Here’s what happened in Trump’s 11th week in office. Things are getting a little more complicated…

Russian Investigation:

1. It turns out that Susan Rice did make multiple requests to unmask the identity of Trump associates who were incidentally surveilled last year. Trump accuses her of committing a crime with no evidence that what she did was wrong. The House Intelligence Committee wants her to testify.
2. In the days before Trump’s inauguration, Erik Prince, founder of Blackwater, met in secret with a Russian associate of Putin in an attempt to create an alleged “back-channel line of communication” between Putin and Trump. The UAE  arranged the meeting. The FBI is investigating this as part of the Russia probe, but it isn’t clear whether Trump knew about the meeting nor what they actually talked about. Prince says the meeting was incidental.
3. Devin Nunes announces that he’ll step down from heading the house committee investigation into Russian ties. On the same day, the house ethics committee announces that Nunes is under investigation for possibly leaking classified information. He’s replaced by Mike Conaway of Texas.
4. We find out that senior lawmakers in Washington knew last June about the intelligence community’s information that Russia was actively trying to get Trump elected. This was earlier than we were previously led to believe.
5. I had hope that the Senate Intelligence Committee would handle their investigation more professionally than the House, but it turns out that the head of the committee, Richard Burr, was not only an avid supporter of Trump on the campaign trail but he also claims to have been instrumental in the FBI investigation into Hillary’s emails. Some Republicans say they need to remove any appearance of bias, but others vouch for Burr’s honesty. So for now, he’s the leader on this.
6. A majority of Americans want an independent investigation of this. I think we’re all tired of the partisanship on display.

Courts/Justice:

1. Democrats achieve enough support for a filibuster of Neil Gorsuch’s confirmation.
2. Senator Jeff Merkley holds the floor for 14 hours in a filibuster of Gorsuch’s nomination. OK. It wasn’t technically a filibuster; it was an extended debate.
3. We learn that Gorsuch failed to cite sources for his book, copying from previously published legal documents without crediting the original authors. A tidbit that failed to surface during his hearings.
   
4. Senate Republicans resort to the “nuclear option” to confirm Neil Gorsuch. This changes the rules of the Senate so they can confirm Supreme Court nominees with a simple majority instead of a filibuster-proof 60. All 52 Republicans voted for it; no Democrats did. Note that Democrats changed the rules for lower courts in 2013, but not for the Supreme Court. Fingers are pointed in every direction over whose fault this is and reactions are mixed. Some people are furious and others are like “good riddance, outdated filibuster.”
5. AG Sessions orders the DoJ to review all police reform agreements (called consent decrees), both currently active and pending. He says he wants to be sure they support police safety and morale, but civil rights activists are wary.
6. Trump says he can’t be sued while in office, citing Clinton vs. Jones as his basis. But the Supreme Court decision allowing the Jones suit is what led to Clinton’s impeachment.

Healthcare:

1. Republicans in the House start negotiations on the healthcare bill again. Discussions between the White House and Freedom Caucus include removing the ACA’s pre-existing condition requirement and loosening requirements in general, meaning that states could opt out of any of the things we liked about the ACA like covering essential health benefits, keeping children on your plan until age 26, protections for people with pre-existing coverage, and so on. The markets could become largely inaccessible to a large group of Americans.

International:

1. A bomb explodes in a metro train in St. Petersburg, Russia, as it was running between two stations. Eleven are killed and 45 injured. A second, larger bomb is defused in another station. It is being labeled a terrorist attack though no group has claimed responsibility.
2. In a reboot of U.S./Egypt relations, Trump meets with Egypt’s President, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. This is an apparent change from Obama’s stance on Sisi as an authoritarian leader. Trump’s shift indicates that fighting ISIS is more important than fighting authoritarian regimes.
3. Jared Kushner flies to Iraq with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Joseph Dunford (on Dunford’s invitation). The purpose of the trip is to get a first-hand assessment of anti-ISIS operations and find ways to speed up the defeat of ISIS.
4. Trump meets with King Abdullah of Jordan.
5. Syria’s Assad allegedly gasses civilians in a chemical attack (using sarin) in Syria, just days after Tillerson says we have no quarrel with Assad staying in power. Moscow and Assad both deny that Assad is responsible.
6. Trump denounces the attack roundly, and, in the U.S.’s first direct attack against the Assad regime, retaliates with a military strike of 59 Tomahawk missiles against a military base in Syria. While many members of Congress approve, Trump is also criticized by those who think he should’ve obtained congressional approval first and by nationalists who think we should butt out. Worries are he might escalate further without congressional approval.
7. Putin condemns the missile attack and labels it as an act of aggression, though Russia was warned well ahead of time. This cements Putin’s support of Assad. Western leaders support the missile attack.
8. U.S. and Russia suspend air coordination over Syria, and Russia moves a warship to the Mediterranean.
9. Trump blames Obama for the chemical attack in Syria, saying Obama should have been more aggressive about his red line threats. Which contradicts his own non-interventionist stance prior to the election (Twitter is forever, folks). Tillerson also blames Russia for not making sure the chemical weapons were destroyed in 2013.
10. Russia and Iran both warn of retaliation if the US attacks Assad again.
11. U.S. says it will keep the pressure up on Syria, though it’s not clear what that means.
12. The day after the tomahawk missile attack, Syrian planes return to bomb the city that it launched the chemical attacks against.
13. ISIS claims responsibility for two church bombings in Egypt on Palm Sunday that kill 45 and injure more than 100 people. Trump calls Sisi to offer support and condolences.
14. In Sweden, an Uzbek asylum seeker drives a stolen beer truck into a crowd killing four and injuring 15. He had been denied asylum and was slated to be deported.
15. North Korea executes a ballistic missile test for the fourth time this year.
16. Days ahead of his meeting with China’s president, Trump says he can solve the North Korea nuclear weapons problem with or without China. He also says he doesn’t have to tell us how.
17. The U.S. moves a warship toward the Korean peninsula.
18. The State Department cuts off funding to UNFPA, the UN group that works on reproductive health care around the world. The reason they gave is an accusation that their own task force found to be incorrect around coercive abortions in working with China. In one year, US funding to UNFPA prevented around 320,000 unintended pregnancies and around 100,000 unsafe abortions, numbers that will assuredly go down without the contraception and education UNFPA provides.

