Tag: Trump corrupts all around

Judge orders release of Trump obstruction memo, accuses Barr of deception

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A federal judge has ordered the Department of Justice (DOJ) to release a March 2019 legal memo clearing former President Trump of potential obstruction of justice charges following the Mueller investigation, with the judge accusing former Attorney General William Barr and agency lawyers of deceiving the public.

District Judge Amy Berman Jackson on Monday ordered the DOJ to release the legal memo within two weeks in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by the liberal watchdog group Citizens for Ethics and Responsibility in Washington (CREW).

The DOJ had argued in court that the full memo — portions of which have already been released — should be withheld because it falls under exceptions to the public records law for attorney-client privilege and deliberative government decisionmaking. Continue reading.

‘Well-connected’ GOP donor linked to Rick Santorum scored $65 million in government investment for one-person company

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It is going to take approximately half of forever to sort out the corruption of the Trump years—presuming we eventually get to that point. A new scandal of the sort that would in past years result in weeks of televised outrage seems to crop up every few days.

The Associated Press brings us yet another. A “well-connected” Republican donor managed to score up to $65 million in government investment for a new method of processing blood plasma, including plasma to be used for treating patients in the COVID-19 pandemic. That seems unsurprising on its face: Of course the government is interested in investing in technologies that could help fight the pandemic. But AP reporters dug a little deeper and, as with everything in this new era of Republican cronyism, things are not quite that clear-cut.

The blood plasma company in line to get $65 million, Plasma Technologies, does not have any physical facilities. It is registered at the South Carolina home address of “connected” Republican donor Eugene Zurlo, a man who has been attempting to sell his technology for some time with no success. It looks like it has never produced plasma. Continue reading.

Trump did it again — the same blackmail scheme that got him impeached

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Back thousands of years ago, in February of 2020, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, a “moderate” Republican, justified her vote to acquit Donald Trump at his impeachment trial — despite the mountains of evidence of guilt — by claiming that Trump had learned his lesson. 

“I believe that the president has learned from this case,” Collins told CBS news anchor Norah O’Donnell at the time. “The president has been impeached — that’s a pretty big lesson.”

That excuse was preposterous at the time, making it sound like Trump was a child who had his hand in the cookie jar, not a 73-year-old man caught abusing his powers of office to blackmail the Ukrainian president into propping up conspiracy theories about Joe Biden. But it was also hilariously predictable that Trump, who is incapable of learning or growing as a person, would absorb any moral lessons from being impeached. Continue reading.

Pompeo on IG firing: ‘Frankly should have done it some time ago’

The Hill logoSecretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday doubled down on his request to fire the State Department’s internal watchdog, while also refusing to detail his reason for recommending the move.

“Frankly should have done it some time ago,” Pompeo said during a combative briefing with reporters at the State Department, referring to his request.

President Trump notified Congress late Friday evening of his intention to dismiss State Department Inspector General (IG) Steve Linick, who was appointed in 2013 under President Obama, because he had lost confidence in the watchdog. Continue reading.