JUSTICE DEPARTMENT/LEGAL: “The Justice Department on Wednesday [8-2-17] said it was searching for Civil Rights Division lawyers to investigate a single complaint involving Asian-American students in a college admissions affirmative-action case. In a statement, the department sought to play down its recruitment of Civil Rights Division lawyers for what it had billed in an internal […]
Category: Legal [Law & Litigation]
8/1/2017
FAKE NEWS/LEGAL/MEDIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “A new lawsuit filed in New York claims that President Donald Trump got an advance look on a Fox News story purportedly showing the Russians weren’t behind hacked DNC emails published by WikiLeaks. According to the complaint, Trump pushed Fox News to publish the story ‘immediately.’ The problem was that the […]
7/27/2017
LEGAL/LGBTQ/MILITARY/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump’s three-tweet plan to stop transgender individuals from serving in the military has yet to be clarified or implemented, but as it stands could run headlong into established case law. The same is true for the position the Trump administration took late on Wednesday [7-26-17], declaring that federal anti-discrimination law […]
7/26/2017
JUSTICE DEPARTMENT/LGBTQ/LEGAL: “The US Justice Department on Wednesday [7-26-17] argued in a major federal lawsuit that a 1964 civil rights law doesn’t protect gay workers from discrimination, thereby diverging from a separate, autonomous federal agency that had supported the gay plaintiff’s case. The Trump administration’s filing is unusual in part because the Justice Department isn’t […]
7/26/2017
INTELLIGENCE/LEGAL/PAUL MANAFORT/RUSSIA: “The Senate judiciary committee will drop its subpoena of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, a source familiar with the matter told CNN on Tuesday, hours after the committee announced its subpoenas. The two sides have agreed to continue talking, and he will no longer be compelled to appear at a hearing the […]
7/25/2017
INTELLIGENCE/LEGAL/PAUL MANAFORT/RUSSIA: “President Trump’s former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, met with Senate Intelligence Committee investigators on Tuesday [7-25-17] to discuss the June 2016 meeting between a Russian lawyer and Mr. Trump’s inner circle that was set up to receive damaging information about Hillary Clinton, according to a spokesman for Mr. Manafort. ‘Paul Manafort met this […]
7/25/2017
GOP/INTELLIGENCE/LEGAL/PAUL MANAFORT/RUSSIA: “The Republican-led Senate Judiciary Committee has issued a subpoena for Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman, ordering him to appear before the panel on Wednesday [7-26-17]. In a joint statement, Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R, Iowa) and top Democrat Dianne Feinstein (D, Calif.) announced that negotiations over Paul Manafort’s voluntary cooperation with the […]
7/24/2017
CRIME/LEGAL/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “In 1974, some of President Richard Nixon’s lawyers advised the president that he could pardon himself. In 1992, the Iran-Contra special prosecutor reached the opposite conclusion regarding President George H.W. Bush. Neither president took that step, and constitutional scholars say the question of the presidential self-pardon remains unresolved. But the U.S. Constitution, […]
7/23/2017
LEGAL/RUSSIA/TRUMP FAMILY/JARED KUSHNER: “Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and a senior White House adviser, said on Monday [7-24-17] he ‘did not collude’ with Russia, as he prepared to appear before a Senate panel probing alleged Russian meddling in last year’s U.S. presidential election. Kushner said in a statement before the closed-door hearing that he […]
7/23/2017
LEGAL/RUSSIA/TRUMP FAMILY/DONALD JR: “The president’s oldest son, Donald Trump Jr., has added a lawyer with congressional experience to his legal team, the lawyer told Reuters on Sunday [7-23-17]. Trump Jr. has hired Karina Lynch of the law firm Williams and Jensen, Lynch confirmed in an email to Reuters. She did not respond to queries about […]
7/21/2017
LEGAL/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump’s strategy for fending off civil cases while in office is taking shape in a New York lawsuit accusing Mr. Trump of defamation and another in Kentucky that alleges he incited supporters to violence during a campaign rally. Mr. Trump’s lawyers, who say the allegations are meritless and are seeking […]
7/17/2017
ETHICS/LEGAL/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP BUSINESS: “Government watchdog group Citizens for Responsible Ethics in Washington said Monday [7-17-17] that President Donald Trump’s administration will have to release visitor records for his private Mar-a-Lago club in response to a lawsuit it filed — though it’s far from clear it will get what it’s looking for. CREW, which filed […]
