10/23-10/24
- Trump boasted that the U.S. is building a border wall in Colorado.”We’re building a wall in Colorado. We’re building a beautiful wall. A big one that really works.”
NOTE: Colorado is not on the U.S-Mexico border, or any foreign border.
- The city of Albuquerque says President Donald Trump’s recent visit cost hundreds of thousands of dollars in police service and lost work time, and now it wants him to pay up.
- House Democrats have largely kept impeachment hearings behind closed doors as a means to avoid witnesses corroborating their testimonies. Some Democrats are pushing to take their impeachment hearings public as early as mid-November.
NOTE: Nearly half Republican Congressional members who “crashed” the classified hearing on Wednesday actually were on the committee and were welcome to attend.
- The National Archives has launched a probe into Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross’s use of a private email account for government business.
- Dmytro Firtash, a Ukraine natural gas oligarch with ties to organized crime, is being investigated for providing funding to the Giuliani associates who are now charged with making illegal campaign contributions to Trump and GOP lawmakers.
- Trump confirms US will leave Paris Climate Accord
- The office formed by Trump to protect whistleblowers in the Department of Veterans Affairs was instead used to stifle claims and retaliate against those trying to expose problems at the agency.
NOTE: The Inspector General’s report on this matter has yet to be released.
- A. Wayne Johnson, who was appointed chief operating officer of the Office of Federal Student Aid. has announced his intention to quit and endorsed the cancellation of $925 billion in existing student loans
- Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington reports that, to date, there have been 1,493 Trump property visits by government officials. 292 promotions of Trump properties by White House officials. 387 Trump visits to Trump properties. 63 foreign trademarks issued to Trump brands.
- A review has found several Trump political appointees violated the administration’s ethics pledge, which was put in place to try to “drain the swamp” by imposing lobbying restrictions and penalties. While Trump’s ethics pledge was weaker than previous rules, the government ethics office still found violations in 2018 at three federal agencies: the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of the Interior and the National Labor Relations Board.
- New Jersey is seeking to revoke the liquor license for Trump’s Colts Neck country club. Te revocation stems from a 2015 case where the Trump club allegedly over-served alcohol to a man who then caused a fatal wreck.
- The White House is urging federal agencies not to renew their subscriptions to The New York Times and The Washington Post days after Trump said he didn’t want either newspaper in the White House. Press secretary Stephanie Grisham is touting the move as having “a significant cost saving for taxpayers.”
- The White House’s trade representative in late August withdrew a recommendation to restore some of Ukraine’s trade privileges after John Bolton warned him that Trump probably would oppose any action that benefited the government in Kyiv.
- Sen. Graham says the bulk of Trump’s lunch with senators was “the president saying, ‘I didn’t do anything wrong’ and senators saying, ‘Mr. President, we agree that the process is flawed but the best thing you can do is sort of keep governing the country.'”
- Former “Apprentice” contestant Summer Zervos told a court on Thursday that she has calendar entries, emails, and other evidence to corroborate her claims that President Donald Trump sexually assaulted her in 2007.
The Past 24 Hours Or So 