Let’s start with Trump’s response via Twitter this morning (read from the bottom up) I like how he puts “no fees” in there. What charitable organization charges fees? In any event, to argue that the Trump Foundation was fiscally responsible is laughable. David Fahrenthold, who won a Pulitzer for his reporting on the Trump Foundation writes: President Trump has agreed … Read More
A Snapshot of All 17 Trump Investigations So Far
From Wired — Here’s a complete rundown of the various known investigations targeting Trump’s world from local, state, and federal prosecutors: Investigations by the Special Counsel 1. The Russian Government’s Election Attack: The special counsel moved aggressively to outline and charge the Russian government’s core attack on the 2016 election, which included both active cyber intrusions and data theftby the military intelligence … Read More
Update On The OTHER Russia Scandal
In a week of political scandals, it is important that this one doesn’t get lost because, although it doesn’t implicate Trump, it implicates the Republican Party as well as the Republicans’ source of campaign income, the NRA. I’m talking of course about Marina Butina. I’ve talked about her here and here. Butina was arrested in July after the FBI raided … Read More
The Steele Dossier: Proven Or Unproven
Chuck Rosenburg at Lawfare reviewed the Steele Dossier to see if was BS or not. The answer is… well, is not UNproven, some has been proven, but most uncorroborated. Here’s the skinny: [W]e thought it would be worthwhile to look back at the dossier and to assess, to the extent possible, how the substance of Steele’s reporting holds up over … Read More
Cohen Talks
This morning, Cohen has gave a new interview to ABC News that deals a big blow to Trump’s defense that Trump never directed Cohen to break any laws when he arranged the deal with AMI to payoff Karen McDougal. According to Trump. it was on Cohen to fix the problem legally. If Cohen failed in this regard, that’s on him. First, ABC’s George Stephanopoulos got Cohen to … Read More
Kusher Tied Up With AMI’s Efforts To Play For Trump
The Daily Beast reports: Shortly after the 2016 presidential election, Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner was handed a task considered critical to the president’s operations. In addition to serving as a senior adviser in the White House, he would also be playing the role of the main conduit between Trump and his friend David Pecker, the National Enquirer publisher and chief executive of … Read More
Crazy Days
It’s impossible to keep up with the news anymore. Here is just today: Donald Trump’s inauguration committee is under investigation. Apparently they managed to spend twice as much as any other recent president for an inaugural celebration that was half the size of any other recent president. Maria Butina pleaded guilty to infiltrating the NRA on behalf of Russia. Trump is now on … Read More
And Now… Another Trump Scandal
Breaking from WSJ: Federal prosecutors in Manhattan are investigating whether President Trump’s 2017 inaugural committee misspent some of the record $107 million it raised from donations, people familiar with the matter said. The criminal probe by the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office, which is in its early stages, also is examining whether some of the committee’s top donors gave money in exchange … Read More
Trump Was In The Room With Cohen And Pecker
Breaking from NBC: Donald Trump was the third person in the room in August 2015 when his lawyer Michael Cohen and National Enquirer publisher David Pecker discussed ways Pecker could help counter negative stories about Trump’s relationships with women, NBC News has confirmed. As part of a non-prosecution agreement disclosed Wednesday by federal prosecutors, American Media Inc., the Enquirer’s parent company, admitted that “Pecker … Read More
Trump On A Twitter Tear This Morning
He rants about the investigations, Cohen, the wall…. in a largely fact-free tirade. This is creative accounting at best. I don’t know how much the US benefits from the NAFTA 2.0 Trade Agreement (i.e., the USMCA), but by most accounts, it’s not that different from the original NAFTA. And anyway, the benefits go to manufacturers, farmers, etc. — not the … Read More
Breaking: Cohen Sentenced
I would like to believe that Michael Cohen has “seen the light” and regrets everything he did on the “path of darkness” (his words) as Trump’s fixer. Like Dean before him, I think he probably is sincere about starting a new life after getting so mired in seedy politics. But he has to pay the piper, and while he seems … Read More
Trump’s Reality Tremor
For all of Trump’s outward swagger, signs are mounting that the White House is deeply rattled. Federal prosecutors now claim Trump personally directed a conspiracy to secure his election in the form of illegal hush-money payments. We’ve learned that Trump negotiated business dealings with Russia throughout the GOP primaries, which he concealed. And there are solid grounds for believing Mueller still hasn’t tipped his hand … Read More
What The Manafort And Cohen Sentencing Memos Really Say
Uh no. Trump arguably got support from the Justice Department on one point. A few days ago, he tweeted that his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, should “serve a full and complete sentence.” This was in response to Cohen’s argument that he should serve no jail time in recognition of his extensive cooperation with prosecutors. It turns out that the Justice Department agrees … Read More
Document Dump: Cohen Sentencing Memos From Mueller and SDNY
Mueller’s recommendation for Cohen’s sentencing: and the SDNY’s recommendation, which is far less kinder than Mueller’s: Right now, it really looks like Trump aka Individual-1 has a huge problem not with Mueller (although we know Mueller holds his cards close to the vest), but with his own DOJ. Campaign finance violations. Illegal, and if he directed it, potentially fatal.