The Smoking Gun: Trump, The Least Charitable Billionaire

Jerry Nadler, House Judiciary chairman, to demand documents from dozens in Trump obstruction probe

By Emily Tillett, CBS News, March 3, 2019

Quote:

New York Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler, the chairman of House Judiciary Committee, said will issue requests for documents to dozens of individuals as part of his committee's investigation into President Trump, who he said he believes obstructed justice.

"It's very clear that the president obstructed justice. It's very clear — 1,100 times he referred to the Mueller investigation as a witch hunt," Nadler said on ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" on Sunday. "He tried to protect Flynn from being investigated by the FBI. He fired Comey in order to stop the 'Russian thing.'"

He said his committee will send requests for documents on Monday to more than 60 people, including individuals in the White House and the Trump Organization.

"Tomorrow, we will be issuing document requests to over 60 different people and individuals — from the White House to the Department of Justice, Donald Trump, Jr., Allen Weisselberg — to begin the investigations to present the case to the American people about obstruction of justice, corruption and abuse of power," Nadler told ABC.

Nadler said impeachment proceedings are a "long way down the road," and the Judiciary Committee is going to first "initiate proper investigations."

"The Republicans spent two years shielding the president from any proper accountability. They threatened to impeach people in the Justice Department. They threatened the Mueller investigation," said Nadler. "It's our job to protect the rule of law. That's our core function. And to do that we are going to initiate investigations into abuses of power, into corruption and into obstruction of justice."

Nadler said the Judiciary Committee will continue its probe even if special counsel Robert Mueller finds no evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.

"We would want to see the evidence behind that and see the validity of that, we could agree or disagree. But this investigation goes far beyond collusion," he said.

Nadler said lawmakers would need to "persuade the American public" that impeachment is warranted before pursuing an inquiry.

"We have to do the investigations and get all this. We do not now have the evidence all sorted out and everything to do an impeachment. Before you impeach somebody, you have to persuade the American public that it ought to happen," he said. "You have to persuade enough of the opposition party voters, Trump voters, that you're not just trying to ... reverse the results of the last election. We may not get there. But what we have to do is protect the rule of law."

Source: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jerry-...ments-from-dozens-in-trump-obstruction-probe/

The House Judiciary Committee just threw down the impeachment gauntlet at Donald Trump

By Bill Palmer, Palmer Report, March 3, 2019

Quote:

Jerry Nadler, the Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, which is the committee where impeachment begins, hit the Sunday morning talk show circuit today and made a series of major revelations. The upshot of it all: the impeachment process against Donald Trump has begun – just don’t call it “impeachment” yet.

Chairman Nadler revealed that tomorrow, his committee is sending document requests to sixty Trump-related people and entities for the purpose of obtaining evidence of Donald Trump’s crimes. Nadler only made a point of naming one of those people – Donald Trump Jr – in a clear sign that he’s planning to hit Donald Trump where it hurt most. These people can’t simply destroy the documents being requested, because the committee generally already has knowledge of the existence of these documents, and if anyone destroys what’s being requested, they’ll go to prison.

Nadler may have made even bigger news when he said that in his mind there’s no doubt Donald Trump has committed multiple crimes, including obstruction of justice. Again, this is coming from the head of the impeachment committee. It’s his job to decide whether Trump committed crimes, and he’s saying he’s already decided.

Continued at https://www.palmerreport.com/analysis/begun-impeachment-process-trump-against/16404/

This is from October 29, 2016:

You've Been Trumped (2011)



"The film documents the construction of a luxury golf course on a beach in Balmedie, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, by developer Donald Trump, and the subsequent struggles between the locals and Donald Trump and Scottish legal and governmental authorities."

Trump ordered to pay legal fees after losing court battle over his Scottish golf course | ThinkProgress

Trump worried that the planned wind power development near his golf resort would be esthetically unappealing.

Quote:

President Donald Trump will have to pay the Scottish government’s legal fees after a lengthy court dispute over a wind power development project near his golf resort that ended in a victory for Scotland in 2015.

Judges in Scotland ruled last week that the Trump International Golf Club Scotland Ltd must pay the legal costs of the court case, which began when Trump sued the government while he was running for president.

The president sought to stop the construction of 11 wind turbines on land next to his golf course in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, arguing that the project would be esthetically unappealing.

The case eventually made its way to the U.K. Supreme Court in 2015, which rejected Trump’s case, allowing the Scottish government to move ahead with the project.

Trump appeared to be referencing the case on Saturday — while breaking the Constitution’s emoluments clause, which forbids a president from using the position and power of the office for personal financial gain — when he quote-tweeted a photo shared by the Trump Organization of his Aberdeen golf course.

“Very proud of perhaps the greatest golf course anywhere in the world,” he said. “Also, furthers U.K. relationship!”

The Atlantic’s David Frum pointed out on Twitter Sunday morning that Trump seemed to be “threatening the UK government with harm to the US-UK relationship if he is forced to pay the Scottish government’s legal costs in litigation Trump started & lost.”

Ethics experts and watchdogs also criticized Trump’s tweet. Former director of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics said Saturday, “This is Trump’s most explicit commingling of personal interests and public office to date.”

The Citizen for Ethics organization, which currently has an ongoing lawsuit against Trump for illegally receiving payments from foreign governments said on Twitter that the “president is using an official statement as an ad for his business…”

Source: https://thinkprogress.org/trump-ord...e-over-his-scottish-golf-course-8d5f2d3bea7a/

Trump Promoted His Scottish Golf Course In A Tweet About Foreign Policy, Prompting Ethics Concerns | BuzzFeed News

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/tasneemnashrulla/trump-tweet-golf-course-turnberry-scotland

President Trump tries to promote Fox News on Twitter - but fails

By Brian Niemietz, New York Daily News, March 3, 2019

Quote:

President Trump did his best to promote his friends at Fox News and his daughter Ivanka, but came up short Sunday.

“My wonderful daughter, Ivanka, will be interviewed tonight by Steve Hilton on ‘The Next Revolution.’ @FoxNews 9:00 P.M.,” the President tweeted along with words of praise for the daughter. He frequently compliments Ivanka for her body and her brains.

Trump then told viewers to stay tuned afterward for another “great show!” on Fox that starts at 10 p.m.

