4/12/19  //  Daily Update

President Trump echoed AG Bill Barr in claiming that “spying” on the president’s 2016 campaign took place. According to DHS officials and newly obtained email messages, the White House considered transporting immigrant detainees to “sanctuary cities” and Democratic jurisdictions as retaliation against the president’s opponents. The DOE is accused of dragging its feet in implementing a Obama-era special education regulation. Wikileaks founder Julian Assange was arrested in London and indicted by the DOJ. Former Obama White House Counsel Greg Craig was indicted for misleading federal investigators about his lobbying work for the Ukrainian government. Former lobbyist David Bernhardt was confirmed as Secretary of the Interior.

4/11/19  //  Daily Update

Attorney General William Barr said he plans to publicly release a redacted version of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report “within a week.” President Donald Trump denies rumors that his administration is hoping to resume the separation of parents and children at the US-Mexico border. President Trump has faced more joint challenges from states in his first two years in office than either Barack Obama or George W. Bush did in their eight years in office. The Department of Homeland Security and Federal Bureau of Investigation have officially confirmed that the Russian hacking efforts in advance of the 2016 election went well beyond the 21 states confirmed in previous reports. The Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office has reported that it has gathered more evidence of hush payments to two women who alleged affairs with Donald Trump for its ongoing criminal investigation.

4/10/19  //  Daily Update

President Donald Trump’s "dramatic purge of Homeland Security leaders" helps clear the way for him to new steps to curb illegal immigration. A U.S. district court in California blocked President Trump’s policy of returning asylum seekers to Mexico to wait out the processing of their cases, ruling that the D.H.S. had overstepped its authority. The DOE’s civil rights division is requiring the Texas Tech University system to end its use of race in admissions decisions. President Trump exploited the Federal Vacancies Reform Act to bypass not only the Senate’s advice-and-consent role, but also the ordinary line of succession within a critical government agency. Congress can probably force President Trump to turn over his tax returns, but it is legally complicated.

4/5/19  //  Daily Update

In a letter to members of Congress, lawyers for former Trump attorney Michael Cohen requested support for a reduced prison sentence for Cohen so he can assist in oversight investigations. The DOJ defended AG Bill Barr’s summary of the Mueller Report, drawing a response from House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler. ICE arrested more than 280 people at a Texas company, the largest workplace immigration raid in a decade. The House will file a lawsuit to block President Trump’s emergency declaration to build a wall on the border. In response to complaints from LGBT employees, AG Bill Barr ordered an investigation into discrimination at the DOJ. The House approved a war powers resolution ending U.S. military involvement in Yemen, sending it to President Trump for a possible veto.

4/4/19  //  Daily Update

Members of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team believe that their investigation conclusions were more troubling for President Trump than Attorney General Bill Barr’s summary letter to Congress made them appear. The chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee formally requested that the IRS turn over six years of President Trump’s personal and business tax returns. Jared Kushner has been identified as the senior White House official whose security clearance was denied last year because of concerns over foreign influence. Senate Republicans employed the “nuclear option” to change Senate rules in order to speed up confirmation times of executive branch and district court judge nominees. When the Supreme Court hears arguments concerning the Trump Administration’s efforts to add a citizenship question to the Census, it will not consider a crucial element of the case—whether the decision was motivated by racial animus, and therefore violated equal protection.

4/3/19  //  Daily Update

The Trump Administration has admitted fewer refugees than originally declared, which security experts and advocacy groups warn damages US credibility and leadership abroad. Former intelligence and military officials filed a lawsuit against the Trump Administration, arguing the government’s pre-publication review system violates the First Amendment. The House Oversight and Reform Committee voted to authorize subpoenas in connection with information it received from a whistleblower about White House overrides of denied security clearances. Army Gen. Stephen Townsend, President Trump’s nominee to lead the US Africa Command, said Russian and Chinese efforts to gain access and influence in Africa will be to the detriment of US interests in the region.

4/2/19  //  Daily Update

The success of a lawsuit filed by Trump’s lawyers for declaratory, monetary, and injunctive relief against the producers of a new TV show, Are You Smarter Than Donald Trump? will depend on whether it is taken as satire. The House Judiciary Committee will vote Wednesday on whether to subpoena the full Mueller Report. Visa denials are on the rise under the Trump Administration. The Mattis policy regarding transgender persons in the military will go into effect on Friday, April 12. A whistleblower within the White House Personnel Security Office has come forward with a list of 25 individuals who were issued denials for security clearance that were subsequently overturned by the White House.

4/1/19  //  Daily Update

Attorney General Bill Barr told Congress that Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian election interference would be made public by mid-April. Even as the Mueller investigation concludes, New York state investigations into the Trump Organization are just kicking into high gear. President Trump directed the State Department to cut off foreign aid to Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador as a response to migrant caravans emerging from those countries. The Department of Housing and Urban Development has charged Facebook with engaging in discriminatory advertising practices in violation of the Fair Housing Act. Seema Verma, the Administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, has spent millions of dollars of public funds on Republican communications consultants during her tenure. A federal judge blocked President Trump’s executive order lifting an Obama-era rule prohibiting gas drilling in the Arctic and parts of the Atlantic coast.

