Ian Eppler  //  11/29/18  //  Daily Update

Attorneys for Paul Manafort allegedly briefed President Trump’s attorneys on Manafort’s discussions with the Special Counsel after Manafort agreed to cooperate. Targets of the Special Counsel investigation are rejecting proposed plea deals, likely due to President Trump’s efforts to undermine the investigation. The Trump administration is now using the Office of Refugee Resettlement to support its aggressive immigration enforcement efforts. The Trump administration’s increasingly aggressive rhetoric against Iran may be a precursor to an effort to secure support for multilateral action against Iran, or it may be a precursor to unilateral military action. Affordable Care Act signups have dropped significantly despite minimal premium increases in most states, suggesting that the Trump administration’s efforts to undermine the law by not promoting the enrollment period are successful.

TRUMP: INVESTIGATIONS AND LITIGATION

Attorneys for Paul Manafort allegedly briefed President Trump’s attorneys on Manafort’s discussions with the Special Counsel after Manafort agreed to cooperate, report Michael Schmidt, Sharon LaFraniere, and Maggie Haberman in the New York Times.

• The Manafort-Trump conversations reflect a significant breach of criminal defense norms, but they could pay off in the form of a pardon, writes Ken White in the New York Times.

The Special Counsel believes that, even after agreeing to cooperate, Paul Manafort made misstatements about his business dealings and his ties to Konstantin Kilimnik, a former Ukrainian business associate with ties to Russian intelligence, report Aruna Viswantha and Rebecca Ballhaus in the Wall Street Journal. 

A series of late-night phone calls in 2016 between then-candidate Trump and Roger Stone have attracted the attention of the Special Counsel (WaPo). 

The FBI and the House Intelligence Committee are preparing to investigate a letter from a former associate of George Papadopoulos asserting that Papadopoulos’ work to connect the Trump campaign to Russia continued through the election and transition period (The Atlantic).

Jerome Corsi is maintaining a joint defense agreement with President Trump as the Special Counsel investigates his ties to Wikileaks (The Hill).

Roger Stone’s 2016 “dirty tricks” may place him in legal jeopardy for several reasons, argues Bob Bauer at Lawfare.

Targets of the Special Counsel investigation are rejecting proposed plea deals, likely due to President Trump’s efforts to undermine the investigation, notes Renato Mariotti in Politico.

IMMIGRATION

The military deployment to the US-Mexico border is now expected to continue into 2019 (NPR, NYTimes, WaPo).

The Trump administration is now using the Office of Refugee Resettlement to support its aggressive immigration enforcement efforts, reports Madhuri Grewal of the ACLU.

Residents of border areas are wondering when barbed wire installed by troops dispatched to guard against the migrant caravan will be removed from their communities, writes Dan Lamothe in the Washington Post.

CIVIL RIGHTS

The Department of Education’s proposed new regulations on campus sexual assault policy may exceed the agency’s authority under Title IX, contends Michael Dorf at Verdict.

JUSTICE & SAFETY 

The Trump administration’s increasingly aggressive rhetoric against Iran may be a precursor to an effort to secure support for multilateral action against Iran, or it may be a precursor to unilateral military action, notes Brian Egan at Just Security.

REGULATION

The Trump administration’s tariffs have devastated small businesses across the U.S., writes Guy Lawson in the New York Times.

Miscommunication and miscalculation between the U.S. and China have led the countries to the brink of a trade war, report Bob Davis and Lingling Wei in the Wall Street Journal.

Affordable Care Act signups have dropped significantly despite minimal premium increases in most states, suggesting that the Trump administration’s efforts to undermine the law by not promoting the enrollment period are successful (Politico).

President Trump threatened tariffs on automotive imports after General Motors announced layoffs at U.S. factories (WaPo, WSJ).

FEDERALISM

The City of Baltimore sued the Trump administration over its “public charge” rule making it harder for immigrants who use public benefits to gain permanent status (The Hill).

RUSSIAN INTERFERENCE 

A judge denied a request by attorneys for alleged Russian agent Maria Butina to move her out of solitary confinement (The Hill).

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