LEGAL/TRUMP BUSINESS: “Federal prosecutors in Brazil on Wednesday charged a Brazilian partner in the former Trump Hotel Rio de Janeiro with paying bribes to propel the city’s bid to host the 2016 Olympic Games. The businessman, Arthur César de Menezes Soares Filho, is a fugitive in the United States, according to Brazilian prosecutors. They expressed […]
Category: Legal [Law & Litigation]
10/18/2017
CONFLICT OF INTERESTS/LEGAL/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP BUSINESS: ” ‘Donald J. Trump, Defendant’ has graced reams of court papers through decades of dealmaking and New York real estate litigiousness. ‘Donald J. Trump, in his official capacity as President of the United States of America’ remains a relatively new phenomenon. But inside a federal courtroom on Wednesday in […]
10/18/2017
LEGAL/LGBTQ: “Transgender people would be allowed to use public restrooms in North Carolina that match their gender identity under a settlement agreement filed on Wednesday that aims to resolve the federal lawsuit over the state’s widely criticized bathroom law. The consent decree proposed by Governor Roy Cooper, the American Civil Liberties Union and transgender people […]
10/18/2017
LEGAL/MICHAEL FLYNN/NATIONAL SECURITY/ROBERT MUELLER: “Democrats pressed Wednesday [10-18-17] for Rep. Trey Gowdy — the Republican chairman of the powerful House oversight committee — to subpoena the White House for documents related to former national security adviser Michael Flynn… In the letter, the committee’s 18 Democrats detailed the March 22 request for documents from the White […]
10/18/2017
HEALTHCARE/LEGAL/OBAMACARE(ACA)/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “A federal judge said Wednesday [10-18-17] he plans to rule next week on a request to force the Trump administration to make Obamacare subsidy payments that it plans to cut off beginning with a payment due on Friday. A group of 19 states filed suit last week in federal court in San […]
10/18/2017
IMMIGRATION/LEGAL/TRAVEL BAN/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “A second U.S. federal judge has blocked parts of President Donald Trump’s latest travel ban on people entering the United States from eight countries, dealing another legal blow to the administration’s third bid to impose travel restrictions. U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang in Maryland, in a ruling issued overnight, said the […]
10/17/2017
BUSINESS/IRAQ/LEGAL: “A lawsuit filed in federal court on Tuesday [10-17-17] contends that major American corporations doing business with the Iraqi government during the Iraq War also provided it with free drugs and medical devices that became an important source of funding for a Shiite militia that targeted United States troops. The lawsuit was filed on […]
10/17/2017
DREAMERS/IMMIGRATION/LEGAL/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “A federal judge in California on Tuesday [10-17-17] ordered the Trump administration to turn over emails, letters, memos and other materials related to its decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. The order by U.S. District Judge William Alsup, based in San Francisco, also appears to cover legal advice […]
10/17/2017
IMMIGRATION/LEGAL/TRAVEL BAN/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “A federal judge on Tuesday [10-17-17] blocked the Trump administration from implementing its planned new travel restrictions on people from six Muslim-majority countries, ruling the president’s latest ban on travel is likely unlawful. U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson in Hawaii issued a temporary restraining order that prohibits the administration from enforcing […]
10/17/2017
LEGAL/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “As the Trump administration seeks to obliterate Obama-era policies, progressive lawyers are racing to court asking for an extreme form of relief, urging judges to reach deep into their judicial tool kits and issue national — even global — injunctions. Such injunctions are a relatively new phenomenon, and some legal scholars worry […]
10/17/2017
BETSY DEVOS/DEMS/EDUCATION/LEGAL: “A group of 18 Democratic attorneys general is suing the Trump administration over its oversight of for-profit colleges, saying that the Education Department’s refusal to enforce a regulation punishing predatory career programs ‘leaves students vulnerable to exploitation and fraud.’ Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, who has made a rollback of President Obama’s higher education […]
10/16/2017
ABORTION/HHS/IMMIGRATION/LEGAL: “The Trump administration is preventing an undocumented, pregnant teenager detained in a Brownsville refugee shelter from getting an abortion in a policy shift with big implications for hundreds of other pregnant, unaccompanied minors held in such shelters… For the last seven months, the Health and Human Services Department has intervened to prevent abortions sought […]
10/16/2017
