CRIME/DHS/LEGAL: “It was an audacious scheme: an attempted inside job at the office of a federal watchdog agency, where the cops, the authorities said, became the robbers. Three employees in the inspector general’s office for the Department of Homeland Security stole a computer system that contained sensitive personal information of about 246,000 agency employees, according […]
Category: Legal [Law & Litigation]
11/28/2017
AIR FORCE/CRIME/GUNS/LEGAL: “Dozens of Air Force service members charged with or convicted of serious crimes were never reported to the federal gun background-check database as required, Air Force officials said on Tuesday [11-28-17]. The revelation came after the Air Force disclosed that it had failed to report the domestic violence conviction of Devin P. Kelley, […]
11/28/2017
CONSUMER PROTECTION/LEGAL/NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The Trump administration urged a federal judge to reject an Obama-era official’s attempt to assert command over the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, arguing in a court filing it had properly installed its own official to run the agency. In an overnight filing Monday [11-27-17], the Justice Department said the CFPB’s deputy […]
11/27/2017
ETHICS/LEGAL/POLITICAL FIGURES/WOMEN: “Senator Al Franken, addressing reporters here for the first time since reports emerged that he had groped several women, said on Monday that he was sorry and would be getting back to work to try to regain the trust of women, voters and his colleagues… Four women have accused Mr. Franken, who was […]
11/27/2017
CONSUMER PROTECTION/LEGAL/NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “On Monday [11-27-17], Mick Mulvaney, the acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, brought in doughnuts. Around the same time, Leandra English, the agency’s other acting director, sent an all-staff email thanking employees for their service. Awkward. And so it goes in a capital city defined by its dysfunction, at […]
11/27/2017
CRIME/CYBERWAR/LEGAL: “Three Chinese people have been indicted in the U.S. for allegedly hacking into the email account of a Moody’s Analytics economist and stealing confidential business information from German electrical engineering giant Siemens AG , according to an indictment unsealed Monday [11-27-17]. The hackers targeted an unnamed ‘influential economist’ at Moody’s and forwarded the economist’s […]
11/27/2017
GUNS/LEGAL/SUPREME COURT: “The Supreme Court on Monday [11-27-17] turned down two appeals seeking to expand access to firearms, leaving in place a Maryland law banning semiautomatic rifles and a Florida restriction on carrying guns openly. Gun dealers and firearms enthusiasts had challenged a Maryland law enacted following the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in […]
11/27/2017
CONSUMER PROTECTION/LEGAL/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The fight for control of the U.S. consumer watchdog agency intensified on Monday [11-27-17] as Mick Mulvaney, President Donald Trump’s pick to run the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), imposed a hiring freeze and halted any new regulations. In a partisan showdown over the CFPB, which was created to crack down […]
11/27/2017
ETHICS/LEGAL/TRUMP PEOPLE: “The ranks of former White House ethics lawyers available to comment on the ongoing controversies engulfing President Donald Trump’s administration has just grown by one — an attorney who’s certain to offer a much different perspective than the most prominent figures now ensconced as seemingly permanent fixtures on cable news. After almost a […]
11/26/2017
CONSUMER PROTECTION/LEGAL/NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The battle over who will lead the federal government’s top consumer financial watchdog agency is now headed to court. The extraordinary fight, which intensified on Sunday [11-26-17] night, adds to the uncertainty over the fate of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a regulator created in the aftermath of the global financial […]
11/26/2017
FOREIGN POLICY/LEGAL/STATE/TURKEY: “A trial opening in Manhattan on Monday [11-27-17] that could implicate prominent Turkish officials is exacerbating already inflamed tensions between the U.S. and Turkey, where authorities are calling the case an American plot to topple President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The arrest of Reza Zarrab, a Turkish gold trader, in Miami last year on […]
11/24/2017
LEGAL/MICHAEL FLYNN/ROBERT MUELLER/RUSSIA: “Special counsel Robert Mueller is investigating former White House national security adviser Mike Flynn’s work on an unfinished film financed by Turkish interests as part of its wider probe into whether Mr. Flynn improperly concealed financial ties to Turkey and to Russia, according to people familiar with the matter. The focus on […]
11/22/2017