Legislation:

1. 
The Texas state House defeats a bill that would’ve established a school voucher system in the state. The bill went down 103-44 in the GOP-held House, likely due to Democrats teaming up with Republicans from rural areas who see the bill as harming smaller, rural schools.
2. Trump signs the congressional resolution reversing internet privacy rules so internet providers can once again sell your private information, including browsing history, for ad revenue.
3. The Senate passes the resolution repealing the Refuge Rule, which protects carnivorous animals in Alaska. While predators need to be managed, the rule prohibited extreme hunting practices like using steel-jaw traps and killing wolf pups, bear cubs, and mama bears with cubs. Trump later signs the resolution into law.
4. A federal judge blocks a law signed by Mike Pence when he was still governor of Indiana that would require women to have an ultrasound at least 18 hours before getting an abortion.
5. A federal court rules that the district lines drawn by North Carolina’s state legislature in Greensboro were based on racial gerrymandering. Courts have repeatedly shot down Republican-led efforts to redistrict in North Carolina. How much time and money do we waste on gerrymandering lawsuits? These are efforts to make sure that the democratic process is not carried out and it happens on both sides.
6. A new caucus is forming in Congress, with a membership currently up to 70 members. The Problem Solvers Caucus consists of both Democrats and Republicans whose goal is to work together and develop common approaches to solve the problems we face. If you’re tired of partisanship and gridlock, urge your representative to become a member of this caucus and put partisanship aside.
7. Members of Represent Us submit a constitutional amendment in South Dakota for 2018 that would protect voter rights and get money and corruption out of politics. If you remember, last year South Dakota constituents voted to pass a sweeping anti-corruption law, but the legislature called a fake state of emergency so they could repeal it, overriding the voice of the people. SD peeps — keep an eye out for signature gatherers this summer so you can help get this bill on the ballot.

Travel Ban/Immigration/Discrimination:

1. Trump considers an extreme form of vetting where incoming travelers could have to give up their contact and password information as well as answer questions about ideology. And we’re not just talking about travelers from certain countries, but all travelers.
   
2. The EU votes to suspend the visa waiver program with the U.S. based on our failure to include certain EU countries in our VWP. This is non-binding and we could possibly remedy it. But for now, we’re looking at the possibility of having to obtain a visa to travel anywhere in Europe.
3. On top of issues with eminent domain around building the Mexico wall, some US citizens are looking at the possibility that parts of their land, or even their homes, will end up on the Mexico side of the wall. As with the fence in 2006, this will lead to extended law suits, which landowners all lost in 2006.
4. University of California school systems report a decline in foreign student applications.
5. The government receives a deluge of H-1B visa applications this year due to the lack of clarity around the future of the program.
6. Just this year alone, the U.S. is expected to lose $1.6 billion in tourism dollars from visitors from Mexico largely due to confusion around the administration’s rules governing travel to the U.S. This doesn’t include the amount the industry expects to lose in tourism from other countries. Canada, on the other hand, is experiencing a dramatic increase in Mexican tourism.
7. The California Senate passed a bill that would make CA a sanctuary state, moving it to the Assembly for approval. The latest bill makes it easier for law enforcement to contact ICE about violent felons.
   
8. A UCLA study finds that 37% of LA County residents fear that family or friends will be deported under Trump.
9. John Kelly of Homeland Security says the wall likely won’t be built all the way across the border. He also denies the previously reported plan to separate mothers and children on arrival, saying that won’t happen unless circumstances require it.
10. A federal appeals court rules that the Civil Rights Act must be interpreted on changing societal norms and that it includes protections for members of the LGBT community. Thus companies can’t discriminate based on sexual orientation.
11. After Twitter launches a first amendment lawsuit, the Trump administration withdraws a request to identify Twitter use who’s been highly critical of Trump.

