Free Republic

The discussion was another instance of the president using American diplomacy for potential personal gain. President Trump pushed the Australian prime minister during a recent telephone call to help Attorney General William P. Barr gather information for a Justice Department inquiry that Mr. Trump hopes will discredit the Mueller investigation, according to two American officials with knowledge of the call. The White House restricted access to the call’s transcript to a small group of the president’s aides, one of the officials said, an unusual decision that is similar to the handling of a July call with the Ukrainian president that...

<p>In the brief but wild recall campaign that rewrote California history, major candidates spent close to $88 million -- nearly a third of it by Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was elected the state's 38th governor.</p> <p>Schwarzenegger, whose personal wealth is estimated at more than $100 million, spent more than $10 million of his own money on his campaign but also relied heavily on support from business executives, real estate developers and financial institutions, according to final spending reports covering 2003.</p>