A federal judge has granted Michael Flynn’s former attorneys permission to withdraw from the legal case surrounding President TrumpDonald John TrumpKey figure that Mueller report linked to Russia was a State Department intel source De Blasio: There’s too much talk about impeachment among Democrats De Blasio: There’s too much talk about impeachment among Democrats MORE’s onetime national security adviser.

The development comes after the attorneys, Robert Kelner and Stephen Anthony, notified Judge Emmet Sullivan on Thursday that Flynn was “terminating” them as his counsel and had hired new representation and asked to withdraw from his case. 

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Sullivan initially denied their motion on technical grounds, prompting them to refile it late Thursday. Sullivan granted the motion in an order on Friday.

The decision by Flynn to fire his Covington & Burling attorneys marks a potentially significant development in his case, though the reasons for their removal remain unclear. Both Kelner and Anthony declined to comment in an email Thursday when asked for more information. 

Flynn has not yet announced his new legal team.

In December 2017, Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to FBI agents about his contacts with the Russian ambassador as part of a deal to cooperate in special counsel Robert MuellerRobert (Bob) Swan MuellerSchiff says Intel panel will hold ‘series’ of hearings on Mueller report Schiff says Intel panel will hold ‘series’ of hearings on Mueller report Key House panel faces pivotal week on Trump MORE’s investigation.

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Flynn cooperated extensively in the probe, according to Mueller, and was expected to be sentenced last December. However, the former Trump adviser elected to delay his sentencing until he is completely finished cooperating with the government after Sullivan harshly criticized him in court and suggested he would receive prison time.

Flynn is expected to testify against his former business partner Bijan Kian, who faces a July trial on charges of acting as an unregistered foreign agent of the Turkish government. Flynn is likely to be sentenced sometime later this year, though a date has not been set.

The U.S. Navy is reportedly investigating the president of the U.S. Naval War College over accusations of improper workplace conduct.

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The Associated Press reported Friday that Rear Adm. Jeffrey Harley is under investigation after being accused in multiple complaints to the Navy’s office of the inspector general of improper hiring practices and other misconduct including keeping a margarita machine in his office.

Sources told the news service that a complaint was first registered against Harley last year, accusing him of a “destructive and ethically challenged leadership style” that “is destroying the college.”

In a second email to the inspector general sent in January, the employees who filed the first complaint wrote that Harley’s use of alcohol on the job continued amid financial troubles for the school.

“The drinking continues. Morale is at an all-time low,” they wrote, according to the AP. “Your biggest concern should be, however, the financial situation at the college.”

Emails obtained by the AP revealed that the school faced a budget shortfall of millions of dollars while spending more than $700,000 on raises annually.

A Navy spokeswoman refused to comment to the AP on the investigation, citing its ongoing status.

Harley also declined to comment, according to the AP, but reportedly addressed the allegations in an email to students and faculty this week.

“That’s Navy business. But I think you’d be surprised to know that on any given day about 85 officers are under investigation,” Harley told the AP.

“All the decisions questioned in the allegations were subject to legal review either before or after the fact, and I believe that all of my decisions are within my authorities,” he added in the email to students and faculty.

The Trump administration on Friday announced fresh sanctions against Iran, targeting the country’s largest petrochemical company for giving financial support to the Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The Treasury Department imposed sanctions on the Persian Gulf Petrochemical Industries Co. and 39 of its subsidiaries, stating that the company provides contracts to the financial arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a branch of Iran’s armed forces.

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The administration said the petrochemical company and its subsidiaries are responsible for 40 percent of Iran’s petrochemical production capacity and 50 percent of the country’s petrochemical exports.

Treasury Secretary Steven MnuchinSteven Terner MnuchinDemocratic senator questions IRS commissioner over tax returns memo Democratic senator questions IRS commissioner over tax returns memo Boston church stamping all bills in collection plates with Harriet Tubman’s face MORE said in a statement that sanctions against the petrochemical company would undermine the Revolutionary Guard Corps.

“This action is a warning that we will continue to target holding groups and companies in the petrochemical sector and elsewhere that provide financial lifelines to the IRGC,” Mnuchin said.

The administration in April labeled the Revolutionary Guard a “foreign terrorist organization,” the first time the United States has applied the designation to an entire government entity.

President TrumpDonald John TrumpKey figure that Mueller report linked to Russia was a State Department intel source De Blasio: There’s too much talk about impeachment among Democrats De Blasio: There’s too much talk about impeachment among Democrats MORE and his advisers have taken a hard-line against Iran since withdrawing from the Obama-era Iran nuclear deal. The administration has reimposed sanctions on Tehran’s financial institutions and oil industry, and additionally targeted its metals industry and the Revolutionary Guard.

