Trump Corruption

The Washington Post reports: The Kremlin on Monday said it was unaware of a 2016 meeting between Donald Trump Jr. and a Russian lawyer purported to have information that could potentially damage Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. President Trump’s eldest son said Sunday that Natalia Veselnitskaya, who represents business executives close to the Russian government had approached him in June 2016, …

The Week reports: MSNBC justice and security analyst Matthew Miller said Trump’s statement in and of itself could be the potential confession of a crime. “You know, it is a crime to solicit or accept anything of value from a foreign national in a campaign,” Miller explained to the Morning Joe hosts. “The ‘thing of value’ has never come up …

Reuters reports: After Ivanka Trump faced heat for briefly stepping in for her father at the G-20 summit on Saturday, President Trump has redirected criticism of her at former first daughter Chelsea Clinton. “When I left Conference Room for short meetings with Japan and other countries, I asked Ivanka to hold seat,” Trump tweeted. “Very standard. Angela M agrees!” Trump …

The New York Times reports: President Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., was promised damaging information about Hillary Clinton before agreeing to meet with a Kremlin-connected Russian lawyer during the 2016 campaign, according to three advisers to the White House briefed on the meeting and two others with knowledge of it. The meeting was also attended by his campaign chairman …

Politico throws shade: At this week’s G-20 summit in Germany, one subject the world’s most powerful leaders are discussing is why Democrat Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman did not cooperate with U.S. intelligence and law enforcement officials as they investigated cyberattacks against the Democratic National Committee, President Donald Trump wrote on Twitter Friday morning. “Everyone here is talking about why John …

Politico reports: The Trump Organization has renewed its claim on more than 1,000 of the web domains registered by its general counsel, including some politically sensitive websites such as TrumpRussia.com and TrumpTowerMoscow.com. The company, which President Donald Trump’s two adult sons are managing while he serves in the White House but from which he has not divested, has reserved thousands …

The New York Daily News reports: The top Republican and Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee’s Russia probe threatened to subpoena the White House if it doesn’t give more information about whether there were recordings of meetings between President Trump and former FBI Director James Comey on Thursday. Reps. Mike Conaway (R-Texas) and Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said the White House’s …

From the Wall Street Journal: Before the 2016 presidential election, a longtime Republican opposition researcher mounted an independent campaign to obtain emails he believed were stolen from Hillary Clinton’s private server, likely by Russian hackers. In conversations with members of his circle and with others he tried to recruit to help him, the GOP operative, Peter W. Smith, implied he …

Politico reports: The firm headed by Paul Manafort, President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman, made more than $17 million working as a foreign agent of a pro-Russian Ukrainian political party, according to newly filed disclosure reports. The filing makes Manafort the second Trump campaign official to retroactively disclose foreign lobbying. Michael Flynn, Trump’s ousted former national security adviser, filed paperwork …

The Hill reports: The New York Times has compiled a massive list called “Trump’s Lies,” in what they say catalogues “nearly every outright lie” President Trump has made since his January inauguration. The Times‘s list, which ran in the paper’s opinion section, including his inaccurate claim that there was a terror attack in Sweden last February and his recent incorrect …

Media Matters has the transcript of the Fox & Friends interview that aired this morning: AINSLEY EARHARDT (CO-HOST): Big news today. You said you didn’t tape [former FBI Director] James Comey. Do you want to explain that? Why did you want him to believe you possibly did that? PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well I didn’t tape him. You never know what’s …

ABC News reports: Despite his foreboding warning in the aftermath of James Comey’s dismissal in May, President Donald Trump does not have tapes of his conversations with the former FBI director, he tweeted Thursday. In May, three days after Comey’s firing, Trump wrote: “James Comey better hope that there are no “tapes” of our conversations before he starts leaking to …

Unshockingly, Trump is twisting what Johnson said. Jeh Johnson, the former Homeland Security chief, says he wasn’t aware that the FBI had opened a counterintelligence investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian officials. The top Democrat on the House Intelligence committee, Rep. Adam Schiff, asked Johnson if former FBI Director Jim Comey would have opened such an …

CNN reports: Two of the nation’s top intelligence officials told Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team and Senate investigators, in separate meetings last week, that President Donald Trump suggested they say publicly there was no collusion between his campaign and the Russians, according to multiple sources. Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and National Security Agency Director Adm. Mike Rogers described …

The Associated Press reports: President. Candidate. Businessman. Three of President Donald Trump’s roles converge next week as he holds his first re-election fundraiser at his hotel in Washington. Trump can see the Trump International Hotel from the White House lawn, making it a premier and convenient location for the June 28 major-donor event, his campaign director Michael Glassner said. But …

The Hill reports: For the tenth time in the last several months, Republicans on Wednesday blocked a Democratic resolution offered on the House floor to request President Trump’s tax returns. The measure was defeated on a procedural vote of 227-188 that fell largely along party lines. The resolution considered Wednesday was offered by Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas), the top Democrat …

ABC News reports: The Trump Organization wants its tax bill cut in half at one of its high-end golf clubs, part of a longstanding Trump practice of using legal challenges and appeals to lower his corporate tax bills. President Donald Trump’s company, now run by his adult sons, Donald Jr. and Eric, has requested a property tax break of a …

In a piece that was teased last night by Rachel Maddow, this morning Bloomberg published a report detailing the Trump family’s dealings with a “shadowy” real estate development firm linked to a notorious Russian mobster. An excerpt: One of Bayrock’s principals was a career criminal named Felix Sater who had ties to Russian and American organized crime groups. Before linking …

The Hill reports: The top White House spokesman on Monday did not directly answer a question about whether President Trump supports Rod Rosenstein amid speculation that the deputy attorney general may have to recuse himself from overseeing an investigation into Russian election meddling. “The president has confidence in everyone who serves in this administration,” press secretary Sean Spicer said when …

The New York Times reports: Amid a broadening investigation of Russian contacts with his associates and his own role in trying to stop it, President Trump fired off another angry tweet this past week repeating his assertion that he has no business interests in Russia. But while no Trump Tower graces the Moscow skyline, the Russian authorities recently made sure …