Congressional Corruption Probes Put the Fear in Trump
"While [President Trump's] talking collusion, collusion, collusion, I think, in Oversight, we should be talking about taxes, taxes, taxes, and his bank account, his bank account, his bank account. His financial statements, statements, statements."-- Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
The chickens are coming home to roost for the Trump administration. While the Special Counsel’s office and the House Intelligence Committee working on making a collusion case with the Russians, Congressional investigators are asking questions about the Trump family's business dealings and corruption within the administration.
The potential offenses in question are stunning in their breadth. They include alleged corruption, obstruction of justice, hush money payments to women, and claims that Trump infringed the Constitution by using his office for personal financial gain.
In addition to multiple new and ongoing Capitol Hill investigations there are at least 17 law enforcement investigations looking into Trump’s administration, transition, campaign, inauguration, foundation and business.
On Monday the House Judiciary Committee opened a sweeping investigation, requesting documents from 81 "agencies, entities, and individuals" connected to the administration and Trump businesses.
"Over the last several years, President Trump has evaded accountability for his near-daily attacks on our basic legal, ethical, and constitutional rules and norms," Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., said in a statement announcing the investigation "into the alleged obstruction of justice, public corruption, and other abuses of power by President Trump, his associates, and members of his Administration."
The House Committees on Foreign Affairs, Intelligence, and Oversight and Reform joined forces to request documents from and interviews with personnel of the Department of State on Monday related to communications between President Donald J. Trump and President Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation.
Here’s the first paragraph of their letter:
According to media reports, President Trump, on multiple occasions, appears to have taken steps to conceal the details of his communications with President Putin from other
Congress, and the American people. The President reportedly seized notes pertaining to at least one meeting held with President Putin and directed at least one American interpreter not to discuss the substance of communications with President Putin with other federal officials.
Here’s Michelle Goldberg, weighing in at the New York Times:
We are about to find out whether facts still have an inexorable logic. The outlines of Donald Trump’s venality and fundamental civic disloyalty have been obvious since the 2016 campaign; Hillary Clinton warned us about him just as McGovern had warned about Nixon. But so far, neither Democrats nor prosecutors have woven the various threads of presidential wrongdoing into a coherent picture, showing how Trump’s shady business practices, opaque finances, vulnerability to blackmail, abuses of power and subservience to foreign autocrats all intersect.
Now, however, Democrats have begun a full-spectrum public investigation of the president. Michael Cohen’s blockbuster testimony before the House Oversight Committee last week was just an opener.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1102778414304555008
Speaking of Corruption…Jane Meyer’s exploration of the relationship between Fox News and Donald Trump is an outstanding piece of journalism. So outstanding, in fact, that the New Yorker website crashed yesterday morning after it was posted.
Fox News had a fully vetted story about the relationship between Trump and adult entertainer Stormy Daniels prior to the 2016 election, spiked it on orders from Rupert Murdoch, and demoted the reporter working on it.
“Good reporting, kiddo,” she says Ken LaCorte — a senior manager at Fox News for almost two decades — told the reporter. “But Rupert wants Donald Trump to win.”
Trump may have been tipped off about Megyn Kelly's question during a debate about past demeaning statements about women by Roger Ailes, then CEO of the network, and an ardent Trump supporter.
The President attempted to block a merger of AT&T and Time Warner in 2017, telling Gary Cohn, then the National Economic Council chief, to "intervene" in the deal. The article suggests he wanted to undermine the deal to reward Fox, a media ally of his and punish CNN..
Finally, coming back to the Mueller investigation, it’s important to remember what already has been accomplished, despite numerous hurdles.
At least 34 people and three companies have been charged so far as a result of the special counsel’s investigation into 2016 election tampering. His investigation has exposed illegal schemes across international borders and produced more than 100 criminal charges
Making the case for prosecuting various entities’ interference in 2016 campaigns has always been a challenge, in large part because much of the foundational evidence is likely based on intelligence agencies’ communications intercepts.
Protecting “sources and methods” in the spy business is an unbreakable commandment, so the challenge for investigators looking for conspiracies involving the Trump organization has always been to work backwards in the hope of finding another way of building a case capable of being tried in open court.
Early warnings on Russia’s schemes were based on information gathered by a half dozen European intelligence agencies plus Australia. None of those folks will ever make an appearance in an American Courtroom if they want to stay in business.
Losers gotta lose…
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1102373344987496448
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Email me at DougPorter@WordsAndDeedsBlog.com
Lead image credit: Pixabay