Tag: Trump corruption

Michael Flynn judge says pardon doesn’t mean ex-national security adviser is innocent

Washington Post logo

A federal judge dismissed Michael Flynn’s prosecution Tuesday after President Trump’s pardon, but said the act of clemency does not mean the former national security adviser is innocent of lying to FBI agents about his talks with the Russian government before Trump took office.

In formally ending Flynn’s three-year legal saga, U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan said he probably would have denied the Justice Department’s controversial effort this year to drop the case, which Democrats and many legal experts said appeared to be an attempt by Attorney General William P. Barr to bend the rule of law to help a Trump ally.

Sullivan expressed deep skepticism about the Justice Department’s stated reasons for abandoning the case, criticizing it for applying a different set of rules to Flynn, who twice pleaded guilty to lying about his contacts with Russia’s ambassador during special. Continue reading.

Democratic lawmakers have no plans to drop multiple lawsuits filed against Trump once he leaves office: CNN

Any hope that Donald Trump may have had that Democratic lawmakers were willing to move on and ignore the possible illegalities committed during his four years in the White House has been put to rest as a top Democrat stated they have no interest in dropping a multitude of lawsuits that have been filed against the president.

With the president already looking at possible criminal indictments being filed against him and his family by New York Attorney General Letitia James and Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr., his life after leaving the Oval Office promises to be filled with depositions and increasing legal peril.

That includes lawsuits filed by House Democrats that won’t disappear after January 20th. Continue reading.

Trump aide banned from Justice after trying to get case info

WASHINGTON — The official serving as President Donald Trump’s eyes and ears at the Justice Department has been banned from the building after trying to pressure staffers to give up sensitive information about election fraud and other matters she could relay to the White House, three people familiar with the matter tell The Associated Press.

Heidi Stirrup, an ally of top Trump adviser Stephen Miller, was quietly installed at the Justice Department as a White House liaison a few months ago. She was told within the last two weeks to vacate the building after top Justice officials learned of her efforts to collect insider information about ongoing cases and the department’s work on election fraud, the people said.

Stirrup is accused of approaching staffers in the department demanding they give her information about investigations, including election fraud matters, the people said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the matter. Continue reading.

Republican senators urge Trump to dodge pardon controversies

The Hill logo

Republican senators say President Trump should proceed cautiously in granting pardons during his final weeks in office.

They want him to follow federal procedures, which give the Office of the Pardon Attorney a role in vetting pardon requests. While GOP senators recognize that Trump has broad pardon authority, they’re hoping to avoid a political uproar over last-minute pardons of figures within his inner circle — such as members of his family, his lawyer Rudy Giuliani, former advisers or wealthy donors.

Trump has discussed potential pardons for his three oldest children, Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump and Ivanka Trump, as well as his son-in-law Jared Kushner and Giuliani, according to The New York Times. Continue reading.

Trump, Kushner and White House hit with lawsuit to prevent them from destroying records

AlterNet logo

President Donald Trump, his son-in-law White House Senior Advisor Jared Kushner, and the White House were hit with a lawsuit on Tuesday to prevent the Trump administration from destroying documents during the last days of their time in office.

According to the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) and multiple other groups allege that the president and his administration are already “violating the Presidential Records Act by failing to properly preserve records of official government business,” reports Axios.

The lawsuit is suggesting the White House abrogate an official policy requiring staffers to “preserve screenshots of information sent on non-official messaging platforms as official presidential records.” Continue reading.

Talk of self-pardon for Trump heats up

The Hill logo

Chatter about President Trump‘s pardon plans is heating up, with top allies to the president publicly calling for him to preemptively grant clemency to confidants, family members and even himself.

In just 50 days, President-elect Joe Biden will be sworn in as president, exposing Trump to a significant legal liability that comes when a president leaves the Oval Office.

Fox News host Sean Hannity, who has frequently had the president’s ear, urged Trump on Monday to issue a self-pardon, framing it as a way to protect himself from politically-motivated charges. Continue reading.

Release Of Flynn’s Official Pardon Reveals Its Corrupt Purpose

President Donald Trump’s pardon of his former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, released on Monday evening by the Justice Department, revealed just how sweeping — and fundamentally corrupt — the act of clemency was.

