Trump Corruption

“It’s impossible to overstate what a big deal this is. Once again today, this moves closer to the Oval Office. And we see the unraveling of all the lies. The president’s lies, the vice president’s lies, the attorney general’s lies, and we see an administration that has a nonstop proclivity to lying, now we’re seeing the criminal consequences of it.” …

Via Mediaite: Fox News’ Shep Smith today, in reacting to the Michael Flynn plea agreement, said, “The list of people who lied is getting longer and longer.” Smith spoke with Wall Street Journal associate editor John Bussey, who agreed with Smith that there are important lingering questions about Flynn and why he lied and why President Trump gives Russia “a …

“This is probably the tip of a prosecutorial iceberg, so to speak. It’s a nightmare for Donald Trump, because General Flynn was his constant companion on foreign policy and national security matters from June of 2015 to the time the President fired him. “Another downside for the president is this keeps the Russia story front and center at a time …

But nothing about Michael Flynn so far. The Associated Press reports: President Donald Trump says media speculation that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will leave his job soon is “fake news.” Trump is responding on Twitter to widespread reports attributed to White House officials describing a plan to oust Tillerson and replace him with CIA Director Mike Pompeo. Trump says …

Tickity tock: Donald Trump Jr., the eldest son of President Trump, will meet with Senate Intelligence Committee staff this month as part of the panel’s investigation into Russia’s role in the 2016 presidential election. Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), the committee’s chairman, confirmed to NBC News on Friday that Trump Jr. would speak to staff. CNN previously reported that Trump Jr. …

Bloomberg reports: Former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn’s guilty plea Friday for lying to the FBI is alarming news for Donald Trump. But the first person it’s likely to jeopardize will be the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Two former officials with the Trump transition team who worked closely with Flynn say that during the last days of the Obama administration, …

The Washington Post reports: In a statement, White House lawyer Ty Cobb said, “The false statements involved mirror the false statements to White House officials which resulted in his resignation in February of this year. Nothing about the guilty plea or the charge implicates anyone other than Mr. Flynn. The conclusion of this phase of the Special Counsel’s work demonstrates …

HOLY CRAP. ABC News reports that Michael Flynn promised “full cooperation to the Mueller team” and is prepared to testify that as a candidate, Donald Trump “directed him to make contact with the Russians.” More from ABC: The general told confidants about his decision to plead guilty in the last 24 hours, according to people close to Flynn, who say …

Talking Points Memo reports: A month after turning himself in for charges he faces connected to Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe, former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort reached a bail deal with Mueller’s team, according to court documents filed by Manafort’s lawyers Thursday. Manafort’s lawyers are now seeking for a federal judge to approve of his release under the …

CNN reports: Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team has postponed an anticipated grand jury testimony linked to his investigation into Michael Flynn amid growing indications of possible plea deal discussions. Additional witnesses were expected to be questioned soon including a public relations consultant hired by Flynn’s lobbying firm who was given an early December date deadline to appear before the grand …

ABC News reports: The lawyer for President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn met Monday morning with members of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team, the latest indication that both sides are discussing a possible plea deal, ABC News has learned. President Trump’s legal team confirmed late last week that Flynn’s attorney Robert Kelner alerted them that he could …

McClatchy reports: Political guru Paul Manafort took at least 18 trips to Moscow and was in frequent contact with Vladimir Putin’s allies for nearly a decade as a consultant in Russia and Ukraine for oligarchs and pro-Kremlin parties. Even after the February 2014 fall of Ukraine’s pro-Moscow President Viktor Yanukovych, who won office with the help of a Manafort-engineered image …

The New York Times reports: Lawyers for Michael T. Flynn, President Trump’s former national security adviser, notified the president’s legal team in recent days that they could no longer discuss the special counsel’s investigation, according to four people involved in the case — an indication that Mr. Flynn is cooperating with prosecutors or negotiating a deal. Mr. Flynn’s lawyers had …

Buzzfeed News reports: Former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort and his longtime associate Rick Gates got permission from a judge on Tuesday to temporarily leave house arrest later this week to celebrate Thanksgiving. The order from US District Judge Amy Berman Jackson came with a few conditions: Manafort and Gates will remain under GPS monitoring, must report exactly where they’re …

ABC News reports: Travels by Trump campaign adviser Carter Page to meet with senior officials in Hungary during the 2016 presidential election are being closely examined by congressional investigators, given the increasingly close ties between Hungary and Russia and the role of the country as a hub for Russian intelligence activity. The Hungarian prime minister was the first foreign leader …

The Washington Post reports: President Trump’s adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner received and forwarded emails about WikiLeaks and a “Russian backdoor overture and dinner invite” that he kept from Senate Judiciary Committee investigators, according to panel leaders demanding that he produce the missing records. Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) and ranking member Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) sent a letter to …

Politico reports: Vice President Mike Pence was not aware of communications between WikiLeaks and President Donald Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., during the 2016 campaign, his office said in a statement on Monday. Trump Jr. exchanged messages with WikiLeaks during the fall of 2016, and alerted top campaign officials of the contacts, The Atlantic reported on Monday. Trump Jr. later …

The Atlantic reports: The messages show WikiLeaks, a radical transparency organization that the American intelligence community believes was chosen by the Russian government to disseminate the information it had hacked, actively soliciting Trump Jr.’s cooperation. WikiLeaks made a series of increasingly bold requests, including asking for Trump’s tax returns, urging the Trump campaign on Election Day to reject the results …

Talking Points Memo reports: Special counsel Robert Mueller is investigating the role played by former national security adviser Michael Flynn in an alleged plot to forcibly remove a Muslim cleric living legally in the U.S. to Turkey in exchange for millions of dollars, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday. The alleged plot described by the Journal involves a direct quid …

ABC News reports: George Papadopoulos, the Trump foreign policy aide who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI, initially misled agents out of what he claimed was loyalty to President Donald Trump, according to a person with direct knowledge of the investigation. Trump had publicly denied that there had been any contact between his campaign and Russian officials, and Papadopoulos …