Wiretap: AG Sessions is onto something new, targeting agreements on police violence

Attorney General Jeff Sessions has moved from illegal immigration to another contentious topic — police violence.  And the outcry may be nearly as loud. Sessions has announced that the Justice Department will review dozens of federal agreements with troubled police forces, like those in Baltimore and Ferguson, Missouri, to ensure that “the individual misdeeds of bad actors should not impugn” what police do “in keeping American communities safe.” Via The New York Times.

The Washington Post is reporting that Blackwater founder Erik Prince held a secret meeting with a close Vladimir Putin ally in early January in order to set up a back-channel line of communication between Moscow and then-president-elect Donald Trump.

The terms of the Senate fight over Neil Gorsuch seem to be set. Despite Michael Bennet’s decision not to join his party’s filibuster of Gorsuch, Democrats now have the votes to filibuster Gorsuch’s nomination. And Republicans have the votes to employ the nuclear option to ban filibusters for Supreme Court nominees. Via The New York Times.

If you’re confused about the so-called nuclear option and what it means to the Supreme Court confirmation process, Vox has the explainer for you.

Those worried about conflicts of interest in the White House might want to know that the Trump trusts allow the president to withdraw as much money as he wants from his businesses whenever he wants — and without having to tell anyone. Via ProPublica.

Can new levels of Democratic fury and whole bunch of Democratic cash help a 30-year-old candidate win the Georgia congressional seat once held by Newt Gingrich? It could be close. Via New York magazine.

More bad news for Sebastian Gorka, Trump’s controversial counter-terrorism adviser. The Forward is reporting that as a political leader in Hungary in 2007, Gorka publicly supported a violent, racist and anti-Semitic militia. The Forward has the video to prove it.

One of the big questions still hanging over the Russian 2016 hacking scandal: Did Barack Obama blow it? In his effort not to interfere with the presidential campaign, did Obama, in fact, help turn the tide for Trump? Via Politico.

Byron York: Adam Schiff went to the White House to clear up the Devin Nunes affair. And yet, after Schiff saw the same materials Nunes saw, he refused to clear up anything. Via The Washington Examiner.

It’s a rare occurrence, but in this case it happened. Both the left and right agreed that Fox News’s Chris Wallace destroyed EPA head Scott Pruitt in an interview about climate change. Via The Washington Post.

Photo via Ted Van Pelt, Flickr: Creative Commons