View This Email In Your Browser

a woman laughs in a museum

When Jacqueline Cole heard about a free trip to China in the summer before her senior year at Duke University, it sounded too good to pass up.

But Cole, a Chinese minor, got her first clue that it wasn’t just a sightseeing opportunity in an email full of disclaimers that arrived at 5:36 a.m. as she was sitting on her gate in LaGuardia Airport.

The notice alerted students that professional photographers and videographers from Duke Kunshan University and Jiangsu media would join portions of the trip. She and other students were soon hounded by Chinese TV crews, Cole writes for The Assembly.

“I came to feel that the trip had two purposes: Yes, we were there to explore a mammoth country with a culture and government unlike the United States. But it also felt like we were helping promote the Chinese government.”

How I Accidentally Became Part of China’s PR Campaign

Dozens of Duke University students signed up for a free trip to China. Even the university was surprised by what happened when we got there.

“There was a whole reality show’s amount of cameras,” said Matthew Rodriguez, a Duke senior and another participant in the trip.

Have a news tip for our team? You can reach us at scoops@theassemblync.com.

Handoff Note

While the Trump administration has installed handpicked acting U.S. attorneys in New York, Washington, D.C., and Miami, it appears to have let succession follow the normal course in the Eastern District of North Carolina, which includes Raleigh.

Daniel Bubar was named the district’s acting U.S. attorney following the resignation of Michael Easley Jr., President Joe Biden’s appointee as the area’s top federal prosecutor. 

Bubar was Easley’s first acting U.S. attorney and his designated successor under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act. He is a career prosecutor who served as acting U.S. attorney in the Western District of Virginia during the first Trump administration.

President Donald Trump’s advisors have discussed making wider use of a different process to ensure that people they consider loyal are in charge of U.S. attorney offices until Trump’s nominees for the jobs are approved by the U.S. Senate, The New York Times and other outlets have reported. 

Trump has claimed the U.S. Department of Justice has been weaponized against him and his supporters. North Carolina’s Eastern District has a reputation for aggressively prosecuting white-collar crime, including corruption, and the office has been working on at least two politically sensitive corruption investigations over the past year.

But Easley said in an interview with The Assembly on Friday that he received no pressure to resign. He said that he saw stepping down as part of his role in the peaceful transfer of power and that he timed his departure to ensure a smooth transition.

The moment was also right for him personally. “I was sworn in as U.S. attorney immediately after getting out of the hospital, after my little girl was born,” he said. “It’s been an all-out sprint ever since then, and I’m really just incredibly excited about crawling around on my living room floor and playing make-believe with my 3 year old.”

He said he’s also looking forward to serving on the Golden LEAF Foundation’s board. Prior to serving as U.S. attorney, Easley was an attorney at McGuireWoods who specialized in leading companies’ internal investigations. His father, who shares the same name, served as North Carolina’s governor.

During his three years in office, the younger Easley grew his staff by at least 15 prosecutors, allowing the office to expand its work related to terrorism, foreign espionage at the state’s research universities and military bases, and white-collar crime.

“My advice to any successor who would come into this office is to keep politics as far out of this place as they possibly can,” he said.

Senators typically lead the process for identifying U.S. attorney candidates and recommend names to the White House. Next comes vetting by the White House, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Senate Judiciary Committee, along with interviews at the Justice Department, Easley said. The process leading up to Senate approval can take a year or longer.

In the meantime and even after a new U.S. attorney takes office, there are usually few abrupt U-turns on cases. “It’s not like a new U.S. attorney comes in, and everybody hits pause, and they look at each case and say, thumbs up or thumbs down,” Easley said. “What really happens is, the machine just keeps working.”

—Carli Brosseau

What We’re Reading

How ‘Bout Half: State lawmakers will debate spending an additional $500 million on Helene relief, WRAL writes. Democratic Gov. Josh Stein called for more than $1 billion from the state government.

Scholarly Debate: A UNC-Chapel Hill student who protested in support of Palestine, among other issues, had her Morehead-Cain Scholarship terminated, The Daily Tar Heel reports.

Generally Manageable: Bill Belichick has hired a general manager for the UNC-CH football team, and Hubert Davis said basketball needs one too, per The N&O.

Check Out This Dateline: The Federal Highway Administration awarded grants to help state agencies and nonprofit groups rebuild a section of U.S. 64 to allow red wolves to pass safely underneath traffic, via The AP.

Our Recent Stories

Greensboro City Council Taps Pinder for At-Large Seat

Supporters of the late Yvonne Johnson’s son were disappointed, but council members said they believe they made the right choice.

Why Most Counties Aren’t Doing All Required Restaurant Inspections

As counties struggle to hire and retain health inspectors, lawmakers, regulators, and scientists look to ease caseloads and develop new talent.

Mark Robinson Drops Lawsuit Against CNN, Says He’s Exiting Politics

The former lieutenant governor conceded that “continuing to pursue retribution from CNN is a futile effort.”

The Assembly is a digital magazine covering power and place in North Carolina. Sent this by a friend? Subscribe to our newsletter here.