Trump asserted on Thursday during a meeting with French President Emmanuel MacronEmmanuel Jean-Michel MacronOvernight Defense: Trump hails D-Day veterans in Normandy | Trump, Macron downplay rift on Iran | Trump mourns West Point cadet’s death in accident | Pentagon closes review of deadly Niger ambush The Hill’s 12:30 Report: Trump mocks Mueller, Pelosi before D-Day ceremony The Hill’s 12:30 Report: Trump mocks Mueller, Pelosi before D-Day ceremony MORE that the sanctions imposed by the U.S. have crippled Iran.

“They’re doing very poorly as a nation,” Trump said. “They’re failing as a nation. And I don’t want them to fail as a nation. We can turn that around very quickly, but the sanctions have been extraordinary how powerful they’ve been, and other things. I understand they want to talk and if they want to talk that’s fine.”

Iranian leaders have given no indication they are open to negotiations with U.S. officials, and the two countries have no official diplomatic channels.

The Trump administration announced last month it will deploy 1,500 troops to the region, further escalating tensions.

NASA will soon allow up to two private citizens per year to travel to the International Space Station (ISS), reversing longstanding policy.

The agency announced Friday that the plan could begin as soon as next year as part of a change to make the agency and the ISS in particular more friendly to commercial interests, according to The Washington Post.

The plan is reportedly part of NASA’s bid to raise the funds required to send an astronaut back to the moon by 2024.

Jeff DeWit, NASA’s chief financial officer, said Friday that the cost for private astronauts to stay on board the ISS would be set around $35,000 per night, with the actual cost of getting astronauts to the space station left up to private companies such as SpaceX.

“But it won’t come with any Hilton or Marriott points,” DeWit quipped at a press conference.

He added that it was unclear how much money the agency would be able to raise through partnerships with private enterprises, but he expressed optimism, according to the Post, about excitement in the commercial sector for access to the ISS.

“It’s hard to project what’s going to come back,” DeWit said. “What we’re hearing is is a lot of excitement in the commercial sector for this. But it’s hard to get accurate projections until six or 12 months from now, when we see what actually comes back in and who partners with us.”

The news comes as a special assistant to NASA Administrator Jim BridenstineJames (Jim) Frederick BridenstineHow Jim Bridenstine recruited an old enemy to advise NASA NASA exec leading moon mission quits weeks after appointment NASA chief: Budget boost good first step for return to moon MORE left the agency weeks after being appointed to lead efforts to return astronauts to the moon, citing Congress’s refusal to accept a restructuring of the agency.

“We are exploring what organizational changes … are necessary to ensure we maximize efficiencies and achieve the end state of landing the first woman and next man on the Moon by 2024,” Bridenstine said in a statement last month.

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Leaders on the House Natural Resources Committee want the Interior Department to provide more information on grants it has given to organizations that have been accused of human rights abuses. 

The letter comes after BuzzFeed News reported in March that local rangers and other groups associated with the World Wide Fund for Nature in nations in Africa and Asia had been involved in human rights abuses against indigenous communities while carrying out conservation efforts. 

In the letter dated Thursday to Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, Chairman Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and ranking member Rob BishopRobert (Rob) William BishopDozens of states consider move to permanent daylight saving time Statehood bill could make Puerto Rico a state before 2020 Here’s why Congress, not the president, should lead on environmental protection MORE (R-Utah) said their panel is reviewing allegations that organizations backed by the U.S. government have “played a role in funding and equipping forces abroad that have committed a range of human rights violations.”

The letter does not mention the World Wide Fund for Nature.

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The two lawmakers asked Bernhardt to provide a briefing on the international conservation grants awarded and overseen by the Department of the Interior and the agencies under its jurisdiction. 

“Among the victims of these alleged abuses are indigenous peoples living near protected areas,” they wrote. “Despite the importance of protecting wildlife and endangered species from extinction, the United States must not be party to violations of basic human rights.”

The World Wide Fund for Nature has since started an independent review after the allegations were detailed in the BuzzFeed story.

“We see it as our urgent responsibility to get to the bottom of the allegations BuzzFeed has made, and we recognize the importance of such scrutiny,” the charity said in a statement to BuzzFeed as part of the March story. 

