(cache) Trumpworld's white collar lawyer hiring spree - Axios
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Trumpworld's white collar lawyer hiring spree

Trumpworld has set out on a hiring spree of defense lawyers to protect them from future scandal as over a dozen people with ties to the administration face questioning related to Russia probes.

Why it matters: The number of outside counsel hired in relation to the Russia probes reflects the size of the investigations and how seriously White House officials are taking them.

President Donald Trump

  • Mark Kasowitz: He has represented Trump for more than 15 years and is Trump's go-to guy and the lead lawyer on the president's outside legal team for the Russia investigation.
  • Jay Sekulow: Chief counsel for the conservative American Center for Law and Justice, he has grown famous for his work with the religious-right. Now he's Trump's TV lawyer.
  • John Dowd: The former Marine Corps captain is a well-known name in DC. He is perhaps best known for helping clear Sen. John McCain of any wrongdoing in a congressional ethics banking case, known as the "Keating Five."
  • Michael Bowe: A partner at Kasowitz's firm, he's described by the NY team as the "consummate on-your-feet courtroom lawyer."

Vice President Mike Pence

  • Richard Cullen: A former U.S. attorney, specializes in criminal defense and was a member of George W. Bush's legal team for the 2000 election recount in Florida. He's also had his fair share of high-profile clients, including former Texas Rep. Tom Delay and Tiger Woods' ex-wife.

Jared Kushner

  • Abbe Lowell: Lowell is most famously known for serving as the Democrats' Chief Minority Counsel during the impeachment of Bill Clinton.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions

  • Charles Cooper: Cooper, a longtime Sessions friend, used to work as an assistant attorney general for the Office of Legal counsel in Ronald Reagan's Justice Department.

Trump's longtime business lawyer, Michael Cohen

  • Stephen Ryan: Ryan, a former federal prosecutor and a current partner at Washington firm McDermott, Will & Emery, and specializes in "the combined legal, political and press related challenges stemming from congressional oversight and investigation."

Ex-National Security Advisor Michael Flynn

  • Robert Kelner: Kelner chairs the Election and Political Law Practice at D.C.'s Covington & Burling law firm, and specializes in politically-related criminal defense.

Trump's foreign campaign manager, Paul Manafort

  • Reginald Brown: Brown, an attorney at WilmerHale, oversees the firm's congressional investigations practice. He previously worked in the GW Bush administration's Office of WH Counsel and was deputy general counsel to Jeb Bush.

The Trump campaign's communications adviser, Michael Caputo

  • Dennis Vacco: Vacco, partner at Lippes Mathias Wexler Friedman specializing in government investigations, was New York state attorney general under Clinton and a U.S. attorney for the Western District of New York under Reagan.

Roger Stone

  • Robert Buschel: Buschel, attorney at Buschel Gibbons, focuses on criminal and civil litigation.

Former Trump advisors Carter Page and Boris Epshtey have also lawyered up.

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25 House Dems back bill to impeach Trump

Patrick Semansky and Evan Vucci / AP

A group of 25 House Democrats, including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and former DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, have been quietly working on a bill to impeach Trump since April, Yahoo News' Michael Isikoff reports.

Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland is the main sponsor of the bill, which takes a radical and unprecedented approach to impeaching President Trump under the 25th Amendment. The bill goes after a specific part of the amendment (section 4) by proposing the creation of an "Oversight Commission on Presidential Capacity."

What it means: Some overlooked language in section 4 of the 25th Amendment allows for a separate body to remove the president based on mental or physical capacity. It was created in 1967 after JFK's assassination, but these House Dems. are citing Trump's erratic tweets as evidence he's mentally incapacitated to serve.

The Trump effect: After his tweets about Mika Brzezinski, four more House Democrats signed on to the bill.

What's next: The bill would have to pass for the "oversight" commission to be created. That body would include members of both sides of the aisle (three political people like former presidents, VPS, or senior government officials), as well as four psychiatrists and four physicians. Congress would then have to approve the body and they would be able "to determine whether the president is incapacitated, either mentally or physically" via an examination.

