Trump Corruption

CNN reports: President Donald Trump threatened on Saturday night to sue top congressional Democrats Rep. Adam Schiff and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi amid the House impeachment inquiry into the President. Trump, who has a long track record of calling for lawsuits against his critics and not following through, said, “We’re going to take a look at it. We’re going after …

Law & Crime reports: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo gritted his teeth through a strained response when NBC Nashville reporter Nancy Amons grilled him on whether he had met with Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani during an overseas trip in February. Pompeo was hostile and evasive throughout the interview, at one point accusing Amons of “working at least in part for …

Talking Points Memo reports: The gesture of support comes as new reporting confirms that Giuliani’s interactions with recently arrested associates Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, specifically related to the Ukraine pressure campaign, are the subject of a criminal investigation. In a less supportive move, Trump also declined to say if Giuliani is still his lawyer when pressed by reporters Friday. …

Politico reports: For weeks, prominent Republican advisers have been privately imploring President Donald Trump to sideline Rudy Giuliani after a barrage of inconsistent, combative and occasionally cringe-inducing media interviews, according to three people familiar with the conversations. And that was before the arrest of two foreign-born businessmen who reportedly helped Giuliani try to discredit former Vice President Joe Biden, the …

Mediaite reports: California Democratic Congressman Harley Rouda — who sits on the House Committee on Oversight and Reform — told SiriusXM host Dean Obeidallah that his committee should investigate the meeting between Trump Attorney General Bill Barr and Fox Chairman Rupert Murdoch, which was followed quickly by the resignation of anchor Shepard Smith. Rouda said, “What the hell is the …

The Daily Beast reports: New potential whistleblowers are coming forward to the House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry, two congressional sources tell The Daily Beast. They seem to be emboldened by the actions of the whistleblower whose explosive account of President Donald Trump’s phone call to Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky about investigating Trump’s domestic political rivals ignited the impeachment inquiry. Another whistleblower is …

The New York Times reports: Federal prosecutors in Manhattan are investigating whether President Trump’s personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani broke lobbying laws in his dealings in Ukraine, according to two people familiar with the inquiry. The investigators are examining Mr. Giuliani’s efforts to undermine the American ambassador to Ukraine, Marie L. Yovanovitch, one of the people said. She was recalled …

Politico reports: Donald Trump tried to distance himself from the latest scandal that threatens his presidency on Thursday by saying he didn’t know either of the foreign-born Rudy Giuliani associates that his own Justice Department had just indicted for alleged campaign finance violations. But that’s not what one of the men said three years ago — while attending Trump’s invite-only …

CNN reports: On Friday, people familiar with the situation said Giuliani was still acting as Trump’s personal attorney. But when Trump was questioned at the White House whether Giuliani was still acting in that capacity, he demurred. “I don’t know. I haven’t spoken to Rudy. I spoke to him yesterday briefly. He’s a very good attorney. And he has been …

The Hill reports: The White House accidentally sent Democrats a list of talking points related to ex-Ukraine Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch’s Friday House deposition, two sources with knowledge of the email told The Hill, the second time in a month the administration has sent its Ukraine talking points to Democrats. The email included guidance for Republicans seeking to defend the president …

NBC News reports: President Donald Trump has given his administration broad authority to slap sanctions on Turkey, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Friday. Trump signed an executive order authorizing the powers, though the administration will not move yet to punish Turkish individuals or entities after the country’s offensive in northern Syria. Still, Mnuchin threatened devastating actions in the wake of …

The New York Times reports: Marie L. Yovanovitch, who was recalled as the American ambassador to Ukraine, testified to impeachment investigators on Friday that a top State Department official told her that President Trump had pushed for her removal for months even though the department believed she had “done nothing wrong.” In a closed-door deposition that could further fuel calls …

CNBC reports: A federal appeals court in a split ruling Friday rejected President Donald Trump’s bid to block a House committee subpoena for his income tax returns. The subpoena was issued earlier this year to Trump’s accountants at Mazars USA by the Democrat-controlled House Committee on Oversight and Reform for his tax returns. A federal judge in Manhattan had denied …

CNN reports: Former US Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch is slated to testify on Capitol Hill behind closed doors Friday, a high-stakes deposition that could shed light onto the role the Trump administration played in withholding US military aid to the country as Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani pushed Ukraine to open an investigation into Joe Biden. Yovanovitch was unexpectedly …

The Daily Beast reports: A member of the House Intelligence Committee is calling on Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, to disclose information on who financed his attempts to dig up dirt on Joe Biden amid a wave of reports that the work has dovetailed into official government business. “Rudy needs to disclose his clients for the Ukraine work,” said …

The Hill reports: A key witness in House Democrats’ ongoing impeachment inquiry will testify next week despite the State Department’s objection. U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland will testify before the House on Thursday in compliance with a congressional subpoena, according to his counsel. “Notwithstanding the State Department’s current direction to not testify, Ambassador Sondland will honor the …

CBS News reports: President Trump said Thursday that he doesn’t know the two business associates of his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani who were arrested on campaign finance charges, but acknowledged he may have been photographed with them at some point. “I don’t know those gentleman. Now, it’s possible I have a picture with them because I have a picture with …

Mediaite reports:  President Donald Trump attacked the “absolute scum” in the FBI and “embarrassment” Jeff Sessions in a new interview with former White House assistant Sebastian Gorka. The friendly interview, which appears in Gorka’s new book, The War For America’s Soul — released this week — was also published by the Daily Caller on Thursday. “How are we doing, Mr. …

CNBC reports: House Democrats issued a subpoena to Energy Secretary Rick Perry on Thursday, the latest salvo in the party’s impeachment probe into whether President Donald Trump abused his power through his interactions with the leadership of Ukraine. The subpoena for a variety of Ukraine-related documents was issued by the Democratic chairmen of the House Intelligence, Oversight and Foreign Affairs …

The Hill reports: Retired Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, who was ousted as President Trump’s national security adviser in 2018, said Thursday “it’s absolutely not” appropriate to solicit foreign interference in U.S. elections. “It just didn’t happen when I was there or in any conversation that I was privy to and part of, which was I think almost all the, really …