2016 ELECTION/CAMPAIGN/LEGAL/RUSSIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “Here is a look, by the numbers, at all the known contacts between Trump associates and Russians. From meetings to emails, to text messages and Skype sessions, these lists have been growing throughout the year as more details drip out in the investigations into Russian meddling in the 2016 US […]
11/22/2017
CYBERWAR/LEGAL/NSA: “A federal judge threw out two long-running lawsuits challenging the National Security Agency’s collection of phone records under a surveillance program that Congress curbed in 2015. The 2013 lawsuits, filed by conservative legal activist Larry Klayman, alleged the government violated the Constitution when it gathered millions of Americans’ phone records so it could search […]
11/22/2017
ETHICS/KELLYANNE CONWAY/LEGAL: “A prominent government ethics expert has filed a complaint against White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, alleging that she violated federal law Monday [11-20-17] by appearing to advocate against Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore’s Democratic opponent. Walter Shaub, who resigned in July as the head of the Office of Government Ethics, said on Twitter […]
11/22/2017
FCC/JUSTICE DEPARTMENT/LEGAL/NET NEUTRALITY/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Over just two days this week, the Trump administration has both sued AT&T Inc. to block its planned takeover of Time Warner Inc. and proposed allowing internet-service providers—like AT&T—to form closer alliances with content companies, like Time Warner. The two government moves seem to go in opposite directions, on the […]
11/22/2017
ETHICS/LEGAL/POLITICAL FIGURES/WOMEN: “Rep. John Conyers (D., Mich.) acknowledged he settled a wrongful-dismissal claim in 2015 involving a former female employee, but denied allegations of sexual harassment. Mr. Conyers on Tuesday [11-21-17] said he settled the complaint to avoid litigation. He added he would cooperate with any further investigation in the House. News of the settlement […]
11/22/2017
FOREIGN POLICY/LEGAL/STATE/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/VENEZUELA: “Four of the six Citgo Petroleum Corp. executives arrested here Tuesday [11-21-17] for alleged corruption are U.S. citizens, a company official said Wednesday. Venezuela’s military intelligence agency on Tuesday arrested six top executives of the U.S. subsidiary of state-oil company Petróleos de Venezuela SA, as part of what authorities are calling […]
11/21/2017
LEGAL/LGBTQ/MILITARY/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “A second federal judge blocked the Trump administration’s proposed ban on transgender troops Tuesday [11-21-17], saying President Trump’s announcement of the ban in a series of tweets this summer was ‘capricious, arbitrary, and unqualified.’ In a preliminary injunction, Judge Marvin J. Garbis of the Federal District Court for Maryland halted a policy […]
11/21/2017
GOP/LEGAL/POLITICAL FIGURES/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/WOMEN: “President Trump broke with leading Republicans on Tuesday [11-21-17] and voiced support for Roy S. Moore, the Republican Senate candidate in Alabama who has been accused of sexual misconduct with teenagers and has seen his campaign’s prospects imperiled. In his first extensive remarks on the accusations that date back decades, the […]
11/21/2017
DEMS/LEGAL/POLITICAL FIGURES/WOMEN: “House Democrats found themselves plunged into crisis on Tuesday [11-21-17] after Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) — the ‘dean of the House’ and one of the most prominent African-American lawmakers in Congress — was revealed to have used public funds to settle a sexual harassment claim from a staffer… The Michigan Democrat, first elected […]
11/20/2017
FCC/LEGAL: “The Federal Election Commission has levied a fine on three conservatives groups, a rare move for an agency where partisan gridlock in recent years has meant less enforcement of campaign-finance rules. The commission determined that the American Conservative Union illegally funneled money from a nonprofit that doesn’t disclose its donors to a super PAC […]
11/20/2017
LEGAL/POLITICAL FIGURES/WOMEN: “A second woman has accused Al Franken of sexual misconduct, saying the senator groped her while they were being photographed together at the Minnesota State Fair in 2010, CNN reported Monday [11-20-17].A second woman has accused Al Franken of sexual misconduct, saying the senator groped her while they were being photographed together at […]
11/20/2017
LEGAL/SANCTUARY CITIES/TRUMP EXEC ORDERS: “A federal judge on Monday [11-20-17] permanently blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order to cut funding from cities that limit cooperation with U.S. immigration authorities. U.S. District Court Judge William Orrick rejected the administration’s argument that the executive order applies only to a relatively small pot of money and said Trump […]
11/20/2017
