Trump Wants The Mueller Investigation Over By New Year's. It Won't Be.

Jonathan Ernst / Reuters

Former national security adviser Michael Flynn pleaded guilty on Friday to making false statements, but his sentencing is being delayed while he cooperates — a sign that the special counsel probe won't be over by the end of the year, contrary to President Donald Trump's reported predictions.

Flynn pleaded guilty to one count of making false statements to the FBI in January. As part of the plea deal Flynn reached with special counsel Robert Mueller's office, Flynn agreed to cooperate with the government, with the understanding that if he's helpful, prosecutors will ask the judge to consider a reduced sentence.

Flynn agreed to delay his sentencing until his cooperation is complete. When asked by the judge on Friday how much time the government wanted before they filed an update with the court, the special counsel prosecutor suggested three months — which would go into March 2018. The judge, however, set a due date of Feb. 1 for a status report.

The 2018 date undermines assertions by both Trump and White House lawyer Ty Cobb in recent weeks that Mueller's probe would finish and Trump would be exonerated by the end of the 2017 or, per Cobb, by the end of the year or soon after, as reported by The Washington Post. It's not even guaranteed that Flynn's cooperation will end by Feb. 1 — that's just the date when prosecutors have to update the court. The government could then ask for more time.

Cobb said in a statement on Friday that, "The conclusion of this phase of the Special Counsel's work demonstrates again that the Special Counsel is moving with all deliberate speed and clears the way for a prompt and reasonable conclusion.”

The White House this fall has downplayed the anticipated duration of the special counsel's work. When the first round of charges stemming from Mueller's office were announced in late October — against former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort, Manafort's longtime associate Rick Gates, and former campaign adviser George Papadopoulos — White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters that they expected the probe to "conclude soon."

But at that point there were indications that the investigation was far from over. At a sealed plea hearing for Papadopoulos on Oct. 5 — he pleaded guilty to one count of making false statements — special counsel prosecutor Aaron Zelinsky described the investigation as "large-scale" and said that Papadopoulos' case was "a small part," according to a transcript.

A sentencing date hasn't been set yet for Papadopoulos. Zelinsky said at the Oct. 5 hearing that Papadopoulos was cooperating with the investigation, and his plea deal, like Flynn's, includes a section stating that his sentencing may be delayed while he's working with Mueller's team. The lawyers are scheduled to check in with the court by phone on Jan. 22.

Flynn agreed to "cooperate fully, truthfully, completely, and forthrightly" with Mueller's office and other law enforcement authorities on "any and all matters" that the special counsel's office considers relevant. His cooperation could include interviews, giving written statements, taking a polygraph exam, and participating in undercover law enforcement activities, according to the plea agreement.

He's required to turn over evidence of any crimes that he's aware of, and to testify before grand juries or at trial if the special counsel's office believes he has relevant testimony.

Mark Lee, a white collar defense lawyer and former federal prosecutor, said that with a cooperator as high up in the chain as Flynn, Mueller's team will be taking the time to make sure they've learned all they can from him, as well as to consult with him on any information they're getting from interviews with other individuals and other evidence.

"You are going to have to do all of your diligence to make sure you're checking what Mr. Flynn knew against what other witnesses told you, the other information, and objective evidence," Lee said. "It could be a lengthy process."

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John Conyers’ Nephew: If The Congressman Resigns Or Retires, I Will Run

Jonathan Ernst / Reuters

As Michigan Rep. John Conyers Jr. has resisted calls from within the Democratic Party to resign over allegations of sexual harassment, some people close to his grandnephew, Michigan Sen. Ian Conyers, have been asking a different question: When is the time for the 29-year-old to seriously consider running if there is a special election?

Apparently that time is now.

Reached by BuzzFeed News, Ian Conyers said he was focused on his re-election campaign for state Senate, but had given serious thought to running for his great uncle’s seat.

Ian Conyers

“If he resigns or retires, I will run for the seat,” he said. "The work of representing the working families must continue.”

