President Donald Trump on Monday directed former White House Counsel Don McGahn to defy a congressional subpoena, as he slammed a New York Times report about Deutsche Bank transactions involving himself and son-in-law Jared Kushner.
MCGAHN TESTIMONY BLOCKED
Citing an opinion from the Justice Department, current White House Counsel Pat Cipollone told House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler that Trump had directed McGahn not to appear at the panel’s hearing scheduled for Tuesday.
The committee had subpoenaed McGahn and was planning to question him about special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia report. “The Democrats do not like the conclusion of the Mueller investigation — no collusion, no conspiracy, and no obstruction — and want a wasteful and unnecessary do-over,” White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement.
Trump has publicly denied asking McGahn to fire the special counsel since the release of his report.
Also see: Ex-White House counsel Don McGahn rebuffed Trump’s request to say president didn’t obstruct justice.
TRUMP PUSHES BACK AT TIMES
Following the Times’ story — which said Deutsche Bank DB, -1.98% executives ignored employees’ recommendations about reporting suspicious activity — Trump blasted the paper and said it and other media keep writing “phony” stories about him.
The report said that anti-money-laundering specialists recommended in 2016 and 2017 that multiple transactions involving legal entities controlled by Trump and Kushner be reported to a federal financial-crimes watchdog. But reports were never filed. Deutsche Bank denied the report, saying “at no time was an investigator prevented from escalating activity identified as potentially suspicious.”
The piece cited two former employees as saying they had raised concerns about transactions involving companies linked to prominent Russians.
Responding to Trump’s tweets, the author of the Times story said Deutsche Bank was the only bank willing to lend to Trump for 20 years “because of his pattern of defaults and the bank’s hunger for growth in the US.”
Now read: Trump sues to block banks from turning financial records over to House.
BIDEN ATTACK
As Trump prepared to hold an evening rally in Montoursville, Pa., he took to Twitter to criticize Biden, two days after the former vice president held his own rally in the Keystone State.
“Looks like Bernie Sanders is history. Sleepy Joe Biden is pulling ahead and think about it, I’m only here because of Sleepy Joe and the man who took him off the 1% trash heap, President O! China wants Sleepy Joe BADLY!” said Trump.
Biden is leading the crowded field of Democrats for the party’s 2020 nomination, and went after Trump in a Saturday event in Philadelphia.
See: As Trump sets sights on Pennsylvania, Biden hits him as ‘divider in chief.’
IRAN TALKS ‘WHEN THEY ARE EVER READY’
A day after warning Iran it would meet its “official end” if it wanted to fight with the U.S., Trump tweeted about what he called a false report that the U.S. was seeking to negotiate with Tehran.
“Iran will call us if and when they are ever ready. In the meantime, their economy continues to collapse - very sad for the Iranian people!” Trump said.
Trump himself has said Iran “should call, and if they do, we’re very open to [talking] to them.”
Iran said it would resume enriching uranium at higher levels if a new nuclear deal is not reached by July 7, the Associated Press reported. Trump decided last year to withdraw the U.S. from the 2015 nuclear accord between Iran and world powers and impose wide-reaching sanctions, including on Iranian oil exports that are crucial to its economy, AP said.
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