Trump Corruption

The Wall Street Journal reports: Federal authorities have subpoenaed the publisher of the National Enquirer for records related to its $150,000 payment to a former Playboy model for the rights to her story alleging an affair with Donald Trump, according to people familiar with the matter. The subpoena from Manhattan federal prosecutors requesting information from the publisher, American Media Inc., …

ABC News reports: Michael Cohen, President Trump’s longtime confidant and former personal attorney, has resigned from his post as deputy finance chair of the Republican National Committee’s Finance Committee, sources close to the RNC told ABC News. In his resignation letter to Ronna McDaniel, the RNC chair, Cohen cited the ongoing special counsel investigation as one reason for his departure. …

Vanity Fair reports: Michael Cohen, according to two people with knowledge of the situation, has now hired Guy Petrillo to represent him in the ongoing criminal investigation of his business dealings in the Southern District of New York. Petrillo, a New York attorney who works with clients in criminal and civil matters prosecuted by the government, served as the chief …

The Huffington Post reports: Rudy Giuliani says FBI agents interviewed him in his room at the Trump International Hotel earlier this year regarding his 2016 remarks predicting a “surprise” in the closing days of the presidential race that would benefit then-Republican nominee Donald Trump. “That’s all they asked about. What was I talking about in terms of ‘surprise’?” Giuliani told …

Politico reports: A foundation established by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and headed by his wife is playing a key role in a real-estate deal backed by the chairman of Halliburton, the oil-services giant that stands to benefit from any of the Interior Department’s decisions to open public lands for oil exploration or change standards for drilling. A group funded by …

NBC News reports: President Donald Trump’s campaign manager called on his boss Tuesday to fire Attorney General Jeff Sessions. The “IG report” Parscale referred to is the Department of Justice inspector general’s report that faulted then-FBI Director James Comey for violating protocol in publicly discussing the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s email and his handling of a related disclosure about information …

A fact check from CBS News: Leaving aside the fact that Germany has vastly different immigration patterns than the U.S. and a shorter history of welcoming immigrants, Mr. Trump’s claim that crime is up in Germany is objectively false. Crime actually fell in 2017 by 9.6 percent in Germany, with violent crime falling 2.4 percent, according to Germany’s Federal Criminal …

NBC News reports: Paul Manafort may be in the VIP cell at a Virginia jail — the same one where ex-NFL star Michael Vick once did time — but the superintendent said he is not getting any “special privileges.” The jail’s online database listed Manafort’s name and inmate number and showed he was assigned to the “VIP-1” housing unit in …

The Washington Post reports: One day in late May 2016, Roger Stone — the political dark sorcerer and longtime confidant of Donald Trump — slipped into his Jaguar and headed out to meet a man with a Make America Great Again hat and a viscous Russian accent. The man, who called himself Henry Greenberg, offered damaging information about Hillary Clinton, …

The Hill reports: President Trump’s longtime lawyer, Michael Cohen, was recognized on a New York street Friday by multiple passers-by, including one who labeled him as “that guy that’s going to jail.” CNN footage shows Cohen, accompanied by security, surrounded by reporters who asked if he planned to cooperate with federal prosecutors. He did not respond to the media questions …

Politico reports: The FEC will not investigate President Donald Trump’s political campaign for enriching his businesses after considering a complaint from a liberal watchdog group, which alleged that Trump’s boasting about his hotels and use of his private jets constituted a violation of campaign law. The agency released its decision Friday, two years after the complaint was filed during the …

The Hill reports: Outgoing Rep. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.) told NBC News that there are no seeming consequences for President Trump when he lies, cautioning that there would be “incredibly harmful” repercussions in Washington’s future. “There is no seeming consequence to the president and lies and it is going to have incredibly harmful consequences in the way that we operate going …

The New York Daily News reports: In one of his most forceful attacks on the special counsel yet, Rudy Giuliani on Friday claimed the Russia investigation could get “cleaned up” with pardons from President Trump in light of Paul Manafort being sent to jail. “When the whole thing is over, things might get cleaned up with some presidential pardons,” the …

In his sixteenth tweet since 6AM today, Glorious Leader wails about Paul Manafort’s “sentence” even though Manafort has not yet gone to trial, much less been convicted and sentenced. (But hey, we’re ALL looking forward to that, amirite?) And of course, what would a Trump tweetstorm be without mentions of Crooked Hillary, James Comey, and “all the others” conspiring to …

Buzzfeed reports: There is no law that determines children must be taken away from their parents when they cross the border. Crossing the border illegally is a federal misdemeanor, and recrossing illegally is a felony, but there is no law mandating the separation of families that cross the border illegally. Instead, the increase in family separation, which has seen hundreds …

The Associated Press reports: A company run by former officials at Cambridge Analytica, the political consulting firm brought down by a scandal over how it obtained Facebook users’ private data, has quietly been working for President Donald Trump’s 2020 re-election effort, The Associated Press has learned. The AP confirmed that at least four former Cambridge Analytica employees are affiliated with …

The Daily Beast reports: Paul Manafort is going to jail. A federal judge in Washington, D.C., ruled Friday morning to revoke his bail, meaning the president’s former campaign chairman will be incarcerated until his July trial. The move came after Special Counsel Bob Mueller’s team moved for the judge to change the terms of Manafort’s bail. Mueller’s team alleged that …

The Associated Press reports: President Donald Trump says the Justice Department watchdog report on the Clinton email probe shows the FBI was biased against him “at the top level” and was “plotting against my election.” Trump is giving an impromptu interview with Steve Doocy of “Fox & Friends” on the North Lawn of the White House Friday. He says of …

Reuters reports: President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort is set to ask a federal judge on Friday not to revoke his bail and send him to jail pending trial after Special Counsel Robert Mueller filed new charges of witness tampering last week. Manafort, whose charges arise from Mueller’s ongoing investigation into Russia’s role in the 2016 U.S. presidential …

Fox News reports: Rudy Giuliani, President Trump’s personal lawyer, called Thursday for the suspension of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia in light of the release of a watchdog report that criticized key figures in the Hillary Clinton email probe. Giuliani, who appeared on Fox News’ “Hannity,” said the U.S. Department of …