7/15/2017
CAMPAIGN/LEGAL/RUSSIA/TRUMP FAMILY/DONALD JR: “Donald Trump’s campaign paid $50,000 to the law office now representing Donald Trump Jr. a little more than a week before news surfaced of an unreported meeting with a Russian attorney that has prompted new accusations of collusion. The payment to the Law Offices of Alan S. Futerfas, dated June 27, was […]
7/14/2017
LEGAL/RUSSIA/TRUMP FAMILY/JARED KUSHNER: “One of the high-powered lawyers representing senior White House adviser Jared Kushner in the ongoing Russia investigation, Jamie Gorelick, is stepping back from the case, and Abbe Lowell, another attorney representing Kushner, will now be in charge of the inquiry. Gorelick ‘will continue to work on the matters for which we were […]
7/14/2017
LOBBYING/RUSSIA/TRUMP FAMILY/DONALD JR: “A lobbyist who was once a Soviet counter-intelligence officer participated last year in a meeting with senior aides to U.S. President Donald Trump, including his son, and a Russian lawyer, NBC News reported on Friday [7-14-17], adding to allegations of possible connections between Moscow and the November election. NBC News, which did […]
7/13/2017
ATTORNEY GENERAL/JEFF SESSIONS/JUSTICE DEPT/LEGAL: “The Justice Department on Thursday [7-13-17] announced charges against 412 people for $1.3 billion in health-care fraud, the largest such takedown in U.S. history. Many of the charges were related to doctors unnecessarily prescribing opioids, which then ended up on sale on the street, the department said. One fake rehab facility […]
7/12/2017
LEGAL/RUSSIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP FAMILY/DONALD JR: “After initially holding back, President Trump jumped to the defense of his son on Wednesday morning, denouncing reports about Donald Trump Jr.’s meeting with a Russian lawyer to gain incriminating information about Hillary Clinton as part of ‘the greatest witch hunt in political history.’ The president fired off posts on […]
7/12/2017
LEGAL/RUSSIA/TRUMP FAMILY/DONALD JR/JARED KUSHNER: “While President Donald Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., finds himself at the center of a political firestorm stemming from his controversial meeting with a Russian lawyer last summer, questions are also beginning to swirl around the involvement of another Trump family member who was present for the rendezvous: Jared Kushner. […]
7/12/2017
2016 ELECTION/LEGAL/RUSSIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “An attorney representing President Donald Trump insisted Wednesday [7-12-17] that the President was unaware of his oldest son’s attempts to obtain information purportedly from Russia during the 2016 election. ‘Let’s focus on what the President was aware of: nothing,’ Jay Sekulow said on CNN’s ‘New Day.’ Sekulow said he wanted to […]
7/12/2017
2016 ELECTION/HILLARY CLINTON/LEGAL/RUSSIA/TRUMP FAMILY/DONALD JR: “The White House has been thrust into chaos after days of ever-worsening revelations about a meeting between Donald Trump Jr. and a lawyer characterized as representing the Russian government, as the president fumes against his enemies and senior aides circle one another with suspicion, according to top White House officials […]
7/12/2017
ATTORNEY GENERAL/DRUGS/HEALTHCARE/LEGAL/OBAMACARE(ACA)/TRUMP PEOPLE/JEFF SESSIONS: “Attorney General Jeff Sessions is poised to announce a major law enforcement action this week targeting health-care fraud, focusing on opioid treatment programs exploiting Obamacare insurance plans, according to two people familiar with the matter. In what is described as a nationwide sweep with hundreds of arrests being carried out across […]
7/11/2017
LEGAL/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “A group of Twitter users blocked by President Trump sued him and two top White House aides on Tuesday [7-11-17], arguing that his account amounts to a public forum that he, as a government official, cannot bar people from. The blocked Twitter users, represented by the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia […]
7/11/2017
LEGAL/RUSSIA/TRUMP FAMILY/DONALD JR: “Donald Trump Jr.’s meeting with a woman he was told was a Russian government lawyer who had incriminating information about Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton that could help his father’s presidential campaign could lead investigators to probe whether he violated U.S. election law, experts said. Trump Jr. met the woman, lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya, […]
7/10/2017
2016 ELECTION/ETHICS/LEGAL/RUSSIA/TRUMP FAMILY/DONALD JR: “U.S. President Donald Trump’s eldest son on Monday [7-10-17] offered to talk to a Senate committee investigating alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, after he acknowledged meeting a Russian lawyer during the campaign. ‘Happy to work with the committee to pass on what I know,’ Donald Trump Jr. wrote […]
