Monday, April 17

á       The Washington Post reported that immigration arrests rose 32.6 percent in the first weeks of the Trump administration.

á       A white nationalist Trump supporter accused of assaulting a young woman at a Trump campaign rally claimed he Òacted pursuant to the directives and requests of Donald Trump,Ó who is being sued for inciting violence at campaign rallies.

á      Trump planned to sign an order that will make it harder for tech companies to replace American workers with cheaper foreign labor, and will strengthen rules barring foreign contractors from bidding on government projects.

á       Trump eliminated an ethics requirement that barred lobbyists and corporate consultants from joining Federal agencies that theyÕve lobbied for two years — an act that allows them to be hired by Federal agencies to work on policies likely to benefit clients.

Tuesday, April 18

á       TrumpÕs campaign vow to pull the U.S. out of the Paris climate deal is now being challenged by some of his most senior advisers.

á       The Trump administration has been quietly loosening firearms restrictions to appease gun owners, the NRA, and corporate firearm lobbyists who supported him on the campaign trail.

á       Attorney General Sessions has not hired any attorneys to replace the dozens who resigned or were fired last month, and thus still has no team to lead his tough-on-crime efforts across the country.

Wednesday, April 19

á       Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the Trump administration is weighing whether to effectively break the terms of the landmark 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

á       Energy Transfer PartnersÕ new $4.2 billion Rover Pipeline, approved by the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, spilled millions of gallons of drilling fluids into OhioÕs wetlands.

á       Federal agencies have been hampered by the Trump administration because it has failed to appoint hundreds of mid-level managers at Cabinet agencies.

Thursday, April 20

á       It was confirmed that a Moscow-based think tank linked to Russian President Putin created a plan to swing the 2016 presidential election in favor of Donald Trump.

á       The Wall Street Journal reported that in recent months, Exxon Mobil applied for permission from the U.S. government to drill in several areas of the Black Sea banned by U.S. sanctions on Russia.

á       The Associated Press reported that Dow Chemical is pushing the Trump administration to ignore the findings of federal scientists regarding a family of widely used pesticides that are harmful to about 1,800 critically threatened or endangered species.

á       The House Intelligence Committee asked former acting Attorney General Sally Yates to testify publicly in the panelÕs probe into Russian interference in the U.S. election.

Friday, April 21

á       The U.S. Treasury Department said that it would not waive trade sanctions on Russia for U.S. firms, including Exxon Mobil seeking to drill in several areas of the Black Sea.

á       U.S. authorities prepared charges to seek the arrest of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

á       Distrust of Trump and his military advisors surfaced when Trump claimed ÒWe are sending an armadaÓ to North Korea; however, it was later reported the carrier USS Carl Vinson and its accompanying ships were heading in the other direction, thousands of miles away.

á       Outcry over the increase in border searches that require Americans to unlock their phones, laptops, and other digital devices for apps and files to be searched and copied, sparked lawmakers in the Senate and House to introduce the Protecting Data at the Border Act.

á       Trump eliminated some Dodd-Frank financial regulations to roll back rules originally aimed at reducing corporate tax avoidance — an action described as doing special favors for Wall Street banks.

Saturday, April 22

á       The New York Times reported that Carter Page, an advisor to the Trump campaign, has been tracked by the FBI since 2013 because investigators discovered that a Russian spy was trying to recruit him.

á       Based on feedback at recent town hall meetings, support has grown for politicians to make environmental protection and climate action a bigger priority.

Sunday, April 23

á       As U.S. lawmakers worked to avoid a government shutdown, Trump offered Democrats a deal: to prevent Obamacare from dying without a cash infusion, Trump wants their agreement to fund his border wall.