Apparently unbeknownst to the ever-tweeting President, Fox hasn’t used Twitter since early November. New York magazine reported that the right-wing media outlet’s Twitter silence was due to an alleged lack of urgency with which the social media platform removed information pertaining to the home address of one of the network’s on-air personalities. Fox has not addressed their Twitter issue and @FoxNews last tweeted Nov. 8.

It was a typically busy social media weekend for The President, who drew rebuke from former Office of Government Ethics boss Walter Shaub Saturday after using Twitter to promote his golf club in Scotland while connecting foreign relations to the success of his businesses.

Continued at https://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/ny-news-donald-trump-fox-news-twitter-20190303-story.html

Weekend Update: Michael Cohen's Congressional Testimony - SNL | Saturday Night Live



Trump Mocked Immigrant Members Of Congress And Said Some "Hate Our Country"

Some in the rowdy crowd shouted the name of Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar.

By Julia Reinstein, BuzzFeed News

Quote:

In rambling, two-hour speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Saturday, President Trump mocked immigrant members of Congress and said some of them hate the United States.

"We have people in Congress right now, we have people in Congress that hate our country," Trump told the audience during a segment of his speech on immigration. "And you know that, and we can name every one of them if they want. They hate our country."

The rowdy crowd booed the unnamed members of Congress, with some shouting the name of Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar, who immigrated to the US as a teenage refugee from Somalia.

The president said these members of Congress, whom he didn't name, "very sad" comments about the United States.

"How did they do in their country?" he continued. "Just ask them. How did they do? Did they do well? Were they succeeding? Just ask that question."

"Somebody would say, 'Oh, that's terrible that he brings that up.' But that's OK. I don't mind. I'll bring it up."

"How did they do in their country? Not so good. Not so good."

According to the Pew Research Center, there are currently 13 foreign-born members of the House and just one in the Senate. All are Democrats.

Continued at https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/juliareinstein/trump-cpac-speech-hate-america-crowd-size

SNL’s Weekend Update rips Trump’s deranged CPAC speech: ‘What the hell was that?” | AlterNet

https://www.alternet.org/2019/03/sn...-deranged-cpac-speech-what-the-hell-was-that/

Donald Trump's CPAC speech ripped to shreds on 'SNL' Weekend Update | Mashable

https://mashable.com/video/donald-trump-cpac-speech-snl-weekend-update/

Associated Press fact check: Trump’s epic CPAC speech is laced with fabrication | Associated Press

https://triblive.com/news/politics-...s-epic-cpac-speech-is-laced-with-fabrication/

Trump calls Mueller probe “Bullshit” during longest speech of his presidency | Slate

https://slate.com/news-and-politics...-during-longest-speech-of-his-presidency.html

Rep. Lieu Statement on Announcement of Judiciary Committee's Massive Investigation | Congressman Ted Lieu

March 3, 2019
Press Release

Today, Congressman Ted W. Lieu (D-Los Angeles County) issued the following statement after Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler announced this morning the scope of the Committee's oversight agenda in the coming months.

"The House Judiciary Committee is starting a massive investigation into whether Donald Trump and his family and associates committed crimes or engaged in unethical misconduct. We cannot avert our eyes to the evidence plainly before us that crimes and other misconduct may have been committed by Trump and those within his orbit.

"Unlike the narrow scope of the Special Counsel's investigation -- whether there is enough evidence to charge a person with a crime related to Russian interference -- the Judiciary Committee's oversight mission is far more broad. We want to know if Executive Branch officials, including the President, committed any crimes or engaged in any unethical misconduct.

"We will hold hearings, interview witnesses, analyze documents and build a record. Our investigation will either exonerate Trump and those around him, or it won't. We will then have a conversation with the American people on how to proceed after we conclude our investigation. I want to commend Chairman Jerry Nadler for his strong and steady leadership, and look forward to working with him on this critical investigation."

Source: https://lieu.house.gov/media-center...rman-nadlers-announcement-judiciary-oversight

Ted Lieu lays out the details of "massive" new House Judiciary Committee investigation into Donald Trump

By Bill Palmer, Palmer Report, March 3, 2019

Excerpt:

So what does this really tell us? Well, Congressman Lieu’s use of the word “massive” is a pretty good clue as to the sheer size and scope of the investigation. But here’s the key sentence: “We will then have a conversation with the American people on how to proceed after we conclude our investigation.” It’s not too difficult to figure out that the “conversation” will be about impeachment, indictment, ouster, and whatever else fits the bill.

It’s fair to say that the impeachment process against Donald Trump has now begun, even if no one involved is officially calling it that. Again, the House Judiciary Committee is where the impeachment process begins. They’re not launching this “massive” investigation out of mere curiosity.

More at https://www.palmerreport.com/analysis/massive-house-lieu-investigation-trump/16421/

Donald J. Trump‏ @realDonaldTrump Mar 2
Virtually everything failed lawyer Michael Cohen said in his sworn testimony last week is totally contradicted in his just released manuscript for a book about me. It’s a total new love letter to “Trump” and the pols must now use it rather than his lies for sentence reduction!

Donald J. Trump‏ @realDonaldTrump Mar 2
The brand new manuscript for a new book by failed lawyer Michael Cohen shows his testimony was a total lie! Pundits should only use it.

Donald J. Trump‏ @realDonaldTrump 13 hours ago
After more than two years of Presidential Harassment, the only things that have been proven is that Democrats and other broke the law. The hostile Cohen testimony, given by a liar to reduce his prison time, proved no Collusion! His just written book manuscript showed what he.....

Donald J. Trump‏ @realDonaldTrump 13 hours ago
...said was a total lie, but Fake Media won’t show it. I am an innocent man being persecuted by some very bad, conflicted & corrupt people in a Witch Hunt that is illegal & should never have been allowed to start - And only because I won the Election! Despite this, great success!

Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump 9 hours ago
“Look how they’re acting now and how we act when we’re in the majority. What the Democrats are doing is an abuse of power. They couldn’t find anything...they took a Fake Dossier & couldn’t find any Collusion. Now they have a fake witness in Cohen.” Congressman Mark Green, (R-TN).

Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump 9 hours ago
My wonderful daughter, Ivanka, will be interviewed tonight by Steve Hilton on “The Next Revolution.” @FoxNews 9:00 P.M. She works so hard and has achieved so much for the U.S.A.(and gets so little credit!). Then watch Mark Levin at 10:00 P.M., a great show!

Donald J. Trump‏ @realDonaldTrump 5 hours ago
Presidential Harassment by “crazed” Democrats at the highest level in the history of our Country. Likewise, the most vicious and corrupt Mainstream Media that any president has ever had to endure - Yet the most successful first two years for any

Donald J. Trump‏ @realDonaldTrump 4 hours ago
....President. We are WINNING big, the envy of the WORLD, but just think what it could be?

Donald J. Trump‏ @realDonaldTrump 4 hours ago
For the Democrats to interview in open hearings a convicted liar & fraudster, at the same time as the very important Nuclear Summit with North Korea, is perhaps a new low in American politics and may have contributed to the “walk.” Never done when a president is overseas. Shame!

Donald Trump’s day from hell

By Bill Palmer, Palmer Report, March 3, 2019

Quote:

“I am an innocent man…” Donald Trump tweeted these words earlier today. This is professional-grade whining as only Trump can whine. But now with an overriding edge of Defcon-1 panic. Is this a seismic shift? Well, let’s see. Adam Schiff, who is one of the chillest members of Congress to ever grace its halls, is now saying there is definite evidence of Trump/Russia collusion. The U.S. House is launching a probe into possible obstruction by Trump, and Senate Intel Committee ranking member Mark Warner is all out saying they have found, “enormous amounts of evidence” of potential collusion with the Trump campaign and Russia.

Let’s see. There’s also the fact that daughter-wife Ivanka has been named by Cohen as a person who should give testimony to Congress, Jared Kushner is fighting a wave of outrage after he was anointed with a Top Secret clearance, and finally there’s Donald Trump Jr doing what he usually does. Let’s just say in the words of a thug, it don’t look good.

And speaking of thugs, we now top off the week with of all things, Matthew Calamari. From lowlife bodyguard to glamorous Chief Operating Officer for the Trump Organization, Mr. Calamari embodies the American Dream of climbing the corporate ladder. And he did it all with the promise to kill for Trump, and a Ron Jeremy porn ‘stache. He’ll probably be speaking to the House Oversight Committee too, and that’s saying a lot given how he chokes in public speaking, and has a marked tendency to lose his train of thought.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has pegged him as a witness to Donald Trump inflating assets in order to get bank loans. If he gets called in, it will be painful to watch. He stammers. He chokes. But it will be absolutely stache-tastic. (Take all the time you need, Matty. We’ll wait. In fact, we can’t wait to wait!) Oh, and did you know Matthew Calamari budded off and produced a Matthew Calamari, Jr.? He’s now the Corporate Director of Security for the Trump Organization. I’d like to hear him stammer under oath too.

Source: https://www.palmerreport.com/analysis/day-hell-from-donald-trump/16419/

Is This Guy The Thug Who Threatened Stormy Daniels?

Have a look at her drawing and then look at the son of Trump's security team head. Hmmmm.

By Karoli Kuns, Crooks and Liars, March 17, 2018

Quote:



This morning Stormy Daniels' attorney Michael Avenatti released a sketch of the man Daniels says threatened her and her young daughter in 2011 when she was planning to go public with the story about her affair with Donald Trump.

Continued at https://crooksandliars.com/2018/04/guy-thug-who-threatened-stormy-daniels

Shelby Holliday‏ @shelbyholliday 10 hours ago
New in Instagramland: Roger Stone, using Insta stories (which disappear after 24 hrs), suggests he’s being framed.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D0wTji1W0AA8Sox.jpg

Shelby Holliday‏ @shelbyholliday 10 hours ago
He has used this image & language *many times* online and on social media. But this is the first time I’ve seen it since the gag order.

Shelby Holliday‏ @shelbyholliday 8 hours ago
Update: the “Who Framed Roger Stone” post has been deleted from Stone’s Instagram story. (All of his other posts from today remain.)

Roger Stone busted in Instagram scam | Palmer Report

https://www.palmerreport.com/analysis/trickery-social-media-roger-stone-busted/16411/

House Democrats announce broad probe into allegations of obstruction of justice | CNN

Quote:

House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler on Monday announced a sweeping investigation into President Donald Trump's campaign, businesses, transition and administration, a probe that would lay the groundwork for Democrats if they choose to pursue impeachment proceedings against the President.

The Judiciary Committee on Monday sent letters to 81 people and entities -- including the White House, the Justice Department, senior campaign officials, Trump Organization officials and the President's sons — marking the start of a broad investigation that will tackle questions including possible corruption, obstruction of justice, hush-money payments to women, collusion with Russia and allegations of the President abusing his office and using it for personal gain.

They are demanding responses within two weeks.

The requests outline a sprawling investigation, seeking documents and communications on issues that include FBI Director James Comey's firing, possible pardons offered to Trump officials, Trump's finances and foreign governments, "catch-and-kill" payments involving the National Enquirer's parent company and Trump, Trump campaign contacts with Russians and WikiLeaks and communications between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The committee's investigation comes amid the anticipated conclusion of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into possible collusion and obstruction of justice, signaling the committee is likely to retread ground that federal prosecutors have already pursued. Many of the same witnesses that the Judiciary Committee is now requesting information from have already spoken to Mueller's prosecutors and the grand jury.

The wide net cast by the committee also signals that the Democratic-led investigations are likely to stretch on for months, with multiple committees seeking information from senior officials in the White House, the Trump campaign and the Trump Organization.

Continued at https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/04/politics/congress-investigates-obstruction-justice-jerry-nadler/

Here Are The 80+ Names The House Judiciary Committee Wants Info From | The Daily Caller

Quote:

House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler served document requests to 81 agencies, entities, and individuals “believed to have information relevant” to investigations related to “allegations of corruption, obstruction, and abuses of power.”

“We have sent these document requests in order to begin building the public record. he Special Counsel’s office and the Southern District of New York are aware that we are taking these steps,” Nadler said in a statement.

“We will act quickly to gather this information, assess the evidence, and follow the facts where they lead with full transparency with the American people,” he continued. “This is a critical time for our nation, and we have a responsibility to investigate these matters and hold hearings for the public to have all the facts. That is exactly what we intend to do.”