7/10/2017
LEGAL/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/VOTER FRAUD: “The American Civil Liberties Union on Monday [7-10-17] said it had filed a lawsuit against U.S. President Donald Trump’s election commission, saying it had failed to follow federal law governing public access and transparency for such advisory groups. The ACLU said in a statement that the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election […]
7/10/2017
2016 ELECTION/ETHICS/LEGAL/RUSSIA/TRUMP FAMILY/DONALD JR: “Donald Trump Jr. is in a legal danger zone following his acknowledgment that he met during the heat of the 2016 presidential campaign with a Russian lawyer with Kremlin ties who offered to deliver damaging information about Hillary Clinton. Democratic and Republican lawyers and political operatives alike say explanations about the […]
7/6/2017
JUSTICE DEPARTMENT/LEGAL/VOTER FRAUD: “The Justice Department is fighting a lawsuit filed by a privacy group to stop President Donald Trump’s Advisory Commission on Election Integrity from collecting voter information across the country, hoping to persuade a federal judge Thursday [7-6-17] that the Trump administration is taking adequate steps to protect the data. Last week, the […]
7/6/2017
EDUCATION/LEGAL/TRUMP PEOPLE/BETSY DEVOS: “A group of 19 state attorneys general are suing Education Secretary Betsy DeVos for delaying an overhaul of rules to erase the federal student debt of borrowers defrauded by colleges… The complaint, filed in U.S. District Court on Thursday [7-6-17], accuses the Education Department, which did not immediately respond to requests for […]
7/5/2017
IMMIGRATION/LEGAL: “Undocumented immigrant children detained by federal authorities are entitled to hearings to determine whether they should remain confined, a federal appeals court ruled on Wednesday [7-5-17]. A three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in San Francisco, ruled that immigration authorities must abide by a 1997 legal settlement […]
7/3/2017
EPA/LEGAL: “Dealing a legal blow to the Trump administration, a federal appeals court ruled on Monday [7-2-17] that the Environmental Protection Agency cannot suspend an Obama-era rule to restrict methane emissions from new oil and gas wells. The 2-to-1 decision from the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is a […]
6/27/2017
LEGAL/TRUMP PEOPLE/PAUL MANAFORT/UKRAINE: “Paul Manafort, who was forced out as President Trump’s campaign chairman last summer after five months of infighting and criticism about his business dealings with pro-Russian interests, disclosed Tuesday [6-27-17] that his consulting firm had received more than $17 million over two years from a Ukrainian political party with links to the […]
6/26/2017
CABINET/CLIMATE CHANGE/EPA/LEGAL: “The Environmental Protection Agency’s chief of staff pressured the top scientist on the agency’s scientific review board to alter her congressional testimony and play down the dismissal of expert advisers, his emails show. Deborah Swackhamer, an environmental chemist who leads the E.P.A.’s Board of Scientific Counselors, was to testify on May 23 before […]
6/25/2017
LEGAL/ROBERT MUELLER/RUSSIA/TRUMP FAMILY/JARED KUSHNER: “One month before Election Day, Jared Kushner’s real estate company finalized a $285 million loan as part of a refinancing package for its property near Times Square in Manhattan. The loan came at a critical moment. Kushner was playing a key role in the presidential campaign of his father-in-law, Donald Trump. […]
6/25/2017
LEGAL/TRUMP FAMILY/IVANKA: “Ivanka Trump must give a deposition in a lawsuit by an Italian shoemaker claiming her fashion label copied its designs, a federal judge has ruled. Aquazurra Italia filed the suit against Ivanka Trump and her company in June 2016. It claims the brand has produced cheaper knockoffs of Aquazurra’s ‘coveted’ and highly publicized […]
6/21/2017
LEGAL/MIKE PENCE/RUSSIA: “Vice President Mike Pence has chosen not to use an allied political committee to pay for the private attorney he retained last week to represent him in the special counsel probe of Trump associates’ ties to Russia, two people close to Mr. Pence said Wednesday [6-21-17]. Last week, a person familiar with the […]
6/21/2017
IMMIGRATION/LEGAL/SUPREME COURT/TRAVEL BAN: “The Trump administration on Wednesday [6-21-7] made its final plea to the U.S. Supreme Court to allow its proposed ban on travelers from six Muslim-majority countries to go into effect as the justices weigh how to handle the hotly contested dispute. The court papers filed by President Donald Trump’s administration complete the […]
6/19/2017
