Politics

REPORT: Mueller Resists Dems’ Request to Testify Publicly about Details Outside His Report

Special Counsel Robert Mueller is resisting congressional Democrats' request that he testify publicly about details of his investigation that were not included in his final report, the Washington Post first reported Tuesday.Mueller and his representatives have reportedly reached an impasse in their negotiations with House Judiciary Committee chairman Jerry Nadler, who would like him to speak publicly about a range of issues, including whether the president could be charged with obstruction o...

US briefing: Trump blocks McGahn testimony, Huawei and Niki Lauda

Tuesday’s top story: Justice Department says ex-White House counsel cannot be compelled to appear before Congress. Plus, every Game of Thrones episode, rankedSubscribe now to receive the morning briefing by email.Good morning, I’m Tim Walker with today’s essential stories. Continue reading...
Tags: Congress, White House, US, US news, Huawei, Justice Department, Trump, Niki Lauda, Tim Walker, McGahn

Ex-White House lawyer won't testify after Trump direction

The White House cited a Justice Department legal opinion that former White House counsel Don McGahn would have immunity about his work as a close Trump adviser.
Tags: White House, Justice Department, Trump, Don McGahn

Trump’s Secrecy Fight Escalates as Judge Rules for Congress in Early Test

A judge ruled that Trump’s accounting firm must turn over his financial records even as the White House told a former top Trump aide not to show up at a hearing.
Tags: News, Congress, White House, Justice Department, Trump, Mueller, Executive Privilege, Jones Day, United States Politics and Government, Donald J, McGahn, Donald F II, Special Prosecutors (Independent Counsel, Robert S III, Doctrine of, House Committee on the Judiciary

DOJ Office of Legal Counsel Concludes Congress Can’t Force McGahn to Testify

In an opinion released Monday, the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel ruled that former White House counsel Donald McGahn is "not legally required" to testify to Congress on matters related to Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report."The immunity of the President's immediate advisors from compelled congressional testimony on matters related to their official responsibilities has long been recognized and arises from the fundamental workings of the separation of powers," t...
Tags: News, Congress, White House, Moscow, Doj, Justice Department, Trump, Sanders, House Judiciary Committee, Mueller, White House Press, Department of Justice s Office of Legal Counsel, Robert Mueller, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Donald McGahn, McGahn

This Week: Putin Praises Mueller, Barr Goes Full Trump

Special counsel Robert Mueller earned an unlikely defender this week: Russian President Vladimir Putin. During a press conference with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Putin referred to Mueller’s work as “exotic” and “very objective” — a far-cry from how President Trump himself characterized the probe this week. The President unilaterally concluded Friday that the investigation began as an attempt to spy on his campaign. Those behind the supposed spying deserved “long jail sentences,” he added....
Tags: News, Putin, Vladimir Putin, Congress, White House, Russia, Fbi, House, Connecticut, Nancy Pelosi, Bob, Wikileaks, Donald Trump, Doj, Senate Intelligence Committee, Justice Department

WH Executive Privilege Over Report Stalls Mueller Testimony Planning

The White House’s decision to assert executive privilege over special counsel Robert Mueller’s report could prevent Mueller from answering lawmakers questions during a potential testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, According to people familiar with the matter who spoke to the WSJ, discussions over that matter have stalled negotiations about Mueller’s possible testimony. The executive privilege assertion could prevent Mueller from speaking about anything that’s not included in the ...
Tags: News, White House, Bob, Justice Department, WSJ, House Judiciary Committee, Mueller, Executive Privilege, Robert Mueller, William Barr, Nicole Lafond, Robert Mueller testimony

Trump Wants Your Social Media Gripes — And Zip Code, Email And Phone Number

The White House on Wednesday asked social media users to submit their tales of suspected political bias by platforms like Facebook, Twitter and others. It also asked for a lot of personal information, with little explanation of how it would be used. “The Trump Administration is fighting for free speech online,” read a White House tweet Wednesday. “No matter your views, if you suspect political bias has caused you to be censored or silenced online, we want to hear about it!” The Trump Adminis...
Tags: Facebook, Twitter, News, White House, Censorship, Social Media, The White House, Fox News, Jack Dorsey, Donald Trump, Justice Department, Dorsey, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Trump, Sen Ted Cruz, Facebook Twitter

Trump declares a national emergency, which could set up a huge blow to China's Huawei

President Donald Trump declared a national emergency over "threats against information and communications technology and services" in the US. The executive order, signed Wednesday, is expected to precede a ban on US firms doing business with the Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei. The Justice Department charged Huawei and its US affiliate with theft of trade secrets conspiracy, attempted theft of trade secrets, seven counts of wire fraud, and one count of obstruction of justice earlier th...
Tags: White House, China, US, America, Trends, Iran, Fbi, Beijing, United States, Commerce, Donald Trump, Huawei, Justice Department, Trump, Reuters, Donald J Trump

