Trump Lies

The Washington Post reports: A confidential Internal Revenue Service legal memo says tax returns must be given to Congress unless the president takes the rare step of asserting executive privilege, according to a copy of the memo obtained by The Washington Post. The memo contradicts the Trump administration’s justification for denying lawmakers’ request for President Trump’s tax returns, exposing fissures …

CNBC reports: President Donald Trump on Tuesday appealed a decision from a federal judge upholding a subpoena issued by a congressional committee seeking information about Trump’s finances. The move, which was expected, has set up an early legal test of the president’s strategy of fighting off congressional oversight by rejecting the legitimacy of subpoenas he argues are motivated by politics. …

USA Today reports: President Donald Trump’s former fixer, Michael Cohen, told Congress it was Trump’s personal attorney, Jay Sekulow, who suggested he tell lawmakers that the negotiations for Trump Tower Moscow ended in January 2016, even though they continued for months after that. The House Intelligence Committee on Monday released two transcripts of closed-door interviews with Cohen from earlier this …

Fortune reports: Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has rejected House Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal’s subpoena for six years of President Donald Trump’s personal and business tax returns. Now, Neal will likely turn to the courts, embarking on a lengthy battle that could help define Congress’ powers to oversee the executive branch. In a letter denying Neal’s subpoena, Mnuchin on …

Here’s what has Trump backpedaling on Michael Flynn:  A federal judge on Thursday ordered the release of materials obtained during the course of Robert Mueller’s investigation which seems to point heavily at efforts by the Trump administration and its allies to obstruct justice in the case of admitted felon and former National Security Advisor Gen. Michael Flynn. DC District Judge …

NBC News reports: Former national security adviser Michael Flynn told investigators that people linked to the Trump administration and Congress reached out to him in an effort to interfere in the Russia probe, according to newly-unredacted court papers filed Thursday. The communications could have “affected both his willingness to cooperate and the completeness of that cooperation,” special counsel Robert Mueller …

The New York Daily News reports: Larry Kudlow is finding out the hard way that pleasing the Donald and telling the truth is a tough balancing act. The White House economics czar reportedly got chewed out by President Trump for admitting that American consumers will pay the price for the White House’s tariff-happy trade war. “Trump called Larry, and they …

Roll Call reports: Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Wednesday he expects the courts will resolve the conflict between the administration and House Ways and Means Chairman Richard E. Neal over the release of President Donald Trump’s tax returns. “This will go to the third branch of government to be resolved,” Mnuchin said during questioning before the Senate Appropriations Financial Services …

Raw Story reports: President Donald Trump on Tuesday claimed that he had seen dead bald eagles “all over the place” because of energy-producing windmills. Trump noted that progressive politicians “sort of like wind even though it kills all the birds.” “You want to see a bird cemetery? Go under a windmill sometime,” the president ranted. “You will see the saddest, …

The New York Times reports: Donald Trump Jr. and the Republican-controlled Senate Intelligence Committee reached a deal on Tuesday for the president’s eldest son to sit for a private interview with senators in the coming weeks that will be limited in time, an accord that should cool a heated intraparty standoff. The deal came after an aggressive push by the …

Mediaite reports: New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio continued his public feud with first-son Eric Trump over the city’s new Green New Deal initiative, which has specifically targeted the Trump Organization for their “failure to cut emissions” at a number of their properties. On Monday, de Blasio held an impromptu press conference at Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue, which …

The New York Times reports: The House Intelligence Committee is investigating whether lawyers tied to President Trump and his family helped obstruct the panel’s inquiry into Russian election interference by shaping false testimony, a series of previously undisclosed letters from its chairman show. In recent weeks, the committee sent lengthy document requests to four lawyers — Jay Sekulow, who represents …

The Washington Post reports: The head of the Senate Judiciary Committee encouraged Donald Trump Jr. to invoke his right against self-incrimination and refuse to answer questions from the Senate Intelligence Committee if he complies with the panel’s subpoena for a second closed-door interview. “You just show up and plead the Fifth and it’s over with,” Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) …

Axios reports: White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow admitted to Fox News’ Chris Wallace on Sunday that the Chinese do not directly pay tariffs on goods coming into the U.S., but argued that China will suffer GDP losses as a result of a diminishing export markets. President Trump has repeatedly claimed, incorrectly, that tariffs are forcing China is paying billions …

The CBC reports: Jonathan Greenberg knew Donald Trump was lying to him when he placed him on the Forbes list of America’s richest people, but he didn’t know the magnitude of Trump’s lies until this week. The Times report shows Trump suffered massive losses, a total of $1.17 billion US from 1985 to 1994. Through five of those years, Forbes …

Mediaite reports: President Donald Trump this afternoon blasted the House Ways and Means Committee request for his tax returns, claiming he is still under audit. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin this week rejected the request from Democratic chairman Richard Neal. The committee has now subpoenaed the Treasury Department and the IRS. He followed up with another tweet on the Mueller report, …

The Guardian reports: Rudy Giuliani has said his controversial planned visit to Ukraine will not go ahead, because of concerns about who he would be meeting. Earlier this week, the former New York mayor who is now an attorney for Donald Trump said he planned to push Ukraine to pursue investigations he hoped could benefit the president politically. But on …

The Hill reports: Roger Stone asked a judge on Friday to suppress certain evidence in the case against him, claiming that it was improperly obtained. The filing states that the search warrant applications about Stone showed that the FBI initially investigated him for a range of different potential crimes, including unauthorized access of a protected computer, obstruction of justice, wire …

Vox has interviewed sportswriter Rick Reilly about his book Commander In Cheat, which made a lot of news a few months ago. A new tidbit from Reilly: Once a year, every country club has a club championship for the best players. It lasts two or three days, and it’s a big thing if you win it. The best player I …

The New York Times reports: Rudolph W. Giuliani, President Trump’s personal lawyer, is encouraging Ukraine to wade further into sensitive political issues in the United States, seeking to push the incoming government in Kiev to press ahead with investigations that he hopes will benefit Mr. Trump. Mr. Giuliani said he plans to travel to Kiev, the Ukrainian capital, in the …