IMMIGRATION/LEGAL/SUPREME COURT/TRAVEL BAN: “While the most controversial provisions of the President’s revised ban blocking travel to the US remain tied up in the courts, a federal appeals court formally cleared the way late Monday [6-19-17] for different portions of the executive order to move forward. The Trump administration can now conduct internal reviews of other […]
6/19/2017
FBI/JAMES COMEY/LEGAL/RUSSIA: “A lawyer for President Donald Trump clashed with CNN anchor Chris Cuomo Monday [6-19-17] morning over whether his client is the target of an FBI investigation into possible collusion with the Russians. ‘As I said all weekend, there has been no notification to any of us that the President is under any investigation […]
6/16/2017
LEGAL/ROBERT MUELLER/RUSSIA/TRUMP PEOPLE: “Members of President Trump’s transition team were ordered on Thursday [6-15-17] to preserve documents and other materials related to the investigation of Russian interference in the presidential election, according to a memo obtained by The New York Times. The memo, from the transition team’s general counsel’s office, is the latest indication that […]
6/15/2017
FBI/JAMES COMEY/LEGAL/MEDIA: “In federal court Thursday [6-15-17], CNN filed a lawsuit seeking to force the FBI to turn over former director James Comey’s memos documenting his conversations with President Donald Trump. Comey described the meetings and his note-taking in detail last week while testifying before the Senate intelligence committee. Despite high public interest in the […]
6/12/2017
CONFLICT OF INTEREST/ETHICS/LEGAL/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “In a new legal challenge to President Trump, Maryland and the District of Columbia filed a lawsuit Monday [6-12-17] alleging that his failure to shed his private businesses has undermined public trust and violated constitutional bans against self-dealing. The lawsuit, filed in a Maryland federal court, makes many of the […]
6/12/2017
ATTORNEY GENERAL/LEGAL/RUSSIA/TRUMP PEOPLE/JEFF SESSIONS: “Attorney General Jeff Sessions will testify at a public hearing of the Senate intelligence committee Tuesday [6-13-17] afternoon, the committee said in a statement. This will be the first time Sessions has testified in Congress since he recused himself from the Justice Department’s probe into Russian meddling in last year’s election […]
6/12/2017
GOP/LEGAL/POLITICS; “Montana’s next congressman, Greg Gianforte, avoided jail time Monday [6-12-17] after pleading guilty to assaulting a reporter the day before he was elected. Gallatin County Justice of the Peace Rick West sentenced the Republican technology entrepreneur to 40 hours of community service, 20 hours of anger management counseling and ordered him to pay a […]
6/11/2017
LEGAL/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “Marc E. Kasowitz, a New York civil litigator who represented President Trump for 15 years in business and boasts of being called the toughest lawyer on Wall Street, has suddenly become the field marshal for a White House under siege. He is a personal lawyer for the president, not a government […]
6/9/2017
JAMES COMEY/LEGAL/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “After remaining mute on Thursday [6-8-17] during harsh testimony from the former F.B.I. director James B. Comey accusing him of lying, President Trump tweeted early Friday that Mr. Comey had given him ‘vindication’ in the Russia investigation. ‘Despite so many false statements and lies, total and complete vindication,’ he wrote at […]
6/9/2017
EPA/LEGAL: “More than a dozen attorneys general wrote to the head of the Environmental Protection Agency vowing a legal fight to block regulators from easing vehicle-emissions standards, the latest broadside in a battle over the Trump administration’s move to reopen a review of the regulations. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and 12 other attorneys […]
6/8/2017
FBI/JAMES COMEY/LEGAL/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Accusations of lying whizzed across Washington Thursday [6-8-17] as fired FBI Director James Comey concluded his bombshell session on Capitol Hill. Comey himself suggested during his three-hour sworn testimony that President Donald Trump had a shaky commitment to telling the truth. The White House decried the accusation. Meanwhile, Trump’s outside lawyer […]
6/8/2017
LEAKS/LEGAL/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “While President Trump stayed unusually silent on James Comey, his lawyer stressed Thursday [6-8-17] that Comey’s testimony proved that Trump did not collude with Russia during last year’s election nor try to obstruct justice in the FBI investigation — and went on to accuse the former FBI director of directing unauthorized news […]
6/8/2017
FBI/INTELLIGENCE/JAMES COMEY/LEGAL: “Former FBI chief James Comey said Thursday [6-8-17]the Trump administration ‘chose to defame me,’ told ‘lies, plain and simple’ and that he was ‘confused’ by President Donald Trump saying he was fired due to the Russia probe. ‘The administration chose to defame me and, more importantly, the FBI by saying the organization was […]
