Trump Corruption

Mediaite reports: President Donald Trump this afternoon blasted the House Ways and Means Committee request for his tax returns, claiming he is still under audit. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin this week rejected the request from Democratic chairman Richard Neal. The committee has now subpoenaed the Treasury Department and the IRS. He followed up with another tweet on the Mueller report, …

The Guardian reports: Rudy Giuliani has said his controversial planned visit to Ukraine will not go ahead, because of concerns about who he would be meeting. Earlier this week, the former New York mayor who is now an attorney for Donald Trump said he planned to push Ukraine to pursue investigations he hoped could benefit the president politically. But on …

The New York Times reports: White House officials asked at least twice in the past month for the key witness against President Trump in the Mueller report, Donald F. McGahn II, to say publicly that he never believed the president obstructed justice, according to two people briefed on the requests. Mr. McGahn, who was the president’s first White House counsel, …

CNN reports: House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal has issued subpoenas for President Donald Trump’s tax returns, the committee told CNN on Friday, an escalation in the fight for the President’s personal financial records and the latest step this week in Democrats’ fight for information from the Trump administration. Neal sent subpoenas to both IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig …

Reuters reports: The number of Americans who said President Donald Trump should be impeached rose 5 percentage points to 45 percent since mid-April, while more than half said multiple congressional probes of Trump interfered with important government business, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released today. The opinion poll, conducted on Monday, did not make clear whether investigation-fatigued Americans wanted House …

“Much as I like the visual of [throwing people in jail], I think it’s far more practical to consider levying individual fines on the person — not the office — until they comply. You could fine someone $25,000 a day until they comply. You can do that. We’re looking through the history and studying the law to make sure we’re …

The New York Times reports: Rudolph W. Giuliani, President Trump’s personal lawyer, is encouraging Ukraine to wade further into sensitive political issues in the United States, seeking to push the incoming government in Kiev to press ahead with investigations that he hopes will benefit Mr. Trump. Mr. Giuliani said he plans to travel to Kiev, the Ukrainian capital, in the …

Reuters reports: Donald Trump Jr. is unlikely to comply with a U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee subpoena to testify about his contacts with Russia, two congressional sources said on Thursday as the president publicly defended his eldest son. The sources said Trump Jr is expected to cite his Fifth Amendment constitutional right to avoid self-incrimination, a day after reports that the …

CNBC reports: The Senate Intelligence Committee, which is headed by a Republican, has subpoenaed Donald Trump Jr., the eldest son of President Donald Trump, to answer questions about his claim to have just limited knowledge of an ultimately aborted plan to build a Trump Tower in Moscow, Russia. Trump Jr. testified to the Senate Judiciary Committee in September 2017 that …

Moments ago the House Judiciary Committee voted 24-16 along party lines to hold AG Bill Barr in contempt for refusing to provide an unredacted version of the Mueller report. The issue now proceeds to the full House. Vox reports: As serious as contempt sounds, it realistically won’t amount to more than Congress sending a powerful message — unless Democrats pass …

The Washington Post reports: The White House formally asserted executive privilege over special counsel Robert S Mueller III’s report Wednesday, President Trump’s first use of the executive authority in the latest confrontation with Congress. Assistant Attorney General Stephen E. Boyd wrote in a letter to Congress that Trump had “asserted executive privilege over the entirety of the subpoenaed materials.” Boyd …

ABC News reports: The Democratic chairman of the House Judiciary Committee said Wednesday said he will go forward with a vote to hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt of Congress for not complying with a subpoena to turn over the full Mueller report despite a last-minute threat from the Justice Department that if it happens, it will ask President …

The Huffington Post reports: President Donald Trump tweeted early Wednesday following a report that documented more than $1.1 billion in personal business losses over a 10-year period beginning in 1985. Trump seemingly tried to downplay the report, saying that “almost all real estate developers” wanted to show losses for tax purposes and renegotiate with banks, and it was “sport.” His …

NBC News reports: “Hung jury” is how Democratic pollster Peter Hart described our latest NBC/WSJ poll showing a nation divided over the Mueller probe. And maybe the biggest reason for this stalemate is that President Trump’s political base — especially those who get their news from Fox — hasn’t budged an inch, according to the poll. Fewer than 30 percent …

The Associated Press reports: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on the Senate floor declared “case closed” on the Russia probe and potential obstruction by Trump, deriding Democrats who he says are “grieving” the result. “It’s finally over,” the Republican leader said, in his most significant comments yet on the investigation. The Kentucky Republican called Mueller’s findings “bad news for the …

ABC News reports: The White House has instructed former White House counsel Donald McGahn not to comply with a subpoena from House Democrats for documents related to the special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, according to a letter sent Tuesday from White House counsel Pat Cipollone to McGahn’s attorney William Burck. Earlier Tuesday, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said on …

The New York Times reports: Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, a leading contractor for President Trump’s inaugural committee and a former adviser to the first lady, Melania Trump, has publicly disputed accounts of her departure from the White House last year, rejecting claims from officials that she was dismissed. Ms. Winston Wolkoff specifically took issue with suggestions by White House officials that …

The Washington Post reports: Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Monday told House Democrats he would not furnish President Trump’s tax returns despite their legal request, the latest move by Trump administration officials to shield the president from congressional investigations. Mnuchin, in a letter to House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal (D-Mass.), said he had consulted with the Justice …

The Hill reports: New York Attorney General Letitia James on Monday filed a lawsuit against the Treasury Department and IRS, arguing that the agencies have failed to respond to information requests about its guidance reducing donor disclosure requirements for certain tax-exempt groups. “My office depends on these critical donor disclosure forms to be able to adequately oversee non-proofit organizations in …

The Washington Post reports: More than 370 former federal prosecutors who worked in Republican and Democratic administrations have signed on to a statement asserting special counsel Robert Mueller’s findings would have produced obstruction charges against President Donald Trump – if not for the office he held. The statement – signed by myriad former career government employees, as well as high-profile …