Trump Corruption

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 …

CBS News reports: U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland will be skipping his appearance on Captiol Hill after being deposed for a closed-door meeting as part of the ongoing impeachment inquiry, according to Congressional sources. Sondland was mentioned in the original whistleblower complaint and a key witness to the Trump-Ukraine dealings. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff told …

“I’m surprised there’s only a second whistle-blower and not a bus full. There’s never been a presidency where the incumbent has been surrounded, I don’t say it playfully, by backstabbers and vipers and rats and snitches. It’s true. “And Congressman Garamendi, just there, he looked the President Zelensky in the eye, the star prosecution witness is the president of Ukraine, …

The New York Times reports: The Trump administration directed a top American diplomat involved in its pressure campaign on Ukraine not to appear Tuesday morning for a scheduled deposition with House Democrats conducting an impeachment inquiry, according to two people briefed on the matter. The decision to block Gordon D. Sondland, the United States ambassador to the European Union, from …

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports: Tensions between Minneapolis city leaders and President Donald Trump’s campaign escalated Monday when the campaign threatened to sue the city for trying to force it to pay $530,000 for security during this week’s rally. Trump’s campaign team said in a news release late Monday night that Mayor Jacob Frey is “abusing the power of his office” …

NBC News reports: A dozen House Democrats are calling for President Donald Trump’s ambassador to the European Union, Gordon Sondland, to resign in the wake of revelations about his key role in the unfolding Ukraine scandal. The calls for his ouster come as Sondland prepares to be deposed Tuesday by House committees as part of their impeachment inquiry into the …

Just in via press release: The Inspector General of the Department of Justice should investigate whether Attorney General William Barr violated federal ethics laws and principles by participating in matters related to allegations in the Ukraine whistleblower complaint, according to a letter sent today by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW). While Attorney General Barr was directly implicated …

Axios reports: A pair of Rudy Giuliani’s business associates wrapped up in the Ukraine investigation will not comply with information and deposition requests from the House committees leading the impeachment inquiry into President Trump, their attorney John Dowd [photo] told the Miami Herald Monday. The big picture: Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman are Trump donors who helped connect Giuliani with …