3/29/19  //  Daily Update

Within the past two years nearly 20,000 deportation cases that had been suspended by immigration judges were restarted by the Trump administration. Since the President’s renewed attempts to dismantle Obamacare, legislators have been weighing the political risks and opportunities. Mitch McConnell has no intention of leading the charge. The President’s nominee for Associate Attorney General, Jessie K. Liu, has withdrawn herself from consideration for the position following what some say were oppositions to her relative lack of conservative credentials. In discussing “unprecedented obstruction” during a speech on the Senate floor, Mitch McConnell has also made an effort to circumvent the existing confirmation process for Presidential appointees to District Courts.

3/28/19  //  Daily Update

Renewing calls to repeal and possibly replace the Affordable Care Act, the President has moved beyond the argument that portions of the law are unconstitutional, with the Justice Department now arguing it should be dismantled entirely. The Trump Administration is seeking to expand beyond precedent the reach of Anti-Abortion foreign policy regulations that would ban US funding from certain groups. New employees in the Trump White House aren’t the only ones flouting procedure, as watchdog groups have identified departing aides failing to disclose their new roles per Federal law. According to a lawsuit and recent report, the Trump administration is using a post-9/11 immigration regulation to indefinitely detain a Palestinian citizen.

3/27/19  //  Daily Update

Attorney General William Barr aims to release a public version of the Mueller report within “weeks.” The Trump Administration gained clear legal approval to implement limitations on the service of transgender individuals in the military through a D.C. Circuit Court order. The DOJ argued in the Second Circuit that the President can block users on Twitter because it is a personal, not official, account. The Trump Administration, through a DOJ letter to the Fifth Circuit, now takes the position that the entire Affordable Care Act should be found unconstitutional. The religious exemptions to contraceptive coverage under the Affordable Care Act advanced by the Administration are unconstitutional. The House failed to override the President’s veto of the block on his national emergency declaration, which will likely move the fight to court.

3/26/19  //  Daily Update

Following the release of Attorney General William Barr’s summary of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report, officials and observers have differing opinions about the impact of Mueller’s report and what consequences may follow from the report. President Trump and members of the Republican party have stated that they will “pursue and even punish those responsible for the Russia investigation” following the submission of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report. Several inland checkpoints along the southern border have been closed in order to reassign staff to checkpoints at the border where there are greater numbers of immigrants crossing into the United States. Coastal communities are urging the EPA to update oil-spill regulations in the face of expanded off-shore drilling and an oil-spill policy that was last revised in 1994.

3/25/19  //  Daily Update

The report of Special Counsel Robert Mueller was released to Attorney General William Barr this weekend. Mr. Barr’s summary of the report asserts that the Special Counsel’s report concludes that President Trump did not conspire or coordinate with Russia to interfere with the 2016 election, but that it is inconclusive on the question of obstruction of justice. President Trump’s campaign for the 2020 general election has paid over $1.3 million to private Trump businesses through rent, food, lodging, and other expenses. President Trump signed an executive order to encourage universities to promote and protect free speech, particularly focusing his remarks on the suppression of conservative students’ views, and additionally promoting transparency regarding the cost of college and student borrowing. President Trump’s recognition of the Golan Heights as part of Israel’s sovereign territory contravenes decades of U.S. policy, has lead to largely negative international responses, and appears at least partially political in nature.

3/22/19  //  Daily Update

The White House refused to share information with multiple House committees about a meeting between President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. The FBI has been sued by the ACLU and the Center for Media Justice for records pertaining to the surveillance of so-called “Black Identity Extremists.” Federal courts are hampering the efforts of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to reverse Obama-era policies. A group of Democratic states threatened a lawsuit against the CFPB for delaying implementation of the payday loan rule. President Trump issued an executive order requiring colleges and universities to promote “free inquiry” in order to receive federal funds. President Trump said the United States will recognize Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights.

3/21/19  //  Daily Update

Until a recent D.C. Circuit decision becomes final, District Judge Kollar-Kotelly says her injunction barring the Administration from introducing limits on the service of transgender individuals in the military remains in place. Eighteen states have considered legislation this year that would require presidential and vice presidential candidates to post their tax returns in order to appear on a ballot. Senator Marco Rubio plans to introduce a constitutional amendment to limit the number of Supreme Court justices to nine. Analysis continues of the Supreme Court’s decision to allow ICE to detain migrants with criminal records long after their release from custody. Despite a variety of inquiries from the House Oversight and Reform Committee, the White House has refused to hand over any requested documents or produce any witnesses.