| Week #28: May 28, 2017 |
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This week the Trump-Russia scandal reached the inner circle of Trump's WH, as bombshells revealed Kushner is a central focus of the FBI investigation. The Trump regime established a war room as the walls of Trump-Russia cave in on them, with breaking news daily. Also of note this week is the myriad of examples of Trump distancing our country from our traditional allies, and instead cozying up to brutal authoritarians. Human rights abroad are no longer a priority -- the focus seems to have shifted to where the Trump organization has properties. |
| 1. |
Trump's attorney said he wouldn't sign his 2016 financial disclosure, a major departure from the norm. After OGE pushback, Trump said he would sign, but has yet to do so. Read More About This |
| 2. |
The White House also blocked disclosure of names of former lobbyists who have been granted waivers to work in the White House or for federal agencies. Late Friday, the White House said they would comply, but has yet to do so. Read More About This; Click here, also |
| 3. |
GOP Senators are considering changing rules to make it harder for Democrats to block Trump's picks for circuit court judges. This follows the "nuclear option" which eased the path for Trump's SCOTUS pick. Read More About This |
| 4. |
Tillerson held a press conference in Riyadh on a new US-Saudi partnership. US media was excluded. Read More About This |
| 5. |
NPR reported there's been an unprecedented spike of white supremacist activity on college campuses since Trump was elected. Read More About This |
| 6. |
Shortly after announcing his resignation from Congress, Chaffetz said individuals leaking info to the press should go to jail. Read More About This |
| 7. |
Trump considered vetoing the temporary spending bill. Priebus asked Boehner to talk Trump into signing and keeping the government open. Read More About This |
| 8. |
As the Trump regime's visited Saudi Arabia, the kingdom announced it would invest $20bn in Blackstone's new $40bn infrastructure fund. Read More About This |
| 9. |
Saudi Arabia will also invest $100mm in Ivanka's Women Entrepreneurs Fund. In addition to other human right's abuses, the kingdom has one of the worst records globally for treatment of its women. Read More About This |
| 10. |
During a photo op with Netanyahu on his visit to Israel, Trump confirmed the source of his leak to Lavrov and Kislyak at the White House by telling the press he "never mentioned the word or the name Israel." Read More About This |
| 11. |
FP reported that Israel changed its intelligence sharing with the US after Trump's leak to Russia. Read More About This |
| 12. |
Turkey summoned the US envoy to complain about the treatment of Ergodan's bodyguards for beating up US protestors. Read More About This |
| 13. |
Amid rising tensions, Turkey signed a $1.5mm contract with longtime Trump lobbyist Brian Ballard. Ballard's firm has also recently signed contracts with the Dominican Republic and the Socialist Party of Albania. Read More About This |
| 14. |
A leaked transcript prepared by the Philippines government of a phone call between Trump and Duterte described Trump praising the brutal authoritarian: "what a great job you are doing" with the drug problem. Read More About This |
| 15. |
Also on the call with Duterte, Trump revealed the location of two US nuclear submarines. Read More About This |
| 16. |
US officials were chastised for leaking the identity of the Manchester bomber to the press before British police officially named him. Read More About This |
| 17. |
UK officials were also outraged when photos of the debris surfaced in the NYT, and said they would stop sharing information about the attack with their US counterparts. Later that day, sharing reportedly resumed. Read More About This; Click here, also |
| 18. |
Flynn's lawyer said his client would invoke his Fifth Amendment rights rather than comply with a Senate Intel Comm subpoena. Burr and Warner said they are considering holding Flynn in contempt. Read More About This |
| 19. |
Christie told reporters that as head of Trump's transition team, he told Trump not to hire Flynn in any capacity. Pence took over as head next. Read More About This |
| 20. |
Sessions canceled his Monday testimony on DOJ funding before Congress, for fear the hearing would be overtaken by questions are the Trump-Russia scandal. Read More About This |
| 21. |
Cummings said the House Oversight Comm has documents that show Flynn lied to security clearance investigators in 2016. Flynn claimed he was paid by "US companies," not Russia's RT, for his 2015 Moscow trip. Read More About This |
