, Ian Eppler  //  5/24/17  //  Daily Update

Former CIA Director John Brennan testified to the House Intelligence Committee that he was concerned about contacts between the Trump campaign and Russian officials, and that he informed the FBI about his concerns.  The Senate Intelligence Committee has issued subpoenas to businesses affiliated with former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn.  President Trump’s proposed budget, which includes significant cuts to many government programs, has been released.      

RULE OF LAW, REMOVAL FROM OFFICE, AND THE RUSSIA INVESTIGATION

Regardless of the potential for prosecution of President Trump, impeachment must remain a priority, argues Laurence Tribe at Take Care.

• Rishabh Bhandari and Aaron Sibarium argue, on the other hand, impeaching President Trump is a bad idea because it would further anger the voters who elected him and degrade our already-weakened political system.
• The ACLU has called for a full and public investigation of the allegations, including potential crimes by Trump campaign officials and advisers and potential obstruction of justice by President Trump himself, but not yet impeachment, explains David Cole.
• President Trump is considering tapping his former campaign officials, Corey Lewandowski and David Bossie, to help his administration deal with the probe into his alleged obstruction of justice (Politico).

Former CIA Director John Brennan testified to the House Intelligence Committee that he was concerned about contacts between the Trump campaign and Russian officials, and that he informed the FBI about his concerns (NYT, WaPo).

• Russia may have recruited Trump campaign aides (Politico).
• Martin Matishak and Austin Wright provide five takeaways from the House Intelligence Committee hearings.

The Senate Intelligence Committee has issued subpoenas to businesses affiliated with former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn (WaPo).

• The House Intelligence Committee is likely to do so, as well (The Hill).

President Trump has reportedly hired Marc Kasowitz, who represented him in the wake of several accusations of sexual assault during the presidential campaign, to represent him during the investigation into Russian interference (The Hill).

At POGO Blog, Fritz Schwartz, Jr., chief counsel to the Church Commission, offers his insights on best practices for Congressional investigations.

A member of the Federal Election Commission has called for an investigation into allegations that Russian agents bought Facebook ads to spread false stories about Hillary Clinton during the 2016 campaign (Politico).

If President Trump is removed from office, President Mike Pence’s first two decisions will likely be selecting a new vice president and deciding whether to preemptively pardon former President Trump, writes Sandy Levinson in Balkinization.

At Dorf on Law, Neil Buchanan speculates as to what it would take for “a few Republican[] [officeholders] to be courageous.”

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

The Office of Government Ethics continues to struggle to access information on waivers that the Trump Administration gave to former lobbyists, allowing them to work in the administration (ABA Journal).

• In Lawfare, former White House Counsel Bob Bauer discusses the implications of this conflict, and suggests that Congress intervene.

REGULATION

A coalition of states should be permitted to intervene in litigation by the House of Representatives challenging the propriety of cost-sharing reduction subsidies under the Affordable Care Act due to the Trump Administration’s threats to drop an appeal, argues Nick Bagley at Take Care.

At Take Care, Leah Litman criticizes several arguments in the D.C. Circuit opinion holding the structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau unconstitutional.

President Trump’s proposed budget, which includes significant cuts to many government programs, has been released (NYT).

• Some of his fellow Republicans are skeptical (WaPo).
• The budget’s assumptions regarding increased revenue from economic growth are likely flawed (WaPo).
• At Health Affairs Blog, Timothy Jost discusses the budget’s health care funding cuts.
• The proposed budget cuts funding for the Environmental Protection Agency by 31.4% and authorizes oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (The Hill).
• And it would also cut funding for scientific and medical research (WaPo).
• Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney announced that the budget would end “crazy” Obama-era funding for climate change research (The Hill).
• At The Intercept, Zaid Jilani criticizes the claim that the proposed budget does not include Social Security cuts.
• The president of the American Bar Association criticized cuts to funding for the Legal Services Corporation and the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program in the proposed budget (ABA Journal).
• In Politico, Michael Grunwald describes the budget as a “scam.”
• Chris Edwards praises the proposed spending cuts in Cato@Liberty.
• But, also at Cato@Liberty, Daniel J. Mitchell argues they don’t go far enough.
• Ryan Bourne discusses the implications for infrastructure spending in Cato@Liberty.

The Department of Labor will implement the Obama-era “fiduciary rule” for investment advisors after unsuccessfully attempting to find a legal basis to postpone it (NYT, The Hill).

• The decision was announced by Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta in a Wall Street Journal op-ed.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington has filed a Freedom of Information Act request for documents related to allegations that Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma pressured health insurance companies into supporting the American Health Care Act by threatening to withhold subsidies authorized under the Affordable Care Act.

The Trump Administration’s proposed infrastructure bill will likely include repeal of certain environmental protections (The Hill).

In a House committee hearing, the chair of the EPA’s Board of Scientific Counselors expressed “surprise[]” and “concern[]” at the Trump Administration’s dismissal of nine members of the board (The Hill).

California has sought to negotiate with foreign governments regarding anti-climate change efforts in the wake of Trump Administration reluctance, write Coral Davenport and Adam Nagourney in the New York Times.

At the Sunlight Foundation Blog, John Wonderlich discusses the potential threat the Trump Administration poses to publicly accessible data.

FEDERALISM

At Take Care, Nikolas Bowie discusses Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ memo announcing a narrow interpretation of President Trump’s executive order on “sanctuary cities.”

• The administration has asked Judge William Orrick to reconsider his preliminary injunction blocking the executive order (ABA Journal, Constitutional Law Prof Blog).
• The motion is available here.
• In Cato@Liberty, Matthew Feeney analyzes Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ announcement that President Trump’s executive order on “sanctuary cities” will be interpreted narrowly.
• But President Trump’s proposed budget would make many federal grants to municipalities contingent on participation in immigration enforcement, which would essentially codify the executive order (WaPo).

IMMIGRATION

President Trump’s budget cut is proposing to trim the Justice Department’s overall budget in the coming year, but wants to boost funding for a crackdown on illegal immigration, writes Josh Gerstein for Politico.

Denver has approved local sentencing changes aimed at helping immigrants avoid federal immigration authorities (The Denver Post).

CIVIL RIGHTS

The Human Rights Campaign President Chad Griffin sent a letter to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson urging him to allow those fleeing violence in Chechnya, including gay and bisexual men who have been targeted by the government, access to U.S. visas.

JUSTICE & SAFETY

The terrorist attack in Manchester will undoubtedly change the conversation between President Trump and European leaders to focus on a discussion about the security of public spaces and the world’s response to extremism (NYT).

The Trump Administration is split on adding troops in Afghanistan between his war cabinet and his political aides (NYT).

President Trump’s budget request seeks increases in cybersecurity personnel across several departments and nearly $1.5 billion in funding for a Department of Homeland Security unit in charge of safeguarding the country’s cyber infrastructure (The Hill).

The Trump Administration has asked Congress to give the federal government sweeping powers to track, hack and destroy drones flown over domestic soil (NYT).