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Nicandro Iannacci, Karen Kadish  //  7/30/18  //  Daily Update

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President Trump said he didn’t know in advance about a June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower between Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya and Donald Trump, Jr. Newly obtained police reports and call logs suggest numerous cases of abuse and “inappropriate relationships” at migrant youth shelters. Under a program called “Quiet Skies” that began in March, the TSA has been deploying air marshals to monitor ordinary citizens that raise concerns due to foreign travel or other activities. President Trump has repeatedly sought to ban reporters from covering official events for allegedly “disrespectful behavior and impertinent questions.” According to Taliban officials, U.S. diplomats met with Taliban representatives in Qatar without Afghan government officials present, a reversal of longstanding policy. The head of the civil rights division of the Department of Education will focus on students persecuted for their religious beliefs. The potential for 3-d printed guns has raised fears regarding a spike in gun violence.

 

TRUMP: INVESTIGATIONS AND LITIGATION

President Trump said he didn’t know in advance about a June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower between Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya and Donald Trump, Jr. (WaPo, WSJ, LAT, Reuters).

• If the president did know about the meeting, would that be a campaign finance violation? It’s complicated, writes Rick Hasen at Election Law Blog.
• Certainly, it would strengthen a growing case against the president for conspiracy against the United States, writes Jed Shugerman at Slate.
• In any case, the news further bolsters the idea that the meeting was more incriminating than the president would have you believe, writes Philip Bump at The Washington Post.

President Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen has been warned that he is in violation of attorney-client privilege and should stop stop talking, according to the president’s current lawyer, Rudy Giuliani (ABC News).

• Giuliani said the president is mentioned in about a dozen of Cohen’s tapes and that he wants the public to hear them (WaPo).
• He also called Cohen a “pathological manipulator,” a “liar,” and a “scoundrel.” (Politico)
• This is a sharp change in tone from earlier this month, when Giuliani called Cohen an “honest, honorable lawyer” (WaPo).

A federal judge indicated that he is likely to deny Cohen’s request for a gag order to stop attorney Michael Avenatti from attacking him in the news media (LAT).

On Tuesday, former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort will be put on trial for a variety of financial fraud charges (NYT, WSJ, AP).

The “exhaustive” research of Georgetown law professor John Mikhail was credited many times by the federal judge who recently ruled that an Emoluments Clause lawsuit against President Trump could move forward (WaPo).

The House Freedom Caucus’ campaign to discredit Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein was “baseless” and “shameful,” writes John S. Martin at The Washington Post.

 

IMMIGRATION 

A federal judge said she will appoint an independent monitor to oversee the conditions of detention for migrant children (CNN).

• Some lawyers and advocates working at the border are reporting stories of child abuse at the hands of federal authorities (BuzzFeed). 

Newly obtained police reports and call logs suggest numerous cases of abuse and “inappropriate relationships” at migrant youth shelters (ProPublica).

The Trump administration’s family reunification effort has been marred by confusion and a lack of information, showing “what happens on the ground when an administration makes or reverses policy on the fly” (WaPo, WSJ).

• Many children have still not been reunited with their families, including those of 431 parents who were deported without their children (NYT).
• The president has earned himself the title of “Abuser-in-Chief,” writes Bill Ong Hing at the Immigration Legal Resource Center.

America’s new Ellis Island is a bus terminal in South Texas (NYT).

 

CIVIL RIGHTS

Under a program called “Quiet Skies” that began in March, the TSA has been deploying air marshals to monitor ordinary citizens that raise concerns due to foreign travel or other activities (Boston Globe).

The Trump administration is working with representatives of technology companies, Internet providers, and consumer advocates to craft new rules for digital privacy, with the goal of releasing an initial set of ideas this fall (WaPo).

Recently released emails indicate that the administration’s explanation for including a citizenship question on the 2020 Census is “a sham to conceal its discriminatory, anti-immigrant agenda,” writes Dale Ho at the ACLU.