Trump declares a national emergency setting up a huge blow to China's Huawei

President Donald Trump declared a national emergency over "threats against information and communications technology and services" in the US. The executive order, signed Wednesday, is expected to precede a ban on US firms doing business with the Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei. The Justice Department charged Huawei and its US affiliate with theft of trade secrets conspiracy, attempted theft of trade secrets, seven counts of wire fraud, and one count of obstruction of justice earlier t...
Tags: White House, China, US, America, Trends, Iran, Beijing, United States, Commerce, Donald Trump, Huawei, Justice Department, Trump, Pete Souza, Reuters, Donald J Trump

Nadler Blasts ‘Outrageous’ White House Rejection Of House Obstruction Probe

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) called the White House’s sweeping rejection of his committee’s requests related to whether President Trump obstructed justice “outrageous” while speaking to reporters Wednesday afternoon. “The White House is making the outrageous claim that a president cannot be held accountable in anyway to the American people, ” he said.”They say the Justice Department cannot hold him accountable since a sitting president can’t be indicted, and now they...
Tags: News, Congress, White House, Justice Department, Trump, Tierney Sneed, House Judiciary Committee, Robert Mueller, Nadler, House Democrats, Jerry Nadler, Jerry Nadler D NY

White House Rejects House Obstruction Probe In Letter Blasting The Investigation

In a letter to the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, the White House said it would not comply with demands from the committee for its wide-ranging probe into possible obstruction by President Trump, arguing that the committee had no authority to launch the investigation. “Unfortunately, it appears that you have already decided to press ahead with a duplicative investigation, including by issuing subpoenas, to replow the same ground the Special Counsel has already covered. I ask that you...
Tags: News, Congress, White House, House, Department Of Justice, Justice Department, Committee, Obstruction, Trump, Tierney Sneed, Watergate, House Judiciary Committee, Mueller, Nadler, Don McGahn, Jerry Nadler

Aides’ Tactics For Handling Impulsive POTUS? Ignore Trump Twitter Announcements

In a White House run by President Trump, short attention spans are just part of the daily routine. Aides and lawmakers left to clean up the ashes of Trump’s impulsive policy announcements bank on the President forgetting his latest Twitter directive before they actually have to do the work to implement it, according to new reporting in the Atlantic. For example, at the end of March, the president announced he would be cutting off aide to Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador as a means of deter...
Tags: Twitter, News, Congress, White House, Fbi, Chicago, Atlantic, United States, House, Senate Appropriations Committee, State Department, Nancy Pelosi, El Salvador, Donald Trump, Justice Department, Trump

Barr launches new look at origins of Russia probe

By MICHAEL BALSAMO WASHINGTON — Attorney General William Barr has appointed a U.S. attorney to examine the origins of the Russia investigation and determine if intelligence collection involving the Trump campaign was “lawful and appropriate,” a person familiar with the issue told The Associated Press on Monday. Barr appointed John Durham, the U.S. attorney in Connecticut, to conduct the inquiry, the person said. The person could not discuss the matter publicly and spoke to the AP on condition of...
Tags: Politics, News, Congress, Washington, Senate, White House, Russia, Uncategorized, America, Sport, Ap, Fbi, Soccer, Connecticut, Cia, Kremlin

The United States Constitution is Not Dysfunctional

For the symposium on Sanford Levinson and Jack M. Balkin, Democracy and Dysfunction (University of Chicago Press, 2019).Steven G. Calabresi May 12, 2019 Providence, Rhode Island Dear Jack and Sandy: Thank you enormously for inviting me to comment on your new book.  While I believe the U.S. constitutional system is badly in need of some reforms, I think the U.S. Constitution, as amended, is the best such document in any of the G-20 constitutional democracies today, and I think you bo...
Tags: South Korea, Hong Kong, Europe, Japan, Tibet, Supreme Court, Putin, Obama, Congress, Indonesia, Australia, Montana, North Korea, Mexico, France, Scotland

One-Time #Resistance Hero Rod Rosenstein Was Trump’s Leak-Hunter-in-Chief

Photo Illustration by Lyne Lucien/The Daily Beast/Photos GettyRod Rosenstein was a Resistance hero—and one of Donald Trump’s favorite whipping boys—for overseeing the Russia investigation. But Rosenstein’s legacy at the Justice Department shows he was more than happy to oblige the White House on one of its top priorities: spearheading the president’s war on leakers and whistleblowers. Cases involving the leak of classified information are high-profile prosecutions that would be part of the purvi...
Tags: New York, News, Obama, Eric Holder, White House, Russia, Nbc News, America, San Francisco, Iran, Fbi, New York Times, Moscow, Fox News, The New York Times, Times

