June 10, 2017

New York Times: “What started out as a counterintelligence investigation to guard the United States against a hostile foreign power has morphed into a political scandal about what Mr. Trump did, what he said and what he meant by it. Lawmakers have focused mainly on the gripping conflict between the president and the FBI director he fired with cascading requests for documents, recordings and hearings.”

“But from the headquarters of the National Security Agency to state capitals that have discovered that the Russians were inside their voter-registration systems, the worry is that attention will be diverted from figuring out how Russia disrupted American democracy last year and how to prevent it from happening again. Russian hackers did not just breach Democratic email accounts; according to Mr. Comey, they orchestrated a ‘massive effort’ targeting hundreds of — and possibly more than 1,000 — American government and private organizations since 2015.”

“The U.S. Department of Justice argued Friday that President Trump’s businesses are legally permitted to accept payments from foreign governments while he is in office, and thus Trump is not in violation of a constitutional clause barring the acceptance of emoluments,” the Washington Post reports.

“Otherwise, they argued, presidents going back to George Washington would have run afoul of the rules barring domestic and foreign emoluments. Justice Department attorneys referenced a series of Washington’s letters and speeches to support their argument.”

Washington Post: “Comey has conceded to Congress that he told a friend to give a reporter information about his recollection of the president’s request that he shut down the bureau’s probe into former national security adviser Michael Flynn. But that does not make Comey a criminal, legal analysts said.”

“Prosecutors who bring charges against people for sharing information with the public can do so only when classified or other national security material is at issue. Material cannot be classified to conceal legal violations or prevent embarrassment, according to an executive order from President Barack Obama. Telling a reporter nonclassified information of public interest is not only legal, but it’s often the right thing to do.”

Politico: “Comey’s disclosures may have violated bureau policies, and could lead to him being rebuked by the FBI or Justice Department. But agencies have little other recourse against former employees in these circumstances, legal experts said.”