6/7/2017
FBI/JAMES COMEY/LEGAL: “Former FBI Director James Comey, in a written statement posted on the web on Wednesday [6-7-17], said President Donald Trump asked him to back off from a probe into former national security adviser Michael Flynn and told Comey, ‘I need loyalty. I expect loyalty.’ Comey, who will testify in person to the Senate […]
6/7/2017
INTELLIGENCE/LEGAL/RUSSIA: “The top US intelligence official told associates in March that President Donald Trump asked him if he could assist in getting former FBI Director James Comey to stop investigating former national security adviser Michael Flynn as part of its Russia probe, The Washington Post reported. Following a briefing at the White House attended by […]
6/6/2017
CABINET/DHS/INTELLIGENCE/LEGAL/TRUMP PEOPLE/JOHN KELLY: “At least one top Trump Cabinet official is bucking administration policy when it comes to oversight requests from Congress. Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly told senators on Tuesday during congressional testimony that his department will respond to any inquiry from members of Congress, no matter who sends the request. A May 1 […]
6/5/2017
DOJ/IMMIGRATION/LEGAL/TRAVEL BAN: “The Justice Dept. should ask for an expedited hearing of the watered down Travel Ban before the Supreme Court – & seek much tougher version!” -Donald Trump, Twitter.com, June 5, 2017 05:37am […]
6/5/2017
DOJ/IMMIGRATION/LEGAL/TRAVEL BAN: “The Justice Dept. should have stayed with the original Travel Ban, not the watered down, politically correct version they submitted to S.C.” -Donald Trump, Twitter.com, June 5, 2017 05:29am […]
6/5/2017
IMMIGRATION/LEGAL/TRAVEL BAN: “People, the lawyers and the courts can call it whatever they want, but I am calling it what we need and what it is, a TRAVEL BAN!” -Donald Trump, Twitter.com, June 5, 2017 05:25am […]
6/1/2017
ATTORNEY GENERAL/LEGAL/TRUMP PEOPLE/JEFF SESSIONS: “Congressional investigators are examining whether Attorney General Jeff Sessions had an additional private meeting with Russia’s ambassador during the presidential campaign, according to Republican and Democratic Hill sources and intelligence officials briefed on the investigation. Investigators on the Hill are requesting additional information, including schedules from Sessions, a source with knowledge […]
5/31/2017
LEGAL/RUSSIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The White House on Wednesday [5-31-17] took its first public steps to cordon off response efforts to the Russia probe from the day-to-day work of the administration, acknowledging openly that President Donald Trump had hired an outside attorney to handle the swirling controversy. Asked at an off-camera briefing for reaction to upcoming […]
5/31/2017
FBI/JAMES COMEY/LEGAL/RUSSIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Fired FBI director James Comey plans to testify publicly in the Senate as early as next week to confirm bombshell accusations that President Donald Trump pressured him to end his investigation into a top Trump aide’s ties to Russia, a source close to the issue said Wednesday. Final details are still […]
5/31/2107
INTELLIGENCE/LEGAL/RUSSIA: “The House Intelligence Committee issued seven subpoenas Wednesday [5-31-17] as part of its investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, including subpoenas to former national security adviser Michael Flynn and President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen. ‘As part of our ongoing investigation into Russian active measures during the 2016 campaign, today we […]
5/31/2017
LEGAL/RUSSIA/TRUMP PEOPLE/CARTER PAGE: “So now it is reported that the Democrats, who have excoriated Carter Page about Russia, don’t want him to testify. He blows away their… case against him & now wants to clear his name by showing ‘the false or misleading testimony by James Comey, John Brennan…’ Witch Hunt!” -Donald Trump, Twitter.com, May […]
5/31/2017
LEGAL/RUSSIA/TRUMP PEOPLE/CARTER PAGE: “U.S. President Donald Trump sought to insert himself into congressional investigations on Russia on Wednesday [5-31-17], urging lawmakers to hear from one of his former advisers, Carter Page, to counter testimony by directors of the FBI and CIA. Trump has been dismissive of probes by the FBI and several congressional panels into […]
5/30/2017
LEGAL/RUSSIA/TRUMP PEOPLE/MICHAEL FLYNN: “Last fall, as retired Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn traveled the country stumping for Donald Trump, his business partner holed up in a small Washington hotel room with the former head of Turkish military intelligence to work on a special project. ‘General, hi. I’m Bijan Kian, welcome to Washington, D.C.,’ Mr. Kian, the […]
5/30/2017
