By Danny Hakim @ NYTimes.com, June 14

The New York State attorney general’s office filed a scathingly worded lawsuit on Thursday taking aim at the Donald J. Trump Foundation, accusing the charity and the Trump family of sweeping violations of campaign finance laws, self-dealing and illegal coordination with the presidential campaign.

The lawsuit, which seeks to dissolve the foundation and bar President Trump and three of his children from serving on nonprofit organizations, was an extraordinary rebuke of a sitting president. The attorney general also sent referral letters to the Internal Revenue Service and the Federal Election Commission for possible further action, adding to Mr. Trump’s extensive legal challenges.

The lawsuit, filed in State Supreme Court in Manhattan, culminated a nearly two-year investigation of Mr. Trump’s charity [....]

@ A.P. from the United Nations, June 14

The U.N. General Assembly has approved a Palestinian-backed resolution blaming Israel for violence in Gaza after narrowly rejecting a U.S. demand to add an amendment condemning attacks on Israel by Gaza’s Hamas rulers.

The votes reflected wide concern in the 193-member world body that the resolution sponsored by Arab and Islamic nations was one-sided and failed to even mention Hamas, which has fired over 100 rockets at Israel.

The U.S. amendment to condemn Hamas, which was voted on first, was approved by a vote of 62-58 with 42 abstentions. General Assembly President Miroslav Lajcak declared that under U.N. rules a two-thirds vote was needed so the amendment failed.

The assembly then voted on the original Palestinian-backed resolution which was approved by a vote of 120-8 with 45 abstentions [....]

The case will proceed against several agencies and their leaders, including the Central Intelligence Agency, the Defense Department and the Justice Department. Appears to hinge on citizenship of the targeted, though...

By Josh Gerstein @ Politico.com, June 13

A lawsuit challenging the U.S. government's use of a so-called kill list to target suspected terrorists for drone attack overseas can go forward in part, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.

U.S. District Court Judge Rosemary Collyer rejected the government's bid to dismiss the entirety of the the case brought last year by former Al Jazeera Islamabad bureau chief Ahmad Zaidan and freelance journalist Bilal Kareem.

Both men said they were nearly killed in a series of U.S. drone strikes overseas, leading them to conclude that they have been placed on a list approved targets for deadly drone attacks carried out by American forces.

Collyer threw out the claims raised by Zaidan, a Pakistani and Syrian citizen, but said Kareem, who is U.S. citizen, can proceed with several of his claims that the so-called kill list process violates his constitutional rights [....]

Trump knows the press has a strong instinct to repeat his most outrageous claims, and this allows him put the press to work as a marketing agency for his ideas. His lies reach millions of people through constant repetition in the press and social media. This poses an existential threat to democracy.

Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, the president’s daughter and son-in-law, brought in at least $82 million in outside income while serving as senior White House advisers during 2017, according to financial disclosure forms released Monday.

Trump earned $3.9 million from her stake in the Trump International Hotel in Washington and more than $2 million in severance from the Trump Organization, while Kushner reported over $5 million in income from Quail Ridge, a Kushner Cos. apartment complex acquired last year in Plainsboro, N.J.

The filings show how the couple are collecting immense sums from other enterprises while serving in the White House, an extraordinary income flow that ethics experts have warned could create potential conflicts of interests.

Both Kushner and Trump have given up daily oversight of their companies as they work as unpaid senior advisers to the president.

But while Kushner divested some holdings, he and his wife have maintained large stakes in businesses with domestic and foreign ties. Kushner’s family real estate company has properties around the country, including thousands of apartment units in states including New Jersey and Maryland. Trump’s eponymous clothing and accessories line is produced exclusively in foreign factories in countries such as Bangladesh, Indonesia and China.

...........

Amy Brittain, Ashley Parker and Anu Narayanswamy, WaPo this morning

Odd coincidence that "the world's piggy bank" is the richest nation on earth!  Only Trump can fix it folks..!!