| 22. |
CNN reported that Mueller visited FBI headquarters, and was briefed on the contents of Comey's Trump memos. Read More About This |
| 23. |
WAPO reported Trump asked intel chiefs Coats and Rogers to publicly say there was no collusion between Russia and Trump in the 2016 election. The goal was to "muddy the waters" about the FBI probe. Read More About This |
| 24. |
Like Comey, Rogers was concerned about his conversations with Trump, and kept contemporaneous notes. Read More About This |
| 25. |
WAPO also reported that White House staffers tried to get senior intel officers and members of Congress to push back on the stories that the Trump regime members were in frequent contact with Russian officials. Read More About This |
| 26. |
Sen. Duckworth sent a letter to the NSA requesting info on security sweeps of the Oval Office after Trump's meeting with Lavrov and Kislyak. Read More About This |
| 27. |
A member of the FEC called for an investigation into Russia's purchase of Facebook ads to possibly boost Trump in the election. Read More About This |
| 28. |
At a House hearing, former CIA director Brennan testified that he was convinced last summer that "the Russians were trying to interfere in the election. And they were very aggressive" Read More About This |
| 29. |
Brennan also testified on significant contact between the Trump campaign and Russia, citing Russians efforts to get US persons "to act on their behalf either wittingly or unwittingly." Read More About This |
| 30. |
Brennan also said he alerted the FBI about the troubling pattern in July, seeming to form the basis for the start of the FBI investigation. Read More About This |
| 31. |
Despite the Trump's regime efforts to limit the scope of Mueller's investigation -- citing Kushner, Ivanka and Manafort are clients of his former law firm -- the DOJ cleared Mueller to lead the Russia probe. Read More About This |
| 32. |
The Senate Intel Comm subpoenaed two Flynn companies. Businesses, if corporations, cannot plead the Fifth. Read More About This |
| 33. |
On Thursday, the Senate Intel Comm voted to give Burr and Warner blanket authority to issue subpoenas in the Trump-Russia probe. Read More About This |
| 34. |
Burr and Warner asked Trump's political organization to produce all Russia-related documents, emails and phone records going back to his campaign's launch in June 2015. Read More About This |
| 35. |
STAT reported on experts citing that the deterioration in Trump's linguistic capabilities could reflect changes in the health of his brain. Read More About This |
| 36. |
Infowars was given White House press credentials. Read More About This |
| 37. |
The NEH chairman resigned amid Trump's budget rollout which calls for huge cuts to domestic programs. Read More About This |
| 38. |
A top Education Department official resigned after refusing DeVos's orders to testify before a congressional oversight hearing. Read More About This |
| 39. |
Trump released his budget with a $2tn double-counting error. Larry Summers described it as, "the most egregious accounting error in a presidential budget in the nearly 40 years I have been tracking them." Read More About This |
| 40. |
Trump's Caribbean estate was quietly put on the market at a significantly higher price than he paid in 2013, again raising ethical concerns of potential buyers paying above market to gain access. Read More About This |
| 41. |
NYT reported on ethical concerns over the Trump family golf business, as the PGA comes to Trump National, and access to Trump, who frequents his courses, is being touted as a marketing point for membership. Read More About This |
| 42. |
Demonstrating how Trump's friends continue to influence policy, Icahn is set to save $60mm for his oil refinery company CVR Energy in the first quarter due to planned easing of regulations. Read More About This |
| 43. |
Giuliani attempted to distance himself from Trump's Muslim Ban, despite his bragging on Fox News months ago that he was consulted by Trump. Read More About This |
| 44. |
DeVos said states should have the flexibility to discriminate against LGBTQ students, and schools will not be at risk of losing federal funds. Read More About This |
| 45. |
Although before taking office Trump promised to donate all profits earned from foreign governments back to the US Treasury, according to NBC, the Trump Organization is not tracking these payments. The Constitution bans presidents from receiving foreign government gifts. Read More About This; Click here, also |
| 46. |
93% of key roles in the executive branch remain unfilled. Read More About This |
| 47. |