Although this bill has been gaining steady support since April, it would be a difficult thing to achieve for a number of reasons. First, no Republicans currently support the bill, though Raskin told Isikoff a number of them have privately expressed interest. Additionally, if Trump rejected the body's claim of incapacity, it would then require two-thirds of both chambers to block his rejection and subsequent request to resume office. And perhaps the hardest part: Vice President Mike Pence would have to sign off on the body's decision to invoke the 25th Amendment, as well as their assessment that Trump is incapacitated to serve.

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SEC to let all companies file confidentially for an IPO

Mark Lennihan / AP

The Securities and Exchange Commission has decided let all companies confidentially submit a draft IPO registration to get feedback from the Agency. This is similar to the so-called confidential IPO filing that "emerging growth companies"—businesses with less than $1 billion in annual revenue—have been allowed to make since the JOBS Act of 2012 was passed into law.

Why: "By expanding a popular JOBS Act benefit to all companies, we hope that the next American success story will look to our public markets when they need access to affordable capital," new SEC chairman Jay Clayton said in a statement. This more or less translates into a plea to get more companies to go public, with the number of public companies now 37% lower than at its 1997 high.

In context: Since the JOBS Act, most IPOs have been from emerging growth companies (EGCs), proof that private businesses like these rules.

  • Since April 2012, about 83% of all IPO registrations and 87% of all completed IPOs have been from EGCs, according to Ernst & Young.
  • In 2016, the SEC received 204 confidentially-submitted filings for IPOs. Between April 2012 and the end of 2016, the total number stood at approximately 1,250.

The new rule goes into effect on July 10.

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Trump administration salaries

Andrew Harnik/AP

Details from the White House's annual salary report released this afternoon.

$0/year:

  • Jared Kushner, Assistant to the President and Senior Advisor
  • Ivanka Trump, First Daughter and Advisor to the President
  • Reed Cornish, Assistant to the President for Intergovernmental and Technology Initiatives (who is worth more than $100 million according to financial disclosures)

The highest paid employees, $179,700/year:

  • Steve Bannon, Chief Strategist and Senior Counselor
  • Kellyanne Conway, Assistant to the President and Senior Council
  • Hope Hicks, Director of Strategic communications
  • Stephen Miller, Senior Policy Advisor
  • Reince Priebus, Chief of Staff
  • Sean Spicer, Press Secretary
  • Daniel Scavino, Director of Social Media
  • Thomas Bossert, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism
  • Andrew Bremberg, Director of the domestic policy council
  • Rick Dearborn, Deputy Chief of Staff for Legislative, Cabinet, Intergovernmental affairs and implementation
  • John DeStefano, Director of presidential personnel
  • Joseph Hagin, Deputy Chief of Staff for operations
  • Joseph Kellogg Jr.., Executive Secretary and Chief of Staff for the National Security Council
  • Omarosa Manigualt, Director of Communications for the Office of Public Liaison
  • Kathleen McFarland, Deputy National Security Advisor
  • Donald McGhan II, Counsel to the President
  • Robert Porter, White House Staff Secretary
  • Dina Powell, Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategy
  • Lindsay Reynolds, Chief of staff to the First Lady
  • Marc Short, Director of Office of Legislative Affairs
  • George Sifakis, Director of the Office of Public Liaison
Interesting to note: Gary Cohn, director of the National Economic Council, is listed as receiving a $30,000 salary, the minimum to receive health insurance.
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Trump admin considers removing WH council on women

Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP

The Trump administration is considering dissolving President Obama's White House Council on Women and Girls, per a Politico report.

  • Hope Hicks, White House spokeswoman, said that the White House "is evaluating the best positioning of this office going forward," and stressed other initiatives the administration proposed that would "address gender disparities." Tina Tchen, former chief of staff to Michelle Obama, said the office "shows the priority you place" on women's issues.
  • Point of contact: Ivanka Trump has been "the most visible proponent for women's issues" in her father's administration. However, Terry O'Neill, President of the National Organization for Women, said she sees "no evidence" that Trump "has anyone in his orbit to advocate for women and girls."
  • Why it matters: Trump has been criticized for not respecting women and women's issues throughout his campaign and presidency, and abolishing this office could contribute to that conversation.
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Facebook expands 'Find Wi-Fi' feature globally

AP

Facebook is rolling out its feature to find nearby public Wi-Fi connections worldwide for both iOS and Android devices. The feature, which was introduced last year in select countries, helps users find internet service where wireless coverage is spotty, like in rural areas.

