Trump Administration

The Daily Beast reports: When Attorney General William Barr showed up at the U.S. embassy’s Palazzo Margherita on Rome’s tony Via Veneto last week, he had two primary requests. He needed a conference room to meet high level Italian security agents where he could be sure no one was listening in. And he needed an extra chair for U.S. Attorney …

Axios reports: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo sent a letter to the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday accusing Democrats of “an attempt to intimidate, bully, and treat improperly” officials from the State Department who have been asked to cooperate in the Trump-Ukraine investigation. The chairmen of the House Foreign Affairs, Intelligence and Oversight committees responded to Pompeo on Tuesday …

CNBC reports: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday pushed back on House Democrats’ attempt to depose State Department officials as part of the ongoing impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump. Pompeo said in a tweet that he is “concerned with aspects” of House committee leaders’ requests “that can be understood only as an attempt to intimidate, bully, & treat …

CNN reports: The US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York said Monday that it plans to participate in the lawsuit filed by President Donald Trump to block a subpoena by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office for eight years of his tax returns. In a letter sent to the judge in the case, the office’s civil division chief …

The Washington Post reports: Attorney General William P. Barr has held private meetings overseas with foreign intelligence officials seeking their help in a Justice Department inquiry that President Trump hopes will discredit U.S. intelligence agencies’ examination of Russian interference in the 2016 election, according to people familiar with the matter. Barr’s personal involvement is likely to stoke further criticism from …

The Daily Beast reports: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was on the July 25 call between President Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart that was the subject of a bombshell whistleblower complaint, The Wall Street Journal reports. The newspaper reports that Pompeo was one of the administration officials who listened in on the call, according to a senior State Department official. …

The Washington Post reports: The Trump administration is investigating the email records of dozens of current and former senior State Department officials who sent messages to then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s private email, reviving a politically toxic matter that overshadowed the 2016 election, current and former officials said. As many as 130 officials have been contacted in recent weeks by …

The Indianapolis Star reports: The U.S. Department of Justice on Friday issued a Statement of Interest in support of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis in its ongoing dispute with a former Catholic school teacher who alleges he was wrongfully terminated because he was in a same-sex marriage. Joshua Payne-Elliott is currently suing the archdiocese, alleging it illegally interfered with his contractual …

CNN reports: Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney is on shaky ground in the wake of a bad week for President Trump, according to multiple sources with knowledge of discussions surrounding the whistleblower fallout. The sources say the President is not upset with Mulvaney for the White House releasing the summary of his July 25 call with Ukraine’s …

Politico reports: Shortly after being named the U.S. special representative for Ukraine negotiations in mid-2017, Kurt Volker attended an invitation-only strategy session at the Atlantic Council with a small group of foreign-policy hands. There, he encouraged the people gathered at the downtown D.C. think tank to publicly praise President Donald Trump for his handling of Russia and Ukraine. It may …

Via press release: Today, Rep. Eliot L. Engel, the Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Rep. Adam Schiff, the Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, the Chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, sent a letter to Secretary of State Michael Pompeo for documents, including many he has refused to …

It just never ends, does it? Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the US Fish and Wildlife Service has links to powerful agricultural interests opposed to protections for endangered species she would oversee, the Guardian has learned. Aurelia Skipwith, who is already a top official at the interior department, formerly worked at the agrochemical giant Monsanto. New revelations show she also …

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports: Former Health Secretary Tom Price entered the sweepstakes to be Georgia’s next U.S. Senator by submitting his resume with Gov. Brian Kemp’s office for the soon-to-be-vacated seat held by Johnny Isakson. Price, a former six-term congressman, confirmed to the AJC that he applied, making him the latest high-profile figure to formally seek the spot. Other applicants …

The Los Angeles Times reports: California and 17 other states on Wednesday filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration’s weakening of the Endangered Species Act, a landmark law that has ensured the survival of the California condor, the grizzly bear and other animals close to extinction. The lawsuit is California’s latest in a blitz of legal challenges to the president’s …

The Washington Post reports: In the hours after the release Wednesday of the rough transcript of President Trump’s July phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the White House circulated an email with proposed talking points for Trump’s defenders. Unfortunately for the White House, the email was mistakenly sent to not only Republicans but also Democratic lawmakers and their staff. …

The Sacramento Bee reports: The Trump administration is ratcheting up its threats against California with a letter warning the state faces sanctions – including cuts in federal highway funding – over its “failure” to submit complete reports on its implementation of the Clean Air Act. In the letter to the California Air Resources Board, Andrew Wheeler [photo], administrator of the …

NBC News reports: The top echelon of the Trump administration has become a high-speed revolving door — with turnover in 78 percent of the positions, a new study has found. And 31 percent of those White House “A-Team” jobs have turned over more than once, the study by the Brookings Institution shows. “It’s historic, it’s unprecedented, it’s off the charts,” …

The Sacramento Bee reports: California and 22 other states sued the Trump administration Friday over the federal government’s revocation of California’s authority to impose stricter limits on greenhouse gas emissions from cars. The suit came a day after federal officials formally revoked California’s powers under the federal Clean Air Act. Gov. Gavin Newsom, Attorney General Xavier Becerra and other state …

“Whenever you report about them, and you say, ‘The Houthis said,’ you should say ‘The well known frequently lying Houthis have said the following.’ This is important because you ought not report them as if they are truth-tellers, as if these are people who aren’t completely under the boot of the Iranians. “So there you go, whenever you say Houthis, …

CNN reports: Iran’s foreign minister has raised the specter of “all-out war” in the event of US or Saudi military strikes and that Saudi Arabia would have to fight “to the last American soldier.” Javad Zarif told CNN that Iran hoped to avoid conflict, adding that the country was willing to talk to its regional rivals Saudi Arabia and the …