IMMIGRATION/LEGAL/TRAVEL BAN/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “A U.S. judge on Monday [10-16-17] questioned attorneys defending the Trump administration about a classified report the government is using to justify its latest ban on citizens of some countries from entering the United States. U.S. District Court Judge Theodore Chuang in Maryland heard arguments for and against President Donald Trump’s […]
10/15/2017
LEGAL/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/WOMEN: “A former contestant on ‘The Apprentice’ who accuses President Donald Trump of past sexual misconduct has filed a subpoena for ‘all documents concerning any woman who asserted that Donald J. Trump touched her inappropriately,’ it was revealed on Sunday [10-15-17]… More than a dozen women publicly accused Trump of sexual assault or […]
10/15/2017
CAMPAIGN/LEGAL/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign raised more than $10.1 million in the third quarter of 2017 and spent $4 million, including $1.1 million on legal fees. Trump’s campaign paid $237,924 to lawyer Alan Futerfas, who is representing Donald Trump Jr. in matters related to the campaign’s involvement with Russian interference in the […]
10/12/2017
JEFF SESSIONS/LEGAL/LGBTQ: “Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Thursday [10-12-17] that the administration wants to overhaul a variety of laws and regulations to make the process of applying for asylum in the U.S. more difficult, and to crack down on what he described as rampant fraud within that realm of the immigration system. Among the necessary […]
10/11/2017
ETHICS/LEGAL/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP BUSINESS: “A federal judge indicated Wednesday [10-11-17] that she was taken aback by how little information the government turned over in a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit seeking records about President Donald Trump’s visitors at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, but she turned aside a request to rule that the authorities appeared […]
10/11/2017
LEGAL/LGBTQ/SUPREME COURT/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Dozens of businesses asked the Supreme Court on Wednesday [10-11-17] to find that federal law bars discrimination based on sexual orientation, putting companies including Apple Inc., Cigna Corp. , Morgan Stanley and Viacom Inc. at odds with the Trump administration. The businesses asked the court to hear the appeal of a […]
10/10/2017
IMMIGRATION/LEGAL/SUPREME COURT/TRAVEL BAN/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The Supreme Court is one step closer to sidestepping a decision on President Donald Trump’s expiring travel ban, even while lawsuits on a new version of the ban move forward. The high court late Tuesday [10-10-17] dismissed one of two pending cases on Mr. Trump’s executive order from March that […]
10/10/2017
INTELLIGENCE/LEGAL/POLITICS/RUSSIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “A congressional committee has issued subpoenas targeting a research firm that compiled a dossier of unverified and unflattering information about President Donald Trump. The subpoenas were recently issued by the House Intelligence Committee to employees at Fusion GPS, which performs research for political and corporate clients. During the 2016 presidential campaign, Fusion […]
10/10/2017
CARTER PAGE/LEGAL/RUSSIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Carter Page, a former foreign policy adviser to the Trump campaign, informed the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday [10-10-17] that he will not be cooperating with any requests to appear before the panel for its investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election and would plead the Fifth, according to a […]
10/10/2017
INTELLIGENCE/LEGAL/PROTESTS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “A D.C judge has ordered web hosting company DreamHost to turn over information about an anti-Trump website, but moved to conceal the identities of users who feared government retaliation for engaging in innocent political speech… The order Chief Judge Robert Morin issued Tuesday [10-10-17] still compels DreamHost to give government lawyers files, […]
10/9/2017
LEGAL/TRUMP BUSINESS: “A new organization aiming to step up the legal pressure on President Donald Trump’s business empire is launching this week with the backing of several liberal icons, including the lawyer who scored the first big Supreme Court win for same-sex marriage and a TV producer best known for a hotly-disputed story about President […]
10/9/2017
LEGAL/RUSSIA/TRUMP FAMILY/DONALD JR: “Newly disclosed emails shed light on the period leading up to a June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower between a Russian lawyer linked to the Kremlin and top campaign aides to President Donald Trump. The new information appears to bolster lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya’s position that she wanted the meeting to argue her […]
10/9/2017
