Section: TPM (USA)
WH Gave Trump-Appointed OMB Official Authority To Prolong Delay Of Ukraine Aid
The White House allowed a Trump-appointed official in the Office of Management and Budget to prolong withholding aid to Ukraine after career staff members at the OMB raised a stink about the legality of the move, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. Trump maintains that he ordered the more than $400 million in military aid withheld from...
Giuliani Cryptically Tells Fox News To ‘Watch Romania’ — And Another Country
President Donald Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani just added another country — and possibly two! — to the list of places where he’s possibly drumming up bogus allegations against former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter. During a segment on Fox News host Sean Hannity’s show Thursday night, Giuliani sounded off on the...
Pence’s Repeated Denials On Ukraine Provoke Outrage
Vice President Mike Pence’s performance Wednesday, when he insisted that President Donald Trump did nothing wrong during a July call with the Ukrainian President, was so shameless as to provoke reactions from a wide range of political observers. Speaking to reporters Wednesday, Pence urged people to read the White House memo of the...
Giuliani Pals Tied To Ukraine Scheme Arrested On Campaign Finance Charges
Two associates of Trump personal attorney Rudy Giuliani who were tied to the Ukraine pressure campaign were arrested on Wednesday on campaign finance charges, a source familiar told TPM. The pair — Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman — reportedly traveled to Kyiv in 2019 as Giuliani and Trump pressed the Ukrainian government to fabricate dirt on Joe Biden...
Zelensky Held All-Day Media Event To Continue Distancing Himself From Trump
During a day-long media event at a food court in Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky continued to try to shove considerable distance between himself and the political scandal currently engulfing President Trump. According to ABC News, Zelensky reiterated there was “no blackmail” during his phone call with President Trump, which formed the basis...
Trump Will Cooperate With Impeachment If ‘Rules Are Fair,’ Whatever That Means
The White House has made clear it thinks House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry is rubbish. But did President Trump open the door ever so slightly to cooperating on Wednesday? It’s always hard to tell with this President. When asked whether he’d cooperate if House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) holds a full House vote on the...
CBS Publishes Version Of Whistleblower’s Memo About Ukraine Call
CBS published on Wednesday what it described as the “full contents” of a memo written by the whistleblower who would later file a complaint about President Donald Trump’s phone call with the Ukrainian president. The memo “as described to CBS” can be read here. According to CBS, the whistleblower drew up the memo on July 26 after talking to...
Trump Complains About The Intel Inspector General He Himself Appointed
President Donald Trump on Wednesday blamed his own intelligence community inspector general on Wednesday for the House impeachment inquiry into Trump’s Ukraine dealings. The President retweeted his son Donald Trump Jr.’s link to an Axios story, which reported that ICIG Michael Atkinson had told lawmakers the whistleblower behind the...
WH Budget Chief Doubles Down On Refusal To Comply With Impeachment Inquiry
The leader of the Office of Management and Budget declared on Wednesday that the OMB will not comply with the House’s impeachment inquiry, including the subpoena House Democrats had sent to the office. During an interview on Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom,” acting OMB director Russell Vought said his office would not hand over...
Facebook Rejects Biden Camp’s Request To Take Down Trump’s False Ad About Ukraine
Facebook told Joe Biden’s campaign this week that the Trump campaign’s ad pushing the debunked conspiracy theory about Biden and Ukraine will not be removed from its platform. In a letter obtained by TPM (and first reported by the New York Times), Facebook Global Politics and Government Outreach Director Katie Harbath explained the...
