NBC News reports: The former CEO of a once-popular male escort service website who pleaded guilty last year to promoting prostitution was sentenced to six months in prison Wednesday by a judge who said she wanted to send a deterrent message even though she knows the business helped people. Jeffrey Hurant, who ran the Rentboy.com site, which billed itself as …

WOW. The Washington Examiner reports: On Wednesday, President Trump signed a new sanctions bill targeting Russia. Russia has reacted with unrestrained fury. Indeed, fury is an understatement. In a Facebook post specifically referencing Trump, the Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev (No. 2 only to Putin), warned that Congress sees Trump as “an incompetent player” who must be “liquidated”. Yes, you …

Heavy.com reports: During the White House press briefing this afternoon, White House Senior Advisor Stephen Miller had a contentious exchange with CNN’s Jim Acosta, calling one of his statements “outrageous,” “ignorant,” “insulting,” and “foolish.” Miller took the podium to discuss President Trump announcing his support for the Raise Act, which would reduce the rate of legal immigration in the United …

Politico reports: Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is resisting the pleas of State Department officials to spend nearly $80 million allocated by Congress for fighting terrorist propaganda and Russian disinformation. It is highly unusual for a Cabinet secretary to turn down money for his department. But more than five months into his tenure, Tillerson has not issued a simple request …

The Hill reports: President Trump’s approval rating hit a new low on Wednesday, according to a new poll. A Quinnipiac University poll finds 61 percent of voters disapprove of the job Trump is doing in office, compared to just 33 percent who approve of Trump’s performance. This marks the president’s lowest approval rating since he was inaugurated, according to the …

UPI reports: White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders is scheduled to give a press briefing Wednesday afternoon. Sanders’ briefing is scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m. EDT. All briefings are now live on-camera. Since the last briefing Tuesday, President Donald Trump signed into law stronger sanctions against Russia, North Korea and Iran. In the signing statement, Trump said the …

With an exultant “Hallelujah!” this afternoon Ann Coulter joined white supremacist leader Jared Taylor in celebrating Trump’s endorsement of the GOP’s “speak English” immigration bill. Some background on Taylor via his Wikipedia entry: Taylor is an American white nationalist and white supremacist. He is the founder and editor of American Renaissance, a magazine often described as a white supremacist publication. …

Reuters reports: President Donald Trump may tap U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry to replace former Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, who took over as White House chief of staff this week, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday. Bloomberg, citing three people familiar with deliberations, said others were also being considered for the post. White House officials had no immediate comment. Asked …

From the Hollywood Reporter: In January 2015, two years before he was sworn in as president, Donald Trump was set to step into the same role in a very different capacity: He had signed on to play the president in 2015’s Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No! Producers’ first choice to play the leader of the free world in the Washington, …

Mic.com reports: On Wednesday, President Donald Trump announced support for new legislation that would seek to curtail legal immigration to the United States by imposing a skills-based system that would prioritize immigrants based on current work-force needs. If passed, the plan would reduce the number of immigrants the U.S. will allow into the country. Trump said the legislation — known …

Here’s the full text of the signing statement, which is apparently the second of two versions issued today: Today, I have signed into law H.R. 3364, the “Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act.” While I favor tough measures to punish and deter aggressive and destabilizing behavior by Iran, North Korea, and Russia, this legislation is significantly flawed. In its haste …

The Associated Press reports: Former FBI Director James Comey has a book deal. Flatiron Books told The Associated Press on Wednesday that Comey is writing a book about leadership and decision making that will draw upon his career in government. Comey will write about experiences that made him the FBI’s best-known and most controversial FBI head in recent times, from …

ABC News reports: President Trump today signed a bill aimed at punishing Russia for its interference in the 2016 election despite his reservations to tighten sanctions against Moscow. The legislation was passed with rare and overwhelming bipartisan support in Congress last week. The bill limits the president’s ability to lift or waive sanctions against Russia and keeps in place sanctions …

Axios reports: The door to the Oval Office used to be wide open, with favored officials drifting in and out — even in the middle of meetings — to kibitz with Trump. Now, the door is closed. Gen. John Kelly, the new White House chief of staff, has taken control in dramatic fashion, and is already imposing unmistakable signs of …

Talking Points Memo reports: A former Justice Department official specializing in fraud and illegal foreign bribery cases has become the sixteenth lawyer on the special counsel team investigating into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election, Reuters reported Tuesday. Josh Stueve, a spokesperson for special counsel Robert Mueller, confirmed the hiring of attorney Greg Andres to Reuters. During his two-year tenure …

CBS News reports: Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto is calling into question President Trump’s most recent claims that the leader called him to praise his administration’s work on the U.S.-Mexico border. As Mr. Trump welcomed his new Chief of Staff John Kelly to the Cabinet table on Monday, Mr. Trump took time to applaud the work Kelly had done during …

Space.com reports: A whimsical parody of the Bonnie Tyler song “Total Eclipse of the Heart” highlights the Aug. 21 total solar eclipse that will be visible from the contiguous United States. Created by the Warby Parker eyeglass company, a music video for the fake song includes dancers dressed as the sun and the moon, dramatically prancing around an empty school …

The Hill reports: Democrats are feeling encouraged about their prospects of winning back the House next year despite a string of special election losses. A turbulent White House has left President Trump’s approval rating at a dismal 40 percent, and Democrats ended the House session watching the ObamaCare repeal effort collapse in the Senate. “There are a lot of reasons …

The Week reports: When Donald Trump Jr. was discovered to have met with a bunch of Russians who turned out to have ties to Russian intelligence, he “released a statement saying he didn’t know who he was meeting with and they mostly talked about adoption,” not Hillary Clinton, Stephen Colbert said on Tuesday’s Late Show. “Those were lies, including the …

NBC News reports: The U.S. military successfully test-launched an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile from California early Wednesday, according to an Air Force spokesman — just days after North Korea’s second test of an ICBM. The unarmed Minuteman III missile was launched at 2:10 a.m. PT from Vandenberg Air Force Base, about 130 miles northwest of Los Angeles. An Air Force statement …