LEGAL/RUSSIA/TRUMP FAMILY/DONALD JR: “An attorney for the Russian billionaire who allegedly pushed for the June 2016 meeting between senior members of Trump’s team and a Russian lawyer says he has documents showing the meeting wasn’t really about dirt on Hillary Clinton. An email exchange and talking points provided to CNN are the latest indication of […]
10/5/2017
JUSTICE DEPARTMENT/LEGAL/LGBTQ: “Justice Department lawyers shortly before midnight Wednesday [10-4-17] asked a federal judge to dismiss a challenge to President Donald Trump’s proposed transgender military ban, calling the challenge ‘premature several times over’ because the policy has yet to go into effect… Under the directive, the Pentagon and DHS are expected to halt the use […]
10/5/2017
LEGAL/TRUMP FAMILY/DONALD JR/JARED KUSHNER: “Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley signaled Thursday [10-5-17] that Donald Trump Jr. will ultimately have to testify publicly before his panel, something Democrats have been demanding for weeks. Grassley and the committee’s top Democrat, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, are moving closer to reaching an agreement on a range of actions as part […]
10/4/2017
LEGAL/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “A federal judge on Wednesday [10-4-17] upheld President Donald Trump’s pardon earlier this year of 85-year-old former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio, rejecting legal challenges by outside groups. U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton said that she had considered the petitions filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona and other organizations, including […]
10/4/2017
LEGAL/TRUMP FAMILY/DONALD JR/IVANKA: “According to the joint investigative story, Ivanka and Donald Trump Jr. narrowly dodged indictment on felony fraud charges in 2012 for allegedly lying to prospective buyers at the Trump SoHo ‘condo-hotel’—claiming units were selling like hotcakes when in fact the property was struggling to survive. (It went into foreclosure in 2014.) In […]
10/3/2017
JUSTICE DEPARTMENT/LEGAL/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP FAMILY: “The Justice Department has released a trove of decades-old internal legal memos concluding the President should be legally barred from appointing a relative to a position in the White House, shedding new light on just how sharp a departure the department’s more recent interpretation of federal law under the Trump […]
10/3/2017
LEGAL/NIKKI HALEY/UN: “U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley violated the law by retweeting President Donald Trump’s endorsement of a South Carolina congressional candidate, according to the Office of Special Counsel. Haley’s June Twitter post from her personal account marks the second time this year that a top Trump aide has run afoul of […]
10/3/2017
IMMIGRATION/LEGAL/TRAVEL BAN/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Muslim immigrants and an advocacy group filed a fresh lawsuit against President Donald Trump’s latest version of a travel ban that placed indefinite restrictions on the entry of citizens from eight countries to the United States… The complaint says that the majority of the people affected by the ban are Muslim […]
10/2/2017
ETHICS/LEGAL/TRUMP FAMILY/IVANKA/JARED KUSHNER: “White House officials have begun examining emails associated with a third and previously unreported email account on Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump’s private domain, according to three people familiar with the matter. Hundreds of emails have been sent since January from White House addresses to accounts on the Kushner family domain, these […]
10/1/2017
LEGAL/SUPREME COURT: “The Supreme Court begins a new term Monday [10-2-17] with a conservative majority and a docket filled with longtime conservative goals to go with it, with cases that could curtail the power of organized labor, expand religious exceptions to legal obligations and validate tougher scrutiny of voter rolls. As he steered the court […]
9/28/2017
INTELLIGENCE/LEGAL/RUSSIA/TRUMP FAMILY/JARED KUSHNER: “In his closed interview with the staff of the Senate intelligence committee, White House senior adviser and presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner did not share the existence of his personal email account, which he has used for official business, CNN has learned. CNN has also learned that the chair and vice chair of […]
9/27/2017
CYBERWAR/LEGAL/RUSSIA: “Executives from Facebook, Alphabet Inc’s Google and Twitter have been asked to testify to the U.S. Congress in coming weeks as lawmakers probe Russia’s alleged interference in the 2016 U.S. election, committee sources said on Wednesday. A Senate aide said executives from the three firms had been asked by the Senate Intelligence Committee to […]
9/26/2017
LEGAL/ROBERT MUELLER/RUSSIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “Special Counsel Robert Mueller is set to begin his interviews of current and former White House officials this week as part of his probe into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election, a White House official said Tuesday [9-26-17]. Mr. Mueller told the White House earlier this month that he […]
