Tag: Trump corruption

Schiff: Court Papers Show Trump Could Have Been Charged

New evidence emerged Thursday related to the campaign finance crime that helped put former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen in prison. A judge unsealed court documents in the case, indicating that the investigation has concluded and revealing extensive communications between Cohen, then-candidate Donald Trump, and campaign spokesperson Hope Hicks.

According to House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff, the new materials show that were Trump not the president, “he would be criminally charged as Cohen’s co-conspirator.”

“The documents unsealed in the SDNY case against Michael Cohen demonstrate that Donald Trump was intimately involved in devising and executing a corrupt scheme to prevent his affair with Stormy Daniels from being revealed in the final weeks of the 2016 election,” Schiff said. “They show that contrary to his public statements for months afterwards seeking to distance himself from the payments that were made to Daniels, and another woman, Karen McDougal, he authorized the illegal payment of hush money, and coordinated doing so with his attorney, Cohen, and his Press Secretary, Hope Hicks.”

View the complete July 18 article by Cody Fenwick from AlterNet on the National memo website here.

July 4th fireworks donor lobbied President Trump on tariffs and won a reprieve

President Donald Trump‘s Fourth of July celebration will feature $750,000 of donated fireworks from an Ohio retailer who has lobbied the White House against expanded tariffs on Chinese imports.

And last week, the same day the donation was announced, the company — Phantom Fireworks of Youngstown, Ohio — got what it wanted: Trump decided to hold off on his threatened $300 billion in tariffs on Chinese goods, which include fireworks.

“This is another example of how private companies attempt use their money to influence the government by stroking the president’s ego,” said Jordan Libowitz with Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a nonpartisan watchdog group.

View the complete July 3 article by Devin Dwyer and Stepanie ebbs on the ABC News website here.

Ethics experts warn of ‘partisan appropriation of a public event’ as RNC gives donors tickets to Trump’s Fourth of July event

AlterNet logoFourth of July celebrations in Washington, D.C. have a long history of being adamantly nonpartisan and not including speeches by sitting presidents — that is, until 2019. In addition to the usual fireworks and Independence Day celebrations in the U.S. capital, this Fourth of July will include an event featuring a speech by President Donald Trump along with military displays. And the Republican National Committee (RNC), HuffPost reports, has been offering tickets to the event to major GOP donors.

Exactly what type of military display Trump’s event will feature remains unclear. Flyovers by military planes are planned, and according to the Washington Post, Trump has pushed for tanks and other military vehicles to be featured on the National Mall — although there are concerns that such vehicles could damage the roads and the grass.

Critics of Trump’s Fourth of July event are warning that it will, in effect, be a campaign rally for the president. And Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a history professor at New York University, noted that showing off military vehicles at such an event is characteristic of authoritarian dictatorships.

View the complete July 2 article by Alex Henderson on the AlterNet website here.

House Democrats vote to block diplomats’ funds from going to Trump hotels, golf resorts

Republicans slam amendment as ‘partisan stunt’

Updated 8:24 p.m. | House Democrats offered another rebuke to President Donald Trump on Tuesday, this time by voting to block the State Department from spending taxpayers’ money at his domestic and overseas golf clubs and hotels.

The House voted 231-187 to adopt an amendment that would prohibit the department from spending funds at any of the Trump Organization’s hundreds of hotels, golf resorts and other properties. The provision was voted on as part of an en bloc package of amendments that Democratic leaders put together to avoid the risk of floor time being eaten up by roll call votes on each.

The amendments become part of the fiscal 2020 State-Foreign Operations portion of a broader spending package that is expected to receive a floor vote this week.

View the complete June 18 article by Rachel Oswald on The Roll Call website here.

Report: Million-Dollar Donor To Trump Inaugural Under Federal Investigation

A $1 million donation that real estate mogul Franklin Haney made to President Donald Trump’s inaugural committee is now being investigated by federal prosecutors in New York, ABC News is reporting.

