Trump Corruption

The New York Daily News reports: Plans for a party celebrating the 25-year anniversary of Rudy Giuliani becoming the mayor of New York City are “fizzling out” because the 74-year-old politico is “too toxic,” according to a source who was invited. Ideally, the fete was to have taken place at the New York Hilton hotel where Giuliani celebrated his election …

The New York Times reports: As Federal Trade Commission lawyers investigated a Miami company accused of defrauding thousands of customers, they were stunned to learn last year about a new job for a figure in their inquiry, Matthew G. Whitaker: He had been named chief of staff to Attorney General Jeff Sessions. “You’re not going to believe this… Matt Whitaker …

Politico reports: President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer Michael Cohen said Friday he was in “close and regular contact” with Trump’s White House staff and legal team when he prepared a statement for Congress that he now says falsely downplayed Trump’s effort to land a Trump Tower Moscow deal during the 2016 presidential campaign. In a filing seeking a lenient …

Government Executive reports: The Secret Service has allocated more than $90,000 for golf cart rentals in South Florida this winter, ostensibly to protect president Donald Trump while he hits the links. According to federal spending data, the agency is set to pay a Delray Beach company as much as $92,740 between now and June for an unspecified number of “golf …

Politico reports: Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke on Friday accused the House Natural Resources Committee’s top Democrat of “drunken” behavior and paying “hush money” after the Democrat called for the secretary to resign for his series of ethics scandals. “It’s hard for him to think straight from the bottom of the bottle,” Zinke wrote on his official Interior Department Twitter account …

The Washington Post reports: Months after joining the advisory board of a Miami-based patent company in 2014, Matthew G. Whitaker began fielding angry complaints from customers that they were being defrauded, including from a client who showed up at his Iowa office to appeal to him personally for help, records show. Yet Whitaker, now the acting attorney general, remained an …

USA Today reports: A federal judge on Friday set March 5 to sentence Paul Manafort, President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman, after the collapse his plea agreement on charges of conspiracy and obstruction of justice. U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson’s hearing capped a busy week in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 election. Mueller’s …

Buzzfeed News reports: President Donald Trump’s company planned to give a $50 million penthouse at Trump Tower Moscow to Russian President Vladimir Putin as the company negotiated the luxury real estate development during the 2016 campaign, according to four people, one of them the originator of the plan. Two US law enforcement officials told BuzzFeed News that Michael Cohen, Trump’s …

“It’s no surprise that Cohen lied to Congress. He’s a proven liar who is doing everything he can to get out of a long-term prison sentence for serious crimes of bank and tax fraud that had nothing to do with the Trump Organization. It is important to understand that documents that the Special Counsel’s Office is using to show that …

NBC News reports: President Donald Trump on Thursday cancelled his planned meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin at the upcoming G-20 summit in Argentina. Trump blamed the cancellation on the failure of Russia to return ship and sailors recently seized from Ukraine. But the announcement of the scuttled meeting came an hour after he told reporters that he would probably …

Fox News reports: Fox News senior judicial analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano on Thursday reacted to an “extraordinary” series of developments in Robert Mueller’s investigation, saying the special counsel’s “road map” for attempting to prove collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia is coming into focus. Michael Cohen, President Trump’s former personal attorney, pleaded guilty Thursday to making false statements to …

The Huffington Post reports: President Donald Trump on Thursday bashed his former personal attorney Michael Cohen for pleading guilty to lying in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. Cohen is a “weak person,” Trump told reporters on the White House lawn. “There would have been nothing wrong if I did do it,” Trump said Thursday of the Trump Tower Moscow project. …

Vox reports: Former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen has cut a deal with special counsel Robert Mueller’s team, ABC’s George Stephanopoulos reports. The deal was announced in a New York federal court Thursday. As part of the deal, Cohen will admit making false statements to Congress committees investigating the Russia scandal. The Associated Press reports that the false statements relate to …

The New York Times reports: Michael D. Cohen, President Trump’s former lawyer, who pleaded guilty in August to breaking campaign finance laws, made a surprise appearance in a Manhattan courtroom on Thursday morning to plead guilty to a new criminal charge, the latest turn in the special counsel’s investigation of Mr. Trump and his inner circle. The development comes at …

Roll Call reports: Conservative author and conspiracy theorist Jerome Corsi agreed in a new interview that he “absolutely” intended to help President Trump’s campaign by trying to get stolen Hillary Clinton emails from Wikileaks. “Everybody in the world who was in news or political operations after July 22nd 2016 when Assange dumped all these emails on Debbie Wasserman-Schultz and said …

Business Insider reports: FBI and congressional investigators are looking into a new and uncorroborated claim that the former Trump campaign aide George Papadopoulos said he was pursuing a business deal with Russians “which would result in large financial gains for himself” and President Donald Trump. A Democratic source on the House Intelligence Committee confirmed to INSIDER that the letter was …

Law & Crime reports: Right-wing conspiracy theorist and author Jerome Corsi has hired a new attorney in an attempt to fight back against special counsel Robert Mueller. Corsi announced on Twitter Wednesday afternoon that he would be hiring attorney Larry Klayman. Let’s just say this news about Klayman, who happens to be the founder of Judicial Watch, wasn’t received very …

The New York Post reports: He’s never discussed a pardon for Paul Manafort, President Trump said Wednesday — but it’s “not off the table.” “It was never discussed, but I wouldn’t take it off the table. Why would I take it off the table?” the president said during an Oval Office interview. He ripped special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe and …

CNN reports: President Donald Trump told special counsel Robert Mueller in writing that Roger Stone did not tell him about WikiLeaks, nor was he told about the 2016 Trump Tower meeting between his son, campaign officials and a Russian lawyer promising dirt on Hillary Clinton, according to two sources familiar with the matter. One source described the President’s answers without …

The Hill reports: Conspiracy theorist Jerome Corsi said Wednesday that he won’t be pursuing a pardon from President Trump after rejecting a plea deal offer from the special counsel that would have allowed him to avoid prison. “My decision to reject the special counsel offer was not made anticipating a pardon, I have no reason to believe or anticipate that …