Tag: Trump corruption

Congress Pressing Probe Of Mar-A-Lago Influence Peddling

Credit: Getty Images

The House Veterans’ Affairs Committee is broadening its investigation into the growing scandal around wealthy members of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort who have exerted undue influence on American veterans policy, despite having no official government position and no experience with veterans issues.

Until recently, the scandal centered around three Mar-a-Lago members in particular — but a recent report from ProPublica offered evidence that the problem was even more widespread.

That’s why Rep. Mark Takano (D-CA), chair of the Veterans’ Affairs Committee, sent a letter late last week to the Department of Veterans Affairs demanding to know just how deep the corruption goes.

View the complete March 17 article by Dan Desai Martin with The American Independent on the National Memo website here.

Trump illegally used his foundation for campaign and must pay $8.4 million in restitution and fines: NY attorney general

President Donald Trump illegally used his charity to benefit his presidential campaign, New York’s attorney general said in a court filing Thursday.

Attorney General Letitia James said that Trump turned the Trump Foundation into a wing of his campaign in a 37-page court filing. James asked a judge to order the organization to pay $2.8 million in restitution for using charitable donations for political and business purposes, the Associated Press reported.

James also asked a judge to order President Trump to pay a $5.6 million penalty in the case, and to bar the president and his three eldest children from running any charities in the state for the next 10 years, Bloomberg reported.

View the complete March 17 article by Igor Derysh of Salon on the AlterNet website here.

Trump illegally used his foundation for campaign and must pay $8.4 million in restitution and fines: NY attorney general

President Donald Trump illegally used his charity to benefit his presidential campaign, New York’s attorney general said in a court filing Thursday.

Attorney General Letitia James said that Trump turned the Trump Foundation into a wing of his campaign in a 37-page court filing. James asked a judge to order the organization to pay $2.8 million in restitution for using charitable donations for political and business purposes, the Associated Press reported.

James also asked a judge to order President Trump to pay a $5.6 million penalty in the case, and to bar the president and his three eldest children from running any charities in the state for the next 10 years, Bloomberg reported.

View the complete March 17 article by Igor Derysh of Salon on the AlterNet website here.

Inside the opulent Trump inaugural dinner designed as a glittery overture to foreign diplomats

President-elect Trump delivers remarks at the Chairman’s Global Dinner on Jan. 17, 2017. Credit: Kevin Dietsch, Getty Images

Three days before Donald Trump was inaugurated president in January 2017, he arrived at a remarkable scene inside an auditorium in downtown Washington designed in the style of a Neoclassical temple.

About 550 guests — diplomats, wealthy megadonors, members of Congress and Cabinet nominees — dined on filet mignon and black cod as they watched a performance by the country music band Alabama and a straight-from-Las Vegas musical extravaganza. Mounds of red roses were arranged on tables, and a calligrapher was on site to inscribe the names of last-minute guests on seating cards.

The gathering, which cost the inaugural committee about $8,000 per person, was one of the most opulent events of the five-day inaugural celebration — yet it was not designed to showcase the new president, who decided to attend at the last minute, according to internal documents and people familiar with the planning.

View the complete March 15 article by Michael Kranish, Rosalind S. Helderman, Mary Jordan and Tom Hamburger on The Washington Post website here.

EPA regulator skirts the line between former clients and current job

Bill Wehrum, the Environmental Protection Agency’s top air-policy official, in Washington earlier this month. Credit: Bill O’Leary, The Washington Post

Less than a month into his tenure as the top air-policy official at the Environmental Protection Agency, Bill Wehrum hopped into the EPA’s electric Chevy Volt and rode to the Pennsylvania Avenue offices of his former law firm.

There, he met with representatives of the nation’s largest power companies — including two groups that, shortly before, had been his paying clients — to brief them on the Trump administration’s plans to weaken federal environmental regulations.

The Dec. 7, 2017, meeting is just one example of interactions between Wehrum, a skilled lawyer and regulator, and former clients that ethics experts say comes dangerously close to violating federal ethics rules. Wehrum acknowledges that since joining the EPA in November 2017, he has met with two former clients at his old firm — without consulting in advance with ethics officials, even though they had cautioned him about such interactions. He also weighed in on a policy shift that could have influenced litigation involving DTE Energy, a Detroit-based utility represented by his former firm.

View the complete February 25 article by Juliet Eilperin on The Washington Post website here.

Trump can’t run the Mueller playbook on New York feds

For starters, they have jurisdiction over the president’s political operation and businesses — subjects that executive privilege doesn’t cover.

Even as speculation mounts that special counsel Robert Mueller might be winding down his investigation, a parallel threat to President Donald Trump only seems to be growing within his own Justice Department: the Southern District of New York.

Manhattan-based federal prosecutors can challenge Trump in ways Mueller can’t. They have jurisdiction over the president’s political operation and businesses — subjects that aren’t protected by executive privilege, a tool Trump is considering invoking to block portions of Mueller’s report. From a PR perspective, Trump has been unable to run the same playbook on SDNY that he’s used to erode conservatives’ faith in Mueller, the former George W. Bush-appointed FBI director. Legal circles are also buzzing over whether SDNY might buck DOJ guidance and seek to indict a sitting president.