The Treasury Department is pushing back on a Congressional Research Service (CRS) report finding that President TrumpDonald John TrumpKey figure that Mueller report linked to Russia was a State Department intel source De Blasio: There’s too much talk about impeachment among Democrats De Blasio: There’s too much talk about impeachment among Democrats MORE’s 2017 tax law had little to no effect on the economy in its first year, calling the methodology of the report “flawed.”

“After careful review of the Report, it appears that CRS’s economic analysis of the [Tax Cuts and Jobs Act] used a flawed methodology that tacitly assumed the anticipation of the Trump Administration’s tax and regulatory relief had no effect on the economic outlook of the United States,” Treasury Assistant Secretary for Tax Policy David Kautter wrote in a letter to lawmakers earlier this week.

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CRS, an entity within the Library of Congress that provides analyses to lawmakers, said in its report about the 2017 tax law that “the growth effects tend to show a relatively small (if any) first-year effect on the economy.” CRS’s analysis was based on comparing actual gross domestic product (GDP) figures in 2018 to the Congressional Budget Office’s April 2018 estimates of GDP with and without the tax cut.

The report, released late last month, quickly caught the attention of Democratic lawmakers and policy experts, who highlighted it as proof that the GOP tax law has fallen short of Republicans’ promises.

The report comes as Trump is starting to run for reelection, and a key part of his campaign is likely to be the strength of the economy during his first term. The tax law Trump signed in December 2017 is the president’s biggest legislative accomplishment to date, and Democrats are likely to use the CRS report to undercut Trump’s arguments that his policies have boosted the economy.

Treasury’s criticism of the CRS report centers on the fact that the service compared 2018 data to economic forecasts from the beginning of 2018, rather than forecasts from before Trump took office. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) had increased its estimate of 2018 GDP between June 2017 and April 2018.

Treasury argued that the CRS report excludes an economic theory that people will take actions, such as new investment and hiring, before a policy change is implemented if they expect the policy change to occur.

“Beginning in January 2017, the Trump Administration began implementing an economic agenda to reduce burdensome regulations, engage the private sector to promote pro-growth policies, and negotiate trade deals to open up market access for American businesses,” Kautter wrote. “Therefore, appropriate — and truly unbiased — economic analysis should have benchmarked the impact of the Trump Administration’s economic agenda against forecasts of the economy generated prior to January 2017.”

“Analysis that commences after that time — let alone after the policies are implemented — is biased by the fact that people in the economy started responding immediately to the aggressive agenda pursued by President Trump, including by the widespread expectation of individual and corporate tax cuts and the resultant effects on the economy,” Kautter added.

He also said that CRS’s report excluded data that “would likely have led to vastly different conclusions.”

Treasury’s letter was sent to a handful of lawmakers, including the leaders of the Senate Finance Committee and House Ways and Means Committee.

Michael Zona, a spokesman for Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck GrassleyCharles (Chuck) Ernest GrassleyDHS official warns GOP senators about ‘rented babies’ at border DHS official warns GOP senators about ‘rented babies’ at border Lawmakers expected to offer new version of IRS bill without ‘Free File’ provision MORE (R-Iowa), said the senator is reviewing the CRS report, Treasury’s letter and other comments the committee has received that have criticized the report.

Anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, agreed with Treasury’s arguments and said it was good for the department to push back on the CRS report.

But the top Democrat on the Finance Committee, Sen. Ron WydenRonald (Ron) Lee WydenLawmakers reintroduce bipartisan IRS bill with ‘Free File’ provision removed Lawmakers reintroduce bipartisan IRS bill with ‘Free File’ provision removed On The Money: US, Mexico fail to get deal on tariffs | Trump says ‘not nearly enough’ progress | Dems needle GOP to buck Trump on trade | SEC approves new financial adviser rule MORE (Ore.), said in response to the CRS report that Republicans have attacked every nonpartisan group that has found that their tax law didn’t live up to its promises, and “this is more of the same.”

“The tax cuts haven’t paid for themselves,” Wyden said in a statement to The Hill. “They haven’t raised wages by $4,000. And they haven’t resulted in massive investment.”

Jane Gravelle, one of the authors of the CRS analysis, defended the report.

“We stand by this report. I think the analysis is solid,” she said. 

A CRS spokesperson echoed Gravelle and also said the Service stood behind the report.

Gravelle said that she doesn’t think there was much of a reaction in anticipation of the tax-cut law, because she thinks that people didn’t really know what would happen with tax-cut legislation until late in 2017.

Treasury said in its letter, however, that business optimism and consumer sentiment measures spiked shortly after Trump’s election in anticipation of the president’s agenda.

