Category: Trump Administration

Newly unredacted Mueller docs expose damning details of Manafort’s lies about meetings with Kremlin agents

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Disgraced former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort infamously blew up his plea agreement with prosecutors by repeatedly lying to them even after pledging full cooperation in their probe of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

However, the details of Manafort’s lies to prosecutors have long remained a secret — until Monday, that is, when Judge Amy Berman Jackson unsealed more lightly redacted documents showing the exact nature of Manafort’s deceptions.

In short, Manafort repeatedly lied to investigators about his dealings with Ukrainian national Konstantin Kilimnik, who was sanctioned earlier this year for giving Manafort-provided internal Trump campaign polling data to Russian intelligence services. Continue reading.

National Guard’s Capitol security mission ends as lawmakers feud over protection needs, costs

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National Guard personnel will fully depart the U.S. Capitol grounds this week, military and congressional officials said Monday, bringing an end to the security mission that began when armed troops were dispatched to help quell the attack by supporters of former president Donald Trump.

The National Guard was deployed Jan. 6 to help beat back a crowd of about 10,000 rioters who had besieged the building and clear out the approximately 800 who had broken inside. Why it took the National Guard more than three hours after the breach to arrive continues to be a matter of contentious discussion on Capitol Hill, where House lawmakers recently grilled Trump’s former acting defense secretary for details about that day.

“These airmen and soldiers protected not only the grounds, but the lawmakers working on those grounds, ensuring the people’s business could continue unabated,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement. “They lived out in very tangible ways the oath they took to support and defend the Constitution.” Continue reading.

Key impeachment witness Gordon Sondland sues Mike Pompeo and U.S. for $1.8 million in legal fees

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President Donald Trump’s former ambassador to the European Union, Gordon Sondland, is suing former secretary of state Mike Pompeo and the U.S. government for $1.8 million to compensate for legal fees incurred during the 2019 House impeachment probe.

The suit, filed Monday in federal court in the District of Columbia, alleges that Pompeo reneged on his promise that the State Department would cover the fees after Sondland delivered bombshell testimony accusing Trump and his aides of pressuring the government of Ukraine to investigate then-presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son Hunter in exchange for military aid.

Sondland, a Portland hotel magnate appointed by Trump to serve as ambassador, became a key witness of the impeachment probe because of his firsthand knowledge of conversations with Trump, his attorney Rudy Giuliani and senior Ukrainian officials — as well as his punchy answers, affable demeanor and colorful language. Continue reading.

Commerce Department security unit evolved into counterintelligence-like operation, Washington Post examination found

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An obscure security unit tasked with protecting the Commerce Department’s officials and facilities has evolved into something more akin to a counterintelligence operation that collected information on hundreds of people inside and outside the department, a Washington Post examination found.

The Investigations and Threat Management Service (ITMS) covertly searched employees’ offices at night, ran broad keyword searches of their emails trying to surface signs of foreign influence and scoured Americans’ social media for critical comments about the census, according to documents and interviews with five former investigators.

In one instance, the unit opened a case on a 68-year-old retiree in Florida who tweeted that the census, which is run by the Commerce Department, would be manipulated “to benefit the Trump Party!” records show. Continue reading.

MSNBC’s Morning Joe notices something ‘strange’ about the GOP ‘personality cult’

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MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough noticed something “strange” about the “personality cult” that has developed around former president Donald Trump in the Republican Party.

The GOP has lost control of the House, Senate and White House since Trump was first elected, but the “Morning Joe” host said the more they lose, the more they seem to love the twice-impeached one-term president.

“It really is strange,” Scarborough said. “The more Republicans lose, the more of a personality cult Donald Trump seems to develop. You can look at his losses in ’17 and ’18 — historic losses. I mean, Republicans losing like they’ve never lost before in the House of Representatives, just as far as a pure, pure vote totals, [and in] ’19, they started losing governorships in the South and then in ’20, they lost the big race, lost the race for their presidency, lost Georgia, lost the Senate, lost the House.” Continue reading.

ABC host corners ‘unrealistic’ Susan Collins for opposing Jan. 6 commission that she ‘strongly’ supports

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Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) on Sunday insisted that she “strongly” supports a bipartisan commission to study the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol even though she has threatened to vote against it. 

During an appearance on ABC’s This Week, host George Stephanopoulos asked Collins why she has said that she would vote against a bill that was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives to establish the commission.

“You called that attack appalling and un-American, provoked by President Trump,” Stephanopoulos noted. “But now you say you’re going to support the commission only under certain conditions, including that it wrap up this year, which appears pretty unrealistic.” Continue reading.

‘You’re putting country above party?’ Chris Wallace calls out Roy Blunt’s ‘honesty’ on Jan. 6 commission

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Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) over the weekend declined to say if he is “putting country above party” by opposing a commission to study the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. 

In a Sunday interview on Fox News, host Chris Wallace asked Blunt why he is trying to prevent a new investigation into the events of Jan. 6.

“Well, I think it’s too early to create a commission,” Blunt explained. “And I believe Republicans in the Senate will decide that it’s too early to create that commission. Commissions often don’t work at all. And when they do work, like the Simpson-Bowles commission produced a good result — nothing happened as part of that result.” Continue reading.

Democrats seize on GOP opposition to Jan. 6 commission

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Democrats are hammering Republicans over their opposition to a Jan. 6 commission as they look to retain control of Congress next year.

Hopes for a bipartisan panel to investigate the deadly riot at the Capitol earlier this year were dashed when Republican leadership came out against the idea, casting it as a partisan maneuver.

But some Democrats believe there may be a silver lining in the recent development, seeing the GOP’s sharp reversal on the issue as a way to bolster support ahead of the midterm elections. Continue reading.

‘Why do they tolerate Trump?’ Conservative calls on Republicans to recover some ‘dignity’ and cut ex-president loose

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Donald Trump personally insults the Republicans whose support he demands, and one conservative wonders why they keep sucking up to the twice-impeached former president.

The former reality TV star and 2024 frontrunner has infamously insulted John McCain’s military service, Ted Cruz’s wife and father and Jeb Bush’s vitality, but Republicans keep resisting any chance to cut the scandal-plagued party figurehead loose, wrote The Daily Beast’s Matt Lewis.

“The big question is: Why do they tolerate Trump?” Lewis wondered. “Why doesn’t their primal desire for pride and honor and dignity ever kick in?” Continue reading.

Why service members charged in the Capitol riot are staying in uniform — for now

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Within days of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, some people who participated were fired from their jobs when images showing them storming the building appeared online.

But the process is playing out differently for service members charged in the riot.

Commanders are waiting for legal proceedings at the Justice Department before they make administrative decisions for charged troops, defense officials have said. Continue reading.