Karen Kadish  //  2/28/19  //  Daily Update

Michael Cohen, President Trump's former lawyer, testified in detail before the House Oversight Committee about financial coverups during the 2016 election cycle, along with multiple other allegations of unethical and potentially criminal conduct. The Trump administration’s approach to Moda Muthana, a natural-born U.S. citizen who later joined ISIS, suggests that the administration’s immigration campaign will not stop with naturalized citizens, but rather poses a danger to American-born citizens as well. The federal government received over 4,500 complaints in four years about sexual abuse of immigrant children at government-funded detention centers. The United States military blocked internet access to a Russian “troll farm” on the day of the midterm elections, as a warning against Russian meddling in U.S. elections.

TRUMP: INVESTIGATION AND LITIGATION

Michael Cohen, President Trump’s former lawyer, testified before the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday.

• Footage of Cohen’s opening statement is available here.
• Cohen testified in detail about financial coverups during the 2016 election cycle along with multiple other allegations of unethical and potentially criminal conduct (WSJ; NYT; WaPo).
• Beforehand, commentators suggested that Republicans would seek to undermine Cohen’s credibility, which could lead to messy procedural issues during the hearing (Lawfare).
• Michael Cohen’s written testimony exposes President Trump in many aspects of campaign-finance violations and, shockingly, claims that Roger Stone informed then-candidate Trump in advance of Wikileaks’ release of the stolen DNC e-mails (Just Security; Lawfare).
• Cohen also asserted the “normalization” of immoral behavior by President Trump as an explanation of Cohen’s own immoral conduct, echoing fears that were raised after President Trump’s election in 2016 (The Atlantic).

Former Special Counsel Kenneth Starr’s new memoir about the Clinton investigation highlights differences between Starr and current Special Counsel Robert Mueller and suggests that Mueller may be unlikely to become an advocate for impeachment in the way that Starr did, writes Bob Bauer at Lawfare.

IMMIGRATION

The key issue for the border wall and census lawsuits is how much deference the Supreme Court will give to the President’s reasoning and whether they will substitute their own reasoning for that of the executive branch, writes Noah Feldman at Bloomberg. 

The Trump administration’s approach to Moda Muthana, a natural-born U.S. citizen who later joined ISIS, suggests that the administration’s immigration campaign will not stop with naturalized citizens, but rather poses a danger to American-born citizens as well (Volokh Conspiracy).

President Trump has prioritized high-profile political battles, such as the construction of a wall on the southern border, over demands of immigration hawks that are at the core of his political base (ImmigrationProf Blog).

The federal government received over 4,500 complaints in four years about sexual abuse of immigrant children at government-funded detention centers, reports Mathew Haag at The New York Times.

In response to North Carolina limiting its cooperation with ICE, the agency engaged in a five-day statewide operation, seemingly retaliating against the state’s noncooperation (ACLU).

REGULATION

In a brief submitted Monday in Kisor v. Wilkie, a case in which the Supreme Court is reconsidering Auer deference, the Trump administration suggested that the executive branch relinquish some of the deference, acknowledged the dangers of Auer deference, and suggested that it is only appropriate if the regulatory text involves a “genuine ambiguity” (Cato).

RUSSIAN INTERFERENCE

The United States military blocked internet access to a Russian “troll farm” on the day of the midterm elections, as a warning against Russian meddling in U.S. elections, writes Ellen Nakashima at The Washington Post.

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