What We’re Following Today
It’s Thursday, February 14. President Donald Trump plans to sign the congressional deal to avert a government shutdown, but the White House says Trump will “take another executive action—including a national emergency” in order to bypass Congress for border-wall funding. (Here’s a refresher on the legal showdown that might result.)
Meanwhile, William Barr was sworn in as the new attorney general after being confirmed by the Senate earlier today. Here’s what else we’re following:
“A Deliberate Liar”: Andrew McCabe writes in an exclusive book excerpt for The Atlantic that “the president and his men were trying to work me the way a criminal brigade would operate.” The former acting FBI director describes interactions with Trump himself—including when the president called him on an unsecured phone line to talk about his firing of former FBI Director James Comey—and his conversations with deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein about protecting ongoing investigations into Russian interference.
One Year After Parkland: How have students tried to recover from the trauma of a mass shooting, while still keeping the memory of their classmates alive? And although schools across the country have worked to improve security, administrators can only do so much to prevent another attack, Adam Harris reports.
Is This Just Fantasy?: In a speech yesterday at a gathering of police chiefs, Trump praised Art Acevedo, the police chief of Houston, Texas. The only problem? Acevedo has been consistently critical of Trump. His criticisms show that Trump’s “caricatured view of a uniformly macho, tough-on-crime law-enforcement establishment doesn’t totally match reality,” writes David A. Graham.
An Inside Look at the Church in Crisis: Cardinal Seán O’Malley has been at the forefront of…
