In her ruling, U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson in Kansas City, Kan., referred repeatedly to Kobach as acting “disingenuously.”
.. “The term ‘register’ is not ambiguous, nor should there have been any question that these voters were to be treated just like any other registered voter,” Robinson said in her order.
Instead of a fine in the contempt matter, Robinson ordered Kobach to pay attorneys fees for the plaintiffs in the case.
.. “The Court is troubled by Defendant’s failure to take responsibility for violating this Court’s orders, and for failing to ensure compliance over an issue that he explicitly represented to the Court had been accomplished,” Robinson wrote.
.. In 2016, Robinson ordered Kobach to fully register thousands of Kansas voters who had registered at the DMV but had failed to provide proof of citizenship, such as a birth certificate or passport, as required by a Kansas law that Kobach crafted.
Robinson had earlier scolded Kobach for initially informing the voters covered by her order that they were registered only for the 2016 election and for failing to ensure that they receive the same postcard notifications about their registration as other voters.
.. Robinson told Kobach during a 2016 telephone conference that she would hold him responsible for directing counties to send out these postcards. He promised to do his best and narrowly dodged a contempt hearing in 2016 because of this agreement.
.. Kobach has advised President Donald Trump on potential changes to federal voting laws. He also has the support of the president’s son, Donald Trump Jr., who campaigned for Kobach late last year…
Kobach was previously fined $1,000 by the court last year after Robinson had concluded he had tried to mislead the court about documents related to a 2016 meeting with Trump.
.. “Defendant has a history of noncompliance with the preliminary injunction order. He not only willfully failed to comply with the preliminary injunction for five months, but then only partially complied in October 2016 upon the threat of contempt,” Robinson wrote.
.. “I believe that Kobach did what he could do within the office,” Esau said. “I think the judge expected him to do things that were beyond what the office normally does.”
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Fights to Stay Alive Under Trump
While the future of the CFPB remains cloudy, Trump’s pick for Treasury secretary, Steve Mnuchin, hinted it may, at the very least, need an overhaul.
.. “The biggest issue I have with the CFPB, I don’t believe they should be funded out of profits from the Federal Reserve. I think they should be funded out of an appropriations process.”
.. Mierzwinski scoffed at Mnuchin’s idea; “That is code for I want to kill the CFPB,” he said. For Warren, a funding shift would give the big banks more power. “The CFPB gets an independent source of funding – like every other federal banking agency in U.S. history – so that it can hold banks like Wells Fargo accountable without fearing budget cuts from big bank allies in Congress. If Mr. Mnuchin and others push to change the consumer agency’s funding source, they will be declaring loud and clear that they care more about pleasing big banks than protecting working families and the safety of our financial system,” she said in a statement to FOX Business.
.. Last year, the CFPB levied a record $185 millionOpens a New Window. fine against Wells Fargo (WFC) for creating upwards of two million phony customer accounts to allegedly meet sales goals. Prior to the fine, in 2013, the Los Angeles TimesOpens a New Window.reported the practices.
Could Deutsche Bank Collapse?
The German bank’s shares reached historic lows this week after a $14 billion settlement request by the U.S.
.. The International Monetary Fund said in June: “Deutsche Bank appears to be the most important net contributor to systemic risks” in the global market.
.. Lehman had $639 billion in assets when it collapsed, and it’s failure is attributed as the dirge that announced the global financial crisis. It was this lesson that led Deutsche Bank investors to believe that if the worst should happen, Germany would bail the Deutsche Bank out. But German Chancellor Angela Merkel has repeatedly said there would be no bailout, no matter what
.. Market Watch wrote that if Merkel kept her word, it meant she “has no idea how the financial markets work, and no appreciation of how much damage the unfolding Deutsche crisis is already doing to the markets and the eurozone economy.” On the other hand, a bailout has been called political suicide for Merkel and would likely ruin her party’s chance in next year’s election.
.. Those who do not believe the sky is falling have said a more likely scenario is that Berlin will pressure the U.S. to lower the $14 billion settlement request. Even without political intervention, that seemed already to be the outcome.