Trump Corruption

CNN reports: When Dr. Harold Bornstein described in hyperbolic prose then-candidate Donald Trump’s health in 2015, the language he used was eerily similar to the style preferred by his patient. It turns out the patient himself wrote it, according to Bornstein. “He dictated that whole letter. I didn’t write that letter,” Bornstein told CNN on Tuesday. “I just made it …

Courthouse News reports: In a series of motions filed Monday night, an attorney for former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort argued that media reports featuring leaks from anonymous government officials have spoiled his chances at a fair trial and violated his constitutional rights. Over eight separate filings, Manafort lead attorney Kevin Downing requests U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III consider …

NBC News reports: In February 2017, a top White House aide who was Trump’s longtime personal bodyguard, along with the top lawyer at the Trump Organization and a third man, showed up at the office of Trump’s New York doctor without notice and took all the president’s medical records. The incident, which Dr. Harold Bornstein described as a “raid,” took …

The Hill reports: Michael Zeldin, a CNN legal analyst and former assistant to Robert Mueller, said Tuesday he believes President Trump leaked the list of nearly 50 questions the special counsel allegedly wants to ask Trump. “I think these are notes taken by the recipients of a conversation with Mueller’s office where he outlined broad topics and these guys wrote …

CNN reports: President Donald Trump on Tuesday slammed the disclosure of special counsel Robert Mueller’s questions for him, calling the leak “disgraceful.” Mueller is interested in asking Trump a variety of questions related to the 2016 campaign and people from Trump’s personal life, business interactions and administration, according to Mueller’s list of questions for Trump obtained and reported on by …

The New York Times reports: Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel investigating Russia’s election interference, has at least four dozen questions on an exhaustive array of subjects he wants to ask President Trump to learn more about his ties to Russia and determine whether he obstructed the inquiry itself, according to a list of the questions obtained by The …

ABC News reports: The Trump campaign has spent nearly $228,000 to cover some of the legal expenses for President Donald Trump’s personal attorney Michael Cohen, sources familiar with the payments tell ABC News, raising questions about whether the Trump campaign may have violated campaign finance laws. Federal Election Commission records show three payments made from the Trump campaign to a …

Courthouse News reports: A federal judge on Friday tossed out former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort’s civil lawsuit challenging the authority of the special counsel who is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Manafort had asked the court in his Jan. 3 lawsuit to dismiss the criminal charges pending against him in Washington, alleging that Acting Attorney General …

The Associated Press reports: A judge on Friday delayed a lawsuit by porn actress Stormy Daniels against President Donald Trump and his personal attorney. Trump’s attorney, Michael Cohen, asked for the delay after FBI agents raided his home and office earlier this month. The FBI was seeking records about a nondisclosure agreement Daniels signed days before the 2016 presidential election. …

CNN reports: The National Rifle Association is setting aside years of documents related to its interactions with a Kremlin-linked banker, as the gun-rights group appears to be bracing for a possible investigation, according to sources familiar with the situation. The NRA has faced fresh scrutiny from congressional investigators about its finances and ties to Alexander Torshin, one of the 17 …

The New York Times reports: The Russian lawyer who met with Trump campaign officials in Trump Tower in June 2016 on the premise that she would deliver damaging information about Hillary Clinton has long insisted she is a private attorney, not a Kremlin operative trying to meddle in the presidential election. But newly released emails show that in at least …

Business Insider reports: Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump’s embattled personal lawyer, once bragged that he was part of the Russian mob, The Wall Street Journal reported. Cohen is currently in the midst of a legal firestorm as the FBI investigates him for possible wire fraud, bank fraud, and campaign finance violations in connection to his work for Trump. Cohen is …

Courthouse News reports: A federal judge appointed an independent special master Thursday to make sure that no files seized by the FBI from embattled attorney Michael Cohen qualify for attorney-client privilege. The appointment of former federal judge Barbara Jones caps off weeks of wrangling between attorneys for President Donald Trump, the Trump Organization, Cohen and federal prosecutors over how to …

Politico digs into this morning’s scream-a-thon: President Donald Trump on Thursday sought to distance himself from longtime personal lawyer Michael Cohen, claiming the New York attorney currently under federal criminal investigation is “really a businessman” who handles only “a tiny, tiny little fraction” of his legal work. “Let me just tell you, Michael is in business — he is really …

Vox reports: Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt will face a double whammy of hearings on Capitol Hill Thursday that could make or break his career at the EPA. The hearings are intended to give Pruitt the chance to pitch his agency’s budget for the upcoming fiscal year. But members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and the House …

Multiple outlets are reporting that Trump lawyer Michael Cohen will plead the Fifth Amendment “in connection with all proceedings” in the Stormy Daniels case. Cohen asserted his protection against self-incrimination in a filing with the California district court hearing the porn star’s defamation lawsuit. The Hill reports: “Based on the advice of counsel, I will assert my 5th amendment rights …

This will likely be on the menu today: President Trump, in a Cabinet meeting including French President Emmanuel Macron during his White House visit Tuesday, said North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has been “very honorable” so far, as the U.S. looks to meet with North Korea soon about its nuclear program. “Kim Jong Un, he really has been very …

The New York Times reports: Mick Mulvaney, the interim director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, told banking industry executives on Tuesday that they should press lawmakers hard to pursue their agenda, and revealed that, as a congressman, he would meet only with lobbyists if they had contributed to his campaign. “We had a hierarchy in my office in Congress,” …

Reuters reports: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency proposed a rule on Tuesday that would limit the kinds of scientific research it can use in crafting regulations, an apparent concession to big business that has long requested such restrictions. Under the new proposals, the EPA will no longer be able to rely on scientific research that is underpinned by confidential medical …

Bloomberg reports: Attorney General Jeff Sessions has decided against recusing himself from the investigation into President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, but will consider stepping back from specific questions tied to the probe, according to a person familiar with the matter. By contrast, Sessions recused himself from the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election that’s now led …