Trump Corruption

The Daily Beast reports: Two Soviet-born businessmen with ties to Rudy Giuliani were arrested on Wednesday on federal charges of violating campaign finance laws through a six-figure donation they facilitated to President Donald Trump’s official super PAC. Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman were taken into custody in New York, the Wall Street Journal reported. The precise charges against them were …

The Indianapolis Star reports: Vice President Mike Pence said on Wednesday that he has no objection to the White House releasing transcripts of his conversations with the Ukrainian president, a move he said White House lawyers are considering even as the administration has refused to turn over other documents requested by House Democrats as part of their impeachment inquiry. “I’d …

Bloomberg reports: President Donald Trump pressed then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to help persuade the Justice Department to drop a criminal case against an Iranian-Turkish gold trader who was a client of Rudy Giuliani, according to three people familiar with the 2017 meeting in the Oval Office. Tillerson refused, arguing it would constitute interference in an ongoing investigation of the …

CNN reports: Michael Cohen, the former attorney and fixer for President Donald Trump, is expected to be brought back to New York for a meeting with state prosecutors where he’s expected to tell them everything he knows, a law enforcement official tells CNN. The information, if deemed credible, could result in Cohen testifying before a grand jury, the official said. …

Mediaite reports: Trey Gowdy joined Fox News as a contributor earlier this year. A spokesperson for Fox News said in a statement provided to Mediaite that Gowdy has been “terminated” and is no longer a network contributor. With the news of Gowdy joining Team Trump amid the White House refusing to cooperate with the impeachment inquiry, there’s been renewed attention …

CBS News Minneapolis reports: The mayor says the campaign must pay $530,000 in additional security costs up front. But AEG — the company that runs Target Center and booked the rally — backed down on the demand. “It was another effort to make this impossible to happen,” said Kayleigh McEnany, Trump 2020’s national press secretary. She said Thursday’s rally will …

“Of course due process is necessary. Basic fairness. The American people, when they think about this are going to be totally outraged. They actually want to impeach him on the testimony of hidden witnesses who are behind a curtain, we don’t know who they are. “I went back to read two books about the Salem witch trials.  They required witnesses …

CNN reports: President Donald Trump directed Secretary of Energy Rick Perry and two top State Department officials to deal with his private attorney Rudy Giuliani when the Ukrainian President sought to meet Trump, in a clear circumvention of official channels, according to two sources familiar with the conversation. Trump believed Ukraine was still rampantly corrupt and said that if President …

Politico reports: Donald Trump has raised record amounts of money as a presidential candidate. But he’s still left a slew of unpaid bills in his wake. In city after city, across the nation, Trump has failed to pay local officials who provide thousands of dollars’ worth of security assistance to the president’s campaign during his Make America Great Again rallies. …

Mother Jones reports: Back in 1974 Congress subpoenaed various documents from President Nixon, including, most famously, the tapes of his Oval Office conversations. Nixon refused to hand them over, but the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that he had to comply. A couple of weeks later Nixon resigned. For a while, that was that: the court had spoken, and presidents had …

CNN reports: President Trump’s lawyers have sent a blistering letter to House Democrats. In it, they say the President and his administration won’t cooperate in an ongoing impeachment inquiry, arguing the proceedings amount to an illegitimate effort to overturn the 2016 election results. The lengthy letter all but dares House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to hold a formal vote opening an …

Bloomberg reports: Treasury Department officials are considering rolling back a tax rule aimed at preventing American companies from moving money offshore to avoid U.S. taxes, according to several people familiar with discussions. Treasury could narrow regulations aimed at preventing U.S. firms from lowering their U.S. tax bills by borrowing from an offshore branch of the company. The department is also …

The New York Times reports: A White House official who listened to President Trump’s July phone call with Ukraine’s leader described it as “crazy,” “frightening,” and “completely lacking in substance related to national security,” according to a memo written by the whistle-blower at the center of the Ukraine scandal, a C.I.A. officer who spoke to the White House official. The …

“What people need to do is they need to support our president. The battle lines are drawn. Support our president, and tell your members of Congress that they need to support our president, too. That is the single most important thing you can do. “Adam Schiff should not be allowed in polite society. He should be relegated to wearing a …

The Scotsman reports: Losses at Donald Trump’s flagship Scottish golf resort have more than doubled to £10m, marking the fifth consecutive year under his ownership it has failed to turn a profit, newly published accounts show. The US president’s Turnberry resort ran up losses of more than £10.7m last year, meaning that since he took over the historic property in …

The Washington Post reports: Rudy Giuliani said Tuesday that he would not testify in front of the House Intelligence Committee and that he “can’t imagine” that anyone from the Trump administration would appear before the panel led by Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) either. “The position I’m stating is now the position of the administration,” Giuliani said in an interview …

The Guardian reports: Donald Trump’s family firm is refusing to accept a legal bill worth tens of thousands of pounds after he lost a lengthy court battle against a windfarm near his Aberdeenshire golf course, according to the Scottish government. A Scottish court ruled in February this year the Trump Organization had to pay the Scottish government’s legal costs after …

Axios reports: The chairs of the House Intelligence, Foreign Affairs and Oversight committees announced Tuesday that they intend to subpoena U.S. Ambassador to the EU Gordon Sondland, who was blocked by the Trump administration from testifying in their Ukraine investigation. The chairs said in a statement that the State Department’s decision to stop Sondland from testifying will be considered evidence …

From Ken Frydman’s op-ed in the New York Times: “America’s Mayor,” as Rudy was called after Sept. 11, is today President Trump’s bumbling personal lawyer and henchman, his apologist and defender of the indefensible. Friends and family constantly ask me, “Has he lost it? Is he crazy? How could you work for a guy like that?” At a recent dinner …

Reuters reports: The Republican chairman of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday opened the door to a Senate investigation into unproven allegations regarding Ukraine raised by President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, inviting the attorney to testify. “It is time for the Senate to inquire about corruption and other improprieties involving Ukraine,” Senator Lindsey Graham said in a …