Trump Corruption

Forbes reports: Donald Trump has charged his own reelection campaign $1.3 million for rent, food, lodging and other expenses since taking office, according to a Forbes analysis of the latest campaign filings. And although outsiders have contributed more than $50 million to the campaign, the billionaire president hasn’t handed over any of his own cash. The net effect: $1.3 million …

Fox News reports: Former Trump political adviser Roger Stone has invoked the Fifth Amendment and refused to turn over documents requested by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, saying he will not appear on Capitol Hill for an interview as part of the committee’s expansive investigation into President Trump. Stone delivered his response to Nadler this week, after the chairman …

The New York Post reports: President Trump suggested the public would view special counsel Robert Mueller’s expected report on possible collusion between Trump’s campaign and Moscow as illegitimate. “A deputy, that didn’t get any votes, appoints a man, that didn’t get any votes, he’s going to write a report on me,” Trump told Fox News host Maria Bartiromo, referring to …

From James Comey’s new op-ed for the New York Times: Even though I believe Mr. Trump is morally unfit to be president of the United States, I’m not rooting for Mr. Mueller to demonstrate that he is a criminal. I’m also not rooting for Mr. Mueller to “clear” the president. I’m not rooting for anything at all, except that the …

The New York Post reports: President Trump’s adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner used the encrypted messaging service WhatsApp as well as his personal email account to conduct official business, a top House Democrat charged Thursday. The revelation came during a Dec. 19 meeting of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, which released the information in a letter Thursday. Chairman Elijah …

Politico reports: The White House on Thursday rejected congressional Democrats’ demands for documents relating to President Donald Trump’s private discussions with Russian President Vladimir Putin — escalating tensions between the Trump administration and Congress over a crucial piece of Democrats’ oversight ambitions. “The committees’ letters cite no legal authority for the proposition that another branch of the government can force …

NBC News reports: The former operator of a Florida spa named in a prostitution investigation is speaking out for the first time to rebut reports that she sold access to President Donald Trump. In an interview with NBC News, Li “Cindy” Yang said she believes she’s facing allegations of being a Chinese agent solely because of her ethnicity and political …

CNN reports: Hope Hicks, the former White House communications director and long-time confidante of President Donald Trump, plans to turn over documents to the House Judiciary Committee as part of its investigation into potential obstruction of justice. The request included documents from “any personal or work diary, journal or other book containing notes, a record or a description of daily …

The New York Times reports: Federal authorities began investigating the email accounts of Michael D. Cohen, President Trump’s former lawyer, as early as July 2017, only months after Mr. Trump took office, according to documents unsealed on Tuesday. The emails, dating back to January 2016, were sought by the office of Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel conducting the …

The Miami Herald reports: Democrats in Congress are asking the FBI to investigate former Florida massage parlor owner Li “Cindy” Yang after the Miami Herald and others reported on Yang’s access to President Donald Trump and work to get Chinese business executives access to political fundraisers. In a letter sent on Friday to FBI Director Christopher Wray, National Intelligence Director …

The Washington Examiner reports: A federal judge has ordered redacted copies of the search warrant materials from the FBI’s raid of former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen’s home and office last spring be made public. The documents will be placed on the docket Tuesday, according to a brief order by U.S. District Court Judge William Pauley III. The materials were obtained …

Courthouse News reports: Ramping up their criminal case against the Trump Foundation, New York prosecutors said new evidence shows President Donald Trump used foundation money during his 2016 presidential run — a violation of the bar against charities getting involved in political campaigns. New York Attorney General Letitia James disclosed the evidence in a filing late Thursday in Manhattan Supreme …

CNBC reports: Former Trump campaign official Rick Gates “continues to cooperate with respect to several ongoing investigations,” special counsel Robert Mueller said in a court filing Friday. “Accordingly the parties do not believe it is appropriate” to move on to Gates’ sentencing phase, the filing in Washington, D.C., federal court said. The joint report from Mueller and Gates’ attorney, which …

The Associated Press reports: The House voted unanimously Thursday for a resolution calling for any final report in special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation to be made public, a symbolic action designed to pressure Attorney General William Barr into releasing as much information as possible when the probe is concluded. The Democratic-backed resolution, which passed 420-0, comes as Mueller is …

NBC News reports: A federal judge on Thursday set a Nov. 5 trial date for President Donald Trump’s longtime political ally and self-described dirty trickster, Roger Stone. Judge Amy Berman Jackson said in Washington, D.C., district court that she expects the trial will last “at least” two weeks, NBC News reported. Stone was arrested in late January in a predawn …

The Hill reports: The head of the House Judiciary Committee says former Acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker “did not deny” that President Trump had called to talk to him about “personnel decisions” involving a federal investigation into hush money payments made to two women. “Mr. Whitaker did not deny that the president called him to discuss the Michael Cohen case …

CNN reports: An attorney who said he was speaking with President Donald Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani reassured Michael Cohen in an April 2018 email that Cohen could “sleep well tonight” because he had “friends in high places,” according to a copy of an email obtained by CNN. Two emails — both dated April 21, 2018, and among documents provided to …

The New York Times reports: Paul J. Manafort, President Trump’s former campaign chairman, has been charged in New York with mortgage fraud and more than a dozen other state felonies, the Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., said Wednesday, an effort to ensure he will still face prison time if Mr. Trump pardons him for his federal crimes. News …

Roll Call reports: President Donald Trump blasted the state of New York and Governor Andrew Cuomo as the latest “PRESIDENTIAL HARASSERS” earlier tonight. The president’s tweet comes on the heels of New York Attorney General Letitia James issuing subpoenas to Deutsche Bank and Investors Bank over, per the New York Times, “records relating to the financing of four major Trump …

Reuters reports: Special Counsel Robert Mueller and the team he assembled to investigate U.S. President Donald Trump and his associates have been funded through the end of September 2019, three U.S. officials said on Monday, an indication that the probe has funding to keep it going for months if need be. The operations and funding of Mueller’s office were not …