The news comes amid increased uncertainty over what the elder Conyers, who is 88, will do following allegations, first reported by BuzzFeed News, that he sexually harassed women in his orbit, including an accuser, Marion Brown, who said in a televised interview that Conyers had "violated my body." Conyers has denied any allegation of sexual harassment, though he did confirm that he had reached a settlement with one woman, while denying the underlying allegations.

Conyers’ attorney on Friday struck a slightly less strident tone in discussing his client’s future than he has in previous days.

"We will discuss in the next day or so what Mr. Conyers plans to do," the attorney, Arnold Reed, said at a press conference Friday. “As you know his health is not the best, is not what it should be, he has undergone a second round of examinations. I will meet and confer with doctors and it will be Congressman John Conyers who will be the one to decide what it is he’s going to do.”

On Thursday, Ian Conyers hosted a kickoff reception for his re-election campaign in Detroit. A former Democratic Party treasurer for Michigan's 13th Congressional District, Conyers was a regional field director for Barack Obama’s 2012 campaign and is considered one of the rising stars in Michigan Democratic politics.

While it still may not be certain whether Conyers will resign or retire, colleagues have said that much of his fate lies with his constituents; the Congressional Black Caucus has said that choosing to retire is his decision to make, though some Democrats in Congress have said that he should resign.

“Nothing will happen to Conyers if his constituents have their way,” Joe DiSano, a Michigan-based Democratic strategist, told BuzzFeed News. “They love him. When Conyers becomes a burden to his colleagues is when he hits the bricks. Of course, more revelations about other members may make this seem tame by next week. This is just the first shot. Certainly, more to come.”

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The Secretive Office Of Compliance Doesn’t Have Good Answers For Why It’s So Secretive

T.j. Kirkpatrick / Getty Images

As Democratic and Republican leaders call on Democratic Rep. John Conyers to resign in the face of multiple allegations of sexual harassment, including one that led to a settlement, the office set up by Congress to handle sexual harassment and other workplace complaints says that it is barred by law from even acknowledging that settlement or where it came from.

Over the past two weeks, lawmakers and journalists have pressed for answers about the taxpayer-funded operations of the Office of Compliance (OOC), and why it is that so little information is publicly available about the public offices whose complaints it addresses.

Despite a week of emails back and forth between the office and BuzzFeed News, the OOC could not point to any provision explicitly barring the office from publishing an office-by-office breakdown of claims made on Capitol Hill. In fact, the OOC already publishes more information than it is required to by law in its annual report, and a spokesperson would not explain why they argue that same law prevents them from providing additional transparency that the OOC currently lacks.

Instead, the OOC takes the position that its secrecy — across the board — is required under law.

“The Congressional Accountability Act requires that the OOC maintain the confidentiality of contacts and claims filed with the office that do not result in a final decision,” OOC Outreach and Publications Manager Laura Cech told BuzzFeed News in an email. “The OOC cannot comment on whether matters have or have not been filed with the office.”

The OOC would not say whether the money in the Conyers settlement came out of a special fund established under law by the Treasury. “The OOC can’t confirm or deny the settlement you reported,” Cech wrote. The OOC also takes the position that it cannot, for the reason of confidentiality, publish an office-by-office breakdown of the settlements paid out with taxpayer money. Earlier Thursday, ABC News reported that close to $100,000 out of the fund went to settle sex harassment claims brought by two male former staffers of Eric Massa, a former member of the House who resigned in 2010. The OOC would not confirm the settlement information to ABC News.

In a report published each year, the OOC details some statistical information about claims brought to it, a requirement by law, though the amount of information the office includes has changed over time. The report provides no information about how many formal complaints are filed by employees of the House or Senate, and no information about what settlements are reached with employees of the House or Senate.

It is true that the CAA provides confidentiality for parts of the process. That first stage of initiating proceedings (a request for counseling) and the second step (mediation) “shall be strictly confidential,” per the law. Additionally, once a formal complaint has been filed, “all proceedings and deliberations” of hearing officers and appeals to the board are to be confidential. At the end of the process, apparently referenced by Cech, the law requires the board to make public certain types of "final decisions" of hearing officers or the board, but also allows the board to choose to make public any others.