Here is the list the of names the committee served with document requests Monday:

1. Alan Garten (letter, document requests)
2. Alexander Nix (letter, document requests)
3. Allen Weisselberg (letter, document requests)
4. American Media Inc (letter, document requests)
5. Anatoli Samochornov (letter, document requests)
6. Andrew Intrater (letter, document requests)
7. Annie Donaldson (letter, document requests)
8. Brad Parscale (letter, document requests)
9. Brittany Kaiser (letter, document requests)
10. Cambridge Analytica (letter, document requests)
11. Carter Page (letter, document requests)
12. Christopher Bancroft Burnham (letter, document requests)
13. Columbus Nova (letter, document requests)
14. Concord Management and Consulting (letter, document requests)
15. Corey Lewandowski (letter, document requests)
16. David Pecker (letter, document requests)
17. Department of Justice (letter, document requests)
18. Don McGahn (letter, document requests)
19. Donald J Trump Revocable Trust (letter, document requests)
20. Donald Trump Jr. (letter, document requests)
21. Dylan Howard (letter, document requests)
22. Eric Trump (letter, document requests)
23. Erik Prince (letter, document requests)
24. Federal Bureau of Investigation (letter, document requests)
25. Felix Sater (letter, document requests)
26. Flynn Intel Group (letter, document requests)
27. Frontier Services Group (letter, document requests)
28. General Services Administration (letter, document requests)
29. George Nader (letter, document requests)
30. George Papadopoulos (letter, document requests)
31. Hope Hicks (letter, document requests)
32. Irakly Kaveladze (letter, document requests)
33. D. Gordon(letter, document requests)
34. Jared Kushner (letter, document requests)
35. Jason Maloni (letter, document requests)
36. Jay Sekulow (letter, document requests)
37. Jeff Sessions (letter, document requests)
38. Jerome Corsi (letter, document requests)
39. John Szobocsan (letter, document requests)
40. Julian Assange (letter, document requests)
41. Julian David Wheatland (letter, document requests)
42. Keith Davidson (letter, document requests)
43. KT McFarland (letter, document requests)
44. Kushner Companies(letter, document requests)
45. Mark Corallo (letter, document requests)
46. Matt Tait (letter, document requests)
47. Matthew Calamari (letter, document requests)
48. Michael Caputo (letter, document requests)
49. Michael Cohen (letter, document requests)
50. Michael Flynn (letter, document requests)
51. Michael Flynn Jr (letter, document requests)
52. National Rifle Association(letter, document requests)
53. Paul Erickson (letter, document requests)
54. Paul Manafort (letter, document requests)
55. Peter Smith (Estate) (letter, document requests)
56. Randy Credico (letter, document requests)
57. Reince Priebus (letter, document requests)
58. Rhona Graff (letter, document requests)
59. Rick Gates (letter, document requests)
60. Rinat Akhmetshin (letter, document requests)
61. Rob Goldstone (letter, document requests)
62. Roger Stone (letter, document requests)
63. Ronald Lieberman (letter, document requests)
64. Sam Nunberg (letter, document requests)
65. SCL Group Limited (letter, document requests)
66. Sean Spicer (letter, document requests)
67. Sheri Dillon (letter, document requests)
68. Stefan Passantino (letter, document requests)
69. Steve Bannon (letter, document requests)
70. Ted Malloch (letter, document requests)
71. The White House (letter, document requests)
72. Tom Barrack (letter, document requests)
73. Tom Bossert (letter, document requests)
74. Tony Fabrizio (letter, document requests)
75. Trump Campaign (letter, document requests)
76. Trump Foundation (letter, document requests)
77. Trump Organization (letter, document requests)
78. Trump Transition (letter, document requests)
79. Viktor Vekselberg (letter, document requests)
80. Wikileaks (letter, document requests)
81. Fifty-Eighth Presidential Inaugural Committee (letter, document requests)

The Judiciary Committee’s investigation is expected to focus on obstruction of justice violations, “including the possibility of interference by the President and others in a number of criminal investigations and other official proceedings, as well as the alleged cover-up of violations of the law.”

Continued at https://dailycaller.com/2019/03/04/names-house-judiciary-committee-requests/

The Making of the Fox News White House

By Jane Mayer, The New Yorker

Quote:

In January, during the longest government shutdown in America’s history, President Donald Trump rode in a motorcade through Hidalgo County, Texas, eventually stopping on a grassy bluff overlooking the Rio Grande. The White House wanted to dramatize what Trump was portraying as a national emergency: the need to build a wall along the Mexican border. The presence of armored vehicles, bales of confiscated marijuana, and federal agents in flak jackets underscored the message.

But the photo op dramatized something else about the Administration. After members of the press pool got out of vans and headed over to where the President was about to speak, they noticed that Sean Hannity, the Fox News host, was already on location. Unlike them, he hadn’t been confined by the Secret Service, and was mingling with Administration officials, at one point hugging Kirstjen Nielsen, the Secretary of Homeland Security. The pool report noted that Hannity was seen “huddling” with the White House communications director, Bill Shine. After the photo op, Hannity had an exclusive on-air interview with Trump. Politico later reported that it was Hannity’s seventh interview with the President, and Fox’s forty-second. Since then, Trump has given Fox two more. He has granted only ten to the three other main television networks combined, and none to CNN, which he denounces as “fake news.”

Hannity was treated in Texas like a member of the Administration because he virtually is one. The same can be said of Fox’s chairman, Rupert Murdoch. Fox has long been a bane of liberals, but in the past two years many people who watch the network closely, including some Fox alumni, say that it has evolved into something that hasn’t existed before in the United States. Nicole Hemmer, an assistant professor of Presidential studies at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center and the author of “Messengers of the Right,” a history of the conservative media’s impact on American politics, says of Fox, “It’s the closest we’ve come to having state TV.”

Continued at https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/03/11/the-making-of-the-fox-news-white-house

Mueller tells judge of new Roger Stone post on Instagram | POLITICO

Excerpt:

In a filing with Jackson on Monday, Mueller’s office pointed to public reporting that Stone on Sunday had posted an image to his Instagram account with the words “who framed Roger Stone.”