It didn’t simply cover the charge of lying to the FBI about his interactions with the Russian ambassador during the 2016 transition, which Flynn had pleaded guilty to before trying to withdraw his plea. Instead, it offered a pardon:

for the charge of making false statements to Federal investigators, in violation of Section 1001, Title 18, United States Code, as charged in the Information filed under docket number 1:1 7-CR-00232-EGS in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia; for any and all possible offenses arising from the facts set forth in the Information and Statement of Offense filed under that docket number or that might arise, or be charged, claimed, or asserted, in connection with the proceedings under that docket number; for any and all possible offenses within the investigatory authority or jurisdiction of the Special Counsel appointed on May 17,2017, including the initial Appointment Order No. 3915-2017 and subsequent memoranda regarding the Special Counsel’s investigatory authority; and for any and all possible offenses arising out of facts and circumstances known to, identified by, or in any manner related to the investigation of the Special Counsel, including, but not limited to, any grand jury proceedings in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia or the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.

This would appear to include the crimes Flynn admitted to but wasn’t formally charged with, including acting as an undisclosed agent of Turkey while serving on the 2016 Trump campaign. Continue reading.

Trump advances far-right GOP congressman’s call for multiple pardons — including a self-pardon

AlterNet logo

On Wednesday afternoon, November 25, the day before Thanksgiving, President Donald Trump announced he had granted his former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, a presidential pardon. More pardons of Trump allies are expected during his final months in the White House, and one far-right Republican who is encouraging the president to make maximum use of his ability to pardon allies is Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida. Moreover, Gaetz is stressing that Trump should pardon himself before he leaves office.

Gaetz, on November 24, tweeted, “President Trump should pardon Flynn, the Thanksgiving turkey, and everyone from himself, to his admin, to Joe Exotic if he has to. The Left has a bloodlust that will only be quenched if they come for those who fought with @realDonaldTrump to deliver for the American people.” And Trump forwarded Gaetz’ tweet.

Trump hasn’t been charged with any crimes, but after he leaves the White House on January 20, 2021 — the day of President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration — he could be the target of multiple investigations at the federal and state levels. Trump’s finances have been the subject of a criminal investigation by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr., and his ability to grant presidential pardons only exists at the federal level and not at the state level. Flynn was pardoned for federal offenses he pled guilty to. Continue reading.

A major Trump donor’s company got a 3 percent government-backed pandemic loan. It sells title loans at a 350 percent annual rate.

Washington Post logo

Wellshire Financial Services got the money despite rules meant to prevent most lenders from qualifying for the Main Street program

A company owned by a major donor to President Trump that operates auto-title loan stores with names such as LoanStar and Moneymax secured a $25 million low-interest loan from a government pandemic aid program, using what consumer advocates describe as a loophole to a rule designed to prevent most lenders from getting this federal help.

The cash infusion to Wellshire Financial Services — part of a multi-state title loan empire run by Atlanta businessman Rod Aycox — came from the Federal Reserve’s $600 billion Main Street Lending program for small- and medium-size businesses. It’s the same program that is among the Federal Reserve’s emergency lending facilities that will be allowed to expire at year’s end after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced last week the unspent funds will be redirected to more distressed parts of the U.S. economy. The decision does not affect loans that already have been made, such as the one to Wellshire.

Wellshire’s government-backed, five-year loan came with a 3.15 percent interest rate, Fed records show. Continue reading.

Trump’s post-presidency will be cluttered with potentially serious legal battles

Washington Post logo

NEW YORK — President Trump’s ongoing court battles are unlikely to pose significant legal jeopardy for him before he leaves office, but the swirl of criminal investigations and civil complaints stemming from his business activities and personal conduct could prove potentially more serious once he departs, experts say.

Among Democrats, there is a palpable desire to pursue the harsh accountability for Trump that many say he has avoided by virtue of his office. But his successor, President-elect Joe Biden, reportedly has little appetite for doing so, having signaled to advisers that unleashing the federal government to settle scores would undermine his goal of unifying the country.

A spokesman for Biden’s transition team declined to comment but pointed to statements Biden made previously affirming that he would not interfere with a Justice Department investigation into Trump nor pardon his predecessor. “It is not something the president is entitled to do, to direct a prosecution or decide to drop a case,” Biden told MSNBC in an interview in May. “It’s a dereliction of duty.” Continue reading.