LEGAL/REX TILLERSON/STATE: “A group of about a dozen U.S. State Department officials have taken the unusual step of formally accusing Secretary of State Rex Tillerson of violating a federal law designed to stop foreign militaries from enlisting child soldiers, according to internal government documents reviewed by Reuters. A confidential State Department ‘dissent’ memo not previously […]
11/20/2017
LEGAL/POLITICS: “As the outcry against sexual misconduct ripples from Hollywood to corporations to Washington, D.C., it also is growing in a realm long plagued by such behavior—state capitols. Allegations of sexual harassment or sexual misconduct by state lawmakers have surfaced in at least a dozen states, prompting investigations, changes in reporting and investigation protocols, and […]
11/20/2017
BUSINESS/JUSTICE DEPARTMENT/LEGAL: “The Justice Department sued to block AT&T Inc. from taking over Time Warner Inc. on Monday [11-20-17], a sweeping challenge to a deal it says would give one company too much control in a rapidly evolving media landscape. AT&T Chief Executive Randall Stephenson said the suit ‘defies logic’ and that the company would […]
11/19/2017
LEGAL/POLITICAL FIGURES/WOMEN: “As allegations of sexual misconduct have mounted against Roy Moore and Republican leaders have urged him to end his run for U.S. Senate in Alabama, Mr. Moore is relying on his most loyal constituency to keep his campaign afloat: evangelical Christians. In just over a week since the allegations surfaced, Mr. Moore has spoken […]
11/17/2017
GOP/LEGAL/POLITICAL FIGURES/WOMEN: “Roy S. Moore, the cowboy-hat-wearing Republican running for the Senate in Alabama, had been known for years as an attention-grabbing judge who blocked same-sex marriages and insisted on displaying the Ten Commandments in his courthouse. But as women have accused Mr. Moore of sexual misconduct and assault in recent days, and as politicians […]
11/17/2017
DEMS/LEGAL/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/WOMEN: “President Donald Trump felt compelled to tweet out his thoughts on allegations of sexual misconduct against Sen. Al Franken because they represented a ‘brand new news story,’ counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway said Friday, explaining away the difference between the president’s Franken tweets and his relatively couched comments on allegations against […]
11/17/2017
ETHICS/LEGAL: “Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s call for ethics investigations into two Democratic senators and a Republican candidate is putting a spotlight on a Senate committee that largely operates in secret and doesn’t disclose the results of many of its investigations. On Thursday, a woman accused Sen. Al Franken (D., Minn.) of sexual misconduct in […]
11/17/2017
JUSTICE DEPARTMENT/LEGAL: “At the Department of Justice, there have been 31 sexual harassment complaints through the third quarter of 2017, a number in line with recent years. At the CIA, there were six sexual harassment complaints from 2012 to 2016, according to its federal reports. But there are no comparable records for the White House, […]
11/16/2017
LEGAL/POLITICAL FIGURES/WOMEN: “The Al Frankenstien picture is really bad, speaks a thousand words. Where do his hands go in pictures 2, 3, 4, 5 & 6 while she sleeps?… And to think that just last week he was lecturing anyone who would listen about sexual harassment and respect for women. Lesley Stahl tape?” -Donald Trump, […]
11/16/2017
INTERIOR/LEGAL/RYAN ZINKE: “The U.S. Interior Department has failed to provide documentation needed for an internal probe of Secretary Ryan Zinke’s travels, the department’s inspector general said on Thursday. ‘Our investigation has been delayed by absent, or incomplete documentation for several pertinent trips,’ Mary Kendall, the department’s deputy inspector general, said in a letter sent this […]
11/16/2017
LEGAL/POLITICAL FIGURES/WOMEN: “Sen. Al Franken (D., Minn.) faced allegations of sexual misconduct Thursday [11-16-17], after a woman said he kissed her against her will during a 2006 rehearsal and he posed for a photo in which he appeared to grope her while she was asleep. Mr. Franken said he didn’t recall the rehearsal events occurring […]
11/16/2017
LEGAL/POLITICAL FIGURES: “For the second time this week a federal jury has said it cannot reach a verdict in the corruption trial of U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey… The jury sent out a note at about 11:30 a.m. saying that it has carefully reviewed all the evidence and is still unable to agree. […]
11/16/2017
LEGAL/POLITICS/WOMEN: “Two things have become painfully clear on Capitol Hill this week: Lawmakers and staffers say sexual harassment is ‘rampant’ — but even members of Congress have no idea just how widespread the problem is. The controversial and sensitive issue has taken center stage in Congress this week, with female lawmakers making fresh allegations of […]
11/16/2017
2016 ELECTION/INTELLIGENCE/LEGAL/ROBERT MUELLER/RUSSIA/TRUMP PEOPLE: “Special counsel Robert Mueller’s team is preparing to interview the woman who’s seen it all: Hope Hicks. She’s been part of Donald Trump’s inner circle for years, first at Trump Tower and then as an omnipresent gatekeeper and fixer who could get emails or other communications directly to the boss during […]
