Comey Firing   |   Russia   |   Methane Rule   |   New DoJ Guidelines   |   ICYMI/DC  |  ICYMI/Nation  |  ICYMI/World

 

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FBI Director Fired

 

On May 9, President Trump fired FBI Director, James Comey, in a letter citing conduct related to the Clinton email investigation as the cause for the firing (timeline).

While the President has the sole authority to dismiss an FBI Director, who is appointed for a term of ten years, the timing raised questions, given that Comey was leading the invstigation into the Trump campaign's ties to Russia and Russian interference in the election. Trump later explained reasons he considered in the firing, including "this Russia thing."

Trump dispatched his personal bodyguard to deliver the news but Comey was speaking in LA and found out about the firing via monitors in the room; initially thinking it was a prank. Rep. Sessions, son of the only other FBI Director ever fired by a president (no relation to current AG), said that Comey should have been treated in a “more graceful way.”

House Oversight Chairman Chaffetz asked the Justice Inspector General to look into the circumstances around Comey’s dismissal.

According to reports, Comey was stepping up the Russia investigation and sought more resources in days before firing. Senate Democrats on the appropriations committee are asking for more information on the FBI's resources needs for the investigation.

View complete list of all lawmaker statements on the Comey firing.

In response to these developments, several members called for an independent investigation of Trump’s Russia ties. Here are the options on that, all the Russia investigations currently underway, and where individual lawmakers stand on an independent investigation.

Is this a “constitutional crisis”? Legal scholars weigh in with a range of conclusions.

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Congressional Russia Investigations

The week started with a Monday hearing before a subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee, where former Acting Attorney General, Sally Yates, and former Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, testified. Much of the focus of the hearing was the warnings Yates gave to the White House regarding the potential that former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn could have been compromised by the Russians. Check out key moments from the hearing (also 10 questions, 7 Quotes, 6 Takeaways, 5 Key Moments, or 3 Takeaways).

After the hearing, Chairman Lindsey Graham indicated that he will look into Trump’s business ties with Russia.

The Senate Intelligence Committee (SSCI) requested documents related to Trump and his associates from the Treasury Department’s FinCEN division (the division that fights money laundering). The SSCI also subpoenaed Michael Flynn after he declined to voluntarily produce requested documents.

Separately, Federal prosecutors issued grand jury subpoenas for records from business associates of Michael Flynn.

Having trouble keeping up with all of the investigations? Here's the complete list of those currently underway.

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Methane Rule Not Rescinded

This week the Senate failed to pass a resolution to roll back the Obama-era Bureau of Land Management "Methane Rule" by a very tight 49-51 vote. Vice President* Mike Pence was in the Capitol to cast a tie-breaking vote if it would have made a difference, but that was no longer an option when Senator John McCain cast a "no" vote.

McCain explained that he voted against the measure because it was a "Congressional Review Act" resolution, which not only would rescind the rule but by law would prevent the BLM from issuing a "similar" resolution in the future.

That restriction is one of the quirks of the Congressional Review Act, which allows Congress to disapprove and roll back any rule issued by the executive branch within 60 session days under an expedited process. Given this time limit, Wednesday was the last day that Congress could use the CRA to rescind Obama-era rules, though rules can still be changed either by the agency issuing a new rule or Congress passing a law to change an existing rule.
 

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Health Care Update

Work has begun on a Senate version of the health care bill that recently passed the House. The 13-man health care working group met on Tuesday, Originally criticized for not including any women, Majority Leader McConnell said that all Senate GOP caucus welcome at health care working group meetings and women “need to be included.”

The Senate is reportedly considering health care tax credits based on income for revised AHCA, which would be similar to the original ACA, rather than the age-based bands of the House Affordable Health Care Act. The working group is also talking a lot more with industry than the House.

In other health news this week, Blue Cross/ Blue Sheild of Tennessee announced that it would enter the Knoxville market, which had lost all insurers in its exchange; while on Thursday, Aetna announced that it would completely withdraw from all ACA exchanges.

The Congressional Budget Office score for the house health bill is expected early in the week of May 22. HHS Secretary Price predicts that the Senate will pass its own health bill by August.
 

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DoJ Changes to Charging and Sentencing Policies

In a Thursday night letter to the 94 U.S. attorneys, Attorney General Jeff Sessions laid out a new Department-wide policy of charging and pursuing “the most serious and readily provable offense," in prosecutions, as measured by the length of sentence associated with the charge.

