Congress & Campaigns editor, USA Today and author of love, journalism. Priors: The Messenger, Insider, Politico, E&E News, The Olympian, Columbia Missourian.
Great news: I’m joining
@USATODAY
as Congress & Campaigns editor starting April 8. Excited to be back soon in a newsroom working with an amazing team of journalists.
EXCLUSIVE: Donald Trump has sought to discredit a NY judge’s blockbuster ruling threatening his business empire by arguing that Mar-a-Lago alone is worth more than a billion dollars.
But fewer than 3 years ago, his tax rep told Palm Beach County officials that Trump “agrees” his…
Hicks gave a categorical denial to Texas Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee when she asked whether Hicks was ever present when Trump and Cohen had discussed Daniels. "No, ma'am," Hicks replied.
@politico
NEWS: Fani Willis: Pro-Trump Lawyer Not Covered by Attorney-Client Privilege for Documents Allegedly Plotting ‘Fake Elector’ Plan
In a filing Tuesday, the Fulton County DA argued memos and emails are not covered by attorney-client privilege that allegedly show Kenneth Chesebro…
NEWS: Georgia Judge Denies Pro-Trump Lawyer’s Motion to Dismiss RICO Charges, With a Nod to Monty Python
Fulton County Superior Judge Scott McAfee on Friday denied Chesebro's motion in a three-page order Friday that was punctuated with a reference to the famous 'Dead Parrot…
SCOOP: Brad Parscale appeared despondent last Friday, telling his fellow '20 Trump campaign staffers & friends that he was under federal investigation, according to 4 Trump advisers and Republicans close to the president's campaign. by
@tomlobianco
($)
NEW: Judge Shuts Down Trump’s Claim That He Reversed Himself on Statute of Limitations
The former president claimed the judge 'overruled' himself and would knock out '80%' of the case, but the judge began day two of the trial by shooting that down
by
@KlasfeldReports
…
SCOOP: The Trump campaign shell company that helped hide $617M in presidential campaign spending was almost exclusively a Trump family production, run in part by a top deputy to Eric Trump,
@Politicsinsider
has learned. by
@tomlobianco
&
@davelevinthal
($)
BREAKING: Trump Georgia Co-Defendant’s Lawyers File Notice to Withdraw from RICO Case
Defense lawyers for Trevian Kutti, the former publicist for the rapper known as Kanye West, on Monday night filed notice they want to drop their client in the Fulton County case
w/
@alemzs
…
HJC Chair Jerry Nadler signals that impeachment is indeed what the House may be doing in the final days of the Trump presidency: "The nation cannot afford a lengthy, drawn out process, and I support bringing articles of impeachment directly to the House floor."
JUST IN: U.S. Court of Appeals clerk flags the Trump gag order appeal and notes lawyer John Lauro is not a member of the bar for the DC Circuit - Gives him a Nov. 2 deadline to complete his application.
Mueller spokesman Peter Carr statement defending the special counsel's work: "When we have obtained emails in the course of our ongoing criminal investigation, we have secured either the account owner’s consent or appropriate criminal process.”
@politico
Mueller’s office and SDNY signed off on Nadler's letters. It also won’t be the only doc requests - Nadler's aides said more would be going out soon & cautioned against reading into why some people didn’t get letters on Monday.
@politico
“I want to get you out of here,” Judge Robert McBurney told the public gallery in the Fulton County Courthouse today. “So when I know that my day is over — normally presiding stops at five, and about 4:59, you say no more. But I've been asked this week to have presiding, just to…
Judge Amy Berman Jackson is unsealing and releasing documents from the Paul Manafort case this AM. Here's one doc she just released with fewer black boxes than when it first came out back in December 2018.
The newly promoted CoS for Trump's presidential campaign was arrested in OK in 2016 & charged with conspiracy to violate state election laws after police seized her then-boyfriend's phone in a cocaine bust,
@Politicsinsider
has learned. w/
@johnjcook
($)
BREAKING: Federal prosecutors say Roger Stone has violated his gag order, citing his recent social media posts and file motion to Judge Jackson requesting an immediate hearing. Story TK.
Jared Kushner called the CEOs of AT&T, Verizon, & T-Mobile to complain after the Trump campaign was blocked from sending text messages to people who hadn’t signed up for them. by
@tomlobianco
in
@Politicsinsider
($)
NEWS: Jack Smith Slams Trump’s Bid to Dismiss Jan. 6 Charges: ‘The Defendant Is Not Above The Law’
Donald Trump should not be exempt from prosecution on 'presidential immunity' grounds, prosecutors in the special counsel's office argued in a court filing Thursday night…
BREAKING: Full DC Circuit rules in favor of House Judiciary Committee that it does have the power to sue to enforce subpoenas like the one it's been long pursuing to get testimony from former Trump WH Counsel Don McGahn.
