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U.S. President Donald Trump has announced his intent to nominate Jessica Rosenworcel to fill the open Democratic slot at the Federal Communications Commission.

The selection revealed quietly, late Tuesday night marks a return to battle for Rosenworcel at the telecom agency: She served in that same role at the FCC from 2012 to 2016, only departing the commission because Senate lawmakers could not extend her term before the clock ran out at the end of the year.

In her previous stint at the agency, Rosenworcel had been a vocal, ardent supporter of net neutrality, and she voted for rules drafted by then-FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler to subject internet providers to utility-like regulation. This time, however, the agencys new leader, Republican Chairman Ajit Pai, is looking to scrap those open internet protections.

Otherwise, Rosenworcel has been a forceful, public advocate for FCC policies and programs that seek to close the homework gap, as she calls it the broad disparities in broadband internet service that make it difficult for students, particularly in rural areas, to do their schoolwork.

In the weeks before Trumps official announcement, Rosenworcel had been widely viewed as the front-runner for her partys open slot at the FCC, sources previously told Recode. She had the public backing of many congressional Democrats, including Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, who formally recommended her to Trump for the open FCC post.

Sources also had expected Trump to announce Rosenworcel along with a nominee for the FCCs other open slot a Republican seat and it had been widely believed that Brendan Carr, the general counsel at the FCC, would win that position.

Typically, such nominees are paired up in order to improve their chances of a swift confirmation by an ever-partisan U.S. Senate. But Trump opted not to announce his Democratic and Republican nominees together on Tuesday night. That could stoke speculation that Trump actually sees Rosenworcel as a replacement for sitting Democratic Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, whose term expires at the end of June.

The White House, for its part, previously has not indicated if it would renominate Clyburn to her post and a spokeswoman did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment Wednesday. Without Clyburn or some other Democrat, the FCC would not meet its three-member quorum, preventing it from acting on certain policy issues including, perhaps, net neutrality.

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President Donald Trump has nominated Jessica Rosenworcel as an FCC commissioner - Recode

After two high-stakes congressional hearings, President Donald Trump faces more explosive moments to come in the expanding criminal investigation that has consumed Washington.

The president and his attorneys are showing an increasing willingness to play hardball in their defense, raising the prospects of drag-out fights over everything from Oval Office tape recordings (if there are any) to the president testifying before a grand jury.

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Although special counsel Robert Mueller and key House and Senate committees set out to investigate whether Trumps team worked with Russia to win the White House, their path could end up being defined by these sidebar showdowns, where theres little history beyond Watergate or Monica Lewinsky to guide them.

A set of two precedents is not a big set of precedents, said Samuel Buell, a former federal prosecutor and Duke University law professor. You also have to say whatever the Trump story ends up being, its probably going to be something else.

The Trump-Russia investigation is moving at a breakneck pace compared with past White House scandals. To help keep up, here are six potent powder kegs awaiting Trump, Mueller and Congress:

Executive privilege

The White House decided not to block ex-FBI Director James Comeys testimony about his own firing and interactions with Trump before the Senate Intelligence Committee last week.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions, meantime, repeatedly sidestepped questions Tuesday from his former Senate colleagues about Comeys firing, explaining that Trump had decided not to invoke executive privilege yet.

At this point, I believe its premature to discuss private interactions with the president, Sessions told frustrated Democrats on the Senate panel.

Trump and his attorneys can expect to face the same decision again and again about whether to resist giving full answers or handing over documents if they think questions and requests from Congress or Mueller probe too deep into their internal communications.

Legally, Trump wont have much to lean on if he wants to hold back information. Presidents havent been very successful in their attempts to block inquiries, and it would be even harder to assert privilege if a court believed the materials in demand would help in determining the existence of a criminal violation.

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The Supreme Courts unanimous 1974 decision rejecting President Richard Nixons attempts to withhold private presidential tape recordings and other materials despite a subpoena also looms over any executive privilege debate.