• This, not voter fraud, “is what modern-day election rigging looks like in the United States,” writes the Washington Post editorial board.

 

DEMOCRACY

President Trump has repeatedly sought to ban reporters from covering official events for allegedly “disrespectful behavior and impertinent questions” (WaPo).

The president and A.G. Sulzberger, publisher of The New York Times, publicly clashed over the work of the press and their competing accounts of a private meeting (NYT, WaPo, LAT, Politico).

President Trump presided over the first National Security Council meeting devoted to protecting elections from foreign interference, but he has no clear strategy going forward (NBC News, WaPo, The Hill).

• A recent survey of the states suggest many won’t be ready for the 2018 midterms or the 2020 presidential election (Politico).
• Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) warned of “widespread” cyberattacks on Senate offices and political parties across the country, just days after her colleague Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) confirmed an attack on her own office (The Hill).

Liberal activists are embracing “dark money” in their effort to stop the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court (WaPo).

Justice is served by acquittals in the “J20” Inauguration Day protest cases, writes Elizabeth Lagesse in The Washington Post.

 

JUSTICE & SAFETY

Russian President Vladimir Putin invited President Trump to Moscow for a second summit meeting (NYT, LAT, AP)

• The administration still hasn’t adequately explained its policy toward Putin’s request to interrogate U.S. officials, writes Putin target Michael McFaul at The Washington Post.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said the Pentagon may deploy U.S. military teams to North Korea for the first time in years to search for the remains of U.S. troops killed in the Korean War (WaPo).

The Trump administration is urging U.S.-backed Afghan troops to retreat from sparsely populated regions of Afghanistan, effectively ceding territory to the Taliban (NYT).

According to Taliban officials, U.S. diplomats met with Taliban representatives in Qatar without Afghan government officials present, a reversal of longstanding policy (NYT).

Five Democratic members of Congress called on the DOJ to investigate the recent Florida “stand your ground” case (NYT).

President Trump railed against Turkey for allegedly failing to honor a deal to release a U.S. pastor from jail, but Turkish officials called reports of a deal “completely baseless” (WaPo). 

White House threats to revoke security clearances clearly violate the First Amendment, write Kristy Parker and Ben Berwick at Lawfare.

• The threat is part of a pattern of intimidation against persons and institutions that check the president’s power, writes Rolf Mowatt-Larssen at Just Security.
• The Washington Post details five myths about security clearances. (WaPo)
• Actually, the president is supported by law and policy, but he should take a more nuanced approach, writes Sean Bigley at The Wall Street Journal. 

The president’s proposal for a new military space force could inspire an arms race and make combat more likely, writes the New York Times editorial board.

 

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

The White House has begun appointing even low-level staffers at Millenium Challenge Corporation, a small federal agency where traditionally a few top roles were presidentially appointed, reports Robert O’Harrow, Jr. at The Washington Post.

The National Prayer Breakfast has increasingly become a site for lobbying, influence-peddling, and other political interests, write Kenneth P. Vogel and Elizabeth Dias at The New York Times.

After months of questions regarding potential conflicts of interest -- as well as public backlash against the brand -- Ivanka Trump is closing her fashion company, writes Vauhni Vara at The Atlantic. 

The incoming chief of Veterans Affairs plans to reassign controversial Trump loyalists, in an attempt to both diminish turmoil within the agency and to assuage fears that the VA is becoming politicized, writes Lisa Rein at The Washington Post.

 

REGULATION

Andrew Wheeler, the acting head of the EPA, is re-strategizing Pruitt’s attempts to roll back environmental regulations so as to make them more likely to survive a legal challenge, writes Coral Davenport at The New York Times. 

Peter Wright, the lawyer President Trump nominated in March to run the superfund toxic cleanup program, has a murky history in chemical cleanups dating back over 10 years, report Hiroko Tabuchi and Tryggvi Adalbjornsson at The New York Times.

