6/26/18  //  Daily Update

The Special Counsel has obtained phones and computers belonging to Erik Prince, a private military contractor who reportedly set up a backchannel meeting between Trump campaign staff and Russian government officials. Kevin McAleenan, the commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, has said that border officials will no longer refer adults crossing the border with children for prosecution by the DOJ. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt attempted to recruit oil executives for leadership positions at the agency. The Trump administration is preparing to announce new restrictions on Chinese investment in the United States and technology exports to China. The DOJ will soon have to decide whether to appeal a New York district court ruling striking down the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau as unconstitutional.

6/25/18  //  Daily Update

Stormy Daniels is expected to meet with federal prosecutors in New York as part of the investigation into Michael Cohen. President Trump on Twitter advocated depriving undocumented immigrants of due process rights. The Trump Administration announced the establishment of a formal process to reunite the 2,053 children separated from parents at the border. President Trump’s call to establish a sixth military branch—a “space force”—has been met with a cool reception by the Pentagon. Newly released emails indicate that Environmental Protection Administration head Scott Pruitt sought to hire a friend of a lobbyist who rented Pruitt a Capitol Hill apartment at below market rate. Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) suggested he would use his position on the Senate Judiciary Committee to delay the confirmation of judges in order to extract concessions from the administration on trade and other issues.

6/22/18  //  Daily Update

Federal authorities have subpoenaed the publisher of the National Enquirer for records related to its $150,000 payment to a former Playboy model for the rights to her story alleging an affair with Donald Trump. House Republican leaders postponed a vote on a “compromise” immigration proposal until Friday. The U.S. Border Patrol will no longer refer migrant parents who cross into the United States illegally with children to federal courthouses to face criminal charges. The White House announced a plan on Thursday to combine the Education and Labor departments to form the Department of Education and the Workforce. In Lucia v. SEC, the Supreme Court struck a major blow at one of the centerpieces of the administrative state: the tradition of civil-service appointments of independent administrative law judges.

6/21/18  //  Daily Update

President Trump signed an Executive Order providing for parents and children to be housed together while awaiting immigration adjudication. HUD has issued an advance notice of proposed rulemaking to solicit comments on whether to revise its 2013 Disparate Impact Rule. The White House plans to propose combining the Department of Education and the Department of Labor. The Senate Intelligence Committee held a hearing on the policy response to Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. elections.

6/20/18  //  Daily Update

President Trump, in a speech to the National Federation of Independent Business, defended his actions against border-crossing families. The Trump administration is challenging nationwide injunctions, which have halted several high-profile policies, in a sanctuary city case. A George W. Bush-appointed judge found proof of voter fraud utterly lacking, ruling against Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach. The Trump administration withdrew the United States from the U.N. Human Rights Council, the world’s most important human rights body. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross shorted stock in a shipping firm days after learning that reporters were preparing a negative story about his dealings with the company. A federal court ruled that the Trump administration does not need to evaluate the climate change impact of leasing federal land for coal mining.

6/19/18  //  Daily Update

The Department of Homeland Security has undertaken a zero-tolerance immigration policy, separating children from their parents. Attorney General Jeff Sessions narrowed eligibility for asylum to victims of domestic violence and expanded the universe of families who fall victim to the administration’s policy of separating families. The Supreme Court sidestepped decisions on partisan gerrymandering, ruling against the challengers. President Trump directed Pentagon officials to move towards a “space force” that would become the sixth branch of the military. President Trump is expected to nominate Kathy Kraninger as CFPB director—the nomination, under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, extends Mick Mulvaney’s tenure as Acting Director.

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.

6/15/18  //  Daily Update

The New York Attorney General has filed a lawsuit alleging that the Trump Foundation violated state and federal law. Republicans are considering a bill that would end the practice of separating migrant families at the U.S. borders, provide visas for “dreamers,” and offer funding for a border wall. The DOJ Inspector General issued a highly critical report concerning the FBI's actions during the 2016 presidential campaign.

