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Four years ago today, Comey shocked America. His wife tried to stop him.
With 11 days to go before the election, Jim and Patrice Comey sat in their kitchen and weighed what felt like an incalculable decision.
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Michael S. Schmidt
The night before Comey reopened the Clinton email investigation, he turned to his wife, Patrice, for help. She feared Trump could be elected and she pushed back on her husband, saying it was too close to the election to reopen it. Excerpt from my book
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U.S. Charges Russian Intelligence Officers in Major Cyberattacks
Prosecutors said the suspects hacked elections in France and the 2018 Winter Olympics.
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Michael S. Schmidt
NEW: DOJ indicts 6 Russian GRU hackers from same unit that led '16 election interference. DOJ official said unit -- known as Fancy Bear -- is accused of "the most disruptive and destructive series of computer attacks ever attributed to a single group."
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Allegation on Biden Prompts Pushback From Social Media Companies
Joe Biden’s campaign rejected assertions made in a published report that were based on unverified material from Trump allies. Facebook and Twitter found the story dubious enough to limit access to it on their platform.
Justice Dept. Sues Ex-Aide Over Book About Melania Trump
The lawsuit was the third in recent months where the government has taken on a perceived foes of the White House.
Election Less Than a Month Away, Trump Leans on Barr and Pompeo for a Lift
The secretary of state said he would make Hillary Clinton’s emails public, handing the president a weapon to attack his political foes as the attorney general resisted his overtures to prosecute them.
Trump Pushed False Claims of Voter Fraud as Justice Dept. Moved to Investigate Matter
Former department officials from both parties have warned that under Attorney General William P. Barr, the department is slipping into a partisan morass it had long sought to avoid.
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Michael S. Schmidt
NEW: In August Trump claimed on Hannity the feds would be taking a big hand in policing voter fraud. That same day, DOJ gave feds OK to conduct such investigations. DOJ insists decision was made by career officials, not politicals w/@jimrutenberg @ktbenner
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Justice Dept. Eases Election Fraud Inquiry Constraints as Trump Promotes False Narrative
The move comes as President Trump promotes a false narrative of widespread voter fraud ahead of the election.
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Michael S. Schmidt
For decades, prosecutors were told not to mount election fraud investigations in final months before election for fear they could depress turnout or erode confidence in results. Now, DOJ has lifted prohibition weeks before the election. w/@ktbenner
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‘We Need to Take Away Children,’ No Matter How Young, Justice Dept. Officials Said
Top department officials were “a driving force” behind President Trump’s child separation policy, a draft investigation report said.
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Michael S. Schmidt
NEW: “We need to take away children,” AG Sessions told prosecutors, according to a draft DOJ IG report. That statement contradicts Sessions’ previous claim that “we never really intended” to separate children. w/@shearm @ktbenner
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For the Secret Service, a New Question: Who Will Protect Them From Trump?
Central to the job is a willingness to say yes to the president no matter what he asks. Now, that means subjecting an agent’s health to the whims of a contagious president.
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Michael S. Schmidt
For the Secret Service, a New Question: Who Will Protect Them From Trump? Agents have privately questioned whether additional precautions will be put in place to protect the presidential detail from the man they have pledged to protect. w/@KannoYoungs
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Trump’s Secret Service Has Struggled With Outbreak at Training Center
At least 11 people tested positive at a Secret Service center that serves as a staffing pipeline to the presidential protective force.
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Michael S. Schmidt
EXCLUSIVE: In a sign of growing COVID infections at the agency responsible for protecting Trump in the weeks before he was infected, the Secret Service sustained an outbreak of the virus in August at its training facility in Maryland. w/@KannoYoungs
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Comey to Defend Russia Inquiry in Senate Testimony
The former F.B.I. director has long been a target of President Trump’s.
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Michael S. Schmidt
Here's rundown of Comey hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Comey rebutted a range of false claims by Trump and his allies about the Russia investigation, including unfounded theory that Biden pushed legal theory to prosecute Flynn. w/@npfandos
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Justice Dept. Aids Trump’s False Narrative on Voting
In a series of unusual moves, the Justice Department has helped stoke skepticism about mail-in voting.
Justice Dept. Discloses Pa. Ballot Inquiry, Prompting Fears of Politicization
A federal prosecutor said he was releasing the information because of its “vital public importance” in the weeks before the presidential election.
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Michael S. Schmidt
DOJ usually doesn’t talk about ongoing investigations. But today it did, putting out details on an ongoing investigation into how Trump votes may have been discarded in Pa. At same time White House and campaign trumpeted details of investigation. @NYTnickc
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How Trump chose children over country in security clearance showdown
The battle over Jared and Ivanka's security clearances would be a fight for survival pitting Trump's chief of staff and counsel against his family.
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Michael S. Schmidt
Secret White House contemporaneous memos tell backstory of how Jared and Ivanka received security clearances. Here is an excerpt from my book on @NBCNews that quotes from the memos and tells the story.
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White House Accused of Intervening to Keep Bolton’s Book From Becoming Public
A career official said political appointees “commandeered” the prepublication review process.
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Michael S. Schmidt
BREAKING: Trump aides improperly intervened to falsely assert Bolton's book contained classified info to prevent its contents from becoming public, a lawyer for the career official overseeing book’s prepublication review said in filing. w/@charlie_savage
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The Lawfare Podcast: Mike Schmidt on Stopping a President
Michael S. Schmidt is a reporter for The New York Times, a reporter who broke a number of key stories during the Russia investigation. He is most recently the author of "Donald Trump v. The United States: Inside the Struggle to Stop a President," a...
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Michael S. Schmidt
PODCAST w/@benjaminwittes on Mueller's team seeking real time info from White House counsel Don McGahn about what Trump was saying behind closed doors; and how the world we're living in today can be traced back to the Benghazi attacks of 9/12/12
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Justice Dept. Never Fully Examined Trump’s Ties to Russia, Ex-Officials Say
The former deputy attorney general maneuvered to keep investigators from completing an inquiry into whether the president’s personal and financial links to Russia posed a national security threat.
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Michael S. Schmidt
EXCLUSIVE: From my new book .. DOJ in '17 secretly curtailed FBI counterintel investigation of Trump financial/personal ties to Russia. DOJ concealed this from FBI at time, leaving FBI w/ impression Mueller would do it. But Mueller ultimately didn't.
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Family Research Council Shooting Possibly Driven by Politics
A man accused of shooting a guard at the office of a prominent conservative group “has strong opinions with respect to those he believes do not treat homosexuals in a fair manner,” an affidavit said.
Watch Live: Republican Convention Stream and Analysis
On the opening night of the Republican National Convention, the primetime lineup includes Nikki Haley and Donald Trump Jr. Our correspondents are following every speaker and providing live analysis and insights.
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Michael S. Schmidt
Watching the RNC? Follow along with us as we chat and fact check. @maggieNYT doing the moderating.
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