Today's Headlines and Commentary

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani announced that Iran would end compliance with certain provisions of the Iran nuclear agreement, the New York Times reports. Rouhani said Iran would restart development of low enriched uranium and heavy water stockpiles, and threatened to resume nuclear reactor construction and end compliance with uranium enrichment limits if the deal’s European signatories could not save the agreement by increasing trade with Iran.

At the request of the Justice Department, President Donald Trump asserted executive privilege—the first such assertion of his presidency—over the Mueller report’s underlying material in response to the House Judiciary Committee’s threats to hold Attorney General Bill Barr in contempt for his failure to provide an unredacted version of the report to the full judiciary and intelligence committees pursuant to a prior subpoena, the Washington Post reports. Lawfare shared the letter from Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd to the House Judiciary Committee announcing the invocation of the privilege.

Under new authorities, U.S. Cyber Command has conducted election security operations in non-Pentagon networks in Ukraine, Montenegro and Macedonia to counter malicious Russian cyber operations, the Post details.

In testimony before a Senate Appropriations subcommittee, FBI Director Chris Wray said he had not seen evidence to support assertions that the FBI illegally “spied” on Trump’s 2016 campaign, the AP reports. Lawfare shared a video of the testimony.

The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit temporarily stayed a previous district court injunction of the Trump administration’s “remain in Mexico” policy that requires non-Mexican asylum-seekers to wait in Mexico while their cases are pending, NPR reports. Lawfare shared the full per curiam opinion.

ICYMI: Yesterday on Lawfare

Responding to Jack Goldsmith’s commentary on Attorney General Barr’s handling of the Mueller report, Robert Litt argued that Barr’s conduct represents a political defense of President Trump.

Frederica Saini Fasanotti made the case for increased U.S. engagement in Libya in light of Gen. Khalifa Hafter’s recent advances towards Tripoli.

Matthew Kahn shared letters related to the White House’s assertion of executive privilege over documents regarding former White House counsel Donald McGahn’s cooperation with the special counsel’s office, in response to the House Judiciary Committee's subpoena of the material.

Sarah Grant and Rachel Hanna recapped recent proceedings in the 9/11 military commission.

Jen Patja Howell shared a new episode of the Lawfare Podcast: Culper Partners Rule of Law Series featuring a discussion with former Deputy Attorney General Jamie Gorelick.

Mikhaila Fogel posted a video of FBI Director Chris Wray’s testimony before the Senate Appropriations Committee.

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