Buzzfeed reported the guest reception manager at Mar-A-Lago, wife of a twice-convicted felon who likes to brag about his wife's access, was assigned a White House email and phone and helped with Trump's overseas plans. Read More About This |
| 48. |
A new study found that tourism to the US has been on the decline since Trump took office, dropping by as much as 16%. Read More About This |
| 49. |
The Carrier plant in Indiana, where to much ballyhoo Trump showcased saving 800 jobs, announced mass layoffs before Christmas. The jobs are being moved to Mexico. Read More About This |
| 50. |
FP reported NATO countries were frantically preparing for their summit with Trump. One official said, "It's like they're preparing to deal with a child -- someone with a short attention span and mood who has no knowledge of NATO, no interest in in-depth policy issues, nothing." Read More About This |
| 51. |
At the NATO summit in Brussels, Trump pushed the PM of Montenegro aside, before chastising participants for not paying their share of NATO costs. His behavior was met with uniform disgust by our allies. Read More About This |
| 52. |
Trump also refused to clearly back Article 5, the one-for-all, all-for-one principle of NATO, and remained at odd with our allies over Russia. Read More About This |
| 53. |
Trump also said of Germany, our close ally, "The Germans are bad, very bad." Read More About This |
| 54. |
Aya Hijazi, who Trump had bragged about negotiating her release from an Egyptian prison, told PBS's Woodruff that Trump did not understand that it was el-Sisi's regime that held her. Read More About This |
| 55. |
On Wednesday, Greg Gianforte, running for Montana's open Congressional seat, body slammed a reporter when asked about AHCA CBO scoring. Like Trump, Gianforte has had harsh rhetoric on the media. Gianforte was charged with assault the night before the election. Read More About This; Click here, also |
| 56. |
Weeks before Jacobs had reported on Gianforte's ownership of Russian index funds, whose holdings include companies like Rosneft which are under US sanctions. Read More About This |
| 57. |
Press advocates cited four incidents between the press and public officials in the past month, saying Trump's rhetoric has led to a "climate of anger, disrespect and hostility" towards the press. Read More About This |
| 58. |
POLITICO reported that Trump reached out to former campaign staffers Lewandowski and Bossie about becoming crisis managers as the Trump-Russia scandal unfolds. Read More About This |
| 59. |
In a surprising move, Trump hired his longtime personal lawyer Marc Kasowitz to represent him in the special counsel's Trump-Russia probe. Read More About This |
| 60. |
CNN reported the Trump regime is establishing a war room-type operation aimed at developing a rapid-response to Trump-Russia news. Read More About This |
| 61. |
As the CBO came out with alarming scoring on Trumpcare/AHCA, Trump ally Gingrich called for the abolishment of the CBO. Read More About This |
| 62. |
Trump's budget targets undocumented immigrants by denying them tax credits and jobs, while significantly beefing up his deportation force. Read More About This |
| 63. |
The Trump regime kept US reporters largely in the dark during his overseas trip this week: delaying readouts, keeping reporters at a distance, and refusing to hold new conferences. Read More About This |
| 64. |
Trump ally Sheriff Clarke directed his staff waiting at the terminal to hassle a plane passenger after a brief exchange. The passenger is suing Clarke and his deputies involved. Read More About This |
| 65. |
The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a nationwide injunction against Trump's second Muslim Ban by a 10–3 vote. The Chief Judge said the ban, "drips with religious intolerance, animus, and discrimination." Read More About This |
| 66. |
In their efforts to highlight crimes committed by undocumented immigrants through their VOICE program, Trump's DHS published a database with the personal information of abuse victims. Read More About This |
| 67. |
For the first time in almost two decades, Tillerson declined to host a Ramadan event at the State Dept. Read More About This |
| 68. |
In Portland, OR, a suspect hurled insults at Muslim women on a MAX train, before stabbing men who tried to stop him. Two are dead. Read More About This |
| 69. |
According to the DOJ, Sessions did not disclose his meetings with Kislyakin his security clearance application. Read More About This |
| 70. | Sessions remains AG despite having lied both to the Senate under oath and on his security clearance application about Russia, as well as playing a role in Comey's firing despite being recused on Trump-Russia matters. |
| 71. |
