The 47-month sentenced former Donald Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort received yesterday in a Virginia courtroom drew wide condemnation for its leniency. Actually, it is less, because he gets credit for nine months of time served. Convicted as part of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigations, Manafort faced 19 to 24 years per guidelines of the U.S. Sentencing Commission. Criminal sentences … Read More
Document Dump: Cohen Sues Trump
Former Trump “fixer” Michael Cohen is suing the Trump Orginization for over $1.9 million in attorneys’ fees for past work done, as well as an additional $1.9 million that he was ordered to pay for crimes committed while working for Trump. Cohen claims Trump Org breached a July 2017 agreement which agreed to cover costs incurred while participating in ongoing … Read More
Trump Scandals: No Historical Parallel
Even without seeing Robert Mueller’s report, or knowing what prosecutors with the Southern District of New York have unearthed, or what congressional investigators will find, we already have witnessed the biggest political scandal in American history. Historians tell Axios that the only two scandals that come close to Trump-Russia are Watergate, which led to President Richard Nixon’s resignation in 1974, and … Read More
Quinnipiac Poll Shows Most People Don’t Believe Trump And That He Committed Crimes Before Becoming President
President Donald Trump committed crimes before he became president, American voters say 64 – 24 percent in a Quinnipiac University National Poll released today. Republicans say 48 – 33 percent that President Trump did not commit crimes before he was president, the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University National Poll finds. Every other listed party, gender, education, age and racial group says … Read More
To Add To The List Of Trump Crimes: Insurance Fraud
With any other administration, this would be impeachable if it turns out to be true: New York State regulators have issued an expansive subpoena to the Trump Organization’s longtime insurance broker, the first step in an investigation of insurance policies and claims involving President Trump’s family business, according to the company and a person briefed on the matter. The subpoena … Read More
Trump Put Pressure On To Get Ivanka’s Security Clearance Passed, Too
Lees than a week after we learned about Trump overriding concerns about Jared Kushner’s security clearance, we learn this, from CNN: Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump pressured his then-chief of staff John Kelly and White House counsel Don McGahn to grant his daughter and senior adviser Ivanka Trump a security clearance against their recommendations, three people familiar with the matter told … Read More
He Just Couldn’t Help Himself, I Guess
Roger Stone, 66, Donald Tump’s longtime friend under indictment and who is is barred from criticizing Mueller’s team of prosecutors under the gag imposed Feb. 21 after the longtime Republican operative posted an Instagram image of Jackson’s face next to a rifle scope’s crosshair, is in trouble. He posted an Instagram that could be in violation of the judge’s strict … Read More
Says It All
“(Crooked) Hillary Clinton confirms she will not run in 2020, rules out a third bid for White House.” Aw-shucks, does that mean I won’t get to run against her again? She will be sorely missed! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 5, 2019 pic.twitter.com/nK9t5Voc6K — Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) March 5, 2019
House Judiciary Committee Gets Serious About Subpoenas To Trump Associates
Here is the list of document requests the committee sent. Alan Garten (letter, document requests) Alexander Nix (letter, document requests) Allen Weisselberg (letter, document requests) American Media Inc (letter, document requests) Anatoli Samochornov (letter, document requests) Andrew Intrater (letter, document requests) Annie Donaldson (letter, document requests) Brad Parscale (letter, document requests) Brittany Kaiser (letter, document requests) Cambridge Analytica (letter, document requests) Carter Page (letter, document requests) Columbus Nova (letter, document requests) Concord Management and Consulting (letter, document requests) Corey Lewandowski (letter, document requests) David Pecker (letter, document requests) Department of … Read More
The Senate Will Join The House In Blocking Trump’s Border Emergency Declaration
Roll Call reports: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said senators were still looking into whether the joint resolution to stop President Donald Trump’s national emergency declaration can be amended. But, the Kentucky Republican also said he anticipated the Senate would pass the measure disapproving of the border security emergency. “I was one of those hoping the president would not take the … Read More
CPAC 2019: A Long Way From Reagan
Molly Jong-Fast in the Independent: I lost three and a half days of my life at CPAC so you didn’t have to.I arrived Wednesday afternoon at National Harbor (a short 40-minute Uber ride from Washington DC) for CPAC. It was my first conservative political action conference and I had somehow convinced myself that this trade show with white nationalists (Faith … Read More
New Yorker Expose Full Of Mini-Bombs About The Fox News-Trump Relationship
In a far-reaching New Yorker exposé titled “The Making of the Fox News White House” published today, Jane Mayer dissects the often-incestuous relationship between the Trump White House and Fox News. The arguably biggest revelation is that Fox New passed on the Stormey Daniels story, which it knew before the election. “Diana Falzone, who often covered the entertainment industry, had obtained proof that … Read More
Daily Acts Of Moral Distancing
I like this, from David Brooks (who I don’t usually like), talking about the Republicans in the Michael Cohen hearing who decided to rip Cohen rather than ask questions about Trump. Normal people have moral sentiments. Normal people are repulsed when the president of their own nation lies, cheats, practices bigotry, allegedly pays off porn star mistresses. Were Republican House … Read More
Kushner And His Security Clearance
It took him dozens of tries to get his security form information correct, he was red-flagged by intelligence agencies, but he finally got his security clearances. How did that happen? President Trump ordered his chief of staff to grant his son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, a top-secret security clearance last year, overruling concerns flagged by intelligence officials and the … Read More
Investigations, Investigations, Investigations!
I can kind of see why Republicans want Mueller shut down. His outreach, like that of an octopus, is pretty far. As I wrote back in February, there are some lingering question about where the money went for Trump’s very expensive but poorly attended inauguration. Now The Hill is breaking a story that Mueller is looking into donations to that event: … Read More