NEW: Sleeping w/ married legislators. Spending the night at a college sorority house. These were specific ways Matt Gaetz & FLA lawmakers could earn "extra points" in a sex game in which Gaetz is accused of playing when he served in the state's House. ($)
NEWS: The DC Circuit US Court of Appeals has stayed its decision ordering Judge Emmet Sullivan to end former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn's criminal case while the entire en banc panel of appellate judges considers the issues.
BREAKING: Paul Manafort is scheduled to be arraigned around 2:15 PM Thursday in NY County Supreme Court before Judge Maxwell Wiley, per Manhattan DA Cy Vance's office. The former Trump campaign chair faces 16 counts, including mortgage fraud & falsifying business records.
NEWS: The full DC Circuit Court of Appeals has agreed to rehear the Michael Flynn case. Oral arguments for the en banc review are scheduled for Aug. 11.
NEWS: One of President Donald Trump's top lawyers has resigned from her law firm after participating in a phone call attempting to overturn the election results in Georgia, Insider has learned. by
@tomlobianco
($) in
@Politicsinsider
NEW: Another newsy nugget from the
@thisisinsider
Trump oral history project.
Corey Lewandowski acknowledges Trump 2016 did indeed pay actors to appear at the Trump Tower campaign announcement event.
Nearly 2 years ago, FBI chief Chris Wray set up an office tasked solely with stopping the type of Russian inference efforts that infected the '16 campaign. Last night, POTUS undercut the whole operation in a matter of seconds.
@politico
w/
@natashabertrand
NEWS: House Dems just now point the US Court of Appeals DC Circuit to the arguments President Trump's lawyers made in the Senate impeachment trial that the proper venue for fighting a subpoena is in court, contradicting DOJ's stance in a lawsuit to hear testimony from Don McGahn.
NEW: Neither Mueller nor anyone else from the special counsel’s prosecution team will be in attendance at the Barr press conference, Mueller spokesman Peter Carr told
@politico
. But Carr said he'll be there in the role he's returned to handling press on DOJ criminal matters.
NEWS: Trump Organization’s Former CFO Allen Weisselberg Testified it’s a ‘Coincidence’ That His $2 Million Severance Exactly Matches His Criminal Penalty
Under the agreement's terms, the ex-CFO still has $1.25 million in payments left — and clauses restricting what he can say
by…
NEWS: Discrepancies in a $48 Million Loan Involving Trump and His Chicago Tower Should be Criminally Investigated: Legal Experts - by
@KlasfeldReports
@TheMessenger
Shortly before 4 p.m., McBurney poked his head back into the courtroom, gave a deputy some instructions on some regular business and then turned towards the reporters seated in the gallery. "You all may want to get dinner," he said.
Another NEW sealed motion just filed -- apparently from Mueller -- in the mystery grand jury subpoena case we've been tracking here at
@politico
- This one is 3,074 words.
NEW: President Trump could face criminal and civil investigations at both the federal and state levels for many years to come should he lose the White House, and the immunity from prosecution he's so far enjoyed. by
@davelevinthal
in
@Politicsinsider
($)
NEW: Missouri Democrats are planning a 'Hawlin' Hawley' 5K race after the GOP senator was shown running from January 6 rioters - by
@ngaudiano
@PoliticsInsider
Judge Sullivan: "All along you were an unregistered agent of a foreign country while serving as the national security adviser of the president of the United States. ... Arguably that undermines everything that flag over here stands for. Arguably, you sold your country out."
Reached by phone, Darryl Cohen, Kutti’s Atlanta-based attorney, said that “in order to have a good lawyer-client relationship, the client has to listen, the client has to be on board and you have to be paid.”
Robert Mueller’s report may be just days away from release, but a pair of high-profile new cases surfacing in the last 24 hours signals that the arm of his Russia investigation is long indeed.
@politico
JUST IN: US District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan through his attorney files a brief defending his decision not to immediately OK the DOJ's request to drop the Michael Flynn charges.
BREAKING: A three-judge panel of the DC Circuit Court of Appeals has issued an emergency stay blocking the release of the Mueller grand jury materials to the House Judiciary Committee - pending an appeal from DOJ.
