The Daily 202: Republican judges warn of ‘tyranny’ as they block Trump on ‘sanctuary cities’
DRAINING THE SWAMP? :
-- GOP donor Elliott Broidy pushed for a golf date between Trump and Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, who controlled a lucrative contract with Broidy’s defense company, according to newly obtained documents. The New York Times’s David D. Kirkpatrick and Mark Mazzetti report: “In addition to providing new details about Mr. Broidy’s attempts to exploit his White House connections for personal gain, the documents also raise questions about whether Trump administration officials were aware of his efforts.”
-- The real estate company of Jared Kushner's family has been subpoenaed for records related to its rent-regulated tenants. The Wall Street Journal’s Erica Orden reports: “The subpoena, part of an investigation by prosecutors in the Brooklyn U.S. attorney’s office, came shortly after an Associated Press article about the company having filed documents that said it had zero rent-regulated tenants, when in fact it had hundreds, an omission that relieved it of certain rules governing developers. … A spokeswoman for the company said Thursday that ‘Kushner Companies has nothing to hide and is cooperating fully with all legitimate requests for information, including this subpoena.’”
-- The EPA’s inspector general announced plans to probe Scott Pruitt’s use of his security detail while on personal trips. From Brady Dennis: “The latest inquiry follows a March 20 request from Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), who told officials that he had obtained work schedules and other documents detailing how Pruitt’s 24/7 protective detail accompanied him on personal trips. The arrangement resulted in taxpayers footing the bill for travel and lodging for agents, even when Pruitt wasn’t on officials business.”
-- Pruitt spent $45,000 to fly five employees to Australia in preparation for a trip that was later canceled. Reuters’s Jeff Mason reports: “Two of his aides and three security agents flew to Australia last August on business-class tickets costing roughly $9,000 each to set up meetings for the EPA administrator. … Pruitt was scheduled to participate in environment-related meetings with Australian officials on a visit to Sydney and Canberra. EPA spokesman Jahan Wilcox said Pruitt’s trip was canceled because of Hurricane Harvey[.]”
-- Trump’s former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski quietly facilitated a “highly lucrative” deal between Poland’s top military contractors and one of Washington’s top lobbying firms. The Daily Beast’s Lachlan Markay and Asawin Suebsaeng report: “In the process, Lewandowski managed to spurn socialite Jill Kelley ... a central figure in the 2012 sex scandal that brought down retired general David Petraeus. The story … is a strange chapter in the former Trump campaign manager’s career ... including some who work out of his Washington, D.C. home. It’s also a cartoonishly Washington tale, involving backstabbing in the city’s notorious influence industry, a glamorous socialite … and political operatives who arrived in D.C. pledging to drain the swamp, only to end up pocketing large sums in exchange for brokering multi-billion-dollar weapons deals.”
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