Trump Corruption

Axios reports: A pair of Rudy Giuliani’s business associates wrapped up in the Ukraine investigation will not comply with information and deposition requests from the House committees leading the impeachment inquiry into President Trump, their attorney John Dowd [photo] told the Miami Herald Monday. The big picture: Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman are Trump donors who helped connect Giuliani with …

Yahoo News reports: President Trump’s personal attorney, Rudolph Giuliani, says he is working with outside lawyers to prepare lawsuits against prominent Democrats such as House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff of California and Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan. That defense was blunted by news of an additional whistleblower who would reportedly corroborate how Trump allegedly pressured the new Ukrainian president, …

Politico reports: In her first 14 months as Transportation secretary, Elaine Chao met with officials from Kentucky, which her husband Mitch McConnell represents in the Senate, vastly more often than those from any other state. In all, 25 percent of Chao’s scheduled meetings with local officials of any state from January 2017 to March 2018 were with Kentuckians, who make …

The Associated Press reports: As Rudy Giuliani was pushing Ukrainian officials last spring to investigate one of Donald Trump’s main political rivals, a group of individuals with ties to the president and his personal lawyer were also active in the former Soviet republic. This circle of businessmen and Republican donors touted connections to Giuliani and Trump while trying to install …

The Washington Post reports: Since Democrats began an impeachment inquiry, President Trump has repeatedly lashed out at Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.), the House Intelligence Committee chairman, by accusing him of treason and demanding that he be removed from office. On Sunday night, Trump repeated those claims on Twitter — and this time, suggested that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) …

Real Clear Politics reports: President Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani joined FNc’s Howard Kurtz for a marathon interview on “MediaBuzz” Sunday. “The fact is, the president of the United States has every right to ask countries to help us in a criminal investigation that should be undertaken,” Giuliani stated. “I mean, suppose the political opponent committed murder, what are we …

Fox News reports: Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., vowed to expose the anonymous whistleblowers against President Trump if Democrats move forward with impeachment; at the same time, he warned against Trump having China pursue an investigation of Joe Biden. A second unidentified whistleblower was confirmed Sunday morning, reportedly with firsthand information to support some of the allegations another …

From the editorial board of the Washington Post: Text messages among U.S. diplomats and a Ukrainian official released by House committees definitively show that not only did the Trump administration seek to extract Ukrainian promises of political probes in exchange for a summit meeting, but also they spent weeks negotiating the deal both before and after the Trump-Zelensky phone call. …

The New York Times reports: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo defiantly insisted on Saturday in Greece that the Trump administration was right to ask Ukrainian officials to investigate claims of election interference in the 2016 American presidential campaign, bolstering a widely debunked conspiracy theory that had already been dismissed by his own diplomatic envoy. In comments to journalists in Athens, …

The Washington Post reports: An attorney for the whistleblower who raised the alarm about President Trump’s communications with Ukraine said Sunday that “multiple” whistleblowers have come forward. The news, which comes as House Democrats have launched an impeachment inquiry and are subpoenaing the White House for documents, adds to the deepening political crisis facing the president. Mark Zaid, who also …

Axios reports: President Trump told House Republicans that he made his now infamous phone call to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the urging of Energy Secretary Rick Perry — a call Trump claimed he didn’t even want to make. Trump made these comments during a conference call with House members on Friday, according to 3 sources on the call. Per …

Reuters reports: US President Donald Trump on Sunday opened a new front in the impeachment battle that threatens his administration, blasting a prominent member of his party for criticizing his push to get foreign nations to probe a leading Democratic rival. The Republican president, who launched a stream of invective at Democrats and the media this week as an impeachment …

This thing just continues to snowball: A second intelligence official who was alarmed by President Trump’s dealings with Ukraine is weighing whether to file his own formal whistle-blower complaint and testify to Congress, according to two people briefed on the matter. The official has more direct information about the events than the first whistle-blower, whose complaint that Mr. Trump was …

The New York Times reports: Gordon D. Sondland, the blunt-spoken hotelier who is President Trump’s ambassador to the European Union, was boasting on Ukrainian television that Mr. Trump had honored him with a “special assignment” — “overseeing” relations between the two countries “at the highest levels.” At the time, his television remarks might have been the kind of diplomatic bluster …

The Washington Post reports: The Treasury Department’s acting inspector general has opened a review into whether the Trump administration acted improperly during its ongoing fight with House Democrats over releasing President Trump’s tax returns. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has refused to comply with a request from House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard E. Neal (D-Mass.) for six years of …

USA Today reports: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo failed to comply with a Friday deadline to turn over Ukraine-related documents to House Democrats leading an impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump, according to an official on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. The State Department’s delay in producing reams of documents related to the agency’s dealings with Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s personal …

Bloomberg reports: President Donald Trump has ordered a substantial reduction in the staff of the National Security Council, according to five people familiar with the plans, as the White House confronts an impeachment inquiry touched off by a whistle-blower complaint related to the agency’s work. Some of the people described the staff cuts as part of a White House effort …

Mediaite reports: President Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani told Fox News on Friday that his mission is to “disrupt the world” while defending his interactions with Ukrainian officials. “My mission is to disrupt the world,” Giuliani said when asked by Fox News host Martha MacCallum what his personal goal is as the president’s personal lawyer. He continued: “My mission is …

Vice News reports: House Democrats slapped the White House with a subpoena for documents in their impeachment inquiry into President Trump’s Ukraine scandal on Friday. Democrats are seeking documents and communications related to whether Trump pressured Ukraine to investigate his 2020 rival Joe Biden, in a scandal that has consumed Washington and thrown up new developments daily since bursting into …

NBC News reports: Weeks before the whistleblower’s complaint became public, the CIA’s top lawyer made what she considered to be a criminal referral to the Justice Department about the whistleblower’s allegations that President Donald Trump abused his office in pressuring the Ukrainian president, U.S. officials familiar with the matter tell NBC News. The move by the CIA’s general counsel, Trump …