Take Care // 8/24/18 //
President Trump may be considering pardoning Paul Manafort after Manafort was convicted of multiple counts of bank and tax fraud. The publisher of the National Enquirer, David Pecker has agreed to cooperate with federal investigators investigating illegal payments made by Michael Cohen in exchange for immunity. Many of the nation’s CEOs are complaining that new homeland security regulations around skilled workers are causing a drag on the economy. A federal court in Texas may be preparing to require the Trump Administration to halt DACA renewals, creating further uncertainty around the fate of “Dreamers” ahead of President Trump’s six-month deadline. The attempted hack of the DNC’s servers this week wound up being a false alarm. A bill to improve information sharing around cyber threats to U.S. elections was unexpectedly delayed in the Senate. The D.C. Circuit invalidated Trump Administration rules around the disposal of coal-ash for not being strict enough. Democrats are calling for the halt to the Kavanaugh nomination after the Cohen plea deal and Manafort convictions.
TRUMP: INVESTIGATIONS AND LITIGATION
Paul Manafort would have been convicted on all counts, if not for a lone holdout on the jury (WaPo, Politico).
David Pecker, publisher of the National Enquirer, has cut an immunity deal with Federal prosecutors investigating illegal payments made by Michael Cohen (Reuters, WSJ, Vox).
At this point, President Trump should be very worried about prosecutors seeking to use the conspiracy doctrine to find evidence of criminality, says Neal K. Katyal in the New York Times.
IMMIGRATION
Some of the nation's top CEOs delivered a jointly signed letter to Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen, complaining new guidelines for skilled foreign workers are creating unnecessary hurdles and hurting the economy, writes Steve Lohr in the New York Times.
A federal court in Texas may be preparing to order the Trump administration to stop accepting DACA renewals before its self-imposed 6 month deadline, which could lead to DACA being continued in some states but not others, Priscilla Alvarez writes in the Atlantic.
DEMOCRACY
The attempted hack of the DNC's voter database turned out to be a security test (NYT, WaPo)
A bi-partisan Senate bill to combat cyber threats to U.S. elections was unexpectedly delayed after the Senate Rules Committee cancelled a work session to advance the bill, Richard Coawn reports in Reuters
JUSTICE & SAFETY
While the number of objections made by President Trump in his signing statement for the National Defense Authorization Act may be high, the legal significance of those objections is relatively modest, argues Scott R. Anderson in Lawfare.
REGULATION
A D.C. Circuit ruling invalidated key parts of a Trump Administration rule dealing with coal-ash disposal as being too weak, and will instead require the regulation of legacy sites over the Administration’s objections, notes Dan Ferber at Legal Planet
CHECKS & BALANCES
Democrats have called for a halt to the Kavanaugh nomination after Paul Manafort’s conviction and Michael Cohen's guilty plea (WaPo, CNN, WSJ).
Because Justice Gorsuch was nominated by a president that failed to win the popular vote, and approved by Senators representing minority of the U.S. population, he is the least legitimate Justice in history, Ian Millhiser argues at ThinkProgress.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued a rare public statement asserting the independence of the Justice Department, reported Eileen Sullivan at the New York Times.
FEDERALISM
Broadband lobbyists want the FCC to issue guidance saying agency precedent preempts state laws to regulate internet access, such as California's new net-neutrality bill; guidance which might ultimately lead to a legal battle, says Jon Brodkin in ArsTechnica
REMOVAL FROM OFFICE
The Cohen plea and Manafort conviction means that there is sufficient evidence of high crimes and misdemeanors to warrant impeachment, argues Bret Stephens in the New York Times.