Rachel Chung, Lark Turner  //  8/30/17  //  Daily Update

Reaction to the President's pardon of former sheriff Joe Arpaio continues. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson notifies Congress that he plans to eliminate or downgrade as many as three dozen State Department special envoy positions. And the Illinois AG sues the City of Chicago over policing practices, because the Trump DOJ has not done so.

IMMIGRATION

Though U.S. Customs and Border Patrol said checkpoints remain open during Hurricane Harvey, ICE and CBP will not conduct immigration enforcement at relief sites like food banks and shelters (CNN).

• The agencies’ joint statement is here.

JUSTICE & SAFETY

The Illinois Attorney General sued to seek court-enforceable police reform in Chicago, accusing DOJ of abandoning the matter after it found routine constitutional violations and use of excessive force (WaPo, NYT).

• DOJ’s original report, conducted during the Obama Administration, is here.

North Korea launched an intermediate range ballistic missile over Japan, a “direct challenge” to President Trump one week after he threatened to rain “fire and fury” on North Korea if it put the U.S. in danger (NYT).

• President Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed that the U.S. and Japan should further increase pressure on North Korea (WaPo).
• President Trump also stated that “all options are on the table” for a U.S. response (NYT).
• The missile’s “main target” was not Japan but the Trump Administration’s credibility, argues Gordon G. Chang at The Daily Beast.

Former Deputy Assistant to the President Sebastian Gorka, who was forced out of the White House over the weekend, appeared to confirm that the U.S. uses its covert cyber sabotage program to target North Korea’s missile program (The Hill).

(CNN).

• Tillerson’s letter to Senator Bob Corker, Chair of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, is here.
• Initial details on which envoys will be downgraded or eliminated are here.
• Notable eliminations include the representative for climate change and the ambassador assigned to help close Guantanamo Bay (Miami Herald).

Iran upheld the convictions of an Iranian-American father and son accused of collaborating with the U.S., a new source of tension amid President Trump’s efforts to find Iran in violation of the nuclear deal (NYT).

REGULATION 

President Trump’s fledgling attempt to take on the tax code presents a lot of minefields, writes Patricia Cohen for The New York Times.

CHECKS & BALANCES

Federal judge Jed S. Rakoff dismissed Sarah Palin’s defamation suit against The New York Times (NYT, WaPo). Read the opinion and order here.

REMOVAL FROM OFFICE

The fallout from Trump’s pardon of disgraced former sheriff Joe Arpaio continues, as Trump claims he did it during Hurricane Harvey’s landfall to attract maximum viewership (NYT).

• The pardon presents more than one problem, write Leah Litman and Lark Turner for Take Care.
• The wall between the White House and the DOJ is there for a reason, writes Chiraag Bains for Take Care. 
• No, President Trump’s pardon power is not absolute, writes Neil H. Buchanan for Dorf on Law.
• The pardon “constitutes the most forthright racist incitement of the Trump era,” writes Michael Gerson at WaPo.

In new poll, just 16 percent of Americans say they “like” President Trump’s in-office conduct (WaPo). But the poll also reveals that those who approve of Trump generally like him because of what’s he been up to as president, writes Philip Bump for The Washington Post.

RUSSIAN INTERFERENCE

The extent of President Trump’s Russia dealings becomes clearer — and broader — all the time, argues Jennifer Rubin at WaPo. 

A timeline of Trump’s attempts to make business deals in Russia (WaPo).