Trump Corruption

So this happened last night: Trump first directed his Christmas message to the “wonderful soldiers of China” where he accused them of “illegally” operating in the Panama Canal while “the United States puts in Billions of Dollars in ‘repair’ money.” The president-elect then mocked Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau by referring to him as “governor,” and reiterated his goal to …

Rolling Stone reports: In the past few weeks, Trump has at times asked close allies about how much major corporations have donated to the inaugural committee, and has sometimes inquired about specific companies by name, a person with direct knowledge of the matter tells Rolling Stone. Earlier this month, when the president-elect asked about one big-name corporation and was told …

The Washington Post reports: It’s a little late for this year’s celebrations, but you can get a very early jump on next year and count down with the $38 Trump Advent calendar. Or trim the tree with a $95 Mar-a-Lago bauble or a $16 MAGA hat ornament, sold in nine colors. (A glass version of the hat ornament is $92.) …

Fox News reports: President-elect Trump has nominated John Arrigo for an ambassadorship. If confirmed, Arrigo, who is the vice president of the Arrigo Auto Group in West Palm Beach, Florida, would serve as ambassador to Portugal. “John is a highly successful entrepreneur in the automotive industry, and a champion golfer. For over thirty years, he has been an incredible leader …

Courthouse News reports: Federal courts do not have jurisdiction over a fraud and breach of contract suit filed by former CNN host Don Lemon against Elon Musk, a federal judge said in a ruling determining that Musk and X Corp. were citizens of California when the action was filed. Lemon’s suit — claiming that he and Musk had a deal …

ABC News reports: The Trump-Vance inaugural committee is on track to set a record in inauguration fundraising, with pledged contributions surpassing its fundraising goal of $150 million as of Monday, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News. The inaugural committee had roughly $70 million of that in the bank as of Monday, with the rest of the pledged contributions …

The Guardian reports: Toyota is donating $1m to Donald Trump’s inauguration. The report, per Reuters citing a company spokesperson, comes one day after Ford and General Motors said they would donate $1m each to the president-elect’s inaugural fund. The two US automakers will also provide vehicles to the 20 January event, the outlet reported. Trump’s proposed tariffs on goods from …

Law & Crime reports: Rudy Giuliani and his son, Andrew H. Giuliani, both plan to testify under oath that the former New York City mayor gifted four New York Yankees’ World Series rings to his progeny in an attempt to keep the championship jewelry from being turned over to the two Georgia election workers he defamed to the tune of …

The Washington Post reports: When veteran newsmen L. Gordon Crovitz and Steven Brill started their news site rating company, they were prepared for the inevitable cries of bias from both sides. What they didn’t anticipate was that NewsGuard, their company of some 50 employees, would become the target of congressional investigations and accusations from federal regulators that it was at …

The Hill reports: Denmark announced a major new package to boost the security of Greenland two days after Trump called for U.S. ownership of the Arctic island. Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen [photo] told the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten on Tuesday that Copenhagen plans to spend the equivalent of around $1.5 billion in the new defense package. Poulsen explained the …

“Allegations of violations of state criminal law would be investigated by law enforcement in the appropriate jurisdiction, such as a local police department, sheriff’s office or the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. “To determine if the agencies in the relevant jurisdictions have received information from the House Ethics Committee or have initiated investigations, you would need to contact those law …

Religion News Service reports: President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team is reportedly planning an interfaith prayer service the day before his inauguration, where participants can worship alongside the businessman and his wife, Melania. But those who want to join need to weigh the price of prayer: Tickets to the service will be awarded only to those who donate at least $100,000 …

“Joe Biden just commuted the Death Sentence on 37 of the worst killers in our Country. When you hear the acts of each, you won’t believe that he did this. Makes no sense. Relatives and friends are further devastated. They can’t believe this is happening! As soon as I am inaugurated, I will direct the Justice Department to vigorously pursue …

Axios reports: Trump has been in a strikingly imperial mood since his election victory. He has floated acquiring Greenland, reclaiming the Panama Canal, annexing Canada, and potentially invading Mexico — to the intense consternation of their leaders. Prepare for whiplash after four years of President Biden extolling alliances and institutions. Trump has little regard for the “global order,” and thinks …

CBS News reports: Greenland Prime Minister Múte Egede said the island nation is “not for sale and will never be for sale,” after President-elect Donald Trump suggested the U.S. should take it over. “Greenland is ours,” Egede wrote. “We are not for sale and will never be for sale. We must not lose our long struggle for freedom.” This isn’t …

CNN reports: The letter, which was obtained by CNN, begins, “Dear Mr. Iger, Americans no longer trust the national news media to report fully, accurately, and fairly.” The FCC oversees a process called retransmission consent, whereby cable distributors pay local stations for the right to retransmit their signals. When Disney-owned channels disappeared from DirecTV lineups for two weeks in September, …

Mediaite reports: Giuliani has appeared in an ad for Rudy Coffee dressed as Santa. Flanked by two men dressed as elves, Giuliani asked a woman sitting on his lap what she wanted for Christmas. “Ho, ho, ho! Merry Christmas!” Giuliani said. “What would you like for Christmas, darling?” “Rudy Coffee!” the woman responded. “Not diamonds? Not a necklace?” a stunned …

The Hill reports: New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan said in an interview that aired Sunday that President-elect Trump “takes his Christian faith seriously.” “I’ve had talks with him before in the past where he’s pretty blunt about, you know, he can’t say that he was raised as a, as a very zealous Christian, but he takes his Christian faith seriously,” …

CNN reports: Trump has railed against birthright citizenship, which is protected by the 14th Amendment, for years and suggested he’d use executive action to ban it. In private, his allies have been crafting strategies to do that, including directing the State Department to not issue passports to children with undocumented parents and tighten requirements for tourist visas to crack down …

The Anchorage Daily News reports: Trump on Sunday said he wants to change the name of the highest mountain in North America from Denali back to Mount McKinley. Alaska’s two Republican U.S. senators, Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, immediately pushed back, saying they support the Koyukon Athabascan place name for the mountain. Denali was long favored by many Alaskans and …