Today’s Headlines and Commentary

Counsel for a former National Security Council employee alleged today that the White House improperly sought to block publication of John Bolton’s memoir, according to the Times. In a letter filed in federal court, attorney Kenneth L. Wainstein detailed how the White House had sought to pressure the NSC employee into making false statements about Bolton’s book, “The Room Where It Happened.” The “apolitical process” of prepublication review, Wainstein wrote, “was “commandeered by political appointees for a seemingly political purpose.” 

The FBI and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency (CISA) have released a joint statement warning of likely foreign interference in the 2020 election. Due to the increased use of mail-in ballots—and in turn the increased chance that officials will have incomplete returns on election night—the FBI and CISA write that cybercriminals may post misleading information to convince voters of the elections’ illegitimacy. The agencies warned the American public to be discerning in the news they consume. 

A Georgia hospital near an ICE facility has allegedly recorded only two sterilizations of immigrant women since 2017, writes the Washington Post. The Department of Homeland Security and Congress are investigating the hospital after a former ICE employee complained last week of “jarring medical neglect” and hysterectomies performed without informed consent on ICE detainees.

Pennsylvania Republicans have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the state’s protocol for counting mail-in ballots, according to the Washington Post. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled last week that mail-in ballots will be counted if they were postmarked by Nov. 3, although later postmarks can be counted too unless a “preponderance of evidence” shows they were cast after Election Day. Republicans argue that the new policy violates the Election Clause by allowing voters to cast ballots after Election Day. 

State Department personnel are seeking an arms deal with Russia before the November election, reports The Washington Post. Under the proposed renewal of a 2010 New START treaty, Presidents Trump and Putin would agree to limit the number of strategic nuclear warheads and launch platforms that they deploy. The Post explains that U.S. officials are frustrated by Russia’s coyness about whether it will extend the 2010 deal or negotiate a new treaty. 

Dutch officials have accused the U.S. Ambassador to the Netherlands of violating international law, according to the Washington Post. Ambassador Peter Hoekstra is under scrutiny for hosting a Sep. 10 fundraising event for a rising right-wing party called Forum for Democracy at the U.S. embassy in The Hague. A left-wing representative of the GroenLinks Party has called the event  “interference in our elections.” 

House Democrats have introduced a sweeping plan to combat presidential corruption, according to Axios. The Protecting Our Democracy Act enhances protections for whistleblowers, requires the attorney general to record communications between the Justice Department and the White House, and improves Congress’s ability to enforce subpoenas. To analysts, the bill is unlikely to become law as long as Republicans maintain control in the Senate. 

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee has released a widely disparaged report on Hunter Biden’s connections to Ukraine, reports Politico. 

The Justice Department has proposed changes to a much-maligned U.S. law dealing with online speech, writes Politico. Under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, companies have a legal shield when moderating hateful or misleading content. The Justice Department's bill would make platforms liable if they fail to remove content that violates federal criminal law, although it would also narrow the type of political content that platforms can remove. Analysts do not expect the bill to be passed. 

The European Commission announced today a plan for member states to share the responsibility of sheltering refugees, reports Deutsche Welle. The proposal comes after a fire destroyed the Moria camp of 13,000 asylum seekers in Greece, leaving many families homeless and in need of basic sanitation. If approved by the European Parliament, the pact would go into effect by 2023 and would require stricter border checks, an improved process for deporting failed asylum seekers and legal obligations for each member state to host refugees and send medical supplies where needed.  

Longtime dictator Alexander Lukashenko was sworn in as president of Belarus yesterday, writes The New York Times. Lukashenko has faced mass protests since a widely disputed Aug. 4 presidential election in which he claimed 80% of the vote. Inaugurations are typically broadcast live on television, but this week’s ceremony was conducted secretly at Lukashenko’s mansion in Minsk.

Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny was released from a Berlin hospital yesterday, reports CNN. Navalny was poisoned by a Novichok chemical agent while flying over Siberia last month, an attack that left him incapacitated for weeks. Navalny and many other Western observers suspect that the Kremlin was responsible. 

ICYMI: Yesterday on Lawfare

Jack Cable, Sydney Frankenberg, Pierce Lowary, Chase Small, Michael A. Specter, Adriana Stephan and Alex Zaheer explained why online voting isn’t a viable option in the United States this year. 

Tia Sewell shared the livestream of the House Oversight and Reform Committee’s hearing on the Trump administration’s Afghanistan strategy. 

Russell Spivak analyzed the Fifth Circuit’s recent holding that the Selective Service’s male-only registration requirement is constitutional.  

Jen Patja Howell released an episode of The Lawfare Podcast entitled “Detention Questions and Women of the Islamic State.” Lawfare’s Jacob Schulz spoke with Vera Minova, a research fellow at Harvard, and Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, the United Nations special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism. 

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