A District Court judge in Texas denied gun-control organizations’ request for an order to forestall a settlement which allows the printing of guns by three-dimensional printers, writes Jon Herskovitz at The Huffington Post.

• The potential for 3-d printed guns has raised fears regarding a spike in gun violence. (WaPo)

HHS has altered positive reports on the impact and effectiveness of the Affordable Care Act in order to make the reports fall more in line with President Trump’s criticism of the policy (Politico, Sunlight Foundation).

A rapprochement between the European Commission and President Trump may have important implications for the escalating trade war between the United States and China, writes Donald L. Luskin at The Wall Street Journal.

Despite the affordable housing crisis that is escalating across the country, HUD has decided to decrease aid to Americans living in poverty, writes Glenn Thrush at The New York Times. 

The head of the civil rights division of the Department of Education will focus on students persecuted for their religious beliefs, writes Michelle Hackman at The Wall Street Journal.

Mnuchin emphasized his understanding of the Fed as an independent body, and claimed that President Trump also acknowledges and respects the Fed’s independence. This comment comes in response to concerns raised when President Trump criticized the Fed’s decision to increase interest rates last week (Politico).

 

RULE OF LAW 

Although it would be unprecedented, there is no reason to think that Robert Mueller’s investigation cannot lead to an indictment of President Trump. Extraordinary circumstances could lead to Mueller petitioning Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein for permission to go against DOJ policy and indict the President, writes Paul Savoy at Just Security. 

While Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner have laid low for the past months, their role seems to be ramping up once again, as President Trump loses advisors, write Maggie Haberman and Katie Rogers at The New York Times. 

A Trump appointee who was using social media to advance conspiracies and other inflammatory content was forced out of her position at HHS, reports Dan Diamond at Politico.

 

CHECKS & BALANCES

President Trump threatened on Sunday to shut down the government this fall if Congress does not make significant changes to immigration law -- including funding the so-called “Border Wall.” (WaPo; CNN; WSJ)

• Democrats in the Senate have faced difficult decisions regarding their strategy to oppose Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court.
• Chuck Schumer has decided against using hardball politics to force moderate Democrats to toe the party line with respect to Kavanaugh’s confirmation, reports Sean Sullivan at The Washington Post.
• Democrats are pushing for former President George Bush to release records from Kavanaugh’s time at the White House. (NYT, WaPo)
• The Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, a Republican, made the political move of requesting some documents from Kavanaugh’s time at the White House, but conspicuously omitting the documents Democrats are pushing for. (Politico)

While the mainstream legal opinion is that a President can withdraw from treaties -- such as NATO -- unilaterally, there is some merit to the idea that Congress is the actual branch of government with the authority to do so, writes Scott R. Anderson at Lawfare.

 

FEDERALISM 

A federal judge has rejected the DOJ plan to withhold funding from “sanctuary” cities, writes Janan Hanna at Bloomberg.

This injunction was upheld by the Seventh Circuit, but is currently limited to the City of Chicago. The validity of a nationwide injunction will be considered later this year (Volokh Conspiracy).

 

RUSSIAN INTERFERENCE

Maria Butina may be just one of many agents used by the Russian government in a long-term project to undermine Western democracy, writes Anne Applebaum at The Washington Post. 

• Evidence has surfaced showing that Mariia Butina met with a suspected Kremlin spy in January, reports Josh Meyer at Politico.

• While many believe that Ms. Butina was charged with violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act, she was actually charged with acting as an agent of the Russian Federation without notifying the attorney general under 18 U.S.C. §951, which is easier to prove, writes Matthew Kahn at Lawfare.

Government-sponsored Russian hackers may be changing their focus from hacking elections to hacking U.S. electric grids, writes David E. Sanger at The New York Times.

The DOJ has submitting a filing describing how Russian hackers meddled with the 2016 Presidential election, writes Sean Gallagher at ArsTechnica.

 

Tags:

Immigration Rule of Law Conflicts Checks & Balances Federalism Regulation Democracy Civil Rights Justice & Safety Russian Interference

 

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