Trump Corruption

Buzzfeed News reports: The Justice Department is investigating whether crimes were committed when potentially millions of people’s identities were posted to the FCC’s website without their permission, falsely attributing to them opinions about net neutrality rules, BuzzFeed News has learned. Two organizations told BuzzFeed News, each on condition that they not be named, that the FBI delivered subpoenas to them …

The Guardian reports: Donald Trump’s first Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator repeatedly violated agency policy to use personal email for government business, according to newly released public records. Scott Pruitt – who left the administration this summer after months of controversy over his spending, travel and ties with industry – used his private email account for work over a period …

Bloomberg reports: President Donald Trump sought to tie violent protests across France triggered by public anger over higher fuel taxes with the Paris climate accord, a treaty he has denounced. He also again claimed that protesters were “chanting ‘We Want Trump!’” He made the same claim on Tuesday, originally tweeted by Turning Point USA’s Charlie Kirk. Kirk’s information about crowd …

Vox reports: Special counsel Robert Mueller filed a document late Friday explaining why he believes former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort has lied to investigators in recent months. After being convicted of financial crimes at a Virginia trial in August, Manafort struck a plea deal with Mueller to avoid a second trial on separate charges in September — and, as …

CNN reports: Special counsel Robert Mueller’s team has made clear to Paul Manafort’s attorneys that they believe the former Trump campaign chair is lying to them about President Donald Trump, according to the President’s attorney Rudy Giuliani. “In the questioning of Manafort, they did tell them at the time that they believed he was lying about certain things related to …

CNN reports: White House chief of staff John Kelly was interviewed by special counsel Robert Mueller’s team in recent months, three people with knowledge of the matter told CNN. Kelly responded to a narrow set of questions from special counsel investigators after White House lawyers initially objected to Mueller’s request to do the interview earlier this summer, the sources said. …

CNN reports: Special counsel Robert Mueller’s team could reveal tantalizing new details in its investigation into possible Russian collusion on Friday thanks to a pair of court filing deadlines involving President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and former lawyer Michael Cohen. Mueller’s office has a Friday deadline to explain to the court why it accused Manafort of lying …

Forbes reports: On the day Donald Trump became president of the United States, while inauguration festivities were still in full swing, he officially launched his 2020 reelection campaign. Donations poured in from more than 50,000 people across the country. But according to the latest federal filings, Trump still has not donated a penny of his own, while his businesses continued …

The Guardian reports: Robert Mueller is allegedly examining a Trump campaign adviser’s appearances on the Kremlin-controlled broadcaster RT, offering new hints about the investigation into possible collusion between Moscow and Donald Trump’s associates. Mueller’s investigators have asked Ted Malloch, the London-based American academic who is also close to Nigel Farage, about his frequent appearances on RT, which US intelligence authorities …

The Atlantic reports: Nobody knows how the White House plans to respond to the Mueller report—including the people who work at the White House. The special counsel is reportedly nearing the end of his probe. Sentencing memos are dropping. Plea deals are being struck. The president’s legal team expects a response to his written interview “soon.” But while most organizations, …

In the week’s most hotly anticipated bit of news, Special Counsel Robert Mueller tonight issued a memo in which he recommends no prison sentence for former national security advisor Michael Flynn. Update to follow shortly… Mueller on Flynn: “Given the defendant’s substantial assistance and other considerations set forth below, a sentence at the low end of the guideline range—including a …

MSNBC reports: President Donald Trump’s longtime political ally Roger Stone invoked his Fifth Amendment protection as he declined to share documents and testimony with members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, according to a letter posted Tuesday by the committee’s top Democrat, Sen. Dianne Feinstein. “Mr. Stone’s invocation of his Fifth Amendment privilege must be understood by all to be the …

The Palm Beach Post reports: Paul Manafort’s efforts to make sure his wife could continue living in the couple’s Palm Beach Gardens home should he go to prison fizzled after special counsel Robert Mueller III filed court papers last week asking a judge to throw out the deal because Manafort lied. Also in the plea deal, Manafort agreed to forfeit …

Reuters reports: U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s office will make a sentencing recommendation for former national security adviser Michael Flynn on Tuesday, in a court filing that is expected to shed light on the extent of Flynn’s cooperation in the Russia probe. Flynn, who held the White House job for only 24 days, pleaded guilty in December 2017 to lying …

Politico reports: A federal judge on Monday said lawyers for Maryland and Washington, D.C., can begin issuing subpoenas in a lawsuit that accuses President Donald Trump of using his luxury hotel in Washington to unconstitutionally profit from his political office. The attorneys general in Maryland and Washington say they plan to serve as many as 20 companies and government agencies …

Yahoo News reports: Special counsel Robert Mueller’s prosecutors have told defense lawyers in recent weeks that they are “tying up loose ends” in their investigation, providing the clearest clues yet that the long-running probe into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election may be coming to its climax, potentially in the next few weeks, according to multiple sources close to the …

ProPublica reports: Newly released emails about the three Trump associates who secretly steered the Department of Veterans Affairs show how deeply the trio was involved in some of the agency’s most consequential matters, most notably a multibillion-dollar effort to overhaul electronic health records for millions of veterans. Marvel Entertainment chairman Ike Perlmutter, West Palm Beach physician Bruce Moskowitz and lawyer …

Law & Crime reports: Kellyanne Conway‘s attorney husband George was quick to respond on Monday to President Donald Trump‘s latest anti-Robert Mueller Twitter tirade. Trump rattled off a series of tweets this morning, lamenting the latest news about Michael Cohen, praising Roger Stone for having “guts” (i.e. saying that he will “never testify against Trump), and calling Mueller “a much …

The Hill reports: Conspiracy theorist and conservative author Jerome Corsi released on Monday his complaint against special counsel Robert Mueller, alleging misconduct and wrongdoing in the course of the Mueller investigation. The complaint, filed by his attorney Larry Klayman, the founder of conservative watchdogs Judicial Watch and Freedom Watch, requests that the Department of Justice (DOJ) open criminal and ethics …

NBC News reports: A spokesman for Russia’s government said Saturday that only two emails and a phone call took place between President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer Michael Cohen and Russian officials about a planned Trump Tower project. But Russian officials gave the exchanges no more attention than any other business proposition, spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on the sidelines of …