11/15/2017
COMMERCE/LEGAL/WILBUR ROSS: “Commerce Secretary Wilbur L. Ross and the firm he founded were sued by three of his former colleagues who say WL Ross pocketed management fees from the general partnerships that handled its private-equity investments. The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in New York State court, claims WL Ross covertly took management fees from general partner […]
11/15/2017
LEGAL/MEDIA/RUSSIA: “Russian lawmakers advanced a bill Wednesday that would allow the government to designate international media outlets as ‘foreign agents,’ a retaliatory move after Kremlin-backed network RT was required to register as a foreign agent in the U.S. this week. Legislators in the Duma, Russia’s lower house of parliament, voted unanimously Wednesday [11-15-17] to amend […]
11/14/2017
GOP/LEGAL/POLITICAL FIGURES/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/WOMEN: “Republicans, seeking to head off the first Senate Democratic victory in Alabama in decades, are grasping for ways to derail their nominee, Roy Moore, whose campaign has been engulfed by allegations of sexual misconduct. President Donald Trump spoke on the phone from Vietnam with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and discussed […]
11/14/2017
2016 ELECTION/CAMPAIGN/JEFF SESSIONS/LEGAL/RUSSIA: “Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Tuesday [11-14-17] that he now recalls a 2016 meeting with a Trump campaign adviser at which the aide spoke about contacts with Russians, after earlier saying he knew of no such contacts. Mr. Sessions’ comments, in an appearance before the House Judiciary Committee, highlighted the challenges facing […]
11/14/2017
JUSTICE DEPARTMENT/LEGAL/NOMINATIONS/TRANSPORTATION/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “A former government official criticized for being the principal author of the legal justifications for ‘enhanced interrogation techniques’ was narrowly confirmed by the Senate on Tuesday as the top lawyer for the U.S. Department of Transportation in the Trump administration. Steven Bradbury, a Washington lawyer at Dechert LLP who was a […]
11/14/2017
2016 ELECTION/INTELLIGENCE/LEGAL/RUSSIA/TRUMP FAMILY/DONALD JR: “Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.) said Tuesday [11-14-17] that he is still deciding whether to hold a public hearing with Donald Trump Jr. as part of the panel’s probe into whether any associates of the president colluded with Russians in the 2016 election… Hearing from President Donald Trump’s eldest […]
11/14/2017
LEGAL/POLITICS/WOMEN: “Two female lawmakers, one Republican and one Democrat, shared stories at a hearing Tuesday [11-14-17] about male members of Congress who engaged in sexual harassment, though they declined to name them.Two female lawmakers, one Republican and one Democrat, shared stories at a hearing Tuesday about male members of Congress who engaged in sexual harassment, […]
11/14/2017
ETHICS/JEFF SESSIONS/LEGAL/POLITICAL FIGURES/WOMEN: “Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Tuesday [11-14-17] that he had ‘no reason to doubt’ the women who have made sexual misconduct allegations against Alabama Republican Senate nominee Roy Moore, joining a wave of high-profile Republicans who have expressed confidence in his accusers. But Sessions did not say whether Moore should be seated […]
11/14/2017
CONFLICT OF INTEREST/JEFF SESSIONS/JUSTICE DEPARTMENT/LEGAL/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “U.S. Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions, during questioning at a congressional hearing Tuesday [11-14-17], sidestepped questions about whether President Trump’s vitriol toward CNN was factoring into the Department of Justice’s review of a mammoth media merger. AT&T is trying to buy Time Warner Inc. — which owns CNN, HBO, […]
11/14/2017
2016 ELECTION/CAMPAIGN/JEFF SESSIONS/LEGAL/RUSSIA: “Attorney General Jeff Sessions faced a fresh round of lawmaker questions on Tuesday [11-14-17] about the Trump campaign’s contacts with Russian officials, as well as about Republican lawmakers’ earlier inquiries about Hillary Clinton. The morning oversight hearing of the Justice Department by the House Judiciary Committee touched on several topics including questions […]
11/13/2017
CALIFORNIA/IMMIGRATION/LEGAL/TRAVEL BAN/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “A U.S. appeals court in California on Monday [11-13-17] let part of President Donald Trump’s latest travel ban go into effect, ruling that the government can bar entry of people from six Muslim-majority countries if they have no connections to the United States… The interim decision means the ban will apply […]
11/13/2017
ABORTION/CALIFORNIA/LEGAL/SUPREME COURT: “The Supreme Court agreed Monday [11-13-17] to hear an antiabortion group’s challenge to a California law that requires ‘crisis pregnancy centers’ to notify patients that the state offers subsidies for contraception and abortion. The challengers say the disclosure law violates the 1st Amendment because it forces the faith-based pregnancy centers to send a […]