LEGAL/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump’s personal attorney, Michael Cohen, has received and rejected a request for documents as part of Congress’s ongoing investigation into Russia’s election meddling and contacts with the Trump campaign. Cohen, a longtime attorney for the Trump Organization, remains a personal lawyer for Trump. He served as a cable television surrogate […]
5/30/2017
LEGAL/TRUMP PEOPLE/MICHAEL COHEN: “One of President Donald Trump’s personal attorneys, Michael Cohen, has received an ‘invitation to provide information and testimony’ that pertains to the Russia investigation to House and Senate intelligence committees, Cohen has confirmed. ‘I declined the invitation to participate, as the request was poorly phrased, overly broad and not capable of being […]
5/29/2017
LEGAL/RUSSIA/TRUMP FAMILY/JARED KUSHNER: “Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and senior adviser, was looking for a direct line to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia — a search that in mid-December found him in a room with a Russian banker whose financial institution was deeply intertwined with Russian intelligence, and remains under sanction by the United […]
5/27/2017
LEGAL/RUSSIA/TRUMP FAMILY/JARED KUSHNER: “Once the untouchable son-in-law in a White House where top aides jockey for the president’s ear, Jared Kushner has now been cast in a new role: reassuring people that he’s not going to resign, while colleagues question whether he can survive politically. Any victory lap Kushner hoped to enjoy after pulling off […]
5/26/2017
INTELLIGENCE/LEGAL/POLITICS/RUSSIA: “Rep. Devin Nunes, who stepped aside from leading the House intelligence committee’s Russia probe under a cloud of controversy, still is in charge of a key decision: Whether to issue subpoenas to obtain records and testimony central to the investigation. In a private meeting this week, House intelligence committee members discussed their plans to […]
5/25/2017
LEGAL/POLITICS/TRUMP PEOPLE/GREG GIANFORTE: “Greg Gianforte, the Republican candidate in Montana’s special congressional election, has been charged with misdemeanor assault after he allegedly body slammed a reporter and broke his glasses on Wednesday [5-23-17] night. The altercation took place at Gianforte’s campaign headquarters in Bozeman, Montana, the night before the state’s special election. It sent political […]
5/23/2017
INTELLIGENCE/LEGAL/RUSSIA: “The leaders of the Senate Russia investigation said Tuesday [5-23-17] they will continue to pursue critical documents from former national security adviser Michael Flynn, issuing two additional subpoenas to a pair of businesses Flynn ran. Senate Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr and Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the panel, told reporters they did […]
5/23/2017
LEGAL/RUSSIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Trump has retained the services of a trusted lawyer, Marc E. Kasowitz, to help him navigate the investigations into his campaign and suspected Russian interference in last year’s election, according to people familiar with the decision. Kasowitz, who has known Trump for decades, has represented Trump in numerous cases, including on […]
5/23/2017
ETHICS/LEGAL/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The chief ethics lawyer for President George W. Bush was baffled at the latest kerfuffle between the White House and the Office of Government Ethics. On Monday [5-22-17], The New York Times reported that President Donald Trump’s White House refused to disclose to the OGE any ethics waivers granted to former lobbyists […]
5/23/2017
INTELLIGENCE/LEGAL/RUSSIA/TREASURY: “Sen. Mark Warner, the vice chairman of the Senate intelligence committee, said Tuesday [5-23-17] that the Treasury Department has not fully complied with his committee’s requests for documents relevant to its probe into Russian meddling in the US election. He and committee Chairman Richard Burr, R-North Carolina, sent a request for documents last month […]
5/22/2017
LEGAL/RUSSIA/TRUMP PEOPLE/MICHAEL FLYNN: “Michael T. Flynn, President Trump’s former national security adviser, has rejected a subpoena from senators investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election and instead invoked his right against self-incrimination, a person familiar with his decision said Monday [5-22-17]. Mr. Flynn had been ordered by the Senate Intelligence Committee to hand over emails […]
5/22/2017
LEGAL/TRUMP PEOPLE/MICHAEL FLYNN: “President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn won’t provide records to the Senate intelligence committee and will invoke his Fifth Amendment rights in response to a subpoena from the committee, according to a source close to Flynn. Flynn’s refusal to cooperate comes as he faces scrutiny in several inquiries, including […]
