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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
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Vivian Ho in San Francisco (now) and Sabrina Siddiqui in Washington and Erin Durkin in New York (earlier)

Judge backs House subpoena of Trump's financial records – as it happened

Donald Trump must turn over his personal and business records to House Democrats.
Donald Trump must turn over his personal and business records to House Democrats. Photograph: Tom Williams/Getty Images

Evening summary

  • The White House has instructed former counsel Don McGahn to defy a congressional subpoena and skip his testimony before Congress tomorrow. House judiciary chair Jerry Nadler says the committee will still convene, and McGahn is still expected to show up. So we’ll just have to see what happens.
  • A federal judge ruled against Trump’s attorneys’ attempts to block a congressional subpoena of his financial records.
  • Former Trump attorney Michael Cohen told Congress that Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow told him to lie about the discussions about building Trump Tower in Moscow.
  • Speaking of Michael Cohen, the transcripts and evidence from his testimony are now public, thanks to a 12-7 vote from the House intelligence committee.

Updated

And with all the talk of President Trump’s attorneys of past and present, take a look at Tom McCarthy’s piece looking into what it means to be a lawyer who serves at the pleasure of the president.

Before the fireworks tomorrow, make sure to give the full writeup on the Don McGahn testimony a read:

President Trump is at a rally in Montoursville, Pennsylvania, where he just invited this gentleman on stage:

The president, of course, brought up the wall:

Remember Space Force? Another grand scheme of the Trump administration - a new branch of the military, on par with the army, navy, air force, marines and coast guard, to be formed by 2020 - an “elite group of war fighters specializing in the domain of space”?

At the very least, the thing that led to senator Ted Cruz’s comments about “space pirates” - and subsequent ridicule?

Welp:

House intelligence votes to release Michael Cohen's testimony transcripts

In case you needed some more reading today:

Updated

Reuters is reporting that hundreds of members of Congress have signed a letter to President Trump “arguing that the United States should remain engaged with the conflict in Syria”:

“As some of our closest allies in the region are being threatened, American leadership and support are as crucial as ever,” said the letter, signed by nearly 400 of the 535 members of the House of Representatives and Senate.

Many US lawmakers, Trump’s fellow Republicans as well as Democrats, have been deeply concerned about Syria policy since December, when Trump confounded his own national security team and allies with a surprise decision to withdraw all 2,000 US troops from Syria.

Trump backtracked in February, agreeing to leave a small U.S. presence to help keep pressure on Islamic State during what the U.S. military believes will be a critical stabilization phase in Syria.

The lead signers of the letter were the Democratic chairman and ranking Republican of the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, Representatives Eliot Engel and Mike McCaul, and the Republican chairman and ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senators Jim Risch and Bob Menendez.

Among other things, the letter urges Trump to increase pressure on Iran and Russia with respect to their activities in Syria and increase pressure on the heavily armed Shi’ite Hezbollah movement, Iran’s Lebanese ally.

The White House may have blocked former counsel Don McGahn from testifying before Congress tomorrow, but House judiciary committee chair Jerry Nadler has other plans:

Report: Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow told Michael Cohen to lie to Congress

The Washington Post is reporting Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow instructed Michael Cohen, President Trump’s former longtime personal attorney, “to falsely claim in a 2017 statement to Congress that negotiations to build a Trump Tower in Moscow ended in January 2016” - even though discussions continued into June 2016, after it was clear Trump would be the GOP nominee.

Cohen told this to a House panel during closed-door hearings earlier this year, according to the Post.

House Democrats are now scrutinizing whether Sekulow or other Trump attorneys played a role in shaping Cohen’s 2017 testimony to Congress. Cohen has said he made the false statement to help hide the fact that Trump had potentially hundreds of millions of dollars at stake in a possible Russian project while he was running for president.

“We’re trying to find out whether anyone participated in the false testimony that Cohen gave to this committee,” House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) said in an interview. He did not comment on who, if anyone, might have instructed Cohen to lie.

Jane Serene Raskin and Patrick Strawbridge, attorneys for Sekulow, said in a statement that “Cohen’s alleged statements are more of the same from him and confirm the observations of prosecutors in the Southern District of New York that Cohen’s ‘instinct to blame others is strong.’”

“That this or any Committee would rely on the word of Michael Cohen for any purpose — much less to try and pierce the attorney-client privilege and discover confidential communications of four respected lawyers — defies logic, well-established law and common sense,” they added.