11/12/2017
LEGAL/POLITICAL FIGURES/WOMEN: “Beneath the wave of sexual misconduct allegations in recent weeks against male lawmakers and candidates lies a common theme: These offenses had been going on for decades, but were either unacknowledged or dealt with quietly. Now, veils of silence in legislative chambers are lifting as public disavowals and calls for resignations pour in […]
11/10/2017
GOP/LEGAL/POLITICS: “Alabama’s special election for a U.S. Senate seat was rattled Thursday [11-9-17] by allegations that Republican nominee Roy Moore initiated a sexual encounter with a 14-year-old girl several decades ago, when he was 32. The allegations surfaced in a report in the Washington Post just one month before Alabama voters are set to hold […]
11/9/2017
IMMIGRATION/JUSTICE DEPARTMENT/LEGAL/NEW YORK/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “New York and 15 other states can sue President Donald Trump to prevent him from rescinding legal protection for hundreds of thousands of immigrants who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children, a federal judge in Brooklyn ruled Thursday [11-9-17]. The ruling by U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis amounted […]
11/9/2017
LEGAL/VOTER FRAUD: “A member of President Donald Trump’s voting integrity commission is suing the panel and its leadership, alleging the group is not fairly balanced and that it is withholding key information from him. Maine Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap, a Democratic member of the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, filed the lawsuit in […]
11/9/2017
JUSTICE DEPARTMENT/LEGAL/PAUL MANAFORT: “The Justice Department is seeking to reach a plea deal in its criminal investigation of the former son-in-law of Paul Manafort, President Donald Trump’s one-time campaign chairman, according to people familiar with the matter. The investigation into Jeffrey Yohai—who hasn’t been charged with any crime—by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and U.S. […]
11/7/2017
JUSTICE DEPARTMENT/LEGAL: “The Justice Department has dropped its case against a woman who laughed out loud during the confirmation hearing for Attorney General Jeff Sessions, ending months of legal wrangling. The woman, Desiree Fairooz, was protesting with Code Pink, a progressive group whose activists are regularly seen around Washington. She was arrested by a Capitol […]
11/7/2017
LEGAL/PUERTO RICO: “A Tuesday [11-7-17] congressional hearing on the Puerto Rico government’s response to Hurricane Maria won’t feature the electric utility executive who signed a $300 million construction contract that was later canceled under bipartisan criticism. The House Committee on Natural Resources was informed on Monday that Ricardo Ramos, the executive director of Puerto Rico’s […]
11/6/2017
2016 ELECTION/LEGAL/RUSSIA/TRUMP FAMILY/DONALD JR: “The Russian lawyer who met last year with senior members of the Trump campaign said Donald Trump Jr. told her at the meeting that a Trump administration would be willing to review a 2012 sanctions law. Natalia Veselnitskaya, the lawyer who attended the meeting, made her comments from Moscow in an […]
11/6/2017
2016 ELECTION/CAMPAIGN/LEGAL/RUSSIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “A U.S. District judge again declined to ease bail conditions for President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort and his business associate Richard Gates on Monday [11-6-17], saying they still needed to provide more financial information. Judge Amy Berman Jackson said she was concerned about some of the $12 million […]
11/6/2017
LEGAL/POLITICS/WOMEN: “After six women accused Florida Senate budget chairman Jack Latvala of sexual harassment, his allies launched a counteroffensive over the weekend targeting the accusers as well as a congressman who had faulted his fellow Republican for being ‘a hound.’… Latvala is facing pressure publicly from the Florida House and privately from within the Senate […]
11/6/2017
JUSTICE DEPARTMENT/LEGAL/LOBBYING/ROBERT MUELLER/RUSSIA: “Two prominent Washington lobbying firms are in the crosshairs of the Justice Department’s special counsel investigation as new details of their relationship with Paul Manafort and his deputy Rick Gates were revealed in court filings. In the indictment of Manafort and Gates unsealed this week, the lobbying firms were described only as […]
11/6/2017
JUSTICE DEPARTMENT/LEGAL/POLITICAL FIGURES: “As the bribery case against Sen. Bob Menendez concludes, Senate Democrats could face a stark question — how long will they stick by the New Jersey Democrat if he’s convicted? Menendez’s lawyers have a final chance Monday [11-6-17] in their closing arguments to persuade the jury hearing his case in Newark that […]
11/3/2017
