Trump sued over transgender action
Transgender soldiers, sailors, airmen and other members of the military, along with others who want to enlist, sued President Donald Trump on Monday, hoping the federal courts will stop him from preventing their service.
One federal lawsuit was filed in Baltimore by the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland on behalf of six transgender individuals currently serving in the Army, Navy, Air Force, National Guard and Naval Reserve.
Another was filed in Seattle by Lambda Legal, on behalf of a 12-year Army veteran and two young transgender men who hope to enlist, along with the Human Rights Campaign and the Gender Justice League.
Trump directed the Pentagon on Friday to implement a ban on transgender individuals from enlisting in or continuing to serve in the military, which he first announced in a tweet.
The ban would take effect next year.
The ACLU plaintiffs are asking the court to declare the ban invalid as an unconstitutional violation of their rights to equal treatment and due process.
“President Trump’s actions immediately caused the individual plaintiffs and other transgender service members to fear for their careers, the well-being of their family members and dependents, their health care and, in some cases, their safety,” the ACLU lawsuit states.
White House officials said Monday that they do not comment on pending litigation.
The ACLU says an estimated 8,800 or more transgender people currently serve in the military, and asserts that Trump’s concerns about military preparedness, unit cohesion and medical costs are baseless.
Trump-Russia tower talks confirmed
Donald Trump’s personal lawyer confirmed Monday that the president’s company pursued a project in Moscow during the Republican primary, but he said the plan was abandoned “for a variety of business reasons.” The attorney, Michael Cohen, also said he sent an email to the spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin as part of the potential deal.
The confirmation that the Trump Organization was actively considering doing business in Russia during the presidential election could provide special counsel Robert Mueller fodder for probing Trump’s personal and business finances, a line Trump has warned him not to cross.
Cohen disclosed details of the deal in a statement to the House Intelligence Committee, which like Mueller is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and possible coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia.
In the statement, Cohen said that he worked on the real estate proposal with Felix Sater, a Russia-born associate who he said claimed to have deep connections in Moscow.
The discussions about the potential development occurred in the fall of 2015, months after Trump had declared his candidacy, and ended early last year when Cohen determined that the project was not feasible, according to a copy of Cohen’s statement. Cohen also disclosed that Trump was personally aware of the deal.
In a statement, the Trump Organization said: “To be clear, the Trump Organization has never had any real estate holdings or interests in Russia.”
The negotiations of the possible Trump Tower Moscow deal were first reported Sunday night by The Washington Post. On Monday, The New York Times reported on an email in which Sater appeared to boast that the real estate deal could help Trump get elected. Sater did not respond to a request for comment.
“Our boy can become president of the USA and we can engineer it,” Sater wrote in an email, according to the Times. “I will get all of Putins team to buy in on this, I will manage this process.”
President defends controversial pardon
President Donald Trump defended his pardon of former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio on Monday, telling reporters that the sheriff was treated “unbelievably unfairly.”
Speaking at a news conference with the president of Finland, Trump made his first comments on Arpaio since his decision to pardon the Arizona lawman, defending both the timing of the pardon late Friday evening — as Hurricane Harvey made landfall — and the decision itself.
“He’s done a great job for the people of Arizona, he’s very strong on borders, very strong on illegal immigration, he is loved in Arizona,” Trump said. “I thought he was treated unbelievably unfairly when they came down with their big decision to go get him, right before the election voting started.”
Arpaio, the former sheriff of Maricopa County who earned a reputation for his rough treatment of criminals, especially Hispanics, was found guilty by a federal judge of criminal contempt for ignoring a court order to stop detaining people simply because he believed they were illegal immigrants.