Daily Update | January 24, 2018
Britany Riley , // 1/24/18 //
The Supreme Court expedited brief deadlines in the Trump administration’s appeal of a district court decision that blocked part of the DACA repeal. Many countries remain unconvinced by President Trump’s “America First” trade policy, and are looking elsewhere to form trade agreements. Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigators interviewed Attorney General Jeff Sessions in connection with the probe of Russian interference in the 2016 election.
IMMIGRATION
The Supreme Court expedited brief deadlines in the Trump administration’s appeal of a district court decision that blocked part of the DACA repeal (The Hill).
Video footage shows Border Patrol agents boarding a Greyhound bus between in Florida, asking passengers to provide identification, and subsequently arresting one woman (WaPo).
Democrats suggested during shutdown negotiations that they would consider funding a border wall, discussed by The Daily podcast at The New York Times.
The US is accepting refugees in a deal negotiated by President Obama, but called “dumb” by President Trump (NYT).
Bipartisan immigration talks on the hill have supposedly stalled (Politico).
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced that President Trump would not sign the immigration proposal written by Senators Lindsay Graham and Dick Durbin (TheHill).
CIVIL RIGHTS
A year after President Trump’s reinstatement of the global gag rule, banning U.S. funding to foreign organizations that promote or provide abortion, advocacy groups report significant harms to health services (ABC).
JUSTICE & SAFETY
CIA Director Mike Pompeo warned that North Korea is rapidly developing weapons for coercive purposes (WaPo).
An investigation found that the Department of Defense has continued to train, equip, and assist Afghan security forces that have committed gross violations of human rights (WaPo, The Hill).
Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis pushed for a closer security relationship with Indonesia, out of concern for Chinese influence in the region (WSJ, WaPo).
DOJ must release comprehensive data on terrorism in the United States, in order to inform public debate and discussion, writes Charles Kurzman at Lawfare.
The terrorist watchlist statistics from last week’s DOJ and DHS exaggerate the threat of terrorism, argues Harsha Panduranga at Just Security.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson blamed Russia for recent gas attacks in Syria (WaPo, WSJ).
The U.S.-led coalition killed approximately 150 ISIS combatants last weekend, according to U.S. Central Command (The Hill).
REGULATION
President Trump’s decision to allow agencies with leftover funding to remain open during the government shutdown may have been illegal, explains Sam Wice at Notice and Comment.
The Senate confirmed Jerome Powell to replace Janet Yellen as chair of the Federal Reserve chair (Politico, WSJ).
The Consumer Finance Bureau’s plan to reconsider rules regulating payday lenders is misguided and out of step with its mission, argues the Bloomberg Editorial Board.
In a memo to CFPB staff, acting director Mick Mulvaney expressed plans to move away from his predecessor’s “good guys” fighting “bad guys,” approach to one in which the agency conducts enforcement with “humility and prudence.” (NYT).
RIchard Trumpka, President of the AFL-CIO, harshly criticized President Trump for his divisive rhetoric and continued support of corporations over working class Americans (NYT, The Hill).
The President’s leaked infrastructure bill contains echoes of President Obama’s subsidy-forward policies, argues Chris Edwards at Cato on Liberty.
- Christian Britschgi disagrees.
Many countries remain unconvinced by President Trump’s “America First” trade policy, and are looking elsewhere to form trade agreements. (WSJ)
RUSSIAN INTERFERENCE
Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigators interviewed Attorney General Jeff Sessions in connection with the probe of Russian interference in the 2016 election (NYT, WaPo, Politico).
There is growing evidence that President Trump uses AG Sessions to handle sensitive, and often controversial, political matters, including the attempted firing of FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe (NYT).
- The President denies any attempts to pressure FBI officials (Politico).