Judge rules against Trump lawyers' attempts to block subpoena of financial records

President Trump’s attorneys have been fighting a House oversight committee subpoena of one of the president’s accounting firms, Mazars USA, for eight years of Trump’s personal and business records.

Today, Judge Amit Mehta ruled in favor of the House oversight committee.

Updated

Hey all, Vivian Ho taking over for Sabrina Siddiqui. It appears a federal judge has ruled against the efforts of President Trump’s attorneys to overturn the House oversight committee subpoena for the president’s financial documents.

Ok folks, Sabrina Siddiqui now handing over to Vivian Ho on the West Coast...

We’ll keep on following the latest developments between the White House and congressional Democrats here. But in the meantime, here’s a recap of the key moments from this afternoon:

  • Donald Trump has blocked former White House counsel Don McGahn from testifying before Congress. The move directs McGahn to defy a subpoena from the Democratic-led House judiciary committee, which could hold him in contempt as a result.
  • But her emails: Betsy DeVos, Trump’s education secretary, used her personal email account in ‘limited’ cases for government business. A government watchdog report found DeVos only occasionally used her personal email for work, but at times failed to properly preserve her communications.
  • Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell introduced bipartisan legislation to raise the age to buy cigarettes to 21 nationwide. The bill would cover all tobacco products, as well as e-cigarettes.
  • Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar has signed onto a pledge not to take donations from the fossil fuel industry. The issue has steadily been gaining traction with the current crop 2020 Democratic presidential contenders.
  • Federal prosecutors in New York are examining tens of thousands of documents relating to Donald Trump’s inauguration. The documents are part of an ongoing
    investigation into whether any of the $107m in donations for the inauguration were misspent or came from foreign donors in violation of campaign finance laws.

Stay tuned for more!

Can the White House actually block its former counsel Don McGahn from testifying before Congress?

Legal experts say not so fast...

Here’s an interesting thread from Seth Abramson, an attorney and professor at the University of New Hampshire, stating that Donald Trump does not, in fact, possess the power to prevent McGahn from appearing before lawmakers.

Abramson goes on to note that since McGahn is no longer employed at the White House, the latter “isn’t a party” his subpoena.

“Congress has the right to just ask a judge to enforce its subpoena, thereby forcing the White House to intervene (or attempt to do so) in a case they’re *not currently a part of*,” he writes.

There are also other legal experts pointing out that nothing is barring McGahn from *voluntarily* testifying. But that would require the former counsel directly picking a confrontation with Trump, and we all know how that movie ends now, don’t we?

Betsy DeVos used personal email for work in 'limited' cases, report finds

US education secretary Betsy Devos occasionally used her personal email account for government business and did not always properly save emails, an internal government watchdog said Monday.

The education department’s Office of Inspector General released a report citing “limited” instances in which DeVos sent work emails from four personal accounts.

The review, which was requested by House Democrats in late 2017, found fewer than 100 emails to or from DeVos’ personal accounts on the department’s email system, and found no evidence of “active or extensive” use of her personal accounts, the Associated Press reported.

DeVos’s conduct nonetheless invited scrutiny given the excessive focus by Republicans in 2016 on Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server as secretary of state.

The findings on DeVos were more modest in nature, with many of the emails amounting to notes congratulating DeVos on her 2017 confirmation or offering staffing recommendations.

Updated

Justice department: Congress can't compel McGahn to testify

Donald Trump has blocked former White House counsel Don McGahn from testifying before Congress about special counsel Robert Mueller’s report.

In a legal opinion released on Monday, the justice department said lawmakers on Capitol Hill cannot compel McGahn, who was subpoenaed by the House judiciary committee, to answer lawmakers’ questions under oath.

“The Department of Justice has provided a legal opinion stating that, based on long-standing, bipartisan, and constitutional precedent, the former counsel to the president cannot be forced to give such testimony, and Mr McGahn has been directed to act accordingly,” the White House press secretary, Sarah Sanders, said in a statement.

“This action has been taken in order to ensure that future presidents can effectively execute the responsibilities of the office of the presidency.”

McGahn is a central figure in the Mueller report, often standing in the way of Trump’s efforts to obstruct justice. According to investigators, McGahn threatened to resign when the president ordered him to have Mueller fired.

McGahn was also dispatched by Trump to convince former attorney general Jeff Sessions not to recuse himself from overseeing the Russia investigation. (Sessions did not heed the president’s demands.)