6/14/18  //  Daily Update

Michael Cohen’s current attorneys are likely to end their representation of him in the investigation by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. The Trump Administration plans use fingerprint analyses on decades-old samples to determine immigrants who lied or falsified naturalization forms and then revoke citizenship from those individuals. The Department of Justice has begun supporting conservative college students claiming that their schools have violated their First Amendment rights. New lawsuits brought by the National Democratic Redistricting Committee allege that Alabama, Georgia, and Louisiana’s congressional maps violate the Voting Rights Act. President Trump is expected to approve the levying of tariffs on Chinese goods, a move that is expected to worsen relations and create a trade war between the countries. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein is expected to call on the House to investigate the conduct of Intelligence Committee staffers.

6/13/18  //  Daily Update

A federal court has ordered prosecutors to release to Paul Manafort the names of European politicians alleged have participated in his secret lobbying campaign for Ukraine. President Trump declared his meeting with Kim Jong Un, which resulted in promises of denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and an end of American military exercises in the area, as “honest, direct, and productive." Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner made at least $82 million in 2017 according to financial disclosure forms. Judge Richard J. Leon of the United States District Court in Washington, D.C. approved the merger between AT&T and Time Warner following attempts from the Justice Department to block it. The Department of Justice will likely issue a public report in July on foreign efforts to interfere with United States elections and what can be done about them.

6/12/18  //  Daily Update

A federal judge heard oral argument in a case brought by DC and Maryland arguing that President Trump is violating the Emoluments Clauses. Attorney General Jeff Sessions reversed an immigration appeals court decision; he opined that fear of domestic violence is insufficient to provide legal grounds for asylum. The Supreme Court ruled that Ohio’s practice of removing inactive voters from state voter rolls does not violate federal law. Three former aides to EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt told House committee investigators that the EPA is delaying public records requests. The FCC officially repealed net neutrality rules, scrapping all of the Obama-era regulations which aimed at ensuring a level playing field online.

6/11/18  //  Daily Update

Special Counsel Robert Mueller indicted Paul Manafort and Konstantin Kilimnik on new charges related to his alleged attempts to tamper with witnesses. DOJ is refusing to defend the DACA programin court. It is also arguing that the Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional. At the G-7 summit, President Trump rejected a joint statement and aggressively confronted Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The Commerce Department released documents about the 2020 census question regarding citizenship.

6/8/18  //  Daily Update

The Department of Justice stated in a brief that it would not defend the Affordable Care Act against a case brought by Texas’ Attorney General and lawmakers in 19 other states. The Environmental Protection Agency decided not to look at air, water or ground contaminants for evaluating the risks associated with potentially toxic chemicals after extensive lobbying from the chemical industry. President Trump has scapegoated refugees and has promoted prejudiced policies that have overwhelmingly hurt them across the world. President Trump claimed publicly that similar tactics to those used in withdrawing the Iran Nuclear Deal would be successful in negotiations with North Korea. Carter Page’s interactions with Russia date back to 2004 as he slowly became more and more involved with Russia during the 2016 election.

6/7/18  //  Daily Update

The Trump administration is preparing to release a sweeping plan for reorganizing the federal government, including a major consolidation of welfare programs. The administration’s policy on separating families at the border is connected to the policy regarding the indefinite detention, without individualized bond hearings, of persons detained for immigration purposes. Fury and despair over the Masterpiece Cakeshop ruling are misplaced. President Trump commuted the sentence of Alice Marie Johnson, for whom Kim Kardashian West had advocated in her meeting with the president. There is a growing list of U.S. diplomats breaking diplomatic conventions. Mike Mulvaney, the head of the CFPB, has purged its expert advisory boards.

6/6/18  //  Daily Update

The UN declared that the Trump administration’s practice of separating children from migrant families at the border violated their rights and international law. A judge ruled that President Donald Trump can be deposed in the defamation lawsuit brought by Summer Zervos, a former ‘Apprentice’ contestant who claims that President Trump kissed and groped her after she appeared on the show. Officials are concerned about voters’ distrust of election security, which may be as powerful as an actual hack. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos announced that the administration’s School Safety Commission, formed after the Parkland school shooting, will not look at guns. Several states are defying the FCC repeal of net neutrality.