Trump Corruption

NBC News reports: On a Friday in late July, Rudy Giuliani boarded a plane to Spain to meet with an adviser to the Ukrainian president about a plan to investigate Joe Biden. The trip was described in a whistleblower’s complaint. Several former Giuliani colleagues said they believe it should appear in a future indictment. Giuliani’s role in the scandal that …

The Hill reports: President Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani said today he wouldn’t testify for House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry without consulting his client while also calling Democrats investigating the president “a joke.” Giuliani, who has faced mounting scrutiny this week over his contacts with Ukraine on behalf of Trump, told CNN that the work he does for the president would …

The Washington Post reports: President Trump told two senior Russian officials in a 2017 Oval Office meeting that he was unconcerned about Moscow’s interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election because the United States did the same in other countries, an assertion that prompted alarmed White House officials to limit access to the remarks to an unusually small number of …

The Nevada Independent reports: Rep. Mark Amodei supports the House’s inquiry into whether President Donald Trump should be impeached, but is withholding judgment on whether Trump has crossed the legal line. “Let’s put it through the process and see what happens,” Amodei, the only Republican in the state’s congressional delegation, said on a call Friday with reporters, adding that he …

Via press release: Today, Rep. Eliot L. Engel, the Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Rep. Adam Schiff, the Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, the Chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, sent a letter to Secretary of State Michael Pompeo for documents, including many he has refused to …

Raw Story reports: In a radio interview with Rick Ungar, Michael Cohen’s attorney Lanny Davis indicated the former “fixer” to President Donald Trump has information on Ukraine and he’s ready to talk. “[Cohen] should be a key witness the way John Dean was to translate this criminal behavior,” Davis told Ungar on his Thursday show. The reference was to the …

The Washington Post reports: More than 300 former U.S. national security and foreign policy officials have signed a statement warning that President Trump’s actions regarding Ukraine are a “profound national security concern” and supporting an impeachment inquiry by Congress to determine “the facts.” “To be clear, we do not wish to prejudge the totality of the facts or Congress’ deliberative …

The Guardian reports: Trump has now jumped from the argument that the whistleblower complaint represented “secondhand information,” as he first argued yesterday, to claiming that the information may have been entirely fabricated. The whistleblower said this in his complaint to explain how he obtained his information: “In the course of my official duties, I have received information from multiple U.S. …

Roll Call reports: Donald Trump on Friday called for House Intelligence Chairman Adam B. Schiff to resign over his portrayal of Trump’s message to Ukraine’s president in their phone call that the president called an attempt to “defraud the American public.” During a Thursday hearing about an intelligence community whistleblower’s complaint about that call and White House aides’ coordinated effort …

The Hill reports: Vice President Mike Pence urged President Trump not to release a memo detailing his call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky this week amid a scandal over Trump’s efforts to persuade the Ukraine leader to direct an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden. The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that Pence fell in line and ultimately supported …

Yahoo News reports: The president’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, joined The Ingraham Angle Thursday where he fired back at his critics from both sides of the aisle, and praised himself for being a “legitimate whistleblower.” “I actually think they should all congratulate me because if it weren’t for me, nobody would have uncovered and faced massive corruption by the vice …

The Washington Post already given this Four Pinocchios: The president says Hunter Biden “walked out of China with $1.5 billion in a fund” and earned “millions” of dollars from the deal. There is no evidence to support those claims. One could argue Hunter Biden has been trading off his father’s name, and certainly arranging a handshake between a business partner …

The Atlantic reports: Even among the president’s closest allies, Giuliani is now the subject of scorn. When I reached him by phone this morning, following House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff’s release of the full whistle-blower complaint at the center of the Ukraine scandal, he was, put simply, very angry. “It is impossible that the whistle-blower is a hero and …

The Daily Beast reports: Donald Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani won’t say whether he has a government security clearance, as questions mount as to what type of work he was doing in Ukraine in an effort to advance the president’s political objectives. The issue of what type of clearance Giuliani may possess came up during a hearing on Thursday with …

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 …