Trump hasnt given an explanation since a mid-May warning to Comey on Twitter that hed better hope that there are no tapes of our conversations, but legal history isnt on his side if tapes exist and he wants to protect them.

The tape issue could come to a head soon. The House Intelligence Committee has asked White House Counsel Don McGahn to say whether there are tape recordings, and theres a June 23 deadline to turn any relevant materials over to the panel.

Lawyer versus lawyer

More than a dozen lawyers are already working on behalf of Trump and his associates in the Russia investigation, representing everyone from the president himself to senior White House aide Jared Kushner, former national security adviser Michael Flynn, former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, Trump personal attorney Michael Cohen and former campaign advisers Carter Page, Roger Stone, Boris Epshteyn and Michael Caputo.

More lawyers mean more complications.

There are already the makings of a clash between Trumps personal attorney Marc Kasowitz, who is taking the lead on all public crisis communication on the Russia scandal and has reportedly discouraged White House staff from retaining their own private counsel, and the lawyers who take on Trump aides as clients.

His duty is to Trump not White House staff, said Jane Sherburne, a former Clinton White House attorney. So first and foremost, White House staff should understand that he is not looking out for their interests.

Trump aides who dont have their own attorneys may be at risk of making decisions or enabling the creation of a record without having fully understood the potential consequences for them, Sherburne said.

Even as Kasowitz may suggest their interests are aligned with Trumps, he is not in a position to evaluate that for the staff, and they would be wise to get independent professional advice about their own risk, she added.

Trumps tax returns

Democrats and Republicans alike have been gunning for Trumps tax returns since the heat of the 2016 campaign. Blue states like California and New York are trying to pass laws requiring candidates running in their 2020 presidential primaries to file reams of tax documents to get on the ballot. And the attorneys general of Maryland and the District of Columbia filed a federal lawsuit Monday over Trumps businesses, largely in hopes theyll get ahold of his tax returns.

But theres one venue where the presidents tax records may be most susceptible to discovery: the Russia investigation.

It shows the chaos around Washington that nobody has really started to talk about this yet, a Justice Department lawyer told Politico Magazine in a story published last month. But finally, I think, someone is going to get their hands on Donald Trumps tax returns. And that man is Robert Mueller.

Mueller could get a federal judges sign-off on the release of Trumps returns so long as he can show there is reason to believe a crime has been committed and the documents would help the case.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin may not be thrilled with the IRS releasing those materials, and white-collar veterans wouldnt reject the idea the White House might spoil for a fight. But if it happens, its possible Trump may not even be notified of a court order to the IRS.

The move does not require a formal subpoena or the action of a grand jury; veteran federal prosecutors said it could all take place in a matter of hours, the Politico story noted.

A grand jury

The federal courthouse in Washington could become the center of the political universe.

While Mueller has other options, including just across the Potomac River in Alexandria, Virginia, the Constitution Avenue location is a likely spot where he might convene a grand jury for witness testimony in his investigation and for potential criminal indictments.

You will eventually have a bit of a circus outside the grand jury building, said Adam Goldberg, a former Clinton White House crisis communications official.

Grand jury hearings dont take place in public, though the witnesses are free to talk about the experience when its over. But reporters often camp out by the buildings anyway to try to learn whats happening in a special prosecution case eager to pick up clues based on who is called in to testify.

Thats not his only option. Mueller can also do official witness interviews away from a grand jury spotlight and its there that he can negotiate with a witness attorneys over everything from whether theres a video recording of the proceedings to the granting of immunity from prosecution.

A white-collar attorney said participating in these interviews is at the discretion of the witness. Therefore, everything about it is negotiable because you have no duty to do it, the attorney said.

Trump himself could even find himself before a grand jury. Last week, the president said hed be 100 percent ready to testify under oath on the Russia probe, and White House press secretary Sean Spicer clarified Monday that the president was referring to appearances before Mueller and not Congress.

