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Caroline Cox, Sarah Mahmood  //  4/11/18  //  Daily Update

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The Justice Department is investigating whether colleges and universities are violating antitrust laws by sharing information about applicants who have applied early decision. The Postal Service’s governing board has remained empty since December 2016, and the vacancies are hurting operations. Trade groups are challenging the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau’s payday loan rule. The goal of the FBI raid of Michael Cohen’s office was to find records related to payments made to women claiming to have had affairs with President Trump. A Ukrainian steel mogul’s payment during the 2016 presidential campaign to the Trump Organization in exchange for an appearance by then-candidate Donald Trump is a new focus of the special counsel’s investigation.

 

IMMIGRATION

The White House is quietly discussing potential immigration legislation with allies on Capitol Hill (CNN).

 

DEMOCRACY

The Trump Administration’s proposal to add a question on citizenship to the 2020 Census will lead to inaccurate data that may have profound impacts on government spending, argues Sean Moulton (POGO).

President Trump thanked a Fox News reporter for asking a softball question about special counsel Robert Mueller (WaPo).

President Trump’s tweets criticizing the Washington Post have often coincided with articles in the newspaper that are critical of him (WaPo).

 

JUSTICE & SAFETY

National security adviser John Bolton forced chief adviser on homeland security Thomas Bossert to resign from his position on Tuesday (NYT).

The Justice Department is investigating whether colleges and universities are violating antitrust laws by sharing information about applicants who have applied early decision (NYT).

President Trump, who had once described Qatar as a “funder of terrorism,” hosted the Qatari Emir in the Oval Office on Monday and praised Qatar as an ally against terrorism (NYT).

 

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

Democrats should be cautious in focusing on corruption in the Trump Administration during the November midterm elections, argues Matthew Stephenson at the Global Anticorruption Blog.

 

REGULATION

The Postal Service’s governing board has remained empty since December 2016, and the vacancies are hurting operations (WSJ).

New Trump Administration rules allow states to reduce the required health benefits under the ACA (WSJ).

Trade groups are challenging the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau’s payday loan rule (Consumer Finance Monitor).

The Institute of Education Sciences released the National Assessment of Educational Progress, which shows that, while test scores are remaining constant, disparities in performance are widening (WaPo).

• Cato at Liberty concludes that the assessment does not reveal very much. .

A proposal from the Federal Reserve aims to simply rules for major banks by modifying stress tests and capital rules (WSJ).

 

RULE OF LAW

President Trump continues to lambast on Twitter the FBI raid on his lawyer, Michael Cohen (WSJ).

The California State Attorney General is appealing a decision that permits the construction of President Trump’s border wall to move ahead, writes Greg Moran in the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Harvard University is critical of a recent Justice Department’s filing in the affirmative action case against the University that urges public access to soon-to-be submitted legal briefs (Politico).

 

CHECKS & BALANCES

After examining an internal EPA report, Democratic senators are criticizing EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt’s first-class travel as unnecessary (NYT).

• Politico writes that the EPA removed the staffer who approved the internal report.

Republicans are attempting to protect special counsel Robert Mueller in light of alarm over President Trump’s latest attacks on the Russia investigation (Politico).

CIA Director Mike Pompeo has received advice from former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ahead of his confirmation hearings for the secretary of state position (Politico).

 

FEDERALISM

The Puerto Rican Governor and other Puerto Ricans are seeking to influence midterm elections (Politico).

 

RUSSIAN INTERFERENCE

During his testimony to Congress, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg stated that  special counsel Robert Mueller has interviewed Facebook employees (The Hill).

House Democrats are urging Speaker Paul Ryan to help them get documents on Russian election system attacks from the Trump Administration (The Hill).

The goal of the FBI raid of Michael Cohen’s office was to find records related to payments made to women claiming to have had affairs with President Trump (NYT).

• The Volokh Conspiracy explains why the raid is a “big deal.”
• Paul Rosenzweig at Lawfare explores how attorney-client privilege applies to the raid.

A Ukrainian steel mogul’s payment during the 2016 presidential campaign to the Trump Organization in exchange for an appearance by then-candidate Donald Trump is a new focus of the special counsel’s investigation (NYT).

Tags:

Immigration Rule of Law Conflicts Checks & Balances Federalism Regulation Democracy Justice & Safety Russian Interference

 

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