Trump Corruption

ABC News reports: President Donald’s Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani told ABC News on Tuesday he is not complying with a congressional subpoena. Giuliani told ABC News “if they enforce it, then we will see what happens.” Giuliani went on to say he is no longer retaining the services of Jon Sale, who was acting as his attorney for this …

The New York Times reports: The procession of high-ranking witnesses to the House’s impeachment inquiry continued apace on Tuesday, as George P. Kent, the deputy assistant secretary of state in charge of Ukraine policy, arrived on Capitol Hill to face questions from investigators about his knowledge of the widening Ukraine scandal. Mr. Kent, who appeared behind closed doors despite the …

The Daily Beast reports: The media-obsessed president has been fixated on not just the identity of the whistleblower behind the internal complaint that brought this scandal to the fore, but also on who, exactly, has been namelessly feeding intel to the press. In the course of casual conversations with advisers and friends, President Trump has privately raised suspicions that a …

NBC News reports: The White House tried to limit what Fiona Hill, who until August served as President Donald Trump’s top Russia analyst, could say to Congress in its impeachment inquiry, correspondence between her lawyers and a White House deputy counsel shows. The letters, obtained by NBC News, illustrate that while the White House did not try to block Hill …

Axios reports: The White House is tense — and some aides are frantic — as Democrats on Capitol Hill tap a gusher of revelations that paint an increasingly vivid portrait of President Trump’s unrestrained conduct of foreign policy. Why it matters: Democrats are moving fast. Letters to potential witnesses reveal the breadth and speed at which the inquiry is unfolding, …

Reuters reports: President Donald Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, was paid $500,000 for work he did for a company co-founded by the Ukrainian-American businessman arrested last week on campaign finance charges, Giuliani told Reuters on Monday. The businessman, Lev Parnas, is a close associate of Giuliani and was involved in his effort to investigate Trump’s political rival, former Vice President …

The New York Times reports: The effort to pressure Ukraine for political help provoked a heated confrontation inside the White House last summer that so alarmed John R. Bolton, then the national security adviser, that he told an aide to alert White House lawyers, House investigators were told on Monday. Mr. Bolton got into a tense exchange on July 10 …

Boing Boing reports: Donald Trump’s longtime personal attorney Rudy Giuliani is the subject of a federal criminal investigation. Southern District of New York (SDNY) prosecutors are reported by the Wall Street Journal to now be examining Rudy Giuliani’s business dealings in Ukraine. Investigators have examined Giuliani’s bank records. The areas of Giuliani’s operations now under investigation include his personal finances, …

The Washington Post reports: President Trump on Monday said he would implement sanctions on Turkey following bipartisan backlash over his decision to greenlight the country’s incursion into northern Syria. The president said in a statement that the U.S. will target government officials in Ankara and “any persons contributing to Turkey’s destabilizing actions in northeast Syria.” The sanctions include an increase …

Mediaite reports: Recently the Trump campaign went all in accusing Democrats of engaging in a “coup” with the House’s impeachment inquiry. Trump himself tweeted it’s a “COUP,” followed by his campaign manager Brad Parscale and an official Trump campaign ad. This afternoon Parscale posted a video of cable newsers criticizing the Democrats’ impeachment inquiry, including the fact the House hasn’t …

The Hill reports: President Trump early Monday knocked House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) over testimony from a whistleblower who helped spark the House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry, saying the person must testify and be identified. Schiff on Sunday said that testimony from the whistleblower who raised concerns about Trump’s dealings with Ukraine may no longer be necessary. “Given that …

Axios reports: Firehouse Strategies, a Republican firm, and data company Optimus found that a majority of 1,765 likely Democratic primary voters in early voting states believe that President Trump should not only be impeached but also imprisoned. Support for impeachment has continued to climb since House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced an inquiry into allegations that Trump in July tried to …

Axios reports: House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday that the committees investigating President Trump and Ukraine may not need testimony from the whistleblower who filed the complaint that set off the impeachment inquiry. Why it matters: Schiff said that asking for a testimony could unnecessarily harm the whistleblower by exposing their identity, …

Mediaite reports: Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) wants Rudy Giuliani to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee, and says it’s inappropriate for President Donald Trump to ask foreign powers to investigate his political opponents for him. CBS’s Margaret Brennan asked Cruz during an interview on Sunday if its “appropriate” for Trump to have asked China to investigate the Biden family. “Of …

The Washington Post reports: The U.S. ambassador to the European Union, Gordon Sondland, intends to tell Congress this week that the content of a text message he wrote denying a quid pro quo with Ukraine was relayed to him directly by President Trump in a phone call, according to a person familiar with his testimony. Sondland plans to tell lawmakers …

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 …