The threat was highlighted when SDNY prosecutors ordered officials from Trump’s inaugural committee to hand over donor and financial records. It was the latest aggressive move from an office that has launched investigations into the president’s company, former lawyer and campaign finance practices. New York prosecutors have even implicated Trump in a crime.

View the complete February 18 article by Darren Samuelsohn on the Politico website here.

Confidential Memo: Company of Trump Inaugural Chair Sought to Profit From Connections to Administration, Foreigners

The memo outlines how Colony, the company founded by Tom Barrack, an investor who chaired the inaugural, aimed to exploit its connections to Donald Trump. Federal prosecutors are conducting a wide-ranging probe into the nonprofit that ran the inaugural.

The investment firm founded by the chairman of Donald Trump’s inaugural committee, Tom Barrack, developed a plan to profit off its connections to the incoming administration and foreign dignitaries, according to a confidential memo obtained by WNYC and ProPublica.

“The key is to strategically cultivate domestic and international relations while avoiding any appearance of lobbying,” the memo says. Colony, which primarily invests in real estate, sought to capitalize on its access to the White House to get an early lead on infrastructure investments and to attract assets from potential investors.

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan on Monday subpoenaeddocuments from the nonprofit 58th Presidential Inaugural Committee, including anything related to foreign donations. Such donations to presidential inaugural committees are barred by law. Investigators are probing whether foreigners gave money in exchange for influence with the incoming Trump administration, NBC News reported.

View the complete February 5 article by Justin Elliott on the ProPublica website here.

Report: Ronny Jackson Nominated for Second Star by White House

Credit: Carlos Barria, Reuters

Former doctor to President Donald Trump, Navy Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson, is reportedly up for a “second star” while he under investigation by the Defense Department Inspector General’s Office. An official told Task and Purpose Jackson was nominated by the White House for “rear admiral upper half (2-star)” and submitted the nomination in Jan. 2019. The nomination was reportedly sent over to the Senate Armed Services Committee on Jan. 15, but is not close to a vote. The Inspector General’s Office confirmed to The Washington Postlast year that it was looking into allegations against Jackson’s conduct—which reportedly include accusations of overprescribing drugs and the creation of a “hostile working environment.” Inspector general’s office spokesman Bruce Anderson told the website on Friday the investigation is “still ongoing.” Jackson was nominated to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs, but withdrew his nomination in April 2018 after the allegations were made public.

View the complete February 1 post on the Daily Beast website here.

DNC on Report That President Trump Directed Michael Cohen to Lie to Congress

DNC Chair Tom Perez released the following statement:

“Obstruction of justice is a crime. Suborning perjury is a crime. These grave allegations should be investigated immediately. And if they prove true, the president must be held accountable for these crimes.

“House Republicans dragged their feet, looked the other way, and did everything they could to protect Trump from the rule of law. Now that Democrats are in charge, we will not rest until the American people know the whole truth.”

It Sure Looks Like Trump Obstructed Justice, Huh

A new report indicates that Trump obstructed justice to cover up interactions between his inner circle and Russia that occurred during the 2016 campaign. This report was based on accounts from multiple witnesses and documents, not on Cohen’s testimony. These are very serious charges and this report must be thoroughly investigated.

OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE: Trump reportedly directed his fixer Michael Cohen to lie to Congress about negotiations to build a Trump Tower in Moscow during the 2016 presidential campaign.

BuzzFeed: “President Donald Trump directed his longtime attorney Michael Cohen to lie to Congress about negotiations to build a Trump Tower in Moscow, according to two federal law enforcement officials involved in an investigation of the matter.”

TRUMP RECEIVED PERSONAL UPDATES: Trump received at least ten personal updates from Cohen on the progress of negotiations for a Trump Tower in Moscow and knew Cohen had talked to the Russian government.

BuzzFeed: “On the campaign trail, Trump vehemently denied having any business interests in Russia. But behind the scenes, he was pushing the Moscow project, which he hoped could bring his company profits in excess of $300 million. The two law enforcement sources said he had at least 10 face-to-face meetings with Cohen about the deal during the campaign. … Trump was even made aware that Cohen was speaking to Russian government officials about the deal.”

NOT A CASE OF HE SAID-HE SAID: The special counsel’s office is reportedly relying on multiple witnesses, emails, text messages, and other documents, not just on Cohen’s testimony.

BuzzFeed: “The special counsel’s office learned about Trump’s directive for Cohen to lie to Congress through interviews with multiple witnesses from the Trump Organization and internal company emails, text messages, and a cache of other documents. Cohen then acknowledged those instructions during his interviews with that office.”

MUST BE INVESTIGATED: Like any other interactions Trump has had with witnesses in the Russia investigation, this report must be thoroughly investigated. The special counsel’s office is doing just that, and House Democrats will too.

Washington Post: “Democrats in Congress vowed Friday to aggressively investigate a new report that President Trump personally directed his former attorney Michael Cohen to lie to Congress about the president’s push for a Moscow real estate project ahead of the 2016 election.”