It is not clear, however, where OOC draws the lines on its secrecy in instances that fall between initial proceedings and the final decisions, and whether there is any legal backing for it.

When asked, specifically, if OOC takes the position the law stops them from releasing office-by-office settlement information, Cech only pointed to the part of the CAA that describes what must be included in the annual report.

That section of the law says that OOC is required to:

“compile and publish statistics on the use of the Office by covered employees, including the number and type of contacts made with the Office, on the reason for such contacts, on the number of covered employees who initiated proceedings with the Office under this Act and the result of such proceedings, and on the number of covered employees who filed a complaint, the basis for the complaint, and the action taken on the complaint.”

The OOC, however, always has included more information than that in its annual reports — so it’s not clear how the office can say that the same requirements for what must be included in the report are also limitations on what can be included in the report.

For example, every year’s report includes the number of employees who initiate proceedings under the OOC broken by entity — detailing the number of employees of the House, Senate, Capitol Police, Architect of the Capitol, or other entities who did so each year. That specificity is not required by the law — and relates to information from a part of the process before a "final decision" is reached — but it has been included in all of the reports.

Further still, OOC Executive Director Susan Tsui Grundmann acknowledged earlier this month that OOC could release additional information beyond what is required by the statistics provision of the law. "Nothing in this subparagraph requires the Office to release award and settlement figures referenced in [fund provision] of the CAA," she wrote in a letter that nonetheless provided a list of the total number and amounts of awards and settlements disbursed each year since the CAA’s passage. Those settlement figures were included in five years of the annual reports, as well, although no settlement information was included in the two most recent annual reports produced by the OOC. Cech did not respond to a request for comment on why that was so.

It is not clear why OOC believes it has the authority to provide breakout numbers for House and Senate and the Capitol Police, for example, in its reports on the requests for counseling but chooses not to do so for the other stages of the process: mediation, formal complaint, settlement, or final decision. It’s also not clear why OOC does not provide a more specific breakout by congressional office for its reports.

Asked where OOC would point to in the law for the claim by Cech that office-by-office breakdowns "would violate the confidentiality required by the CAA,“ Cech only repeated the statement: “The Congressional Accountability Act requires that the OOC maintain the confidentiality of contacts and claims filed with the office that do not result in a final decision.”

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We Contacted Every Congressional Office To See If They’d Been The Subject Of A Workplace Complaint

Pool / Getty Images

Almost daily allegations of sexual misconduct against high-profile journalists, celebrities, and public servants have shaken the nation since the New York Times reported sexual assault allegations against Harvey Weinstein.

Last week, BuzzFeed News reported on a settlement of sexual harassment allegations against Rep. John Conyers, the founder of the Congressional Black Caucus and the longest serving member of the House. The settlement between Conyers and his accuser — who has since identified herself as Marion Brown — also uncovered more about the activities of a secretive office that handles workplace complaints on Capitol Hill, the Office of Compliance. The office has kept information about the offices and lawmakers who’ve been accused of wrongdoing in the workplace from the public, despite using taxpayer funds for case settlements. Claims to the Office of Compliance can range from racial discrimination, workplace safety complaints, to sexual harassment.

This week, BuzzFeed News reached out to every congressional office and asked whether the office — to their knowledge — had been the subject of an OOC request or if they had settled a complaint with any former or current staff members.

More than half of the congressional offices didn’t respond to requests to see if their offices were involved in any OOC requests: specifically, 244 House offices didn’t respond for comment, and 49 Senate offices did not respond for comment.

More than a third of House offices said they hadn’t been the subject of an OOC request and they had never reached a settlement with an employee related to a request.

Offices for Reps. Raul Grijalva, Lucille Roybal Allard, Blake Farenthold, and Danny K. Davis have all had OOC requests, according to spokespeople, but none had reached settlements with employees.