There is some precedent for that. Bill Clinton was the first president to testify as a subject of a grand jury investigation, appearing in 1998 via closed-circuit television from the White House to talk about his relationship with intern Monica Lewinsky. President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney gave interviews in their offices not grand jury testimony during the special prosecutor investigation into who leaked the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson.

Whether Trump follows through with his offer to speak with Mueller remains to be seen. Hed also have the option to invoke his Fifth Amendment right, refusing to incriminate himself.

Among the Trump officials who are expected to get Mueller inquiries: Anyone Comey mentioned last week in his public testimony related to the Feb. 14 Oval Office meeting where the president allegedly pulled him aside to talk about the Flynn probe, suggesting he let this go.

Vice President Mike Pence, chief of staff Reince Priebus, Sessions and Kushner were in the room before Trump asked them to leave, Comey said.

If youre Mueller, youd want to know from Priebus what the president told him after that meeting. And youd want to know what he told Jared, Goldberg said. All the senior staff are potential grand jury witnesses.

Presidential interference

Some of Trumps leading surrogates, including Ann Coulter and Newt Gingrich, have urged the president to consider dumping Mueller, which Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy said was under discussion by senior aides during his visit to the White House on Monday.

Trump could certainly make it happen, though it wouldnt be without controversy.

Under the DOJs special counsel regulations, Mueller could be removed only by the personal action of the Attorney General. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein has that role because of Sessions recusal from all-things-Russia, and Rosenstein testified on Tuesday that hed ignore calls to oust Mueller unless the orders were lawful and appropriate.

Democrats and even some Republicans are warning that should Trump fire Mueller, it would trigger a crisis on the magnitude of the Saturday Night Massacre the 1973 moment when Nixon fired his attorney general and deputy attorney general after both refused to fire Watergate special prosecutor Archibald Cox.

House Intelligence Committee ranking member Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said on Twitter that if Trump fired his special counsel, Congress would re-establish a law that lets it pick an independent prosecutor and appoint Bob Mueller. Ruddy, meantime, said in an interview he disagreed with the idea of going after Mueller. I think firing Mueller could trigger an impeachment process, he said.

Indictments

The special counsel probe could be wide-ranging. Trumps firing of Comey has prompted speculation hes opened himself up to an obstruction of justice charge. Mueller also may find himself digging into any connections between the Trump Organization and Russian banks or how WikiLeaks obtained stolen emails from Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta.

Its all fair game, said Peter Zeidenberg, a former federal prosecutor who worked at DOJ during the Wilson investigation.

As Mueller brings the probe to a close, he could face perhaps the most explosive of all decisions: whether to prosecute the president himself.

John Carlin, a former senior Obama-era Justice Department official, published a Washington Post op-ed earlier this month that ticked through the complicated scenario. While Mueller may find it appropriate to indict Trump, Carlin noted DOJs Office of Legal Counsel has long taken the position that the president cannot be prosecuted or even indicted while still in office.

Thats how DOJ dealt with Nixon in 1973 and Clinton in 2000, though Carlin said the topic remains subject to heated legal debate.

If Mueller closes his investigation without bringing charges against Trump, does that mean that evidence might exist of a presidential crime left unprosecuted? he wrote. And what would happen next? As of now, it is anybodys guess.

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6 explosive moments that could still come in Russia probe - Politico

James Ooker Eskridge was crabbing off the coast of Virginias Tangier Island in the Chesapeake Bayon Mondaywhen he noticed a boat approaching him. Behind it was another.

Eskridge, mayor on the island, steeled himself for the worst. After all, as his wife said to him, The only thing that could make you come inside from crabbing on a Monday morning is a call from President Trump.

But as it turned out, thats exactly what it was.

As one of the boats finally reached him, a fellow waterman told himto return to the island stat, because the president of the United States was calling soon.

I thought he was joking, Eskridge told The Washington Post in a phone interview.

Soon, he realized this was no joke.

It began a week earlier, when CNN aired a storyabout Tangier, Va., which sits on Tangier Island, about12 miles from both the Virginia and Maryland coasts in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay. The small island, now only 1.3 square miles, shrinks by 15 feet each year, according to the Army Corps of Engineers, which points to coastal erosion and rising sea levels as the cause.

