Trump Corruption

The Daily Beast reports: Just hours after having multiple senior aides vouch for his calm state of mind after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi accused him of a temper tantrum, President Trump took to Twitter late Thursday to push an edited video of the top Democrat supposedly “stammering” through a news conference, jumping on a conspiracy-theory bandwagon that had been raging …

The Hill reports: President Trump has ordered U.S. intelligence officials to cooperate with Attorney General William Barr’s investigation into surveillance of members of his 2016 campaign, the White House said Thursday. Trump also gave Barr “full and complete authority” to declassify information related to the investigation, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement. The notice comes as …

The New York Times reports: The Trump administration is preparing to circumvent Congress to allow the export to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates of billions of dollars worth of munitions that are now on hold, according to current and former American officials and legislators familiar with the plan. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and other senior aides are …

Bloomberg reports: Shortly after Donald Trump’s 2016 election, his onetime campaign chief Paul Manafort wrote to Jared Kushner to ask the incoming administration to consider giving a “major appointment” to Manafort’s banker. “On it!” Kushner replied to Manafort on Nov. 30, 2016. That email exchange, which was admitted as evidence during Manafort’s tax-fraud trial last year, gained new significance Thursday …

A top Chicago banker was arrested this morning on charges in made loans to Paul Manafort in return for a high-ranking position in the Trump administration. The Associated Press reports: Stephen M. Calk, 54, was scheduled to appear in Manhattan federal court in the afternoon. Authorities said Calk committed the crime while serving as CEO of The Federal Savings Bank …

Talking Points Memo reports: Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) complained on Wednesday night that the Russia probe had subjected President Donald Trump to “two years of a political rectal exam.” “You can say it anyway you like, but here’s the bottom line: After two years of a political rectal exam, nobody has been looked at more than Trump,” Graham said during …

Politico reports: Donald Trump Jr. has signed a book deal with Center Street Books, an imprint of the Hachette Book Group, for a book “that will focus on politics, current events and the future of the MAGA movement,” according to a source close to him. Publisher Rolf Zettersten and Center Street editorial director Kate Hartson negotiated the deal with attorney …

The Washington Post reports: A confidential Internal Revenue Service legal memo says tax returns must be given to Congress unless the president takes the rare step of asserting executive privilege, according to a copy of the memo obtained by The Washington Post. The memo contradicts the Trump administration’s justification for denying lawmakers’ request for President Trump’s tax returns, exposing fissures …

CNBC reports: President Donald Trump on Tuesday appealed a decision from a federal judge upholding a subpoena issued by a congressional committee seeking information about Trump’s finances. The move, which was expected, has set up an early legal test of the president’s strategy of fighting off congressional oversight by rejecting the legitimacy of subpoenas he argues are motivated by politics. …

USA Today reports: President Donald Trump’s former fixer, Michael Cohen, told Congress it was Trump’s personal attorney, Jay Sekulow, who suggested he tell lawmakers that the negotiations for Trump Tower Moscow ended in January 2016, even though they continued for months after that. The House Intelligence Committee on Monday released two transcripts of closed-door interviews with Cohen from earlier this …

Fortune reports: Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has rejected House Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal’s subpoena for six years of President Donald Trump’s personal and business tax returns. Now, Neal will likely turn to the courts, embarking on a lengthy battle that could help define Congress’ powers to oversee the executive branch. In a letter denying Neal’s subpoena, Mnuchin on …

The Daily Beast reports: Reacting to a Fox News interview with Attorney General William Barr that included Barr essentially threatening Democrats who criticize him and justifying the president calling the Mueller probe a “witch hunt,” Fox News anchor Chris Wallace said Friday that Trump now has a new fixer. The Fox News anchor went on to note that we had …

NBC News reports: Former national security adviser Michael Flynn told investigators that people linked to the Trump administration and Congress reached out to him in an effort to interfere in the Russia probe, according to newly-unredacted court papers filed Thursday. The communications could have “affected both his willingness to cooperate and the completeness of that cooperation,” special counsel Robert Mueller …

Reuters reports: President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed a full pardon for former media mogul Conrad Black, who was convicted in 2007 of fraud and obstruction of justice and spent 3-1/2 years in prison, the White House said. Black, 74, a Canadian-born British citizen, once ran an international newspaper empire that included the Chicago Sun-Times, Britain’s Daily Telegraph and the …

Fox News reports: Bill Barr did not mince words about his brawl with House Democrats when he ran into Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday on the sidelines of a Capitol Hill event. According to a source close to the attorney general, Barr approached her in a holding tent after the National Peace Officers Memorial Service and asked whether she had …

Roll Call reports: Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Wednesday he expects the courts will resolve the conflict between the administration and House Ways and Means Chairman Richard E. Neal over the release of President Donald Trump’s tax returns. “This will go to the third branch of government to be resolved,” Mnuchin said during questioning before the Senate Appropriations Financial Services …

The Hill reports: The Department of Justice (DOJ) on Tuesday requested that a judge allow a higher court review previous rulings in favor of a lawsuit alleging President Trump has violated the Emoluments Clause. The DOJ attorneys argue in the filing that there is enough “difference of opinion” on the legal questions in the lawsuit, including the definition of the …

The New York Times reports: Donald Trump Jr. and the Republican-controlled Senate Intelligence Committee reached a deal on Tuesday for the president’s eldest son to sit for a private interview with senators in the coming weeks that will be limited in time, an accord that should cool a heated intraparty standoff. The deal came after an aggressive push by the …

Mediaite reports: New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio continued his public feud with first-son Eric Trump over the city’s new Green New Deal initiative, which has specifically targeted the Trump Organization for their “failure to cut emissions” at a number of their properties. On Monday, de Blasio held an impromptu press conference at Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue, which …

The Hill reports: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday praised special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. elections as “objective.” “On the whole he had a very objective investigation and he confirmed that there are no traces whatsoever of collusion between Russia and the incumbent administration, which we said was absolutely fake,” Putin said during …