Trump Corruption

Politico reports: President Donald Trump’s pick to run the IRS, tax lawyer Chuck Rettig, owns properties at the Trump International Hotel Waikiki and Tower. He’d previously disclosed his 50 percent stake in a pair of Honolulu rental units, but not their specific location. That detail was discussed later, at a June 21 meeting with congressional staff, according to a memo …

Reuters reports: A search warrant application unsealed on Wednesday revealed closer links than previously known between President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort and a Russian oligarch with close ties to the Kremlin. In an affidavit attached to the July 2017 application, an FBI agent said he had reviewed tax returns for a company controlled by Manafort and his …

The Associated Press reports: A federal judge in Virginia rejected a bid by President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, to throw out charges in the special counsel’s Russia investigation, clearing the way for a much-anticipated trial to start as scheduled next month. The decision Tuesday by U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III was a setback for Manafort in …

Bloomberg reports: Special Counsel Robert Mueller is preparing to accelerate his probe into possible collusion between Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and Russians who sought to interfere in the 2016 election, according to a person familiar with the probe. Mueller and his team of prosecutors and investigators have an eye toward producing conclusions — and possible indictments — related to collusion …

Glorious Leader is, of course, reading Fox News: Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., on Friday reportedly joked about the Russia investigation at a high-dollar retreat on Martha’s Vineyard and told Democratic donors to “buckle up.” Warner reportedly joked to donors that he might reveal sensitive information known only to him and Special Counsel Robert Mueller who’s investigating the Trump campaign’s alleged …

Politico reports: Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort is appealing a judge’s decision to jail him over charges that he attempted to tamper with the testimony of two potential witnesses against him. Ten days after U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson revoked Manafort’s house arrest and ordered him jailed, his defense attorneys filed an official notice Monday appealing her …

The Christian Post reports: President Trump told former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in an interview that mainstream media’s coverage of his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was “almost treasonous.” He also revealed that evangelicals are more thankful than Jews for moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem. On his show on Trinity Broadcasting Network that aired Saturday, Huckabee …

The New York Times reports: President Trump asserted on Sunday that immigrants who crossed into the United States illegally should be sent back immediately without due process or an appearance before a judge, an escalation of his attacks on the judicial system. It was another twist in an already head-spinning series of developments on immigration after the president reversed a …

The Hill reports: Comedian Tom Arnold said Friday that he and President Trump’s former, longtime personal lawyer are teaming up to “take down” the president. Arnold tweeted a photo with Michael Cohen on Thursday with the caption, “I Love New York,” which Cohen retweeted without comment. Arnold then told NBC News that he met with Cohen as part of a …

The Washington Post reports: During the presidential campaign, National Enquirer executives sent digital copies of the tabloid’s articles and cover images related to Donald Trump and his political opponents to Trump’s attorney Michael Cohen in advance of publication, according to three people with knowledge of the matter — an unusual practice that speaks to the close relationship between Trump and …

The Hill reports: Attorney General Jeff Sessions said on Thursday that the Trump administration “never really intended” to separate migrant children from their parents when he issued its aggressive crackdown on immigration prosecutions. In an interview with CBN News released Thursday, Sessions said he had not anticipated the massive public backlash from the administration’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy that he …

The Hill reports: Roger Stone said Thursday that it’s possible he’ll be indicted by special counsel Robert Mueller. “I acknowledge it is a possibility,” Stone said in an interview on Hill.TV’s “Rising.” Stone, however, pushed back that he is “concerned” about being charged, noting that would suggest culpability. Some of Stone’s contacts during the 2016 presidential race have attracted scrutiny, …

The Intercept reports: Scott Pruitt has now spent more than $4.6 million from public coffers on security, according to documents obtained by The Intercept and Documented under the Freedom of Information Act. The amount represents a $1.1 million increase from Pruitt’s total security costs as released in another disclosure just a month ago. Pruitt’s high spending on security has become …

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 …