Kyle Pomerleau, a tax-policy expert at the right-leaning Tax Foundation, said that CRS was correct to compare actual GDP to CBO’s April 2018 projections, rather than to CBO’s projections from 2016, because “more than just the tax law had changed” between 2016 and 2018. He said that the administration’s point about people taking action in anticipation of tax cuts is valid, but not completely relevant to CRS’s analysis which just focused on the law’s effects in 2018.

Pomerleau said that the CRS report “reflects some words of caution that a lot of us have been saying to lawmakers” about not being too optimistic about the GOP tax law’s economic effects.

But he also said that there was an area where CRS misinterpreted some of what CBO estimated, which led to CRS coming to too strong a conclusion about the tax law’s limited impact on the economy.

CRS posted an updated version of the report on Friday that fixed the issue Pomerleau flagged, but Gravelle said that the update doesn’t change the report’s conclusions.

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Facebook will no longer allow its app to be pre-installed on Huawei phones as the Chinese tech giant faces the ongoing fallout of a blacklisting of its services in the U.S. 

While people who already own Huawei phones with apps such as Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram will not be impacted, the social media company confirmed Friday that new phones from the tech company will not come with the applications.

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The news, first reported by Reuters, comes as the White House leads a campaign to block Huawei from doing business in the U.S., saying information obtained by the company could be handed over to the Chinese government.

The Commerce Department announced last month that it had added Huawei to its “Entity List,” which virtually bars the company from buying components from American companies without U.S. government approval. President TrumpDonald John TrumpKey figure that Mueller report linked to Russia was a State Department intel source De Blasio: There’s too much talk about impeachment among Democrats De Blasio: There’s too much talk about impeachment among Democrats MORE also signed an executive order declaring a “national emergency” that empowers the White House to bar foreign tech companies deemed security threats from doing business in the U.S.

“We are reviewing the Commerce Department’s final rule and the more recently issued temporary general license and taking steps to ensure compliance,” a Facebook spokesperson said in a statement to The Hill.

The administration’s moves have also prompted Google to restrict Huawei’s access to its Android operating system and apps, though a temporary reprieve from the Commerce Department allows the Silicon Valley behemoth to continue providing updates to Huawei smartphones.

Huawei, the second biggest smartphone brand in the world, has denied it cooperates with the Communist Party in Beijing. In retaliation to the administration’s blacklisting, China announced last month it would establish an “unreliable entity list” of foreign companies and individuals that “seriously damage” Chinese enterprises.

—Emily Birnbaum contributed to this report

Sen. Cory GardnerCory Scott GardnerHigh-profile data breaches underline cyber threats to health care industry The Hill’s Morning Report – Tariff battle looms as Trump jabs ‘foolish’ Senate GOP The Hill’s Morning Report – Tariff battle looms as Trump jabs ‘foolish’ Senate GOP MORE (Colo.), one of the Senate’s most vulnerable Republicans in 2020, is sounding the alarm to his colleagues that President TrumpDonald John TrumpKey figure that Mueller report linked to Russia was a State Department intel source De Blasio: There’s too much talk about impeachment among Democrats De Blasio: There’s too much talk about impeachment among Democrats MORE’s tariffs will wipe out the economic benefit of the 2017 tax-reform law, which Republicans have touted as their biggest legislative accomplishment.

“The proposed tariffs will take money out of those pocket books [of Americans] and undermine the pro-growth tax and regulatory reforms at the heart of our economic boom,” Gardner wrote in a “Dear Colleague” letter Friday to the other 99 senators.

Gardner cited a Tax Foundation study reported on by The New York Times this week projecting that the lowest-earning fifth of American taxpayers would see an effective tax increase of 1.1 percent of their income this year.

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“According to the Tax Foundation study, the proposed tariffs on China, Mexico and Europe, among others, amounts to a ‘significant tax increase on Americans,’” he wrote to other senators.

The study also found that the middle fifth would see a 0.3 percent tax increase and that upper middle-class taxpayers would see their tax cuts from 2017 wiped out.

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“Hardworking Americans are unlikely to overlook the hit to their pocket books. As the chief economist at the Tax Foundation explained, it will get ‘harder and harder for [the president] and Republicans to claim that they are cutting taxes for the middle class,” Gardner warned.

“I am all for fair trade. I am all for securing our border. But I am not for turning our backs on American workers and consumers. Nor can I turn my back on the free market truths that have made America’s economy the strongest in the world,” he wrote.

Members of both parties have furiously pushed back at Trump’s protectionist trade policies toward multiple countries, including the president’s threat to impose a 5 percent tariff on all imported goods from Mexico starting Monday.

