The link below will take you to a portion of the October 12, 2017, Rachel Maddow show where she talks about an important news item that has pretty much gone unreported: The Trump Administration’s Department of Justice has stated that the administration doesn’t believe it needs to abide by the Presidential Records Act and preserve all documents, emails, etc.
View the video here: http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/doj-argues-trump-doesn-t-have-to-preserve-presidential-records-1072310851931
The following article by Brandon Carter was posted on the Hill website September 15, 2017:
A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration’s rules requiring so-called sanctuary cities to help enforce federal immigration laws in order to receive funding.
U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber issued a nationwide preliminary injunction against the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Friday after Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced new rules governing DOJ law enforcement grants, The Chicago Tribune reports.
The city of Chicago sued the Trump administration last month over the DOJ’s threat to withhold those grants from “sanctuary cities,” which are cities that refuse to help federal authorities enforce immigration laws. Continue reading “Federal judge blocks Trump from denying funds to sanctuary cities”
The following article by Matt Apuzzo and rebecca R. Ruiz was posted on the New York Times website September 5, 2017:
WASHINGTON — As an up-and-coming politician in Alabama, Jeff Sessions watched as his state’s poultry industry illegally hired Mexican and Central American immigrants to jobs that had once been filled by poor, unskilled American workers. As a senator, Mr. Sessions argued that displaced American workers like these — not the people replacing them — deserved compassion.
So when President Trump chose Mr. Sessions, now the attorney general, to announce on Tuesday the end of an Obama-era immigration program that shielded young immigrants from deportation, there was no doubt what message he would deliver. Mr. Trump has expressed conflicting emotions about those who were brought to the country as children, but Mr. Sessions expressed no such qualms. Continue reading “Trump Chooses Sessions, Longtime Foe of DACA, to Announce Its Demise”
The following article by Maria Scchetti was posted on the Washington Post website September 4, 2017:
Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced on Sept. 5 that the Trump administration is rescinding Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, calling the program “an open-ended circumvention of immigration laws.” (Photo: Melina Mara/The Washington Post)
A former waiter, born in El Salvador, now writes code for a U.S. Navy contractor. A young man from South Korea is using the money he makes selling pastries to help pay for community college. And a psychology major from Ecuador, who feared she’d be stuck babysitting all her life, now plans to earn a doctorate and move to New York. Continue reading “Their lives were transformed by DACA. Here’s what will happen if it disappears.”
The following article by John T. Bennett and Neils Lesniewski was posted on the Roll Call website September 5, 2017:
Updated 11:24 a.m. | President Donald Trump, answering pleas from his base but again breaking with many congressional Republicans, on Tuesday ended Barack Obama’s program that shielded from deportation individuals who came to the United States with their parents before their 16th birthday.
“The policy was implemented unilaterally,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Tuesday while making the formal announcement, referring to then-President Barack Obama implementing the program via an executive order. Sessions called the Obama-era program “unconstitutional.”
Continue reading “Trump Ends DACA Immigration Program — With a Twist”
The following article by Isaac Arnsdorf was posted on the ProPublica website September 1, 2017:
Update, Sept. 1, 2017, 1:55 p.m.: This story has been updated with a quote from Sheriff Mike Bouchard of Oakland County, Michigan.
The Trump administration made false assertions to justify an executive order expanding police forces’ access to military equipment such as tanks and grenade launchers.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced on Monday that President Trump would make defensive gear available to police again by undoing a policy from the Obama administration. Trump then signed an executive order whose title emphasized that branding: “Restoring State, Tribal, and Local Law Enforcement’s Access to Life-Saving Equipment and Resources.” Continue reading “How Jeff Sessions Misrepresented the Trump Administration’s Expansion of Military Supplies for Police”
The following article by Gopal Ratnam was posted on the Roll Call website August 29, 2017:
The Trump administration will lift a two-year-old ban on police departments across the United States getting surplus military equipment as part of an overall effort to support local law enforcement agencies.
“I am here to announce that President Trump is issuing an executive order that will make it easier to protect yourselves and your communities,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions told police officers Monday, according to prepared remarks.
“He is rescinding restrictions from the prior administration that limited your agencies’ ability to get equipment through federal programs, including life-saving gear like Kevlar vests and helmets and first responder and rescue equipment like what they’re using in Texas right now,” Sessions said. Continue reading “Trump to Lift Ban on Military Gear for Local Police Agencies”
The following article by Philip Rucker and Ellen Nakashima was posted on the Washington Post website August 26, 2017:
As Joseph Arpaio’s federal case headed toward trial this past spring, President Trump wanted to act to help the former Arizona county sheriff who had become a campaign-trail companion and a partner in their crusade against illegal immigration.
The president asked Attorney General Jeff Sessions whether it would be possible for the government to drop the criminal case against Arpaio, but was advised that would be inappropriate, according to three people with knowledge of the conversation.
After talking with Sessions, Trump decided to let the case go to trial, and if Arpaio was convicted, he could grant clemency. Continue reading “Trump asked Sessions about closing case against Arpaio, an ally since ‘birtherism’”
The following article by Joseph Tanfani was posted on the Los Angeles Times website August 4, 2017:
Under pressure by President Trump to stanch unauthorized disclosures of classified information to the media, Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions on Friday announced new efforts to find and prosecute those responsible for what he called an “unprecedented rise in leaks” and threatened a more aggressive stance toward journalists.
Sessions revealed no new cases, but said the Department of Justice has tripled the number of leak investigations this year. The pace is so heavy, he said, that the FBI has increased resources for leak cases and has created a new counterintelligence squad to manage them.
He also said he was reconsidering policies put in place during the Obama administration that limited the information prosecutors could demand from reporters. Continue reading “Sessions says Justice Department will boost investigations of leaks, may pursue reporters”
The following article by Brandon Carter was posted on The Hill website August 5, 2017:
Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) this week blasted Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ announcement that the Department of Justice is considering stricter measures to prevent leaks, saying the leaks would stop if there were no “lies, crimes and stupid stuff.”
“Dear Lyin Sessions: Leaks are interesting if they expose lies, crimes & stupid stuff,” Lieu tweeted Friday. “Stop the lies, crimes & stupid stuff and leaks go away.” Continue reading “Democrat to ‘Lyin Sessions’: Stop the lies and the leaks will go away”
