Tag: Trump White House

Trump move raises pressure on Barr

President Trump’s decision to publicly object to special counsel Robert Mueller’s testimony has raised pressure on Attorney General William Barr while stoking a deepening feud with Capitol Hill over presidential power.

Barr has maintained that he is willing to allow Mueller to testify, a position that now appears to put him at odds with the president.

Until this weekend, Trump had expressed ambivalence over Mueller’s testimony, leaving the decision up to Barr.

View the complete May 6 article by Morgan Chalfant and Olivia Beavers on The Hill website here.

Ivanka Trump’s Landlord May be ‘Trying to Buy Her Silence’ on Sulfide Mine Threatening Clean Water: Bush Ethics Chief

A former chief ethics lawyer under President George W. Bush raised concerns Saturday that Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner’s billionaire landlord could be trying to influence the senior White House advisers in a manner that would help him to build a sulfide mine in Minnesota that environmentalists call a threat to clean water.

The ex-White House ethics chief, University of Minnesota law professor Richard Painter, shared a recent City Pagesstory about the Chilean copper conglomerate Antofagasta’s plans to build a sulfide-ore mine in Minnesota’s Rainy River watershed, which drains into the protected Boundary Waters wilderness area.

Antofagasta is owned by Chilean businessman Andrónico Luksic, who bought a $5.5 million mansion in Washington, D.C., shortly after Donald Trump won the 2016 presidential election. Luksic now rents that Kalorama neighorhood home to the president’s daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner for $15,000 per month, according to The Wall Street Journal.

View the complete May 4 article by Erica Kwong on the Newsweek website here.

Watergate had the Nixon tapes. Mueller had Annie Donaldson’s notes.

The notes, scribbled rapidly on a legal pad, captured the fear inside the White House when President Trump raged over the Russia investigation and decreed he was firing the FBI director who led it: “Is this the beginning of the end?”

The angst-filled entry is part of a shorthand diary that chronicled the chaotic days in Trump’s West Wing, a trove that the special counsel report cited more than 65 times as part of the evidence that the president sought to blunt a criminal investigation bearing down on him.

The public airing of the notes — which document then-White House counsel Donald McGahn’s contemporaneous account of events and his fear that the president was engaged in legally risky conduct — has infuriated Trump.

View the complete May 3 article by Carol D. Leonnig on The Washington Post website here.

Trump’s pursuit of infrastructure deal hits GOP roadblock

President Trump faces stiff opposition from Republicans in his desire for a massive infrastructure package.

GOP lawmakers say the president’s grand proposal for a $2 trillion deal is too ambitious and warn that they will oppose any measure that adds to the deficit.

Many Republicans also say they are against raising taxes to pay for an infrastructure initiative, a stance that would make it extremely difficult to find money to finance a package even half the size of Trump’s desired amount.

View the complete May 3 article by Alexander Bolton, JulieGrace Brufke and Scott Wong on The Hill website here.

Trump indicates he will block McGahn testimony

President Trump on Thursday indicated he may attempt to block former White House counsel Don McGahn from testifying to Congress, a move that would escalate his war against Democrat-led investigations.

Trump said he does not “think [he] can let” McGahn speak to congressional investigators and then try to stop other White House aides from cooperating with House Democrats’ probes into his administration, campaign and businesses.

“I can’t say, ‘Well one can and the others can’t,’” Trump said during an interview with Fox News. “I would say it’s done. We’ve gone through this.”

View the complete May 2 article by Jordan Fabian on The Hill website here.

Kellyanne Conway Broke the Law Attacking Joe Biden in the White House Driveway and Should Be Fired: Bush Ethics Chief

A chief ethics lawyer under President George W. Bush accused Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway of breaking federal law yet again for bashing former Vice President and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden on the White House driveway the past two days.

Conway, while speaking to reporters on Tuesday and Wednesday, talked down Biden. Former ethics chief Richard Painter flagged these actions as violations of the Hatch Act, which prohibits government employees other than elected officials from using their official positions to influence the result of an election.

“Oh we must be worried about Biden,” Conway said on Wednesday. “Look at what Kellyanne said today, so thanks for the free commercial on all the things Joe Biden didn’t get done for the eight years he was vice president.”

View the complete May 2 article by Jessica Kwong on The Newsweek website here.

White House complained about Mueller report to Barr

White House lawyer Emmet Flood sent a letter to Attorney General William Barr in April complaining that special counsel Robert Mueller‘s report made “political” statements, according to multiple reports.

The letter was sent one day after Mueller’s redacted report was released to the public.

In it, Flood described the Mueller report as suffering from “an extraordinary legal defect” and rebuked the special counsel for explicitly stating that his investigation did not “exonerate” President Trump on allegations of obstruction of justice.

View the complete May 2 article by Morgan Chalfant on The Hill website here.

Fines? Jail time? Democrats leave all options on the table for enforcing subpoenas

As administration stonewalls Congress, Democrats consider using historical ‘inherent contempt’ power

Administration officials could face fines or jail time for ignoring congressional subpoenas, as House Democrats say they’re seriously considering reviving a congressional power that has not been used since the 1930s.

President Donald Trump has publicly urged administration officials not to comply with congressional subpoenas, and some have started heeding the advice. House Democrats have made no formal decisions about how to respond to the Trump administration’s stonewalling of their oversight investigations, but one option on the table is the historical process of “inherent contempt.”

“There is no tool in our toolbox that we should not explore,” Oversight and Reform Chairman Elijah E. Cummings said Tuesday.

View the complete May 1 article by Lindsey McPherson on The Roll Call website here.

Trump, Pelosi infrastructure talks invite skepticism

K Street sees Tuesday’s meeting between Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and President Trump as a last-chance bid to move on a bipartisan infrastructure deal this year.

At the beginning of the Congress, advocates expressed hope that infrastructure was one of the few issues where House Democrats were likely to work with Trump. But there has been frustration that both sides have made little public progress toward a deal.

Those who spoke to The Hill hoped the Tuesday meeting would give the issue new momentum.

View the complete April 29 article by Alex Gangitano on The Hill website here.

Trump’s attempt to strong-arm Congress is actually a sign of his weakness

Suing a committee chairman and his own accounting firm. Telling people who don’t work for him anymore that they can’t testify to Congress. Having his personal lawyer tell the Treasury Department not to release Trump’s tax returns to Congress. These are all actions President Trump has taken against Congress in the past few days, evidence that he’s going full-court to stop lawmakers from investigating him.

It’s an unprecedentedly brazen move for a president. But Joshua Huder, a fellow at the Government Affairs Institute at Georgetown University, says it’s actually a sign of Trump’s weakness.

Past presidents have negotiated behind the scenes with Congress when they don’t want to turn over information. They’ve relied on influential allies on Capitol Hill to help make their case. Trump is forced to take the most extreme measures because he doesn’t have enough soft power to do that, Huder argues. As a result, Trump is forcing himself into high-profile legal and political battles he has a real risk of losing.

View the complete April 27 article by Amber Phillips on The Washington Post website here.