports. Why it matters: Even as the Democrats take Trump to court over ignored subpoenas, he benefits by letting it all bleed out slowly. Voters won’t be learning new damaging facts about him before they hit the …

The New York Times reports: The Justice Department’s inspector general found no evidence that the F.B.I. attempted to place undercover agents or informants inside Donald J. Trump’s campaign in 2016 as agents investigated whether his associates conspired with Russia’s election interference operation, people familiar with a draft of the inspector general’s report said. The determination by the inspector general, Michael …

Politico reports: The anonymous Trump administration official who set Washington ablaze with an op-ed detailing an insider plot to restrain President Donald Trump has vowed to expose their identity as the 2020 election heats up. “Trump will hear from me, in my own name, before the 2020 election,” the official declared in a Reddit “Ask Me Anything” session on Tuesday …

The Washington Post reports: President Trump’s personal attorney, Rudolph W. Giuliani, negotiated earlier this year to represent Ukraine’s top prosecutor for at least $200,000 during the same months that Giuliani was working with the prosecutor to dig up dirt on vice president Joe Biden, according to people familiar with the discussions. The people said that Giuliani began negotiations with Ukraine’s …

The Washington Post reports: Two officials at the White House Office of Management and Budget recently resigned in part over concerns about the holdup on Ukraine aid, a career employee of the agency told impeachment investigators, according to a transcript of his testimony released Tuesday. Mark Sandy, the only OMB official to testify in the impeachment inquiry, did not name …

Via the watchdog group CREW: President Trump hit an important milestone as he returned to Florida over the Thanksgiving holiday: 100 visits to Mar-a-Lago. In 1,040 days as president, he has prioritized visiting his properties over the course of his presidency, making time for nearly 400 visits to the businesses that he still owns and profits from. Of all of …