A confidential memo from Trump’s lawyers to the Mueller team surfaced over the weekend, arguing in shocking and sweeping terms that Trump is above the law. Rudy Giuliani went so far as to argue that Trump could not be subpoenaed or indicted even if he shot James Comey in the Oval Office.
Trump himself joined in this morning, asserting his right to pardon himself. CAP Action’s Moscow Project explains why that’s problematic here.
As one famous lawyer once said about another American president, “Under the criminal law, everyone should be treated the same”—that was Rudy Giuliani on a potential subpoena of President Clinton in 1998.
CORRUPTING FOREIGN POLICY
It’s not just Russia. Reports broke over the weekend that Chinese telecom giant ZTE—the company Trump controversially and mysteriously decided to bail out after it violated U.S. sanctions—hired a former Trump campaign staffer one day after Trump’s announcement.
Meanwhile, Jared Kushner’s close friend, Rick Gerson, is reportedly being investigated by the Mueller probe, in yet another suspicious connection with the UAE going back to Trump’s presidential campaign. Two weeks ago we learned about yet another Donald Trump Jr. meeting at Trump Tower about possible collusion with the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
As CAP detailed a year ago, Trump and his family have enormous conflicts of interests all over the world, and every day there are new signs that Trump is choosing his own interests over the country’s.
DISCRIMINATION LEFT UNCHECKED
Today, the Supreme Court issued a narrow ruling in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission in favor of a baker who refused to sell a cake to a same-sex couple for their wedding reception.
In a 7-2 decision that was very specific to the facts of the case, the Court argues that the baker was entitled to “neutral and respectful consideration of his claims in all the circumstances of the case,” which the Court claims the Colorado Civil Rights Commission did not provide based on remarks made in proceedings.
The decision did not rule that the right to discriminate based on sexual orientation is enshrined in the Constitution. While the Court left the case’s ultimate question, whether a business has a constitutional right to discriminate based on religious and free speech grounds for another day, it emphasized the fact that LGBT people should not face “indignities when they seek goods and services in an open market.”
The Court did not decide once and for all whether LGBTQ people are protected equally under nondiscrimination laws, but it did expressly recognize that states can enact laws to prevent discrimination, including against LGBTQ people.
See CAP’s full statement for further information on the impacts of this decision.
DETAINING IMMIGRANT CHILDREN
Over the weekend, Senator Jeff Merkley attempted to visit an immigration detention center holding children. The senator was barred from entering and center supervisors called the police, begging the question: What is this Administration hiding about the conditions in which they’re holding immigrant children?
A key policy of the Trump Administration involves physically tearing families apart when they cross the U.S.-Mexico border, even for those seeking asylum (which they have the legal right to do). The Administration can and should end its policy of taking children from their parents immediately.
OFF-KILTER
This week, Indivisible’s Chad Bolt joins to discuss who’s fueling November’s blue wave; Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis is changing the narrative on poverty in America with the revived Poor People’s Campaign; Jack Frech explains why Ohio is withholding half a billion dollars from its poorest families; and an immigration explainer with CAP’s Claudia Flores.