Trump Administration

The Washington Post reports: Months after joining the advisory board of a Miami-based patent company in 2014, Matthew G. Whitaker began fielding angry complaints from customers that they were being defrauded, including from a client who showed up at his Iowa office to appeal to him personally for help, records show. Yet Whitaker, now the acting attorney general, remained an …

Via press release from the Democratic National Committee: Today, Mike Pence hosted the White House’s World HIV/AIDS Day event. During the event, Pence failed to acknowledge the LGBTQ community for the second year in a row and lied about the administration’s record combating HIV. Here are some of the lies he told, and some of the truths he forgot to …

The Des Moines Register reports: Sen. Chuck Grassley said Tuesday that the U.S. Department of Agriculture should not have pressured 4-H to rescind a policy welcoming LGBTQ members into the international youth organization. “Common sense tells me that that for 100 years … 4-H has been operating as a very competent organization and I don’t know of any federal interference …

The Hill reports: President Trump said Sunday he’s considering making a change to as many as five Cabinet positions amid speculation that Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Kirstjen Nielsen and White House chief of staff John Kelly could depart imminently. “I have three or four or five positions that I’m thinking about. Of that, maybe it’s going to end up …

NBC News reports: Education Secretary Betsy DeVos began receiving around-the-clock security from the U.S. Marshals Service days after being confirmed, an armed detail provided to no other cabinet member that could cost U.S. taxpayers $19.8 million through September of 2019, according to new figures provided by the Marshals Service to NBC News. That far exceeds the $3.5 million spent on …

Via White House press release: Today, the court made clear that there is no absolute First Amendment right to access the White House. In response to the court, we will temporarily reinstate the reporter’s hard pass. We will also further develop rules and processes to ensure fair and orderly press conferences in the future. There must be decorum at the …

Courthouse News reports: A leaked memo from what conservationists say is the Justice Department advises the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to withhold or delay releasing records sought in Freedom of Information Act requests regarding implementation of the Endangered Species Act. The Center for Biological Diversity said the memo, dated Sept. 6, 2018, asks Fish and Wildlife to limit public …