Military Has Spent $200k at Trump’s Troubled Scottish Resort

$200,000

“Since Donald Trump took office, the U.S. military has spent nearly $200,000 at the president’s luxury Scotland resort, according to figures and documents the Pentagon provided to the House Oversight Committee,” Politico reports. “The spending, which has all occurred since August 2017, paid for the equivalent of hundreds of nights of rooms at the Turnberry resort over approximately three dozen separate stays.”

Rubin: Impeachment Should Focus on Trump’s Corruption

“The House should seriously consider shifting the focus from the Mueller report and Trump’s attempts to short circuit the Russia investigation to the overarching issue of this presidency: His unparalleled corruption. The Mueller report will come into play, but as an example of a particular form of corruption. This is easy to understand and undermines the entire premise of Trump’s outsider campaign by focusing on how he uses the presidency to enrich himself and serve his personal needs. … The enrichment schemes multiply and become more nauseating by the day.”

Jennifer Rubin

Trump Has Learned How to Play the Government

“Donald Trump came to the presidency a complete novice to government and often found his corrupt, authoritarian impulses frustrated by its bureaucracy. But he is slowly learning how to control the machine that has stymied him. This is the story of 2019, as Trump has replaced institutionalists attempting to curtail his grossest instincts with loyalists happy to indulge them. It is playing out across multiple dimensions. This is the through-line between several seemingly disconnected episodes from the last several days.”

Jonathan Chait

Trump Facing 15 Investigations

15

“President Trump is facing a hurdle no other president has — an unprecedented onslaught of investigations into almost every recent organization he has led,” Politico reports. “In total, Trump faces at least 15 criminal or civil inquiries by nine federal, state and city agencies into his business, his charity, his campaign, his inaugural committee and his personal finances.”

Ivanka Trump Made $4 Million from D.C. Hotel Last Year

$4 million

“Ivanka Trump made $4 million from her investment in her father’s Washington hotel last year,” Bloomberg reports. “She also made at least $1 million from her line of branded apparel, jewelry and other merchandise, down from at least $5 million in the previous year. Trump, 37, announced in July that she was closing her fashion businesses amid controversies over her role in the White House and after some big-name department stores dropped the brand.”

FEC Clarifies U.S. Election Law for Trump

“Let me make something 100% clear to the American public and anyone running for public office: It is illegal for any person to solicit, accept, or receive anything of value from a foreign national in connection with a U.S. election. This is not a novel concept.“

— Ellen Weintraub, the head of the Federal Election Commission, “released a statement on Thursday evening reiterating, emphatically, that foreign assistance is illegal in U.S. elections,” Politico reports.

Trump Is Seeking Foreign Help

“Trump continues to show every sign of hoping and expecting to benefit from foreign collusion in 2020. In May, he intended to send Rudy Giuliani to Ukraine to pressure the government to supply dirt on Joe Biden. He and his ally, Mitch McConnell, are blocking measures (including ones with bipartisan support) to help safeguard elections against foreign attacks and social media propaganda. … His message to Russia, or any other government that wants a close relationship with him, is obvious: do anything you can to help me win.”

Jonathan Chait

Trump Would Take Dirt on Opponents from a Foreign Entity

“I think you might want to listen. There’s nothing wrong with listening. It’s not an interference, they have information. I think I’d take it. If I thought there was something wrong I’d go maybe to the FBI. If I thought there was something wrong.”

— President Trump, telling ABC News that he wouldn’t commit to calling the FBI if a foreign power offered damaging information on a political opponent. When told FBI Director Christopher Wray said campaigns should contact the bureau if contacted by a foreign entity, Trump said: “The FBI director is wrong.”