Trump Corruption

Reuters reports: After almost two years of investigation, Special Counsel Robert Mueller will be on Capitol Hill on Wednesday to appear before a pair of House committees and answer questions about the Russia investigation. President Trump is already up and tweeting about the Mueller hearing, echoing GOP complaints that Mueller will have a top aide from the investigation with him …

Axios reports: The Justice Department said Tuesday it had launched an inquiry into the market power of major online platforms and whether they are “are engaging in practices that have reduced competition, stifled innovation, or otherwise harmed consumers.” Why it matters: While the announcement mentioned no specific companies, its reference to looking at concerns about “search, social media, and some …

The New York Times reports: The House sued the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service on Tuesday, demanding access to President Trump’s tax returns and escalating a fight with an administration that has repeatedly dismissed as illegitimate its attempt to obtain the financial records. The lawsuit moves the dispute into the federal courts after months of sniping between the …

Reuters reports: When Robert Mueller testifies before Congress on Wednesday about his probe of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible obstruction of justice by President Donald Trump, a key part of the U.S. public appears likely to tune out – Republicans. According to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll released on Tuesday, only 18% of Republicans said they planned on …

Politico reports: Justice Department officials have communicated to Robert Mueller that the department expects him to limit his congressional testimony this week to the public findings of his 448-page report, according to one current and one former U.S. official familiar with the preparations. In extensive discussions since the former special counsel was subpoenaed on June 25 to testify, department officials …

Florida Politics reports: With the U.S. set to play host for next year’s G7 meeting of world leaders, the Donald Trump administration is considering using Trump National Doral to host the event. As President, Trump has utilized his properties in an unprecedented manner. While Trump resigned from the Trump Organization prior to being inaugurated, his family still controls the trust …

CNN reports: President Donald Trump’s campaign and the Republican National Committee have paid more than $600,000 in legal fees to the law firm that represents Hope Hicks, according to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission. In the last 15 months, the campaign and RNC have paid Trout Cacheris & Solomon PLLC a grand total of $640,050.10. Based on the …

Roll Call reports: President Trump insisted Friday that he won’t watch special counsel Robert Mueller’s testimony before Congress next week. Trump, who was asked directly if he would be watching the marathon testimony, also told reporters that Democrats need to “stop playing games,” and called the recent effort by Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) to force a vote on impeachment a …

The Hill reports: President Trump on Friday dug in on his strategy of attacking four progressive minority congresswomen despite some backlash from within his own party, saying he doesn’t care how it affects him politically. “I don’t know if it’s good or bad politically. I don’t care,” Trump told reporters of his attack against the group of Democratic lawmakers, known …

The New York Times reports: President Trump said today that he was looking “very seriously” at intervening in the hard-fought commercial battle for a $10 billion Pentagon cloud computing contract for which Amazon, a company he has frequently attacked, is seen as the leading contender. For the president to weigh in on the award of a major government contract would …

Vox reports: Former Trump campaign and White House aide Hope Hicks may be out of the woods when it comes to the Southern District of New York’s now-concluded investigation of the illegal hush payments former Trump fixer Michael Cohen made to women who say they had affairs with Donald Trump. But House Judiciary Chair Jerry Nadler (D-NY) still has some …

The Guardian reports: On 25 July, the conservative Heartland Institute is slated to host a one-day meeting at the Trump International Hotel, just a few blocks from the White House. It will feature leading climate science deniers who will discuss issues like “the benefits of ending the Democrats’ war on fossil fuels”, according to the institute. Last month, as Donald …

Talking Points Memo reports: A former Trump voter fraud commissioner will apologize to citizens he wrongly described as noncitizens in reports claiming mass voter fraud in Virginia, according to a tentative settlement agreement reached this week in a lawsuit brought against the commissioner. J. Christian Adams and his group the Public Interest Legal Foundation were sued last year over the …

NBC news reports: Democrats on the House committees set to hear testimony next week from former special counsel Robert Mueller believe the hearings will help Americans understand “the gravity of the president’s misconduct,” staff members told reporters. “It is not that that there will be a big, dramatic, new revelation necessarily, we’re not expecting that,” a Judiciary Committee Democratic staffer …

CNBC reports: Court documents related to hush money payments arranged by President Donald Trump’s former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen were filed unsealed Thursday. The documents include a description of an Oct. 8, 2016, phone call Cohen received from Trump’s campaign communications chief Hope Hicks, during which “Trump joined the call,” which federal investigators believed was related to an effort …

CBS News reports: The House voted Wednesday to hold Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in criminal contempt of Congress for obstructing a probe into the administration’s failed bid to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census. The House scheduled the vote after Barr and Ross withheld documents that had been subpoenaed by the Oversight and …

NBC News reports: A federal judge on Wednesday ordered prosecutors to release the unredacted search warrants and other documents related to Michael Cohen’s campaign finance case now that the investigation has concluded. Cohen, President Donald Trump’s former lawyer and fixer, is serving a three-year prison sentence for a slew of crimes, including breaking campaign finance laws by hiding payments to …

Talking Points Memo reports: The ACLU has won its legal war with the Trump administration over a census citizenship question, but it’s not backing down from its demand that certain administration officials be sanctioned for allegedly false testimony in the case. In a court filing Tuesday evening, the ACLU alleged that top Trump administration officials in the Justice Department and …

Politico reports: White House Counselor Kellyanne Conway on Monday defied a congressional subpoena, refusing to show up for testimony to the House Oversight and Reform Committee about her violations of the Hatch Act, and prompting House Democrats to threaten to hold her in contempt of Congress. In a letter to Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), the chairman of the panel, White …

Yahoo News reports: President Donald Trump kicked off the weekend with yet another wild retweeting rampage on his favorite social media platform. In what is becoming something of a Saturday morning habit for the president, Trump reposted two dozen tweets from people promoting his favorite talking points. Trump shared posts from his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., Vice President Mike …