Trump Corruption

The New York Times reports: The whistle-blower who revealed that President Trump sought foreign help for his re-election and that the White House sought to cover it up is a C.I.A. officer who was detailed to work at the White House at one point, according to three people familiar with his identity. The man has since returned to the C.I.A., …

Law & Crime reports: President Donald Trump said earlier Thursday to a “crowd of staff from the United States Mission to the United Nations” that he wanted to know who the Ukraine whistleblower’s source or sources were “because that’s close to a spy.” Trump then remarked that back in the “old days” spies and traitors were treated “a little differently.” …

The New York Times reports: President Trump on Thursday morning told a crowd of staff from the United States Mission to the United Nations that he wants to know who provided information to a whistle-blower about his phone call with the president of Ukraine, saying that whoever did so was “close to a spy” and that “in the old days,” …

NBC News reports: A whistleblower’s complaint about President Donald Trump, made public on Thursday, says White House officials were so concerned about what the president said in a July call with Ukraine’s new leader that they intervened to “lock down” the transcript of the conversation. The whistleblower, whose name and gender has not been released, lodged the formal complaint out …

CNN reports: Corey Lewandowski, the political operative who helped elect Donald Trump, has had conversations with White House officials in recent days about potentially taking a position inside the administration to help the President confront a looming impeachment fight. The discussions, including a Thursday afternoon meeting at the White House, reflect the growing recognition among Trump’s allies and advisers that …

The Week reports: Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire said Thursday the whistleblower alleging President Trump abused the power of the presidency has done everything right throughout the process of coming forward. Maguire while testifying before the House Intelligence Committee said the whistleblower, who in a complaint alleged Trump solicited 2020 election interference from Ukraine, has “acted in good …

The Washington Post reports: The House Intelligence Committee has released a redacted version of a whistleblower complaint at the center of Democrats’ impeachment probe of President Donald Trump. Lawmakers began reviewing a classified version of the complaint Wednesday evening ahead of testimony Thursday morning by acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire. House Democrats who have read the document say …

The Hill reports: Vice President Mike Pence said Wednesday that President Trump has been “completely vindicated” by the released transcript of his call with Ukraine’s president. “The president did nothing wrong,” Pence told Fox News’ Lou Dobbs in an exclusive interview that aired Wednesday night. “He had a conversation with a world leader [and] spoke about issues that were appropriate …

Raw Story reports: Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday spoke with reporters after reading the unredacted whistleblower complaint concerning President Donald Trump. Pelosi made her statement after emerging from the “Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF) where the document is being held. She said that she could not speak about what she had read, because the administration had classified the whistleblower complaint. …

ABC News reports: When Ukrainians voted to elect comedian Volodymyr Zelenskiy as their next president in the spring of 2019, the fledgling administration was eager to coordinate a phone call with Kyiv’s most important benefactor — the United States, according to an adviser to Zelenskiy. But after weeks of discussions with American officials, Ukrainian officials came to recognize a precondition …

Via press release: President Trump is set to hold a press conference on Wednesday afternoon. The press conference comes after Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Tuesday she will open an impeachment inquiry regarding a July 25 call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The White House released a partial transcript of the call, showing Trump asked Zelensky to work with …

Axios reports: The whistleblower complaint at the heart of a controversy involving President Trump and Ukraine will be released to the House and Senate Intelligence Committees at 4 p.m. ET on Wednesday.  The Trump administration’s initial refusal to turn over the complaint led to Pelosi’s watershed decision to support a formal impeachment inquiry. Earlier on Wednesday, the White House released …

Things are really snowballing today: The acting Director of National Intelligence threatened to resign over concerns that the White House might attempt to force him to stonewall Congress when he testifies Thursday about an explosive whistleblower complaint about the president, according to current and former U.S. officials familiar with the matter. The revelation reflects the extraordinary tensions between the White …

Reuters reports: Sen. Lindsey Graham on Wednesday dared House Democrats to vote on formally opening an impeachment inquiry after the White House released a partial transcript of President Trump’s call with Ukraine’s president. The memorandum of the call released Wednesday confirmed reports that Trump asked for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to “look into” former Vice President Joe Biden and his …

The Hill reports: President Trump on Wednesday claimed the release of the transcript of a call between him and the Ukrainian president validated his assertions that it showed no wrongdoing, even as Democrats seized on its contents to bolster their calls for impeachment. Trump reacted to the transcript shortly after it was released while attending a meeting on Venezuela at …

The Hill reports: Conservative attorney George Conway predicted Wednesday that Republicans in the Senate particularly would break with the president and vote for impeachment if Democrats decide to formally support Trump’s impeachment. Conway, husband of White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, tweeted Wednesday that Republican senators would hide their decision to vote against the president until the last possible minute on …

Talking Points Memo reports: A whistleblower’s complaint about President Trump’s conduct towards Ukraine prompted the Justice Department’s inspector general to send a criminal referral to the Justice Department, a DOJ spokesperson revealed on Wednesday. The referral suggested that Trump’s comments to Ukraine President Zelensky potentially violated campaign finance law, the Justice Department said. The Justice Department “reviewed the official record …

The New York Times reports: President Trump urged the president of Ukraine to contact Attorney General William P. Barr about opening a potential corruption investigation connected to former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., according to a transcript of a July phone call at the center of accusations that Mr. Trump pressured a foreign leader to find dirt on a …

CNN reports: President Donald Trump was incredulous Tuesday as he sat in Trump Tower and watched House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announce she was launching a formal impeachment inquiry against him, sources familiar with the moment say. Sitting in the same building where he launched his long shot presidential campaign four years ago, Trump said he couldn’t believe it, he later …

“Let me underscore emphatically that nothing that the president said on that call or what we think he said on that call constitutes a crime, and even if he had said, ‘You’re not going to get the money,’ it would not be a crime. “I was watching Nancy Pelosi today as she struggled to keep her dentures in her mouth, …