Trump Corruption

Reuters reports: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has blocked the inclusion of Saudi Arabia on a U.S. list of countries that recruit child soldiers, dismissing his experts’ findings that a Saudi-led coalition has been using under-age fighters in Yemen’s civil war, according to four people familiar with the matter. The decision, which came after a fierce internal debate, could prompt …

ABC News reports: Trump wants plenty of Trumps to help let Trump be Trump. Donald Trump’s official campaign kickoff on Tuesday night in Orlando, Florida, will showcase the president and Vice President Mike Pence, along with Trump’s adult children, campaign officials told ABC News. Amid flourishes, such as a convention-style balloon drop, there will be the implicit message that what’s …

The New York Times reports: Paul J. Manafort, President Trump’s former campaign chairman who is serving a federal prison sentence, had been expected to be transferred to the notorious Rikers Island jail complex this month to await trial on a separate state case. But last week, Manhattan prosecutors were surprised to receive a letter from the second-highest law enforcement official …

The Washington Examiner reports: The Supreme Court left intact a century-old exception to the Fifth Amendment’s double jeopardy clause that permits a state and the federal government to prosecute a person for the same criminal offense. The court ruled 7-2 in declining to overturn the separate sovereigns doctrine, with Justice Samuel Alito delivering the opinion of the court. Justices Ruth …

Mashable reports: As John Oliver breaks down in his latest Last Week Tonight segment, impeachment is no simple matter. It requires a certain number of votes in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. The latter would mean 20 republican senators would need to go against Trump — making it pretty unlikely that he’d actually end up leaving office. …

Mediaite reports: President Donald Trump took time to praise Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) for blocking a Democratic bill that would have mandated reporting foreign election interference. Blackburn blocked Sen. Mark Warner’s (D-VA) attempt to pass a bill requiring campaigns to report any offers of foreign assistance to the FBI. McConnell has long opposed efforts …

Law & Crime reports: The Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) published an opinion on Friday in support of Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin‘s refusal to hand President Donald Trump‘s tax returns to the House Ways and Means Committee led by Chairman Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.). The opinion, penned by OLC’s Assistant Attorney General Steven Engel, said that …

Forbes reports: Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner took in at least $28 million in outside income while serving in the Trump administration last year, according to drafts of the couple’s latest financial disclosure forms, released Friday by watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility & Ethics in Washington. The documents, which require government officials to list their assets and income …

The Washington Post reports: President Trump’s speech at the Lincoln Memorial on the Fourth of July is expected to drive up security costs for an annual event that draws hundreds of thousands of visitors to the nation’s capital. But the president has still not fully paid the bill for the last time he addressed a massive crowd on the Mall: …

Open Secrets reports: The Trump 2020 campaign funneled money to a shell company tied to ad buyers at the center of an alleged illegal coordination scheme with the National Rifle Association (NRA) as recently as May 2019, according to new government records analyzed by OpenSecrets. The previously unreported ad buys for Trump’s re-election campaign routed through a secretive limited-liability company …

Politico reports: President Donald Trump is challenging his former White House counsel’s testimony to Robert Mueller, asserting that he never even so much as suggested firing the special counsel. In an interview with ABC News, the president suggested that Don McGahn told Mueller of Trump’s supposed directive that he be fired in order to save face. “The story on that …

“With respect to opposition research, the Federal Election Commission decided in other cases that that is a thing of value. That comes from a statute that prohibits receipt money or a thing of value from a foreign national. Whether the person is working for a foreign government or not.  He would be committing a felony. This is not an area …

Axios reports: Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) blocked an effort by Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) to pass a bill via unanimous consent requiring campaigns to report any offers of foreign assistance to the FBI. “We are all for free and fair and honest elections. These reporting requirements are overbroad. Presidential campaigns would have to worry about disclosure at a variety of …

The Washington Post reports: The Office of Special Counsel has recommended the removal of White House counselor Kellyanne Conway from federal office for violating the Hatch Act, which bars federal employees from engaging in political activity in the course of their work. The report submitted to President Trump found that Conway violated the Hatch Act on numerous occasions by “disparaging …

The New York Times reports: The Democratic-led House Intelligence Committee said on Thursday that it had issued two new subpoenas demanding that Michael T. Flynn, President Trump’s former national security adviser, and Rick Gates, a former top Trump campaign aide, provide testimony and documents related to their interactions with Russians and other foreign powers. The subpoenas, dated Wednesday, are tied …

Talking Points Memo reports: The House Oversight Committee on Wednesday approved of a resolution recommending that Attorney General Bill Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross be held in contempt for not complying with subpoenas in the committee’s census citizenship question probe. The 24-15 vote came some six hours after the meeting to consider that measure started. Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI) …

ABC News reports: President Donald Trump has asserted executive privilege over materials related to the House Oversight Committee’s census investigation as the committee moved forward with a planned Wednesday vote to hold Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in contempt of Congress. The move marks the latest escalation in the battle between the Trump Administration and House …

NBC News reports: Representatives of at least 22 foreign governments appear to have spent money at Trump Organization properties, an NBC News review has found, hinting at a significant foreign cash flow to the American president that critics say violates the U.S. Constitution. The extent and amount of foreign spending at Trump’s hotels, golf clubs and restaurants is not known, …

CNN reports: Donald Trump Jr. is returning to the Senate Intelligence Committee to be interviewed behind closed doors on Wednesday, according to a source familiar with the matter. The appearance of the President’s eldest son Wednesday comes after a lengthy and contentious fight that spilled into public view after the committee issued a subpoena to Trump Jr. and he initially …

CBS News reports: President Trump is heading to Iowa to give a speech the same day former Vice President Joe Biden will be in the Hawkeye State, delivering an address in which Biden is expected to call the president an “existential threat” to the United States. As he left the White House Tuesday, Mr. Trump told reporters Biden is “weak …