Tag: Trump corrupts all around him

Trump friend and golfing partner charged with misdemeanor indecent assault

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A friend and golfing partner of former president Donald Trump — who gained notoriety for using that friendship to lobby Trump’s administration — was charged with indecent assault last week in Pennsylvania on allegations he groped one of his dental patients, according to court documents.

Albert Hazzouri Jr., a 65-year-old dentist from Scranton, Pa., is best known for a 2017 note he wrote Trump, using stationery from Trump’s own Mar-a-Lago Club, to push a proposal for an oversight committee on dental spending.

The note, which addressed Trump as “Dear King,” came to symbolize the way that Trump blended business with government, giving his customers and friends an audience to lobby for their private causes. Continue reading.

The land was worth millions. A Big Ag corporation sold it to Sonny Perdue’s company for $250,000.

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It was a curious time for Sonny Perdue to close a real estate deal.

In February 2017, weeks after President Donald Trump selected him to be agriculture secretary, Perdue’s company bought a small grain plant in South Carolina from one of the biggest agricultural corporations in America.

Had anyone noticed, it would have prompted questions ahead of his confirmation, a period when most nominees lie low and avoid potential controversy. The former governor of Georgia did not disclose the deal — there was no legal requirement to do so. Continue reading.

Giuliani’s Legal Bills Are Growing. His Allies Want Trump to Pay Them.

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As Rudolph Giuliani faces an escalating federal investigation and defamation suits, his advisers believe he should benefit from a $250 million Trump campaign war chest.

As a federal investigation into Rudolph W. Giuliani escalates, his advisers have been pressing aides to former President Donald J. Trump to reach into a $250 million war chest to pay Mr. Giuliani for his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election on Mr. Trump’s behalf.

The pressure from Mr. Giuliani’s camp has intensified since F.B.I. agents executed search warrants at Mr. Giuliani’s home and office last week, according to people familiar with the discussions, and comes as Mr. Giuliani has hired new lawyers and is facing his own protracted — and costly — legal battles.

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan have been examining communications between Mr. Giuliani, Mr. Trump’s former personal lawyer, and Ukrainian officials as he tried to unearth damaging information about President Biden before the election. The prosecutors are investigating whether Mr. Giuliani lobbied the Trump administration on behalf of Ukrainian officials who were helping him, a potential violation of federal law. Continue reading.

New report reveals Trump’s DOJ targeted academics who exposed the Bolivian coup regime

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Evo Morales’ 13 years as president of Bolivia came to an end when, in 2019, he was removed from power via a coup. According to reporters Ken Klippenstein and Ryan Grim, e-mails that have been obtained by The Intercept and were sent during former President Donald Trump’s final months in office “add new evidence to support Bolivian allegations that the United States was implicated in its 2019 coup.”

“The e-mails reveal the Justice Department’s involvement in the Bolivian coup regime’s criminal investigation into alleged voter fraud, which has not previously been reported,” Klippenstein and Grim explain. “The inquiry targeted a pair of respected MIT researchers about their work for the Center for Economic and Policy Research, in which they broadly refuted suspicions that Bolivia’s socialist party had rigged the election.”

The reporters add, “The short-lived coup regime reached power following a clear script: In the weeks leading up to the Bolivian presidential election in October 2019, the opposition pumped endless propaganda through social media and television networks, warning that incumbent President Evo Morales would exploit widespread fraud to win reelection.” Continue reading.

O’Brien cuts short Europe trip to address agency hacking

President Donald Trump’s national security adviser returned to Washington early to coordinate the government response to the suspected Russian cyberattack.

Robert O’Brien, President Donald Trump’s national security adviser, cut short a European trip to return to Washington to coordinate the government response to the suspected Russian cyber attack on multiple federal agencies, according to an administration official.

O’Brien flew back to Washington on Tuesday from Paris, where he met with French President Emmanuel Macron, to address the attack, which targeted the Departments of Treasury, Commerce, Homeland Security and Defense.

