Trump Foundation Admits Violating Law, Obama Rushes to Grant Clemency in Drug Cases and More You Missed in Politics Today

It’s difficult to stay up-to-date on what’s happening in this country and to break through the clutter, so we’re here to make it easier. Here’s what we at Countable are reading today:

1. "Trump Foundation admits to violating ban on ‘self-dealing,’ new filing to IRS shows"

The Donald J. Trump Foundation admitted in IRS filings for 2015 that it violated a law which "bars nonprofit leaders from using their charity’s money to help themselves, their businesses or their families" in 2015 and in other years. When asked on one form if the foundation “had transferred ‘income or assets to a disqualified person,’” the foundation responded yes. “A disqualified person, in this context,” might be President-Elect Donald Trump “or a member of his family or a Trump-owned business.”

Read more at the Washington Post.

2. "Trump flips, now opposes prosecution for Clinton"

"During the presidential campaign ... Trump pledged to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Hillary Clinton, would join crowds of his supporters in chants of ‘lock her up!’ and said to her face during a debate that if he were president, ‘you'd be in jail.’" But on Tuesday, Trump told reporters at the *New York Times *during a meeting there that he “won't recommend prosecution of Clinton,” adding that “the idea of prosecuting Clinton is ‘just not something I feel very strongly about.’” The discussion came after Trump’s campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, made similar statements on MSNBC Tuesday morning.

"I don't want to hurt the Clintons, I really don't. She went through a lot and suffered greatly in many different ways," Trump said, according to tweets from New York Times reporters in the room on Tuesday.

Read more at CNN.

3. "Obama grants 79 more commutations to federal inmates, pushing the total past 1,000"

President Obama commuted the sentences of 79 nonviolent drug offenders in federal prison on Tuesday, "pushing the number of inmates he has granted clemency past 1,000," a “historic number” for a single presidency. The Obama administration is “moving quickly to rule on all the pending clemency applications from inmates before the end of the year. The Trump administration is not expected to keep in place Obama’s initiative to provide relief to nonviolent drug offenders.”

Read more at the Washington Post.

4. "The doctor is in? Trump tweets he's considering Carson for top HUD job"

"A week after Dr. Ben Carson’s business manager said the retired neurosurgeon wasn’t seeking a job in President-elect Donald Trump’s administration due to Caron’s lack of experience and a desire to not ‘cripple the presidency,’ Trump announced Carson is indeed a leading contender to join his cabinet as secretary of Housing and Urban Development."

Read more at Fox News.

5. "North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory Files for Recount as Challenger's Lead Grows"

Republican North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory has filed for a recount in his reelection race against Democratic state Attorney General Roy Cooper, who currently leads him by 6,222 votes. Political scientists say that the race was close, but not *that *close. "McCrory has repeatedly raised concerns of voter fraud, filing complaints in about half of the state's 100 counties. Yet no evidence of widespread fraud has surfaced so far." Critics are now accusing McCrory of trying to stall to allow the GOP-controlled legislature to intervene and make him governor again. Political experts say that’s unlikely.

Read more at NBC News.

— Sarah Mimms
Photo by Pete Souza/The White House