McGahn was subpoenaed by the House judiciary committee chair, Jerry Nadler, last month and failed to meet an initial deadline to appear before the committee. Nadler threatened to hold McGahn in contempt of Congress if he did not meet a second deadline of 21 May.

The White House had previously instructed McGahn not to comply with the Democrats’ subpoena.

In a dramatic escalation of the Trump administration’s efforts to stonewall, the justice department declared on Thursday that McGahn was not legally obligated to testify and had been “directed to act accordingly”.

In a letter to Nadler on Thursday, White House lawyer Pat Cipollone wrote that McGahn was “immune from compelled congressional testimony with respect to matters occurring during his service as a senior adviser to the president”.

McGahn, who left the White House last year, has increasingly become the subject of Trump’s ire following the release of the redacted Mueller report. Last week, Trump tweeted he was “never a big fan” of McGahn and suggested it was the former White House counsel, and not Mueller, who was on his chopping block at the time of the investigation.

Updated

Hi all! Sabrina Siddiqui taking over the blog the next couple of hours... we begin with a look at some 2020 developments:

Several 2020 Democratic presidential contenders will join McDonald’s workers in a nationwide strike for union rights.

Senators Bernie Sanders and Cory Booker, former San Antonio mayor Julián Castro, and Washington governor Jay Inslee are among those participating in the strike, poised to take place on Thursday, as McDonald’s workers strike in the pursuit of union rights and a $15 minimum wage.

Most 2020 Democrats have embraced the so-called Fight for $15, pushing for a higher minimum wage for shift workers across the US.

“When giant corporations like McDonald’s rig the system to hold down wages and keep workers from joining together in a union, it holds back millions of Black, brown, and white working people around the country,” Mary Kay Henry, president of the Service Employees International Union, said in a statement.

It’s time to embrace a new future in which anyone who wants to join a union in their workplace can, no exceptions. And it’s time for those who have been elected–or want to be elected–by working people to fight alongside us, no exceptions.”

Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell introduced legislation today to raise the age to buy cigarettes to 21 nationwide.

McConnell’s bill is a bipartisan effort, Politico reports. It removes an exemption he had previously proposed for people who have served in the military. It would cover all tobacco products, as well as e-cigarettes.

Former Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper on Monday said there is an “authoritarian mentality” in the White House and the United States does not need its own “strongman,” as he delivered the first major foreign policy address by a Democrat running for president. Reuters reports:

“I think history clearly demonstrates that when you have a so-called strongman - a dictator - you don’t have rule of law,” Hickenlooper said when asked at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs if that was a better approach to foreign policy than multilateralism.

In his address, Hickenlooper said China “represents a generational challenge” for national security; that Russia “actively works against our interests” by propping up Bashar Hafez al-Assad in Syria and Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela; and that North Korea’s nuclear program “threatens its region and beyond.”
“From Moscow to Beijing, from Ankara to Caracas and beyond, authoritarian strongmen now threaten not only the rights of their own people, but also the foundations of international peace,” Hickenlooper said.
“While no invading army is storming America’s shores today, this authoritarian mentality has already breached our defenses. Indeed, it has occupied the White House. We have a president who is not just ignoring many of the threats to our national security, he is aiding and abetting them,” he added.
Hickenlooper said President Donald Trump has “fawned over” North Korea’s Kim Jong Un and treated Russia’s Vladimir Putin “as his puppet master.”
Hickenlooper also criticized Trump for threatening to pull out of the NATO alliance, abandoning the Paris climate accord and withdrawing from trade negotiations.

White House to instruct former counsel Don McGahn to skip Congressional testimony

Donald Trump is expected to instruct former White House counsel Don McGahn to defy a congressional subpoena and skip testimony scheduled for Tuesday, the New York Times reports.

The House Judiciary Committee has subpoenaed McGahn to appear at a Tuesday hearing. The former White House counsel was a key witness in special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia report.

McGahn could defy Trump’s order and testify anyway, but that puts his law firm at risk of having Trump allies withhold their business, according to the Times. But if he defies the Congressional subpoena, he could be held in contempt.

Bernie Sanders calls Donald Trump a “schoolyard bully” for his saber rattling with Iran.

Lori Lightfoot was sworn in as Chicago’s mayor today, becoming the first black woman to hold the job.

