Trump Corruption

The Hill reports: President Trump on Friday dismissed growing scrutiny over a whistleblower complaint that reportedly raised concerns about a conversation he had with a Ukrainian leader, saying the focus should instead be on Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden’s ties to Ukraine. “It doesn’t matter what I discussed, but I’ll tell you this, somebody ought to look into Joe Biden’s …

The New York Times reports: A potentially explosive complaint by a whistle-blower in the intelligence community said to involve President Trump emerged on Thursday as the latest front in a continuing oversight dispute between administration officials and House Democrats. While the allegation remains shrouded in mystery, it involves at least one instance of Mr. Trump making an unspecified commitment to …

The Washington Post reports: Rudolph W. Giuliani, President Trump’s personal lawyer, contradicted himself when asked whether he personally asked Ukraine to investigate former vice president Joe Biden, ranted about media bias and defended Trump amid new reports about an intelligence official’s whistleblower complaint, during a chaotic and fiery CNN interview Thursday night. Immediately after anchor Chris Cuomo introduced him and …

Talking Points Memo reports: Democrats are pressuring House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) to hold Corey Lewandowski in contempt of Congress after the former Trump campaign manager stonewalled lawmakers during his testimony earlier in the week. “He operated in contempt of Congress, and yes, I believe he should be” held in contempt. “And I’ve expressed that to the chair,” …

The Los Angeles Times reports: A federal judge ordered a temporary injunction Thursday against California’s first-in-the-nation law requiring candidates to disclose their tax returns for a spot on the presidential primary ballot, an early victory for President Trump but a decision that will undoubtedly be appealed by state officials. U.S. District Judge Morrison England Jr. said he would issue a …

The New York Times reports: A potentially explosive complaint by a whistle-blower in the intelligence community said to involve President Trump was related to a series of actions that goes beyond any single discussion with a foreign leader, according to interviews on Thursday. The complaint was related to multiple acts, Michael Atkinson, the inspector general for American spy agencies, told …

CBS News York reports: President Donald Trump is asking a federal judge to block an effort by New York prosecutors to obtain his tax returns. Trump’s attorneys filed a lawsuit Thursday in U.S. District Court in New York. Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow says the lawsuit is intended “to address the significant constitutional issues at stake in this case.” Manhattan District …

The Huffington Post reports: President Donald Trump on Thursday denied having made an “inappropriate” comment to a foreign leader during a phone call, as The Washington Post reported a day earlier. Trump questioned whether anybody is “dumb enough” to believe that he would say something “inappropriate” on the phone with a foreign leader. The Post reported Wednesday that a U.S. …

USA Today reports: A GOP group critical of President Donald Trump is now targeting Vice President Mike Pence to call out what it considers corruption in the administration. An ad that will air on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” Thursday accuses Pence of hypocrisy for not objecting to foreign governments’ spending at Trump hotels after having criticized the Clinton Foundation for accepting …

The Washington Post reports: The whistleblower complaint that has triggered a tense showdown between the U.S. intelligence community and Congress involves President Trump’s communications with a foreign leader, according to two former U.S. officials familiar with the matter. Trump’s interaction with the foreign leader included a “promise” that was regarded as so troubling that it prompted an official in the …

Mediaite reports: Ilhan Omar (D-MN) has accused President Donald Trump of endangering her life by amplifying a false, now-deleted tweet claiming that the congresswoman was out dancing on the anniversary of 9/11. On Wednesday, Trump retweeted two tweets from Terrence K. Williams, a right-wing Twitter personality who the president previously promoted for advancing conspiracy theories about the Clinton family and …

The Associated Press reports: In less than three years, President Donald Trump has named more former lobbyists to Cabinet-level posts than his most recent predecessors did in eight, putting a substantial amount of oversight in the hands of people with ties to the industries they’re regulating. The Cabinet choices are another sign that Trump’s populist pledge to “drain the swamp” …

The New York Times reports: Democrats investigating whether to recommend that the House impeach President Trump will take turns on Tuesday publicly questioning one of his most outspoken supporters: Corey Lewandowski. Mr. Trump’s former campaign manager and continued confidant, Mr. Lewandowski was enlisted in an ultimately unsuccessful scheme by the president in the summer of 2017 to significantly curtail the …

Reuters reports: Corey Lewandowski, President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager and close confidant, is due to testify in Congress on Tuesday despite a White House effort to prevent him from talking about Trump’s alleged efforts to impede the federal probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. Late on Monday, the White House instructed Lewandowski not to discuss conversations …

Politico reports: A five-day visit to Turnberry and the surrounding region revealed that the regular visits from Air Force crews on layovers from Prestwick Airport have become a major facet of the life of the resort. It also revealed that, rather than being restricted to single-night refueling stops, some visits last multiple nights, expanding the known dimensions of the relationship …

The Associated Press reports: The House Oversight Committee says it is investigating whether Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao acted improperly to benefit herself or her family’s shipping company. Two Democratic leaders sent a letter Monday asking Chao to turn over documents related to the New York-based company, Foremost Group. Chao’s father and sisters own the company, which transports material to and …

The New York Times reports: State prosecutors in Manhattan have subpoenaed President Trump’s accounting firm to demand eight years of his personal and corporate tax returns, according to several people with knowledge of the matter. The subpoena opens a new front in a wide-ranging effort to obtain copies of the president’s tax returns, which Mr. Trump initially said he would …

The Washington Post reports: “President Trump’s wall costs less than the Obamacare website. Let that sink in, America.” — Quote attributed to comedian Tim Allen in an Instagram post by Eric Trump. Eric Trump, one of the president’s sons, has quite a following on social media, so his posts attract a lot of attention. But there are two big problems. …

The Hill reports: President Trump in an early morning tweet on Sunday said “Radical left Democrats” and the “LameStream Media” want to scare Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh into “turning Liberal.” The president’s tweet came after The New York Times reported that a male former classmate said he witnessed Kavanaugh expose himself and press his genitals against a woman without …

Axios reports: Former Attorney General Eric Holder told CNN Saturday that President Trump could face prosecution once he leaves office for allegedly breaking campaign finance laws. But he warned there’s a “potential cost to the nation by putting on trial a former president.” Holder told CNN political commentator David Axelrod, a former senior adviser to President Obama, that there was …