JUSTICE DEPARTMENT/LEGAL/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “In an extraordinary Supreme Court filing on Friday, the Justice Department accused the American Civil Liberties Union of misconduct in the case of an undocumented teenager known as Jane Doe. The teenager obtained an abortion last month over the government’s objection after an appeals court allowed it… David Cole, the A.C.L.U.’s […]
11/3/2017
LEGAL/MILITARY: “A military judge has found that U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl should serve no prison time for endangering his comrades by walking off his Afghanistan post. The judge also gave Mr. Bergdahl a dishonorable discharge, reduced his rank to private and said he must forfeit pay equal to $1,000 a month for 10 months. […]
11/2/2017
DEMS/LEGAL/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP BUSINESS: “Democrats from the House Oversight Committee, stonewalled by the Trump administration and fuming at their Republican colleagues, sued the General Services Administration on Thursday [11-2-17] to try to force the release of documents relating to its lease with the Trump International Hotel here. The suit, which has little legal precedent, is […]
11/2/2017
GUANTANAMO/LEGAL/NEW YORK/TERRORISM/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Trump on Thursday [11-2-17] backed off his threat to send the suspect in this week’s New York terrorist attack to the American military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, but once again called for the man to be executed, a public intervention in the case that could come back to haunt […]
11/2/2017
2016 ELECTION/CAMPAIGN/LEGAL/PAUL MANAFORT/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Paul Manafort, President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman, may go to trial as early as April on money-laundering and conspiracy charges stemming from accusations that he and an associate failed to pay taxes on millions of dollars they earned overseas. During a brief hearing Thursday [11-2-17] at U.S. District Court […]
11/2/2017
LEGAL/RUSSIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP FAMILY/DONALD JR: “US prosecutors have objected to an entry request for Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya, who became known for attending the June 2016 meeting with Donald Trump Jr. at Trump Tower. Veselnitskaya, an attorney for Cyprus-based company Prevezon Holdings and its Russian owner, Denis Katsyv, asked for immigration parole, an alternative to […]
11/2/2017
ATTORNEY GENERAL/FOREIGN POLICY/JEFF SESSIONS/LEGAL/RUSSIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Attorney General Jeff Sessions is once again under scrutiny on Capitol Hill regarding his candor about Russia and the Trump campaign amid revelations that he rejected a suggestion to convene a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump last year. According to court filings unsealed this week, […]
11/2/2017
2016 ELECTION/CYBERWAR/JUSTICE DEPARTMENT/LEGAL/RUSSIA: “The Justice Department has identified more than six members of the Russian government involved in hacking the Democratic National Committee’s computers and swiping sensitive information that became public during the 2016 presidential election, according to people familiar with the investigation. Prosecutors and agents have assembled evidence to charge the Russian officials and […]
11/2/2017
2016 ELECTION/LEGAL/RUSSIA: “A longtime associate of former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort has hired a new team of lawyers to defend himself against charges brought in a probe looking at alleged Russian interference in the U.S. election, a spokesman said on Thursday [11-2-17]. Richard Gates and Manafort were charged with money laundering, conspiracy against the […]
11/1/2017
IMMIGRATION/LEGAL/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The American Civil Liberties Union sued the Trump administration on Tuesday [10-31-17] over its detention of a 10-year-old girl with cerebral palsy who was stopped by Border Patrol agents in Texas last week on her way to surgery. The girl, Rosa Maria Hernandez, had been living in Laredo, Tex., with her parents, […]
11/1/2017
CALIFORNIA/DREAMERS/IMMMIGRATION/LEGAL/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “California’s attorney general and those in three other states asked a federal judge on Wednesday to temporarily block the Trump administration’s decision to rescind a program that protects undocumented immigrants who entered the U.S. as children. The request for a preliminary injunction comes in litigation being pursued by the states, along with […]
11/1/2017
CAMPAIGN/LEGAL/PAUL MANAFORT/RUSSIA: “Paul Manafort, former campaign manager for President Donald Trump, had three U.S. passports, millions in assets and ties to Russian oligarchs, according to federal court documents after his indictment on tax fraud and money laundering charges… Manafort, 68, and Gates, who also worked on Trump’s campaign, pleaded not guilty on Monday in a […]
10/31/2017