This policy reverses the Obama-era guidance that stressed avoiding charges that carried long mandatory minimum sentences and emphasized prosecutorial discretion. Under the new DoJ policy, variance from the policy must be approved by the U.S. attorney or Deputy Attorney General.
 

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#ICYMI: (In Case you Missed It) / DC

• The day after firing Comey, President Trump hosted Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov And Ambassador Kislyak in the Oval Office.

• U.S. media were not admitted and the White House later said they were “tricked” when the Russian photographer publicly released photos from the visit.
• Present and former lawmakers’ names floated for top FBI job include former Sen. Ayotte, former Rep. Mike Rogers, Rep. Trey Gowdy, and Sen. John Cornyn
• House Tax Reform hearings start next week
• Got ideas about how to improve the TSA screening process?
• Congresswoman taking on the NFL over player health
• Senate confirmed U.S. Trade Rep Robert Lighthizer in 82-14 bipartisan vote
• President signs cyber executive order, will include effort for more consolidated federal IT
• Is new DoJ charging and sentencing policy bringing back “War on Drugs” approach?
• American media were not allowed in for President Trump’s meeting with Russian foreign minister and Russian ambassador though Russian photographer was permitted, sparking security concerns
• Sen Grassley asks for clarification of Homeland Security Department’s position on processing of EB-5 petitions in light of Kushner family’s “golden visa” pitch to Chinese investors
• Anti-net neutrality bot is spamming the FCC comment site
• Tuesday was the DATA Act deadline for agencies to report spending in a standardized, machine-readable format to USASpending.gov
• White House advisers enlisted Canadian PM & Mexican president to make pro-NAFTA case to Trump
• Republicans Sen Grassley and Rep Chaffetz sent letter to HHS Sec on concern the agency is prohibiting staff from talking to Congress
• Census Director John H. Thompson resigned
• State Department considering online renewal system for passports
• Sen. Sasse opines on child-rearing and “adulting”
• Sen. Warren’s Netflix queue is not what you might expect (& someone digs it)
• President issued extensive signing statement with Omnibus funding bill; taking issue with funding for HBCUs, limits on marijuana enforcement, limits on White House "czars," and limits on transferring Gitmo prisoners to the US
• Need a signing statement refresher?

 

#ICYMI: (In Case you Missed It) / Nation

• Cook Political Report recalculated district predictions post-AHCA vote

• On Wall Street, lack of worry is worrying
• It’s not just you: there are WAY more robocalls to cellphones
• Four eras of American jobs
• Over 500 infrastructure projects have been proposed to the Trump White House by state and local governments
• Black voter turnout in 2016 presidential election was down for first time in 20 years
• New Amazon campus includes shelter for homeless families
• Coulrophobics will want to skip this one
• Will the future bring a “useless class” that spends most of their time in virtual reality?
• The most-binged shows on Netflix
• Life expectancy gap in the US is growing
• Americans in 13 US counties are dying younger than their parents; eight of those counties are in one state
• You will spend way too much time looking at this data viz of top NY dog names in
• The cartoon Pepe the Frog, which was deemed a hate symbol by the Anti-Defamation League, is officially dead
• West Virginia reporter arrested in state’s capitol for yelling questions at HHS Secretary Tom Price and White House Adviser Kellyanne Conway
• Officials are working overtime to process a backlog of new voter registrations in GA-6
• San Bernardino terror victims’ families are suing Facebook, Google, and Twitter for failing to take action to address extremists’ accounts
• Do you know about “Q”?
   

  ICYMI / WORLD
  

• Aussie senator breastfeeds in Parliament; sparks worldwide discussion
• Saudi Arabia bankrolled D.C. trips for U.S. veterans who opposed passage of JASTA (allowing 9/11 victims’ families to sue any sovereign nation for support of acts of terrorism)
• The royal dab
• Mining may be the industry of the future – just probably not on Earth

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Please keep in mind that highlighting specific legislation does not imply POPVOX endorsement in any way. As always, our goal is to offer one more way to help you stay informed about the complex U.S. legislative system.

 

*Thanks to Linda for pointing out that we mistakenly called VP Pence a "senator" in the first version of this post.