Climate/EPA:

1. The New York AG sues the Trump administration over changes to fuel efficiency standards, claiming that the changes obstruct the implementation of energy efficiency standards, which would save billions of dollars and eliminate millions of tons of air pollution. In fact, 17 states have filed a lawsuit against the administration over the rollbacks to climate change regulations.
2. In a twist of irony, the Kentucky Coal Mining Museum announces they are switching to solar panels to cut down on the cost of electricity for the building.
3. California signs an agreement with Scotland to work together on climate issues.
4. California declares the historic drought is finally over for most of the state. Now we have no excuse for our dead lawn.
5. Trump seeks to put a DC circuit court decision on the Clean Power Act on hold.
6. Trump has opened a path for a project to remove groundwater from the Mojave desert with the intent to sell it to California municipalities. Expect several lawsuits over this one.

Budget/Economy:

1. In a move that will raise taxes on anyone who pays state and federal taxes, House Republicans are looking at a plan to get rid of the federal income tax deduction for state and local taxes.
2. Analysts say that Trump’s proposed budget cuts would have a disproportionate effect on rural areas. Not only would it reduce assistance to the poor (hot meals, legal aid, housing, and so on), but it would also include cuts to air services, train service, healthcare services and facilities, and agricultural funding, among others.
3. Trump’s proposal to cut biomedical research spending by 18% gets a lot of blowback from both parties. This would affect funds to all states, and would seriously hamper our ability to conduct research on diseases like cancer, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, and so on. Spicer explained that they are cutting indirect costs, which includes things like utilities, data storage, and lab maintenance. These expenses won’t go away just because they aren’t funded.
4. The unemployment rate continued downward to 4.5% this month, a 10-year low — despite only adding 98,000 jobs in March. This is down from 235,000 jobs added in February and from 215,000 in March a year ago.

A Whole Lotta Miscellaneous Stuff:

1. Rumors abound about White House staff shakeups and infighting, primarily around Bannon, Preibus, and Kushner. It’s all just rumor at this point though.
2. According to Trump’s trust that was supposed to divest him of his business interests, he can take out principle or income whenever he wants.
3. Jared Kushner is in charge of these things: Middle East peace, the new White House Office of American Innovation (which includes the opioid epidemic), Criminal Justice Reform, Liaison to Mexico, Liaison to China, and Liaison to the Muslim community.
4. Lt. Gen. McMaster, Trump’s national security advisor, manages to get Steve Bannon removed from the National Security Council and reinstates the senior military and intelligence personnel who had been previously downgraded. The White House says Bannon was only there to monitor Michael Flynn, but a) why did they appoint someone who needed monitoring, and b) why didn’t they remove Bannon from the council after Flynn resigned?
5. Trump donates his first quarter salary to the National Park Service.
6. Trump’s approval rating hits a low of 34% and Vegas odds are 3:1 that he gets impeached.
7. In one interview, Trump defends Bill O’Reilly against his sexual harassment accusers, and says Susan Rice might have broken the law. He has now accused both Obama and his AG of committing crimes.
8. In a speech to construction workers, Trump says “There was a very large infrastructure bill that was approved during the Obama administration, $1 trillion, and nobody ever saw anything being built. To this day I haven’t heard of anything that’s been built. They took this money and used it on social programs.” First, it was a stimulus bill, and second it did build things. According to the Transportation Department, it “initiated more than 13,000 projects through the Federal Highway Administration, improving more than 42,000 miles of road and more than 2,700 bridges.” At the time, Trump praised Obama’s stimulus approach.
9. The secret service works to increase funding to keep up with the demands of securing the president’s far-flung and much-traveled family. They’ve been pulling dozens of agents off criminal cases to pull two-week stints covering the family.
10. An ISIS spokesman calls Trump a foolish idiot, saying our demise is evident.
11. Trump entertains Rush Limbaugh over dinner at the White House.
12. Trump tells the NY Times “Elijah Cummings was in my office and he said, ‘You will go down as one of the great presidents in the history of our country.'” Cummings said he actually told the president he could be a great president if he would stop using divisive rhetoric.
13. Despite Trump’s order on lobbying restrictions, some of his former staffers are looking for lobbying work with foreign clients.
14. As of week 11, Trump has yet to man up the departments responsible for monitoring released Gitmo detainees and making sure they are reintegrating into society and not starting up terrorist or militant activities. Experts worry that we’re losing valuable intel, but this could be part of Trump’s plan to reduce the size of government.
15. The German government drafts a bill aimed at curbing fake news, and it is expected to pass into law.
16. Facebook and Google both launch tools to help you ferret out fake news. Facebook’s is an educational tool that appears at the top of your feed and that you can click to get more information. Google will highlight fact-checking information in search results if it’s available.