Mulvaney says he changed the name of the CFPB to 'send a message'

Mick Mulvaney changed the name of an agency he currently heads to "send a message" about following the law, he said Tuesday.

Mulvaney, the acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, has changed the agency's name to the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection to bring it into alignment with the text of the 2010 law that created it.

"We changed the name because it’s the name in the statute," Mulvaney told reporters Tuesday at the agency. "And if… your whole theme is going to be, 'we’re going to follow the statute,' I thought it was a good, small way – but a very visible way – to send a message."

On Monday, the signage at the agency's headquarters across from the White House changed to read "BCFP," replacing the older "CFPB" signs.

Mulvaney said the changes cost nothing, and are a "good thing," to the extent that they get people asking about the underlying law.

Critics have said that the change hurts the brand value previously built up by the agency operating under the title "CFPB."

Mulvaney has also introduced a new seal for the agency. The design, he said Tuesday, actually took shape under his predecessor, Richard Cordray. Only the name of the agency and a few other details were changed before it rolled out to the public.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/economy/mulvaney-says-he-changed-the-name-of-the-cfpb-to-send-a-message

Robert Mueller warns of active Russian intelligence operations in US

Special counsel Robert Mueller is asking a judge to limit what evidence is given to a Russian firm indicted for election meddling — because intelligence operations are still ongoing in regard to the case.

Mueller’s office is asking Judge Dabney Friedrich in Washington to issue an order to limit what documents are shared with Concord Management and Consulting, a company that allegedly financially backed a Russian troll-farm.

Disclosing information would help foreign intelligence services — especially Russia — in “future operations against the United States,” Mueller’s prosecutors wrote in a filing Tuesday.

“The substance of the government’s evidence identifies uncharged individuals and entities that the government believes are continuing to engage in interference operations like those charged in the present indictment,” they explained.

Concord Management and Consulting has pleaded not guilty to conspiracy against the U.S. and asked the federal government to turn over troves of information as it prepares for trial.

According to federal prosecutors, the case involves thousands of communications and documents involving U.S. residents “who were, as alleged in the [February] indictment, unwittingly recruited by certain defendants and co-conspirators to engage in political activity inside the United States, such as attending Russian-organized rallies inside the United States.”

Mueller’s team is also worried that “certain foreign individuals” might try to intercept any information sent beyond law offices in the U.S.

"The evidence in this case will also include numerous reports and affidavits filed in connection with this investigation that describe investigative steps, identify uncharged co-conspirators, and disclose various law enforcement and intelligence collection techniques," the filing reads.

The two attorneys representing Concord, Eric Dubelier and Katherine Seikaly, have accused the special counsel of a “make-believe” charge. Concord was one of two Russian companies charged by Mueller in February.

"The reason is obvious, and is political: to justify his own existence the Special Counsel has to indict a Russian — any Russian," they wrote in a court filing last month.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/robert-mueller-warns-of-active-russian-intelligence-operations-in-u-s

Official report will 'show devastatingly' wrongdoings by James Comey and Andrew McCabe, Republican congressman says

Republican Rep. Pete King of New York said he believes the forthcoming report from the Justice Department’s internal watchdog will show “devastatingly” the missteps from former FBI Director James Comey and former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe.

“The [inspector general] report, I think it’s going to show devastatingly, it will show improprieties here by Director Comey and the way he proceeded, and also Andrew McCabe, at the very least, plus the two love birds,” King told Fox News on Tuesday.

The “two love birds” King referenced are FBI officials Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, who were engaged in an extramarital affair and were found to have exchanged derogatory messages about President Trump before the 2016 election.

Page resigned from her post at the bureau last month.

The Justice Department’s inspector general has been working on a report examining the FBI and Justice Department’s handling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server.

The highly anticipated report is expected to be made public June 14 and run several hundred-pages long.

In a letter to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley last week, Inspector General Michael Horowitz said the report will be released once review processes and classification are finished. But he told Grassley, R-Iowa, “most of this process is now complete.”

https:// www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/official-report-will-show-devastatingly-wrongdoings-by-james-comey-and-andrew-mccabe-republican-congressman-says

Bob Corker rips Senate GOP for blocking his effort to fight Trump's tariffs: 'I can't believe it!'

Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., railed against Republican leaders Tuesday for preventing a vote on his amendment to give Congress a chance to reject the president's national security-related tariffs.

When GOP leaders prevented the vote, Corker took to the Senate floor to mock Senate Republicans for being afraid of upsetting President Trump, and not wanting to "poke the bear" by letting his amendment come to the floor.

"I know there's not going to be a vote on this amendment. I know it," Corker said.

"I heard the senior senator from Texas saying the other day, 'Well gosh, we might upset the president. We might upset the president of the United States before the midterms!'" Corker said, referring to Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. "'So, gosh, we can't vote on the Corker amendment because we're taking, rightly so, the responsibilities that we have to deal with tariffs and revenues. We can't do that because we'd be upsetting the president.'"

"I can't believe it!" Corker said as his voice went up an octave. He said he believes that at least 95 percent of Senate Republicans support his amendment "intellectually."

"A lot of them would vote for it if it came to a vote. But no, no, no, gosh, 'We might poke the bear' is the language I've been hearing in the hallways. We might poke the bear! The president might get upset with us as United States senators if we vote on the Corker amendment, so we're going to do everything we can to block it!" Corker said. "The United States Senate right now … is becoming a body where, 'Well we'll do what we can do, but my gosh, if the president gets upset with us, then we might not be in the majority! So lets not do anything that might upset the president.'"

Corker has been an outspoken critic of the president's decision to hit Canada, Mexico, and the European Union with tariffs on steel and aluminum products and has pushed this amendment, which Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has said would not get a standalone vote on the Senate floor.

The amendment would give Congress the authority to approve or vote down tariffs enacted by the president through Section 232, which gives the president the ability to impose tariffs for national security purposes. Many lawmakers have questioned the president's decision to do this to the group of U.S. allies, who they say do not pose a national security risk as many are tied through alliances.

Corker has moved forward with the amendment despite cajoling from Trump and McConnell for him to drop this push.

The bipartisan measure has 14 co-sponsors, including Corker, the outgoing GOP senator.

https:// www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/congress/bob-corker-rips-senate-gop-for-blocking-his-effort-to-fight-trumps-tariffs-i-cant-believe-it