Trump Lies

How many lies will she tell today? White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders is set to take questions from reporters on Wednesday afternoon. The briefing follows revelations from the special counsel’s office that former Trump deputy campaign manager Richard Gates communicated with an associate who was a known former Russian intelligence officer. The news briefing is set to begin …

The Daily Beast reports: Prosecutors working on the special counsel investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election have linked Rick Gates, Donald Trump’s former deputy campaign chairman, to a person with ties to a Russian intelligence service. In a court filing released Tuesday night, prosecutors said Gates and the unnamed person, who had lived in Kiev and Moscow and …

Politico reports: A pair of veteran white-collar lawyers have turned down President Donald Trump’s offer to help lead his defense in the Russia probe, marking another setback for a legal team that’s seen its numbers dwindle over the past week while it prepares for a potentially critical interview between the president and special counsel Robert Mueller. The law firm Winston …

Talking Points Memo reports: The National Rifle Association is acknowledging that it accepts donations from foreign entities, and that it moves money between its various accounts “as permitted by law.” The gun group insists it has never received foreign money in connection with an election. But campaign finance experts say that, since money is fungible, that assurance doesn’t mean much. …

Sarah Huckabee Sanders just told a whopper in defense of the GOP’s attempt the suppress the minority vote. USA Today reports: The Commerce Department is reinstating a citizenship question to the 2020 Census for the first time in decades, a move that some arguewill lead to an undercount of minorities living in the United States. The U.S. Census Bureau counts …

PBS reports: White House officials have been looking into whether $500 million in loans that went to Trump administration senior adviser Jared Kushner’s family real estate company may have spurred ethics or criminal law violations, according to the head of the federal government’s ethics agency. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders is likely to address the inquiry at a …

The Washington Post reports: Stormy Daniels ramped up her legal battle against President Trump on Monday, alleging in court that his personal attorney Michael Cohen defamed her by insinuating that she lied about an affair with Trump more than a decade ago. Daniels amended her existing lawsuit against Trump, adding Cohen as a defendant in the pending case. The expansion …

The Associated Press reports: President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, is challenging porn actress Stormy Daniel’s unsubstantiated charge that someone tied to Trump threatened her with physical harm if she went public with her story about a tryst with Trump years ago. “In truth, Mr. Cohen had absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with any such person or incident, and …

The Hill reports: President Trump on Monday ripped “so much fake news” in a tweet following the highly anticipated “60 Minutes” interview with adult film star Stormy Daniels. Daniels claims she had an affair with Trump before he was president and was paid a sum of money before the 2016 election to keep quiet. A lawyer for Trump has denied …

Maggie Haberman reports at the New York Times: As President Trump heads into one of the most critical phases of the special counsel’s investigation, his personal legal team has shrunk to essentially just one member, and he is struggling to find any top lawyers willing to represent him. That lawyer, Jay Sekulow, is a conservative commentator who made his name …

Fox News reports: The lawyer for Michael Cohen, President Trump’s personal attorney, sent adult film star Stormy Daniels a cease and desist letter late Sunday following her interview with “60 Minutes” where she spoke about her alleged affair with Trump and claimed she faced threats to her safety. Brent Blakely, Cohen’s attorney, demanded that Daniels apologize for insinuating that his …

The Associated Press reports: An attorney for President Donald Trump says that two lawyers who planned to join the legal team handling the special counsel’s Russia investigation won’t be taking those positions after all. Trump personal attorney Jay Sekulow says in a statement that Washington lawyers Joseph diGenova and Victoria Toensing have conflicts that won’t allow them to represent the …

Here’s what has Hair Furor raging this morning: President Trump, whose top attorney handling the Russia probe resigned Thursday, is struggling to find top-notch defense lawyers willing to represent him in the case, according to multiple Trump advisers familiar with the negotiations. Some law firms have signaled that they do not want the controversy of representing a divisive and unpopular …

The Washington Post reports: When a Russian news agency reached out to George Papadopoulos to request an interview shortly before the 2016 election, the young adviser to then-candidate Donald Trump made sure to seek approval from campaign headquarters. “You should do it,” deputy communications director Bryan Lanza urged Papadopoulos in a September 2016 email, emphasizing the benefits of a U.S. …

PBS reports: Lawmakers in both the House and Senate scrambled this week to push a $1.3 trillion spending bill through Congress to meet Friday’s funding deadline and avert a government shutdown. But in a tweet Friday morning, President Donald Trump said that he was “considering” vetoing the bill, citing concerns over “Dreamers” and funding for the border wall. White House …

NBC News reports: Stormy Daniels’ lawyer is demanding that the Trump Organization preserve all records related to the adult film actress and he plans to subpoena them — citing “unmistakable links” between President Donald Trump’s company and a secrecy agreement she signed. Attorney Michael Avenatti also sent similar requests Thursday to two banks involved in a $130,000 payment facilitated by …

ABC News reports: Nearly a year before Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired senior FBI official Andrew McCabe for what Sessions called a “lack of candor,” McCabe oversaw a federal criminal investigation into whether Sessions lacked candor when testifying before Congress about contacts with Russian operatives, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News. Democratic lawmakers have repeatedly accused Sessions of …

Politico reports: President Donald Trump on Wednesday criticized his three predecessors in defending his recent congratulatory call to President Vladimir Putin of Russia — a move that’s been widely criticized in the wake of news that Trump was specifically instructed not to congratulate Putin on his reelection. Reports emerged on Tuesday night that briefing materials prepared for Trump’s call specifically …

Bloomberg reports: President Donald Trump returned to criticisms of the special counsel investigating Russian election meddling Wednesday, this time quoting Alan Dershowitz on Fox News mounting a vigorous attack on Robert Mueller, saying he never should have been appointed and that there was no evidence of a crime. The tweets come as even Republicans in Washington have become concerned that …

The Washington Post reports: A New York judge said Tuesday that a defamation lawsuit against President Trump related to an allegation that he sexually harassed a former “Apprentice” contestant may go forward. Summer Zervos filed the suit last year after Trump said publicly that she and other women making similar claims made them up. Trump sought to block the legal …