, Jacob Miller  //  11/8/17  //  Daily Update

DOJ has dropped its prosecution of Desiree Ali-Fairooz, an activist who laughed at Jeff Sessions’ confirmation hearing as Attorney General. A top advisor to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross continued to serve on the board of Navigator Holdings, whose clients include a Russian energy company tied to the Kremlin, while she was a part of the Trump administration. Syria joins the Paris climate accord, leaving just the United States opposed to it.

IMMIGRATION

Spending more resources on border security would be counterproductive, argues Kari E. Hong in Take Care.

The criminal conviction of Mohammed Jabbateh exemplifies how prosecutors often use immigration-related crimes “to pursue criminal accountability for serious violations of international law, or atrocity crimes committed abroad when the perpetrator is present here,” writes Alexandra Insinga at Just Security.

Approximately 2,500 Nicaraguans present in the U.S. will lose their permission to stay under the Temporary Protected Status Program, effective 2019, DHS announced (NYT).

DEMOCRACY

Voting machines used throughout the country remain vulnerable to hackers, writes Sean Gallagher at Ars Technica.

DOJ has dropped its prosecution of Desiree Ali-Fairooz, an activist who laughed at Jeff Sessions’ confirmation hearing as Attorney General (Politico).

JUSTICE & SAFETY

Public confidence in the president to protect national security is low and falling, even as confidence in the military remains high, write Mieke Eoyang, Ben Freeman, Adam Twardowski, and Benjamin Wittes at Lawfare.

A 40-year old informant testified in federal court at the trial of Ahmed Abu Khattali, the mastermind behind the 2012 attack on the CIA compound in Benghazi (NYT, Politico).

At President Trump’s urging, CIA Director Mike Pompeo met with a former U.S. intelligence official who argues that “the theft of the Democratic National Committee’s emails during the 2016 presidential campaign was an inside job, rather than a hack by Russian intelligence,” report Duncan Campbell and James Risen at The Intercept.

• Aaron Blake writes in the Washington Post that this fits a pattern of the CIA Director taking what appear to be politically motivated actions

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

A top advisor to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross continued to serve on the board of Navigator Holdings, whose clients include a Russian energy company tied to the Kremlin, while she was a part of the Trump administration (Politico).

Lawmakers should inquire whether or not the GOP tax plan would personally benefit President Trump before voting on it, which is impossible to know without his tax returns, argues the Washington Post Editorial Board.

REGULATION

President Trump says tougher gun laws would have led to “hundreds more dead” in Texas shooting (NYTimes, WaPo, LA Times, Politico).

Syria joins the Paris climate accord, leaving just the United States opposed to it (NYTimes)

Federica Mogherini, the European Union’s top diplomat, warned that President Trump’s plan to renegotiate the Iran nuclear deal was “not an option” (NYTimes).

White House officials have prepared an executive order to weaken the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate if Congress fails to do so through tax reform (WaPo).

RULE OF LAW

The United States drops charges against the woman who laughed  during Jeff Sessions’ confirmation hearing (LA Times)

REMOVAL FROM OFFICE

Democratic donor Tom Steyer’s nationwide TV ads calling for President Trump’s impeachment divide democrats ahead of the election (LA Times, Politico)

Fox News officially stops running Tom Steyer’s ads (WaPo)

RUSSIAN INTERFERENCE

Carter Page, former foreign policy advisor to President Trump testifies that he told Trump campaign officials about a planned trip to Russia in July 2016 (NYTimes, LA Times).

• Read the full transcript here

House Democrats prepare to ask Jeff Sessions about George Papadopoulos next week in front of the House Judiciary Committee (Politico). 

Attorney General Jeff Sessions may have committed perjury when he denied knowledge of other Trump campaign members meeting with Russians, argue Artin Afkhami and Ryan Goodman at Just Security.

President Trump and Vladimir Putin have both ended up hurting each other in attempts to collude, writes Richard Cohen for the Washington Post.

Ukrainian prosecutors are closely following Mueller’s investigation into Manafort as part of their own investigation (Politico).