Members of the House Financial Services Comm asked Deutsche Bank to produce documents on Trump family loans. As mentioned in Week 18's list, Deutsche has been fined for laundering money for Russia. Read More About This |
| 72. |
NYT reported that US spies collected info last summer that top Russian officials were discussing how to exert influence on Trump through his aides, Manafort and Flynn. Read More About This |
| 73. |
POLITICO reported that despite the Trump spin that Manafort was a minor player and not in touch with his regime, Manafort called Priebus the week before the inauguration to discuss the growing Russia scandal. Read More About This |
| 74. |
WAPO reported that a fake Russian document which claimed assurances from AG Lynch to the Clinton campaign on the email investigation, influenced Comey's handling of the investigation, including his unusual news conference in July without conferring with the DOJ. Read More About This |
| 75. |
Although Comey had the Russian document for months before the July news conference, the FBI did not take the simple steps needed to prove it to be bad intelligence until after July. Read More About This |
| 76. |
WIRED reported that Russian hackers are weaponizing "tainted" leaks -- planting altered materials with disinformation alongside legitimate leaks. Read More About This |
| 77. |
WSJ reported that a GOP political operative, Aaron Nevins, worked with the Russians to hurt Clinton and Democrats during the election -- the first direct evidence of collusion. Read More About This |
| 78. |
WAPO reported that the FBI "person of interest" in the White House referenced in their reporting last week is Kushner. The FBI is investigating Kushner for the extent and nature of his contacts with Russian officials. Read More About This |
| 79. |
Further, WAPO reported the FBI is investigating possible coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia to influence the 2016 election, as well as possible financial crimes. Read More About This |
| 80. |
The FBI informed House Oversight Comm chair Chaffetz that they will not turn over Comey's memos, leaving open the prospect that Mueller is investigating Trump for obstruction of justice. Read More About This |
| 81. |
Lieberman became the fourth candidate under consideration by Trump for FBI director to withdraw from consideration. Read More About This |
| 82. |
After demurring on whether Trump would lift sanctions on Russia Thursday, top Trump adviser, under media scrutiny, said Friday the sanctions would remain in place. Read More About This |
| 83. |
A Quinnipiac poll found that most Americans believe Trump is abusing his power (54–43), and most believe he is not honest (59–36). Read More About This |
| 84. |
WAPO reported at a meeting at Trump Tower in early December, Kushner proposed to Kislyak setting up a secret communication channel between the Kremlin and the Trump regime using Russian diplomatic facilities. Read More About This |
| 85. |
Kislyak was reportedly taken aback by the suggestion, and concerned Kushner's request would expose Russian communication capabilities. Read More About This |
| 86. |
Kushner's goal was to avoid US intelligence monitoring. Flynn attended the meeting with Kislyak too. Read More About This |
| 87. | Of note, both Kislyak and Flynn secretly met with a UAE crown prince around the time that prince was setting up a meeting between Erik Prince and a Russian official in Seychelles (see Week 21's list). Trump met that same UAE crown prince at the White House last week. |
| 88. |
Reuters reported that Kushner had at least three previously undisclosed contacts with Kislyak during and after the 2016 presidential campaign. Read More About This |
| 89. |
Reuters reported FBI investigators are examining whether Russians suggested to Kushner or other Trump aides relaxing US sanctions in exchange for making bank financing available to the Trump regime. Read More About This |
| 90. |
In response to the Reuters piece, Kushner's lawyer issued a statement that Kushner, "has no recollection of the calls as described." Read More About This |
| 91. |
Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska has offered to cooperate with Congress in their investigation of Manafort in exchange for immunity. Noted in Week 27, Deripaska is suing AP for libel for reporting his ties to Manafort. Read More About This |
| 92. |
Owners of Russian Alfa Bank sued Buzzfeed Friday in state court in Manhattan for publishing the Steele dossier. Read More About This |
| 93. |
Amidst the Trump-Russia turmoil, Trump canceled his Iowa campaign rally scheduled for next week. Read More About This |
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