NEWS: Trump’s Civil Trial Has No Jury Because ‘Nobody Asked’ for One, Judge Explains
Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron said Monday it’s the former president's fault that the case is being tried without a jury
by
@KlasfeldReports
@TheMessenger
NEW: After the violent and mostly White pro-Trump mob attacked the Capitol last week, Black & brown people had to clean up the mess. Several told
@Politicsinsider
they were well aware of the racial dynamics. By
@elvina_nawaguna
&
@KaylaEpstein
($)
AG Bill Barr said last week Mueller’s probe was based on a “completely bogus narrative.” Judge Jackson used her perch today to deliver a pointed, public rebuttal, saying there was “an ample basis” for a tough inquiry into the Trump campaign.
@politico
A federal judge has ordered the partial release of a Watergate report that fueled an impeachment drive against President Richard Nixon and could serve as a precedent for a similar effort aimed at President Donald Trump.
@joshgerstein
reports
Wow - Pelosi says a special prosecutor should be appointed to investigate the Ukraine matter but it's not something she thinks Barr and DOJ would do because he's implicated.
BREAKING: Judge Chastises Trump For ‘Blatant Violation of Gag Order’ on His Clerk, Raises Possible Penalties Including Fines or Jail
New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron asked why Trump shouldn’t face 'serious sanctions' such as fines or 'possibly imprisoning him'
by…
A Donald Trump-appointed federal judge on Thursday said she’s considering holding in contempt of court a Russian firm charged with interfering in the 2016 presidential election after it failed to comply with a government subpoena.
@politico
NEWS: US Court of Appeals DC Circuit just denied Trump’s request for a rehearing in a lawsuit it’s already lost involving House Democrats’ bid to get financial records tied to the president.
Feds say Roger Stone’s lies haven’t just put him at risk of being sent to federal prison. They also caused lawmakers to produce an inaccurate report about Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
@politico
w/
@joshgerstein
BREAKING: A federal court ruled on Tuesday that House lawmakers can obtain former President Donald Trump's tax returns from the IRS. - by
@BrentGriffiths
@PoliticsInsider
NEW: President Trump's top WH adviser executed a DC-style coup that would have made the swampiest beltway veterans proud, installing Bill Stepien as the new de facto campaign manager while letting Brad Parscale keep the title too. by
@tomlobianco
Rudy Giuliani via text to
@politico
on tonight’s Flynn filing: “Wow big crime for a SPECIAL WHATEVER maybe a group of Angry Bitter Hillary Supporters who are justifying themselves by the goal justifies the means....Over the top In ethical behavior.”
ATLANTA — Attorneys for Trevian Kutti, one of Donald Trump's co-defendants in the Georgia election racketeering case, filed notice on Monday night they no longer intend to represent the embattled publicist who has gained notoriety for her outlandish statements.
NEW Mueller brief filed in Court of Appeals, DC Circuit, addressing Whitaker appointment and what it does to a subpoena fight to get testimony from a Roger Stone associate. In short, special counsel lawyers say the change in who's in charge "has no effect on this case."
NEW: "This case has been stalled long enough," House Democrats write in a motion filed this eve asking a federal judge to lift a temporary stay on their lawsuit seeking President Trump's tax returns.
JUST IN: House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler demanding Hope Hicks come back in to clarify her testimony about the Stormy Daniels-Cohen-Trump phone call. - My earlier
@politico
story on this here:
Next week = nuts. Monday: DOJ brief to DC Circuit in Mueller grand jury case, DOJ's Michael Flynn supplemental sentencing memo; Parnas-Fruman hearing in SDNY. Wednesday: HJC impeachment hearing, Kupperman briefs. Thursday: Trump cert deadline in Mazars, Pelosi CNN town hall.
JUST IN: New York DA Cyrus Vance files its brief to the Supreme Court in its case seeking enforcement of a grand jury subpoena for President Trump's financial records as part of a state criminal probe. Oral arguments are scheduled for 3/31. Read it here:
BREAKING: President Donald Trump scored a major legal victory on Friday a federal appeals court panel ruled Democrats have no right to hear testimony from former White House counsel Don McGahn.
JUST IN: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit issues an order spelling out the schedule for Nov. 20 oral arguments in the Trump gag order appeal.
Arguments will consist of 20 minutes for the former president's legal team, followed by 20 minutes from Jack Smith's…
David Pecker is primed to be a gold mine for prosecutors. The 67-year-old NY native has known Trump for more than 2 decades & media accounts & statements from the men over the years show it’s been a mutually beneficial relationship.
@politico
Buried amid days of blasphemy and bombast were quieter new details that collectively showed Trump and his aides discussed WikiLeaks with Stone months earlier than anyone has acknowledged.
