Daily Update | April 30, 2019
Adam Smith // 4/30/19 //
Rod Rosenstein, the oft-maligned Deputy Attorney General, has resigned. His now-former boss, Attorney General William Barr, is expected to face lengthy questioning from lawyers to the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday. Two controversial (and potentially unconstitutional) ICE enforcement tactics are drawing both public criticism and legal challenge. And FBI Director Christopher Bray warned of Russia’s plans to meddle in the 2020 Presidential contest.
TRUMP: INVESTIGATIONS AND LITIGATION
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein has resigned from the Justice Department, effective May 11 (NYT).
- In his letter of resignation, Rosenstein responded pointedly to charges that his tenure had been colored by partisan influence: "We enforce the law without fear or favor," he wrote, "because credible evidence is not partisan, and truth is not determined by opinion polls” (The Hill).
- His likely successor is Deputy Secretary of Transportation Jeffrey Rosen, whom the President nominated as Rosenstein’s replacement earlier this year (WaPo).
Rosenstein’s now-former boss, Attorney General William Barr, is likely to face lengthy questioning on the Mueller Report from House Judiciary Committee staff counsel on Thursday (NYT).
- Should the Attorney General choose not to attend, the Judiciary Committee will likely issue a subpoena to compel his testimony.
- Barr’s public statements about — and their apparent lack of basis in — the Special Counsel’s conclusions should be front and center during Thursday’s hearing, writes Scott Anderson at Lawfare.
IMMIGRATION
After federal prosecutors indicted a Boston-area judge for helping an undocumented immigrant in his courtroom to evade capture by immigration agents, two Massachusetts district attorneys sought an injunction to keep ICE out of state courthouses (CNN).
ICE has turned to targeting immigrants’ rights activists for deportation, a worrying and likely unconstitutional development, warns the editorial board of The New York Times.
RUSSIAN INTERFERENCE
FBI Director Christopher Wray warned that Russian efforts to interfere in the 2018 midterm elections were merely a “dress rehearsal” for 2020 (The Hill).