9/25/2017
LEGAL/TRUMP FAMILY/IVANKA: “Ivanka Trump, the first daughter and adviser to the president, used a personal email address to communicate with a government official after her father took office, according to documents that the nonprofit American Oversight obtained through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and shared exclusively with Newsweek. The documents show that on February […]
9/24/2017
LEGAL/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP FAMILY/JARED KUSHNER: “President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner has used a personal email account to correspond with colleagues in the White House, his attorney confirmed Sunday [9-24-17]. Mr. Kushner exchanged fewer than 100 emails from his personal account with White House colleagues, said Abbe Lowell, his lawyer. Mr. Kushner sent […]
9/21/2017
INTELLIGENCE/LEGAL/PAUL MANAFORT/RUSSIA: “U.S. authorities placed Paul Manafort under surveillance after he was ousted as Donald Trump’s campaign manager in the summer of 2016, according to U.S. officials with knowledge of the matter. The surveillance, which was part of a counterintelligence investigation into Russian interference with the presidential election, didn’t involve listening to Mr. Manafort’s phone […]
9/21/2017
LEGAL/ROBERT MUELLER/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Special counsel Robert Mueller has sought phone records concerning the statement written aboard Air Force One defending a meeting between Trump campaign officials and Russians at Trump Tower last year that was set up by Donald Trump Jr., according to two people familiar with the investigation. Mueller has also asked the […]
9/20/2017
BORDER/CALIFORNIA/LEGAL/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/WALL: “California Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra plans to announce a lawsuit Wednesday [9-20-17] on behalf of the state that will challenge President Trump’s proposal to build a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border, a project Becerra has called ‘medieval.’ Becerra is scheduled to travel to Border Field State Park near San Diego to announce […]
9/19/2017
LEGAL/MICHAEL COHEN/RUSSIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Trump’s longtime lawyer, Michael D. Cohen, told Senate investigators on Tuesday [9-19-17] that the president’s critics were using rumors and innuendo about Russian interference in the election in an attempt to undercut Mr. Trump’s presidency. Their rush to presume guilt, Mr. Cohen said, had overtaken the facts, smeared supporters of […]
9/19/2017
IMMIGRATION/LEGAL/POLITICS: “Three congressmen were among a group of protesters arrested outside Trump Tower on Tuesday, where they were participating in a demonstration in support of immigrants and protections recently ended by the Trump administration. Democratic Reps. Luis Gutierrez of Illinois, Raul Grijalva of Arizona and Adriano Espaillat of New York were arrested on civil disobedience […]
9/19/2017
LEGAL/MICHAEL COHEN/RUSSIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Senate investigators called off an expected closed-door interview Tuesday [9-19-17] with Michael Cohen, saying they were upset that the longtime lawyer to President Donald Trump released a statement denying any role in Russian meddling in the 2016 election after the committee asked him not to comment publicly. The Senate Intelligence Committee […]
9/19/2017
DHS/LEGAL/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “A group representing U.S. venture-capital investors is leading a lawsuit against the Trump administration, claiming it took illegal steps to prevent an immigration policy that would have helped foreign-born founders stay in the U.S. to build startups. In a legal complaint filed Tuesday [9-19-17], the National Venture Capital Association, along with other […]
9/18/2017
LEGAL/PAUL MANAFORT/ROBERT MUELLER/RUSSIA: “Paul J. Manafort was in bed early one morning in July when federal agents bearing a search warrant picked the lock on his front door and raided his Virginia home. They took binders stuffed with documents and copied his computer files, looking for evidence that Mr. Manafort, President Trump’s former campaign chairman, […]
9/18/2017
LEGAL/NIKKI HALEY/ROBERT MUELLER/RUSSIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump has added another lawyer to his legal team as FBI special counsel Robert Mueller prepares to interview a slate of senior White House aides. Steven Groves, who until last month served as chief of staff to U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley, will serve as deputy to White House […]
9/18/2017
IMMIGRATION/JUSTICE DEPARTMENT/LEGAL/SANCTUARY CITIES/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The U.S. Justice Department on Monday [9-18-17] said it would appeal a court order blocking President Donald Trump’s executive order that sought to restrict federal funds for so-called sanctuary cities. U.S. District Judge William Orrick III of San Francisco earlier this year ruled that Trump’s sanctuary cities order was likely […]
