Day 435
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Czech officials have extradited a Russian hacker to the U.S. to face charges that he hacked into LinkedIn, Dropbox, and other American companies. Yevgeniy Nikulin, who denies that he is a hacker, was was arrested by Czech officials in Prague in cooperation with the FBI in October 2016. (Associated Press)
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Two watchdog groups have filed a criminal complaint against the Trump campaign and a super PAC controlled by John Bolton, alleging that the organizations violated a law that prohibits foreign countries from participating in U.S. elections. The complaint, filed by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), alleges that the Trump campaign, along with Bolton's super PAC and its former chairman Steve Bannon, were aware of Cambridge Analytica's attempts to affect the 2016 presidential election and worked in concert with the organization, a violation of the Federal Election Campaign Act. (The Hill / Washington Post)
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Trump told White House aides not to publicly discuss a plan to provide new U.S. weapons to Ukraine to help the country fight back against Russian-backed separatists. Officials said Trump was concerned that doing so might agitate Vladimir Putin. "He doesn't want us to bring it up," said one White House official. "It is not something he wants to talk about." (NBC News)
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EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt leased a Washington, D.C. apartment owned by a lobbyist for just $50 a night — and he only had to pay the fee on nights when he actually slept at the one-bedroom apartment. The owner of the apartment is a lobbyist for the healthcare industry, and his firm represents clients in the very industries that are regulated by the EPA. (Bloomberg Politics)
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A federal judge in Brooklyn has ruled that a lawsuit seeking to preserve DACA can continue, citing Trump's "racially charged language." The order is the strongest signal of judicial support for DACA from the courts to date. The order, which rejected a motion to dismiss the case, says that Trump's "racial slurs" and "epithets" as a candidate and as president are enough to warrant a "plausible inference" that the decision to end DACA would be a violation of the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution. (New York Times)