@politico
@joshgerstein
Kravis says Stone was breaking gag order as recent as yesterday when he passed a note to someone in media, presumably Alex Jones who did talk about Stone's note.
Lost in the news of today’s Roger Stone proceedings, Judge Jackson said Mueller had turned a “huge volume of material” over to defense. She said she’s set motion schedule & trial date at next status hearing, which is March 14.
In a text message to
@POLITICO
Rudy Giuliani said he was not Flynn’s new lawyer. Alan Dershowitz replied that he’s not representing Flynn. Joe DiGenova in an email wrote, “We are not at liberty to discuss.” w/
@joshgerstein
The president’s senior aides -- Pence, Barr, Mulvaney, Pompeo & Giuliani - are about to face the punishing spotlight of an impeachment inquiry, the beginning of personal and professional costs spreading throughout the Trump orbit.
@politico
I'm sad to say
@TheMessenger
is indeed over. It's been one hell of a ride. I couldn't be prouder of the journalism done here these last nine months. I couldn't be prouder of my colleagues and all the hard work we've done.
I'll land on my feet. My DMs are open. Stay tuned.
#30
#
JUST IN: Judge Sullivan is seeking a rehearing before the entire DC Circuit in the Michael Flynn case after a three-judge panel ordered him to accept DOJ's request to nix the former Trump aide's guilty plea.
TLANTA – A court filing from Georgia prosecutors Tuesday included memos and emails showing pro-Trump attorney Kenneth Chesebro’s alleged role as the “architect” of the scheme to appoint "fake" or alternate pro-Trump electors in battleground states.
Parscale didn't explain which agency was investigating him, or why, but campaign staff noted the shocking turn from a colleague who had been central to Trump's political rise in 2016.
SCOOP by
@tomlobianco
Vice President Mike Pence and his wife mailed in their ballots for Indiana's June GOP primary, according to a copy of the state's voter files obtained by
@Politicsinsider
($)
“Where’s Paul Manafort? He’s in a prison somewhere. He’s readily available. Get him a suit. Get him a haircut. Have him testify,” said John Q. Barrett, a St. John’s University law professor.
@politico
BREAKING: Stone won't be jailed or held in contempt for violating his gag order, but Judge Jackson bans him from all social media on any topic or any subject.
There are 17 cases filed this year in DC district court under seal, as well as another 57 from 2018. All could be unrelated to the Russia probe, but it's also possible Mueller placed some like ticking time bombs into the federal court system.
@politico
Good morning from US District Court in DC. At 10 am, House Judiciary Committee & DOJ lawyers will appear for a hearing in the Democrats’ lawsuit to get Robert Mueller’s grand jury materials as part of their impeachment inquiry. I’ll live tweet some of the proceedings.
Just In: Jack Smith has given Trump's lawyers its draft exhibit list for the DC trial even though deadlines are currently on hold pending the 'presidential immunity' appeal results, saying they want to be ready if and when the sked is back on
The exhibits were included in a reply brief from Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis in response to a motion from Chesebro’s team to exclude crucial evidence as protected under attorney-client privilege. Willis' reply says no such relationship exists for the evidence at…
What followed was a convoluted sequence of legal wrangling. The cellphone companies viewed the texts as a possible violation of federal anti-robocall laws and Federal Communications Commission rules that come with hefty fines, two Republicans told Insider.
JUST IN: DC Circuit clerk orders Jack Smith to file a reply within 15 days to Trump's request for a rehearing before the entire court on his appeal of Judge Chutkan's DC gag order.
Follows:
Fulton County Superior Judge Scott McAfee denied Chesebro's motion in a three-page order Friday that was punctuated with a reference to the famous "Dead Parrot Sketch" by the comedy group Monty Python.
BREAKING: Former President Trump Expected to Testify in Civil Trial on Nov. 6, New York AG Says
Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump and Ivanka Trump also are expected to be called as witnesses starting Wednesday
by
@KlasfeldReports
& me -
@TheMessenger
New Senate financial disclosures show Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville invested in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., a Chinese e-commerce & tech company that Reuters reported had developed a propaganda app for China's government. ($)
@thisisinsider
Trump’s attorneys argue that the relevant conduct is when the loan "closed.” But Engoron reiterated in court that he rejected that theory.
"Every use of a [false] statement of financial condition in business starts the statute of limitations running again," Engoron said on…
The five documents attached as exhibits to Willis’ filing Tuesday had each previously been publicly disclosed as supporting documents to the final report of the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, and in media reports.
Pro-Trump lawyer Kenneth Chesebro's motion to dismiss charges against him in the Georgia election-racketeering case due to a prosecutor's alleged paperwork issue is no more.