//  6/18/18  //  Daily Update

Election law experts agree that the New York AG’s lawsuit also makes a compelling case that the Donald J. Trump Foundation committed numerous federal election law violations during the 2016 campaign. The Trump Administration announced that it separated 1,995 children from parents facing criminal prosecution for unlawfully crossing the border over a six-week period that ended last month. A Trump Organization-affiliated real estate project in Dubai awarded a $20 million contract to a state-controlled Chinese company. The Trump Administration implemented tariffs on $50 billion worth of Chinese goods, escalating a tit-for-tat trade war with Beijing.

TRUMP: INVESTIGATIONS AND LITIGATION

The New York Attorney General’s lawsuit against the Donald J. Trump Foundation alleges conduct that the IRS should consider criminally prosecuting, Philip T. Hackney argues in the New York Times.

Election law experts agree that the New York AG’s lawsuit also makes a compelling case that the Donald J. Trump Foundation committed numerous federal election law violations during the 2016 campaign, but an actual prosecution may be unlikely, reports Kenneth P. Vogel in the New York Times.

• Bob Bauer argues in The Atlantic that the conduct described reveals a flagrant disregard for complying with federal election law.

The New York AG’s lawsuit against the Trump Foundation may tell us something about the way Trump has run his for-profit businesses, writes Noah Feldman in Bloomberg.

The lawsuit may also provide a roadmap for Special Counsel Robert Mueller, Francis Wilkinson argues in Bloomberg. 

A federal judge denied Michael Cohen’s motion for a gag order barring Michael Avenatti , Stormy Daniels’ attorney, from publicly commenting on Cohen’s prosecution by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York (NYT, NBC News).

Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort was sent to jail by a federal judge in light of new charges that he tampered with witnesses while on bail (NYT, WaPo).

IMMIGRATION

The Trump Administration announced that it separated 1,995 children from parents facing criminal prosecution for unlawfully crossing the border over a six-week period that ended last month, Julie Hirschfeld Davis writes in the New York Times.

• President Trump’s order last month to criminally prosecute anyone who crosses the border unlawfully has resulted the kinds of images of children being separated from parents that prior administrations feared, write Julie Hirschfeld Davis and Michael D. Shear in the New York Times.
• Some parents have been deported even as their children remain in U.S. government custody (NYT).

Previously undisclosed statements from two consular officers raise questions about the legality of the Trump Administration's travel ban, writes Jeremy Stahl in Slate.

Congressional Democrats have accused the Trump Administration of illegally rejecting potential immigration judge candidates as too liberal, reports Tom Dart in the Guardian.

CIVIL RIGHTS

The Supreme Court’s decision in Masterpiece Cakeshop sets the right tone for protecting the liberty of both sides, Thomas C. Berg and Douglas Laycock argue in Take Care.

• Vikram David Amar and Alan E. Brownstein write about the attitudinal and doctrinal takeaways from the case in Verdict.
• In finding that the Colorado Civil Rights Commission acted with an improper religious animus, the Court failed to fully appreciate the administrative context, argues Bernard Bell in Notice & Comment.

A federal court blocked the Trump Administration’s new attempt to institute a transgender ban in the military, writes Jonathan Adams in the Human Rights Campaign blog.

DEMOCRACY

The Supreme Court’s decision in Husted has emboldened right-wing “election integrity” groups that have had success suing states and jurisdictions into removing thousands of voters from their rolls, writes Eliza Newlin Carney in the American Prospect.

JUSTICE & SAFETY

President Trump’s action in the last several weeks on the international stage may be looked back on as the beginning of the end of the liberal world order, Kori Schake argues in the New York Times.

USAID’s fast-tracking of aid to Christian and Yazidi communities in Iraq underscores the priority the Trump administration has placed on helping Christians, even in an era of steep cuts proposed for foreign aid, writes Carol Morello in the Washington Post.

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

An American financier, Gabriel Schulze, helped establish back-channel discussions with Jared Kushner that led to the recent summit with Kim Jong Un, Mark Mazzetti and Mark Landler report in the New York Times.

EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt’s personal ingratiation with Donald Trump has helped him maintain his job even as numerous scandals pile up, Josh Dawsey, Juliet Eilperin, and Brady Dennis write in the Washington Post.

• The Director of the Office of Government Ethics indicated that he is considering a formal corrective action proceeding against Pruitt, reports Alex Guillén in Politico.
• Senior EPA staff were pressured to help Administrator Pruitt in personal matters and obtain special favors for his family, Eric Lipton, Steve Eder, Lisa Friedman, and Hiroko Tabuchi report in the New York Times.

A Trump Organization-affiliated real estate project in Dubai awarded a $20 million contract to a state-controlled Chinese company, writes Alexandra Stevenson in the New York Times.

REGULATION

United States v. Ardoin, a Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals case from 1994, would seem to dispose of the arguments made in Texas’ lawsuit attacking the individual mandate, Nicholas Bagley writes in Take Care.

• Jonathan Adler argues that the states lack standing to bring their challenge in Reason.

The Trump Administration implemented tariffs on $50 billion worth of Chinese goods, escalating a tit-for-tat trade war with Beijing (NYT).

RULE OF LAW

The Constitution disallows the president from using the pardon power in a self-protective, self-dealing, or corrupt manor, Andrew Kent, Ethan Leib, and Jed Shugerman argue in Take Care.

• Rudy Giuliani, the president’s attorney, suggested that President Trump might pardon Paul Manafort if he is convicted (WaPo).

The FBI’s failure to quickly obtain access to the Clinton emails discovered on Anthony Weiner’s laptop is a disturbing and classic example of a failure to “connect the dots,” writes Peter Margulies in Lawfare.

CHECKS & BALANCES

The Office of Legal Counsel memoranda that say a sitting president cannot be indicted should not be viewed as the last word on the issue, Danielle Brian and Sarah Turberville argue in Just Security.

Senate Democrats could fight Sen. Mitch McConnell’s decision to cancel the August recess aggressively using the quorum rule ,writes Sam Wice in Notice & Comment.

FEDERALISM

A federal court struck down major parts of Colorado’s campaign finance enforcement system, continuing a trend of courts invalidating citizen-initiated state campaign finance and ethics reforms, writes Andrew Garrahan in Inside Political Law.

RUSSIAN INTERFERENCE 

Donald Trump’s associates, Roger Stone and Michael Caputo, met in spring 2016 with Henry Greenberg, a Russian national who offered damaging information about Hillary Clinton, Manuel Roig-Franzia and Rosalind S. Helderman report in the Washington Post.

• The publicly known facts about Paul Manafort provide ample evidence of collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign, writes Ryan Goodman in Just Security

Peter Strzok, the FBI agent removed from the investigation into Russian interference after anti-Trump text messages he sent surfaced, has offered to testify voluntarily before Congress (WaPo).