2016 ELECTION/LEGAL/ROBERT MUELLER: “The target was a New York City titan — plain-spoken but Teflon, irresistible to the tabloids and insistent upon loyalty from his associates. The defendant, Vincent ‘the Chin’ Gigante, had accumulated power as the head of the Genovese crime family, feigning insanity to conceal his guilt. A prosecutor in Brooklyn was at […]
10/31/2017
LEGAL/PAUL MANAFORT/RUSSIA: “The charges against Paul J. Manafort and an associate involve allegations of tax fraud in the United States, but anticorruption groups in Kiev say that Mr. Manafort profited from financial wrongdoing in their country and that it cost the Ukrainian people dearly… The indictment, unsealed in Washington, on Monday [10-30-17] accused Mr. Manafort […]
10/31/2017
2016 ELECTION/CAMPAIGN/LEGAL/RUSSIA/TRUMP FAMILY/DONALD JR: “Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya, who met with Donald Trump Jr. during the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign, wants permission to return to the United States to defend a claim by prosecutors that her client’s company has failed to pay a $6 million settlement in an international money laundering case. Veselnitskaya represented Prevezon […]
10/31/2017
CALIFORNIA/LEGAL/PAUL MANAFORT/POLITICS: “A California neuroscientist vying to unseat Republican Congressman Dana Rohrabacher stepped up his criticism of the conservative on Tuesday [10-31-17], demanding he return a $1,000 contribution from indicted Trump adviser Paul Manafort. The Orange County seat held by Rohrabacher is key to Democrats’ hopes to increase their numbers in the U.S. House of […]
10/31/2017
2016 ELECTION/CAMPAIGN/LEGAL/RUSSIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “The White House on Tuesday [10-31-17] sought to take credit for the arrest of a former Trump campaign aide who had repeated contacts with Russia-linked officials offering ‘dirt’ on Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton — marking the latest damage control move as the Russia probe intensifies. President Donald Trump and other […]
10/31/2017
2016 ELECTION/LEGAL/RUSSIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “A former senior adviser on President Donald Trump’s campaign team, Sam Clovis, sought to distance himself on Tuesday [10-31-17] from George Papadopoulos, an ex-campaign aide who has pleaded guilty in the probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election. Papadopoulos pleaded guilty earlier this month to lying to Federal […]
10/30/2017
2016 ELECTION/CAMPAIGN/FBI/LEGAL/TRUMP PEOPLE: “Rick Gates followed Paul Manafort to Eastern Europe, Africa, the Trump presidential campaign, and now a federal building where he surrendered on Monday to the F.B.I. Mr. Gates, 45, is a former business associate of Mr. Manafort, the ousted chairman of Mr. Trump’s presidential campaign who also turned himself in to the […]
10/30/2017
JUSTICE DEPARTMENT/LEGAL/LOBBYING/ROBERT MUELLER: “Democratic lobbyist Tony Podesta is leaving the Washington firm he founded as the Podesta Group finds itself caught up in an investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller, according to people familiar with the move. Mr. Podesta told employees of his lobbying firm at a companywide meeting on Monday [10-30-17] that he planned […]
10/30/2017
LEGAL/LGBTQ/MILITARY/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “A federal court on Monday [10-30-17] blocked parts of President Trump’s ban on transgender service members, preventing the Pentagon from overturning policies initiated by the Obama administration to allow transgender troops from serving openly. The order in Washington by U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly temporarily prevents to the Pentagon from enacting the […]
10/30/2017
2016 ELECTION/LEGAL/ROBERT MUELLER/RUSSIA: “Special counsel Robert Mueller unveiled the first charges Monday [10-30-17] connected to his probe into Moscow’s influence in the 2016 election, accusing two Trump campaign officials of not paying taxes on millions earned working for Ukrainian politicians and obtaining a guilty plea from a third who admitted lying about his contacts with […]
10/30/2017
CAMPAIGN/LEGAL/PAUL MANAFORT: “….Also, there is NO COLLUSION!” -Donald Trump, Twitter.com, October 30, 2017 09:28am […]
10/30/2017
CAMPAIGN/LEGAL/PAUL MANAFORT: “Sorry, but this is years ago, before Paul Manafort was part of the Trump campaign. But why aren’t Crooked Hillary & the Dems the focus?????” -Donald Trump, Twitter.com, October 30, 2017 09:25am […]
10/29/2017
LEGAL/POLITICS/SANCTUARY CITIES: “The candidates for governor of Virginia this fall are battling over the question of ‘sanctuary cities,’ and Democrats fear it will become a new cudgel to be used against them in next year’s mid-term elections, especially if they lose in Virginia. Republican Ed Gillespie has pressed the matter in TV ads, debates and […]
10/28/2017
2016 ELECTION/CAMPAIGN/LEGAL/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Trump is confident that neither his former campaign chairman nor his former national security adviser has damaging information about him to offer prosecutors, a White House lawyer told The New York Times. ‘The president has no concerns in terms of any impact, as to what happens to them, on his […]