The probe of Haney’s donation is part of a federal investigation of the committee’s finances. This isn’t the first time that one of Haney’s large donations has been investigated: in 1999, Haney (who is now 79) was charged with making about $100,000 in illegal donations to President Bill Clinton, Vice President Al Gore and others but was acquitted.

Haney’s $1 million contribution to the Trump inaugural committee came at a time when he was hoping to acquire Alabama’s Bellefonte Nuclear Power Plant and needed regulatory approval. But two years later, that acquisition still hasn’t come about.

View the complete May 27 article by Alex Henderson on the National Memo website here.

‘He always brings them up’: Trump tries to steer border wall deal to North Dakota firm

President Trump has personally and repeatedly urged the head of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to award a border wall contract to a North Dakota construction firm whose top executive is a GOP donor and frequent guest on Fox News, according to four administration officials.

In phone calls, White House meetings and conversations aboard Air Force One during the past several months, Trump has aggressively pushed Dickinson, N.D.-based Fisher Industries to Department of Homeland Security leaders and Lt. Gen. Todd Semonite, the commanding general of the Army Corps, according to the administration officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive internal discussions. The push for a specific company has alarmed military commanders and DHS officials.

Semonite was summoned to the White House again Thursday, after the president’s aides told Pentagon officials — including Gen. Mark Milley, the Army’s chief of staff — that the president wanted to discuss the border barrier. According to an administration official with knowledge of the Oval Office meeting, Trump immediately brought up Fisher, a company that sued the U.S. government last month after the Army Corps did not accept its bid to install barriers along the southern border, a contract potentially worth billions of dollars.

View the complete May 23 article by Nick Miroff and Josh Dawsey on The Washington Post website here.

Bank CEO charged with trying to bribe Trump administration

Federal Savings Bank CEO Stephen Calk has been charged with bribery for allegedly trying to solicit a position in the Trump administration from former campaign manager Paul Manafort in exchange for $16 million in loans.

“Calk provided the Borrower with a ranked list of the governmental positions he desired, which started with Secretary of the Treasury, and was followed by Deputy Secretary of the Treasury, Secretary of Commerce, and Secretary of Defense, as well as 19 ambassadorships similarly ranked and starting with the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Italy.”

Why it matters: The Southern District of New York’s press release notes that Calk believed he could use Manafort’s influence on the Trump transition team — despite Manafort formally leaving the campaign in August 2016 — to obtain a senior administration position. As NBC’s Tom Winter notes, the White House has long refused to answer when Manafort actually stopped communicating with members of Trump’s orbit.

View the May 23 article by Orion Rummler on the Axios website here.

After Lending Trump $11.2 Million, Banker Was Appointed To Atlanta Federal Reserve

A top bank executive received an appointment to the Federal Reserve after his bank approved millions in loans to Trump in 2018.

Mother Jones reported that Professional Bank granted Trump a loan of $11.2 million in May of 2018, according to his recently filed financial disclosure forms. That money was used to finance the purchase of a mansion next to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago from his sister, Maryanne Trump Barry.

Trump’s company is currently offering the property for rent for $81,250 a month (down from $100,000).

View the complete May 22 article by Oliver Willis on the National Memo website here.

New York Senate Passes Bill Allowing Release Of Trump’s State Taxes

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin broke the law to keep Congress from seeing Trump’s federal tax returns — but Trump’s state tax returns from New York could soon be available to Congress thanks to a bill making its way through the New York Legislature.

The New York state Senate passed a bill on Wednesday allowing state tax returns to be handed over to Congress upon request.

The New York Times reports that the bill would allow the commissioner of the New York Department of Taxation and Finance to release any state tax return if requested for a “specific and legitimate legislative purpose” by one of three congressional committees: House Ways and Means, Senate Finance, or the Joint Committee on Taxation.

View the complete May 8 article by Dan Desai Martin on the National Memo website here.