Why it matters: Helping its 2 billion users find free wireless broadband service in their vicinity obviously allows them to visit the app more frequently, even when they don't have reliable coverage. It's especially valuable for getting more users on the Facebook app in developing markets where consumers have limited or expensive data plans. Facebook is also investing in other similar projects to get more people connected wirelessly, such as its Internet.org initiative and a fiber backhaul network in Uganda. As TechCrunch points out, the tool also lets users to rely on Facebook instead of Google Maps to find nearby coffee shops, restaurants, or hotels with hotspots.

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Investors who back VC funds are worried about Valley culture

Lazaro Gamio / Axios

Limited partners in venture capital funds are having conversations about how to prevent themselves from investing in the next Binary Capital, the Silicon Valley firm that has collapsed over allegations that one of its co-founders sexually harassed female entrepreneurs. This includes the largest LP trade group – the Institutional Limited Partners Association – which tells Axios that it is planning to address these issues this summer, as part of the development of its new ILPA Principles 3.0 document.

Why it matters: Silicon Valley, and venture capital in particular, has swept sexual harassment under the rug for decades. Binary Capital, coming on top of the situation at Uber, has grabbed that rug and begun to shake it vigorously.

Who are limited partners in VC funds? Usually institutional investors, like college endowments, pension funds and charitable foundations. Also a lot of funds-of-funds that invest money on behalf of those aforementioned groups.

A big problem: Investing in a VC fund is really investing in people, even more than investing in a startup. But LPs rarely spend more than a few hours face-to-face with prospective managers, and often live outside the startup hotbeds where it's easier to hear market rumor. Instead, they often rely on past investment performance (which wouldn't reflect something like harassment) and references (both "on list" and "off list," if they're doing proper due diligence). The reality, however, is that few in the venture ecosystem are willing to be honest with LPs are the personal failings of a peer, particularly if it's a former colleague launching a new firm. Even if that colleague is only "former" because they've been told to find a new place of employment.

Need proof? When's the last time you heard of a VC being fired from his or her firm, outside of some extraordinary situations that involved outside legal action (e.g., Michael Goguen with Sequoia, Ifty Ahmed with Oak). Instead, firms ask troublesome partners to leave, and then play along with cover stories like the ex-partner leaving "to pursue a different investment strategy." Binary is an obvious example of this happening, but it's hardly unique.

What can LPs do? For starters, many LPs need to improve their due diligence. "Check the returns and check the box" no longer cuts it and, if an LP walks into the next Binary that way, they deserve what comes from their superiors. There has been some talk of inserting morals clauses into LP agreements, and that could be helpful if well written. A better option, however, could be to require that any allegations of sexual harassment, discrimination (sexual or racial), violence or other misdeeds by a member of the VC firm be confidentially reported to the firm's limited partner advisory committees (LPACs). Even if no action is taken, the largest fund investors would be aware, and it would better inform future commitment decisions.

What VCs can do: Stop covering up for bad behavior. Perhaps you are legally prohibited from telling an LP why a former partner has gone solo, but that doesn't mean you need to give a reference. An un-returned phone call can speak volumes without counting as defamation. If you believe your partner harassed women but you still tell LPs that they should support his new fund, then you're Silicon Valley's version of Catholic Church officials who moved around pedophile priests.

What's promising: I never before recall hearing LPs discuss these issues. Change is coming.

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Some states worry Trump launching "voter suppression" efforts

Alex Brandon / AP

Trump's Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity asked all 50 states and D.C. this week to hand over all publicly available data from state voter rolls and sensitive information about voters, including felony conviction info, military status, and voter history from 2006 onward. The deadline for sending info is in two weeks.

Why it matters: The commission is getting pushback — Virginia, Kentucky, California, and other states have already said they won't comply since they're concerned the administration is launching a "voter suppression" commission, not an election integrity commission. The DOJ also asked this week that 44 states send over information on the maintenance of voter rolls, ProPublica reports, raising the level of alarm.

  • Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe writes, "[a]t best this commission was set up as a pretext to validate Donald Trump's alternative election facts, and at worst is a tool to commit large-scale voter suppression."
  • Kentucky Secretary of State Alison L. Grimes writes it's "at best a waste of taxpayer money and at worst an attempt to legitimize voter suppression efforts."
  • California Secretary of State Alex Padilla writes that "the ultimate goal of the commission is to enact policies that will result in the disenfranchisement of American citizens." Padilla claims the commission is also a "distraction from the real threats…Russian interference in our elections…"

The Hill reports 24 states total are pushing back, including Virginia, Kentucky, and California, as well as Indiana, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, South Dakota, North Dakota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Colorado, Minnesota, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Nevada, New Mexico, Tennessee, New York. Alabama wasn't sure it would comply but said it wanted to be "helpful." Missouri said the request seemed "fair," and Kansas, whose secretary of state is vice chair of the commission, will be providing the info.

The goal: VP Mike Pence said the commission's aim is to bring back U.S. election integrity and "to protect and preserve the principle of one person, one vote," per The San Diego Union Tribune.

What the commission wants: The first, middle, and last names of registrants, their addresses, dates of birth, political party, the last four digits of their social security numbers, active/inactive status, cancelled status, information on voter registration in another state.

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Marine Le Pen charged with misusing E.U. funds

Francois Mori / AP

Far-right French politician and presidential finalist Marine Le Pen was officially charged today with "breach of trust." She is accused of using European Parliament money meant to fund parliamentary assistants to pay staffers for her National Front Party instead, per The Atlantic.

Sounds familiar: The allegations had become an issue back in February during the presidential campaign when the European Parliament threatened to withhold her pay — at the time, she said that would not "submit to persecution."

Le Pen's National Front has been unable to secure funding in the past given some of its extreme political stances, notably cozying up to Russia and Vladimir Putin in order to get a loan to keep itself a float.

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U.S. mothers die in childbirth more than any other developed country

Biswaranjan Rout / AP

More U.S. mothers die in childbirth than in any other developed country, Vox reports. The maternal mortality rate in the U.S. — 26.4 deaths per 100,000 births — is three times higher than in the U.K., Germany, or Japan. It's eight times higher than the rate in the Netherlands and Sweden, two countries known for successful health care systems. And Texas has the highest maternal mortality rate in the developed world, with 36 mothers dying per 100,000 babies born.

Why it matters: The GOP health care plan proposes letting states opt out of the ACA's "essential health benefits" — a set of 10 categories of care that insurance plans are required to cover. One of the categories is maternity care.

Go deeper: A common cause of maternal death in the U.S. is placenta accreta, a condition in which a mother's placental tissue spreads throughout her body instead of containing itself to the uterus. This leads to severe internal bleeding, blood-clotting and, in many cases, death. A major risk factor for placenta accreta is a previous C-section delivery, which leaves residual scarring. Today, there are 60 times as many c-sections in the U.S. as there were in the 1950s.

But David Lagrew, an OB-GYN in California, told Vox that many of the C-sections performed in American hospitals are not medically necessary. Rather, they are convenient for the doctor or patient. Lagrew's organization, California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative, collects childbirth data from dozens of hospitals and analyzes which C-sections were necessary and which were not. He reports back to the hospitals to bring down their C-section rates.

This story has been updated to correct the description of how the Republican health care plan treats essential health benefits.

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A weary retail sector looks to AI for salvation

Koji Sasahara / AP

Retailers are suffering the twin headwinds of slow productivity growth and a competitive e-commerce environment that pits stores against each other on price. With retail stocks sputtering — The SPDR S&P Retail ETF is down 4% over twelve months — it's no wonder retailers are turning to AI technology as a potential lifeline.

RetailWeek's Friday report on AI impacting retail touts tools like AI-enabled systems that sort through customer emails to surface those that are most urgent, without wasting man hours on triage decisions. And it highlights an experimental robot that answers simple questions while helping shoppers navigate a San Francisco-based Lowes.

Why it matters: Amazonization is leading to a retail environment where a few stores thrive at the expense of a great struggling mass of competitors. If traditional retailers want to break this spell, they will have to boldly experiment with these technologies in the hopes of gaining an edge.