10/27/2017
LABOR/LEGAL/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The Labor Department will appeal a judge’s ruling that struck down an overtime-pay rule authored by the Obama administration, a move designed to preserve the Trump administration’s authority to reshape the rule to its own liking. By filing the appeal, the department is seeking to maintain Secretary Alexander Acosta’s ability to establish […]
10/27/2017
LEGAL/POLITICS/WOMEN: “Two female lawmakers and several congressional staffers are calling for an overhaul of Capitol Hill’s policies on sexual harassment, citing a culture of tolerance in a workplace long known as a boys’ club. The sexual harassment scandals involving major Hollywood and media figures are focusing new attention on Congress’ procedures, which critics say are […]
10/25/2017
CALIFORNIA/HEALTHCARE/LEGAL/OBAMACARE(ACA): “A California federal judge on Wednesday [10-25-17] said he wouldn’t force the Trump administration to continue paying insurers for providing health-coverage discounts to lower-income consumers, a blow to Democrats who fear the Affordable Care Act’s exchanges will crater without the funding. U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria in San Francisco said the case was ‘close […]
10/24/2017
LEGAL/PAUL MANAFORT/ROBERT MUELLER: “The Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office is pursuing an investigation into possible money laundering by Paul Manafort, said three people familiar with the matter, adding to the federal and state probes concerning the former Trump campaign chairman. The investigation by the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York is being conducted […]
10/24/2017
GUNS/LEGAL/NRA: “A New York financial regulator is investigating the National Rifle Association’s participation in insurance policies that cover legal costs for policyholders in self-defense shootings. The investigation by the state’s Department of Financial Services is focused on whether the firearms-advocacy group is improperly promoting the policy and receiving commissions without proper licensing, according to a […]
10/24/2017
ABORTION/IMMIGRATION/LEGAL/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “A divided federal appeals court on Tuesday [10-24-17] ruled the Trump administration must allow an undocumented teenager to leave government custody so she may seek an abortion, a major swing in a case that touches on two highly divisive political issues. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, […]
10/23/2017
INTELLIGENCE/LEGAL/RUSSIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The United States effectively rejected a Russian criminal complaint against a prominent critic of the Kremlin on Monday [10-23-17] and decided to allow him into the country, reversing an initial decision to bar his entry in response to the complaint after congressional leaders protested. The critic, William F. Browder, a prominent investor […]
10/23/2017
ABORTION/HHS/IMMIGRATION/LEGAL/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is asking a federal appeals court to reconsider an order that delayed an abortion for an undocumented teenager. A three-judge appeals court panel on Friday [10-20-17] gave the Trump administration until Oct. 31 to find a sponsor for the girl, who crossed from Mexico to Texas […]
10/20/2017
CAMPAIGN/INTELLIGENCE/LEGAL/RUSSIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The Senate Intelligence Committee has indefinitely postponed a public hearing planned for next week with Michael Cohen, the longtime Trump attorney and 2016 campaign surrogate… Cohen had been slated to appear in a private session last month but the committee called it off abruptly after Cohen arrived, citing his decision to release […]
10/19/2017
ABORTION/HHS/IMMIGRATION/LEGAL/TEXAS: “A lawsuit at the intersection of two emotional issues—illegal immigration and abortion—is speeding through the courts, as judges consider whether an undocumented teen in U.S. custody may terminate her pregnancy over the wishes of the Trump administration. The 17-year-old girl has been held in a government-funded shelter in Texas since September, when she crossed […]
10/19/2017
DEA/DRUGS/LEGAL: “In September 2016, local Rep. Judy Chu met with then-head of the Drug Enforcement Agency Chuck Rosenberg. She was reassured by Rosenberg that recently passed legislation related to the oversight of how opioids are distributed, which she cosponsored, ‘did not interfere with the DEA’s ability to successfully stop bad actors.’ Now, Chu has written […]
10/18/2017
ABORTION/IMMIGRATION/LEGAL/TEXAS: “A federal judge on Wednesday [10-18-17] ordered top United States government officials to allow a pregnant 17-year-old immigrant to get an abortion — the first ruling in a case that could eventually grow to include hundreds of other undocumented minors who seek access to an abortion while in federal custody. In issuing a temporary […]