The official said the change in plans is a reflection of how seriously they view the situation. O’Brien has had a heavy travel schedule as national security adviser and was criticized for traveling to a number of swing states right before the election. He has told friends that he wants to run for president in 2024. Continue reading.

Scoop: O’Brien takes wife on COVID-era tour of Europe

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National security adviser Robert O’Brien is taking his wife on a holiday tour of the romantic Mediterranean and European capitals, including seeking a private tour of the Louvre despite it being closed because of coronavirus restrictions, people familiar with the trip tell Axios.

Why it matters: The White House announced the Paris stop shortly after an inquiry from Axios, but the entirety of the trip — which also includes stops in Tel Aviv, Rome and London — is causing consternation among O’Brien’s hosts and questions about the need for his wife to tag along.

The White House announced Sunday that O’Brien would be traveling to Paris on Monday to lead a U.S. delegation to the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development Convention. The release did not detail that O’Brien’s wife, Lo-Mari, would be joining him. Continue reading.

Veterans groups demand VA Secretary Wilkie resign after scathing report that he tried to discredit assault victim

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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) called on Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie to resign Saturday, following a report that he tried to smear a congressional aide who said she was assaulted at a VA hospital.

“The VA Inspector General report makes clear that Secretary Wilkie engaged in an extremely disturbing cover-up campaign of sexual assault against a veteran,” Pelosi said in a statement. “He has lost the trust and confidence to serve, and he must immediately resign.”

The country’s leading veterans groups — including the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars and Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America — echoed the call, saying that Wilkie had breached their trust and could no longer effectively lead an agency responsible for the care of 9 million veterans. Continue reading.

Watchdog finds VA Secretary Robert Wilkie questioned the credibility of a House aide who reported a sexual assault at hospital

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Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie and his senior leaders openly questioned the credibility of a House aide who reported a sexual assault at the agency’s flagship hospital in the District, denigrating her and ascribing political motives to her claim, a report released Thursday found.

The tone Wilkie set with his senior staff and reporters influenced the investigation into the veteran’s claim — and led to the agency’s failure to improve an often-hostile environment for women at the D.C. Medical Center, Inspector General Michael Missal found.

And instead of focusing on the hospital contractor who veteran Andrea Goldstein told authorities “bumped his entire body against mine and told me I looked like I needed a smile and a good time,” VA’s senior leaders did the opposite, investigators found, and embarked on a campaign to discredit Goldstein. The contractor did not have credentials to enter the hospital and had been the subject of a previous sexual harassment complaint from a VA employee. Continue reading.

Michael Flynn judge says pardon doesn’t mean ex-national security adviser is innocent

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A federal judge dismissed Michael Flynn’s prosecution Tuesday after President Trump’s pardon, but said the act of clemency does not mean the former national security adviser is innocent of lying to FBI agents about his talks with the Russian government before Trump took office.

In formally ending Flynn’s three-year legal saga, U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan said he probably would have denied the Justice Department’s controversial effort this year to drop the case, which Democrats and many legal experts said appeared to be an attempt by Attorney General William P. Barr to bend the rule of law to help a Trump ally.

Sullivan expressed deep skepticism about the Justice Department’s stated reasons for abandoning the case, criticizing it for applying a different set of rules to Flynn, who twice pleaded guilty to lying about his contacts with Russia’s ambassador during special. Continue reading.

World leaders urged to refuse to meet with Mike Pompeo after he denies Biden’s win

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Responding to alarming remarks by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo denying the results of the 2020 presidential election, the head of an international health organization on Wednesday urged world leaders to refuse to meet with Pompeo until he acknowledges President-elect Joe Biden’s legitimate victory.

A day after the White House directed federal agencies to refuse cooperation with Biden’s transition team, Pompeo raised eyebrows and ire on Tuesday after asserting that “there will be a smooth transition to a second Trump administration.”

In response, Serra Sippel, president of the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE), issued a statement accusing the secretary of state of “undermining the democratic legitimacy of the United States, ignoring [Biden’s] decisive victory in the 2020 general election, and encouraging political violence by spreading disinformation.” Continue reading.