Good morning Her Campus! With a break-neck news cycle, there is no possible way for you to stay on top of every story that comes across your feeds—we’re all only human, after all.
But, life comes at you fast. So grab a cup of coffee and settle in for this quick and dirty guide to stories you might’ve been sleeping on (like, literally. It’s early.)
President Trump’s Lawyers Were Told He’s Still Under Investigation, But Is Not A Criminal Target
In what seems to be an attempt to get Trump to sit for an interview with special counsel Robert Mueller, his team told Trump’s lawyers that the president is a subject — but not a target — in the ongoing investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election.
The Washington Post first reported the news, adding that Mueller is allegedly preparing a report about Trump’s actions while in office and potential obstruction of justice.
According to the report, some of Trump’s advisors are eager for the interview since his “risk of criminal jeopardy is low.” Others are hesitant because an interview could turn him into a target even though he’s currently only a subject. The Post explains the difference here.
The story says Trump is a subject but not a target, but that he risks becoming the latter if he interviews https://t.co/Jo0B49ajaN
— Blair Miller (@blairmiller) April 4, 2018
Facebook Bans More Than 200 New Russian Accounts
The social media network removed a slew of accounts and pages that were “linked to Russian trolls that had attempted to influence U.S. politics around the time of the 2016 election,” The Hill reports. 65 Instagram (which Facebook owns) accounts were also removed.
Though this round of deleted profiles only included a little more than 200, their influence was still large. According to The Hill, “More than one million Facebook users followed at least one of the now deleted pages and 493,000 Instagram users followed at least one of the now deleted accounts.” The pages and accounts spent a collective $167,000 on advertising.
The move is the latest in Facebook’s continued reckoning with fake news and Russian influencers. Just last month it was revealed that a research firm which worked with President Trump’s campaign stole data from 50 million Facebook users.
President Trump Wants To Deploy The Military To The U.S.-Mexican Border Until A Wall Is Built
NEW: Pres. Trump: “Until we can have a wall and proper security, we’re going to be guarding our border with the military.
“That’s a big step. We really haven’t done that before.” https://t.co/ropeSGTYMc pic.twitter.com/u6IAVPAjPt
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) April 3, 2018
On Tuesday, Trump told reporters, “We are going to be guarding our border with our military. That’s a big step.” A BuzzFeed News correspondent said that Trump was asked to clarify what he meant, and in response, Trump repeated a “lie that we don’t have border laws” and a “vague line that the ‘military’ will ‘secure our borders.'”
The confusion here is that Trump just says “military,” talks about Mattis, and earlier said, “We really haven’t done that before” — suggesting a new step — but utilizing the National Guard would be something done repeatedly before.
— Chris Geidner (@chrisgeidner) April 3, 2018
It was unclear whether or not Trump knew that both of his predecessors deployed the National Guard on border control missions. Texas governor Rick Perry did too, in 2014.
According to a CBS News reporter, Mexico’s U.S. ambassador reached out to the State Department for clarity on Trump’s plans for the military at the border.
Mexico’s US ambassador says MX has asked @StateDept for clarity on Trump’s military along the border comments > pic.twitter.com/0l0pmxUTG0
— Kylie Atwood (@kylieatwood) April 3, 2018
Despite continued questions from reporters, Trump wouldn’t further clarify any specific plans.
What to look out for…
…”The DAMN. Chronic.” DJ Critical Hype just released the new mixtape, which layers Kendrick Lamar’s vocals on top of classic Dr. Dre beats.