[Hogan urges Congress to reject bay cuts as activists press him to join climate pact]

The islands 450 residents, many of whom are descendants of its first settlers in the 17th century, are desperate. Scientists predict they will have to abandon the island in 50 years if nothing is done.

Donald Trump, if you see this, whatever you can do, we welcome any help you can give us, Eskridge said in the CNN piece, later adding, I love Trump as much as any family member I got.

Trump caught wind of the piece, Eskridge told The Post, and wanted to call. So his administration reached outto theTangier Oyster Co., seeking the mayors phone number. Word spread to Eskridge in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay. He rushed back and sat by the telephone, waiting.

Finally, it rang.

Im still coming to grips that I was talking to the president, Eskridge said, before describing the call.

Trump thanked the mayor and the entire island of Tangier, where he received 87 percent of the votes, for their support. Then the conversation turned to the islands plight.

He said we shouldnt worry about rising sea levels, Eskridge said. He said that your island has been there for hundreds of years, and I believe your island will be there for hundreds more.

Eskridge wasnt offended. In fact, he agreed that rising sea levels arent a problem for Tangier.

Like the president, Im not concerned about sea level rise, he said. Im on the water daily, and I just dont see it.

Instead, Eskridge, along with many of Tangiers residents, said he worries about the erosion caused by the Chesapeakes waterpounding on the islands shores. He said he believes this is why his home is disappearing at an alarming rate.

Trump apparently agreed.

He said that is a problem, and maybe when Im up in Washington, I could come by and we can chat about it, Eskridgesaid.

Currently, the Army Corps of Engineers is scheduled to begin building a jetty on the west channel of the island some time this year to protect it from the harsh currents. But Eskridge said they need a jetty, or perhaps even a sea wall, around the entire island.

He believes Trump will cut through red tape and get them that wall.

Hes for cutting regulations and the time it takes to study a project, Eskridge said. Of course you need the studies, but weve been studied to death.

Were running out of land to give up, he added.

That said, Trumps administration hasnt been friendlyto the Chesapeake Bay itself. Trumps proposed budget included ending federal fundingof the Chesapeake Bay Program, a federal-state collaboration coordinated by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Begun in 1983, the program aimed to help reduce pollution and restore the Chesapeake Bays ecosystem, the very one from which the watermen on Tangier Island make their livings.

As a compromise on the budget, Congress restored the $73 million Trumps administration planned to cut, at least until September when the fiscal year expires.

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Trump calls mayor of shrinking Chesapeake island and tells him not to worry about it - Washington Post

The public portion of these gatherings of all of the president's top advisers are usually staid affairs. Photographers are let in to take pictures. The president makes a very brief statement. A reporter shouts a question, unanswered. The end.

Donald Trump did something very different in his Cabinet meeting Monday.

First, he reviewed the various alleged successes of his first 143 days and made this remarkable claim: "Never has there been a president....with few exceptions...who's passed more legislation, who's done more things than I have."

(Nota bene: You can't say "never has" something happened and then say "with few exceptions." Either it's never happened or it, well, has.)

But, that wasn't even close to the weirdest part of the Cabinet meeting!

Once Trump finished touting his administration's accomplishments, he turned to several of his newly-minted Cabinet secretaries like Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue. Each of those Cabinet secretaries lavished praise on Trump, which he accepted without comment but with a broad smile.

At first, I thought Trump was just going to have the new members of the Cabinet spend a few minutes praising him. NOPE! It soon became clear that Trump planned to have every Cabinet member speak. And when I say "speak" what I really mean is "praise Trump for his accomplishments, his foresight, his just being awesome."

I mean, WHAT?!?

The whole thing reminded me of a scene directly from the boardroom of "The Apprentice." A group of supplicants all desperately trying to hold on to their spots on the show by effusively praising Trump -- each one trying to take it a step further than the last. And Trump in the middle of it all, totally and completely pleased with himself. (Reminder: Around that Cabinet table are hugely accomplished generals, billionaires and political people with long track records of success.)