9/18/2017
LEGAL/MICHAEL FLYNN: “The family of former White House national security adviser Michael Flynn has set up a legal defense fund for him, soliciting donations to ease the ‘tremendous financial burden’ from the ongoing investigations into his actions and the 2016 presidential campaign… The fund will not accept donations from foreign governments, nor will it accept […]
9/17/2017
CAMPAIGN/ETHICS/LEGAL/RUSSIA/TRUMP PEOPLE: “Some White House and Trump campaign officials caught up in investigations of Russia’s electoral meddling are struggling to pay their legal bills, prompting them to create legal defense funds, liquidate personal accounts and explore other sources of financing. Washington is one of the nation’s costliest legal jurisdictions, with many lawyers charging upward of […]
9/15/2017
JEFF SESSIONS/LEGAL/SANCTUARY CITIES: “Attorney General Jeff Sessions cannot follow through, for now, with his threat to withhold public safety grant money to Chicago and other so-called sanctuary cities that have refused to impose tough new immigration policies, a federal judge ruled Friday [9-15-17]. In what is at least a temporary victory for cities nationwide that […]
9/15/2017
LEGAL/PAUL MANAFORT/RUSSIA: “A spokesman for former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, Jason Maloni, spent about two-and-a-half hours testifying Friday [9-15-17] before a federal grand jury probing potential collusion between the campaign and Russia. Maloni arrived at the courthouse just before 9 a.m. and disappeared behind the frosted glass doors of the grand jury suite on […]
9/15/2017
DREAMERS/IMMIGRATION/LEGAL: “Mixed signals from Washington over a possible agreement to preserve protections for young immigrants are increasing anxiety and confusion on college campuses, where the stakes are high. Amid the uncertainty, colleges and universities are stepping up efforts to protect students enrolled in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals programs, telling them to be hopeful […]
9/13/2017
BORDER/DHS/LEGAL: “Eleven people whose phones and laptops were searched at United States airports and at the nation’s northern border are suing the Department of Homeland Security, joining a growing chorus of critics who say the forced inspections are invasive and unlawful. The lawsuit, filed Wednesday [9-13-17] by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic […]
9/13/2017
ETHICS/LEGAL/LOBBYING: “The U.S. Office of Government Ethics has quietly reversed its own internal policy prohibiting anonymous donations from lobbyists to White House staffers who have legal defense funds. The little-noticed change could help President Donald Trump’s aides raise the money they need to pay attorneys as the Russia probe expands — but raises the potential […]
9/13/2017
LEGAL/MICHAEL FLYNN/NUCLEAR ENERGY: “As a top official in President Donald Trump’s transition team, Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn actively promoted a private-sector scheme to build dozens of nuclear reactors across the Middle East known informally in the transition as the ‘Marshall Plan.’ But he did not publicly disclose that backers of the plan had paid him […]
9/12/2017
JAMES COMEY/JUSTICE DEPARTMENT/LEAKS/LEGAL: “Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, said on Tuesday [9-12-17] that the Justice Department should ‘certainly look at’ charging James B. Comey, the F.B.I. director whom President Trump fired, for what she described as leaks of classified information… Ms. Sanders did not answer the question directly, but she said that […]
9/12/2017
LEGAL/ROBERT MULLER/RUSSIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “Lawyers representing Donald Trump’s current and former aides are giving their clients one simple piece of advice: Don’t lie to protect the president. As special counsel Robert Mueller and congressional investigators prepare to question high-ranking aides — including Hope Hicks, Reince Priebus and Sean Spicer — in the coming weeks, […]
9/11/2017
LEGAL/RUSSIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP FAMILY/JARED KUSHNER: “Some of President Donald Trump’s lawyers earlier this summer concluded that Jared Kushner should step down as senior White House adviser because of possible legal complications related to a probe of Russia’s involvement in the 2016 presidential election and aired concerns about him to the president, people familiar with the […]
9/11/2017
DEMS/LEGAL/TRUMP FAMILY/JARED KUSHNER: “Washington lawyer Abbe Lowell has represented high-profile clients on both sides of the political spectrum—a Republican governor, a conservative super-lobbyist and a former Democratic vice-presidential nominee—and even played a key role in defending President Bill Clinton during his impeachment proceedings. Now, he is simultaneously representing major players in separate cases that could […]
9/11/2017
