Today’s Headlines and Commentary

U.K. ambassador to the U.S. Sir Kim Darroch resigned on Wednesday following a leak of diplomatic cables in which he refers to the Trump administration as “inept” and “clumsy” and President Trump’s announcement that the White House would no longer “deal with him.” Darroch’s resignation came after the refusal of Boris Johnson, frontrunner to be the next British prime minister, to support him, CNN reports.

The Justice Department has instructed two former deputies in the special counsel’s office not to testify before Congress, potentially jeopardizing the deal negotiated by the House Judiciary Committee for their testimony, the New York Times writes.

In 2016, Russian intelligence planted a fake report that Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich was murdered by assassins working for Hillary Clinton, which gave rise to a conspiracy theory which was ultimately promoted within the Trump White House, Yahoo News reports. Yahoo News has also released initial episodes of its podcast titled ‘Conspiracyland,’ examining the politics surrounding the unsolved murder.

The Iranian government said that it would not reverse its decision to increase uranium enrichment levels beyond the limits imposed by the 2015 nuclear deal, according to the Washington Post.

The Treasury Department sanctioned three Hezbollah officials, two of whom are members of Lebanon’s parliament, accusing them of having a “malign agenda” to support Iran, the Times reports.

The U.K. Information Commissioner’s Office fined the hotel group Marriot with almost £100 million ($123M), for lack of due diligence which allowed hackers to steal the records of 339 million guests, the Guardian writes. It is the second instance this week of the ICO penalizing companies under GDPR.

ICYMI: Last Weekend on Lawfare

Margaret Taylor proposed that Congress change the format of committee hearings for Mueller’s testimony.

Quinta Jurecic provided a framework for Congress to think about Robert Mueller’s upcoming testimony.

Benjamin Wittes argued that Ambassador Darroch has behaved like a model diplomat.

Heather Hurlburt and Tamara Cofman Wittes wrote that achieving gender parity in national security appointments is crucial to breaking the cycle of discrimination and overcoming pressing security challenges.

Bobby Chesney announced the 10th National Security Law Workshop.

Quinta Jurecic shared court documents relating to the government's decision not to call Michael Flynn as a witness in the trial of Bijan Rafiekian and Kamil Ekim Alptekin, but instead to designate him as a co-conspirator.

Jen Patja Howell shared the most recent episode of the Lawfare Podcast, in which Margaret Taylor spoke with Austin Evers and Michael Stern about congressional oversight of the executive branch and related pending litigation.

Stewart Baker shared an episode of the Cyberlaw Podcast, featuring an interview with Glenn Reynolds on his new book “The Social Media Upheaval,” and a roundup of news including recent political developments regarding facial recognition, the Chinese government installing malware on the phones of travelers to the Xinjiang region and more.

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