“For years, they’ve said Chicago ain’t ready for reform,” Lightfoot said in her inauguration speech, the Chicago Sun Times reports.

“Well, get ready … because reform is here,” she went on. “I campaigned on change, you voted for change, and I plan to deliver change to our government.”

Lightfoot pushed her signature campaign pledge, to strip individual aldermen of full control over zoning and permitting in their wards.

Senator Amy Klobuchar has signed onto the pledge not to take donations from the fossil fuel industry.

Representative Ruben Gallego, an Iraq War vet, disputes Senator Lindsey Graham’s characterization of intelligence on Iran.

Updated

Donald Trump is teasing his rally tonight in Pennsylvania.

Federal prosecutors eye documents connected to Trump inauguration

Federal prosecutors in New York are scrutinizing tens of thousands of documents relating to Donald Trump’s inauguration, CNN reports.

The president’s Inaugural Committee handed over the cache of documents in response to a subpoena seeking documents, records and communications concerning the inaugural’s finances, vendors, and donors. The US attorney for the southern district of New York is conducting the investigation into the inauguration. They’re looking to find out whether any of the $107m in donations for the inauguration was misspent or came from foreign donors in violation of campaign finance laws, according to CNN.

The Guardian has reported that Trump’s inauguration took tens of thousands of dollars from shell companies with foreign ties.

Updated

The case that the supreme court declined to hear challenging a ban on corporate donations to candidates was brought by two Massachusetts companies, 1A Auto Inc and 126 Self Storage Inc, per CNN.

The firms – part of the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance, which promotes “fiscal responsibility” and “increased economic opportunity” – argued that the state’s ban on direct corporate giving violated their first amendment rights. They also argued that it violates the equal protection clause, since unions and nonprofit corporations are allowed to give.

The Massachusetts supreme judicial court already upheld the law, saying it was a valid measure to prevent corruption. Since the supreme court declined to hear the case, that ruling will stand.

Updated

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee says he’s just shy of having 65,000 individual donors to his presidential campaign, the number needed to qualify for the Democratic debates. Inslee has already qualified for the debates based on his standing in the polls, but the Democratic National Committee may move to limit the number of candidates let in if more than 20 qualify. If that happens, contenders will need to meet both the donor and polling targets to get in, so Inslee is hoping to score enough new donors to guarantee his spot.

Ed Cox, pushed out as head of the New York Republican party, is now joining Donald Trump’s re-election finance team, per the New York Times.

Supreme court won't hear challenge to ban on businesses donating to candidates

The US supreme court declined to hear a case challenging the ban on businesses donating directly to political candidates.

The suit challenged a Massachusetts law barring for-profit corporations from donating to political campaigns, CNN reports. The high court declined to hear it in an unsigned order, thus bypassing the chance to dramatically expand its Citizens United ruling, which allowed corporations to spend unlimited sums on politics as long as their spending is independent of candidates’ own campaigns.

Updated

Shoe companies Nike and Adidas are among more than 170 firms urging Donald Trump to remove footwear from the list of products covered by Chinese tariffs, the Hill reports.

“The proposed additional tariff of 25% on footwear would be catastrophic for our consumers, our companies, and the American economy as a whole,” the companies wrote in a letter to Trump.

The administration is proposing tariffs on Chinese-made shoes, clothing, food and agricultural products, which could raise prices on a wide swath of American consumer goods.

Updated

The four party leaders from the House and Senate will meet Tuesday to begin talks on raising budget caps and the debt ceiling, Politico reports.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, minority leader Kevin McCarthy, Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, and minority leader Chuck Schumer will attend the talks.

Without action, automatic budget caps would force a $71bn cut to military spending and $55bn to domestic programs, according to Politico.

Updated

Nick Langworthy is set to become the new chairman of the Republican party in New York, the Buffalo News reports. He’ll replace Ed Cox, the son in law of President Richard Nixon, who has run the party for a decade.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee raised $7.85m in April, the Hill reports.

Some progressives have called to boycott DCCC fundraising over the group’s policy of blacklisting vendors who work on primary challenges to incumbents, but the group nonetheless took in a healthy amount last month.

Updated

CNN will host four more Democratic presidential town halls, featuring Colorado Sen. Sen. Michael Bennet, Massachusetts Rep. Seth Moulton, Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan, and California Rep. Eric Swalwell.

A pro-Obamacare group is funding a seven-figure ad campaign to support 20 House Democrats facing tough re-election fights next year, the Hill reports.