IMMIGRATION/LEGAL/SUPREME COURT/TRAVEL BAN: “The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Monday [9-11-17] to put on hold a federal appeals court ruling from last week that narrowed the scope of the travel ban as it applies to a certain class of refugees. In a brief filed with the Supreme Court, Justice Department lawyers said that […]
9/8/2017
CALIFORNIA/DHS/DREAMERS/IMMIGRATION/LEGAL/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The University of California and its president, a former secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, on Friday [9-8-17] filed suit challenging President Donald Trump’s decision to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, claiming it violates due process provisions of the Constitution. The lawsuit comes two days after 15 states […]
9/8/2017
JUSTICE DEPARTMENT/LEGAL/LGBTQ: “The Trump administration told the Supreme Court Thursday [9-7-17] that the First Amendment entitles a Colorado baker to turn away gay couples seeking wedding cakes, despite state law prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation. While businesses that sell off-the-shelf goods may be bound by antidiscrimination laws, those that make custom products, like the […]
9/7/2017
LEGAL/RUSSIA/TRUMP FAMILY/DONALD JR: “Donald Trump Jr. told Senate investigators on Thursday [9-7-17] that he set up a June 2016 meeting with a Russian lawyer because he was intrigued that she might have damaging information about Hillary Clinton, saying it was important to learn about Mrs. Clinton’s ‘fitness’ to be president. But nothing came of the […]
9/7/2017
LEGAL/RUSSIA/TRUMP FAMILY/DONALD JR: “President Donald Trump’s eldest son told congressional investigators Thursday [9-7-17] he agreed to meet a Russian lawyer last summer who he was told had damaging information about Hillary Clinton because he believed the meeting could shed light on the ‘fitness, character or qualifications of a presidential candidate.’ In a closed-door meeting with […]
9/6/2017
IRAN/LEGAL: “Federal prosecutors in New York announced on Wednesday [9-6-17] the filing of a new indictment that charges a former Turkish economy minister and three other Turks with participating in a broad conspiracy to violate the United States’ sanctions against Iran. The new charges represent a significant expansion of a case that had already drawn […]
9/6/2017
DREAMERS/IMMIGRATION/LEGAL: “More than a dozen states sued the Trump administration on Wednesday [9-6-17], challenging the president’s plan to rescind a program that protects undocumented immigrants who entered the U.S. as children. The lawsuit came a day after Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the end of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, created by former […]
9/6/2017
LEGAL/RUSSIA/TRUMP FAMILY/DONALD JR: “Several congressional committees investigating Russian activity during the 2016 U.S. election are expected to hear this week from witnesses connected to the controversy, which has dominated the early months of Donald Trump’s presidency. Donald Trump Jr., the president’s eldest son, is scheduled to meet privately Thursday [9-7-17] with staff on the Senate […]
9/6/2017
LEGAL/RUSSIA/TRUMP FAMILY/DONALD JR: “Donald Trump Jr. is scheduled to meet in private Thursday [9-7-17] with the Senate Judiciary Committee for a long-awaited interview to discuss a 2016 meeting he arranged with a Kremlin-linked lawyer who promised damaging information about Hillary Clinton during the height of last year’s presidential campaign, according to Trump Jr.s’ attorney. The […]
9/6/2017
EPA/LEGAL: “The Trump administration and major U.S. states appear to be headed for a showdown over landmark rules aimed at doubling the fuel efficiency of vehicles sold in the United States. At an Environmental Protection Agency public hearing on Wednesday [9-6-17] on the fuel rules in Washington, California air resources board official Annette Hebert warned […]
9/4/2017
DREAMERS/IMMIGRATION/LEGAL/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “New York and Washington state on Monday [9-5-17] vowed to sue President Donald Trump if he scraps a program shielding from deportation immigrants who came to the United States illegally as children. The Trump administration is expected to announce on Tuesday that he will end the so-called Dreamers program but give the […]
8/30/2017
LEGAL/PAUL MANAFORT/RUSSIA: “Paul Manafort’s political-consulting firm was active for more than a decade doing work that often dovetailed with Russian political interests not only in Ukraine, but also in Georgia and Montenegro, other countries the Kremlin considered to be in its sphere of influence. A Wall Street Journal examination shows these efforts were broader in […]
8/30/2017
LEGAL/VOTER FRAUD/VOTING: “A lawyer representing President Donald Trump’s election fraud commission apologized to a federal judge Wednesday [8-30-17] over the panel’s failure to abide by a promise to disclose all relevant records ahead of the group’s first meeting last month. Justice Department attorney Elizabeth Shapiro said the highly scrutinized panel and its staff did not […]
8/30/2017
