Administration declines to release list of Trump visitors at Mar-a-Lago

The Trump WASHINGTON — administration on Friday escalated a battle with government ethics groups by declining, even in the face of a federal court order, to release a comprehensive list of individuals visiting with President Donald Trump at his family’s Mar-a-Lago resort during the two dozen days he spent at the private club in Palm Beach, Fla., this year.

The surprising move by the Department of Justice, which had been ordered in July to make the visitors log public, came after weeks of promotion by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, the liberal nonprofit group known as CREW, that it would soon be getting the Mar-a-Lago visitors logs.

Instead, the Justice Department released a State Department list of just 22 names — all of them members of the

New guidance WASHINGTON — released Friday by the Pentagon makes it clear that any transgender troops currently in the military can re-enlist in the next several months, even as the department delegation of the Japanese prime minister — who visited the club in February for a meeting with Trump.

The dispute centers on what kind of records related to private individuals visiting the president should be open to public inspection.

The refusal to disclose the full list of presidential visitors’ names also brings renewed scrutiny to the president’s private business empire and raises questions about whether the administration is withholding information debates how broadly to enforce a ban on their service ordered by President Donald Trump.

In a memo to top military leaders, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said a high-level panel will determine how to implement Trump’s ban on transgender individuals in the military. Trump directed the military to indefinitely extend the ban on transgender individuals enlisting in the service, that could reveal possible conflicts of interest.

CREW and its partners in the effort — the National Security Archive and the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University — sued in April to get access to presidential visitor logs for Mara-Lago, the White House and Trump Tower in New York. CREW requested only a list of people specifically visiting the president, not, for example, all Mar-a-Lago members or other guests who happened to be there on those days. but he left it up to Mattis to decide if those currently serving should be allowed to stay.

Members of Congress have already sent a letter to Trump calling on him to reconsider the ban. Sen. John McCain, the Republican chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Friday he backed legislation that would bar the Trump administration from forcing transgender troops out

Federal law exempts the White House from the Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA, which requires public disclosure of government documents. But CREW and its partners argued that because the presidential visitor records are typically maintained by the Secret Service — which is part of the Department of Homeland Security — they should not be exempt from public release.

In July, Judge Katherine Polk Failla of U.S. District Court in Manhattan ordered the Trump administration to release the “records of presidential visitors at Mar-a-Lago” by September.

But the Department of Justice, in a statement it sent to CREW, said it had decided not to release the names of everyone visiting with the president at Mar-a-Lago.

“The remaining records that the Secret Service has processed in response to the Mar-a-Lago request contain, reflect, or otherwise relate to the president’s schedules,” Chad A. Readler, acting assistant attorney general, wrote in response to CREW. of the armed forces.

McCain said in a statement that any service member, including those who are transgender, who meets the standards for military readiness and medical fitness should be permitted to serve.

“When less than 1 percent of Americans are volunteering to join the military, we should welcome all those who are willing and able to serve our country,” McCain said.

In a ruling with CHICAGO — national impact, a federal judge in Chicago on Friday blocked the Trump administration’s rules requiring so-called sanctuary cities to cooperate with immigration agents in order to get a public safety grant.

U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber wrote in his 41-page ruling that Chicago had shown a “likelihood of success” in its arguments that U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions exceeded his authority in imposing new standards governing Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grants across the country.

He also said Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration had shown the city could suffer “irreparable harm” in its relationship with the immigrant community if it were to comply with the U.S. Department of Justice’s new standards.

“Once such trust is lost, it cannot be repaired through an award of money damages, making it the type of harm that is especially hard to rectify” if he were to wait until the lawsuit is settled, Leinenweber wrote.

The preliminary injunction Leinenweber granted applies to districts nationwide.Emanuel called the ruling a victory for cities, counties and states nationwide and “a clear statement that the Trump administration is wrong.”

“It means essential resources for public safety will not come with unlawful strings attached, and the Trump justice department cannot continue to coerce us into violating and abandoning our values,” he said.

Representatives of the Justice Department did not immediately return messages seeking comment.

The ruling comes a little over a month after the Emanuel administration filed suit against the Justice Department over its new requirements for sanctuary cities such as Chicago that want federal funding give notice when immigrants in the country illegally are about to be released from custody and allow immigration agents access to local jails.

The new regulations, announced by Sessions in July, would also require local authorities to give 48 hours’ notice “where practicable” before releasing from custody people who federal immigration agents suspect of being in the country illegally.

In oral arguments last month, lawyers for the city argued that keeping people longer than 48 hours is unconstitutional and that the move by Sessions represented a slippery slope that could lead to other strings on federal money tied to administration priorities.

Chicago has already applied for $1.5 million in Byrne grants for next year, and other local municipalities and Cook County have requested about $800,000 more as part of the same application.