Mueller won’t testify next week, chairman says

WASHINGTON (AP) — The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee says special counsel Robert Mueller won’t appear before his panel next week, despite the committee’s hope that Mueller would testify May 15. New York Rep. Jerrold Nadler said Friday that negotiations continue with Mueller and the Justice Department about the testimony. He wouldn’t characterize those […]
Tags: New York, News, Washington, Ap, Nation, Justice Department, House Judiciary Committee, Mueller, Jerrold Nadler, Robert Mueller, Nation & World Politics

Giuliani Scores a New Client: an Authoritarian, Middle Eastern Regime

Charles Krupa/AP/ShutterstockAs Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election was concluding, Rudy Giuliani, President Donald Trump’s personal attorney for the probe and other legal woes, landed a new client: the Kingdom of Bahrain.On Thursday, the former New York City mayor confirmed to The Daily Beast that his security and consulting firm, Giuliani Security and Safety, had officially secured a contract with the Gulf nation’s Ministry of ...
Tags: News, Obama, Washington, White House, New York City, Bloomberg, Joe Biden, Iran, Ukraine, Hillary Clinton, United States, New York Times, Middle East, The New York Times, Department Of Justice, Biden

The ‘Picture File’?

In another impromptu White House appearance just now, President Trump went off on special counsel Robert Mueller all over again. In an especially bonkers moment, the President lamented the friendship between Mueller and fired FBI Director James Comey, citing a “picture file.” “They were supposedly best friends,” Trump said. “You look at the picture file and you see hundreds of pictures of him and Comey.” What is he talking about? A picture file? There’s really no way to know what’s going on i...
Tags: News, Obama, Washington, White House, US, Barack Obama, Fbi, Washington Dc, Manhattan, Houston, Donald Trump, George W Bush, Justice Department, James Comey, Trump, David Kurtz

Trump is ‘almost self-impeaching’ by refusing subpoenas and protecting Mueller report, Nancy Pelosi says

House speaker Nancy Pelosi says Donald Trump is digging his own grave, even if she and her fellow Democrats in the House are resisting impeaching the president so far.With Washington still reeling in the wake of the release of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report — and attorney general William Barr’s decision to snub the House Judiciary Committee leading to contempt votes — Ms Pelosi has said she is waiting for congressional investigations to uncover all the evidence.In the meantime, she thin...
Tags: News, Congress, Washington, White House, House, Nancy Pelosi, Donald Trump, Justice Department, Trump, Pelosi, West Wing, House Judiciary Committee, Mueller, Barr, Donald Trump Jr, Robert Mueller

NAR Engaged in White House Discussions to Find Association Health Plan Solutions

Washington, D.C. – May 9, 2019 (nar.realtor) Representatives from the National Association of Realtors®and various local Realtor® Associations met with White House officials Wednesday afternoon to discuss industry support for the administration’s Association Health Plan rule. This week’s meeting comes on the heels of NAR’s call for the Justice Department(link is external) to defend the Department of Labor’s regulatory authority to support AHPs. The Affordable Care Act brought regulato...
Tags: Real Estate, News, Washington, White House, America, Radio, Tennessee, Nevada, Justice Department, Ahp, NAR, John Kline, Department of Labor, National Association of Realtors, Real Estate News, John Bates

Attorney General William Barr faces being held in contempt of Congress amid showdown with Trump

A Democratic-led House panel on Wednesday approved a measure to hold US Attorney General William Barr in contempt for refusing to hand over an unredacted copy of the Mueller report on Russian election interference even as Donald Trump invoked the legal principle of executive privilege to block its disclosure. Throwing down another challenge to the US president, the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee voted to recommend that the full House cite Mr Barr, the top US law enforcement officia...
Tags: News, Supreme Court, Congress, Eric Holder, Washington Post, Senate, White House, Russia, US, Barack Obama, House, Moscow, Nancy Pelosi, Department Of Justice, Republican, Donald Trump

House Judiciary Recommends Barr Be Held In Contempt Over Mueller Report

By a 24-16 vote, the House Judiciary Committee voted Wednesday to recommend holding Attorney General Bill Barr in contempt for his refusal to turn over to Congress an unredacted version of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report and its underlying materials. President Trump asserted executive privilege Wednesday over the documents, which the Committee had sought via subpoena. The vote escalated the ongoing standoff between Congress and the Trump administration over House Democrats’ e...
Tags: News, Obama, Congress, Eric Holder, White House, Russia, Fbi, Democrats, House, Dc, Justice Department, Collins, Committee, Trump, Tierney Sneed, Department

From Trump claiming executive privilege to William Barr and the Mueller report - here's everything you need to know