The special counsel’s office took no other position on the post, which was made on the same social media platform as a controversial image that landed Stone in trouble last month because it featured Jackson with what appeared to be a gun’s crosshairs above her head. Stone deleted that image and replaced it with one without the crosshairs. He then later deleted that second Instagram post.

Continued at https://www.politico.com/story/2019/03/04/mueller-roger-stone-post-instagram-1202919

Looks like the House Judiciary Committee knows something about Donald Trump's secret meetings with Putin

By Bill Palmer, Palmer Report, March 4, 2019

Quote:

The House Judiciary Committee targeted dozens of Trump-related people and entities today, in an attempt at exposing every criminal aspect of Donald Trump’s past and present. Most of the targets received document requests today on similar, wide-ranging topics. But a small handful of people are being asked for documents on specific topics that are, shall we say, illuminating.

Of all the people targeted today, the House Judiciary Committee made a point of asking two people – Trump’s longtime personal secretary Rhona Graff and former Trump administration adviser Tom Bossert – for “the contents of meetings between President Trump and Vladimir Putin on July 7th, 2017, November 11th, 2017, July 16th, 2018, and November 30th, 2018.” These are the meetings where Trump went to great lengths to ensure that the content of his discussions with Putin remained secret.

So why would the House Judiciary Committee know to ask these two people in particular for documents about the secret Trump-Putin meetings? This doesn’t feel like a random stab in the dark. The committee must know something specific, that’s not yet public, about why these two people would have this information.

Continued at https://www.palmerreport.com/analysis/putin-meetings-house-judiciary-committee-knows/16437/

Cohen Lawyer Reveals New Trump Hush Money Check On Live TV | The Beat With Ari Melber | MSNBC



"In an exclusive interview, Michael Cohen’s lawyer, Michael Monico reveals for the first time a 2017 check signed by key Trump figures allegedly linked to criminal payments to Stormy Daniels. Pressed by anchor Ari Melber on whether the check was new evidence, Monico said it was new and had not been released in Cohen’s Congressional testimony."

Donald Trump goes off the deep end after House Judiciary Committee takes a blowtorch to his entire life

By Bill Palmer, Palmer Report, March 4, 2019

Quote:

Today, Donald Trump had the worst day of his life (so far) when the House Judiciary Committee targeted more than eighty people and entities connected to him, in what will merely be the first batch of evidence collection regarding Trump’s crimes. Also, Fox News got busted today for having conspired with Trump to rig the 2016 election. So how is Trump taking the news?

Right around 11pm eastern time, Donald Trump tweeted this quote: “We the people will now be subjected to the biggest display of modern day McCarthyism….which is the widest fishing net expedition….every aspect of the presidents life….all in order to get power back so they can institute Socialism.” Well, that was his second try. The first time around he typed “McCathyism” and it led to endless jokes about who “Cathy” might be. But the surreal part is where the quote came from.

That’s right, Donald Trump was sharing the words of none other than his Fox News co-conspirator Sean Hannity. Of all the days when Trump shouldn’t be quoting Fox News, today was that day. Yet here he is, desperately clinging to the one host on the one network that’s the furthest up his backside.

This probably tells us all we need to know. Donald Trump isn’t hunkered down with his attorneys, trying to figure out how to fight back against the dozens of document requests that went out today. He’s not even spending his time trying to illegally convince the targets not to cooperate with Congress. Instead he’s lying in bed, watching Hannity, and mistakenly tweeting about someone named Cathy.

Source: https://www.palmerreport.com/analysis/crazed-late-night-meltdown-judiciary-blow/16454/

Trump's Historically Long, Epically Weird Speech | The Late Show with Stephen Colbert



"From his opening flag-hug to the closing remarks, Trump's absurd CPAC address was the longest presidential oration in American history."

A Total Shutshow | The Daily Show with Trevor Noah



"The Daily Show looks back at President Trump’s mismanagement of the longest shutdown in American history."

Donald J. Trump‏ @realDonaldTrump 2 hours ago
Now that they realize the only Collusion with Russia was done by Crooked Hillary Clinton & the Democrats, Nadler, Schiff and the Dem heads of the Committees have gone stone cold CRAZY. 81 letter sent to innocent people to harass them. They won’t get ANYTHING done for our Country!

Donald J. Trump‏ @realDonaldTrump 52 minutes ago
The greatest overreach in the history of our Country. The Dems are obstructing justice and will not get anything done. A big, fat, fishing expedition desperately in search of a crime, when in fact the real crime is what the Dems are doing, and have done!

Donald J. Trump‏ @realDonaldTrump 52 minutes ago
PRESIDENTIAL HARASSMENT!

Donald J. Trump‏ @realDonaldTrump 49 minutes ago
Republican Approval Rating just hit 93%. Sorry Haters! MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!

Donald Trump suffers bizarre Twitter malfunction | Palmer Report
https://www.palmerreport.com/analysis/malfunction-twitter-bizarre-trump-2/16441/

Former White House lawyer Ty Cobb calls Mueller an ‘American hero’ and ‘class act’ | The Washington Post

Quote:

Former White House lawyer Ty Cobb said in a new podcast that he considers special counsel Robert S. Mueller III to be “an American hero” and “a class act” and does not share President Trump’s oft-stated view that the probe of Russian election interference is a politically motivated “witch hunt.”

Cobb, who joined the White House shortly after Mueller’s investigation began in 2017, departed in May last year as Trump and his surrogates took a more aggressive approach in trying to discredit the investigation.

In an interview for the ABC News podcast “The Investigation,” Cobb said he does not expect Mueller to show collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia and that he disagrees with the strategy that Trump and others, including his personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani, have employed.

Continued at https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...4447b6-3f3e-11e9-922c-64d6b7840b82_story.html

Transcript: Former Trump White House attorney Ty Cobb's interview on ABC News' 'The Investigation' podcast | ABC News

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/tra...attorney-ty-cobbs-interview/story?id=61465534

House Intel hires former Russian mob prosecutor to lead Trump probes | POLITICO

Quote:

The House Intelligence Committee has hired a seasoned former Southern District of New York federal prosecutor with experience going after Russian organized crime to lead its myriad investigations into President Donald Trump.

Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) announced on Tuesday that Daniel Goldman joined the committee last month as senior adviser and director of investigations. Goldman, who was second-in-command at SDNY’s organized crime unit, has prosecuted the Russian mob and has secured convictions for racketeering, murder and money laundering, including against the Genovese crime family.

Goldman was until recently a legal analyst for MSNBC and NBC News, where he often spoke critically of the president’s posture toward the investigations that have ensnared him.

Goldman’s hiring comes as House Democrats continue to ramp up their probes targeting the president, his administration, his presidential campaign and his business empire. Schiff’s committee recently re-opened its Russia investigation, which will focus on whether foreign actors have leverage over Trump, and whether Trump associates colluded with Russian operatives to interfere in the 2016 election.

Schiff has consistently drawn the president’s ire for his investigative ambitions. And on Monday, the House Judiciary Committee drew a fiery response from the White House when it kicked off a wide-ranging investigation into allegations against the president of obstruction of justice, corruption, and abuse of power. Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) sent letters to 81 individuals and entities associated with Trump, demanding that they turn over documents to the panel as part of its new probe.

In a tweet Tuesday morning, Trump called Nadler’s move “the greatest overreach in the history of our country” and accused Democrats of launching a “big, fat, fishing expedition desperately in search of a crime.”

Source: https://www.politico.com/story/2019/03/05/house-intelligence-daniel-goldman-1204140

Updates: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news...olitics-donald-trump-live-updates-latest-news

House Democrats likely to seek 10 years of Trump’s tax returns in coming weeks | The Washington Post

Quote:

Congressional Democrats are likely to request 10 years of President Trump’s tax returns in coming weeks, tailoring their inquiry in a way they hope will survive a court battle, according to lawmakers and others involved in the discussions.

The exact parameters of the request are still in flux, including whether to seek tax returns related to Trump’s many business enterprises in addition to his personal returns.

But Democrats led by House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard E. Neal (D-Mass.), along with congressional lawyers, are in the advanced stages of preparing the request. They’re relying on a 1924 law that gives chairmen of House and Senate tax-writing committees broad powers to demand the tax returns of White House officials.

They said they are being deliberate so as not to make a mistake that jeopardizes the investigation.

“If we had done this a month and a half ago, we would not be prepared, we would be falling on our face, and we’d be looking at the rationale for what we’re doing,” said Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr. (D-N.J.), who along with other Democrats has pushed for congressional action to get at the tax returns practically since Trump took office. “Would I have liked it to go faster? I started two years ago. Yes, of course.”

Pascrell, a member of Neal’s committee, would not give an estimate for when the inquiry could come, but he said he is advocating for a sweeping request for records, which would include both personal and business tax filings in search of a comprehensive view of Trump’s compliance with the law.

As House Democrats begin to roll out probes of the Trump administration on multiple fronts, some lawmakers say Trump’s tax returns could contain information critical to many of their inquiries and, as such, could become the linchpin to their oversight responsibilities and the focus of one of the most important court fights they will wage.

Trump has made clear to associates that he has no plans to allow Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to turn over his personal tax records, according to three people who have been briefed on the discussions but spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. The 1924 law does not appear to give Mnuchin much flexibility to deny a congressional request, as the law says he “shall” turn over the records.

But if he refuses, Democrats would probably try to compel Mnuchin to comply by filing a lawsuit in federal court. That could drag the process out for months or more than a year, which could be one of Trump’s primary legal strategies, particularly if he thinks Republicans might take control of the House of Representatives during the 2020 elections.

“What the president will do is: He will, first of all, respond grudgingly and slowly. They will then negotiate,” said former House speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.). “They will be subpoenaed. They will take that all the way to the Supreme Court.”

George Yin, former chief of staff for Congress’s Joint Committee on Taxation, said there is no precedent for a treasury secretary to refuse to comply with a congressional request for tax returns, but if the matter goes to court, Democrats could be forced to prove the inquiry is part of Congress’s “lawmaking function or its oversight responsibilities.”

Congressional leaders have never used the 1924 law to seek the tax returns of a sitting U.S. president, but no president in recent history has refused to voluntarily disclose his tax returns. House Democrats included a new requirement for presidential candidates to release 10 years’ worth of personal tax returns in legislation on campaign finance and government ethics they plan to pass this week, although Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has made clear he won’t take up the bill.

During the 2016 campaign, Trump gave a variety of reasons for why he would not release his tax returns. One of the most prominent reasons was his claim that the tax returns were being audited by the Internal Revenue Service and that he would release them when that process is over. He repeated that claim in November, after Democrats won the midterm elections.

“Nobody turns over a [return] when it’s under audit,” he said during a news conference.

But that characterization came into question last week, when Trump’s former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, told a House committee that his understanding was that Trump didn’t release his tax returns for a much different reason.

“What he didn’t want is to have an entire group of think tanks that are tax experts run through his tax return and start ripping it to pieces, and then he’ll end up in an audit, and he’ll ultimately have taxable consequences, penalties and so on,” Cohen said, adding that, “I presume that he is not under audit.”

A White House spokesman did not respond to a request for comment about the tax return issue. In 2017, Mnuchin told a congressional committee that he wasn’t aware of whether Trump’s tax returns were being audited, as “I don’t have access to that, that’s within the IRS. I don’t have access to specific taxpayer-level information.”

Steve Moore, who was an economic adviser to Trump during the 2016 campaign, said he advised Trump to “never, ever, ever, ever release his tax returns.”

Continued at https://www.washingtonpost.com/busi...fd3752-3ec0-11e9-9361-301ffb5bd5e6_story.html

Republicans reject calls to probe Trump role in hush-money payments | CNN

Quote:

President Donald Trump may have committed crimes over a scheme to pay off women alleging extramarital affairs, but Senate Republicans say they have no reason to look into it.

GOP leaders and key committee chairmen are making clear that they believe there is no reason to probe whether the President broke the law in engaging in a scheme to hide payments made to two women to keep their stories quiet in the days running up to the 2016 elections.

Sen. Ron Johnson, who chairs the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and investigated Hillary Clinton's email controversy in the last Congress, says he wants to wait until special counsel Robert Mueller finishes his investigation first.