What those contestants knew is the same thing Trump's Cabinet has now realized: Flattery will get you everywhere. Donald Trump's favorite topic of conversation is Donald Trump. The best way to talk about Donald Trump, if you want to keep working for Donald Trump, is to praise Donald Trump. The more over-the-top, the better.

Chuck Schumer was quick off the line to mock Trump with this re-creation of the Cabinet meeting:

There's a tendency in Trump's presidency to overlook or dismiss these smaller sorts of things. "Keep focused on the stuff that really matters," people tweet at me every day, all day. (For liberals sending those tweets, it's about Russia and Trump's finances. For conservatives, it's Trump's many accomplishments that are being allegedly ignored.)

My contention is that things like this Cabinet meeting -- while totally inconsequential in terms of actual policy -- are deeply revealing about who Trump is and how he views himself, the people who work for him and the world. And how he views all of those things is this: With Trump at the center and everyone a spoke emanating from his hub.

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Donald Trump just held the weirdest Cabinet meeting ever - CNN

President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference with Romanian President Klaus Werner Iohannis in the Rose Garden at the White House, Friday, June 9, 2017, in Washington. Andrew HarnikAP

As a number of legal experts warned, Donald Trump's tweets about his "travel ban" helped convince an appeals court to block the controversial plan. It's the second time his own comments have helped the courts knock down the executive order.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision on Monday, ruling that Trump's attempt to block immigration from six predominantly Muslim countries "exceeded the scope of the authority delegated to him by Congress."

In their ruling, the judges cited a tweet from the president that was posted after the recent terrorist attack in London, in which Trump argued that the U.S. needed a travel ban "for certain dangerous countries."

The Trump tweet was cited in a footnote in the decision, at a point where the court questioned the justification for the ban.

"The Order seeks to ban people from specific countries, but it does not provide any link between an individuals nationality and their propensity to commit terrorism or their inherent dangerousness," the judges said. "In short, the Order does not provide a rationale explaining why permitting entry of nationals from the six designated countries... would be detrimental."

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The court also noted that press secretary Sean Spicer recently confirmed that Trump sees his tweets as official statements from the White House.

Immediately after the president posted his thoughts on the travel ban in the wake of the London attacks, a number of people were quick to respond that this was probably unwise, given the fact that the immigration order was still before the courts.

The American Civil Liberties Union, for example, warned in a tweet that it was planning to use Trump's tweets as evidence in its ongoing fight against the order.

Even someone fairly close to TrumpGeorge Conway, a New York lawyer and husband of Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway suggested that posting such comments was unwise. "These tweets may make some ppl feel better, but they certainly won't help OSG get 5 votes in SCOTUS, which is what actually matters," he said.

Conway went on to say that he was a big supporter of Trump and of the immigration ban, but added that tweets from the administration on legal matters "seriously undermine Admin agenda and POTUS."

To make matters worse, Trump didn't stop at one tweet about the ban (which his own administration had previously argued was not actually a ban, and shouldn't be referred to as such). The president said that he supported his original order, not the "watered down, politically correct version" that his own advisers had convinced him to sign.

That earlier version of the law was struck down by two lower courts because it was targeted at Muslims, and blocking travel based on a person's religion is unconstitutional.

"I think he shot himself in the legal foot," Cornell Law School immigration professor Stephen Yale-Loehr said of Trump's comments about his preference for the original version of the ban.

One would think that the Trump administration or the president himself may be more careful with posts on Twitter about a legal case, since this isn't the first time that his tweets have been used against him in a court decision blocking his immigration order.

A lower court in Hawaii that blocked the most recent version of the order, in the case that led to the current ruling by the court of appeal, also cited tweets from the president, as did an earlier 9th Circuit decision on the previous version.

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Trump's Own Tweets Help Kill His Government's Travel Ban, Again - Fortune