The feud between Donald Trump and House Democrats is escalating, as critics of the president seek a vast trove of information related to the Mueller report, and the White House has signalled it has no plans to help in that endeavour.The latest escalation comes as Democrats have moved forward to find attorney general William Barr in contempt of Congress — an act that would make Mr Barr only the second sitting top law man in America to be hit with the charge — for failing to honour a subpoena and ...
Tags: News, Congress, Washington, White House, America, House, Department Of Justice, Donald Trump, Justice Department, Trump, Boyd, House Judiciary Committee, Mueller, Barr, Judiciary Committee, Nadler

WH: Trump Asserts Exec Privilege Over ‘Nadler’s Blatant Abuse Of Power’

The Justice Department announced Wednesday that it asked President Trump to assert executive privilege over the full, unredacted Mueller report and its underlying evidence, making good on an earlier threat that the DOJ would do so if House Democrats held the attorney general in contempt. In a statement, the White House pinned the decision on House Judiciary Committee chairman Rep. Jerry Nadler’s “blatant abuse of power.” “The American people see through Chairman Nadler’s desperate ploy to dis...
Tags: News, Congress, White House, House, Doj, Justice Department, Trump, House Judiciary Committee, Mueller, WH, Barr, Executive Privilege, Nadler, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Stephen Boyd, Jerry Nadler

Trump invokes ‘privilege,’ aims to block release of full Mueller report

By MARY CLARE JALONICK and LISA MASCARO WASHINGTON — The White House is invoking executive privilege, reserving the right to block the full release of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on the Russia probe, escalating President Donald Trump’s battle with Congress. The administration’s decision was announced just as the House Judiciary Committee was gaveling in to consider holding Attorney General William Barr in contempt of Congress over failure to release the report. Committee Chairman Jer...
Tags: New York, Justice, Congress, Washington, Senate, White House, Russia, Georgia, Sport, Soccer, Democrats, House, Mitch McConnell, Nancy Pelosi, District Of Columbia, Donald Trump

DOJ Will Ask WH To Invoke Executive Privilege To Block Release Of Full Mueller Report

The Department of Justice is preparing to ask the White House to invoke executive privilege to prevent the release of the full report by special counsel Robert Mueller, according to a letter Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd sent House Democrats on Tuesday evening. Boyd said the move is in response to Democrats plans to vote on holding Attorney General William Barr in contempt on Wednesday, following a breakdown in discussions between House Judiciary Committee staffers and the DOJ. The ...
Tags: News, Senate, White House, Democrats, House, Department Of Justice, Doj, Justice Department, Boyd, House Judiciary Committee, Mueller, Robert Mueller, Nadler, Stephen Boyd, Jerry Nadler D NY, William Barr

Justice Department asks White House to invoke executive privilege over Mueller report

Multiple reporters tweeted late Tuesday night the Department of Justice is asking the Trump White House to invoke executive privilege over the entire report by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, along with all underlying evidence. It's a new defensive move as the House Judiciary Committee prepares a contempt vote against Attorney General Bill Barr. DOJ says in the letter, “In the face of the Committee's threatened contempt vote the Attorney General will be compelled to request that the President ...
Tags: Post, News, White House, House, Department Of Justice, Donald Trump, Doj, Justice Department, Committee, Trump, AG, House Judiciary Committee, Mueller, Trump White House, Barr, Robert Mueller

US Treasury denies Congress' request for Donald Trump’s tax returns, paving way for Supreme Court battle

Donald Trump's administration has formally refused to hand over the president's tax returns to Congress, setting up a bitter legal battle that may go all the way to the Supreme Court. Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury Secretary, wrote to the Democratic-controlled House Ways and Means Committee on Monday refusing the panel's request which he said "lacks a legitimate legislative purpose". Mr Mnuchin said he relied on the advice of the Justice Department in reaching the conclusion that the T...
Tags: News, Supreme Court, Congress, White House, Massachusetts, House Of Representatives, US Treasury, Donald Trump, Justice Department, Irs, The Treasury, Trump, Treasury Department, House Judiciary Committee, Mueller, Internal Revenue Service IRS

White House Won’t Rule Out Possibility Of Blocking Mueller Testimony

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Tuesday minimized House Democrats’ subpoenas of the Trump administration as “nothing more than a dog and pony show” and wouldn’t rule out the White House possibly blocking special counsel Robert Mueller from testifying before Congress. During an interview with ABC News’ “The Investigation” podcast on Tuesday, Sanders said the White House has made no official moves to block Mueller from appearing before the House Judiciary Committee — which...
Tags: News, Congress, Abc, White House, House, Justice Department, Trump, Sanders, House Judiciary Committee, Mueller, Robert Mueller, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Nicole Lafond, Mueller probe, Robert Mueller testimony, ABC News The Investigation