Continued at https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/05/politics/republicans-trump-hush-money-payments/

Trump pushed staff to get Ivanka security clearance, sources say | 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 CNN."

President pressured staff to grant security clearance to Ivanka Trump | CNN

https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/05/politics/ivanka-trump-security-clearance-pressure/

Brennan On Trump Family Security Clearances, More Mueller Indictments | The Last Word | MSNBC



"Former CIA director John Brennan reacts to the new report that Donald Trump granted Ivanka Trump a security clearance over objections. And Brennan tells Lawrence why he expects Mueller to issue more indictments."

Trump Might Regret Becoming President | The Late Show with Stephen Colbert



"For a self-described ‘innocent’ person, the President sure has an aversion to being investigated."

Cohen gives documents to House panel on Trump attorney alleged changes to 2017 testimony | CNN

Quote:

Michael Cohen on Wednesday provided the House Intelligence Committee with new documents showing edits to the false written statement he delivered to Congress in 2017 about the Trump Organization's pursuit of the Trump Tower Moscow project into the 2016 campaign season, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.

The documents Cohen provided are intended to further explain his public testimony last week, in which Cohen said that President Donald Trump's then-personal lawyer Jay Sekulow made changes to his statement to the House and Senate Intelligence Committees, and that it was reviewed ahead of time by lawyers like Abbe Lowell, an attorney for Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, the President's daughter and son-in-law who are both White House advisers.

It's unclear what Cohen's documents show was specifically changed in the statement. Cohen is testifying Wednesday behind closed doors at the House Intelligence Committee.

"There were changes made, additions -- Jay Sekulow, for one," Cohen said last week. "There were several changes that were made including how we were going to handle that message, which was -- the message of course being -- the length of time that the Trump Tower Moscow project stayed and remained alive."

Continued at https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/06/politics/michael-cohen-testimony-congress/

What's In Michael Cohen's Boxes? Oh, Just Last Shreds Of Jay Sekulow's Reputation, Maybe|| Wonkette

"Anyway, the point is we are just curious ... if you edit somebody's sworn statement to Congress and add some lies to it to protect your client, is that bad? We are just asking, hypothetically!"

https://www.wonkette.com/whats-in-m...of-jay-sekulows-professional-reputation-maybe

Nearly two-thirds of voters think Trump committed crimes before taking office, poll finds | USA TODAY

Quote:

One of the first polls since President Donald Trump's former attorney implicated him in illegal activity was released Tuesday, and most of the results were not very good for the president.

A poll from Quinnipiac University National found 64 percent of American voters believe Trump committed crimes before assuming office, while 24 percent did not believe he had (another 13 percent said they weren't sure.) Forty-five percent said they think Trump committed crimes since taking office, compared with 43 percent who believe he did not.

<snipped>

"When two-thirds of voters think you have committed a crime in your past life, and almost half of voters say it's a toss-up over whether you committed a crime while in the Oval Office, confidence in your overall integrity is very shaky," said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll. "Add to that, Michael Cohen, a known liar headed to the big house, has more credibility than the leader of the free world."

More at https://www.usatoday.com/story/news.../trump-quinnipiac-university-poll/3076827002/

‘The silence is deafening’: Major brands avoid Trump even as he promotes them from the White House | The Washington Post

Quote:

In a scene probably worth millions of dollars in free advertising, President Trump displayed a spread of burgers from some of the country’s biggest fast-food chains inside the State Dining Room of the White House on Monday as hungry football players looked on.

With cameras rolling, he offered a presidential endorsement of “all-American” restaurants including McDonald’s, Chick-fil-A and Wendy’s.

“We like American companies, okay?” Trump said, standing before hundreds of Big Macs and chicken sandwiches alongside the North Dakota State football team. “Go eat up. Enjoy yourselves, everybody.”

But the companies haven’t been quick to return the affection or attempt to cash in on the presidential product placement, with McDonald’s, Chick-fil-A and Wendy’s all remaining silent about Trump’s endorsements. When Trump held a similar event in January, Burger King was the only company to reference it on social media — by mocking Trump for misspelling the word hamburger in a tweet.

“[D]ue to a large order placed yesterday, we’re all out of hamberders,” Burger King tweeted on Jan. 15, a day after Trump honored the Clemson football team with Whoppers and Big Macs, adding that it was “just serving hamburgers today.”

The corporate reticence underscores the tense relationship between a polarizing president and top U.S. consumer brands. The companies behind some of the president’s favorite products, including Sharpies, Big Macs and Diet Cokes, have kept him at arm’s length, even as he has lavished them with public praise and highlighted their products in the White House.

“It used to be that brands would love to get an endorsement from the president,” said Tim Calkins, who teaches marketing at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. “Now, if anything, I think these companies probably squirm a bit.”

Continued at https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...83112c-3f60-11e9-922c-64d6b7840b82_story.html

Democrats Reject Fox News as 2020 Debate Host, Citing Ties to Trump | The New York Times

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/06/business/media/democrats-fox-news-debate-host.html

"Inappropriate relationship" with Trump just cost Fox News a presidential debate, DNC says | VICE News

https://news.vice.com/en_us/article...-cost-fox-news-a-presidential-debate-dnc-says

HE'S IN LOVE (and we're all gonna die) - Randy Rainbow Song Parody | Randy Rainbow



https://www.youtube.com/user/Tday4U/videos

Lawyers claiming ties to Rudy Giuliani approached Michael Cohen after FBI raids; investigators looking at contacts | ABC News

Quote:

In the weeks following the federal raids on former Michael Cohen’s law office and residences last April, President Donald Trump's former lawyer and confidant was contacted by two New York attorneys who claimed to be in close contact with Rudy Giuliani, the current personal attorney to Trump, according to sources with direct knowledge of the discussions.

The outreach came just as Cohen, who spent more than a decade advocating for Trump, was wrangling with the most consequential decision of his life; whether to remain in a joint defense agreement with the president and others, or to flip on the man to whom he had pledged immutable loyalty. The sources described the lawyers’ contact with Cohen as an effort to keep him in the tent.

Continued at https://abcnews.go.com/US/lawyers-c...ni-approached-michael-cohen/story?id=61514204

Donald J. Trump‏ @realDonaldTrump 50 minutes ago
Democrats just blocked @FoxNews from holding a debate. Good, then I think I’ll do the same thing with the Fake News Networks and the Radical Left Democrats in the General Election debates!