IMMIGRATION/LEGAL/SANCTUARY CITIES/TEXAS: “A federal judge in Texas has temporarily blocked most of a sweeping state immigration law designed to crack down on so-called sanctuary cities, less than two days before the measure was to go into effect. U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia in San Antonio said in a 94-page ruling issued Wednesday [8-30-17] evening that […]
8/29/2017
LEGAL/PAUL MANAFORT/ROBERT MUELLER: “Special Counsel Robert Mueller has subpoenaed the spokesman for former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, demanding records related to his work for Mr. Manafort and seeking his testimony before a federal grand jury, according to a person familiar with the matter. Jason Maloni was served Monday [8-28-17] night with a subpoena seeking […]
8/29/2017
LEGAL/RACISM: “New York City launched an investigation on Tuesday [8-29-17] into allegations of tenant harassment at a Queens property that has Nazi names and Confederate imagery in the building lobby. The probe is aimed at whether the rights of tenants were violated and if tenants were harassed by an alleged hostile environment at the 48-unit […]
8/29/2017
LEGAL/RUSSIA/TRUMP FAMILY/DONALD JR: “The Senate Judiciary Committee has reached an agreement and set a date for Donald Trump Jr. to testify behind closed doors to the panel, the committee confirmed on Tuesday [8-29-17]. The committee would not divulge the exact date, but another source familiar with the matter said the testimony would likely occur in […]
8/28/2017
IMMIGRATION/LEGAL/TRAVEL BAN/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “In the latest arguments over President Trump’s travel ban, a three-judge panel of a federal appeals court in Seattle indicated on Monday [8-29-17] that it would continue allowing grandparents and other relatives of United States residents to travel here from six predominantly Muslim countries. But the judges were less forthcoming about […]
8/28/2017
LEGAL/LGBTQ/MILITARY/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Civil-liberties groups on Monday [8-28-17] filed two lawsuits challenging President Donald Trump’s ban on transgender service members serving in the military, arguing that the prohibitions are unconstitutional. The suits state the ban violates rights to due process of service members and those who want to join the military. One of the two […]
8/28/2017
CRIME/LEGAL/RACISM/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Trump offered a fiery defense on Monday [8-29-17] of his decision to pardon Joe Arpaio, the former Arizona sheriff, as Hurricane Harvey made landfall in Texas last week — and claimed he timed it to attract maximum attention as television viewers were glued to storm coverage. Mr. Trump, who said his […]
8/28/2017
LEGAL/RUSSIA/TRUMP PEOPLE: “Michael Cohen, an attorney for the Trump Organization, discussed a prospective real-estate deal in Moscow with Donald Trump on three occasions during the presidential campaign, Mr. Cohen said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. In 2015, Mr. Cohen said, he informed the then-candidate that he was working on a licensing deal […]
8/25/2017
LEGAL/MICHAEL FLYNN/ROBERT MUELLER/RUSSIA: “Special counsel Robert Mueller is examining what role, if any, former national security adviser Mike Flynn may have played in a private effort to obtain Hillary Clinton’s emails from Russian hackers, according to people familiar with the matter. The effort to seek out hackers who were believed to have stolen Mrs. Clinton’s […]
8/24/2017
BANKING/DOLLAR/FOREIGN POLICY/LEGAL: “United States authorities on Thursday [8-24-17] charged two managers at the French bank Société Générale with taking part in a scheme to manipulate a global benchmark interest rate known as Libor. Danielle Sindzingre, 54, the bank’s former global head of treasury, and her subordinate, Muriel Bescond, 49, the bank’s former head of treasury […]
8/24/2017
LEGAL/PROTESTS: “A judge in DC handed federal prosecutors a win Thursday [8-24-17] in their ongoing fight over data connected to a website used to organize Inauguration Day protests against the Trump administration. Although web-hosting provider Dreamhost is not required to turn over millions of IP addresses for mere visitors who clicked on the disruptj20.org website, […]
8/24/2017
GOP/LEGAL/POLITICS/SUPREME COURT: “A U.S. court on Thursday [8-24-17] rejected a bid by Republican voters to throw out congressional districts drawn by Democratic lawmakers in Maryland. The three-judge panel sitting in Baltimore, divided 2-1, also put any further action in the case on hold pending the U.S. Supreme Court’s upcoming decision in a similar case from […]
8/23/2017
LEGAL/VOTING: “A federal judge on Wednesday [8-23-17] struck down Texas’ 2011 voter-identification law and rejected a less-restrictive version of the measure that state legislators passed this year. The rulings block a state voter ID law from being enforced, and are the latest blow to Texas Republican lawmakers who have tried for years to implement voter […]
8/23/2017