Grijalva and Roybal Allard had claims filed against their offices but they were both dropped before settlements were reached, according to spokespeople.

Davis said he was the subject of an OOC investigation because of a trip to Azerbaijan reported by the Washington Post in 2013.

A spokesperson for Farenthold referenced an OOC investigation into the sexual harassment allegations from a former employee that was settled out of court in 2015.

Spokespeople for 51 Senate offices said that the offices had not been the subject of an OOC request and that they had not settled any claims with employees, including a spokesperson for Sen. Al Franken, who has been accused of sexual misconduct by six women as of Thursday.

In Washington, Molly Hensley-Clancy, Sarah Mimms, Paul McLeod, Alexis Levinson, Lissandra Villa Huerta, Kate Nocera, Tarini Parti, Emma Loop, and Chris Geidner contributed reporting; in New York, Talal Ansari and Matt Berman contributed reporting.

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Are innovative transport systems the way to go in the future? Some of these inventors think so.

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Can a zebra crossing change its stripes?

London-based tech company Umbrellium has invented a smart crosswalk that can change size, color and shape according to the needs of its urban environment.

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Starling Crossing, created by London-based firm Umbrellium, is capable of tracking and anticipating movements on the street, as well as analyzing road conditions, in real time.

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An Anguished Congressional Black Caucus Is Trying To Figure Out What To Do About John Conyers

Drew Angerer / Getty Images

The allegations against Michigan Rep. John Conyers have shaken the Congressional Black Caucus, leaving the group’s members and staff in anguish over what to do about a man who is both a legend of the Civil Rights movement and accused of sexual harassment. Some privately hope he’ll resign.

One person close to Conyers seemed certain on Tuesday evening that the congressman would wait for the Ethics Committee to conduct an investigation, which Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi called for to be “expedited” earlier in the day.

For decades, particularly in black political circles, Conyers has been regarded as a living legend, a veteran, a civil rights giant. He helped found the CBC — and was thought to be beyond reproach, because he was at the seat of power and had legislated for black causes. But now as doubts about these allegations linger, in private conversations, some expressed embarrassment that someone was held in such high regard.

In a dozen interviews, people inside or close to the CBC have seemed split over Conyers’s fate. Several expressed frustration that while no Democratic member has called for the resignation of Sen. Al Franken, who is facing allegations of groping from multiple women, New York Rep. Kathleen Rice has called for Conyers to step down.

In a carefully worded statement Tuesday night, CBC chairman Cedric Richmond said any decision for Conyers to resign “is John’s decision to make” and said that Congress must “treat members who have been accused of sexual harassment, sexual assault, and other crimes with parity.”

But for others, Conyers’s alleged behavior had become an untenable distraction for a caucus that — among other top priorities — wants to help to turn out black voters for Doug Jones, the Democrat challenging Roy Moore, who is facing multiple allegations of making sexual advances toward teenagers, for an Alabama Senate seat. These black Democrats say you can both respect Conyers’s legacy and contribution making life better for black Americans, and demand swift and immediate accountability for alleged sexual predation. Either way, it’s a difficult situation.

“We all just don’t know want to think,” said one senior Democrat, who agreed to speak to BuzzFeed News on the condition of anonymity. “You don’t want to believe anyone just would lie about something like this. But you don’t want to believe he would do it, either, because we know him. And it’s one thing if it’s Harvey Weinstein, but it’s another thing when it’s somebody you know.”

Last week, BuzzFeed News reported on a $27,000 settlement reached between Conyers and a woman who had worked for him and accused him of making inappropriate sexual advances. Since then, BuzzFeed News has also reported on a public document — a lawsuit later dropped after a judge denied a motion to seal it — that also alleged impropriety. A former Conyers aide, Deanna Maher, in an interview with the Detroit News, said that Conyers had sexually harassed her between 1997 to 2005.

Conyers has vehemently denied the allegations. He has stepped down from his post as ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee. Late Tuesday, Conyers was also seen on a flight bound for Detroit.