The ads by Protect Our Care will promote the Democrats’ work on healthcare, particularly protections for people with pre-existing conditions.

Top Fox News figures have been paid at least $500,000 for speaking appearances by Republican groups while working at the network, according to an analysis by the liberal group Media Matters.

Those making paid speaking appearances include Tucker Carlson, Lou Dobbs, Sean Hannity, and Laura Ingraham.

Senator Josh Hawley will introduce legislation to create a “Do Not Track” list to prohibit internet companies from tracking users’ online activity, the Hill reports.

Internet users could opt into the list to prevent their information from being tracked.

“Big tech companies collect incredible amounts of deeply personal, private data from people without giving them the option to meaningfully consent,” said Hawley, a Missouri Republican.

Senator Lindsey Graham warns of an “overwhelming military response” if Iran attacks American interests.

Michael Bennet releases climate change plan

Senator Michael Bennet released a climate change plan Monday, becoming the latest 2020 candidate to roll out his own plan.

Bennet’s plan, released in Iowa, would require 100% net-zero emissions by 2050, the Hill reports. It would commit to preserving 30% of the country’s lands and oceans and create a Climate Bank to spend $10bn on green investments in the US and internationally.

Updated

Donald Trump weighs in on the 2020 Democratic horse race, saying that Bernie Sanders “is history” and “Sleepy Joe Biden is pulling ahead.”

Joe Crowley, the former high-ranking New York congressman defeated in an upset by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, is getting on board with an investment firm banking on legal marijuana, Bloomberg reports. Tom Daschle, the former Democratic Senate majority leader from South Dakota, is also joining the advisory board at Northern Swan Holdings Inc.

The company is working on marijuana and hemp cultivation in Colombia.

Updated

Trump campaign sees drop in support in Rust Belt states

Donald Trump’s campaign is grappling with a drop in support in Rust Belt states that helped him win the presidency in 2016, Politico reports.

Trump is headed to Pennsylvania Monday for a rally and recently traveled to Michigan and Wisconsin. The campaign recently conducted polls in 17 states and found that Trump trails Democrat Joe Biden in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan, two people briefed on the results told Politico.

Updated

Pete Buttigieg away from job nearly half the time while campaigning

South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg has been out of town and away from his day job nearly half the days in recent months as he pursues his presidential bid, the South Bend Tribune reports.

Of the 120 days from 1 February through 31 May, Buttigieg was away or plans to be away from the South Bend area at least 55 days, or 45% of the time, according to copies of his schedule reviewed by the paper.

Updated

A pro-Donald Trump state representative will make a primary challenge to Michigan Representative Justin Amash, after Amash said Trump has committed impeachable offenses, the Detroit Free Press reports.

Representative Jim Lower said he will run for the seat. Amash became the first Republican congressman to voice support for impeachment in a much-shared Twitter thread over the weekend , saying that after reading special counsel Robert Mueller’s full report, he has concluded Trump committed impeachable offenses.

“Congressman Justin Amash tweets yesterday calling for President Trump’s impeachment show how out of touch he is with the truth and how out of touch he is with people he represents,” Lower told the Free Press. “He must be replaced and I am going to do it.”

Updated

Donald Trump plans to formally launch his re-election campaign next month, likely with a series of rallies in swing states, Axios reports.

Trump sees the official kickoff as 16 June, four years to the day after he first launched his presidential campaign at Trump Tower.

Updated

The US ambassador to China is making a rare visit to Tibet, AFP reports.

Ambassador Terry Branstad will make the first visit by an American envoy in four years after obtaining rare access to the restricted region. The visit comes two months after the state department said Beijing had “systematically” impeded access to Tibetan areas for US diplomats, journalists and tourists.

Updated

Donald Trump is railing against a New York Times report that money laundering specialists at Deutsche Bank recommended that several transactions involving legal entities controlled by Trump and his son-in-law Jared Kushner be reported to a federal financial-crimes watchdog.

Harris plan would fine corporations where men are paid more than women

Senator and presidential candidate Kamala Harris is releasing a proposal that would fine corporations where men are paid more than women.

Her plan would require companies to disclose their pay policies and apply for an “Equal Pay Certificate” from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Associated Press reports. Those that fail to earn the certification would be fined 1% of their profits for every 1% of pay gap between men and women performing work of equal value.

She expects the proposal to raise $180 million in fines over ten years.

Updated

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