Trump Corruption

“Today I’ll walk out the gates of the White House for the last time as Press Secretary with my head held high. It’s been the honor and privilege of a lifetime to work with President @realDonaldTrump and his amazing team the last three and a half years. You’re the best…Thank you!” – Sarah Sanders, who may be the next governor …

The Associated Press reports: Paul Manafort’s lawyer says he intends to seek the dismissal of state mortgage fraud charges, citing New York’s strong double jeopardy protections. Manafort is the former chairman of President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign. He pleaded not guilty Thursday at a Manhattan arraignment. Defense lawyer Todd Blanche said it’s his view that “the laws of New York …

NBC News reports: During the first year of Donald Trump’s presidency, the Trump International Hotel in Washington charged the Secret Service more than $200,000 in taxpayer money, including a bill topping $30,000 for two days of use, according to expense documents obtained by NBC News. The documents, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request covering Secret Service expenditures, detail …

The New York Times reports: A House panel voted on Wednesday to subpoena Kellyanne Conway for her testimony after she failed to show to a hearing at which a special counsel told the committee she should be fired from the White House for her “egregious, repeated, and very public violations” of federal ethics law. The House Oversight and Reform Committee’s …

CBS News reports: Former special counsel Robert Mueller will testify before the House Judiciary Committee and House Intelligence Committee, Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, of New York, announced Tuesday. He will appear in an open session July 17. Mueller is responding to each committee’s subpoena, and each will be holding separate hearings. All members will have five minutes to question …

Slate reports: The New York Post tabloid has reportedly scrubbed the conservative news site of any mention of E. Jean Carroll’s recent rape allegation made against President Donald Trump last week in New York magazine. The Post’s website had carried two posts about the bombshell, one by a New York Post reporter and another Associated Press wire story about the …

CNN reports: White House lawyers told the House Oversight Committee on Monday that senior counselor Kellyanne Conway will not appear at a hearing on Wednesday after a federal agency said earlier this month that she was a repeat offender of the Hatch Act and she should be fired. Chairman Elijah Cummings, Democrat of Maryland, told CNN that he planned to …

Politico reports: A former senior Commerce Department official refused to answer more than 100 questions during an interview with the House Oversight and Reform Committee that centered on the Trump administration’s controversial decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census, according to a transcript released Tuesday. Commerce Department lawyers instructed James Uthmeier, who served as senior adviser and …

The Hill reports: Kellyanne Conway on Monday claimed allegations she violated the Hatch Act are politically motivated, after a House committee floated a subpoena for the White House counselor. The House Oversight and Reform Committee will vote this week on a subpoena to compel Conway to testify on the Office of Special Counsel’s (OSC) finding that she violated the law …

Axios reports: Court documents previously filed under seal with the government’s sentencing recommendations for Paul Manafort were made public on Friday. The documents include a months-long text exchange between Manafort and a “Sean” who appears to be Fox News host Sean Hannity. In one March 2018 exchange, Manafort appears to offer a source to Hannity regarding a Russian-Ukrainian associate of …

Reuters reports: Hope Hicks, once a close aide to President Donald Trump, told the House Judiciary Committee that Trump was serious in saying there was nothing wrong in accepting derogatory information about political opponents from a foreign government, panel Chairman Jerrold Nadler said on Thursday. “Ms. Hicks made clear that she understood the president to be serious when he said …

The Hill reports: A watchdog group filed a complaint with the Office of Special Counsel (OSC) on Thursday claiming Ivanka Trump, who is President Trump’s daughter and serves as his assistant, violated the Hatch Act, which bars federal employees from engaging in elections in their official capacity. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) cited a tweet from Ivanka …

The Daily Beast reports: House Judiciary Committee Democrats are not happy with Hope Hicks. The president’s former adviser responded to questions from members of the committee behind closed doors on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, and—per numerous members—didn’t give them much to go on. As a result, members said they expect to take her to court. “This is the beginning of …

Reuters reports: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has blocked the inclusion of Saudi Arabia on a U.S. list of countries that recruit child soldiers, dismissing his experts’ findings that a Saudi-led coalition has been using under-age fighters in Yemen’s civil war, according to four people familiar with the matter. The decision, which came after a fierce internal debate, could prompt …

ABC News reports: Trump wants plenty of Trumps to help let Trump be Trump. Donald Trump’s official campaign kickoff on Tuesday night in Orlando, Florida, will showcase the president and Vice President Mike Pence, along with Trump’s adult children, campaign officials told ABC News. Amid flourishes, such as a convention-style balloon drop, there will be the implicit message that what’s …

The New York Times reports: Paul J. Manafort, President Trump’s former campaign chairman who is serving a federal prison sentence, had been expected to be transferred to the notorious Rikers Island jail complex this month to await trial on a separate state case. But last week, Manhattan prosecutors were surprised to receive a letter from the second-highest law enforcement official …

The Washington Examiner reports: The Supreme Court left intact a century-old exception to the Fifth Amendment’s double jeopardy clause that permits a state and the federal government to prosecute a person for the same criminal offense. The court ruled 7-2 in declining to overturn the separate sovereigns doctrine, with Justice Samuel Alito delivering the opinion of the court. Justices Ruth …

Mashable reports: As John Oliver breaks down in his latest Last Week Tonight segment, impeachment is no simple matter. It requires a certain number of votes in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. The latter would mean 20 republican senators would need to go against Trump — making it pretty unlikely that he’d actually end up leaving office. …

Mediaite reports: President Donald Trump took time to praise Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) for blocking a Democratic bill that would have mandated reporting foreign election interference. Blackburn blocked Sen. Mark Warner’s (D-VA) attempt to pass a bill requiring campaigns to report any offers of foreign assistance to the FBI. McConnell has long opposed efforts …

Law & Crime reports: The Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) published an opinion on Friday in support of Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin‘s refusal to hand President Donald Trump‘s tax returns to the House Ways and Means Committee led by Chairman Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.). The opinion, penned by OLC’s Assistant Attorney General Steven Engel, said that …