Trump Corruption

Politico reports: President Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, on Sunday dismissed the possibility that Trump will sit for an interview with the special counsel, saying it would only happen “over my dead body.” “Over my dead body. But you know, I could be dead,” Giuliani said during an interview on “Fox News Sunday” when asked if Trump would take part …

CNN reports: Previously, the DC and Maryland lawsuit alleging the President had received illegal gifts through the Trump International Hotel was moving to its discovery phase, with the state attorneys general sending out several subpoenas, including to the Trump Organization. A federal judge had allowed the lawsuit against Trump’s businesses to move forward from the states, though the judge had …

The Hill reports: Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) told The New Yorker that he plans to subpoena information on President Trump’s personal business transactions from Deutsche Bank regarding allegations that the president’s financial interests in Russia are affecting his foreign policy positions. Schiff, who will chair the House Intelligence Committee come January, said he believes answers to whether Trump was involved …

ProPublica reports: When it came out this year that President Donald Trump’s inaugural committee raised and spent unprecedented amounts, people wondered where all that money went. It turns out one beneficiary was Trump himself. The inauguration paid the Trump Organization for rooms, meals and event space at the company’s Washington hotel, according to interviews as well as internal emails and …

The Guardian reports: Former Trump campaign aide George Papadopoulos, who was released from federal prison last week, announced in an interview on Friday that he wants to run for office in 2020. Papadopoulos told The Guardian part of his initial plan to join President Trump’s campaign and transition team in 2016 was to boost his own platform before running for …

The right wing Daily Caller reports: Jerome Corsi, the right-wing author ensnared in the special counsel’s probe, raised tens of thousands of dollars on his website and web show over the summer for an Alaskan man who claimed he needed experimental cancer surgery from an Israeli physician. To help raise the funds, Corsi touted Dr. Eliat Mendelsohn, claiming the oncologist …

“One of the hopes that I have out of the punishment that I’ve received, as well as the cooperation that I have given, I will be remembered in history as helping to bring this country back together. It’s never good to be on the wrong side of the president of the United States of America. But somehow or another, this …

Newsweek reports: On Thursday evening, Kellyanne Conway defended President Donald Trump over accusations of lying, criticizing CNN’s Chris Cuomo during a heated on-air debate. Trump has come under fire for denying he directed Cohen to make payments to Daniels—legal name Stephanie Clifford—and Karen McDougal during his presidential campaign. Her remarks are in stark contrast to the views of her husband, …

The Wall Street Journal reports: Federal prosecutors in Manhattan are investigating whether President Trump’s 2017 inaugural committee misspent some of the record $107 million it raised from donations, people familiar with the matter said. The criminal probe by the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office, which is in its early stages, also is examining whether some of the committee’s top donors gave …

NBC News reports: Donald Trump was the third person in the room in August 2015 when his lawyer Michael Cohen and National Enquirer publisher David Pecker discussed ways Pecker could help counter negative stories about Trump’s relationships with women, NBC News has confirmed. The “Statement of Admitted Facts” says that AMI admitted making a $150,000 payment “in concert with the …

Law & Crime reports: Trump joined Fox host Harris Faulkner for an interview Thursday afternoon in no small part to defend himself against the accusation that he was implicated in a crime when his ex-lawyer Michael Cohen was sentenced for campaign finance violations. One of the things he threw out there was the idea that Cohen pleaded guilty to keep …

CNN reports: Rep. Adam Schiff argued today that the Department of Justice “needs to re-examine” the Office of Legal Counsel’s opinion that a sitting US president should not be indicted. “I think the Justice Department needs to re-examine that OLC opinion, the Office of Legal Counsel opinion, that you cannot indict a sitting president under circumstances in which the failure …

NBC News reports: Despite President Donald Trump’s public declaration that he isn’t concerned about impeachment, he has told people close to him in recent days that he is alarmed by the prospect, according to multiple sources. Trump’s fear about the possibility has escalated as the consequences of federal investigations involving his associates and Democratic control of the House sink in, …

NBC News reports: President Donald Trump on Thursday said he “never directed” Michael Cohen, his former lawyer who was sentenced on multiple charges a day earlier, “to break the law.” In a follow-up tweet, Trump said without providing evidence that campaign finance lawyers have told him that he “did nothing wrong with respect to campaign finance laws, if they even …

Bloomberg reports: Michael Cohen, the former lawyer and fixer for President Donald Trump, is willing to reveal publicly what he knows about his former client once Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation is complete and findings are released, Cohen’s lawyer said Wednesday. “There will come a time after Mr. Mueller is done with his work that Michael Cohen will be sitting …

Mediaite reports: Fox News senior judicial analyst Andrew Napolitano dropped a pretty stunning piece of analysis Wednesday: federal prosecutors have evidence President Donald Trump committed a felony, and they intend to do something with that evidence. “Career prosecutors here in New York City have evidence that the president of the United States committed a felony by ordering and paying Michael …

Boing Boing reports: The U.S. Southern District of New York has reached a non-prosecution agreement with the parent company of the National Enquirer, AMI, in which the firm admits it made “catch and kill” hush money payment to Karen MacDougal “in concert with” the Donald Trump presidential campaign. Said the SDNY prosecutors, “AMI admitted that it made the $150,000 payment …

From a lengthy interview with Reuters: On the domestic front, Trump waved off concerns that he could face the possibility of impeachment when Democrats, intent on greater oversight of the president, take command of the U.S. House of Representatives in January. “It’s hard to impeach somebody who hasn’t done anything wrong and who’s created the greatest economy in the history …

NBC News reports: New York Attorney Gen.-elect Letitia James says she plans to launch sweeping investigations into President Donald Trump, his family and “anyone” in his circle who may have violated the law once she settles into her new job next month. “We will use every area of the law to investigate President Trump and his business transactions and that …

ABC News reports: Michael Cohen, the former longtime personal attorney and fixer for President Donald Trump, is set to learn his sentence Wednesday morning in Manhattan after pleading guilty to a laundry list of charges brought by federal prosecutors in New York and special counsel Robert Mueller’s office in Washington. With the pounding of his gavel on Wednesday morning, U.S. …