Trump Administration

Axios reports: Attorney General Bill Barr will appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee on May 1 and House Judiciary Committee on May 2 to testify about special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, both panels have confirmed. Democrats have accused Barr, the nation’s top law enforcement official, of playing defense for President Trump by spinning …

ABC News reports: The Defense Department’s internal watchdog has cleared acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan of favoring his former employer, Boeing while serving at the Pentagon. The Pentagon’s inspector general found that reports of ethics violations were not substantiated, clearing the way for Shanahan for a possible nomination to the top Pentagon job. The inspector general opened the investigation last …

The New York Times reports: In the months before Kirstjen Nielsen was forced to resign, she tried to focus the White House on one of her highest priorities as Homeland Security secretary: preparing for new and different Russian forms of interference in the 2020 election.  President Trump’s chief of staff told her not to bring it up in front of …

“Jared Kushner’s diminishment of Russian interference is both disingenuous and deceptive. The attack on our democracy involved much more than the purchase of a few Facebook ads. From the Mueller report we now know, Russians made contact with multiple members of the Trump campaign, including Jared Kushner, attempting to change American policies and promote Russian objectives. “They invaded our nation, …

USA Today reports: The Trump administration has moved to defend the male-only military draft, appealing a federal court ruling that Selective Service registration is unconstitutional because it discriminates based on sex. The appeal on Monday comes as the plaintiffs in the case step up their legal efforts to force the government to either force women to register for the draft …

The Hill reports: The Trump administration appears ready to roll back health care protections for transgender people, and advocates are gearing up for a fight. A proposed rule from the Department of Health and Human Services that’s expected in the coming days would make it easier for doctors, hospitals and insurance companies to deny care or coverage to transgender patients, …

CBS News reports: As people around the country mark 4/20 — the unofficial holiday celebrating marijuana — U.S. officials have released new guidance around marijuana for immigrants hoping to earn U.S. citizenship. Officials said Friday that immigrants involved with cannabis in any way — even in states where it has been legalized — could disqualify them from naturalization. New guidance …

The Indianapolis Star reports: Scott Pruitt, the embattled former administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, registered Thursday as a lobbyist with state regulators. Pruitt’s filings with the Indiana Lobby Registration Commission identify him as a self-employed consultant and list RailPoint Solutions LLC as his sole client. His lobbying topics include “energy” and “natural resources.” It’s unclear what, exactly, Pruitt …

Law & Crime reports: Fox News anchor Chris Wallace said Attorney General William Barr sounded like a counselor to the president during his press conference Thursday ahead of the release of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report. “The Attorney General seemed almost to be acting as the counselor for the defense, the counselor for the president, rather than the attorney general, …

CNBC reports: Herman Cain will not drop out of consideration for the Federal Reserve Board even though he does not appear to have enough votes to get confirmed in the Senate, he told The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday. The former Godfather’s Pizza CEO and Kansas City Fed Board president said he is “very committed” to the process, according to …

Talking Points Memo reports: Attorney General Bill Barr is scheduled to hold a press conference at 9:30 a.m. ET Thursday to discuss special counsel Robert Mueller’s redacted final report, the Justice Department confirmed Wednesday. “Attorney General William P. Barr will hold a press conference on Thursday, April 18, 2019 at 9:30 a.m. EDT, on the release of the Mueller Report,” …

Splinter News reports: The Trump administration-Fox News ouroboros rolls on unimpeded this week, with a report that Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin plans to hire former Fox personality Monica Crowley as his new spokeswoman. Citing “people familiar with the matter,” Bloomberg reported on Wednesday that Mnuchin is preparing to hire Crowley as a replacement for outgoing spokesman Tony Sayegh, who had …

CNN reports: A Maryland state’s attorney’s office confirmed Monday it had dropped charges against a woman accused of assaulting White House aide Kellyanne Conway.  CNN first reported on the incident earlier this year, when Conway told CNN’s Dana Bash that a woman grabbed and shook her while she was out with her teenage daughter at a Maryland restaurant last fall. …

The Associated Press reports: Former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has a new job: a more than $100,000-a-year post with a gold-mining firm that’s pursuing project approvals involving the federal agency that Zinke left fewer than four months ago. Zinke told The Associated Press on Tuesday that his work for Nevada-based U.S. Gold Corp., which focuses on mining exploration and development, …

The Washington Post reports: White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said Sunday that she doesn’t believe members of Congress are “smart enough” to examine President Trump’s tax returns, pushing back against Democrats’ demands for information on the president’s finances. In an interview with “Fox News Sunday” host Chris Wallace, Sanders said that Democrats were treading a “dangerous road” and that …

NBC News reports: “There’s a great deal of frustration among rank and file members who represent more moderate districts and frankly who represent districts that Donald Trump won in 2016. They’re very frustrated,” Kellyanne Conway said Sunday during an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “They’ve been to the White House. They talk to people like me, quietly, saying they …

Mediaite reports: The husband of White House counselor Kellyanne Conway issued a scathing rebuke of the Trump administration Friday night. Earlier, Washington Post‘s Josh Dawsey noted the White House’s about-face on immigrants and sanctuary cities. “White House spokesman Hogan Gidley, who said Thursday that plan of moving immigrants to sanctuary cities had been rejected and shouldn’t be taken seriously, now …

From a lengthy new profile in The Atlantic: When jobs open up in the Trump administration—a frequent occurrence—Ivanka is at the top of her father’s mind. “She’s a natural diplomat,” Trump said. “She would’ve been great at the United Nations, as an example.” I asked why he didn’t nominate her. “If I did, they’d say nepotism, when it would’ve had …

The New York Times reports: President Trump’s top aides considered an idea to pressure immigration agencies to release apprehended migrants into so-called sanctuary cities represented by Democratic lawmakers, according to several people familiar with the proposal. The idea was floated in an email by a top White House policy adviser in November, when Mr. Trump was furiously condemning migrant caravans …

Stephen Miller’s reign of terror marches on: The acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Ron Vitiello, has resigned amid an agency-wide restructuring of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).  Vitiello had originally been nominated to take over the post permanently, but his nomination was abruptly pulled last week by President Trump, who said he wanted to go …