Politics

Politico reports: Rep. Tom Rooney, a top Republican lawmaker on the House Intelligence Committee, is ripping President Donald Trump’s unsupported claim that the FBI inserted a spy inside his campaign. “What is the point of saying that there was a spy in the campaign when there was none?” Rooney said in an interview on Wednesday. “You know what I’m saying? …

The Washington Post reports: Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) introduced a bipartisan bill Wednesday that would give Congress new authority to check the president’s trade moves, going forward with the legislation after rebuffing a personal appeal from President Trump to back off. Corker’s bill would require congressional approval when the president enacts tariffs under the auspices of national security, as Trump …

Via Mediaite: On MSNBC Wednesday, host Katy Tur had her hands full when guests Democratic Strategist Bob Shrum and RNC Committeeman Shawn Steel [JMG: in the beret]  jumped right into a fight just after being introduced on the segment. The conversation went off the rails just after the first question, when Republican Steele began answering Tur’s question about ‘the Trump …

The New York Daily News reports: A Brooklyn city lawmaker is sponsoring sex-segregated beach days to give his Jewish and Muslim constituents an opportunity to enjoy the seaside. City Councilman Chaim Deutsch announced the first ever “Southern Brooklyn Beach Day,” with separate dates for men and women by the sandy spot behind Kingsborough Community College. Deutsch, who is an observant …

The Huffington Post reports: As a 19-year-old University of Iowa engineering student, Zach Wahls stood before the Iowa House of Representatives and gave an impassioned speech defending his two lesbian mothers. A video of the speech went viral, amassing millions of views. Seven years later, Wahls is hoping to occupy a seat in the very chamber where he made his …

CNN reports: President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had a testy phone call on May 25 over new tariffs imposed by the Trump administration targeting steel and aluminum imports coming from Canada, including one moment during the conversation in which Trump made an erroneous historical reference, sources familiar with the discussion told CNN. According to the sources, …

Axios reports: President Trump has signed a commutation for Alice Johnson, currently serving a life sentence for a nonviolent drug offense, according to a source with direct knowledge. The Washington Post first reported last night that he had been considering pardoning Johnson. Johnson’s cause was championed last week at the White House by Kim Kardashian West. White House senior adviser …

CNN reports: The White House has assembled the paperwork to pardon dozens of people, two sources with knowledge of the developments tell CNN, signaling that President Donald Trump is poised to exert his constitutional power and intervene, in some instances, where he believes the Justice Department has overstepped. The administration has prepared the pardoning paperwork for at least 30 people, …

Politico reports: Joe Manchin wants you to know he really likes Donald Trump. The West Virginia senator doesn’t put it quite that way. But more than any other Democrat in Congress, he’s positioned himself as a vocal Trump ally. In fact, the senator, up for reelection in a state Trump won by more than 40 points, told POLITICO he isn’t …

CNN reports: The Alabama congresswoman who un-endorsed Donald Trump in 2016 when the “Access Hollywood” tape went public will face a runoff election, CNN projects. Republican Rep. Martha Roby will face a July runoff to save her seat after failing to top 50% in Tuesday’s primary. Roby will face Bobby Bright — a former Democratic congressman who is now running …

The New York Daily News reports: Upstate Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney on Wednesday will formally announce he’s running for state attorney general at the same time he’s seeking re-election to Congress. Maloney said he will try to petition his way onto the Sept. 13 Democratic primary ballot for attorney general. He said if he wins the nomination, he will immediately …

San Francisco’s Fox affiliate reports: The race to see who will become San Francisco’s next mayor is still up in the air as of this morning with former state Sen. Mark Leno holding a narrow lead over Board of Supervisors president London Breed. Initial results from Tuesday’s election indicated a large margin in first-place votes for Breed. However, once San …

The Los Angeles Times reports: Tuesday’s primary could have been disastrous for Democrats in California. With the largest portion of their national House battleground in play here, there had been concern for months that the state’s primary, which advances the top two vote-getters regardless of party, would leave voters with two Republicans to choose from in several key races. Party …

The Associated Press reports: John Cox, a Republican business owner who has tried and failed for nearly two decades to win elected office, snagged a spot in the November runoff for California governor with the help of President Donald Trump, but that support could hurt him in the winner-take-all race with Democrat Gavin Newsom. Cox got about a quarter of …

The Argus Leader reports: A South Dakota lawmaker on Monday said businesses should be able to turn away customers based on race. In a Facebook comment, state Rep. Michael Clark, a Hartford Republican, said business owners should have the final say in who they serve. “He should have the opportunity to run his business the way he wants,” Clark wrote. …

CNN reports: Kelly Sadler, the White House communications aide who made a imprudent comment about Republican Sen. John McCain’s health last month, no longer works in the administration, three sources with knowledge of the matter said on Tuesday. In the aftermath of the comment — in which Sadler told a meeting that McCain’s opposition to CIA director nominee Gina Haspel …

CNBC reports: Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Donald Trump talk “regularly,” the Russian president told an Austrian news outlet ahead of his visit to Vienna Tuesday. The Russian leader was responding to a question about special counsel Robert Mueller’s February indictment of 13 Russians and three Russian organizations when he brought up his relationship with the American president. “Indeed, …

Bloomberg reports: Majority Leader Mitch McConnell canceled most of the chamber’s August recess, bowing to calls from GOP lawmakers to stay in Washington to finish work on nominations and undercutting election campaigning by Democrats who have more than a half dozen incumbents at risk in November. “Due to the historic obstruction by Senate Democrats of the president’s nominees, and the …

The Hill reports: Senators are planning to introduce legislation as soon as Tuesday to require President Trump to get congressional approval for tariffs implemented for national security purposes. Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), who is spearheading the legislation, told reporters that he will roll out the bill as early as Tuesday and wants to try to get it attached to a …

Agence France-Press reports: Leading politicians of Germany’s left-wing parties on Tuesday called for the US ambassador to be expelled, after the staunch defender of Donald Trump was accused of meddling in domestic politics and aggravating already tense ties. Richard Grenell had taken up his diplomatic posting on May 8, and immediately sparked an uproar when he tweeted on the same …