LEGAL/SECRET SERVICE: “The Secret Service has agreed to stop erasing White House visitor log data while a lawsuit demanding public access to some of the information goes forward. Justice Department lawyers said in a court filing Tuesday [8-22-17] night that, pending resolution of the case, the Secret Service will suspend its practice of disposing of […]
8/21/2017
LEGAL/RACISM/SUPREME COURT: “As North Carolina lawmakers rush to adopt new state legislative maps not based on race, they can’t escape the very issue they are trying to remove: race. Both the state Senate and the House of Representatives have proposed new maps to address a lower-court ruling—upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court—that found the existing […]
8/17/2017
LEGAL: “The American Civil Liberties Union, taking a tougher stance on armed protests, will no longer defend hate groups seeking to march with firearms, the group’s executive director said. Following clashes over the weekend in Charlottesville, Va., the civil-rights group also will screen clients more closely for the potential of violence at their rallies, said […]
8/14/2017
CALIFORNIA/JUSTICE DEPARTMENT/LEGAL/SANCTUARY CITIES: “Intensifying California’s standoff with the Trump administration over immigration policy, the California attorney general sued the Justice Department on Monday [8-14-17] over the administration’s plans to cut off millions of dollars in federal funding to so-called sanctuary cities unless they begin cooperating with federal immigration agents. The state’s attorney general, Xavier Becerra, […]
8/14/2017
JUSTICE DEPARTMENT/LEGAL/PROTESTS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “A Los Angeles-based tech company is resisting a federal demand for more than 1.3 million IP addresses to identify visitors to a website set up to coordinate protests on Inauguration Day — a request whose breadth the company says violates the Constitution… The request also covers emails between the site’s organizers […]
8/11/2017
LEGAL/PAUL MANAFORT: “Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort’s son-in-law, Jeffrey Yohai, met with Department of Justice investigators in recent months, according to two sources familiar with the matter. Yohai provided information and documents to federal investigators in New York more than two months ago, according to one of the sources. The sources say the Justice […]
8/10/2017
LEGAL/PAUL MANAFORT/RUSSIA: “Paul Manafort, President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager, has tapped a new legal team to represent him as government lawyers examine possible Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, his spokesman Jason Maloni said. Law firm WilmerHale had been speaking on Manafort’s behalf to investigators, but that relationship has ended, Maloni said. […]
8/9/2017
LEGAL/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP BUSINESS: “A lawsuit contending that President Donald Trump’s business dealings with and in foreign countries violate the Constitution is set to get a public airing in October in a New York federal courtroom. U.S. District Court Judge George Daniels issued an order Wednesday [8-9-17] setting oral arguments for Oct. 18 on a […]
8/9/2017
LEGAL/LGBTQ/MILITARY/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Two advocacy groups sued President Trump in federal court Wednesday [8-9-17] over his declaration on Twitter last month that the Pentagon would a reinstate a ban on transgender people serving in the U.S. military. So far, the armed services have not implemented a ban or moved to discharge anyone, saying that it […]
8/8/2017
ENERGY/LEGAL: “South Carolina’s attorney general is suing the federal government for $100 million, saying it hasn’t removed plutonium from the state as promised, a new tack in a long-running battle over the fate of a Cold War-era nuclear-weapons site. Attorney General Alan Wilson, a Republican, said in a complaint filed Monday [8-7-17] in the U.S. […]
8/7/2017
JUSTICE DEPARTMENT/LEGAL/SANCTUARY CITIES: “Mayor Rahm Emanuel sued the Justice Department on Monday [8-7-17] over President Trump’s threat to cut off federal grants for so-called sanctuary cities like Chicago, calling it an attack against public safety and the city’s conscience. Hours later, Attorney General Jeff Sessions struck back, describing street violence in Chicago as horrific and […]
8/3/2017
LEGAL/ROBERT MUELLER/RUSSIA: “Special Counsel Robert Mueller has impaneled a grand jury in Washington to investigate Russia’s interference in the 2016 elections, a sign that his inquiry is growing in intensity and entering a new phase, according to people familiar with the matter. The grand jury, which began its work in recent weeks, signals that Mr. […]
8/3/2017
LEGAL/TRUMP PEOPLE: “Corey Lewandowski, a close political adviser to President Donald Trump who is facing scrutiny over his business interests, denied after a speech in Cleveland on Thursday [8-3-17] that he is actively working with an Ohio-based payday lending company. But the denial only came when Lewandowski was pressed by reporters — not by audience […]