Day 776: The Latest.
Updated 3/6/2019 6:21 AM PST
Trump pressured his then-chief of staff John Kelly and White House counsel Don McGahn to give Ivanka a security clearance against their recommendations. Trump does have the legal authority to grant clearances to anyone he wants, but those decisions are typically left up to White House security personnel. Trump pushed Kelly and McGahn to approve Jared and Ivanka's clearances after the personnel office raised concerns, and Trump wanted them to make the final decision so it wouldn't look like he had a hand in the process. After both of them refused, Trump granted the clearances anyway. (CNN)
Trump took time away from his official presidential duties on 11 different occasions to sign checks made out to his then-personal attorney, Michael Cohen. The checks were meant as reimbursement for the hush money payments Cohen made to women in order to prevent Trump's alleged sexual misconduct from being exposed by the media before the 2016 election. The dates on the newly available checks show Trump was simultaneously managing affairs of state while also quietly repaying his personal attorney for keeping Trump's personal secrets hidden from the public. (New York Times)
New commercial imagery and analysis reveal that North Korea has started a "rapid rebuilding" of its long-range ballistic missile site at the Sohae Launch Facility. The site is North Korea's only operational space launch facility, and uses similar technology to what is used to launch intercontinental ballistic missiles. The renewed activity was observed just two days after the latest summit in Hanoi, Vietnam between Trump and Kim Jong-Un, and "may indicate North Korean plans to demonstrate resolve in the face of U.S. rejection of North Korea's demands at the summit to lift five U.N. Security Council sanctions enacted in 2016-2017," according to a project sponsored by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. (NBC News / New York Times)
Newly obtained documents reveal that ICE has been keeping tabs on a series of left-leaning and "anti-Trump protests" in New York City. The agency tracked protests that promoted immigrants' rights and those that opposed Trump's deportation policies, plus one protest against the NRA and one that was organized by a sitting member of Congress. (The Nation)