The Maher allegation further intensified sentiment that Conyers was becoming a distraction and should resign, according to three separate sources inside the CBC with knowledge of the inner-workings of the caucus. Several news outlets reported that an effort to urge Conyers to resign was underway.

Publicly, few Democrats have said much about the Conyers allegations. On Tuesday on Capitol Hill, several high-profile lawmakers, including Pelosi, walked past reporters ignoring questions.

If the external communication from senior Democrats has been limited, the inside one hasn’t. Richmond phoned members over the Thanksgiving weekend, one person familiar with the communications said. A senior aide to a Democratic member said that there was a series of calls between members last week after the initial report. Members discussed the substance of the allegations and received an overview of the situation. The Congressional Black Caucus Women — who most recently signed a letter demanding an apology from White House Chief of Staff John Kelly for his role in ascribing statements to Florida Rep. Alma Adams that she never made — also discussed the matter in a private call. An aide to Rep. Maxine Waters declined to confirm the call.

The prominence of Conyers has weighed on people involved. He re-introduces a slavery reparations bill every year, and has been one of the foremost legislative voice on civil rights and police brutality — core, emotional issues at the center of the black political debate for nearly a century. But a national senior Democrat said that the new climate of allegations had brought the question about how how you parse the line between wrongdoing and the restorative justice into sharp relief. The Democrat, who agreed to share their personal views based on anonymity, believes that Conyers’s is a test case for how Democrats handle misconduct allegations against major figures.

“When you have these iconic figures who have been on front lines, you just don’t want to hear about that human side of them, that they have their faults, especially for someone like Congressman Conyers,” the person said. “But when do we ask, ‘What does rehabilitation and restoration look like?’ Is it possible to bring someone back into community?”

The Beat DC, an email newsletter that covers people and issues of color in Washington, and which covers the CBC closely, felt it had a responsibility to cover the Conyers issue in a straightforward manner amid what could be a cultural change in Washington.

“We cover people of color in politics. And even when they make headlines for things that aren’t flattering, we want to make sure our readers across the country are informed,” said Tiffany D. Cross, a founder and editor. “Sexual harassment isn’t specific to race, ethnicity, or political party. While Congressman Conyers maintains his innocence, The Beat DC wants to make sure young politicos on their way to DC know what is acceptable behavior and what isn’t.”

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Federal Judge Rules That Military Must Move Forward With Plan Allowing Transgender Recruits

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A federal judge ruled on Monday that the military must move forward with plans for allowing transgender recruits starting on Jan. 1, 2018.

The ruling clarifies an earlier injunction against President Trump's memorandum halting Obama-era policies that allowed for out transgender service. There are two federal court injunctions against Trump's order — one in DC and the other in Maryland.

The Justice Department already has filed notice that it is appealing the DC-based injunction, which was issued in October by US District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly.

Before it did so, however, the Justice Department asked Kollar-Kotelly to clarify that her court's injunction did not prevent Defense Sec. James Mattis from "exercising his discretion to defer the January 1, 2018 effective date for the accession" portion — as in, recruitment policies — of the Obama-era order allowing for transgender military service.

Under the order initially issued by Defense Secretary Ashton Carter in 2016, the military was to begin new accession policies that allowed transgender people to join the military by July 1, 2017, if they met the Defense Department's requirements. On June 30, however, Mattis pushed that date back to Jan. 1, 2018.

Rather than clarifying as the Justice Department wanted — issuing a ruling that Mattis could keep delaying the date — Kollar-Kotelly did the opposite, clarifying that the court's injunction meant the Jan. 1, 2018, date has to stay.

"The Court explained that the effect of its Order was to revert to the status quo with regard to accession and retention that existed before the issuance of the [Trump] Presidential Memorandum," she wrote. "Those policies allowed for the accession of transgender individuals into the military beginning on January 1, 2018. Any action by any of the Defendants that changes this status quo is preliminarily enjoined."

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This virtual politician wants to run for office

Meet SAM, the world's first virtual politician. The AI-powered New Zealander talks to voters through Facebook Messenger.

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