Trump threatens to block networks from hosting debates after Dems reject Fox | TheHill

"The president would alone would not have the power to prevent outlets from hosting a general election debate."

https://thehill.com/homenews/admini...lock-networks-from-hosting-debates-after-dems

How President Donald Trump Hid His School Transcripts | Hardball | MSNBC



"The Washington Post reports that Trump's efforts to hide his grades went beyond what Michael Cohen described in his testimony."

Searching this thread for miamiherald will provide over a dozen recent posts that are related to this one.

Court weighs unsealing records that could reveal new details of Jeffrey Epstein sex abuse

By Julie K. Brown, The Miami Herald, March 6, 2019

Quote:

Privacy rights versus press freedoms took center stage Wednesday at an explosive federal appeals court hearing in New York, where lawyers argued to unseal confidential court files that could reveal evidence of an underage sex trafficking operation allegedly run by New York multimillionaire Jeffrey Epstein and his partner, British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit reserved judgment in the case, but the panel suggested it was leaning toward the release to the public of vast portions of the court record. The file on the case, which was settled in 2017, contains more than 1,000 documents, lawyers said during oral arguments led by the Miami Herald, which seeks to open the entire file.

Most of the documents, including court orders and motions, were filed under seal or heavily redacted, similar to other cases in New York and Florida involving the wealthy, politically connected money manager. Epstein, now 66, was not a party to the lawsuit, which was filed against Maxwell in 2015 by Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who claimed she was recruited by the pair to perform massages on them when she was 16 and known as Virginia Roberts. Giuffre claims she and other girls were sexually abused and pimped out to a number of wealthy influential people from 1999 to 2002.

The Herald said that while some redactions of personal information, including the names of other possible underage victims, are appropriate, the blanket sealing of the case violated the First Amendment, which grants citizens a presumptive right of access to court records, except in the rarest of circumstances.

The Herald’s lawyer, Sanford Bohrer, told the three-judge appeals court panel that the case should be unsealed in its entirety because the law provides the public with access in order to hold legal institutions accountable and to maintain confidence that they will protect the most vulnerable in society.

Two other parties to the appeal, attorneys for Harvard lawyer Alan Dershowitz and conservative social media blogger Michael Cernovich, also argued to unseal the entire case file. Dershowitz’s lawyer, Andrew G. Celli Jr., wanted the court to release three documents immediately, saying they were necessary to exonerate his client, who has been accused of being involved in Epstein’s crimes.

Dershowitz, 81, was among a team of lawyers who represented Epstein when he came under criminal investigation in Palm Beach in 2005. Epstein was accused by more than three dozen girls, most of them 13 to 16, of luring them to his mansion to give him massages that turned into sex acts. He then used those same girls to recruit more girls over a period of several years, court and police records show.

In 2008, Epstein received an unusually lenient plea deal that gave him and an untold number of others who were not cited by name immunity from federal prosecution. That plea deal was brokered under former Miami U.S. Attorney Alexander Acosta, who is currently President Donald Trump’s secretary of labor. Acosta’s handling of the case is now under investigation by the Justice Department.

Last week, a federal judge ruled that the agreement was illegal because Acosta and other prosecutors failed to inform Epstein’s victims about the deal in violation of the Crime Victims’ Rights Act.

Maxwell, the daughter of the late British publishing baron Robert Maxwell, has never been charged and has denied that she was involved in any crimes.

Dershowitz has disputed allegations that he was involved. He maintains the court record in the case contains evidence that Giuffre was writing a book manuscript at the time she publicly accused him of having sex with her when she was underage.

Prior to the hearing, Dershowitz’s attorney had suggested that the appeals panel might want to allow him to present part of his argument outside the presence of opposing lawyers, the news media and the public. The judges did not grant or even address that suggestion, made in a letter to the court.

After the hearing, Dershowitz held a news conference, calling for a federal criminal investigation into Giuffre and her lawyers, calling them liars. The spectacle continued outside the Manhattan courthouse, with Dershowitz claiming that Giuffre and her lawyer, David Boies, conspired to lie about him for financial gain.

The case at the heart of Wednesday’s appeal is a defamation claim. Giuffre’s lawyer, Sigrid McCawley, told the Herald that the case was settled in her client’s favor in 2017. The amount of the settlement was confidential.

Cernovich’s lawyer, Marc Randazza, pointed out that the file contains “pages and pages’’ of blacked-out paragraphs.

“I’d expect this from a [Freedom of Information Act] request to the CIA,’’ he quipped to the judges during the hearing.

Ty Gee, a Denver lawyer representing Ghislaine Maxwell, however, argued that nothing in the case should be made public, since several witnesses provided statements during the litigation under the presumption that they would be kept confidential. He explained that the district court judge who presided over the case, Robert W. Sweet, was “overwhelmed’’ because he was bombarded by attorneys with requests to seal document after document, to the point where all the parties simply agreed to seal nearly everything to move the case along.

Bohrer, however, said that isn’t the way the court system should work.

Continued at https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/article227184299.html

The writing is on the wall as well as in Robert Mueller's report about me not to mention my tax returns or anything else for that matter. And don't even begin to speculate about my school transcripts .

Schiff introduces bill targeting Trump pardons | TheHill

Quote:

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) on Thursday re-introduced legislation that would alert Congress if President Trump pardons an individual connected to an investigation in which he or a family member is involved.

Schiff presented the Abuse of the Pardon Prevention Act in an effort to prevent Trump and future presidents from abusing pardon authority. While Schiff previously introduced the legislation last year, his new push comes amid reports that representatives for Michael Cohen may have spoken about a pardon with attorneys for Trump.

"The President has a broad power to confer pardons, but not when they are designed to insulate himself, his family and his associates from criminal investigation," Schiff said in a statement. "Such an abuse of the pardon power would amount to obstruction of justice and is not countenanced by the constitution."

If passed, the law would require that Congress receive Department of Justice evidence against the recipient of a pardon if they are implicated in an investigation tied to the president.

Continued at https://thehill.com/homenews/house/433042-schiff-introduces-bill-targeting-trump-pardons

If I may say so it would be a crime to pardon me.