5/19/2017
LEGAL/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “White House lawyers have begun researching impeachment procedures in an effort to prepare for what officials still believe is a distant possibility that President Donald Trump could have to fend off attempts to remove him from office, two people briefed on the discussions tell CNN. White House officials believe the President has […]
5/19/2017
LEGAL/RUSSIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “The law enforcement investigation into possible coordination between Russia and the Trump campaign has identified a current White House official as a significant person of interest, showing that the probe is reaching into the highest levels of government, according to people familiar with the matter. The senior White House adviser under […]
5/18/2017
LEGAL/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Several White House advisers and personal associates of President Trump have urged him to hire an experienced outside lawyer to help him deal with issues arising from a surging controversy over whether his campaign had ties to Russia, according to several people briefed on the conversations. The recommendations came even before a […]
5/18/2017
FBI/JAMES COMEY/LEGAL/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Trump called the F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, weeks after he took office and asked him when federal authorities were going to put out word that Mr. Trump was not personally under investigation, according to two people briefed on the call. Mr. Comey told the president that if he wanted […]
5/18/2017
LEGAL/TRUMP PEOPLE/MICHAEL FLYNN: “Retired Gen. Michael Flynn will not cooperate with the Senate intelligence committee’s subpoena request for documents regarding the former national security adviser’s interactions with Russian officials. ‘Gen. Flynn’s lawyers said he would not honor the subpoena, and that’s not a surprise to the committee, but we’ll figure out on Gen. Flynn what […]
5/18/2017
LEGAL/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “With all of the illegal acts that took place in the Clinton campaign & Obama Administration, there was never a special counsel appointed!” -Donald Trump, Twitter.com, May 18, 2017 09:07am […]
5/18/2017
DONALD ON DONALD/LEGAL: “This is the single greatest witch hunt of a politician in American history!” -Donald Trump, Twitter.com, May 18, 2017 06:52am […]
5/18/2017
LEGAL/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “With all of the illegal acts that took place in the Clinton campaign & Obama Administration, there was never a special councel appointed!” -Donald Trump, Twitter.com, May 18, 2017 06:39am […]
5/17/2017
LEGAL/POLITICS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The elephant in the room whenever talking about Donald Trump and the Russia investigation is the big ‘I’ word — impeachment. The word had been in the not-so-far reaches of liberal conspiracy talk since Trump was elected. There’s a web site with more than 976,000 signed onto a petition encouraging Congress to […]
5/15/2017
LEGAL/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Defense attorney and constitutional law scholar Alan Dershowitz said Monday [5-15-17] that President Donald Trump is now facing ‘the most serious charge ever made against a sitting president’ after reports that he shared highly classified information with Russia’s foreign minister and ambassador during a White House visit last week. Trump described details […]
5/15/2017
INTELLIGENCE/LEAKS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Trump boasted about highly classified intelligence in a meeting with the Russian foreign minister and ambassador last week, providing details that could expose the source of the information and the manner in which it was collected, a current and a former American government official said Monday [5-15-17]. The intelligence disclosed by […]
5/15/2017
IMMIGRATION/LEGAL/TRAVEL BAN/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “For the second time in President Donald Trump’s young administration, the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals will listen to lawyers battle over the legality of his executive order temporarily blocking foreigners from traveling to the US. Two months ago, a federal judge in Hawaii halted the core portions of Trump’s […]
5/12/2017
LEGAL/RUSSIA/TRUMP PEOPLE/PAUL MANAFORT: “The Justice Department last month requested banking records of Paul Manafort as part of a widening of probes related to President Donald Trump’s former campaign associates and whether they colluded with Russia in interfering with the 2016 election, according to people familiar with the matter. In mid-April, federal investigators requested Mr. Manafort’s […]
5/12/2017