Trump said Friday that there is a “good chance” that the U.S. and Mexico can reach a deal to avert the tariffs, but said they would go into effect as planned unless both sides reach an agreement on working to curb illegal immigration to the U.S. 

Democratic Sens. Cory BookerCory Anthony BookerHigh-profile data breaches underline cyber threats to health care industry Poll: Biden holds 11-point lead among 2020 Democrats Poll: More Americans say abortion stance would stop them from voting for candidates MORE (N.J.) and Bob MenendezRobert (Bob) MenendezDemocrats ask Fed to probe Trump’s Deutsche Bank ties Ending the Cyprus arms embargo will increase tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean We can accelerate a cure for Alzheimer’s MORE (N.J.) are demanding answers from the third-party billing collection group at the center of a data breach that exposed information on almost 20 million patients.

The data breach involved an unauthorized user gaining access to the system of the American Medical Collection Agency (AMCA), the billing collection company used by Quest Diagnostics and LabCorp.

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Quest announced earlier this week that the breach led to the exposure of 11.9 million patients’ data, and LabCorp said 7.7 million of its patients had their information compromised. The exposed information included Social Security numbers and financial and medical data.

In a Friday letter to AMCA President Russell Fuchs, the two senators criticized the company’s approach to data security, and asked for details about how the breach occurred and what steps the AMCA will take to prevent additional breaches.

“We must ensure that entities with access to patients’ personal, medical, and financial information understand their heightened duty to protect both the patient and their sensitive information, and that your company is taking both immediate and long-term steps to mitigate any harm,” the senators wrote. 

The letter came a day after a third company, Opko Health, revealed that the AMCA data breach exposed the personal information of more than 400,000 of its patients.

In a filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission, Opko Health said the breach exposed patient names, dates of birth, phone numbers and account balance information. 

AMCA told Opko that it is sending notices to 6,600 Opko patients whose credit card or bank account information was stored in its system.

Opko, like Quest and LabCorp, said it has stopped sending billing requests to AMCA.

Friday’s letter to the AMCA follows similar inquiries from Booker and Menendez to Quest and LabCorp. Sen. Mark WarnerMark Robert WarnerHillicon Valley: YouTube under fire | FCC gets tough on robocalls | Maine governor signs strict privacy bill | Amazon says delivery drones coming in ‘months’ Hillicon Valley: YouTube under fire | FCC gets tough on robocalls | Maine governor signs strict privacy bill | Amazon says delivery drones coming in ‘months’ High-profile data breaches underline cyber threats to health care industry MORE (D-Va.) also sent a letter to Quest this week seeking more information about the breach.

Neither Quest nor LabCorp responded to requests for comment.

Booker and Menendez gave AMCA, Quest and LabCorp until June 14 to respond, while Warner asked Quest to respond “in the next two weeks.”

A spokesperson for Menendez told The Hill on Thursday that the senator is considering changes to an existing bill on consumer data privacy and security to reflect challenges posed by attacks on the health care industry.

The percentage of U.S. highways in poor condition rose 25 percent between 2008 and 2017, according to a new study of federal highway data.

The study by AutoInsurance.org, an industry-linked publication, found that about 10 percent of all U.S. highways were in poor shape based on a score of the road’s roughness. Another 31 percent were deemed acceptable, and 59 percent in good shape.

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The increase comes despite a recent uptick in funding, from a low of $39.1 million in 2015 to $45 million in 2018.

Urban areas had twice as much rough road as the national average, while rural areas had just 6 percent in poor condition.

The study also found that despite in the increase in bad roads, the percentage of overall roads in good condition was up 7 percent over the same period.

The study said it was hard to link funding to road conditions, given that some of the areas with the worst roads had been given more funding for exactly that reason, while areas with better roads required less.

“The discrepancies in funding likely have to do with the quality of the roads, meaning states that need more repairs might get more funding,” the study found.

The study also found the percentage of bridges in poor condition dropped from 12.1 percent in 2008 to 8.9 percent in 2017.

It comes as Congressional Democrats and President TrumpDonald John TrumpPelosi privately told Democrats she wants Trump ‘in prison’: report Pelosi privately told Democrats she wants Trump ‘in prison’: report Warren invokes Obama, Trump when asked about electability MORE seek a $2 trillion infrastructure package. Recent negotiations were derailed when Trump abruptly cut short a meeting, furious over Democratic talk of impeachment.

Infrastructure, a major theme of Trump’s presidential campaign, had long been seen as a possible area of cooperation with Democrats.

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