The Trump administration will has chosen their replacements for the roles of attorney general and UN ambassador. The attorney general role, which has been held by Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker since Trump removed Jeff Sessions from office in early November, will be filled by noted attorney William Barr. Barr previously held the position under President George H.W. Bush in the 90s. The UN ambassador role will be filled by Heather Nauert, the former Fox News host and current spokeswoman for the State Department. Both positions require Senate confirmation. In addition, Trump also said he would make further personnel announcements on Saturday, which he claimed will relate to "the joint chiefs of staff." CNN has also reported that White House Chief of Staff John Kelly may be on his way out, with Nick Ayers, the current chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence, a rumored favorite to replace him.
The Mueller investigation is scheduled to release certain details of its investigation on court filings on Friday. The filings will detail the allegations against Paul Manafort, as well as additional details about the extent of ex-National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. A court filing from earlier in the week already indicated that Flynn has cooperated "extensively" with Mueller. Ahead of the release of the documents, Trump attacked Mueller in a series of poorly spelled and factually dubious Tweets (this echoes his Tweets from earlier this week, in which he complained that his relatively low approval rating can be blamed on Mueller's "Presidential Harassment" - although there are conflicting accounts of his approval rating, most pollsters put it at 43%). Trump has also said that his team of attorneys is already writing a response to Mueller; Trump claims the draft is "87 pages" in its current state. In one bit of good news for the president, his former political adviser, Roger Stone, announced that he would never cooperate with the Mueller investigation. Trump sang Stone's praises via Twitter, saying, "Nice to know that some people still have 'guts!'" The Tweet drew ire for potentially interfering with Mueller's investigation.
A legally beleaguered Trump also suffered a setback earlier this week when a judge authorized the plaintiffs in a lawsuit alleging that Trump violated the emoluments cause to issue subpoenas. The case is the first of its kind to make it to this stage of the court process.
Former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who was unceremoniously dismissed from the Trump Administration nine months ago, has finally broken his silence. At a fundraiser in Houston, Tillerson about his experience in the White House, describing Trump's leadership style as impulsive. Tillerson also claimed that he had to tell Trump on multiple occasions that he could not take certain actions because they "violate[d] the law...violate[d] the treaty."
On Wednesday, Trump attended the funeral of former president George H. W. Bush, who passed away at age 94 last week. Trump shared a row with the Obamas and the Clintons, which appeared to make for an uncomfortable service.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration has continued to roll back EPA regulation curbing coal emissions. Although the administration seems aware of the dangers - based on a report issued late last month describing the toll of climate change - they are pursuing an agenda of aggressively promoting coal. Their proposed plan would make it easier to open coal plants, though experts say there's only so much that can be done for the industry, which has faltered under pressure from rivals like gas and wind.
The fight over Trump's border wall continues in Congress. Democrats hope to sustain the current level of border funding - $1.3 billion - but Republicans hope to secure far more funding than that to build Trump's border wall. They've been kicking the ball down the road for months, and will continue to do so; they now have until December 21 to reach an agreement, but may continue to punt the issue.