LEGAL/RUSSIA/TRUMP TAXES: “President Trump’s lawyers say his income tax returns do not show income from Russian sources or debt owed to Russians, with the exception of $95 million paid by a Russian billionaire for a Trump-owned estate in Florida and $12.2 million in payments in connection with holding the Miss Universe pageant in Moscow in […]
5/12/2017
FBI/LEGAL/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “A growing number of legal experts say President Trump has opened himself up to a charge of obstruction of justice this week when he said ‘this Russia thing with Trump’ was on his mind when he fired FBI Director James B. Comey. The federal law against obstruction of justice, a felony, is […]
5/8/2017
IMMIGRATION/LEGAL/TRAVEL BAN/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump’s revised effort to suspend travel to the U.S. for people from six Muslim-majority countries faces its biggest legal test to date Monday [5-8-17], as a federal appeals court in Virginia considers whether the president’s executive order should remain on hold because of concerns about religious discrimination. The Fourth […]
5/7/2017
BORDER/LEGAL/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/WALL: “One of the principal barriers to President Trump’s border wall begins in Aleida Garcia’s expansive backyard. She and her husband have built a small park alongside some scrubland on their 30 acres, and they enjoy a panoramic view of the Rio Grande Valley. They say they will fiercely resist any effort by […]
5/2/2017
LEGAL/SUPPORTERS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “A pro-Donald Trump biker gang’s physical handling of protesters at a weekend rally could add to the president’s legal woes, with one attendee considering a fresh lawsuit as protesters already suing over violence at rallies last year plan to cite the recent events as proof of an ongoing pattern. Members of a […]
4/27/2017
LEGAL/RUSSIA/TRUMP PEOPLE/MICHAEL FLYNN: “Former national security adviser Michael Flynn is in deep trouble. New revelations — first reported by CNN’s Manu Raju, Jim Sciutto and Tom LoBianco — make clear that the retired general was warned by the Defense Intelligence Agency, way back in 2014, not to accept money from foreign governments as he moved […]
4/26/2017
LEGAL/SANCTUARY CITIES/TRAVEL BAN: “Out of our very big country, with many choices, does everyone notice that both the ‘ban’ case and now the ‘sanctuary’ case is brought in…the Ninth Circuit, which has a terrible record of being overturned (close to 80%). They used to call this ‘judge shopping!’ Messy system.” -Donald Trump, Twitter.com, April 26, […]
4/26/2017
LEGAL/SANCTUARY CITIES: “First the Ninth Circuit rules against the ban & now it hits again on sanctuary cities-both ridiculous rulings. See you in the Supreme Court!” -Donald Trump, Twitter.com, April 26, 2017 05:20am […]
4/20/2017
2016 ELECTION/CAMPAIGN/DREAMERS/IMMIGRATION/LEGAL/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “A highly unusual and racially charged episode from the 2016 campaign suddenly resurfaced this week when a federal judge whom President Donald Trump repeatedly criticized last year was assigned to hear the case of a man who claims he was unfairly deported. Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who was born in the US […]
4/20/2017
CAMPAIGN/LEGAL/SUPPORTERS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “During his campaign, Donald Trump promised to pay the legal bills of supporters who beat up protestors at his rallies, but a POLITICO analysis found that Trump’s campaign hasn’t always paid its own legal bills in a timely or transparent fashion. The analysis of court and campaign filings found that Trump’s campaign […]
04/18/2017
LEGAL/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP BUSINESS: “A legal watchdog group is expanding a federal lawsuit filed earlier this year against President Trump, accusing him of violating the Constitution by continuing to own and profit from his far-flung business empire. The amended complaint, to be filed on Tuesday [4-18-17] in a federal court in the Southern District of […]
4/18/2017
DREAMERS/IMMIGRATION/LEGAL/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “A 23-year-old man has sued the Trump administration over his deportation to Mexico in February, saying he has permission to live and work in the United States under an Obama-era immigration program that protects young people who were brought into the country illegally as children. If his claim is correct, it is […]
04/16/2017
CAMPAIGN/LEGAL/PROTESTS/SUPPORTERS: “Donald Trump supporter Alvin Bamberger is accused of assaulting a protester at a 2016 campaign rally in Kentucky. But if the 75-year-old veteran lost his cool at the Louisville rally, he did so at the ‘urging and inspiration’ of his President, Bamberger alleges in a lawsuit against Trump. ‘Trump and/or the Trump campaign urged […]