Trump Lies

Talking Points Memo reports: Over five days have passed since a report revealed that the FBI is investigating whether a Russian banker funneled money to the NRA to boost Donald Trump’s campaign. And the gun group still isn’t talking. The NRA did not respond to McClatchy’s requests for comments for its story on the FBI probe, published Thursday morning. And …

The Associated Press reports: The White House will hold a press briefing Tuesday afternoon with press secretary Sarah Sanders. The briefing is scheduled to start at 2:30 p.m. EST. President Donald Trump signed a bill reopening the government late Monday, ending a 69-hour display of partisan dysfunction after Democrats reluctantly voted to temporarily pay for resumed operations. They relented in …

Raw Story reports: According to the Wall Street Journal’s reporting, longtime Trump attorney Michael Cohen set up a separate LLC called Essential Consultants in October 2016 that he used as a vehicle to pay off Daniels in exchange for remaining silence about her past affair with the president, which occurred shortly after his wife Melania had given birth to their …

The New York Times reports: Attorney General Jeff Sessions was questioned for several hours last week by the special counsel’s office as part of the investigation into Russia’s meddling in the election and whether the president obstructed justice since taking office, according to a Justice Department spokeswoman. The meeting marked the first time that investigators for the special counsel, Robert …

Mediaite reports: CNN’s Alisyn Camerota grilled Matt Schlapp over President Donald Trump’s alleged affair with porn star Stormy Daniels. Schlapp, a former George W. Bush staffer whose wife Mercedes works in the current White House, tried his very best to dismiss the sex scandal as irrelevant on CNN’s New Day. “I don’t really have many thoughts on this Alisyn,” Schlapp …

Law & Crime reports: Two complaints filed today accuse President Donald Trump and his 2016 campaign of violating federal campaign finance laws by not reporting $130,000 in hush money paid to adult film star Stormy Daniels. The complaints in question were filed by non-profit and nonpartisan watchdog group Common Cause, which was founded in 1970 by Republican John W. Gardner. …

The New York Daily News reports: President Trump privately admitted he shouldn’t have sent former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer to argue over the crowd size at his inauguration, according to a new book. The commander-in-chief reportedly fumed over reports and photos comparing his crowd to the one eight years earlier for President Obama. Kellyanne Conway, counselor to the …

Splinter reports: A brazen effort is underway to make the White House no longer the people’s house. The Trump Organization should just go ahead and slap a big ole TRUMP sign on the front of it. In response to the government shutdown over a funding impasse, someone has recorded an automated voice mail greeting on a public White House phone …

The Hill reports: The White House on Saturday released photos of President Trump working on the first day of the government shutdown and the one-year anniversary of his inauguration. One photo shows the president walking through a hallway wearing a white “Make America Great Again” hat, while another shows Trump sitting at his desk on the phone. The third photo …

The Hill reports: Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer (N.Y.) on Saturday blasted President Trump as an unreliable negotiating partner, fuming that working with him is “like negotiating with jello” after a failure to secure a deal to avert a government shutdown. “I told the president we Democrats were willing to fund the military at the highest levels in history, far …

The Associated Press reports: A tabloid magazine held back from publishing an adult film star’s 2011 account of an alleged affair with Donald Trump after the future president’s personal lawyer threatened to sue, four former employees of the tabloid’s publisher told The Associated Press. In Touch magazine published its 5,000-word interview with the pornographic actor Stormy Daniels on Friday — …

Here’s what really happened around 1AM: Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) would not allow military pay to be left unmolested by the Republican Party’s decision to shut down the federal government. Once again, Donald Trump and congressional Republicans have made the military suffer as a result of their political gamesmanship. The move, occurring at night as the Senate debated …

The Stormy Daniels story gets even stormier: President Trump’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen reportedly used a private company and a pseudonym to get money to an adult film star who allegedly had an affair with the president in 2006. The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that Cohen used Essential Consultants LLC, to send a lawyer representing the actress who calls …

Foreign Policy reports:  President Donald Trump personally made the decision to curtail the testimony of former chief White House political strategist Steve Bannon before the House Intelligence Committee, according to two people with firsthand knowledge of the matter. Trump acted to limit Bannon’s testimony based on legal advice provided by Uttam Dhillon, a deputy White House counsel, who concluded that …

Mediaite reports: CBS has released a preview of their extensive interview with Ty Cobb, a lawyer for President Donald Trump. And in it, the president’s counsel went on record as saying his client is quite willing to give an interview to special counsel Robert Mueller. Speaking with CBS White House correspondent Major Garrett on The Takeout‘s upcoming podcast, Cobb said …

McClatchy reports: The FBI is investigating whether a top Russian banker with ties to the Kremlin illegally funneled money to the National Rifle Association to help Donald Trump win the presidency, two sources familiar with the matter have told McClatchy. FBI counterintelligence investigators have focused on the activities of Alexander Torshin, the deputy governor of Russia’s central bank who is …

Newsweek reports: Almost one year after President Donald Trump took the oath of office, millions of dollars from his leftover inauguration funds have still not been donated to the charities they were promised to. Trump’s inauguration committee raised a record-breaking $107 million as his administration prepared to assume the White House last year, but very little has been disclosed about …

Axios reports: Steve Bannon made one conspicuous slip up in his closed-door hearing on Tuesday with the House Intelligence Committee, according to four sources with direct knowledge of the confidential proceedings. Bannon admitted that he’d had conversations with Reince Priebus, Sean Spicer and legal spokesman Mark Corallo about Don Junior’s infamous meeting with the Russians in Trump Tower in June …

CNN reports: Steve Bannon has struck a deal with special counsel Robert Mueller’s team and will be interviewed by prosecutors instead of testifying before the grand jury, two people familiar with the process told CNN. He is expected to cooperate with the special counsel, the sources said. The sources did not say when the interview will take place or if …

Starting earlier than usual at 1PM: What kind of questions can we expect Sanders to field? She’ll no doubt receive a few about Sen. Jeff Flake’s incendiary speech on the Senate floor today, which called out President Donald Trump for demonizing the media. There’s also any lingering questions surrounding Dr. Ronny Jackson and the president’s stellar health report, in which …