Eve Levin, Ian Eppler  //  5/31/18  //  Daily Update

In March 2017, President Trump pressured Attorney General Jeff Sessions to rescind his recusal from the Russia investigation. A new report suggests that Trump administration policies contribute to the risk of sexual abuse of LGBT ICE detainees—a risk 97 times greater than that faced by non-LGBT detainees. The denial of cert in Planned Parenthood v. Jegley leaves intact a decision at odds with governing precedent and will likely lead to uncertainty for abortion providers. Deposition transcripts reveal that the President's criticism of the NFL had a significant influence on the league’s decision to change its policy on standing for the national anthem. President Trump reportedly bragged at a closed-door fundraiser about a classified confrontation between U.S. troops and Russian mercenaries in Syria.

TRUMP: INVESTIGATIONS AND LITIGATION

In March 2017, President Trump pressured Attorney General Jeff Sessions to rescind his recusal from the Russia investigation, report Michael Schmidt and Julie Hirschfeld Davis in the New York Times.

• At Lawfare, the Rational Security Podcast discusses the request.

At a Wednesday hearing, Judge Kimba Wood set a June 15th deadline for attorneys representing Michael Cohen and President Trump to identify potentially privileged materials seized from Cohen’s office (Reuters, WaPo, NYT).

• During the hearing, Judge Wood also instructed Michael Avenatti to stop his “publicity tour,” leading Avenatti to withdraw his pro hac vice request (The Hill, WSJ).

Judge Amy Berman Jackson denied Paul Manafort’s request for unredacted search warrant affidavits in his case (The Hill).

• The order is here.

Arguments that the Mueller investigation is unconstitutional are unavailing, contend Steven Lubet and Andrew Koppelman at the American Prospect.

In an open letter, Rep. Adam Schiff announced his continued support for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and suggested that the Mueller investigation-related criticism of the Bureau will soon pass (Lawfare).

Rep. Trey Gowdy said the FBI was right to use an informant to investigate advisers to President Trump’s campaign and disputed the President’s “spying” claims (The Hill; WSJ; Politico).

IMMIGRATION

The president escalated his anti-immigrant rhetoric at a “campaign rally” in Tennessee yesterday (ImmigrationProf Blog, NYT).

• A New York Times fact check of the speech suggests several of his claims were false or exaggerated.

Students are increasingly fearful of calls from school officials to ICE, writes Erica Green in an in-depth profile of one graduating immigrant at the New York Times.

The number of migrant children in DHS custody at the border has ballooned in recent months under President Trump’s “zero tolerance” policy (WaPo).

• Separating children from their parents is likely to increase delinquency and criminalization, opine Margaret Sheridan and Charles Nelson at the New York Times.   

A new report suggests that Trump administration policies contribute to the risk of sexual abuse of LGBT ICE detainees—a risk 97 times greater than that faced by non-LGBT detainees (ImmigrationProf Blog).

CIVIL RIGHTS

The denial of cert in Planned Parenthood v. Jegley leaves intact a decision at odds with governing precedent and will likely lead to uncertainty for abortion providers, explains Leah Litman at Take Care.

Navy veteran Dana Zzyym, who is intersex and whose gender identity is neither male nor female, returned to federal court seeking an accurate passport from the State Department (Lambda Legal).

A proposed rule that would deprive health care providers that perform abortions of Title X funding is a step toward “protecting innocent unborn life,” argues Rep. Larry Bucshon at the Hill.

President Trump tweeted about Roseanne Barr’s racist tweets but focused on criticizing ABC rather than on the underlying comments by the comedienne (NYT; Politico).  

DEMOCRACY

A review by state election officials in New Hampshire revealed no evidence of widespread voter fraud (Election Law Blog).

Texas’s efforts to impede voter registration drives could spread to other states, explain Mimi Marziani and Robert Landicho in an issue brief excerpted at ACSBlog.

Deposition transcripts reveal that President Trump’s criticism of the NFL had a significant influence on the league’s decision to change its policy on standing for the national anthem, reports Andrew Beaton in the Wall Street Journal.

JUSTICE AND SAFETY

A new study suggests that Hurricane Maria caused approximately 4,600 deaths, a number dramatically at odds with the federal government’s estimate of 64 deaths (NYT).

President Trump again publicly complained that he wished he had picked a different Attorney General (NYT; Politico).

The current political firestorm around the FBI will subside, as it has during past eras of politicization and criticism, writes Rep. Adam Schiff in an open letter to the bureau at Lawfare.

The Trump administration’s heightened restrictions on congressional travel to parts of the Middle East may not be constitutional, argues Ryan Scoville at Lawfare.

President Trump’s counterterrorism efforts reflect an escalation, “rhetorically and operationally,” of the campaigns he inherited; a panel of counterterrorism experts discuss on the Lawfare podcast.

The Senate is facing pressure to bring a prison-reform bill that is a top priority for Jared Kushner to the floor (The Hill).

The administration announced it intends to shorten the length of some visas for Chinese applicants as part of its strategy to limit intellectual property theft (Reuters; WSJ).

• The administration’s focus on the short term in its dealings with China misses the bigger picture, writes Karl Rove at the Wall Street Journal.
• The President is a study in how to “routinely do[] protectionism badly,” argues Greg Ip at the Wall Street Journal. 

Nineteen Democratic senators wrote to national security advisor John Bolton criticizing his decision to eliminate a top cybersecurity post (The Hill).

DHS and the Department of Commerce issued a joint report on combating botnets (The Hill). 

President Trump reportedly bragged at a closed-door fundraiser about a classified confrontation between U.S. troops and Russian mercenaries in Syria (Politico).

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

Ivanka Trump left a conference call with reporters after a question regarding China’s recent grant of trademarks to her brand (NYT).

REGULATION

The United States and China appear to have reached a temporary truce in a nascent trade conflict, but the detente is unlikely to last, argue Wenqing Zhao and David Stanton at Lawfare.

Federal banking regulators are expected to announce a regulation to loosen the “Volcker Rule” limiting banks’ ability to trade securities using depositors’ money (NYTimes, Politico, WaPo, WSJ).

Trump administration criticism of the European Union over trade and privacy regulations are straining ties between the United States and Europe, report David Lynch and Tony Romm in the Washington Post.

• The US is likely to impose steel and aluminum tariffs on the EU by Friday, reported a senior EU trade official (Politico, WSJ).

During a rally, President Trump declared that drug companies would voluntarily decrease prices next month, catching companies unaware (Politico).

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